Talyn: Rebirth Ch. 12

Here's another chapter of Talyn: Rebirth. I hope you enjoy it! Decently long one, this time.

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Chapter 12

“Ah, civilization at last!” Reagan said, then chuckled as he added. “At least, after a fashion. What passes for civilization out here. Welcome to Woodriver, Talyn.”

Talyn nodded, trying to resist the urge to smile at how dry his tone was. She could sort of understand, as she saw the town ahead of them. They’d left the swamp behind about an hour before, to her relief, and had passed a few farms, each with heavily fortified homes. Now they could hear the river, and the town was in front of them.

Woodriver wasn’t impressive, though Talyn didn’t have much to compare it to, with how her memories were. She got the impression that her previous life wouldn’t have found it impressive. There was a wooden wall around the town, which looked like it was composed of two hundred buildings or so. The largest buildings Talyn could see were built of stone and were two floors tall, though one that looked like a church had a belltower that rose an additional floor above it. Windows lined the other building, along with some balconies, and she thought she could see figures on a couple of the balconies. The remainder of the homes looked to be a mix of stone and wood construction, some with thatched roofs and others with shingles or even slate stonework. Even if the sunlight was fading, her unusual sight allowed her to see it clearly. Mostly, anyway.

“Hm… I don’t have much to compare it to, but it doesn’t strike me as being that large.” Talyn said, examining the town curiously.

“That’s because it isn’t. Woodriver’s only claim to fame is being near the Dathren Swamp, which we just came out of, and it’s on the way between the northern kingdoms and Castra. So they’ve got a decently large mercenary guildhall, and several good inns. Whenever someone wants unusual ingredients, like hydra bile, a salamander’s flame organs, or things like that… well, this is one of the closest places to get it.” Reagan said, shrugging. “Anyway, we’ll be there soon enough. Word of warning, it might take a bit at the guildhall, since we’re going to need to tell them about the cult.”

“That’s fine by me.” Talyn said, then smiled as she felt as though she’d suddenly lost a whole lot of weight. When she checked her status, her smile just widened. Her level had just jumped to seven all at once, and she saw two notices.

Quest Complete: Out of the Darkness

Reward: Five copper

That was exactly enough for her entry fee to Woodriver, a bath, a night at the inn, and dinner, based on what Gordon had taught her, and Talyn couldn’t help a wry smile. At least she’d gotten something.

Still, she picked up her pace as the group moved toward the town. She wasn’t expecting much from her skills, since from what the others had said it generally took a week of regular use to reach the first tier in a skill, and beyond that it would take an immense amount of time to upgrade them.

For now, she was really looking forward to her bath.

***

Davin took a sip of tea as he watched the gates, intrigued by what he saw. A group who should have been back several days ago had just reached the gates. He couldn’t remember their names, but the Level 16 Wood Elf Rogue, Level 16 Warlord Human Guardian, Level 16 Star Dark Elf Acolyte, and Level 16 Feline Animus Fire Adept had stuck out in his memory. They’d been planning to retrieve some hydra bile, which shouldn’t have been hard for them to deal with, since they’d been level fourteen at the time and were rather more coordinated than most groups he’d seen. Something must have gone wrong, though, since a single hydra shouldn’t have leveled them twice, and they had something very interesting with them.

The two women he saw were low level, which allowed him to use his Creature Analysis skill easily, and he examined what he got curiously.

Level: 7, Species: Succubus (War, Contract), Skills: Demon Eyes, Demonic Armament, Demonic Durability, Enhanced Charisma, Minions (Contract), Summon Guardian (MAX)

Level: 7, Species: Celestial (Guardian Spirit, Unique), Skills: Celestial Eyes, Guardian’s Renewal, Guardian’s Teleportation, Rapid Movement, Renewing Barrier, Weapons of Light

“Fascinating.” Davin murmured, rubbing his chin slowly.

He’d only seen two of the abilities the woman called a succubus possessed before, Enhanced Charisma and Summon Guardian. The celestial wasn’t as unusual, none of her abilities were new, but the tag of her being unique was intriguing. And concerning.

Regardless, he suspected he’d find out what was going on soon enough, so he just sat back and waited. There was no need to rush and miss a beautiful sunset.

***

The first thing that the others had done, once the contract with Elda and Reagan faded past the town gates, was go to the local church to get their curses removed. The human woman they’d met there was middle-aged and a Level 51 Urban Human, and she’d removed the curse with only a small amount of chiding them about needing to be more careful. They’d made a small donation to the church, and on their way away from the church, Aslith had quietly explained that pretty much all of the churches in the local kingdoms would perform minor services like that without compensation, but donations were only polite.

Then they’d made their way to the Mercenary Guild, which apparently was also called the Sell-Sword Guild in some cities, or the Delving Guild in some areas that had dungeons. At which point Gordon had handed over a couple of large jars of a viscus off-white liquid in exchange for a pouch of coins, then started reporting about the cultists. Which gave Talyn and Melody a chance to look over the foyer and chat with relative privacy.

“So… is this normal?” Talyn asked, her gaze lingering on a bar near a huge fireplace to their right. A bearskin rug laid on the ground in front of the fireplace, and eight tables were scattered around the room, only three of them occupied by a handful of people. The jarring thing to Talyn was how the room was lit by glowing white crystals, not lanterns or torches.

“How am I supposed to know? My memories are as fuzzy as yours. Mostly.” Melody retorted.

“Point. It just seems a little weird, and I can’t put my finger on why.” Talyn admitted, turning to look the other way. “Maybe it’s the magic, or skills? Things just seem to be a mixture of really nice, then oddly simple.”

“Possibly.” Melody agreed, pausing as she looked at Talyn, then lowered her voice as she asked. “Are you alright? You’ve seemed a little… off.”

“I… I don’t know. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to be alive and all of that, but I think part of me is reeling due to… I just don’t think my expectations are matching reality.” Talyn admitted, letting out a soft sigh. “I’m not that special, am I?”

Melody’s eyebrows rose, and she opened her mouth, then shut it again, laying a hand on Talyn’s shoulder. While the goddess considered, Talyn looked at a desk to the right of the entrance, one currently unoccupied. It had a pen in a pen-holder, and behind it was a case with a glass front, inside which was a corkboard with dozens of neatly organized slips of paper. She couldn’t read it from here, but she suspected they were jobs for members of the guild.

Past the desk and board was a hall that was dark, save for a bit of light shining out from under a single doorway. She assumed they were offices, but she could be wrong. Talyn’s gaze rested on it for a few seconds, then she shook it off, looking back at the others, while Aslith pointed at a spot on the map the guild representative had out.

“Of course you’re special. The problem, Talyn, is that everyone is special. Aslith, Elda, Gordon, Reagan… all of them deserve their own chance to be important, too. World travelers like yourself have some advantages, don’t get me wrong, but you can’t be allowed to overwhelm the world. Not with the lack of consequences for your actions.” Melody said at last, squeezing Talyn’s shoulder gently. “I’m sorry if I gave the impression that you would be more than you are. I didn’t intend to.”

“Mm, I don’t blame you. I think I don’t have anyone to blame other than myself. I was too excited, even when I was trying to keep myself from going overboard.” Talyn said, patting Melody’s hand and smiling at her. “I just am feeling slightly… off. And I can’t really tell you why.”

“Well, we’ll figure it out. You’ve got a long life ahead of you, assuming that you don’t get yourself killed.” Melody assured her, grinning.

“True, I—” Talyn began, but before she could focus on the ‘long life’ comment, Reagan interrupted.

“Sorry, Talyn, but the Guildmaster wants to chat with us. He mostly wants to ask about the cultists, but also about you. Mind if we come back shortly?” the dark elf asked, and Talyn blinked, then smiled, shrugging. “Why not? I’ll just take a look at the jobs on the board, to see what sort of things are available.”

“Sounds good. Hopefully this won’t take too long. I agree with you and Elda, a bath would be nice.” Gordon added, grimacing as he tugged at his gorget. Then he paused and dug into his pouch, pulling out a couple of coins. “But first, here you go. Your share of the spoils, like we promised.”

A pair of gold coins with the gems in the center fell into Talyn’s outstretched hand, and she examined them for a moment, then nodded. They were smaller than the copper or silver coins, but about as heavy and with slightly larger gemstones. After a moment of examination she slid them into her belt pouch and smiled at Gordon.

“Thank you. You didn’t have to, so I really appreciate it.” Talyn told him, nodding to the others.

“Says the woman who rescued us.” Aslith muttered, waving at her. “Anyway, we’ll be right back, alright? This shouldn’t take long.”

Talyn chuckled, but didn’t reply. She doubted it’d be as quick as they wanted it to be. Instead she stepped over to the other desk and began reading through the requests on the board, and promptly had her eyebrows rise.

Someone wanted twenty buckets of swamp mud from a hydra’s nest, for reasons she couldn’t imagine.

***

“Well, it sounds like the cultists are gone or fleeing, but we’ll put up a request for anyone to bring us news of them. Worrying that they were so close… they were probably going to try to summon a Shade of Blood. That would’ve been unpleasant.” Davin said, shaking his head in disgust. “It probably wouldn’t have been able to breach the town, but it would’ve killed a lot of people first. It’s a good thing that didn’t happen.”

“Since we would’ve been dead as well, I think we all agree with you there.” Gordon rumbled, letting out a short laugh.

Aslith examined the Guildmaster, a Level 87 Wildlands Human, and as she did she felt a little wary. The conversation so far was something that could easily have been addressed with the Scribe downstairs, so the question was what he really wanted. They’d only seen the Guildmaster from a distance the last time they visited, as he was usually on his balcony, watching passersby.

He was reaching middle age, with a touch of white to his temples that didn’t really mar the light brown hair which reached his shoulders. He definitely had passed his field days, with a distinct paunch to his waist, but he’d be able to tear their team apart in seconds. There was simply too much of a level difference between them.

He had to be wondering about Talyn, Aslith decided, but she didn’t speak up to begin with. Guildmaster Davin was too high-ranking for her to risk pissing off. Not that he didn’t seem to realize what she was thinking… he probably had Sense Motives, Insight, or one of the other abilities to boost his ability to read people.

“Alright, on to the important part of the meeting. What are your impressions of this Talyn?” Davin said, starting to tamp down some smokeweed in his pipe, muttering under his breath. “Silly name, that… obviously picked when she got sent here.”

“Hm… surprisingly polite and reasonable given the rumors I’ve heard about jumpers.” Reagan said, frowning slightly.

“Yup. Didn’t try to bilk us for all we were worth for our freedom, didn’t expect us to pay her anything. Took the two gold we gave her downstairs without complaint. Pretty intelligent, a bit witty. I like her.” Gordon said, shrugging as he looked at Elda. “Elda?”

“Very odd. Especially with her Melody, the celestial.” The animus replied quietly. “Enhanced Charisma, which makes it… difficult. Reasonable, though.”

“I agree. She strikes me as…” Aslith began, then let her voice trail off, thinking for a few seconds, then shrugged. “If anything, she strikes me as the Hero archetype, based on the actions I’ve seen from her. Though she doesn’t seem to have the zealotry I heard they tend to have. I don’t know if that’s the answer you’re looking for, though.”

“I’m not looking for a particular result. My concern is finding out whether she’s a threat early on.” Davin told her dryly. “I’m trying to find out if she’s a threat that the guild needs to nip in the bud. Too many jumpers have caused devastation for us when we could have dealt with them when they were weak.”

“Ah. In that case, no, I don’t think she’s a threat.” Aslith replied, shaking her head. “She mentioned wanting training, and we were heading to Castra. I was thinking that we could offer to take her with us, and let her figure things out from there.”

“Hm. That isn’t a bad idea. I could let the guild there know, and they could keep an eye on her. There’s enough high-level people there that they could crush her, even if she figures out some exploit to level faster, like the Sovereign did. And she wouldn’t be able to hide any unusual skills…” Davin mused, then shook himself. “In fact, if you decline I may push her in that direction. There are people who could escort her if you decide against it.”

Aslith looked at the others, arching her eyebrows as she tried to hide her unhappiness with what Davin was implying. The idea keeping an eye on Talyn just to kill her if she turned out to be a problem didn’t settle well with her. Gordon didn’t look happy either, while Reagan and Elda were harder to read. Aslith resolved to keep her distance from Talyn, simply because she didn’t want the resulting pain if the guild did decide to eliminate her.

“Mm.” Elda murmured… then shrugged.

“I don’t see any reason not to escort her. Not that I like the idea of killing her for something she might do.” Gordon said, tugging his beard unhappily. “She’s nice enough, and it makes me a wee bit uncomfortable.”

“Ah, but if she doesn’t cause problems, nothing will happen.” Reagan said, shrugging. “I see no issues with escorting her to Castra. It’s only four or five days away, depending on weather, so as long as she pays her own way I’m fine with it. She has the funds for that, lodging once she’s there, and the training she desires.”

“Well, it seems like you’ve got a plan. I might be able to arrange a minor request for you to take a letter to the Delver’s Guild in Castra regarding it. Help defray your costs a bit.” Davin said, smiling. “If you don’t want to, just let me know so I can find another route for it.”

Aslith nodded, then resisted the urge to sigh as Reagan opened his mouth.

She really wanted a meal and a chance to sleep in a proper bed, rather than on the floor of a cell.

Aslith had to hope Talyn was patient, because this could take a while.