37 South Street was a dingy two-story apartment building with very little to differentiate it from the other dingy apartment buildings on either side of it. Maya approached the door hesitantly, but the moment she knocked it swung open. Shadow stood beyond, backlit by a single lantern at the far end of the hall.

“Come in. I own the whole building, so you needn’t worry about disturbing anyone.

“What kind of equipment do you have?” asked Maya eagerly.

Shadow gestured for her to follow him, and she did so. The front door swung shut behind her. “From what I heard, you are a fledgling mage, yes?”

“Yes! Very much so. I love magic.”

“Don’t worry, we can find the perfect equipment for you.”

He opened a door, gesturing for Maya to precede him, somehow managing to remain silhoutted against the light even as Maya walked past him and started down the steps. She emerged into a large, well-lit basement.

Glass-fronted cabinets lined the walls, weapon racks sat in neat rows, and display cases contained jewelry and other trinkets.

She stared in awe at all the equipment on display. Harold’s wardrobe suddenly seemed inadequate and poorly-stocked in comparison to this bounty. It felt more like an antique shop than a basement, and a crowded one at that.

“Now, before you go getting any ideas, it would be a very bad idea to try and rob me.” Shadow stood behind her now.

“I would never!”

“Some would. Well, some would try. No one has yet succeeded.”

Maya couldn’t help but think that meant it would be a class quest the first time she rolled -80 or something. If it weren’t for the luck bonuses, she would question the point of the Trickster class. She hadn’t really done anything even remotely trickster-like. Even the class quests were fairly generic and unexceptional. Mostly, she continued to play her own way, only making occasional detours to accommodate the whims of the Trickster and keep him from becoming angry with her. She’d have to remember to ask him about it when next she visited him.

“Also, the display cases with names over them belong to specific fighters," Shadow said, interrupting her thoughts. "Those objects are set aside for their exclusive use, and you may not borrow them. Other than that, go ahead and pick out what you think you’d like to try. Just focus on the items to read their stats, they’re in viewglass.”

Maya took him at his word, slowly examining each available item in each unclaimed display case. Most she could skip over right away due to minimum level requirements. Most were for level 20+, but there was a decent variety for lower levels as well. The objects were sorted by type, not level. She quickly found the best robes without a level requirement: {Legendary} Mediocre Mage Robes. They were brown with white trim, looking only a bare step up from a monk’s habit, but the stats more than made up for its appearance. +2 to Attunement and Intelligence, and +1 to Flexibility and Focus.

Maya wanted to hug it.

“Is there any way I can buy these to keep, rather than just use in the arena?”

Shadow chuckled. “Yes, but you can’t afford it. Not even if you fought for me every day for a year. Besides, once you reach tier two, they’ll be worthless to you.”

“How so?”

“Legendary items have stat bonuses equivalent to the Normal items a tier higher. You could get a set of {Normal} Mediocre Mage Robes for 50 silver, but they’ll require you be level 9.”

Maya grinned. “Then I have something to look forward to. Is dueling a good way to earn money?”

“Winning is.”

“I’ll see what I can do. I’d like to fight this morning, as soon as possible. How many matches do you need me to participate in to count this as one of my days?”

“Three to five, depending on your performance and that of the other fighters. Are you in a hurry?”

“Somewhat. My main goals right now are to earn enough money to upgrade my gear and level up a few times so I’m not the very weakest player.”

“But you’re not the very weakest, are you? According to my records, you’ve already won 50% of your PVP activities.”

“Well, yes. But that doesn’t mean I’m a PVPer. In fact—” Maya brought up the toggle and switched it back to PVE. “I should have done that first thing after I respawned, but I forgot.”

“Considering that you are the lowest level player, by a not insignificant margin, I think your victory is more impressive than you’ll admit.”

Maya sighed. “It’s only because I already have a specialization. If it weren’t for that, I’d have died. She dealt way more damage than my base maximum, but since I took the Path of Life so I have enough HP to survive. If I go against anyone specialized, that nullifies my advantage.”

“A mage on the Path of Life. Have you considered cross-classing into Druid?”

“I honestly don’t know much about the game’s specifics. I skipped about half the tutorial because I mostly only cared about the political and economic status of the world, and magic.” She felt her face heat beneath her feathers. “And I spent a while learning knife throwing.” She couldn’t quite banish the memory of the two felinis guys who’d helped her, forming a significant part of the motivation to continue training.

Shadow made an uncertain sound. “Have you not visited the Travelers’ Hall? They have pamphlets on most class options, and trainers for the most popular choices.”

“Yeah, where is the Travelers’ Hall? Someone else mentioned it to me before, but I forgot to go looking for it.”

“You should have been directed to it the moment you arrived. It’s the large government building at the south end of the plaza where you first appeared.”

“Really? That place? I thought it was some kind of courthouse.”

“No. City judicial buildings are in the northwest region of the city.”

“Huh. Okay. Well, I’ll have to go there. Once we’re done. How does this arrangement work, anyway?” She couldn’t decide between two pairs of leggings, one which boosted mental stats by one each, and another with strength and momentum, so she left them for the moment and moved on.

“Your fee is 10% of your sponsorship amount, plus an equal amount for each fight you win, plus 5% of any wagers I may win on your fights. I don’t anticipate you winning every fight, but do your best and make them as exciting as possible to watch. We want people to believe it could go either way, that’s when the most betting happens.”

“And fights can take place every half hour?”

“Every quarter hour, if more than a handful queue up. But that's uncommon. We have a pretty solid rotation schedule.”

“Alright.” Maya pointed to a Lesser Bracelet of Intelligence. “That one. And any other int-boosting rings or accessories.”

She returned to the leggings she’d been comparing. One was the mate to the mage robes, albeit at a lower quality level. Lesser Leggings of the Mage added one to each of the four mental stats. It was the safe, obvious choice.

But. There was also a rarer item, Meager Berserker’s Pantaloons, which added three Momentum and two Strength. She wasn’t sure if the difference between 6% bonus chaining damage and 7% would matter at the moment, and paused to calculate the difference. It would reduce the damage necessary to gain 1 extra damage from 17 to 15. Hmm. At either point, she’d be pushing way too much energy into a single attack, and the chaining bonus would only take effect after the second attack anyway.

Then again, maybe it wouldn't be too much with all her new gear. She tried to calculate what her new energy pool would be, but there were too many numbers and she’d never been good at doing math in her head.

Bah. There would be time for momentum and chaining bonuses later. For now, mage garb all the way.

“And that one.”

That decision firmly made, the rest of the search went quickly. She just looked for anything with ‘of the Mage’ or ‘Mage’s’ or, failing those, 'of Attunement' or ‘of Intelligence’. There were no other {Legendary} items, only the robe, but she got a good variety of {Rare} and {Exceptional}, with a handful of {Uncommon} accessories. The least useful were the handful of miscellaneous cheap trinkets which could be pinned various places on her clothing, but which combined to give a bonus of +5 att.

Once they’d collected together the set, Shadow gathered them from their storage places and set them together in one of the empty display cases. Then he handed Maya a small grey rectangle of stone which fit neatly in her palm.

“Equip this while in the Arena to summon your set of armor. It won’t work anywhere else, and will automatically switch you back to whatever you were wearing before when you leave.”

Maya nodded in understanding. “That way you don’t have to have people physically ferrying valuable items back and forth. Convenient, and secure.”

“There are advantages to a position like mine. Unique abilities are one of those advantages.”

The token inscribed itself with her name and level, while matching words filled the placard on her display case.

“I’ll summon you back here once you hit level 9. Even if you’ve already chosen your specialization, there are other options to take into consideration before you ascend to tier 2. Until then, I think I can guess what items you’ll want.”

Maya turned the stone token over in her hands, trying not to seem too enthused. “Thank you. Have you already scheduled my first duel?”

“Yes. But before you leave, we must take care of one last piece of equipment.” Shadow gestured at the weapon racks.

“I’m a mage, I don’t need—”

He held up a hand to stop her, then nodded toward the weapon racks again. “First, stats alone are sufficient reason to carry a blade. And second, magic will not always be enough to win.”

Maya closed her mouth. That was true. She knew that after spending most of her energy, being locked in close combat and trying to stab her opponent to death with knives intended to be thrown. If Kittykitty had more stamina, Maya wouldn't have survived.

Shadow considered the weapons for a moment, then lifted a blade curved into waves. It was one-edged, the back thicker and purely decorative. It was beautiful, deep blue with damascus patterns, but Maya wasn’t sure it would be practical for her. For one thing, it had about eight inches too much length for her to swing comfortably.

“I’m not sure a heavy two-handed sword is right for me,” she said, backing away a step.

“Trust me.” He held it out to her. She allowed him to set the weapon in her hands. Since the weapons weren’t stored under viewglass, she had no idea what its stats may be.

She looked down at it, examining its qualities, and nearly dropped it in shock.

{Unique} OceanBlade - no level requirements - two-handed sword - +5 to all attributes.

Maya stuttered, unable to get her thoughts in order. “This is. . . I mean. . . no one else needs it?”

“It’s a very good general weapon at low levels, but once you hit 3rd tier there are much better weapons for specific purposes. And it’s not the only {Unique} blade I have. Just the best for mage stats.”

Maya nodded, offering the blade back to him. “I’ll take it.”

Shadow smiled, bowed, and placed the OceanBlade into the display case.

“Then I’ll see you at the arena, young harpy. Your first match begins in eighteen minutes.”

Character Maya Starborn Average Androgynous Harpy Level: 4 Affinities: Magical Physical Tier: 1 Class: Trickster Specialization: Path of Life Total Base Items Modifiers Sturdiness: 13 8 5 0 Momentum: 20 12 5 3 Agility: 14 8 5 1 Control: 13 8 5 0 Attunement: 26 9 16 1 Focus: 19 8 10 1 Intelligence: 37 12 23 2 Flexibility: 17 8 8 1 Luck: 40 35 - 5 Unassigned: 0 Health: 135 of 135 Will: 28 of 28 Stamina: 75 of 75 Energy: 108 of 108 Speed: 117% Switch penalty: -47%, 9.7 secs Stealth: 133% Chain bonus: +6% Awareness: 114% Cooldown: 91.5% Max abilities: 3 Abilities Abilities: [3 of 3] Wind Whisper

[5 energy] Blow into cupped hands, then push the air toward the target.

Creates a light breeze, a quick gust, or a damaging slash.

[Overcharge: +5 energy, +0.2 sec cast time, +50% force/duration/dmg] 2.2 sec

5 dmg

(wind) Throw Knife

[5 stamina] Throw a knife at a target with high accuracy. Requires a knife. 1.1 sec

3 dmg

(physical) Sense Balance Discern if an area is lacking in or has an excess of any materials, creatures, etc. Equipment & Inventory Item Name Slot Stu Mom Agi Con Att Foc Int Flx OceanBlade Held 1 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 OceanBlade Held 2 Mage's Circlet Head 1 1 1 1 Mage's Hooded Cloak Shoulders 1 1 Handwraps of Focus Hands 2 Mage Robes Body 2 1 2 1 Leggings of the Mage Legs 1 Mage's Sash Belt 1 1 1 1 Mage's Sandals Feet 1 1 Armband of Intelligence Arm 1 4 Armband of Attunement Arm 2 2 Mage's Pendant Necklace 1 Ring of Intelligence Ring 1 2 Ring of Intelligence Ring 2 1 Ring of Intelligence Ring 3 1 Ring of Intelligence Ring 4 1 Attunement Trinket Misc 1 1 Attunement Trinket Misc 2 1 Intelligence Trinket Misc 3 1 Intelligence Trinket Misc 4 1 Trickster's Mask (Mage) Special Money: 3 Silver 62 Copper Quality Item name Details Soulbound Trickster's Dice Soulbound Trickster's Orb 3/5 uses remaining Flimsy Shary's Orchard Brochure Normal Apple x2 Consumable Special White and Blue Orb 3/3 uses remaining Special Key - Arrival Plaza Apartment Expires in 29 days Normal Basic Throwing Knife x24 3 damage (physical) Special Key - Room 6, Sapphire Hall Flimsy Newcomer's Tunic Flimsy Newcomer's Leggings Normal Acrobat's Footwraps Level 5, +2 agi Special Arena Equipment Token Registered to Maya Starborn Exceptional Lesser Bracelet of Control Level 2, +4 con Uncommon Minor Chestpiece of the Dancer Level 4, +1 mom, +1 con Uncommon Minor Waistwrap of the Dancer Level 4, +1 mom, +1 con Missions Mission Description

Time Reward Arena (Shadow) Spend at least one day every week fighting in the Arena. Variable Trickster Day 3 Lose a fight to another player in the arena. 15h 45m Trickster's Reward

??? Gazebo Construction Construct a new gazebo for Maylon the Poet.

[Optional] Also varnish the entire structure once built. DONE 3 silver 50 copper

+5 reputation with Maylon the Poet Trickster Day 2 Lose a fight to another player in PVP. DONE Lesser Bracelet of Control

+5 reputation with The Trickster Windy Creek Reconstruction Locate the missing workers' tools.

Construct a new dam to redirect Windy Creek to the mill run.

Clear the wreckage of the old Windy Creek Dam.

Complete construction of the new Windy Creek bridge. DONE 5 silver, 80 copper

25 reputation with Windy Creek village Trickster Day 1 Side with a person who is losing an argument or disagreement. FAILED -5 reputation with The Trickster Missing Delivery Find the overdue delivery boy. Ensure his safety and the successful delivery of apples to Shary's Produce Stand. DONE 5 copper

3 apples

+10 reputation with Shary and Elaph