Lorelei's buff countdown reached zero at the exact same moment as Liam's health - which was quite lucky.
As the Rogue hit the ground for the final time, an absolute slew of notifications pinged into her head. However, as the deflating effect of all of those boosted stats suddenly draining away left Lorelei's brain reeling, she ignored them for the moment. Her Map now displayed one red dot - Trevor the Chicken who, because
She had just killed a man.
Lorelei understood that the System's emotional dampening was keeping her revulsion about that fact under wraps, but intellectually knowing that did not make her feel any better. Even in a world as transformed as this one, there was a clear difference between slaying a Kobold or a Wolf and then repeatedly driving a man's head into the ground until they died.
Lorelei felt her body begin to shake and the need to vomit rise within her, but then it all smoothed out into a comfortable numbness. Her eyes travelled from Liam's body to the corpses further up the alley that corresponded with the other gravestones on her Map. In a way Lorelei did not like, the sight of them seemed to help with the numbness.
She had killed someone that had needed killing.
This was a man doing terrible things to other players - people. They were people, not players. She needed to keep that in her head - and she was entirely in the right to do something about it. Her eyes lingered on one of the victims in particular. The body of a teenage girl.
Lorelei felt herself sit up straighter, a wash of righteous . . . pleasure? coming over her. She had killed the [Kobold Champion] that had wiped out her ex-colleagues, and now she had removed a Rogue who was preying on the weak and vulnerable. That was no small thing. That was something of which to be rightly proud.
Lorelei could still feel a small part of her shaking its head and waving its arms, but there was not much she could do to give voice to its concerns. She could tell that she simply was not going to be allowed to feel regret for what she had just done. Unless . . .
"Guide, can you turn off my dampening again?"
*** Help Message ***
No.
The abruptness of the reply took Lorelei by surprise. "What? No snarky comment? No unnecessarily long diatribe about my personality?"
*** Help Message ***
Let's say I have had my knuckles rapped for being overly concerned with what you are up to and leave it at that. I am not your camp counsellor. I am not your friend. I am not here to make your life more convenient. And you would do well to remember that.
"You are literally writing to me under a banner that says, 'Help Message'."
*** Fuck Off ***
After waiting a moment to see if anything else would be said, Lorelei moved over to Liam's body and executed the loot function. There was another cascade of notifications, so she assumed he was carrying a lot of ill-gotten gains, which had just become her entirely justifiably-gotten gains. At that thought, Lorelei stole another look at the other corpses in the alley and felt the warm glow of fury reignite within her.
What she had done here was not a bad thing. She had stopped the bad thing.
Well, all those notifications were not going to read themselves.
She scanned through her inbox mountain, quickly deleting those associated with various buffs and debuffs from
She had a quest train that had been updated when she finished off Liam.
*** Quest Update *** NOT ENTERING INTO THE SPIRIT
Objective: Some people play fair, and some people lure others down dark alleyways and kill them. I don't like those people. Do something about it.
Kill 2 Muggers: 1/2. One down. One to go. There's a whole choke that chicken gag I want to make, but I'm going to restrain myself. Just to remind you, there's a ticking clock on this quest before some heavy hitters join you in the alley. I would not recommend you are still around for that.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Lorelei glanced at the countdown in the corner of her Map. She had a little over ninety seconds to finish the quest and exit the alley. The fire in her that kept reigniting each time she thought of the bodies of the victims flared up again. White hot in its intensity. The two thugs in the alley were just part of this fell enterprise. If she were truly going to achieve justice for the fallen, then it would only be right she dealt with those on their way too.
*** Help Message ***
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Cool your jets, Braveheart. I'm all for a bit of redemptive, recreational violence, but let's not think because we're a certified menace to Kobolds, we're ready to swim in deeper waters. The only reason you've not been repurposed into a cooked dinner and a half-filled pillowcase is an ability now on a 24-hour cooldown. Everything has been a little helter-skelter so far for you, but you must remember that integration is a marathon, not a sprint. Not every monster needs to be slain on Day One.
Lorelei understood what was being written, but that angry fire was like a buzzing noise in her soul.
*** Help Message ***
Okay. For whatever reason, your reaction to the emotional dampening is to become some sort of bleeding heart superhero. It takes all sorts. Tell you what I'll do. I'll reward all that spicey belligerence with the Vigilante title, and I'm also going to take your dose of mood stabiliser down slightly.
Lorelei felt a heaviness settle in her stomach, quite quashing any desire she had to mix it up with whoever was due to come into the alley. The righteous need to achieve justice for the victims was still there, but now it was tempered by the fact she didn't really want to add herself to their number.
From down by her feet, there was a small, sad 'squawk', and then another headstone appeared on her Map.
*** Quest Completed *** NOT ENTERING INTO THE SPIRIT
Objective: Some people play fair, and some people lure others down dark alleyways and kill them. I don't like those people. Do something about it.
Kill 2 Muggers: 2/2. Seriously, the number of debuffs you loaded on that poor bird was epic. There were a few I'd never even heard of before. I'm amazed it lived so long.
Reward: As you seem keen to channel your inner caped crusader, I think the only suitable reward would be . . .
A small black mask appeared floating in the air in front of Lorelei. The moment she reached out and made contact, it was equipped to her face.
Veil of Vindication
Item Type: Mask [Unique]
Required Level: n/a
Class Compatibility: requires Vigilante title
Weapon Type: Stealth
· +10% Agility
Special Ability: The mask is imbued with a particular enchantment that helps conceal the wearer's identity, both physically and magically. It makes facial recognition, both by individuals and magical tracking methods, significantly more challenging.
It was almost entirely weightless settled upon her face, and Lorelei had to reach up to check it was actually still there.
*** Help Message ***
Don't say I never do anything for you. Now, if I could make a final suggestion? You have just enough time to get out of here before you start something you will definitely not be able to handle.
Taking the hint - and the big flashing countdown timer - Lorelei took one last look around the alley and its pile of corpses and slipped back onto the main round.
She'd just reached Ozzy when the doors to the Mystical Market burst open, and a man and a woman swept past her. Lorelei had dreaded that these 'heavy hitters' were going to be luring someone else to their death, and she was going to need to try to do something about it. However, it was clear that they were loudly in disagreement about something that had happened in the market and had lost all interest in running any more victims this way.
The woman was a tall, thin, dark-haired woman whom Lorelei would have hated on sight in the best of circumstances. She was wearing a fetching black leather outfit with more knives attached to her various appendages than was really credible or necessary. Above her head were the words 'Shadow Weaver', Level 9. Her companion could not have been more different. Wide as she was thin, short as she was tall, hairy as she was - presumably - bald as a coot under all that tight leather. If you looked up 'Dwarf Axeman', Level 8, in the dictionary, he was the exact image you would have seen. Which, Lorelei supposed, was really quite the coincidence. There was actually something quite funny about the two walking side-by-side. That is, until the moment you looked into their eyes.
"And I tell you, we need to move on. Any noobs that find their way here at the end of Day One aren't going to have anything worth stealing." The woman's voice, filled with every type of privilege, grated each and every one of Lorelei's nerves.
"I don't care, Sylvie. But I'm not having you at Level 9 when I'm sitting at 8. I wanted to kill that fucking Paladin."
"You can want all you like, Rupert. But he wasn't biting. Short of dragging him out of there, I'm not sure what more we could have done."
The woman - Sylvie - glanced over towards Lorelei, but her eyes slipped off her and away. Thank goodness for the new mask, she thought.
"Fuck," the Dwarf looked up at Sylvie’s name tag and pulled a sour expression. "Let's grab Liam and Trevor and move on. If we head more out towards Aston, we might find some fresh meat."
They crossed the road and sauntered into the alley.
Taking her chance to escape, Lorelei patted Ozzy on the belly - he blew a smoke ring out in pleasure -and slipped quietly inside the Mystical Market.