Hell to Pay (Ascend Online Book 2)

by Luke Chmilenko

  “We need more information about what Edith did yesterday with regards to the devils she summoned, and Quinn has finally come to his senses and has taken me up on my offer,” Isabella stated while looking at me.

  “You’re finally going to join us?!” Molly asked excitedly.

  “Yeah,” Quinn stated with a smile. “I’m done lone-wolfing it as a contractor. Too many close calls. A soft, squishy mage like me needs to have people I can count on not abandoning me.”

  “I have briefed Quinn on the basics of what’s happened and he has a contact that may be able to shed some light on what happened, as well as the sigil that you’ve acquired,” Isabella informed us. “I hope you do not mind me sharing that information, but I believe it to be pertinent.”

  “That’s no problem,” I said with a shrug, before looking at Quinn. “What sort of contacts?”

  “There’s an…eccentric man I’ve met while working with the Eberian Mages Guild,” Quinn explained. “He may be ancient, but he’s also the best source for lore that I’ve come across. If he can’t at least point us in the right direction, I’ll be shocked.”

  “You work for the Mages Guild now?” Molly asked, suddenly excited as she glanced between me and the mage. “You wouldn’t happen to have heard anything involving the Arcaneum over the last few days…have you?”

  “Well, actually, now that you mention it…yeah.” Quinn looked at us suspiciously. “There was some sort of incident that happened in one of the labs a couple nights ago…practically turned the whole room to glass and destroyed half a dozen relics and projects.”

  “Huh.” I looked at Quinn completely deadpan. “That’s interesting.”

  “D-did you guys have something to do with that?” Quinn asked nervously, sensing that something was amiss.

  “No,” I stated, following my usual instinct to deny everything.

  “Maybe,” Molly answered a second behind me.

  “Molly, why?” I glanced over at the petite woman in mock disbelief, only to have Molly shake her head back at me.

  “Quinn is on the team now, we should be straight with him.”

  “What did you do?!” Quinn shook his head at us. “There was nothing volatile in that room—”

  “Erm.” Isabella cleared her throat, clearly tired of being ignored. “I am happy that you’re all getting along, but I have quite a few things that need to be done today, and I’m not quite finished here yet.”

  Glancing between the three of us, she continued speaking. “Your orders for the day are to go and collect whatever information you can find about how Edith summoned those devils, and any other information you can find about the sigil if it’s relevant. I need to know what scope of threat she and whomever she is working with presents, ideally before we meet with the other Thief Lords tonight.”

  “You want us to meet with the Thief Lords?” Molly asked with surprise.

  “I do,” Isabella stated with a nod. “Your testimony to the Council will be invaluable in bringing them up to speed and determining if we need to take any special action to counter whatever threat Edith poses. In addition, while I’m doubtful that anything will come of it, I’ve also posted a bounty for her to be brought in alive. If nothing else, the added threat should make it more difficult for her to move around the city.”

  “Assuming the bounty hunters survive bringing her in,” I said with a doubtful look on my face, seeing a quest update appear in my vision.

  Quest Updated! No Honor Among Thieves!

  In order to prepare for a meeting with the Thief Lords tonight, Isabella has asked you to speak to Quinn’s contact, a man she believes will able to shed some light on both the Sigil of Rage and the devils that you witnessed Edith summon last night.

  Wait for instruction from Isabella: 1/1(Complete)

  Collect information about the Sigil: 0/1

  Collect information about the Devils: 0/1

  “In addition,” Isabella continued, bringing me back to the present as she gave a dismissive shrug at my earlier statement, “I am promoting both you and Molly to full guild members, effective immediately.”

  “Y-you are?” I stuttered through the question, feeling a spike of shock shoot through me. Molly and I had barely been initiate members of the guild for a week and had been expecting our probation to last several more weeks, if not months, before we were formally accepted into the guild.

  “We weren’t expecting to become full members for ages,” Molly said, her voice filled with the same surprise that I felt. “Thank you.”

  “Because of you two, we know that Fairfax was killed.” Isabella nodded at the both of us in acknowledgement. “Had you two not been involved, we may have never found out, or found out far too late to move against whatever Edith has planned. The guild appreciates your loyalty, and I see no reason to not treat you both as full members.”

  “We won’t let you down,” I promised, looking my new Thief Lord in the eye. “We’ll find out what Edith is up to.”

  “I believe you,” Isabella said, offering the two of us a rare smile before it vanished under her stoic expression. “Before you go, you are aware that the military has been ordered out of the city, correct?”

  “Bart told us,” Molly replied.

  “Good,” Isabella acknowledged. “If you find anything regarding why they left, I want to know it as well. I don’t expect it to be related to Fairfax or Edith, but there is only one reason why Marshal Tarius would mobilize several thousand soldiers at a moment’s notice.”

  “War,” I stated.

  “Or the threat of one,” Quinn added with a nod.

  “Precisely,” Isabella said, chopping a hand through the air. “Be on your guard at all times today. There are far too many events brewing in the city that we are blind to. Gather whatever information you can and come back home safely.”

  Isabella looked at the three of us one last time and gave us a nod. “Good luck.”

  Chapter 10

  Leaving the hideout, the three of us moved through the sprawling Market District as we slowly made our way towards the center of the city. The noonday sun was high in the air as we walked, forcing us to squint from its incessant glare. With Molly and me doing the majority of our work in the night, it was rare that we ever saw the sun, oftentimes getting out of bed as it began to set.

  As we crossed the city, I couldn’t help but feel naked without the reassuring weight of my greatsword over my shoulder, choosing to leave the guild hideout with only my crossbow, not having been confident that I could craft something worth replacing my old sword it in the time we had.

  Not planning to run around all day completely unarmed, I decided that I was going to make use of the thirty-five gold pieces weighing my wallet down and pay a visit to the one place in the city where anyone could go to find a reliable weapon at a moment’s notice.

  The Auction House.

  A place of absolute wonder, set in the very heart of the Market District, the Auction House was the single most important feature of an Adventurer’s life. It was the place where dreams were made into reality, where hard-earned money was turned into rare and hard-to-find pieces of equipment or crafting materials.

  I felt my pulse quicken as we turned onto the central roadway that led towards the Auction House, spotting it in the distance. Massive and imposing, the immaculately crafted brown building dominated the center of the square with a steady stream of people constantly milling in and out.

  Walking down the road, we saw dozens of other Adventurers going about their business, all talking excitedly and making grand gestures as they retold and embellished their latest adventure. The news about the military leaving the city was a hot topic among the Adventurers, and many were scrambling to get themselves equipped to follow the departing soldiers, hoping to get in on whatever conflict or event was brewing.

  “Everyone seems really excited about the military leaving,” Quinn commented once the herd of Adventures had begun to thin out around us.

  �
�Yeah, more than I thought they’d be. I don’t think there are going to be that many Adventurers left in the city by the end of the day today,” Molly said, looking at the steady stream of players that were walking out of the Auction House. “I’d be surprised if there are more than a thousand left in the city as it is…”

  Far too lost in the excitement of approaching the Auction House, I barely heard Molly and Quinn talking between one another, already envisioning the weapon I would buy.

  I wonder if I have enough gold to buy a Relic, or maybe something even better, I thought to myself as I tried to figure out what sort of weapon I should get. I’ll need something that will hopefully last me a few levels, though; something tells me I’m not going to have that much time to take a break over the next few days…

  “Lazarus!” Molly’s shout pierced through my train of thought, forcing me back into the present.

  “Hey, sorry.” I blinked, turning to look towards her, and realized with a start that we had already walked inside the Auction House lobby. “I was somewhere else.”

  “No kidding, I know how you get at the Auction House.” Molly shook her head with a smile, then thumbed her hand towards Quinn. “I’m going to look at some jewelry and Quinn wants to buy a wand. Meet back here in twenty minutes?”

  “Yeah, that’s not a problem.” I nodded, noticing that Quinn too had been caught up in the Auction House’s magic and was wandering off ahead of us. “Find me if you need me.”

  Splitting up from Molly, I entered the main floor of the Auction House and into a sprawling room filled with countless stalls. Hundreds of people milled about everywhere as they lined up to talk to the auctioneers that ran the Auction House, each of them ready to place their orders.

  Finding a middle ground between convenience and realism, the Auction House was one of the few places where the game allowed players to search for the items that they were looking for via a search menu displayed in their vision, rather than physically displaying the items on a stall or display like other merchants did within the city.

  While slightly unrealistic, it was the best compromise possible, given that the Auction House carried thousands, if not tens of thousands of different items. Putting each of them on display would have not only been a colossal task, but would also have made it near impossible for Adventurers to sift through the items and find exactly what they were looking for.

  Pulling up the search menu, I narrowed the options to bring me up a list of different greatswords available for sale, narrowing the search to only include those that gave me a substantial boost to strength. As the results began to filter into my vision, I made my way towards a stall that had a single human Adventurer in line, hoping that I’d be able to pick out a sword that I wanted.

  The way that the Auction House worked in Ascend Online was that once I had found an item or a list of items that I wanted to buy, I would then approach an Auctioneer and complete the sale, getting the item instantly. If the Auction House was busy, lines would occasionally form before seeing an Auctioneer, but given that there were several dozen on duty at any given time, it was rare to wait longer than a few minutes.

  Settling in behind the Adventurer, I shifted my focus towards the weapons appearing in my vision and set down to making a decision on what I was going to buy.

  Bronze Greatsword of Brutality

  Slot: Main Hand and Offhand

  Item Class: Magical

  Item Quality: Exceptional (+20%)

  Damage: 22-53 (Slashing)

  Strength: +6

  Durability: 120/120

  Base Material: Bronze

  Weight: 2 kg

  Class: Any Martial

  Level: 10

  Seller: Gordian

  Buyout Price: 5 gold

  Gloomsplitter

  Slot: Main Hand and Offhand

  Item Class: Relic

  Item Quality: Fine (+10%)

  Damage: 30-60 (Slashing)

  Strength: +8

  Durability: 120/120

  Base Material: Iron

  Weight: 2 kg

  Class: Any Martial

  Level: 12

  Seller: Tyrel

  Buyout Price: 30 gold

  Claymore of Might

  Slot: Main Hand and Offhand

  Item Class: Magic

  Item Quality: Good (+15%)

  Damage: 24-57 (Slashing)

  Strength: +6

  Durability: 120/120

  Base Material: Iron

  Weight: 2 kg

  Class: Any Martial

  Level: 12

  Seller: Mufat

  Buyout Price: 7 gold

  Well that’s a little disappointing, I thought to myself, looking through the list and narrowing it down to the top three items that I felt would be the most useful for me. Objectively, Gloomsplitter was the best greatsword currently available on the market, but at thirty gold pieces, it was grossly overpriced. Had it been listed for anything under fifteen gold, I likely wouldn’t have even hesitated and purchased it outright without a second thought.

  Removing the overpriced sword from the list, I compared the two remaining weapons and found them to be nearly the same. With only two points of damage separating the swords, I was inclined to choose the well-crafted Bronze Greatsword over the Claymore, if only because it was two gold cheaper and would hurt my wallet less. The extra bit of damage that the Claymore had wasn’t enough to make up for its increased price.

  Maybe it would be better to break into one of the military armories now that they’ve left the city and see if there’s anything worth stealing there, I considered pessimistically, feeling disappointed with the swords available to me. I really hoped for a better selection, but I guess with all the Adventurers gone to Coldscar, the pickings here are slim.

  Driven by the need to have at least a half-decent weapon, I mentally flagged the Bronze Greatsword, while I settled in to wait for the blond-haired Adventurer ahead of me to finish. Listening in on his conversation with the Auctioneer, it seemed like whatever he was setting up was pretty complicated in nature.

  “Sir,” the male auctioneer began, clearly overwhelmed at the scope of all the orders the Adventurer in front of me was placing. “So, if I have it straight for this next buy order, you want to purchase all of the copper on the exchange, store it until prices hit at least nine coppers per ingot, then relist it. Then to take all the proceeds from those sales and to buy up all the iron on the exch—”

  “Yeah, that sounds about right,” the man in front of me interrupted. “I’m sorry for being so rude, but I can see you have all my orders right and I’m late. Can I sign off on the rest of the listings?”

  “Sir, your orders are nothing short of mass market manipulation; you will cause artificial shortages throughout the city!” I heard papers being shuffled ahead of me as the Auctioneer rifled through a pile of papers the man had just dropped in front of him.

  “Is that illegal?” the man asked, his voice taking on an impatient tone.

  “Well, no—” the Auctioneer grudgingly admitted after a moment.

  “Fantastic! Fill the orders exactly as I’ve written them down and list the other item I gave you,” the Adventurer told the Auctioneer forcefully as he began to turn away from him. “I really need to go.”

  Turning around quickly, the Adventurer took a blind step towards me, forcing me to take a step backwards to avoid him running straight into me.

  “Whoa, sorry about that, didn’t see you there,” he said, the man’s green eyes darting up to mine as he raised his hands in front of him apologetically. “In a rush. All that took longer than expected.”

  “No problem.” I waved the man away, my eyes noting that the armor he was wearing was better than anything I had ever seen before. “Have a good one.”

  “You too, man,” the strange Adventurer called over his shoulder as he ran off across the Auction House floor and was met by a waiting group consisting of a dozen other Adventurers.

  “Must be one o
f those market players,” I said to myself, shaking my head at what I had overheard between him and the Auctioneer as I stood up to the counter. “Probably shouldn’t buy any crafting materials for the next couple days…”

  “One moment, please,” the Auctioneer told me as he busily scribed the Adventurer’s orders into a heavy leather book. “These orders are quite complicated and will take a moment.”

  “Sure.” I shrugged at the man at the same moment a soft chime echoed in my ears.

  Oh, a new item was just listed! My eyes widened in excitement as I brought up my still open search menu, spotting a brand-new entry in the list and read the item’s description.

  Dormant Glass-Steel Greatsword

  Slot: Main Hand and Offhand

  Item Class: Relic

  Item Quality: Mythical (+30%)

  Damage: 40-70 (Slashing)

  Strength: +12

  Durability: 200/200

  Base Material: Glass-Steel

  Weight: 2 kg

  Class: Any Martial

  Level: 12

  Special: Evolving Weapon

  Seller: Luke

  Buyout Price: 35 gold

  Holy shit! This is amazing! I felt my mind go blank as I read over the weapon’s stats. I’ve never heard of a Glass-Steel or Evolving Weapon before. Why would anyone want to sell it?!

  Coughing in my excitement, I practically slammed my hands down on the stall in front of me, causing the auctioneer to flinch from the sudden noise and look at me with surprise.

  “The Dormant Glass-Steel Greatsword that was just listed,” I spat, feeling a sense of anxiety shoot through me. If someone stole the item out from under me, I had no idea what I was going to do with myself. “I want to buy it, right now.”

  “Sir, if you’ll let me just finish writing the—” the Auctioneer started to say.

  “Shut up and take my money!” I barked, practically throwing my money pouch at the Auctioneer. “There’s no time! Someone else might buy it!”

  The Auctioneer was clearly taken aback at my maniacal expression, his gaze shifting to the heavy pouch of gold that I had slammed onto the table. “Y-y-yes, of c-course.”