One of the were-rats came out and dropped their arm to begin the match. Lucia immediately rushed behind a nearby column and tried to drop into stealth.

Stealth check failed

-20 mana

Cooldown: 1 minute

“Nice thinking,” said Harcourt. “With success that could have ended things early.”

Lucia pivoted while still behind the column to shift her momentum and emerge from the side she had just come from. Harcourt must have anticipated the move because either his real body or one of his images was right there coming at her. Not wanting to take the chance on it just being a shadow she dove under an oncoming slash and then rolled to her, pivoting right away to again face Harcourt.

Lucia was busy backing up further to try to scope things out. It was hard to look at Harcourt because he looked like a moving hallucination, slow seeming movement with regular skips. Harcourt and his shadows began to move in with a dance that she couldn’t follow.

Suddenly she darted forward toward the right most image, closing in on it. As she did so, she felt a cut midway on her back.

-5 HP Slash Damage

No Impaired Movement

“How in the hell?” she asked herself. None of his images had been in a position to get at her there.

“Lord Harcourt 1- beautiful Lucia 0,” announced the fake Rat King.

She drew back to get into starting position once more.

“Those pivots were well done, both behind the column and after the roll,” said Harcourt.

“Not good enough evidently.” Lucia thought.

This time when the round began, Lucia backed up once again toward the column. As Harcourt came into engage her she ran straight up the column. The move that followed was one only a small percentage of players could manage, those who had mastered certain parkour skills in the real world. Lucia turned and ran straight at the column with Harcourt following. She wall ran straight up the column before pushing herself backwards as she reached toward the ceiling, landing directly behind one of the Harcourt images, she slashed out. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been the real Harcourt as the sword passed through air. The image disappeared.

“Spectacular!” enthused Harcourt. “That could have easily been it. Now you only need one more hit, on the real me or another shadow to win the challenge.”

Lucia stayed silent. With some opponents she would have been trying to distract them with talk, but she could see that Harcourt was at a level where that was unlikely to work. Instead, she looked around trying to find something else that would allow her to touch the rat king. There were stairs leading up to a dais, and some other columns in the room, but nothing was coming to her automatically.

Instead, when the next round started she decided to take it on offense. Heading right for the left-hand image, she went after the dangerous dancing Rat King. She tried a number of unexpected movements but wasn’t able to fully engage the jerky dancing figures. Soon the score was 4-1 for Harcourt.

She was running out of options. She figured that she would have been out matched by Harcourt with no shadows, but they presented both challenge and opportunity. The last round was due to begin and she needed a game changer.

Suddenly dropping her saber and dagger, she equipped the halberd in her dimensional bag. The surprise on Harcourt’s face took just enough time for her to sweep the polearm out with one hand and take out the second shadow.

“Oh, now that was excellent!” Luckily it didn’t seem that Harcourt was a sore loser.

“How is that possibly a fair test for a potential Bard,” asked Lucia.

“It was no test at all. Your history and potential had already beguiled me before you stepped foot into the sewers. The duel was so I could gift you with this.”

Skill Learned

Dancing

Use dancing to cast bard spells or to earn income during downtime

(Can work in conjunction with acrobatics after level 5)

Lv. 1

Skill Learned

Weapons Dancing

Use any weapon with a skill of at least 10 as a part of your casting of bard spells

(Dancing must be of at least level 5)

Lvl. 1

“So, you’re a bard as well?” questioned Lucia.

“Master bard my dear.” That meant that Harcourt was somewhere between level 15 and 19.

“How in the hell is someone at low level supposed to run this trial?”

“They aren’t. This was all for your sake Lucia. Your skill set, particularly as you gain experience as a bard, will make you excellent as both a spy and an envoy. There are powers, both in this city and beyond, who align with the ethos you have demonstrated. I happen to be one of these. I don’t like those who oppress those weaker than themselves, but at the same time, I’d rather teach a person the skills to take care of themselves rather than right every wrong. I don’t find every law equally worthy to obey, but on the other hand, I see freedom as only good as long as it doesn’t infringe on the natural rights of others. We inhabit an alignment that is near the center of the spectrum, neutral. If you remain as such, you may become part of the Balance.”

“The Balance?” Lucia had heard of a number of secret societies in the game but never one that was known as the Balance.

“Yes the Balance,” continued Harcourt. “The Balance is at work across our world, in all 7 of the realms and in the astral spheres beyond them all. There are even some who claim that it is active in the dimension of your first birth.”

Lucia had heard of secret societies that operated in more than one realm but never across all and certainly not in the real world, which it seemed that Harcourt was implying. “What does being an agent of the balance entail?”

“We basically see that no one group becomes too powerful. In our city here for instance, it means seeing that neither the bankers, merchants nor any other faction get too powerful at the expense of others. The trick is that we can’t be observed in action or else our aims would become known. I can’t really tell you more until you’re officially inducted. Are you interested in going further with this?”

Lucia was a bit taken aback by this change of events and didn’t know how to respond. On the one hand, this might bring a number of interesting quests, on the other she might even have less time to play with her party and friends. She had read forum post about players who got involved with a faction, noble house, guild, or secret society and took over all their play time. Still, opportunities like this were rare. Her gut told her to take this one.

“Yes’” was all she said.

“Excellent! Go get settled with your bard quest and a society member will contact you in the next several days.