Unfolding...
Unfolding...
Chapter 1.54
Gazi Pathseeker said her goodbyes to Erin before leaving the area. In Liscor, Ceria and Gerial were ambushed by an unidentified blonde girl who used a magical emerald ring to trap them in thick webs, forcing Ceria to burn herself and Gerial to break free.
At The Wandering Inn, Gazi Pathseeker spoke with Erin Solstice, informing the Innkeeper that she would be traveling away from the city for a while. Gazi officially said her goodbyes and prepared for her departure.
Meanwhile, inside the city of Liscor, Ceria and Gerial encountered a mysterious, unidentified blonde girl wandering the streets. When confronted, the filthy girl used a magical emerald ring to cast a massive, Tier 4-equivalent web spell. The stone-strong spider webs instantly trapped the two adventurers, pinning Gerial securely to the ground.
To escape the devastating trap, Ceria resorted to using her [Flashfire] spell. While the fiery magic successfully broke her out of the webbing, it left Ceria with burns all over her exposed skin. Forced to free the immobilized Gerial as well, Ceria used a magically heated dagger to cut through the thick strands. The desperate rescue caused collateral burns to Gerial in the process. In the chaotic aftermath of the magic and the adventurers' struggle to break free, the filthy girl managed to escape.
Gazi Pathseeker told Erin Solstice that she was traveling away from the city and said her goodbyes.
Ceria and Gerial encountered a mysterious, unidentified blonde girl wandering the streets of Liscor.
The Human vice-captain of the Horns of Hammerad.
aka the vice-captain, vice-captain of the Horns of Hammerad +10
An incredibly famous and powerful half-Gazer adventurer exploring northern Izril.
aka Gazi, the female adventurer +10
A young woman from Earth who stumbles into a fantasy world and takes refuge in an abandoned inn.as
aka Erin, the traveller +64
The filthy girl used a magical emerald ring to cast a powerful web spell that pinned Gerial to the ground.
Ceria used [Flashfire] to escape the webs, burning herself, and then freed Gerial using a magically heated dagger.
An instantaneous fire spell.
aka [Flashfire]
The local municipal law enforcement tasked with keeping order in cities.
aka The Watch, the guard +27
A small, child-like Goblin who attacks Erin out of grief and is spared by her.
aka Ragged Goblin, Littlest Goblin +16
The skeletal remains of a person that Erin discovered in an upstairs bedroom of the inn.
aka the skeleton, Skele-thing +7
The Minotaur captain of the Horns of Hammerad, who wields a massive battleaxe.
aka the Minotaur, Beriad of the House of Minos +16
One of the [Mages] in the Horns of Hammerad.
aka the wispy-haired [Mage], the [Mage] Sostrom +5
A newly discovered ancient dungeon near Liscor.
aka ancient dungeon, the Ruins +13
A city adjacent to the Floodplains, culturally aligned with Drakes and not friendly to Humans.
aka City of Liscor, the city +8
Small inn where Erin is present; currently occupied by her. Noted by the Watch as having been abandoned years ago but Erin is using it; the Drake and Klbkch enter here to investigate.
aka the inn, Abandoned hilltop inn +27
A large, competent Silver-rank adventuring party led by Calruz.
aka The Horns, Silver-rank team +6
A sapient reptilian species dominant in regions south of Liscor, generally unfriendly to Humans.
aka lizards, giant lizards +3
A species of tall, bipedal hyena-like humanoids covered in fur.
aka hyena-people, dog-people +8
A general class for any individual who practices magic.
aka [Mage], [Mages] +3
A complex Tier 2 spell used to cast widespread light.
aka [Illumination]
A spell that renders the caster unseen.
aka Invisibility spell, Invisibility Spell +2
A mind-affecting spell.
aka [Charm]
A high classification of magical spell.
“Immaterial. Classes, levels, these are just additions. What you lack is the soul of the warrior. You must have it. A female must not be alone without the power to defend herself. The singer must not be silenced. You must be stronger.”
“I do not suffer insults to my lord’s name.”
“The king is smart and uses his head. For if he moves, he’ll soon be dead.”
“How inconvenient. And we were doing so well with politeness. But I will have an answer. But first—an apology. I will hear it from you on your knees, half-Elf.”
“But make no mistake. I shall see you again and ask more questions. Unless of course I find this Ryoka Griffin first.”
“I don’t help the insane. You and your mad king can go to hell for all I care—”
“Those who believe they will lose before battle begins have already lost.”
“That is not what I meant. I mean Skills for combat.”
“Okay, okay. It’s huge, but there are several kingdoms to note. Like Nerrhavia’s Fallen, the largest Stitch-folk kingdom in the world. But there’s one that you definitely heard about—even if you don’t know Gazi. Everyone knew that kingdom, once. In one of them sleeps a king…”
“I suppose. It just seems like a waste, that’s all.”
“I know who you are. And a former soldier isn’t the same as a true adventurer. We got our levels from fighting monsters, not killing people.”
“Why don’t you try again? You’ll probably lose, but—”
“Eighteen games? That's a lot. And how many did he win?”
“Um yes, I mean, that’s correct. We are. All of us.”
“Um. Nice day, isn’t it? I haven’t gone outside much, but I assume it’s nice.”
“Hm. You would not answer questions for me? I am a Named Adventurer, you know. And you are, ah, yes, Silver-rank. Tradition would dictate you help me to the best of your abilities.”
“But you should have. It was a matter of honor. If you cared for the one called Pawn, you should have fought to protect him.”
“If you are not a warrior, you should become one. It is unbefitting for a female to be alone and not be a warrior.”
“There’s a lot more to it than that, Gerial. She’s one of the Seven—and she was famous for killing every single [Spy], [Assassin], [Saboteur], and [Rogue] she ever ran into during his wars. Of all of them, she could be called the scariest. Let’s get something to drink back at the inn. I’ll tell you all about it as soon as we get clear of the area.”
“That object I repaired, her fist-fighting skill. Her lack of levels…it’s enough to interest me, but why a scion of the Five Families? There’s something else to her, mark my words.”
“I have heard—from several sources—of a most extraordinary Human female in this area. A Runner. I believe her name is Ryoka Griffin. A levelless girl who braved the High Passes and survived. A most…interesting person in short. And I am told the Horns of Hammerad are her acquaintances.”
“I’ve got nothing for you. So you can take your answers and shove them.”
“Not us. She wants Ryoka, and I don’t know why. Possibly the same reason Magnolia is interested in her, but that’s just a guess. It spells trouble, and we need to let everyone know as soon as possible.”
“But I am still higher rank than you. I could be…troublesome to you if you refuse to help.”
“He was expelled. But you’re right. He was always at the head of his class whenever he showed up. If he had the money, he could have advanced quite highly. But he dropped out about the same time I, uh, ran out of funds.”
“Of course you don’t. You Human—no, you males. Idiots who fall in love with the first exotic female you see. You and Calruz both.”
“Ryoka. I hear Yvlon doesn’t lean on her family connections or even her brother, who’s also a Gold-rank adventurer. But Ryoka has Lady Reinhart following her every move.”
“She—well, I don’t know that she’s levelless, but another adventurer with [Appraisal] says it’s true. And she did survive the High Passes. And she has the favor of Lady Magnolia. And she runs barefoot.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Greetings. I hope I’m not interrupting?”
“I have decided this. I will teach you starting tomorrow. There are two days remaining before I go into the Ruins. I will have you learn to at least fight properly until then.”
“There is more to strength than mere levels.”
“Great. My undead skeleton sucks at chess.”
“Yeah, like I said, I’ve got one. And, uh, [Lesser Strength]. Forgot that.”
“Let alone in armor. Even if it was bravado, Yvlon would have never taken that fight normally. Makes you wonder, don’t it? What Yvlon knew. Or—what her aunt told her.”
“You might make fun of him, but he is a graduate of Wistram when all is said and done. And that display with healing Ryoka’s leg was nothing short of phenomenal. I certainly wouldn’t want to test myself against him.”
“Last night. You went out to avenge the insect. You did not. But you should have fought.”
“Oh. Um. That was a little rhyme I made up when I was a kid. It—it’s important.”
“I’m sorry, but fighting would have been prett—really stupid. I would have lost and gotten chopped up.”
“Yeah, but I’m not a Minotaur. I don’t have muscle. Or horns for poking people.”
“And then perhaps you’d be able to talk to a certain Runner without needing me to push you, hm?”
“…A few that are weird. I heard there’s a former Gold-rank [Innkeeper] up north. Terrible fellow. Sometimes they’re characters, but yes, she beats the lot for originality. But it seems we’ve run across more than one strange girl as of late.”
“I—oh, alright. As far as I can remember, he has the most levels in the [Necromancer] class, but he knows quite a few mundane spells too. He might be Level 20+ just as a pure [Mage] if you want to rank him. And he knows at least one Tier 4 spell. He was always good at—”
“I only know the basics. She’s a Named-rank. And she served the King of Destruction. What more do you need from me?”
“It’s not raining, at least.”
“Um. No it’s not. I don’t want to die.”
“How inconvenient. I suppose I must ask my questions another time.”
“I can fight. But I don’t want to pick fights I know I’ll lose. Look, this Ksmvr guy has levels in some kind of warrior class, right? He’d kill me if I fought.”
“That is what you should learn. Skills. If you must be alone, you must not be unprotected. You must fight.”
“Calruz is arrogant. But he’s confident and bold, which is why he’s perfect for a vice-Captain like you.”
“Gazers can cast spells as easily as looking. A half-Gazer can do the same, it seems.”
“It's all about positioning, see? I don't know if you saw me playing chess, but it's a bit different than everyone thinks.”
“A good thing I was never born with a talent for magic. I don’t have your patience—or your time.”
“That was intentional. I get a headache whenever I have to talk to that idiot for too long.”
“Yeah, but I know I would have lost. That guy you wanted me to fight? Ksmvr? He hit me once, and I was seeing stars for an hour. He’s a warrior. I’m—not.”
“But what’s his level? A mage living alone like he is has to have some skills. And a [Necromancer] would be perfect if there’s a large amount of undead in the ruins. Come on, Ceria, at least tell us his classes.”
“My mastery of it is—incomplete. I’ll keep studying, but my best guess is that I’ll be able to cast it once and then I’ll need a mana potion. It’s too exhausting to use multiple times in a row.”
“If I have enough, I’d like to buy another spell book. All the ones I have I’ve more or less mastered. With enough gold—a few hundred pieces more—I could buy a book with a few Tier 4 spells.”
“You’ve never bought spell books, have you? Just one costs several hundred gold or thousands, and that’s for low-Tier spells. I’ve been saving up all this time just to buy one with a Tier 4 spell.”
“Do you get it? Let’s see.”
“Not since last night. Why?”
“He’s not…well, technically he’s a graduate. But some mages wouldn’t consider him one.”
“I wouldn’t trust that idiot with my back.”
“Aren’t you being a little too harsh?”
“I am Gazi.”
“With us? You know our names?”
“Yeah. She was casting a [Charm] spell with her eye. It hit both of you the instant you looked at her. I barely blocked it.”
“How many games did you play?”
“No one who’s gone down too far past the stairs has ever come back.”
“We still don’t know what’s down there. Cervial found someone who was willing to explore and map out the first level, but no one is willing to go any further.”
“Let the Watch deal with him. I don’t get paid to restrain him when he causes trouble.”
“You’re right. I’d forgotten because she won, but since when do the Silver Spears fight civilians?”
“Someone has to worry. As far as our leader is concerned, this is going to be a simple extermination request, nothing more.”
“And he was expelled for his experiments. Yes, I recall. But does he have any combat aptitude? We could hire him for the expedition.”
“We don’t, I’m afraid. She moves around all the time, so it’s hard to pin her down.”
“I have business to attend to elsewhere. I just wished to know if you planned on travelling anywhere in the coming weeks.”
“You should have fought.”
“Rot, I wish it were tomorrow. No wonder the other adventurers wanted to stay at the inn. I can’t relax at all, here.”
“Well—I, uh, I can fight too. If I really have to. I’ve got [Bar Fighting] as a skill, you know.”
“Perhaps, but Yvlon needn’t have challenged her. That wasn’t a fair fight no matter how you look at it.”
“But I have more questions to ask about Ryoka. And I feel you can answer them.”
“She looked like—it is nothing. You would likely not know her as an Izrilian.”
“I don't know how you got him to play, but he clearly doesn't know how to play.”
“But if you leveled up your, um, [Mage] class, you’d learn those anyways, right?”
“A month, a year, two years—so what? If I mastered just one good spell, my Level would increase. And then we could take on stronger monsters.”
“There’s a name that tells you how important she is.”
“No chance of that, I’m afraid.”
“You. You should have fought.”
“He left the inn, and he hasn’t slept since last night, I think. You know what he’s like when he’s irritable.”
“I know, believe me. I’m feeling it too. But we’ve planned for as much as we can, and we’ll pull out the instant there’s trouble. Don’t worry.”
“Right, but—it’s complicated. There’s no guarantee which spells I’d learn, and besides, I’d need to level up quite a bit. But with a spell book, I could study a spell and learn it in a few months.”
“The city will let him go if we pay a fine. And they’ll be happier to let him fight monsters than cause trouble in jail.”
“Just hope she survives. Once we’re done here, we can ask her more questions.”
“I sensed it. He has quite a few levels on me, I suspect. Perhaps the same as our Ceria?”
“I have visited several Human cities to the north. And strangely, come back here chasing rumors. I hoped you could assist me.”
“I’ll tell you two from the beginning so we’re not making mistakes in the future. Right. Sostrom, do you know about the desert continent south or maybe south-west of here? Chandrar?”
“I was just curious. I would greatly enjoy having another meal here at a later date, and I would not wish for you to leave before then.”
“Everyone—well, everyone where I come from—knows the basic openings. You have to if you want to play chess. But chess is as much about reading the opponent as it is setting up your board. You trick them, open holes in their defenses. There’s all kinds of ways to do that. Forks, pins, deflection, checks, skewers, batteries…”
“I know you want to because he’s so important and you want to keep him safe, but you do that with other pieces. They’re the king’s shield and sword. Yeah, you don’t move the king. Because—”
“Indeed? How fascinating. I should very much like to meet her. You wouldn’t happen to know where she is by any chance?”
“But I’m not a warrior. I mean, I don’t have a class—”
“That’s what Cervial said. And Yvlon seemed to know something about her as well.”
“Well, since we’re on the topic of secrets…what’s the story behind you and this Pisces character? I thought I saw him last night, but you two hardly shared a word.”
“Is it not appropriate? The Horns of Hammerad are well known in the cities around here.”
“I won’t trespass here long. I just wished to tell you I will be travelling from this city for a while.”
“See this central area? Most openings or chess strategies revolve around capturing or controlling this spot. And that’s because your pieces need to move to get in position to attack the enemy. It’s not always about just killing other pieces. It’s about proper setup and luring the enemy into traps.”
“I’ll let you take that one back. Try not to move the king so much. You can castle him to move if you have to, but he shouldn’t be the piece you keep moving. That’s usually a bad sign.”
“Yes, yes. And supplies are underway. It’s just—”
“It could be a while if these ruins are as deep as they seem.”
“Well, what do you expect? They don’t exactly like Humans down here, and I’m just another annoying adventurer. But that’s not what I’m talking about. You can feel it, can’t you?”
“I saw you two had already left. The innkeeper—Miss Solstice was sick, so we all took our leave without breakfast.”
“Celum. There’s an inn she stays at quite often there, and she takes most of her requests there.”
“Say we do get gold and gems rather than a magical item. We have the largest shares after the Captains. What would you buy?”
“Every bit counts. If I had good armor, I could worry about other expenses. But that’s the first step.”
“Ah, but I would dearly like to meet her. Would you happen to know where she stays?”
“And do you have any way of finding her now? Or perhaps you know where she’s going?”
“It’s not a bad day when there are no monsters killing you, right?”
“Just that? If the reward is all Calruz thinks it could be, you’d have a lot more money than that.”
“So. A strange [Innkeeper] we’ve met. I’ve never met stranger, have you?”
“You are members of the Horns of Hammerad, aren’t you?”
“She was in Esthelm just two days ago!”
“Complain later. Let’s go! If the Watch catches us—”
“You didn’t know she was half-Gazer? Seriously, Gerial?”
“Once should be enough. Just so we have an area permanently lit to fall back to.”
“If I had that, I could polish my sword skills. Rank up. Start earning a Gold-rank adventurer’s pay…”
“We do—we do know that girl! We were in her company only two days ago.”
“I will rest now. My party will come soon. They must have food. See to it.”
“Don’t try taking your rook out so quickly. Remember—capture the center at the start and reinforce. Try again.”
“And he hasn’t found anyone who’s ventured further?”
“A good set of magic armor? I’d be able to fight without worrying about some monster clubbing my helmet in every five seconds.”
“Give us the details on Gazi before we get there. How strong is she? Where does she come from?”
“Well, can I help you, Mr. Grumpy?”
“Don’t go panicking on me, now. We’ll be fine, so stop worrying.”
“Ah. So you know her. Good. Tell me, is she all that people say she is?”
“What Yvlon said the other day. You’re sure she has no levels?”
“Well, you have the name of her inn. And we haven’t seen her. So if that’s all—”
“Armor. And a good sword. Or maybe just a magic ring.”
“Um, pardon me. But you wouldn’t happen to be…?”
“You should at least teach him how to play. Here.”
“If he gets arrested before we enter the Ruins—”
“Maybe. But he’s still an idiot.”
“I have a skeleton. For…protection.”
“We’ve got the formations worked out. Stop—”
“Oh, and then what would you buy?”
“I hope she doesn’t do anything rash.”
“But she was only looking at us.”
“[Hammer Blow]!”
“And it’s, uh—wow.”
“That’s just so sad.”
“It is worthless. Weak.”
“Too basic, Ceria.”
“Good evening, Erin.”
“Oh hi, Gazi. What’s up?”
“I'll teach you and get revenge, deal?”
“The, ah, local reception isn’t helping either.”
“Not too adventurous, are you?”
“Your pardons, warrior.”
“Food. Drink. I will have both.”
“I would simply like to meet her.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Um, how can we help you Miss, ah—Adventurer Pathseeker?”
“What kind of magical artifact was that? Sostrom, I’m pinned. Can you—?”
“The entire incident was unfortunate.”
“I wished to speak with you.”
“We were under a spell?”
“That is immaterial.”
“Observe. This is my Skill.”
“Oh. That’s what you meant by Skills.”
“Yes. It is my sole Skill.”
“The [Illumination] spell. How’s it going?”
“Nah. I’m not going anywhere in a hurry. Why?”
“She’s a big Human. She’ll be fine.”
“A half-Gazer? Is that what she was?”
“You don’t get it.”
“A good sword.”
“That is good.”
“You did not.”
“Wow. Wow. Uh. Wow.”
“Have you seen Calruz?”
“Tell us now. If she’s after us—”
“Well then. Until we meet again.”
“That's what I thought.”
“I refer to Skills.”
“It was her fault.”
“That and more.”
“We do not.”
“My wand is caught!”
“Do you know her?”
“Activated skills. Combat skills.”
“[Flashfire].”
“You…do not know?”
“I know.”
“Where was I?”
“A few months?”
“Sort of. Why?”
“About what? Skills?”
“Won’t that break?”
“Sit down.”
“Check.”
“True enough.”
“Anything.”
“Farewell.”
“Noooooooo.”
“Follow me.”
“Ow.”
“Weak.”
“Soon.”
“Ryoka.”
“Um. Okay. Thank you.”
“Damnation!”
“Sostrom!”
“Which inn?”
“Hey.”
“Wait. You said—”
“No.”
“Excuse me.”
“Oh?”
“Excuse me.”
“Excuse me?”
“Uh—”
“No.”