Sean ran across the alley and through the passage back into the courtyard. He couldn't see the Swedes or any Gremlins there, so he headed to the house they had originally entered and fought in – hopefully it was still empty.
Emma stirred in his arms halfway across the courtyard. She tensed, gasping, "What the–"
"Easy there! We need to–" he interjected.
"Put me down! Right now!" she cut him off and wrestled to get free, kicking him in the ribs. Her struggle also caused the axes to fall.
Sean lowered her to the ground and looked back – there seemed to be nothing chasing them… for now.
"Do I look like a damsel in distress?" Emma said as she collected herself.
"What?" he asked, confused, then insisted, "There's no time for complaining! Let's hide first…" He leaned down to pick up his axes and glanced back nervously. Still clear.
She began, "Or some kind of helpless princess or–"
"Enough," he interrupted, then walked to the door. "You can stay here if you like, but I'm not waiting to see if there's anything following us." He opened the back door, bracing for combat, but there was nothing – only the corpses they had left all over the place. Good.
Emma caught up with him in the main room. It reeked of Gremlin corpses: more than a dozen of them – the black ooze had dried up somewhat, but the stench was still terrible. She asked, "And my staff?"
Sean stopped and turned around a couple of steps from the front door. The hallway looked clear and the back door had closed behind them. He finally glanced at Emma: she looked pale, rattled – and indeed had no staff, so he admitted, "Right. There was no time, and I had to flee in a hurry – so I just grabbed–"
"And yet you had time to 'save' your stupid axes, so…" she interrupted and trailed off suggestively.
He stared blankly at her for a moment and considered it. He asked, "Do you even know what happened back there? Wait, actually – since you knew the name 'gargoyle' and wanted to kill two more… I take it you picked the 'kill three gargoyles' quest, then? Is that right?"
"What's that got to do with anything?" she countered.
Sean exhaled, completely exhausted… How had he ever put up with her for so long! He argued, "Don't you think it would've been a mighty good piece of information – even just knowing 'what' we might encounter in there?" She squinted at him, so he added, "Well? No self-reflection whatsoever?"
"But we killed it," she stated.
"Oh, well that makes it alright, then! Doesn't it?" he exclaimed. She took half a step back and glanced down – Sean remembered that he was still gripping his axes. He tried to calm down. The house looked safe enough and nothing had chased them there, so he secured the weapons to his belt and massaged his forehead. He added, "Okay, look…" He trailed off. What was he supposed to even say?
Emma wasn't giving up and suggested, "All I'm saying is: let's go back there, kill the Gremlins, and recover my–"
"Oh, right, of course. Just kill the Gremlins, sure – why not!" he cut her off. "And what about that gargoyle that came with them– Actually, the magical Gremlins probably 'summoned' it with some ritual or whatever – so they might even be stronger than the thing that almost massacred us both ."
She frowned and started, "But we killed that gargoyle, what are you talking–"
"Not the first– The other one," he broke in. "Right, you didn't see it because you took a nap before it came along."
"I didn't…" She trailed off and stared at him, confused.
"Yeah, fine," he explained, "the Gremlin mage or whatever it was – he waved his staff and sent you to sleep. Which might be a clue that these monsters were a little too strong for us…" He paused as he finally connected the other detail: "Right, so that was the well-paying level-eight quest – was fifteen silvers that tempting? Or however much it was… did you just get greedy? Is that it?"
Emma mulled it over for a moment, then commented, "I don't care about some stupid… coins…"
"Then why?" Sean demanded. "Why would you take a quest that was clearly way above– And why didn't you tell me?" A tiny pause. "Well?"
She glared at him and admitted, "Because I figured you'd keep moaning and bitching about it, and besides–"
"Look who's talking…" he muttered.
She rolled her eyes at his remark and continued, "And besides, it was fine. A bit of a challenge, yes, but we made it through, and the–"
"You call this 'a bit of a challenge' ?" He pointed at his torso: his pants were scratched all over, but the armor chest piece was in tatters… sliced and diced so many times by the stone claws that he might just as well go sunbathing in it. Or close to that.
She sighed, then countered, "But I healed you and you're fine! And the quest was to kill three gargoyles – so only two more! So much easier than sixteen Gremlins that the other stupid quest–"
"Was that thing 'easy' to kill?" he interjected.
"How was I supposed to know in the quest room?" Emma asked and paused. He just stared at her and crossed his arms, so she suggested, "Why not go back there and check? Maybe my staff is still there, and then… we can see how it goes?" He exhaled tiredly, so she added, "What?"
"And if they put us both to sleep?" he argued.
"You're exaggerating," she replied. "And they've probably moved on by now."
"Probably…" he repeated and shook his head, then speculated, "What if they moved on to set up a trap in the courtyard?"
Emma frowned and glanced back to check the hallway. It was clear, but the possibility of a trap apparently gave her a little scare – Sean smiled at that. Next, she turned to him and proposed, "Then why not check from upstairs through the windows?"
Sean was completely exasperated. He countered, "And risk getting stuck on the stairs? Why do you insist on– No, you know what? Go ahead – check it, scout, whatever you want. You can even go to the warehouse and pick up that staff too, if everything is so easy? It can be 'a bit of a challenge' for you."
She began, "I'm not some overpowered–"
"Sure, whatever. I'm out," he concluded and turned to the door.
"What? You can't just leave me here!" Emma protested.
"Oh really? Watch me." He opened the door and walked into the empty alley.
She followed him and complained, "But what about my staff? You can't just–"
"Do you need it to cast spells?" Sean cut in and waited for an answer – he actually didn't know. She didn't say anything and merely frowned, walking next to him. He added after a few steps, "Look, there was no time and– I panicked, okay? Not like… Besides, I saved your butt from a respawn, so the least you could do is show a smidgen of gratitude for that."
She merely walked with him in silence. He realized that he had gone the wrong way. He had meant to go back to the Pathway , but ended up continuing down the narrow alley – turning back seemed like an admission of failure, so he decided to find out where it led. Even if it was a dead end. He glanced at Emma: her expression unreadable, not even scrolling on her phone. He really started wondering if she was an NPC. But why would she keep following him!
"But hey! At least your phone is safe, right?" he tried to joke, but she just sighed – without even looking at him. Sean pressed on with more jokes: "What is this, silent treatment? What are you gonna… start crying next? I mean…" He stopped talking, worrying if he had pushed it too far.
"No," she said calmly after a moment.
A few steps later, he decided to offer, "How about… I cash in the finished quest, and then we can buy something. I need some armor repairs and a better weapon, so let's find a staff for you too, or some kind of–"
"Uh-huh," she interrupted and started tapping on her screen. At least it confirmed that the device was indeed safe and sound. He barely managed to stop himself from joking about saving her and her phone. Or asking what she would prefer: her staff or the phone. Or even just sneaking a peek at what she was writing on it…
They didn't talk much on the way, and the narrow passage connected to another utility alley – this one went along the river and ended at the side of the Gremlin warehouse. Sean noticed a big queue, as expected, but this one was different: there were a lot more casters everywhere. And not just one straight line to the entrance, but also scattered groups of robe-wearers here and there. There were also more people moving back and forth – but individuals rather than whole parties like in that queue-alley.
He tried asking a city guard for directions, but the heavily armored NPC was indifferent to him – seemingly bent on patrolling. He figured the alley should connect to the Pathway sooner or later, so he went away from the warehouse. For the most part he just followed other players: some with candles, others without – or presumably they had them stashed away.
Strangely enough, the players seemed to head the wrong way on the Pathway – he was sure that the Realm Defenders building was to the left, and yet they mostly turned right. His curiosity drove him to investigate, and the mystery revealed itself to be another quest office by the north-eastern gate. Conveniently close for the quest in the Docks. It only had one clerk window, so the throughput was limited.
He joked about lines for quests and quests for lines, but Emma barely shrugged. She had been following him, though mostly glued to her phone.
The walls here were different too: short and thin, at best an architectural divider rather than the massive defensive structure like at the west gate. And no gatehouse either, no elaborate traps or spiked grille-gates threatening to impale anyone caught underneath if they suddenly dropped. Just a simple wooden double door, wide-open at the moment. There was lush farmland visible on the other side, so Sean figured this part of town must be more peaceful – if not for the events. There were still some guards stationed there, but mostly around the shops and the quest office.
As they got further in the queue, he examined the quest listings on the single bulletin board. They were slightly different here: no rats or rabid dogs, but instead kill slimes in an irrigation canal or giant spiders in some granary. Or sack-mimics, vile-roots, mill-grubs, and so on – it was all much more rural . The Gremlin quests were still there: the same sixteen generic gremlins for seven silvers, and a lvl-5 version: a dozen combat gremlins for ten silvers. He figured the latter was for archers and warriors, or whatever they were called. Strangely enough, the 'docks' were written in lowercase here, same for the 'gremlins' … which made sense for common creatures.
There was also what he had figured: a lvl-eight quest to kill three gargoyles in the docks for fifteen silvers. He looked at Emma, but of course she wasn't paying attention.
When it was their turn at the counter, he handed in both candles and started explaining how he wasn't sure which one was complete. The elderly-looking local man glanced tiredly at him, then at Emma. He took both and handed them twelve silver coins, then asked if they wanted a repeat.
Sean started, "Yes, level two gremlins for–"
"Yeah, just the same," Emma broke in, and the NPC slid one lit candle across the counter for each of them, then waved in the next player from the queue.
Sean took the candles, put them out, and quickly stashed what he assumed was his. He knew where the gremlins were – no need for flame-directions. He handed Emma the other one and said, "Here, you better hold onto this." She gave him an annoyed glare, but took the candle and waited for it to cool down, then also pocketed it. He added, "Maybe you should be more specific with quests. 'The same' can mean a lot of things." She barely shrugged.
He glanced at the silver coins in his pouch and realized that he hadn't even considered partial quest rewards – and yet they made perfect sense. So the gargoyle was tough, but five silvers wasn't too shabby… depending on how much the repairs would cost.
He led the way back to the market row to look for weapons and formed a plan to ditch Emma after buying the staff – or maybe at the side entrance to that event warehouse, where she would be happy partying with all the other casters and whoever else. Yeah, that would be perfect.
It was a short, silent walk to the marketplace. Sean left his gear for repairs at a blacksmith. He stayed in his underclothing, which the NPC fixed on the spot with a quick spell. It was respectable enough to pass as garments if a little thin, and Sean was a little surprised he wasn't cold but didn't question it. The repairs took almost two silvers for the ruined Jack of plate and his axes. The weapons were in a particularly sad state: chipped in places and dulled along the blade, edge corners rolled to the sides, and one axe's head cracked laterally.
He was lucky they hadn't fallen apart during the fight!
Apparently they could still be rescued, but it would take fifteen-twenty minutes – so he had plenty of time to browse various wares. Emma only cared about her phone and remained in the corner of the shop, so he checked a few other stores.
He browsed melee weapon options but figured he should look at cheap staves first. He was clueless about what stats Emma's previous starter had – but if it was in line with similar-looking options priced at three to five coppers, then a silver or two would be a noticeable upgrade. He wanted to troll her with an actual wand – the store had those too – but they were more expensive. It seemed that wands were more offensive and staves defensive or utility. And the two weapon types had either cooldown reduction or damage bonus – but never both at once, which would be optimal for DPS.
He finally settled on a staff with a decent cooldown reduction and some added magic defense – mindful of the sleep-spell debacle – and it only cost under two silvers! Emma didn't seem to suffer from mana shortages anymore, so this staff should serve her just fine… Sean went back to give it to her, and she was thoroughly unimpressed by the useful stats and purchase reasoning, so Sean moved on to pick a better weapon for himself.
Sean spent much more time comparing different options and ended up spending seven and a half silvers on an enchanted, thick sidesword. There were better options, of course, there always were – but it was the best for his budget. The sword had the highest damage bonuses and didn't feel heavy at all. Weapons for tanks were typically blunt and had increased stun effects, while most damage-oriented weapons were smaller and showcased either magic mods to make them lighter or enchantments for skills to use less mana. He didn't really need either, so he opted for damage boosts – and the sword felt a little bulky, but still light and manageable enough.
He spent the rest of the money on a simple wooden shield: nowhere near as elaborate as the one the Swedish Tank wielded, but he figured it would provide some protection against arrows and monster swarms – and he could carry it on his back if the situation warranted dual-wielding after all.
So he wore his freshly fixed heavy armor, secured the axes to his belt and attached a sheath with the sword to his waist. The blade went almost all the way down his leg, three feet long or so. He lifted it and an axe for comparison: the sword was twice as heavy as the axe – he worried he had overdone it, but in the worst case he could use it two-handed.
Then he put the shield on his back and approached Emma in the corner. He remarked, "All done, but you can stay here if the phone-stuff is more important."
"Nah, I'm good," she replied and headed to the exit. He shook his head and followed – wondering if maybe he should've just snuck out without a word.