by Rick Scott
“How about a builder?” I ask. “Have you ever seen one of them?”
Blacktop remains quiet for a moment. “A dead one. I think.”
“What?”
“In the wild,” he says. “The last time I spawned I think I came across one when I was making my way here.”
“What did it look like?” Gilly asks.
“Like the skeleton of a giant snake,” he says. “Except made out of metal. Gave me the creeps. And there were sentries and omegas crawling all over it. Harvesting it’s nano I guess.”
“Omegas?” I ask.
“You didn’t come across any?” Blacktop says.
“No, we got lucky, mate,” Rembrandt says. “Just like you said.”
“What’s an omega?” Gilly asks looking between them.
“Something you pray you never meet out there,” Blacktop says. “Giant bioweapons. Level 200.”
My skin grows cold at the thought that we could have run into something like that.
“That’s why I’ll give you those blades if you manage to get to a tech world and back,” Blacktop says. “But I want that flamethrower.”
I laugh. “I’ll put it on my list.”
Something else keeps nagging at the back of my mind. Something about those kunai. “Where did you get them, by the way? The katanas.”
“Funny you should ask,” he says. “A tall drink of water breezed through here last night with them. Elven girl. Traded them for a chunk of gold and a little something extra.” He then grins. “Best company I’ve had in a while. No offense to you guys.”
My heart beats a little faster as I ask the next question. “What was her name?”
Blacktop’s eyes go glossy as he smiles, perhaps staring at a mental image that only he can see.
“Aiko,” he says still smiling. “Her name was Aiko.”
Chapter 8: Dungeon Dive
Every bone in my body is itching for me to run back to the village and tell Val Helena that Aiko is here. But after a moment of thought, I decide it’s going to have to wait. Taking an hour to run back there and tell her would only waste time. She would know by the days end. We’d be heading back to the village soon enough, but we had a quest to complete first. Still, as we make our way through the forest toward the mine, I wonder what made Aiko decide to take the leap back to the surface and also where she’s headed. I asked Blacktop before we left, but he didn’t know, only that she left while it was still dark. And that meant she’d probably already put a fair bit of distance between us and wherever she was now.
But from Val Helena’s story, there was likely only one place she could be heading. The Vale of Sorrows. The same place we were going once we hit max level. So that meant we had to hurry up and level as soon as possible.
“That looks like the mine entrance up ahead,” Rembrandt says coming to a halt.
We’re still in the forest but it’s hillier now. The mine entrance is an opening the size of a garage door at the base of one such hill, shored up with weather worn timbers. It’s early afternoon and after the long hike I’m feeling pretty hungry.
“How about a quick rest before we head in there?” I suggest.
We make a quick camp and break out some left over fruit and nuts from breakfast with a bit of cheese. Its simple food, but ironically it’s probably better eating than what I’ve had in the real world.
“Man, what I wouldn’t give for a cheeseburger,” Gilly groans.
I laugh at the timing and irony of her statement. This stuff probably wasn’t better to her.
“I’ll treat you to one in the tech world,” Rembrandt says, downing a fist full of nuts. “Decent burger joints there.”
We share a chuckle, but Blacktop’s mentioning of those omega things has me feeling ill at ease about crossing that wild zone. Cheeseburgers or not.
When we finish eating I bring up my character sheet and check my gear.
Name: Reece
Class: Ninja
Level: 76
Strength: 6+25
Dexterity: 80+5
Agility: 80+5
Intelligence: 4
Mind: 6
Vitality: 16 +20
HP: 922/922
Stamina: 257/257
TP: 154/154
I have an attribute point to spend and almost place it into agility but then stop myself. This is the real world and death is real here too. If I screw up a dodge, then having a safety net is a necessity now. And I only have nine levels of points left to spend. I better make them count. I drop the point into Vitality and get another 20 HP.
Gilly has the box of scrolls open and is sorting through them.
“Any good ones?” I ask.
“Nothing I can use right away, but yup!”
Gilly shows me three scrolls.
Holy Fire
Call celestial fire down upon your enemies
Heal III
Restores a significant amount of HP to the target based on your MND stat.
Great Heal II
Restore a moderate amount of HP to your party based on your MND stat.
“So how we doing this?” I ask turning to Rembrandt. “I’ve never really partied with a gun wielder before. Anything I should be mindful of?”
Rembrandt just shrugs. “Just go with the flow mate. You engage ‘em, I’ll kill ‘em. And Gilly can hang back with me.”
“Okay let’s do it!”
We head into the mine and I encounter our first problem right away. “It’s kind of dark in here.”
“Really?” Gilly says. “Looks okay to me.”
“What about you, Rem?” I ask.
“I got my shades, mate,” he says. “I can see crystal clear.”
“Must be because I’m a half elf,” Gilly says. “Think we get a kind of night vision.”
“Well this is great,” I say. “How am I supposed to see?”
“Don’t you have a light spell or something Gilly?” Rembrandt asks.
She just shrugs. “Never needed one in Nasgar. Nowhere was ever truly dark like here. Maybe this will help.”
Gilly casts minor Favor of the Goddess.
Our stat bars get a buff and I do begin to glow faintly. I can see a bit better but not by much. “You sure you don’t have another scroll in that box that can help?”
“Do your glowy blades thing?” she says.
I cast Shadow Tendrils and they do indeed add more light but it’s more like a black light, making everything look phosphorescent and creepy.
“There you go!” Gilly says with a smile.
This is going to be interesting.
I take the lead and head down the steep slope of the mine entrance. My skin prickles as a tension seizes my chest. What would normally be a romp in a low level dungeon getting XP has becoming suddenly terrifying to me. This is like a horror game, where I can’t see what’s coming at me in the darkness.
And I hate horror games.
But I’m in the lead so I can’t punk out now.
I focus on using my other senses, urging my awareness ability to activate. I then get an idea. If I can barely see them, then maybe we need to give ourselves the same advantage.
“Guys group up a second,” I say and then cast Shadow Wall.
With a flash of nanodust we turn transparent like glass.
“Good thinking, Reece!” Gilly says in the party chat. “But can you still see?”
Thankfully I still can. My body is still giving off light, even though it’s invisible. I guess because it’s not truly invisible, but more some kind of camouflage when in the real world. I guess I can still be “seen” somewhat, an eerie light in motion. Still it’s better than nothing.
I feel more confident as I scout ahead. Signs of the goblin infestation begin to show up; mainly in the form of smell. It stinks like a dog kennel in here. A kennel that hasn’t been cleaned in months. I then spot the first group of goblins and focus on one of them to check their strength.
Gob
lin Guard
Level: 25
Not very strong or bright, but can be troublesome in large numbers.
No stronger than the ones that attacked the village. There are four of them, and they appear to be fighting over something, snarling in their strange guttural language. I get closer and cast Shadow Mist and cover them with a purple haze. All four are immediately slowed, poisoned and paralyzed. I backstab one of them and he expires instantly.
You defeated the Goblin Guard!
You gain 3000 experience points.
Rembrandt takes out two of them in a hail of bullets while I kill the last with a full round of triple attacks.
You defeated the Goblin Guard!
You gain 3000 experience points.
You defeated the Goblin Guard!
You gain 3000 experience points.
You defeated the Goblin Guard!
You gain 3000 experience points.
Gilly gains a level!
“Yay!” Gilly shouts. “That was easy!”
“Too right,” Rembrandt says with a laugh. “Come on, hurry it up, Reece. Let’s clear this pit and get the lady some levels.”
I loot the four corpses for nano and get a fragment from each. “Okay!”
I progress with far more confidence through the mines, even in the semi-darkness. We encounter group after group of goblins and dispatch them easily. I aggro them first, Rem mops them up and Gilly tops up Rembrandt’s stamina in between. We explore each and every tunnel, every side turn a switch back, going lower and lower into the depths. The XP for me is only so so, but for Gilly it’s pretty decent, even without the kill chains due to the mobs being too low level compared to Rembrandt and I.
“Do you still get XP, Rem?” I ask after the eighth group of goblins and Gilly’s fifth level.
“Yeah, I’m getting some,” he says. “After 85 you earn bonus attributes, but they cost a ton of XP. Easier to max out with other classes first.”
“How many classes do you have?” Gilly asks as she tops Rembrandt up with a Second Wind.
“Two. But this is my main. My other is Negotiator.”
“What’s that do?” I ask as we head down a tunnel leading toward what looks like an open chamber ahead.
“It’s like a merchant sort of. But you can hire NPCs with it. Strike contracts and then sit back and let your minions do the dirty work for you. Didn’t suit my play style any. Perhaps when I retire and want to turn into a Kingpin I’ll take it back up again.”
I laugh at that.
“How many times have you been here, anyway, Rem?” Gilly asks.
“This will be my third jump.”
“Were you with my brother for the first two?” I ask.
“Yeah, he showed me the ropes. An amazing player your brother.”
I chortle. “You honestly wouldn’t think that it if you knew him in real life.”
“I do,” Rembrandt says. “We meet on a regular. The thing with Max is, he never sees this as playing a game. It’s a means to an end for him. He’d rather we do it the old fashioned way.”
I stop at that and we all come to a halt. “What do you mean?”
“Something he came across once out here,” Rembrandt says. “A legend that told of a mass army from the Shards that nearly overthrew an entire realm. Thousands of Shard Warriors, not just one or two who defeated a world boss.”
Gilly’s eyes go wide. “They used to send thousands of people?”
Rembrandt shrugs. “According to the legend. But that was centuries ago apparently.”
“Holy cow,” I say. “I couldn’t imagine it.”
“The board say it’s impossible these days. Too much nano to generate that many bodies.” He then turns to Gilly. “Your father’s strategy is quality over quantity. That’s why they send us. Only players good enough to defeat a World Boss”
Gilly pales a little at the mention of her dad.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to touch on a sore point.” He then looks to me. “Your brother thinks the opposite. He believes every man woman and child should be out here fighting.”
What the heck? “Is he nuts? It’s super dangerous out here.”
“Strength in numbers.” Rembrandt shrugs. “It’s a moot point anyway. Can’t be achieved with the nano we got left. But it’s his dream nonetheless.”
“He really thinks we’d need that many people to bring nano back to Citadel?” Gilly asks.
“Not for saving Citadel, Gilly. Maxis wants to free us from there. He wants to destroy the safe zones and take them back for humanity.”
“Destroy them?” I say.
“It’s still a system of control, ain’t it? And we’re not the ones in charge. Maxis plays the game because those are the rules. But truly he’d rather humans be able to make our own rules.”
“I thought we did make them,” Gilly says. “Didn’t humans make the game?”
“Initially, but we didn’t make all this.” He gestures non-specifically to our surroundings. “The builders did. And who knows if we could even survive out here without our nano bodies.”
My stomach feels a bit uneasy about all this. “So I guess you agree with him then?”
Rembrandt shrugs. “People like that Blacktop think they’ve escaped Citadel by living out here in the safe zones. But think about it. Is it really much different than just living in the Shards? At least there, it’s a human at the helm. Out here it’s an AI. A builder. That’s the true enemy, mate. As comfortable as this place may seem at times, never forget that. The Earth is no longer ours. And we need to take it back.”
Holy crap… I think I just learned more about my brother in the last five minutes than I have my entire life. I look to Gilly and she looks back at me as perplexed as I am.
“But that’s a goal for later,” Rembrandt says with smile. “Right now we got a Goblin Queen to find. Let’s crack on, mates.”
We resume our trek down the tunnel and eventually arrive at a barricade made from an overturned mine cart and couple of barrels. A faint light glows from behind it, but I can’t see much more than that.
“This must be it,” Gilly says. “We’ve gone down every other tunnel in here. The queen must be behind there.”
I bring the quest up on my HUD.
Current Quest: Remove the Goblin Horde
Reclaim the Brookrun Mines by defeating the Goblin Queen and her minions
Defeat Goblin commanders (5)
Defeat Goblin Champion (1) [Complete]
Defeat Goblin Queen
Rewards: 100,000 exp +200 Favor with Brookrun Village, control of Brookrun Mines
“The commanders must be in there with her,” I say. “And there are five of them.”
“How do we get past that?” Gilly asks pointing at the barricade.
I ponder the same as I step toward it. “Maybe there’s a way around.”
As I stoop to try and see past one of the barrels I hear a vip….thunk!
Your awareness increases by 0.3
Was that an arrow?
I hear a sizzling sound. I look at the barrels again and quickly put two and two together. This is a mine. They blow up stuff in mines!
“Guys, run!” I scream as I quickly cast Shadow Copy.
And then the world explodes around me.
Chapter 9: Goblin Queen
Your shadow absorbs the attack!
I’ve never been so happy to see that message appear on my HUD in all my life. But despite not taking any damage I’m still disorientated. Choking smoke and flaming debris obscure my vision as the snarl of goblins fill my ears. I sense something about to hit me and pop Active Dodge, becoming a blur of nanodust.
Your Awareness increases by 0.4.
Skill Up! Your Awareness is now 39!
You dodge the attack!
An arrow lands where I stood just a moment ago. I trace its source and see a female goblin standing on a crudely fashioned throne made of sticks and bone. She’s slightly bigger than the other goblins and much like the G
oblin Champion, looks more akin to an elf; an ugly, hook-nosed elf, but much better looking than a normal goblin. She wears a loincloth that looks made of human skin and necklaces of teeth cover her boney bare chest. Upon her head is a witch doctor’s hat, made of feathers and twigs. She’s also the one with the bow apparently, an elegantly curved weapon that’s made of pure ivory.
Goblin Queen
Level: 80
Highly intelligent, the Queen of Goblins used her skills of trickery and manipulation to gain her position and her mastery of magic to retain it.
Affinity: Dark
I look from her to the tunnel where five more goblins are charging toward me.
Goblin Commander
Level: 60
With unwavering fealty to their queen, these goblins will not only sacrifice those they command for her sake, but even themselves.
Affinity: Dark
Oh crap. This isn’t going to be easy. I instinctively look for Gilly and can’t find her.
“Gilly!” I yell through party chat. “Stay back with Rembrandt!”
“Where are you?” she calls back. “I can’t see you!”
The goblin commanders are nearly on top of me. I need to gain some distance and get control of the situation. I use Retreat, performing a backflip and then use my spacing to cast Shadow Mist. The commanders run straight into my purple haze and are paralyzed and poisoned.
Yes!
Gunfire erupts from behind me and I see one of the commander’s HP bars deplete steadily. I don’t join in the fight though. I use the time to buff instead, starting with Shadow Haste then Shadow Copy and finally Shadow Tendrils.
The commander Rembrandt was attacking falls to the ground dead.
You defeated the Goblin Commander!
You gain 10000 experience points.
Quest Objective updated!
Defeat Goblin Commanders 1/5
