Silver Peak, page 32
part #2 of Sky Realms Online Series
Cronet wanted a Guild war. Everything was pushing and moving toward that. Now that they knew the Cudgel was Cronet, the Door Knockers would be able to start attacking the Councilor’s holdings. They had a name and they had targets. Cronet was going to get the war he wanted.
Just sooner than he planned and not on his terms.
Hall knew it wasn’t what Brient would want. There was considerable risk to the citizens of the city, both the Keep and Peakdock. But it was the only way to flush out Cronet. If they waited on him to consolidate and launch the war on his terms and schedule, they would never be able to catch him. But to do it before he was ready, they could catch him unprepared and vulnerable.
Brient would just have to understand.
He could see more PeakGuards running down the street. Unlike the ones currently at the gate, dressed in leather and chain armor and carrying spears, the newcomers were dressed in heavier armor and carried shields, a couple with crossbows. They took up positions on either side of the gate, stepping out and directing the citizens back inside.
Hall followed the crowd, inching his way closer to where the commander of the newcomers was talking with one of the gate guards.
“Orders from above,” the commander was informing the other. “We’re reinforcing the gate. With all the chaos, the Guard is being sent out in force.”
“Chaos?” the guard who had been at the gate asked, confused. “The fires?”
“And the rest,” the other replied. “Almost a dozen citizens have turned up dead or missing, including a couple of Hobs. And the Councilor of Coin found a strange delivery left for him this morning. A large crate. Inside were dozens of ledger books just like his official ones. It looked like someone had been forging city ledgers.”
“What?” the first guard asked in shock. “How would they do that?”
“There was an actual ledger taken from the archives,” the commander said.
Hall was pushed away from the gate by the press of people, unable to hear anymore.
QUEST COMPLETE!
You have managed to stop the Silver Blade’s plans for the forged ledgers. Your methods for stopping the Blade’s plans was unique and results in gaining new skills.
THE NEW BLOOD III (ELITE) (OPTIONAL)
Stop the Silver Blade’s plans for the forged ledgers 1/1
Rewards: +75 Door Knocker reputation
+75 PeakGuard reputation
+100 Alliance Reputation with Sergeant Brient
+50 Experience
+10 Increased Perception Skill
+10 Strategy Skill
Skill Gain!
Increased Perception Rank Two +10.0
Strategy Rank Two +10.0
You have stopped the Silver Blade’s plans to undermine the citizen’s faith in the city’s finances. Sergeant Brient would want you to eliminate the Silver Blade threat completely.
THE NEW BLOOD IV
Eliminate the Silver Blades Guild 0/1
Rewards: +100 Door Knocker reputation; +100 PeakGuard reputation; +200 Alliance Reputation with Sergeant Brient; +100 Experience
ACCEPT QUEST?
Beyond the Cutthroats in the Silver Blades Guild, the Cudgel has increased the Guild’s ranks by hiring Hob mercenaries. Convince the Hobs to void the contract with the Cudgel.
“HOB”LESS FORCES I
Slay Hob Mercenary 0/8
Rewards: +25 Door Knocker reputation; +25 PeakGuard reputation; +50 Alliance Reputation with Sergeant Brient; +50 Experience
ACCEPT QUEST?
Hall saw the prompts flash across his vision, momentarily startling him. He hadn’t expected to get quest prompts then, but it made sense. His plan had stopped the forged ledger threat. He quickly ran through the prompts, accepting the next step in the quest chain plus the new quest. He was about to dismiss the notifications when he reread the first. The Elite quest seemed like it had been easy to complete, and he wasn’t sure why it had the Elite designation, but then he thought about it.
The quest task had been difficult to complete. It had been purposely vague. Stop the plans. Which could have been accomplished in a variety of ways, some of which could have gone very badly for Hall and his companions. The Elite difficulty came in completing the quest in a way that didn’t harm him.
And the two unknown rewards. Never before had acquiring new skills been a quest reward. He tried to find information on the skills and what their benefits would be but there was nothing. Increased Perception seemed obvious but Strategy? That was another new skill with no hints as to what it did.
Questions for another time, he thought as he moved deeper into Silver Peak Keep. There was more that needed to be done, and he had to get into position quickly. He smiled.
So far, all was going according to plan.
The smile disappeared. He knew it wouldn’t last.
Murphy’s law would see to that.
“I don’t like this,” Leigh said, reaching down to scratch Angus behind the cow’s ears.
“Hall was right,” Sabine replied, indifferent. “It was going to happen sooner or later. Why not do it under conditions we control?”
Leigh nodded. She understood but that didn’t make it easier.
The two women were in the Nobles Square at the central fountain, watching the citizens react to the chaos that was attacking Silver Peak Keep. Sabine sat on the edge of the fountain, her long legs crossed and pushed a loose strand of purple-streaked blonde hair out of the way.
She had to admit to herself that she was enjoying watching the chaos. Kind of. But only a little. She didn’t want to see innocent people get hurt, but these were only NPCs. She glanced at Leigh standing next to her.
The Druid made her uncomfortable.
She knew Leigh was an NPC, a person made up of a computer program’s algorithms and Artificial Intelligence. A series of coded impulses and responses. At least that was what an NPC was supposed to be. Leigh was not that. Sabine wasn’t sure exactly what Leigh was.
Not a person. No matter how much she acted like one. Sabine could not bring herself to consider Leigh, or even Jackoby, as a real person. Not like herself. Or Hall and Roxhard. Or even the new girl, Caryn. Those were Players. Real people.
Even if now they were as computer-generated as the NPCs were. They had still started out as real people, and that made all the difference.
But it was hard to consider the NPCs as just computer programs. Everything about them, about Leigh, felt real. The way they acted, their responses, their reactions. There was nothing preprogrammed about them. It was AI that was light years ahead of where it had been before the Glitch. No way could it have developed that much in just two years.
The old Sky Realms Online NPCs had been advanced, but there had been limitations. They could still only act within a predetermined set of parameters. Those were beyond anything at the time. It was what had first drawn Sabine to the game, but they were still obviously NPCs. Even the Companion ones from Pre-Glitch. They still had a limited amount of reactions and responses they could follow.
Sabine could see what Hall found attractive and interesting about Leigh. The Druid, with her wild red hair and bright green eyes, was beautiful. And she was nice. So damn nice. The perfect girl next door. Even Sabine found herself attracted to Leigh. It was obvious that Hall was and that Roxhard had a kid’s crush on Leigh. And it seemed Leigh was attracted to Hall.
She wasn’t sure what she thought about that. At first, Sabine had thought she could form a bond with Hall, become a powerful couple. She did like him, and it wasn’t like there were many options. But from the start, he was interested in Leigh, so Sabine had pushed those thoughts away and just concentrated on playing the game.
But now there was Caryn. The Duelist was pretty and somewhat interesting. Naive but that would be hammered away with this new life. Caryn wasn’t too annoying, Sabine thought, thinking of the woman and smiling. She could be fun. And would be joining them. It had only been a couple of weeks, a month or maybe more, but already Sabine knew how Hall’s mind worked. She accepted him as the leader because the others did, and she knew he would invite Caryn to join their group and live in Skara Brae.
Which was something else that was bothering Sabine. She was jealous. She wanted a village. Not necessarily Skara Brae, not one as worn down and out of the way, but just a village. And Hall had claimed it already. If she had been with Hall, as his partner, the village would have basically been hers anyway, but now she was just one of the citizens.
A citizen of a run-down village in the middle of nowhere, weeks from any true civilization. A place so badly in need of attention that they had needed to come to Silver Peak Keep to find the means of fixing it up.
Which was her biggest annoyance. This damned city.
Being arrested by Brient and used as blackmail had angered her, which was the biggest part of why she enjoyed seeing the chaos in Silver Peak Keep. It served them right for using her. But it was her own stupidity that really caused her anger. She had let them capture her. Instead of fighting like she had first wanted, she had instead thought of how Hall would react. To both the arrest and her fighting. She had backed down and been humiliated.
They were working to fix that.
Finish off Cronet and they could leave this place and get back to what mattered.
But what was it? What mattered to her?
To Hall, it was his new town and Leigh, who just happened to be the new Custodian of the Grove next to the village. Roxhard would just follow Hall around like a puppy dog. The kid in a Dwarf’s body had found a big brother in the Skirmisher. Jackoby was a non-factor. She didn’t like the Firbolg and only cared about what he could do for her. Having a Firbolg Warden was a bonus, but he would care nothing for her. And she didn’t see a way to change that. Caryn was too new. No way to gauge what the Duelist would want. Not yet.
So, what mattered to Sabine? What did she want out of this new life she was trapped in.
She didn’t know. A village, with followers, seemed like a good goal. To level and get to this seemingly maximum Level of Twenty or Twenty-Five. Leigh hadn’t been much help on that, but either way, that was a good goal to set.
To get to max level and have a village of her own.
That was what mattered to her.
And the sooner they got out of this city, the sooner that could happen.
“There,” Leigh said, drawing Sabine’s attention.
She had been staring off at nothing, just watching the citizens of Silver Peak Keep running around, lost in her thoughts. The Druid brought her focus back, and she looked to where Leigh was indicating. A tall man was making his way through the streets, the crowd being pushed aside by two armed PeakGuards. Four other men followed, dressed in various pieces of leather armor and carrying drawn weapons.
“That’s him?” she asked, being careful to not point.
“Fits the description,” Leigh replied.
Gray hair, streaks of brown, that was cut short. Clean-shaven. The tall man was thin, dressed in expensive-looking clothing. Bright button-up shirt that shone like silk, wool pants, and a cape. Not a cloak, but a short cape. He wore a rapier belted to his waist, one that looked more ornamental than functional. Hard black eyes stared straight ahead, strong and square jaw set in anger.
Cornet, with the four men trailing, passed past them. Closer inspection showed they were dressed in mismatched armor. Leather and chain, a couple with iron pauldrons and greaves. They carried an assortment of weapons, swords and axes, a single shield and two crossbows. Bodyguards and mercenaries. Their eyes scanned the crowds, moving and watching, pausing briefly on Sabine and Leigh.
Sabine didn’t know if it was them, the two women being dressed differently and attractive, that had caught the guards’ attention or if it had been Angus. The cow sat next to Leigh, mooing quietly to himself. The sight of a Highland cow in the middle of Nobles Square should draw attention, it was so odd. Whichever it was, it didn’t flag the guards’ attention as they kept on walking.
They waited until the small group had turned down a street before leaving the fountain. They moved slowly, not in any hurry, knowing where Cronet was headed. Their part of the plan was to just follow and be ready for the next part.
Sabine let her thoughts wander again. She knew what she wanted and why she deserved it. But was that enough? Hall was earning respect, making friends and allies. He was showing that his way worked. Could that be a path she followed? Could she settle for less than what she thought she deserved?
And what had she done to deserve it in the first place?
Nothing yet.
There was no hurry, she told herself. She was surrounded by people that could be considered her friends, and she was moving down a path. Slowly but at least still moving. Glancing at Leigh, she realized that part of the reason the Druid made her uncomfortable was because Sabine was fighting the impulse to like her. There was nothing to dislike about Leigh, and Sabine knew it was only because Leigh was an NPC. She could be friends with Leigh, true friends, if she could just get over that fact.
Hall had. Roxhard had. Why couldn’t she?
The question followed her as they followed Cronet.
Hall smiled as he saw the small procession walk down the street. Cronet, led by the two PeakGuards, stopped just outside the small shop. A jeweler. The front window had been smashed, the door kicked in. Smoke drifted out of the open window and into the air. Not a large fire, it had already burned itself out, just the smoke and smell left. Along with the blackened remains of wooden display cases.
Empty display cases.
The shop had been broken into. Not cleanly but openly. It was meant to send a message. The theft of the shop’s entire inventory, done in a matter of minutes, was message enough. The extra insult of the small fire just added to the owner’s anger. That owner was Cronet.
Councilor Cronet owned the jewelry store direct, not through others’ names or means. It was his name on the deed. Which is why the Door Knockers had paid it special attention. Before, his name alone had kept it safe from theft, and no thief would ever take an entire store’s inventory. There wasn’t usually enough time and too much for one person.
But this job had not been done by just one person.
Hall didn’t know how many Door Knockers there had been, at least six, but they had done a good job of cleaning the shop of every last gem and necklace. From where he stood in front of a bakery, a couple buildings down, along with dozens of others all watching the jewelers, Hall could see how angry Cronet was. The man was almost shaking with rage.
Cronet looked around, standing a couple inches taller than the guards around him, eyes searching the gathered people as if he could spot the Door Knockers that had stolen from him. He turned and motioned the bodyguards to move and push their way through the thickening crowds. He didn’t even dispatch someone to get the shop repaired, he just ignored it. Not even giving the shop a final glare, Cronet followed the two lead guards as they headed back toward the fountain in Nobles Square. As they passed, Hall stepped away from the bakery and into the street. He followed along behind.
Ahead, he could see Sabine and Leigh approaching. It was time to start the next phase.
Skill Gain!
Identify Rank One +.3
Mercenary Fighter (White)
Mercenary Fighter (White)
Mercenary Fighter (White)
Mercenary Fighter (White)
PeakGuard Soldier (White)
PeakGuard Soldier (White)
Councilor Cronet (Bue)
Hall activated Leap. He jumped up into the air, high, and came down hard. His spear caught one of the rear mercenaries in the back. The force of the impact pushed the fighter down and the man fell to the ground. He didn’t get up. Using Leap again, Hall jumped up onto the rooftops to the side. There and gone so quickly the guards barely had time to react.
SLAIN: Mercenary Fighter
+25 Experience
Skill Gain!
Polearms Rank Two +.1
At the same time as the guard fell, Sabine struck. She raised her hands and shouted a word. Bolts of purple energy shot out, slamming into the two PeakGuards in front. Smaller bolts scattered and spread across their bodies, the Hexbolt preventing them from moving and preventing them from coming to Cronet’s defense. They each took a small amount of damage.
Angus charged, the cow’s horns slamming into one of the mercenaries. The man was sent flying back a couple of feet, landing hard. Turning quickly, the cow ran back to Leigh who had her hand raised and staff pointed. As a word was spoken, dozens of small splinters shot out from the staff.
Cronet ducked, the splinters hitting the shields of the guards, who had barely gotten them up in time. Wood struck wood, some lodging in the shields and others bouncing aside. A few got past, and the guards grunted in pain as the splinters pierced armor and entered skin.
Sabine and Leigh were already turning, running down the road before the last splinter struck. The mercenaries pulled in tight around Cronet, facing out and eyes scanning everywhere. The attack had been fast and vicious. Over as soon as it had happened.
The guards were left wondering what had happened. There was no follow-up, just the quick attacks. The ambushers could have kept attacking, possibly even killing all the guards before they could respond. But the attackers hadn’t.
Which made the guards even more paranoid.
