Maya hit Request access, then paced her room as frustration flickered toward anger. Every few minutes she tried again to load, and every time her annoyance ratcheted up again and again.

After all this, the one place she actually wanted to be a part of chose now to turn her away?

She hadn’t realized just how many of her plans and hopes for the future had been pinned up alongside ‘Standalone Conquest’ in her mind, until that central assumption shattered.

Right now, nothing about her life felt right. It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t free, it wasn’t even close to what she wanted. She was fighting for the wrong side. Not even both sides, not even an unaffiliated trickster, but flat out fighting for the group she liked the least.

Well. Almost least. She wasn’t sure where to classify the Trickster himself. On the one hand, he’d been as much a help as a hindrance, but on the other hand, he’d been as much a hindrance as a help.

But right now that didn’t matter. Right now she had finally slipped away on her own, and instead of the chance to let her friends know she wasn’t dead and catch up on their progress in her absence, she was pacing her stupid cheap basic noob room while waiting for Shardlord to finish being busy and renew her access permissions.

What was taking him so long? What could be occupying so many of them?

It was easy enough to guess why she’d been banished. He’d already suspected her of Domitian leanings, and her sudden disappearance after being confronted would only serve to cement those suspicions. But he couldn’t keep her out forever! She loved the academy, loved the people, loved the bizarre architecture, loved the potential most of all.

Yet ultimately it was just another player home. It may be ostensibly open to all but it was still owned by Shardlord. And if he said ‘keep out player Maya Starborn’, then Maya could do nothing.

She briefly imagined leading an army of Domitians to force her way back in, but that would never be the same.

She really had to figure out how Conquest actually worked one of these days.

Finally, furious and fed up, she tried to load one final time - failure again - and stormed out of the building. She wasn’t going to waste an entire +47 luck day on trying to convince players of anything. That could be done any old time. Right now, she had an exceptional item to craft, and half a day to do it in. No time to waste.

She started at the blacksmith since he was the most obvious crafter around. Inquiries revealed that, yes, blacksmithing was a player-accessible occupation, which could be undertaken by anyone. The chances of crafting an exceptional piece within the first day, however, was. . . laughable. He couldn’t give a number, just guffawed in incredulity, and Maya decided she didn’t want to work with him anyway.

Maya tried stopping by Dalra’s place, but she must have already logged off for the day. No one answered her knock and she couldn’t hear any signs of movement from within.

She headed to the Travelers’ Hall next, to see if there were crafting-specific classes or skills or whatever, but no one there knew anything.

“Sevard, Sevard?”

He didn’t answer, presumably off on another server.

Maya considered looking for another teacher, but right now she didn’t feel like ordering her day around the Trickster’s whims.

She wanted her friends back. She wanted to talk with Ranon and Fridget, wanted to eat dinner with Desi.

Crafting wasn’t something she cared about at the moment. Even the promise of extra luck did nothing for her. Her earlier jubilance at being free from the Trickster’s Curse now felt misplaced and naive.

NPCs reactions to her, the game world’s reactions to her, they weren’t quite inconsequential but they didn’t matter in the same way Shardlord’s rejection did. They didn’t carry the same weight as Zarene’s animosity or Domitius’s scheming.

Maya started back toward the mage academy, not sure what she’d do when she reached it, but having nothing else to do.

She wanted to load, to go back in time, to undo everything that had happened and start over. But this was a multiplayer game. She could reverse her own character, and her relationships with NPCs, but nothing could undo her interactions with other players.

She wasn’t sure how she’d failed to see it before. The game had never mattered in the same way as the people.

For the first time, she actually considered leaving. She may not be able to start over here, but she could start over on another world. Even now, that thought didn’t last long.

She didn’t want another world. She wanted this one. These people. These friends, and enemies.

“Maya! Over here!”

Maya paused just short of leaving the beginner plaza, momentarily confused by the young voice. She turned, and saw Elaph waving at her from Shary’s produce stand. He grinned when she saw him, jumping up and down. “Maya! Come here, I have something for you!”

Even in the midst of her discouragement, Elaph was so young and eager, she couldn’t not smile. It didn’t dispel the cold ache in her chest, but helped to suppress it at least for the moment.

“What is it, Elaph?”

He grinned. “A message! I don’t know who it’s from, but it’s clearly for you. I found it here this morning.” He handed her an envelope with ‘Maya Starborn’ written on the front in wide looping cursive. The T was crossed with an eight-pointed star.

“You’re right, this is for me,” Maya said, frowning. She opened the envelope, inside which was a single sheet of paper.

Something big is happening very soon. I’ve been hired on by Domitius again and he very rarely hires mercs any more with all his followers. You know I’m not cheap.

If you have anywhere to go, lay low. You do not want to be in the middle of this. The mage academy is going into lockdown, and I don’t believe it’s unwarranted.

I’m afraid this does mean I have to renege on our deal to bring down Standalone, but I am a mercenary after all. And something tells me you don’t have the money. Another time, I hope?

Your equipment from Dalra is in my house, first box by the door. I’ve set permissions for you already, feel free to help yourself. There’s an invoice with it, if you want to drop off the money there, or you can wait and pay me next time we see each other in person. I’ll be incommunicado until further notice.

Stay lucky,

Sevard.

Great. Perfect. Maybe this was fate telling her she belonged on Domitius’s side. Every time she tried doing her own thing, something happened to push back at her. It was like the game had its own agenda, and nothing Maya said or did would convince it that she deserved a say in the matter.

Well, maybe just the Trickster. But with this game and its gods, who knew where that line belonged?

“Thanks, Elaph.” She tossed him a silver coin. “Buy something delicious for yourself. I’ve got to go, we’ll talk another time.”

“Good luck!”

Maya smiled. “Thank you. I think I will.”

Forget quests. Forget assignments and missions and masters. Maya had wanted one thing since she arrived, and for too long she’d let other things get in the way of it. But she was done being shut out and pushed aside.

At her heart, she was a mage. She was a researcher. And she was a stubborn, achievement-chasing gamer. Stay out of this and lay low? No way.

When had playing it safe protected her from anything anyway? She’d already upset two gods and survived the fallout unscathed. Who cared if she also upset the most powerful player?

Domitius didn’t matter. He could physically abduct her, imprison her, bind her, but he’d never own her. No more than the Trickster did.

And she was tired of playing along with their games.

Maya took off her Trickster’s Mask, for the first time since spawning into the game.

The surrounding NPCs gaped, even Elaph looking at her with an expression of uncertainty. A few of the shopkeepers darted away, slamming their doors or ducking behind their stalls, as though merely seeing her could trigger disaster.

But not all. While she was momentarily overwhelmed by the impression of ‘everyone’s running away from me’, it was not borne out in reality.

“Trickster,” someone whispered in an awed voice, and she realized it was the blacksmith.

“What does that mean to you?” she asked, more aggressively than intended, but for a high luck day things were not going particularly well and she wasn’t in the mood to play nice with anyone.

“You’re a trickster,” he said, as though that explained everything.

“I know.”

“Of course you do, I’m sorry,” he said, suddenly flustered. “Do you need any weapons? I can give you a discount. Or, you wanted to learn smithing? I can help you!”

Maya's thoughts stuttered for a moment in uncertainty. “You want to help me?”

“Of course! A Champion of the Trickster? You need only ask! In fact, though it shames me to admit it, I have overcharged you in the past. I must make amends! Here, take these.”

Items gained: [Unique] Masterwork Knife of Life (Soulbound), [Unique] Masterwork Knife of Power (Soulbound)

Now it was Maya's turn to gape. “You— you’ve just given me two unique items.”

“Is that not sufficient? I beg forgiveness. It is the best I can offer. These are the culmination of my life’s work. I have no more. Nothing greater—”

The mixture of fear and reverence in his voice made Maya incredibly uncomfortable in a way she'd not realized one could feel.

She shook her head hastily. “No, no. I don’t— this is more than sufficient. One of these alone would be far more than anything you might owe me. Take them back, I don’t deserve them.”

But he shook his head, looking even more afraid. “No! They are yours! Now and forever. Given freely to you as Champion of the almighty Trickster. I knew you the moment you appeared. Though it shames me to admit I somehow forgot until just this moment. I let you go by as though merely another traveler. Nothing will absolve me of this grave sin.”

“It’s okay, I was hiding my nature. You don’t need to grovel. It’s really fine.”

“It is the duty of all the faithful to aid the Champion! If you are to survive long enough to reach the Island, then we all must do whatever we can.”

Maya sighed. So much for her grand gesture of emancipation. Apparently, she’d only managed to unlock another hidden quest chain. What spectacular fortune.

“And why do so many hide from me?” she asked wearily.

“You’re the Trickster’s Champion! Who would not flee from you, knowing they’d lived their lives in rejection of his power? You’d be well within your rights to smite them where they stand.” He looked almost eager for her to do just that.

“I won’t be smiting anyone! I just need to get back to the mage academy. I don’t care about any of the rest of this.”

“Is that where the next key lies? I know someone who can help. He is not one of the faithful but he is no enemy of our cause.”

“You don’t have to—” Maya began, then changed her mind. “You know what, good. Find me a way into Shardlord’s stronghold, and I’ll— reward you greatly. Somehow. Someday, in the years to come.”

“You needn’t promise me anything. It is enough to know that I have done what little I can to aid in the Trickster’s glorious plan. I would ask no promise of aid from you. I know you have much to do and little time to do it in.”

Maya smirked. She was done playing safe and following rules. At least for today, before she thought better of it and talked herself out of this madness, she'd be playing her way. “I want to help you if you help me, so either overcharge me again next time I buy something from you, or accept that I’ll owe you a favor if you can do this for me.”

“I will never overcharge you again,” the blacksmith told her, aghast at the very thought.

“Then I’ll owe you a favor.”

“I’ll never ask for it.”

“That’s fine, but you’ll always know that if needed you have. . . someone you can call on.”

She’d almost slipped up and called herself a deific champion, before remembering that she was still the weakest player in the world and all the happy NPC titles in the world wouldn’t change that. She probably couldn’t even fight off the blacksmith if he attacked her, let alone anyone dangerous enough to give him trouble.

But it was the gesture that mattered, the point she was making. Both to the game and to herself.

She kept getting sucked back in, to schemes and plans not of her own making. And, knowing her, she’d probably do the same again. She wasn’t used to turning down quests or leaving things undone, wanted to go everywhere and see everything.

But not today. Today was for her, and her alone. Her last attempt had been rudely interrupted by an extended kidnapping, but she wasn’t going to let anything stop her this time.

“I’ll be back. Can you find this housebreaker and have him meet me here in about a half hour? I need to pick up some things.”

The blacksmith nodded. “Of course, great Champion. Anything you desire.”

Maya glanced back long enough to see Elaph duck back down behind Shary’s stall, watching her with wide, wary eyes. She wanted to go comfort him, but there was an easier solution.

Sighing, she slipped the mask back on. Immediately, the tension in the air relaxed. Everyone watching her stopped and went back to what they were doing, except the blacksmith rushing off to collect his friend.

She found Sevard’s house without difficulty, collected her new level 12 equipment, and dropped it into her inventory for later.

She equipped her two new knives, which added a staggering amount of health - from 231 to 380! - and bringing her energy up to 180. This was so blatantly unfair, undeserved, and ridiculous that she almost unequipped them in protest.

Not quite. However disgruntled she may be, she couldn’t bring herself to give up the stat advantage. She was too much of a gamer for that.

By the time she returned to the beginner plaza, the blacksmith had returned along with a blatantly-dressed thief skulking in the shadows.

“You can get me into a sealed player home?”

He nodded. “One condition. You must intend no harm to its inhabitants. Otherwise, the protection will remain as strong as ever.”

“Hah. No problem.” Harm was the furthest thing from what she intended.

“Then come here, and I will tell you the secret.”

Perk gained! Housebreaker: Once a day, may enter a player’s home without an invitation or engaging in Conquest, so long as you intend no harm to its inhabitants.

Maya grinned, hardly paying attention as the fanatical blacksmith handed over a bulging sack of coins to the thief, who nodded in satisfaction and disappeared into the shadows without another word.

It also explained how Standalone had managed to break into Sapphire Hall to talk to his grumpy friend, if perks like this existed. She wondered briefly what would have happened if he’d actually attacked her. Would it eject the intruder if their intentions changed? Was that the reason he’d tried so hard to convince her to go along peacefully, when he could have easily overpowered her?

But that wasn’t important. What mattered was, she had a way back into the mage academy. Then she remembered something and called out, “Wait! Come back, please.”

The thief reappeared, quite a distance away, and looked back inquiringly.

“I need to go do something. I’ll be back very soon, can you teach me the perk again?”

The thief looked confused, but nodded slowly.

“Then please, wait here.”

She ran back to her apartment, saved, and loaded her most recent Seer save. This was too useful an ability.

She hurried back, but the thief was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’d he go?” she asked the blacksmith.

“What are you talking about? Who?” He scowled at her, and she glanced around for any sign of the thief.

“The friend of yours, who can get me into locked player homes?”

His expression turned wary. “Now why would you be thinking I’d associate with someone like that?”

Right. Loading reset NPC interactions.

Maya sighed, and took off her mask again.

“Oh! My apologies great Champion! I didn’t realize it was you. Of course, if you need my friend I’ll bring him straightaway!”

She replaced her mask again, waited until the thief arrived, then accepted the perk a second time. The blacksmith paid his friend again again, and Maya considered protesting, but decided not to bother. They were NPCs, any interactions between them meant little. Especially since it apparently reset whenever she loaded.

And she tried not to be disappointed when this version of her didn’t receive the Unique knives. Perhaps that would be asking too much. But she didn’t deserve them anyway! She was certainly the farthest thing from a true believer, from a true follower of the Trickster. Why should she get all the accolades from his devotees?

It was just like him, though. A system where his champions would only get the rewards if they were to stop pretending for once. Risks and rewards, good luck and bad, all twined up together.

“Out of professional curiosity, how many other champions of the Trickster have you seen come through here?” Maya asked.

The blacksmith thought very hard. “Only one other many many years ago. He has not returned here since I was that boy’s age.” He gestured to Elaph in demonstration.

Maya hadn’t thought about NPCs aging, but the smith looked to be easily in his forties. Did time work the same here? If so, this other trickster had probably logged out and moved on with his life decades ago.

The smith’s voice interrupted her musing. “Chmous, xe was called. You remind me of xir.”

“K’mos? How do you spell that?”

He spelled it out for her, and she added it to her list of known tricksters anyway, since the name wasn’t among those that Sevard had told her. Unsurprising, since most people playing currently hadn’t been here for more than a few years, let alone decades.

Still, the more she learned about them the more she wondered just how massively overpopulated this world was with Trickster followers. She knew of at least four or five other deities besides him. Did every player end up aligned with one as a champion? Was the world secretly a battleground between warring deities, each grabbing whoever they could, trying to one-up each other?

But no. That didn’t make sense. The Trickster was far too frivolous, setting his champions against each other more often than against anyone else. In fact, she hadn’t received a single quest that seemed intended to harm anyone but herself.

Maybe she just wasn’t far enough into his inner circles, but if there were a deity proxy war being fought she’d expect there to be more proof of it. She was probably reading too much into a simple coincidence.

“Right, thank you. This will be very helpful. You’ve done your duty well, I guess. See you another time.”

She returned to her apartment, saved as Seer 6, then loaded back into Path of Life 4.

She stopped by the merchants on the way, spending 2 silver and 50 copper on a pair of [Normal] trousers which provided better stats than either her newcomer leggings or the dancer bottom. She loaded in her mask's Mage Stader persona, dyed all her remaining gear black to match her new midnight feathers, and set out.

This time, she approached the mage academy from the side, attempting to climb the outer wall. Which was thankfully made of nice big stone blocks with plenty of texture to cling to. She made it to the top without difficulty, but was pushed back when she attempted to step inside.

You have attempted to enter a player’s home uninvited.

>Request invitation

>Begin conquest

>Activate perk: Housebreaker

>Leave

Maya grinned, and selected option three.

Maya Starborn Average Androgynous Harpy Mask: Mage Stader Affinities: Magical Physical Level: 9 Class: Trickster Tier: 1 Specialization: Path of Life Base Equipment Modifiers Total Strength: 8 28 0 36 Momentum: 15 1 3 19 Agility: 8 91 1 100 Control: 8 34 0 42 Attunement: 18 25 1 44 Focus: 8 21 1 30 Intelligence: 15 1 2 18 Flexibility: 8 1 1 10 Luck: 57 - -10 47 Unassigned: 0 Health: 384 of 384 Will: 60 of 60 Stamina: 300 of 300 Energy: 180 of 180 Speed: 3.39 Switch penalty: -18%, 6.8 secs Stealth: 2.54 Chain bonus: +6% Awareness: 1.68 Cooldown: 95% Max abilities: 4