7) PreTending the Bar part 2

Gama looked back at Shanks, who was following him and saw his serious expression. Sam nodded at him, who nodded back and kept leading Shanks toward the bar, where they could gather the necessary information.

*I hope Shanks is right. If we have actually found a hidden quest, we will most definitely be able to make a lot of money and maybe even expedite our leveling progress! With Shank's deductions skill, even if this isn't a hidden quest, we will most definitely find something!*

The two of them ran through the streets crowded with players, as Sam followed his creature mage comrade under the dark sky. The beauty of copper town's night life completely wasted on these two, who were in a hurry to not miss out on any potential benefits. 

The beautiful medieval, two story, one story, and three story houses were sizzling with beautiful lights from fireplaces. Smoke came from chimneys of one story hosues, where families of NPCs gathered and cooked their food and enjoyed each other's company.

The day and night cycle of Realms of Conquest is different to the player's world time, as the cycle is shifted backwards by 6 hours. Because of this most high schoolers are almost never able to join in on the night life, but so are most people, but the night time is the best time to interact with NPCs, as this is the moment most of them are in copper town and not at work. 

Between the sunest and sunrise monsters become much stronger. Their health remains the same, but they damage and defense doubles, while the drop rates don't change a bit, so most towns go into a lockdown mode and focus only on defense, rather than sending parts of their army to fight off the mobs outside their own town walls. This is also a great way to protect players from sleep depriving themselves to grind, as th time they should be sleeping is the worst time to grind and the time they wake up is the best time to start getting quests. The 6 hour offset makes sure players can experience the nightlife of the game, when quests are most likely to appear, and not have to harm their real life health. 

One such example is Gama finding a hidden quest related to illegal activities inside the town during dusk. During the trip from the small hotel the four teammates rented to the bar Gama found the suspicious woman in took a couple of minutes, but they finally arrived and entered. 

Before going in though, Sam stopped his friend at the door and said "I will go in first and you can follow me inside in about 5 minutes, so no one thinks we are associated. Be careful to not even show signs of knowing me. We are strangers. This is a hidden quest you started and you need to continue. Me appearing might ruin it, so don't forget, I am a prop, an NPC, ignore me." 

Gama nodded his head "*Shanks knows what he is doing and I can trust him. He seems like a pro ranker with how smart he is.* Okay, I'll go hide in that alley and wait a few minutes." 

Sam shook his head and turned Gama around. With a smack to the guys back, he said "Go take a hike! Don't stand still, wander around the market, check equipment, do anything except standing still. Come back after a MINIMUM of five minutes have passed of you actively doing something! Don't keep me waiting tho, I am not a big fan of bars IRL, much less in game ones." 

Gama agreed that was a better idea and slowly took off. Sam began walking towards the bar *On a side note, what was Gama doing in a bar? The guy didn't seem the type. Who knows, maybe he was delivering something or is just a drunk.* 

Sam shrugged at Gama's confusing actions and entered the bar through the swinging wooden door. The inside was what he expected, full of drunken men, a couple of female waitresses and a bartender mixing a drink for a random guy. *I need a spot where I can observe everyones faces. The smugglers probably have a man in the middle here, who just watches out. He probably was the one, who sent a pretty woman to entice the naive Gama. 

If Gama wasn't a player, he would most definitely come back for a chance at talking to the woman again and ask around for her, so I will keep a look on these mercs to see if any of them is a rogue.* 

Sam looked over the bar, pretending he was looking for someone to sit with and noted some special people and triangulated the best location to see them all clearly. Sadly a couple of adult players were sitting in that booth. *Damn, gotta play friendly.* 

With no other good and not obvious spots available, Sam sighed internally and went to meet the drunken gang of players. "Hey lads, got a room for an extra?" 

The middle aged men stopped laughing for a bit and looked at him with confusion. The guy with a huge jug of beer took a swing and said. "Buy a round and we ain't gonna turn ya down!"

The three loughed together at this small poem and Sam chuckled along "Well, I AM here to get drunk and have fun, so how much's the beer here? 2 copper? 3?" 

The rhyming man smiled a bit surprised and said "It's a 5 for 13 and 3 for 10 establishment price." "Damn that's expensive. Only got like 22 copper. Screw it, have atcha! Imma buy 8 if ya lads can chip in." 

The drunk men cheered as they ordered 5 and 3 mugs, with Sam paying the last of his pennies for this. *I sure hope those smugglers got some cash. Already 3 silver in dept and it's only my second day.* 

Sam sat down with the rhymer and as soon as the drink came, he put his arm around Sam's shoulder and said "Give a round of cheers for our new pal, samshank!" 

With him now fully blended into the bar environment, he talked a bit and enjoyed his time with the new drinking partners, while he waited for Gama. 

With the first 4 drinks done, Sam saw the door open and Gama enter with nervous and shaky steps. Sam sharpened his eyes and observed the few suspicious people around for any special reactions. 

*Bartender is clear or too good for my perception... That band of merry men don't care... A smirk from the pretty boy, probably in mockery because he knows something... Or cause it's Gama. The guy at the bar turned around for no reason and went back to normal. Bartender is an observer or a middle man, who helps, but he is too high level for my 1 perception to catch and it is better to not stalk him. The boy is probably a normal member, not worth much and the guy at the bar is an informant. 

I wonder exactly what kind of things they are smuggling to have a dense system like this. Man do I love this game! So immersive and addictive.* 

The rhymer noticed Sam looking a bit distracted and pulled him closer with his arm and said "That ain't a pretty chick mate. Don't oogle at a skinny piece of man." 

Sam laughed and said "I don't swing that way ya drunk. I was just wondering what a softskin was doing here."

One of the other two spoke up and said "Probably trying to drink away his sorrows. Getting a girl these days is hard, I tell ya! At least these NPCs are some good eye candy. Sad we can't afford other services yet." 

*Don't look at Shanks! Don't look at Shanks! Don't look at Shanks! Don't look at Shanks!!!!* 

Gama nervously approached the bartender and sat down, placing 5 copper on the table and said "A-a g-grasshop-per please." 

The bartender nodded his head and quickly began mixing. Gama looked around and tried to avoid looking anywhere near Sam and his cover. 

*I thought he was gonna be sneaky and like a secret agent! Did he just want an excuse to get drunk and just dragged me here?* 

Gama held in a cough and turned back to the bartender, who had finished his grasshopper and said "Um, d-do you know where I c-can find that pretty woman from b-before?" 

The bartender raised an eyebrow and said "Well, I know where she lives, but why should I tell you, brat? For all I know you could be a stalker." 

Sam heard the bartender and laughed a bit *People who look young aren't taken seriously in this world. A hard lesson most people had to learn. That's the main reason for making myself look almost thiry. If I looked like my overly-young-teenage-looking self, I'd probably be shot down like Gama.* 

Gama wanted to ask Sam for advice or something, but he remembered the warning and stopped himself "*I can do this! Shanks trusted me with this!* I really like her!" 

The entire bar probably heard that and all looked toward Gama. *WTF are you doing there? Wait no, this is working! Having Gama act like himself really did pay off. He is about to be exploited and I can track them better. Damn is he good!* 

The bartender had a knowing smile on his face and placed his hand on Gama's shoulder "She lives in coinage street, #17. Don't let this chance slip young man." 

Gama smiled awkwardly and left the bar, running away quite fast. [Gama, just try to find that location. Don't go there yet. I want to see how the suspects reacts to your actions and then follow you quietly.] 

He received a message from Sam, which helped him make the decision in that split moment. With Gama now gone, Sam waited a bit and finished his last mug of beer, just as the informer left the bar. 

"Sorry lads, but I gotta go. Got no money left and my team's gonna get pissed if I stay here instead of grinding."

The drunk men made some noise and complaints, but they had already accepted Sam's friend request a while ago, so they didn't make a big deal out of it. *This was fun, but damn do I hate being here. Even had to drink that sorry excuse of a beverage for a quest.*

Just as Sam left, he noticed the informer slowly lowering his presence and trying to disappear within the crowd. 

*Damn, guess I have to put my 2 stat points into perception. Hope this quest is worth some pretty pennies, cuz this investment is NOT paying off right now.*