To begin our journey, we took on the simplest quests we could find on the Apple City questboard—starting with the ones that offered the cheapest reward.
"One day," Talos said, staring sternly at the higher-paying quests offering gold coin. "One day we'll be able to tackle all of those, easily."
"Once we get horses, we'll be unstoppable," Alva added, proudly.
"Yep, and we'll only need two to start, we can double up until we have enough for four." Talos responded.
"Oh, look. This one seems easy enough. One jar of tree sap: 5 bronze coin," I said, pointing to the quest.
I looked at Uri. He nodded.
"5 bronze coin? That's nothing," Alva whined.
"Everyone's gotta start somewhere," I said. "Let's do it."
"Velara's right, we have no choice. This is all we can do right now. Let's just get it over with so we can get more done," Talos said.
From what we knew, tree sap only came from tree gnomes, which were the most devious and evasive little creatures known to man.
You see, most creatures get their sustenance from food and water, but gnomes get it from annoyance and tomfoolery.
Ok, not really. But it sure seemed like it sometimes.
They occasionally come to nearby towns to bother people, but instead of waiting for one to find its next victim, we wanted to be more proactive and go to a forest near Apple City ourselves.
Tree gnomes live in trees—duh—but finding one wasn't that simple. They make a soft humming sound when they are home, whether they are sleeping or doing whatever they do in there.
As soon as we entered the forest, Alva started humming loudly.
Talos soon followed suit.
The blind leading the blind. What am I gonna do with them?
"No, you guys have it backwards. In order to find them we have to listen for their humming." I said, shaking my head disappointedly.
"Oh right, I knew that." Alva said.
"Now that I think about it, what did you think was gonna happen?" Talos asked. "You thought one was gonna run to us or something?"
"Well yeah. Maybe. I don't know," Alva said. "But hey, at least I was thinking. You just copied me without hesitation."
"You call that thinking?" Talos said.
"Shh." Uri shushed them.
We looked back to see him with one finger on his mouth pointing in a certain direction with his other hand. He started walking and we followed him.
As a rogue, Uri's senses had to be sharp, so if anyone could locate one, it was him.
We continued following him until he stopped at a tree. He pointed at it and nodded.
As I walked nearer the tree, I began to hear a soft humming. It was a tree gnome.
"Good job, Uri!" Talos said. "Now how do we get it ou-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the gnome climbed down, stole my hat, and climbed back up.
I wore a horrified expression. I had never felt so exposed.
"Hey!" I yelled as I tried frantically to hide my bedhead.
"It was too fast, I couldn't even draw my bow. What do we do?" Alva asked.
Talos pulled out his sword. "Let's chop it down!"
"No, wait!" I said. "The little guy did steal my hat, but this is its home."
"I can go up there." Uri suggested.
"No, don't. It's probably a trap." Talos said.
We all sat there thinking for a minute. Somehow we needed to lure him back down. I needed a sure-fire way to…that's it!
Suddenly, an idea sparked within me.
I picked up a nearby stick on the ground.
"A stick?" Talos asked, furrowing his brows.
"I'm gonna trick it, and force it to come down again," I said.
"Ah, I think I get it." Alva said, readying his bow.
"You ready, Uri?" I asked.
He nodded.
I cautiously set the stick on fire. I made sure the smoke made its way up and into the tree.
"Fire! Fire! No! My home! My home!" we heard from above.
The gnome jumped out, my hat still in his tiny hands. As soon as he did an arrow pinned him to the tree. I quickly put out the fire. Uri immediately retrieved the hat and gave it to me.
"Thank you." I said, as I put it back on.
"No...fire? Hey, you tricked me!" exclaimed the gnome.
His brown skin, nearly indistinguishable from the tree bark he was pinned against, contrasted sharply with his earthy green leaf-hair. Its small frame squirmed beneath Alva's well-placed arrow, which pinned his tunic without drawing blood.
He reached into his tunic pockets and hurled bursts of elemental magic—fire, water, and everything in between. Talos blocked each one with his shield.
"That's an enchanted tunic," I said. Clothes with that enchantment functioned kind of like my magic—the power wasn't in the pockets themselves. They acted more like mini portals, channeling spells from somewhere else.
I, however, didn't need pockets, or bags for that matter. Anyway, back to the action.
Uri, hearing that, darted forward and sliced off the stitched-on pockets in one swift motion.
"So, where's the sap? Uri, could you check the tree?" Talos asked.
Uri quickly climbed up the tree and came back with nothing. Maybe this one didn't have any?
That's when it hit me—we didn't actually know how to get tree sap. We knew it didn't come straight from the trees themselves, so we just assumed gnomes kept jars of it on them, or tucked away in their trees.
"You tricked me, you cut off my pockets, and you rummaged through my home? Why? Why do you do this?" the gnome yelled, still pinned to the bark. Then… he started crying.
That's when it truly hit me. I quickly conjured a jar and put it under the gnome just in time to catch his tears.
Tree gnome tears are tree sap.
"Huh. I never would have guessed," Alva said.
Yes, I know. I know. Hold the applause. Velara the support healer saves the day, yet again.
Once the jar was full, I grabbed the two scraps of cloth Uri had cut from his tunic and walked over to the gnome.
"If you promise to stop messing with people, I'll fix your pockets," I said.
"Really?" the gnome sniffled, wiping his eyes. "I… I can't…I—"
"Okay, okay—one person a week."
"Deal!" he agreed.
That was good enough for me. You can't change someone's entire nature overnight. Baby steps were still steps.
I stitched his pockets back on, pulled out the arrow, and he gratefully retreated back into his tree.
"Good work, team!" Talos bellowed proudly.
And just like that, the Talos Party had completed the quest for the jar of tree sap!