"Hey, Lonnie, hold on!" Mickey called, catching Lonnie right before he entered his cabin for lunch. "I've got this basket for you."

Lonnie received the basket and looked at it curiously. "This is… This smell… This is—"

"It's a delivery from your grandma. It's cookies. And don't worry—those things are delicious, but I was able to hold myself back."

Lonnie looked at Mickey, perplexed.

"What?" Mickey asked. "Do I have something on my face? I thought I wiped it off," Mickey said, worried he failed at removing all of Peter's filth.

"No, it's not that, Tralas Mick. You said these were delicious—have you had them?"

"Yes?" Mickey responded with a raised brow. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No! Nothing at all… It's just… A Trailblazer has never had my grandmother's cookies… Did you help her?"

"Oh. Yeah. I helped her carry some vegetables home, and then she insisted that I have some, and then she insisted that I stay for dinner." Mickey caught himself before he started talking about dinner like it was something real. "Uhh. Never mind that. Anyway, I'm just delivering these just to show my gratitude—uhh, Lonnie?"

Lonnie had frozen in a goofy expression with his mouth half-opened. "You helped my Grandma… A Trailblazer's never done that…" Lonnie's smile grew wider. "They've never done that." He locked his eyes with Mickey's. "You're a good guy, aren't you, Mickey?"

"N-No, I'm not—hold on, wait, what did you call me?"

"Did I say something wrong, Tralas Mick?"

Mickey questioned his memory—but he was sure he heard it right. Lonnie used his real name. Seeing Lonnie's confusion, Mickey wasn't going to pursue the issue, but he kept it in mind.

"No, you didn't, Lonnie. Anyway, I'll be going now."

"Do you want to come inside? You look tired; maybe you can have some of these cookies too—"

Mickey turned serious. "Are you sure?"

Lonnie laughed. "Of course! Any friend of Grandma is a friend of mine! Come in, come in."

"Whoa, you're pretty stocked in here, Lonnie. Are those all potions?"

Mickey was staring at one of Lonnie's walls, stricken with wonder. Flasks of many different colors lined three shelves on the wall, and they all glittered under the cottage's lamp light beautifully.

Lonnie chuckled. "That they are, Mick. The doctors and healers are hours away—we have to be ready for anything. Take a seat, please. I'll pull out some food and drink."

"Ahh, yeah, yeah, sure…" Mickey took a seat and looked over to what Lonnie was doing. "This is a cozy place Lonnie—hold on, is that a fridge?!"

Mickey caught Lonnie right as he was pulling bread from a black box with mist coming from the top—the kind of mist you see coming from a fridge.

"This?" Lonnie asked, pointing at the box as wide as he and half as tall. "This is a cold-light box. It preserves food for a little longer."

"Oh… I see… How does it work?"

Lonnie came over to the table and placed the bread down along with two green glass bottles.

"Do you drink, Mick?"

"Ahh-uhh, yeah, sometimes. I mean, I'll drink some now if I get to have cookies."

"Well, please do. Warm yourself up," Lonnie replied, chuckling. He took his own seat and popped open the bottles. "That box, yeah? It's got a cold-light generating component. It's really expensive, but the capital stocks the midway camps with it."

"That's nice of them… I mean, you're doing an important job, so it's good they acknowledge that… Is it magic then?"

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"Magic?" Lonnie wondered, cocking his head. "I don't think so. It's just a blessing of the light. It's just something that is what it is."

"Huh… Okay… I see…" Mickey said, washing down a cookie with the fragrant alcohol. "Oh wow! That's tasty! The cookie and the drink."

Lonnie laughed. "Yeah, the drink comes from one of the bigger towns up north. Those people know how to make their drinks… No one beats Grandma's cookies, though."

"I can believe that," Mickey replied, biting into his fourth cookie.

"So, where you headed, Mick? Going to one of the bigger towns?"

"No, not yet. I'm probably going back to Torea for tonight."

Lonnie nodded, but he seemed confused by Mickey's words—not that Mickey couldn't hazard a guess why.

"Anyway, for today, I'm heading out to beat some named monsters." Mickey took his map out in parchment mode and showed it to Lonnie. "See this one northwest of here? I'm going to tackle that one first. I've already beaten Mauling Peter."

"You beat Mauling Peter, Tralas Mick?!" Lonnie yelled, almost choking on his food.

Mickey felt cocky and flexed his muscled. "Yeah, I'm pretty strong, y'know?" Mickey laughed off his claim—he wasn't one to be so ridiculous.

Lonnie took the boast in good humor. "Well, that's why you're a Trailblazer. Still," Lonnie pointed at Mickey's destination. "This one's tough. Very tough, I heard. I wouldn't recommend taking it on alone. I've been told that plenty of Trailblazers have fallen to it even with parties accompanying them."

"Seriously? How much more dangerous would you reckon it is compared to Mauling Peter?"

Lonnie cocked his head and looked to the roof. He was silent for many seconds, but Mickey had gotten used to this feature and kept snacking on cookies. He was on his ninth.

"I'd say… The one over there is ten times more dangerous than Mauling Peter."

"That much, huh?" Mickey dove into his thoughts as he drank. If Peter was Level 3, then that thing would be Level 30… But this realm is set for up to Level 20 players… So it must be approaching the max… Then again, Lonnie might be wrong in his estimate…

"Mick… I really don't think you should try it… Here, how about this." Lonnie pulled the map closer and pointed to a spot near Mickey's destination. "Here. There's a spot where light falls. Go here, and you'll find a woman."

"A woman? I'm not really looking—"

Lonnie stopped and looked at Mickey, perplexed. He got it all of a sudden and laughed. "Ahh, no, not like that, Tralas Mick. No, the woman that's living there once traveled with a Trailblazer. Her name is Danica. Visit her first—she will surely have good information for you."

“Danica… Then… Is she from Asniels?”

"That she is."

"So, is there a town here or something?"

"No. Just Danica and her camp," Lonnie replied with a straight face.

"Seriously? She's just out there by herself?"

"Yes. She once traveled with a Trailblazer. She's strong."

Mickey leaned back on his seat. "Well. Color me curious. Interesting… Sounds like she's a special NPC…"

"If you need any help, I'm sure she'll be willing to lend a hand. She knows the land really well."

"Yeah, and if she traveled with a Trailblazer, she probably knows the places I need to find…" Mickey smiled at Lonnie. "Thanks, man!"

"No problem, Mickey! Glad to help!"

"Yeah—actually, while you're helping," Mickey said, his excitement deafening him to the name he was called. "Have you heard of anything weird going on?"

Mickey, encouraged by how helpful Lonnie was being, wondered if Lonnie had any clues that could lead to a story quest. In his estimation, an NPC out in the woods, amid monsters, would be one to hear about goings-on.

"Hmm," Lonnie scratched his chin. "Something weird…"

"Yeah, like something out of Asniel's ordinary. Something that hasn't been happening since all that long ago."

"Well… Actually, there's been some warnings issued recently—"

Warnings? That could be something!

"—I think a year or two ago."

"Oh. A year or two… Hmm," Mickey replied, slumping over.

"Yeah. Along the eastern road, travelers and merchants were warned to be careful because of raids by the undead in the area." Lonnie pointed to a spot along a road between another midway-camp and a settlement. "It's probably around here."

Mickey studied the map. The spot he pointed to was a distance east from their current location. That road ended at the foot of some mountains, with two settlements along the way.

"So undead are attacking there? Wait, how do they manage to raid? Aren't there lights?"

"There are. The undead look like they've gotten clever. I don't know why they're attacking there. I've heard the guys at the other camp are scared out of their wits, but they've never seen an attack either."

"So they've seen nothing?"

"No, but they've helped those who have survived the raid."

"Huh… Well, the mystery is certainly interesting… Maybe that's where I could find some kind of questline."

"Questline?" Lonnie asked, cocking his head.

"Never mind, Lonnie. Thanks for the info!" Mickey took another bite of a cookie.

"My pleasure!"

Mickey and Lonnie continued to enjoy themselves for the remainder of Lonnie's lunch break. Mickey hadn't noticed, but the sense of discomfort hadn't visited him for the break's duration.

Now loading...Quest Report

Instance Quest

Deliver Theresa's Cookies to Lonnie

Rewards: 1EXC, 10 Gold, 10EXP, 45EX-EXP

[Quest Completed. Rewards have been delivered/applied.]

Inter-Chapter Action

Mickey fought: 4 Laughing Bones

Mickey collected 1 vial of bone dust.