Van turned his attention to preparing the team for the journey back to the dragon. Everyone was quick to pack up the gear they had laid down at the top of the hill and prepare to head back. Van just hoped that the two ladies wouldn’t have trouble with retrieving the gem.
After a few minutes of packing and small talk, Capello—who’d been posted as the look-out—gave a shout. “There they are!”
Van turned to see Dolly and Sang climbing up the hill, thankfully without anyone chasing them.
“Did you grab it?” Van asked.
“Yeah, it’s here,” Dolly wheezed, producing a gem the size of her fist from her satchel. It was a beautiful shade of turquoise and seemed to shimmer in the moonlight.
“Nice work!” Van said. “Anyone spot you?”
“You know, all of those peasants were Level 5 and 6,” Sang said. “They didn’t have any points in the Spotting skill. We probably could have walked in un-stealthed and just taken it.”
“Perfect,” Van said as he clapped his hands together. “Well, we got the gem, so let’s go get our reward!”
The group quickly turned around and headed back to where the castle was located. Van was a little disappointed with how easily they had acquired the gem, but then again, he doubted that the mission was going to be this straight forward for long. He could vaguely recall that there was more to the story than just stealing the gem, but it had been such a long time since he had done this quest that he just couldn’t remember for sure.
As the group made their way through the empty, windswept valley towards the castle in the distance, they heard a loud commotion behind them. Turning around, Van could see there were four peasants chasing after them, frantically waving their hands and asking for them to stop.
“Oh yeah!” Capello said as he pulled out his axes. “Let’s hack these guys clean in half!”
“Take it easy,” Van said. “I think they want something other than to fight us. No violence until I give the go-ahead.”
One of the peasants, a short man with the words Fredlin the Bannerhost hovering above him, reached the group first and held out his hands. “Please, adventurers, I implore you, listen to my humble request!”
“Alright, we’re listening,” Van said. “What do you want?”
“We, the Bikorn Resistance Force, are desperate to fight against the evil tyrant that is King Bikorn! We know that he has hired you to retrieve our sole means of defeating such an evil beast. Please, whatever he told you, know that it is not true! We are nothing more than humble people who are desperate for our own survival. Don’t give away our sole means of self-protection!”
“Hasn’t the king been providing for you?” Van asked.
Fredlin shook his head vigorously. “Not at all! He is moody and evil, attacking our crops and livestock whenever he feels that we have displeased him. He is prone to intense mood swings, and is paranoid, as well. We were forced to take up arms after he destroyed our last big crop before the Moon of Harvest. Now, we’ll starve unless we destroy him and raid his treasury!”
“Uh-oh,” Sang said. “This doesn’t sound good.”
“Who cares about some dumb peasants?” Capello asked. “I say we just take the gem to the dragon and get our reward. It’s way easier than explaining to him that we’re siding with the peasants.”
“Yeah, he was Level 88,” Kylian said. “It’s not like we have a chance of defeating him.”
“Oh, but you see,” Fredlin said, “the Gem of Rending will easily destroy him! All you must do is throw it at him and it will explode, killing him instantly! The gem was created by the powerful Dragon Sages of the Old World. They feared that some dragons would grow tyrannical and controlling, so they created a few of these gems as a way to rein them in.”
“Wait, so that thing kills a dragon?” Capello asked. “Screw what I said earlier—let’s kill ourselves a dragon!”
“Even if it does kill a dragon, we’d have to get close to the king first,” Sang said. “I doubt a dragon king can be caught off guard.”
“Everyone, shush,” Van said. “I’m trying to think. I’m not sure what the best choice is.”
“It’s a basic morality quest,” Kylian said. “We can take the high road and work harder, or we can take the low road and be rewarded immediately. It seems straightforward to me.”
“Just because it’s straightforward doesn’t mean it’s an easy choice,” Van said. “What kind of mercenary company are we aiming to be? This choice will basically set us up as either in the negatives in our morality rating or in the positives.”
“Morality rating?” Sang asked.
“Yeah,” Bidane said, “it’s a specific rating that all mercenary companies get. It ranges from -10 to 10. If you’re on the negative scale, it means that your group does shady things and could potentially be evil. A positive rating means that you’re the good guys. The rating doesn’t really have an effect on how NPCs view your organization, but good groups can fight against bad groups without penalty. But if bad groups attack a good or neutral group, they get a penalty.”
“I see,” Sang said. “So, if there’s no real benefit other than determining who we fight against, why not take the easier option?”
“Well, the problem is that there are a lot of good guys out there who can make our lives a lot harder if we’re in the negative,” Van said. “So, if we take the easier road now, we might end up screwed later on. Evil mercenary groups tend to leave good ones alone, but there are some mercenary companies of good guys who just travel around and kill any evil group they can find.”
“Hmmmm,” Kylian said. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea then.”
“I vote for being evil,” Dolly said. “It’s way more fun that way.”
“I’m torn here,” Capello said. “On one hand, I like the fact that bad guys can kill the most amount of people without getting in trouble, but on the other hand, we have the opportunity to kill an actual dragon. How many people can say that?”
“I have no idea,” Van said, “but assuming other players have done this quest, it’s doubtful that you can actually kill King Bikorn. He’ll probably run away or something.”
“Well, we better choose soon,” Bidane said. “The clock is ticking, and the game will be kicking us all out soon.”
“Fine, fine,” Van said. “I think we’re going to have to go with the good option. Let’s try to kill the big, angry dragon.”
“Yes!” Capello said. “I knew you were the best leader ever.”
“Sounds good to me,” Bidane replied as she grabbed her staff and lifted it high. “I’ll cast a Protection from Fire Spell, but this is literally the last spell I can cast until we get some serious rest.”
“Alright, team,” Van said. “Our new mission is simple: we’ve got to liberate these peasants. We’ll have one shot at this, so we need to be extremely careful. Sang’s our ranger, so she’ll be the one to throw the gem. I’ll try to distract the dragon by talking to it, and the rest of you, just be ready for whatever happens.”
While Van wasn’t particularly a big fan of the idea of fighting against the dragon, having a gem that could instantly kill it would be perfect for the situation. Still, he knew there had to be some kind of twist involved. He sighed heavily, wishing that he could remember how the quest was supposed to end.
The team made their way back to the castle with the gem in their possession. Van’s nervousness was growing stronger with each passing minute. The castle was still as empty as it had always been. There was no one around, and no one impeded them from being able to reach the inside of the castle’s court.
The dragon was awaiting them eagerly; he was fully alert and awake, pacing back and forth. His massive spiked tail swung with each step that he took. Van became acutely aware of how big the dragon was now that it stood to full attention.