It was easier to slip out at night. Sure, the [Guardsmen] were busy watching but as that mainly consisted of arguing over wheather a little horsey could move to a particular square or not that wasn't really an issue. She was sure she could have waved as she walked past and not been noticed. The plan was starting to form and top of that list with a 99% certainty as the next action, the first most critical step of the plan was a bath. Oh how she smelled, so so bad that the snow melted away from her as she stepped in it and the grass below wilted.
She was pretty sure in fact that had the guards noticed her they would have attacked believing her to be a zombie or ghoul herself. So a bath it was, and that meant heading into the city or a very cold looking stream which she was sure was in habited by at least one creature that would object to her washing the rotten flesh from her skin in its home. Oddly enough the city almost seemed as poor an option. She didn't think arriving at the city gates in her current state would make her very welcome and it certainly wouldn't help her goal because nobody wanted to be known as Jessica the foul or Jess of the rotten flesh. So it came that she stood on a path, with a fork. One road lead into Liscor and the other towards the hills and certain chill with an uncertain washing ability. Her fist closed around something in her hand and she smiled.
It had always been the plan to just grind away slowly and reap the small rewards rather than risking death for a big haul. This dungeon certainly offered the promise of untold riches alongside the near certainty of a gruesome death. To come out of this dungeon with anything, including your own life was an achievement. Her smile widened, sadly an action which was totally wasted behind the mask. The first step was taken towards Liscor. That bath couldn't wait any more than what she had in her hand could. Many adventurers might have missed it but she always kept a lookout for this sort of thing because you never knew. a thorough search of all slain enemies was part of the routine. It helped if you were not bleeding to death or limping away. If you had the time, in the shadows to look properly. While others counted the zombies as nothing more than a nuisance unless their number was large she knew that zombies had once been people. Often, especially in this place they had once been adventurers. Some might have been a [Mage] or even a gold rank adventurer and just one might have been wearing a ring.
Liscor rose above her as she approached, quite carefully trying to look non-threatening and very much alive. Even after scrubbing most of the gore off with melted snow she knew she had to avoid shambling as she approached the city, a less careful adventurer might have ended their story just trying to rush back into Liscor in this state.
"Halt! Who goes.... What IS that smell? Wait, are you a zombie?" she stopped and just looked at the Gnoll on duty. Her shoulders sagged as she shook her head and drew breath to speak then nearly choked on the smell and gagged a little.
"Fine. You need a bath though, it's that way. Right away or I'm personally going to kick you out of the city tonight" what was it with people interupting before she could get a word in edgeways? Still, she was getting used to not talking. It made things easier. People leaked, they tried to fill any void with their own words if you let them and she had always learned more from watching in the shadows than talking directly to people. This way she didn't have to hide, well anymore than behind the mask. So she decided to roll with it for now. No talking. Maybe if she spoke somebody would recognise her voice anyway? It had been a long time since she was in Liscor and she didn't spend much time there but with all the adventurers here now anybody could recognise her and that would ruin the plan. She couldn't be Jessica now, she had to be somebody else.
The Gnoll guard was trying to cover his nose and waving a hand in the direction he had previously indicated the bathhouse to be in so she walked on careful to stand tall, each step carefully considered and accurate with no chance of being mistaken for a shamble. The thing in her hand also needed to be dealt with.
The bath house didn't usually require people to scrub before getting in, so this felt a little insulting and she had honestly not expected to be treated like this even in her current state. Yet, here she was. Standing outside the back of the baths with an angry Drake throwing buckets of water at her. An ear dropped to the floor along with some particularly aggressively thrown water and she had to concede the point. "Hang on! I think there is a living human under all that" the Drake sneered as she decided that was enough, or maybe just got sick of hefting buckets. Jessica was shown into a private room. Nobody had asked her if she wanted one, they just assumed and honestly she was happy for it. She pulled the curtain closed and undressed. The clothes were piled near the entrance but her armour was not. That was carefully stored in a specially constructed bag with each piece in it's own compartment. That bag was kept close. This armour had cost her everything. The only problem with it was it was just too damn shiny. The next problem was the mask. It was unlikely that anybody would come in, or that they would recognise her but just that chance was too much. She worked on probability, risk verses reward and this risk was too high so she kept it on. It felt odd, wearing the mask in the water. It nearly drowned her at least once as she dipped under while almost forgetting it was on but she had to hold her head under while she removed it to wash her face. Mask replaced she rose her head out of the water.
"Gaaack, dead gods what are you.. Sorry, I didn't realise you were even in here!" A drake was reaching for the curtain and Jessica glared at her. Well, she would have if the drake could see through the mask but that was pretty much the point of a mask, that you couldn't. "Do you want these.... Washed?" the way the question was asked she knew that the drake would rather not touch her clothes and would probably prefer to burn them but she couldn't afford new ones. Not yet anyway. Every single coin she had ever owned was folded as concealed armour in it's special bag. She swore you could almost see it shine through the bag. She had to admit though, the [Mage] who did the work was true to his word. She had not received a single cut during any of her battles since having it enchanted. He had been confused at her request at first, why have the plates so small, so thin? The lack of padding and exposed joints were essential for the plan though. She had to be free to move and appear to not be wearing any armour. It was part of the legend and would add to her story. Nobody had even noticed she wasn't even carrying a sword in the dungeon. She had sold that too.
The drake stared at her. Oh! Washed... She nodded her head slowly and the clothes were dragged away by the very tip of one claw, trying to minimise contact with them. She must have looked a sight in the bath with the mask still on. None of that mattered right now though because her hand was still clamped tightly shut. She was clean and the next task needed taking care of. She stood up began to collect her... oh. Ok. right after the clothes came back. Still, soaking a little longer couldn't hurt. She sank back into the water leaving only her face, or rather mask above the surface. Another probability came into her mind. Another plan formed. The armour, the mask, they would need more work. That was the thing about being prepared though, you were never done. Building a legend was hard work and the water felt good.
The adventurers guild. It was a place she had been many times. Not always this one, they all felt the same but different. You knew what you would get inside those doors and she knew with the utmost certainty that what she would get is recognised. At least one familiar face was inside. Still, it had all been prepared for and the decision not to talk was certainly helping on the off chance her voice alone was enough. She opened the door and moved inside so stealthily it could be described as slinked. All eyes were on her, or they would have been if she had been in the doorway where they looked. She was already in front of the receptionist looking like she had been there for ages waiting, a few people noticed but the majority ignored her. This was the part she didn't want people paying attention to. The receptionist seemed harried and the guild was certainly busy. She placed her hand on the counter and for the first time since picking it up, she opened her hand and released the ring.
"What the rot is that!" the receptionist exclaimed as most of the room turned to look at the commotion. Several people standing nearby looked visibly disturbed and a couple had stood up from their tables. On the counter she had just dropped a toe. A big toe to be exact. She only just realised that it might have been a good idea to remove the ring from the toe first. She did just that, placed the ring back on the counter and wondered what exactly she should do with the now clean and shrivelled body part. She shrugged and placed it back in her pocket for the moment, an action which was immediately surpased in amazement as people gazed on the ring.
Every [Mage] in the guild was eyeing the ring on the counter. They could all clearly see it was heavily magical and none of them recognised the adventurer who had brought it in. The only possible clue were reports from a silver rank team who claimed to have seen a mysterious masked adventurer in the dungeon and this woman was clearly masked, even inside the guild which had oddly not raised enough eyebrows until she was stood presenting the ring. "You want to sell this?" the drake on duty asked and she simply nodded. "Certainly, I will get it appraised immediately" and with that several people rushed to the ring to offer their services. Almost Forgotten, and certainly almost unnoticed was the adventurer who had brought it in. Standing so much in the shadows she was almost a shadow herself, except for a slight shine coming from a rip in the cloth around her leg. Only one set of eyes watched her instead of the commotion around the ring. As she kept her head facing the receptionist her eyes met those of the other and they both knew that even though neither was looking, they could both see each other clearly.
Steepham the [Assasin] had been watching the guild. It was a boring job but moments like this made it worth it. The night had been going like any other and nobody had noticed him for several hours as he lurked in the background. Not hiding, just not noticed. If he had hid somebody would have seen that, he would have been found in such a busy room. The trick was just to not be in the way of anything, and that was harder than it sounded with the number of people packed into the guild these days. He had seen the door open and watched for an adventurer to enter. It had been a moment of brief surprise and then slight humour as the person had sidestepped their own entrance into the room. They had simply stepped forwards and moved, elsewhere. That was a skill Steepham would like to know more about but he watched her progress to the receptionist and almost gave himself away laughing as she placed the ring on the counter. She had done so well not being noticed, with everybody looking directly at her no less. Then she had ruined it all by announcing herself with a highly magic item still attached to it's previous owner. An owner Steepham noted that was not without suspicion themselves, and rightly so considering their assumed state now. Not many people forced a ring onto their toe. It was actually a great hiding place unless somebody had your boot off, or your toe. She had obviously realised her mistake, or at least accepted the situation as she again slunk out of, well, out of everything.
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He watched her passage across the room as she stood and looked directly at the ring, while seeing him. Now that was a surprise. This was turning into a most eventful evening almost worth all the waiting. She was clearly an adventurer, the way she was dressed said as much if not for her presence in the adventurers guild. Yet, her use of stealth said otherwise. For a moment he wondered if she was actually an [Assasin] but dismissed it immediately, she was selling the ring. No [Assasin] would cut a part off their target and then openly sell stolen property in the adventurers guild of all places. No, this person was clearly at home here, used to coming here. It was her natural reaction to come here. She was not an [Assasin], so what was she?
Slowly the excitement died down, after all it was only one ring. She took her opportunity to leave and headed to find a [Mage]. She had been informed of the value of the ring and chosen not to sell it via the guild much to the annoyance of the receptionist who would certainly have objected if she knew where the ring, or the adventurer had gone. There was no time to worry about that though as the guild was so busy a fight needed breaking up again. Jessica was too busy with concealing her own departure to notice she was being followed. It wasn't until she was moving through the streets that she became aware of the attention. She hadn't seen him follow, or seen where he was but she knew he was there. No [Dangersense] was going off so it didn't matter for the moment. Maybe she could work this to her advantage, she was fairly sure of what was following and that she wasn't a target. She was just interesting and after all, wasn't that the point? She wanted to get noticed. She wanted people to know her name. The only problem was she didn't want people seeing how she got it. The house was in front of her and she decided to forgo any subterfuge and simply knock on the front door. Afterall the follower knew why she was there and probably who was inside better than she did. There was no real need to conceal her visit and as long as her follower was what she thought she probably wouldn't get mugged.
It was an imposing building but nothing compared to the places she had seen in other cities. If she was in Invrisil she could probably get more for the ring but needs must and she needed money. She also had one other idea she had been working on since watching the armour shine in the bath house. The [Mage] lead her to his study where he examined the ring and looked quite excited. He was not the best negotiator and this seemed like a lucky break as she knew she could push him for more than she would otherwise have gotten for the ring.
"And How exactly am I meant to negotiate if you don't speak my dear?" said Everill the [Mage] as she shrugged and waited for him to fill the void.
"You can, of course speak yes?" She nodded and he understood. Slowly the mage walked over to a large wooden cabinet and started muttering under his breath while searching drawers. Eventually he came back with two small wooden rings. One was placed on his finger, the other offered. She took it. The world went silent. Now silence is a term often used to describe what is in actual fact only very quiet but this, this was true silence. A total absence of sound. When he finally spoke she was so startled she reached for a weapon that wasn't there anymore.
"It's quite fine, no need to panic my dear. You can only hear me, and I can only hear you. I can assure you however that nobody else in the world can hear either of us." she concentrated and realised it was true. She screamed. The [Mage] covered his ears to no effect and looked quite distraught, "Was that really necessary my dear?"
"Yes. You have no idea how hard it is to keep completely silent and I have seen, and done some things today that required that scream, my apologies." It felt good to talk again. She had never met this [Mage] before so there was no risk of him recognising her. The negotiations went well as far as she was concerned. Everill was less happy with the way things were proceeding.
"Perhaps I can offer services instead? That could benefit both of us greatly." Now this was what she had been waiting for. She didn't know Everill so it had been hard to manipulate him to this point without angering him so much he threw her out but now the offer was out there and she hadn't suggested it...
"Well, You could help with this." she said as she placed her armour on the table. Everill was clearly impressed, "Exquisite work, what could I possibly add?" and Jessica started to explain her idea. Everill nodded and smiled and glared and complained about the skill needed. In the end an agreement was reached. Services it would be, plus 5 gold. She had insisted on that. It was a token payment compared to the value of the ring and the services offered, they both knew. What Everill didn't know was that it was her only gold now and she needed to eat. She was less happy about the time he said it would take, so that meant an inn. That meant staying in Liscor without her armour on. It was time to work on the plan then. This had been a 63% likely scenario, having an extended stay in Liscor that is, so she had planned for it as always. Had it been a 3% likely scenario she would have planned, just not in quite as much detail. The deal was struck and she headed back out into the night. Striding down the streets of Liscor now, not staying in shadows but owning the road much to the annoyance of Gnolls and Drakes around, most of the Gnolls still covered their nose as she walked past.
"Another!" Jermia called as the barmaid took his empty glass. They were celebrating and mourning at the same time. For they had lost Jion but left with their own lives. Jion would never have wanted them to pity him and had said as much before every mission. "We celebrate no matter what, for every day each one of us walks this world is a reason to celebrate" and Goblins Gift were doing just that. Stories of fights and loot, drinking and eating filled the inn as many adventurers crowded into what was not it had to be said, the best inn in Liscor. They had been lucky to get the rooms at all but they had come in at just the right time. They felt bad for the other team of course. Nobody wanted to gain from another adventurers death but a room was a room and they were vacant just as Goblins Gift had walked in. It wasn't as if they hadn't lost one of their own. As was the tradition Jion's possessions had been distributed between them. He had paid for their beer and they were thanking him for it in the only way they could, by enjoying life. Every day a gift.
Albron had done most of the talking. Everybody wanted to hear tales of the mysterious masked adventurer and they were comparing descriptions with the previous story. Things didn't quite match however. The mask was shiny not black. She hadn't used any [Bladedancer] moves despite her obvious skill. What were the odds though? Did they know each other? Was it actually a team? Or had the adventurer simply changed a bit, maybe the story was distorted you just couldn't tell. A deeply dark brown scaled Drake who had entered the inn some time ago and had been intently listening to the stories chose that moment to speak up and tell of the incident in the adventurers guild.
"So she is here and she found a ring of quite some value it seems, we need to invite her again without scaring her off this time!" timing is a funny thing. One second can change the world. A moment too soon or a moment too late. Or sometimes, possibly 3.72% of times were like this... The door opened and framed in the doorway was a female adventurer. A human. Her face masked. All eyes turned to watch because she was clearly the one all the stories had been about all evening and a very large human was stepping towards her with his arm outstretched and a very large axe in his other.
38% chance this was anger and he would attack. 6% chance he would use his axe. 57% chance he wanted to thank her or ask her to join the team. 0.175% chance he would try to kiss her. She always had to plan for that one just in case, it had only happened once though. It hadn't been hard to find out where they were staying. She needed to feed her story. It was already starting to grow. She had watched as drunkards had staggered out of the inn, as news of her had spread in this small area of Liscor. It was mostly the humans though, the adventurers. The locals were not as interested. The Gnolls practically spat at her if she approached them and they wrinkled their noses as if they could still smell the stench of death from before but that didn't matter. It was the adventurers she needed to feed the story.
The new list of names was ready. There were ten primary this time, far too many variables to narrow it down further. The backup lists were larger and not quite as well thought out but she knew. She knew she had a name for whatever was said. This would be the start of her life as a named adventurer. At least there was a 23% chance but that would rise with each story told. She could do it this time. She reached for the offered hand. 57% percent confirmed, now it was the 80% handshake. She hadn't liked the idea of a hug but 20% was there and she was prepared for it. He just had to ask her name. She knew they were not sure if she was actually mute and there was a 33% chance they would ask her name right away, going down with every sentence they uttered. These first words were critical.
"Thank you. You saved us. I thank you on behalf of the Goblins Gift and our fallen captain, Jion. Please tell me, what is your name?" It happened! There was no dramatic pause this time and she gulped in air to answer Jhontis. It was only a 29% chance he would be the one to ask but she knew now which list to chose from. He needed to hear a warriors name, she had prepared a list for each of them. This hadn't been her favourite list but it was a good one all the same.
"..." Her mouth actually opened but they couldn't tell through the mask. "Don't be absurd Jhontis! I TOLD you not to ask that. She doesn't want to tell us. She doesn't need thanks. Not everybody needs glory. She wants to remain unnamed. Why else would she have gone back into the dungeon without a word. It's not for gold or she would have brought out more instead of one ring." what did he say?! This wasn't meant to happen. It had been a probability of course, after what happened in the dungeon it had gone from a tiny fraction of a percentage to 4% chance. Was this guy an idiot? Of course adventurers wanted glory! What she hadn't quite accounted for was Albron. She didn't like [Mages] who talked for the sake of it but Albron was turning out to be a king amoung kings of loving his own voice and being the most important person in the room. Albron turned to the inn, every eye staring with complete attention.
"To the unnamed adventurer!" He raised his glass. So did everybody else. They cheered. Glasses clinked together and liquids spilled all around. Jessica had no glass and yet, liquid was spilled below her. Dripping from the bottom of her mask, unnoticed in the confusion and celebration around her. She saw him leave the shadows from the back of the inn. Clearly he had seen enough and went to report to whoever he reported to. That was the final nail in the coffin of her dreams. She would never be a named adventurer. Jhontis hugged her oblivious to her tears behind the mask.
"I can still smell it." the Gnoll turned up his nose as he passed the inn. His companion nodded, they both knew how bad it smelled, "That bath house might never be the same. Damn adventurers. I wish I knew her name so I could curse her." "Yes, very clever not to reveal her identity. If I smelled like that I wouldn't tell anybody my name either."