2.20 Stake Out

When Dave Lupe contacted Flora, she had finished her first cleaning cabinet. With the help of the rune-scheme provided by the church, she pushed the rating to S, even with only A-rated materials. She ordered Aidan to print twelve of them for the Soup Kitchen and logged out.

"We have all the information the two Ophree's can provide, Ma'am," Dave said.

"Honestly, I'm astonished that it really was the Dull Spoons. They even wrote their own name on the wall in the shrine." Flora said.

"Yes, it took me a while to get used to this world as well. The batches and Loggys make it hard to keep your identity secret, so many smalltime criminals won't even try but go in the other direction and flaunt their names."

"So, what do we do now?" Flora asked.

"We have access to the communication system the Dull Spoons used to contact Sulfur Lyon and the location for the drop of point for captured clergy. We'll use it as a trap."

"How do we handle the situation if he is a player? We can do nothing to him… not that we would." Flora asked.

"Abducting people is a crime in the Cradle. If we rat him out to the guards, he will get jail time." Dave said patiently.

"We just killed a bunch of people. That's kind of worse, isn't it? And now we are pressuring the Ophrees to go along with our plan. My AI might even have tortured one of them."

"Criminals are free for all. The nice thing about the Cetviwos is that you get always notified if you break any laws. Did you get a system message about breaking the Code of Civilisation?"

"I don't think so." To be sure, Flora asked Aidan, who agreed. "However, I wasn't warned before I had to pay fines for speeding and … let's call it improper scientific experimentation… no, that sounds worse than what I've done… I just tested the walls of a water dome."

"You got ripped off, Ma'am." Dave grinned wrily.

Flora groaned. While she got a kick out of playing along with cons, she didn't enjoy being a victim.

"I don't think that is what happened, Milady." Aidan transmitted to Flora. "The speed limit does exist, and the police officers were legit. Nonetheless, Dave Lupe is right about that you should have received a speed warning. I'll check your configuration."

Dave gave Flora more details of the plan, but after he said that they would start in four hours, she was too happy to care about the minutia. She needed her beauty sleep!

Flora went back to her lair and logged from the simulation ground into Riverstone Island. She had no patience left for dealing with her clan members, so she hid in the grotto again.

It was only the first day of Aidan's plan, and Flora already couldn't adhere to it. The plan for raising all her stats until Saturday demanded from her to spend from 22:00 to 10:00 in the simulation grounds. It was 23:00 now, and she and Dave arranged to meet up at 2:30.

At least she would have eight hours of sleep, thanks to the time dilation.

Aidan woke up Flora at 2:00. Even though that meant she slept nine hours, she didn't feel like it. Dreams of dead Firelings who promised to carve her up with dull spoons had haunted her sleep.

"Five more minutes!" she mumbled bleary-eyed and turned around.

Because she laid in a pool, Flora's face entered the water. On her next inhale, she choked and thrashed in the pool. Coughing, she straightened up.

"Now, I'm awake," Flora said bitingly. "Burned toast and stale jam, why am I feeling so shitty?"

On the one hand, yesterday was brutal−she built a whole training facility, taught a bunch of blockheads spells, and then killed some poor punks. Therefore, a higher need for sleep was understandable. On the other hand, she didn't fully trust that rest in time dilation worked as well as regular sleep.

Flora shook her head. 'No time for speculations!'

After logging out, she went to the production hall to fetch the cleaning cabinets for the shrine. On the way out, she saw her mailbox glowing.

"When did I check it the last time?" Flora asked.

"Sunday Two, Milady."

"We should take a quick peek." Flora checked the clock. "There isn't really time for it…"

"Haidan has figured out how to access the box, Milady. Now, we can look at your mail remotely."

"Excellent! However, let's concentrate on the task at hand. Any news regarding Deriga?"

While Flora beamed to the portal and entered the Cradle through it, Aidan summarized the developments.

Aidan had located the error in the configuration for the system warnings and solved it. Dave Lupe was staking out the drop-off point for captured clergy members, and Aito had found posts of Sulfur Lyon. Indeed, he was a player.

"In which categories did he make posts or comments? Show me percentages above 1%"

32% Regional -> The Cradle

--> 29% Texopor

--> 26% Reye

--> 22% Marino

--> 21% Spriles

22% Community

--> 55% Looking for Love

--> 41% Tavern

18% Trading -> Services

16% Gameplay

--> 54% Divine Branch

--> 16% Dungeons

--> 15% Quests

--> 12% Mechanics

11% Support

"What kind of services is he interested in? Divine Branch… huh. Can we guess his classes and his divine affiliation?" Flora landed in Marino and followed Aidan's arrows to the location.

"He provides companionship for lonely players, Milady."

Flora snorted. "By himself or has other contacts as well?"

"He seemed to have five different women and one other guy. You can hire him as well." Aidan answered. "His posts in the divine branch are about looking for a consultation about religious issues, mainly in the Christian subsections."

"Strange. Maybe he has pangs of consciousness. Show me one."

>>>

Hi, I'm Sully, and I just turned 18. I'm confused about all these feelings. I like my male best friend very much, but I know it's wrong. But when I see him topless, I can't think of anything other than his smooth skin. Can someone help me, please?

<<<

The profile picture of Sulfur Lyon looked more like he was 14 years than 18 years.

"That's disgusting! … And a bit funny. He is baiting pedophile and homosexual priests, probably for blackmail material." Flora said. She couldn't believe what ideas people came up with and implemented. "Send the info to Dave. I hope Deriga is safe. Is there any hint that he uses Natives in his business?"

"No, Milady. At least only pictures of Earthlings appear in his advertisements."

Flora stopped abruptly when Aidan's arrow zeroed in on a warehouse. The building was another steel construction with thick glass panels on the roof.

"Oh, no. I should have approached more stealthily. Aidan help!"

Immediately, the AI provided an arrow to an alleyway, and Flora jogged into it.

Flowing Flowers to Party: "I'm in the vicinity of the warehouse. How can I reach you? I have no stealth skill."

Dave Lupe to Party: "I'm on the roof of it. Approach from the roofs in the south. Alternatively, you can join the rest of squad three-one at these locations. [map]"

After a bit of jumping, Flora reached Dave, who was lying on a carpet. He nodded to Flora and fetched another artful woven rug from his inventory.

"The carpet has a rune-scheme against scrying on it." He told Flora. Of course, she was delighted and snatched it out of his hand.

Name: Carpet of Clouding Clarity

Type: Artifact/Carpet

Description: The carpet provides mental clarity for those using it. It only works if it is rolled out and free of wrinkles.

Regular Mode: 3 MR/min

Built-In Skill: Cloud Presence (channeled); Cost: 10 mana per 2sec; CD: 1 min

Effect: + 3(8) OV Scrying Affinity/Resistance

Tier: 3

Rating: A

"Fabulous!" Flora gushed, inspecting the runes.

"Please, lay down, Ma'am. I have an illusion circle active to obscure us from plain sight, but it's weak and works best if nobody moves inside of it." Dave said.

Flora asked Aidan to take pictures of the carpet then reclined on it.

"Of course, dear." Flora had been too distracted to pay attention to Dave when they took down the Dull Spoons, but now she had the time. He was tall and lean with sand-colored hair and light blue eyes. At first glance, he looked like a baby faced soy boy−even his beard didn't help− but there was a confidence and sharpness in him that didn't fit with the trope. "How old are you?"

"63." Dave grinned wrily. "I might have gone overboard with the antiaging sliders in character creation."

"Nothing wrong with that." Flora wasn't in the position to criticize people getting carried away during character creation. "We are practically the same age. You can call me Flora."

"Alright, Flora. The circle includes a bit of sound dampening, too, and it'll take another hour until the meeting. However, I want to stay on the safe side and be as inconspicuous as possible."

"That's the nicest way I've ever been told to shut up." Flora grinned. "I'll be in my workshop. My AI will relay messages."

Flora activated her workshop.

"Aidan, use nothing that makes me break cover on the roof and no cooldowns over one minute. I want to have all options available when we confront Sulfur. Never let my mana go below 25%. I might need it for the carpet." Flora fell silent. "Do you think you can activate the spell on it fast enough when necessary?"

"You haven't donned the gloves, Milady. I can't activate the carpet at all."

"Hmm." Flora wandered to the training dummies.

<Righteous Fist>

She gained 29 mana, and the skill cost 10 mana. "19 mana profit, not bad. I could power the carpet indefinitely, right? The skill has no cooldown, and I can punch fast."

"Theoretically," Aidan said.

"We'll try it." Flora exited the workshop, activated the carpet, and logged in again. Then, she rained blows on the dummy. She punched faster than she could cast the skill, but that didn't matter. "Your turn, Aidan. No leveling cap for Righteous Fist, Strike, and the base spells of the branches."

Flora entered the simulation grounds and after she put herself in a boxing box, the Riverstone Island.

The moon shining on the ocean emphasized the spookiness of the slowed world time dilation caused. Flora waded into the cold water. It resisted her movements more than normal, but after a few strokes, she became used to it.

Flora did nothing but swimming, enjoying the action and minding her breathing. The salty air cleared her mind as she parted the glittering waves. A knot in her chest, she hadn't even been aware of, dissolved as she slowly rounded the island.

After half an hour, she spotted boats. They were only a bit over three meters long and around two meters wide, made out of wood but with a shimmering opaque dome over them. The Riverstones had been diligent, Flora noted satisfied. Over a dozen floated in the calm sea.

As Flora swam around them, she spotted a few without a dome and used Levitate to rise above the water. Hub snored inside one, laying on a white mattress covering the entire length of the vessel. For a second, Flora considered drawing a mustache in his face. It has to be fate that she found his boat, right? However, she refrained. 'Treat others the way you want to be treated.' Nonetheless, the thought alone made her smile.