Come to me with his pride seeking help? Lucas thought as he saw the description for the skill. No, he hasn’t. He was just complaining. This is worse than when you select a conversation option to say something like “Nice day,” and the game has your character start cussing out the other person instead. This is not what I wanted, Lucas grumbled. He had been hoping to generate a quest related to Kegan, and instead, one popped up that was so difficult the game recommended he be at the maximum level allowed in the starter area before attempting it.

“You don’t have to worry,” the Dwarf grumbled. “I ain’t expecting miracles from some common tin can. “Just complaining for the sake of complaining. Don’t mind me.”

Lucas shook his head. “No, you’re right to complain. We all know our lot in life, after all. I know mine. I work every day, fight for my country, and still barely get enough for some beer, bread, and bacon.”

“Right! If you’re fighting on the front lines for those no-good jerks, least they could do is give you some respect!” Gunter said.

“You should be careful of your tone,” the larger of the two Were-Bears growled. He was clearly unhappy with how the conversation was going. “He could just as easily wag his tongue to his superiors in the Imperium as he can to us. You should be careful how you speak.”

“Pffft! Ash, you’re too paranoid,” Gunter laughed, reaching out and grabbing the pitcher to refill his mug. Lucas was amazed at how the little Dwarf had managed to begin his third glass while the others will still working on their first, but he had to hand it to him: the man was determined. “You need to lighten up. Who the heck is going to care what a bunch of subs in a sub-owned tavern in the middle of that loser Kegan’s territory are doing? What’s he going to get reporting us?”

“Fun,” Ash said. “You know how their kind are: They like to bully us for kicks.”

“If that’s all he wanted, he could have just as easily lied and said that we talked badly of that Maidbanger or Kegan and saved himself the coins he spent on the beer,” Gunter countered. “Wouldn’t be the first time one of the highbrows lied for kicks about something us subs did.”

Lucas pondered what Gunter had said. “Wait, how did they know that Kegan was telling the truth?” Lucas asked. “I mean, when they locked up Jason.”

Gunter shot Lucas a look. “Oh, that’s easy. They just checked his accounting books. Apparently, the numbers matched the few contracts that they found too, so they couldn’t have lied.”

Lucas couldn’t help but grin when he heard that. He finally had an idea for how to fix his Kegan problem and acquire some land. Now, the only thing he needed to do was wait for Nick to come in with backup. And here I thought that it was going to be a worthless quest when I first saw it . . . “So, all we really need to do is prove Jason’s innocence to help him get free . . .” he mumbled.