Rouge froze as she saw a flicker of movement at the end of the long hall. She squinted her eyes and a tag appeared above the head of the armored man pacing toward her. Guard – Lv 27. She flicked her eyes to the left of her interface and selected the party chat.

::There’s a level 27 guard. I thought the place was supposed to be undefended tonight?::

Motte’s deep voice was calm when he replied. ::The family is supposed to be at a party, and the Thieves Guild spy claimed they usually don’t have anyone patrol inside while they’re gone. Did he see you?::

::Of course not. But he’s in front of the door to the trophy hall.::

There was a pause. ::Maybe they got some hint that there would be an attempt tonight. Do you want to pull out and try again another time?::

She shook her head, and said, ::No. It took almost two weeks to get this chance. I want to finish this quest. I’ll try to sneak by, and if he catches me, I’ll just have to try using my [Knockout] skill.::

::Are you sure? You only have a 50% chance of success on mobs higher than your level. The quest failure penalty is pretty hefty, too.:: Motte sounded concerned now.

::No. I need to get it tonight. I won’t fail.::

Rouge firmed her jaw and triggered her [Sneak] skill in addition to the [Stealth] she was already using. The skill would improve her chances of avoiding detection by 2% per level, and she had 10 levels. It would only last 5 minutes, though, so she needed to hurry.

Silently, staying in the shadows to the side of the hall, she edged forward. She had to avoid the soft lights cast by small glowing stones set into deep sconces, or her [Stealth] would be broken. Twenty feet. Ten. She ducked into a convenient alcove, grateful for her slight stature. The guard turned his head away, yawning slightly. In the instant that his eyes were closed, she slipped through the open archway behind him. In the dimly lit room beyond, she could see a series of pedestals, and the walls were lined with paintings, scrolls, and the heads of rare beasts. She spun to the right, crouching behind the first pedestal, and kept her breathing as smooth and slow as she could.

The guard frowned, glancing around. He took a few steps into the room, looking left and right. He shook his head and stepped back out into the hall.

Rouge refused to sigh in relief. Her lips trembled holding it in, but she managed to control it. ::I’m in.::

Motte was clearly relieved. ::Good, now get the doll and get out of there!::

She looked around, her passive [Darkvision] making the dimness look like faded daylight. The doll was supposed to be on the third pedestal to the right. It wasn’t a particularly expensive item, so hopefully there would be no alarms or traps on it. She duck-walked to the pedestal and peered on top, reading the information for the item there.

Doll of Contentment – a small handmade doll that brings happiness to whoever holds it. This one is well loved. Weight- 1 lb. Rarity – Very Rare.

::It’s here! Right where they said it would be!:: She reached up to slide it from its pedestal.

::Did you check for traps?:: Motte’s voice stopped her right before she touched the limp rag doll.

She scrunched up her nose, but did as he said, triggering her [Trap Detection] skill. She cursed softly.

::What did you say?:: Motte’s voice was disapproving.

::Nothing, Dad,:: she muttered. ::There’s a trap. It’s just a pressure switch though.::

::Going to pull an Indy?::

She grinned. ::You know it.:: She pulled up the interface for her main Inventory and dug through her items. She, like many gamers, had a tendency to hang onto every piece of random loot that dropped. You just never knew when you were going to get a fetch quest for a hundred Pieces of Chitin or twenty Duckbills.

::Ah ha! Got it. One Broken Deer Antler coming up!:: Quickly, she pulled the antler from her inventory and held it over the pedestal by the doll. Her [Legerdemain] skill was nearly level 17, so hopefully it would boost her chances of succeeding. Smoothly, she took hold of the doll and lowered the doll while the antler came down. The instant she lifted the doll away, she knew she’d failed. Even though the two items both weighed one pound, the weight of the doll was spread all across the top of the pedestal, while the antler’s weight rested on two points. Apparently, the weight distribution mattered, because a loud klaxon split the night a moment later.

::Dagnabit!:: She rolled to the side as a series of darts hidden in the base of the pedestal ejected into the surrounding area. One caught the edge of her gray and black mottled bodysuit. It sliced the soft fabric with its sharp point, revealing caramel skin beneath.

::Do you need help? I can be there in-::

::No! I’m going to run for it! You’re too loud and slow, and everyone in the area will know where we are. Just stay there!::

Rouge slipped back along the edge of the room and reached the area behind the first pedestal by the door just as the guard stepped inside the room. She saw his hand dip into a pouch at his waist and pull out a small glowstone. She gritted her teeth. She hated those things! The light they produced was nearly as bright as sunlight, and they were nearly as common as lights on devices in the real world. Whoever coded those really hated rogues.

Before the guard could activate the stone, she leapt, aiming the pommel of her knife at the base of his skull. She’d practiced this move a hundred times with Motte, but there was always a difference between doing it for real and doing it in practice. She triggered [Knockout], and prayed to Gina.

Gina has heard your prayer. Chance of a successful [Knockout] improved to 100%.

::Yes! I got it!:: The hilt of her blade smacked solidly against the guard’s skull, and he dropped to the floor limply, the glowstone falling from his hand. She scooped it up, but couldn’t pause to do more than that. If she was lucky, her passive [Pilfer] skill might still activate. Even at level 1, it had a .5% chance of stealing something from anyone unconscious or dead within 5 feet of her, so there was still a tiny chance of getting something from him.

She scampered down the hall to the large window on the east side of the building. Coming in, she’d climbed up the wall to a second floor balcony, but she didn’t have time to go back out that way. She picked up a heavy porcelain jug from a small table nearby, and threw it at the window, following it up with the table for good measure, though she grunted at the weight of the solid wooden furniture.

The jug cracked the glass of the window, but bounced back to the floor, shattering with a loud crunch. The table hit the cracks and the window burst outward, table and glass shards raining down into the courtyard below.

Motte grunted, deep voice sounding annoyed. ::Ow. The table hurt.::

::Just practice. Incoming!:: Rouge leapt into the air, hearing the pounding of heavily armored feet coming toward her from both ends of the hall. She cast her level 12 spell, [Poof!], and a billowing cloud of smoke filled the hall, covering her escape. She vaulted through the window, twisting into a half-flip so she dropped through the air back first. She was caught in strong arms before she could hit the ground, and grinned up at the metal helmet of the heavily-armored man who held her.

::Let’s go!:: Motte rumbled, slinging her small frame up onto his shoulder. Then, like a juggernaut, he began to run. What he lacked in speed, he more than made up for in sheer power, and his [Battering Ram] skill allowed him to barrel through the approaching guards before they could ready themselves to attack. A few knives were thrown after them, and she saw his health bar flicker, but she wasn’t worried. Motte Bailey had a truly amazing ability to soak up damage.

The rogue and the tank were away from the estate of the wealthy lord before the city guards had a chance to respond to the yells. This was fortunate, because city guards could always see names, unless the players had much higher [Obfuscation] skills than Rouge’s mere level 5. Motte’s class, Guardian Wall, gave him no skills that concealed his identity at all. If the city guard had seen them, a warrant would have been issued for their arrest and things would have gotten hot in the city for a while.

The sixty second cooldown on [Poof!] was up, so Rouge used it again. The sounds of pursuit faded behind them. They reached their horses, hidden behind some bushes a few streets over, and swung up into their saddles.

::Did you get the doll?:: Motte asked as they rode away down winding roads, heading toward the docks, which would be busy even at this time of the night.

She flashed a peace sign. ::You know it! Now we just need to go deliver it.::

He shook his head. ::I don’t know why you always take these random quests.::

Now that they were out of battle, Rouge put her hood into her inventory, and changed from her damaged cloth bodysuit into a blue leather jerkin and leggings with a simple thought. Beside her, Motte changed his gear from generic heavy armor to his usual all-black set. She ran her fingers through the black curls around her face, loosening them after their confinement in the hood. Her fingers caught on the long points of her ears, and she grimaced.

::I thought these ears were cool in the character design, but I didn’t know how much they’d get in the way. Do you know how many times I’ve gotten them folded under when I put on the hood? Un-com-for-ta-ble. Anyway,:: she said, as she brought her horse around to head toward a street filled with small, quiet houses. ::I like these quests. I hate the repeatable ones. Everybody does those to grind XP or reputation, and they’re boring. I swear even the NPCs look bored when they hand them out. These little quests nobody else bothers with are way more fun.::

Motte shook his head. ::Still, I wish you’d do more of the easy quests. I worry about you when I can’t be on to back you up. If you were doing the same quests as everybody else, at least I’d know what you were getting up to.::

Rouge pulled her horse to a stop. ::This is it!:: She swung her leg around so she was facing her horse’s rear, and then did a quick handstand into a half twist, sticking the landing. Her horse rolled its eyes back at her, then shook its mane, huffing.

Motte chuckled. ::Even your horse isn’t impressed anymore.::

Rouge grinned. ::It’s good practice. I still get a few percent toward my next [Acrobatics] level when I do that. Plus, it’s fun.:: She raised her hand and knocked at the door of the small house. One knock. Pause. Three knocks. Pause. Three more knocks.

The door cracked open, and an eye peered out. It was even lower than Rouge’s, and she was barely five feet tall.

A little voice asked, “Do you have it?”

“I do. Where’s the reward?” Rouge held the doll up by her waist so the limbs flopped forward into the sliver of light that escaped around the edge of the door.

The door closed, and the pair could hear shuffling coming from inside. It reopened slightly wider, and a small child’s hand emerged, clutching a bag. The sleeve of a nightgown was visible, and worn, soft lace fell around the chubby little wrist. “Ten coppers and a snake skin, just like I promised.”

Rouge gently passed the doll into the little hand, carefully accepting the coppers and the precious treasure offered by the girl. The door opened more, revealing a brunette cherub clutching the worn toy. Her smile exposed two missing teeth and a dimpled cheek.

The rogue cleared her throat slightly. “You remember that you’ll have to hide it now, right? They know it’s missing, so they may come looking. They probably won’t really think you could have gotten it back, but just in case, you should keep acting sad. They’re more likely to think that another collector stole it, but I’d hate to see it taken away again just because it’s rare.”

Lower lip quivering, the little face scrunched up in heartbreaking sadness. “My poor dolly! Someone stole it! My daddy gave it to me before he went away to sea, and he promised it would help me be happy even when I missed him! I miss it so much!” The threatening storm of tears cleared away as quickly as it had come. “Like that?”

Rouge broke out into spontaneous applause. It was truly amazing to her how realistic the NPCs were in Veritas Online.

According to the advertising blurbs, the system actually allocated additional resources to characters with whom players interacted, but the little girl was still so realistic that it was amazing to think she wasn’t actually dealing with another player.

Giggling, she said, “Exactly like that. Now go back to bed before your aunt notices you’re missing.” The child nodded and started to close the door. Rouge raised her voice for one more admonition, “And don’t talk to strangers any more!” The door closed.

Motte chuckled. “You sound like me.”

“Yeah, I guess being a killjoy rubs off on me, since I’m around you all the time.” She rolled her eyes at him, but paused her banter as words popped into the air in front of her eyes.

Quest: “Well, Hello Dolly” complete.

You have returned the doll to Matilda, though not without some trouble.

Reward: 2000 Experience, 10 coppers, and a snakeskin.

Rouge blinked away the quest notification, and a golden glow surrounded her. She pumped her fist triumphantly. Switching back to party chat, she said, ::Level 20! Yes!::

Motte used an emote to throw confetti into the air. ::Congratulations! Now, it’s time to log out and go to bed. We both have school tomorrow. Remember your promise, too. I have finals the rest of the week, so I won’t be able to play with you. You need to stay nearby and do some ‘boring’ quests until I get back.::

Rolling her eyes again, Rouge sighed deeply. ::Fine. I’ll log out in a minute. I want to assign my points.::

Motte nodded and patted her on the head. ::Good job tonight, kiddo. I’ll have to go to work before you head to school in the morning, but I’ll make some eggs for good brain food. Eat them. I don’t make them so the dog can steal them off the table after you run for the bus.::

::Daaaaaaad. Come on. I know, already. Go to bed!::

He grinned and gave her a quick hug before his eyes went blank. Mechanically, the empty avatar of Motte Bailey turned and mounted his horse. Pulling the reins, his steed set out for the nearby Inn where they shared a room. Rouge knew the avatar, or the ‘Zombie’, as most players called it, would lay down in the bed there and rest until Motte logged back in and took over.

Rouge shook her head. Her dad was pretty awesome, but he was such a Dad. Quickly, she opened her character sheet and distributed her points, then looked it over.

She pumped five points into Dexterity every level, so half her stat points were there. As half Wood elf, she gained an extra point of Dex for every 10 she put in, and she needed every one she could get so she could be as fast and sneaky as possible. She struggled with what to do with the rest of the points, however. Her dad told her that it was impossible to be an all-rounder in Veritas, but she really didn’t want to be stupid, or squishy, or weak. It was fun to be able to do lots of skills, and someday she’d get more rogue spells.

From what she’d read in the forums, most rogues focused on Stamina and Dexterity so they could use lots of skills quickly. Possibly because of this, most of the rogue spells were silly, but Rouge really liked them. One of the great things about Veritas was that the spells and skill tree weren’t fixed. Instead, they changed depending on how you played, and what skills - or spells - you used the most. Some people had even managed to create their own skill by just doing the same things over and over so many times that the game ‘learned’ the combination.

Smiling in satisfaction, she focused on the logout button and started to select it when a notification popped up in front of her.

SECRET Quest: “Come in From the Cold” begun.

This quest may not be refused. (This is a SECRET quest. If you tell anyone about it before it is complete, you will automatically fail it.) Gina, Goddess of Life, has heard your prayers. You are in a unique position to assist her with a little problem. Duke Penbrooke, the Lord of the North, needs to return to Bright. Dark forces are at work in the city, and only he can work Gina’s will upon the instigators. Find Duke Penbrooke and convince him to return to Bright.

Success: 5 levels. 10000 Gold. +50 reputation points with Gina’s faithful. +20 reputation points with Gina Herself.

Failure: -50 reputation points with Gina’s faithful. -20 reputation points with Gina. Gina will no longer answer your prayers.

This is a chain quest.

Rouge stared, her mouth open. A secret quest? No one got those! Even the highest leveled players in the game might only get one ever. She’d read about them, of course, because she was fascinated by all the weird things that the creators of Veritas had hidden in the game. In interviews, Carl Landon, the owner of Veritas Corporation, which had created Veritas Online, had indicated that the game was actually capable of creating new quests, skills, spells, and everything else as players needed them, so every player’s experience was a little different, depending on their own actions.

Secret quests were, as the name said, secret. Some of the first players to get one had logged out and immediately told everyone on the boards about it. Then, the next time they logged in, they discovered they had automatically failed the quest. A few people mentioned it in guild or party chat, and again, they failed the quest. One person claimed he told his best friend in person out of the game, and the quest continued, so he thought he’d bypassed the requirement. Then his buddy mentioned something in chat that he shouldn’t have known, and the quest instantly failed.

One guy had even sued over the issue, claiming that the game was spying on him. Veritas Corp had quickly shut that down, showing that he’d chatted about it on a public forum, accessible by anyone, and that the EULA that every player signed clearly stated that Veritas could monitor public sites, as well as anything that happened in game. Veritas took secret quests very seriously.

However, her dad had just told her to stay close and do boring quests. This definitely didn’t count as boring, and from what she’d heard about this kind of quest, they were always pretty epic, and required both time and travel.

Still. Five levels and ten thousand gold! Gold was fairly rare in Veritas, which primarily ran on the barter system. NPCs often gave items rather than coins as rewards for quests, and Rouge only had a few hundred gold in her pouch. What kind of gear could she buy with ten thousand gold?

Then there was reputation boost… or loss. Veritas had a huge pantheon, but Gina was one of the main goddesses. If she lost that much reputation with the goddess’s followers, a majority of the regular NPCs in the city would ‘Dislike’ her. She’d also have to find another religion to join, because the reason players ‘prayed’ was because of the small chance that the deity might actually step in to help them. It was theorized that there was a hidden Faith stat, and she had a feeling she’d lose all her Faith, or maybe even fall negative if she let this quest go.

She shook her head. No matter what, she couldn’t do anything about it right now. It was already accepted, so she was stuck with it. If she didn’t at least try, she’d fail automatically. And that’s what she’d tell her dad if he got mad at her later. Not her fault. Definitely.

She logged out.