The Call of the Coven: A LitRPG novel (Shadow Kingdoms Book 2)

by J. F. Danskin

  Those are more words than I have heard van Turk speak in our entire time together. But hey – he’s a mercenary. I guess he likes to talk when the topic of conversation is fighting.

  I pat myself down, feeling at the places where the rats sank their teeth into me in the dark. I’m still wearing my clothes and leather jerkin, though I see that I now have some strapping on my injured leg. Each wound feels tender but certainly not agonising to touch. I mutter ‘status’ to myself.

  Status: human, female, 19 hit points Name: Daria Level: Journeyman crafter Location: Unicorn Coast, Felesia Time: 16:31

  So, I have healed a lot, though not fully. I’ve not had any notification about being poisoned or diseased, either, which can be a risk with rats. So on the whole – I appear to be holding up.

  “How’s the ship?” I ask. “And Coruff? Have we returned to Llandra? And you say she sank the longship?”

  He rubs his hands together. “I will tell you these things,” he says, “and then you must describe your fight in the dark for me. I want to know everything. Ah, when I got there and starting shooting arrows from above – I thought you were finished. I pinned three rats, but there were ten, twenty more around you and that foul mage. Your friend showed great bravery to jump down and lift you clear.”

  “So, Lugg is all right, then? Safe? And Coruff too?” I prompt.

  He nods. “He was not too badly hurt, and Mistress Coruff is well, also. The longship turned in the water and its hull was very badly damaged by her spell. Breached. The vessel went down with all of its warriors on board. Drowning for those pirate scum, I hope. Or at least a long, cold swim. Last seen clinging to some broken pieces of wood, some of them. As for Llandra city, well. I am not too sure. You can go ask the captain, perhaps.”

  I nod. Moving cautiously in case of sudden pains from my fight, I swing my legs around gingerly, and then stand. I am tempted to log out for a moment, but can’t really think of an excuse to ask van Turk to leave, and have already promised him an account of my fight. I begin relating it as I leave the cabin and close the door behind me, starting with my descent into the dark and the half-orc’s destruction of the ladder with his fire spell.

  “Oh,” I say, pausing as we head towards the deck. “My weapons – I left the bow up top…”

  But before I can finish, he slaps me on the back and affords me another warm grin.

  “Don’t worry, friend Daria. I saw the bow on the floor, and afterwards Lugg found your morning star, too. It’s all under your bunk now. And the knife, cleaned.” His horned head nods towards my waist, and looking down I see that the valuable jeweled knife is back in its sheath on my belt, clean of any lingering signs of the sorcerer’s blood. My morning star is not clipped into its usual place, though. I’ll feel more comfortable after I’ve retrieved it from my cabin.

  For now, all seems peaceful enough on board. It is busy, too, and I see the youthful carpenter, Finn, working together with a muscular halfling sailor to repair the damaged areas at the back of the quarterdeck. I hadn’t noticed him before, and I smile as I approach, even though he looks nervous. Perhaps he has been avoiding me since fleeing when the mercs attacked.

  “Finn,” I say, “you can relax. It’s good to see you hard at work. We need a carpenter on board. And here – I owe you a few silvers. See to it that the kobolds get theirs, too, and we won’t need to discuss the matter of your running off and leaving me to the mercenaries.”

  I hand the nervous-looking kid six silvers as promised and then look around at van Turk again. “It doesn’t look like the longship can have gotten in too many more shots before I left the scene.”

  “As you say. Mistress Coruff was most successful.”

  As we walk on, I finish my retelling of the fight, and van Turk seems impressed – he is as enthusiastic as he has been since I recovered, and it appears that he has seen a different side of me. Perhaps more by luck than judgement, I have also improved my skill in making a good impression on people, for I see another notification:

  Increase in skill level: Charm level 15 (Spirit +3)

  I smile to myself. And just then, Lugg hurries over too.

  “Lugg,” I say loudly, “my friend, I know that you took a great risk to rescue me from the rats and the sorcerer. Thank you.”

  He nods, smiling bashfully and avoiding my gaze. “Lugg did his best, Miss.”

  Coruff soon approaches, too. She’s apologetic that the half-orc had to be revived after his murderous attack on me, but feels that it was necessary if any information was to be gained from him. “At present, we just don’t know enough about who sent him, or why. When we reach our destination, we can find out more, with assistance from my comrades. But we will have to be careful. We are now approaching Sefindarg City.”

  “But what about the plan to stop closer to Llandra?” I ask, striding towards the starboard side of the ship and looking towards the coast, dismayed. And indeed, there is no sign of Llandra – rather than returning to the jewel-like port town, we must have sailed past it some time ago. Another settlement is visible ahead, no more than half an hour away, I would estimate.

  “Long gone, I’m afraid,” says Coruff, coming to my side. “We had evaded the longship, but its two companions were still following behind us. The captain did not want to risk another battle at sea, so we couldn’t turn. And with the rowing boats destroyed, and you resting after your wounds…”

  I nod.

  “And so we are some hours past it, now,” she continues. “We also passed a small port named Larch and are now coming close to the capital of Kamarok province.”

  “So that’s Sefindarg City? It’s bigger than I was expecting.”

  She nods slowly as she looks at the city which sits on the horizon up ahead – mighty stone towers are already visible, with a flickering flame marking the harbor, which also has dozens of masts rising from it. “That’s it, yes – the capital of the province. It’s where everyone else in my coven traveled to, and our plan was to meet there soon.”

  I look sideways at her. “I know you are impatient to get there and see Maleki and the others,” I say. “But what about the Knights of Dawn?”

  Coruff is silent in response, and we both gaze at the city as our ship glides ever closer.

  “It is as you said to me,” Coruff replies at last, still looking towards the shore as she speaks. “We can’t risk entering the city by ship. The port will be watched, and we –” she glances around at us “– are far too easy to recognize. The others from the coven are also in great danger right now.”

  I feel a little relieved, but also confused. “So if we are not going to Sefindarg City and not returning to Llandra, then what?”

  She smiles slightly. “I have made a new plan with Captain Hitch. We will dock here – the vessel is due into the city anyway, and there are other passengers aboard. But we have agreed that the stop will be short. The four of us will stay aboard, keeping out of sight, and then sail onward to the next port in the same province – a small town by the name of Nimroth, a few hours’ ride north of Sefindarg City.”

  “We’ll be alone there, then, and out of reach of the coven,” I say. “That’s not without its risks, too. Do you plan to ride south to the main city to meet with the others?”

  “I’m not sure yet,” she replies. “It’s possible. But if the Knights of Dawn are truly in Sefindarg, it may make more sense to call for my comrades to come to us.”

  “Mmm.”

  “I’m afraid that means that the nefarious sorcerer comes with us to Nimroth, too. We can’t let him go – he knows too much.”

  I look at her again, but say nothing.

  * * *

  As we come closer, I can see that the provincial capital is a spectacular city. I already knew it to be the largest town in this new Imperial province. But as far as I was concerned, that wasn’t saying much. When I first played this game, the area was a virtual wilderness – not even a settled province at all. It was a genuine wild west as far as the
Empire went, and there were no coastal towns of more than a thousand inhabitants at most. I doubt you could have even docked a ship of this size there.

  Kamarok was also known as the sort of place where bands of high-level adventurers would come to find rare creatures or slay dragons, defend new outpost towns, or even set up a new settlement of their own. It was a dangerous place, but a land of opportunity. I knew next to nothing about its main city, but I don’t think there was much to know, to be frank.

  It’s clear to see how radically things have moved since then. The terrain is flat – though mountains can be seen to the north – allowing me to see how far back the city stretches. It is very large. The surrounds are also much more temperate than Dubasa; the streets that I can see are wide and tree-lined, but the trees have brown leaves, and the people are well wrapped up in cloaks and hoods.

  The city’s harbor is large and well-organized, too, with a wide main merchant area protected by a narrower entrance with watchtowers. Between the towers, in the heart of the harbor mouth, there is a small island which has a lighthouse complete with flaming oil beacon.

  Throughout the city, the buildings are made of neatly carved pale sandstone, and you can see how clean and new everything looks – this is a place which has been established over the past generation, and has somehow thrived and prospered while the Empire has grown. I wonder where the wealth came from. As a setting, it couldn’t contrast more with the rundown streets and boarded-up buildings that I witnessed on Dubasa.

  We dock, pulling in to a berth on the south side of the merchant harbor. I am following Coruff’s advice; by wearing my cloak with the hood up and sitting on the quarterdeck, I will be well away from where people will disembark or board, and hard to spot in any case.

  The sailors are not keeping a low profile, though, that’s for sure, yelling and singing as they bring us to one of the large stone piers, and jesting with local dock workers. More white gulls circle around. Again, this is notably different from the ones I am used to in Dubasa. Now that we are pulling in, I see that the harbor buildings are very large, too, and all set quite far back from the sea.

  Coruff and van Turk are now below deck. I do see one of Coruff’s ‘yellow bird’ messengers, and it appears to have attracted the attention of one of the local seagulls. I stand; am worried for a moment, but then the gull wheels off and goes in a different direction. I settle back down, pulling my hood even further down and making sure my long hair is tucked inside.

  There are multiple riders on fine-looking horses nearby, and quite a few carriages, too. Some of them are loading or unloading passengers with bags, and I spend some time watching their to-ing and fro-ing while some of the passengers from our own vessel begin to disembark.

  After a few minutes, a nearby carriage catches my eye; a strikingly beautiful elven woman with medium-brown skin and spiky blue hair has disembarked. Some kind of noblewoman, perhaps? She is handed a pair of what look like daggers by the servant that holds the door, which she then clips to her belt. She speaks briefly to a dock worker who points in our general direction and then moves away. As I look on, curious, I see an armored hand reach out from within the carriage, and give the woman a note. She puts this inside her cloak, and then turns, striding away – directly towards our vessel.

  I tense up, following her with my eyes; I feel inherently suspicious of someone who intends to board in what I have been assured is going to be a short trip to an unscheduled location. Sure enough, she ascends the gangplank. As she comes closer, I see that she is wearing fine-looking leather armor with lightning bolt motifs under her greenish cloak. The handles of the daggers are now at her waist, and I am briefly reminded of the weapons that Lugg purchased and was so delighted with on our trip to the blacksmith’s in Vel, just before we set off for the Badlands.

  Well, they certainly came in useful.

  I am aware that I am looking at the newcomer with a little suspicion, but all the same, I move forward stealthily, trying to justify this to myself. Not only is there is a risk that she came on board after somehow gaining information on us, I reason, she also has something in common with the leader of the Kapa-Vane mercs, Snagaras – both of them are elves. How will the newcomer present herself or explain her arrival to the crew?

  However as I watch on, the elven woman greets Captain Hitch like an old friend, embracing the muscular dwarf. “Zakira!” I hear him say, before enquiring after her health. So I guess she had a previous arrangement to board after all.

  Perhaps I am in danger of getting a bit prejudiced… I know that most elves are entirely harmless. It’s just that my two previous interactions with Snagaras involved being framed for theft, and then finding out that he was the leader of the ruthless mercs who have aided the Knights of Dawn against us time and again.

  It’s not long before the crew are readying us to leave. The captain kept his word about a short stay, it seems. I have reached the cap rail above the quarterdeck, and I lean on it, watching the proceedings on the main deck below me. The last of the barrels of drinking water is being taken below. The elven noblewoman then hands the captain the fee for her passage in the form of several silver coins, looks briefly around the vessel and up towards the quarterdeck, favors me with an incredibly charming broad smile, and disappears towards one of the raised cabins in the centre of the ship.

  And before long, we have moved off again. And as we leave, it occurs to me that there has been no sign of Connor Champion. If he has sent me a message in the real world, it is now too late to receive it.

  Chapter 17: Port of Nimroth

  The waves are lapping fiercely against the ship now, and I look around for signs of a storm coming. The sky is clear to the west, though, and any land in that direction is a long way off. It is more from memory than from perception that I can make out the blurry outline of the Isles of Selmanon due west of here, and the coast of the continental mainland which curves around and runs northwest from this point onwards, as the Unicorn Coast comes to an end.

  And at last, the final destination of this sea voyage lies ahead of us. It has taken another day both in and out of game; during that time, I returned home for an overnight as Daria again slept in her cabin, and then returned to the college late on Monday afternoon. Peace and quiet in the lab, once again.

  Nimroth, which, I have recently learned, has grown to become the third-largest town in the province of Kamarok, after Sefindarg City and Katresburg. Still, it’s a frontier town if ever there was one, far from the Empire’s heart, and inconveniently located even by the standards of Kamarok. I’m not expecting more than a handful of streets, and perhaps a defensive wall.

  I don’t know much about the place, and I hear some of the sailors making jokes about it, referring to its locals as fools, and much worse besides. Everywhere has a town that is the butt of jokes, it seems – even in the game world. But among the jokes, I learn that the area around the town is large and still largely uncultivated, and while there is a road down the coast to the provincial capital, this is known to be poorly maintained and dangerous to the lone traveler, while other routes out of town are next to non-existent.

  It’s also a long detour. On the other hand, if Coruff is planning to travel towards the Great Swamp via a more direct path from here, it will be a much harder journey than it should have been if things had gone to plan. For rather than a simple journey upriver, any route from here will be across land and will take us through mountain foothills and forest – much slower going, and riskier too, I’d imagine. And that’s before we reach the edge of the swamp itself.

  When the ship finally draws in, it is late afternoon. I can see that despite the jokes, the town of Nimroth is a well-organized settlement, albeit a lot less grand than its capital and neighbour down the coast. It is steeper, too – we are on the fringes of the Ironrock Mountains, here. Nimroth has spacious, neatly arranged streets arranged rather like the spokes of a spiderweb, with one main avenue running uphill from the port area, and other large streets wh
ich appear to meet in a central cross. I can make out a sturdy but rustic wall at the edges of town, high above us from where we look on, given that we are still at sea level.

  The port itself is much smaller than that of our previous stop, and a lot quieter, too. There is only one ship other than ours, alongside a half dozen tiny fishing vessels; the place stinks of rotting fish. Despite the slightly desolate feel, it is quite noisy thanks to more of the screeching white gulls.

  I’m relieved to find out that Captain Hitch has personally arranged for the half-orc sorcerer to be taken to the local lockhouse, and we watch from a distance as the villain is led away by a pair of sailors, his manacles gleaming with magic which has Coruff’s distinctive signature. As he reaches the dock, two local soldiers with spears take over, and the sorcerer is marched away off to our left and out of sight.

  “Do you need to follow, to keep him secure?” I ask Coruff. But she shakes her head. “The local jail cell will have ancient magical wards on it, as is standard in all settlements,” she says. “He will be safe enough there for a day or two – I want to keep track of him, but then I don’t think we really want him staying at the inn with us.”

  “The inn?”

  But Coruff doesn’t fill me in any further on this aspect of her plans, for the three of us are next in line to disembark from The Hurricane, and Captain Hitch gestures impatiently, while a kobold collects our cabin keys. Van Turk leads the way down the wooden gangplank and then rapidly towards the nearest street, with us hurrying to keep up. There is no sign of the kobold from the coven; Coruff is carrying the small wooden chest herself now.