> New Party Quest: Preventative 'Pacifism'

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> Rumour has it that a growing faction of humans seek to lay waste to Aspen territory. Strike fast, and you may be able to prevent tragedy on a scale never seen before. Be wary: this quest is time-sensitive and delays may lead to unexpected quest failures.

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> This quest is an epic quest, which is comprised of multiple sub-quests.

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> Rewards: The fleeting satisfaction of a job well done; the congratulatory cheers of a few strangers in a bar; a firm handshake from your co-conspirators. And a large amount of reputation. Yes, enough to call yourself 'reputable' afterwards.

>

> Penalties for Failure: You don't want to know. That's not a joke, it's awful. Just so terribly bad that it can't be put into words.

The quest notification was perfectly positioned in front of Lanoch's face, such that Maso completely missed her expression as she continued talking, oblivious.

"I was given the quest a couple weeks ago. I'll admit, it seemed impossible at first."

"No kidding," muttered Rèmsciore.

"The rewards made it too tempting to ignore, though. So I started researching the humans - their cities, their politics, their magic."

"Hold on. Where'd you find this information?"

Maso, having finally managed to mentally convince the quest display box to go away, caught the way Lanoch's gaze snapped to Rèmsciore. "No comments from the surprise visitor. I have my ways. You'd be surprised what some of the - ah, Aspen, here, know about humans."

Maso wasn't sure what that meant, but Rèmsciore just shrugged. "Fair enough."

"As I was saying. The humans are spread out, and their major cities are filled with individuals of different species. It wouldn't be hard to blend in and make it to the capital."

"Hold on," Rèmsciore said.

"No. I-"

"-their capital is named Midston?"

Lanoch sighed and rubbed at her eyebrows. "No."

"I seem to recall you mentioning that there was warmongering going on in Midston?"

"Yes," Lanoch said. "That was a slight oversimplification."

She grabbed a cup of water and set it down in front of her. "Imagine that this table is the human territory."

"Not very big," Rèmsciore said, raising an eyebrow. Maso had to agree.

Lanoch ignored them, and tipped the cup over slightly, pouring some water on the table. Its wooden top was fairly porous, but flat enough that the water still spread out, soaking into an area maybe two or three times the size of Maso's palm. "This is what their politics look like."

"Wet?"

Maso joined in: "That's not very threatening."

This time, he received the brunt of her glare. "Midston is located in the center of human territory-"

"-of course it is-"

"-and it's a major trade and commerce center."

"Sounds like bad planning if it's not the capital, then," Rèmsciore said. Maso gave him a sideways glance - he was relaxed now, leaning back in his chair with arms crossed.

Maso couldn't tell if barging into other people's homes was something he did because he thought it was normal, or because it wasn't. Or if this was just a one-time thing, which he happened to be comfortable with due to a completely alien educational system.

Come to think of it, did they even have a school system here? He'd seen a number of children in the village, but none of them appeared to be doing anything particularly productive. Even at ages where he'd have been studying the preliminary curriculum, they could be seen roaming the streets, buying food and playing in the open first-floor rooms of different houses.

Maybe that explained why these companions of his were so... strange.

Interrupting his thoughts, Lanoch continued. "The capital is much closer to us. It's south and somewhat west of Midston, and more lax in terms of security. And, as I was saying, human politics are somewhat like a spilled cup of water. Anything big and different spreads out quickly - in weeks or days. Then it seeps in, and becomes much harder to detect."

"Their politics are hard to detect?" Rèmsciore asked. "Sounds inefficient."

"Right. The crux of the matter is that we'll be able to find information in the capital. This might have begun in Midston, but it'll have grown wings in the capital. That's where we need to go."

"Very well-researched," Rèmsciore said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"I'm not sure I like the use of the word we, though. Awful presumptuous of you."

Her eyes narrowed. "You're not invited."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Oh? It sounded like you'd need as many people as you could get. The Aspen military is almost disbanded at this point, you know. You'd have a hard time recruiting from there."

"I know." Lanoch pursed her lips, seeming deep in thought. "I've just met you, though, and this is an important mission. I can't risk adding anyone to the party who's not completely trustworthy."

"You've known Maso for less than a week. That's not the real reason," Rèmsciore said.

"No." She sighed. "You're too recognizable."

"Oh," Rèmsciore said. "So you do know who I am, after all."

Maso glanced back and forth between them. He assumed that this wasn't about the entire hermit thing, considering that (logically speaking) it would make Rèmsciore less known, not more. And he'd seen the way the villagers had stared at them when they'd entered the village. It was a different culture, and a different people, so he hadn't wanted to guess too deeply at what their gazes meant, but...

Thinking about it again, they'd seemed deferential, or wary, or afraid.

Suddenly the other Aspen's height was a bit more imposing, his eyes a fraction deeper and more calculating. Placebo effect, Maso thought. He hadn't seen the way the military here operated, and if Rèmsciore was telling the truth, it'd mostly fallen apart. A well-run organization wouldn't just collapse in the span of a few decades, so even if the man was a well-known commander or soldier here, that didn't necessarily mean he was truly dangerous.

Still, Maso made a mental note to be more careful around him. Not that he had much choice. He was still thinking deeply about what he'd need to get off the planet, and he kept coming back to what Rèmsciore had said about their research into magic.

Without his data stores, coming up with the base information for creating a long-range transmitter was essentially impossible. But if he could gain the respect - or control - of a concentrated research group that was knowledgeable about magic, maybe he wouldn't need the direct cooperation of the Thadh. Maybe he'd be able to go directly to the source, and develop some kind of magic-based transmission or (much more optimistically) transport system.

A backup plan, perhaps. He wasn't all that confident in his primary plan at this point either, so it didn't hurt.

In the few seconds it had taken him to consider this, nobody had said a word. Rèmsciore was leaning back in his chair, but he looked slightly less comfortable now, a hint of a frown on his face. Lanoch was staring out towards the street; she was closer to the opened wall, so Maso couldn't quite make out what she was looking at, but he could hear the wind blowing between and through buildings. The trees that were visible, a bit more in the distance, bowed and bucked in the wind - it had picked up significantly since he'd made it back with Rèmsciore, and he wondered how many villagers were still outside.

"Well," Rèmsciore said, clapping his hands. "I can hardly leave two strangers to take care of this, can I? Besides, the Thadh already added me to your quest."

Lanoch sighed again, but said nothing.

"You don't need to worry, though," he continued. "I know just the people for a quest like this. I'm not sure we'll be able to recruit all of them, but I'm sure a few of them could be convinced. We'll be on our way within a day or two, don't you worry!"

"They're in the village?" Lanoch asked.

"Oh, well, no. We'll have to travel north first." Rèmsciore grinned. "It's on our way, right?"

"Yes," Lanoch said, seeming to concede defeat.

"And we'll need to discuss available magic, skills, and our roles on the way," he said. "Unless you've done that already, of course."

"No."

"Not a very well thought through quest!" Rèmsciore exclaimed. He clapped his hands. "Thankfully, you have your good buddy Ciore here, who's more than happy to assist. Why, you couldn't be more lucky if you tried!"

Lanoch massaged her forehead with one hand. "I suppose so." She looked even more tired than before, like she hadn't slept for nights. It was a strange contrast to when Maso had left in the morning, when she'd seemed much more at ease. And, well, awake.

Taking all of this in, Maso finally stood up. "If that's the case, then we should leave immediately. Detouring to pick up more people is already a delay, and the quest said it was time-sensitive. Is there anything we-"

"Chill, chill," Rèmsciore said. "Big quests always say things like that to get you riled up. Besides, drinking before starting a long quest is a tradition! Who's with me?"

Maso stared. "Alcohol causes severe impairments and lowers inhibitions. That would be extremely irresponsible to do directly before leaving on a mission to prevent interspecies war."

"Eh, we're going to be walking through a forest for a day, anyways."

"I'm good," Lanoch said. "We can leave tonight."

Rèmsciore threw his hands into the air. "I've made a terrible mistake."

"That's fine. You don't have to come."

"Lanoch," Maso said, before conversation could be further derailed.

"Yes?"

"We need to discuss our methodology first. How exactly are you planning to accomplish this? The quest is extremely vague." Not that that was anything new, of course.

"That's a good question. Well. I was assuming that we would infiltrate the capital, without being noticed," she said, looking pointedly at Rèmsciore, "and figure out a strategy from there. The Thadh doesn't give quests that are impossible, so as long as it supports us, we'll be fine."

Maso thought back to some of the first couple dozen quests he'd had after 'respawning'. Technically, he supposed they were all theoretically possible, but there were a few that had seemed extremely unrealistic, bordering on ridiculous.

Did "infiltrate a foreign territory to undermine a war effort" fit into that classifier? It certainly seemed an order of magnitude more serious, at least.

"Well, if that's the case-"

"It's not."

Maso turned his head to look at Rèmsciore. He was leaning back even further in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

"It's just not," he continued. "The Thadh has been wrong before."

A moment later, seeming to process what he'd said, Lanoch glared at him.

"It's not something anyone likes to talk about. But if you're going to go into a quest like this, it's something you need to know. I've seen... I've seen too many failures," he said, trailing off. "Any strategy that depends purely on the Thadh is one that you can't have full confidence in."

"Do you have a better plan?" Lanoch said.

"Well." Rèmsciore looked down, for a second, as if deep in thought - then he snapped his head back up, grinning. "I did say I had some buddies north of here! I'm sure I could convince them to lend a hand. That'd be real useful, eh?" He winked.

"Fine," Lanoch said, through somewhat gritted teeth. "Okay. We'll pick them up on the way. That's not what I was asking. Do you have a better plan for what to do when we make it there?"

Rèmsciore folded his hands in front of him on the table, barely avoiding the still-damp area from before. "Well. No, of course not."

"So we'll do it my way, then," Lanoch stated, flatly.

"Sure, I guess so."

"Okay," Maso said, after a brief pause. The more he heard, the less of a good idea this seemed. But it wasn't like he had anything better to do, at least not in a village that was about to flood for a season. "Let's do it."

New Sub-Quest: Ally Acquisition

New Sub-Quest: Inventory Preparation

New Sub-Quest: Grove-Trotting

Maso ignored the new quests and stood up, stretching.

He'd been mildly concerned about his combat abilities - if he'd be able to take on any serious threats while still getting used to this body, and without his data stores and main combat augments. But if their goal was an infiltration, that was something he could do well enough.

Admittedly, he hadn't done any simulations for that kind of situation. The training he'd completed was almost entirely combat-oriented - and, regretfully, he'd focused on deepening his knowledge of his augments and provisioned weaponry.

All in all, he had approximately zero training for infiltrating a city or gathering knowledge of a completely foreign political landscape.

But, really, how hard could it be?