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Knell Chapter 1

Knell took a moment to stretch as she got out of bed, her green skin and bulging muscles taut as she lifted her arms over her head and released a mighty yawn, bearing her short tusks. She rubbed the sleep from her bright red eyes before running a hand over her bald head. It was starting to get stubbly, she ould need to shave soon, when she got the chance. She looked over to the other bed to see it empty and her companions possessions gone. He was probably already enjoying breakfast. She took a few minutes to throw on her traveling clothes, a light brown jerkin that went down to her knees, and a pair of heavy leather boots with fur lining. She tightened the laces on her jerkin before throwing a traveling pack over her shoulder and grabbing the giant two handed maul leaning against the wall beside the door.

She arrived in the dining area to find her companion sitting at a table alone, enjoying a bowl of some kind of soup. He was a large man, some would say a behemoth. Towering several feet over the average man, he was a solid mass of nothing but muscle, draped in furs and hides. The exposed skin and its network of criss crossing scars told the story of many battles. Perhaps most note worthy was the long jagged one on his face, running down the left side, disrupting his tribal tattoos and intersecting with his eye, upon which he wore a tattered old eyepatch. His brown hair,which was pulled back in to a short ponytail, was graying, as was his braided beard. His sullen blue eyes stared at Knell as she walked in as he gestured to a full bowl of soup on the opposite side of the table he was sitting at. Knell walked over throwing off her pack and setting it and the maul against the table before sitting down.

"You, uh, you were out awfully late last night. Anything interesting?" Volfram peered up from his food long enough to raise an eyebrow before continuing to shovel food in to his maw.

Knell blushed as she rubbed her bald head. "Oh heh heh. No nothing like that. There were a couple of traveling performers here last night. They were really cool guys so I decided to hang out with one of them last night."

"I see" Volfram mused between bites.

"No, I swear. We just talked awhile. Swapped stories. Shot the shit. Ya know just--" Before she could finish her thought a pair of men burst in to the common room of the inn where they were dining. One of them looked to be ill or in pain and was being supported by the other. Knell locked her eyes on them right as they came in, after a moment of recognition, her eyes grew wide and she immediately turned her head down towards her food as the threw up the hood on her cloak. Volfram took notice of this and looked up to see what had caused her reaction. His eyes followed the pair as they exited the room,walking right past Knell as they headed out the door.

"These performers from las tnight. They by any chance a Sardonian looking man and another guy who looks like the night sky stuffed in a gaudy red and gold robe?

". . .yes." Knell didn't look up from her bowl.

"Wow Knell, I knew you could be exhausting to listen to, but I had no idea you could do that to a man just by talking."

Her head shot up, whipping her hood back in the process and revealing the deep forest green her cheeks had become. "He wasn't like that when I left, I swear. Gods,how many time do I have to tell you I'm not in to guys."

"Then why is it that I never see you with any girls.

"Girls are uh. . .hard to talk to."

Volfram froze, the spoon already halfway to his mouth. He squinted at her as he pursed his lips,reading her. After a few moments he shrugged and popped the spoonfull of breakfast soup in his mouth. "Whatever, no skin off my back." Despite the constant noise of an inn at this time of morning, a deafening silence reigned over the table for the next several minutes as they each ate their meals without looking at the other. Finally Knell broke the silence.

"So know that I'm ready to be an adventurer, what do we do first?"

"Well, I already submitted the necessary paperwork on your behalf already so need to worry about all that, you are already an official adventurer under the Angry Squid Adventuring Hall. So I figured first thing would be to head over to the hall and see if we can fill out our numbers some more. Look and see if there are any interesting jobs while we're at it."

"Anything you had in mind?

"No no. This is your show. It's your first day as a real adventurer. Which means it's gonna be up to you to pick our first quest."

"What if the new recruits don't like the job I pick?"

"We get different recruits. Don't worry it will be--" Suddenly one of the men from before,the one in red and gold robes, burst through the door again, he rushed to the back hallways where the sound of a door being thrown upon could be heard, followed a few minutes later by the sound of it slamming shut and the man charging back through the inn, this time clutching two daggers. "I feel like there is probably a story there."

Knell stared at the door that the man had just slammed behind him, lost in thought. "I hope Deimos is alright." She turned back to see Volfram staring at her once again, bemused grin on his face. "God you are such an ass. I'm outta here, see you at the Angry Squid later." Her spoon clattered as she dropped it in to her bowl. She stood up, grabbed her pack and her walking stick leaning against the table, and walked out the door, flashing her middle finger at Volfram as she left.

*****

Volfram arrived at the Angry Squid to find Knell staring intently at the quest board. He spent a few minutes at the bar, exchanging pleasantries and catching up with the gnomish barkeep Sawyer, before ordering a pint of mead and walking back over to Knell. "You find anything interesting."

"No. Its all turnip thieves and deliveries. Not a single village in peril or vip in need of protection."

Volfram took a long noisy sip from his mead. "Well that's unfortunate. Any one of note on the party board?" He strode over to the board on the opposite side of the wall, staring at it intently.

"No. They all read like someone trying to apply to work at a bank."

He scanned the board for a few moments, taking another sip. "I see what you mean. Well, its to be expected. Its only natural that the most interesting quests and people get grabbed quick. If we want a shot at grabbing either,our best bet would just be to sit around her, wait for something interesting to--"

For the third time in less than an hour, there conversation was interrupted by the strange man in the red robes bursting through the door. Both Volfram and Knell watched as he approached the bar and began frantically conversing with Sawyer, the sound of their conversation lost in the early morning din of the adventure hall. After a minute the gnome looked over to Volfram and called "Hey wolf boy, this guy says he's looking for you."

Volfram looked over to his partner,cocking an eyebrow. "Well, looks like things just got interesting."

*****

"So let's start at the beginning. How do you know my friend?" Knell steepled her arms as she propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her interlaced fingers.

Saros looked over at the large man in the corner as he twiddled his thumbs under the table nervously. "Why can't I just talk directly to him?"

Volfram looked up from the axe he was polishing. "She's my protege. Its her first day on the job so I'm letting her lead things. You don't like it, there's the door. Now, I suggest you answer my friend. Why is my name on your lips?"

Saros turned to face the orc woman in front of him, but his attention remained focused on the man in the corner of his eye. "A while back my father and I were traveling North out of the kingdom of Alfard. We stopped in a little village to perform and maybe grab a bite to eat, I think it was called Mangold." Saros watched as the muscles in Volfram's neck tensed as the grip on his axe tightened. "There was a girl there,named Erin. I helped her out with something. She said I owed her a favor and if we were ever in Innastorm and we needed help to go to the Angry Squid and ask for Volfram."

"Oh yeah, Mangold, I--" Knell was cut off by Volfram clearing his voice loudly, she looked over to see him glaring angrily. "Right. How do we know you actually met this Erin and you didn't just pull her name off of one of the plaques in here." Saros looked around the room at all the various plaques and trophies that lined the walls. There was one that read Jess the Mighty, another partially defaced one read Loramir the Wise. Another particularly large one read Volfram Dragonsbane. He turned back to the orc woman, his vision once again transfixed on Volfram.

"S-she said if I ever wanted to ruffle Volfram's feathers I could c-call him F-faolan." Saros dropped to the floor beneath the table as a hand axe went sailing through the space his shoulder had been a second ago., hitting the wall with a loud THUNK.

A voice cried out from the next room. "VOLFRAM!! RULE NUMBER ONE!"

Volfram got up from his seat and yanked the hand axe from the wall as he yelled back, "Aw stuff it you lecherous old hobbit."

"I'm a gnome, not a hobbit." The voice cried back as Volfram returned to his seat and began polishing the blade of the axe he just threw.

Knell peered under the table to find Saros still curled up in the fetal position. "Nice instincts."

"Yeah. She also told me I should duck afterwards." Saros climbed back up on to the chair and looked over to see Volfram grinning slightly. He wasn't sure whether to be more or less nervous now. Knell looked over to him as well and Volfram gave her a nod.

"The big man buys your story. So, what's this favor?"

"My father, Deimos he was attacked last night."

"Is he okay?" Knell's voice suddenly shifted from mild interest to genuine concern as her posture straightened out.

"No. He, uh. He turned to stone."

"Fuck, that's horrible. I hear its really painful. But there's really not a lot we can do to help with that. Temple of Cinna should be able to heal him. If you need help transporting him there, we can offer that, but that's not really our thing."

""He's there now. Or, the statue of him is. We got him there before he finished turning, but there was nothing they could do to stop it. They said it was both a venom and a curse and they couldn't reverse one without reversing the other."

"I'm sorry but that kind of thing is completely out of our depth as well, not really the curse removal types either."

"That's not what I want your assistance with. You see, before my father turned to stone, he asked me to retrieve his favorite knife."

"Ah I see. And where was this knife last seen.

"Impaled through the hand of the man who attacked my father." Volfram let out a bemused chuckle. "Please, this was the one thing my father asked of me before he turned to stone. But I do not know this city, I do not even know where to begin to look. Erin made it sound like you have sources of information."

Volfram got up from the large throne in the corner of the room as he sighed "Yeah, I know a guy. Let's go."

It was a busy day in Kwix's shop. Customers milled about the store examining the numerous items on display. Occasionally one would approach the counter he sat at and ask to examine one of the more impressive items he had on display behind the counter. He'd pull it down from the wall, which was often easier said than done for such a small Goblin, and tell them about all the special powers or defenses it imbued its wielder. They'd ask how much, he'd give them a price at which point they'd always hand it back acting as if it wasn't quite what they were looking for, but it was obvious that whatever they were looking for was well outside their price range. Magic items aren't something fresh off the boat adventurers can afford. And yet they always asked.

He couldn't complain too much though. Business was great. He still had plenty of mundane items to sell to the average consumer. He also did very well selling more exotics tuff, like dragon scales and chimera blood, to the wizards and artisans from the noble quarter. 10 years ago he'd been holed up in a little shack in the slums until a mysterious woman had changed his fate by selling him her magical items for a pittance. He'd turned that around and within a few shorts months he actually owned a business in the Trade District. And these days, he was one of the most preeminent place to shop in all of Innastorm. Yeah things were good. But something was missing and he wasn't quite sure what it was.

He needed something else to keep him occupied today. He called Pinkie, one of his employees over to the counter, and then headed in to the back office, closing the large wooden door behind him. He grabbed a book off of one of the shelves on the wall and tossed it up on to his desk before climbing his stepstool up into his chair where he plopped down, his head the only thing visible from the other side of the desk. He grumbled as he gave the lever on it a few pumps, someone had been sitting in his chair again. It was probably Pinkie, she was always using it without permission. Once his chair was back at the correct height, he picked up his small pair of reading glasses and with a long, slender, clawed finger, he slid them up his long hooked nose, resting the arms on his large batlike ears.

There wasn't really much higher he could climb here. He had employees handling most of his work now, hell he could hand the Keys over to Pinkie and things would still keep running.. He'd already expanded his current location as much as he could, even adding on a second story, but he had gotten to the point where his supply was outpacing demand, there just wasn't enough business to be had in this town. Thoughts of what to do now plagued his mind,distracting him from much more beneficial work he could be doing instead. He tried to focus on the ledgers. It was one of the few jobs he still handled himself. Not that he didn't trust his employees to do it. He just liked it. Something about the numbers dancing together and combining, growing ever larger in their fanciful display. He liked numbers. He understood numbers. He wished he understood magic. He looked up from the book over to the large compendium on his desk. It was open to an entry about a magic box that contained a horrifying cat mummy that did its master's bidding. He had seen one once. Carried by a Muridian no less, no doubt for the irony. He looked at it and sighed, lost in thought, he idly twiddled the blue and silver amulet that hung around his neck with his thumb and forefinger

Suddenly the sound of very heavy footsteps heading to his office returned his focus, and he stuffed the necklace beneath his shirt as he turned back to his ledgers,attempting to look busy as any good businessman should. And without a knock, the door flew open, the doorway filled with a man almost as big as the door he had just kicked open. This was intentional, it was a hard earned lesson. Kwix sighed as he made a dramatic show of setting down his fountain pen and closing his books before taking off his glasses and rubbing his temples, "Can you watch it with the doors? I'd hate to have to bill you if you got splinters in my suit,I'll have you know this suit cost me--"

"7800 gold pieces, I know."

Kwix exhaled a small sigh of frustration. "How can I help you Volfram?"

"Need info."

"Of course. What is it this time? Monsters, ancient tombs, misdeeds of nobles, ancient--"

"Daggers and poison."

"Poison huh? That's a new one. What are you needing to now?"

Volfram grunted "Just come with me."

Kwix sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes, "Ugh fine." He smiled a little once Volfram turned around. He'd been dying for an excuse to get out of this stuffy office.

Four figures gathered around the statue of Deimos. The clerics had moved him to a small prayer garden with a promise to Saros that they would look after him. It was a simple gesture truly appreciated, it was one less thing to worry about with the threat of hooligans defacing or damaging his father in some way removed from his mind.

"So uh, why didn't they just chop his arm off?" Kwix inspected the stone as he mused.

"I-I do not know. I think maybe he thought I could reverse it some how. I think he puts too much faith in my abilities. His dying wish was for me to reclaim his dagger, which was last seen in the hands of the man who attacked him. I think he believed if I found him I would also find the cure. My father, he had a very peculiar way of expressing himself. He could never just come out and say what he really wanted. But I have no idea why he was attacked much less by who. I do not know how he expects me to find this man or find the cure for this horrible thing."

Knell pushed off against the marble pillar she had been leaning against, the loud sound of stone grinding against stone pierced the air as the column slide a few inches in response, causing Knell to wince briefly. She rested a reassuring hand on Saros's shoulder. "Deimos is a good man and a wise man and he was right to put his faith in you. I see why he trusts you so much. This will get fixed. And I'll do everything in my power to help make that happen. " The air grew quiet from the tension that the sudden serious turn in the conversation had caused. A few awkward moments passed before Knell clapped her hands and chuckled awkwardly. "So uh yeah, I figured if we found out anything more about the poison it might lead us to the attacker or the maker of the poison and we could find the knife that way." Saros turned to look at Knell as she spoke, this got her attention and she found herself suddenly looking away and at the ground for some reason as she kicked at a few weeds.

"Well deduced. Well I can tell you this much, the stone appears to be a special type of blue granite which lucky for us is rare and only comes from Alfard and Cortierra,so that narrows it down a bit. You said he was able to grab a piece of cloth, yes?" He held an outstretched hand towards Saros who deposited a piece of black material in to it. Kwix ran it through his fingers a few times, before holding it up to the light and turning it over a few times. He gave it a few sniffs, before holding it up his ear and rubbing it a few times.

"It's a very thick fabric, meant for colder temperatures. It's black obviously, but its so incredibly black its almost impossible to discern any details about it. I picked up a faint whiff of pine sap. The material is very well made,designed to be nearly silent. My guess is this wasn't some random attack, this was an assassin, and he was sent from Alfard, and that is likely where he has returned to, at the very least that is where you will find whoever hired them. The fact that your father was able to retaliate at all and wasn't long dead by the time you arrived means either your father was very good, or this is a very bad assassin who somehow got their hands on some gear that is very very good. I can't tell you much more than that, but it likely means whoever paid for this assassin paid quite a bit. I don't know who in Alfard could afford to hire him, and which one of them would have motive. My knowledge in that regard is lacking, my info on the doings of nobles only extends as far as the city walls of Innastorm. But my guess is that you will find your answer in Alfard's capital city of Carth. That's where all the money lives."

Volfram uncrossed his arms and placed a hand on Saros's shoulder, and broke his silence of the last 30 minutes. "Well kid, there you go. Your assassin is in Alfard. Knock 'em dead."

Knell suddenly pivoted towards Volfram. "You can't be serious, you're not gonna bail already."

Volfram, whom had already began walking away, stopped and turned back around. "What, Kwix usually charges a ton for this kind of info analysis. That's a pretty big fucking favor."

"He still needs our help."

Volfram grunted. "Assassins with unknown motives from other lands means political intrique. Political intrigue mean lots of talking and not a lot of smashing. I'm no good when there is nothing to smash."

"You said I got to pick the first job. And this is the job I picked."

Volfram crossed his arms defensively. "Well we still need new recruits. Splitting night watch two ways is a real son of a bitch, trust me, I know."

A star-like mote of light suddenly appeared inches from Volfram's face nearly blinding him, he attempted to swat it away to no avail. Saros cleared his throat and spoke up. "I would go with you of course. I know some magic."

"Still, that's only three. A proper party needs at least four members, ideally five."

"I might have a solution for that." The sound of Kwix's voice startled the trio who had already forgotten about the presence of the small green figure. "Let's head back to my shop.

Kwix's legs and feet flailed uselessly as he struggled to reach for the contents at the bottom of the ches the was hanging over. Eventually he decided his dignity was already gone, so he just climbed the rest of the way in and began rooting around. He found a backpack which he tossed up towards Volfram who snagged it out of the air deftly

"Hey new guy, did you know I can do magic too?" Volfram held the bag open with one hand, and stuck his other hand in, pushing it deeper and deeper, past the wrist, the forearm, the elbow. Finally he got it all the way up to his shoulder, his arm seemingly vanishing within the small bag.

"I am not a simpleton, I know what a pocket dimension is. And the name is Saros. Saros Aerglo."

Volfram chuckled, "Yeah, I have no idea what you just said, we need to do something about that accent. What is that Sardonian?"

If any pigment could be seen on Saros's skin, you would have seen him blush. His lilting tone of voice and the ways words rolled along his tongue had felt natural to him, but as his father's travels had taken them farther and farther from their homeland, he had noticed his speech feel more and more out of place. It made him uncomfortable and he hated the reminder of just how alien he was.

Saros was smacked in the face by a second bag that he fumbled to grab as it fell to the floor. Once he had it in hand, he took a moment to inspect it. The front of the Bag was emblazoned with the words Kwix Kit. It was light, as if it was empty, but shaking it produced a rattling sound as it it was full of various items.

"That's one of Kwix's failed business ventures. Turns out anyone who needs a bag full of basic adventuring supplies can't afford a Pocket Dimension, and any one who can afford a Pocket Dimension already has all the adventuring supplies they need." Volfram pulled a few misc items from his bag to demonstrate, a shovel, a lantern, 50 foot of rope, a waterskin. Saros reached in and pulled out a ten foot long pole.

The Kwix emerged from the chest a moment later with a third bag. He walked to another chest, and retrieved a couple smaller bags, these ones were different, clearly visibily full of contents and made the unmistakable jingling sound of gold pieces. He led them back in to the main room where he grabbed a few large items and then slid open the large glass display case beneath the front desk and grabbed a few more items before holding the bag up towards Volfram. "Switch me." Volfram grabbed the bag from Kwix and handed him the empty one. Kwix locked eyes with Volfram as he did so, clutching one of Volframs massive fingers with his long claws. "Guard it with your life."

"Are you gonna tell us what your solution is yet." Volfram grumbled in response.

"Isn't it obvious, I'm going withy ou."

"Alright!" Knell pumped a fist in excitement

Volfram snorted in dismay "Do what now?"

"I'm sorry what point did you not understand."

"You're a shop keep."

"Yes, but a very well equipped one." He waved a wand at Volfram for emphasis before stuffing it in to the bag. "I've been thinking about expanding my business for a while. Setting up a new location in Carth sounds like the ticket. I'm sure you can see how this is a mutually beneficia larrangement. You'll need someone to gather information when you get there, I know you and Knell ain't the ones for the job, I don't know the first thing about you star man, but I definitely know I can hack it, and you know it too. Plus that means more info resources in thefuture, and wider catalogue of items. In addition, I would outfit this group. After all, your survivability improves my survivability. This only works out well for you, yes?"

"Yeah, okay fine, but you better pull your weight and I get dibs on all your stuff if you die."

"That sounds fair," Kwix held up a hand, and Volfram held out a large meaty finger. Kwix grabbed it and pumped it a few times eagerly. "So after that's all done, where to next boss?"

The voice of Knell's voice caused his head to turn to face her, "Well, uh, I figure our best bet is to use some sort of tracking or detection magic to see if we can track this cloth back to its owner. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we could do that? Saros, do you have any spells like that?" "Unfortunately no, I specialize in the summoning of extraplanar energies."

"How about you Kwix, you got anything in this store we could use."

"Well I just sold my only scrying orb about three weeks ago, so that's a no from me as well."

"And you Volfram, any suggestions."

Volfram sighed as he crossed his arms disapprovingly. "Yeah, I know someone. But you're not gonna like it.

*****

Journal Day 1 Well it's been an interesting 24 hours. Last night Volfram finally told me I was ready to be be an adventurer, we would just need to flesh out our party and then we'd be ready to undertake a quest. Fucking finally, I've been dying for this for months. I know I've been ready for a while, he's just not seen it. So last night I went out to celebrate, and there were these two wicked street performers. It was a father and son duo, it was the fucking greatest thing. The dad did all this cool acrobatic and juggling shit, and the son did all these really cool illusions, made things disappear and reappear, move things without touching em, it was wild. All without using a spellbook or rod or wand or anything. He didn't even have to chant, it was crazy. And it just so happened they were staying at the same inn. Man I wanted to hang out with Saros so bad. I fed them a line about needing a room for the night. The dad bought it but then Saros took off so it was all for naught. I talked with him for a bit. He's a good man, he loves his son. He told me stories of their travel, I tried to tell him stories about my training but I got nervous so I bolted. I wish I hadn't, I would have liked to talk to him some more. I would only see him one more time, briefly, before he turned in to stone. I got my chance to hang out with Saros but its at the expense of him losing his father. I know its not my fault, but I can't help but feel guilty for being thankful for this opportunity. I'm a shitty person. Fuck.

So as it turns out an old friend of Volfram's owed Saros a favor and he's cashing it in with us, and know we're hunting this guy down all the way in Carth. Volfram's old friend Kwix, I don't know if friend is the right word, business associate? I get the feeling they owe each other so many favors at this point no one's really sure who's more in debt at the moment. So he talked himself in to joining us on our journey, so know we've got four. We spent the rest of the day outfitting ourselves as well as filling out all the paperwork to ensure the quest and all party members were approved by the Adventure Hall. Tomorrow we head southeast to find another old friend of Volfram's in hopes we can get their assistance. Volfram doesn't seem too pleased by the prospect. Guess we will see why tomorrow.

#fantasy #fiction #lgbt #terraxia

Knell Chapter 1

"You, uh, you were out awfully late last night. Anything interesting?" Volfram peered up from his food long enough to raise an eyebrow before continuing to shovel food in to his maw.

"I see" Volfram mused between bites.

"These performers from las tnight. They by any chance a Sardonian looking man and another guy who looks like the night sky stuffed in a gaudy red and gold robe?

". . .yes." Knell didn't look up from her bowl.

"Wow Knell, I knew you could be exhausting to listen to, but I had no idea you could do that to a man just by talking."

"Then why is it that I never see you with any girls.

"Girls are uh. . .hard to talk to."

"So know that I'm ready to be an adventurer, what do we do first?"

"Anything you had in mind?

"No no. This is your show. It's your first day as a real adventurer. Which means it's gonna be up to you to pick our first quest."

"What if the new recruits don't like the job I pick?"

*****

"No. Its all turnip thieves and deliveries. Not a single village in peril or vip in need of protection."

Volfram took a long noisy sip from his mead. "Well that's unfortunate. Any one of note on the party board?" He strode over to the board on the opposite side of the wall, staring at it intently.

"No. They all read like someone trying to apply to work at a bank."

Volfram looked over to his partner,cocking an eyebrow. "Well, looks like things just got interesting."

*****

"So let's start at the beginning. How do you know my friend?" Knell steepled her arms as she propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her interlaced fingers.

Saros looked over at the large man in the corner as he twiddled his thumbs under the table nervously. "Why can't I just talk directly to him?"

A voice cried out from the next room. "VOLFRAM!! RULE NUMBER ONE!"

Volfram got up from his seat and yanked the hand axe from the wall as he yelled back, "Aw stuff it you lecherous old hobbit."

"I'm a gnome, not a hobbit." The voice cried back as Volfram returned to his seat and began polishing the blade of the axe he just threw.

Knell peered under the table to find Saros still curled up in the fetal position. "Nice instincts."

"The big man buys your story. So, what's this favor?"

"My father, Deimos he was attacked last night."

"Is he okay?" Knell's voice suddenly shifted from mild interest to genuine concern as her posture straightened out.

"No. He, uh. He turned to stone."

"I'm sorry but that kind of thing is completely out of our depth as well, not really the curse removal types either."

"That's not what I want your assistance with. You see, before my father turned to stone, he asked me to retrieve his favorite knife."

"Ah I see. And where was this knife last seen.

Volfram got up from the large throne in the corner of the room as he sighed "Yeah, I know a guy. Let's go."

"7800 gold pieces, I know."

Kwix exhaled a small sigh of frustration. "How can I help you Volfram?"

"Need info."

"Of course. What is it this time? Monsters, ancient tombs, misdeeds of nobles, ancient--"

"Daggers and poison."

"Poison huh? That's a new one. What are you needing to now?"

Volfram grunted "Just come with me."

Kwix sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes, "Ugh fine." He smiled a little once Volfram turned around. He'd been dying for an excuse to get out of this stuffy office.

"So uh, why didn't they just chop his arm off?" Kwix inspected the stone as he mused.

Volfram uncrossed his arms and placed a hand on Saros's shoulder, and broke his silence of the last 30 minutes. "Well kid, there you go. Your assassin is in Alfard. Knock 'em dead."

Knell suddenly pivoted towards Volfram. "You can't be serious, you're not gonna bail already."

Volfram, whom had already began walking away, stopped and turned back around. "What, Kwix usually charges a ton for this kind of info analysis. That's a pretty big fucking favor."

"He still needs our help."

"You said I got to pick the first job. And this is the job I picked."

Volfram crossed his arms defensively. "Well we still need new recruits. Splitting night watch two ways is a real son of a bitch, trust me, I know."

"Still, that's only three. A proper party needs at least four members, ideally five."

"I might have a solution for that." The sound of Kwix's voice startled the trio who had already forgotten about the presence of the small green figure. "Let's head back to my shop.

"I am not a simpleton, I know what a pocket dimension is. And the name is Saros. Saros Aerglo."

Volfram chuckled, "Yeah, I have no idea what you just said, we need to do something about that accent. What is that Sardonian?"

"Are you gonna tell us what your solution is yet." Volfram grumbled in response.

"Isn't it obvious, I'm going withy ou."

"Alright!" Knell pumped a fist in excitement

Volfram snorted in dismay "Do what now?"

"I'm sorry what point did you not understand."

"You're a shop keep."

"Yeah, okay fine, but you better pull your weight and I get dibs on all your stuff if you die."

"That sounds fair," Kwix held up a hand, and Volfram held out a large meaty finger. Kwix grabbed it and pumped it a few times eagerly. "So after that's all done, where to next boss?"

"How about you Kwix, you got anything in this store we could use."

"Well I just sold my only scrying orb about three weeks ago, so that's a no from me as well."

"And you Volfram, any suggestions."

Volfram sighed as he crossed his arms disapprovingly. "Yeah, I know someone. But you're not gonna like it.

*****

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