The structure deserved the name Temple of Shadows. It had no windows and relied on torches and mana lamps for illumination. Neither the urchins nor Kitty would tell us where it was located. When I asked Vys, everyone glared at him, and he kept his scaly lips sealed. I guessed it had to be somewhere underground; a giant, stone structure such as the temple would stick out in Eldar’s Port like a sore thumb.

In some places the ceilings were so high, I only saw black when looking up. Occasionally, I’d find lifelike scenes carved into the walls, typically depicting a hooded figure fighting or escaping armed men while carrying bags or treasure. The hooded figure changed from carving to carving. Their rune-covered cape was almost always the same, but the person wearing it would be different in every depiction. Age, gender, race—none remained consistent, but all had their faces covered.

“The Lord of Shadows takes many forms and works through anyone that serves him,” Kitty said when she caught me studying the wall art. “Come along now. The bosses have waited long enough.”

When I failed to get out of bed after waking up, Hruk convinced Kitty to let me eat and rest a lot longer. The life mage had fixed my wound and drawn all the toxins out of my body, but his spells didn’t have the power to replace the blood I had lost. Instead, he had fed me a potion to increase my body’s ability to replenish lost fluids. After a meal and a short nap, I felt much better. My muscles still ached, but I could now stand without help and walk without getting light-headed.

It was a shame my Sneaking Mastery hadn’t broken through to the Journeyman Ranks. Another point in Dexterity would’ve perhaps helped me avoid stumbling down the halls and looking like a fool.

“Dexterity doesn’t just increase stamina and control over one’s body, but reduces recovery time after extreme exertion as well,” Hruk has explained. “Vitality is, of course, much better in that regard. The resilience and endurance would raise your normal thresholds so you can do more before having to exert yourself. The recovery bonuses from it are substantial, too. It’ll likely be a while before you’re back to your usual self again.”

I took the opportunity to question him about how people typically spread their stats. Apparently, most people didn’t prioritise Charisma and Intellect. An average person wouldn’t want more than ten in each unless their primary Masteries heavily relied on either. The other four provided more tangible benefits so most people divided whatever free points they got from their achievements equally among them.

My assumptions regarding Intellect were correct: it improved one’s memory and processing speed. Merchants and scholars relied heavily on the stat for obvious reasons. Mages relied on it to aid in casting spells quicker, and also ease the mental strain from casting complicated spells. The higher one’s Mind stat, the quicker someone recovered from backlash or mana overload.

Meanwhile, Arcana’s effects were comparatively simple and straightforward. It increased one’s mana pool and natural regeneration. As expected, Hruk failed to provide a sound explanation of how Charisma functioned. He advised I check the Mage’s Guild Library since accounts varied a bit too much.

Afterwards, while waiting for my strength to recover, we had discussed how to prioritise my stats. Hruk advised me to focus on the Aspect of Control while sparing an occasional point for Vitality. Dexterity had proven itself as my lifeline. It would improve my reaction time, speed, and stamina further. Meanwhile, Arcana would ensure I had more free mana for Tailwind and Updrafts while fleeing my opponents. Finally, with Vitality I could push myself for longer without ending up bedridden afterwards.

According to Hruk, I’d be better off leaving Wit alone until my other attributes caught up to Charisma. Besides, given my masteries, the milestone ranks and future achievements would provide enough for the aspect to keep growing.

I took in everything he had to stay, but made no promises of following his advice. He was right, I did need more Vitality. However, I had too many traits that scaled with Charisma. I wanted to reach a score of forty before any other attribute hit the thirty mark. After Charisma, I intended to prioritise Arcana for the increased mana pool. While fleeing the assassins, the spare energy to cast a couple more Tailwinds would’ve helped immensely.

“What does the guild do?” I asked Kitty as we headed down a level, deeper into the temple. “Besides steal, I mean. Considering how you snuck up on the guildies, I imagine your jobs include assassination as well.”

“Rarely,” Kitty replied. “The Temple of Shadows teaches its followers to only kill when necessary. We steal from the rich and give to the poor.”

“So you’re like Robin Hood?”

“Who’s this Robin person who you speak of? We have no such thief in Eldar’s Port.”

“He mostly works out of Nottingham keeping their money-grubbing sheriff in check,” I answered. Of course, she wouldn’t get the reference; I smacked myself for letting myself slip. If Arena Disk had any champions from Earth, they’d figure out my status as an Otherworlder straight away.

“He must follow the Lord of Shadows as well, then,” Kitty said. “We too work to overthrow corrupt organisations and ensure the common folk are treated fairly.”

“Don’t you feel bad targeting merchants just because they carry the Merchants Guild’s crest?” I asked. “For all you know, they could be doing so out of desperation.”

“Doesn’t matter. By serving the guild, the people give it power. If everyone condemned them, the guild’s rules would mean nothing. It’s the people that let the guilds exist.” Kitty’s tone turned icy as we discussed the subject matter. I could almost feel her hatred for them boiling under the surface. “A Merchants Guild should strive to regulate trade within a city. They appraise products, ensure that prices don’t become ridiculous, hold auctions, and provide training for anyone looking to practise mercantile masteries. However, they do none of that. By working for the guild, the merchants let the organisation monopolise vital resources and instead of letting coin circulate in the economy, it gets funnelled into the higher ups' pockets.”

Taken aback by Kitty’s eloquent take on the matter I found myself at a loss for words. Due to my degree in Maths and Economics, I had a rough understanding of what was going on in Eldar’s Port. However, I didn’t expect the same from a thief. I had assumed she and the children were all illiterate. Now, passing rooms full of raggedly-clothed kids sitting on the floor, diligently listening to whatever adult they had in the room, I realised the guild was educating them.

We reached our destination after climbing down a final flight of stairs. The abundance of mana lamps made the underground room brighter than the city streets at noon. A large half-moon table sat in the middle of the room with seven chairs spread around the curved side.

“How are you, Mister Kanooks?” the human sitting in the centre chair asked. He lacked the figure one would expect of a thief. The grey robes and thinning hair made him look more like a beggar or priest. Perhaps a man in his position needed a disguise of the kind. On either side of him, with a few empty chairs between them, sat two others: an eye-patch-wearing, one-eared goblin, and a pink swamp kobold with baby-blue splotches. They didn’t dress in the same fashion as the human.

“Better,” I told him. “I owe your guild my thanks. That was too close a call.”

“You did well. Fleeing six guildies for as long as you did is no easy feat.” The kobold spoke in a nasal voice, adding unnecessary hisses to random syllables. I didn’t have a method for discerning their gender, but I assumed female from her voice. She rose from her seat and pulled a chair for me. It resembled a barstool, standing higher than the rest and had rungs to make climbing easier for people my size. “As for thanks, none is needed. I’m pretty sure Kitty told you already. You saved one of our own, so we returned the favour.”

“Besides, multiple sources claim you wear the Lord’s mark,” the human said. “Since he’s not reclaimed it from you yet, I assume you have his blessing.”

“And, when a brother comes asking for help, we can’t say no,” the goblin said. He’s voice and speech pattern oddly resembled Grog. He fell silent as his eyes wandered to Hruk. I didn’t need to look to confirm, but I was sure it was the stone arm that had his attention. “Are you sure you’re not a half brother or a cousin?”

“Yes,” Hruk replied. “I promise I’m not lying to you and am the last person who’d ever be after his seat. Now that Perry is awake, he can corroborate the story. We faced Chieftain Grog’s shaman in trial-by-combat and won.”

“Shaman Kraine had enslaved powerful spirits in his desperate quest for power,” I told the goblin. “Since Hruk and I worked together to set them free, he received a Minor Blessing of the Mountain.”

The goblin’s eyes narrowed as he looked between us, and he didn’t say anything more.

“I think we can skip pleasantries for now,” the kobold said. “We have more important matters to focus on.”

“Right.” The human nodded. While I took a seat, Hruk and Kitty remained on their feet. “We wanted to meet you for two reasons, Mister Kanooks. First of all, we’d like to offer you a probationary guild membership.” I failed to keep my eyes from widening. “Your companion has told us about your trait and your focus on Charisma. Despite it, you managed to pull off one of the best sleight of hands our wards claim to have seen.

“You’ve left such an impression on Mia, she invested the points from her last achievement in Charisma instead.” The kobold added. “The girl’s been running drills to see if she can pull off a scam based on your display.”

“That’s very flattering,” I told them. “I wouldn’t call it a scam though. I just thought on my feet and did what was necessary.”

“We need someone who can execute such manoeuvres on the fly.” The human withdrew a roll of parchment from within his robes as he spoke. “Your Charisma and quick thinking are precisely what we need. The guild has operated out of the shadows for so long, we’ve run out of more creative means to reach our goals.”

“Are you sure about this?” I asked. “I need a guild’s backing to survive, but my Masteries aren’t at a level you’d want for someone in your guild.”

“Which is why we’re offering you a probationary membership,” the female skink said. “We have a job for you. If you can pull it off, we’ll make you a full-fledged member if you’d like. Either way, we’ll help you get the necessary Masteries a thief would need to unlock the Thieving Arts.”

I unfurled the contract and did a quick scan. The probationary membership gave me their protection and access to training resources. Before my encounter with the guildies, I would’ve turned them down, but now I understood the importance of Sneaking and other related Masteries. With no offensive or defensive power, I needed them to survive. However, I got worried when reading what they needed doing.

“Kitty and a handful of other guild members will be assigned to the job as well,” explained the human. “They’ll work surveillance, and if anything goes wrong, they’ll pull you out.” He probably saw the hesitation in my eyes as he continued, “I know we’re asking a lot of you, but the Merchants Guild already has you on their radar, and you have the skillset to pull off an infiltration.”

“We really need you on this,” the goblin said. I preferred his to-the-point tone. His companions took a step back, letting him take the lead. “What you see out in the streets is just a part of it. Our kids are disappearing, and a mole in the city guard says not all of them are making it to the prison barges.”

“You think the Merchants’ Guild or Seekers is taking the children? What do you think they’re doing with them?”

The trio shared an embarrassed look.

“It shames us to admit it as the leaders of the Thieves Guild, but we don’t know. For years we’ve used the shadows to gather intelligence. Unfortunately, our methods are no longer working. That’s why we’re approaching you.”

The kobold hissed when the human kneeled.

“Please. I know we’re asking a lot of you, but we’re desperate. We can put up with a lot, but the children—if you do this, the guild will grant you senior membership. If you choose not to join our ranks, we’ll accept that too. If you help us, the Thieves Guild and the Temple of Shadows will forever be on your side.”

“I didn’t help Mia out of the goodness of my heart,” I told them. “It was the man’s tone that got me. I could tell he had plans for the girls beyond the prison barges.”

The trio shared concerned looks.

“I’d be okay with it if they were heading to the prison barges. If that’s the price for committing crimes—so be it. However, I got the feeling something a lot worse was at play. Standing idle while that happened, would've ruined my sleep at night. That’s the reason why I intervened.”

Hruk probably understood where I was going with my spiel. He walked up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I knew he’d follow me no matter what I did. “I’ll do it.”

After my meeting with the guild’s higher ups, I finally got to see Doctor Whoo. I expected her to be all over me like a dog separated from her master for too long. I learned that she prioritised play over whatever bond we had. She broke away from the children and padded over to me, appearing more angry than pleased.

Doctor Whoo looked me up and down, chirped, bopped my thigh with her forehead, and then returned to the children.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” I said.

“She regularly checked in on you when you were asleep,” Hruk told me. “Besides, shrikes are wild beasts. Doctor Whoo lets you saddle and ride her.”

“You reckon I’m asking for too much?”

Hruk shrugged. “They’re neither bears nor animals. You’re the first on the disk to tame a shrike. So you likely know them more intimately than any other.”

“Can’t dispute that,” I suppose.

Even though the wound on my shoulder had mostly healed. Kitty bandaged it and put the adjoining arm in a sling. “Just keep it on until after your meeting with Elvin Silverknut,” Kitty said. “I can count the city’s independent Journeyman-ranked life mages and alchemists on one hand, and you can’t afford them. Keep the wraps on for a day or two.”

“I’ve been missing for a few days already, haven’t I?” I asked. “You killed the guildies, too. I bet they’ll wonder where I’ve been and who’s to blame for my disappearance.”

“Your hobgoblin assistant dragging you into a hovel so you can recover in solitude should be a believable enough story,” she replied. “The fact that you still need bandages will suggest you don’t have a guild’s backing or resources.”

“I think that’s a flimsy alibi but I can’t think of anything better at this time, so it’ll have to do.” The bandages restricted my movement, but when Kitty offered crutches as an alternative, the sling immediately stood out as the more comfortable option.

Afterwards, Kitty took the three of us to the guild’s armoury. It did not surprise us to discover it mostly housed small-to-medium-length blades, hatchets, bows, crossbows, and leather armour. They had a variety of tools, too, but lacked anything made by artificers or tinkers.

“We prefer skill to magic.” Kitty’s justifications proved necessary when delved deeper in their stores and found crates of stolen aether cores, aetherite, and high-quality metals.

“It looks like to me you don’t have any guild members or allies that can process these into anything useful,” Hruk told her. For the first time since we met her, Kitty broke eye contact. I got the sense the woman disliked admitting weakness or failure. “If you give me room to work, I could turn these into useful tools and weapons.” He glanced at me. “I could whip up a new mage hand for you, too. It won’t take me too—”

“No,” Kitty said, interrupting Hruk. “You can help equip the guild, of course. However, it’s best for Perry’s cover if he doesn’t carry much. That wand he tries to hide in his cape is risky enough already.”

“You expect him to walk into the enemy’s den naked?” Hruk demanded, his red eyebrows furrowing.

“Well, Perry will have his guitar, the shrike, and whatever wind manipulation spells he used while fleeing the guildies. That’s more than a merchant needs.”

“He’s playing the role of a master artificer, though. Any good artisan would equip themselves with—”

“If we can see through that lie, someone sitting on the Merchants’ and Artificers’ Councils will see through them, too.” Kitty cut Hruk off once again. “No one suspects a hobgoblin of skills as refined as yours, though. I think you should say your supplier doesn’t live in the city. Claims regarding a system-enforced contract should keep them from digging too deep into the ruse. It’ll make it harder to win their trust, but it’s probably better than failing to deliver on false promises or revealing you’ve been peddling wares made by one of the greenfolk.”

“I guess I should stick to the role of merchant bard, then,” I said. “Neither guild has given me membership yet, but the situation might be ideal for worming my way in. Anything else I need to know before going in blind and alone?”

“We’ll be watching you closely.” Kitty handed me a bright red scarf. “If you’re ever in mortal danger, get outdoors and wave this. Our agents will be on you instantly.”

“I suppose that’s better than nothing.” I sighed. “Before we continue, I need to know how you can see through my cloak. The guildies’ archer could do it, too. Since you won’t let me carry all my gear—which still makes little sense, by the way—you can tell me how you do it.”

“If she’s a ranged assassin, I bet she has Hunter’s Sense,” Kitty answered. “It’s a rare ability that comes with class masteries like Hunter, Wayfarer, or Assassin. I couldn’t so much as see you as feel your presence in the general area. After that, it’s just a matter of following the squirming mass of shadows. If I were you, I’d figure out a way to make it look bigger and more spread out. That way, ranged attackers will struggle to pin you down in there.”

“Is there no way I can counter the ability?”

Kitty shrugged. “Not that I know of. People like me strive for it to counter Sneaking and cloaking artifacts. It helps when pursuing elusive targets like you or elusive thieves. Having tools and masteries isn’t enough, Perry. You need to master their use as well.”

Hruk and I weren’t pleased about parting ways, but the contract stipulated that we’d follow the mission directives given by the Thieves’ Guild. We were officially under their employ. He approached the council to challenge Kitty’s decision, but ended up with a new contract and greater pay, which involved him equipping Kitty’s team and then the guild on a more official basis. Since he had permission to make gear for us too within reason, we considered the deal a win. Even though we didn’t like it, Hruk and I needed to trust that Kitty and her team would keep me alive.

Finally, the guild put me in clean clothes and lead me through a series of tunnels into the undercity. Before I knew it, there were members of the Hunters’ and Adventurers’ Guild passing me, shooting me curious glances. We’d agreed that revealing Doctor Whoo as a shrike and my mount would serve as a magnificent display of competence and would also help explain how I escaped. It was time I got used to everyone’s curiosity.

Once the thieves fell back and let me advance alone, I pulled the stone-egg out of my pocket. Unwilling to share all of my secrets with the guild, I had kept the alien object hidden in my cloak’s inner pocket.

Now that blood loss and fatigue didn’t have me light-headed, I took the time to study the object in detail. While the stone-eggs texture and shape hadn’t changed, the colouration and pattern made it look like a completely new object. Besides the transparent crystal veins, a new pattern decorated the glossy black surface. It appeared as if the stone-egg had shattered and someone had put it back together using an alien metal as glue. It had a blue-violet sheen to it that changed colour with angle, reminding me of shifting light on a greasy film.

When I fed the stone mana, it pulsed with the same transparent energy as before, but Mana Sense picked up two distinct presences. The first had a noxious feel to it that clawed at the back of my head and applied an uncomfortable pressure on my eyeballs. The sensation felt wrong, and I got the feeling that overexposure would leave me feeling sick, and not just physically.

While the second presence shared many qualities, it didn’t make me as uncomfortable. They both came across as hungry for the life and mind mana living in Sasha’s core, but it had a playfulness to it, too. Mana Sense rarely gave me empathic feedback, so I failed to dig deeper and make sense of what either presence meant.

With the tunnel's exit rapidly approaching, I needed to return the stone-egg to its hiding place. Still eager to learn more about it, I cast Identify before tucking it away.

Egg of the Void

Transdimensional Egg

The egg started as a product of the Void, treated and transformed to bring one of its native entities to Arena Disk. However, after feeding on an outworlder’s essence—yours—and contact with other presences not of Arena Disk, it’s transformed.

I lack the data to determine how to hatch it, or what will be born of it.

Identify has progressed to Novice Rank 9!

Loreseeker has progressed to Apprentice Rank 9!

My heart skipped a beat. I expected Loreseeker’s progress to slow significantly the closer it got to Journeyman. However, the System’s rewards for investigating the egg had it flying up in levels. I looked forward to the influx of Arcana and Intellect it would bring.

I scanned my masteries and found myself torn regarding which two masteries to place on the Inactive list. Currently Fashion and Dodging occupied it. The latter had automatically moved to the list when I awoke in the Temple of Shadows. Moving anything at Journeyman or the high-end of Apprentice made little sense. They provided too many attributes, or soon would. Scribing and Fashion would benefit the most from my coming venture.

Getting the former to Apprentice would help me unlock the Bard class mastery without needing Loreseeker. Afterwards, Loreseeker and Apprentice Fashion would come in handy for the Merchant class Mastery. I assumed the system wouldn’t let me use the same mastery across multiple classes since that would make things too easy and also void the benefit of freeing up slots in the active list.

Active Masteries:

Musician: Journeyman Rank 6

Mana Wielding: Journeyman Rank 2

—Mana Sense: Journeyman Rank 2

—Mana Control: Journeyman Rank 2

Brokering: Apprentice Rank 0

Sneaking: Apprentice Rank 7

Loreseeker: Apprentice Rank 7

—Identify: Novice Rank 5

Sleight of Hand: Apprentice Rank 0

Beast Taming: Apprentice Rank 5

—Satchel Monster: Novice Rank 7

—Primordial Magic: Novice Rank 9

Cooking: Journeyman Rank 3

Scribing Mastery: Novice Rank 6

—Print: Novice Rank 6

Fashion: Novice Rank 5

Inactive Masteries:

Riding: Apprentice Rank 6

Dodging: Novice Rank 6

I lost valuable points in Vitality by moving Riding to the inactive list, but I didn’t foresee myself getting much use out of them anytime soon. The Bard class felt within reach, so I focused on reaching it first. The coming days would give me plenty of opportunities to get Sneaking to Journeyman. I could feel it in my bones and oversized halfling feet.