Runeguard 028

Leaving the alchemist shop, I made my way to the fields outside town. I kept the hood of my cloak up and hunched over, trying to hide my tall frame as much as possible.

My disguise was by no means perfect. 

Any player whose interest I drew would still be able to identify me if he queried his administrator. My hope was that with my features hidden, I would appear to be just another faceless mage, and none of the thieves would take the time to examine me closely.

The camps were stirring as I entered their depths. Fires were being lit, breakfasts were being prepared, and people were moving about. Since entering the Proving Grounds, I had hardly spent any time at all in the fields bordering the town, and I took a moment to study it anew.

The camps had changed somewhat. Where on the first day the open field had been randomly dotted with campfires, today things appeared more… organized. 

The field had been segregated into sections, each demarcated by tall poles or ropes strung along their boundaries. There were tents in the camps too. Each was conical and made of stitched-together leather hides.

Not every camp section had tents, of course. Nor were they all well-organized. Some appeared to be barely scrapping by, while others seemed to be overflowing with resources. Given what I knew already of the Crows, I expected their own camp to be large and rich with plunder. Walking clockwise through the field, I searched out likely candidates.

It did not take me long to find them.

On the east side of town, I spotted an oversized camp surrounded by a rope-fence. A shallow trench had been dug all around, and visibly armed figures patrolled the boundary. The adjacent camps seemed to shrink away, and an open space of at least three yards separated the camp in question from the others.

Making sure not to draw the notice of the watching guards, I walked a slow circuit around the thieves’ encampment. It was large enough that it could easily hold a few hundred and had only a single gated entrance.

As I completed my circuit and approached the gate from the other side, I saw a group of players, with their shoulders hunched and heads bowed, approach the barred gate. One of the dozen guards lounging in front of the gate extricated himself from his fellows and sauntered towards the approaching party.

Words were exchanged and the party leader drew out a leather bag and handed it to the guard. The guard inspected the bag’s contents and barked out a laugh before yelling something at the player. This prompted him to draw out a second pouch and hand it over.

I bit back my rising anger. It was pretty obvious what was going on. The players were paying tribute to the Crows. 

How long has this been going on? I wondered. And why are the other guilds doing nothing to stop this? 

But I wouldn’t let their inaction stop me. I had a strategy. And while the chances of me destroying the thieves entirely were low, I hoped to significantly disrupt their operations.

It was time to put my plan into action.

✵ ✵ ✵

Sitting down cross-legged with my wizard’s staff across my lap and feigning to sleep, I watched the gate to the thieves’ encampment from a few yards away. The entrance faced the town, and a constant stream of thieves strutted in and out.

Even if Adi wasn’t able to read the Crows’ guild tags, the thieves were easy enough to tell by their arrogant postures. They seemed to believe they owned the town. 

It was ten minutes before I found two likely marks. From their gear, I judged them to be low-leveled players. They hurried away from the camp and headed directly into the town. Stretching my arms and pretending to have just woken up, I rose to my feet and followed after. 

I kept a careful distance until the pair were out of sight from the camp, but once my marks entered a quiet street, I removed my cloak and stuff, and stored them in my inventory, then closed quickly on the pair. 

When I was a few feet away, I drew my daggers. This encounter would be all close-in fighting, and I doubted I would need my heavier weapons. “Now, Night,” I said.

The black dragon’s spirit poured out of me and into a dense gray cloud that encircled me completely for a few yards in every direction. I felt no different with the black dragon’s spirit superimposing me, yet that did not mean I couldn’t sense the miasma of dread drenching the area.

Night’s fear aura was in play. 

The startled thieves were enclosed in the same billowing cloud. They spun about, eyes wide and hands reaching for their weapons. Night’s spell had failed to terrify them.

But their response was what I had been hoping for.

Dashing forward, I thrust my daggers deep into the torso of the first. The second thief I left to Night.

The black dragon did not disappoint.

An image of Night’s head appeared out of the nebulous cloud of her being. The smoke-drawn shape was hazy but distinctly draconic.

Her eyes were the most startling of all. Formed of swirling mists so densely packed they appeared near-black, Night’s twin orbs looked frighteningly lifelike and menacing. 

Catching sight of the draconic shape hiding in the mist, the second thief turned pale as a sheet. He turned to flee but it was too late.

Twin lines of darkness reached out from Night to the Crow, and mid-step he froze—petrified.

“Good job, Night,” I murmured. Stepping away from the lifeless corpse at my feet, I wrenched back the head of the second, still-stunned thief.

Then, without hesitation, I plunged my dagger into his throat.

As the Crow fell, Night withdrew her form back into me. “Are all of the thieves you hunt, this… easy to slay?” the black dragon asked, the derision in her voice undisguised. 

I laughed. “Not at all, Night. I expect most will prove a bigger challenge. But remember we chose these two precisely because they were weak.”

“I do not forget, Dace. Yet these kills were hardly satisfactory,” she groused.

 I ignored her further mutterings of displeasure. Night knew as well as I what our purpose here was. “Adi, how did we do?”

“Displaying your gains now, Dace.”

Your spirit expertise skill has increased to rank 2.

Your spirit link skill has increased to rank 2. 

Your daggers skill has increased to rank 9. 

Night has reached level 2! 

Maintenance cost increased to 20 MP.

+1 rank to Night’s strength, constitution, channeling, and chaos.

“Excellent,” I murmured, pleased that Night had levelled up. It was for exactly this reason that I had pursued the two thieves. Before I took on the entire Crows guild, I wanted to improve my companion as much as possible.

But that was only part of the reason. 

I scanned the area. A few players were still around, watching me with wary expressions. I was standing brazenly in the street with my bared blades dripping with blood. 

I didn’t care about witnesses, though. 

I thought my plan would work better with them. In fact, if I could have been certain my ambush wouldn’t have endangered nearby bystanders, I would have chosen a busier street. But there had been no way to be certain of that.

I glanced at the two corpses on the floor. I had no intention of looting them. And given the fear most other players had for the thieves, I doubted anyone else would either. Which meant the bodies wouldn’t decay for a while yet.

Let’s see what the Crows make of two of their own discarded like so much rubbish on the streets, I thought with a vicious smile.

With a self-satisfied gait, I strode away. 

To find my next targets.

✵ ✵ ✵

A few minutes later, I found a second group of Crows to ambush. The thieves were accosting another player. The unfortunate girl was backed up against a wall, while three gang members leaned in and screamed in her face.

I grimaced in distaste. Goddamn bullies. Word had not yet spread about my first attack and so I was brazen in my approach.

Striding nonchalantly towards the trio, I plunged my dagger into the back of the first with no forewarning.

The other two spun about.

Night reached out from me, a wisp of half-formed smoke in the shape of a dragon’s head and petrified the second.

The third thief launched himself at me with a short sword in hand. I was waiting for him though and fended off the attack with the dagger in my left hand while thrusting forward with the one in my right.

My blow was met by hardened leather and was turned away. Damn, I growled. 

The thief was quick to recover from the botched attack and slashed down again. My leather gambeson failed to stop the blow and pain blossomed in my side. The Crow grinned and stepped back, seeming to think the encounter won. 

Idiot. Snarling, I charged. 

The thief’s eyes widened. He tried to sidestep, but my maneuver had caught him flat-footed, and he was forced to face my attack head on. Heedless of the Crow’s raised blade, I plunged my daggers into him. Once. Twice.

It was enough. Gasping his last breath, the Crow slumped to the ground. I turned to the last thief. He was still petrified, and without remorse, I executed him.

A stifled cry drew my attention. The player the three Crows had been molesting was huddled down against the wall, her eyes darting between my bloodstained armor, Night’s smoky form, and the three corpses littering the street.

I crouched down until I was at eye level with her. “Hey, it’s alright,” I said. “I won’t hurt you.”

Her gaze fixed on my own. “Who are you?” she stuttered.

“A good Samaritan,” I said. Then smiled. “A guardian.”

She looked at me in confusion.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “But you better get out of here now. Before more Crows arrive or someone associates you with all this,” I said, gesturing to the slain corpses.

The girl paled further, frightened by the prospect of the Crows hunting her, but my words got her moving. Rising to her feet, she scampered off without looking back.

Good, I thought, rising to my feet. “Adi, status?”

“Your health has fallen to 93%, and Night’s mana is at 50%, but she has gained another level.”

I nodded approvingly and scanned the street. No one had worked up the courage to approach me or the three dead Crows.

“Night, keep watch, I am going to heal myself,” I said. 

“Certainly, Dace,” she replied.

Having a sentient spirit as a companion had more benefits than I had foreseen. Night had her own awareness, and when I was preoccupied, she was fully capable of looking out, and if necessary, taking action on her own to safeguard us both. 

Drawing mana, I whispered the words of the lesser heal spell.

You have restored yourself to full health. 

Your life magic skill has increased to rank 14.

You have cast a life magic spell while wearing armor and have increased your armor synergy skill to rank 1. Debuff from armor: reduced by 1% for life magic skills. 

“Ah,” I exhaled after reading the System notice. “So that is how it works.” Reducing the impact of my armor on my life magic seemed to be a skill that I would have to work on, much like any other.

My work done, I prepared to leave. Once more, I left the corpses un-looted. I had no doubt now, considering the number of witnesses I had left behind, that the tale of thieves’ deaths would spread like wildfire.

Soon, the Crows would take to hunting me, but until then, I would continue to kill them with impunity.