Still in character, Jace shook his head. “Money first, Drakkar’s orders. No money, no tiara.”
Tiebaut rolled his eyes and brought out the bundle under his arms and unwrapping it, revealed a small chest. “Fine. One million gold in Whitecliff trade bars.”
Jace had to work hard to keep the look of shock off his face. A million gold was a fortune. He wondered if there was any way he could arrange to keep the money. Knowing his luck, he doubted it.
Setting the tiara on the ground in front of him and motioned for Tiebaut to do the same with his small chest.
With a look of annoyance, Tiebaut set the small chest on the ground and then looked to Jace. “Now what? Do we dance or something?”
Jace shook his head. “On the count of three, we kick them to each other.”
The nobleman let out an exasperated breath. “Fine, fine! Whatever.”
He counted down from three to one and then used his foot to slide the box with the tiara over to Tiebaut while the other man kicked the small chest to Jace. The nobleman bent down and picked it up and looked inside. “Finally!”
"Sir Tiebaut," said a commanding voice as Captain Avolin and the others suddenly shimmered into being nearby. "You are under arrest for treason against the crown."
That must have been the queue because Sir Villiame and his men, along with seven other knights Jace hadn’t known about, popped out from behind crates and moved to surround Tiebaut.
"You cannot arrest me!" sputtered the red faced Tiebaut. "I am a lord."
"You are a Baronet who just admitted to hiring the thieves guild to steal the princess' crown and then making a deal with pirates to secure it," retorted the captain bluntly. "But you shall get your day in court. Unless the king decided to dispense justice himself."
At the mention of the king's justice, the would-be-lord went white. He became very quiet and didn't struggle when the guards gripped his arms.
“Take him to the tower,” Captain Avolin directed and some of the knights escorted him away. Once the nobleman had been escorted out of the warehouse, the captain looked down at the small chest at Jace’s feet. He looked at Sir Villiame and nodded at the chest. The knight came forward and picked up the chest.
“Sorry,” Avolin said as he caught Jace looking longingly after the million gold. “That’s evidence.”
“I know,” Jace said. For a brief moment, he’d hoped. He’d even considered grabbing it and using his Vanish ability to get away but guessed there was probably some sort of magical defense around the place at the moment.
"I have to admit," the captain said. "I didn't really think that would work. I thought Tiebaut would be too smart for so simple a plan."
Jace grinned. "It was the pirate accent that sold it."
The captain shrugged and then his face became hard. “Perhaps. Now, about our little deal.”
Looking up, Jace suddenly felt worry in the pit of his stomach. Was the captain going to throw him into the dungeons after all? Had Jace misjudged the man?
“You are free to go with our thanks,” the man said. “But… don’t let me catch you impersonating a royal guardsman again.”
Relieved, Jace bobbed his head up and down. “Definitely not!”
“Well then,” the captain said and looked to the gnome. “I think we’re done here. Jirbavog, can you do the honors.”
The remaining knights, the captain, and the priestess all moved in close to the little gnome. The wizard waved his hands and then they all disappeared with a pop. When they did, Jace let out a sigh of relief. He’d done it.
Jace had stolen back the crown, gotten Drakkar and his ship banned from the city and had gotten Tiebaut to take the fall. He just hoped it would satisfy Webley’s quests. But before he went to the guild, he needed to check in with the girls.
Chapter 32
Mika and Diana were waiting for him outside the inn when he arrived, as was Luna. The two girls threw their arms around him and gave him hugs, one on each arm, while Luna walked in and out of his legs, rubbing against him.
Jace moved them into the inn. He ordered some waffles for them all and some fish for Luna with the money he’d stolen from Drakkar. Then, he spent the rest of the afternoon recounting the entire story. For Diana’s sake, he started when he and Mika had gone to the thieves guild and ended with him helping to set up Sir Tiebaut.
In the process, he remembered the saber he’d taken from Drakkar and retrieved it from his inventory. Jace thought it looked more like cutlass than a saber, the type that was typically carried by pirates. Its basket style guard was engraved with the image of a tentacled sea monster and a gaping maul. Jace examined it in his HUD.
Kraken’s Claw
Type: Saber
Level: (9)
Damage: (10) + (3) (Legendary) + (1) (Sharp)
Wt: 3 lb
Special: This item is Legendary and scales to the wielder’s level. In addition to normal damage, blows from this weapon inflict an additional (3) Acid damage. This weapon also carries the Puncturing quality and ignores 1 Defense.
Description: Forged in the heart of a volcano, the smith who created this blade is rumored to have embedded it with a fragment of the soul from the legendary Kraken.
Soulbound: This item has been soulbound. It cannot be sold or traded and appears in the wielder’s inventory when they respawn.
“Holy-” Jace began but couldn’t continue. He had found a legendary weapon. Legendary gear were the rarest weapons in the game. They dropped from time to time in raids but otherwise you normally had more chance winning the lottery than finding one.
The main reason they were so rare and sought after was not only because they were powerful, but because they scaled to the wielder’s level. As Jace gained levels, the saber would grow more powerful - all the way to level 100. Not only would its damage increase, but it may even grant additional special abilities.
“What?!” both girls demanded. “What is it?”
Jace held out the sword so they could examine it.
Diana just looked at it and shrugged. “Is that good?”
Mika had more experience and must have known what a legendary item was. Her eyes grew wide as she must have read the description. “You have a legendary weapon! This is very powerful!”
Jace and Mika took turns explaining the legendary weapons and the scaling properties of the weapon, as well as how soulbound items worked. When they finished the older woman seemed to grasp most of it.
“So,” Diana said, “this is like Excalibur? It’s basically some sort of super weapon?”
Shrugging Jace slipped the sword into its scabbard at his side. “Something like that. The higher level I become, the more powerful the saber will become.”
“That does seem handy,” Diana agreed.
“Very powerful,” Mika added.
“Speaking of leveling up,” Jace checked his timepiece. It was 5pm. They had another hour before Charlena would log in. “Mika, let’s go turn in our quests and hope that we get credit for both of them. Diana, can you head to the adventurers guild, in case Charlena logs in early.”
“The adventurers guild?” Diana gave him a quizzical look.
“Remember, that’s where she logged off last night,” he told her.
“Oh,” Diana nodded. “That’s right. After the groll shaman.”
“While you’re there, can you check out the board and see if there are any level 5, 6, or 7 quests we can do later?” he asked.
Diana gave him a wink. “Anything for you, dear one.”
They all left the inn then and went to the Merchant District. Once there, Diana split off and went to the adventurers guild, while Jace and Mika went to the thieves guild.
They found the fabric shop again and, after doing the secret knock, the two of them were admitted in. This time, Mika did not hug either of the panda-kin but did give them a huge grin and a wave. Jace was surprised to see both of them wave back.
Inside, they found Webley at one of the tables. Wh
en he saw them, he nodded to the stairs and then followed them up. He slipped past them on the second floor and motioned them into his office. When they were all seated, he spoke.
“I half expected not to see you again,” Webley started. “Word on the dock was that a group of pirates were seen chasing someone away from the ship.”
“But then, I heard another rumor that someone had turned over the tiara to the guard,” the guildmaster said with a pointed expression. “As you can imagine, that caused me no small amount of concern.”
The guildmaster paused and looked between Jace Mika. “But then I heard that Sir Tiebaut had been arrested with the tiara in a warehouse down by the docks. Not only that, but Captain Drakkar and his ship are now persona non grata in Whitecliff.”
“So, what I’d really like to know,” Webley said, “is what in Dolorea’s name is going on?”
Jace and Mika looked at each other and then Jace relayed the story. He also included the fact that Captain DD was actually Dainard Drakkar, the former guildmaster of Crossroads. It took him nearly half an hour to get through the entire tale but finally he got to the bit where he’d help set up Tiebaut.
“So,” Webley said after taking a moment to digest everything. “You did retrieve the tiara and you ended up getting Tiebaut arrested. I’d say you more than satisfied my requests. It looks like I owe you both some gold.”
At that point, the guildmaster turned to Mika. “And I’d like to officially welcome you to the guild. After that story, I’d be a fool not to have someone like you around. Besides, you two make a good team.”
Mika looked over at Jace with a big grin. “Yes, we do!”
You have completed the quest, “Rescue the Princess’ Tiara”
You gain 900 experience. Experience to next level 980.
You gain +100 faction with Whitecliff Thieves Guild
You have completed the quest, “Turnabout is Fair Play”
You gain 900 experience. Experience to next level 80.
You gain +100 faction with Whitecliff Thieves Guild
Jace saw the system message and grinned. He was only 80 experience away from level 4 in Mage.
Webley handed over a pouch of gold for each of them and slid two pieces of thieves guild armor to Mika.
“Thank you,” she said and accepted the armor.
“I’m assuming you would both like some additional jobs?” he asked with a smile.
Mika and Jace both nodded.
“As it happens,” he told them. “Rumors of the raid on the guild have caused some of our clients who pay for protection to get a little bold. We need to remind them that we are still here and that they need the protection of the guild.”
Mika looked confused but Jace nodded. He’d seen enough vidstreams to know a protection racket when he heard it. He leaned over to Mika and whispered, “I’ll explain it later.”
“I want you to hit two businesses tonight and make off with whatever you can,” he told them. “There’s two of you so I want you to really clean them out. That should send a message to the others to keep paying.”
The guildmaster explained the targets as a pawn shopped called Broken Mirror Pawn and a bookstore called the Dusty Tome. Immediately, Jace received the quests.
Webley the Snake has offered your group the quest, “Pawn Broke”
Reward: +50 faction with Whitecliff Thieves Guild, 50 gold.
Level: 3
Accept quest? (Yes or No)
Webley the Snake has offered your group the quest, “Overdue Books”
Reward: +50 faction with Whitecliff Thieves Guild, 50 gold.
Level: 3
Accept quest? (Yes or No)
Jace noticed the quests were now being given out at Mika’s level, rather than his level. That was disappointing. He would have earned three times the experience had it been based on his level. Then he realized it might be better this way since they didn’t want to outpace Charlena again.
Once they had their quests, the guildmaster wished them good luck and Jace and Mika left the guild. By then it was almost 6pm and they headed straight for the adventurers guild.
Charlena was logged in by the time Jace and Mika made it to the guild and the red-headed elf hugged Jace and gave him a quick kiss. For some reason this made him feel guilty and he purposefully made himself not look at Mika.
“I heard you had a busy night!” Charlena said.
“You could say that.” He nodded.
“I’m glad you came when you did,” she said. “I can’t play tonight. A bunch of my friends are getting together so I have to do the real world thing tonight. I just logged in quickly to let you know.”
Jace was disappointed but he forced a smile. “That’s okay, you go do the real world thing.”
Charlena gave him a mischievous grin and for just a moment, he thought she glanced at Mika. “We can both do the real world thing when you wake up.”
He knew she was referring to his body, at least he hoped it was his body, still in a coma. If Charlena was right, she’d found his body. They’d know for certain when she went on Friday to ID the body.
Once again Jace was reminded that his real body was probably in a long-term medical pod hooked up to the game to keep his mind stimulated. That brought back worries of what sort of shape his real body was in. He could think of a number of worse case scenarios like paralyzation, disfiguration and several others. He had to force himself to think of something else or he’d start becoming depressed.
“Well,” Charlena said, breaking him back to the present moment. “I’m logging off now! You guys have fun!”
With that, she stepped forward and kissed Jace again. Like she’d done before, she logged out while they were still kissing, leaving Jace in an awkward pose for a moment until he felt her disappear.
Slightly embarrassed, Jace stood straight and looked at the other two girls. Mika’s face was unreadable, but Diana just smirked.
The older woman just shook her head. “So, now what? Do we do solo quests all night?”
Jace shrugged. “We’re not in a hurry and Mika and I have to wait until dark to do our quests. If you want, we can go to an inn or pub and have a nice slow meal for a change.”
“Oh,” Diana said and her arm into his. “It’s been a while since a handsome man has asked me out to dinner. What do you say, Mika? Should we go out too?”
Mika seemed to brighten at his suggestion. She walked to Jace’s other side and, mirroring Diana’s move, slipped her arm in Jace’s. “Yes, let’s go out.”
Chapter 33
They were already in a Merchant District and tried to find a tavern or inn nearby. Within a few minutes, they had stumbled upon a large, two story tavern…
“This is where the dwarf asked us to come,” Mika said, pointing at the large sign in the shape of a tankard.
Diana and Jace looked up at the sign. In painted letters, it read: Twisted Tankard Tavern.
“Think you’re right, dear one,” Diana agreed.
“Let’s go in!” Mika said excitedly.
Shrugging, Jace opened the door for them and chuckled as Luna went running in first. He guessed she was expecting to get some fish.
The girls went inside and Jace was about to follow them when he felt a sharp pain in his chest.
Twyla Harlande uses Surprise Attack on YOU for 213 damage.
You have died.
One moment, Jace was reaching for his chest, and the next moment he was in ghost form. Insubstantial, he stared down as a woman clad in nondescript leathers withdrew the dagger from his back and quickly sliced off his right ear.
Involuntarily, he reached for his ghost ear, but he was a ghost now and couldn’t even touch himself. Looking back down, he saw the woman take the gear, step back and vanish. Seconds later, Mika poked her head out the door and saw his body.
“Jace!” she screamed and rushed over to him.
He wanted to tell her he’d be respawning but as a ghost, he couldn’t interact with the normal game
world. He’d have to respawn and then explain things to them. He selected the option to respawn and the world shifted around him.
The next thing he knew, he was gasping for air as he appeared in the Whitecliff cemetery. He sat up and looked around, still dazed from the abrupt shift in scenery. Around, he saw other players respawning and running off.
He reached up to his right ear and, although he knew it should be there, was relieved to actually feel it back in place. Player’s bodies couldn’t be permanently disfigured and whenever you respawned, you received a brand-new body in perfect shape.
Jace stayed in the seated position and gritted his teeth as he re-summoned Luna. It had been a while since he’d had to, and the pain was sharper than he remembered. It still felt like someone had jabbing a hook into his guts and was slowly, painfully yanking it out. Ignoring the pain, he pushed all of the mana and health he could into her.
Luckily, it didn’t last long and his familiar appeared nearby. Like him, Luna was momentarily confused by the abrupt change. For her, a moment ago she’d been in the tavern. Now she was in the graveyard. She looked disappointedly at Jace. “Fish?”
He chuckled despite himself. “Don’t worry, we’ll go get fish. It just looks like we’ll be walking there naked. Well, not exactly naked. A player could only get truly naked if they initiated intimate contact with another player or NPC. Otherwise, male characters always received a loin cloth and female characters received a loin cloth and a chest wrap that covered their breasts.
Remembering his soulbound weapon, Jace checked his inventory. Sure enough, the Kraken’s Claw was there. At least when he respawned, he wouldn’t be completely defenseless.
Pushing himself to his feet, Jace padded towards the front gate with Luna trailing after him. He tried to ignore the stones and twigs that dug into his bare feet but at 100% sensation, it was difficult.
Jace jogged past the guards. Apparently, they were used to players running by in loincloths. Or possibility, part of the AI that controlled them were programmed to ignore mostly naked players. Either way, they ignored him.
Veil Online - Book 2: An Epic LitRPG Adventure Page 21
