Fantaisy world online I : New Roads

New Roads! Chapter 23

It's a precaution that anyone would take after being attacked several times in a single month. Exept that i did that with every carts.

Normal bandits would stop attacking the same cart when they noticed that the security had risen. Their attention would then be dirrected to another caravan that operated in the near their base area. However since they were not normal bandits, there was the possibility that the attackers would stop their activities and disband to be replaced by another group of raiders in another completely different area.

If i was trying to undermine my enemy's economical base on a long span of time without attracting attention while using the least amount of manpower possible so as to not disturb my own daily activities that's how i would proceed.

Create small stike groups that attack a few times in a certain area then go into hidding or disolve when they've attracted attention, replacing them by another group in another area where attacks are not expected and the security is low. If the attacks had been more distanced in time i wouldn't have noticed it and the guild's monthly income would have slighly been reduced.

Not enough for me to suspect anything but enough to be missed later on, when whoever is behind the attacks will go to the next step of their plan.

Once i was done adjusting the caravans' escorts i opened replies from the guilds i had contacted before.

The first one i read was from a small guild of 32 players originating from every part of the earth that had gathered to share and relish in their hobby: mountain climbing. They called themselves TheHappyHickers.

Apparently they had talked between themselves and decided to accept a bussiness arrangment as the basis of an alliance. Their Guild Master was ready to discuss the exact terms of the alliance.

Hickers... They are not warriors nor healers or productive workers... sticktly speacking i don't have any manual use for them. Their only good point is their knowledge of mountainuous areas.

After a while i decided to propose the same price reduction in all of the Centiped owned bussiness as regular members in exchange for their assistance, guidance, councel if any of Centiped's troops or men were to need it for a quest or travel.

It's a good deal. if they are smart they will accept it.

The second message was from a small guild of 13 players. its members had already known each other in RL and had decided to band together under the same banner. Since they were not particalarly interested in wealth or power i had thought that they would be safe to ask an alliance from.

From what i gathered of their reply the guild master was flattered by my proposal and would have accepted if we were not such a powerfull guild. He, or she, feared that by associating themselves with us they would attract unwanted attention and more wrong than good would result from an alliance.

He is correct. Taking the size and average level of his guild into account if they were to upset someone powerfull like the NoMercy because they became our allies, they wouldn't survive it.

Considering how their guild master had been able to foresee such consequences i felt that not keeping in tuch would be a loss. So i sent a following message saying that i understood and respected his decision but that if him, a member of his guild or the guild itself ever needed anything they just had to ask him and he would help them out the best he could.

In other words let's have a secret alliance.

The next message was a reply from the NPC run Architect Guild. This one was a sensible case as it was one of the largest and powerfull Guilds. Spread all over the Valarian Continent, many its members had become famous by designing the plans and managing the construction of high nobles or Royal families, sometimes even of entire villages or town.