Chapter 14

Chapter 13

Antoinette stretched in her bed and was greeted by a friendly lick on the face. She knew who the culprit was even before she opened her eyes.

“Good morning, Midnight,” she said with a smile. She reached up and flipped him on his back to give him a belly rub. Midnight was happy to have his belly rubbed, until Antoinette stopped and gave him a snuggle before getting out of bed.

She looked around the room to see if anything changed, but everything was just as she left it the night before. Her new outfit was folded nicely and rested on top of her hat; even the thong. She walked over to pick up the gloves and put them on before heading to the bathroom.

Before she started the shower, she looked at her reflection with the gloves on and smiled at the noticeable change to her figure. She smiled when she thought of meeting Ravioli and Roy and if they would notice her change. As she considered the encounter, she wondered if they also benefitted from charisma altering clothing.

What if Ravioli was actually a 6 charisma, but he had a stud outfit that made him irresistible to women? She started to giggle at the thought of watching his charm fade away as he took one article of clothing off after another.

Antoinette knew that it shouldn’t really matter about her looks, but it did. Plenty of people spent small fortunes to make their characters look better with skins and other appearance altering items, so she was just one of the masses.

She turned on the shower and walked to get the rest of her outfit. When she returned, she set the clothes on the sink and stepped into the shower. She still had the gloves on when she started to lather up her hair. As the suds began to slither down her body, she used her hands to spread them over parts of her body that were getting missed.

Antoinette turned her back to the shower head and let the spray hit her back while her hands moved over her breasts. She closed her eyes, and thought about what would happen when she reached level 10. She hoped that it didn’t have the awkwardness of dating or the loss of all self-esteem like a fraternity; well maybe a bit of fraternity was okay.

As she thought about sex, she thought about the state of her apartment and suddenly felt embarrassed. There were probably plenty who shared a similar state of their residence, but it would be nice to have bigger bed to roll around in. Maybe there was a disk with a piece of furniture on it that let you swag out your apartment.

She finished her shower thinking of all the possibilities of shops there might be. It was going to be something that she was going to have to ask Roy or Ravioli when she talked to them next. After turning off the water, she stepped out and thought about joining a Guild. There was really no reason to wait to join a Guild, but which one.

Both Roy and Ravioli had hinted as her being able to join their Guilds, but she wasn’t sure she wanted that. Roy had warned her about Ravioli, but so far, he hadn’t done anything to warrant Roy’s warnings. There were the other two offers before she shut off her communication device, and there would probably be plenty of others today.

Two of her current quests involved a Guild, but how was she supposed to know which one to join? She finished drying off and started getting dressed. She thought there would be an issue with the corset, but it laced itself up. She twirled in a circle and watched the way her skirt lifted and smiled.

She couldn’t wait to show off her new outfit. She carried her boots and set them next to the bed, so she could sit down to put them on. Just as she finished lacing up her last boot, Midnight started to bark.

“What’s going on boy?” Antoinette asked.

He was trotting to her with her device in his mouth. I was buzzing and she took it to look at the screen. Her mouth dropped when she saw there were 43 missed calls and messages.

“What the fuck …” she breathed. “Why are there so many people calling me?”

She scrolled through the list of missed calls, looking for someone she knew. She got to the end and shook her head. Antoinette thought there probably wasn’t a wrong choice when looking to join a Guild at her low level, so she closed her eyes and scrolled back through the messages.

After several swipes with her finger, she stopped and looked at the name, Savannah. She pressed on her name and was given the choice to return the call or listen to the message. She clicked to listen to the message:

“Hello Antoinette, this is Savannah from the Sisters of Silence. We are an all-woman guild, and could use an Assassin for our ranks. Please call me back for more information.”

“What do you think Midnight?” Antoinette asked her pup. “She sounds nice enough, and there are probably advantages to a guild that was all girls.”

Midnight tilted his head as he listened to her talk.

“I’m going to give her a call, so keep quiet,” she smiled and patted him on the head. He leaned into her hand until she scratched his ears.

Antoinette pressed Savannah’s name again, but this time hit the button to call her back. A very generic tone beeped slowly until her call was answered.

“Hello, this is Savannah, Vice Guild Master to the Sisters of Silence,” the voice said. “What can I do for you.”

Antoinette took a deep breath before answering. “Hello Savannah, this is Antoinette. You left a message …” She was cut off before she could finish her sentence.

“Antoinette!” Savannah all but shouted. “I’m so glad you called me back! I’d like to give you a tour of our Guild Hall, and answer any questions you might have about joining a guild.”

The excitement in Savannah’s voice surprised her. She wondered if it was genuine, or a very practiced technique to draw new players in to fill the guild ranks.

“Sure, I guess that would be fine,” Antoinette answered.

“Is now a good time?” Savannah asked.

Antoinette took a second to think of if there was anything she needed to be doing; which there wasn’t. With joining a guild high on the priority list, she might as well see what Savannah had to offer.

“Yes,” she answered. “Now would be a good time. Are you on the bus route or how do I find you?”

“I’ll be there in a couple of minutes,” Savannah answered. “Just wait for me outside your safe house.”

Just like that, the line went dead. Antoinette grabbed her weapons and headed to the elevator, she wasn’t sure how they all fit on her back, but she didn’t question something that worked to her advantage. When she exited, she noticed that two new shops were available. There was one flush with Bella’s Boutique, while the other one was across from Bella’s.

She ran to the one by itself first, with Midnight trailing behind; barking all the way. As she approached, she read the hanging sign:

Paisley’s Pets & Training

“It’s a store for you boy!” she shouted as she pulled on the door. An alarm sounded and she rolled her eyes in frustration.

You must be level 10 to access Paisley’s Pets & Training

Just to make sure, she tugged on the door and the voice repeated itself. She pulled on it again, just for some self-satisfaction and received a jolt of electricity. The shock was enough to land her on her bottom ten feet away.

“What the fuck?” she breathed. The hand she used to pull on the door handle was numb, as was her arm up to her elbow. “You didn’t have to do that.”

You must be level 10 to access Paisley’s Pets & Training

She swore that the voice had a mocking tone, or her hearing was impacted by the jolt. She climbed to her feet and brushed off her ass. She looked to the ceiling and stuck out her tongue, half expecting to receive another shock. When nothing happened, she walked to the other shop. Above the door was a large sign that read:

Constantine’s Crafting Depot

Before reaching for the door handle, she rubbed her injured hand with the other. The numbness was starting to fade, leaving a feeling like her hand had been asleep, followed by the painful prickly sensation of ‘waking up’. After several seconds, she could flex her fingers and she used the same hand to pull on the handle.

To her surprise, it swung open easily. Just as she was going to step inside the new shop, she heard a noise coming from the street. She turned to see there was a car waiting, and remembered that Savannah sent one to pick her up. Antoinette let the door go and made her way to the street. When she got there, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

Hovering by the curb was something that looked like a mechanical dolphin. The machine was made of metal and was covered in gears that spun as the tail moved up and down. She wasn’t sure how the vehicle hovered, because the movement of the tail wasn’t it.

“Hello Antoinette,” a red-headed woman called from where she sat on a saddle on the back of the dolphin. She was holding reins connected to a bridle in the metal dolphin’s mouth. “I’m Carmen, and I’m here to bring you back to the guild hall.”

Carmen had her hair pulled up in a bun on top of her head, with dark glasses resting on her forehead. She was wearing black and copper striped slacks and a short copper waistcoat. Under the waistcoat was a white shirt, whose long sleeves were hidden by copper-colored gloves that went up to her elbows. She had on boots that looked more like combat style, but the boots had cogs covering it that moved when she moved her feet.

Antoinette turned her attention to the workings of the dolphin, and didn’t immediately see that Carmen extended a hand. She stepped closer and looked for a step before clasping Carmen’s hand. After a little bit, she found what she was looking for and several seconds later she was sitting behind Carmen.

“You can either put on the safety harness or just put your hands around my waist,” Carmen said.

Before Antoinette could decide, Carmen pulled on the reins and the dolphin started to move. Even though the dolphin was made of metal, the body moved like it was swimming though water. Antoinette looked over her shoulder to see the street falling away as the gears turned and the dolphin’s tail start to move faster. The dolphin made a slight turn and she slipped slightly in the saddle, but was able to quickly wrap her arms around Carmen’s waist.

She wanted to ask Carmen why the vehicle was in the shape of a dolphin, but thought it would be rude. Instead, she leaned into Carmen’s back and waited patiently for the ride to finish.

The trip gave Antoinette a new perspective on the surrounding landscape; the city wasn’t as big as she thought. Being up in the air let her see the hills and mountains encompassing the crumbling buildings. They flew to the edge of the city, and as they descended, the roof of a building started to open.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Is that the guild house?” Antoinette asked while she pointed.

“Yes, Savannah will be waiting for us,” Carmen answered.

Carmen piloted the dolphin through the opening and landed it close to where a woman waited. Antoinette couldn’t take her eyes off the woman she assumed was Savannah. She was standing with her arms folded under her large breasts, that were showing plenty of cleavage through her low-cut white shirt.

“Hello Antoinette,” Savannah called. “Come with me.”

Savannah reached a hand up and helped Antoinette off the dolphin. The two women left Carmen to power down the dolphin. As soon as Antoinette set her feet on the ground, Midnight appeared next to her. Savannah led Antoinette to a waiting elevator, still holding her hand. After entering the car, Antoinette noticed that there were no buttons; just a 10-key pad. Savannah punched in a series of numbers into the pad, and the door silently closed.

“I really like your outfit,” Savannah said.

“Thanks, Bella’s Boutique just opened up and someone bought the outfit for me,” Antoinette said.

“Wait,” Savannah said. “Can I guess who it was?”

“I have a feeling that you’re going to be able to guess without too much trouble,” Antoinette said. She was feeling like somehow Ravioli was taking advantage of her, even though he had been nothing but nice to her.

“Well, some people have a history of gifting and paying for items, in an effort to recruit new guild members,” Savannah said.

“Why is there such an effort at recruiting?” Antoinette asked. “Isn’t it the person’s responsibility to find a guild?”

“Guilds that wait for recruits are the guilds that die off,” Savannah said as the elevator stopped descending and the door slid open. “There are also some recruits that are more desired than others.”

Antoinette tried to think of why that would be. Maybe some guilds liked to fill their ranks with professions of a certain type, or high charisma, or some other trivial item. So far Savannah didn’t give her a welcome gift, so maybe she was just going through the motions and Antoinette would find herself on the back of the dolphin again in no time.

“What recruits are more desired?” Antoinette asked. Savannah was still holding her hand and led her off the elevator.

“You for one, are highly desirable,” Savannah said.

“Because of my higher-than-average looks?” Antoinette said. She let go of Savannah’s hand and twirled in her skirt while trying to make a joke. Savannah turned to face Antoinette and let her finish spinning before answering.

“You are pretty enough, but it is because you are an assassin,” Savannah stated. “The assassin profession isn’t something that you can select, except with a legendary artifact. Normally you are given a choice at your profession, but assassins aren’t given a choice. You didn’t get a choice, did you?”

Antoinette thought about her first interaction with the terminal, and the choices she was given. She remembered walking through the selection process of skill points and such, but there wasn’t a choice given for profession; she was an assassin.

“Why are assassin’s so rare?” Antoinette asked. She scrunched her face up a bit to try and solve the riddle herself.

“You do understand what an assassin is capable of, don’t you?” Savannah asked.

“I guess I don’t,” Antoinette answered modestly. “Does your guild have an assassin already?”

“While assassins are rare,” Savannah said. “Female assassins are even rarer. You probably received quite a number of calls already from Guilds looking to recruit you. What kind of offers have you received?”

Antoinette wished she had listened to the messages before agreeing to visit the Sisters of Silence. Right now, she had no idea what the going rate for an assassin was, and if she bluffed at it, she would only look silly. She decided the truth was best.

“Your message was the first and only one I listened to so far,” she said. “But I think there were over 40 messages waiting for me when I woke up this morning.”

“There will be some guilds offering quite a bit for you to join, but you have to be careful,” Savannah looked her in the eyes to make sure Antoinette was paying attention. “They will tell you stories about fortune and glory, but many will want you to join so they can control your future.”

Antoinette immediately thought of Indiana Jones talking to Short Round about ‘Fortune and Glory’, but wasn’t sure this was the time to bring up the reference.

“I’m not sure what you are trying to tell me,” Antoinette said. On the surface, the promise of fortune and glory sounded pretty good, especially when she thought about her sparse apartment and meager weapons.

“The big guilds want to control you to the point of arranging your death,” Savannah said, her tone flat. “They already have their assassin, and by depriving other guilds of assassins, they are able to continue dominance when you look at city control and rank.”

It took several seconds for Antoinette to process the gravity of what Savannah was telling her. Some guilds just wanted her to join to arrange for her demise. There were so many ways to do that, especially during raids. She started to imagine the different scenarios.

A tank ‘is unable’ to pull aggro, and the bad guys rush past to where the assassin was. The healer targets the wrong person while the assassin gets their arms and legs pulled off. One guild works in cahoots with another guild, and the assassin gets jumped in a PvP zone. She was starting to get mad and what Savannah was telling her.

“I know this is a lot to take in,” Savannah said. “But our last assassin jumped into a raid with a ‘friendly’ guild, and even though it was well within the levels of the raid team, Dominique never made it out.”

Antoinette was surprised at how angry Savannah’s voice sounded when she finished. She wasn’t sure if there was more of a connection between the two women, but the death of Dominique was certainly still raw for Savannah.

“I’m in,” Antoinette said. She didn’t even care what the Sisters of Silence had to offer. “Where do I sign up?”

Savannah wiped a tear away from her eye before continuing. “Mark my words, I will repay the loss of Dominique with death. I will paint a masterpiece of sorrow and suffering that will be known throughout the city. I won’t stop until the people responsible for her death are no more!”

She was so angry that her body was trembling as she finished. Antoinette was caught up in the outpouring of emotion and clenched her fists in shared anger. There was hell to pay, and Antoinette knew that she wanted to be part of that more than anything else she could remember.

“Let me be part of the process,” Antoinette’s voice cracked as she spoke. “I didn’t know Dominique, but justice must be served.”

Savannah stepped in close and wrapped her arms around Antoinette in a hug. Antoinette was surprised at how strong she was, and thought if she squeezed any tighter, she might get injured.

“I knew you were the one,” Savannah whispered.

Her words took Antoinette by surprise and she wasn’t sure she heard the words right, but before she could ask Savannah to repeat herself, Savannah took her by the hand and practically dragged her down the hallway until they arrived at the only door, which looked like an old bank vault. The circular door was enormous, easily fifteen feet in diameter, with hundreds of gears visible behind a transparent cover.

“That’s really a cool fucking door,” Antoinette said.

Savannah started spinning a small dial on the door. Her fingers worked quickly, and soon Antoinette heard a click. Savannah spun the large wheel on the door, and slowly a section of the hallway started to retract.

“Wait, the vault door is just a decoy?” Antoinette asked.

“It has a dual purpose,” Savannah answered. “Anyone who is able to crack the combination will gain access to a small horde of credits and items, which will hopefully deter them. It will also trigger several traps and silently alert all Sisters of Silence members.”

“Is safe cracker a profession?” Antoinette asked as she was pulled by Savannah into the wall opening. Once they were through, the section of wall closed behind them, leaving them in darkness.

They stood for several seconds in the darkness while Antoinette wondered if she should do or say something. More time passed and she started to panic.

“Savannah,” Antoinette whispered.

“Shhhhh,” Savannah answered.

Not knowing what to do, Antoinette started to count in her head. When she got to forty-three, recessed lights in the ceiling turned on to reveal a small room with a terminal.

“Okay, now we can talk,” Savannah said. “We had to remain silent and let the security system perform the checks?”

“What checks?” Antoinette asked.

“The system does facial recognition along with other personal vital statistics. If the system doesn’t recognize you, then some really bad stuff happens,” Savannah said, laughing as she finished.

“How bad?” Antoinette asked.

“All that remains is a pile of gear,” Savannah’s laughing increased.

“Has that happened before?” Antoinette looked around the large room, trying to spot elements of the security system.

“Look where you’re standing,” Savannah said, then come with me.

Antoinette looked down at the white tiled floor and could see the faint charred outline of a person. She let out a sound of surprise and then turned her attention back to Savannah.

“Log in,” Savannah said.

Antoinette didn’t hesitate. She walked over and pressed her palm to the reader and the screen came to life.

Would you like to join the Sisters of Silence?

A feeling of belonging swept over her as she smiled and clicked on yes.

Quest Complete

Her communication device started buzzing.

“All the members of the Guild are being loaded into your communication device,” Savannah said. “There are other added functions, but we can talk about them later. Right now, I need to show you something.”

Savannah logged into the terminal. Antoinette watched as she tapped in a code and then pressed her hand to the scanner again. Several seconds passed before the sound of locks opening filled the small room, then the walls started sliding into the floor.

As the walls descended, Antoinette tried not to let her mouth hang open as she became witness to the splendor of the Sisters of Silence treasure vault. There were shelves of items that receded farther than she could see.

“Holy shit,” Antoinette said.

“Let’s see what we can find for you,” Savannah said.

She walked towards the shelves, and as she approached a metal creature that looked more octopus than anything, moved out from behind the first shelves. Savannah waited for the creature to greet her.

“This is the Librarian,” Savannah called. “It not only is a guardian of the vault; it also serves as a catalog system to save time.”

“Greetings Lady Savannah,” the Librarian spoke. Its voice was monotone with an underlying buzz to it. “How may I help you.”

“Lady Antoinette is in need of a weapon upgrade,” Savannah said. “Can you see what we have for her?”

The Librarian moved on its mechanical tentacles to Antoinette. “Lady Antoinette, we haven’t met yet. Please stand still while I acquire information.”

Antoinette watched as the Librarian supported itself with four tentacles while the other four reached out towards her. She thought that when they touched her, they would be cold, but the tip of each one had a sensor pad that felt like silk against her skin.

Two tentacles each moved up each leg, starting at her ankles. The light touch started as a tickle, but as they moved past her knees and up her thighs, it became an erotic sensation. Each of the sensory pads was using a light pulse of electricity and that only intensified her feeling of arousal.

She had to bite her lip to keep from moving as the tentacles moved under her skirt and approached her crotch. She wasn’t sure how intense this ‘getting-to-know-you’ was going to be, and just as the Librarian’s tentacles were going to slip under her panties, they continued to move up. Antoinette endured the rest of the inspection while Savannah watched intently.

“I’m sorry,” Savannah said. “But we take security very seriously. The Librarian is able to perform the search and acquisition without violating the rules for members under level 10.”

“Oh yeah,” Antoinette answered. “The whole no touchy-feely stuff I’ve heard about.”

Savannah laughed, “Yep, no touchy-feely stuff is right.”

“Scan complete,” the Librarian said. “Matching weapon found.”

The Librarian moved and the mechanical tentacles took it away for approximately 30 seconds. Antoinette could hear the gears whirring as it moved through the stacks, returning with something in two of its tentacles.

“What is that?” Antoinette asked, trying to hide her excitement.

“This is our gift to you for becoming a Sisters of Silence,” Savannah said.”

She took the weapon from the Librarian and held it out to Antoinette.

“This is yours to keep,” Savannah said.

Antoinette reached out and took the offered weapon. It was rifle of some sort; with a longer than normal barrel and a large silencer. The color of the stock and non-metal parts were the color of sunflower petals. Once she held it in her hands, she knew there was something special about the rifle.

“Why are you giving this to me?” Antoinette asked.

“This is a Mythic sniper rifle that we have been holding until we were able to recruit another assassin,” Savannah said. “You can also pick one of these.”

She fanned out several keycards.

“What does the rifle do?” Antoinette asked. She was excited about expanding her apartment, but she wanted to know the stats on the rifle first.

“You can check it out when you get back to your apartment,” Savannah said. “I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“You’re no fun,” Antoinette laughed.

“I’m even more fun after level 10,” Savannah said with a wink.

Savannah’s comment made Antoinette’s body feel warm and she hoped that her face wasn’t turning red with embarrassment. She took the keycards from her and looked through them. The images on the keycards were: a book, a rifle, a couch, and an airplane.

“Which one should I take?” Antoinette asked.

“They represent a library, an armory, a living room and a hangar,” Savannah answered. “You won’t need a hangar until you are much higher level. Otherwise, it is all personal preference.”

“Okay, mix them up and I’ll close my eyes,” Antoinette said with a smile. “You put one in my hand and I won’t look at it until I get back to my apartment.”

She closed her eyes and slung the sniper rifle over her shoulder before putting her hands out. Seconds later she felt a keycard being slid into the top of her corset. Savannah’s fingers lingered longer than necessary before removing them.

“The raid is going to start in a little bit, but there’s time to go and identify the rifle and load your new room first,” Savannah said. “One of the benefits of being in a guild, is that the elevator of the guild connects directly with your elevator.”

“What do you mean?” Antoinette asked; she wasn’t entirely sure what Savannah was trying to tell her.

“Let me show you,” Savannah said as she led Antoinette back to the elevator. Once the door opened, she punched in a code. The elevator door closed and then Antoinette felt the sensation the car was moving. Soon the feeling of movement stopped and the door opened to the hallway in Antoinette’s apartment.

“Holy shit that is cool!” Antoinette exclaimed.

“You can use the elevator to get back,” Savannah called. “The code for the guild is 1181, and it only works for members of the guild. Hurry up now, you have to be back for the raid!”