HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD
Conrad approached the quest board but was momentarily distracted by the rotating display of top adventurers and bands. He had felt pretty impressive with his tier II class, especially after so short a time as an adventurer, but looking at the veritable titans in the top ten really put it into perspective.
Overall levels were determined by the total number of levels both invested in and gained through proficiency in skills on Order’s Path of Progression. For every five levels, you advanced one overall level. Conrad hadn’t even reached level ten yet, but looking at the board, even the number ten spot was occupied by a level 50 adventurer by the name of Gabriel Twining, a tier eight class called a Shatter Spear.
Taking the advantages offered by his enormous level as well as a lifetime of accrued magical weapons, equipment, and bonuses, any one adventurer on that list had to have the force equivalent of an army unto themselves.
A voice called out, pulling Conrad’s attention away from the leaderboards.
“Picturing your own name up on that board?” Troy said, coming forward and offering his arm for Conrad to grasp.
Conrad smiled in greeting and gripped the man’s arm in return, “Caught me. What are you doing here?”
The man held up a tortilla wrap filled with eggs, sausage and cheese, “Best breakfast in Edge. Also a good place to get a workout and maybe see about refilling the ranks of the Shards of Order,” he grimaced, “Camilla and Garret are going to be hard to replace. Good people. Lost them the day we met you.”
“No doubt. Mara took Camilla’s death pretty hard,” Conrad said.
“That’s right, you brought her body back from the dungeon. Did us a major favor. Somehow we keep owing you,” Troy said, giving Conrad a friendly punch on the arm.
An idea struck Conrad then, and he opened his inventory to retrieve the Skill Book he had been given as part of his share of the loot from the Lizard King. “I haven’t had a chance to use this yet, and I’m thinking we’re square if you give me a quick lesson. Always did want to learn the sword.”
Troy’s expression brightened, “Best Idea I’ve heard all morning! Kicking your ass’ll be a good way to help me get a headstart on settling all this,” he held up the breakfast wrap and took a huge bite, “Come on then.”
He led Conrad out of the hall, munching as they went. They passed the clerk and Troy crinkled up the tin paper that had wrapped his breakfast and left it on the man’s desk with a quick, “Thanks friend!” as he walked to the stairs leading to the roof.
Up top there was a lot less space than Conrad had imagined, despite the visibility of all the tents and canvas from the street below. Navigating the rooftop meant picking a perfect path, sometimes having to step over cots or sleeping pads, until they reached the center of the roof which presented the only open area in the whole space.
One edge of it was lined with training dummies where a few adventurers practiced attack angles or gained basic familiarity with new weapons, but the majority of the space was taking up by a large fighting canvas.
“Shoes off,” Troy said, removing his own and walking up to a weapon rack to remove two heavy wooden practice swords. Conrad did as he was asked and caught one of the weapons as Troy tossed it to him.
“Read that book, then we’ll get a good sweat going to start the day off proper,” he said.
Conrad held up the book. He knew in theory how they worked but he had never had the chance to use one himself so this would be a new experience.
He cracked it open and automatically the pages began to flip, faster than he could have read them if he could have read them at all. The language and diagrams were completely inscrutable, but as the pages turned, accelerating now, the words and images resolved into concepts in his mind. How to hold the sword, or any one handed weapon, how to feel for balance, how to place his feet, basic angles of attack and defense plus movement forms and dodging techniques.
All of the knowledge raced into his head just as the book itself quickly closed. He identified it and saw that two of three charges remained. Good to know. He sent it back into his inventory and began tossing the sword back and forth, giving it a few practice swings and spins.
It didn’t feel quite right, but he knew he was getting the hang of it and his body would catch up quickly to what his mind knew.
“We’ll start slow. Quarter speed, and ratchet it up from there,” Troy said, the Swordsman brandishing his own training weapon and squaring up to Conrad.
“Come on then,” Troy said flicking his weapon upward in the same way a person would with a finger to motion Conrad forward. And so Conrad came at him.
It was with exaggerated slowness that they moved through some initial fighting patterns, guards, and footwork, but as they went Troy slowly increased his speed. The man’s skill with a blade was never more evident than in the way he nudged Conrad forward, always just out of his comfort zone, and it wasn’t long before they were going at it full tilt.
At least Conrad was. He was putting everything into his attacks, even invoked Tireless and Adrenaline Rush at Troy’s goading and still found himself unable to land a hit. It was when everything was on cooldown and Conrad was back to simple fighting that Troy decided to teach him a simple lesson.
“About now you’re noticing you can’t hurt me,” the man said with a grin, “And that should precipitate you into realizing your day is about to get really, really hard.”
Conrad giggled nervously as he was forced to go from trading blows to an entirely defensive posture, “Hold up we’re just practicing!”
“Let’s put that Toughness to the test!” Troy said, and then he invoked skills of his own.
The flurry of blows that hit Conrad then were so fast he wasn’t sure he could have followed them even if Adrenaline Rush had been active. And in a few seconds he was on the ground - winded, bruised, aching, and disarmed.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Maybe don’t put all of it on cooldown just cause your opponent goads you into trying it,” Troy said, offering him a hand up.
“You did good though! And with a little more practice you’ll be dancing with me proper like. What do you say?” Troy asked.
“To another round? I need a minute,” Conrad groaned, “or twenty.”
Troy laughed and slapped Conrad right on his leg where, not a few seconds prior, he had given Conrad a hit so powerful Conrad was sure it would have removed his leg if the weapons had been real.
“No, I mean what I said the other day, in the dungeon. Why don’t you join up with the Shards of Order?”
“Tempting,” Conrad said, “But you’re looking at a newly minted Gold tier member of the guild. The Seekers, just me though it may be, is my band now. Guess it’s just Seeker.”
“Oh, Conrad,” The man said, disappointed but still in good cheer, “You let that clerk con you into Gold tier? A Merchant!?”
“It’s a good deal,” Conrad said, taken aback.
Troy explained, voice patient, “Mate, you’re smart and you’re good at trading and dealing and all that, but you’re inexperienced. Guild quests can earn you some gold, true, but the real wealth is in running dungeons, and all you get from the Guild for the higher tier is more money funneled from you and back into the Guild. Don’t need a higher tier than Bronze to really take full advantage of the Warren.”
“I thought about that, but there’s more to it. The shops, the mercenary quests-”
Troy put up both hands and waved Conrad off as if he was treading into dangerous territory, “Stay away from the mercenary quests. Not worth the hassle. Sure, Guild Points come a bit more easily when you do them and some of those items are nothing to spit at, but the risk to reward ratio is not on your side.”
That confused Conrad, surely more opportunity to do more varied quests wasn’t a bad thing. And with what he anticipated being able to earn, the guild fees really were cheap in the long run.
“You’re going to have to explain that,” he said.
The Swordsman sighed and let his hands rest on the pommel of his planted training sword, “Mercenary questing means you might be dealing with other adventurers. Some monsters have skills, sure, but especially in dungeons you can learn their patterns, you can anticipate what kind of challenge you’re up against.
“But other adventurers? Mate, they all have skills and you never meet the exact same build twice. Not to mention if you screw up and kill the wrong guy you’ve got the law to deal with as well. Adventurers get a lot of leeway, what with all the monster killing we do, but the best you can hope for if you manage to kill a guy who didn’t have it coming is having the gates closed to you. And in Edge that means having the Warren closed to you.”
That was a perspective Conrad had not considered. Nobody got upset if you killed the wrong monster. If anything it was a bonus, and they could just send you back out to get the one you were supposed to get in the first place. But kill the wrong man or woman?
Well, that’s what they called murder.
Maybe that was the real additional risk the clerk had alluded they didn’t want less experienced adventurers dealing with.
“I don’t have a choice about it,” Conrad said.
“Course you do,” Troy said, “Eat the loss. Downgrade your membership. And join up with me. At least until you’ve got a few more dives under your belt. Let me show you what the lifestyle is really all about.”
“No, that’s not what I mean,” Conrad said, and then he explained what had happened at his parents’ shop. And what he knew about the man they called The Tower.
Troy listened but even after the story his mind had not changed, “Your mom and dad have got the right of it. Put the quest in, tell the guard, and leave it. Dive with me and get your parents’ stuff back the slow but sure way.”
The arguments Troy made were sound. It was the safer path. But it wasn’t who Conrad wanted to be. The comparison was completely unfair, he knew it, but he was reminded of when he was with the Seekers watching Troy face the prospect of death. Playing it safe then would have meant Troy wasn’t here now. And though his parents weren’t facing imminent annihilation, the blow to their finances would take years to recover from.
And if The Tower came back? They might not be so lucky.
“I’ve got to make my own way, Troy,” Conrad said.
“Conrad come on,” Troy argued.
“No.” Conrad said, handing Troy the practice sword, “Thank you for the lesson and the offer. But I’ve got to do this.”
Sighing, Troy took the weapon and moved to replace it on the rack, “You talk to Mara about this, let her have a chance to change your mind. I’ll save you the spot for now.”
Conrad thanked the Swordsman and promised he would talk to Mara, then headed back down into the Guild Hall. At the quest board he began his search, looking first at the pinned papers, then at the interface available for more efficient quest searching. He searched for anything that matched the descriptions his parents had given him, anything that mentioned The Tower by name or anything that mentioned a huge shield.
And was shocked to find more than one mention. There was a quest put up by a Mason, reporting tools missing. Another by a Woodsman who had lost stacks of lumber and building supplies. A Tanner. A Miner. All of them non-combat classes that produced some kind of good that ran that gamut from raw material to skilled product.
The common thread was The Tower himself, identified by his shield, his name, and the small crew he ran with. The man had been hitting soft targets all around Edge, people who made their livings either just inside the safety of the Node or, like his parents, in small fortified compounds or small communities large enough to generate their own node but too small to be called a town.
Interestingly though, despite menacing all of these people with his appearance he hadn’t killed or, so far as any of the quests reported, hurt anyone at all. He was strictly stealing from people too unskilled or too isolated to defend themselves.
“Is he an opportunist or some kind of idealist?” Conrad mused. He took the quest from the small township, one where a Brewer and a Herdsman had both lost a good portion of their respective products.
Quest Accepted
The Tower, the Brewer, and the Herdsman
Travel out to the small hamlet of Greenwood and learn what you can about the robbery. Bring The Tower to justice or appease the people of the hamlet to complete the quest.
Reward: 1 gold, 94 silver, 300 copper
Guild Reward: 15 Guild Points
The money wasn’t a lot, and Conrad could see a little better why Troy might prefer dungeon diving to taking quests like this out in the Chaos Lands. He’d really have to grind these out just to earn enough for the Guild dues the following month. But the Guild Points seemed fairly high given the Seekers had only banked 88 of them in their whole career. But that wasn’t what he was here for. But, then again, there was no penalty for failing these quests or time limit given so…
Conrad accepted the rest of the quests he was sure were connected to The Tower. His quest interface lit up with notifications but he just did the quick math. If he was right and all of these were connected, bringing the tower down would net him close to 25 gold, not bad not good, but over 150 Guild Points.
As soon as he had a minute to spare he was going to enjoy putting his Gold tier membership to work kitting himself out from that shop.
He had just one more thing to do before he set out hunting The Tower. Troy had made him promise to visit Mara, but he had more than one reason for wanting to say hello to the beautiful Sky Spell before he ventured out solo into the Chaos Lands.
When Conrad had brought back the body of Mara and Troy’s bandmate, Camilla, he had been promised the contents of her inventory as compensation. Everything in it was his except for one item that he had promised to return to Mara once Camilla’s inventory had been cracked.
He didn’t know what he was promising to return to Mara, but so much treasure and gold had passed through Conrad’s hands since he had spoken with Mara about it, it didn’t really seem to matter.
Talking to her though would release him from all of his obligations to the Shards of Order, and he would be free to go after bigger game.
“The most dangerous game,” Conrad quipped to himself, and headed out in the direction of the mortuary.