CHAPTER THREE-HUNDRED EIGHTY-FIVE

Gerlfi

The goblin summoner surveys the battlefield, weighing his options and his opposition. His former companions stare at him with level gazes, each calculating their own path to success… at his expense. He glances down for a moment, more to buy time than to seek escape. He already knows his options, what he needs for victory. Does he take the poorer yet sure option that will only buy him some short time, or does he gamble to strike a decisive blow?

He takes the risk, knowing that buying time will only delay his defeat, but the gamble could see him victorious. He makes his move and grins at the result, and starts laying his cards down on the table, to the chagrin of his friends.

“Two to five run and a set of eights!” he declares with glee, before discarding a ten and making room for Vieds’ turn. The changeling grumbles and starts reorganizing his hand, his own plan thrown into chaos.

“Of course you have both hashed eights…” he grumbles, trying to piece together a plan for a different run, now that the suit is a roadblock to his old one.

Wold rumbles in a chuckle as he watches. “We both knew he was going for eights after he bought and drew one. Why would you take the risk?”

“Because I started with a run that was just missing the eight! How could I not try?” He sighs and draws from the deck, before discarding the hashed nine, presumably abandoning his run to try to build something new.

Gerlfi smiles, enjoying the card game and feeling good about how it’s already going. It’s only the first round, but if he can secure an advantage now, he’ll be in an even better position in the later rounds, where the needed hands only get more difficult. Now he just needs to either extend what he’s already laid down, or make a fresh set or run to get the rest of his cards down. Unfortunately, the rest of his hand is a mess, but simply being down first is still a good position to be in.

Wold discards a prince, and as Gerlfi reaches to take it from the pile to try to build a set, he pauses, an odd feeling slowly welling within him. It takes him a few moments before he realizes what it is, and his eyes widen once he does.

“Titania’s calling in her debt.” His friends give him curious looks, prompting him to explain. “I need to head to the dungeon and see what she wants.”

Wold nods and stands to grab his gear, with Vieds moving to gather up the cards. “I guess we’ll start a new game once we’re done then. We didn’t even finish this hand, a shame.”

Gerlfi gives him a knowing smirk but lets him put away the cards without commenting. Instead, he starts gathering his own gear, wondering just what Titania could want from him. His time, of course, but what does she want him to do? The fey are often inscrutable at the best of times, and Thedeim’s motives are also practically impossible to figure out. Whatever they want, it can’t be anything too bad, right? He only owes just over five hours right now, as he’s only done some short experiments with summoning her on delves.

Still, he doesn’t doubt for an instant that Titania will squeeze every second for all it’s worth. It doesn’t take him and his friends long to suit up, and soon they leave their room at the guild and head on out, giving Guildmaster Karn a nod as they go.

He leads the way toward the cemetery before the pull changes direction to the manor. She’s not going to meet them in her domain? He’s not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but dutifully changes direction to head for the main entrance to Thedeim’s territory.

“Why the change in direction?” asks Vieds, and Gerlfi can only shrug.

“I don’t know. I thought she’d want to meet in the forest, but the pull suddenly changed to the manor.”

“It’s not just her, then, but the dungeon calling in the debt,” observes Wold, though he doesn’t have any better idea for why than Gerlfi does. If the goblin had to guess, he’d say it has something to do with the Earl and the new guild, but it would be just that: a guess. They made waves when they first showed up, but seem to have quieted down since. The rival guild still glares whenever they see someone from the Slim Chance, but they haven’t tried anything after the first couple weeks, when they learned the premier adventurer’s guild of Fourdock is not so easy to push around.

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Thankfully, the walk isn’t so long that he has to agonize over imagining what Thediem might want for long. As soon as they pass the gate, Teemo pops in out of nowhere. “Follow me, guys.” It must be something important if Thedeim is being so direct. Gerlfi and his friends follow without speaking, hardly even able to take the time to inspect the shortcut. They’re a unique experience to travel through, and if Gerlfi had the right affinity, he wouldn’t mind learning more about them.

The importance of the meeting is only accentuated once they enter the war room, and Gerlfi immediately notes the lack of other doors. It’s not the public one. Sitting on the table is a model of Fourdock, including the manor, and sitting on the manor is Titania, looking as regal as a small pixie can. Considering how strong Gerlfi and his friends know she is, that’s rather regal indeed.

He gives her a respectful bow before speaking. “What have you called my debt for, Lady Titania?”

She waves at Teemo, who chuckles before speaking. “She wants you to take a quest, but she doesn’t have the time to be able to force it. So the Boss is willing to make it… lucrative for you to accept it, and Titania is just spending a little of your time to make you hear it.”

The goblin and his friends exchange glances before Teemo continues.

“The Earl is making things difficult, and dangerous. Without going into details, he and the thieves guild are working together, and though we’re pretty confident in stopping them, we don’t have any proof to give to the kingdom to either excuse us dealing with him, or make them come deal with him themselves. We want you to infiltrate the Calm Seas guild, and find evidence of him and the thieves working together.”

Wold and Vieds’ eyes widen at the news, but Gerlfi’s mind races as he considers. On the one hand, messing with politics is a good way to shorten one’s life. On the other, fey are hardly any different, and he deals with them regularly. He doesn’t have any loyalty to the Earl, and though he doesn’t really have loyalty to Thedeim either, he certainly likes the dungeon better than the noble.

“...What’s the compensation?”

Teemo shrugs. “What do you want?”

It echos his own negotiation with Titania, not knowing what he might want, so simply asking. But what does he want? To renegotiate with the fey? Not especially. The contract is already very good. Even his own payment of the debt of time has so far only resulted in him getting an offer of a quest.

Loot? He wouldn’t turn it down. He and his friends have no intention of braving the Shrouded Bog, but lifedrinking protection would still be invaluable. Can he get away with more?

His mind wanders as he thinks about things besides just treasures. Things are all well and good, but after his deal with Titania, it seems like a good idea to consider more abstract rewards. He could ask for his debt to Titania to be wiped, but he doesn’t have that much anyway. What will he need to be able to complete this quest?

For starters, he’ll have to quit the Slim Chance. He doesn’t doubt he can talk with Karn to have their spot and rank saved, but it’s still a risk, especially since he and his friends would be starting at the bottom at the Calm Seas.

Ah, would his friends like something? He looks to them, and to his surprise, Wold speaks first. “I want to meet with the Storm Eater. I’ve always admired Storm Shamans, and I might be able to follow in their footsteps with my next advancement if I can meet with him.”

Vieds nods and speaks. “I want to meet with Nova, then. With a name like that, she might have the secret to my next advancement and my understanding of fire.”

With the other two thinking of their next advancements, Gerlfi considers his own. While his path is hardly a dead end, he wants more than to become something like a Fey Commander. Being better able to contract with and command fey would help, but it would come at the expense of his ability to help his friends more directly in a fight, too.

“I want to speak with Poe,” he declares. “I need more general tactical acumen if I want to advance in a way to help all my allies, not just my summons. And a protection from lifedrinking belt for each of us.”

Titania frowns deeply at the price he and his friends are demanding, but he needs to ask big so he has room to negotiate. Demanding effectively a tithe of time from three scions is a steep demand, and-

“Deal,” says Teemo with a smile, and Gerlfi sees the quest pop up. He takes a minute to read it practically out of habit, making sure everything is correct. Is it more dangerous than it first seemed, for them to agree to readily? He and his friends will infiltrate the Calm Seas guild and look for evidence linking the Earl and the thieves, and in return, they’ll each get a belt and instruction from a scion of their choice. Not easy, but it should be doable.

He looks to his friends for their opinions, and with their nods, he accepts the quest.

“Awesome. I’ll get you back to the surface so you can get to it. We don’t have too much in the way of leads, but there should be a big, mean looking orc who’s way sharper than the axe he carries. You can extend the quest to him and his party, too. They tipped us off a while ago, but we don’t have a way to contact them. If they’re still around, they’re probably a good place to start. If you do extend it to them, any of you completing the quest will count as all of you doing it. We need that link, that proof to show off that's more than just us saying so.”

Gerlfi nods, and Wold and Vieds do the same, so they are quickly escorted back to the surface. Instead of immediately heading out, they sit in the shade of the wall, letting Gerlfi think. This is going to be difficult, but what adventurer can’t embrace a challenge, especially when the rewards are so great?