Chapter 4

There was excitement in the air. Vennoa could see children happily running around, as if this was a circus or fair of some sort. Were they adventurers? Or children of adventurers? Some of the children seemed to be ... floating?

Vennoa peered a little more closely. The children appeared to be drinking some sort of potion, and then start floating. Well, not all of them. Some of the children started bouncing, at a higher frequency and greater height than a regular child’s bouncing. And yet others changed colors. The effects seemed to only last for a short while, because the children had disappointed looks on their faces as they floated or bounced back down to the ground for the last time. Some of the children were still high in the air when they stopped floating, and landed hard on the ground, but they picked themselves back up none the worse for wear.

Vennoa followed the children whose magical effects had ended, and they all seemed to run in the same direction. No wonder, there was a long line of people waiting to get their hands on the potion.

“I see you’ve noticed the samples they are giving out,” Magolyn said. “That’s my first quest for you all. Get me one of those samples.”

“Can’t you just get it yourself?” Tempest asked.

“I’m a VIP,” Magolyn retorted. “I can’t bother myself with queues and such. That’s for mundane people like yourselves.”

Vennoa crossed her arms. “You said first quest?”

Magolyn nodded sagely. “You’re a perceptive one. For your second quest, I want you to find the secret entrance to the VIP area.”

“Aren’t you a VIP? Shouldn’t you know where the entrance is?” Barkas asked.

“Well, yes. But it’s a secret, so no,” Magolyn said. “So you’ll have to figure it out. It wouldn’t do for a VIP like me to ask around for it, would it?”

Vennoa sighed. “So we’re running these errands for your ego?”

“You got it!” Magolyn said.

“What else is there?”

Magolyn replied, “That’s it. Just simple things for adventurers like you, I’m sure.”

Everyone stayed silent.

“Before I forget,” Magolyn continued. “Hold on to this.” He handed each of them a runestone of some sort. “This will let me know when you’re done with your quests.”

With that, Magolyn snapped his fingers and disappeared into the air.

Vennoa turned the runestone around and looked at it. She couldn’t tell if it was magical, but it had to be?

“So ... how are we going to do this?” Tempest asked.

“There’s such a long line for the potions. Let’s get that first before it runs out,” Gaerril suggested.

Vennoa shrugged. She wasn’t sure why she was doing these “quests” in the first place. Was this what adventurers did all day?

The party trudged over, and Vennoa realized there was not a single line, but three. Each line was extremely long. At the head of each queue, a short goblin could be seen handing out the potions. It looked like each person could only get a single potion.

Vennoa considered buying one off someone who’d just gotten a potion, or persuading them to part with it, but everyone drank their potion immediately upon receiving it. She then wanted to go towards the front of the line, and find someone she could swap places with, but it seemed like the goblins had thought of everything. There were barricades surrounding the lines, and armed goblins were walking around. Anyone who approached the lines from the sides were promptly stopped by the guards and turned away. Vennoa sighed, and joined the other three at the back of the middle line.

The line proceeded agonizingly slowly. To be fair, each person at the head of the queue got their potion fairly quickly — the goblins were handing them out as fast as they could — but there were just so many people in the queue that it would be ages before Vennoa could get hers.

Behind the goblins handing out the potions, there was a large tented structure. Vennoa looked inside as best as she could, and she could make out another goblin seated in the middle of the tent. She figured he was the leader or boss of the goblins, since he was seated in a big chair, akin to a king of some sort. Vennoa could also make out a large cloaked figure standing inside the tent, having an argument with a second goblin inside. Vennoa tried listening, but she was too far from the tent to make anything out.

Slowly but surely, they made their way towards the front of the queue. Now, Vennoa could hear the argument inside the tent, which was still going strong. However, it was in a language that Vennoa couldn’t understand, so it didn’t help that she could now hear it.

“They’re arguing about the potions,” Barkas said, noticing that Vennoa was trying to understand the pair.

“You understand them?”

“Yes, they’re speaking Goblin,” he answered.

“What about the potions are they arguing about?” Vennoa asked.

“The big one is asking for more samples,” the ranger replied, referring to the large cloaked figure. “But the goblin is telling him to join the line and get a single potion.”

Vennoa thought for a second, and pulled him with her as she exited the line. He was startled, but followed along. They walked directly towards the large tent, and was soon blocked by a goblin guard, who tried to look as menacing as she could.

“We know your boss,” Vennoa said in Common, pointing at the seated goblin inside the tent. “He’ll want to talk to us.”

The goblin shrugged and crossed her arms, not understanding what Vennoa said. Vennoa prodded Barkas to translate for her.

“She doesn’t believe you,” Barkas said. “She says that if you can’t speak Goblin, you can’t possibly be friends with her boss.”

Tempest, who was still in the line with the Gaerril, took this opportunity to gather up a few stones from the ground. He took aim at the goblin guard, and threw a rock at her. His aim was terrible, and he missed wide. However, he did hit one of the goblins giving out the potions in another line.

There was a huge commotion, as the goblin looked around to figure out where the stone was from. The guard grumbled something to Barkas, and scuttled off towards the other goblin.