Quest
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“Please, noble adventurer, I beg of you. I don’t have much in this world, but that ring is all I need.” Erst looked desperate. Her hands wrung together over and over, a notable sign of her stress.

Aeiou gave her a sympathetic smile and patted her on the arm. His fingers ran over the small piece of paper Erst had handed him — a map, or at least what was supposed to be one. It had a general outline of some buildings that might be found in this area, and an “X”. He pulled up his own world map, pinching and spreading his thumb and forefinger to zoom in and out of the local area. Indeed, he found the same image that had been hastily drawn on his piece of paper. Not too far way, either. Good enough, he supposed. Judging by the way Erst was looking at Aeiou, he could tell he wasn’t doing a good job of masking his slight skepticism. A few more pats on the arm should do the trick. She looked more concerned. A little indicator pinged, as Aeiou was notified that others were looking at the quest as well. Flicking through the avatars, he was happy to see a familiar face among them. “Donut worry, I have a friend who will be sure to provide the brawn for this quest.” He said. It didn’t seem to help much, but it at least made Erst thank him again and Aeiou was able to step away for a moment to open up his palm menu once more.

Setting his own navigation marker, Aeiou headed off in the direction of the cult’s hideout. Before he knew it, the branches were leaning into one another. Sunlight had a harder time seeping through the leaves, and Aeiou had to peer through the dim light to find the symbol carved into the ground, poorly hidden under scattered leaves and dirt. It matched the one described. It was time to pull out the big guns.

Invite

Aeiou has invited you to their party. Accept?

He brushed his palm menu aside, and waited for a familiar helmed figure to give her answer. It was time for @The Admiral to muscle their way into the hideout. After all, it didn’t take an expert to know which was the more intimidating of the two. He would happily let her beat the door in, as long as he got to pick up some of the pieces.

 

It was crunch time, as the saying went. With Astorea newly formed and a myriad things to do to stabilize its political and economic structures, the Admiral was rushing from job to job and duty to duty like a ravenous fiend. She sunk tooth and claw into the enemies that had come to populate the woods. She spoke silver and honey to try and soothe relations with Falderen towns near the area which could, with time, be converted to Astorea's purposes. She took upon herself the many unpleasant tasks that others did not consider or did not desire, and it was clearly running her ragged. Never the less, she endured, and so it was that she scrolled through the listing of local quests to determine which would most swiftly be dealt with. She needed a quick win before crashing, and then... and then after some rest, she could tackle the larger things.

As it turned out, there was a small cult forming in the area which was taking the wealth and livelihoods of several commoners that stumbled upon the church of the con. Disgusted by such selfishness, she quickly accepted the job and grinned, noting who would be assisting her in the task. Aeiou's invitation appeared and she accepted it immediately, setting off in his direction on horseback. The little man, who she had nicknamed Lo Fi, was probably one of the stranger healers she had encountered in the game so far. But he had a friendliness to him that was refreshing, and he was easily able to ride on her shoulders which made him a literal back pack medic to the woman. Nearing him in the woods, she slowed the horse and hopped off of it, hitching it to a tree branch so that the mare could not run off suddenly. Grinning at Aeiou, she dropped to one knee and leaned forward, making it incredibly easy for him to just clamber up her back if he so chose to... or enjoy the sight of her kneeling in front of him if he wanted to be a conceited little shit.

"It's time to gear up and get evil, now isn't it Lo Fi?" she asked, her hands gripping her powerful and her shoddy hammers, one in each hand. The finer of them was gilded in gold and emerald and seemed pristine... the other, scratched and scuffed and obviously stained with both age and the blood of men she had clobbered to death. Soon, it would be stained further still.

@Aeiou

 

The symbol had turned out to be some sort of trail marker, and following its pointed path had with his eyes, Aeiou had been able to make out a collection of branches testing and resting in ways that they shouldn’t along a slab of rock. He squinted at it and chewed at the inside of his lip. A hidden entrance, perhaps. Not necessarily a hypothesis he wanted to test out on his own. But it hadn’t taken long for The Admiral to reach him, and when she had, Aeiou met her with a wave. He peered behind her to see her a horse and raised his eyebrows, passing his eyes back to him with a small nod. Not bad. His eyes lingered as he read over her greeting and he chuckled at the nickname. The first time he had heard it was after the siege of Castle Dormont, and at first Aeiou hadn’t known that The Admiral was directing it at him. After it became associated with a hair tussle as well, Aeiou was quick to appreciate it.

She took a knee, and Aeiou paused. He slowly reached out and placed his small hand upon her forehead, fingers resting on what hair strayed from underneath her helmet. He gave it a slight ruffle, his chuckling growing, before taking his time to slowly walk around her side and towards her back. Gripping onto her cauldrons and using her hips as footholds, Aeiou hoisted himself up until he was sitting … “comfortably” on her shoulders. He took the time to appreciate the work of her armor and the wear and tear on both of her hammers. It was no question that she had been hard at work since the siege. Working again at his cheek, he swore to himself he would make this quest as straightforward as he could. He took the chance to gently press a hand to the side of her face, pointing her nose in the direction of the collection of branches and brambles he had spotted earlier.

Were The Admiral to approach, both she and Aeiou would have a chance to see that it was, in fact a hidden entrance. A few splinters here and there, and clearing the detritus away would uncover a secret cave system. The tunnels were narrow and if they walked in together, Aeiou would no doubt have to duck. Something he had never expected to have to do, but was slowly getting becoming accustomed to it, the more he traveled with the warrior. The same symbol that had been carved into the ground was found in runes along the walls. They glinted in the low torchlight that seemed to be emanating from further down the tunnel. Aeiou brought a hand up and called a small glowing orb into his palm to help light their way to the path of quick and easy chaos and destruction.