Deacon and his party end up exiting the deep woods behind the gathered knights and Deep Dweller contingent. If there wasn’t already road beaten between the King’s Road and the location of the new dungeon, there is one now. Toward the front of the line is the carriage that brought Lord Pentecost to the meeting.
Between the recent events and meeting the Minister of the Interior, Deacon hasn’t had much time to take stock of his situation. While they were walking, he took a look at quest that brought him out here in the first place. He needed to follow up with Farmer Richard to get the deal done. After that he could leave the paperwork to Jacob and continue on to the Crystal Cascade. He may want to get an update to his slate map as well. One quick trip to The Teller and he’d be ready to hit the road. Meeting the king sounds interesting but he’s been in one disaster after another since he arrived. At some point training needs to be the priority.
“What’s on your mind Deacon?” Asked Tantus.
“What? Oh, sorry I was lost in my own thoughts. How are you doing? I know you were mostly an in-house kind of guy. How’s all this excitement treating you?” Deacon countered trying to change the subject.
“That’s originally what I wanted. I jumped three levels since meeting you and I’m one of four people to ever get a previously unheard-of subclass. I’d say I’m doing pretty well. Yes, yes, I am.” Tantus replied.
“Good, because we are about to piss a lot of people off.” Deacon said under his breath.
“Wait, what?” Tantus said as Deacon waived Amanda and Ralph off the road leaving the train of people.
“Where are we going?” Ralph whispered.
“We need to check on Farmer Richard. Get that quest complete details.” Deacon said as he began trudging across the field.
“I knew it.” Amanda said sliding into the ditch on the side of the road.
“You knew what? Don’t tell me you’re some Deacon expert now.” Ralph said.
“If its about money, he’ll rush right to it.” Amanda scoffed.
“Ha, ha. Very funny. If I remember correctly this is a shared guild quest. Giving up your share Ralph?” Deacon asked watching Ralph’s mouth snap shut and his vision narrow on the farmhouse. It was still around fifteen minutes out but on the plains before the plateau you can see for miles.
Shortly after they left the procession, one of the Knights started a commotion. He was pointing and gesturing toward the party moving across the planes. Two knights broke away in pursuit.
“We have a tail.” Amanda said coughing into her hand. The cough was wet and sounded rough on her lungs.
“That’s fine. We weren’t going to range all that much farther than the Richards.” Deacon replied.
Twenty minutes later they were standing on Farmer Richards front porch knocking on his door. There were two Knights huffing and puffing their way through a field. Deacon didn’t know how well that conversation was going to go but he was currently focused on the plans he had in his head for alchemical ingredients he’d like to have readily available. That will cut down on all the little repeatable quests he has at the guild.
“Who is it?” asked voice of a little girl from behind the door.
“It’s Deacon from the Adventurer’s guild. Is your father home?” Deacon said softening his voice, so he doesn’t frighten her.
“One minute.” She said disappearing into the house. For a second Deacon considered just poking his head through the door and made himself chuckle.
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“Halt…Halt in the name of the King.” Called out an out of breath Knight.
“Ralph, can you go calm them down? For fucks sake, we can see the procession on the road from here.” Deacon said. Ralph and Tantus spun around to interact with the two Knights. As they did the door opened up revealing a blood covered Farmer Richard wiping his hands on his pant legs.
“Deacon? I don’t know what you did but there hasn’t even been a fox in the area since we first talked. I thought you might have forgotten what we talked about and moved on.” Replied Farmer Richard.
“Far from it. We were trapped in a holy prison…never mind. I’m glad to hear that.” Deacon said.
“So my end of the deal is done. I spoke to the majority of the farmers, and they love the idea of a council of representatives. What should the next steps be?” he asked.
“Ok I’ll set up a meeting with you and our Guild Master Jacob to work out the details. I’m looking forward to a good working relationship.” Deacon said beaming.
“So I mentioned speaking to the majority of farmers right. There is one that used to grow these magnificent flowers but none of us have seen him since before the invasion. We were wondering if you could look into it?” Richard asked.
“These wouldn’t be Sun Blossom flowers, would they?” Deacon asked.
“Have you heard of him?” Richard asked.
“I’ll see what we can do.” Deacon said now concerned he shouldn’t have ignored that quest.
“There seem to be some irate knights behind you. I hope you didn’t bring fresh problems to my doorstep.” He said with a smirk.
“You’re the one covered in blood.” Deacon said letting out a chuckle and not realizing how badly he needed that.
“That reminds me. I need to get back to it. I look forward to meeting your guild master.” Richard said as he turned back inside and closed the door. Turning around he could see Ralph and Tantus were giving the knights some water and chatting softly.
“Everything alright?” Deacon asked joining them on the path back to the road.
“You are to report directly to Iron Mountain Plateau. No more delays.” Said the first Knight.
“No problem. Let’s go.” Deacon said heading toward the road at a jog.
The rest of the trip back to the city was relatively uneventful. There was a point where Lord Pentecost yelled at the guards to clear the way so his carriage could enter the city. It was decided they would all meet at Desentes Keep this afternoon to discuss the conflicting priorities. Deacon was ordered not to leave the city. Daskus went as far as to tell his younger brother Typhus to stick to Deacon like glue. In a surprising move, Amanda said she needed to look into something and disappeared into the streets of the city.
“So, can we go to our rooms?” Tantus asked winking his overly large eye at Deacon.
“I’m not interested but thank you Tantus.” Deacon said getting a snicker from Ralph.
“No I mean, can we visit Alfred.” Tantus replied looking flustered. Ralph and Deacon shared a look.
“Who is Alfred?” Asked Typhus.
“Shit.” Said Deacon.
On the way back to the guild, Typhus kept pressing the Alfred issue. He wouldn’t stop until Deacon promised to show him once they got back. Ralph looked worried ever since Amanda left. Tantus was overly excited to share his good fortune with Alfred.
Deacon entered the guild and made his way down to The Teller. After some pleasantries he gave the teller a note. He nodded his head and Deacon waved goodbye to him. The guild was less active than before they left for the corpungie battle. The halls were easier to navigate but the training yard was full. It even looked like Jacob was putting an edition on the back.
“Deacon, glad to see you’re alright.” Said Sophie rounding a corner and almost bumping into Deacon.
“Oh hello Sophie, how have you been?” Deacon said off handedly.
“Well you can address me as Vice Guild Master now.” Sophie said with a big grin on her face.
“Congratulations. Sorry but we have to go, there are things to do and Kings to meet.” Deacon said stepping around her.
“You know you could be nice to me.” Sophie said with a fake pout on her face.
“Maybe next time!” Deacon said as he hurried up the stairs.
“Hi, I’m Tantus.” Tantus said waggling his eyebrows. Sophie turned on her heels and walked away.
They all eventually met upstairs at Deacons front door. He opened it, ushering everyone in and closed the door behind him. In the cramped space of the room Deacon shuffled his way over to the little end table.
“Ok this is a secret Typhus, but I trust you with my life. Do not pull out your weapons.” Deacon cautioned.
“What are you talking about? We are just all standing around in your piss poor excuse for accommodations...” Typhus was interrupted when Deacon pulled an odd cube from his satchel. He placed it on the table, and it expanded all over the room to coat the walls, floor, and ceiling. Before he knew it, he was standing in large foyer with wood paneled walls. There was a staircase leading up and several doors leading to other rooms. None of this could fit in the space they all entered. Suddenly another person appeared in the room just stepping out of nothing.
“Should I add another person to the whitelist, sir?” Alfred asked.
“Yes, please Alfred, this is Typhus. He is one of the first people I ever met in this world and a true friend.” Deacon said nodding his head.
“Oh this is Deactastrophe waiting to happen.” Said Typhus.