“Who’s asking?” a fourth man, one I hadn’t noticed at first, asks me.
“I am,” I say. “Leeroy Jenkinz at your service. Ignatius Plunderpotts said I should speak to you. See if we can’t possibly be of mutual service?”
“Ignatius sent you, eh? Must be all right, then. I’ll take you on. So, you want to be a lock picker?”
“Well, while I wouldn’t mind that ...” I draw my daggers and hold them flat in front of me. “I’d just as much like to learn better ways to use these.”
“Ah, those are some pretty sticks you got there. I’d hold onto those if I were you.”
Plus one agility per level? You bet I’m holding onto these.
“A rogue then. Well, the first rule of roguery is: don’t get caught. I mean it. And if you are caught ... I don’t know you. But I do need to know that I can trust you. To that end, there’s something I need you to retrieve for me. The merchant across the way is keeping a sealed letter in the top drawer of his desk, which is on the top floor of his house. I want you to sneak in, get to his desk, retrieve the letter, and bring it back to me.”
“Um, what kind of resistance do you expect I’ll meet?” No sense going into this blind.
“Not much if you play it right. I’ve a dose of shadow cloak here,”—he hands me a vial filled with a purple liquid that he withdraws from a fold in his own cloak—“take it and find your way through the shadows. Don’t make too much noise and don’t attack anyone—or walk into them for that matter—and you should be fine.”
Quest offered: Shady Dealings
Retrieve the letter from Merchant Jales’ desk and return it to Billy the Dodger.
Reward: 1 silver, 20 copper pieces and experience points
Do you accept?
“What’s the catch?” They’re getting tricky now, not showing how much experience I’m going to earn for taking on a quest.
“Catch? I don’t follow?” Billy actually looks askance at me.
“What’s the catch? This can’t be that easy. Why aren’t you doing it if it’s that easy?”
“Well, if you like, I’m sure I can find someone else to do it for me.”
“No, no. I’ll do it. I accept.”
Turns out, it was exactly that easy, and exactly that hard. I hadn’t perfected my shadow cloaking yet, maybe because it was a vial, not a spell or skill, it didn’t work as well. I found myself having to duck deeper into shadows, and skirt the long way around people to avoid detection after the first time I tried going past a guard in shadows and ended up in a brutal fight.
I wonder if there’s a faster way I can level up. Are there arenas? Dungeons? Then I shake my head. Not at level five, dumbass.
I thought about this as I made my way back to the cellar of the inn, letter in hand.
Billy is still at the table. To be fair, not more than five minutes had passed. No one had been home. It was a quick walk across the street, up the stairs, to the desk, open the drawer (okay, the drawer might have needed a little “convincing”), and hightail it out of Dodge.
I don’t know what I think of Billy. He’s playing that enigmatic thieving rogue thing to the hilt. But he’s also lazy as fuck. Maybe that’s why he needs good disciples? I toss the letter casually on the table in front of him.
He picks it up eagerly, lifts it to his nose and takes a big whiff.
Shady Dealings Quest Complete!
Congratulations! You have received
1 silver, 20 copper pieces and 400 experience points
Then I feel an unexpected rush. Billy must have really wanted that letter for the quest to have been worth that much experience.
Congratulations! You have reached Level Six!
Warning: You have five minutes to distribute two talent points.
Congratulations! You have learned a new combat skill: Shadow Cloak.
I flip up my character pane and distribute my talent points. My damage is starting to feel like it’s really underpowered, so I put both points into that. I’ll probably do that next time too.
LEVEL 6 CHARACTER STATS
NAME Leeroy Jenkinz, CLASS Rogue, RACE Human EXPERIENCE (EXP)—1,563/1,500
Next level achieved at 2,400 experience points.
CORE ATTRIBUTES
5 + 6 (modifiers) AGILITY (AGI) = +11% to dodge and critical hit
1 SPELLPOWER (SP) = 10 spell points
4 FORTITUDE (FORT) = 40 health points
5 POWER (PWR) = +50 damage
ARMOR/ENHANCEMENTS
Chest—black leather vest
Legs—black leather pants
Feet—black leather boots
Rings—+1 AGI Ring of Dodge
WEAPONS
+1 AGI/level Dual Wield Heirloom Daggers
SKILLS
Shadow Cloak
Stick’em
Slash
Slippery Fish
PROFESSIONS
Mixology
ACHIEVEMENTS
Phew, Level Five already?
They just don’t want to share the hedge.
It was this big!
You’ve arrived!
Chapter 10
“Good, good,” Billy says after reading the letter. “This is exactly what I needed to know. I have something more for you to attend to as a result of it. But first, let me see. What, exactly, is your experience with poison?”
“None,” I say. Not in this world, anyway. As amazing as this experience is, I do yearn a bit for my OP rogue status from the gloves and goggles version of Arcadia.
“I can work with that. My friend Daisel is outside in the garden. See if she can show you the basics of herb gathering. In particular you’ll be harvesting devil’s bane and milkroot.”
Quest offered: Got some weed, man?
Approach Daisel and ask to learn the craft of Woodlore. Warning! Up to five professions only are allotted to each avatar.
To complete this quest you must choose to learn the craft of Woodlore. Crafts may be unlearned at a later time to make room to learn a new craft.
Reward: Special, experience and 1 silver, 40 copper pieces.
Do you accept?
“Yup,” I say, and the quest is logged in my grimoire as active. “Be right back.” I jump up from the table and skirt around to the back of the inn. There, as promised, Daisel is working in the garden. She’s unbelievably curvy and naïve looking at the same time. Big brown eyes set wide apart like a deer’s. But then the light hits her a certain way and I can see right through her. I peg her for a naiad. She can affect the physical world, but only at will.
“Can you teach me how to harvest milkroot and devil’s bane?” I ask without preamble.
“Sure, come over here.” I have an herbing knife you can have for a silver.”
I swallow. There goes almost all of my money. “That’d be great,” I say. We make the exchange. Daisel shows me what to look for and where to cut on each plant.
You are attempting a woodlore skill. Would you like to take woodlore as one of your professions? Warning: you have a maximum of five professions. Yes or no?
“Yes,” I say softly. Daisel’s hand on top of mine feels like a whisper as she guides me in what to do. She describes a few places I might locate the herbs Billy the Dodger is after.
“There now,” she says. “That’s all you need to know.”
Got some weed, man? Quest Complete!
Congratulations! You have received
1 silver, 40 copper pieces and 350 experience points
Congratulations! You now know Woodlore
“Thanks, Daisel.” I dart back into the building. If I don’t make record time for first twenty levels, it won’t be because I wasn’t trying.
“Mission accomplished,” I report to Billy.
“Excellent,” he says. “Now I’m going to need you to actually go and get some milkroot and devil’s bane. This is for our next adventure in blades, that is, poisoning. Go and locate twenty of each for me. Please.”
Quest of
fered: Herbal Remedy
Procure 20 milkroot and 20 devil’s bane for Billy the Dodger. You must locate these in the wild, not on Daisel’s property.
Reward: 1 silver, 60 copper pieces and experience
Do you accept?
“Yes, I can do that,” I say.
I don’t want to bore you with what happens next, so I won’t go into too much detail. I mean, picking weeds is picking weeds and boring for the participant surely means it’d be boring for the person who has to hear about it, right?
The thing is, it’s not even the slightest bit boring for me. Sunlight glistens on the leaves as I pull them taut for the quick hack that will sever them from life. Arcadia is full of that kind of juxtaposition—the warmth of life on one side, the threat of death on the other.
There are birds chattering in the trees and the sun is warm on my leathers. A breeze lifts the hair off my neck and cools my head as I work. The colors here are so deep and vibrant. The forest around me and the river running through it glitter with jeweled tones. I can smell the complexity of the loamy earth, the richness of it.
My thoughts wax philosophic as I locate the rest of the herbs for Billy. The only thing is, here that threat of death is somewhat toothless. I mean, the worst that can happen is that I will respawn and lose my gear and shit.
No, the worst thing that can happen is I can fail to connect with Catriona and fail to complete my mission. I’m dying to know what the big secret is, what it is they need me for.
Part of me still hungers for the real Arcadia. Part of me knows that, as amazing as all of this is, it’s still not what I really want. I want to see a dragon breathe fire. I want to feel its powerful muscles in between my legs as it launches into flight. I want to be buffeted by the wind its wings create.
But I don’t want to fall out of the saddle. And I don’t really want to be accidentally consumed by fire myself (which happened to an early Arcadia visitor). Maybe full immersion is best. Or at least good enough. I collect my final herbs and return them to Billy the Dodger.
Herbal Remedy Quest Complete!
Congratulations! You have received
1 silver, 60 copper pieces and 500 experience points
Damn. I wonder if I got style points somehow. That’s some experience for picking a few plants.
Billy says, “These are perfect. If you’ll come with me, I’ll show you how to craft a poison from them, and how to apply it to your blades.”
Quest offered: Hmm, it’s a bit salty.
Learn how to craft poison with Billy the Dodger. Create five flasks of level one poison
Reward: Experience points, five flasks of level one poison, and 1 silver, 80 copper pieces
Do you accept?
I accept, and together we go back out into the courtyard where Ignatius is still hanging out. We walk over to the table where Ignatius, luvs2heal, and I made the hedgehog potion.
In a few minutes, Billy shows me how to chop the herbs, prepare a concentrated tisane and distill it even further until it becomes a vile smelling viscous paste. Soon, we’ve prepared five small packets of the thick liquid.
You are attempting a poisoncrafting recipe. Would you like to take poisoncrafting as one of your professions? Warning: you have a maximum of five professions. Yes or no?
Again, my hands are tied with this being a requirement for the quest—not to mention coming in handy for me as a rogue—so it’s pretty easy to say, “Yes.”
Hm, It’s a bit salty. Quest Complete!
Congratulations! You have received
1 silver, 80 copper pieces, five flasks of level one poison, and 1,000 experience points
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill: Poisoncrafting
This is a specialization of mixology. Do you accept this as your dominant mode of mixology crafting? If so, more poison recipes will be offered to you, and fewer of the other variants.
While I don’t know what other variants there might be, it is easy enough to guess. Other types would include buffs for fights and potions for health or spell points. So, yeah. Poison is by far the most useful to me, personally. God bless Billy the Dodger. “I accept.”
I take one of the flasks out and examine it.
Level One Poison, +3% chance for critical strike, 3 hp damage per second over ten seconds.
That’s a nice little death machine right there.
Billy pats me on the shoulder. “If you’re ready to truly prove yourself worthy, you’ll meet me back at the inn.” Then the bugger vanishes before my eyes. I guess I can do that too, now. I shadow cloak just for fun. I go back to the inn to find Billy, skirting close to people and listening in on snatches of conversation as I go, almost daring them to catch me listening in. None do. I get bored after a while and go to see Billy.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes. Take a seat.” He gestures to the chair opposite him, so I sit down. He orders one of his lackeys to go get food for us and regales me with a few tales of poison attempts gone wrong. “... All that is to say, you should always poison your blades. Where are yours, boy?”
I take out my daggers and set them on the table between us. He whistles. “Whoo boy, guess you’ll not be parting with those anytime soon.”
“Not planning on it, no.”
“Well, they look a little thirsty to me. Hand me one of those packets.”
I do as he bids and he slits the top open with one of my blades.
“You keep her sharp, that’s good,” he says. That reminds me. I probably should pick up a whetstone while I’m in someplace resembling a town.
He squeezes the liquid down the length of the blade. It looks like blood at first, and then it just seeps into the blade, like the blade is a sponge for it. “Now,” Billy says. “It’s best to handle these carefully from here on out. Use gloves. Keep ’em sheathed.” He clears his throat. “I do have another job you could do for me, if you’re so inclined. I can make it worth your while.”
“Yeah?” I say, raising an eyebrow. I’m eager, but I don’t need him to know I’m eager.
I snort when I realize I’m actually treating this NPC like he’s anything other than an automaton, like he has any kind of free will whatsoever. Of course he’s going to offer me the next quest. He has to.
Billy’s looking at me like maybe my snort meant I didn’t mean what I said. “How can I help you?” I add.
“I have another problem I’d like your aid with. I need you to get to the head of a local gang and take him out. He’s been a thorn in my side and the entire town’s for some time now. He and his crew of marauders all hang out at their camp in the woods. Since you retrieved that letter for me I finally know where he’s been hanging out all this time. Here, I’ll mark it on your map.”
I pull out my map and sure enough, an “X” marks the spot. It’s not too far off, but it’s not in town anymore, either.
“You’ll have to shadow cloak in, then slit the guy’s throat. There are plenty of his friends hanging around, so try to do it on the quiet or you’ll have the whole camp on your back.”
Quest offered: There Can Be Only One
Retrieve the head of Billy the Dodger’s rival, Kawata Degado, and return his bandana to Billy at the inn as proof that you’ve achieved this task.
Reward: Experience, 2 silver pieces.
Do you accept?
This is right up my alley. Sneak around, slit a guy’s throat? Hell yes, please. “I accept.”
Right about then, the lackey returns with two bowls of steaming chowder, bread, and two mugs of ale. We tuck into our meals without saying grace. Not that I ever say grace. Molly likes to. Which is weird. It’s not like she’s a religious person. If she ever was that way at all. The more I think about it, the more I don’t think I should keep Molly on the line. I should break up with her, let her go. I rip off a hunk of bread, swipe it in the chowder, and stuff my mouth full. I don’t want to think about the real world right now. With each bite, my troubles float on out of my mind. It�
��s all absolutely delicious. I could definitely get used to this.
I eat quickly, and start trekking for the X on my map where the leader’s camp is supposed to be located. The sky is starting to take on a dusky hue at its edges, and the sun is low on the horizon now. I hurry it up. I want to get there in time for dinner. I have a surprise for them.
It takes me a good twenty minutes to run there, but I do manage to get there in time, and I’m aware enough of where the camp is to cast shadow cloak on myself before anyone takes notice of me. Just like that, I’m invisible to the mercs wandering around the few campfires this place has started. I find the biggest one, the one with a kettle on it. I’m walking right by these guys. I can feel the hotness of their breath. They don’t see me at all. It’s freaking amazing. So much better than the potion was.
I go up to the kettle and empty two of my poison potions into it. Diluting it among a stew made for twenty probably wouldn’t unleash any lethal damage on anyone, but it could make for a distracting night. I squeeze the bottom of the packets to get as much in there as I can, and then I skulk away. I figure it’s best to wait until I have full cover of darkness to pull this one off. No way am I getting out of here alive if I deal damage—and thereby reveal myself—in daylight.
I pick out the leader’s tent and wait in the shadows behind it for nightfall. While I’m there, I take a good look around the camp. There are eight tents, each sleeping two men, plus the captain’s tent. There’s also a wagon full of female prisoners, some elven, some gnomish, some dwarven. I can’t fathom why they’re there, or what threat they could be to warrant their arrest.
The stew is done, and their cook rattles the triangle to call the crew to supper. I can’t help it. I rub my palms together in anticipatory glee.
Arcadia Unlocked: A LitRPG Novel (Arcadia LitRPG Book 1) Page 6