Hel’s eyes went wide as she looked over Gunnar’s weapon. “I see those wanted posters were not posted without good reason.”

“You’ve seen it before?” Gunnar asked.

“Suffice it ter say, this was treasured by its former owner.”

“Kohli, you mean.”

“Trader-client privilege, remember?” Hel said. “But no, I did not sell this to anyone named Kohli.”

Very interesting…

If it had not been Kohli’s, that meant Sykes must have given it to him. Meaning the barkeep had seriously underestimated how well Gunnar’s crew would fight back. He’d thought it was a sure victory. Gunnar smirked, thinking of how badly Kohli’s outlook must be for this game at this point.

But it also reminded him that he could be one mistake away from losing his own prospects.

“I wouldn’t flash this around the city, if I were yeh.”

“What about outside the city?”

“Leaving, are we?”

“Yes and no.”

Hel smiled at this response. “They’re common enough in the empire that it shouldn’t arouse much suspicion.”

“Great, now about that Spellshot.”

It turned out that there were all kinds of Arcane Spellshot, dealing incredible ranges of damage. The greatest level Hel had in stock was something called a Spellbomb, which exploded like a magic grenade on impact and could easily take out multiple mobs if they were around Gunnar’s same level.

Naturally, these were pricey, even for one time use ammo. As were the rounds of Silenced Spellshot.

In the end, Gunnar opted for something middle of the road.

“I’ll take ten rounds of the Basic Scattershot.”

The rounds looked like luminescent sapphire musket balls, and they came in a small leather bag, he could fix to his belt.

Basic Arcane Scattershot (10)

Item Class: Uncommon, Range

Quality: Average

Base Damage: 30

Weight: 0.1

Description: This enchanted ammo acts more like a shotgun blast, with lower damage than many types of Spellshot, but a higher chance of hitting your target. Perfect for people who suck at dealing accurate range attacks.

It wasn’t as great as the Heat-Seeking Scattershot, but it was also only four coins per round, so Gunnar was pleased. He didn’t want to drain his entire purse in one go.

“I’ll take a couple Healing and Stamina potions too.”

Hel raised an eyebrow, but reached behind a counter and produced four vials. “Yeh’re in a guild by now, en’t yeh?”

Gunnar eyed her suspiciously. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

Hel smirked. “Customer’s always right.”

“Sure.”

“I think I might have one more thing yeh’d be interested in.”

The orc set a small leather case on the counter. Inside were three star-shaped blades with a bunch of tiny runes etched into them.

Shooting Stars

Item Class: Rare, Range

Quality: Above average

Base Damage: 25

Weight: 0.5

Durability: 17

Requirements: 10 Mana per throw

Description: This throwing star is enchanted with a spell that makes it always hit its target. But what’s really useful is that the star always comes back to its master.

“Always comes back?” Gunnar asked. “Like a boomerang?”

Hel shrugged, clearly unsure what he was talking about. “They fly right back at yeh after yeh’ve struck yer target. Yeh can throw ’em over and over again. Even at the same target, if yeh want.”

Gunnar was really interested until he heard the last bit of the description. “Sounds like they’ll just cut my hand off.”

“With a little practice, yeh can snatch ’em right out of the air. Yeh look like yeh’ve got high Dexterity.”

“Yeah? How would you know anything about my Dexterity?”

“Oh, I know skilled fingers when I see ’em. Yours look just like my young man’s, and let me tell yeh…”

She reached for his fingers, and Gunnar jerked them away.

“More than I need to know, Hel!”

The orc just chuckled. “He can find things, that’s all I’m saying.”

Gunnar almost gagged.

Hel slapped the counter. “And I’d just as soon get back up ter him. Do yeh want the stars, or don’t yeh?”

Gunnar eyed them eagerly. If he could learn to catch them, they sounded badass.

He took one of the stars from the case, feeling the weight of the thrumming four-bladed weapon. He could feel the warmth as Mana passed into the blade from his fingers, and the runes began to glow.

“Not in here,” Hel said.

But Gunnar ignored her, spun, and chucked the Shooting Star in the general direction of the wooden front door. The star shot toward the window at first, then arced, and struck the door straight in the center. Despite his intentionally poor form, it had landed exactly where he’d pictured in his head as he released it.

Just as he was about to ask Hel how he could get it to return to him, the star began to wiggle in the door. It shot across the room, straight toward Gunnar’s face.

Gunnar ducked instinctively, but just as it was about to reach him, it slowed slightly, and he reached out and snatched the star midair.

The blade cut his palm slightly, dealing some mild damage. But Gunnar didn’t care. That was on his first try.

“Yeh see?” Hel said. “Good fingers.”

Gunnar shook his head but couldn’t help but grin. “How much?”

“Two hundred for the lot.”

“Two hundred.”

“I’ll even throw the case in for free.”

“Well, that seals the deal then.”

“Really?” Hel asked.

“I don’t care about the case, and I don’t have two hundred coins left.”

“I see. Two hundred is a good deal for these.”

Gunnar nodded. “How about one star?”

“I don’t have a case for just one.”

“I don’t need a case.”

“Well, I don’t have a case for the two left either.”

“Look, you clearly have been trying to sell these for awhile. I’ll give you fifty coins for one, and if I like it, maybe I’ll take the rest when I have more money.”

Hel crossed her arms over her chest. “Sixty.”

“Fifty-five, or no deal.”

“All right.” Hel sent him a trading window, which showed images of each of his purchases, and a request for one hundred and sixty-five coins. “Good doing business with yeh,” Hel said. “Now, if yeh don’t mind, I’d like to—”

“Sorry, one last question,” Gunnar said. “You’ve got spells, right?”

Hel huffed. “Of course.”

“You have any dark magic spells?”

Hel’s eyes narrowed. “Only way ter learn dark magic is from a Dark Mage.”

“There’s no spell books at all?”

“They all got rooted out by the empire long ago. I’m sure there’s a few that survived somewhere, but I’ve never seen ’em.”

Gunnar shrugged. “No worries. I’d take a look at the spells you have.”

Hel grimaced.

“Last thing, I promise.”

Hel grunted, but produced several scrolls for him to peruse. Most were fairly mundane things like Summon Mount or Inner Calm or Purify Drink. There were a few basic spells like Minor Harm or Heal or Magic Resistance, but anything more advanced than these required an actual Mage class, and even then, the cool down was greater for non-Mages.

One specific scroll piqued his interest though.

Psychic Impression

Spell Type: Celestial

Alignment: Light

Requirements: Intermediate Level Mage

Cost: 5 Mana per Impression

Description: This spell allows you to communicate via the spiritual gateway. You can share images, feelings, and messages with others. Most often used for deception and diversionary tactics, though it can also be used to calm fears and ease pain. But what’s the fun in that?

Gunnar stared at the spell. It had struck him as strange in the moment, but he’d not had time to dwell on it after the fact. But now, he realized what had felt off about his messages with Lex. He’d never received a DM from an NPC before the dawn elf, and he hadn’t received one since. He could send out alerts and quest prompts to the NPC members of the Cryptids, but as far as he’d experienced, direct messages only came from other players. And yet Lex had been an NPC. She must have been since she hadn’t respawned. And yet she’d been able to message him.

Maybe this was the answer.

“Could you use this spell to communicate with other players?”

Hel shrugged. “For deception, sure.”

“What about for messages?”

“Why would yeh? Yeh’ve already got DMs. But I suppose yeh could. Yeh’ve gotta be a Mage versed in the Celestial school of magic, though.”

“Right,” Gunnar muttered. He was pretty sure he was on to something. Lex had communicated with him in a way that the developers presumably couldn’t monitor. And she’d been versed in the Celestial arts.

If only he knew who was behind it.

He still wasn’t entirely sure he could trust whoever was behind that NPC, but his gut told him otherwise.

The encounter had triggered something in his memory. Not of the car crash, and that was what was most suspicious of all.

It had triggered a feeling.

He felt like he knew Lex or Alex or whoever was behind her.

“Yeh getting some of these spells?” Hel demanded.

Gunnar chose a couple cheap and basic spells to get his feet wet—Basic Word of Healing, since that seemed useful even in low amounts, and Lesser Shield, which briefly decreased the damage of enemy attacks.

He sent Hel thirty more coins.

“Be careful,” Hel said as she led him to the back entrance.

“I’ll be all right.”

“I mean it. I’m no Imperial friend, but there’s nothing wrong with minding yer own business. Yeh’re a minor enemy of the empire at the moment. But advanced Dark Mages were hunted down for a reason when the Reddik conquered Thailen.”

Gunnar nodded. “Maybe that’s all the more reason to be interested.”

Hel shrugged. “Perhaps.”

“I’ll see you around,” Gunnar said, stepping out into the dark street.

“Time will tell, won’t it?”

With that, Hel closed the door.