A quick run, a pizza and three drinks later, Matt was nursing his forth beer for the evening when he decided to contact Sarah and see if she could give him any more information about his targets.
“Hey Matt, what’s up?” She asked when she picked up.
“Quick question before I say anything else, how deeply...involved are you with Augusts operations?”
“You mean his semi criminal activities, or his actual ones?” She sighed. “I'm in about as far as you are. Not as trapped but I could definitely go to court for a lot of this stuff. Why?”
He gave her a quick rundown of what he had to do. “So I was hoping that you could at least tell me the actual locations of the areas I'm supposed to deal with.” He said.
“Gregory Bech? I should be able to do that, in fact... done.”
“Really? You found it that quickly? I thought it was harder than that to get peoples information.” Matt said surprised.
“It is normally, but I just went and had a look at the recently accessed files in our system. I figured that someone had probably tracked this down for the boss already, and I was right. So do you want to write this stuff down?”
“Couldn’t you just send it to me in game? I doubt I can figure it out just by the description.”
“Fine, we can do it the lazy way I guess, so summon my sprite when you’re ready. Anyway, it looks like there are three areas you’re going to need to take care of. The first is a smaller area north of the city, fairly isolated as well, so you should have a pretty free hand there. The other two are a lot bigger and out to the east, but still a fair way apart.”
Matt groaned. “Nothing’s ever easy is it? Anything else you can tell me, like size or significant features?”
“There’s not a lot listed here, but apparently the northern ones listed as small, so around a hundred acres or so, and is fed from a private well. The other two are both counted as medium, which could be anything from two hundred to a thousand acres. They’re also both on one of the main rivers, if that helps.” She said, typing away in the background.
“Well it’s more than I had before, so yeah, it helps. Thanks Sarah.”
“Be careful out there. Bech doesn’t have the same pull that August does, but people have still been ruined after crossing him.”
“Better than disappearing altogether. Thanks for the warning.”
Putting down the phone and finishing his drink, Matt put on his headset and rejoined the game.
~~~~~~
Grumbling, Jicker stepped out of the stall and made his way to the exit.
“Hey little green dude, everything ok?” The ogre called out to him.
“Yeah, something’s come up though that I need to deal with.” He replied as he walked.
“Definitely been there. See you next time you want to take a shot at the cloud.”
Dropping down the slide, Jicker was actually able to enjoy the ride down this time since he knew what was going on, and as he accelerated downwards he looked out the city around him. While there were still large areas of damage from the upheaval around, the people were recovering. Craters had been either filled in or had structures built inside, sections of burned out housing had been cleared and replaced, and the walls that had been shattered were slowly being rebuilt. It was slow, but it made him happy to see people coming together after dealing with an event like that, even if he was the one that caused it.
Reaching the bottom, he headed out towards the forest, wanting to let the Rising Moon know that he’d been delayed again. He’d barely made it out of the city gates when Oda spoke up from behind him.
“Where are you headed this time?” He said nonchalantly.
Jicker spun around, clutching his chest. “Can you stop doing that?!” He shouted.
“I can, yes.”
“...Will you?” he asked, having a feeling he already knew the answer.
“Not until it stops being funny, so not for a long time.”
Jicker rubbed his eyes. “How have the rest of your guild not stabbed you by now?”
“Who says they haven’t? Anyway, where are we going?” Oda asked again.
“To see you lot actually. Something’s come up that I need to deal with, so I need to sort that out first before I go looking for the node.”
“Maser stuff?”
“What?” Jicker asked confused.
“You’re a level twenty midget turning away work from a large guild. I can tell you’re not in any other guild and I've been tracking you so I know no one else has come up to you for something. So I take it that it’s something to do with your previous and far more important character.”
“That’s...not too far off really.” He admitted. “But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask too many questions about that stuff.”
“Fair enough. It shouldn't matter much if you can’t deal with the node at the moment, since we already had plans without it, but is whatever you’re doing going to affect us?”
“I have no idea if I'm honest. I haven’t figured out how I'm actually going to sort it out yet.”
Oda sighed. “In that case I'd better take you to Mary, so we can factor in...Whatever it is you do. I’ll need to blind and carry you in again, but we’ll take one of the closer entrances.”
“Fine, but I need to take care of something first. Give me a few minutes of privacy.”
“Sure”
“Actual privacy Oda.”
The assassin rolled his eyes. “I said it was fine. Meet me by that tree over there when you’re done with your thing.”
~~~~~~
After getting the information from Sarah, he rejoined Oda, who wasted no time in taking him back to their guild. Instead of the hood and cart that he’d experienced last time, Oda simply shoved him into a large hessian bag, threw him over his shoulder and ran. The entrance must have been a lot closer than he’d thought, since it only took a few minutes before he was put down and once again sitting in the council/lounge room. Several people were currently sitting around talking when they noticed that he and Oda had arrived.
“Hey you two, what’s up?” Mary asked from her seat. “How’s the Node job coming along?”
“That’s why I’m here. You see...” Jicker gave them a brief rundown of what he had to do while trying to avoid any names or specifics.
“I see. Care to explain why you need to do this?” Mary asked looking deep in thought.
“I would actually. It’s kind of private.” Jicker answered wondering if they’d leave it at that.
Mary raised an eyebrow and turned to Oda, who shrugged. “He seems trustworthy enough to me.”
“Good enough I suppose. Jicker, to be clear, do you still plan on joining us when you can?” She asked.
“Yes? I mean, I doubt I’m ever going to get a better offer and you seem like good people to play with.”
She nodded to herself. “In that case, we might be able to help you out a little. We already have groups of people who spend their time disrupting things. I think we can spare a few dozen to play highwaymen in those areas, which should give you time to come up with something more permanent. What are you planning for that anyway?”
“You’ll help me? I was just coming to say I can’t look into the node for now.” Jicker said, surprised.
“Like I’ve said before, you’re basically a member already, except for actually being one. And while we wait for a few details on our assault on the city to be resolved we’ve got a fair number of people just sitting around. So yeah, we can help you out a bit with this. Back to what I said though, what’s your plan?”
Jicker held up three fingers and pointed to the first one. “I have three areas to deal with, and if they all go the same way people would notice and might complain. The first one is simple enough; I just need to come up with a strong enough poison that I can drop in the well to ruin the area. Won’t work for the other two though, since they’re fed from a river, and I don't think I can manage to foul up the whole thing, even if I wanted to.” He moved to his second finger. “The next one shares a border with a wooded area. I figure I should be able to produce something in there that can shut down the farmland around it. Oda told you how that works?”
“Pretty much.” One of the hooded members chuckled. “It was hilarious. He came in trying to be all sneaky, not realising people might notice that in a place where everyone wears black robes, someone coming in looking like they were attacked with paint cans kind of stands out.”
“So what are you planning to make?” Another asked curiously.
“Honestly? I figure I’ll just wing it, since it’s worked out so far.” Jicker moved to the last point. “That just leaves me with this one. It’s surrounded by other areas of farmland, so I can’t really send anything in quickly, so if anyone has any ideas...”
“I’ll do it.” Gabe called out from the back of the room.
Mary spun around to look at him. “Gabe, you’re time is way too valuable to the guild to lend out like that. You know this.” She stressed.
“Right, so I’ll do it for myself, guild not included. Which means he’ll have to pay me for my work.” He said with a gleam in his eye.
“I...are you even capable of doing it?” Jicker asked.
Gabe waved him off. “I’m pretty much the greatest master of ice magic in Genesis. I’m pretty sure I can manage to shut down a single farm.”
“How’d you manage that?” Jicker asked, honestly surprised. People with that level of skill tended to be more public figures, often ending up with sponsorship deals.
Gabe struck a pose, and several other people groaned. “Listen well young gremlin,” He began in a dramatic voice. “And I shall tell you the tale of my rise to greatness. When I entered this world that we inhabit, I was offered the class of warlock, and through either will or fate I chose to specialise in ice. Now the specialty of warlocks, and the reason they are despised by so many others, is that when we reach level one hundred, we are given the chance to make a pact. These pacts are made with greater beings form beyond the stars, beyond the reality that we consider real, and what they want in exchange for this power, is our life. Anything can be offered in exchange however, but the further it is from our life, the less we are given. If we were to sacrifice a rabbit to these dark forces we would receive almost nothing, while the lives of a hundred people would give far more.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
But the greatest trade will always be our own lives, and that is when inspiration struck me. While I couldn’t sacrifice myself, since being powerful and dead is the same as being weak and dead, there was nothing to stop me trading most of myself. So with determination, I made the deal: my arms and legs, most of my organs, barring one lung and my heart, my left eye and finally my entire skeleton. I was left with almost nothing, little more than a broken and disfigured corpse, but I had gained the power I sought. But in that state I couldn’t survive, leading to my death, only to revive a day later and die again. Again and again I perished, until I was only level ten, having lost all this world could take from me, until finally, my sister found the way forward.
While I was broken and my body failed me, it was still present, and for a powerful and skilled necromancer, dead bodies are hardly an issue. It took us weeks to find a way to animate the various pieces of my body, and even longer to bind them to myself, but eventually I was reborn. Armed with power claimed from beyond and a body that, if not living then at least functional, I regained my lost levels and became a figure of power lurking in the darkness, my undead state unaccepted by society.”
Ending his speech Gabe took a bow, receiving a smattering of applause from the audience.
Mary sighed happily. “I miss those days. Back when I had control over his body we used to play “stop hitting yourself” for hours.”
“Yeah, almost as fun as when I locked your feet in a block of ice and slid you down the hallway all afternoon.”
“Anyway,” Jicker interrupted. “So you can shut down that farmland?”
“I can, if you agree to pay.”
“Right, how much are you asking?”
Gabe held his hands out. “Blunicorn.”
“I... I don’t...what?” Jicker asked confused.
“You can make creatures, like the wolves in the forest right? So in exchange for my help, I want you to make me a blunicorn.”
“And that would be...”
“A blue unicorn. You can do that right?”
“I could I suppose, but really? A unicorn?”
“Hey, don't go dissing unicorns man; they’re like, the most metal horses. Assuming they’re not pink and glittery, they’re just cool horses with horns.”
Jicker sighed. “And...You know what? Fine. One unicorn-”
“Blunicorn” Gabe corrected.
“Blunicorn in exchange for your help. I’ll need something to use as a base, do you have a horse I could use?”
“I’ll take you down to the stables later.”
Mary shook her head at her brother. “Well, since that’s settled I guess, was there anything else?”
“No, that pretty much covers it.”
“Right then. Gabe can take you around to our crafting station once he’s shown you his horsie so you can put a poison together for the well.”
“Come on come on come on!” Gabe said excitedly, dragging Jicker along like a five year old on Christmas morning.
Jicker didn’t know whether he should be surprised or not that no one reacted to them sprinting through the hallways, but apparently everyone learned to put up with Gabe pretty quickly. Before long they arrived in the stables, a wooden building with a dirt floor that smelled strongly of horses. Natural lighting had been set up to keep the animals happy even though they were underground and several people were taking animals in and out. Walking in, Gabe pushed past everyone else and took him over to a stall in the corner. Inside was a large black horse feeding from a bag, which stopped to stare at them as they approached.
“This is Princess.” He said lovingly, running his hand through its mane. “I’ve had her for the last couple of years now, and she’s the best horse ever.”
“You’re an undead Ice mage in a secret underground guild, and you named your horse Princess?”
“Only partially undead, and what your point?”
“Nothing I guess. So you want me to try and change, er, Princess here?” Jicker asked as he looked up at the animal.
“Yup. Unless...it doesn’t hurt them does it?” He asked hesitantly. Jicker shook his head.
“The only reactions I've seen animals have was being interested in their new forms. But there are a few things I should mention first. I don't have control over creatures I change, and they tend to become a bit smarter than they were before, so if Princess here hasn’t been treated well...”
Gabe looked so horrified at the idea that Jicker waved his hands and moved on.
“Right, that parts not an issue here. The other thing is that this isn’t guaranteed to work. I've been pretty lucky lately, but more than likely this will just be temporary, so if it is we can look at the result and you can suggest any changes you want, and then I’ll try again once the ability wears off. Got it?”
“Got it. So... when can you start?” Gabe asked hopefully.
Jicker opened the gate and went into the stall. “Well, if you grab me a seat, and make sure your horse doesn’t try to kick me while I work, I can start now if you’d like.”
~~~~~~
“She’s beautiful.” Gabe said, his voice full of awe.
It hadn’t taken too long to make the necessary changes, since it was all just visual. Deciding to put in a bit of effort since he’d be working with these people, Jicker went a bit deeper. Increasing the animal’s strength, endurance and speed, he also greatly ramped up its ability to handle the cold, considering its owner.
The result was a horse standing six foot at the shoulder, covered in a shaggy, steel blue coat with thick white socks. Since what Gabe had wanted from his animal wasn’t a normal unicorn, Jicker changed up his design for the horn. Instead of a dainty spiral, there was a foot and half long white spike that curved back on itself, sharpened to a knife like edge along its front.
“Well like I said, this one’s just a temporary and I’ll try again in a few hours, but is there anything you want to change?” Jicker asked as he got up from the stool he’d been sitting on.
“Could you make her horn black? Other than that she’s perfect...” He trailed off, stroking the horse that had returned to its feed bag.
He nodded. “Can do. In that case, can you take me to the crafting station Mary mentioned? I should probably get to work on that.”
The station the Rising Moon had built for themselves wasn’t as extensive as the one in Ardenvale, but it had access to a number of resources that the public one didn’t. For instances, he couldn’t remember seeing a freezer full of human corpses next to the forge, or a pool of blood by the herb racks. While he had free access to the facilities, the woman managing them told him that he would still be expected to pay for what he used unless it was directly for the guild. After handing over fifty gold pieces, he got to work, racking his brain for a way to kill off farm land.
Several hours, a hundred gold and a massive headache later, he was still no closer to figuring out a way of doing it. He’d tried to enhance his own poison by mixing in some of poison pellets, but the result was just a nasty slush that was no more deadly than it had been before. Mixing in strengthening potions had the same effect, and trying to come up with a poison on his own had so far resulted in nothing but a waste of ingredients.
He’d just come back from another attempt at making Gabe’s blunicorn and was currently banging his head on the table when the manager spoke to him.
“Are you...ok? You look like you’re having some trouble.” They said cautiously.
“Oh no, everything’s great. This what I always do when things work out perfectly.” He said bitterly.
“Jeez, no need to be a jerk about it.” She huffed, starting to walk away again.
Jicker sighed. “Sorry, you’re right. I just can’t figure out why none of this is working! Surely something here can give me the result I'm looking for, but I've tried dozens of poisons and chemicals and while a few are useful, nothing seems to do what I want.”
“Well, don't give up; I'm sure you’ll get it eventually. I'm going to grab some food from the mess hall, want anything?”
“I wouldn’t mind a sandwich if you’re going anyway.”
“Sure. Salt and pepper?” They asked.
“Yeah that sounds go- Is it that simple? Jicker said suddenly. Hurrying over to the shelves holding most of the ingredients, he grabbed a few handfuls of salt and went back to his work, throwing them into a beaker of boiling water. Once it was dissolved, he dropped a single poison pellet into the mix, trusting his instincts. He waited for a moment, stirring as the pellet dissolved, then...
Mother of invention!
By studying reactions between substances and other toxins you have created a new poison
Recipe: 5 units of salt, 2 units of water, 1 poison pellet
Item type: poison (2)
Grade: Uncommon, created by Unknown
Effect: cause severe dehydration if drunk. If spread over terrain, will destroy most plant life and leave area unable to grow for five months unless cured. 1 dose can cover two hundred square feet
Do you wish to name this item?
“Saltycide.” Jicker said as he swirled the cloudy solution around.
Name accepted. Creator will remain unknown.
“I take it you’ve had some luck?”
“It’s exactly what I needed, thanks for the help.” He said.
“I didn’t actually do anything.” She said.
“Well thanks anyway. Also could I still get that sandwich? I’m going to need to make a lot of this stuff.”
~~~~~~
It took almost three days until he thought he had enough of the poison to kill off the farm, costing him the better part of a hundred gold and leaving him with two large barrels of the stuff. It had been a slow and monotonous process since he had to wait to produce more pellets, but he eventually decided that anymore would be overkill. He was going to tell Mary that he was going to be gone for a few days to deliver it, but when he turned around, both barrels were gone. In their place was a short note.
“Jicker,
Since I’ve got nothing else on and I kind of doubt you’ve got the skill’s to carry to barrels bigger than you are through fifty miles of hostile terrain, and then dump it in a well without being detected, I figure I’ll take this for you.
Oda
P.S. If you’re wondering how I both wrote this note and took two barrels without you noticing anything: #Ninja”
As Jicker crumpled the note and threw it away, he smiled to himself. He wondered how much of what Oda did was to help and how much was purely to mess with people. Either way, having that area dealt with did give him plenty of time to continue trying to create the mount for Gabe, and late on the second day he had success.
Ding!
Adaptation has become permanent. Unique creature created.
Type: Modified Northern Warhorse. Level: 87
Note: This creature is already owned and named by another player.
This player will now receive a chance to choose a name.
Jicker waited for a minute, unaware that Gabe had to select the name himself. He supposed that made sense so that he couldn’t go around renaming other people’s property, at least without their notice.
Name accepted, Princess the Blunicorn has been created.
It will receive additional stat points as a unique monster.
This creature is now able to respawn, and will drop items proportional to its level.
Creator will remain unknown. Now applying changes to creature.
Evolution has increased by 1! Total: 5
Before Jicker could even stand up, Gabe burst into the stable, literally crashing through the wall, much to the distress of the other animals.
“She’s done?!” He shouted.
“Yes, you are now the proud owner of your very own blunicorn. She also came out as a unique creature, so if she dies she’ll drop items and respawn.” Jicker told him as he went to hug his animal.
“Who’s a pretty princess? Who’s a pretty princess? You are!” He said, cooing over it like a baby.
“You ok there Gabe?” he asked awkwardly. Gabe turned to him.
“My apartment complex doesn’t allow pets, so I’m making do here. Seriously, thanks for this."
“Don't mention it, besides you’re helping me out as well. Speaking of which...”
“The area in question is currently having a bout of extreme unseasonable frost. Nothing’s going to be growing there without a team of people with flamethrowers working around the clock.”
“That’s two of them I can cross off then.” Jicker said with relief.
“Only one more to go then. Any ideas how you’re going to pull it off?”
Before Jicker could answer, one of the other people in the stable came over to look at Princess. “Hey, you said she’ll drop items if she dies? What does she drop?”
Gabe turned slowly to face the speaker, frost beginning to form on his robe. He spoke in a low voice. “You even think of hurting princess, and I swear I will-”
Whatever threat he had been about to make quickly became irrelevant as Princess rushed past them both through the still open gate of her stall and charged down the speaker. Before they could move out of the way they were speared on her horn and impaled before being flicked off and thrown across the room. The person only managed to gurgle a few times before they succumbed to their wounds, their body enveloped in a brief flash of light.
“Like I said before,” Jicker said after a few moments of silence. “Any animal I change tends to be a bit smarter than before, so I have a feeling she understood that guy perfectly well.”
Gabe went over to his now blood spattered mount. “Aw, who’s a pretty Princess? Be nice to people in here ok? If you do I’ll make sure you get plenty of oats, but if they try and hurt you feel free to trample them.”
Princess whined quietly before going back to her stall, giving the dead body the dirtiest look Jicker had ever seen on a horse. Yep, he thought, definitely smarter.
“Don't worry about that,” Gabe said, seeing Jicker looking at the body. “These things happen around here, and he was a player anyway, so no real harm done. And even if he wasn’t, there are more necromancers around here than pretty much anywhere else, so death isn’t that big a deal. We’ll get this cleaned up and that’ll be that.”
“And the big hole in the wall?” Jicker asked, as a beam cracked and fell down. They both turned to look at it.
“...Don’t tell Mary.”