Completing Quests

They all made it to Monet's grove, it took Cass' and Ray's familiarity with the area, but they felt quite fortunate to find the clearing lit by moonlight.

Monet greeted them nearly instantly. Popping out of a different tree than Venus remembered and nearly leaping onto Ray with tears in her eyes. He began reassuring her he was alright and recounting his memory of events.

Quest! Get Ray Home! Complete!
Reward: 'Alter Appearance' unlocked!

New Ability! Alter Appearance: Magically adjust your appearance at a low mana cost. Change hairstyle, makeup, and nails for a low mana cost.

That... kind of sucks... At least I don't need to put a dick in my mouth for it though.

She quickly gave it a try. Putting her hair up without touching it using the ability and cleaning her fingernails, dirty from the time in the woods and cave.

It's kind of handy I guess.

Quest! Learn about your powers Complete (5/5)
Reward: 'Magical Crafting: Basic' unlocked!

Venus opened her Stat menu again as Ray and Monet talked. Again going to skills.

Again she saw Lips of An Angel, Lay with Hands, Cleanse, and Oral Cure. She now also saw Alter Appearance, nothing on this 'Magic Crafting' though. She looked at the navbar were she had selected 'Skills' and glanced at her other options. 'Stats', 'Skills', 'Inventory', 'Quest Log', and there it was 'Crafting.'

Rather than selecting the new 'Crafting' option. She selected 'Inventory'

A grid appeared with various icons. In the grid she saw first a stick. That's where that went? I thought I just dropped it while walking with Bwen.

She then saw her Reed Shoes and Dryad garb. Both with a little armor indicating that Venus took to mean she was wearing them currently. She also saw the knife Cass had handed her, a white wood horn, a bottle labeled 'Troll', and a big thing of fur.

Is that the Birch Horn?

Venus focused on it and a mini menu appeared with multiple options. She selected 'Examine'. The image of the horn enlarged and a description appeared. "Birch Horn: Magical Item. Blowing this horn will summon nature spirits around you at the cost of 30 mana. Cooldown 1 hour.

That sounds pretty cool... How do I get it out? She mentally selected the item and a small pop noise sounded. Closing her menu, it was in her hand. Venus looked at it excitedly. Then noticed her surroundings, Ray and Monet's conversation had gone silent. Everyone; Cass, Bwen, Monet, and Ray were staring at her.

"That.... uh not normal?"

They all shook their heads.

Bwen spoke up. "I've heard of magical storage systems... not super common though. Not unless you got more money than us. Where is yours? I don't see a bag or a bracelet or anything. Are your vine clothes enchanted?" He said looking back and forth at the identical attire between Monet and Venus.

"Uhhh no. Just one of those weird things I can do."

Monet spoke up. "Can everyone from where you are from do that?"

"No, this is all very new to me. I kinda thought it may be normal in your world."

'Your world?" Ray asked now being the one to look back and forth between Venus and Monet.

Then another notification appeared.

New Quest! Skill Issue! Level up your abilities to evolve them and begin unlocking more abilities! Evolved abilities (0/5)

There was a lot of discussion, Venus sharing her experience while being vague about her more explicit abilities, but opening up about her life before the last couple days. Eventually Monet invited them into her and Ray's home to continue talking over supper.

This had given Venus pause as she hadn't seen a home in the clearing. Monet had just smiled as she gripped her hand and walked her through a tree.

A cozy cabin made of wood that looked grown, rather than assembled, greeted her. With lots of cute chotchkies and a warm fire as well as the weirdest cylindrical windows she'd ever seen. She turned and found where she and Monet had just entered was another weird window. As Monet led each of her new guests in, Venus realized that each window must have been a view from a different tree in Monet's grove. It was wonderful. It was the first thing that really inspired awe, that she had seen in the last few days.

Ray assembled little trays of roasted nuts, mushrooms, cheeses and various veggies and put them out on a table that looked like a trunk of a tree had grown into a table directly from the wooden floor. He also pulled out a couple of dark bottles and wooden cups to pour them into. As they began snacking and drinking Cass said "So.. the only other people I've seen with random abilities like that are Monsters, Mages, and Questies."

"Questy?"Venus asked.

"Oh, adventurer. Only self important folks call them that though, cause what the hell does that mean?"

Venus still looked at her blankly.

"Ah... not a thing where you're from."

"In stories kind of, but for some reason I don't feel like the description is one to one."

"So. Questies are folks that receive some guidance towards self empowerment. They get put on a path by something and by following it, get rewards."

"What gives Questies these goals?" Cass shrugged.

Ray spoke up. "It varies. Most common is gods, that's why a lot of Questies are priests, clerics, cultists, etc. You can have other things though. Some folks, like druids are given tasks by nature that has gained presence of mind enough to make requests."

"That's... a lot to follow. Gods are real?"

"You don't have gods where you're from?"

"People claim we do, but no one ever sees them. No one objectively believable anyway."

"Huh, weird."

Venus paused. "I think I'm definitely one of those then. I keep getting quest notifications and rewards."

"Who's giving you the quests?" Monet asked.

"I have no idea." Venus replied. "Best guess is whatever brought me here."

"That's great Venus!" Bwen said, clapping her on the shoulder. "No better fast track through life than Questing."

"Really?" Venus asked. Everyone nodded.

Bwen replied "Stuff literally appears for you at of nowhere. Plus you get a ton of abilities that make you helpful."

Venus sat with that, peering down at the white wood horn that had come to her from seemingly nothing... should she really follow the seemingly random guidance of something she didn't know the source of? Or she instead focus her energy into going home? Or first establish a safe place for her to pursue either goal from? She felt overwhelmed, no common ground or quiet space that she felt entirely safe in. No home or room that was hers to step away from the world in.

She looked back up at everyone snacking, quietly chatting about other things to give her a clearly needed moment. Ray and Monet made there way back to the room they had appeared from with food.

"Do either of you know where I could go to try and find a way back home? This place is... well it's frankly quite wild, but I'd love to have the ability to go home." Venus asked the remaining Cass and Bwen.

Cass shrugged. "Best place to start looking would be in Codran." giving a pointed look at Bwen.

Venus began to ask for more details when they heard a crash in what she assumed was the kitchen, though it was hard to tell in the grown feeling of the home in the trees.

With a start the three turned their heads that way and saw Monet hopped into Ray's arms with legs wrapped around his hips, guiding him with her weight to another door.

Venus, Cass, and Bwen looked at each other awkwardly as other noises started emerging from the newly occupied room.

Bwen said "Well... they uh... have been missing each other..."