Crystalfire Keep

by J. A. Cipriano

  Yeah, this was not progressing well. Not that I blamed Merina at all, especially as Kayla had just shrugged off my hand to dive into the growing fray herself, but this wouldn’t help anyone in the end. Even as the Sorceress came in to back our Dancer up on her left, I was trying to get in on the right, between the verbal combatants, and try to get things under control. To my surprise, Thadivus looked to be doing the same from the other side of the mess.

  At least Crysta wasn’t shouting into the fray too. I didn’t have time to look back and see if she was moving in; I had enough to deal with. Ignoring the roar of raid chat, an even balance between encouraging our ladies to go for blood and trying to calm the situation (Crysta wasn’t saying anything in that either), I almost managed to get a word in before Kayla unloaded.

  “Right,” she snarled, “because following the crowd is what the Sisters are all about? You used to actually have thoughts of your own, Amethyst! At least the woman who taught me how to PvP did. Where the Canada did she go, huh?”

  “Duel me and you’ll find out,” the Battlemistress shot back. “Maybe a proper schooling will – “

  “All right, knock it off,” I said, trying to keep my tone strong and even as I cut her off. “No one’s dueling anyone! Try to be professionals here.”

  “While I think Shale’s an idiot,” Thadivus helpfully provided, “he’s right. Save your virtual bongo-measuring contest for the Crucible or at least keep it to direct messaging.” He threw a robed arm back at the stage. “Some of us actually want to hear what’s about to happen.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, the in-game clock ticked over to 9:00 am. He was right. We all needed to pay attention now and everyone seemed to realize it. Grudgingly, Kayla, Amethyst, and Merina took a half-step back, each woman turning their gazes over and up as a hush fell over the crowd of champions. Punctuating that silence was the grinding of stone on stone as the Mountain King turned slowly and put his massive hands on the table in front of him. A quartz crystal I hadn’t originally noticed at the apex of the tent’s silk roof began to glow softly as Crystain began to speak in a deep, powerful voice, echoed faintly by the crystal and outside the pavilion as well.

  “Champions of the Four Kingdoms, I give you my thanks for coming here, now, in my Kingdom’s time of need.” He raised a fist to his breastplate in the traditional salute of the Craggar. “You all know what is at stake today. The Flames of Wrath burn brightly and cast their shadow on this very camp and soon, they will erupt through the wardstone of Crystalfire Keep, engulfing first the Mountain Kingdom and then all Elementalis in eternal, self-destructive war. What isn’t burnt by those flames or consumed by the Darkness will die again and again by the hands of their families, their friends, their people.”

  With what had been alluded to earlier, the talk of the corruption of the Life Crystals, I was starting to believe more and more that the developers might just be willing to put their entire game on the line over this. I wasn’t sure if that was insanity or genius.

  As the luminaries spoke, a UI pane flashed to life, filled with what I saw to be the nitty-gritty of how the dungeon would work, especially in terms of the contest. I scanned it, even as I kept an ear open for the rest of the lore.

  “And yet on the verge of defeat, our enemy is at their most vulnerable,” Crystain continued, spreading his massive arms to encompass the massive force assembled. “Your questing has brought to us a great weapon of the Elohjin if only we can discover how to unlock its power, and the Flames’ incursion provides us a brief opportunity to strike at the corruption at the heart of this Element of Conflict. I entreat you, noble champions, to penetrate into Crystalfire Keep, drive back the enemy, restore the wardstone, and divine how to use this weapon to cleanse the Flames of Wrath once and for all!”

  Sir Copperholt stepped to his king’s side. “Now, to the plan of attack. To help in the defenses, Crystalfire Keep has three Life Crystals, one in the courtyard, one in the upper floors, and one in the wardstone chamber underneath the keep proper. While no doubt corrupted currently by the Darkness, if you can penetrate through to cleanse each one, we will move contingents of troops to hold the cleared territory, allowing you a chance to recover and rest. Your first goal is the courtyard, using your recovered keystones to enter through the main gates.”

  “None of our scouts have reported movement out of the gates,” Princess Kallisandre added. “No doubt the enemy knows we have keystones now and will be massing their defenses around the wardstone instead of wasting energy at the gates. If they can hold the wardstone, it is only a matter of time before they fully twist it and unleash the Flames.”

  She sighed as she put a hand on an intricate, silver case in front of her. Faint but piercing light sliced through the crack on the lid of the case as she did so. “Our greatest sages have yet to decipher how to unlock the power of the Elohjin’s Light, but it is possible our enemy has insights we do not. The Darkness has brought about dark knowledge in those it has corrupted, and that ancient lore may be key to their defeat. Any tomes, documents, scrolls, or information of any kind you find should be returned to me as soon as possible. Time is not on our side.”

  As the princess folded her hands in front of her and lowered her head, I finished taking in the full extent of the game rules for Crystalfire Keep.

  Greetings, champions!

  Crystalfire Keep is meant to provide a unique, multi-step challenge for both raiders both seasoned and new. Utilizing full scaling technology in an enclosed environment alongside our latest dynamic encounter and questing programs, we hope to ring in a new generation of content for Elementalis Online!

  As this first iteration of Crystalfire Keep runs concurrently with our multi-server real-money contest, certain game systems are in place that will not apply to the second, general-purpose iteration of the Keep. While some of these will be familiar to our long-time raiders, some of them are brand new to help keep the timed contest a fair and fun one!

  Your place in the contest will be measured by your raid’s actual time in the Keep, measured from entry to the completion of each major checkpoint, as denoted by unlocking Life Crystals in the Keep. This is meant to allow the large Keep sequence to be playable without breaking NSAF safety constraints and to provide players with different real-life responsibilities to have a fair shot at a good ranking in the competition.

  Progress towards completion of a wing of the Keep will be maintained for 12 hours before resetting. General Keep progress will be maintained for 24 hours. These times will be extended in the second version of the Keep and are shortened to allow for a reasonable time frame for the contest.

  Once a champion has entered the Keep contest with a raid group, an identifying tag will be assigned that connects them to their raid group. They will be denied access to Crystalfire Keep if they attempt to enter with another raid group. Though this will not reset progress for the raid group they leave, said raid group cannot recruit a new member without resetting their own progress. While unfortunate, it would be unfair to allow such picking-and-choosing of different champions for different areas of the raid. Again, this rule will be relaxed after the contest.

  Prizes for the contest will be assessed 72 hours after it begins. The best times in each server will be placed and, if additional prizes remain undistributed, another 72-hour contest period will begin to assign remaining prizes. Even if raid groups in later prize periods have better clear times than placed groups in previous periods, they cannot change previously assessed prizes and rankings.

  Good luck, champions!

  Havoccore, EO Community Representative

  At the end of the rules was a space for an electronic signature, an acceptance of the rules and an official entry into the contest. Without a moment’s hesitation, I signed it.

  Shale, welcome to the Crystalfire Keep contest!

  Raid quest ‘A Courtyard of Flames’ accepted!

  Objective: Enter the courtyard of Crystalfire Keep and fight through to the Life Crystal ther
e!

  Reward: 25% Experience, Courtyard Checkpoint unlocked

  I turned towards our rag-tag raid group and smiled. “Everyone ready to win this thing?”

  The previous argument was forgotten and out of the corner of my eye, I could see a dozen other raid leaders and guildmasters doing the same thing I was doing. Rally the group and get on to victory.

  Our little cadre of friends returned my gaze. Kayla put a supporting hand on my shoulder and squeezed, Burndall drew his new Elementium Spellblade with a flourish, and Vindril saluted crisply. Dunya let out a shrill, whistling cheer from atop Merina’s shoulders, where she had no doubt perched to actually see the king’s speech. The Dancer favored me with a confident smile, a confidence she certainly didn’t have before joining our merry band. For his part, Wazif looked a little awe-struck still, but Nahma clapped him on the shoulders before beaming at me.

  “I think we’re all ready, Mr. Shale,” the Shadow enthused. “We’re all here and ready to go.”

  Except we weren’t, something we all began to realize even before Nahma’s words had left his mouth. I scanned the crowd, a creeping panic growing in my heart. Crysta had retreated back from the argument with Amethyst, no doubt still stinging from her abandonment, but I didn’t think she had gone far. She had, though, and I didn’t see her in the crowd.

  “There,” Kayla cried, pointing at the pavilion’s exit. I pivoted to follow her finger, just in time to see Crysta’s green outline rushing out the door.

  “Burnie, Kayla, get everybody organized and to the gates of the Keep.” I hoped that growing panic didn’t carry over to my voice. “Let me talk to Crysta.” I started to bull my way through the crowd, calling out behind me, “Don’t worry. The timer doesn’t start until we go through the gates!”

  I wasn’t sure if I said that for their benefit or for mine as I chased after the Ranger. What had gotten into her? Was the impending fight with Amethyst enough to push her into an emotional spiral? After all, Vanni/Maria was still in whatever ‘special treatment’ Dr. Fontaine had in mind for her, and Crysta hadn’t been able to see her for days now. It wouldn’t take much more to crack my friend, but still, I hadn’t foreseen this.

  15

  Even with my new crafted boots, I couldn’t quite keep up with the nimbler Aurum, despite my messages going unheeded, until she stopped at the edge of the warcamp. From what I could tell, she had drawn up at the sight of something, totally stock still as if in shock, something that made me push on faster.

  A moment later, I burst through the crowd myself and it only took a split-second for me to process what I was seeing. Crysta’s mouth was working and her throat constricted as if she was trying to say something, her eyes cloudy. Opposite of her, a few feet away, looking almost as lost if not more so, was an Aurum woman, maybe a head shorter than Crysta, decked out in elaborate plate armor that I immediately recognized from the glowing runes set into polished silver plates and fluttering banners set atop each shoulder guard as the top end Warlord raid armor set.

  The Warlord’s helmet was off (or simply set to be invisible outside of combat in the Avatar Vanity settings) which let me get a good look at her. Her skin was storm-cloud grey and as opposed to Crysta’s puffy, floaty hair, this Aurum’s was tight and frizzy, shining like spun lightning as it hung down to her shoulders. Like most of her kind, her eyes sparkled with latent electricity as she tried as furiously as Crysta to process what was going on.

  The most telling thing for me was the ring on her finger. I never understood exactly why Crysta’s Ring of Promise was gold while mine was silver, but this Warlord also bore a golden ring with three wolf heads and filled with Gems. To be sure, I brought up her nameplate, but it wasn’t necessary, not as Crysta finally managed to speak.

  “Vanni …?” It was a half-whisper, something I shouldn’t have been able to ear and yet I did.

  “Crysta …?” Vanni’s reply was just as confused, just as hesitant. It wasn’t just seeing her Promised, there was something else going on as one of her gauntleted hands massaged her forehead.

  My mind was going a mile a minute, trying to make sense of it all. That it was the avatar of Wynona’s fiancée was indisputable, though I noted that she was no longer listed as being in the Sisters of Artemis. Honestly, it wouldn’t have surprised me if Amethyst had kicked Vanni out of spite because of her connection to Crysta, but I couldn’t take that for granted. Everything else added up … except for the fact that Maria, her real-world counterpart, was in a coma from a botched brainjacking incident.

  That was where things turned problematic quickly on multiple levels. Was this some by-product of the brainjacking itself, either the bastards responsible using gleaned information to fake their way into her account (highly unlikely but not impossible) or something more bizarre like a digital ghost? It wasn’t an unheard-of thing. Once people started playing with technology that could read every little speck of human thought and emotion, then transmit that into a digital medium, almost anything was possible when it came to the mind.

  Or maybe this was this something to do with Dr. Fontaine’s ‘experimental therapy’? Thinking back to my days working as her guinea pig and tester, I realized it was theoretically possible for an unconscious mind to be connected to the deep dive. The NSAF gear could still read and interpret the brain, even the subconscious thoughts of a person. What would that do? Could that bring a person up through the layers of consciousness enough to actively access their account?

  I didn’t know, but as I tried to figure it out, Crysta wasted no time as the clouds passed from her eyes, replaced by a frantic sparking. Before I could raise a hand or say a word, she ran forward, eating the space towards Vanni in the blink of an eye, and threw herself at the still-dazed woman. Sweeping her into a desperate embrace, Crysta clung to her Promised with all the fervor of a drowning man to a life preserver.

  That seemed to snap Vanni out of whatever haze she was in. She wrapped her arms around Crysta’s waist as the Ranger buried her face into Vanni’s shoulder. They were both crying and I have to admit, no matter how suspect this scenario was to my rational mind, I was moved myself, my eyes starting to water.

  “What happened, Crys?” Vanni mumbled, her eyes darting around past Crysta even as she clung on to her. “I … it’s all a fog and the last I remember …” Her face grimaced as she cut herself off. “The game’s telling me it’s been weeks.”

  Even though most of the crowd around us was either doing final preparations to enter the Keep or were rolling out for the gate itself, the emotional reunion was drawing a bit of attention, no doubt increased by our reputation on the server. Murmurs were spreading, and more people were stopping to look on. Screwing up my own courage and trying to quiet the questions bounding around my head, I started to walk up to the pair.

  “I don’t know, babe,” Crysta cooed in between sobs of joy. “I don’t know how you’re here, but I don’t care. You’re here now and … it really has been, like, weeks.”

  Shock mixed with confusion and happiness in Vanni’s tone as she mumbled, “… but what happened? Up there, what happened? And why aren’t we in the guild and …”

  Crysta cut her off with a passionate kiss. I felt the urge to try to shoo away all the on-lookers even as I felt like an intruder myself. The only reason I didn’t leave the couple to what they were doing was responsibility. Vanni (if it really was her) had no idea what was going on, and Crysta was too wrapped up in her emotions to want to question what was going on. She was my friend and, by extension, so was her Promised and somebody had to keep their head on straight.

  “Crysta,” I said, trying to keep my voice above the noise of the flooded warcamp, “Vanni, I’m really happy for you two but we really need to figure this out. This … this shouldn’t be happening, you know that, right?”

  Vanni turned her head towards me as the pair decided to come up for air, her eyes widening. “Why not? What happened? Who the shuttlecock are you? Do I know you?” Her gaze snapped back u
p at Crysta as her voice raised into a strident plea. “Somebody tell me!”

  Crysta looked down and away, chewing on her lip, even as the crowd stirred up with some kind of commotion, shouting, and pushing behind me. We didn’t have time for Crysta to beat around the bush so again, I went up to bat, even though the Filter would shred what I had to say to bits.

  “You probably won’t get any of this, Vanni, but I’m a friend of Crysta up there too. You’ve been in a coma, in the hospital, for over a month now.” Amazed at how the Filter wasn’t cutting my speech into incoherent ribbons, I pressed on. “You suffered a botched brainjacking, that’s what she told me, and I can only guess as to how you’re here now. As far as we knew, you were still in a coma.”

  My fellow Warlord pulled away from her lover in utter shock, her hands going to her head and fingers twining into her hair. Crysta tried to follow, hands out as if she could soothe away the confusion with her touch but Vanni shook her head numbly. That commotion behind me stilled, punctuated by audible gasps, two to be precise. Kayla’s and Amethyst’s.

  I guess the witch had a heart after all.

  The two of them rushed past me on either side, Kayla on my left and Amethyst on my right, but pulled up short at the sight of Vanni’s haunted visage. “A coma? Brainjacking? I … I don’t remember. I only remember … a lot of dreaming, fuzzy bits and pieces.” Clarity started to shine through as she looked between the Sisters, current and former. “Crys, you were there, beside me, holding my hand … tears. And my parents and …” Her eyes flashed to me, even as the two ladies not in the know hit what had to be a wall of Filter speak. “Oh my God. It’s true, isn’t it?”

  Crysta wiped madly at her cheeks. “It’s true but it doesn’t matter now. You’re here. You’re back with me and that totally has to be a good thing.” She sniffed. “You have to be waking up somehow, right?”