Sword Art Online-Encroaching Shadows

Chapter 24

The estate of Demeter Wright was located on the western edge of Urbus. That was the location Rose had provided to Jayce and Jemza. The two had waited until dusk to locate the estate and see exactly what they had gotten themselves into. Neither one had pieced together that when Rose said western edge, she literally meant the western edge. Urbus was situated in a crater of a high flat topped mountain. The Wright estate was built into the edge of the mountain so that a good portion was impossible to reach without scaling the mountainside.

The rest was surrounded by a large brick wall with metal prongs lining the top. A gateway out front marked the only obvious entrance to the building. Two men in plate armor carrying halberds stood on either side of the gate prohibiting the entrance of people like Jayce and Jemza. The cursors above their heads were red, meaning that they would be a tougher fight than anything else they'd encountered before. Until now they had only hunted creatures with pink cursors. Plus, these were human mobs and most likely possessed actual skills they could use.

Jayce surmised that the estate and guards was usually marked as NPC's until you accepted the Thieves Guild quest. At that point the estate would register as hostile. Anyone else passing by would see the two guards with green cursors and not have to worry about conflict. Not knowing how perceptive the two guards were meant that Jayce and Jemza had to hang back a good distance to scout the estate out.

"Can't climb those can we?" Jemza nodded towards the high walls stretching out from the gate. It curved around the building until it reached the edge of the mountain.

"Don't think so. Too high and the top is like a medieval form of barbed wire. We could get hung up or take damage." The girl beside him silently agreed with his response. She had activated her <<Searching>> skill to try and locate anything that would give them an edge, but so far nothing presented itself.

"This is a Thieves Guild quest so we're missing something. Assaulting the front gate is always an option, but that would make no sense for thieves." Jemza's voice was low so they didn't attract the attention of the guards who were across the street.

"Hey, look over there." Jemza followed where he pointed and saw a man walking down the street. He seemed to be moving in a way that would keep him out of sight of the guards, but still able to approach a section of the wall after it turned away from the front section. A similar black mask to the ones Jayce and Jemza now wore tied around their nose and mouth was visible on him as well. They couldn't make out much more because of the brown poncho wrapped tightly around his body.

"Isn't that..." Jemza trailed off as Jayce shifted from his position moving parallel to the guards, but towards the man. She quickly followed behind him stepping as quiet as possible until they were within a few dozen feet of the man. As if sensing their approach his head snapped towards them, a hand flashing into the folds of his poncho. Jayce quickly raised a hand in greeting, the man's hand slid back out slowly and he looked between Jayce and Jemza.

"Sorry, but you were the one who gave me that potion the other day in the marketplace aren't you?" Jayce made sure to speak quietly and a flicker of recognition passed through the man's eyes.

"Ah, you both are the couple from the mixing merchant. You both look like you are here for a similar purpose." Even speaking quietly, the man's voice was crisp and charismatic. Every word was spoken with confidence and without hesitation.

"Mhm, just not sure where to begin though." Jemza responded and for the second time today Jayce glanced at her noticing that she once more didn't make a correction to the word "couple."

"I didn't think anyone else was aware of this questline." Jayce was forced to abandon his thoughts about Jemza and his relationship as the man spoke.