Aiden remembered showing Jax the little minecart system in the woods on the first day. Jax had been amazed and excited for when they would finally go down the mountain after completing the quest.
Aiden had ridden it for years, and it was always enjoyable. Even if it was not as exciting anymore, the ride itself was fun, and combined with the sights, it was well worth it every time.
However, as they rode down the rails, Jax literally howled in excitement, and Aiden found it hard to enjoy the sights around them, mainly because everything looked like fuzzy colors at the moment.
"This thing is awesome!"
Jax yelled as they went around a corner.
"Just try not to fall out. I don't want to accidentally stumble into the moat outside of town."
Aiden said this as they passed another batch of tall brown blob trees.
"Relax. I'll only let you hit a few trees on the way."
Jax said jokingly.
At least Aiden hoped he was joking.
When they reached the bottom of the track and made their way to town, Aiden heard the familiar voice of the uptight guard from a week or so ago. He thought his name was Qos, though it was hard to tell with everything being fuzzy.
When Qos held out his hand for Aiden's information, Aiden turned to Jax.
"Can you reach into that side pocket for me?"
"What, feeling lazy, mountain boy?"
Qos asked with a snarky lilt to his voice.
Aiden quietly blinked at him, both in confusion as to why he seemed angry and because Aiden was not 100% sure he was looking at Qos and not the pillar next to him. The blurry colors all looked similar.
"I'm sorry, it's just my glasses bro-"
Aiden was cut off when Qos stepped up to him and bumped his hip. With the added momentum of his armor, combined with how unexpected it was, Aiden stumbled back and fell on his butt.
Next to him, Jax barked,
"Hey jackass, watch it?"
Aiden heard Qos stop where he had been walking toward another approaching group. Qos turned back, and two crackling circle-shaped blobs appeared behind his shoulders as two black cannon barrels poked out of them.
The pirate class's signature cannons.
"Are you threatening me, plateless?"
Qos asked with a voice that seemed to be begging for a fight.
Jax seemed to go still, and Aiden heard a low growl reverberate from him.
"Qos, what in the hells are you doing!?"
A booming, familiar voice called out.
Larz.
Aiden could hear what seemed to be the sound of Larz's armor and badge bouncing as he ran. Qos turned, his cannons breaking like glass and vanishing as he walked back to his post.
The large, blurry form of Larz came running over. He held out a paw, and Aiden took it, letting Larz pull him up.
"Commander, your guards seem to be lacking some basic discipline training."
Jax said this in a surprisingly cold voice.
Only then did Aiden realize Jax had never met Larz and was probably still expecting a fight.
"Don't worry, Jax. Larz was a friend of my grandpa's. He's cool."
Aiden said this while turning to Larz and squinting at him. He saw what he assumed was Larz facepalming.
"Did you break your glasses?"
Larz asked.
Aiden turned toward what he hoped was Jax and not a grayish patch of dirt in a fuzzy Jax shape.
"In my defense, the two of us were running away from a fire ghost. Also, before I forget, Larz, this is Jax. Jax, this is Larz."
The two gave each other polite nods before Larz turned back to Aiden.
"What's this about a fire ghost?"
He asked, starting to look over the paperwork Jax pulled out.
"It's part of my quest we're doing."
Jax handed the page with the quest info to Larz.
"We found that the mist was actually smoke from these fire ghosts, and they are starting to do a controlled burn of part of the mountain by grabbing trees until they ignite. They even make sure the fire doesn't spread, which is weird."
Jax explained.
Larz slowly nodded before turning to Jax.
"Does that mean today's the day you get your plates?"
"No. It's Jax's quest. I'm just a guide."
Aiden said quickly as Jax put the page back in his bag.
"Don't mind him. He's in denial."
Larz nodded.
"I can see that."
"I AM NOT!"
Aiden barked out, flushing with embarrassment.
"Besides, the quest isn't even done yet! We found some weird magic stuff in the area the fire ghosts are burning. It looks like it was part of an old traveler's shrine."
"In that case, you all might be in luck. A caravan just came through the north gate from Elmgrove, and there were quite a few prospective adventurers with them. You all can probably find a mage and a party member at the same time."
"Perfect. Then we can have a full party!"
Jax said, his tail wagging.
"Yes. Then you and your four party mates can complete the quest together."
Aiden said, crossing his arms.
Both Larz and Jax turned to each other before turning back and saying in unison,
"So much denial."
Aiden's face flushed again as the two started snickering. He stormed inside and headed toward the shop where his spare glasses were kept. Counting the alleyways to not accidentally go storming into someone else's store.
Once he reached the door, Aiden noticed that Peridot was not in her normal napping spot.
Walking over to the counter, he saw that someone had written something on a small note, not that he could read it currently.
Aiden went behind the counter and reached into the drawer where his spare glasses were kept.
He wiped the dust off, putting them on and felt relief as the world once again had corners and edges instead of squiggly lines.
Then he looked over at the note.
Peridot had written in big, squiggly handwriting that looked like she had written using her mouth because using her arms would be too much effort.
O.T.L.
Aiden blinked for a moment before muttering to himself,
"You couldn't even write out the words 'out to lunch?"
He looked to the shelf and grabbed an extra Potion of Vigilance, four healing potions, and two more Potions of Night Vision, placing them in his bag.
Aiden made his way back out to the street, relieved that things looked sharp again, he saw Jax sitting by the door, staring up at the sign and at the front in general.
"You own this shop?"
"It's my grandfather's, but he left it with me when he went on his trip."
Aiden closed his bag after adding the new potions before they both started down the road.
"What happens if you leave the shop?"
Jax asked, seeming genuinely curious.
Aiden thought for a moment before realizing that Peridot, while lazy, did her job. She knew how to make medicines and sold them through the shop, so even if Aiden stopped supplying potions, the shop would still be fine.
Instead of telling him that, Aiden turned to look down at Jax who seemed to be watching a nearby crowd as if he could pinpoint his new party members by protagonistic gumption alone,
"Why do you ask?"
"When you're traveling as part of my party, you will need to leave the shop, so I figured I'd ask."
Jax said this with a coy smile.
"So help me, I will throw you in the moat."
Aiden said, picking up his pace.
Jax laughed as he caught up.
"Different question. Where is this city's library?"
"Feeling a bit studious, are we? I was always told most fullbloods don't like books because of how tedious they are to use without fingers."
Aiden thought back to the time he had tried to get Larz to also read the 7 stars series, and how the bear had struggled with the small pages perfusely.
"That's why you're going to be doing the research while I scout out a mage in the library. Mages like reading, right?"
Aiden rolled his eyes at his "mages like reading" comment and started toward the town library.
The Central Library wasn't far, no more than a 4 minute walk from the walls of the city. Its wide walls and towering columns had always amazed him when he was younger. Even now, it was one of his favorite buildings in all of Hopestone.
The front of the library was surrounded by activity, with people standing around with travel bags and talking to each other.
"Looks like we found the caravan drop-off."
Jax said this as they made their way inside passing by the side of the large crowd.
The open middle of the building stretched before them. A large second floor stood open in the center, allowing someone to see up to the ceiling even from the first floor.
Aiden turned to Jax, but he was already looking at a group of people gathered around a book together.
"You see what you can figure out about our fire ghost situation. I'm going to see what I can do to get us a mage in our party."
Jax said, already walking away.
"We're not-"
Aiden trailed off as Jax continued walking, not waiting for his reply.
Aiden grumbled to himself a bit as he headed toward the encyclopedia section of the library. Looking over the book covers, he grabbed a couple of books, making sure they were all by different authors. That way, there would not be a particular monster that one author missed but another had seen.
He opened the first book, Monsters of the Mountains, by the Relic Helia.
After checking the index for fire monsters, he flipped to page 548, finding a page about will-o'-wisps.
Aiden kept flipping through the pages.
When he passed by salamanders, he thought back to Misty, who had decided to sleep in.
She had gotten bored of the stakeouts every other day and insisted on staying home to keep the herbs in the garden watered.
Aiden continued to flip through the pages.
Fireeaters. No.
Heat hawk. No.
It took a moment, but he finally found the kind of monster they were dealing with.
Ash Spirit (E)
HP: 50
Spirit: 50
Stats:
Str: 10
Dex: 20
Con: 10
Int: 10
Wis: 20
Cha: 30
Notes:
When a fire is started in a location and causes death, but the aftermath is not cleaned up, these monsters can form. Their bodies are made from burning ashes that are hot enough to start fires through contact with flammable materials.
This effect is reflected in one of their main abilities, which allows them to leave lingering ashes in wounds they inflict. These ashes will flare up and cause burns after a delay, often catching the target off guard.
Built from the resentment of those killed in the flames, these creatures' temperaments are heavily dependent on the desires the dead had in life. As such, these monsters can often be seen as hostile only when someone or something attempts to stop them from completing their last goal in life.
Below are some examples of grudges I have found and the behaviors the spirits exhibited.
Trapped in a burning building - This caused the Ash Spirit to become extremely claustrophobic and aggressive when attempts were made to entrap it or bring it back to the location of its death.
Burned to death in their sleep - This Ash Spirit attempted to move around and do chores it had done in life. For a time, it appeared confused as it set clothes on fire when trying to fold them before sinking into a depression and refusing to move.
Murderer burned to death while fighting a fire mage - This Ash Spirit continued to lurk and was extremely aggressive, attacking on sight and seemingly enjoying its new form.
As Aiden read, he quickly flipped to an empty page from his observations journal and scribbled down some basic notes about the Ash Spirit.
"Have you had a run in with Ash Spirits recently?"
A voice from behind him asked.
Aiden turned to see someone who looked to be in their 20s. Their hair was a golden mane of gently waving curls that Aiden assumed took hours to do every morning. Their face was extremely pretty, to the point that Aiden wondered if the figure was a beautiful girl or a guy with a pretty, girlish face.
Their build did not give anything away, as they wore the robes of a priest that hid their figure. Had Aiden known more about the gods he might have been able to identify the figures faith, but he was not a follower of any of the divines, and as such knew very little. A small wooden staff rested across their back that they shifted to not hit Aiden as they leaned down to look at the book with him.
"I'm acting as a guide for someone trying to get their adventuring plates, and we saw a group of them in the mountains burning the area around a traveler's shrine."
The priest stood up and held their chin as they asked,
"They are burning everything but the shrine?"
"Yes. We're not sure why. We didn't even know what they were until we came here to see if we could find a reference."
Jax suddenly jumped up onto the chair across the table and said,
"I found our mage."
Beside him was a woman who also looked young. She wore a gray cloak covered in what looked like eagle feathers. It took Aiden a moment, but her slitted eyes and the fluffy down feathers on the back of her hand marked her as a lightblood beastkin.
"Jax has been telling me all about you and your helpful potions."
She said this while holding out a hand.
Aiden shook her hand and asked,
"And you are?"
"Liora. Liora Aeras. I'm a wind mage trying to get her plates."
"It seems we all share a common goal, then."
The priest from before said.
He brushed some of his hair behind his ears, allowing Aiden to see his pointed ears, marking him as an elf.
"I am Kaelen Therindor, a priest of Freyungen, the goddess of love, who is also seeking his plates."
Jax turned to Aiden with an excited look as his tail wagged enthusiastically.
"We just doubled our party size."
He said, his entire body practically tingling with excitement.
Aiden wanted to remind him that they had not been a party before, but he dropped it, not wanting to spoil the mood.
"Ok, welcome aboard I guess, hope you all like hiking because we have 10 miles to get back to my cabin."