Rouge VII (Patreon)

Refuge had only recently gotten a Traveler’s Guild of its own. Apparently, some threshold of visiting players had been achieved, and the Guild had been ‘built’ over the course of a week. Rouge had never been around when a new Guild had appeared before, and it had been interesting to watch freshly imported workers erect the desk, bulletin board, Dead Tent, and stone circle that would serve as the basis for fast travel between guild locations.

She’d really wanted to talk to the workers, but they never left the area surrounding the Traveler’s Guild, and no one had been allowed in until the work was complete, at which point the NPCs had vanished as if they’d never existed. Someday, she’d ask Bridget if those people were really created just for that purpose, or if somewhere there existed a hidden town of people whose sole job was to build Traveler’s Guilds for the gods, and then return home to live perfectly normal lives.

“What’re you staring at?” Vexxx’s voice made Rouge jump, and she felt her cheeks heat as she spun to face him.

“I… You… Do you ever wonder, you know,” she nodded toward the stone monoliths, the corkboard, and the NPC manning the desk, “what the locals do when we’re not around? I mean, I know they don’t vanish, but do they actually do the things they later tell us they did, or does it just-” She wiggled her fingers meaningfully.

Vexxx stared at her. “Uh, no. Who cares? As long as the game isn’t borked, it’s all good.”

Rouge sighed. Yeah, that was pretty much what she’d expected from him. She started to turn away.

“Though,” he said, slowly, making her pause. “I did spend a lot of time around a gnome a while back. He… did everything. Even when no one was looking, I think he did exactly what he told us he did. Not, like, just programmed in and poof it ‘happened’, but he seemed like he actually did all the things. Felt all the things.” He shrugged awkwardly, eyes flicking away.

She felt a little smile tug at her lips, and her heart warmed slightly toward her annoying cousin. Then she saw his lips part, and clapped her hand over his mouth. Lifting a finger to her own lips, she said, “Shhh. Just don’t shove your foot into your mouth for thirty seconds, okay?”

Silus snickered, Vexxx glared, and Rouge grinned before skipping away toward the desk. She glanced back at the mage. “Did you find any good quests?”

His voice was sullen. “Didn’t have time to look. I had to hit the stable and grab my horse.” He glanced over his shoulder at the imposing black stallion standing behind him.

She nodded, and eyed the board. If she wanted, she could physically go and look at the bulletin board, but there was no good way to sort through the layers of paper pinned to the cork, so she just accessed the Traveler’s Guild interface and started applying filters. No quests that ended anywhere except Bright. No escort quests. No quests that required fighting. Aaaaand… nothing. She sighed in disappointment.

Vexxx was giving her that Look again. “You do know we’re on a schedule, right? Why are you looking for more to do?”

She grinned. “Sometimes the best things are the ones you weren’t looking for. Still, you’re right. We’d better get going.” She glanced at him. “Do you want a round-trip ticket, or one way? I heard you used to play in Bloodhaven, and Bright is less than a day from there, if you wanted to go back after we’re done.”

He blinked. “I… guess… I’ll come back to Refuge. Or whatever. I really haven’t done the Atheneum Dungeon yet, and I heard there are harder mobs in the Tunnel now.” The Tunnel led beneath the Whispering Mountains, making the old, winding road through the mountains nearly defunct. The subterranean passage had only been opened recently, and people were constantly finding new crevices and shafts branching away from it. There were even rumors that there might be one or more new dungeons down there.

Rouge hummed in acknowledgement, and opened the interface to buy two round-trip passages to Bright. She handed two of the scrolls that appeared in her inventory to Vexxx, and they made their way toward the ring of stones towering over the crowd of players. Stepping inside, they each raised one of their scrolls and tore it in half.

The world flickered. She, Vexxx, Wally, and Vexxx’s mount were the only things that stayed solid as everything else spun around them. Even the stones shifted subtly, as light and shadow played over their gray surfaces. Vexxx staggered as the earth firmed beneath their feet again, and Rouge had to suppress a smirk. That was what happened when you never put any points into Dex.

Vexxx reached out and set a hand on the closest stone column, looking around. The area inside this circle was packed with people appearing and disappearing all around them. Occasionally, someone would enter just as someone else started to warp in, and they would briefly overlap before one of them was shunted out of the way. It was particularly funny when this resulted in someone standing on top of someone else, but when she saw the tell-tale oscillation surround her cousin, Rouge reached out and tugged him out of the circle. A moment later, she was glad she did, as a hulking half-orc appeared where the spindly mage had been standing. While no real harm could be done to anyone standing on bluestones or within a Guild non-combat zone, dealing with an immature lightning mage who had just been squashed flat by someone twice his height and four times his weight would have been… annoying.

Vexxx, of course, didn’t even seem to notice the close call, and just glared down at her hand where she’d grabbed his red robe in order to pull him to safety. Quickly, Rouge let him go, taking a long step back. As she did, she bumped into three people, spun slightly as if she was off balance, and tagged two more people before ending up awkwardly down on one knee in the middle of the crowd. Several more people then bumped into her, since they were too distracted by friends or interfaces to even notice her. Some of them glared at her, though their annoyance faded as she applied the Look of Innocence (Stage One) and scrambled to her feet, apologizing profusely. A moment later, the whole incident had been dismissed, and everyone involved went on about their business.

Reaching out, Rouge grasped Vexxx’s robe again, tugging him toward the edge of the crowd even as he snickered and made pathetic jokes about how clumsy she was. Ignoring his commentary, she apologized as she ran into several more people on the way out. Only after they were standing in a slightly-more-open street outside of the Guild area did she stop tripping over her own feet. Glancing around, she spied one of the many narrow alleys that wound through the city. With a shove, she sent her cousin into a stumble of his own that ended deep in the alleyway. Codswallop, who was far too large to follow, shifted to cover the opening behind them, clucking anxiously.

::What did you get?:: Silus asked, excited.

“What was-” Vexxx started indignantly, but stopped as Rouge started dumping items on the ground between them.

“Coconut. Useless,” she muttered. “Yellow bowtie. Wolf tail. Mummy wrapping. Ah,” she held up a glistening red potion. “Health pot. That’s actually worthwhile, though too common for our purpose.”

Vexxx’s mouth slowly dropped open as the mound of junk items grew larger. “Did you… steal all of those? I thought you couldn’t use [Steal] on bluestones?”

She flashed him a grin. “No, you couldn’t use [Steal] on bluestones. A Fowl Trickster Saintess, however, can. Oh!” She spun a gleaming circle between her fingers. “Hand-carved brooch made from pink coral. Not Unique, but Very Rare. Now, who am I going to be?”

Quickly, she cast [Substitution].

You have cast [Substitution:Lv31]. You now appear to anyone viewing you as the sapient being Sweet Kissez. This illusion will last 94 minutes (45 base + 49 minutes for Lv19 Very Rare item Coral Brooch.) If your theft is discovered while you have more than 45 minutes remaining on your illusion, time will be reduced to a maximum of 45 minutes. Spell will be canceled if you take damage or if someone with a high enough [Illusion Break] skill attempts to [Identify] you.

Vexxx’s eyes grew wide, and a burst of laughter escaped him. He reached out as if he was going to poke Rouge, squinting slightly. “Rouge? That you?”

She smacked him. “Who else would it be?” she hissed. “What do I look like?” She held out her own arm, noting that it was now pale-skinned, with a gauzy baby-pink sleeve covering it. Her nails were painted bubblegum pink, and when she stuck out a leg, a hot pink skirt flowed, a long slit separating to reveal one smooth, perfectly shaped calf.

“Oh my gosh,” she gasped. “I shape-shifted into Burbie!”

It took a solid five out of her ninety-four minutes to get her cousin to stop laughing every time he looked at her. It definitely didn’t help when Rouge took a moment during the unexpected break to add Vexxx to the party, and Silus promptly asked the mage to explain exactly why he was laughing. At least three of the subsequent bouts of near-hysteria occurred as her cousin tried (and failed) to justify his reaction.

At last, Rouge took hold of Vexxx’s shoulders, turned him in place, and gave him a hard shove toward the end of the alley. ::We don’t have time for this,:: she sent over Party Chat. ::In just under an hour and a half, we either need to be on a ship, or I’ll have to become someone else anyway. Maybe next time I’ll pick a half-orc like the one that almost squished you, and see if you think that’s so funny.::

::What?:: Vexxx demanded, even as he swung up into his horse’s saddle. ::What half-orc?::

She rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue at Wally. Her ostrich was staring around, clearly more than a little overwhelmed. She hadn’t actually spent much time here after acquiring Wally, and it showed. Refuge was smaller, and its citizens tended to stroll rather than bustle. Plus, the buildings there were mostly underground, and few were taller than a single story, so Wally could just leap over or on top of them if he needed to go somewhere. Now, Wally was surrounded by shoving masses of people, and the buildings were much too tall to jump over.

Leaning forward, Rouge laid her hand against Wally’s long neck, and he twisted around to look at her. “It’s okay, Wall,” she murmured. “We’re only going to be here for a little while. You can do it.” Reaching into her inventory, she retrieved the first one of the stack of twenty cinnamon rolls she’d stored away while they were eating breakfast that morning.

With a huff, her bird gobbled down the treat, then fluffed his feathers like a warrior settling his armor into place before battle. He tilted his head, eyeing her intently, before crouching so she could step into his saddle. Once she was in place, he stood back up with an easy hop and looked around, nervousness gone.

Vexxx shook his head. ::It’s crazy the way you treat him. Like he’s people. The bat, too.:: He flicked a glance at Silus when she squeaked in protest. For an instant, he looked almost apologetic, but then he turned his horse toward the docks, and trotted away, not even waiting to be sure they were behind him.

As Wally followed after the stallion, Rouge reached up to pat Silus. “Dad owes me big for this,:: she muttered so only the bat could hear her. “When this is all over, I’m going to let you bite him.”

Silus let out a little growl of agreement, and the two girls shared a moment of communion as they glared at the lightning mage’s narrow, unprotected back.