by S Bailey
Jen was undisturbed by the rooms comments, kept her composure, and simply continued, “My father and I are not just asking for gold. We are also looking for a service and a relationship. We are not asking to be members of your guild. In fact, we do not want to be members of any guild at this time. However, part of the price will include providing us a multi-deck bank account with your guild where we can access our funds on any deck in any city that has an Arc Guild branch.”
Jen almost burst out laughing as the group of directors started mumbling comments again and Devon’s look of frustration with them.
“What the hell do they want that for?”
“Do we even have that type of account?”
None of the board members cared about Deck jumping. There was so much that still needed exploring in the First Deck. They all had chosen long ago to keep growing stronger and continue their adventures without any concern for jumping to higher Decks. Most people on the First Deck didn’t understand why anyone even cared to Deck Jump.
Devon just spoke over everyone and said, “Before I go through all the trouble to see if your request would be granted by our headquarters guild in Slot City, what else do you want?”
Jen knew she could squeeze them for gold, but her goal was to get the multi-deck account and maintain good relations with the Arc Guild. She smiled, and said, “No one knows how much gold I would get if the dungeon were to be auctioned off, but we all know it would be a ridiculous amount. I mean the Stone Guild is paying top dollar for just information that may lead to a dungeon.”
The board members cringed as she mentioned their primary competitor the Stone Guild.
Jen continued, “Keep my comments in mind, because all we’re asking for is a multi-deck account, access to the dungeon once a month, and the reimbursement of our actual costs and expenses for acquiring the dungeon, and these terms are non-negotiable.”
The board started mumbling with excitement.
“Just title to land can still be very expensive.”
“We need to know her actual costs and expenses before we waste any more time.”
“Maybe we can trade some loot for it?”
While setting up the multi-deck account would cost next to nothing, only Devon and a few of the others actually knew how difficult it was going to be to convince the Guild HQ in Slot City to allow non-guild members to acquire one.
Director Devon activated another enchantment that silenced the sound in the room, and then waited patiently as each of the board members realized no one could hear them, and they each quit trying to talk. Once they were all paying attention again, he deactivated the room silencer.
“Ms. Jen we would need to contact the Arc Guild Deck Director regarding the multi-deck account. Before we do that, we need more information about the dungeon, and we’d need to know exactly how much it will cost us in addition to the account.”
All the board members were nodding in agreement and looking expectantly at Jen. She smiled and said, “Two multi-level accounts, 300 gold, once-a-month dungeon access. As for information about the dungeon, it is closer to Casino City than any other Deck City. That’s all I am going to tell you about the dungeon at his time.
“Thank you, Ms. Jen, for bringing this opportunity to us first!” Director Devon quickly said to hold off any more mutterings by the other board members. “We are interested, but we must consult privately before making any decisions. May we have until tomorrow to get back with you?”
“Of course, tomorrow is fine. Thank you everyone!” Jen said cheerily as she stood to leave.
Devon also rose and walked with Jen out to the street. By the time he returned, the board room was in chaos with everyone talking over each other.
As he made his way to the head of the table, he chuckled at the crazy group of men and women in the room. They were stubborn, cheap, brash, cranky, tired, excitable, disagreeable and a multitude of other traits, but they were all reliable and honorable men and women he would fight next to any day. He knew this dungeon could start a new era for their local branch.
After a moment, the room went silent as they all eventually turned their heads waiting for him to lead the discussion.
“Let me start off by saying that I think we, as the local branch, should do everything we can to purchase this dungeon and keep ownership 100% in our branch. If we can get this dungeon without sharing any ownership with any of our sister branches, our hall will be one of the wealthiest on the Deck!”
There was unanimous nods of agreement, and then Devon asked their Chief Financial Officer, who was second in command, “Judy, do we have any multi-level accounts already assigned to our guild hall?”
“Yes, we have four that are assigned to our local guild members that are not being used.” Judy pointed down the table at two of the board members and said, “Carol and Rob both have multi-level accounts they purchased years ago when they were thinking about deck jumping.” She pulled some paperwork out of her storage ring and reviewed the documents a moment before saying, “Jackie Roll and Three Dice have the other two.”
Carol spoke up, “We should see who is willing to sell their multi-level account, and then negotiate a fair price with those willing to sell. However, I am definitely willing to sell mine.”
Rob followed up her comment with an excited, “Me too! I paid 2 gold for mine, and will sell it back at cost.”
Devon said, “Good, then we definitely have two multi-level accounts available, IF we can get the Deck-Director to sign off on transferring them to Jen and Sam.”
“She better!” one of the board members mumbled loudly.
“Let’s stay focused everyone,” Devon said taking back control of the discussion. “How much gold do we have Judy?”
She pulled some more documents out of her ring, and after a few moments said, “If we keep the bare minimum for operating expenses, we can pull together maybe 200 of the 300 gold needed to purchase the dungeon.”
There were some groans in the room, but no one was surprised. Adventuring guilds were focused on buying better gear and funding new expeditions.
Marky Bett, one of the guild’s oldest members and a former director from many years earlier said, “What about those two legacy technique scrolls we have in the vault? Maybe they would consider taking them in trade?”
Carol spoke up, “It’s been a couple of years since we checked the value of the scrolls with the System shop, but even then, they were worth more than 400 hundred gold each!”
Marky replied, “True, the System shop would sell them for over 400 gold each, but it will only pay 50 or 60 gold for each for them. They’ve been in our vault doing nothing for over 300 years, and we can’t auction them for very much because everyone, even a few deck droppers, that have tried to use them, have failed because they had insufficient mana pools.”
Carol countered saying, “All together we would be paying between 950 and 1,000 gold for the dungeon. Maybe more, depending on the current market value of the legacy scrolls.”
Shasta Dice spoke next saying, “I’m pretty sure the last dungeon that was auctioned off went for over 1,200 gold. Even at full market value for the legacy scrolls we’re getting a good deal, all because they want those multi-level accounts.”
Carol nodded, “Good point.”
Marky Replied, “Assuming we can get the Deck Director to approve the accounts. I move we offer to purchase the dungeon for 200 gold plus the two legacy scrolls.”
Shasta seconded Marky’s motion, and it passed with unanimous consent of the board.
Chapter 45:
Let’s Make a Deal
The land and dungeon cost Jen and Sam 275 gold. They borrowed 175 gold for the purchase price from Duke Card. He agreed to loan the gold for 3 months, with 25 additional gold paid back in interest. Duke Card wasn’t told what they needed the money for, so the 25 gold in interest seemed reasonable to Jen for the risk he was taking.
“I think we should do it.” Said Sam.
“I know, but
after we pay Duke Card back, we’re still going to be broke,” replied Jen.
“Who cares about money. My gut is telling me those scrolls are powerful. We may not have enough mana to use them as technique scrolls for learning the lightning and healing spells, but I can decrypt them and turn them into enchantments!”
“I care about the money! I’m the one responsible for making sure everything gets paid.”
“Of course, you’re right Jen, but I can have 2 more mana purification rods completed by the end of the week, and you can sell those to the shop for at least 20 gold,” replied Sam.
“I think we flooded the market when selling so many to the System Shop while raising the money to purchase the dungeon. The Shop will only pay 4 gold per rod now.”
Jen saw that Sam was going to continue to argue for the scrolls, and gave up, “Fine, we’ll do the trade with the scrolls, but we’re going to be on beans and rice for the next few weeks.”
“Yes!” Replied Sam as he pumped his arm in excitement and headed back to his workshop.
Three days later Jen was sitting down to a meeting with Devon and the Arc Deck Director Constance Smith in Slot City. Devon had said to Jen before they left Casino City, “Before the Guild HQ will agree to grant you an account, you must meet with the Arc’s Deck Director in Slot City. Our guild hall will pay the cost for the System Shop to transfer you to Slot City with me.”
Devon and a few other Arc guild city directors on the First Deck were the only people that knew Deck Director Smith was a Deck Dropper from the Third Deck. Years ago she had agreed to permanently drop down to the First Deck for an unknown reason. If someone knew to look, they could see the strain of the ever-present nausea the First-Deck mana caused her.
The Deck Director had refused to budge on Devon’s request to provide Jen and Sam a multi-deck account. Devon finally called in a favor she owed him to get her to agree to a face-to-face meeting with Jen. He hoped that if Deck Director Smith just met with Jen, she would change her mind. If she didn’t, he was afraid his local branch guild might have an exodus of a few of its most powerful board members over losing the opportunity to get an active dungeon.
When Jen entered the Deck Director’s office, she immediately noticed that the Deck Director was hiding her level and mana channels. Even so, Jen could feel mana being pulled in by her channels and the swirling corruption her body was dealing with.
“Ms. Jen, it is so nice to finally meet you. I have heard so much about you and your father from Devon.”
Jen smiled and replied, “Deck Director Smith, it is an honor to meet you. I appreciate you taking the time to consider my request.”
The Deck Director looked over at Devon and said, “Ms. Jen, please call me Constance, but you should know that Devon called in a favor for this meeting. I have already informed him that we do not set up multi-deck accounts for non-guild members.”
Jen looked back and forth between Constance and Devon, and said, “Please call me Jen, and I’ve always respected the wise guidance Devon has provided me and my father since we moved to Casino City, and I certainly appreciate his efforts in this matter.”
After hearing Jen’s comment and understanding her deeper meaning, Devon smiled at Constance, and she couldn’t help but smile back. She appreciated dealing with intelligent people and said, “Jen, this account matter could easily be resolved if you and your father were interested in joining our guild.”
Jen looked at Constance and again at Devon, then replied, “We are very interested in a close relationship with your guild. It is the main reason we have offered to sell the dungeon to you at basically the cost of acquiring the land. However, I am going to tell you something that is very private, and I would appreciate your and Devon’s confidence in this matter.”
“Of course” , “Absolutely,” replied both Constance and Devon.
Jen continued, “We are pursuing the return of a family member, and we are unable to accomplish her return with the restrictions of a guild membership.”
Devon was stunned at Jen’s words. Everyone knew that Sam was a quirky enchanter, but Devon had sensed a savage protectiveness in the man towards his daughter Jen, and the loss of a loved one would certainly explain his fear of losing his daughter.
Constance’s heart was breaking from the flood of memories Jen’s words brought to the forefront. Constance was older than anyone knew, but her memories from over 100 years ago still stung when she thought of her big brother hiding her in the woods right before bandits swarmed in around their wagon and kidnapped him. She vowed to get strong enough to find him, but she had lost him forever.
Jen felt the wave of deep emotional heartbreak from Constance and continued on, “Fortunately, my father and I have each other, but we must remain guild-free.”
Constance’s expression never changed, but she recovered control of her emotions and said, “I believe your terms are reasonable, and I am aware that you said they were non-negotiable, but we might be willing to grant you an account if you agree, that should you ever join another guild, the account will be terminated.”
Devon was surprised, and Jen was excited about the change in the offer and immediately agreed to the additional provision involving the account. It had only been a few days, but Jen didn’t like the feeling of owing so much gold to Duke Card.
Jen finalized the details of the agreement and enjoyed a working lunch with Constance and Devon, but just before they were about to leave, Jen took one of Sam’s best mana gathering and purification enchantment bracelets out of her ring of holding. Its area of influence was large enough to cover someone’s entire body. Jen then said to Constance as she handed her the bracelet, “This bracelet was a drop we received in the dungeon. We have finalized our negotiations, so please understand, this is a simple gift from my father and me, so please accept it as just that, a simple gift with no strings attached.”
Constance felt put on the spot by Jen’s gift, but didn’t really have a way to refuse and said, “Jen, thank you for the gift; you really shouldn’t have. Leadership doesn’t normally accept gifts in our guild.”
Jen smiled and said, “Thank you for making another exception just this one time. Please try it on. I would like to see how it looks with your robes.”
Constance looked over at Devon who simply shrugged, and she kept her forced smile in place as she first inspected and then tried on the bracelet. Just a few seconds after the bracelet wrapped around her wrist and locked in place, a wave of relief ran through her body. It wasn’t complete relief, but the nausea the mana in the First Deck caused her, went from a 10 on the vomit scale down to a 4.
Jen spoke up seeing Constance’s response and said, “I’m so glad you like it.”
She stuck her elbow out for Devon to hold, while waving goodbye to Constance and with a knowing smile said, “Director Devon, I guess it’s time we get headed back to Casino City.”
After the two had left, Deck Director Smith looked at the enchanted bracelet thinking, “This is no dungeon drop. I guess I can quit feeling soft-hearted and guilty about bringing them closer to our guild without demanding membership, but what power are they hiding?”
Chapter 46:
Guild Head
“Just as we expected, they are at it again. There are four of them, consisting of three brute fighters and one guild-farmer. They are definitely intent on killing us,” Jen said to Sam as they left the gates of the city.
Jen voiced the reasoning for their plan to Sam again, “If we continue dodging them it will only encourage them to strike at us when we are unprepared.”
“Agreed, we’ll lead them far out into the forest before losing them and then quickly return to the City,” Sam said coldly as he powered down their distraction charms to make it easier for the hired thugs to follow them.
Except for the Arc Guild, the other powerful adventuring guilds in the City didn’t give much thought to Sam and Jen after Director Loshen had checked them out and found them uninteresting. The leaders of the f
armer’s guild, however, turned out to be a problem. Jen’s ability to locate and destroy the poison rods allowed many of the independent farmers to improve crop production, infuriating the farmer’s guild.
The farmer’s guild-leader had already ordered several of the local farmers beaten up and threatened the lives of their families. He also tried to have Sam and Jen killed on several occasions when they left the city to practice their skills or work on Sam’s gadgets in the forest.
Jen and Sam decided they were not going to sit passively and allow the problem to grow. Today was “go time” as Sam put it. After allowing the group to follow them far into the forest, Sam quickly powered up their forgetme charms, immediately losing their tail and racing back to the city gates.
At the City gates, Sam kept his forgetme charms powered up to avoid notice, while Jen used her Ninja skills to block all trace of any mana signatures they might send out. They might as well have been invisible while walking through the gates and crossing the city.
Jen pinged the location of the guild leader, and she knew he was in his office located in their guild hall. As they neared the farmer’s guild, Sam and Jen ghosted up to the roof of an adjacent building.
Jen had spent several weeks gathering intel on the farmer’s guild hall and the buildings surrounding it, just in case they had to pursue this course of action.
On the rooftop Sam pulled out and activated an enchanted silencing rod. Jen kept up her multi-focus, used one of her Ninja skills to block their mana signature, and used her psych skill to intercept any coms signals that might be relevant.
Sam pulled out his Winchester 308 rifle with a Nikon M-308 4-16x42mm riflescope. He took aim at the guild leader sitting next to the window where he worked, and without even a last question or comment to Jen, he pulled the trigger. The guild-leader’s head jerked backwards as his brains splattered across the room.