The little map that Guang’ning had drawn on a torn piece of paper was easy to follow and led them right to the Enclave of Shadows.

Quill smirked. “Wow. Yeah, they really don’t care to hide at all, do they?”

Jane agreed. “You have to be a special kind of arrogant for an order of criminals to set up shop like this. Is it weird that it looks like a lot of fun?”

The Enclave was shaped like a horseshoe facing the main street. Three stories tall, each level was ringed with balconies that overlooked the central courtyard and a currently empty stage. Even in the middle of the day, layabouts and naerdowells of all kinds hung around, chatting up scantily-clad women and men in the balconies, downing bottles and mugs of alcohol, and gaming at the tables surrounding the stage.

“I think the upper two floors are whore houses. Or whatever the politically correct term is. Brothels? Sex worker facilities?”

“A good time?”

He did a double take at her. “What?”

She smirked and refused to elaborate. But if she were a member of the Gold Crusade, she’d probably be spending a lot of time over in the right-side corner of the second floor where all those muscular hunks in strips of leather stood, oiled skin reflecting in the sun. “So much muscle. So little clothing.”

“Ok, say what now?”

“Nothing. You see our guy?”

“I’m looking.”

“Me too…”

“If you’re going to drool over male-harem fantasies then I’m going to drool over female-harem ones.”

“Ooh. They’re hot, too!” She pointed to the third floor on the left side. “Look at that one!”

Quill’s jaw might have hit the ground.

She put a hand on one hip and threw him a challenging look. “What? I can’t like hot girls, too?”

He blinked twice, then went back to staring at the mostly naked sex workers. “Awesome.”

The next hour passed in probably the best stakeout anyone could have asked for. It was Jane who finally spotted their mark.

“Hey. Is that him?”

“Don’t point! Which?”

“Just came out of the red door on the bottom floor. Talking with those guys at the table on the right.”

“Got it. Yeah, might be.”

Luckily, the guy of note shared a few words and a laugh with whomever he was talking to, then moved on. He came out of the enclave, stood on the main street for a second, and looked around, giving them a clear angle to identify him.

Quill turned his body away so that he wouldn’t be recognized. “That’s definitely our murderer.”

“He’s heading toward the gate. Let’s follow him.”

Staying on the opposite side of the street and with plenty of other people between them, they tracked the rogue back to the gates. Letting him go through first, they hustled after him to catch him before he slipped away.

The rogue feigned casualness as he strolled through the streets of Stormstadt. When he reached a particular furniture maker, he slipped through the front door and out of sight.

Jane noticed a particularly obvious teen boy leaning against a nearby lamp post, twirling a coin in his fingers. He was so obvious that he had to be planted there as part of the quest. She nudged Quill, who kept his eye on the door, and went over to the teen. “Hey. Want to earn some money?”

The teen eyed her with distaste. “Maybe. What’s the job?”

“Run to the Watch House. Ask for the Vice-Captain and tell her that the adventurers she hired have their man. Give her this location.”

“The Watch House?”

“Yep.”

The teen looked uncertain. He seemed to be on the brink of turning her down, making her inwardly curse her low Charisma, when Quill joined her.

“Pay you double, if you run.”

The teen appraised Quill, then nodded. “Deal.” He took off at a sprint.

Jane looked at the door. An unfortunate thought occurred to her. “You know, he’s probably in there shaking someone else down. Someone else might get killed.”

“Maybe. I hate to say it, but they’re ‘just’ NPCs. You think we’d fail the quest if someone died?”

“Might. Or maybe another branch opens up, and we have to track him down a second time?”

“Could get a bonus reward if we save someone’s life.”

“What do you want to do?”

He pressed his lips in a line while he thought. “I checked his level on the way here. He’s a couple of levels higher than us. We might be able to take him if we work together?”

“I don’t know. He’s a proper rogue. He’s wearing armour. He’s carrying knives. We have,” Jane pointedly looked at them both, “really thin t-shirts that are not going to stop a knife.”

“I hate the idea of dying and losing XP again. Still, we might have a choice here. And maybe choices matter.”

She arched a brow. “You think the game has branching quests? That decisions we make could change how things go? I don’t know. That’s pretty rare for most games. Most devs make really simple, linear quests.”

“I know. Boring. But I feel like we have a bit more flexibility here.”

“Really?”

“Didn’t we change things with the moss bear and Sapphire?”

“Did that have anything to do with our choices, or did we just break the quest somehow?”

“Could be. We could take a chance and go in there and maybe die if it leads to a fight and Jeanne doesn’t appear in time to save us. Or we might be heroes. The quest line is probably set up so we just wait.”

Suddenly, Jane wasn’t so sure. “If that was true, wouldn’t Jeanne have been right here, in the area, easy to contact? Why plant that boy and have to send him and then have to wait around? Would they have designed a quest where we sit and wait for who knows how long for an NPC to show up and finish things for us?”

“So you’re thinking we’re supposed to go in?”

“Or maybe you’re right, and we have a choice.”

Quill looked down the street in the direction the teen had run, then back at the door of the furniture maker. “Bah. We’re low-level. If we die, we die. I say we slip in and scope it out. If it leads to a fight, let’s hope we can beat him. Or hold out until Jeanne arrives.”

Jane pulled out her new knife. “Ok. I’m in.”

Together, they went up to the front door, listened and heard nothing, then opened it and entered.

The interior of the workshop was dimly lit. The main room was quiet, and no one seemed to be about. On two walls were reinforced shelves loaded with sheets of wood and planks of various sizes. Multiple projects were in different stages of completion, including a wardrobe with a lion and a witch⁠1 on the front, a silver-painted chair⁠2, and a carved figure of a rocking horse with a boy⁠3 riding it.

Jane made her way around the wardrobe, which she noticed had a false back, intent on an open doorway at the back of the room. Before she could reach it, she stumbled over something soft on the floor. Looking down, she stifled a cry. There was a body; from his clothing, he worked here. Silently, she beckoned to Quill.

He soon joined her. Crouching, he held a hand over the prone man’s mouth. He whispered to Jane, “He’s alive.”

“But you won’t be. Not for long.”

Jane whirled, and Quill stood.

Standing in front of the door was the target. “You think you stupid adventurers can follow a rogue of the Gold Crusade in broad daylight, and I wouldn’t notice? You must really underestimate me. That pisses me off.” He paused, then squinted and took a step closer. “Wait a heartbeat. You’re the two who screwed up my last job, aren’t you?” An evil grin creased his lizard-like lips. “Knuckles and knives, lady luck is with me today. Ha! Got a chance to rub out a pair of interfering witnesses. I do hope you two got some coin on yuh. I feel so blessed I’m going straight back to the dice tables after I gut the pair of you.” He attacked.

Jane dodged behind the half-finished wardrobe. When he came for her, she jumped through the false back and out the front door, which she turned and slammed in his face.

Quill slammed his shoulder into the wardrobe, and it fell forward onto its face.

The rogue grunted and sprang out of the false back in a flash, twin daggers leading.

Jane knew they were outmatched and in trouble. She felt pathetic compared to the trained killer in front of her. Slashing at him and missing by a mile, he laughed at her and sliced her across the belly in return. She cried out in pain.

Before he could land a killing blow, Quill picked up the silver chair and drove the rogue off.

They danced and scampered, ducked and threw everything not nailed down at the rogue to hamper him, anything they could do to buy time or create an opening. It cost them dearly. Each soon bled from a half dozen cuts. Jane could barely avoid the killer with her Stamina constantly running out. And the couple of times she and Quill actually managed to strike back, it was ineffectual.

The rogue laughed, toying with them, taking his time to enjoy their increasingly desperate plight rather than finish them off quickly.

Jane cast a forlorn look at Quill and caught his eye. She shook her head. They couldn’t do this. She was too weak. She was just a rookie adventurer. There was no way she could hold her own against an experienced rogue levels higher.

Quill clenched his jaw and quietly cursed. Almost insolently, he picked up the rocking horse, throwing it and making the rogue duck but doing no damage.

She understood how he must feel. It was so frustrating not being strong enough. Rationally, she understood that she just hadn’t levelled up enough. Emotionally, she hated feeling weak and incapable.

The rogue’s humour melted away, replaced by a look of boredom. Perhaps he could sense the fight going out of the two of them, their resignation to their own failure and death. “About time we ended this. It’s been a lark, but it looks like you’re both spent, and I got better things to do.”

The front door of the workshop crashed open.

Jeanne L’arcenciel barged in, buckler on her right arm, rapier in her left.

The rogue whirled and showed real fright for the first time.

Jeanne shouted a battle cry at the rogue and stomped a foot. A circle of compressed air exploded in all directions, hitting the rogue and hurling him backwards through the air.

Jane breathed out in relief. Good timing!

Not a rookie like the two adventurers he’d been about to slay, the rogue tumbled to his feet and — turned and ran. He obviously had no interest in going up against the Vice-Captain of the Knights of the Storm.

Jeanne wasn’t about to let him escape. She reached forward with the arm with the buckler strapped to it and pulled.

The rogue was yanked off his feet by some invisible force and carried backward.

Jeanne lunged with her left hand, driving a meter of steel into the rogue’s back, the tip punching out of his chest, then retracting.

Whatever force held the rogue in the air ended, letting the body drop to the floor. The rogue groaned and coughed. But he seemed to hold his breath when Jeanne’s rapier touched his throat.

Her voice was steel. “Give up and cooperate, tell me a few things about your bosses, and I might have a healing potion to close that hole going through you.”

He tried to sneer, but the expression failed when he looked down and saw all the blood pouring out of his body. “I…can’t. They’ll kill me.”

“You’ll be dead in a few seconds. Talk, and I’ll lock you up somewhere nice and safe where you can live out the rest of your natural lifespan. Behind bars, of course. Murderer.”

“O-ok. I’ll cooperate. I’ll tell you about—“

Before he could finish, a nimbus of golden light like a halo formed around his head.

“No!” he cried out. Then the nimbus constricted, digging into his skull. He whimpered in pain once before the bone cracked, and his eyes went lifeless.

Jeanne’s face turned stormy. “Gah! Those sly Crusaders.” Her shoulders slumped.

Quill walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. “At least a killer got the justice he deserved today.”

Jeanne stared at the floor a moment, then raised her head and took a deep breath. “You’re right. There’s at least that. I just wish… never mind.” She forced herself to brighten and sheathed her sword. “Thank you, both of you. I assumed you’d wait for my arrival.” She nodded at the shop worker who was groaning and getting up. “You did a very brave thing and probably saved a life. I’ll remember that. Come to the Watch House and I’ll reward you for the service you’ve done this city today.” She turned and strode out of the workshop.

Other Watch members entered, two in suits of armour, two only in uniforms. It appeared this part of the quest was over.

Jane slowly got to her feet, the cuts on her body painful, her chest also feeling like someone had knifed it after breathing so hard. “This is one of those realistic but annoying times when we finish the quest in one location but have to run all the way to another location just to get paid, isn’t it?”

“Yup.” Quill winced and held out his arm for her to lean on as they followed Jeanne out of the workshop. “I really hope we get healing potions soon.”

Jane watched her HP bar tick up as she automatically healed. She looked down at a knife wound on her arm and watched it heal before her eyes. A glance at her partner and it was obvious that his lower Health meant his recovery was slower. “No rush. Let’s take our time following her.”

Jeanne had disappeared by the time they got outside. They found her back in her office. She looked happier and more energetic when she saw them again. “There you are! Thank you again for all your help. This is for your trouble.”

The quest reward was money and some XP, both very welcome.

Jane grabbed Quill’s shoulder. “We’re going back to that tea house for dinner.”

“But—“

“We. Are.”

“Whatever you say.”

Jeanne didn’t seem to be done with them. “You know, it might be best if the two of you got out of the city for a while. The Gold Crusade might be looking for you after losing one of their own.”

“Oh, oh.”

“Oh, oh is right. But you might be able to help me with something. I’ve heard rumours that the Gold Crusade has some kind of training camp in the hills east of town. If you could investigate and tell me if it’s true, and what’s going on out there, I’d really appreciate it.”

Quill was quick to agree. “Sure. We can do that.”

“Thank you. If the camp exists and we can find signs of criminal activity, it might help us disrupt some of the Gold Crusade’s illegitimate activities.”

She and Quill said their goodbyes and left the Watch House. On the steps outside, she remembered how the quest had started. “We got the justice that Glory wanted. Think she’ll give us a reward, too?”

Quill grinned. “Let’s find out!”

They made their way to the the weapon shop and Glory did, indeed have a reward.

Glory was still grieving, but she did firm up at the news. “He’s dead? The one who killed my husband? Thank the stars. Thank you both. Here, take this and may you both see good fortune in the future.”

Jane and Quill both got the opportunity to choose a free weapon as their reward.

Quill picked up a one-handed mace. “I don’t have a shield yet, but I’ll get one eventually. I’m taking this so I can start levelling up that weapon skill.”

“I’d better take a staff then.” She pulled a gnarled stick of wood as tall as she was out of a stand. “They’re not magical, but they’re something.”

“That thing has reach. You can poke the poo slimes from far away with that.”

The idea revolted her. “I think I’m vetoing poo slime quests. You can do them on your own, if you want.” She pushed the door of the weapon shop open and returned to the street.

Quill took a few experimental swings with his mace after joining her. He held up the mace before him and stared at it. “You know, with this, I finally feel like an adventurer.”

Jane gripped the staff in both hands and raised it before her in a fighting pose. They shared a slow grin. “Yeah. Me too.”

Male

36

QUILL KRAU

Class NONE, Level 2

STR

1

STATUS

DEX

3

Currently feeling like a proper adventurer. Getting some pride back.

HEA

7

SKILLS

INT

2

WIS

17

ITEMS

STA

14

Mace (common)

CHA

11

Official Adventurers Guide

Female

26

JANE EULA

Class NONE, Level 4

STR

6

STATUS

DEX

11

Currently thinking that staffs are really phallic. But excited to hit things with it! Is that weird?

HEA

19

SKILLS

INT

18

WIS

18

ITEMS

STA

2

Gilded Armour of the Nature Goddess (unique); knife; staff (common)

CHA

5