Olrica

Druff Street, Meteo City

I really should make a complaint, the next time I bump into Silver Nosster. I mean, I'm good, and yeah sure, I found the guy he wants.

But he could have given me some more to work off of. I guess I share some of the blame for being in a hurry to get the goods passed over to the boss and not taking the time to grill him on the subject when I had the chance, but that makes me feel like I'm making up excuses for him.

I'll forgive him though. It's been a lot more fun and challenging this way, compared to the dungeon runs Hadrian has us grinding out.

Swear to god if I see one more oversized rat, I'm going to split his belly open and shove a Gratt cadaver up inside his ribcage. He has the guild almost literally drowning in mutant rodent ass for some gear items that only sometimes come up and are barely even worth the trouble when they do.

Where's the fun in stabbing rats, rats and more fucking rats?

It's mindnumbingly repetitious.

I'm getting sidetracked. Tracking down this Irikis fella has been a chore, no doubt about it. Between the lack of info and solids leads, as well as the man's own attempts to stay off the radar, I've been given the runaround chasing clues and false leads across the City. Until a few hours ago, of course.

Irikis Falk is definitely not an amateur, but he's by no means an expert in the field of espionage. After taking a step back to observe the trail of clues and misdirection, I eventually came to the conclusion that I was being led away from the Inn a little further down the road from my observation post, and every time I got close a clue would miraculously appear that pointed me elsewhere.

I don't even need to worry about a double-bluff, because not even twenty minutes gone, the man in question entered the building, blissfully unaware of my presence.

But that itself present something of a problem - Druff & Bluff Inn is, as it would happen, the unofficial headquarters of Darkest Dreamers and the place where they entertain not just clients, but their best workers. Irikis, coincidentally, just so happens to be their top 9th Assassin and while I wouldn't consider the Alliance a particularly powerful threat compared to Rambling Rose, I'm not really eager to piss them off on the say-so of a third party. Hadrian will have my ass chopped off, bronzed and mounted if I bring the ire of an Infamous organisation on our heads.

Which puts me in an awkward position of having to hold up my end of the deal and report Irikis' hideout to Silver. I've got standards to uphold, even if it might complicate relations between Rambling Rose and the Darkest Dreams Alliance.

As I ruminate on the matter, a rather interesting World Announcement interrupts my train of thought.

 

 

Oh?

"Well, it certainly appears that my client is keeping busy," I snicker, just imagining the look on Hadrian's pompous face as it turns a shade of lovely purple in impotent fury.

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Astral Reckoning's Official Forums

Thread: Bronzeguy found a new dungeon!

Jayeon Adan:

Screenshot included below.

Looks like Bronzeguy found a dungeon near Meteo City. Anyone have the scoop?

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Old Skinner:

What? Damn it, I'm at work.

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Jellicle Dog:

I've been standing around by the gate looking for a team to go to Farmer's Folly since last night, I never saw him go by?

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Krusher Kate

do u think its a highr level than ff?

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Old Skinner:

Most likely. :O

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Bloody Ball:

I fought his group at Liggit Mine, but they weren't there when we got back.

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Mans Man

@Bloody Ball He killed your group?! Aren't there more than fifteen members of Bone Troupe guarding the copper nodes?

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Jayeon Adan

@Bloody Ball Do you have any proof?

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Bloody Ball:

@Jayeon Adan nah my capsules a rental lol

@Mans Man lol yeah we got decimated

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Please Donate:

Wheres liggit mine??

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Jayeon Adan:

@Please Donate A gathering area west of Meteo City

Anyone near Liggit Mine seen Silver Nosster recently?

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Oklahoma Rider:

Theres a new dungeon?

@Silver Nosster Location please

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Please Donate:

@Silver Nosster Location please

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Silver Nosster:

I'll publish the location publically at a later date, so if everyone could please stop pinging my inbox with hundreds of mentions, I would appreciate it.

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Heark Blaist:

!!!

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Jade Talisman:

@Silver Nosster I'll give you my sister's firstborn if you pm me the location. Deal?

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Deadly Smile:

@Silver Nosster I don't know how you snuck out of the city but you're fucking dead when I find you!

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Silver Nosster:

@Deadly Smile Who are you?

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Rushing Willow:

@Deadly Smile Silver Nosster: Who are you?

IDontEvenKnowYou.hpg

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Oliver Break:

@Deadly Smile Silver Nosster: Who are you?

IDontEvenKnowYou.hpg

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Windy Fields:

@Deadly Smile Silver Nosster: Who are you?

QuestioningElf4.ahpg

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???

Private Meeting Room, Druff & Bluff Inn, Meteo City

The scruffy and haggard assassin, Irikis Falk, enters the meeting room, called by the top brass of the alliance. His manner is of a man called to his execution, and handed the rope with which he is expected to hang himself. Sat in reversed high-backed chairs at the opposite end of a large circular table amidst the dimly lit room, are three figures who stand at the very top of all in the Darkest Dreamers Alliance, by virtue of strength, influence and ruthlessness.

On their very whim, he could find himself trussed up, beaten near-death, healed and beaten again until his screams grow tiresome.

A hand waves dismissively past the back of the middle chair, "You may leave us, Mellissa."

From behind Irikis, a woman's voice responds, making him jump, "As you wish."

He holds his breath as she leaves, fully aware that if the fourth-ranked Assassin wished to kill him, there would be very little he could do about it.

A second woman's voice from the left, slightly accented with Asian tones, "Silver Nosster."

Irikis gulps, a sharp, if entirely imaginary, pain lances through his leg at the memory of their previous encounter - someone he dearly wishes he could forget, the thick bloodlust the Fighter gave off still clinging to his spirit, "W-what about him, Madam?"

"We want him destroyed," growls the man sat on the right, "Get it done."

Irikis shivers, "I-I can't."

The temperature in the room seems to plummet, the central figure speaks up after a pregnant pause, "9th Ranked Assassin, Irikis Falk. Are you defying the will of the Alliance?"

"N-no, sirs, madam. I mean...I can't. We've fought before, and err...he won. Overwhelmingly," Irikis forces the admission out, still afraid of retribution.

"Explain, boy," The woman demands.

He stammers, his voice catching in his throat.

"Explain."

"Madam, we fought after he stole the first A clear of a Reminiscence from me. Coming to a stalemate, I decided to take action later, when he was preoccupied gathering wood at Killigan's Copse. He detected my presence from twenty feet away and...saw through Camouflage, somehow. His Perception is ridiculously high - and if he's benefiting from soloing a completely new dungeon, the gap between us will be even wider," He explains, dropping to one knee in supplication.

The man on the right seethes, "And why did you not report this when a call for information on Silver Nosster was put out?"

"I was...ashamed to admit my loss, sir," Irikis licks his drying lips, keeping his recent defeat by a random archer girl he bumped into on a protection job for the Bone Troupe quite secret.

The woman speaks again, drawing out her words exquisitely, "The Alliance is disappointed in you. We will discuss what to do with you, now leave. Stay inside the building."

His heart sinks, "Yes...Madam."

Staggering to his feet, he hurriedly paces over to the door, bows to the chairs, and leaves the room to silence.

"Fool. We shall have to re-evaluate his competence and reliability," The middle chair snorts.

Sighing, the left chair taps her fingernails in sequence on the arm of her seat, "A matter for later. The issue of Silver Nosster remains."

The right chair slams a fist down on his armrest, "Yeah, like how the fuck he managed to slip past every single one of our people."

"It's clear that he is a man of rather exclusive means. One wonders what else he is hiding, or perhaps, who is puppeting him," The left chair drawls.

"You suspect he has backers?" The middle chair questions.

"It is a possibility, given his rapid rise to prominence in the local community, faster even than ourselves. If it were but once or twice, I'd consider it a flash in the pan and dismiss it as coincidence, but look at how stubbornly he persists in the hearts and minds of the people. This one can only suspect the hand of artifice at play, do you not agree?"

The middle chair sighs, "Whether he has backers or not, it still remains that he has knowledge and resources that would be better put to work with us. But a man as arrogant and unwavering as that will not compromise until brought low and given no alternative."

The right chair grunts, "Though Falk's reliability may be in question after suffering not one defeat, but failing a simple protection mission and dying a second time...He is still, nominally, one of the best tools we have at our disposal. If Silver Nosster's Perception is truly that great, even the third-ranked assassin would run into difficulties."

The other two fall silent, contemplating the right chair's rare observation. To hear a man as boisterously battle-hungry as he suggest such is cause for concern.

The left chair breaks the silence, "Then simply send in Second. Why risk it?"

The middle chair rejects her, "Raven Plume and Giovanni for that matter are not available at present. Not to mention the cost involved in getting them to take action."

"Do you mean to suggest we leave him be?" The left chair scoffs.

The right chair laughs, "Why not explore other options? I hear he's pretty friendly with that NPC at Stone Arsenal. We can get some disposable morons to take her down."

"And lose the only vendor in the city available to us that is capable of repairing our metal-based equipment? Are you mad?" The middle chair is incredulous, "No. Leave the NPC alone. As annoying as it is, we can't afford to touch it, no matter how much value Silver Nosster is getting from his association with the thing."

"It seems we lack an opportunity," The left chair spits, annoyed.

"For now," The right chair concludes.

As if to punctuate the conclusion, a new World Announcement appears before the trio.

 

 

"What bullfuckery is this?!" The right chair exclaims, "Who are these other people?!"

"Their names are not familiar, though two of them would likely be the similarly equipped Fighter, and the Fox-eared Panoplast seen to be assisting with his scheme at Stone Arsenal. As for the identity of the third person...I cannot guess," The middle chair muses.

The left chair scrapes her nails on her armrest, "We cannot allow this man to continue growing unhindered! If this continues, he will be well and truly out of our reach."

"Melissa!" The right chair roars, "Get in here!"

The door opens, the assassin woman slipping in, "You called?"

"Find all the information you can on the people in Silver Nosster's party from the World Announcement, yesterday, and the location of this dungeon!" The left chair shrieks, "Mobilise any forces you need to, just get it done!"

The assassin smiles peacefully, "Consider it done."