“SirAsh3r!”
“Go!” I tell her. “Keep going. Don’t wait for me.”
She stands her ground and casts.
Enhancement received: Bubble of Protection
Description: You will sustain -5% damage for the next sixty seconds
The next spell that flies off her fingertips is Petrify, and she successfully freezes Jargonaut in place for a few seconds. Erinocalypse uses that delay to continue her climb up the hill, away from the sword-fight. She can have my back from a distance, but I’m the only one of the two of us that can engage in close quarters.
With Jargonaut frozen, I hurry to equip my sword, the Blade of Burnical. I swing at him with all my might, slicing a deep gash in his thigh. It’s not as damaging a hit as it could be, though, since he is released from the spell just as I’m finishing. One heavy push with his shield and I’m stumbling backwards, landing on my butt in the dirt.
A beam of spell sails over my head and I watch Jargonaut get hit by a Fire Bolt. The attack slows him, draining a good ten percent of his health, but it’s not enough to stop his attack.
I scramble to my feet again, sword in hand, and try to balance, ready and limber the way SteelFeather showed me. Jargonaut has already shaken off the magical attack and is practically on top of me. Before I can defend myself, his sword stabs deep into my arm, damaging the muscle that I need to wield the sword at all.
[-4530 HP]
The Blade of Burnical falls from my hand, dropping into the mossy ground below. I groan in pain. There’s a brief pause as both Jargonaut and I recognize what has happened. I am weaponless. He towers above me. Erinocalypse has a brief cool down between spells in which she can’t help me at all.
But I won’t let things end this way.
With a maniacal grin, he rushes me, this time his sword cuts a deep gash in my leg, just above my knee, and I can no longer stand. The blood gushes out, matting my pants and dripping down my leg.
As I try to scurry backward with just two limbs uninjured, Jargonaut bears down on me.
I hurry. I’m frantic. I have one chance. While still on my back on the hill, I check my inventory for something, anything that I can use to deflect the tank, even if I can’t hurt him. Anything.
I find it.
In those couple short seconds, Jargonaut adjusts his stance to deliver a more powerful stab downward. I see him raise his arms while I equip my makeshift shield. Holding it with both hands, I push the solo Rugged Climbing Boot up above me, meeting the point of Jargonaut’s sword and stopping the blow.
I knew I had saved that one shoe for a reason, after losing its pair in the Bors River.
Jargonaut curses loudly, backing up a step to free his weapon from the leather. He first tries to shake the sword free, but it’s too firmly in the sole of the shoe. He has to use his feet to hold it down so he can pull the sword out. I have a chance to scramble backward, back to my feet, catching up the Blade of Burnical as I do.
I swing. It’s awkward, and it’s for sure not as strong as the hits a proper tank could do, but it’s mine. The sharp edge sinks into Jargonaut’s forearm, so deep and painful it forces him to drop his shield.
As soon as that barrier is out of her way, Erinocalypse fires one perfectly aimed spell at him. Petrify freezes Jargonaut in place, shield still on the ground and sword not yet even lifted for battle.
In the couple seconds while he’s frozen I have a chance to really take him down. I catch up my sword again, stabbing the Blade of Burnical deep into his side. Its surreal knowing I’m causing the guy pain, but because of his total paralysis don’t see any reaction.
Erinocalypse fires another spell from behind me, Fire Bolt, followed by another Petrify, to keep him still for us.
But in spite of all of that, we can’t kill him. Game mechanics won’t allow player vs player deaths. Camlan won’t let us end this and no matter what we do, Jargonaut could still come after us.
“We can’t kill him,” I say, frustrated.
“No!” She looks at me horrified. “You’re right. But we have to! He’ll just keep coming and coming.”
I swing the sword at him again, this time cutting deeply into his other arm, draining even more health points. But it doesn’t matter how much I do; as players we simply cannot wield a killing shot.
“We have to go,” I tell her.
“One more hit,” she insists, firing Petrify at him. That spell does the trick, stopping Jargonaut in place. “There. Now we go.”
I look up to the mountain pass as we run. Just a few more steps and we’ll be safely inside.
Chapter 49
We run into the darkness, deeper into the mouth of the cave until we have protection from several directions. Ahead of us the cave continues on in darkness, the tunnel proceeding deeper into the mountain. The game flashes me some message about discovering Slade Pass and the requisite reward, but now is not the time to let myself get distracted and I dismiss it immediately.
I spin around before we get too far, backing up another couple steps, but still look for our attacker. Our backs are vulnerable to anything coming out of the cave’s darkness, but for now we can only focus on enemies from one direction. We don’t have much time. Jargonaut has recovered himself and continues his stalking us up the mountainside. He’s much closer than I realized, moving more quickly than he had been before. Whatever amount the incline slowed Erinocalypse and I down doesn’t seem to be having any affect on the tank.
“Damnit!” I switch my weapon to the Bow of Eternal Rest and fire a poisoned arrow at him.
“Keep shooting!” Erinocalypse tells me, though I don’t need the reminder as my hands nock another arrow.
She stands by my side in the open mouth of the dark cave as we fight for our lives.
I let off an arrow, but my hands must be shaking, because it misses Jargonaut completely. I try again, aiming my poison-imbued arrows at Jargonaut, but it seems impossible to get a shot at the right angle to get around his shield. He’s too good at this. Not one of three arrows I fire does any damage to him whatsoever and he continues to advance towards us.
As I frantically move to nock another arrow, I realize Erinocalypse has stopped firing spells at him. I’m the only one trying to hold him back. Instead she is shooting spell after spell at the cave roof above us.
“Hey!” I yell at her, but she ignores me, firing again up and away from our attacker. “Erin!”
But I can’t pay too much attention to her. Jargonaut continues to advance.
“Damnit!” I say to myself, firing again. This next arrow just bounces off his chest plate to the ground. Not even the higher impact of this new bow is enough to get through his armor. I hesitate; I think I am going to have to use my sword again. But I suck at it. Damnit!
I save the Bow of Eternal Rest in my inventory and equip the Blade of Burnical. Holding the sword like SteelFeather taught me, I balance on the balls of my feet, trying to find the courage to run at Jargonaut. I am in no way confident enough to attack him. I don’t want to leave the relative safety of the cave and of being by Erinocalypse’s side.
But I have to.
It’s the only way.
The towering knight continues his hike up the hill, up the narrow path towards the mouth of the cave. He’s now only about twenty feet away, and takes off his helmet, dropping on the ground as he advances. The leering grin he sends me is petrifying.
“You’ve already lost to me once, SirAsh3r. Might as well give up now.”
My only saving hope is that in Camlan Realm players can’t kill each other. I think that’s still the case. I hope it’s still the case. I continue to hold my sword ready to parry as soon as he gets close enough.
“Asher,” I hear from behind me, but I can’t look away from our approaching enemy.
“Now that I know where you are, I’m not going to let you get out of my sight. Even after you die, I’ll have men waiting for you wherever you respawn.”
“Asher!” Erinocalypse yells
more urgently now.
“What?” I ask, still not taking my eyes off Jargonaut.
“Come here, please.” Her voice seems deceptively calm. It’s that incongruity that makes me turn and look at her finally. It’s the juxtaposition that convinces me of her urgency. She’s speaking low enough that Jargonaut can’t hear her.
She meets my eye and something in her expression compels me to obey without question. I turn again so I have Jargonaut in my sights, but I back up step by slow step, until I stand next to her.
At this distance again, I equip my bow, but don’t fire. Instead I watch her, watch for a sign of her plan so I can help. We’ve always worked well together, so much so that I don’t even need to ask what she is up to and simply follow along.
“Here we go,” she says, so quietly I think she might be talking to herself.
As I watch, Erinocalypse sends a beam of Fire Bolt up to the roof of the cave, just where it opens, just where her earlier spells have created the beginnings of cracks in the stone. The heat of the fire further weakens the rock. She immediately then fires a Surge of Air spell to the same spot and with this last burst of power, the rock begins to give way.
“Holy— !” I bite off my expletive in favor of jumping back out of the way before a rock the size of a basketball can fall on me. The cracks spread, and now that the first piece is broken out of the stone ceiling overhead, more and more begin to crumble. A small, veritable hailstorm of pebbles falls down all around us. Then bigger and bigger rocks begin to fall; I can’t keep up.
I remember suddenly to look past the curtain of falling debris to where Jargonaut is still bearing down on us. He looks furious, and has actually sped up his steps to try to reach the cave before more stones fall.
But he’s too late. Faster and faster, bigger and bigger rocks start to fill the mouth of the cave, blocking his advance. And our exit. At least three of the larger stones fall directly on him, but soon the wall of rock has blocked him from my sight, and I can’t tell if he was killed or incapacitated or moved out of the way in time. The thunderous noise of the collapse precludes all conversation and all Erinocalypse and I can do is watch, once the destruction has started.
In an surprisingly short time, the opening is full of boulders, stones and rocks of every size. Tiny pinpricks of light poke between the falling rocks, cutting across the cloud of dust filling the cavern. I close my eyes against the grime, coughing out the dirt infiltrating my lungs. When it all finally settles and I look around, Erinocalypse is looking at me with an expression I can’t read in this dim light.
“That was …” I am so proud of her. And so grateful she’s on my team. “That was brilliant, Erin.”
She smiles at me, maybe a little embarrassed, but doesn’t deflect. “Thanks. But, you know … That only solves one of our problems.” She gestures back into the dark unknown.
“You’re right. Only one way to go now,” I say, walking deeper into the cave.
Chapter 50
Erinocalypse and I walk deeper into the cave we found at Slade Pass. With the cave-in behind us, we have escaped Jargonaut for now but who knows what lies in the mountain ahead of us. All we know is we are supposed to meet our guide here to continue our quest north to the Citadel. There’s no telling what else we might have to battle in these caves and tunnels.
With the mouth of the cave collapsed, we have lost all natural light, and there doesn’t seem to be any torchlight or other illumination in the tunnel ahead. Periodically, Erinocalypse sends a Fire Bolt through the passage ahead of us to light our way, but we don’t have anything to light with it. It’s like using a camera’s flash as a flashlight, and not particularly helpful.
We continue in almost complete darkness, slowly, cautiously, letting our health points regenerate as we do. No conversation is necessary.
“Am I imagining things,” I say quietly, “or is it getting lighter in here?”
Erinocalypse slows her steps, and nods.
Someone else is here. I hope it’s Lance, but I nock an arrow and stay ready to attack as soon as we see who—or what—it is.
Around the next bend in the passage, a torch appears. We stop. A woman walks into view, the firelight dancing shadows across the corridor and lighting up half of her. She wears a cloak that looks similar to mine, the hood pulled up to block most of her face. Her thick almost-black braid curves around her neck and down over her chest, and the simple, woven clothing underneath is fit to her body, allowing plenty of room for movement.
Name: Anna Lodonesia
Level: 48
Description: Anna is the best guide for any passage through Pendragon Mountains. Her Stealth and other furtive skills will be the best defense against the creatures and dangers you may encounter in Slade Pass.
Anna? Who’s this? I frown. I thought MadMachine had told us we were looking for Lance DuLock. This new NPC doesn’t fit into the plan as I know it.
“Are you…?” I begin. “I thought we were looking for someone else, is all.”
“Lance.” She nods knowingly. “I know. He had other urgent matters to attend to, but he is expecting you on the other side of the Pass. I’ll take you to him.”
Quest Completed: One Way Through
Description: You have found your guide at Slade Pass.
Reward: +500 XP; assistance in passing under Pendragon Mountains to the other side.
Erinocalypse sidles up to me and says under her breath. “If the quest is completed, we must be in the right place, right?”
I nod, eyeing our new alleged guide.
“So, we’re not going to see Lance until we’re through the mountains?” I ask. “About how long will that take?”
“A couple days,” Anna says in a soft voice. “Maybe more, depending on if we’re able to make our way through quietly enough.”
“Quietly?” Erinocalypse clarifies. “We just made a racket bringing down the mouth of the cave.”
“Yeah, I know.” Anna looks grim. “It’s likely that was far enough away, that they didn’t hear, but we’ll have to be careful.”
“Who is ‘they’?” I ask in a whisper.
She shakes her head, and offers me a smile. “Let’s not. Follow my lead and I’ll make sure you stay out of harm’s way.”
Quest Offered: One Way Through II
Description: With Anna Lodonesia as your guide, make your way through Slade Pass to the eastern side of Pendragon Mountains.
Reward: +700 XP
I glance at Erinocalypse. She nods. I accept this new quest and take a deep breath. This is what MadMachine told us to do, I guess. Follow the quest. And now with part two of the same quest, I suppose we’re on the right track.
Something doesn’t feel right, but maybe that’s just because we’re not meeting Lance the way I had expected.
“So, what next?” I ask.
“Follow me,” Anna says softly, as she turns to lead the way farther down the tunnel. “We’ll rest overnight. You must be exhausted. And then tomorrow morning we’ll start through the pass.”
As we follow her around the corner, the light gets brighter. There is a small campfire smoldering, barely enough to provide warmth but at least the cave isn’t full of smoke. On the far side are several bedrolls, as well as a large bag that must be Anna’s. It’s clear that while this is a place to sleep for the night, it is temporary. We should have no trouble packing everything up to leave in the morning.
“Here we are,” Anna says. “You can use this opportunity to rest, reset and get ready for the long trek ahead of us.”
I realize what she is saying in her oblique NPC-language and search my game menu.
There it is.
Do you wish to save your game?
I select ‘yes’ as soon as I can. Finally reaching this point is no small stress off my shoulders.
Your game is saved at Slade Pass. Thank you for playing Camlan Online!
Now all I have to do is survive several days deep underground with no healer, trusting an unkn
own NPC, and hoping that the actual game itself isn’t after me.
Also by A.T. Gilbert
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Fate of Camlan: A LitRPG Adventure is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright 2018 by A.T. Gilbert
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