It was over a week later by the time we finally reached Fenrock. I’d spent a decent chunk of this time perfecting the use of my one magic ability, and I’d got the lead time on generating portals down to under a second—though I found that the larger the distance between the portals, the longer it took me to form them.

As enjoyable as having a magic ability was, it wasn’t like it’d made the journey much quicker. Any portal-skimming—as I’d called it; Val wasn’t a fan of this name—of the road was limited to my eyesight, and I’d only been able to open a couple of portals a day due to my current low Intelligence stat, and associated mana reserves. As neither of us had any mana potions on us, I didn’t recover my mana until I was sufficiently rested, which didn’t happen until the evening. So… yeah. Fun to have, but not, so far, a game-changing ability.

Still, using the portals came with rewards of experience, and I’d managed to get not just my Worldbending skill up to level 3—and invested all possible points into Intelligence—but as a result, my overall level had increased to level 6. I was moving up in the world.

Already “moved up in the world”, it had turned out, was Corminar Cladenor. My Thieves Guild contacts in Fenrock had very quickly pointed us in his direction, and they hadn’t needed to talk around the point, either, because he’d gone legit.

Or, at least, Corminar had gained the appearance of going legit. He had an office in the commercial district at the very centre of the city, in the first floor above a bakery that was selling loaves capable of making my mouth drool. The sign on the door read: Cladenor Acquisitions. To the eyes of passers-by, this wouldn’t elicit even a raised eyebrow, but for those in the know, however…

At the doorstep, Val stopped, then sighed, seemingly bracing herself.

‘Problem?’ I asked.

The sorcerer tilted her head from side to side in some sort of calculation. ‘Me and Cor, we didn’t exactly get on much.’

‘I thought you adventured together?’

‘I adventured with the rest of them; he just happened to be there. Honestly, it would’ve been better if we’d found any of the other three first, but…’

‘But we’re here now,’ I finished for her. ‘Play nice.’

‘I will,’ Val said, ‘he won’t.’

I didn’t believe her for a second.

With that, the sorcerer slammed the front door open, and we stormed up the stairs into Corminar’s commercial premises.

A small, nervous goblin stood from the front desk, raising a bony finger in the air. ‘I’m afraid he’s in with clients right now. Would you want to leave a—’

But Corminar’s receptionist never got to finish that question, because Val slammed the door open, revealing a tall, good-looking elf sat behind a grand desk on a grand armchair, with two older dwarves sitting facing him. The dwarves were sat upon noticeably less grand chairs.

The elf turned to face Val—and by extension, me—and whatever words he’d warped his mouth to say never came out.

‘Nice place,’ Val said, walking into the office and making herself immediately at home, perching herself on the end of the desk. ‘Can see why you traded in the slaying life.’

The elf seethed silently, weighing the words on his tongue before responding. He held his index finger up to his dwarven clients, and said, calmly, ‘One moment.’ When he turned to Val, he was less calm. ‘Vignor!’ he shouted. ‘What in Elysian’s Plains do you think you are doing here?’

Val shrugged. ‘Paying a visit to an old friend with a new friend.’

I shouldn’t have been happy to hear myself be described as a friend, but I was; it’d been a good while since I’d hung around someone long enough to earn the label.

‘Old friend,’ Val said, gesturing to Corminar, ‘meet new friend.’ She gestured to me. ‘New friend, old friend.’ She gestured back to the elf.

‘I think you’re supposed to use names,’ I suggested, but it landed on deaf ears.

‘I am with clients, Vignor,’ the elf said, nodding to the two dwarves who sat, silent and confused, in the only other two chairs in the room. ‘Could you not have—’

‘Good point,’ Val said, then turned to the clients. ‘I’m sorry, he’s double-booked.’ She gestured them up out of their chairs, and—albeit confused—they did as suggested.

‘I am not—’ Corminar started.

‘His assistant will reach out to make a new appointment,’ Val continued, speaking over the elf. She hurried the dwarves to and out of the door, waving before pressing it shut behind her.

Corminar stared at her, nostrils flaring. ‘Are you here for a reason, or just to lose me business? Because I—’

‘There’s another one,’ Val said.

Immediately, the fury on the elf’s face faded, and was replaced by an expression of… if I had to describe it, I’d say it was somewhere between “terror” and “I’ve just eaten a good meal but I’m starting to wonder if it’s going to come back up again”. ‘Who?’ the elf asked. ‘Where?’

‘Come,’ Val said, grabbing his coat and bow from the coat rack and tossing them to him. ‘Best we talk over a beer.’

* * *

Corminar took us not to a tavern, but to an elven wine bar. This was the type of place where not only was there a written drinks menu, but it didn’t include any prices. For both of those reasons, I—and Val, judging by her face—didn’t feel like we fit in here. Corminar, on the other hand, most certainly did.

The bartender—also elven—waved knowingly to Corminar as we entered, to which Corminar replied with a point to the table in the corner. The owner winked, and with this apparent permission, Corminar sat us down at a table by the front windows, a small pot of impossibly vibrant cut flowers placed in the middle. Not a single word was used throughout this interaction, and I understood from this that Corminar was in here a lot.

‘As you so rudely interrupted a perfectly legitimate business meeting, I would ask that you pay for our drinks,’ Corminar said to Val as we surveyed a menu which wasn’t written in elvish, but might as well have been. ‘This is the only elven wine bar in Fenrock—can you believe it? You would have thought even Plainsmen would have taste enough to appreciate a fine drink when it was put in front of them.’

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‘We do,’ I replied. ‘Usually it’s brown.’

Corminar pursed his lips, said nothing to me, and turned his attention back to Val. ‘And… this is…?’ he asked.

‘Styk,’ Val and I responded at the same time.

The elf raised his eyebrow. ‘Interesting name.’

‘Likewise,’ I said.

‘He’s the one who found the Player.’

Corminar’s interrogating gaze seemed to soften upon hearing this piece of information. ‘And you survived? What level are—’

‘Best not to ask,’ Val interrupted. ‘He’s sensitive about that.’

‘No,’ I said.

The sorcerer smirked. ‘“No”? Yes you are. You—’

‘I wasn’t replying to you.’ I looked to Corminar. ‘No, I didn’t survive. Hence the…’

‘Level 6,’ the elf finished. ‘How?’

‘An artifact; one I was paid to steal. I was holding it when—’

Corminar Cladenor’s eyes widened enough that I cut myself off. In the silence that followed, three vibrant red wine were placed on the table in front of us; Corminar apparently had a usual order, too. Finally, the elf spoke. ‘Not the Sisyphus Artifact?’

My stomach lurched, and in answer I pulled the metal octahedron from my pocket and placed it on the table.

‘...Oh,’ Corminar said.

‘Explain yourself,’ Val demanded, leaning across the table so that she didn’t need to speak at more than a whisper. Despite the low volume, her tone was menacing.

‘A few months ago, a man came to visit me,’ Corminar said. ‘He acquired my services to track this object down, and, of course, I accepted the job. But when it took longer than the timeframe I had provided, he took back his up-front payment and pursued it himself.’

Pieces began to slot into place for me. ‘This man,’ I said. ‘What did he look like?’

‘A handsome one. Beautiful blond hair, and muscles that had me reconsidering the nature of my usual client relationships, at least until that dreadful tantrum he had on our second meeting.’

I turned to Val, making pointed eye contact.

‘It’s him?’ she asked.

I nodded.

The sorcerer reached over the table and slapped Corminar. ‘You idiot! Did you not identify him at all? You should have known—’

The elf, who was cradling his cheek and pouting about the pain, cut in, ‘In my business, Vignor, the less we know about our clients the better. Of course I didn’t identify him; that would fly in the face of—’

‘Hold on,’ I said. ‘I was hired to retrieve that artifact too. How can there be two separate…’ I trailed off, and the answer occurred to me in the same moment as it occurred to Corminar.

‘Petalia,’ we both spat.

Val looked from me to Corminar and back again. ‘...Who?’

‘You really don’t ever get your hands dirty, do you?’ I asked.

‘I don’t see any reason that I should.’ Corminar didn’t seem to think this a point of pride, apparently.

‘Can someone fill me in here?’ Val asked.

I pointed to the elf. ‘This guy, he subcontracts. Doesn’t do any of the hard work—’

‘Attracting clients is the hard work,’ Corminar said, and I waved the defence away irritably. ‘Perhaps if your charisma was beyond that of a newborn child’s, you would understand that.’

‘And in this case, he subcontracted to a half-dryad named Petalia.’

‘And how does this…’ Val started, before the answer came to her. ‘Ah. She hired you.’

‘Yes,’ I replied.

‘Now I understand why the job took so long,’ Corminar mumbled under his breath, keeping it quiet because he surely knew it wasn’t a good defence, really.

‘Was this man really a fundamental part of your team?’ I asked. I’d expected Val to not get on with him—I hadn’t expected it to be even more true of myself.

Corminar held up a hand and counted on his fingers as he listed the vital attributes that he brought to the table. ‘Archery. Discussion. Herbalism. Three areas that not a single other Player Slayer’ — he said the words under his breath, as though if anyone overheard them, it might cause trouble — ‘has even unlocked. And I assure you, having a ranger on the team is far better than…’ He gestured to Val. ‘What was it you do? Cure hangovers?’

‘That’s only part of it,’ the sorcerer replied.

‘Look,’ I said, slamming my hands down on the tabletop without really meaning to, splashing red liquid out from Val’s still full glass. ‘Val, here, she said you could help. That if we put your old team together, we can kill him. But if you’d rather sit here bickering—’

‘What level is he?’ the elf asked.

‘42.’

Corminar raised his eyebrows. ‘42? And you think we’d stand a chance?’

‘Val says that any level difference can be overcome with a good enough plan.’

‘Yes, Val says a lot of things,’ Corminar responded. ‘That does not mean they’re always true.’

Before Val could interject, I said, ‘She’s been right so far. Me and her, we took down a level 27 barbarian just last week.’

‘What was your contribution to this skirmish?’

‘Some.’

Corminar sighed, and made no effort to hide having done so. Perhaps he even exaggerated it. ‘So what’s he done, then? What crime has he committed that it is worth putting our little family back together?’

‘Did you hear about Plainside?’ Val asked.

‘Yes, I—’

‘That.’

‘...Oh,’ Corminar said. Silence fell over the table as Val and I allowed him to process this information. ‘In that case,’ the elf finally said. ‘I suppose I will join you.’

‘Just like that?’ Val asked. ‘You used to know how to drive a bargain.’

‘Just “like that”, as you would say. Or, rather, nearly “just like that”. I do have one small favour to ask, first.’

"Styk"

Level 6 Novice Bladespinner

Base Stats:

Vitality — 10

Intelligence — 19

Dexterity — 14

Strength — 27

Wisdom — 9

Charisma — 0

Skills:

Knifework — Level 12

Identification — Level 5

Worldbending — Level 3

Stealth — Level 1

Abilities:

Slice — Slice the enemy for physical damage worth weapon’s base damage and additional damage scaling on [STR].

Stab — Put your weight behind your wielded blade and force the tip through tougher hides and armour. Damage scales on [STR].

Closed Reach — Bend reality to narrow the gap between blade and target by up to 8 inches. Uses mana.

Local Portal — Create a portal to another location within current range of sight. Uses mana/second.

Basic Stealth Attack — Passive. 10% boost to damage when unnoticed by enemy.

Basic Identification — Discover basic attributes for a particular object or person. Ability scales with [WIS] + [INT].

Active Effects:

Legacy of Sisyphus:

XP gain increased by +400%