Heath grinned eagerly, mentally accepting the quest even as he put the letters into his bag, he didn’t feel like sitting in this deathtrap of a box called a servant’s quarters any longer than he had to.
One more search of the room didn’t turn up anything else, so Heath made his departure. Following the hallway back the way he came, Heath found Barkley sitting at the long kitchen table, a bottle of something in front of him and a small glass filled with two fingers of the golden-brown liquid.
With a small shake of his head, Heath found a glass and poured himself a measure of the liquid.
“Forgive me, sir,” said Barkley, suddenly noticing Heath’s presence.
“Relax, like I said before. I’m a thief, no need to stand on formality with me. Besides, I could use a drink after that room myself. Talk about a death trap, literally,” joked Heath, taking a sip of the liquor. He recognized it as a brandy. A very good brandy if he was to judge but then again, he wasn’t exactly the foremost expert on alcohol.
“Is every day like this for you?” Barkley asked, relaxing a little.
“Nah, this wasn’t so bad, mate. Lieutenant Graves house, now that was a bloody nightmare,” said Heath, shuddering slightly.
“Bad?” Barkley asked.
“The worst, bloody thing killed me six times on six different attempts to break in. And we’re talking about just getting past the front door,” said Heath. Pretty soon, he was sharing the story of the nightmare house of Hurlig Ridge.
When he was done with his story, Barkley seemed to have perked up quite a bit. “My goodness, so uncivilized,” he complained, straightening himself up and standing from the table. He collected the bottle and the two empty glasses, putting away the bottle and placing the glasses in the sink. “I do believe my break has ended for the day. Is there anything else I may assist you with, relating to your investigation?”
“Just a quiet place to sit and work on what I found in there along with some blank paper and writing utensil. Do that for me and I think I’ll be in good shape, chap,” said Heath, standing from the table.
“Certainly, sir, follow me,” ordered the butler.
Heath was led to a study, more of a small library actually. The walls were lined with shelves of books that would have left Bye-bye a drooling mess. There was no telling what kind of skill or lore might be hiding in their pages. Heath snorted and laughed as he imagined what Bye-bye would look like if he ever found a library in the game.
“Something wrong, sir?” Barkley asked, drawn by Heath’s laugh.
“Sorry, just imagining what Bye-bye will look like once he finds out about this room. The man is a bit of a skill fanatic and with all this material here . . . anyway, it just made me laugh is all,” explained Heath.
Barkley chose to nod instead of responding. “I will leave you here then, sir. You will find paper, ink, and pens on the desk. I wish you the best of luck.”
“Thank you, Barkley,” said Heath, walking for the desk situated at the end of the long room. He had to navigate a few leather chairs that looked very comfortable and perfect for napping. Alas, he had a job to do.
Heath sat at the desk and set out the pages he’d claimed from Monica’s room. Or was it Monique? Heath shrugged to himself, it didn’t really matter. He then removed a few blank pieces of parchment, an inkwell and a pen to write with.
Looking at the oldest dated letter, his ‘Perception’ subskill ‘See Intrigue’ lit up several letters throughout the page. They were simple to spot now that he looked at the capitalized words scattered throughout the letter but if not for the glow the first time he saw the letters he may have missed it.
He wrote out the letters on his blank paper, but they made no sense to him. They didn’t form words of any kind. He looked again at the letter but to make sure he hadn’t missed something. Even though only the first letter of the word was lit up he tried to write out all the words that were lit up, but they formed even more nonsense. He tried mixing the words up but still nothing made sense.
Heath groaned in frustration. There was a hidden message here, he just didn’t have the skills to crack it. And that was the answer, he needed a skill for it. He needed to find a book on codebreaking and this little library might just have what he was looking for. Heath groaned again, there were hundreds of books to look through and the one he needed might not even be here. Where was Bye-bye when he needed him?
Rather than search through the books himself, he left the study in search of Barkley. The idea being that hopefully, the butler would know where to find the book he needed.
Heath found Barkley back in the kitchen, this time barking orders to the entire staff for lunch preparation.
“Barkley, my good man,” said Heath gregariously, as he interrupted the man’s delivery of marching orders.
“Master Heath, did you need something else? Lunch will be served promptly at noon bell,” he started, obviously thinking Heath was there to eat.
“Nah, mate, needed some help in the study. I need a book but have no idea where to start. I was hoping as an avid reader yourself you might know your way around that little library,” explained Heath, unable to stop himself from needling the older gentleman for his choice of reading material.
Barkley cleared his throat loudly, snapping to glare at one of the younger maids who giggled, silencing her instantly and making her look down contritely. “I will be happy to assist you, allow me a few minutes to finish setting the staff to work for lunch service. By chance, do you know if Lord Bye-bye and Miss Rose will be joining you for lunch?”
“Are they back?” Heath asked, slightly surprised. He hadn’t heard them at all.
“They returned almost an hour ago,” answered the old butler. “They have been sequestered in Lord Bye-bye’s room since they returned.”
Heath grinned lecherously. “Oh, have they now?” he asked.
“Yes sir, would you like me to fetch them for you?” he offered.
“Not at all,” said Heath quickly. “I’ll go say hello myself. I’ll meet you in the study in a few minutes.”
Heath departed the kitchen with a little hop to his step. As soon as he hit the stairs, he vanished from view, his ‘Stealth’ skill activating, it was so close to making it to rank II, it was by far his highest-level Thief skill, the rest were hovering between level 70 and 80.
Stealth
Level: 99
Experience: 99.96%
Non-Combat Movement: Speed reduced by 55.25%
Chance of Being Revealed: 50.10%
Skill Stamina Cost: 2 per second
Subskill: Ambush
Critical Strike Chance: 100.00%
Skill Stamina Cost: 119
Subskill: Vanish (Requires Distraction)
Skill Effect (Active): Vanish from view, instantly becoming 'Stealth'. Cooldown: 60 seconds
Subskill: Stealth Entry
Chance to Enter a Room Undetected: 9.90%
Skill Stamina Cost: 149
When he reached the door, he tried to activate his ‘Eavesdropping’ subskill to listen in on whatever was going on inside. He honestly thought he would have heard a lot more noise coming from the room.
A quick scan of the door handle showed it wasn’t locked, maybe they were just too caught up in whatever they were doing to remember. Either way, it was time to get some payback on Rose for the Baby prank. Last month, Heath made a joke that Baby was Rose’s daughter, knowing full well that wasn’t the case. His reward was a shoulder charged from the woman . . . twice. If he had bothered to really think through what he was about to do, he would have known this was a terrible idea.
Still, activating ‘Stealth Entry’ in an effort to sneak in on the two, Heath opened the door, hoping he succeeded.
He didn’t. All he saw was a flash of red hair and an armored shoulder impacting his face.
*****
When Heath woke up a few minutes later, he was lying in a heap against the wall outside of my room, with the door wide open. Both Rose and
I were fully dressed and arguing.
“How was I supposed to know it wasn’t someone from the Ardentia Guild making another attempt on your life?” Rose demanded loudly.
“You could have at least waited to find out,” I argued back.
I briefly saw Heath nodding his agreement.
“And so, what if it was Heath, you have to realize he was sneaking in like a perv. I bet he thought he would catch us in the act?” Rose said, turning to glare at Heath.
“Even Heath’s not that stupid, maybe he didn’t know we were here and was just doing his rounds,” I tried to speculate, causing Heath to wince.
“Master Heath, are you alright? I heard a crash and feared the worse. Did you find Lord Bye-bye and Miss Rose?” Barkley asked, I heard his feet rushing down the hall, not realizing he probably just signed the thief’s death warrant.
Heath risked glancing back and found Rose glaring harder and even I was glaring at him now.
Think fast, Heath, you’ve got to talk your way out of this. Use your top end charisma to convince them it was all innocent. “I didn’t hear anything from the room. I thought you might be taking a nap or something. I didn’t want to wake you if you were, so I thought I’d take a quick peek.”
My glare softened, instead, I turned to address Rose. “See, it was a perfectly reasonable explanation. He was actually trying to be nice.”
Rose just scoffed, not quite believing me but not having proof otherwise. “Next time, knock, or I will assume you’re being a perv and need to be severely punished.”
Heath sagged slightly in relief. “I was coming to let you know lunch would be ready at noon bell,” said Heath, looking offended by the accusation. “Come on Barkley, I don’t feel like being insulted by these two right now.”
“Heath,” I tried to stop him.
“Let him go, Jack,” said Rose, still sounding more than a little angry with both men, Heath for getting away without further punishment and me for being so gullible.
*****
“They sounded quite unhappy with the end of that conversation. Are you certain it is wise to leave now?” Barkley asked.
“Probably . . . maybe . . . meh,” said Heath, shrugging. “She’ll calm down. Bye-bye will talk her down and everything will be alright.”
“You sound awfully sure of that,” said Barkley, sounding doubtful.
“I know them pretty well, Bye-bye is a good guy, true blue as they say. Always trying to see the best in people. Rose, she’s a good woman but a bit more pragmatic, less trusting. They actually make a good pairing, if they ever figure themselves out that is. Still, I’m sure once I’ve solved this coded message all will be forgiven with both of them,” Heath explained himself. He was a thief, a rogue, a scoundrel and a host of other things, you couldn’t really blame him for trying to manipulate the situation to best suit him. It was what he did, always had been.
Barkley looked slightly in awe of Heath. “I see, so what do you need from the study?” he asked, after a moment.
“I need to break a code. Hence, I need a book on codebreaking,” explained Heath, as they continued to walk down the hall and down the stairs.
“I think I know just the book,” said Barkley, sounding very excited suddenly. “I had read a . . . spy novel not too long ago, there was a great deal of information on codes and codebreaking. It got me interested in the subject. I was unable to learn the skill, but I know the right book.”
Heath grinned, then said, “Lead on then, my good man.”
Heath was surprised when he was given a book ‘The Trinity of Code Breaking’ by Cipher Smith. It sounded really familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite place it.
“Think you could serve me lunch in here?” Heath requested, he had a feeling he was in for a long afternoon.
“Certainly, sir, best of luck,” said Barkley, with a hint of excitement in his voice. He must have really enjoyed that spy novel.
Heath though was already digging into the novel, having chosen to sink into one of the cushy leather chairs that adorned the room. It wasn’t long before he received a notification.
You’ve learned the ‘Espionage’ subskill ‘Codebreaking’
Espionage
Level: 79
Experience: 74.12%
Skill Effect (Active): You can store 316 images.
Subskill: Eavesdropping
Skill Effect (Active): You have a 79% chance to successfully listen in on private conversations at a distance of 7.90 yards.
Subskill: Codebreaking
Skill Effect (Active): You have a 79% chance to decipher simple coded messages.
“Now we’re cooking with gas,” said Heath, however, before he could start on the code, a quick glance at his game clock told him the Duchess was due back soon if she hadn’t already returned.
Chapter 8 - Micaela
“Where are we going today?” Sundance asked excitedly.
“I need to find some stronger spirits, see about getting some class quests,” Micaela answered, glancing down at the ax hanging from her left hip.
“It had better be a tough quest, we need to get stronger,” stated Butch, trying to sound tough.
“Relax Butch, the quest will be what it will be. I just want something fun . . . and I really want to see one of the greater spirits,” said Micaela, patting the ax on her right hip, trying to reassure it.
To anyone on the street, she probably looked like she was talking to herself and was therefore crazy. What a passerby would not know is that she was actually speaking to her totems, her two most talkative and actively used totems that also doubled as her weapons, the pair of wolf cubs she bonded with in Hurlig Ridge. She had others, but they were not the most talkative bunch. She only had one spirit for her armor so far and that was Boots, a horse spirit and he was usually focused on doing his jobs, constantly being armor for her feet. She had yet to find other spirits that fit with her. That left Butch and Sundance with a lot of downtime, so they didn’t mind talking . . . a lot
“Hmm, go east,” instructed Barista, a totem in the shape of a large gourd and inhabited by a raven spirit. Her job was to provide mana-rich water and restore mana to Micaela’s group. She was the third most talkative of Micaela’s totems, but still very quiet compared to the axes. The Gourdies, as Micaela had come to call the three raven spirits that inhabited the gourdes strapped to her belt, were not the most talkative but when they spoke it was with some otherworldly wisdom.
“Hmm, yeah, east, something is there,” said Coffee, another totem in the shape of a gourd but this one provided stamina rich water and restored stamina to the group.
“East, yeah,” added Espresso, named for the life-giving beverage, he was a healer, creating HP rich water and restoring HP.
“Brilliant, loves, which way is east?” Micaela asked, not really having much of a sense of direction.
The collective sigh that echoed through Micaela's head only made her laugh. She didn’t really have a frame of reference for the city so how was she to know east from west or north from south.
“Turn left,” ordered Butch.
Turning left as instructed, Micaela followed the street for a while before it was blocked off by a large wrought iron fence that stood at least twice her height. As an ogre, she already stood over eight feet tall, this left her feeling short. It was a nice change. On the other side of the fence was lush green trees and grasses, probably some kind of park. It reminded her of Hyde Park in London, but with a giant fence preventing entry.
Looking left, then right, Micaela saw the fence went on for a long way before it turned a corner. “Left it is,” said Micaela, turning and walking along the perimeter of the fence.
Even when she turned the corner she could not see a way through the wrought iron fence. It was around the next corner that she finally spotted the entrance. An entrance accompanied by long lines of people and ticket booths.
Finally, getting a real look at the entrance there was a large sign hanging over the entrance,
‘Root City Wildlife Park’. She supposed if you were going to find wild animals in a place the size of Root City then a zoo might just be the place to look.
Reality set back in a minute later as Micaela looked again at the long lines. Sighing, she joined the queue, waiting her turn for admittance to the park. It would seem that even in virtual reality, they had not found a way to streamline the process.
Thirty excruciatingly long minutes later, Micaela was finally inside the park. It had really nice cobblestone paths that were even a step above those in the city proper. There were booths all over, selling everything from food and beverages to souvenirs. Meanwhile, the nice cobblestone paths split into dozens of new paths, branching every which way.
“Okay guys, which way do we go?” Micaela asked, earning a few looks from all the people around her but she was starting to get used to it.
“Slightly to the right,” said Sundance.
“No, to the left, that one is stronger,” countered Butch.
“Straight ahead,” said the Gourdies together.
“Sorry, boys, you’ve been outvoted,” said Micaela, chuckling as she heard the two wolf totems whimper childishly.
Micaela enjoyed the walk, it was a beautiful park and the animals were just spectacular. She saw your normal fair, wolves, lions, tigers, and bears and then she saw some of the magical variety.
The one she really wanted to see when she read the nameplate was
World Tree Online: The Duchess of Hammers: 2nd Dive Begins Page 12
