by Mia Archer
I was still staring at my phone when Colin’s hand shot out and stopped me. I looked at him in irritation and then stopped. Realized I’d been on the verge of stepping right off of a cliff. Well, not a cliff exactly, but it was a pretty decent rise with a ten or fifteen foot drop. I didn’t even realize we’d done that much elevating on our walk.
Even more interesting was what was waiting for us down at the bottom of that mini cliff.
Four men were crouched down there. At least I thought they were men. Looking down at a road running through the forest. It was obviously an ambush of some sort. The question was who were they ambushing? They must’ve been using a very high stealth ability for my spell to miss detecting them, though I’d never heard of stealth abilities that worked against magic detection spells. Weird, but it was the only explanation that made any sense.
“I’m such an idiot,” I said.
“Not so loud,” Colin hissed. “If they hear you up here they’re going to find us and try to take us out.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about these guys,” I said. “They’re just thieves. Here I was thinking we were dealing with powerful mages or something.”
“Well they’re just people with a really high stealth score. High enough that you couldn’t detect them,” Colin said. “If that’s not a good enough reason to leave well enough alone then I don’t know what is.”
I thought about that. As much as Colin’s habit of all discretion all the time with no valor thrown into the mix for good measure galled me at times, if we were dealing with people who had a high enough stealth skill that they could hide from my magic then that was something to think about. A smile broke across my face as I thought about it.
“I don’t like that look on your face,” Colin said. “That’s the look you get whenever you’re about to do something we’re both going to regret.”
“What ever would give you that idea my dear Colin?” I asked.
It really was elementary. When I came out to this party in the woods it was with the intention of finding people who were just as good as me. So far the only person I’d matched spells with who was worth it was the queen. When I came into the playing field I figured I’d have to track her down if I wanted to have any sort of fun, but here were some players who could somehow hide from my spells with some ability I wasn’t aware of.
I couldn’t think of a target more worth testing my skills and abilities against. Particularly since there was a good chance it would take one fireball spell with some splash damage, my favorite recipe in a good stew, to take them all out.
Sure none of them were nearly as hot, or as female, as the queen. I wouldn’t have the kind of fun with them that I’d like to have with the gorgeous Erin, but at the same time beggars couldn’t be choosers.
I pulled my phone out and tapped a few buttons to bring up my spellbook.
“You’re really going to do this?” Colin asked.
“C’mon Colin. Live a little. If you send a spell down there you’ll get some of the experience and loot when we kill them,” I said.
“I suppose,” Colin said. He rummaged through his own abilities panel, though his was more physical abilities than spells. I had those same abilities, it was how I’d pulled a fast one on him in the office earlier in the week, but I much preferred the sorcery side of swords and sorcery.
“You ready?” I asked.
“Ready as I’m going to be,” Colin said, his hand poised over an arrow shot.
“Y’know it’s weird these guys didn’t show up on my screen. I didn’t know old fashioned stealth could be used to fight magic detection.”
“Yeah, and I wonder who they’re waiting on down there?”
“You’re right,” a new and decidedly feminine voice said from behind us making me jump. “Stealth abilities can’t stop a detection spell. That’s why they’re all carrying enchanted runes so mages such as yourself can’t find them easily.”
I turned and blinked. “Jessica?”
Jessica grinned down at me, her own phone out and her thumb poised for action. Dave stood beside her with a smile on his face. My eyes narrowed. I could probably take them if I wanted to. I moved my thumb to my spell but then the area around the edge of my screen started glowing a forbidding unfriendly red color that I hadn’t seen in a very long time.
Jessica shook her head. The message was clear. They’d managed to sneak up on us which meant they had the drop on us in game. Sure I might be able to take both of them out, but that glowing red color around the edge of my screen meant someone had an attack of opportunity on me. They’d get in the first blow and I didn’t know enough about their characters to know if I’d survive the attack. If I didn’t survive we’d be out for the day.
Thing is they weren’t killing us. Not yet, at least. I figured that might mean there’s a chance of survival. Obviously if they didn’t want to talk our screens would already be bright read and playing the annoying death ditty.
“So what are you going to do with us now?” I asked.
“Well you can try whatever low level fireworks you have prepared there,” Dave said nodding at my phone. I bristled at him calling my spells low level, but inside I was jumping for joy. If he thought I was low level that made it all the more likely that I’d be able to get the drop on them when the time came, but I was more interested in seeing what they wanted first.
“Or you can come with us and meet our leader. Maybe decide it’s time to join a faction after all?” Jessica asked.
I smiled my sweetest smile. After all we’d been out here looking for a faction to take over. It just so happened that a faction found us first, and it was two people we knew which might make the job easier.
“That sounds like a great idea,” I said.
“Anna…” Colin started, but I elbowed him in the ribs. He let out a not-so-surprised grunt and then grinned right along with me. “I mean yeah, that sounds like fun!”
9: Captured
“We don’t need to join a faction,” Colin muttered, though there was a smile on his face that told me he was enjoying this.
“I get it Colin.”
“We’ll be fine on our own. Let’s just sneak up on a bunch of high level players and try to kill them!” Colin continued.
“You’ve made your point,” I muttered back.
“This is just like yesterday when you, urk!”
That last bit accompanied me elbowing him in the sides again. Jessica looked over her shoulder at us and smiled.
“Yesterday when you what?”
Damn it Colin. I did not want everyone and their mother knowing I was the one who did the attack on the queen yesterday. For one that would be painting a huge target on my back and asking people to attack me so they could serve up my virtual head on a platter for the dear old queen. For another it would completely ruin any element of surprise and make it impossible for me to pull off a sneak attack if they knew I wasn’t a low level mage.
I was just thankful I’d remembered to put up a warding spell at the beginning of the day that returned a low level when people inspected my character. Otherwise none of this would have happened. Sure I’d probably still be out there roaming, but Jessica and Dave would’ve been out for the day and that was the last thing I wanted to do to our new friends.
Much better to have them take me back to their camp and see who I could take out there.
After about five minutes of walking we came to a clearing. I was surprised it was such a short walk, but I guess it made sense to have everything close together. It was a game, after all, and not a distance running competition. People were standing around chatting in thieves costumes and comparing things on their phone screens. No serious role-playing going on in this group.
A man stood in the center of the group. He was dressed as a thief, but his gut and his thick glasses that looked like they hadn’t been updated in at least two decades had “tech middle manager” written all over it.
“Well then! What little flies have flown
into my web today? This isn’t the queen you were promising me!” the man said in a voice that was over the top. He even put his hands at his side in a classic Robin Hood pose and looked to the sky and laughed.
Great. The only person in the group who was a stickler for role-playing was a wannabe Errol Flynn with a bad accent. Even more interesting than the bad accent was the intel he let slip so casually. So they were going to attack the queen’s caravan, were they? That was ballsy. Something I could respect even if this guy did strike me as more than a little annoying.
“We found this sorceress and her escort moving through the woods about to ambush one of our parties,” Jessica said. The guy looked at her for a beat and she looked down. “Sir.”
“Good that you remember that Jessica,” he said. He reached out and put a hand on her cheek. Pulled it up so she was looking at him, though it was obvious she didn’t like the touch and she pulled away. There must’ve been something in the way Dave was looking at this thief king because he didn’t press the matter.
I looked around the clearing. Other people were watching this guy and rolling their eyes or outright muttering. I resisted the urge to smile. A group that didn’t care for their current leader? That seemed like a situation that was ripe for exploitation. I just hoped I could pull it off with enough time to go back and meet the queen on her way through the forest.
“So is this girl an agent of the queen?” he asked, talking mostly to himself as he walked around us.
“She’s definitely not working for the queen,” Dave said. “We camped with them last night at…”
The leader held up a hand and Dave went quiet, though he did look very annoyed.
“What did I tell you about going out of character, Dave?”
Dave rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Mike.”
“Call me Melvar!” he snapped.
Dave rolled his eyes again. “Right. Whatever, Melvar.”
Mike, Melvar, whatever the fuck his name was, dug in a pouch at his side and pulled out a badge. It had a bow and arrow and a robin hood cap on it and it identified him as the leader of the Thieves’ Faction.
“This says that I’m in charge here! If any of you want to challenge me then you can go ahead and do it, but otherwise I will not have your insubordination,” he said, spittle flying from his lips and his face turning purple.
If this guy was a middle manager then he must be a true joy to work with. That bit about holding the badge and being in control was interesting though. I’d be the first to admit I didn’t have a fucking clue how the faction system worked in the game. I’d always been a lone wolf who occasionally brought Colin along because I liked listening to him whine and then seeing the look of impressed astonishment when I pulled something off. I wondered how that whole head of the faction thing worked. If I killed him did it cause a lightning storm and I absorbed his powers or something?
“So if she isn’t the queen and she isn’t working for the queen then why did you bring me these two?”
“We were thinking they might be a good addition to our faction,” Dave said. “And I never said we were going to attack the queen. I just said we were going to scout and let you know when her party was coming through the forest.”
“The plan was that we were going to attack and take the queen,” Mike, or Melvar, said. “The attack yesterday proves she’s not invulnerable. It’s time for people with a little bit of initiative to take it and overthrow her!”
“And get all us killed in the process? We signed up for the Thieves’ Faction. Not the Royals,” Jessica said.
“Well maybe it’s time we dreamed a little bigger,” Melvar said. “I think king Melvar has a nice ring to it. Now unfortunately that means we’re going to have to get rid of your little friends here before we put my grand plan into motion.”
I looked over to Colin. For a surprise he grinned. It looked like he was going from the part of the day where he thought my plan was crazy to the part where he was looking forward to whatever I had up my sleeve. I winked at him and turned to this Melvar guy.
“So you’re saying you’re going to kill our characters?”
“Yup. I’m terribly sorry, but it’s back to the campground for the rest of the day for the two of you,” he said with a grin that showed he was anything but sorry.
“Right. In that case I’m giving you one chance to surrender to me,” I said.
Everyone in the clearing turned and looked at me in astonishment. Jessica and Dave were smiling, but it was the sort of smile reserved for a cute kid that was getting a little too big for its britches. Not the sort of smile that said they knew I could actually pull off what I was threatening. Melvar smiled too, but once again it wasn’t a particularly pleasant smile.
“I’d like to see you try,” he said with a sneer.
“You sure about that buddy?” I held up my phone, my thumb poised over a spell that would turn his character into a pillar of fire. I didn’t have to give him a chance, but I wanted to show his irritated followers that I could be a benevolent ruler.
“What makes you think you could do anything to me?” he asked.
I decided it was time for some bragging. I was at a spot where I was either going to kill or be killed, so there was no point in keeping secrets any longer.
“You heard about the person who attacked the queen yesterday in a diner and killed two of her attendants, right?”
“Well yeah, everyone knows about that,” Mike aka Melvar said.
“What if I told you I was the one who did that?”
He looked me up and down, glanced at his phone, and laughed. Not a very pleasant laugh. Everyone else in the clearing who was close enough to hear, Jessica and Dave included, were laughing right along with him. Colin just shook his head, but he was smiling so at least he had a pretty good idea of what was coming.
“You? A low level sorceress like you? I don’t believe it,” he said.
“This is your last chance.”
“I grow tired of this. Jessica, Dave, do what you need to do.”
Jessica and Dave didn’t make a move. I was glad for that. I really did like them after t he time we shared around the campfire the night before, and I’d hate to have to kill them. I hit a button and a couple of things happened at once. A shield spell went up around Colin and I just in case even as a fireball shot out. My phone switched to the map grid, but it didn’t take long for the spell to hit the glorious Melvar considering he was right in front of me.
The sound of a fireball hitting followed by the death music echoed from Mike aka Melvar’s phone. He looked down in astonishment and then his face turned purple as he screamed.
“Kill her!”
Technically he wasn’t supposed to give orders since his character was dead and all, but it wouldn’t be the first or the last time someone bent the rules of the game and did something in the real world they shouldn’t have been able to do. Someone on the edge of the clearing either didn’t realize their glorious leader was dead or they were ignoring the rules too, because an arrow flew out. I saw it fly towards us faster than I could react, but of course that’s why the shield spell was there in the first place.
That spell also had a nasty side effect. In the real world in the clearing it looked like a bunch of people standing around looking slightly confused and then a guy on the other end of the clearing yelled out in surprise and started cursing. In the virtual world on the map grid I saw a bolt of lightning arc out from my character to attack, and eliminate, the character who dared attack me in the first place.
I grinned and looked around the shell-shocked clearing.
“Anyone else feeling lucky today? No?”
“What was that?” Dave asked.
“That, my friends,” Colin said. “Was Anna showing off. Pray you don’t have to be on the wrong end of her showing off too often.”
I turned to Mike aka Melvar. “So how does this work anyways? I killed you so I should…”
My phone beeped with a notification. I opene
d it and my eyes widened in surprise. It was a congratulations from ARealms on my successful takeover of the Thieves’ Faction. It seemed ridiculous that the entire faction system would rest on the principle of might makes right, but then again this was a video game even if it was an elaborate live action version of video games, so I suppose it made a certain amount of sense.
“Well then. Looks like the system thinks I’m the head of the Thieves’ Guild now,” I said. I turned to Colin and grinned. “I told you I’d find a faction for us!”
“Glad to have you,” Dave said with a laugh and a shake of his head. “Why didn’t you tell us you were so high level?”
Colin grinned. “Because that would ruin the surprise!” Oh yeah. He was definitely riding a high for now. He could be like this for the rest of the day. Good. I liked fun Colin more than mopey worried Colin. If I’d actually managed to get us killed in this little adventure it probably would’ve ruined the rest of the day.
I held out my hand to Mike aka Melvar. “So can I have my badge please?”
Reluctantly he reached back into his pouch and handed it over. I smiled my sweetest smile as he glared at me. “Have fun on your walk back to the camp! Feel free to come back tomorrow and try me if you want your faction back.”
He grumbled and moved off into the woods with the one guy who’d fired an arrow off at me following. I glanced around the clearing. Everyone was looking a little shell-shocked.
“So does this mean we don’t have to listen to that asshole screaming anymore?” someone yelled from across the clearing.
“I promise I won’t yell at you guys,” I said.
Cheers erupted around us and I blushed. They must’ve really not liked that guy. Jessica piped up with an answer to the unspoken question running through my mind.