TQG 52. Alive

52. Alive

I returned to the world in the temple of Thedum in Zhesa city.  Specifically in the rectory, appearing in a swirl of white motes of light right in front of a young novice, who screamed out “Oh I’m sorry Thedum, I didn’t mean it!” when I appeared.

“I’m not Thedum,” I told him.

“Where did you come from?” the novice demanded.  “This place is sacred, Traveler’s can’t just--”

“I’m not a traveler, I’m Earl Hail Jeoran,” I said.  “I guess this is where I come back to life.  Sorry, I didn’t mean to--”

“But you’re dead!” the acolyte exclaimed.

“Not as of like twenty seconds ago I’m not,” I countered.

A priest chose this moment to come into the room.  He took one look at me and frowned.

“Travelers are not allowed--”

“I’m not a traveler!” I argued.  “Look, if I was a traveler, I couldn’t pass through the barrier could I?  I’m a Native!”

“Natives are not allowed into this part of the temple either, unless they are part of the clergy.  You have some explaining to do, young man, as to how you--”

I tuned out the lecture since I was leaving anyway.  An icon in the corner of my eye told me that guildchat was blowing up.  After leaving the rectory, and the priest attempting to scold me, behind, I stopped towards the exit for a moment to calm everyone down.

Softspook

OMG Hail, you’re back online!?  What about spending time with your grandfather?

Weaselfire

HAIL!

Birdie

WB Hail.  I’ve been worried about you.  I’m sorry about your grandpa.

Peotre

Good to see you, boy

Hail

Hello everyone.  Sorry if you were worried.  I’m fine.  I just wasn’t ready to come back yet

Softspook

We understood.  Thanks for letting someone know that you were alive.

Hail

Actually I was dead.  My health was at zero the entire time I was in the lobby.

Softspook

You know what I mean.  Where are you?

Hail

I’m coming to the guild hall in a minute, I just have to lose this priest who’s hassling me for breaking and entering or something.  I’m going to stop paying attention now, goodbye

Birdie

Goodbye hail, be safe.  I’m letting Tarisha know you’re back.   Put your disguise on and --

I closed the chat window and left the temple.  Or I tried to, except that the priest kept bugging me, so I turned him into a slug with [Polymorph].  I mean, technically as [Avatar of Thedum] and as an Earl, I outranked him significantly, so he had no right lecturing me in the first place, so I felt justified in teaching him a lesson.  Plus it was funny, and it wouldn’t really hurt him.

Outside I bumped into a sea of bodies.  I wasn’t too worried about being recognized because the worst that could happen was I ran into a murderhobo or troll like Severus and got sent back to the lobby.  It might cost me a level and a day, but that was it.

I was fairly certain that [Avatar of Thedum] didn’t protect me from death like [Blessing of Thedum] had.  I didn’t know what that ability did now that I wasn’t a worldboss anymore, but I’d either figure it out, or it wasn’t that important.

I quickly noticed something strange about the people outside the temple.  They were glowing in various shades of orange or red.  The aura they were giving off made me uneasy, and I was eager to get out of there and back to the guild hall.  Almost all of them had the [Brand of Sin] on their forehead.  As I walked off, one of the men waiting to be cleansed by the priests suddenly approached and bowed.  The man was glowing bright red, and even before he spoke I wanted to punch him in the face.

“You are Lord Hail?  That’s quite the growth spurt you’ve undergone, but I’m certain it is you.  I would like to formally apologize for my former guildmate’s actions and--”

“Who the hell are you?” I demanded.

The man seemed put off by my hostility, and he bowed deeper.  “I’m Lawrence.  I was in <The Endolphins> before it disbanded.  I wasn’t there for the raid on Zhesa castle, but I did get caught up in the aftermath of Nial’s unforgivable act.  I’ve been trying to convince the priests here to cleanse my [Brand of Sin] for weeks now, but --”

“What do you want me to do about it?” I demanded.  “As far as I’m concerned everyone who got branded deserves it.”

The man hesitated, then asked “Lord Hail, what happened to your grandfather was a terrible thing.  What happened afterwards was a terrible mistake.  Many of the players who faced the Branding Boss didn’t realize the story or significance behind him.  Had they realized that they were ‘going over to the darkside,’ I’m quite certain that many of them wouldn’t have shown up to the fight.  Can’t you possibly find it in your heart to forgive them?”

“Whatever.  It’s in Thedum’s hands, not mine,” I answered.  “I’m leaving.  Don’t bother me anymore.”

“Quest declined,” Laurence said.  “Lord Hail, please.  Won’t you just consider allowing me to try to make amends for my role in the insult that has been done to you and your family?”

I considered him for a moment, then shrugged.  “I’m not doing anything with you until you cleanse that ugly brand on your forehead,” I began.  “But tell me, what happened to Gyudue?”

“You mean the second worldboss that appeared?  He killed many players and vanished when he was at fifteen percent health.  Now he is the final boss of the reformed [Gemos Cavern], although he’s unkillable.  He simply tests a party’s skills, then rewards them.  Or he kills them if they fail to live up to his standards.  Or so I have heard, I haven’t challenged him myself,” Lawrence answered.  “Is there any other information you --”

“I’m tired of hearing you talk.  Go get cleansed before you bug me again,” I told him.  “I can’t stand looking at you right now.”

Lawrence sighed and nodded.  “Quest accepted, Lord Hail.  I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

I left Lawrence and the temple behind, journeying through the city.  As I traveled, I saw fewer Travelers with the tell-tale glow that set my teeth on edge.  Most of them just looked normal.  But then I saw a few that had a welcoming blue aura instead.

Reputation, I realized.  I could still see it.  Perhaps that was what I gained as [Avatar of Thedum].  Or maybe it was simply part of growing older, I don’t know.  Something had changed, and now I could see at a glance who had earned some of my reputation.  Except I didn’t know most of the Travelers I saw with a blue glow to them.  Still, I felt comfortable simply walking up to one of them and saying “Hello.  I am Earl Hail Jeoran.  Have we met?”

“Holy shit, aren’t you dead?” the woman exclaimed.

“Apparently not,” I answered.  “Look, I think you have reputation with me, and I’m trying to figure out how you got it.  Have we met?”

“I was there for the opening of the castle dungeon,” she explained.  “When you were shouting at people to go help, I got the quest, and I was in one of the parties that rescued one of the en pee sees.  Maybe that’s it?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s probably it.  Hey, so, if you’re not doing anything, I could use an escort to the guild hall.  Lots of murderhobos about, you know?” I said conversationally.

“Um, no thanks, quest declined.  Sorry,” she answered.  “Look, I don’t really want to get involved with whatever the endgame stuff is that’s going on around you.  I’m pretty casual.”

“Oh,” I said.  “Well, alright then.”

I left her behind, a little disappointed but also pleased that I seemed to have intentionally generated a quest with her, even if she didn’t accept.  I wished that I had more control over my quest-giving ability.  Like a button I could push when I wanted to give a quest or something, but things simply didn’t work that way.

On my way to the Guild Hall, I continued to notice players with reputation, either red or blue.  Unfortunately there seemed to be more red than blue, and the red belonged to higher level players.  The sort who had killed me, I guess.  It was very hard not to have hard feelings about that, even if all that happens when I hit zero health is that I get stuck in the lobby for a day.

I was not recognized again until I entered the guild, at which point Dimple and Peafowlet were there to greet me.  Pea gave me an enthusiastic hug, and then Dimple made it into a Hail sandwich.

You have taken 1 crushing damage

I didn’t care.  I hugged them back.  It was strange though, I was suddenly as tall as Dimple, and taller than Pea.  Unsurprisingly, both women were glowing bright blue.

“Welcome back, Hail,” Daemon said, emerging from the other room.  He too was blue, although I still felt a little strange about him.  I’m not certain why.  “We’ve all been quite worried about you.  Are you really ready to be back in action?  What about your grandfather?”

“He … he sent me away.  It was time.  He needs to get ready for what comes next,” I explained.

“Oh?  And what does come next for him?” Daemon inquired.

“Never mind.  Do you know what happened to Malkios?  All I know is that he survived the raid,” I said.

“He’s … well, he’s maintaining a drunken state in a tavern for Natives, as he has been fairly consistently since the Branding.  Failing to protect you and your grandfather has hit him hard,” Dimple informed me.

“Did you let him know that I was coming back?” I asked.

“Hail, we didn’t knowthat you were coming back until you appeared in guild chat.  One of the options the administrators gave you was to become anonymous, remember?  If you had taken that option, we might never have seen you again,” Pea pointed out.  “But I just got a quest to go check on him and cheer him up, and I’m going to accept it.  Do you have a message to pass along, or would you like to come with, Hail?”

“I have things to do,” I said, shaking my head.  “I need to do some writing, and I need some people to deliver messages for me.  I’m pretty sure that it will turn into quests for them.  Can I borrow one of the offices for a while?  After that, I need a map of North Shire and Thorn March.  But if you’re going to see Malkios anyway, could you ask him to come see me?  I want to see him.”

“I’ll pass it on,” Pea promised, and she left to complete her quest.

“What sort of messages do you need to send?” Daemon inquired.

“Well, apparently there’s a rumor going around that I’m dead,” I said.  “So I sort of need to fix that before my great-uncle gives away the lands that I just got before I’ve even visited them.  And I need to send a letter to my mother to tell her I’m okay.  And other stuff, it’s not really any of your business, Daemon.  It’s stuff my grandfather asked me to do after he died.”

“I see,” Daemon responded.  “Well, you can use my office.  There is stationary in there.  It’s rather strange that the game uses more paper than my actual office does, but then I suppose it’s not killing any trees.”

“I don’t know what that means.  Oh, and Daemon, I’m going to need a lot of money, so I’ve decided to sell one hundred [Wind Up Malkios].  You can have one of them if you want as payment.”

“One hundred what?”

“[Summon Wind Up Malkios],” I said, and a small doll resembling the captain of the royal guard appeared and began slashing his sword about in choppy motions.  “I got them during the raid-busting.  Grandfather said to sell some now and hold on to the rest, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

“How many do you have?” Daemon asked, his eyes lighting up with greed.

“Enough that I won’t miss one hundred of them,” I answered.  “Get me a box or something to put them in and you can do whatever it is that you do to get the best price for them for me.”

“Of course, I’ll be right back,” Daemon said, and he quickly rushed out of the room, leaving me with Dimple.

“Hail, are you really okay?” she asked.  “I mean, it’s okay not to be.  A lot has happened and it must have been very traumatic.  I’m glad you got to say goodbye to your grandfather, but losing someone you love is never easy.  I lost my mother last year and I still find myself wanting to call her all the time.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Dimple,” I said.  “I’m going to go write my messages.  Will you figure out who is going to deliver them for me?”

“Does it have to be someone you know?  It will likely reward them with a [Mark of Karma], and --”

“I don’t care who it is as long as they don’t have a [Brand of Sin],” I answered.

“Hail, nobody in the guild was Branded,” she informed me.  “And you have us to thank for protecting your identity.  We lied through our teeth, saying that you had nothing to do with the Branding Boss.  We wouldn’t have known either if you hadn’t said your name at the time, but to the outside world you were never a worldboss.  Although your sudden growth spurt might raise some questions.”

“I know.  Thank you for watching out for me.  Now, I really do need to start writing, there’s a lot of people I need to send letters to,” I said.

“How many messengers do you need?” Dimple asked.

“I don’t know, twenty?”  I sighed.  “I’m probably going to get a [Hand Cramp].”