I reincarnated in game

29 Leveling Up

With all of their worldly possessions in tow, the trio settled their account and bid farewell to the Crystal Inn.  They set out on a westerly course which would take them to Ossal.  Based on her knowledge of the fourth level, Judi had mapped a course for them to follow, steering clear of the worst of the slum cities; the last thing they wanted was any confrontations and hassles from the locals.  Fortunately, the time of year favoured the travelers; it was the dry season.  If night happened to fall when they were between friendly villages, they would be able to pitch the tent Matthew had used at the abyss and not have to worry about getting wet.

The mood of the three friends was upbeat and lighthearted.  They all looked forward to the adventure which lay ahead of them.  They chatted amiably and got to know each other much better as the days passed.  When they passed a promising stream, they would stop to catch a few fish; when they spotted a small game, Judi would target the animal with her knife, and was successful most of the time.  Being a hunter, Judi was also the most experienced at cleaning and cooking whatever they had caught.  Hugh and Kenneth were avid students and were soon sharing in the food preparation and cooking. 

Judi taught her male companions how to make sling shots and the three would do target practice using pebbles and targeting trees by the side of the road.  When they were stopped for the evening, she would give them lessons on throwing a knife with accuracy.  These were skills that they could use, not only for obtaining wild game but also for defense, if that became necessary.

They followed Judi’s planned route.  If their arrival in one of the small villages coincided with night fall, they would seek out a roadside inn where they could refresh themselves and purchase whatever supplies were needed.  Their pace was steady and mostly uneventful; a welcome change from the previous weeks.       

When they were still a couple of days out from their destination, the conversation turned to strategizing about the best way to get all three onboard the ship to Third Level.

Speaking to Judi, Hugh proposed a plan.  “I think the first thing we need to do is to scope out what level of security there is, and what questions they ask at the ticket counter and boarding stations.  Since Kenneth has his ID, we can make inquiries about purchasing a ticket for him.  If the security is light and the passenger traffic is heavy enough, maybe you and I could sneak aboard as stowaways.  That is how my mother got from here to Valari.”

Judi replied, “Ossal always has a high number of visitors coming and going; that will help us not stand out when we try to get aboard."

Not wanting to be left out of the planning, Kenneth spoke up, saying, “Maybe we can get a room near the boarding station and watch from there.” 

Hugh and Judi rewarded his enthusiasm with a joint reply, “That’s an excellent idea, Kenneth!”  Kenneth grinned from ear to ear.

On the fifteenth day after leaving Halea, late in the afternoon, the three friends arrived at the gates of the city of Ossal and passed through to the tidy streets beyond.  There was activity everywhere; taverns and inns were all about, busy shops of all kinds on practically every corner, street merchants hawking their wares to the pedestrians.  They obtained directions to the main boarding station for the magic boats and then looked for a modest inn from which they could observe the comings and goings.  Rooms were booked and a fine meal consumed before they settled in for an early night; they wanted to be up at first light to start their surveillance.

Shortly after dawn the following day, Hugh, Judi, and Kenneth ordered their breakfast and sat at the outside patio tables where they could see the ticket booth and loading dock of the station.  Without any boat present, there appeared to be only three guards, one at the ticket counter and two patrolling the loading dock. 

“That doesn’t look too bad as far as security is concerned,” said Hugh. “If there was sufficient traffic, we would be able to get in with a crowd and sneak aboard.”

Just as Hugh finished his statement, Kenneth looked up and pointed to a large airship approaching the loading dock, “Look.  Here comes the boat now!”

The three watched as the airship slowly descended towards the flat surface.  The humming of the crystal powered engines could be heard as the captain reversed the thrust to exhaust a cushion of air to allow for a gentle landing.  Once firmly on the ground, a gate opened and a gangplank was lowered so the passengers could disembark.  The first three people to exit were guards from onboard the ship.  Hugh looked over at Judi, “I guess there is double the presence of guards when there is a ship in port.  Sneaking on board might not be feasible,” he said with an apprehensive expression on his face.

“Well, let’s just watch and see what happens,” Judi suggested.

The passengers followed the guards off the boat.  The trio noted that nobody was being asked for ID when leaving the ship.  That, at least, was positive. 

It appeared that there had been a full complement of passengers on board.  They ranged from business class to entertainers of every type.  The final group to disembark appeared to be two newly exiled prisoners who were accompanied by their own privately hired guards.  Once the two banished men had cleared the station grounds, the guards accompanying them released their shackles and headed immediately to a tavern.  Hugh noted that there had been a small group of tall, female entertainers in fashionable dresses with matching floor-length, hooded, duster cloaks.  They, along with several of the other passengers, had crossed the road and checked into the same inn where the friends were staying.

After all the passengers had disembarked, the captain of the ship was the last to appear at the gangplank.  That too was good news; there had been only three ship guards on board during the trip. 

Hugh speculated that the three guards they had seen before the ship landed were the ground crew.  The one at the ticket booth would be there to safeguard the money transactions; the other two would likely act as crowd control.  He further theorized that two of the three guards on the ship would be stationed at the gate to verify each passenger had proper ID and a valid ticket; the third guard would likely be the one to direct the passengers after they boarded, as well as be there to assist in the event anybody was attempting to board illegally.   

“Stay here and wait for me; I am going to see when the next departure is scheduled,” Hugh said as he got up and strolled casually over to the ticket booth.  The schedule showed the ship currently in port would be departing for the Third Level and beyond in just three hours.

On his return to Judi and Kenneth, he noticed two of the female entertainers he had seen earlier were standing in the alley beside the inn.  The beginnings of a new plan formed in his head.  They would have to work quickly.

He sat down and then looked at Judi from her head to her feet.  “Judi, would you say that you are about five foot, seven?”

Judi looked at Hugh questioningly, “Five foot, eight … why do you ask?”

Hugh just smiled and said, “I have a plan but it’s going to need you to trust me and follow my lead.”

Judi replied sincerely, “I do trust you, Hugh.  What do you need me to do?”

“What about me?” Kenneth inquired.

Hugh looked at him and answered with a smile. “I have a part for you, too.  Actually, it’s the most important part of my plan!”  He drew them in close and explained what he had in mind.  Then it was time to put the plan in motion. 

Judi and Hugh watched as Kenneth walked down the street, looking a little nervous.

Leaning over, Judi whispered in Hugh’s ear, “Do you really think this is going to work?” 

“Yes, I am sure it will.  Let’s go!  We have to get into position,” Hugh responded.

Kenneth approached the two women standing in the ally exactly like Hugh had described they would be.  He drew in a deep breath and then said, a little apprehensively, “Um … Hi. How are you?”

“Oh Honey, you don’t need to be scared … we won’t bite … well unless you want us to!” one of the women said playfully.  She winked and smiled, trying to calm the youthful-looking, potential customer.

Kenneth responded with a bit of a shy, uneasy laugh just as Hugh and Judi came from behind, hitting the two women at the back of their heads, knocking them out simultaneously. 

“I can’t believe that I did that,” Kenneth spoke up, breathing a sigh of relief that he had accomplished his assigned role. 

“You did good Kenneth; you helped us get the drop on them,” Judi responded.

“OK.  We need to get these ladies out of sight before anybody comes along.  Kenneth, go and make sure that there is nobody at the back of the inn.” Hugh interjected.  “We need to take the ladies through the back entrance and down to our room without being seen.”

Kenneth ran behind the inn and then motioned to his friends that the way was clear.  Hugh and Judi dragged the ladies back to their rooms.  Judi reached into the pouch she carried at her waist and withdrew two special mushrooms.  She crushed them up using the handle of her knife, and then put the powdered remnants into two separate glasses.  She then placed the glass under the nose of the first lady and motioned Hugh over to do the same on the second.  The fine powder was inhaled by the unconscious women.  After a few moments, Judi removed the glass and nodded to Hugh.  “The powder from these mushrooms will ensure that they sleep for a few hours.  It has some hallucinogenic properties so they will wake up with a headache and be somewhat disoriented, but otherwise, they will be fine.”

Judi searched through the ladies' handbags and located their ID papers.  The document measured about three inches by five inches and contained the name, gender, date of birth, description, address of residence, date of issue, and expiry.  Most importantly, it showed a registration number in which the authorities could check against official records to verify its legitimacy.

It would be simple enough to duplicate the ID’s using paper from the inn, keeping all the information the same except the descriptions which would be made to more closely reflect their own.  Judi sat down to carefully duplicate the information from each document.  When the task was completed, she held it up for Hugh to inspect. 

“Very good,” said Hugh.  You managed to make the printing almost exact.  We will go when the lineup at the ticket booth is the busiest; the agent will not likely even take the time to do a full check.

When the paperwork was completed, Judi returned the original documents to the handbags while Hugh removed the ladies' outer cloaks.  He passed one to Judi.

“I don’t know why I need another cloak,” Judi whispered to Hugh as they flipped the hoods over their heads. 

“These cloaks are only temporary … we need them at least until we get on board.  If an alarm is raised over the stolen clothing before we leave, they will be looking for these garments.  Once we are on our way, we can stow these and revert to our own clothing which no one would be looking for,” explained Hugh.  “By returning the ID to the owners, they will only be concerned about their missing outerwear, not suspecting we will be using their identification information.”

 “OK, the next boat leaves in one hour.  Let’s get these ladies back out to where we jumped them.  They will never know that they have been anywhere but the alley when they wake up.  We can then head over and hang out near the ticket booth.  When the line gets busy, we will join in with the crowd,” Hugh announced.

The plan went well.  The ticket agent didn’t even look up when they requested three tickets to Level Three and submitted Kenneth’s legitimate ID along with their forged documents.  When the gates opened, they moved with the crowd towards the guards at the ship’s gate.  The passenger traffic was particularly heavy and the guards were only doing cursory inspections of the documents.  The three friends passed through the gate and moved into the center of the ship and to find a place to sit.

Judi whispered, “They were not being very thorough …”

Hugh’s immediate response was, “Shhh!  Don’t jinx it!”  Just the same, he smiled, pleased that the plan had worked so well.  Upon introspection, he noticed that he had leveled up to Level Twenty.  His mission to get to Third Level now showed a progress bar; it was at ten percent and climbing.