Maya’s bedroom window shattered with a loud crash, startling her awake.

She sat bolt upright, then caught sight of her stat sheet. Luck: -100. It must be past midnight. She pulled her Tricksters Dice out of her inventory and rolled it at once, trying to ignore the sounds of someone climbing through her window into her room.

-90. Yikes. That wouldn't be enough to confront an intruder.

She re-rolled, desperately hoping it would come out positive.

17. But she had some penalties built up, didn't she? She hated to stack them higher, but now was not a time to be unlucky.

89! Her highest roll yet! She let out a sigh of relief, then stood to face the intruder. She quickly swapped her spells around then snapped a Spark into existence, leaving it to hover above her hand and illuminate the room.

The stranger froze, startled, clearly not expecting anyone to be here.

He was a huge blue-green lizardine, silver tribal markings across his face and down the sides of his neck before being lost to sight behind his armor. With a wide nose, thick jaw, and pale blue eyes, he looked absolutely terrifying. Like a very typical tribal swamp monster. His armor was scale plated and tinted the same blue-green as his scaled skin, and clearly of a much higher quality than anything she'd yet seen in the game. The entire set matched, too, which she knew had to indicate some serious bonuses.

"What do you think you're doing in my room!?" Maya demanded.

She was astonished that his armor wasn't clanking as he moved, but despite all the metal his steps were soft. If it hadn't been for the broken window, she might never have noticed him sneaking in.

The monster chuckled, almost sounding nervous. "Just passing through. Sorry, man. I didn't realize there was a student here. I'll just be going."

He started for her door, clearly intending to go out into the hallway. But if he thought he could get away that easily, he was wrong. His attitude did a lot to dissipate any fear his appearance may have inspired, so Maya grabbed him by the back of his armor shirt before he could get past her.

"No you don't. You are not using my room as a highway to get into Sapphire Hall. Either come with me and I'll find someone to report you to, or you're going back out the window."

Her Spark went out. The lizardine player took advantage of the distraction to yank himself free of her grasp and pull the door open.

Maya kicked the door shut before he could exit, placing herself with her back against it to prevent a second attempt. "I said, out the window or with me. Don't think you can just break into a mage's room and escape unscathed."

She conjured another Spark, rather enjoying herself now that she'd recovered from the initial shock. She could get used to playing the part of a powerful mage.

The intruder glanced around the room, shifting on his feet, but didn't try for the door again. "Look, man. I didn't want to tangle with any of you mages. I'm here for something specific, I have no quarrel with you, and I will leave you in peace. Just let me go out that door. I promise you won't hear from me again."

"You're clearly a thief! I'm not going to let a thief just wander around inside the building in which I live. Who knows what you could be here to do! I may not be able to stop you breaking into someone else's room from the outside, but I will certainly not assist you in getting inside."

Her Spark went out again. She ignited a new one.

The thief stood, shifting slightly but not making any moves.

"Nothing to say?"

The thief shrugged. "I could kill you. But that would make a fuss. And if there's one thing I don't need, it's a bunch of mages angry with me. I don't want to do anything that would upset the archmage, and I really don't want to rile up the area. I'm just here to—" he cut himself off, throwing his hands dramatically in the air. "It's none of your business why I'm here. I just have my own affairs, and no intention of upsetting you or anyone in your group."

"Then why are you so insistent on not telling me? And why did you break my window to get in? I don't trust you. Not at all."

"All right, all right. I'm here to talk to someone. Okay? I'm not here to steal anything or hurt anyone, just talk. Alone. And since they won't come out and talk to me, I have to come here and talk to them."

"Sounds to me like they don't want to talk to you. If they did, you wouldn't be sneaking in here at midnight breaking windows. What kind of visitor breaks a window? The unusually suspicious kind, that's what."

She replaced her Spark again, beginning to hope that she could extend its duration somehow as she grew stronger.

The intruder spoke slowly through gritted teeth. "If I let you come with me and stand outside the door during my conversation, will you let me in? I swear, I'm not here to steal anything or hurt anyone."

Maya considered him a moment. She had the distinct feeling that this guy was way too high-level for her to take on. She was honestly astonished he hadn't attacked her yet, or failing that just thrown her out the window.

"Alright. But I'm coming with you. I'm not letting you meet anyone alone."

"It's private personal business that has nothing to do with you," he snarled.

"Then sneak in through someone else's room. Those are my terms, take them or leave them." Maya put her hands on her hips.

"Fine! Fine. It's none of your business, and trust me when I say it won't do you any good to hear, but fine. Now will you get out of my way? I need to go through the door."

Maya stepped aside, letting her spark die and not replacing it. She wanted to be ready to hit him from behind if he tried anything.

He didn't try anything. He led the way confidently through the halls, clearly familiar with the route, moving with the unconscious speed of a high agility character. She almost had to run to keep up with him.

"What's your name, anyway? I figure I should at least know the name of the guy who barges into my bedroom."

"Standalone."

They reached the end of the hall and he turned to a door, opening it. Behind were set of stairs leading up further, which he climbed without hesitating. The third floor was much like the second. At the end of the hall Standalone approached an ornately carved wooden door, but hesitated without knocking.

"Getting cold feet?" Maya asked.

"Are you certain you can’t give me privacy?" Standalone's voice was low. "I can make it worth your while if you do. Name your price. I can pay it."

Maya's eyebrows shot up. "You'd bribe me? The more desperate you are to get me out of the way, the more I think I should not leave you alone with whoever is in this room."

"I swear to you, it's nothing harmful, just private. 50 gold. You leave me alone for 20 minutes, and I'll give you 50 gold. How about that?"

Maya nearly choked on her shock. 50 gold? She'd be lucky to have 50 silver to her name, let alone gold. But it was still a bribe. A bribe to let a high level shifty stranger into a fellow mage's room unsupervised. He could swear all he wanted that he was only interested in talking, but that didn't make him trustworthy.

But 50 gold! She could buy so much with that.

Standalone’s voice interrupted her indecision. "70 gold. But no more wasting time. Either you let me go have my conversation, or we go in together and you get nothing. Your choice. Right now."

"Okay," Maya heard herself saying before she even realized she’d made up her mind. "Go ahead. 20 minutes. I'll wait here. And if I find you've done anything…" She trailed off threateningly, not that there was anything she could do as the lowest level player on the server. But the intruder may not know that.

Standalone nodded and tapped on the door. He paused long enough to hand Maya a bag of gold, then opened the door and entered. Maya swallowed, knowing that she'd probably hate herself for the decision later. The weight of the gold in her hand felt like a condemnation. She stuffed it into her money pouch, then pressed her ear against the door to try and listen in.

All the secrecy had roused her curiosity to an almost unbearable level, but the door was thick and sturdy. She could barely make out the muffled sound of conversation, and even that strained her hearing to its utmost. She couldn't make out a single word.

Resigned to waiting, she leaned back against the wall nearby. She cast a Spark, counted the seconds until it expired; counted the seconds until her energy returned to full. She did it again, and again. Counting the seconds. Eventually, she stopped counting, just cast and waited, then did it again. And again. And again.

The door opened just before the 20 minutes would've expired. Standalone exited, turned and bowed to whoever was inside, then drew the door gently closed behind him.

"Thank you. All is well. We may depart. Should I go through the front door, or through your window?"

"I don't care how you leave, as long as you do. And don't think I'm not going to report you for breaking my window."

"Your window? I'm quite sure that your window is perfectly fine. You needn't concern yourself with that. There will be no repair bill necessary, and no trace of me in the morning."

He set off toward her room, then paused when they reached her room, turning to look at her. "Pardon my poor manners. I never did ask your name."

"Maya."

"A pleasure to meet you, Maya." He swept another gracious bow, the motion incredibly bizarre coming from a huge lizardine that looked more like a tribal monster than a gentleman of any variety. "I can't say that I've heard of you. I'll have to look you up. Have a good day, sir."

"Ma'am. Can't you tell Maya is a girl’s name?"

"Pardon my presumption. Ma'am. You don't look it. Good night." He doffed an invisible hat to her, bowed one last time, then hopped out the broken window. His attitude was very much at odds with his character’s monstrous appearance.

Maya went to look down and watch his progress, but her head collided quite firmly with the window. She backed up, rubbing her forehead, and contemplated the perfectly solid window which had been broken two seconds earlier. Now it stood whole and undamaged. How bizarre.

Her first instinct was to head back to bed, but she wasn't actually tired anymore. Instead she sat down and reviewed the system messages which she'd been ignoring in her preoccupation with Standalone's mysterious visit.

New quest: Trickster Day Four. Claim in Conquest the home of the next player you see, and hold it for 24 hours.

Maya's heart plummeted. Apparently that's what happened when rolling -90 on the quest roll. She'd have to be very careful. Maybe if she stayed in her room all day, she wouldn't end up seeing any of her allies.

What was Conquest, anyway? Something else she'd need to figure out.

At least the Trickster quests were sending her all sorts of interesting places so they weren't completely useless. Maybe that was the point.

Then it hit her. She'd received the quest just after midnight, when she rolled the die. So she'd already seen her first player of the day.

It didn't matter who the first person she saw was now. Her target was already chosen.

Standalone. She had to go after Standalone.

Character Maya Starborn Average Androgynous Harpy Level: 6 Affinities: Magical Physical Tier: 1 Class: Trickster Specialization: Path of Life Total Base Items Modifiers Sturdiness: 8 8 0 0 Momentum: 17 12 2 3 Agility: 11 8 2 1 Control: 27 8 19 0 Attunement: 16 15 0 1 Focus: 9 8 0 1 Intelligence: 14 12 0 2 Flexibility: 9 8 0 1 Luck: 59 89 - -30 Unassigned: 0 Health: 121 of 121 Will: 18 of 18 Stamina: 78 of 78 Energy: 79 of 79 Speed: 105% Switch penalty: -33%, 8.3 secs Stealth: 84% Chain bonus: +5% Awareness: 84% Cooldown: 95.5% Max abilities: 3 Abilities Abilities: [5 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] 1.9 sec

5 dmg

(wind) Throw Knife

[5 stamina] Throw a knife at a target with high accuracy. Requires a knife. 0.8 sec

3 dmg

(physical) Spark

[5 energy] Draw magic into palm and snap fingers to ignite into a spark of fire.

Can be used as a light or thrown at a target. 1.1 sec

3 dmg

(fire) Windborne Blade

[45 energy, 5 stamina] Cast Wind Whisper in a loop up and behind, aligning with throwing arm.

Throw knife straight at target with wind as augment. 4.3 sec

33 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 Ordinary Gloves of Control Hands 13 Minor Chestpiece of the Dancer Body 1 1 Minor Waistwrap of the Dancer Legs 1 1 Acrobat's Footwraps Feet 2 Lesser Bracelet of Control Arm 1 4 Trickster's Mask (Mage) Special Money: 70 Gold 3 Silver 262 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 x11 3 damage (physical) Special Key - Room 6, Sapphire Hall Flimsy Newcomer's Tunic Flimsy Newcomer's Leggings Special Arena Equipment Token Registered to Maya Starborn Missions Mission Description

Time Reward Trickster Day 4 Claim in Conquest the home of the next player you see.

Once claimed, hold it for 24 hours. 6d 23h 12m Trickster's Reward

??? Arena (Shadow) Spend at least one day every week fighting in the Arena. Ongoing Variable Trickster Day 3 Lose a fight to another player in the arena. DONE Ordinary Gloves of Control

+5 reputation with The Trickster 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