Chapter Twenty

**The Night Pit: Round 2**

“Vanna, I can’t believe you thought it was a good idea to come here,” Jason cried as his friend led him away from the pit, “let alone fight.”

“Stop worrying Honey and have some fun,” Vanna said trying to reassure Jason, but her heavy limp only made him solidified his opinion of the place.

“Vanna, what if you died,” Jason stressed.

“But I didn’t,” the woman responded. Jason grumbled, but went quiet. Now that Jason had time to take stock of his surroundings he saw that the place was a hybrid between a night club and a fight club. Around the edges of the open space, raised box sections were built against the walls. The richer patrons sat up in these perches with their prostitutes and expensive alcohol looking down on the fight. In between fights, bookies were swamped with potential gamblers and bets and wagers were hawked out loudly. Bar stations were set up intermittently throughout the place with intimidating bartenders husking out ale and spirits from barrels and dark bottles.

Jason assumed Vanna went to the healer before because she knew right where to go. In a corner far from the fighting pit a shabby room had been built. A large guard stood at the door. When they approached the guard poked his head into the door and called, “this one won the last match. Patch her up quick doc, she fights in two rounds.”

“I’m not a miracle worker,” a shrill voice cawed from inside the room. The guard stepped aside letting Jason and Vanna enter. Inside the room, a row of half a dozen bloodied cots laid again one wall with most of the bed occupied with heavily bandaged people. On the other side of the room, surrounded by cabinets full of hundreds of veils of equally as many colors, a white haired man was hunched over a raised table. The man was probing a person on the table with a metal instrument. He threw up his hands and mutter, “it’ll have to be amputated.” He turned to a muscular young assistant standing nearby and said, “give him a sedative and lay him on one of the cots. We can do the operation after the fights are done.” The assistant nodded then singlehandedly moved the injured person to a cot with ease.

“Alright get up here,” the medic called when his examining table was cleared. Vanna hopped onto the table and the man began to inspect her leg as that was where she suffered the most damage. Jason moved closer to get a better look, but the medic thrust out a hand in Jason’s direction. Without turning his head from examining he growled, “stay there, I don’t need any amateurs getting in my way.”

“Sorry,” Jason mumbled awkwardly, but it seemed the man hadn’t even bother to listen to Jason’s reply.

“Fractured bone, slight hemorrhage, ripped tendon,” the medic mumbled to himself. When he examined Vanna’s injury it was as if he were looking through her skin and bone to see what was wrong. “Get me a bandage and splint,” the medic called to his assistant, “it should be an easy fix once everything is in place.”

The medic’s statement confused Jason, none of Vanna’s injuries sounded like easy fixes or even fixable to the point Vanna could fight again that night. Once Vanna was properly bandaged and a split realigned her leg, the medic went to a cabinets and using a key unlocked a drawer. He took out a glove that Jason instantly saw had a white power gem affixed to it, almost exactly how Trent’s had been when he interrogated them.

“Stay still,” the medic said seriously, “this will hurt.” He placed his gloved hand on Vanna’s bandaged leg and closed his eyes. His forehead and eyebrows furrowed in concentration and white mist began to seep from the power gem. Once in the air the mist moved towards Vanna’s leg as if it were a magnet.

“Agh,” Vanna cried out. She lifted her face to the ceiling, eyes clamped and mouth strained, but she prevailed.

The medic continued to let the mist seep out of the gem for another minute then moved his hand away from Vanna. The woman breathed heavily and the medic allowed her a moment to recover before asking, “did your statuses go away.”

Vanna shut her eyes and Jason guessed she was checking her status window. A moment later she opened her head and nodded. “Yeah,” she answered weakly.

The medic nodded in satisfaction, “good. It will hurt for a few minutes as your body adapts to the repairs, but your wounds are healed.” He coughed to clear his throat then continued, “you can use one of the cots for a minute, but I’m going to need the table back. As you can see I have my hands full,” he gestured his head at the moaning forms lying on the floor.

Vanna moved to get off the table and winced. Jason moved to help her and the medic didn’t stop him that time. Jason grabbed his friends arm but she pushed him away, “It’s alright.” She eased herself off the table and stood. She stretched out her leg for a moment, each contortion she winced less and less, until finally she announced the pain was gone. Vanna thanked the medic, but he was too engulfed in his next patient to acknowledge her. Then the two companions left the makeshift hospital.

There must have been some sort of soundproofing in the room’s walls because as soon as they left Jason’s ears were punched by sounds of the club again. “Come on,” Vanna said, “I think the last fight is still going.”

The two pushed through the crowd until they had a view of the pit. Below, two men were battling it out with short swords and wooden shields. Both of them wore helmets blocking their faces. It was obvious one of them was close to losing. The fighter wearing a blue shirt had a long bloody gash down his right leg and a matching wound in his side while the other, red shirted, fighter appeared unscathed.

“Vanna,” Jason asked with panic in his voice, “they’re not trying to kill each other are they.” Vanna remained silent and watched the fight, her mouth shut and downturned in a frown. “Vanna,” Jason said in a hurried panic not believing people were letting this happen.

“Yes,” the woman shouted, silencing Jason.

Jason looked back at the pit incredulously, unsure if he was prepared to watch one of them die. He had seen death, when he was forced to kill Jeb, but this was different. It was vain and heartless, but he couldn’t help but continuing to watch.

*

The redshirted warrior let out a cry and surprisingly moved on the offensive with a flurry of jabs. However his opponent parried all of the blows and at the end caused the redshirted man to drop his shield. The wounded warrior gripped his sword in both hands. The blue shirted warrior charged forward and swung his sword down in a wide arc. Red deflected the blade in the air, but Blue recovered too fast and swung his sword without resistance at Red’s legs. The blade severed Red’s right leg and he toppled to the ground wailing in pain. Blood drooped from his open wound painting a sadist mosaic on the floor, but the crowd cheered manically. Blue thrust his arms up manically soaking in the applause. He dropped his shield and began to circle Red’s prone body. Red thrust out a weak jab, but Blue brushed the oncoming sword aside and disarmed Red. The crowd went wild again and Blue removed his helmet to reveal a dark scarred face.

He walk over to Red and stood over the fallen fighter. Blue aimed his blade at his enemy’s exposed neck ready for the kill. As he lifted his sword, his body contorted and Jason saw Red had grabbed Blue’s legs and was grabbling him to the ground. Before anyone in the crowd could realize what was happening, Red pinned Blue to the ground and slit his throat with Blue’s sword which had fallen during his fall. Blue’s body contorted, his stomach pulsing up in down like a sail losing wind. Blood leaked from his open throat and soaked his shirt, turning the tunic a deep purple. After a few seconds his body went stiff and Red rolled of the dead body and collapse next to him. The crowd had gone silent as they watched Blue’s life unexpectedly evaporated, but at the moment recovered and erupted into a cheer that put all others before then to shame.

*

Jason body shook, unable to comprehend what he had just witnessed. His mind felt empty but at the same time exploding with incomprehensible thoughts. He turned to look at Vanna and saw that she didn’t enjoy the spectacle either, rather she seemed to want to ignore it ever happened.

“Hey Valkyrie,” a sailor called across the crowd. “Have a drink with us before your next fight.” The other sailors near the caller joined in on the call, Vanna shouted back that she would then began to wade through the crowd.

Jason stepped to follow her but a large bald man, at least seven feet tall, stepped in front of him blocking his path. Jason tried to move around the giant, but the man moved again to block him. Before Jason could react a pleasant voice said from behind him, “sorry about my friend. I hope you enjoyed the fight.”

Jason turned and was face to face with a young red haired woman dressed in all black. Her hair popped off her clothes and milky face like fire over coals. Jason began to stammer unsure of what to say, “um, who are you?”

The woman smiled, her mouth curved playful, but Jason could see something sinister in her eyes. “They call me the Quartermaster, why don’t you come talk with me for a moment.” Jason stared at her for a moment then turned his head to look for Vanna. “Don’t worry about your friend, I’ll get you back before her fight.”

The giant hadn’t moved from behind him so Jason figured he didn’t have a real choice. “Ok,” Jason said sheepishly, then began to follow the woman. She led him up into one of the private booths, her guard stayed at the door to give them privacy. There was a bottle of liquor and two glasses on the table overlooking the club below and Jason had an odd feeling he had been in this situation before.

The woman pour Jason a glass, he tasted the liquid to discover it was rum. “Some friends of mine saw you speaking with Wilhelm Rock today.” That was it, Jason thought. His stomach went queasy thinking that someone had been stalking him earlier. “Am I right,” the woman asked, she arched her crimson eyebrows.

“Ah yeah,” Jason said, starting to worry if he was in any danger, but figured there was no point lying about the obvious details.

The woman smiled and flashed her pearly teeth. “Don’t worry darling, I don’t bite. Anyone meeting with Wilhelm Rock has something of value and it’s my job to find out those things. So what made you catch Old Rock’s attention,” she eyed Jason up and down, “you don’t look rich to me.”

The woman, although smaller than Jason, was frightfully intimidating. Similar to how one is scared of a puffer fish. “Wilhelm is helping we get into the Wool Merchants Guild,” Jason revealed. He had decide to tell the woman everything she wanted, no point dying over what he thought was bland information.

“Ah,” the woman sighed then leaned back in her chair. She thought for a minute without saying a word.

Enough time passed for Jason to relax and begin to think. “How could you let those men fight like that?” He said unexpectantly.

The woman was drawn out of her thoughts then looked startled by his question. She laughed, “I’m flattered you think that I am that powerful, but I am just one hand of the Night Crew. I handle the liquidation of assets,” she explained coolly. She saw that Jason was still not content then continued, “those men were either slaves or debtors, fighting to pay off their debts. Really kid, I’m not involved in the operations of this place.” Jason relaxed but was still unhappy. He was disgruntled that someone was trying to profit off of senseless death but this woman didn’t seem to have any involvement in it so there was not point angering her by continuing to talk about it.

“Now back to more important things, I have a proposition for you and I don’t need an answer now,” the woman announced. “As I mention, I’m in the business of liquidation items that most people have a hard time selling. Occasionally, I get large sums of wool and it would be useful to have someone in the wool market that could help me get rid of the stuff. It could be very lucrative for you,” Quartermaster said then sipped her rum.

A notification appeared and Jason view.

New Quest: Playing both Sides Part I

Join the Wool Merchant of Laxtar guild and help Quartermaster and this mysterious Night Crew sell stolen wool. Requirement: Join Wool Merchants Guild of Laxtar and Gain the class Black Market Trader; return to Quartermaster when requirements met.

Reward: 1000 Exp and unknown reward

**Quest Updated**

Updated Quest: Joining the Wool Merchants of Laxtar Guild Part I

Wilhelm Rock, a high ranking member in the Wool Merchants of Laxtar Guild has offered to sponsor your admission into the guild. Return to him once you have achieved the remaining requirement to join the guild: Class = Trade (Tier I), Trade Agreement with the Town of Finchead

Failure Conditions: If you become a Black Market Trader and discovered by a member of the guild to be involved in illegal activities this quest line with automatically end and player will be expelled from Wool Merchants of Laxtar Guild.

Side Objective: Inform Wilhelm or another high ranking guild member of the Night Crew’s plans. Reward and consequences unknown.

Reward: 750 Exp. and Rock’s sponsorship

**New Class Available**

**Class Black Market Trader Requirements: Bartering level: Trainee I, Sneak Level: Trainee I, 15 Charisma, and access to a black market or fence. Note: This class appears as Trader anyone who does not know player is a Black Market Trader. More information available when all class requirements are met.**

“I don’t need an answer now, you know where to find me if you’re interested,” Quartermaster said then shooed her hand to let Jason know it was his time to leave. Unescorted Jason left the booth unsure of what to do. Maybe breaking the rules is the only way to progress in this game, Jason thought as he considered trying to become a Black Market Trader. He wondered if he could become a Black Market Trader after becoming a Trader, that would leave his options open for a while.

“Jason,” a voice called. Jason looked around and saw Vanna waving her arms. The warrior was surrounded by sailors, every one of them clutching large flagons. Jason walked over to the group, they were slightly set back from the pit but they still had a view of the fight below. “Where have you been?” Vanna asked, her words slurring.

“Ah, just looking around,” Jason said awkwardly not wanting to talk about his meeting in front strangers. I need to tell Vanna about everything that happened, Jason thought, and get her opinion. He realized he hadn’t even told her about his meeting with Wilhelm and that was pivotal to how they were going to progress. That can be a discussion for tomorrow while we’re traveling, Jason decided.

Jason looked down into the arena and saw a boxing match occur. Two Braccians were punching it out and shortly after one was knocked out with a heavy blow to the face.

“Looks like it’s almost time for my fight,” Vanna announced to everyone. The sailors cheered and lifted their glasses. Vanna drained the rest of her flagon and they cheered louder.

“For her fourth match of the night we have the undefeated Valkyrie fighting the Nor Golem to see who will advance to the finals. A shirtless pale skinned giant hopped into the pit, he let out a roar and the crowd erupted into a mix of cheers and boos.

Jason looked over at Vanna and was surprised to see a smirk on her face. Without a word she hopped into the pit and the crowd cheered. Before the announcer could even leave the pit the Golem charged. Vanna sidestepped the stampede and the Golem crashed into the wall. The impact caused the floor to shake and a few laughs poured from the crowd.

How in the hell is that thing considered low level, Jason asked himself. The Golem's chest bulged with muscles and anger. Still Vanna didn’t betray any signs of fear, Maybe it’s all the drinking. The Golem charged again, but this time Vanna crouched as she dodged and as soon as the giant passed her, she grappled his legs and tackled him to the ground. Once down the man was like a toppled turtle. Vanna pinned the man to the sandy floor with her legs and waled punches down on his face and chest. Eventually the Golem went limp and Vanna rolled off his unconscious body. The crowd cheered and Jason couldn’t help but smile.