Chapter 7 – The Silver Saints

I quickly enter the tavern and return to the secluded table at the far back. Joe gives me an angry scowl but says nothing. Giving the room a once-over look to determine that there are no players nearby, I finally activate the bread-and-butter ability of my class. “Recruit Underling.”

A bright menu quickly fills my vision.

You have entered a tavern located in a naval city. You will be able to recruit Underlings to bolster your ranks.

Please select one of the following underling types:

[Recruit a Fighter type Underling]

[Recruit a Rogue type Underling]

[Recruit a Ranged type Underling]

[Recruit an Agent type Underling]

[Recruit a Specialist type Underling]

Make your choice, Thief Lord.

Ah, now we are getting somewhere. The Thief Lord is a very versatile class, with far more underling development paths than the other minion oriented classes offer. It’s actually one of the game’s gimmicks. Unlike a Necromancer who can spawn a wide variety of mindless Undead to do his bidding, the Thief Lord functions a little differently. Since the Thief Lord’s underlings have the advantage of being autonomous sentient beings and are specialized in hiding, they are limited by certain realistic restrictions and believe it or not: benefits.

Most criminals in a medieval setting live their life in one specific way, perfecting the only craft they know. This makes them especially good at their specializations, but there are certain paths not available to them. Due to criminals usually coming from the lower castes of society, they usually can not afford to go down the route of magic. For an NPC, being educated in magic is an expensive affair, not readily accessible by the dregs of society. It’s not too bad though. No one is more deadly than a thief who has lived his entire life by the blade

Since the Thief Lord excels at stealth and subterfuge, the game seems to add a certain kind of balance to the game to both enhance and restrict the utility of their underlings. A Thief Lord and his underlings are considered city-criminals, which means they excel within a densely packed city. It’s technically the only life these types of criminals have ever known, according to the game’s lore. This is all well and good, but we might find ourselves at a loss if we suddenly one day have to depart on a ship to raid merchant’s vessels or are forced into a forest to live in the wild while raiding trade caravans and smaller villages.

The game pretty much limits the Thief Lord to stay within the confines of their designated environment specializations, but they are not completely restricted. A Thief Lord’s underling will gain a ten percent increase to their combat efficiency while inside a city or densely populated area, and likewise, lose ten percent efficiency if they are forced out of their preferred stomping grounds like at sea or out in the wilderness. I actually quite enjoy this sort of specialization as I plan on focusing entirely on staying in a city for the foreseeable future anyway. A ten percent boost to efficiency can be considered a godsend for someone in my situation.

Regardless of the environmental restrictions, the underlings come in five different types of units, each with their own specialisation and evolution path. Yep, you heard me. My minions can evolve. Or maybe it’s more apt to say that they can be promoted into a higher-ranked criminal? Whatever the case, my underlings have an exponential growth curve. The higher-tiered criminals are stronger than their predecessors, with better skill sets and abilities. A common street thug will never be able to stand up to an assassin after all, and you can’t expect said thug to fight evenly with one of the emperor’s palace guards. Criminals need hierarchies just like the rest of us.

The specialists are a bit different though. Unlike the four other types, they are the only underlings that can’t evolve. That’s because they are really just the support staff. These units include special units like a Fence, a Poisoner, an Enchanter or a Tinkerer. They may not be the most helpful units to have in a fight, but they offer several benefits to my other units, as well as a way for me to more efficiently generate more wealth.

Anyway, I’m burning valuable time thinking about this stuff.

Since I currently have twenty-two points in Charisma, and I’m restricted to only recruit one underling per five Charisma points, that means I can currently recruit four minions. More will follow in time as I level up and get some better gear. I decide to recruit one Fighter, one Rogue, one Ranged, and an Agent. It’s nice to start with some variation to test out which type works best for my setup, but each of the different types is important for my development path going forward.

Confirming my choice, I sit patiently in my seat. I’m not quite sure what happens now, but I’m certain something will-

My thoughts are interrupted as the tavern door swings open. Four scruffy looking men of mixed races enter. They are all rather poorly dressed, and three of them are armed. One wields a rusty dagger, one a spiked wooden club and the last wear a makeshift linen bandolier filled with several throwing knives.

The bulkier of the men, a human, take a long look around the room and spots me sitting by myself in a corner. He gives me a brief nod before he leads the other three over and sits down at my table. None of them say anything, but the lead bandit gives me a respectful nod, while the other two armed men scan the room for what I can only assume are threats.

I focus my eyes on each of their name tags.

[Human Hoodlum(1) - Underling. T1 Fighter. HP: 100/100. Infamy Tier 1.]

[Human Cutpurse(1) - Underling. T1 Rogue. HP: 70/70. Infamy Tier 1.]

[Wood Elf Spotter(1) - Underling. T1 Ranged. HP: 50/50. Infamy Tier 1.]

[Dwarf Beggar(1) - Underling. T1 Agent. HP: 50/50. Infamy Tier 0.]

Excellent! I rub my hands as I inspect the four more closely.

The Hoodlum is the bulkier of the four, wielding a spiked wooden club. His skills are related to close-ranged fighting, as his type is supposed to be my front line fighters. The Cutpurse has a leaner build, but he is in no way weak. Wielding a rusty dagger, he excels at sneaking around and striking at enemies from their blind spots. The Spotter sits straighter than the others, and he appears more vigilant. Being an elf, he is naturally taller than the two humans, and he has two long pointy ears sticking out on either side of a ponytail. Wielding a set of throwing knives, the Spotter excels at supporting his companions from afar. The final underling is the frailest of them all. With barely any meat on his body, he gives off a pitiful impression. Even for a dwarf. He is unarmed, but that doesn’t matter as he isn’t supposed to participate in combat. The Beggar is an Agent type, which means they excel at gathering information.

Since Villains can’t take on quests like normal players, each of the different Villain classes have a unique way of acquiring quest-like things to do. As a Necromancer, I gained quests by summoning restless spirits which guided me in the direction of locations like graveyards or tombs, where I could gather crafting reagents, rare items, or raise corpses. The Thief Lord, on the other hand, relies on building an information-based network. The more Agent type units I have, the more sources of information I get to find lucrative places to steal from or assassination contracts from less reputable sources. The Agents work autonomously and will seek me out whenever they find any juicy intelligence in the area they are working.

The last piece of information on their character sheet is their Infamy tier. There are three different tiers of infamy, which means what sort of stance players and other NPCs will take against them. This is a mechanic every NPC has, which is what allows for players to figure out which NPCs are okay to kill, and which of them they’d better leave alone.

The Infamy tiers are a bit misleading when it comes to my underlings, but it only speaks about how my underlings are perceived by others. Like my Beggar, most NPCs have an Infamy tier at zero. That means that they are considered as a low threat individual with no nefarious purposes. Sure, the players could still kill my Beggar without suffering repercussions, but how would they differentiate my Beggar from the hundreds of non-underling Beggars in the city? They can’t. Not even with a super high level of Perception. The only way to spot a Beggar working for a Thief Lord is to physically see them handoff information, which is unlikely to happen. That doesn’t mean it isn’t possible though as many players make a habit out of trailing suspicious-looking Beggars.

Infamy tier-one marks suspicious-looking characters. Regular NPCs won’t attack them on sight, but most players will as they are fair game. Players suffer no repercussions killing units with Infamy tier one as they are technically still a mob. Luckily, every city has plenty of regular Hoodlum and Cutpurse NPCs, which means if someone spots one of my underlings, they won’t immediately know that a Thief Lord is loose. If that was true, it would make things a tad too difficult for me to effectively play this game.

The last level, Infamy tier two, means that the mob should be killed on sight, be it by an NPC or a player. Almost every monster has this classification, and they more than live up to their rank. Creatures with this Infamy tier are either incredibly hostile, which means they will attack anything in sight, or they are deemed incredibly dangerous by society and must be put down. The Assassins I can evolve my Rogue type underlings into, for example, are one of the latter cases.

After thoroughly inspecting my underlings for a while, I quickly remember how bad it would look if a player just walked in. To avoid this scenario, I quickly order the Beggar to head out into town and try to gather some information, while I order my three combat underlings to head out the back door and go hide in the sewer.

I really want to follow them and start grinding some levels, but I need to make a few preparations first.

First of all, it’s time to assign my skill points!

Reading through and comparing hundreds of different skill combinations were probably what ate up the majority of the time I spent researching my class. I have already made a rough decision on which skills to get and in which order, and I finally have enough information to commit to my choices.

I have three skill points to assign, and I have already made a short list of what I should prioritize. First of all, I need to find a way to conceal myself while also finding a proper use for the twenty-two attributes points I have in Intelligence. I already decided to go down the Illusion route, but there is a slight problem with this path. It really eats into my skill points. Not only do I have to use a skill point just to unlock the Illusion school of magic, but I also have to spend a skill point for every spell I want to learn. It isn’t really unreasonable, but when I only have three skill points and will gain one skill point per level from here on out, I need to sacrifice a lot of utility early.

The Thief Lord has a lot of exciting and powerful class skills which I’m really looking forward to biting into. It took a lot of time for me to swallow the sour apple, but I eventually managed to convince myself of a short detour. Concealing myself will have to take priority number one. I bite my lips together as I open up the skill menu and scroll down until I find what I’m looking for.

You have unlocked the lesser magic school: Illusion.

It takes a special kind of mage to see past the flashier sides of magic and choose a more subtle path. It is not unwise, however. Altering someone’s perception can sometimes be more formidable than striking them down with fire and ice. The Illusion school has two diverging branches: Mind and Vision.

Spells available:

Charm – Illusion Mind spell. Tricks a target NPC into trusting you completely, momentarily turning him into your lackey.

Chance of success: 0,5 Int + 2 * Skill level - Target’s Perception.

Duration: 0,5 Int + 0,2 * Skill level seconds.

Cost: 100 Mana - 0,5 * Skill level.

Frenzy – Illusion Mind spell. Empower the natural anger of the target NPC. Increases the Infamy tier of all nearby creatures by 2.

Chance of success: Int + 2 * Skill level - Target’s Perception.

Duration: 0,5 Int + 0,2 * Skill level seconds.

Cost: 100 Mana - 0,5 * Skill level.

Calm – Illusion Mind spell. Soothes the target NPC’s mind. Decreases the Infamy tier of all friendly targets by 1.

Chance of success: Int + 2 * Skill level - Target’ Perception.

Duration: 0,5 Int + 0,2 * Skill level seconds.

Cost: 100 Mana - 0,5 * Skill level.

Chameleon – Illusion Vision spell. Cloaks your body in a static illusion, greatly reducing your visibility when immobile.

Effectiveness: 1,5 Int + 2 * Skill level - Enemy’s Perception.

Cost: 100 Mana - 0,5 * Skill level.

I grin widely as I read through the spell list available to me. These spells are perfect for my class. I waste no time in acquiring the ‘Chameleon’ spell as it’s an insanely powerful tool for hiding. It scales great with my Intelligence stat, and when I reach skill level one hundred in with it, I’ll be practically invisible to even the players who heavily invest in a Perception-based build.

The other three skills are a bit less flashy, as they all revolve around altering people’s state of mind. This is the main reason most people don’t bother investing in the illusion school as the majority of spells are only effective on NPCs. Sure, the skills are powerful, but the inability to alter player minds to act a different way just doesn’t make it as appealing. While it would be awesome if it was possible to alter players’ perception of things, it would also be really freaking illegal. Real-world illegal. So instead of walking into that hornet’s nest of potential abuse, the developers amped up the power of the spells and turned most of them into NPC-only spells. That didn’t really make it any more appealing to players though, as mages are already hard-pressed on spending their precious skill points on other, more vital spells.

Luckily, I’m not really a mage, but a support kind of player with a lot of underlings who could benefit from these kinds of spells on a whole different level than regular players. That’s why in addition to the ‘Chameleon’ spell, I also pick up ‘Calm’, as the spell will be invaluable if my minions need to lose heat if something goes wrong while performing a heist. It’s the perfect crime… tool.

The best part of my two choices in spells is that they are both from different branches of the Illusion school. This will open up more development options later on. Similar to most things in this game, the magic system is also tiered, meaning that to unlock higher tiered spells, I need to level up a spell from a lower-tiered spell from within the same branch of magic to at least level twenty. Since my entire character build hinges on Illusion spells, it’s beneficial for me to keep as many of my options open as possible. Sooner or later, I will require higher-tiered spells from both branches of the Illusion school. It’s better to start sooner rather than later.

With all three of my skill points spent, I’m starting to feel sufficiently ready to tear some shit up. I feel sort of naked with not a single offensive ability or any weapons at hand, but it should be fine as I have a trio of combat-capable underlings to do the heavy lifting for me. I briefly consider heading to the marketplace and outfit myself in some decent gear and maybe a weapon or two, but I figure it would just be a waste of my money. The first five levels are really easy to gain, so buying gear that fits a level one character is just a waste of money.

As I get up and prepare to head out the back, I crack my knuckles.

“Time to tear shit up.” I grin as I take my first step.

“Where do you think you are going, Thief Lord?” Joe, the barkeep grunts.

Freezing, I slowly turn around, finding myself only centimeters away from the grumpy old man. Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Uhm, I just…” I stammer, feeling my stomach drop. My heart starts racing as I look into the ice-cold stare of the high-level NPC in front of me.

“You just what, exactly?” He growls.

My eyes widen as I feel the panic build. What do I do here? Try to fight him? Ridiculous! He is a much higher level than me, and I neither have a weapon nor do I have any combat-related skills. I take a step back as my head darts to the side, trying desperately to find a path to escape.

His arm reaches out and grabs my arm tightly, securing me in place. “It’s been a long time since I met a Thief Lord who seems to know what he’s doing.” He mutters. His eyes appraising my body.

…

“Uh, what?” I ask, my eyes wide in confusion.

“You heard what I said, boy. If you didn’t, then that’s your problem, not mine.” He growls. His eyes hardening as his glare intensifies. “I liked how you handled those two annoying adventurers earlier. Not many Thief Lords could keep their cool like that. You even managed to convince them to actually give you money. Almost made me want to smack them across the head for their stupidity.” He snorts, clearly amused.

What the hell is up with this guy? I scream in my mind. Is he fucking with me? Is he stalling for the garrison to arrive?

“Stop looking like a daft half-wit.” He snaps at me. I immediately close my mouth which I didn’t even know was hanging open.

He sighs. “Figures. I may have overestimated you…” He shakes his head. “But there might be hope for you yet.”

“What do you mean?” I finally manage to splutter out some words.

Joe bursts into a toothy grin. A really, really scary and creepy looking grin. I notice a shiny silver tooth reflecting the dim light in the room. “Well, I’ll be your benefactor, of course.” He says while flipping a small piece of metal at me.

Surprised by the sudden movement, I react slowly and fumble while trying to catch the object. I manage to grab it before it hits the ground, but it didn’t look very graceful. Raising the object in front of my eyes, I notice it’s a silver coin. Not just a regular silver coin though, as it’s easily twice the size of a regular coin. Instead of the normal imprint of the emperor’s face, the coin has a set of twin daggers crossed beneath a skull imprinted across the smooth surface. I try to inspect its properties.

[Ominous Silver Token. Class-Unique. Soulbound.]

“What is this?” I mutter in disbelief.

“That, boy, is a Thief’s token. If you show that to anyone connected to the criminal underworld, they will know they can trust you… Well, at least enough to do business with you. Don’t throw it away, as it’s enchanted to disintegrate if it ever leaves your possession. Look for any merchant or tavern keeper with a silver tooth and you know they are one of us.”

“But what-”

“Figure it out yourself. I expect great things from you, boy. Don’t disappoint me.” He growls while starting to shoo me out the backdoor. Befuddled, I start walking, throwing a glance backwards at the now scowling old barkeep.

I soon find myself outside in a small dark alley. I turn around and look at Joe’s departing back as he heads back into the tavern. He turns to shut the door, but not before he gives me one final glare.

“Tssk.” He spits on the ground. “I can’t believe they fucking make me say this…” He clears his throat. “The Silver Saints appreciates your continued support. Fail us, and suffer the consequences.” Then he slams the door in my face.

...

“Uhm… Thanks?”