Chapter Three

Chapter Three. Beauty

“If you're attractive enough on the outside, people will forgive you for being irritating to the core.”

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The next few days consisted of mostly team practices, where they worked out the difficulties of having two odd classes and a thirty-or-fewer pound warrior. They occasionally went into the taverns to get updates on the progression of other Players and look for new teammates, but this quickly stopped after Vivace stabbed an elf who chose to insult their party’s balance. The dynamics of the team was roughly set- Vivace claiming leadership position for the tournament’s registration much to Dolly’s displeasure. Elera seemed content to watch in idle amusement whenever an argument over the topic broke out, having no desire to lead the group herself. They had also moved to a bigger room in The Lurker once Dolly found that there wasn't in fact any good inns available at that point, and refused to return to her own in case she created suspicion in anyone who knew of their involvement in Fortunia’s fate before they could leave for the Tournament. The events which were an undercurrent of discussion between the gnome and human that Elera curiously picked up on, but not having heard much of city news before that didn’t hold much importance to it.

Before leaving the Orchard the day of recruiting Elera, Honored Florafire had given them a type of blessing, along with an assurance that she would pass word to other demon clans about the group, if they ever wished to stop at one of their encampments while on their journey. It was an honor most non-demons never received, but for as long as they were joined with Elera in the Tournaments- and afterward, should the current alliance prove fruitful- the demon kind would look upon them with acceptance, if in some clans grudgingly so. The leader then pulled them aside for drinks, and asked them both about themselves and about how they planned to compete in the Tournament, giving advice and critiques where she though necessary, something which the human barely lasted through without kicking Vivace through the wall of the tent- something that had become common thoughts when she was stressed, even when the emotion wasn’t directed at the gnome. They finally left with mixed feeling of their new alignment, and despite straying from her home and family, Elera had seemed more than happy to accompany them, showing almost as much enthusiasm as Vivace. Dolly swore that she'd pick a quiet, angsty Player with a dwindling outlook on life as the next member so she wouldn't have to put up with anymore of what she had.

When the day of the Opening Ceremonies finally came, Vivace spent the early morning bounding around the room, waking her companions and creating an environment of ultimate grumpiness whenever anyone stepped within five meters of the blonde human. Elera took it in her normal good humor, only once throwing a pillow at the hyperactive creature so she could get some more sleep. It was with reluctant necessity that the pair finally clambered out of bed and made their way out of the front doors of the inn for the final time. The streets were bustling with activity, vendors having set up shop early for Players leaving for the Tournament, and assortments of teams that were crowded around stocking up on last minute supplies. When the group finally got to the coliseum, a gigantic crowd greeted them: an amassment of competitors all lining up to register for the competition.

“There, are a lot of people here.” Vivace said in awe as they approached the mound of perpetual death.

“Of course there are.” Dolly said roughly, pushing her way past a group of orcs standing in her way. “What did you expect, a box of kittens and some bread? This is the biggest Tournament for decades, some people here aren’t even from Burmexia.”

Elera stuck a foot out to trip a Player about to run over the gnome. “We should stay close, it’ll be easy to get lost in this. Especially for someone too small to find us if we get out of sight.” Vivace turned questioningly, and saw the cursing human a few feet beside here, who was looking around for the source of his downfall.

“Time to start using the comp, I think.” Dolly suggested as they continued to force their way through the crowd. The other two nodded, and activated the mini computers attached to their wrists that showed the whereabouts of their party members on a small map for them, as well as the status of their personal health. The team continued pushing their way through the crowd until it became to thick to go any further, at which point the waited for the mass to lessen. Slowly they were able to make their way further into the depths of Players, until finally they were inside of the building. As soon as they got through the doors Dolly snatched both of her comrades and made her way across the back of the large room until they could more easily follow the blank openings along the wall and get close to a window. Much to the displeasure of the people directly behind them, Dolly ushered her two teammates up to the front.

“Was that alright?” Elera asked with amusement with a glance at the outraged Players behind them.

“Don’t look back and it will be,” was the reply.

Vivace jumped up to the window, and hung onto the small counter protruding from it to get a look at the person behind the window. “Vivace Bluebell, Dolce Lithus, and Elera of the Darkwater Clan registering.”

The person glanced up stressfully, “Please don’t hang on that. And I need your badges.”

The trio produced the required material quickly, Vivace huffing a little at being told to get down. When the man asked “Who’s the leader of your group?”, Vivace leapt nimbly back onto the counter. “Me. Vivace.”

Writing something down on a sheet of paper, the man glared once more at the gnome dirtying his counter. He got enough people putting the gods knows what onto it when they were searching for their badges, he didn’t need someone’s feet to be there as well. “Fine,” He all but snapped, and practically flinging three pieces of paper and their badges back at them said, “You’re registered, here are your cards to get into the arena. Move along.”

Vivace jumped down, and with one look at the man at the window sniffed and went after her comrades heading toward the gate. She could have sworn she heard the man cursing behind her. She officially judged the people that worked here to be far to stressful. Catching up to them, she saw Dolly and Elera glance down at her and exchange a smirk.

“You shouldn’t piss them off, they’ll remember you.” Dolly stated bluntly.

“Well he shouldn’t have been so high strung.” Vivace said back stubbornly. “He shouldn’t work here if he doesn’t like dealing with Players.”

The two exchanged another smirk and went on their way through the doors, leaving a flustered gnome behind them. As they entered the open aired stadium, they noticed the seats filled with people who had come to watch the ceremonies, raised up in a ring around the ground. There was a large rectangular platform in the middle of the circular arena, with speaking podiums set up for the Tournament officials to make their addresses to the Players. Already some people were standing there, but it looked as if more were yet to come. The base of the platform was filling with teams, and the groups were eyeing each other critically, checking out the competition.

“Amateurs.” Dolly muttered, walking past the groups without so much as a glance. The two companions went after her. For once, it wasn’t Vivace who asked the next question.

“Are you referring to the teams, or the fact that all of the new ones are still standing at the door?” Elera questioned, glancing around the opening with interest. A number of groups that saw her turned away muttering.

“Both.” she replied. “I can’t really comment on the absurd team make ups, given our own, but they’re definitely wasting our space.”

“How can you tell?” Vivace asked, checking out the teams. “Just because their new doesn’t make them that bad.”

“No, but they’re wasting their time looking at other untested Players instead of checking out the challenge. Plus, they’re scared of getting close to the experienced Players here, that’s why none of them are coming closer.” Elera explained happily. Vivace still looked questionable.

Dolly rolled her eyes. “Listen, the only reason why I joined this team is because you’re not like them. That’s why you’re not quite getting it.”

“Huh?”

“She really is slow, isn’t she?” Elera pointed out cheerfully. At Vivace’s sputter she waved an apology.

“She is.” Dolly replied. Then, “Listen, it’s like this. If you weren’t with us, you would probably still be heading toward the front of the stadium, wouldn’t you? Hell, you’d probably be poking you head into everybody else’s group for sheer annoyance's sake. Plus, proved by our fist time meeting, you’re so blissfully ignorant of the level of the Players you pick a fight with that none of these people are even intimidating you, even though they should be. Really, they should be. You assume everybody’s like you, ready to run in head first. They’re not. After the first month, none of those people will still be in the running, so don’t worry about them.”

Vivace shrugged, deciding that she really didn’t care. Instead she went the rest of the way with her team to the head of the crowd, until they were standing right at the front of the platform, along with a few other scattered groups. The said groups looked up upon the arrival of the new front row-ers, and a look of incredulity passes over some faces. The group closest to them seemed to communicate with one another for a moment before beginning to walk over.

“Company.” Elera pointed out, which had the other two glancing to witness. The team approaching them had three females and a male, and all of them appeared to be nymphs with various tones of green skin.

“Jeez, we really do stand out with this group, don’t we?” Dolly muttered, running her hand through her hair.

“They’re the ones who should be talking.” Elera commented with a small laugh. “They have a male nymph with them. That’s pretty unusual, not to mention degrading.” Nymphs were generally seductive creatures when from around the lands of Burmexia, and judging from the clothes of the team they were most certainly of that kind.

“I don’t know, a gnome warrior, human female gambler, and demon geomancer isn’t exactly about to inspire fear in anybody from this generation.” Dolly commented dryly in an undertone as the opposing group came up to them.

“Oh, you just need more faith.” Elera continued, ignoring the presence of the arrivals. All of which snapped their heads back in a type of surprise when they heard what the demon said. They exchanged looks of mockery and redirected their attention to the trio in front of them.

“Hey kids, you should move back and leave room for the Players up here.” The woman with short, grayish blue hair sneered. “We don’t like being crowded you know.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t, with a head that size.” Vivace snapped. She looked at them disdainfully. “Get lost.”

“You should learn some respect, girly.” The man said, “Maybe we’ll teach it to you.”

“Oh, I agree she needs to learn respect.” Dolly waved dismissively. She seemed unaffected by the presence of the hostile group, and acted simply as if she was having a causal chat. “But it won’t be from someone like you, slut boy. Good day.”

Apparently being called anything less than decent from a gambler was an insult to the group standing there, as they all hissed with rage. “Maybe you didn’t hear us the first time.” The woman who’d spoken before spat. “You wimps are moving back.”

“Really?” Elera asked with exaggerated surprise, looking around at the ground. “It appears to me that we’re standing still.” Just as the woman let out another hiss, the intercom rang out around the stadium.

“Attention Players. This is a reminder that there will be no violence in the coliseum or the offenders will lose their rights to compete. That is all.”

The trio looked up with amusement, which may have been mixed with a hint of disappointment on Vivace’s part. The other group had also lifted their heads to listen, and seethed when the announcement was over. The team leader shot a disgusted glare at the small group, and walked away back to their original spot. The others followed, leaving the three alone once again.

“What was that about?” Vivace asked irritably when they were gone. “We weren’t doing anything.”

“Chill, they were just trying to scare us off.” Elera replied simply. They looked back around the stadium, where a number of people were beginning to look away from the scene they had probably been causing.

The coliseum had filled up greatly since they had first gotten in, and now the walls were packed with people, including groups who had begun going to stand on the other side of the platform. The door on one of the sides of the enclosure opened, and a elegant open topped carriage came in, pulled by horse like creatures with shining silver fur. There was a sudden hush that fell upon the crowd, and people parted out of the carriage’s way with occasional difficulty. Inside sat four people, not including the two up front who appeared to be a servant and driver, and when they reached the platform they gingerly dismounted, and walked over to chairs that had been placed for them. One of the men wearing a graceful tunic of fine fabric and sporting a crown engraved with complicated designs required help to get across the stage, which was supplied by the servant, along with the watchful eyes of the other three men, all of whom looked richly dressed. A ripple of muttering broke out amongst the Players while the audience cheered, and Vivace craned up to see the people better.

“Who’re they?” She asked curiously, as the doors to the stadium finally began closing.

Dolly and Elera were both watching the new appearances intently, just as the many Players around the enclosure were. It was the human who answered, which seemed to have become a habit whenever the gnome asked a question. “That’s His Royal Majesty, Polonus le Geiveth. The one on the left with the gold earring is the Duke, Sir Ketliun le Fortinaph. The one wearing black is His Majesty’s advisor, Sir Replick D’Noiss, and the final man with the cane is the Commander of the empire’s military, Sir Torell Beinict. I didn’t know any of them would be here. Damn it! We might’ve picked this up if we could’ve gone in to the Wildfang.”

“Sorry.” Vivace muttered.

“I don’t think we would have gotten anything.” Elera said, glancing amongst the front row. “I don’t think anybody knew.”

“Would it have mattered if we did know?” Vivace asked, vying to get them to recognize she’d done nothing wrong by unofficially getting them kicked out of the inn. “We still would have come.”

“Yes,” Dolly muttered icily, “But I wouldn’t have picked us a place so close.”

“What?” Vivace asked startled, “Why not?”

Before the human could answer, one of the men from the Tournament running stood up at the podium and cleared his throat. The crowd went quiet, and everybody’s attention was focused on the platform again, watching the announcer with only half of their attention.

“Ladies and Gentleman!” The announcer began, concentrating more at the people viewing the Opening Ceremonies then the participants in it. “I’d like to welcome you to the Royal Guard Tournament! Today, we begin the quest to search for the next Guard for our majestic ruler, whom will need protection and wisdom from the victors during the days to come. We have all heard of the glory and honor that comes from competing, and it is time to see that in this competition! Here is Sir Fortinaph, to explain to you the rules of this Tournament!” The crowd cheered loudly, and the Players waited with anticipation at what the Duke would declare.

The young nobleman stood up and waited patiently for the noise to die. When he had achieved silence, he began speaking in a light, friendly tone, although unlike the announcer, he chose to address the competitors instead of the crowd. “My fellows! Today, you will embark on a journey. A journey of great daring, where the strengths of those who compete will be tested to the fullest, and one will have to rely on more than just their strong arms if they hope to succeed. You will leave here and follow the footsteps of the great who’ve come before you, and we wish for you to do their memories honor with your actions. For today, you will begin the quest to find the great Heart Stones.” The effect of these words were immediate, with a loud roar rising from the audience, and small mutters scattering throughout the gathered Players. Once again the Duke waited for silence before he continued. “The road will be dark, and the perils may be too much for a large number of you to face. This Tournament will decide the elite from the strong, as the best of you will go on to become some of the most powerful Players in Burmeian history. There will be losses, and they will be mourned for, but the victory that will come at the end of the journey will be one of great joy. For the adventurers who bring us back seven of the existing ten Heart Stones will be declared triumphant, and shall bear the titles of Burmexia’s Royal Guard, historically known as the finest of all kingdoms. You will have one year to complete this task, and we pray for your ultimate success.”

The assembly cheered the end of the Duke’s speech, and he swept away from them back to stand with the other men. The announcer made his way to the front hastily, as someone in back began helping the King rise to his feet. “Now, His Royal Majesty, Polonus le Geiveth would like to say a few words.” The King came up behind him, and the man stepped out of the way to surrender the spotlight. The enclosure was silent as the old man brushed off his servant and stood as erect as he could to survey the crowd. Finally, he began speaking in a hushed, gravelly tone.

“My dear citizens, it has been to long since I last stood in front of you like a proper King should.” The man stopped, and took another long look around the stadium. The crowd waited with baited breath. “My health, as much as my healers are reluctant to admit, is failing. I will no longer be able to lead this empire the way a great empire like Burmexia should be led. That is why, upon the final day of this Tournament, when the Royal Guard is chosen one year from now, I will announce the next heir to the throne, and retire my crown. Having no children of mine own, this has been a difficult decision, but I believe with new protectors there should also be someone new to protect. Until then, my dear citizens, my dear defenders, let you all go forward with grace and dignity befitting this lovely nation, and we will wait with hopes that our new Guards will be everything this nation needs in the years to come, during the trying time of our new reign. The gods bless, for we look forward to the future, which will be a happy, golden time, even if I’m not there to see it.”

As the King stepped away from the podium, the crowd began to slowly clap, and with the clapping people in the audience rose to their feet and cheered in honor of their king. The sound was tremendous, echoed around the enclosure so the people outside would be able to hear the ovation. The doors in the stadium opened, and the men climbed back into their carriage to make their way out. It wasn’t until the departure of the king that the people began making their way out of the stadium. The sound of people talking rose over the noises, and all the sounds were muffled by the volume of speech.

The trio waited for the stadium to enter before moving, so they continued watching the Players leave excitedly.

“Fools.” Dolly muttered eventually. “They have no idea what they’ve signed up for.”

“What, the hunt for the Heart Stones?” Vivace asked curiously. She was watching the gate that the King’s carriage had disappeared into, marveling at the speeches made by the men. The King had seemed tired, old. But he still radiated a type of majesty about him that Vivace hadn’t seen before that. The Duke had been good too, with more energy and charisma then what the King possessed. Vivace swore silently she would be just a good of a ruler when she took over the empire, however far off that would be.

“Yes. You realize why they gave us a year for this, right?” Dolly asked with irritation. “Not only do we need to go after them, but we need to find out where they are first. The Heart Stones have been hidden for decades, the only ones who know where they are work for the Royal Court, and not even all the Court knows. We’ll spend half the time searching.”

“There are clues though.” Elera pointed out, lounging against the side of the platform. “Stories that have been passed down. We just need to find out what’s right and what was made up to entertain children.”

“Aren’t the Heart Stones powerful artifacts?” Vivace wondered. “Why would they send a bunch of glory seeking Players after things so powerful? That seems stupid.”

“They were powerful, once upon a time.” The demon corrected. “Their power was used, they don’t hold any magic any more. Now they’re just trophies with a history.”

The gnome mused on that piece of information while they continued waiting for the enclosure to clear. Most of the people were gone by now, with a few stray groups of Players scattered around discussing the Tournament. Dolly looked about, trying to find where the group of nymphs had gone and wondering whether they were going to be attacked upon leaving. Glancing toward the back of the arena, she noticed a group of three men leaning against the wall and talking. They were to far away to hear or lip read, but something about them drew Dolly’s attention. Seeing where her comrade was looking Elera glanced over as well. Vivace tried, but she was to short to see over the platform. Once one of the black clad figures felt them looking, he gestured toward his companions and they left out of the back doors.

“What? What?” Vivace repeated irritably. Both of the taller woman were watching something above the platform, and she couldn’t see what had grabbed their attention. Dolly shook her head dismissively, and nodded toward the exit, indicating that they should leave.

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The road at the beginning of the journey, just as they were leaving the city was crowded with people. Other groups were all moving out of the city at the same time, and snatches of conversation were floating around the bustling streets. The main topic of thought was the location of the Heart Stones, something that hadn’t been found or sighted in decades and were a mystery to the people now searching for them. The one consistency was that they were hidden in dangerous places, full of fiends and in the depths of wild terrains that groups would have to force their way through. Nobody however, knew exactly where these places were.

The trio walked in silence, absorbed in their own thoughts and listening to the conversations of the people around them. The only thing had had been said after leaving the arena was that there would hopefully be more chances to find other team members now that the rush to fill the quotas were done. “Thing is,” Dolly had said as they were leaving, “People don’t want to share the victory with a lot of people. Most teams will settle for the smallest number of people they can get by with. We still need another person, a healer preferably, so it’ll make things easier for us.”

“Not that it'll be much easier if it’s a healer were looking for.” Elera had put in, and with a reluctant nod of agreement from Dolly, their flow of talking stopped.

As the night began to fall, groups began scattering down different roads, and the road became a steady trickle of groups instead of a flood like before. With distance between them finally, the women began making quiet comments to one another, bouncing ideas of what they should do next and how to find the crystals they were searching for. At every camping point they passed, the areas were filled with groups stopping for the night. It was agreed on (grudgingly by Dolly) that they keep walking for the rest of the night, to cover the most ground possible before they had to rest, and once they were a suitable distance from the people behind them, they could start traveling again in a normal day walk, night rest, schedule.

“We could try some of the old libraries.” Elera suggested after a time. “They must have records there about what we’re trying to do.”

“Yeah, I saw some people in the libraries before we left the city.” Vivace said thoughtfully. Dolly shrugged.

“If there is anything in the libraries, the other teams will find it soon enough. There’s no point for everyone to be pouring over the same books. Believe me, once a few groups know where the crystals are, everyone will.”

They settled into another silence, thinking about other possibilities. With each rest area they passed, they noticed more people celebrating and congratulating each other happily. There was much talking and boasting going on about the encampments, but the trio kept walking silently.

“Everyone’s celebrating.” Vivace pointed out grumpily. In all honesty, she wouldn’t mind breaking out a drink or two at the fact that she had successfully made it into the Tournaments- something which no one at home would have believed before- but from her companions faces, she new they weren’t quite so apt at the idea.

“The idiots are just celebrating getting into the Tournament.” Dolly replied with disdainful glance back at the slowly fading fires. “They’re probably so happy that they actually made it here, since it’s something they never actually expected to do before. None of the amateurs are thinking about what they have to do now. Honestly. I’m glad you’re not like them at least.”

Vivace nodded, trying to hide her guilty flush in the darkness. Elera gave her a knowing wink, and laughed silently. The gnome flushed more, and kept her eyes diverted from the sides of the road. They finally stopped walking a little after midnight, when the human declared them well enough away from anyone else to be bothered. With the forced agreement that they would get up early to continue, the trio settled down for the night in an empty rest spot. Their goal was to reach the next check point within the week, where they would be able to check up on the status of the other Players and find out any rumors about the Heart Stones. Aside from a few battles with the roaming beasts that occasionally came across the road, the group experienced little else. When Locoritat finally came into view, the group was more then ready for the promise of hot food and soft beds, despite who they had to chuck out of windows to get them.

The town was a decent size, with a large market toward the center and residential areas around the sides. Farms were kept out the outskirts of the settlement, and the group slowly made their way into the bustling streets. Ahead of them, loaming over the rest of the town, was the Dragon Watch, the huge inn that served as the Tournament’s checkpoint and gathering place for Players.

“Let’s grab some food.” Vivace said happily, moving toward the dining area where meals were served. The inn was divided into multiple sections, the bar and dining area in one room, the lounge with boards and room for groups to discuss recent breakthroughs in another, a store and registry point for new members, then the rooms for staying in and bath houses and bathrooms. The other two shrugged, and went with the girl.

When they had sat down and a flustered looking waitress had come over to take their orders, Dolly began to speak. “While we’re here, we should get a few things done. We should also lay down some basic rules for the team.”

Both of the other members looked up at this. Dolly was watching something over in the corner of the bar with interest. The food was brought back promptly, obviously everything having been precooked, but none of the travelers really cared. “It’s like this, one of us needs to check out the rumors and see if anything’s been found out yet. Someone should be in charge of supplies, and the last one should be trying to plan things out for what we should do next with what we already know. I'll take care of the rumors, I'm good at that. You two chose the other jobs between yourselves.” The other two continued listening, but a small frown had been formed on Vivace’s face. What the human said was true, but wasn’t she suppose to be the leader? And what about these rules? As though reading the small gnomes mind, Dolly continued. “What we do with the rest of our free time is ours, without the annoying interruptions of the other two.” She glanced at Vivace quickly before returning her eyes to the corner of the room. The gnome sputtered, but the human was already continuing. “We’ll meet back up in the room later tonight, and anything we’ve found out we share with each other then. Keep eating, I’ll go get us our room keys and will be right back.”

With that the human left, leaving a sputtering gnome and cheerful demon behind. Vivace calmed down enough to actually make a sentence, saying, “What the hell is that about?!”

“Well, from what I could figure out,” Elera answered cheerfully, picking apart her meal with her fork. “she seems to think we’ll cause her annoying interruptions if not ordered to stay out of her life. Or, one of us will.” Vivace flushed, and began protesting while she made exaggerated hand gestures while holding her utensils.

“And please,” Dolly lamented with a pained expression upon her face as she came back, “let’s not get us kicked out because we can’t stand some little critiques. I refuse to leave any more inns on our journey by force, if you make a mess, you’re dealing with it.” She looked pointedly at Vivace’s suspended knife, and dropping the two room keys on the table, walked away toward the corner she had been watching, which now that the other two could turn to see, noticed a poker game in progress.

Elera shook her head. “A gambler doesn’t change, I guess. But you know what they say, it’s not what’s on the inside, but that outside that matters.”

“What’s on the inside that matters!” Vivace corrected, with another wave of her fist. “It’s not what’s on the outside, but the inside that matters! And she’s…!” Vivace struggled with her words, glaring down at her meat as though it had insulted her. Had the meat been alive, it probably would have took off running. But, thankfully in its deadened state, it couldn’t feel the intense look the gnome was directing at it, and remained motionless, like a lump of meat.

“Really?” Elera questioned curiously. “Odd. I never did understand those human proverbs.” After a moment of silence where Elera watched the human flirt her way into the game, she resumed speaking. “Well, I guess I’ll get the supplies. You can plan out our next course of action, oh leader of the group.” Vivace started, and then shrugged. As their meal finished, the demon got up and left, leaving the gnome at the table by herself.

Vivace stared at the table for another few minutes, musing over her task before getting up and wondering off. She left the room, casting a glance in Dolly’s direction. The woman had taken off her jacket and thrown it onto the back of the chair, revealing the dress underneath to expose more of her cleavage then she had before, and was leaning over toward one of the men beside her, saying something. The sight was lost as Vivace made her way through the doorway, and she found herself shaking her head at the antics of her team. She was hoping that the most Dolly would do was flirt and rob the men, not go all the way with a bunch of drunks. She had to make plans. But what was she suppose to do when they didn’t know anything at all? As the leader of the group, she had to take the responsibility seriously, and was determined to lead them in the right direction.

What she should do, she decided, was to find out all of the most dangerous places across the continents, and try to narrow down where the Heart Stones would be. What had she heard about the stone in the past? There wasn’t much. As a child, her grandmother had told her stories about all sorts of things, the Heart Stones being one of many. There was a song that went along with them she knew…if only she could remember what it was. It was a childish rhyme, something to lull little children to sleep. But for as much as she could recall, none of it told the listener where the Stones were located, so it might not even be worth brainstorming. Vivace let out a growl, and rammed her fist into her skull a few times, earning her many stares from the people passing her. This wasn’t helping, she needed something to go off of. The only lead they had so far was that the Stones were hidden in dangerous, hard to reach places. Vivace nodded decisively. That’s what she would do, make a list of all the places ranked five stars on the Journey Map, maybe four to be safe. The Journey Map was an outline of the continents, breaking the land into national boundaries as well as regions where different levels of monsters roamed. The higher star ranking a place had, the stronger the fiends living there would be. The stars went from zero to five, zero being civilized land where aggressive monsters didn’t live at all, and five being the strongest monsters that could destroy small villages. There was a six star ranking for anything that was agreed to be stronger then the original five stars, but only specific fiends were labeled with a six, not areas. Taking off back to the Dragon Watch where she’d be able to buy a Journey Map, she began humming merrily to herself, proud of the large step she had taken, even if it wasn’t that big.

Vivace paid hurriedly for the map in the store, and went back outside to find a place where she’d be able to work without being interrupted by other Players. She walked around the market place, looking more at the stalls and people than a place to sit, then finally went down into less crowded parts of the town. She found a small park with a swing set and slides, among other playground accessories for children to climb on, and sat down, choosing one of the lowest swings. Even then she had to drag herself up, and her feet hung off the ground a great deal. Vivace unfolded the paper onto her lap, looking at the areas around the world. She was amazed at the amount of space the world took up, and felt a sudden weight of the requirements fall onto her shoulders. At the same time, however, a rush of excitement flooded her veins. She would be visiting these places! Goodbye Welsth girl, she was going to be an adventurer. She searched her pockets for a pen, and after a few minutes of digging came out with a piece of charcoal. Where she had gotten charcoal from, she had no idea, but it would work. Vivace began circling all of the four and five star areas, paying close attention to any that might’ve been easily missed. Taking out the listing of notable fiends, all of the monsters that had bounties on their heads, she made marks of the areas where they were, hoping to draw some sort of conclusion based on the numbers. A few minutes passed, and those few minutes stretched into a couple of hours, at which point a few residents came to the park with their children. Vivace ignored them, continuing with her task. She refused to be the only member of her team who hadn’t done something constructive, and going back to the tavern now would probably just cause her to become annoyed and start a fight. The newcomers didn’t bother her, but simply continued playing around her. Had she been a more intimidating race, the mothers may have dragged their children away and found a different park for the day, since Players were generally avoided. Gnomes, however, looked mostly like children anyway, and a single girl writing on paper while sitting a swing wasn’t about to force the parents to take away their children. In fact, anyone passing could have labeled her as a child hadn’t they looked close enough to see the armor and sword. After another hour passed, the children went, and Vivace thought she had been left alone. She didn’t notice the shadow come up behind her.

“An odd place for Players.” A soft, deep voice stated, causing Vivace to jump. She grabbed the chain of the swing to avoid falling, and shifted to look at the person behind her.

“You.” She responded, looking at the black cloaked man leaning against the bars of the swing set. A pair of hazel eyes watched the gnome, as though the man was searching for something. Vivace ignored it, and turned herself so she was sitting the other way on the seat. “Hey, thanks for that tip back in Sol Bremeck. We were able to get a nice team together.”

The man remained silent, but there was a small movement in his eyes. Vivace leaned forward, holding onto the chains of her seat, waiting for a response. After a moment of nothing but the breeze passing them by, the man finally opened his mouth. “An odd place for a Player.”

Vivace leaned back, staring incredibly at the man. He already said that. Maybe he was slow? Vivace answered with a huff. “I didn’t want to be bothered.”

The figure waited another moment, and slowly nodded. Vivace was beginning to get fed up with the pause after every line he spoke, and glanced down at her paper. The sun was beginning to set, and she hadn’t finished marking the areas on the map. The other two never said when they should meet back in the room, but she wasn’t really sure how long gathering supplies and information would take. Suddenly the man spoke.

“You’re searching for the Heart Stones.” It wasn’t a question, but Vivace nodded nonetheless. It’s not like she was doing anything that complicated, most of the groups had probably thought of cross checking the Journey Map by now, it was really the only thing to do.

Seeing the man, however, forced Vivace to wonder. “Are you in the Tournament to?”

The figure shook his head slowly, and straightened up from where he was leaning. Vivace had the feeling she’d just said something wrong. The man took a few steps away, but before he left, stated quietly over his shoulder, “I once heard a rumor that someone in Don Tensh knew the whereabouts of the Heart Stones. It may be worth checking, for anybody interested.” With that, the figure moved away, and Vivace sat still on the swing. Someone knew where the crystals were? That would save them tons of time! She looked up, and saw the man stepping inside some shadows a little distance away.

“Wait!” She called suddenly, moving forward on the swing. “What’s your name?”

The man turned, half hidden in the shadows behind him. “Someone in Don Tensh.” he repeated, and disappeared into the darkness. Vivace stared after him, feeling the soft breeze brushing across her cheek. That wasn’t an answer. She’d gotten the village name the first time. Sitting back, Vivace blinked as she noticed the darkening of the sky. What time was it? The street lights had already turned on, and the road was deserted.

Vivace dropped slowly off the swing and began making her way back to the Dragon Watch.

-:-:-:-

The inn was full of people when Vivace entered. She looked about the dining room for any sign of her team, and seeing neither of them she made her way up to the room, having grabbed a small snack from one of the vendors outside. She figured she would bathe in the morning, when not so many people were around. Reaching the room, Vivace heard voices coming from the inside, and went in to see Elera and Dolly already sitting on their respective beds.

Dolly looked over at her arrival. “Oh, hey. Someone finally decided to join us.” She was freshly cleaned, and was wearing a smug expression on her face. Elera was looking at some maps she had bought, ones more detailed then the Journey Map.

Vivace walked over to an empty bed and clambered on top, kicking her boots off tiredly. There was one more bed in the room, inns being set up for single, pair or groups of four. Teams larger then that would generally get another room or remaining members would bunk on the floor. She looked over at the other two companions, and asked officially, “What’d you two get?”

Dolly smirked, and prodded Elera with an outstretched leg for her attention, signaling for her to go first. The demon put the maps down carelessly, evidently not found of the exercise. “We have more food, healing potions and herbs, and some territory maps.” she wrinkled her nose in distaste. “There wasn’t any good armor upgrades here, we’ll have to wait for some different shops. Besides the basics, there wasn’t much to get.”

Vivace nodded, and moved her attention to Dolly. The blonde human inspected her nails, and recited in a bored tone, “So far, there hasn’t been any news about the locations of the Heart Stones. It would’ve been too much to hope there would be.” Vivace felt her heart skip, but allowed Dolly to continue. “What we do know, is that there are a few teams that have been favored to win already. A group called the Winghunters entered the Tournament. They’re pretty famous in the games, as well as the Bolt Strikers, and Rosaids. The last one which we met already, and should probably watch out for in case we run into them again.”

“What, you mean those nymphs?” Vivace asked, startled. Dolly nodded. “They didn’t seem so tough.”

“No, they didn’t, did they?” Elera asked lightly from where she was sitting.

“They don’t look bad,” Dolly admitted, “I didn’t even recognize them, but they’re pretty well known. They’re seducers, and mainly strike at men. I guess that’s why they added a male to their mix recently, the female competitors think they’re a joke.”

Vivace mused over this information for a minute, but was drawn out of her thoughts quickly by Dolly asking, “So what’re we doing? I take it you looked at where we should go.”

Vivace nodded, and brought out the Journey Map she’d bought. “I looked at all the four and five star areas and dungeons, as well as any marked fiends.” Dolly nodded, leaning back on her pillows with her eyes closed, and Elera looked over from where she was sitting with interest. Vivace hesitated. “But, I think we should try something first.” The two women’s bodies shifted slightly, but they said nothing, obviously waiting. “I ran into that guy again, the one from WildFang.” she explained, looking over at Dolly, the only one who would know what she was speaking of. Vivace was trying to make her idea sound plausible. For some reason she wanted to check out the town the man had mentioned, anything was better then nothing, and running around blindly didn’t seem very appealing to her. “He mentioned something he’d heard once. Ever heard of Don Tensh?” Vivace sincerely hoped they would say no. She had looked at the map quickly while walking, the town was one step away from ghost town, and she doubted they’d want to go if they knew of it. Unfortunately, the fates chose to not smile on her, and Dolly frowned.

“Yeah. What’d he think was important there?”

Elera broke into the discussion curiously. “Who’re we talking about?”

“Some guy we met back in Sol Bremeck.” Dolly replied dismissively. “He’s the one who told us there was someone interested in joining a group at the Orchard. But I don’t see any reason to go all the way out to Don Tensh. There’s nothing out there. The entire town is a rundown trash heap.”

“He said he’d heard a rumor mention there might be somebody there who knows about the Heart Stones.” Vivace pushed. “I think we should check it out, it’s not like there’s anything else for us to be doing, we don’t really have any information yet, and running around is boring.”

“There are going to be boring spots on our journey, sorry to tell you.” Dolly replied icily. “There’s nothing there we could gain by going there. Just give us the next area that seems like a likely candidate and we’ll be good.”

“We should at least check it out!” Vivace shot back, stung. “He helped us in Sol Bremeck, why would he lie now?”

“Here’s a thought.” Dolly hissed, pushing herself up from her position. “Maybe he wasn’t trying to help us. You ever think he’s a competitor just trying to waste our time? Seriously, who would honestly tell a group to go down to a demon encampment for a team member? No offence, El.”

“None taken.” Elera replied, watching the argument break out between her two companions.

“But Elera turned out to be good for the team! Besides, he’s not a competitor, I asked him. He’s not in the Tournament.”

“Then why the hell’s he following the Tournament routes?” Dolly asked irritably. “I think you’re too eager to notice when someone’s lying to you.”

“I think you’re paranoid!” the gnome responded. “You’ve been around to many untrustworthy people, some of us have honor! I think it’s where we should go, if it doesn’t amount to anything, we leave!”

The two woman glared at one another, before finally turning toward the demon.

“Well?” They asked simultaneously.

Elera glanced back and forth between them. Gaining herself some time, she reached for the Journey Map Vivace had dropped onto the floor. Looking it over, she held it up and stated, “We go to Don Tensh, on our way to Aknia. There’s a rank four dungeon around there that isn’t too popular, it might have something. Don Tensh is right on the way.”

The two companions glared at her for a moment, and the way she avoided choosing sides. Then they shrugged, and flopped back onto their beds moodily. Elera smiled and tucked the Journey Map into the bag with the rest of the maps, and turned the lights off for them to sleep.