The man escorting me stopped outside a heavily reinforced door guarded by a half dozen men and women. While they didn't glare at Arthur, like his initial escort, they had considering gazes as they looked at him, but he ignored them as the robed figure knocked on the rune encrusted door. A terse 'Enter' came back and the man opened the door and ushered Arthur in.

Arthur studied the room, with all the defenses in the place he was surprised by the plainness of the room. "I like it this way, it reminds me of my youth before the Dark Conclave protected me." Arthur turned to see a wrinkled old woman sitting in a chair waiting for him. "Thank you, Gideon, I will be perfectly fine with young Arthur here." she dismissed his escort and with a slight bow, the other man left. 

It was a simple place, a bed, a desk, several shelves filled with books, and a washroom. "Why are you so interested in me?" Arthur asked causing the woman to chuckle. 

"You Travelers, very direct to the point of being rude." the Seer commented, and Arthur smiled at her.

"Say's the woman who dragged me here without giving a reason, I assume it has to do with your position within this place. Tell me, are you a Seer or is it all just a facade?" Arthur asked causing the woman's smile to grow. 

"Arthur Payne, Dark Magus, and future Necromancer. You have five items of great power on you, three of them belong to the gods of the Dark Pantheon." the Seer replied, causing Arthur to freeze in surprise as he wondered who this NPC was and how it was tied into the game. "You have a very strong chance to rise in power here in Esura, you can become a Lord and possibly more by resurrecting what was lost. However, you are undecided on if you wish to become what you have a chance to be, so your future is far from certain. No matter what you decide, your decision will affect a great many lives and I called you here today merely to talk since it is rare that I get to see the Life Thread of a Traveler." the Seer explained. 

Arthur continued to frown as she gestured for him to take a chair opposite of her, "The path you walk does not have to be solitary Arthur, you can make friends along the way." she added as he sat down and focused on her causing [Gertrude Fate-Seer, True Seer, Fate Spinner] to pop up and a sad smile graced her face. 

"So, what would you like to talk about?" Arthur asked as he brought up his Character Sheet, while the Seer had shaken him, she hadn't changed his mind one way or another. While he was still gaining naturally in Intelligence and Spirit, all his physical Attributes were lagging. Sure he could train or battle to increase them, but he was naturally a caster, and melee combat was his weakness. 

If Arthur did decide to go down the path of the Necromancer, he would be able to raise an army of Undead, but until he had looked at the Talents, he had no idea what the mechanics were and both the Forums and Wiki were mum on that point. So, for now, Arthur pumped eight points into Spirit, three into Intelligence, and the last four into Strength since he hadn't increased it at all yet. 

"Am I boring you?" the Seer asked, and Arthur dismissed his Character Sheet. While he was a powerhouse compared to where he had been he was still far from unkillable even with his nifty new shield ability.

"Well, you seem content with the quiet, so I decided to work while you considered me. I assume you hold sway over the leadership of the various Dark Conclaves of Esura?" Arthur asked and Gertrude nodded her head. "So, tell me, what would you do in my shoes?" he prodded her.

The Seer's eyes narrowed as she looked at me, "The Gods of the Pantheon of the Light have either ignored the pleas of their worshipers or abused them since the war. Their followers have oppressed anyone who questions the Gods or their leadership. I would do what is necessary to change things." Arthur studied her as he produced his canteen and some fruit.

"So why is Hades interested in me, why not a Citizen?" the Seer shrugged her shoulders.

"I cannot tell you what the Gods think, I can only see what their actions or inactions will cause," she explained another limitation of her sight.

Arthur considered what she had said before responding, "So do the Travelers like me, share some of the same shielding from your sight? Or are we just too chaotic to predict?"

Gertrude shook her head, "I have no idea, but as your choices anchor your future to this world and its people, the future becomes clearer. While I cannot see your Life Thread directly, I can see how your choices will affect others...if you make certain decisions." the Seer explained.

Arthur absorbed that information, while it made some sense but even if this was a real in-game Seer, she couldn't see everything just how players could interact with the NPCs of this world. So, she was a probability matrix, nothing more. "So have you seen everything you need to know about me?" Arthur prodded.

Arthur saw a brief flash of anger as she sat back in her chair, "Very well Arthur Payne, I will leave you to your future. I hope you choose wisely." the Seer replied gesturing for him to go. Arthur stood and quickly left the room and the odd meeting.

The doors slammed shut, the guards ignored Arthur as he walked past them and headed out of the Dark Conclave. While the torches did provide some light, he yearned to be above ground and see the light of day.

Amelia waited for him and based on her anxious glances she was worried. "I am still alive, and I did nothing to harm your precious Seer," Arthur told the woman who grabbed his hand and pulled him away.

"Be quiet!" she hissed as she dragged him along, Arthur had a bemused smirk on his face but followed the Dark Priestess away from the Seer's quarters. "Be careful, while the Seer is old, she still holds great sway with the Dark Conclave and the Shadow Council. She can be a powerful ally or enemy so do not press her too hard." Amelia advised.

Arthur snorted, while to him the NPC was just something that could accurately read probabilities, to them it was an ability to see the future. "As long as she doesn't keep acting all high and mighty, I won't step on her toes. Now, do you have a Dark Acolyte that I can steal for a few days while we run down this secret shrine?" Arthur prodded.

"Yes, I recruited a Traveler, like you, has not unlocked a Specialization yet and is Level fourteen," Amelia replied and Arthur frowned.

"Did you tell her what my task was?" Arthur stopped causing the woman to come to a sudden halt.

"No, why?" the Dark Priestess asked, and Arthur shook his head.

"We Travelers have a way to communicate long distances and I have no clue where her loyalties lie. The task you gave me is important, but it is but a fragment of the larger picture. Divulging one could lead her to the other and while she is a Dark Acolyte, that does not mean I can trust her with everything." Arthur told the woman who chuckled.

"I have trained her myself and she passed her initiation test just like you. Now come, I will show you to your new companion." Arthur scoffed but he would give her a chance to hang herself if Amelia vouched for her. "Oh, and here, since you passed your initiation and have proven your worth time and again you need a proper weapon of a Dark Magus." Amelia produced a finely crafted dagger, it had a slight curve and was engraved with multiple runes along the length of the blade.

As soon as Arthur touched the blade, he felt a faint rush as the leather hilt fit his hand perfectly. The blade was similar to his current knife, but it was slightly longer and just looked more badass. Arthur pulled up its information and nearly dropped it as Amelia smiled.

Arthur quickly shoved his old staff into his Inventory and equipped the new dagger while keeping the second one on the belt opposite of his new dagger. "Now she is a little shy so try not to be all doom and gloom on her." Arthur chuckled at her warning but would wait to see what he was working with before deciding anything.

Arthur followed her through several twists and turns until they stopped in a small room. "Wait here, I will go get her. Like I said, please be nice." with that Amelia left leaving Arthur in a small study. He moved to one of the tabled and leafed through some of the books, but while they were interesting all of them dealt with Demonology, something Arthur had no interest in at the moment.

He sat down and brought up his Talent Trees. Arthur was sitting on seven Talent Points, and it was time to increase his skill set. After flipping back and forth he finally decided and increased Dark Adept, Shadow's Strength, Bolt of Darkness, Bog of Darkness, and Shadow Touch all to Level two.

Arthur read through all the new information, with the increase of Damage also came an increase in the Cost of the spells. The increase was worth it though and in the long run, it made sense that the spell costs would increase to compensate for the stronger effects. The Dark Magus dismissed the information as Amelia reentered the room with another robed and cowled figure, "Arthur, I would like to present Ruby she is a skilled Dark Acolyte. Ruby this is Arthur, he is a Dark Magus with a bright future ahead of him." Amelia introduced the two and as the woman pushed back her hood Arthur cursed as he saw his cousin, the cousin that was currently dating the douche canoe, Nick.

Arthur spat at her feet causing her to jump back in surprise, "If this is what you consider promising, you and I have two different measurements of the word. Ruby, I give you one fair warning stay the fuck away from me!" Arthur snarled before walking away from the two stunned women.