QuestWright: Chapters 30-31

Author note: Minor change. It was pointed out to me by my beta readers that More, as a name, is confusing. "He was with More."...more what?

Thus, he will now be known as Thomas Moore. That's all! Remember, if you're interested in joining us for the Reader Quests, post in the for questor channel on discord.

Also a brief warning: Today's post is 6k in length. Tomorrows...should be close to or over 9k. That increases the size of the book by 30% from this weekend. Pretty cool!

Chapter 30: To Matter

It took Cass an hour to work through all the nodes and the options they contained. A less intelligent person would likely move straight to the first major node. After all, it was right there, just within reach, and only two minor spots up. But Cass was smarter than that.

Several nodes surrounded each major. Through careful study, he discovered that each was directly connected to the centralized node, such as Waypoint. By unlocking the smaller, passive effects of the options around it, he would be enhancing the total effect when the major was finally active.

[Minor Node: Route Optimization]

Efficiency blooms where timing aligns.

Cost to unlock: 30xp

Grants a 10% efficiency bonus to Quests with pre-established delivery or service times.

No nodes currently connect to Route Optimization

Or even the one just above it.

[Minor Node: Pulsed Reporting]

Maps are often the bearers of bad news.

Cost to unlock: 60xp

The heatmap overlay now updates more frequently.

If an alert persists for more than one full day, it is auto-flagged to the QuestWright.

Note: The Functionality of Pulsed Reporting will not work without first unlocking the major node: Waypoint

No nodes currently connect to Pulsed Reporting

That’s why, rather than rushing the major node, Cass picked out several minor nodes to unlock that would help him reach it all the faster.

The first granted additional experience if a Questor took a fast route and arrived at their source location with extra time. It cost only twenty experience, a pittance that could be made up with a single day of Quests and a challenging workout. That thought fluidly brought him to another.

It’s funny how quickly twenty experience turned into a small amount. Is that time, growth, or hubris?

The second node was the first of its kind that he’d found. Its design was more long-term, with only a small immediate effect. Called Quiet Stabilizer, it increased the amount of experience he gained every time three Routine Quests were completed. It seemed small, but he knew that it would explode the longer he worked.

After feeding it the required amount, Cass was left with a little over a hundred experience remaining. The final node he was weighing stood alone, unlike the others.

[Minor Node: Assignment Spread Monitor]

Balance is a silent strength.

Cost to unlock: 90xp

The System will now automatically track whether any location or zone is receiving disproportionately fewer Quests.

It all came back to what Mr. Moore had asked him earlier in the day. What did he want from Liora? 

To build a beautiful city, every part of it needed the right amount of attention. In Cass’s still-evolving view of his Calling, he understood things a little better now. Liora was a shiny rose. And as every gardener knew, roses sometimes needed pruning for balance.

He hadn’t meant to lock it in just yet, but somehow, his hand had seemed to move on its own. The node lit up blue as the experience came in; a new light on the Path of Logistics.

Calling: QuestWright Initiate: Cassio Vale

Level: 5

Experience Accrued: 704.69

Experience required for the next level: 295.31

Unspent experience: 44.69

Total Stalwart Tokens: 2

Total Survivor Tokens: 15

“How quickly it goes.” There were more options, but the ones he wanted sat between fifty and seventy required experience, and he didn’t have any Quests out there right now aside from Gary’s routine. “Patience is the greatest of virtues.” He said softly. 

Standing up, Cass felt a twinge in his arm. He rolled up the sleeve and found swirling scar tissue covering the Scrounger's former damage. It still wasn’t fully healed, but it was close.

He did some quick mental math to understand his new limitations. He’d nearly regenerated from bone-deep damage in under eighteen hours. It was incredible. Amazing, really. But along with that consideration came a recent memory, one in which his physical training instructor came to mind: “Just remember, everything dies when you cut off its head.”

Shaking that thought away and unintentionally touching his neck, Cass began the short walk to the Quest Registry. For once, it was mostly empty, but not entirely. Standing behind the first-floor desk was Mr. Moore, already appearing at ease as he spoke to several men in Silvers regalia.

Cass approached as they were mid-conversation.

“Like I said, I think we can handle it, Clerk.” The tall man near the front said. Cass couldn’t see his face, but he could imagine the sneer that likely covered it. “It’s just some Scroungers.”

“Incorrect,” Moore’s ever-serious tone replied as his fingers drummed the desk’s wood, “Several monster packs were spotted in the area, along with a voracious pack of Skreels. One of their trademark screams, and you’d be torn to pieces within minutes. I cannot allow that.”

A big man in the back stepped forward, pulling his friend aside, “Who do you think you are?”

“Thomas Moore, Head Clerk of the Liora Guildhall Quest Registry, Tier 6 Maestro, and the only person aside from the young man behind you and the Guildmaster who can forever ban you from ever taking another Quest from our boards.”

He said all of it in the exact same tone as before, with zero change in expression. Rather than be put off by it, Cass was fascinated. It wasn’t the threat that caught him in the moment; it was the way it was delivered. No fluff, no bluster or raised voice. Simply consequences. Truth.

Comparatively, when he’d spoken with the man harassing Chancey in the Petition Chamber, he’d used Kara’s authority to bolster his own. But here, this man just spoke of what would happen, and watched their attack fall apart. It was inspiring, in an odd way. But some ears were deaf to more than sound, as the Leader stepped closer.

“Listen here, little man. A tier 6 Clerk is still a Clerk. We know all about your kind.”

“My Calling, you mean?” Mr. Moore asked, voice unchanged.

“Yeah. Bunch of jacked-up paper pushers. My dad told me about your kind, before the Reshaping. Said you’d work at someplace like the d-dmv. Get your uppers from knockin people around with bullshit.”

“I assure you, Mr. Jain. That is not the case here.”

Cass stepped forward, deja vu settling around him like fog. “What’s going on here?”

“QuestWright, I have this handled.” Mr. Moore stated, then looked back at the Silvers’ leader, “You are a group of Tier 1 Combatants, but the makeup of your team is abysmal. No team needs three armored fighters and two archers. You have no magical users, no healing, and from what I can see, your equipment hasn’t been cleaned in several weeks. Worse still, I believe Scroungers by themselves might overwhelm you the moment you become outnumbered. You are not prepared for that Quest.” He stood up a little straighter, “Hand it over to my fellow Guild member there, and be on your way.”

The man gripped the edges of the desk, tendons standing out on his hands, “Make me, paper man.”

“Frank, come on.” One of the thin men in the back of the group said.

“No! He insults me, our team, and my equipment, then thinks we’re just going to leave with nothing for our trip here? I don’t think so.”

Mr. Moore’s eyes became glassy for a moment, then he blinked, just as all five of them acted like they’d been struck.

“What the hell is this!” The leader yelled.

“You’re banned from all Quests provided by the Liora Guildhall for the next week.”

“Like hell we are,” He said, walking towards the end of the desk where people passed through.

“Two weeks.”

“Frank!” One of the armored men said.

“Give it over, Frank!” Said the same thin man from before.

He stopped when he found Cassio Vale standing in his way with an arm stretched out. “Please stop, this isn’t the way to go about things.”

“Move, kid. He needs to learn how things work around here.”

“No,” Cass replied, feeling a warmth beginning to spread through his body.

Frank swung an arm back, ‘I’m warning you. We’re Silvers. We don’t take orders from you Administrative types.”

Cass looked him dead in the eyes, “And yet, I’m still here.”

If that man thought Cass was going to walk away, he’d severely misjudged the situation. Long before Scroungers and Skreels had become a part of his life, Cass had spent many hours training with his mother and getting between those who wanted to project power, and those who just wanted to live their lives. In his time within the Rings, Adya had been forced to fix his stance because it had been so long. Fear had pushed his lessons to the back of his mind. Fear had controlled him.

But as every combat veteran across history knew, the more you practiced a thing, the less fear and mystique it had over you. Cass had single-handedly taken down a pack of Skreels using nothing but gut and quick thinking. 

He’d defended his friends in a second ambush, taking most of the damage on himself to spare them. He wasn’t going to back down now. Besides, it was like Gary had said some time ago. Cass tended to fix problems the moment he found them.

And this man was a problem.

The fist came at him with slow inevitability.

Cass didn’t flinch. Trying to cultivate the exterior Mr. Moore had been exemplifying for him all day, he calmly stepped to the side of the attack as his mother’s voice rebounded in his head.

“When you’re against a physically superior opponent, get the inside leverage, and stay there!”

Placing both hands on the edge of the arm completing its punch, he pushed, taking a light step with it for added weight. Frank’s momentum and balance were thrown off, knocking him sideways and further away from the desk, which was Cass’s goal.

“Three weeks.”

“Frank!” One of his team members shrieked.

As he was turning, face flush and eyes dark with rage, one of the other armored men barked out, “Enough! You keep going, and we’ll lose a full month.”

Frank's head snapped toward him, “Really, you’re going to back down just like that? We’re Silvers!”

“Silvers…that’s right.” Mr. Moore said softly, “I’ll speak to your leader this evening. I believe they invited me for dinner upon my arrival. I’m only too happy to accept, of course.”

“Let's go!” The same armored man from before yelled, then intentionally put himself between Cass and Frank.

Standing on his toes to look over his team member’s shoulder, he yelled out, “This ain’t over, kid!”

“Four weeks.”

“Frank! Just shut the hell up already!”

As they walked away, Mr. Moore waved Cass over.

“Why did you do that?” He asked with a raised brow, the first real emotion Cass had ever seen from him.

Cass decided to go with honesty, “I don’t like bullies.” He hesitated a moment, then spoke up again, “If he’d made it around the corner, things might’ve gotten worse.”

“Worse than a QuestWright fighting an idiot with a Combat Calling?”

“I can manage myself,” Cass replied a little defensively.

“Clearly. Well, I will have to compliment Guild Trainer Tullis, her notes are well written. Now, I received several messages from your instructors that you did not attend any of your later classes today. I assume that is because you have been considering my question from earlier?”

“I’ve been thinking about it all day, and yeah, I think I have an answer.”

Moore nodded, “Proceed, but” He held up a thin finger, “don’t give me a long speech. I want the real answer, not the planned response.”

“I,” Cass had to rework what he was going to say, as Moore had hit the mark. He did have a speech in mind. The Clerk stood there patiently, not saying anything as he organized his thoughts. 

“What I want from Liora is…to matter. To make people like that think twice before stomping on their problems just because they can. ”

Moore steepled his fingers together, “Is that all?” he asked in an unimpressed voice.

“No,” Cass shook his head, “I want a city full of people doing work that matters to them as well, and-and being able to choose how they do it.” He considered himself, deep down, beneath the turbulent fears and lows he’d recently experienced. “I want a city where joy isn’t rare, and the future seems secure, not smoke drifting over the landscape.”

“Better. Though to get there, you would have to create a list of priorities to follow.”

Cass nodded, “I’ve considered that. I have three rules for creating Quests, but now, I don’t think that’s enough.”

“No, they wouldn’t be.” Stepping away from the desk, he came around the corner, “Rules govern consistency, and it speaks well of you that you’ve already established them. But without priorities, all you have is what you won’t do. The first without the second only leads to stagnation.”

“So…” Cass scratched the back of his neck, “What do I do?”

“You have set yourself on a difficult road, Cassio Vale. The question that naturally branches from the first I asked you is this: What will you prioritize when every choice comes at a cost? If you can answer that, you will have a cemented vision for the future you want to build.”

Cass knew the correct response, “I don’t know, but I’m hoping you can help me with that.”

Moore smiled, “Perfect. Now we begin.”

Chapter 31: A Quick Stop

Moore joined Cass at the Annex for all of a moment before an incident on the third floor demanded his attention. Promising to return swiftly, the man followed an older woman in Guild robes at a quick pace. From the sound drifting down from two floors up, it seemed Cass’s minor scuffle with the Silvers was small potatoes.

Only a couple of minutes later, the woman returned with a pained expression on her face. 

“Mr. Moore sends his apologies, QuestWright, but he will be delayed from joining you until tomorrow. He said you can enjoy the rest of your day for your own pursuits, but expects you back on the class schedule tomorrow.”

Thanking her, Cass couldn’t help grumbling to himself as he left, “ So much for beginning.”

Since he had some extra time, he spent it visiting Rina again, before getting shooed out and walking over to the Golden Crust. He hadn’t seen Gary since their celebration together, and he missed his friend.

But Gary wasn’t there.

“Gary’s off drumming up business for the Bakery,” Old Galinda said as she sprinkled flour across the counter. “That boy’s got a real knack for finding us new customers. Think he said he was going to visit you before long.”

“Oh?” Did I miss him on my walk here?

Moving back toward the Guild, he first stopped in the Commons, where he found the ever-solid Holt hammering away.

“Hey,” Cass said lamely. “I haven’t seen you since the Infirmary, just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing.”

The muscled-out man didn’t look up. “Yeah.” Bang.

“Were you ever able to grab some Quests from the Registry?”

Bang. “No.” Bang. “Never got a pass.”

“Huh, that’s strange. Did you use my name?” Chancey was already at the Petition Chamber by that point. It must’ve been Kara. Why would she-

“No. I walked in, and the woman there seemed angry, so I left.” Bang. 

“Huh,” Why would he leave just because Kara looked mad? Wait a second. “Holt, answer me this. Are you anti-confrontational?”

“I don’t like yelling. Too loud.” Bang.

That was so shocking that only a single word traveled through Cass's brain. 

What? 

Holding back the laughter bubbling in his throat, he said, “Alright. Well, drop by tomorrow around ten and I’ll make sure you get set up. No angry women at the desk.” Reaching into his bag, Cass skipped past the Skreel-blooded Vellum and grabbed another. With relative ease, he created a new Delivery Quest from an old ID and then reached out with it. 

“I’m sure the GoldenCrowns could use some more horseshoes.” Holt paused long enough to take it and glow, then put it down on the box beside him.

“I’ll be there.”

Knowing he wasn’t going to say much else, Cass began to wander back to the Registry when he spotted a familiar figure.

“Hey, Gary!” He shouted and waved. 

His friend waved back, “Cass!” 

Like they had when they saw each other as kids, both moved in slow motion until they finally met up in the middle. Ignoring the looks they received, the two friends shared a warm hug.  

“I went to the GoldenCrust and they said you were gone.”

“Same here with the Registry. There wasn’t even anyone at the desk.”

Cass reached up to put an arm around his friend’s shoulder, “Let me tell you about my day.”

Gary smiled faintly, then motioned for them to walk. Cass regaled him with loose details of what had happened lately, only getting into the meat of the Survivor’s Tokens and the attack when he was sure no one was within hearing distance. Gary commiserated with him over Rina’s injury, and when Cass finished speaking, he looked him over.

“So both of them know you have a Unique path?”

“No,” Cass said as they walked through the Guild’s central area, “They just know I have something that helps me recover. Nothing more.”

“Why is it a secret? You've got a Unique path. That should be celebrated, not stuffed under a rug.”

“For a lot of reasons, including a warning from the Guildmaster after the first attack. Oh, hey, that reminds me. I wanna introduce you to someone.” 

The meeting between Gary and Bella went over as expected. After Cass explained who he was, and vice versa, Bella gave Gary a single sniff, huffed, then allowed him to pat her. That was all the approval he needed, leading to the second reason he’d brought his friend here. Cass smiled to himself as he made a new Quest.

“Here you go, Gary.”

“What’s this?” He asked when looking at the drafted Vellum. “I’ve already got a Routine Quest. I’m like, a few weeks away from getting halfway to Level six.”

“Then this will help you get closer,” Cass said, handing it to him and watching as the man glowed for a moment with a big smile. 

He looked confused. “You want me to deliver a treat to Bella once a week?”

“Yep.” Cass replied with a happy nod, “Something special for horses that won’t make her sick.”

Bella canted an ear at him with a whuff.

Cass chuckled, “No, it won’t be every day. No offense, girl, but I don’t want you to get fat.” Bella stomped the ground. “I know, we’ll start riding soon, I promise. I have a plan.”

Gary rolled his eyes as he waved the Quest around, “Cassio Vale and his plans.” Looking at it, he chewed his lip, “Something with molasses, and maybe honey. I’ll ask around and see what’s best for horses. Wait, where’s the money coming from for this?”

“Oh, look at the time,” Cass said, giving Bella a wink. “I think I need to get going.”

Gary looked at the horse, “Wait, were you talking to her like she understood you? Cass? Cassio?” He called to his back as the QuestWright broke into a sprint. “Who’s going to pay for this!?”

That evening, the sky turned dark as Cass finally followed Kara’s last instructions. He spent the second half of the day studying the QuestWright abridged textbooks she’d given him. Under the dim light of his room, he did his best to stuff the pages into something a less knowing person would call memory. Really, he felt like it was all going over his head.

“I’m going to need a tutor, or something.” He grumbled to himself before refocusing.

But it also naturally led to some thoughts in his mind. Ideas that focused on building things up, be they Enterprises or cities. About infrastructure and design. About those with special vocations relating to their Callings, and others who may have a Calling that doesn’t perfectly fit their preferences.

The next day dawned with cautious optimism. He had an idea for Quests guild-wide that he wanted to push through, but it would be difficult and full of roadblocks, Mr. Moore for one. He just needed to see it through. But first, he had classes.

In three days, his group would be done and heading off in different directions. But the friendships he’d made, with Orla, Pellin, and the beginning of one with Adya, had made the extra time taken from his life worth it.

Every morning, he still gained announcements of new Callings being revealed. And every week, new groups would form, their members filled with potential for the future. But for Cass, this small part of his life was almost over.

His morning with Bella was nice, at least. Pushing past the melancholy trying to take over his soul, Cass picked another Intermediate set, but one far kinder to his body than that which he’d picked the day before. His updates came in, and he was suddenly eight experience richer. Almost enough for the next planned node.

Patting Bella, he stepped out and met up with Dev’s class. The workout was lighter here as well, almost as if she was taking it easy on them in their last few days. After being told they were heading back into the Rings tomorrow, Cass met Pellin and Orla for breakfast.

“You look better,” Orla said as she sat down. “Not that you looked bad before…well, no. You did look bad before, I take back what I was saying.” She looked across at Pellin, “And you look worse. What gives?”

Pellin rubbed his temples. “I spent half the night trying to fix one of the Foundry’s recently arrived alchemical combiners. Whoever the previous System Engineer was, they had no mind for efficiency. One of the internal gyroscopic re-”

“Blah blah blah, jargon jargon.” Orla interrupted. “Just say you worked all night. Nobody needs to hear all your technical-ese. You’re at least getting paid for it, right?”

“Yes,” Pellin replied, and this time he smiled, “Quite a bit. The Guildmaster gave me a contract after I hit Level 5.”

“What?” Orla spat out her food in shock, “Come on! I just hit Level three!”

“Level five’s nice, ain’t it,” Cass said with an elbow bump at his friend.

“Hell yeah, it is,” Pellin said with a smile. One that faded as his face got hit with a part of a banana peel. “That was uncalled for.” He removed it from his face as his eyes stabbed at her, “Why didn’t you throw it at Cass? He hit five too!”

“He’s my partner,” Orla said with a smirk, “His job is to get me levels.”

The three of them strolled into their next class and took their seats a little early. Then, Cass got a shock as someone he’d known all his life entered the room.

“Dad?”

“Hey, kiddo!” His father said with a wave, cheerful as always.

“What’re you doing here?” Cass asked while moving into an awkward half-standing position from his seat.

His dad scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, “Oh, Instructor Marell asked that I speak to the class today. I hope you don’t mind, Cass. I rarely get the opportunity to leave the Grounds.”

Orla leaned over as he collapsed into his seat. “This is your dad?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Meow…” She purred.

“What? Dude, gross. He’s my father.”

“Well, I’m not related to him.” She said with a flick of her hair.

Pellin leaned in too, “You remember he’s married to the Chainmarshal, right?”

That brought her back to reality. Instructor Marell arrived a moment later and had a quiet word with Cass’s father. When everyone was seated, she spoke up, “Hello, Class. Today I have a special treat for you. Dannil Vale has volunteered some of his time to speak about how to upgrade your Calling. Chef Vale,” She said with a nod, “The floor is yours.”

If he thought it was going to be new information, Cass was sorely disappointed. It wasn’t word for word what they’d spoken of close to a month ago, but it was nearly so. Having only needed to speak for ten minutes, Cass’s father gave a short bow at the end of his speech, hugged his son from a returned half-seated position, then walked out the door.

“So embarrassing,” Cass said to Pellin as he put his head down in the next class.

“Meh, you’re his son. To me, it should be like that.”

“You know,” Cass replied, lifting his head to look at him. “You’ve never spoken of your father.”

“Not much to say. My mother says he died when I was about two, and that’s that. I don’t have any memories of him. It’s like…he never existed, I guess.”

“Oh,” Cass put a hand on his shoulder, “I’m sorry, Pellin.”

“Thanks, Cass, but don’t worry about it. It was a long time ago.”

Vex was as dry as always, but Cass wasn’t really interested in the Class. After spending so much time on Guild grounds and listening to Rina and Orla talk about trades and sales, he wasn’t learning much in the Class anymore. Stepping into the Registry, he found Mr. More moving several Quests among the boards.

Cass headed over and asked, “Moving things for efficiency?”

“No, presentation.” Moore said, pinning a dusty Quest near the top. “As Americans, we naturally look left to right, top to bottom. By placing our oldest Quests in their initial line of sight, there is a decent chance that one of our more important ones will get done first. I’ve already reorganized the other floors as well.”

“Prioritizing?”

Moore turned to him with a nod, “Prioritizing. Now, let’s head over to the Annex and begin what we should’ve done yesterday.”

Before he knew it, Cass was seated in the threadbare chair, and the screen was in front of him. But it wasn’t the same screen he’d grown used to since receiving his Calling a month ago. A filter option had appeared at the bottom, and as he touched it, numbers popped up over every area in the city.

“Ah, you’ve unlocked a modifier for your map.” Moore said as he looked at everything intently. “Do you mind if I ask what it is called?”

“Assignment Spread Monitor. It lets me know if one area is getting fewer Quests than another.”

Moore nodded, “Which is perfectly in line with what you told me yesterday.”

Cass turned in his chair. “How so?”

“You don’t like bullies.” Moore pointed at the screen, “More than likely, Gerald isn’t even aware that the majority of his Quests land in either the Grounds or the Forge. He doesn’t have the same ability. Because of his worldview being forcibly shifted by the Reshaping, his personality is more aligned with defense and returning to the lives we enjoyed before there were monsters.” When he saw that Cass was about to speak, he continued talking as if he knew what was going to be asked. “Every Path is different for every Calling. Who you are influences what options you receive, and how you receive them.”

“So, because I don’t like bullies, I can see how some parts of Liora are getting ignored?”

“Indeed. Let’s call it Logistical empathy.” Moore said as he leaned in closer. “This is fascinating.” He held very still for a long moment, then left, only to return a moment later with a piece of paper. On it was the exact same map of Liora that Cass had seen before him, in precise and exacting detail.

When he noticed Cass looking at it, he made a gesture, “Reveal for a reveal. My ability is called Clerk’s Mirror. It lets me take a mental snapshot of anything I see and replicate it in perfect form.” Folding it, he placed the map within a fold of his clothing. “I’ll get this to Gerald later. Now, what do you see?”

Cass turned back and focused on the map. Leaning forward, he looked over Liora like he’d done hundreds of times. “Most of the inequity is focused between the Depot and the Guild, but there are small spots throughout where nothing has been touched…ever, as far as I can tell. I’ll bet that those people have just never come to the guildhall for Quests before.”

“Yes, I agree.” Moore added, “And what are your thoughts about it?”

And that was the perfect entry for Cass’s vague idea. When he’d been reading Kara’s Architecture books last night, a seed had begun to spring up in his mind. A way to get the Quests done and improve the city in more ways than one. But he’d have to go out on a limb to do it. 

Taking a deep breath, he said, “That’s the thing. From what I understand from my classes, most non-combat types don’t really get above Tier 3. For one reason or another, their experience rate slows down, and they don’t have a way to make it up.” He nodded in the general vicinity of the boards, “I think we need to change how the Guild grants Quests.” He swallowed, “That is, I think the Guild may need to go through a minor change.”

“Hello!” A distant voice rumbled.

Moore turned in that direction and squinted, then looked back at Cass, “I’m guessing you thought this up before and are only speaking on it now. Are you certain this isn’t just a way for you to gain more experience?”

“No,” Cass replied, shocked by the suggestion, “Not at all. I just think we’re doing things wrong. That’s to say,” He backtracked a small amount. “We could be more efficient. We always seem to have way more Civic, Trade, and Crafting Quests than we know what to do with. Why don’t we open up the Guild to more people? Give Liora a chance to come in, grab whatever Quests they want, and fulfill them according to Guild standards.”

“Mmm, I know the answer to that.” Moore said as Holt called out a second Hello. “For Tier 1 Quests that will work just fine, but at the higher levels, where it isn’t simply paint a wall or deliver a message from one side of the city to another, we can’t expect the people of Liora to fulfill the requirements randomly.”

 When Holt said hello even louder, Cass called out to wait a moment, then sat in silence, rethinking his plan. “Then…why don’t we incentivize the Quests on the board, and open up the guild to allow more people like my friend out there to get Guild passes? I bet that if you survey Liora, you’ll find out most people don’t even know they can get one. From what I’ve seen of the Registry, it’s almost entirely populated by members of the Companies.”

Moore seemed to consider it as he looked at the map, “That sounds like a lot of work for a new QuestWright only taking his first steps at managing a Registry floor.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing I have a Tier 6 Maestro with me.”

“True.” He said in his trademark dry voice. He looked away from the map, “I will consider it. For now, there’s a young man who could use a Guild pass that I need to take care of. Your meeting with the Guildmaster at the end of this week is already scheduled. Ensure, before presenting this to Gerald, that you have a plan of action ready. Only then will you succeed.” He stood up, “Am I understood?”

Cass held back the celebration jumping around in his stomach. Mr. Moore was the first hurdle, and though it was hard to tell, he felt like the man approved of his idea. 

“Yes, sir, I’ll get right on it.”

“Good. Now, before I leave you for a time, do you have any questions?”

Cass thought on it, then said, “Yeah, I have a large amount of Reputation, and I’m wondering what Quest Types you think I should unlock next.”

“How much is a lot? Be specific.”

Cass pulled up his reputation screen, “Umm, two hundred and seventy-two.”

When the screen closed, he found that both of Moore’s eyebrows were up. “That's a great amount for a young QuestWright.” He gave a fleeting smile, “What are you waiting for? Unlock them all.”

“I…right.” Of course. “Thank you, Mr. Moore.”

“QuestWright Vale,” He said with a nod as he stepped out to talk to Holt.

Cass watched him go, then stared at the map for a long time, trying to imagine what it would look like when non-company people were free to come in and take whatever Quests they wanted. The more he stared, the less he saw things as districts and numbers. Rather, those ignored areas became possibilities.

Things wouldn’t change overnight, but little by little, Cass could make a real difference in people’s lives. And that’s all he’d ever wanted.

To matter.