He stopped then and went to the Wry Weasel and ordered a full halfling breakfast and a piece of salmon for Luna.
She ate enthusiastically, and she finished her fillet before he finished his breakfast.
Afterwards, he spent the rest of the day wandering around the town, looking in the various shops. He restocked some of his supplies, buying a new rope and more twine. He also bought additional rations and sold off some items he’d looted along the way.
Once he finished shopping, he checked with the guards and found out that a Caravan to Whitecliff was coming in tomorrow and it would only take a week to get to the capital. They wouldn’t even need to go to Airedale. That was great news. It would shave a full week of their journey. He’d just need to secure passage on the caravan and they could follow it all the way there.
Feeling much more optimistic about their situation, Jace hung out at the Wry Weasel until Charlena showed up in late afternoon. He ordered her a mead and asked her how she did on her test.
“Okay,” she told him sourly. “I think I missed a few questions on dynamic virtual lighting. Somehow I totally missed that when I was studying.”
“I’m sure you did well,” he told her.
She gave him an expression that told him she didn’t believe it.
“I have some good news,” he told her and she looked up from her mead. “There’s a caravan arriving in Crossroads tomorrow morning. And it’s headed for Whitecliff.”
“That’s great!” she said, a little enthusiasm bleeding into her voice. “So, we don’t have to go to Airedale?”
“No, we can leave right from here and get there in a week.”
“Awesome!” she said and held up her mug. “To Whitecliff.”
He laughed and clinked mugs with her. “To Whitecliff.”
After their ale, he took on a tour of the city and they visited shop after shop as she looked at the many virtual items she could purchase. She didn’t actually buy anything but she really enjoyed looking at them.
Occasionally, she would make little comments like “I wonder if this was made in game or scanned in?” That plus the way she was analyzing some of the goods, he guessed she was looking at things as a future VR artist and not as a player. But he didn’t mind.
They continued looking at stores until it was dark and nearly time for her to go and then headed back to the Wry Weasel. They had just turned down an alley to cut across to the next street when three men stepped out to block their progress. Jace looked back, Jace saw three more block their retreat.
Then a man in dark clothing dropped down from the roof above them and landed nimbly on his feet. He looked at Jace with cold eyes. “So, you’re the one whose been killing my thieves.”
Chapter 54
Jace spun to face the man while equipping his weapons. He scanned the man in his HUD and he grew concerned.
Guildmaster Dainard Drakkar
Race: Human
Class: Rogue
Level: 11
This guy was the guildmaster and he was level 11. Based on his class, he would have at least 88 health and half that mana. He’d be using higher tier weapons which would do a lot more damage and better armor than Jace had. In other words, Jace was outclassed in a one-on-one battle. Together, he and Charlena might be able to take the guildmaster, but not his men too.
“What? Nothing to say?” the man said casually. “That’s fine. None of my men will care about last words.”
Jace had to think quickly. They couldn’t defeat this level 11 guild master and his men at the same time. He needed a way to at least get the guy one on one. But what? He didn’t have anything that could help him.
If only he was Mordred, he might have some clout with this thieves guild. Mordred was a member of multiple thieves guilds in Visimar. He’d be able to drop some names and possibly get them out of the situation. He laughed inwardly. If he were Mordred, he’d challenge the guildmaster and wipe the floor with him.
That gave Jace an idea. It was risky but since the alternative was dying, he really had nothing to lose.
He wasn’t Mordred but he did have Mordred’s knowledge - and his own. Plus, from multiclassing, he did have some abilities the guildmaster wouldn’t have.
“I’m here to challenge you,” Jace said, mustering up as much confidence as he could. “For leadership of the Crossroads guild.”
That took the guildmaster by surprise, but he recovered quickly. “Only a guild member can challenge a guildmaster. You’re a nobody. You’re not even a thief.”
Who says I’m not a thief, Jace signed in Thieves Cant. Thieves Cant was a derivative of American sign language the developers had written into the game as a way for thieves guild members to communicate silently to each other. Only thieves could learn it or use it, unless the person was a player. Players could learn to actually sign it with enough time and Jace was geeky enough to have learned it.
The guildmaster looked at Jace and paled slightly, then looked at his men, who had obviously seen Jace sign. In their eyes, he’d just confirmed he was a thief.
“You claim to be a member. What chapter are you with?” Dainard Drakkar demanded.
This was the tricky part, Jace thought. As it so happened, he was still wearing the Infiltrator’s hat. He thought of becoming a vampyre. His skinned pales to an ivory white and his features thinned. His eyes became red and his canines elongated into fangs.
“I am Modred Blacklock, a member of the Blightmourn chapter,” Jace announced. Technically, Mordred was a member of the Blightmourn chapter back in Visimar, and several other chapters.
But he didn’t expect to have been heard of here. Jace heard mutterings of “vampyre” and “Visimar” from the guildmaster’s men.
The guildmaster himself had recovered and was looking over Jace. “Maybe you are and maybe you aren’t. I happen to know who the guildmaster is in Blightmourn. Do you?”
“Alaric Dawnburn,” Jace told him and the guildmaster blanched, and his men saw him.
“Challenge,” one said.
“Challenge,” agreed another, and then another until all six men were whispering it. They had accepted Jace as a challenger. The guildmaster had no choice but to fight him or he’d lose face with his men.
“Very well,” Drakkar said. “Challenge made. Challenge accepted.”
“Jace,” Charlena whispered. “What are you doing?”
“Trust me,” he whispered back. “It’s either this or they kill us.”
“You and I,” he said. “No help from your little pet there.”
At first, Jace thought he was referring to Luna but he realized the man was referring to Charlena. He nearly made an angry retort but stopped himself. No, he had to play it cool. “You mean my new Lieutenant? I don’t need her help. She’s just here to witness and report back to Alaric that I’ve assumed control.”
He could see the guildmaster grinding his teeth. “Alaric sent you himself?”
“Of course,” Jace told him matter of factly. “Why else would I have come to this dreadful country.”
Jace had never really been one of those roleplay people who really got into their character but he was actually enjoying this part. There was a certain excitement and fear to it that made him feel alive.
“Very well,” said the man, pulling two wicked looking daggers from his belt. “Let’s begin.”
“Oh,” Jace said, gesturing. “I do have something to say before we start.”
Drakkar snickered. “And what’s that?”
“Aeris Armatura!” he incanted, and his Air Armor swirled around him.
“So,” the guildmaster spat. “It’s true. You are a mage. That won’t save you.”
The man disappeared and Jace knew he had used Vanish. He backed into the wall, so the guildmaster couldn’t get a backstab in on him. A moment later, he felt two blades stab into his side but couldn’t penetrate his Defense.
Dainard Drakkar critically stabs YOU for 0 damage.
Dainard Drakkar critically stabs YOU for 0 da
mage.
Jace smiled. He had hoped his calculations had been right and it looked like they were. The guildmaster’s daggers couldn’t damage him. But according to his calculations, his rapier should be able to penetrate the Drakkar’ Defense.
You stab Dainard Drakkar for 1 damage.
You stab Dainard Drakkar for 0 damage.
As Jace thought, his rapier did enough damage to penetrate but the dagger didn’t. It was going to be a very long fight if he could only do two points of damage at a time. He sheathed the dagger and switched the rapier to his left hand. Then grabbed the long sword that he’d taken from Brycen with his right hand. Luckily, as a Fighter, he could use slashing weapons.
As he was switching weapons, Drakkar darted in with a Feint and stabbed at Jace again without doing any damage.
Dainard Drakkar critically stabs YOU for 0 damage.
Dainard Drakkar critically stabs YOU for 0 damage.
Trying to get used to the balance of the new weapon, Jace struck out at the guildmaster again, this time with the rapier and long sword.
You slash Dainard Drakkar for 3 damage.
You stab Dainard Drakkar for 2 damage.
Well, that was a little better. But it was still going to be a long fight. He needed to shorten it and he had an idea of how. It was time to try out one of his abilities.
Drakkar used Vanish again and this time, Jace stepped away and allowed the guildmaster to backstab him.
Dainard Drakkar backstabs YOU for 0 damage.
Dainard Drakkar backstabs YOU for 0 damage.
“My turn,” Jace said and used his Shield Bash ability.
You Shield Bash Dainard Drakkar for 0 damage.
Dainard Drakkar is stunned for 3 seconds.
Jace danced behind Drakkar and attacked him from behind.
You slash Dainard Drakkar for 3 damage.
You backstab Dainard Drakkar for 6 damage.
You slash Dainard Drakkar for 3 damage.
You backstab Dainard Drakkar for 6 damage.
He got two backstabs in before the stun wore off and the guildmaster spun away. Jace was disappointed that the long sword couldn’t do a backstab but remembered it only worked with piercing weapons.
Before Drakkar could fully recover, Jace hit him with another Shield Bash, stunning him again. He ducked behind the man and got in two more backstabs.
Jace was low on mana but had enough for one more Shield Bash without tapping into Luna’s mana.
They continued to dance around each other, both scoring hits, but only Jace actually doing any damage. The thieves were cheering now and Jace realized they were cheering for him. That seemed to unnerve the guildmaster.
After getting in a few more hits, Jace knew he must be getting close. It was time to use his last Shield Bash and finish Drakkar off.
Then the guildmaster used Vanish and disappeared. Jace waited for the inevitable attack but instead he heard a gasp of pain from a few feet away.
Dainard Drakkar backstabs Almedha Pressalor for 20 damage.
Dainard Drakkar backstabs Almedha Pressalor for 21 damage.
Almedha Pressalor dies.
“Consider her life as my severance package,” grinned Drakkar as Charlena’s lifeless body slid to the ground. Then the guildmaster Vanished again but did not reappear. Then one of the men guarding the alleyway was thrown to the ground by an invisible force.
“I will have my revenge,” called a disembodied voice from the end of the alleyway. “I will have my revenge.”
Jace realized what the guildmaster was doing. He was using up his mana to use one Vanish after another. Even at level 11, his mana wouldn’t last long doing that but it had obviously lasted long enough to allow him to escape.
Looking down at Charlena’s body, he was glad they changed their bind point earlier. That would have been terrible if they hadn’t. With Sinking Springs destroyed, who knows where the game would have respawned her.
“Guildmaster,” said one of the men from the alleyway, addressing Jace. “Do we go after him?”
Jace smirked as he realized Drakkar’s former men had already accepted him as their new guildmaster. It was time to act like one.
“No,” he told them. He pointed to four of the men. “Go back to the guildhouse and make sure he doesn’t take anything or burn it to the ground.”
The men nodded and ran off. Jace motioned to the remaining men. “Stay with me. We’ll go to the guildhouse in a moment.”
It took a few minutes, but an angry Charlena came stomping into the alley. The men with him gasped and made warding gestures. “Fate-touched! She is fate-touched!”
“Where is that son of a –” Charlena started to demand but Jace held up his hand.
“He’s gone,” he told her. “He’ll probably flee the city since he’ll know the entire guild, such as it is, will be out looking for him.”
Muttering to herself, she bent down and looted her body. As soon as she had taken the last of her possessions, the body disappeared.
Once again, the men made a warding gesture, but this time kept quiet. No doubt they did not want to incur the wrath of the extremely angry elf woman who had apparently come back to life.
Jace always found it interesting when NPCs were forced to deal with the issue of players respawning. Some of them just ignored it completely, as if it never happened. Some assumed it was the work of the gods. In this case, they thought fate had brought her back to exact revenge, like a revenant or avenging angel.
“I’m going to find that guy and I’m going to kill him,” she told him, daring him to object.
“I doubt we’ll ever see him again,” Jace told her.
“If we do,” she fumed. “I'm going to cut off his…”
“Maybe,” he interjected. “We should go check out the guildhouse.”
Charlena glared at him.
“He could have gone there,” Jace said innocently. “If so, you’ll have your chance to do… what you just said.”
The elf brightened at that. “Let’s go then.”
“Take us to the guildhouse,” he told the thieves.
Chapter 55
Jace, Charlena and Luna went to the guildhouse. The building was a dilapidated old house near the bridge side of town. Once there, he went to the guildmaster’s office. The moment he sat down in the seat, he was offered the option to become guildmaster and he accepted. Doing so immediately lost him 200 faction points with the guards and gained him 200 faction with the Crossroads thieves guild.
As guildmaster, he had access to some new options in his HUD. He sent Charlena an invite to the guild and once she accepted, he immediately promoted Charlena to the position of Lieutenant.
“Cool,” she said as she read her system messages. She puffed out her chest a bit. “I’m a Lieutenant.”
Smiling, he also promoted a level 6 Rogue named Mikel as a Lieutenant. They were leaving and he needed to leave someone in charge. As the highest level member, he hoped Mikel would be able to do the best job. Or at least he hoped the guy would defend any attempts to wrest control away.
He then found the stash, the guild money. It seemed low and Jace guessed Drakkar had been skimming. Still, there were over 500 gold and he saw Charlena’s eyes go wide.
“We need to leave this here to help the guild grow,” he told her.
“What?” she asked in confusion.
“We’re the leaders,” he told her. “If the guild does better, they make more money. Since we get a percentage of the money each month, we’ll make more money in the long run.”
“Oh,” she said smiling. “It’s a profit deal!”
He nodded. “Yes, it’s a profit deal.”
He left the office and gathered the remaining rogues. “I’ve cleaned house here but now I need to go to Whitecliff to set up an alliance. I’m leaving Mikel in charge while I’m gone. If anyone steps out of line, I’ll be back and I’ll kill you all and start again. If anyone steals or tries to cheat the guild, I’ll be back and kill
you all.”
The men in the room blanched and nodded.
“Mikel,” he addressed his new Lieutenant. “You’re in charge while I’m gone. I want you to use the guild funds we have to fix this place up. We need a proper guild house. Don’t go overboard but we want it to look just like any other house in the area so we’re less obvious to the guard. Start recruiting, but only take the best. Write everything in the guild journal and I’ll find out about it and send you any further instructions.”
Mikel nodded through his entire speech. When he was done talking, the man finally spoke. “Yes, guildmaster.”
“Good,” he told them. “We’re leaving for the capital tomorrow, but I will be back to check on things periodically. And remember…” Jace willed the hat to change him from one race to another quickly. “I can be anyone, any time.”
The men nodded.
“Good luck Mikel,” he told his new Lieutenant as he and Charlena left.
They left then and headed back to the inn. Once they were out of earshot, Charlena turned to him with a look of admiration in her eyes. “Look at you, Mr. Gangster.”
Jace smiled. He’d been playing the part for the benefit of the NPCs. They were programmed to react certain ways based on certain behavior. If he wanted them to treat him like a guildmaster, he had to act like one. In this case, all those gangster vids he’d watched paid off.
“I had to do a little roleplaying,” he told her.
“Very take charge,” she smiled.
They walked on to the inn where Charlena logged out for the night but not before she gave him a very passionate kiss that left him more than a little flustered.
Once she was gone, he went back to the inn and ate a meal of freshly caught trout and potatoes. The trout, he had to admit, was much tastier than what he prepared with his frying pan. He guessed he’d need to buy some spices if he wanted to experiment with cooking.
He hung out at the Wry Weasel until well after midnight when they closed down their common room and he was forced to leave or get a room. He chose the room and after paying the barmaid, he and Luna went upstairs to the tiny room he had rented.
Veil Online - Book 1 (a LitRPG MMORPG Adventure Series) Page 36
