There was only one block before the land ended and the wooden pier started. Adyra felt the weight on her shoulders vanish.
That was all she needed to know something was up.
Adyra focused and scanned the block ahead. Two narrow side streets that wouldn't fit even a hand-pulled cart and one back alley. With Sylvis and Vester casting green and blue shadows over the world, it was easy to hide some people in them. She prepared another magical circle and held it ready with a faint trickle of MP.
Daggers flew from the side streets, hitting the guards. She felt MP draining from her robes.
> Guardian barrier triggered.
>
> You were struck by a thrown dagger. You took no damage (base 46 -40 barrier -10 Arcane Armor).
Some of the guardsmen fell to the ground, groaning in pain. Pouring 4,000 MP - after factoring the discount of her affinity - into the spell, she triggered her magical circle and shouted the spell's name. "Acqua Serpent!"
Proper combat etiquette demanded an ability's name to be shouted by the initiator, as a warning to one's allies. Longstanding Parties that knew each other's moves like their own could eschew that, but more than often not knowing who cast what could lead to confusion or friendly fire.
Her magic circle flared for a brief moment, and water shot from the nearest source, the ocean. From between the pier's floorboards, it snaked over the ground and formed into a large serpent. Some debris and bits of seaweed floated inside the serpent but they were inconsequential. The construct coiled itself and hissed. Adyra gave it a mental command to guard her rear.
The [Rogues] dashed out of the shadows, five of them. They engaged the guardsmen that didn't fell to the now obviously poisoned daggers while one of them evaded the sergeant's sword and dashed toward the mermaid princess.
"Watch out!" The sergeant shouted. He tried to give chase but another [Rogue] locked blades with him. Disengaging now would expose him to a [Backstab].
Adyra turned to face the attacker but as she finished spinning on her heel, the long dagger was already swinging toward her. Bobbing around his staff, he slashed her along the belly.
> Rogue slashed you for 157 HP of damage. (Base 47 (-10 AA) x1.82 Strength x1.76 Skill x4 First Strike x1.5 Vicious Blows x0.33 Armor ).
>
> You are bleeding. You lose 37 HP per second for 10 seconds.
>
> You are poisoned. You lose 10 Dexterity for 2 minutes.
>
> You are stunned for 3 seconds.
She fell down, crumpling from the pain. The water serpent struck from behind her, biting the rogue's extended arm and making him drop the dagger. He jerked his arm back and wrestled the appendage free from the serpent's bite, causing long cuts along his forearm.
"Her HP is barely dropping!" Another rogue warned.
"No shit! She has a fucking magical shield," A third exclaimed in frustration as another thrown dagger was deflected by the robe's special ability.
Adyra recovered her bearings and looked at the guardsmen, some of them still fighting the [Rogues] but most twitching and frothing on the ground from the opening volley of throwing daggers.
"Lese Majeste!" She shouted. Though her stomach was burning and cramping because of the poison, she focused on her staff and the magic circle snapped into being two seconds later. She'd fumbled the Quantifier sequence in her first attempt, trying to use glyphs she didn't entirely dominate.
The [Rogue] that struck her was busy dealing with the water serpent. Slashing weapons didn't deal full damage to the water construct while piercing it did nothing. The rogues needed a heavy bludgeoning weapon and they didn't have any.
That gave the [Princess] the time she needed to finish her spell, although her robe deflected another three throwing daggers. Its MP reservoir was at half-capacity. Adyra dumped thirty-five hundred MP, leaving her with less MP than her robes left.
Slamming the staff on the ground as she rose, Adyra marked her targets. "Windblade Volley!" The magic circle spun around the jeweled array atop the staff and the air around it blurred like a heatwave. The disturbances shone slightly before darting toward the rogues.
> Windlbade Volley struck Rogue for 151 HP of damage ( Base 10 x2.1 Willpower x3 Skill x1.5 Affinity x2 Focus x0.8 armor)
>
> Rogue dodged Windblade Volley.
>
> Windlbade Volley struck Rogue for 151 HP of damage ( Base 10 x2.1 Willpower x3 Skill x1.5 Affinity x2 Focus x0.8 armor)
>
> Windblade Volley missed.
>
> Windlbade Volley struck ... [x31]
Her accuracy wasn't very good and the [Rogues] used their own skills and Perks to dodge more than half of her invisible attacks. Then she used one of her [Wizard] Perks.
> Reuse Circle (rare): Keep the magic circle active and recast the spell. You must pass a Mind check for each recast. The difficulty starts at moderate and increased each time the same circle is reused.
>
> A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
>
> Mind check passed.
Paying the activation cost from the staff's MP reserves while she drank an MP potion, Adyra's spinning magic circle delivered another devastating salvo.
> You recovered 4,444 MP
>
> Mind check passed.
>
> Windlbade Volley ... [x35]
"Stop where you are and surrender!" She shouted with the power of her {Royal Order} Skill.
> Contested Charisma test won.
>
> Contested Charisma test lost.
>
> Contested Charisma test won.
>
> ...
Another MP potion and another round of wind blades decimated the [Rogues] that resisted the {Royal Order}, while those that surrendered were captured by the guardsmen with extreme prejudice. Only three out of twelve survived. Adyra didn't give chase. She had more important things to do. She took a bunch of a very special variety of seagrass from her ring and cast a spell on it. This magic circle used Plant magic with the intent of enhancing the target's healing properties and targeted the herbs in her hand. In the dimly lit street, the herbs shed a faint and soothing green glow.
"Sergeant! Have your men chew on these herbs, one leaf for each," She said as she handed the bunch to the sergeant. "You too. Chew one first, to show them it's safe," She added with a mischievous smirk.
While the guardsman stared at the bunch, she broke the reed that bound it together and plucked a leaf for herself. Chewing the herb healed her missing half-thousand HP. Then she looked at her notifications.
> For defeating level 67 Rogue, you gained 883k Exp (Base 44,890 x3.05 Exp Sharing x7,59 Favored Enemy x0.85 participation)
>
> [...]
> You reached Fae-Touched Dolphin Mermaid level 18
>
> You gained 1 Attribute Point
>
> You gained 1 Magic
>
> You gained 1 Luck
>
> You gained 1 Dexterity
>
> You gained 8 Skill Points
>
> You gained 1 species Perk
> You reached Wizard level 18
>
> You gained +2 Magic
>
> You gained +1 Mind
>
> You gained +1 Willpower
>
> You gained 1 class Perk.
> Mermaid Princess' Robes reached level 12
>
> It gained 4 Perks.
>
> Improved Self-Repair: Repairs are 25% faster and cheaper
>
> First Aid: Spend MP to heal wearer's wounds.
>
> MP Regeneration I: ...
>
> MP Regeneration II: Regenerates 5 extra MP/hour.
> Dragon Princess Boots reached level 12
>
> It gained 4 Perks.
>
> Insulated Soles: Reduce lightning, fire, and cold damage by 15%
>
> Insulated Soles II: Reduce lightning, fire, and cold damage by 27%
>
> Hop, Skip, Jump: Grants a +5 bonus to Hiking, Jump, and Running skills.
>
> Soft Steps: Reduces footstep noise by 40%
Adyra skipped with joy at the level-up message. She would need to kill two hundred rogues like the leader if she wanted to rank up, but progress was progress. More importantly, it was a fight she won with her own power, without much...
Her eyes darted to the Exp message and she read the multipliers. At least fifteen percent of the victory wasn't hers. And by the multipliers she got, she knew who earned said fifteenth. Her mirth fizzled but didn't disappear entirely. She knew she could've won alone.
"Thanks, sister," she said using [Doplhin Speech].
She didn't get an answer. Maybe Arista was too far away.
----------------------------------------
Marius Sharpeyes
----------------------------------------
He couldn't believe what he saw. The "easy mark" assigned to their team by the Thieves' Guild turned out to be a powerhouse of destruction. He'd never seen an unranked spellcaster do so much damage. He was the spotter, so his job wasn't to fight. He just had to make sure the escape route was clear.
But there was nobody left to escape but himself. All of his teammates were either killed or captured. He had to get more information on the posh girl with the jeweled staff. He usually avoided using this ability because it took his entire 500 MP to use and left him with a heavy headache for a whole day. He wasn't too keen on wasting the few Attribute Points he gained on Magic and none of his Classes granted MP.
> Long-range Appraise.
>
> [Princess]
>
> Level 36 Dolphin-Mermaid Wizard
"Fuck! This is way out of our pay range!" He turned to flee. After jumping to the next roof, he saw a black cat by his side. "Go away, pest!"
"Mrrow," the cat answered. He noticed a glowing brass bell on the cat's neck.
He jumped again and looked around. As he approached the chimney, the same cat with the same bell was on the chimney, licking a paw.
Marius threw a loose shingle at the cat. The critter dodged by a hair's width. It didn't jump or run away, scared. It just sat there and stared at him.
"Here, kitty. Take this jerky and go away. I don't want to hurt you."
Just to be sure, he {Appraised} the cat.
> Level 1 Cat
The blasted cat sniffed the jerky and jumped on his hood. He shook his head but the cat held tight. It wasn't holding or anything. It felt more like it was stuck there. He shooed the cat with his hand, tried to slap it, but nothing he did could get the cat to leave his cloak.
"I don't have time for this. I must warn the boss."
He ran back to the Guild hideout. Grunter, the bouncer, stared at him. "There's a cat on your head," the brutish [Enforcer] pointed out.
"I know. Can you take it off of me? I need to talk to the boss."
"Can't take a cat off of your head?" Grunter raised an eyebrow.
"I tried everything. The cat is glued to me."
"Humm," Grunter grunted and reached out to take the cat. He held the critter's belly and pulled. Marius came along. "Definitely glued," Grunter sagely concluded.
Marius uttered a non-gormandizing groan. "What should I do?"
"Feed it?"
"Tried that."
"Launch a new fashion trend?" The corded mass of muscle and sinew suggested.
Marius stared, mouth agape, at the [Enforcer]. "Fashion?"
"Yeah. Some ladies wear pelts as coats. You went one level beyond that. You wear the pelt... and everything else."
'Why is this giant so articulate when the subject is fashion?' Marius mused.
"Didn't you have important information for the boss?" Grunter asked. "You better hurry."
Marius suffered the indignity of walking into the thieves' guild with a cat on his hood. The cat made sure to make its presence known by mewling, chuffing, and yowling at every single person they came across. Finally, he found himself before the boss' room. After knocking and getting permission, he walked inside.
The guildmaster was a woman in her sixties. Not in her Yznarian sixties, but what a woman in her sixties would look like on Earth. Marius never dared {Appraise} her. However,
"Someone just {Appraised} me," the guildmaster said. "Who could it be, Marius?" She wasn't happy.
"Not me, boss. I'd never do that," he lowered his head. The cursed cat meowed and hissed at the guildmaster.
"Why there's a cat on your head, Marius?" She asked, clearly annoyed.
"I asked myself the same question, ma'am. The best I could come up with was, 'because the cat wants to'."
The woman snorted a belly laugh, then chortled a snort. She must've some airway blockage. Maybe a deviated septum. "So your new job is 'cat ride'," she pointed out.
"I hope it's a joke," Marius mumbled.
The cat decided to jump on the guildmaster's desk. The critter walked around, taking in the office's decoration. The guildmaster liked to keep some trophies.
"I'll deal with the cat later," she declared after the feline invader sat by the desk's edge. "Why are you here? Besides cat delivery, I mean."
"There's a [Princess] in town," Marius said. "Not one of the kids that came to the auction in the Lord's estate. Another one. The target of our team..."
He explained what happened. Including meeting the cat. Once he finished, he noticed the boss's eyes were glued on the cat.
"I apologize for my subordinate's stupidity," the guildmaster respectfully said to the cat.
"You're welcome," the cat answered with a very feminine and sultry voice. "Now, your men hurt my sister. It is only fair you compensate me."
"What?" Marius gasped.
"Isn't it obvious, you dimwitted moron!" She berated him. "if this cat can keep up with you, it's some powerful spellcaster's familiar! Probably the [Princess] chaperone. Did she have an escort?"
"Only some town guards," he answered.
"Do you think a [Princess] would walk around without guards? If you didn't see them, it means they're better than you, idiot!" She shouted then turned around to talk to the cat, "I'm sorry you had to witness this. What can I do for you?"
The cat grinned.
Marius didn't like it at all. It was the most sinister grin ever.