Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty-Eight

Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty-Eight

Everyone sits around for a few minutes while Kennith and Unsil catch their breath, before Teemo glances over at the Stag. “Did you still want to get a direct look at it?”

The Stag pales as his ear flicks, and sighs in relief after a few moments. “My Lord is satisfied with simply knowing the Harbinger will no longer be a threat, and that all possible is being done to ensure that threat ends here. If you don’t mind, I think I will take a look around Silvervein. My Lord would like to get a better understanding of what they might wish from delving him.”

Teemo smirks. “Fair. It looks like the Harbinger is being more than a little rowdy right now. Can’t imagine why it’s so upset, heh.” The Stag chuckles, but doesn’t have any other reply to that, giving Aranya a chance to speak up with her own curiosity as he goes, though at Kennith instead of the other Voice.

“So, what will the contract negotiations entail? I understand Lord Thedeim already has a quest. I wanted to be involved if there are negotiations to be had, but will they even be necessary?”

Kennith fiddles with the sleeve of his robe as he thinks. “Ordinarily, I don’t think it would be necessary. The few times I’ve been involved in something like this, I’m basically just notarizing the completion of a quest. With this monstrosity, though, I’d like to be as official as possible. Can you bring a table and some chairs, someone? This could be awkward trying to work on the floor.”

Teemo looks around the room for a few moments before agreeing. “Yeah, it looks like this place was decently furnished, but the fighting wasn’t kind to the furniture.”

Unsil speaks up. “I’ll see what I can find. There should be a lot of my fellow followers nearby I can ask to help.”

“A medium table and three chairs would be perfect, but even just a single table or a podium would be better than trying to sign on the floor,” suggests Kennith, and with that, Unsil heads out to find some help and some office equipment.

“So, what’s official Order business entail, then? I think the last time someone tried to get fancy, it involved incense, chants, and maybe some holy water, back when that one guy tried to consecrate the cemetery.”

Kennith smiles and shakes his head. “Lord Order prefers parchment, ink, and signatures. I’ll need... let me see...” He starts looking through the pockets of his robe, and from what Teemo can see, it’s like he has a filing cabinet inside each one.

“Notarization of a completed quest, official transfer of... I think prisoner is most appropriate, witnessed authority to transport said prisoner...” He looks up to Teemo and Aranya. “You said the local authority is in flux at the moment?” At their nod, he resumes looking through his pockets and thinking out loud. “Can’t appeal to the local government for any permits to strengthen anything...”

“Is all that really needed?” asks TeemoFôll0w current novÊls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m)

Kennith nods absently as he continues looking through his pockets, even pulling out a tome with a title of ‘Cross-Pantheon Agreements’ as he answers. “In more ordinary circumstances, I would probably simply write you a signed receipt for the Harbinger, but as I said; I want to do this by the book. The more order that can be imposed on this, the more likely Lord Order will be to keep anything unfortunate from happening.” He pauses to squint at the page, clearly reading some regulation or another, before shaking his head and putting the book away.

“I think those three are the most I can do. Thankfully, I should be able to transfer the Harbinger directly to Lord Order, thanks to my affinity, so there should be minimal chance for it to escape in transit.”

“How’s that work?” asks Teemo, curious about how someone else works with spatial affinity. I’m curious, too. I can guess, but with him there, I don’t need to.

Kennith looks like he’s about to go into a long-winded explanation, before he pauses and smiles. “Right, you’re spatial affinity, and rather strong with it. The deities that have fully ascended exist in higher dimensions than we do. Even with my affinity, the specifics are complex, but the end effect is similar to one of your shortcuts, allowing me to connect and even move the space the Harbinger occupies into a space chosen by Lord Order.”

Aranya looks a bit lost, but Teemo explains it. “It’s like how a piece of paper is basically just length and width, but no real height. If all you could sense was that paper, you’d never know when someone picks it up, because you can’t sense up in that case. I basically put the Harbinger on its own piece of paper, and it sounds like Kennith will... basically be a courier to deliver it. None of us can really feel the paper moving around, so we don’t notice anything besides the Harbinger being gone.”

For a brief moment, nothing happens. Then I get a popup.

Quest Complete! Accept Reward? Y/N?

Of course, I accept, and suddenly I’m drowning in mana! Teemo grunts for me as I shunt almost all of it into the ally pool. I take a moment to try to recover from all that and the confirmation that, though there doesn’t seem to be a hard cap to how much mana I can have, it definitely gets uncomfortable if I have too much. I can feel surprise from the Southwood, Hullbreak, and Violet at the ocean of mana in the ally pool. There’s definitely more in there than I want to hog to myself, and I trust them all to not just empty it out before we can all discuss what to do with it.

I can also feel there’s more in my options, but for now, there’s one last thing I’d like to discuss with Kennith.

“Whoof, that quest wasn’t kidding about the mana gain. How soon do you need to get going, Kennith?” asks Teemo for me. The gnome hums as he considers, putting away the contracts into a pocket of his robe.

“I should probably leave soon, possibly tomorrow. Why?”

“Can you stick around for a while?”

Kennith looks confused at that, as do Aranya and Unsil. “Why do you ask?”

“Because the Boss wants to make sure Silvervein gets their political structure sorted without any major pitfalls, and you are an Agent of Order, right?”

The gnome looks uncertain. “Yes, though I do have obligations back at Holdhome to attend to.”

“Can your boss have someone else handle it? The Boss isn’t going to ask for your help for nothing, of course. You still want the information on the least and lessers, right? I think Tarl of the Dungeoneers is also investigating. If you stick around, we can give you a copy of what we figure out, and probably a corpse or two for Order to look at himself.”

Kennith looks conflicted for a few moments, before his eyes widen. “I... I believe Lord Order would want me to stay. I just received a quest to secure this additional information. There are others in Holdhome who can tend to my duties there, if they must.”

Teemo grins. “Great! Sounds like you’ll be sticking around here for a while, then. There’s a couple inns and such around, so you can get yourself a room, and head to the field hospital once you’re ready. If Tarl finds anything, that’s probably where he’ll go to let us know, and that’s where Honey and Queen are, too.”

Unsil smiles and claps Kennith on the back, nearly sending the gnome flying. “I’ll make sure he gets settled in, Teemo.”

“I’ll come with you,” offers Aranya. “I believe Ragnar and Aelara are at one of the taverns, with the latter trying to keep the former out of trouble, and I think Yvonne is also searching for any clues as to the mystery spawner.”

“You guys have fun! I’ll probably go hang out with Queen and Honey for a while, maybe get at least one of them to help with the search. See you guys later!”

I smile as everyone heads off to do their thing, and while Teemo checks in on my two eusocial scions, I’m going to see about plotting out a bit more for the Forest of Four Seasons. With that windfall from the quest, there’s a lot I can do, even with splitting the reward.