Blue's Quests (Day 3)(3/8)

As Blue darted across the skies to the west, towards the farm where Hazel was already collecting her 100 GP reward for capturing the thief, Elsie was standing outside the portal which led to Tess’ room. She’d tapped on the panel next to it, and while the shimmering hole in the air wouldn’t allow her to pass, she was able to talk to the inhabitant within.

“C’mon, Tess, you should get out of there. It’ll do you good, and we could really use your help.” Elsie found herself instinctively addressing the Selkie in the same patterns she was used to using with her own younger brothers and sisters. Her family hadn’t been small, and she’d occasionally been drafted into acting as a surrogate parent when one or both of hers had been tied up working.

“I’m—not feeling well.”

Given what Elsie had already assumed about the nature of the classes they’d been given, it didn’t take her a great leap of logic to assume that the woman’s response was tied to it. The selkie’s behavior had seemed far closer to the human norm that she was familiar with than, for example, Stheno or Blue, let alone Hwa.

Still, she was going to have to come to terms with it, somehow, or she was going to get dropped out of the running in a hurry. Elsie had taken a hard look at the section of the rules that talked about HP, and they were pretty clear about the fact that once you dropped into the negative, going into the dungeon was all but guaranteed to end in elimination.

She wasn’t sure how it would come to pass, exactly, but the prospect sounded relatively horrific—enough so that Elsie really wanted to do everything she could to help everyone else avoid it. The flip side of the HP system seemed to be that as long as they kept boosting themselves forward, they could probably keep out of being eliminated pretty easily. They might not ever have a comfortable margin, but it was like Lily had designed the system to keep their HP above zero as much as she could.

Elsie wasn’t sure if that was more, or less, horrifying by implication, but in the end it didn’t ultimately matter. Getting eliminated took away their agency to even attempt to decide, so the best path forward was one that preserved it for as long as possible.

“Tess, can I come in?”

“Uh, sure?”

As soon as the word was spoken, Elsie found herself able to pass through the portal and into Tess’ room. She glanced around—the room was something of a mess, with the covers of the twin beds knotted together in a lump around the form of the athletic white-haired woman.

“Holy shit. Man, wouldn’t it be cool if your new super control thing let you control your own neurochemistry.”

“I think that would be a nightmare. Or maybe that’s what’s going on, I don’t know. It makes it really hard to sleep.” Tess shook herself. “I’m sorry. I had a rough night. Lots of weird dreams. What’s up?”

Elsie reached a hand out towards Tess to offer to help her off the bed. “I was hoping I could ask you for some help. Blue went out and loaded up on a bunch of quests, and we’re worried that if she doesn’t get some of them done today, it’ll wind up having bad consequences for her.”

Tess took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, and **** her body to calm itself. It didn’t help the wild thoughts racing through her brain, but a slower heart rate and steady breathing helped.

She could do that now, it just took a little concentration. The fact that her control of her body was at war with the new senses her familiar bond awakened in her meant that if she slipped up she’d be back where she was the night before, lost in the sensation of her own body as she masturbated herself to sleep.

She hesitated before accepting Elsie’s hand, then suddenly shook her head. “I’ll help, but let me take a shower. Fifteen minutes.”

Elsie laughed, and nodded. “Fifteen minutes, I’ll meet you downstairs with everyone.”

Blue’s pace as she walked beside Hazel seemed almost frantic. The harpy covered twice as much ground as the nymph despite heading in the same direction, because she constantly took off in one direction or another to examine something curiously.

About half the time, it was some random rock, plant, or distant animal that caught Blue’s attention. The remainder was spent examining the young elf woman who trailed behind the mostly naked druid. “Are you going to keep her?”

The question wasn’t intended to be alarming, but the look on the young elf woman’s face didn’t exactly look reassured. The fact that Hazel’s response was a quiet ‘hmm’, followed by, “I’m not really sure. It didn’t seem right to just leave her in the woods. I figured I’d ask Kevin, he’ll probably know where a safe place to put her is, since he created the world and all.”

“I don’t think that’s exactly how that worked.” Blue seemed mildly suspicious rather than completely opposed to the explanation, though, as if she wasn’t entirely certain herself.

“Regardless, he’ll know where to send her, and then we can get to helping you with your quests.”

“Okay, I’ve used my one permanent item today to create an enhancement to our quest logs so that we can share information.” Elsie’s voice sounded surprisingly patient as she addressed the assembled five women in front of her.

“I’ve taken the liberty of grouping the quests into four different categories. The first group is fortunately also the smallest—only one quest has a description which is obviously urgent, and has obvious consequences. Kevin and Stheno just took off to work on that one, but we’ve got nine other quests to get to.”

Elsie gestured at the display behind her. Not only had the device she’d given Kevin—which looked like an expensive wristwatch—allowed him to see everyone’s quests, it had somehow enhanced the functionality so that she could project it like a magical whiteboard.

Glowing magical letters hovered in the air behind her as she gestured towards the three remaining groupings.

“We’ve got three which look like they’re urgent, but with relatively minor consequences, three which look like they have lasting consequences but aren’t urgent, and finally three that are neither significant, nor urgent. My plan is that we handle them in that order—do the urgent ones first, even if they aren’t important, then the important ones, then finish up with the easy ones.”

The fact that Hwa was present seemed like a miracle to Elsie, let alone that she wasn’t speaking up to disrupt things. She wasn’t sure if it was the result of the pie she’d been **** to eat, but the kumiho appeared more tightly controlled than she had the day before. The resulting persona wasn’t exactly welcoming, but she wasn’t actively threatening to eat anyone’s liver, either.

“We should partner up,” Penny commented, “Then each pair takes one of each category? That should split them out evenly, right?”

Tess nodded, then looked to Hazel. “Partner? Since your roommate left, and I don’t have one?”

The nymph beamed a smile. “I’d love to, sweetheart!”

Before Penny could ask Hwa, the kumiho stepped smoothly in front of Blue and stated, “I will assist you directly. Perhaps that way I can help guide you free of trouble.”

The harpy woman arched an eyebrow at Hwa, but didn’t challenge her assertion. Instead, she stepped closer to the floating letters behind Elsie. They’d claimed a corner of The Long Rest for their planning, and the barmaids had helpfully pulled the table aside to give them room to stand.

Quests:

Group 1 (Urgent, Unimportant):

• Retrieve a shipment of milk from Dairymaid Ranch.
• Investigate the shady potion-seller in Cutter’s Alley.
• Unload the stuck shop cart that’s blocking Tailor’s Way.

Group 2: (Non-Urgent, Important):

• Retrieve the stolen vial of aphrodisiac from the hidden thieves’ guild hideout.
• Harvest the slime from the banks of the Mimi River.
• Fulfill the Escort’s Request.

Group 3: (Non-Urgent, Non-Important):

• Solve the monk’s riddle.
• Sell meat sticks.
• Find a replacement performer.

“I mean, there’s a few that are obvious. I’ll take the performer one.” No one objected to Penny’s staked claim, and Hwa commented, “I should think that Blue and I will investigate the potion seller, as well as investigate the thieves’ guild. The harpy’s instincts should lead us straight to them.”

Elsie wasn’t sure Hwa meant that as a compliment, but Blue either didn’t take offense, or hadn’t noticed the potential barb in the words, so she quickly moved on, “I don’t mind putting in some hard work, I’ll be happy to help unload a cart.”

“I’m not exactly the best choice for physical labor–” Penny began, only for Elsie to shake her head. “I think I can use a temporary gadget thing to do it. I’m hoping so, at least. And if not, I’m sure you can charm some locals into helping, right?”

The siren laughed. “That I can. Alright, I guess that leaves the river or the Escort for the second group.”

“I’ll go to the river.” Hazel volunteered easily, and Tess shrugged.

“Sure, I love swimming. And I guess we’re going to the ranch as well, since the other two are already claimed. And selling meat sticks?” Tess gestured at the remaining options that the other groups had already claimed, and Elsie swiftly tagged and assigned names to quests.

Elsie, Penny

• (Urgent, Unimportant): Unload the stuck shop cart that’s blocking Tailor’s Way.
• (Non-Urgent, Important): Fulfill the Escort’s Request.
• (Non-Urgent, Non-Important): Find a replacement performer.

Hwa, Blue

• (Urgent, Unimportant): Investigate the shady potion-seller in Cutter’s Alley.
• (Non-Urgent, Important): Retrieve the stolen vial of aphrodisiac from the hidden thieves’ guild hideout.
• (Non-Urgent, Non-Important): Solve the monk’s riddle.

Hazel, Tess

• (Urgent, Unimportant): Retrieve a shipment of milk from the dairymaid ranch.
• (Non-Urgent, Important): Harvest the slime from the banks of the Mimi River.
• (Non-Urgent, Non-Important): Sell meat sticks.