QuestWright Bk2: C51: Strange Is What We Do (Patreon)

Author update:

Hello!

Welcome to Summer chapters. Following this, I should have another chapter this weekend. It'll be shorter, but it's at the request of more than a few readers, and I felt now was the right time. Since this chapter is longer, the next being shorter is my way of balancing out the word count.

Now, the results of the poll were overwhelmingly for Tycoon. A few of you said, "No, QuestWright, and I'm gone", and that's totally fine. I get it, and I appreciate your support nonetheless. So don't be thinkin I'm a bitter old man (just old)...(never mind, I'm bitter too. Like the pit of a lemon).

So, without further adiue, here's the first attempted cover:

I'm a fan of it because of the bar graphs, though one of my betareaders hates it. Let me know what you think. I can come up with other variations, but this one stuck to my ribs a bit. Yes, it's AI. I normally use AI covers as idea generators, then get an artist to make a new one. I'm still paying them, but I can't draw for the life of me.

Big parts of the story are planned, and I've gotta say, it's a wild ride. Like a flash forward, here's some events we're looking at:

Characterization to start. A mistake, that's not a mistake, turning into an important choice. Starting small, with lofty goals. Build, build, build.

The difficult part for some readers is that QuestWright book 4 is going to have a few commonalities with Tycoon, so it requires that I write it differently. I'm thinking about doing 1st person pov for the first time. This is a story that's much more about the MC than anything else I've written, so I thought that would fit better than a limited 3rd-person narrative.

Now, for this week's ReaderQuest:

Quest ID: JDM-0004-SE-EA

[Special Edition Reader Quest]

Assignment: Build the Binder

If you’re like most people, you remember your failures in excruciating, vivid detail. However, how many of you can honestly say you remember your successes? 

Or even better, how many of you can say, you remember the impact you’ve had on others?

This Quest is to help you do that.

Your Task

Create a physical or digital binder dedicated to evidence.

What kind of evidence, you might wonder.

Begin collecting items such as:

Letters
Cards
Kind messages
Emails
Text messages
Photographs
Thank you notes
Words of encouragement
Memories written down by hand

Anything that reminds you that your life has touched another person's.

It’s called an “I love me” binder, and it’s very useful for those dark times when you’re doubting all of your life’s choices. 

If you don’t have a lot to add, who cares? It’s about building it up.

Rules

The binder must contain at least three entries to begin.
At least one entry must come from another person.
The binder must remain accessible for future updates.

Completion Condition

One binder created. Three entries archived.

Timeframe: One Week

Reward: 20 XP

Someday, the monster in your head will claim that nobody cares.

Build the evidence before the trial begins.

—

J D Mullenary Sr
The Original QuestWright

Now, on to the show:

Chapter 51: Strange Is What We Do

Despite his wishes to the contrary, Dain carried Cass up the stairs, Adya close behind. It was funny to note that everyone else stayed below as a second neigh rippled down from above.

Dain, on the other hand, had a blissful smile on his face as they climbed.

“You’re not nervous about what’s up there?” Cass asked.

The big man shrugged, bouncing Cass a little in his arms as he spoke in a deep timbre, “From what I could tell, you did some big things in the Dungeon. Maybe saved a few of us from some serious trouble. Figured a little bravery is the least I can offer.”

Cass decided right then…he liked Dain.

The last few steps cast a blinding light upon them after hours within the Underdark. He couldn’t see, but he heard a voice in his head nonetheless.

What hath befallen thou?

Cass blinked a few times, willing his eye to adjust, “I’m okay, Bella girl. Nothing a few good meals can’t fix.” Another few seconds passed before his vision cleared. Bella was absolutely enormous.

Dost thou like…?

After they’d bonded and Cass had found a tolerance for reading, he’d looked into things. Draft horses aren’t small. Most stand between sixteen and nineteen hands tall, whereas a normal horse would barely touch their lowest limit. Bella had already been larger than most, coming close to the maximum the book had offered.

Now? She was easily twenty-one hands, her head clearing the roof of the bar.

She turned in place like a strutting peacock, showing off powerful muscles across her rear and forelocks. As if he weren’t looking close enough, she reared back before coming forward to pound the Earth. Even held in Dain’s powerful arms, he felt the vibration in the ground.

“What did you pick?” Cass asked as Dain took a small step back, his bravery quickly forgotten.

Herald, naturally.

“What the hell is Herald as a Calling?”

“In time, I can give a small answer for that,” Alan said, stepping past a gawking Adya. He came close to Bella with no fear as he looked her over, then stopped, staring straight into her eyes. His head sharply swiveled in Cass’s direction.

“I guess I know what you spent your points on, now.”

Cass lifted his chin, “A promise is a promise, Alan.”

“Guess so.” He tapped Bella's chest, then looked behind her, “You owe me money.”

“What?” Cass looked where his face was pointing. Apparently, Bella had been quite excited to get her Calling, as she’d walked through the edge of the bar, knocking down several structural poles, judging by the slanted and collapsing roof. An angry Will stood just outside, rag in hand and a frown on his face.

Cass looked from the collapsing roof to Bella. Bella looked from the collapsing roof to Cass, then, very deliberately, looked away from his eye contact.

“Bella…”

I see nothing.

“You knocked down part of the bar!”

The structure was already weak.

Cass couldn’t help but note that her terrible Shakespearean language had fled at the first sign of trouble. Alan’s voice slammed down like a closing door. 

“How much do you think, Will?”

“Mmm,” The high-tier bartender said, “At least 200 Crests.”

“Wait,” A weak, trembling voice said. Gary was climbing the stairs with a pale Orla in his arms. She lifted a hand, a single thin finger pointing in Will’s direction. 

“That’s….bullshit.”

“You haven’t even looked at the damage,” Alan coldly replied.

Orla’s eyes still hadn’t adjusted as they flickered, “It’s still bullshit.”

“Wasn’t sure if you were still alive,” Cass commented, relieved his friend had the energy and wherewithal to argue.

“I will not be returning to the Dungeon.” She said matter-of-factly. Patting Gary’s arm, he put her down, and she wobbled as more people shuffled up the stairs. “My time fighting monsters is over. My time dominating Liberty has just begun, and you’re now on my list, Will.”

“I thought we were friends?”

“There are no friends in business.”

With Gary’s support, Orla stepped into a monetary battle on Cass’s behalf. Meanwhile, he asked Dain to move him closer to his horse. Bella had already gotten over her embarrassment as she preened for all the others gawking as they exited the tunnel.

Adya got there first, as she began massaging the massive horse’s muscles.

“Bella? What happened to you?”

Tell her I have at last received my Calling.

Cass dutifully spoke for her as they went back and forth while everyone finally escaped the darkness below. There were tears for the fallen, as they didn’t leave a body behind. But everyone knew what going into a Dungeon could bring. So while water was shed and burial plans were shared, it didn’t stop them from considering the expedition a success. 

Liberty had one less dungeon.

In the midst of Bella explaining what had happened, Cass fell asleep from pure exhaustion. He woke up with a large plate of cold food on a table beside him, the lumpy feel of Adya’s uncomfortable bed pressing into his back.

Within the quiet darkness, he took a deep breath, then weakly leaned over and grabbed the plate. It was gone so quickly that he barely noticed his fork scraping against the off-white plate. A light shone from the gap at the bottom of the door, and suddenly, there was Adya with a smile and a candle.

She closed the door behind her, “Orla talked Will down to 100 Crests and using Bella for the heavy carrying. She’s very talented.”

“Or just mean,” Cass said, blinking, then blinking again.

Something was funny with his vision. He reached up and rubbed his bad eye, but the oddity was still there. Adya took one look at him, then quickly moved closer and held the candle up.

“Cass…your eye is healed.”

“What?”

She covered his good eye, and he discovered to his shock that she was right. He could see. Reaching over next to the empty plate, he picked up the dark eyepatch he’d been wearing since the war against the Dark Guilds. Holding it in his hands, he rubbed the material, thinking back to when the changeling had cut his sight of the world in half.

How strange to suddenly not need this anymore.

Then, he put it back on.

Adya tilted her head, “Why?”

“It’s a little too miraculous, Adya. I’ve been told that there are healers who can fix it, but I’ve also learned that they’re expensive. I don’t need Liberty to know what my abilities are.”

“Miraculous is the word I’d use for a lot of things lately. About ten minutes after you fell asleep, Bella shrank down to normal. About ten minutes after that, she shrank down even more.” Adya shook her head, “Strangest thing I’ve seen since a boy I kind of like lost a quarter of his weight in an hour. I’m sure there are some ladies out there who would kill for your abilities.”

“Only kind of?” Cass replied with an eyebrow wiggle.

She put the candle down and pulled him against her as he leaned his head down so they touched. They rested like that for a time, until she spoke.

“You’re already a skeleton of your former self. They’re going to notice some weird things happening with you at the Guildtower.”

“True.”

She kissed the top of his head and pulled back, “We won’t be here forever.”

“No,” He sighed, “I imagine we’ll be gone in the next six months.”

“So specific,” He could hear the curious tilt to her voice, so he guessed what she would say next. “Care to explain how you know?”

“Because I made a deal.”

He explained his bargain and what he’d learned from the Source, then waited as she looked at him incredulously, moving further away on the bed. The feeling she sent his way was brittle and cold.

“How could you make that deal?”

Cass sighed. ‘I was desperate. For all I know, Bella’s Calling wouldn’t be there the next time I close a portal. Or even if there would be a next time. Now, Bella’s a Herald, and she can level up just like us.”

Adya looked at him doubtfully, “Do you understand the consequences of what you’ve done?”

“I do,” Cass nodded. “While I wasn’t in that between space forever, I thought about it a lot. This-” He pointed at his eye, “- is just the start of some things that will be changing. Closing the portals and cleansing corruption is a step on the road, not the end goal.” He paused, looking up as he tried to find the right words. “I feel like this is something I need to do, beyond the geas. No more portals, no more dungeons, no more monsters, people in need-”

“And all the pressure on us…” Adya finished for him.

“Hasn’t it always been?” Cass asked her with a smile, one she didn’t return. “But we can do it, we can do anything, together.”

There was a light thawing, “With Bella holding what seems like a really strange Calling?”

Cass grinned. “Strange is what we do.”

She paused, and he slipped his hand into hers, even if she didn’t grip him back tightly. Her emotions rippled through several forms before she asked.

“Don’t you ever just wish we could get away?” The brittleness shattered as a small void opened up within her. “Go somewhere where it can just be us three, and no monsters to threaten us?”

“Like, where, the Capital?” He didn’t mean to put any heat in his voice, but it was there all the same. “Where the Sovereign can toy with me? Or how about the other Guilds, who are probably even more messed up than ours is?” Cass shook his head, “If we want peace, we’ll have to earn it ourselves, and probably at the end of your spear.”

“There’s no reason to be angry.” 

“I’m not-”

“Cass, I can feel what you’re feeling.”

“Oh yeah…” They both paused, then laughed at each other, Cass starting first. “Sorry, Addy.”

“I hate that nickname.”

“Then I’ll only use it once a month.”

“Never.” She swatted his shoulder, which had the unintended side effect of pushing him almost off the bed. “Sorry!” She yelled, catching him quickly. “I forgot how weak you are.”

“Tis but a moment,” Cass said with a sigh, mimicking Bella's conversational style. He looked at Adya seriously, “I’m not ignoring what you’re saying, and I’m sorry I got mad. It wasn’t at you, just the situation we’re in. There are things we can do that others can’t, and I feel like I’m responsible if bad things continue to happen because I didn’t act on them.”

She rubbed a thumb over his hand, “You’re set on this course?”

“I am, besides, I didn’t tell you the other things I negotiated for. Bella’s Calling was just one of them.”

He leaned over and whispered in her ear as she first looked at him with confusion, then started to laugh.

Cass missed work as he ate enough food in the day to wipe out a Fifther’s weekly salary. Johan checked on him and Orla, who was recovering next door while loudly complaining about the accommodations. 

Gary had taken a few hits, though he didn’t miss any work, explaining that he was just going to say he’d fallen off a horse for his elbow wrapping. As for Pellin and Adya, they both had clean bills of health, which seemed oddly unfair to the injured parties. 

Adya used it as leverage to get Orla to pay extra as she left on Scouting missions for new properties, always returning with more food for Cass. Orla complained about that too.

“I’m your employer!”

After another nap and feeling a little better, a visitor dropped by.

“You healing up, weirdo?” Alan asked, sitting in a nearby chair still warm from Gary's recent departure. The Baker had mysteriously not answered where he was going, but judging by the smile on his face, Cass figured Bella’s gossip had rung true.

Holding up a thin arm, Cass poked it, “It’s not quite healing. How’s everyone?”

“We’re taking a two-week break, and I’m training a few more people in the meantime. Now that the first Dungeon’s down, everything we push toward is new territory. That’ll require different types of mindsets.” He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees.

His eyes were sharp as he asked, “What exactly happened between you and the Source? And what was going on with you and the antenna, and the Portal, while I’m asking?”

Cass made a mental leap, “You’re not used to being in the dark on things, are you?”

Alan’s weather face creased with a grin, “No, which makes this more than a little exciting.”

Cass stared at him for a moment, honestly considering what to reveal and what to hold back. “You know, this is a strange feeling.” When Alan raised an eyebrow, Cass clarified, “You, asking me questions.”

“Enjoy it while it lasts.”

“I intend to.”

Alan pointed at him with pursed lips, “Spill.” 

Cass laughed, “Fine.”

Alan’s been very supportive of me all this time. Hell, supportive of all of us. He put his life on the line, just like everyone else, and he already knows about the Quill.

Mind made up, he first took off the eyepatch, blinking both eyes a few times as his vision adjusted.

Alan stared deep into his brown eyes before saying, “Son of a bitch. Start talking.”

So Cass went through another round of explaining everything. There were several pauses as he had to clarify certain things for the inquisitive Scout, but then they landed on the big subject.

“6 months?” Alan asked.

“Yep.”

He nodded slowly, having already digested everything else. Then punched a fist into an open palm, “Do you have to be the one to close the second Portal?”

“No, but you’ll want me along for the corrupted objects. Like I told you, the last one blocked my vision down there. The more of them that are gone, the easier it’ll be.”

“Easy…in a dungeon.”

“That’s fair. Easier.” Cass laughed, holding a rib that seemed to jiggle a little too roughly.

Alan paused again, then took a breath, “I’ll help you, Vale, because you’re a good kid and we finally made some decent progress, but it’s going to force me to call in some favors.”

Cass nodded, “Thank you very much.”

“Those favors will come with a cost.” He shook a finger, “One, I will come to collect from you.”

***

Early the next morning, Cass slowly walked to his room in the Guildtower. He had an hour before the meeting in the Scriptorium, and there were things to do. Ana was in the room, and at the sight of him, yelled out, “Four meals!”

“Thanks, Ana!” Cass yelled as he moved to his bedroom and put on a new robe, having already cleaned himself at the apartment. He quickly reflected on his conversation with Bella on the ride to the tower.

***

“So you don’t know how your abilities work?”

Nayith. I think big, and big do I become

“What’d she say?’ Adya asked in front.

Cass latched on as Bella grew an extra foot in height while they were riding her, “That she’s just winging it!”

***

Cass laughed to himself.

Now that he finally had a moment where nobody was around him, he pulled up his waiting notifications.

Status updated:

QuestWright Cassio Vale:

Region: Liberty-LTY

Callsign: CV

Calling recognition changed: 

Junior -> Journeyman

The System has seen fit to modify your Calling.

QuestWright-> Versatile QuestWright

Automatically assigning new Rare quest type: (EX) Exploration

New recognition status: Journeyman

The System has increased your maximum Quest rate.

New maximum daily Quest rate: 541

You may assign five rare Quests per day

[SYSTEM NOTICE- TITLES UNLOCKED]

Your title [Experiential Driver] has upgraded to [Experience Cultivator]

Upgrade unlocked for reaching Level 20 in less than one year of receiving your Calling

+50 bonus experience granted for every five completed Quests

Upgradeable

Note: Modified per Calling

Your title [Quillbearer] has upgraded to [Versatile Quillbearer]

Upgrade unlocked through negotiated request.

Modifies Calling name, extends the tutorial length, and allows for increased versatility of ability.

[Title Unlocked: Portal Closer I]

A title automatically granted for closing a Dungeon Portal.

Increases all point gains within active Dungeons by 10%.

Upgradeable

“My quota’s gone,” Cass said quietly. It had never made much of a difference for him, as he was forced to assign close to his maximum every day anyway. But seeing it missing really made the change from Junior to Journeyman more important. He pulled up the next notification, curious for what came next.

Modified experience gate reactivated:

Versatile QuestWright Cassio Vale: Level 23

Close-Quarters Scout Adya Korring: Level 20

Herald Bella the Draft-horse: Level 1

“What?” Cass said, pulling up his status.

Calling: Versatile QuestWright: Cassio Vale

Standing: Journeyman

Level: 23

Experience Accrued: 22,451.86

Experience Required for Next Level: 2,748.14

Unspent Experience: 7,801.76

Available System Reputation: 2,422

Available Quests: 541/541

Total Stalwart/Tempered/Survivor Tokens: 210/207/457

“The Journeyman QuestWright,” Cass stated aloud, flavoring it. His eyes met the unspent experience, then he nodded and stood up.

The fact that Bella needed experience and he was about to go through this for a second time didn’t even weigh on his mind. She was his bonded partner. She’d saved his life, and been with him from the start of everything. If Bella needed some experience, he was happy to provide it, and the new title would certainly help.

Breakfast was a quick affair. He ate enough food to feed three people, then lifted his swollen belly, took the extra-large travel drink Ana handed him with apprehension, as if he had the plague, then slowly got himself to the elevator.

He imagined the clerks at the front desk were shocked to see him for several reasons, but Cass ignored them as he made his way to the Annex. Sitting, he placed the mug down, then drummed the desk a few times as he waited for the day to start.

Cass spent a little time reflecting on how, only two days ago, he was fighting for his life in a Dungeon. Now, he was back to the mindless droning of paperwork. 

Life is funny that way. Or maybe that’s just how it’s supposed to be for most QuestWrights. I bet the Calling is meant to be involved in Dungeons somehow, and most of these guys are unaware. There’s certainly a lot of experience in closing a portal.

Several minutes passed, and his mind ran back and forth across his friends, plans, and what Bella's weird Calling did. The draft-horse herself wasn’t even sure.

Eventually, he opened the desk drawer and looked at the unopened letter resting within. Cass recognized his lack of interest was because he still hadn’t forgiven Hollis for everything that had happened.

But, as he adjusted the dark patch over his now working eye, he figured it was finally time to see what his old Guildmaster had to say. With a breath, he lifted the letter and ripped it open.