Maya wanted to hurry back to her room and examine her new documents in detail, but first she absolutely had to get some better equipment. The arena had shown her already the difference it could make.

She started walking south toward the shops, but paused before reaching them. Perhaps she should hold off? She had all week, and only seventy gold. If she bought expensive items now, then leveled up before the actual assault, she’d regret the wasted money. On-level gear was only useful until you were a higher level, and the low levels came fast.

She wavered, undecided, but eventually pushed down her urgent desire to upgrade. It would be a more efficient use of her resources to wait until the last minute and spend it all then.

She headed back to her room at the mage Academy instead and spread out the folder’s contents. The manor’s blueprints were extensive, including two sub-basements accessible only by hidden panels, and a lookout tower attached to one corner.

The outbuildings were equally detailed. One was a standard stable, another set up for housing servants. A few of them were just footprints with a question mark, no details on the interior walls. But this was an encouraging amount of information.

Some of the outbuildings had handwritten notes by them, so she began reading through them.

‘One maid, one cook, one messenger. No guards?’

She grinned. She might just have a chance—

Oh.

oh.

Standalone was not as defenseless as she could've hoped.

'Two dragons. Seen them myself multiple times. Not sure how he tamed them, but definitely dragons.'

Maya gulped. Things had just flipped from doable back to practically impossible again. Apparently her morning's misfortune had done more harm then she realized.

How could she possibly deal with dragons? She was level six. A dragon could probably kill her in one bite.

But she wasn't going to give up now. She was a fire mage student now. Surely someone in her group would know how to deal with dragonfire. And if it did prove to be impossible, well, she couldn't win everything. Even if it galled her. Her experiences in the arena had demonstrated as much very clearly.

She’d still do everything in her power to accomplish this task, even if it killed her multiple times. Especially now that the guard captain had doubled down on her prize. As much as she wanted the Trickster's raid gear, the thought of having her own home almost eclipsed it.

Maya spent the better part of the morning memorizing the plans. Standalone didn't have any hired guards as far as the information in the folder was aware. The only defenders he had were magical creatures. But what defenders they were. Two dragons, a hydra, and a 'snakey beast of some sort' roamed the grounds. The house itself was built on a hill, so approach from any direction would be impossible to conceal.

She would absolutely need to take down at least one of his defenders, regardless of her approach, possibly two or three. She just had to decide whether she'd prefer to face dragons, the hydra, the snake thing, or some combination thereof. What would be most survivable?

None of them. Maya would survive none of them.

She needed allies, to distract some of the creatures' attention if nothing else.

Then again, the task was to hold the property for an entire day. So realistically, she'd need to deal with all four of his mythical beasts, and possibly himself as well, at some point during the conquest. She wondered if there was any way to get him to take his beasts with him somewhere far away. Perhaps manufacture a high-level quest or dungeon with rewards he would like?

Her thoughts ran in increasingly pointless circles as she stared at the plans, trying desperately to come up with a new angle of attack, and finding nothing.

It was something of a relief when an alert appeared at noon.

'Fire magic study group' is meeting now. As you’ve signed up for this activity, you're being notified. Have a nice day!

Now that she wasn't going to be spending the whole day rushing to complete this quest, she had time. And she’d planned to see if anyone in the group could help her with her dragon problem.

She returned the pages, along with her own preliminary attack strategy notes, to the folder and dismissed it back into her inventory with a sigh. Since most of her notes included ‘don’t be killed by the dragons’ as a starting point, getting to know the rest of her study group - and asking for their opinions on how to deal with dragons - would be a much more productive use of her day than anything else she could do at the moment.

Maya walked over to Opal Hall, counting off doors until she reached the one Nalana had showed her the night before. She slipped into the back, though with the tables strewn haphazardly around the classroom there wasn’t much of a ‘back’ to slip into, and sat down at the one unoccupied table.

Raidah, leader of the Fire group - the big fire mage teacher Desi claimed was shared by a brother-sister team IRL - already stood at the front of the room and addressed the students.

"Today's lesson will be a bit of a review for those of you who've been here a while, but we have a newcomer who is just joining us. I decided it would also be a good time to catch the rest of you up on the basics and ensure that you understand them fully. After all, if you can teach them, you know them well enough."

Maya's seat squeaked as she shifted uncomfortably. She really didn't enjoy being the center of attention, and she knew that she was about to become even more so. But now everyone was staring at her, and she couldn’t make herself move.

At least Nalana gave her a reassuring smile, most of the others only seemed unimpressed.

"I know many of you are looking forward to the composition and dissection next week,” Raidah continued. “No need to worry. It will still be taking place as scheduled."

About half the class groaned.

Maya wasn't sure what there would be to dissect about fire, but it sounded interesting enough to her. Then again, as a newcomer she still couldn't wait to get started. She knew that novelty would wear off eventually, most classes did before too long. Even something you love could get tiresome.

"Anyone care to explain the basics of Flame Hand?"

Maya looked around. A number of people had their hands up, Nalana among them. Raidah pointed to someone else, a human man with long white hair and beard.

“Go ahead, Yushal.”

Maya grinned. Yushal had obviously designed the character look like an archetypal wizard, if a bit less scruffy than Harold had been; he had sleeker hair and a fancier outfit.

Yushal stood and spoke. "The first principle of fire magic is the invocation of change. With the beginner spell we all know, Spark, it is ignited by snapping the fingers. The tiny amount of friction creates a tiny amount of heat, which the spell multiplies in order to create the free-floating manipulable ball of light which we use for common utility purposes. However, this principle does not seem to be equally applied to Flame Hand. So we cannot therefore conclude that all fire magic begins with a friction catalyst. Instead, it simply begins at any transformation. Cloak of Flame utilizes sunlight. Fire Blast employs body heat."

Yushal paused in his presentation, and before she could stop herself Maya shoved her hand into the air in one quick motion, finally overcoming her reluctance to interrupt.

Yushal turned to her. So did everyone else.

They were all staring at her, and she suddenly couldn’t think of a single thing she'd planned to say.

What was she doing?

“Yes, Maya?” Raidah asked as the silence stretched. “Did you have a question?”

Maya stood up, abruptly, before she could reason herself out of it.

“I know I’m new," she blurted. "But I’d like to ask for your help with something.”

Then she froze, unable to think of how to continue. She was shaking from nerves, mouth dry.

“Go ahead,” said the teacher.

Maya swallowed and spoke, though her voice came out faint. “Desi said this was an informal sort of group. If it’s alright, I’ve got a challenge to pose you all.”

“What kind of challenge?” Nalana asked, her smile mischievous. Maya focused on her, glad of a familiar, friendly face.

“If you needed to get past two dragons, is there any way to do that with magic? Dragon fire isn’t unstoppable or anything, right? Assuming you can use whatever magic exists, how would you go about facing down a dragon? And surviving?”

Everyone turned to Raidah, who nodded slowly. “Alright. It’s an interesting question. Our standard lesson is postponed until tomorrow. Let’s work this one out.”

Maya sighed in relief and sat back down. She truly wanted to learn magic, couldn’t wait to do so, but this was more important to know right away.

The room fell silent as each member of the team considered the question. After a few moments, they began raising their hands and calling out questions.

"How old is the dragon?"

"What type of dragon?"

"What's the terrain like where this confrontation takes place?"

"Is there any place nearby which could be used to trap it?"

The answer to most of these questions was 'I don't know', but Maya described the scenario to the best of her ability, setting out the fact that the dragons were defending a structure atop a hill, with very little in the way of cover to hide behind. She didn't know what type of dragons, or how old, just that there were two of them.

The little discussion groups began to fall silent, More and more of them shaking their head or shrugging and leaning back.

"Hire knights. Find someone who specializes in dragon slaying."

"Find a tank."

"Run for your life."

“If we had a year to plan, I could probably create a specialized spell to deflect dragon fire.”

"I can't do any of those!" Maya exclaimed, dismayed. "I have one week to finish this stupid quest, and I have to get past the dragons to do it. You can't think of any spell that could help?"

Everyone was staring at her again. She knew it. She kept her eyes down on the desk in front of her and tried very hard not to think about how much everyone was staring at her. Her hands tightened into fists and she tried not to cry. She should have known it wouldn’t be this easy. Of course the Trickster wouldn’t have given her a quest where all she had to do was find the right spell and traipse in.

“Hmmm,” Raidah said, his voice breaking the silence that followed her pronouncement. "So this isn't a hypothetical exercise? You currently have a quest, with a time limit, which requires you to slay two dragons?"

Maya took a deep breath, trying to sound calm and controlled. "Technically the quest is to seize and hold the structure for 24 hours, the dragons are just an external obstacle. But I suspect if I don't get them out of the way they'll make everything very difficult."

The discussion started up again, more excited than before. Maya was surprised at how pleased everyone seemed as each table formed a little cluster, discussing among themselves. She overheard bits and pieces.

"Oh really?"

"The structure is the target, hmm. . ."

"We just need to get past them, not kill or incapacitate them."

"And keep them distracted long enough that they don't come back and eat us anyway."

“So kill or incapacitate would be best.”

“But if we can trap them instead, or neutralize their attacks without hurting them. . .”

The smaller groups merged into larger groups, discussion growing hushed and excited, too many voices overlapping for Maya to follow.

"Do you have any resources?” called out an elf woman dressed like an ice mage. “Any other allies? What do we have to work with?"

"70 gold,” Maya answered, glad she hadn’t spent it yet. “And a little magic. Maybe 8 drams."

That brightened expressions all around the room. Other people began listing off the amount of gold or magic they could offer to the cause, and with each number the air of general excitement in the room grew. A dark elf got out a notepad and began tallying up the numbers as they were called out. When he wrote the final total and shouted it out, several people actually cheered.

"Now we know what we have to work with," called out the stereotypical wizard, Yushal, "who has the most energy?"

People started shouting out their energy numbers; most of them were unbelievably high. Maya's was so low she didn't even say it out loud for fear of embarrassing herself.

“Fridget, you’re with her,” Maya heard Raidah say. “I’ll head the research.”

“Who else would rather fight than study?” the ice-mage, Fridget, called to the room at large.

The room split in half, one group remaining centered around the dark elf with the notepad, the other gathering around Maya herself, Fridget in the lead. Maya was glad to see Nalana joining her group as well.

"So, what's happening?" Maya asked, overwhelmed by all the different directions the conversation around her was taking. There was too much to follow.

She glanced over at the other group, which seemed to be engaging in mathematical calculation on a level beyond what Maya could possibly follow. They already had out protractors and triangles and curves and were scribbling geometry that surely had some meaning to it, as they were pointing and arguing and drawing more, and hastily writing numbers and equations, but Maya was completely lost.

"They’re figuring out the math on the shield. Theoretically, the spell should work, we have a few similar examples to work from and everyone has their pet projects. But even if it works, not everyone is combat geared, so it's our job to collect the resources that'll be needed to actually create the spell, and ensure everyone is equipped. Which, in your case, also includes ensuring you level up. We'll need to procure some exotic ingredients, so we'll take care of those at the same time." Fridget grinned. "We will help you slay your dragons. We will help you accomplish your quest. Let it never be said that team Fire backed down from a challenge."

She held out her hand and Maya shook it, surprised. “I hope I haven’t disrupted all your plans—” she began, but Fridget shook her head.

“You’ve done no such thing. Well, you have, but that’s a good thing. There’s nothing so motivating as a deadline. Just wait. They’ll figure this out.”

“Thank you,” Maya said, trying not to feel guilty about it. Her luck was insanely high today, that must be why everyone was going out of their way to help her. She just hoped they wouldn’t all suddenly change their minds once the day ended and she was less fortunate.

“No need for thanks,” Fridget said. “You're one of us now. Welcome to Fire. Now grab your best gear. We're going dungeon diving."

Character Maya Starborn Average Androgynous Harpy Level: 6 Affinities: Magical Physical Tier: 1 Class: Trickster Specialization: Path of Life Total Base Items Modifiers Sturdiness: 8 8 0 0 Momentum: 15 12 0 3 Agility: 9 8 0 1 Control: 8 8 0 0 Attunement: 16 15 0 1 Focus: 9 8 0 1 Intelligence: 14 12 0 2 Flexibility: 9 8 0 1 Luck: 59 89 - -30 Unassigned: 0 Health: 115 of 115 Will: 18 of 18 Stamina: 60 of 60 Energy: 79 of 79 Speed: 97% Switch penalty: -52%, 10.2 secs Stealth: 78% Chain bonus: +5% Awareness: 84% Cooldown: 95.5% Max abilities: 3 Abilities Abilities: [5 of 3] Wind Whisper

[5 energy] Blow into cupped hands, then push the air toward the target.

Creates a light breeze, a quick gust, or a damaging slash.

[Overcharge: +5 energy, +0.2 sec cast time, +50% force/duration/dmg] 1.9 sec

5 dmg

(wind) Throw Knife

[5 stamina] Throw a knife at a target with high accuracy. Requires a knife. 0.8 sec

3 dmg

(physical) Spark

[5 energy] Draw magic into palm and snap fingers to ignite into a spark of fire.

Can be used as a light or thrown at a target. 1.1 sec

3 dmg

(fire) Windborne Blade

[45 energy, 5 stamina] Cast Wind Whisper in a loop up and behind, aligning with throwing arm.

Throw knife straight at target with wind as augment. 4.3 sec

33 dmg

(physical) Sense Balance Discern if an area is lacking in or has an excess of any materials, creatures, etc. Equipment & Inventory Item Name Slot Stu Mom Agi Con Att Foc Int Flx Ordinary Gloves of Control Hands 13 Minor Chestpiece of the Dancer Body 1 1 Minor Waistwrap of the Dancer Legs 1 1 Acrobat's Footwraps Feet 2 Lesser Bracelet of Control Arm 1 4 Trickster's Mask (Mage) Special Money: 70 Gold 3 Silver 262 Copper Quality Item name Details Soulbound Trickster's Dice Soulbound Trickster's Orb 2/5 uses remaining Flimsy Shary's Orchard Brochure Normal Apple x2 Consumable Special White and Blue Orb 3/3 uses remaining Special Key - Arrival Plaza Apartment Expires in 29 days Normal Basic Throwing Knife x11 3 damage (physical) Special Key - Room 6, Sapphire Hall Flimsy Newcomer's Tunic Flimsy Newcomer's Leggings Special Arena Equipment Token Registered to Maya Starborn Missions Mission Description

Time Reward A Private Grudge Claim Standalone's house in Conquest and hold it for at least 10 hours. Personal House Trickster Day 4 Claim in Conquest the home of the next player you see.

Once claimed, hold it for 24 hours. 11h 06m Trickster's Reward

??? Arena (Shadow) Spend at least one day every week fighting in the Arena. Ongoing Variable Trickster Day 3 Lose a fight to another player in the arena. DONE Ordinary Gloves of Control

+5 reputation with The Trickster Gazebo Construction Construct a new gazebo for Maylon the Poet.

[Optional] Also varnish the entire structure once built. DONE 3 silver 50 copper

+5 reputation with Maylon the Poet Trickster Day 2 Lose a fight to another player in PVP. DONE Lesser Bracelet of Control

+5 reputation with The Trickster Windy Creek Reconstruction Locate the missing workers' tools.

Construct a new dam to redirect Windy Creek to the mill run.

Clear the wreckage of the old Windy Creek Dam.

Complete construction of the new Windy Creek bridge. DONE 5 silver, 80 copper

25 reputation with Windy Creek village Trickster Day 1 Side with a person who is losing an argument or disagreement. FAILED -5 reputation with The Trickster Missing Delivery Find the overdue delivery boy. Ensure his safety and the successful delivery of apples to Shary's Produce Stand. DONE 5 copper

3 apples

+10 reputation with Shary and Elaph