Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Crestfall

Crestfall was a river town.  After mostly visiting public cities that were well aware they were in a computer game and had no interest in catering to the mundane needs of real people, it was a change of pace to see a village with a library, a university, and open parks to enjoy the outdoors.  Crestfall was built into an ancient floodplain that carved out a massive, level section of the rocky hills surrounding the riverbed.

The river now ran well below its rock-lined banks but not so far that piers couldn’t be built for fishermen to access the water.  Transportation wasn’t feasible, as the river fell dramatically over 50 kilometers before reaching the ocean to the east, often over rough rapids.  Still, all kinds of fish lived in the water and kept the town well-fed.

Pine trees grew plentifully in the hills around Crestfall, and the buildings were primarily wooden and low to the ground, but the university took advantage of the stony landscape, built from massive blocks of granite and limestone.

Jace knew that if he made the mine up in the hills his home, this village would be where he went for food, clothes, building material, and other supplies.  He wasn’t disappointed.  It didn’t have the oceanfront splendor of Portsmith, but he hoped it would keep Esther happy.

The town was named after the waterfall just visible to the west.  It stood over 200 feet high, splashing down onto tiered levels of rock before flowing into the river.  It wasn’t the waterway’s source, and from what Jace was told, it usually only trickled this late in the season.  Only in the spring did it run heavy, nearly bringing the river to the top of its banks.  But it had started flowing more recently, and Jace was sure the change was directly related to his mission.

The town’s natural beauty and waterfall might keep Ester happy, but she wasn’t thrilled now.  All she could talk about was how hungry she was and how she would die if she didn’t get some food.  Jace told her she had just eaten from a bunch of half-orcs, but she insisted it wasn’t the same.  He figured he should give her some slack as she had only had a functioning metabolism for less than two days.  Still, he was on the clock with Drescher and needed to initiate this mission.  So, she sluggishly followed Jace around town as he talked to merchants and businessmen about the recent influx of iron ore into the city.  Nobody much wanted to talk about it, seeing how it was making the town rich, but eventually, he was directed to the owner of a diner on the northern edge of town and told to ask for Brett Drenedon.

Esther picked up at the mention of a restaurant and followed close behind as Jace and Snowy moved through town.  The host who greeted them didn’t want to let the massive wolf into the diner, but Jace insisted she was an emotional support animal.  The elderly woman didn’t know what that was, but after one look at Esther’s famished face, she realized the young woman needed all the support she could get.  They were shown to a table, and Jace said he would like to speak to the owner.

It was still an hour before the dinner crowd, so there were plenty of open tables, and Jace chose one in the back corner, which allowed Snowy to lie against the wall out of the aisles.  She rested her head on the floor; then it popped up again.

<Mice.  Many mice below.>

“Good to know,” Jace said, already guessing how he would use that information.

The owner took a few minutes to come by, not used to visitors that wanted to talk with him unless their food was bad, but the place was almost empty, so he had the time.  He looked at Snowy first, wondering why his hostess had allowed such a large animal inside.  Then his eyes went to Esther.  She had worn a cloak outdoors as the air had been cool, but she had removed it now, and not many women came in that looked or dressed like her.  He was designed with enough knowledge of bigger cities to know what a woman like her usually did, but they didn’t have a brothel in Crestfall.

“Can I help you?” he asked.  “Edith said you wanted to speak with me?”

“Brett Drenedon?” Jace asked to make sure.

“That’s me; what do you need?”

“I wanted to talk about the iron coming into the city.”

Brett’s eyes lit up at the opportunity to talk about his current theory, but he tempered that excitement by remembering who sat in front of him.  Jace looked normal enough, but anyone traveling with a winter wolf and a woman dressed like that wouldn’t likely be a noble paladin come to solve his problems.  “What do you want to talk about?”

{You know what happened to his son,} Gracie helped out.  She was so used to Jace taking alternative routes through the quests that she forgot her intimate knowledge of this one might come in handy.

“I know what happened to your son,” Jace repeated, hoping Gracie would feed him more.

Brett’s eyes lit up, but not in a positive way.  He already feared this man was not a good person, and if he played a part in his son's disappearance, that would cement it for him.

{It wasn’t goblins,} Gracie said.  {You believe orcs were involved, and if people don’t take the threat seriously, the whole town could be in danger.}

Jace repeated the information, and most of the man’s trepidation vanished.  Jace felt he needed a little more to push the man over the edge.  “You have a rodent problem, don’t you?” Jace asked, changing topics.

It was also something near and dear to his heart, and Brett went with it.  “Aye, as soon as the nights started getting cold, the mice seemed to think my basement was a bunkhouse.  Half my grain sacks have holes in them now.”

“Snowy,” Jace said.  “Be a dear and go downstairs and get yourself something to eat.”

The wolf picked up her head at the chance for food and sport and didn’t need to be told twice.

“It, uh, she can do that?” Brett asked.

“I promise you won’t have a mice problem after today.  Anything Snowy doesn’t catch will be too scared to ever come within a block of your diner.  Now, can we talk about something important?”

Brett was taking a seat and about to agree when Esther piped up.  “Yes, like food.  I’m going to die if we don’t eat soon.”

“Do you have pancakes?” Jace asked.

“Yes,” Brett said, “but not this late in the day.  The griddle is . . .”

He stopped as Jace produced a handful of gold coins.  “My friend is starving and would love a huge stack of pancakes.  Lots of butter and syrup.”

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“What are pancakes?” Esther asked.

Jace wasn’t surprised that a vampire didn’t know what those were.  Food often served at sunrise wasn’t something Dexmachi would have programmed into her memory.  “Trust me; you’ll love them.”

Edith, the hostess, came by with two mugs of ale, and Brett told her to tell the cook to light a fire under the griddle.  “He isn’t going to like it,” she replied.

“I know he keeps the leftover batter in the icebox even though I tell him to throw it out and make new each morning.  Well, now he can use it.”  Brett grabbed two of the coins off the table and handed them to the woman.  “This should convince him.”

She took the coins and started at the remaining pile, which was more than enough to cover any meal they might order.  “And what would you like?” she said, turning to Jace.

“I’m not hungry,” he replied, “thank you.”  He took one sip of the ale and changed his mind.  “Though, you can bring me another one of these.”

Once the woman walked away, Brett grew serious.  “What do you know about my son?”

Gracie explained the introduction to the quest, and Jace repeated it to the owner.  The regular entry to this mission was to sit in on a town hall meeting where this situation would be discussed.  Most townsfolk would be on the side of accepting the cheap ore and ignoring the strange occurrences around the mine.  Brett would speak up against it, but no one would listen to him.  Then afterward, you could talk to the owner and express your concerns, and he would give you the information you needed to start your investigation.  Jace didn’t have the time to sit through the public meeting, so he went right to the source.  The two talked about the story so far.

When the waterfall started to increase its flow, Brett’s son, Alexander, who thought of himself as an adventurer, decided to investigate.  He never returned.  Right before the town was going to send a search party after him, a well-dressed man came down from the mountains carrying the remains of Alexander’s cloak.  He identified himself as Garrison Dreng, a financier from one of the wealthier western cities.  One of his scouts had found an abandoned mine in the mountains above the city of Crestfall, and he had brought a team of hardened men to reopen the caves and resume business.  So far, the mine looked very profitable.  His investors were interested in gems and precious metals, but to get at those more valuable materials, they had to excavate tons of iron ore.  It was too expensive for him to transport the ore to the west over the mountains, so he was willing to trade it to the town in exchange for food supplies and privacy.  He then produced the cloak and said his men found the bloody remains of a man torn apart by goblins who still roamed the hills.

Everyone in Crestfall accepted the story. Everyone except Brett.  He knew his son wasn’t a seasoned fighter, but he was good enough to handle a few goblins.  The threat of the creatures was enough to keep most from exploring too deep in the hills, but Alexander had returned from multiple scouting trips and had often encountered half a dozen of the small pests and killed them easily.  Still, a band of goblins might have killed him, but the father wanted more evidence.  He also didn’t like the look or feel of this stranger coming to town and offering them free ore to keep them quiet and away from his operations.  It was true that transporting his goods back to the West would be expensive, but many towns north and south of them, and even east toward the coast, would pay for ore.  There was no logical reason a good businessman would give it away unless he was hiding something.

Brett had convinced two more men to go into the hills to look into what had happened, and they had both returned today after several days away.  They had an odd sense about them as if the memory of their trip or why they had gone in the first place was like a dream, but they insisted that nothing unusual was happening and the townspeople shouldn’t investigate further.  Brett wasn’t satisfied with this report, so the town leaders agreed to hold a meeting tonight so that this issue could be discussed and put to bed.

Jace and Brett paused in their discussion of these events as Edith came by with a pile of steaming pancakes, butter slathered over the top and running down the sides.  She placed the plate in front of the eager young woman and then set down a small stone syrup pitcher.  The smell of the cakes had her almost floating out of her chair, but she regarded the pitcher tentatively.

“Maple syrup,” Jace explained.  When Esther gave him a blank stare in return, he clarified.  “It’s like the blood from a maple tree, only refined and sweetened.”

She dipped a finger into the amber liquid and then licked it clean.  Her eyes lit up in ecstasy.  She dumped the syrup over the pancakes and then proceeded to devour them.  Brett looked on in amazement.  She looked healthy enough but ate as if she hadn’t had food in weeks.  Her pleasurable moaning was also a bit distracting, and it was good that no other patrons sat close by.

Jace tried to steer the conversation back to the mine.  “What do you think will come out of this meeting tonight?”

Brett turned away from Esther and scoffed at Jace.  “Bah, I already know.  I picked the men to go and investigate, so for me to disagree with them now won’t give me much standing with the council.  But I know something is wrong here.  I feel it in my bones.  Goblins didn’t kill my son.”

Jace wondered if he had memorized a magic detection spell if he wouldn’t be able to pick up something from this man.  Or maybe it was just the module insisting that there had to be a dissenting voice in the city to send you off on the mission.  Either way, Jace knew he was right.  “It was orcs,” he confirmed after receiving that information from Gracie.  “The man you met who calls himself Garrison Deng is actually an orc illusionist named Carrak-Deng.  He was called to that mine because beneath it is an ancient evil uncovered by gnomes centuries ago.  The gnomes were driven away, but they unearthed a stone that allows an evil wizard access to the demon’s powers.  The gnomes thought to take it away and hide it, but Carrak-Deng found it, and he has returned to complete the job of unearthing this demon.”

Jace paused a moment to take a drink from his ale and noticed Esther was almost finished with her pancakes but didn’t show any signs of slowing down.  Jace signaled to Edith for more.  The older woman had been watching from a distance and had already anticipated the request.

Brett was still focused on what Jace had said.  “There is no way I can convince the council of this,” Brett said.  “Do you have any proof?”

Jace shook his head.  “I know it to be true.  But even if I had proof, Carrack-Deng cast a spell on your two scouts to make them believe what they reported.  He could make anyone believe anything for a time.  And he will not hesitate to offer your town gold and silver to keep you quiet.  He needs privacy and seclusion to finish his job.  But if we allow him that, he will bring a great terror upon this land, such that every family in the realm will be morning the loss of a son or daughter.”

“What would you have me do?”

The extra pancakes came, and Esther mumbled a mouth-filled “thank you” and continued with her second plate.

“Go to the meeting tonight.  Play nice, and don’t start a riot.  I will go into the mountains and deal with Carrak.  I just need you to tell me where you think the mine is.  Where did you send the other two scouts?”

“Aye, I can mark the spot on your map, but what chance do you have?” His eyes went between Jace and Esther a few times.  He looked like a merchant, dressed in a fine blue vest with a gold crest, and she looked like . . . well, right now, she looked like a child hungrily stuffing her face with syrup running down her chin.

“We will manage, and it will cost you nothing,” Jace said.

Brett nodded slowly, still not trusting this pair.  He was reminded they were actually a party of three when Snowy returned a moment later, a pleased look on her face.

<No more mice.>

The huge wolf sat contentedly at Ester’s feat as the woman finally started to slow down.  The owner shrugged and did as he said, marking the location of the mine on Jace’s map.  “If it is orcs as you say,” he started, “it is no wonder my boy fell.  Please get me the justice I need.”

“We will,” Jace replied.  With that, Brett nodded and left the table.  Jace gave Esther a few more minutes to finish eating, but she ended up putting her half-finished plate on the floor, and Snowy licked it clean.  Esther thanked Jace profusely for the meal, and the three left the diner with the pile of gold still sitting on the table.

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