“Okay, what else?” asked Deacon as he stood up to inspect the large screen on the opposite side of the room. It almost stretched from one wall to the other. In his mind it would be great to have a couple blu rays to sit and watch on the massive screen. Although movies probably wouldn’t translate well in a world where all the effects could just be replicated with magic.

“This surface can display your memories, master Deacon. Through our connection, I can even share your slate information. Is there anything you’d care to share? Keep in mind that the images will be from your perspective,” Alfred explained while all eyes turned to Deacon.

Deacon felt a bit flustered. He wanted to discuss several things that have happened to him recently from not getting a specialization at level twenty, to encounters with an older version of himself, even the tablet the Griffin King showed him. Deacon didn’t know where to begin. So, he began pacing back and forth in front of the table.

“I’ll start with this. This man has appeared to me twice. Once in a dream and once as I transitioned back to life after Efimeo killed me. Crap, we need to talk about that as well. First things first,” Deacon spoke while images of the older version of him seated in the golden chair appeared. He received some gasps from the people gathered. The image was from the dream where old Deacon approached the paladin with all the gathered forces of ten hells at his back. Then it shifted to the odd conversation the two of them had between worlds. Deacon also mentioned the fact that he spoke in Haiku. After explaining that it was the Japanese form of poetry from his home world, they seemed to understand.

“Perhaps it’s his Chains of Power?” Tantus added.

“How do you mean?” asked Deacon.

“Well, once you reach levels forty-five through fifty, it’s said that you may be offered a Chains of Power quest. You will then be given an option to become more powerful if you adhere to a constant sacrifice. It can be anything from attribute bonuses to knowledge of forbidden powers. If you fail to uphold the bargain you lose the power up. Maybe his poetic speech pattern was his sacrifice. Pure speculation,” explained Tantus.

“That makes a lot of sense. What did he say to you?” Ralph asked leaning forward in his chair.

Deacon didn’t want to divulge the message. On one hand the, “Don’t choose Haiku” part spoke directly to Tantus’s hypothesis. But did he want to tell Ralph and Amanda about the warning to prevent her from killing him. What if that’s what caused it? Deacon was unwilling to roll the dice on that one. So he decided to focus on the Samhain warning.

“He warned me that Samhain can’t be trusted,” he spit out hoping that would be enough for them to chew on for now.

“Who is Samhain?” Ralph asked.

“Supposedly, he was a powerful Nether Monk from history. According to a mausoleum full of ghosts anyway. I have a quest to recover one of his lost artifacts. Alfred, can you display the quest?” Deacon asked.

Quest

Description

STATUS

Find the Toll of Samhain

Follow the rings guidance to the Toll of Samhain. Rewards- Powerful artifact of the now forgotten school of Nether Monks.

Incomplete

Instantly Deacon’s quest was displayed on the screen. It was shown with a new status indicator. He had never seen an incomplete status before. It’s always been blank or complete. That worried Deacon enough that he was about to ask before Typhus chimed in.

“Looks like you’ve found a clue and haven’t followed up on it,” Typhus said leaning back in his chair.

“What do you mean?” Deacon asked.

“Well incomplete only shows up when you know something about the quest but haven’t done anything about it yet,” answered Typhus getting nods from everyone around the table.

“I keep forgetting you didn’t grow up with a slate. It must have been infuriating in your world not knowing what to do at every turn. How did you ever complete your quests?” Ralph asked.

“We didn’t get quests. We just did things and learned what not to do through trial and error,” huffed Deacon. He was getting irritated with air of superiority in here.

“So what do you know about this quest? What was the last thing you remember?” asked Tantus reacting to the look of discomfort on Deacon’s face.

“Well, the ring did vibrate when I was approached by the monks from the Azure Archipelago. Everything happened so fast in the coliseum, I didn’t have time to really take stock. I probably should have asked them, but that Caphida guy started fucking me up. I had no idea those monks were so powerful. I couldn’t lay a hand on him. Had to mind trick him with energy from the Perpetual Plane. What really pisses me off is, he slapped away my abilities like they were buzzing flies. That guys a powerhouse,” said Deacon but everyone at the table watched the screen with wide eyes. He then spun around to see his whole fight with Caphida was playing behind him from his memory.

“You fought one of the arena winners and lived to tell about it. We watched that guy fight before you appeared in the coliseum. He wrecked all of his opponents. This must have happened after we left to retrieve your Alfred. What else happened?” Ralph asked.

Deacon began to explain what happened after he defeated the Gilgerith. The challenge from Filthy Mike and the boys, followed by the recruitment intermission that led to his fight with Caphida. All of the events he began explaining played on the screen behind him. He finally made it to the appearance of Efimeo and Sophie. She shrank a little in her chair as the images played on the screen. Deacon quickly thought of a field of flowers in bloom instead.

“Ok this is it. Tell us how you came to be collard by Efimeo Cullep. Is everyone else back home safe?” Deacon asked referring to Iron Mountain Plateau.

“One night I was getting ready for bed in my quarters at the guild. The window smashed in suddenly and I was knocked unconscious. What came next was several days beatings while locked in a magic suppression collar,” tears began running down Sophie’s face but she continued, “There were always three of them. Two had mismatched wings and they both had that cloth with the painted eye covering their faces. The third was the worst of them. He only referred to me as bitch and he—”

“That’s enough. I’m going to take Sophie downstairs for a drink. You boys can keep your meeting going without us,” interrupted Amanda as she grabbed Sophie’s arm and they left the room.

“I’m going rip that monster apart when I find him,” commented Deacon with subtle waves of cold Nether energy pulsating around his body.

“You’ll have to get in line,” Ralph said with a white knuckle grip on the hilt of sword.

Tantus had never seen Ralph so furious. Deacon he could understand. He’s seen him in so many battles at this point the drop in temperature and light show of his eyes were a regular occurrence. But the pure malice coming from Ralph was uncharacteristic.

“Deacon, what happened after you came back from the dead? That’s costing all four of us a three soul tax if I’m not mistaken,” Typhus inquired trying to drag the very angry men back to their prior conversation.

“What? Oh, I summoned Zageracks, and he ate Efimeo. Too good for him if you ask me. I’m troubled to hear that there are more than one of those monsters. I wonder who the other two are?” Deacon mused.

“Wait, how were you strong enough to summon a dragon if you’d just come back from death?” Tantus asked.

“Oh, when I was with the reaper in the nether plane, I tried my breathing technique and it was super effective,” responded Deacon looking proud of himself.

“That makes sense. The monk schools are all located where there is a great amount of their natural energy. A volcano for the fire monks, the ocean for the water monks, and so forth. If that’s where they train, it might explain why Caphida was so much more powerful with his projections. This is just a theory, but you may want to ask Master Pai Mei about it,” Tantus postulated out loud.

Deacon thought on that point for a second. When he was fighting in the above ground mausoleum back at Iron Mountain, he felt a strange connection. Then again in the graveyard of the temple of Radiant. He even thought he heard someone calling his name during that fight. Was Deacon going to have to hang out in graveyards to improve his aura abilities? It was something he was going to have to look into. His Apparitions Aura ability was almost level four but his projections were dashed apart by both Old Pai and Caphida. Those are the two people he’d fought with monk based classes. He was missing something and has only gotten this far based on his other advantages. Deacon didn’t want to be outclassed every time he ran into an enemy with a better grasp on his own powers.

“How about we break for the night? Beers are on me,” Deacon sad breaking out of his contemplations.