Corminar’s requested favour was not, in fact, small.
Over the course of a couple of glasses of wine each—enough that I was feeling it a little—Corminar told Val and me that he was in a bit over his head.
‘Who is it, Corminar?’ Val asked, in that exhausted tone of voice that might be used between siblings. ‘Who’s put a bounty on your head?’
Corminar took another sip of wine—the last of his glass. Before he could raise his hand to order more, Val stopped him. ‘The Red Thorn,’ he finally said.
I sunk down in my seat. ‘Poseidon’s depths…’ I muttered.
Val shot me a curious glance; she didn’t know who they were.
‘Exiled elves,’ I told her.
Corminar nodded. ‘Not exiled, but in practical terms… yes, exiled. Their crimes have made them pariahs in the homelands; they have no choice but to eke out an existence away from the Dawnwood.’
‘They’re a dangerous lot,’ I continued. ‘I’ve not encountered much of them, but that’s… that’s because I’ve avoided them. I’ve—’
‘Not ever thought to go into business with them?’ Val snapped. I shrugged; I couldn’t argue this point. The sorcerer glared at Corminar. ‘Seriously, Cor, what in the hells were you thinking?’
‘I didn’t ask—’ the elf started.
‘For my opinion? I don’t care; I’m giving it to you.’
‘I didn’t ask who they were. With the Cladenor name comes an assurance of anonymity, and—’
‘Poseidon’s depths, Cor,’ Val said, echoing my earlier curse.
The elf held up his hands, patting towards the floor—an attempt to calm us both down. ‘It is of no consequence; a matter easily fixed. All we must do is—’
‘We?’ Val asked.
‘—collect that which all of my contractors have thus far failed to collect. Or… return from collecting. We retrieve the smuggled goods of a rival gang, deliver it to them, and my name shall be cleared.’ Silence fell over the table, and it fell to Corminar once more to shatter it. ‘I thought you were a thief, Styk? How did you put it… “getting your hands dirty”?’
‘Cor…’
‘Assist me with this, clear my bounty, and I will join you. That is the arrangement.’
Val curled her lip, and I could tell she was fighting for her life against the instinct to say something surly. ‘Quid pro quo? You wouldn’t help us with the Player just cos it’s the right thing to do?’
‘There are more important things in life than the “right thing to do”, Val.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like money.’
* * *
As twilight fell, we put down our cups of tea—vital in sobering us up from the wine, for the task ahead—and Corminar showed us to a guard tower on the northern side of the city. The elf had instructed Val and me to hang back a moment while he spoke to the guard out front, saying he was going to charm her, and I immediately raised an eyebrow Val’s way. But the elf went ahead and had the guard smiling in no time, and I again raised an eyebrow at Val.
The sorcerer shrugged. ‘High level Discussion. He can turn it on when he wants to.’
‘So he just never wants to?’
‘Not with me.’
Once Corminar had charmed our way into the tower, we heaved ourselves up the seemingly infinite number of steps, and I was fit to throw up by the time we reached the top. Val and Corminar, notably, were barely out of breath. That was what being levels 27 and 25 did for your fitness, I supposed.
‘You dying?’ Val asked me.
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I opened my mouth to respond, but couldn’t get any words out. Instead, I only waved her down and joined her and Corminar at the western side of the watch tower.
‘There,’ Corminar said, pointing to some spot in the distance.
‘We can’t see where you’re pointing,’ Val responded.
‘The larger building. You see the stone courtyard, and the four large buildings with wooden roofs, one on each side?’
Val nodded.
‘That would be where our prize is located.’
‘So, walk in there, pick it up, and walk out? That simple?’ Val asked.
‘What? No. It—’
Val sighed; clearly she had been joking.
‘—will be somewhat more difficult than that. The premises are owned and operated by a rival gang, who are armed to the brim with high level warriors. There will be at least one of these so-called warriors at each doorway.’
‘So we…’ I started, still recovering my breath. ‘Enter via the rooftops. They’re… close enough to one another that we should be able to find a way across.’
Corminar raised his eyebrows.
‘Not as dumb as he looks, is he?’ Val asked.
This time, I failed to resist the urge to stick my tongue out at her—an action that she returned in kind.
‘Yes,’ Corminar said. ‘The rooftops are the route we’ll need to take; I already have a route in mind, but there does remain one obstacle.’
We fell silent, waiting for Corminar to explain to us what this obstacle was.
‘Well?’ Val asked. ‘Are you gonna tell us, or…’
The elf ranger looked surprised. ‘Oh! I thought you’d… I thought you would ask.’
‘Just tell us, Cor.’
Corminar gestured to the right-hand side of the building. ‘Our route will take us into the warehouse on the northern side of the courtyard. The prize is stored, however, on the southern side. Now, I do have a plan in mind for how we traverse the courtyard. On the second story of each adjoining warehouse, there is a balcony. I will use my Archery skill to shoot a rope across the courtyard, embedding it in the wooden beams supporting the building on the far side. Then, under the cover of darkness, we will slowly inch ourselves across the rope, one at a time, until—’
‘Or I could just portal us across,’ I suggested.
‘You…’ Corminar asked, as he and the other former Player Slayer turned to look at me.
‘Worldbending,’ I clarified.
‘That’s alteration magic, Cor,’ Val said.
The ranger blinked. ‘Yes, I know what Worldbending is, Val. I’m just surprised that…’ He gestured to me, as though that was enough information to fill in the gap.
‘We killed a cultist,’ I said.
‘Long story,’ Val added. ‘Don’t ask.’
‘You flatter yourself that you think I would.’ Corminar turned his attention back to me. ‘Do you have the mana for it? Being that you are such a low level?’
I shrugged. ‘I can manage it for maybe four, five seconds. Enough to get us across.’
‘And, dare I ask, back?’ the ranger asked.
‘...That might be a little trickier.’
Corminar closed his eyes and breathed deeply, as though dealing with Val and I was some great hardship, then reached his hands into his pocket. He pulled out four small glass vials, filled with a viscous liquid that emitted a blue glow. ‘Mana potions,’ he said. ‘I always keep a few lesser grade vials on me, as they often prove useful. They’re not strong, but with—what I assume is—your very low mana cap, they should be more than enough to refill your reserves.’
‘You don’t need to assume that,’ I said, resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at the ranger; doing it at Val was one thing, but I didn’t want to make a habit out of it.
‘Am I incorrect?’
‘I didn’t say that.’
The ranger passed me the four vials. ‘Use them wisely. Get us in, and get us out. That, you can do, surely?’
‘Your wish is my command.’
With that, we turned our attention back to the rooftops below, the slate tiles lit very slightly by the light of the crescent moon. In the distance, we could see trees outside the city’s northern walls, swaying in the gentle breeze. Up here, away from the streets, Fenrock was almost… peaceful.
‘So,’ Val asked, ‘when do we begin?’
I stepped forward, raising my hand to summon a portal down to the rooftops below. ‘Is there any time like the present?’
"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%