After leaving behind Ellen, Flynn, and Marlene's home, Alfyn began to scan the area with a frown on his face. He admittedly didn't know where to start when it came to gathering information, but he figured that the tavern would be as good a place to start as any. He had learned that taverns were one of the best places to learn more about the surrounding area, and Therion had only followed up on that to make it ring even truer in Alfyn's ears. In other words, it was likelier they would find information there than anywhere else, and given that they were on a time crunch, Alfyn was desperate to get inside to start asking questions.
Alfyn paused just outside the tavern when he noticed that there was a strange path leading out of town nearby. He stared at it for a long moment, watching the crags carefully like he expected answers to come to life while he was standing there watching. He shook it off a moment later and turned in the direction of the tavern, and much to his surprise, he saw a man standing just outside the entrance of the building. He was counting leaves as far as Alfyn could tell.
The apothecary was quick to tap him on the shoulder after drawing nearer. "Excuse me, sir..." he said carefully, prompting the man to look up. He jabbed one finger over his shoulder in the direction of the winding path that led off into the distance. "Would you be able to tell me what all is back that way?"
The man straightened up after pocketing his leaves, a small frown on his face. "That's not somewhere you'd want to be going," he told Alfyn. "It's dangerous. There are a couple monsters that have decided to settle down in those caves, and they're prone to attacking just about anybody who gets too close. The only people who would be able to get back there would be great fighters. I don't know what's in the caves at the end of the path, but I'm willing to bet that it's not worth the risk."
Alfyn nodded along slowly at that, and he remembered from his past readings that there were many types of moss that tended to grow in dark, moist areas like that. In other words, it wouldn't be out of the question to say that there was at least something interesting in the area. "Alright... Thank you for the help," he told the man simply. He glanced in the direction of the tavern before deciding to not bother, darting off towards the back end of town instead.
Alfyn was moving so quickly that it was hard for the rest of his group to keep up with him, and Tressa had to practically run to fall into pace beside him. "What are you thinking now?" she asked. "Do you really think we're going to have to go back there if we want to figure out what's going on?"
"We might," Alfyn told her simply. "I'm not quite sure yet, but it wouldn't hurt for us to at least know a bit about what exactly goes on back there. There has to be something happening in that area, and if we can figure it out, then we're going to be better off."
Alfyn and the rest of the group arrived in the back part of town soon afterwards, and the apothecary once again took to glancing around the area. Talking to a few of the aristocrats who had bought medication from Vanessa seemed to be a nice place to try investigating next. Alfyn's eyes scrambled for anyone who might be considered useful to his cause, his stomach twisting into a knot along the way. He didn't want to believe that there was anything wrong with what Vanessa was doing. The facts were quickly being spelled out though, and he hated the picture that was being painted.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered seeing a dagger around her waist when they first spoke. It was hidden by her satchel at first, but it had been there. She knew how to fight, and once again, Alfyn felt sick to his stomach.
Damn it, Vanessa. You couldn't have...
Alfyn eventually saw a man who was walking through the back part of town, and he dashed off in the man's direction as quickly as he could. The aristocrat didn't seem to notice Alfyn at first, and the apothecary took that as his cue to get vocal. "Excuse me, sir!" he exclaimed. The man continued to ignore him, so Alfyn reached out and tapped him on the shoulder.
The aristocrat whirled around to face Alfyn with a glare on his face. "What do you want, runt?" he questioned angrily. "I don't recall giving you permission to speak to me."
"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but I have a few questions for you," Alfyn began to explain. "You were one of the people who bought an antidote from Vanessa Hysel, weren't you?"
The aristocrat stared for a long moment before crossing his arms. "Why are you asking?" he asked, his voice not wanting for malice in the slightest.
"I... I just have a few questions," Alfyn told him. "Do you happen to know anything about the medicine that she gave you? Would I be able to examine it?"
"How do I know that you're not going to take it and use it for yourself?" the aristocrat inquired carefully, his hand drifting to his pocket defensively. In other words, that was where the bottle was.
"I'm not going to do that," Alfyn assured him, but he could already tell that the man was going to need a bit more convincing. He cleared his throat before pointing his head in the direction of the caves at the front of town. "Do you know anything about the cavern system not far from the entrance of the city?"
"They're called the Caves of Azure," the man replied cautiously, not at all trusting Alfyn given the sudden switch of subject. "Nobody with their head nailed on properly would even dare to get close to them. There are monsters that live back there, you know."
"Has anyone ever gone in?" Alfyn asked next.
"A few travelers have... I believe they came back with a strange type of moss," the aristocrat explained. "It glowed in the proper lighting, I believe. There were many other nobles who were scrambling to get their hands on it believing it to be impressive in some way, but I wouldn't dare to touch something as lowbrow as moss. It's utterly ridiculous."
"Moss that glows..." Alfyn murmured under his breath as he let one hand come up to cup at his chin. He reached into his bag and pulled out his book, flipping through the pages at breakneck speeds. Eventually, he stopped, landing on the perfect page. "That sounds like glowworm moss. It glows in the darkness because of where it's harvested in dark, wet caves."
"What do you want with something like that?" the aristocrat scoffed. "It sounds foolish to be infatuated with something like moss."
Alfyn's hand drifted down to the bottle that was being hidden in the man's pocket. "Can I examine the bottle for a moment?" he asked. "I'll only need it for a few moments, and after that, I'll give it right back. I promise."
The aristocrat glared at Alfyn for a long moment before sighing and reaching into his pocket to pull out the bottle. It was almost completely empty, but there were a few small drops left at the bottom. Alfyn held the bottle up to the light and squinted in an attempt to glean as much as he could from it. He proceeded to cup the small bottle between his hands, covering them in as much darkness as possible before peering between his fingers at the medication shrouded in shadows.
Sure enough, there was a small glow that surrounded the moss when he peered at it just right, and he pulled his face away a moment later before uncorking the bottle and taking a quick whiff of the contents of the medication. That was all it took for everything to come into place. Glowworm moss was nowhere near as uncommon as Vanessa had made it sound; there seemed to be more than enough in the caves just off Goldshore, a place that only she seemed to know about because of the natural danger that came with it.
"Thank you, sir," Alfyn told the man as he passed the bottle back to the aristocrat. The man stared at Alfyn in confusion for a moment before he started to walk away, leaving Alfyn to cup his chin with one hand. "Vanessa set out for the Caves of Azure to the east of town then... I guess we know where we should be going next."
Alfyn took another step forward, but he was cut off by what sounded like the rustling of fabric and metal jingling against metal. He knew that sound anywhere, and he turned to see Therion sliding his way out of the shadows, one hand on his knife. "Alfyn, you need to know that Vanessa-"
"I know," Alfyn cut in with a shake of his head. "I didn't want to believe it, but... She's done a lot more than any of us could have expected. She's in the Caves of Azure just outside town. We have to go and see what we can figure out."
Therion seemed surprised that Alfyn had figured out so much, but he simply nodded after hiding his shock. He fell in line with the rest of the travelers as they started to weave their way through the rest of Goldshore to get back to the outside of Goldshore. Alfyn tapped his foot impatiently when they had to wait a few moments for crowds to clear or to get a better shot to the front of town. Flynn wasn't going to be getting any better while he was busy waiting around, and nobody else was going to be improving if he was forced to stand there while Vanessa was out there lying and not caring about who she hurt.
Alfyn managed to find a lull in the crowds to dart through, and the rest of the group followed hot on his heels. Alfyn wasn't sure about how Therion had managed to figure out what Vanessa was up to, but he knew that he was going to have to ask later. For the time being, they had something much more important to take care of, and if Vanessa was given the chance to continue with her crimes any longer, there were going to be bodies hanging above her head.
Hang on just a little bit longer, Flynn... Everything is going to be okay. I promise.
As it turned out, the path leading to the Caves of Azure was just as dangerous as the man in town had claimed. There were rough crags everywhere, and at the center of it all, there was a small yet precarious path. Alfyn couldn't say for sure who or what had put it together, but he knew that Vanessa had been using it as of late to get what she needed from the caves. Once again, rage started to boil over inside of him, and he found himself wishing to reach for his axe to hit something just to get the edge off. Alfyn had never been a particularly violent person, but Vanessa was another story entirely. She was sickening, and he wanted her gone once and for all for the sake of all the people she had hurt without batting an eye.
"What do you think is going to happen when we find her?"
Alfyn glanced down at the sound of Tressa's voice, and he swallowed dryly. She was looking up at him with concern in her eyes. It seemed that she had figured everything out even though Alfyn hadn't explained it openly. As a matter of fact, he could feel the eyes of every other member of the group on him despite how much they tried to hide it. They all knew the truth, and they were all worried about both Vanessa and Alfyn.
It took Alfyn a long time to come up with a response, and he let out a sigh as he spoke. "I don't know," he replied honestly. "I just know that I'm not goin' to just let her get away with everything she's already done."
"She's been hurting the townspeople intentionally," Tressa muttered with a shake of her head. "I don't know how anyone can live with themselves after doing something like that. And... Nobody even noticed there was anything wrong..."
"She's a sick, twisted woman," Primrose chimed in from behind Tressa and Alfyn. "There are people out there who leech on the pain of others in order to boost themselves higher... Vanessa is one of many."
"Helgenish, Rufus, Vanessa... They're all the same," Therion murmured bitterly. "They put up appearances in order to make sure that nobody gets in the way of their plans, but the second the truth comes out... All bets are off."
"It's awful," Ophilia whispered as she gripped tightly at the Illumination Staff poised between her fingers. "I don't understand how Vanessa can behave this way either, but I think that it means that we have to stop her no matter what."
"How are we supposed to stop someone like that?" Tressa asked as she looked over to Alfyn once again. "She doesn't seem like the type to just stop hurting people because she's told to knock it off. If she knew that it was bad-which she must have in order to do all of this-then she would have stopped sooner if it was going to be that simple. That means that... We're going to have to find another way to make sure she stops."
Alfyn felt his hands shake when he looked down at them. The idea was something that Tressa was dancing around, but he knew what she was talking about. Tressa was asking if he was going to be able to do what must be done. There was no way of saying for sure what was going to happen next, but Alfyn could tell that it could easily make a turn for the worse and...
He could be pushed to kill Vanessa.
It wasn't as if he wanted to do that. Why would he look forward to taking the lives of others? Even when he was fighting against their past foes, he had never been the one to deliver the killing blows. H'aanit killing the ghisarma for its destructive nature and Primrose killing Rufus in the name of her revenge seemed like entirely different beasts than Alfyn having to kill someone he thought was a friend. Still, if it was the only way that he would be able to stop her from hurting the people of Goldshore, then...
Alfyn shook his head to try and get rid of the thought as soon as possible, but H'aanit realized what he was doing. "What will thou do?" she asked simply, not bothering to elaborate. Her words hung heavily as could be in the silence, and Alfyn found himself fumbling for a response. In the end, he fell short again and again, so he simply stopped himself from replying at all to ensure he didn't somehow make a fool of himself.
"Vanessa's actions are nothing short of monstrous," Olberic said to fill the quiet a few beats later. "I detest the idea of turning to such open violence as well, but if that's what must be done, then... So be it."
Alfyn couldn't tell if he wished that he could be so casual about having to kill her or if he thought it was awful that this was being considered at all. He knew that it had only come up because there were no other option that seemed apparent for the time being, but he wasn't going to let himself go that far so soon. He only wanted to have to kill someone if it was absolutely necessary, and as far as Alfyn could hope, he didn't want that to happen at all. The idea of the fated moment arriving so soon made him feel nauseous, and he wished that he could just make Vanessa stop this madness.
No, that wasn't going to be possible. She had already made her choice, and Alfyn was going to have to make sure that everything fell into place so that she wasn't able to hurt anyone ever again. Vanessa was disgusting, and he needed to look after the people she had sworn to protect but betrayed the second gold crossed her fingertips. He had a duty to help the people of Goldshore. It had only been a few hours since the group arrived in town, and Vanessa had already done so much damage to the people found within Goldshore's boundaries. Who could say how many more people she would hurt if she was given the chance to roam freely?
"Are you okay, Alfyn?" Tressa asked carefully. Her eyes were hiding anger, but she was choosing to shove it deep down to ensure that she didn't upset Alfyn by accident. After all, this was hitting him much harder, and she would be more than able to share his rage when he finally allowed his full anger to show. For the moment, the shock and grief still hadn't worn off, and she knew what she had to do as long as that was the case.
Alfyn stared down at his shaking fingers for a long moment before swallowing dryly and pressing his hands against the strap of his satchel. He gripped it with everything he had, knowing that he had to find some way to calm down before the battle arrived. They were going to have to fight Vanessa soon, and he had to be ready for it. The mere idea made his stomach churn, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to do what had to be done. Vanessa had sealed her own fate, and he was simply going to act as the arbiter of justice for the people she had hurt in the past.
"I will be," Alfyn finally replied. He knew that it was at least partially a lie, but he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth. The rest of the group was counting on him to take charge in their quest to stop Vanessa, and if he lost his composure, they would be in a world of trouble. No matter how hard it was, he had to keep himself together. He could let his emotions overwhelm him after all of this was over.
"After Vanessa is out of the picture once and for all."
Alfyn pretended to not hear how murderous that sounded and smiled to himself. After all, if he stopped smiling, what would the others think?
At the edge of the winding path inside the Caves of Azure, Vanessa overlooked the work of four men around her. They were all mercenaries she had hired a few towns back just in case anyone gave her trouble when it came to her work. One could never be sure when someone would do something unsavory these days, and Vanessa wasn't going to stand for it. She had a fortune to earn, and if anyone got in her way, then she would push them aside the best way she knew how.
Even when combat wasn't necessary, Vanessa was more than happy to have the help of her hired comrades for the sake of gathering as much glowworm moss as possible. She was planning on using this strategy to earn more money from the richer towns of the continent after leaving behind Goldshore, and that meant that she was going to need a lot more moss.
She had stumbled upon these sorts of strategies not long ago, and she knew that they worked wonders for her coin purse. Vanessa had always dreamed of getting all the money she could ever dream of before settling down somewhere that she could enjoy peace for the rest of her life, and she could tell that this was going to be the best way for her to pull it off. After all, what better way was there for her to find money than to use her skills as an apothecary to her advantage? Healers didn't get paid enough money as it was, and if she had to pull a few strings in order to reach a point that she was happy with, then so be it.
Vanessa smiled at the men scattered throughout the area before reaching into her satchel and pulling out a small phial. "Now to harvest myself some more glowworm moss. I can't keep my well-paying patients waiting," she murmured, letting one hand drift to where the many leaves she had gathered earlier in the day were waiting. It had only taken a few hours for her to spring her trap shut on the town of Goldshore after she laid out the groundwork, and it was already working wonders. A hundred thousand leaves would last her at least for another few towns, and that wasn't even counting all of the other paying customers who had lined her pockets so beautifully. Who would have thought that a bit of Gaborra evergreen would do so much to help her out?
It truly was impressive how gullible people were as long as they were faced with someone with a reputation. Nobody had even bothered to question her up to this point, and that made it even easier for her to do everything she could have ever dreamed while in Goldshore. The aristocrats let their desperation get the better of them and spent their leaves recklessly, and Vanessa was more than happy to accept the products of their fear. As soon as she was able to seem reputable to them, everything fell cleanly into place, and she knew that it was just a matter of time before it all came together now. The moss was free and plentiful in the Caves of Azure, and as long as she had some Gaborra evergreen on hand too, all she needed to do was claim rarity in the face of terrified patients. It was almost too good to be true, and yet, she knew it was a perfect plan. She had been using it for a short while now, after all, and it was working wonders.
Vanessa approached one of the cave walls before filling the phial with moss. She scoffed at the sight before recapping the small bottle and tucking it away in her satchel. "To think this moss would bring me a king's ransom," she murmured. "Who'd have known this job could be so profitable?" She patted the side of her bag with a loose smile. All it took was a bit of lying for the funds to start streaming in, and all of a sudden, it seemed like nothing mattered aside from the leaves that were waiting to be spent on the most lavish of furnishings she could ever imagine.
Vanessa reached into her pocket to pull out a small bag containing leaves, and she began to sift through the coins just to feel the weight of wealth between her fingers. She never would have imagined that she would find herself in a place like this, and it was almost too good to be true. Soon enough, everything would come together, and that would be everything she needed. She was so close to everything she had ever wanted; she could almost feel it.
"Howdy, Vanessa. Fancy meeting you here."
Alfyn came walking out of the shadows a moment later. His expression was friendly and personable, but his eyes were dark and filled with rage. Vanessa's demeanor changed as soon as she saw him, and her previous quiet humility was thrown aside in favor of a haughty smirk and a scoff in his direction. "So you sniffed out my supply, huh? You're not as stupid as you look," she commented snidely.
Alfyn's smile melted away as soon as Vanessa decided to not hold back or deny the truth of what she was doing. His grip went tight on the strap of his satchel. "That medicine you gave the townspeople for their fevers was brewed from Gaborra evergreen, wasn't it?" he asked her, his voice quiet and unsettling with the promise of an upcoming explosion.
Vanessa didn't respond, and the seven other travelers in the group looked to Alfyn, uncertain as to how he was going to reply. Alfyn's rage was starting to boil over, and he clenched his hands into fists. "That was your plan all along: to induce the side effects so you could sell the remedy at a premium," he went on.
Vanessa pulled herself back so her hands were propped on her hips. "Heh... You catch on quick," she commented dryly. "I travel the land, selling my potions and salves for more leaves than you'll see in a lifetime. What do layfolk know of illnesses and their cures? Nothing-that's what makes this job so easy." She took a few steps forward before jabbing her finger into Alfyn's chest. He didn't flinch backwards, instead only glaring down at her with quiet enmity that seeped into every muscle of his body. "If it weren't for rival apothecaries like you."
"What happened to your 'sworn duty to ease suffering'?" Alfyn questioned, his eyes narrowing in her direction. His voice was restrained from full rage, but it was clear that the rope keeping him held together was short and shrinking quickly.
"Here's some advice, little puppy: don't trust anything you can get for free," Vanessa told him, her voice dripping with the same venom she had fed to the townsfolk in the name of her own greed. Everything about her previously friendly features had twisted to something dark and unrecognizable. She was more than willing to tear down anyone she had to in order to reach the greatness she decided was destined to be hers, and Goldshore was just one town of many she had wreaked this havoc in. Her apathy knew no bounds, and it made Alfyn feel sick to his stomach.
Vanessa shrugged as she looked to him with a nauseating smile. "A stately mansion, lavish dresses, fine wine... Why shouldn't everything I want be mine?" she asked, her tone making it clear that she wouldn't be hearing any of his protests regardless of how he attempted to persuade her otherwise.
Alfyn allowed his arms to come by his side, and he looked at Vanessa with such unsettling calmness in his posture that it was terrifying to see. Tressa took a small step back in silent shock at Alfyn and rage towards Vanessa as he began to speak. "You're free to have what you want-but I won't let you deceive the weak and vulnerable to get it," he said softly, his voice on the verge of completely snapping at a moment's notice. "Using your knowledge to inflict pain for profit? You're a disgrace to our profession." He took a step towards her, his exhaustion with her antics starting to boil over once more. "Doesn't it make you feel anything to see people suffer?"
"Should it? The ailing, the injured... They're tools to an end. Just like the little kittens I test my tonics on," Vanessa told him, not at all caring about his outburst. Given the fact that she had referred to him as a puppy previously, Alfyn concluded that the 'kittens' in question were instead simply people she deemed worthy of being her test subjects. She didn't need permission from them to do as she so chose as long as she kept up that mask of hers; she could get away with anything, and she had learned that long ago. She crossed her arms as she went on, her eyes so perfectly passive that it made Alfyn want to shatter her like a piece of china. "What else are they good for? They bring me leaves by the bucket, and when they've outlived their usefulness... They die."
Much to Alfyn's surprise, Vanessa started to laugh the second she noticed his shocked and ghastly expression. "Do you cry when you toss away a broken flask? Then why should I?" she inquired around her sickening laughter.
Alfyn shook his head, barely keeping himself held together under the weight of her cruelty. "Unfortunately for you, there's no cure for a rotten heart," he muttered intensely. His voice echoed softly in the darkness of the cave, but he didn't seem to notice at all.
Vanessa crossed her arms and looked at him with a frown. "So you don't care for my philosophy," she concluded simply. "Perhaps you'd care to die instead then... After all, I would say that you've more than outlived your usefulness to me."
A moment later, the mercenaries scattered throughout the cave came rushing in around Vanessa, forming a ring around Alfyn and his companions. Hands reached for weapons carefully, but nobody dared to strike quite yet, waiting instead for Vanessa to give the command. "My ample wealth has allowed me to secure... Good insurance," she went on. "You're a threat to my business, and you don't seem like the type to go home quietly." She glanced over to the rest of the travelers at that, nodding at the hands that rested on the hilts of their blades. "Or the type to keep your mouths shut even if you did."
Alfyn nodded as he reached for his own axe. He primed it in her direction with pure rage painted on his face. "You're gods damned right I won't!" he roared at her. "On the contrary, I'm gonna brew a remedy and help those people. Not for profit, but because easing people's suffering is what I do."
Vanessa scoffed at him before reaching for her knife. "How noble... But here's my diagnosis..." She pointed her dagger at him as the mercenaries around her all unsheathed their blades at once. "That shabby sense of justice will prove fatal!"
At long last we're getting close to the end of this chapter... Hoo boy.
This chapter as a whole was a huge surprise when I first played because I never thought Vanessa was going to be that terrible. After I finished the chapter, I had to stand up and walk around for about ten minutes just to process how much I hated her. Now, everybody in the party is feeling that rage, and it's going to carry over for quite a bit. It really is impressive how Alfyn's chapter two is the least dark we've seen so far, and given the contents of it... Yeah. Yikes.
After the boss fight, we're going to take a few chapters of breathing room so that all the characters can examine how much this is messing with them. Tressa and Therion are going to have a few interesting things to say, and Ophilia's got a couple choice words for Vanessa as well. It's going to be intriguing, to say the least. I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of Alfyn's story because of how morally messy it is and how much that's going to impact the main path. It will never cease to amaze me how the sweet little apothecary's story turned out to be so dark. Just... Wow.
Next time around, we'll finally show Vanessa what everyone is made of. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital