Chapter 10: Knowledge and Party Crashers

I once again activate stealth and briefly give a thumbs up to Keith with my barely visible hand. He squints and tilts his head back and forth before eventually seeming to get it and gives me a one in return.

I turn away and run towards the second high jumper. I’m not going to be surprised by an attack this time. My biggest skill is my stealth and at my level of skill that advantage goes right out the window as soon as the first blow falls. I’m not letting that advantage slip out of my fingers. Besides, this is good practice for the future. My class isn’t designed for direct fighting and in the future I don’t think I’ll be able to beat anything. That means I’m going to have to rely on my stealth and whatever other tricks I can come up with.

I stop running now because I’m coming up on the Poisonous High Jumper. As slowly (within reason of course. It wouldn’t be very efficient if I arrived tomorrow) and as quietly as I can I start to move towards the mist and the Poisonous High Jumper which is slowly grazing away from it. Perhaps this time I can avoid a fight. It was fun and all, but there is no need to take unnecessary risks if I don’t have too. The loot inside the player drops is better and requires less work anyway.

I begin to walk forward again, but suddenly come to a stop. What was it that alerted the last Poisonous High Jumper to my presence? I think hard, but nothing comes to me so instead I observe my environment. The rocks just stand still because they’re rocks (what else would they be doing?), the scrubby grass doesn’t do much of anything either, just waving and rippling in the light breeze and the sun glares dow- wait a second…the grass is rippling!

I must have been a complete idiot to have missed this before. The essence of stealth is becoming one with the environment. I was just creeping forward in a strait line, disturbing the grass when I was sneaking before. Instead I should leave no trace of my passage without agitating or changing anything.

In order to get used to the idea I stay standing still and just watch the grass for a time. I can see how each stalk moves individually and as a part of the whole. Now that I’ve gained some understanding I start moving too. I try as hard as I can to become one with the grass, and succeed to a degree but it still feels forced. Perhaps I’m trying too hard. Yes that’s It. I stop forcing it and immediately see visible improvement. Just going with the flow seems to produce the best results.

I spare a glance at my hand and do a double take when I can’t find the outline that previously marked it’s location. It definitely worked.

Using my recent enlightenment in stealth I weave my way towards the mist. Every part of my body seems to have become one with the grass. My arms ripple back and forth at my sides, my torso leans one way then the next and my feet step carefully, each step planted firmly yet softly.

I try to imagine what this would look like had I not been essentially invisible. Oddly enough I don’t actually think I would look like I was having a seizure. Instead I would look like I was doing some exotic dance to music only I can hear. I would still be branded as a crazy person to be sure, but it doesn’t look all bad.

I’m within touching range of the loot now and I look around one last time, making sure that the Poisonous High Jumper still hasn’t noticed me. My new stealth method appears to have worked because it is over twenty feet away and not looking at me or doing anything threatening.

Now I have an interesting problem. While I am still able to move while I am using the loot window I won’t be able to see. All of my stealth movements are based directly on what I see the grass doing. No longer seeing that could lead to problems with my stealth failing which could lead to problems like me not seeing a gigantic, poka-dotted frog thing charging me.

I think my best option is to take all of the items in the loot window as quickly as possible before immediately coming back out of the window and re-entering stealth. Not that I really come out now that I think about it. I just won’t be as stealthy if that make’s sense.

Nervously I reach out and try to continuously think “take all” before pushing my hand the last little bit towards the blue human shaped mist.

I wait for the window to pop up… but nothing happens. Thank you programers. I suppose it makes sense that the window wouldn’t come up now or during other times like battle because otherwise you could get majorly distracted and end up getting killed just because your hand accidentally brushed some loot drop lying around.

Giving a sarcastic salute to the Poisonous High Jumper which has still not noticed me, I turn and race back towards Keith. I find him and he is sitting down with his back against a rock, using a small, portable mortar and pedestal to grind up some kind of grass that has more color than the regular variety (not enough that I would ever notice it though).

Creeping up until I’m right behind him I deactivate stealth and stop moving with the grass before suddenly speaking “What-cha doing?”

He jolts up and jumps about a foot in the air (How he is managing to do this while sitting down is a mystery worthy of legend).

Taking deep breaths to calm himself he turns around with an absolutely comical expression. “wha-what the heck, Blade. You just don’t do that to a guy. I’m glad heart attacks aren’t a think here otherwise you’d be a PKer (player killer).”

I chuckle “well they aren’t a thing and it was hilarious so it was totally worth it”

He only shakes his head in return before speaking up again “I stopped watching after maybe five or ten minutes of absolutely nothing happening. Your stealth level may be low, but to me you might as well be a ghost. Anyway, did you get the loot, because I didn’t hear any fighting?”

“Yes, to answer your question I did get the loot. I had something of an enlightenment regarding stealth and was able to sneak past our lovely little friend that was guarding it. It’s funny that you should call me a ghost by the way because it’s actually the name of my class.”

“Ghost class huh. I’ve never heard of that, but I didn’t really look to hard when looking for mine. I’m a craftsman. I have essentially no combat ability, but I get bonuses to all crafting professions, like potion making.” He gestures to the mortar and pedestal.

“So is that why you were saying you were a support class earlier?” I ask.

“Yes. I’m not good at combat or anything like that, but I am very useful to any group. As long as I have lots of professions I can ensure that the party I am with never runs out of potions and doesn’t have to turn back if their armor or weapons are close to breaking. I also can cook fresh food with ingredients in the area which tastes much better than the regular rations and gives better bonuses. Actually that is why I’m working under Depper. That’s the Chef you were talking to. He’s the best chef in the city and I am currently his apprentice so I can become a cook.”

I nod, but also frown “That does seem like a useful person to have with you on your adventures. I sure as heck cant do any of that stuff. I definitely will want to find a craftsman for my own group, but I don’t have any idea where to start” (insert a “great, more stuff that I’m going to have do later sigh” here)

Interestingly enough (To me obviously. Anyone else probably would have seen this coming from a mile away.) Keith’s face becomes red and he looks away.

In a small voice he mumbles “If you’re willing to have me, I’d do it.”

I do a double take and stare at Keith. My face is the personification of surprise. I’m not super knowledgeable on the subject, but just taking a guess I don’t think that their are that many people who would choose to be a craftsman. Everybody wants to play the hero and save the day by defeating the monster. Myself included. It takes a special kind of person to be the guy behind the scenes. Keith could probably get a job with lots of experienced groups that would gain him great benefits. So why would he possibly want to partner up with a green (as in noob) level 2 like me?

Keith looks super embarrassed right now. Oh joy and now the awkward silence has fallen oh crap now I feel bad for him. Ugh…things like this are why I don’t like dealing with people. I’m not sure what it is but things always get awkward whenever I get into a conversation with anyone. And the worst part is that I have no idea how to fix it. He looks so downcast though. I guess I have to try.

“That sounds fine to me, but may I ask why? I’m sure there are better players and groups out there that would be happy to take you. So why me?”

He looks at me with a small, knowing smile “There are probably more experienced players out there who have been playing for longer, but none of them would be able to take out a poisonous high jumper at level 2 when they were only a few days into the game. Those people might be better now, but unless I miss my guess, you are going to blow them out of the water”

I raise my eyebrows and open my mouth. What do I say to that? I guess I’ll just take a page from Keith’s book and nod. “th…thanks”

Our conversation done, we turn towards the gates of the city. To my surprise, there appears to be a small force of players hanging out around it, all looking intently in our direction. That’s kind of weird, if we were in the real world (if you can really make distinctions like that) I would automatically assume they were bandits, thieves, muggers, murderers, rapists, etc, but what do I know about customs in Templa. So instead of drawing my knife and activating stealth, I instead nudge Keith with my elbow. Getting no response I turn to look at him. His face (and his whole body really) is frozen in a mask of fear.

With a touch of panic in my voice and a hand on my new knife I speak in his ear “what, what is it?”

His response turns my blood to ice, his voice a horse whisper and his eyes never straying from group in front of us “they’re PKers. They kill people for their items and money.”

Immediately my senses go into overdrive. Instincts, honed by years of living in a dangerous slum kick in. First off I put myself in front of Keith as his utter lack of combat skill makes him completely useless (in this situation. Obviously not all the time). Now, consider the situation. If we had any chance of getting away I would immediately book it, but I know the type of people who will do this. They may be dumber than a bag of rocks, but they do posses enough sense to only attack other people if they have a huge advantage. In this case both in numbers and levels. That means that at least one of them is guaranteed to be able to outrun me (and I doubt that Keith has been dumping his points into agility).Therefore the best option I can think of is to have my crafting friend run for another entrance into the city while I stay and distract this group for as long as I can. I might be killed, but I’m only level two so it won’t be a huge loss. Well that seems at least moderately workable.

I spin around and give Keith a good shove simultaneously shouting “GO!” before spinning around and hoping that he gets the message.

The demons seem slightly taken aback at my sudden outburst, but they recover quickly. The biggest of them (who I would guess is the leader) shouts out “let the runner go. It’s the loot drops from those dead players that we want”

They let out grunts of agreement before rushing me. In the split second before the first of them reaches me I use essence sight on the leader who is just standing their with a smug grin on his face. I only manage to see one piece of the text that appeared before his goons surrounded me and pain wracked my body, especially my exposed wings which I couldn’t defend. In a haze of red only one thought consumes my mind before it is swallowed by the darkness of death.

You will regret this Raymond Darkhand.

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I would really appreciate any opinions or suggestions on adventures that Blade could undertake. I only have the overall plan outlined so any input will most likely be included.

PS. A special thanks goes out to Deskover who has been here since the beginning and read every chapter.