I tossed the useless pillow back onto the bed where I’d found it and began quietly padding around the room for the fourth time. I’d yet to find anything that was even remotely helpful. This Lord fellow sure did live the minimalistic lifestyle.
I eyed the stone on the wall that would open the secret door. I was running out of excuses to not press the thing and see what was on the other side. Every time I thought about it though the horrid image of the dagger buried hilt deep in the henchman’s forehead flashed up in my mind. A pressed a thumb to the same spot on my own head and shuddered. Here one second and gone the next, it was a scary thing to think about.
Stella was glaring at me from near the wall. She wasn’t nearly as trepidatious as I was and seemed eager to press forward. I couldn’t tell anymore if her behavior was typical of a dog or if the game had changed her that much. It had all blended together by now.
I opened my mouth to speak but slapped a hand over it before a sound snuck out. I couldn’t make any obvious sounds or I’d be as dead as the henchman.
Enough dawdling. It was time to meet the Lord. I doubted that this guy was the thieving blacksmith's apprentice. Maybe he’d sent one of the henchmen he had gathered above. I couldn’t see someone who went by ‘Lord’ prostrating himself into such a position.
He had to have a regular name before all this happened. I bet it was Leonard or maybe even Gary.
Rolling my shoulders and pulling free one of my blades I gingerly pushed the irregular stone and crouched down in the shadows as the door swung open. Wind whistled through the newly opened doorway but otherwise, there was only silence.
Stella stood, her nose snuffling a little too loudly at the ground as she marched right inside. I took a breath and followed, my eyes widening at what lay on the other side.
So, this is where he kept all of his stuff and there was a lot of it.
A wicked smile split my face as I swept around the room. I found a huge clutch of lockpicks and immediately stuffed them into my bum bag. This many should keep me going for a long, long time. There was more though. Piles of gold. Jeweled amulets. A Strange looking scepter with a jeweled skull on top. Chest after chest filled with things as mundane as candle sticks or as fabulous as valuable paintings.
I tried not to hyperventilate as I stalked around the room. I wanted to take it all but with my limited space that wasn’t really an option. I needed three empty spaces to carry the quest items.
I opened my menu and looked at what I currently had.
Inventory
50 x fungal arrows
Croc skin boots
101 x lockpicks
Canteen
Leather gloves of thieving
1 x Bluedart brew
Walnut horse-bow of stunning
200 x iron arrows
23 x croc tooth
Amulet of shadow
1 x sleeping draft
Leather armor
Basic pants
I had seven empty slots to fill. With three already accounted for that left me with four spaces I could fill without having to get rid of something I already held.
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I swept the room three times, keeping an eye out for the Lord as I searched through his treasure trove. I replaced my basic pants with a pair of leather breeches that came with a handy attached pouch that gave me two extra inventory slots. I took as much gold as I could get my hands on then did one more round picking out anything that took my fancy.
New Item Received: Leather breeches
Description: Nothing makes your ass look as good as a pair of tight leather pants.
Armor: 195
New Item Received: Jeweled Scepter of Resurrection
Description: A scepter embued with the powers of a dark witch. Restricted to players of the mage class.
Attack Power: 203
Effect: On strike absorb 10 points of magicka. Resurrection magic costs 10% less.
New Item Received: Jeweled crown
Description: Practically useless but very pretty.
Armor: 10
New Item Received: Robe of Transformation
Description: A cursed piece of clothing. It looks a bit like a sack but it's not. What the hell is this thing?
Armor: 119
Effect: Ability to shift into different forms at the user's discretion. Self-repairing. Note: armor rating does not change regardless of altered form.
New Item Received: Ruby Ring of Glow
Description: A princess cut ruby in a gold setting. The ruby feels warm to the touch.
Effect: Glow on demand.
I grabbed a couple more items but none of them were as interesting. They’d definitely sell for a lot of gold though. I almost couldn’t wait to return to the smith. I patted my suddenly very full bum bag as we moved toward the archway opposite the bedroom door. I hadn’t found the items I needed for the quest but they had to be here somewhere.
On the other side of the archway was a room filled almost entirely with an enormous stone desk. Papers, maps, and various paper wights scattered the surface of the thing. Off this room were two more exits. One led to a slopping passage where I could hear the sound of splashing water and off-key singing, the other seemed to angle upward and was pitch black and silent.
I approached the table searching through the papers for anything that would help me. As I shifted some of the larger maps a small glowing scrap of paper caught my eye. I picked it up and read the words.
Liam, assign the new goods as follows:
Steel Breastplate of Bashing – Accolyte Darren Greaves
Steel Gauntlets of Warmth – Cleric Avery Sanders
Iron Boots of Wandering – Deacon Andy Lorret
Quest Updated: An Eye for an Eye
Description: You have found proof that the smith's goods were stolen and brought here. The goods have been gifted to different members of the local faction of the Fellowship of Fayum. Find the goods and return them to Blaze the Smith.
Steel Breastplate of Bashing 0/1
Steel Gauntlets of Warmth 0/1
Iron Boots of Wandering 0/1
Well, lucky I bothered to look through the papers. I guess Liam had already done as instructed before he’d been murdered. I turned and eyed the pair of archways. I was sure the Lord was in the one on the left that led down to what I hoped was a bathing area and not some creepy ass ritual room. I marched toward the darkened archway that would lead me back to the upper levels. The members I was looking for would not be down here, they had to be up above.
Stella resisted following me. She stood by the other archway and glared down the passage. She bared her teeth and let out a vicious growl. The hairs on my neck stood on end as I rushed to her and dragged her away. She wanted to fight but that’s not what we were here to do. Maybe we could return to this place later with Nora, Jacob, and Sob. With all of us together we might actually stand a chance of clearing out this cave. Stella and me on our own though? I don’t think so.
We made our way upward until another cavern opened up in front of us. I crouched by a wall and eyed all the players wandering around the room. Two of them glowed. I had to assume that the glow was only visible to me because of the quest otherwise wearing the armor would have been less of a reward and more of a punishment. Not that I would put it past the Lord to serve his followers up as sacrificial lambs to the slaughter.
The only problem was, both of the people wearing the smith’s stolen goods were surrounded by other players. I huffed quietly and crept further into the room, finding a nice little hiding place in an awkward corner darkened by shadows. This is when thieving turned into a waiting game.
Back before the crocs came, I’d enjoyed the odd cop television show. They always made stakeouts seem like these interesting and dangerous things. But let me tell you, surveillance is boring. I sat there and watched both the players slowing shift around the room, stopping and talking or eating and guzzling down tankard after tankard of beer. I licked my lips and pressed my aching stomach, once again missing my old bag of jerky. Now I knew why the cops in those shows always had snacks and coffee. I could go for both right about now.
I had to keep forcing myself to watch the pair. My aching eyes kept trying to shift to different things as my mind wandered. I was a little surprised the Lord hadn’t let out an alarm yet. There was so much treasure in that room he must not have noticed the missing trinkets I’d stolen. It was a small silver lining in the new world of boredom I seemed to be stuck in.
Finally, one of the pair walked away from the group of people, heading for a small doorway not too far away from my hiding place. The man, who must have been Accolyte Darren Greaves because he was wearing the Steel Breastplate of Bashing, ducked through the small doorway and disappeared.
I followed him, rubbing at my aching legs as I maintained my crouch. Carefully I peeked around the edge of the doorway. Inside were three rows of small beds spaced only a foot apart. Seeing the number of them made me swallow and frown but surely not all of the beds had an owner.
I watched the glowing man as he took off his armor and placed it in a chest at the end of one of the small beds. He took out a sword and clutched it close to himself as he curled up on the bed. I guess he didn’t trust his friends very much. Barely three minutes passed before the man was snoring his head off.
I was sweating as I eased into the room. There were at least five other players here sleeping and many more just outside who continued to eat, drink and talk. This was a tricky situation. There was no real place to hide in this weird bedroom.
I approached the chest and pressed my hand to it. The lockpicking icon flashed up in front of me. My cocky smile returned as I opened the minigame, no longer afraid to lose a lockpick or two.