Chapter 9

The horse spirit introduced himself as Giran Rune, and he turned out to be quite the chatty creature. Between tidbits of gossip and his whining about boredom, Guin managed to piece together a fair picture of the relationship between the Dawn and the Dusk factions. It wasn't an entirely new concept as it turned out; it was part of the class system that had been mentioned in passing on forums since most people never stumbled across it.

Calling it a class mechanic wouldn’t be quite right. Rather, it was a world mechanic. It was easy to imagine the role it played in classes, but it made a huge difference when thinking about what quests and locations would be available to which players. The ties to character traits made it even less common among the general character base. They were rare factions that came with increased rewards — and increased difficulty.

Even better, Guin had possibly stumbled onto a solution to her direction problem.

“I must say, it is nice to have the chance to speak with a dusk child again,” Giran Rune was saying, pawing at the ground as he spoke. “It has been longer than I care to admit.”

Guin was almost certain that it hadn’t been long at all, considering the player base, but she wasn’t about to let her chance pass. “Mr. Rune—”

“Giran, if you please.”

“Giran, where can I learn more about the Path of the Dusk?”

Looking mighty pleased, Giran said, “Interested, are you? As you should be! Well then, I’ll ask a favor of you. I promised my friend I would meet them for tea later this week, but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten the location. The Veil Ants should know where they are, but I simply don't have the time to find them. Could you find a Veil Ant and tell them that Giran Rune is looking for Wise?”

<<>>

You have been offered a quest!

<A Meeting For Tea>

A spirit horse named Giran Rune has asked you to find a great wise owl he promised to meet with for tea. He has since forgotten where he was supposed to go for the meeting. You will need to find a Veil Ant to ask for directions. Veil ants are curious and hard-to-find creatures.

This quest is OPTIONAL. It can be skipped.

<<Difficulty: E> <XP Reward: N/A>>

<<Accept?>>

<<Yes><No>>

<<>>

“Alright!” answered Guin happily, though she didn't believe for a moment that this bored horse didn’t have the time to do things himself.

“Good!” replied the spirit with a snort. “Go now, then, into the world. Find the ants, and find my good friend Wise. May the Veil bring you peace along your journey.” Then he chuckled and faded away into the shadows of his stall.

Excited, Guin looked over the quest in her journal before she realized she was missing one very important detail: what exactly was a Veil Ant, and where was she supposed to find one?

The Veil would be the obvious answer, but she didn’t know how to use any of her skills yet, let alone the one that allowed her to walk into the Veil. In that case, she supposed that she had two options. One: troubleshoot until she figured stuff out, or two: find a way to get into the schoolhouse. 

Option one seemed like a terrible idea for a game like this one, so option two was all that was left. At the very least she would have some time until Stella logged back in to try to figure it out.

Summoning up what little courage she had to face people, Guin marched back over to the entry of the schoolhouse. Thankfully the influx of new players seemed to have waned with dinnertime, and she could go right up to man guarding the gate. 

“Oh?” said the man. “Yer back, are ye?”

“Do you care?”

“I do. I care ‘cause I’m the Gatekeeper,” he told her. “And if ye want to attend this here school, then ye need to register with me — and registration is closed.”

“So I understand,” Guin said, crossing her arms. “So, what does one need to do to open registration?”

“Not annoy me, for starters,” the gatekeeper said. “All you little flies buzzin’ about. It’ll do nothin’ for ye to ask me what I can do for you.”

Oh? Guin’s gaze flicked over to him, then to a pile of discarded bottles at his feet. “… And what if I were to ask about what I could do for you, rather than what you could do for me?”

His eyes darkened as he smirked at her. “Oh, aye, now aren’t you a clever little lass. But I ain’t one to take bribes. I’ve a job to do, you see, and I ain’t gonna be doing no wrong thing; no I won’t!”

“I’m not talking about doing anything wrong,” Guin said, leaning in. “I just think that you’ve been working so hard out here, chasing away all those annoying people, that you should get a reward for your services. Don’t you?”

“A reward fer my services, eh? Now, ya know, that don’t sound too bad,” the Gatekeeper mused. “Say, little girl, you willin’ to do me a favor?”

“I am!”

“You willin’ to prove your worth?”

“Of course!”

“Then I tell you what,” he said, slapping his knee. “You do a favor for this ol’ Gatekeeper, and maybe I can give yeh some grease. What you say to ‘at?”

“Anything!”

The gatekeeper chuckled and motioned for her to lean in. “You get me a nice bottle o’ Ginny’s Special Apple Ale, and I’ll get that name o’ yours all registered nice and pretty. How’s ‘at sound?”

“Your wish is my command!” Guin said, her excitement rising as the quest window popped up:

<<>>

You have been offered a quest!

<Favor for the Gatekeeper>

The gatekeeper of the schoolhouse has asked you to bring him a bottle of Ginny's Special Apple Ale. If you do this, you can meet the teachers and commence you classes.

<<Difficulty: E> <XP Reward: N/A>>

<<Accept?>>

<<Yes><No>>

<<>>

The man gave her a grin full of rotten teeth. “Good girl! Off yeh go now!” And Guin pranced away.