“And don’t forget to find the vendor!” Bidane said as she and Sahara ran over to the scrolls and potions stand. “We need that dragon to be huge!”
Van glanced over at Sang, who shrugged. They hadn’t talked about her lying yet, and while he wanted to contain his anger, he felt it boiling a little bit at the sudden reminder of her lie. It wasn’t going to be fair to have to lie to his entire team any more than he already had. The more he was commanding them, the more he grew to care about them. It was going to be painful to see them lose their trust in him when all of this eventually came to light, assuming it did.
Sang slunk off toward the vendor stalls, too, acting as if she were looking for someone. Kylian grunted at the effort and followed after Dolly, who had entered Stealth mode again. She was probably going to try and steal some items from the stalls. Van just hoped that Dolly had the Stealth skills to not get caught. The last thing the party needed was for the entire town guard to be chasing after them.
Van turned to see that Capella was staring at him. His gaunt, yellowish eyes were nearly bugged out of their head as he looked on, mouth agape. It was somewhat unnerving.
“Can I help you?” Van asked.
“My uncle said I have to talk to you,” Capella said, looking down at his feet. “Are you going to kick me out?”
“No, I’m not kicking you out,” Van said. “But you are walking on some very thin ice with the rest of the party. No one appreciates you getting us involved in a fight like that. We were all hoping to resolve that situation back there peacefully, but instead, you decided to try and get a quick kill. You got yourself killed over it, and you could have gotten all of us murdered.”
“I’m sorry, I just wasn’t paying attention; I like this game the best when we stop talking and start fighting,” Capella replied.
“I get that, but you can’t be a murder-hobo in this game. You can get into plenty of fights and battle against anyone that’s trying to kill us, but you aren’t allowed to draw first blood; got it?”
“Okay, that’s fair,” Capella said. “Thanks for not yelling at me.”
Van smiled at the youth. “Don’t worry about it. Now come on, and let’s go take a look at their weapons and see what they have in stock.”
As they walked toward the market stalls, Van felt the hairs on his neck stand up. He looked around and noticed that, off in the distance, there was a man standing by the trees that they had been navigating through. This man was dressed like a hunter of some sort. He wore leather armor, and had a large belt buckle and a crossbow at his side. He almost looked like a pilgrim, with the tri-corner hat that he was wearing. This stranger’s gaze never left Van. The man just stared intently, not making a sound or moving.
Who was this guy? Van looked at his team, busy purchasing various goods, and then back at where the man had been standing. The stranger was gone now. That didn’t bode well, Van thought as he checked his mini-map. There were no indications of other players, except for his own team. He hoped this wouldn’t be problematic, but instinctively knew there was something wrong. That man was following Van, which meant he probably worked for Draco.
“Hey, Sang,” Van said as he walked up beside her. She had been busy browsing for arrows at the weapons stand, away from the rest of the group.
“What’s up?” she asked, turning to face him.
“Just had some weirdo staring at us,” Van said, pointing to the trees. “Think he might have been following us.”
“Bandit?” Sang asked.
“A bandit wouldn’t follow a large band of heavily armed players. I’m thinking Draco,” Van replied.
Sang’s expression brightened. “Hey, that might be just the break we need!”
“Come again?” Van asked.
“The CIA wants information; if this stalker is some Draco goon, then all we have to do is grab him and make him talk.”
“Hey, that’s brilliant!” Van said, “But… I have no idea where he is.”
“I’ve been putting enough points into the Tracking skill to where I shouldn’t have trouble finding him,” Sang said. “Tell you what—you take the crew to meet with the king, and I’ll see if I can get the drop on this guy.”
“Are you sure you’ll be safe?” Van asked. “He seemed well armed. Crossbows are no joke in this game. They pack a real punch and treat armor like it’s nothing.”
“I’ll be fine, Van,” she said as she grabbed some green paint out of her pack. She then began to quickly mark her face to help her blend in with the woodlands area.
“Just shoot me a message when you find him,” Van said. “We’ll see if maybe we can lure him into some kind of an ambush.”
“Perfect,” Sang said as Van turned again to face his allies.
They had all finished their shopping and had gathered before the large steel gate to the castle. There was an air of anticipation surrounding Van’s team, and he could hear them all buzzing with excitement. “Alright, are you folks ready for the start of our big quest?” he asked as he approached them.
Sahara nodded emphatically. “I don’t know about you, but I’m way more excited about the dragon growing,” she said, throwing her bright red hair over her shoulder.
“Wait, there’s a dragon?” Capella asked.
“Yes!” Bidane said. “And we’re going to be using it as our mount one of these days.”
“So awesome! Uncle Ky, did you hear that?” Capella asked as he turned to his uncle. “We’re going to ride a dragon!”
“That’s great, Capella,” Kylian said as he walked over to the steel gates preventing people from entering the castle. “But we’re not here to just talk about a dragon; we’re here to get that quest. No mount is going to be of any use to us if we can’t make ourselves a mercenary company.”
“He’s right,” Van said as he grabbed the large rope that was hanging by the gate. It was attached to a bell, and ringing it would begin the quest for being granted the title of a mercenary company. “We’re going to go in, get the quest, and then emerge victoriously! No time to worry about Jet—we’ve got a job to do.”
And with that, he rang the bell. The quest description appeared in front of him:
King Bikorn’s Thorn in The Side
King Bikorn has issued a call out to all able adventuring parties who are seeking fame: come see him and he will task you with a mission that will make your adventuring company a household name. He is currently residing within the castle and will accept visitors at any hour.
Perfect, Van thought as he clicked Accept Quest. A bright yellow arrow appeared in front of him, pointing toward the entrance to the castle. The large, steel gate creaked as it opened up, granting the party entry.
“Alright, people, let’s be polite with the king,” Van said. “He’s prone to be moody, so don’t say anything offensive.”
“Isn’t he just an NPC?” Sahara asked.
“Yeah, but royalty has the most advanced AI I’ve seen; he’ll probably be able to recognize thousands of words. So, let’s not take any chances,” Van replied as they all began to walk through the courtyard of the castle. The large stone structure was eerily quiet. Van didn’t see any other characters or players in the area. There was no staff, no guard... no one. The entire place seemed to be empty.
Van hadn’t played this quest in almost five years, so he could barely remember what the mission was supposed to be. He could remember that there was something involving a weapon of some kind, but that was about it.
The big wooden doors to the main castle opened up automatically as soon as the adventuring party got close. The interior of the castle was huge, almost cave-like in its size and space. The walls were adorned with many photographs of various dragons and adventuring parties. A red carpet led all the way into the throne room. Despite the size of the castle, though, it was almost eerie how quiet it was. Not a single NPC could be seen.