Ewtain sat in his usual spot at the group’s usual table in the Silver Penny’s tavern area. His chair was in the corner of the room, and from that position, he had a clear view of the entire room. He had the hood of his cloak pulled up to prevent any adversary from determining the direction in which he was looking. He had eaten a light meal, and he only sipped at the wine that he had been served. He needed to be sharp: he had a test to become an initiate of the Phantom Crows later that night. He glanced at the time on his display and noted that he had only an hour and a half to make the meeting. The party was waiting for Vultressant to arrive before going over the accounts of the day. If the Gnome did not arrive soon, Ewtain would have to leave without hearing the news. He had nothing to report except for his upcoming test.
“Can we start the debriefing without Vult?” he asked, his voice cutting through the low murmur of the tavern. All eyes at the table turned towards him, a mix of curiosity and concern reflected in their gazes.
Taloc was the first to respond. “I suppose we can. What’s the rush, Ewt?”
“I’m going to try to become an initiate in that guild that I spoke of, and I need to leave in an hour.”
Isla’s eyes widened with concern. “I wish you wouldn’t put yourself at risk like that,” she said, her voice sincere and worried.
Ewtain pulled back his hood and met Isla’s gaze. “I’ll be fine,” he reassured her, a confident smile playing on his lips. “The test can’t be that challenging. Their group of initiates is pretty unimpressive. From what I’ve seen, only one or two might pose any real challenge to me.”
“What if they use full members?” Taloc asked, his brow furrowing with concern.
Isla nodded emphatically, gesturing towards Taloc. “Yeah, what about that?”
“The full members aren’t part of the initial trial, but one of them might try to cause trouble for me, even if he’s not directly involved.” He paused, considering how much to reveal. “Each member is given a color. I only know their colors, not their names. Mr. Green is particularly pissed at me because the two men I killed in my novice trial were under his command. He took it personally, like I targeted his guys on purpose or something. Green might try some underhanded shit, but I’ll be careful. The guy in charge seems fair—odd for a criminal organization—and he might prevent any shenanigans Green or his cronies could come up with.”
“More likely, he’ll encourage it,” Taloc said. “Well, be careful.” He turned back to focus on the entire table. “I have no news, so how about you, Maroftis? How did the armor fitting go?”
The Korak had been busy eating, and he slurped down some gelatinous mixture before giving an account of his time at the foundry that included the fitting and the resource cost of having the armor enchanted. “Vult went to see Oeister to find out if there are any mobs that drop the emerald essences so that we can try to get a tier two enchantment on it.” He paused to take a drink. “I suggested trying to get a tier three enchantment for it since the metal is tier three, but we won’t be able to get the materials for that any time soon. I’d like to get the tier two enchantment, but I understand if we can’t afford it, and I’ll settle for tier one.”
Vanya began her report about potion-making, but Ewtain quickly tuned her out—she was always making potions. When she finished, Isla spoke up.
“I met with the council and got our silver,” she said, waving her empty glass at a server who promptly hurried over to fill it with wine. She took a sip before continuing. “I got us the south mission to get rid of whatever is attacking people near one of the dock towns, and we need to start within the next ten days, or we lose it—and I lose some faction with the council. I’ve already accepted the quest, but if you all want to wait to accept it yourselves, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Ewtain noticed Vultressant approaching, his remaining hair sticking out wildly in all directions, some of it even standing straight up. The Gnome looked more frustrated than Ewtain had ever seen him.
“What happened to you?” Ewtain asked, pointing to Vultressant’s disheveled hair for emphasis. “You look like you went 12 rounds with a wolverine that got stuck in a dumpster and decided that it was your fault.”
Vultressant tried to straighten out his hair, but he made little progress. He took a drink and said, “I asked Oeister to cast a spell at me in the hopes that I would learn it like I did with wind wave. It was not successful. Oeister thinks that we needed to be in real combat for that to work, since that was the only real difference between the Gnoll fight and what we did today.”
“Did you get a lead on any tier two creatures for us to hunt?” Maroftis asked hopefully.
“Yes,” he said, and he proceeded to discuss the quest that he had received from Oeister.
“That’s fantastic!” Maroftis exclaimed. “We might even get extra crystals for sale or crafting.”
“Those things might be difficult to take down if they can just escape into a rock wall,” Taloc said.
“Then we just need to try to isolate one, surround it, and not let it get away,” Ewtain said. The description of the Crystal Devourers seemed like something that the group could manage, but if they came in large numbers, they might pose a problem.
“Another thing that Oeister said was that we should be using Isla as our party leader,” Vultressant said.
“I’m happy to give up the reins,” Taloc said, “but what’s the rationale for that?”
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“He said that a high Charisma benefitted the whole team, and she has an ability called born leader, so that might be helpful as well.” Vultressant did his best to relay the information from his conversation with Oeister. “I do have some bad news, though,” Vultressant said after filling them in on what they discussed, and he did look like he was struggling with how to reveal the news. “When I was talking to Oeister, I found out that he’s never heard of World of Warcraft.”
“How is that even possible?” Vanya asked incredulously. “That’s the biggest online MMORPG ever. Even non-gamers know about it.”
“Well, he arrived in Faltoral in 2004,” Vultressant explained. “So, either time passes much faster on Earth than it does here, or the process they used to bring us here somehow messed with time.”
“So basically, even if we do get home, everyone we know might be old or dead?” Isla asked bitterly, immediately understanding the implication of the news.
The information had hit Isla hard. He wondered why Vultressant had brought it up, since it should have been obvious what her reaction would be. Vanya went over to comfort Isla, and the two women left the table, heading for the stairs. Ewtain lowered his hood and walked around the table to where Vultressant was sitting.
“What the hell is your problem?” Ewtain demanded.
Vultressant looked shocked. “What? I had to tell her.”
“No, you didn’t,” he countered. “Give the woman some hope, man.”
“I would rather know than not know,” Vultressant said.
“Then I’ll know to come to you with shitty news, but I’ll keep it away from Isla.” Ewtain put his hood back up because he had decided to depart. “I have somewhere to be. Is the plan to head to that cave tomorrow?”
“I think that sooner is better than later,” Taloc said.
“Then if I’m not back by morning, take the northern path until you get to that intersection that heads east. Hop off the trail and head west, and I’ll track you from there.” With that, Ewtain left the table and headed towards the city docks.
Ewtain was early—the meeting was not for another half hour—so he decided to scout around the docks to see what intel he could gather. He took up a position just behind a wall that ran alongside the road leading down to the Shady Tree, a large tavern, and the location of his meeting. Whenever he heard footsteps or conversation, he peeked around corner of the wall. Most of the people entering or leaving the tavern were regular people, from what he could tell, but he did recognize a few from his initiation test. He waited about twenty-five minutes and was about to leave his hiding place and go into the tavern, when he heard a familiar voice. “You two better find a way to kill that bastard,” came the voice of the Crow that Ewtain had come to know as Mr. Green. “He made me look like a fool who is unable to recruit good men!”
“Easy, boss,” said a shorter, hook-nosed man, “we’ll take care of him. The test to become an initiate is dangerous—we know how to deal with the likes of him.”
“Yes, we do!” said the third man, who made a fist pump into the air as he spoke.
The three rogues had walked down the hill and entered the Shady Tree before Ewtain felt safe enough to leave his hiding place. So, they thought that they would take him out, did they? Well, Mr. Green would feel his wrath—he had no intention of letting a guy like that get the better of him—and his two toadies would be the first ones to go.
He entered the tavern and was immediately ushered to one of the back rooms reserved for small, private gatherings. Inside, the Assassins were divided into four groups, each consisting of a full member with their respective initiates and novices. Green’s group was the smallest, with only one initiate and three novices. The other three groups each had two initiates and five novices.
As Ewtain entered, the room fell silent. All eyes turned to him, and Hailor, the local guild leader, began to speak. “Our novice, who thinks he can fly with us, has arrived, so we can begin. Each group will be given a flag to protect until full dawn. You must place the flag on the roof of your assigned building, making sure it is visible from the ground so it can be monitored and seen by the recruit. To attain victory and promotion to the initiate rank, the novice must return with each of your colors by full dawn to be fully admitted into the guild.”
Ewtain’s eyes scanned the room, noting the determined expressions on the faces of his soon-to-be rivals. He felt a surge of adrenaline. This was the moment he had been preparing for.
Hailor distributed a flag to each group. The flags, mounted on identical stands, differed only in color, matching the designated color of the member they were assigned to. Mr. Green’s group received the green flag, while those with red, yellow, and blue ribbons around their right arms were bestowed with corresponding-colored flags.
Each flag, affixed to a wooden rod and adorned with three matching rings, stood less than three feet tall. Their modest height ensured they wouldn’t soar above the rooftops but rather be positioned at elevated or strategic locations. In the case of peaked roofs, the flags could be placed anywhere.
“Leaders,” Hailor announced after distributing the flags, “you have fifteen minutes to escort your men to the assigned buildings, brief them on their tasks, and return here. We’ll observe the trial from here.”
Ewtain was curious how they would do that, but before he could even ask, Hailor set a group of crystals on the center table and pointed them at the back walls. The result was like watching an array of security videos. There were 16 projections in total, and each building had four images from different angles. They would be able to see anything that he did, but they would also be able to see the responses from the other novices and the initiates, so this might be training for them as well. As the four groups left, Mr. Green stopped in front of him and gave him an icy stare.
“You look low on manpower,” Ewtain commented casually.
“And you will never be a Crow!” the man hissed at him. “You lack the skills.”
“Well, Mr. Green—may I call you Mr. Green?” Ewtain did not wait for a reply. “It looks to me like you are no better an evaluator of people than you are an example of one.” He then motioned at the other men in the man’s group. “Your group of miscreants here are exhibits A through D. Sorry about E and F.”
The man was turning purple with rage. “I will kill you myself, you...”
“Enough,” Hailor said quietly. “Be on your way.”
The command was enough to silence Mr. Green. “Sir,” he acknowledged before swiftly exiting the room, his lackeys trailing close behind.
Alone with Hailor, Ewtain focused on the task ahead. “Your mission,” Hailor began, handing Ewtain a small map marked with four buildings, each shaded in one of the colors corresponding to the flags. “Retrieve a flag or a ring from each of these locations by full dawn. Bring them back here. Any questions?”
“When exactly is full dawn?” Ewtain asked.
Hailor’s brow furrowed at the inquiry. “Full dawn occurs when the second sun emerges in the sky.”
“Any advice?” Ewtain asked.
“This test will gauge your rogue skills and help me understand how best to utilize them within our ranks, provided you pass. The Phantom Crows thrive on cunning, so show me what you’re made of,” the leader asserted, gesturing towards the door. “You won’t be allowed to see the groups’ positioning strategies. Wait at the bar for now.”
Ewtain complied, taking a seat at the bar and scanning the entrance. Ten minutes passed before the leaders began to return. Once the last one arrived, he was allowed to leave.