Surviving the Game: The Rat Assassin

Shadow Rulers Guild Rises

Liora walked into the basement of a building marked with the same symbol etched on her invitation, clearly meant for Rouges that specialized in shadow use and assassinations. In fact she was impressed with it, as over 20 other Player Characters were here doing training as well. Her first quest after she went to the class trainer and learned a few new skills such as lock picking and language understanding, was the assassination of an aristocrat that was part of the Kings Court who had been corrupted.

She watched as three other Rogue’s entered through the ground level, their skills at deception and hiding in shadows varied as they tried to breach the security to get into his office. Liora however came in from the second level windows, finding they lead to a less crowded approach that allowed her to observe from above as the guards detected each of the others before they could get close.

The shadows created up near the ceiling however were more than enough for her to completely disappear in as she made her way past the security easily. Her target was sitting at a desk looking at reports from the King’s Council, a bonus objective for her to obtain for the Assassins Guild as she threw one of her knives into his throat, her aim perfect as she dropped to the floor of his office as the man fell back dead. That part of her quest finishing as she began collecting all of the papers both in and on the desk before she looted his body and picked the lock on his safe. The amount of money she collected was impressive, 50 gold coins and 300 silver the best haul she had managed as she managed to slip back into the shadows of the rafters as the security came in and raised an alarm. Her escape through the roof as they sealed the building below her nothing short of miraculous as they discovered that all of his sensitive documents, seals and money had already been robbed from his office.

She smiled as she even took out an impressive dagger that had the same seal as the Rat Dragon Assassins on it as she returned to the hideout to complete the quest for the rewards. As soon as the Gold and silver went into her inventory, 20 percent was automatically donated to the guild she had created coffers, so that they would be able to increase what the guild itself could provide. 10 gold and 60 silver didn’t seem like much, but she knew in the end it could be the difference between someone surviving and certain death.

By the time the sky began to lighten, she realized the timeline was matching the timeframe for the real world, each day actually lasting a day instead of minutes to hours. Fortunately one thing it has counted on was their need to eat and rest, the Guild Chef that would teach people to cook meals able to serve them as well, for a fee of course. She however didn’t care as the PC’s who had already joined brought nearly a dozen more people wanting to join along with another 20 besides that who had already applied through the system. She accepted them all and transported them to the Guild Dining Hall, for the very first meeting of the Guild.

“Thank you all for joining me, it probably isn’t the easiest choice for the moment. As the description says, we will be focusing on how to win the game, in as safe a manner as we can achieve.” Liora said before one of the newcomers raised a hand indicating a question.

“Why are you collecting 20 percent of quest rewards and loot for taxes? What exactly will this contribution get us?” he asked as she smiled.

“First, meals such as this. I strongly encourage you to be as self sufficient as possible, but everyone will be able to eat three meals a day provided here by the NPC Chef for no charge. Those funds will be provided from the funds collected in taxes and so long as you are contributing enough taxes to cover the 5 coppers per meal, you will not have to pay for more. When we begin running dungeons and quests as a guild, supplies necessary for the adventure and equipment repairs will be provided for from these funds. Other things will likely be added to the list over time, especially as we progress further into the game and determine what exactly we can afford to pay for from everyone’s contribution.” Liora said as they all nodded in agreement. “In fact, if not for the contribution I have already made to equip what we have so far as class and profession trainers, we would not have this option yet.” She told them as it had actually cost her money to hire them on a permanent basis.

“Even they charge here though, what happens to those funds?” another of them asked as Liora saw that they indeed had collected training funds.

“I suggest we use them to improve our trainers for the future. I however am not going to be a dictator for those under me as Guild Master, so if you are interested in leadership we will need at least one member of each class that can act as Class Master. The Masters will form a board of sorts that will be responsible for making as informed of a decision as we can when the time comes.” She said as the initial 3 members all volunteered for the position as another of the Rat Dragons raised his hand.

“I know you scored higher than I did in the tutorial by 4 kills, but as Guild Master would you also be Rogue Master or would that honor belongs bestowed to someone else?” Homneer asked as she smiled.

“Someone else can have the honor of Rogue Master if you want the position it is yours. As they are an honor as you said, you may be challenged by those you lead if they believe they can do a better job. So we will do leadership based on strength, if you wish to lead, you must continuously prove you are the best as well as the strongest for the job. For of those beneath you refuse to follow your leadership, they can vote to replace you without a direct challenge. Seem fair?” she asked as they all agreed to the conditions as they found someone from each of the 11 Classes willing to be the declared Class Master.

One by one they reported what they had found, most of them the beginner level quests teaching them more about their class than advancing the game. When they were done however they already had a dozen more applicants to the guild, Liora setting up the system to automatically accept them for now as she knew they would need members.

It took another hour for them to discuss everything they had found already, all of it going into a database that was open to the public, so all of them could advance with as little risk as possible. The other characters appreciating it even more, the incentive to join the Shadow Ruler Guild and come to their Hall.

Liora spent the day going through the city looking for quests and professions she was interested in, picking the pockets of unsuspecting Players and NPC characters alike. Her favorites the aristocrats coming in and out of the castle through the market that had nearly everything.

It didn’t take long to learn that they were limited to just 3 main professions such as enchanting, tailoring blacksmithing or alchemy. But they could have all of the secondary professions such as herb gathering, mining, cooking, first aid and several others that would improve their survivability. So she spent the time and money to learn Leather working, Apothecary, and Bladesmith. She also learned first aid, skinning, herb gathering, mining, cooking and every secondary skill she could. Even if she didn’t get the items she needed to perform all of them in the field. The herbalist bag, miners bag, skinner bag and cooks satchel however vastly improved her storage space for the items that could be used by those professions, all of them slipping into her inventory easily so they didn’t obstruct her movement.

As the day wore on, the Intel she gathered from picking the pockets of all the people of the court helped her build a better picture of how this District was run, the details giving her a quest chain that would improve her standings among the factions that selected the person that would rule the First Kingdom. By the time the sun began to set she had returned to the Guild Hall utterly exhausted just as dinner was served.

The other 11 Masters joined her, all of them equally spent as they began eating the food and drinking the ale the chef had served with it. She finally took a few moments to look at the Guild Progress, the tax collecting them 200 gold coins before expenses that reduced it to 120. Their guide however was becoming ever more complex, the different sections for the classes and professions being automatically updated by the collective experiences of the guild members.

“So, an interesting topic has arisen that I believe we should address. Several people wish to join us in untraditional roles, as they wish to focus on the profession aspects of the game. They however would also like a say in the leadership positions, some of them already having discovered what they can make can be significantly better than what the NPC makers can.” Porcia said from her position as Mage Master.

Liora nodded as she chewed as she looked at everyone else. “If you expect me to make all the decisions we will have to reconsider our leadership structure. Thoughts?” she asked after a few moments of silence from the others.

“I believe it would be a benefit, especially if we can create safe zones or even pair Gatherers with adventures to provide security. The front line or assault units can use their profession slots as they see fit, gathering as we go and assisting the crafters with rarer materials from the more dangerous areas that they would otherwise be unable to obtain. I think we also need to make a dedicated team from among our members to make an assault team for the most dangerous areas.” Hunter said as several others nodded.

Liora nodded as well as she leaned forward. “We can discuss those aspects after we decide on our own leadership structure. So for the moment we need to decide on Profession Masters getting a seat at the table, and how we determine who those Masters are. Can a sitting Class Master also serve as a Profession Master? Or should we only allow one Master position? We have yet to learn what the best ways for leveling are, where any dangerous missions may be, as well as a whole host of other things.” She said as the others nodded.

“I say we allow the Masters of Class be allowed to take a Profession Master position as well, so long as they maintain their position as strongest in their class. As the professions are tiered, I say whoever holds the highest skill level in the Guild should be the Profession Master.” Larissa said from her position as Sorceress Master.

Almost everyone agreed with her as Liora leaned forward. “All in favor of allowing the Profession Masters a seat at the decision table?” she asked as all 11 of them raised their hands. “All in favor of the Strongest on Class as determined by duels and the highest Ranked Profession Masters as determined by skill level to make all future decisions for the direction of the Guild?” she asked as another of them raised their hands.

“I think we also need to make separate sheets for actual leadership. Class and Profession Masters are a great beginning, but I also think we need Guild Masters.” Porcia said as everyone agreed.

“Proposal to add Guild Masters with positions determined as needed by the current selected Masters of Class and the ones automatically selected by Profession.” Liora said as all of them voted in favor for it. There were 18 professions is the game, all of them selected automatically by the system before they were instructed to come to this dining room as the table expanded to accommodate them all.

Within minutes they all entered with their meals and drinks, confused as why they had been summoned.

“Welcome everyone, you are all the newly selected Profession Masters of the Guild. As such, you have the duty to also be part of our ruling Council to lead the Guild. So far the only thing that has truly been selected is the people sitting here before you, and who will be determined to be sitting here for the time being. I propose for the sake of stability, we only allow challenges for class master once per month, as well as who the Profession Master will be calculated at the beginning of the monthly challenges.” Liora suggested to them.

“All in favor?” Porcia asked as 22 of them raised their hands to agree to it.

“Very well, the night of the full moon is when the Challenges may be issued. No Master may be forced to battle more than twice per day, none of them to the death. 50 percent of life force will be the determining factor for challenges. Each month on the full moon, the system will automatically determine who the Profession Masters shall be and notify them accordingly.” Liora instructed as they all agreed on the timing and wording of her rule. It made it crystal clear about who would lead, and how you could achieve the position.

“For Guild Masters, I suggest a one year term, God forbid we are here that long. As well as Grand Master Liora being selected for as long as we are in this hell.” Porcia proposed. All of them raised their hands as Liora nodded in appreciation.

“So, for Guild Masters I suggest a Profession Grand Master, Assault Team Master, Class Grand Master as well as a Quartermaster and other positions not to exceed 10. These people will be selected by ballot of the entire guild, for one year terms of service. Anyone wishing to fill these positions may add their name to the ballot at least one month before the vote.” Liora said as this surprised them all. With 11 classes and 18 profession Masters, this would bring the total 40 positions including hers. The motion unanimously passed before they decided that the other Master positions would be the Captains of 10 man teams to act as their vanguard. Despite not having quite enough players willing to venture out like that.