A Jaded Life

We walked through the grove, heading for the second house Praxi had pointed out to us. This one was a whitewashed two-story house, not out of place in a modern countryside, with wooden shutters protecting clear glass windows and it had no open workshop, so we knocked.

A short time later, the door opened, revealing a women looking slightly annoyed at first. She was another interesting looking character, she had a shiny, sparkling colouring, glimmering white, similar to the crystal trees that made up the grove. "Ah, it's you. I take it you met the Grandmother already?"

I blinked in surprise but introduced myself, not wanting to be impolite. "Greetings, I'm called Morgana. Yes, indeed, we met her and she gave us three tasks and the suggestion to ask the people of Neyto for help and help them in turn. Praxi told us that you might need help.”

She was still intently inspecting us, but then her expression turned softer and she had a smile on her face.

“Yes, I know how that works. What could I have you do? It's winter, so harvesting roots is out. How about you hunt an elk or two for my larder? I'm the den-mother of this community and make sure that everyone gets fed around here. Yes, an elk or two would be quite useful, that would work.”

I nodded, a bit perplexed. “Yes, we can do that.” I was interrupted by a blue window.

Quest Alert!

Hunt Elk for Kallista

Quest Difficulty Easy

Kallista, in Neyto, wants you to hunt two elk for her. 0/2

Quest Reward Help from Kallista

I dismissed it and continued. “You don't sound very needy, more like it's a chore to give us a task. Would you tell me why?”

She looked me over for a second. “Well, sure. At the end of the day, this village is perfectly self-sufficient. The tasks the Grandmother send you on are not really for her, they are a gesture. Do you truly believe that a being as old and powerful as the Grandmother would have to send some random people who wandered into our village around to get what she wants? Don't kid yourself. However there is power in gestures. By sending you on tasks, you invest into whatever it is you want from her, you earn what you get. If the Grandmother simply waved her hand and did everything for you, it would weaken you, both in the flesh and the spirit. Basically, it's one of the villages rules, don't give handouts, make visitors work for what they want. So yes, the task I gave you is a bit of a made-up one, the village could easily get through the winter without you hunting elk for me and whatever other busywork the others have given you. But just the same, doing our tasks will strengthen you and help you with the Grandmother's tasks.”

Well, that put things into perspective. However it didn't really matter, at the end of the day we had come here for help, so we had to play by their rules. And logically speaking, they were right - doing the tasks would strengthen us via the System and give us a feeling of accomplishment, even if the effect would be lessened by knowing about the effect. Simply getting the result handed to us would make us feel irrelevant. It was a thought to meditate on.

“Oh, and just so you know, maybe ask Cisar, he manages our fields and gardens. Maybe he needs help as well. His house is the one outside the grove, to the north. Why don't you go talk to him and come back here, I have a room you can spend the night in.”

The sun was already setting so we accepted the offer and told her that we would see her soon.

As we walked, I noticed something, all those vastly different beings were using the same language and Sigmir was easily understanding them all and she had no Universal Translation skill like me, so I asked her.

“You mean Common? My father taught me, he said it's propagated by the Adventurer's Guild so that their members can travel freely without needing to learn a new language for every tribe. Most people who want to work as adventurers or with them learn Common. I think the official name is Northern Trade-Tongue and variants of it are spoken everywhere, all over Mundus. It's interesting that those who sent you here didn't teach you in advance but settled you with an obscure language like Jötun.”

We walked through the trees, heading to the north both thinking our own thoughts. Leaving the grove, we saw a large house right next to a barn. There was a fence around quite a large tract of land, I guess that was the garden. We walked through the fence-gate, using the obvious path. Nearing the house, we heard a rhythmic twock --- twock --- twock from behind the house so we went there. A tall, human-looking man was chopping wood, creating the noise. I waited until he had finished his swing and was clearing the block. “Greetings. I'm called Morgana, we were told by Kallista that you might have work for us, in exchange for helping us with tasks from the Grandmother.”

The man stopped and turned. “Oh, more needy souls? Well, it happens that I not only have a busy-work task for you but something that really needs to be done, and with you here, I won't have to do the work. There is a large Dire Boar, breaking my fence and destroying my garden. I want you to kill it. Look for it further north, I'm sure you can spot it's tracks. Oh and watch out, the thing is the size of a bear.”

Again, we accepted and a window appeared.

Quest Alert!

Kill the Dire Boar.

Quest Difficulty Medium

Cisar, the farmer in Neyto, wants you to kill the boar that is vandalising his garden.

Quest Reward Help from Cisar

With that, we had no more leads to follow for now and walked back to Kallista's house. Again, we knocked and this time were asked in. The house had a rather simple layout, a large common room with an open door to a kitchen and closed doors leading to other rooms, probably bedrooms. On one wall was a large, open, fireplace, making the room toasty warm.

“Welcome back you two. It's nice to have visitors from the outside, not always the same guys from around here. Why don't you take a seat and simply relax for a bit? You can use it, after travelling out here.”

We just did that, when Lenore asked if it was OK to come out, so I asked our host. “Excuse me, Kallista, Sigmir and I both have spirit-bonded partners, is it OK if they leave their Hallows? They’re a raven and a wolf.”

“Yes, that's not a problem. I sensed them earlier, I don't mind them being out and about.” she answered.

With that, Lenore materialized on my shoulder and Ylva came out as well. After looking around for a second, Ylva moved in front of the fireplace and curled herself into a ball and was swiftly joined by Lenore who leaned against her.

“Would you mind telling me a bit about Neyto? Somehow, I don't think this is a normal village, you know.” I asked our host.

“Of course, it's not. You could say that Neyto is a sanctuary. Take old Thekk as an example. As far as I know, he learned in the halls of Ivaldi and left them at some point to walk his own path. I doubt that there are many smiths of his skill in this world but he wants to work his own projects in his own time, not be the pet of some powerful faction. So he fled here, to Neyto, and has his freedom guaranteed by the rules the Grandmother makes and enforces. Most of us have enemies in the world, forcing us to remain here. Because of that we are accepting of the strange and of strangers.” Kallista explained.

Now I was rather surprised; I had felt that the Grandmother was powerful, but hearing that she was able to enforce a sanctuary? That was rather interesting.

We shared some small talk for a while, mainly Kallista telling funny stories about some of the inhabitants of Neyto, then it was time for dinner. I helped preparing it and gained multiple levels on my cooking-skill, probably due to the instruction I received.

Dinner itself was a quiet affair, even with a few of the villagers joining in. What stood out was that the villagers were an extreme mix of species, demonstrating just how diverse this world was. After dinner, Sigmir and I helped with the dishes and while doing so, I realized something strange for a medieval world, the kitchen had running, warm water. When I asked about it, I was told that it was done with enchantments using the ambient astral power by the Grandmother. Now, that was something I wanted to learn.

When we were done, Kallista offered us to use the bath, something neither Sigmir nor I were willing to refuse.

In the bath, I was surprised at first, the world had a distinctively medieval feel to it but the bathroom was surprisingly modern. The tub was a huge affair made out of dark stone, set partially in the floor and instead of the buckets I half expected, there were two knobs one orange, the other blue and touching them let hot and cold water flow from an small opening. In addition, there were soft towels and washcloths laid out for us.

There was also a full-length mirror so I was able to fully take in my appearance for the first time since I’d started the game. A distorted reflection on ice or water did not count in my opinion, so I used the mirror to inspect me in detail. Sigmir had somehow dyed the soft leather-clothes she had made for me in a deep, matte black, not reflective to make me look like a domina, more like one would imagine an assassin.

With the added billowing, black cloak and the fur-trim, it turned from assassin to scout or maybe dark sorceress which was not that far off.

The face that looked back at me was almost my own, the softer lines of my face were replaced with sharp, clear cut lines giving me a severe appearance. Somehow, the blue skin looked more appealing to me than my normal pale skin, especially with the strong contrast it had with my raven-black hair and my jade-green eyes. In addition, my ears were slightly longer than normal and pointy.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Having her in her bed and breathing softly, I tucked her in and then went to sleep in my own bed. After an hour of tossing and turning alone in bed, I gave up and joined Sigmir in her bed. In the familiar feeling of her embrace, sleep took me within moments.