Merchant of Shadows

A City Building LitRPG Fantasy

by Andrew Karevik

Merchant of Shadows (Book 1)

Copyright © 2025 LitRPG Freaks

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

Chapter 1

The drink was poison. Aaron only realized the terrible fact after he had drank it all down to the last drop. He felt the fizzing in his throat, the burning in his nostrils and the seizing up of his muscles. The bald bastard sitting across from him was stone-faced. It was he who had poisoned him, that much was certain. Aaron tried to speak, to let his outrage out, but he could not. He merely clutched his Adam’s apple, and his head hit the table.

“I’ve been instructed to show you a picture,” the man said, sliding a piece of paper in front of Aaron. “And I was instructed to ensure that your death was very painful. Look at it before you go to the hell waiting for you.”

Aaron glanced at the photo, his eyes dimming. It was a man in a construction hat, grinning with his friends. He had no memory of this person. And then, everything went black.

Aaron fell, the world spinning around him as he plunged into utter darkness. Words formed all around him as he plummeted.

“The CEO of Maddox Industries denies that his company had anything to do with the death of twenty-seven construction workers,” a news reporter said.

“Aaron Maddox has consistently cut corners on his companies and has been known to pay off safety officers to ensure that his sites aren’t checked,” another voice said.

“The government won’t prosecute us because we’re simply too big!” Maddox’s lawyer said. He was uncorking a bottle of Champagne and holding it up cheerfully.

Aaron fell in between these voices until he struck the formless ground. Shadows were all around him. This was death, he knew.

Above him a figure loomed. A great monstrous being with a pale mask on its face. The mask was an expression of neutrality, though red fires burned behind the eye sockets. “You were a man who lived richly,” the voice of the being said. It was a dark sound that was like rushing wind. “On the backs of others you gained your lucre. And in the end, it was the reckless regard of life that ended your own.”

“Where am I?” Aaron wheezed, standing up before the great figure. The eyes burned at him and he felt a shredding in his very soul.

“You are going to a new world,” the voice explained. “One where people will not believe in you. One where you will be mistrusted. Your reputation matters more than you think. And now you will reap the rewards of a misspent life.”

The floor opened up beneath Aaron and he started to fall. His body shifted and shimmered; he could feel his age reverse as his skin changed into that of a twenty-five-year-old. He fell for quite some time until he was consumed entirely by shadows and disturbing dreams.

The next time Aaron opened his eyes, he was lying in a trash pile. The world around him was grey and colorless. Above he could see perpetual clouds and the slight drizzle of rain coming down in waves.

“Where am I?” he muttered as he climbed out of the garbage. There were many buildings around him, strange houses that looked as if they had been constructed in the Victorian era. Had the poison failed? Was he dumped in a bin somewhere and left for dead, only to survive?

No, he realized as he noticed two passersby. They were wearing cloaks and carrying swords on their backs, dressed as if they were in the medieval era. No, this was another world. Aaron Maddox had died. And now he was reborn somewhere entirely different.

The man stared at the back of his hands. They lacked the roughness of old age, no spots or markings on them. Smooth and pristine. This couldn’t all be bad if he was reborn to be much younger, right?

The rain fell down upon his head, lightly soaking him. He was wearing nothing but burlap rags, clothes that covered him but were susceptible to the cold that blew around him. He staggered down the street and saw a man sweeping with a broom, standing on the corner of a shop.

“Excuse me,” Maddox said. “Excuse me sir, can you tell me where I am?”

The man scowled at him and spat. “Get out of here, asshole.”

“I’m just asking,” Aaron started to say but the man, burly and strong, raised his broom in a threatening manner.

“I said get out of here, don’t make me come over there and beat you!”

“Alright, alright,” Aaron said, raising his hands up and slowly walking away. The world around him seemed to loom, a city with hundreds of buildings, all rising high towards the sky. A chill ran down his back and he felt the urge to get warm.

He approached another building. Lotley’s Tavern was the sign that hung from the side of the wall. He opened the door and entered, feeling the warmth of the fire. Inside the tavern were a few dozen tables and all manner of strange folks. People armed with weapons and wearing armor, some dressed in hoods and others wearing pointed hats.

The noise of the tavern died down as he entered. All turned to stare at him. “Get out!” the barman shouted from behind the bar. “You aren’t welcome here, fool.”

The others all began to jeer at him and Aaron had no choice but to leave right away, not wanting to invoke the ire of those who carried swords.

“What’s going on?” he asked out loud, gazing at the world around him. Everything was different and the people were so hostile. Those who were walking down the street crossed at the sight of him and others were pointing and whispering.

As he wandered through the streets of this grey city, he noticed a woman standing by. She had a long staff, carved of elegant wood, and wore a pointed grey hat.

“I see a newcomer has arrived,” the woman said, gently tipping her hat to him. “A fellow being of shadow.”

“What are you talking about? Where am I?” Aaron asked.

“You are in the world of Gorvan,” she replied, walking beside him. They headed down an incline towards the busier part of town. “And it would seem that you have become Hated immediately. Focus your mind for a moment and gaze into your heart. You will understand what is going on.”

Aaron didn’t know what she meant but this was the first friendly stranger he had met so far. He did as she asked, focusing his mind and turning it inward. Much to his surprise, words appeared before him.

Reputation: Hated (-50)

“What manner of devilry is this?” he asked, eyes wide.

“It would seem that you are more the devil in this land than anything else,” the woman chuckled. She stopped and leaned against her staff. “You can see more about yourself. Look further and examine your own abilities. You should see some interesting things.”

Aaron complied and focused more. A panel materialized in front of him, like something out of a video game.

Aaron Maddox

Class: Shadow Merchant

Level: 1

XP: 0/1,000

Reputation: -50 (Hated)

Stats:

HP: 5

MP: 0

Strength: 1

Speed: 1

Intelligence: 1

Charisma: 1

Skills:

Bargain: 1

Trade: 1

Selling: 1

Harvesting: 1

Abilities:

Skilled Negotiator: Your negotiation skills allow you to gain +100 garrins when trading.

Resourceful Extraction: Your ability to Harvest doubles the amount of resources gained.

What strangeness was this? His own abilities and stats were displayed in front of him. There were skills too, though he didn’t understand exactly what they meant.

“What is all of this? Shadow Merchant? Hated reputation? Abilities and stats?” he asked.

The woman laughed at this. “You truly were given no instruction. Such is the way for those who come to this world, outlanders who were poor of conduct in their past lives. You will find things to be much more difficult here, that is for certain.”

“Just who exactly are you anyway?” Aaron asked. “Why are you willing to help me?”

“I am Genna, a witch. My own reputation isn’t terribly high as I do consort with powerful forces that offer great bargains of power,” she explained. “I am privy to many secrets. And perhaps I’m helping you because I see a kindred spirit. Or maybe I am simply here to provide you guidance as part of some divine drama. Who knows?”

Aaron looked at his class sheet again. “So if I’m to understand this, my abilities are linked to my stats and skills. I can trade and negotiate…not a bad situation. I used to run a massive corporation back home. Yes…yes, I think I can make something of this. Just a way back to the top. No reason to be afraid…”

“You have many reasons to be afraid in Gorva. The city of Greystone is unkind to outlanders with poor reputations. You will have to contend with them in order to survive. You will find that death here is closer than in your own world. Many threats await you. Speaking of which…”

As the pair walked down the road, a group of people came up to them. They were angry and carried torches. “There he is!” someone said. “That’s the Shadow Merchant!”

“Get out of town, or else!” another cried.

“Wait, I can explain everything,” Aaron said, showing his empty hands. “I’ve done you people no wrong.”

“You’re a sleazy bastard!” the leader, a mustachioed man shouted, pointing an accusing finger. “And we won’t tolerate your kind!”

Genna took her staff and wailed on Aaron’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him. “Why did you do that?” he wheezed.

“If one stands out, the others must blend in,” she replied. “No hard feelings but it seems you’re about to be strung up.”

The crowd was indeed carrying nooses and pitchforks along with their torches. Aaron panicked at the sight and bolted, turning around and rushing as fast as he could. There were many streets and as he fled, the group chased after him. He ran for some time, down the various lanes, looking for somewhere safe.

Chapter 2

The only safety that Aaron Maddox was able to find was leaving Greystone entirely. The crowd chased after him until he was at the border of the city, a great grey forest before him. The people were rowdy and violent, hurling stones and hurtful words at the man. He had not done them any harm; this world had never even heard of him before. But now he was a prime target.

“What did I do to deserve this?” he wondered aloud. Memories came back to him. Discussions about safety policies and the need to shut a plant down due to dangers. He remembered vividly dismissing their concerns and lecturing them. “Profits,” he had said to the board. “Cannot wait. Profits can never wait.”

He shook the memories from his head. Alone and still being rained upon, he decided to take shelter in the forest. How in the world would he ever be able to survive in this land? The people had already made up their minds about him. His reputation was in the gutters…

“Bah, who needs reputation?” he grumbled to himself. “I’ll just get some coin. There has to be some city or town that values money above anything else. Anyone can be bought for the right price. It’s just a matter of figuring out what’s valuable here…”

He was speaking mostly to reassure himself. As he ventured into the woods, he was surrounded on all sides by old and gnarled trees. They were withered and broken, many of them bent over due to some forceful wind or lightning strike.

As he walked, he noticed one of the trees was glowing with a green aura. It was a most curious thing to see something magical in front of him and he drew closer to check what the aura meant.

Harvest Point: Green Moss appeared in his vision, the words floating above the tree. Sure enough, he could see green moss growing from the side of the tree. Apparently this was a resource and perhaps valuable. He walked up to it and instinctively knew what to do. His harvesting skill activated, as did his ability and he was able to pull three long strands of Green Moss. Words appeared in his vision as he examined the strands.

Green Moss

Type: Resource

Description: This moss is good for building bows and rope. It is stretchy but pliable, able to be shaped into a variety of different goods.

Value: 100 garrins

Aaron had only a small satchel at his side, as well as a rusty dagger hanging from his belt. He had not noticed these before. What would he need a dagger for? He had no combat abilities and besides, Maddox was the kind of man who employed bodyguards, not risking his own life for a second. That had been in his old life though… Who knows what he would have to do here?

“Garrins are the money,” he mused. “I just need to find someone willing to trade. Yes, that’s right. It takes money to make money. I’ll just find someone with more money than sense and get a good deal. A hundred garrins? I bet I can charge 500 to the right sucker.”

He balled up the strands and placed them in his satchel, then began to explore the rest of the woods. Perhaps he would find a village somewhere.

As he wandered, he heard a voice up ahead. “Stop moving now!”

Aaron froze in place, his heart rate spiking at the sound. The voice was raspy and cruel.

“Who’s there?” he asked.

From the shadows of the trees emerged three small green creatures. They looked to be goblins, fantastical creatures that had simply been the subject of myth and legend back in Aaron’s world. But here they were flesh and blood. And armed with bows.

“What are you doing in the Wilted Forest?” the leader shouted. They were aiming their bows right at him.

“I’m just lost and trying to find civilization,” the man replied. He shuddered at the sight of the razor sharp arrow tips that were waiting for him. His health, HP as it was called, was incredibly low. There was no doubt that if combat ensued, he’d be slaughtered in the blink of an eye.

“Civilization?” the goblin leader laughed. “Give us what you have, now.”

“I don’t have anything,” Aaron said, showing his empty hands. “But you sorts seem like you’re skilled scavengers. What if we could make some kind of trade arrangement?”

“Trade?” the goblin scoffed. “You aren’t from around here if you’re trying to trade with us. Besides, we can see your reputation. You’re Hated and that means you aren’t to be trusted. Give us everything you have.”

“All I have is some green moss,” Aaron said, taking the bundle out of his pouch. “It’s hardly worth killing over.”

“Green moss, that’s all we have in this forest,” the goblin said. He eyed the man for a moment. “Kill him.”

No sooner had the goblin leader said the words that the others fired their bows. Three arrows came flying towards Aaron. He didn’t know what to do other than dive out of the way. A sharp pain rushed through his shoulder as he jumped to the side, one of the arrows striking him in the arm.

3 HP Lost! appeared in his vision and he scrambled to his feet. He fled the goblins as fast as he could, running towards a large rock for cover. The goblins chased after him but they were shorter and not as quick. He sprinted through the woods, his lungs burning for air.

Eventually they stopped hunting him down, laughing as they fired a few more arrows in his direction. Blood was pouring from his wound and he was in serious pain. But despite the bleeding, his HP didn’t drop any lower. It seemed that the injury was just superficial.

He found a tree with a hollowed out base and climbed inside of it. His eyes were heavy as the exhaustion of the fight washed over him. Those goblins would have easily killed him, and for nothing. They made a sport out of it. Ruthless monsters.

“I’ll show those bastards,” he grumbled as he leaned his head against the hollow of the tree. “I’m going to come back with an army and slaughter them all. String them up and watch them bleed…”

He fell asleep mumbling about his revenge. His dreams were tormented, memories flooding through his mind. It was his third wife.

“The allegations?” she had shouted. “Allegations? You paid off the safety officer. They’ve got it all in that documentary. I’m leaving, and don’t think I’ll ever come back. You’re a murderer.”

“They knew the risks when they took the job and they were paid well,” Aaron had shouted back. “And don’t you dare think about going to the press.”

Chapter 3

Aaron awoke with a start. He sat up abruptly and knocked his head against the inside of the tree. His wound was no longer bleeding, allowing him to carefully pull the arrow out. He was greeted with words when he removed it.

Goblin Arrow

Type: Ammunition

Description: Deals 3 Damage

Value: 25 garrins

“It would seem there’s a small profit to be made in becoming a pincushion,” Aaron said to himself with a snort. He staggered to his feet and felt the pangs of hunger. He should try foraging for food. If there was any to be had in this Wilted Forest, as the goblins had called it.

Aaron wandered for a time, looking for something to eat. He couldn’t find anything and his hunger grew greater. Time passed and eventually he emerged outside of the forest, only to find that he was right back at the beginning. He could see Greystone half a mile away, the large town formidable. It was mostly up on a hill, with hundreds of buildings littering the sides. There was a castle at the top of the hill, a great spire rising high from its center.

“Food,” he muttered. “I need food or I’m going to starve.”

He staggered towards the town once more. He went to the outskirts, feeling his desperation increase. He had some resources to trade. If only he could find someone willing to buy.

This part of the town was poorer, he noticed. The people were wearing threadbare clothes, and they looked to be dirty and malnourished. There were beggars in the streets and many were asking for alms.

Eyes turned towards him and people whispered. Aaron tried to keep a low profile but it seemed that everywhere he went, eyes were upon him. He noticed a small shop, named Wren’s Den. Even though he was hated here, Aaron knew that he needed sustenance. He had access to one resource, the green moss. That should be enough to buy him a loaf of bread or something.

What was he thinking? Loaf of bread. He was not a poor peasant, he was a damn CEO of a massive corporation! There had to be steak in this place, maybe some fine wagyu. Yes, that’s what he would buy with his garrins. A nice piece of meat and a bottle of port. Something to wash away all of this nonsense.

Aaron entered the shop and heard the bell ring. There was a man behind the store, arguing with someone loudly.

“What do you mean it’s all gone?” the man asked.

“I mean they struck the caravan, killed the driver and the damned guard fled,” a woman replied. “The shipment was lost entirely.”

Aaron walked up to the counter. There were all manner of goods in the building, mostly weapons and armor, though he could spot a few boxes of crackers and a tin of beans. His stomach growled and his thoughts of steak vanished. Beans were filling enough.

The man had a Mohawk, red as sunset, and he was busy talking to a woman who wore a green cloak. They both stopped as soon as they noticed Aaron walk up.

“What do you want?” the merchant asked. He crossed his arm and glared. The man had a slight scar on his left eye and looked as if he had seen better days. He wore a patchwork set of clothes and didn’t appear to be doing quite well in his business, as the shelves were well stocked but there were no signs of customers.

“I was hoping to trade,” Aaron said. “I’ve got—”

“We aren’t interested,” the man replied. “We’re closed in fact, get out.”

The woman said nothing and merely stared at Aaron.

Aaron took a deep breath. “I couldn’t help but hear that you were having trouble with a shipment. Maybe that’s something I can help with?”

“We don’t want your help,” the Mohawk merchant said.

“Actually…” the woman interjected, putting a hand on the merchant’s shoulder. “He might be able to help us. He is a Shadow Merchant, after all. They don’t have trouble getting their hands dirty.”

“No, not at all,” Aaron agreed. “Listen, if you said there was a shipment that was lost, then perhaps you need to think about the guard. If the driver was killed, why would the guard be spared? Chances are there may be some kind of dark deed going on. A backroom deal where the man was offered coin in exchange for luring the shipment into a trap.”

“We didn’t know the guard,” the woman agreed. “He could have been on the take.”

“Listen, I know I don’t have a good reputation around these parts,” Aaron said. “But I am a skilled negotiator and a merchant by trade. I have the ability to investigate around these parts. I could find out exactly where the shipment was taken. And I might even be able to get it back.”

“You talk a big game for being an outlander, and you’re only Level 1,” the merchant shot back. The woman insisted however and put a hand on the man’s shoulder again.

“We just took the biggest loss of our lives. We can’t just let our shop go bankrupt because of this. This man might be our ticket to getting it back.”

Aaron had no clue if he could actually find the shipment. But he wouldn’t really need to; all he needed was to trade this moss and then he could forget about them entirely. It wasn’t like his reputation could get any worse. He was already a pariah in society.

“I am quite resourceful,” he bluffed. “I should be able to get it back in no time.”

The merchant sighed. “Fine, fine,” he said. “What’s your price?”

“I want to be free to trade with you,” Aaron replied. “I’ve got some green moss to sell. If you agree to buying from me, I’ll look into the shipment loss.”

The man considered his words for a few seconds. “Fair enough,” he finally replied. “Shadow Merchants coming into my store and begging to sell. Weird day.”

Aaron produced the moss and placed it on the counter. “I’ll give you 25 for the whole lot,” the man replied.

“25? The value is easily 100 each,” Aaron said. Words appeared above the man. Selling 2+…skill failed!

“Twenty five for the lot,” the man shot back. “Take it or leave it.”

Aaron growled. “Fine, fine,” he said. “Twenty five.” Apparently the selling skill needed to be higher in order to make that deal. It was a real robbery but no matter. A few garrins in his pocket and he’d be better off. Bread couldn’t be so expensive, could it?

Words appeared in front of Aaron. Goods Sold! 50 XP Gained! His XP tally went up a little, though it was a far cry from a thousand. Still, it was interesting that he would gain points from making sales.

The man took the moss off the counter and tossed it onto a table behind him. “Name’s Rallick, by the way,” he said. “And this is my wife, Elira.”

“Aaron Maddox, a pleasure,” he said, though he could care less about their names. His stomach growled. “How much is a loaf of bread?”

“Bread?” the man laughed. “That’s a luxury in these parts. All we got are crackers and beans. And you can’t afford either.”

A menu appeared before Aaron.

Beans

Type: Food

Description: These beans have seen better days.

Cost: 100 garrins

Crackers

Type: Food

Description: A pack of crackers, doesn’t spoil but doesn’t taste great.

Cost: 75 garrins

“You’ve got to be kidding me with these prices,” Aaron said. “I’m starving here and they cost a hundred? That was the value of the moss!”

“Sucks to be ya,” Rallick said.

“What my husband means to say is that there’s a food shortage in this part of Greystone. The nobles up in the higher districts have had trouble with their farmlands and bread has gone up. Food is scarce enough as it is,” Elira said. She sighed. “Just give him the can of beans. It’s no loss if he manages to get our shipment back.”

Chapter 4

In the end, Aaron decided to investigate the loss of the shipment. The husband and wife merchants were desperate and he could turn that into profit. All he needed to do was find the shipment and then demand they pay him for what he found. They had given him a can of beans and it wasn’t nearly as filling as he had hoped. But they told him about the details of the loss.

Apparently the shipment had come from the town of Gatesburg, traveling on the Longwind Road. The shipment was abruptly lost at the halfway point on the road and everything seemed to indicate that the cargo was taken into the Wilted Forest.

Aaron had a few ideas on how to locate the shipment. First and foremost, he wanted to interrogate the guard who had been in charge of protecting the goods. There was something fishy about the fact that the driver was killed but the man with the weapon spared. It reeked of some kind of bribe, or at least Aaron suspected.

Maddox left the shop and headed to the poorest district, where the guard, Lenny, was said to be drowning his sorrows. Aaron kept his head down but was accosted by a woman as he made his way through a side alley.

The woman was poor and barefoot. She had burlap clothes, similar to Aaron’s and quickly walked up to him.

“Sir!” she said. “Please, sir, can you spare some garrins? My children are starving. Please, anything.”

“If you want money, then I suggest you work,” Aaron replied, shoving past her. She followed him.

“I’ve tried to work but there’s a famine and the jobs are drying up. Greystone has fallen on hard times. Please, just a few garrins, anything!” she cried.

“Even if I had the coin, I wouldn’t give it to you,” he replied. “Industry begets industry. Go find a farm to work on or better yet, go out into the woods and harvest.”

“It’s dangerous in those woods,” she said.

The woman didn’t follow him and Aaron grumbled to himself about leeches and beggars. He wasn’t in a position of paying money to anyone who asked.

Aaron made his way to the tavern where Lenny was said to be. The people here were less sensitive to his bad reputation, their faces tired and their drinks meager. They sipped from small glasses, no refills to be had.

Lenny was a stout guard, sitting at the end of a long table outside. He was drinking from a larger mug and seemed to be quite drunk.

“And another thing,” he muttered to no one in particular. “I’ve never had a bow drawn on me before. Damn near pissed myself!”

“Is that so?” Aaron asked as he sat down across from the guard. The man looked up at him and scowled.

“What do you want?”

“I’m here on behalf of Wren’s Den,” the shadow merchant replied. “And I’ve got some questions about the shipment.”

“I already told them everything that I know,” he grumbled.

“Something tells me by the way you’re repeating your story that something is missing,” Aaron said. “Now, listen here. I want to know why you survived.”

“I ran,” the man replied, unconvincing in his words. “Simple as.”

“Yet the driver was shot. How did you make it away unscathed?” Aaron asked.

Lenny shifted nervously in his seat. “Well, while they were shooting him, I was fleeing. Simple as.”

“Seems they would have attacked the guard,” Aaron replied. He leaned in and pressed. “I think you were bribed.”

“Bribe!” the man coughed, gulping down his drink and looking around. “What makes you think that?”

“Just a hunch,” Aaron said. “But don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I’m just looking to recover the shipment. Tell me where it was taken and I won’t report you.”

“It’s just your word against mine and you don’t have the reputation for it!” the man replied. “No one will believe you.”

“No, but they will believe your former employers,” Aaron threatened. “Do you really want to deal with the consequences of your low moral character? Or do you want me to fix everything. You can trust me, I appreciate a man who takes a bribe here and there. Nothing wrong with greasing your palms. But in this case, I need to take care of my own self.”

The words Bargain 1+ appeared above the man. Skill Success! The man slowly nodded. “Fine, fine. I was hired by some broker named Finley. The man came to me and offered me a hundred garrins in exchange for letting the thieves take the shipment. We were shipping crates of fabric meant to be sold wholesale. Worth a fortune to the right people.”

“Finley, eh?” Aaron asked. “And who is this man?”

“Just a broker, works at the banking establishment in the deeper parts of Greystone. Said he had a client who was interested in retrieving the goods and ensuring the store was unable to keep afloat. He said something about his client wanting to buy the store.”

So there was a financial backer behind this? Interesting. He might be willing to pay more to keep the goods out of the hands of Wren’s Den. If that were the case, then Aaron might be interested in meeting him. But that would require going deeper into the city and that was too dangerous. The outskirts seemed to be the safest part of Greystone, as most folks were too poor to care about something other than their own hunger.

“And where is the shipment now?”

“The wagon was taken to a dead drop in the middle of the forest. A group was supposed to hold it for a while until they were able to offload the goods on the black market.”

That peaked Aaron’s interest. “Black market, you say?”

The man nodded. “I’ve heard about it. You can buy meat there, as well as other luxuries that are only available to the upper class. Most of the stuff is stolen but no one asks any questions. You’d need to find a fence to be able to access it though.”

“Seems like a place where reputation doesn’t matter…” Aaron mused.

“All they care about is your coin,” Lenny said. “Are we done here?”

“For now, but be careful out there. Your client may decide you’re a loose end if you keep up your drinking,” Aaron said. He marked Lenny for later. A man who accepted bribes might be willing to serve as a bodyguard for the right price.

Chapter 5

Aaron felt the pangs of hunger as he traveled through the woods once more. He kept a low profile, sneaking through the place in the hopes of avoiding being seen. He had heard in the distance a few goblins singing a song and ducked behind a large log, waiting for them to pass. His health had slowly regenerated back to 5, the wound healing itself once he had gotten some rest. That seemed to be useful to know, that his injuries wouldn’t stay too long if he was able to get away. But he had no intention of being caught again.

The shadow merchant made his way to the center of the forest and followed Lenny’s instructions. Past the giant tree, through the shallow hollow and into the cavern. He went through the dark cavern and emerged into a small area where there were plenty of trees surrounding him.

In the center of the area was a large wagon, wheels still functioning and a horse attached to it. A band of men were lazing around, laughing and singing drinking songs as they wiled away the hours. There was a single path out of the treeline and Aaron did the math. All he needed to do was grab the cart and spur on the horse.

He waited for some time, hiding behind one of the trees and watching. The men eventually grew tired from their drinks and passed out, one at a time. No one suspected any trouble and they were well hidden from the rest of the world, so they didn’t have a high guard. Aaron took the opportunity to sneak up.

Climbing into the cart, Aaron felt as if he understood how to drive the vehicle. His knowledge was otherworldly, as he had never even once attempted to steer a horse carriage, yet now he knew how to grab the reins and spur the horse on.

The horse let out a loud neigh and began to march forward, pulling the cart onto the path. They were almost out when a man woke up and shouted.

“Hey, someone’s stealing our wagon!”

“Hya!” Aaron cried, snapping the reins down hard.

The horse began to gallop and the cart took off. The bandits chased after him but couldn’t keep up with the steed. They fell behind quickly and Aaron was off. He rode as fast as he could, pushing the horse to continue down the path. They emerged from the forest and Aaron looked behind him. He could see that the men had given up their pursuit.

“That wasn’t so hard,” Aaron said to himself, turning the wagon to the right, and they began to go down the Longwind Road towards the town.

Aaron considered what he could do with the shipment. Getting access to the black market would probably require a few palms to be greased and they would want far more than just a handful of garrins. It would be better to get on the good side of the merchants that he already knew than to just sell these resources himself. Still, he vowed to gain access to this black market as quickly as he could. Maybe there were some better ways to make money in this world.

He rolled the cart into town and up to Wren’s Den. The horse was exhausted from the ride and neighed loudly as Aaron climbed out.

“Oh, quit complaining, you’re just a beast of burden,” he snapped. The horse looked away from him as if it understood the words.

Rallick came out to inspect the noises. “My gods!” he declared. “You found the wagon!”

“Indeed,” Aaron said. “I told you that I could. Now let’s discuss my payment.”

“Already gave you a can of beans,” the man replied. “And I’m going to let you buy and sell here. That should be enough.”

“It took quite some time to get this shipment,” Aaron countered. “And it was a dangerous operation. The bandits were heavily armed and I barely got out alive.”

“You don’t look wounded to me,” the man growled. Rallick walked over to the back of the wagon and investigated. “Three crates of green cloth. Looks like it’s all here.”

“I most insist on some kind of pay,” Aaron said, tapping his foot to the ground.

The merchant wouldn’t hear of it however. “You wanted access to my store, now you have it,” he said. “I don’t have the money to pay for a shipment I already paid for.”

“And how am I supposed to survive with only 25 garrins?” Aaron asked, pressing the matter.

“Don’t ask me, it’s a lean world and the city has been having a lot of trouble getting anything of value,” Rallick replied. “You’re better of delving into a dungeon if you want coin.”

“Dungeon?”

“Aye, there are places in this world full of treasure, but they are quite dangerous,” Rallick explained. “There’s one in the Wilted Forest, known as the Storywood Dungeon. You best take your shady merchant ways and delve in there. If you bring back anything of interest, I can trade with you. But the shipment has already been paid for. And that’s final.”

Aaron grumbled as he took his leave. He should have tried to find a buyer for the goods instead. Words appeared in front of him Quest Resolved: 200 XP Gained. This brought his XP up to 250. What would happen when he leveled up? Would his abilities increase? Maybe better skills?

Without much else to do, Aaron decided that he was going to check out that Storywood Dungeon. He had seen a sign back inside of the Wilted Forest, pointing towards its general direction, though he hadn’t known what the words meant at the time. But if there was treasure to be found, then he could turn his fortunes around. It couldn’t be that dangerous, right?

Aaron made his way back to the Wilted Forest, starting to grow familiar with the area. He knew the goblins patrolled in the western part, but there was a trail that led straight to the dungeon. This path was free of all trouble and he made it to a large tree with a massive door built into its trunk.

Storywood Dungeon: Level 1-3 appeared above the doors as Aaron looked at them. He shrugged and entered, finding a stairwell that led down into darkness.

Torches lined up the walls of the dungeon as Aaron descended. They were attached to the wall, burning brightly. Aaron took one of the torches and raised it up high. Light flickered down the hallway as he walked.

There were dozens of branching paths around him, each seeming to lead to dark places without torches. As he traveled down the main hallway, he spotted something lying on the ground. It looked to be a body.

“Interesting,” Aaron said, kneeling down to inspect the corpse. It was that of a man with several arrows in his chest. He was dead as a doornail and carried a few rings on his hand. The gold caught Aaron’s eye and he looked around. Obviously, nobody was watching, and so he took the rings off and stuffed them into his satchel.

Golden Rings

Type: Luxury

Description: These rings are worth quite a few garrins to the right buyer.

Value: 300 garrins

There were three rings total, with each valued at 300. He could probably sell them on the black market or use them as currency themselves. Was there any shame in robbing the dead? Not at all; the man was a corpse, useless to the world. Providing value was the only thing he was good for now.

Aaron searched the body for other valuables but found nothing else. The man had been critically injured before he was able to procure any other treasure. Aaron looked up at the passage and sighed. Should he keep going or should he head back now that he had enough loot to sell? No doubt that bastard Rallick would only pay him a fraction of the value. But still, a fraction of 900 would be enough for him to…what exactly? What could he do with the cash?

With the food shortage, he could expect the money would be spent on sustenance quite quickly. No, he should continue forward in the dungeon and keep exploring.

Aaron took a step forward and suddenly felt himself freeze in fear. He had nothing but a rusty dagger at his side and it only dealt one measly damage. Were a few hundred garrins really worth his life?

He had died once before and he sure was in no hurry to experience that again so soon. And so, with a bitter taste in his mouth, he turned around and made his way back to town.

Chapter 6

Aaron placed the rings in front of Rallick. Elira was in the back, sweeping, and peered over his shoulder. “Where did you get those?”

“The Storywood Dungeon,” Aaron said.

Rallick scoffed. “You come back with rings? You probably pried them off some corpse.”

Aaron didn’t make a face. He was more than adept at keeping a stone expression, especially considering all of the depositions and court trials he had been a part of. “How much can I get for these?”

“A hundred for the lot of them,” the man said.

“No way,” Aaron said with a shake of the head. “They’re worth three hundred each. How does four hundred sound?”

“Hmmm.” Rallick examined the rings. “They are gold…fine, I can give you three hundred. That’s my final offer.”

Aaron sighed and nodded. “Fair enough, I’ll take the three hundred.”

The man grinned and poured the coins in front of him, sweeping the rings off the table with one gesture. The garrins were copper coins with the picture of a fish on them. Aaron took the coins and was greeted with words. Luxuries Sold! 200 XP Gained!

That was far more than the meager 25 he had gained for selling the green moss. There was certainly value in dungeon plundering…though Aaron wasn’t strong enough to go in and face it again. Instead, he decided he would make his money work for him. He would need to figure out what kind of good was in demand and how he could then get his hands on it. Food was scarce but there was difficulty in acquiring and shipping such items.

Aaron left with the garrins, his stomach still growling. He headed to the Barking Dragon tavern, where he had met Lenny. The people all gazed at him as he entered the small establishment. They weren’t armed like the other tavern Aaron had visited; here, there was nothing but peasants, people with little to no money, enjoying small drinks while gossiping.

Aaron made his way to the tavern bar and waited. A barkeep, a stout fellow with a long beard approached. “We don’t get many shadow merchants round these parts,” the barkeep said. “You ain’t here on business, are you?”

Aaron couldn’t help but notice there was a curious pitch to the man’s use of the word ‘business’. He raised an eyebrow. “Supposing I am here on…business.”

“Business is good these days,” the man replied. “What’s your poison?”

“I’m here for a beer,” Aaron said. “And maybe a bit of information.”

“Five garrins for a quaff,” the man replied. “And information is going to cost ya a bit more.”

Aaron placed a coin on the table and the barkeep poured him a mug. The shadow merchant eagerly drank it down. Though the taste was awful, beer was filling though, contained plenty of nutrients and would stave off his hunger—or so he told himself, seeing as that’s all he could presently afford.

“Now then,” the bartender whispered, leaning in close. “What are you looking for?”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Aaron said, to force the other man to show his hand first.

“I can get you meat,” the barkeep replied. “Though there’s a shortage of it here, the nobles up in the northern district have plenty of it. A few steaks here and there, nothing fancy.”

“How much?”

The bartender grinned. “Two hundred garrins for a flank.”

Aaron thought about this for a moment. He wasn’t considering eating the meat per se; rather he was wondering if he could sell it for a profit. But a black market had markup on their prices, so…

“I’m not interested in beef, however I’d like to know how to get access to your market,” Aaron said after a moment of thinking.

“Hah,” the bartender laughed. “You’re better off dealing with a fence like myself. I move in the market and get things done. Anything you find that’s banned or stolen, well, I’m the man to talk to. Name’s Ginley.”

“Aaron,” he replied, gulping down the last of his awful beer. “I’m no thief.”

“No one is, they’re just borrowing,” Ginley said with a chuckle. “You’re a shadow merchant, so why not deal in some shadows? In fact, there’s a small job that you could help me with.”

Aaron perked up at the words. “What does it entail?”

“There’s a fellow, a nobleman with a penchant for green powder. It’s a rather addictive drug that he’s gone into debt to pay for. Owes me a thousand garrins and has mysteriously vanished. Some say he’s hiding in the slums here, trying to avoid being caught. If you can track him down and get my money, any money really, I’ll pay you a finder’s fee.”

Collecting on a debt? Wasn’t the worse job Aaron could think of. “What’s his name?”

“Leopold. He’s a wealthy patron of the arts and made some bad trade deals involving some useless paintings,” Ginley replied. “Now he’s just trying to keep away from the creditors…I must warn you, he may not be the most compliant. You have any trouble beating anything out of people?”

“Sometimes the fist is the only way to talk,” Aaron said. He glanced over to see that Lenny was sitting at the other end of the bar, still drinking. “Does he come here often?”

“Man practically lives here,” Ginly said. “He’s dead weight.”

Aaron put another fiver down on the table. “Get him another drink.”

“As you say,” Ginley replied, snickering to himself.

Aaron saddled up beside Lenny and watched as he drank an entire pint in a matter of seconds. The bartender quickly refilled the cup and waddled off to talk to some other patrons.

“Your information was good,” Aaron said. “Enjoy the drink on me.”

“Thanksh,” the man replied, slurring his words.

“Tell me, Lenny,” Aaron said, patting the man on the shoulder. “Do you have an employer?”

“Nope, just the money I got from the job,” he replied, sipping on the beer and shuddering. “Damn beer here is terrible.”

“Filling though,” Aaron countered. “But it seems to me that we don’t have bread to enjoy with our beer.”

“Bread,” the man scoffed. “Oh, how I wish we did.”

“I have a job that pays a bit of coin. But better yet, it may be access to other work,” Aaron said. “Now, you and I have an understanding. You’re pliable and easy to suggest to with the right amount of coin. I’m crafty and capable of watching over you, ensuring that nothing happens when we do our dealings. What do you say we team up for a little job? I can pay you 20 garrins for the work.”

The man looked at him through bleary eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you and I can have a storied career together,” Aaron replied. “You could use someone to look after you and surely you can’t just drink yourself to death here. If we do things right, you and I can have more than just bread. We could be sipping fine wines and eating steaks.”

“Hmmm, steak,” the man grunted. “Never even had meat before. Wonder what it tastes like.”

“It’s delicious and worth the price, but not at the market rates,” Aaron replied. “What do you say? Care to join my employ?”

“What’s the catch?”

“We aren’t going to be doing anything particularly savory,” he replied. “But I think you already knew that.”

Chapter 7

Lenny wasn’t particularly well known for anything but his neutral reputation allowed for him to ask questions. Aaron waited at the Barking Dragon as Lenny went out and probed around. The man had a penchant for gaining information and he soon returned with a location. The Eastbound Graveyard was where the target, Leopold, was said to be hanging out. He had found himself a particularly large crypt to hide in and a gravedigger had noticed him a while ago.

Aaron and Lenny made their way to that graveyard. Here, there were many graves of the dead, most of whom were peasants who were tossed into mass graves, the names written in scratch upon the headstones.

There was a gravedigger standing by one of the holes, working away. He looked up at the pair and grinned. “He’s in there now,” he said, pointing towards a mausoleum. “Powderhead thinks that he’s invincible.”

“Thanks for the tip,” Aaron said.

“No problem,” the gravedigger said. Aaron wondered if the man was going to ask for a fee but he seemed to be more than satisfied to return to his work.

“What motivated him to sell Leopold out?” Aaron asked.

“He’s frustrated with the mess. The nobleman leaves bottles and other junk outside and acts as if the place is his own. The sooner he’s out of here, the better,” Lenny replied.

“We aren’t here to evict, just to collect,” Aaron said. He looked at the guard. “You aren’t afraid to rough him up?”

“Sometimes a punch can knock a few truths loose, as well as some tooths,” he replied.

That was enough for Aaron. They entered the mausoleum to immediately be greeted by the stench of something that smelled like a burning tire. A man was sitting on the ground, lying back against the raised crypt that held the body of some long dead noble. Beside him were two large paintings and he was grinning like a fiend.

“Leopold?” Aaron asked.

“Who’s asking?” the man snickered. Beside him was a long wooden pipe and it was burning. He lifted it to his lips and took a hard puff, the burning smoke wafting through the air.

“No one in particular,” Aaron replied. “Now, it seems you owe a certain someone a thousand garrins. Quite a bit to owe…pay up or I’ll have my associate here shake it out of you.”

“Money?” Leopold groaned. “I don’t have a coin to my name. Spent it all on the last of that sweet green powder. You want a hit?”

Aaron shook his head. “You’re a nobleman, aren’t you? Where’s your land, your wealth?”

“Bah, I put it all in these paintings,” he said, pointing to them. They were regal paintings of two dogs, both fine art with golden frames. “And went bust as a result.”

Aaron investigated the paintings and saw the words Appraise 2+ no skill appear above them. It would seem he lacked the required abilities. A shame.

“You have to have the money,” Aaron said. “Lenny, if you would.”

Lenny reached down, grabbed the wasted nobleman, lifted him up high and shook him.

“Stop, stop!” Leopold begged. “I don’t have a coin on me. You can take the paintings and sell them to get the debt back, but good luck with that.”

Lenny punched the man in the stomach and he bent over hard. “Come on, don’t waste my high,” he complained.

“You’ve got a lot more to worry about than a high,” Aaron said. “My associate will beat you within an inch of your life and maybe an inch further if you don’t come up with the coin.”

“My father!” the man said. “My father has the cash. He’s Leopold Senior, he’s up in the Glamor District, right now.”

“It seems your father wouldn’t want to know about your drug habit,” Aaron countered.

“What would you have me do?” the man wailed. “I’ve got nothing in my pockets.”

“He’s right,” Lenny said, reaching into the man’s coat and rummaging. “Not a coin on him.”

“No reason to try and squeeze blood from a turnip,” Aaron said, eying the paintings. They were fancy enough. “Take the paintings. You have a week to come up with the money, if not, we’re going to come back and this time we won’t be so nice.”

“Woah, hey man, that’s not enough time!” the man said.

“Beg your father, steal it from him, I don’t care,” Aaron said. “If you don’t get us the cash, you will become a corpse. Then you can be buried with the company of the dead that you so enjoy.”

Lenny grabbed the paintings and the pair left the man alone. “So that didn’t work out,” the guard said. “These paintings aren’t worth a hill of beans.”

“Not without the right buyer,” Aaron said. “But still, we just need to wait. This man is high now but when he sobers up, he’ll go right to his father.”

“What do we do in the meantime?”

“Try to sell these abominations called art, of course.”

Aaron and his lackey returned to the Barking Dragon. The fence was waiting there, eagerly hoping that they had the coin.

“Any luck?” Ginley asked.

“Afraid not,” Aaron said. “The man wasted his cash and didn’t have a dime on him.”

“A real bummer,” Ginley said. “But it looks like you did get something. What’s that?”

“These are the paintings that he invested his money into. Said they weren’t sellable, but I wanted to see what I could get for them,” Aaron replied.

“Bah, there’s no demand for shitty paintings,” the barkeep replied. “You wasted your time taking them.”

“Then let’s see what the general store would buy them for,” Aaron said. “We’ll get you your coin, just you wait.”

Chapter 8

Aaron returned to Wren’s Den. While he entered the shop, Lenny stayed outside, preferring not to face his former employers. The shadow merchant hefted the paintings in and placed them on the counter.

“I managed to acquire some fine art,” he said. “No appraisal abilities, so it’s anyone’s guess as to what they’re worth. But it could be a small fortune…”

Elira was working the counter. She looked at the paintings and up at him. “I’m afraid we aren’t in the market to buy art. You’d be better off leaving these on the side of the road. No one wants to purchase paintings these days. Not unless they’re an art collector.”

Aaron had worried this would be the case. “Fair enough, I had to ask.”

“What are you up to?” Elira asked, her gaze piercing him. He flinched, looking away. “You’re an outlander, that’s easy to see. Someone who came here from a faraway world. But you’re a shadow merchant and you’re hated. Surely you can’t think that stealing from the dead and hawking paintings is going to get your reputation back up.”

“I’ve stolen from nobody,” Aaron said. “And who cares about reputation?”

“The whole town does,” Elira softly replied. “You should take care of your image better. People around here watch and talk about everything. No one will deal with you in the inner parts of the city, so you’re stuck out here with the rest of us.”

“I’m just trying to get by,” Aaron replied.

“You’d be better off traveling to the north, towards Gatesberg,” she said. “The town is a lot smaller but wealthier. They aren’t having a famine, so you could perhaps afford food.”

Aaron pondered that. He looked at the paintings and had an idea. “How far is it?”

“It’s a four day journey by wagon,” she said. “Merchants are carting in and out every other day. You can probably hitch a ride if you’re willing to work. They always need help loading and unloading goods.”

“Four days,” Aaron groaned. He was still hungry to be honest but he had no other choice. “Fair enough, thanks for the tip.”

“Be careful out there, there can be bandits on the roads,” she said. “That’s why they take strangers too. Extra firepower or additional targets, giving the merchants a chance to escape.”

Aaron grabbed his paintings and walked outside.

“Any luck?” Lenny asked.

“If we’re going to sell these, we need to be clever about it,” Aaron replied. “It’s four days to Gatesberg. We can hitch a ride and be in the town shortly.”

“I don’t like to travel,” Lenny said. “It’s dangerous on the roads.”

“I don’t pay you to worry, I pay you to follow and do what I say,” Aaron snapped. The guard opened his mouth to counter but closed it, deciding against speaking out.

Aaron headed to the edge of town where he could see a merchant loading crates alone. He had a large wagon with four horses affixed to it.

“Excuse me,” Aaron said, approaching the merchant. “Any chance you’re heading towards Gatesberg?”

“As a matter of fact, I am,” the merchant replied. He was a scrawny fellow, wearing a long golden cloak that had seen better days. Dirt and pox marked his face and he looked weary. “Why, you looking for a ride?”

“My companion is a guard,” Aaron said. “We’d be happy to help you load and unload provided you take us to the city.”

The man looked sharply at Aaron. “Shadow merchant, eh? Well, there’s no discrimination on the road. There’s a big chance we’ll run into outlaws. Can you fight?”

Aaron lifted up his small dagger. “I’ve got a fighting chance as any.”

The man laughed. “You haven’t fought a day in your life. But still, you have the bargain skill, yeah?”

“Indeed.”

“Maybe you can talk any bandits down. Come on, start loading crates. We’ll be there before you know it.”

Aaron complied and began to work. He didn’t mind the exercise and his youthful body didn’t complain as he and Lenny placed crate after crate in the back of the wagon. Once the boxes were loaded, Aaron put his two paintings against them, careful to tie them down so they wouldn’t shake loose.

After that, they climbed in the back and the merchant was off. His name was Fern and he didn’t speak much. He mostly talked to the horses, giving them commands and positive reinforcement as they traveled across the Longwind Road.

The journey was mind-numbing. Aaron didn’t have much to think about, aside from his hunger, and it was a long trip. Lenny mostly babbled about this or that, but didn’t seem to say anything with all of his chatter. Aaron remained silent and waited as the wagon rolled across the landscape.

“Woah!” the merchant Fern shouted, stopping the horses. They skidded to a halt, causing the wagon to rock in place.

Aaron looked ahead to see that there was a log placed in the road. They were in an empty valley with no one around for miles. Three men popped out from behind the log, armed with bows.

“Get out and surrender your cart!” the leader, a man wearing a green cap, demanded. He aimed his bow straight at the merchant.

“Lenny, can you fight them?” Aaron asked.

The big man shook his head. “There’s three of them and one of me. We’d be slaughtered.”

Aaron sighed and climbed down. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded as he marched straight up to the men. They all laughed at the sight of the shadow merchant but Aaron knew how to deal with these types.

“We’re robbing you, what does it look like?” the leader said.

“It looks like three men who have no clue how to do business,” Aaron said. “We’re carrying lumber with us. Do any of you need lumber when the Wilted Forest is just a few miles from here?”

The men looked at each other. “We were hoping for garrins.”

“So do the rest of us,” Aaron said. He crossed his arms. “You folks are wasting your time trying to rob us. We don’t have coin as we left everything behind in the city. So all you’re taking is a wagon and some horses. Do you even have the resources to feed them?”

The leader lowered his bow. “No, not really…”

“Then why are you wasting our time? Now, if you were to wait for us to get back, with an empty wagon, then you’d know we had money,” Aaron said.

The man raised his bow and aimed it at point blank range. “We can just kill you and take your stuff.”

“And then what? Sell the lumber?” Aaron said. “Look, I understand you’re trying to get by but we don’t have anything of value. Well, we…” he hesitated on purpose. “We will be coming back with more coin. That’s why you should have waited. Now I’m a reasonable man, I understand you’re trying your best here. So how about this? You wait until we return and then we’ll pay you a fee based on how much we made in Gatesburg.”

The words Bargain 1+ appeared over the man’s head. Skill Success!

The leader tilted his head and thought about it. “I suppose that’s reasonable.”

“Far more reasonable than killing us and just taking lumber,” Maddox replied. “Do we have a deal?”

“Fine,” the man said. “We’ll be waiting for you. If you try anything, we’ll be sure to kill you three. But garrins are preferable to lumber.”

The bandits allowed Aaron and his ride to pass without being harmed. He was greeted with experience for the solution that he had come up with. Bandit Bargain! 200 XP Gained! This put him at 650, only 350 away from leveling up. It seemed that the more he dealt with people, trading and helping with quests, the more points he would gain.

“That was some clever thinking,” Lenny said as Aaron climbed back into the cart. “But we aren’t profiting off of the trip at all, how are we going to pay when we come back?”

“We’re going to sell these pictures and get you a crossbow,” Aaron replied as the cart began to roll forward once more. “And after that, we’ll take out the leader. He doesn’t stand a chance against you.”

Lenny balked at that. “But you made a deal.”

“And it was under duress,” the shadow merchant replied. “A deal under duress is no deal at all.”

“I suppose you’re right,” the big guard said. “Though I’m not sure I can fight them.”

“You just need to shoot the one in charge,” Aaron replied. “After that they’ll have to weigh whether their lives are worth a few pieces of coin.”

Chapter 9

The wagon arrived at Gatesburg in the early morning. Aaron could feel his stomach rumbling but he suppressed the urge to eat. Hunger wasn’t normal for him; he was used to the lavish lifestyle, gorging himself without having to worry about when he was going to be fed next. Now he was on the fringes of society, trying to eke out a living. But not for long.

The city was huge, twice the size of Greystone. A massive wall was erected around the perimeter, with large castles in the background, looming over the entire place. There was a large gate in the center of the walls. Merchants were coming in and out of the open gate and there seemed to be no check in process. Good.

The cart rolled into the city and the merchant, Lonzo, turned to face the two. “Alright, we’re going to unload and part ways. I’m not heading back with the threat of bandits.”

“Come now, we’re going to handle your bandit problem,” Aaron said. “I was able to talk our way past them but my fine friend is a guard. He should be able to take care of them no problem. We just need to get him a weapon.”

Lonzo took some time to mull over his words and he ended up shrugging. “Very well, if you think we can take them, I’ll go find another guard. They aren’t that hard to come by.”

“Excellent idea,” Aaron said. “Come on, Lenny. We’ve got work to do.”

Aaron departed from the wagon and into the city. People were busy working, building houses, sweeping floors and tending to livestock. They were in the outer parts of the town, where the farmlands were set up. He could see wheat growing in large amounts, massive farms overseeing their operation.

“It seems they have access to food here,” Aaron mused. “I wonder how much it would cost to get some wheat. That would trade for a fine price back home.”

“No idea,” Lenny said. “Can I go to the tavern now?”

“Actually, yes,” Aaron said. He set the paintings down on the ground for a moment. “Your job is to go and spend some garrins. Drink away but more importantly, I want you to start asking people if they know how to find a Vinter Original Painting. Just like that.”

“Vinter Original?” the man asked.

“Yes, if you can repeat it, you can do the job,” Aaron said. “These paintings are worthless but with the right branding, they should sell quite well.”

“Seems unethical.”

“Unethical how, like being bribed to lose a shipment? Hah, art sales are always based on hype anyway,” Aaron replied. “Trust me on this.”

Lenny blew a raspberry. “I suppose you’re right. Fine, I’ll go around and ask for the paintings. Strange idea…” He muttered to himself and wandered off to go find a tavern. Since the man had a neutral reputation he would be freer to travel around the city. In the meantime, Aaron headed to one of the farms, hoping to find the price of wheat.

The first farm he stumbled upon was a large estate with hundreds of workers in the fields. They were busy harvesting the wheat, cutting through the land with scythes and bundling them together. The wheat was loaded in wheelbarrows and brought to grain mills, where they would be crushed into flour.

There was a man sitting on the porch of the farm, rocking back and forth and smoking a corn cob pipe. Aaron approached and bowed to the man. “Excuse me sir, but I’m a humble merchant. Can you tell me where I could find the proprietor of this place?”

“I run the farm,” the man replied. He was an elderly fellow with bushy grey eyebrows that narrowed when he saw Aaron more clearly. “What’s a fellow like you want with me?”

“I was hoping to inquire upon the price of wheat,” Aaron said.

“Wheat ain’t for sale,” the man replied. “It’s owned by the nobles here and they own the land too. I just work it.”

More nobility. Aaron didn’t have the reputation to enter into those social circles, nor did he have the coin to impress them. He’d need to figure some way to get this wheat.

“Surely there’s a few bundles that can go missing every now and then?” Aaron said.

The old man lowered his pipe. “You talking about stealing from the nobles?”

“Is it stealing if you’re spending your time overseeing everything? What’s wrong with a little extra coin in your pocket?”

The old man thought about this for a moment. “I suppose we have some extra that we keep for eating. But the idea of selling…never crossed my mind.”

“I’m a shadow merchant, someone who can get things moving,” Aaron said. “If you can supply me with the wheat, I’ll be able to supply you with coin. How does that sound?”

“Sounds like a good way to get in trouble…” the old man said. He thought about it some more. “But your reputation is low enough as it goes. I suppose if I get caught I can just blame you.”

Aaron forced a grin at that suggestion. “Of course, I can take all the blame you need for the right price.”

“Very well,” the old man said. “I’ve got a few bushels stored right now. I can part with them for 200 garrins a head.”

Aaron nodded. “That’s fair. I’ll return once I have the funds.”

The farmer went back to his pipe and said not another word. He seemed like a reliable chap, someone who didn’t ask too many questions and was willing to earn a bit of coin on the side. With the wheat, Aaron would be able to sell it in Greystone for triple that amount. The famine would be easy to capitalize on. Though he wondered why the town didn’t trade more for wheat with Gatesburg. Perhaps there was some conflict going on between the nobles.

The nobility seemed to run everything. They were the upper class who owned land and controlled most of the rules of the cities. Aaron wondered if it would be possible for himself to become a noble at some point. It would require him to get in the good graces of a powerful benefactor…something that seemed akin to begging. No, Aaron would go his own way. He had built an empire before, he would build one again, with his own set of rules.

Aaron took his paintings and headed to a small section of the outskirts with not a soul around. He found a barrel and placed the paintings upon it, carefully arranging them so they were both showing. After that, he merely waited.

A passerby stopped and looked. “What’s this?” he asked.

“Fine art, not for the likes of you,” Aaron replied.

The man scowled and walked off. Aaron manned the station beside the paintings and replied the same way anytime anyone came up to inquire upon the items. He spoke down to them and caused them to shuffle off, grumbling about not being able to afford the art.

Lenny returned a few hours later. “I’ve visited three taverns and asked about these Vinter Originals. No one has a clue what I’m talking about,” he said.

“Of course not,” Aaron replied. “Have you any chalk?”

The man dug into his bag and took out a small piece of charcoal. “I’ve got this to write.”

Aaron took the charcoal and wrote on the barrels: Vinter’s Original Paintings. And then he waited some more. A few hours went by and the sun came down. His stomach rumbled but he willed the hunger away. This was more important than eating, it was commerce.

Eventually a nobleman approached. He was wearing fine blue clothes and a turban with a red jewel in the center. His cape followed him as he walked up. “I hear you’re telling people that they can’t afford your paintings,” he said, crossing his arms “One of my servants is quite cross.”

“They don’t want to pay, they just want to look,” Aaron replied, standing in front of the paintings. “I’m not running a museum.”

“Yet you aren’t selling these at an art gallery…” the noble said, trying to look around Aaron. The shadow merchant stood in the way and ensured he couldn’t fully see them.

“I’m not the kind of man who sells at galleries, these paintings aren’t…” Aaron trailed off for a moment to really sell it. “They aren’t generally available on the general markets.”

“Move out of the way and let me see,” the noble insisted. A few more people were arriving. Some were merchants, others were nobles, but they were all curious about these ‘Vinter Originals’ as Aaron had called them.

“I bet he stole them,” one of the customers said. “That’s why he’s hawking them on the street.”

“Who cares where he got them, they’re original,” another whispered.

A pompous man wearing gold pressed through the crowd and approached. “I’ve heard there’s demand for these,” he said. “I’m willing to pay you 300 garrins for each.”

Finally, an offer on the table. Aaron knew that he could get more if he stayed longer and played the customers against one another but his reputation was low enough and he didn’t want to risk missing the sale because of his greed. “Sold,” he said. “To the man who can spot a keen piece of art.”

“Bah, I’m just going to sell them for twice as much somewhere else,” the noble replied. He gestured to one of his servants and the man approached. He poured the coins into Aaron’s outstretched hands.

Art Sale! 200 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision and he grinned. The crowd dispersed and the shadow merchant counted his coins. He was at 800 now.

“Excellent,” he said to himself. “Now onto buying that wheat.”

Aaron and his goon made their way to the farm where the old man was still sitting. “I’d like to purchase two bushels,” Aaron said, showing his coin.

“That’s it? I’m risking getting trouble over two bushels?” the man grumbled. Still, he looked at the coins in Aaron’s hands and weighed the decision. “Fine, fine. Money’s hard to come by these days as it is.”

He took the money and headed into the house. After a few minutes, he came out with the bushels of wheat, two of them. Aaron practically salivated at the thought of flipping them for 900 apiece.

Wheat

Type: Food

Description: This can be used to make flour.

Value: 300 garrins

“What about my crossbow?” Lenny asked.

“We should have enough for one. Come on, let’s go find a weapons’ shop,” Aaron said. They walked through the poor district of the city, looking for an arms store. As they traveled, a man intercepted them. He was a city guard, wearing heavy armor and carrying a halberd at his side.

“Hey!” he said. “What are you doing in this city?”

“Shopping,” Aaron replied.

“Not on my watch. You’re a shadow merchant, you aren’t welcome here,’ the guard said. “Go back to the outskirts or I’ll have you arrested.”

Aaron gritted his teeth. He wasn’t used to being this hated. At least not privately. “Come on, I’m just trying to get a weapon for safe travel back home.”

“And I’m hoping that you get killed when you go back to where you came from,” the guard replied. He drew his halberd and aimed it at Aaron. “Get the hell out of here and don’t come back.”

Aaron was forced to retreat. A few more people were watching curiously, some laughing at his situation.

“Come on, Lenny, we’ll have to figure something else out,” Aaron said as he headed back to the outskirts.

Chapter 10

Driven from the insides of the city, Aaron was forced to figure out how to get back. Lonzo did not want to travel back without protection, as he had failed to find a guard who would accompany them. Word of Aaron had gotten around the town and the guards were unwilling to travel with a shadow merchant.

Things were hard to handle with his reputation being so low. Aaron hated to admit it but he felt as if he should do something to improve his standing. But what would he be able to do? The people were fickle, he knew, they wouldn’t care if he lived or died right now. But maybe he could do some kind of grand gesture, some kind of act that would get them to back down. Or maybe he was wasting his time with these towns. Surely there had to be some kind of place an outlaw was welcome.

As Aaron pondered this, Lenny came back with good news. He had found a merchant willing to take them along, provided they worked on the trip. The man in question was a fellow by the name of Franz and he had the most curious cargo with him.

Aaron approached the merchant’s wagon to see that it was a large cage. Inside there were people. Slaves, Aaron realized. This man had no trouble with a shadow merchant because they were moving slaves from here to Greystone.

He could scarcely believe his eyes. Men and women, some children too, crowded in a small cage affixed to the back of a wagon. Human cattle, to be sold for some nefarious purpose.

“What’s going on?” Aaron whispered to Lenny as they climbed aboard the front of the wagon. “Why are there people in cages?”

“Slaves are common exports from the city of Gatesburg,” Lenny replied. “They’re folks who couldn’t pay their debts and thus were sold.”

“But there are kids in there,” Aaron said. “I can’t imagine they’d be debtors too.”

Lenny shrugged. “They sell for quite a bit. There are slave markets everywhere in Gorvan. Best get used to it.”

Aaron could hardly stomach this. They were trafficking humans? An indignation rose up within him, some spark of humanity. Sure he had employed thousands of people in his past life but they had been well compensated. This was just…despicable.

“You ready to go?” Franz said as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “It’s a long trip and I’m going to need extra eyes on the cargo when we camp.”

“You bet” Aaron replied, his thoughts going a mile a minute. There was only the one merchant in charge of the whole group of people. He could easily be overpowered.

The wagon took off and the people in the back groaned as the bumps from the cart were absorbed by the cage. Aaron pondered long and hard about his plan. When they reached the halfway mark, the man veered the cart off the road.

“Alright,” Franz said. “You two keep watch. I’m going to get some shuteye for a while.” He took out a tent and began to pitch it, out in the valley beside the Longwind Road.

Aaron waited until the man was asleep and quickly headed to the back of the wagon. Most of the people were sleeping. “Wake up,” he hissed as he drew out his rusty dagger. There was a small padlock on the back of the gate and he jammed the blade in, twisting violently to break the lock. This worked and the padlock clicked open, allowing the gate to swing wide.

“What are you doing?” a woman asked.

“I’m breaking you all out,” Aaron said. “No human is meant to be a slave.”

“Where are we supposed to go?” another asked.

“I don’t know,” Aaron confessed, “but if you stay here, you’ll be sold on a market and treated as property. You don’t deserve this, no one does.”

The people all climbed out of the back of the cage and looked around. One of them pointed towards the Wilted Forest in the distance. “We can hide there. Most of us know how to forage for food.”

“You better take off before the slaver wakes up,” Aaron said.

Lenny, who was keeping watch at the front, looked back and did a double take. “What’s going on?” he hissed.

“I’ve done my fair share of bad things but even I have my limits,” Aaron replied. “Now let’s take the cart and get the hell out of here before Franz wakes up.”

“You’re one strange man,” Lenny said as they watched the slaves quickly flee towards the trees. There was a large enough group of them to fend off trouble, or so Aaron hoped. Had he been in a better position, he would have harbored them or offered them shelter. But he was hungry enough as it was.

As the slaves escaped, Aaron was surprised to be greeted with words. You have gained 10 Reputation. Your Reputation is now -40: Highly Disliked.

Just like that, Aaron had gained reputation. He felt a strange warmth well up within him as they climbed into the wagon and began to travel towards Greystone. It was weird; he had not thought about his reputation at all when freeing those people. All he could think about was his own land and how they had fought so long and hard to end the legacy of slavery. Things weren’t perfect back home but Aaron would never have tolerated robbing a man of his freedom. Maybe there was some hope for him yet.

They made their way across the road, leaving Franz the slaver behind. Lenny seemed to think the entire ordeal strange but Aaron didn’t care. He was warmed in a strange way now and felt strength course through his body. It was almost as if…as if helping others actually did some good for the soul.

As they traveled across the land, they noticed the three archers waiting for them, the log fallen in the middle of the road once more.

“There they are!” the leader said. “I knew they’d come back.”

“Oh great,” Aaron groaned. “Stay in the wagon and let me handle this.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” Lenny said.

Aaron climbed down and approached the group. He had no other option than to fulfill his end of the bargain. “Alright you lot, we had some luck with our sales in the town,” he said, reaching into his purse. “I’ve got 200 garrins for you. That should be more than enough to buy our safe passage.”

The leader looked at the money and up at Aaron. “You’re meaning to tell me we waited all this time for a measly two hundred? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“If I had more, I’d pay you more,” Aaron said. “But it’s all I have. And a deal is a deal. I said we’d pay and we are. What more can you want from us?”

The leader groaned and took the coin from Aaron’s hands. He inspected them for a moment. “We’re never going to buy our freedom at this rate.”

“What do you mean?” Aaron asked.

The leader shrugged. “I mean we’re wanted men. Outlaws by all things considered. There’s a bounty on our heads but if we pay it off, we’d be free to return to Greystone. Until then, things are just miserable.”

“What’s your bounty?”

“Five thousand garrins, for stealing and looting,” the man replied.

“At that cost, why not just travel elsewhere?”

“Bounty hunters, mate,” the man said. “They’ll track us down sooner or later.”

“What’s your name, friend?” Aaron asked.

“I’m Grecius, of the Longwind Bandits,” he said. “We used to have more until a bounty hunter group arrived. Killed most of our men, leaving Larry and Twig with me.”

The other two waved at Aaron.

“I see. Well, I would suggest that you find some other means of employment than merely robbing folks. Most people don’t seem to have a lot of money,” Aaron said. “Maybe take up adventuring?”

Grecius groaned at that. “No way, those dungeons are too dangerous. I’ll take my chances out here, where it’s at least safe during the night.”

Chapter 11

Bargain Upheld! +5 Reputation appeared in Aaron’s vision as he climbed back into the wagon. He was surprised to see that he was now at -35, still Highly Disliked but his reputation was slowly starting to improve. He hadn’t realized that if he screwed those bandits out of the deal that he would stand to lose reputation. He supposed that his word meant something in a place like this.

They rode back to Greystone in their wagon, the two horses pulling them along without complaint. Aaron had no idea what to do with a stolen wagon, but then remembered the fence. The barkeep Ginley was a man who knew how to sell things on the black market. Perhaps he could stand to gain a few garrins from his charity.

They rolled into the outskirts of town. Aaron parked the wagon outside of Wren’s Den and climbed down. He hurried inside, the bundles of wheat in hand.

Elira was working the counter today. She was cleaning the table until it was spotless. She looked up to see Aaron and smiled. “You seem different today. Oh, your reputation has improved.”

“Indeed it has,” Aaron said. He placed the wheat on the counter. “And I come bearing something of real value.”

The woman’s eyes lit up at the sight of the wheat. “Where on earth did you find that?”

“I’m a resourceful man,” Aaron replied. “And it can be yours for only 1,800 garrins.”

The woman laughed at that. “You’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to pay 1,800 for two bushels of wheat. I’ll pay you seven hundred for the lot.”

Aaron frowned. “Isn’t there a famine? This could be worth a lot of money.”

“But I’d need to grind it into flour and then bake it,” she replied. “A lot of work. You’re just providing the raw material.”

“Nine hundred,” Aaron replied. “That’s my firm offer.”

“Eight,” she countered.

“Eight fifty,” Aaron said, not giving up on his profit margins.

“Fine, I can buy them for 850,” she replied. She took out a bag of garrins and poured them on the counter. “I’m surprised you were able to find wheat on the markets in Gatesburg.”

Wheat Sale! 200 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision. Level Up! He was greeted by a whole slew of options. He quickly bid farewell to the woman and went outside, looking at his new level with curiosity.

You are now Level 2!

You have 3 Stat Points to spend. Increase any Stat.

Stats:

HP: 5

MP: 0

Strength: 1

Speed: 1

Intelligence: 1

Charisma: 1

Aaron thought about it for a moment and decided that he wanted to increase his intellect and charisma. He put two points into Charisma and one into Intelligence. The intelligence boost didn’t do anything but his skills increased by 2 points when his charisma increased.

You gain 4 Skill Points. Increase your Skill Rank or Buy New Skills.

Existing Skills:

Bargain: 3

Trade: 3

Selling: 3

Harvesting: 1

New Skills:

Appraise

Foraging

Hunting

Fighting

Searching

Trapping

Fishing

Interesting. There were some new skills that he could take or he could increase his existing skills. He had 4 points to spend and decided to increase his bargain by 2, bringing the total up to 5 and then selected 1 point in Fishing and 1 point in Foraging. There was a river in the Wilted Forest; he could catch fish there and then sell them. Plus he could eat what he caught. That alone would be worth it.

You gain 2 New Abilities

Bargainer:

Sales Expert: Gain +100 garrins whenever you make a sale.

Buyer: Goods cost half their regular price.

Sweeteners: When trading, you gain an additional item for free.

Manager:

Sales Shack: You gain a Shack where you can Sell Goods and Services.

Employee: You gain 1 Employee who will man any building you own.

Public Relations: You gain +10 Reputation.

Merchant of Shadows:

Fence Friend: You gain +200 garrins when selling to a Fence.

Black Market Access: You can access the black market to purchase stolen or illegal goods.

Shadow Barter: You can exchange your HP to increase any other stat for 1 hour.

Aaron looked at his options. There were quite a few abilities that could come in handy. Namely he liked Sales Shack, as that would allow him to sell his own goods to the population. Though he would also need to buy Employee in order to man the shop. Maybe Sales Expert, as it would increase the amount he made when selling to the Wren.

He thought about it for a while and decided to go for Sales Expert for now, then selected Public Relations as well. His reputation changed from -35 to -25, turning from Highly Disliked to Disapproving.

“Very nice,” Aaron muttered to himself as he reviewed his newly updated character sheet. He was growing more skilled in every way and soon the entire town would be his to run.

Chapter 12

The Barking Dragon was no different than how Aaron had left it. The barman was excited to see him and waved him over, pouring him a celebratory beer.

“I want some food,” Aaron said, putting down twenty garrins. “I’ll take your stew.”

“Coming right up,” Ginley said, going to the fireplace and dipping a ladle into a big pot. He dumped the stew into a wooden bowl and brought it to Aaron. The food was piping hot but Aaron didn’t care. He wolfed it down, enjoying the bland mixture of beans and celery. It didn’t matter how poorly it tasted, it was the first real meal he had in weeks and he felt his stomach fill up.

He gulped down the beer and then looked at the barman. “I’ve got something for you, by the way. Not the pay from that damnable noble, we still have to find him and see if he’ll cough up the coin he owes. No, I have a wagon with two horses. It’s rather hot as I took it off a slave merchant but I figured you’d be able to get rid of it.”

The fence grinned. “A wagon can sell for quite a bit on the black market, especially if it’s got horses. Now it’s going to be hard to sell without the right buyer, so I can give you four hundred garrins for it. And another bowl of stew, since we’re at it.”

“Two bowls, one for me and one for Lenny,” Aaron replied in between bites.

“Fair enough!” the man said. “Now where is it?”

Aaron gave the man the details and Ginley was quick to send a few of his fellow patrons to go out and get it. He left on business for a few hours and when he returned, he had a bag of coins.

“Four hundred for the wagon and horses,” Ginley said, dropping the coins in front of Aaron.

Black Market Deal! 200 XP! appeared in front of Aaron as he snatched the money.

“Excellent work,” Aaron said. He had 1,180 garrins now and the possibilities were limitless. “Now, where can I find a fishing shop?”

Ginley told him the location of a place called the Lonesome Pole, only a few blocks away. Aaron left Lenny to drink and made his way to the fishing shop. He felt better now that he had eaten a full meal and his stomach was sated.

The shop was a small establishment in one of the many buildings located around the slum district. There was a stuffed bass mounted above the door and it read “Lonesome Pole.” Aaron entered the shop and waited to see if he would be able to do business.

There was a plethora of fishing poles in the building. Most were made of bamboo, the rods with lines attached to them. Bobbers and bait were everywhere, small worms and live crickets in cages.

“Well look who it is, the shadow merchant,” a folksy man said, emerging from the back of the shop. He was wearing a bucket hat with lures affixed to them. “I hear you’ve been doing some good things. Keeping your word and helping some poor folks who were enslaved.”

“Word gets around fast,” Aaron said. He waited a beat and the man gestured towards the shop.

“You’re welcome to buy here,” the man said. “And if you catch any fish, I’d be happy to take them off your hands. There’s a meat shortage going on, so fish is a commonly needed good. I can pay based on what you catch.”

Aaron thanked the man for the greetings and examined the various poles. A menu appeared in front of him, condensing all of the information for him.

Basic Fishing Pole

Description: This pole is perfect for new fishers. Use it to catch fish in rivers and lakes.

Cost: 500 garrins

Improved Fishing Pole

Skill Bonus: +2 Fishing

Description: With a reel and pulley system, the improved fishing pole grants better control during fishing.

Cost: 800 garrins

Master’s Fishing Rod

Skill Bonus: +4 Fishing

Description: This rod is capable of more complex fishing, allowing you to catch the strongest of fish.

Cost: 1,200 garrins

Aaron looked at the rods. He wasn’t looking to spend all of his money but at the same time, it would be beneficial to get the improved pole. Catching and selling fish would hopefully improve his cash flow and allow him to start making bigger purchases. Maybe he could even open his own sales stand.

He purchased the rod and bid the vendor goodbye. This part of the city was quiet and there didn’t seem to be many customers around. People weren’t pointing and whispering at him anymore and he saw a woman even smile at him as he walked towards the Wilted Forest. There were benefits to increasing his reputation, he realized. Without the constant scowls and screams from townsfolk, he felt as if there was some new peace in his life. If he kept this up, he’d be out of the negatives and perhaps could even work towards a positive reputation.

Thoughts of his past life came back as he made his way to the forest, fishing pole in hand. He thought of the people who had died under his command, people whom he considered incidental. His own reputation in that world had been highly suspect as well, but he never stopped long enough to even think about it. Instead he just focused on earning as much money as he could. And what had that gotten him? Assassinated by someone jilted, angry at what he had done. Death came to people all the same but his own had revealed who he really was. Someone worth despising in the streets.

Was there repentance within Aaron? Not quite. He still justified his decisions, thinking about the pressures from the board who demanded higher and higher profits. The shareholders who got rich off of his efforts, investing in a company others called a blood shop. They too were holding the bag. It was just Aaron who was the face of the whole operation. He could scarcely blame himself for what others wanted him to do, right?

Chapter 13

There was a river that ran through the Wilted Forest. Despite the rest of the place being gnarled and nasty looking, the waters there were fresh and clean. Aaron took his rod in hand and walked up to the edge of the babbling river, looking at the fish that were clearly visible. They were beneath the surface, occasionally jumping out to catch a fly that had landed on the waters.

Aaron took out a can of worms and stuck one onto the hook, then cast the reel out. The fishing rod gave him +2 to his Fishing skill, making it a total of +3. That should be enough to catch something, hopefully.

The line landed in the water and the bobber rose up. He waited patiently, holding his breath for a time before exhaling deeply. The birds were chirping and the forest around him didn’t seem so bad. The weather was perfectly cool and he had all the time in the world.

Eventually, there was a tug on the line and the bobber went down. Aaron felt the line go taut and he began to reel in, pulling up hard. The words Fishing 4+ appeared in front of him and the line snapped.

“Damn it all,” Aaron grumbled and he pulled back the line. The hook and the bait were gone. He quickly restrung the pole and added another worm. The store clerk had been so gracious to give him extra string and a can of worms for making such a large purchase.

He cast the line again and stood there, motionless. Next time there was a slight tug, he held his breath, and when the bobber sank he immediately began to reel in. The words Fishing 2+ appeared before him and he pulled the line out of the water, reeling in as fast as he could. On the end of the line dangled a single red fish.

Red Barkfin

Type: Fish

Description: The barkfin is common to rivers and prefers worm and bread as bait.

Value: 100 garrins

“Well, alright!” Aaron said, looking at the fish. He walked over to a tree branch and hung the fish from a wire, then returned to his fishing. Fish Caught! 50 XP appeared in his vision and he grinned. It seemed there was experience for everything in this world.

There was soon another bite and Aaron reeled it in. This was a blue fish and it had glowing scales that shimmered in the sunlight.

Blue Snapfish

Type: Fish

Description: The scales of this fish are highly desired by jewelers.

Value: 150 garrins

Already Aaron was at 250 in profit. When he added his new ability, Sales Expert, he’d be up another 200. He was halfway to getting his investment back.

Encouraged by the fish he already caught, Aaron went back to fishing. He managed to get two more Red Barkfins before the afternoon was over. This netted him 200 XP overall. He carefully bundled up the fish and headed to town to see if he could sell them.

As he turned around, he noticed a shadow out of the corner of his eye. “Don’t move,” a woman said, and he froze, fish slung over his shoulder.

“Hey there,” Aaron said, not making any sudden moves.

A woman emerged from behind a tree, bow in hand. She looked quite pale and sickly, with her clothes in tatters. She was terribly thin and gaunt. “Give me your money,” she said.

“I don’t have any,” Aaron lied. He wasn’t about to just hand over the remaining garrins that he had. “But there’s plenty of fish if you’re hungry.”

“Cut the crap, I can see you have a coinpurse,” the woman hissed. She had long brown hair that was muddied.

“And I can see that you have a bow but haven’t used it yet,” Aaron said. “Why not just kill me and take my stuff?”

The woman balked at that. She drew back for a moment and tried to think of something to say.

“It seems to me that you’re just hoping I’ll hand it over,” Aaron said, stepping forward towards the woman. “But the reality is, you’re not a killer, are you?”

“No,” she said, lowering her head and the bow. “Just go.”

“Who are you?” Aaron asked.

“I’m Kylee,” she replied.

“And why are you out in these woods?”

“Because I’m sick,” she replied. “I’ve got the Flutterpox and the healer costs money. They don’t want me around because it can spread via contact.”

That would explain why she was so thin. Aaron felt a strange sense of pity for the woman, even though she had just tried to rob him moments ago. But what did she mean to him? He dismissed the feelings of pity and shrugged. “Why not work then?”

“Doing what?” she replied. “No one will have anything to do with me.” Kylee looked at him for a moment and sighed again.

Aaron didn’t know what to say. He certainly wasn’t going to pay for her bills. Still, she looked hungry. “Here,” he said, unslinging his fish and taking one from the string that connected them. “Take a fish to eat.”

He tossed it to her and she caught it quickly enough. “Thank you,” Kylee replied “You’re a good man for helping me out, even though I tried to rob you.”

Reputation +5! Appeared in Aaron’s vision. Even though he hadn’t given her any money for the doctor’s bill, he still gained a reputation increase for feeding her. That sense of warmth washed over him once more as he saw he was now at only -20. Perhaps there was some good in doing the right thing after all.

Chapter 14

Aaron arrived in town with his fish and went to the market stalls. This was in the richer part of the city and he could tell immediately that not everyone in Greystone had it bad. Many of the men and women were dressed in finery, carrying jewels and pearls upon their necks. Some wore top hats and others were in suits.

He looked around for a stall that was empty but couldn’t see any. Instead, he spotted a man closing up a fish shop. The fellow was in his mid-20s and had shaggy red hair. He was shaking his head with sorrow as he boarded up the shop.

“What’s going on?” Aaron asked as he approached.

“Bah, Lord Everson has made a decree,” the merchant replied. “No more fish sales unless directly to the Lordship himself.”

“What do you mean no more fish sales?” Aaron demanded. The man shrugged at him.

“I mean that he’s recently banned the sale of fish,” he replied. “Don’t think there’s any way to misconstrue that.”

“But…” Aaron started to say. “But what about…I mean why?”

“Can’t tell you why but Everson always has his reasons,” the man said. “Never any good reasons mind you. But he’s why the farms aren’t growing wheat no more either.”

That sounded like some kind of protectionism going on. Aaron felt a heat wash over him. He had spent all day catching fish and now he couldn’t sell them? Why in the world was this happening, and today of all days?

There was no answer to this and Aaron decided that he would take his case up before the Lord himself. He grumbled and went about asking how to find the Lord. This was easily answered; the man was in the very heart of the city. He resided in a manor, an opulent house that stood out in the middle of the shabby buildings all around it.

As Aaron walked up to the guards, they both put their halberds in front of him, cutting him off.

“Sorry, friend,” the first guard said. “But unless you have an invitation, you ain’t getting in.”

“I’m a merchant trying to inquire about the fish market,” Aaron replied. “Please let me through.”

The guards both laughed. “Please?” the second one said. “What you think you can just waltz in and take up the Lord’s time? Everson is a busy man, very busy. You ain’t getting in without an invitation and that’s that.”

“How would I go about getting one?” Aaron asked.

The guards laughed again. “I suppose you’d have to be born rich.”

Aaron felt the anger within him stir even more. These men were mocking him, what right did they have? But then again, what could he do?

As he pondered this, he noticed a familiar face walking out of the manor. It was none other than Leopold, the man who owed Ginley money.

They both spotted each other at the same time and Leopold’s face went white. He dashed out of the gates and into an alley.

“Aw hell,” Aaron grumbled and he chased after the man. They ran for some time, through the mazelike alleys of the city, until they found themselves in a dead end.

“Look man, I said I’d get you the money,” Leopold said, turning against and pressing his back against the wall. “Please don’t kill me.”

“Oh relax,” Aaron said. “No one’s killing anyone. But you owe Ginley money. I said you had a week and it’s been a little time since then. Hand over what you have.”

The noble shrugged. “I ain’t got anything, I swear!”

Aaron sighed. He didn’t have Lenny around to threaten the man with a beating, so he’d have to handle this himself. Though an idea did come to him. “Alright, if you don’t have the money, then how about you do me a favor for an extension? I need to talk with Lord Everson about some business. They say I can’t see him without an invitation and laughed when I inquired on how to get one. You seemed to have free access to the manor. Though I don’t know why you didn’t just run back inside.”

“They don’t tolerate me much at the Lord’s Hall,” Leopold replied. “But if you want to speak to Everson, I can arrange the meeting. In fact, I can take you there right now. Just give me another week, that’s all I ask.”

“Fair,” Aaron said. “I’d much prefer to meet this lord and find out just who he thinks he is.”

Leopold escorted Aaron back to the gate. The guards didn’t argue when he told them to let the man pass and they entered the courtyard.

“Everson is a shady man, so I suppose you two will get along,” Leopold said.

“What makes him so shady?” Aaron asked as they passed a few statues of what looked to be great nobles and lords from the past. There was a garden with an apple tree and it seemed to be dropping plenty of apples—most were on the ground, rotting away.

The interior of the building was splendid. There were great carpets of red laid out on the ground, with portraits of nobles lining the walls. Golden statues of armless women greeted them as they entered the dining hall, where Lord Everson awaited.

Everson was an enormous man, sitting in the center of a great feasting table. There was all manner of food spread on the table and he was alone, munching on meat to his heart’s content.

Aaron could feel his anger boil at the sight of the man. He was dressed in the finest of silks while most of the people on the streets were going hungry. The slums were in bad shape and yet here he was, eating without worry.

“Lord Everson,” Leopold said, bowing before the man. “I have come to introduce you to my, er, friend, Aaron Maddox. He’s a shadow merchant.”

“Ahhh, I heard there was someone with a low reputation in town,” the lord said, not pausing from his eating. “And now he shows up. What can I do for you, sir?”

“I recently took up fishing as a means of making coin,” Aaron said, standing before the lord with his head held high. “Only to discover that it is now illegal to sell fish. What is the meaning of this? Why would you ban such an activity?”

“Ahhh, yes, fish, terrible food,” the man grunted. “The reason I banned it is because the Guild of Goods told me to. They run the town’s economic system and had reason to believe that fish would affect their overall profits. They primarily sell meat and bread, so I can see why they don’t want local fishers interfering.”

The food was restricted because of a guild’s influence? Aaron couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “That is protectionism, sir,” Aaron said. “And besides, there’s a food shortage going on.”

“Well the shortage isn’t affecting the rich,” Everson replied, pausing from his eating. He folded his hands together and leaned on the table. “And the nobility is reaping quite the profit from the sales. Bread is at an all-time high, things couldn’t be better for us.”

“And what of us at the bottom?” Aaron asked.

“Beans and crumbs, I suppose,” the man answered. He chuckled. “You seem to be quite up in arms about this.”

“It’s affecting my bottom line,” Aaron replied. “I intended on selling my fish and even opening up a shack to sell.”

“You’d need a guild license to sell anything anyway, or a class feature,” the man said, returning to his eating. “Leopold must owe you quite a bit to bring you here. You have no standing, no reputation nor anything to offer me. Why should I even keep wasting my time with you?”

Aaron was at a loss for words. He didn’t know how to argue with a man so obstinate, but maybe he could bargain. “What would it cost you to let me open a fish shack?” Aaron asked.

The man pondered this for a moment. “You don’t seem like you’d have the money. But there are always favors that can be done. One of my most trusted advisors went into the Storywood Dungeon, searching for some kind of legend. He hasn’t been seen since. I assume that he died but there’s always the matter of a pesky wife begging for me to send people to retrieve him. I suppose that if you were to go in there and find him, you’d be able to open up your silly fish shop.”

The dungeon again? Aaron shivered at the thought of the place. But there were treasures to be found there, and if it meant he could be in business…

“The Guild of Goods won’t interfere with my dealings?” Aaron asked.

The man laughed. “Now that is a matter for you to worry about entirely on your own.”

Chapter 15

Aaron was facing a perilous task. He would have to enter the Storywood Dungeon all alone. Lenny wouldn’t hear of going into a place so deadly and Aaron had no other contacts. So it would be just him exploring the danger zone with a rusty dagger that barely did any damage. Hopefully he’d be able to find Yarmon soon.

Yarmon was an accountant who had heard a story about the Allsphere, a powerful artifact that was said to be able to change a person’s abilities at a whim. Furthermore, the artifact could be used on others to turn their powers to nothing, reducing them to a mere husk of their former selves.

Such an item would be wonderful to acquire, Aaron had thought. The ability to improve his own stats and also to take away from those who displeased him? What wasn’t to like?

But now, as he entered the dark cavernous entrance that led deep into the dungeon, he was having second thoughts about ever looking for it.

He carried a torch in one hand and his dagger in the other. He didn’t have any combat skills or experience, so he’d have to rely on his wits in order to survive.

The hallway was ominous, open and circular with doors and passages all around him. “Yarmon?” Aaron called out, his voice echoing down the hall. “Yarmon are you out there?”

There was no reply, not that Aaron expected any. With a deep breath, he began his search. There was a dripping sound in the distance, a strange gurgling in one of the passages and the sound of wind rushing through a nearby tunnel. It was all so very overwhelming.

Aaron decided to pick one room to search. He opened the wooden door and entered a large room with a broken table in the middle. There was a skeleton sitting at the table, its mouth open wide. Aaron could see a glint of silver in it.

“I’m not above this,” Aaron muttered as he went down to examine the teeth. Sure enough, the skeleton had a metal tooth, one made of pure silver. With his knife, Aaron carefully pried the tooth out and examined it.

Silver Tooth

Type: Treasure

Description: A silver tooth that once belonged to a man with a penchant for walnuts.

Value: 300 garrins

“This is definitely more profitable than fishing,” Aaron was saying to himself when he heard the thumping of boots behind him. He spun around to see a man wearing leather armor and carrying a spiked mace.

“Who are you?” the man asked, surprised to see Aaron. The shadow merchant quickly lowered his dagger.

“I’m Aaron Maddox,” he replied. “I’m searching for someone.”

“If you’re looking for the Allsphere then I regret to inform you that it doesn’t exist,” the man said. “It’s just a myth.”

“I’m looking for a man named Yarmon,” Aaron said. “He was searching for this sphere apparently.”

The man lowered his weapon. “You seem to be out of place here. Don’t you know there are dangerous monsters about?”

“It’s more of a move out of desperation,” Aaron admitted.

“Well,” the warrior said, “we’re all desperate here in the dungeon. I’m looking for treasure. Speaking of which, what did you find?”

“Just a silver tooth,” Aaron said. He held it up and then thought for a moment. “And it can be yours for a price.”

“A price?” the man asked. “You’re surely joking, right? I could just bash your head in and take it.”

“But where is the sport in that?” Aaron asked. “Besides, you haven’t asked the price yet. No reason to lose your head over it.”

The words Bargain 3+ appeared over the man’s head. Skill Success!

“You’re a funny man, Aaron Maddox,” the warrior replied. “I’m Silverstein, a mace fighter. Now what is your price?”

“Protection,” Aaron said. “I’m a shadow merchant. So you’re right, I shouldn’t really be in a place like this. But if you stick with me and keep me safe, I’ll pay you the tooth and any other treasure that we find in here.”

“Sounds like you’d be dead weight,” Silverstein replied. “But at the same time, I could use a lookout for when it’s time to rest and recover.”

“See? We could work together,” Aaron said. “You’re far more handy with your mace than I am with my dagger.”

The warrior drew a short blade from his side and handed it to Aaron. “Here, take this. You’ll find that it’ll suit you better in a battle.”

Aaron took the weapon and examined it.

Shortsword

Type: Weapon

Description: A one-handed weapon meant to defend yourself against basic enemies.

Stats:

+2 Attack

5 Damage

“Now I’m only letting you borrow it,” the man lectured. “If you die, then I’m taking it right back.”

“Har har,” Aaron said but the man looked at him in a way that suggested he wasn’t joking. “All right, fair enough.”

“Now, that tooth,” Silverstein said, putting out his hand.

Aaron dropped the valuable into the man’s palm and saw the words Trade! 200 XP Gained! +100 Garrins Gained.

And just like that, Aaron felt something appear in his bag. He looked down at his coinpurse to see that he now had an additional hundred coins. They appeared as if by magic. Well actually because of magic. The system must have given it to him. Interesting.

“Come on, we’ll look for this Yarmon,” Silverstein said, turning around and leaving. Aaron followed after him, raising the torch high.

Silverstein was a well-dressed warrior, wearing an open helm with chainmail and leather armor to boot. He wore a black cloak and carried his mace with bravado, suggesting that he wasn’t uncomfortable in a dungeon in the least.

They traveled to the room across from them and entered. Inside there was a large orc, a brute of a beast that held a club. It was green and feisty, roaring at the sight of them.

Words appeared above the orc’s head and Aaron could see its stats.

Rage Orc

HP: 6

Speed: 3

Strength: 5

Weapon: Club

Damage: 3

The orc immediately charged at them and Aaron found himself screaming in terror. The warrior Silverstein lunged forward and swung his mace in a wide arc but missed. The orc dodged the blow and slammed him in the side with the club, dealing damage. Silverstein’s health went down from 10 to 7.

“Don’t just stand there, fight!” the man ordered.

Aaron didn’t know what to do, but he had the sword in hand, right? And so he rushed up behind the orc and stabbed hastily, striking the beast in the back. The creature roared in agony as blood poured down its wounds.

The warrior took advantage of this flank and swung again, this time catching the monster in the head. It crumped from the damage, having already been softened up by 5 points thanks to Aaron’s attack. The creature fell to the ground and the light of life left its body.

“Are we…is it…” Aaron gasped, bending over to catch his breath.

Monster Defeated! 400 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision. 400 points? That was far more than just making a few trade deals here and there.

“We defeated it, lad,” the man replied, putting his mace back in its sheath. “Good work.”

“That was… the most terrifying moment of my life,” Aaron replied. He took a deep breath again and looked at the body. The orc wasn’t wearing much but carried a small orb on his side. He bent down to pick it up and was greeted by words.

Murky Pearl

Type: Luxury

Description: This pearl is worth quite a bit to those who look to make necklaces.

Value: 500 garrins

“A pearl,” Aaron said, gazing at it. “The monster had a pearl on it.”

“Most creatures have treasure, that’s why we dungeon crawl,” Silverstein said. “Come on, hand it over.”

Aaron felt tempted to argue about keeping it. After all he had given the man something worth three hundred garrins. But then again, Silverstein had a great mace and knew how to fight. His services were worth paying.

He handed the pearl over and went to inspect the rest of the room. This place appeared to be a library of some sort, with old books lining the walls. Aaron searched around for any sign of Yarmon but he was nowhere in there.

“I’m starting to think that clerk might be dead,” Aaron said, following after Silverstein. “After all, what else could have happened to the man?”

“Sometimes they end up trapped,” the man replied. “He could be slowly starving to death somewhere. Speaking of which, do you have any food?”

Aaron did. He had taken the fish that he couldn’t sell and smoked it. He took out a few pieces of the fish and handed them to his teammate. “It’s not the most fresh but it’ll do.”

“Ah great,” Silverstein said, biting into the chunks of fish. “Delicious. Come on, let’s keep going.”

“Why exactly are you here?” Aaron asked after some time.

“Treasure!” Silverstein replied. “Why else?”

“Yes, but what do you want the funds for?” the shadow merchant pressed.

“No reason in particular,” Silverstein said. “I’ve got a home back in Gatesburg where I keep the things that I find. There are all sorts of treasures that make for interesting decorations. That silver tooth will look good in the full skeleton that I have in my lounge room.”

What kind of men kept an entire skeleton in their house? Aaron shuddered at the thought of coming home to see a large skull staring at him.

“You are an interesting man, Silverstein,” Aaron said.

Chapter 16

The pair entered another tunnel, this one wide and open. There were large holes in the wall and every few seconds a blade would come out slashing in the center of the passage. There was no way past the blades other than to run.

“Hmmm,” Silverstein said. “Looks like this hallway is trapped.”

“Who would put these here?” Aaron asked, watching in horror as the blades went shunk, slashing across the room before returning to their slot. They appeared to be on a pendulum.

“The dungeon was built by a mage who wanted to keep his things safe,” the warrior replied. “He built traps in order to keep adventurers from getting the good stuff.”

“You’re crazy if you want to go past this area,” Aaron said. “We’ll be cut to pieces.”

“Nonsense, friend, you just gotta time it right.” To prove his point, Silverstein waited a moment and then hurried across the corridor, getting to the other side quite easily. “See? Nothing to it.”

Aaron groaned and waited for the blades to come swinging back out again, the long pendulums above groaning as they moved. He counted a few seconds in between each swing. Enough time for a sprint.

Holding his breath, he waited, one, two and then three. He rushed in between the blades as they finished their circuit and ran as fast as he could. He skidded to the other side and let out a gasp as he realized he was safe.

“See? You did it just fine,” Silverstein said. “Now come on, I’m willing to bet there’s good treasure this way.”

“That was insane and I was insane for doing it,” Aaron said. The adrenaline was nonstop in a place like this. He vowed to always stay above ground when he got out. He’d be able to open up his own shop and sell fish until the rest of his days.

They walked through the passage into a room that caused Aaron’s jaw to drop. There was a massive treasure chest, made of gold, sitting in the middle of it.

“A treasure chest? An actual chest full of treasure?” Aaron asked.

“That’s what tends to be in there,” Silverstein said as he knelt down. “There’s a reason traps exist. The mage who built this place died long ago, but thieves and criminals, low lives and scumbags all hide their ill-gotten gain here. Most of the time they die trying to find the right place to keep their treasure.”

Aaron bent down to investigate the chest. It was locked but with his knife he was able to break the lock open, allowing the large chest to reveal its contents.

Within there were a bundle of coins, nearly three hundred garrins as well as a circlet. The circlet was bronze with a blue stud in the middle.

Circlet of Speed

Type: Jewelry

Description: This circlet grants the wearer additional speed, increasing their ability to fight.

Stats:

+2 Speed

“Aha!” Silverstein said, pushing Aaron out of the way. “It would seem that there’s some coin to be had in this dungeon after all. Normally it’s just trinkets and such.”

He helped himself to the coins and Aaron stared greedily, wondering why he was tolerating this man to begin with. But then again, the large mace on his side made it difficult to argue with.

“Here,” Silverstein said, handing the circlet to Aaron. “This should speed you up in combat.”

“Oh, I get something?” Aaron said.

“Can’t have you moving slowly in a fight,” the man replied.

Aaron took the thin band and placed it on his head. He felt a magical enervation rush through him and his stats changed. +2 Speed appeared in his vision and his Fishing stat increased by 2. It would seem that speed governed that skill.

“Thank you,” Aaron said.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Silverstein said. “I’ll want it back when we’re done plundering. Onto the next room!”

They turned back around and made their way through the trapped hall. Aaron moved much faster now and felt better about dashing between razor sharp blades that would sever him in two if he stumbled. The extra speed made a big difference in his ability to cross the gap.

They returned to the main hallway and took a turn through one of the corridors, leading to a long tunnel. There was a cell at the end of the tunnel and a man was inside of it.

“Are you Yarmon?” Aaron asked.

The man looked up at this and rushed to the bars, putting his hands through them, reaching out. “Yes! Yes I am!”

Aaron grinned. “How in the hell did you end up in there?”

“Some adventurers thought it was funny,” Yarmon said. “They locked me up and took the key with them. I’ve been here for almost two weeks now. There’s some spongy moss growing on the walls that I was able to eat to survive but it’s been rough.”

Aaron approached the cell door as Silverstein searched for signs of traps or treasure. The door had a thick lock on it and Aaron worried that if he tried to break the mechanism with his knife, the thing would end up jammed.

“We’ll have to find the key,” Aaron said. “Do you know which way they went?”

“There’s a secret passage by the west end of the hallway,” Yarmon replied. “Just press on the stone to the right and it’ll open. I saw them head that way after locking me up.”

“Silverstein, are you game to retrieve the key?” Aaron asked.

“Adventurers will have loot and treasure,” the warrior replied. “Of course I’m game!”

Aaron headed over to where Yarmon instructed and tested the wall. Sure enough, a secret wall opened up, revealing stairs leading down.

Silverstein took the lead and they walked down the steps together, Aaron keeping his torch raised high.

They descended into a small cavernous area where a few dead bodies were laying around. They were warriors and rogues from the looks of it, but they had met their end here. Were they the group Aaron was looking for?

There was a glurping sound above them and Silverstein looked up. “Ooze!” he shouted.

Before Aaron could ask what he meant, a large green blob dropped down from the ceiling, landing atop Silverstein. The man was covered in slime instantly and he began to struggle. “Help!” he cried, his mace falling to the side.

Aaron panicked. He had the urge to flee but he managed to suppress it at the last second. He rushed over to the fallen mace and grabbed it, lifting the heavy weapon up high. He smashed into the green ooze, sending slime flying everywhere. The creature took damage but continued to spread over Silverstein. Aaron swung again and again, screaming as he did so.

On the fourth blow, the monster went slack and slid onto the ground where it slowly melted away.

“Nice job!” Silverstein said, sitting up. He was wounded from the attack, having lost five hitpoints in the process. But though he was a bit shaky, he was otherwise fine.

Creature Slain! 300 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision. He was at 950 points now, almost halfway to Level 3. But his nerves were getting the better of him and he shuddered. “That was terrifying,” he said.

“Oozes tend to be easy kills if you can get the drop on them, though I’d say this one got the drop on us,” Silverstein replied. He went to examine the bodies. “It devoured most of their armor and weapons…hmmm.” He bent down and picked up a satchel from one of the corpses, a warrior with a longsword that was mostly consumed. His eyes went wide at the sight of something in the bag and he grinned to himself.

“What did you find?”

“Oh, nothing,” the man replied. He pocketed the satchel, placing it in his side pouch then continued searching the dead.

Aaron joined in and looked at a woman whose face was partially devoured. She had an expression of terror that indicated her last moments weren’t very pleasant to say the least. He grimaced as he rummaged through her pockets, finding a small key in the process.

It was a rusty iron key but looked to be the one he had been searching for. “Aha!” Aaron said, holding the key up. “I found it!”

“Good for you,” Silverstein said, pouring some coins from one purse into his own. “These guys have garrins and that’s good enough for me.”

Aaron watched as the coins slipped into the bag. There had to be a few hundred in there. And here he was getting nothing. Again.

“You know, I said you could keep the treasure but I said nothing about the coins,” Aaron said. “And without me you’d be dead right now.”

“Without you I’d never have come down into this cave,” the man replied. “You’ll get nothing and you’ll be happy about it.”

Aaron growled a little but kept his temper. Though he was growing tired of the man’s greed, he had made a deal. Albeit a hasty one, as Silverstein might not have been inclined to hurt him at all.

“Well I’m done here,” Aaron said. “Going into a dungeon is fun and all but I’d rather never step foot in here again. The city is where I’d prefer to be.”

“Fair enough,” the man replied. “I’ll take back the circlet now.”

Aaron hesitated but decided not to rock the boat. He took off the circlet, losing his speed and skill bonuses, and handed it over. The man grabbed it from him and motioned for him to follow. “Let’s get back up, there’s nothing in here but a dead end and dead bodies.”

They traveled back the way they came and Aaron quickly reached the cell. Yarmon was overjoyed to see him.

“You’re back! And alive too!” he cried.

“Yes, yes,” Aaron said. He put the key into the lock and twisted. Sure enough there was a mechanical twang and the door opened up.

Yarmon pushed his way out, almost running into Aaron. “Freedom! Finally, I can leave this place and never come back.”

“You and I have the exact same feelings,” Aaron replied.

Chapter 17

Yarmon and Aaron left the dungeon together. Silverstein had decided that he wanted to keep exploring and left the pair to navigate their way out. Yarmon was thrilled to see daylight.

“I can’t believe I actually tried to go in there,” Yarmon said, looking back at the dungeon entrance. He shivered at the sight of it. “But I was going so crazy cooped up in my office. I should have listened to my wife but…the legend of the Allsphere caught my mind.”

“Where exactly did you hear about this thing, anyway?” Aaron asked. They trudged through the Wilted Forest, making their way back to Greystone.

“The Allsphere? One of the clerks had found some kind of map that was said to lead there,” Yarmon replied. “I studied it for a few minutes and then thought it wouldn’t be so hard to find. Little did I realize that I’d have to face monsters and other adventurers in there. Bad idea, poor impulse control…”

Aaron didn’t have much to say about that. The dungeon was too dangerous for him and he had a class built around making coin and bartering. Going back in there to find any sort of artifact was far from his mind. Rather, he was interested in getting Yarmon back to the Lord in order to receive his reward.

They made their way into town and to the center, where the guards were more than pleased to see that he had retrieved Yarmon. They allowed him in and he met with Lord Everson in the gardens, where the big man was throwing coins into a wishing fountain. The coins were large denominations and Aaron could see the man didn’t care one bit about his wealth. He wondered if the servants ever had the gall to snag a coin or two from the fountain when he wasn’t around. Probably not.

“Ahhhh! My clerk has returned from his quixotic adventure!” Everson said, turning around to face the pair. “How was the Storywood Dungeon? Everything you’d thought it would be and more?”

“Lord Everson,” Yarmon said, dropping to his knees. “I beg your forgiveness for my abandonment of post. I was caught up with a fever, a delirium. But rest assured, I’ve been set straight. No longer will I look out the window, wondering what is out there.”

“Very well,” Everson said. “Your wife has been up my ass nonstop about finding you. Whatever hell you went through will be nothing compared to speaking with her. But your post has been restored, at a reduced pay rate, of course.”

Yarmon groaned but said nothing other than “Thank you, my Lord.”

“And as for you, Aaron,” the Lord said, looking straight at the shadow merchant. “You’ve done as I have requested. And for that you will be receiving a Royal License for a stand in the slums. You can sell what you wish, but be warned: the Guild of Goods will not be pleased if you try to undercut them. I’d steer clear of their ire. You think I’m powerful? Just wait until you have the guild ram their hand up your ass and puppeteer you for a while.”

The large man took out a small piece of paper from the inside of his robe and handed it to Aaron. As Aaron accepted the writ, he received information.

Royal License has been acquired! You may now open a Stand in the Slums.

Stand Information:

General Stand

Description: A General Stand can sell any good that you have in your inventory. The stand must be manned in order to generate sales. Each day your stand has a chance of generating sales based on the need, demand and value of the items you are selling. It costs 100 garrins to open up a stand. Your license allows for you to operate one in the Slums.

Size: 1

Inventory Space: 10

Daily Cost: 0

Employees: 0

And just like that, Aaron was in business. He had enough garrins in his pocket to pay for the stand and was prompted to do so. A large map of the slums opened up and he could select an area to put his shop. There were six spaces available. He decided to pick the one nearest to the market stalls, just on the outskirts of the merchant district. The fee was paid and immediately he could see the stand materialize on the map.

You have 1 Stand! His vision informed him. A marker appeared on the map of the city and he could access it at any time. Aaron quickly headed over to inspect the shop. The area wasn’t particularly crowded, as the slums were fairly sparse in this part of the city. A few people were walking by, taking notice of the brand new stall.

The stand in itself wasn’t very impressive. It was a small counter with three shelves on it, a lockbox for the money to be stored and a chair for the seller to sit. It was a far cry from a real shop, but Aaron didn’t care. He just needed a vehicle to begin his sales and this was it. Soon he’d be making plenty of garrins… garrins that would allow him to continue expanding and leveling up.

Aaron was pleased that his shop was almost operational. All he needed now was some stock. There was an edict against selling fish, but Aaron didn’t care about that. This merchant guild just needed to have their palms greased if they found out about it. There was a food shortage in most of the city, so generating sales via fish was the best idea. If there were complaints, well, he’d just bribe his way out of it. In this world or the other, he had yet to meet someone who didn’t understand that language…

Not having a place to stay, Aaron went back out into the woods to camp for a while. It was a hard life, living without a tent or a bedroll, but he managed to find a hollowed out log that he could snooze in before heading out to fish in the morning.

With rod in hand, Aaron began to work. He cast line after line, waiting until there was a tug to reel it in. He caught two red barkfins before the morning was through. Those were worth 100 XP and 200 garrins total. Hours passed after the sun rose to its peak and nothing more was biting. Aaron sighed and realized that he would need to change his fishing location. He could either follow it downstream to the west or head upstream to the east, deeper into the forest.

Carrying his fish and pole, he decided to go downstream. Here, the river grew larger and ran off into a lake. The lake itself was wide and had plenty of fish swimming around in it. He found a spot by a small boulder and stood atop it, casting the line far out into the center of the waters. From there, he waited until there was a mighty tug.

“Gotcha!” Aaron cried as the line pulled hard.

He began to reel it in and saw the words Fishing 3+ Skill Success! appear in his vision. The fish was a fighter but he worked for it, reeling on the line until the fish was out of the water and dangling from the pole.

Emerald Snapper

Type: Fish

Description: These snappers are worth quite a few garrins to those looking for their scales.

Value: 300 garrins

Rare Fish Caught! +200 XP appeared in Aaron’s vision as he examined the large green snapper. Its scales glinted in the sunlight and he saw there was a harvest hue around it. He could gut the fish here and take the scales or sell it whole. Well, there was no reason to get his hands dirty.

With the three fish, Aaron decided to call it a day. He returned back to Greystone and entered his little stand, opening it up with a key that caused the shelves to unfold. Quickly, he placed the three fish on the tables, filling the inventory. Here he was prompted to put in the prices of each item.

Red Barkfin

Price:

Low: 25 garrins

Medium: 50 garrins

High: 100 garrins

Emerald Snapper

Price:

Low: 100 garrins

Medium: 150 garrins

High: 300 garrins

Aaron pondered this. He wasn’t sure how much he could sell each fish for but going for the highest price would probably make them harder to sell. On top of this, he had to get rid of them fast, seeing as the fish wouldn’t last much longer than a day at the most. And so he set both price structures to medium. After that, he merely sat back and waited.

An hour passed. A few curious people walked by the shop but did not approach, simply examining from afar. Finally, a tall woman with red hair and many freckles approached. “Sir,” she said, looking down at the selection. “Are you selling fish?”

“Indeed I am, ma’am,” Aaron replied. “The finest that the Wilted Forest has to offer.”

“I heard there was a ban,” she said, eying them suspiciously. “Where did you obtain them?”

“Caught them this morning,” Aaron proudly said. “Surely you’d be interested in the Emerald Snapper. Good meat and beautiful scales. Could be used for a purse liner.”

“It’s a bit of a high price though,” the woman countered.

“A fine price for a fine fish,” Aaron replied. The words Selling 2+ appeared above her head. The skill was successful and she nodded.

“Fine, I’ll take the snapper,” she said after a moment. She took out a hundred and fifty garrins, placing them into Aaron’s hands.

Sale Made! 250 Garrins Earned! appeared in Aaron’s vision. The extra money simply appeared in the till, thanks to Arron’s shadow merchant abilities. 100 XP Gained! Stand has gained 15 Market Points! Upgrades are available at 50 points!

A small meter appeared next to the stand and Aaron could see that the sales shop had its own form of experience. Market Points would allow him to upgrade. He wondered what those would be.

The woman took the fish and left, leaving Aaron to his own devices. Someone saw that there was a sale and quickly walked up to see the shop. It was a man wearing a black suit. “Excuse me, but are you er, selling fish?” he asked.

“As you can see, red barkfin, caught fresh this morning,” Aaron said, motioning to the two remaining fish on the shelf. “Decent price too.”

The man looked them over and nodded. “I’ll take them both.”

No haggling required, Aaron was thrilled with the sale. He earned 300 more garrins and realized there was value in selling for a lower price. Sure he might not make much from the value of the goods themselves, but his Sales Expert ability generated the funds for him. This earned him another 100 XP and 15 more Market Points.

Once the sale was concluded, Aaron closed up shop for the day. He had earned 550 today, almost getting back his investment in the fishing rod. Next up, he needed to get some camping gear…

Chapter 18

The price of living anywhere in the city was out of the question. It was nearly 3,000 garrins for a single month’s stay in one of the shanties that littered the streets. Tents were expensive as well, so Aaron found himself living outside the city limits, in the Wilted Forest itself. He wasn’t sleeping so much these days, the hunger and exhaustion mingling together to keep him awake for hours at a time. But today he had enough coin in his pocket to make a change.

He entered a wilderness store known as Wilm’s Wilds to see there was plenty of equipment necessary for camping. There were two men standing at the store counter, dressed in blue suits and carrying knives on their sides. They wore porkpie hats and were in the middle of some serious business.

“Listen, fellas, I know the law and there’s nothing about any kind of protection fees,” the proprietor of the store, Wilm, said. He was an older gentleman with a bright red nose and white whiskers that formed mutton chops.

“And we’re telling you that the law has some things to say about those who aren’t paying their fees,” one of the goons said. He walked over to a rack of cooking spices and knocked it clean over, sending powdered spice everywhere. “Now pay up or we’ll rough you up for good.”

This was a shake-down, Aaron realized. Should he intervene? What could he possibly do? Wilm shouted at the man and called for the guards but no one came.

“We own the slums, jackass,” the lead goon said. He was a harsh man, stocky and brawny. He took out his knife and slammed it on the counter. “No one’s gonna come help you if—”

“Excuse me,” Aaron said, stepping in. He wasn’t sure what he could do with such low stats but something prompted him to act anyway. “If you fellows are trying to get your pay, you should not ruin his place of business. Rather, you’d be better off simply grabbing him and beating him.”

“Who are you?” the leader demanded, turning around to face Aaron.

“I’m Aaron Maddox, a shadow merchant,” he replied. “And it would seem that you’re having trouble shaking down this shop. Who are you with, exactly?”

“The Blue Rose Gang,” he replied. He pointed to the blue rose that was hanging from his shirt lapel. “And don’t get messed up in this, you don’t want to deal with my wrath.”

“I’m just saying that you’re going about it the wrong way,” Aaron said. “You shouldn’t wreck a man’s shop, just beat him a little. I’m sure he’ll struggle at first but…well, you can see he’s in no fighting condition.”

“I don’t have the coin to pay!” Wilm said. “And why are you trying to advise them into hurting me?”

“I’m just here to shop,” Aaron said. “But it would seem you Blue Roses don’t know much about how to get money from an oyster that’s too tight.”

The goon looked at Aaron for a moment. “You really think you can tell us what to do?”

“I’m just commenting that your operation seems poorly thought out if you come in smashing the things he needs to pay you your protection money,” Aaron said. He wasn’t sure where he was going with this but his criticism seemed to get the pair to focus on him.

They both walked towards him and Aaron eyed the fallen spices on the ground. He considered grabbing a clump and throwing it in their eyes but decided against it. “Hey, now,” he said, putting his hands up. “I’m just trying to get things moving. How much does he owe?”

“A hundred,” the leader spat.

“All this over a hundred garrins?” Aaron scoffed. “Fine, I’ll pay for the man’s fee. That should give you everything you want and I can go back to shopping, yes?”

They nodded at that and Aaron produced the garrins which they grabbed immediately. “We’ll be back next week for more, but consider this an extension,” the leader said. They both muscled past Aaron and stormed out of the shop.

“What was all that about?” Wilm asked.

“I was trying to get them to stop wrecking the store,” Aaron replied.

“But now that you’ve paid them, they’ll come back again and again!” Wilm bemoaned. “And that talk about beating me?”

“Not my best idea,” Aaron agreed. “But it did stop them from destroying the rest of your place. And besides, it’s not a bad investment to pay off the local crooks for protection.”

“If it’s not them, it’s the Lord on your ass, taking everything you have,” Wilm grumbled. He looked at his shop and sighed. “Well, at least they didn’t smash the glass cases. Anyway, what can I do for you, shadow merchant?”

“I’m looking for a bedroll and some supplies to camp,” Aaron replied.

“The bedrolls are 50 garrins a piece. And I’ll throw in a few firestarter matches for you, as a way of saying thanks for paying off those goons,” the man said. He huffed a little and began to clean up the spices that had been knocked over. “I suppose you were just trying to help.”

“Not much I can do without my own protection,” Aaron muttered. He thought about Lenny. The man was big but not particularly courageous. Still, having him around might assist in dealing with goons like the Blue Roses. No doubt they’d be up to bothering the shadow merchant at some point too…though it might be better to just pay off the protection money.

Aaron bought a bedroll and a backpack for 150 garrins then headed back to the Wilted Forest to do some more fishing. The days went by quickly thanks to the fact that he could sleep now, the comfortable sleeping bag allowing him to rest beside an open fire each night. He caught 4 fish in the morning, gaining 200 XP, and then returned to his stand in the evening.

As he opened up the shop, he placed the fish on their shelves. He set prices to medium and sold four red barkfin before the evening was out. The fish were selling quickly and he noticed there were people waiting for him to open up as he had arrived. He was selling them for 50 garrins a piece and the people were eager to buy them, leading him to wonder if he should increase his prices a bit higher.

The sales netted him 600 garrins and 20 Market Points. As he closed the shop for the evening, he was greeted with a message from the system. You have enough market points to upgrade your stall!

Stall Upgrades:

Inventory Expansion: Increases your inventory by 5 slots.

Demand Notification: You gain awareness of what products are in demand.

Supply Notification: You gain awareness of what supplies are available for purchase.

Employee Slot: You can now hire an Employee to man the shop. They cost 25 garrins per day.

Aaron looked over his options and considered what to get. He was tempted by Employee Slot but didn’t have the means yet to afford paying someone to man the stand. Of all the upgrades, Demand Notification seemed to be the most useful right now, as he could start investing in supplies on his own. He made his choice and immediately his vision updated.

Demands:

Meat

Fish

Shells

“Shells…” Aaron muttered. He never thought to collect them. Now his trips to the lake would get even more lucrative.

Chapter 19

Aaron’s burgeoning business was starting to pick up. Within three days of opening his shop, he was able to earn 800 garrins, enough to justify the investment in the fishing rod, and soon he’d be making even more.

He wasn’t sure what his overall goal was just yet, as he was still getting his bearings in the strange world of Gorvan. But there was one thing that he knew: cash was king no matter where you went. And he was earning enough to invest in bigger ideas.

With the price of grain being so high in the city, Aaron just needed to purchase himself a cart and horse, allowing him to travel to Gatesburg where his contact was willing to sell bushels of grain for 200 garrins a piece. With that grain, Aaron could sell it directly on the market and it would be a higher markup since there was a shortage. This seemed to be the best idea at this stage of his journey and so Aaron returned to the Wilted Lake to begin scavenging for shells and catching more fish to sell.

He arrived in the early morning to find a group of people with spears standing by the waters. They were dressed in furs and seemed to be a rough band. They had lines tied to their spears and were trying their luck at fishing, though to no avail.

Aaron grimaced at the sight of these people. The forest was a lawless land and they might try to jump him. He didn’t have much in way of protection and so he’d be forced to pay up. If they were bold enough, they might just kill him to get rid of the competition.

One of the scouts spotted him before he could skulk off. They waved at him excitedly. “There he is! It’s him!”

The others all turned and cheered at the sight of Aaron. Certainly a strange way for bandits to welcome someone. Aaron hesitated in approaching but the leader came rushing up. He was a short fellow with pockmarks on his face. He was dirty too, covered in filth from his time living in these woods.

“Aaron!” the man cried out. “You’re here!”

The man’s voice sounded somewhat familiar but Aaron couldn’t quite place it. “Do I know you?” he asked.

The group of strangers all gathered up together. “We’re the slaves you freed!” the leader said. “You don’t recognize us?”

“It was fairly dark when I last saw you,” Aaron said. He let out a sigh of relief. At least they weren’t bandits, intent on plundering him.

“Well, we haven’t forgotten about your kindness, sir,” the leader said. “You’re a real light in the darkness. Without you we’d have been sold off and our families separated.”

“I’m glad to help,” Aaron said. He felt that strange sense of pride well up within him once more. It was a sturdiness, a strength that made him feel…good. Good about his choices and about what he had done.

“We started our own village in the forest, to the northwest of here,” the man explained. “There’s plenty of food to forage but we’ve been trying our hand at spearfishing.”

“You don’t seem too successful,” Aaron said.

The man shook his head. “None of us have any class levels and so our fishing skills are null. But still, we’re making due. One of our people found a bow and we’ve been hunting deer.”

That caught Aaron’s attention. “You have meat?”

“Some venison here and there, furs too,” the leader replied.

Now they were getting somewhere. “What’s your name, friend?” Aaron asked.

“I’m Luver,” he replied, bowing before Aaron. “Luver Hammerwite. I used to be a clerk in Citysburg before I took on some debt I couldn’t pay back. The creditor sold me into slavery to get his money back, despite the fact that I was working to pay it off.”

“Sounds like a rough deal,” Aaron said. “How many of you are in the village right now?”

“There’s about eighteen of us, sir,” Luver said. “Six children and twelve adults. Two are elderly though and can’t do much.”

Aaron pondered on this for a moment. He did need people to assist him with his business plans. And these folks were already big fans of his. “I happen to be an enterprising individual,” Aaron explained as he walked up to the shore of the lake. He began to cast out his rod, baiting with worms and throwing the line out.

“And I could use the extra help in gathering materials to sell. I own a shop stand in Greystone. There’s quite a demand for meat and fish. Are there any other things you can eat?”

Luver thought about it for a moment. “Well, we found wild carrots a plenty and there are many berries that are good for eating. The only trouble is that there’s a goblin nest in the center of the berry fields. They don’t eat the berries but attack anyone who goes nearby. Hughly almost died while gathering one day and we haven’t been back since.”

“Goblins…” Aaron said, thinking about the group he had met before. They were vicious little bastards and cared little about trade. All they wanted was to kill and loot. “How many of them?”

“Hughly counted at least six. Armed with bows and spears. We aren’t good at fighting and no one is brave enough to try and contact them to see if they will see reason,” the man replied. “So really, we’re just avoiding the berry fields and keeping to hunting what game we can find.”

There was a tug on the line and everyone turned to see Aaron begin to reel in the fish. The fish fought hard and he loosened the slack a little, letting his prey tire itself out. It tried to escape but he had a high enough fishing skill to pull it in.

The crowd all oohed at the sight as he drew a long red barkfin, twice the size of what he had found in the river, out of the water.

“You can fish?” Luver asked.

“Indeed I can,” Aaron replied. “My skill isn’t the highest but still, I’m able to catch a few a day. I sell them for a profit at the market.”

The man eyed Aaron’s pole. “Do you think you could get us some poles too? Maybe we could catch a few fish here and there with that help.”

Aaron shrugged. “They’re not the cheapest, it’s 800 garrins per good pole. You’d need the better make too since you have no fishing skills.”

“We could pay with trade goods,” Luver said. “Come, come to the village and see what we have to offer.”

Aaron slung the barkfin over his shoulder and nodded. “Very well, show me what you have.”

The group eagerly walked to the northwest of the lake, going the long way around and up an incline until they reached a small clearing. There were a few tents, made of deerskin, as well as a large basin of water in the center. The cistern was being filled by women who were carrying jugs from the stream nearby to the makeshift well.

The village was tiny and the people were looking rough. Despite this, they cheered at the sight of the hunters returning and crowded around Aaron.

“It’s him! The rescuer!” a woman called.

“Hi Aaron! Hi!” another man shouted, waving frantically to get the shadow merchant’s attention. Their warm reception caused something to rise within Aaron. It was that same feeling of pride once more. Though it wasn’t a sense of superiority; no, it was a sense of goodness, of pleasure at helping people in need out. They weren’t doing so poorly, all things considered. And they were thriving because of him.

“Everyone!” Luver shouted. “Aaron Maddox has come to trade with us. Bring out the goods!”

A few women rushed into one of the tents and returned carrying large baskets of what looked to be furs and berries. Aaron’s vision scanned them immediately.

Rough Cut Furs

Type: Goods

Description: Though they haven’t been cut very well, furs are popular in most urban areas for a wide variety of use.

Value: 200 garrins

Impberries

Type: Food

Description: These berries are tangy and sour but provide nutrition to those on the go. Often used by militaries to feed their soldiers across long distances.

Value: 50 garrins

Bloodberries

Type: Resource

Description: Poisonous to eat but safe to handle, these berries can be used to make Red Dye.

Value: 100 garrins

Aaron examined the goods. They weren’t worth a lot, though the bloodberries could probably be processed into more expensive dyes.

“What do you think?” Luver asked.

“I think most of this is worth a little bit on the market but you don’t have anything nearly the value of a fishing rod,” Aaron said.

“A rod would allow us to eat better,” the man countered. “We could gather more in the meantime.”

Aaron didn’t know what to say. These people looked up to him and now they needed help again. “I suppose if you part with these items, I could get you a rod,” Aaron said. “But just the one. After that you’ll need to pay me in fish.”

“Fair enough!” Luver cheered. He reached out and shook Aaron’s hand. “It’s good that you found us once more. With your help, our village of Threadbare will prosper!”

Aaron decided to give the rod over now, then took the supplies to place them in his new backpack. There were two bundles of furs, four bushels of impberries and three small pouches of bloodberries. He’d probably be able to buy another rod with the proceeds, provided the goods sold.

Trade Deal! 200 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision and he grinned. He was at 1,750 now. Almost enough to get to Level 3. Things were definitely improving.

“So then,” Luver said as the crowd slowly dissipated, returning to their day work. “What about the goblins?”

“What about them?”

“I was hoping that maybe you could broker a peace deal with them,” Luver replied. “They are sapient creatures, they understand things. They’re just vicious towards outsiders.”

“I’d need backup if I were to approach,” Aaron said. “Any volunteers on your end?”

Luver shook his head. “Most are afraid of the goblins as it is. We aren’t fighters, just survivors.”

“Then I suppose I’ll need to find some firepower before I can help,” Aaron said. “But I am forced to ask, what’s in it for me?”

“More berries,” the man said. “And our gratitude of course. If we can get these goblins to agree to peace then we can plunder the berry fields and bring you ten baskets of every kind we find. That should be more than enough to sell on the markets.”

Chapter 20

Aaron told the village of Threadbare that he would think about helping with the goblin problem. In truth he didn’t see how he could, as he had no weapons that could cow them and their greed would probably cause them to just try to kill him instead of trading money for peace. He would need backup and a strong one at that. Perhaps he should inquire into hiring an adventurer or two to escort him on the journey to speak to the goblins. Or maybe he should just forget about it entirely.

He returned to the lake and began to search for shells. One particular area was glowing blue, right by the rocks that he normally stood by to fish. Aaron approached the rocks and knelt down to examine the dirt. The blue hue flashed a little and he could see that it was a harvest spot.

With his bare hands, he dug through the muck and pulled out a few shells that glimmered with blue magical energy.

Glimmershells

Type: Goods

Description: These shells are used primarily in decoration and jewelry making.

Value: 300 garrins

He had found three handfuls of the shells and that totaled out to a value of 900. But they were also in demand right now, meaning he could probably hike the price up a bit more. That would more than make up for his loss of a fishing rod.

Aaron pocketed the shells and headed back to his stand. Greystone seemed to be in a foul mood today. There was a light rain overhead and the winds were chilling. People were out in the streets muttering to one another, looking around to make sure their conversations weren’t being heard by any.

Aaron listened in to one man’s hushed tone. “They can’t do this!” the man said. “Lord Everson is insane if he thinks he can conscript people to serve in his personal army.”

“Just be glad he’s only going after the young men,” the other, a woman, replied. “Seems he’s only interested in getting the strong and dull minds of the slums.”

An army? What on earth would an army be needed for? Aaron approached the pair to inquire but a harsh glare from one of them quickly turned him aside. His reputation still wasn’t the best in the world and so he would have no interaction with these strangers. With a shrug, he headed back to his stand and opened it up.

There were plenty of slots for his inventory and he placed the furs, berries and shells out for all to see. He set the price for the furs to 100 garrins, the berries to 25 per bushel and the shells he charged the full 300. There were no options to go higher than the base value of the good, which was a shame, but the demand marker appeared above his stand as soon as he stocked the shells.

Soon, people were flocking to his stand, garrins in hand as they pushed to get access to the shells. He had three units worth and they sold out in a matter of minutes. People didn’t even haggle and this netted him a profit of 400 per unit, granting him a total of 1,200 garrins. That more than made up for the loss of the fishing rod. In fact, he could buy another one and put more of the Threadbare villagers to work. They could catch more fish for him and keep a portion of course. A mutually beneficial way to ensure the money kept coming in.

Demand Sale Made! 200 XP appeared in Aaron’s vision and he grinned. It was a pleasure to see that his XP was still increasing with each sale. Once the shells were sold, the crowd mostly dispersed. An interested artist arrived and purchased a bushel of bloodberries, making some small talk as he browsed.

“You don’t happen to have any dyes, do you?” he asked as he lifted up the red berries and examined them. “Most of the time bloodberries are used for dying.”

“Afraid you’ll have to process them yourself,” Aaron said.

“A shame,” the artist replied. He looked at Aaron for a moment. “You know, I’ve heard about you. They say you’re a hard man who always looks for the best deal. But in the same breath, I’ve heard people say you’re a good natured fellow who helps others in need. A curious duality.”

“I’m just me, I suppose,” Aaron said.

“Well, I happen to be a repairer of reputations of sorts,” the artist replied with a grin. “I deal mainly in creating interesting paintings that generate buzz. They tell tales and stories. If you’re interested, I could offer you my services. The price isn’t cheap, I can tell you that, but it would behoove you to have someone out there singing your praises. Or drawing them at least.”

The artist took out a card and handed it to Aaron. It said: Garland the Artist. Tawny Lane 312.

“Here is my calling card, friend,” the man said as he paid for three bushels of berries, granting Aaron an additional 175 garrins. “My prices start in the thousands but it is worth the expense. You will most certainly reap the rewards of my fine art.”

“Thank you, Garland,” Aaron said, taking the card. This would be useful to have later on for certain, though Aaron’s business plans didn’t involve trying to repair his reputation. Rather he was more interested in generating the most capital he could with the resources that he had on hand.

Sale! 150 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision and he was greeted with exciting words. Level Up!

Immediately, Aaron opened up the level prompt and looked at his options.

You have 3 Stat Points to spend. Increase any Stat.

Stats:

HP: 5

MP: 0

Strength: 1

Speed: 1

Intelligence: 2

Charisma: 3

Aaron had benefitted the most from his Charisma increasing last time. Intelligence didn’t apply to any of his skills just yet, so he decided to put 2 points into Charisma and 1 point into Speed, as that increased his Fishing skill.

You gain 4 Skill Points. Increase your Skill Rank or Buy New Skills.

Existing Skills:

Bargain: 7

Trade: 5

Selling: 5

Harvesting: 1

Fishing: 2

New Skills:

Appraise

Foraging

Hunting

Fighting

Searching

Trapping

Thanks to his Charisma increase, most of his skills had gone up. Aaron decided that he wanted to continue with his fishing abilities, so he increased the skill by 2 more points. After that he chose to take a point in Appraise. It was here that his Intelligence added to the skill, granting it a base level of 2. For his last point, he put it into Bargain as that could never be too low.

You gain 2 New Abilities

Bargainer:

Buyer: Goods cost half their regular price.

Sweeteners: When trading, you gain an additional item for free.

Iron Contract: If you make a deal, the other party will always uphold their end.

Producer:

Processing Hut: You gain a Processing Hut. Here you can take Resources and turn them into Goods.

Producer: Gain 1 Producer who can process Resources into Goods.

Artisan: Gain 2 Ranks in the Crafting Skill.

Manager:

Sales Shack: You gain a Shack where you can Sell Goods and Services.

Employee: You gain 1 Employee who will man any building you own.

Shipper:

Shipping Wagon: Gain one small Shipping Wagon with a horse to pull it.

Exports: Resources and Goods cost half when purchased from another location than Greystone.

Imports: Goods brought into Greystone sell for an additional 200 garrins.

Merchant of Shadows

Fence Friend: You gain +200 garrins when selling to a Fence.

Black Market Access: You can access the black market to purchase stolen or illegal goods.

Shadow Barter: You can exchange your HP to increase any other stat for 1 hour.

There were more abilities available now and Aaron took some time to browse through them. He had been planning on buying a shipping wagon himself but the ability automatically granted him both the horse and the cart. This would allow him to take his money into Gatesburg, purchase wheat and then return with a king’s ransom.

He also liked the Producer’s Hut. If he had access to the hut and the wheat, he could make his own flour and that would sell for even more. He’d need to hire some millers to grind the grain down but that wasn’t too hard. There was a general labor pool inside of the slums as most people were poor and desperate for money. He could probably find some bakers too.

After some thought, Aaron decided upon Shipping Wagon and Producer’s Hut. When he made the selection of the hut, he was prompted to pick a location for it. A map of Greystone appeared and he looked at the different possibilities. There was one spot near Tawny Lane that looked promising. He confirmed his selection and a hut appeared on the map.

You have a Processor’s Hut. It has all the required equipment to Refine Resources into products. You will need to hire a Producer in order to man it. Different producers have different skills and one size does not fit all.

He was then alerted to the fact that there was now a cart available in the town stables. The cart’s stats appeared before him.

Shipping Cart

Inventory Size: 25

Speed: 3

Horses: 1

And just like that, Aaron had the ability to transport goods to and from Greystone. This was a capital development and he couldn’t help but grin. Slowly but surely, he would get it all back. All he had lost when he died.

Chapter 21

Aaron looked up from leveling to see that there were three shadowy figures standing across from his stand. They wore black trenchcoats with silver buttons. They had golden pauldrons and thick black gloves. Something told Aaron that this was going to be trouble. He grimaced and greeted the gentlemen.

“How can I help you fellows?” he asked.

“Word on the street is that you’re selling fish,” the man in the middle said. He was a harsh fellow with piercing green eyes and long brown hair that was straightened impeccably. “The Guild of Goods has put out a ban on all fish sales.”

“Unfortunately I don’t have any fish here, so really…” Aaron said. “Seems like it’s just an ugly rumor.”

“Rumors?” the man laughed. “I don’t think so. We heard from one of our informants and they have little reason to lie about such things. Why are you going against the Guild’s demands? No fish and no bread. A simple rule that everyone follows.”

“The people need food,” Aaron said. “I’m just following the market’s demands.”

“Is that so?” The man grinned. “Seems like you need to be taught a lesson.”

With that, the other two men lunged forward and grabbed Aaron. He tried to resist but wasn’t nearly as strong as them. One held him by the neck and the other socked him in the stomach, dropping him to his knees as the air was pushed out of his lungs.

Aaron collapsed to the ground and felt the sharp blows of boots against his body. His health dropped down to 3.

“Next time we’ll take off a hand of yours,” the leader said, bending down over Aaron. “Let’s see how well you fish without both appendages intact.”

And with that, the men left, leaving Aaron to collect himself. He slowly rose to his feet and dusted himself off, wiping the blood from his chin. They had hit him so hard that he bit his own lip and was now bleeding from it.

Anger welled up within Aaron. How dare this guild try and muscle him out of business? The fish were selling quite well and the city had a taste for it. There was no way he was going to take this lying down.

He was no stranger to collusion and protectionism. Back in his old life there were always groups that tried to use different methods in order to control their own sales. Most of the time they bribed government agencies but here it seemed different. The Guild of Goods had their own sovereign power compared to Lord Everson, who didn’t seem to care too much about commerce one way or another.

How would Aaron go up against an entire guild? Not quickly, that was for sure. He’d need to build up his own power base and that meant starting a guild of his own or better yet, finding one that was stifled just as much by the Guild of Goods. Where to start? Perhaps the barman at the Barking Dragon would know more about the situation in the city.

Aaron closed up his shop for the evening and headed to the tavern, finding Lenny where he had left him, sitting at the edge of the bar. Ginley was there with a towel in hand, wiping down a filthy glass.

“There’s the man of the hour,” Ginley exclaimed, pouring a drink for the shadow merchant. “Word is you’re selling things now. Making some good coin I should hope.”

“See for yourself,” Aaron said as he put fifty garrins on the table. “Stew and ale, please.”

“Coming up,” Ginley said, hustling to pour the ale and then collect a bowl of stew for the man. Aaron drank the terrible swill down and then set to eating the stew. He had been able to fish to survive on his own but nothing could compare to a warm bowl of beans and celery. The bartender had even spiced it a little and he could taste the red pepper.

“There’s my pal,” Lenny shouted. “My employer too!”

“You haven’t moved an inch since I last saw you,” Aaron replied. “You’re such a lout.”

“A drunken lout is better than a dead man! I thought I’d never see you again after you said you was going into that dungeon,” Lenny said. He raised his glass to Aaron. “Cheers to the man who survived!”

Aaron raised his mug to that and emptied the tankard. Ginley leaned over the table. “So what are you up to?” the bartender asked as he refilled the glass.

“I’ve run into a problem and wanted some information, if possible,” Aaron said.

“A bartender is the nexus to all worlds,” the man replied with a fishy grin. “Of course, my information isn’t free.”

Aaron put a hundred garrins on the table. “The Guild of Goods, do they have any enemies? Any other rival guilds that don’t care for them stifling trade in the city?”

Ginley nodded at that and took the coins in hand. “Oh yes, I would say they have plenty of enemies. Trouble is they have the backing of one Councilman Reyes. He’s the one who supports their legislation. Lord Everson signs whatever papers are in front of him, so really it’s Reyes who is in charge of the commerce in this city. He’s the reason why there’s a food shortage. He allows the guild to control the wheat and meat production in the city, then the GoG exports it to Finnstown for a massive profit.”

“Reyes…” Aaron said. A corrupt councilman? That sounded similar to the dealings that Aaron had in his previous life. There was always a man who wanted a piece of the action. If he could be motivated to work for the Guild, then he was probably making good money. But every man had his weakness. No doubt there was something about Reyes that Aaron could use to leverage on him.

“Indeed. Reyes works out of the Gold District and lives there too. Has himself a fancy villa, one donated by the Guild of Goods of course. The man lives well and enjoys the finer things of life,” Ginley explained.

“Every man has a weakness and corruption yields many,” Aaron said. “I think I’ll have to pay this Reyes a visit.”

“Be careful, the fellow has quite a bit of protection from the guild. You’d be better off finding some kind of dirt on him first. A man like Reyes has many irons in many fires and I’m sure there’s some kind of information that you could procure on him. Something that would make him bend to your will,” Ginley said.

Aaron nodded and ate his stew in silence. How would he go about this? He’d need some kind of private investigator and they didn’t come cheap. “Thanks for the information. Any idea as to where I could find someone who snoops?”

“I happen to know of a keen woman named Konnie,” the man swiftly replied. “She runs a private investigation firm that’s quite discreet. She isn’t cheap however, but I assume you’ll have the garrins to pay her sooner than later.”

He took out a napkin and a pencil, and scribbled a few details. “You can find her on Tawny Street, in one of the towers there. She’s careful but like I said, not cheap. You can expect to pay more than a few thousand garrins for her services.”

Aaron grabbed the napkin. “Thanks Ginley. Lenny, I’m going to need protection if I’m to keep running my shop. Any interest in a guard position?”

“No thanks,” Lenny replied. “I know the guild will be up your ass in an instant and I don’t need that kind of heat. If you want personal protection then you’re better off going to one of the mercenary halls in town. The Swordbearers are a reliable group.”

“You truly are useless,” Aaron grumbled.

The man raised his glass. “Yes I am! And that’s how I’m still alive in a rough world. Cheers!”

Chapter 22

Aaron walked through the busy streets of the Blades District. The people here were different from the rest of the city. They were adventurers, heavily armed and armored, carrying weapons as they were mere fashion accessories. A few shops were open selling arms and armaments, barkers standing outside advertising the latest gear that could be used for adventuring.

The Swordbearers were a mercenary group that worked together to provide personal protection to those who could afford it. Aaron needed some back up for several reasons. First he had to worry about those goons from the Guild of Goods coming back to rough him up, second he still had business with the goblins of the Wilted Forest. His job was to broker peace so the berry fields were accessible to Threadbare Village. Without the ability to sell fish, Aaron’s default sales would have to be in processed berries, namely dyes. He already had the Processing Hut, he just needed the materials and the workers to produce higher quality goods.

The mercenary hall was easy to find. There were two massive statues of swords besides the entrance, marking their territory as decidedly martial. There were no guards posted and so Aaron entered through the main entrance, noting the many weapons lining the walls. These were not to be used, of course, but were ceremonial swords, axes and maces hanging for all to see. Some had golden pommels while others were studded with expensive looking gems. But they were all bolted, meaning they couldn’t be wielded, even in an emergency.

The hall was wide open with a cafeteria on the right and a lounge on the left. No one was attending the front desk and it seemed that anyone could just waltz in and hang out if they wished. Aaron wandered around for a few minutes, looking for any sign of someone in charge.

The cafeteria was full of fighters, all in heavy armor, sitting and eating eagerly. They were munching on what looked to be stew, the same kind that was found in Ginley’s tavern. They didn’t appear to be enjoying anything fine and their ale came in large flagons, carried out by the barmaids.

“No outsiders,” a woman gruffly said as she walked up to Aaron. She was carrying three jugs of ale on a silver tray and appeared to be in a bad mood.

“I’m not here to eat, ma’am,” Aaron replied. “I’m looking to hire some protection.”

“Ah, in that case you’d best head up to the parlor, just past the right there.”

Aaron thanked her for the directions and made his way to the parlor. Here was a large cadre of warriors standing about, waiting for something. A man in fine red robes was by the door, calling out various names. A warrior would hear a name and then enter into an office, later leaving with someone else in tow.

“Hi there, I’m looking to hire some warriors of my own,” Aaron said to the red robed man. The fellow looked at him curiously.

“A shadow merchant in our parts? You know you don’t have the highest reputation…but I heard that you saved Silverstein from an ooze. Quite the courageous thing to do for a noncombat class.”

“Silverstein is part of your guild?” Aaron asked.

“He is, boasted about how he bilked you for a fortune last time he arrived,” the man said. “If you want to hire a Swordbearer, this is the right place. You’ll just need to sign some paperwork and take a pledge to uphold our code of ethics.”

Ethics? Aaron didn’t like the sound of that. He wanted toothless goons who didn’t ask questions.

“Very well,” Aaron said. “Where do I sign?”

The man gestured towards one of the rooms. “Cynthia will take care of you.”

Aaron headed into the office room and met with a short woman with a pixie haircut. “So you’re looking to hire some blades?” Cynthia asked as she gestured for Aaron to sit in the chair across from her desk.

“Indeed, I have some business in the Wilted Forest and could use a sword arm or two,” Aaron said.

“Now, it’s important that you know that the Swordbearers do not get involved in political affairs, nor do we handle criminal type contracts. We’re a moral group and we expect that our warriors won’t be used to commit crimes,” Cynthia said, taking out a sheet of paper and sliding it towards Aaron.

He glanced at the paper to see there was a short section on the oath of ethics: By signing, you agree to not deploy your allies into scenarios that are criminal in design. You will not supplant the Lord nor work against the interests of Greystone in any way.

That didn’t sound so bad. Aaron had no intentions of committing any crimes. He signed the paper and was then greeted by a menu of information.

“Select whoever you like, contracts last two weeks each,” Cynthia said.

Hire a Swordbearer!

Name: Lance Deadman

Level: 3

Cost: 500 Garrins

Class: Warrior

Weapon: Broadsword

Stats:

HP: 15

MP: 3

Strength: 6

Speed: 3

Intelligence: 1

Charisma: 1

Name: Yina Bowseeker

Level: 2

Cost: 200 Garrins

Class: Archer

Weapon: Longbow

Stats:

HP: 8

MP: 5

Strength: 3

Speed: 5

Intelligence: 1

Charisma: 2

Name: Harvey Proudsmith

Level: 1

Cost: 100 Garrins

Class: Berserker

Weapon: Great Axe

Stats:

HP: 18

MP: 0

Strength: 4

Speed: 3

Intelligence: 1

Charisma: 1

Aaron looked at the three available. There were plenty more to hire but they were all lower level than the archer and the warrior. The price wasn’t too bad. He decided that it would be prudent to hire the archer as well as the berserker. A large hulking warrior alongside a bowist would be a useful combination to have. Between the two, they would have no trouble fighting the goblins. Or so Aaron hoped.

Aaron selected from the menu and paid for the pair, spending 300 garrins total. As soon as the contract was signed he was greeted with words. You Have 2 Companions!

“Thank you for signing with the Swordbearers,” Cynthia said. “Your new allies will be waiting for you outside. If you wish to renew their contracts after two weeks, you just pay the same rate. Even if they level up, you won’t be paying more than the contract stipulates.”

“Perfect,” Aaron replied. He walked outside of the room, contract in hand.

“Sir!” a woman said, approaching and bowing to Aaron. She was a lanky lass with long golden hair and a green tunic. On her back was a bow made of cherrywood and on her side was a quiver full of arrows. “I am Yina Bowseeker. I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”

A stocky fellow, with a huge belly and bearskin armor, stood beside her and bowed as well. “And I am Harvey Proudsmith! Berserker extraordinaire. No foe can stand before my rage!”

“Aaron Maddox,” the shadow merchant said, bowing in return. “And it is good to meet the both of you. Now then, on to brass tacks. I’ve got an operation that requires muscle in case things go south. I’m not hoping to cause trouble, so keep your weapons at the ready but down until things get hairy…”

Chapter 23

Aaron felt powerful as he strolled through the Wilted Forest, his allies in tow. The pair was professional as it came, silent and patient. They knew their job was simple: keep Aaron safe and ensure the negotiations with the goblins went well. Should things fall apart, they were instructed to have no quarter for the goblin folk.

There was some nervousness about facing these goblins. Aaron had dealt with them only once before and they were vicious creatures. But then again he had been alone and completely unarmed, save for his rusty dagger. Even if he had owned a better blade, he wasn’t a combat class and thus wouldn’t have stood a chance against them. His allies didn’t seem worried about goblins, however, and so they headed towards the center of the woods.

Finding the goblin territory wasn’t difficult. Yina was a skilled tracker and picked up on their footprints half a mile into the woods. They traveled carefully, the big Harvey standing in front of Aaron to soak up arrows in case they came loosing from the trees. Eventually they reached a large wooden barricade that had been set up to cut off the berry fields from the rest of the forest.

The barricade was sharpened at the top, forming large spikes that prevented people from being able to climb over. Despite the short size of the goblins, the wall was impressively tall. Skulls—human skulls—hung from the sides of the entryway and the gate was up.

“Not a good sign,” Yina said, pointing towards the skulls.

“Hold your weapons,” Aaron said. “We’re here to negotiate, not fight.”

“Just wait for them to try something,” Harvey grunted. “Oh my axe is crying out for blood and she hates to cry alone.”

Aaron approached the gate and knocked on it. A head popped up above the spikes and looked down. “Hey!” the goblin said. “You aren’t welcome here, now get out before we kill ya!”

“I’m here to negotiate with you,” Aaron said. “In regards to the villagers who are living nearby.”

The goblin, pale green and missing an eye, squinted at him. “I think I remember you. Yeah, we shot at you a while ago. You here for revenge, is that it?”

“Nonsense, all is fair when scavenging,” Aaron replied. “I’m just here to talk.”

“No one ever wants to just talk,” the goblin shot back. “I’m guessing you’re here for salty revenge!”

“I can assure you that I don’t hold a grudge,” Aaron said. “But you’d be making a mistake by not opening up to let us speak with your leader.”

“I’ll go summon him,” the goblin said. “You wait your pretty little heads right there.”

“Judging from the rustling on the other side, we can expect about twelve,” Yina said. “I say we just take them out as soon as the gates are open.”

“They are just goblins,” Harvey agreed.

Aaron’s companions were certainly bloodthirsty. But he raised a hand to stay them. “Calm yourselves, I’m not here to cause any trouble. We just want to negotiate and that’s what we’ll do as long as they behave.”

After a few minutes, the gate opened up, allowing entrance into the goblin camp. There were many strange tools and projects being worked on inside, mostly weapons being hewn from stone and wood. There was a band of six goblins, armed with spears, standing behind a taller goblin who was dark green. He carried a staff with a raven’s skull atop it, eyes studded with glowing red and blue gems.  

The leader stepped forward. “Who dares come to interfere with the goblin’s day?” he demanded, raising his staff up high.

“I am Aaron Maddox, a shadow merchant,” Aaron replied, walking in front of his allies. There were a few other goblins in the camp that weren’t part of the formal greeting party. They had shortbows and looked ready to fight at a moment’s notice. There were at least twenty in here, eight more than Yina had guessed.

“You can call me Porter,” the goblin said. “Porter of the Shortfang tribe. We have lived in this forest since time itself began. You humans are interlopers and you don’t deserve to walk here.”

“You have quite the establishment,” Aaron said, deciding to rely on tact. “Your people seem industrious.”

“We are scavengers and builders, hunters and killers,” Porter replied. “Our skills outweigh even the biggest human.”

It seemed comparison was a big deal to the goblin. Aaron took note of that. “I am certainly impressed by what you have built for yourselves here,” he said. “But I want to know why it is that you are attacking humans? What have they done to you?”

Porter paused for a moment to consider this. “Humans take everything away from us. They steal, borrow without returning and then, when you aren’t looking, they colonize your lands. I have yet to meet a human who is willing to be fair with other species. It’s all about you, you, you.”

“And how would you define fairness?” Aaron asked.

“Being willing to keep your half of the bargain! We goblins once ruled so much of the Wilted Forest… A long time ago, far before you arrived to Gorvan, we lay in harmony with the human peoples. Then one day, the Lords of Greystone decided that they wanted to open a mine here. A mine on goblin territory. We agreed to let them use the land in exchange for taxes and freedom to enter into Greystone…but they never paid us. And when our people tried to enter Greystone…they were killed! Strung up in the streets. And thus we goblins swore to never work with the town again.”

“Sounds like real treachery,” Aaron said. “But not every human is from Greystone. For example, I only do business there. I consider myself a resident of the Wilted Forest, same as you.”

“More like you can’t afford to live there!” one of the goblins sneered. “We know your kind.”

“Silence Peshi!” Porter bellowed. “I’m the one talking here. So you don’t think yourself as a citizen of Greystone?”

“Not in the least. That place is full of prejudice and thievery, people just waiting for you to show a sign of weakness to get one over on you. They have laws that restrict the people from getting access to foods that are easily grown or husbanded. But I’m not here on behalf of Greystone. Rather, I’m here to talk about the human village in this forest.”

“You’re speaking of the poor wanderers,” Porter said. “Oh yes, they came to our berry fields a while ago. We managed to scare them off but it’s only a matter of time before they raid us.”

“I can assure you that they are not raiders,” Aaron replied. “They were slaves whose only purpose was to be traded and sold as property. I freed them and they came to the Wilted Forest in order to survive. They’re harmless folks, few bear weapons and they live in terror of your people.”

“As they should!” Porter exclaimed. “They should be terrified of us.”

“But if they’re afraid of you, how can they trade? Surely you aren’t entirely self-sufficient out here?” Aaron asked. “There must be some things that you don’t have access to.”

Porter considered that for a moment. “We build everything we need but it is true there are some luxuries that we would like to have. Deer hunting isn’t the easiest as they can smell us a mile away. Meat is a rarity as we mostly just eat berries and nuts that we forage.”

That was something to work with. “So you’re saying that you could use more meat?” Aaron asked.

“Deer meat specifically,” Porter said. ”It’s the choicest meat that a goblin can enjoy.”

“The Threadbare Village has hunters who regularly take in deer,” Aaron said. “They could trade with you in exchange for rights to the berry fields.”

Porter narrowed his eyes. “But how can we know that you’ll actually hold up to your end of the bargain? Humans are liars.”

“We could sign a contract, both parties,” Aaron said. “I represent the village in this regard so I could sign for them. But we could provide you a deer carcass each time we want access to the berry fields. Your goblins will hold off on attacking them and we can have peace between both sides.”

The words Bargain 6+ appeared over Porter’s head. He pondered this for a moment and then the words Skill Success followed. “Alright, I suppose if you were able to provide us with a deer each time you came through our lands, we won’t harm you. But rest assured your people will be watched the entire time.”

Aaron nodded at that. “Don’t worry, they will be on their best behavior. And if you ever wish it, you are welcome at the village as well.”

“Why would we ever want to go to a human village?” Porter asked. He growled a little. “Everything wrong with mankind is in those villages.”

Aaron shrugged. “It was just a friendly offer.”

Negotiation Success! 500 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision and he grinned. It would seem that things were looking up for him, despite having lost his ability to sell fish.

Chapter 24

Aaron arrived at the Threadbare Village with his guards in tow. They were pleased that there was no violence and spoke praises of Aaron’s negotiation abilities. He had managed to do something they didn’t believe possible, get the goblins to allow human passage into their territory. Now he just needed to tell the leader the terms of the arrangement.

The village was alight with activity as soon as Aaron was spotted. A group came up to welcome him and they cheered at the sight of him. He felt that warmth once more, the feeling of being love and wanted. Back in his old life, he had been reviled by most everyone in the public square. Folks never spoke to him except to flatter him in the hopes of getting something in return. But here, in this village, he was a somebody.

Luver Hammerwite came out from one of the tents and waved to Aaron. “Ah, so he returns! How are things?”

“They are going well,” Aaron said. “I’ve made a negotiation with the goblin people. Their tribal leader, Porter, is willing to allow you into the berry fields. But there is a cost. A deer carcass is required each time you want access.”

The man frowned. “But we need the deer for food.”

“The goblins consider meat a delicacy,” Aaron said. “With the fishing rods I can provide, you folks can focus on fishing and hunting in order to expand your goods to trade with me.”

Luver pondered this for a moment. “And the goblins won’t harm us?”

“Not as long as you are willing to behave in their territories,” Aaron replied. “Deer meat is valuable to them, but you folks can survive off of fish. I would suggest that you start stockpiling deer as best you can.”

“I suppose it’s a small trade, our hunters can usually find one or two a week,” Luver said. He grinned. “Thank you for stepping up and representing our village. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

+10 Reputation Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision. Your Reputation is now -15 (Suspicious).

Aaron soaked in the joy from seeing his reputation increase once more. He couldn’t help but smile at that and beamed. “It’s a pleasure to help. Anything else that I can be of assistance with?”

“Well, actually yes,” Luver said, motioning to the south. “There are some bandits living in the woods not too far from us. They aren’t particularly threatening to us, as they know we have nothing to give, but we thought that maybe you could see if they’d put down their weapons and join us. We could use the extra manpower and they aren’t particularly dangerous folks. We ran into them once but they let us pass upon realizing we were freed slaves.”

Bandits? Aaron thought about the three outlaws he had run into while on the road. Perhaps it was the same group. “Why would you want to add them to your village?”

“We need the numbers,” the man replied. “We’re intending on turning this small site into a real functioning town. The more people we have on hand, the more we will be able to cut down timber and build houses. Real ones too, capable of withstanding the dreary weather.”

“You certainly are industrious,” Aaron said. “Very well, I’ll go meet with those bandits and see if I can get them to join.”

“Truly you are a rose amongst thorns, Aaron Maddox,” Luver said. He bowed to Aaron deeply.

Aaron and his companions departed and made their way to the south where the bandits were said to be camping. As they traveled, they ran into a rather large group of adventurers. These men and women were armed with heavy weapons and carried a banner that was familiar to Aaron. It was the symbol of House Everson, the Lord’s banner—a checkered flag with a pine cone in the center.

“Halt!” one of the adventurers said, pointing a finger towards Aaron. “What are you doing out here?”

“I’m just on business,” Aaron replied. He could see there were nearly twenty adventurers and it appeared they were on a serious campaign. They had large satchels and backpacks carrying gear that would last them several weeks on their mission.

“Business? The Lord has put out a decree that all able-bodied men and women are to join on our quest!” the man replied. He wore a helmet with horns on the sides of them and was a portly fellow, though not nearly as big as Aaron’s companion, Harvey.

“And what quest is that?” Aaron asked.

“Why, we’re going into the Storywood Dungeon to find the Allsphere! There was a report from a clerk about its existence and Lord Everson decided that he wanted it,” the man explained. “You seem to be of sound mind and body if you’re out here questing, so join us! As the decree states, each able participant must come along into the dungeon, else risk imprisonment and fines.”

“I’m afraid that I’m not much of an adventurer, just a shadow merchant,” Aaron replied. “There’s no way I’d have anything to contribute in your grand quest.”

“Nonsense,” the warrior said. “We have plenty of gear for you to use, if you can carry a weapon then you can serve with us. And your allies seem more than able. What’s the hold up?”

“I’m not interested,” Aaron said.

The warrior looked squarely at Aaron and shook his head. “Afraid it’s not really a choice.” He drew his weapon and everyone in the group followed suit, causing Aaron to groan.

“There’s no way out of this, is there?” he asked.

The man laughed. “Nonsense, this is a great chance to bring glory to yourself! If you are part of the team that finds the Allsphere you’d become a legend.”

“Yet the sphere goes to the Lord,” Aaron grumbled. “Seems unfair.”

“What’s unfair is that you aren’t appreciative of our employer, he keeps the entire city of Greystone running. Now come on, grab a weapon and some armor and let’s go! My name’s Filburn, by the way. Filburn of Locksington.”

“Aaron Maddox,” he replied. He looked at his companions. “What say you?”

“The decree seems ironclad,” Yina said.

“I’m down for a dungeon crawl!” Harvey replied. “Let’s do this!”

Aaron sighed and headed to the group of adventurers. They had a plethora of gear and armor available. There was an outfitter who quickly gave him a pair of thick leather armor that granted him ten additional hit points. As for his weapon, they gave him a sturdy metal crossbow and a quiver full of bolts.

“The weapon is easy to use,” Yina said as she helped Aaron learn how to aim it. “You just point and click. Reloading it is the harder part.”

Metal Crossbow

Type: Weapon

Stats:

+5 Attack

10 Damage

Requires Reload after each Shot.

The weapon felt good in Aaron’s hands and he instinctively knew how to reload it. Despite not being a combat class the damage was fairly high. He just hoped that it would be enough to keep him alive on this journey.

Chapter 25

Filburn and his rowdy band of adventurers had gang pressed Aaron into another delve in the dungeon. They arrived in the afternoon to the great tree and entered with loud cheers, excited to see what lay within. Aaron didn’t feel terribly good about the adventure but with twenty men and women demanding he come along with them, there wasn’t much he could do.

“Alright gang,” Filburn said as they gathered in the main hall. “We’re all going to clear each room as quickly as possible. Everyone split up. Aaron, you and your crew can start with the western passages, the rest of you spread out and start searching. Lord Everson wants that Allsphere and he’s going to get it!”

The crew all cheered at that and began to raid the dungeon, running into the various rooms. Aaron looked at his team and sighed. “You ready to delve?”

“Of course,” Harvey said, pressing forward. Yina nodded and drew her bow.

“This shouldn’t be too much trouble,” she added.

Aaron followed his team, walking through the western passage into a large empty room with a basin in the middle. There was a door to the north and the south, both of them sealed up. He investigated the basin to see that there was well water within, bubbling softly.

“What kind of water bubbles like that?” he murmured, taking a stick from the ground and dipping it in the water. Immediately the stick burst into flames, prompting him to drop the entire thing into the well.

“Acidic waters,” Harvey said. He looked over at the sealed doors. “I’m willing to bet we could get these doors open with a good splash from the stuff.”

“Need a container,” Yina replied. She walked over to the basin and glanced down. She took out a ceramic bowl and carefully dipped it in the water. The bowl did not melt or burst into flames, but rather took the water in easily. She carried it over to the northern door and splashed the contents against the lock.

The water fizzled and burned the sealed door, gnawing a hole in the center. “Capital idea!” Aaron said. She returned to the basin and refilled it, splashing more on the door until there was a hole large enough for them to fit through. Harvey had some trouble getting inside but with enough squeezing he managed to make it through.

The next room had a pair of skeletons standing idly by. They were strange creatures, tall and boney with long spines sticking out of their backs. The rest of the room had scatters of bones and human corpses, long stripped of their goods. Aaron could see there was a mural on the wall to the back but he was more distracted by the moving skeletons.

“Those things are alive?” he asked.

“Undead,” Harvey said. The big man flexed and let out a deep roar. The words Rage hovered above him and his health increased to 25.

“Fire on them!” Yina instructed and she drew out her bow and started to shoot. Arrows whizzed through the air and struck the skeletons, dealing 5 damage to each. Words hovered above these monsters.

Spine Skeletons

HP: 15

Speed: 1

Strength: 6

Weapon: Spine Spears

Damage: 5

The skeletons immediately reacted to the presence of the adventurers. Their long spines grew out and they ripped them out, wielding the pointed bones as spears. Harvey drew their attention first and they staggered to close in the gap between them.

Aaron didn’t know how to react to the idea of an undead monster. He hadn’t expected to see living skeletons and raised his crossbow shakily. The weapon was heavy in his hands and he was shaking quite a bit. He aimed at one of the skeletons and squeezed the trigger. The crossbow went shunk as it released its payload, the kick being much stronger in the heat of battle than practice.

The bolt flew and embedded itself into the side of the first skeleton’s head. It took 10 damage from the blow and fell to pieces. The second skeleton was smashed by Harvey’s axe, the berserker slashing like a wildman.

The words Slashing Resistance appeared over the skeleton’s head and it only took 2 points of damage from the blow. With its spine in hand, the skeleton speared the berserker in the side, dealing 5 points of damage. The man roared at that and fell back.

Aaron quickly went to reload his crossbow. The weapon had to be drawn with a pull string and the easiest way to do it was to place it down on the ground, step on the stirrup of the bow and then yank it backwards. This took time and Yina fired a few more arrows meanwhile, hitting the skeleton with one shot but missing with the others.

Aaron pulled the crossbow up and heard as the mechanism clicked in. He lifted the weapon and shakily placed a bolt into the groove. Aiming the weapon once more, he fired. The bolt flew true and struck the skeleton right in the side of the skull, taking it down.

“Nice shot!” Yina said as the skeleton fell to pieces. The magic that had been reanimating it had failed and it was just as inert as the rest of the bones in the place.

Monsters Slain! 400 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision and he let out a sigh of relief. He had not been expecting to face something so terrifying but the other two acted as if this was business as usual.

“Great work,” Harvey added. He scoured the area for treasure but couldn’t find anything. While he searched, Aaron walked up to the mural and took notice of it.

The wall had a painting of a great sphere, with magical energy surrounding it. The words Behold the Allsphere and its wonder were emblazoned on the wall. There was a small parchment hanging from the mural, loosely tacked on with a metal nail. Aaron grabbed it and pulled it down.

It was a map. Or at least part of one. The small parchment indicated that the only way to find the Allsphere was to descend into level 2 and into the Dwelling Room.

“Looks like we found a lead,” Aaron said, showing the map to the others. Harvey didn’t seem terribly interested.

“I’m sure it’s long gone,” he replied. “The damn thing is too powerful and valuable. Someone probably nicked it years ago and we’re just wasting our time.”

“I concur,” Yina said. “I’ve heard legends of the Allsphere for as long as I can remember. You’d figure someone would have found it by now.”

“If you think that, why are we down here?”

“Treasure!” Harvey said. “That and experience points! Plenty to be had on these kinds of grand quests.”

“Besides, that edict seems quite clear. Everson will send people here until eventually he gets bored or discouraged in the search. Best serve our time now and move on with our lives,” Yina added.

Aaron looked at the map and back at his companions. “Something tells me that this place has yet to give up the sphere. Maybe it’s blind optimism but I think we can find it. And if we do? No reason for us to hand it over to Everson without getting paid first.”

“Everson won’t pay a half garrin for anything that he thinks is his,” Yina said. “But I admire your desire to make a profit. Come on, let’s head back to the group and show them the map. The faster we can find nothing, the faster we can be on our way.”

Chapter 26

The three returned to the main hallway of level one, only to find that it was empty. Everyone was mysteriously gone. Filburn was nowhere to be seen and there was only a recently doused firepit to greet them.

“Strange, you’d figure twenty people would be easy to spot,” Aaron said. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Yina knelt down to inspect the ashes of the firepit. “Footprints leading to the east,” she said, pointing towards a large oval door. “Seems they went this way.”

Aaron walked over to the door and opened it up, poking his head through. On the other side were three bodies, Filburn’s included.

“Good gods!” Aaron exclaimed at the sight of the corpses. “They’re dead!”

Harvey pushed past Aaron and entered the room, axe brandished. “Who’s in there?” he demanded, raising his weapon high. “Come on out!”

There was no reply. Just three bodies lying at the entrance to a circular room. The room itself was some kind of laboratory, bottles and beakers lining up the walls, though long broken from years of neglect.

“This isn’t good,” Yina said as she knelt down to inspect Filburn’s body. “Dagger wounds to the back. All three of them cut down from behind…leads me to believe that someone in the party wanted the Allsphere for themselves.”

“You’re saying someone in our own team killed them?” Aaron asked. He shivered again and looked around. He couldn’t help but feel he was being watched.

“Could have been anything that killed them,” Harvey replied. “No reason to jump to conclusions.”

“Daggers to the back, no sign of resistance,” Yina countered. “They didn’t even have their weapons drawn.”

“Maybe it was a mutiny,” Aaron suggested. “People no longer interested in being gang pressed into fighting for the Lord.”

“If that were the case we’d have seen footprints leading out of this place,” Yina replied. “No, this looks like someone made short work of them. We best be on our guard.”

“I say we just get out of here,” Aaron said. “With Filburn dead, there’s no one to hold our leash anymore.”

“Nonsense, we just got here!” Harvey retorted. “How am I ever going to level up if we just give up now? And besides, there’s been no treasure to find just yet. I say we find ourselves a few juicy pieces before we call it quits.”

In the distance, Aaron could hear a stifled pair of voices. “It’s that shadow merchant,” the voice whispered. He turned around to see that on the other side of the room, looking out from the southwest passage was a man wearing all black. He and his companion had hoods on and were carrying daggers.

“Look out,” Aaron said, motioning to his allies. “I think we found the killers.”

The two men approached slowly, trying to stay in the shadows. Yina drew her bow and aimed it towards them.

“Not a step forward!” she threatened. “What are you doing here?”

“Calm yourself,” the man said, his companion remaining silent. “We’re trying to find Filburn. We have a key to the second level.”

“Filburn’s dead,” Aaron said. “As well as two of his allies.”

“What happened?” the man asked. He sounded innocent enough but Aaron could see they both had their knives drawn.

“Someone stuck Filburn in the back and slit the throats of the other two,” Yina said. She kept her bow up. “And it seems they went down without a fight.”

Tension rose in the air as the man and his companion stopped advancing. They waited for a moment. “A real shame,” the man said after a few seconds of silence. “I rather liked him.”

“Did you now?” Aaron asked.

Tension continued to rise. The man was breathing harder now and seemed ready to strike. He kept his hands down low but Aaron could see there was tightness in his arms.

Harvey, ignorant of the danger, walked forward and put his axe at his side. “If you found the key to level 2, then we have a map and—”

His words were cut short as the man threw his daggers straight at the berserker. Harvey tried to dodge but wasn’t fast enough. The blades pierced his chest and he fell backwards, staggering. The words Poisoned appeared above his head and his health started dropping down rapidly.

The other fighter threw back his cloak and revealed a hand crossbow. He aimed it straight at Harvey and fired.

Yina shot back, trying to intercept the attack but she wasn’t as fast as the assailant. A bolt struck Harvey square in the torso, killing him on the spot.

“Harvey!” Aaron shouted, his eyes growing wide. He had never seen anyone die in front of him before, not in this life or in the previous one. Panic and a desire to survive mingled as he raised his crossbow and aimed it square towards the dagger wielding assassin.

The crossbow went chak as it fired, sending a bolt right into the chest of the attacker. He fell backwards, clutching his heart as he stumbled to the ground. The other one tried to reload his hand crossbow but Yina wouldn’t give him the chance; she fired three arrows into him, dropping him instantly.

“Damn you…” the man wheezed. He clutched his wound as Aaron rapidly reloaded, pulling the crossbow back and placing another bolt into the weapon.

Yina aimed her bow at the downed man. “Why did you kill Filburn and his comrades?”

“Lord Everson wants the Allsphere,” the man replied, still holding his wound. “But Councilman Reyes has other designs for it.”

The councilman had hired them to sabotage the operation? “Did you intend to ever find it?” Aaron asked.

The man wheezed and said nothing else, finally succumbing to his wounds.

Fight Won! 300 XP Gained!

“We lost Harvey,” Aaron said, walking over to his fallen comrade. “The man’s dead.” He sank to his knees. “Not a single chance of saving him…”

“It happens in the dungeon,” Yina replied. She sounded cold and callous. “The man was only level one and didn’t read the room. He should have stayed back but then again, those poisons could have easily killed any one of us.”

Aaron didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t help but feel bad. The man had been eager to fight, sturdy in all ways and ready to face anything. But now he lay on the ground, cold and dead. It was strange how this affected him, but he was kicking himself for not…what? What could he have done? He was no warrior or healer.

“What do we do now?” Aaron asked.

Yina knelt over the assassin’s body and searched until she found the key. “I suppose we head down to level 2. Find the others and tell them what happened.”

“If there are any others,” Aaron replied. “They could have been killed too.”

“If we’re the lone survivors then we might want to reconsider going down there,” Yina said. She pondered this for a minute. “No, let’s keep going. I want treasure.”

“So did Harvey, and look at where that got him,” Aaron groaned.

This world was a madhouse, where a companion could be killed and his ally barely even blinked. Aaron shut the open eyes of his fallen comrade and stood to his feet. “Alright, let’s get moving…”

Chapter 27

The pair made their way through the dungeon, following the corpses of both monster and human alike. Most of the human bodies were part of the original band that had come in. They sported dagger wounds on their backs, indicating that the assassins had planned to kill everyone in the group—Aaron and Yina included.

They found a passage with a locked door, leading down to level two. The key opened it up easily enough and they descended.

This place was different than the first level. The construction was primarily made of metal and the ground had pipes built into them. There was a constant hissing in the air and the place was darker, without any torches lining the walls.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and entered a large foyer with four pillars sticking out of the ground. These great metal pillars had pictures emblazoned on them, each one depicting a different scene.

The first pillar showed a group of mages gathered around an inert sphere, putting their magic into it. The second showed the mages being slain by a great hero and the sphere being placed in a large chest. The other two pillars were eroded but the images seemed to indicate that the Allsphere was hidden away to keep the world from getting its hands on it.

“I have to say, if the Allsphere was found, you’d think there would be widespread news of it,” Aaron said as he examined the pillars. “It would be world-changing, to think of it.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Yina replied. She raised her torch towards the south where a corridor was waiting for them. “Do you hear that? Some kind of gurgling.”

Aaron strained to listen and indeed could hear the sound of gurgling. It was like a monstrous bubbling sound, with occasional glurps and gulps. He shivered. “Should we go the other way?”

“Monster means XP and treasure,” Yina replied. She lowered her torch and took out a lantern from her pack, lighting it and hanging it from her hip. The lantern dimly illuminated the area as she drew her bow. “Come on, let’s go take a look.”

Aaron raised his crossbow and followed after the fearless archer. Yina didn’t seem to worry about anything, taking the death of their comrade in stride. He worried that she too may be slain but there was no talking her out of exploring the second level of the dungeon. What if she wanted the artifact for herself? Something so powerful…it would be a wonder to resist the urge to simply keep it.

They made their way through the wide corridor, the light flickering against the metal walls. The corridor opened up into a large room where there was a silhouette of a body hanging from the ceiling. It was a human male, adorned in metal armor and with a mace at his side…wait a second!

Aaron squinted but was positive. It was Silverstein! The man was hanging from the ceiling, his body writhing in pain. Long tendrils were wrapped around his wrists, dangling him over what looked to be a monster of some sort.

The creature was amorphous and blobby, with long tendrils that snaked out of the ground. It had four eye stalks sticking out of its torso. The blob-like beast was yellow and words shimmered above it.

Eyestalk Fiend

HP: 20

Speed: 2

Strength: 8

Weapon: Tendrils

Damage: 6

The creature’s eyes were shut. It appeared to be dozing, burbling quietly to itself as it dangled its dinner high above it.

“Get ready,” Yina whispered as she nocked an arrow on her bow. Aaron nodded and raised his crossbow up high. He took a deep breath and waited.

“Fire!” she shouted, releasing the arrow. It sailed through the air but the monster was incredibly fast. Its tendrils shot up and seized the arrow in mid-air, snapping it in half.

The creature let out a hideous shriek and a beak mouth emerged from the top of the amorphous mass. It began to rise up, bellowing in rage. Aaron fired his crossbow and the shot struck true, hitting the center of the yellowish mass. 5 Damage appeared in his vision as did the words Piercing Resistance.

The eyestalk fiend’s four eyes all opened, burning with a red hot anger. They were illuminated yellow, casting more light in the area. Its tendrils came shooting out of its body towards both Yina and Aaron at the same time.

Yina was like lightning, dodging deftly and cutting through one of the tendrils with a knife, slashing the appendage off. Aaron wasn’t so lucky however and as he tried to pull back, the tendril, greenish yellow, snagged his leg and lifted him in the air.

“I’m on it!” Yina shouted, firing an arrow at the tendril holding Aaron.

He screamed with horror as he was wrenched in the air one second and then thrown to the ground the next. The arrow cut through the tendril and the beast let out a shriek, though it took no damage. It grew more tendrils and they came firing back out.

Aaron grabbed his rusty dagger and rolled onto his back. Another tendril came up to seize him by the leg but he was ready for it. He cut downwards as hard as he could, slashing through the appendage in one fell swoop. He scurried to his feet and rushed over to his crossbow, though he wasn’t faster than the monster. It seized his weapon and tossed it aside.

Yina fired two arrows into the beast’s carapace, dealing only 6 damage as it had piercing resistance.

“We better think of something better than arrows!” she cried.

Aaron looked around and had an idea. He pulled out his torch and quickly used his firestarter matches to spark the end. The oils soaked into the torch end caused it to immediately burst into flames. Tendrils snaked all around him but he fended them by swinging the torch around. The monster didn’t like the fire and pulled its arms from him.

“Quickly, over here!” Aaron shouted. He ran up to Yina and placed the torch right in front of her. She dipped her arrow into the flames, causing the arrowhead to set alight. Before the fire could spread to the rest of the bow, she fired a shot. 10 Damage! appeared above the creature and its health dropped down significantly. It had only 5 points left.

Aaron kept his torch up and Yina reloaded. Two tendrils snuck up behind her, however, and seized her by the legs, yanking her high in the air.

“Help!” she cried, her voice echoing through the entire room.

Aaron felt terror at the sight of his comrade being grabbed; all he could think about was Harvey’s death. Determined to prevent that from happening again, he decided to go all in.

The shadow merchant rushed the creature’s torso. The amorphous blob tried to fend him off but he swung his torch like a wildman, fighting tooth and nail to save his comrade. The torch struck the side of the beast’s body and the slime covering the creature ignited at once. 5 Damage! appeared in his vision as the eyestalk fiend burst into flames.

The terrible beast shrieked and screamed as the fire consumed its entire body. It melted into the floor and the tendrils withered away and died, dropping both Yina and Silverstein onto the ground.

Creature Defeated! 500 XP gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision. He let out a deep sigh of relief and dropped to his knees. The adrenaline was pumping through his system and he couldn’t believe that he killed it himself. It was one thing to bash an ooze but this creature was something out of his worst nightmares, and now it was dead.

“You okay?” Aaron asked Yina. The woman stood up and dusted herself off.

“I’m fine, that was some quick thinking back there. Nice work,” she replied. She walked over to investigate the fallen Silverstein. The man was groaning and slowly regaining consciousness.

Aaron walked over to talk to him. “Hey, hey, are you with us?” he asked, snapping a finger in front of the man’s face.

“Aaron?” the man asked, confused as he roused from his unconscious state. “How did you…I mean, how did I?” He looked around and sat up. “Oh that’s right. I was investigating a secret passage and then I heard some kind of terrible gurgling sound. Everything went dark after that.”

“I think you were being kept as a meal,” Aaron said. “That damnable eyestalk fiend was probably saving you for later.”

“Eyestalk fiend?” Silverstein said. He groaned and stood to his feet, stretching. “That’s a terrible beast. Where are we?”

“Level two,” Aaron replied. “Yina and I were gang pressed into serving as Lord Everson’s retrieval squad. Apparently he wants the Allsphere and has conscripted a great many people to go find it.”

“I saw a rowdy bunch of adventurers here and there, greenhorns who were easily slaughtered by the numerous traps of this dungeon,” Silverstein said. He investigated his armor and saw that it was fine. “You’re saying they’re after the Allsphere?”

“We have a lead on it,” Yina said. “It’s supposedly connected to an area known as the Dwelling Room. No idea where it is though.”

“Are you up to travel with us?” Aaron asked. “Have you still been down here since I left?”

“I took a break for a while but came back after I checked in with the guild that I serve, the Swordbearers,” Silverstein said. “I suppose if it hadn’t been for you two, I’d have been devoured. Consider me part of the team! But do you really think we’re going to find the Allsphere?”

“I’m tempted to keep searching,” Aaron said. “A discovery like that would be once in a lifetime.”

Chapter 28

Aaron and his team continued their search for the Dwelling Room. The map was only partially complete, so there was no telling which room this was. They made their way to a general hallway where there were three branching paths. The hallway itself was made of metal and steel pipes rose up from the ground occasionally.

As they walked, Aaron noticed something on the wall glowing with a slight blue hue. It was a harvest point.

“Hold up,” he said, walking up to the wall to investigate. There were blue mushrooms growing here, gently giving off light. He activated his harvest skill and began to pull them free, carefully removing the caps from the tops of the stems.

Blue Mushroom

Type: Resource

Description: These mushrooms can be dried out and used to make blue pigments.

Value: 150 garrins

He managed to get three mushrooms total. With the Processing Hut that he had, Aaron would be able to turn these mushrooms into pigments and sell them as dyes and paints. Not a bad discovery.

Once he was finished, they turned their attention to picking a door to go through. There was nothing remarkable about any of the passageways, so they merely chose to go east. This led to a grand room where an organ sat in the center.

It was a mighty instrument, with great steel pipes that matched the ones that were coming out of the floor. The great organ had a figure sitting down at it, his body merged with the chair itself. He was a grey creature, a stubby man with a long black beard and dreadlocks. He played a somber song as the group entered.

“Who is that?” Yina asked, her voice hushed. “Trouble, you think?”

“Seems to be an organist who doesn’t much care for the choice of venue,” Aaron replied. He spoke up. “Hello, are you friendly?”

“Friendly?” the short man replied, playing another note. “Aye, I be friendly but don’t count me a friend. The Storywood Dungeon is no place for friends.”

Aaron approached the short man to see that his skin was so grey that it almost looked like he was made of stone. His meaty fingers were playing the organ effortlessly, moving up and down the keys with ease.

“I’m Aaron and these are my companions, Yina and Silverstein,” Aaron said.

“I’m Sotling the Dwarf,” he replied, not looking up from his keys. “One of the last few dwarves remaining in this world.”

A dwarf? Aaron had never seen a creature like this before. “What do you mean, last few remaining?”

“Ahhh, the dwarven folk are from a long time ago, back before humanity rose to prominence. They were a proud but clamorous group, fighting one another for dominance and territory. Eventually the arms race with magic became too great and they wiped each other out. You’ll meet one or two here and there but for the most part, our great race has declined,” he explained. He continued to play, his tune haunting and grim. The pipes of the organ hissed as he played.

“And what are you doing here?”

“Biding my time until my extinction, of course,” the dwarf replied. “I constructed this great organ to play my funeral dirge. I expect when I finish, over the course of the next hundred years or so, I will be dead.”

A grim attitude to have. But Aaron could understand why he was in such a mood. He was alone in the dark, playing an organ without a race to support him. “Why not come to the surface?” Silverstein asked, approaching the pair. “With musical skills like that, I’m sure you could find many people to entertain.”

“Bah, humans are a pain in the neck. Always making deals and going back on them. Dwarves never much cared for them. Of course, when humans were living in caves and foraging for nuts and berries, we dwarven folk were building great mines and castles in the mountains. A shame we never got past our internal conflict,” Sotling said.

Only Yina remained at a distance. She looked uncomfortable in the presence of the dwarf and was carefully keeping her bow down, though ready to pull it up in an instant. Aaron couldn’t detect any treachery in the dwarf’s voice or demeanor. He seemed dead set on simply sitting and playing.

“We’re searching for an artifact,” Aaron said. “It’s known as the Allsphere.”

The dwarf began to laugh. “Ah yes, I know all about the sphere. They say it’s able to change a person’s abilities, maximize their XP and reshape their body. It can even be used on others against their wills, transforming them into husks or slaves.”

Aaron felt a spark of hope at the dwarf’s recognition of the artifact. “Do you know if it’s still in the dungeon?”

“Aye, that it is,” the dwarf replied. He played another tune, the music cascading into a funeral march. “Many have died seeking it.”

“We know it’s connected to a place down here known as the Dwelling Room,” Aaron said. “Any idea where we might find it?”

The dwarf looked over at Aaron, though not quickly. His entire body creaked as he turned his head. “The Dwelling Room? That’s not too far from here, just go back the way you came and head through the southern door. But you do know why they call it that, right?”

“Why?”

“A dragon dwells within, and a powerful one at that. Seeks the bones of the living and slays any who dare to enter. You’d be a daft fool to go in there with the gear and manpower that you have.”

A dragon? Aaron could scarcely believe his ears. “Are you meaning to tell me that there’s an actual dragon in this dungeon?”

“Aye, his name be Wildwit and he is a powerful beast. At least level 10. You don’t want to mess with it in your current state, I can tell you that,” Sotling replied. “Of course, there are always ways to deal with such creatures. A lance of dragonslaying would do you nicely. Such an artifact is far from this dungeon, however. You’d have to find it somewhere else.”

“I think I draw the line at a dragon,” Yina said. She shook her head. “Yes, I definitely draw the line at a dragon.”

“It’s possible that the dragon himself keeps the sphere,” Sotling said. “Or maybe he just guards the entrance to where it is. Who knows? All I know is that I have met many an adventurer who was excited to go on a dragon hunt, only to never return.”

Silverstein crossed his arms. “Wildwit is a familiar name. I’ve heard of a beast that came into the dungeon to protect his treasure. Certainly a lot of garrins to be found in that place…though without any dragon slaying equipment, we’ll be sure to falter.”

“Then I suppose this adventure has to be put on halt,” Aaron said. “Thank you for the information Sotling.”

“Aye, it’s my pleasure,” the dwarf said, never ceasing to play. “Good luck on your adventures.”

With that, the group decided that it was time to leave the dungeon. Aaron had a report to give to Lord Everson, and more importantly, he now knew that Councilman Reyes was acting in opposition to the Lord’s will. He had hired assassins to thwart the quest or worse, steal the sphere for himself.

This would give Aaron just the edge he needed in getting permission to sell wheat and meat at his own stand…

Chapter 29

The three emerged from the dungeon no worse for wear. They were exhausted from the adventure and Yina stated that she would return to see Aaron after she reported Harvey’s demise back to the guild. Silverstein was more than happy to accompany her, leaving Aaron on his own.

The shadow merchant had wondered what to do with the body of Harvey, but the man was too big for them to carry out. He would become a meal for some monster, plundered by scavengers and consigned to an eternity of rest within the dungeon itself. It was a real shame but that was the adventuring life, Aaron supposed. He just wished that he could have done something to protect Harvey in the moment.

The regret was strange to the shadow merchant. In his past life, he had never cared for the fates of those around him. He never saw anyone die up close, of course, but there had been deaths attributed to Aaron’s actions. He had pushed past safety limits, demanded overtime from an exhausted workforce and even bribed inspectors in order to meet quotas. How easy it was to deal with a death that happened so far from him. But seeing a man’s demise up close and personal, it weighed heavily on his heart. Was he ever going to forget this?

Aaron tried to shake the thoughts from his head and made his way to town. Greystone seemed to be in a miserable mood today and the people looked especially wretched. A town crier was standing on the corner of a street, shouting out.

“Lord Everson demands that those who have not yet reported in for his army to submit themselves immediately!” the crier shouted. “All able-bodied men and women are expected to join in the grand adventure of a lifetime! Any who are found to be hiding from conscription will be subject to arrest or fines, most likely both!”

Aaron walked up to the Lord’s Manor, where the guards were eager to let him in after he explained that he had a report from Storywood. It seemed they were nervous about being sent out into the dungeon as well, so they were glad to send Aaron to tell about the Allsphere.

The Lord was busy posing for a portrait in one of the studies, the big man standing atop a bearskin rug and holding a bow in hand. He looked rather ridiculous, his stance too poor to indicate that he actually knew how to hold a weapon.

“Aha!” the big man said upon seeing Aaron. “I see the shadow merchant has returned. Tell me, did your stand last more than a day before the Guild of Goods set upon you?”

“I’m afraid you were correct on that matter,” Aaron said. “But I’ve actually come to report on the matter of the Allsphere. A few days ago I ran into an eager army of adventurers who said you commissioned them and myself as well, to enter into the Storywood Dungeon and find it.”

The Lord’s eyes went wide at the sound of the Allsphere and he abruptly turned, causing the painter to begin fussing.

“Sire, please stay still, this portrait is going to take forever if you keep changing positions!”

“Not now, Renly, there’s more important business afoot!” Lord Everson said. The wide man faced Aaron and grinned. “So you decided to serve your Lord and do your duty. That is most excellent. What happened?”

“The usual, monsters and fiends, traps and killers,” Aaron said. “But I believe I have found the entry to where the Allsphere lies.”

“Ohohohoh,” Everson chuckled, putting his fingers together. “Let’s hear it.”

“There’s a dragon in the way, that’s the trouble,” Aaron explained. “But me and my team have a lead to the second level. We couldn’t go much further with knowledge of the dragon, but we may be able to recover the sphere after all.”

“Ahhh, splendid, splendid,” Everson said. He grinned widely at that. “You surprise me, Aaron. I never took you for the adventuring sort. I would have figured you’d die ten seconds in that place.”

“It was a massacre of your people,” Aaron said. He paused for a moment and wondered if he should speak up. Thoughts of Harvey’s death came flashing through his mind and he decided to advocate. “You’re making a mistake by just rounding up as many people as you can. You’re using your power as a Lord to take ordinary folk and push them into a death trap.”

“Any life is worth it to receive the power of the Allsphere,” the Lord replied. “Oh yes. I was skeptical at first, but when my clerk returned, telling the tales of his adventures inside…well, I must admit I ran the numbers in my head. There’s a sizable population to Greystone, with many leeches just sitting around, using my resources and enjoying my protection.

“If we keep throwing numbers at the dungeon, eventually we’ll find it. And then I’ll be the most powerful person in Gorvan! Can you imagine? I could crown myself emperor! The entire world would bow before me. King Leroy would have nothing to stop me from ascending. I’d unify the cities, create an empire worthy of my name and continue to expand endlessly!”

So that was the man’s motivation. Just callous and ruthless self-promotion. Aaron felt a strange sense of disgust at hearing how the man just wanted to improve his own lot. He thought of the poverty and starvation that he saw on a daily basis in Greystone. So many resources could be used to take care of the people, but here was Everson, just thinking about his own stature.

Guilt welled up within Aaron as he thought about his own past life. Had he not been the same way? Had he only cared about the expansion of Maddox Corporation and its subsidiaries? He had used the phrase ‘empire’ many times when referring to his own domain. And what had that gotten him? Sent to a new life where the people despised him.

“Sir,” Aaron said, taking a new approach. “Perhaps there is a better way. You seem to be busy with many things and managing so many people is a cumbersome task. Would it not be better to simply delegate the mission to someone who knows how to manage?”

Everson paused. “What are you suggesting, Shadow Merchant?”

“I’m suggesting that you put me in charge of recovering the Allsphere,” Aaron said. “I’ve already been down there and returned to tell the tale. I know exactly what you need in order to acquire it. You can send countless greenhorns and civilians down there but that doesn’t guarantee success. With my leadership and guidance, I can assure you that I will get you that artifact.”

Was this true? Aaron was unsure but he had to do something to stop the conscriptions. People were being dragged from their homes and forced to enter into a nightmare realm of death and traps. If Aaron didn’t do something, what would stop the Greystone population from being decimated?

“Hmmm, you talk a big game, but you are the first to return,” the big man said. He rubbed his chin. “I suppose I could be persuaded to give you charge. You are a shady fellow who undoubtedly knows how to bend people to your will. But do not think that you won’t be watched. I can’t risk you stealing the sphere for yourself.”

“Nonsense, sir,” Aaron said. “I will ensure that you get it, no matter what it takes.”

The man grinned again. “I like you, Aaron Maddox. You get things done. Very well, I shall grant you the position of Concierge. You shall serve me in gaining the Allsphere. Now, what do you recommend?”

“Getting past a dragon is no easy task,” Aaron replied. “I suggest that we look for a lance of dragonslaying. Do you have any idea where we could get something like that?”

“Hmmm, that sounds like something the city of Burnis would know about,” the Lord replied. “They founded themselves atop the skeleton of a dragon. It was said that their King Henry slayed the beast himself and then built a city atop its back.”

A city built on the back of a dragon? That would be quite the novelty to see. Gorvan had no limits to the number of strange and curious things that it had to offer. Aaron nodded at this information. “I will head to Burnis then, to inquire into finding a lance of dragonslaying. Would the treasury be able to pay for such a rarity?”

This caused the Lord Everson to scowl. “Now, we had not discussed paying for anything.”

“Surely you can’t expect a city to part with their prized weapons for nothing,” Aaron replied.

The words Bargain 7+ appeared above the man’s head. Skill Success! The Lord hemmed and hawed for a moment but eventually gave in. “I suppose you are right. If there are some palms that need to be greased then we would need to provide the oil, so to speak. Very well, I can pay about three thousand garrins for the lance. The money will not be given to you, however, I will send a stooge to keep an eye on you. He will be sure to pay the fee for the weapon, though should it cost more, I would hope that your shadow bargain abilities would come in handy.”

Aaron nodded. He was no stranger to having government lackeys or cronies standing around. Most of the time they were toothless and incapable of really affecting change. Few were anything other than agreeable. “Very well,” Aaron said. “I will represent Greystone in the matter of acquiring the lance of dragonslaying.”

“Excellent, now get out of my good light,” the lord said, turning in place. “I am needed to make this portrait really sing.”

Chapter 30

Aaron was greeted with curious but welcome words when he exited the Lord’s Manor. Conscription Ender! +10 Reputation! Your reputation is now -5 (Unpopular).

It would seem that convincing Lord Everson to stop grabbing everyone he could find and forcing them to fight in a dungeon was a popular move. Word would quickly spread and Aaron’s reputation would stand to improve considerably even more now. He was almost out of the negatives entirely. No longer would his reputation hold him back. If anything, he could focus on improving it even more so, perhaps finding out if there were better deals to be had with a higher reputation.

Aaron reflected over his changes as he made his way to the Gold District. There was still some business that he had to attend to with Councilman Reyes. Namely, he had leverage over the man’s corrupt business dealings. The Guild of Goods had sway but so did Aaron, now that he had completed his term as an adventurer for Everson.

The Gold District was where the nobility primarily congregated. This part of the city was completely covered in gold and purple silks. Rugs littered the sides of the streets as artisans sold their wares to the choicest of customer. There were dozens of buildings with hundreds of stores, apartments and offices within them. These buildings stretched upwards into the sky and towered over the rest of Greystone.

“What a place,” Aaron muttered as he watched a noble drop a few garrins and leave them in the street. No one swarmed over to grab the coins. There weren’t a lot of poor people in the Gold District, it seemed.

Aaron found a central registry that listed all of the civil governance offices in the area. Councilman Reyes could be found on floor twenty-two of the Goldbar Building.

True to its name, the Goldbar Building had floors made out of solid golden bars. Or perhaps they were just gilded, painted to look that way. Aaron was unsure as both options were tacky enough to be attractive to the elite. Would Aaron have ever gone for something so gauche? Well, in the past his tastes were more focused on sensual things, such as good food and drink. He rarely thought about interior decoration. In truth, he thought of little else other than work.

The building had a central stairwell that ran upwards for hundreds of flights. There were no elevators in this world, it would seem, which was a real shame. Aaron was thankful that the Councilman’s office was only on the 22nd floor, as the rest of the building kept going all the way up. He climbed the steps and made his way to an exterior balcony which connected several buildings together.

The councilman’s office was spacious and had room for a secretary. She was a short woman with red hair in a bun, sitting behind a long desk. She was chewing on something and smacked her lips as she spoke.

“Welcome to Councilman Harlin Reyes’ office, how can I be of help today?” she asked, her voice dry and emotionless.

“I’m hoping to speak with the Councilman himself,” Aaron said.

“In regards to what?” she asked.

“Business,” Aaron sharply replied. He sat on the chair across from her and folded his hands upon the table. “I don’t mind waiting if necessary.”

“When you say business, do you mean commerce, city hall business or some other venture?” the secretary asked. She took out a large folder and began to flip through the papers. “The councilman has a lot of different priorities.”

“It’s all inclusive,” Aaron said. “The councilman and I have crossed paths in ways he hasn’t noticed yet and I wanted to sit with him to discuss our future together.”

“You’re that shadow merchant,” the secretary murmured. She looked up at Aaron and smiled at him. “My cousin was right, you are handsome.”

Aaron didn’t know how to react to those words. He hadn’t been expecting a compliment when she brought up his reputation. “Er, thank you,” he stammered.

“I can write you in for next week,” she said.

“I’m afraid that this can’t wait,” Aaron replied. “I don’t want to make your job any harder than it needs to be, but this is an important matter. If Reyes doesn’t want trouble, he will see me immediately. Or at the very least today.”

“Sounds like some shady business,” the woman said. She bit her pencil and pondered this for a moment. “Alright, I’ll go talk to him.”

The secretary left Aaron alone for a moment and headed into the back office. There was a heated discussion for a moment, though Aaron couldn’t make any of the words out. After some time, she came back out. “The Councilman will see you now.”

“Thanks,” Aaron said as he walked past her.

The office of Reyes was not modest, that was for sure. The man had a great oak desk, polished and filled with all manner of memorabilia. He had paintings of sharks and great fish on the walls, as well as the jaw of what looked to be some kind of sea leviathan affixed dead above the desk.

There was an extensive bar on the side of the wall, complete with bowls of nuts and pickles. Aaron hadn’t seen actual bottled liquor in a long time and now he was blinking at the sight of what looked to be a fine whisky.

Reyes was a pale and short man, with bushy black eyebrows and the clothes of a clerk. He looked rather shifty naturally, eyes darting left to right at all times. He had a nervous tick, constantly reaching up to rub his shirt collar as he sat in place.

“The shadow merchant has come to speak!” Reyes said, nervously pointing towards the bar. “I have heard of your exploits. They say that you came to this city with a horrid reputation. But with nothing, you’ve managed to build yourself up in the eyes of the people. Freeing slaves, aiding the Lord in his quests…please, have a drink.”

Aaron didn’t need any further invitation. He walked over to the vintage whisky and poured himself a glass, grabbing a few almonds from the bowl as well. As he munched, he sat in the large green chair sitting opposite of Reyes’ desk.

The councilman poured his own drink from a vessel on the table and they raised their glasses together. “I’m Harlin Reyes,” he said, toasting the glass and drinking the booze down in one glug.

“Aaron Maddox,” Aaron replied, taking a sip of the whisky. It tasted exquisite. The polar opposite of whatever glop was being served at the Barking Dragon.

“So what can I do for you?” Reyes asked, fiddling with his shirt collar some more.

“Well, some things in the city have been combining together to create a perfect storm of trouble for me,” Aaron said. “I came to Greystone a few weeks ago with the hopes that I would be able to engage in commerce. The only trouble is that the Guild of Goods is a protectionist racket and they’ve been working their asses off ensuring that only the rich are able to compete.”

“The Guild runs national shipping arrangements,” Reyes said, clacking his fingers against the table. He was beginning to sweat a little. “They are quite large and powerful on their own.”

“And they have you in their pocket,” Aaron said.

“I beg your pardon?” Reyes said, doing his best to seem outraged, though this was an unconvincing act.

“It’s an open secret that you get kickbacks,” Aaron replied. “But far be it from me to judge a man for wetting his beak. The only trouble is that you’re keeping me from having my own taste of the pie.”

“What do you mean?”

“There is a food shortage going on in the city right now. Bread and fish are what we need but the Guild of Goods has seen them banned for domesticate sale,” Aaron explained. “With my resources, I was able to invest in a stand that sells all manner of goods, yet I find out that I cannot sell wheat or bread. And fish? Forget about selling any fish, is what I was told by the guild.”

“That is the recent ordinance passed,” Reyes replied. “No individual sales of flour, grains or meats. Fish included. Hardly my fault that such a law exists.”

“I believe it is entirely your fault,” Aaron said.

The councilman scowled at that. “A few others voted in agreement on the bill, I’m not to blame here!”

“I’m not here to pass blame around,” Aaron replied. “Rather, I’m here to make sure that I get some kind of exception. You passed the law, you should have the insight into getting me some workaround.”

“And why would I ever think to do that?” the councilman asked.

Aaron grinned. This was his favorite part of backroom deals. The part where he got to twist the screws. He leaned forward. “Because if you aren’t my friend, then you’re an enemy of someone who knows for a fact that you’re trying to sabotage Lord Everson’s operation.”

Reyes tried to play it cool but his sweat undermined him. He cleared his throat. “I think this meeting is over.”

“If you don’t speak to me now, you’ll be talking to Lord Everson with me tomorrow,” Aaron replied, crossing his legs. He put a hand on his knee and sat back, keeping his demeanor calm.

“Damn it all,” Reyes hissed. “What do you know and how?”

“I know you hired assassins to sabotage Everson’s adventuring parties in the Storywood Dungeon,” Aaron said. “I know you were trying to stop him from getting his hands on the Allsphere and had instructed that none should be spared from the knife.”

Reyes turned pale at this revelation. “You found the assassins?” he asked.

“Put an end to them, but not before they killed one of my own,” Aaron replied. He slammed a hand on the table. “Those weren’t pawns in some game! They were human beings, living people who deserved to be allowed to live.”

“It was…” Reyes started to say, losing his cool for a moment. “I didn’t intend on innocents getting hurt, but Everson is a fool. You can’t say that the world would be better off if he got his hands on the Allsphere.”

“Whoever gets their hands on it will undoubtedly leave an impact on the world,” Aaron said. “But why did you get involved? You can’t believe that the mission would have been a success, not with the way Everson was just grabbing random civilians and sending them in.”

“I feared it would be a success,” Reyes replied. “The man is lucky in a lot of ways, ways that baffle most men. It would be just my misfortune for him to send a group of idiots in to find this treasure and they return with it. I had to do something, and so I hired some interference.”

“You sentenced innocents to death,” Aaron said.

“They were going to die the moment they entered that dungeon,” Reyes callously replied. He had not an ounce of conviction upon him for his crimes. Aaron felt disgust at this. But he wasn’t here to moralize or lecture Reyes. Rather, he was here to get the man in his pocket.

“I don’t think their families will look at it that way,” Aaron said.

“You didn’t come all this way to tell me to pack my things for a prison trip,” Reyes replied. He put his hands on the table and gently let out a breath of air. “You want me to grant you permission to sell meat and bread in town.”

“That seems like compensation for the loss of my ally and the attempt on my own life,” Aaron said. “And of course, I won’t be in a rush to tell the rest of the world about this whole endeavor. Rather, I would be curious to see why you are opposing Everson to begin with.”

“Where do I even begin? Everson is a bastard of a man, unfettered in his restraints and incapable of seeing the big picture. He mostly cares about himself and thinks little of others. I should be pleased to see him deposed but alas, he is a lord and I am just a mere nobleman. There isn’t much that can be done to take him down in the political realm, aside from assassination. But even then, Everson has many favorites who would see red should anything happen to him.”

“So it sounds like he just outmaneuvers you at every turn,” Aaron said.

“Indeed. The bastard refuses to fund the majority of my plans, but then turns around and pays for things like fountains in his manor with the same money. Always pinching garrins and clutching to his estate. It has been my desire to see him destroyed,” Reyes admitted. “But I act primarily alone. Not even the Guild of Goods has any interest in my vendetta against him. He orders plenty of food from them to ensure they are earning quite a bit of coin from him.”

“So in other words, you’re completely outweighed by him and his funds,” Aaron said, losing interest in the conversation. Reyes was just a petty fool without ambition. A coward too, the way he broke so quickly. “But I should hope you will be able to get me what I ask for? Meat and bread sales?”

“It’s a mere matter of signing a writ and handing you a medallion,” Reyes said. “But I want to know if it ends here. Some people tend to push harder when they have the advantage. I may be malleable, as you caught me red-handed here, but I can’t give you much of anything else. This is all I have and all I can give.”

“The ability to sell unrestricted is more than enough,” Aaron said. The councilman nodded at that and dug into his drawer, producing a small golden medallion. There was a symbol of a burning dawn upon the medal and it had some weight to it.

“Here, this is the Seller’s Medallion,” he said, handing it over to Aaron. “When you place this on your stand, the guild will no longer be interested in bothering you. They aren’t a lawless bunch like the Blue Roses. Rather they follow their rules to a T. You won’t have to worry about them coming after you any longer.”

Seller’s Medallion acquired! You may now sell Food at your Stand!

Aaron smiled as he pocketed the medallion. “You’re a reasonable fellow, Mr. Reyes. I see no reason for us to have hostilities between us. Should you need any assistance when dealing with Everson, please consider my counsel. I’m not one to shy away from politics. And I have access to the man’s ear in ways that others do not.”

“Are you suggesting an alliance?” Reyes asked.

“It’s a big city,” Aaron replied. “Maybe the two of us should be running it.”

Chapter 31

Medallion Earner! 250 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision as he left the building. He paused to check to see how far he was from his next level. He was at 2,050 out of 3,000. Not a far journey to Level 4. If he kept working on his trade deals, he’d be sure to level up shortly.

Yina was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. “I’ve been waiting for you,” she said. The archer was wearing new armor, chainmail with a green tint that shimmered as light passed upon it. Her bow was made of sturdier wood and it seemed that her shoes glowed as well. “I’ve finished leveling and am ready to continue my duties as your escort.”

“Ah lovely!” Aaron said, rubbing his hands together. He checked his garrins to see that he was sitting on only a small amount. He had about 1,200 coins, not nearly enough for his plans to come to fruition. But he had access to the Processing Hut now, and that meant he could start making higher value products. He held up the medallion. “Do you see this? It means I won’t be as vulnerable a target when selling. The Guild of Goods has been sated with their demands that I acquiesce to the law.”

“Does that mean you won’t require my services anymore?” Yina asked. There was a hint of disappointment on her face.

“Nonsense!” Aaron said. “You and I are going to be traveling soon. First and foremost, we’ve got to head to Burnis shortly to do a deal on behalf of Lord Everson and Greystone. I can’t imagine that being a safe journey. And second, I want to take my shipping wagon over to Gatesburg in order to acquire some wheat.”

“That can be a dangerous journey,” Yina said, relieved to hear that she still had work. “I would be more than pleased to stand by and protect you.”

“Excellent. How did the guild take the news of Harvey’s demise?”

“There was no interest in his death. The man had made no name for himself, he was a mere level 1 warrior. If you want people to mourn you, you must not be so hasty as to expose yourself in a dungeon.”

“You really have no compassion for his death, do you?” Aaron asked.

Yina shook her head. “He died with his boots on, that’s what most in this profession can hope for.”

“Well, I’m hoping to stay alive for as long as possible in this realm,” Aaron said. “Who knows what’s on the other side of death.”

“There are many beliefs that there is a great afterlife for all to enter. The warriors are said to enter into a great land where the dead are free to fight for all eternity,” Yina said. “And the merchants are said to go to a place where the buying and selling is perpetual.”

Aaron shrugged. “I have no interest in the afterlife, considering this is my afterlife.”

“Yes, you are an outlander, one who comes from a faraway world,” Yina said. She grinned a little. “Is it true that you labor endlessly indoors? Never free to see the sun shine?”

“I had an office job, as do most people from my world,” Aaron said. “But it was far from troublesome. There was air conditioning, food on demand and computers to work on. I never particularly found it cumbersome.”

The pair continued to chat as they headed to the Processor’s Hut on Tawny Lane. Aaron could spot his hut immediately, for it glowed with a green energy, distinguishing it from the dozens of other buildings around. It was a small building, circular with a thatched roof.

Aaron entered through the front door, sensing that the door unlocked itself as he reached for the handle. The interior was rather impressive; there was a large table in the center, shelves with powders and drying racks hanging from the walls.

Welcome to the Processor’s Hut!

Configure Your Hut!

Game Processing: Butchers and Skins Animals.

Dying and Powdering: Converts Resources to Dyes and Pigments.

Baking: Converts Wheat to Flour.

Pickling: Converts Vegetables to Pickles.

Jerky: Converts meats to long-lasting Jerky.

Aaron examined the different options and selected Dying and Powdering. Immediately the room transformed. The table became rocky and filled with cups and bowls. Special bags were piled up on the sides and there were hammers accessible on all angles.

Hire a Processor? appeared in Aaron’s vision and he looked at the cost. It was only 75 garrins to hire someone for a batch. He decided to select the option and immediately the door opened.

A chunky lass entered, wearing an apron and her bright blond hair in pigtails. “Ay! It’s about time someone gave ole Sally some work! You’re a dying fella? Well I been dying for some work, haha.”

“Where did you come from?” Aaron asked, looking behind her.

“The system summoned me, of course,” she said. “Now I charge 75 garrins for orders placed, so if you don’t place an order, you don’t pay. How can I help you today, good sir?”

Select Resources to Process:

Blue Mushrooms

Resource Amount: 3

Converts to: Blue Dyes or Blue Pigments

Yields: 1 per batch

Value: 500 garrins

Aaron blinked a few times at the value of the converted mushrooms. They were worth 500 garrins each? That was a far cry from the mere 150 the mushrooms themselves were worth. It appeared that processing was where the real money was made. Of course, that made sense.

“I’ll take three batches of Blue Dyes,” Aaron said. The 225 garrins were automatically subtracted from his bag.

Sally rolled up her sleeves and approached the table. “You’ve got it. It’ll take a few hours, so come back soon. You’ll get notifications when they are finished if you want to pick them up early.”

Aaron left the woman to do her work and turned his attention to Yina. “Those mushrooms are worth a small fortune now. Are you up to traveling to the Wilted Forest? We can pick up a shipment of berries and fish."

"Sounds like a plan," Yina said.

Aaron headed to the stables in the slums, where his horse and cart were waiting. This was the second class ability that he had gained from level 3. The horse was a scrawny looking thing, with a chestnut fur coat and beady black eyes. The wagon was a flat cart with four walls that looked like they’d barely keep anything inside.

“That wagon looks like it has seen better days,” Yina said as she examined the vehicle.

“It’s got four wheels and a horse, that should be good enough for us,” Aaron said as he climbed into the driver’s seat and took the reins.

The horse neighed and pulled them out of the stable. There weren’t many people around this part of town and there was virtually no traffic. They headed to the Wilted Forest and made good time on their way.

The Threadbare Villagers had spent time digging out a road for Aaron to access. It was connected to one of the main paths that used to lead to a dead end. They had spent a few days digging out the path, though it wasn’t particularly well kept. They would need better tools in order to make a proper road, but for now it was useful enough to allow Aaron’s wagon to get to the village.

They arrived in less than an hour after reaching the Wilted Forest. Traveling via horse-drawn cart was refreshing, compared to walking on foot and Aaron was pleased with the results of his new class ability.

The village was in good spirits. A few goblins were present, helping to build one of the larger houses from a huge log of wood. The children were running about, playing with other goblin children and the scene was idyllic. Aaron couldn’t help but feel proud of the results of his hard work on making peace between the goblins and the humans.

Luver Hammerwite approached the wagon and bowed deeply. “Aah, Aaron has returned! Unfortunately those bandits we asked for help with were dealt with by other methods,” the man explained. “Namely, a few bounty hunters arrived with orders to bring them in alive or dead…and he chose dead.”

Aaron thought back to the outlaws that he had met before. He had been hoping to get them to see reason in joining the Threadbare Village but the adventuring party had intercepted him. They were outlaws and thieves, so there was no reason to shed a tear.

“A shame. I unfortunately had destiny catch up with me and demand I go along with it,” Aaron said, shaking the man’s hand. “I can’t stay terribly long. I’m here to collect berries.”

“Of course,” Luver said, motioning towards a group of villagers. They disappeared into one of the huts and came out minutes later with baskets full of berries. They were red bloodberries, bursting with radiant color. They weren’t worth much on the general market but if processed, who knew the value?

“We decided that we’d compensate you with twice as many if you allowed us to keep the edible ones. It wasn’t a great compromise at first, but with the need to pay a deer carcass every time we access the goblin lands, we had to make this change.”

Aaron shrugged at that. “Berries are berries. These are going to be processed anyway, so I don’t mind.”

“Ah good,” Luver said, his body visibly losing tension as he took a breath. “I was worried that you would be upset.”

“You gotta do whatever is necessary to prioritize the safety and health of the village,” Aaron replied. “There’s no reason to be worried about my response to these kinds of things. How is the fishing going?”

“We just have the one pole, so it’s being shared by three different people. They are getting better at it as time goes on, but we aren’t catching nearly as many as we hoped,” Luver said.

“Well, I just got permission to sell fish in town. So once I offload these dyes, I’ll be heading back with more and better rods for your people. I can pay you 50 garrins wholesale per fish.”

“You can’t really eat garrins,” the man replied. “How about bread? If you trade us bread, we’d happily give you all the fish we catch.”

Aaron considered that. The cost of wheat was 200 garrins a bushel. Fish sold anywhere from 50 to 150 garrins…but that was unprocessed meat. If wheat was ground into flour, what would it be worth then? And how much flour did one bushel of wheat produce? He was already planning on purchasing more wheat from his contact in Gatesburg. Maybe it would make more sense to trade with these people instead of buying outright.

“Do you know how to bake?” Aaron asked.

The man shook his head. “No. It’s not something anyone other than a baker would know about. And that is one of those professions that is in high pursuit around the cities. Most bakers wouldn’t blink twice at you unless you had a class access to them.”

“One loaf of bread would get me how many fish?” Aaron asked. “Just for my calculations.”

“We could do one for one, fish for a loaf,” the man replied.

Aaron shook his head. “Bread takes a lot more work than fishing does. Say I get you more poles and better ones too, perhaps some special bait that works more efficiently. How does four fish for a loaf sound?”

“If you can get us more poles…” Luver said, thinking it over. “I would do two fish for a loaf.”

“I’ll have to compare prices before we make any solid agreements,” Aaron said. “But we can agree to a preliminary of two fish for a loaf, provided the cost of bread is somewhat commensurate.”

Those words seemed to pass over Luver’s head. “You seem to know quite a bit about wheeling and dealing,” he said. “Have you considered what the future is going to be for our village?”

“What do you mean?” Aaron asked.

“Well, I’m just a clerk. The people look to me to lead because I’m used to giving reports and keeping an eye on the supplies. But I’m not really a leader, leader. I’m just well-spoken and educated. You, on the other hand, you seem to have a natural fire inside of you. With your aid, I’m willing to bet Threadbare could grow into something truly special.”

Aaron paused and considered it for a moment. “You’re saying that I should take charge of the town?”

“We’re far from a town,” Luver replied. “It’s more like a small collective of individuals. But if you were to step up and take leadership, I’m sure we could expand over time. Especially now that the goblins have been quelled.”

Chapter 32

Aaron pondered whether taking control of a village was something he was interested in. There was a lot of work entailed with such a job, as well as plenty of responsibilities. But the end result would be that he would have his own industrial hub. The villagers could be put to work as processors and gatherers; he could expand it and bring in the poor from the slums of the nearby Greystone…it wasn’t a bad idea. Though it would be costly. He would need to invest considerable resources in building up the area...perhaps something to think about down the line.

He returned to his Processing Hut with the impberries in tow. There were ten bushels of them. They were not valued very high in their raw form, only worth 50 garrins a piece, but he was curious to see how much more they would be worth if they became dyes or pigments.

Entering the hut, Aaron could see that the work on the blue mushrooms had been completed. Three vials of bright blue dye were sitting on a shelf labeled ‘output’. They glowed brightly and his vision informed him that he had earned XP for the creation.

Resource Processed! 100 XP Earned!

Bright Blue Dyes

Type: Luxury

Description: These dyes will turn any fabric bright blue.

Value: 500 garrins

Sally was standing nearby, cleaning her blue hands with some soap and water. “Aye, there he is,” she said. “I just finished the batch. Figured you’d be here sooner or later. Bottled them up and they’re ready for sale.”

Aaron placed a bushel of berries onto the table before her. “What do you reckon we can make out of this?”

The woman looked down at the bloodberries. Immediately, Aaron was given a preview of what processing would provide.

Bloodberries

Resource Amount: 10

Converts to: Red Dyes or Red Pigments

Yields: 1 per batch

Value: 200 garrins

Considering he would have to pay 75 garrins each batch, he would ultimately be making 125 per sale. At ten units…it wasn’t a bad amount to earn. “Sally, go ahead and get working on making these into dyes,” Aaron said. It didn’t seem to matter whether they were pigments or dyes, the price was going to be the same either way.

“You’ve got it! You er…got the garrins for it?”

Aaron reached into his pocket and pulled out 750 garrins, dropping him down to 800 left. He didn’t feel bad about spending this money, it was a good investment. The cost of production was never something to worry about when dealing in bulk.

With the order completed, Sally went to work processing the impberries, turning them into dyes. Aaron took the completed blue dyes and headed to his sales shack. There he was greeted with the option to place them on sale.

Low: 400

Medium: 500

High: 750

Aaron decided that he was going to stay in the middle lane. He knew these were luxury goods and he could probably sell them for 750 each, provided there was someone with deep pockets. However, it would be faster to just sell at the expected value of 500. Three should make up enough for a trip to Gatesburg to purchase wheat.

He placed the bottles in the stand and adjusted the prices, then waited. Half a day passed as he fiddled about, waiting behind the counter for some kind of action. A few browsers came up, here and there, to examine what he had for sale but were just looking. No one was interested in buying pigments it would seem.

“Ay gov,” a young man, no more than seventeen, said as he leaned over the counter. “I couldn’t help but notice you ain’t got anyone coming up to buy from ya.”

“It’s like fishing, I suppose,” Aaron replied.

The blonde lad grinned at that and doffed his flatcap. “Come now, if you’re going to fish, you’ve got to get the right kind of bait. And that’s where I come in. Name’s Todd Olley and I’m a barker! For a couple coins, I would happily go to the corners where the right customers are and advertise for ya.”

Advertisements? That was modern and trendy. Aaron squinted. “Ten garrins?” he asked.

The kid laughed. “Twenty should get us somewhere.”

“Fifteen is more than fair,” Aaron replied.

“I could never forgive myself if I don’t hold twenty firm,” the man said, taking off his cap and pressing it against his chest.

“Fine, twenty garrins for the day. You bring me some customers to buy these dyes. And if I don’t see a difference in my traffic, you can forget about repeat business,” Aaron said.

Todd shook his hand. “Don’t ya worry about that, good sir. What are we selling today?”

“Dyes, for clothes and such,” Aaron said. “Bright blue.”

“Hey! That’s one hell of a bargain!” Todd shouted, his voice piercing through the busy crowd around the market district of the slums. People looked up and peered at him curiously. “Dyes! And for only a few hundred garrins? Why I better come back with me wallet and make sure I get them all before they run out!”

A modest fellow wearing small spectacles quickly approached. “Excuse me, did he say you were selling dyes?”

Aaron nodded and grinned. It would seem that this Todd fellow was enterprising and useful. He would have a long career at Maddox Industries….wait, this wasn’t his corporation anymore. He couldn’t just rename the company after himself again. It was a new life, a new name was needed. Something strong…something to indicate that he was changing. Becoming someone different. Someone better.

Phoenix Industries. That sounded good. The phoenix came back after dying in a tragic explosion of fire. This rebirth was constant and the creature never ceased to end. Aaron wondered if perhaps he would actually see a real phoenix someday. Anything was possible in Gorvan.

The spectacled man quickly purchased a jar. Aaron gained 100 XP for the sale as well as 10 market points. His stand was level 2 and was close to getting another rank. The total sale value was 600 garrins, thanks to Aaron’s shadow merchant abilities. He was already profitable thanks to the single sale.

The barker could be heard a few hundred feet away, yelping and howling about the best deal in the city. “Get your dyes before you die! Color them shoes to look like those baby blues!” he shouted as he patrolled through the district.

An artist quickly arrived by the evening. She was weary looking, with frazzled brown hair that was mottled and clumped together with splotches of paint. She had many freckles and her skin was olive. “Hey, you’re the guy selling dyes, right?” she asked, breathlessly placing her hands on the table.

“Indeed I am,” Aaron replied. “We’ve got two bottles of bright blue left. Custom blend, made—”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll take them,” the artist said, slapping a thousand garrins on the table. That was another 200 XP for Aaron. His booth flashed as the system told him that his stand had advanced once more.

“You have any interest in red dyes?” Aaron asked as the woman grabbed the bottles and started to leave. She paused and looked at him squarely.

“You have more?”

“I’m working on them right now. They’re going to be derived from bloodberries. Bright red and in quite large amounts too. I’ll have ten bottles tomorrow.”

The woman mulled that over. “It’s hard to come by dyes and pigments in this town. Most of the time the nobles buy them in bulk, for their own patronized artists. Those artists in turn just sit on them and don’t do anything, spending time on their own pet projects. It’s been a real bottleneck for years, ever since the Dye Brothers closed down due to one of them dying for real.”

Market Tip Discovered!

Artist Supply Shortage: All artist supplies and resources can sell for High without complaint.

“So care to preorder?” Aaron asked. “I’m selling them for three hundred a bottle.”

“Give me four at that price,” the woman said. “I’ll have my apprentices come by to pick them up tomorrow.” She took out twelve hundred garrins and placed them on the table. “There, that should be sufficient.”

Aaron’s eyes widened at how the woman spent nearly 2,500 garrins without blinking. “Ma’am, I have to ask. Everyone else around here seems to be struggling, how in the hell are you able to drop so much money on paint?”

“I’m an artisan,” she replied. “I get paid very well for a commission and while the noble painters enjoy popularity, they don’t get the same rates that an independent like me is worth. I’m going to take these dyes and turn them into tens of thousands of garrins easily. Normally I wouldn’t be in the slums, but I heard some barker advertising for your wares.”

Aaron bid the artisan, Tina, farewell and closed up shop. He was greeted by the system informing him that his stall had improved.

Your Stall has reached Rank 3!

Stall Upgrades:

Inventory Expansion: Increases your Inventory by 5 slots.

Supply Notification: You gain awareness of what supplies are available for purchase.

Employee Slot: You can now hire an Employee to man the shop. They cost 25 garrins per day.

Brand Identity: All of your items become branded with special labels that tell others about your stall.

Popularity: Unlocks the Popularity Stat for your stall. The more popular your stand becomes, the more traffic you gain.

Aaron considered what he wanted to purchase. He didn’t have enough of a production flow to begin bringing in an employee just yet. Things were still stop, start, stop, start. Hiring an employee would mostly just be a waste of time. Popularity looked interesting, as did Brand Identity. It was a tie between the two but in the end Popularity won out because it provided direct insight. Brand Identity was only worth something if he was putting out unique items. For now he was just selling whatever motley collection he could find. There was no rhyme or theme to what he sold, just whatever he could harvest and collect in the wilds.

He purchased Popularity and immediately a tracker opened up.

Aaron Maddox’s Stall

Location: Greystone Slums Marketplace

Popularity:

Poor: 0

Adventurers: 0

Artisans: 0

Nobles: 0

Wealthy: 0

He wasn’t terribly popular just yet, but that was fine. Things would take time; he was ready for it.

Chapter 33

Aaron had enough money to stay in town for the night. He found a hotel named The Regal Whale with an affordable nightly rate. He had grown tired of traveling out to the wilds to camp every day. With three thousand garrins in his pocket, he could start living a little more comfortably. And that involved getting to sleep in a bed for the first time in what seemed like forever.

The cost was three hundred garrins for a night. It was the cheapest hotel in the entire district, everything else was over four hundred. There was a reason most of the people living in the slums opted to live in tents and shanties. But that was the cost of a single dye. Aaron couldn’t live like this every night, but tonight he was going to enjoy it.

The bed came with a bottle of wine and a chunk of bread, two things that Aaron hadn’t enjoyed in a long time. He munched on the bread and drank down the wine before settling, and he fell deep asleep. The next morning came slowly and he woke up feeling good. The comfort of the bed seemed to clear away a lot of confusion about his future.

Aaron had been given a second chance at life. Maybe everyone was fated to be reincarnated endlessly but he had been sent somewhere to teach him a lesson. And that lesson had been that he couldn’t just do whatever he felt in the moment. Even though he had been able to get to the very top of the world with Maddox Industries, he had taken so many shortcuts, broken so many laws and violated the spirit of his word countless times. He had lived with cheap excuses for his behavior and had no care for the people beneath him. And what had that gotten him? An afterlife where he was despised.

He was starting over fresh. His millions in the bank had been worth nothing after he drank that poison. His lavish lifestyle, the private jets, the good food and high rises, had done nothing for his soul. He was in the same place as just about any peasant in Greystone, incapable of doing anything without the thousands of garrins required to survive. Lord Everson was a fine stand-in for how Aaron had behaved, gluttonous with the desire to expand endlessly, never looking at the bottom to evaluate how his actions affected the masses.

And now as he opened his eyes indoors, for the first time in his new life, resting in a bed…he broke. He realized that he could not continue in his old ways. He had been changing, here and there, as he became more and more aware of how his good deeds had helped others. But he had not confronted his own darkness. Now as he was waking up, he realized that he needed to keep changing. And more importantly, he had a reason to rebuild his company once more.

Nothing in this world was going to change without money. The people of Greystone were impoverished and broken because they had no jobs, no cash or hope. Aaron had gained a few thousand after weeks of hard work. And now he was in a position to take that money and start generating even more wealth. What was he going to do with that? The only option was to invest it directly into his own village.

Threadbare Village would be the perfect place to begin building up a new economy. The Wilted Forest was outside of Everson’s jurisdiction, as far as Aaron understood, and the goblins had warmed up to the human presence thanks to their trade dealings. If he put the villagers to work on harvesting the resources of the forest, he could sell with his wagons and merchant abilities in the various cities. This would extract the excess wealth of Greytone and the like and transfer it to Threadbare.

Aaron ran the numbers in his head. The people needed good food in order to work regularly. If he was able to procure them bread, they would be able to work harder. And most of the people who would immigrate to Threadbare would be more interested in eating than being paid. This wasn’t exploitative either, as most agrarian societies had little use for spending cash unless they were well off. Most folks just wanted to fill their stomach. Eventually they’d be paid, but for now…for now Aaron was starting to have some ideas on how to build his own industrial powerhouse once more. One that wasn’t focused on endless profits, but rather was focused on solving the problems of Gorvan.

Aaron rose up and walked to the mirror that was resting against the wall by the dresser. He stared at himself. He was so much younger than he was in actuality; the body of a twenty-something-year-old with the heart of a seventy-year-old bastard. He was gifted or cursed with this new life, if he looked at it one way or the other. “Today it is a gift,” Aaron said, tightening his fist. “I will not squander what I’ve been given. If I am to rise up, so will the rest of this city.”

He splashed some water on his face and dressed, then headed outside. The room was just for a night but he would open his own hotel someday. One that would allow any to stay, regardless of how much they had to spend.

As he left the hotel, there was a shout from a well-dressed man waiting for him in the streets. He was a burly fellow with a thick black mustache and a pocket watch in his hand. He wore a monocle and appeared to be quite important.

“You there, Aaron Maddox?” he asked, waving over to Aaron.

“That’s me,” he replied, walking up to the man.

“Ah, I’ve been looking for you!” the fellow said, giving a half-bow. “My name is Tarish and I’ve been recruited by Lord Everson to keep an eye on your expedition to Burnis. You have been allotted three thousand garrins in order to procure the use of a dragon slaying weapon of some sort. I have possession of the coin and am authorized to sign documentation between our two cities.”

Aaron had almost forgotten about the quest to find the Allsphere. He nodded for a moment and spoke. “Er, yes, of course. I’m actually preparing to head to Gatesburg for some business.”

“The Lord wishes that this operation be undertaken as quickly as possible,” Tarish replied. “He’s eager to see the Allsphere acquired.”

“Well there’s the rub,” Aaron said. “Right now I’m only level 3. If we want to get that artifact, we’ll need to be higher levels. As it stands, I’m on the cusp of 4 but we’ll probably want me to be at least 5 or 6 before we head into the dungeon again.”

Tarish shrugged at that. “So what do you propose? I just stand around and wait until your level falls out of the sky?”

“I’m a shadow merchant and I’m busy working on some business deals that will accelerate my leveling,” Aaron sad. “Don’t you worry. I will be higher level soon enough. But until then, it’s a waste of time to head into the dungeon.”

“I shall report this expenditure as underway then,” Tarish said, pocketing the watch and sighing. “Though I was hoping to be in Burnis as soon as possible.”

“I’ll find you when it’s time to head out,” Aaron said. “And don’t you worry. I’m just as eager to find this Allsphere as Everson is.”

That was satisfactory for Tarish and the man headed back to the manor, informing Aaron of where to find him. Aaron was pleased to see that the stooge wasn’t particularly dead set on pressuring him to go back on this quest anytime soon. There were more important things to work on and Aaron wasn’t positive he was the right man for the job…but perhaps when the time came, he could count on getting Councilman Reyes’ help to get out of the operation.

After all, with Aaron’s epiphany, he knew he couldn’t deliver the Allsphere in good conscience to a lord who only wanted to endlessly expand with it. To give that glutton the sphere would be to subject the world to a man who had unending appetites. He would use the power to improve himself and destroy his enemies, thwarting all and becoming the emperor of Gorvan itself. This wouldn’t happen, however, if someone were to simply destroy the Allsphere. But still…that would be a lot of power to give up in the moment.

Aaron considered both options, taking the sphere for himself or destroying it. They had their pros and cons but neither was in front of him right now. Instead, he had a business to run. So he shelved both thoughts and turned his attention to the Processing Hut.

Aaron arrived in the early morning to find Sally asleep by the output shelf. There were ten bottles lined up neatly beside each other, bright red.

Processing Complete! 100 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision as he collected the bottles. They were worth 200 each but Aaron had increased the price to 300 due to the market tip he had gotten from the artist Tina. He didn’t wake Sally and instead just took the bottles, heading back to his stand for the day.

Todd was waiting for him at the stand, grinning like a fool with a secret. The young lad looked quite pleased with himself.

“So, was my work good?” he asked.

Aaron reached into his pocket and pulled out a hundred garrins. “This is your bonus for your hard work,” he said. “From now on, you work for Phoenix Industries. Don’t take work from anyone else and if you have someone try to buy you out, you bring the price to me and I’ll match it.”

Todd winked as he took the coins and looked them over. “Ain’t you a generous fellow?”

“You’re the one who brought in the customers,” Aaron said. “Twenty a day that we’re open. Today we’re selling red dyes. I’ve got seven bottles. Prices are not cheap. Three hundred a piece.”

“Ain’t no challenge for a fine fellow like myself,” Todd replied. He headed out into the main square and began to bark once more, calling out the location of the stand that sold the dyes to die for.

Aaron stocked the bottles, setting the three that had been sold last night aside. He set the price to three hundred each and waited. A few artisans showed up quickly after the shop opened, eager to get their hands on the dyes. Aaron’s shop had barely been open for an hour before they had purchased everything, putting Aaron at 2,100 garrins for the day’s earnings.

“Damn,” Aaron said as he gained 400 XP from the total sales. “It seems that the key to success is in selling to these artisans.”

His XP were at 2,850 points, only a handful away from reaching the next level. What wealth building options were waiting for him?

As Aaron closed up shop, Todd came back for his pay. Aaron tossed another ten garrins in the man’s hand and thanked him for his hard work. “You much of a traveler, Todd?” Aaron asked.

The young man nodded at that. “The fact that you’re paying me a fair wage and consistently means I can be pretty much whatever you want me to be. I’ve been on a few journeys to Gatesburg here and there, but never really been outside of Greystone much.”

“You’ve got any family around here? Anyone you will miss or needs you?” Aaron asked.

Todd chuckled. “Nah, just me on my lonesome. Mother died of the plague when I was ten, father was a drunk who died at the bottom of a barrel some time ago. Lost track of him years ago and only found out about his death when I got some letter begging my forgiveness. Only value that letter had was to be burned for warmth, I tell you.”

Todd was not dressed terribly well. His clothes were more or less rags and he was skinnier than a young man his age should be. His skin was marked with dirt and he had the scent of someone from the streets.

“You seem like a go-getter, despite your poverty,” Aaron said. “Come with us on our journey. I could use another fellow to load and unload.”

“I’ve got a keenness with throwing daggers too, in case we run into any bandits,” Todd said.

“We’ve got a real bodyguard for that. Yina should be more than enough to handle any trouble on the road.”

Chapter 34

Aaron’s new horse, whom he had named Jingle, neighed as they approached the city of Gatesburg. They had nothing to load up in the wagon, for this was a purchasing mission. Yina sat in the front of the vehicle, her bow drawn and watchful eye scanning the horizon at all times. The roads were clear of all mischief and trouble, leading to a peaceful trip of four days. Jingle merely brayed occasionally as they wheeled across the long horizon.

“There’s the city!” Todd said, leaning over the edge of the wagon, extending his head to take a better look at it. “They say Gatesburg has a slum twice the size of Greystone. The lords keep it all locked down there. No peasantry is allowed in the richer parts of the place. I hear the really desperate leave Greystone to try and survive in Gatesburg, only to find it just as hard.”

“Who rules everything?” Aaron asked.

“That would be King Leroy,” Todd replied. “He’s the chap who rules the seven cities of Garvon. There’s Greystone, Burnis, Gatesburg and a few others that I forget. They’ll all behold to him and his power. He rules in the capital of Lavatt. Lavatt is more of a castle than a proper city, just a huge land structure that is situated between the mountains.”

“And he’s fine with the sheer amount of poverty in his land?”

“The King? Bah, what would that old fool know? Story has it that he’s just some old geezer who is too infirm to do much of anything. The Lords of the cities are all in on it together, working to keep themselves in power. Each Lord has an agreement with each other, they stay out of their territory and they rule as they please. There are no wars, no real conflicts. Just men and women raking in the profits,” Todd said. “Building up on the backs of the people.”

“You seem to know quite a bit about this,” Aaron said.

“Eh, I was a shoeshine for a while. You hear a lot of gossip when you’re scrubbing the shoes of lawyers and leaders alike. Most of these folks don’t even notice you and talk about all the comings and goings,” Todd replied. “Those were better days. Tips were good and most of the time a fellow would toss you a piece of bread.”

“What happened?” Yina asked. The cart rolled up towards the merchant stables.

“I may have been nicking a few pieces of money here and there, as I saw fit,” Todd said. “My mother needed medicine at the time and I figured they wouldn’t miss it.” He held up a hand to show a missing middle finger. “Just like they figured I wouldn’t miss this.”

Aaron grimaced at the sight. “So you lost your job and they cut your finger off. How accommodating.”

“They discussed execution for a while but figured against it since I was under fifteen,” Todd said.

They parked the wagon at the stables and climbed down. Aaron saw a few guards look at him and they nodded, permitting him to enter into the city without a fuss. With his reputation now much higher, he would be able to actually move about Gatesburg without trouble. However, he wasn’t here to tour the city, he was here to buy some wheat and in volume too.

He had 5,000 garrins total, a small fortune compared to what he started with weeks ago. This money would be converted straight into more capital, as he was going to purchase as much wheat as he could, process it into flour and then determine whether to bake the flour or just sell it whole. Both had values.

He reached the farm that he had visited before, to find the old man still in the same place he had been sitting. The nameless fellow was chewing on a stalk of wheat and looked up at Aaron with a wry grin.

“You’re back,” he said.

“I am,” Aaron replied, bowing a little towards the man. “Are you still selling some spare wheat?”

“Do you have enough for more than a bushel or two?” the old man asked.

Aaron nodded and produced his large satchel of coin. “At two hundred a bushel, I’d like to buy twenty units.”

The old man sat up at that and coughed, spitting out the stalk of wheat. “You’re serious?” he asked.

“You bet I am,” Aaron said. “There’s a lot of money to be had in this wheat and I’m more than excited to start doing some real business. If this goes well, there’s a lot more in it for you. I just need to be sure that you can meet these numbers.”

The farmer stood and walked up to the bag, opening it up and counting through the coins. “Did you become a noble overnight or something? Find your long-lost father was a king perhaps?”

“Nope, just hard work and dedication to economic theory,” Aaron said. “Buy low and sell high.”

“Whatever your economics means, there’s plenty of wheat for me to offload. We’re having a good harvest this year, though the majority of the town won’t feel it. Most of it’s being shipped to Richel for gods knows what.”

“What’s your name?” Aaron asked. “I figured we’d be on better terms once I showed up with some real capital.”

“Ferdinand,” the old fellow said. “Ferdinand the Third. Third what, I’ll never know, my dad’s name was Carl.”

He laughed at the joke and barked an order at a few farmhands that were idling about. “Bundle up some wheat. I want twenty bushels packed and crated for the man!”

They scurried to comply with the order and Aaron shook Ferdinand’s hand. “I’m Aaron Maddox, of Phoenix Industries. We’re rising up from the ashes of commerce to build Gorvan into something incredible.”

“Uh-huh,” the old man said. Those words meant nothing to him and simply flew over his head. “Well Ferdinand Farms is at your service. If you’ve got the coin, we’re more than happy to keep this private arrangement going. Though I would emphasize on the private. The nobility provides me with a certain amount of grain for my own personal use, though they aren’t a fan of selling it. And by not fans, I mean it’s forbidden. But if you keep no records of where you get this…”

Aaron grinned. He was no stranger to these kinds of deals. “I just buy on the general market like everyone else.”

“Exactly,” Ferdinand said, chuckling.

Bulk Purchase! 200 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision as he watched the farmhands bring out the crates of wheat. They were unmarked crates, meant to conceal the nature of the shipment. They followed Todd who was more than willing to captain them, ordering them towards the merchant stables outside of town.

Level Up! You are now Level 4!

Aaron grinned at the sight of his new level. He had been working extra hard to get there and now that had paid off. “Let’s see how I can accelerate my fortunes…” he muttered as he opened up his character sheet.

You have 3 Stat Points to spend. Increase any Stat.

Stats:

HP: 5

MP: 0

Strength: 1

Speed: 2

Intelligence: 2

Charisma: 5

With the way things were going, Aaron saw little use for other stats than Charisma. Though he wondered if since he was planning on entering a dungeon again to invest in HP…no, it would be better to just get higher quality armor. The armor he had been granted by the adventuring party had increased his HP to an extra 10, though when he returned home the treasury had taken it back. He put 3 more points into Charisma and watched as his skills soared.

You gain 4 Skill Points. Increase your Skill Rank or Buy New Skills.

Existing Skills:

Bargain: 11

Trade: 8

Selling: 8

Harvesting: 1

Fishing: 4

New Skills:

Appraise

Foraging

Hunting

Fighting

Searching

If Aaron was going to be getting involved in larger markets then he would need the Appraise skill. He had put off taking it for a while but with the 4 points, he decided to spend 2 and purchase it. His Intelligence added to the Appraise, making it four ranks total. This would allow him to evaluate market goods at a better rate and understand valuables like antiques and collectibles.

For his other two abilities, he decided to put a point into Harvesting and a point into Bargain, rounding it out to 12 points total. This made him a formidable trader, one who could easily talk his way into and out of any kind of deal. He was pleased with this arrangement.

Once he was finished with his skills, Aaron turned his attention to the abilities. These were the heavy hitters that made quite the splash when it came to making changes in Gorvan.

You gain 2 New Abilities

Bargainer:

Buyer: Goods cost half their regular price.

Sweeteners: When trading, you gain an additional item for free.

Iron Contract: If you make a deal, the other party will always uphold their end.

Producer:

Producer: Gain 1 Producer who can process Resources into Goods.

Artisan: Gain 2 Ranks in the Crafting Skill.

Extra Batches: You gain 1 Extra Good each time you process a Resource.

Manager:

Sales Shack: You gain a Shack where you can Sell Goods and Services.

Employee: You gain 1 Employee who will man any building you own.

Shipper:

Exports: Resources and Goods cost half when purchased from another location than Greystone.

Imports: Goods brought into Greystone sell for an additional 200 garrins.

Merchant of Shadows

Fence Friend: You gain +200 garrins when selling to a Fence.

Black Market Access: You can access the black market to purchase stolen or illegal goods.

Shadow Barter: You can exchange your HP to increase any other stat for 1 hour.

There weren’t too many new abilities but that didn’t mean this was disappointing. Aaron paid special attention to Shipper and its Exports and Imports options. He had just dropped four thousand garrins on twenty units of wheat. Had he the Exports ability, he would have only spent two. That alone would boost his profitability by 100%...and Imports would allow him to generate even more per volume.

He scanned the rest of the abilities and hesitated upon seeing Producer’s Extra Batches. Exports was a lock, the cost of wheat would drop by half each sale, but Extra Batches would grant him more flour or bread. Imports provided a general increase of 200 garrins per sale…what was more profitable in the long run?

Suppose that bread sold for 400 garrins. With Imports, it would generate 600, minus the 200 investment. That was 400 gold profit. But if Extra Batch allowed one bag of flour to be converted into two loaves of bread, then it would generate 800 gold, yielding an additional 600 profit. Ultimately it would be more cost effective to work with Extra Batches.

Aaron selected Exports and Extra Batches, confident in his decision. The character sheet updated and he was pleased to see his advancement.

Chapter 35

Aaron’s wagon was loaded up with the crates of wheat. Yina sat at the helm and the shadow merchant climbed into the driver’s seat, readying the wagon to take off. He felt a bit of anxiousness about the trip back. There were no stakes when he was rolling along with nothing but coin in his pocket. But now he had goods that could easily be spotted from a distance. Those looking to get rich quick may target them.

“You okay sir?” Yina asked, sensing Aaron’s nerves.

“Just worried about the return home,” Aaron replied. He watched as the farmhands loaded the last of the wheat into the vehicle before departing. Todd climbed in the back and slapped the end of the wagon, signaling that it was time to go.

“As long as we stick to the roads we should be fine,” she said. “My bow is ready to fire at a moment’s notice.”

“And if we’re outnumbered?”

“Then we test how fast Jingle can retreat. We don’t need to kill them all, just enough to make them wonder if it’s worth their lives,” Yina replied. There was a sternness in her voice, the intensity of a warrior. Aaron could not help but wonder about her.

“Tell me friend,” he said as they took off. “Where do you hail from in life? Why end up as a mercenary?”

Yina looked hesitant to speak. “I’m sure you’d be bored with my tale,” she mumbled, looking away.

“The road won’t get any longer with you chatting,” Aaron said.

“I grew up as a bowist in the Lord’s personal army. Was one of the best,” Yina explained, her voice growing softer. “Back then, Everson had a real thirst for order and rule. He demanded that every child at ten be taken into the army to train in martial combat. My parents didn’t want me to go, tried to send my brother in my place but Everson’s men wouldn’t hear of it. Man or woman, it didn’t matter. Everyone served. But my aptitude spoke for itself rather quickly. I could take off the head of a matchstick a hundred yards away, no problem.”

She paused for a moment as she remembered the events. “Most of the other youth served a few years and quit when they were allowed. But I was promoted at fourteen and granted entrance into the guards. That was when Everson started to change. He became obsessed with banditry and taxation. At the same time it seemed, he began to claim that he was the rightful ruler of Greystone and that those who were living underneath him were leeches. Taking more than their fair share, and for what purpose? To just continue breeding. He grew angry at the people for some imagined slights and began to tax them heavily.

“This led to a lot of civil unrest. The merchant class was never something particularly elite but with the taxes coming out, most people found they couldn’t make ends meet. A lot of the city fell into poverty as the Guild of Goods came out in full support of the Lord’s policies. Banditry rose up as did theft. And that’s where I cut my teeth. By fifteen I had killed nearly a hundred bandits, mostly men and women desperate to earn some money. Everson never understood the economics of his state and some suspect that when his father died he simply allowed his incompetency to take over fully.”

“So you were a trained killer by fifteen?” Aaron asked. He couldn’t imagine such a life.

“It wasn’t much to think about at the time. Most of my crew was being attacked by bandits and raiders, though sometimes we came across those who were unarmed and desperate. Those were the rougher ones. They often begged for their lives but the Lord’s decree made them outlaws. They were cut down by all archers, myself included,” Yina said. She sighed. “Eventually I became so numb to everything that when my parents died of a plague, I decided to quit the army. I became an adventurer, exploring the world and finding things that interested me. Eventually I found the Swordbearers and thought they’d be a fine organization to join.”

That was quite a history. Aaron pondered the effect of Lord Everson. It seemed the man was a barely competent ruler his entire life. “How exactly does one become a Lord?” Aaron asked.

Yina shrugged. “Have a father who was one.”

“There’s no vote?”

“Voting,” Yina laughed. “No, nothing like…” she trailed off as her eyes caught notice of something ahead. There was a wagon ahead, its wheel broken and it was off to the side of the road.

“What’s that?” Todd asked as he leaned forward, sticking his head in between them. “Oh, it’s just some wagon that’s busted.”

“Could be a trap,” Yina said, standing up and raising her bow. “I can hit them from here. I count four.”

“Easy,” Aaron said, pulling the wagon to a halt. Jingle snorted as he skidded to a stop. “Let me go investigate. If you see me in trouble, start shooting.”

“You can really hit from here?” Todd asked as Aaron climbed down. He also disembarked from the vehicle and trotted beside the shadow merchant.

“What are you doing?” Aaron asked.

“If you’re in trouble, then you might need an extra body in between you and the guys trying to stab ya,” Todd said. He pulled up his trouser leg to reveal a knife in his boot. “I’ve been in a few scraps, I can handle myself.”

Ahead Aaron could see the wagon was almost overturned, three men were pulling it back onto the road with ropes. Yina was at a distance but she had her bow aimed upwards quite high, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

A woman was standing in front of the mess, clutching a book as she fussed. “Come on now, we’ve got to get this thing back on the road!”

“Excuse me,” Aaron said. “We couldn’t help but notice that you’re having a bit of trouble.”

The woman spun around, surprised to see the two. She was an elder, with her hair in a bun and a tight blouse that was reminiscent of a business suit. “Ah! You scared me!”

“Sorry,” Aaron said. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

“Well, if you’re here, make yourself useful and grab a rope. These men are useless. The damn horses got spooked by a snake and tried to run off the road. The spoke broke and it’s at an angle where the wagon’s just about overturned.”

Aaron looked around to see that the wagon was carrying large metal crates. The three men were straining as hard as they could and they lacked any form of weapons. He scanned the rest of the area and got the sense that things were okay.

With a shrug, he walked over and grabbed a rope. Todd followed and did the same. They both seized hold and began to pull. With the additional hands, they were finally able to wrench the wagon back onto the road. From there, three held the wagon up while the other two changed the wheel. The horses were rehitched and the wagon was fixed.

“Perfect!” The woman, Cassandra, said. “Thank you kindly for your assistance, Mr…”

“Aaron Maddox,” he replied, shaking her hand. “I’m a shadow merchant.”

“Ah, I happen to be a regular merchant, of Cassandra’s Own Textiles,” she said. “If you’re ever in Gatesburg, come see me. I’d be happy to put you up for your visit.”

Helpful Traveler! +5 Reputation! Your Reputation is now 0 (Neutral)

And just like that, Aaron was freed from his negative reputation. He felt as if a great burden had lifted from his body. He couldn’t believe himself! He had worked his way out of being in the absolute gutter and now he was a neutral figure. It was still a far cry from being +50 but who knows? If he kept this up, he might be able to reach that point someday.

Aaron and Todd returned to their vehicle and the two wagons passed each other. Yina kept her bow up the entire time, refusing to relax even when Aaron tried to calm her down. She was a consummate professional and wouldn’t let anyone catch them unaware.

The rest of the trip was tense. Yina didn’t have much else to say about her history and so they rode in silence. Todd was perfectly capable of driving and so Aaron and he traded off every night, with Aaron sleeping in the back of the wagon. This cut down the travel time by a day and they arrived at Greystone in record time.

Chapter 36

Shipping Mission Success! 500 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision as he and his assistant, Todd, unloaded the last of the wheat into the Processing Hut. Yina stood guard outside, taking a post and refusing to move from it. Things were different now that he had high grade product in his building. There was no way in hell that Yina was going to leave the thing unguarded and he was grateful for her instincts. She was, in every way, professional and skilled. The Swordbearers seemed liked a fine organization to work with if everyone they furnished was of the same quality and intensity.

“Man, this is so much wheat,” Todd said as he looked around the cramped hut. The little building wasn’t built for so much product and the crates were stacked everywhere. Sally, who was in the corner of the building, agreed.

“We aren’t an industrial type building,” she warned. “I mean it’s just me.”

“Can you make the wheat into flour?” Aaron asked. “That’s my only real concern right now.”

“You’d have to reconfigure the hut,” Sally said, “but yes I can make it into flour. It’s the same price per batch.”

Aaron grinned and brought up the interface. He was given the options once again to change the output of his Processing Hut and he selected Baking. The interior changed immediately, the table in the center transforming into a large basin with grinding stones and rollers. Aaron didn’t know much about how the actual process worked but Sally seemed excited.

“Alright, I should be able to start making your flour for you as soon as possible,” Sally said, rubbing her hands together. “It shouldn’t take more than a few hours.”

“Excellent,” Aaron said, taking his leave of the cramped hut. Todd followed after him.

“Hey boss,” Todd said. “I was wondering if maybe I could stay with you tonight?”

“Afraid that I don’t have anywhere to live,” Aaron said. “I spend my time out in the wilted forest, camping. I don’t sleep that often, either. Mostly just try to stay awake and focus on business.”

Todd made a long face. “I thought a business fellow like yourself would have a house or something. If you’re looking for a spot to stay, you could come hang out in my tent by the slums. I’ve got enough room for another.”

Aaron sighed. He had some coin in his pocket but spending any more on a hotel would be a waste of good money. It would be better to spend the night with his friend than to waste a long trip out into the wilderness once more.

“I suppose we should retire early. Tomorrow will bring a lot of opportunity.”

The pair headed to a shanty-town in the middle of the slums, where dozens of tents were set up. The houses there were shacks made of wood and without much craftsmanship behind them. They leaned over, barely able to stand, keeping some of the cold of the city at bay but not by much.

“Here we are,” Todd said, gesturing towards a small tent that was draped over the edge of a half-collapsed wall. “My home.”

“It’s quaint,” Aaron replied, climbing in and laying down on a small straw mat. He yawned, feeling the exhaustion of the trip wash over him.

“Someday we’ll have a house, eh?” Todd said, laying on a mat across from Aaron. He had a small sleeping bag, but only one and pulled it up around his legs. “A big mansion with hundreds of rooms and floors.”

“I’d settle for a hotel,” Aaron muttered, soon falling asleep. His dreams were short and vivid, mostly of the trip that they had taken. Someone was shouting at him in the distance but he could never make out what they were saying. Eventually he woke up to find that daylight had come.

Todd was still snoozing, leading Aaron to leave him there for a while. The shadow merchant climbed out of the tent and stretched, feeling every bit of soreness overtake him. It was not pleasant sleeping in the slums, that was for certain.

Aaron looked around to see the people were getting started for the morning. Some were sweeping, others were scavenging, looking through trash bins for something to eat. Hundreds of people were everywhere, desperate and ragged. The Lord Everson cared not for them one bit. And as a result, they were suffering.

The familiar sense of resolve built up within Aaron as he watched the people. If there was to be no leadership at the top, then he would rise up from the bottom and aid these folks. They needed much, and while Aaron had no resources right now, soon he would build up his business. He just needed to play his cards right.

Aaron headed back to the Processing Hut to find Sally covered in flour. The portly woman looked exhausted and she held up two large sacks. “All finished! That was a lot harder than making dyes, I’ll tell you that much!”

Flour

Type: Resource

Description: A bag of flour that can be turned into bread.

Value: 500 garrins

Aaron blinked at the sight of the value. 500! It cost 275 garrins to make a batch and the batch produced two bags at the same time. This meant he’d have a total profit of 725 for wholesaling the flour. That was stupendous.

“Sally, these are worth a fortune,” Aaron said, grinning like a fool. “I can’t believe it but we’re going to make some real money with this flour.”

“If you really want to make cash, you’d turn them into bread. But to do that you’d need a bakery and a team to run it,” Sally said, wiping her face, though only getting more flour on it. “Fresh bread would sell quickly and the majority of the people would come up with some money in order to get it.”

“Yes, that would be ideal,” Aaron said. He picked up the bags and headed out. “Make two more batches if you can.”

“You’ve got it!” Sally cried after him.

Aaron hailed Yina as he headed to the shack, then placed the bags on the table. He was greeted with the option to sell for cheap, middle or high and opted to sell for middle, which was 500 garrins.

There was no wait time. The moment his bags of flour were on the table, two men were upon the stand. “Is that flour?” one man asked.

“I’ll take both!” the other said.

“Now, now,” Aaron said. “Two bags, same price, why don’t you both take a bag.”

His instincts were not to create a bidding war over two bags. That would cause more attention and if he sold the bags this quickly, he wanted to keep a lower profile.

They quickly paid for the flour and parted ways, rushing home to presumably begin baking. Aaron couldn’t’ believe how fast the product moved.  That was a thousand garrins in his pocket almost instantly. He was going to need a much larger hut than what Sally had if he was going to make some real money. What if he went to the village?

Chapter 37

“So you’re saying there’s a whole village here,” Todd said as they rolled their wagon across the poorly made road. “But I don’t see anything. Just a few buildings.”

“Village is a loose term, it’s a small gathering,” Aaron replied. “Ex-slaves and such.”

“Why are they living outside of Greystone?”

“No reason to live inside, not when conditions are as bad as they’ve been,” Aaron said. “Besides, most of the people here were meant to be sold as slaves in the city.”

Luver came out from one of the buildings, excited to see Aaron and his vehicle. “Ah! I see the shadow merchant is back! And if I may say, it seems your reputation has improved quite a bit. Should we be worried that you won’t be returning too often now that you’re a neutral man?”

Aaron laughed at that and climbed down. “Quite the opposite. Luver, I have a business opportunity for Threadbare. As it happens, I’ve spent quite some time procuring wheat for flour production and it has gone quite well. The hut that I have access to is able to produce some flour here and there but we have a lot of wheat. Would it be of your village’s interest to begin assisting with flour production? The faster I can make this, the faster I can build a bakery in the city and begin bringing bread to your village.”

Luver’s eyes went wide at this. “You want to involve us with production?”

“Indeed,” Aaron said. “I have the coin to procure the tools necessary to turn our village into a production powerhouse. Or at least, to start in that direction.”

Luver considered the proposal. “I think that’s a capital idea,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with industry and our village could use the work. Here, let me grant you access to our Buildings and Production system.”

You have been appointed Village Business Manager!

You now have access to Buildings and Productions! Aaron’s vision informed him.

Immediately two pages appeared in front of him.

Buildings:

8 Huts

1 Smoke Shack

1 Storage Shack

Productions:

Harvesting (per Week)

5 Fish

1 Deer

10 Impberries

10 Bloodberries

“With the Manager ability, you can build for us, though you’d have to pay for any of the expenses,” Luver said. “And Productions allows you to see what we’re making.”

Aaron nodded as he reviewed the building section more. There were options for the different buildings that he could order, though they were all quite expensive.

Available Buildings:

Production Shack:

Cost: 2,500 garrins

Workers: 4

Output: 10 Batches per Day

Description: This shack allows villagers to produce goods on a wider basis than a mere Processing Hut.

Shipping Yard

Cost: 1,500 garrins

Workers: 2

Description: Ships up to 25 Units to Greystone each day.

Storage Center

Cost: 500 garrins

Workers: None

Description: Stores up to 100 Units of Resources or Goods.

Aaron checked the population of the village to see that they had nearly 12 people available. The Production Shack only required four people, though he would need 2,500 garrins to pay for it. Still, producing 10 batches of flour per day…it would get things moving on an industrial level rather quickly. Then again, he only had twenty batches. That would be two days of work max. Of course, with the profits he’d be able to import more wheat, and at half the price too. That pretty much meant the Production Shack would be running nonstop.

Aaron pondered this production pipeline. There was no reason not to begin working on increasing his industry and so he determined to start turning Threadbare Village into something worthwhile.

“Let’s get moving, Todd,” Aaron said. “We’ll come back when we have the funds to begin building.”

“So that means you’ll accept management?” Luver asked.

“Indeed,” Aaron said. “I won’t lead the village, but I will sure as hell make sure that it turns into something worthwhile.”

The pair loaded back up into the wagon and headed back to town, though only briefly. While they had been away, Sally was able to produce four more bags of flour from two bushels of wheat. Taking the wheat to the sales shack generated a staggering 2,000 garrins, enough to build the Production Shack.

Aaron brought up the display to purchase the buildings. A small map of Threadbare Village appeared, along with its population count. There were 12 people available for work and the village had a Ranking of 1.

He navigated to the Buildings section and purchased the Production Shack. Right away, the money was subtracted from his wallet and he saw a small building appear on the map. Four empty slots opened up above it briefly, though they were filled in a matter of minutes.

Once the slots were full, Aaron was greeted with the options to turn the production to flour. He selected it and immediately saw there was an output/input system.

Storage Capacity: 50

Current Stores: 0

Batches per Day: 10

Current Output: 0

Facility is awaiting Resources

That was much faster than Aaron anticipated. He supposed that the magic of using a system as a Manager allowed him to do much more and without the delay of bureaucracy. He quickly summoned Todd and they began the long, tedious work of loading up the wagons with wheat once more, taking them to their final destination.

Aaron also spent the extra garrins on the Storage Center, so that there was no rush on selling the flour. As he made the purchase, a large warehouse appeared in the center of the village.

Village has Ranked Up! his vision informed him. Get Threadbare to Rank 4 in order to be able to increase its population and attract outsiders!

This piqued Aaron’s interest. If he built up the village, it would gain more ranks and in doing so…it would increase the amount of people living there. That made sense. What other buildings would he be able to build now that it was Rank 2? He checked to see there was a Bakery in the suggested area.

Bakery

Cost: 5,000 garrins

Workers: 6

Output: 12 Batches per Day

Description: A Bakery allows for the creation of bread. Each batch is composed of 3 loaves of bread.

Aaron read the description and looked at the price. It wouldn’t be too long before he was able to afford the Bakery… and then things would really start to change.

Chapter 38

The week passed by quickly. Aaron spent a great deal of time moving back and forth between the village and Greystone. The villagers were pleased to see the new buildings and were quick to find their own jobs, working as processors in the shack. The wheat was moved in and stored, though it wasn’t long before they were able to turn the majority of the product into straight flour.

Thanks to Aaron’s shadow merchant abilities, the additional flour produced itself magically at the end of each production cycle. Ten bags of flour begat an additional ten, doubling their profits easily enough. And there was no cost to running the Processing Shack, as the villagers did not charge for their labor. Rather it was simply being part of the village, a job that gave them purpose and meaning.

After a few days of work, the flour was ready for sale. Word was starting to reach the majority of Greystone that there was flour being sold at Aaron’s shack. He was able to take preorders, charging a 200 extra garrins premium, but the population did not balk at this. They were excited at the news that someone was selling flour and they were willing to pay just about any price.

In the end, they were selling the flour for 700 garrins per unit. Twenty units moved like lightning, granting Aaron a staggering amount of coins. He earned 16,000 garrins by the end of the first week of production. The money came flooding in thanks to the amount of people who were interested in buying the rare good.

The money brought in 1,200 XP as well. Aaron was sitting high on the flagpole now, his money and expertise starting to work together perfectly. But he wasn’t content to just sit back and enjoy earning the cash. He took his garrins and began to actively invest them into his business, Phoenix Industries.

First and foremost, he needed more wheat. He had the coin to open up his own Bakery and so he would double the order of wheat. Thanks to his Imports ability, the cost of wheat was only 100 garrins a head, allowing him to order 50 units. This required an additional cart and horse but he hired one out, along with a few more mercenaries from the Swordbearers guild to ensure that the packages were safe.

The villagers were pleased to be part of the work that Aaron was providing. With the money that he had earned, he was able to provide them with three more fishing poles and they had a small industry out of fishing every day. The need to sell fish had diminished, as there was too much work for so small a profit. Instead, the fish were used to feed the village, every part of their bodies harvested to provide for Threadbare.

The scales were useful for making flour bags that were resistant to being damaged during transport. The bones were used for tools and the guts fertilizer for the various impberry bushes that were planted. The overall health of the village was increasing with each passing day and they were thankful for Aaron’s efforts.

So much so that they built him his own hut to live in. Aaron was pleased to see the construction and eagerly accepted the new home. There was a bed of straw within and that was more than enough for him to enjoy his life as Manager of the village.

The days went by quickly enough. Aaron spent the majority of his time managing the production chain, ensuring that the wagons made it to Gatesburg and back without a hitch. With his massive budget of 16k garrins, he invested a sizable amount, 5,000, into the acquisition of wheat. This yielded an impressive 50 units of wheat to be imported.

While the shipping was taking place, Aaron finally decided to build the Bakery. This was as easy as pushing a button in the interface and paying the garrins. Instantly before him, a smooth stone building appeared, with two wide doors and a massive chimney in the back.

“Aha!” Todd said, clasping his hands together. “You’re really moving us along. Did you build another storehouse?”

“Nope,” Aaron said, patting the young man on the back. “I have built us a bakery. We’re going to make quite a bit of money this way. But more importantly, we’re going to be able to feed the people of Greystone. I’ve been thinking about my business approach for some time now and I have a plan.”

“Oh?” Todd asked as he followed Aaron inside of the building. A few people arrived, curious to explore the construction as well.

“Greystone is a corrupt place, one with very little regard for those on the streets. Those in the slums are starving and desperate for work. Most don’t have the energy or skills to do much of anything and Lord Everson has hardly given them any attention. He, like the rest of these lords, seem to be obsessed with simply using people as resources,” Aaron explained, walking up to one of the great coal ovens, running his hands alongside the edge. “I used to be like that. In my past life, before I came to Gorvan, I was a man who extracted two when only one was due. I was hardened and cruel, without care for my fellow man. And then…well, I was murdered for it. Killed by someone who sought to get justice in a world where I had rigged the courts.”

“Damn,” Todd said. “I would have figured you were some kind of merchant fellow with the way you run business.”

“I was,” Aaron replied. “I was a merchant of death in many ways. But having a low reputation taught me that one cannot outrun their dark deeds, nor can they hide from them. In the end, we must all face what we do in the dark. And I have decided to focus on doing good in this world. I don’t know if repentance is something that can be found, but I’ve been given a second chance at life. And I have to believe that there’s some reason behind that. So, I want to use my business acumen to improve Greystone. And to help the people living in poverty.”

“That’s very noble,” Todd said. “But it sounds like a waste of time. The moment Lord Everson hears you have a lot of money, he’s just going to tax the hell out of you. Demand that you pay some kind of personal wealth tax and siphon it from you like the others.”

“Everson can be manipulated,” Aaron said. “He is a greedy bastard but seems to be dense and incompetent. His opponent, Councilman Reyes, might be a better choice for Lord in the future.”

“Lordship is passed on through direct appointment,” Todd replied. “There’s no way in hell Everson would ever give it up until his deathbed.”

Aaron pondered that for a moment. “Would Everson invade another village, you think?”

Todd shrugged. “The moment he hears there’s economic activity in this village, he’s going to try and take a big share. So you best be ready for it.”

“The forest is out of his jurisdiction,” Aaron countered.

“Well, I’m sure he’ll rally up an army and send them to put you back in his jurisdiction,” Todd said. “Trust me, Everson might be incompetent but he wields power like a club. I’ve seen a few revolutions turn sour because of his violent application of force.”

“Well, we aren’t talking about revolution,” Aaron said. “Just side-stepping. Anyway, I’m going to institute a rule in Threadbare. Anyone who comes in and asks will be fed bread without question or charge.”

“That’s mighty generous of you,” Todd said. “But we’ll run out quick. Everyone’s going to rush us.”

“That’s the plan,” Aaron said. “Those tents can be moved anywhere, right? If the poor start to occupy this forest, it would bring them closer to us. We can use them to begin harvesting the forest’s resources at a greater scale. For one, we need a logging force. These huts are nice but there’s no reason we can’t have full sized buildings in our village. The more people who come here, the more work we can get done.”

“And you think you can feed them all?” Todd asked. “What if we get like a thousand people?”

Aaron considered that. A thousand seemed excessive. “Just how many people are in Greystone, anyway?” he asked.

“Fifty-thousand,” Todd replied. “Give or take ten thousand due to seasonal immigrations.”

“And how many do you think live in the slums?” Aaron asked.

Todd shrugged. “I’ve always counted around a few hundred in my part of the woods. But word of free bread will spread quickly. Even the people who can afford it will probably come, just to get bread.”

Aaron quickly ran the numbers in his head. He had 50 units of wheat coming in, which would create 100 units of flour. One unit of flour made 4 units of bread. So ultimately he would be producing 400 loaves.

“Hmmm,” he muttered, sitting against one of the baking counters. More people were starting to come in, the workers who were hired magically by the system. They were familiarizing themselves with the various parts of the Bakery and were preparing for the shipment of flour coming in. “It would seem that I was perhaps a little too eager in my thoughts. Todd, how in the hell can we feed an entire city full of starving people?”

Todd shrugged. “I say we don’t give our bread away. It’s gotta be worth quite a bit of money, since it’s a luxury good. We sell the bread in the city, right? Then we use the profits to invest in something that is far bulkier to produce. Like maybe we can dig some farmland out?”

“We could grow something that matures quickly,” Aaron mused. “But I don’t know the first thing about farming.”

“You don’t know anything about baking either,” Todd countered.

Chapter 39

The shipment of wheat came in the early morning, causing the entire village to scramble into action. The people worked quickly, processing the wheat in the morning and baking the flour in the afternoon. The chimney of the great Bakery began to release billows of smoke and the scent of fresh baked bread filled the air.

The smell woke Aaron up. He sat up and stretched, seeing the notifications in the side of his system view. Wheat Imported! 1,000 XP earned! He grinned at the sight of this and quickly rushed out to check on the Bakery.

The bakers were busy rolling the flour into large loaves of bread, bringing pans in and out of the great oven that was roaring with fire. The smell of bread was impossible to beat. Aaron walked up to a loaf that was just sitting on the edge of one of the tables, golden brown and ready to be eaten. It was a large round loaf that could last a family a full day easily.

The chief baker, Loren, approached and bowed to Aaron. “Master Aaron! We present to you the first loaf. Please, take a bite and tell us how you feel.”

Aaron rubbed his hands and looked around. The entire staff was paying attention to him, except for one baker who was busy extracting a loaf from the fire. “If I break it, you all get some too,” he said, reaching forward and snapping off a piece. The crispy bread broke in his hands and he felt the warmth wash around his fingers.

“Cheers,” he said, raising it up and taking a bite. The taste was exquisite. It was everything right with fresh baked bread.

“Dig in!” Aaron said, gesturing to the staff. They all eagerly rushed up and broke off pieces, munching themselves. Everyone grew silent for a moment, soaking in the pleasure of eating fresh bread. An aura seemed to wash across the group as they broke out into smiles. It was as if things were reaching a turning point in Threadbare Village. They were no longer barely surviving in the woods. Now they were thriving.

Bread Breaker! 200 XP! appeared in Aaron’s vision. He chewed thoughtfully and took a hunk, heading outside to find Yina at her post.

“Here’s your bonus,” Aaron said, handing her half. The other was for Todd, who was still sleeping in his tent.

Yina’s eyes went wide. “Bread for me?” she asked. “Sir, you shouldn’t have.”

“We’re going to make a lot more of it, we can afford to splurge here and there,” Aaron said.

The woman showed a rare bit of emotion and took the chunk from Aaron. She munched down eagerly and closed her eyes, savoring the flavor. “I used to eat bread all the time. Way back when it was available to everyone. But Everson let that damnable guild take over and they kept raising the price of grain until not even the farmers could sell it.”

“The Guild of Goods can’t touch us,” Aaron said. “I’ve got the rights to sell meat and bread as much as I please. Speaking of which, let me see how much a loaf goes for…”

Aaron turned his attention down to the remaining chunk of bread that he had in his hand. His vision dialed in and focused, bringing up the description.

Loaf of Bread

Type: Food

Description: A crafted loaf of bread, using Golden Wheat as a base.

Value: 300 garrins

Flour was worth 500 garrins, but when it was converted to bread the value was split into three units each. At 300 each, Aaron would be getting 900 garrins per batch of bread sold. Factoring in his shadow merchant abilities that added 100 to each sale, that would be an extra three hundred per batch. That was 1,200 per unit of flour.

“We’re going to need an actual storefront soon,” Aaron said as he ran the numbers in his head. He checked the status of his sales shack. It had ranked up a few times and was now able to hold up to 20 units at a time.

“Getting property in Greystone is going to cost you a fortune,” Yina said. “Best just keep to hawking on the street.”

Aaron nodded at that and finished the last piece of bread in silence. Things were starting to change. He was down to 6,000 garrins but that was still no small amount of money. He could effect some major changes in the world with his coin, but how would he do anything lasting? And more importantly, how could he help Greystone change?

Aaron was brand new to wanting to do good. He had found a heart within himself over these past few months and the experience of being universally hated had taught him to find strength within himself to do good. But it wasn’t apparent as to how he could help the people of Greystone with someone like Everson in control.

Then again, there would probably be always someone like Everson in control of Gorvan. The kingdom seemed to have a lack of care towards its citizens. King Leroy was the person who ran the place and it was apparent that he only thought of himself. The rest of the Lords were empowered to do as they pleased.

As Aaron pondered this, more and more bread was produced. Before the day was done, they had made 6 batches of fresh bread, for a grand total of 18 units. The sun was starting to set but that didn’t mean Greystone was asleep. Aaron brought one of his wagons to load up the bread and quickly enlisted Yina to come along with him.

“It’s time for the moment of truth,” Aaron said to Yina as they climbed into the wagon. “We’re going to see if there’s enough money in the economy for the bread.”

“I’m willing to bet if the flour flew off the shelves, the bread will hover away,” Yina said as they rolled through the Wilted Forest and back to Greystone.

They arrived to the slums and Aaron brought the bread to his shack. The smell of bread wafted through the air and people were starting to look at him, curious.

Aaron opened up the shop and placed the bread on the shelves, setting the price to 300 garrins each. Within a minute, a customer arrived. It was a short woman, with bright blue eyes.

“Is that bread?” she asked. “How do you have bread?”

“I baked it,” Aaron replied.

“Do you hear that?” the woman shouted to a few others. “The shadow merchant knows how to bake bread now!”

A crowd rushed over and the people practically fist fought to get in line. They all mobbed the front of the store and demanded the bread, ignoring the prices. These were not the poorest of the village, they were people who were there to make purchases and it seemed that fresh bread was at the top of their demand list.

Bread Sold! 500 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision. The money on the counter was an astonishing amount, 7,200 garrins. He had almost recouped his expenses for both the wheat purchase and the bakery production. What an astonishing amount of money.

Aaron grinned at the sight of the coins and quickly pocketed it all, thrilled with the short sales day. His shop stall went up another rank and he selected the Employee option. This would allow him to keep the shop going 24/7, or at least as long as the bread was available. The Employee only cost 25 garrins per day, so frankly they were worth it.

As Aaron examined his money, there came a voice from ahead. “Excuse me, are you selling bread?” It was a goon from the Guild of Goods, a fellow wearing a suit with a metal pipe in his hand. “Oh I thought I smelled something fishy. First it’s the fish you’re selling, now it’s bread. You don’t learn your lessons, do you?”

The goon raised his metal pipe and walked forward, but Aaron pointed to the symbol affixed to the front of his shop stall. There was the medallion, clear as day. “Excuse me, but I have a license to sell.”

The man halted in his tracks. His eyes squinted at the sight of the medallion and he glanced up at Aaron. “That has to be a forgery.”

“Afraid not,” Aaron replied. “I have a license to sell bread and meats. So unless you’re willing to incur a legal nightmare for interfering with my business, I suggest you head out.”

The goon growled. “This isn’t over. I’m going to tell my boss.”

“Go ahead,” Aaron replied. “Let them know that I’m running my own business and that I wish the Guild of Goods the best of luck.”

Chapter 40

Aaron closed up shop quickly, the goods having run out within minutes of the store opening. The reputation of the stand had increased by 2 points amongst the artisans who often browsed the slums, looking for the best deals. Word would spread that he had bread for sale and there would be a line for the shop the next day.

He wandered the streets, his pocket full of coins that he was unsure of how to use best. Aaron’s heart had genuinely changed due to his experience as a shadow merchant, but he was inexperienced with philanthropy. Back in the real world he never even gave to charity. What could he do here to help Greystone?

As he considered this, he noticed a small church in the distance. It was a temple with smooth white walls and a broken spire at the top. There was a golden icon of a woman standing tall, her arms out inviting all to enter.

A church! Of course! Aaron could go and ask for spiritual guidance from one of the clergy. No doubt they would have an insight on how best to do good for the city.

Aaron rushed to the small temple and noticed that there were cracks in the stairs leading up into the foyer. There was a chill aura in the air and Aaron couldn’t help but shiver. Something was off about this place.

The building was decrepit and empty. There were large pews lined up leading to an altar but some of them were broken in half. There was a statue of a golden woman standing up before the entire congregation, her arms wide and open to all but the right arm was rusted.

A lone woman was sitting at the end of the temple, resting on the altar stairs. She was adorned in white robes and had long red hair that seemed to contrast with the rest of her attire. Her sullen eyes looked up towards Aaron.

“I suppose you’re here to take your fee,” she muttered. She gestured towards the statue. “It’s made out of gold, feel free to break an arm off.”

“Excuse me?” Aaron asked.

The woman frowned as she slowly rose. “Aren’t you with the Guild of Goods?”

“I am not,” Aaron said. “I was actually hoping to come get some spiritual guidance.”

The woman sighed. “I don’t know how much I can help you, sir. The Holy Altar of Emera doesn’t work anymore. My ability to cast cleric spells of guidance has been cut off for some time.”

Aaron didn’t understand what any of that meant. But he could see the look of real distress upon the woman’s face. She was a beautiful woman, with full red lips and blue eyes that seemed to pierce through him. Her hands were soft and he felt something flutter within himself when he looked at her.

“My name is Aaron Maddox, a shadow merchant,” he said, bowing to her.

“I am Katlin Ava, cleric of Emera,” the woman replied, bowing back.

“Who is Emera?” Aaron asked, sitting on a pew across from the woman. She sat back down on the stairs and leaned forward.

“She is the goddess of morning light, a lesser goddess who serves the sun and the moon in many ways,” Katlin explained. “Her power is to bring hope to people in times of darkness. Though ironically, I find that doesn’t seem to be working these days.”

Aaron slowly nodded at that. He had never thought about religion back in the real world. He had believed that there was only one life and after that it was nothing but darkness. Much to his surprise he had been wrong.

“So your goddess, she’s real?” Aaron asked.

The woman laughed at the egregiousness of the question. Aaron turned a little red. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“You’re an outlander,” she said. “But I know of you. There are people out there who have spoken praises about you. You save the slaves, you bargain with people and even convinced Everson to hold back on conscription. You’re the kind of person that Emera would exemplify.”

Aaron felt a bit of a warmth at the woman’s praise. “I used to be a much worse person,” Aaron said. “And religion is a new thing to me. Many things are new, such as doing good. But…well, I’ve made a decision to change my life for the better. To turn a new page. I came here from a world where my choices were not particularly good. Evil, in fact. I was a merchant of death to many and my decisions hurt a lot of good people, innocents who didn’t deserve to be harmed.”

Katlin slowly nodded. “Did you see a great masked figure when you died? A being that condemned you to another life?”

“Yes!” Aaron said. This was the first time someone had acknowledged the strange god of death he had met before.

“That was Maskis the Reincarnator,” she explained. “His job is to find souls that are right for this world. He reaches out and plucks them for the purpose of teaching them lessons and for changing our world. It is no small thing to be selected by Maskis.”

“Change your world? You mean he wants me to do something?” Aaron asked.

“Outlanders are brought here to do great works, though some of them tend to become cruel and capricious. Dark and light constantly fight in this world but Gorvan is a land of perpetual shade. Most of the outlanders brought here tend to become consumed by the luxuries that are offered those of power. Access to the system and a free class grant them a great advantage over others. Some do work to change this world for the better, but I have seen many outlanders end up consumed by their own greed and avarice. It would seem Maskis chose a different kind of person to send into the world this round.”

“You know much about religion,” Aaron said. “Is there a life after this one as well?”

“There are many heavens and hells in Gorvan, most of which are just other realms. One could argue that depending on how you are enjoying yourself this land could be considered hell for most. The people starve and are exploited by the powerful. The gods do not hear our prayers any longer. The villages slowly erode and there is no leadership from the king,” Katlin said with a sigh.

“You seem broken for a priestess,” Aaron said.

“Cleric, actually, a priestess is a different class,” Katlin corrected. “And yes. I have been tending to this temple for twenty years and things just haven’t changed. The people come in when they are in need, pray for help and when they get what they want, they vanish.”

“Sounds like it would be frustrating.”

“Indeed,” the woman replied.

“Well, I was hoping that I could get some advice from the clergy,” Aaron said. “But it sounds like you have some trouble with the Guild of Goods?”

“They are demanding that we pay them for our property’s location,” Katlin explained. “They recently purchased the land beneath our church from Lord Everson and are trying to charge us rent. Back in our heyday we would be able to pay for it but now we’re out of cash. We can’t even fix our altar. Not that it matters, the goddess no longer cares for our prayers.”

“Why do you say that?” Aaron asked.

“Greystone has committed many sins, but the biggest is that they have not lit the morning lamps each day,” Katlin explained. “There are many graces that she provides the city, but Lord Everson decided that he didn’t want to spend the money on the lamp oil each day. Without the morning lamps lit…well, her blessings slowly faded until her influence has all but eroded. That’s the case with most of the churches in this town. They have lost the blessings of their gods as Everson has failed to upkeep the ancient pacts and rituals required.”

Aaron pondered that. “Does he not have faith?”

“Few rulers have faith in this world,” Katlin replied. She sighed and folded her hands together. “They just seek power.”

Aaron felt moved towards this woman. There was something about her sadness that filled him with a sense of resolution. Maybe he could start to effect change in the city if he started with helping the goddess return her blessings to the church. Maybe that was why everything seemed so grey in Greystone.

“Well, I came here to ask advice on how best I can help the city,” Aaron said. “But it would seem that you need help too.”

“You can say that again,” Katlin dryly replied. “But what are you going to do, pay our rent and get the lights turned back on?”

“Yes,” Aaron said. “How much do you owe?”

The woman laughed. “I’m not going to beg you for alms. That money could be used to help others.”

“How much?” Aaron asked.

“Five hundred garrins,” she grumbled.

Aaron produced a thousand and handed them straight to the woman. “Here is a thousand. Five hundred to pay the rent and another five hundred to help the people of this world.”

Katlin’s eyes went wide at the sight of the donation. “Sir, you do know that there are no blessings to be given when you donate? The goddess has withdrawn her powers from the altar, so there is no reason to help me.”

“I used to think there was no reason to do anything other than earn a profit,” Aaron said. “But now things are starting to change in me. I may be a shadow merchant but I am not the same person I was when I died. And I’m posed to start making real money over these next few months. I want to feed the people but that’s going to take a lot of effort. So maybe the best I can do is just give to your church.”

“That kind of money will let us repair a few things,” Katlin said, looking around. “Alright, look. If you really want to help me, Aaron, then you need to get the lights back on. You have a reputation for knowing Everson personally. They say that you’re organizing his attempts to get the Allsphere. Such an unrealistic quest if I ever heard of one. But if you’re on his good side you might be able to get him to commission resources to turn the city lamps back on at the first light each day.”

“And that will get our favor back with the goddess?” Aaron asked.

“It’s a start” she replied. Katlin stood and smiled warmly at Aaron. “You really are a goddessend, you know that?”

Churchgoer! +5 Reputation! Your Reputation is now +5 (Indifferent)

Chapter 41

Aaron organized another shipment of wheat to come in with the money he had earned. It was about 5,500 garrins each trip due to the need of security but that was enough to earn five days’ worth of flour. The Bakery kept on working and the Employee manned the station, ensuring that the money kept coming in

Word of the bread sales spread out across the entire city and people were coming in droves to buy the loaves. Aaron’s stand sold out in the first five minutes every morning and they were making 14,000 garrins a day. Yina and Todd both got hefty bonuses because of this, though Aaron found his XP was dropping with each bulk sale. What used to be large amounts became merely 50 or 100 point increments. It would seem that repeated actions led to diminished returns.

One afternoon, as Aaron was checking in on the shop stall, Tarish, the government stooge, intercepted him. “Aha!” Tarish said, catching Aaron by the arm and holding him back.

Yina immediately drew her bow, causing Aaron to put a hand up. “Easy, it’s just a friend,” he said.

The woman glared at the stranger and lowered her bow, still not convinced. “Be careful with my employer…friend,” she spat.

“Lord Everson has sent me to retrieve you,” Tarish said. “He is eager to get his hands on the Allsphere and wishes for you to procure it as soon as possible. I have been instructed to get you to head straight to Burnis where you will acquire the lance of dragon slaying.”

“Right…” Aaron grumbled. He had been putting off this part of his adventure for quite some time but it seemed that the Lord was no longer willing to wait. Aaron had business with Lord Everson, namely in convincing him to turn the ceremonial lamps back on in the morning on behalf of the temple of Emera. “I was hoping to speak with the man before I disembarked.”

“Ooof,” Tarish muttered. “Aaron, I would advise you against that. The Lord is in a foul mood and demands that you bring him the Allsphere. Trust me, he is not one to mess with when he is upset. He could easily sentence you to a life in prison for delaying his whims.”

“Whims…” Aaron muttered. This Lord was really starting to grind Aaron’s gears. There was no way in hell that the shadow merchant would bring the Allsphere, a world-changing artifact, to such a petty man. And to even go back in the dungeon in search for it was a waste of time. But what else could he do? He had to at least play the part.

“Very well,” the shadow merchant replied. “I shall accompany you.”

Tarish clasped his hands together. “Excellent. We shall take a royal transport at once. This way!”

They made their way to the Lord’s stables, an elegant area with gold plated buildings and diamond studded statues of horses outside. Waiting for them was a great royal transport, a red wagon with four mighty horses hitched to it. Tarish and Aaron went inside of the main cabin, a spacious interior with leather benches, while Yina took her seat at the helm, next to the driver.

Two guards on horseback accompanied the wagon, both to ensure that the royal transport was safe and also to ensure that Aaron didn’t try to take off. It was almost like a prison sentence, being a part of this bold expedition to retrieve the artifact.

Aaron pondered how he was going to get out of this. The trip to Burnis wasn’t short and he had a lot of time to think. Namely, he thought about how messed up Lord Everson was. He was a fool and a glutton, someone taking without ever giving. Would Lord Henry be the same? Only time would tell.

The trip was uneventful and Tarish had nothing interesting to say. The man mostly complained about his position as royal attendant, fussing about the various jobs that he was required to do. Aaron found the trip to be mind-numbing as he racked his brains, trying to figure some way out of having to go back into the Storywood Dungeon. Nothing particularly came to mind and so he was forced to wait out the trip listening to the incessant complaints.

Eventually they arrived at Burnis. Aaron found the breath drawn from his body as he gazed up at the great city in awe.

Burnis was built onto the back of a gigantic dragon skeleton. The massive jaws of the head formed a gate that allowed entrance inside. The spine had a castle on the very peak and below, where the tail curled was the farmlands.

“What a city!” Aaron gasped as he peered out the window. “I had no idea dragons could be so big!”

“Aye,” Tarish said. “They were once the biggest creatures in the world. Eventually mankind slaughtered a few hundred of them, culling their numbers down to a manageable amount.”

It must have been some fight to take a dragon down. Aaron could only think about the beast that was waiting for him inside of the dungeon. No doubt it would eviscerate them with its mighty claws or worse, burn them to death with all-consuming fire. Even if Aaron could secure the lance, it would be a dicey feat to slay the creature.

They rolled up the hill leading to the massive jaws of the dead dragon and waited as the gate installed inside the mouth opened for them. Guards came out to question the driver and after receiving a satisfactory answer, escorted the group up to Castle Burnis.

The castle was equally as impressive as the location it was built upon. It was a great grey building with four spires that rose impossibly high into the sky. There was a thick wall of bone around the castle, blocking off any intruders, though how they would be able to penetrate through the jaws of the dragon was beyond Aaron. It seemed to be impressive architecture that served no real purpose. War wasn’t something that happened within Gorvan.

Aaron’s vehicle was allowed inside of the bone wall. The wagon rolled to a halt in the main courtyard and they climbed out, sore and exhausted from the long trip.

An attendant, short and with bottle-cap spectacles appeared before Aaron and Tarish, clipboard in hand. “You two are expected to meet with His Lordship after dinner,” the meek man said. “We have prepared a small banquet for you to enjoy after your long trip.”

“Ah! A banquet, isn’t that something!” Tarish said, rubbing his hands together. “That’s the best part of being a lackey of a Lord. You get all sorts of benefits and bonuses as people are looking to please the emissaries in order to make a good impression.”

Aaron said nothing to that. He had enjoyed his fair share of complimentary dinners in the past to know that they meant nothing. Sometimes they were just displays of wealth, meant to intimidate or impress the other party. Other times they were just distractions meant to get someone drunk enough to say yes to a business deal.

They were escorted into one of the side rooms of the castle, not the main halls, and to a large banquet. There was all manner of pork, ham and cheese waiting for them, as well as large loaves of bread. Aaron hadn’t eaten a full meal in ages and he found himself chowing down with extreme speed, as if someone were going to take the food away from him.

They ate, were brought to living quarters and told to wait until Lord Henry was ready for them. Hours passed as Aaron and Tarish waited in the bedroom, sitting around with nothing to do. Yina was classified as a guard and as such was required to stay with the wagon. It was a shame, as she would have certainly enjoyed the meal.

After four hours of waiting, a servant arrived to summon Aaron and Tarish to Lord Henry’s office.

“Finally,” Aaron muttered. “That took forever.”

This was a traditional power play from those who were in high positions: making someone wait. It highlighted the importance of the Lord and diminished Everson’s own position, granting him leverage in the negotiation. There had been no alcohol at the banquet, so it seemed that Henry simply wanted to show off his power by making these emissaries wait. It also showed that there was little respect from Henry towards Everson.

Lord Henry met with them in a study with many books and maps placed on the walls. The Lord was a mighty man with a broad chest and dark brown hair that was cut into a side part. He wore silver breastplate that sparkled in the candlelight and carried a longsword at his side. The man stood tall and proud, walking up to Aaron and Tarish.

“Ahhhh, there they are! The emissaries of the noble and humble Lord Everson,” Henry said, clasping his hand on Aaron’s outstretched arm. They shook hands and he gestured for them to sit at the desk in the center of the room, where three chairs were arranged.

Aaron sat down and noticed immediately that his chair was wobbly. Tarish tried to get comfortable but shifted left and right, trying to sit evenly. Another power play, give bad chairs so that they would be uncomfortable during the discussion. Lord Henry really was a negotiator at heart. Aaron was almost impressed.

“So then, I was pleased to hear that Lord Everson sent people to meet with me, though I’m unsure as to why he would break his silence after all these years,” Lord Henry said, sitting in presumably the much more comfortable chair. He folded his hands on the table and assumed a power pose, keeping perfectly still. “So what can I do for you, gentlemen?”

Tarish said nothing, content to merely let Aaron do the talking. The shadow merchant cleared his throat and spoke. “Well, sir, Lord Everson is currently undertaking a grand quest and there has been discovery of a dragon within one of the dungeons in his realm. I have been appointed to handle this dragon and after some discussion, it was decided that we would turn to Burnis for assistance in removing it.”

“Dragon slaying?” Henry laughed. “Is that really what Lord Everson is up to? Sounds like he’s after something inside that dungeon.”

Aaron did not want to reveal the existence of the Allsphere. He merely shrugged. “The dungeon is in a forest just outside of town. With the presence of the dragon, it would behoove us to remove it before it began raiding us.”

“Mhmm.” Henry narrowed his eyes. He didn’t seem to believe Aaron. “No, it would seem that there is something in the dungeon that Everson wants. And if he wants it, then he’ll do god knows what to get it. That man…bull-headed for certain.”

Aaron shrugged. “We were hoping to acquire a lance of dragonslaying from you,” he said. “Something potent and capable of taking out the creature.”

“Burnis has a few of them laying around,” Henry said. “But you aren’t being honest with me. Why should I part with something so precious if you won’t spill your secrets?”

“I am merely a dignitary, an ambassador sent to negotiate on behalf of the Lord. What he is planning is beyond me,” Aaron lied. He was doing his best to keep his cards as close to the vest as possible.

“I highly doubt Everson would send some random man without intel,” Henry replied. He paused for a moment and summed up Aaron. “I can’t quite get a read on you.”

“We are prepared to pay three thousand garrins to secure the lance for a time,” Aaron said. “And when we are finished with it, we will happily return it.”

“You think you’re cut out to be a dragon slaying people, you Greystonians?” Henry laughed. He chopped the air with an invisible sword, causing Tarish to flinch. “It takes more than a lance. You’ll need the wits and strength to use it. And the ability to defeat the dragon’s cunning mind and use of magic. These beasts are powerful, those who survived the great purge that humankind delivered upon them. They are not mere monsters to fight. They are not dungeon encounters or obstacles. They are forces of nature that cannot be defeated by ordinary men.”

“So I hear,” Aaron replied. “Is that you agreeing to join us in this crusade against it?”

Henry laughed again. “My great-grandfather, the first Lord Henry, was the one who slew the grand beast that you witnessed as you came into my home. It took him the lance, armor of pure magical energies and the love of a good witch to give him the courage to defeat such a creature. Grimclaw was its name and it had slayed over a hundred mortals in a single battle. He lived upon this hill and raided our small village to his heart’s content. The will to slay a dragon is something that your people would never have. They need to have desperation in their hearts…my grandfather had that and more.”

Aaron was unsure where this was going. Lord Henry seemed to be an energetic and pompous leader, a Lord who was proud of his past and uninterested in helping Greystone. This negotiation was going nowhere and Aaron knew it.

“You are not going to help us, are you?” Aaron asked.

“Tit for tat,” Henry said. “A few thousand garrins might sound impressive to a skinflint like Everson, but it’s a mere drop in a bucket for someone who has the hoard of a dragon working for him. We gained immense wealth after slaying Grimclaw and have outpaced every other city in terms of wealth and power. Your offer is paltry. Now, if you were to give say….twenty thousand garrins, that would be something of value. But I’m guessing that you had to pry that three out of Everson’s mouth like it was a tooth.”

“The man was less than enthused to be giving away money.”

“Exactly,” Henry said. “Mr. Aaron, you will not be getting the spear from us. I am not in a position to where I feel like being charitable towards Greystone. Burnis is far from your town and it is without value to us.”

“Surely there is something you want,” Aaron said. “A lance of magical power does nothing for you in your stores. You are telling me that three thousand garrins are less valuable than an artifact just lying around in a vault?”

“It’s late,” Henry abruptly announced. Another power move, end the meeting without resolution. “Why don’t we take some time to think on this? You two are welcome to stay in my castle for the night and in the morning, over breakfast, we can discuss what ideas you have come up with. Burnis is going to need a whole lot more than just a few thousand garrins…”

Chapter 42

Aaron was escorted into a large bedroom with a plush bed, complete with silk sheets and four pillows. The red bed was seducing and he found himself stretched out on it almost instantly after seeing it. He was racking his brains, trying to figure out a solution to Lord Henry’s arrogance.

Burnis was massive compared to Greystone. It loomed over the countryside and seemed to have an incredible network of markets, people and farmlands that interweaved through the entire city. Greystone maybe had thirty thousand at the most, but Burnis looked to have three times that number. What could Everson’s tiny town offer the Lord of a dragon’s hoard?

Tarish was nowhere to be seen. The man was invited to a different part of the castle, leaving Aaron to ponder things on his own. He sat alone in his room, thinking of the different resources that Everson commanded.

The man had…what? A stinginess that made it impossible to promise anything. Aaron didn’t know what to do with this failing negotiation.

As he sat and tried to figure out a strategy, there came a soft knock on the door. “Come in,” Aaron muttered, sitting up on the bed. Maybe it was a servant come to take a dinner order.

A sultry woman entered, wearing a long silk robe that barely covered her ample body. She wore a red veil over her head and the robe was see-through, revealing her gorgeous breasts. Aaron swallowed hard at the sight.

“Ah, Master Aaron,” the woman said, bowing to him as she raised a bottle of wine with two glasses. “Lord Henry wishes that you enjoy your stay this fine night. May I be permitted to serve you a drink?”

“Erm, yes, yes of course!” Aaron said, sitting up straight and quickly adjusting his tunic. He had not bathed or shaved in…well since he had gotten to Gorvan, and only now was he becoming aware of how disheveled he looked.

The woman smiled brightly at him. “Oh good, I am pleased. My name is Uma and I am the castle’s courtesan.”

“Courtesan?” Aaron repeated.

The woman sat beside him on the bed, making herself comfortable. Uma raised the wine and began to pour into the first glass. “Indeed! I am…a companion for those who need to unwind or rest. You must have had a long journey to come here.”

“It was not short, I’ll tell you that much,” Aaron said, eagerly taking the cup of wine from her. Now this was hospitality!

Before he drank, however, he paused. Why would Lord Henry find it in his heart to suddenly be so hospitable? The man was boastful and proud, lording his resources and power over Aaron and Tarish. To suddenly send in a companion and a drink…it reeked of some kind of espionage.

Aaron lowered the glass and scrutinized this woman. The wine bottle had been uncorked before she came in. Was it possible this drink was laced with something? He best check.

“Where are my manners?” Aaron asked, forcing a chuckle. He raised the glass up to Uma. “Here, have the first sip.”

“Oh, sir!” she said, gritting her teeth suddenly. “I have my own…” Her words were cut off as Aaron pressed the cup to her lips. She had no choice but to drink.

The courtesan swallowed a glug of the wine and Aaron waited a turn. Something began to change in her eyes and her head started to roll back and forth. Aaron wondered if he had just poisoned some innocent woman tasked with simply delivering a drink, but she didn’t seem to be in any pain.

“Are you okay?” Aaron asked.

“I’m fine…” Uma replied. Her eyes slowly blinked out of sync as she stared at him.

“You don’t seem okay. What was in the wine?” Aaron asked.

“Truth potion.”

“Aha!” Aaron said, grinning to himself. He was sharp enough to catch a trap before it sprang on him. “Why were you instructed to give me a truth potion?”

“Lord Henry doesn’t trust Everson,” Uma replied, her voice droning in monotone. “He wanted me to dose you and find out what you are after.”

“And you figured you’d get me to drink first,” Aaron mused. “Amateur move, my dear.”

“I’m not good at espionage,” Uma said.

Poison Thwarted! 200 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision.

There was a moment of silence and then Uma regained her senses. “Goodness!” she gasped. “What…what happened?”

“I’m afraid you failed in your mission,” Aaron said.

The courtesan’s eyes grew wide with terror. “Oh gods no!” she cried. “I told you the truth, didn’t I?”

“Indeed.”

“Lord Henry is going to have my head for this!” Uma bemoaned. She grabbed Aaron’s tunic and clutched it tightly. “Please, please don’t tell him.”

“Easy,” Aaron said, pulling himself free from her grasp. “It would seem that the Lord is simply looking after his own interests. I won’t tell him anything, but…” He paused. Now this was something he could spin. “But you need to tell him exactly what I tell you. Tell him that when I drank the potion that I was terrified of the dragon and that Everson was equally as worried. Tell him that the entire town is in fear of Wildwit.”

“Lie to the Lord?” Uma gasped. “Sir, he…well, I suppose I would be executed for failing to do my duty anyway.”

“Would he really execute you?” Aaron asked.

“Courtesans do not live long in Lord Henry’s employ,” she said. Uma shivered a little and wrapped her arms around herself. “I suppose since I am here, you may have me if you wish.”

Aaron shook his head. That didn’t feel right to him. He was horrified to hear that she was quite literally risking her life. “I’m guessing that you didn’t choose to become a courtesan,” he said.

The woman shook her head. “No. I was a beggar in the streets. One day Lord Henry saw me and decided that I would make a fine companion. After that…well, it was mostly just a matter of serving him until he grew bored with me. Then I became a castle party favor.”

Aaron felt disgust rise up within him. “You aren’t free to leave, are you?” he asked.

“No, never,” she said.

This was the same as slavery. The poor woman was trapped and there was no way out. Except…maybe Aaron could help. “Listen, if you lie to the Lord for me, then I might be able to take you with me,” he said.

“What? Why would you do that?” she asked.

“Because I’m trying to be a decent person,” Aaron replied. “And part of that is helping those in need. It’s not guaranteed but… but maybe I can do something to get you out of here. And when you’re free, you can come to Greystone with me and do as you please. I promise I have no ill-intentions.”

“I suppose if you haven’t taken advantage of me yet…” Uma said. She shivered a little. “I would do anything to get out of this place. It wasn’t so bad at first, when it was just Lord Henry’s attention. He made so many promises…and then one day, I’m just a castle whore. They call me a courtesan only when trotting me out to important people or those they want to trick. To the rest, I’m just a castle wench.”

Aaron felt bad for the poor woman. Despite how clean and well-dressed she was, her heart was broken and he could see the sorrow on her face. He resolved to get her out of this, come hell or high water.

“Just tell the Lord exactly what I told you. That we’re all afraid of the dragon,” Aaron said. He took her hands softly and held them. “And then…just wait for me.”

Chapter 43

Morning came quickly. Uma had stayed for part of the night, in order to keep up appearances, but stole away before Aaron woke up. He worried partly that she would tell the truth, confess her sins to Lord Henry, but at the same time that would be a death sentence for her. His opinion of Henry lowered drastically once he learned that the man had a penchant for killing those who displeased him, namely his servants.

Uma told all sorts of terrible stories of beheadings or summary executions in which a servant who was found to be wanting was cut down. The Lord had no regard for human life, boasting that he was beyond human because he was the descendant of a dragon killer. Indeed, the man had no real accomplishments of his own, having inherited the wealth and power that his father had given him upon passing, but that didn’t stop him from bragging. With Uma’s aid, Aaron was able to learn that the man was egotistical beyond belief, truly thinking himself superior to all.

This was going to be a difficult negotiation, but Aaron was prepared to get what he came here for. The lance was a necessity; if Aaron failed to retrieve it, then he himself would probably be on the chopping block.

Servants brought Aaron to a banquet hall where eggs and ham were being served. He found himself eating far more than was appropriate but the Lord was late anyway. After an hour of eating and waiting, the man arrived, sauntering in like he owned the place. Well, he did actually own the place but his swagger was greater than usual.

“So it seems that little Greystone is desperate for help,” Henry said as he sat across from Aaron. “I did some research while you were busy enjoying the nights festivities. Apparently there is indeed a dragon hiding within a dungeon near your town.”

“So now you choose to believe me?” Aaron asked.

Henry laughed. “Forgive me for not trusting Lord Everson. The man is a snake but even snakes have reason to be afraid of winged things. But my research was thorough. Oh yes. Wildwit poses a significant threat to the town. Which means that I am in a greater position to bargain than Lord Everson wants.”

Just as Aaron thought. The news went straight to the man’s head. Aaron took a deep breath and readied to make his case. “Everson wants everything and has nothing,” he said. “The man boasts a great deal but between you and me, he is beholden to guilds and councilmen. He has little in ways of money and has…well, let’s just say capitalized on the threat of the dragon.”

Henry listened to those words. He slowly nodded. Aaron continued. “He fills the people’s hearts with fear so that they will join on a campaign to slay the creature. But the truth is, Lord Everson is far more attracted to the dragon’s pile of money.”

“I knew it! A hoard whore!” Henry laughed. “There are always people out there who hear stories of the great amount of wealth dragons keep and then think about taking it. They seek not the glory of a dragon to slay, but of coin to take.”

Aaron nodded. “I am speaking frankly about the matter,” he said. “Because Lord Everson has not the funds to purchase your weaponry. But he is determined to get his hands on the money.”

“Suppose he does get the hoard of gold that’s waiting for him down in the darkness?” Henry asked. “What then?”

“I would think that the Lord would pay that which was owed,” Aaron replied. He grinned a little. “Of course, the money would have to be moved carefully. Transported with the spear.”

It was a boon that Tarish was nowhere to be seen. The man would have protested this kind of talk about the Lord, especially making a backroom deal, but Aaron was here to get the spear. He would do whatever it took.

Lord Henry mused this over for a time and sat back. “Dragons have great wealth, that is true. I suppose if we parted with a weapon for a time, it would behoove you, Aaron, to personally ensure that we are adequately compensated.”

“I am in charge of the expedition to slay the beast,” Aaron said. “If we are able to take it down, I will be the one who reports how much money was found.”

“A third of the treasure then,” Henry said. He paused and thought this over then nodded. “Yes, a third. Or as much as you can smuggle to me without him noticing. Surely there’s going to be a great deal of fuss when the beast is slain, but…money is easily lost in the shuffle.”

Aaron looked around as if looking for eavesdroppers. “I am prepared to make that deal,” he said. “Though Everson could never know about it.”

“Perish the thought,” Henry said. “That’s why I have spoken only to you. Tarish did not seem like the kind to break away from his Lord’s heel.”

Aaron thought about Tarish. If Henry had tried to use a truth potion on the man, he would have learned about the Allsphere. But he had identified the man as a lackey and rightly so.

“Good, then let us shake on it,” Aaron said. He reached a hand out and the Lord grabbed it tightly. He crushed Aaron’s hand, as if showing how strong he was. But little did he know that Aaron had no intention of keeping the deal. After all, he was in no way authorized to make such an agreement.

“Now then,” Aaron said, lowering his voice. “I wanted to talk about one more matter before we conclude our business. A more personal one.”

“Oh?” Henry asked.

Aaron took a deep breath. “That woman you sent me last night…I must admit that I was not aware that women could even do such things. She was…intoxicating. I can barely remember most of the night but my gods, it was incredible.”

“Ah yes, courtesans are well trained for such things,” Henry laughed. “Though this was just a common bitch I sent you. Perhaps you’d be interested in meeting some finer women?”

Aaron tried to not let that comment burn him up. “Actually,” he said, lowering his voice and leaning in. “I was wondering if she were on the market.”

“Uma?” Henry laughed. “Surely if you’re looking for a good whore there are better ones.”

“Come now, I know what I like,” Aaron said. “Tell me, how much for her?”

Henry chuckled and tapped a finger on the table. It seemed that the idea of selling a human delighted him greatly. He took immense pleasure in it. “I’m not sure I want to part with her…”

“Didn’t you just say you had much better?” Aaron asked. “One man’s trash is another’s treasure…I will pay for her. How much?”

“Like you could afford my rates,” the man laughed.

“Try me,” Aaron said.

Lord Henry gauged Aaron for a moment. “Five thousand garrins,” he said. “More than what your Lord was willing to pay for the lance.”

“Done,” Aaron said. He didn’t feel like negotiating over this, as that would have made him feel sick. Not to mention it may cause the man to pull back from the deal entirely.

“You’ve got the coin?” Henry asked. “Show it to me.”

Aaron reached into his merchant’s bag and produced ten coins that were worth 500 garrins each. “I am a merchant who knows what he likes,” Aaron said.

The Lord chuckled to himself and counted out the coins. “You come all this way to get a lance, but it’s your lance that you pay the most for.”

Chapter 44

The deals were made. Three thousand garrins were given over to keep up appearances that there was only one transaction made that day. The truth was that Lord Henry now expected Everson to pay a large ransom after the dragon was slain. Aaron didn’t particularly care about whether this was fulfilled or not. He had acquired the spear, as was his charge, and that was that. The chances of the dragon being killed were low anyway.

Aaron and Tarish met back at the front of the castle, where Uma was being escorted. She was wearing a heavy fur coat today, no veil either, and looked terrified. The guards did not tell her where she was being taken and Aaron could see the fear was great upon her face

“You’re going with him now,” one of the guards said, pointing to Aaron.

Uma looked around. “I don’t understand,” she said.

The guard shoved her forward. He handed Aaron a small key. “This is for her slave collar,” he said. “The collars keep them from straying too far.”

Aaron took the key and thanked the guard, then swiftly led Uma away from the group.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“I kept my word,” Aaron said. “I have purchased you. And when we get to Greystone, I will set you free.”

The woman was silent for a moment. She couldn’t believe what she had heard. “Are you for real?” she asked.

“I am,” he softly said as they made their way back to the wagon. Tarish was waiting at the vehicle, along with Yina.  

“Freedom…” she whispered. They walked together closely. “What would I even do?”

“Anything you like,” Aaron said. “Though I would caution you on where you go. Lord Henry is under the impression that I purchased you for carnal reasons. If he were to see you wandering around Burnis…who knows what he may ask.”

“To hell with Burnis,” she replied. “That wretched place can burn in a fire for all I care. But what am I going to do? I have no money, no friends…nothing.”

“You are free to come to our village, Threadbare,” Aaron suggested. “The people there are humble enough and have had their own experience with slavery. You would do well to join us.”

The woman slowly nodded. “I suppose that would be my only option.”

“There’s plenty to do, the village is starting to grow. We have food for everyone as well,” Aaron said. “I just opened up a bakery and there’s no sign of our growth slowing. So you will be safe and fed.”

“That’s the one thing about slavery to a Lord,” Uma mused. “There’s no fear of going hungry. It’s the other fears that keep you up at night.”

“Ah! I see we have a new traveler!” Tarish said, rubbing his hands together. “I am Tarish, and you may be?”

“Uma,” she replied, bowing to him.

“Where’d you come from?” he asked.

“Tarish, enough with the questions. This has been a long trip, let’s just go home,” Aaron interrupted. They boarded the vehicle and loaded the lance into the back. Without any other business to attend to, they headed straight back towards Greystone.

The trip was a long one and Aaron was pleased to see the city appear on the horizon. Though the place had seen better days and stuck out on the landscape like a sore thumb, it was home enough for him to be relieved at the sight of it.

They reached the Lord’s manor and disembarked. Lord Everson was waiting for them by the stables. The big man was eating a large turkey leg and watching them as they climbed out of the wagon, stretching and groaning in the process.

“Ahhhh, it would seem that my chief negotiator has returned!” Everson said, approaching the back of the wagon. Two of his guards walked forward to retrieve the spear from the cargo space. It was a large glistening lance, almost as long as a human, with a sparkling tip that flickered with magical energies.

“We have retrieved the weapon as you asked,” Aaron said.

“Good, good,” Everson replied, picking up the lance and looking down the weapon. The thing was a bit wobbly and bent as he lifted it up and down. “Seems like just the thing necessary to get me the Allsphere.”

“Indeed,” Aaron said. “Now then, sir, I must ask about some important business involving the city itself.”

“Later, later,” Everson said. He gestured towards the manor. “It’s time for me to begin pulling my team together. You were right about grabbing random people off the street, it isn’t nearly the most efficient way for me to get the artifact. So I have spent some time putting together a roster of the most eligible and skilled fighters in the city. Come back in two days, Aaron. Because you will be going down there with them.”

“Why me?” Aaron protested. “I’m a merchant, I don’t belong in a dungeon.”

“Because I put you in charge of this project,” Everson replied. “I was able to trust you enough to get the weapon to kill the dragon, now I’m willing to trust that you can manage the team I put together.”

“Surely there’s some way I can stay out of the dungeon while overseeing?” Aaron asked.

“Nonsense, how would you be able to ensure that I get the Allsphere if you stay outside?” Everson replied. “Let’s not be foolish. Two days, Aaron Maddox. And then, you will witness history!”

Aaron sighed deeply. There was no way that he would be able to argue with this gluttonous lord about his own role and so he resigned to see that terrible dungeon one more time. Hopefully this would be the last and not in an ill-fated kind of way.

Emissary Mission Complete! 1,000 XP Gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision. This was an exciting development that he hadn’t seen coming. With his merchant activities and such, he was now at 3,400 XP, only six hundred away from Level 5. Eager to continue leveling, he headed back to Threadbare to check in on his grain shipments.

The village was in high spirits today. Uma followed after Aaron as he guided her through the small village. “Here is Threadbare,” he said. “It’s not the biggest establishment but I think you will find this place to be a fitting home. Of course, it’s nothing compared to a castle.”

“I’d rather never see a castle again,” she confessed. “Aaron, you are being too good to me. I don’t understand what there is to gain from this.”

“The truth is, my dear friend,” Aaron said. “I was once a crass and cruel man. And that landed me in a place where I starved and struggled the same as everyone else here. Coming to Gorvan from my own world has been a humbling experience. I’ve learned a few hard lessons about what it means to be strong and successful. And ultimately everything that I earned from my past life only made me hated. So I’ve vowed to do better this round. To take what I have and give to others, to improve the lives of the poor and ill-fated.”

“That is such a noble thing,” Uma said. They reached the bakery. The staff was outside, milling around. They didn’t seem to have anything to do.

Aaron frowned. “Excuse me, I have some business to attend to.” He quickly approached the band of bakers. “What’s the meaning of this idleness?”

“No flour,” one of the men said. He sighed. “Been that way for at least three days now.”

That wasn’t right. A shipment was supposed to come in four days ago, with five thousand gold worth of wheat. More than enough to keep these bakers busy for days on end.

“What do you mean, no flour?” Aaron asked. He felt panic rise up in his chest. He had spent quite a bit of money on that wheat and if it was missing it meant that bandits had intercepted his order.

“I don’t know,” the lead baker said. “All I know is that the flour people didn’t deliver us anything and so we’ve just been waiting outside patiently. We’ve cleaned the building a few times over but there isn’t much else to do.”

Aaron rushed to the production house to find the shipmaster, Lemly, waiting for him. Lemly was a short man with black hair and patchwork skin, mixed between charcoal and white. “Lemly!” Aaron said. “Where is the flour?”

“Er…bad news, sir,” the man replied. “The wagons arrived on time but there was a force of men following them. They were from Gatesburg and wore official clothes. When they saw the wheat wasn’t going into the city but rather the forest, they intervened and took the entire shipment. A fellow by the name of Captain Lewis was there. He was supposedly taking it for inspection to ensure it wasn’t stolen.”

“Captain Lewis,” Aaron said under his breath, speaking the name like a curse. This fellow had just taken five thousand coins worth of wheat. “Do you know where he took it?”

“They brought it to a storehouse in Greystone. Some inspector is coming out in a few weeks to investigate the shipment. They don’t seem terribly in a rush,” Lemly replied.

Aaron balled his hands into fists and pounded the sturdy wooden walls of the building beside him. “Damn! That wheat isn’t stolen but it is…well, okay, it is taken from a noble. I paid for it and that should be the end of it but….curses, I’m going to have to handle this quickly.”

Chapter 45

Aaron made it to the storehouses where the captain was said to have brought his wheat. Yina followed him, her weapon hanging from her back. He didn’t want to resort to violence but this was indeed some kind of theft or shakedown. If push came to shove, he wasn’t above taking what was his back with force.

These storehouses were located in the warehouse district of the city, an area with many buildings that were square and wide, able to store hundreds of crates at a time. Wagons were lined up in the streets, loading and unloading various goods, and merchants were complaining about the time it took to get from A to B.

“You seem to be very angry,” Yina said as Aaron searched for the warehouse where his grains were stored. “I would advise you to calm down before you talk to this captain. He’s connected to the city of Gatesburg and that means he has authority.”

“He’s stealing from us,” Aaron said. “And unfortunately, I can’t afford to lose this shipment. There is a lot of money to be made here.”

“True,” she said. “But you won’t get anywhere calling the man a thief. I’d advise you to take a breath and calm down before you go to see him.”

Aaron heeded her words and sighed deeply. He drew in fresh air and tried to calm his nerves. He had just spent five thousand of his own coins liberating Uma from her captivity. With the loss of an additional five thousand, he would be down a significant portion of money…and that would hamper his ability to continue developing his own economic enterprise.

But Yina was right. He wasn’t going to be getting anywhere if he let his rage get the best of him. He tried to regain his senses as they turned a corner, spotting the inert wagons that carried the city seal of Gatesburg upon them.

Three guards were posted in front of the warehouse, each carrying a poleaxe on their backs. They looked bored. All three stared as he approached.

“Is Captain Lewis around?” Aaron asked.

The guards all looked at each other and then at him. “Who wants to know?”

“I believe there was some kind of…mix-up,” Aaron said, clearing his throat a little. “There was a shipment of wheat that I had ordered but it was apparently delayed and intercepted by the Captain. I wish to speak with him about releasing my rightful property.”

The guards all shrugged. One of them walked off for a few minutes, vanishing into the warehouse. He came back after some time and nodded. “Captain’s inside. Your guard’s going to have to stay out here though.”

Aaron reluctantly agreed and entered the large warehouse. The Captain was waiting for him. He was a tall fellow, wearing a striking blue cape and a sash that showed how important he was compared to everyone else. He carried a longsword at his side and his belt had various tools and gadgets hanging from them.

“Aha!” Lewis said, smirking as he looked at Aaron. “I knew we’d draw you out eventually.”

“Draw me out?” Aaron asked. “You took my shipment.”

“Where does a man get this much wheat from a city that doesn’t sell it?” Lewis asked, walking around Aaron like a shark circling in the water. He grinned fiendishly. “Seems that you have some kind of private arrangement with a grain farmer within the city.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aaron said. “I just import wheat same as any other merchant would.”

“Sure you do,” Lewis said, chuckling a little. “You know you are in a lot of trouble. Gatesburg doesn’t look too kindly on theft.”

“How is it theft if I pay for it?” Aaron asked. “That grain costs me 200 per bushel and I have paid for all of it.”

“Yet you have no manifest, nor do you have any record of where you got it,” Lewis shot back. “Seems to me like you stole it.”

“The merchant I’m working with would prefer that we do things quietly,” Aaron confessed. “I prefer discretion above anything else.”

Lewis was a curious man. He clearly knew that Aaron was buying grain from someone who wasn’t supposed to be selling. But rather than take the wheat back to the city, he had parked it and waited for him to come out of hiding to get it back. The man hadn’t arrested Aaron yet, so perhaps this was an opportunity for the shadow merchant to gain some additional security.

“Sure you do,” Lewis said.

Aaron could sense a desire for a bribe. He had a few thousand garrins left. Enough to grease the palms of this captain. “I suppose you’re mad that I didn’t pay the inspection fees,” Aaron said.

“Inspection fees?” Lewis asked.

“Of course,” Aaron replied. “Doesn’t every city require a certain fee paid to the Captain’s office?”

Lewis slowly took in the words and began to grin widely. It would seem that he was indeed here for something more than an arrest. “Yes, of course. The inspection fees haven’t been paid.”

“And for you to come all the way out here, to retrieve those fees, it means that you and I should have an understanding that they should be paid promptly each time, right?” Aaron asked.

The man nodded. “Definitely.”

“And those fees, we should say a thousand garrins per trip?”

“A thousand sounds like a fine number,” Lewis said. He put his hand out greedily. “I’ll take it off your hands right now. And then you and I can stay in touch. Each time your wheat leaves my city, I’ll expect you to pay those inspection fees to my office.”

“Of course, of course,” Aaron said, taking out the bribe and dropping the coins in the man’s hand. “I can assure you that your department will be well paid for ensuring that there are no more interruptions in my shipments.”

The man grinned at the sight of the money. He pocketed the coins quickly and gestured towards the crates of wheat. “Alright, well, since you have paid up on your fees, you are free to take your shipment back. Just make sure that you keep my office abreast whenever you come in and out of Gatesburg.”

The words Bribe Successful! 600 XP gained! appeared in Aaron’s vision, confirming that Lewis was now in his pocket. It would increase the cost of shipping each time, to pay a thousand extra garrins, but now he didn’t have to worry about the city getting wise to his purchases.

Level Up! appeared in Aaron’s vision. He sat on one of the crates and looked at the various options that were available.

You have 3 Stat Points to spend. Increase any Stat.

Stats:

HP: 5

MP: 0

Strength: 1

Speed: 2

Intelligence: 2

Charisma: 8

Aaron considered what to develop. Seeing as he couldn’t seem to be able to stay out of the dungeon for long, he briefly pondered increasing his HP. The trouble was that a few extra points weren’t really going to help against a dragon. A direct hit would kill him, whether he had 5, 10 or even 15 HP. No, he would have a much better chance of talking his way out of the situation, and so he increased his Charisma by 3, again, bringing it up to 11. This also caused his social skills to increase as well.

You gain 4 Skill Points. Increase your Skill Rank or Buy New Skills.

Existing Skills:

Bargain: 15

Trade: 11

Selling: 11

Harvesting: 1

Fishing: 4

Appraise: 4

New Skills:

Foraging

Hunting

Fighting

Searching

His Bargain was high but it could always go higher. Aaron decided to put 2 more points into Bargain and then the remaining 2 into Selling. His skills were getting high enough to the point where he would be able to pretty much do anything involving commerce.

You gain 2 New Abilities

Bargainer:

Buyer: Goods cost half their regular price.

Sweeteners: When trading, you gain an additional item for free.

Iron Contract: If you make a deal, the other party will always uphold their end.

Producer:

Producer: Gain 1 Producer who can process Resources into Goods.

Artisan: Gain 2 Ranks in the Crafting Skill.

Quality Goods: Increase the Quality of your Produced Goods by 1 Rank.

Manager:

Sales Shack: You gain a Shack where you can Sell Goods and Services.

Skilled Team: Your workers gain +2 to their skills while working for you.

Employee: You gain 1 Employee who will man any building you own.

Shipper:

Imports: Goods brought into Greystone sell for an additional 200 garrins.

Wagon Fleet: You gain 2 Additional Small Wagons that can carry up to 25 Units.

Fast Shipments: Shipments move 50% faster.

Merchant of Shadows

Fence Friend: You gain +200 garrins when selling to a Fence.

Black Market Access: You can access the black market to purchase stolen or illegal goods.

Shadow Barter: You can exchange your HP to increase any other stat for 1 hour.

Aaron looked at the various abilities at his disposal. He was drawn to the Imports and Wagon Fleet more than anything else. Since the bread was being produced outside of Greystone, they would procure an additional 200 garrins each sale. That meant he’d be making 700 garrins per loaf and that was no small number! And Wagon Fleet would allow him to cut down on costs, as the wagons he had in his possession were rentals and not full purchases. Even with the money he was getting, a full wagon was nearly 10,000 garrins each.

The other abilities weren’t nearly as attractive and so Aaron confirmed his picks. His character sheet quickly updated and he nodded to himself in satisfaction.

Aaron Maddox

Class: Shadow Merchant

Level: 5

XP: 0/5,000

Reputation: +5 (Indifferent)

Garrins: 6,000

Stats:

HP: 5

MP: 0

Strength: 1

Speed: 2

Intelligence: 2

Charisma: 11

Skills:

Bargain: 17

Trade: 11

Selling: 13

Harvesting: 1

Fishing: 4

Appraise: 4

Abilities:

Skilled Negotiator: Your negotiation skills allow you to gain +100 garrins when trading.

Resourceful Extraction: Your ability to Harvest doubles the amount of resources gained.

Sales Expert: Gain +100 garrins whenever you make a sale.

Public Relations: You gain +10 Reputation.

Processing Hut: You gain a Processing Hut. Here you can take Resources and turn them into Goods.

Shipping Wagon: Gain one small Shipping Wagon with a horse to pull it.

Exports: Resources and Goods cost half when purchased from another location than Greystone.

Extra Batches: You gain 1 Extra Good each time you Process a Resource.

Imports: Goods brought into Greystone sell for an additional 200 garrins.

Wagon Fleet: You gain 2 Additional Small Wagons that can carry up to 25 Units.

Chapter 46

Aaron headed to the church, finding it in the same state as before. Kaitlin Ava was busy sweeping the floors, though upon seeing Aaron she dropped the broom. “Sir Aaron!” she said, rushing up to hug him.

Aaron was surprised at this and took the embrace stoically at first, but after a moment, closed his arms around her. She was quite warm to the touch and… well, this was the first time Aaron had been hugged since his death. He almost wanted to fall into the woman’s arms and stay there forever.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again!” she said, pulling back. Her face was full of warmth. “With the funds you gave me, I was able to pay off the Guild of Goods for the rent we owe. And the rest went into a very special idea. Come, check it out!”

She grabbed Aaron by the hand and dragged him through the temple, into a large cafeteria. There were tables set up and in the center of the room was a firepit, complete with a massive cauldron. “I’ve taken the money you gave me and made a soup kitchen,” she proudly said. “It’s not much right now, but we’re building an everstew. It’s a special meal that replenishes itself automatically each day, provided that we have the blessings of Emera.”

“I was hoping that there would be some way to help feed the people,” Aaron said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out another thousand. “I’ve come to pay some more.”

“What?” Kaitlin said, laughing as if he were telling a joke. She saw the money in his hands and shook her head. “Oh please, I can’t ask for any more.”

“I insist,” he said, putting the money in her hands. “This may…well, this may be the last time you see me.”

“Oh no!” the cleric said. “What’s the matter?”

Aaron sighed heavily and sat at one of the tables. He explained the whole sordid affair with the artifact. “Now I’m going to be dragged into the dungeon once more,” he said, “to face a dragon of all things. I don’t know if I’m coming back. So I figured I’d pay you a bit of coin just in case.”

“If I had the blessings of the goddess back, I’d cast a spell or two on you,” Kaitlin Ava said with a soft sigh. “But I suppose I’ll just have to say a prayer instead.”

“There is something more,” Aaron said. “I wanted to know if you would be able to visit our village and help minister to the people there.”

“Travel?” the woman asked. The words hung in the air for a moment. “I’m afraid that I don’t really travel much. Your village might need a cleric, sure, but I don’t have magic or blessings. My visit would be merely to provide lip service about a goddess whose influence has waned deeply.”

“I tried to speak to Everson about your goddess’ demands,” Aaron said. “But he wouldn’t hear of it. He only wants that damned artifact. And I don’t know what’s going to happen if I do find it. If I bring it to him, he will go mad with power. And if I take it for myself…well, I suppose I’ll become the world’s biggest target.”

“Perhaps you should do best to destroy it then,” Kaitlin suggested, a softness in her voice. She took Aaron’s hands and held them gently. “You don’t have to tell him it was destroyed.”

“Frankly I don’t expect to find it,” Aaron said. “But you’re right. If it does exist, it should be destroyed. Otherwise…well, otherwise someone just as mad as Lord Everson will take it. Still…that’s a considerable amount of power to give up.”

“Perhaps you could call it a sacrifice to Emera,” the cleric said. “The goddess would take the excess energy and perhaps bless you. Or she may continue to ignore us until we have brought in the day as she demands.”

The door to the cafeteria opened and Yina entered. “Sir?” she asked. “I hate to barge in, but it’s time.”

Aaron winced. “Well, Miss Ava, it has been a pleasure to meet you. I hope the money I’ve given will feed many people.”

The woman held his hands tightly for a moment. “You can survive this, if you just play it smart. Don’t be a hero and don’t be a coward. Just find your place in the center.”

Aaron took those words to heart and headed outside. Yina was breathing a little heavily, nervous about something. “You okay?” he asked.

“Er…boss,” she mumbled, looking at the floor. “We’ve been through a lot already… but I draw the line at dragons. I didn’t want to tell you until the last minute but…I’m just going to sit this one out.”

“Fair enough,” the shadow merchant replied. They walked outside of the temple to where a small party of warriors was waiting for them.

“Wait, you aren’t mad?” Yina asked.

“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t be going on this damnable adventure either,” he said. “I don’t blame you for not wanting to die horribly at the claws of a dragon. These idiots are going to get killed, along with me.”

Yina patted Aaron on the shoulder. “I’m sorry. But if it’s any consolation, I’ll be looking after the village. Threadbare has really grown on me and I want to see them do well.”

“You’ve been a good bodyguard, Yina,” Aaron said, taking out another thousand garrins. He wasn’t the kind to give everything away when facing the end, but this seemed appropriate. “Here’s a bonus for your hard work and dedication.”

“Oh, Aaron, you are too kind!” she said, taking the cash without a second thought. “Good luck.”

“I’m going to need a lot more than luck,” Aaron grumbled as he headed down to meet the warriors.

There were twelve of them total, knights in heavy plate armor. One was holding the lance and he seemed to be larger than life. “Aha!” he said, clasping a hand around Aaron’s shoulder. “It is the shadow merchant Maddox himself! Are you prepared for the greatest hunt of your life?”

“I have said my goodbyes, yes,” Aaron dryly replied.

The knights all laughed at this. “You are a funny one, Aaron,” the man replied. “I am Yorrick and these are my mighty Knights of Yore. There’s too many to name but rest assured, they are the best of the best. We’re all Level 8 Warrior classes, skilled in melee combat and some of the best talent in the entire country.”

“Great,” Aaron said, unconvinced by these men. “And why are you coming on this adventure?”

“To slay a dragon, of course!” Yorrick replied. The others all hooted in excitement at this. The Knights of Yore certainly seemed to have a lot of enthusiasm. “We’re going to do something few have ever done before. Now with your guidance, we should be able to reach the beast sooner rather than later. So you take the lead, Aaron. We shall do as you say.”

“Very well. Let’s make our way to the dungeon then,” Aaron said. “The first level should have been cleared out and I don’t think there’s much to worry about in the second…”

When they finally reached the Storywood Dungeon, after much marching, they found Aaron’s assumptions to be true. Things hadn’t changed much. The dungeon’s first level was empty, thanks to the previous campaign that Araon had been a part of. And he remembered enough about how to navigate to lead them to the second level and towards the Dwelling Room.

The dwarf, Sottling, was still where Aaron had left him. The fellow was still playing his music and seemed to be just fine. The knights did not engage with him and they passed through to a large chamber.

“Alright,” Aaron said. “Now this is the furthest I’ve gone.” He gestured towards the chamber behind them. “The Dwelling Room is where Wildwit the Dragon lives. I’ve not been inside, so we should check for traps.”

The knights all looked at one of the shorter ones who quickly scurried forward. He examined the open chamber and ran his fingers alongside the ground. After a moment, he looked back at everyone. “It’s clear.”

“Knights, prepare for battle!” Yorrick shouted. He raised the lance up high and it sparkled with magical energies.

One of the knights handed Aaron a crossbow. “Here, this is loaded with magical ammunition,” he said. “It will dispel the magic of the dragon’s armor.”

“Uh-huh,” Aaron said, picking up the heavy weapon and then putting it down on the ground. “I think I’m going to stay back and wait.”

“Nonsense, you’ll fight with us, how else will you get the XP?” Yorrick asked.

“No idea,” Aaron said. “But I think I’ll be fine. I just leveled.”

The tall knight grabbed the weapon off the ground and thrust it into Aaron’s hand. “You will fight with us. Or you will be reported to Lord Everson as a deserter.”

Aaron gripped the weapon. “Very well,” he muttered. “But I’ll be damned if I go in first.”

“Knights, are you prepared?” Yorrick shouted. His comrades all cheered. They raised their swords, spears and axes up high, then rushed forward as fast as they could into the corridor.

Aaron followed after them, trying to keep his distance enough to avoid being cooked by the fires of the dragon.

Chapter 47

The Knights of Yore stormed their way into the Dwelling Room. This was a great chamber, deep and wide with enough space for a gigantic being to live within. There was a long passage that led up to a great cliff where the earth plummeted for miles.

As the knights cheered in unison, there came a rumbling from ahead. “Who dares to enter my domain?” a voice growled. It was deep and powerful, sending chills through Aaron’s entire body. He could feel the voice in his own teeth and it caused him to cease running after the others.

A red ridge appeared on the horizon, right at the edge of the path. It was a flared ridge made of bone and scale that was as tall as a building. A massive head rose up from the chasm in front of the knights and it gazed down with mild curiosity.

The dragon was enormous. Its head was almost thirty feet tall. It had a red horn on its nose and its eyes were bright yellow. As it spoke, Aaron could see razor sharp teeth and a forked tongue that thrashed with each word.

“Oh, it’s a few humans,” the dragon said. “Leave me now. This is no place for little morsels such as yourselves.”

“Knights!” Yorrick bellowed. “Attack!”

“Attack?” the dragon laughed, his voice causing Aaron to immediately throw down his weapon. The great beast brought a claw up from beneath the chasm and pointed for them to leave. “You have no chance against me. I would suggest you—”

Yorrick charged forward with his lance of dragonslaying aimed dead center towards the beast. The dragon watched as the man ran forward, all of the knights following him, and sighed. He opened his mouth and let out a long puff of flames. The fire was burning red, so hot that Aaron could feel it from where he had stopped running, his legs practically rooting themselves to the ground.

The fire washed over the knights and they screamed as they all burst into flames. Their bodies and armor melted away in the heat, leaving behind nothing but ash and cinder. Only the dragonslaying lance remained, the weapon on the ground, glowing bright red.

“And then there was one,” the dragon mused, looking at Aaron. His massive hand reached out to grab the shadow merchant.

Aaron’s legs started working without his permission. They turned and he started to flee but the massive dragon’s reach was great. He was seized by the hand, though not crushed, and pulled in front of Wildwit.

The massive face of the dragon loomed over Aaron and he swallowed hard. He could barely believe it. This creature was nothing like he had imagined. It was practically the size of a mountain.

“I’m assuming you must have been their bard,” the dragon said, lifting Aaron up to his eyes.

“Er, no, not quite,” Aaron said, trying not to scream. His heart was pounding a million times per second and he felt as if he were going to pass out.

“You seem far less enthused than the rest of them,” the dragon continued, speaking as if they were contemporaries. He seemed a little bored. “Or were you the smartest one of the group?”

“I was forced to come here,” Aaron replied. He found himself shuddering violently. The monster was not crushing him but no doubt it was going to devour him whole.

“Ah, that would explain why you threw your weapon down,” the dragon said, gently placing Aaron back on the floor. “Now then, morsel, why are your people coming down here to harass me? What have I done to bother the humans, hmmm?”

“It’s not all humans that are interested in slaying you,” Aaron confessed. “Just one. His name is Lord Everson. And he rules over the town of Greystone.”

“Never heard of him. Though I haven’t heard of any humans really,” the dragon said. He yawned. “What has him wanting me dead? I hope it’s not my hoard. I don’t really collect much gold these days. Most of my items are magical doodads that amuse me in some way.”

“We’re after the Allsphere,” Aaron said.

“Ahhhhh,” the dragon chuckled. “Of course. That makes sense. I have run into a few humans here and there, all who were so eager to get their hands on such a powerful artifact.”

Aaron sensed a curiosity within this dragon. He wasn’t eager to devour the shadow merchant and so perhaps he could be made to see reason. “I have had my doubts that it exists.”

“Oh it does,” the dragon replied. “I should know, for I was tasked with guarding it. It has been a long time since I have looked at the artifact, but it certainly is real.”

“I see,” Aaron said. “Who tasked you?”

“Ohhhh, let’s see,” the dragon mused. “I believe it was one of the great mages who constructed the sphere. There was bickering between the forces that had all contributed to create the artifact. Some believed it was too powerful to be used by any one group, while others argued that it was pointless to fight about it now that they had created it.

“One warrior rose up and slew the mages who built the thing, then he locked it away. There was one surviving mage, a powerful wizard who cast a spell to summon me here. He asked that I look after it and ensure that no one take the artifact without proving that they were worthy enough to use it for good.”

“How could such a thing be used for good?” Aaron asked. “It is a powerful artifact that can alter the very shape of reality.”

“That is an excellent question,” Wildwit replied. He lowered his head and let out a puff of hot breath that washed over Aaron. “I suppose I’ve never thought about it. The humans who come in here are always wanting to slay me. They never wish to speak.”

“I tried to tell Lord Everson that this was a fool’s game,” Aaron said. “But he is determined to get his hands on it.”

“This Everson man, why does he command you?” the dragon asked.

“He is Lord. He has the power and resources to put you in prison or worse if you refuse his demands,” Aaron explained. “An egregious and gluttonous man. He takes and takes, while never giving.”

The dragon gave Aaron a knowing look. “And you are different? You’re an outlander, I can sense it. My magic tells me that your heart is no different.”

Aaron looked at the dragon in surprise. “What makes you say that?”

“Because you died once and it brought you to this land. It is easy to see, you took just as much as Everson had, liberties and gluttony, growing your empire. And then your actions caught up with you. The consequences were dire. It is easy to see a human’s heart, especially one as cruel as yours.”

“I will not argue that I wasn’t a bad person in my past life. But things changed when I got here. I learned quickly what it meant to be hungry. I learned what it meant to be despised and known for your sins. There was such emptiness in my life, such sorrow. The people all around me judged me and rightly so. But I have found in my heart a new purpose.”

“Is that so?” Wildwit asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “And what is that purpose, pray tell?”

“To do good. To provide for the people of Greystone and to right the wrongs of the past,” Aaron said. “My evils were selfishness, vanity and a desire for endless profit, regardless of the human cost. I won’t pretend like I have changed quickly but…as I have seen my reputation slowly change with each step, I have come to understand that my actions have consequences. I cannot simply swing my fist because I want to. Not when there are hungry faces in the way.”

“Well said,” the dragon replied. “I see that in your heart as well. A reputation system that has weighed heavily on you, dragging you down to the most humble of ranks. It is a shame that it ends here.”

The dragon lifted a claw, the massive appendage longer than Aaron’s entire body. The wicked edge gleamed in the soft dungeon torchlight. “Wait!” Aaron said, raising his hands up. “I swear that I tried to stop this whole thing from happening. I didn’t want to come down here, I mean you no harm.”

“So?” Wildwit asked. “What does that mean to me? You are nothing but a tiny morsel, a scrap of meat and bones that aren’t worth digesting.”

“And you will kill me simply because you can?” Aaron asked. “What am I to you, if not a friend?”

The dragon paused. “What do you mean?”

“I have heard of the history between dragons and mankind. That we have slain many of you and driven your kind underground,” Aaron said. “But that seems to be ancient history. Is there no way for dragons and humans to get along?”

“I see no reason to care about your kind,” the dragon said.

“And yet you protect the Allsphere with your life and presence,” Aaron replied. “Surely you must know that the sphere is more about the fate of mankind than yourself.”

The dragon chuckled. Wildwit seemed to be playing some kind of game and Aaron got the sense that he was winning in some way. “I suppose you are right. I wouldn’t be here if not for an oath. Yet that was so long ago. Nowadays I wonder if I’m wasting my life away in this forsaken dungeon. There is so much more out in this world. So much for me to do and see.”

“What is keeping you here?” Aaron asked.

“Fear that should I leave, one of you tender morsels will get your hands on the Allsphere and unleash hell itself upon the world,” he replied. “So I must stay behind and wait out my time until someone worthy enough arrives to take it.”

“Who would ever be worthy for a world changing artifact?” Aaron asked.

The dragon shrugged at this, his massive shoulders going up and down in such a way that caused the air to displace around Aaron. “I do not know. Perhaps some kind hearted cleric who comes here to save an orphanage.”

“That seems unlikely given the dangers of entering a place like this,” Aaron said. He paused and took a deep breath. “I think you should simply destroy it.”

“The artifact is locked away in a chamber I cannot access,” the dragon replied. “For I am far too large and I lack the magics to change my shape. Besides, what good would the destruction of the Allsphere do?”

“It would put an end to the foolish and cruel quest of Everson,” Aaron said.

“A dagger to his back would do the same,” the dragon retorted.

“It would set you free.”

“So it would,” Wildwit replied. There was a heaviness in his voice, a longing for some kind of freedom. “But who could I trust to go in and destroy it?”

Aaron gathered his courage and spoke. “I will,” he said. He stood proud before the great dragon and held his gaze. The beast laughed for a moment but realized that Aaron was serious.

“You are a shadow merchant,” the dragon replied. “You are a man who lived off the backs of the poor. You took everything you desired and left nothing for the less fortunate. You may think yourself a changed man now, but the moment you have unlimited power in your hands…you will be the same as everyone else. You’ll think for a time that you will just use it for good. But the potential will be unlimited. I do not see purity in your heart. Just a desire to do a little better than you have.”

“It is a risk,” Aaron admitted. “But I am serious. This artifact is something beyond my wildest dreams, true, but then again, so is Gorvan. I never expected to find myself with a second chance at life. If I can put an end to Everson’s foolish quests and free you in the process, I will do so. Besides, if I don’t destroy it, who is to say someone worse than Everson will not arrive to take it?”

Wildwit pondered this for a moment. “It is the ultimate gamble,” the dragon said. “Letting you in would be the most foolish thing I could do. It would be as if you were to wager your life on a coin toss…do you have a garrin handy?”

Aaron produced a coin from his satchel. “I do.”

“Then let us see if you really are up to the test. If I allow you past me, into the secret chamber where the sphere is resting, I will be risking not only my life but the lives of so many,” Wildwit said. “And while I see the seeds of good within your heart, they are just seeds. They haven’t grown to full bloom just yet. So I would really be tossing a coin to see if I survive.”

“That much is true,” Aaron agreed.

“So you select heads or tails,” the dragon chuckled. “If you call the right side, I let you through. The wrong one and I kill you on the spot. No arguments, no do-overs.”

Aaron felt fear rise up within him. He wasn’t about to wager his life away on the Allsphere. Not when he was going to destroy it. “Surely you are joking with me,” Aaron said. “You have the power to end my life anyway.”

“Perhaps I was just going to toy with you and let you escape as to spread the story about Wildwit’s power,” the dragon said. “Or maybe I really was going to kill you. Only I will know. But know this. You can walk away right now. Be free of this sphere and return home. Sure, the Lord Everson will redouble his efforts to retrieve the artifact, but you will be free, right?”

Aaron pondered that for a moment. He wouldn’t be free. Lord Everson would undoubtedly punish him for returning empty-handed. If he claimed the sphere was already destroyed and showed evidence of it, the Lord would fume but wouldn’t do much to punish Aaron. However, returning alive, without the weapon able to slay the dragon and a suspicious story of the dragon’s generosity wouldn’t look good.

“My back appears to be against the wall,” Aaron said.

“Why? You could always flee the city and hide somewhere else,” Wildwit said, sensing Aaron’s fears. “The Lord isn’t all powerful, is he? You could easily find a place to vanish.”

Aaron’s thoughts went to the village he was stewarding and the sad-faced cleric that he was helping. To the people of Greystone. Everyone was counting on him, even though they did not know him very well.

“You know what?” Aaron said, puffing his chest out. “If you really think it’s a gamble, then I must agree to your test. I will destroy this Allsphere for good, set you free and then, I shall figure some way to convince Everson to do the right thing for his people.”

“Now we’re talking,” Wildwit said.

Aaron lifted the coin and looked at both sides. One side was a head of some king that he didn’t recognize and the other side was a fish. Fishing had gotten him his head start so he may as well call it. “I’m picking tails,” he said. He put the coin atop his thumb and took a deep breath. What was the name of that goddess again? Would she alter the probability of luck just for him?

He flipped the coin and the dragon let out a great laugh. The wind of the laughter blew the coin far, far away. “My gods!” Wildwit said. “You really were going to do it!”

“Of course I was,” Aaron said.

“I suppose that proves enough that your heart is pure,” the dragon said. “It would be no pleasure of mine to slay you. You were free to leave this place at any time, but I wanted you to feel genuine fear of the end. Yet…you chose to continue on. To risk your life to set me free and to stay with your people. Truly, that shows you are a good man. I will keep my word, you shall be allowed to descend into the lower chambers. But I am curious now, will you keep yours?”

Chapter 48

Wildwit had simply been fooling around with Aaron’s sense of life and death. The dragon had no intentions of killing the shadow merchant, regardless of what he said. The truth was, he was simply testing Aaron’s heart to see if he was willing to risk everything in order to put an end to the Allsphere’s pursuit once and for all. And Aaron had been willing to make the ultimate gamble.

Was Aaron’s heart pure for taking such a bet? In part, he had decided to do so in order to free Wildwit. Perhaps the dragon had sensed that and granted him entry into the Allsphere’s chamber. Or maybe he was simply delighted to see a human willing to make such a gamble. Who knows?

Either way, Aaron was grabbed by the dragon and brought deep into the chasm where the rest of the creature’s body was hidden. The length of the beast was impossible to tell but the red scales and torso seemed to go on forever. He was dropped down at the bottom to where a small metal door was waiting for him. Paintings of the Allsphere and the various mages who had constructed it were emblazoned on both sides of the door.

“Go forth, morsel,” the dragon chuckled. “Prove to yourself that you have what it takes.”

Aaron nodded and opened the door, the handle twisting open easily enough.

The inner chamber was a great abyss with a platform in the center. A long series of stone stairs led from the entrance to the platform. Below there was nothing but utter darkness, shadows and emptiness that seemed to go on forever. Six pillars were affixed to the platform, keeping it connected to the ceiling so that it would not fall. Stuck to each pillar was a great glowing white crystal, softly illuminating the entire area.

A pedestal rested in the center of the platform with an unassuming glass case. Inside of the case was none other than the Allsphere, a small sphere that was made primarily of brass. The linework was intricate and revealed dozens of eldritch runes that glowed red and blue.

Aaron walked up the steps slowly, careful to inspect for traps—though he was no rogue, so he had no chance of really seeing any.

He reached the top of the platform safely and gazed at the Allsphere. There it was. The artifact that was said to be able to change anyone and anything. Its power was all he could think of as he approached.

“Tempting,” he muttered. He thought about perhaps using it just once, on himself. But…but wasn’t that how power worked? Just a little bit in the hands, enough to make a difference. But breaking that seal once meant he would be likely to do it again and again. Besides, what did he truly need? He was making plenty of money as a shadow merchant and he was rebuilding his reputation just fine. There was no reason to try and get ahead through quick and cheap ways. Not when he had learned the hard way that there were no shortcuts to becoming a good person.

Aaron opened the glass case and took the sphere in hand. The magical energies ran through him for a moment. He took a deep breath. “Emera, goddess of the morning light,” he said, holding the sphere up high. “I do not know what it means to be a religious man, or even a good man at that. But this artifact has been sought after by many. It offers the power to shape the lives of others against their wills. And I have been tasked with bringing it to a man who has neglected to care for the creed of the church. I ask that you take this artifact’s destruction as a sacrifice in your name. I ask that you restore the Temple in Greystone’s magic and give Kaitlin that which she needs.”

Aaron was unsure if this prayer would work but he had to try. He took a deep breath and crushed the sphere within his hands. The fragile artifact easily broke from the force of his grip. The artifact cracked and sparks of magical energy released into the air.

A rushing wind blew past Aaron and he stumbled backwards. He grabbed onto a pillar, holding on for dear life as he was nearly knocked off the platform.

Light rose up around him, green and blue like the aurora borealis that he had known back in his homeland. Well, known of. A man as busy as he wasn’t able to ever see such a phenomenon in person.

“You have destroyed the Allsphere,” a gentle voice, feminine and soft, said as the light surrounded Aaron. “And you did not even try to taste its power.”

“They say power is liquor, a single drop and you’re wanting more and more,” Aaron replied. He was unsure what this power was but he felt at ease. There was a sense of calm in the light, almost as if he were sitting beside Kaitlin.

“I am Emera, goddess of the morning light,” the light said, pulsing all around Aaron. “You have sacrificed the artifact in my name and I have accepted your sacrifice. The power contained within that object is now within me. You have done a great kindness in sacrificing such personal power.”

Aaron didn’t know what to say. The light around him was soft and gentle, yet he was still overwhelmed. The power of a goddess was something unlike anything he had ever experienced before. He had seen that terrible god of death when he had lost his life the first time and only experienced terror. This was wholly different. The being was potent and powerful, yes, but eternal and comforting. He could feel as if his entire body was being stretched out and examined in some way.

“A goddess such as I has few followers in Greystone,” she continued. “For the Temple has lost its blessing. The city no longer adheres to my requests. The poor are ignored, the hungry are left to starve and the sick are congregated into houses to die instead of heal. If you were to tell me the reason for this, what would it be?”

“Lord Everson,” Aaron said, breaking free of his stunned state to speak clearly. “It is Lord Everson without a doubt.”

“Indeed. The Lords of Gorvan have long since forgotten about their fealty to the gods. Greystone was once a place of goodness and grace, where my light and the other gods blessed it continually. And then, Everson’s father’s father took over. My ways were forgotten and the city declined. Everson was handed a great power but has squandered it,” the goddess said. “Like his ancestors. He has lost the blessings of my power and I do not see fit to give it back to the city.”

“But we are suffering without it!” Aaron protested.

“Indeed. But no more or less than when your hunger strikes your stomach. My magic cannot fill a belly. No god can simply make it rain bread. The people must be given the power to survive on their own,” Emera replied. “And that is why I have held back my blessings. The Temple you have visited is a shadow of its former glory. But with your sacrifice, I have made a decision. You and you alone, shall replace Lord Everson.”

“What?” Aaron asked, almost laughing at the suggestion.

“You are a shadow merchant no longer,” she replied. Light fell across Aaron’s body and he felt a sharp sensation rush through him. His vision informed him instantly.

Class Change! You are now a Beacon Merchant!

Aaron fell to his knees as something within him began to shift.

Class Features:

Trustworthy: Those who make deals with you will believe that you will keep your end of the bargain.

Beacon of Society: You gain +15 Reputation.

Savvy Trader: You gain an extra 100 garrins with each sale made.

“My class…it’s changing!” Aaron exclaimed.

“Indeed. The merchant of shadows is something that is no longer fit for you. Your reputation now sits higher and the people will no longer point and whisper,” Emera said. “You have transcended by resisting the temptation of using the Allsphere for your own gain. Such an artifact corrupts the mind. Should you have used it even once, it would have convinced you to use it till your ultimate demise. The people who made such a device knew that it would ultimately change the heart of the user. And that was why they locked it away.”

Aaron nodded at that and looked at his hands. They shimmered with magical lights. “As long as you use your class powers and abilities for good, you shall continue to grow in reputation,” Emera explained. “And that reputation will grant you the power to take control of Greystone.”

“Lordship passes from direct appointment,” Aaron said. “Everson has a son, three of them. If he were to die, and I doubt that would happen, one of them would take over.”

“Indeed, but there is a hitch,” she said. “Councilman Reyes has long sought for a way to replace his nemesis. The man has no desire to rule himself, but desperately desires to unhorse Everson from his position of power. With his aid, you shall be able to not only depose Everson, but ascend to power as well.”

“My goddess, I am ignorant of many things, and I do not see how this can happen,” Aaron said.

“It requires little more than pressure from the public, Aaron Maddox,” Emera said. “And the blessings from a goddess. Greystone is not going to resist my power should I decide to rain down miracles upon it once more. You….you may turn the public to your side if you do the right thing. It is in your heart already. You just need the courage to step up and face Everson.”

“I still don’t understand,” Aaron said.

“Then seek out the Councilman Reyes,” she replied. “He has a plan. He just needs the right man. And you, Aaron, are the right man. Restore my city. Take my blessings.”

Blessing Received!

Emera’s Daylight: You gain +4 Charisma.

The light surrounded Aaron for a moment and he felt as if a hand were softly stroking his cheek. He shuddered from the strange sensation and then, in an instant, she was gone. Her light vanished entirely.

Chapter 49

Aaron staggered out of the inner chamber in a daze. He felt lighter than air and his head was swimming with possibilities. Taking control of Greystone? Becoming the new Lord? How would he ever pull that off? And yet, if a goddess was the one to tell him to do it, how could he fail?

The dragon was waiting for Aaron, his massive head peeking down to view the tiny man as he exited the chamber.

“You live,” he said. “And reality does not seem to be changing itself to suit your whims.”

“The artifact is destroyed,” Aaron said, producing a few shards from his pouch to show the dragon. The great beast let out a roar of delight and picked Aaron up, hoisting him high into the air.

“You kept your word!” he said. “And now I am free to leave this wretched place.”

He placed Aaron on the top level, where he had been with the team of supposed dragon slayers before they had been decimated.

“Yes, you are,” Aaron said. “And I am free to return home as well. These pieces should be enough to get Everson to stop with his task.”

“What did you see in there?” the dragon asked. “I sense a great power over you and I see that you have changed. Your reputation is now Liked and that was not something that would come about for destroying the artifact.”

“Do you know much about the gods?” Aaron asked.

The dragon nodded. “The dragons and humans each have their own gods. Mine are primal powers that herald creation and destruction on great scales. Yours are managerial types who oversee the forces of nature and industries connected to creation.”

“Emera, the goddess of daylight came to visit me in that chamber,” Aaron said, still in a daze. He sat down and let out a deep sigh. “She said that I was destined to become the Lord of Greystone.”

“A goddess who has laid a destiny upon your back?” Wildwit asked. “You are either quite lucky or in for one hell of a bad time.”

“I can’t figure out which it is,” Aaron said. “Tell me, dragon, what will you do now that you no longer need to be here?”

“I will head to the mountains and find a great cavern, one large enough for my hoard to rest comfortably,” the dragon replied. “And after that? I may do some exploring. Perhaps find a mage who can transform me into a human frame for a time, so that I may see what all the fuss is about.”

“What would you do in my situation?” Aaron asked. “Would you try to take control of your town? Or would you leave things alone?”

Wildwit considered that. “Ruling is never something a dragon considers. There are too many things that can go wrong and the mere need to factor in every idea is exhausting. No, I do not think I would take control.”

The dragon reached down into his nest and rummaged for a moment. “Here, this may be of some aid to you.” He produced a golden ring and placed it in Aaron’s hand. The ring had a single emerald stud inside of it.

Ring of Truth

Description: This magical Ring allows you to determine if someone is lying. Works once per day.

“Let this be a parting gift to my new friend, Aaron Maddox. The Beacon Merchant who has done a great kindness by destroying the artifact that has kept me here so long,” Wildwit said. “I wish you the best of luck. Go forth, conqueror. Take the city and make something of yourself.”

Those words echoed in Aaron’s head as he headed out. The dragon allowed him to take the lance back with him and so, the beacon merchant made his way out of the Storywood Dungeon, hopefully never to see such a place again.

He climbed out of the dungeon and gazed up at the night sky. The clouds were out today, covering up the stars. There seemed to be a fresh wind in the air and Aaron felt overwhelmed with the possibilities. His entire trajectory had changed due to the encounter with the goddess. He was a new man today. And that newness meant he had the power to enact change. Change that would bring prosperity and stability to Greystone. But how was he going to achieve it?

Aaron traveled to the city, alone and without an escort. The world around him seemed to be no different, yet he had been transformed. It was as if he was seeing Greystone for the first time, taking note of the great poverty and misery that the city was experiencing. Fifty-thousand people lived here and most were in rags. They went to bed hungry and worked for little coin. Things were going to have to change.

His first stop was by the Lord’s Manor. The guards were thrilled to see him and quickly brought him in to see Everson, who was lounging in a parlor as a young woman played piano. She wasn’t terribly good but the Lord couldn’t get enough of it and was encouraging her to keep playing, cheering her on.

Upon hearing of Aaron’s arrival, the big man sat up from his position on the lounge chair and clapped his hands together. “Aha! There he is! Surely you have the Allsphere?”

Aaron sighed and braced himself for a difficult conversation. “I’m afraid I have some bad news,” he said, reaching into his satchel. “The fight with the dragon was brutal. The creature slew the entirety of the Knights of Yore. I managed to survive and slip past the brute, but the Allsphere…well, it isn’t operational anymore.”

He produced the chunks of the artifact. Lord Everson’s face immediately lost all hope and excitement. A dark pallor fell across him and he scowled. “What? You’re saying you found it but it’s…ruined?”

“The sphere was destroyed by some do-gooder who wanted to keep the rest of the world from having access to something so powerful,” Aaron explained. “Believe me, I was not thrilled when I found it.”

“And you…you know that’s the real one? It’s not some facsimile or fraudulent copy?” the Lord bellowed.

“Afraid not,” Aaron said. “It was in the right chamber, behind Wildwit’s lair.”

“Damn it all,” Everson grumbled. He pouted for a moment, crossing his arms. “And those knights all dead?”

“It was a wild battle but they were overtaken in the end, the lance I was able to retrieve,” Aaron said. “I left it with the guards at the front.”

“A shame,” the Lord said. He let out a long sigh. “I suppose that’s what happens when one chases a flight of fancy. Ah well, egg on my face for trying. Thank you Aaron, you have done an admirable job captaining this affair. But I would ask that you keep your involvement quiet, as a favor. No reason for the people to know that I have failed in my grand scheme. As far as anyone’s concerned, I was merely training my people in how to dungeon crawl. Easy enough.”

Aaron was disgusted with how fast the Lord stopped caring about the Allsphere. He had sent so many people to their deaths within the Storywood Dungeon, only to cease giving any damns the moment he learned that his precious treasure was destroyed. It was truly just a jaunt for him, an exercise in poor impulse control mixed with greed. The beacon merchant decided right then that he would take Lord Everson down. He just had to play his cards right.

Chapter 50

Aaron’s next stop was to see Councilman Reyes in the Gold District. It was late in the evening but the Councilman not only worked in the tower, he also lived there. Aaron made his way there and knocked on the door. There was no answer but he pounded away until finally a harried Reyes opened the door.

The councilman was wearing a nightcap and long white pajamas, carrying a candle in his hand. “What is this about?” he fussed. His eyes narrowed for a moment. “Oh wait, I remember you. The shadow merchant, right?”

“May I come in? The wind’s rather cold at this height,” Aaron replied.

“You better have a damned good reason for interrupting my sleep,” the councilman said as he gestured for Aaron to follow. He escorted him to a living room, past the office, where a bottle of brandy was waiting for them on the coffee table.

“Sit, please,” Reyes said, sinking down on one of the plush chairs near the coffee table. He yawned, mouth opening widely as he poured two drinks. “I hope you aren’t here to try and strong-arm me any further. I have little else to give.”

Aaron sat on the couch across from the councilman and shook his head. “Not here to cause you trouble. Though, I suppose I am here to cause someone trouble.”

“Eh?” Reyes asked as he handed a glass to the beacon merchant. “What do you mean by that?”

Aaron took a sip of the drink before clarifying. “Everson has to go,” he said. “And I intend to take him down.”

This caused Reyes to choke on his drink. He gagged for a moment, trying to recover from inhaling the liquor. “You want to take down Lord Everson?”

“I know there is no love between you two and that you wish to undermine him,” Aaron said. “The man has chosen to live a life of utter luxury at the expense of others. He has spent the fortunes of the people on his own pleasure and in the end, has sent many to die to pursue some foolish ambition. He has no remorse, no care. A glutton, through and through.”

“You are preaching a well needed sermon,” Reyes said, taking a thoughtful drink of his whiskey. “I have my own issues with the man and his desires to control everything. He gave up so much power to every other faction within the city, but still collects taxes at the end of the day like he’s doing something. In truth, he just plays Lord while the Council and the Guilds handle the real business.”

“Are you a religious man?” Aaron asked.

Reyes smirked. “Now comes the real preaching. I suppose you could say that I have fealty to any god who cares about my own good. I don’t give any attention to the majority of gods out there, but there is Simtal, who blesses those who work in governments.”

“This may be something hard to explain,” Aaron said. “But I have received a vision from a goddess, Emera herself, and in that vision, I was told to take control of this city. To overthrow the Lord and to establish myself as the new Lord.”

Reyes did not laugh or mock the man. He merely leaned forward. “A vision?” he said, voice filled with awe. “They say that the gods have long since abandoned Greystone for the city’s lack of adherence to the basic principles of goodness. Why would you have received something like that?”

“Because I made a great sacrifice and chose to put humanity’s interests above the Lord’s,” Aaron said. “I will reveal a truth to you, one that will damn me should you speak it to the Lord Everson, but I am willing to trust that you will not go to your enemy to gossip. I found the artifact he was searching for. And I destroyed it.”

This caused the councilman to begin laughing. “You’re joking?” he asked.

“No.”

Reyes lifted his drink high in the air. “Then I thank you!” he said. “And I toast to your eternally good health. I was terrified that the fool would somehow get his hands on the artifact, some fear in the back of my mind that he wasn’t just chasing some urban legend. The truth of the matter is that the world would be in great peril should he have gotten the Allsphere. You have done us all a service.”

Aaron relaxed upon hearing Reyes’ joy. He was beginning to feel that he could trust the man. “When I destroyed the artifact, I was visited by Emera. And she told me that I must be the one to run the city as Lord. I am not a self-aggrandizing man…I do not know the first thing about becoming a Lord. But I believe it is a necessity.”

Reyes pondered that for a time. He sat back and swirled his drink in his glass. “I think you’re right,” he said. “It is time for some new blood to run the city. Someone who will actually govern, as opposed to simply letting the guilds do as they please in order to get kickbacks. And if the goddess revealed herself to you…well, I suppose it’s your destiny.”

“You believe me?” Aaron asked.

Reyes nodded. “There is something shining about you. You seem much different than when I first met you. And your reputation has changed as well. I never considered you a schemer or a plotter, but if the gods have chosen you to represent their will…well, there are many terrible consequences to falsely bearing witness to their words.”

“Then I am here to ask for your help on the matter,” Aaron said. “The only thing is that I wish to keep things on the level. Where I come from, violent revolutions only make things worse.”

“The King himself keeps the peasantry from revolting,” Reyes said. He stood up and walked over to a large bookshelf in the corner of the room. He scanned the books as he spoke. “What you are going to need is to use a procedure known as No Faith.”

“No faith?” Aaron repeated.

“Oh yes,” the man replied, grabbing two books from opposite shelves and pulling them out. He thumped them down on the table in front of Aaron and flipped through the first one. “No Faith is the argument that the gods have abandoned the current leader. King Leroy cannot bear to defy the gods themselves and so would be forced to stay his hand.”

“And how does one initiate this proceeding?”

The man flipped through the pages of the book. “Ah, here we go.” He started to read aloud. “A declaration of No Faith requires the peasantry of the city to cease their work. A strike is seen as the gods’ way of getting the attention of the ruler. A church or temple must make the declaration that there is no faith within the Lordship and that they have been derelict in their moral duties to the people. All work must cease for a minimum of three days and the people must congregate in a temple, making their displeasure known to the gods.”

Aaron tilted his head. “I know just the perfect temple,” he said.

Reyes continued reading. “If the Lord responds with violence or brutality, there will be a curse placed upon him. The gods do not directly determine who governs the city but those without faith cannot intervene in the election of a new ruler through divine will.”

“I have the divine right, as it were…” Aaron muttered. “But it seems massively egotistical to claim that I should rule because the gods demand it.”

“Rulership is egotistical in nature,” Reyes countered. He flipped through the pages of the book and turned to the other one. “Who would possibly want to be in charge unless their heads were the size of watermelons?”

Aaron shrugged and the councilman read from another part of the book. “It says that the divine election process simply requires popularity from the peasantry, no faith charges upon the Lordship and then…well, that’s it. The Lord must step down and the temple elects a ruler from amongst the people, declaring them to be a vessel of the new faithfulness of the city.”

“And what if the Lord refuses to step down?” Aaron asked.

“Cursed once more,” Reyes said. “But you’re looking at a difficult task, getting the city to cease their work.”

“Am I?” Aaron asked. “For they are making a mere pittance each day. The cost of food is high and many are starving. A few words from demagogues should catch fire.”

“I have a few contacts in the city who could push for this kind of argument,” Reyes said. “It would have to move quickly, else we will fall prey to the Lord’s attempts to counter our arguments. Everson is the kind who would suddenly find real generosity in his heart the moment he realized his position isn’t secure.”

“How many people are workers in this city?” Aaron asked.

The man pondered that for a moment. “Based on recent census, we have about twenty thousand who work.”

That seemed like a lot. How was Aaron ever going to get them to stand down for at least three days?

“The average wage?” Aaron asked.

Reyes thought for a moment. “I believe it’s twenty garrins a day.”

Aaron blinked. “A day?” he repeated.

“Yes, it’s not amazing. The labor pool is saturated with many working for cheap. Folks can’t afford much food and will work for scraps. Some people don’t even get paid. They are just given a few handfuls of stew or beans every day,” Reyes said.

“What about the Guilds?” Aaron asked. “Won’t they object?”

Reyes nodded. “I have two contacts with the Guild of Goods. Both of them are displeased with how Everson runs his city. They are willing and eager to replace him. They might not enjoy the lack of laborers for a few days but…Greystone has had famine, hardship and misery for as long as anyone can remember. A call to replace him will sweep faster and many will want to be on the right side of the tide.”

“Practically speaking, what will we need?” Aaron asked.

“Garrins, for starters,” Reyes said. “And a venue where we can be heard.”

“I have both,” the beacon merchant replied. “My bread industry has earned me quite a bit of coin and as we speak, I should have twenty thousand garrins in my pocket.”

“That is a considerable sum,” Reyes said. “For a few hundred we could purchase the town criers in the city. They are independents who pretty much say whatever you want them to, provided you pay them enough.”

“Anything else?”

“There is much more,” Reyes said. “But as councilman, I can handle most of it. The only thing we really need is a venue.”

“You can leave that to me,” Aaron said. “I know the perfect place to get the message out.”

“This…is a risky operation,” Reyes replied after pondering for a minute. He poured two more drinks. “If we are going to take the Lord down, we must realize there will be steep consequences should we fail. The curse would only affect him should he lose against us. If we can’t do it…well, we will both be executed.”

“Risk nothing, gain nothing,” Aaron replied, lifting his drink to the man. “If I pull this off, you will be my second in command. And we will turn this city’s fortune around. Prosperity for a hundred years.”

“Cheers to that,” Reyes said. “May the gods bless our path.”

Chapter 51

The Councilman had many political allies. The city council ran most of the mundane projects, taking care of things like tax collection, city zoning and dealing with the various guilds. The Lord’s job was to sit in the center of the council and act as the leader, keeping the council in line and ensuring that everyone was fair with one another. But this did not happen with Everson.

The man rarely sat in on the council meetings, opting to send in one of his lackeys who were only there to demand some new policy be enacted. The councilmen were often at odds with each other, vying for power and trying to get ahead in the eyes of Everson, who seemed to enjoy pitting them against one another. The guilds contributed more to the stability of Greystone, and they were the ones fleecing it for every last garrin it was worth.

Word began to move through the various networks of the city. The Guild of Goods was alerted first. While displeased with the idea of a labor strike, the idea of Lord Everson being replaced was more than enough to motivate them. They gave their blessing to Reyes to proceed. This blessing did not include money, of course, but it did allow the guild workers to begin dispersing news to others.

The guild networks lit up quickly as word spread that Lord Everson was found wanting in the eyes of a goddess. Religion was something that the people of the city took seriously, even if Everson didn’t care about it. The mere suggestion that the gods had ceased to bless Greystone was enough to get most people nervous.

The town criers were given a more direct task. A few hundred garrins was more than enough to ensure that the entire city was hearing constant news about how Emera the goddess was being neglected by Lord Everson. The story of how he had refused to perform the ritual of the lantern lightings was spreading like fire and a few bards began to write songs about this. A satirical play was written and performed in a few playhouses in the city, spreading even more bad sentiment about the Lord.

Aaron was hard at work with his own part of the plan. The food shortage had granted him a large amount of garrins thanks to the bread sales, and he intended to turn that money into food for the people.

He took his profits and invested them into purchasing large barrels of beans that were for sale on the general market. For two hundred garrins, he was able to get 4 units of beans and each unit was enough to feed about a hundred people. The general working population didn’t have the money for food anyway, so really any bit helped.

After he purchased a hundred barrels, he headed to see Kaitlin Ava at the Temple of Emera. It was there that he found her, praying by the altar that had been repaired recently.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” Aaron said, looking at the kneeling woman.

Kaitlin hopped up to her feet, surprised to see Aaron. Her eyes went wide at the sight of him and she rushed up to hug him. “You live!” she said. “Oh the way you talked last time, I was positive that you would die and I would never see you again.”

Aaron held her tightly, soaking in the warmth of her touch and enjoying the scent of vanilla that she wore. “Not only have I survived, but there is something important I must tell you.”

“Yes, please,” she said, gesturing toward a pew. They sat down together and she took his hands, holding them tightly. Gratitude was upon her face.

Aaron was quick to explain the situation. He told her everything, the destruction of the artifact, the vision of the goddess. Kaitlin sat in awe as he spoke and listened intently. When he was done, he then told her about his and Reyes plan to overthrow the Lord. Surprise painted her face but she listened carefully.

When he was done, she spoke. “You are telling quite the tale,” she said. “But in my prayers recently, I have been getting a sensation that something is changing. The goddess doesn’t normally tell us what is going on but there has been a shift in my senses. It’s like there is some sign that she is coming back to bless us.”

“Indeed,” Aaron said. “And she has decided that it is time for Greystone to become a place of light. Just as I have chosen to become a beacon merchant.”

“Then we must work quickly,” Kaitlin said. “There is only one true way to start this revolution. To declare that the man is in no faith, I must stand before the congregation and the people and speak it so. But I am severed from my powers as a cleric. The people will not believe me. Unless…unless you were to ensure that the city’s lights are turned on first thing in the morning. To greet the dawn as Lord Everson has failed to do.”

“That can be arranged,” Aaron said. “We can do it today.”

“Then we must begin to prepare for a change,” the cleric replied. She stood up and walked up to the great altar. “Are you truly ready to become the Lord?”

“I am ready to do good,” Aaron said. “And if it must be done with me at the helm, so be it.”

Kaitlin nodded. “Then kneel before me. And accept this laying on of hands.”

Aaron walked up to her and sank down to his knees. She placed both hands on his shoulders. “In the name of the goddess, the Temple of Emera declares you to be its chosen champion. You shall rise up and bring the city to faith. Now go forth, champion. Light the lanterns of the city in the morning. Bring us back the blessing of our goddess.”

Aaron rose and felt a strange shimmer of energy around him. A boldness overtook him. “I’ve brought a wagon with me,” he said. “Full of beans. You wanted to get your soup kitchen up and running. Well, we have the supplies for it. Beans and bread, as far as the eye can see.”

Epilogue

The next week moved faster than Aaron could keep track of. True to his word, he brought a team of lamp lighters out in the first morning of the week. The team was easy enough to hire, they were ruffians and scavengers who lived in the poor district of the town and would do just about anything for coin.

Something magical happened when the lights were lit in the morning. The grey clouds above the city parted and a beam of light shone straight down from the heavens, illuminating the Temple of Emera. At the same time as the light touched the temple, Kaitlin’s class features were restored and she was able to use her cleric abilities to cast a spell upon the soup kitchen’s pot. This allowed the pot to magically increase the amount of food placed within and soon, there were hundreds of people inside of the church eating to their heart’s content.

Word spread quickly as the town criers did their job. Lord Everson was too busy enjoying his time in his manor to even hear about what was going on. His courtiers, his allies and friends, all silently kept this information to themselves, knowing full well that he wouldn’t stand a chance against the gods who had abandoned him.

The strike began two days after magic was restored to the temple. Kaitlin’s soft demeanor changed when she gained her power back. She became a firebrand preacher, speaking about the ills and wrongs of the Lord’s decisions. Each day the congregation grew, both in attendance and in volunteers.

The food served, beans and bread, lasted longer and longer due to the magic of the goddess. Aaron spent as many garrins as he could, both on producing more bread and acquiring more beans, ensuring that the people were well fed. With full stomachs for once, the people of Greystone began to grow ornery. They looked at how much money they were making and how much food they now had and quickly realized that they were going to be living the rest of their lives in poverty unless they made a change.

The town criers brought more heat to the city and several of Kaitlin’s sermons were repeated. The people of Greystone began to unify and with their unity, a common sentiment emerged. “Lord Everson eats while we starve,” became the rallying cry. “The church feeds but Everson is nothing but greed!” was another phrase.

Other churches began to echo this sentiment, especially once it became clear that there was a Temple leading the people. Their own magics started to return as many preached the words of the goddess and within five days, Greystone was in a full state of civil resistance.

Everson noticed one day when he went to the market only to find no one around. The various market districts had closed down as foreigner and city goer alike agreed to stop working. The food provided by the church and the wealthy patrons who were beginning to sense the winds of change was enough to keep people going. Workers enjoyed their first ever vacation and spent their time in the streets, chanting and calling for the overthrow of Everson.

The Lord discovered this too late and tried to intercept the course of events. But he was completely alone now. No one wanted to work with him, as the church had declared that he had no faith and that there was plenty of evidence because the churches were now beginning to regain their spells.

Everson tried to respond by opening up the coffers, but this did little to earn people’s loyalties. Most folks simply took the coins that he offered and then donated them to the Temple.

Aaron did not take to the forefront of the revolution. He opted to work in the background, in the shadows, until the time was right.

When the declaration of No Faith went out, it caused a ripple across all cities. It was on the ninth day of the strike that Kaitlin made the declaration. The people all agreed that there was dereliction in the man’s duty to the gods and there was no fighting from the nobility either. It was as if the entire city decided to lay its sins upon the feet of one man, despite the fact that many of them had taken liberties just as much as he had.

The King heard of this disarray straight from Everson’s lips. The man had decided that since the entire city was falling into a state of civil disobedience, that he would go and beg the King for his help. What happened next was of no surprise to anyone.

Everson was imprisoned. The King, Leroy Henderson, declared that he did not know that Lord Everson was committing such crimes against his people. He claimed that if he had known, he would have been down to the city instantly to make the arrest. Everyone knew this was nothing more than lip service, but the blessings of the gods were unmistakable. Ever since the city lights were lit in the morning, Greystone had nothing but bright skies to look forward to.

The King brought one of his chosen men to the city, in the hopes that the temple would accept him as the rightful ruler, but Kaitlin had already communed with the goddess directly. Her temple had gathered enough power and there were more clerics who had come to speak with her about the situation at hand. One by one, the council of the church grew into something formidable. And the secret was carefully shared with those who joined the high council. Aaron Maddox, the beacon merchant was the choice.

Twenty days passed and the strike ended peacefully. The church, with Kaitlin as the High Priestess, came forth and declared that it was time for Greystone to begin anew. And that a new Lord had been chosen by the gods, thanks to an immense sacrifice made on the people’s behalf.

“Are you nervous?” Yina asked, standing beside Aaron as he finished adjusting his collar. It was his first public appearance since the announcement.

“Terrified,” Aaron replied. “Some nobody is about to take control of an entire city.”

“You aren’t a nobody,” Yina said. “The people have slowly been learning about where their food has come from. Sure, the gods have blessed how many we have been able to feed, but you were the one who paid for it first. And you were the one to orchestrate this entire thing.”

“Orchestrate…” Aaron said, clearing his throat. “It’s more like this was foisted upon me.”

“Destiny is something the gods give us,” Yina said.

The door to the office opened up and Kaitlin entered. Yina took this as her cue to leave.

“Are you ready for your declaration of rulership?” she softly asked. Kaitlin looked especially beautiful today and Aaron felt a sense of longing for her companionship.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he said. “It’s hard to believe this is happening.”

“Do you have a speech?” she asked.

“I do,” he said, showing her a piece of paper. “I had Todd help me write it. The young man is quite skilled with words.”

“Then it is time,” Kaitlin said, reaching a hand out to him. “Come, let us close the darkest chapter in Greystone’s history and open a new page.”

Aaron accepted her hand and followed after her. They were in the Lord’s Manor. They made their way to the balcony that overlooked the courtyard. The gates were opened wide and hundred were packed in the courtyard, with thousands more in the streets.

The ritual of Lordship was simple enough. Aaron kneeled before the High Priestess and the Council and was anointed with holy oils. After that, a scepter was placed on his shoulder and a blade against his neck. He took a vow that he would look after the city and ensure its prosperity, no matter what.

After that, the people all waited with baited breath. Aaron rose up and placed his hands on the railing, looking out at the folks who had fought to change their rulers. He took a deep breath.

“Today is the start of a new era for Greystone,” he said. “When I first came to this land, I learned what it meant to be hungry. What it meant to be hated and to be looked down upon. I have known good times and I have known hard times, times where my hunger has kept me awake for days on end. When I gaze out upon this city, I see my reflection in so many’s eyes. I see the hunger that has broken my heart, I see the desperation that drove me to do things such as enter dungeons. And I see people who are willing to make a change.

‘When I came here, I was taught that actions have consequences. That one cannot escape their own choices, no matter what. And I have learned what it means to be responsible with what one has been given. I do not look at my new Lordship as a blessing or benefit, as some kind of great power bestowed on me because of my talents. I see it as a burden, as a task to handle with the utmost severity. The goddess did not choose me because I am special, nor because I am worthy. But because I have chosen to take what I have and to do good with it, no matter the amount.

“Greystone, I was once a man of the shadows, a merchant of death who cared little for the lives of others. But today, I am a merchant of light, a beacon merchant. And I make this vow to the city, to the goddess and to the rest of the world. That for as long as I walk Gorvan, I shall yearn to bring prosperity to the people here. We shall not starve in the streets. We shall not beg for our bread or wish for better days. We shall all work together to turn this city into a world that others will envy. That is my promise to all of you.”