Chapter 23 – Improvisation

Safely stashing the Poisoner in the room, I dump all the Ingredients in my possession in the room’s built-in storage container. Combined with the items I picked up while grinding in the sewers, I’m certain the Poisoner will have her hands full for the foreseeable future. Luckily, I have the ingredients to make most of the recipes we collected from the Alchemist job. Trying to decide which potion or poison I need, I open up my Poisoner’s crafting recipes.

[Recipe: Weak Health Potion. Common Alchemy Recipe. Restores 30 Health Points over 10 seconds after consumption. Requires: 1x Glass Vial, 1x Rose Thorn, 1x Gillyroot.]

[Recipe: Weak Paralyzing Poison. Uncommon Alchemy Recipe. Paralyzes target for 1 second. Applied to weapons. Requires: 1x Glass Vial, 1x Tip of a Sewer Rat’s Tail, 1x Moon Lily Petal. 1x Rose Thorn.]

[Recipe: Weak Blight Poison. Common Alchemy Recipe. Deals 2 Poison Damage per second over 15 seconds. Applied to weapons. Requires: 1x Glass Vial, 1x Dried Imp’s Blood, 1x Gillyroot.]

[Recipe: Weak Damage Poison. Deals 20 Poison Damage on strike. Applied to weapons. Requires: 1x Glass Vial, 1x Shadow’s Bane, 1x Death Bell.]

These are all great options. My eye is instantly drawn towards the paralyzing poison. One second may not sound like a lot, but in the middle of a combat, that’s a huge deal. One second is enough to completely overpower any enemy and swarm them with numbers, and superior numbers are sort of my thing. The downside to it though is that I don’t have a lot of the required ingredients.

The Weak Blight Poison also isn’t a bad option. I have plenty of the ingredients required to make it, and it’s the poison that deals the most amount of damage. The downside is that it is damage over time, which means it’s not optimal to end fights quickly. At least the majority of my fights lasts for at least a minute anyway. I’m sure the benefits will be great in the long run.

What I really want to create though, is the weak damage poison. It’s exactly the type of poison I need to quickly eliminate targets. It would be perfect for me if it hadn’t been because I don’t have any Death Bells. It’s a pity, but I’m sure I can get some at a store somewhere. How hard could it be?

Even though my Poisoner is a supposed to be a specialist in poisons and nothing else, she is still able to create other types of potions like a health potion. Because let’s be honest. Any person who even slightly dabbles with alchemy should know how to create the most basic of potions. She may not be able to create high-grade enhancement or buffing potions later down the road, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make to be able to dish out more damage. The Thief Lord was never designed to fight extended fights against boss monsters anyway. Quick and easy kills are what we are all about.

Anyway, as I can make use of most of these poisons, I decide to have my Poisoner make paralyzing poisons and blight poisons at a one to two ratio. Paralyzing poisons may be the most beneficial to me, but since I have a limited amount of ingredients for it, I should use them sparingly. The blight poison, however, seems like the perfect fit to use more callously. The ingredients are plentiful, and the boost to finishing off enemies is always welcome.

With that done, I leave my Poisoner to do her thing while I head out. I make sure to securely lock the door before I make my way out of the tavern and out east towards the ocean side of the district. Since I don’t need any underlings to protect me while I’m out shopping, I decide to leave them hanging back at the warehouse. They should be reasonably safe there, and it should be easier for me to stay out of sight of other players if I’m alone.

Playing as a Villain has really made me paranoid as I am constantly trying to be aware of my surroundings. Constantly looking over my shoulder and worrying about every player I meet is starting to wear on me. I didn’t have to be this cautious when I was a Necromancer, so I fear being this jumpy for an extended amount of time can have some nasty consequences for my mentality if it keeps up. I can’t wait to gain a few more levels under my belt so that I can put more faith in my Incognito skill.

Luckily, the ocean side of the district isn’t far, and there’s a wide street cutting straight through the district from east to west. Even though it’s the main street, it doesn’t see too much traffic. There are mainly NPCs inhabiting the district, with only the occasional player strolling past, most likely doing some sort of social quest or crafting related stuff. Among these people, I’m just one among many, and I don’t think I even receive a sideways glance from anyone I meet. This suits me perfectly fine, and it makes moving around easier.

The ocean side of the district is much more densely populated by both NPCs and players. It’s the wealthier part of the district, and this is where the majority of the quest givers and shops are located. The streets are marginally broader and much cleaner than the rest of the district. The selection of shops is much wider than what I could find in the noob district. After walking around for a little while, I manage to locate three different shops that sell weapons and armor.

With only a little over ten gold to my name, I need to find the shop that offers the best deal. And for a Thief Lord, that means I need to figure out if any of the shopkeepers are part of the Silver Saints. Gear is really expensive, and since I’m a criminal anyway, it’s much more economically viable for me to purchase contraband. With the sort of discounts I received last time I shopped at one of their establishments, I ended up with quite a lot of powerful gear at very affordable prices.

I haven’t learned much about the Silver Saints yet. From what I can tell, they are some sort of network of fences for the city’s underworld. I don’t know how far their influence spreads, but they have been good to me so far. The only way I have of locating them is that the members all seem to have a silver tooth. One would believe that would make it ridiculously easy to find them, but I don’t have a lot of luck in that regard.

Who would have known that making people show their teeth is so ridiculously hard? Like, seriously? You can’t just walk up to someone and ask if they can show you their teeth. The best sort of results you’ll get by doing that is getting chased out of their establishments. Do you also know how unusual it is for some people to actually show their teeth while doing something as simple as just talking? It’s tough, really. I went into one store and spent ten minutes trying to tell jokes just to make the store clerk smile. Even then, I made little progress. I don’t know if the NPCs are coded this way or if I’m just a really unfunny person, but this is turning out to be the hardest thing I’ve done all week.

Eventually, after much trial and error, I found a fairly simple and efficient way of getting them to grin wide enough for me to get a good look at their teeth. Like most things in life, the solution is money. Offering the merchants a single silver coin to answer some random or bogus question I have about the neighbourhood is enough to make even the greediest of scumbags to showcase their yellowed teeth. I admit, it’s not the smoothest way to handle the problem, but it’s certainly efficient.

I went through three different shops before I managed to find a salesman with a silver tooth. To my sorry dismay, the shopkeeper appeared to be another dwarf; this one named Ulf. While that certainly is not coincidental in any sort of way, the similarities with Alf, the dwarven fence slash highway robber back in the Noob District, doesn’t end there. Nope. The two bastards are both just as grumpy as the other. Their store names are even almost exactly the same. Just exchange the name at the front, and no one would ever know if it’s Ulf’s or Alf’s Weapons-n-Armor they stepped into. Hell, I even asked the sour little bugger, and he confirmed he has a few brothers in the same business around town. That’s some pretty lazy story writing done on the developers’ side right there. Really.

That matter aside, I’m starting to think a requirement to join the Silver Saints is to have the grumpiest sort of attitude possible, coupled with a greedy disposition towards fleecing me for all I’m worth. How they manage to do any business like this is beyond me. Or for that matter, how do they avoid players griefing them just for the inconvenience of their attitudes? Gamers have done far worse for less reasons. I’m sure there are some players out there who wouldn’t mind taking a hit to their renown in exchange for beating some manners into an NPC.

My meeting with Ulf progresses much like my meeting with Alf. As soon as I flashed the silver token, he closed down the shop and brought forth the goods. I don’t have enough money to fully equip all my underlings, but I have enough to buy another heavy leather armor set for the dwarven Hoodlum and a better shortsword.

[Iron Shortsword. Uncommon. 14-15 Slashing Damage, 2 Strength, 2 Agility. Requires: Level 5. *Contraband*]

The weapon is too high level for my dwarven Hoodlum to use, but it’s perfect for my high-level Hoodlum. That guy has been my most valuable underling so far and he is due for an upgrade. The dwarf can use his old shortsword in the meantime. The entire transaction sets me back seven gold and three silvers, but I reckon it is more than worth it. Playing as a Thief Lord doesn’t come cheap, but at least the rewards I get from the jobs more than makes up for it.

Leaving the store with the customary slammed door behind me, I am about to start my trek back towards the warehouse when I spot a couple of familiar figures down the road.

“What the hell are those two doing here?” I mutter as I pick up my pace to get closer.

“Seriously, Greg. I am THIS close to killing the merchants around here…” Kevin, the human Paladin whines.

“Why do you care? It’s not even your money.” The dwarf sighs while shaking his head.

I can’t believe out of all the players in the city, I ran into these two again. What are the odds?

“It’s not about the money. It’s the principle of the matter!” Kevin grumbles, raising his arms in the air in a frustrated manner. “There’s no way all this stuff is worth eighty gold. It’s just level four gear!”

Greg sighs. “I don’t understand why you care. The guild was happy to sponsor it for us. You are the only one who seems to think it matters. Can’t you be happy that we are probably the best-geared level four players in the entire game at the moment? This stuff will allow us to reach level ten within the week.”

Kevin just grunts. “You wouldn’t understand… But I must admit though, we do look pretty sweet in this gear.”

Well, even I have to say they look good. The pair are wearing matching chainmail armor, full plate helmets, dazzling jewelry, and wielding spiked steel maces. They also wear matching silk-spun capes with what I assume is the Dark Pegasus guild logo on the back. The defence value on those items must be through the roof. I actually feel a little envious.

“Damn straight we do!” The dwarf grins, pulling out a steel kite shield. “So how about you stop moping around about someone else's money and go grind in the secret zone?”

Kevin guffaws. “Hell yeah! With this gear, we’ll kick the living shit out of anything in our path. We probably won’t even need a healer.” The human man grins, taking a few practice swings with his two-handed mace.

Greg snorts. “Says the man who ran away screaming when things got rough with the Thief Lord.”

“Hey, that wasn’t my fault. That fight was unwinnable. It was safer to retreat so we could fight another day.”

“Fight another day? What the hell man. We don’t gain any death penalties from dying until level ten. If we had at least taken one of her minions down, we would have at least gained some exp.”

Kevin frowns. “Dying hurts man…”

“More than taking a hit to your pride? I swear, the look on Aria’s face when she briefed us on the recording I sent her… You’re lucky you received the guild invite before she saw it.” Greg snorts, shaking his head.

“Yeah, well that’s in the past now.” Kevin smiles. “We’re the heroes of the guild! Now let’s go kill ourselves some rats!” He laughs jovially as he starts strutting down the street.

Left behind, Greg sighs. “More like the jokes of the guild…” He shakes his head once more before he follows Kevin.

I stand a few meters away, waiting for the pair to disappear from sight. Sonofa… They’re heading into the sewers. That spells trouble for me. If we end up sharing a grind zone, then at one point or another, we will run into each other. I can’t have that. If anyone discovers me, especially those two, my cover will be blown. So far, I’ve been leveling up far faster than I ever did with my Necromancer. The main reason for this being the higher level monsters and the sheer density of them in the sewers alone. If I have to start looking over my shoulder every time I go down there, I’m going to drive myself nuts.

If they both spend their time grinding this area for a week, then that’s a week I’ll lose myself. I can’t sustain my experience needs on jobs alone. With only one Beggar, I’ll receive only one to two job offers per day. With the meager exp rewards, It will take me almost four days to gain a single level. That’s not enough. I either need to invest in more Beggars, or I need to find a new grind zone. And grind zones don’t exactly grow on trees in this city. I need to start exploring, fast. Either that, or I need to find a way to eliminate Greg and Kevin, and that’s easier said than done.

From what Anna told me, the Dark Pegasus guild is already on high alert. If any of their members suffer from assassinations by a bunch of low-level criminal NPCs in the sewers, where they aren’t even supposed to be, they will surely know something is wrong.

Shit. I don’t have any choice.

Before it’s too late, I quickly run down the path the two paladins left earlier. My heart starts racing as I can’t afford to let them out of my sight. I run down the main street, keeping my eyes peeled at any and all alleys I pass. They could be anywhere by now, but hopefully, they haven’t gone far. The path they chose to go leads southwest into a densely populated area. The streets soon narrow, and I can spot more NPCs hanging around than usual. I haven’t been to this part of the district yet, so I don’t know if there are any entrances to the sewers.

I press forward and try to quicken my pace. The neighbourhood is starting to look a lot shadier, and more than once, I spot NPCs with elevated Infamy Levels. I curse myself for leaving all my underlings behind, so I quickly try and sprint past them all before I can draw any sort of aggro. I’m about to give up when I spot the two familiar players down the street. Setting my eyes on them, I shout.

“Hey, guys! Wait up!”