Petra was irate, making her a P-irate. This is what Jasson thought, a bit giddy as she chewed him out. He was alive, they had completed two quests at once, and he couldn't stop smiling at the way Petra's hair had been plastered.
"Sure," Petra said, "Split up. Two quests at the same time. What's the worst that could happen?!"
Petra's hair waved like the quills of a depressed porcupine, matted with dried slime and twigs.
"I never said that part," Jasson said, grinning, "I take it you two had a hard time as well?"
"We fought a THOUSAND slimes!" Petra said, "And they were Water slimes as well! A good half of the bigger ones split into smaller ones if Clara cut them. Only my scatter shots and whirlwind were effective, and I had to use up the entire remainder of one of your mana crystals!"
And most of it got on you, Jasson thought as he eyed the slimed-up girls. Then again, I'm not one to talk.
All that was left to do now was to return the quests, get the credit, and go bathe. Dinner would come in there as well, but Jasson felt most like getting the egg out of his hair.
"Wow," Jasson said, shrugging, "It sounds like we were terrible matches for our quests. Ah well, I need to go bring these in before it gets dark. Give me the Quest and I'll go bring this in."
"Oh no!" Petra said, reaching into her locker, "I'm coming with you to make sure you get the credit we deserve."
Petra pulled out a hood and mask, squelching them over her filthy clothes in a way that made Jasson's skin crawl. Petra glared at Clara as if daring her to advise caution. Jasson looked at Clara as well. Was that enough of a disguise? Or was Petra just tired and ticked off?
"I agree," Clara held up her hands, "This was outrageous. A weaker party would have died to help a grandma in the woods. They need to know."
Petra huffed and led the way towards the guild. Jasson followed and sheepishly entered the doors after Petra. It felt alien to have Petra cross over into this portion of his life. Wasn't this the explicit reason they wanted his help in the first place? Why risk it now?
Petra didn't even glance at Grog, and Jasson did his best to apologize silently as he followed Petra. Even with only two people ahead of them in line, the wait was torture. Petra's foot tapped a war song as she waited, and Jasson was getting tired of motioning his apologies.
Finally, it was their turn, and Petra flounced to Jane at the desk and slapped her quest down with a squelch.
"This," Petra pronounced like a king that found a rat living in his throne, "is the most deceptively difficult quest I have ever taken. There were over a thousand slimes in a nearby cave AND A MOTHER SLIME! Water slimes, all of them. A freaking breeding epidemic, and don't you dare call me a liar. We completed the quest, and I demand more credit than a simple-"
Suddenly a shadow blocked out the chandeliers as the mountain Grog loomed behind them. Jasson's necessary organs did their best impression of a Yo-yo.
Jasson spun around, waving his hands, "She's not threatening Jane. She's just doing her best to communicate the severity of what they found!"
Grog squatted to almost eye level and said, "I know that. Young miss, did you say there was a Mother Slime within the citylands? Where was this quest located, Jane?"
"Old Gertha's property," Jane held the quest between two fingers, "So, on the borders."
"Brings back memories," Grog said, then looked at Jasson, "You had a second quest, I believe. You're slimy enough for the slimes, but your clothes are in shreds. What happened?"
"Okay," Jasson opened his locker and plopped one of the crystal hearts from the Weeping Angels monsters, "So, this is a bit complicated. Have you heard of monsters that don't move while you look at them?"
Jane shook her head but Grog said, "Ah. I have. They look human, right?"
"Relatively," Jasson rubbed where that last attack had almost killed him, "They have razor-sharp fingers though."
"I know them," Grog said, "I'd have to look up what they are called. Go on."
"Anyway," Jasson said, "There were six of these *&^%s inside a warehouse filled with statues some noble never paid for. Me and Ha- I mean a party member and I almost died in there. It was bad. But we figured out how to kill them. Only destroyed one of the eggs though, figured you'd want a look."
"Good," Grog said, "I'll head out to make collections presently. Still…this is strange. If I remember right, those are a type of Troll that are used to guard tombs and such. They take on the style of the statues around them as normal trolls do with their environments. The book I studied theorized that their ability to turn to stone 'upon observation' was based on the Great Northern Troll's flaw of turning to stone in the sun."
Grog rubbed his chin and said, "That itself is theorized by TL Sheppard to be a survival mechanism. Hibernate through the summer months and only attack in the night months when they can hide easier in the darkness. Turning to stone also functions as a defense mechanism against the many predators of fifteen-foot trolls. Although, all trolls seem to prefer darkness so it might just be in their magical nature. What do you think?"
"How does it know when it's being observed?" Petra said, "If you're looking at it from behind, and it doesn't know you're there, how does it know?"
"We don't really know," Grog said, standing to his formidable height, "I'm going to go collect the corpses. I'm glad you made it out alive, Jasson. There was an entire copper-rank adventuring team that got wiped out in a mega-nest out in the east. Some kind of terracotta army mixed with hundreds of the monsters."
"So what were they doing in Stalt then?" Jasson asked, "Did someone bring them here?"
Grog froze for a second then said, "Of course not. It's just a coincidence. And, coincidentally, Jane I think it would be best to require three-man teams for all random monster quests from now on. Make sure to update the flyers."
Jane's eyes widened, then she frowned and said, "Now?"
"Yes, now." Grog winked at Jasson, "But this is merely a normal operating precaution for this time of year. Right, Jane?"
Jane snorted and tidied up her desk, then called another attendant over and walked to the quest board with a stamp and ink.
"What a pain," Jane said, "You know that now fewer of these quests will get done, right?"
Jasson watched as she stamped the number '3' on many of the quests. How would the adventuring parties prove that they had three members?
"Come with me," Grog said to Jasson, "You're going to tell me all the details."
"Me?" Jasson looked up at Grog, "Uh, yeah. That makes sense."
Something is happening. Jasson thought. Something…intentional.
****
That night, once Grog and an exhausted Jasson left the warehouse, stillness set in until the morning birdsongs. When not a vigilant soul was around, a solitary figure slipped in on silent feet and stole as a fleeting breeze between the statues. Reaching, like a shadowy hand in humanoid form, where the eggs had been removed. There they knelt and punched through the hardened earth floor.
Without even a grunt, the shadow pulled out an Earth Crystal glinting green in the moonlight. It was surrounded by a matrix of glowing mana crystals that made the pebbles on the ground shake. With a deft twist, the shadow powered the Earth Crystal down.
The figure nodded and stored the crystal in a Locker, then pulled out a sack of dirt. They filled the hole back up and compacted it with a burst of magic. By the time the shadow left, there was no evidence at all. Not even a scent.
****Jasson's Status****
| Strength | 120
| Agility | 151
| Intelligence | 202
| Wisdom | 154
| Charisma | 121
| Magic | 120
| Stamina | 142
| Luck | 210
End of Arc 1: Shadow and Stone