Hail friends,
6 months had pass since my failure at Yew Abbey. Snow had already covered all the land. (Was it Winter already?) And truth be told, I'd been looking for Gilfane ever since. In the morning, afternoon, and night, an encounter with Gilfane and a free ride to the roof was the reason I pursued the champion spawns at all. (Spawns which I usually want no part of.) At all times of the day for months on end, I randomly search every spawn location for a chance to right past wrongs -- a chance at redemption!
(The excrushiating torture! The unfathomable embarassment! The... test among tests...?)
YES.
Test among tests indeed!
This was the reason I came to Siege -- and through the darkness I see the light! Insurmountable odds! Me versus the world! Death or glory!
That's right -- GLORY!
Glory, the missing ingrediant during my twlight hours on Napa. Glory, that which could no longer be found in those lands. (Yes, that glory.)
Everything is as it should be! Everything that was past was now past for a reason!
I was meant to face this challenge and Nightstalker was meant to give me the heads up this day...!
Keep in mind that I couldn't simply ask someone for a rune. Some people talk and other people listen. Some people gossip and other people snitch. For this to work, I'd have to find my own way back to the abbey. And maybe the forced wait would work to my advantage...? I was brand new to Siege after all and I was still training my skills. If I found them any earlier, would I even have the skills to pull it off...?
It was hours before dawn and Gilfane was out and about and unfortunately for them... so were we.
(Why didn't somebody tell me to check spawns before dawn?)Nightstalker guides gives me the play-by-play and I can't get there soon enough.
Nightstalker (nor anyone else in the guild) knows of my self-defeating guilt that's been festering for the past 6 months.
(It's none of their business.)
*sniff*
And I arrive just in time.Avai Takier was heading away from the spawn area with a blue beetle full of gold. One other mounted GIL zooms past us both. I check Avai's pockets but... this isn't why I came. A few other GIL begin to scatter, I was being left behind, and Nighstalker was dead and on his own.
(For the greater good!)
As soon as I had arrived, I make my way to the nearest exit as fast as I can.
And once again... right on time.
(Bastards.)
(That makes one of us.)
Aurora was standing motionless with her 100% LRC, ripe for the taking. But I remind you once more, that's not why I'm here and that's not what's been eating at me for these past months.
Aurora had a baby that needed tending to.
Aurora was left behind.
Aurora was my ticket into the promised land.(She doesn't disappoint.)
(Success.)
Nightstalker was still looking for a healer and I was on my own.
(Just the way I like it.)
The post-spawn mingling had already begun and I snooped around as they loitered. I pop open their packs one by one with nothing too exciting until I get to Fanta.
120 Focus.
In my excitement, in the face of the big day, I curiously test my luck on a bland 120 scroll. I reach out and fail. I'm not sure if the others noticed, but Fanta sure did.They soon all depart... and I soon realize what I've done.
For 6 months I've been hunting for the hunters and in one fell swoop I may have ruined all the fun. Would they continue to use and abuse the Yew Abbey roof? Why would they? Why would they do that now that their cover was blown? Why -- OH WHY -- would they continue to use such a public location for the most valuable of scrolls?
They couldn't. They wouldn't.
Would they?
One-by-one they either gate away or step on the teleporter. One-by-one they leave me alone on the roof. And one-by-one I make sure the coast is clear before pulling out my runebook and marking two runes (just in case). I got what I came for and had a better sense of their champion spawn time table... and luckily for me, all my questions would be answered later that day.
Curiously, Shipwreck of Gilfane gets on the public boards and gives me the information I need:
::Public Posting by Shipwreck of Gilfane::The Gilfane guild and friends were doing their part to rid our fair lands of vermin hoards when one of our newer members cried out for help. He was being attacked by a named rat called nightstalker. We were unaware (but not surprised) that such a rat could appear amongst the slimes and rodents.
This particular rat was highly skilled at hiding and running away, though we ran to the aid of our guild mate. Also not a surprised, he called upon roving gangs of fairy's to do his dirty work. I had him on tracking and tried to ride him down, but he would not stand and fight. We tracked and chased him, created earthquakes, tried to reveal, but could not get him.
After a few minutes of this silliness, we tired of chasing him about and returned to the business of clearing the vermin hoard and killed the villain Barracoon. He popped in and out during the fight but apparently learned his lesson about staying visible long enough to cause any problems.
To our surprise, we found the corpse of nightstalker, stuck in the woods by Barracoon's deathspot. It appeared that a slime was feeding on his corpse. A fitting end to this parasite. My guess is that there is in truth, no honor among thieves and he was killed by his own vermin brethren.Not wanting to stick around for raiders, I assumed that everything the thief had on his corpse was stolen and some was probably from our own persons. After regrouping, it appears he lacked the skill to steal from any of the folks at the hunt. I do question the quality of such gear on a person so low. I can only surmise that he had stolen it from other folks. If anyone recognizes a treasure lost in the presence of this pond scum, I would be delighted to return it to the rightful owner.
A very nice dagger, I must say. No doubt good for stabbing honest people in the back when they at low health, fighting monsters and minding their own business.A few decent fast cast items, good for casting invis and shape-shifting into some kind of sewer type vermin. Pretty nice stats, I would hate to loose these items. It is never a good idea to venture beyond the guard zones with equipment you can not afford to loose.
In the end, we hauled out a treasure store of gold and scored a nice meditation SoT and this 120 Power Scroll! According to our custom, we rolled the dice and Fanta was the winner. A good turn of events for him (as he was the one brutally attacked by nightstalker.)
Gilfane is not about stealing from people though. Even if this gear is rightfully Nightstalker's, I would be happy to return it to him if he would like to ask for it back. Except for the dagger. I will be returning that in my own time of choosing.
It's curious that Gilfane ommitted my failed attempt at the 120 Focus. It's curious that they make no mention of me at all.
(It's curious.)
Could it be they still intended to keep their location a secret? They still intended to distribute their scrolls in the early morning at a location only known only by the entire Gilfane empire and little ol' me...?)
(I had them right where I wanted them and everything was going according to plan.)
...it would only be 3 days before I'd test my luck once more.