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HC:Pacifist | Ch. 25 - The Baroness

Added 2023-04-26 18:21:32 +0000 UTC

Whereas the throne room of the Rat Cave screamed glory and majesty, the chambers he was entering spoke a very different story of femininity and comfort. There were cushions and draperies in shades of pink, purple, and violet. Unlike the dark chambers outside, torches on the wall allowed one to experience respite from the moist darkness. A beautiful fox in a dress was sitting on a desk close to a shelf filled with books. Seeing her, he understood why the adjective 'foxy' was synonymous with 'beautiful.' She was indeed the most beautiful fox he had seen. Her fur was glossy, and she was even wearing makeup. Unlike many common foxes who walked on all fours, she walked on twos and wore clothes like a human.

"Greetings, storyteller."

Roth bowed, not knowing what the correct protocol was.

"Greetings, baroness. I am Pax. It is an honor to meet you."

The baroness giggled at the visage of a human speaking such good Foxian. She seemed impressed.

"So, the word in the tunnels and dens is that you have many interesting stories to tell."

"I can't take credit for them, baroness. I heard them or saw them happening and simply recount them."

"Isn't that the secret to a good story? For it to be seen and heard before told?"

Roth remained silent. He took a moment to examine the shelf in the room. He couldn't help it. The tomes on the shelf had such beauty that his eyes were drawn to them. The engravings in them were just too pretty. The collection of dark-leathered tomes covered with shiny, delicate gold leaf letters was mesmerizing. All the volumes had identically decorated covers and were all numbered. After appreciating the beauty of the book covers, he noticed that two numbers were missing. Strange.

"Oh? I see this is the first time you see the Fox Canon?"

"Yes, Baroness. I have heard of it from the foxes. The tomes are beautiful."

"They are. A great master engraver worked on those. They are even more beautiful inside. I'm sorry; I'm afraid I can't let you look into them. Only foxes can." Roth felt a pang of regret. If there had been benefits to looking at the tapestries in the throne room, he imagined there would likely be benefits to looking at these tomes. But it seemed that even though he had reached esteemed status with foxes, he still wouldn't be allowed to look into them. He would probably need an even closer relationship with them to do so.

The baroness continued, "I call you here because I have something to ask of you. But it is a nice surprise to see you are a broker. Old Oscar has done us good over the years, but he won't be around for long, and he only gets us in contact with the local human villages. Seeing a broker like yourself, perhaps you could assist us with our imports and exports?"

The quest [Audience with the Fox Baroness] has changed to [Fox Trade].

Fox Trade (rare)

The Fox Baroness has been running low on funds to buy her perfumes, make-up, and cushions of choice. She hopes that with your assistance, she'll have some pocket money to indulge in her expensive shopping habits.

Quest objective: Take some of the foxes’ specialty products to a human town and sell them for the highest price possible.

Quest rewards: It depends on how much profit you generate.

The Fox Baroness wants to trade you 100x [Fox Ginseng]. Do you accept?

[Y/N]

"It would be my privilege to try to assist you with us, baroness."

The baroness has traded you 100x [Fox Ginseng].

"Very good. I thank you. I will be awaiting your good news," she said diplomatically with a pleasant, professional smile.

"Baroness, do you mind if I ask you one question before I leave?" Her blank look let him know that he could.

"I'm curious. All tomes are numbered on the shelf, but two numbers are missing. Is there any reason for this?"

"You're observant, human. Worthy of a fox!"

Your observation and insight impress the foxes.

+1 charisma

+10 reputation with all foxes

"Well, yes. Two of the tomes are missing. Someone stole it," she sighed. "You must understand that our stories are our most valuable possession to us, foxes. For me to have lost track of two tomes is my greatest shame."

"What happened?"

"Well, one morning, when I woke up, I realized that the tomes had been stolen; I turned the tunnels upside down, looking for any signs of them. All that I found was this." She pulled out a glass bottle with a single hair in it. It was gray.

"Are there any gray foxes in these woods?"

"Not this shade of gray. And it doesn't smell like a fox, either. No. This was something else."

[Tapestry Heist] updated.

During your visit to the baroness, you discovered that the theft of the tapestries was no isolated incident. It seems there have been a series of heists against the rulers of the woods. The only clue you have uncovered is that the burglar has gray fur.

Quest objectives: Find out the location of the stolen tapestries and tomes.

Quest rewards: Unknown

"Ma'am, I am helping the rats investigate a similar heist to their throne room. I think these thefts may be connected. Would you mind if I took the evidence you found and assisted you in finding the thief?"

The Fox Baroness has traded you [Mysterious Fur].

As Roth left the chambers of the baroness, he wanted to dance with happiness. In fact, he did so. He busted out some dance moves to celebrate his success.

Foxes see you dancing and feel embarrassed.

-16 reputation with all foxes

Uuuh. Awkward, realized Roth. Some foxes had caught his celebration. He regained his composure and tried to keep the celebratory dance for later. His hunch had been correct. Staying behind in these woods and building a relationship with all the factions here would allow him to complete a few overlapping quests! When he finished them, he would receive an outpouring of rewards. After several years of setbacks in real life and a few in the game, it felt good to know he had made a good decision.

From what he gathered in the forums, the three factions left were the badgers, the ravens, and the boars. By dealing with the foxes, he had learned that the stronger a race, the more difficult it was to build a relationship with them. With the foxes, he had to invest much more time and effort in getting to an esteemed status with them. Just to find the Fox Baroness NPC, Roth had to waste a whole day.

Fortunately, he knew from foxes that badgers liked poetry, and ravens liked riddles. He was terrible at both. It was time to get busy. Instead of being in the middle of this chaos of players wanting to run dungeons, he returned to the most comfortable place he knew to enact his next plan.

He returned to the chambers and sat on one of the cushions in the Fox Baroness' room. At first, she threw him a few sidelong glances, but since he kept quiet, she didn't seem bothered. She kept writing away in the official-looking documents. At least here, he could have some privacy. He was the only one who knew this place existed, anyway.

A few moments after Roth had entered the Fox Tunnels, a green blur dashed through the woodland and arrived at the dungeon's entrance. Judging the best observation spot, Gary climbed a tree to get an aerial view of the crowd of beginners below. There, perched on a branch, he activated his observation skill, and his eyes shone red.

As he looked at the players below, he could see their name IDs and basic information on their characters. He couldn't find the Pax avatar. Gary ran some numbers in his head. The average clear time for this dungeon was two hours. If Roth were inside the dungeon, by any chance, and still had the 'Pax' ID, he would come out eventually. To be safe, he decided to wait three hours and see if he was there.

After a few minutes of boredom, he decided to browse the forums. Gary's ID was 'GrandpaBill110'. Like most players, he had just selected randomize when choosing his nickname in the forums. After going through a few posts, he found a new post by a so-called Sphinx314. He was inviting players to share riddles they knew. How amusing. Gary loved a good riddle. He went ahead and started posting.

While Roth sat on one of the baroness' comfortable cushions, he created a username. He clicked on randomize and was assigned the username "Sphinx314". That was as good as any. He went to a section in the forums for players to exchange quips, jokes, and humorous remarks and started two new posts. The first one was like this:

A hopeless romantic needs help.

#love #proposal #wedding #poetry #poet

Poster: Sphinx314

Post: Hello, everyone. I am in love with this girl and want to ask her out. She has a thing for badgers, and she loves poetry. I am trying to come up with poems that speak of badgers to impress her. Please, help us be happy. I would be eternally grateful if you could give me any ideas for poems.

The second one was this:

Riddle me this.

#riddles #cringe #funny #iambored

Poster: Sphinx314

Post: Fellow players, I am creating this post to share some riddles. Sometimes I find myself running between towns with nothing interesting to do. Hopefully, this will help us all have a good time together. Leave your riddle below in the comments!

The game had billions of players. He was sure someone somewhere would stumble upon these posts and give him the ammo he needed to curry favor with the badgers and ravens. Not five minutes had elapsed, and comments started to trickle in.

A hopeless romantic needs help.

#love #proposal #wedding #poetry #poet

Poster: Sphinx314

Comments

DollyDoll: Aaaw... That's so sweet. She's a lucky girl. It's weird that she's into badgers so much, but oh well. To each their own. I dabble in poetry. Here are a few lines I wrote for your girl!

like the berries and fragrances of the woodland

Your smile is sweet, and your eyes are savory.

Your hand is soft as a badger's fur.

So I want to ask for it. Will you marry me?

HopelessTitanicFan: Oh wow! That's so romantic. I have a thing for badgers too. They are the cutest! Here is one of my favorite poems. John Clare wrote it. You can get some ideas from it.

The Badger

The badger grunting on his woodland track
With shaggy hide and sharp...

Riddle me this.

#riddles #cringe #funny #iambored

Poster: Sphinx314

SearingSeer441: What is easy to lift but hard to throw?

A feather

BoredJokster190: What runs but can't walk?

A river

GrandpaBill110: What flies without wings?

Time

Roth was thrilled with the response of the community. With this, he could move on to the next part of his plan. However, before he left the tunnels, he scratched his head and pulled out the list of friends. There, a single name highlighted in green greeted him. He thought for a moment, took a few deep breaths, and sent a message.

Ch. 24 - Dead End

INDEX

Ch. 25.5 - Elm Street 73