Jack hired the brothers. The group was now undoubtedly melee heavy, but it wasn't exactly a bad thing. They held a small party in Jack's room that evening as a sort of getting to know each other thing that seemed to be appreciated by the NPCs. The mercenaries appreciated it because they were usually like more than fodder to their respective employers, and the brothers were surprised that the group was friendly opposed to business-like in regards to the arrangement.

After food and some drinks, Solaria logged out for bed and sais she'd be back the following afternoon. The men decided to break up the party shortly afterward. The brothers left, and the other NPCs went home for the evening, both it seemed they were residents of Pendershold. The four would be back in the morning, and the group would find a quest.

" You know what you need?" Tom asked Jack when they were alone.

" Oh, wise one, please do tell me what I need," Jack replied with his mocking turned all the way up.

" You need Maven's. Actually, we both need Maven's, but you need it a little more." Tom said sagely.

" Leave anything you are afraid of losing. If we get into some epic bar fight, we don't want to lose our best gear. We also don't want to look too geared up." Tom said.

Jack took another look at Tom and noticed that the man was dressed down from his typical non-adventuring attire. Actually, now that Jack was looking more closely, it was a hybrid outfit. He was not full-on dungeon geared, but he was wearing more protection than if he was dinning downstairs. Tom was wearing a long leather vest cinched at the waist, by a belt with his sword on one side, and a pouch on the other that Jack suspected held potions. Tom also had leather bracers, the left one containing a sheathed dagger. Tall leather boots completed Tom's ensemble, and if Jack were a betting man, he would bet another blade was hiding in at least one of those boots.

Jack followed Tom's lead on the attire and named it combat casual in his head. Jack wore his chain overcoat. He only brought one shield, which he strapped to his back. Jack didn't wear a helmet of any kind.

Comfortable but capable was the overall goal.

As they walked through the mage light, brightened streets toward the outer city. Pendershold was changing, Jack realized. Jack wondered if he hadn't been paying attention before, or if this was a new development. Players were all over the place. They called out gear for sale, looked for groups, and were ushered toward the outer wall by a plethora of burly guards.

The mystery of why he hadn't seen many players was finally answered. Jack may have walked by them, but the guards kept disturbances to a minimal in the inner city. The outer city, however, was mildly controlled chaos. Players were everywhere. The calling resumed in earnest just outside the gates, and it was nearly deafening. There were many guards in the outer city too, and they seemed to be doing a fair job at keeping order despite the surging player population.

Jack hadn't realized the sheer amount of inns in the city. Some player guilds had begun to buy entire warehouses for their members to call home. The only thing saving a housing crisis was the fact that most players longed out and didn't need accommodations. The players on the Frontier and those in medpods were enough to severely strain the cities' ability to house everyone.

When they finally arrived at Maven's, the place had changed. It was full of players, and there was a good amount of security posted around. Jack guessed the uptick in patronage more than made up for the expense of security. There was a large variety of races, all bumping, weaving, and staggering around the inn. Jack saw a rather comical Orc woman, who was massive, trying to calm a pissed off Gnome sanding on a table with ale flowing off his white robe. Her hands were held palm out in the universal nonthreatening fashion while the red-faced Gnome continued a barge of insults. Some Elf girls were dancing in the walkway between tables with no shortage of admirers hooting and catcalling them.

Tom took in and let out a deep breath like he was in nature or sinking into a tub. A smile, as usual, was plastered on his face.

" Look at this, Jackie! Sure beats the stodgy Goose. Look at all these people here. More races than I had hoped. Maybe I'll be able to scratch a couple off my list tonight, Jackie boy!" said Tom, the unmistakable gleam in his eyes.

" What list? " Jack replied, but fearing, he knew the answer already.

Tom completely undaunted replied, " You know the list of races I plan to shag."

Then what was said afterward was the most hilarious and disturbing thing Jack had ever heard.

Tom continued, " Cat girl, Fox girl, Rabbit girl, I'll give them all some lovin. Elf goes without a doubt. Dwarf, that might depend on the beard thing, but I think, either way, I could get it done. Submissive Orc girl," he pointed toward the argument," she can have some lovin.

"Oh, don't put down Orc girl. I can see your expression, and you should be ashamed. That is a big beautiful woman over there. The man that satisfies her feels like a real man in the morning. Shit, I wouldn't be ashamed, I'd come back down those stairs walkin tall. "

" What if that is really a middle-aged man named Fred in his parent's basement?" Jack said.

" So what if it is. It's not like I'm going to find a virtual dick or something. If I do, it's just like real life. I'd fucking split. Look around, Jack. To your mind, what we see is real. Fred isn't pretending to be a woman; here, he is a woman. I, for one, will choose to accept Fred's gender identity. If one of the plenty of women I plan to bed while I'm here happens to be a Fred, I hope I rock his basement-dwelling ass. No pun intended. "

The conversation could have stopped right there; it should have stopped right there, but it didn't.

Tom continued, " What has me perplexed is Centaurs. Listen, don't get me wrong they deserve loving as much as anyone. Truly they do. For me, though, the view is the problem. The act would be easy enough, ladder or platform of some sort, oh, you get the idea. I wonder if I could even get the job done. The guys back home, so to speak, must be monsters. No boobies to look at or pretty face to stare in to. At best, she can maybe turn her body to the side a bit and look at you. You're left looking at a horses ass, that doesn't really excite me.

I mean, I would take a blow job. However, I'd feel guilty that I didn't want to, you know, reciprocate. Not guilty enough not to do it or anything like that. What do you think?"

The whole conversation was crazy to Jack, but the question at the end shocked him. Tom, with the most earnest expression, was waiting for a response. For the briefest of seconds, Jack actually thought about having sex with a Centaur. His mind reeled back, quickly vowing never to go down that alley again.

" No, Centaurs are not my thing. " Jack replied.

The conversation reached a natural pause as they arrived at the bar. Tom muscled his way in, and the large man to his left spilled his drink on himself. The man began to rise from his inebriation to lodge a complaint, and Jack watched placing his hand on his sword in case. No argument ensued. Tom looked at the man for a second, then spoke lazily. His relaxed nature and offer to get the man another drink dispelled the potential threat before it began.

Tom didn't waste his time at the bar. He ordered three pitchers of ale, two pitchers of wine, two cups, and as he worded it, "snacky things." The snacky things were to be delivered to whatever table they ended up at.

" Jack, look for a place to sit. " Tom said as he watched the man fill the pictures with the drink.

" All the tables are taken. ".

" Of course they are. Just a couple of empty seats."

Jack scanned until he spotted what he was looking for a six-seat table with two empty seats not far from them. Tom handed Jack two pitchers of ale, and he slid the third to the offended man. He then hoisted the two pitchers of wine in one hand, and the cups in the other, as they set off.

The offended man grunted something unintelligible as they set off. Ale and spit dripped from his beard as he poured from the pitcher in front of him. Then the man was gone, a sea of churning players and NPCs leaving him in their wake. They would see the man later that night bloody and swollen dragged away by the city guards.

As they approached the table, the four already at it looked up threateningly. The current occupants were clearly saying no compy requested in everything about their demeanor. Tom was undaunted, though, and he approached.

" Looks like you have room for two more," Tom said.

" We are having a discussion, dude. Piss off." said one of the men.

" Is this a nefarious plot? I'm excellent at plotting, and Jack here is a master at ambushes. " Tom said while laughing.

The lone woman of the group already sitting at the table smiled slightly.

" Come on, peeps. The place is packed, and we even brought drinks to buy our way in.. Tom said.

" Bossman, he got me at drinks," said a big guy who was the group's visible muscle.

The supposed leader spoke up, " We were talking about important, private things. "

" Man tough crowd. Who says no to free drinks? " Tom said, shaking his head sorrowfully while still placing his pitchers on the table.

The woman who had smiled spoke up, " Relax Roman. You were beating a dead horse. Let's shelf it for now and drink."

The group made way for them. The woman swung around the edge and sat beside Roman, the leader. A thief or rouge of some sort moved to the woman's previous spot. So Tom and Jack sat down with Roman and the woman opposite them, and the other men at the ends. Tom wasted no time inquiring who wanted ale and who wanted wine before topping off all the drinks.

" So, I'm Tom, and this slab of seriousness is Jack," he said, pointing to Jack at the appropriate time.

Starting with the muscle, who was on Jack's left, the other players introduced themselves.

" I'm Bernie, but everyone calls me Mack, like the truck," Mack said.

" I'm Roman; this is a portion of my guild, The Wanderers. " the man said.

The lady chuckled then shot off rapid-fire words, " He means this is about forty percent of our Guild. We are planning to map the entire game. A lot of us are into the game's lore and exploring. I'm Karen; you should join our Guild if you like to explore."

The leader noticeably flinched when she began sharing information. He was biting his lip when she invited them to join.

Tom defused the whole situation when he said, "I admire what you're doing, it's pretty cool, but that sounds like far too much camping out for me. I want to wake up in new and interesting places, no doubt, but I want them to be warm and comfortable."

Tom stared at Karen when he spoke, leaving no room to question what warm, comfortable places were on his mind. She was noticeably blushing when the next man spoke up, taking the attention off her.

" I'm Craig, but I go by my screen name of Folstan." said the thief sort that took Karen's previous seat.

The conversation was apparently back to Tom; he took over with natural ease. By the time the food arrived, everyone was becoming fast friends.

Mack proclaimed, " I love this man. Seriously, drinks and now food," Mack said while ripping off a chunk of bread from the loaf.

Thus Tom and Jack made the acquaintance of The Wanders Guild. Karen was a little crestfallen an hour or so later, when Tom got up and begun to mingle. Obviously, she had enjoyed his attention, and now that he was moving around and sharing that attention with every lady he came in contact with, she was feeling less enamored. Tom wasn't a dick. He was simply unaware of the effect of his flirting on the woman.

Another hour into the night, Tom had found some other performers, and the Tom show began. Jack would never say it, but Tom was fantastic. He knew so many different songs that it was easy for him to play with anyone. Tom could move through all the genres of music fluidly. Change his voice from deep and twangy to light and airy without missing a beat. Even when he didn't know the song, he could weave himself in once enough had been performed. Some of the other players seemed to be pretty versed in music as well. One overly skinny guy played two spoons tapping away on his leg, frantically, in perfect harmony.

Maven's may have seemed to be alive before, but it reached a new level. The Elf girls continued to dance, but they had made their way to the area directly in front of the band. The whole scene was surreal, and Jack checked his HUD. He found what he was expecting he was, Inspired.

That's how the night progressed. Tom played star and dragged Jack into the spotlight whenever he got the chance. Jack may never be able to admit it, but he loved every second of it. Jack was cold and introverted; however much he secretly wanted to connect, he didn't have the ability. Tom had it in aces and wasn't the least bit bothered by dragging him along.

The party went on for hours before reaching its zenith and beginning a descent. A couple of hours before sunrise Jack and Tom sat talking and sipping wine. Most of the patrons logged out made their way out of the inn, or went to bed somewhere upstairs. A few were sprinkled about the large room at a table here and there finishing drinks or avoiding whatever came next for them. A few hardcore drinkers were still present. They sat swaying on their chairs while eying their glasses, obviously preparing for the final round.

Tom was lamenting his luck to Jack, " Man, can you believe it! I passed on a sure shot with one of the elf girls for the orc; then, she abruptly logged out on me like Cinderella at midnight. Fucking tragic."

" Oh, you poor soul," Jack said, but he wasn't invested in the conversation any longer.

The six players walking in had tripped his danger sense. They just felt wrong, and he couldn't say why. They wore tabards like knights, but Jack knew they were players.

" Let's get out of here," Jack said and rose while unslinging his shield and made for the door with Tom right behind him.

" You two!" said the most decorated of the group. The man was obviously the leader, and he had a cruel sort of look to his eyes that made Jack irrationally despise him.

" You look able enough. I'm Lord Gonall, and I'm here to recruit men for the garrison at Gonall Hall," he informed them, then continued. " I require your service, and I will pay what your lowly born lives are worth."

" Not interested, " Jack replied then turned to leave.

" How dare you! First, you deny me; then you turn your back to me. " Lord Gonall yelled.

The man moved as if to strike Jack, but he was far to slow. Jack pivoted and slid behind the man and placing his short sword across the man's throat.

" Any of you men move, and I promise your lord will be the first to die. The rest of you will probably kill me, but I bet I can take at least one more with me." Jack snarled.

The guards in Maven's moved closer but obviously didn't know the best way to react.

Jack answered for them, " I'm not going to do anything rash. If you would, please summon the city guard."

The city guard didn't take long, and when they arrived, Jack released the lord.

The lord immediately began throwing his weight around. " Arrest these men. They have assaulted me in public among witnesses. I demand they be punished."

" I am Captain Simmonds Lord Gonall, and with respect, I will be the one deciding who gets arrested here." said a warrior in the clear and confident tone of someone who knew his business.

Captain Simmonds ordered everyone separated and statements from them all. Gonall immediately went into a frenzy, " I told you what happened! Now do your blasted job or get out of the way and let my men do it."

" You aren't the lord here, and if even one of your men raises arms, I will run them through and take my chances with my master, WHO IS THE LORD IN PENDERSHOLD!" Captain Simmonds bellowed with fire in his voice.

" I may not be lord here, but I am a LORD. As such, I am beyond the judgment of the likes of you." Gonall spoke in defiance.

There was a slight sparkle in the Captain's eyes that made Jack think that the lord had played right into his hand.

" Very well, Lord Gonall, we will bring this before the lord of Pendershold. Please follow me. " the Captain turned and led the group, including Jack and Tom out, and his men closed in behind.

Jack finally got to see the inside of the central keep of Pendershold. Jack was awed by the castle's magnificence and the sheer number of guards that the city employed. Jack guessed that the lord of Pendershold employed at least ten thousand men. Everyone they passed was armed and armored with exceptional equipment and wore the same yellow tabard with a roaring bear.

Jack and Tom were left in a small waiting room under guard while the lord was escorted somewhere. Jack presumed he was meeting with the Lord of Pendershold. Tom pulled a flask out of an inside pocket, took a long pull, and handed it to Jack. Jack, in turn, offered it to one of the guards. The man looked at it dubiously.

" No one will know," Jack said, and the man drank and passed it to the other guard.

" Looks like we are in the shit now," Tom said.

" Doubtful. The Captain seemed pleased to bring Gonall before the lord. If I were a betting man, there was some social slight in there the Lord of Pendershold will use to his advantage." Jack said.

" Do I have the right of it? " Jack asked the guards.

" Gonall is vile, and we have known for some time that he comes to Pendershold to recruit. That isn't a problem, but there are also rumors that he presses people in the city into his service. That goes against the treaty of alliance. " the guard said as the flask made its way around one more time.

Both Jack and Tom knew a little from the knowledge that made its way into their head during character creation. The Allied Lands were one of the human power bases along with the Sandubar Kingdom, and the Borteeth Tribes. From what Jack could recall, the Allied Lands consisted of verious landholding lords bound in an alliance that gave them the power to resist the Sundubar Kingdom while offering a large amount of sovereignty to the lords to govern as they see fit.

" How powerful is Gonall Hall?" Jack asked.

" Not. It dwells on the edge of the contested lands and gets most of its revenue from raiding. It also loses men at a prodigious rate, which is why they are always recruiting. The fortress itself is formidable, though." the other guard responded.

The Captain finally returned an hour or so later.

" The lord will see you now. " he said, " Follow me."

They met the Lord of Pendershold in his private office. It was far less formal than Jack had expected. Jack liked the man instantly. There were parchments and maps spread all over his desk in orderly but large stacks. He looked intelligent, if not exactly handsome. His beard was short cut, and his nose was hawkish. His black hair was greying at the temples and thinning on the top.

" You two have surely made an enemy this day, but you have also helped me much. His animosity outweighs my gratitude, but I am far more powerful, so perhaps it evens out. Only time will tell." the man said matter of factly.

" What can you tell me about the enemy I have made?" Jack asked.

" Gonall is a bastard. Not a literal bastard mind you. His father was even worse, cruel men that draw more cruel men to their banner. Because of you, I caught him with his proverbial hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. Forcing men in another's domain to join you is a grave offense, and I used it to expel him from my lands legally. That gave me a good deal of pleasure." the lord said and then asked, " Why is it that I feel you aren't properly satisfied?"

" Because I'm not. I want to take his castle." Jack admitted.

" I can not plot against a fellow member, so I will assume you are just venting frustration."

" Oh, of course, I am, please forgive me. Let's say in the spirit of helping a fellow member how long would it take to come to his aid if he were to need it?" Jack asked.

" If he were to send a request, I would imagine with the influx of people in my lands it would take me two weeks to ready troops and another two weeks to reach his lands, and I would probably be the first there." the lord speculated.

" That's good to know. From what I hear, he suffers from a lack of able troops. This could be a problem for the Alliance. How many men do you think he has to defend his borders?" Jack asked.

" To be honest. I have worried that he couldn't hold out against a dedicated attack. He couldn't have more than three hundred men, and often he takes one hundred or better of the best on raids." the lord admitted with the proper amount of worry.

" I wonder if someone was to take control of his keep before the help of such staunch allies arrived who was unaligned with other forces and will to uphold the alliance how disposed would his peers be to a change in leadership?" Jack asked tactfully.

" Interestingly, the laws state the lord without clarifying a family name so it could be surmised that they could be allied with whoever sits upon the throne." the lord tactfully replied.

" The question is, is there someone disposed to such an act with the means to do so?" the lord fired back.

" I think anyone who would do such a thing would probably need time to ready such a severe and expensive endeavor. " Jack said, doing his version of Tom's smirk.

Then Jack noticed a suit of armor in the corner, and he was blown away. It was a dull metal with a bear motif that he was sure was the rest of the First Bear set. The lord watched him looking at it and spoke up.

" It's a family heirloom. The set belonged to my great, great, great grandfather Dolstead Pender. He conquered these lands, and obviously, the city is named after him. The first bear is what the people called him, and we have a fair in his honor the day after the first snowfall. My father went nearly crazy looking for the helm that completes the set in his retirement." the lord said with pride.

" You should create a quest of great reward for an adventurous man with ambition. You might be surprised at what happens." Jack said, the smirk on his face growing into a full smile.

" That is interesting." the lord got serious. " What do you think such a man would want?"

" Perhaps he would want the aid of twenty high-level stealthy sorts, a weather mage, a very skilled set of craftsmen, a crafting facility, and access to high-end materials at a fair market price," Jack said.

" How long do you think this arrangement would need to last?" the lord asked.

" I would guess two months would do it. The stealthy sorts three weeks afters the craftsmen."

The lord looked at Jack for a long time before finally speaking, " This has been one of the most exciting meetings I've ever had. I am curious to see where this association leads. I will provide the things you have mentioned for the helm. Understand that I in no way condone any actions against my allies. If you are sieging an ally and my men arrive, you will be my enemy. Furthermore, any conversations we had were hypothetical, and I am in no way interested in any partnership against an ally."

" Captain, go with these men and retrieve my helm." the lord said.

Jack and Tom got a quest prompt that laid out exactly what had been discussed and also gave a staggering 20,000 experience. Twenty minutes later, Jack parted with the helm and began his first mission in this new world. The Captain provided an address to the workshop and left. He knew from experience that the vast majority of mission failed at the planning phase. This mission had enough moving parts and unknowns to give him a headache.

The two men gained a level, but Jack still didn't spend his now twenty-five points. Among the work he had on his plate was getting more information on how to spend those points.

" I understand the crafters, the stealthy types, the facility, but why the weather mage?" Tom asked.

" Simple, we need thunder to hide gunshots and maybe fog to cover our approach." jack said, then continued, " If we can do this right, it is textbook back home but completely unknown here."

" I really just saw an opportunity and seized it. Might have bit off entirely too much, but go big and all." Jack confessed.

Tom smiled ear to ear, " Oh, I think this is fucking fabulous. Lose, and it is still an amazing story. Win, and we can put that fuck in his place. What do you need from me?"

" We still need to keep leveling, so I need you to find quests that only take half a day or so. We also need to think about where the brothers fall into all this. They aren't a member of our team but members of our adventuring party, so they may want nothing to do with this, and if they do, we need to figure out compensation." Jack replied.

" I'm on it," Tom said, completely excited.

Jack went to the workshop and looked it over. It was plenty big and had all the expected equipment in it. There were two forges, and crafting stations of every variety. It would do. Jack was at a station drawing the blueprints for something resembling a vintage semiautomatic rifle, including the magazine when his new staff began rolling in.

Two gnomes came in first and quickly began setting up stations. Jack was lost entirely to designing and hardly even noticed the flurry of activity around him. When he was finished, he sat back and looked at the design with pride. It wasn't great, but if they could make it, it would work.

He took the plans and addressed his crafters, who all gathered around excitedly.

" I am not only creating new weapons, but I am also creating a new way to fight battles. The designs I am about to show you are both confidential and private. If you can not offer a level of professional discretion, please inform me now. Other than that, please look them over talk among yourselves, and we will go over them together shortly." Jack said.

The three pages included the rifle, the magazine, and the cartridge. The NPCs looked them over excitedly. The ten people before Jack got more and more excited and animated as they poured over the designs.

A dwarf spoke up first, " Why do ye need to create the etching inside the barrel?"

" That's called rifling, and it makes the bullet, which is the part that leaves the barrel, move faster. The faster it moves, the further it goes, and the harder it hits." Jack replied.

Over the next hour, Jack found out that the gnomes already had both guns and cannons. The weapons were black powder era, but it was still better than he hoped. The crafters were fascinated as he explained smokeless powder and the other leaps they needed to understand to make the technology necessary for the firearms. Much to Jack's surprise, they did have the skills to make the smaller, more exact pieces like springs, which after the powder was what he feared would hang them up. The whole plan would hinge on the ability to create a stable propellent safely. Jack even went as far as to ask if there might be a magical way to create it, and the enchanter and the alchemist broke off into a separate group to explore the possibility.

Jack left the crafters to work on the blueprints and went to find Tom. It was after midday but still long before the colors would spread across the eastern sky when he was sitting with Tom, who gave him a rundown of the quests he had gathered for the group. They chose a simple sewer dive with a bunch of rats quest. It was foul in the sewer. The rats, however, were a cakewalk for the group, and roughly three hours after they began a nasty rat mother, the size of a german shepherd was dead, and they ascended a ladder to the surface.

The two mercenaries leveled up and got one battle out of the way, so to Jack's way of thinking, it was worth it. Jack wanted the battle commander profession before the assault on the castle. He didn't know how it would help yet, but he was sure it would. This all needed to come together, and he began wondering if he should throw a ton of money at the problem and hire hundreds of mercenaries to take the castle. Jack knew that he would if he needed to, but he really wanted to take it his way. He wanted guns to work, and he wanted to surprise the Lord of Pendershold.