“Just a favor?” I asked the smiling merchant dubiously. “There’s no way that’s as small and minor a thing as you’re implying it is.”

“I’ve implied nothing.” Gribkik said, still having a broad, confident smile, filled with razor-sharp teeth, on his face. “All I presented to you, my dear customer, was the suggestion of a future favor that you could do for me.”

“A future favor.” I pointed out. “That all still seems incredibly vague and open-ended. Can you at least be somewhat more specific?”

“You do know what a favor is, yes?” Grbikik asked.

“Obviously, but I’m not going to do something super illegal like assassinating a judge or something.” I explained, annoyed at the suspicious merchants' evasiveness.

“Hah, well, that is quite specific.” Gribkik laughed. “Did you have a specific judge in mind, or is this just a natural dislike for the legal system making itself known.”

“She also won’t be knowingly or unknowingly breaking any IDPA rules and regulations.” Gunderson added. “Just because she’s new doesn’t mean that you can just use a favor from her to skirt our rules by taking advantage of her lack of experience.”

“Right, thanks.” I said to him, grateful for the input. He was right that we’re probably a lot of laws and regulations specific to the paranatural and supernatural community I wasn’t aware of.

Letting out a tired sigh, Gribkik finally said. “Yes, yes, fine. I will not request you perform any illegal acts, mundane or otherwise. Additionally, I will also tell you that it is only a small favor that I am requesting of you.”

“Well, that does sound slightly more reasonable, but I still don’t like how open-ended it is.” I said cautiously. “I reserved the right to refuse the favor if it's still something I find distasteful.”

What if this green-skinned merchant turned out to be some kind of disgusting creeper or something? I wasn’t going to let someone I didn’t know, or trust have an open-ended favor from me that I had no way of refusing. What if the legal system for paranaturals required me to honor his request, even if it was something messed up and gross.

Rolling his large red eyes at me now, the greedy merchant said. “Alright, fine, you can refuse my future request, but I then reserve the right to retain the favor you would owe me until such time as you do complete a request offered by me.”

That was starting to sound pretty alright to me now. I was leaning towards accepting the deal, but before I did, I turned and looked in Gunderson’s direction to gauge his reaction.

He gave another slight nod and smile before saying. “It’s not a bad deal after the adjustments you made to it. If you want to, tell him you accept.”

Feeling more confident in my decision, I turned back to the green-skinned merchant and said, “I accept your deal. In exchange for a small favor that won’t require me to commit any illegal acts and that I have the right to refuse, you will tell me what you know about the man who came here talking about spike or anything related to him or his activities.”

“Very well then.” The small toothy merchant said with a smile before sticking his hand out for me to accept. “I agree to tell you what I know about this person in exchange for the favor you stated and reserve the right to retain the favor until such time as you complete it, regardless of any refusals on your part.”

We each took one another’s hands and shook.

New Pact:

1 small favor with the goblin merchant, Gribkik.

* No illegal activities

* Right of refusal

* Favor persists despite any refusals

Reward:

Information on spike, and any individuals associated with it.

100 experience upon completion of this favor.

Failure:

Breaking this pact will result in a reduction of 100 experience points per level.

I felt a strange itchy feeling behind my eyes that moved down my body before resting in the area my heart was at.

“What the frick was that?” I loudly demanded to the room.

Another blue box helpfully popped up to answer my question.

New Skill Unlocked!

Pact Binding

Reward: 100 Exp

“Pact Binding?” I verbalized what I had just read. Was this supposed to happen? “Uh, Gunderson, what just happened.”

“I’m guessing not something any of us were expecting. Hmm, what did you see? You said something about pacts, right? Is that a new skill or quest you’ve gotten?” Gunderson asked while walking up to stand at my side.

“Yeah, uh, I did get a new skill called…” I started to say before looking over in Gribkik’s direction. “Should we be talking about this in front of, uh, Gribkik here?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“I assure you I am the absolute soul of discretion and secrecy.” Gribkik said with a broad toothy grin.

“Weren’t you just about to reveal the secrets and personal details of someone else just a moment ago.” I asked with the disbelief evident in my words.

“She’s right. Give us a minute Gribkik.” Gunderson told him bluntly. “Also, if you try to do any kind of eavesdropping, I’ll know, so don’t bother.”

“I would never dream of it, dear Herbert.” Gribkik said with a smile still on his face, but his mood had obviously lessened at being told to buzz off in no uncertain terms by Gunderson.

After he had hopped down and waddled off deeper into the store, Gunderson turned to me and, in a whisper, said. “So, you got a new skill? What else?”

“Well, I also had a blue box that popped up and described the pact I had made with Gribkik.” I started to explain, also in a low whisper to Gunderson. “It looks kinda like a quest, but it's titled as a pact in the description. What’s the difference?”

“Hmm, pacts are usually things witches or warlocks can do, but those are more advanced classes that you don’t have access to right now.” Gunderson mused. “I can only assume that it is a lesser version of the skill provided to you by your variant class.”

“That would make sense, it wasn’t a skill shown on the list of basic mage skills in the book on magic that I’ve been studying at night.” I told him.

“Yeah, I’ve never heard of someone with the generic Mage class having a skill related to pacts.” Gunderson agreed. “We could call and ask Knowles about it, but he’d likely just tell you the same thing. That said, we should both follow up and research more about this skill and what it means for you to have access to it early.”

“Alright.” I told him hesitantly. “But what are pacts if they’re related to witches and warlocks? Is that a bad thing? I read in that book you guys gave to me that witches and warlocks are not super well-liked these days.”

“Well, that may be true in a general sense, but the class you receive as a supernatural doesn’t necessarily require you to do things exactly the same way as the paranatural magic users they might be based off of.” Gunderson said. “Just because you seem to be able to make pacts with others doesn’t mean you’ll start going around and binding yourself to the whims and mercy of any stray demon or devil that crosses your path, or at least I hope you won’t.”

“Uh, no. I have no interest in being a servant or minion to something like that or to anything else, really.” I said confidently.

“Good, that’s reassuring to hear.” He said to me with a smile. “But as for pacts, they can do things like what you just did with Gribkik, formalize business deals between two people. They can also do things like what paranatural witches and warlocks use them for, binding themselves to powerful beings with an excess of mana that they would be willing to share with them in exchange for a long-term pact of service.”

“Huh, interesting.” I mused. “So, is that how my Magi class is different from the normal Mage class?”

“Very possibly.” Gunderson agreed. “It sounds like it's some kind of lesser pseudo-witch or warlock class that you started out as.”

“Neat.” I concluded.

Gunderson laughed at my response. “It is neat, I guess. I’ll try to have Knowles scrounge up some books about pacts and the classes that use them whenever I talk to him next.”

“Alright, it’ll probably be good to have more material to study and research in my free time.” I said. “I still need to finish reviewing the book I currently have so I can start writing my report about it.”

“Report? Never mind, we’ll talk more about that once we leave the shop.” Gunderson told me while putting his hand up into the air and gesturing for Gribkik to come back over to us.

Noticing and obliging Gunderson's command, Gribkik made his way back over to his elevated perch behind the counter and said. “Ah, your private and secretive discussions are all done then?”

“They are. I believe you had some information you intended to give to my young protege here, correct?” Gunderson said with a blank expression on his face.

“Of course!” Gribkik exclaimed eagerly. “Let’s see, you wanted more information about the source of information on the location I gave to your mentor over there. Well, he was not human, but neither was he goblin.”

Gribkik gestured at himself as he said this. I guess that answer, and the information from the pact deal in the blue box, confirms that Gribkik here is a goblin. What exactly that means and implies in relation to magic, monsters, and other paranaturals was still unclear though.

If I went strictly by what I knew about goblins from books and Hollywood, then I’d probably classify Gribkik here as a monster. Given our reasonable, polite conversation, lack of monster-killing quests, and Gunderson’s current laid-back attitude, Gribkik probably didn’t really fit into the category of monster.

“Okay, what else.” I prompted the typically evasive merchant. “I’m not doing a favor for you for just that.”

“Nice, keep pressing.” Gunderson commented.

“Let us all relax now.” Gribkik reassured us. “I was only getting started, but again I’ll remind everyone here that I don’t know much about this individual given his obvious illegal and dangerous occupation.”

When neither of us reacted and just glared at him silently, Gribkik eventually just put his hands up.

Awkwardly clearing his throat before continuing on, Gribkik finally said. “He, of course, came here to sell at first, and obviously, I, being a respectable merchant, bluntly rebuffed his suggestion to buy any of his product.”

“I believe you.” Gunderson said to the small green man behind the counter. “But if I were to perform an exhaustive search of the premises, I wouldn’t find any wrapped-up bundles of spikes anywhere, would I?”

“Of course not, of course not.” Gribkik told him with a nervous laugh. “As I was saying, he at first came in here trying to sell, but when I wasn’t interested, he changed tactics. He started browsing my wares and seemed especially interested in the various jars of herbs and alchemical ingredients over there.”

Pointing to one of the shelves off to the side, causing Gunderson and I to both look in its direction.

“Now, before you ask, no, I don’t know which herb he specifically wanted or if what he was looking for was even in stock on those shelves over there. That said, after seeing my supply of dried plants and herbs, he asked if I could provide them in larger quantities than what I had in the jars there.”

“You honestly don’t know which ones he wanted?” I asked him pointedly.

“I don't-” Gribkik started to say before grabbing his chest in pain. “Gahh, what the gahh fucking nine hells, my chest.”

As he had started to grasp at his chest, I began to feel a growing warmth begin to build up in my own chest, right where my heart was.

“You made a formal pact with the girl.” Gunderson announced to the pained goblin. “It’d be in your best interest to be forthcoming and not renege on your side of the bargain.”

“Y-you said you were new, gahh.” Gribkik said with some effort, a pained grimace on his face. “How did you make a magically binding pact, gahh!! Damnit, never mind, fine. I have some idea about two of the ingredients he was interested in!”

Gribkik let out a loud sigh of relief as the pain seemed to have stopped from his recent words.

“Great Gaia, that hurt, dammit.” Gribkik complained while breathing noticeably heavier now. “Clearly, I’ll have to be more careful in what I say around you from now on.”

“Um, yes. That’s right.” I told him with forced confidence. “So, get on with it then. What ingredient was he interested in?”

“I’ll tell you, but I feel I must point out that it truly is only a guess based on where the man’s eyes seemed to linger.” Gribkik said while slowly regaining his usual composure.

“Okay, I understand. Just tell us already.” I said to him.

“Well, he seemed especially interested in the jars of grave breath and wolfsbane.” Gribkik admitted while indicating with his oversized head towards the extensive collection of jars on the shelves.

Wait, grave breath and wolfsbane, I’ve heard of those names before, recently too.

It was in that strange, vivid dream I had earlier in the week, the one about Mira…

Frick.