image [https://i.imgur.com/C2b5Xyf.jpg]

The news about players finding Hawkhurst sobered me. Uproar, LabRat31, and Darkstep amounted to problems for another day. Our first order of business involved helping Iris settle Fort Krek so Hawkhurst could prosper.

Fabulosa turned her attention from Beaker to me. “So, how was your day, dear? Any more floating eyeballs?”

“No, but schmoozing the professors worked. Thanks for that.” I gave Fabulosa a brief recount of my day’s events, from the university to what I’d learned from Hana Bakir.

“So this guy Rammons has the book we need, the Archon?”

I nodded and pulled out the translation codex. Fabulosa opened to a couple of its pages before returning it. “Is this one magic?”

I shook my head, amazed that she wasn’t more curious.

“If this translates the Archon, and the Archon explains Thaxter’s symbols, then we’re golden—but your description of the wizard’s tower seems a little too easy. Do you reckon Hana is setting us up?”

“I don’t see why she would. Hana stands nothing to gain from lying—and she trusted me with her codex.”

Fabulosa looked out the window and chewed her lip. “Hmm. It’s hard to believe anyone in this game.”

“Maybe so, but the tower’s gentrified façade fits the neighborhood. It could be a ruse to blend in, so there could be something crazy inside.”

“I hope there’s something inside. When do you want to hit it?”

I gestured to her armor. “You’re already dressed….”

Fabulosa grinned. “Easy does it. I’m on cooldowns. Remember?”

I nodded and relaxed in my chair. “I could take a day off. But we should take care to avoid other players.”

Fabulosa’s recent fight meant her once-a-day powers wouldn’t be available until tomorrow morning. Her player-versus-player encounter made me reconsider our plans. Governor and lieutenant governor titles appeared on our nameplates, providing the first major drawback to starting Hawkhurst. Every day spent in a big city broadcasted our whereabouts to other players. And we could do nothing about the respective titles aside from relinquishing our posts. Resigning would panic everyone in town, and dealing with the morale fallout when we returned didn’t seem worthwhile. Touring throughout the Eastern cities had been a mistake, but we could hardly blame Greenie for coming up with the idea because NPCs didn’t see nameplates.

Since Fabulosa added us to the town crier’s talking points, the word about the trade route would spread organically. We didn’t need to visit other cities—Malibar would be enough.

“What else did you do, aside from your PvP battle?”

“Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you I met with spice merchants. They love the idea of a continental trade route and have already sent scouts to see if it holds up. Depending on how long we get held up in Krek, they might even make it to Hawkhurst before us.”

“Did you warn them about Fort Krek and the orcs?”

She nodded. “They’re confident in their people. Their scouts know how to blend in with nature, it seems.”

“I hope things haven’t gotten worse in Krek.”

Fabulosa shrugged to show that worrying about things beyond our control didn’t do any good. “I also talked to a guild of weavers. We spoke while they showed me their looms. Their styles are popular in the West, but harbor fees are so much that nobles are the only ones who can afford their goods. They say the problem with aristocrats is they’re fickle, so it’s hard to predict what they’ll buy. Lowering shipping costs enough for everyone to afford Eastern fashions sounds like a slam-dunk to them. They’re in, too.”

“Did you make any headway with the nobility in Malibar?”

She huffed. “I wish. After bribing my way in to see a prince’s chamberlain, I learned he wasn’t a top officer in the court. The chamberlain blew me off, saying the prince hunted with royals and couldn’t receive me for a few weeks. The man was all hat.”

“What do you mean?”

“He wasn’t in charge of anything. If you thought dealing with academics was difficult, try dealing with nobles—or their advisors. Royalty is looking to be a dead end.”

I grunted. “I don’t think we need to do this anymore.”

Fabulosa gave me a questioning look.

I pointed to the nameplate over Fabulosa’s head. “Going to other cities will only let other contestants know where to find us. We’ve got spices and textiles checking out the route. I think word will spread once they do. If anything, we don’t want to grow too fast. Hawkhurst is still scaling up. We need to shore up the problems with Krek and get back to base. Maybe train some more.”

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Fabulosa nodded but didn’t look happy about shortening our adventure. “I reckon we could train more. Or at least I could. You’re already great at everything.”

I shrugged. “It’s not a total waste of a trip. We still have the wizard’s tower and possibly more orcs to fight at Fort Krek.”

“Oh! I almost forgot. I got wind of a magic shop this evening. If we’re bailing on our tour of the East, we should at least check it out. It might have goodies for our caper in the magic tower.”

“Yes! Let’s go see what they have.” I rubbed my palms together to pantomime Gamer Greed. Fabulosa’s grin echoed the sentiment.

After telling Fabulosa how much I liked my driver, she dismissed hers with a compensatory tip the following morning. Hickering took us to the magic shop for our last day in Malibar.

Alas, our spending spree busted out before it began. The magic shop’s proprietor, an adolescent named Dion, looked bored with his job. He lacked sales skills as much as his store lacked inventory.

Dion’s attention focused on a strange wooden abacus. At first, I mistook it for a puzzle or game, but my hopes sank when he counted and checked against figures written on parchment. His absorption into the device made my queries about his wares seem like an interruption. He didn’t look up when he answered.

Someone had spread the items around the room like trophies. Most objects occupied their own shelf, making the room look more like a museum than a shop. Worse yet, they’d vastly overpriced the merchandise. A +1 dagger counted as the only magical weapon, while everything else bore ornate metalworking and gemstones.

I scanned over the sparse contents of the store. “Are there any other items that aren’t on the shelves? Is there anything in your backroom?”

Dion shook his head and tentatively moved a bead on his counting apparatus.

“Is there another shop in town with more magical things?”

Dion shrugged without looking, and I finally lost my patience. I cast Move Object and lifted the device off the surface—I took care not to mix up his beads, but my threat to do so became apparent.

The spell startled the boy, and he looked at me. Settling for fear instead of respect, I had the lad’s attention for the first time.

I put the device down without rearranging its pieces. “Now, where are your magic items?”

He shrugged. “My aunt got cleaned out this past year. Before recently, only old nobles could afford our goods. She’s retired, and now I run the store.” He gave the shelves a dubious wave. “Suddenly, young people started buying things—good-looking adventuring types, such as yourself.” He eyed Fabulosa, giving a flirtatious smile.

Fabulosa missed or ignored him, returning a jeweled staff to its holder. It looked pretty, but its nonmagical nature turned us off. “I reckon he’s talking about other players. That adds up. These parts are tamer than a house cat. Did you check out your map as we came down the river? There are houses everywhere. I’m glad we landed in Belden. At least there, we could find monsters.”

Dion regarded us nervously—not entirely understanding my partner.

I caught his attention. “Where can I go to buy magic items?”

Dion put his hands up defensively. “Sir, I honestly don’t know. My aunt used to be a big shot in the market, but no one sells magic anymore. They steal it.”

Fabulosa opened the door. “Let’s rustle up some food. I found some spiced meats I want to try again.”

I nodded to the boy before we left. “Thanks, and sorry about the intrusion.”

Dion shrugged, nodded, and watched us leave with disinterest.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on low-impact activities away from the grand venues. Hickering knew how to avoid the crowds and took us to hole-in-the-wall dives where prices stood as low as the risk of being seen. We sampled new food, and Fabulosa bought outfits, fabrics, and tailoring supplies.

We checked off things on our shopping list, buying spices and food in bulk and stuffing them into my void bag. I purchased a meat grinder for Rocky, and Fabulosa shopped for specific tools and equipment for brewing, tailoring, tanning, farming, weaving, pottering, and woodworking that Rory and Fin couldn’t make from the forge.

We purchased extra linen, pillows, cotton, and wool for our roundhouses and inns and bought cookware, plates, bowls, silverware, and mugs to accommodate future citizens and caravans.

We acquired raw metals and materials to address the town’s deficiencies. As my void bag’s slots filled, I worried about not having enough space for meat if we killed another big monster. We shopped until the stores closed, leaving us spent at the day’s end.

Before dinner, we purchased spots to ride on an upstream flatboat to Fort Krek on a military supply line. It wouldn’t stop at Azay or Jarva, which suited our needs.

From all our running around, we saw no other players and finished our tour of Malibar in a private dining room where we relaxed and indulged in exotic dishes.

Fabulosa yawned. “And to think, we have a dungeon to clear tonight.”

After retiring to our rooms early, we set our internal alarms. Resting before a dungeon crawl felt like an extravagance, making the wee hours of the morning tolerable.

We made it a game to see if we could tiptoe past the sleeping guard posted at the inn’s front door. I used Move Object to place our room keys, leave our payment, and a note thanking them for hosting us. We passed our stealth check.

Only two objects hung in the night sky, Tarnen and Oud, giving us plenty of shadows. Fabulosa wore the necklace of infravision, and I used Creeper. Using night vision, we spotted another pair of burglars, levels 4 and 6.

We weren’t looking to attract attention before reaching Rammons tower, but seeing other thieves about felt like we’d punched the clock for the late-night shift. Fabulosa couldn’t help herself and dared them to attack. Not falling for the bait, they gave us a wide berth when we passed.

Rammons Tower stood in West Acre, the same district as our inn, so we only had a ten-minute walk. When we rounded a corner to its location, Fabulosa muttered under her breath. “That’s it?”

“I told you it wasn’t much to look at.”

“It looks like Galveston beach house. It’s probably just as empty, too. If this guy, Rammons, is as rich as Hana says, he’s probably not even there.”

“Why not?”

“Folks with multiple houses get bored and move on. Big homes are uncomfortable and rarely occupied.”

“Why not?”

“When getting something from the kitchen becomes a slog, you know your house is too big. I have relatives with giant McMansions who spend all their time in the kitchen. The space is great for Christmas, but otherwise, it’s a waste.”

The thought of owning a giant house and not using it never occurred to me. “That’s awful.”

“Yeah, well, it makes it easier for robbers like us. Come on, let’s give this place a top-down looksee. We can climb up those corner bricks.”

“If it’s empty, we can expect traps. I’ll fire up Mineral Communion.”