“May I see your guild mark Deacon?” Asked Molok hopping off the chair and coming around the desk.

“Absolutely. That’s the least I could do considering how much you’ve helped me.” Replied Deacon rolling the sleeve of his hoody up exposing his mark.

“I was told there was almost an eye inside the green star. Looks solid green to me. Otherwise it’s just a nice mark. Can you tell me about the perk it came with?” Molok asked.

“Yes, well while in a party of guild members it grants a five percent per minute health regen. Stackable.” Deacon answered.

“Not bad. Well I’ve held you up long enough. Jacob and I have more business to discuss. Enjoy your adventuring.” Molok said as he walked back around the desk and just appeared in the chair again.

Deacon and his team heard the door to Jacobs office close behind them as they made their way to the guild shop. Deacon wanted some very specific items. He found three tiers of tents for shelter outdoors. One was standard canvas with sticks precut to size. The next one was magical cloth that held rigid in a triangle shape to keep weather off of you. The last and most expensive one was a four walled heavy oiled canvas tent with a vaulted roof that could comfortably sleep eight people and it was self-erecting. It was five hundred guild points so with the conversion rate of two silver per guild point, it would be a thousand silver pieces or ten platinum in actual currency. That was outrageous. He looked at his slate confirming he had far more Guild Renown than he had points. He opted to go with the standard tent for now. At the very least he’d have some shelter if he’s ever caught out at night. Once the shopping was complete, they headed out into the courtyard. There were lines of people standing everywhere. At the end of these lines were men and women dressed in gray robes with stacks of books and papers. They were speaking to all the people while floating quills feverishly jotted notes down on paper. Deacon looked over at Ralph to see if he had an explanation.

“Priests of Ryan, God of Bureaucracy and Order. Why don’t you know that? They administer most large populations governments. Helps keep corruption at a minimum.” Ralph responded to Deacon’s questioning look.

“I thought that Ryan was a lost god?” Deacon said.

“That’s the story. The church of Ryan has been in decline for years but to fully shut down they have some hundred steps they need to follow in the correct order. If something goes wrong, they need to start over. Just a nightmare of a religion if you ask me.” Amanda chimed in as they reached the gates to the main road.

“Excuse me, are you Deacon Chimera’s Champion?” asked one of the gray robed men.

“I am.” Replied Deacon hearing gasps and murmurs from the crowd.

“Please, you have to help us. There is a verse in the Book of Ryan stating chaos will reveal the truth. My brothers believe its blasphemous and my interpretation is out of context but I’m of the opinion that you could save the Church of Ryan.” Said the priest trying to get the words out as fast as possible.

“I don’t know about all that, guy. I’m just trying to help some farmers today. How about you meet me at evening meal, and we talk about this? Looks like you have an abundance of paperwork to do and the longer I talk to you the more I feel a quest notification coming on.” Said Deacon before a new notification appeared on his slate.

New Holy Quest- I’m not my brothers keeper- Chimera would like you find any information about Ryan you can from this priest as well as any other information that can be found on the Mortal Plane of existence. Do not share this quest with anyone. Rewards are variable depending on quest performance.

Now that was new. Deacon had never received a Holy Quest before. He assumed it was one important to Chimera above and beyond standard quests. The share this with no one clause alarmed him a little. Meditating before bed tonight just moved up on his to do list.

“What did you say your name was?” Deacon asked.

“I’m brother Frankilo.” Frankilo said.

“Nice to meet you, can you meet me here around dusk? We can talk further then.” Deacon said waiving Ralph and Amanda forward to the road.

“Yes, yes thank you champion. Thank you so much.” Frankilo said with his palms clasped bowing several times in humility.

“We better get going. You’re drawing a crowd.” Ralph said tugging on Deacons arm.

All three broke into a jog as a small mob of on lookers crowded the entrance to the Guild House. Moving through the streets of the city on the way to Mentalba’s, Deacon noticed more oddities than he remembered. People were drying clothes using wind spells. Some children were chasing a giant bubble across the street. At one point he witnessed a fully armored knight on a floating earth platform being chased by some mages bouncing back and forth from pockets of air toward The Tower. It seems that knight managed to keep his spell and he really likes it. Ralph stopped to buy some pastries at his favorite bakery. Deacon admitted he hadn’t tasted anything this good since arriving in this world.

Eventually they made it to Mentalba’s. His shop was a hub of activity with enchanted sewing needles moving to and frow. The customers were packed inside as salespeople showed bolts of cloth to eager patrons. The sea elf immediately recognized Deacon waving him over as he gestured for one of his employees to take his place.

“Deacon! I’m so glad to see you. Are you feeling all right? You look a bit green.” Mentalba asked.

“I’m fine. I had a note that said you wanted to see me?” Deacon asked as Amanda snapped at one of the female customers who was trying on a pink colored hoodie.

“Can we step into the back?” Mentalba queried leading the three adventurers into the back rooms.

“Not only was I surprised to find out you were the Champion of Chimera, but you had a significant role in repelling the forces of Vasilly Empire. I want to say thank you. Once word got out that I was your tailor, well the flood gates opened. I had to rent out another space for the overflow orders. Do you know that the guild master of The Tower has requested custom suits from us? Royal blue of course. Would you by any chance have more designs for me? Maybe some women’s designs. They are really the key to highlighting our work with the nobility.” Mentalba explained.

The next half hour was spent explaining pencil skirts and yoga pants with pockets. Amanda berated them when they didn’t consider variable bust sizes for blouses. Deacon dove into top hat and tails designs for tuxedos as well as working class overalls and the benefits of strong cotton blend textile to manufacture this worlds equivalent of denim jeans. Mentalba almost jumped back when Deacon used Polterheist to draw the designs in his head more accurately than his hands could, even with his increases in agility. His speed being almost fifty points, far exceeding his twenty agility. Mentalba made it clear that some of the freed slaves had tailoring backgrounds. It was easy for him to hire them after they were registered with the Ryans. They then spoke about expanding into the capitol with Deacon mentioning his pending trip out that way.

They said their goodbyes to the tailor before heading to the Descent Road. The trip down was uneventful but they all noticed a large contingent of Kings Knight’s all along the base of the plateau. Some of the knights greeted Deacon pleasantly as he passed. They overheard whispers of, “That’s the crazy bastard that shot himself out of a catapult” and “Did he really take down a giant ogre single handed?”

Finally out in the farmlands, they spotted the first of many farmers they needed to talk to today. His name was farmer Richard. He grew fields of wheat for the bakers in town. When Deacon proposed regular sweeps by guild members to minimize the rodent impact on agriculture, he barked out a short laugh.

“No Adventurer worth their blades is going to kill large rats or snakes in the fields. If only that was our problem. You see lately we’ve been having problems with these creatures called Corpungies.” Farmer Richard said getting a groan from Deacon.

“Yea I’ve heard of them. Furry bastards with no necks and scorpion like tail?” Deacon asked.

“That’s them. They aren’t native to this area, and I have no idea where they came from, but they keep multiplying. The Bokine farm lost a little one to their poison and I’d avoid visiting them If I were you. The dad went to complain to the town guard, and they just turned him away saying they only have authority in the city.” Farmer Richard said.

“But that’s exactly what this plan will help prevent.” Ralph spoke frustration in his voice.

“I’ll make you a deal since you bothered to come down here. You find where these damn things are coming from and stop them, I’ll talk to the other farmers on your behalf about this network thing. In truth its not a bad idea to cut the teeth of your recruits this way. Also having a voice in the city could only help. Ten hells man, we provide them with food.” Farmer Richard said with no small amount of contempt in his voice.

New Quest- Corplungie-Find the source of this invasive species and stop them from breeding. Rewards: Farmer Richard will speak with the other farmers moving your proposal closer to fruition. Depending on how well you do additional rewards may be offered.

“Ok can you give us an idea of what direction they are coming from? How about which way the Bokine Farm is from here?” Ralph asked as he received an invite to join Deacons party and his slate updated with the quest details. Richard told them what direction to head in and the trio headed out.

“And you thought this would just be killing rats.” Deacon said to Amanda with a sneer.

“Get stuffed.” Amanda said.

“Alright you two, shouldn’t we be worried that we don’t have any anti-venom potions with us?” Ralph asked.

“Yes, that is a concern. I don’t know if my regen can counter act it.” Deacon replied.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of anti-venom.” Said Amanda patting one of her pouches.

“Good to know. I also recommend not getting hit.” Ralph said.

“While some of us were haggling over tents, the rest of us were picking up standard kit. I’ve also got food and rope. Knuckle heads.” Sneered Amanda.

They walked past vast fields of wheat until the crops changed over to what looked like corn and then cabbage. Halfway through the cabbage Ralph spotted a pair of barbed tails waiving in the distance near a cows pasture. The tails started to speed towards the livestock and the party needed to sprint if they had any hope of intercepting them. Once new prey showed up between the corpungies and the cattle, the little monsters changed direction and ran towards the adventurers instead.

Ralph reached his target first deflecting a tail strike with his sword and countering with a forward stab that glanced the rat monsters upper left shoulder. That attack was swiftly followed with the hilt of throwing dagger sprouting from its side. The second monster squared off with Deacon. It snarled and snapped its jaws at him with a head that couldn’t articulate due to the lack of a neck. He simply strode up to it and punted it with as much strength as he could muster. Deacon’s ears were met with a dull crunching as his steel toed boots buried themselves half into the creatures rib cage before launching it forty feet into the air. It slammed into the ground fifteen yards from Deacon with a crunch of breaking bones before it stopped moving entirely. Deacon looked to his left seeing Ralph had skewered the one he was fighting, putting boot on its head to pull out his sword.

“Who’s up for some tracking?” Deacon asked.