Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Citadel of Smoke
Book Four
Stonehaven League
Carrie Summers
Chapter One
“HOLY CRAP!”
Hailey ran forward along the rail of the small ship and kicked one of Chen’s feet out from under his knee. He nearly toppled from his seat on the barrel.
“What the heck? Jerk!” the teenager said as he regained his balance.
“Look.” Hailey pointed to the horizon where a dark stripe had appeared through the sea haze. Though distant, the coast stretched far in either direction, a real, solid landmass. Nearly dead ahead, angular shadows of buildings rose above the beach, obvious signs of habitation by an intelligent race. Excitement filled Hailey’s veins, bringing a tingle to her fingertips. After days of in-game journeying, they were about to become the first players to discover a new land.
“Oh thank God,” Chen said. “This sailing trip has been the worst gaming experience of my life. By far. If they didn’t have that Gems mini-game, I’d probably be crazy by now.”
Hailey blinked. Really? She didn’t know he’d hated it that much. Yeah, he’d complained, but he was sixteen or something. Teenagers moaned about everything.
“But it’s the challenge that makes it rewarding,” she said.
He raised an eyebrow. “What challenge? You mean, testing your ability to endure eye-stabbing boredom?” He glanced at the cloudless blue dome overhead. “You hear that, Veia? I know we’re supposed to teach you how to make an awesome game. Here’s a hint: objective failed.”
Hailey shook her head and sighed. “I mean, we had to invest the time, right? Otherwise, anyone could be the first to get the discovery achievement.”
Chen huffed. “I guess so. If you don’t have anything else to do with your life. At least I could minimize the game window and get my homework done. My parents are starting to think Relic Online isn’t so bad after all.”
Hailey turned away. He had no way to know why his comment stung so badly. Sure, okay. A long sea voyage wasn’t exactly exciting. But compared to lying around in her room in the assisted care center listening to the roar of the air filtration and the whirring of germ-scrubbing robots, days spent bobbing on the high seas were a dream. In real life, each step along the short route between her bed and the small adjoining bathroom sent stabbing pain through Hailey’s joints. Here she could swing from the rigging and feel real sunlight on her bronzed skin.
Chen grunted as he stood. “Sorry, Hailey. I’m not pissed at you or anything. It wasn’t like you knew it would take days to cross the Noble Sea. And I could have said no.”
Forcing a smirk onto her face, Hailey turned around and snorted. “You could have tried. But I’m still three levels higher than you. I don’t think you could resist my Charm spell.”
“You wouldn’t,” Chen said with a flat stare.
Hailey laughed. “Actually, I can’t target players with it. At least not at this tier.”
Chen blinked. “Really? I don’t remember that from when you linked the ability description.”
“It’s not in the description. But I got an Invalid Target message when I tried it on you.”
“Wait…you tried? So you are an asshole after all.”
Hailey grinned. “The very worst kind.” She nodded at the coast ahead. “I figure we have a couple of hours before landfall. Have any homework you need to finish before we conquer a new continent?”
Chen sighed. “Do I ever not have homework? Plus, I should give my family a view of my face for a few minutes. Be back in a bit.”
Hailey watched his avatar dissolve into mist as he logged out. Shuffling to the bow of the ship, she leaned against the rail.
A whole new world lay ahead.
Chapter Two
AS DEVON SLASHED through a final vine and slipped through the resulting gap in the curtain of foliage that defended Ishildar’s streets, a warm sensation from the Greenscale Pendant spread from her chest all the way to her fingertips and toes. Her boots scuffed against weathered flagstones that paved what had once been a wide avenue, and from either side, expectant silence pressed against her body. It seemed almost like the city had been waiting for her.
Hazel, the petite scout who Devon had recently raised to the advanced tier of NPC, followed Devon through the gap and gasped.
“It’s amazing,” she said.
Devon nodded. Despite the riotous jungle that still choked the city’s ruins, the place was nothing short of majestic. And it had changed in ways she couldn’t quite describe. “Coming to life” was the best way she could name the sense of new awareness the city seemed to project, yet she couldn’t identify any specifics that contributed to the impression.
Shuffling away from the wall of jungle that defended the street’s terminus, she looked side to side, holding out a hand to feel the air against her skin. If she focused very hard, she could almost imagine the architecture breathing, the pulse of energy through mineral veins in the stone.
She rotated the Azuresky Band around her finger. It was the third of five relics which, when collected together, could give her ownership over the city. Maybe her increased awareness of the city’s power was due to her wearing two of the relics on her body—she’d nestled the third in a niche inside Stonehaven’s Shrine to Veia, bolstering the shrine’s abilities. But she got the sense there was more to it than that.
A glance at her companion only strengthened her suspicions. Hazel stepped reverently to a dry, leaf-filled fountain that stood in front of a crumbling building. She pressed her hand against the fountain’s rim, and a faint smile touched her lips.
“It’s…would it seem strange to say that the city seems to have its own spirit?” the little scout asked.
“Not strange at all,” Devon said with a smile.
She turned a slow circle, taking in the scene. The air still
smelled of jungle, green and wet, but underneath that she caught whiffs of stone and ancient places. Her feet seemed to tingle where the soles of her boots touched the ground.
Hazel swung a small rucksack off her shoulder and pulled out a quill and parchment. “How deep shall we explore?” she asked.
As the woman scratched lines onto the parchment, extending one of her many hand-drawn maps, the mini-map in Devon’s UI updated to include Hazel’s additions. The scout’s Cartography skill had improved to the point that her records were almost always accurate, reducing any need to go back over areas and update her maps. Consequently, Devon’s game map was rich with details and now covered an extensive area.
Devon chewed her lip while she considered. She’d asked Hazel to join her on an expedition focused on exploring the city’s immediate outskirts. This foray inside the actual boundary had been a spontaneous decision that Devon had to admit was motivated by the deep attraction she felt for the ruins. In her logical mind, there’d been a distinct reason for the survey. Since returning from the mountains, she’d been overseeing the expansion of Stonehaven’s network of cobblestone roads that tied the hamlet to outlying areas such as the quarry, stands of timber, and the player encampment. But the greater the settlement’s reach—and the more secure its defenses—the bolder the citizens became. Attacks by wildlife were increasing—in particular by “awakened” creatures that had been granted different levels of sentience and magical power, usually corrupted in some fashion. According to Bob, her wisp guide, this awakening was due to standing stones created by Ishildar’s long-lost magi. Once, the monoliths had granted marvelous powers to simple creatures, often raising them to the intellectual level and even the magical ability of the city’s human inhabitants. But it seemed that either time or a side effect of the area’s Curse of Fecundity had corrupted the stones’ ability. As the city woke and power once again flowed into the magi’s creations, more and more creatures were becoming awakened.
Not all awakened wildlife was aggressive, but any that did attack were much more powerful than their mundane brethren. Three of Stonehaven’s basic NPCs, refugees from the demon attacks on Eltera City, had been badly injured. One had died, the settlement’s first loss.
Devon couldn’t allow these monoliths to continue to grow in power without trying to fix the corruption. But to do that, she had to find one.
So that was the ostensible reason behind the expedition, but her motives hadn’t only been focused on protecting the city. Devon had really wanted a chance to spend some time with Hazel—without Zoe the ostrich, the scout’s near-constant companion. After Hazel’s promotion to advanced NPC, she’d taken the Tamer combat class, fighting side by side with her war ostrich. Fortunately for Devon, the giant bird had zero ability to move silently, so Hazel couldn’t bring her on scouting missions that might require stealth. This one probably wouldn’t, but Devon wasn’t about to tell the woman that. She’d been ostrich-pecked enough for a lifetime.
Even so, no amount of planning and focusing on the actual goals had kept her detouring toward the city’s border. The truth was, Ishildar called to her. She felt it way down in her bones, a deep-set need to feel the city around her. Sometimes, the urge to walk the streets was nearly irresistible. Yet at the same time, the city’s curse pressed back against her desire. Set down long ago by a document written in Carpavan legalese, a language which allowed contracts to be magically enforced, the city’s charter declared that it could only be ruled by someone who had been granted the power by all five relics. Without a ruler, the city could not be inhabited.
Until Devon discovered the final two relics, she was merely a guest inside Ishildar’s borders. An unwelcome guest as far as the ancient contract was concerned.
“Let’s skip the building interiors and head for the first crossroads,” Devon said. “I’m not sure I trust any remaining roofs not to fall on us.”
Hazel nodded as she tucked her map under an arm and started forward. Devon followed, hand on her Wicked Bone Dagger.
Vine-draped statues watched from alcoves on either side of the avenue as the women advanced into the city. A few birds called from trees that speared through the domed roofs of crumbling buildings, but their songs were muted, nearly drowned by the hush that gripped the city. Unlike the areas of jungle that surrounded Ishildar, the stillness within its borders felt like a spell had been cast to suspend animation. There was a sense of peace within the strange calm, but also a feeling of wrongness, as if their beating hearts didn’t belong here.
As the pair neared the first crossroads, Hazel raised a hand, signaling Devon to hang back while the scout crept toward the intersection. Devon’s Stealth score was just 3, an abysmal rating for a level 20 character. Actually, it would be pretty bad even if she were level 5. With all her work to build Stonehaven, collect the relics, and fend off demonic invasions, she’d really been neglecting the basics. As she sidestepped—somewhat clumsily due to her also-low Agility—to take some cover behind a broken pillar, she made a mental vow to reserve some in-game time to grind up her skills.
Hazel stopped short a few paces before the street corner and stood with her ear cocked toward the open area. Her hand strayed to her hip and her close-range combat weapon of choice, a braided leather whip. Devon’s eyes widened. Did the woman hear something or was she just being cautious?
“What is it?” Devon hissed.
Hazel shook her head, gesturing for silence.
Well crap. Stepping from the shade of the pillar, Devon glanced down at her feet and poured mana into casting a sunlight-based Shadow Puppet. She returned her gaze to Hazel’s tensed form and waited.
After a moment, the scout shook her head and seemed to relax as she started moving again. Must have been a false alarm. Devon exhaled and started forward, her Shadow Puppet trailing behind.
As Hazel stepped onto the cracked flagstone of the intersection, a deeper hush seemed to fall over the area. Devon hadn’t even known it could get quieter. The scout must have noticed the difference as well because she thumbed the button tab holding her whip coiled. The loops of braided leather dropped into the woman’s hand, and she kept hold of the handle while letting the remainder slither to the ground.
For a moment, the stillness held, the damp air growing heavy against Devon’s skin.
“I think we’d better—”
An abrupt squawking cut off Devon’s words as a scarlet flock of parrots erupted from a copse of dense trees on the opposite side of the crossroad. Branches cracked and limbs fell from the trees as the immense head and shoulders of a massive stone golem rose through the thicket.
Devon groaned. Well, crap. It seemed that Ishildar’s Stone Guardians were still hanging out in the ancient city. She’d kind of hoped that the recovery of more than half of the relics would change that situation at least. After all, why did the city call to her through the Greenscale Pendant if its guardians were going to turn her into a pancake?
The giant’s joints grated, stone on stone, as it took a step forward. The impact when its foot landed shook the earth. A few feet behind Devon, rocks crashed down as another piece of the city’s architecture crumbled. A dust cloud puffed from the impact, smelling of lichen and the strange ozone-scent of struck sparks.
“You think we better run, you mean?” Hazel yelled, backpedaling furiously.
“Yeah, that.”
Drawing her dagger—like that was going to do anything against a monster ten or fifteen times her size—Devon planted her feet and stood her ground. Now that she thought about it, the whole situation really pissed her off. She’d spent the whole day journeying here, keeping a brisk pace broken only by breaks for Hazel to jot down more map details. It would really suck to be sent back to Stonehaven on the death-penalty express, most likely leaving an item behind that would need to be recovered.
Not to mention, she’d have to sacrifice more items to the Shrine to Veia to resurrect Hazel.
She curled a fist around t
he Greenscale Pendant, which, despite the current situation, continued to send pulses of warmth through her body. Never mind the giant glaring at her with sparks of starlight tucked in the recesses of eye sockets big enough to hold a hippo or two. The stupid pendant was still trying to manipulate her into staying here. Of all the annoying pieces of gear…
The Stone Guardian took another earth-rattling step forward as Hazel’s panicked retreat brought her within a few paces.
Devon started conjuring a Glowing Orb. “Keep going,” she said. “I’ll keep it off you.”
Hazel whirled and looked at her as if she’d suggested they eat the dwarves’ new baby. Toddler. Whatever. The kid was growing so fast that she wouldn’t be surprised to return home today and find him sprouting a beard.
“I’m not abandoning you,” Hazel said, whirling to face the golem.
Devon sighed as the Glowing Orb materialized in her hand. She flung it onto the underside of a crumbling stone cornice and sidestepped into the faint shadows cast by the architecture. Could she force the woman to flee? The game probably had a way to issue direct orders to followers, but Devon had never used it. Ordering Stonehaven citizens around seemed like a good way to trash their morale score. Besides, she liked to think of them more as friends than minions.
Right now, though, she wished she’d bothered to figure out how to give commands.
“Fine. But stay behind me, okay? If I’m about to die, flee.” As she spoke, Devon used a Combat Assessment on the golem.
Stone Guardian - Level 42
Health: 34412/34412
Resists: Elemental Damage (yes, all the subtypes)
Resists: Physical
You have received a skill point: +1 Combat Assessment
“What the everliving hell kind of monster design is that?” Devon snapped. “Resistant to basically everything?”
Only if you’re so self-centered as to define “everything” as “every type of damage I can do.” And as for the skill up: You’re welcome.
Citadel of Smoke: A LitRPG and GameLit Adventure (Stonehaven League Book 4) Page 1
