light armor section of the store. There was a set of dark black armor that jumped out at him, it was a style that he’d never seen before.
“That’s a rare set of level 15 Tymian Armor. Only 3000 gold.” said the merchant. “It’s one of the few armor types that the light armor crafters still haven’t figured out how to make.”
“Really?” Luke raised an eyebrow. “How’d you get it, then?”
“A small party of high level players made a trip into The Underground a couple of days ago,” said the merchant. “Something strange has been going on down there. The Tymians have an unusually strong presence. One of the warriors in the group thinks it might be a World Event waiting to be triggered.”
“Huh…” Luke reached a hand out and touched the front of the cuirass.
“What do you think?”
Tess walked toward him gracefully. The cloak and armor dress fit her body perfectly, and it gave her an air of refined, dangerous beauty. Luke’s jaw dropped.
“It’s… perfect,” he said.
“That’s the level 20 Warrior Priestess Dress Armor,” said the merchant. “It’s 2000 gold.”
Luke reached into his pocket and tossed a bundle of coins to the man.
“There’s enough in there for the Tymian Armor, as well,” he said. Tess walked up behind him and pulled him into a tight reverse hug.
“Alright, your turn!” She kissed him on the cheek. “Change in the dressing stall so we can make sure it fits.”
Luke couldn’t keep a smile from creeping onto his face as he carried the armor into the back of the store.
She’s cute when she’s bossy.
He stripped his old set of Dunidan Scale armor off and set it aside. As he was pulling on the leggings, Tess poked her head into the stall.
“Jeez, can I have some privacy?” Luke blushed and pulled the curtain shut.
“Just making sure you don’t need any help,” said Tess, giggling.
A couple of minutes later, the two of them were back outside. A group of players recognized Luke as the Hero of Kantor and swarmed around them. Afraid that the Arbiters would notice a commotion and investigate, Luke brushed them off and walked quickly towards the edge of town.
Once they were able to disengage from the crowd, Luke took a minute to look at Tess, and then down at himself, admiring their new equipment.
We look like heroes. We can do this. We can bring Yvvaros back to the people.
“What’s that?” Tess gestured to the intersection up ahead. A crowd of players had gathered outside the Stark Town Inn. Luke strained to look over the crowd.
“By order of the Head Arbiter, all players permanently within the world of Yvvaros will be held on Kantor for observation. Please come with us.”
“No! I didn’t do anything wrong!” A knight dressed in heavy steel plate armor and wielding a sword in each hand was slowly backing away from a squad of Arbiters.
“Please come with us,” said another Arbiter. He suddenly grabbed the knight from behind. The knight swung his blades desperately through the air.
“No! I’m not all in, I swear!”
A murmur went through the crowd as the Arbiters took him into custody. Nobody moved to help.
“I can’t let this happen,” whispered Luke. He grasped his sword hilt, and immediately felt Tess’s hand come down on top of his to keep him from pulling it out.
“Luke, you can’t,” she whispered. “You’ll be killed.”
She stared into his eyes, and Luke gritted his teeth.
I don’t care about what they’ll do to me, but Tess…
“Please, somebody, help!” The knight was a low level player, too low level to do more than struggle weakly against the Arbiters. “They’re going to kill me! Somebody, please-”
The Arbiters stepped onto the rune circle with him, and a flash of blue light instantly transferred them to Kantor. Luke took a deep, angry breath.
“This is why we’re doing what we’re doing, Luke,” whispered Tess. “We’ll put a stop to this. But we have to follow the plan.”
“I know.”
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