It took me quite a few more hours to make it back across the room. Most of me was angry at my situation and at first my mood worsened with every sprung trap along the way. But some small part of me enjoyed the challenge, thrived in the adversity, and was thrilled to walk the knife edge between complacency and certain death. When I reached the opposite door I was grinning from ear to pointed ear. Or maybe it wasn’t such a small part of me after all.

With no small sense of relief I opened the door and walked out into a stone hallway. The construction was similar to the room I had just left but the only sense of magic I got from Mage Sight was from the torches on the far wall that emitted a strangely constant light. None of my Mana Bolts triggered any traps on the ground so it seemed as though I was in the clear for now. I was near a dead-end of the hallway and, along with the door I came through, there were five doors along one wall and a door at the end of the hall.

When I closed the door to the room full of traps, more out of habit than anything else, I noticed a brass plaque mounted on the rough wood. In black calligraphy was a single painted word: Master. With a frown at the odd label, I made my way down the hallway and the plaques on the other doors soon made the meaning clear. The labels were Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, and Master. I was a breath away from cursing Miris for dropping me in the hardest room when the thought of the very real possibility of divine retribution stayed my tongue.

However, the thought of the goddess made me remember the item in my pouch and I reached in to pull out whatever it was. I felt a solid weight in my palm, cool to the touch, as I drew my hand back out of the bag and saw that I held a simple gold ring. Curious as to what a goddess would gift me, I Inspected it.

Name

Gift of Miris

Grade

Epic (Soulbound)

Effect

Identify the value of items when Inspecting them.

Description

The value of an item is determined by whatever someone will pay for it. This ring, granted by the Goddess of Wealth herself, lists the most common range of value on every item Inspected by the wearer.

Wow, that’s actually pretty awesome. So much for having to do market research, this thing made the whole trap room fiasco worthwhile. I looked forward to going shopping so I could find some hidden deals and try it out. But first, I’d have to get out of this damned hall. Since there was only one other unlabeled door I opened it and walked through.

The man in the black cloak was standing just outside and he nodded to me when I left the hall. A series of pop-ups and messages flooded my vision.

Quest Completed: Priming the Trap

After a brutal initiation into the world of Novarra you have passed the mysterious man’s test by completely traversing the Master room in the Hall of Traps.

Rewards Granted: 2000xp

Level Up!

You are now Level 2!

+1 Skill Point

+1 Attribute Point

I blinked at the onslaught and quickly dismissed everything so I could deal with it later. The man, whose face was still somehow covered in shadows despite the good lighting in the corridor, congratulated me, “Well done.”

Then he took out a dark strip of cloth and handed it to me. It was thick, soft to the touch, about an inch and a half wide by three feet long, and I had no idea what it was for. I said as much and he told me, “It’s a blindfold. Put it on. You won’t need it for long but there’s one more thing we need to cover before you can join us officially.”

Reluctantly, I tied the thing around my head and covered my eyes with it. With my other enhanced senses however, it wasn’t quite as bad as I was expecting. I simply followed the man and his terse directions without much fuss and little difficulty other than a stairway that I had to slow down to take carefully.

It wasn’t long until I heard the man open a door and we entered a room. The door closed behind us and the man said, “Alright, you can take it off now.”

I blinked to adjust to the sudden brightness and handed over the blindfold to the man’s outstretched hand. We were standing in a small room with white plastered walls and a tiny altar in the corner. Behind the altar was a figure I instantly recognized, Miris, the Goddess of Wealth. There were a couple purple and gold wall hangings and some tall gold candlestick holders that provided more light than they should but otherwise the room was pretty bare.

“So,” began the man in black, “Before I invite you to my Guild, I’m going to need you to do something for me.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be easy,” he waved a hand to the side in a dismissive manner before he continued, “But even before we get to that, I have to ask you some questions about Travelers. Ever since you all started coming to Novarra a few days ago the Underworld has been in a bit of an uproar.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I imagined the effects of so many ‘newbies’ suddenly showing up all over the place. “Yes, I imagine that must have been a bit of a shock,” I said dryly.

He didn’t say anything for a stretch then said, “Actually, no, it wasn’t. There is a very well known prophecy that was fulfilled with your arrival. For the most part, you were expected.”

That little tidbit certainly shocked me into silence. As I reflected on it though, it made a certain sense. This whole world was designed for a singular purpose and incorporating that into the awareness of the locals would make things easier for everyone.

“What I need to know, however, is a matter of security for the Guild,” the man went on, “Specifically, how you are able to come back to life and where you can do so.”

“Well,” I began, “I’m actually not completely sure. I know that we can resp- err, come back to life, that is, at the last temple or holy site we were bound to. Personally, though, I’m not really sure where that is since Miris decided to put me in the trap room. Lovely place, by the way. She did mention that most Travelers get sent to their patron’s temple to start with, though.”

“You spoke with Miris? As in, the Goddess of Wealth herself?” the man’s voice conveyed his shock.

With a laugh I said, “Maybe I should just tell you what I do know about Novarra. The list isn’t very long at the moment.”

It didn’t take long to relate the meager information I had on the attributes, skills, gods, races, and progression system. When I told him about my encounter with Miris in her divine palace he seemed impressed. The only thing that threw him was when I told him about my character choices.

“Wait, what!? You chose your race?” He exclaimed. To be fair it seemed pretty preposterous coming from his angle and I supposed I would be somewhat taken aback too. “So, you’re not really an elf then?” he asked.

“No, I’m human. All Travelers are,” I answered, bemused at the direction of the conversation.

“Hmm, that does explain quite a bit, actually,” he muttered to himself. In a louder voice he asked, “So why did you choose to be an elf then? And what kind of elf are you exactly? A mix, if I’m not mistaken?”

“I’m half Dark Elf and half Wood Elf. I chose them to try and get their passives. Fortunately, I got lucky and have both of them,” I explained.

“Ah, I see,” the man said as understanding dawned on him, “Keen Senses and Nightvision. Clever. I think I’m jealous.”

I couldn’t help but grin at the compliment. Though it was weird talking about it with the guy, I felt like I was revealing secret mechanics or something about how the world works. Although I supposed it wasn’t too much different than explaining physics or gravity to someone, come to think of it.

“So, what next?” I finally asked the man still cloaked in shadow.

He paused for a moment and I got the impression he was uncomfortable before he said, “First, can you make it so that you come back to life here at this Shrine to Miris?”

Since I had no idea, I looked over at the statue depicting the goddess and tried a bunch of different likely mental commands. On the verge of giving up, I glanced at the altar and realized that it was most likely to be the necessary focal point instead. When I tried Bind I finally got a prompt.

Notification: Bind Point Adjustment

Would you like to set this as your Bind Point? If you are killed you will return to life here one time. Subsequent deaths will result in your return to your patron’s closest temple.

With a grunt at the new information I accepted with another command and relayed the description to the hooded man. He nodded slowly but didn’t say anything.

“Alright, so what did you need me to do?” I asked him.

He didn’t say anything for a moment then he nodded and in a heavy voice said, “I need you to die.”

It took a moment for the words to fully register. And that’s when two things happened: I realized he wasn’t nodding at me and I felt a sharp and intense pain in the back of my neck. Then I felt nothing at all and saw the floor rushing up at me as everything faded into darkness. The only thing visible was the messages at the bottom right of my vision.

Unknown uses Sneak Attack on you!

You take 100 damage from Unknown!

You died!