It had been 6 months (IGT) since Arthe and the rest of his group had begun traveling together, in that time Arthe had managed to increase his level to 306. Frith and the others had also leveled into the high 200's and were only 11 or so behind Arthe. On the downside there had been no further discoveries of the armor set Arthe was looking for, despite this the party was in high spirits. This was because they had just turned in a quest given to Arthe by the High-Priest of Freya living in Somre, the quest involved the destruction of a group of demon worshipers that had been kidnapping young people as sacrifices. For saving the victims and stamping out the heretics Merrak had been promoted to High-Priest and Arthe had gained over 200 Faith as well as over 2500 contribution points with the church.
Sadly Becoming a High-Priest meant that Merrak now had his own region to oversee, although he was still allowed to quest as long as he returned to his regional head church once every 5 days. This new restriction meant the loss of both Merrak and Talis as she refused to leave his side for any length of time, still now that he was a high ranking member of the church he was able to provide quests of his own so Talis wouldn't really miss out on anything. Plus she had also developed her class during their travels, Talis was now a full blown Ranger with all the perks including the companionship of a large white tiger rescued from the clutches of a party of ogres. Unfortunately for the tiger Talis had decided to call it Snowball VI in honour of her favorite retro cartoon.
After a long night of drinking and dancing Arthe and Frith said farewell to Merrak and Talis then headed out into the wilderness. After about an hour of traveling Arthe finally broke the silence.
"Hey are you okay?"
Frith looked at him a little sadly, "it's not quite the same with just us two, I've gotten so used to having the pair of them around that without them I feel a little lonely."
"I know what you mean, without Merrak to protect me from your shenanigans whatever will i do." Arthe chuckled.
"Tell you what why don't we head on back to Ymirheim so you can go and see your family and I can check in with Heimdall, he might have some clues on the whereabouts of the two remaining pieces of Freya's armour. Plus we can stop at the Guardians Retreat on the way back and see how it's getting on, I mean the message updates are one thing but I'd like to see it for myself. If we're lucky they'll have the teleport circle set up there as well which will cut our travel time by at least 2/3's"
Frith grabbed him, gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, I've been feeling a little homesick recently and with Talis and Merrak gone as well it's made me a bit depressed".
"Hey whatever I can do to cheer you up. Although now that i think about it that may not be a good thing, when you're happy you start playing horrific practical jokes on me. Think about something sad quick; ummm crying babies, tragic love stories and diets that don't work!" Arthe teased, jumping quickly out of arms length.
Frith looked at him in outrage before breaking into laughter and chasing him around with her fists raised menacingly.
"Why you.. Think about something sad eh? I'll give you something sad to think about!"
A couple of days later the two of them reached the city of Rhodium, which was according to Frith the most depressing place on the continent due to the large numbers of out of work artists and wordsmiths. Apparently you couldn't go 10 feet without some budding poet spouting tragic verse at you or a painter trying to sell you a picture of a piece of fruit. Arthe could well believe it, especially when it took them 2 hours to get to the cathedral because the sheer number of beggars surrounding them and trying to scam money of them.
As they started up the cathedral steps they passed a slender Asian man coming down, he looked to be in a bit of a hurry and there were a couple of priests following him as well. Arthe stopped one and asked him what was wrong.
"Oh nothing's wrong we were just trying to ask Weed-nim for help."
Now Arthe and Frith had heard a lot about Weed during their travels, supposedly he'd slain the vampires of the north and retrieved 2 of the most sacred treasures of the Church of Freya. Other tales said that he was a brilliant sculptor and that he had built a great monument to the now dead king of Rosenheim.
"Huh that was Weed, looked different to what i expected. Anyway is the High-priest available?"
"I'm sorry but I cannot allow you to speak to him without first reviewing your credentials." The officious little priest replied arrogantly.
"Please tell him that Arthedain would like to speak to him and also tell him that a Guardian has need of his aid."
The priest gave Arthe a look of confused disdain at his message but ushered them into the front hall of the cathedral before summoning a young acolyte to deliver the message. Arthe and Frith didn't even have to wait 5 minutes before the High-priest came running to meet them.
"Priest Tolan, how could you keep our esteemed guest waiting like this? Honestly, please forgive my young friend Sir Arthedain he is not yet well versed in the more unknown ranks of our holy church." This last bit was accompanied by a slight bow and an outstretched hand.
Arthe shook the offered hand before speaking, "Think nothing of it, what i am is supposed to be unknown and I am not in such a rush that the formalities can be ignored. Although perhaps in future the young priest could be a little more diplomatic with his attitude, especially considering that not all well traveled adventurers are what they seem. On that note may i introduce my companion, Princess Frith Valeria Corinsdottr of the kingdom of Baldur."
Upon hearing Frith's full name the officious priest squeaked then fainted.
"A great pleasure to meet someone of your beauty and stature your highness, how may i aid the two of you today?"
Arthe looked around at the hall full of supplicants and lesser priests. "Perhaps we might speak a little more privately Holy Father, some of the information I tell you is not for the ears of the general public."
The High-priest looked a bit startled at this but guided them to his office where to Arthe's surprise he saw a priests staff made of Runite stood in one corner.
"So what secret knowledge do you have to share with me Sir Guardian?" The elderly priest asked seriously.
"What do you know of the origin of the material that staff is made from Holy Father? Do you know where it comes from or how it was discovered?"
"Hmm, i was told that it was discovered by a ranking member of Freya's paladins and that aside from the Church of Freya very few pieces of the mineral or the refined ore can be found in the general markets. Also the price for even the smallest amount is quite prodigious, more expensive than mithril."
Arthe looked at Frith knowingly, before turning back to the priest.
"What i can tell you, Father, is that i am the discoverer of the ore and that the location of the mine is a closely guarded secret among the paladin order. Only paladins of 10 years or more know it's location and even they are forbidden to discuss it, the mine itself is guarded by a fort manned by members of all three orders and the only member of the priesthood that knows the location is the Arch-priest himself. However I find myself in need of your teleport circle, this means that I will have to entrust the location to you on the sworn oath that it will never be told to another living soul. Needless to say if a group of necromancers or demon worshipers ever got there hands on an unlimited supply of the ore the consequences would be dire. So with that restriction do you feel able to help us get to where we need to go?"
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
The priest looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding his acceptance.
"Excellent, do you have some writing materials handy, i do not want to speak the name of the location for fear of being overheard and as soon as you are done memorizing the name it will be burnt."
After about ten minutes the priest led Arthe and Frith to the teleport chamber under the Cathedral, normally there would be five priests there to power the spell but this time the High-priest was going to do it alone. the mana cost would be exhaustive but necessary for secrecy.
Arthe and Frith emerged from the teleport in a circular room and were confronted by the tips of 10 swords pointed at their throats.
"State your names and your business here, you have 10 seconds before you are either killed or returned to your previous location!"
"Hah i recognize that voice, been a while hasn't it Cadfael?"
A figure stepped into the light and stared at Arthe's face.
"Holy Freya it is you Arthe! What are you doing here? Have you come because of the Quest?"
Arthe looked at Frith in confusion and mouthed What Quest?
"What are you talking about Cadfael, I haven't heard anything about any quest? I just came to check up on how my tower's been doing before i escort Frith here back to Ymirheim and go see Heimdall."
Cadfael gestured to the two of them to follow him out of the chamber as the ten guards stepped back into position. On the way out Arthe was pleased to see that the symbols of the door frame were those of the Guardian order and that the equipment worn by the guards had Runite inlay.
"Huh looks like the Order is putting my discovery to good use. How's the tower expansion looking?"
Cadfael turned to Arthe and grinned widely.
"I'll say they're putting it to good use, they mixed the ore into the cement used for the walls so that they could turn the outer defenses into one giant Turn Undead ward. You won't find any undead within 5 leagues, plus they've issued every single man stationed here with a Runite edged weapon. Apparently the priests have been able to imbue the refined metal with certain spells, for example Holy Wrath is imbued into all war-hammers used here and most of the shields have a moderate healing spell imbued on them. The best thing is the Mana cost is drawn from the ore itself, the priests reckon that they can charge each weapon with about 5000 mana. That means the paladins using them can spend their own mana on other spells at the same time as their equipment is blasting the holy light out of any enemy. As to the tower expansion I'll let you see that for yourself."
Cadfael opened a door at the top of the stairs and the three of them stepped out into a small armory filled with armour and weaponry of all shapes and sizes. No weapon was left out; one wall was devoted to ranged weaponry, another was covered with swords of all styles and designs, there were racks of war-hammers, rows of axes, even a box of throwing stars. The armour itself was stunning; one large chest held nothing but robes embroidered with gold thread and Runite buttons, another had leather armour half covered in tiny Runite plates, there was chainmail and scale-mail, half-plate and full plate, but the cream of the crop was a truly phenomenal set of Champion Armour. It had leather underneath covered by both chainmail AND scale-mail; on top of that were truly massive pieces of mithril plate armour, each piece of which had Runite backing and was engraved with literally dozens of warding spells. The armour was gold lacquered and the engravings inlaid with Runite, it even came with a monstrous two handed sword and a beautiful sky blue cape embroidered with the symbols of the three paladin orders surrounding the symbol of Freya.
Arthe and Frith looked at the armour, speechless with wonder. Cadfael gave them a knowing look and then laughed at their expressions.
"Haha, look at you two! Seriously though i know what you mean, it's the crown jewel of the armory. Every paladin in this place would give his left arm to own it, sadly it's being given to Preceptor Vallinforth head of the 3 orders. Still we can all dream, plus a little birdy told me that a certain guardian of my acquaintance was gathering the pieces of Freya's armour and that is supposed to be the most wondrous armour ever made."
Arthe stopped staring and grinned, he grabbed Frith and walked towards the exit.
"Come along Frith you can drool over it later, as long as you wipe it off afterwards. Anyway Cadfael what's this about a quest? Is it something I need to know?"
"Hmm it depends, as you know there are various ranks in the paladin order that apply to all the orders, for example Knight-Captain and Grandmaster. Well there is also a promotional class change available to all paladins as well, however the opportunity doesn't come along very often as to get it you have to complete a particularly challenging quest."
"i don't see what makes this class change quest so special, lots of class changes require you to complete quests." Frith interrupted.
"Well yes but this quest can only be given by one being and that is Freya herself," Arthe and Frith gasped in shock, " you see why it's so special. The last time this quest was given was during the Bar'Khan crisis, the class is called Freya's Templar. It's the dream of every paladin to achieve it and every time the quest is given at least 15 paladins have died in its pursuit, however the gains are phenomenal. It is said that the Templar can negate 90% of black magic and that even undead Bone dragons hesitate before engaging one in combat; according to historic lore the Templar is Freya's militant arm and that it is the second last step on the road to becoming her Avatar, apparently he can heal almost any wound and he emits an aura of such piety and faith that those around him never suffer illness or disease. In all of the Church's history there have only been 3 Templars and each of them has done the impossible; one drove back the might of the Embinyu from the city of Somre single-handed, another stopped Artosh and his brood of Bone dragons from destroying the country of Haven and the third devastated the army of Bar'Khan and drove them back into the depths of the earth."
Arthe rubbed his hands excitedly after hearing about this new class, he turned to Frith with a question in his eyes. She looked at him fondly then nodded, he then turned back to Cadfael and grabbed his hand.
"Right then where do I sign up?"