Elusive Prey

by Cheek, Jason

  “What I don’t understand,” Oránn said, as they moved to the last rune circle placed around the tailfin. “Is how are these rune circles going to be controlled from the … bridge?”

  “That’s what I’ve been working on for the last week,” Hollysharp said with an annoyed shake of her head. “The tricky part was working the runes to trigger properly from the bridge. I swear though, it’s going to take at least three to four pilots to steer this baby once it’s fully functional.” Seeing that Oránn didn’t understand the significance of her comment, she explained what she meant.

  “Look, each fin is going to need its own control lever, there is always going to be a need for a pilot at the rudder, and that doesn’t include the extra assistants needed to control the ballast tanks for raising and lowering the vessel in the water. That’s a minimum of three to five crew members just to basically steer the vessel underwater.”

  “Do you have any idea how complex something like that is to design with rune circles?” Hollysharp asked, as she leaned in close to look Oránn in the eyes. “Just activating the runes won’t work for the propulsion system like they do for everything else.” Sitting back on her haunches, the Gnomeling made a gagging noise. “No, I needed to create a whole new way to control the amount of mana being sent to the rune.”

  “You were able to do that?” Oránn hesitantly asked the vocal Gnomeling, as her eyes studied the runes heading towards the front of the vessel.

  “Hahaha, it was easy-peasy,” Hollysharp chortled, as she gave Oránn a wink. “Star pressured me into making that earlier for the Fire Spitter turrets when we were fighting against the Orcs on our way here.” Standing up and meaningfully pulling her equipment belt up, the Gnomeling proudly stuck out her small chest and pointed a thumb at herself.

  “Don’t tell anyone, but it was easy enough to figure out after that. A small tweak to the runic pattern and now I can just adjust the flow coming from the mana accumulation crystal.” Hollysharp nodded at the rune circle that they’d just completed. “It’s perfect for a channeling spell like this.”

  It was an impressive design and Oránn said as much, which just made working with the abrupt Gnomeling go that much easier. That’s basically the way their conversations went as they moved to each side fin to repeat the same process. While they worked, Hollysharp discussed the ballast tanks and how they were distributed to control the depth and balance of the vessel while under the water. Slowly Oránn began to understand the logic behind the vessel’s unusual design. Though, the more they talked, the more the Sea Elf was unsure if she should be more impressed with Star’s concept for this incredible vessel’s design or Hollysharp’s practical know-how in getting the vessel built. Oránn said as much to Hollysharp which earned her another whole body laugh from the Gnomeling like they were suddenly best friends.

  “Hello to the ship!” An elegant voice suddenly shouted out, as they were finishing up the rune circle on the last fin. “I have a delivery of mana accumulation crystals.”

  “Femdi, you’re back from Tulduroc already?” Hollysharp called out in glee, as she sprang to her feet. Seeing a familiar Gnomeling leading a line of workers carrying massive red-glowing crystals in their arms. “I didn’t expect you back for another week!”

  Both Gnomelings immediately began swimming towards each other to clasp arms in greeting. Femdi Deepwater was the female Gnomeling Captain that Startum Ironwolf had given command over The Doon to sell the war and trader ships that were recovered from the ship graveyard above the city of Auris Shaeras. Her planned market had been the Dark Elf port city of Londshos that held the majority of the kingdom’s bireme squadrons. Afterwards, she was going to have The Doon travel to the Gnome port city of Tulduroc so that Femdi could purchase the magic supplies that Hollysharp needed to finish off the new Hammerhead ship that she was designing. As they slowly spun to a stop, the taller Gnomeling looked over Hollysharp critically.

  “I heard the rest of your engineering team passed out earlier this morning and that you haven’t slept since before I left,” Femdi said, friendly chastising her magic engineer friend. “Don’t tell me that the great Prustine Hollysharp is concerned she can’t complete the design of a simple ship.” Seeing the pinched look on the other woman’s face, Femdi pressed her lips together in puzzlement as Hollysharp went off.

  “That’s no simple ship” Hollysharp roared as she waved an excited hand at the massive ship behind her. “That vessel is going to rock the known world to its foundations.”

  Taking her first true look at the odd shaped vessel, Femdi listened intently to the design specs of the planned ship. At first, she thought Hollysharp was pulling her leg. The planned armament of eight mana turrets sounded like an incredibly bad joke. Most trader ships wouldn’t have had more than one or two. The only reason that the Wind Dancer had as many as she did was due to Hollysharp being part of the crew. While the turrets were powerful, in truth the rune charged weapons didn’t have the power to decisively change the outcome of a battle. If anything they were mostly used by the Wind Dancer’s crew as deterrents to pirates and Orc raiders. Though, as her friend explained the changes she’d made in the turrets’ designs and how effective they’d been against the Orc’s pocket squadron of triremes, she started changing her mind.

  Femdi was also shocked to hear that the ship was nearly complete. Even though she knew the ship was based on magic-tech, it had no masts or much of anything that was recognizable to that of a regular sailing ship. Hollysharp’s assurance that the hull was finished and all that was left was installing the mana accumulation crystals and completing the rune circles for the turrets, air shield, internal and external lights, and making sure everything else was properly connected to the bridge left the Captain of The Doon muttering the first thing that came to her mind.

  “How many mana accumulation crystals is that monster going to take?”

  “How many did you manage to bring back with you?” Hollysharp asked, the suppressed excitement sparkling in her eyes.

  “Funny you should ask,” Femdi said, as she floated back from her friend and smugly crossed her arms over an impressive chest. “Some miners in Londshos recently discovered a large node of mana accumulation crystals. Since the Kingdom of Thayjar really doesn’t have any use for them, the miners were looking to make a sale with a Gnomeling trader heading to Tulduroc.”

  “No you didn’t,” Hollysharp exclaimed, slapping her knee and doing her lilting laugh.

  “Yes I did,” Femdi said, laughing along with her friend. She’d gotten the crystals at a steal and without any transportation costs to boot. “With the sales of the ships, it was no problem buying out everything they had. I’ve got a whole cargo hold full of crystals at base cost no less. Not only that, I’ve already made a deal with the miners to buy out the rest of the node.”

  “How did you wrangle that?” Hollysharp asked, turning suddenly serious.

  “After hearing about the strangeness going-on in the Kingdom of Kader, the Dark Elves are scared," Femdi's tone turned grim. “The Admiral of the Shadow Stalker squadrons has promised me a good price for any warships that I can deliver to him in good condition.”

  “Woohoo,” Hollysharp cheered, as Femdi grinned along with her like a fiend. With all of the derelict ships above Auris Shaeras, they were sitting on a virtual gold mine.

  “So, how many mana accumulation crystals are you going to need for this beast?” Femdi asked, thoughtfully looking over the vessel.

  “A minimum of eighteen large ones,” Hollysharp said without hesitation, as Femdi visibly choked. Quite the feat to do while using a water breathing stone. Oblivious to her friend’s distress, she thoughtfully continued. “Though twenty would be a safe bet.”

  “Twenty mana accumulation crystals!” Femdi finally gasped out with her eyes as big as saucers. “Does Lord Ironwolf know the cost of this crazy magic-tech ship?”

  “Probably not,” Hollysharp said with an unconcerned shrug. “He never once asked what all of this w
ould cost. He just said,” the Gnomeling’s voice took on a mockingly deep tone. “Hollysharp, if you’re really as good of a magic-tech as everyone says you are, then you’ll be able to build this ship to my design specs without any problems.”

  Femdi’s mouth wordlessly formed an “O” as she tried to come up with an intelligent reply. Who would give a magic-tech a project like this without limiting the amount of money they could spend to complete it? The mana accumulation crystals alone on the Wind Dancer cost nearly half as much as a brand new trader ship. While that slowly percolated through her thoughts, her eyes took in the massive dome and the ship inside of the massive black coral structure, when she suddenly realized the most obvious problem.

  “Okay, so let’s say you get the ship completed and everything is ready to go,” Femdi said, as if her friend was missing the most obvious problem of all. “How are you going to get all of the water out of the ship and then get it up to the surface?” Seeing Hollysharp’s incomprehensible look, she waved her hands to take in the entire dome. “The ship is sitting on the bottom of the ocean. What are you going to do, have giant zombie squids bring the ship up to the surface and then remove all the water with Shamans?”

  “Ha ha haha ha,” Hollysharp’s teasing singsonged out, as Femdi rolled her eyes in annoyance. “It’s an underwater vessel.”

  That little fact ended up being another whole discussion. By the end of it, Femdi simply said Hollysharp would have to show her how it was supposed to work. To her, the concept sounded like a Gnome magic-tech’s wet dream. The craziest part of all of this was that Hollysharp said that this insane plan came from Lord Ironwolf himself of all people. If anyone could pull this crazy idea off, Hollysharp would be the only one she knew that might be able to do it.

  “Come on Holly,” Femdi said with a shake of her head. “Let’s get these crystals moved in and you can show me how you plan to do this.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  (Zeven traveling to the Lonsalindel’s ferry)

  It took more than three hours of constant running for Zeven to make his way through The Fangs. That was the unofficial name of the rocky hills and scraggy forest between Lonsalindel and Blaidd Ogof Hold. It was rough terrain with numerous predators that ranged from level twenty all the way up into the forties. The wide range made it extremely dangerous for a solo Badger Kin such as himself to level. Even so, Zeven had spent much of his time leveling up here. While the harsh natural beauty usually calmed his soul, this time Zeven found no peace for his troubled heart.

  Coming to a stop on the ridge above Lonsalindel, Zeven’s silver-blue eyes coldly studied the land below. It was still another couple hours run to the city. Though the land was less rugged and the predators’ lower-level, the downside was that this was where most of the players that called the city home chose to hunt. He’d yet to make it through this area without having to slaughter a team or two that thought a solo player such as himself would be easy pickings. Zeven’s fangs peeked out from his thick black lips as he tightened his grip on the Spirit Lochaber of Chieftain Diongmhalta in his padded hands.

  “Fuck with me,” Zeven thought, as the violence inside his soul demanded to be released. “I fucking double-dare you!”

  With that thought in mind, he began to refresh his buffs: Spirit Armor, Might of a Bear, Agility of a Squirrel, Stamina of a Wolf, Bark Skin, Speed of a Hare, Nature’s Protection, and Strike of an Adder. He didn’t want anything to drop in the middle of a fight. As he recast his buffs, Zeven closed his eyes and focused on his connection to Nahi. For the hundredth time he verified that her presence was still far to the north east and unmoving. While that gave him hope that he could catch up to them, on the other, it caused a sick feeling to grow in his stomach. That’s because it meant the people who’d kidnapped her had more time to hurt her.

  Zeven knew that because he could see her health regularly dropping during his run. Though the individual strikes never caused much damage, they didn’t stop until her hit points were in the red. It was almost like her captors were purposely torturing her, Zeven thought, as tears of helpless fury came to his eyes. The only time he’d seen low damage numbers like that was during his training session and learning how to fight hand-to-hand. Sucking in ragged breaths, he sought to control the fury ragging inside his soul, when a whimpering cry from what sounded like a bear cub came from further down the slope.

  “God dammit, Stannis,” an angry voice shouted out, “stop fucking with the whelping and hold down your side of the net?” Immediately following the player’s words, a terrible bellow of helpless rage rang out down the slope.

  “Get off my ass, Carebear,” a voice that Zeven assumed was Stannis screamed back. As soon as the roar stopped, there were a bunch of screams as the sounds of snapping trees and branches drowned out whatever else Stannis was saying.

  “It bit you?” the scorn was clear in Carebear’s voice. “It’s a level 0 cub. Seriously, how hard could a bite from a cub have really hurt?”

  “Dude, you’re acting like it’s a Razor Rabbit,” Stannis snapped back defensively, “and not a mother fucking Grizhawk, asshole.”

  “Stop being a pussy and stake your part of the net down,” Carebear hollered back.

  “She’s trying to get away,” a new voice shouted, as another monstrous bellow rang out. “Focus on her wings, Muhrder!”

  Without even realizing it, Zeven’s legs had already started carrying him in the direction of the fight. Normally, he would’ve never gotten involved with another team’s kill, but something about the horror show he was hearing sparked something ugly deep within his soul. Maybe it was the needless cruelty of the players towards the baby cub as its mother tried to protect her young that set him off. In truth, Zeven couldn’t have explained exactly why he’d detoured from his path, but in his heart, he knew it had to do with how the triple “A” guild had cruelly slaughtered his people.

  The distance between him and the battle wasn’t that great. Within a few minutes, Zeven was doing his best to silently creep up behind the group of players. The debris from the foot-thick trees that had been snapped like twigs were everywhere and spoke of the ferocity of the battle.

  Stopping at the edge of a newly created clearing, Zeven eyes were immediately drawn to the massive Grizzly Bear-like monster the size of a Greyhound Bus in its last death throes. It was currently being held down by a large net that had been dropped down on top of it and staked into the ground. Additionally, thick ropes were built into the net around the stakes for the players to hold onto so they could strengthen the trap. Bloody wounds gaped open on its heaving flanks and a pool of thick blood was slowly growing underneath its immense bulk. Nonetheless, the bear-like monster strained against its bindings to reach its injured cub that had been left in a crumpled heap at the far edge of the clearing. A quick use of Identify showed the monster to be a Level 50 Grizhawk named Forest Claw of the Azure Sky.

  What was a level 50 mob doing around here? Zeven wondered, as he let out a silent whistle. How did these guys take out such a high level monster like this?

  Focusing next on the group of players attacking the monster, Zeven was unsurprised to see that they were all banged up and covered in nasty wounds. Although their backs were to him, it was easy to see that their leather armor had been shredded into ribbons and they were covered in nearly as much of their own blood as they were in the monsters. Obviously, the fight against this boss mob had nearly gone against them.

  Even though he wasn’t exactly happy with how these guys were torturing the Grizhawk and her cub, it really wasn’t his place to intervene, Zeven sourly thought. As he hid in stealth debating whether or not to end the heart breaking cub’s bleating cries, one of the players leaped backwards in a fast spin to dodge the Grizhawk mother’s snapping jaws. Seeing the player’s Human face, the hackles instantly rose on the back of his neck.

  What were a group of Humans doing in the Beast Kin area? Zeven immediately wondered, as he cast Identify on the player. While he didn
’t share the prejudices of his Clan against the non-Beast Kin races, he had to admit that seeing a Human group of players in what would be considered a Beast Kin starting area made him instantly alert. His suspicion was rewarded a second later as the player’s information appeared over their head, Muhrder Piehole - Level 39 Rogue, AAA.

  “They’re part of the triple “A” guild!” Zeven snarled, as a low growl started deep in his chest. Without conscious thought his body responded to the adrenaline surging through his system as the fur across his body began to stand on end and his black lips pulled back from his fangs. A red haze fell over his vision as he gripped the Spirit Lochaber of Chieftain Diongmhalta tight in his clawed hands and cast Soul Bitter. Within seconds, a ghostly glow enveloped the Badger Kin’s body and his two-handed weapon as he started forward, while his eyes flicked to each man as he cast Identify: Nacario Deathreaver - Level 40 Rogue, Xxnos Copexx – Level 40 Rogue, Stannis Dickatheon – Level 39 Rogue, and Carebear Slayer – Level 39 Rogue. They were all part of the triple “A” guild.

  “Dammit Muhrder,” Nacario complained, letting up on the thick rope in his hands after the Grizhawk collapsed in an unmoving heap. “She’s bleeding out.”

  “Fuck off, Nacario,” Muhrder snapped, while flipping the other man off. “Next time you can try keeping the mob hovering at one percent health, while I hammer the fucking stakes into the ground and hold onto the rope. Besides,” he kicked the mother Grizhawk in the head with a casual brutality, “this bitch is toast. If she didn’t take the bait by now, she’s never going to bond with you.”

  “God fucking damn, this is such bullshit,” Nacario angrily swore, as he watched the beast’s hit points continue to drop. “This should have worked like it did in Chaos-“

  “Hey guys, do you hear that growling noise?” Xxnos nervously interrupted the bitch session. “Because, it’s coming from right behind us.” As everyone froze at his words and looked behind them, a thick shaft of steel suddenly punched out from the front of the Rogue’s chest.