Scot logged back in. He had some time to think how he wanted to do this. He did not want to dig up anyone really, because of the time it would take. Braking into a small tomb or mausoleum on the other hand seemed it would be faster and yield higher rewards. After some covert information gathering he was told the dead get buried at 5 places mainly.

The first was the normal grave yard, where the common people mostly got buried. He was not far from said graveyard so he went to have a look. It was inside the city wall and it was small. He had rode past grave yards in the real world and could tell you they needed a lot of space for a city of this size. A quick conversation revealed that the reason why it was so small, was because they needed the space. When it was full. They would start in a corner and burry the new dead, on top of the old dead. By the time they got around to it, the old body would have become part of the earth and the tombstone or whatever was used, gets thrown away and replaced by the new persons. In pure RR logic, this was a normal thing to do.

The second was where the kings and royalty got buried. It was some place hidden under the palace or a grand burial structure, close to the third place. The third place was where the champions or people that have done the greatest service to the kingdom got buried. It was rumored that this place and the second had constant guards. The new and those guards in trouble usually found themselves on these shifts during working hours.

The fourth was the private graves from the Lords and families that have been around for a long time. Tinker knew these were most likely the place or places he would target. They are on grounds and lands privately owned. The only problem was how he will know who to target.

The fifth and last place was the mass graves dug right after battles or wars. But they intended not to have high amount of loot, because all the things of worth get taken from the dead for the next person that can make use of it.

He would need some help with this, so he decided to message Antrax, he was a miner and had high luck. Maybe he could do most of the work and they share in the spoils. A quick glance in the guild tab revealed him to be in the capital and online.

“Hi Antrax, are you busy?”

“Not really no, here at an inn. The ladies are playing hard to get. What can I do for you?”

“What do you say to some digging?”

“

Sounds nice. Where, when and what for?”

“Here, tonight and for some variable loot.”

“I don’t follow.”

“There is no easy way to say it, I want to do some grave robbing, just to boost my scavenger skill.”

“O, you know they don’t like it when people do it right?”

“I know, that is why I need someone with mining experience so that it can go fast.”

“Yea, ok. So what type of loot we looking at?”

“I am not sure. We first have to find a good place. Currently I am thinking of targeting a lords private family graveyard.”

“Hmmm, I think we need a third person. Someone to help with the scouting and to be a look out.”

“You got someone in mind?”

“No, I just joined the guild remember.”

“Ok, let us ask Quantum. He seems to be online and in the capital as well.”

Thus the three way call was started.

“Yes?”

“Hi Quantum, you busy?”

“In a way yes.”

“O, we are looking for a person to act as a scout and lookout while do some things at night. Can you help us out or suggest someone who can?”

“That depends on what compensation you guys are going to give. How long it is going to take and where it all is going to take place.”

They brought him up to speed and he agreed. For a 1/3 of all profits. It was a bit steep considering they were going to take all the risk, but Quantum said for that price he will kill people that got to close, instead of reporting and saving his own behind by disappearing into the night.

Now came the hard part of who they are going to rob. Quantum actually suggested that they go to the library. Apparently families like the Collins have a duplicate book of their family history in the public library. It was still day so Tinker had some time to go look. He was surprised at the amount of family books that were there for all the world to read. He did not plan to rob the Collins so he took a book from someone else.

After the second book he noticed that all the books did not follow the same format. Later he learned that it was the families who the books were based on responsibility to maintain and write down new and relative information. Some books were over glorified and each family member had a page dedicated to them. Others just had names and mentioned their greatest achievement.

Tinker preferred the books that only had about a paragraph or two dedicated to them. He did not read in detail. Only read key words. At the end of it all, he did not know who of them were overselling their families history and who was accurate. He decided to then focus on the most prominent lords in the current political structure with long family history.

He found three names. Two of them were in the city and the other was just outside the city. He asked Quantum to go scout the closest two places. Antrax told them, they should just notify him when and where he must meet up with them.

Since he had his three locations Tinker took the Collins book. It seemed their family line went further than the current kings. It appeared each person got a paragraph. Woman had their names in the book, as soon as they got married and got a new name it would be recorded along with the name of her children and date of death. It seems once your last name was no longer Collins they did not really care what happened to you. The names of those woman that married into the family also got the bare minimum of attention. At least their greatest achievement or highest position of rank was recorded.

Tinker was surprised to see that Tristan’s farther, Arthur was buried in the hall of champions. He just thought the old man was a general but it seems he was one of the best and earned his spot. He noticed that they did not mention what items or other things of worth were buried with them. So either there would be nothing or at least something for when they go.

He noticed in most of the books there were many peoples, whose name were just recorded and they died of an old age and there was nothing noteworthy written. He assumed that these people either lived very plain lives or were the black sheep of their family. Just goes to show that even nobles are just like normal people.

While Tinker was the library he went and asked a person what books he must read to increase his intelligence. He now knew only books related to his profession will help him. The problem was that there were not many books for warriors. He did not have time to start read a new one so he borrowed 3 books for now. There were about 7 more, which he will leave for a later day.

He and Antrax met Quantum at Lord Houser estate. It was about 11 at night and all seemed peaceful.

“Ok, no dogs or things like that. There is a guard at the gate, it seems none on patrol and the thing we are looking for is there in the back yard, you can’t miss it.”

“Cool, Antrax you got your tools?”

“Yes.”

“I got my shovel, lead the way Quantum”

They stuck to the shadows. The rich part of the city was quite during this time of night, not much traffic. There first challenge was the wall, where they needed to lower a rope for Antrax. Tinker could have climbed the wall but their dwarven friend needed all the help he could get. After some huff and puff they were on the estate grounds and making their way to what seemed like a small building.

Quantum picked the lock. He slowly pushed the door open. It squeaked some, but they were down wind at least so the sound carried away. Quantum led the way inside looking for traps. There was a small room with stairs leading down. Once at the bottom it spread in different directions.

“Well, there don’t seem to be traps. I’ll stick around for the first coffin or tomb or whatever these things are. Then I’ll be outside.”

They opened the first and nearest coffin. It was not booby trapped and inside they got their first items. Mainly rusted gear which was useless but there was a ring. They went to the next coffin.

Outside Quantum kept to the shadows and ventured a small distance towards the house. He could hear no sounds. The others were silent. He kept busy while the others were busy. He had no idea how long they would be and was rather bored himself. He was tasked to kill a fellow assassin that was also a player. The one that successfully kills the other on his own will get the chance to do a B rank quest.

Back in the mausoleum Tinker them were very busy. For each one that Tinker opened Antrax opened three. By the time they had had cleared the western side about an hour had passed.

“Tinker buddy. In the north are more coffins. They seem to be the more resent. In the east are small tombs. I’ll will have to mine into them and break some granite and marble. Damm shame really. Some of them are well decorated.”

“Ok. So I’ll go clear those in the north and you take the east. We about done with the two other sides.”

As Tinker was desecrating more coffins he could hear the hitting sounds of Antrax. It was loud and he hoped those on the surface could not really hear it. Another hour passed and they left. Quantum gave the all clear and they disappeared into the night.

“So do we hit the next spot or call it a night?” Tinker asked

“Go to the next. Once news of this spreads all tombs will get guards for a while.” Quantum added

“Works for me.” Antrax said.

Next on the hit list was Lord Giller. This place was somewhat smaller but had much of the same. In just over an hour they were done. It was about 4 in the morning.

“Well guys. Some good hunting. Disappointed we got no gold, but we got many items. The crappy and rusted ones we left behind but we got some good stuff.”

“Good, I say we take what we can use and then give the rest for the guild.”

“Really Quantum, why would we give the rest of it to the guild?”

“I was not finished explaining. Normally we give items to the scribes that want to level up merchant skill or class or whatever it is. Now stolen loot works a bit different. Only certain people engage in these activities. It just so happen we have a guy that will sell stolen stuff.”

“I don’t see how big a difference it can make?”

“Well, there are many factors a person needs to take into account. But also stealing family heirlooms and items like we got, will boost this merchant reputation and skill. He takes the risk of being caught and if he gets caught and talks, he loses % in his skill. If he does not talk and does the time. Not only does his % in skill rise. But so does his reputation.”

“OK, sounds good. How much money we looking at?”

“I guess about 50%. We will get more if we sell it ourselves but as I said. Dealing in stolen merchandise is tricky business. The up side is, that if he gets caught, they won’t confiscate all our stolen goods, because this guy caries the bare minimum on him. He has a system where he tells you what he has, and only brings items to a deal. I have scouted and helped him out a few nights.”

“This is a good as plan as any. So we done?”

“Did you not say the other place outside the city?” Antrax asked.

“Yep.”

“I think we should go and rob it. After the word gets out of what we did, things are going to get hard.”

“Fine, let’s go.”

After about 30 min they arrived at a large estate with a few more houses on the premises that most likely belong to servants. It did not take long to find what they were looking for. Antrax and Tinker went to work. They were nearly finished when Quantum sent a pm in their party chat.

“Grab the last things and come, the place is waking up.”

“On it.”

They exited the door as was waved over by Quantum. When they got to him two people were lying on the ground tied up. They hastily made their way off and started on their way back to the city.

“Why did you not kill them, they seemed to still be alive?”

“Yea, left them. A few months ago a major patch or update happened that gives a person more severe punishments for killing NPC’s. Since then I only kill people that have it coming or are part of a quest.”

“You know that makes you seem less like a badass.”

“I don’t care. I can’t get my infamy to low. According to reliable info once you become hated, a homeless person you have never seen before will spot you or whoever and go call guards. It makes for walking and getting around rather tough.”

“Don’t you like stick to shadows and darkness?”

“Sometimes, other times I hide in plain sight. Since half a day is in light, a person needs to be able to move freely in light and darkness. Will you be able to knock out or stop random NPC’s from calling for help?”

“No, I have not tried yet and don’t have the skills for it.”

“That is right, you don’t have the skills. . . . “ Quantum said in that condescending tone of his.

Tinker got a new suit and a pair of bracers. Antrax got a rather small shield with impressive stats and a walking stick. It was too long for him, but he could cut it down to the size he needed.

Quantum got the most items he could use. A cloak as dark as night that repels light from it and a customized dagger that looked like it could have belonged to a king. It had jewels and other elaborate decorations. The sad part waa that the stats of said dagger was more impressive than its looks.

At the end of all this, Tinker counted it as a success. The gold of the sales will be added to the bank for him to go and collect at a later date. His scavenger skill went up an entire level and then some.

With the rising sun they parted ways. Tinker decided he would go to the training hall. Instead of going to hit the dummy to finish basic training he decided to test out his new crossbow. The archery rage was large and was located in a building next to the familiar training hall.

There were your standard scarecrow dummies made from straw and the round targets. They were arranged at different lengths. Tinker had never been to a firing range before but he could figure out that you stand at the red line and shoot towards your targets.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Tinker took a spot not too far away from 3 other people with their bows. He watched them shoot. He concluded that two of them were relatively new. They would focus, aim and fire. The other guy had better gear and used less time to aim. His arrow speed and rate of fire were also on another level. At one point it seemed he shot right through the scare crow. He most likely used a power shot of some kind.

Tinker decided to shoot at the more traditional round target. He took the one handed crossbow with both hands and fired. He barely struck the target. The others laughed at him. He did not pay much attention to them and readied for another shot. The instant the bolt magically loaded itself he fired again. This time the bolt missed to the left.

Those that laughed at him, actually stopped. They knew a awesome weapon when they saw it. Even though it was a small crossbow that could be wielded with one hand, its ability to reload itself made a huge difference. That is right you turds, marvel at my equipment, Tinker thought.

He kept at it. Once he was hitting the target closer to the bulls eye, he felt it was time to shoot it with one hand. The crossbow did not feel heavy at all and he hit the target in the outer circle. He tried a few more shots that mostly hit and swapped hands. His accuracy stayed about the same.

After about an hour of shooting he stopped. He concluded that for accuracy a person should use both hands and that it did not really matter with which hand he shot. Thus he decided to move the crossbow to his right side. It was just behind his sword hilt. That way he can draw it with his left hand and use sword in the other.

He was a little disappointed that he did not magically learn the archery skill yet so he decided to ask an instructor what is going on.

“So let me get this straight. You shoot your little crossbow for an hour and expect to become a renowned archer?” The instructor said with a tone of sarcasm.

“Well, no. I just want to learn the skill so that I can do more damage and improve my accuracy. Who knows, maybe in the future I can learn a skill or two.”

“Maybe if you had no profession and the gift to shoot. But you are a warrior and you are using a crossbow. Real hunters use a bow. I will say that you have a fine weapon, but that will only get you so far.”

“So how do I get the archery skill?” Tinker asked rather seriously

“How do you think?” The instructor answered seriously in return.

“By shooting some more?”

“A lot more. If you here at the end of the day. We will talk.”

The instructor left after that. It was about 8 in the morning so Tinker would have a long day ahead of him. He kept on shooting. It seems every hour firing in the training hall is stopped to go and collect arrows and replace possible targets. Since he was the only person with a crossbow, all the bolts there were his. He wondered how the others knew which arrows were theirs and whose not. It seemed like a good place for a level one person to come steal arrows.

He also noticed he did not retrieve all his bolts. He hoped no one stole them. Vaguely he once remembered Yuri explain how the arrow mechanic works. Arrows will be disintegrated upon hard contact. Thus preventing players that are tanks to look like porcupines or have to fight with arrows sticking out all over there body. You get about a 25 – 50 % return from arrows from creatures or monsters. It all depends on what drops. They magically appear neatly in a stack as part of the normal loot you get.

Tinker has looted his fare share of arrows over the cause of their adventure, which he always gave back to Yuri. It was just another one of those items and things they would swap between each other when the party was not fighting. It was more time efficient that one person loot the corpse then each person having a go. Items like the arrows any party member could pick up. More specific things like meat for eating and parts for alchemy, only Yuri and Tinker could harvest well.

The day went on. More people came. Tinker got 3 offers for his girly crossbow as one player bluntly put it. He declined them all. At some point he had a crowd watching him. They all have never seen a crossbow that reloads itself. Since he was a terrible shot and after you seen the crossbow reload a few times the hype of the moment quickly passes. They would leave and let him go back to his shooting.

He noticed that he could hit the target effectively at 50 meters. After that gravity starts to take its effect and a person needs to adjust your aim. Since they were in doors the wind had no effect. Tinker suddenly started to feel a new found respect for archers hitting targets and some of the distances he had seen. Some were even accurate to a 100 meters.

He moved over to shooting the scarecrow. His head shots were all over the place but more than a few hit. He noticed that his small crossbow had remarkable penetration power. He would not shoot through plate armour, but when you get shot by his one handed crossbow, you will feel it. He made a mental note to ask Yuri about how exactly penetration works and how it factors into your damage and tactics. He knew Yuri had mentioned it before, but to be honest he did not listen.

After lunch Tinker was back at it. He was fooling around and trying to hit the targets at the back of the range. They were 100 meters away. He was doing rather well compared to the other guys and girls shooting at that distance who were also starting out. A person using a bow needs to position and keep their body the right way. Pull the string the right distance and then shoot. All Tinker did was aim somewhere above the target, point and shoot. Almost like a gun. He could see the jealousy on the other beginners faces.

If it was so easy he wondered why not all warriors had a crossbow which they could shoot with.

That answer came at the end of the day. He collected the last of his bolts when that instructor came back.

“How do you think you did?” The instructor asked

“Well. I started with barely hitting the target at 50 meters. Currently I hit nine out of ten targets at 100 meters.”

“Yes, crossbows do give the illusion of talent. Regardless, you stuck with it and now I feel confident you have some skill for archery.”

*New skill learned archery.

Damage and accuracy increases with bow or crossbow.

It was currently still level one and on 86%. He thought he remembered that the archery skill worked a lot like sword mastery. The higher your levels get, the more damage and other things unlock.

He took the time to look at his damage. It was low. Not as low as a normal warrior, but low none the less. It seemed that your damage with a crossbow or normal bow was calculated, by using your agility as your main stat. Although Tinker has high agility for a warrior. It was still low compared to assassins and hunters. In addition his level was only level 1. Maybe on level 4 or so would he gain more damage and extra % in agility.

The wheels in his head were already working. Sword mastery gave for example 45% increase to strength stat and 15 % to agility. Thus his efforts to keep the two stats close together was futile. Currently with a level up he was dumping his bonus stats into agility, to help make up the difference, but it was still not enough. Only when he used his skill morph, did he come close to making them the same. Another problem was most if not all his items would also give about double to triple the amount of strength when compared to agility.

He would have to go look online the exact stats a person receives at what level of the archery skill. The game has been out long enough so that a person should get most of the information. He highly doubted that his archery would ever surpass his sword skill, because he spends most of his time attacking with them, but the extra agility would be welcome.

In addition he noticed that his offhand did more damage with the crossbow than his main hand. It made a little sense to him. For his swords, his main hand damage was based on his strength and offhand for agility.

It was time to log out and do real world things. He would be back about a day before he needed to report back to Lord Collins.

He arrived back at the training hall. He had a few hours to kill so he went back to shooting at targets. His archery skill became level 2, feeling pleased with himself he left.

He went through the same pain staking process of sitting and waiting for his turn. That was a down side of any big city. The waiting in line for your turn. He once read online or heard that the average person spends two and a half years of their lifetime, waiting in lines. He remembered the first time he heard it, he was like “Now that can’t be right.”

The more he thought about it, the more is seemed plausible. Lines at the bank, for food, at cash registers, post office. He did not have a license or car yet, but what he understood from the process it did not go fast either. More situations started popping in and out of his thoughts of locations and places where people waited for their turn. That also left trips to museums, festivals and the list it seems goes on and on. Two years did not seem that far now if you consider an average life span is about 65 years.

As he entered Lord Collins office, he noticed that he was dressed a bit more formal than usual.

“Ah young Tinker, it is about time. Are you ready?”

“Indeed I am.”

“Good, let us get going. We are late as it is.”

“Sorry, I was not aware we were.”

“Do not worry. I intend to arrive a bit late. Not too late to offend the King, but late enough to miss trash talk.”

“Ah I see.” Tinker did not really but it seemed like the thing to say.

“Truth be told some of them have been busy for a few hours now. The real things start about now.”

Tinker had no idea what was going on and been giving vague descriptions was also not helping him.

“Have you heard the latest news from your fellow outlanders?”

“Probably not, sir.” He should remember to be polite and respectful. This man after all was one of the most powerful in the current political structure of the Heaven kingdom.

“That your kind have defiled and desecrated our ancestors burial places.”

“This is the first I am hearing of it sir.” Which was truthful in a way.

“Sad what this world is coming to, I myself had to hire mercenaries to watch my own families tombs. The nerve on some of your kind.”

“Yes.” Was all Tinker really could say. He hoped his face was not showing his guilt.

It did not take long for them arrive at the large room where Tinker and Major sat down, to hear what the king had to say about outlanders. The room only had about 50 people in it. He assumed most of them were lords or people involved in the current political structure. He did notice a few mean looking characters. He assumed it was the champions of the other lords.

“Tinker my boy. Don’t tell them anything they want to know. You only answer to me. You understand?”

Tinker nodded.

“Now walk with me and try and look intimidating.”

He was not sure what then meant so he did not smile and rested he hands close to his sword pommels.

Lord Collins went from group to group and greeted them all. He would share a few polite words or sometimes not so polite words. The other lords or people of interest only looked at Tinker and none of them tried to engage him in any way. It seems his plan was working.

After the last group lord Collins and he walked off to the side and sat by their selves.

“It seems the king will not be coming. He is sending his top ranked general to conduct the affairs. It seems everyone is here. Now we wait for the general. How does your competition look?”

“I see 7 plated players and 4 spell types. Should I be in my battle uniform as well?”

“No need. We want them to be confused and not really know what you are all about. It seems Lord Maximuss is coming for us.”

Tinker looked and saw the biggest warrior type standing in the shadow of lord Maximuss. He was just over 7 foot tall and had a big, thick sword strapped on his back. Tinker just sighed inwardly. Of course it was just his luck that Lord Collins personal rival had to have the biggest and most nasty looking champion of them all.

“No matter what happens, just don’t lose to him.”

“I will try sir. Can you tell me more of what to expect today?”

“I have theories, but knowing the general who will conduct this, anything might go. Name the evil and it will appear, look here he is now.”

A grizzly looking veteran with an entourage came walking to the center of the room. The conversations died down one by one and all the people actually left the middle of the room to take seats. The general stood in the middle. Cleared his thought and started talking.

“The kings sends his apologies and sent me in his stead. I was to conduct the second stage of the event, but now I will do the first as well. As you know. The king in his infinite wisdom decided to give a strategic military position to an outlander to see how they handle the situation. The problem we have is how do we decide which. No matter what outlander the king chose, there would be outrage from you sorry lot. So instead he has asked the leaders of the senate to gather champions to compete for the honor.”

Hi. So this chapter is like a week late, Sry about that. Real wold obligations and all that. In this chapter I talk about some grave robbing and Tinkers quest to better his archery skill. I talk and cover a few more things, but this is the gest of it.

Chapter 30 : A nemesis is born. Thinking of posting a pic with that one.

Ill try and post it a week from now.

As always thanks for reading and leave your comments and replies here for me and I will get to them. Advertisement Previous

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