The wagon pulled in through the gate entering Alexandria. Having paid in advance and packed no luggage, the party promptly left the wagon, waving their driver goodbye.

  Back on the cobblestone streets, the party of slime syers made their way up the street. The Gryphon’s Cw was close by, and people were already shuffling in and out of the establishment.

  A wave of the day’s meal offerings washed over them, as did the yeasty tang of sudsy ale overflowing from tankards. They were very welcome sensations, and the party quickly found a seat at a table made from a wooden board id over two barrels.

  They melted into their seats, all four of them letting out a drawn-out sigh. The barmaid was quick with the ale but had to be reminded by Whis that he preferred the mint tea instead.

  “Before we order and lose ourselves in drink,” started Helene, who shot a look to Gymgrei to sit down, “I think we should figure out our next quest.”

  Whis wiggled on his bench seat. One of the legs was shorter than the other, and it was bothering him. “Alright, so what are we going to do? Another slime job?”

  Edoix shook his head. “I doubt there would be another. Slimes are fairly easy to kill on their own, so culture appearances like we had are fairly rare. There are plenty of jobs to take on, however.” Edoix pointed to a rge corkboard that spanned across a whole wall from floor to ceiling, corner to corner. There were hundreds of leaflets and postings.

  The sight of all that work made Whis’s ears and tail droop, instantly overwhelmed.

  “We’re still a bronze-ranked party, so we can only grab from the far-left section of the board,” Helene said, pointing to the sectioned-off block of the board. There were five sections in total.

  There was less to do, but there was still a lot to do. Whis hoped they weren’t expected to clear the entire board.

  “How’s ’bout this?” asked Gymgrei. “We each go up and grab a notice from the board. We’ll fold ’em up, stick ’em in a hat, and shake ’em around. We pick one with our eyes closed, and that’s the job we do.”

  Helene, Edoix, and Whis nodded to each other. Helene and Edoix thought the idea was fair and practical—there’d be no bad blood if the pick was random. Whis simply thought the idea was fun.

  One by one the party got up, walked over to the board, scanned it, and then removed a quest posting before folding it up so that nobody could see the quest details. They then came back and put the slip of paper in a hat that Gymgrei produced from his backpack.

  Helene took the longest, while Edoix spent little time thinking about his choice. Gymgrei came back with a folded notice and a beer, earning a gre from Helene. Whis was the fastest, only taking a quick scan before taking his chosen quest and folding it messily.

  Gymgrei cinched the hat shut and shook it around while he took a long, deep drink from his tankard of beer. He put the empty mug and full hat down at the same time. “To keep things fair . . .” mumbled the dwarf before he turned to one of the barmaids. “Lass! Decide for us. Take one of these sheets from me hat,” said Gymgrei, offering the picking hat to the young woman.

  She blinked before reaching in, tongue stuck out in concentration as she looked away. She twisted her hand about, mixing the papers together before producing one of them and handing it to Gymgrei. “There you go, folks, best of luck to you!”

  The party leaned in, curious what their next big quest would be.

  Edoix did the honors, carefully unfolding the parchment fold by fold.

  Quest Accepted!

  [Headless Haunt] | Rank 1

  A Dulhan has been terrorizing the fishing town of Moorsend.

  Please investigate these sightings and, if confirmed, exorcise the fae spirit.

  Reward: 1,000G

  Everyone blinked as the system window confirmed their tacit acceptance of the quest by nature of their mystery pull game.

  “A rank 1 quest? Who pulled from the top of the board?” whined Helene.

  “This will not be easy, a definite step up from killing slimes . . .” mumbled Edoix.

  “A thousand gold ain’t nothin’ ta sneeze at, though,” hummed Gymgrei, stroking his braided beard.

  “It had the highest pay . . .” mumbled Whis, tucking into himself as he heard the undertone of disapproval.

  The party looked at him and sighed. They should have known better than to pick their quest this way when Whis didn’t understand how the quest board worked, nor the risks of certain quests. Nevertheless, they had accepted this quest, and they would do it.

  “Well, if we do this well we’ll all move up to iron rank with the Wanderer’s Guild,” huffed Helene, petting Whis on the head.

  Whis purred audibly at the petting, and Helene snapped her hand away, averting her gaze from the cat.

  “That aside, we must also begin looking into our main mission,” said Edoix, who stood tall at the table. “Helene, please join me at the magister. We must research dulhans and pick up the second volumes of our spellbooks.”

  Helene waved Edoix down. “We can do that ter. Let’s just enjoy a proper meal first.”

  Edoix shook his head, thumbing towards Whis. “We also have some other research to do. Who knows how long that will take.”

  Helene sank into her chair. Edoix had a point. Rest would have to come ter.

  With a sigh, she got out of her seat and walked with Edoix out of the tavern, leaving Gymgrei and Whis on their own for the evening.

  As they left, they could overhear Whis ask Gymgrei something about guns, which set the dwarf off into an Edoix-style spiel about the devices.

  ***

  The magical duo opened the door into the magister’s building. Luckily for them, there was no line today.

  The clerk smiled at them and nodded in acknowledgment. “Welcome in, mages. How may I help you today?”

  Helene approached and set some coins on the counter. “I’m looking for the spellbook Pyro Volume Two and the Hex Manual for Somnos.”

  Edoix peeked around Helene. “I am in need of Dosis Volume Two and Plegos Volume Two.”

  The magister clerk stared hard at both of them, his face turning stony and harsh. Then, in the blink of an eye, the magister was beaming again. “Congratutions on reaching fifth level, you two. It will be five hundred gold for those. Anything else you would like?”

  Edoix nodded. “We are looking to do an artifact hunt. I’ve heard rumors about a few sites, but I’d like an official’s opinion.”

  Helene looked at Edoix in confused shock. “Ed?”

  He waved her down and stood in front of her. “I understand there is a ruin with potential information about travelers . . .”

  The clerk chewed his lip, leaning back in his chair. “Do you now . . . Can’t say I’ve heard anything like that.”

  Edoix put his hands on his hips. “Not on Sundara?” he asked, tilting his head to one side.

  The clerk shook his head. “No, no. Heard nothing of it.”

  “Then perhaps you have heard about the one in the Aqhari desert then,” said Edoix slowly.

  “What do you—sir, I have no information on any such thing. It’s purely folk nonsense. Now, if you are interested in a dungeon run I do have information on some nearby discoveries. Perhaps they may have what you’re looking for.” The clerk grumbled with Edoix, gritting his teeth as the elf stood with a satisfied smile.

  “I see. I shall not waste any more of our time on this inquiry then. Thank you so much for your time,” said Edoix as he snapped his robe pels. “Very well, Helene, let us be off. We have a dulhan to sy.”

  Helene watched as Edoix left the building. In his air of smug confidence he forgot his two new spellbooks on the counter. She sighed and pulled the small stack of books together, chasing him down.

  “Edoix!” she called out, running up to the elf as he turned around, still smug. “What was that about? You know he’s the only magister in Alexandria. Don’t go getting us banned because you wanted to be smug and learn nothing!” She shoved the two bluish-white books into his chest hard, knocking the smug look off his face.

  “But I did learn something. It was a gamble, but I know where we should prepare to look!” He tucked the two books into his robes.

  “Is that right? And where, oh wise, all-knowing Edoix, is that?” she hissed, brows knit tightly on her freckled face.

  “The Aqhari Desert.”

  Helene sighed, rubbing her temples. “Edoix . . . how big is the Aqhari Desert?”

  “Exactly one million, three hundred forty-three thousand, two hundred forty-five square kilo . . . meters . . . Ah. I see your point.” Edoix covered his mouth with his knuckles, stuck in thought.

  “In other words, fuckin’ massive, isn’t it? Do you have two hundred years to explore the entire damned desert?” Helene shook her head. “Let’s head back. I’m sure Gymgrei’s already ran up a beer tab that’ll send me through the roof.”

  ***

  Whis chewed away happily on some fkey, buttery fish. He had ordered himself a pte and was more than pleased to purchase his own meal for the first time. While he adored the mint tea, he went with water after his third gss.

  Gymgrei had, as predicted, drank his way through enough beer that they had to fetch a new keg. His meal was simple stew with mb and lots of root veggies.

  The doors to the tavern swung in. Helene and Edoix had returned from their shopping trip.

  “Hey, guys!” mewled Whis around a mouthful of fish, his tail raised pyfully as he waved a hand animatedly. “Did ya figure it out?”

  Helene shook her head. “Well Edoix found it may be on Aqhar, but we need way more information to figure out exactly where we’ll find your way home.”

  Whis nodded and swallowed his fish. “And how do we kill the Dulhan?”

  Helene groaned and Edoix hid his face. His spellbooks weren’t the only thing he’d forgotten in his sleuthing. The looks on their faces got a barking ugh out of Gymgrei, who found the scene far too humorous.