ALL NOVEL Interlude one – Ghost Hunting – Part 1/2
‘I found a quest that suits us pretty well, perfect for our first Medium Bronze quest.’ Dust said as she walked up to the table we were currently eating our breakfast on before placing a quest listing in the middle of the table for all of us to read. Dust, or DD as we affectionately called her, was always paying attention to her surroundings so we usually left information gathering to her. ‘It’s to vanquish a ghost that has been haunting some mansion three days south.’
The way quests work in the guild is that they are put into six major categories ranging from bronze to obsidian, each containing three minor tiers. As adventurers grow stronger they unlock each tier of quests one by one for example Low Bronze quests are unlocked as soon as you get your job but to unlock Medium Bronze quests the average level of the party has to be at least 20.
Then High Bronze is unlocked at level 40 before moving on to silver quests at level 50. Each greater tier covers 50 levels until you get to obsidian quests that require all adventurers in the party to be at least level 300 and have started their fourth ascension. Adventurers rarely ever reach this tier as finding monsters to fight that gives good experience becomes much harder and even if you do the fights are extremely hard.
The average level of our group had been above 20 for a while now but we didn’t want to take any risks so we waited until everyone caught up. When I found this out I said that they shouldn’t wait for me but they wouldn’t budge. I had finally managed to get to level 20 during our last mission so we have been looking for good Medium Bronze quests for the past few days after we had celebrated.
‘I agree, we won’t have to worry about non magical attacks not hitting it so we are particularly well constructed for a quest like this.’ Monsoon said, like his namesake he usually just went wherever he wanted to and we followed so he was our de facto leader. ‘Unfortunately the listing literally just says ‘Ghost sighted in local mansion’ which isn’t particularly helpful.’
‘I even asked the receptionists if they knew more but they had already put everything they knew onto the listing.’ Dust said, a little apprehensively, she had never liked going into any situation without knowing as much as she could. ‘We should be able to get more information once we get there though.’
‘I am sure it will be fine.’ Monsoon said, thinking for a second before exclaiming ‘but if anyone thinks it’s too dangerous then speak up and we will find something else to do.’ I wasn’t too sure about his reasoning but he hadn’t led us astray so far so Galan and I agreed easily. We were all over level 20 and would have to take some risks if we wanted to continue growing and a medium bronze quest shouldn’t be too risky, plus we should be able to take down one ghost.
As no one piped up we had chosen our next quest and so went back to eating our breakfast as I looked around the table at the party I had grown to trust and become quite attached to over the past year. To my left was our aforementioned leader, Monsoon, he is a water Genasi mage that specialises in water magic although he has recently branched out into fire magic as his secondary magic type.
He is a bit taller than me, has deep blue skin, reminiscent of the deep ocean, and light blue eyes that have white lines that make it seem like waves are flowing across his eyes that mirror his white hair. He wore a fine orange tunic and dark green trousers; he used a small wand made out of driftwood that had a few pearls on it as a magic focus.
On the surface he was quite brash and tended to make choices on a whim but when you get to know him you will realise that he always thinks about his choices when they are important, he is also the one in the group that makes sure everyone is happy, being the first one to break tense moments with a joke.
Sitting next to him, and opposite me, is our mysterious human rouge, DD. We had known her for quite some time but we still didn’t know her true name, every time one of us would ask she would just insist that we call her by the obvious fake name of Dusk Dragon. She is wearing form fitting leather armour that doesn’t hinder her movement in any way, she is almost always wearing her armour as she is paranoid about being attacked at any moment.
She is the tallest out of us and had a light tan on her skin. She never really talks about herself unless she is forced to, at first I thought this was because she had something to hide but over the past year that we have been together I found out that she is just incredibly shy. At least until she is in the middle of battle, where she forgets the world around her and only focuses on dealing out death to her enemies.
The next party member, currently sitting to my right, was our second mage, a wood elf, named Galan Romys, that specialised in boosting the party and has recently branched into magic that could weaken our enemies. His skin is a rusty brown colour, similar to the bark of a mahogany tree, and has deep red hair that goes down to the tips of his pointy ears. He is wearing a dark green tunic and light red trousers.
His arcane focus is a long staff made from a mahogany tree that grew up in the same forest he did. He is the heart of our little party, always making sure that everyone is doing well and that we have someone to talk to about our issues. Sometimes this got to the point that he wouldn’t take care of himself and we would have to force him to open up to us but we have been working on getting him to accept help.
That just left me, I don’t really view myself as anything special as I am just a druidic faun with an adventurous spirit. I left the safety of the glade when I was young because I had grown restless not going anywhere. My parents had tried to persuade me to stay so that they could keep me safe but I couldn’t ignore my nature.
When I first left the glade I was incredibly shy as I had never met anyone that wasn’t a faun but I quickly met my current party while they had been on a quest. After seeing how strong they were I asked if I could join them and they gladly accepted me. Ever since then I have been working tirelessly trying to catch up with them and while I wasn’t there quite yet I was getting close.
Due to my heritage of being a faun my legs and the lower quarter of my body are covered in dark brown fur which makes it uncomfortable for me to wear trousers. Instead I just wear a long orange tunic, the same shade as a leaf that is halfway through its transformation in autumn, that went halfway down my thighs.
I fight by changing into various beasts that best fit the situation, even though I was physically weak my magic enhanced my strength when I transformed so I was able to be a frontline fighter. This tactic was now even stronger as, ever since hitting level 20, I could now cast spells even while in the form of a beast thanks to [Dynamic Casting].
I continued to reminisce over the past as we ate our breakfast but we quickly finished it before accepting the quest and leaving towards the haunted mansion. Our group was small so we travelled in a single wagon that was big enough for three of us to sit in the back with our supplies while one of us, usually me as I liked chatting with the horses, would sit in the front and steer the horses.
After 3 days of travel we reached our destination and found our client in her current home. She was a middle aged human woman that looked to be about fifty years old and had a demure personality. Monsoon, who was our parties ‘face’, walked over to her while waving and said, ‘Hi there, we are here in response to the quest listing you sent to the guild.’
Seeing us approach the lady perked up a bit before replying ‘Oh, thank you, it puts my heart at rest seeing such fine adventurers answer me call, my name is Lotus Olsen. The mansion in question belonged to my late father before he passed away just a month ago. Everything started when one of our servants started to experience weird, unexplainable things happen to them just a week after he passed but we didn’t think anything of it at the time.’
‘That was until two weeks ago when someone actually saw the ghost of my deceased father.’ At this Lotus closed her eyes for a second in remembrance, obviously still not entirely over her loss ‘Unfortunately we don’t have anyone nearby that is well versed in the undead so we couldn’t tell what kind of ghost it was. To keep everyone safe we had all the occupants move into temporary housing until the issue is sorted out. If there is anything you need I will help you in any way I can.’
‘Thank you for your help, firstly I am sorry for your loss. Is there anything you can tell us about your father?’ Monsoon said, trying to be as delicate as possible ‘Any little bit of information is helpful to us. What did he do through his life, did he die with any regrets, what ended his life? Stuff like that or anything else you can think of.’
‘It is quite alright; his death wasn’t exactly a surprise and I have had enough time to mourn him. When I grew up he would always tell me stories of his many adventures that he had before he received an injury that forced him to stop adventuring permanently so he used the money he saved up to settle down and start a family.’ Lotus said
‘I often got the impression that he wished he could return to adventuring as he would constantly glance at his longsword when he would be telling us his stories, he died of old age in his late eighties. That’s all I can think of at the moment.’ As Lotus finished Monsoon asked a few more questions about the stuff that had happened after he died and after about an hour he finished.
‘Thanks, that was very useful. It sounds like he was unable to let go of his wish for one more adventure even in death, returning as a ghost.’ Our leader said before thinking for a minute ‘I have a good idea of what kind of ghost we will be dealing with. It shouldn’t be any trouble for us and if everything goes well we will be back tomorrow afternoon.’
‘Thank you so much. Truthfully I haven’t been sleeping well lately knowing that my father is out there suffering so I am very grateful for your help’ Lotus said, relief filling her face ‘I already have your reward prepared for when you get back to me.’ With that done we left the house that was Lotus’s current residence before making our way to the mansion.