So, new chapter. Rose and friends are leveling, Gambol is infiltrating Torchlight's base, and Myrtenaster is wandering the town with Milou. This will be a disjointed night for sure.
Enjoy if you can - if you can't, I apologize.
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Rose and company had been traveling north in pretty much a straight line, pulling as many mobs as possible and quickly killing them in one fell swoop for maximum efficiency. Their strategy for gaining experience points was one with high risks and equivalently high reward. With the amount of enemies they pull with every pass, imminent death awaited anyone who let the mobs hit them. Of course, Rose was so massively over-leveled that much of the risks were only applicable to Stormflower and Magnhild. Even still, the thrill was there and it was well felt.
Rose set down her scythe and leaned against a tree, feeling mildly tired. Their last pass had nearly triple the amount of mobs that their first pass did. Granted, they were significantly farther from the town than they were previously. As they went deeper into the forest, the enemy spawns became denser and more numerous, with many encounters with mobs alerting other nearby mobs as well. It was a totally different difficulty curve from the previous region where difficulty increased solely on the level of the mob being faced. Now, the difficulty was in how many of them they had to face. It was a lot like how it was with fighting the Grimm in the forest dungeon in the first region - it was almost like they were a prelude to what was to come.
"We should be careful here, guys," Rose said. "This place has already been explored but that was with dozens of players during the day. We're a group of three players at night. When the clock strikes twelve, we may be in for some surprises."
"I know!" Maggy exclaimed. "I'm so excited. I can hardly wait!"
Rose sweatdropped. "Come on, Maggy. We've stocked up on health potions, but we're gonna be going against Grimm here. At least show a little bit of concern."
"I know, I know" Maggy said with a dismissive hand wave. "It's just so cool being here with you guys, okay? I really missed doing this."
Rose raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She shot Stormflower a questioning look. He winced, gesturing for her to wait. He would probably explain it when they had some free time. She nodded and started moving north once more.
"C'mon. We're losing moonlight," she said. "I remember there being a clearing somewhere. We can wait for midnight there"
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Gambol stood in front of a table with two blades hovering dangerously next to her neck. The two players holding said blades stood on either side of her, holding their swords steadily. Behind the table sat Torchlight, arms crossed and boredly tapping his fingers.
"So, Blake Belladonna - username, Gambol Shroud," he said dryly. "Care to explain how you're here? I believe I have access restrictions on this building, barring entry from everyone not on the whitelist." He swiped down and showed Gambol a dialogue box full of usernames. "You're not on the list so how are you here?"
Gambol glared at him.
Torchlight shrugged. "Fine, be that way. I'll figure it out eventually." he dismissed the dialogue box. "But seriously, though, your going here wasn't exactly smart. Do you have any idea what how much security this place has? Maxed out [Stealth] skill or not, you're not getting in unnoticed. And yet you still tried. Now look at you, at sword point in front of the very person you were sneaking up to." He laughed. "Sloppy, Miss Belladonna. Very sloppy."
Gambol's glare did not falter. "How do you know who we are?"
Torchlight raised an eyebrow. "Well wouldn't you want to know?" He smiled. "What are you willing to pay for that info?" When Gambol didn't answer, his smile became a grin. "How about I make you an offer?" he began. "I let you go free and forget all about this and, in return, you don't ever try and pull a stunt like this again. How about it, kitty cat?"
"That's a terrible deal," Gambol replied.
"I know," Torchlight said chuckling. "Your freedom is a whole lot more expensive than a promise to keep out of my business. It'd be better if I kill you right now - less hassle and expense. But I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. So, do we have a deal or what?"
Gambol growled venomously. Did he seriously just threaten to kill her? And to think he was one of the people who worked to make player-killing illegal.
Torchlight frowned. "No answer, huh?" He sighed and leaned back on his chair. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by this. I believe there have been multiple attempts at Miss Schnee's life so I should have expected you to come here the moment you found out that I knew. You are, after all, her bodyguard of sorts - more a body guard in training, though, now that I think about it."
"Whatever. That's not important. And neither is Miss Schnee." Torchlight gestured for his guards to release Gambol. "Out there, Weiss Schnee may be an heiress to a multi-billion dollar company but, in here, she's just another player - no more in danger than anyone else trapped with her. I'm no threat to her, Miss Belladonna. And you're no threat to me."
"You're... You're just letting me go?" Gambol asked in confusion.
"Yes. Think of it as an act of charity," Torchlight said, not even trying to hide the disgust on his face as he said the word. "Get out of my sight, Gambol. I don't take in strays. Go back to your master, where you belong."
Gambol eyed Torchlight for a few seconds. Torchlight had administrative powers on the building and he turned combat on to keep her at bay. Now that she was free, she could just jump and kill him with a quick-draw technique and no one would be able to stop her. And then she could easily overpower those two other guards and escape relatively unharmed.
"Don't even think about it," Torchlight said. "Kill me now and you'll become a red player - the first one in the game. Are you sure you want that?"
Red players couldn't use NPC shops and lost safe zone protection. Gambol grit her teeth. She didn't want that. "This isn't the end," she said, turning around and leaving the room.
"No, I doubt it will," Torchlight said, chuckling. "Until we meet again, kitty cat."
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At a plaza near the center of town, several players and more than two dozen NPCs had gathered around to watch one of the player sparring matches that had become quite common in the past few weeks.
Milou Akouo stood in the middle of the circle, weapons drawn and stance readied. Four other players surrounded her, each holding a halberd, a mace, two daggers, and a sword respectively. It looked to be a four-on-one battle, which was the likely reason for the big crowd. There have been very few matches with more than two fighters, and only five with handicaps - and even then, it was not four against one. It was quite exciting.
Above them, a timer was slowly ticking down. Once it struck zero, the fight would begin. It was a race to 50% health, with a time limit of two minutes. The match began in thirty seconds.
Milou eyed her four opponents. They were just four random players who she didn't care to know the name of. They had challenged her in a duel despite them being lower level then her. Call it hubris but she decided to accept their challenge, under the condition that they all fight her simultaneously. Now that she had a better look at them, it didn't seem like it was a good idea.
The one with the mace was obviously their tank though his build was strange. He had heavy armor, but no shield. It was probably a compromise due to lack of strength stat - forgo the shield to lower the weight penalty, allowing for faster movement. The one with the halberd had a similar build, though he wore lighter armor. The one with the daggers had a full damage-per-second build, with extremely light armor and two agility weapons. They probably had terrible defenses. It shouldn't take long to bring them down. Finally, there was the sword user. He had fairly heavy armor but still seemed light on his feet. He also had no shield but used a long sword which had different attacks based on whether he was wielding it one handed or two handed. He looked to be the most dangerous of them.
The timer hit zero and immediately Milou activated [Battering Ram] and charged into the one with the knives. She followed up with and a [Linear] thurst with her spear. He was out within the first three seconds.
The others had converged upon her as she was attacking. Three simultaneous thrust attacks came from different directions. Milou managed to deflect two of hem with her shield but the halberd user slashed at her thigh. She lost a small chunk of health.
She quickly counter attacked with a [Sweeper] in an attempt to put some distance between her and them. They all back stepped from the attack and it only managed to hit the halberd user who stumbled backward when it connected.
Milou saw the opportunity and [Shield Bashed] the halberd user, knocking him down. She then pounced on him with a [Sky Strike], getting him under 50% health. The halberd user was out.
She stood there, locked in her attack animation for a short period, just long enough for the mace user to knock her back with a [Heavy Slam]. The sword user followed up with a combo, chaining several complicated sword techs at her. Milou was forced further back as she blocked with her shield.
Once her cool down finished, she pushed the sword user away with another [Shield Bash]. She seemed to get some footing again but the mace user continued the onslaught, forcing her behind her shield once more.
Every hit took out an increasing portion of her health as the shield's durability decreased more and more. Eventually, the constant battering broke the shield entirely and Milou fell backwards.
The mace user stood over her, weapon raised high for the finishing blow. Desperately, Milou swung her spear for another [Sweeper], slashing at the mace user's ankles. It cut quite deep enough for dismemberment but it was certainly within the damage threshold for it. With disabled ankles, he lost his footing almost immediately.
Quickly, Milou jumped to her feet and went on an all-out offensive on the sword user, chaining as many sword techs as she could. He wasn't able to block all of them and was eventually worn down. He was out before long.
She then moved her attention to the mace user, ready to take out the last guy with another [Sky Strike].
Then there was of clapping and cheering and the sound of a buzzer in her ears. The match had ended, apparently. She had lost. The timer ran out and the mace user had just a bit more health left. Even though she collectively did more damage, the one with more health at the end of the match was always the one who won.
Milou blinked before relaxing her posture. She sighed and gave her opponents a friendly smile, offering her hand for a handshake. "That was a good match," she said.
The mace user took the hand with a glare, squeezing hard enough to deal a small amount of damage. "It'll be good once we mop the floor with you," he said, releasing Milou's hand. With that, he and his team left the plaza, the crowd dispersing as they walked past.
There was the sound of clapping that seemed different from the others coming from behind her. She turned to find Myrtenaster walking towards her.
"They," she said in disgust, "were sore losers. That was an amazing fight, Milou. Though that indecision cost you the match."
Milou nodded. "Yes. None of them had very good defenses. I should have been more aggressive instead of hiding behind my shield. Now I need to buy a new one."
"That shield was fully upgraded, too," Myrtenaster muttered. "As big of a waste as that was, you still achieved your goal: I'm convinced. These nightly duels are a good way to determine the skill levels of the players in the area."
"Do you think those guys would be good for our Gate Dungeon raid team?"
Myrtenaster scowled. "No. They would be terrible," she said. "Not only is their build choice absolutely terrible, they're also rude and immature. They're the last type of people I want watching my back in a fight."
Milou laughed. "Well then, let's stick around. I'm sure there are more fights breaking out somewhere."
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Rose sat on a rock, quietly watching as her menu's clock ticked away. 23:57:31, 32, 33...
"I'm starting to think this is a bad idea," Maggy muttered.
"A little too late the get cold feet," Rose said, smirking.
Maggy's face soured "I've always hated that saying. How does that even make sense? Why does having cold feet mean nervousness?"
Rose thought for a bit. "You know what? I have no idea." She turned to Stromflower. "Any ideas?"
Stormflower shook his head.
Rose frowned. "You're kinda right. It doesn't really make sense," Rose said in agreement. "Still though. It's no use getting nervous now. We're way too far away from the town now and midnight is only a few minutes away."
She stood and readied her scythe. "Okay, let's go over the plan again. We do the same thing as before, except we're making our way towards the city. If too many show up, we teleport away. You still have those teleport crystals?" Stormflower and Magnhild nodded. "Good. Make sure to use them. I don't want you two dying on me. Now, get ready."
She stared at her menu clock until she got the rhythm down. She then dismissed her menu and started counting. Wouldn't be long now. Just a few more seconds. 56, 57, 58, 59...
Rose felt a chill run through her. She scanned around, activating [Detection] for good measure. There was a mass of pale red cursors surrounding them, to the point that her entire vision was enveloped with cursors - all of them approaching slowly. It was significantly more Grimm than she ever faced. It was a terrifying sight.
"I hope you two know how to climb trees," Rose muttered.
Maggy blinked and turned to Rose. "What?"
Rose shook her head. "It's nothing. Let's just go." They all speeded back towards the town.
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A Gambol jumped from roof to roof, barely visible in the blackness of the night. She found that climbing the rooftops were more efficient than running through the streets. Aside from having more space, less people were there to see her. It made it fairly easy to head towards any location within the city without being detected. She reached her destination without incident.
Down on the street, there were only a handful of players and NPCs still milling about, making it easy to spot who she was looking for. She found two players about to pass the building she was standing on. She called out to them.
Myrtenaster and Milou stopped walking and looked up a nearby roof. "There you are," Myrtenaster said, not sounding particularly upset nor happy to see her. "I expected you to be back over an hour ago. Did something happen?"
"Someone knows who we are," Gambol said urgently.
Myrtenaster scowled. "Clock tower. Now."
The two quickly made their way to the clock tower at the center of town while Gambol kept a low profile from above. Wilting Blush was probably following as well from street level since his icon on the map screen was in the same area.
Having gained a short lead, Gambol landed on the roof of a large building and peered down towards the streets. She saw Wilt walk out of the crowd to keep up with Myrt and Milou's faster pace. There you are, she thought. He stopped, looked up at Gambol, and gave her one nod before continuing onward. Gambol nodded back and leaped away. You always know where I am, don't you?
It wasn't long before Myrtenaster and company arrived at the town clock tower. The three who were at street level entered the building and took the stairs. Gambol climbed the tower from outside. She still reached the top before everyone else did.
Gambol stood by the windowsill, watching the players and NPCs down below when the others stormed into the room. She turned to face them and saw Myrtenaster swipe furiously through the air as she set access restrictions to the room - she had bought the top floor of the clock tower specifically so she had admin privileges.
"Blake, tell me everything."
Gambol blinked, taken aback by being addressed by her real name. However, she made no comment and explained the situation.
Myrtenaster tapped her foot on the floor. "Let me get this straight," she growled. "You broke into an info-broker's base of operations in an attempt to... what? Blackmail him? Kill him? What was your logic behind this?"
Gambol winced internally but showed no emotion other than a slight downward tilt of her head.
"Honestly, it would have been better if you told me about this and we struck a deal with him so he doesn't blab. We are, as the saying goes, rolling in money right now. Paying for his silence would be nothing to us." Myrtenaster sighed deeply. "Okay, this is fine. So he knows who we are. We can very easily bargain for him to keep it a secret. However, you..." She looked pointedly at Gambol. "You owe him now. From what you describe of him, I can already tell this debt will be a very big liability. I know his type. He's going to milk this for all it's worth."
"I'll make it up to him somehow," Gambol muttered weakly.
"By doing what? Working for him full time? He nearly killed you, Blake, and he easily could have. The only reason you're alive right now is because he still thinks you'll be useful. You basically owe him your life."
Gambol grit her teeth, but said nothing.
Myrtenaster rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't give me that look. Do you remember how my father prosecutes anyone who trespasses on his property? This is basically the same thing except we're in a place where you kill things to survive. Your life was forfeit the moment you stepped into that building."
Gambol stared at Myrtenaster, feeling as slight sense of betrayal and, more notably, an ever increasing feeling of regret. Everything Myrtenaster had told her was true. She had messed up. She had to live with it. "Understood," she said, sounding almost pained as she did so.
Myrtenaster continued staring sternly for a short while but eventually looked away. She expression softened. "Look, we'll fine a way to deal with this, okay? Until then, we keep this problem to ourselves."
Gambol nodded quietly. "Understood," she repeated.
Wilting Blush walked towards the window, brandishing his scimitar. "Show yourself," he ordered. Everyone turned towards the window as well, readying their weapons.
A single girl, a little shorter than five feet, dropped into the room from outside. She had pink hair, wore a white long coat, brown shorts, and knee-high boots. She sat on the windowsill, legs cross and a fearless smirk on her face.
"Who are you and how did you get in here?" Wilt asked, pointing his sword threateningly at the girl. She pointed at Gambol before wordlessly leaning backward.
Gambol recognized a second too late what the girl was doing and charged towards the window. By the time she arrived, the girl had jumped out and was on the rooftops on the other side of the street. She looked back up, get a condescending bow and leaped away.
Gambol stared coldly out the window before turning back to the others. "Did you get a good look at her status screen?" Myrtenaster asked her.
"No," Gambol growled. "She was a bit far away and there was a bunch of other stuff right next to her interfering with the targeting."
Myrtenaster turned to everyone else. "Anyone else think to look at her username?" No answer. "Great. We all messed up in this case."
"I think that was one of Torchlight's lackeys. He said he was going to figure out how I got into his building when it was on lock down. I guess he's figured it out."
"How sure are you that it's even him behind this?" Milou asked.
Gambol scowled. She's right. Blaming Torchlight would be the easy answer. It might very well be the correct answer but that still doesn't mean they should be jumping to conclusions.
"You know what? Let's ask him, shall we?" Myrtenaster said, swiping down her menu.
Gambol blinked. "Wait, you've had him as a contact this entire time?"
Myrtenaster rolled her eyes. "Having connections with him is an asset in most cases." Her face soured. "Besides, I'm not surprised he knows who I am," she said, touching the scar over her left eye. "If he did his research, he'd easily recognize my face. He probably knew the moment he saw me."
She closed her eyes and sighed. "In any case, we'll need to learn how she got in. This is obviously a glitch in the system." She turned to everyone. "Players getting into places they shouldn't classifies as a glitch, right?"
"Yes, it's a glitch," Milou said. "And as much it might upset you, asking Torchlight would be the easiest way to figure out how to recreate it. If that was him, he did it in less than an hour. He knows what's up."
"Exactly," Myrtenaster said. A pop up message appeared. [Send? Y/N] "Unless there are more objections, I'm sending it." She tapped yes.
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Rose laughed. "Well, it's been a long time since I've had to use this strategy."
They had very gotten close to being overwhelmed by the Grimm. They were about to break out the teleport crystals when Rose saw a nice tree with low branches nearby. Betting on the enemy AI being only marginally more intelligent than the previous region, Rose ordered that they all climb it. Sure enough, once up the tree, the Grimm no longer detected players inside their detection radius and, as a result, were no longer hostile. They slowly dispersed, returning to their spawn point or their usual patrol route.
"I just realized," Maggy said. "This is what you did to finish that forest dungeon back in [Signal]!"
Rose smiled. "Yes. Yes it is."
"Smart," Stormflower commented.
"Up until we get to a point where they can detect players in trees. After that, we're pretty much screwed." Rose activated detection and scanned the area. Just twelve mobs left within the immediate area. If they waited a bit, the others would leave, dropping the number to six or less. "Give it three minutes and we make for another push for the town. Better make sure you're at max health."
Maggy grinned smugly. "Pshh. We barely even took a scratch."
"She was tanking for us," Stormflower pointed out.
Rose winced. The fighting got pretty heated and Rose couldn't always aggro all the Grimm before they targeted the extremely underleveled Magnhild or Stormflower. Of course, they would probably die fairly quickly if they got hit so Rose had to take the hits for them - she was the only one with enough health and defenses that she wouldn't immediately be incapacitated by a group of Grimm converging on her. It was pretty painful, now that she thought about it. Nowhere near as painful as it probably would have been in real life but still quite unpleasant.
Rose shook her head, not liking how she was remembering her pain. With a deep sigh, she dropped down to the ground. "Yeah, okay, whatever, let's just-" she cut a Grimm down vertical slice down the middle. "- Go!" She hit three critical-hit areas in a single attack, killing it. "We're wasting moonlight here. Come on."
Maggy looked curiously at Rose. "It hasn't been three minutes, though?" She turned to Stormflower who merely shrugged. Maggy shrugged as well. They both dropped down and followed.
The trek back to town would be terrible...
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So, a bunch of things
I stopped writing while Vol. 3 was still on-going. As of this chapter, it's been two weeks since it ended. Personally I was impressed and disappointed by the latest Volume in a completely different way from what I expected. That said while I've decided that this fic will not exactly follow what Vol 3 has told and shown us about these characters, I will end up using certain things from the Volume and integrate it into the story.
For example, I know enough about Winter Schnee that I can go ahead with what I planned with her despite the fact that I was originally gonna write her as Weiss' little sister.
As for you, the reader... Did you miss me? Did you miss me!? (insert excited Ruby voice here)
It's been a long time, hasn't it? And I really missed writing for RWBY so I'm glad to be back. Expect a new chapter soon.