“Stow your congratulations,” Eredani sighed. “That would be too easy. I have a restriction. Look.”
Restriction: Search possible only together with player Kvalen. Task may not be given to another player.
“I didn’t get a notification.” I frowned.
“And you won’t. You must go with me voluntarily. It’s a requirement of my… curators.”
“Ааah,” I said, pleased. The cockles of my heart were immediately warmed, firstly because it’s nice to be cajoled, secondly because I wasn’t the only one with socialization problems, and thirdly because I had become accustomed to the walking Barliona encyclopedia. “Are you going to cajole me? And if so, how?”
“In the classical manner. I’ll give you a bribe.”
“Okay then.”
“Here you are.”
Task received: Evil doesn’t sleep
Description: A unique scene.
Reward:
Experience: +5
Reputation with Light of Barliona faction: +1
Access to Island of Keshin
Restriction: Search possible only together with player Eredani. Task may not be given to another player.
“Wait, I don’t get it, where’s the bribe?”
“Are you blind or something? You should be looking at it.”
“In the terminology of the Vartalinsky vampires, you’ve played me for a fool, yeah?”
“Yep.” Eredani nodded, pleased with himself.
“You’re not much of a bribe giver. That’s a ‘What the hell do I want with that?’ kind of task,” I mumbled. “Fine, let’s go see Argalot. He owes us.”
You’d think it was easy — get your ass in gear and run to Hermit. However, a surprise from reality was waiting for us as we approached the saddle. The perimeter of the barrows was cordoned by an army of demon magi.
“That pair have really got me interested now,” Eredani said. “How boldly they work with demons! They’re not demonologists. They’re not Tieflings. Bro, have a look out in reality and see who they are.”
“You think they’re not going to hide? I’ll have a look, of course. But what for?”
“To learn their weak spots.”
In my cluelessness I turned to my partner. The game was the game, and reality… Perhaps it was time to ask myself who Eredani was. I’d forgotten that the person next to me wasn’t just my partner, but also a criminal.
“We won’t get through here. Demons aren’t players, they’re not here to chill. I don’t want to die. How are you for time?” Eredani was inadvertently waving his tail from side to side, but his eyes were scanning me.
“I’ve got a couple of hours. Any ideas?”
“One. Let’s go, I have something to show you.”
For some reason Eredani took me back underground. I followed him, nervously trying to brush aside suspicious thoughts and walls closing in. Back in the mosaic room he pointed to a narrow alcove.
“Climb in. Head first. Squash yourself in as far as you can go.”
“I’ll get stuck.” Then it hit me: “I’ll get stuck!”
“Two hours of doing nothing and you can press the Character Stuck button. That’s yours, and this is mine. Let’s crawl.”
For the first few minutes I was rent with fear that I wouldn’t be able to move. It was dark and tight like a coffin, with but the lightest relief in the form of multiplying multi-digit numbers and Eredani’s salacious balads. When he tired of singing out of key, the tales began — far preferable to his singing, and the time flew by.
When the safety button appeared in settings, I pressed it with such mental force that, had it had been a physical object, I would have smashed it. A progress bar appeared, the stony space swam and transformed into the temple of our training camp, and the system transported us to the only point of rebirth on the island.
“At the double, march!” I commanded and trotted to the exit, Eredani right behind me.
After leaving the camp we made a detour, just in case, to confuse casual witnesses. We ran one and a half kilometers due west, made certain there was no one around, and headed due north. We soon found Hermit in his cave, asleep upside down like a bat. Opening one eye a crack, the demon grumbled:
“Oh, it’s you, is it? What kept you?”
“We got ambushed. Demons were waiting for us by the clover. You owe us.”
“That’s impossible!” Argalot spread his wings and glided down.
I told him about coming across the demons, and he listened, not interrupting, save for the odd guttural interjection. Near the end of my tale he dove into the report log.
“The demons were expecting you, not just any Free demons.” A hint at the injustice of our demands. “An ambush like that could be set up anywhere. The clover’s irrelevant.”
“But it was bang next to the clover!” I argued, switching into clever-dick mode. “And you said—”
“Don’t split hairs! I know what I said.” Argalot waved a hand, and Eredani and I found ourselves holding a massive red object each. They looked like cuirasses. Unfortunately a message prevented us from studying them in closer detail.
Search for Trouble task completed
Experience: +43
Reputation with Light of Barliona faction: +18
Epic object from Hermit’s collection
Breast plate from Unending Happiness set
Description: An epic object. Part of a set (1 of 4). Material: thin leather.
Protection from physical and magic attacks: 50
Luck: +5
Intellect: +5
Damage sustained reduced by 10%
Duration of debuffs reduced by 25%
Probability of critical strike increased by 10%
Bonus for full set: None
“I knew not to get involved with Free citizens,” said Argalot, flying back up to his perch. “I’m not teaching you today. Come back tomorrow. Or in two weeks. Or not at all! They’re going to blame me.”
Eredani shouted after him, “Two Free demon hunters have gone dark. And they can parley with demons!” Argalot turned sharply in the air and glided back down to us, mild interest vaguely discernible on his face.
“Were their wrists bare?” he asked Eredani.
“That’s the thing. They weren’t manacled. The demons were helping freely.”
“Strange indeed.” Argalot frowned. “Where could Free beginners get such strength?”
Eredani and I exchanged disappointed glances. “We thought you’d know.”
“I’m not omniscient.” He sat down on a rock and was still, staring into space. A few minutes later he blindsided us with some news: “Uldaron doesn’t get it either. They attacked the training camp.”
“What? Who? When?” Eredani and I asked in chorus.
“Your friends, the dark demon hunters, rocked up with fifty level-nine elder R’Tan magi. Tarlin and Drumm beat off the attack, but Uldaron forbade them to leave the camp. The demons set up a blockade and are slaying everyone who dares show themselves. Not a good situation.”
“How can we help?”
“You?” Hermit cast a look at us and waved a dismissive hand. “Level five, no weapons, no armor, no elixirs. Elder magi shoot from two hundred meters. You shoot from fifty. How can you help? This is not about harassing river demons.”
“So teach us!” It seemed a suitable moment to remember the purpose of our visit. “Give us the possibility to deal with demons.”
“Well,” Argalot thought. “Suppose I give you Aura of Despair, Retreat, and Wicked Strike. You’re not ready for the rest. But against level-nine demons that’s just barking, not biting.” He thought a while longer. “To cut your teeth, you’ll have to cope with your own demon essence. You must fully accept yourselves. Tieflings usually do that at level one hundred, when they get to rank o
ne. But this is a special case. I don’t remember demons ever blockading the camp and not letting anybody out. It’s a disgrace. Are you going to risk your inner peace?”
“Hell yeah!” we replied in unison. A tad dramatic perhaps, and Argalot limited his reaction to a wry grin.
“Well, lads, what can I tell you?” He scratched his horns pensively. “The training camp was opened on this island for a good reason.”
“Yes, we know.” Eredani interrupted the archdemon, urging him on and trying to show off his own knowledge: “Your island, like many others, is a reproduction of Keshin, yes? Somewhere here is a cave where we can find a clue to those three heroes.”
“Well I never! Good lad!” Argalot grinned. “That makes the job considerably easier. You need to go to that cave. If you’re lucky, you’ll take the essence, be promoted to the rank of demon hunter, and find a beacon with information about one of the heroes.”
“And if we’re not lucky?” I asked, latching onto his subjunctive mood.
“Then the level-eleven demons together with all four archdemons will chase you out of the Cave of Knowledge and away to the Gray Lands.”
“How can we make sure the archdemons don’t find out anything about us?”
“You can’t. That’s why they’re here.” The chances of this escapade ending successfully had just slimmed drastically.
“Does anybody else live in the cave?” asked Eredani, as usual not letting even the most unobvious details slip away.
“No. Nobody alive. Only dead. Not ghosts, though.” Argalot faltered, distracted.
“Is it another Barrows of the Fallen?” I asked, to which he shrugged his shoulders ambiguously. “Is there a guardian?” A shake of the head.
“Kvalen, what guardian has an army like that?” Eredani asked me, while trying to make a call. “Diabettis, greetings! Are you in the camp?”
“We’ve got an order for T’Mir. Get a move on,” came the speakerphone response.
“The training camp is surrounded by demons. Fifty elder R’Tan magi.” A heavy sigh from the amulet. Mobs were well known to Diabettis and his fighters. “You can’t go back. We need covering fire for about eight hours. We need everyone there is, plus whoever you’re boosting at the moment. We’re going for R’Tan’s lands.”
“How are you going to get through Dorel’s Frontier?” the player asked. We looked at Hermit — we’d never heard of it, but because the conversation was between players, we had to repeat the questions to Argalot:
“What is Dorel’s Frontier, and how can you pass through it?”
“It’s a wall dividing the island into two parts. It’s protected by level-nine-ten demons. You can’t just walk through it. The only way is underground.”
“Did you hear that?”
“Uh-huh. Count us in! We haven’t been beyond the frontier. Six hundred gold an hour, and we’re all yours. I’ll just ask the others.” Nobody turned down free experience.
Eredani looked at the map, pinpointing the place, and said, “We meet at the westernmost point of the Lake of Tranquility in one hour.” Diabettis confirmed and signed off.
“Brody, I know you have to work today, but right now we can’t pass up this chance. With the Vartalinskys at the camp, we can get to the cave. By the system clock it’s one o’clock in the morning. We meet at two, but we should be finished by six.”
“I’m in.” I nodded as casually as I could. I had always considered myself pragmatic, devoid of emotion. Every last action was measured, contemplated, recorded. But the thrill of the chase had gotten to me, and I was beginning to understand how people became hooked on Barliona — the yearning for new experience and sensation worked better than any marketing manager.
“You have to work out for yourselves what to do in the Cave of Knowledge.” Hermit waited for the end of the conversation and started our lesson. “I’m only going to improve your chances.”
Abilities received
Wicked strike: You jump toward the enemy from a distance of no more than 10 meters and inflict damage to their feet, decelerating them for 6 seconds by 50% and inflicting 20% damage from your Attack parameter. Application time: 0 seconds. Recoil time: 30 seconds.
Retreat: You recoil 10 meters, invoking Demon Snares. All enemies entering snare coverage area (1 meter) decelerate for 6 seconds by 50%, and sustain 10% damage from your Attack parameter. Snare duration: 3 seconds. Application time: 0 seconds. Recoil time: 30 seconds.
Aura of Despair: Accuracy of enemy inside aura coverage area reduced by 10%. Coverage radius: 15 meters. Aura duration: 20 minutes. Application time: 0 seconds. Recoil time: 60 minutes.
“There’s no time to train you.” In one fell sentence Argalot denied us free experience, without granting us the standard tasks. I placed two buttons on the quick access toolbar and checked they worked. There was nobody to test Wicked Strike on, but Retreat had interesting mechanics. After activation, my feet jumped by themselves into the depths of the cave, with no effort whatsoever on my part. After waiting for the recoil, I used it again, this time jerking backward with full force. The result was fantastic: I flew back much farther than ten meters — although the dimensions of the Hermit’s dwelling didn’t allow me to get a precise reading — until an unexpected wall got in the way of the experiment.
Eredani: Finished prancing, goat-boy? Get a move on, we’re out of time.
Kvalen: It needed testing. What do you think “understand essence” means?
Eredani: What do you mean what? We’re tieflings. We’ve just fought demons and raked it in big time. That shouldn’t happen. +50% to damage to demons and -50% damage from demons, that’s what it was about. The specifics of our race haven’t been activated yet.
Kvalen: Hmm… I hadn’t thought of that.
Eredani: That’s Barliona for you. You either jump, or you think. It’s hard to combine the two.”
“The passage was dug a long time ago, when the frontier still belonged to us. Nobody knows who or what might have made it their home since then, but it’s the only chance for a small group to pass through. The entrance is here.”
Map updated
Description of changes: Entrance point to underground tunnel under Dorel’s Frontier.
“Kind of pointless training, but it can’t be helped,” Argalot sighed. “You’ll have to study the rest by yourselves in the wide world.”
Continue Collaborative Tuition task completed
Reward:
Experience: +43
Reputation with Light of Barliona faction: +18
Agreeability to Hermit: +20
“Dearest Argalot, I am banking on your wisdom and magnanimity. Permit an unworthy to ask a question,” Eredani piped up, bowing. His tone was so out of character Hermit and I could only gawk at him. Satisfied he had the NPC’s attention, he continued, “We are but dust beneath your feet, O Supreme One! Share with us your wisdom, O mightiest of demon hunters! Tell us how we may gain the remaining objects to complete the Unending Happiness set. Help us save Barliona!”
Argalot squared his shoulders, seduced by the player’s crude flattery.
Kvalen: Who’s a clown now? Are you all like this here?
Eredani: The end justifies the means.
Kvalen: End? Flattering a digital code in order to receive another digital code is an “end” in your book?
Eredani: Brody, it’s a game, a farce, a fairy tale. That’s the whole point. Twist and turn to get a result. At the end of the day, I’m flattering, not ass-licking! Do you feel the difference?
Kvalen: I feel it, but I don’t see it.
Eredani: Shut up!
“The remaining objects are not so easy. You have to accomplish a great deed.”
“We shall return Dorel’s Frontier,” Eredani suggested, thrusting out his chest. “We shall annihilate all the demons and raise the banner of the Light of Barliona. The passage will once more belong to Barliona.”
I was never going to understand these people. What nonsense! I prayed
for someone to kill me before my eardrums burst from the pathos.
“There are currently 222 level-nine demons at the frontier. If you can banish them to the Abyss and hold out until reinforcements arrive, another object will be yours,” announced Argalot. The system reacted instantly.
Task received: Dorel’s Frontier
A Second Chance Page 28
