Silver Vault Vigilante Quest Complete! Your reward, the Silver Vault Lockbox Key has been added to your inventory.

Nate quickly added them all to a group chat, including Krypdyr.

Nate: Skelly! Sorry, Skelwulf. You were spying on me from the Silver Vault rooftop, weren’t you?

Skelwulf: That was me, yes. How did you know?

Ellisandra: Where the hell have you been? It’s been nearly ten hours.

Nate: I was working for the Adventuring Academy logging magic items for their database! My enchantment skill is much higher now!

Zeff: Maybe you can enchant some of my creations now!

Nate: Absolutely!

Skelwulf: Who are you working for in the Academy?

Nate: A fellow named Desdon. Nice guy so far, though a bit obsessed with his coworker.

Skelwulf: Desdon Trill?

Nate forced his expression steady.

Nate: Yes. You know him?

Skelwulf: He works for Zolis Fezim. Filtering him some of the better magic items that come in. I don’t know what he gets in return.

Fuzzball: Where are you?

Nate: A cafe called Myths and Mochas. We’re having some cinnamon rolls.

Spring Jack: Can you order some for us?

Nate: Of course!

Skelwulf: You know how I said I’d need your help the next time we met?

Nate: Anything for you, Skelly! Maybe you can help us too.

Skelwulf: Please don’t call me that. I already know who you are seeking. Luma and I have a history.

Nate: Is it spicy?

Skelwulf: If you mean what I think you mean, no. I hunted one of her crew once back when I was an Apprentice ranker. She did not like that I managed to kill my target on her ship and I was discovered when trying to exit. Still have the scar on my chest where she stabbed me.

Ellisandra: She told me about that once. It happened before I joined up.

“Are you feeling okay?” Desdon said around a mouthful of roll.

Nate focused his attention away from his chat, “Of course. Just doing a bit of woolgathering, as they say.”

Nate: What are we doing with Desdon? Remember, no more killing!

Skelwulf: I’d rather not kill him. He’s going to bring Zolis to us. Fuzzball, Desdon may recognize you, so you stay with me in the shadows.

Nate: Krypdyr, can you go and keep them in shadow? We’ll let you know when you can come out.

“I have a few friends who are on their way to join the Academy alongside me, and they will be here shortly,” Nate waved over the server and ordered another basket of rolls. Krypdyr excused himself.

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Chairs moved noisily along the cobblestone ground as Ellie, Zeff, Spring Jack, and Raglan all sat at the table. Nate felt his Familial Luckomancy ability bolstered by their presence as he introduced them all to Desdon, who focused a bit too long on Ellie.

“Hi, all,” Desdon said a bit sheepishly.

Spring Jack grabbed the top bun and bit excitedly into it, moaning with pleasure. “Isn’t it funny that cinnamon here is lime green?”

“That’s what I said!” Nate agreed as he grabbed his sixth cinnamon roll.

“How can you keep eating those?” Desdon had only been able to eat two.

“Terry is a hungry boy!” Nate said as he patted his purple Terry armor. “I don’t actually know what happens if I don’t feed him properly yet, but I can’t imagine it’s good. And no, Desdon, before you ask, we aren’t submitting Terry to that sort of testing. You’d probably be the first thing he ate in his hungry state.” Desdon swallowed hard and nearly choked on his mocha.

Nate: Ellie, I think ole Desdon here has a crush on you. He keeps stealing little glances when he thinks no one is looking. Think we can use that?

Ellisandra: I’m not comfortable with that. I’d sooner kill him than sleep with him.

Nate: Whoa, whoa! I was not suggesting that. Here’s my thought-

They made small talk during the sugary meal and after all were full, Nate himself having eaten a total of ten of the plate sized rolls, they all stood and headed toward the Academy. Nate introduced them to Fundin and they began the documentation process. Raglan was already a member. Ellisandra went first and then asked Desdon if he wanted to go for a walk to the brewery, as it had been some time since she’d been able to get a drink. He sputtered out his yes and they left soon after.

Nate: They’re headed for the pub now.

Skelly: We’ve found the dark corner table - wait, why is my name different here now?

Quilly: That was me! Now your name is like mine!

Skelly: Change it back.

Nate: Come on, Quilly. You wouldn’t like it if we started calling you Quilbert or something, right?

Quilly: Gross. Okay, fine. I see your point. Sorry, Skelwulf.

Skelwulf: Thank you. As I was saying, the table in this corner was surprisingly shadowy even before we showed up. How’d you know there’d be one like this?

Nate: There’s always a shadowy corner in a pub, even if it’s bright and sunny out. That’s classic fantasy! If you have a pipe you can make glow while brooding in the shadow, you may eventually even become king of an old nation.

Spring Jack: And marry a dark haired, super hot elf!

Nate: See! Spring Jack gets it! Anyway, we’ll be on standby if you need us, but we’ll be looking over the quest board in the meanwhile.

As Nate trusted his friends to do their own thing, he moved with Raglan, Zeff and Spring Jack to a table in the foyer of the Academy building. Zeff opened his slate and they perused the list of quests, Nate looking over his shoulder before remembering he could just pull up the list with Quilly.

“I say we start with the quests that no one wants to do,” Nate mused as he read. “Maybe the oldest ones.”

“Why? Those usually don’t pay out very well,” Raglan said.

“Well, Quilly can add additional rewards to a quest that we choose, so it will likely become more lucrative for us. Plus, the people who put out those quests still need the help, right? Just because the rewards they offer aren’t good doesn’t make them undeserving of help.”

“That’s true,” Zeff said, “and there is quite a backlog of them.”

“Plus it will give you a better chance to learn your way around the city,” Spring Jack agreed.

“And I still need that Pulse Core from the Temple,” Raglan reminded Nate.

“I know,” Nate sighed, “There are too many things I need to get done, plus I’ve been slipping on my training and these quests should help me get back on track with that.”

Desdon burst in through the front doors looking amped up and terrified. He glanced at Nate and company and then rushed deeper into the building out of view. Skelwulf, Krypdyr, Fuzzball, and Ellie entered the building a few minutes later with amused expressions.

“That went well,” Nate said. “Desdon ran in here looking nine kinds of scared. What did you do to him?”

“I sat us at a table where he was facing away from the shadowy corner,” Ellie said.

“As she was ordering drinks, I encased Fuzzball in shadow and he moved to the seat directly behind Desdon,” Krypdyr explained.

“Then I walked over to sit with them, and he recognized me immediately. I locked him down with my aura before he could flee and we had a nice little chat,” Skelwulf said with a predatory grin.

“As he rose to leave, I grabbed him by the shoulder. He recognized me, too, though I don’t remember him,” Fuzzball said.

“I also didn’t get the impression that he thought I was with them,” Ellie said.

“Good. That may well work in our favor. He’s no doubt going right now to report your alive status to Zolis. It should theoretically be a few days before Zolis gets here, right?” Nate asked.

“If he’s in Tempeste like normal, yes. If he’s elsewhere, then it could be anytime.”

“Then we’d better get to questing! By the way, now that you’re all members of the Academy, I grouped us into an official party! I think we’ll call ourselves The Shenanigans.”