Even I knew things were not as they seemed. "If you helped, it would look good on you." the guard added. A popup appeared. The quest was to break up a smuggling ring. It was 4 stars. "This is a good quest. I don't know if it's going to be okay for you." she said. 4 stars meant there was going to be some combat involved. I didn't mind it. "The best way to learn is to just go for it." I said. She smiled and accepted the quest. "Well, you got a week. Come to the garrison once you find the hideout. Someone will be sent with you to help make the arrests" the guard said. The racist one scoffed again with his arms behind his head. "Don't expect much from them. For all we know, they could be part of it." We rolled our eyes and continued into the city. Suzie smiled wide and said "I'm a rouge. I know where the smuggler's den spawns. We can take them out." I asked "That won't have consequences? No one's going to stop you from going back?" She shook her head. "'There are no strong bonds among players and NPCs' is a phrase." NPCs operated on their own reasoning and were very complex.
Feelings could be fostered in an organic way through interactions with them. It might be gamed though. All of the Players could do it. "Aside from making them fall in love with you, they can be just as easily influenced into killing or betraying you." she explained. That made me feel wary. I had already been assaulted by 3 of them. It just meant that I was just going to need to get stronger. Suzie led me to the southern quadrant of the city. "This is where the criminals are. If I remember it right..." she trailed of as she looked around. She then stopped at a corner as she leaned out cautiously. "That's them over there, David. Now all we have to do is get the guards from the garrison and help kick their ass." she said. I nodded and we left the alley the way we came. We went to the garrison at the gate and the captain sent 3 of them with us. It was reassuring. They joined our party. Suzie took us back and we sprung out to catch them off guard. "You're under arrest for the smuggling you've been doing. Come quietly and surrender." the guards said. There were 10. The leader then drew his sword.
I saw it coming, so I was more than ready for them. Greatsword in hand, he looked at us with a tense look. Even he could see that he was caught. He said "You'll never take us alive!" He and all the smugglers engaged us in combat. I fought them with my glaive. I sprinted into a group and swung my glaive with my full force. I was able to get a cool kill that way. It was a clean decapitation. From there, I slashed at one more goon and he went down as well. It did made them focus on me though. 4 of them tried to surround me, but I kept them at bay with the glaive. It made me regret being so flashy as they all ganged up on me. They hacked and slashed until Suzie and the guards could get to me. I was seriously low on HP. She tossed me a vial with red liquid. "Drink it. It will heal you" she instructed. I uncorked it and drank the contents down. I could feel my body heal and my strength return. We finished the last of the bandits and the ones who were still alive were arrested. The guards tied them up and asked if they could use us as a backup. I agreed because the optics would look great.
Going forward, we took the surviving 5 back to the garrison. The captain was a bit suspicious we completed the task so quickly, but he shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore. The ring is destroyed, and it won't return for some time." I smiled as the quest was completed. "What are your names? I'll commend you in the logs for your good service to Epic City" he said. We gave them our names and walked off. The popup telling us we cleared the mission finally appeared. I leveled up again due to that, and so did Suzie. She cheered and pumped her fists in the air. "I've got to go. You should look around for more simple quests. I'll be trying to go for the assassin class. I have to do it alone." she said very excitedly. "Sure. I'll catch up with you later. I already found some quests" I replied as I started walking toward the eastern quadrant. It was as good a place as any to find something to do. She waved me off and disappeared. I then got the 3-hour time warning. That reminded me that I only had wanted to play for only 6 hours today. I went to an alley for privacy and shifted to my centaur form.
