A Virtual Temptress Ch. 08

"Dude, c'mon. It smells like vomit. I think the last guy threw up into this."

"Sorry fella, hood stays on. Lieutenant's strict about procedure."

Dan had been awake in the interrogation cell for 15 minutes. His brain felt like a ball of lukewarm tar, courtesy of the mana burn he'd suffered in the cathedral, but at least it was clearing up quickly. The devs had reduced the duration a month ago, presumably sick of the forums being clogged with posts from whiny mages.

His captor wasn't much for conversation. A periodically flashing "4" was displayed on his HUD, displaying that he'd received four messages since he'd fallen unconscious. They were almost certainly from Jimmy -- no one else was that talkative when you were clearly AFK.

His character screen icon was also illuminated, which was of more interest to Dan. Unfortunately, he could access neither -- for game purposes, the interrogation room was a tiny dungeon, which meant that players could neither send nor receive messages. And the unpleasantly-scented hood covering Dan's face prevented him from accessing further parts of his HUD.

"You, uh. Live in the Bazaar district?"

"Listen mate, you seem nice enough. I've got no beef with you adventurer types. But policy is that if you keep running your mouth, I'm supposed to shut you up."

"Okay, but - "

"Lieutenant's strict about policy, mate."

Dan decided to stop talking.

He would have logged out and avoided the wait, but he couldn't risk auto-resolving the interrogation. Dan didn't know how much evidence or how many witnesses they had, if they'd interviewed Lexi, and what she'd said if they had. The situation had escalated rapidly and he figured it was best to hang onto whatever scraps of control he could find.

Dan practiced breathing through his mouth for half an hour until the door opened.

"That'll be all, watchman Hendrik." The lieutenant, presumably. His voice sounded younger than Dan had expected.

Dan listened to the door closing, followed by a tortured creak as the newcomer sat down. Papers shuffled. A pen scratched.

"Mister Firewilde, if I am correct?"

"Mm."

"You have found yourself in an uncomfortable situation, Mister Firewilde. Brawling with the Order Inquisition, leading a cult, and kidnapping of a young woman are the charges heading your list at the moment."

"Listen, I don't know where you're getting this from, but - "

"The girl, you stupid adventurer. Did you think you could lure an innocent into one of your ill-conceived schemes and it wouldn't backfire on you?"

Dan couldn't help but smile beneath the hood. He didn't need ranks in Truth Sense to know the lieutenant was a miserable liar. "That sounds pretty serious. What do you think we should do about it?"

"Well," the lieutenant continued. His tone grew more confident. "As a member of the Southspire Adventurer's Guild, you are offered some minimal rights. Providing you cooperate with our investigation, of course."

"Of course."

"So if you'll just sign this confession, we can all be about our business and you needn't remain in this cell."

Ah, there it was. "The hood," Dan said.

"Excuse me?"

"I can't see. Because of the hood."

"Ah, yes. Right."

Dan drew a welcome breath of stale air as the nauseating sack was removed. He scanned the room, which was empty except for the table, two chairs, and the lieutenant.

The man had to be younger than Dan -- twenty at most. Thin, muscular, with scruff of blond hair on his chin that wasn't likely to form a beard any time this decade. The man scowled as he stepped back, his face sour and dismissive.

Dan flicked his eyes to his HUD, subvocalizing to open his messages. "And my hands, if you wouldn't mind." Dan stared meaningfully over his shoulder. "To sign the confession. Lieutenant...?"

The man grimaced. "Lieutenant Sallow. And very well." He withdrew a key from the pouch at his waist and moved to open the shackles. "We know you're a pyromancer, Mr. Firewilde, and you should know that this room has dampening wards. If I see one spark, I'll have the enforcers in here before you can light a match."

"Ah, much better." Dan made a show of massaging his wrists, flicking one finger towards his HUD to open the messages.

Shinji Shadowstep: Dude we need to talk, where r u?

Shinji Shadowstep: I've been practicing my stealth skills, like I told u, think I'm pretty close. But anyway, I decided to tail that girl you talked to earlier.

Shinji Shadowstep: bro, we really need to talk about her, like today.

Shinji Shadowstep: ????? are u there? bro come on????????????

Dan cycled rapidly through fear, paranoia, and curiosity, settling on mild irritation. He could deal with Jimmy later.

"Well?" Lieutenant Sallow flicked his eyes meaningfully between Dan and the confession. "I haven't got all day, let's be about our business."

What was this guy's deal, Dan mused? He was almost certainly bluffing -- if he had Dan cold (like he claimed) then there would be no need for this. "Sorry buddy, changed my mind. I've watched too many cop shows to buy in."

Sallow blinked twice before narrowing his eyes. "You're making a mistake."

"Okay."

"It would have been easier if you'd just - "

"Yeah, no, I got it." Dan pushed his chair back and leaned his feet on the table. The chair groaned forebodingly.

Sallow pinched the bridge of his nose. "... fine. If you want to sit here all night and wallow in your idiocy, I won't stop you."

Dan opened his mouth, then frowned. He was running out of witty retorts. Thankfully, he was saved from responding by three heavy thumps on the door to the interrogation room.

"Oy, Lieutenant." The guard from before.

"Watchman Hendrik, I am currently occupied."

"Oh, meanin' no disrespect, sir. It's just this lady's here to see you."

"Tell her to wait in my office."

"Alright, sir. It's just, she's being awful insistent-like. Says her name's Glorianna. Seemed to think you knew her."

Sallow's face paled. 'Why me?' he mouthed. "Glorianna Brightwind?"

"That's the one, sir."

"Just... just send her in." The lieutenant aimed a withering glare at Dan as the door opened. "This isn't over, adventurer," he muttered.

But Dan wasn't really paying attention.

Glorianna Brightwind, Second Speaker of the Southspire Arcanist's Society, stepped into the room with the staccato clicking of fur-hemmed boots Her high-collared, silver-lined overcoat, white hair pulled into an immaculate bun, and clipped, precise tone worked in concert to convey one specific message: this was someone who was not to be fucked with.

"Madam arcanist," the lieutenant murmured, eyes warily meeting his visitor's.

"Richard." Her gaze locked on Sallow. "Would you care to explain why you have detained a member of the Arcanist's Society without prior consultation with myself?"

Sallow's mouth flapped for a moment. "But he's... Ma'am, this is an adventurer!"

"Correct. Your point?"

"Well it's just. I mean. Ma'am, I didn't... Adventurer's aren't permitted in the Academy!"

"I had no idea you were so knowledgeable about our recruitment protocols, Lieutenant Sallow. Or were you perhaps offering me advice regarding who I permit to join my own organization."

"I... I mean. No ma'am." Sallow sighed deeply. "Apologies, ma'am."

"Accepted. Now, are you quite finished with your little inquiry? I have business to attend to with Mr. Firewilde."

The lieutenant's eyes moved quickly between Dan and the Speaker. "But he's been accused of kidnapping! And consultation with dark forces!"

"Lieutenant Sallow," Brightwind began, as though speaking to a child, "Do you have any charges that you would care to level against my colleague?"

Sallow deflated as the last bit of pomp left him. "No, I suppose not. Ma'am."

"Very well. Mr. Firewilde, if you would care to accompany me?"

Dan blinked rapidly, realized she was talking to him, and stood up. "Uh, yeah. I mean, of course." He looked around the room. "I'm ready. Could I get my things back before we go?"

Two minutes later Dan exited the squat brick precinct building, trying not to run as he kept pace with his rescuer. It took another five minutes before he worked up the courage to speak.

"So... are we going to talk about what happened."

"Patience, Mr. Firewilde. You and I are going to have a conversation, hopefully to our mutual benefit. But not on the street."

Three minutes later she led Dan into Maggie's Place, an upscale tavern that few players frequented. Glorianna motioned to the older woman behind the counter and said something Dan couldn't hear before setting three coins on the counter. The woman nodded and led them behind the bar to a small room with a brightly-polished circular table and five cushioned oak chairs. The Speaker sat, motioning for Dan to do the same as she removed her gloves. The innkeep closed the door and left.

"Mr. Firewilde, I will be to the point." She arranged her gloves carefully on the table in front of her. "And know that you may speak freely here. The room is shielded against divination and Maggie is an exceptionally trustworthy host."

Glorianna's eyes bored into him, molten silver in twin pools of starlight. "Let us begin with this: did you, during the course of this evening, defeat two Templars of the Order Inquisition?"

Dan exhaled carefully. Was a trick? It seemed far-fetched that the authorities would go to such lengths. And there was no disguising who she was talking to. Glorianna Brightwind was the foremost public member of the most powerful mage's guild in the city. The Southspire Arcanist's Society, if he remembered the wiki page correctly, trained NPC mages for public service and military positions. No adventurers (and thus players) were allowed to join. A few players claimed to have completed quests on their behalf, but even that was suspect. The Society was a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in the most powerful collective of wizards on the continent.

Trap or no, it was too much to pass up. Dan decided it was best to be honest. "I did fight them, but didn't defeat them on my own. I just broke their wards. My partner came in and handled them from there."

The Speaker scrutinized his face, and Dan felt compelled to examine a knot of wood in the well-worn table. "Indeed."

Dan closed his eyes and began to mentally brace himself. "Look, I didn't mean to get into a fight with them, I just got swept up in - "

"Young man, you misunderstand me. You are what, level sixteen? Seventeen?"

Dan nodded. "Seventeen. Well, I leveled after the fight."

"There are mages in our academy who are over level forty, myself included. And none of us would be able to break the wards of two fully-trained Templars." She steepled her hands. "In close-quarters combat, no less. It is a noteworthy feat. Yes, I think I've decided -- consider yourself hired. Fluke or no, it's too valuable an opportunity to pass up."

"I'm sorry, what? Hired?" She had lost Dan about two stops back.

"Allow me to clarify. You are hereby extended an invitation to join the Southspire Arcanist's Society as a journeyman instructor. Probationary status, pending further examination. It will be an irregular arrangement, you understand, as you are the first of your ilk -- and please understand I mean no offence by the term -- to be offered membership or employment within our organization since adventurers first came to this world. We can discuss salary and privileges in more detail later, if that is amenable to you. Thursday, perhaps. Let's say 3:00pm. Are we agreed?"

Dan stared at her as his comprehension rubber-banded itself back into his skull. He had a server -- no, a game -- first. Wait till his guildmates heard about this! Jimmy was going to shit.

"Yes, absolutely, of course," Dan blurted as his faculties returned. "Thursday at three. See you then." It was four days from now, real-time. He'd be able to pull himself together and do a little research. And take care of some outstanding details from what had happened earlier in the day.

Glorianna had begun to push her chair back when Dan realized he had another question. "Madam Speaker?"

"Mister Firewilde?" She finished standing, peering at him inquisitively.

"I hate to appear rude after you were nice enough to offer the invitation, but in the interest of full disclosure I have some... inconvenient tasks I still need to attend to tonight. Related to the evening's earlier activities."

She gestured for him to continue.

"To be blunt, I'd like an advance on my salary. The watch confiscated my coin when they picked me up, and I won't be able to tie up my loose ends without funds."

"Very well, Mr. Firewilde. I have," she peered into her purse, "Fifteen hundred crowns in my possession currently. Would that suffice for your purposes?"

She'd just offered him a small fortune. Casually. What would they be paying him for this gig? "That would be plenty, yes. Thank you. Very much."

Glorianna Brightwind nodded and swept out of the room.

Dan collapsed back into his chair, staring at the bulging coin purse she'd set on the table. It had been a long night. And he had one last task to take care of.