QuestWright BK2 C28: Pay Attention (Patreon)

It was easier. 

Contrary to what he’d done in the past, each subsequent edit clarified the Exponential Daily until one clean set of directions was left on the page. There were still issues, as Pellin had intimated to System Engineering: the order of his conversation did matter, just not in the way he’d expected.

For the third edit, Cass changed the Quest-type to Delivery. Each time he worked, he tried to reduce the amount of conversation, thereby making the Quest shorter and to the point.

[TIER 1 DELIVERY QUEST]

Deliver the sealed parcel from Liberty Loaders G to Merchant Lysa Torren at Collinsworth markets in the 4th ring.

The parcel/package must remain unopened and undamaged till the end.

Delivery must be completed before sundown.

Confirmation of receipt is required.

Reward: 5xp

Cassio Vale

Liberty Guildtower

QuestWright

I switched back and forth between "parcel" and "package" in my conversation. That’s why it did the swap up in the middle there. I’ll need to be more direct.

Though nobody had ever explained efficiency in Questmaking to him, he thought it came down to how many words and directions were involved. And since he had Waypoint as a guide, there wasn’t as much that needed to be said. The endpoint had to be placed gently, allowing his ability to pick up the slack in the conversation.

I’ve been yammering in my Quests. The shorter and clearer I can make each, the less confusing it’ll be for the Questor.

I don’t need to say go here, breathe this much, take this many steps, and then grab this bucket. Just pick up supplies from this place. The location will already be expecting them as they created the Quest. The endpoint is also already set from Waypoint. 

Maybe it’s not about providing perfect instructions. Maybe it’s about trusting the Questor and not overloading things.

Just like the System did with me…combine the two.

It was likely there was more to do in terms of efficiency than he expected. He’d learn more about that when the moment called for it, but it felt right, and Cass decided to trust those feelings.

Editing the Vellum a 4th time as he worked on clearly explaining a Delivery Quest, he barely noticed when the Vellum's glow shrank. On the 5th edit, there was barely a glow at all. That made him slightly nervous, with a hint of curiosity.

A few moments later…

“Fire!” Gary yelled as Cass dropped the blue, burning page to the wooden floor. Shaking his hand as the flames had licked his fingers, he helped Gary put out the fire by grabbing another large jar of water and dumping it on the oddly colored flames.

The Baker came closer and shoved Cass's shoulder, “What the hell were you doing? Trying to burn down the neighbourhood? Has Liberty somehow turned you into a pyromaniac like Jenny from a few years back?”

“What? Jenny was a pyro way before she got her crazyass Calling. I was just editing the Vellum. I uh…guess there's a limit to how many times I can do that.”

“A limit?” Gary took a deep breath. “Cass, your Calling is crazy dangerous. I've never heard of a Combatant who faces danger near as much as you do. You’re a QuestWright, damnit!”

“Maybe I'm just special.”

“Specially stupid, you mean.”

“That doesn't make sense.”

“Neither does your face!”

With Cass's mouth still open as he tried to find a rebuttal, Gary pointed at his own eyes before throwing a finger back at Cass while slowly backing away. The door to his shared room with Pellin slammed shut with a slight bang.

“How rude…” 

Cass cleaned up the wet ashes off the carpet, trying to ignore the oddly sweet smell of vellum burning in the air. There would always be a black spot there, but he decided to use the event as a reminder that he could only make so many edits before the paper gave up and self-immolated.

Now alone in what could closely be called a living room, Cass sat back down and called the Quill into being. Activating the Tutorial again, he looked at the two words staring at him as the Outliner struck the ceiling.

This time I’m going to do it right.

Closing his eyes, he pictured what he wanted to say, and the words he would say it in. His experiments thus far had shown that his diction, or word choice, mattered almost as much as the order and clarity of his speech. Combining everything together was the final step, not the first.

With a breath, he took in the outlined Quest, then activated draft.

This Quest will not activate for 5 minutes. When it does, it will appear in a calm, blue script that is pleasing to the eyes. The timing and coloring are part of its purpose. 

Originally, when Cass activated a Draft, it would immediately begin production. Writing on a Vellum, in the case of standard emotional drafting; Writing in the sky, as was the case with using the Quill. But he’d discovered in his 4th and 5th edits that if he began by plainly telling the System that the Quest was meant to be delayed, it would hold off on any kind of action.

With the Draft still running, he paused, then began to speak about what was shown on the outline itself. As long as he didn’t stop drafting the Quest, he could continue on for as long as necessary. That meant he could separate instructions into sections for anything complicated. New possibilities continually opened in his mind, but he held those thoughts off so he wouldn’t have to take the stamina drain twice.

This is a Quest about filling out forms. There are bins…

Cass paused after the outline, then added a final, small section at the end. The second he deactivated the Draft, it informed the System he was done with the conversation. Still sitting on the couch, he felt a sense of minor exhaustion as the Airscript Quill took its due. A few minutes went by…then a few more.

“I should’ve delayed it by thirty seconds.” 

Gary opened the door and exited his bedroom. “Did you say something?”

“Just that I’m an idiot,” Cass replied with a tired smile.

“Well, that wasn’t in doubt. Sometimes I think- What the hell!”

All at once, blue writing appeared in the air.

[TIER 1 ADMINISTRATIVE QUEST]

Within the (location), place each completed folder into its correctly labeled bin.

Folders must be placed without misfiling.

All assigned folders must be sorted before the end of the current shift.

Confirmation of completion is required.

Reward: 5xp

Gary 

The Weenus’d Loser

Immediately after, the words faded and were replaced.

Hidden step found: Alter the QuestWright Moniker

+50 System Reputation

Reverting back to the standard tutorial…

Congratulations.

You’ve discovered advanced formatting in Quest creation. By controlling the words and separating instructions during Drafting, Quests can become intrinsic components of a QuestWright’s purpose.

Step 4: Create a conditional Quest

Gary circled around the writing, “I was sure I saw it. That said I was a weenus’d loser, didn’t it.”

A slightly tired Cass smiled, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I saw it!”

“You’ve got flour in your eyes!”

“There’s no flour in this whole apartment!”

They argued like that for another ten minutes until the door opened. Adya walked in, a scowl on her face and sweat liberally dripping onto her leather clothing. She looked at them both, then at the black mark on the ground, then sighed.

“I’m too tired for this shit.”

Both Gary and Cass were smart enough not to say anything until she went into the bathroom, after which the argument started up again. A refreshed and clean Adya exited the room later to find them both seated on the couch, a gap wide enough between them to be called a chasm.

“What happened to your eye, Gary?” She asked sweetly.

“Nothing…”

“Uh-huh,” She replied, unconvinced. “Did you guys fight?”

“No!”

“Then why does Cass look so smug?”

Cass threw a victorious finger in the air with aplomb, “It’s still one nothing, Gary!”

“That’s not fair! How could you even tell I was going for it! One moment, I’m sneaking up, then the next, your elbow is in my eye! It’s gonna be bruised for a week, I swear.”

“You’re too big to be quiet, and I have excellent reflexes!” A triumphant Cass cackled. “Never again will I be caught by a surprise Weenus!”

Tsking through it all, Adya calmly nodded, “Mmm-right. Cassio, I think it’s time for me to show you the surprise. You ready?”

He stood up with a smart salute, causing Gary to shudder reflexively against the couch. Cass magnanimously pretended not to notice, “Ready and willing, Scout Adya.”

“Let's go.”

Exiting the building, Cass noted a tired Bella weakly nodding at him. Even the emotions she sent were nothing but exhaustion.

He turned to the Scout to quietly say, “What did he do to you guys?’

“Drills…so, so many drills.” She said with a grimace. They both walked over and patted her, but for once, Cass could tell she didn’t want to follow them. Giving her a quick peck on her horsey cheek, he promised to see her later. They left the small courtyard attached to the building and entered the open thoroughfare of the 5th ring.

For a while, Adya led him through the streets, refusing any questions about what they were doing or where they were going. It was only when she started to slow, her feet pointed toward a specific, wide-door’d shop at the end of the street, that he understood.

Eileen’s Identifying Services

You can’t know what it’s worth without a good Identify!

“An identifier?”

“Yup,” She said with a big grin.

As the radiance of her smile hit him, Cass was forced to have an internal monologue with his heart. Calm down, boy. All in good time.

His voice cracked a little as he said, “Why are we at an identifier?”

“Now, Cassio Vale,” She replied with jolly, hands planted firmly on her hips. “I thought you were much smarter than that.”

“I got distracted.”

“By what?”

Be honest, “Your smile.”

“Uh…oh.” She gave him another, and his heart fluttered. “I don’t see that as a bad thing, even if my happiness makes you suddenly become stupid. Come on, QuestWright.”

She took his hand and led him up to the door. Two loud knocks rang out from her fist before an eyehole revealed itself on the other side.

A wheezy woman’s voice breathed out, “Whatcha got to show me?”

Adya reached into her back pocket to produce something. She held it up closely, “Will this do?”

A pause, then “Good ‘nuff,” stuck the air. The eyehole closed with a snap, then a moment went by before the door opened. A wrinkled hand reached out, which Adya immediately placed the item on. Cass finally got a good look at what it was.

A red tooth.

“What an interesting find. Come in, come in.” The woman said. She was wearing what looked like a nice dress for the occupants of the 5th ring. Hunched forward, she shuffled over to a metal contraption on a long, glass desk before clicking on a light. 

“This is from a low-tier Monster, but I haven’t seen its like before. What’d the System call it?”

“It’s from an Alpha Gnarled Hopper. One tried to sneak up on me in the wilds after tracking us a ways. Took me quite a bit to kill the damned thing.”

“Interesting.” She moved the light over the tooth, holding it up at several different angles. “Hmmph. Go ahead and look around. I’m gonna need a minute to see what this is worth.” She tapped it lightly on the table, “Might be able to sell it to a collector.”

Adya gave her a big smile, “Thank you, Eileen. Also, Alan says hi.”

“Did he say when our next date was?’

“He did not.”

“Pity. Haven’t seen him in months.” She waved them off as Adya pulled Cass aside.

He gave her a look that said, is this what your plan was? Then looked around a bit. The first thing he noticed was a sword resting on a long table beside his arm with a tag attached to it.

[IDENTIFY REPORT]

Generic Longsword

Crafter: Unknown

Grade: Standard

Material: Carbon Steel Blade, Oak Core Grip, Substandard Leather binding

Weight: 3.1 lbs

Properties:

Balanced: Weight distribution has been optimized for controlled swings and steady thrusting.

Cost: 30 Crests

Even as Cass looked at it, Profile went haywire. First, it took an image and put that in the side of his vision. Thenit also began breaking down what made the sword Balanced in its description, adding that information to their Index as it started to break down it’s parts by components. Cass’s mouth dropped open as he turned around and looked at the room.

Each item had an Identifier tag for him to look through.

“Adya…I.”

“Hah,” She planted a kiss on his lips, “I knew that would make you speechless. Don’t worry, you won’t be the only one looking everything over. You start here, and I’ll start on the other side.”

“Won’t she be done with the tooth before we’ve gone over everything?”

Adya reached into her pocket and pulled a small leather bag. Dumping its contents revealed several dozen more teeth of several varieties, “I got these from Alan when he told me about the place.”

“I thought you didn’t care about the changes to Profile.”

She shrugged, “But you do. So it matters to me.”

Overcome by her thoughtfulness, he teleported to her lips, giving her a strong enough kiss that the sound of it alerted the owner of the store. A wheezy voice rang out in the room, “I can Identify where that is leading, too. Keep it in your pants and out of my shop.”

“Sorry!”