Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

Chelsea was a small mining town of five hundred people. Its land was infertile, but thanks to hard-working farmers and the occasional purification from a traveling Priest of Hope, it managed to produce enough to keep its people fed throughout the winter.

The village was roughly a hundred and fifty years old. Its buildings were primarily made of wood, and it was clear from their run-down exteriors that many of their building materials were salvaged, likely from the houses torn down after the bulk of the town's residents moved to Jigolath Ridge when the mines were spent.

No guards stopped them at the entrance, and the few villagers they saw eyed them suspiciously. This stood to reason, given that it was winter, and the town was disproportionately weak, given the surrounding wildlife.

Out of the five hundred villagers, there were only about a hundred blood-thickening cultivators, as well as a handful of bone-forging cultivators. The mayor was naturally one of them, while the Adventurers Guild and the Mages Guild had one apiece.

"The remaining three bone-forging cultivators each belong to private firms that hire adventurers to excavate whatever ores they can salvage from the spent mines," explained Gareth. "These cultivators belong to the West Rain Mineral Corporation, Johnson & Hilbert Prospecting, and Mayfield Fine Metals."

"I feel like we could basically crush this entire town with just our team," said Lawrence. "I mean, look at them, all scared of us. This case is going to be a cakewalk."

"Never underestimate corruption cases," said Gareth, slamming the case file shut. "And watch your words so you don't intimidate the populace. The last thing we want is for them to clam up and stall our investigation. Or worse: drive potential cultists or powerful corrupted cultivators to do something desperate."

"There's something off about this town," muttered Sorin. "Something I can't quite put my finger on." There was something about the air, above and beyond the naturally occurring corruption that came with the winter cold and its accompanying snow.

"Is there something affecting our bodies without our knowledge?" asked Gareth.

"I'm not sure," said Sorin, shaking his head. "It's honestly just a gut feeling. I can feel anything affecting me, and I also can't detect anything affecting anyone on our team."

"Maybe you just don't like the locals," suggested Lawrence. "Look at them, sneaking peeks at us. You don't often see insular people like these."

"The town doesn't get a lot of traffic, so it's nothing out of the ordinary," said Gareth. "They get merchants coming through every month or so, and they only stay for a day before heading out. Apparently, it was one of the more regular merchants that tipped off the Nighthawks in Jigolath Ridge."

"I know you're very absorbed in your current role and all, but could we perhaps hurry things up?" asked Daphne. "It's cold out here, and we've been traveling non-stop for three days. I could use a warm meal and a hot bath."

"I agree with Daphne," said Stephan. "That inn in Jigolath Ridge spoiled us. We never should have stayed there."

"Reee!" agreed Lorimer from his perch on Sorin's shoulder.

"The investigation takes precedence, so we'll stop by the Adventurers Guild first," said Gareth. "The case file didn't have a map, but it should be pretty easy to find in such a small—ah, there it is."

"Isn't this a little too shabby?" said Lawrence as they walked into what amounted to a large wooden house with boarded-up windows. "Doesn't this place have a bone-forging cultivator? You'd think that would up the standards."

"Don't judge a book by its cover," said Gareth, leading the way inside the guild. "I'm sure everything's fine on the inside."

The cover turned out to be much nicer than the guild's interior. There was a common room, a mission desk, and three rooms out back, including the privy. A tired man woke up with a start as cold air blew into the building, snuffing out a fire that was on its last embers.

"Chelsea Adventurers Guild," said the clerk with a yawn. "What business does a group of adventurers have in our small town?"

"We're here to see the Guild Master," said Gareth. "Do you know where we might be able to find him?"

"The Guild Master?" asked the clerk with a start. "Why in the Dark Lady's name would you want to see him?"

"I think it's best if that remains confidential," answered Gareth. "Just tell us where he is, and we'll be on our way."

"Who'sh there?!" came a loud voice from behind a half-closed door at the back of the building. "Ish it the mayor or one of hish annoying administratorsh? Or maybe shomeone from the Magesh Guild thinking they should go out killing demonsh becaushe they just learnt their first spell?"

"Nothing of the sort," said the clerk hurriedly. "Why don't you get back to resting, and I'll sort things out with this group of foreign adventurers."

"Foreign adventurersh?" exclaimed the speaker. "Why didn't you shay sho?" The door slammed open, revealing a pot-bellied man with beady eyes. "I'm going out for drinksh Harry. Come fetch me at the inn if anything happensh."

***

A half-hour later, Sorin and company were sitting in a quaint inn near the entrance of town in the company of the Adventurers Guild's very drunk Guild Master Fergusson. "I always come to this old watering hole whenever I get the chance," said the guild master. "The ale's not bad, the prices are alright, and they won't inshisht that I'm drunk and refuse to sherve me when I'm clearly not. Ishn't that right, Wendy?"

"Of course, dear," said the innkeeper, Wendy Adams. The middle-aged woman placed two large trays full of food and a very large mug of ale on a neighboring table. "Who in their right mind would call you drunk when you're clearly just getting started? Now, who ordered the stew, and who ordered the roast mutton?"

"Stew here!" called out Lawrence. "Mine's the one with extra bread."

"I've got the second stew," said Stephan. "I believe the rest ordered mutton. Except my friend's… pet."

"Don't worry about the rat," said the innkeeper. "We get all sorts around here. Mr. Kepler, I'll just start you and your rat off with a plate each, and I'll be out with the rest shortly."

They all started eating while the guild master drained his mug. Then, after some careful prodding by Gareth, the man finally got talking. "That hit the shpot," said the guild master. "Itsh always a treat when rich folk like you come in for an important misshion. Shpeaking of which, what short of mission are we talking about? It better not be hunting demonsh, becaushe around here thatsh a big a nono. Don't want to upshet the balance."

"We're actually here to investigate a tip made to the Nighthawks in Jigolath Ridge," said Gareth.

"Ah. One of thoshe," said the guild master. "Shure thing. Go around and do your thing. It seems to happen every few years."

"Every few years?" asked Gareth. "Sorry, but the case file made no mention of this."

"It never doesh, for shome reason," said the guild master. "I blame lazhy adminishtratorsh. Anyway, itsh undershtantable that you're here. Thish town is a little bit… strange."

"Strange?" asked Gareth. "How so?"

The drunken guild master waved his hand. "Wouldn't want to shkew your investigation, you man. Ash for your followup questions, no, I haven't sheen or heard anything out of the ordinary, and I haven't met anyone shuspishious. Though there wash that one girl that hash a room here, but she's a different short of strange. An adventurer, but not really. Shpent a lot of time in our shad excushe for a library. Sheemed like a shcholarl of shome kind."

"What's her name and rank?" asked Gareth, taking out a notebook and mana pen.

"Two-shtar adventurer, one-shtar hero," said the guild master. "Her name's Ashtley. Don't remember what her family name ish."

Gareth wrote down the tidbit of information before moving on to his next question. "Have there been any strange movements by local demons? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"Nothing," said the guild master. "Demonsh are nice and peashful around here. Alwaysh have been. Shome of the more… fanatical people in town shay itsh because the Dark Lady keeping ush shafe, but I don't believe any of that drivel. We're jusht not worth bothering, ash long ash we don't cause any trouble."

"Can you tell me more about this so-called Dark Lady?" asked Gareth. Sorin was also interested. A strange religion with a large following was one of the warning signs they were told to look out for in these investigations.

The guild master shook his head. "I don't know noshing. Don't want to know noshing either. Thish village is peashful and shafe, and that's all I'm intershted in. Sho if you'll be sho kind ash to not make too big of a shtink during your investigation, I'd be very sho grateful."

"We'll try to be discrete," Gareth assured him. "But do let us know if you think of anything else. On an unrelated note, do you have any requests a group of two-star adventurers could fulfill around here?"

"None," said the guild master. "Like I shaid, we're a quiet settlement. Adventurersh rarely find anything in the mines unlesh they go in with one of the companiesh. The village is shelf-shufficient and traveling merchantsh come with their eshcortsh.

"Now, If that'sh all, I've got a nap to catch up on. Let me know if you actually do find shomething intereshting, and I'll lend a hand. Eshpecially if it involvesh the mayor. Alwaysh wanted to put him in hish plashe." With that, the guild master finished off his drink and hobbled out of the inn, leaving their group to finish their meal in peace.

The inn, like the Adventurers Guild, was deathly quiet. According to the innkeeper, most of her rooms were open, and there was no need to double up. The inn was bought and paid for, and she made most of her money selling dinner and drinks to miners who were off-duty or between shifts.

"I barely heard half of what he was saying," said Lawrence. "Out of curiosity, Sorin, why didn't you just purge his poison?"

"Because he looked like not being drunk might kill him," answered Sorin. "Also, I discretely asked Gareth about it, and he said he'd rather talk to the man while he was inebriated."

"Loose lips are a wonderful thing in this sort of investigation," said Gareth. "Unfortunately, we didn't get much out of him. Did any of you manage to pick anything out of that mess?"

"That mention of Dark Lady was interesting," said Daphne. "I wonder if she's a local cultivator."

"My case file is apparently borderline useless and makes no mention of her," said Gareth. "For all I know, she might be some long-lost deity from time immemorial."

"It's worth looking into," said Stephan. "Madness often beguiles people into worshiping false deities. A hidden cultivator that a large portion of the population looks up to is also suspect. Did you wish fire medallion on him?"

"I did," said Gareth, fishing out the faded gold coin from his pocket. "He's clean. I also sensed no falsehoods in his words. He's at least convinced that he's being honest." He then tapped his fingers on his lips and looked from Stephan to Daphne, to Lawrence, and finally, to Sorin. "We'll split up into two teams and begin our investigation right away. Sorin, Lawrence, and Lorimer, you'll make up the first team. As for me, I'll go with Stephan and Daphne. That should give each team a diverse skillset and enough power to deal with surprises."

"Don't you think you're being a little too cautious?" asked Stephan. "If you ask me, we could split up five ways and have all this done within the day."

Gareth refused. "The odds might be in our favor, as most corruption cases don't lead to anything, but I'm not willing to take any chances."

Stephan sighed. "Whatever. Corruption cases are your thing. I'm just here to maul people and monsters if things get out of hand."

"Same," said Sorin. "Though I suppose I could also confirm clinical insanity if we have reason to doubt the wish fire medallion." There was also his sensitivity to corruption, though that was a card he was holding tight to his chest.

"Then it's settled," said Gareth. "We'll all rest for an hour before setting out. We'll meet back here at nine in the evening."

"We just got," complained Lawrence. "Can't we have a short break?"

"You just did," said Gareth. "Now, finish up your food and get cracking."