Vault of the Magi: A LitRPG Adventure (Stonehaven League Book 5)

by Carrie Summers

  Once the bikes were collected and lined neatly against the tree, Torald opened his manpurse and started pulling out bedrolls. He handed a couple to Tamara, who surveyed the clearing before choosing an area that had decent shelter beneath the boughs of a tree. She laid out the bedding then collected one of the canvas tarps from Torald and, using some twine, rigged a tent over the sleeping spot.

  Torald nodded in appreciation. “You sure you haven’t played these games before?”

  Tamara brushed off the compliment with a wave of her hand, but Devon could see she was pleased. “Years of camping with my family during summer vacations taught me that it’s good to have a rain shelter just in case.”

  “Well, regardless, nice work.”

  Cheeks pink, Tamara ducked her head and kept working. She set out more of the bedrolls, then moved to the center of the clearing where she cleared away greenery and started laying a fire. Devon’s thoughts started to wander as she listened to the preparations, and she yawned. As her eyes started to close, she thought she spied movement deeper in the trees, but when she blinked and squinted, it turned out to be mist rising from the damp earth as the air above cooled.

  Wait.

  Devon managed to climb somewhat unsteadily to her feet. “Guys? Anyone else see that mist?”

  Both Chen and Torald, who had listened to her story of the scorpion boss and had seen the unnatural swirling mist in the savanna, straightened and peered into the forest. But it was too late anyway. Whatever she thought she’d seen had already vanished.

  “Sorry, Devon, don’t see it,” the paladin said.

  She shook her head. “Yeah, it’s gone now. Might have just been my eyes playing tricks anyway.”

  “Either way, we’ll set watches tonight,” Torald said.

  “Never know when you might get attacked by some malicious fog, or perhaps an aggressive falling leaf,” Greel muttered.

  “Hey,” Devon said. “You know, the rest of us could just disappear to the starborn realm during the night hours, leaving you to fend for yourself.”

  The lawyer stiffened, the skin around his eyes tightening. After a moment, he sneered at her. “My underling will be pleased to take a shift on watch duty.”

  She sighed. “As will you.”

  Greel muttered something under his breath, then rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine, whatever.”

  After searching the trees one last time for hints of mist and seeing nothing, Devon stumbled over to where Tamara was struggling with a flint and steel. No matter how hard she struck, she couldn’t manage to knock sparks onto her little pile of sticks.

  “Care for some help?” Torald asked. “Happy to let you keep at it if you want, though. You’ve almost got it.”

  Tamara gave a relieved sigh as she handed over the objects. “Please. I’m ready to sit down and eat.”

  “Termite Turnover?” Devon asked as she stuck a hand into her backpack.

  Tamara’s brows drew together in concern. “I—is that the only option?”

  Devon laughed as she handed over a couple of strips of Spiced Antelope Jerky. “You can have a pass today, but only because you’re a noob.”

  Torald lit the fire with a couple of quick strikes of the steel. Within a few minutes, the blaze was crackling merrily, and Devon leaned back on her elbow to enjoy the evening.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Ability: Berserk

  You go totally nuts. Like…super rage beast.

  Attacks ignore target defense | +10 Strength | +20% Melee Attack Rate | -100% Dodge

  Duration: 5 minutes, if you last that long

  Ability: Headlong Charge

  You streak across the field of battle, knocking aside anyone who gets in your way. Unfortunately, once activated, you cannot change direction or stop until you reach your target.

  150% Sprint Speed | Applies knockback to all targets in a straight line (15% to knockdown, contested by the target’s Agility)

  Ability: Dying Frenzy

  With your dying breaths, you strike at your enemies.

  When activated when below 15% health, allows you to whirl in a frenzy of blades and destruction, striking up to 7 melee-range enemies in a single attack.

  Emerson closed his abilities tab and sighed in contentment. He was looking forward to testing out these powers that came with his—apparently unique—Frenzy class, but it could wait. For now, he sat a few feet from the campfire feeling more at ease than he recalled having felt in a long time. The flames crackled, sending sparks into the night and casting a glow on the faces of people who, just a few hours ago, had been strangers. But now, out here in the wilderness with darkness and danger all around, he felt as if he’d known them for years. Okay, maybe that was taking it a bit far. But, yeah, it felt nice.

  Of course, forgetting the fact that he was an imposter hiding behind a fake identity, the group had accepted him. Despite his low level and his status as Greel’s lackey, no one had questioned his ability to take part in the watch rotation. Sure, there’d been a frank discussion about Perception scores. But that was a numerical measurement, not a judgment of character. If anyone had gotten grief about the need to stand watch, it was Greel. Everyone else could just log out to let the night hours pass, but then they’d be leaving the lawyer with no protection. So, one by one, they would take turns standing sentry while the other characters lounged by the fire or slept.

  In fact, first watch—Emerson’s—was coming up. He glanced at his game clock— ten minutes left. He glanced at Devon across the fire, her face content as she watched the flames. Greel had talked about her Charisma score and resulting appearance drawing extra attention, but the truth was Emerson didn’t find her in-game avatar any more attractive than her out-of-game body. She was the same woman, brave and clever and kind. And yeah, pretty too.

  Devon really didn’t deserve to have secrets kept from her just because he was a coward.

  Unfortunately, he also didn’t want to distract her right now. This mission was too important to her and Stonehaven—and, frankly, to the stability of the game world. But even though it wasn’t a good time for him to reveal his secret identity, it was a total jerk move to ignore her message. As he watched her poke at the fire with a stick, he pulled up his messenger app and subvocalized a response.

  “Hey. I’m really sorry. I owed you a response days ago. At first I made the excuse to myself that I shouldn’t bother you since you talked about how busy you were, but that’s not the real reason. Among other stuff, I’m afraid I let you down on the Zaa thing. I know you weren’t expecting me to be able to change Bradley’s mind, but I still hoped I could.”

  Emerson swallowed. Was this some weird sort of psycho-stalker behavior to be messaging her while staring at her? He hoped not. He was only communicating this way because he didn’t want to mess up her mission to get the fifth relic.

  But still… It was kind of weird.

  “So, my big news is that I did get a chance to log in finally. Played a little bit. I know you said you’re super busy with Stonehaven and the demon stuff right now, and I’ve still got a lot of things to learn. Once Stonehaven’s secure, I’m really looking forward to playing together for fun. So stay in touch.

  “Oh, yeah.

  “P.S. Nothing from Owen, I’m afraid. But Cynthia would tell us if something was wrong, so I imagine he’s just taking his time.”

  Emerson pulled his gaze from Devon as he saved the message to his drafts folder. He would wait until he left the fire to stand watch before he sent it because otherwise he’d be too tempted to watch her face for a reaction.

  And that really would be kind of stalkerish.

  Chapter Forty

  DEVON HAD ACTUALLY dozed during the night, in the hours between when her watch had ended and the predawn hour when a chorus of birdsong had filled the jungle. It was always weird to sleep in the game, and she usually avoided it—to maximize her play time, if nothing else. But today it felt good to wake and
stretch and start to work the stiffness from her tired muscles. It made the whole adventure seem more authentic, not that Relic Online needed much help in that regard.

  Unsurprisingly, Tamara was already up and about. When she saw Devon awake, she grinned. “If we were camping in real life, I’d have some eggs and bacon for you. Or maybe just instant oatmeal if I were feeling lazy.”

  “I don’t think anything you do could be called lazy.”

  Tamara snorted. “You haven’t seen me on the couch after a weekend of hard riding. Anyway, when spring comes I’m definitely getting you out camping for real.”

  “I guess I don’t have any excuse to back out this time,” Devon said, “seeing as you got hardware put in your head to come try my version.”

  Tamara smiled. “Seriously, Devon, this is awesome. The next best thing to swooping down a sandstone bowl on my bike, a big desert sky overhead.” If the memory made her sad, she didn’t show it. Instead, she tossed over a paper-wrapped package.

  You have received: Trail Rations

  You know: seeds and nuts and stuff, plus some kind of gooey and delicious glue to hold it all together.

  Grants: +2 Constitution, +3 Endurance

  “No way. Where did you…?”

  Tamara grinned and winked. “I had a little talk with Tom about what athletes need for sustained enduro activities. He made one for each of us.”

  Devon bit into the food, which was basically like a chewy granola bar. It was scrumptious, and within the first bite, she felt her energy start to rise.

  “I think we’re lucky she had the foresight,” Torald said. “Yesterday was close.”

  “What do you mean, close?” Devon said.

  “You mean you weren’t down to your last 10% of Fatigue gain?” he said, an eyebrow raised skeptically.

  “Yeah, unlike you two.” Devon glanced back and forth between the two experienced cyclists.

  Tamara snorted. “You really think that I somehow managed to be better at the game than you, Dev? By the time the fire was set, my bar was at 98% and flashing.”

  “But you looked so…”

  “So energetic?” Tamara laughed. “That might be my only advantage in this game. I just have a little more practice going until I literally fall over, unable to move.”

  Now Devon felt like a bit of a whiner, having lain there like a corpse while others set up camp. Turned out she could learn something about gaming from Tamara after all.

  As the others stirred and downed their trail rations, Devon extracted her bike from the line and started toting it to the edge of the city. She stopped just before the first of the flat stones that paved the streets in this area and gazed out across the ruins. The Greenscale Pendant pulsed against her breastbone, creating a bone-deep yearning in her, an inexplicable desire to walk among the ancient buildings. The pull had been disconcerting the first time she’d felt it. Games shouldn’t be able to affect her emotions in that way. But now, it just felt right. She had to believe she would make it through to the other side, locate the final relic, and claim this place. At the thought, she felt a strange tingle in her chest.

  Anticipation.

  After months of work, in the next few days she would either fulfill her so-called destiny, or she would fail miserably and doom the world. Either way, a major chapter of her Relic Online career was reaching its end.

  She set the bike down, careful to keep the front wheel off the street until the others were ready. She expected to wait a while, but when she turned back, the clearing was already empty, and her friends had nearly reached her.

  “Okay, then,” she said when they joined her. “Guess you guys are ready. Should we buff up?”

  Torald cleared his throat, dropping to a knee with his face upturned to the heavens. “Veia, grant me strength. Shine your light upon your humble crusader as you once set fire to the hearts of the first men and women. For your glory!” He raised a fist and bowed his head.

  An awkward silence gripped the party for a moment before Hailey shrugged and started casting. Magic shimmered all around as energy flowed from Hailey and Torald to encompass the group and infuse them with shielding and stat buffs. Jeremy pulled his harmonica from its holster, twirled it like a six-shooter, then played a little riff. Devon’s pulse quickened as his haste buff flooded her with speed.

  “I guess we’re set then. Okay people,” Devon said. “Stick together, follow my lead, and ride with everything you’ve got.”

  Setting foot on the pedal, she pushed hard and launched her bike onto the street. The wind of her passage quickly picked up, blowing against her cheeks and forcing her to squint. A few pedal strokes later, she looked back to make sure everyone was following.

  A sudden, jarring crash shoved her arms into her shoulder sockets, and all of a sudden, Devon was airborne, head over wheels. The sky and pavement switched places, her bicycle momentarily silhouetted against the pink light of morning. And then she landed hard, slamming down on her shoulder then rolling as her bike went clattering away. She skidded to a stop and groaned.

  “Ouch,” Tamara said, hissing in sympathy. “Endo.”

  As Devon recovered her bearings, she craned her neck and saw the fallen stone block that she’d slammed her front wheel into. The sudden change in momentum had sent her flying over the handlebars.

  You have lost a special attribute point: -1 Dignity.

  “On second thought,” Devon said. “Everyone, follow Tamara’s lead.”

  ***

  At the first crossroad, near where she and Hazel had been turned back during their first reconnaissance of the city, Devon felt Ishildar’s guardians awake. Abruptly, their heavy stone presences and ancient, alien minds hovered at the edge of her awareness. She released the handlebar with one hand and slapped her palm against the Greenscale Pendant. Biting her lip in concentration, she activated Ishildar’s Call, and immediately felt connections open to the massive beings.

  Lots of connections.

  Where before, two or three guardians had been near the city’s southern border, now there were at least a dozen.

  “What the hell?” she muttered under her breath.

  “If you care to hear my theory,” Bob piped up, “your recent, so-called explorations of the city have attracted their attention. Not that you seem to ask for my opinion very often.”

  “Guardians incoming,” Devon called as she pushed more energy into her thighs. To Bob, she muttered, “Did you just think of this now? Because for someone who claims to want to help me, you’re rather inconsistent. I thought you wanted to get this quest finished so you could regain admittance to the arcane realm.”

  “I said I could potentially regain admittance if I finished this mission. My sibling-selves have been less than forthcoming on what it will actually take. And for your information, I am not so ridiculously stupid as to place all my hopes in you. I’ve also been working on a backup plan.”

  “What? How? You’ve been stuck to my shoulder since—never mind.”

  Devon swerved hard as a tremor in the ground sent a toaster-sized stone block tumbling from a building façade. As soon as she recovered from the wobble her sudden change of direction induced, a massive foot stomped onto the street ahead, cracking the pavement and sending stone chips flying.

  “Hanging a right,” Tamara yelled with about a nanosecond of warning before she somehow leaned and skidded, dropping a foot to help her make the corner. Devon squeaked and squeezed the brakes as Torald followed Tamara through the curve.

  Screeching down to a walking speed, Devon gritted her teeth and focused on her command spell as the others whizzed by. Though none of them dropped a foot, crazy-motorcycle-racer style, everyone else made the corner without freaking out like she had. Of course, she was trying to simultaneously hold onto her connection with the stone giants, sending mental commands to compel them to turn around, or at least to kindly not smash the party.

  Both feet down on the pavement, she managed t
o get her bike reoriented in the new direction. After a quick breath to collect her wits, Devon stomped on the pedals and started forward again.

  When Tamara looked back, the woman was actually grinning. She was seriously not right in the head.

  For maybe ten blocks, they careened along a snaking course through the streets, dodging rubble and pockets of forest. The Stone Guardians thundered along behind, feet pounding the earth and rattling the riders’ teeth. Sweat streamed from Devon’s brow, running into her eyes and stinging like crazy, and her thighs burned like they’d been injected with hot molten wax. A stray bug had smashed into her clenched teeth, and when she’d tried to spit the stupid thing out, the wind had caught hold of it, and now there was a disgusting dribble of saliva and bug parts plastered to her Stonehaven Jerkin.

  “How far…have we…come…?” She managed to puff out between breaths.

  Tamara glanced back, brow knit in concern. “A mile, maybe. Mile and a half. You can keep them off us, right?”

  “Uh…”

  “I cannot believe that this was your plan,” Greel growled, his crash helmet rattling on top of his head. In front of him, Valious rode with his head bowed, hands tight on the bars, chest heaving. If Devon felt this tired already, how must the newbie feel while pulling a trailer?

  Crap. She shook her head. There was no way they were going to survive another nine miles of this.

  “Take the next left,” Devon yelled. “Torald, you brought a rope, right?”

  The paladin nodded. “Like a good Boy Scout.”

  “Okay. After we make the turn, everyone stop. We’ll have to be quick.”