“So, I came here. When I left, the guild was under that Mordred guy.” Again, technically true. It was under Mordred because he was Mordred, sort of.
Webley stroked his chin and stared at Jace for longer than was comfortable. Finally, he spoke. “I believe you. That makes you very lucky that you left when you did.”
Jace nodded his agreement and tried to keep his face blank. He knew who had destroyed the guild. The former guildmaster who he had challenged and would have beat but the scoundrel had backstabbed Charlena and run away, Dainard Drakkar. He considered telling Webley, but that would just raise too many questions.
“There’s also another matter,” the guildmaster said after taking another long draw from his mug. “A big guild score that went south, but that’s nothing you need to worry about.”
Webley looked thoughtful for a moment. “And then there’s the princess’ birthday on Weeksend. The little trollop turns eighteen and the king and Queen are throwing her a big party. It’s going to be a huge festival throughout the city. So, plenty of business to be made. I just need to figure out what the best scores will be.”
That was news to Jace. He didn’t even know there was a princess, let alone that she was having a birthday. He had bigger things to worry about than a NPC’s birthday.
The guildmaster finished up his mead, slammed the mug down on the table and whipped the foam from his mouth. “What you do need to worry about is making sure you get the jobs I have for you done.”
Webley the Snake has offered you the quest, “Spice is the Spice of Life”
Reward: +25 faction with Whitecliff Thieves Guild, 25 gold, 1 piece of Thieves Guild Armor.
Accept quest? (Yes or No)
Webley the Snake has offered you the quest, “A Lady’s Locket”
Reward: +25 faction with Whitecliff Thieves Guild, 25 gold, 1 piece of Thieves Guild Armor.
Accept quest? (Yes or No)
Jace left the guild shortly afterwards with two more jobs. They were very different from what he had done last night. This time at least, they were near each other, on down by the Docks and the other in the Merchant District.
A smuggler known to the guild had managed to smuggle some rare spices into the city on one of the ships that docked recently and was planning to sell them to an exclusive inn up in the Noble District. The problem was, he hadn’t paid the guild “tax” and was trying to circumvent them.
Webley wanted Jace to teach him a lesson. His job was to sneak into the man’s house, find the herbs and mix in some powdered anise. The herb would completely spoil the flavor of the spice and give the man a very bad reputation. Not to mention the inn he sold it to would be furious and switch back to the guild connections to get the rare herbs.
His second job was a little different. He was to break into a house and steal an engraved locket, then break into another house and plant it where it would be found to make it appear the wife of a wealthy merchant was having an affair. Jace wasn't sure what that would lead to, but it probably meant more profit for the guild.
“What do you think,” he asked Luna. “Finish up our jobs and then go buy some fish?”
Luna gave him an excited look. “Yes! Fish!”
The two of them hurried towards the Docks.
Chapter 15
Jace and Luna found the smuggler’s house without much problem. Webley had told him it was right next to a tavern called the Drowned Fish. He’d found the tavern easy enough and immediately saw there was only one house on the same street. The other buildings were all shops.
He circled around the block, checking things out and marking his escape route if he was discovered. This person wasn’t just some fat merchant. He was a smuggler. It was possible he could be a high-level Rogue himself. Jace would need to be careful.
Ducking into the alley behind the tavern, he crept up on to the back of the smuggler’s house and looked around. The coast was clear and Jace bent down to pick the lock when the lock and the outline of the door began to glow.
Your Find Trap skill has increased by 1.
Freezing, Jace examined the door and the lock with only his eyes. He moved his head around to get a better view but couldn’t figure out what type of trap the person was using. He guessed the door lock was trapped with some sort of poison needle, but the door was a complete mystery.
Checking to make sure no one was looking, Jace eased himself back away from the door and considered his options. He looked at the back of the house and saw several windows on the second floor. Would they be trapped too?
He looked down at Luna, who was sniffing the alleyway, “Stay here and keep watch.”
“Yes,” she responded and began cleaning herself.
Shrugging, he looked for a handhold and began climbing up the building, towards the second floor windows. There was no climbing skill in the game. Instead, it was one of those things that relied purely on the player’s own skill and the avatar’s Brawn and Stamina.
As Mordred, he’d fallen to his death more than once as he had attempted dangerous climbs. That wouldn’t be the case here since it was only two stories and he had the Safefall ability. The worst that would happen is he might take a few points of damage and make a racket and draw the attention of the neighborhood.
Carefully, he climbed up the back of the building. Although the front was Tudor style, the back was flat with crisscrossed boards that actually made climbing fairly easy. Within a couple of minutes, he reached the first of the second story windows.
He examined the window very closely and did not see any traps. At least, nothing that his Find Traps skill picked up. He peaked in the window and saw that they opened into a hallway and that the rooms were towards the front of the house. That was good.
Reaching towards the windows, he tried to push it open, but it didn’t budge. Putting his head against the window, he peered down and looked inside. It was locked with a simple swivel lock. Luckily, he knew how to open this lock.
Bracing himself with his legs and leaning his body against the house, he produced his dagger from his inventory and slid the blade in between the two parts of the window and then moved it to the right. He met resistance as the blade met the lock. Continuing the pressure against the lock, he slowly rotated the lock so that the latch was no longer locking.
Jace put his dagger away. Once again, he tried pushing the window open and this time it slid open. He waited to see if he had set off any alarms, but nothing happened. Smiling, he slipped into the hallway.
He heard snoring from one of the rooms and peaked in. While the covers obscured most of the person, he could see the tiny form of gnome huddled in the middle of the bed. That gave Jace pause.
Gnomes were one of the good races. While they were tinkerers, they were also excellent alchemists and could even make a sort of bomb that they could hurl at enemies. Those same bombs could be used to make traps. He would need to be extra careful.
He backed away from the room and crept down the hall towards the other room when he barely managed to stop in time to avoid a thin wire stretched across the hallway chest level. He had caught the sight of the glow just before he’d run into it.
Your Find Trap skill has increased by 1.
As Jace backed away, he realized the gnome had set the wire high enough wear he would walk beneath it, but an elf, human or even a dwarf would trip it. Smiling at the gnome’s ingenuity, he ducked under the wire and continued more slowly down the hallway.
The second room was some sort of laboratory and Jace became even more cautious. Who knew what a diabolical gnome could cook up? Bombs. Acid. Acid bombs! There were all sorts of things they could do. None of which would be good for a thief who blundered into them.
He searched the room but found nothing that looked or smelt like the spices he was looking for. Webley had told him it would be in a small jar and be rainbow colored. He’d seen nothing that resembled that description.
Jace moved downstairs and encountered another chest-high wire on the way dow
n the stairs, which he had to duck under. He also discovered that the second step from the bottom was a pressure plate trap. Unsure what the trap would do, he stepped over it to the floor.
As he did, he received his 10th rank of Find Traps and earned the Danger Sense ability, which gave him a 2% chance to avoid triggering a trap. At this level, it was laughable, but the ability improved as his skill improved until at level 100, it was a 20% to avoid setting off a trap.
The downstairs was a mess of crates, wooden boxes, and other packages. He quietly searched through them but didn’t find the spice. Had the gnome already sold it? If he had, Jace would fail the quest. He glanced around the room again, but nothing caught his eye.
Going back to the stairs, he started to go up the stairs when he looked back down at the trapped step. Something seemed off about it. As he stared at it, he realized it seemed more worn than the others. That seemed strange for a trapped stair. If anything, he’d think it would be less used.
Jace bent down and examined it more closely. He examined the top of the step and then the bottom of the step and discovered a small wire with a tiny hook fastened to the top of the step. He took out one of his picks and carefully removed the hook from the step.
Your Disarm Trap skill has increased by 1.
With the trap disarmed, he ran his hand over the step. The top of the step moved slightly, and he pushed up on the lip of the step revealing a small, secret compartment underneath. Inside, he found a purse of coins, some vials, and a small jar of rainbow powder.
He pulled open the stopper and poured in the vial that he’d received from Webley. Replacing the lid, he shook it up to mix the herbs in. He replaced the jar and looked longingly at the purse of gold. If he took it, the gnome would know someone had broken in. He might check the spice and that would ruin the message the guild was trying to send.
Jace debated for a minute on whether to take the purse but finally decided against it. He needed the money, but he needed the faction with the thieves guild more. As Webley had said, no one went over the wall without his say so. He needed to earn the faction to be on the guildmaster’s good side when he finally asked.
Jace replaced the step and then very carefully put the hook back on the lip of the step. He saw a new system message and was excited to see he had earned a new rank up in Trapsetting. He hadn’t been able to raise that skill since he’d made the ogre pit trap.
Going back upstairs, he slipped out the window, re-closed it and dropped to the cobblestones below. Motioning to Luna, the two of them slipped away into the darkness.
An hour and a half later, Jace was back in the Lucky Coin, sitting across from Webley. The second quest had been easy and Jace had even managed to pocket a few extra pieces of jewelry without making it look too obvious. Hopefully, they wouldn’t notice until the locket was found.
Jace had left it hanging out of the pocket of the husband’s jacket so that it should fall out as soon as it was moved. Hopefully, the wife would find it when it fell out. He certainly wouldn’t want to be that guy.
He had waited his turn to speak with Webley and had ordered some fish from the bar and Luna was happily eating them in the chair next to him as he talked to the guildmaster and turned in the quests.
You have completed the quest, “Spice is the Spice of Life”
You gain 600 experience. Experience to next level 520.
+25 faction with Whitecliff Thieves Guild
You have gained a level.
You are now level 8 in Rogue.
You gain 8 health.
You gain 4 mana.
You have completed the quest, “A Lady’s Locket”
You gain 600 experience. Experience to next level 1920.
+25 faction with Whitecliff Thieves Guild
He read the system message and smiled. Jace was now level 8 in Rogue. He was making good progress now that he had real quests to do. In a few days, he would hopefully be level 11 and have access to the next tier of weapons and armor.
Webley chuckled. “You’re definitely a natural, kid. You got those done in record time. You certainly earned these.”
The guildmaster slid over a purse of gold and a bundle of clothing.
You receive Thieves Guild Leggings.
You receive Thieves Guild Hood.
You receive 50 gold.
“Thanks,” Jace said and slid the items into his inventory. Both pieces of armor would be nice improvements to the items he wore now. “Do you have anything else?”
“You really are a scrapper,” Webley said and scratched his chin as he thought. “There might be another job you can do for me tonight. Or what’s left of tonight.”
“Sure, what –” Jace started to reply but Webley held up his hand.
“Wait until I tell you what it is,” the guildmaster told him and Jace nodded.
“We need to send a message to someone,” the master thief told him, “a reminder that we have a long reach. But there is some risk. The person we need to send the message to is in the Noble District.”
Webley paused to let his words sink in but Jace’s mind was already whirling through the possibilities. If they had a job in the Noble District, did that mean they had a way in? Maybe even a pass? Did they have a way into the palace as well?
“Do you have a way into the Noble District?” Jace asked him, barely able to contain his excitement.
Webley nodded. “You could say that. We have an inside guy. A guard. Tonight’s his night on the wall so he will let you over, but it has to be tonight. He won’t get this post for another two weeks, so it needs to be tonight.”
Jace nodded, his excitement waning. If their inside man wouldn’t have this post for another two weeks, that meant his window to get in was effectively closing for another two weeks. It was disappointing, but at least he knew they could get into the Noble District.
On impulse, Jace smiled at the guildmaster and tried to use his joking voice. “An inside guy to the Noble District. That’s great. Do you have one for the palace too?”
The guildmaster held a smile but his eyes narrowed. “Why, planning to heist to royal jewels?”
“Is that something we can do?” Jace asked, genuinely interested. If it was possible, that meant they had a way in.
“You are a scrapper,” the man burst out laughing. “A few days in the guild and you’re ready to waltz into the Royal Palace and rob them blind! You’ve got spunk, I’ll give you that.”
The guildmaster learned forward and his face became deathly serious. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper. “Now listen up. No big scores happen in this city without my say-so. We don’t do jobs in the Royal Palace. Ever. That’s too much heat. We rarely do jobs in the Noble District and when we do, we do it at the bequest of one of the other nobles. And no one goes over the wall without my say-so. Got it?”
Jace noticed some people around him had grown quiet and were suddenly doing their best to be interested in anything but the guildmaster. NPC or not, real or not, the man was intimidating when he wanted to be and Jace nodded. “Got it. No one over the wall without your say-so.”
Webley continued to look at him for longer than was comfortable before sitting back in his chair and smiled. “Now, about tonight’s job.”
Chapter 16
The guildmaster had glared at the other thieves around them until they stood up and left, giving them some extra space. When there was at least one open table between them and the other patrons, Webley turned back to Jace.
“I told you earlier that we had a deal go south, right?” the guildmaster asked in a soft voice.
Jace nodded and Webley continued. “It appears a third party has intervened in our affairs and is now attempting to broker a deal between themselves and our benefactor. It appears that our benefactor may be going along with this breach of contract and we would like to know who this third party is so that we can - thank them properly.”
The guildmaster waited for Jace to acknowledge him and then continued. �
��I would like you to go and snoop around his place tonight and see if you can find any hint of who this third party is.”
“And this person is in the Noble District?” Jace asked him.
“Yes, so you’ll be going over the wall but don’t get any bright ideas,” Webley warned him. “Go right to our benefactor’s estate on Lion Street, it’s the 3rd estate up from the Crown Inn. Our inside man, Bliant, will tell you how to get there.”
The guildmaster fixed him with a hard stare. “Remember, you’re just there to collect the information. On second thought, if you find something small but valuable, feel free to take it. I don’t care what it is, and you can keep it, but let’s make sure he knows we’re still expecting him to adhere to his contract and that our reach extends into the Noble District.”
Webley the Snake has offered you the quest, “A Noble Job”
Reward: +50 faction with Whitecliff Thieves Guild, 50 gold, 1 piece of Thieves Guild Armor.
Accept quest? (Yes or No)
Jace accepted the contract and started to rise but the guildmaster wasn’t finished. “There’s a time limit on this one. Our man will only be on the wall for two more hours. You have that long to get over the wall, get the information and then get back over. I’d get whatever supplies you need quickly and get to the wall on the south side, just across from the Peacock Clothiers in the Merchant District. Oh, and make sure you bring a rope.”
Thanking the guildmaster, Jace and Luna quickly headed back to the Black Market to sell his loot from the early caper and buy some equipment.
Thirty minutes later, Jace was at the bottom of the wall section across from the flamboyant merchant shop called Peacock Clothiers. At Webley’s suggestion, Jace had purchased a 50-foot rope with a padded grappling hook from the Black Market. He held the rope in his hands and looked up at the wall.
Veil Online - Book 2: An Epic LitRPG Adventure Page 10