After we leave the tavern, Duncan leads me to the abandoned building he’s been sleeping in for the last few days. On the way we end up passing by the tavern Selle is at, so I quickly go in and collect the money she owes me. She tosses me a pouch with about three hundred gold in it as soon as she sees me. I just nod and leave as soon as I catch it, as I’m in a bit of a hurry. She doesn’t seem to mind, as she winks at me on my way out.
Duncan grabs the bag of holding with Clark’s body in it, and we both head to the Necromancers Guildhall. It’s decently late into the night at this point, but plenty of people are still on the street. Most seem to be enjoying the nightlife of Barad. I’m sure there’s a lot of drinking and partying to be had almost every night, with almost everyone being under the age of twenty-five.
Thankfully the Guildhall is still open, so Duncan and I walk in and up to the only receptionist at the desk, a female elf with green hair and eyes. She puts away the papers she was writing on and greets us as we walk up.
“Hello, gentleman, what can I do for you tonight?” She says with a practiced politeness.
“Is Mordak here? He told me I could get in contact with him here.” I ask.
“Ah, yes. I believe he is still in. He tends to do personal research until the morning hours. If you give me your name, I’ll see if he’s taking visitors.”
“Ray, and tell him we need to talk. It's important.”
The receptionist nods and leaves down a hallway behind the desk. Duncan and I wait for about five minutes before she returns with Mordak behind her.
“Ray, I didn’t expect to see you so soon. Come to my office. We can talk there.” He says as he motions for Duncan and me to follow him. He leads us through the hallways and to a nicely decorated office with his skeleton already waiting there behind the desk. Everything is neat and orderly, and he offers us seats across from him as he sits down behind the desk.
“So, what can I do for you? Is this about that research material you have?” He asks.
“We need access to one of your workshops here, one for making undead.” I say.
“I also want to join your guild.” Duncan chimes in from his seat next to me.
“Hmm, joining the guild is pretty simple. You just need to have skills relating to necromancy, and the workshops can be rented out by members. I’m actually authorized to do all of that as the current acting guildmaster. We can do it now if you want.”
“Yes, please. Whatever can get me into those workshops quicker.” Duncan says.
“Understood.” Mordak says as he pulls a stack of papers out of one of his desk drawers and starts filling them out. “Just some quick paperwork, but first I need to [Inspect] you.” He says as he puts on some kind of magical glasses that are hanging on a chain around his neck. He freezes as soon as he [Inspects] Duncan.
“Uhh, is there an issue?” I say, hoping that Duncan’s class won’t cause any issues.
“You’re both initiates, right?” Mordak asks slowly.
“Is it that obvious?” I try to joke to lighten the mood.
“Yes, it is. A space mage who isn’t a member of the Spacers Guild, and now a [High Necromancer of Zu’El]. I don’t know who Zu’El is, but I’m guessing they’re a great being who took a great interest in you if they gave you that class.”
“Is that a problem?” I ask, ready to get Duncan and me out of here if it is.
“Great Beings are always problems. You just hope they’re someone else's, not yours.” Mordak turns to face Duncan with a smile on his face. “The good news is that you’re in the guild as a high-priority member.”
“What does that mean?” Duncan asks.
“It basically means that I’m very interested in you two, and I’m curious why you need a workshop. You’re the first initiate to join the Necromancers Guild here in Barad, and you’re so young, with such a potent class. I can feel it. I’m sure there’s a ton we can learn from each other.” He says as he stands up from his desk. “Come now, let me show you around the Guildhall.”
I offer to stay with Duncan, but he turns me down, telling me to return tomorrow with Stella and the equipment. I give him some money and leave, finally off to meet Corvax and Daniel.
I ask around for directions and find out where the inn is located soon enough. After about ten minutes of walking, I finally find it. It’s a three-story wooden building with an incredibly lively atmosphere and a sign hanging above the door with the name of the inn on it. Warriors Rest.
I walk in through the heavy wooden doors, the noise of loud conversation and general drunkenness filling my ears. After a moment of being shocked at seeing so many four-armed, red-skinned giants, I hear a familiar voice from the side of the room.
“It’s The Smuggler Supreme! Finally here to grace us with his presence!” Daniel shouts as loud as he can, mugs in both of his hands.
Almost everyone in the inn erupts into a cheer and comes over to surround me, cheering for me for some reason. There are over a dozen of the Traxi surrounding me, trying to hug me or grab me. I let them pick me up, and some of the stress and worry leaves me as they parade me around like some hero. I’m smiling and laughing before I know it, joining in on the cheers. I notice Daniel and Corvax sitting at a table on the opposite side of the room, cheering and laughing, and the crowd finally lets me down after a minute or so.
Corvax hands me a mug from one of his many arms, and I sit down at the table with my two friends, taking a long drink. Daniel waves a bartender over and orders several more ales for us.
“You look like shit.” Daniel says. “What happened?” He’s actually way more sober than I would have thought, and Corvax too. I wonder if leveling up makes us more resistant to alcohol. They also seem to have shaved, gotten haircuts, and gotten new clothes while I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
“Ran into Duncan after I dropped off the supplies to the Necromancers Guildhall.”
“He was the younger brother, right? With the baseball bat?” Daniel asks uncertainly.
“Yeah, I knew his older brother, Clark, from school. Clark died, but Duncan is apparently some kind of necromancer and can bring him back. He also has a god giving him [Quests] and shit, and I got pulled into the middle of it. He needs some of the equipment we looted from the lab, so I need to grab that and Stella in the morning and meet him.”
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“Can he actually do it? Bringing people back to life is like the number one thing that always goes wrong. It’s a monkey's paw scenario. You never get what you want. At least according to Earth fiction.” He says, and I find myself agreeing a little bit.
“Peros seems to think he can do it, and he’s not making an undead like we fought in the city. He has Clark’s soul and has a way to put it back into his body after we fix it. Honestly I’m in way over my head, but Clark is a friend, and I’ll do whatever it takes to help him.”
“Let’s deal with that in the morning. For now, let’s drink!” Daniel says as he pushes another mug in front of me.
I let all of my worries wash away as the ale keeps flowing and just party with Corvax’s family. It turns out that only two of them are actually related to Corvax, but it seems like all Traxi just call each other family regardless of actual blood relations. They all thank me for helping Corvax and treat me like one of their own, which means a lot of roughhousing and drinking.
The night is good, and I figure out that while we are resistant to alcohol, we are not immune to it. Halon and Merrick eventually end up joining us, bringing a case of some kind of super-strength wine from Last Rest, the third continent. Apparently House Baradia owns some kind of vineyard or something there. It’s hard to remember with all the wine I’ve had.
After Corvax’s family all head to bed in the early morning hours, long before the sun rises, the five of us, Corvax, Daniel, Merrick, Halon, and I, all find ourselves ready for more fun. For some ungodly reason, we decide to let Merrick take the lead and show us a night out in Barad.
***
I wake up as the morning sun rises, shining light directly into my very sensitive eyes through my eyelids. My head is pounding with the aftereffects of a heavy night of drinking, my whole body sore for some reason. I attempt to spread out my spatial senses around me but stop almost immediately as it exaggerates my headache. With no better option, I opt to open my eyes and observe the world the old-fashioned way.
The first thing I see is the open sky with the morning sun starting to light up the day. I sit up and look around from the pillow my head was resting upon, noticing a few things right off the bat. I’m not alone. In fact, all five of us from last night are here, sprawled out on the top of a roof, nearly naked. I think we’re on top of some kind of tower based on its size and height. For some reason all of us are only in our underwear except for me. I also have my coat on. Feeling around my pockets, I find my Storage Core, thankfully.
I try to remember the events of last night, but the most I manage is a few vague and foggy memories that fade as soon as they appear. I notice that everyone else is asleep, dead asleep, snoring heavily in some cases. I shuffle over to Merrick and kick him awake in the hopes of getting answers.
“Mmmhmm.” He grumbles in his sleep as he’s disturbed.
“Wake up, Merrick.” I say as I kick him again, harder this time, my head pounding when I speak.
“Geez, Morah, I’m up, I’m up.” He says as he flips over, his hands trying to wipe away his morning grogginess. He opens his eyes and looks at me. “You’re not Morah. And this isn’t my room.”
“What happened last night?” I ask with as much energy as I can muster, which ends up being very little.
“I was just going to ask that same question.” Merrick responds, being as unhelpful as always. He walks over to a still sleeping Halon and places his hand on Halon’s temple. Halon wakes up a moment later, his eyes shooting open.
“I hate when you do that.” Halon says as he sits up and looks around. “What the hell did we do last night?”
A few minutes later the rest of us are woken up, and the five of us try to figure out what happened last night, but no one remembers much of anything. I manage to recover enough that using my skills only causes the headache to moderately increase. I check out my spatial storage, surprised at what I find. I have all of our clothes and an entire new wardrobe for myself, among other things. A good amount of gold is also missing, hopefully I used it to pay for the clothes and stuff. I dump out all of our belongings, which it looks like I had separated into little piles for convenience, and we all get dressed.
I take out a pair of black pants, a gray shirt, and some socks and boots to dress myself in, all brand new, I think. I also notice that I seem to have shaved and also gotten a haircut. In one corner of my Storage Core, I find a single piece of paper sitting all alone. Pulling it out, I start to read what’s written on it.
Dear Future Ray,
I hope this note finds you well, or some shit like that. I’m writing this because you probably won’t remember any of this tomorrow morning. I did a little bit of shopping while we were out, something to clear off a few things from that ever-growing to-do list of ours. Hope you enjoy the gifts and the new look.
Love,
Past Ray
P.S.
Halon bet me ten gold. I couldn’t get past the protections on the Spacers Guildhall, so if you wake up on their roof, make sure to collect.
P.P.S.
Hope you have fun cleaning up my messes.
“What the fuck.” I say out loud after I finish the letter, passing it around so everyone can read it. Did I really write this? It seems like something I'd do, but I had hoped Past Ray was better than this.
“Oh fuck, I do remember making that bet.” Halon says as he walks over to the edge of the roof and looks down.
Merrick joins him just a moment later, laughing when he peers over the edge. “And would you look at that? We’re on top of the Spacers Guild.” He waits a few moments before speaking again. “We should leave before someone sees us up here.”
I end up portaling us to the street below, right behind the Spacers Guildhall, with a fair amount of difficulty due to my current condition. It’s a nice building, made of stone and about five stories tall. Its design is simple, but with a subtle elegance in the small details. As we quickly flee the building in the morning sun, I feel us pass through some kind of barrier that wraps around the building. Trying to push my senses back through, I find that it resists me.
We walk together for a few blocks, putting distance between us and the Spacers Guildhall, where I assume we were just trespassing. After a little while, Merrick and Halon stop us outside of an alchemist shop. Halon enters while Merrick speaks to the rest of us. Corvax and Daniel must be having it worse than I am. They’ve barely said anything and wince at every loud noise and bright light. I can see Corvax trying to use his sunlight energy to heal himself, focusing on his head, it seems.
“Well, that was a fun night out, eh? Not often you get to stick it to the Spacers Guild, even if it’s just crashing on their roof.” Merrick says, rubbing his temples with both hands. “You guys have anything planned for today?”
“We’re trying to bring a guy back to life, I think.” Daniel manages to say through his hangover.
“Ooh, how fun.” Merrick says right as Halon exits the shop with five vials in hand.
He hands a glass vial filled with a thick green liquid and capped with a cork to each of us. “Drink up. It’ll fix you right up. Mostly.” He says as he downs his.
I take his lead and pull the cork out with my teeth, downing the whole thing in one gulp. It tastes very herbal and medicinal, but not quite bad enough to gag or anything. I feel it start to work instantly, soothing my headache and hangover.
All of us instantly look better after drinking the magical concoction. I’ll need to get some more of those sometime.
Merrick takes one last look at each of us. “Well, let’s do this again sometime.” He says as he leaves, walking into a nearby alley.
Halon steps up next, clearly ready to leave as well. “You initiates really do know how to have a good time, but I have to leave as well. Elsine is probably going to be angry with me, and she can be quite scary when needed.” Halon leaves a different way than Merrick, heading towards the residential district, I think.
Corvax is the next to leave, telling us that he’ll probably need a full day of rest to recover from last night, but Daniel and I don’t let him leave so soon. We all grab breakfast at a nearby restaurant before heading back to the inn to collect the equipment that Duncan will need. Corvax decides to stay there and sleep while Daniel and I sort out Duncan and Clark.
“Well, back to business then?” He asks, a sly grin on his face as we leave the inn.
“Yeah, let’s go and try to recruit Stella for the FrankenClark project.”