- 42 -
Drew woke early.
Don’t want to miss breakfast.
He followed a group of Skurr to a private garden behind a large estate.
They had an orchard full of thin skinned fruit, similar to apples, but they were soft like jelly inside, and rows upon rows of old vines with what looked like spiked grapes growing in long strands.
The Skurr regularly raided the larger estates, a new one each week. Taking just enough before they could escape and sharing it with the rest of the flock.
The guild hall doesn’t serve breakfast after all.
Drew would then fly down to the river to fish for about an hour. Using the spiked fruit as bait and usually caught 2-3 fish.
Combat Rewards: level 4 Logfish - 115 exp
Combat Rewards: level 5 Bootfish - 125 exp
Quest Complete: Hunger: exp 250
I got lucky today and hooked two large fish.
Drew swooped in around the rafters of the Adventurers Guild.
He surveyed the scene below. Adventurers were scattered all around the guild hall, eating and drinking, training, and swapping stories of their latest exploits.
A group of adventurers huddled around a table, eagerly discussing their next quest. Their weapons and armor glinted in the flickering light.
Man, they are taking their abilities for granted. I’ve got a long way to go before I could join a team that powerful.
The guild clerk Vivian was busy at her desk assigning quests to adventurers and accepting completed ones.
If I am going to complete this quest I need the flier and I need it stamped.
He stayed back and acted like one of the normal Skurr that haunted the rafters.
I need to be careful not to be seen near the quest board, or Vivian would be on me like a hawk.
Vivian turned her back to talk to an adventurer and Drew made his move.
“How’s that sewer quest coming along?” Vivian asked.
“Now Vivian, I don’t want to return this quest. I just have to approach it differently.” The man was broad in the shoulders and had a bald head.
“Phadant, I told you that you shouldn’t take this quest.” Vivian said shaking her head.
He gave her a wink and shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t give up just because things are too hard.” He said.
“It’s a bad match for you. Your frame would hardly fit in the sewers. And no natter how good with a sword you are, there’s little room to swing it down there.” Vivian said.
Drew flew to the quest board to search for the quest Agusta mentioned.
Vivian would beat me with that stamp of hers if she saw me steal one of her fliers.
The man leaned forwards across Vivian’s desk casually.
“You and I wouldn’t be a bad match, would we?” Phadant said.
Drew spotted one for a rare flowering moss in the forest and read it over.
Heading out into the forest alone is going to be difficult. I guess if I see Drakes I can fly away. Do drakes have wings?
“Phadant, we’ve talked about this. I don’t date adventurers. Give up on this quest and on us.” She said.
But once I complete it, the mage faction will owe me that race upgrade point.
Drew snagged the flier off the board and flew back up to the safety of the rafters.
“Couldn’t I at least buy you an ale?” Phadant said.
Drew sat quietly in the rafters above the clerk's desk. The adventurer was still trying his best to win Vivian over.
So far so good, now I need to get the quest flier stamped without her noticing, she would surely take it and my life away from me if she catches me.
He cleaned his feathers and watched as Vivian rebuffed the adventurer again and he returned the quest.
One of the Phadant’s friends called him over and their group bought him an ale to help him cope with the rejection.
Vivian copied down the details in her ledger, logging the quest was returned and available again.
I don’t need to rush anything, I can wait all night for that stamp. I’m going to get this race upgrade and get my hands back.
An adult Skurr sauntered down the beam Drew was perched on. It stopped and ruffled its feathers and snorted at Drew.
What? Am I in your way or something?
The adult Skurr huffed and shoved Drew out of the way with its wing. The flier in Drew’s claw caught its eye and it tried to snatch it away with its beak.
Hey! That’s mine!
Drew dodged back, nearly falling off the beam. He stumbled into a couple other Skurr and they squawked at him.
Sorry it was an accident!
Drew stored the flier in his gathering ring and flew to another beam.
The adult Skurr shuffled around, getting their pecking order sorted out as each one found its preferred perch.
Heh, some people are just rude. Just because I'm smaller than them. Best to keep things in my storage ring when I can.
“Let’s go fellas! Drinks are on me!”
A group of rowdy adventurers stumbled in, knocking over a table and making a commotion.
Vivian stormed over to yell at them, leaving her desk unattended.
Now's my chance!
Drew quickly flew down and landed on her desk.
Okay stamp, stamp, stamp. Crap where is it?
He looked around frantically for the stamp. He finally spotted it on a shelf and hopped over, picking it up in his claw.
He tried to stamp the flier, but his wings got in the ink, and he dropped the stamp a few times trying to get the angle right.
She’s got to be returning soon. Think!
Drew's heart was pounding, and he could hear the ruckus dying down.
Stopping to take a breath, he activated Mage Hand. He grasped the stamp and used it to activate the quest flier.
Just as he let out a sigh of relief, Vivian turned around and spotted him. She rushed to grab him, but Drew was quick to fly up to the rafters, narrowly escaping her grasp.
He flew out of the guild hall with the activated quest flier clutched in his claws.
- 43 -
Drew soared above the trees, scanning the forest for any sign of the flowering moss. His heist boosted his morale and he was swooping and soaring happily around the tops of the trees.
The flier mentioned that it grows near water and pineolle trees, but I haven't come across any yet. And what do they look like anyways?
The sun beat down on him, and he felt the cool breeze on his feathers as he flew on. The forest spread out and up the slopes of the mountains to the north and west. Their dark foliage and darker bark gave the forest a foreboding look.
These trees are massive, they must have been here for hundreds of years. This is the kind of forest that Hansel and Grettle would get lost in. I wonder if anyone reincarnated as a tree before…
A rustling in the trees below him gave him a split second warning before a vine monster emerged from the branches. Drew quickly dodged out of the way, narrowly avoiding being tangled in the carnivorous vines. He pumped his wings, flying higher to avoid the monster's reach.
Oh wow, I cannot get too comfortable out here.
He checked the sky above him for any other predators.
After an hour of searching, he found a small ravine with a creek running through it. From above, it stood out starkly in the forest, as if someone with a massive sword had sliced into the ground over a century ago. Drew looked back to orient himself to the two tall towers of the town and then descended towards the ravine.
A ravine like this could have a creek and some pineolle trees.
As he followed the ravine, he spotted a group of trees in the distance and flew towards them.
They look like pine trees, maybe that’s where I need to look.
A small clearing opened up amongst the trees and there were several horned rabbits grazing around. They spotted him as he approached and become aggressive.
Crap. That’s a lot of rabbits! And there’s one at least twice the size of the others.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Drew circled away up into the branches of the trees and out of sight.
The rabbits circled the tree for a few minutes but then lost interest. From his vantage point in the tree Drew spotted some of the moss he was looking for at the base of the trees.
I’m not going to be able to fight all these monsters alone. If I can get them all to chase me, I know I can out run them.
He snuck away and found a shallow part of the creek and loaded up his gathering ring with stones the size of softballs. With 5 slots filled up with ten stones each he had 50 hefty stones.
I can actually feel them weighing me down now that the ring is full. What could it’s weight limit be? Could I fill it up with liters of water? Or would I need containers for the water?
Drew flew above the rabbits as they foraged near the pineolle trees and lined up to dive bomb them. He took aim and unloaded all his stones down on the beasts scoring several nasty hits on them.
Hah Ha! For Ethan!
He landed a particularly good shot on the nose of the largest rabbit.
Combat Rewards: Horned Rabbit lvl 2: 100 exp
Combat Rewards: Horned Rabbit lvl 3: 150 exp
Cawing loudly, he taunted the rabbits and lead them away through the trees. Zig-zagging between the trees he kept a safe distance but didn’t want to pull too far ahead.
They really can move quickly. They got close a couple times with those Lunges. I wonder if my Peck attack will turn into a skill that does something extra like that too.
Drew circled back to the trees after a 10 minute chase. He gathered up some of the stones and carefully plucked the green and white plants from the ground and stored them in his ring while he checked the details of his Peck ability.
[Peck] - A focused piercing attack with your beak. 5% chance to cause [Bleed] effect. Costs 1 stamina.
He heard a twig snap and looked up in time to see a rabbit hurtling through the air at him.
Drew had time to flip upside down to meet the rabbit mid-air, talons first. He scratched the beast’s snout and throat as they rotated in the air. And took a paw to the beak before they hit the ground with Drew on top.
He came to his senses and mentally triggered Peck. He scored a direct hit on the rabbits exposed neck.
Bane x1: (0:10)
HP: 75%
HP: 76%
Drew activated his Minor Heal spell and feinted left. The rabbit took the bait, launching itself where it thought Drew would have been with another Lunge attack.
Instead, Drew scrambled to the right and flew off.
SP: 64%
HP: 85%
Combat Rewards: Horned Rabbit lvl 4: 225 exp
Huh, I guess the Bane effect got him. How much HP do these rabbits have? It’s rank 1, level 4. They must have more HP than me right?
With enough moss in his possession to complete the quest, it was only a few flaps his wings until he was soaring above the trees back towards the towers of Rottervale and the adventurers guild.
- 44 -
“Not you again!” Vivian shouted.
She tried to pick up the papers on her desk as Drew landed. He had the quest flier in his beak. The guild clerk gave him an annoyed look.
“What am I supposed to do about you? First you steal my quest flier, and now you simply bring it back? If you damaged my flier I’m not rewriting it. That’s an old quest anyways nobody is going to go that far out into the woods for that low reward.” She said.
Drew clicked deep in the back of his throat. He unloaded the moss from his ring onto the table.
You pay me.
He stepped closer and dropped the flier in front of her.
“Who completed this quest? Was it really you bird?” Vivian shook her head.
He stared at her expectantly and she stared right back.
I never blink.
He locked eyes with her and let out a squawk. She didn’t flinch. After a tense moment, the clerk sighed and reached for her stamp. She reluctantly passed it over the flier and the moss. The magic activated and accepted the quest items, whisking them away to a storage device somewhere in the guild.
The stamp paid out the 2 silver coins.
Quest complete: Gather Flowering Moss: 2 silver, 325 exp
Race Skill Point awarded.
I should get these in Copper so they stack better in my ring?.
Vivan was glaring at him.
On second thought, I better not push my luck with her. She still looks mad.
Drew took his silver coins into his ring and flew up into the rafters, blending in with a few of the other Gallow Birds that are always up there.
Kent approached the desk. He looked puzzled.
"Was that the same Gallow Bird that healed me? Or are other ones completing quests now? I’ve really seen it all." Kent said.
Vivian shrugged.
"I have no idea. But I'm still betting the healing one is someone’s familiar. I've requested a look at the records for a guild member with a Gallow Bird as a familiar. For now, I suppose it doesn't matter as long as he completed the quest. Someone is going to pay the quest fees soon.”
“Vivian?” The guild master called.
He opened the door from his office and popped his head out.
“There you are. I’ve noticed a few discrepancies in your log book.” He said.
Vivian nodded to Kent and he took off towards the exit.
“Guild master, let me lock things up here and we can take a look. I think I know what is Amiss.” She said.
“Indeed. Close the desk for the afternoon. We also need to prepare the next shipment and take inventory.”
Vivian followed the guild master into the back office where he had three ledgers arrayed on his desk.
“Take a look here at the quest logs you recorded this week.” He said.
She sat and looked them over.
“We have had an influx of new teams completing quests. The numbers look good, profits are up.” She said cautiously.
“As we would expect. And yet why is this log incomplete?” He asked.
He pressed his finger to an entry in the quest log where there was no record of a service fee, or guild member assigned.
“Who completed this quest? And why weren’t they charged a service fee?” He asked.
“Guild master. It was a gallows bird. It stole the quest flier and activated the quest with my stamp.” She said.
The guild master scowled.
“Vivian, it is your responsibility, has clerk, to ensure all quests are properly logged and paid for. You are not in a position to offer for free. it is your responsibility to keep the guild stamp secure at all times.”
“Yes sir. I understand.” She said.
“Stand up, out of my way.” He said.
She moved from his seat at the desk and he sat. He had a serious look on his face.
“Now what is this nonsense about Skurr completing quests?” He asked.
“There have been multiple Skurr, or possibly the same one, completing quests. Just today it completed another one.”
He waited patiently for her full explanation.
“I’ve checked the register of adventurers for someone with a gallows bird for a familiar but none existed. As soon as I have found them, I will ensure they are registered and pay the overdue fees.”
“Indeed, and with interest I imagine.” He said.
Vivian nodded.
“The guild stamp is accepting the materials and paying the rewards so someone must be behind this. Beasts can’t accept guild quests. I will find them eventually.” She said.
“Very well. I will reach out to the main branch in Crownsgate to see if we have a registered member that is visiting from out of town.”
Vivian relaxed her hands and let them drop to her sides. She straitened the hem of her uniform.
“It’s possible whomever is behind this has been running the same scam at our other locations.”
The guild master handed her another ledger.
“Do a full inventory and prepare any additional materials for trade. The month is ending and I want to clear things out to make room for all the new things our rookies are bringing in.”
“Yes sir.” Vivian said.
“Bring me a list of anything that we are short on and we can renew the open gathering quests and restock.” He said.
“Consider it done guild master.” She said.
He dismissed her with a wave.
Once he was alone he opened up a cabinet set into the wall and took out a bag of gold coins.
- 45 -
It’s still early in the day. I’m not sure if Damien is awake yet.
Drew was scoping out the quest board and noticed there was a quest for rare mushrooms found in the sewers of the city, and the reward was a few silver coins.
Those sound like the mushrooms that are down where the sewer drains into the river.
Drew flew down to grab the flier and brought it to the clerk's desk. Vivian snatched up her stamp and held it close to her chest as she gave him a suspicious look.
“Not you again, you aren’t supposed to touch this stamp. I’m the only one that can stamp fliers, and you are supposed to pay a deposit for quests like the moss one and this mushroom one.” She said.
Drew pretended not to understand and cocked his head to one side.
Who me? I’m just an innocent crow. I can’t pay fees or taxes.
“When I find out who’s familiar you are, they are going to pay the guild back for the missing deposits.” Vivian said.
She stared at Drew for several seconds, but Skurr don’t need to blink.
She stubbornly stamped the quest and held onto it.Drew felt a sudden intensity from her, he became uneasy under her scrutinizing gaze.
"Are you someone's familiar? Your master needs to come register with the guild as owning a familiar." She said.
Well how do I answer that? I am not a familiar and I am sure I don’t want to be owned by anyone.
He shifted uneasily on his feet, hoping the clerk wouldn't notice his discomfort. Drew finally squawked trying to sound remorseful.
Vivian handed him back the quest flier and Drew quickly flew out of the guild.
Drew had followed other Skurr to this area of the river before while they foraged for mushrooms. It was a good shallow spot where the sewers drained into the river and he was able to quickly locate some of the mushrooms only a short way into the sewer pipe.
Being small enough to fit in these pipes makes this really easy.
He unloaded ten of his stones to free up space and picked up twice as many mushrooms as the quest asked for.
Quest: Gather Rare Mushrooms: The Gloomblosom mushroom can be found in the few sunlit sections of the sewers. Recognizable by the sad expression their patterning appears to have. (16/8)
He checked the quest to confirm he had the correct ones and flew back towards the guild.
Urgent Area quest: racial enemy spotted. The enemy had been spotted near the river again. He has failed to abide by the agreement and failed to pay the tax. Collect the tax. 5000 shared exp.
Drew turned in the air to look for the attack.
Is it another double hawk? I’m not the chicken nugget I was before I’ll tear that thing apart.
But he could not see anything in the skies near the nests. Looking back towards the river he could see over 20 Gallow Birds dive bombing and harassing something on the jetty. He came about and rushed over with the wind at his back.
“Get off you dang crazy birds! These are my fish and you know it! You won’t be stealing any more of my fish today!”
Sure enough it was the same fisherman that Drew met the other day.
“Fisherman!” Drew spiraled down and swooped low.
“Little fella! Is that you? Can you calm these fool birds down?” The fisherman responded back with his arms over his bucket of fish.
“Will … try” Drew choked out.
Drew circled back above the flock that was actively dive bombing the poor man.
Well crap, what do I do?
Drew flew through the middle of the flock squawking and generally trying to get in the way of the other birds.
Hey guys, uh and ladies? Back off! Get back!
“Wait stop!” He squawked but they couldn’t understand him.
When nothing worked Drew landed near the fisherman and took a look at the quest again.
Urgent Area quest: racial enemy spotted. The enemy had been spotted near the river again. He has failed to abide by the agreement and failed to pay the tax. Collect the tax. 5000 shared exp.
They are diving on him but not attacking. They need payment, a tax. Something shiny? Or is it fish? He is a fisherman.
“Fisherman!” Drew squawked. “Give fish.”
HP: 95%
“What? I thought you were on my side? You bastards are always trying to steal my fish.” He hollered as a couple larger Skurr scratched at his back.
How do I explain this to him?
Drew nipped the man in the hand causing him to flinch back.
“Fish payment.” Drew pecked at him again. “Fish tax due.”
HP: 85%
“What? What tax? What agreement?” The fisherman stuttered.
“You agree, give fish!” Drew squawked, choking on his words. “Give already!”
HP:75%
Skill upgrade: [Speak Common] lvl 2
Oof, maybe it won’t hurt so much to talk now?
“Fine! But they only get one!” The man yelled, tossing one fish up into the flock.
The dark birds closed in on it and two birds tore it in half. Then the whole flock dispersed.
Area quest Complete: racial enemy tax collected. Exp 2000.
Constitution +1
Alright! and an attribute point. Time to spend that exp on a level up.
Drew pulled up his status screen to select his upgrade but it was grayed out.
Level Upgrade: Level 6 Crow (Juvenile) - (2345/1300) (locked)
Race Upgrade Point: (1/8) (2345/1000) purchase Yes/No
What the hell, I don’t get to choose? It’s forcing me to buy the race upgrade points before I can level?
Drew selected two race upgrade points, and watched his exp drop to nearly nothing.
The fisherman and Drew were left standing alone on the jetty.
“Wait a second little fella, you can talk.” The fisherman was staring straight at Drew.
“Only some,” Drew squawked. “level…two.”
“Well that’s not something you see every day now.” The fisherman stroked his beard and looked up to the sky.
“What name…fisherman.” Drew asked.
“Oh? Well my name is Calix Silverwood, retired adventurer, and master fisherman.”
He extended his hand instinctively mid introduction, then realized Gallow Birds have no hands to shake with.
“Drew, invite party” Drew choked out.
They both received the notification for the party request.
“What’s this now? My apologies little fella, Drew. I didn’t realize Gallow Birds had names. Pleased to meet you.”
“Now let’s fish!” Drew exclaimed.
Skill Upgrade: [Mana Channeling] Level 2
Skill Upgrade: [Mana Recovery] level 5
Skill Upgrade: [Speak Common] Level 3
Skill Upgrade: [Peck] Level 2
Combat Rewards: level 5 Bootfish - 125 exp
Combat Rewards: level 4 Logfish - 115 exp
Combat Rewards: level 6 Bootfish - 135 exp
Combat Rewards: level 3 Stonefish - 105 exp
Combat Rewards: level 2 Logfish - 75 exp
Combat Rewards: level 2 Bootfish - 65 exp
Quest Complete: Hunger (x10) : exp 2500
Race Upgrade Points: (5/8)
New Skill: [Unarmed Combat] Stamina costs reduced by 1% when fighting without a weapon. Damage dealt with unarmed skills increased by 1%.