The friends stood at the top of the spiralling staircase. At the centre one could see the dimly lit bottom. The staircase easily had a height of twenty meters, resembling an underground tower. Suddenly a few footsteps could be heard.
Someone emerged from a door on the second lowest floor, taking the steps towards the bottom and disappearing through another door. The friends only got a brief look at the figure. It was a dark elf in wide robes of black and red. All kinds of potions and trinkets hung from her body.
"So do we have to fight those mages now?", whispered Balm, afraid that her voice would echo through the staircase.
"I intended to try something else first. If it doesn't work, we will need to fight, yes."
The others looked at Mirage. It only took a moment before Fortune figured it out:
"Do you want to use that fishing rod?"
"Yeah."
Liam's friends didn't have much of an opinion on this. If his solution worked, it was naturally alright. If not, they simply had to fight their way through. For now, they all made themselves comfortable and watched while Liam prepared the fishing rod. Only Fortune hurried towards the other side of the room, recording Liam from a more interesting angle.
While Liam stared down the staircase, another dark elf appeared. He also wore the robes typical of a mage but with puffy shoulders and a long tail gliding over the ground behind him. And most conspicuous about him was the black crown he wore on his hand. Liam recognized his target, but he didn't act immediately. Only after he understood the target's moving pattern could he try his luck. He remained patient, counting the seconds in his head.
As Hotpot were getting comfortable at the top of the staircase, they didn't know that another player was lurking close to the bottom.
Black Rat was sticking to the wall, his black-clothed body hiding in the shadows. Recently the famous thief had been on a run. A while ago he managed to steal the most precious loot after a second-rate guild defeated a world boss and escaped unscathed. With this move he once again became a hero for many thieves, his name echoing in all the forums on Falva Star. If it weren't for the guilds currently going through so many wars, Black Rat would have gotten his rightful spot on the front pages of many gaming magazines.
However, although his achievement had been overshadowed, Black Rat wasn't angry. The fame was nice, but Black Rat was in it for the thrill. Thus, he recently took on a difficult quest from the Thief Alliance of Svebrial. His target was a dark elf of level 53, which was five levels above him. With each level difference the success rate of auxiliary skills like [Steal] was reduced. But Black Rat was quite confident. His [Steal] skill was at level two and Black Rat was one of the most experienced thieves out there. It shouldn't be difficult to steal the crown from his target's head.
So far everything went well for him. Black Rat had sneaked into the territory occupied by the dark elves, remaining undetected thanks to his specialized skillset. He had reached the bottom of the staircase and realized that his target was passing through here at certain intervals. Black Rat remained perfectly patient and waited for his chance.
The crown-wearing dark elf appeared a few times, switching between two different rooms. Black Rat calmly studied the dark elf's movements.
A couple of minutes later his chance finally came. He carefully left his hiding place and sneaked above a door, sticking to the wall. Just as expected the door opened and the target appeared. Black Rat's muscles tensed. Now he had to make it count!
Using a skill Black Rat became even nimbler, his footsteps soft like the paws of a cat. He dropped to the floor right behind the dark elf, skilfully avoiding the man's long gown. Black Rat reached out with his hand and used [Steal]. A process bar appeared in front of his eyes. He held his breath. 15seconds. This was quite risky. But it was the consequence of trying to steal something from an NPC of a higher level.
The seconds ticked by. Ten. Eight. Black Rat didn't dare to celebrate early, keeping his emotions in check. But suddenly something shocking happened. The crown began to move, flying towards the sky. Black Rat's eyes almost popped out. He watched the crown and noticed the extremely thin line attached to the metal.
"Who dares?!"
Suddenly the dark elf noticed that something was wrong. His angry voice shook the entire underground. Black magic began to brew on his staff.
Black Rat's stomach sank. He didn't think much. Still boosted by his skill he jumped far into the air and grabbed onto the crown. The line stopped for a moment before it continued, albeit slower. It swayed in the air, almost causing Black Rat to collide with the stairs a few times. His uncomfortable flight continued for half a minute before he finally arrived at the top of the staircase.
Black Rat's head was slowly lifted above the railing, and he spotted a group of players. A pair of confused eyes stared right at him. Black Rat looked back and naturally recognized Bleary Mirage.
"Mirage? Why are you hesitating? Don't we need to leave?"
Cyclone's confused question came from the door. She had already made the first few steps to escape from the dark elves who would surely search for them now.
"Mirage… fished up a thief…", explained Bloody Edge in disbelief.
"A thief? I thought we were searching for a crown."
Before the friends could talk further, Black Rat let out an embarrassed cough and cancelled his stealth.
"Haha, if this isn't Hotpot! Who would have thought that we meet each other again like this. You know, Cyclone is right. That mage down there was quite enraged. We should escape quickly."
Black Rat began talking in an attempt to distract Hotpot. He was afraid they would throw him down the staircase. Meanwhile he gathered some momentum and suddenly jumped to the right, getting himself to safety.
Before letting go of the crown he tried to turn it so it would slip out of the grasp of the fishing rod. However, Liam instantly noticed what the thief was aiming for. With a flick of his wrist, he pulled on the crown, and it slipped out of the thief's hand.
"Nice try."
Black Rat landed safely on the stairs but without the crown in his hand. He could only smile wryly as Bleary Mirage mocked him.
"Who is it?! Intruders!"
At this moment an infuriated voice reached everyone's ears. The players realized that it was indeed time to escape. Hotpot stuck close together, keeping a cautious eye on Black Rat while running through the corridors. The way back was naturally faster. After only five minutes the group left the dark elves' territory. The tall gate fell shut behind them and Liam signalled his friends to stop.
"We should be out of danger now."
"Nice! Well done, Mirage!", praised Cyclone with a smile, pretentiously patting Liam's shoulder.
"Mhm. Way faster than fighting a boss.", agreed Balm, copying her friend.
Liam only shook his head while juggling. He played around with the crown in his hand, glancing towards Black Rat who was standing not far away, refusing to leave.
Black Rat was pondering what to do. Noticing that everyone from Hotpot had their wary eyes on him he knew there was no way to steal the crown. Thus, he decided to try another angle:
"So… is this crown important to you guys? Is there any way you would hand it over to me? I would be willing to owe you a favour. And the quest resets in an hour or so anyways. You can get the crown later."
"Well, if that's the case why aren't you coming back in an hour?", responded Quickstep.
"Ah, I'm really short on time you know. I still need to… procure some things today. A noble's favourite sword, the altar stone of some orc tribe, the fur of a demon. I'm really busy."
"Sorry, but so are we."
Black Rat sighed as Silver Blade answered him like this. He had almost given up before Bleary Mirage came up with an offer:
"Listen. Our goals are not entirely irreconcilable. We are tasked with destroying this crown while you have to bring it to the Thief Alliance in Svebrial I assume…"
"How do you now?"
"…However, what's really precious about this crown isn't the black metal but only the red gem at the front. We can destroy the crown and give you the gem. If your charisma is high enough and you have a friendly relationship with the Thief Alliance, you should be able to complete the quest even if you only have the gem. As exchange you will simply owe us a favour. What do you think?"
Black Rat furrowed his brows, pondering under the curious eyes of Hotpot.