12 Sage in a bottle

Sael pushed his concerns and suspicions about the quest system to the side as something to worry about later. Right now he had a quest and this one sounded interesting. 'I wonder where this fallen castle is? Well, when in doubt ask the oldest looking NPC you can find.'

Shortly after receiving the newest quest, Sael was knocking on Gregory's door. Opening the door the old man's face lit up with joy. "Sael! How good to see you. Come in come in. Let me get you something to drink yes?" Gregory shuffled into his home shooing away Mr. Tinkles his cat from trying to show him some love or trip the old man it was always hard to tell. Little Well officially had no mayor, nor any guild. In fact, the tiny town was little more than a wilderness outpost. Gregory had moved here in retirement after serving as a librarian in some fancy royal library.

When the group of Arrived had well arrived in Little Well he'd taken it upon himself to greet and guide them. Of the eight only four of them were still in town. Himself, Beth, Carl the baker, and Tom the farmer. The other four left shortly after arriving, deciding to take their chances heading to a larger city. He probably would have done the same thing if his quest hadn't required him to kill a monster local to the area. He never asked Beth why she stayed even though they were probably the person he was closest with. Carl, he'd see when he went by to get baked goods but haven't really talked to him much while he'd only seen Tom a few times in the tavern.

Without a guild, Gregory had been his best source of information. Providing him with locations of monsters like the Boars and Antgers. As well as both clues and directions to the goblins he'd ended up hunting for his last quest.

Gregory shuffled around scrolls and books he was currently working on so that Sael could sit. "Now give me a moment and I'll find us something to drink. Then you can ask whatever it is you need to know."

"Maybe I just wanted to hang out!" Sael almost felt bad for how well Gregory understood their relationship. The old librarian picked up one bottle after another trying to find one that wasn't already empty.

Laughing as he shuffled around checking bottles Gregory stated "Yes yes I'm certain a young adventure comes to hang out with an old man like myself just for fun. He definitely wouldn't want to be spending time with a certain Arrived girl." Gregory gave him, what Sael thought was supposed to be a knowing grin. "Or perhaps a pretty little fairy who has made sure everyone knows to whom a certain Arrived spearman belongs to." Chuckling Gregory gave him a huge smirk. "Feisty them summer fairies are you know, LOTS of VIGOR thanks to their magics. Ahh, sometimes I wished I'd taken up the adventurers' life."

"Damn it you old coot. This is why no one else comes by to see you, who wants to spend time with a drunken pervert!" Gregory in his retirement still made money on the side by translating books. Sometimes ancient scrolls, written in dead languages. Other times it was smut novels that he translated into all the languages of all the nine kingdoms. From what Sael could figure he did more of the latter even if it didn't pay nearly as well.

Gregory stood up straight and placed his hands on his hips scowling down at the young man sitting in his house. "How dare you be so rude! I'm not drunk… Can't find a damn bottle not already empty." Gregory hissed out a laugh before spotting a bottle buried under some very colorful pictures that accompanied his most recent job. Pulling the bottle out he held up one of the images while wiggling his bushy eyebrows. "What do you think? The artwork is glorious, isn't it! If you want I can get you a copy on the cheap."

"Damn it Gregory put away the porn! I need some real information." Gregory turned serious and sat the bottle down on the table before nodding.

"Yes, You are right. I actually know why you are here. I already have the guide book you need here." Stretching up on his tiptoes to pull down a thin book wrapped in protective leather binding, he turned to slide it across the table.

Sael was only slightly shocked, despite swearing he had nothing to do with the system. Gregory always had the information he needed for his quests at the ready when he came by. He undid the buckle binding the leather case shut and slid the contents out onto the table. What came out was a thin book with its title written in Gregory's surprisingly graceful handwriting.

"A Guide to Fairy Seduction. Part one: Fondling the Fae"

Sael's eye was twitching as he took a deep breath to keep from lashing out as Gregory collapsed into his chair laughing uncontrollably.

"Now don't give me that look. I've got the whole set. They're illustrated too. I'm sure your little fairy will thank me! Don't worry I gave her the companion series for fairies!" he was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe. "It's…called...How.. to… Mount… your… Human. A… Fairies… guide… To…. Loving…. A…" He sucked in a huge breath before saying the last part in a mix of a laugh and a cry. " Giant."

Sael put his face in his hands and counted to ten… several times. He liked Gregory; he reminded himself. He helps me out when I need it. He is just a bit… bat shit crazy. Having calmed down he looked up to find Gregory still laughing so hard he was forced to gasp between trying to explain one of the better parts of the book he'd given Ara. Something about how it used the fairies arm as a size comparison.

"Ok, are you done having fun?" Gregory eventually managed to stop laughing and pour himself a drink.

"Y-yes. Ahh, I do love it when you come by. Your reactions make it so much better. The fairy girl is almost as good. You should have seen her face when she opened the book." Seeing Gregory starting to go into another fit of laughter, Sael added a growl to his scowl. "Ok, ok enough fun. Go ahead and ask your questions."

Knowing it was best to get straight to the point he laid it all out "I received another quest. This time it says to Conquer the Fallen Castle. Do you know where I can find a fallen castle?"

Gregory's eyebrows went up. "Interesting. Have you told your little fairy lover about the quest yet?"

Sael's eye twitching was the only sign of his annoyance as he responded instantly. "No, why?"

Gregory refilled his glass. "Well, the term fallen castle would refer to one of the fairy castles. It quite literally fell out of the sky. It's a bit of a sore point for the fairies. Undeniable proof of their decline." He quickly went to work emptying his glass while his visitor digested his response.

'Hmm, I don't like that it said I was supposed to conquer it… am I going to war with the fairies?' He kept his thoughts to himself and asked Gregory instead "Do you know where I can find the castle?"

Refilling his glass yet again he shook his head. "No. Only the fae know where the castle came to rest. You could ask your wife but I don't think she will be happy with the question. I'd do it after you get laid for the day otherwise she might not be in the mood. They really don't like talking about it. Plus if you tell her you're going to conquer the castle I doubt they would be pleased even if the castle is supposed to be abandoned."

"The castle is abandoned?" Sael frowned wondering how he was going to keep this from Ara, the thought of not finishing the quest never even crossing his mind.

"Yes. The last Winter Queen returned to the shadows. That's the winter fairies fancy phrase for kicked the bucket. There aren't any fairies able to take the crown. That is why the castle fell." He started chugging down his drink muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "stroke the wings'' before chuckling.

"So you can't tell me where the castle is?" Sael tapped his finger on the table silently cursing his quest system's lack of details.

"No, but yes." Gregory giggled at Sael's angry glare. "No, I can't tell you where the castle is. But I can tell you where to find that information." From his pocket, he tossed Sael a small scroll with a wax seal. Then reaching behind him he grabbed a map without even looking. "Alrighty, I have a friend who owes me a favor. You can find him here." He pointed to a section of the map towards the south away from any other city where there were only the words Ruptured Lands. "It will take you probably four or so days to get there. My friend's name is Peter when you find him, give him that scroll. It reminds him of the favor he owes me and that I am letting you call it in."

Sael memorized the map easily before asking "Ok so how do I find him. Is there a town or anything? There is nothing marked on the map."

"You shouldn't have any problem finding him. I'm certain this is part of your quest as well. The world would never give you a quest with so little information unless it knew you could find what you needed." Gregory responded, starting to sound sleepy.

As if on cue there was a chiming in his mind and his quest was now updated.

[Locate the sage's contact, Peter.]

Gregory was already starting to snore softly so Sael knew it was time to go. Gregory had explained how he was always able to help despite not being part of the "system". As a sage, he could glimpse the weave of the world, whatever that meant, as long as he met his specific requirement. For Gregory, his requirement was alcohol, something he thought was the best possible outcome. Before he left he placed a bottle of wine on the table. After making sure Gregory was already asleep, he swiftly placed the guide book on fairies in his inventory.

**********

Entering the barracks he resisted the urge to say "Honey I'm home." as the joke would probably cause more trouble than it would be worth. Still, he'd made it only a few steps in when a splash came from the partially open door to the side and a soaking wet Silver came trotting in. Being soaking wet only made how scrawny the pup was even more obvious as it looked pathetic while it trotted straight to him. He was kneeling down to the Conri when the door opened up.

Coming out of the room was an equally wet and just as naked Ara. With a squeak, her entire body flushed crimson before her wings popped out to close in front of her. Backing up slowly she muttered "I didn't mean to flash you. Really!"

Sael was only snapped out of his shock when Silver shook all the water out of her fur spraying it all over him. He looked down at the now happy pup. "Oh, now she's shy." Shaking his head he scooped up the now surprisingly dry Silver suddenly unable to stop thinking about the book he'd received from Gregory.

**********

With Beth holed up in her shop working on her new project for an undetermined amount of time or as she put it "Til I'm done." Sael decided he'd might as well head to this Peter. That said he didn't want to take Ara along if he really was going to end up fighting other fairies. They were actually getting along even better than before. Silver was a great distraction that ate up plenty of her time. Considering how little Silver seemed to like her at first he was actually shocked they got along so well. But he wasn't one to look a gift Conri in the mouth.

After using Silver's recovery as an excuse and a bit of emotional manipulation, that he immediately regretted, he convinced Ara to stay while he went out "hunting".

He did have the conscience to make sure Gregory would let her know after he was gone for a while how long his hunting trip was expected to be. Sael shuddered at the thought of what kinds of literature the old coot would end up sharing with the fairy but didn't really have a choice. It wasn't like he could just not do a quest. So, he marched off to the south with a skip in his step and thoughts of experience to keep him company.

As he traveled south the hardwood forests gave way to flat grasslands making his trip even easier than he expected. With his enhanced attributes, he was able to cover ground at an incredible rate while rarely needing to stop and rest. By the end of the first day, he'd covered nearly two days' worth of projected travel without hardly breaking a sweat.

During that time he spotted quite a few strange creatures. Several herds of what looked like a cross between an antelope and a centipede that when spotting him rushed off in the oddest way. They moved with the hopping gait of a deer only with long bodies and enough legs to make the ground tremor as they rushed away.

Several times he came across giant lone trees standing hundreds of feet tall with branches stretching out over nearly an equal distance around them. Moving around their branches were grizzly bear sized koalas if koalas had cephalopod-like tentacles for limbs. He considered stopping to hunt but didn't want to waste the time knowing he would most likely not receive any experience points for them. Still, he planned to murder at least a few on his way back for materials.

As he got ready to camp for the first evening a thought dawned on him leaving him swearing up a storm. He'd just been thinking about how it was almost his birthday when he realized that Beth's would have passed while he was away hunting goblins. "Shit, I bet she is just waiting for me to remember. Ugh, the longer I wait the more shit she will end up giving me. Ugh. Where's a hallmark store when you need one."

On his second day out he was making just as good time when he sensed something was off. He slowed down his breakneck pace and focused his senses out around him. The moment he focused he skidded to a stop cursing his carelessness and leapt back. Where he'd been a moment before something massive crashed into the ground with enough force to send dirt and grass flying in all directions.

With a flap of its massive wings, the griffon streaked out of the crater it had made with a cackling laugh? Once he was able to focus his full attention on the beast he realized griffon wasn't exactly the right name. What flew around on giant wings wasn't an eagle lion hybrid as he expected. But looked to be a giant spotted hyena with huge feathered wings circling him with that unnerving laugh hyenas were famous for. Still like a griffon its legs looked like those of a bird of prey only blown up to be several times too big compared to the rest of its body.

Sael dived away as the creature made another dive at terrifying speed. Its forward claws instead of being open as if it were ready to rip him apart were balled up instead. Its whole body snapped and literally let it punch a crater into the ground right where Sael had been standing a moment before. Again it sped way to circle above laughing maniacally.

Gripping the spear he'd summoned in the moment he sensed danger Sael cursed. "Ok add a ranged weapon to the need for a backup melee weapon for my shopping list."

However, he wasn't without options. Tossing his spear up he caught it mid shaft before sending it sailing through the air towards the hyiffin…. The grena… he wasn't sure what to call it.

Despite the spear making a hissing sound as it cut through the air at high velocity the winged monster managed to do a barrel roll before diving down to punch at him. Sael managed to dodge once again as the creature left another crater before streaking away.

"Ok, It's too fast in the air. My best bet is the moment after it strikes. But even then it's so damn fast and the shock wave from it striking the ground is enough to push me back." With no other option, he waited preparing to attack the moment after he dodged. But it seemed like his opponent realized what he was up to. It continued circling while cackling out that annoying laugh.

Sael yelled and taunted it all he could but the beast neither left nor attacked. Only keep circling with that increasingly annoying laughter. After each circle and each laughter, he felt a headache blooming and growing stronger. Each pass it made only made him angrier and more frustrated. He was in the middle of screaming obscenities at the beast when a message interrupted his tirade.

Weak Psychic resistance acquired.

A new tab was added to the others, this one labeled Resistances.

"Oh, you sneaky. Cheeky. Bastard. I see what you're trying to do. You want me to give you an opening, don't you! Playing with my head, are we? Well fine. You want me. Come on." He once again tossed up his spear and hurled it at the taunting beast.

As expected it did a barrel roll to avoid the attack and dived down. This time Sael didn't bother dodging. When the beast was nearly upon him he did two things at once. Mentally called his spear back and yelled out "HASTEN!"

As everything seemed to slow down his new spear appeared in his hands. Gracefully spinning away he twirled the spear and slashed out instead of using his thrust ability. The longer razor sharp blade hit his target perfectly, severing its massive claw from what would be the wrist or ankle area of its limb. Thick blood spurted out as the beast laughed maniacally again though this time in pain. It flapped its massive wings wildly pulling up from its dive trying to get away. Grabbing onto one of its hind legs with his free hand Sael thrust the spear up into the gut of the creature. Twisting it once he thrust it out sideways disemboweling the monster.

Mad with pain and growing increasingly weak from blood loss the beast crashed back down to the ground. Sael easily lept off a few moments before the impact and watched as the beast slammed down to roll across the plains. He heard the snapping of bone as its still spread wings were broken apart during the roll. Approaching it he watched as it tried to stand up only to collapse back down. In its pain, the beast didn't realize it was standing on one of its destroyed wings preventing it from standing all the way back up.

Turning its once mocking gaze up to Sael as he approached it, it let out a whimper as if begging. "What! Not laughing now? Next time don't pick a fight you can't win." With that, he thrust his spear down piercing the beast's eye and right into its brain. He twisted it one direction then the other before wrenching it out. "Not that I'm going to give you a second chance."

He was just getting ready to butcher the beast when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Faintly he heard manic laughter that seemed to get louder rapidly. Looking to the skies he cursed as he spotted what looked to be dozens of dark spots heading in his direction.

"Mother f-"