The Scout of Artemis (LitRPG Series): Press X to Loot Book 1

by Gregg Horlock

  “What if it had gone wrong?” said Rex. “Would you have told us? Or would we have had to check our character screens and wonder why we’d suddenly lost half our stats?”

  “It worked, didn’t it?”

  “Quiet,” I told them. The two of them were more alike than they realized, but their squabbles were beginning to annoy me.

  Jack’s Coin Flip helped us get back to the shelter undetected. I didn’t need it, of course, since I had the sneak ability. As we made it back to base, a message informed me that my sneak skill had gone up by 20%, which left 20% until level 2.

  As we spent the night in our shelter, we occasionally heard footsteps outside. The alcove was too cramped for three grown men to sleep in. It reminded me of camping nights when I was a kid, where five of us would pile into a 3-man tent and tell ghost stories. This was different though; the monsters were real. Well, real in terms of Artemis. After being here almost two days, I was beginning to forget that everything around me was code.

  We decided that since we were spending the night in our shelter, we’d log out and have our 8-hour break from the game. It made sense, since I didn’t want to waste daylight hours outside Pana.

  When I had that thought, I had to laugh to myself. I was beginning to see the real world, my whole reality, as a waste of time compared to life in Pana Reborn. I started to wonder if Gossard Forest had lost its last dregs of excitement for me.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  After 8 hours in the real world, 7 of which I spent in bed, I logged back into Pana Reborn. I found myself in the Alcove. The sun cast rays through the narrow gap, and I was thankful for the warmth. Before I could move, a message appeared.

  Level up to Level 3!

  -HP increased to 144

  - Stamina increased to 160

  - 2 Attribute points gained

  I wondered if some generous elves had snuck into my alcove while I slept and levelled me up. If not, I couldn’t work out how it had happened. Then I climbed out of the shelter and saw it.

  5 of my 6 traps outside the shelter had been sprung. 2 contained dead hares, while 2 held recently-deceased Burrs in them. Then I saw the fifth one and I realised, with horror, that my trap had caught a woman. There were times in the real world where I’d thought about trying to meet a girl, but this hardly seemed like the way to do it.

  I rushed over to it and dismantled the trap. It seemed to have caught her around her neck, and the wooden jaws of my device had snapped her windpipe. If there was any mercy, it would have been quick. I felt a pang of guilt shoot through me. I sat back on the ground, unable to believe what I’d done.

  Then I realized something. This didn’t make any sense. Why would a woman be wandering around at night with the wave creatures prowling? Why would she get so close to my trap that it snapped on her neck?

  There was only one answer – she was one of the villagers. My trap had caught her whilst she was a wave creature, and then when daylight came, she had turned back.

  “You didn’t tell me we had company,” said a voice behind me.

  Jack and Rex had re-entered the game now. I wondered if they’d slept as much as I had in the real world. As soon as I’d left Pana, I’d felt an overwhelming tiredness. Then, after that, I had a yearning to be back in Artemis.

  The woman had curly hair that reached down beyond her shoulders. Her roots were grey, though judging by her face, she couldn’t have been older than mid-twenties. She wore green clothes marked by the stains of hard labor. A purse was fastened around her waist. I opened it and found that only a small ring was inside. It looked to be made of gold at first. Twisting it in my fingers, I saw that some of the gold had flaked away to reveal silver underneath.

  As I held the ring between my thumb and index finger, the woman in front of me started to glimmer. He body seemed to shake, and then it grew faint. It was as though light was seeping out of her and drifting up into the pale sky above. A few seconds later, she was gone.

  “He has this effect on women,” said Jack.

  I turned and glared at him.

  “Not the time for jokes?” he said.

  I shook my head. Some of the experience that had levelled me up had come from killing this woman. It didn’t matter that she was an NPC; that she was a block of code typed by the weary fingers of a programmer. Everything about Pana felt so real that I couldn’t help feeling guilty.

  ***

  When we reached the village again, we found the gates were open. Not only that, but the tracks around the fences seemed to have disappeared. It was as if someone had taken care to hide them. As we walked through the village some people stared, and then turned away as if to pretend they hadn’t seen us.

  One of the shacks in the village was bigger than the rest, and I guessed that this must belong to their leader. I knocked on the door and then stepped back. A few seconds later it opened. An old woman, taller than her doorframe, stared back at me.

  “Cat got your tongue?” she said.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “And I’ve got as much need for that as a Burr has for a bathtub. Get lost.”

  I stared at her. The old woman was taller than me. She wore a robe that covered her arms and legs, and a shirt covered her chest. On her collarbone, where the shirt ended, I saw part of a tattoo.

  “We need to talk about the tracks around the fence.”

  “Who are you? The inspector of Artemis?”

  “I’m the only person who’s worked out your secret so far. About what happens at night.”

  At this, the old leader’s face changed. “My name’s Joldemass,” she said. “You better come in.”

  I turned around to face Jack and Rex. “See if you can convince the villagers to trade,” I said. “I won’t be long.”

  The shack was larger inside than I had thought it to be. Over in the corner a pot boiled above a guarded fire, and plumes of steam filled the room with a spicy aroma. One wall was covered with the stuffed heads of animals. I saw Burrs, Crocodiles, and a few that I didn’t recognize, both from Artemis and the real world. In another corner of the room, resting on a crudely-made table, was a tooth the size of my arm. I didn’t even want to l know what kind of creature had a mouth lined with incisors that large.

  Joldemass sat on the floor. She crossed her arms and stared at me.

  “You won’t find many in the village who will talk to an Eternal,” she said. “And they won’t like you being in here with me.”

  I shrugged. “You’re the leader, aren’t you? What you say goes.”

  “Do you suppose that we’re savages? I was elected leader. And in 6 months’ time, I need to start campaigning for re-election. I reckon it’s going to be harder to get votes this time around. Ever since the incident with Tom’s dog and the well.”

  I took the ring out of my pocket and handed it to Joldemass. The old woman reached out and took it from me. She turned it over in her palm.

  “This belongs to one of your people,” I said.

  Her eyes widened. “We haven’t had anyone reported missing yet.”

  “All the same, it belonged to a woman from the village. I’m sorry to say that she was caught in a trap. One that I made.”

  Joldemass sighed. “And you wonder why people don’t like Eternals.”

  “What was I supposed to do? I only realized last night that the night creatures….that they’re…well, you.”

  Joldemass looked so surprised that she almost gasped. She regained control of herself. “So you really do know our secret?”

  I nodded. “And you better tell me all about it.”

  I settled down on the floor as Joldemass told her story. It seemed that generations ago, the people of Dostooth lived in a city many miles north. It was a thriving place, with markets, blacksmiths, and a castle. The land around the city held many resources, with lots of gold, coal and, if you dug deep, diamonds. Not all was good, though. As well as being rich in natural resources, the land around was also home to numerous creature
s.

  Once every few days, a city dweller would be attacked and killed by one of the creatures that lived not too far away. The mayor of the city sent part of the city guard to wipe out all the creatures in the area. But no matter how many of the beasts they killed, it seemed that double the amount appeared within a few days.

  It was then that a mysterious man arrived at the city gates. Dressed in a tattered robe and leaning on a staff, he hobbled through the streets and up the castle steps. He demanded an audience with the mayor.

  “Why did the mayor live in a castle?” I asked.

  Joldemass glared at me. “The last king was overthrown decades before. And the mayor wasn’t a man to let a castle go to waste. Now, let me finish.”

  The man was a wizard, he told the mayor. And the creatures were his. He’d keep conjuring them and ordering them to attack the city dwellers unless they paid him tribute. He wanted half of everything the city found and produced. If not, he would keep growing the numbers of his creatures, until there would be enough to overrun the city.

  Backed into a corner, the mayor had no choice. For years, this arrangement kept the people safe. The problem was that because they had to give away half their resources, the prosperity of the city was fading. Exasperated, the mayor took a chance. He paid a travelling rogue to find the wizard and kill him.

  It turned out that the rogue worked for the wizard. Incensed at the mayor’s betrayal, the wizard sent all his creatures to the city gates and ordered them to attack. The battle that followed was short, because the city guard was few in number. Only a dozen of the city dwellers escaped. As they fled the steely gates, the wizard placed a curse on them. Although they would escape with their lives, there would be a blight on them and any generations that followed.

  “And how long ago was that?” I said, when she had finished speaking.

  She looked at me in silence for a few seconds, and then spoke. “It has been at least a hundred years since Helder and the others fled the city.”

  “Wait. Helder?”

  “He was the mayor of the city, and he founded Dostooth.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  That was it, then. Helder was the man who founded the village, and he was cursed like all the others. Since the events leading to the curse had been his fault, that meant only one thing. The curse of the villagers was Helder’s Bane.

  Quest Updated – Improve the Villagers’ Opinion of You

  - You must cure the villagers of their curse.

  When I left Joldemass’ shack, I found Jack and Rex trying to convince the trader to deal with them. The large man stood in the doorway of his shop with his arms folded. As I walked over to the, I heard Jack sigh.

  “Forget it,” he said. “It’s no use.”

  I explained to my party what Joldemass had told me. Rex and Jack seemed in agreement with my conclusion. The curse of the village had to be Helder’s Bane, and that meant that we had to cure it. It seemed strange that the competition was worded in such a way that we had to ‘find’ Helder’s Bane. I knew that the programmers of Pana loved to deal in tricks and riddles. Finally, we were getting somewhere.

  “What now?” said Jack.

  I shrugged. “We need to find the source of the curse.”

  As we discussed where to do, I noticed someone stood next to a shack just beyond us. They seemed to be pressed up against it, as if they were hiding. When they noticed I was looking at them, they sloped away.

  Awareness increased by 20% - 40% until level 2.

  Just then, the door of Joldemass’ shack opened, and the old woman towered in the doorframe.

  “Go north,” she said. “I’ve put a lot of trust in telling you our secret, and now you must help us. The wizard is long dead now, I believe. But it is said that he bound the power of his curse in a gem.”

  “And where is this gem?” I asked.

  “In a dungeon, many miles north. There are two ways to get there; the easiest direction is ten miles north-east, and then over the Swinging Bridge. It’s the longer route, but it is the safest.”

  “There’s a short cut?” asked Rex.

  Joldemass nodded. A necklace around her neck shook. “There is a quicker way, along the Grey Plains. But it is full of creatures that are too strong even for a party of Eternals.”

  ***

  It needn’t be said that with a scout, a gambler, and an animal-taming barbarian, we weren’t the most combat-focused party. With that in mind, we decided to take the bridge. It would take us longer to get there, but it was preferable to risking a respawn by travelling the creature-filled plains.

  It was midday by the time we reached the swinging bridge. Jack complained that his feet hurt, while Rex bore the miles in silence. When we reached the bridge, though, I realized there was a lot more to complain about than Jack’s dainty feet.

  The Swinging Bridge was ahead of us, though there was no way we would be crossing it. The bridge was made up of planks of wood fastened together by rope. The ends of the rope were tied to rocks on either side of the bridge. Once, it would have allowed us to pass. Now, though, there was no chance.

  I looked on in dismay as I saw that the bridge ropes had been cut. The bridge still lived up to its name, but rather than swinging side to side, it swung vertically. The ties on our side had been severed, ruining it.

  On the other side of it, jeering and waving at us, were the Star Horizon party. I realized that among them was the figure I had seen hiding against the side of a shack in the village. They had been spying on us, it seemed, and they had managed to reach the bridge before us. Ever the good sports, they had cut the ropes to make sure we wouldn’t cross.

  I turned to Jack and Rex.

  “What now?” asked Jack.

  “We don’t have a choice,” I said. “We have to risk the Plains.”

  “We’re going to die,” said Rex.

  I nodded. “From the way Joldemass described the plains, that seems likely. So, we can’t go yet.”

  “We don’t have much time,” said Jack.

  “True,” I answered. “Before we do anything else, we need a respawn rune. I haven’t come all this way just to end up back on the mainland.”

  Quest Received – Get a Respawn Rune.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  We made our way back to Dostooth, killing a few Burrs along the way. We found the villagers busy with their day to day activities. Two men fetched water from the well. A group of female hunters dragged the limp body of a cow along the dusty ground, trailing blood behind them. Our presence didn’t seem as offensive to the people of Dostooth now. They weren’t exactly warming to us, but at least they didn’t run into their shacks and slam their doors shut.

  Jack used his Lucky Day skill and successfully increased his charisma. His idea was that with increased powers of persuasion, he’d be able to convince the local trader to deal with us. We had looted gold from the men in the tavern, and we had various hides from the forest creatures we’d killed. If we were lucky, we’d have enough to trade for a respawn rune.

  The trader was a bearded man. He had long grey hair that swept down to his shoulders. It was so thick that were he in the real world, he could have found work modelling in shampoo adverts.

  Despite Jack’s increased charisma, the trader was unimpressed. “Joldemass said we’re not to deal with you yet.”

  I looked at the tag above his head. His name was Gendark Penny Pincher.

  “Listen Gendark,” I said. “I don’t know if Joldemass told you, but we’re going to help the village. We’re setting out today to try and break the curse.”

  “Lots have tried that,” answered the trader.

  “Yes, but were any of those people Eternals, like us?”

  Gendark thought about it. “You’ve got a point.”

  “We need a respawn rune. Otherwise, we can’t do it. Come on, just trade with us. It only has to be a one-off, and we won’t tell anybody.”

  Gendark beckoned me closer to him with his hand. When
I was a foot away from him, he leaned in and whispered.

  “You’re going to find the gem, aren’t you?” he said. “That’s the only way to break the curse.”

  I nodded.

  “Well, I’ll trade with you. But here’s my condition.”

  “Wait for it,” said Jack. “Here we go.”