“Alright guys, I’m ready!”
The bar was a single room building with wooden floors, wooden tables, and wooden chairs. Numerous races moved around the room conversing with each other. It was quite the scene. At one table there was a full-blown orc cheersing an elf. In another corner, there was a few hobbits and dwarfs sitting together at a table—it reminded Michael of Lord of the Rings. And, in one corner there was a very tall man sitting alone. He wore a pointed hat and puffed on a long pipe. Essentially, he looked exactly like Gandalf. Rampage, Komodo, and Draynor chose a table at the back of the room, away from the door, and ordered a round of beers. When they came, Michael paid as he said he would, and the three started to talk. At first, the conversation wasn’t about the game. Michael got to learn a little bit about his new found friends. Apparently, Komodo and Rampage had met playing Diablo two years ago. They stuck together because their gameplay meshed so well together. On the one hand, Komodo spent a lot of time pouring over blogs and player guides, and he was excellent at puzzles; whereas, Rampage was more focused on brute force. After working for a while in Diablo they decided to move on to World of Warcraft, but they didn’t move on from each other. It was when the conversation turned towards Michael’s history; the front doors of the bar were kicked down. Three mean looking characters strutted into the room. One was a wood-elf female character that brandished two short knives in her hands. She looked like she knew how to use them. Then, there was a massive Orc-warrior to the left. His weapon of choice was an enormous mallet that looked like it could crush Komodo’s character with one swing. Finally, in the middle, and most menacing of all, was a tall, human warlock. He looked around the room before he said, “Which one of you killed my horse?”
Chapter IV
The music stopped, all the card games halted, and the bar room went silent. Everyone looked at the people sitting at their table with questioning eyes. It was as if nobody trusted one another. Michael could feel sweat beads building on his forehead as he tried to avoid eye contact with the group of three at the entrance. His companions, Komodo and Rampage, didn’t move either. To the best of their ability, they tried not to look in Draynor’s direction.
“My name is Kimble,” the group leader said as he started to walk between the tables. He sauntered, trying to be as intimidating as possible. “I had just bought that horse so that I could travel to the mountains. It cost me one hundred and twenty gold pieces.”
Kimble paused over a table that was playing cards. “I want my money back,” he said as he slammed his hands on the table and with one quick motion slid all of the money and cards off of the table. The participants in the game didn’t move; they looked frozen in place. “I want my money back, paid in full.”
Still nothing, nobody said anything. Komodo whispered to the table, “We need to get out of here.”
Kimble didn’t hear Komodo say this, but his impatience was palpable. “No?” he asked no one in particular. “Then I will take what is mine from the whole room,” Kimble said as he unsheathed his sword and in one fluid motion decapitated a dwarf that happened to be sitting at the card playing table.
There was a moment of shock that coated the room. A few gasps could be heard from the back, and the bartender took to hiding behind the bar. Finally, the silence was broken by a tiny hobbit that was part of a larger group sitting beside Michael and his clan, “It was him!” The Hobbit was pointing right at Michael. “I saw him just before coming into the bar. He was looking for sheep, and all he could find was your horse, so he killed it.”
Michael’s character Draynor didn’t show any sign of nervousness, but Michael could feel his face turning red in real life. Komodo and Rampage stared at Michael with wide eyes that said, “What do we do now?”
Kimble strolled over to their table until he was standing directly on top of the group. “So, you killed my horse?” Kimble said, turning his gaze directly toward Michael.
“I didn’t know it was y-y-yours,” Michael said with a little stutter in his voice. In the corner of Michael’s eye, he could see Rampage slowly moving her hands toward the hilt of her sword.
“Oh, why didn’t you say so?” Kimble said sarcastically. He turned towards the crowd. “Did you hear that everyone? He didn’t know it was mine. That’s all he had to say.”
Kimble took one step away from the table as he let the suspense rise; however, instead of continuing his rant, he swiftly turned around, his sword aimed directly at Draynor’s throat in an attempt to catch him off guard. The move had the desired effect; Michael was so surprised that he didn’t even move to protect himself. Luckily for him, Rampage was not nearly as shocked, and her blade intercepted Kimble’s. There was a loud clanging sound as their sword’s connected above the table. Commotion ensued. The rest of the patrons of the bar started to scramble for the door all at once, and Michael’s awareness became lost in the shuffle.
With Rampage and Kimble locked in a game of push-and-pull with their swords above the table, Komodo moved to break them up by lifting their table up. The move has the desired effect, and their swords separate and beer their beers fly into the air. Michael’s whole beer slashes onto his character, and it yanked his attention back to the game. “Stand up you son of a bitch,” Michael’s brain screamed. So he did, he got up and took a step backward. Just in time too, as Michael’s character took a step back, the large orc’s mallet came crashing down onto the chair that Draynor had just been occupying. If he had moved a moment later, his character would surely be dead. The mallet lodged itself in the hardwood floor of the bar, and the orc struggled to get it out.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, Rampage and Kimble’s swords flew. It was a spectacle to witness. It was as if the people behind these two characters were professional fencers. One moment, Kimble was on the offensive, wielding his sword back and forth and pushing Rampage back into the corner of the bar. The next moment, Rampage would be slashing him back—weaving her sword—with such grace—attempting to thread the needle. On one particularly successful advance, Rampage locked swords with Kimble and had time to yell at Michael, “Do something, you idiot!”
Shaking his head, Michael averted his eyes to something much more pressing. The orc that had just tried to kill him was still struggling to free his mallet, so Michael did the only thing that he knew how to do; he swung both his swords at his opponent’s neck. Unfortunately, the orc saw this coming and moved to protect himself. Michael’s low level did not afford him much strength and both swords sliced the orc's shoulder, but it doesn’t even seem to do much. The orc, with one step in Michael’s direction, tossed his character to the ground and both swords with him.
As Michael’s character regained his balance, Michael looked over at Komodo. Komodo had been standing over his opponent, the wood-elf with the knives, although she did not appear to be injured, just sleeping. Komodo took a few steps back and led into a kick to her head like a kicker trying to kick a field goal. Afterward, he appeared rather pleased with himself, but his attention is rapidly stolen away when he and Michael notice that the orc had finally freed his mallet. Without hesitation, Komodo started interestingly moving his hands and blue sparks began to float between them. Unfortunately for Michael, he had no time to marvel at Komodo’s work, the orc had lumbered in his direction, and his mallet was currently descending toward his head.
Michael rolled out of the way just in time, and the mallet wedged itself back into the ground. Coincidently, Michael had turned right into his two swords, so he picked them up and instead of a slicing motion, decided to jab instead. Both blades lodged themselves in the orcs back. This time, the orc reacted and let out a menacing growl as it turned on Michael and swung its fist at him. Michael took a few steps backward and managed to avoid the swinging fist, but the orc was advancing on him now. Michael didn’t know what to do. Just as the orc was upon him and was about to perform a two-handed smashing motion, Komodo sent a blue ball of luminance light right into the orc's heart. The orc wobbled a bit, and
its eyes rolled into the back of its head. It didn’t fall over, but it was dazed.
“Thanks!” Michael yelled to Komodo, but Komodo didn’t share in his enthusiasm.
“What are you waiting for,” Komodo said. “He is too big to put asleep, but the enchantment should paralyze him for a moment and lower his defenses. Make this one count.”
Make it count is exactly what Michael did. While the orc swayed back in forth in what looked like a hypnotized state, Michael gathered himself, jumped into the air, and with both swords decapitated the giant beast. The orcs head toppled to the ground, and the body soon followed. “Yes!” Michael and Komodo yelled simultaneously.
Their celebration didn’t last long. However, Rampage was still locked in an intense battle with Kimble. Komodo and Michael had been preoccupied and hadn’t noticed them until now. Rampage was brandishing a large gash in her leg, and Kimble had a long and narrow gash above his eye. The two appeared evenly matched. After one particularly impressive combination by Rampage, she was able to push Kimble back a few feet. At this time, Komodo and Michael decided that it was a good time to back up their companion. The two stepped into a V-formation behind Rampage—Michael lifted his two swords and pointed them at Kimble, while Komodo started his hand motions again, this time the color of the sparks was red. When Kimble gathered himself and turned back towards the fray, he realized that he had lost. His two clan members were down, and Kimble was the only one left standing. “This isn’t over,” he said, running out the front door of the pub. The three look at each other in relief, they had won. Rampage, without saying anything to her friends, walked over toward the sleeping wood-elf and sliced her head off.
“Was that necessary?” Michael said.
Rampage was silent, but Komodo answered him, “Yes it is. We should clean out their entire inventory as quickly as possible. The regeneration time is about ten minutes; we need to take everything and get out of here before they make their way back.”
“Komodo’s right, hurry up and gather as much as you can from the orc and let’s get out of here,” Rampage said.
“Okay,” Michael agreed and moved over to wear the dead orc lay. He gathered everything that was lying on the ground and followed the two out the door.
“We need to get as far away from here as possible,” Komodo said. “I will use a transportation spell,” Komodo said this as if it was an everyday occurrence to use a spell like this. Once again, his hands began feverishly moving back and forth, and soon a ball of green vapor encircled them. “I am taking us to the countryside, just outside Raven Haven.”
The two others didn’t object, Michael had no idea where Summerdale was but anywhere was better than here at the moment. Before he knew it, Michael’s screen—which now was tinted green due to the vapor—began to brighten. The green turned into neon green and soon it was all that Michael could see. When the brightness started to lower, and he was able to see where they were, he was no longer standing in, Lightdale. The group was standing in a field, similar to the ones outside of Lightdale, only it was much hillier, and Michael could see a thick forest line in the distance. It gave off an ominous feeling, and Michael didn’t like it.
The green vapor had all but dissipated when Michael watched Rampage smack Draynor in the back of the head as she said, “That was all your fault, rookie.”
“I’m sorry!” Michael pleaded. “How was I supposed to know that that horse was a player’s horse?”
Rampage didn’t respond; she just started walking away from the group.
“Hey!” Michael called after her. “Why did you protect me back there? You could have just let him kill me with that first swing.”
Rampage did not turn around to respond, she just yelled, “because you are part of the team now—whether I like it or not.”
“Don’t worry,” Komodo whispered as leaned over towards Draynor. “She will come around eventually.”
Michael nodded, and the two of them started to follow her. He knew that he had screwed up, but Komodo and Rampage weren’t leaving him. His doubts about the possibility of these two people becoming his friends had started to vanish. He felt like he was a part of something, a part of a group, a part of a clan.
Komodo and Michael had caught up with Rampage who still was not in the mood for talking, but at least she didn’t mind that the two of them were talking. Over a few of the rolling hills, the two talked about some aspects of the game. Komodo had explained to Michael how to access the game's map and the two of them tossed suggestions of where this Cerberus could be hiding. They talked about strategy and how each of them could best contribute to the group during a battle. And, they discussed what they had picked up off of the orc and wood-elf back in the pub.
Michael had picked up ninety pieces of gold, a Falcon-wood mallet, a large silver breastplate, and light boots for agility from the orc. On the other hand, Rampage had stolen the wood-elf’s stuff. In her inventory, she had two rune-forged gem knives, a camouflage tunic, and featherweight boots for agility. After deliberating with each other, Rampage and Michael had decided to trade items because Michael’s were more suitable for a warrior class and Rampages things were more ideal for an elf. It worked out perfectly despite the fact that Komodo didn’t receive anything. However, the group decided that the gold accumulated would be given to Komodo at Raven Haven, that he may be able to purchase some new things. Komodo didn’t mind at all; he had no use for weapons really; his tactics relied mainly on magic anyway.
As the group topped but one more rolling hill, they could see the town of Raven Haven in the distance. The village had gotten its name because of the incredible number of ravens that lived in the nearby woods. Even from this distance, Michael could see the large black birds circling over the town and diving into the cover of the forest. The city is not all they saw though, about one hundred feet away was a horse-drawn carriage coming their way. The driver of the cart had a tall pointed hat and appeared to be smoking a pipe. Once the wagon got closer to them, Michael recognized the man driving; it was the tall man in from the pub who sat in the shadows of the corner stall.
“Be aware guys; I’ve seen this guy before. He was at the pub,” Michael said to the group.
“Have your weapons ready,” Rampage said. “Just in case he was buddies with that clan.”
When the cart was within twenty feet, the man pulled on the reins and slowed the horses to stop. He held his tongue until the group had approached. The man hopped down from his perch and raised his hands to show he was defenseless. “Don’t worry young warriors,” the man said in a deep, all-knowing voice. “I come in peace. My name is, Cometfall, Cometfall the knowledgeable. I am a wizard.”
Chapter V
Cometfall was an elderly player which through Rampage off immediately. After some coercing, Komodo and Michael were able to talk her down and let him speak his peace. The wizard had been playing the game since it came out. He explained that he had seen much of the effects that the evil spirit Cerberus has inflicted on the lands of Archaic Venture. Apparently, the spirit had a proclivity for destroying entire villages. The villagers survived, but the buildings, farms, and woodland areas surrounding the towns burnt. To Rampage, Komono, and Michael this didn’t seem very relevant; however, after a little more explanation, Cometfall revealed that the woodland areas, the farms, and the mining buildings helped players procure wood, grain, and ore. These three elements are essential for players who want to level up faster. Players can use the materials to purchase better weapons and armor; thus, making their player much more prepared to face off against such a formidable beast as Cerberus. Not to mention, the further along a farm, mining station, or lumberjack business comes, the more experience a player gains. This will help a player level up faster than just fighting other players or monsters.
“Why are you telling us all of this?” Rampage questioned. Michael was learning very quickly that she was always skeptical of others.
“Do I need a reason?” Cometfall answered.
“In my experience,” Rampage continued. “People have a motive for everything that they do.”
Cometfall took a moment and contemplated this statement. “I suppose you are right; I do have a motive.”
“Do tell,” Rampage said.
“Hey Rampage,” Michael said. “Not everyone is out to get us, do you think we could give this guy the benefit of the doubt?”
“Fine,” Rampage said. “You two take a chance on this guy. I’ll meet you two at Raven Haven. I’ll be at the market seeing what I can get for this mallet.”
“Alright,” Komodo offered. “We will be there shortly.”
Rampage lumbered off into the distance. Within seconds she was out of sight due to the rolling hills. Now that they had some space between her, Cometfall continued, “She isn’t very trusting is she?”
“I don’t think she has completely made up her mind about me yet either,” Michael said. “I wouldn’t pay it much attention. What were you saying about your motive?”
“Well,” Cometfall said. He took a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing. “I have been playing this game for more than two weeks now. I have a lot of time on my hands, so it is all I do. And, now that Cerberus has started its reign over these lands, the game is no longer fun for me. I love my wizard and do not wish to give him up, so I do not see myself going after it myself, but I saw promise in you three at the bar fight. You three worked well together to defeat your foe. Do you plan on attempting the ultimate quest?”
Komodo and Michael looked at each other before answering. Neither of them wanted to give up information about their decision to attempt to win ultimate power, but they would have been lying if they weren’t interested in what Cometfall had to say. Before they answered, Michael, asked, “I knew I recognized you from the bar, but I don’t understand how you found us afterward.”
Archaic Venture_The Myth Of Cerberus Page 4
