《An adventurers tale》


 A new plan

    It had just been an accident but she was immensly frustrated. No, thats not entirely true because for it to be an accident something bad had to have happened. Right now she just wished something had happened but was feeling guilty for it at the same time, guilty and frustrated. Things were confusing and most certainly not in a good way. She had only wanted one thing, one simple thing. She just wanted to be a named Adventurer and it seemed like a simple thing, not that it was easy but it wasn''t exactly hard. At least not hard to understand and certainly not harder than being a Gold rank adventurer as she was now.


    She raised her head slightly and peared out from the shadow of the tree, watching the Silver rank team on the path to Liscor. 89% chance this was the right team. 65% chance she needed to weaken them. 91% chance there were goblins waiting to ambush the adventurers within a mile of their current location. All good odds.


    In theory named adventurer wasn''t any harder than a good gold rank adventurer and she had done that, was doing that. She was a damn good gold rank member of any team. She was good solo, better than most but you alwasys fought to the best of your ability and pushed yourself just that little bit. The key was, as things got harder you got better so nothing was out of reach as long as you kept going. She had done everything right of course, it had been the plan right from the start but it just wasn''t working and that wasn''t something she said of any of her plans. The silver rank years had dragged on slowly as she honed her skills and pushed her limits but none of her hauls ever had that artifact that could push her or her team to gold. She had dragged her way to gold with nothing but natural ability. It had been years of hard work with years of working hard but in some strange twist of fate it had been those years that had stopped her becoming a named adventurer. Looking back on the years past she was proud of what she had achieved and couldn''t understand why her efforts were not being recognised but now she really examined the details, the more she thought about it the more it made sense. Sadly, that had lead to things just not making sense anymore. Who knew you could achieve everything you wanted without actually doing so at the same time? So many people knew her name, so many teams, gold, silver, even bronze rank teams still knew her. She had worked with so many people it wasn''t possible that people didn''t know her name and yet, that was part of the problem. She felt like she could have been a named adventurer long before she was officially rated gold rank but maybe that was just a self inflated ego, maybe. No. She couldn''t doubt herself now, not now as she was both achieving her dream and not at the same time. She just had to work out how to change the situation from a confusing accident into what she wanted it to be. It was time for a new plan.


    The thing about being a named adventurer was the name. It had seemed like such a little detail at the time and she hadn''t considered it to be as important as it really was, which turns out to have been the critical mistake. It''s not like many adventurers don''t make mistakes in the beginning, except that hers didn''t get her or anybody else killed. It slipped by without being noticed. An insideous mistake that lurked for years before being noticed, before starting to hurt her, while not physically but in a very very real way that she felt every day.


    Instead of rushing into things and getting cut up she had worked hard at making sure everybody in her team came back alive. Planning. It was all about planning. Being careful, not out stretching the teams ability and making a careful considered choices on what they did was the way she had kept them safe. She thought as a named adventurer right from the start, she actually planned almost all her quests solo and used teams to make sure things went according to plan. She would scout out the dungeon or terrain or enemy, whatever it was that time but she would plan it all alone. It was very early on she had received her [lesser stealth] skill. She hadn''t even known it was part of her class but then, not many had that class so some of the rarer skills were probably going to crop up and she was making the most of every one as she got it. It was a surprise to find that a single class could provide everything she had needed and she wondered if other named adventurers had the same class, or just her. She hadn''t ever met anybody who claimed to have it so she had kept it quiet and worked hard to build her skills, her levels. The progress had been painfully slow some years but it had been progress. Constant progress. They had never gone hungry, or lost a team member but then they had never come back with that haul that made people in the streets stop and stare. Which apparently was part of what you needed to do to become a named adventurer and the other part... She had taken far too long to realise. Her first and worst mistake.


    Dependable. Safe. Stable. You could always count on her, but nobody ever called her name in desperation. She never pulled anybody back from the brink, from being nearly killed. She never got the fame from saving people because they never got into that danger, entirely because of her planning which she felt was a greater achievement than screwing up and pulling things out of the fire but it turns out she was wrong about everything. The thing about the name was that it had a life of it''s own. Being a named adventurer was in actual fact two things. It was being an adventurer and being a name, a name people called out in awe and a name people looked up to or feared. She had thought that once you reached a level you would just become a named adventurer but that wasn''t the case at all. A named adventurer was a name people wanted to know. A name that could travel further and faster than any adventurer could ever manage. The name itself had a life of it''s own and could grow if fed correctly. An adventurer fed their name with deeds of note, of heroics and not with security. Then others fed that name too with stories getting larger with each and every telling and it would grow beyond a mere person, beyond a simple adventurer gold rank or not. That name would become half the legend and that was why they were called named adventurers. It was all in the title and she hadn''t seen it.


    Nobody spoke the name of Jessica the dependable. She wasn''t a destroyer. She wasn''t a crusher, a killer or any of those things because she was so good at planning that nobody ever realised she saved her teams lives before they left on each and every quest. Jessica also wasn''t a good start, but back at the start she hadn''t thought about it and that too had been a mistake. Too many people knew her and her name. She had a reputation now, a good one for sure but not one that would ever make the likes of a named adventurer. People knew going with her was a smart move. If she was on your team you knew you were coming back, usually with loot but definitely coming back. Not once in the last few years had she had trouble joining a group of adventurers. Everybody knew her name! She SHOULD be a named adventurer but she wasn''t. She wasn''t because that wasn''t her name and she knew now it never could be, so she made a choice. It seemed simple at the time but she realised now that such a choice could not have been simple. There was no way such a sequence of events could possibly be simple.


    It all started how she usually started, with a logical conclusion... Ok so people know her name and know who she is but she can never become what she wants because they do, so she had to go backwards. She had to start again and do it right this time which seemed sort of simple, just difficult. How to erase your name? Start with your face. If people didn''t know your face you could say your name was anything and that had lead to the next problem. She had never really collected powerful artifacts and certainly none that could change how people saw her, so even with skills beyond reproach she couldn''t [sublte Disguise] her way out no matter how hard she tried because that always lead to being less noticable than before. When she had heard the story it had seemed logical. She hadn''t intended to steal as much as she did, just an idea was all. She hadn''t intended to steal an identity. She just liked the idea of a mask. It was simple, cover her face and she could be any name she wanted and oh my how many she had come up with. She knew of course that half of it had to come from others. She could only pick the first part of her name, nobody picked their own title and she was lucky she would get to pick the first half as it was, most people didn''t pick their own name. What she hadn''t expected was quite how powerful the story she had heard was and how much it would take over and grow. A masked adventurer. A woman. It had seemed like a good idea! She hadn''t intentionally copied the mask but logic had followed and form followed function. It needed to not just hide her face but protect it, it needed to be strong, light and at the same time allow her to be identified. So the story of the adventurer with a mask drove her to create her own and she had set out to make a name for herself in the way she knew now was the right way to do it. Throw causion to the wind and perform amazing deeds, except this was Jessica so she still planned it in intricate and excrutiating detail. She was used to planning things that went so well people didn''t even realise they could go wrong but now she had to plan for things going wrong, but within the plan. This was going to be a challenge even for her.


    After following the silver rank team for a few weeks she knew their routine. They were on the way to Liscor to enter the dungeon the same as everybody else, the story of the masked adventurer and the enchanted mace was spreading like wild fire so she knew that this dungeon was a place to spawn a legend and it had been a lucky break that she had been close when she heard the story. It all fitted together so well, she knew her plans were right when they felt like part of a larger plan that wasn''t hers. She watched them plan, very poorly she noted but at least they tried and they might not die. Well, not right away at least. So she did her own recon too while they did theirs. She followed gold rank teams and watched them work, gathered intel from their efforts and decided after a few more weeks she knew what the silver rank team would do, and where they would fail. Careful study of each of their abilities during several fights on the way provided her with vital details for this plan. It also provided the injury that would keep them one member down. Details such as the first response when surprised, their go-to moves and the blind spots were all easy to work out and she knew them. She probably knew them better than they knew each other. She knew how to save them. The worst part about this was it went against everything she had done for her whole life as an adventurer, knowingly letting others get into danger! She could plan this so even they had a great chance of coming through without serious injury but that was the old way and how else was she meant to do it? This was the only way and she knew, she knew that if she wasn''t there they would die. Maybe they would learn a lesson from this so she would be doing them a favour but that rang hollow in her mind and it hurt her deep inside knowing this was the only way but she would be a named adventurer no matter what. She avoided the town. She avoided the inn, now that was a strange place indeed and there was a feeling that the story wouldn''t be about her if she went there and this was going to be HER story. Everything about the area around Liscor was strange and she knew now this was the right place to make her name. Hah. How hollow that idea sounded now. It had worked and backfired at the same time. She couldn''t have known!


    It was their third journey in that they reached the room she knew would kill them. If it had been her team they would have left, not gone in. There was no way this dungeon was worth the risks and she had no real intention of going very deep in but she knew what she had to do because she knew the stories of what had been done. A masked adventurer, a solo adventurer. She had come from nowhere and saved a group of adventurers only to return to nowhere. Had she just told them her name, she would be a named adventurer and Jessica was not going to make that mistake. She followed the silver rank team, Goblins gift. Even their name showed poor judgement to a point she was surprised they made silver rank but then, she was surprised most adventurers made it to the next day considering how they operated and all things considered Goblins Gift was a better name than hers. The shadows welcomed her and she felt at home, which was strange but she had spent so many hours in places like this and so many days alone that this felt natural.


    The room was going as she expected. The scouts were searching brick by brick for physcial triggers with the [Mage] looking for magical ones. The [Warrior] stood guard at the door with the other fighter. They were both alert and watching for danger, one inwards and one outwards ready to fight at the slightest movement but she knew they couldn''t fight what was coming. They were all inside the room. It was almost inconceivable to her that an entire team would all be in the same room, how were you meant to prevent attacks from the rear? Or save trapped team members, or a million other things. There were too few of them and they were not spread out enough to cover themselves. The lure of this dungeon, it''s biggest threat seemed to be how it tricked people into thinking that they could be the ones to tame it.


    *click*


    That was her 15 second notice, they heard it too of course and were in panic now, another sign they were not ready for this dungeon but then again who could be? Jessica, that''s who. No, not Jessica. She hadn''t decided on the name yet but was sure the right one would come to her when asked as the list was short with only four to choose from and it mattered the exact situation when asked. It mattered as that would shape the title. She had to pick the name to make the title flow naturally. So a list of four is what she had to choose from and they covered almost all possible situations.


    *click*


    It was time. The group had started to back out on hearing the first click and they had just triggered the second. The tiny holes in the wall had gone almost unnoticed by the first scout. The second one had examined them in quite some detail and declared they were not triggers but possible damage from another adventurer or monster. It was a simple mistake that would have ended the lives of all of them looking at the way they were backing up. [Warrior] first then [Mage] and then scouts. They were litterally just backtracking the way they had come in while not noticing at all what had happened. She burst into the room ducking the inevitable blow as the [Warrior] struck out with her predicted response, this had been a worry as there were three main attacks she expected and only a 75% probability of this one. Had it been one of the others she might not have reacted in time to avoid a minor injury but this was a mission of risk and that had been the biggest one. She knew what came next for sure. The whole silver rank team froze as they looked at her, poised ready to attack and then their eyes changed as they knew she wasn''t a monster but was she there to help? There wasn''t any time for introductions however, they would have to wait as the danger was only just beginning so she leapt.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Albron the [Mage] was completely surprised to receive a blow to the shoulder from the stranger who had just leapt into the room. She had ducked Jhontis''s blow like she had expected it and he was trying to remove his axe from the wall he had struck so hard. They were all on edge and this had not helped calm their nerves. [Dangersense] was ringing in his head as he was pushed to the ground and was so totally and utterly surprised to see a flash or silver pass where his neck had been just moments before. Without any time to react the stranger had leapt on. He cast [shimmering shield] and the top of his staff started to glow, another silver flash deflected off the bubble that was forming around him as he looked towards Jermia who was furthest into the room.


    The stranger had now past half their team and reached the scouts at the front as she dove low sweeping Jermia''s legs out from under him. Jeria looked at his brother thinking the stranger was attacking but he was fastest and always had been smarter. He saw the blade cut the air above their heads and ducked almost too slow as the blade sliced his bow in two and cut deep into his shoulder. Jermia hadn''t quite had time to get to his feet as the blades had passed by overhead and he looked towards Jeria and saw the blood. These blades were impossibly sharp, in fact he wasn''t sure they were real blades at all. They had to be magical or they would have spotted the slots in the walls for them to launch from so that meant..


    *CRACK*


    Jermia felt pain in his back and saw his dagger fall to the floor sliced in two but his eyes were on the stranger who seemed to be dancing around the room. He hadn''t noticed it at first but every movement either deflected one of the magical blades or pushed somebody out of the way, almost as if she knew where they would come from. Sadly, nobody else knew and these things were undoubtedly deadly as his back felt quite damp and the intial hot feeling was turning colder. Jhontis had recoverd his axe and swung for the stranger in the room, never quick on the uptake presumably still thinking they were under attack and Jermia worried for a moment as the axe swung for.. her. Yes, it was a woman, as the axe swung for her and she reached FOR it. If this woman couldn''t predict the future then Jermia was no [Scout] because she gripped the handle of the giant two headed axe just above Jhontis''s hand and guided it towards a spot on the wall. The wall exploded in shards of stone and they all caught a glimpse of a brief glow of runes before they dimmed.


    Albron had located all the runes now he knew what he was looking for. They were concealed under a layer of normal stone until activated and the blades sliced their way free but you had to watch, because as fast as the stone cracked away it repaired itself leaving no trace


    "[Stone dart]" he called as he smashed two sets of runes and reached out a hand to where he thought the next one was only to be kicked! Except it wasn''t hard, it was... directional and his hand was now aiming higher and more left than it was as the next [Stone dart] flew, perfectly crushing the center of the runes. The stranger cartwheeled over him, resting a hand on his magical shield as she flew over one of the blades and kicked something across the floor. Something shaped like a human... Something soaked in blood. Something he hoped with all his heart wasn''t who he knew it was. A blade sliced the leg of the stranger as she pushed the body out of its way but there was no blood from her, instead a flash and a reflection as if from something under her clothes as the blade deflected. His friend was now next to him, under the shield which he was extending as the two [scouts] pressed against his back. A giant axe again crashed into the wall as two more [Stone darts] hit their mark and the blades stopped.


    There was a lot of blood. Jessica knew that she hadn''t saved them all, she had tried but the axe getting trapped in the wall hadn''t been part of the plan. The fury and power of that first blow had been honestly the first surprise of the day and not a good one, she was glad she managed to predict it and not get hit but he had clearly never hit with full force while she was watching before. She also knew it was safe for now. Actually it wasn''t safe at all but at least the blades were stopped. This was the moment she had been waiting for. She noted the positions of everybody in the room as well as who had caused each blow to the runes, who had died, who was injured and who was angry. Every part of this situation was about to shape her name. She was about to become a named adventurer she was sure of it, she had saved them! An 83% chance that a name given now would start stories that could spread to any of the nearby cities. Despite their own best efforts they would almost all leave this dungeon alive and with all their limbs.


    "It''s you!" this... This wasn''t what they were meant to say! They were meant to ask her NAME!


    "We heard the story, of a masked woman alone in the dungeon, saving a team of silver rank adventurers but we never dreamed we would meet her" ok, she wasn''t THAT person she just had a mask! It wasn''t the same mask or..


    "What''s your name?" Albron had asked. That meant something. She knew now which of the four choices she would use. She knew now how her future would unfold, her history as a named adventurer, her title. She drew in her breath and paused for dramatic effect before speaking a name to be told across the lands.


    "Don''t be an idiot!" shouted Jermia just as she was about to speak, deflating the wind in her lungs and confusing her. She began to breath in again, this time she would,


    "She''s mute! Everybody knows the story. You can''t ask her name you''ll just scare her off. I''m so sorry for my friend he is no doubt a little confused as it looked like you were attacking us at first. It took a minute to work out what was going on. I don''t know how I didn''t spot those triggers, light activated?" he didn''t stop talking and she just looked like she was panting for breath now. Why wouldn''t they shut up and let her tell them her name. This was the important bit! She didn''t care how or why they missed the dangers because she already knew and they just needed to stop talking long enough for her to introduce herself if they were not going to ask.


    "Yes, Definitely. I''m sorry I didn''t spot the runes or the enchantment before but they were so well concealed! I think my light triggered it as I passed by the second. The second activated the first trigger to make sure we were all in the room, we would have died for sure without the assistance." Albron was talking now and they were just not stopping,


    "Mute huh? Well we can''t thank you enough but for the moment we must tend to our injured." He turned away and started handing out healing potions. The two scouts were almost completely red, either from their own blood or that of the body on the floor. Jion. The eldest of the team and their leader, she was meant to save him with the axe but the axe had been so deeply lodged in the wall that hadn''t been possible and any delay would have put the whole sequence of events out and lead to all their deaths so she... She had to sacrifice him, she couldn''t save him or push him out of the way without being in the wrong position for the next blade, then the next and the next and it hurt. She had tried but the fractions of a second she had allowed as contingency just were not enough. Now her legs and arms were throbbing of course, the pain of each blade she had deflected was not easily dulled and she didn''t want to take a healing potion in front of them as that would appear weak. The plates had done exactly as she had planned of course, it hadn''t taken long to design something specific to deflect these blades but it had been expensive. No blade could penetrate these plates but the force carried though and each impact was like a hammer on her skin. She didn''t dare touch the ripped cloth for fear of exposing the bruising she was sure covered most of her body by now. They were dragging Jion towards the exit, even now after all this they were not thinking straight. They just assumed it was safe as she was standing still so she ran forwards and deflected the last blade across the doorway before they got to it and smashed the rune with her [Iron fist] so it couldn''t fire again. The whole team froze for only a moment before pulling closer towards her as they retreated while constantly talking. They thought she was the same woman she had heard the story about and talking now, giving a name would only have 5% chance of starting the right story. Tis would take some untangling if she was to get the right name, the four she chose were right out by now and she was down to the second list, this was past the backup plan and the backup backup and onto names she hadn''t considered more than 10% likely, but it would still work if she just waited for the right moment.


    "JION!" a crying woman waiting near the entrance screamed as they dragged their leader out of the dungeon. Had it been a mistake to go in via the front door instead of the shortcut everybody else was using? Clearly. Having an injured member of the team was responsible for that decision. None of them knew how hard Jessica had worked to arrange that specific injury. She had known they would go in the wrong way if they thought they were at full strength. She had scouted ahead and made sure they encountered exactly the right monster at the right time and with an 83% certainty that this particular person would be injured it was only a matter of making sure the monster was just weak enough to not be able to kill her. While it went against all her normal planning making sure this injury happend ensured the whole team would not die so she had done it. They would never know she saved their lives before they even arrived at the Dungeon.


    The Drake guards on duty looked onwards wearily, eyeing the adventurers as they came out with the strange woman at the front, striding towards them.


    "HALT! Who goes there?" a deep red scaled Drake called out and Albron replied before anybody else could do so, she once more drew breath to call her name...


    "It''s us! Don''t attack her she is with us! She is the famous mute solo adventurer! She saved us too!", again! They just couldn''t keep their mouths shut. That was the idea of course, to spread the story. They had to let her say her name first though or there was no story to spread.


    "Mute huh? No wonder she spends her time in the dungeon, just as well for you fools too! We told you not to go in. What was it ? 3 hours? That might be some kind of record for you stupid humans."


    "Yeah, when will you adventurers learn to listen to the [Guardsmen] on duty? There is only one team who go in regularly and still come out and I swear they just have tea in the entrance hall then leave for all the loot they bring out." a muddy yellow scaled Drake chimed in and then spat at the [Warrior] as he heaved part of the barrier out of the way to drag the fallen adventurer out. "Stop that! Don''t break the defences you stupid..."


    The whole silver rank team was out but instead of shouting the name of the Adventurer who had saved them they were telling everybody she was mute. She couldn''t speak now, it would be.... stupid. If she spoke now there would be suspicion, doubt, it would break the spell that she had spent so much time crafting. Not a true spell, or at least not in the sense any [Mage] would understand it. It was a spell of planning, of logic, of situation. It was crafted to create a named adventurer but they had wrecked it! How could she have a name if she couldn''t speak! They all thought she was this other adventurer now and to say otherwise would ruin everything she just achieved and the cost had been so high. So high. The first death she had ever experienced in her own team. It had been a long time since that day, but she had vowed to never again follow the plans of another. They didn''t know she was in their team, or to be more precise that they were her team because she hadn''t told them but that didn''t change the facts. She had watched and guided them from far beyond Liscor. She had killed Goblins and they didn''t even know. She had held back Crelers from swarming them while they searched the room and they couldn''t know. She had planned how to save them from themselves and they didn''t even realise they were destined to die without her. Yet, it had all gone so horribly wrong. The force of one blow with an axe had ruined her plan. Jion was meant to live, injured sure she couldn''t avoid that and quite frankly without him it was a miracle the others had survived too. Albron had stood in the right place but the [Scouts] hadn''t made it back fast enough, one had nearly been cleaved in two and the other had nearly lost several limbs.


    Jessica was despondant. There was no way to describe how she felt seeing her plan unravel with the unruly talk from her team as they constantly thanked the mute adventurer for saving them, offered her money and begged her to join their team without knowing they had been in hers from the start.


    "Where are you going?" Jermia called as she walked away from them.


    "Oh.... no, but..." Albron started to call out but she was alread over the barrier, past the [Guardsmen] and halfway back into the Dungeon.


    "What the hell do you think you are doing now? You thin scaled idiot!"


    She passed through into the darkness and walked just out of the light before blending into the shadows almost invisible so anybody following would go straight past her. She sat. It had been such a good plan, a named adventurer and now... Now she had no name at all, even robbed of the one she had before. Months of planning unravelled because of a stuck axe and a dramatic pause. Something wet started to grow around the floor at her feet. Tears falling from under the mask, slowly pooling around the rim until they finally fell and splashed to the ground. She had never believed in destiny, but this felt personal. This felt like something didn''t want her to be a named adventurer, like being robbed of any name was punishment for trying to control her destiny. She could take the mask off, or just speak but she knew this wasn''t the time or place for either. For one thing, it would look weak to cry in front of zombies.


    [Iron Fist] was actually quite useful for lesser monsters. It was messy of course but she didn''t care at this point as she pounded rotten flesh into the wall hitting so hard she chipped tiny pieces of stone away with each punch. With each pounding blow blood splattered the wall, ceiling and finally the floor mixing slowly with the falling tears. She needed a new plan, but that would take time. This would do for now. Punching till the pain stopped, there were plenty of zombies here to keep her busy at least. Busy, not thinking. Not planning, just hitting. Until it was time to plan again.


    "At least there are no monsters following out this time. Looks like we get a quiet shift after all!" said the red scaled Drake to his companion as he pulled a small square board out of a pack on the floor.


    "Rot that, I was looking forward to something to do! If I have to put up with your constant nagging to play chess all day I swear I''d rather face a hoard of zombies."

 The best laid plans

    It was easier to slip out at night. Sure, the [Guardsmen] were busy watching but as that mainly consisted of arguing over wheather a little horsey could move to a particular square or not that wasn''t really an issue. She was sure she could have waved as she walked past and not been noticed. The plan was starting to form and top of that list with a 99% certainty as the next action, the first most critical step of the plan was a bath. Oh how she smelled, so so bad that the snow melted away from her as she stepped in it and the grass below wilted.


    She was pretty sure in fact that had the guards noticed her they would have attacked believing her to be a zombie or ghoul herself. So a bath it was, and that meant heading into the city or a very cold looking stream which she was sure was in habited by at least one creature that would object to her washing the rotten flesh from her skin in its home. Oddly enough the city almost seemed as poor an option. She didn''t think arriving at the city gates in her current state would make her very welcome and it certainly wouldn''t help her goal because nobody wanted to be known as Jessica the foul or Jess of the rotten flesh. So it came that she stood on a path, with a fork. One road lead into Liscor and the other towards the hills and certain chill with an uncertain washing ability. Her fist closed around something in her hand and she smiled.


    It had always been the plan to just grind away slowly and reap the small rewards rather than risking death for a big haul. This dungeon certainly offered the promise of untold riches alongside the near certainty of a gruesome death. To come out of this dungeon with anything, including your own life was an achievement. Her smile widened, sadly an action which was totally wasted behind the mask. The first step was taken towards Liscor. That bath couldn''t wait any more than what she had in her hand could. Many adventurers might have missed it but she always kept a lookout for this sort of thing because you never knew. a thorough search of all slain enemies was part of the routine. It helped if you were not bleeding to death or limping away. If you had the time, in the shadows to look properly. While others counted the zombies as nothing more than a nuisance unless their number was large she knew that zombies had once been people. Often, especially in this place they had once been adventurers. Some might have been a [Mage] or even a gold rank adventurer and just one might have been wearing a ring.


    Liscor rose above her as she approached, quite carefully trying to look non-threatening and very much alive. Even after scrubbing most of the gore off with melted snow she knew she had to avoid shambling as she approached the city, a less careful adventurer might have ended their story just trying to rush back into Liscor in this state.


    "Halt! Who goes.... What IS that smell? Wait, are you a zombie?" she stopped and just looked at the Gnoll on duty. Her shoulders sagged as she shook her head and drew breath to speak then nearly choked on the smell and gagged a little.


    "Fine. You need a bath though, it''s that way. Right away or I''m personally going to kick you out of the city tonight" what was it with people interupting before she could get a word in edgeways? Still, she was getting used to not talking. It made things easier. People leaked, they tried to fill any void with their own words if you let them and she had always learned more from watching in the shadows than talking directly to people. This way she didn''t have to hide, well anymore than behind the mask. So she decided to roll with it for now. No talking. Maybe if she spoke somebody would recognise her voice anyway? It had been a long time since she was in Liscor and she didn''t spend much time there but with all the adventurers here now anybody could recognise her and that would ruin the plan. She couldn''t be Jessica now, she had to be somebody else.


    The Gnoll guard was trying to cover his nose and waving a hand in the direction he had previously indicated the bathhouse to be in so she walked on careful to stand tall, each step carefully considered and accurate with no chance of being mistaken for a shamble. The thing in her hand also needed to be dealt with.


    The bath house didn''t usually require people to scrub before getting in, so this felt a little insulting and she had honestly not expected to be treated like this even in her current state. Yet, here she was. Standing outside the back of the baths with an angry Drake throwing buckets of water at her. An ear dropped to the floor along with some particularly aggressively thrown water and she had to concede the point. "Hang on! I think there is a living human under all that" the Drake sneered as she decided that was enough, or maybe just got sick of hefting buckets. Jessica was shown into a private room. Nobody had asked her if she wanted one, they just assumed and honestly she was happy for it. She pulled the curtain closed and undressed. The clothes were piled near the entrance but her armour was not. That was carefully stored in a specially constructed bag with each piece in it''s own compartment. That bag was kept close. This armour had cost her everything. The only problem with it was it was just too damn shiny. The next problem was the mask. It was unlikely that anybody would come in, or that they would recognise her but just that chance was too much. She worked on probability, risk verses reward and this risk was too high so she kept it on. It felt odd, wearing the mask in the water. It nearly drowned her at least once as she dipped under while almost forgetting it was on but she had to hold her head under while she removed it to wash her face. Mask replaced she rose her head out of the water.


    "Gaaack, dead gods what are you.. Sorry, I didn''t realise you were even in here!" A drake was reaching for the curtain and Jessica glared at her. Well, she would have if the drake could see through the mask but that was pretty much the point of a mask, that you couldn''t. "Do you want these.... Washed?" the way the question was asked she knew that the drake would rather not touch her clothes and would probably prefer to burn them but she couldn''t afford new ones. Not yet anyway. Every single coin she had ever owned was folded as concealed armour in it''s special bag. She swore you could almost see it shine through the bag. She had to admit though, the [Mage] who did the work was true to his word. She had not received a single cut during any of her battles since having it enchanted. He had been confused at her request at first, why have the plates so small, so thin? The lack of padding and exposed joints were essential for the plan though. She had to be free to move and appear to not be wearing any armour. It was part of the legend and would add to her story. Nobody had even noticed she wasn''t even carrying a sword in the dungeon. She had sold that too.


    The drake stared at her. Oh! Washed... She nodded her head slowly and the clothes were dragged away by the very tip of one claw, trying to minimise contact with them. She must have looked a sight in the bath with the mask still on. None of that mattered right now though because her hand was still clamped tightly shut. She was clean and the next task needed taking care of. She stood up began to collect her... oh. Ok. right after the clothes came back. Still, soaking a little longer couldn''t hurt. She sank back into the water leaving only her face, or rather mask above the surface. Another probability came into her mind. Another plan formed. The armour, the mask, they would need more work. That was the thing about being prepared though, you were never done. Building a legend was hard work and the water felt good.


    The adventurers guild. It was a place she had been many times. Not always this one, they all felt the same but different. You knew what you would get inside those doors and she knew with the utmost certainty that what she would get is recognised. At least one familiar face was inside. Still, it had all been prepared for and the decision not to talk was certainly helping on the off chance her voice alone was enough. She opened the door and moved inside so stealthily it could be described as slinked. All eyes were on her, or they would have been if she had been in the doorway where they looked. She was already in front of the receptionist looking like she had been there for ages waiting, a few people noticed but the majority ignored her. This was the part she didn''t want people paying attention to. The receptionist seemed harried and the guild was certainly busy. She placed her hand on the counter and for the first time since picking it up, she opened her hand and released the ring.


    "What the rot is that!" the receptionist exclaimed as most of the room turned to look at the commotion. Several people standing nearby looked visibly disturbed and a couple had stood up from their tables. On the counter she had just dropped a toe. A big toe to be exact. She only just realised that it might have been a good idea to remove the ring from the toe first. She did just that, placed the ring back on the counter and wondered what exactly she should do with the now clean and shrivelled body part. She shrugged and placed it back in her pocket for the moment, an action which was immediately surpased in amazement as people gazed on the ring.


    Every [Mage] in the guild was eyeing the ring on the counter. They could all clearly see it was heavily magical and none of them recognised the adventurer who had brought it in. The only possible clue were reports from a silver rank team who claimed to have seen a mysterious masked adventurer in the dungeon and this woman was clearly masked, even inside the guild which had oddly not raised enough eyebrows until she was stood presenting the ring. "You want to sell this?" the drake on duty asked and she simply nodded. "Certainly, I will get it appraised immediately" and with that several people rushed to the ring to offer their services. Almost Forgotten, and certainly almost unnoticed was the adventurer who had brought it in. Standing so much in the shadows she was almost a shadow herself, except for a slight shine coming from a rip in the cloth around her leg. Only one set of eyes watched her instead of the commotion around the ring. As she kept her head facing the receptionist her eyes met those of the other and they both knew that even though neither was looking, they could both see each other clearly.


    Steepham the [Assasin] had been watching the guild. It was a boring job but moments like this made it worth it. The night had been going like any other and nobody had noticed him for several hours as he lurked in the background. Not hiding, just not noticed. If he had hid somebody would have seen that, he would have been found in such a busy room. The trick was just to not be in the way of anything, and that was harder than it sounded with the number of people packed into the guild these days. He had seen the door open and watched for an adventurer to enter. It had been a moment of brief surprise and then slight humour as the person had sidestepped their own entrance into the room. They had simply stepped forwards and moved, elsewhere. That was a skill Steepham would like to know more about but he watched her progress to the receptionist and almost gave himself away laughing as she placed the ring on the counter. She had done so well not being noticed, with everybody looking directly at her no less. Then she had ruined it all by announcing herself with a highly magic item still attached to it''s previous owner. An owner Steepham noted that was not without suspicion themselves, and rightly so considering their assumed state now. Not many people forced a ring onto their toe. It was actually a great hiding place unless somebody had your boot off, or your toe. She had obviously realised her mistake, or at least accepted the situation as she again slunk out of, well, out of everything.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    He watched her passage across the room as she stood and looked directly at the ring, while seeing him. Now that was a surprise. This was turning into a most eventful evening almost worth all the waiting. She was clearly an adventurer, the way she was dressed said as much if not for her presence in the adventurers guild. Yet, her use of stealth said otherwise. For a moment he wondered if she was actually an [Assasin] but dismissed it immediately, she was selling the ring. No [Assasin] would cut a part off their target and then openly sell stolen property in the adventurers guild of all places. No, this person was clearly at home here, used to coming here. It was her natural reaction to come here. She was not an [Assasin], so what was she?


    Slowly the excitement died down, after all it was only one ring. She took her opportunity to leave and headed to find a [Mage]. She had been informed of the value of the ring and chosen not to sell it via the guild much to the annoyance of the receptionist who would certainly have objected if she knew where the ring, or the adventurer had gone. There was no time to worry about that though as the guild was so busy a fight needed breaking up again. Jessica was too busy with concealing her own departure to notice she was being followed. It wasn''t until she was moving through the streets that she became aware of the attention. She hadn''t seen him follow, or seen where he was but she knew he was there. No [Dangersense] was going off so it didn''t matter for the moment. Maybe she could work this to her advantage, she was fairly sure of what was following and that she wasn''t a target. She was just interesting and after all, wasn''t that the point? She wanted to get noticed. She wanted people to know her name. The only problem was she didn''t want people seeing how she got it. The house was in front of her and she decided to forgo any subterfuge and simply knock on the front door. Afterall the follower knew why she was there and probably who was inside better than she did. There was no real need to conceal her visit and as long as her follower was what she thought she probably wouldn''t get mugged.


    It was an imposing building but nothing compared to the places she had seen in other cities. If she was in Invrisil she could probably get more for the ring but needs must and she needed money. She also had one other idea she had been working on since watching the armour shine in the bath house. The [Mage] lead her to his study where he examined the ring and looked quite excited. He was not the best negotiator and this seemed like a lucky break as she knew she could push him for more than she would otherwise have gotten for the ring.


    "And How exactly am I meant to negotiate if you don''t speak my dear?" said Everill the [Mage] as she shrugged and waited for him to fill the void.


    "You can, of course speak yes?" She nodded and he understood. Slowly the mage walked over to a large wooden cabinet and started muttering under his breath while searching drawers. Eventually he came back with two small wooden rings. One was placed on his finger, the other offered. She took it. The world went silent. Now silence is a term often used to describe what is in actual fact only very quiet but this, this was true silence. A total absence of sound. When he finally spoke she was so startled she reached for a weapon that wasn''t there anymore.


    "It''s quite fine, no need to panic my dear. You can only hear me, and I can only hear you. I can assure you however that nobody else in the world can hear either of us." she concentrated and realised it was true. She screamed. The [Mage] covered his ears to no effect and looked quite distraught, "Was that really necessary my dear?"


    "Yes. You have no idea how hard it is to keep completely silent and I have seen, and done some things today that required that scream, my apologies." It felt good to talk again. She had never met this [Mage] before so there was no risk of him recognising her. The negotiations went well as far as she was concerned. Everill was less happy with the way things were proceeding.


    "Perhaps I can offer services instead? That could benefit both of us greatly." Now this was what she had been waiting for. She didn''t know Everill so it had been hard to manipulate him to this point without angering him so much he threw her out but now the offer was out there and she hadn''t suggested it...


    "Well, You could help with this." she said as she placed her armour on the table. Everill was clearly impressed, "Exquisite work, what could I possibly add?" and Jessica started to explain her idea. Everill nodded and smiled and glared and complained about the skill needed. In the end an agreement was reached. Services it would be, plus 5 gold. She had insisted on that. It was a token payment compared to the value of the ring and the services offered, they both knew. What Everill didn''t know was that it was her only gold now and she needed to eat. She was less happy about the time he said it would take, so that meant an inn. That meant staying in Liscor without her armour on. It was time to work on the plan then. This had been a 63% likely scenario, having an extended stay in Liscor that is, so she had planned for it as always. Had it been a 3% likely scenario she would have planned, just not in quite as much detail. The deal was struck and she headed back out into the night. Striding down the streets of Liscor now, not staying in shadows but owning the road much to the annoyance of Gnolls and Drakes around, most of the Gnolls still covered their nose as she walked past.


    "Another!" Jermia called as the barmaid took his empty glass. They were celebrating and mourning at the same time. For they had lost Jion but left with their own lives. Jion would never have wanted them to pity him and had said as much before every mission. "We celebrate no matter what, for every day each one of us walks this world is a reason to celebrate" and Goblins Gift were doing just that. Stories of fights and loot, drinking and eating filled the inn as many adventurers crowded into what was not it had to be said, the best inn in Liscor. They had been lucky to get the rooms at all but they had come in at just the right time. They felt bad for the other team of course. Nobody wanted to gain from another adventurers death but a room was a room and they were vacant just as Goblins Gift had walked in. It wasn''t as if they hadn''t lost one of their own. As was the tradition Jion''s possessions had been distributed between them. He had paid for their beer and they were thanking him for it in the only way they could, by enjoying life. Every day a gift.


    Albron had done most of the talking. Everybody wanted to hear tales of the mysterious masked adventurer and they were comparing descriptions with the previous story. Things didn''t quite match however. The mask was shiny not black. She hadn''t used any [Bladedancer] moves despite her obvious skill. What were the odds though? Did they know each other? Was it actually a team? Or had the adventurer simply changed a bit, maybe the story was distorted you just couldn''t tell. A deeply dark brown scaled Drake who had entered the inn some time ago and had been intently listening to the stories chose that moment to speak up and tell of the incident in the adventurers guild.


    "So she is here and she found a ring of quite some value it seems, we need to invite her again without scaring her off this time!" timing is a funny thing. One second can change the world. A moment too soon or a moment too late. Or sometimes, possibly 3.72% of times were like this... The door opened and framed in the doorway was a female adventurer. A human. Her face masked. All eyes turned to watch because she was clearly the one all the stories had been about all evening and a very large human was stepping towards her with his arm outstretched and a very large axe in his other.


    38% chance this was anger and he would attack. 6% chance he would use his axe. 57% chance he wanted to thank her or ask her to join the team. 0.175% chance he would try to kiss her. She always had to plan for that one just in case, it had only happened once though. It hadn''t been hard to find out where they were staying. She needed to feed her story. It was already starting to grow. She had watched as drunkards had staggered out of the inn, as news of her had spread in this small area of Liscor. It was mostly the humans though, the adventurers. The locals were not as interested. The Gnolls practically spat at her if she approached them and they wrinkled their noses as if they could still smell the stench of death from before but that didn''t matter. It was the adventurers she needed to feed the story.


    The new list of names was ready. There were ten primary this time, far too many variables to narrow it down further. The backup lists were larger and not quite as well thought out but she knew. She knew she had a name for whatever was said. This would be the start of her life as a named adventurer. At least there was a 23% chance but that would rise with each story told. She could do it this time. She reached for the offered hand. 57% percent confirmed, now it was the 80% handshake. She hadn''t liked the idea of a hug but 20% was there and she was prepared for it. He just had to ask her name. She knew they were not sure if she was actually mute and there was a 33% chance they would ask her name right away, going down with every sentence they uttered. These first words were critical.


    "Thank you. You saved us. I thank you on behalf of the Goblins Gift and our fallen captain, Jion. Please tell me, what is your name?" It happened! There was no dramatic pause this time and she gulped in air to answer Jhontis. It was only a 29% chance he would be the one to ask but she knew now which list to chose from. He needed to hear a warriors name, she had prepared a list for each of them. This hadn''t been her favourite list but it was a good one all the same.


    "..." Her mouth actually opened but they couldn''t tell through the mask. "Don''t be absurd Jhontis! I TOLD you not to ask that. She doesn''t want to tell us. She doesn''t need thanks. Not everybody needs glory. She wants to remain unnamed. Why else would she have gone back into the dungeon without a word. It''s not for gold or she would have brought out more instead of one ring." what did he say?! This wasn''t meant to happen. It had been a probability of course, after what happened in the dungeon it had gone from a tiny fraction of a percentage to 4% chance. Was this guy an idiot? Of course adventurers wanted glory! What she hadn''t quite accounted for was Albron. She didn''t like [Mages] who talked for the sake of it but Albron was turning out to be a king amoung kings of loving his own voice and being the most important person in the room. Albron turned to the inn, every eye staring with complete attention.


    "To the unnamed adventurer!" He raised his glass. So did everybody else. They cheered. Glasses clinked together and liquids spilled all around. Jessica had no glass and yet, liquid was spilled below her. Dripping from the bottom of her mask, unnoticed in the confusion and celebration around her. She saw him leave the shadows from the back of the inn. Clearly he had seen enough and went to report to whoever he reported to. That was the final nail in the coffin of her dreams. She would never be a named adventurer. Jhontis hugged her oblivious to her tears behind the mask.


    "I can still smell it." the Gnoll turned up his nose as he passed the inn. His companion nodded, they both knew how bad it smelled, "That bath house might never be the same. Damn adventurers. I wish I knew her name so I could curse her." "Yes, very clever not to reveal her identity. If I smelled like that I wouldn''t tell anybody my name either."

 If at first you dont succeed.. Plan, plan again.

    Unbelievable. It was totally incomprehensible. Jessica was outraged. The story was spreading faster than she could possibly have predicted which would have been good if her name had been attached to it. Instead the story of the Unnamed adventurer was the talk of the town. She didn''t need to calculate any odds, she knew that her chances of fixing this were low enough not to try. This, however was the new Jessica. This was the Jessica of risk, highly calculated and planned risk but chances must be taken. So she had bought some clothes and taken advantage of the crowds to get her mask to the [Mage] unseen. She was just Jessica now. People knew her and they knew her name.


    Playing the masked character had taken a toll on Jessica she hadn''t even realised. Taking the mask off was like lifting a weight off her shoulders, she was back in the inn to get intel on how things were going. Just walking into the inn was easy, nobody stared at her and nobody said anything. It was a bit like coming home, things were just the way they should be. This wasn''t so bad. She could relax and be herself finally. In fact there were several people she knew in Liscor and at least one was in this particular in.


    "Lyron!" She called out, his face turned and he smiled to see her. Jessica made her way through the crowded inn, slightly better quality than the one she was actually being forced to stay in but just as crowded. The [innkeepers] of Liscor were doing very well for themselves she was sure. Even if they didn''t always like the adventurers Jessica knew they liked their gold.


    "Jessica, It''s so good to see you! This, this is a good sign. The very fact you are here makes me feel better about that dungeon. Are you with a team? I hear you are gold rank now." they were old friend and Lyron had known Jessica since she was bronze rank. He had made silver before her and was surely ready to be ranked gold but he had learned a little from her and played it a little safer than most.


    "This is going to make me you know Jess, this is my gold rank right here. The Dungeon of Liscor... " but her face had dropped. He knew what that meant. Lyron had worked with Jessica quite a few times. They had worked they way through quite a lot of very unpleasant bronze rank adventures. They had killed their share of rats together and the only time he saw her face change that quickly was when somebody said something stupid. Not just stupid, but get yourself killed within the hour stupid.


    "Don''t. Just don''t go in please. I am not with a team here, I was just visiting to do recon on the dungeon but it''s crazy. There is no way anybody but large gold rank teams can get anywhere. I hardly looked into the entrance and didn''t go anywhere near that shortcut they found. I know no dungeon is safe, but this is something else." Jessica meant every word of it. There was no chance of playing with her friends fate for fame, she just wanted to keep her friend alive.


    "That bad eh? You haven''t met my team yet have you? There are 12 of us and it''s basically a gold rank team. We just haven''t officialy got that title yet. The plan was to start off with a big one." even as he said it he could see her expression, the way her eyes shifted as he gave her the facts. This is why he didn''t invite her. Lyron knew Jessica would never approve of the Dungeon of Liscor and was actually surprised she was here at all. He like many others however were ready for the big times, ready for the big win. The drinking continued and they started to talk about old times, Lyron couldn''t help but notice that Jessica kept steering the conversation to the stories they had all heard. Ever since Goblins Gift had come back they hadn''t stop talking about the unnamed adventurer.


    "But she HAS to have a name, maybe she just couldn''t get a word in edgeways with them! Have you heard Albron talk? It''s like trying to swim up a waterfall talking to him." it was a bit of a risk at 6% chance somebody would work out she hadn''t actually been seen talking to Goblins Gift herself bit there was a 59% chance she could easily explain it away so she had decided to try and steer the conversation to her agenda.


    "The Unnamed adventurer sounds silly, Surely it''s the named adventurers that get famous?"


    "Sure, but so many people know about her she is probably getting more famous by not telling anybody her name. She clearly found some treasure in that dungeon and all she chose to bring out was one ring. You don''t just find a ring laying on the floor in the entrance hall so she must have been far deeper in than most." Jessica almost laughed when he said that last part. You did find a ring laying on the floor of the entrance if you had just hacked up a zombie who was wearing it. Jessica leant in for some more of the food. It was surprisingly much better than the stuff served in her inn but then she couldn''t be picky with the gold she had left.


    Lyron was sharing his drink and food generously with Jessica. She hadn''t said as much but he could see she was on hard times. Gone were any of the things he heard she had found including her sword. It must have been harsh even scouting the entrance if she had spent that much on healing potions. She was talking a lot too. He didn''t remember her being this chatty, but it had been a while since they had last seen each other. Maybe he should help her out. There was a way he could help his own team at the same time. If there was one thing Lyron knew about Jessica it was that her intel was top rate and worth every coin you payed for it. She normally didn''t even charge, just ended up joining with them most times. Lyron always felt safer with Jessica around so he made a decision.


    "Come with us. Help us, I will pay you well. I have never had a bad time in any dungeon with you, hah. You know it''s true! You are my lucky charm. Remember that time I nearly stepped on a trigger plate? If you hadn''t bumped into me and pushed me aside I would have killed us all. Lucky charm I tell you!" Jessica could be a clutz sometimes he remembered. She had bumped into him quite a few times over the years, more than once they had to go back or leave because she had forgotten something. She was certainly better in the later years than at the start with regards to the bumping into people but she had always been his lucky charm.


    Jessica was enjoying the food but starting to remember why talking to people was so hard. She had expected the invitation, 48% chance. The talk of being a clutz hurt her feelings a lot though. Sure she hadn''t been as subtle in the early days but it took a lot of care to bump people just right. If she had pushed him a tiny bit harder he would have fallen on the other trigger plate. The harsh fact was she needed the money right now. She needed to eat and keep her room at the inn and most of all, she needed a sword. There was no way she would get lucky like she did with the ring again. Odds were calculated, plans considered. She knew her friend had little chance without her help but even with it things would be dangerous.


    Lyron could see she had that glazed look in her eyes again. He was used to it even if he didn''t like it. Would it be so bad if she paid attention when he was talking? He had tried to start a relationship with her many times when they first met and wasn''t even sure she noticed any of them. They had settled into a solid friendship though and had many profitable adventures together. Even if she did keep wandering off, that was what had finally done it. He wanted somebody who would be 100% present with him. He never felt quite like she was part of the team even if he did like her.


    "Just some scouting, come on. Show us what you know, talk us through the things you''ve learned. It will save us time and it will be just like the old days." but hopefully far more profitable. They talked until late and drank some more. Jessica promised to rejoin them the next day and departed for her own inn.


    How on earth was she supposed to pull this one off. Chances of getting them to anything of value intact were so small she couldn''t risk it as Jessica and the other her wouldn''t risk her friends either. It all hinged on the rooms they got. She would make sure they went in the front and find a reason to turn back if a room she didn''t know turned up. It was an old trick but there really wasn''t any other option. They would plan together for a few days which didn''t really matter as she had been planning for weeks.


    Morning came and Jessica woke early. She had a lot to do. She hadn''t been followed since that first night and she hadn''t put the mask back on, it wasn''t ready yet so this was just Jessica. This was just Jessica doing her least favourite thing, interacting with people. Shopping no less. Lyron had insisted on paying her up front for her work so she had set out to get a sword.


    "Do I know you?" The Gnoll sniffed as she looked at the weapons on display. He was sure she smelled unpleasantly familiar.


    "I don''t think so. I''ve been around a bit so you might have seen me pass by." that sounded plausible if not convincing but the prospect of a sale was far more important than an unpleasant smell, most of the humans smelt bad in some way anyway.


    "Ah, yes, that''s a good choice. Quality at a price that one. Only slightly used too, it will do you good service as long as you are not stupid enough to take it into that dungeon! Hah, but you don''t look like an adventurer. just for bandits and Goblins yes?" She didn''t. He didn''t know what it was she did but clearly she was no gold rank adventurer. Brwnaw watched as the girl at his stall picked up and inspected the blade. She didn''t look impressed but what did she expect for his prices. He was quite surprised when she swung the blade. For one thing the market was crowded and he was waiting for a scream and blood but by a stroke of pure luck she managed to miss all the passers by. He snatched the blade back,


    "No more of that! Buy it or put it down. I am not having you slash my customers" at least two people had moved on weary of the blade being lofted by the girl in front of him.


    The sword was barely passable. She could sharpen it, fix it up and take proper care of it but it would hardly do for any serious work. Sadly it was all she could afford. She took the handful of coins she had allocated for a weapon and looked at the Gnoll sniffing the wind. He seemed to be looking towards the food stalls a way off serving some strange round bun things with meat in the middle. Jessica couldn''t smell them but the drool in the Gnolls mouth suggested they tasted better than they looked. That might be just the distraction she needed to haggle.


    Brwnaw looked at the coins she had in her hand and was not impressed. He would make a profit on the sword but barely and there was not much room for haggling. He just wanted her to go away now, it was time for lunch and he smelled something extremely delicious being cooked up.


    "What''s that! Are you determined to cut my throat? Either with that sword or with that offer!" he was proud of that one. She looked quite taken aback by it and he watched he check her pouch again.. She put one coin back.


    "Oh come on. You can''t be serious That was a quality sword when it was made. I am sure it only had one careful owner" and quite a few reckless ones by the look of the blade. She put another coin back in her purse. That was the last straw, Brwnaw was hungry and didn''t have time for messing around with what was honestly one of the worst swords on his stall.


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation."Fine! Take it. May a goblin cut you down and eat your flesh." and they probably would if she tried to defend herself with that sword! hah. He grabbed the money, covered the stall and ran towards the smell before there was none left.


    Jessica was proud of her purchase. It would take some work but it could be made into a passable weapon. She wouldn''t really need to use it in the dungeon because she had no intention of taking them far enough to get to any of the real monsters anyway. Coming at lunchtime had been the right choice of course. Conversations always went better when the other person didn''t want to have one. The rest of the day consisted of another bath, some edible food at her inn and more planning with Lyron. It took a few days to convince him he had been doing the planning. She had used that time to work on her sword. It hardly resembled the state it had when she bought it but no amount of care could make it any better than it had been made. Sharpening, polishing, sharpening, reworking the handle but eventually they headed out towards the dungeon. They only had to stray off the path by a tiny amount for her plan.


    The goblin picked his nose as he waited. The snow was cold and so was he but a trap was a trap and they were waiting. The roads were still mostly covered by snow and quite a few adventurers, the lower ranked ones anyway had got lost on the way to or from Liscor. Pickings had been good, in more way than one right now. He watched as the group came towards them, typical humans. There were quite a lot of them but a few were trailing behind, they could pick them off easily and be gone without too much trouble. They had been raiding like this for weeks and been very profitable.


    "So Jess, that sword..." Lyron was not impressed but he knew his team would protect her. She was there for her intel. He knew she was a good fighter without a doubt but that sword, that was not the sword of a silver rank adventurer let alone gold. If she would just... The arrow hit him square in the back. He turned and drew his bow never being happier than now that he had offered to carry Jessica''s pack for her. Somehow the arrow had stopped in the pack, something must have blocked it.


    "Goblins!" he fired and caught the goblin archer as it was firing another shot, a shot which caught Jessica and she fell to the floor as the rest of the goblins rushed towards them. Arrows were falling all around now and the rest of his team was running back towards them. He hadn''t realised that they had lagged so far behind. They must have looked like easy pickings to the goblins. Jessica was bleeding quite badly from the wound but she was on her feet pulling the arrow out and Lyron ran to her with a healing potion. There were quite a lot of goblins and they had started to rush the two straglers as Lyron cursed himself for dropping so far behind. He cut down three goblins with his bow before they got near enough to attack with their swords. Six goblins were coming for him and six more were chasing Jess away from him and the group. Curse those green skinned rotten damn....


    Swords clashed as he blocked the first blows. It was far too busy now to follow Jessica or stop her running the wrong way. A goblin bit at him and smashed at his back with a club. Again Jessicas pack took the force of the blow and Lyron made a mental note to offer to carry her pack more often, it was damn heavy but he was happy to have the protection whatever it was she put inside it. A larger group of goblins had blocked them off from the rest of his team and the fighting was in full force. He couldn''t tell numbers but there were enough this was going to take a while. He had changed from bow to his two daggers for this. Blood spurted from the neck of the nearest goblin as he stabbed one down into the things neck while his other hand whirled around and slashed the throat of a goblin trying to come in from the side. The club weilding goblin was drawing back for another blow and he plunged both daggers into its sides and drew them together almost bisecting the goblin.


    A sword swung down towards his head as a particularly large goblin came in from his now exposed side. Lyron slammed his shoulder into the goblins face as he pushed sideways away from the last two coming in to attack him. The sharp teeth bit into his flash as he did so but rapidly lost all traction as he plunged a dagger deep into the goblins eye socket. Another goblin had made it behind him and he spun on the spot with a dagger outstretched slashing across the goblins chest. Only two left and one injured. A goblin stabbed him in the side and slashed at his leg, Lyron doubled over in pain and dropped to his knees just in time to dodge another blow. It was a good thing coordination wasn''t a goblins strong point. They didn''t know how to attack together or he would be dead. He grabbed the goblins arm and carried their swing ontowards the injured goblins face. The blade shattered teeth and plunged deep into the goblins head as it fell backwards. He other hand brought a dagger up into the goblins thigh stabbing upwards. He rolled backwards finding it difficult to stand and finished the last goblin off with both daggers to the chest. Lyron looked up and saw the fighting was almost finished for the rest of his team as well. There were goblin bodies everywhere and it looked like very few injuries to the rest of the team, his only worry was Jessica.


    Jessica was pleased with how well the plan was going. It had been too easy to get Lyrons back shielded properly and he hadn''t even commented once on the weight of the pack. It had been harder to make sure the arrow hit her somewhere that wouldn''t kill her but that had worked out well because she knew where and when the attack was coming from. A little pain and a used healing potion, a good turn up so far. The sword had worked as a great distraction and allowed her to slow Lyron down enough that the goblins would attack. They would never have attacked the whole team at full strength, but a couple of stragglers with terrible weapons? That was something they wouldn''t pass up. Now however she had six of the things chasing her. That sadly wasn''t the hard part. The hard part was the group she was running towards. The goblins had kept a sizeable force back to flank the team and while they could easily take the force attacking them now they would probably not fair so well with the whole goblin force at their back. She knew where she was going though and she knew why.


    There he was. The hob. Clearly in charge of this group and she knew the key to breaking them. He also wasn''t expecting her to attack. As far as the hob was concerned she was running in terror from his best [warriors]. He smiled as she was forced towards him. He drew his sword. Naturally as the Hob he had the best weapon, it had been a great thing to take from the adventurers they killed before and he was enjoying it a lot. He knew he would probably have to give it up when they went back, but for now it was his. For now he was... bleeding? Why were there only four [Warriors] chasing her now and how did this blade get in his neck?


    Jessica had cut down two already. Her concealed weapons were small and light enough to throw with deadly accuracy. Never fight fair. If you wanted to win and not get hurt you had to make sure people under-estimated you. She let two more blade drop into her hands and stretched them out to the sides stopping suddenly and whirling around. Two of the goblins stopped running and looked at each other. They raised their hands to point and laugh at the other as they each saw the thin red line across the throat start to spurt blood. The last two slammed into their bodies as Jessica reached the Hob. She had already inflicted a fairly serious wound but Hobs didn''t go down so easily. She had watched him for a week. He loved the sword and she knew exactly what his first attack would be. A typical Hob who loved brute force, he swung the sword straigh down in a massive arc.


    He didn''t know what his [Warriors] were up to but he could easily cut this human down. She wasn''t even wearing armour! He drew up the enchanted blade and began to swing while showing all his teeth in a horrible blood covered smile. He enjoyed crushing humans and wondered if he could finally cut one in half with one blow. She stumbled directly towards him and the sword came down, slashing and cutting everything in it''s path through to the rock on the floor sliced in half.


    [Shadow step] was surprisingly misleading in it''s name. Jessica didn''t need a shadow. She stepped forwards but moved sideways. The sword cut the air where her head should have been as she sliced around the Hob''s neck. [Shadow Step] brought her behind him and she plunged a blade into the back of his neck, splitting the spine. The Hob dropped to the floor like a rock. The rest of the goblins around were in shock. Arrows rained down around Jessica, each one landing where she should have been standing but never was. Jessica began cut down the remaining goblins. She had picked up the blade the Hob dropped and was cutting through them like she was slicing through air. Honestly, the hardest part was staying out of the blood. A goblin swung with a spiked club at her face as she bent backwards and swung ler foot up into it''s jaw snapping the things neck like a twig. She span and kicked two more goblins to the ground before completing her flip and bringing the blade down on another very large goblin.


    "Jess! Jess!" Lyron shouted. His team were mopping up the remains of the goblins while he had healed himself and was now searching for his friend. It was surprising that the goblins had attacked with the numbers they had, he was sure there should be more but was more than happy not to have to fight any more right now. She should have been easy to track in the snow but there were so many tracks where she had crossed the road he could only guess where she went. He was also going in the wrong direction. It was concerning just how far off the road they had wandered and he could only hope Jessica had the sense to try and double back towards the main group or keep on towards the city.


    She had quickly covered the bodies with snow and doubled back towards where she knew Lyron would be looking for her. The sword had been concealed in a makeshift pack which appeared to contain a few sets of goblin ears and her poor quality sword along with other salvaged items. She saw Lyron fumbling around as predicted some way away from where the goblins flanking team had been and ran towards him, limping slightly and clutching at her arm.


    "Lyron, are you ok?" she called out and saw the relief on his face. She made a show of pouring some healing potion on where she should have had wounds before she got close to him.


    "That was too close, we''ve used up several of the healing potions and my sword was almost no use. I was lucky to outrun them long enough to get the upper hand." it was almost true. She had certainly outrun them and had certainly got the upper hand. Luck however had very little to do with it. Plans like this took quite some work. She also had to trust in the abilities of others around her. It was also a relief to see they performed as predicted. All in all this had worked out quite well and the last part was...


    "We can''t go into the dungeon now, not after that. Curse the rotten green vermin." Lyron was annoyed they had wasted so much time and even healing potions on such a small group of goblins. It was not a good start to the day and certainly not the way they wanted to start their trip into the dungeon.


    "Come on. Let''s get back to the others and head back into Liscor for today. What a waste." at least they could collect the bounty on the goblins but honestly it was hardly worth a days adventuring. Lyron made a note to let Jessica claim the bounties. She needed the money more than he did by the look of the sword she had. They met up with the rest of the team and all agreed that the day was lost and some food and drink would make things much better. They slumped back through the city gates as a Drake watched on from his guard post.


    Jessica was having trouble hiding her smile. The sword she had got from this proved what she had always known. The biggest danger was not always the biggest reward. She lured the goblins into a trap and even the people making up the trap didn''t know. She had come away with a weapon almost worthy of her rank and wasn''t even going to use it. At least Jessica wasn''t going to use it. An unnamed adventurer would make good use of that sword though.


    "Told you. Pay up, they failed." The drake on guard grinned at the Gnoll watching beside him.


    "That doesn''t count, they didn''t go into the dungeon! Neither of us won." The group had survived but they hadn''t survived the dungeon, they never got there. The bet was hardly valid if they didn''t get to the dungeon.


    "They never would have survived! They nearly got beat down by a group of goblins. They lose, you lose."


    "But that doesn''t count! It''s invalid I tell you. " Brwnaw was double or nothing on the loss from the game of chess and this wasn''t making things better.

 All that glitters...

    As she laid back on the bed in the inn Jessica reflected on the day. She knew she should call it a good day. The new high risk planning was certainly more rewarding than her previous style but had the cost been too high?


    She would never forget Jion despite having never spoke to him. It was hard to convince herself not to take blame for his death because for all she knew they would have all died without her help she couldn''t help thinking another plan, a less glory orientated one would have saved them all. As for the rewards she had known about the sword for quite some time and made sure the plan worked but the ring had been pure luck. Neither had technically come from the dungeon either. The ring was in the dungeon but only because somebody had taken it there so it was not dungeon loot. The numbers of adventurers coming into Liscor was bringing gold for everybody. There was money flowing like water all around the city and if she planned right she would receive enough of it to get back what she had spent. She just wished so many of them didn''t have to die. It wasn''t possible to intervene in all their plans however and that she did know. All this reminded her it was nearly time to check on her armour. Things were too risky without it.


    It was called procrastination. Putting something off. She should have seen the mage 3 days ago but instead she had been sitting around in the inn. Lyron had said his lucky charm was running out of luck and they had argued about her running off. He didn''t know why she had done it and she couldn''t tell him. The money from the bounty had been useful so she had wasted time. Jessica knew what putting the mask back on meant. It meant somebody else would be in Liscor, not Jessica. She hadn''t even managed to get a name put into the story yet either. The Unnamed adventurer thing was sticking. It was frustrating because she had actually levelled up for the first time in a while after wearing the mask and fighting the goblins. She was not going to level up again sitting around an inn eating barely edible food and drinking watered down ale. That and the story needed feeding. It was a bit like having a pet monster. You needed to feed it but didn''t relish the thought. It was a task that had to be done. Little snacks like retelling didn''t cut it anymore, a deed was needed. That meant wearing the mask. She had bought new clothes for both herselves. She didn''t look so poor anymore and she would look a lot less tattered when she put on the mask. Now.. She had to get it now.


    The chances of being followed were below 1%. Whoever it was that followed her as the masked adventurer didn''t notice her as Jessica. That meant she could safely make her way to collect the armour. She concealed the new sword on her back under a loose fitting shirt. It wouldn''t pass examination but didn''t have to. Nobody would pay attention to Jessica and she entered the shadows on the way. When she finally came to the [Mages] house she was partially back in character. The hood covered her whole face and she was wearing the new clothes. She knocked and waited. There wasn''t any other easy way in and she didn''t want to alarm the [Mage] so the front door it was. the risk was low and she didn''t wait long. Everill''s assitant let her in and lead her through the house. There were twice as many lanterns as before lining the hallway. The study looked darker than before. There were more lights but somehow it was still darker. The bag was sitting on a table in a particularly dark corner of the room and Everill was in the opposite corner looking irritated. She put the wooden ring back on her finger and the silence consumed the world.


    "You have no idea how annoying these things are now." Everill said as he walked towards the bag and Jessica''s heart skipped a beat.


    "It didn''t quite work out how you wanted but I am sure it will be acceptable. As we discussed it was not possible to make the armour invisible even with the value of the ring. We certainly managed to conceal the shine and make the armour a lot less visible though. Sadly, the side effects are... Hmmm. That''s your problem. Somehow I don''t think you will be too displeased with the overall effect however. I still say it was a shame. For the work originally done on that armour what we did was almost a crime. You should have worn it proudly." He didn''t understand her need to conceal the armour at all. Magic was meant to shine! Armour was meant to protect not hide. If you were going to enchant plates of armour why not large thick padded plate armour instead of this..


    "Show me." She was talking and not yet wearing the mask, yet she still felt the pressure every time she opened her mouth. The need to minimise talking, the mask was taking on a life of it''s own already and she had fallen into character without even putting it on.


    "First.. The mask. This is of course the most noticable thing in the set but there was no way to minimise the side effects, even here. You will have to work with it." He opened a flap on the bag and removed the mask. Her eyes went wide. Something in the universe clicked into place. Under the hood, her face in shadows she smiled. This was right. This was how it was always meant to be and now she looked forwards to making her unname.


    "And the rest acts in a similar way of course. We minimised it as much as possible but the interaction with the existing enchantment was a problem." Her smile widened. Each piece of armour was laid out for her to inspect, she hardly felt the need. She could see. She knew. She felt it in her core and couldn''t wait. The mask was first and the world changed as she put it on. It was almost like her own personal world, what she saw fitted the silence she currently heard. Each piece of armour she fitted sent a chill through her body. The metal was cold but that wasn''t it. She couldn''t wait. The sword was removed from it''s concealment and placed proudly on her belt as Everill eyed it appraisingly.


    "That''s new. Not bad. No where near as valuable as the ring though, are you selling it too?" No. She was not.


    "I can probably put a similar enchantment on the blade to the armour if you want?" She did, however that would be more time and cost. It would have to wait. She finished adjusting herself and stood in front of the mirror. She hardly needed it as she could feel rather than see what she looked like.


    "If you need further servi..." she had left. Not a word. It was hard to track her movements as she flowed through the darkness out of the house and Everill shuddered. He was glad she had gone. It had been a slow feeling but as she had put the armour on a feeling of unease had filled him. How could something you couldn''t see effect you so much? He had no doubt she would be back and if she kept bringing in items like the ring and sword he was sure he would be happy to keep taking her money. Even it she did creep him out now. The whole room felt brighter now she was gone and he settled down for the first time since completing his work.


    Steepham was looking for the so called unnamed adventurer. He was interested. She had just dissapeared and he couldn''t find her. That in itself was unusual. She was good but not that good and he knew he could spot her no matter how hard she tried. She wasn''t staying at any inn in the city but certainly hadn''t left it. He had tracked all sorts of suspicious humans around Liscor over the last weeks. Nobody had seen her. He had watched the [Mages] house most nights and the adventurers guild. He had seen all sorts but not what he was looking for. His report had caused a slight interest from his guild. He had been ordered to gather more information should she become a relevant person to the guild. They did of course keep detailed files on most people of note in the city and that had been quite the task recently. With gold rank teams coming and going life in Liscor had been very busy for the [Assassins] guild. They were not impressed he couldn''t find her. Personal pride was now on the line if he couldn''t,


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings."Rot!" there she was. She had just appeared in front of him. This was far more impressive than the skills she had demonstrated in the adventurers guild. She seemed to carry the shadows with her. The worst part was he hadn''t found her, she had found him. She had chosen to let him see her! Why? If she could move like this why let him follow her. He was even more interested now and made sure not to underestimate her stealth again. He wasn''t going to lose,


    "ROT!" Where did she go now? He could hardly believe what he was seeing, or rather not seeing. She was gone. One step was all it had taken but he couldn''t get the image out of his mind. She had stepped in front of him, facing away. She knew where he was and chose to put her back to him. She had only turned just enough to send a shiver down his spine before she stepped away again. The guild were not going to like this. It was bad enough he hadn''t found her for weeks but how was he going to explain this?


    Somehow the smile felt better knowing he couldn''t see it. She saw his face and knew what he saw. It had taken a while to find him, she had to trace all the places she would have looked for herself and almost ran him down as she left the [Mage]. He hadn''t seen her! She felt the need to show off. Jessica would never have done this but SHE would. [Shadow Step] was almost a whole new skill now and she stepped out in front of him facing away. She felt his shock and smiled. She had to look. She turned her head just enough to catch the expression on his face and knew that was enough. [Shadow Step] back away from him. It was just as well nobody could see her face because the smile was not befitting the unnamed adventurer. For the first time in her life she was having fun. This wasn''t hard work anymore, this change was all she could have wished for had she known to wish for it. A mugger lurked in a dark alley, watching a drunk leave an inn. She had never looked for trouble before but tonight it was part of the plan. What a crazy idea. A plan to look for trouble.


    Drewth waited for his mark to go past. This one would be easy. Sadly the easy ones were never rich, but every copper counted. He brought his club up ready. One blow to the back of the head and he could take what he wanted and leave without risk. He brought his hands down in what should be a crushing blow.


    Arnand didn''t know which way home was. He was partially convinced he was staying at the inn he just left but also sure HIS inn served better food. He wanted better food right now so he had gone to find his inn. A gust of wind blew his hair sideways and he turned around to see what was there. Another drunk lay in the road, they must have fallen hard as they were bleeding from the head. Arnand carried on his search for better food.


    Steepham had seen it all. It took him a while to catch up with her and a moment to realise she was letting him follow. He watched the mugger swing down at the helpless victim with curiosity. It was hardly his job but for some reason the masked woman had chosen to intervene and let him watch. The club had just vanished out of the air as far as the mugger was concerned, his hands had it, then they didn''t. One punch laid him out. Steepham smiled to himself as he realisd the mugger had missed it all. She clearly wanted somebody to watch. he followed her back to the inn. The terrible inn where the silver rank Goblins Gift had first come telling tales of her. She stepped out of the shadows and opened the door, noise filled the air. The noise of drinking, of loud talk, of fighting the sound of ... silence. She walked in and not a voice was heard. A mug dropped to the floor.


    Inside the inn Albron was bored. They hadn''t been back into the dungeon since that first attempt and there had been no more sightings of the unnamed adventurer. He felt proud to be the one who had called her that. Goblins Gift had gotten quite a boost from telling stories of their adventure but the story was getting old. People were clearly tiring of him repeating the same thing over and over. He needed something new. He needed... The door opened and he turned to see...


    [Barmaid] Tryana was working hard. The inn had never been so busy and just keeping the drinks flowing was pushing her to the limit. These lousy adventurers surely brought in the money but she was the one who had to put up with them. The noise, the slaps, the advances. The mess. Goblins Gift had hardly left their seats after returning from the dungeon and considering they were renting the rooms of the team who died going in before them she didn''t blame them at all. The last thing Tryana needed was more excitement. The door opened and she glanced up to see what trouble was coming in this time. She dropped the drink she was holding.


    The unnamed adventurer opened the door and stepped into the room. One step. It was all it took. a hush came over the room as she stood in the shadow of the well lit room. Her hood met the mask so that all that was visible was a shadow. The shiny mask was still there, but darkness covered it. A darkness that consumed the light in the room around the mask. Whisps of shadow emanated from under her hood and made something that looked like black smoke, if smoke consumed light. Just as the shine of the armour had almost been visible through her clothing the dark was emanating now. The room looked darker where she stood. Everybody in the room was just staring now. She walked towards Goblins Gift and watched with a satisfied feeling as for the first time ever Albron was speachless. She sat at the table next to him. There had been no free seat before she started the motion but there most certainly was when she finished. She raised a glass to Albron and the rest of his team then left. A pattern in the spilled drink on the table now spelt two words.


    Albron raised his glass and chanted,


    "For Jion!" and everybody in the whole inn cheered the same. He watched the sword on her belt as she left. None of Goblins gift remembered seeing her sword the first time but it had certainly not been this one, This one was enchanted and shone slightly against the shadow of the unnamed adventurer.


    "She went back in! A sword this time. That''s where she was, The unnamed adventurer has tamed the dungeon again and brought a magic sword!" He was happy. Albron was happy that she had returned to raise a glass for Jion and that he now had another story to tell. The silence of the inn was broken and every word was about what they had just seen. The unnamed adventurer had come into Liscor from the dungeon just to raise a glass for their fallen friend, that meant something special to all of Goblins Gift and they would never forget her for it. Even without the fact she had apparently brought the darkness from the deepest part of the dungeon out with her this time. Albron wondered if it was some strange curse, the result of a trap or monster she had faced.


    The unnamed adventurer wasn''t hiding. In fact she was doing her best to get seen as she made her way across the city and past the guardhouse. It would probably be easier in the daylight but at night, her natural state was now stealth. She was finaly truly worthy of her class. [Shadow Rogue], Now she understood.


    "Look, Whoever plays white has an advantage, it''s obvious." said a Drake guard relaxing after his shift, he glanced at the woman passing by. He saw the shadows following her. He saw the darkness that made her face.


    "Ok, I''ll be black."

 Come sweet slumber, enshroud me in thy purple cloak

    Things were spiralling out of control, without a doubt. Jessica''s masked persona had taken over and she had done things she would never have done as Jessica, including going back into the dungeon. The worst part was she was starting to believe the stories she heard. It was as if Jessica was hearing them, and believing them and then when she put on the mask she was was the story. This is how she found herself perched precariously over a large spike trap. Over confidence was the problem and proper planning was the solution, however at this point her strength was a limiting factor on how long she had to plan. She was braced between two impossibly sharp spike hanging down from the ceiling that had lowered. It had been a two part trap, first the spikes had dropped out of the ceiling and lowered towards the floor. Anybody that had survived that would then be quite surprised when the floor dropped revealing a second set of spikes coming up from the bottom of quite a deep pit. Nothing here was magical which is why she had almost missed it. The whole room was designed so every single brick, tile and piece of stone looked like it could be a trigger. Only careful examination of each one in turn would reveal if it was or not. Of course, finding the trigger activated the trap and had it not been for some incredibly quick reactions she might have been impaled rather than dodged between the first set of spikes. The floor drop had been a predicted second action at 67% so she was prepared and braced herself on the only stable thing she could, the ceiling spikes. If she could just hold on while she worked out what to do everything would be...


    *click*


    The trap began to reset. This would have been ok except that it was resetting in trigger order, ceiling spikes first. There would soon be nothing to hold onto so time and strength were both now an issue. She was calculating angles. Distances. Speed. This was in part easier because it was far more predictable but also harder as she couldn''t practice or do test runs. Everything had to be exactly right first time or the unnamed adventurer would be a kebab and then probably a zombie. She had gone through far too much to end here. Taking into account the speed she would fall, the angle she would be able to push off with using the spike and the distance to the floor she was pretty confident she would die. Yes, the only way out was the ledge on the far side which took her further into the dungeon. It was not the plan to go into another room today and she didn''t recognise the door that was in front of her. The ledge was also very thin. Not much handhold left and her feet were being pushed down, there was nothing left but try the 32% chance jump for the door ledge and that was the good side of the odds. 21% chance of managing to balance on the thin ledge and not topple backwards.


    The time was now. Her feet pulled away from the spike they were wedged against and her whole body pivoted downwards as she kicked out in front of herself. Using her momentum and releasing her handhold at the exact right time she flipped towards the door ledge, with a half twist to get her back towards the door. She slammed into the door and dropped onto the ledge, her top half wobbled forwards and she took all her strength to tiptoe on the edge and push herself upright panting for breath. There was nothing for it but to grab the handle for balance.


    *clack*


    In a (4%) chance of fate the handle opened as she tried to brace herself against it and the door swung out away from the room. Her weight carried her into the new room as she fell slightly backwards and sideways into the unknown. The only way to remain balanced was to go with momentum and she cartwheeled into the room and finally planted her feet a short way into the room and stood still. It was hard not to pose the finish and now was probably a good time to work out where she was before she died.


    The gold rank team had something not many others had. Luck. Magic luck to be exact. It was a powerful artifact that twisted fate in favour of the wearer and it was the only reason they were not dead. Bellagra the [Mage] had made it past so many traps but even such a powerful ring had limits and so it was that she and Urion found themselves without a healing potion pinned to the wall by shield spiders. Not a monster they would normally have had issue with but there had been so many of them. It had been pure luck (of course) they had made it this far but they had reached a point where something else was needed. Bellagra was holding back several with an [Entrapment] spell that was draining her mana at an alarming rate while Urion had one particularly large spider held back on his sword as it slashed at him with it''s legs and two others pinned with arms and legs. His armour was starting to take quite a beating from the furious wrath of the spiders pinned and the one on the sword slid a bit further down with each passing second. It would take a miracle to get out of this they both knew.


    That however was the thing about luck.


    With a crash the door flew open and a shadowy figure cartwheeled into the room, flipping and twisting to land right in the middle of the battle. Urion would like to have said he saw them look around the room to take in what was happening but the strangers entire face was a whisp of shadows that crawled like an infinitely dark mist that drank the light it touched. Before either gold rank adventurer could open their mouths the stranger struck. A magical blade was taken from a belt in a movement so fluid it had carved a chunk out of the first spider and the leg from a second in the same motion. The stranger spun, leaving a whispy trial of shadows as the closest spider lashed out and sliced across the arm holding the blade. Bellagra was surprised to see not a stream of blood and hear a scream but the figure leaked shadows as the arm twisted back. The figure bent double and span removing the legs from several of the spiders. This was all the distraction Urion needed to finish off the spider on his sword now the other two where missing quite a few legs. The stranger began to disect the trapped spiders now and pretty soon the danger was passed. All three people stood in a pile of shield spider parts, blood and... and shadow. It leaked from the strangers clothes where blood should be falling. It pooled around where their face should be. Many strange events had saved Urion and Bellagra over the years since finding the ring but this was new even for them. It ranked highly with the most impressive entrances they had seen. Now they looked out the open door they could see a spiked pit taking the whole room with no visible way of passing, the stranger had either flown or jumped the full length of the pit.


    The effect of the shadows bleeding from the figure was pretty terrifying. It wasn''t a magical terror, just that feeling children got when they caught the side of a shadow under their bed from the corner of an eye. On careful inspection, which was hard in itself Bellagra could see the strange shadowy figure was a woman. Possibly. All three in the room stood still while spider blood dripped from weapons. The way forward was blocked by the shield spider nest, many bodies and a hastilly barricaded door. The way back lead to a large spike pit. The shadowy figure bowed slightly with a flourish that whisped shadows, turned and walked towards the spike pit. She grabbed the back of a shield spider and tore the hard shell away from flesh using the magical blade to help cut the back apart. As both the gold rank adventurers leant forwards to see what she was doing she gestured for them to stand back against the wall and she backed away to the barricaded door holding the hard shell on one hand and waited.


    "Your timing was exceedingly fortuitous for us. Could we trouble you for your...." She ran. Shadows leaked through the room as the stranger ran directly towards the spike pit.


    "You can''t possibly jump that!" Urion shouted as the stranger jumped, but instead of trying to clear the distance she flipped the spider shell downwards and stepped onto it. As the strange vision of a shadow riding a shield spider shell reached nearly half way into the room she was losing height rapidly, the shell descended onto what turned out not to be a deep pit of spikes but the raising floor. An unpleasant high pitched scratching sound echoed through the dungeon as the figure skidded the remaining distance of the pit trap. As she came to a halt almost out of the room the floor clicked back into place at full height and the weight on top triggered the trap again. Shadows launched forwards like a diver about to leap into a river and twisted sideways as spikes plunged down from the ceiling piercing the air either side of the figure twisting through the air. She landed in a roll on the far side as a foot came up and kicked the far door open and she rolled out of the room.


    The door slammed shut behind her and the floor dropped away. The remains of the shield spider that the stranger had rode through the room tumbled into the distance and was pierced by a spike at the bottom of the pit, giving away just how sharp and deadly they were.


    "Well, that''s something you don''t see everyday." Bellagra whispered to Urion as they assesed their latest situation.


    Her heart was pounding in her body. The only sound she could hear was her blood thumping around her ears, throbbing. She was frozen in position outside the door that had slammed shut behind her. The timing on her escape had been nearly perfect but that was closer than she liked to cut it. The whole thing seemed quite strange and she just wanted out now. That room was simple, non magical, predictable and still quite deadly. She also had no idea who the other two were. Nobody had gone into the dungeon that she had seen before her so they must have been there for a while but they looked like they knew what they were doing, trying to get out. Retreat to the surface was uneventful. The Drakes guarding the entrance didn''t notice as a shadow slipped out of the dungeon past them. Her stealth was innate now, she actually had to try to be visible at night or the majority of people didn''t see her. It''s not that they couldn''t but the overall effect of the magical leakage from her over enchanted armour was so unpleasant people didn''t want to see. It was the thing you looked over your shoulder for late at night when you felt that creeping sensation behind you. The shadows were almost alive. She had intended to hide the shine of the armour and enhance her stealth but this was totally beyond anything she had ever imagined. The [Mage] who had enchanted the armour had apologised for such an unpleasant side effect, she had even managed to get the mask done too as some kind of discount. She felt like she had robbed him.


    Even the monsters didn''t attack her like this. She hadn''t seen a goblin for some time and the other locals kept quite clear of her. It was actually making earning money killing them quite hard. Her money was very low. The bounty she had earned so far had paid in advance quite some time for Jessica at the very terrible inn but she needed something more. Not many people were on the roads now because of the goblin threat so if she wanted to earn some coin she needed to head out further from Liscor. The dungeon was dangerous to those who went too far but she knew a huge number of the traps now and how to avoid almost all of them and survive the rest. Sadly none of them contained anything of value she could sell.


    The city was never quiet. Even in the darkest night people of all kinds were doing the things they did when it was dark. Not all of them were making an honest living. Things had gotten worse in the city. There was almost panic in the streets as more news came in about events around the lands and this tended to bring out the worst in people. The cart was heading towards the runners guild as the wheel hit a large rock and there was a loud crack, it tipped and the horses startled. It was only a few moments to quiet them and begin on the way again but another figure had crept out of the darkness and helped himself to items from the cart during the brief confusion. She walked slowly towards the figure who was hugging the shadows and trying to slip into the darkness. The biggest problem for him was that she was shadow. He stopped dead as he faced her. This was possibly the closest anybody had been to her since she had put the new armour on and he was not happy. She reached down for her sword and watched as his body crumpled to the ground untouched. Untouched by her at least. The falling criminal revealed another figure standing behind where he had been just moments before.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "I''d like a word if you don''t mind." said Steepham as a blade dissapeard from his hand back into the shadows surrounding him. "I know you can talk and my master is quite interested in your skills. I have to say I also have a certain personal interest in knowing more about you. You appear to have put my tracking skills to quite the test recently and I do not appreciate the game playing." She didn''t know quite what to say but didn''t want to be anywhere near the body in front of her now. She left.


    Steepham cursed. Being an [Assassin] had certainly become more interesting since the unnamed adventurer had come to Liscor. She had a skill he didn''t recognise that allowed her to virtually dissapear from right in front of his eyes and that was a skill both he and his master would like to know more about. Tracking her was more about prediction and feeling than being able to see. He made his way up to the top of the building across from where she had dissapeared. She wouldn''t go up the obvious route or nearest escape and sure enough he found her perched watching where he had been.


    "I would really appreciate it if you didn''t keep doing that." she reached out towards him and Steepham ducked back. Normally he would have seen she didn''t have a weapon in her hand and wasn''t trying to hit him but in this instance he saw the tear in her sleeve and the shadows pouring out from it. The whisps of shadow surrounded his head and he realised what she was doing and swept out with his foot to trip her as she tried to escape. His foot met nothing but darkness as he cursed because yet again she had vanished.


    Smells of the city passed as Steepham chased across rooftops. He knew where she was heading as she always did. He had lost her in the same place three times now. The inns were all bustling with people, adventurers and those trying to make money from them. It somewhat surprised him that a masked figure who literally leaked shadows could vanish in a crowd but somehow it happened, or at least it normally did. Tonight Steepham was not alone. He had arranged for six other [Assassins] to be in the crowd watching to see how she did her dissapearing trick. All they had to do was watch. A shout rang out from the street down below as one of the low level [Assassins] was surprised by the shadowy figure dropping down behind him. He reacted poorly and swung out with a blade. The unnamed adventurer reacted before he swung and simply sidestepped the move. Steepham decided to wait and watch. She didn''t reach for her sword but the eager young [Assassin] had obviously decided he wanted to prove something and again lunged for her. Or at least he lunged for where she would have been as Steepham watched her step one way and end up elsewhere.


    The fight below progressed and he watched with interest as she effortlessly avoided most attacks as if they had been posted to her the week before as a warning. What was more concerning was that Steepham realised six other figures were with him watching the fight. The not-with-him [Assassin] below began to get serious as a blade tipped with poison thrust towards the masked fighter in the first move to surprise her. Not so low level after all. He had been tricking her, making her think she knew what he could do and preparing for the single blow that would end her life. Steepham leapt from the building towards the two of them just too slow to stop the blade slashing across her chest. All turned to darkness. Sounds of other figures landing. Impacts. Slashes. Steepham dived out of the way at the last second as the smell of the poison on the blade alerted him just in time. He didn''t dare draw a blade himself as he couldn''t risk hitting one of the others. Absolute chaos erupted in what could only be described as a pool of liquid shadow. He could hear the would be victorious [Assassin] cursing and struck out with a kick which connected on the jaw. A fist punched him in the face from another direction. This was not going to go well if they remained and tried to fight so he whispered to retreat and left in what he could only remember as the direction of the alley now filled with shadow. Five figures retreated through the alley and Steepham smelled blood and poison.


    She knew where he would be. He couldn''t see, but neither could she. He was intent on killing her so the attacks were predictable again. She whirled with the magical sword and made contact with something. Sounds from behind as others tried to avoid fighting each other. She ran for the wall and kicked off with enough force to get high and grab a handhold on the top, she pulled herself up and over, dropping down the other side of the alley wall. It was all she could do to locate the special bag and start removing the armour to stow it. Finally the mask was placed near the top and Jessica stowed her pack on her back and ran out of the alley towards her inn. As she left the shadows she saw Steepham and five of his associates running the other way and stopped. She turned and walked back to the edge of the slowly dispersing shadow where the fight had taken place. There were no sounds of fighting now but she could smell the blood. As the shadows cleared she saw the bodies. One Assassin was dead from a blow with the poisonous blade. It had caught him in the neck of all places and the poison had gone directly to his heart. The other body was just that. A body. The head was further down the alley and had been cleanly sliced free by her magical blade. She stopped to search the body, being careful not to touch the blade in it''s hand. She did take several other concealed weapons and a small flask containing the poison. There was also a small bag. She took it all and turned to the other body. He hadn''t tried to hurt her and she suspected had actually tried to help. She closed his eyes and screamed.


    The city guard were there in minutes. They recognised Jessica and she explained how she had been on her way back to the inn and come accross the scene with the bodies. The large blueish scaled Drake helped her back to the inn and then went about the business of dealing with the bodies.


    "Looks like two [Assassins] to me." said a green scaled Drake whose tail was clipped at the tip, the rest of his body quite heavily scarred. "This is not going to be good when the captain hears about this."


    Jessica went directly to her room in the inn, a short greeting to each of those who recognised her. The door was locked and she took the small bag in her hand and was about to open it when she realised what she was doing. Time to see the [Mage] again. She replace the torn clothing that had caused so much chaos outside and slipped into her armour. She left via the window unnoticed by the watch activity below and was at Everill''s house in moments. She knew the way by road or roof now and little effor was needed to remain concealed on either.


    "I need you to tell me if any of these are magical, and if so what they are." the masked woman said to Everill. He looked at her and shook his head.


    "I know you don''t have gold to pay me, do you wish to trade again? If none of this is of value you will owe me a substantial sum." she nodded in magical silence, used to not talking while the mask was on. She sat in the corner of the room while the [Mage] did his work in another. The study was quiet and she felt relaxed here. Far more relaxed than she did anywhere else while wearing the mask and probably more than she did as Jessica in the inn. It had been a long day, and night and the masked adventurer closed her eyes and sunk deep into the soft fabric of the chair. Her eyes closed as images of shadows flowing like water filled her mind and she dozed quietly dreams filled with tales of an unnamed adventurer.


    "It seems you are in luck, again I might add. Two of the blades are highly magical.." She leapt to her feet with a start and memories of where she was crept back into her mind as she calmed down. The candles around the room were burned down and Everill had brought the recovered items back in on a wooden tray. She noted he was very careful with it.


    "Must you always react so in my house? My dear, if you can''t relax here I am not sure there is anywhere in the city you would feel safe. There are quite a few protective spells on this room alone. I trust you feel more rested now at least." she sat back into the chair and waited for Everill to continue. She was still wearing the ring but the silence had left for some time and only returned as he had entered the room with the tray. It seemed there was a range limit on the rings both she and Everill used to ensure privacy during their negotiations.


    "Both the blades are of quite high level. They are enchanted for strength and sharpness and the work is very good. However, it was the bag that you should be impressed by. It is of course a bag of holding with some quite dangerous protections on it when you brought it to me. Inside I found a quantity of gold, some miscellaneous items, some non magical weapons and gemstone of quite some value. There was a sealed scroll too, however I was unable to read it due to the spell on the seal. It is not here to see anymore." Everill wiped at a smudge of black soot and ash on his face looking ever so slightly displeased.


    "Due to the.. ahem. Complications my fee is substantial. You are however in the lucky position of being able to afford it with this haul. My only concern is that this does not appear to have come from the dungeon, I am not in the business of dealing with illicitly gained artifacts and would appreciate some assurance that these goods were legitimately obtained. Word has reached me that more than one [Assassin] was found by the city watch and the [Assissins] guild has only claimed one body. While these events themselves are concerning I trust you are not on the wrong side of our own guild? I would not be able to do business if these were from them.


    She looked at him and shook her head. "They are from one not of this city. He tried to kill me with poison, the other was killed by accident during the stuggle." this seemed to satisfy Everill, he reacted as if she had confirmed what he already knew to be the case.


    "Then I shall take the gemstone and all but five gold." he removed the ring, she knew this meant no haggling as anything she said now was not magically concealed to only him. The rest of the items were put into the bag and she noted the poison was nowhere to be seen. Everill took the two blades and retired to his work room. He would enchant them the same as the armour no doubt. Hopefully a little less aggressively as tonight had proven that the chest piece was as much a danger to her as anybody else when exposed. She would have to work on another layer that was more resistant to cuts. The bag of holding was only a small one but they were always a wonder, any adventurer would do almost anything to get one of their own. She reached into the back to find the other items that Everill hadn''t bothered to discuss and brought out a small wooden carved figure. It looked slightly like a horse, it''s front legs reared up and had a round base. There were a number of similar figures in the bag. She tossed it back in and left to return to her inn. The nap had done her good, but a proper nights sleep was needed.


    Bellagra and Urion sat drinking quietly. The others around them were not quiet. The story of their escape from the dungeon had created quite an uproar on it''s first few tellings but the night had warn on and they were not as excited by the retelling, having lived through it as it were. The unnamed adventurer as they had come to find she was known as had shadow for blood. Quite a few people had not believed that one. Some now argued she was actually a monster from the dungeon who was made of evil and shadow herself. Some said that Bellagra had been driven insane by the days they had been trapped in the dungeon.


    The Twist of Fates might not have been a big team but they had certainly been a profitable one until now. They had used all their healing potions and come out of the dungeon without a scrap of gold.


    "Maybe it ran out? Maybe we are finally out of luck? We have never come out without anything before." said Urion as Bellagra sipped quietly.


    "Nothing? Are you crazy! You came out with the most valuable thing you could ever have left that dungeon with" said a man sitting at the table next to them. "You both came out with your lives."