Mudhoof barked a laugh. “Bet all your maps of the place are now heavily discounted.”
“No,” I said. “We’re interested in your locating service.”
Yibbet brightened. “Very good. Please follow me.” He dropped the maps he was carrying on a table and led us deeper inside.
Atop a podium was a large open book, thick with weathered pages. Yibbet stood over it and brought out a beautiful blue quill pen, which looked expensive. As he dipped its tip in a squat ink bottle, I couldn’t help myself and pulled up the statistics for the pen.
Item: Niqix Quill Feather (Rare), Weight 0.01 Units, Uses: Can be used in Alchemy, Cartography and Inscribing spells. Value: Unknown.
Do you wish to query for current auction house prices? Y/N
I selected Yes.
Querying. Item found. Current asking price range is 450 Gold Pieces to 620 Gold Pieces.
Impressive, I thought. Rare items that could be used across a broad range of skill sets were worth a lot.
“Person, place, or thing?” Yibbet asked. He stood with the Niqix Quill Feather poised above a blank sheet of the open book.
I dismissed the statistics screen from my view. Nosey gamer, me.
“Uh, place,” I said.
Yibbet carefully drew a symbol at the top of the page. Finished, he asked, “Name?”
“Uh,” I gave Mudhoof a glance who was trying to stifle a grin. “Wally’s Womp.”
“Can you spell it, please?”
I did with a little uncertainty.
The Cartographer blinked. “Interesting,” he said, then wrote the name under the symbol. I didn’t doubt he had heard untold names over his years of service, and each one would have been ‘interesting’.
Finished, Yibbet stood back and watched the page expectantly. “Hmm,” he said after a few moments.
“What is it?” I said.
“According to the Locator’s book there is no place named Wally’s Womp,” he said.
“Maybe you spelt it wrong,” Mudhoof said.
“I’ll try Wally with one ‘l’,” Yibbet said, but that did not produce a result either.
“Okay,” I said, getting worried. “Try ‘Thing’.” Maybe Kragg had lied after all.
Yibbet turned over to a fresh blank page, drawing a different symbol at the top. Beneath, he wrote ‘Wally’s Womp’.
This time something happened. The symbol and name on the page moved about on their own, swirling and stretching. Then, a single word appeared replacing them. ‘Masked’.
“Ah,” said Yibbet.
“Ah, what?” I said. That didn’t sound good.
“Someone has paid a lot of money to negate the search for a thing named Wally’s Womp,” Yibbet said. “I cannot attain its exact location, as a result.”
Mudhoof snorted. “Trite did it.”
I nodded. It made sense Ogden would use his vast resources to hide the access point to his guildhall. Many guilds did it as well. It wasn’t a perfect solution; someone determined enough could do some detective work to eventually find them. But my time was short.
To Yibbet, I asked, “Is there any way to get around the Masking of a search? Perhaps pay an extra fee?” The last was said hopefully. I didn’t have a lot of gold, but would spend it all for a shot at Trite.
The cartographer shook his head, “I am sorry, miss. Once a Masking is placed it will remain so for its duration.”
“Duration?”
“There is a thirty-day limit to a Masking, which can then be renewed.”
I frowned. Unless Ogden stopped paying his monthly bill, which was doubtful, I had no immediate way to get the location.
Mudhoof, showing his frustration, scoffed. He produced a large silver medallion from his inventory. The game brought up its identification. ‘Sliver Of Knowledge’. He handed it to Yibbet. “Here,” he said. “This should take care of it.”
My eyes widened. “I didn’t know you had one of those.” I was shocked. Sliver Of Knowledge medallions were the ultimate form of payment to any Locators Guild. All of their more privileged services would be available to someone with one. As a result, the medallions were incredibly rare, and very expensive.
“Are you sure you want to use that now?” I asked Mudhoof. “That’s worth a ton of money.”
Mudhoof waved a hand. “Yeah, why not. It’s what they’re for. And I’m not in need of locating anything else at the moment.” He grinned.
“Thank you, Muddie,” I said, and patted his arm.
Yibbet’s eyes grew big at the medallion in his hand and gave Mudhoof a respectful bow. “What is it you require, sir,” he said.
“Give us the location of the thing named Wally’s Womp.”
“Alas, the Masking cannot be circumvented by any means, but with this Sliver Of Knowledge a can provide you with the closest known travel gate. Would that be sufficient?”
Mudhoof nodded. “Make it so, Number One.”
After another bow, Yibbet turned the book to new page. He drew the symbol and wrote the name.
Immediately the page swirled them about and this time a detailed map appeared.
“Bingo!” I said with delight.
“Walley’s Womp is located near a travel gate in the Tormen Region on the planet Glidian,” Yibbish said. “I will give you a copy, and the most effective route to get there. Be advised, if you deviate from this route, the map will adjust accordingly.”
I was beyond happy with this result. Going from not having a clue where to find Ogden, to practically being served the exact location of his hiding spot put me over the moon.
Map in hand, I thanked Yibbish, and we went back out into the town square.
“This is great, Muddie,” I said. “Let’s get to the nearest travel gate and-”.
“THERE SHE IS!” a voice boomed over the noise of the bustling crowds.
Mudhoof and I turned to look.
Walking toward us, from the direction of the Temple, was a heavily armed group of players. Their disposition indicated they were spoiling for a fight.
And standing in the middle of them, pointing a finger at me was a Shadow I recognized.
Perriwinkle.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Well, this sucks,” said Mudhoof.
Instantly, both Mudhoof and I had weapons in hand; I with my bow, and Muddie with his massive twin bladed battle axe.
I assessed the opposing players. Two warriors, a stone mage, and Perriwinkle. All were at my level or just below. One on one, I was certain I could take each on, but as a group, even with Mudhoof by my side, it would be difficult.
“Vivian Valesh,” Perriwinkle said, grinning widely. “I knew you’d wash up here once I realized my poison didn’t finish you off.” He made a tsk-tsk noise, then said. “At least now I get the pleasure of killing you face to face.”
“You’re our bounty, FILTERED!” roared a warrior, a human viking. He wore a simple set of chain-mail armor, along with an iron cap helmet with a single horn sticking out to one side.
“Now, guys,” I said, “Maybe we can work out some sort of deal?” The Temple was behind them, and its safezone felt far away. There would be no going around this lot. We’d have to go through them.
“Hey, Pickle-winkle,” said Mudhoof. “Want some face-to-face time? Come closer.” He swirled his battle axe around and grinned.
“Enough discussion!” shouted the second warrior. He was a knight in all black armor from head to toe. I would bet a million gold pieces that the player behind him was a pimply faced thirteen year old skulking in his mother’s basement.
When the black knight was shouting, I summoned a magma arrow into my empty quiver. With tremendous effort I did not look directly at my intended target.