Chapter 11
Price of Victory
I awoke some time later, from my HUD, I saw that only a handful of minutes had passed. As for what happened to the juggernaut warship that had been boldly flying through our country, I did not know. All I did know was that I had done my mission, the three gifts that were meant to bribe one of the leaders of Kelsik, while the rest were to be weapons likely used against our Maltese Empire.
While I did not know for certain if I destroyed the munitions portion of the shipment, I did manage to devour all portions of the bribe for the Kelsik empire.
If things had been different, I could have likely sold all three items that were presumably a set for a massive amount of money. Unfortunately, this game is as cruel as it is amazing. I made a split-second decision of consuming everything I could, in order to make it out with minimal troubles.
Granted my exit was by no means easy, but it could have been a lot worse. I remember the way the guns seemed to aim towards the necklace I threw away. Shaking my head, at the waste of a perfectly good fortune I scan the area.
I can see, everything within nearly a Kilometer radius of me at this time. Well 930 meters of the required 1,000 meters to make a kilometer. That’s 93% of a kilometer, a passing grade by most standards.
Of course, I’m running numbers as a means to stall for time. I am still tired, still sore.
Landing was the easy part.
Now I need to do two things, remove all signs of my existence here. This means taking the still slightly glowing but used book, hopefully reading the book will improve the Skill related to my recently learned, trait.
Just thinking about the Trait sends a shiver of excitement down my spine as it is a stolen Trait. A Trait likely meant to identify thieves and assassins, in other words a bribe meant for a King to find someone like me.
Mahahha.
I let out a cackle of delight, knowing that I still survived. Then realizing that my chest didn’t hurt from my laughter, or at least I wasn’t filled with unbearable pain from laughing, I get up and begin doing the first part of my plan.
Once the area is secure, well as reasonably secure as possible, I am sure traces of my blood, flesh and clothing are littered over the last quarter kilometer of land. Still, I do the best I can, then I begin my second part; making my way to the egress point we established.
Mentally getting my bearings I look for the known landmarks and features that make up this portion of the empire. Fortunately, in the area I am in, rivers all stem from one central point and head out.
My goal, find a river and follow its path up to its source, a perpetually increasing frozen tower of earth. Well, a tower posing as a giant snow-covered mountain.
Yeah, at first when I heard the designs of some natural land formations, I too was a bit skeptical. Using towers with specific themes to add form and symmetry to the game world. Though I have to say the game did these wonderfully. If you are curious, Air towers can only be accessed by the highest of flying islands, and they are what allegedly produces all the clouds for the planet. Those towers are also reverse pyramids that start off small and gradually work their way to larger and larger areas to explore as you make your way to the top. Water towers have the same inverse design, but there you start at the top and work your way down through smaller and smaller towers. Of course, fire towers are just large volcanoes that you travel to the top of.
Why is all this information important? It’s not, just me passing the time as I begin running as quickly as possible through the open fields and terrain.
In a matter of seconds, I spot my first river off to the northeast of my current position. From there I just follow the marker in my area, making sure to avoid large pockets of monsters, which appear like beacons in my sight.
As I’m running, I look for a random spot to stow the book as I don’t want this used book to count as my one item I am allowed to keep. Also, while highly unlikely, anyone who we team up with in the mountain tower could know what the book was and its previous contents.
Also, if you think the arrangement is unfair for Hector and Golum both, don’t. All the quest rewards, they collect. Then they make sure to pay my fees to the other guilds based on my current rankings within each, and then we are done. I believe I am up for a promotion in one of them. It will mean something new, but honestly going back into the city at this point is such a chore.
Not only do people from different organizations in the game hunt me down, but different regressors also hunt me down. Asking me to sport certain items, items that cost part of my budget. Asking me to say certain phrases, ultimately it is all a big headache. If it hadn’t been for Hector and Golum calling Wonderly home, I would have left a while ago.
Well, I would have stolen a few items first, and then made my way to another empire.
Also, I know there have been plenty of accusations, but I stand by the fact that I have not had communications with, for, or on behalf of citizens of the Underdark.
That said, it looks like we are about to be in a war time environment whether we want to be or not. While I do think being a spy for a war-torn country would always be a fun play, I notice that I stand out drastically. Oh, speaking of which, I pull down my mask, lower my hood. Then finding a cave, I change out of my torn black clothes and wear pure white clothes.
I can only tell they are white due to the item descriptions and the fact that Golum and Hector both asure me they are white.
With my clothes changed, I find a small unused cave, start a fire. Yes, I have another lighter. In this world smoking is a way many gain daily bonuses to different production related skills. Everything from incense to medical stimulants, to harder hallucinogens can all be inhaled for different effects. Me, I don’t smoke anything, I find that those modifiers have a hefty track time to be expelled from your body. If I want to improve a particular skill, I just grind it out until it is within an acceptable range and then make sure to practice it daily until it is maxed out. Of course, I’ve been told I am the exception and not the standard to these types of practices. Most people tend to save certain skills to build up at later levels as if thinking they can only level so many Attributes per level. While they can, normally, the excess skills should count towards the next level. But never tell a hard-core player that. Let alone someone reaching their 100 Attribute cap limit. Yes, 100 is the cap limit for all but two attributes. Your primary and secondary attributes, those are the only two that can raise to 150 and 125 respectively. Of course, Unbound allows both of those to increase by an additional 25 possible points. My goal is to get my attributes to the 125 mark before I even gain my class.
Of course, this is just a pipe dream and one I am falling further and further behind with each day that passes towards my 13th birthday. Sadly, that is a state that I will not be able to pass. Taking a moment to burn my old clothes, I check my attributes to see that they are still lacking.
Physical
Base
Bonus
Social
Base
Bonus
Mental
Base
Bonus
Strength
39
1
Personality
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39
Perception
81
1
Dexterity
71
Sociability
36
Intelligence
83
1
Endurance
60
Attractiveness
32
Willpower
66
While my attributes are quite impressive, they are nothing compared to a classer who has automatic promotions based on their class every level. Then added to that are the bonuses provided by skills and we are looking at people in the higher levels who easily break the standard 100 attribute cap. Again, my unbound gives me the benefit of having a much higher ceiling than others, but few are ever capable of reaching their ceiling. Sadly, I feel that I won’t be able to reach my ceiling either.
Still there is a year left of this free ride, where my only concern is finding and grinding out skill gains. Currently I have mastered a total of 44 skills. Again, not to brag, as there are literally thousands of skills available. Many of the basic skills I can still easily get from my various guilds. The only problem is that getting those skills would mean going to said guilds where I am constantly getting scouted.
That is why I do all the cloak and dagger through Hector and Golum. Golum for the Mage and Apothecary guilds, Hector for the remaining three. In particular, Hector is what the guild calls a Master Handler, meaning he takes on a number of high-profile missions and assigns them to his team and he then turns in the rewards on behalf of his team. His team is so good at information gathering quests that he now gets first dibs on any and all of those quests that come in. Kind of funny considering he is really only my handler. Many others have asked to join his group, but he refuses as that would mean he would actually have to train someone.
He does have one skill that I want desperately, but apparently it is a handler only skill, and one that allows him to hide his team from media coverage. Thanks to this skill, my life and missions have become surprisingly easy as of late.
This is another reason why I love the way this world is set up, there is actually a need for handlers. In other game worlds handlers offer nothing but one bureaucratic step keeping you from reaching the top. In Biprism, a handler can specialize in a lot of different skills needed to help their team. If I was an Assassination expert, Hector would no doubt choose skills that would allow me to travel in between borders easily. Since I am primarily an information broker, and acquisitions specialist, keeping my plans and contacts a secret is of utmost importance, as such he spends all his time improving his Government Blackout skill. This is by far and away a brilliant skill for loyal thieves. Basically, it means that my handler gets the quests I take pre-approved by royalty, and in exchange most of our actions are blocked out. Of course, this only applies to jobs done within the Maltese Empire. If I was on the Juggernaut ship when it crossed the international border with Kelsik I would have been picked up by sensors and scanners where streamers to my channel would be able to see my recent caper.
Of course, I have no intention of leaving the Maltese Empire, just as I have no intentions of finding a new handler. For what it is worth, if we needed to pop smoke and leave the country we could. I have enough saved Badges to get a good faction standing with another country, where I could then report to the local Thieves Guild and wait for Hector to join me.
If I wanted to, I have enough clout that I could apply to become a Handler of my own, where I would learn all the skills needed to erase my past and keep my own subordinates safe from real world streaming, but that would mean that I could no longer do these amazing missions, and where is the fun in that?
Also, Hector as my handler has been working on his Fencing skills, and no not the one with a sword, but rather the one where he learns to sell off materials.
Golum as my Mage Teacher has also opened up new doors for me as well. In addition to my black cloak, I now have a white soulbound cloak that also offers 1 Intelligence, and Arcane Understanding. I of course use this as part of my Not The Ghost outfit. With my black clothes burned, the book stored, I pull out my new white clothes and White Cloak that follows the Light school of magic that Golum follows.
With the two of them acting on my behalf in different parts of the city, I can move about freely without worry about being hounded daily for autographs and endorsements. I can also live a fairly easy life as an apprentice Tower Climber, which is what our current group is going to perform currently.
With my identity mostly changed, I even take off my high-end EGGs, and put on my basic EGGs that are little more than adjustable black lenses. That is a nice thing about the Mechanics Guild, they give you completely new soulbound gear when you increase in rank, letting you keep your older items for nostalgia. As for me, I keep them as part of my different personas I try to pull off.
I take one last second to make sure my personal equipment is stored properly, even making sure that my silver Adventurer’s Necklace is hanging over my white outfit, I leave the random cave and again follow the river up to its origin. My meeting point for my team, the giant tower that has been covered by a giant snowcapped peak.
As I approach, I can tell something is already off. Hector and Golum blaze to my senses and instantly get picked up due to their importance to me. I don’t know if this is a part of my Angel’s Sight, or if it has something to do with my being Shade Touched, but I have found that I can mark people to instantly appear to my sight. In this case both Hector and Golum glow a deep purple. I of course am the only one able to see these distinctions.
The reason why everything feels off, is that there is a sort of still tension, as if a scene is getting staged for me.
What do I mean by still tension? Well, it is hard to describe. You know how in games or movies there are always those cut scenes where the person walks in at just the right time to witness something important happen? That is what I mean by still tension, it is almost as if the entire area is being staged for me to witness something. The fact that Golum and Hector are part of it means they are either in on it, or they know something is up, but are unable to do anything about it.
Regardless of what is happening, I proceed forward and stop when I am a few feet away.
Hector and Golum are off to the side huddled together, while three other adventurers, likely the people we are supposed to meet up with are on the other side of the entryway to the tower.
From this distance, I wonder what I can do to get more information about what is happening. I look for a place to Teleport, but there are no obvious places where I could land without likely drawing attention. Then I remember my recently acquired Trait Telepathy, and decide that this might be a good time to try such a Trait.
The moment I try to turn it on, I use the full extent of my 66 Willpower and focus.
A cacophony of sounds, voices, and thoughts flood my mind.
Instantly I turn off the new Trait. It is clear that I am both too new to the power and that everyone else is in an agitated state for whatever reason for the Trait to be truly effective.
A part of me realizes that this is a trap of some kind, but what type, and why?
I decide to go in regardless of the situation. Hector and Golum are my friends. Actually, worse, my entire existence basically requires these two to survive, which means I at least have to go and see what is causing them to be so still.
A trap.
My senses instantly pick up a well-hidden trap.
Exquisite Invisible Trap (Expert Level to Disarm).
Looking around, I realize it likely had to have been created by a person as no creatures were capable of creating both an invisible trap and one that required an expert to disarm. Seeing the trap, I wondered if this was some sort of initiation attempt by the Thieves Guild? The fact that someone with superior training had designed and set up this elaborate trap was unquestionable. Mentally I disarm the trap with Telekinesis, preferring to stay clear of the trap entirely. As I move, I find yet another Exquisite trap, one that I also disable. Still I choose not to show that I have even taken time to disable the traps and instead just continue to walk at a fast clip towards the entrance of the giant earth tower.
By the time I arrive, I have disabled a series of three traps, none of which required me to stop as my Multitasking skill among others lets me think at a higher rate of proficiency and accomplish such tasks with ease.
By the time I arrive, Hector and Golum rustle, though they don’t say anything. It is only once I am right upon them that the other three seem to even notice my presence. I of course have a number of skills that help with this, but it is always fun to see them in action, particularly when I am not actually trying to mask my actions.
“So this is your ward?” A male calls out from the other side of the cavern.
“She is.” Hector responds, once again reaffirming that this is a Thieves Guild matter of some kind.
“Come on, we are already late.” The male says. I try to scan the three, but they either took an obscuring potion, or are wearing a permanent ring that hides their basic information from my master level Analyze skill. In either case, I know to be wary of them, for only high-level Alchemists could make that, and such concoctions are held tightly by the Apothecary Guild. The items too are high end Magician guild items that the Magicians Guild wouldn’t want getting out either. In any case, this stinks of a setup, or worse.
As the apparent leader speaks, the other two move in a circling motion around us.
“Come on girlie. You need to prove your worth to the team.” The man said, gesturing for me to go out front.
This I take as being possible code. As I am due for my possible guild promotion quests for the Thieves Guild, The Adventurer's Guild, and the Mages Guild. Also by a quick look it looks like these three fit the bill of being from one of each guild.
The speaker looks like the typical brash Adventurer who we would expect to see. The person to his immediate right, my left looks to be the magical equivalent of a Christmas tree and could easily be a high level Mage Guild attendant. The person to his left, my right looks like the non descript person who could almost blend into the background of any setting, in other words, a perfect spy. Put all three together and you have what could easily be a three pronged advancement test all given at the same time.
The words the Adventurer looking guy is using are accurate, also this might describe why Golum and Hector are being so quiet and not even engaging me. Since they are both my handlers for the different guilds it is not too much of an exaggeration to believe that they would be acting in their subdued manner due to my being tested. As they could lose their rank, position, status, or a combination of all three if they were to divulge in any way that I was about to partake in a Guilder Tier Examination quest.
That is the reason why I decide to go along with this seemingly obvious setup, as not going could be enough cause to determine that Golum or Hector warned me about the possible outcome.
Moving slowly and deliberately, I pull up next to him, when he says. “I need you to go into the Earth Tower first, scout around and identify any possible dangers.”
I nod, never wanting to use more than sign language when working as a scout. Even when I am dressed in the exact wrong color schema to blend in.
I enter the Tower proper, and feel an all too familiar sensation of abundant energy flooding my senses. Crouching down, I feel my muscles engage in the all too familiar sensation of moving silently. I quickly move away from the entry way, then Teleport.
Poof.
I move once, then port a second time, then a third time. Then pause.
Finally, after a few moments what I suspected happens. The leader who directed me to come in alone follows. Then I know this entire mission just went sideways, when he begins with the phrase.
“This is nothing personal.”
At that, I see two more people enter the Tower with me.
I want to leave but am instantly hit with a message.
Minimum Earth Tower participants met. Closing the temple entrance in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
I was so caught up by the message that I didn’t even realize I had a chance to escape, until it was too late.
Whoosh.
I feel a burst of magical energy get pulled past me, as I feel the exit to the outside world get sealed. I am now sealed in here with these three other people.
Badump. Badump.
“Oh, looks like your parents couldn’t come. Probably for the best.” The male continued. “Now it is time we need to talk about what happens next…”