I took out my new bow and admired the grain, it was much fancier than my last one. I opened up my inventory and took a look at the description again, thrilled by its stats compared to my old chestnut bow.

New Item Received: Walnut Horsebow of Stunning

Description: A fine bow crafted from walnut. Slim, quick, smooth, and light it is the perfect weapon for the aspiring archer. Blessed by a witch this bow holds the power to inflict stun damage on your prey.

Attack power: 247

Effects: Possibility to stun enemy on hit. 10% bonus damage when fired while riding horseback.

Reading about it brought back that feeling that had swept through me the moment I’d seen in the smith's inventory; I was a little kid again opening his first present on Christmas morning. Sob might not be happy that to draw out its full power I’d have to be ass to saddle, but I’m sure he’d get over it eventually. He seemed to be a lot more agreeable since our run-in with the Sewer Hag.

With this beast of a bow and the hundreds of iron arrows I’d bought, I would no longer be stumped when I needed a ranged attack. I thanked my lucky stars that completing the minor challenge dungeon had thrown so much gold at me.

I’d also sold my filthy gloves and bought a new pair instead. I looked at the description before I equipped them, my big ass smile growing even wider as I did.

New Item Received: Fox Fur Gloves of Thieving

Description: Simple gloves expertly crafted from leather with an elegant fox fur trim. These gloves have been embued with the sneaky talents of a fox.

Armor: 97

Effect: Lockpicking is 5% easier. Pickpocketing is 5% easier. Adds a 1-3% bonus to damage dealt by daggers or shortswords.

The effects were incredible and they were only a single armor point off matching my old croc skin gloves. They fit my hands well but the trim was a little intimidating, a giant puff of reddish brown fur in the middle of my forearm. Just another interesting addition to my fanciful outfit.

Buying the two had cost me an outrageous amount of money but I’d had plenty left over to buy items for Stella and Sob. It was strange. They both clearly were developing levels and skills as we progressed but as far as I knew they were never rewarded with money, or if they were, they couldn’t use it themselves. The items I’d bought had come under a little heading labeled ‘pets’, so maybe the system had different rules for players' animals.

I looked at the items one after the other before I took them from my inventory to outfit Sob and Stella.

New Item Received: Spiked Coyote Vest of Warding

Description: A vest perfectly sized for man's best friend. The spikes add resistance to physical attacks. Charmed to repel minor magical damage.

Armor: 241

Effect: 7% resistance to magical attacks.

New Item Received: Saddle Pad of Sparks

Description: A glossy, dirt resistance sapphire blue saddle pad to be worn by the fanciest of steeds. Charmed to enhance electrical damage.

Armor: 189

Effect: 5% additional electrical spell damage. 5% reduction in electrical spell magicka cost.

I didn’t know what magicka cost meant but I was pretty sure it would help Sob out. Besides, the blue color matched the aesthetic the horse had going. I took off Sob’s saddle, brushed him down with the new brush I’d also bought, and fitted his new pad before re-buckling the saddle. He seemed happy with his new outfit, holding his head up high with his chest puffed out. Stella looked a little odd in her vest. I’d never seen the likes of it before. There were no coyotes in Australia. Did they make vests to ward off dingos? It was something I’d never heard of before. The steel spikes running up and down her back did make her look more dangerous, even if the fabric of the vest was a brilliant hot pink that matched my bum bag.

The job done I stepped back and admired my handy work. We were all much better prepared now, even if I had spent all of my gold. I didn’t even have enough left over to get a ride off Red. Luckily, I’d not seen the merchant spider monster since our time together in the crevice at Dead Drop.

I wasn’t the only one concerned about the animals. Nora had spent some of her hard-won gold to buy Sob a full set of steel cuffs that he wore on his forelegs. She said they gave him some armor against physical attacks which as a mage he sorely needed, even if he was naturally robust simply for being a powerful stallion. I would have liked to enhance his healing magic but hopefully greater attack power would make the need to heal all of us less important.

The smith, whose name was Blaze stood at his forge, watching all of us equip ourselves. I assumed his name was a fake like Nora’s but it might not have been. Aside from all the goodies, he’d also given me a quest. The others, for whatever reason, were given different quests than I was, but all of them seemed to revolve around the smith getting revenge on a past employee who had stolen from him. Given that there were three employees to hunt down he clearly didn’t have much luck hiring reliable people.

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I opened my quest menu and had a look at the updated quest to see what he wanted me to do.

Quest Updated: An Eye for an Eye

Description: After meeting the master smith he told me of Tommy Gretkins, his one-time apprentice. The boy had worked for no more than three weeks before stealing three very unique pieces of armor from the smith’s custom order rack. The customer, and the smith, are very unhappy with the delay. Go find Tommy Gretkins and retrieve the armor. Blaze will reward you handsomely for the return of his goods. Blaze offered a helpful tip, the thief might be hiding out in Glow Worm Cave.

Steel Breastplate of Bashing 0/1

Steel Gauntlets of Warmth 0/1

Iron Boots of Wandering 0/1

I opened my map and was happy to see another quest marker showing me the way to the cave. It felt a little weird taking on a quest to hunt down a thief when I was trying to become a better thief myself. There were two markers on my map at the moment, one for the cave and the other pointing me toward Bertram the Bard, the quest I’d gotten from the Shadow Walker Guild.

I was grateful for the smith's odd quest distribution though, the fact that we would need to split up to complete our separate quests would mean I wouldn’t have to try so hard to hide my Shadow Walker quest from my teammates. Nora had fought against splitting up at first but it hadn’t taken too much prodding to get her to accept my idea. We could complete the quests faster if we didn’t all go to each location after all. At least, that was the lie I told. I did concede to her and Jacob taking Sob along to complete theirs though since they would be heading in the same direction. Mine however was on the other side of Stanthorpe so it would just be me and my girl Stella. I could live with that.

“Are you sure about this Joe?” Nora asked as we prepared to head out.

“It’s the fastest way.”

“Alright, but if you’re not back at the inn in two days I’ll find you and hit you over the head with my axe.”

“That’s comforting, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

I rolled my eyes as I waved them off. Jacob didn’t say anything, he seemed way too excited to be heading out with Nora alone. I think he was glad he was heading out with Nora and not me. She was far more powerful in battles and seemed to relish them too. It worked for me but still, it twisted my panties a little to be so easily dismissed.

“Come on girl,” I said to Stella. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

She barked and wagged her tail, happily following along beside me. As we walked I took the time to look at my stats menu. I was still chuffed that I’d gone up two levels in the challenge dungeon. I’d already allocated the points I’d gotten from those level-ups.

Health:

16/16

Magicka:

5/5

Fatigue:

15/15

Level:

8

Ability

Score

Agility:

12 (1)

Charisma:

7

Constitution:

12

Endurance:

7

Intelligence:

2

Perception:

11 (1)

Magic:

1

Strength:

6

I smiled, happy with how I was developing so far. I assumed the added number beside some of my abilities was due to the effect of my Amulet of Shadow, and the added point from my new title from the Shadow Walkers.

I’d already decided that I would go after Bertram the Bard first. I hoped, as it was a beginner's quest, it wouldn’t take me too long. Besides, if Nora did come after me with her axe ready I’d rather be working on the smith's quest when she found me. That was the plan anyway. Given everything that had happened before now I was sure something was going to go wrong with the plan. It would be too easy if it didn’t. What I wouldn’t give for one moment of ease.

I realized too late that it would have been a good idea to practice my new pickpocketing skill before I went in search of Bertram, but who was I supposed to practice on? Phlegm? The smith? I couldn’t practice on Nora or Jacob because then I would have to explain what I was doing. It’s hard to be sneaky around people you know. At least, it was for me. Maybe for better thieves that wouldn’t be such a problem.

I tried focusing on my pickpocketing skill as I looked at Stella but nothing happened. Either I wasn't doing it right, or you couldn’t pickpocket pets. There was no way for me to know for sure.

It didn’t matter though, in a few short hours I should be right on top of Bertram and then I would know for sure. I just had to avoid the crocs on the way there. There was no time for a fight right now, not when I had thieving to do.