Adam Drake - Blackout

For long moments I sat and stared at my new bank account balance. Several hundred thousand gold pieces now threatened my sanity, and I had the overwhelming urge to pull up the auction house view screen and go on a spending spree. But I resisted. I had a quest to complete. I can shop after. Maybe with a triple market cap to sweeten the deal.

“I will send you a mage,” Ogden had insisted. “One who will come in useful. He’s worked for me before and can be counted on in a tough spot.”

Sure, I thought. Ogden wanted his own person in the group as a spy and proxy. Fine with me. I didn’t know any high level mages anyway, and from what Ogden said this mage was extremely powerful.

Which left me to recruit other players for the remaining two spots in the four-person group. Preferably muscle. We would no doubt need it.

I sent Mudhoof a chat request as I followed the path to a stone bridge which crossed over a chuckling stream. A flock of birds flew over head and the sun shone brightly. Yeah, I stayed too long in volcano-land. No more dark and gloomy for a while.

My request was accepted. A large view screen appeared before me with the massive head of a bull on it. The bull wheezed and grunted as he appeared to by doing something physically strenuous. “Hey, Vee!” Said Mudhoof.

“Hey Muddie,” I said.

Mudhoof glanced into the camera for a moment but his focus shifted elsewhere. “Been too busy to talk with your old friend, huh?”

“Kind of,” I said. “Sorry about that. Got sidetracked on a quest and was sucked in until I finished.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” the minotaur said. The view screen was zoomed in too close to his head for me to make out his location or who he fought. “I’m a completion geek as well.” He grunted again, and this time the severed head of what looked to be a kobold passed over his shoulder to vanish out of view.

“You’re completing a quest now, I see,” I said with a knowing smile. Sometimes it’s tough to shake the need to reach the end of a quest, a feeling I was all too familiar with.

“Yup,” he said. It looked like he was hacking away with his mighty ax at an off-screen horde of kobolds. “Thorm is here with me. We’re farming for… Well, I forget, but it’s fun doing it, anyway.” Another severed head spun over his shoulder to ricochet off a tree.

“If you guys are busy, I’ll look for someone else to group with,” I said as a tease. Mudhoof was a minotaur warrior armed with a double bladed uber ax. Thorm, a holy knight, had top notch healing and shielding abilities. A perfect pair to complement myself and the mage.

“Why, whatcha got?”

“A Legendary Quest.”

The minotaur stopped hacking and turned to look at me through his view screen. “A what?!”

“Look out!” Came a shout from off to his side. It sounded like Thorm. Mudhoof blinked in surprise as if remembering he was in the middle of a battle and resumed slashing again.

I waited in anticipation as he and Thorm cleared their immediate area which didn’t take long.

Finished with his grizzly job, Mudhoof looked to me. “Okay, we’re in,” he said.

Surprised, I said, “Don’t you want the details? We’ll split everything equally. But it will be dangerous. Maybe even have to re-roll your character.”

Mudhoof shrugged. “That doesn’t bother me at all. I’ll just power-level using auction house loot. Done it before. Besides, I don’t do this for the gold, I do it for the glory!” It was no secret Mudhoof had wealth in real life. So much so that dying and losing a high level character only meant an investment of cash. He used real money to buy large amounts of in-game gold then ‘twinked’ his new character with the best gear, upgrading as his level rapidly increased.

“Count me in, too” shouted Thorm from off camera.

I laughed. “Okay, I’ll send you the quest location and we’ll met there.”

“A Legendary Quest,” Mudhoof said, shaking his head in amazement. “You get all the luck, Vee, you know that?”

“Luck has nothing to do with it, Muddie. I’m all skill!” I said and closed the chat screen.

It was a relief to know I had a solid group backing me on what could be the single most important quest of my gaming life. I’d been on many quests with Mudhoof and Thorm and they were both upstanding players. But as for Ogden’s mage, named Feign, I had no idea. Looking him up on the gargantuan player search engine came up blank. Not unusual as many people paid a fee to keep their character details hidden. This kept enemies from seeing what their current level was and what their previous quests had been. For the mage I’d learn more about him soon enough.

I sauntered into Fenway Port with a bounce in my step. As I passed other players I wondered how many of them had been on a Legendary Quest, let alone heard of one? It took a lot of self control to keep myself from shouting my good news from the rooftops.

Fenway Port bustled with players and characters transiting to other locations. From here there were dozens of places the sky-barges traveled to, unlike the single location travel gates. Many goods were also transported through the port which made this place a focal point for thieves and criminals. Before entering I placed Phlixx on snoop mode, keeping his eyes peeled for trouble.

As I made my way down the little town’s main street and turned off toward the first set of sky-barge docks Phlixx, who perched on my shoulder, whispered in my ear. “Got a tail, my sweet.”

I frowned. Why would I have a tail? A pickpocket, perhaps? They were quite bold, even in broad daylight. But then I had another thought.

“Are you sure?” I asked the ferret.

“His head nearly snapped off when he did a double take as you passed by. Moved fast to catch up. Pretty obvious, actually. And he’s not hard to miss.”

“Why is that?”

“He’s bright red.”

This was a little confusing. What if someone else was interested in the Legendary Quest scroll? Ogden wouldn’t be the only one who paid the Locators Guild to inform them of new quests. If they knew I had the scroll, then it wouldn’t take much to pin down my location. Although it would take insanely high magic to get my exact placement, someone might hedge their bets and put lookouts at the most likely nearby travel gates and ports.

I shook my head. Was I being paranoid?

“I’m going to make a quick turn. Keep watching him,” I said. As I passed the open entrance of a cluttered warehouse, I altered my course and went inside.

Quickly, I dashed behind a stack of wine barrels. Then, keeping Phlixx close, I activated my Shadow ability. My body, and Phlixx, shimmered then vanished. As long as I kept to the shadows I was effectively invisible.

A ninja entered the warehouse a moment later. Clothed from head to toe in ninja garb, twin swords sheathed on his back, he hurried by. Everything he wore, from his ninja mask which only showed his eyes, to his ninja shoes were a bright red.

For a second he seemed to glance in my direction looking straight at me. But he moved on as if in a hurry to catch up with someone.

Me.

After a count to ten I dropped my Shadow and stepped out of hiding. I could not be sure the red ninja followed me for the Quest scroll, or I had simply been targeted for pickpocketing. But I didn’t believe in coincidences.

I went back out into the street and approached the docks with their waiting sky-barges. This time I kept my eye open for the red ninja. The barge to Benton Fields was at the end with a half dozen players and crew milling about on deck.

Stacks of goods and crates lined the dock, and I slinked my way through them. I concentrated on getting to the sky-barge while Phlixx watched behind us.