Finally the Mediterranean man broke the silence and said, “What are you going to do once we get to Illham College? I.. I’m not really sure where I should go from here.”
“I’m going to find that guy Lockley kept talking derisively about and then I’m going to tell him what happened in the mine. Our main missions are complete. We just have to not get killed at this point.”
“I suppose…” Philippe said, trailing off before snapping back and staring at Maynard. The fear was still visible in his eyes, and when Maynard looked at him, he wondered if Philippe would ever get over it, “How are you so calm?”
“I’m not,” Maynard replied as he raised his still quivering hands, “I’m still worried there might be more wraithlings out there, and I can’t even begin to imagine what a full on wraith would be like. But honestly, none of that matters. I won. I killed that monster, and if I’ve done it once I can do it again. Sure, that monster scared the s*** out of me, but I’m far more terrified of never seeing my mum and dad again than some baby eldritch horror that can be hurt by a bloody lamp. I won. It’s dead.” As he finished talking he began to laugh, and the shaking that had plagued his hands for the entire journey finally ceased. He sat back into his seat, the tension in his shoulders dissipated, and as he looked Philippe in the eye, he smiled. “I won.”
A few minutes later the carriage pulled into a well lit village. For the first time since they had entered the safety of the carriage, Maynard stuck his head out of the window to get a better look at the world that surrounded him. He smiled before sitting down and tapping Philippe in the leg. Initially the man did not respond, but when Maynard tapped him again he snapped, “What?”
“We’re arriving in Illham. You’re going to need to help me get Tommy to the infirmary once we’ve reached the main entrance. From there we can go our separate ways if you want.” Philippe nodded and they both watched the carriage turn a corner, go through a large gate and rattle up a gravel pathway towards a large building. It was hard to see from within the carriage, but as the two men pulled their comatose companion out of the carriage more of the building came into view. They were finally able to see the Georgian era red brick building that stood imposing upon them in the dark of the night. Maynard nodded at the man who had shepherded them to the college premises and asked, “How do we get to the infirmary from here? Our comatose companion needs to get there as soon as possible.”
“Ask inside laddie, but if memory serves me then it’s somewhere in the west wing of the building. You’re gonna need to speak to one of them faculty members to get some better directions than that though.”
As he hoisted Tommy onto his shoulder, Maynard tucked the claw into the unconscious man’s belt, nodded in thanks towards the driver and with Philippe’s help they walked inside the building while supporting one arm apiece. With a swing in their step, the two men pushed through the heavy front doorway and walked into the brightly lit foyer of the college. An older woman in a frilly brown dress and a tight bun of brown hair initially stared them down, but her demeanour changed when she saw Tommy’s bloody bandages. “Can I help you, boys?”
“Yeah, can you point us in the direction of the infirmary? There was an… There was an accident at the mine and my companion was caught in it. We got him here as soon as possible,” Maynard said when Philippe began to stammer.
“Goodness, you poor boys! Take the corridor on your left, It’s the second door on the right. It’s just the night matron right now, but she will be able to look after your friend and get you all checked out.”
“Thank you for your help ma’am,” Maynard said and they began walking on the lush green carpet that lined their path. Their struggle was short-lived, as the woman at the front desk had not been wrong. The infirmary was incredibly close, and the moment that the three of them limped through the doorway, the matron was all over them, asking invasive but pointed questions about Tommy, and themselves. She was a stern looking woman, dressed in similar fashion to the woman at the front desk, but her dress was of grey and white rather than black. She’s a regular Nightingale, Maynard thought to himself as he watched her treat Philippe’s bruises.
The three of them were put onto separate beds, and as Maynard seemed to be in the best shape of all of them the matron mostly left him alone. This was fortunate for Maynard as no more than five minutes after they had sat down on the bed he received a notification in the corner of his vision which stated ‘Questline Alpha and Beta complete. Questline Gamma now available’. For an instant he stared at the line of text not comprehending what he was being told, but after a moment’s thought he pulled up his mission screen and saw that there was now a third layer to the boxes within.
As he looked through the new missions another line of text popped up, ‘Tabulating rewards and gained skills. Total secret tasks completed – 1. Total skills gained – 1. D rank task complete. C rank task failed. B rank task complete. A rank task complete. S rank task complete. SS rank task complete. Skill gained – Taunt. Mission rewards as follows – 600 regional renown, 20 stat points, 3100 utility points.’ Maynard gaped in response to the wall of text that scrolled by in the corner of his vision. Putting his palm on his subdermal implant he began thinking about the taunt skill that he had been rewarded with and a new box appeared.
This is incredible… I can gain skills depending on how I act within the missions I have been given, and this skill itself is exactly what I needed to style myself as a tank. Now I need to get something more than a shield in order to protect myself. Perhaps getting more skills will be an answer to that. A rustling sound next to him roused him from his thoughts as the matron finally got to him and began looking for anything more than scrapes and bruises. He was damp, but mostly uninjured, which was fortunate for him, but less fortunate considering the role he intended to work towards. As the matron began bandaging the few deeper cuts that had dug into his chest, he relaxed and returned to his own thoughts. The key is what skills should I look for, or try to make? There’s obviously a way to develop skills on your own terms seeing as I didn’t read any skill books for ‘Taunt’, so I wonder if there’s a way to develop an ability to heal me. Touching the subdermal implant, he pulled up his status screen again and saw that his health had ticked back up to 15. He was recovering slowly, but it had been about two hours since he had fought the beast. In comparison, his sanity had risen back to a 95. Perhaps it was the protection from the beast given to him by the light he had held or the relief that he had been given by playing cards with the miners, but Maynard could tell that he was recovering his sanity far faster than Philippe, who was still jumping at shadows, even though they were in a place of safety.
“I’ll be back in a minute, boys,” the matron said as she finished with Maynard. Patting him on the shoulder, she continued, “You can go when you’re ready, but the other two need to stay. The unconscious one and the sensitive one are in no condition to move. I’ve prescribed Philippe with some laudanum to settle his nerves for the moment, but he’ll need to rest here once it kicks in.”
Nodding in response, Maynard stood up and said, “Thanks,” before giving the matron a wan smile. She bowed her head in response before walking out of the room. The moment she exited the room he moved over to Philippe and tapped him on the arm. “I’m going to hunt round the college for some more interesting curios. I’ve gained a few new missions since I got here and I don’t intend to leave them by the wayside. You gonna be good if I leave you with Tommy?” In response, Philippe nodded slowly but did not open his mouth. He simply stared at the bandages on Maynard’s chest which were stained slightly pink with his blood. His eyes were wide like saucers, but more vacant than pools of rainwater. “Alright,” Maynard continued awkwardly, “Stay safe.” Philippe nodded again and Maynard turned to leave, buttoning up his shirt. I’m going to need a new set of clothes. Nothing will get the blood-stains out of this.
