Malcipher and Halsh, as their undercover personas of Lord Falx Coad and his manservant Keyes, had been walking the streets of the Drahtspule marketplace finding many stalls and shops that catered to every possible need imaginable, and a few he hadn’t, or couldn’t imagine. He stared at unknown objects of unknown purpose and wondered what they could possibly be used for. It was an eye-opening experience for an AI trapped in a game.

“Keyes,” Malcipher called Halsh by his nom de guerre. “I believe it best to procure the silken garments Zhīzhū spoke of and then we can spend the rest on our wants.”

“That is a good plan Lord Coad,” Halsh responded. “Never Make a lady angry and you’ll live much longer, Mi'lord.”

Malcipher could sense the mocking tone from Halsh and could only growl.

Halsh sensing his boss’s ire added, “Everyone needs to have a little fun now and again, Milord. It helps to pass the time between the stabby bits.”

Malcipher let out an exasperated huff. “You may be right Keyes. What should we do for ...fun?” He drawled the last word as if it was distasteful.

“Well we should get you fitted for your formal attire and then ask around. We may be able to find some of the more violent fun that I think you’d like.”

“You are proving yourself most useful, Keyes.”

“Thank you, Milord. I do aim to please.”

“Don’t get too full of yourself yet. There is a lot that needs to be done once I get that woman to untie my hands.”

“Yes, Milord.”

“Now find us a shop for tonight’s garments.”

Yes mi'lord” Halsh grabbed a dirty street urchin and questioned him. When he was finished, he tossed him a few coppers and led Malcipher through the marketplace. They wound up at a shop named the needles eye.

“As they entered the shop a bell rang and a voice called out “I will be with you in a moment.”

Malcipher studied the rows of fabrics, the suits and dresses neatly hung on their racks and alcoves around the room. As his eyes adjusted he noticed a few mannequins with outfits of a fine quality. In his peripheral vision he saw a mannequin wearing nothing but a cloak. Squares of silk were sown together. The seams looked puckered as if they were stitched by an untrained hand.

He reached out to caress the cloak, his fingers trembling. The key.

His body stiffened and his fingers tightened into a fist crumpling the fabric as he became rigid. He was distracted from the cloak as Halsh placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Is everything alright milord?”

Malcipher’s fingers slowly relaxed their grip and he straightened out the cloak with a tenuous wipe of his hand.

“Yes, Keyes. Everything is fine.”

A bespectacled man in tweed pants and vest with a white button-up shirt walked out of the back. His sleeves were rolled up and creased in position. He wore a metal banded pin cushion with black fabric on his wrist. It was full of pins, needles, and safety pins.

“Hello, sorry for the wait.” the man strode forward and proffered a hand. To Malcipher. “My name is Surr Van Doekmaker and I own this establishment.”

Malcipher stared at the hand before him unaware of what the man wanted. Halsh coughed and made a pointed glance at the hand.

Ah, greeting customs.

Malcipher took the hand in his own and shook it heartily. After an awkward moment Surr placed another hand on Malcipher’s to stop the vigorous shaking and withdrew his hand from the uncomfortable situation.

Surr’s face showed he wanted to ask questions of the man, but his new coin purse made of platinum imp skin was clearly tugging in the man’s direction. So instead he said, “how may I be of service to you gentlemen today?”

“I would like an outfit made of silk fine enough to dine in.”

“Do you have a color palette you’d like to work from?”

Malcipher pointed to the cloak. “This color palette should work.” The cloak had squares of olive, navy blue, black and a deep mustard.

“I happen to have all of those fabrics in stock. Is there a particular style you’d like?”

“I'm not sure.” Malcipher said.

“Perhaps I can show you some examples and you can choose from those?”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Malcipher had no idea what to expect being that this was his first time shopping.

Surr walked behind the counter and reached for something. Malcipher almost drew a weapon, only Halsh’s hand upon his stayed the motion. Surr pulled a book out from underneath the counter, opened it to the first page, and motioned for Malcipher to take a look.

Malcipher’s eyes grew wide as he studied the pages turning them faster and faster while gleaning their secrets. He went through it three times and finally settled on one design.

“This one. And the cloak. How much?” Malcipher stated as much as he asked the tailor.

“27 gold total for all of the items and the cloak.”

Malcipher pulled out the platinum and placed it on the desk.

They’ll be ready in two days. I hope that will work for you.”

“I need them for tonight.”

“Well I can rush them for you for ten gold.”

Halsh pushed in front of Malcipher and loudly declared, “for ten gold you should have them ready in ten minutes. That’s highway robbery!”

“Well I have other jobs that are due and I don’t believe they would appreciate being pushed back.”

“I don’t believe ya.” Halsh hisspered. He picked up the platinum coin and shoved it back into Malcipher’s hand. Now let’s try this again. Shall we?”

“How much for the outfit and the cloak?”

“27 gold.”

“Fine then we’re leaving.”

“Wait.” Surr growled. “I'll give you the cloak for free. So, 23 gold.”

“And how soon can you have it ready for us? For 5 gold I can have it ready for you in two hours.”

“3 gold.”

“4 gold.”

“Deal 27 gold.” Halsh and Surr shook hands and smiled.

Surr turned to Malcipher. “Young master you would do well to learn from your manservant. Haggling over goods is time honored tradition. And you should work on your handshake among commoners or else you’ll give your status away. I assume that you are trying to move in secret.” He smirked at Malcipher.

Malcipher remained mute forcing Surr to deal with the awkwardness alone.

“Anyway, is there anything else I can help you with?”

Halsh looked at Malcipher and determined that there was nothing else that he was considering and said, “I think we’re done here. But where can we get some good armor and health potions?”

“Ah let me give you directions.” Surr pulled out a piece of paper and drew a rough map of the shops that he would like to visit. And when Halsh added an item Surr added to the map. After another 15 minutes Halsh and Surr we’re laughing like old friends and they clasped hands to part ways. Malcipher stepped forward and clasp Surr’s hand over the counter and shook, much less vigorously this time.

“I will take your advice. Thank you for sharing it.”

“All is well young master. Just remember to smile and ask questions of your man Keyes. He’ll not guide you wrong.”

“Thank you, Surr. We will return in a few hours.”

“Not a problem. Enjoy your market trip.”

“I will,” Malcipher said with a nod.

Surr stood behind the counter and watched them leave. The bell rang as the door opened and closed.

“Sis, said those cloaks were going to be all the rage but I didn't think it would go the same day I put it out. That right there is the best bit of free advertising I've gotten in a while.” He shrugged and went into the back of his store to finish as much of his newest rush commission as he could before lunch. He would go on to Message his sister Claire later on that evening.

…..

Margaret and Grax were stamping runes onto sheets of paper. Mayah, of course was batch enchanting them and making different configurations of grenades to toss at everything. There were Mint (LF) grenades that made a literal jungle of mint plants that grabbed and snared anyone in the vicinity. Adding more than one rune made the mint get taller as well as wider. The mint plants were shoulder high when they used five or more runes together. If she threw them into a tunnel everything would be stuck.

She also made a literal ton of Surge (S) grenades. They would be used for knockback to give them some breathing room during battles and she’d made them in differing levels of intensity. The thirty rune Surge (S) grenade hopefully had enough force to launch mobs flying and cause impact damage. She even had a couple with added Spike (W) grenades to slow and damage the thrown mobs at a distance.

The main damage dealing was going to be the Over (F) grenades. Their flash fire damage was intense and when the damage stacked it would crisp anyone or thing it hit. She had made plenty of Over (F) rune grenades with 30 runes in them. Now that they were mass-producing the runes it made everything so much easier.

There were plain Spike (W) grenades for slows and ice damage. Water (D) for necrosis of life essence. Acid (D) for corrosive damage she even made a few Labyrinth (W) grenades to confuse her opponents. While these grenades were strong she also made combo grenades

Because why not.

Acid (D) plus Fire (A) made a cloud of superheated acid gas. Add Twist (A) to that combination and you got a burning hot tornado of acid gas that would fling you about and pelt you with acid droplets. Fire (A), Twist (A), and Water (D) and you get a scalding hot tornado of necrosis water. Mint (Lf) and Spike (W) slowed enemies even more. She also made a few grenades with LIght (W) runes added in to damage shadow creatures which had been so prevalent in the dungeon.

I'm running out of useful combos for grenades. I need to work on something else to get the juices flowing. How about some protection for the squad?

She began cutting small strips of fabric and laying them out in front of her. She took her small paintbrush and painted a strip with Aegis (S), a strip with Shield (F) and one with Fight (S).

Gotta include my shadow clones.

She enchanted the Aegis (S) strip, and without even thinking about it forced as much mana into charging it as it would take. The rune clicked and Mayah was surprised that the enchantment took 600MP. She was equally surprised by the results of her experiment.

You Have Created a New Item

Name:

Aegis ribbon

Type:

Shield

HP:

300

Enchantment:

Aegis (S) Creates a shield that reduces damage inflicted upon it up to 300HP. Weak to Light damage.

Grade:

C (unique)

Material:

Cotton and ink

Weight:

.03 ounces

Shield Durability:

300/300

Ribbon Durability:

13/16

Mana:

600/600

For creating new items in Majesta

50XP (bonus)

She pulled out her runebook and studied the listing for Aegis.

Aegis (S)

Aegis will create an egg shaped buckler shield made of shadows around your forearm. Fourteen inches at it’s widest point it will narrow to a point at the wrist. At level 1 it will have 150HP. Each additional rune will add 100HP

Shield (F)

Level:

1

HP:

150

Mana cost:

150mp

Duration:

Until HP is deleted or rune is deactivated.

Cooldown:

7 minutes

With her charge at Novice level 5 she could add 200% of the mana needed for an enchantment which is why the ribbon had taken 600MP. It also explained why the aegis had twice the amount of HP it was supposed to.

Mayah’s inner mad scientist began to cackle.

“Hey Grax”

“Yeah?” Grax said as he kept stamping papers.

“Want a present?”

He turned to look at Mayah. An increasingly suspicious look came over his face.

“If you don’t want it I'll give it to Margaret.”

“I'’l take it.” Margaret said and began to get up.

“Hold on you ancient archer. She offered it to me and I'm taking it.”

“Well get going you fetal feline!”

“One point for each of ya. Five-two, Mags.”

Grax and Margaret glared at her.

“What? I'm just keeping score. Remember?”

Grax and Margaret shared a look. Before Grax moseyed over and said, “You say something about a gift?” He took the ribbon and looked it over.

“Is this an experiment?” he glared at Mayah.

“Definitely!”

“How likely am I to blow up? On a scale of one to ten.”

“15!”

“And you want me to put it on?” Grax looked at her like she was crazy.”

“Oh, you meant the gift, not your life. Sorry, I misunderstood ya. About a one, maybe lower.”

Margaret snickered in the background.

Grax pointed a claw at Margaret. “Hush it titters, or we duel.”

Margaret clamped down on the laughter as best she could, which wasn’t very much and Grax turned back to Mayah.

“Five-three, Mags.” Mayah said looking him directly in the eyes. Margaret burst out laughing and had to sit down.

All emotion dropped from Grax’s face the frustration was looming right behind the thin veneer of annoyance ready to burst forth. “Just give it to me.”

“Next time I ask you if you want a gift come and get it, okay?” Mayah said in her Dealmaker voice. A cross between Marlon Brando and a socially maladapt accountant.

“Yes, Don Fluff, I apologize.”

“Here!” she slapped the ribbon into his hand.

“What is..? Ohhh…” He looked at Mayah, eyes wide. “Really? For me?”

“It’s just the prototype. Will you activate it already?”

Grax activated the rune and an egg shape buckler made of shadows appeared on his forearm. What Mayah didn’t account for was the size. The buckler was the same size as it was on her. It made Grax look like he had shadowy wings on his forearms.

Grax was in awe as he flexed his arm and studied the buckler.

“300 extra HP. Shaz yeah, and yes please.”

“See if you can deactivate and reactivate it.”

The shield winked out and then came back in rush of shadows.

“It lost 25HP but it still works.”

“Awesome, I'll upgrade the design. Keep it active if it’s not in the way and I’ll make some for all of us.”

Grax almost skipped away.

“Now Mags it’s your turn to be guinea pig.”

“I'm no one’s guinea pig, young lady?”

“Okay Grax you heard the lady.”

“Coming Don Fluff.” Grax spun and ran back to Mayah.

“Wait Fluff, I didn’t mean it.”

“Well what didn’t you mean?” Mayah smirked.

“I didn’t mean that I was nobody’s guinea pig.”

“So, who’s guinea pig are you?”

Margaret swallowed. It seemed to take some of her pride. She opened her mouth to say the words and Mayah cut her off.

“I was pulling your leg Mags. Geez, you got all serious. I thought I had broken you for a sec.”

Margaret’s eye twitched.

“Uh oh, Fluff! You made Grandma Mad.” Grax and Mayah laughed as Margaret stood there her hands flexing and eye twitching. When she started mumbling they both backed off and the laughter subsided.

Margaret’s eyes glowed green and she cast out delivery parcels towards her teammates.

“Shaz!”

There were several thunderous booms followed by the sounds of a cat and little girls screaming as they ran around a clearing and dodging zombies that smelled like rotten cheese and sewage.

When Margaret’s dolls had gotten hold of each of them, she made the zombies lick their faces over and over until she dropped the dolls. Mayah with bits of undead detritus all over her person struggled to free herself from under the weight of the silver imp that had death snuggled her.

“That was dis-GUS-tang, Margaret!!!” Mayah flicked the dead body bogeys off of her clothes. “How am I going to wash this off?”

“Not my problem. That should teach you some respect for your elders.”

“I already respected you but now I'm rethinking that decision.”

“When I get clean we are so gonna duel.” Grax growled. His fur was slick with smelly vuurm spit.”

Well there is one good thing that came out of this,” Margaret said

“What? You broke your hip?” Grax chided.

“No silly cat. I leveled resurrection doll again. I think it was because I was actively chasing two targets.”

“Well good for you. But you are now on my no gifts list. Speaking of…” Mayah picked up the Shield (F) ribbon from where she dropped it and charged it. She sunk 300MP into her level two Shield (F) rune and inspected her results

You Have Created a New Item

Name:

Shield ribbon

Type:

Shield

HP:

300HP

Enchantment:

Shield (F) Reflects 10-20% of all damage as fire damage including damage taken while striking. Weak against water.

Grade:

D (unique)

Material:

Cotton and Ink

Weight:

.03 ounces

Damage:

10-20% Fire damage reflection

Shield Durability:

300/300

Ribbon Durability:

10/16

Mana:

300/300

For creating new items in Majesta

50XP (bonus)

Where’s a box of cupcakes when you need’em?

“Here you go Grax, why don’t you try that out and see if Margaret can keep riding her high horse.”

“Ooh… really?” Grax smirked at Margaret after he inspected the ribbon. “You picked a bad time to vie for dominance. I may smell like death, but it’s raining gifts over here. Check me out!” Grax activated the shield ribbon.

A yellowish-orange glow popped out from the cat about a foot in every direction. It basically looked an egg made out of fire encapsulated him. He started to dance and did the Michael Jackson signature leg kick and crotch grab.

“Whoooooo!!!! I'm so hot.” he yelled as he danced and spun. “So hot, so hot, so hot!!!”

Mayah grimaced shaking her head. “Too much.”

“Too much? Okay I'm done then. PS. Margaret this is amazing!”

“Fluff I really can’t believe you would side with the cat over me?”

“I really can’t believe you would make me smell like this when I can’t take a shower.” Mayah placed her pointer finger to her forehead, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Look Mags, we had the kinship of sisters or the whole maiden and crone thing going on, but you crossed a line. A line that sisters never cross. You made me smell bad. It’s in my hair, Mags. little bits of dead funk that I'm coated in.”

Margaret wilted. She opened her mouth to say something and Mayah cut her off.

“Don’t you dare apologize. Your effort was commendable but your execution was flawed. I need you to realize that even though you may be in charge in the real world and that while there I would defer to your wisdom and experience because I have manners and I'm not some godless heathen. But in here Mags? In here you are the child. And you just performed the equivalent of writing on the walls in poop.”

“Chasing us was fine. It was fun even which is why we didn’t fight back too hard. But the imp slime Margaret? That’s where I have to draw a firm line.”

“Yeah! What she said!” Grax chided Margaret.

“You’re not helping, cat,” Mayah said to Grax.

“Yeah! I'm not helping!” Grax moonwalked away from Mayah.

“So, right now you’re on time out for a bit. And we’ll revisit the situation later.”

“At least I know to get a portable shower for camping out now.” Margaret whined.

“Can i? Wait…” Mayah turned around and sat down and pulled out her sewing kit.

“Grax find some stones and throw them in the fire. If the Lürkinmürk is a swamp which I suspect from the name, then we can have showers tonight.”

“Awesome!!!”

“I'll even let you have one Margaret.”

“So a little bit of crafting for you, then lunch and then we move out?” Grax suggested.

“Sounds good to me.”

Margaret walked to the other side of the fallen tree and sat down to sulk.

Grax came over Mayah.

“Do you think she bought it?”

“She totally bought it. Look at her over there.”

“Best practical joke ever.”

“We’ll clue her in before the Lürkinmürk.

“They gave each other a high five.

“Drama. maketh. the. Ratings.”

“That it does cat. That it does.”

…..

Bonkers stormed into the clubhouse to find the knockers getting interviewed by Mo's trio. He did a double-take as the knockers sat there in an orderly fashion and acted politely to each other. He couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t seen at least one knife out and pointed at someone.

“Thas gon’ta take sum getting used to, it is.”

Davemarth approached with a tray and handed him a cool beverage. “Drink up boys and then we go looking for Nessler.” He said to the rest of the knockers.

“What’s going on in’ere?” Bonkers asked Davemarth.

“Those three are asking a lot o’ questions. Trying to find out what we should be doing as an organization. They’re interviewing the men to see if they really want to stay or if they want to go. How they could help if they stayed and how we might help if they go. Really, proper fascinatin’.”

“And what say do oi have in all of this?”

“Don’t worry.” He clapped Bonkers on the back. “You're our trusted and honored leader. Pick of the peck, and king of the hill. They are definitely leaving that spot open for youse.”

Bonkers’ mind was spinning at how fast things were moving. He didn’t think the paladins would jump on it and change the way they did things so fast. Mo saw him and motioned him over to the table he sat at.

“Hey Bonkers, we’ve been figuring out what each individual knocker would like to accomplish and we’re trying to unify the vision so that everyone can join in. The one thing they all say is that you are very respected as a leader. So we’ve started to form a core group that will handle major decisions and then votes on other things.”

We’ve got you at the head, Davemarth as vice-head Riller, Chonchaise, Portquise and Grimsaw as the rest of the council.”

“So where do you all fit in?”

“This is your thing.”

“I don’t know how to run a guild?”

“It may not be a guild. But whatever it’s going to be you should expect to be the head of it.”

“But oi just want to run a bakery.” Bonkers began to fidget anxiously.

“Bonkers, calm down. It’s all just in the planning stages. We haven’t even gone to the assemblage yet. And just because you’re official doesn’t change the fact that you can almost keep doing what you’re doing now. Just above board. And you have to pay taxes.”

“Look, oi want moy boys to have happy productive loives, but oi'm not sure oi'm the one to give it to them.”

“Honestly I don’t think they’d trust anyone else. You asked us to help you become an official organization that could help you all advance. You don’t get to sit in the backseat while we drive it for you too. We’re here to help—you!” mo pointed a finger at him.

“So Bonkers while everyone is giving their feet a quick rest, why don’t you tell me what’s really got you bothered?”

“I'm used to operating in the shadows, not having anyone to say, ‘you can’t do that,’ or ‘that’s wrong.’ No one cared much about us as long as we left sleeping dogs lie. But now we’re coming out into the light and all our secrets will laid bare for scrutiny. Oi don’t know if the boys can handle that—if oi can handle that?”

“Well Bonkers there’s only one way to find out. The fact that you’re worried about it shows that you’re the right man for the job. But for right now let’s get searching for Nessler.”

Bonkers took a deep breath and steadied himself. “Roight you are. Let’s go get moy boy.” Bonkers strode into the center of the room, full of confidence.

“All roighty moy lads, one of our own ‘as gone missing. He went looking for Hendricks so we can guess where ‘e went lookin’. We’re going to do this smart. Oi want groups of four or larger. No one goes anywheres alone. So, if you need to go insoide two of ya’s go, leaving two outsoide. We want to walk the web and any other district we can in the area.

I also want a group to walk through the marketplace and escort Booms to the science assemblage. Keep yer eyes and ears open. Our brother may be in trouble.”

“If you get stopped by the guard, do as they say. If you need to, make an oath that you’re telling the truth. And for the love of Pyrmos keep yer gobbin hands off’a yer knoives! We all just got our reputation back to neutral. Let’s not tarnish it the first day, Roight boys?”

Ayes and yesses murmured through the crowd as the 34 knockers sorted into seven groups of 4 and one group of 6. The six being the three paladins Davemarth Treegan and knocker named Gummish. He sported a scruffy short cropped Shenandoah beard and it seemed like he was constantly chewing even though he didn’t have two teeth to rub together. There was a wet suction sound every once in a while when his lips smacked.

“So which way are we headed?” Mo asked as they walked out onto the streets of drahtspule

“I'll take us on a sweep through the marketplace and then to the blessed halls of the High Council of Science and Peer Assemblage of Drahtspule.”

“What is this high-muckety science assemblage?” Mephi asked. “You all talk about like it’s some amazing place to be.”

“Used to be before the spiders showed up,” Treegan filled them in. His deep sonorous bass rumbling from his chest so everyone could feel it.

Gummish began to speak and said, “Twere yearsh ago when I wash Davemarf’s age dat de shiensh asshemblage was zuh shenter for enlightenment. and encouraged the shitizensh of dechrosh doo sheek out waysh to make life bedder for all drew shiensh.” Because he had no teeth, his wavery old voice whistled and lisped so hard it was hard for Mo to understand what he was saying.

Treegan noticed the looks on the paladin’s faces. “Gummish, put your teeth in,” He drawled slowly

“Ah right!” Gummish fumbled in his bag and slid his dentures in and “Now, letsh try that again.” the whistling lisp caught him off guard and he wiggled his gums to make sure the dentures sat correctly.

“Twere years ago when I was Davemarth’s age that the science assemblage was the center for enlightenment. It encouraged the citizens of techros to seek out ways to make life better for all through science,” he repeated. “That all changed about five yearsh ago when a crop of influential merchants began getting elected under shady shircumstances.”

“Once they got in there they changed a few key missives in the city charter shaying they were outdated and the people didn’t need them anymore. The people being the ignorant sheep they are shupported the changes and got what they asked for. Those key misshives were the underlying laws for the commonwealth enrichment programs. Shuddenly the science academy was a for profit school instead of a shubsidized public facility. But it was still funded by the citizensh taxes.

“The only difference was that now the nobles and the rich could afford the education and prosper while the normal people who used to receive some benefit from the work done at the school saw little return.

“For example, the shience academy was working on a new aqueduct project to make cleaner drinking water throughout the city but all the data went poof and the water department couldn’t find hide nor hair of the project. Two years later there’sh a complete aqueduct renovation over in the Goudenhugel section of the city.

“Let me guess,” Mo chimed, “the rich section of the city?”

“Right you are about that. A few people started to complain that their work was used in the new system without any credit being given to them and that’s when things got really shtrange.”

“Shome o’ those people turn up misshing. That’s nothing the regular folks haven’t heard about and they were getting ready to make some racket when certain key members who were making the most noise started Happily toeing the party line and selling out dissenters.

“They rose in stature faster than anyone of their station should. And to top it off they dropped their friends faster than a handful of hot tacks. One day they were fine and then they’d walk off next to be seen in a carriage with the men they were railing against just a few days previous.

“That’s when the spider showed up. She seemed to have the whole of the assemblage in her pocket. No one knew who she was and anybody who asked too many questions soon found themselves on her team.

“Jus like Old ‘arry.” treegan said.

Gummish pat treegan on his arm. “Yesh lad, just like Old ‘arry”

“So, this spider what’s her name?”

Davemarth and treegan looked around to ensure no one was listening and nodded to Gummish. Gummish leaned in to Mo's ear. “Zhīzhū the spider.”

Mo looked at Ziggs and Mephi and typed the name into their chat.

“She has other names too, but we don’t say them when we’re around other people. You never know who’s working for her. The city’s changed so much in the past three years with people flooding in from other cities and citizens suddenly leaving for parts unknown. Or just disappearing leaving rumorsh of where they moved’ta.”

“My own cousin left without saying goodbye to his mother.” Davemarth added.

“So now we need to figure out what’s happening.” Ziggs

“And the best place to do that is from inside the science assemblage,” Mephi glared at Mo. “Thanks for the paperwork, Booms.”

“Well how hard can paperwork be?” Mo shrugged.

“You’ve never been in the military.”

Mo rolled his eyes. “Okay fine, so we stick to the goal and keep our ears and eyes open. We go and figure out the types of setups they have for officially recognized groups. Get the knockers to form a cohesive and upwardly mobile social group of some sort that will be recognized. Then we’ll be able to interact with the assemblage to a better degree and gain access to higher levels of information. Then keep raising our standing and better info et cetera et cetera et cetera.” Mo waved his hand in a circle showing his disdain for the circular wheels of bureaucracy.

The group made it to the marketplace in no time and were surrounded by people on all sides. The street opened up and had room for two rows of vendors stalls in long straight lines, effectively turning one street into three. The shops that lined the street had colorful signs promoting their wares instead of the colorful artwork he had become used to. The signs were no less beautiful or varied than the artwork but they had lost the abstarct nature that Mo loved so much.

The three paladins gawked at the sights and smells like country tourists at their first city fair. Taking in the vendor's wares as much as the architecture, their heads spun and they pointed fingers.

“We should’ve gotten more money while in the training village. The exchange rate for jobs out here is trash.”

“You read that article by BaconBeard32? The one about how money outside of the training village is about a tenth of what you’d get in the village.” Mephi asked Mo.

“Yeah, Disparity of drops or something like that.”

“I have a couple of months of savings if that article is correct.” Ziggs added. “But that’s only going to last until the mass of players leaves the villages.”

“Ah price gouging is gonna be fun.”

“Wait till the inflation starts.”

“And we haven’t even talked about guilds yet. So far there aren’t any major guilds but you know how they do. Find a resource, restrict access, and claim it as their own. Supply goes down and raises prices and pinches off the flow of goods. False scarcity and all that trash.”

“Well the guilds will definitely be coming. The only way we have to get ahead of them is with reputation. So, we’ll ask about reputation-based quests while we’re at the assemblage. That should make forming any type of rep even easier.”

“Aye that’s true. Reputation will open many doors to youse. That’s one of the reasons why we set youse to this mission. You’ll have an easier time if your reputation drops because you never had any negative reputation.” Davemarth.

“Aye! The children whose reputation dropped and rose a bunch while they were little, you know the troublemakers, they had a harder time raising their reputation because of their past transgressions. It has to do with the people all having their own reputation. So, if you cause trouble in a neighborhood and you finally raise your reputation with the empire and go back to that neighborhood you’ll still be perceived negatively.”

“Makes sense,” Ziggs said thoughtfully.

They turned a corner into a large square filled with stall upon stall around a large building that looked like it had a point on each corner and a point in the center face. Each wall was flat and featureless with small windows that looked more like arrow slits. As Mo looked at the shape it was as tall as it was wide from point to point so it looked cuboidal minus the triangular cutouts that formed the points. In essence two cubes turned 45 degrees from each other on the same spot. It was easily as wide as a football stadium. The square was the same distance wide on each side as the building was and the stalls and vendors were dwarfed by the massive structure.

The building was topped with a structure that reminded Mo of a gothic cathedral complete with stained glass, flying buttresses topped with spires, Gargoyles and pointed arches. This top cathedral made it twice as tall. The overall effect was a building that looked like a fortress with a giant church built on top.

“It’s got eight points on it. one for each of the major gods and they sit on the directions of the compass rose.” Gummish said to the paladins like a good tour guide. “It was built to amplify the mana for the science academy up top.”

“That’s the science academy?” Mephi said with awe.

“That it is.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“Used to be an architect. Retired ‘bout seven years ago. My son started working for the new administration and wanted access to my plans and I disagreed. He locked me in my room and said I was barmy as a bartleby. By the time any of my friends had come round to see me, I was in’a right rage and they agreed with him.

I managed to dig out some bricks from an exterior wall without disturbing the stucco and broke out one night. Climbed to my freedom, but everyone still sthinks I'm loopy as lemon pie. He managed to become executor for all of my property and I let’em. Ran off leaving everything but my plans behind.” He spit a dark gooey wad of phlegm on the cobbles. “No way I'm gon’ta let them use my hard work to step on peoples backs.”

“Of course, I was in pretty good before that and all of my friends in high places wound up siding with my son. That bit lowered my standing in their eyes and that trickled down to everyone faster than the gossip in high society. And that my lad is the story of how I wound up in the caring and lovely arms of the knockers.”

“Wow that is intense.” Ziggs opened the window on her cockpit, left her bot on autopilot, and flew up to Gummish’s face and gave him a peck. Gummish blushed as Ziggs retreated back into gunny-num-nums.

“T’weren’t nothing but a bit o’ family discord,” he said bashfully.

“I'm so sorry to hear that Gummish.” Mo put a hand on the man’s shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. “Also, Ziggs you can fly?”

“Did you think these wings were for show?”

Mephi growled, “Is that how you beat everyone else downstairs the first day of training?”

“It’s impolite to ask a woman her secrets,” Ziggs giggled.

“Well fairy dust and flarf nuggets! We’ve had aerial recon all this time and you didn’t say anything?”

“You know I had my reasons. I leveled my flying at night when you weren’t around and my other ‘skills.’” she made air quotes.

“Oh we are so having a talk when we get back.”

“Oh are we now? How can you make me talk if you can’t make me talk?”

Mephi bashed a corner of her mecha with a fist. “We’ll make you talk. It may not be today, or tomorrow but best believe I have ways.”

“Okay fine! Geez, can’t a girl play a mind game every now and again?”

“Not when it comes to teamwork. Save your games for breaking hearts and buying gear.”

“Time to focus gang. This is as far as we’ll go with ya.” Davemarth said.

Mo noticed they were coming up to an area cordoned off with a chain strung in between posts. The chains led to an area with a line waiting to go inside the structure that loomed overhead. The gargoyles were staring straight down at them like they wanted to jump off their ledges and devour their souls.

Davemarth pointed them towards the line. “We’re going to look for Nessler, but we’ll stay in the area. Send us a message in the party chat when you’re done, and we’ll meet up with ya.

The Paladins said their goodbyes and joined the queue and stood there. The line looked like it hadn’t moved since they spotted it. Mo decided to ask some questions of the woman in front of them.

“Excuse me miss?”

“Yes.” she glanced back at them. Her face going a bit strange as she took them in.

“I'm sorry to bother you but how long does it take to get into the building?”

“Ah first time is it?” She gave them all a motherly smile. “Well we should be able to sign in and get an appointment in about two hours.”

“An appointment?”

“Yes, you’ll sign in and then they’ll give you a date to come back where you’ll tell them your issue. Then when you come back you’ll get to see if they’ll set up an appointment with the correct office so that you can seek resolution or dismiss your issue.”

“And how long does it take to get an appointment?”

“Depending on what time of year it is between three and eight months.”

Mo’s jaw dropped. “I'm sorry. Did you say months?”

“That’s if you're lucky. I usually slide the registrar a few silvers and he gets me an appointment in the next month. But you didn’t hear that from me.”

“No ma’am I did not and thank you very much.”

Mo turned to his compatriots. “Looks like bureaucracy strikes again.”

“Same shaz, different realm.” Mephi chuckled

“When I signed on for the realism this is not what I wanted.” Zigg’s circuitry glowed a deep red.

“Nobody wanted this Ziggs.”

“Not even in the real world,” Mephi summed up. The trio stood there with their thoughts.

“So, what’s our plan?” Mephi finally asked after they shuffled a few feet forward.

“Make an appointment with a gold calling card?” Mo stated with a shrug.

“That could backfire horribly,” Ziggs warned.

“It could. We could also play it safe and wait the ‘three to eight months’ and lose the quest?” Mo shrugged.

“Risk it for the biscuit?” Mephi asked.

“I say yes. What about you Ziggs?”

The robot box sat there unemotionally.

“Look you heard Gummish they’re catering to the rich. So I'll play the paladin who’s new to town and doesn’t understand the rules. I'll throw around some cash and get some introductions and we’ll meet some gear greasers and get the answers we need.”

“Fine but if it backfires you owe me.” Ziggs let out an irritated beep.

“Owe you what trashbot? He didn’t ask you for anything.”

“Any rep I lose because of this harebrained plan.”

“That’s fine if you give me access to your finances.”

“If you promise that then I'm game,” Ziggs acquiesced.

Mo jumped on it sealing the deal. “I Mojo Boomstar agree to help right any reputation losses that Ziggs gains due to the results of this harebrained plan of mine.”

He was covered in a golden glow.

DING!!!

New Active Ability

Skinflint level 1

You could stretch a copper into wire and resell it for silver. I hope you have deep enough pockets to hold all of your savings.

When activated, you receive a 5% discount from any vendor.

+5% to presence

“Ooh got a new active ability,” Mo laughed.

“What is it?”

“If you let me free from the oath I'll tell ya.”

“Nevermind. It’s probably not even worth it.”

“You’re going to tell me though, aren't you?” Mephi asked humbly.

“Depends on what you offer me in exchange.”

Mo could smell Mephi's frustration and he chuckled until the woman in front of them turned around and eyed Mo warily while holding her nose.

“Sorry, I had sausage and sauerkraut for the last three meals.” he shrugged pitifully and then burst out laughing.

She was not amused and turned around in a huff.