Chương 107: Chapter 106: The City of Tranquility

While the teleport gate of Tidemark was located inside the city, it was different here: I had to walk down the hill to enter Serendine. It was about a two-minute jog, and soon enough I found myself under the walls. The city gates were open and unguarded. Two soldiers in green and bronze stood on either side, their halberds resting casually against their shoulders, but they weren't checking anyone.

Players and NPCs alike streamed through without being stopped, and neither soldier so much as glanced at me as I passed. Tidemark's traffic was heavily regulated, while Serendine, apparently, had a different philosophy. The main road from the gate went straight through a tree-lined boulevard, wide enough for two horse-pulled carriages side by side, with stone benches and flower beds lining both edges. The buildings on either side were made of timber and stone, some taller than others, with slate and wood roofs.

Their windows had boxes overflowing with greenery. It reminded me of pictures I'd seen of Strasbourg or Bruges. Storybook European, mixed with Ravenloftian fantasy. The city was a tad smaller than Tidemark, by the looks of it; I could tell within a few minutes of walking. Serendine sprawled horizontally, spreading out along the river that cut through its center, with bridges connecting districts like the rungs of a ladder, but it didn't have the layers, nor the verticality, of the Jewel of the Coast.

I knew I had to investigate the lead; that's what I came for, after all. But I had to familiarize myself with my surroundings, and frankly, this was the first time I left Tidemark County, and I was beyond excited. Let's check the Association first, and maybe look around the market before visiting the tavern district. Rushing in blind was a good way to find nothing. The Adventurer's Association Hall in Serendine was smaller than the one in Tidemark, but just as busy.

Players crowded the main chamber, and I was surprised to see so many quality pieces of equipment. The average level of the players here must have been at least on par with Tidemark's. I walked past the queues and went straight to the Gold rank quest board. There were no players around, and I could hear the Iron rank section's players arguing about which quests were efficient, comparing XP-to-time ratios. The Silver rank section had a decent crowd, too, but Gold was still above most players' pay grade.

The board had three quests, and I quickly took all of them. The Stoneback Brutes Required rank: Gold A pack of Stoneback Gorillas has claimed Tranquil Valley east of Serendine city, rendering local hunters and foragers unable to access the area. The Adventurer's Association kindly asks all adventurers to help local authorities deal with the outbreak.

Hunt down Stoneback Gorillas 0/50 Bridge Restoration Required rank: Gold The bridge connecting Serendine's eastern district to the Farmland Grove has suffered structural damage from recent flooding. The Association requests the adventurers' help in collecting the necessary materials for repairs. Collect 20 Ironwood Planks Collect 10 Palestone Slabs [Elite] Webspinner extermination Required rank: Gold A vicious monster has nested in the abandoned mine shaft in the northern parts of the Greenveil Woods.

Association experts had identified the threat as a 'Webspinner Broodmother'. The Association requests the help of Gold rank adventurer parties to clear the nest of its brood and slay the Broodmother. Kill: Webspinner Broodmother Recommended party size: 4 An Elite hunt quest? It sounded like it was a similar one to the Broodmother I had killed about a week ago, but this being a Gold rank quest, it must have been way stronger.

"Excuse me, miss," I asked the clerk sitting at the Gold rank table.

"Has any party completed this request yet?" I showed her the parchment about the Webspinner.

"The request has been up for three days," she said as she handed the document back.

"Two parties attempted it, and one of them completed it successfully, but another Broodmother has taken its place since then." So this is how they handle elite respawns. I nodded.

"Thank you, miss."

"If you're also taking on the bridge repairs," she added, "I should warn you that both Palestone and Ironwood are tough materials to gather." She massaged her eyes for a second, as if she was way too tired to be sitting here, then added: "Just warning you, as one particularly rude adventurer had complained to me about it about an hour ago."

"Got it. Thank you." I wondered how many Gold ranking adventurers were around the city. It wasn't a reach to say there could have been dozens already. Sure, I got boosted to Gold rank by the Count's quest, but I couldn't do any Association quests for an entire week because of it as well, so that kind of evened it out. I probably didn't have Woodcutting, and definitely not Mining, at the required level, but I'd figure that out later; the combat quests were the priority.

The Stoneback Gorillas sounded like they'd provide me with a good grinding spot, and the Broodmother was the kind of fight I could use to test my build at this level if I wanted to. Hitting 25 before attempting it would skyrocket my efficiency, with a new skill under my belt and a Unique cloak on my back, but I was quite far off from that. Maybe I'll recruit a party. The market district sat along the river, connected to the main square by a bridge wide enough to host a small festival.

NPC merchants lined the western side, their stalls displaying various items: potions, weapons, armor, travel supplies, and it looked like the eastern side was where the player economy lived. A dozen player-run stalls were set up under canvas awnings in a designated trading area, some left alone, some run by their owners. It was quite a sight to behold. And next to them, there was a building that I had seen back in Tidemark as well, but hadn't had the time to visit so far: the Auction House.

The system had launched during Week 2, and by then I'd been knee-deep in two deadly dungeons and a political coup, which left me with no time to look into trading. It was a large stone building beside the river, with a heavy wooden counter at the front. There was no NPC running the thing, but it was a straightforward, automated system. As I got to the counter, the prompt asked me if I wanted to open the auction interface, and I said yes.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The Auction House divided listings into categories: weapons, armor, consumables, materials, skill runes, just to name a few. I could see every little detail about any listing once I navigated to it, including stats, the seller's asking price, the time remaining in the auction, the current highest bid, and the buyout price. Listings were county-locked, meaning I was only seeing Serendine's economy.

Let's check the bows, I thought. Most of them were in the level 10 to 18 range, common to rare, however there already were level 20 and above options appearing, with the most expensive being a level 25 Rare bow that had stats on the level of my Emberwood Longbow, but without the incredible Weapon Skill. Highest bid on it was 48 gold and 30 silver coins, which felt like it was overkill, but someone clearly had the capital to do it. Curiosity got the better of me, and I browsed through most weapon categories.

The most expensive weapon was actually a level 25 Epic Warhammer, clearly the strongest weapon I'd seen so far, and the current bid was over 100 gold, with a 200 gold buyout price. Armor told a similar story. Most of them were lower-level, but quite a few crafted pieces found their way into the auction, and there were some impressive ones as well. I knew my armor set was lagging behind; I was almost ten levels higher than when I got it.

Regardless, the armor set bonuses were really good for me, and I found nothing in the Auction House that made me think about replacing them. I'll have Danza craft something for me once I get back to Carpa. I had the materials from the Ravenkin Dreadcaller; exquisite fangs didn't do too much in terms of defense, but I could always trade them for something similar. Consumables were where the real action was.

Plenty of small health and mana pots were being sold for 4-5 silver coins, much cheaper than you could get them at the Apothecary, which meant that the alchemist business was booming. There were also medium health potions going for around 12 silver per piece. It was three times the price for a 33% increase in efficiency, which made it a bad deal math-wise, but I knew full well how much the extra 10% heal mattered in tight situations. Medium mana potions were scarcer and priced accordingly, hitting 20 silver each.

There were also antidotes, resistance potions, buff elixirs, and concoctions with various effects as well. One of the categories was called "Attribute Elixirs"; only one could be active at a time, and depending on their tier and type, they could raise your attributes by either a flat amount or a percentage of the stat itself. They were being sold for absurd prices, the cheapest costing 2 gold each. I had more than 280 gold at this point, but even I saw little reason to buy them.

Maybe if I find myself unable to clear content, I'll come back for one. I tried sorting the Auction Post by 'most expensive', but it just showed a bunch of common items being sold for the maximum amount of gold, so I dismissed the idea. Instead, I searched for the word 'Echo', and to my surprise, there was a Rare 'Spriggan's Echo' for sale for 999 gold coins.

Not something I'd pay for it, even if I could, but it gave me an important pointer: there was a Spriggan-type Field Boss in the county that had an 'Echo' on its drop table. I'll ask around about it. I closed the Auction Post interface after about five more minutes and started browsing the player stalls. There was crafted leather armor, potions in neat rows, and a weaponsmith with an impressive display of rare swords and shields. I examined a couple for a while, but I knew I had to move on soon.

I found a tavern near the market called The Quiet Oak. It was a cozy little establishment, filled with wooden benches and tables, warm lantern light, held together by wooden beams. The food smelled delicious, too, and I realized I was quite hungry. I saw a few players in the early lunch crowd, but most of the patrons were residents of the city, by the looks of it. I ordered a meal at the bar: roasted lamb with root vegetables and a dark ale that the menu claimed was a "a local specialty."

The innkeeper was a gigantic man with a bald head and a magnificent beard. He also had a name sewn into his apron: Berg. Or at least, I assumed it was his name.

"New in town?" he asked, sliding the ale across the counter.

"Just arrived. Teleported in from Tidemark." His eyebrows rose.

"Tidemark? Heard there was quite a ruckus over there recently. A civil war, wasn't it? The whole county went mad."

"Something like that."

"We've had a few adventurers come through talking about it, but it's hard to decide what is true and what is pure fairy tale." He chuckled while polishing a mug.

"Adventurers do love their tall tales."

"What about Serendine?" I asked, steering the conversation.

"Anything exciting happening here?"

"Exciting?" He thought about it.

"There was a Swamp-thing attack at the farmsteads the other day. Took thirty adventurers to bring it down, and even then, it killed half of them first." He shook his head.

"Other than that, the usual. Although the adventurers here are starting to gather into guilds. Nothing sanctioned by the Association yet, but there are big groups forming in Serendine, and there has been a lot of… bad blood between them, from what I've heard." This was interesting to hear from an NPC. It looked like they were very much aware of our Guild system and interacted with the news about it seamlessly.

"Can you tell me which guilds are gathering in Serendine?"

"The biggest group calls itself Vanguard. Their leader's a sturdy man named Gaul. Solid fighter, from what I hear, but he's been butting heads with King's Glade lately. They've got a representative here, a beautiful Swordswoman. She's been making waves. They are the second biggest group in the county."

"King's Glade has reach," I said, mostly to myself. I recalled the forum post made by Phantom, their Guild Leader. What was his second-in-command called? Alice, I think? She must be the Serendine representative.

"Then there is the Crimson Court bunch, too. Most of them are leaving for Salt Throne if my ears don't deceive me, but there are still some groups lingering around, causing trouble." The innkeeper was true to his profession; he remembered every rumor.

"What kind of trouble?"

"They are harassing weaker adventurers, trying to shake people down for money or items, flexing their numbers. They've still got maybe twenty, thirty members in the county. Don't ask me how I know," he shook his head when I opened my mouth.

"I make my living by keeping track." He turned away to serve another customer before returning to the earlier topic.

"Where was I? Right, Crimson Court. They don't have enough members to cause major problems, but enough to be a nuisance. That Swordswoman from King's Glade ran a few of them off two days ago, near the eastern hills. Been quieter since." I ate my meal and let Berg talk. Innkeepers were goldmines in games like this, and this one clearly enjoyed having an audience. He told me about Countess Helena Eventide, who ruled from the castle on the hill and was apparently beloved by her people.

He also talked about two dungeons that adventurers were visiting frequently, and a mysterious ruin in the Greenveil Woods that nobody could enter, no matter what they tried. Each piece of information was a thread I could pull later. For now, I was building a picture of Serendine, one detail at a time. I was about to ask about travellers passing through when someone slid into the seat beside me. He was a man in his mid-forties, maybe early fifties.

His clothes were dusty but well-made, and his posture, even while sitting, was straight and noble, as if he were an aristocrat.

"You're Orion," the man said. I kept my hands on the counter.

"And who are you?"

"Name's Igor. I'm with Tarrick's outfit. The Flock." He said it like I should know any of the names he mentioned, and when I didn't react, he added, "A scouting organization. Volunteers, mostly, but we do contract work for anyone willing to pay. Tarrick is the one who reported the sighting to Tidemark's court.

"Tarrick's the merchant?"

"Merchant by trade, Flock by calling. He left for Silverwing a day ago, but he asked me to stay and report to Vizgrad's agent. I was notified by the court mage about you." I said nothing.

"Tarrick spotted this man you call Calian yesterday. We knew him by another name: Castiel." He used that name in Carpa, too. Igor took a sip of his drink, then continued.

"Court Mage Elindra had already notified the Flock two days ago to keep a lookout. Tarrick constantly travels between Silverwing and Tidemark, and we've been in Serendine for three days now. Or is it four?" He thought for a while.

"Doesn't matter. We got the description, and the man fell into our laps, by the grace of the Gods."

"What did he do here?"

"He was discussing something with two other men. A hooded figure and a man with a weird scar over his left eye. Then they left separately, but Castiel waited in an alley for the hooded figure."

"You followed them." It wasn't a question, and he didn't pretend otherwise.

"Calian and the hooded one. I tailed them for quite a while." He scratched his jaw.

"I lost them near the old fishery at the river bend. One moment, they were twenty paces ahead; the next, they were gone. Vanished. Might have been magic, might have been a passage I didn't see. Either way, the trail went cold."

"And the third man?"

"That's where it gets interesting." Igor lowered his voice.

"Tarrick had another Flock member in the area. Tatiana. She picked up the third man when he left the tavern. She's better at this than I am, frankly; the man never knew she was there."

"Where did he go?"

"A shack. Northeast of the city, about a twenty-minute walk past the outer farms. Sits on its own, at the edge of an overgrown grove. The man went in and, according to Tatiana, hasn't come out since."

"Is Tatiana still watching?"

"Someone is. They change watches every couple of hours. The shack has one door and one window. No movement, but there was candlelight last night. He's in there." That was a lead I could go on.

"Thank you, Igor," I said.

"You, Tarrick, Tatiana. The Count will remember you." He stood, adjusted his satchel, and gave me a nod before walking out of The Quiet Oak, and the system notification appeared. Quest updated: The Ghost of Tidemark Investigate the shack north of the city of Serendine. I finished my ale and left a generous tip for Berg, then I stepped out into the midday sunlight.