The Crystal Crusade

by Mars Dorian

  Near the central plaza, where a road led toward the industrial plant of the Syndicate, I noticed a couple of silhouettes hushing along the back alleys. A semi-transparent point updated the information: Ongoing quest.

  I had never thought about it, but you could actually join other people’s quests in mid-game. And because curiosity surged from within, I tiptoed toward the rag team. I spotted three players working together as a unit. A Lancer, a Ranger, and a TechMage. When the Ranger spotted me, the team halted their advance.

  “What do you want?”

  No other player moved in the area, so the question had to be directed at me. “I was just looking for a job and then saw you guys suspiciously sneaking around.”

  “Are you a spy?”

  Boy, that escalated quickly.

  “Frankly, I’m fresh from the Academy and try to find my way around the world.”

  The players stayed on high alert, like I was taunting them for a PvP duel. The Ranger scanned me head to toe. “Do you want to help us fight an oppressive regime?”

  I had searched for a quest, but it looked like the quest searched for me. I motioned her to go on. “This facility is harvesting Reepo-crystals, which causes a lot of problems in this township. People get sick, and the local flora and fauna starts mutating. We have to put an end to this travesty.”

  Classic sabotage mission. My interest surged. The players in the squad looked at each other and probably text-chatted so I couldn’t hear their gossip. Then, the Ranger spoke to me. “We could use a WarTech. Can you set traps and disarm them?”

  “I’ve invested a couple of points in the Machine Spirit.”

  The team answered with an participation invitation that floated into my HUD.

  Quest update: “The Secret Life of Plants”

  Description: The Sunblood Syndicate has set up a refinery plant at the north-eastern section of Varmegarden, much to the dismay of locals. A underground group wants to sabotage the facility to prevent further mining.

  Type: Sabotage

  Rewards: 1000 credits, contextual EXP

  Do you want to join the quest? (Yes/No)

  The credit reward looked pathetic, but I could always use more experience points to build my character. I confirmed the request and made the Ranger grin. “The resistance needs brave warriors like you, Dash.”

  Resistance? Guess I was going to learn about this splinter cell quicker than I expected. I entered the team formation and followed the Ranger who led the party toward the path. Her name was Yumi-D.

  “What’s the plan?”

  “We’re going to sabotage the main facility to prevent the plant from harvesting the Reepo.”

  The map updated on my auto-scroll. The quest information trickled in as well:

  Sabotage the control machinery

  or

  Disable tracks and transport wagons

  or

  Blow up the pipes

  Bonus objective:

  Leave the facility without getting detected by Sunblood guards.

  Excitement flamed on. I was about to participate in my first sabotage mission against the Sunblood Syndicate.

  37

  As we ventured away from the street lamps in the township, the darkness engulfed my eyes. As a WarTech, I didn’t have any skill that helped me see in the dark, unlike the Ranger class. I could, of course, use a tool such as specialized NVGs, but that would have cost a fortune.

  “Man, this area is more morbid than a graveyard.”

  Ranger Yumi-D replied, “The Syndicate closes down every light source at night to keep prying eyes out.”

  “So the place isn’t guarded?”

  All members in the team turned their heads toward me. Even in the dimly lit atmosphere, I could recognize their WTF expressions.

  “I guess that’s a no.”

  We trespassed across an area with iron fencing. A warning sign plastered with the Sunblood Syndicate emblem admonished us about entering the restricted zone.

  Yumi-D said, “You can cut through the fence without causing a commotion, right?”

  “Consider it done.”

  I used the slicer and switched on the cutter function. The baby cut through the fence like hot butter and opened a man-sized hole in no time.

  “Well done,” Yumi-D said and stepped through ahead of the other two players.

  A few minutes into the quest and I already offered value to the team.

  “The place is swamped with guards and hounds,” Yumi-D said. “We have to avoid fighting if we can. If we get discovered, take care of every soldier before they can raise an alarm. We don’t want half the Syndicate on our tails today.”

  We hurried along the hill and lay low. A few dozen meters in front of us, various coal-colored edifices dominated the area. Some looked like bunkers and contained heavy, double-framed gates. Shielded wagons, probably filled with Reepo crystals, rolled on the tracks leading around the perimeter. Guards patrolled near the tracks and looked for trespassers like us. They carried tactical blades, had medium armor, and a bunch of mobile charges. Hounds with armor-plates followed their armed leaders and sniffed out anything suspicious. Decent security, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I had seen worse resistance at the siege of Montobay.

  “We’ve come up with the path of least resistance,” Yumi-D said.

  The destination cross updated on the map section of my e-scroll. “Who figured this out?”

  “Shh!”

  We walked in file formation and snuck around the main perimeter. Yumi-D knew exactly what to do, because she waved us over to the bunker-styled building. I detected stunner mines; round-shaped charges that released a nerve gas which either stunned players, or worse, caused poison damage.

  With my Machine Spirit skill, I could not only disable the mines but also collect them for later use. Talk about sustainable warfare. We stopped inside the facility when Yumi-D raised her fist. Even indoor, her vision range outmatched mine.

  “Armored wraggs up ahead.”

  “Those hounds are sensitive to noise,” the Stalker called Mort said.

  Enemy: Armored hound

  HP: 75

  Weakness: Sharp weaponry, projectile damage

  Special: Bellow. Raises attention and attracts nearby guards (35m range)

  Drops: Reepo samples, fur, fangs

  “Dispose of them quickly,” Yumi-D said.

  She aimed her tek-crossbow and pressed the trigger. The silent bolt whizzed through the air and hit the hound’s head with a critical hit. The creature fell over and whined on the ground as the Stalker moved forward, unsheathed his T-blade, and cut the hound’s throat. Dark blood spilled out and caused excessive bleed damage. The hound died before our eyes.

  “No alarm. Good. But we have to be more vigilant now.”

  Yumi-D approached the corpse, picked up the dart and put it back into her gear pack, but the danger lurked on. A crimson guard and his leashed hound neared the position where we killed the last one. Before I could even move into attack stance, the Stalker adapted to his environment and tiptoed toward the enemy units. He first cut the hound’s throat from behind before finishing off the guard. Both deaths caused little noise and allowed us to move on undetected.

  We neared the section where a giant conveyor belt transported hunks of crystallized Reepo from one machinery to another. The raw harvest was put into wagons which then delivered the unrefined crystals to different sections of the facility. All the workers involved carried massive gear with face shields—probably to protect themselves against Reepoisoning. We stayed in the shadows and avoided the light cones of the nearby lanterns.

  Yumi-D turned around to me and whispered. “You do have smokers, right? Launch them now while we sabotage the machinery.”

  I launched a smoker and clouded the area. The confuse effect hit every worker and guard. I noticed both Yumi-D and Mort rushing toward the machinery, ready to dismantle it. How, I didn’t know.

  “Buy us more time,” Yumi-D said to me.
>
  “Okay.”

  While the confuse effect lasted on the guards, I pulled out my gunblade, positioned myself behind the enemies and caused solid 150% damage from behind. I took down three guards with little effort. When a fourth one switched from confused to his standard active mode, I aimed my gunblade and pulled the trigger. The pellet blasted his chest plate and knocked him over. Before he could get up, I slammed the edge of my blade into the guard and finished him off. Unfortunately, the shot I had released echoed in the hall and attracted more guards.

  Quest update: You have sabotaged the conveyor belt.

  Well, I didn’t, but apparently my teammates did. The belt stopped in mid-motion and sparks shot from the cracks of the refining machine as Yumi-D and the Mort returned to me.

  “What did you do?”

  “I killed the guards.”

  “You launched a shot in a stealth mission?”

  “I had a terrific aim. It was the fastest way to dispose of him.”

  “And the loudest,” Mort said.

  The cloud of my smoker dissipated. The workers awoke from their confused mode and panicked.

  The hall drowned in shouts.

  “We have to get out of here ASAP,” Yumi-D said and dashed away. Both the Stalker and I could barely keep up with her. To my bewilderment, we didn’t the same route we came from.

  “Where are we going?”

  “We’ll use the emergency exit.”

  Yumi-D knew the plant perimeter inside and out. We soon exited and were in the area behind the facility. Tracks covered the ground and connected the various edifices to each other. An idea sprang to mind.

  “Wait,” I said. “Let me at least blast some tracks so we can stop the transportation of the refined crystals.”

  I used my last three touch-sensitive explodas and planted them on the track. When the wagons rolled over them, the charges detonated. The rear of the vessels broke and emptied out shattered Reepo crystals. Particles sparked the air and glowed like radioactive fairy dust. Saving the environment by spreading the poisonous substance everywhere—well, let’s not dwell on the double-standard of our quest.

  More importantly, the tracks broke apart, preventing all wagons from reaching the next facility. We neared two of the optional goals. But with all of my explodas gone, I couldn’t blow up the pipes anymore. On our escape route back to the hole in the fence, a couple of guards stood in our way. Ranger Yumi-D activated a skill that doubled her fire rate by 20%, while Mort dashed forward with lightning speed and unleashed slash-volleys with his short-ranged blade. I only fired one pellet but at least killed the guard. Then we ran through the hole in the fence that I had cut earlier and escaped the plant. A klaxon squealed in the background—this game’s version of red alert. The bonus of leaving the facility undetected vaporized on our quest goal.

  At least we reached the road back to the city center of Varmegarden. Thanks to Yumi-D’s excellent knowledge of the map, we gathered near the plaza in one piece. The quest update arrived on my HUD, next to a level upgrade to 10.

  38

  Quest update: You’ve passed 2 out of 4 mission objectives:

  Sabotage the control machinery

  Disable tracks and transport wagons

  Blow up the pipes (failed)

  Leave the perimeter undetected (failed)

  An additional info crept in:

  Your affiliation with the Sunblood Syndicate has worsened.

  Win some, lose some. Maybe the choice to fight against the dominant faction proved fatalistic, but just like in real life, the powers in Fourlando needed to be balanced. If one group became too powerful, how could the opposition function? I’m sure game mechanics would even it out. Besides, in these early stages, I could still join pro-Syndicate quests. As long as my affiliation didn’t drop to hostile status, everything remained a possibility.

  “Solid work, Dash,” Yumi-D said. “Despite the blunder in the conveyor belt room, you improvised and turned a disaster into a semi-win.”

  “You’re not mad?”

  “Our goal was to level up. We did. Besides, the real fun is about to begin.”

  Neither a compliment nor a rant, but fair nonetheless. It was my first sabotage mission after all. And thanks to the level difference in the group, I had received major experience growth. But I didn’t want to focus on distributing my points while the surviving party still stood around.

  Yumi-D said, “Ping me when you want to team up for future quests. We have high aspirations—the Violet Lunar is the limit.” She deepened her smile. “And we’d love to have you onboard.”

  A sentence that I hadn’t heard in ages. Thank tech Yumi-D and her team player hadn’t heard of my morally corrupt quests in the beginning. Choosing this township as my questing starting point proved to be my best decision. In silence, I thanked Sparrow for her invaluable advice.

  “Thank you… seriously. I’ll have to do some shopping but I’ll definitely consider your offer.”

  “Don’t stay too long in this township. The events are already in motion.”

  Her cryptic statement befuddled me. Before I could follow up with a question, Yumi-D and her partner vanished from my spot. At least I had her ping ID so I could call her anytime. As for me, I hurried across the plaza to reach Moola’s shop for a little restocking. Few folks populated the tourist spot around the well in the plaza, although the sun shone high in Fourlando’s sky.

  Before I stepped into the store, I distributed my two skills points—the ones from my Level 9 and 10 upgrade. I scanned the skill trees on my e-scroll and found a new ability:

  Enemy Mine. You’re able to access advanced mines, charges, and explodas. Your chance to disarm and collect mechanical traps rises by 20%.

  Tip: Once you achieve mine mastery, you’re able to combine traps and even create new ones. Experiment!

  Pretty cool. I loved the concept and couldn’t wait to unleash mine mayhem later on. I spent my two skill points on the new ability and returned to Moola’s store. The charming girl greeted me with a hesitant smile. “Back so soon?”

  “I’ve used a lot of remedies last night.”

  “How so?”

  I was just about to tell her when my tongue froze. NPCs in this game were highly intelligence, and not everyone acted neutral. Some functioned as spies to various factions due to the dynamic context of the quest mechanism. And even though Moola oozed enough charm to fill five football fields, I had to tread carefully from now on.

  “Fourlando’s a dangerous place.”

  “Fair enough.”

  I spent around 450 credits on new remedies and antidotes. In the middle of the transaction, a klaxon screeched outside the shop. The high-pitched sound permeated the walls and caused me to twitch.

  Moola shivered. Her eyes emanated fear. “Bad, bad, bad.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “It’s an emergency signal from the mayor at the town hall. Varmegarden is on lockdown.”

  “Lockdown?”

  “Haven’t you heard of the plant terror attack last night? It’s one of the Syndicate’s most valuable extraction sites in the north.”

  My head swung between the clerk and the exit door. One part of me was glad Moola didn’t know I was involved in the assault, the other part worried about my life. “What’s going to happen now?”

  “Syndicate troops are gonna swarm the place to control the exits to the city. They might search houses and aggressively look for the attackers.”

  Wow. A simple sabotage quest had ignited a new story event. It was impressive from a game mechanical point and yet scary at the same time. Moola watched my hesitation with curious eyes. “If you got to go, you wanna leave the town now.”

  An odd smile showed up on her moon-shaped face. “You got my number and coupon. I plan on shipping my goods around the mainland, so wherever you need valuable items, I’ll be there to sell them to you.”

  “Sounds good.”

  But before I left her shop, I bought a coupl
e of Spike traps that I could access now thanks to my new Enemy Mine skill.

  I saluted her goodbye and rushed toward the road outside. Citizens either ran around the boardwalk or locked themselves in their brick houses. In a matter of seconds, most folks had vacated the streets and side alleys. A deafening vacuum blew through the roads. My ping device received an incoming message.

  “Dash? This is Yumi-D.”

  “I’ve heard the Syndicate’s putting the town on lockdown. We should leave.”

  “Meet us now.”

  So much for relaxing from my previous quest.

  Yumi-D shared a geo-tag on my e-scroll. A red cross appeared on my local map. I blitzed toward the eastern district and found my previous team members hunkered down inside a niche. Yumi-D’s game avatar grimaced. “Sunbleeders from the nearest outposts are being dispatched to Varmegarden.”

  “Because of our sabotage quest?”

  Her eyebrow furrowed like I was asking the most useless question in the world. Maybe I was.

  “What now?”

  “We focus on the least traveled gate in the south-west and pray the enemy hasn’t arrived yet.”

  Together we ran toward the new destination. With the recent restocking of my items, my weight had increased and slowed down my running speed. I pondered throwing some stuff away but needed the potions and antidotes to stay alive.

  We crossed a street corner and focused on the city gate. The sight terrified me. A convoy with armored captains, raptor hounds, and some kind of creature with chest-plating lay siege on the gate. I counted a dozen units with excellent armor and weapons, way above my level and skill. If this turned into a skirmish, I’d hit digital nirvana.