by Pavel Kornev
The priest stared at me, his eyes wide with horror as he obviously rarely had had to meet an enemy face to face. I took the flamberge by the ricasso and hilt, holding the sword in front of myself like a speak and this was when an arrow flew out of the reeds to pierce my neck.
The ranger had joined in the fight, damn him!
I only had to run three strides and the arrows going into my body didn’t manage to kill me.
“Run!” the duelist shouted to the shocked priest, but it was too late.
I put all of my strength into my last attempt and activated Power Strike. The blade of my flamberge easily went through the cassock of the priest and came out of his back. Blood sprayed out of his mouth and then it was joined by gobbets of brains that flew out of my skull that was split in half by the strike of a saber...
Not the best of all trades...
3
TURF. Stone. Rain.
Stones were not so bad if you didn’t have to dig a deep grave in stony soil yourself. It was easier to dig yourself out.
After I tore through the turf, I climbed out and immediately started to roll down a steep slope, but I very quickly hit a rock and lay spread-eagled across a narrow mountain path.
The red-haired boy looked at me from above with surprise.
“Uncle John! I was just bringing a pair of gloves for you!”
“Give them here,” I demanded. “No, leave the change for yourself.”
There were several new holes in the fisherman’s cape and it had lost half of its Durability, but it could easily hide my undead nature from curious eyes together with the mask and gloves. No one would see that I was undead in Incognito mode. Well, I hoped so, anyway...
I put on the gloves, adjusted my mask and got to my feet. There was noticeably less money in my wallet and some of the amulets I’d looted had vanished, but my latest death didn’t cause any other problems. It was actually the other way round — I wouldn’t have to mess with the heads of the guardsmen on the bridge.
And another thing about my death....
I opened the game log and started to look through the messages that had appeared after my death. It turned out that I hadn’t managed to kill the priest with one hit, but blood loss had finished him off. I received eight hundred points for both classes from this, taking me to level 34.
The duelist’s mastery of swordfighting left a lasting impression on me, which was why I raised my two-handed weapon skill to level two. Unfortunately I didn’t get any new moves to learn.
I immediately started to have doubts. Maybe I was wrong to do things so hastily? An Executioner is no opponent for a Duelist in an open fight, so maybe I should have learned special moves even more? I took that priest apart really well...
Ah, to hell with it! I shook my head and asked the boy, “Is it far to the city?”
“We’ll get there in ten minutes,” he reported.
“Are there many people around?” I asked, as I didn’t know whether I had to activate Incognito then and there.
“Nope!” the boy waved his hand dismissively. “There’s no one.”
“And why’s that?” I asked with surprise.
“They ran away!”
“Who from?”
“They are waiting for the army of the dead to come any day now,” the boy started his introduction of local affairs, “so they ran away. But that’s not all. The second bridge has been washed away by the flood and there’s a storm over the lake. Whoever didn’t leave immediately is trying to organize the defense But there are only a quarter of the citizens left. And the outsiders can be counted on the fingers of one hand.”
The boy obviously meant players when he spoke of outsiders and this news made me much happier. Less players — less problems. The storm on the lake was no problem — I’d be traveling to the capital using the portal anyway.
We went up to the hill and stopped, looking at our surroundings. It turned out that there was a proper road leading here as well as a mountain path and it was just that the boy had chosen the shortest way through the hills. Fires burned by the guard towers and there was a military camp, but there were few defenders by the crossing. I also thought that they were probably all NPCs.
The drawbridge mitigated any advantage the army of the dead would have. Would it even get here anyway?
The shaggy clouds flew low over our heads, almost touching the tops of the trees and a sharp gust of wind almost blew us from the path. I lowered my head and adjusted the hood of my cloak. A farm was on the slope of the next hill, but the windows of the low house which faced us were boarded up, the cattle pen was empty and the barn stood with its gates wide open.
The city itself wasn’t that big and it was right by the lake, which stretched to the horizon with its gray, unquiet and endless waters. Huge waves rolled over the breakwater, splashing over it and scattering as white foam. From time to time, the water flooded over the Stone Harbor, touching the walls of the houses and flowing over the stone-flagged streets.
The majority of the buildings had two floors, so the two towers in the city stood out among them. A dark black edifice stood tall in the central square and a lighthouse faced the wild waters upon the headland. Its fire wasn’t lit and only some sort of silvery winged figure stood upon its spire.
No matter how much I looked at the streets of Stone Harbor, I didn’t notice any of the locals. Smoke only came from around a dozen chimneys.
There was a feeling of abandonment and hopelessness.
That didn’t matter though! I had no intention of spending too much time in this backwater town. I would walk to the Tower of Power and immediately use the portal and that’s all they would see of me.
Expensive? Yes, but it would be quick, and money was worth its weight in gold right now.
How long would they keep my body on life support in the hospital? Would it be until my medical insurance ran out or longer? Even if the state took over paying for my bills, the longer I’d spend in a coma, the harder it would be to come back to normal life.
Time is money? Hell, no! Time is life!
The red-haired boy started to go down the hill and I followed him. The wind howled among the stones and nearly swept us off our feet, but calmed in the middle of the hillside so my cloak stopped streaming in the wind.
I soon saw another abandoned farm and the path started to twist through the clumps of hazelnut trees, so I had to use the Incognito Executioner skill. Even though my Energy started to decrease, but they definitely wouldn’t be happy to see one of the undead here and any meeting with the locals or other players was bound to end in battle.
The twisting path soon led us to hill bottom of the hills and turned towards the road. Orchards soon appeared by the roadside and then huts with straw roofs were in front of our eyes.
Time is money? Hell, no! Time is life!
Very quickly, the winding trail descended from the hills and turned to the road. On it I went further. Soon fruit groves stretched behind the roadside, then the roofed huts of the huts began to come to their eyes. Some time later, the stone houses appeared, but on the outskirts they all stood alone, as one, with boarded-up windows and doors.
Somehow it’s quite sad ...
The narrow streets of Stone Harbor were unusually confusing, and although the bulk of the tower of Power constantly loomed somewhere above the roofs, I had to wander along a bunch of wet alleys before finally reaching the city square through the dark arch.
And immediately jumped system message:
Received the task: “Defend or Die”!
Surprised, I lost my footsteps and turned my head , but the square was empty, only the shadows were rolling at the foot of the tower, much darker and denser than one would have expected even from the most cloudy day.
I stopped and opened the window with the terms of the job. They were very laconic: the players were ordered to assist the citizens in the defense of the Stone Harbor from the army of the dead. Participation brought the achievement of “Defender Stone H
arbor”, the flight threatened with the brand “Deserter”, but I didn’t even understand the possible bonuses and penalties and went straight to the tower of power.
From afar it seemed black, but the closer I approached it, the clearer the reddish glow became. It was as if the building had been white before, and then it poured with darkness, through which the former coloring could be glimpsed, outliving the darkness in a sinister purple.
Soon, between the stones of the stone pavement, dark veins began to spread , they cut through the square like a network of blood vessels, or the anthracite cobweb of a giant spider. The sky had darkened, the tower had grown filling everything around with its bulk. The shadows swirling around it dissipated into separate tufts of darkness which floated towards me.
“Off!” a ghostly exclamation cut through the silence of the square. “Get out! Fight or die!”
The shadows were condensed and turned into disembodied puppets, ministers of the local lord. Awe-inspiring they were, their limbs bending at strange angles, their powers impressive.
“I need a portal!” I shouted, but to no avail.
“Begone!” the answer thundered. “Fight or die!”
The phantom puppets approached, and I hurried back to the arch. The shadows followed. “Fight or die!” They sang in a thousand otherworldly voices. “Fight or die!”
I couldn’t stand it anymore. I turned around and hurried away. The creatures followed me as if I had honey on my backside.
They seemed to want to make sure that I didn’t run away.
How could I? The portal is unavailable, one bridge is destroyed, and the other ...
I clicked my fingers. Exactly!
When I saw the bridge the lifting section of the crossing,, hadn’t yet been raised, and the guards probably wouldn’t hold anyone on the island. I could have easily crossed to the other side and gone to a nearby town along the shore of the lake. Unlike ordinary players, I didn’t face any problems with the dead subjects of the lord of the tower of Decay.
The red-haired boy was waiting for me in the archway. Toward the tower he didn’t dare approach.
“What were you standing there for?” I asked, when the boy skipped alongside.
“We can’t get any closer, Uncle John!” the boy replied. “Our Lord doesn’t want to see anyone!”
I swore, went out of the arch and immediately stopped dead. The street was blocked by a small group of players. A blond witch in shining clothes was accompanied by four fighters in armor, which seemed to be bathed in a white glaze.
From the bright light, his eyes shed tears, and, no matter how he strained his sight, the status of those he met he was never able to make out. But the sorceress didn’t manage to cope with my Incognito.
“What kind of creature are you?” She asked with unconcealed contempt.
Familiar intonations something awakened in my memory, but before I could deal with my own memories, the shadows that followed me escaped from the arch.
“Get out!” they hissed. “You don’t belong here! Begone!”
Frost spread over the cobblestones and the walls of the houses around the white witch. It grew noticeably cold. The radiance of the slender figure became unbearable, but the servants of the local lord didn’t think to retreat. On the contrary, the ghostly puppets began to pour out of the gateways and boarded up windows, merge into one sinister figure that seemed to say in a thousand voices:
“Begone! Begone! Begone!”
The local ruler of the battles between the players categorically disapproved, and the white witch had to back down. Bodyguards covered her with shields and began to retreat, and when they disappeared around the corner, I turned and hurried in the opposite direction. The shadows didn’t pay any attention to me and crawled along the damp dark courtyards.
4
I DIDN’T GIVE UP on my desire to run away from Stone Harbor so I went to the crossing. It was a waste of time. The drawbridge was already raised and the guards stood on the watchtowers in full battle gear and shot arrows at the other shore from time to time. I could not work out who they were shooting at, but there was no doubt that the siege would take a long time.
Damn it! How could I have got stuck in this flea-ridden city?
The second bridge had also survived, but after I questioned the boy I came to the unfortunate conclusion that I would just waste time if I walked there. The river had started to flood its surroundings because of the bad weather and the banks had turned into an impassable swamp.
My energy had started to run out as well. I couldn’t maintain Incognito for a long time, so I had to find shelter in one of the abandoned farms or run to the city and rent a room in a tavern.
The cold and rain didn’t worry me at all, but I felt uncomfortable when I thought about the white sorceress. I decided not to risk it and avoid getting into trouble yet another time.
Any player stuck in Stone Harbor would try to find something to do and I never wanted to be the main attraction in a game of “Kill the Undead”. Who knew who might decide to check the abandoned farms? They would definitely not dare to break into someone else’s hotel room though. I didn’t feel that the local Lord was a weakling that tolerated lawlessness in the city.
THE FIRST TWO TAVERNS along my way turned out to be closed. It was no wonder, as the streets were empty of both local residents and players. It was as if everyone in the town had died out.
When I was closer to the city square, I glimpsed a sign that depicted a strange winged creature. The place was called Silver Phoenix Inn and the gleam of candles could be seen in its barred windows as smoke streamed up from the chimneys on the roof.
There was a huge man in armor standing by the tavern porch, wearing a soaked cloak. The warrior had no helmet on his head and his long hair had stuck together and hung down like unkempt icicles.
“Level 30 warrior,” I said automatically, while the huge man became lively upon my arrival and put his hand upon the hilt of his claymore.
“Hey, you! Who are you?” he demanded.
That was rich!
My Energy was running out so I really had no time for arguments and mutual insults. I slipped into stealth mode, and the big man circled in place with his sword drawn, waiting for an attack.
Was that stupid? Not really, because the most important thing in a one on one battle for a warrior was to survive the first attack of a rogue, parry the next one and not to allow the murderer to get away and slip into the shadows. Almost all of the rogue professions were balanced for the use of daggers and shortswords, so that their hits were painful but unable to immediately kill a high level player.
My flamberge was something else entirely. I just had to hit with it!
I didn’t attack the warrior, I only sneaked behind his back and shouted in his ear.
“Boo!”
The warrior jumped, leapt away and turned with his sword upraised, but stopped from actually hitting me. Striking first in a situation like this was the same as losing. Even if you won, you’d definitely get the PK mark, while your enemy would remain clean if they were successful. That didn’t matter out in the sticks somewhere, but they made sure to maintain order, as I found out. A PK mark was no joke. Anyone could attack a pariah like that without any punishment.
“Scumbag!” the warrior shouted, still not ready to attack. “Stupid idiot!”
I ignored the insults, calmly stepped up on the porch and hesitated for a moment, but then got hold of myself and pushed the door open. I simply had no other choice — Incognito was consuming the last remnants of Energy that I had.
The spacious dining hall turned out to be in half-light. The candles only burned on one of the candelabra and there was also a fire burning in a great fireplace. A black spot on the far wall immediately caught my eye — it gave the impression that there was some kind of fresco there before.
Actually, the painting that was rubbed out didn’t attract my attention for long — I was far more interested in the players that were staying in th
e tavern. There turned out to be five of them, all from levels 30 to 40. An archer, two warriors a female rogue and a druid.
Thankfully the three that I’d fought on the shore weren’t there. Neither was the sorceress nor her terrible bodyguards.
When the players turned to the sound of the door shutting behind me, I decided against being reticent and causally greeted everyone with a wave of my hand, moving towards the bar. An elderly orc with a face covered in ritual scars stood there. Incognito worked the way it should have done, as no one grabbed their weapon upon my arrival.
“What a scarecrow!” was the only comment. A red-haired warrior whistled at the sight of me, but he remained sitting at his table. His druid friend also didn’t move from his place. Everything was fine — hiding your identity was no crime.
I pretended that I hadn’t noticed his insulting exclamation, so I bent over the bar and declared, “I need a room!”
The orc scratched his greenish cheek with his claws and pointed at the boy behind my back.
“Is he with you?”
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“One gold piece a day,” the tavern keeper offered a price.
I had no time to haggle, so I put a heavy gold coin on the bar while the orc took a sizeable key with the number seven hammered into it.
“Second floor,” he said.
I took the key and moved towards the stairs. The red-haired warrior whispered something to his druid friend, but I wasn’t thinking of them now.
Faster, faster, faster...
I shut the door behind me, pulled the bolt shut and lay down on the bed. As soon as I closed my eyes, I received a system notification.
“Do you want to make this rented accommodation your new login point?”
Unfortunately my happiness didn’t last long — both the accept and cancel buttons were inactive. I had to close the window.
To hell with it! I had no intention of staying there for long!
Absolutely not.
MY PLAN OF ACTION was simple. I would leave Stone Harbor, get to the capital and find Isabella there. I hoped that she’d already used the shard of the Sphere of Souls and if she hadn’t, we could do it all between the two of us. I had to get to the Kingdom of the Dead and I would get there. It might only be the first step towards freedom from virtual reality, but it was the first step that counted. I’d get it done.
