Will closed the notification, selecting ‘No’ for the time being and explored the building first. He was going to claim it, but it never hurt to explore a place before doing so. He wasn’t a newb, not by a long shot, and knew he might lose valuable loot if claiming it changed the interior. No, was going to thoroughly search the building, checking every nook and cranny he could find. He didn’t find anything, but didn’t regret the decision.

The entire building was an empty shell with only a few boxes and broken barrels laying around. Both floors had a hallway around the atrium leading to a dozen medium sized rooms. He found a staircase in the back that led to two underground floors. The first underground floor had generic walls, stone pillars evenly spaced, but was otherwise open concept. The second floor’s walls looked more like a cellar, with the same stone pillars and open concept.

He returned to the main floor and triggered the prompt again, this time claiming it. A series of new notifications bombarded him.

Congratulations, you’ve founded a Faction

A Faction, like a Guild, can recruit members, pool resources, and gain Reputation points, except Factions operate outside the law (Example: Merchant Guild/Smuggler Faction). As the Founder of a Faction, you control membership, permissions, and other options within the Faction. To learn more, see the Guild/Faction Tutorial.

Faction Name: Click Here

Faction Symbol: Click Here

Faction Type: Click Here

Bonuses: Select Faction Type

Members: 1

Notoriety: 0

Gold: 0

Resources: None

Upgrades: None

Will clicked on the option to pick a name. After discarding several, he typed in “The Order” and confirmed it. He pulled up the symbol, scrolled through the options and selected one that reminded him of a phoenix.

He clicked on the Faction Type option, providing a extensive list of different types of activities the Faction would focus on. He was allowed to pick three initially, though most were grayed out, with a note that he needed to gain more notoriety. He selected assassination, smuggling and pickpocketing. He received three bonuses and quests as a result.

Faction Bonus Unlocked

Assassination

+5% Stealth

Assassination Technique

Pickpocket

+5% Stealth

+5% Pickpocket Ability

Smuggling

+5% Intimidation

+5% Trade Negotiations

Faction Quest: The Corrupt Official

Reward: 5 Notoriety

Description: Convince a local official to pass information along to your Faction by any means necessary.

Faction Quest: The Fence

Reward: 10 Notoriety

Description: Meet with the shady merchant to begin a smuggling operation in the city.

Faction Quest: :Pickpocketing

Reward: 5 Notoriety

Description: Successfully pickpocket 5 times

Will closed the menu and climbed the ladder to the roof. He used the rooftops to navigate his way across the city while following the Corrupt Official quest icon on his mini-map. The man was easy to spot dressed as he was in the red and black tunic all city officials wore once Will reached the location.

Will followed the man from the rooftops, watching him wander from store to store. At first, Will thought the man was shopping, but he never stayed in any store long enough to buy anything. As the day wore on, Will started to suspect the man was already corrupt, not just corruptible for the quest, and formed a plan.

The sky had turned a dark orange by the time the official led Will to a crowded courtyard near the edge of the city filled with merchant stalls and shoppers. Will located a way down to street level in a nearby alley and slipped into the market without raising attention before working his way through the crowd. He caught up to the official in the middle of a conversation with a merchant. Will closed the gap until he could hear their conversation and pretended to shop.

“I understand that the siege has made it hard for you. It’s been hard on everyone,” the official was saying, “but rules are rules. You know that.”

The merchant wrung his hands, “But it’s almost all I’ve made this week. My children will go hungry.”

“I wish I could help you. I really do. But you know the rules.” The official responded.

Will heard the merchant sigh and slip a pouch into the official’s hand. The official palmed it and asked, “That’s it?”

“I swear by the Goddess, that’s everything.” The merchant pleaded.

“It’s not enough. You know that.” The official said, “You’ll have to make it up next week.”

“But I’m almost out of wares.” The merchant said.

Will ground his teeth as the official shrugged and moved on. Will followed circumspectly as the official went from merchant to merchant, collecting a fee from each of them. The official became suspicious near the end, forcing Will to walk by him and slip into an alley. He couldn’t hear the final conversation as a result but didn’t need to. He’d already heard enough.

The official left the marketplace, glancing over his shoulder as he walked, forcing Will to follow in a parallel alley until the official was alone. Will ran ahead, slipped down a side street and waited. He grabbed the official and shoved him against the wall.

“We need talk.” Will said as menacingly as he could muster, which wasn’t hard considering he’d just watch the man extort dozens of merchants.

“Please, don’t hurt me.” The official begged.

“Don’t make me and I won’t.” Will growled, “I saw what you were doing back there, and if you don’t want anyone to find out, you’re going to start telling me anything useful you learn.”

“Of course, I promise.” A sob escaped the man.

Will grimaced in disgust. The man had spent the entire day extorting people and now he was sobbing the moment someone strong armed him? “Good. Now give me everything you’ve collected today, call it a down payment.”

“They’ll kill me if I do.” The man said.

“Who will?” Will asked.

“The Bone Crew. A thieves’ faction.” The man said, “They’re the ones who made me do this.”

Will blinked in surprise. There was another faction already out there? Who had started it? How had they found a headquarters so quickly? It didn’t immediately change things, since this was the first quest, but he’d have to careful moving forward. The last thing he needed was to start a war with a rival faction before he was ready. Until then, he needed an informant on both the city and the rival faction. “Tell me everything you know about this Bone Crew.”

“She threatened to kill my family if I didn’t help them, that’s it. That’s all I know.” The man said.

“What did she look like?” Will asked, “Do you remember that?”

“Uh, a redhead with long hair.” The man said.

“And how do you give them the money?” Will asked.

“I leave it by a fountain a couple blocks from here.” He said.

Will thought through his options. He could take the money, alerting the faction to his existence or let the man make the drop, and follow from a distance to see if he could learn anything. Will let the man go. “Go on, get out of here. But if you tell anyone about this…” Will trailed off. The man nodded vigorously as he started walking away in a fast pace. Will counted to a hundred before following the official to a fountain with a lion statue.

There weren’t a lot of people in the square, so Will sat at a patio table of a nearby inn and ordered a beer. He watched the official sit at a bench, before reaching into his belt for a pouch and dropping it into an urn filled with a large bush. The official stood up and walked away.

Will waited for an hour before anything else happened. He used the time to read about guilds, check his status, and anything else he could think of to look busy. The last thing he needed was for the Bone Crew to detect him sitting there watching them. No, he needed to act natural.

A petite redhead entered the square and made a beeline for the bench without looking around. She didn’t even bother sitting or trying to hide her actions. She bent over the bush, found the pouch and picked it up in plain view of the whole square. She must have felt something was off because she hesitated then and glanced around. Will studied his beer as he held his breath, feeling her eyes linger on him for a second before she left in a hurry. Will waited another twenty minutes, until the sun just beneath the city walls, to make sure she was gone before following the marker to The Fence quest.

It led him to a small, dilapidated warehouse in the poorer part of town. He circled the building a few times, making sure there weren’t any guards, city or otherwise, around before climbing through an opening he spotted on his first time around.

The warehouse was clean and more organized on the inside, a clear indication that the outside was for show. A few lanterns hung from the ceiling, casting long shadows around the entire interior.

Will ignored the stacked boxes and barrels and started looking around for signs that anyone was there. Near the back, he heard talking. He snuck from cover to cover until he could see two men standing beside a table. Before he could overhear the conversation, someone grunted behind him. “You ain’t allow’d in here?”

Will tried to jerk around, but a large hand grabbed him by the cuff and hauled him out of cover. One of the men at the table ran, while the other grimaced in the fleeing man’s direction and walked up to Will. He asked in a smooth, refined voice, “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

Will tried to get a good look, but only had a chance to take in a well-tailored black tunic before being jerked roughly by the man holding him with a “Answer t’question or I’m gonna have to makes you. You ain’t gonna like it if I does.”

Will said, “I’m Dean and I’m trying to find someone.”

“Dean,” The man said, “And who are you trying to find?”

“I was told there might be someone around here that might be able to help me with some product.” Will said.

The man raised his eyebrows, “Indeed? Why not ask a shopkeeper or merchant to assist?”

“It’s not that kind of product.” Will explained.

“I see. And might I inquire who told you this?” The man asked.

Will licked his lips, trying to figure out an answer when the man holding him shook him again. Will growled in frustration. “It’s a damn faction quest. Okay? Are you happy?”

“A Faction quest?” The man barked a laugh, “Well, that certainly explains it then.” The man waved his hand at whoever was holding Will up. Will dropped back to the ground, nearly twisting his ankle in the process. “Let’s say, hypothetically, someone here was able to help you with unusual product during normal times. I’m afraid that the siege would have disrupted any sort of help such a person could provide.”

Will rubbed the back of his neck as he thought through his words. He didn’t have any product to move, probably never would since the town was going to be overrun by orcs soon, but what he really needed was places to hide supplies. “I’m potentially looking to buy supplies, and for places to safely store them.”

The man stared at him for a few seconds before answering, dropping all pretense in the process. “No. I still have no idea who you are and won’t risk my entire operation for just anyone.” The man gestured for Will to leave, and an arm on Will’s shoulder threatened to drag him across the floor. Will managed to keep his feet and got his first look at the mysterious bouncer. He was tall and broad shouldered, with thick eyebrows and beard that hid any details about the man’s face. Will was led to the entrance, where the bouncer dragged the door open a few feet and shoved Will through. Will landed in a heap, dusted himself off and stood up.

A small window indicated he’d completed the Fence Quest, and that part two had started.

Faction Quest: The Fence, Pt. 2

Reward: Unknown

Description: Raise your Notoriety rating to improve your business relationship with The Fence.

Will started walking back to the faction headquarters. He needed to pickpocket several people to finish the other quest, but wasn’t looking forward to it thanks to the reaction of the guards when on the first day to the thieves in Fort Blackwood.

There’d been a list of goals in the status menu, and perhaps those awarded enough notoriety to level up. He was about to pull up the page when an idea struck him. Voodoo and Doc were somewhere in the city. They’d spawned shortly before him when the siege started and had slipped away to a tavern, saying they’d wait until the fighting began. He could see if they’d be interested in joining the faction and help prep for the rebellion. And since the pickpocket quest was a faction quest, he could let them take care of it and deal with the guards if necessary.

Will changed direction, heading towards the taverns near the spawn point, before pulling up the faction page to learn more about factions.