“I'm so close to getting to level two I can taste it.” Gavin said as the team finished their morning training session.
His primary skills had all reached level two over the past month, leaving only his less used and more difficult ones lagging behind. His crafting powers had slowed to a crawl until he gained experience in his other skills. He needed to be able to make level two mana to stretch their abilities, something that would only come when his body reached a nebulous magical threshold from ranking up his powers.
“I can't wait either.” Judy said, beaming “I think I'll get there this week.”
“I will too.” Sam confirmed.
“Leveling my instant fortress ability has been a real fuckin prick.” Gavin grumbled.
“It's not ideal for us either, we have to hear you bitch about how hard it is to rank up the power that an actual god gave you every other minute.” Sam said.
“I'm sorry for wanting to level our house up so you can have a bigger training hall, maybe I can go back to just using it for sleeping in and we'll get that hall upgrade in a year or two.” Gavin said.
“No, no, there's no need for that.” Val said.
“Easy for you to say, he does most of his complaining to me.” Sam argued.
“Hey, guys, you know, instead of arguing about having to grind up my super useful abilities, how about we get ready to go see our new mysterious benefactor?”
“Fine” Sam relented “at least your magical secrets ability was easy.”
[Divine magical secrets]
(Level 1): Copy one spell ability from another person you observe. You may use that ability indefinitely, associated costs and cooldowns of the copied spell are increased. Only one ability at a time may be copied, using this feature again replaces the copied spell. Spell level restricted to the maximum level of the copied spell.
[Effect (Level 2): Costs and cooldowns for the copied spell are reduced by an amount proportional to your [Intellect] attribute, cannot be reduced further than that of the copied spell. Once a spell is copied using this ability, it may be used indefinitely, copying another spell negates this effect.]
Gavin's ability he'd gained from absorbing Guile's divine soul crystal allowed him to copy one spell at a time from someone else and use it indefinitely. He'd leveled it quickly, while Sam's limited spell selection were big splashy effects with long cooldowns, Judy had several he could copy and use repeatedly, like her teleport power, haste, and prestidigitation. With his enhanced mana capacity and regeneration he'd spent a month having either an illusion or haste up at all times, their dining room now had a cyberpunk illusory mirror copy of itself on the far wall, with the team appearing in trenchcoats and dark glasses.
Gavin portalled the team into Edomont from their mountaintop base, arriving at the portal square outside the local wardens guild. Instead of making a beeline for the guild to collect contracts they instead walked in the opposite direction, towards the commercial district.
They found the River Dwyer that ran through the city in short order, Gavin had mapped out the entire city and a lot of the surrounding area with his user interface since they'd moved here after their trouble in Wildenesse had driven them far from Sam, Judy and Val's home town.
The river marked the location where the more prestigious shops were found. Their destination was on the far side, a restaurant known for its extravagant prices and fine dining.
Spotting the fine filigree sign that read ‘Kenneth's fine cuisine’ the team eagerly gathered inside, greeting the maitre d' as they entered. They were directed to a private booth on the upper balcony overlooking the river. Waiting for them was a woman of an age with the team.
“Yo, howzit going?” Gavin said, taking a seat and shaking her hand “I'm Gavin, that's Sam, Judy, and Valerie”
“Morgan Dragonheart, I've been following your exploits for a while now, I'm impressed with what I've seen.”
“Not as impressive as some.” Sam said, sitting down beside him.
“But more than most. I understand you've been using Valerie here to take level two group contracts.”
“What's it to you?” Val asked, on the defensive.
“I have, in my posession, a recording of your fight with Geraldine and Vance Stewardson. I wanted to convey my admiration for what you managed to accomplish there, and to hire you to perform a task for me.”
“Gotta say, I'm not super keen on the idea of doing someone's bidding, this better be one hell of a pitch, starting with a drinks menu.”
“I’ve already taken the liberty of ordering drinks and food, they will be here momentarily.” Morgan said, glancing over his shoulder and nodding.
“Good. Now, this thing you want us to do, what is it exactly? Are we killing someone, finding some rare plant or is it a lost family heirloom?” Gavin asked, sitting back in his seat, appearing relaxed.
Morgan didn't answer initially, instead fixing him with an assessing gaze. He felt her peeling back the layers of his casual defences in the same was Anabelle Starbourne did. Gavin was well used to the sensation, and while Sam had to actively fight against it and Val and Judy instinctively recoiled, Gavin let the sensation wash over him as if it were no more unpleasant than walking through a summer shower.
“Oh, cheers mate” Gavin said, taking a beer off the waiter's tray as he appeared next to them.
“You're quite welcome sir” He said, placing a larger down for Val and Judy and a white wine down for Sam.
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He then produced dishes of food from an inventory power, a cutlet of lizard steak for Val, some variety of seared fish for Judy, a cheeseboard for Sam on an ornate ironoak platter, and a roast lamb on steamed vegetables for Gavin. The tablecloth in front of Morgan remained empty, apparently quite content to watch them eat. Once the waiter had left she turned to Gavin, her simmering intensity abating as she smiled, her too-white teeth flashing like a shark before her meal.
“Actually yes, I do want you to find me a lost family heirloom, it is a very particular sword.”
“So, what's this sword and why do you want it?” Sam asked.
“It is the symbol of my house. Traditionally the head of the house carries it as the source of their authority to lead. I want to present it to my father as a gift.”
“Doesn't seem like a good basis for a system of house leadership to me” Gavin said, scratching his chin “supreme executive power should derive from the-”
“Gavin.” Sam warned.
“Oh, sorry, ahh, yeah, so, this sword got itself lost?”
“Yes. Many generations ago, the family suffered a schism in the leadership. In the fighting the sword was taken by my ancestors advisor, the wizard Timothy Jonstein. He disappeared along with any trace of the sword, the house barely survived the infighting that happened after that, even now we still are a shadow of our former selves.”
“So, it's turned up again, I take it?”
“Yes. It's come to my attention that Jonstein had a tower hidden out in the unclaimed lands to the north, heavily protected against divination magic.”
“So, just somewhere out in the jungle?”
“Yes, I understand the wardens guild is brokering a deal with the native peoples out that way to set up permanent bases of operations.”
“Yeah, heard about that.” Gavin nodded.
“My proposal is that your team head out that way, the guild is about to send out hand picked expeditionary teams as representatives for the guild. I can make sure you all are one of those teams.”
“The guild doesn't do what you say” Sam interjected.
Morgan laughed, her expression like a mother schooling an ignorant child about the ways of the world.
“They do, dear, the noble houses have been using the guilds for their own ends since their foundation, you should know.” She said, raising an eyebrow.
Sam looked as though she was about to speak again, but Gavin shot her a look and a mental request to let him handle it. She nodded, knowing that her response wouldn't be productive.
“So, you get us on the list to go out to the jungle, we look around for this sword, find it, bring it back here, and get what? We don't need money or demon souls.”
“My family is ancient, we have a trove of items and power beyond the scope of your understanding.”
Gavin glanced at Sam, who nodded ‘I'm new money’ she said through their telepathic link ‘The old nobles are like countries unto themselves.’
“Specifically, what are you offering?”
“A standard land and title deal, I will grant you all the ability to found your own dynasty, hold lands, collect taxes in the kings name.”
“There's a king?” Gavin asked, looking to Sam again. “I feel like this is something I should have heard about by now.”
“Yes and no, after the civil war, Celestria broke up into independent city states. Nobles still collect taxes in the king's name on their lands, but since there is no king the money just sits there, they, we-” she corrected herself, “can borrow money against their held taxes, but can't use it directly.”
“Oh, we have a similar loophole rich pricks use back on my world that does the same thing, you don't have to pay tax on your income to the city because your income is a loan taken against your hoarded wealth?”
“More or less, yes.” Morgan confirmed. “You call yourselves knights of the round table, and yet you're out squatting up in the mountains? What I'm offering is the right to become knights in actuality, fifty acres of land in the mountains out between Silvertree and Wiggingum and access to one item each from the Dragonheart vault.”
“One whole item? Wow.” Gavin whistled.
“I assure you, the treasures in my family possession would be well worth the trouble alone.”
“I assume we can keep whatever else we find in this tower, assuming we find it?” Gavin asked.
“I don't care about anything else that might be in there aside from the sword.”
“Why us though?” Sam spoke up, “we are a group of level ones-”
“Level two by the time you get out there.” Morgan corrected.
“My point. Why not hire a fifth, or even a tenth level group? Whatever we find there is going to be much stronger than us.”
“I'm hiring you for your ingenuity and grit, not just your power. I also want this done without drawing attention to what I'm doing. Sending a team of fifth level adventurers out into an area with level two and three monsters will raise questions I don't want asked. Further, if I'm correct, once the sword is found there will be a significant amount of attention on whoever digs it up, I trust your team to be more than capable of slipping out of danger and back to me unharmed.”
“And if we discover the danger is too high?” Sam asked.
“Nah, she's right, the closer we are to danger the farther we are from harm.”
“Not the time.” Sam said, holding up a finger.
“If you feel you are unable to recover the sword safely and are confident it won't be discovered I will pay you for the location of the tower.”
“How do we know you'll keep your end of the bargain?” Val asked.
“I would be willing to make a binding oath at the temple of Oaths.”
“We will need to discuss this as a team.” Gavin said.
“By all means, I wouldn't want to rush you, though the window for getting you selected to go is short.”
“All good mate. Man this lamb is good.” Gavin said through a mouthful of food as he inspected his next fork full of succulent meat.
“Well, while you're here, I've been dying to know what that weapon was you used to kill Geraldine? I assume you made it, Gavin?”
“Yeah mate, it's sort of like a one use weapon we use back on my world to blow up these big constructs we use to kill each other.”
“If you ever find yourself with some free time, my family would be willing to use your services as our house armourer, once you gain a few levels that is.”
“Yeah, nah, that's probably gonna be a no from me on that one.” Gavin chewed, “not super keen to be an arms dealer, I'd rather just make stuff for my team.”
“I thought you might decline, though the offer is always open.” Morgan smiled warmly.
“No worries mate.” Gavin said, putting his fork down on his plate. Glancing around the table his three companions nodded in turn. His smile widened, showing his teeth “Sweet as. Alright, Lady Dragonheart, we'll go out into the unclaimed lands get your sword or whatever.”
“Just like that?” Morgan asked, taken aback.
“Yeah, doesn't make a whole lot of difference where we kill monsters, so long as they're getting killed.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Morgan Said, her shark smile flashing for only a moment.
“So, of to the temple of Oaths?” Sam suggested.
