A nice day out

Earlier this week I’ve attempted to find an armor-smith to fix my chain mail because it was eroded from the touch of the pudding and oozes the last quest. Unfortunately, I found some dwarf that told me he could fix my armor, but not before the quest. Even when I tried to bribe him with more money to prioritize my order, he couldn’t do it. I am not that stupid to go on a quest without armor, so I decided I’ll return when my quest is done. Disappointed, I walked back to the guild to find that the sign-up sheet for the quest was filled.

Lady Miora would like a party of four to take out her darling boy Dennis and some other services. She is a wealthy woman who usually pays well for these kinds of things.

Reward: 200 GP

The participants are Zeph (who I already know), Anki (the older woman who got knocked out during Battle Royale), and Poppy (who I do not know yet, but I’ve seen her around Heroes Roost, and think she’s very attractive). We gather around the board and wait for Desmund.

“So… You’re going to Lady Miora? Do you guys know how to get there?” Zeph remembers lady Mioras’ house is in the same district as the Birchwind manor. “Alan, do you know where it is?” asks Anki. “Yeah! Of course!” I respond, however, I don’t know – I did not pay attention while walking the last time, the neighborhood wasn’t that interesting. I make an attempt to describe how to walk, but fall silent a couple of seconds in. Luckily, Poppy knows. “Ah, beauty AND brains… NICE.” I say. While walking, we introduce ourselves.

“Hi, I’m Anki. I’m living here for quite some time now. Great to meet you all!” I shake her hand. “I’m Alan, nice to meet you.” “Hi! I’m Poppy! I’ve been away for a while, but have recently returned searching for information and knowledge about all sorts of things.” “Are you good with children?” asks Zeph in general. “Um… not particularly…” Anki responds. “I have some experience with kids…” says Poppy. “I don’t have any experience with kids, but I have experience dealing with wealthy people,” I say confidently. We stop talking when we get to the gates of the Gold Cloud district.

“Do you have a quest here?” asks the guard. “Yes,” Anki says, stepping forward. I see she is grabbing the paper describing the quest from her pocket. To make a statement, I grab the parchment out of her brittle hand and step in front of her, holding out the quest for the guard to see. I hope I’m coming off as a leader to Poppy and the guard. The guard lets us through the gates.

We approach lady Mioras’ house. It is not as big as the Birchwinds’, so I’m even more underwhelmed. There is a big front door with a large knocker in the shape of an angel symbol. I grab the knocker and knock three times. An old man opens the door: who are you? Anki starts introducing our group: “We’re from Heroes R-” “Heroes Roost!” I exclaim, interrupting Anki and stepping forward again. “We’re here for lady Miora, who has a quest for us.” “Yes… Okay… I’ll get lady Miora. I’ll return shortly.” the old man turns around and closes the door.

After FIVE minutes, I sigh: “Damn. I’ve never experienced this. The AUDACITY to keep us waiting for so long… No one from my court has EVER taken so long to fetch anyone.” The door opens and we see an eloquent-looking lady with dark hair, and some crow’s feet around her eyes (nah, too old for me). “Come in,” I make room to let Poppy go in first, push Anki aside once again, and follow Poppy. Inside, she calls for Dennis. Suddenly, a giant dog runs around the corner. “This is Dennis.” What in the nine hells, this is not a boy… this is a DOG. “Um, lady Miora, we thought we needed to take care of your son.” “Yes, this is kind of a son to me. Dennis is part of the family, it is so normal to me, I forgot to put that minor detail in the assignment.”

“While you’re walking Dennis, could you pick up some groceries along the way? I don’t have any time.” lady Miora is talking to Zeph now, who’s petting Dennis and letting him lick his face. I see Poppy looking horrified and sick, so I step back and under my breath, ask her how she’s doing. She tells me she doesn’t want the dog near her, because she doesn’t want any saliva on her or that the dog touches her for that matter. I stand in front of her, distancing her from Dennis. “Why did you ask us to take care of your ‘boy’ and groceries? We’re adventurers, heroes! You have staff don’t you?!” I ask lady Miora. “I heard master Birchwinds’ review of you and wanted to see for myself. I would like you to pick up some tableware on at the marketplace, get a painting that is made for me at the atelier, and get some books from the tavern.” We are led out of the mansion, and on the street, Anki grabs Dennis’ leash. Zeph knows all the errands to run are in the Emporium district, so we can possibly get all of the items at once, without having to store them in the meantime. We get to the guards, and we can see Dennis looks a bit fearful to one of them. His collar starts to glow, but nothing happens. “Why do the runes on his collar glow?” Zeph asks. “Oh, oh, maybe it is for when it is dark outside? Hmm… No… Hold up! I recognize it from the Feywild where I’m from!”

We walk to the market first. This is the place we need to get the tableware. Anki says it might be handy to do this last because it might be heavy to lift. “I’m quite strong…” I say passive-aggressively. “I’m not,” Poppy says. “Oh but Poppy, beautiful women don’t necessarily have to BE strong,” I reply flirtatiously. Nevertheless, we decide to first get the painting. We walk over the market and hear a lot of vendors screaming and see many people cluttering around the stands. A couple of minutes later we get to the painter. He has a lot of paintings, all abstract, but some are portraits. I don’t like any of the abstract paintings, but I can see Zeph is interested. He is telling Anki how he interprets a painting in the window-front. However, the story – which I’m not listening to – is making Anki sad. I tell Zeph to stop talking in order not to take any more years from Anki, making her die sooner than necessary. Inside, we see a guy working on a painting. Zeph wants to stay outside with Dennis and let us go in, but the rest of us are skeptical. “You’re might not be the best person to stay behind, Zeph. Maybe Alan can stay, as he is bigger and can probably hold Dennis better than you can.” Anki says. Eventually, we take Dennis inside. Zeph orders Dennis to ‘sit!’, and surprisingly, Dennis obliges. I’m quite impressed with Zeph. Apparently, he is good with animals. “Welcome, how can I help you?” the painter says. “Oh! HEY DENNIS!” he pets the dog. “You’re here for the portrait of lady Miora and this little tyke, right?” He walks to the back after we’ve confirmed. He returns with a big package – it is not heavy, but long and difficult to hold. I take the painting under my arm and walk outside. “Give Marcos’ regards to lady Miora!” he says as we leave the store.

We walk to the tavern where Zeph and I went earlier to get the books. When we enter, we see the tavern is very busy. The drunken guy from last time is there too. Again, Zeph talks to him, and AGAIN he is scared shitless of the fairy. He drinks his beer in one go and rubs his eyes. “I think you need to get home, son,” Anki says while slapping him on the shoulder. “WHO IS THAT?!” the drunkard asks. “That is Zeph, he is a member of Heroes Roost.” I look around and see that not all of us entered the tavern. I search for Poppy, and at that moment, I see her opening the door – dress heaved up off the floor and with a disgusted facial expression. I think she has a fear of dirt and not looking good or something. All of us walk to the bar. “Hey, Carl!” I say, recognizing the bartender. “We’re here for lady Mioras’ package.” “Yes! The books. I’ll go get them.” He grabs a meter of books tied together and puts them on the bar. I lift them, but the party decides to split them up and put them inside our personal bags. Poppy and Anki take most of them.

The only thing left is the tableware, so we walk back to the marketplace. We pass a butcher and we can all smell the prepared meat inside. Suddenly, I don’t see Dennis walking in front of us. Shit! Where is that stupid dog?! And also: that is NOT a normal dog! Luckily, we see Dennis begging for a piece of sausage inside the butchers’ store. We go in to get him. Zeph now knows what kind of a dog he is: Dennis is a Blink Dog. I don’t know what that is, but according to Poppy, it is a dog from the Feywild that can teleport. The collar must be to control the dog from teleporting. “Is this dog yours?” the butcher asks. “Technically, no, but we are dog-sitting.” We take Dennis outside, but we have a difficult time getting him out of the store because he’s still eating sausage off the floor.

We enter the market, but directly after we hear a guy next to us saying: “Ey, you there.” The guy has a bandage on his head and seems big and muscular. He walks towards us. “You know, I’ve killed a Green Dragon.” he shows his sword. It has a nice color, but I don’t completely believe the guy. His name is Dirk Moonglace. “What is your swords’ name?” I ask. 

“My sword doesn’t have a name, actions speak louder than words,” he says. “I killed a Green Dragon with this sword.” I think it is stupid, not to name your sword if it has helped you to do great deeds. I think about my new sword Desecrator, destroyer of oozes. 

“But ey, that dog of yours. I just saw him flash away. Is he yours?” 

“It is our clients,” I reply coolly. 

“Who is your client?” 

“That is none of your f*kcing business.” 

“You know what, just give me the dog. I reckon it belongs to some noble family. Let’s be friends, I’ll rid you of this thing.”

At that comment, Anki tries to hit him in the face. Unfortunately, she misses. 

“I WANT THAT DOG. NOW!” Dirk Moonglace yells. Seconds later, three friends come back him up.

Anki gets slashed and Dirk tries to attack me too. Annoyingly, I still have the painting in my hands, but I manage to avoid his attack. Zeph flies to the roof, leaving a glittery cloud behind – luckily, I’m out of reach. “Go, Alan, Go!” he yells. I try to slash Dirk with my sword, but the painting is SO big and clunky that I miss. I curse and put the painting safely against the wall. When I’ve done that, one of Dirks’ friends attacks Poppy. In my mind I’ve already attacked that guy – you keep your hands off-off pretty ladies, especially pretty ladies that I am in contact with. Poppy looks at her dress: it is completely ripped up and covered in blood. I expected her to burst out into tears, but what she does really impresses me. “NOT. SO. SMART.” she says to her attacker.

Before my very own eyes, she transforms into a dragon! The dragon growls loud – terrifying the attacker, but also scaring everyone on the market. Dennis also attacks a guy but also teleports.

Great. Just great. How are we going to find that stupid Blink Dog now?! In all of this confusion, the big guy (Dirk) tries to run away but hits me really hard with his sword. I spit out some blood and watch him approach Poppy. Zeph knocks someone out from the roof, and Poppy kills her attacker. Suits him well. Zeph also makes sure my wounds heal up again, so I can run after Dirk. One of Dirks’ accomplices runs off out of terror. Dirk, in his turn, attacks Poppy, like he wants to prove something. From behind, I attack him with Desecrator and hit him right in the shoulder. As Dirk wants to turn around to pay me back for what I’ve done, he paralyzes. “Give up,” Anki says to him. “He has been paralyzed!”

This is awesome! My attack with Desecrator caused my enemy to be SO in awe of me and the party, that he is just paralyzed. Before I can tell the party this, Anki bursts my bubble: “I’ve paralyzed him with my magic!” Dirk is looking very, very angry at me, Anki, and Poppy. Poppy even makes it worse by taunting him. “I found Dennis!” yells Zeph from the other side of the street. That is great news! However, I keep an eye on Dirk, ready to attack if he tries something nasty. Suddenly, Zeph yells again, but now in surprise. The next moment, I see Dennis popping up next to Anki. Anki waits for Zeph and together they walk to the market. After Poppy dealt her last insult, she transforms back into her ‘normal’ self and walks off.

“Come on, Alan, let’s go!” Anki calls. However, Dirk breaks his paralysis and I react directly. I deal much damage, but he attacks me as well and runs away. That is NOT how you finish a fight dear, sir! Heavily bloodied I run after him and attack with Desecrator, but miss. From behind me, someone shoots an eldridge blast to Dirk, but that doesn’t stop him. “COME ON ALAN, LEAVE HIM!” I hear from behind me. But, I cannot let this dishonorable person get away. As a last resort, I throw my javelin at him. It hits him in his back and makes him fall to the ground. I beat him, YES! I walk to Dirk and loot him: I find 14 gold pieces and his sword. I take both before the people in the market can see I just ransacked a dead guy. I walk off, back to the party. Zeph crosses my path: he flies towards Dirk and stabilizes him, so he doesn’t die from his injuries.

At the market, we find a woman behind the stand of the tableware. I am bleeding a lot, and feel really horrible. “This, you don’t deserve…” Anki says. She places her hand on my chest and heals me. I instantly feel a lot better. We get a big chest with the tableware order and have to redistribute all items to be able to carry everything. Poppy now takes the painting, and Anki and I take the chest. Zeph will keep an eye on Dennis and hold his leash. On our way, we walk past the guards again. Poppy asks one of the guys to help her with the painting and I can see she is flirting with the guy. I am not that happy about that but keep a poker face – at least, I try to. The guard walks us to lady Miora, carrying the painting. The other guard doesn’t understand at all, but cannot leave his post.

Along the way, there are some shenanigans: Dennis growls to a servant of another house. The servant wears a blue cloak. Suddenly, Dennis blinks and pops up next to the servant, biting him. Directly after, we’re getting surrounded by guards. The guard who’s charmed by Poppy tries to calm everyone down before they attack us. Someone helps the blue-cloaked servant up, but Anki walks up to him. She wants him to show himself, but he clearly doesn’t want to. What is she up to? The other guards grab her and push her back. “Sir, are you hiding something?” they ask. A guard sees something on the servants’ belt: some herbs. Zeph smells it and explains that the plants on the belt are covered in the urine of a Displacer Beast. Those beasts are enemies of Blink Dogs. The servant apologizes and tells us that he did not know that. Poppy calls him out: “That isn’t true. You know that for a fact, don’t you?!”

Apparently, the servants’ boss is someone against lady Miora. “Choose a boss that is less politically involved,” Poppy says to him. We plan to tell lady Miora about this guy working for the Greybond he mentioned.

We walk back with all errands to lady Miora. The same guy opens the door, and before I can put my feet between the door to immediately follow him, it closes. We wait for 5 minutes to have lady Miora open the door again. In the meantime, we collect the books and put them on top of the chest. Lady Miora thanks us for watching Dennis and running her errands. We tell her about Dennis escaping a couple of times, about Dirk, and the Greybond. She tells us that she knows about the Greybond family wanting to steal Dennis. We ask lady Miora if she wants the stuff delivered inside. “So, let me see how strong you are…” says Poppy. I feel like I really need to prove myself and step up my game to impress her. With some difficulty, I lift the books and chest in one go and put them inside the house. Anki follows with the painting.

“You did wonderfully.” lady Miora says happily. “I did not expect this to go so smoothly at all. How much did I say you’ll get paid?” “400 gold pieces,” I respond. I know that the assignment specifically said 200, but I try to bluff. Lady Miora asks for the assignment, but Zeph already tells the truth: “It was 200 gold pieces…” Dammit Zeph, I ALMOST realized 400 gold pieces. “You know what…” lady Miora says. “I’ll give you 200 gold pieces PER PERSON!” She also gives us a pearl necklace and thanks us again for our help.

We walk back to the guild. “Everything worked out? Did you get a good reward?” Desmund asks when we enter. “Yes! It was certainly worth the effort.” I respond.

Together with the party, we walk to Rogma to identify the green-bladed sword I took from Dirk. Rogma identifies the sword: it is a Dragons’ wreath weapon (slumbering). Apparently, Dirk DID slay a green dragon..? I think I’ll call this sword ‘Poisonous Wreath, slayer of dragonslayers’.

When I get upstairs, I see a new member of Heroes Roost, talking to Poppy… Who the hell is that guy? Conan? Never heard of him, so he probably isn’t a prince or an important warrior. Hopefully, I don’t have anything to fear from him when it comes to Poppy.