“Hey kid, you can’t teleport here.” A guard said as he ran up to the prone form of Elijah.
“What? I didn’t teleport here, I came through—” He turned to face the entrance of the Reaper lair, but was shocked to see there was nothing there. Not even his ‘Reality Warp’ skill picked up anything as he walked through the spot that he must have fallen through.
“You good, kid?” The guard asked him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. “We don’t really like troublemakers around here. So, if you’re planning on being a problem…”
Elijah shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to teleport here. That’s my bad, I’ll make sure to stay out of trouble.”
The guard looked him up and down appraisingly, then grunted, letting his hand drop from Elijah’s shoulder. “Best not. You look like you’re new here, so let me give you a friendly warning. This whole town is under the protection of Arturus.”
The guard walked away, leaving Elijah in the middle of the market.
He backed away from the spot he had seemingly phased through, keeping his eyes fixed on it. He wasn’t sure if the safe-zone rules applied here in this town. His swarm attack worked against the Flesh Reaver, and he was fairly certain that man wouldn’t have been able to activate a skill like that if he were in a safe zone. Did that mean they had an area within the safe zone that had PvP enabled? Or was it disabled for the entire town?
“Wait a minute?” Elijah said quietly, turning to look for the guard, but the man was already gone. Had he said Arturus?
Arturus was one of the six Celestial-tier players in the game. He had a rather disturbing class that allowed him to steal powers from dead mobs, and even players if he killed them. Elijah had watched a few of his streams back when he was making his climb to max level. He’d been so angry when Annika beat him to the goal of reaching max level first.
Elijah took a deep steadying breath and finally turned his back to the ‘portal’. He had a new city to explore, and a large pile of gold burning a hole in his pocket. A little trouble wouldn’t ruin his excitement. He popped open his menu and selected Nicholas’ name from the friend list as he walked.
Elijah > Hey bud, just wanted to let you know I made it to Raystown.
Nicholas > Awesome, any trouble?
Elijah > Does accidentally teleporting into a Reaper’s Guild lair count?
He watched Nicholas’ chat icon start typing before stopping several times. He smirked to himself, knowing that he’d caught the man completely off guard.
Elijah > I’m safe and so is the gold. I managed to get out without getting killed, but we might have some problems here in the long run.
Nicholas > I’m glad you’re okay. They can be nasty pieces of work.
Elijah > Me too. You guys be safe getting here; see you in a few days.
He closed the chat window and turned his attention to his next order of business, his quest notification.
[Quest Updated]
The Reaper’s Guild
Description: Congratulations, you have escaped from the Reaper’s Lair. Although you have escaped there is still more to do. Find how to rescue the ‘prisoner’ of the Reapers.
This updated quest troubled him that, for some reason, the game was giving him a quest line having to do not just with other players, but players with significantly higher levels than him or his team. This seemed like much more than the bare bones quest system that his friends had described.
Elijah made his way towards the guild hall. He’d been instructed that it was the first place he had to go. In Nethy, being a starter city, players weren’t able to register as a guild. They weren’t even mandated to register as part of the Magic Association or Fighter House; it just made it easier when trying to find a group to party up with. Here in Raystown, it was an essential requirement, and most NPCs wouldn’t even work with you unless registered. Plus, the guild hall also worked as a bank, so it was especially imperative he went there first considering just how much gold was in his inventory and the fact that this town had a Reaper problem.
The guild hall loomed larger than the majority of the surrounding structures. Huge marble pillars, a granite facade, and an intricately carved wooden door decorated the front face of the building. He pushed the door open and approached the front desk.
He was surprised when he saw the individual sitting behind the desk. Nethy’s guild hall, which he had visited with Nicholas and the rest of the party to withdraw the party’s funds, had employed an NPC. Here in Raystown, there was a female player, wearing basic leather armor, with her red hair tied up in a bun, sitting at the desk.
[Player]
Name: Scarlet
Class: Swashbuckler | Level: 21
He tried to put his concern out of his mind as approached.
“Hi, I need to register my party as a guild, as well as make a deposit into our guild account once that’s set up.”
She looked up at him with familiar glazed over eyes as she did something with her player menu. “Yes, I heard there was a new player with a Legendary class in town. Made a little trouble with the guards, did you?”
He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “Yeah, there was a bit of a misunderstanding.”
“I reckon there was.” Her eyes finally focused on him. “Guild registration fee is two-hundred gold. Once we get that squared up, we can set up your account, but there is a five percent fee on all deposits.”
“A fee on deposits?” He yelled before catching himself and settling his voice. “That’s crazy; the NPC attendant in Nethy told me that deposits and withdrawals are free.”
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, I’m sure that’s fine for the AIs that don’t give a damn about their time here, but me and my friends we are going to get paid for using our game time to handle this hall after all the NPCs vanished, and if you don’t like it, then you can go somewhere else.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He considered what she was telling him, and he had to admit that if he were stuck in a guild hall all day that he’d want to be compensated for his efforts. This was a game after all, and the idea of working a job inside of it was uncomfortable. Still, something about this woman’s manner and the fee set him on edge.
“Are you registering your guild, or are you just going to stand there like an idiot?”
“Uh, yeah. I’d like to register,” he told her, caught off guard by her aggressive manner.
She tapped a few glyphs before looking up at him. “Guild name?”
Elijah smirked. They’d spent the night before departure discussing potential names, but one had stuck out to Elijah the most. It had been meant as a joke, but it fit too well. He told the woman behind the counter. Scarlet rolled her eyes, but Elijah got a pop-up confirming his choice after he’d paid the fee.
He watched the party’s name change as he registered them.
The party chat for ‘Sasha’s Babysitting Service’ lit up almost immediately.
Sasha > ELIJAH! NO!
Bo > Oh! That is perfect!
Sasha > It’s not perfect. We are not naming our guild after me babysitting you morons!
Nicholas > I mean… What else does a healer do?
The chat went silent for a moment.
Bo > I think Sasha is trying out a new healing technique, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Nicholas is turning blue.
Sasha > You’re next, Elijah! As soon as we get to Raystown!
Elijah couldn’t help but chuckle as he closed the screen. Scarlet was glaring at him with a very unamused expression. He started to explain, but she put her hand up.
“No. No, I really don’t care. Did you want to make a deposit into your guild’s account, or not?”
In the end, Elijah wound up depositing fifty-thousand gold, cringing internally as the woman pocketed over two-thousand gold as part of her ‘fee’. He didn’t want to deposit that much, but he had to make it believable that he’d deposited all of his money into the guild’s coffers. He didn’t know why, but he suspected some sort of scam.
He left the guild hall with most of the half-million gold of his party still resting in his inventory.
Elijah rented a small room in an inn, and even that seemed to be a crazy amount in this town. Fifty gold per night was ridiculous.
He had a plan for how to store his guild’s remaining wealth safely, but didn’t actually know if it was feasible. He’d have to check, and just hope that he didn’t get kicked out of the inn from his experimentation.
He summoned Bitter Root in a flash of mana.
“Hey Boss. Watcha need?”
“Hold still a minute. I need to check something.”
“That tickles, boss!”
[DEBUG VIEW: BITTER ROOT]
Bitter Root{
Entity_ID: NPC_GOB_021
Collision_State: TRUE
Loot_Table: FAMILIAR_LOOT_DEFAULT
Faction_Tag: PLAYER_FAMILIAR
XP_Multiplier: (Default_1.0)
Stats[
Level: 3 (NULL/NULL XP)
Health: 10/10
Strength: 8 (Beginner)
Intelligence: 1 (Beginner)
Dexterity: 5 (Beginner)
Constitution: 2 (Beginner)
]
Skills:[
Stealth 3
]
}
He could feel his plan taking shape. Grabbing hold of the loot table section and changing it to read ‘NULL’, he then handed Bitter Root a dagger.
“Here, put this away in your inventory.” He instructed his familiar.
“Eh? Okay, Boss.” The goblin did as instructed as Elijah backed away from him and held his hand up.
“Sorry about this, Bitter Root.” Elijah activated his Dragontooth Swarm spell. The bats shot forth from Elijah’s outstretched arm and began clawing, biting, and smacking into the familiar. He let out a muffled scream, but his health points quickly dropped to zero.
As the bats receded back into Elijah’s shadow, he couldn’t help but grin. It took several minutes to regain his expended mana before resummoning Bitter Root.
“What hell, Boss?” Bitter Root screamed, jumping out of the way as Elijah tried to grab him to quiet him down. “You know me no like them bats!”
“Quiet,” Elijah hissed at him, finally getting ahold of the scruff of his neck. “Did it work? Do you still have the dagger?
Bitter Root scrambled hard, trying to bite Elijah before stilling completely. They’d found out through earlier testing that any items or equipment that the goblin carried, besides his cudgel, would normally drop upon death. Elijah didn’t see the dagger lying on the ground once his bats had finished, so he hoped that he’d corrected the issue.
Bitter Root smirked, “Me got it right here, Boss.” He grinned wickedly, pulling the dagger out and plunging it into Elijah’s forearm.
[STATUS]
Damage Taken: 3
Remaining Health: 112 / 115
Elijah reacted with a yelp and flung him across the room. His familiar crashed hard into the table, coming up with his cudgel in hand.
Bitter Root launched himself through the air, slamming into Elijah with more force than he thought the goblin should have. He pulled the dagger from his forearm and tried to turn on the goblin, who cackled maniacally as he disappeared into the shadows.
How he didn’t have the guards busting down his door by the end of the fight was a complete shock to Elijah as he slashed at his familiar the final time. Bitter Root had been upset when Elijah had removed his stealth skill, but the little bugger was fast and a small target. By the end, Bitter Root had dealt almost thirty points of damage to him before Elijah had been able to deal ten and kill him. Elijah was certainly not a front-line fighter, but he sensed that something was off about the goblin’s abilities. Something his debug menu was frustratingly silent about, almost like it was lying to him.
He had to wait for his mana to fill again before summoning his familiar, who appeared with his cudgel in hand ready to continue their fight. He backed away from the chaotic little creature. “Alright, we both worked off some steam. Truce?”
The cudgel popped back into his inventory, and he nodded. “Yeah, me good. Want rematch later.”
“Sure, but for right now I need to offload this gold into your inventory, and then I want to get some sleep.” He wasn’t sure he would be able to sleep, knowing that the Flesh Reaver was out there somewhere, but with Bitter Root summoned at least he could have a little warning if someone broke into his room. “Do you mind standing guard while I rest?”
Bitter Root held out his hand, curling his fingers in a ‘give-me’ motion. “Sure, me watch you sleep.”
He was about to yell at his familiar that he hadn’t meant it that way, but was too tired to argue any more. A wave of exhaustion had hit him like a semi-truck. Without a word, he held his hand out above his familiar’s outstretched hand and started dumping the gold coins out, watching them disappear as they touched his skin.
With the deed done, he crawled into the bed, much more comfortable than the straw and burlap made it look, and blew out the candle.
He let his eyes start to close, before catching a faint red glow in the darkened room that unnerved him. Bitter Root’s eyes were glowing in the dark, and the goblin was staring right at him. “Watch the door, not me,” he grumbled at his familiar. “Little creeper.”
“Fiiiiine~. Me watch door, not you.” Bitter Root huffed, turning away.
I'm curious, which of the classes that we've seen so far would you want to play the most?
