“Well, it seems that we have a lot of work to do. Thank you for mediating all of this. Is there anything that we can help you with?” Florence asked.
“Well, we do have some items that we want to sell but we don’t have the time nor the contacts to sell them and not draw attention to ourselves or get a good price for the item,” Suzy said.
“I can take a look at them now and see if I could shift them,” Florence said.
Suzy looked to the others, making a note of the loot that they wanted to sell, sending it off to Florence.
“Bloody hell! How the hell did you get all of this in less than a week?” Florence looked at the three with wide eyes.
“We had to do a rather select quest that had some rather nice rewards and interesting creatures in our way,” Deia supplied.
“Well, I can move most of these goods. If you want, I can put it up on the guild forum. Whoever sells it gets the largest share but everyone can try to shift it at a faster pace. Will also mean distributing it around so that we don’t have people looking into you specifically,” Florence said.
“How do you get your goods out to the people in your guild that fast?” Suzy asked.
“Banks. They’re the best for low volume, high priced goods like these. You can pay a fee to have items transferred from one bank location to another. People with guild access answer a password, grab the item and sell it.”
“That makes sense. For larger quantity of items, then you have to use caravans to move the goods around,” Deia said.
“Exactly. With the higher quality goods of the Stone Raiders coming in, we can spread our guild thinner in more places so that they have access to markets more directly and can sell in more areas and have our bank moving the goods. With the caravans, we can move goods around that will get a higher price across the globe and play the local markets,” Florence said, opening up now that they were in a full alliance.
“Well, I say that we get some drinks into us and celebrate this alliance and moving all those damned goods. I sure as hell don’t want to keep carrying them in my pack!” Induca clapped Suzy and Deia on the shoulders.
“Sounds good to me.” Deia held her glass up in salute to the others.
Chapter 13: Meet Steve
“Wakey wakey. Shine and bakey!” Josh’s annoying voice came through the door as Deia hurled a boot at it.
“Fuck off, Josh, or I’ll get my fiancé to break your little dagger!” Deia barked at the door.
“Well, sounds like they are getting a hang of the Stone Raiders. Damned near drank everything out of the place,” Josh said.
“I have healing potions,” Kim said.
“Open,” Suzy groaned.
Deia had passed out in a chair and then fallen on the floor, not caring about where she slept as long as she was asleep. Induca and Suzy were in the bed, sprawled all over the place.
“Huh, well, this looks interesting,” Kim said.
“What does?” Josh said, getting close to the door.
“Out, you damned man!” Kim kicked the door closed to the groans of the other three in the room.
“My nose!” Josh yelled.
“Eh, you’ve broken it so many times you might as well give up on it,” Dwayne said, his heavy footsteps walking away.
Kim came around and passed out healing potions that the others took and drank.
Deia was the first to get up off the floor, her hangover starting to fade away.
“So, had fun last night?” Kim sat in the chair opposite Deia and looked at Suzy and Induca, who were in bed.
“It was rather…interesting.” Deia looked at the other two as they untangled from each other and got up from their slumber.
“We’ve got people meeting up with Florence and their traders. The gear that needs to be repaired should be moving out today. They’ve already got a lot of the stuff that we needed. Seems that they’ve been busy,” Kim said, impressed.
“Well, I wasn’t about to let us get allied with a bunch of lazy bastards.” Suzy stretched in the morning light, revealing the fact that she wasn’t wearing much clothing.
“Seems like that training came in use.” Deia saw how Suzy’s body had firmed up under constant training.
“That it did.” Suzy looked to Induca, who simply smiled lazily and stretched like a cat. “All right, well, Josh says we’ll stay here for a bit and then head out to wherever this place is. Josh also wants to go and check out where we’re going ahead of everyone else. Start putting our own scouts in there to verify that everything these guardians report is truth,” Kim said.
“Okay,” Deia said. “Well, we should get some food in us and then head out as soon as possible.”
“Yeah, if you can bear to untangle yourselves,” Kim said. Suzy and Induca looked completely unrepentant about their state of nakedness or their positions.
***
“It has been confirmed. The Stone Raiders are in Selhi Capital. We are moving people in through all the ways we know possible. We should be ready to begin the operation in a few days,” Koloa said.
“Good. Then we’ll see who the most powerful guild in Emerilia is,” Hevard said. “Make sure that all the preparations are in place.”
“Yes, Guildmaster.” Koloa turned and left the conference room that the two of them had been in. It disappeared to show a rundown tavern room and a Mirror of Communication. Hevard put the mirror away and stepped outside. Three assassins melded out of the shadows for a second before they disappeared once again.
This is going to be fun.
***
Dave looked up as the lift stopped. He and Anna had been working on the behemoth ever since the others had left. Malsour was absorbed in his books, telling them pieces of information that he had found that could be valuable.
With the necklace, he didn’t hold a physical book in his hand. The necklace somehow beamed it into his eye so that he could read it wherever. Dave was a bit jealous and kept on looking into how to build one so that he might be able to connect to the Aleph records.
Shard had been floating around, happy to talk to them, answer what questions he could and give any advice he thought was pertinent. Dave had given his information on soul gems to Shard, which had resulted in increased reputation and him almost being able to access peak Apprentice level content in the records.
Dave had worked quickly with the information that he had to make the soul gems, but with everything else on his plate, it would have still taken a few weeks to complete.. With Shard behind the production, the three soul gems that Dave would need to update the behemoth would take just five days.
Most of the time had been spent changing runes around in the behemoth’s core. It was tedious and hard work that required Dave to use forges to heat the metal to change its form in combination with his soul smithing. He had burned through all of his stored soul energy and was feeling strained from the work.
“So, how are things?” Suzy asked, a mix of excitement and anxiety on her face as she walked closer to the behemoth and where Dave and Anna had put their cots.
“We’re ready for you to start trying to soul bond to it. Dave spent a lot of time altering the runes so that they would be more stable and the connection should be easier to make,” Anna said.
“Yeah, fucking sucked.” Dave rolled over in his bed, his head hurting from all the different energies that he had expelled over the last two days.
Deia rubbed Dave’s shoulder as he lay.
“Come ’ere .” He pulled her down.
She let out a surprised squeak as she fell on the cot. “Better?”
“Mhmm.” Dave sounded content as the others talked about what Anna and Dave had been up to.
Suzy pulled out a big jug, uncorking one end, and poured it into a cup. She gave one to Anna before waving another under Dave’s nose. He slowly sat up with Deia, taking the cup of Xer.
He’d come to like the pseudo coffee and on mornings like these, it was the best thing to have.
“Seems
I need to learn this new bribe.” Deia smiled at Dave’s pleased expression as he sipped the concoction.
“Two cream, one sugar.” Suzy put the jug down next to the bed. “So, what happened to the Mithril?”
“Dave thought it might be a good idea to cover it over with some steel so that people don’t know that you’re walking around with something that was more expensive than some villages. Also, it’ll make people think it is easier to defeat than it really is. Being a low level, they’re not going to think that you’re able to bond to this thing. Finally, we messed around with the internal runes, which was a pain in the ass,” Anna said.
Dave made an annoyed noise but continued to drink his coffee.
“With the information that we provided, Shard is making new legs and arms that you can change out, though they’re going to take some time. How did things go topside?” Anna drank from her cup of Xer.
“We got an agreement with the traders and the Stone Raiders are here. We left Josh with his scouts and rogues to check out the different facilities that we are supposed to be clearing out. They’ve confirmed the reports so far. The rest of the guild should be here in three days,” Deia said. “Also, I don’t know if it will be upheld, but we kind of got banned from the adventurer’s Guild Selhi Chapter house,” Deia said awkwardly.
“I’m sure it was for a good reason,” Dave said.
Anna and Suzy nodded in agreement.
“Okay, then I think we have enough time to go over the class system. I think it’s about time that the two of you picked classes.” Anna looked from Dave to Suzy.
“I think it would be worth it. Unlocking all of those extra bonuses would be nice,” Dave said.
“Good, Suzy?”
“Well, it would be nice to have something to give me a boost right before I try to take control of this big beastie.” Suzy tapped the behemoth’s leg.
“Good. Then put your points into your characters and let’s see what happens. If you’re lucky, you might even get some freebie classes,” Anna said.
Dave sat up and looked at his character sheet.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
3
Class:
-
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral
Unspent points-340
Health:
3,300
Regen:
2.24/s
Mana:
1,550
Regen:
6.60/s
Stamina:
890
Regen:
4.30/s
Vitality:
33
Endurance:
112
Intelligence:
155
Willpower:
132
Strength:
89
Agility:
86
“Thirty-nine stat points to mess around with, to just stay out of level 11,” Dave muttered to himself. “Put 10 in Vitality, 12 in Agility, 8 in Intelligence and 9 in Willpower?” He looked at his stats and their new numbers.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
3(10)
Class:
-
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral
Unspent points-340(301)
Health:
3,300(4,300)
Regen:
2.24/s
Mana:
1,550(1,630)
Regen:
6.60/s(7.05/s)
Stamina:
890
Regen:
4.30/s(4.90/s)
Vitality:
33(43)
Endurance:
112
Intelligence:
155(163)
Willpower:
132(141)
Strength:
89
Agility:
86(98)
Level increase!
You have placed (39) stat points into your various stats. Do you accept these changes?
Y/N?
“Yeah,” Dave said. Before his eyes, the original numbers disappeared, as well as the brackets.
He felt healthier, as if his body breathed life, feeling that he could take more risks. He felt smarter and more confident in the person that he was. Information that he had glanced at before and he’d been thinking on now made sense.
He felt filled with boundless energy, as if he could run for miles or fight hordes of creatures. He spun a weapon rod in his hands, his fingers nimble and swift. “Well, crap, that is one hell of a drug.”
“Yeah,” Suzy said, holding a table.
You have reached Level 10
Emerilia’s class system is now open for you to use! Classes can be gained at levels: 10, 50, 100, 200, 300, and at every century level.
You can also gain new classes through raising certain stats and going through rigorous training.
Dave swiped it away to only have it replaced again.
You have earned a new class: Dwarven Master Smith
Hello Petunia! Thought you were rid of me, huh? Well, lookie here, you swing hammers at metal and you make things. Like swords and shit. BOOOOOORING! But hell, whatever floats yer boat!
Status:
Level 1
Effects:
Allowed access to all Dwarven Mountains and Smithies.
Allowed to take on smithing apprentices.
+10 to all stats
Access to special quests.
You have earned a new class: Friend of the Gray God
Well, looks like you know my boss—guy’s always off doing random crap. Should have known that he was messing around with your background. Whatever, here’s some friend swag
Status:
Level 2
Effects:
+20 to all stats
Access to hidden quests.
You have earned a new class: Bleeder
Dude, seriously getting annoyed with all of these classes. What the hell have you been doing? And Bleeder? I don’t even know what that is!
Status:
Level 1
Effects:
+10 to all stats
(???)
Select a Class!
As you have reached level 10, you can pick one class. This will not increase your skills and will only give you level 1. To increase your level further, you will need to increase the correlating stats and finish quests associated with the class.
Another screen appeared with selectable names from beast tamer to apothecary master and librarian, with their specific effects. The ones that Dave didn’t know much about had (???), like with the hidden effect on his Bleeder class.
He pushed it to the side, in slight shock as he looked to the others.
“Did something go wrong?” Deia put her hand on his.
“I’m not…” Dave felt power surge through him. He was stronger, faster, and healthier; he didn’t need sleep or food. His mind was abuzz with thoughts and ideas and yet he felt reassured; he felt he was all-seeing and all-knowing.
“Wow, so this is power,” Dave said. His muscles didn’t grow but they felt stronger, as if they had become denser and more flexible. Energy seemed to radiate through his body.
“I just got a class update on being friends with Bob,” Malsour said.
Everyone started to look at their interfaces.
“My father doesn’t have Champions, but he has friends who he asks to help him out from time to time. It’s his way of getting around not having a Champion. Naming Champions makes it a lot easier for the rest of the Pantheon to find them. Dave getting it must have made the system remind Dad to name his friends.
“Sorry about that—should have done i
t sooner.” Bob sat on one of the worktables. “Hey, Shard! How’s it going?”
“Good, Lo’Kal,” Shard said.
“Told you to call me Bob and I promised that I’d get you some people to help out!” Bob looked at the others.
“You set all of this up?” Induca asked.
“Well, maybe to some degree,” Bob scratched his head with an awkward smile on his face.
“You could have just told us.” Deia crossed her arms.
“I could have, but then the other lords and ladies might have seen me. Even this is a risk and Alephir, once powered up, is a pain in the ass to see into. Good work, by the way.”
“So what does being your friend entail?” Malsour asked.
“Well, we can go for beers and get some food, hang out and stuff. Well, we would have if the lords and ladies hadn’t been given so much power. Right now, I only have five minutes to spend here before they find me. Also, I leave a magic signature on the people I meet so it means meeting even less. I can still send PMs and have a Mirror of Communication so we can talk.” Bob became serious as he glanced at the occupants of the room. “There is a change coming. I am trying to mitigate as much of the chaos that will venture to Emerilia as possible. Even I cannot stop it all. This is just one step in many that I can see, balancing that chaos and giving the people of Emerilia a chance of surviving what is to come. As you have come to share your secrets and lives with me, I have come to trust you. While I can give you tasks, it is up to you whether you complete them or not. You are my friends, not my Champions or my lackeys. I may give you quests or help you out here and there, but I do it as a friend. Well, a friend who can’t be seen, so it’ll be a lot of shadow moving. That said, I won’t try to sway you to do something one way or another.”
For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2) Page 16
