Conrad. Human salt Merchant (Lvl 44). Neutral. PK: 8.
The woman was one of three: A blonde, brunette, and redhead. The brunette and redhead were mobs.
Poor maiden (Lvl 5). Easy virtue.
"Damn pervy geek game designers," she muttered. The two mobs were young, gorgeous, and busty. Mostly they were perky and giggly. Very annoying. The blonde was a different animal. "That's interesting."
Colleen. Human thief (Lvl 29). -5 Dark.
Minus five Dark, and no kills? Tiana wondered what she was doing to be so Dark. NPCs couldn't just look at Colleen and see she was a thief, like other players could. But the salt merchant could see she was a player and a thief. Was he playing some kind of game with her?
Colleen was wearing a two-piece silk outfit, not so different from Asha's sorceress dress, except the thief's clothes were very translucent. Tiana was surprised the local authorities weren't fining or arresting her. Then she noticed all of the gold and diamond jewelry adorning her ears, throat, and wrists. A string of diamonds hung from a belly button piercing, and even her silvery high-heeled sandals were glittering with rhinestones.
"Maybe he's showering her with so much jewelry she'd rather sleep with him than steal," she wondered aloud. "Being a kept woman has its appeal, but he's treating her like a cheap slut."
The merchant was openly groping her, and even pulled her top down. Colleen giggled and kissed him, and quickly adjusted her clothes. He didn't seem to mind her half-hearted struggles.
Tiana turned her attention to the two mob bodyguards trailing behind. One was an ork warrior, while the other was human. Both were a head taller than the merchant, with lots of muscles, and lots of edged weapons strapped to their bodies. They were watching the crowd as the merchant and his girls slowly worked their way across the plaza.
"Oh my, just tickle my fancy," Tiana whispered, her senses all on high alert. "That's the biggest purse I've seen so far. And it looks so full."
The thief tingled all over. She wanted that purse so badly. It was a struggle to tear her eyes off it to look around. Her friends had left her behind when she stopped to watch the merchant's party. Not a problem, since she knew where to find them.
This shouldn't take too long. Tiana wagged her brows. Time to level up on my primary skill.
She took off on a path to place her ahead of them, right where one of the streets connected to the plaza. The thief continued to covertly watch the merchant, noticing he had more than one purse tied to his belt. The others were smaller, so she kept her objective the large purse. Just stealing that should level her up.
The bodyguards were a little worrisome. They were unusually alert and scary looking. She found it quite thrilling. Her body tingled as adrenaline pumped into her blood, firing up her muscles for quick and decisive action.
Tiana was so glad she didn't put on the black Robes of Concealment. Stealing that purse while the merchant was surrounded by three bimbos and two hired thugs would give her so many more experience points while fully visible to them. She might not level up if she secretly took his purse while invisible.
I'm going to be level 20 before I leave this town.
Reaching the street, Tiana noticed the human bodyguard watching her. So she headed up the street as if she didn't have a care in the world. The thief stopped to look over the goods that shops had out on display, each time secretly checking out the merchant's progress. The bodyguards were ignoring her. So she prepared to act when she reached a narrow, dark alley. It was always best to have two or more escape routes. The street gave her two directions to escape, and the alley proved a backup third.
Tiana's heart raced as the merchant neared with his giggling, laughing harem. The bimbos were impressive. She noticed brief mercenary looks from both of the mob women, so knew she wasn't the only woman viewing the merchant as easy prey. Even more impressive was the ease in which those three women walked so gracefully on cobblestone in sky-high stilettos, though they all needed to grab him to steady themselves at different times. Or did they do that on purpose?
Doesn't matter. The way they are constantly bumping into him, grabbing him, stroking him, she thought. Means he's less likely to notice when I steal his purse.
They walked up to her as she examined a display of vegetables. Pointing at the potatoes, Tiana took a step back and called out, "Hey, mister. How much for the – oooff."
To make it appear more like an accident, Tiana stepped into the path of the brunette instead of the merchant. The woman grunted upon impact, and Tiana played it for all she was worth. She cried out in surprise and protest, as she turned and smashed into the merchant. One hand deftly lifted the overlarge purse, while the other used a razor-edge blade to cut it free of his belt. It took all of two seconds, and she was hiding the hand with the purloined purse as she spun away.
"Watch where you're going," Tiana cried. "You don't own this street."
The merchant tried to backhand her, but the thief slipped between the blonde and redhead. The redheaded bimbo made a misstep, grabbed Tiana's arm, but lost her balance anyway and dragged the thief down with her.
Colleen pointed. "Isn't that your purse, baby?"
"What the – Grab her!"
"Cutpurse!" Colleen shouted, catching Tiana's eyes with a cold, wicked look. "Don't let her escape!"
The bodyguards moved fast. The brunette held onto Tiana. She couldn't break free in time, and two sets of hard, strong hands seized her. One of them punched her in the belly, before they dragged her into the dark alley. Tiana was pressed up against a wall as the merchant moved up to her, a long silvery knife in one hand.
"Hey now, you got your stupid purse back," Tiana said, eyes locked on that blade. "I got roughed up. So we're even."
"Kill her, baby," Colleen said. The blonde looked excited, eyes filled with bloodlust. "Carve her face up, and then open her gut."
Tiana gawked at her. Why would she say something like that? What was wrong with that crazy bitch?
"It's a shame you're an Immortal," Conrad said, eyes filled with malice. "But this will hurt a lot, and you're going to have nightmares for years to come."
Oh my god, he's going to do what she wants!
Conrad cut Tiana's purse off. "Look at me, robbing you."
"Is that irony?" Colleen asked.
He paused. "I don't know. I never quite understood what irony was."
The merchant poured the contents of Tiana's purse into his hand. They all marveled over the how much she had, and laughed at her for losing it so foolishly.
Then he eyes fell upon Tiana's ring. "Nice ring. Is it enchanted?"
"No," she said. "Just costume jewelry."
"Get it for me. Cut her finger off," Conrad said to one of the bodyguards.
"No!" Tiana cried, lashing out with her feet in all directions. She surprised the bodyguards, and almost broke free. In desperation, she used the magic of the ring for another attempt. "A-ha!"