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All roads led to Plains Junction, though some were larger than others. The city was split in half by the Grand Pilgrimage route: a wide avenue made of hefty stone bricks, piled so tightly they did not need cement.
Whereas Riverglen was simple wood and brick houses surrounded by sturdy wall, and Granite Pass was a small but sturdy hovel carved into its namesake, the Junction contained buildings of all sorts, material sourced from all over. Wood hauled up from Twelfthnight. Limestone transported downriver from Firefield. Markets along the pilgrimage route offered fish from the coastal river delta. The odd decorative flame-colored tree hailed from far-off Autumn’s Redoubt. And the grand cathedrals of the central church district aped architectural styles from the Olde Capital.
It was the entire pilgrimage in miniature, really. And the first time Calaf saw it was by passing through a relatively sleepy residential district. Modest houses were separated from the endless high plains by some squat brick walls barely perceptible from the road and meant more for privacy than protection. No guards manned the wall, not that it was tall enough to walk upon. And there were no grand gatehouses – just many gaps in the fencing for the many avenues out of town.
It wasn’t until Calaf and Gorman reached the cathedral district at the intersection of the four main roads that they even saw a fellow guard.
Name:
Ivan
Rank:
Plains Junction City Watch
Level:
47
Status:
355/355
Weapons:
Fine Plains Polearm +2
Even Ivan the basic sentry was a higher level than any guard captain in Riverglen! Calaf approached with confidence.
“Hello. We have been tasked with an urgent message vital to the sanctity of the Grand Pilgrimage.”
The guard eyed them with a raised eyebrow. “You two do seem a little under-leveled for the area. Church business is usually handled by their own couriers.”
“Check our Interface,” Calaf said. “There was a deacon with us, but circumstances required us to part ways. We also skipped much of the pilgrimage path as there’s a blockage in the route north of Granite Pass.
“South watch has been saying there’s a sudden dearth of new travelers lately. How’d you get here?”
“We went off the path?”
“Off the what now?” The guard stared, incredulous. “Nobody ever goes off the path. There’s nothin’ there. Don’t even get gold for any monsters you kill.”
“And we would not have broken the holy sequence if could have possibly been avoided.” Calaf nodded. “But in doing so we found a holy artifact of the Heroes of Yore. One that brought the region into compliance with the church and converted the local populace.”
“Ey, but, will anyone bother going out there?” Ivan the guard nodded off west. “Nothin’ out there. Why not just stick to the path?”
“I… look, I’m sure adherents to the Scout class will find their ancient patron hero’s flagon to be a fascinating religious relic. Now… may we provide this letter from a cloistered church deacon to the bishop of these lands?”
Ivan peered into the pair’s Interface. Just one look at ‘Arbiter of the Church’ and he let out a whistle.
“Wow, you all have a fancy title. Around here we’re all just guards.”
“We were guards once,” Gorman said, then yawned. “Sewer guards.”
Calaf nodded. “At the first station of the holy pilgrimage.”
“Oooh yeah, I remember doing that. Never made it further than Plains Junction though. Hence why I’m here.”
Everyone had their own limits to the journey. The minimum route was Riverglen to Twelfthnight that all converts and initiates were expected to partake in. But the route could be taken multiple times, and even encouraged depending on the level requirements of one’s station.
Ivan waved the pair through to the Cathedral at the Junction, the largest building in the city. Impossible to miss.
Even these arbiters of the church on a divine quest from a ranking church deacon were not granted an audience with the local bishop. Instead, they were shunted off to more of an elderly old friar who read Deacon’s sealed letter.
“Oh. Relic thievery. Oh, my indeed,” said the friar. “That would explain why no news has made it from south of Deepwood. This phenomenon has not been seen north of Granite Pass, at least.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“So, our quest is at its end?” Calaf asked.
“Hmmm. Yes, something like that,” said the friar. “Worry not. I’ll just copy over this message and send it to every other settlement on the line.”
The friar opened his Menu and…
Friar Fred Casts: Duplicate
Effect: Make a Perfect Copy of Any Inventory Item. (x5)
And…
Friar Fred Casts: Duplicate
Effect: Make a Perfect Copy of Any Inventory Item. (x5)
Deacon’s message was, in an instant, turned into eleven identical letters, each sealed again by the friar. More than enough to send to every major city on the pilgrimage route with the original copy to remain posted at the junction.
“All of the church will soon know about this relic thief – Jelena, was it? It will be impossible for her to show her face anywhere along the route.”
“Do you have some kind of high-level teleportation spell to whisk these letters to the other cathedrals?” Calaf asked.
“Oh, heavens no.” The friar walked off towards one of the cathedral belfries at a leisurely pace. “Otherwise, your deacon friend could have simply warped the letter to us, yes?”
Their slow stroll brought the group to a rookery. Dozens upon dozens of level 12 domesticated dire-pigeons sat in nests, specialized latches on their filed-dull talons.
“Each of these is trained to return to the nest of its birth,” the friar explained. “They’ll arrive at each station within a day or two.”
It took about fifteen minutes for this old friar to wrangle each dire-pigeon, affix the message to them, and set them on their way.
So, that was that. Calaf breathed a sigh of relief. His quest was finished.
“Oh, the Bishop of Plains Junction bestows you with this,” said the friar, then pulled up the ‘trade’ menu.
What Calaf (and Gorman, in a separate trade) received was thus:
Item: Mark Of Quest Completion
Effect: When Used, Grants 500 XP and 3000 gold.
Another massive sum for Calaf’s growing treasure horde. What’s more, it was just about enough to grant Calaf his next level and push him to the level beyond once used.
Its high time to visit the cathedral shrine of the Paladin, Calaf thought.
“Whatever will you two do now?” Asked the friar.
“Well, I suppose we’ll need to get back to Riverglen,” Gorman said. “Not much of a rush. Sewers are closed until the relics are retrieved. But I’m sure the guards and deacons up here will be able to find an apostate in no time. Still, can only imagine how many Rat Kings are filling up the sewer by now…”
“Be sure to visit the shrine of the cleric to bless your travels,” said the friar.
Certainly, doubling back to Vault would be no good. They wouldn’t get any gold and but half the experience off-route.
Heading back towards the start of the pilgrim’s path would give them the opportunity to flex their new levels. Those double-leveled enemies besieging the Granite Pass gate would scarcely be more than a roadblock for the pair after a few days march through the plains and on through Deepwood.
There were three more reasons that Calaf wanted to travel backwards along the pilgrim’s path. The first was quite innocuous: Deepwood was an amazingly beautiful locale he’d love to visit for a second time. The second: a direct route following the line would bring him back to his dearest Charlotte once more. He definitely wanted to see her reaction to how many new levels he’d gained.
Third, the relic thieves had yet to steal the Plains reliquary. This likely meant that they hadn’t made it through Deepwood and Twelfthnight yet. Which meant that there was a chance, however slight, that the relic thieves and relic-saving questors could potentially meet.
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The pair would stay in another inn until the next day, then head south.
Calaf visited the shrine of the Paladin, located in a sleepy alcove in a cathedral annex.
The shrine was for the martyred hero. Patron of Shielder units.
Calaf prepared his Mark of Quest Completion. He accessed it in Menu > Item > Misc, then thumbed down in the Blessed Interface and selected ‘Use’. Five hundred XP arrived in an instant. In conjunction with the various battles, he’d encountered since that bout with the dire-worm, topped him up to level 17, then spilled juuuuust over to level 18, with only 5 xp of the required 550 experience for the level after that.
Level u- Level up!
Calaf Leveled Up! Level: 18
Strength: 29 (+1)
Endurance: 38 (+2)
Agility: 18 (+2)
Intelligence: 12 (+0)
Charisma: 10 (+0)
Arcane: 6 (+1)
The saints who governed level-up stat distribution had not quite been with him these past two levels. And yet, level 18 was enough for his purposes.
Calaf knelt before the statue of the paladin, all identifying marks covered in hefty armor. It would be another forty-plus levels before Calaf could ever dream of wearing such sturdy equipment.
As an initiate, Calaf had started right at level one. He was not a convert but from a long family line Branded in the time of heroes.
He descended into the sewers some years ago, same as every other initiate beginning their climb through the church-sanctioned levels, and just like the numerous converts who took the brand every year. He’d gained his first level just outside of Riverglen. At level three, in the tiny old shrine of the Paladin in Granite Pass, he’d reclassed into Shielder.
Reclassing was a permanent step. Until the commitment to one of the patron heroes’ paths, someone could strive to become a paladin or cleric or battlemage or scout. But once this first commitment was made, the path was set.
Shielders prioritized endurance upon leveling up. Perfect for city watch and sewer guards. Indeed, most of the guards around the various cities were on this path.
It was time to reclass once more.
Calaf thought about his journey thus far. He closed his eyes and then held a hand out towards the statue of the Paladin.
The blessed statue imbued him with holy light. He could feel the change even before the title became official in the Menu.
Name:
Calaf, Wayfarer (Pilgrim)
Rank:
Stalwart, The Most Holy Church of the Menu
Level:
18
Status:
78/78 (Healthy)
At long last, he was a Stalwart! Second class on the path to Paladin.
There was still a long road ahead. And he’d need to gain levels in Charisma and Intelligence to aid in adhering to knightly chivalry and holy magic, respectively. Not a priority as a mere Shielder, but certainly the stat distribution changed as he moved up the ranks.
Alas, many of his early ranks randomly distributed themselves into Luck. Not a bad stat to have by any means, but more common among Scouts, and usually not prioritized by the Menu’s distributions until higher ranks.
Calaf said one last prayer before leaving the Shrine of the Martyred Paladin. He felt stronger already, more ready to take on the heresy that had sent him back down the pilgrims’ road.
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