Chapter 14
The Chase is On
Zoom.
The planes that are chasing me are of the bi-plane design, complete with open cockpits and powered by steam. Now this isn’t to say that the planes can’t go fast, quite the contrary the planes can go at extreme bursts of speed that would be a fulfilling romp for any would be adrenaline junkie. Which is why I so want to be a pilot in the future.
For now, I am the prey, an animal on the wild who is being hunted and I can’t help but smile brightly to myself.
Rat-tat-tat-ta.
A plane lines up on a strafing run and I move.
Poof.
I’m gone, one second there, the next nearly a kilometer away. I don’t mind exposing Teleportation, by now anyone who has seen my feed is aware that I can do it. I do however choose to keep the use of my other two Traits to a minimum.
Of course, that one giant burst all but proves I am the Ghost, but that is fine. I can’t get a little infamy without a little credit to my name.
Vrwwoooowww.
I can hear the war cry as more and more airplanes keep coming. Then off in the distance I can see search lights all coming into existence.
Roof, roof, roof.
Ah, and they brought little doggies to play. Maybe those are beastkin of some kind, I don’t know. All I know for certain is that I am moving through enemy territory in what has to be the ultimate game of hide and seek. I am not going to lie; I have a big ol’ smile on my face right now. I am really glad that I have a mask up blocking most of my face, otherwise people would likely see me cheesing everywhere.
Rooarr.
Of course, this isn’t all conquered territory. While I make sure to teleport over and around the fields that clearly seem to be claimed by different monster herds, the people chasing me don’t seem to have the same exuberance of avoiding the monster trap areas as I do.
One second I am running, and then the next I feel all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Before I even have a chance to second guess myself I am jumping forward over 900 meters and land just in time to feel a thwoom land where I just came from.
Only after the jump do I realize I missed a bomb being dropped on me. I am about to ask where the sound was, but then I remember that old military statement of you can only hear the missiles screaming overhead if they are going to miss you. The ones that are actually right on target will never be heard.
Tremble.
My body trembles from the surge of adrenaline coursing through it at the moment and I realize, that was AWESOME!
Yeah, I almost died, but after that, I can say I truly lived!
I keep that thought in mind then I continue running west.
New Skill gained: Internal Compass has increased to level 1. Internal Compass is a Perception, and Intelligence based skill.
Oh nice, something I have always wanted, and now I’ve got it. See this is why running for your life is a good safe way to level skills, meet new friends, and ultimately have a good story to tell.
Now all I’ve got to do is survive.
Impromptu Quest: Manhunt: A localized Quest has been released for you. Your Goal: avoid capture for a period of 24 hours to earn a reward. Conditions: You cannot leave the Legrand Empire during this time. You must remain on the run once every four hours from pursuers.
My heart nearly drops at the thought of this, a localized quest for little old me? Then I think might as well call me sasquatch and declare me the hide and seek champion for it is on!
With my objective clearly defined for me, I begin changing my angle of movement. I begin moving in a northwesterly direction, all the while using my insanely wide viewing distance to help me try to find underground caverns and the like.
I make a series of rapid jumps to get away from my current location as I decide to lay low in a border village. These are often some of the best places for hiding, as I can hide here and not have my four hour timer lapse while I wait.
Of course, this is just the first phase of manhunt. There are multiple levels of this, where it can go up tier by tier from localized quest, to provincial quest, then finally to national quest. Of course at that level you are all but guaranteed a great prize, though every resource in the kingdom is likely out for your head at that point.
The fun part is, your timer counts, even if you are detained. All the way up until you are brought before the magistrate’s office, meaning that if you are caught an extremely far distance away your timer might still lapse if you don’t have much time left.
Also, the quest rewards are instantaneous. At this level, I can likely expect a new rare or unique skill that will help me further evade detection. The ultimate forms of this can be anything from more Traits, to new schools of magic being unlocked, to new class evolutions available. Ultimately, I am curious as to how far I can push this.
Of course, there is a downside to this. If I do get caught, then the Media Blackout perk that Hector has will no longer be able to work for me. Meaning that if I wanted its bonuses, I would have to apply for being a spy handler myself, then have a spy who worked for me who did half the stuff I did to earn me the perk points needed to get Media Blackout again.
As I get closer to the village, I can all but feel the moment the wild and unkempt lands of the wild change to the hard packed earth of farmland. Even the animals here are calmer. I already have my Stealth and other Obfuscation skills activated as I make my way forward. This helps to mask my presence from the various animals around.
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I also make sure to avoid any direct paths that lead to animals.
Instead, I do a wide search of the area, looking for a place to stay in.
As I look around there are quite a few options available. There are quite a few sheds that I am certain I could hole up in, but I instantly disregard those types of areas. The reason being, that guards coming to search for me would be more willing to look deeply into those areas. The idea being that it would be easier to completely destroy a hut that was not in use than a house that was filled with people.
Me, I have the crazy idea of finding the most packed house, finding a disused basement closet and hiding in there for a bit.
See many people with these types of quests think that running is the most important thing. While they are right, the time to get sleep is now. Before there is too much publicity on the quest, before too many resources can be called in, now is the time to find a nice spot, lay low and try to avoid detection. So that is just what I intend to do.
Finding a rather large house with no less than seven people living in it, I find a basement room, then finding a spot at what I hope is a dark corner where clutter has been piled high from years of hoarding, I find an open spot in the back, make sure my black cloak is on with my hood up, turn towards the back wall and promptly go to sleep.
***
Maybe I’m a monster, being able to fall asleep almost anywhere. I chalk this up to my first few months here being spent developing my skills in dungeons. But sleeping here on the ground in enemy territories is not that bad.
I awake to find that a lot of minds are flustered all around. With a start I know that my hiding village is already being searched. Realizing this, I smile to myself as I realize the hunt is on. I likely shouldn’t be enjoying this nearly as much as I am, but this is fun. It’s like hide and go seek on steroids.
“Look, my source says she is in a dark place.” A voice says from the streets. That or they are close enough that I can feel their surface thoughts with my Telepathy. Fortunately not many people are as mentally aware as the Tortoise Dragon was and able to realize the connection goes both ways. Honestly I am still not sure how the giant mountain of a creature did that, but I am still curious.
“Do they have a visual on her now?”
“Yeah, of course, but all they have is that she is in a dark space devoid of light.”
With that little tidbit, I know that people are both monitoring my feeds and providing real time updates to Regressors in the game. Shaking my head, I begin looking around the village for additional hiding spots, once this one becomes compromised. I have no doubts that this place will be compromised at some point. The idea is to find a new place to hide that has already been searched, and bunker down there.
Of course, this isn’t that easy, as I can tell by the actions and movements of some of the people searching that they are setting up traps for me. This likely wouldn’t be needed for most people, but it appears my skills and infamy precede me. Still this is fine too, as my Detect Trap and Disarm Trap skills are both maxed out and have been for quite some time. The only thing I need to do is make sure that when I enter a new area, I can detect and disarm the traps in the new area, before I am found and before I go to the new hiding areas.
There are areas where the guards avoid looking or setting up traps. In crawl spaces, over door joists, in clearly lit rooms and areas.
How do I describe, or sense rooms that are lit versus dark rooms like the ones I am in? Well, it is a trick to be honest. Brightly lit rooms have an open feel to them, while dark rooms have a somewhat empty foreboding feeling to them. Almost like there is a residual memory to the area. I am just in the middle of contemplating this, when I feel the moment guards come into the house I am in.
“What is the meaning of this?” A defiant mother shouts.
“We have reason to believe a fugitive has taken up refuge in one of these houses. We are here to search the area, to see if we can find her.”
“You think we would hide a fugitive?”
“This fugitive is very tricky. They could have snuck in, and you would have never known.” The guard says. As several military soldiers begin searching everywhere in the house. None even being gentle with what they are looking through, just slamming open closets, throwing out anything that might be stacked. By the time they get to the basement, I am already gone.
I go to one of the little sheds that I know has already been searched.
I plan on doing this, going back and forth between different rooms that have been checked. Once again, I go for a darker shed, one that seems to be able to block all light from getting in. Then, poof.
I am gone.
Slinking about, I continually avoid detection. Often letting the guards search around me.
“We have searched the whole area. The suspect is not here!” One soldier says.
“She is here, we just need to keep looking.” The officer says.
I smile to myself, so far no one has seen me here. The only people that are adamant that I am here are people who are getting outside help, meaning there will be a huge disconnect between them and the rest of their staff. Also, the villagers are not taking this too kindly. This is good to know as it means that so long as I can keep one step ahead of the soldiers, and avoid being detected the villagers will continue to remain discontent with the soldiers. Should war ever come between the Maltese and Legrand empire, this might be a good spot to hide. Or maybe even use as a turned enemy base of operations. Granted someone other than a Dark Elf, like me, should be the one to make that happen, but my mind is alive with possible scenarios going forward from this operation.
Also, this is a great way forward for me. The longer I stay here, the more likely it is that I will gain skills and powers needed to be better at evading detection and capture.
Roof, roof, roof.
“Ah good, the hounds have finally come.” A guard says.
With that, I inwardly hiss at the idea of dogs. Of course, they will have a harder time finding me as it is not like I have exactly left my scent going into these hiding spots, but the fact that there are dogs at all means that I might be able to be found. Of course this could also be a scare tactic too, as they would need a baseline scent to track me off of. So far to my knowledge I have not bled, nor have I shed anything that would have left my scent anywhere.
Then again with my new higher levels of Telepathy, the minds of the dogs are open to me.
“Find, must find.” One dog the lead dog says, and I instantly want to pet the creature and its cute personality.
“Ah, hey there.” I mentally tell the dog.
Roof?
The dog lets out a startled sound as I can see it looking around in confusion.
“Come on girl, find the baddie.” A handler says to the dog, and just like that I can feel the dog’s mind switch to work mode. There is an underlying goal for the hound, a severe want to not only find but procure snacks. Seeing that thought from the dog, I quickly read the thoughts of the handler to find that he keeps his treats in an open pouch on his makeshift tent.
Yes, it appears that the military is setting up a little mobile command post in this village as a means to track me down. I do have to give the people chasing me some credit, as this is a level of commitment I would not have expected from the first day of this type of quest. Generally, the rewards increase for the seekers as well. Overall it is not uncommon for the overall rewards of all people involved in the capture of a suspect to be a magnitude greater than what I would get if I were found.
“Snacks are in the back tent.” I tell the dog, then I share the mental image from the handler’s mind.
Arf arf.
The dog barks happily, as it begins pulling its master away.
“You found something, well go get it.” The handler says, then releases the leash.
With that, the dogs run forward, make a quick right turn into the rows of tents and then make a beeline for their handler’s tent and his pack of treats that are open on the table.
By the time the handler gets close he finds that his packs are busy tearing apart the unattended bag of treats and devouring them quickly and efficiently.
“Bad dogs!”
At that I shake my head. I almost suspect the handler to continue, to try to get his animals to refocus on me, but that is not the case. He herds the pack of seven dogs into their crates and then immediately goes out to find the commander.
“Sir, I have bad news. The dogs somehow found their way to treats and fed. Unfortunately, this means that they will not be able to work for the rest of the day.”
At that bit of knowledge, I smile. I knew the trained dogs had something similar in the real world, where they would be trained and as soon as they got their treat for the day, that meant the day was over. I always made sure to have a few treats scattered throughout my room to reward the dogs when they came to search me for contraband. The handlers absolutely hated searching my room, as it meant that their dogs could no longer search the rest of the offices. Of course, that was why I did such passive aggressive tactics, to get the handlers to eventually leave my office alone. Not that I had anything to hide, but that I liked my privacy.
That said, these dogs were seemingly trained to be like real dogs. Which was good, as it meant I just needed to find and provide the dogs treats each day and avoid their constant searches.
***
Over the course of the day, I continually switched places and positions. I’ve moved from place to place every three and a half hours or so, just to reset my timer. Of course, this movement for me is a lot easier and I think that these manhunts were not designed for someone of my skill set.
“Please, you have been here all day. You have looked everywhere, twice. Whoever you are looking for is just not here.” The mayor of this village pleads with the guards.
“She is here, we just need to find her.” The regressor who has been in charge of this operation all day states. Though I can tell from his thoughts that he too is getting frustrated.
As for me, I have never slept more in my life. Every time it gets close, the guards are so loud that I instantly awake at their arrival.
Then finally after hours of this, I am rewarded with a rare skill.
New Skill gained: Danger Sense has reached level 1. Danger Sense is a Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based skill.
At that I receive the notification that I assumed would come at any time.
Impromptu Quest: Manhunt (II): A localized Quest has been updated for you. Your Goal: avoid capture for a period of 24 hours to earn a medium reward. Conditions: You cannot leave the Legrand Empire during this time. You must remain on the run once every three hours from pursuers.
Then like that, the hunt was on. I now needed to move around more often, but in a village like this, the number of hiding spots available were nearly limitless. Of course, this meant that more resources would likely be called in to look for me. Most NPCs would assume I am nowhere near the area, while all regressors would likely have someone telling them that I never left the area.
Of course, more people meant that over time my hiding spots would slowly dwindle down. I was likely safe for the moment, but I decided to leave the village all the same. It was once again night out, and this would be the perfect time to make a getaway in the open countryside. Again, I was having fun.