Chapter 115 - The Last Days in Teretog (Part 2)

From the entrance of the large warehouse-like building and through the crowds of bustling Worvan customers, Taen saw Izumi enter with Ashe, Bann, Napoleon and Juila. Taen was surprised they’d let Juila in given her intimidating size but shrugged it off and walked over to where his fellow ‘guildmates’ were.

“Whatsup guys!” Taen said as he fistbumped each of them before giving Juila a firm handshake. Quite a few people gave interested looks Juila’s way but didn’t make comment otherwise. “Figured you were headed this way. I also like the new set of armor Bann. Looks expensive”

“We were asking around about forges and this was the place,” stated Ashe with a flip of her hair.”

Bann looked pretty happy with himself. He was decked out in a dwarvish heavy plate armor Izumi and Ashe had pointed out. He’d tried it on and it fit well. He had also been supplied with a larger heavier dwarvish shield and a dwarvish longsword. “Yeah it was expensive. Cost us nearly 200 gold, the price of a few very good horses. But the girls said it was necessary.”

“IT IS necessary!” exclaimed Izumi excitedly. “You almost DIED last fight remember!? We gotta keep you in tip top condition!”

“How much money have you guys stashed away?” pondered Taen out loud. “I only have about 30 pieces left.”

“Couple thousand,” replied Ashe casually with a flip of her hair and the slight wagging of her tail. “We have a lot of items we’ll likely sell though. We had some stashed away with Brae’s galley that he’d refused to sell because he felt bad about taking so much after the Fost guild fell - so he gave a lot back to us. But if you need any money, let us know and we can help you out, you’re part of the guild now after all.”

She gave him a wink, and Taen rubbed his temple. What was with all this talk about being a guild all of a sudden?

“You could probably sell that Varwarp Cloak for a pretty penny,” stated Claire from the sidelines. “I’m sure any Worvan member would pay handsomely for it.”

Izumi scowled. “Absolutely NOT! Much too valuable to sell. We don’t need money right now anyways.”

“Agreed,” said Ashe. “Unless there’s something else just as valuable I don’t think parting with it would be a good idea.”

“Well you’re not really using it are you?” stated Claire. “Don’t you think you should give it to Trey since Ezdeath doesn’t want it? At least in the meantime while you’re still working up to being able to use it. It’s just sitting around otherwise.”

Izumi pondered this a moment as the group walked through the lines of shops and wares. She stopped and picked up a necklace before setting it back down and identifying it. “I guess that’d be the smart thing to do. I’ll let him borrow it until I can use it.”

“He probably won’t take it,” commented Ashe as she picked up a ring.

“Don’t touch if you can’t buy!” growled a sturdy pale man.

Ashe gave him a disgusted look and put her hands on her hips as the fox ears shot up daringly. “I’m sure our valuables far exceed yours and am quite certain I could buy it if I wanted to.”

The man scoffed but didn’t reply as she set the ring down.

“Why wouldn’t he want it?” asked Taen curiously. “Makes sense to me.”

“He’s pretty uptight about taking items or opportunities for growth from other members. He’s been working really hard over the past eight or nine months to get us all up to par with where he is.” Ashe scratched her head as she looked down at a strange metal orb with carvings onto one half. “He’s actually a pretty good leader. Makes sure everything is fair for everybody and is a pretty good guy. Don’t ever tell him I said that though.”

“Ahhh. I see. Well in any case I feel like it may be a good idea to put it to use.” Taen stretched out and pointed at a vendor’s desk. Upon the desk was a small ornamental and metal cube. It was very strange looking and upon trying to identify it he couldn’t get a good read. “Yo Ashe, Izumi, could one of you try to identify this thing? I can’t seem to read ANYTHING off it.”

“Sure thing boss man,” replied Ashe with a thumbs up.

“I’m going to go talk to those guys in the corner about using their forge. Come over when you’re done looking around!” said Izumi with a smile. Bann was quick to follow her as did Aortha, leaving Ashe and Taen with Claire.

“Alrighty let’s see what this thing is…” muttered Ashe as she focused on the object. It took a couple tries, but soon her HUD lit up with statistics about the item.

Nether Core

Item Tier: (11) Legendary

Bonuses: ???

Requirements: ???

Durability: 2498/2500

Special: ???

Ashe read off the stats and stared at the thing for a while before taking off her goggles to hang them around her neck.

“You’re an identifier?” stated the vendor - a brittle old man who looked to have seen better days. “Good ones are hard to find. Not many can read anything off this little cube here. I’m surprised.”

Ashe ignored the question, a little rude - but continued on with a question of her own. “Do you know what this thing does?”

The vendor cackled. “Not quite. No one has been able to get a full read on this yet. I’m afraid I may have to take it to one of the more civilized countries to the south and get it appraised there fully. Interested in buying?”

Ashe frowned. “Why would I buy it if I don’t know what it does?”

The old man smirked. “You could always take a chance, who knows. Maybe it’s amazing? Maybe it’s trash. But it’d save me the hassle of having to go appraise it outside of the Lawless Lands if you were to buy it here and now.”

Taen shrugged, planted his hands in the pockets of his black robe, and silently watched Ashe raise an eyebrow.

“How do you expect me to buy this if even you don’t know what it is?”

“You saw it has an item tier of legendary. Surely it must have some value.”

Ashe’s tail stopped wagging, she frowned, and turned to Taen. “What do you think?”

“Depends on how much he wants for it.” replied Taen casually with folded arms. “I can’t say it would be more than trash if we weren’t able to use it though.”

“My thoughts too,” mused Ashe. She turned back to the vendor. “This seems like some sort of scam to me.”

“The All Spirit does not lie,” retorted the elderly man. “That reading was done by you, yourself. It is not a scam, this I promise you. I could be losing out quite a bit of money, or I could be making quite a bit more than I would have otherwise. I honestly don’t know, but I really want to get rid of it. I’ll sell it for 180 gold pieces.”

Ashe scowled. “That’s quite a bit for a useless cube. Nearly as much as Bann’s armor.”

Taen laughed loudly. “What makes you want to get rid of it so badly?”

The man frowned. “I lost a bet with another member from Worvan and I owe him a large sum of money that I actually don’t have.”

This only made Taen laugh even louder. “Well I’ll let the woman answer then.”

“IZUMI!” called Ashe as the blonde beauty waved over at her japanese counterpart. “GET OVER HERE AND TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!”

Izumi stopped her conversation with a smith to glance at Ashe and Taen before holding up a hand apologetically. She then walked over to leave Bann and Aortha alongside the smith momentarily. “Whatsup?”

“Any idea what this is?” Ashe held up the cube. Izumi took it from her and examined it.

“Looks like… hold on.” Izumi began to rummage around in the satchel she carried and soon pulled out her scrapbook of schematics. She flipped through it a couple times and then went back a page. “Yup thought so. That thing is used to power special types of constructs, they’re described here in the instructions for creating… whatever this is. Old Ornthas tech. I’m surprised you found one though. How much is he asking for it?”

“180.”

“Do it.” Izumi snapped her book shut. “I could use it for experiments, I’m not sure if we have the know-how to create our own but I could potentially even study it to replicate it.”

“That sounds pretty valuable, I’ll sell it for 250.” interrupted the man with arms folded.

Both women immediately scowled and folded their arms simultaneously.

“Absolutely not.” snapped Izumi with a finger jabbing in the old man’s direction. “No one else on the island would be able to use it and you’re lucky enough to have a buyer for it. Try to up the price on us again and we walk away. Ashe, 180 or bust.”

Izumi adjusted her top hat, turned, and walked away as the vendor scowled.

Ashe couldn’t help but grin though.

“Well?” said Ashe with a smirk.

“Just give me the damn gold...” muttered the vendor. After a long time of counting out the money it was handed over to the vendor in exchange for the Nether Core. Ashe pocketed the cube.

“Don’t look so glum! Sounds like that appraisal wouldn’t have gotten you too far anyways,” commented Taen.

The vendor placed the money under the counter on the opposite side, and loudly exhaled. “Yes I suppose if what she said is true then not many people would have use for it. Ornthas tech is hard to come by and schematics are even less so. I’m surprised she had one that described its use. Anyways is there anything else you think you want? Anything you’re looking for? I could point you in the right direction if I don’t have it myself. Always happy to help a customer who’s bought from me.”

Taen shrugged but continued to look through the man’s wares. He had multiple shelves with various odds and ends. “Honestly we’re just rummaging around until that girl with the hat finishes using that forge. I’m sure she’ll start on modifying our friend’s armor soon enough, she just bought him dwarven-forged plate armor and wants to spif it up.”

The vendor turned to Claire who stood by silently. “Claire, are these the ones Coctim told us about?”

Claire nodded.

“I see… news travels fast. It is a shame that Ovalia and Drade were to die, I liked those two very much. But that’s the name of the game here in the deadlands. The Worvan don’t often die but we do occasionally lose people, it was good of Coctim to come and tell us. A real shame that they let greed come before safety, that’s the number one rule you can’t break.” The older man sighed and scratched his balding head. “Is it true that you have one of the living swords?”

Taen and Ashe glanced at one another warily. How did this guy know?

“Talsh’Noc’Un?”

Again they exchanged a look, but didn’t clarify anything.

The elderly vendor frowned. “That’s one dangerous weapon. I’m still not sure that I believe you… but I have not known Coctim to lie. There are also rumors of a very large bounty upon the weapon set up by the king of Yosemar, as well as its wielder and his companions. I thought them to be nothing more than jokes and small talk but now that Coctim swears on seeing it... I find it funny that he’d try to use bounty hunters. Doubtful anyone sane would try their hand at fighting someone with a godsword. And if they did get it they’d likely want a lot more than the amount that blubbering king offered. Nevertheless you should be cautious, there may actually be people stupid enough to try and take it… or to collect the bounties on your own heads for being affiliated with the wielder.”

Taen couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Coctim was going around telling people about Talsh’Noc’Un? What the actual fuck? He felt his face get hot and anger was seering into his temple, but he was cut off from saying anything as the girl next to him butt in.

“The king won’t be alive to give out any bounties much longer,” sneered Ashe with contempt, hatred building in her as her fists clenched while she remembered the guards forcing themselves upon her. “He’ll be dead by the end of the year.”

The vendor’s eyebrows raised. “You intend on assassinating him?”

“He and many others.” replied Ashe angrily. “He fucked with the wrong people.”

The man laughed. “Very well. I heard he was a terrible man anyways, I wish you luck. Hopefully his heir is a better king than he… if you succeed in your quest.”

“Oh Claire I almost forgot,” Taen chimed in. “Can you tell Coctim we’ll be leaving soon? I just need to let Brae know we’ll be taking his galley back west. You’re still planning on following us through the trip, right?”

Claire nodded with a sweet smile. “Of course. I’ll let him know when he’s done talking with the others.” She looked over to Coctim who was still in deep conversation with a multitude of Worvan that Taen had never seen before.

“Isn’t that Maltetious’ marking? There on your longsword?” stated the man as he pointed to Taen’s Eid Longsword, crafted from both mithril and black mithril. “You’re not one of those three vampire champions I keep hearing about are you?”

Taen rolled his eyes. “Yes and no. I am one of those three - but I’m not a vampire. I get tired of hearing that.”

The man pondered this a bit before turning around to grab a medium sized chest. He heaved at the chest and brought it up on a nearby table. Unlocking the chest with a key from his pocket they all heard a loud click - and the chest flew open.

“I was once told many years ago by a blind old grumpy seer that I would meet a man with a longsword just like that. He would be a servant of Maltetious - the mad numen. Seems to be too much of a coincidence to ignore him now that you’re actually here.” The man carefully pulled out an old dusty scroll. It was in good condition considering how old it looked and the man handed it to Taen.

“This is supposed to be for you, I believe.”

Ashe and Claire looked as puzzled as Taen felt. Taen accepted the scroll gently before unrolling it. He squinted long and hard and reread the writing, which was in English of all things, twice over before he looked around the room with wide eyes. He then reread it one more time out loud for Ashe to hear:

-----

[English] Your name is Taen Movorio. Your favorite food is cheese alfredo pizza. You hate liars and greed above all else. You left your family’s religion at the age of 17 and were disowned by your extended family, but thankfully your immediate family still loves you deeply. You lost your virginity at the age of 16 to a horror film. Do I have your attention? Good. Look up, the balding man is staring at you and will sniffle immediately as you look to his left hand. Look around the room. There is a large green wardrobe two aisles down and to your right. I need you to open it. Inside there will be what appears to be a chest - but be warned, it is not a chest at all. It is a shapeshifter. You and your party are being tracked. You need to kill it, and kill it immediately. If you hesitate - within three minutes it will be gone and I will no longer be able to help you. You must act now. Continue to the next paragraph when you have completed this act. If you do not complete this act then may the All Spirit be with you, for you will need its protection.

-----

“What the hell is this thing talking about?” muttered Taen. It was obvious to Ashe that he was extremely worried. “This letter got everything about my past correct and was able to… shit. Ok follow me.”

Taen didn’t really know what to think about what he had just read - but everything in that first paragraph of the letter had been true. He didn’t feel like he’d want to take the chance of ignoring it after such a strange occurrence.

“That’s really weird,” said Ashe as she quickly followed behind. “All of that was right? What does it MEAN we’re being tracked?”

“Don’t know but we’ll read the rest of the letter later, come on.” Taen was power-walking fast so that he didn’t draw too much attention before he finally made it to the large green wardrobe. It was placed inbetween a couple silk screens to create a room of sorts.

“This is my private quarters, go find a vendor elsewhere.” snarled a fat burly man from a nearby bed. He was obviously irritated.

“If I’m right, you’ll thank me for this later.” replied Taen. Before the man knew what to think of it - Taen had drawn his longsword out and flung open the wardrobe to reveal that there actually was a good sized wooden chest. He looked to the man. “Do you recognize this chest?”

“What in the bloody hells are you doing!” exclaimed the fat man, who picked up an axe nearby but stopped as he saw the chest. “Actually… no. I can’t say I have-”

A loud screech startled Taen and the fat man as the chest erupted from the wardrobe to spring out in a writhing semi-liquid form - morphing into something new midair. It was an inch away from Taen’s face as he prepared to phase out, but didn’t end up needing to as Ashe put two bolts from her crossbows into the monster before drawing her dual daggers and repeatedly stabbing the monster with lightning-like reflexes. The thing screeched and squealed some more, drawing a lot of attention from Worvan members nearby. In the end the shapeshifter lay dead and bleeding a strange purple blood upon the floor.

“You have gained XP.” rang the mechanical voice from within Ashe’s mind.

“By the GODS what was that THING doing in my wardrobe!?” exclaimed the fat Worvan man. His face was pale and other Worvan merely laughed at him as they realized the situation was dealt with before returning to whatever it was they had been up to prior to that. “Thank you! It might have tried to eat me in my sleep! How’d you know a shapeshifter was here though?”

Taen prodded the still not fully formed mass of flesh laying on the ground with one sword. “Thanks Ashe.”

“Yup.” replied Ashe cockily.

“Anyways we just happened to… see it slip in. From across the room.” Taen did his best to sound convincing but was definitely failing. He gave an awkward smile and turned around to walk away with Ashe. Pulling out the note he began to read once more into the next paragraph.

-----

I knew you would follow through. I really did. Good job. Eventually they will find you I’m sure, but this will at least hinder their movements until you are all ready to face them. Who are they you might be thinking? Well, it’s complicated and you’re not going to like the answer to that question. I’m not sure which one of them sent the shapeshifter as I’m speaking to you from a time in your past, but you and anyone else associated with the heir of Eleknar are being hunted down by lords of the hells. The demon lords have discovered the void essence to be missing from Oblivion with the caretaker dead and have been looking for it over many months. I do not know what they intend to do with it when they find the heir, but I assure you it will not end pleasantly for any of you. I fear the worst. If you or your friends are in need of information regarding this matter, you may find me at the orange house in the town of Nutule - located in the kingdom of Yosemar. I will have just freshly painted it orange when you do eventually arrive so don’t touch the walls, and I know you will arrive. Do - not - touch - the - walls! I don’t want to have to repaint everything. Be sure to ask for Agustus - I am the son of an Earthborn man and a woman of Nagochus... and have quite the story to share with you. Though I’m not sure it’s as exciting as your own.

Agustus Nevermore

-----

Taen looked up to Ashe and they stared at each other momentarily.

“Well that doesn’t sound good.” Taen scratched the back of his head and pocketed the very old note carefully so that it wouldn’t damage.

“Not at all…” muttered Ashe in thought. “Well, looks like we have someone watching out for us. But it could be a trap too. So let’s talk it over tonight when we all group up and see what everyone else has to say. Wana look around some more? “

“Definitely. Are you coming Claire?”

Claire shook her head, obviously a little spooked about the message and changeling they’d just killed. “I’d better get back to Coctim. I’ll see you all at the ship later tonight.” The raven haired woman smiled sweetly at them before disappearing into the makeshift hallways of the Worvan settlement.