“Arnold Sizeler.” The man put out a sizable hand. He was small but had giant palms.
“Hermes.” I reached out and shook. A year in face to face customer service had made some reactions automatic.
“Hermes? Interesting.” He said while signing at Shazam. It felt extremely weird having a conversation where they were clearly talking about me, but I couldn’t hear it.
“You’ve been traveling together for nearly a month now?” Arnold raised an eyebrow at Shazam. She gave a thumbs up which caused him to look at me and smile.
“That sounds right.” I waved my hand at the bulletin board. It was unlikely that he could see everything on my interface. “I was just trying to find something to keep us busy.”
“In the gambling items?” Arnold Sizeler looked at the board. Shazam turned as well and started poking at the various pieces of paper. She must use the manual interface style.
“I’m not really good at sewing or painting. A deck of cards is small and easy to use.” I said. None of the trade skills sounded fun. Anything that deviated from traveling seemed counterproductive as [Messenger of the Voices]. Digging up ores, chopping trees, or picking plants also sounded boring. Those players who cared enough to engage in gathering were brave.
“Are you good at card games?” Arnold asked.
“I like to think so. My entire dorm back in college played almost every night.” I said while reminiscing. Most of us tried to outsmart each other in various versions of poker. It was an accountant pastime and killed a few hours between mind-numbing homework assignments.
“Oh really?” He signed a lot. I raised an eyebrow then went back to my auction board perusal. “Shazam, Mistress of Games, says there’s no way you could ever beat her in any card game of your choice.”
“We’ll see.” I did have a huge minus to all gambling skills so she probably would win. Oh well, it was better than staring at the grass. “Is that sign language?”
“Yes.” Arnold Sizeler moved his hands towards the much taller woman. He smiled and laughed happily. “She also says you’ve been traveling with her for weeks and are still a terrible communicator.”
“I’ve been distracted,” I said.
“A quest?” Arnold asked. He and Shazam exchanged a few more words with their sign language.
“Oh yeah,” I said. My lips pursed to one side. “I seem to always have some weird quest.”
“Anything to do with your similar titles?” He asked. Shazam started waving her hands rapidly which made the feathered man chuckle. “Oh? It does?”
She firmly thumbed down.
“Fine, fine. I’ll ask nothing more about that.” He put both arms up in a gesture of backing off. Shazam stared blankly before the exchange of signs went back and forth again.
“I’ll leave you two alone. I have many more deals to get in place before I can call it a night.” He bowed to Shazam and turned towards me. I waved goodbye as well. Arnold tapped a finger on his lips then pointed towards me. “Oh, before I go, a question.”
“Sure.” I shrugged. Dusk leapt over to my shoulder and dug in with his claws. The poor little guy must have been stressed sitting on Shazam’s shoulder without hurting her.
“How long do you plan to travel with Shazam?”
“Until she gets tired of me, I guess.” I didn’t know a lot of people in-game. The idea of hanging out with the hand-wringing Miss Yonks or Jacob and his asinine commentary was not attractive. My niece hadn’t responded to the message yet, not that I knew what would happen once she did.
“No plans of your own?” He asked.
“There’s some war thing coming up that I’m looking into,” I said. Thinking about my friend invite at the [Porter] brought to mind her guild event.
“Oh? You must mean the succession war for Telliari’s throne.” Arnold said. [Telliari] was a large kingdom covering the land south of [Haven Valley]. It might be neat to wind my way back around to see how things were in William Carver’s old town.
“I haven’t got all the details yet,” I said. This other quest with Requiem had distracted me. That wasn’t even mentioning Xin’s existence.
“Well, both sides are hiring a number of mercenaries. It’s what I’m actually here trading for. Wars aren’t cheap to fund.” Arnold smiled happily.
“War rarely is.”
“At least it’s all digital. Most of the fighters will be travelers as well, so hopefully the general population of Arcadia will remain unharmed.” He tipped his hat back a bit and looked up at us.
I thought about Mylia and her orphanage. Maud and her gaggle of children passed through my mind. This town was full of war fortifications. While I personally hadn’t run into it, the conflict had likely torn entire kingdoms apart in this game world. Finally, the only choice left was to shrug.
“Well, it’s a week away, if you hurry then you should be able to pick a side and gather some benefit. I’ve thrown in with the Prince myself.” Arnold raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t have a side yet.” I shook my head. Arnold and my niece both said this was going to be a huge event. The idea of war against an army players was a bit off putting. Requiem Mass was only excusable because it was a quest to help Xin.
“How about you, my lady?” Arnold asked. The hands waved back and forth. “Still refusing to fight other players?” He asked out loud for my benefit. “That’s understandable, player wars are one of the reasons I stay here and manage money. It’s quieter.”
They signed back and forth a bit more while I made a few small purchases. A new shirt, pants, some low-Rank items that would help me stay clean out there in the world. Shazam carried a lot of gear, but I couldn’t rely on her forever. It was hard to balance my backpack’s weight load against the [Light Body] skill but these shouldn’t push it too high.
“Hermes, I wish you luck. Shazam, lovely as always.” Arnold wrapped up his conversation and gave us a bow. Shazam returned his farewell by waving.
He walked off and I stared at Shazam. “Terrible communicator, huh?”
She gave a thumbs up I hung my head briefly and tried not to laugh. The dress hung about her shoulders while clinging to her curves as she moved. I looked away before the game made me resist another charm effect.
“Well, thanks for putting up with me. I’m sure it can’t have been easy.” I said. My own hands went back to the auction house display and poked at a few more items. “Any suggestions on a good deck of cards?”
Shazam turned to stare at the wall. Her arms hung to either side while she scanned over various bulletins. Finally, the woman reached out and grabbed a few notices down from the wall. A nearby Traveler protested as her hand dragged something over what he was looking at. She just glared at him and the other player blinked a few times before shrugging.
I tried not to chuckle and focused on the items she had brought up for my attention. They were all different decks of cards. The cheapest one was a deck of cards similar to the one I had seen before. Way back in the room of trials.
“So you don’t use the interface for auctions?” I asked. How she managed to pluck out deck fliers from the wall was beyond me. There were ten or twenty thousand items hanging around. Not to mention the people behind me yelling about their wares.
Shazam gave me a thumbs down then poked at two of the sheets.
“Between these two huh?” I said. Both were expensive. Not that money was an issue at this point. We spent most of the last few weeks hunting for food or working off of whatever supply Shazam had gathered. My Hermes character was mostly in her care while I dealt with Requiem Mass.
I was half tempted to flip a coin, but honestly there was enough gold to buy both and still have some left over. The items plopped into player inventory and gold vanished accordingly. Hopefully no one else nearby heard those cash register noises.
Shazam wandered the boards while I inspected the items. I trusted her enough to buy the items without too much investigation. The first one seemed to be a deck of cards following Co
ntinue Online’s unique take.
Instead of diamonds there were footprints on each card. Instead of a spade there was a scale of some beast, probably a dragon. The third suit was a small fire hovering over a brick. I wasn’t sure how the final two suits of a tooth and sword hilt fell into things. While I was turning them over looking at the numbers and other pictures Shazam tapped on my shoulder.
“What?” She ignored my questioning tone and reached over to grab all the cards. She threw them all into the air.
“Ahh!” I managed to catch a good number of them as they fell. It was surprising how many were in my hands by the end of the scramble.
“Why?” I looked at the system message and got confused. Scrambling to catch flying cards had resulted in a bonus? My head shook back and forth.
Shazam gave me a thumbs up and then tapped the card’s case three times. All the cards vanished from their landing spots and reappeared inside the case. She handed it back slowly.
“That is so weird,” I said.
“Variance bonus.” Someone near me said with a grump. I turned and saw the same old man from before standing nearby in pajamas. “First time doing anything new gives a bonus.”
“Thanks.” I shook my head in puzzlement. Had my confusion been so evident that some nearly random person had to comment on it? Judging by Shazam’s double thumbs up the answer was yes.
“Mh.” Pajama man was still holding up his pants with one hand. He stood staring at bulletins much like Shazam did. There was no sign of his using a digital interface.
I took the pack of cards back from where Shazam had it pinched in her palm. People bumped around us to get closer to the auction board. A much shorter man was walking a path while shouting out nearby.
“Anyone interested in buying unique mats? I gots a seller who has access to rare items from a private region.” The extremely short fellow shouted. I looked down briefly to see a man who was clearly grumpy. “If anyone’s interested just let me know. I’ll be logged on for hours.”
I raised an eyebrow at Shazam.
“What region is it?” A Traveler near me asked the short fellow hawking his specialty wares.
“Can’t say! But I gots access to unique goods, recently my supplier got drops from a special mob nicknamed The Biggest Butthole. I gots the stats written down for anyone interested.” Said the short man. It took me a moment to realize how angry his commentary made me.
Somehow Requiem Mass was sending items to another player and making gold from them. A whole series of things clicked together at that moment. The entire reason I was on this quest was because the Voices were upset at Requiem Mass. This guy was selling them under the guise of unique goods.
“Shazam,” I muttered. The other Traveler turned and waved her hands in a questioning motion. “I need to talk to that short guy over there.”
Her head turned to look at my target. Her hands waved at me with that vaguely questioning tone. I took that to mean Shazam wanted a reason for helping me.
“He can help my quest,” I said. Shazam didn’t even hesitate. She grabbed the small man and literally hauled him off to the side of the bulletin boards. Our tiny captive protested, complained, and tried to claw at her hands. All of it failed and we reached a vaguely secluded area.
Shazam lifted him in the air and held him against the wall with both hands. Her head nodded towards me then our captive. I stepped up and stared into the short man’s eyes. They were a deep brown.
“That weapon you were talking about, what was it?” I asked.
“It’s a fist weapon. But don’t thinks dragging me off is gonna lower the price.” He licked his lips and looked anywhere but at us.
“Oh? How much?” I nodded and pretended to be interested in the price.
“Your bid gotta be at least four hundred gold.” He looked me up and down and sneered. My clothes were pretty low end on the price scale.
“And this came from what monster?” I asked while trying not to think about how ratty this avatar had become. Days on the road and being unable to groom my autopilot likely didn’t help his impression. At least I wasn’t standing around holding up silk pajamas with one hand.
“A unique mob called The Biggest Butthole.” The short man replied while trying to swallow.
“And Requiem Mass gave this to you?” I dropped the name of my least favorite player. Requiem Mass was even worse than SheHulk at this point.
The small man went absolutely white. “I don’t know where he is! Please don’t hit me!”
The flailing continued for quite some time. Our little corner of the auction house was starting to get gawkers. Shazam was expressionless as always, but their attention bothered me.
“He tried to cut me out of some business.” I waved happily to a Traveler nearby. The man stared at me and the shorter person. It must be confusing as hell to see an Amazon of a woman wearing a blue dress holding a little person against a wall.
“What else?” I asked. There was way more to this than just a simple sales transaction. Requiem Mass was the type to milk every ounce he could from a situation.
“I find people willing to buy and charge what I can, I only gets twenty percent! It’s not worth this! I dunno you. Let me go!” The protesting went on and each time my mouth opened to ask the shorter fellow a question another excuse came forth.
Maybe [Morrigu’s Gift] could turn into a boxing glove and the man could be popped in the face. A bell to ring over his head? A gong? None of those shapes had been tried yet. I ran through a series of possible choices and follow up questions while Shazam idly held the man up.
“Hermes? Can you put my friend down? He and I have some business to finish.” Someone nearby said. I turned to look at the newest visitor to our little interrogation.
“Arnold?” I questioned. We had just parted ways recently and now the traveler and his feathered cap were back. “Why do you need him?”
“This fellow is suspected of trading in-game goods for real money. It’s part of my job to find these people.” Arnold shrugged and signed towards Shazam. She gave a much slower response since one of her arms was being used to hold up the little man.
“Wait you’re, you can have a job in-game?” I was completely thrown off now.
“I get a substantial reward for handling these sorts of situations.” Arnold had two rather beefy looking nonplayer characters on either side. They seemed to be cut from the same mold. Both were huge walls of muscle that probably had extremely low [Intelligence] scores.
He stepped in closer and the two giant goons sidestepped in with him. Our little alcove had very little room to move. Shazam set her expressionless glare on the two goons and they took a step back in unison. It made Arnold chuckle.
“I’m not even supposta be in dis town! My scroll haywired all over and the game dropped me here.” The man in Shazam’s grip was still giving out a whole series of excuses. I filed the latest one away with a sigh.
It was too coincidental that someone selling drops from Requiem Mass’ plundering would happen to show up in the same town as I. There was clearly a lot of meddling from above in today’s events.
“I’m done with him.” I waved a hand dismissively.
“Shazam, my dear? Do you mind if I take care of our diminutive friend?” Arnold asked while stepping in closer. She shrugged and dropped the man.
Arnold and his goons swept in and took over. I exited our corner of the auction house and leaned against a wall. There were too many things to take in at once. Which one had been the biggest shock?
Xin’s letter was intense. The gold from my Casino payouts was neat. A stat bonus from catching falling cards barely ranked. Topping the list was Requiem somehow coordinating with other players to sell Continue Online goods for real money.
My mind went through the math again. Even if digital goods were far cheaper than real world equivalent this was still a lot of money. That one weapon from The Biggest Butthole had a bid of four hundred gold. Requiem was being far too clever, and
somehow the Voices expected me to bring him down.
Warmth radiated out from inside my tunic. There was a message coming in from the Voices. I undid the cap and slid out the small parchment. The note was simple and frightening.
What? Why was a letter signed with a smiley face? That wasn’t even a name! I tried to think about all the Voices that I had run into during my time playing this game. There were a lot, but only one fit the bill.
I swallowed again and felt a clammy chill crawl over my skin. Today had been very busy.
Session Thirty Four – Eye on the Prize
I pulled a ten-hour shift for work. With travel time and sleep on either end, it put me out of Continue for nearly seven days. Every spare moment between jobs was used to plan exactly how to get Requiem.
Nothing sounded perfect. Fighting him personally would be nearly impossible with all the limitations in place. The only good choice would be setting him up against this other Traveler, Frankenstein.
Real life had a few routine issues to resolve. Food was counted out and my upcoming calendar reviewed. Things were good enough to survive a few days without me. Requiem Mass and I were going to have a long drawn out session that involved all sorts of prodding. Best case scenario, he would break and get killed. Worst case he would unleash another round of beatings which would allow me to take another nap before wading into [Red Imp] land.
Pretending to be a little asshole was emotionally releasing like beating people with a giant two-handed sword. Something about it let me vent my inner angry man. Plus there were always things to stab.
Logging in presented me with the standard fare. Requiem had my character cornered and was ranting. I wasn’t entirely sure what my autopilot had done this time.
“What now? What?” I yelled quickly. There was a system box explaining roughly what had happened during my absence.
What sort of nonsense was this? Requiem was mad because I had almost killed him without even trying. To top it off the game rewarded me for this absentee near success by allowing me to create a back story. They very nerve of my autopilot, showing me up like that.
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