Chapter 193: 22: In Search of a Broken Curse

When Danika logged into 'Living Jade Empire' as ZipZing, she discovered that they had a new guild quest and a notification popped up asking if she wanted to accept Saaki's rented room as their new guild hall.

The guild message board had a post explaining: "The title can be transferred to a better place later right? But I asked another player where the best place for a guild hall was and the innkeeper assured me that rooms can be used by guilds."

Aishin had replied: "Forgot about that change, by the time that update happened Blood Hunters already had their castle."

Eyes on the Sky had posted: "See? We CAN get at least a castle too then!"

Danika verified that the hall title could be transferred to a different property later and that rentals were ok, and then accepted the proposal. The room at the inn Saaki had chosen, on the edge of Fogton not too far from Shrubbery's garden, was added to the guild members page with it's own convenient little compass guide.

She had been in and out of a few inns since she began playing, but hadn't really paid attention to whether or not they all kept a chalkboard listing guilds with halls in residence or not. This inn had already put up Endless Song's name before she arrived, and their NPC was sitting in the tap room chatting casually with some adventurers. She suddenly wondered if she could have offered her tree branch in Windbur as the temporary hall too.

The room was actually quite large, with a couch and several chairs arranged around a small table in a conversational grouping, and a pair of bunk beds tucked against one wall. It was obviously meant for parties to rent as a place to rest and plan their next adventure.

A new guild quest popped up, showing that Song Solvin was hard at work on their behalf. Danika greedily snatched up the new quest without even waiting to consult with the others, because she recognized the name of the NPC the quest giver wanted to find. It was the elven wizard Wise Ardlee, the same NPC who'd been in ZipZing's beginner's vale.

She barely paused to post in guild messages so that anyone could join her if they wanted, and then zipped back down to the taproom. The adventuring party were still with Song, and Danika arrived in time to hear one ask doubtfully, "Even if it's a lot cheaper, why did you waste a day on a player guild when we could have hired an NPC and gone right away?"

The wizard who bore a Seeker flag above his head that was new to Danika personally, but familiar from her tech support classes and marked him as the quest giver, replied, "She said it probably wouldn't be long, and a day is the minimum time you can set on a guild job. Besides, I suggested we hire an investigator first and you guys refused to pay. The merchant said we'd find a reputable guild here and you agreed."

Danika zipped up to them and interrupted the argument by presenting herself to the startled human wizard and his party. "Hi, thanks for your quest, I'll be your guide."

"Okay, that was quick," the dour protester, Fallen North, agreed with surprise. He looked a bit like a small white version of MatchlessMinion, only with smaller ears and shorter tail. Her identify animal reported him as an Arctic Liamin, a half Nadia half Lemming cross suited to arctic climates. He wielded a small sharp looking sword and his path was one that Danika had never heard of and suspected of being customized for him, it was Icebuckler.

"What an expensive character," exclaimed a small girl named Aselo, who wore a very ruffled dress with traces of soot on it. "A half dragon! Have you done anything with your life except play games?" She was an alchemist.

The wizard, named Heftybookboy, hushed her and asked ZipZing a little doubtfully, "You already know where the wizard is?"

Danika shook her head and explained, "No, but I've got a skill that will show me his direction."

She activated the Whereabouts skill on Wise Ardlee just in case there was going to be any trouble. Aishin had said he had a way to track someone he'd seen, but she suspected he'd meant 'and marked'. To her relief, the compass that would lead to the wizard appeared normally. Perhaps surprisingly, it did not point toward the north east and the elven territories, but toward the west.

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The last member of their party was a silent human girl in all black named Kurohana. She was a thief.

Danika explained honestly about how she had a compass's information, and told them that they were welcome to wait while she traveled a bit to triangulate the location, or to travel with her. The party discussed it briefly, but decided to accompany her.

She took a roundabout path, along the edge of the city to see if moving that distance to the north had any appreciable effect on the western direction indicated, and it didn't, so she suggested that they take a portal to either the dwarven capital to the southwest, or the gnomish capital to the northwest and see where the compass pointed from those known locations.

While they traveled, Danika volunteered, "I'd like to learn his illusion spell when we find him, I finally have all the required cantrips now." And then asked, "What are you seeking him for?"

"Is that any of your business?" Fallen North questioned pointedly.

Heftybookboy held up his hand and said, "It's fine. He cursed me for trying to steal his book when I was in the beginner's vale, and turned me into a book."

"So you're looking for revenge?" Danika asked a little disapprovingly.

Aselo laughed merrily and shouted, "Nope! We met a unicorn who broke the curse, and he wants to get the curse back!"

"Uh," Danika tried to imagine playing the game as a cursed book. She couldn't imagine any benefit to that shape. "Were there some kind of wizardly bonuses to being a book? How did you move?"

"I could levitate, of course," Heftybookboy replied with disdain, and demonstrated the spell.

ZipZing's pet firefly Hikaru had come out of the pebble strapped to her back when she hadn't been looking, and Hikaru circled the wizard curiously.

Heftybookboy continued, "I could store an unlimited amount of energy as a book, it didn't replenish any faster, but it just kept building up. It was the perfect form for a wizard."

"Apart from that little problem with fire," Fallen North said with a chuckle. "But we had it worked out, I'd coat him in ice anytime things got hot."

They took the portal to the gnomish capital city, Antikythera, or the City of Gears. It was much like the town full of gnomeworks had been, built into and up the mountainside, and humming with the sound of machinery. But instead of waterfalls, it seemed to be running on steam. A grey fog clung to the city, making it seem more like it should have been named Fogton than the low human capital with its ponds and rivers.

The Whereabouts compass swiveled and pointed to the south and east.

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