Four is the magic Number

Quest: Escort Services

Teresa was just lying cosily in bed, wrapped several times in her warm blankets. Her head was firmly dug into the soft pillow and her fat cat Awol was resting comfortably at her feet, only waking up occasionally to randomly attack her toes. She was used to that by now, so she tended to go to bed with thick socks on and being careful never to expose any flesh by accident. It had only been a few days since she had joined Silver Wolf, but already she was getting quite comfortable. She had found a nice place to live, made a few friends and the bar was quite good. The booze was above acceptable and the food was very doable. Best of all though was the activity. No matter the time of the day the guild was always busy and active.

She was just dreaming about the handsome warrior always loitering in the corner, flexing those beautiful muscles, when a loud noise woke her up from her dream. The knock was so loud the door croaked in it’s hinges and Teresa shot up so fast Awol was launched from the bed in terror.

Before the cat could land the door split in half with a bang and debris flew through the room. Instinctively she raised her hand and ‘shot’ a quick barrier around Awol to prevent it from getting hurt. She was too late to defend herself properly, but her passive barrier caught the most of it and aside from a few scratches she was fine. A few drops of blood ran from her face and into the corner of her mouth. A smile appeared on her face as she quickly licked her lips, tasting the iron in her own blood. “Hmmm I think I need to start eating more spinach.” She said with a grin to herself, trying to intimidate whoever was coming. She was a fifteen hundred year old witch with power to spare and immortality to boot. There was not really anyone she was afraid of.

“Comon! Show yourself you Ba— aahhhh Hectroi… ehh please come in.” She said with a broken voice as all the fight went out of her.
“Ah so glad you still remember me after all these years Teresa. I heard you nowadays went by the nickname of the faint smile. Guess a lot can change in a few hundred years.” The black hair man said as he walked into the room, followed by two menacing henchman.
“Y-yeahh. I’m guessing though you are not here to free me of my debt I am guessing.” Teresa said with a slight stutter in her voice as she was trying to gauge them. The two henchman were strong, wizard saint class easily, but they did not even compare to Hectroi. In fact she could not even begin to sense the depth of his power. It was like standing up close in front of a gigantic and trying to see how deep it was.
“You know me better then that little one.” Hectroi said with a devious smile as he grasped her chin and pushed it up a bit so she was forced to look him in the eyes. “Now if I recall you owe me two thousand jewels, plus one point three million jewels of compound interest.” He continued as he squeezed roughly in Teresa’s chin.

She bit her tongue to prevent her from letting out a noise. She was simply to proud to give him the satisfaction.

WC: 575

Quest: The rarest Flower:

“You sure about that interest? It seems a bit steep!” Teresa said meekly as she swallowed deeply, trying to summon puppy eyes that she simply did not possess.
“Two hundred and seventeen! That is how long I have been waiting for my money.” Hectroi said with a deep grin as he released her. “Not to mention the destruction of half my city and mansion! No girl, you will start paying me back what you own.” He said with a devious grin as he was walking towards the door. “And this time I won’t make the mistake of marking you. I will simply destroy this guild and everywhere you run off to!” He said with a grin before vanishing, his two lackeys following soon.

With a desperate sigh Teresa fell backwards in her bed, ignoring the debris and dust now covering it. She snapped her fingers and a moment later Awol fell onto the bed, before dashing off with a loud hatefully hissing. That cat really hated being woken up.

For hours Teresa lay paralyzed in bed. Her mind racing, trying to understand what had just happened. How did a century old man find her and why did he track her down for such a feeble amount. Of course a few centuries ago two thousand jewels was enough to buy a medium sized city, but for the love of god she could not remember what she had used it for. She did remember the loan though and how she had cheated him. Hectroi had a way of tracking people by imprinting them with some kind of signature magic. Of course since Teresa’s body was not affectable like that in the long term, she had gladly borrowed the money and then vamoosed. Of course that was before today, when she found out that apparently Hectroi is very long lived as well.

And capable of bearing grudges is seemed… She thought desperate as she closed her eyes and reached for her magic bottle. She definitely needed a drink.

A while later she sat on the edge of her bed, slightly wobbly, flask in one hand and a burning cigarette in the other. She was still royally screwed, but at least now she was drunk enough that she could think a bit straighter without falling into desperation. Instinctively she knew Hectroi was not bluffing and he would destroy the guild. Perhaps there were those in the guild who could stop him, perhaps not, but she was sure he could wreak so much damage before that it would be heard to tell the difference.

“It’s not like I have the money though… not even close. Plus I have the feeling that once I paid it all back, he will make up property damage claims.” She thought as she inhaled deeply from her cigarette, her lungs filling with black smoke.

Suddenly a noise ripped her from her thoughts. A soft vibrating noise coming from the nightstand next to her bed. To her surprise a small black communicator was lying on it. Confused Teresa picked it up, wondering if her communicator had changed color while she was asleep. The modern technique was ama- “Yeah I kinda forgot to say this. If you don’t have the two thousand by tomorrow evening… well you know this song. Buh bye.”

WC: 546
TWC: 575 + 546 = 1,121

Quest: Find those puppies:[/b]

Teresa spend the next ten minutes refreshing her arsenal of swear words and if the walls had ears, they would have bled after her tirade. At the end she sighed loudly and finally got up. There was not a whole lot she could do. Maybe Leona could defeat Hectroi, but she could definitely not do it herself, so for now she should just come up with the jewels. With a loud sigh she finished her cigarette, flicked the remains in the fireplace and snapped her fingers. A moment later she appeared from the white cloud of smoke fully dressed. Her silver gray body suit was snug around her, the one hundred thirty claymore pressed against her spine and mythril boots tight around her feet.

“Awol I will probably be gone for a while. Please go outside if you need to unload and help yourself to the food.” Teresa said with a faint smile as she placed a 10 KG bag in the middle of the room and kicked a big hole into it with her right foot. It was a system that worked well for the two of them, although she knew it was probably also the reason Awol was as fat as she was. As she left the room she made sure to leave the window open, so it could leave at her leisure.

A few minutes later Teresa stormed into the guild room. Her feet thundering over the wooden floor, the boards croaking in distress, as she sped her way towards the job board. Almost without looking she grabbed four quest jobs and dashed out again. It seems there was something about a date, something about a flower and then something with puppies. The last one was a bit weirder, but she would get to it eventually.

The first job she did was going to some dance with some weirdo prince or something. The flyer had said something about hardship. Luckily Teresa was a fully licensed nanny and an understanding woman, so she spend the night with the prince and at the end he was smiling happily. Not the most glamorous job she had ever done, but she was desperate. The rest of the night she spend trawling through some spooky forest, beating up goblins and dire wolves, but by morning she delivered the requested flowers. Stifling a big yawn she then went on to search for the puppies. Luckily tracking down living things was one of her specialties. By concentrating she could see every bit of life force in a huge area as dot’s on a map and she knew exactly how puppies ‘tasted’. For a lack of a better word, tasted seems to be the most appropriate.

The owners were delighted when Teresa came delivering the puppies by noon, all of them cozily pressed between her ar

Quest: Find those puppies:[/b]

Teresa spend the next ten minutes refreshing her arsenal of swear words and if the walls had ears, they would have bled after her tirade. At the end she sighed loudly and finally got up. There was not a whole lot she could do. Maybe Leona could defeat Hectroi, but she could definitely not do it herself, so for now she should just come up with the jewels. With a loud sigh she finished her cigarette, flicked the remains in the fireplace and snapped her fingers. A moment later she appeared from the white cloud of smoke fully dressed. Her silver gray body suit was snug around her, the one hundred thirty claymore pressed against her spine and mythril boots tight around her feet.

“Awol I will probably be gone for a while. Please go outside if you need to unload and help yourself to the food.” Teresa said with a faint smile as she placed a 10 KG bag in the middle of the room and kicked a big hole into it with her right foot. It was a system that worked well for the two of them, although she knew it was probably also the reason Awol was as fat as she was. As she left the room she made sure to leave the window open, so it could leave at her leisure.

A few minutes later Teresa stormed into the guild room. Her feet thundering over the wooden floor, the boards croaking in distress, as she sped her way towards the job board. Almost without looking she grabbed four quest jobs and dashed out again. It seems there was something about a date, something about a flower and then something with puppies. The last one was a bit weirder, but she would get to it eventually.

The first job she did was going to some dance with some weirdo prince or something. The flyer had said something about hardship. Luckily Teresa was a fully licensed nanny and an understanding woman, so she spend the night with the prince and at the end he was smiling happily. Not the most glamorous job she had ever done, but she was desperate. The rest of the night she spend trawling through some spooky forest, beating up goblins and dire wolves, but by morning she delivered the requested flowers. Stifling a big yawn she then went on to search for the puppies. Luckily tracking down living things was one of her specialties. By concentrating she could see every bit of life force in a huge area as dot’s on a map and she knew exactly how puppies ‘tasted’. For a lack of a better word, tasted seems to be the most appropriate.

The owners were delighted when Teresa came delivering the puppies by noon, all of them cozily pressed between her arms and majestic chest, making sure they kept warm.

With a friendly smile and bow she accepted the reward money and put it with the other jewels. That was fifteen hundred, she was about three quarters there. Stifling a yawn Teresa reached inside her spatial pouch and reached the last job flyer. She had to search quite a bit as it had fallen under a lot of stuff and she was actually finding it difficult to concentrate. She was not exactly a spring chicken anymore and concentrating this long without sleep or coffee was getting harder and harder.

TWC: 1,121 + 579 = 1,700

Quest: Breaking and exiting:[/b]

As she read the last flyer though a few curses left her mouth. This was actually a time sensitive job and she probably should have done this one first. It was too late to regret things now though and she quickly dashed towards the harbor. With a bit of luck there might have been a delay and she could still capture the thieves. On the way she grabbed a cup of sextuple espresso from the small bonus she got from the puppy quest. Having boobs sometimes really paid off if the quest giver was a timid young male.

Luckily she arrived just in time at the docks. Apparently there had been some delays and customs had insisted on talking to the captain. By the time Teresa arrived there was a full fight going on between the pirates and the dock crew. Luckily nobody was hurt yet, or her rewards might be cut.

Clenching her fist, Teresa let out a terrifying howl, as she summoned enough energy to make in physically manifest itself as a deep purple aura around her. This was enough to draw the attention of the pirates as she had hoped. Of course using anything over thirty percent of her power was overkill, but she needed their attention. “Hello everyone. If the dock workers could please back off and the pirates surrender, I would be much obliged.” She said with a grin as she drew her humongous claymore and casually began to walk towards the group. “I am Teresa from the Silver Wolf guild and I am willing to let you all live. I must warn you though, I am tired, grumpy and not in the mood to get dirty! So this deal stands until a single droplet of blood touches me. Then it will be in for a penny, in for a slaughter.” She said grumpily as she pushed out a bit of extra magic power, causing lightning to spark and the ground to crack under her feet.

…

“Hectroi I got your two thousand.” She said with a sigh as she grabbed the communicator, activated and crashed into her bed all at the same time. A loud hissing and crying came from the blankets and a moment later a furious Awol shot out from underneath. The cat gave her a spiteful look, before jumping on her tummy and begin making a new place to get comfortable. As usual, when annoyed, the cat used the full amount of nails to do so and Teresa cringed slightly, bearing with it until the cat finally settled down. “Very good little one. I will come to pick it up tonight. And from now on I expect there to be a payment of five thousand jewels eac week, until your debt has been paid.” Hectroi said calm as a business man and did not show any emotion. “Good thing we are both very long lived ehhhh…” The man suddenly added with a loud chuckle, just before hanging up.

For a moment there was no movement and nothing but silence, before the phone flew through the room, followed by an ungodly amount of swear words. It bounced harmlessly off the wall into some corner. Apparently Hectroi had anticipated and bought a very sturdy model.

A moment later Teresa sighed, grabbed a bottle of booze from underneath her bed and lit a black cigarette. “Well Awol… it seems we will be stuck here for a while. We better get used to the guild life, until the boogyman decides we have paid him off.” She said dead serious as she poured a bit of Sake into Awols drink bowl, before taking a huge sip herself. A moment later the cat had jumped off her tummy and ran towards her drinking bowl, purring loudly. “Cheers indeed.” Teresa said with an ironic grin, lifting the bottle high. Awol followed my meowing loudly and sticking her fluffy tail straight up in the air.

TWC: 1,700 + 667 = 2,367