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Book 5 Chapter 7 - Knocked Down A Rung

"I could use it," Arthur said, "since our decks are linked... but it wouldn’t be my first choice. It doesn\'t work well when the question is nebulous. It sent us to the Dark Heart, but didn\'t tell us that it was a trap by Scourge-God.” He thought for a moment, considering her question a little further, then shook his head. “No, I don\'t think I could ask it for what we need, plus what\'s also for sale."

"And within our price range," she said with a smile. Then she shrugged. "If we find something that fits the job, we could always steal it."

He winced. He\'d always had... reservations about using his Thief class and abilities. Though it hadn’t stopped him from stealing more than once. “Let’s see what

They arrived at the agreed time only to find a horse-drawn cart waiting for them. It was built so securely that it was just shy of a security cart with no way to see into the darkened windows. Arthur hesitated, but Cressida climbed right in, so he followed. He trusted her judgment.

While sitting, the door closed behind them. It turned out the windows were blacked out from the inside as well. The only source of illumination was a softly glowing card-anchor light.

"Why even bother having windows in the first place?" he muttered, looking around.

"It\'s all about aesthetics," Cressida replied. Outside, someone barked an order to the horses, and they began to move.

"I don\'t like this," Arthur said, "they didn\'t tell us which house is selling the cards, or where they\'re taking us."

She gave him a patient look. "Well, they wouldn\'t, would they? Selling cards is considered an admission that your noble house isn\'t doing well. The fact that they allowed people, strangers like us without a background to come in and peruse through their collection..." She shook her head. "Someone is in dire straits."

Another concern struck him. "Is there any possibility it could be the Rowantree family?"

Cressida looked briefly alarmed, then shook her head. "No, surely not. The chances of that are... no. Noble houses rise and fall all the time, Arthur."

He wished he could feel comforted by that, but he didn\'t know much about the Rowantree family, including where in the kingdom they were.

His overactive imagination showed him pictures of Penn greeting them at the end of this carriage ride. If that were the case… they would likely fight, like in the visions he had in his meditative state: The realization that he would someday have to face Penn to complete his Master set.

If his cousin was somehow waiting at the end of this trip, he would surely try to kill Arthur.

Not if I don\'t get to him first, Arthur told himself, grimly.

****

The cart was driven for an alarming length of time, likely to try to confuse anyone who was trying to use a card to map the way to their destination.

While Arthur’s anxiety ratcheted up, Cressida looked calm. She sat primly with her hands in her lap as if she had all the time in the world.

Then again, there’s little chance we’re going to her ancestral family house, Arthur thought sourly. Then he had to remind himself, Little chance that we\'re going to mine. My luck is not that bad, surely.

Finally, the carriage pulled to a stop and the door opened.

Light poured in, along with humid air thick with the scent of flowers. Blinking against the light, Arthur saw they had come to a stop at the edge of a grand garden that seemed to be in full bloom, with bushes and blooms in a rainbow of colors, several times their normal size. Even though the noble family was in financial trouble, they were still able to hire people to manage their estates.

The middle-aged man who stood in front of them looked prim and wholly unfamiliar to Arthur. Nor did he have any reaction upon seeing Arthur or Cressida, as if he recognized either of them. Arthur let out a breath.

“Follow me,” the man said. Then without introducing himself or saying anything more, he led them down closely grown garden paths.

These pathways, too, were winding. Arthur quickly lost his sense of direction. There was no signage or indication whose estate this could be. Nor were there any gardeners or servants around.

Arthur glanced up and nearly stopped in surprise. Way, way up – so high that the shapes could be mistaken for birds – were two draconic shapes.

They flew so high, in fact, it was impossible to tell the colors. But the fact that one was very small, and the other larger, told him what he needed to know.

Brixaby and Joy had followed them.

Arthur quickly looked down again. Cressida hadn’t noticed his distraction, and the man leading them had not looked back once. He carefully did not glance up to double check and make sure he saw correctly the first time.

Finally, they came to a single standing brick building. Their host stayed silent until they were led in. This too, was bare of any ornamentation as if no one wanted to risk identifying themselves. It was dark, only lit by a single torch, with a thin rug laid out that had seen better days.

Arthur had seen nicer furnishings on the lowest levels of Wolf Moon hive.

It seemed that this noble family had indeed fallen on hard times.

Once the door was closed behind them, the man turned. "Now," he said, brisk and efficient and without any warmth at all. This was entirely a business transaction. "Tell me what kind of cards you\'re seeking."

"You weren\'t told?" Cressida asked.

He made a rude noise through his long nose. "There were several intermediaries between your contact and the master of this house. Details could easily become distorted between them."

You aren\'t the head of this family? Arthur thought but asked, "We are looking for something unusual you can\'t get anywhere else. Will we be allowed to peruse what you have?"

This was met by a scathing glance. "Certainly not."

He knew had taken a misstep. In nearly the same moment, Cressida quickly stepped in. "We are not trying to discover the identity of this house. It\'s just that what we\'re looking for can\'t be easily found."

"You would have a better chance of getting what you need if you told me," the man said, growing visibly more annoyed.

Arthur and Cressida exchanged a look, and he saw his own thoughts reflected on her face. There was no help for it other than to be up front.

"Two main items," Arthur said, "A portal card—" He didn\'t actually care about the portal card, but that was unusual enough and he knew Cressida would enjoy not having to use Brixaby\'s Dark Ferryman card again. "—And a card able to hide or obscure identities. Also, if you have it, anything to do with healing or lava."

The man ignored the last bit and focused on the main point. "Obscure identities," he repeated. "Something stealth based, perhaps?"

"No, not to hide. To change. I need to make someone look... different," Arthur said. "And this card must work within a high ranked heart deck."

"How high?" the man asked with narrowed eyes.

Arthur hesitated, but he had already come this far. "Legendary."

The man rocked back on his heels. "So," he said with disdain, "another noble house has sunk to thievery."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author\'s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Arthur could see why he could have come to that conclusion. With his Acting skill nudging him along, he decided to go along with it. "That\'s none of your business. Besides, you’re the one selling your private reserve of cards. It seems you\'ve fallen quite far, yourself."

"He doesn\'t mean that," Cressida said, trying to disarm the conversation.

But the man ignored her. "It\'s true my master has fallen on hard times, but he has never lost his honor. He has suffered for it." His top lip curled. "The king takes what he wants, when he wants. The local officials have their \'special taxes\' too. And now the dragon riders have all but become brigands themselves. We are not the only house who have been put in such a position—" He cut himself off with a snap of teeth as if he knew he was in danger of falling into a truly scathing rant.

But his outburst had given Arthur a moment to recenter himself, too. He wasn\'t here to argue, and he did feel a bit of sympathy after seeing the Blood Moon rider\'s behavior.

"What does your master need in exchange?" he said, trying to steer the conversation back to civil ground, "in terms of cards?"

The man\'s eyes narrowed a degree further and Arthur wondered if he had gone too far—if he and Cressida were about to be thrown out.

Well, if that was the case, they would find their way back and raid the place. But... he\'d rather not.

Finally, the man seemed to have come to a decision. "My master does not need cheap spells or effects. No, he needs cards he can quickly turn back into wealth. The eruption three months ago occurred on rather profitable farms. Now nothing will grow for miles around it."

"There\'s an entire card shop of farming related—"

"Do you think we haven\'t tried that?" he said with such venom that Arthur knew he was not speaking to a servant or an underling. No, this felt too personal, the frustration too sharp. He was speaking to one of the true nobles of the house. Perhaps even the house head. "The land is utterly desiccated. With it, any future hope of income."

Over a simple eruption? It wasn\'t unheard of, but it meant that it must have taken a while for the hives to get a handle of the scourglings. Also...

"The hives aren\'t providing dragon soil to repair the land?" Arthur asked.

The man shot him a look he could not quite read. "The cost is not something my master is willing to pay."

That was disturbing. Usually Hives could not get rid of the stuff fast enough. A fully grown dragon produced a lot of waste. Though Arthur couldn\'t go into that without revealing that he was, of course, a dragon rider.

"I think I have what your master needs," Arthur said. "But it comes at a risk. I assume you know what you can do with these."

Then he produced his two sets of cards.

"Ah," the man said, his eyes glittering. Illicit items always sold for more on various black markets. They were equally as risky to try to fence, but Arthur assumed by the precautions shown here that the noble would know a way to sell them safely.

The man considered them for a moment and then nodded. "We may have what you need. Stay here," he added with a warning look, "and do not go anywhere else. Snooping around would be a very bad idea." He pointed imperiously to two simple chairs that were set toward the back, half in the shadows.

Then he turned and stalked further down the hall—a hall that was completely black, without a hint of illumination. Arthur’s Night Vision enhancement had trouble seeing through the darkness. Either the man had a specialized card in his deck, or he knew the way by heart. No doubt that hallway was filled with traps.

He and Cressida exchanged a look, then took a seat.

"You get the feeling that man is under a lot of stress?" Arthur asked, very quietly.

She smiled slightly, then shook her head. "I wish I knew what eruption he was talking about. Arthur, I get the feeling a lot has happened in the kingdom since we left... and none of it has been good."

He nodded.

Cressida continued. "But yes, if a scourge-eruption happened in the middle of their lands on some of their most productive fields, that would be enough to destroy many old noble houses. Being under some stress is an understatement."

"And the hives are withholding dragon soil..." Arthur murmured. "Why?"

She had no answer, and the only ones he could think of were unpleasant: Because dragon soil which had been treated out in the sun for a year could revive any lands which had been killed by the scourgelings. What if there was no longer enough to go around?

Eruptions had been increasing in frequency slowly and steadily even before they left the kingdom. But the Hives had a handle on it. Had that changed?

The man soon returned with a stack of cards. And though it looked like he had returned alone, Arthur felt that curious sense of being watched by someone else. It was as if his Stealth skill was itching at him.

He couldn\'t tell where the other person was, only that they were nearby and that they, too, had a version of his class. Likely, they were hiding in the dark.

Arthur hoped it was the man\'s bodyguard and not an assassin, but he kept a light thought on his defensive cards just in case.

The noble gestured them to a table and started laying out the cards.

The first was a basic healing card. As in, the actual name was \'Basic Healing: Tier 1\' which contained enough skills to form an actual magical healing class.

It wasn\'t better than the cards Marion and his dragon had. Nor could Arthur use it himself since it had a magical aspect. His Master of Skills restricted those until he reached tier 50.

The next card was an Uncommon portal type, but it only opened dimensional rifts large enough for hands and smaller objects to enter and retract. This was a card meant for thieves. Arthur wasn\'t tempted... if only for the fact that he could do almost the same thing at short distances with his Phase In, Phase Out.

However, the next card was very, very interesting.

"Of course we would hardly have a Legendary rank card," the noble said diffidently as he slid the new card across the table.

Even Arthur knew this was a flat out lie. They had Legendary cards, but the King was just as interested in monitoring that distribution of strong power as he was any pairs, three-of-a-kind, or more. This house\'s Legendries were no doubt nestled in the heart decks of the top members of the main bloodline. Arthur didn\'t blame them for not wanting to sell those, but—

His idle thoughts screeched to a halt as he read the card.

Knocked Down A Rung

Illusion

Rare

The wielder of this card will have the unique ability to obscure power within their own heart deck. By every indication, they will appear one rank lower than the strongest card in their deck. This produces the following result.

Mythic = Legendary Appearance

Legendary = Rare Appearance

Rare = Uncommon Appearance

Uncommon = Common Appearance

Common = Empty deck

In addition, this Rare ranked card will not contribute to the overall strength of a heart deck. A Common rank user may add it and still remain Common.

Cost is 500 mana one time use to obscure the wielder with an additional 500 mana one time for any additional person the wielder wishes to obscure. A one-time cost of 100 mana per additional person per hour is required to upkeep this illusion.

That was a lot of mana. So much, in fact, that Arthur would be hard pressed to scrounge up enough to cover himself plus one another person for the initial cost. Much less the ongoing mana drain.

Still... it was nearly perfect for his needs. Nearly.

He realized he had been staring at the card in thought when their host gave a polite cough. He started in surprise and so did Cressida. She had been staring in disbelief as well.

Arthur was the first to recover. "That card is out of the ordinary."

"You did say you were seeking something unique," the man replied with a smile that told Arthur he knew exactly how interested he was.

"It\'s not perfect." Arthur squared his shoulders. "It only changes the feeling of a person, and not everyone can tell the difference between someone with Common cards in their heart deck and someone with a Rare." In fact, he had only been getting the knack since bonding with Brixaby.

"People of importance are trained in such a way, and I assume that is who you wish to fool,” the man shot back.

People of importance. Yes, like the leaders of Blood Moon Hive.

Perhaps Arthur and Cressida had shown too much interest because the man\'s top lip ticked upward in a tight smile. "I will sell this card to you for your pair and three of a kind."

"One card for five?" Cressida\'s voice was flat. "Linked cards? That\'s outrageous."

He spread his hands as if he were a reasonable man who had been put into an unreasonable situation. "You can search this city and out of it as thoroughly as you wish, but I guarantee you will never find a card equal to this one."

That was a bold statement, and likely a false one. It was said there were as many cards as there were magical spells. There were uncountable thousands of Earth-type manipulation cards, for example. But none of them were exactly alike, even if the differences between them were subtle.

Cressida swelled in indignation, and Arthur didn\'t think that her anger was feigned. It was true that this man had priced the card extremely high, but Arthur thought the price was worth it.

He cut across her reply. "While this card may be unique, it doesn\'t fill all our requirements." He reached out and tapped the line that described the extreme mana costs. "This makes it unusable for most people, and while the card will change the feeling of someone, it won\'t change how they look. Even people of rank have eyes. I need something able to obscure an identity, not just a feeling."

The man\'s smile turned sly, and Arthur suspected he had been waiting for that question. Though he had probably wanted to off balance them before pulling out the real high cards.

"I may have a solution for you."

With that he produced a wooden box so abruptly and elegantly, it had to have been stored in a dimensional space.

He opened the lid. Within it sat two more cards.

Mana Generator X2

Meta

Rare

This card gives the wielder the singular ability to generate passive mana from the environment and then instantly double that mana. This mana cannot be stored by this card and must be used through either a channeling effect or a secondary mana card or collection device.

The second card was more in line of what Arthur had been originally looking for. Though now, compared to the Knocked Down A Rung card, it seemed a little lacking.

One Important Change

Uncommon

Illusion

The wielder of this card will be able, by means of light-based illusion, to flawlessly change a single aspect of their outer appearance. This is a light-based illusion and will have no physical effect on the environment. The illusion may be changed once every sundown.

No surprise that this was an Uncommon and not a Rare. It was very much a work-horse type of card. It would get the job done and no more, no less.

Arthur took a look at the spread of cards on the table, including the miniature portal card. "I\'ll take them all for the pair and the three of a kind."

The man\'s eyes glittered even as he huffed. "I cannot possibly sell these valuable cards for so little..."

The two of them immediately got to the business of haggling.