{-Reynneak-}
Duuzlo barely said a word to them. Or, rather, whatever he did say held little to no purpose, in the end. Maybe he was just trying to comfort them, make them feel like everything was going to be alright.
But, given everything else that’s happened here, it just felt like he was avoiding something. Reynneak doubted that’s what Duuzlo was intending; the priest never seemed like the kind of person that would do that. Nothing could deny that it was happening, though, which simply meant that more had happened than what Duuzlo had anticipated.
They went all the way from Nafrius to Anseshara without too many problems, aside from a couple of NPCs recognizing Duuzlo from elsewhere. Every time they tried to talk to him, he just said there was something important he needed to do, and they left. It wasn’t much longer until they reached the inn and he’d had a brief talk with Vamir at the counter. Duuzlo didn’t look any more or less calm when he walked back to them, so maybe that was a good thing.
“Is there something we can do to help?” Zetai prompted.
Reynneak nodded. “I think we might all feel a little better that way.”
“We’re definitely not going to feel any better just sitting around…” Tinath agreed.
Duuzlo considered it for a moment. “Do you remember what I told you before we left Nafrius? How you should act like nothing was going on? I’d like you to keep doing that.”
“To make sure everyone stays calm, right?” Reynneak prompted.
“Just like I said before, it keeps Nankohm doubting if what they’re doing is working, and stops the others from worrying too much,” Duuzlo agreed. “The others… they might not understand exactly what’s going on, or what it’ll do, but they certainly know how it will affect them. If things go the way Nankohm is planning, it will lead to the downfall of our free will. And that’s a scary thing, something no one here can quite claim to understand. So the more we act normal, the less they’re going to find reasons to question it. It also turns out that Nankohm is likely waiting for the responses of others to determine if what they’re doing is working. By acting like nothing is different, with any luck, they’ll start doubting the effectiveness of their approach.”
Tinath didn’t seem like she wanted to bring up the possibility, but did anyway. “Then wouldn’t they just try something else? Something probably worse?”
Reynneak had to admit she had a point, too. “Even if we stop this, they could probably just come up with something we don’t know how to fix…”
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“I assure you that such things take time,” Duuzlo said. “It’s nothing they’re going to be able to put into action without at least a few weeks of planning. That’s more than enough time to figure out what’s going to happen and how to stop it.” He gestured towards the door to the inn. “I’d like to start getting to work now. I’ll explain the situation more when I’ve finished, but I’d like you all to relax in the meantime. Expect it to take a couple of hours.”
“Relax,” Zetai repeated with a sigh. “Yeah, I don’t think any of us are going to be doing that…”
“Maybe not, but we’ve got things we can do to pretend like it,” Reynneak offered. He opened up the map. “There’s the whole list of quests that we couldn’t do before. Since it’s just the three of us, we don’t have to worry about the runes, so we can finish a few of those.”
Duuzlo nodded. “That sounds like a good plan. I’ll leave you all to it.” Then he casually walked back upstairs.
Though it took a moment of silence, Reynneak was able to find something that they could do. “It looks like there’s a transport quest just outside of the city. We probably didn’t do it because it mentioned having to go south and Casrane marked a lot of spots around there. That’s probably the best place for us to start.”
“Yeah, there’s no point in just wandering around here…” Zetai mumbled. Once she’d glanced over his shoulder to see where the quest was, she started to lead the way back out of the inn and towards the quest giver.
Reynneak considered if he should say something; maybe having some casual conversation might lighten the mood somewhat. But as he mentally went through his options, he realized there wasn’t much he could say. None of them were here to talk about the real world, so that should be a last resort. Other conversation topics had all been dried out, though, even before this started happening. He had a feeling that he wasn’t going to be able to do anything to make the situation any better…
He just held onto the hope that, maybe, the quest giver was someone talkative, and they could at least give the four a mild distraction.
The person that was supposed to give out the quest looked preoccupied with something else, but she looked up when she noticed them. She smiled and, gently, asked, “Is there something you need, dears?”
“We were actually wondering if you needed us for anything,” Zetai casually replied, giving a half-hearted shrug. “Apparently you need some things delivered somewhere else?”
“Oh, yes! If you wouldn’t mind, I do have a little quest for you.”
[Quest: Lunch Break
It seems that Ornetta had forgotten to send her nephew’s lunch with him when he went off to work in the southern ruins. As well as his tools. And his bag. Practically everything he needs for the job, really. She, coincidentally, also wants to see him at work. Could you bring her and her nephew’s thing to the ruin he’s working in?
Rewards: 1100 EXP, 1100 coins]
“So? Will you help?”
Zetai nodded. “Let’s go give all this stuff to your nephew. He’s probably going to need it.”
Ornetta gave them all a wide smile. “Oh, thank you so much, dears! Come on, let’s get going, there’s no time to waste! The poor boy’s probably starving out there without his snacks!”