Sword Art Online-Encroaching Shadows

Chapter 33

It was well into the afternoon when Jayce and Jemza finally neared the Southern exit of Urbus. Argo had expressed her desire to eat together and socialize. What neither of them had planned for was two hours of listening to Argo embellish her adventures of writing the guide for the second floor. Mercifully, the pain eventually ended when Argo announced she had other matters to attend to.

The moment they passed through the <<Safe Zone>> of Urbus onto the path leading down the mountain and message window appeared. The first portion of the Thieves Guild quest was complete and they were awarded a hefty amount of experience and col. Enough to push them both to level 11. They both stopped to distribute their stat points and discuss the excitement about how they would get their next skill slot in one more level. For now they looked at the single quest listed in their log. <<The Rose's Thorns>>.

The late afternoon sun spread across the savannah with only a few scarce clouds dotting the sky. After the last few rain showers in Urbus it was a nice change to have such perfect travelling weather. More than once they were able to spot a few of the bull creatures roaming the open fields a good distance away. It felt like forever ago that they had survived the stampede that nearly claimed their lives. So little time had passed since then, but so much had changed.

"Listen, do you have any other clothes by chance?" They were already nearing the hour mark from when they left Urbus. Marome wouldn't be much further so it seemed like the right time for Jayce to bring up his thoughts about what was ahead. Jemza turned her head towards him and nodded.

"Yeah, you mean besides the stuff under my armor? I have a few things. Strange right? It's not like we sweat or have to do laundry, but I have changes of clothes. I feel dirty if I don't wear a different set."

"No, not strange at all. I have a few as well which is good for what I'm thinking. Until we know what we're dealing with we should change. Remove your armor and weapons and change into something more casual. All the NPC's surrounding this guild have been very intelligent. Almost like some advanced form of artificial intelligence. There's a good chance two people in all black, sporting weapons, and looking like Thieves Guild members will scare this guy away."

"You think this quest could be that in depth? Is it even possible for the game to perform that kind of realistic scenario?"

"Did you think a month ago people could get trapped inside a video game?" Jemza held her hands up in defeat.

"Fair point, I understand. Disguising ourselves might not be a bad idea. There's nothing between here and Marome though." She glanced around seeing nothing but open savannah.

"Roads clear and this is all open land so no one can sneak up on us. Just change here quickly." There were absolutely no ulterior motives when he said it, but Jemza's eyes instantly narrowed.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" So much sarcasm in a single sentence shouldn't be possible, but the hand on her hip only added to the clear picture that she wasn't buying into what he said.

"I'm not going to look. Back to back we can both change quickly and move on." He turned so his back was to her and after a few seconds he heard a sigh before she moved behind him.

"We're outside the city; if you peek I'll gut you."

"Duly noted let's hurry." Jayce swiped his menu open and navigated to his inventory. He removed his armor, weapons, and outer clothing waiting for each piece to disappear from his body. Once he was down to his underwear he scrolled through the clothing he had finding a different pair of black pants and a dark green tunic for his top. The whole process only took a few moments and he looked down at himself pleased with the outcome.