Changing Faces (New Game Minus Book 1)

by Sarah Lin

  "Well, well... I didn't expect to see you again, Raigar." Herena gave him an arrogant smile, but when he met her gaze and didn't look away, he saw her flush a bit. "I've been touched by your gifts. But what brought this on?"

  "I'm just using you because we knew you had an invitation to an estate where I need to steal a piece of equipment," Bloodwraith didn't say. It took some effort, though. Instead he went with, "After our group split up, I couldn't forget about you."

  "That's sweet. I admit, I didn't see your true value at first. But compared to the others, you were certainly effective, and it seems you're more cultured than you look."

  How charming. Bloodwraith forced a smile and extended his arm to her. They headed from her estate to the nearby target. A simple walk, straight through the entrance, yet he was moving through security he never could have sneaked through, even if he had an entire year to prepare.

  "Feel free to relax and enjoy yourself tonight," Herena told him. "You might not be an acceptable guest at higher class parties, but this one caters especially to adventurers."

  Yes, that had been Meara and Danniah's exact plan. The two of them could be scary sometimes.

  "Mmm, it seems you've been working hard. Yes, you'll do well."

  So he was there to improve her reputation as an adventurer with her high society friends, making him little more than an accessory. He wasn't surprised. Yet he needed her to at least turn a blind eye to his plans for that night, so Bloodwraith did his best to charm her as they entered the party.

  He was, admittedly, not the best suited for this sort of thing. But he was no fool, and he'd had coaching from Meara and Danniah. Plus, the boxes seemed to have an influence on all his reactions, which made sense. Incomprehensible creatures from another world could not be expected to have a very firm grasp of human interaction, hence the need for assistance.

  The estate itself was quite grand, but the people within were dressed much more casually. Some appeared to be actual adventurers in their best equipment, while nobles wore mere imitations of armor. No doubt there was a great deal of complexity in navigating such a society, but he only needed to fake it for one night.

  Though he'd hoped the adventurers might have something interesting to say, they only wanted to discuss Guild politics and how to increase their ranking without serious risk. As he made small-talk with small-minded adventurers, Bloodwraith instead examined the layout of the estate carefully.

  Most of the guests chatted in several chambers set up for the party, but some also went to tour the host's armor collection. Though a few ancient pieces were behind glass, it was as Danniah had said: most were displayed without any attempt to secure them. Apparently such genteel adventurers wouldn't stoop to steal anything, which struck him as contrary to the spirit of the adventuring.

  At the end of the hall he spotted it: the Helm of the Tyrant.

  [Helm of the Tyrant

  Armor: 14

  Vitality +1, Willpower +1

  Durability: 49/50

  Rarity: Rare

  NOTE: This item is part of a unique set.]

  Bloodwraith ran one hand over the Extra-dimensional Bag he'd hidden in his sleeve. It would be so easy to take it now... but the risk would be too high, plus he needed a more solid alibi.

  So in the end, he had no choice but to participate along with Herena, as frustrating as that was. People said things to him, and he was introduced countless times, but it all ran through his mind like water. He didn't care about any of these people and couldn't feel any connection to them, even when he tried. Herena especially, despite her long glances and the Affection boxes, was just a convenient means to an end.

  Spending time with Danniah over the past days and nights, he'd started to feel soft, even worried that he was losing his true self. Being around a larger number of people reminded him of yet another reason he'd retreated to rule the undead. Right now the Master Lich's plan of burning down the world sounded pretty good.

  It wasn't as if he'd reverted to his old self, however. He couldn't, because too much had changed, and that life seemed lonely from his new perspective. That realization left him slightly melancholy.

  But he was Bloodwraith, Corrupter of Worlds. He wouldn't let himself be bogged down in melodrama. Instead he developed a new vision for the future: slay the box gods, build an impenetrable fortress from their ethereal corpses, then bring Meara and Danniah to the heart of it to live with him. Instead of becoming undead again, he could find some other way to perfect this body and live out his days with the best of both worlds.

  Buoyed by such thoughts, Bloodwraith managed to endure the party until all the guests became substantially more drunk. He'd been drinking as well, but he weighed so much more than most of the guests that it was barely having any effect on him.

  When Herena tugged at his belt, pulling him toward one of the side hallways, he saw his chance. He had to endure kissing her for a time, but as she drank more she needed to relieve herself. The instant she stepped away, he rushed to the hall of armor.

  Good, almost no one there. Bloodwraith flicked his arm sharply, sending the Extra-dimensional Bag flipping out into his hand. He carefully lifted the Helm of the Tyrant from its stand and slipped it into the bag... and then pulled out the duplicate Haral had made. Physically it was an exact copy, though naturally it had none of the enchantments that really mattered.

  Making the switch, Bloodwraith shoved the bag back into his sleeve and went to wait on Herena again. She emerged not long after, much paler.

  "Everyone is getting too drunk," Bloodwraith said. "Shall I escort you home?"

  "Yes, we might as well." She slurred a little and leaned on him heavily as they left the party and walked past the estate's high walls.. "This... this was nice, Raigar."

  "Yes, I enjoyed it." He didn't need to fake the warmth and enthusiasm in his voice, because the box that appeared in front of him took care of that.

  [Quest Complete!

  Find a way into the noble's estate to acquire the helm.

  Alignment: Evil +20

  EXP +1500]

  The EXP reward was quite impressive for a simple party, almost making all his suffering worth it. Apparently the theft had given him "Evil" points, which was actually puzzling since no one was aware of it, at least if all went well. Not that it mattered, since his reputation could be fixed with a handful of trivial quests.

  "Raigar... can we do this again soon?"

  "I'm not sure. There might be more trouble with Daek the Knife."

  "Oh, him." Herena glowered and pulled back from him a little. "My father spoke to him and got reassurances that he wouldn't bother any other adventurers. But I don't want to talk about him. He's been acting unwell lately, doing things... well, it's not a topic for polite conversation."

  He very much wanted to know more, but Herena clearly didn't want to discuss it and information obtained from her while she was this drunk might not be reliable. Instead he escorted her back to her estate, kissed her one more time at the gate, then headed out as fast as he could.

  It was very late when he got back to the Adventurers Guild, but he found the two of them waiting for him. Danniah had slumped forward onto the table and was snoring softly, while Meara stared at nothing in her usual fashion. When he sat down nearby she returned to the real world, raising an eyebrow at him.

  "Back so soon? You didn't fuck Herena?"

  "Why would I?"

  Her lips twitched. "You know you could have. I'm quite certain that amulet of yours could have made it happen. You're terrible at being a bad person, Bloodwraith."

  "I'm a bad person!" Bloodwraith growled indignantly. "That isn't synonymous with having no impulse control and no standards."

  "Mm, yes, the unbridled hedonism of chivalrous monogamy."

  "Silence, harlot!" He found himself smiling, though. A moment later, he felt Danniah's arms wrap around his side.

  "I'm glad you didn't," she said softly. "If it had been the only way, I guess it would have... w
ell, I'm glad it wasn't."

  She embraced him tighter and he put an arm around her shoulders. After a whole night being with Herena, he braced himself for a box to appear, but none did. Ever since they'd first had sex, there had been no announcements about Danniah's "Affection" at all. As far as he was concerned, that was a significant side benefit.

  "I felt like Herena always went out of her way to make me feel ugly. It feels a little silly now, but... sometimes you need some reassurance, you know?"

  Meara rolled her eyes and stood up. "Okay, I can see where this conversation is going. You two have fun. Tomorrow we'll be doing something that involves a little more rampant slaughter and looting."

  That sounded like a welcome relief, but it wasn't going to stop him from enjoying the rest of the night.

  Chapter 25

  For the next several days, in addition to his normal questing tasks, Bloodwraith had to deal with Herena contacting him. He even stayed out of the Adventurers Guild to avoid her, but there was only so much he could do. Strangely, though he expressed as much disinterest as he could without burning bridges, this only seemed to make her more interested in him.

  The fact that she was trying to talk to him made him more paranoid, and at several points he would have sworn that he was being followed. Many times he wished for proper spells that could determine objectively whether or not she or anyone else was trailing him, but instead all he had was a vague warrior's instinct. He acted more cautiously and took quests closer to the city, just in case.

  That was simple, since he had more training than usual. After some practice, he'd figured out that his "Shout of Rage" ability was good at holding off groups. More draining than his other skills, and harder to practice effectively, but he'd grown used to it.

  For the moment, it was time to meet up with Meara again. He found her in conversation with several adventurers, cheerful and yet oddly flat. When one finished buying potions and moved off, she turned to the next. "Hello, welcome to my shop! What can I do for you?"

  Bloodwraith lurked in the shadows until she was done with her queue, then stepped forward. Meara pivoted to him with the same smile on her face.

  "Hello, welcome to my shop! What can I do for you?"

  "Are you in some sort of automated mode, or are you mocking me?"

  "Some of the former, but I'm definitely mocking you." The real Meara returned with a smirk. "Is it that time already? Alright, let's head somewhere more private."

  Meara closed up her shop, swept all her inventory into her cloak, and they headed down an alley. Bloodwraith pulled ahead and led them into a small restaurant that Danniah had recommended. Allegedly the soup was good, and in any case it was quiet and out of the way.

  When he ordered, however, Meara just shook her head. He didn't contradict her in front of the shop owner, but once he moved away, Bloodwraith looked at her.

  "I don't think I need to eat. I haven't drank a drop of water in three days and I feel fine."

  "Huh." It reminded Bloodwraith of the undead and he decided to keep to himself how much he liked that idea. "Are you sure it wouldn't have consequences down the line? I don't want anything happening to you."

  "I'll go back to eating if I feel strange. Stranger than normal, anyway. But I actually feel a little more in touch with the systems around us since I stopped, so I think it's worth exploring."

  "I'll leave that to your judgment, then. But you could still eat for the pleasure of it."

  "Concerned about me, are you? How sweet."

  "Bah! Don't try to force me into emotional statements. I spend my allotment of that on Danniah."

  "Very efficient use of resources." Meara nodded with mock seriousness, then the real thing emerged. "But yes, we need to discuss our current trajectory. I've been gathering rumors, and many think that Daek might try to do something dramatic, like take over the city guard. To do that, he'd have to build his forces. If so, we might have something like 30-40 days to prepare."

  "We should assume the lower number." Bloodwraith sat back and closed his eyes, rolling through the boxes in his head. "My EXP has only increased to 14,576. It's rising by an average of about 400 per day, but that number is decreasing as we massacre the local monster populations."

  "I wish I could do more for you, but there's only so much available. Plus, I'm spending a lot of time trying to pinpoint the last piece of armor. It feels like it's not connected to another quest or anything the boxes care about, so it's more difficult to locate."

  "That's fine, the armor is higher priority. But how is the shop doing?"

  As the soup was served, they continued talking about the exact numbers. Meara's shop made a consistent 15 silvers per day in profit, largely thanks to her unnatural supply of ingredients. Questing income was less regular, but averaged about 18 silvers per day. That meant in a little over a month, they'd make a full 10 gold pieces. Once more, being an adventurer became much like being a shopkeeper.

  "So..." Meara sat back and toyed with a piece of silverware. "Combined with the four and a half gold pieces we currently have-"

  "Four and 26 silvers."

  "-we could reach 15 gold pieces in 33 days. That's short of the deadline, assuming Daek decides to move against the city sooner rather than later."

  "That's assuming we have no larger expenses, such as armor repair. And it completely prevents us from buying other valuable pieces of equipment." He'd deducted costs of room and board from their daily profits, because otherwise he would have grown even more irritated. Still, the numbers didn't lie. "That's too slow. We need something more dramatic."

  "I feel like I might be able to help you with repairing your armor, if I spent time with it, but I've had to focus too much on quests lately. But I do have something else that will help a bit." Meara smiled and pulled a sheet of paper from her cloak, sliding it across the table. "I doubt this can come together fast enough to solve our monetary problems, but it should provide some immediate power for you."

  Bloodwraith read over the sheet and discovered that it was a request from a group of healers who wanted to establish a way-station outside the city to defend travelers. They needed a sanctified location and adventurers to help defend it - something exactly like the elven pool, in other words. A box appeared saying much the same things, so he ignored it.

  "You're thinking they could use the pool? Wouldn't the elves object?"

  "They might, but the request is just to take them to an appropriate location. This will be an easy quest, and for some reason I feel like it will be worth a little more than the others. In the neighborhood of 500 points, perhaps."

  "It will be easy to combine with other quests regardless. Good work." Bloodwraith accepted it, putting more thought into Meara's words. Her perception was improving, but he wondered-

  [Quest Complete!

  Exterminate the bugbears.

  Reward: 250 EXP]

  That would be Danniah's work, putting them ahead of schedule for that day. It didn't change the overall outlook of their situation, though, because the boxes clearly liked to reward risks and experimentation. Bloodwraith dismissed the box without thinking much about it, but he noticed Meara staring - not in the direction of the box, but toward him.

  "What? Just another quest from Danniah."

  "Oh, I know. I was just watching the power, trying to figure out if it actually flowed from her direction."

  Bloodwraith sat forward, eyes narrowing. "Watching the power? You mean these 'experience points' the boxes talk about? I had always assumed they were an arbitrary measurement, since the real power only comes in increments."

  "It might in a practical sense, but there's definitely something there. And it feels like something from our world, not from beyond." Meara gave an apologetic shrug. "Sorry that I can't be more precise than that. But I think these EXP aren't imaginary numbers the box gods dream up - they represent something real and concrete, if not something physical."

  "Curious. I'm not sure I know of any magic that would work in
discrete stages like this."

  "I definitely have no idea. I'll keep looking into it. And into everything else." Meara sat back and smiled at him. "It was nice talking to you, mighty adventurer, but we both have work to be doing."

  He felt exactly the same way but didn't need to say it. Leaving Meara to blankly repeat phrases to her customers, Bloodwraith headed across the city to the Adventurers Guild. There might be time to choose another request from the board, or depending on the timing of variables, he might simply train with Danniah.

  While completing a few petty quests near Cresthaven, he ran into Danniah as she returned, a bit battered but smiling. She helped him finish and then they headed back to the Adventurers Guild. Now that security had increased, it was a fairly safe place to be, just by virtue of the number of dangerous people lounging around within. He was certain that the greencloaks were watching the place closely, however.

  "I finished that bugbear quest, but I suppose you already know that," Danniah was saying. "Do the boxes tell you anything about how it went?"

  "No, just the reward and the barest description."

  "Well! Most of my day might have been pretty boring, but that part was worth talking about..."

  Though he and Danniah talked about strategy sometimes, she usually left that to Meara and just focused on working. That left their conversations lighter, which he didn't mind. He knew it would be a mistake to say this, but her chattiness had ceased to be annoying since drinking the intelligence potions. She still enjoyed talking, but her selection of topics was much improved.

  As usual, they were the only people in the training ground this late in the day. Bloodwraith had taken many tips from Danniah on effective strength training, since without the benefit of points, she needed to work both smart and hard. Once he'd gotten used to her suggestions, he did see the percentages increase slightly faster, though he was still just on the edge of increasing any statistics.