QuestWright BK2 C84: Seizing the Opportunities Available (Patreon)

Author note:

Howdy.

First, this chapter is a biggun. I also went back to the last chapter and changed up Pellin's Engineering Workbench. I didn't like how singular and unimpressive it was, so I made quite a few modifications (hint) to the writing. You can find it below.

Second, the additional weekend chapter will hit tomorrow. I need to give my Betareaders extra time to go over things so I'm not rushing them at midnight.

Anyways, here's the changes, then the ReaderQuest.

Changes to chapter 83: Brand New Day

“That’s what happened with the Lure Quest back in Liora,” Cass commented. “I accidentally created a corrupted Vellum.”

“Exactly! You see, I’ve been thinking about things since Adya told me about what the Source said to you, Cass. There’s multiple systems out there. Corruption, like the vellum you made back in Liora, is a blending of the two. You took System energy, then applied it to something with monster blood on it, which created something else entirely new in the world. That got me thinking. If the monsters have their own system, and it’s tied to their blood, then why can’t it be tied to our blood too.”

“What’s our System called?” Adya asked, interrupting the excited engineer.

“The System,” Gary said in a deadpan.

“No, that doesn’t work.” Cass replied. “System is a category for something we’re talking about. Just make it simple. Ours is the Human System, the monsters have the Monster System.”

“Perfect,” Pellin said shortly, still rubbing the table. “Anyways, I didn’t want to make a corrupted System Engineering bench. That would cause me all kinds of headaches and probably get me into some trouble. So, I took the corrupted deadwood, splashed some monster blood on it to kick off their energy, then used my installed System diagnostic pad to contain the experiment. That wood is a hell of an energy conductor, naturally, since it grew directly from the corruption. Now, I can do some fancy things I wouldn’t have been able to before.”

“Why did you need human blood?”

“For the human System to recognize it. That way, our System wouldn’t just see monster blood and think it was something to eliminate. Like recognizes like. It protected my experiment from being seen as some kind of new enemy to be destroyed.”

Flummoxed, Adya asked, “Then why did you need monster blood?”

“Because it lets me push the limits of what our System is capable of. Our System has a lot of limitations, while from what I can tell with my sight ability, the other one is a lot less restricted.”

“How so?” Gary said, stepping close to look at it.

“Watch and be amazed by my mythical powers.” 

For all his grand talk, his actions were incredibly mundane. Leaning over, Pellin pushed a few buttons on his keypad, then took a quick step back.

Even if Pellin’s dramatics were rather week, the results from those few movements were incredible. The dark, black wood of the bench transformed. Like snakes slithering across the earth, they re-arranged themselves, changing the workbench from a tabletop to a sphere with a cyan light inside of it. He pushed another set of buttons as soon as the workbench settled, causing it to shrink and re-form to its original state. Then it shrunk even more, becoming less than half its normal size.

“What the hell!” Gary said as he moved closer. Eyeballing it, he looked back at the engineer. “That’s just like what Bella can do. And it can shapeshift too?”

Pellin nodded with a grin. “Isn’t it great! Bella gave me the idea for the size changes, and the Changelings we fought in Liora gave me the idea for how to re-arrange the workbenches' composite materials. With those two abilities built into my little beauty here, I have everything I need to create true modularization. Now, I can use this for the rest of my life, expanding on its capabilities and creating new upgrades as I go.”

“So you’re ripping off the abilities of others, kinda?” Gary asked, getting close enough to poke the wood, then looking at his finger.

Pellin grimaced. “I’m not like Cass. I’m not the best at coming up with new ideas all the time and completely changing how my Calling works. But, I’m very good at engineering. Show me something that can be done, and I’ll find a way to engineer it, only better. Look.” 

Pushing Gary back, Pellin paused and looked back at the workbench. Deciding they weren’t far enough, he pushed Gary a few more steps, then sprinted to the workbench. His fingers ran over the diagnostic pad with an audible, almost melodical series of clicks, then he quickly shuffled back himself, sprinting. After three seconds, the bench expanded riotously, filling a large portion of the room as several panels re-adjusted to show active screens.

“That’s as big as I can make it right now with the materials I have on-hand. Eventually, it’ll be much, much bigger. Big enough to be a factory. And now, as you can see, I can build anything I want. Ah.” He slapped his forehead. “I forgot, I have a gate to complete. If you’ll excuse me.”

Moving over to another chair, he pushed aside a few small items, then sat on the rest in his haste to see his results.

Had to put dividers in because there were so many changes. I don't know why, but I couldn't remove the bulletpoints from this. Weird.

Quest ID: JDM-0001-AW-EA
[Awaken:Clarity Quest]

Assignment: Admittance

The greatest mysteries aren't always hidden in the darkness or guarded by monsters. Often, they’re buried beneath the things we refuse to see for ourselves.

Your Task

Find a quiet place where you can be completely alone, take out a piece of paper, and write the following sentence:

"The thing I haven't admitted to myself is…"

Finish the sentence with the first honest answer that comes to mind.

Then write it again, and again, nine more times..

Rules

• Every answer must be different.

• Do not erase, cross out, or rewrite previous answers.

• Do not stop to judge whether an answer is important, embarrassing, or insignificant. This is designed to get you thinking freely, and without any form of self-flagellation.

• Nobody else needs to see what you've written.

• All ten answers must be completed in one sitting.

Completion Condition

Write ten distinct completions of the sentence, then read all ten back to yourself.

Timeframe: One Week

Reward: 50 XP

Clarity doesn't always reveal something new.

Sometimes, it simply forces you to recognize what you've known all along.

—

J D Mullenary Sr
The Original QuestWright

Chapter 84: Seizing the Opportunities Available

William…

A man on a normal-sized bay horse reached a ruinous boundary in the late afternoon. For a trip that should’ve taken a normal merchant’s caravan over a week, they’d completed their journey in less than two days. Neither had slept, and that showed in the man’s bedraggled appearance and the horse’s shaking legs.

Covered in the pale ichor of monsters, blonde hair sticking out in several sticky directions, the former Private took in the sight before him with tired, unexpressive eyes. As they drew closer to the dilapidated walls that seemed to be barely standing, a group of four stepped out from behind a nearby cluster of trees. One fired a flaming arrow into the sky as the rest readied their weapons.

Exhausted, William hadn’t noticed them.

“Halt and state your name and business here.” One of them said, silver armor shining by the sun’s lazy rays.

His voice came out as a croak as he said, “William Atherby, sent by Cassio Vale from Liberty to see Guildmaster Gerald Hollis.”

A big man in the back spat to the side. “Cassio Vale is dead.” One of the others shoved him. “What? It’s true, innit?”

“I saw him only two days ago,” William tiredly replied. “He was healthy as can be, and just got finished getting me out of a tricky problem. I owe him my life.”

“Sounds like ‘im,” a thin man holding a bow said. “He is the helpful type.”

The shiny spitter stepped forward. “How we supposed to know you’re trustworthy, huh? Could just be lyin’ right now. Could be tryin’ to get in here, maybe hurt our people. You got any kind of identification on you?”

“I have a coin that Cass gave me,” William said, padding his pockets to find it.

“Hey! Keep your hands where we can see ‘em,” the big man yelled, another forward step taken.

Another armored man clanked forward. “Frank, calm the hell down.”

“Nah, got monsters everywhere. Dicks trying to come over, take our shit like we ain’t still using it. We’re tryin’ to keep a city safe ‘ere. Now we got this pouncing prick. I bet he’s a Clerk.”

“Mr. Moore is going to beat your ass if he hears about that,” One of the other armored men said.

“Let ‘em, I ain’t scared of ‘im, Paul. Just now I gotta deal with this prick and his ugly, beat-up horse. This is bullshit. We’re Silvers for god’s sake.”

Bella seemed to take that as an affront. The big draft horse grew even bigger as she took two steps in their direction. Towering over the others, they must’ve thought she was some kind of monster as what happened next would be re-told again and again over a campfire in the coming days.

The thin man in the back lifted up his bow and, in nervous haste, fired his nocked arrow without much strength behind it. Even as he sent it, he reached a hand out immediately after as if willing the projectile to come back to him.

But the draft horse wasn’t caught unaware. After days of fighting in the forests and hills between Liberty and Liora, her instincts were tuned to a high polish. Bella caught it with a snap of her head, paused for effect as she looked back at the group, then cracked it in half with her teeth. 

With care, she spat the pieces of it to the side, close to where the big man had previously aimed his own expectoration. Snorting, she took another step forward as William clamped his cold, tired legs to her, already ready for the forthcoming run. 

That’s when a new voice called out.

“Calm down, Bella. They’re not trying to keep you from getting into Liora,” a husky but certainly feminine voice said from nearby.

Walking into the clearing was a woman plastered head to toe in dark metal. One arm in particular looked like it was strong enough to knock Bella sideways, gigantic form or not. Unlike the men before her, her armor made not a sound as she drew closer and looked the horse and rider over.

“You know these idjits?” The loudmouth asked. “Cause that arrow, was a uh, warning shot. We’re thinkin’ it’s time to open up on these foo-”

The woman slapped the man across his chest without even glancing his way. Flung several yards away, the silver man made not a sound. But when he did land with a crash, a groan came from him as his fellow party members stood stock still, all eyes on the dark figure before them.  

The woman flicked the bangs covering her eyes back before saying, “I’m sorry for that fool. Silvers, you know. I’m Janine. Welcome to Liora Reborn.”

William was besotted immediately.

Cass…

Cass rubbed his chest. They’d been sitting around, talking about what was likely to happen when they closed the third Dungeon just as he got a funny feeling. Like something terrible had happened somewhere in the world.

Adya noticed and took over the duty for him as he smiled at her. Seeing the way they looked at each other, Pellin paused, coughed, then continued speaking.

“Once we close that Dungeon, you said you’re gonna purge a corrupted Book of Callings. Do I have that right?”

“Yep.”

“Yep…yep, he says.” Gary guffawed. “Come on man. Don’t be so non…non…what’s that word?”

“Non-chalant, I think,” Pellin helped.

“That’s right, thanks. You know it’s not gonna be that easy. We got less than a month to get ready for some seriously jacked up stuff. Go over what you think is gonna happen, Cass. Again, and with detail.”

Cass rolled his fingers across the thin fabric of the chair. “Well, we close the Dungeon, find the Corrupted Book of Callings, I purge it, bunch of people in Liberty lose their Callings, including what seems like most of the city’s military, then we get the hell out of there and I sprint back to the Guildtower, acting like I never left at all. It’s pretty clear-cut, I think.”

“How is that with detail?” Gary asked.

“And why hide?” Pellin asked right after.

“Has to do with something I know,” Cass replied, tapping the side of his head. “Something I can’t talk about. If I just try to skip town, the Capital is going to know, particularly the Sovereign. Can’t do that. I need them to let me go or reassign me. Nothing else will work.”

“There’s probably going to be a lot of chaos once you purge the book,” Adya said, getting a nod from Gary as she steered the conversation. “Why can’t we just say you died and take off after that? Nobody needs to know the truth and we can get word to your family at the right time so they’re not panicking and thinking you've died for a second time.”

“Mmm, probably won’t work. I’ve thought about this a lot since first being kidnapped. The moment I learned my forbidden knowledge was what seemed like the moment they knew I learned it. Otherwise, how did the people from the Capital get there so fast? From what I know, that’s a long way to travel, even with their unexplainable transportation.”

“If only I’d gotten a good glimpse at that carriage,” Pellin said wistfully. 

Cass sighed, looking at the ceiling. “That implies that the information I hold is something they’re actively tracking, and the System is probably a part of it. Maybe even the Source. I can pretend to be dead all I want, but the Capital is still going to know that I know, which means they also know I’m alive and still need watching.”

“Shitty,” Gary said, still leaning against the wall. He clenched his weak hand. “Feels like you got a bunch of cards stacked up against you, Cass. Forbidden knowledge, kidnapped, stolen away to a place that’s filled with assholes like Orla, and now, Pellin.”

Pellin dramatically grabbed his chest. “Hey.”

“What can you do, you know?” Gary asked with a grin at his friend.

“Well, we can plan a little.” Cass tapped Adya on the back, and she got up as he did the same. The light-headed feeling he’d had when first sitting down came back, but she caught him as he began to drift. Taking a deep breath, he looked at his friends.

“Let’s go over what the repercussions are likely to be. First, the Dungeon and its Guardian need to be taken out. That means immediately after, we’ll probably be in a weakened state, just like we were from the last two. So, we’ll probably have to keep some people on reserve, that way they can protect us as we move on to the next step.”

Gary made a gesture. “I’m following, keep going.” 

“Alright. Second, once I purge the book, Privates, Generals, and probably some other people are going to suddenly lose their Callings. When that happens, the citizens of Liberty probably won’t realize it right away, not unless their now missing Callings are also tied to the corrupted book. So there’ll be a window of time where the Guildtower still maintains control, but no longer has any real power. And they’ll know it. That makes them very dangerous, and I can’t guess how they’ll react in that kind of situation.”

“Fuck me,” Pellin said quickly. “That’s for real what you think is going to happen?”

Cass tapped his head again. “I got my information directly from the Source itself. That’s why Adya said there’s going to be a lot of chaos. Can’t know how people in power will suddenly react to losing their skills and abilities. She told you about William right?”

“Yep,” Pellin replied, just as Gary said, “Nope.”

Cass caught him up quickly with Adya’s detailed comments added in. They also briefly talked about how the large man had shrunk in size much like Pellin's bench and Bella’s ability.

“Lots of people and objects with the ability to change their shape,” Adya observed quietly as she looked off in thought.

Cass chose not to mention that he had a Quest Inscribed on a tiny piece of paper in his bag.

Gary sighed, bringing all of the attention to himself as he said, “So you have a bodyguard now. What is that, two? Three if you count Bella?”

“And you should,” Adya added.

Gary re-adjusted the bandage on his hand as he said, ”Why do you need so many protectors? Are you getting all puffed up from your QuestWright stuff?”

“Not really. It just seems to keep happening that way,” Cass said, rubbing the back of his head. “Although it is nice to have people watching my back.”

Pellin barked a laugh. “Not like he needs it, Gary. Don’t for one second think this ruggedly handsome bastard needs any protection at all. You should’ve seen him fight that corrupted tree. Damn thing was terrifying.”

Gary frowned. “I thought it was just a tree?”

Adya snorted. “One that had dozens of sharp limbs it used like spears, each being independently controlled. It’s like Cass was fighting ten people at once. I’m not too sure I’d have survived that fight, even if I had Cass’s abilities. Pellin’s right, he doesn’t really need the protection.”

“And yet, I’m not going to say no to it,” Cass replied. “William wants to join us wherever we go, and that’s fine. As long as he puts in the time and works just as hard as the rest of us, I’m not going to turn him away. I’m not going to turn away anybody with a good heart that’s trying to make it in this world. There’s enough monsters among us. Having another person to help us fight them can only be a net positive.”

“He joining Team Deadweight?” Gary asked.

“Maybe,” Cass replied, looking to Adya for confirmation or denial. She shrugged, so he continued, “It just depends on if he can get some levels in him before we tackle the third Dungeon. I’m not comfortable bringing a Tier 1 into a deadly fight, even as a reserve. We need to consider what’s best for William as much as ourselves.”

“You’re starting to sound like Hollis,” Pellin said with a tilt of his head. “Have you thought about being a Guildmaster since we last talked about it?”

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t. Since the letters and all the things I’ve seen since coming here, I can honestly say I don’t much appreciate the Central Guild.” Cass sighed, a world of worry in the sound. “But I have so much to do. Messing around with the Quill, Conditional Quests, and something new I’ve only begun to understand as of this morning. Not to mention I’m going to start working with Crafting Quests tomorrow, a Quest-type I’ve never really tried before. It’s a lot and we’re on a strict timetable. I can’t do everything at once.”

“So you don’t,” Adya replied, stepping away to let him stand on his own. “You pick the things that you need to get us through the Dungeon, maybe some more that’ll help us prepare for what happens when the Guildtower loses their Callings, and the rest can wait. Can’t pull yourself in ten different directions or you’ll fall apart.”

“What’s the new thing?” Pellin asked with excitement.

“Cass, you know we’ll support you in being Guildmaster right?” Gary said, ignoring the engineer.

“I know, but it’s a lot to take on. When we close the third Dungeon, assuming we get it done. I don’t want to take our future efforts for granted. But when we close it, I’ll have more than enough points to start a Guild Charter. Maybe it’s something we should really consid-”

“What’s the new thing?” Pellin asked again.

“Ugh,” Cass said, flipping his bag around. “You’re going to keep asking unless I show you, right?”

“Yep.”

“Fine.” Cass pulled out the small, torn-up piece of paper holding the random Quest he’d Inscribed to it. Taking it out, a message hit his screen.

You’ve discovered an Infused Tier 1 Delivery Quest.

Would you like to activate it?

[Yes] [No]

Cass hit no, then passed it along to the engineer, who meeped when the message hit his screen. While Pellin ran off to his new bench, Cass looked back at his friends.

“That’ll keep him busy. Anyways, if we did start our own Guild, we’d probably have to do it in a place that’s uniquely our own. I don’t imagine the Central Guild would appreciate us building a contrasting Guild in the center of one of their cities.”

“So we’d be on our own, then,” Adya said while processing it. “How would we figure out the food and water situation?”

“And monsters?” Gary added.

“No clue, and therein lies the problem.” A small bit of strength came back to Cass’s legs, enough so that they finally stopped shaking. He breathed a sigh of relief, stretching his arms at his sides as he said, “There’s a lot of unknowns to doing it, that’s why I’m hesitant. It’s a huge endeavor, and that would hit us right after we took an army, destroyed a powerful Dungeon, and, somehow purged a Book of Callings filled with corrupted energy. It may be something we have to do later and once we’re more secure in our own strength.”

“Is it something we have to do?” Adya asked with extra emphasis.

“No, but-”

“You want to,” Gary finished for him. “The Central Guild kidnaps you, watches you like a hawk, and forces you to come here, where everybody in power is likely corrupted.”

“Exactly. They’re failing on multiple levels to balance power. I’ve read books on history. Hollis had a ton of them back in his office. The Guild’s failures are tantamount to breakage. I’m tired of others telling us how to live and how to grow. I’m tired of restrictions. I’m only unsure about the steps that follow.”

“Hrmm,” Adya tapped her chin, then looked at Gary. “We both know somebody who could probably help us figure out the supply situation.”

“Who?” The Baker asked.

“Orla.”

“Orla!”

“Yep. Cass asked for barely any concessions from giving her a literal fortune. She owes us… a lot. Offer the greedy merchant an early in on a new opportunity, and she’ll probably jump at the chance to provide funding.” Looking at Cass, she said, “You worry about the things you need to work on for the Dungeon and the Book. Leave the rest to us.”

“It’s a lot,” Cass reminded her. “You’ll have to figure out how we even get out of this city without being hunted, too.”

“I know,” she said with a smile. Leaning in, she gave him a small kiss. “But this is a burden we’re happy to share, right Gary?”

Gary shrugged. “I’m not kissing you, but yeah. I can help. I suddenly find myself with all kinds of extra time on my hands.”

“Sorry, buddy.”

“Sorry, Gary.”

“It’s fine.” He waved off their apologies. “If it was meant to be, it would be.”

“Hey Cass!” Pellin yelled from his bench. “That’s a super weird Quest you have there.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! But why did you put it on that shitty transference material?”

“You mean the paper?”

“No duh? It’s garbage. Only holds your Quest for a couple of hours. Come put it on a few things I have lying around here, we need to test this out.”

I’m going to be so tired.