"What do you mean there is a guild asking if anyone has seen him?" I overheard Elif say to Sorha. Frowning, I turned just in time to see Sorha duck behind a tree. Copying the actions, I heard a few voices distantly calling out to each other as dim torchlight broke through the trees.
"I mean, I just saw a post on the forums by that recruiter in Tozha. They're looking for him." Sorha whispered back to Elif. Her ears twitched and she drew an arrow from her quiver, her gaze penetrating the foliage around us. Seeing Sorha moving again, I followed suite, trying to stay near him. I also didn't know why a guild would be looking for me, but if I had to guess, I would say that Diane had finally realized I wasn't in town anymore.
"This is unfairly difficult. To complete the quest perfectly we need to avoid all player detection? You know how many people are hunting in the forest for xp?" Elif muttered. I had to agree with her on that, but she was forgetting that at night time, a lot of people logged off or moved away from wilderness areas due to lack of visibility and more dangerous nocturnal enemies. My hand brushed the hilt of my sword, and seeing the miniscule movement, Sorha grabbed me and pushed me between him and a tree, his eyes scanning the area for a few moments before he released me.
"We need to move fast. We can worry about why they're hunting him later. Just think about the odds of finding a rare skill and how if we pull this off you can enter the rankings." Sorha reasoned with her. I still wanted to draw my sword so I'd be ready in case of an ambush, but Sorha seemed to think that was a bad idea so far. He pointed at a nearby tree, and then at the roaming torchlight, to which Elif responded by scaling the tree quickly. Vanishing into the leaves of the tree in the dark, I felt a chill run down my spine as I realized what they were doing.
Sorha pulled me by the arm as he continued forward at a light jog, moving surprisingly quietly for such a big guy. Following closely behind him, I sensed rather than heard the tightening of the bowstring, and the soft snap which accompanied its full draw. By the time we rounded the tree blocking the light, the seeker was already dead, an arrow through his throat and his torch lying uselessly on the floor. Elif moved above us as we ran, leaping from tree to tree, her bow singing occasionally.
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Diane frowned as she examined the scene. One of the guilds scouts who had run ahead in hopes of finding the npc in the forest before he got to far away, was lying dead, an arrow through his throat. That told her two things. There were players hunting her scouts, and the scouts didn't even know they were being hunted. The arrowhead was metal, and well made, so it couldn't be an orc or a goblin in this zone, and since the scout had died before he could raise any type of alarm, he had been entirely unaware of the attack. A notification from another guildmember caught her attention, as another scout was find dead.
"Who did we piss off that they're interfering with our business?" She asked the trees, when no answer was given, she frowned again. There was a pattern in which scouts were being killed. The ones in the direction of Airedale. Whatever was going on here was moving in the direction of the next town, and even if it had nothing to do with the Eagleforde npc, she wanted revenge for her guildmates. Sending out a rally command, she started out towards Airedale, intent on arriving at its gates before the player killers could.
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Sorha frowned as he watched the gates to Airedale from his position in the underbrush near the road. The guild that was looking for the npc had realized they were heading towards Airedale, and some of its members in the town had already blockaded the entrance, demanding all players who wanted to enter to reveal their list of most recent kills. It was a flawed plan, but good enough to prevent Elif from entering the town through the main ways, as it would reveal her as the assassin of the scouts in the woods, and if they saw the npc, they would fail one of their optional objectives. Of course, seeing as the other objective was to get Eagleforde into the town, they couldn't stay put for too much longer before the quest expired.
"I see a way in." I said softly. Sorha jerked his head towards me out of surprise, clearly not having expected me to talk or offer a solution. I scratched out a rough diagram on the floor, and as Elif dropped down from the tree to join us, I began to explain my thoughts.
"If you can cause enough of a distraction here, pulling their attention away from that dip in the wall on the left, I can use the cover to scale the wall and get into the town. They don't know what I look like or that I'll be inside, so they won't be looking for me. Then you and Elif just need to disengage, and meet up with me after losing them in the forest again. Right now they are after you for revenge, so they won't expect you to double back to the town if you fail to break through the first time."
Sorha blinked, then looked at Elif. Elif blinked, then looked at Sorha. After a moment they both nodded, and looking at me, I could see the curiosity on their faces. "Where do we meet?" Elif asked. Before I could propose a location, Sorha spoke first. "The Church of Order. The priests there are obligated to provide sanctuary to travelers in need, and arriving so late at night will qualify."
I nodded. Sorha stood up, brushing the leaves and dirt on his body off as he strode into the light around Airedales gate. Elif scampered up a nearby tree, and a moment later I heard the draw of her bow. Gliding away from the the gate, I moved through the dark in the forest until I was roughly inline with the dip in the wall that I had noticed. Sorha must have decided he had waited long enough, as I suddenly heard a shout, followed by a scream of pain from the gate. Glad that I wasn't near enough to see the battle, I sprinted from my cover to the wall, and quickly climbing the unguarded portion, I swung myself up to the top of the wall. Here and there I could see guards casually patrolling and going about their business. If one of them saw me, they would raise a different time of manhunt from what the players had, as I was now entering the town without passing through the inspection of the gate guards. Dropping off the wall and into the town below, I wandered around the streets a bit while I waited for the alarm to be raised.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Quest Completed: Arrival in Airedale
Rewards:
1. Arrival in Airedale
2. Adventuring guild letter of Introduction
I frowned at the notification box, and walked directly into a person as they rounded the corner unexpectedly. A lean, athletic man, my heart skipped a beat as I thought I had been found, but quickly calmed as he brushed himself off and offered me a hand to stand.
"Sorry, I should have paid more attention to where I was going." He said, as I realized he was an npc. Taking his offered hand, I allowed myself to be pulled back to my feet.
"No no, I was lost in thought myself. I've managed to get myself lost you see. I'm trying to get to the Church of Order. I need a place to stay." As I spoke the mans a smile broke out on the mans face.
"I can lead you there, I'm actually one my way there myself. Always wanted to be knight, and I figured that a knight of the Church wouldn't be a bad idea. Help people and make a name for yourself, am I right?" He spoke eagerly, and I saw his eyes run over my sword.
"A good cause is always a good idea." I responded as I waved for him to lead the way, and following along.
"Indeed. And you? Why are you heading to the Church?" He asked, curiosity finally overtaking him.
"I need a place to stay before I head off to the Adventurers guild. I'm in need of money, and so I plan to work as a commissioned adventurer for a time." I admitted, watching as the npc suddenly turned to face me once more.
"Then could we trade favors?" He asked excitedly. "I'll give you this letter of introduction I got from helping a merchant on the road if you agree to be my sparring partner in the test that the Church will give me to see if I'm worth taking in." Seeing the concern on my face, he quickly continued. "Don't worry, the letter was for helping with packing and unloading carriages, and serves as proof that the holder is reliable and not a vagrant. And the spar is to just to establish that applicants have their basics down. All we'd need to do is a few basic drills against each other while a Senior Knight watches to see if I have talent or not."
"That sounds like a deal to me." I answered, smiling. So that was how the system was giving me rewards. It couldn't just give me an item, so it was manipulating events and npcs to do the job.
"Right, then lets hurry." He said as he starts walking quicker down the road. "I'm Felix by the way. Felix Aurelion."
"A pleasure. Cross Eagleforde."
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Diane growled with irritation as she watched Sorha suddenly flee into the forest. After having started a fight with the guild members she had put at the gate to prevent them from hiding in Airedale, Sorha and Elif were now fleeing back in the direction of Tozha. Both of them were better than average in terms of player skill, and Diane could feel her frustration building as she ran after them. She was more than a match for either of them in one on one combat, but they worked as a team, and pushed her into a stalemate. Her guildsmates were eager for revenge as well, now that they had targets, and as they rushed into the woods, she couldn't help but wonder why the two mercenaries had decided to hunt her scouts seemingly for fun.
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Elif moved nimbly from tree to tree while Sorha crashed through the undergrowth below. They had already shaken their pursuers from sight, and were now laying a false trail before lying low. They would head to Airedale the next evening once the heat dies down a bit, where with any luck, the npc would be waiting for them still. Not that it mattered. The moment he had cleared the wall, they had both received a notification that they hadn't had a chance to read yet. Pausing to catch their breath, they smiled at each other as they opened the notification at the same time.
Quest Completed: Escort to Airedale
Rewards:
1. 20 gold
2. Rare skill
Skill selection:
1. Beserker: Sustained Skill. Decrease Defense Values by 50% to Increase Attack power and speed by 50%
2. Unyielding defense: Sustained Skill. Decrease Attack power by 50% to Increase Defense Values by 50%
3. Evasion: Active Skill. Dodge all incoming damage for 2 seconds
4. Endurance: Increase Stamina Regeneration by 50% of Health Regeneration
"These are..."
"Yeah."
"When is the next ranking evaluation?"
"End of month. You going to partake?"
"Obviously. Duo with me?"
"Anytime."