by Tamryn Tamer
Carrot was fun. She was an explorer by nature which was something he liked. Explorers were great because rather than seeking out treasure or wealth they sought new places to explore. That also meant that she never really got upset about the lack of treasure as long as Jericho had new adventures lined up for her.
Others required a little more work. They wanted to increase their power or wealth and didn’t necessarily understand the value of knowledge. If he gave them the choice of a legendary today or ten legendaries in a month, they’d want the instant gratification.
“I’m sick of it,” Redwing stomped. “We should be splitting the loot equally.”
“I agree with him,” Cash said placing his feet on the large conference table. “I did better as a solo player. I don’t even get enough stuff to pay for my repair costs.”
“The items aren’t that valuable,” Jericho said while starting another decryption on the documents they’d brought in. “As for repair costs, you get a weekly stipend for that.”
“But I’d be better off just keeping the stipend and doing nothing,” Cash said. “Every time I join them in some dungeon, I lose money.”
“You gain experience,” Jericho said to the irritable warrior. “And you’re grouping with some of the best raiders in the game. They could easily clear the dungeons without you. None of you are level capped and you could all use the actual experience. Some people pay to go along on raids with them.”
“I don’t mind it,” Viola said. She was a tall elegant redhead. “I’m pretty content with the arrangement.”
“Of course you are,” Akimbo said. He was a huge beast man monk with bear attributes. “The women in the guild all get special treatment.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Carrot asked defensively.
“There’s no point in playing dumb Carrot,” Terra chimed in. “Everybody knows that Jericho’s a lecher.”
“I don’t give special treatment,” Jericho objected.
“None of your familiars will go anywhere near any of us,” Wolfwood laughed. “They treat us like we’re carrying diseases. Even the crazy dark fairy wants nothing to do with us.”
“It’s not like they sleep with us,” Des rolled her eyes. “At best we get hugs and the occasional kiss on the cheek. It’s nothing.”
“You can’t blame me for not sharing my familiars,” Jericho said indignantly. He glared at all the men at the table and pointed judgmentally, “Like any of you would be doing anything different.”
“That’s beside the point,” Redwing laughed.
“We don’t even have a guild hall,” Fantasia sighed. “And you won’t let any of us move into the extra rooms in your manor, and you have a lot of extra rooms. My bank storage is almost full and I have nowhere to keep stuff because I can’t afford a place.”
“I’d pay you for a room next to Cynthia,” Viola grinned lasciviously.
“Got it,” Jericho sighed. They weren’t wrong, Jericho was pretty selfish when it came down to it. He was a bit overprotective of his familiars and because of that refused to let others move in. Some of the medium guilds even encouraged dormitory-style housing, “So, you want a guild hall, followers, equipment, and money. Probably should try for the guild hall first?”
“A guild hall would be cool,” Wolfwood said. “A place to call our own. And it’d make recruiting easier.”
“Dayrose doesn’t have any larger homes,” Terra said pensively. “If we were aiming for a guild hall, we’d need to find one in a different city. That’d be pricey.”
“That’s why we need information,” Jericho said starting another decryption.
Jericho viewed a lot of his efforts as an investment. He would decrypt rare documents and discover new dungeons, recipes, and enchantments. By utilizing Diana’s guild for swift completions and his guild to collect the information, he increased the speed at which he acquired information. The faster he received information, the sooner he’d find valuable information.
“The more information I have the more I can leverage,” Jericho said assuredly. “A few weeks ago, I knew where two dungeons were. Now I know where over a dozen new ones are that we have yet to clear.”
“What’s it matter if we never get to keep anything from the dungeons?” Redwing scoffed.
“Okay,” Jericho sighed and looked around the table. “You might not realize it but Dayrose was unlocked when Terra and I followed a fragment of information. We never know what information will have the most valuable until we have it. That’s why it’s important to have it all.”
“Trust him,” Terra chimed in. “Jericho has a way of obsessing over information and finding things other people miss. If there’s a mention of an obscure place in the middle of a lore document, this idiot will cross-reference that place name with every other document and find a motherload.”
“You seem pretty confident,” Fantasia said. “I suppose there’s no harm in waiting things out.”
“I’m fine with everything boss,” Carrot said happily. “I’m having fun. Last week I couldn’t even find a party to hunt monsters. Now I get to explore with high-level raiders.”
“I guess I’m fine for now,” Akimbo said.
“I’d still like a guild hall sometime soon,” Cash said. “And more importantly it’d help with recruitment.”
“You just want to fill it with prostitutes,” Redwing grinned impishly.
“Think we can have two guild halls?” Des sighed. “One for men, one for women? Kind of like dormitories?”
“Yeah,” Fantasia agreed. “I don’t really want to live in a brothel.”
“Living in a brothel isn’t that bad,” Terra chuckled.
“Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” Jericho said.
“Living in a brothel?” Terra laughed.
“No,” Jericho chuckled. “But yeah, that too. Multiple guild halls. I can’t leave Dayrose because Ariel needs to stay here and let’s be honest, the manor is awesome. And it’d be nice to have a base of operations in each city. We could purchase smaller homes and upgrade slowly.”
“All of the big guilds own the majority of their cities,” Wolfwood said. “It makes us look weak if we can’t even claim a single village.”
“We are weak,” Jericho laughed. “But I’d rather be weak and growing. If small guild halls start popping up everywhere it’s like free marketing. And if we’re not worrying about the location we can find good deals.”
“You’re expecting me to pay for this, aren’t you?” Terra sighed. “I suppose it makes sense. A small house in Dayrose right now goes for a million while that’ll get us a manor somewhere like Cila.”
“I’m not living in bug country,” Des said.
“It was an example,” Terra laughed. “I’ll look around and see what I can find.”
“In the meantime,” Jericho pulled out several maps he’d marked up and began handing them out around the table, “These are new dungeons that can be explored.”
“Sweet!” Carrot said snagging a map.
“Goody,” Viola sighed. “More work.”
“Experience is experience,” Akimbo said. “But eventually we’ll need to get better gear.”
“I’m working on that too,” Jericho said assuredly. “I’m coordinating some manufacturing stuff with Raven. Some of these documents are crafting instructions for unique gear and I’m in negotiations with Raven on manufacturing costs if I hand over the blueprints.”
“I thought you were friends,” Carrot said smugly.
“We are,” Jericho chuckled. “But this is business and Raven doesn’t fuck around when it comes to business.”
“Why don’t we just make them?” Redwing asked. “I mean, we’re the ones with the blueprints.”
“It’s not about the blueprints,” Jericho said. “It’s the materials. Most of the equipment requires access to extremely rare materials that would take forever to farm. I priced out one of the tunics and buying the materials would cost two hundred thousand gold. Raven can
probably get that down to fifty thousand.”
“And here I was thinking you just lounged about all day with your familiars,” Des smiled as she stood up. She looked around the group. “I don’t know about what you all think, but Endgame and Tiamat think he’s worth allying with. There has to be a reason for that, right?”
“Well said,” Fantasia chuckled. “We’re just early investors.”
“Investors get equity,” Cash chuckled.
“I want to run my own guild hall,” Viola said. “I have an idea for a theme…”
“I know what your theme is,” Jericho smirked approvingly at the blonde. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Information is where our value is in this alliance. As long as we have it, we have some power.”
“You mean you have power,” Carrot said sarcastically. “But that’s okay. I trust you, boss.”
“Thanks,” Jericho chuckled.
“Okay,” Redwing said rising from his seat. He sighed and looked at his map, “I guess I’ll group up with some folks in Tiamat and get to work.”
“Same,” Akimbo said.
Slowly the group filed out leaving Terra and Jericho alone in the conference room. Jericho smirked at Terra. He had no idea how Raven handled such a massive guild, he was exhausted handling the small group that’d finished their tasks.
“So,” Terra said. “Anything valuable in that information you’ve been decrypting.”
“Yes,” Jericho grinned wickedly. He held up a ledger with a scale printed on it. “This is a transcript from a Seraphim courts. The Fallen are referenced regularly but this is the first time I’ve heard a reference to a Nyxian. This one prisoner was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to use dark magic to destroy the world.”
“I meant something valuable to all of us, not another familiar hunt,” Terra said while standing up to leave. “I’ll take that as a no. Anyway, I’m going to do some house hunting. Seems like a nice change of pace.”
“Good luck,” Jericho said. “Can you snag Theia for me since you’re up?”
“Sure,” Terra said leaving the room. A second later he heard a scream, “Theia! Jericho wants you!”
Jericho chuckled at the rapid footsteps as Theia stopped what she was doing to rush to him. Out of all of his familiars, she was the most eager to help with anything. For whatever reason, Seraphim seemed to derive pleasure from completing tasks given to them. So, he kept her continually busy and that kept her happy.
“Yes master!” Theia rushed into the room eager to hear his command.
“What can you tell me about the Nyxians,” Jericho asked. The excitement washed from Theia’s face and was replaced with dread.
“Nyxians?” Theia repeated, clearly hoping she misheard.
“Yes,” Jericho confirmed. Theia shuffled her feet nervously and looked around the room as she moved in closer to Jericho.
“Master,” Theia practically whispered. “I’m not allowed to talk about them. They’re very dangerous which is why they’ve all been locked away.”
“Yeah,” Jericho said. “I noticed that in this ledger. The Nyxian referenced here was sentenced to life imprisonment for using dark magic. So, I want to know more.”
“Master!” Theia said fretfully. “I can’t tell you anything!”
“Really?” Jericho said grabbing her narrow waist and pulling her onto his lap. He started to slowly stroke her feathery wings. “But I desperately need your help on this. Don’t you want to help me?”
“That’s not fair,” Theia whined. “I’ll get in really big trouble if I tell you about them.”
“Tell me,” Jericho kissed her shoulder while slowly moving his hand to her thigh. “Please.”
“Master,” Theia moaned. “Why do you even want to know about the Nyxians?”
“Well,” Jericho slid his hand between her legs. “I was thinking since I can’t have a Fallen familiar…”
“Absolutely not!” Theia jumped from his lap and pointed at him accusingly. “Nyxian’s are far more dangerous than the Fallen! The Fallen wish to rule the world, the Nyxian’s wish to destroy it!”
“Really?” Jericho said. “Then why did the Seraphim lock them away instead of killing them like they do the Fallen?”
“It’s complicated,” Theia said nervously. “But you absolutely cannot take a Nyxian as a familiar! They want to destroy the world!”
“Really?” Jericho grinned roguishly. “You don’t have faith that I’d be able to control a Nyxian? It sounds an awful lot like you don’t believe in me.”
“That’s not fair!” Theia objected. “Of course I believe in you! But…”
“No,” Jericho feigned sadness. “I understand. I don’t blame you for not believing in me. I’m just a lowly human after all. I’m not a mighty Seraphim of the Choir. You must be so disappointed to be serving me.”
“I don’t think that at all!” Theia said reassuringly. “Even a member of the Choir couldn’t defeat a Fallen Prince by themselves! I know how powerful you are! But Nyxian’s aren’t like Fallen! Their greatest desire is the eradication of all life!”
“Then I’ll give them something else to desire,” Jericho grinned. “Theia, you won’t let me have a Fallen and this is the only other dark magic user I’ve heard of. How about we just talk to one and see?”
“Even if I knew where a prison was it would violate Seraphim law to let you in,” Theia stomped.
“I know where one is,” Jericho grinned while pointing to the binder. “She was sentenced to a prison in Gaia’s Reach. It’s a cliff in the middle of a large open plain. The prison is somewhere there.”
“Master,” Theia pleaded with him. “You absolutely cannot do this! The Nyxian could kill you. Or worse, you could become trapped in the prison.”
“You could always come with me,” Jericho smiled. “I plan on going anyway.”
“Going where?” Jinx popped into the room. “What are you plotting? Schemer. Rogue.”
“We going somewhere?” Kadra popped in wearing a chain mail dress, plate grieves, plate gloves, and wielding a large golden spear. “Hey! We’re going somewhere!”
“Really?” Avara popped in wearing leather and chain while wielding a large claymore.
“Settle down,” Freya said as she walked into the room looking like a Valkyrie. Her long silver hair flowed halfway down her back and she wore shimmering plate bustier while wielding a silver buckler and sword. Her pants were leather for freer movement but her plate grieves went to her knees. “He hasn’t said he’s taking us.”
“He’s taking us!” Jinx insisted. “He’s going searching for a new familiar! I know it! Cad! Adulterer!”
“Jinx,” Theia said nervously. “Don’t encourage him. The familiar he’s going after is very dangerous.”
“More dangerous than me?” Jinx glared at the angel. “I’m not worried! The idiot mage has a way with familiars. Birdbrain. Parrot.”
“Fine,” Theia said defeatedly. “I see I can’t stop you. But I’m coming with. I cannot let you enter a Seraphim prison by yourself. It’s very easy to become trapped or lost. Also, we should probably leave the others here...”
“What?” Jinx growled. “Absolutely not! I’m not staying at home! Harpy! Chicken!”
“But…” Theia started to object.
“Great,” Jericho interrupted. “Now for the bad news. Gaia’s Reach is about ten miles long and it’s not a safe zone. We’ll have to find this prison and get out quick.”
“Don’t worry,” Rela said plucking her bowstring. “If we run into enemies, we’ll crush them!”
“Yeah,” Sirun chimed in wielding a grossly oversized axe for her size.
“Alright,” Jericho grinned at Theia. “Sounds like the vote’s unanimous.”
Chapter 5
Time Off For Bad Behavior
The group exited a portal in a small town near Gaia’s Reach while carefully avoiding detection from any of the players. The fact was, he was on too many kill on sight lists to wa
nder around an unprotected zone. The first thing he did upon exiting the portal was cast an illusion to make the entire group look like generic mid-level players.
They quickly left the village and began searching the cliff from north to south looking for anything out of the ordinary. Theia searched the upper portion of the cliff while flying while Jericho and the spirit beasts, led by Jinx, searched the bottom of the ridge. About halfway down the ridge their searching finally paid off.
“This looks like the place,” Jericho said looking at the large obsidian archway resting inside of a crack in the cliff. Jericho looked around to make sure that nobody followed them to the spot. “Do any of you sense anything?”
“I don’t,” Jinx said crossly. “I think we’re safe. But I don’t like this area, it’s too open. Idiot. Fool.”
Jinx was right, the archway was embedded into an enormous cliff face. Unfortunately, the entire area surrounding it were plains with some rolling hills. If anybody had seen them in town or sensed them in passing, they’d have nowhere to hide and the nearest portal was a long distance away.
“It’s here,” Theia said touching her hand against the center of the archway. The wall glowed in light and the stone vanished revealing a dark portal. “That’s the entrance to the room.”
“Room?” Freya asked.
“I’m curious as well,” Jericho said. “I thought we were looking for a Seraphim prison.”
“It’s a type of prison,” Theia answered. “It’s a room suited to the occupant’s taste to reduce the chance they attempt to escape. We take no pleasure in imprisoning people so we attempt to make it as humane as possible.”
“That doesn’t seem much better,” Kadra scoffed. “Being chained up in a yard or being locked up in a room. You’re still trapped.”
“Just because you cannot make something much better shouldn’t prevent you from making it slightly better,” Theia offered.
“That’s actually kind of profound,” Jericho chuckled. “So, can we just go in?”