The way Fade worked was incredible, but unsettling. I understood quickly why The System had described it as “It’s not that you’re invisible, it’s just that some people can’t see you.” in the class description. People would look right at you, and it’s like their attention just slid right off of you. They saw you, they maneuvered around you when you were in their way, but it seemed like you just didn’t register to them as anything more than another random obstacle. I may as well have been a streetlamp as I moved cautiously through the orc stronghold.
I assumed that there had to be a level cap. People over a certain level had to be strong enough to resist a level one ability being deployed by a lowly level two human. But, for now, blessedly, the thing just worked…and I wasn’t going to complain one bit. I felt like I was back in the forest, surrounded by giant green masses on all sides. Except, instead of lovely ferns and majestic pines, I was engulfed in a sea of very strong, very violent looking orcs. Each of them looked like they could flick me in the forehead and snap my neck, so I hoped with everything in me that I didn’t come across anyone with an excessively high level.
Shrek was not too far ahead of me, at this point, and I watched as he stepped into a building with symbols engraved over the entrance. I couldn’t read them, even with Universal Translation, but they looked very official.
Maybe they aren’t words, but more like emblems, I thought. Images of sheriff’s stars and eagles holding arrows and olive branches sprang immediately to mind. I wasn’t sure if it was the translation ability, or just my own brain putting the pieces together. What I was sure of, in that moment, was that this building was some sort of military space. Maybe an office, maybe a recruitment center, maybe a base of operations. I let Shrek enter, gave him 30 seconds to get away from the door and then started to walk toward the building.
As I walked, I took a look at the Environmental Mapping UI screen again and verified that the little red dot that represented Shrek was far enough away from the entrance. It was; however, I immediately noticed that there was a new golden symbol on the map that hadn’t been there before. Looking at the legend, I identified the mark as being indicative of a “New Quest”. That was super intriguing, but I wasn’t about to attempt any quest progression before I got my primary weapon back. So, I swiped away the screen just as I reached the entrance to the building. I pulled the door partway open but was quickly stopped when a huge green hand wrapped around my wrist and held me in place. Shit. I hadn’t been paying attention to the timer on my Fade ability.
“Where do you think you’re going, little man?” a deep voice asked from behind me. Having anticipated I might run into something like this, I immediately engaged Misdirection. A satisfying little click went off in my ear and I knew the ability had worked – something that was verified by the notification toward the bottom of my vision: “Target has been inflicted with Confusion. -1 Intelligence, -1 Wisdom.” I smiled inwardly and looked up at the orc.
“I’m going inside. I am an emissary from beyond the northern forests and I have a meeting to attend here. Now, if you’ll kindly unhand me, I won’t need to mention this to the Warchief.”
The mention of the Warchief was all I needed to get the orc to release me and offer his most sincere apologies. The Warchief gambit was a total guess. I didn’t even know if they had anyone with a title like that here, but I knew it was a relatively popular title in games where orcs existed back home, so I decided to gamble. Luckily it paid off, because I didn’t have a Plan B on deck if it hadn’t. I stepped inside the building and looked around.
It was definitely a bureaucratic administration office of some sort. I still assumed it was militaristic in nature, but at least most of the people inside wouldn’t be the actual warriors. I hoped. Misdirection was still active, so I figured I could lie my way past most anyone that I might encounter. Still, I was counting the seconds until I could reactivate Fade. I walked down the blessedly empty corridor until I reached the door to the room where Shrek’s red dot was pinging me. I leaned against the door and listened.
“What is this…trinket, Vrk’Shryk?”
“My initial prey was frightened off by a mighty warrior. I killed him and took his weapon as a trophy. This is that weapon. I offer it as proof of my kill and as a worthy substitution for my proving quest.”
I almost burst out laughing. My broken jaw certainly didn’t feel particularly mighty, though it was actually healing up nicely. I figured it would be good as new within a few hours. I shook the distraction from my head and re-engaged Fade, in case anyone happened to walk past. I listened closely, struggling to make out the muffled conversation beyond the thick door. For the next half hour or so, things took a decided turn for the worse for old Vrk’shryk. Whoever he was meeting with was less than impressed with my gun and were very clear that it was, in fact, not a worthy substitution for whatever beast he was supposed to kill for his quest.
Eventually, the door swung open and Shrek stepped out into the hallway. He closed the door behind him and stood there silently for a moment. He snorted, then raised his head and spoke.
“I know you’re there. You can come out from wherever you’re hiding, now.”
I didn’t move a muscle.
“You have shown some significant guts in following me this deep into the city, little human. Don’t dishonor yourself with cowardice, now.”
I sighed, and disengaged Fade.
“How did you know I was here?”
He shrugged his massive shoulders and tilted his head only slightly to peer at me from the corner of his eye.
“I placed a mark on you when I took your weapon with a tracking skill I have. Whatever ability you use to hide yourself from enemies is a good one, but you use it like a child. You kept appearing on my map, then disappearing for a while before reappearing closer to my position. I watched you follow me the entire way here. I also knew you were too far away to see me physically, so I knew you were tracking me as I tracked you. So, it only made sense that you’d find your way here.”
That was honestly unsettling. I thought I was being so clever, using Fade to stay hidden as I followed him into the city…but he’d been watching me the entire time. Technically Fade had done its job, but I probably should have guessed an orc who was out hunting would also have some sort of tracking ability. I cursed myself for the oversight. Although, I really had no way to know how far back I should have lingered as I followed him. Even if I knew he had that ability, I had no way to know how far it reached. Likely farther than my own, given that he was eight levels above me.
“So, now what?”
“Now you leave this city before you run into someone with a less forgiving disposition than me. If you are caught within the stronghold you will be killed on sight.”
He turned and walked away, heading toward the front of the building and placing his hand on the door to leave.
“Wait!” I called out. “My weapon. I know you still have it. I need it back.”
He paused with one hand on the door and looked back at me. My gun appeared in his free hand. He looked at it for a moment, then looked at me with distaste. He leaned to the side and tossed my gun straight into a trash bin that sat in the front corner of the building.
“You can dig this trash out of the rubbish bin, like the cowardly beggar that you are.”
And with that, he turned his back to me and stepped out onto the street. The slam of the door behind him echoed through the corridor, causing me to flinch. That instant of weakness enraged me, but not enough to lose my sense of self preservation. I reactivated Fade and went to the trash can, rummaging around inside of it until I found the gun. I instantly stored it in my inventory and several notifications sprang up before me.
Revenge actually sounded pretty satisfying, in that moment. The orc had put me through a lot – he insulted me, he broke my jaw, he took my gun, tried to pawn it off and then threw it in the trash when his superiors wouldn’t accept it as a token of his quest completion. I’d be a little more capable of pulling off a revenge plot now, too. Walking around the city with Fade active and slipping past as many people as I had apparently gave me a ton of XP because the ability had shot up by two levels. The same was true for Environmental Mapping, which was currently the more exciting level up because it came with an upgrade – an ever-present mini map.
And with that, I leveled up again. I was now at level 3 and had 2 free points to distribute. I put one into Charisma and one into Agility, since those were my lowest stats. I considered using them both on Constitution, but I decided against it. If I understood my class correctly, both Agility and Charisma would be important assets in the near future. Besides, Agility would give me a small speed boost, and the extra point in Charisma would help to boost my Misdirection ability, should I need to use it again.
All that aside, I rethought my current options – should I stay, or should I go? I don’t know if it was the level up or the point I’d received to Moxie, but the choice felt far more clear than it had a moment ago. I would stay.
I let Fade deactivate, waited out the cooldown, then reactivated it and stepped out into the orc city. As I followed my mini map toward the direction of the golden symbol, I whistled an old tune by The Clash. If you know, you know…and I definitely knew. I would have my revenge. By any means necessary.