“There you are,” Marcus said as he removed the hood from his cloak, the shadows falling away from his face as he did so. It was kind of a cool effect.

“Definitely didn’t expect you to go climbing onto roofs as soon as you woke up, I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Marcus said with a hint of exasperation.

Before I could apologize he went on, “Come on, let’s go. We need to get you a few things first, then we can look into that counterfeiting thing.”

He turned and leaped off the edge of the roof like it was nothing. While I thought it looked awesome I was definitely not about to try that myself and carefully lowered myself down after him. Surprisingly, I managed not to stumble or otherwise fall in the process, maybe because of my high Agility.

We walked through the streets to a different building, the eastern one, if the sun rising over the top of it was any clue. I took a moment to retrace my steps and figured out I was staying in the northern one. Marcus led me into the foyer but turned aside at the stairs and we went over to a large space that took up an entire half of the floor. There were all kinds of things in the room, most on tables and stands scattered around the pillars holding up the ceiling. We walked past it all without stopping and towards a large counter at the back.

Aaron was there talking to a dwarf standing behind the counter. When Marcus and I approached the dwarf turned to me and said, “Ah, hello there James. I’m Bert, nice to meet you. Welcome to the Shadow Fangs. I’ve got some stuff here you’ll want to put on before you leave.”

He pushed over a small pile on the counter. There was a simple silver chain and some kind of glowing ball on a black cloak. The sphere drew my eye immediately. It was obviously magic and seemed to shift in color from bright orange to purple in a pearlescent effect that even my enhanced eyes couldn’t pin down. Curious as to what it was, I belatedly remembered to Inspect it.

Name

Orb of Learning (Suppression)

Grade

Uncommon

Effect

Learn the Suppression skill.

Description

Created by a Master of a particular skill with the assistance of a Master Enchanter, these orbs contain the kernel of knowledge required to obtain the first level of a skill. Certain skills can only be obtained through these orbs, or by the gods themselves.

Value

430g - 475g

“What’s Suppression?” I asked as soon as I saw it.

Marcus nodded to Aaron who gave him the stink-eye in return for some reason. Then I saw names and numbers appear above both Marcus’ and Aaron’s heads. It said Bob - 4 above Marcus and Joe - 6 above Aaron. I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so shocked. But the little demonstration told me a few things: people had names above their heads, they could be hidden, and they could be changed. Evidently my new Guild made it a habit to hide them because I had yet to see anyone else outside of Miris with a name, and nobody with a level. Since I assumed Suppression was the key to at least some of that I turned my attention back to the orb.

“Alright, how do I use it?” I asked.

Aaron turned to me and said, “It’s a suppository.”

I looked at the walnut-sized orb in my hand with horror. Surely they wouldn’t have- My thoughts came to a halt as I caught sight of Aaron’s smirk. Cheeky bastard.

It was probably the same as every other thing in Novarra, something I should really have picked up on by now. It ended up being as easy as Use. As soon as I gave the mental command the orb disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a strangely pleasant scent behind. But I didn’t feel any different so I checked my Character Sheet.

Name

James

Race

Half Dark Elf / Half Wood Elf

Level

2

Experience

1000/2000

Health

100/100

Mana

100/100

Stats

Strength

5

Agility

17

Endurance

10

Intelligence

10

Wisdom

10

Skills

Arcane Magic

Level 19 (100%) [Novice]

Dark Magic

Level 1 (0%) [Novice]

Lockpicking

Level 2 (22%) [Novice]

Suppression

Level 1 (0%) [Novice]

Traps

Level 19 (100%) [Novice]

Unspent Points

Attribute

1

Skill

1

Spells

Mage Sight

Rank X (100%) [Arcane - Novice]

Mana Bolt

Rank III (23%) [Arcane - Novice]

Curse of Blindness

Rank I (0%) [Dark - Novice]

Embrace the Darkness

Rank I (0%) [Dark - Novice]

Passive Abilities

Keen Senses

[Racial - Wood Elf]

Nightvision

[Racial - Dark Elf]

Active Abilities

Suppress Information

[Suppression]

I was surprised to see Arcane Magic and Traps so high but after my ordeal in Miris’ palace with the Mage Sight spell and then the Master trap room I supposed it wasn’t surprising. What was surprising, however, was that they seemed to be stuck at level nineteen even though it said one hundred percent complete. I had a theory but asked anyways, “Why are my Arcane Magic and Traps skills stuck at level nineteen?”

“You’ll need to spend a skill point every twenty levels to keep training a skill into the next tier,” Marcus confirmed my theory, “And you’ll be able to choose a skill morph, if there’s more than one for the skill and the tier. I would save your current skill point for Suppression, though, the first morph is pretty handy.”

I was curious what a skill morph was but decided I’d find out soon enough. The Suppress Information ability didn’t seem to have any obvious way of activating it. When I focused on the ability with my skill sheet open, however, a description popped up in my view.

Ability Description: Suppress Information

Normally, your name and character level is visible in the space above your head. This ability hides that information entirely from anyone with an equal or lower character level and a lower Perception skill level than your Suppression skill level. (Command: Suppress. Duration: 5 minutes.)

It took me a few moments to process the description but then I shrugged and tried Suppress. Nothing seemed to happen. Then I figured I probably wouldn’t even notice if it was working anyways.

“If I’m reading this right, this skill will only work for me on people who are level one with no skill in Perception at all?” I asked.

Marcus nodded and said, “It’s a real pain to level at first since you only get progress if it works on somebody. The necklace will help with that though.”

“Even farmers and merchants get curious so having the Perception skill, at least at a Novice level, is very common. Usually people have to hang out for a while around children,” Aaron added, “Or, you know, people like you.”

I did not miss the implication that went along with Aaron’s smirk but chose to manfully ignore it. Instead I looked at the necklace and cloak and Inspected them.

Name

Chain of the Shadow Fangs

Grade

Rare (Soulbound)

Effect

+10 to effective Suppression skill level

Description

This silver chain has a small pendant in the shape of two snake’s fangs and is the symbol of the Shadow Fangs Guild. Many of the security enchantments of the Guild compound are keyed to these pieces of jewelry as well.

Name

Cloak of the Shadow Fangs

Grade

Rare (Soulbound)

Effect

Obscures facial features in shadow when the hood is up.

Description

This cloak is well known in certain circles for identifying members of the Shadow Fangs. However, due to the shadows that cling to the face of whoever is wearing such a cloak, often their Guild is the only recognizable thing about them.

Those were just plain awesome and I immediately equipped them. A massive grin broke out on my face as I flipped up the hood and checked out the new cloak that had appeared where my old gray one was a moment before. I was still curious about something though and asked, “So if Suppression hides the information completely, what changes it?”

“That would be Deception. Works the same way against Perception and character level but it can’t be raised any higher than your Suppression level,” Aaron said.

“Ah, okay. Thanks, Joe,” I said to Aaron.

“Call me the Right Fang,” he said.

I coughed to cover up a laugh and kept my hand covering my mouth to restrain myself.

“Is there a problem?” the grizzled killer asked.

Though I managed to contain my laughter I failed to hold back what I really thought, “That’s a dorky name.”

He looked at me like I just said I took dancing lessons with dragons. Bert looked at me like I was about to die. Marcus just laughed and then he turned to the dwarf and said, “Bert, show him the bars.”