Episode 13: Preparations and Plans

Arthur’s POV

I was back again on the same street in the Market District. Yet this time I knew what to expect.

Welcome to Fable of Fantasy! In order to get you started, let’s begin the tutorial!

Or not.

The tutorial was mandatory and completely thorough. By the end of it, I had a complete grasp of the basics. Surprisingly, a lot of the features had been revamped. Dreamcast had basically changed Fables of Fantasy from a game to something more akin to an alternate life. The few functions that had remained were conveniently placed in the inherent skills or items category.

For example, the chat menu and friend list were now a type of magic, just available to us players. You had to buy interspatial backpacks or pouches in place of an inventory.

Even the stat menu skills menu had been completely merged into a magical Codex containing all information about the game, the quests, the monsters, the alchemical ingredients, the blueprints for the craftsmen and all that. It was well thought out and designed. The whole thing evoked an air of a person on a fantastical journey, instead of just playing a game and min-maxing your stats. Even stats would be automatically distributed over time based on your in game actions.

I said “Codex” to see it once again. Instead of the usual futuristic screen, a book appeared and flipped itself open to a random page.

My name is Arthur. I am a High elf from the Summerset Isles. I was born under The Thief, and it has forever hidden me from Destiny’s cunning hands. Now I have come to Imperial City, Tamriel to seek my own fortune and glory.

I am known as the Adventurer.

My hands are weak and I can barely harm a rabbit.

I am frail and tire easily.

My fingers are a little clumsy but I can carry things without dropping them.

I can run faster than a 7 year old being chased by his mother.

I am capable of simple addition and subtraction and even multiplication.

I tend to give up only after 3 tries.

People often ignore me.

I can find a four leaf clover sometimes.

Currently I am Very well and am Magickally invigorated.

I am in full Vigor.

I have very little talent in –

• Alteration

• Archery

• Conjuration

• Destruction

• Illusion

• Magesight

• Pick pocketing

• Restoration

• Sensing Presence

• Small weapons

My air, earth, fire and water affinity is nonexistent.

I am highly immune to most diseases.

I am weak against attacks by fire, frost and shock magic.

I have a Bosmer Initiate Tattoo on my left hand, which helps me increase my air affinity and archery skills.

The page ends there, but I know it will provide even more details if I turned it. Instead of doing so, I touch the slightly bold words “High elf”. The letters all merge together and reform to show new sentences.

As an Altmer from the Summerset Isles, I have an innate knowledge of Magicka related Arts, so I learn such skills faster. My total Magicka is also a lot higher than that of a human. My body is also highly resistant to all diseases.

On the downside, my strength and my endurance are a little lower than normal. Fire, frost and shock Magicka affect me adversely.

Nice racial bonuses. Now, what did it say about the Birthsign?

The Thief is the last Guardian Constellation, and its Season is the last Month of the year. Those born under the Thief typically take more risks and rarely come to harm. They run out of Luck eventually, and rarely live longer than those born under other signs.

A little too morbid at the end, but I had no reason to fear death here. No, it was time to get started.

The first stop for me was the bank. Fable of Fantasy had set up a real money transfer and auction site, and it was too large an advantage to pass up. The only downside? Dreamcast kept a 10% of the transfer. A bit steep, but I had the money to burn.

When I was alive, I had a few offshore accounts in private countries to fund my different research materials. They were under Father’s name, but technically I had full access. When he died, some of the accounts were frozen as he had no heir or next of kin.

Normally that money would be seized by the country, but international financial laws are monsters that no one wants to disturb. So, the money remained in those accounts. They are supposed to be still there, but I hacked a few of them and transferred the money to my new persona. It made me now a very, very rich millionaire.

I walk out of the bank carrying a little over 100,000 gold coins. Time to enjoy being rich. The first thing I did with the money was to make myself presentable.

Dark Leather Cuirass (Custom)A custom crafted leather cuirass. The cuirass has three layers sewn together, offering more protection than standard armor. There are straps in the back, allowing the wearer to carry extra weapons. The armor is also enchanted, providing a small bonus to Endurance.

Dark Leather Pauldrons (Custom)Properly crafted custom set of leather pauldrons. The pauldrons has belts that can be attached to a cuirass, making it more effective. The armor is enchanted to provide a small bonus to Strength.

Dark Leather Gloves (Custom)Properly made custom glove set. The gloves have a spring loading mechanism embedded in them, allowing the wearer to hide small weapon in them and equip them faster.

The gloves have been enchanted to provide a small bonus to Dexterity.

Dark Leather Leggings (Custom)Properly made custom leggings. The leggings have different straps on the sides to hold different weapons in place. The leggings have been enchanted to provide a small bonus to Willpower.

Dark Leather Sabatons (Custom)Properly made custom leather sabatons. The insides have been lined with comfortable velvet and the outer sides have been made with different layers of hard leather, increasing comfort and protection provided. The sabatons have been enchanted to provide a small bonus to Agility.

Leather Belt (Custom)A custom made leather belt. The belt has various hidden pouches, increasing carrying capacity by a small amount. The belt has been enchanted to provide a small bonus to resist fire and frost damage.

Hooded CowlA hooded cowl to hide your face. People will now notice you less. Guardsmen will find you more suspicious.

A matching armor set has been equipped. A bonus has been granted to Strength, Dexterity and Agility.

I didn’t want to buy an ungainly backpack, as it would be too heavy and slow me down. I wasn’t going to be collecting herbs or loot either. On the other hand my belt pouches were too small in case I wanted to store other weapons.

After much deliberation, I bought a small interspatial ring. It was the size of a small trunk but cost me an ungodly amount of money. So much that I was completely broke and had to visit the bank again.

But the ring was pretty sweet. It was the closest thing to an inventory I could get. I would simply think about the ring and a ghost trunk would appear, with any objects inside visible to me. I could even rearrange them in case I wanted to squeeze a little space. The thing was perfect for me.

Now set on the dresses, I hit the accessory stores.

Elvish Bow (Rare)A sleek and light wooden recurve bow made by the Bosmeri. The bow is made with different types of wood that provide unmatchable flexibility. Even the string is magicked, and can be changed at will with Magicka. The entire bow is enchanted, providing a small bonus to Air magic.

Leather Quiver (x2)Beautifully designed quivers which hold can hold up to 30 arrows.

Steel Arrows (x500)A large amount of steel arrows fletched by a master blacksmith.

Steel Daggers (x2)Finely balanced steel daggers crafted by a master blacksmith.

Steel ShortswordA double edged steel shortsword, commonly used by the Legionnaire.

Well, that took care of nearly everything. But to be on the safe side, I purchased a spare bow, some raw leather, grindstone, twine and other miscellaneous items. They were necessary in case of emergency repairs.

I also visited the spell book shop. The magic aspect had remained similar. The spells from the book would be copied on your codex, destroying the spell book in the process. I bought the basic Candlelight tome and tested the spell. The Magicka felt the same as ever, but this time I could feel the force of the flow. As I continued, the flow started slowing down and stopped completely; ending the spell. I learned all the important spells I could. When I tried to use a higher level spell, I felt magical recoil. The higher the level, the more the recoil. So they were out of my league for now.

I also bought a few skill books. Skill books gave you knowledge of the skill and one measly level in it. Enough to get you started.

You have learned the fundamentals of Alchemy!

You have learned the fundamentals of Cartography!

You have learned the fundamentals of Enchanting!

You have learned the fundamentals of Cooking!

Better to get going. I couldn’t waste entire day shopping. Wait! I still needed paper and ink for my maps. Almost forgot. After exiting the bookstore, I hurriedly bought the potions and ingredients I needed from the Alchemy store. There, all done.

The next step was to find Kiroh and get some answers. And I did have a plan in mind.

I made my way over to the Temple District, generally trying to keep to the alleys. It was quite different from what I had seen. There were now a lot of marble statues of different people in the vicinity. Some buildings were opulently painted, while others looked like rundown barns. Guess it all boiled down to which God was popular at that moment.

I climbed one of the rooftops from the alleys, one having a good view of the street and a particular temple.

*Doctor, I’m in position.*

*What? Oh! Okay. Or was I supposed to roger that or something?*

*NO, you are supposed to keep your two eyes GLUED to the screen from now on. If Kiroh appears and I miss him, it’s up to you to tell me.*

*Well, I’m sure that you’ll spot him.*

*I am sure too, but in case I lose him; I want you as backup. Just stay over my head.*

The visual data sent to the player was a reasonably big sphere that centered on his eyes. If I was recording my gameplay, I had all the images of everything around me, even if I wasn’t looking there at that moment. All I had done was to fix the Doctor’s monitor with the display feed.

*Staying over your head. Roger that.*

I had looked over Kiroh’s profile from the Beta. He was the leader of a small pick pocketing gang, generally operating in one of the smaller area, around a small temple dedicated to Zenithar. In that sense he was lucky, for Zenithar was the God of Commerce. Lots of merchants to choose his prey from. But according to the quest details, he was going to get his hands on a cursed object and possibly die. And I had decided to find him before it happened. If I was successful, the Overlord would be forced to change the details and possibly make a new quest.

The game maintained a registry of all items and what belonged to whom. It also maintained how the objects interacted with each other. Taken together, it had variety of uses. By tinkering with the pod, I had my registry details copied to my mainframe. Access to Dreamcast servers allowed me to search for it. Effectively, I could find anything that ever belonged to me.

But the task was heavily resource intensive and location based. The nearer I was to the object, the faster I could find it. Too much distance would mean shifting through a lot of information, taking too much time. And it might have moved by the time I got there. A district would be the ideal boundary in this case.

*Look sharp. Someone’s coming.*

I see him. He’s a small mousy boy with brown hair and a scarred face. He’s eyes are downcast and he’s wearing nothing but rags. It’s obvious to everyone that the boy is just a beggar. What’s unobvious is the way his arms are hidden and the way he keeps moving his head. The boy is also a good thief.

*So how are you going to handle this?*

*For now, I’m going to just follow. We need to talk to Kiroh first; no point in burning bridges by bullying his…crew.*

We continue walking, the boy on the streets and me side by side by the rooftops. The boy’s good. In this short time, he’s already stolen from three men. But his techniques are a bit stale. All he did was fall down when he collided with someone and stole their purse when they helped him up. If he continued this, someone was bound to get suspicious.

But no one did. Was everyone here blind? No, the boy was cleanly making his way west and had reached the gate to the Lower District. The rooftops had come to an end. I had to follow him on foot now.

Just when I thought everything was going to end well, someone screamed,”THIEF!!!! SOMEONE HAS STOLEN MY PURSE!!! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!”

Oh dear. It was a woman, wailing like a banshee. I could see that this was a complete surprise to the kid. It was some either thief; they weren’t that rare. Nonetheless, the boy panicked. He started running. And as everyone knows, when someone’s wailing and another person is running away, always chase the running person.

There were total of four guards plus me in the chase versus the miraculously cured limp beggar thief.

The boy was fast and knew the streets. And occasionally he would throw boxes, roll barrels, and smash carts behind him to slow us down. Basic Donkey Kong stuff. One by one the guards began to fall off. After a mile of running, only I remained.

I was working up a sweat, and the constant obstacles meant that I had to stay on my toes. I dodged the incoming basket and kept running. Both my mind and body were functioning as one. The whole thing was great fun.

And are you here to have fun? I asked myself. Get serious.

Oh. Alright. I decided to speed things up, and started closing the distance. A wine seller cart was coming up on the left. As I ran past it, I grabbed two bottles and threw a few gold coins. Hoped that was adequate, it was hard to buy things when chasing.

The first bottle hit exactly his back. The kid stumbled, yet continued running. But I nearly had him now.

*Arthur, watch out. There’s a roadblock in front of you. The legionnaires are guarding the sides. Someone’s important passing through.*

Damn. I could see a row of guards, all standing in attention. I slowed down a little expecting the thief to do the same. But the kid ran between the gaps of them, and was fast enough to get by them by before they could catch him. A guard on the other side caught his hands, but he twisted and escaped to the other side. But now they saw me, and lowered their spears to bar my way.

Should have ended this chase earlier. But you had to have your fun, didn’t you?

Nope, blaming myself now wasn’t going to work. I could hear a carriage coming. This was going to very close. I hunched my shoulders down and increased my speed. Before I reached, I hit one of the guards with a bottle. That disoriented him momentarily.

Another of the guards caught my elbow from behind, but had underestimated my momentum. I dragged him to the middle of the street before he let go.

On the other side, they had their spears, so I aimed and slid between the gaps to the other side and continued running, in case one of them decided to chase me.

After a few twists and turns, I realized two things. The guards weren’t chasing me… and I lost track of the thief.

No, I hadn’t.

*Doctor, I hit the child with one of the bottles. The wine definitely stained his shirt. Use the registry and find it. If we find the spilled wine, we find the boy.*

*Already began it when he was hit. Hmm… The boy, or his stained shirt, is not far… I’ll tell you the directions once you are ready.*

*I’m ready. Let’s go meet Kiroh.*

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