The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “More or less. Dracula is more likely to accept your request, but he believes in quantity over quality when he forges his servants. Lilith is far more selective, believing the quality of her servant matters. As a result, she usually has a much more personal relationship with her servants, giving them guidance and knowledge, where Dracula will set more challenges before you, then sit back and watch.”

  “Why would anyone ever want to serve Dracula?” I asked. The guy reminded me of the jocks from high school that tormented me and the other nerds.

  “Because there is less risk of being refused,” said Rose. “But you can forget that noise. No risk, no reward. I wish to pledge to Lilith.”

  “I hoped you might. Dracula is considered a lothario of sorts. I would worry for your maidenhood,” said Trinico, getting a red blush from Rose.

  I so wanted to comment but didn’t feel like getting clubbed by Trinico if I did. As it was, Rose, as if sensing my desire to tease her, had directed the most potent glare her blushing face could muster and directed it at me.

  “So, what do I do? Sergeant Butters said I might need to bring a sacrificial goat or lamb,” asked Rose.

  Trinico rolled her eyes. “I will be sure to give David a good wallop later. No, no animal sacrifice is required. Just a little of your own blood to swear your oath upon.”

  “Good . . . that’s good,” said Rose, looking relieved, if her shoulders sagging a little was anything to go by.

  “Bye-bye, please wait here. I will return in a moment,” Trinico instructed.

  “Can’t I watch?” I asked.

  “Are you comfortable with Bye-bye seeing you naked?” asked Trinico looking to Rose.

  “No!” Rose shouted, her cheeks blushing red. I felt a little heat in my own cheeks as an image flashed through my mind.

  “There is your answer,” said Trinico, smirking a little as she guided Rose toward the start to the basement.

  You’re a cruel woman Trinico, I hope you know that.

  The priestess returned a few minutes later without Rose. “She’ll be a while. Now, you are about to go into what I hope will be your final session in the ‘Puzzle Room’.”

  “Should be,” I replied.

  “I am sure you have noticed things have been personal of late. This last session will be the most personal yet. I hope you are mentally ready,” warned the priestess.

  Was that it? Is that why she held me back? To give me a warning? Or an anti-pep talk?

  “I’m ready,” I said confidently. It’s all a game. I just had to figure out what the game wanted from me.

  “Very well, proceed,” Trinico said, motioning toward the hall leading to the puzzle room.

  I made the familiar walk entering the puzzle room to the right. I sat on the center island and as expected received the system prompt.

  Welcome to the Puzzle Room.

  Are you ready to begin?

  Yes

  No

  Yes, I am.

  Solve as many puzzles as possible. (Limit: 2-hours per 24-hour period)

  Beginning in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 GO!

  The room went dark for a moment before relighting. I was standing on a stage, a large audience gathered in front of me. The only defense I had was a podium in front of me, off to each side was a teleprompter.

  So, this was the game, my fears. My greatest fear, public speaking. I was not okay with this puzzle if you could even call it a puzzle anymore. Then I started hearing murmuring in the crowd, restlessness. I was just waiting for the booing to start. I didn’t have to wait long. Then someone threw something, and pandemonium ensued.

  The room went dark a moment later and the puzzle restarted.

  “Good Afternoon,” I stuttered miserably, trying to read from the teleprompter. My voice was shaky and soft, barely audible. Again, the murmuring. I tried to keep going but then the booing began. It wasn’t long before the room faded to black only to restart again a moment later.

  “It’s just a game,” I tried to tell myself. The game was to be the center of attention. The game was to face my fears. “It’s just a game,” I repeated.

  “Good Afternoon,” I started again, this time as clearly as I could. “Thank you all for joining me today.” One sentence, the prompter told me to pause before it continued. “Our society is changing. The digital workplace is growing faster than ever before. It will not be long before physical workspace is replaced by digital workspace. This is not a bad thing.”

  The speech was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done. I joked around in the Inn and told stories there, but there we never so many people watching, nor did I have to worry overmuch about them booing me or heckling me. A healthy dose of liquid courage helped too. I don’t know how I made it through the 30-minute promotion of the digital world, but I did it. I avoided the hecklers and the boos. Once I remembered it was all a game, it got easier. When someone would start murmuring to his neighbor, I would look them in the eyes, give them a smile and they’d quiet down. The only difficulty was to keep spotting these people, so I was constantly scanning the crowd. It was only about half-way through the speech, I noticed the faces in the crowd started to take on the appearances of people I’d known. People who were mean to me or tormented me in my youth, they started appearing in the crowd at random, making my heart race a little more. I persevered, but it was still the most terrifying 30-minutes of my life.

  When it was done, I was pleased with myself and also satisfied, beyond what I thought I would feel when I finished it. I faced one of my greatest fears and succeeded in it. It didn’t mean I would be going out and doing public speaking engagements in the real world as soon as I logged out, but I now knew I could do it. I just had to treat it like a game. Who knew that was even feasible. Maybe that was the outlook on life I should adopt, maybe if I started treating things in the real world like they were a game, then it would get easier for me to interact with the world. Something to think about in the future, at least, maybe when I had more time.

  When the speech ended, and the room faded to black, I expected to be returned to the starting area. Instead, it faded into another room and it was simply spectacular. Not the room itself, it was more of a roof held up by a number of posts with a stone tile floor and a cushion placed in the center of the room. No, it was the view that was spectacular. It seemed this room was built on top of a mountain surrounded by more snowcapped mountains. There were no stairs or path down the mountain I could see, they probably were not even present. I didn’t much care, this was simply too beautiful to care.

  I appreciated the view for a few minutes before I realized I needed to figure out what to do next. Was it a new puzzle or something else? Seeing as there was only the cushion in the center of the room, I felt to be the place to start. I sat on the cushion.

  Welcome to the Meditation Mind Temple

  Select Meditation focus

  Intellect

  Wisdom

  Charisma

  Exit

  Was this the ‘Meditation’ skill? I selected the ‘Exit’ option. Everything faded to black and I was back in the domed room, sitting on the little island surrounded by still water.

  Class Quest Alert: Training with Priestess Trinico 6-10 – Completed

  Having put your trust in Trinico and David Butters, they have offered you training to develop your stats as quickly and efficiently as possible.

  Reward: +1,400 Experience, Meditation, Collect your reward from the Temple of Issara in Root City

  You’ve learned the skill ‘Meditation’.

  Meditation

  Level: 1

  Experience: 0.00%

  Skill Effect (Active): Enter the Meditation Mind Temple

  Intellect: +1 per 60 minutes

  Wisdom: +1 per 60 minutes

  Charisma: +1 per 60 minutes

  Now that was nice. Time-consuming but nice, 10-hours of meditation to get one stat to the level cap. Still manageable, but undoubtedly boring. I would have to play around with it later.
I can’t see myself sitting for 30-hours every time I level up.

  “How did it go?” asked Trinico, seeing me emerge.

  “Not bad . . . hated it so much more than I can ever truly express . . . but not bad,” I answered.

  “As long as you succeeded it was worth your discomfort,” said Trinico, smiling kindly.

  “I take it Olaf and Baby are still inside?” I asked.

  “They are, you were barely gone an hour. Miss Rose had an errand to run. She said she would be back soon. Miss Micaela is in the spirit world,” the priested ended, motioning to Micaela, who appeared to be meditating.

  “Was Rose accepted?” I asked. Much as the woman annoyed me and got under my skin, I did want her to succeed.

  “I did not ask, and she did not share,” Trinico answered. “She did not look upset when she left though she did seem to be in a hurry.”

  “I hope that’s a good thing. I think I will head to meet with Giggle-Ana, hopefully, I can finish my training with her before Olaf arrives. I want him to get Giggle-Ana’s full attention,” I said.

  “You are a good friend to them. I hope they will be good friends to you,” said Trinico.

  I smiled at her and nodded. I hoped much the same.

  Chapter 21

  Rose was running as the timer continued to tick down. She had just an hour to collect 5 blood samples and return to the temple with them. That was Lilith’s test of her. They had to be unique too. They could not come from the same race of humanoid, nor could they come from the same class of beast. One wolf was the same as any other wolf regardless of their name. Still, that was only one blood sample. And she only had an hour to collect 5. That meant she’d have to collect them from the NPC’s or other players.

  She knew of two right away she could visit, she just had to hope they were receptive to her request.

  “Welcome,” greeted Giggle-Ana. “How can I help you today?”

  “Hello, you’re Giggle-Ana, right?” Rose asked.

  “Yes, I am, how can I help you?” Giggle-Ana responded.

  “This is an odd request, but can I have a some of you and your husband’s blood?” Rose asked bluntly.

  Giggle-Ana seemed to freeze before pulling a gun from behind the counter and taking aim threateningly. “Foul demon, you will not harm me or my husband.”

  “Woah, relax. I don’t want to hurt anyone,” protested Rose, putting her hands in the air. “I need your help.”

  “And you want to take my blood to do it? I will not help a vampire bring harm to this world,” the gnomish woman answered.

  “I’m a Daywalker, not a vampire,” explained Rose, hoping it would make even a little difference.

  The pistol lowered slightly as Giggle-Ana studied her carefully for a moment. “Why? What do you need the blood for? Some kind of dark ritual I assume.”

  Rose cringed a little there. It was probably a dark ritual. “I am trying to pledge myself in service to the Goddess Lilith. She has set a test for me. I am to collect 5 unique blood samples and return to her. I don’t know if it’s for a dark ritual but . . . well, it probably is.”

  Giggle-Ana narrowed her eyes, boring into the young woman. “Okay, I believe you,” said the gnome, her gun disappearing back behind the counter. “You are Bye-bye’s friend, right?”

  “I don’t know if I’d say we were friends. I only met him yesterday. But I would say we are on the path to becoming friend-like,” Rose answered uncertainly, a dusting of pink spreading across her cheeks.

  “Oh, so it is like that?” asked Giggle-Ana, giggling merrily.

  Rose’s cheeks reddened further, and she scowled. “No, it’s not like that. He’s annoying, rude and an idiot. Everything he does seems to be done just to get under my skin. But he is . . . useful . . . for now at least.”

  Giggle-Ana giggled again and rolled her eyes. “I suppose if Bye-bye is willing to vouch for you, I can spare a little of my blood and I am sure Kirlan will do the same.”

  “Bye-bye is in some kind of training thing right now and won’t be out for hours. I only have 48 minutes left,” she stated, checking the timer again.

  Giggle-Ana leaned her head to the side looking out the window behind Rose and pointed.

  Rose turned to look and saw Bye-bye walking toward the shop. “Be right back,” Rose said quickly, then almost sprinted outside to meet him.

  “Bye-bye, I need your help,” Rose said quickly, trying not to let panic into her voice.

  “Um, okay?” I half asked.

  “Lilith gave me a quest to get blood samples, 5 of them, and they have to be unique. Giggle-Ana said she’d give me one, but only if you vouch for me. Will you?” Rose asked, trying not to sound like she was desperate.

  “I can do that,” I replied. “How many have you got so far?”

  “None, the shop was on the way out of town. I figure, I could get a wolf for one more, then ask Trinico or the sergeant for one,” Rose answered.

  “That would make three,” I said, counting off.

  “Plus, one from Kirlan and I was hoping I could wake Micaela and get her to give me one too,” Rose said, explaining her plan.

  “I could give you one too,” I volunteered. “I’m a half high elf so that should be unique.”

  Rose seemed surprised by the offer and mumbled a soft “Thanks.”

  “No problem,” I said.

  “Anyway, I need you to vouch for me,” Rose said, turning and rushing back inside.

  “And the verdict?” asked Giggle-Ana.

  “I’ll vouch for her,” I said, entering just behind Rose.

  “Okay then,” said Giggle-Ana, producing two filled vials from behind the counter. “I took the liberty of getting them ready for you. I had a feeling Bye-bye would vouch for you.”

  “Two vials?” Rose asked.

  “Of course, one from me and one from Kirlan,” Giggle-Ana answered, motioning to one then the other.

  “Thank you very much,” she happily accepted the two vials depositing them in her bag.

  “Anything else I can get you? My first born maybe?” Giggle-Ana giggled, the pair of adventures looked completely unsure of how to respond to such a statement. “You are both so serious, lighten up a little, go on a date and have some fun.”

  “You’ve got a real mean streak, don’t you?” I asked, looking anywhere, but at Rose, while Rose did the same.

  “Only when I feel like it,” grinned Giggle-Ana.

  “Where did you get the vial?” asked Rose, her attention back on the task at hand.

  “I can sell you three more, so those plus the two with our blood comes to 2-gold, 10-copper,” said Giggle-Ana in a businesslike demeanor.

  “2-gold?” Rose and I both nearly shouted.

  “1-gold per blood sample, 2-copper per vial. You did not think I gave you those for free, did you? I am a businesswoman, not a charity,” the gnome answered, ever the saleswoman . . . salesgnome?

  Rose reluctantly paid the money, cringing even as she set it on the counter. “Well, that’s me broke, only 1-silver left to my name.”

  “Sorry, I’m sure you’ll make more,” I replied, attempting to reassure her. “And I’m sure when we finish the Bandit quest we got this morning, it will pay quite well. Especially, if we can recover all, or even most, of the goods.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” said Rose, slightly mollified. “But you better be able to carry a lot. In fact, you should probably go see about upgrading your cruddy starter bag while you’re at it.”

  It was my turn to cringe, her statement both poignant and cutting.

  “And change your shoes already. You look little better than a bum. Didn’t you just get a new pair of boots?” Rose asked.

  “I did, I just haven’t had a minute to equip them. We’ve been busy, or didn’t you notice?” I answered.

  “I notice plenty,” she retorted. She looked as if she was going to continue but a coughing sound from Giggle-Ana made them both realize where they were.

  Recove
ring first, Rose held out an empty vial toward me and stated simply, “Blood.”

  I accepted the vial then using my spear tip I cut my hand, wincing painfully. I filled the vial in short order then cast ‘Lesser Heal’, causing the bleeding to stop and the little bit of bleed damage to heal.

  “There you go,” I said, handing the vial back to her.

  “Hopefully Lilith accepts your blood, it looks kind of weak,” said Rose studying the vial close, smirking a little.

  “Do not start again. Rose, you have what you need, I suggest you run along and finish the quest your goddess gave you.” Giggle-Ana chided, then asked, “Bye-bye, I assume you are here to learn to pick locks?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I replied.

  “You’re right, I can’t waste time talking to this idiot,” said Rose, looking at her timer, realizing wasted five minutes bantering with me. “How do I wake Micaela?”

  “Just give her a shake, as I understand it, she’s aware when she’s in the spirit world,” I answered, frowning at the young woman.

  “See you in a little while then,” said Rose, turning to rush for the door and to continue her quest, she only needed two more samples.

  “We’ll meet up at the temple in an hour,” I called after her.

  Rose heard but didn’t turn back or acknowledge it, choosing to run toward the village gates. As soon as she was past the mote she pulled out her sword and shield. She had roughly 15 minutes to find and kill a wolf, then she would have no other choice but to turn back.

  The problem was, she had no tracking skills, she just had to hope she got lucky. Her eyes ever watching the timer tick downward. She moved directly south of the village and away from the road. The encounters she had with the wolves previously were always away from town and away from the road. It seemed a good place to start.

  After five minutes without an encounter, she began to worry a little. After ten minutes she began to panic. When that fifteenth minute passed without finding a wolf she feared she would fail her quest. Having no choice, Rose began a hard run back to town. She had to hope Trinico and Micaela were willing to donate a little blood to her cause or she would fail.