There is No Epic Loot Here, Only Puns

63: Wyin or Lose

What was a Peacekeeper?

Quiss watched as Noland attempted to dry himself off, while the frogman apologized endlessly under the withering glare of Devina.

He was here because he was a Peacekeeper. The job pushed onto him by the elders of Durence by dint of sheer lack of anyone else willing (dumb enough) to do it. Quiss thought back to that day and struggled to really remember anyone else at that town hall meeting.

The curse of Durence was a subtle one. Quiss had chosen a dingy shack at the edge of town to minimize the effect on himself but even that hadn't been enough. His own investigation had slowed to a crawl, an afterthought.

He looked at the roaring waterfall, the shadowy form of the worm below the surface of the pool, he looked at the lushness of the space around him, and he felt a little annoyed at the irony of it.

Quiss had come to find a way to burn the very heart of nature and yet it was nature of a sort that had saved him from fading away until he was a mere hermit. He had become just a grumpy Peacekeeper that barely tolerated those around him. But in the beginning, he did have a reason to accept the Peacekeeper duty.

It was such a small reason, but he honestly couldn't help it.

His master had been a Peacekeeper as well, once upon a time. She had once said that it was a lesson that never ended. Quiss' throat went dry as he thought about her bemused smirk; like she was intentionally not telling him something about the role.

He had needled her to tell him more, of course. Seth had merely accepted it and asked her what she loved about it. The water mage was a polite and studious type, even back then.

His master ruffled both of their heads fondly as she winked.

"Definitely the people. You learn much about yourself when you become responsible."

Damn woman had forgotten to mention the stress that came with the badge. Then again, she was never the Peacekeeper of Durence. He admitted that perhaps that part might have added some tiny amount of extra problems.

Like trying to show the Taxman around a backwards Dungeon while a powerful bard and a scary archdruid kept making his blood pressure rise.

Then there was Deo.

Bob rose out of the water again with Deo laughing his heart out as he clung to Bob's head.

Bob, who would name such a demonic being Bob? The answer was all around him and he merely sighed.

Delta. How that name had changed everything. He was grateful for the mana to bring him back to his senses but the mana was waking up everyone. The elders, Von, Isanella, Holly, and, all the other hidden gribblers of Durence he didn't even know about yet.

What other beings lived in Durence that Quiss had never seen? What nightmarish creatures disguising themselves as friendly neighbors lurked just out of sight? The demonic school at least was consistent. Mr. Jones never seemed to diminish nor to grow as mana left and returned.

Ruli herself only seemed to be somewhat weakened.

Quiss would have to look into what made them so resistant to the mana fade. Demonic energy? The mana fade was a rare enough event but to have a demon inside it?

The thought was pushed aside as Devina gestured to a side path that continued deeper into the woods.

"Come, the mana rises and wasting time may be unwise," she called. Isanella waited, a towel in hand that she had pulled from her rather small bag, as Bob gently lowered Deo back to solid ground. The boy grinned as two red crabs danced out of his shirt and back into the pond.