Anti-Mage

Sarah watched as the man, Anton was it? She watched as Anton appeared through the portal in this ancient football stadium. She came into this Dungeon World after she’d watched Tabus kill Zarius by ejecting him into a black hole. All of her effort infiltrating Tabus Aumtara’s organization was now wasted because Zarius had been so sure that what he’d found would appease his Master.

Well, he had been right, after all. Sarah smiled wryly, the old geezer had done something he hadn’t done in a very long time, he changed his routine and dropped everything to come to this shadow earth. She’d been extremely lucky to have been in the right place at the right time with the right equipment to detect his dimensional teleport. She’d been able to analyze the target dimension and location here.

But, she wasn’t a complete moron like Zarius. Instead of rushing after him, she’d purchased the teleport to this world at a location at least 5,000 miles away from the target location and appeared over the South American Continent near Rio. From there she’d flown north until a magical surge and diverted her to St. Cloud Minnesota. She’d diverted to this location because as soon as she’d detected it notifications had appeared in her vision.

Guild Quest Failed, Tabus Aumtara has died but not by your hand. Return to the Guild and report your failure.

New Quest: Determine who Killed Tabus Aumtara and either offer them a place by your side or end them. The Guild’s Honor must be preserved!

Sarah knew that if she returned to the Premiere Sicarius Guild or Sicarius Guild without something to show for her failure, there would be severe repercussions. So, she decided to stay and try to find the person that had ended Tabus. When she flew down to investigate she discovered the Safe Zone. She remained invisible and quickly determined that no one here knew what was going on as they tried to recover from the explosion.

Sarah checked the coordinates she’d received when Tabus had left their world and noticed that it pointed to a location Southeast of her position in the city of Minneapolis St. Paul. She made her way out of the Safe Zone and then headed to Minneapolis St. Paul.

Once she’d arrived she’d found the stadium and watched as the people within the Safe Zone worked hard to bring some order to the people here. She’d floated above them for a while and then landed and took a seat a little further back where she could keep an eye on everyone. As she’d watched the area, she realized that some kind of turnover had just happened and after listening to the people waiting to use the SYSTEM Shop Node talk for a while she realized that some of the women were immune to the Safe Zone restrictions and had been busy saving other women that had been violated and/or abused.

She had no idea why some of the criminals who had violated some of the younger girls were sitting in holding cells; any member of the Guild would have ended them immediately. In fact, one of the things that had drawn her to the Sicarius Guild. While The Sicarius Guild was an Assassin’s Guild, they had very strict rules against killing innocents or any of its members violating others. They had no issue with contracts or killig targets, even children, if the child had performed some heinous act. Innocents though, those were severely offlimits. Even accidental deaths of innocents could lead to expulsion or having your name added to a contract. It probably helped that over 83% of the guild was female but the wants and needs of sexes was not a discussion worth having.

She was a woman who enjoyed killing. Others enjoyed doing unsavory things. She directed her urges in a useful way by killing those who acted on their unsavory desires. Some would judge her as a monster, but she truly believed that if she was a monster she was a needed monster. Besides, she really enjoyed killing. The Sicarius Guild was the place that didn’t look down on her for wanting to satisfy her needs.

So, she was sitting in the stands when the man had stepped through the portal arch, something she hadn’t seen in a while. Normally, magical portals were used because the energy cost was so much less. It’s one of the reasons she’d stayed in the Stadium, it had appeared right after she arrived. While she’d waited she’d listened to the crowds of people while they discussed what had happened yesterday when a man had freed the female slaves, made the area a Safe Zone, and left the women in charge.

Soon after she’d found Annabelle and followed her while she talked with the other women. They had wondered if Anton could have been the cause of the explosion and if he was dead, to which Annabelle had said, “I don’t think so, he’s still listed as the City Lord.”

Once Sarah heard that she decided to stay near the portal and wait for Anton to return. If he wasn’t dead, he’d be back eventually if this was his city. The Arch had appeared and about an hour later she’d watched as Anton had stepped through the Arch. Sarah had tried to use one of her better identification spells to get his information, but it failed. The next moment he disappeared and 30 seconds later he was back. She hadn’t detected any use of mana when he did so. Was he using magic or wasn’t he?

She listened as he said something about heading Northwest, and that he’d be back after a bit. Sarah thought about what to do next and decided that a little more waiting was in order. She made sure she was still invisible and undetectable and began shadowing Annabelle. If Anton was going to meet up and talk with her later, she might be able to make introductions at that point.

***

After Anton knocked on the door a woman armed with a pistol in the holster opened the door and asked, “Yes?”

“I’m Anton, Annabelle is expecting me?”

“The woman, who he had never seen before stepped aside and motioned toward the first room he’d meet all of the women in the cages in, “She’s in there were a few of the others. While we haven’t met before now, I’d just like to say thank you for freeing Annabelle, if she hadn’t come along…”

Anton smiled reassuringly, “Well it’s a crazy universe right now, but for what it’s worth I think you all are as safe as you can be.”

The woman nodded and stepped back as she seemed to struggle with something. Anton left her to her thoughts and walked toward the room where he could hear Annabelle talking.

“With the food that Anton dropped off, we have enough supplies for just over a week if people continue to hunt monsters and supplement their food supply from the SYSTEM Shop.”

“Has anyone come forward with a Merchant type class yet?” Annabelle asked.

“A few actually. We’ve assigned them to groups that are at the edge of the Safe Zone and going after the smaller monsters. They all need to reach level 10 before they’ll unlock a quest skill that will allow them to create a temporary node that will give access to a very limited SYSTEM Shop Node.”

“Limited, how?” Annabelle asked.

“As I understand it, The Merchant can use the orb to transfer to and receive from the SYSTEM Shop Merchant Network or SMN for short. The SMN is a network recognized by the SYSTEM that regulates prices of goods based on sales to and from the SYSTEM Shop or Merchants that are part of the SMN.”

“Why is being part of that network good for a Merchant? They could just get things locally and then sell them locally and make a pure profit off the difference,” Annabelle asked.

“Well, it’s a little more complicated than that but the basic reason is access to goods and cost reduction. Merchants enjoy a discount based on their Class and level. Also, if anyone goes to a SYSTEM Shop, the prices are established by the SMN and they cannot be reduced or increased. If something sells for 100 credits today, it will sell for 100 credits tomorrow even if only one of them was available within the entire SYSTEM. Merchants in the SMN with items can alter their prices based on rarity and also offer discounts. If they could purchase something for 20% less than the SMN they could sell the item for 10% less than the SYSTEM Shop sells it which earns them a 10% profit and XP towards their class.”

“Sounds complicated. Also, where do they store all the goods?” Annabelle asked.

“One of the first class skills they receive gives them access to a Merchant Storage Node which is a lot like a Personal Node but it’s directly linked to SYSTEM Shop as long as they’re within the SYSTEM.”

Anton walked into the room and saw Anabelle seated at a table with three men and three women. Something that caught his attention immediately was a woman standing off and to the side behind Annabelle. She did not look like any of the other women in the room. When she saw Anton’s gaze stare into her own she smiled and vanished. Anton heard the pop of air behind him and Dodged forward as a hand reached for him with incredible speed.

“Please don’t run Anton, we need to talk?” the woman said which caused the others in the room to freeze when the woman appeared out of nowhere and spoke.

Anton called out, “Do not move,” which caused everyone else in the room to freeze.

“Good, it seems that you can be responsible, the woman said as she released Anton and stepped back. Also, your concern for the people in this room is commendable,” the woman said.

“Be that as it may, who are you?” Anton asked.

“You may call me Sarah.”

“Well, Sarah, what do you want?”

“Is there someplace that we can talk privately.”

“Wait, why didn’t you disappear when you attacked me?” Anton asked, his mind catching up with the fact that they were in a Safe Zone and while he was immune to it, he was pretty sure this woman wasn’t

“Anything in the SYSTEM can be purchased. Even immunity to a Safe Zone. While expensive I needed to test your reaction,” Sarah said.

“How expensive?” Anton asked as Annabelle also looked on with interest.

“1 Million credits per attack.”

“You threw a million credits away to test me?” Anton asked.

“How many credits did you spend to set up the Safe Zone in this City and provide for the people here?” Sarah countered.

“That’s different, I was helping people,” Anton said.

“And I may be here to help you. A place we can talk privately?”

“You seem to be able to teleport, how about the roof of this building?”

“That would be private enough, but I doubt you’ll be able to get there, I’ve locked down magic in a 50-foot area. You shouldn’t be able to cast or use magic until I release my spell,” Sarah said with a smile.

“Yeah, we’ll see about that. I’ll see you on the roof,” Anton said and activated Specter. He moved up through the ceiling of the VIP booth and reappeared on the roof. A moment later Sarah appeared above him and floated down and landed in front of him.

Anton waited a moment and then asked, “Are you one of the mage monk’s friends?”

“Mage Monk?” Sarah asked questioningly. Are you talking about this man, Sarah asked as she pulled a picture out of her Personal Storage and showed it to him.

Anton looked at the image and immediately recognized it as the man that he’d killed yesterday and said, “Yes, him. Who was he?”

“Was? Do you know what happened to him?” Sarah asked.

“Well, he died.”

“Did you kill him?”

“I defended myself. He died,” Anton said without emotion, “What’s your point.”

“At the spot, the vortex opened up?”

“I was sleeping in a vault, he popped in, asked who I was, and began attacking,” Anton said though he had no idea why this was important to Sarah.

“How did you kill him,”

“Yeah, not going to lie, you seem like a nice woman but, before I answer anything else I’m going to want to know why?” Anton asked.

Anton watched as Sarah thought about his question for a moment, looked him over, and answered, “I’m trying to decide if you are worthy of joining my guild or if I’m going to have to kill you to reclaim my honor,” Sarah said.

“What is it with this fucking universe now? Don’t answer that, it was a rhetorical question. So, by killing that asshole yesterday in some way besmirched your honor and now I either have to prove myself or you have to kill me, Good luck with that.”

Sarah smiled with a glint of hunger in her eyes, “Oh, I can kill…”

Anton interrupted her, “No you can’t.

Before Anton could move, Sarah flashed forward and put a dagger through his heart, while looking into his eyes.

“Back in a sec,” Anton coughed out as he fell to the roof and died.

You Have Died!

Specter Activated.

What was it with people trying to kill him? Anton’s Point of View shifted to normal as his body disintegrated and he took a step back and waited to rematerialize. While he waited, he observed as Sarah looked at her dagger with a questioning expression and then down at his body as it evaporated. Anton was a little surprised though, he’d had on that mithril armor and that dagger had been sharp enough to pierce it, even with his normal magic negation at work. It looked like he’d need to find something stronger.

As Anton appeared, Sarah’s eyes were drawn to him and she looked at him with a little shock. Before she could speak, Anton said, “As I said, you can’t kill me, well, you can kill me, I just don’t stay dead.”

Sarah looked at her dagger and then back at Anton, “You should most definitely be dead and your soul should have been trapped in this dagger.”

“Yeah, magic and I had a falling out, I told it to get bent so it leaves me alone,” Anton said sarcastically. “Now, how can I help you, though I will warn you that if you try to kill me again, I will make it my life goal to repeat what I did to your friend the consequences be damned.”

“Consequences?”

“Don’t you worry about that, so again, what can I do for you?”

“Did you kill Tabus Aumtara?”

Anton sighed, “Yes, I killed the man that you showed me the picture of, If his name was Tabus Aumtara, then yes I killed him.”

Sarah sighed and seemed to struggle with herself as she came to a decision and said, “Very well, As you have completed my contract and I cannot slay you, or at least seem to be able to at this time I need you to accompany me back to my Guild to determine if you are worthy to be one of our members.

“Lady, I’m not going anywhere with you,” Anton said.

“Yes, you are,” Sarah said as she pulled a pendant from her Personal Storage and activated a portal.

Before he could move, Anton was hurled at the portal as she stepped forward, grabbed him by his shirt and pants, and spun him around before she released him at the portal. He’d passed through the portal location but it didn’t send him anywhere. Instead, the portal vanished as he touched it and he activated Specter. He arrested his momentum, returned to where he was standing, and deactivated his skill.

Anton was tired of being attacked. Also, this woman seemed to be a rogue or fighter of some type and far more experienced than him. Still, he was tired of being walked all over. Anton rematerialized and immediately struck out with Mind Bolt which did absolutely nothing.

Sarah looked confused for a moment before she asked, did you just try to use a mental spell, No! A mental skill on me, That would explain why you could still do things when I locked magic down…

As Sarah seemed to be talking without purpose she flicked her wrist and a dagger struck his heart and killed him.

You have Died!

Specter Activated

Time to draw this crazy woman away from the people he was trying to save. Anton extended the duration of Specter by one minute and activated Manifest. Because he’d died he hadn’t spent Psychic Energy either time he’d died. To extend the duration for a minute cost 1 point and to Manifest would cost 1 point per turn. He wouldn’t have to hold this for long though, he just needed her to follow him.

Anton appeared in front of Sarah and flipped her the bird as he darted off to the east. She was fast as three strikes intersected the spot where he’d appeared, but each failed to do anything. Anton flew up and away from the stadium but stayed under cloud level so he could judge his distance from it. As he flew away from Sarah, she took flight and hurled multiple spells at him as she chased after him.

Anton stayed ahead of her and made sure to turn and taunt her after a failed spell. She might be powerful but her flight spell was shit. Of course, he couldn’t hear her but the spells passed through his noncorporeal form were a great clue that she’d cast a spell. When he was over a mile up and over the outskirts of the east side of Minneapolis he turned and waited for Sarah to come up next to him.

Anton could see her mouth moving but he’d never learned to read lips which it now seemed was another skill he was going to need to pick up . When he saw her lips stop moving he made the okay symbol with his left hand and grabbed his left thumb with his right pointer finger to make it look like his right hand was hanging on to his thumb and dangling from it. This was the universal sign for “Your shit is hanging, or dangling,” he never could remember. The Okay symbol represents her sphincter and the pointer finger…you know what? It didn’t matter. This woman wasn’t going to stop coming after him for some honor-based dumbass reason and it was time to end her, that warning be damned.

Anton deactivated Manifest and before she could move activated Spectral Reach as he pushed his right pointer finger into the center of her brain. This time, as he did so he also tried to dodge the explosion which worked out. The only part of him that was destroyed was his right hand, up to his forearm.

.

.

.

A minute, month, or year later, he wasn’t sure, Anton found himself flying through emptiness with an open blinking notification in his vision.

You were Warned.