Mission Report

“Have a seat, laddy, you too, Aza,” the innkeeper told the duo as they arrived back at the inn. “I am glad you both are safe.”

“No thanks to that coward Mark,” Aza exclaimed angrily. “Not only did that stupid prick fall for the ambush, but he abandoned us. Where is he?”

“Don’t worry about him, I fired his ass, about time too,” Robert answered the Kobold. “At least he told me where he left ya.”

“Good, since that’s settled, I’ve got to leave,” Aza said getting off her stool. “I still have to do the task my uncle has given me.” She turned to John and said, “Thank you, Gamer, if it wasn’t for you, I don’t know what I would do.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Aza.” John smiled at her. “You have been a great help too. That map we have found should be enough for me to finish my task.”

“Well, I am sorry to leave you hanging. I do hope to see you again really soon.” She winked at him evidently teasing him for one last time.

“See ya later, Aza,” Robert chuckled noticing her teasing John. “Tell yar uncle to drop by when he can.”

“Sure thing,” the Kobold answered back and quickly left the inn.

“Well, laddy, ya really did a great thing today,” the innkeeper said turning to the Gamer. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen her so happy.”

“I’m glad this is over,” John said as he slumped on the counter, his tired state finally catching up to him. He then remembered that he still had to turn in the quest items. “Actually, I still need to give you these.”

Robert smiled as John handed to him the MacDonald clan ring and carefully laid the claymore on the counter.

“And, since ya’ve kept up with yar end of the bargain, I will give ya these back.” Robert first gave him the coin purse and then asked while holding onto the silver ring, “Boy, ya really dinnae know what ya’ve got here, don't ya?” he then handed over the silver ring. “Or else ya would have never let go of it.”

“What do you mean?” John asked.

“The two intertwined thistle leaves represent an eternal bond between two people; I knew the guy who made these,” the innkeeper answered him. “He would have only sold this ring if he knew that the receiver of the gift was someone special to the buyer.”

“Oh,” was all John could say. Robert didn’t know this, but his words had hit straight on a six year old wound that John had no idea how to heal. He remembered the day Amelia had given that ring to him; she was so happy when he put it on that he was sure he saw her eyes sparkle through her glasses.

“Well, I hope you don’t have to ever do something like that again, laddy,” Robert said patting him on the shoulder. “Anyway, I am the one who should be thanking you. With that bit of information about how to get to the Bauchan camp, we might just be able to get rid of that nuisance.

“One of my clan’s leaders should be on his way here by the time all this is over. He would probably like to talk to you; he's young just like ya,” Robert continued on talking. “Why don’t ya stay here a while longer? Ya can use one of the upstairs bedrooms. Free of charge.”

“We have to go,” a black cat suddenly meddled in on the talk while jumping on John’s lap to get his attention.

“Why the hurry, Katia? Can’t ya wait for just a little longer?” Robert asked.

“Sorry, big fella, we really need to go.” Katia started to bite John’s hand to get him to move. “If I delay this any longer, my boss will kill me.”

“That’s unfortunate! Well, Gamer, it was nice meeting ya, ya’re welcome back here anytime,” the innkeeper told John before he left.

“Thanks, Robert, see ya… Ouch!” John exclaimed as Katia bit his shin to hurry him out of the door.

As they walked outside, John finally asked the cat, “What’s the matter with you? Why the hurry?”

“Don’t you listen?” Katia asked him quite annoyed. “Fine, the witch had warned me that, for anonymity’s sake, we should not prolong ourselves here more than we needed. If there ever was a possibility of you being identified, we were supposed to leave immediately.”

“But who would identify me?” John asked her.

Katia never answered him; as soon as they reached the spot he had originally appeared on, she jumped on him putting her paws on this chest, and he disappeared.

“Finally, I can get back home and sleep,” she sighed and quickly disappeared.

“Well, Mr. Newman.” John heard his teacher talking to him as he once again had to fight the nausea caused by being teleported. “It seems you have managed to do your job in time, even though you missed both my classes.”

“I am sorry, Mrs. Wentworth,” John told her. “Those Bauchans really gave me a hard time.”

“I told you not to face them,” his teacher said while looking him over. “At least you’re in one piece. Have a seat,” she told him, and for the third time that day, she tapped on her hour-glass.

She quietly waited for him to sit in front of her desk; given his tired state and still fighting the last bit of nausea, John was happy to oblige her.

“Well, what have you got for me?” she finally asked.

John proceeded to tell her everything that happened, amusing her with some of the details and leaving out others. He then handed over the map, which she eagerly opened over her desk.

“Hmm, do you know what language this is?” Mrs. Wentworth asked him after looking it over.

“Aza told me it’s written in Undercommon,” John answered.

“Yes, it is, although some of the words I haven’t seen in a long time,” she examined the map then sighed. “Not long enough.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing you should worry yourself with, for now,” she told him. “It’s not that you can do anything about it anyway. Thank you, Mr. Newman, this should suffice.” She then rolled up the map and stored it in a cupboard behind her.

Quest Cleared - Teacher’s Pet Spy
Gather information for Mrs. Wentworth from the Bauchan’s tribe
Optional Objective 1: Don’t get caught - Failed
Optional Objective 2: Don’t kill any Bauchan - Cleared
Optional Objective 3: Retrieve family heirloom - Claymore Sword - Cleared
Optional Objective 4: Retrieve family heirloom - MacDonald’s clan signet ring - Cleared

+800 XP

DING level up
+5 stat points

You have received one rare item

You have received one uncommon item

You have received $7000

John had a shit-eating grin on his face when he read the messages, which puzzled his teacher. He decided to look at the items he got on a more private occasion. She still looked at him as if she wanted to know what had made him so happy. That reminded him of something that was annoying him somewhat.

“Mrs. Wentworth, how come you know so much about me?” he asked her.

“I have a vested interest in knowing about everything that happens in this school, Mr. Newman,” she answered him which only made him look more curiously at her. “Fine! I'll answer you chronologically. The Gamer I got from your little talk with Moira, you really should be careful when it comes to talking about yourself. As to me knowing about some of your skills, you just blatantly used them around the school, some even in front of me.”

“Ok, you’re right,” he accepted the reason quite annoyed by himself.

“I guess we are done here, Mr. Newman,” she said wanting to get this over with. “For your help, you can take the rest of the school day off, you probably need the rest. Don’t worry about your other teachers, I’ll talk to them, they will probably hand you an assignment later though.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Wentworth, I really do feel tired.”

“Come back tomorrow, for your reward, I was delayed earlier and it’s not quite finished yet,” she told him as she opened the door for him to leave.

“Ok, Ma’am. See you tomorrow,” John said as he left her office.

"Hey Cuz, we have dealt with the Bauchans; that tribe won't be bothering us anytime soon," Andrew announced the moment he sat by the counter of the inn's bar.

"Oh, hey! Did ya have any problems with them?" Robert asked.

"Very little, as the Gamer said, his plan had worked. When we got there, only a handful started regaining consciousness, but they didn't put up much of a fight," Andrew said as his companions started sitting around a couple of empty tables. All were visibly tired but still had a smile on their faces due to the successful mission. "We have retrieved a lot of the things they had stolen; you should probably send the word out so the people can reclaim their property. We have also brought back two intact casks of ale, maybe the Gamer would like to have them back."

“Oh, he’s gone back home to America,” the innkeeper said.

“Already?” his cousin asked lifting an eyebrow.

“Aye,” Robert sighed. “He got called back a couple of hours ago.

“I know that ya and yar men must be tired, Cuz,” Robert continued. “But I believe this is something to celebrate, could a few of your men bring in the casks so that we can at least have a toast? I’ll reimburse the Gamer for them the next time I see him. Maria, could you bring me those trays of mugs, please?”

The two casks were opened and every patron inside the inn got a mug full of ale.

“Attention, everyone,” Robert yelled out. “To celebrate the end of the troubles from those blasted Bauchans and to honor the one who helped make this possible, let’s make a toast to the Gamer.” He lifted his mug and exclaimed, “To the Gamer!”

Everyone else lifted their mug.