And of course, in the midst of all that, Maya had completely lost track of the time.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Zone Seven has been unlocked by player ‘Cydrin the Bold’. Zone Seven is recommended for players of level 50-65. Zone Eight’s barrier wall and requirements are now able to be discovered. Thank you for playing on World 9352!

Maya didn’t take the time to gawk at her increased stats or celebrate reaching level 10. She used a Dust of Recall to return to Kalyx City, then transited to Nirsym and rushed to the western gate. But by the time she reached the meeting place everyone had gone.

She started off to the west, but had underestimated the size of the Nirsym City zone. Much like how Kalyx City itself took up only a small fraction of its overall zone, Nirsym City had extensive wilderness areas assigned to it. While Kalyx’s areas mostly extended north and east from the city itself, Nirsym’s went west. A long way west.

And, unlike Kalyx, it was definitely not intended for level 10 players.

She probably could have survived if she’d been moving in a group with Cydrin and Sevard and everyone else. But she was too late, caught up in her protracted encounter with her tier boss, she'd missed the chance.

As soon as she saw the gleaming eyes watching her from the darkness, she decided that not being eaten was the better part of prudence and retreated post haste.

Thankfully, she was only a few minutes away by then and made it back to Nirsym before midnight. She could only imagine what would happen if she’d flipped over to -100 luck while out in a wilderness twenty levels above her.

She watched regretfully as the last few minutes on her Standalone conquest mission ticked down to nothing, then its status flipped to FAILED.

Maya hated that failure.

The other quests she’d failed so far were inconsequential. The first she’d forgotten about, and the second had just been bad luck despite her efforts. But this, this had been a major undertaking, something she’d planned on and worked very hard towards. And then. . . Domitius and his stupid prison had wasted days of her preparation, then his bad timing in attacking the mage academy had utterly obliterated any chance of pulling it off.

She didn’t like his methods on principle, but this felt so much worse. It wasn’t only her time and loyalty he’d taken by force, but any chance at success.

Maybe she was excessively fixated. Maybe it was an unhealthy attitude toward completion. Maybe it was good that she’d failed and thus wouldn’t get complacent.

But right now it didn’t feel good. It felt miserable.

Maya rolled her die.

And stared.

95. Positive 95. -5 for rolling. +20 for finishing yesterday’s quest.

Her luck was maxed. Right now, and for the next sixteen or so hours, she was sitting at +100.

Trickster Day 11: Obtain an item of [Rare] quality or better from defeating another player in PvP

She didn’t plan on engaging in PvP any time soon - she had far too much to lose, now that she had three unique items and quite a few others of relatively high quality.

It didn’t matter. She had more important things to do than worry about quests right now.

She needed to find some magic.

Ideas for how to refine, recombine, and expand her magical repertoire flickered through her mind. She had no reason to hold back her money any more, no deadline of a crazy quest to try and finish at any cost.

As much as she’d been hoping to successfully complete the Standalone conquest, the fact that the deadline was over and she could take her time felt extremely liberating.

No longer did she have to scrap and skimp with her resources. She could buy more default spells without caring about the expense. She could tear them apart and reconstruct them into whatever she wanted.

There was a heady certainty in her thinking, a clarity of possibility that she’d only experienced before in brief moments. Anything was possible. The world was open to her, and there was one thing she’d wanted to do since the moment she logged in.

Find magic. Learn the basic spells. Advance her understanding of magic in general. Create new variations and maybe even something entirely new.

Today, that seemed utterly plausible.

Sure, she had no magic at the moment, having reclaimed and lost it within minutes of each other. She briefly wondered if it would still be there, but decided that showing up at the mage academy without knowing who currently held it would be a bad idea in any identity.

No, there was a much better, and more plentiful source of power available. And what better time to break into Domitius’s secret prison and help herself to his excessive amounts of magic than when everyone was away unlocking a new zone?

Maya grinned to herself. Time for a heist.

There were two main obstacles to her plan, such as it was. First, physically crossing Nirsym’s level 30 zone to reach Domitius’s main compound while still only level 10 herself. Second, Domitius may have left guards. Almost certainly had.

So she couldn’t do it alone.

She didn’t know where to find any of her mage allies. Sevard was away with Cydrin and everyone checking out the new zone. Julios wouldn’t be any help even if she knew where to find him and was willing to put up with him any more than absolutely necessary. Zarene was out of the question.

That left NPCs.

Maya felt certain she could probably convince just about anyone of just about anything today. She knew of at least one crafter in each city who seemed willing to ally with her, luck or no luck. But that didn’t mean they were the only ones.

She opened her journal and started a list.

1: Recruitment. Check Nirsym for mercs, fighters, or guards willing to assist.

2: Equipment. Disguise? Also, terrarium to store magic in.

She definitely did not want to be noticed physically covered in magic, sneaking out of Domitius’s prison compound. That would be insanely suspicious.

For a moment, she hesitated. Maybe this whole idea was stupid. Maybe it would be wiser to do something else - probably just about anything else, really. Going up against Domitius, even covertly, even hoping not to get caught or seen, was still a rather crazy risk.

But her luck was maxed. She knew Domitius employed at least some NPCs and surely one or more of them could be subverted. There would never be a better time to try this, stupid or not, and she desperately needed the magic. Even now, the back of her mind was running through the pages she’d looked over, trying to remember details, trying to form connections that were too tenuous without more information. They were there. She could find them. She knew she could. But not without more information and more power than she had access to right now.

This was the fastest way.

3: Exit plan.

She should probably place contingencies in case she was captured, as well. Send messages so someone could find her. Sevard, if no one else.

Well.

“Sevard, Sevard,” she whispered.

“Do you mind if I go look at that crystal spire a bit closer? I’ll be right back.”

Maya assumed he wasn’t talking to her, and waited.

Finally he whispered back, “Maya, is that you?”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing? Where did you go?”

“Well, I went to finish my tier trial, which I did! But that’s not important. Sev, I maxed my luck roll. I’m at 100 right now. I have to do something. Is Domitius with you?”

“Sure, do you need to talk to him?”

“NO! No, I’m planning to sneak into his prison and steal some magic. I just wanted someone to know where I am in case things go badly. I don’t think they will, but contingencies.”

Sevard laughed softly. “That’s one of the stupidest plans I’ve ever heard, but props for spunk.”

“I don’t know when else I’ll have a better chance. Everyone’s away with your unlocking thing, and my luck is maxed. I need a lot of magic fast, and I don’t know anywhere else to get it.”

“Well, that’s all true, but it’s still stupid.”

“So, if I don’t contact you again in the next couple days, can you come try to get me out, please?”

Sevard sighed. “No promises. There’s no way I’m going to risk Domitius setting his whole group on me, but if I can pull it off securely then I’ll do what I can. And you’ll owe me big time. It would really be better not to risk it.”

“Thanks. I’ll be careful.”

Sevard didn’t answer. Eventually Maya stopped waiting for him to do so and returned to her planning.

Exit plan backup, established. Primary plan? Just walk out. Or, better yet, use Dust of Recall. Yes, definitely that. She still had several bags of it, but should probably buy more just in case.

She flipped to a new page.

Shopping list:

-Magic terrarium

-Dust of Recall

-Different armor

-Different weapons

Anything else she was forgetting?

More dyes?

She’d used up most of what Sevard had given her, and may need a quick identity makeover if things went badly. In fact, it may be wise even if things went well. The more she thought about it, the better an idea it seemed to make herself utterly unrecognizable for this single mission, then never use that identity again.

She hissed quietly to herself. Ten gold may not be a very significant expense on its own, but it added up fast. Especially since she didn’t see any possibility of fighting with Sevard again soon in high level zones, what with Domitius’s fixation. Kalyx quests paid copper or silver. It would take her a very long time to regain what she planned to spend today.

But she felt very strongly that caution and security were more important than saving her money. It didn’t matter how much she spent today, as long as she made it in and out safely.

It took two trips back and forth between Kalyx and Nirsym before Maya was satisfied with her purchases.

She elected to buy and use a full set of level 9 mediocre warrior armor from a Kalyx shop - there was apparently no such thing as level 10 equipment below Rare quality, and that was much more expensive - and managed to talk the merchant down to 50 silver for the set.

She made another trip to the makeover salon to create a new infiltrator identity, and this time took the time to haggle. 8 gold was a much better price than 10; she wished she’d thought of this before. Her choice of appearance for this operation was to shorten all her feathers as much as possible, turning them an iridescent deep green that she hoped would imitate the look of a lizardine from a distance. With a full set of equipment there wasn’t very much of her visible, but better not to have a suspicious harpy seen sneaking into a place while Maya was known to be at large.

Recruiting was a longer, slower task, but she knew that the initial expedition would only distract Domitius and everyone for so long. She returned to her apartment, saved and loaded into her Seer save to find which NPCs would be of high enough level to actually be worth recruiting, and quickly found that the merchants of Kalyx would not be much use. The guards were strong, but they also refused to leave their posts to accompany her to Nirsym. And, on further consideration, she wasn’t sure if NPCs could even use the leypillars.

Nirsym’s population was larger, stronger, and more suspicious of her. At least in Kalyx she had a decent amount of general reputation that trickled down to everyone she interacted with there. Nirsym’s citizens knew nothing about her.

Fortunately, she stumbled upon a den of grubby, unscrupulous characters who were more than willing to become her temporary escorts in return for a pile of gold. She made mental note of their location, loaded back into her Path of Life save, and headed back to recruit them officially.

There were six of them in all, each of whom demanded 2 gold up front and a further 3 upon the job’s completion. Maya talked them down to 1 up front, with an extra 50 silver afterward instead. Perhaps not a very significant savings overall, but she felt better about the chances of them not reneging halfway through if they knew the much larger portion of the payment was yet to come.

Dert and Lubon were lizardine warriors, tanks in heavy armor with big swords and bigger shields. Riha was a felinis bladedancer, with two swords and an acrobatic build, her hair braided up out of the way. Eshavish and Irliorsi provided ranged DPS, a merla couple with crossbows. And Maben was an elvish rogue - the only one of the group Maya planned to take with her inside once they reached the compound itself. The others were mainly to protect her through the wilderness to get there.

Part of her wanted to hire them on for good. She rather liked the idea of having her own personal adventuring party who’d follow her plans instead of trying to drag her along with their own agenda. But at 27 gold a day, it would be a long time before she could afford it.

She forced herself not to rush, to double check her lists and inventory, to be sure she had done everything possible to maximize her chances at this.

Her team knew to call her Urg, and had been sworn to secrecy regarding their mission. Her appearance and equipment were completely new, and she’d never use either again after today.

Terrarium! She’d almost forgotten.

She found Nirsym's magic shop, spent an exorbitant 25 gold - and that was after talking the price down! - for a terrarium that was advertised as holding up to 920 drams of magic and put it in her inventory. That, at least, was a long-term investment. She couldn’t think of a time when she wouldn’t want to have a way to store and transport magic safely and securely.

She reached the Nirsym gates, her team arrayed in formation around her, and paused. Giving herself one last chance to back out.

This was stupid, right? Sevard was right, wasn't he? She couldn’t afford to risk making Domitius mad.

But somehow, that only made it more exciting. She was already a trickster who'd defied the Trickster. Why not be a 'Domitian' who robbed Domitius?

She grinned and signaled to the group surrounding her.

“Let’s do this.”

Maya Starborn Average Androgynous Harpy Mask: Urg Affinities: Magical Physical Level: 10 Class: Trickster Tier: 2 Specialization: Path of Life Total Base Equipment Modifiers Strength: 50 8 40 2 Momentum: 63 15 40 8 Agility: 32 8 20 4 Control: 30 8 20 2 Attunement: 20 18 0 2 Focus: 10 8 0 2 Intelligence: 19 15 0 4 Flexibility: 10 8 0 2 Luck: 100 95 - 15 Unassigned: 4 Health: 414 of 414 Will: 20 of 20 Stamina: 248 of 248 Energy: 97 of 97 Speed: 403% Switch penalty: -30%, 8 secs Stealth: 152% Chain bonus: +21% Awareness: 96% Cooldown: 95% Max abilities: 5 Item Name Slot Str Mom Agi Con Att Foc Int Flx Warrior's Helm Head 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Breastplate Body 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Gauntlets Hands 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Leg Armor Legs 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Boots Feet 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Bracer Arm 1 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Bracer Arm 2 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Gorget Necklace 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Sword Held 1 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Shield Held 2 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Ring Ring 1 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Ring Ring 2 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Ring Ring 3 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Ring Ring 4 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Cape Shoulders 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Belt Misc 1 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Talisman Misc 2 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Talisman Misc 3 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Talisman Misc 4 2 2 1 1 Warrior's Talisman Misc 5 2 2 1 1 Trickster's Mask (Mage) Special