The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  “Now he’s got some style,” said Micaela, nodding in approval of the look. “Still need to do something about your vest, but your look is starting to come together.”

  “I owe you all great thanks for this,” said Barnum. “I hope this small token of my appreciation is enough.”

  “We were happy to help,” I jumped in before Rose could. I knew I was pushing my Charisma to the maximum, but I had to try anyway. “Is there anything else in the area we can hunt down for you?”

  “Oh goodness no, you have all done enough for me,” he replied.

  “Are you sure, we don’t mind,” I offered.

  “I am always happy to take in whatever unusual or rare beasts you might collect, but there is nothing else in the area that I am aware of. However, if something does come along or if I catch wind of something rare, I promise to reach out to you all first.”

  I suppose that was it for now. And I was fine with that.

  “Oh, and before I forget, should you ever form an Order, come back and see me. That lion is a valuable bit of prestige for any Order to display in their hall.”

  “We will, we promise,” said Olaf, grinning excitedly.

  Once we were back outside. “See, this is why we have to form an Order together, all five of us.”

  “Stop pushing already love, most of us have already agreed,” Micaela tried to temper her husband.

  “You’re right, sorry,” said Olaf, apologizing mostly to Rose and Baby.

  “Enough chit-chat, it’s time for the show,” said Rose, far too gleefully.

  “You’re a cruel woman, I hope you know that,” I said flatly.

  Rose only smiled back at me, seeming to enjoy my anguish.

  Chapter 29

  I grumbled the entire walk to Lieutenant Graves’s home, while Micaela and Rose jabbered about who knows what. Arriving at the house, it somehow looked even eviler than before.

  Standing before the front steps, I took a few deeps breaths, trying to tune out anything around me that might distract me. I could see the front door or rather the deck just in front of the door, glowing in my vision, there was a little line that drew away from where I knew the trapdoor to be. It led to the side of the porch. I followed the glowing line to some kind of trigger mechanism, or what I assumed was a trigger. I took out my utility knife and cut the flashing red cord. The glow from the trap faded completed. I think I just disarmed my first trap.

  I went back around to the front of the house, the panel with the pitfall was no longer glowing. I think the deck was now safe. I climbed the steps cautiously. I took a few test steps on the pitfall trap, but it didn’t budge, even stomped on it once and not even a shimmy.

  Now, I was looking at the door, on the other side of which was the Decapitator 3000, just waiting to take my head off and send me to respawn. I couldn’t see anything on the door or the lock, so I got to work picking the lock. It took about a minute before I heard the click of it unlocking. I turned the knob slowly, I opened the door just slightly and saw a new glow on the floor and wall. I saw the line again, this one leading up across the entryway ceiling before turning back toward the door and out of view. I risked opening the door a little more and saw the line continue to the wall above the door frame. There was a little blue crystal mounted there, flashing red. I reach an arm up and plucked the crystal out of the wall. The glow stopped, the trap seemed to be disarmed now.

  I put the crystal in my bag, you never knew if it wouldn’t come in handy later. Games love to use things like this, to create a puzzle.

  I let the door swing open the rest of the way, but moved so the door frame acted as a shield. I peeked around the corner, looking for any unusual seams or out of place items. My vision lit up, just beyond the entrance hall. The next area floor was lit up, flooding my vision with light. There was so much of it, I didn’t see any line leading to a switch to disarm it. What I did see, was safe spots. The squares were spread about a step apart, placed so I could safely use them to cross the room. I had to hope, the trail of steps would lead me to the disarmament point.

  I took the first step, making sure I was safely inside the border of the safe spot. Then another step, and another. The path led me to a grandfather clock, the face of which, was flashing red. Do I smash it or set the time? I studied it closer. It was then, I noticed, the clock had the faces of the moon on the outer ring of the clock. I wound the minute hand forward and the faces of the moon slowly moved. I started spinning the minute hand faster, hours and days past until the moon reflected fully. I heard a clicking and the glow previously surrounded me faded to nothing.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed I had disarmed the first floor’s traps.

  “Well I’ll be buggered, you figured out how to disarm the first floor,” said an unfamiliar voice behind me.

  I turned swiftly, to see a human male. He had dark black shoulder length hair, was completely untamed. He also wore a black leather jacket, and blue jean pants with tears in them, that appeared deliberate. He had a single dagger at his hip, but otherwise, I saw no other weapons. appeared to be my age or maybe a little older. I got the impression, he was confident in himself and his abilities, if his nonchalance about entering this house was anything to go by.

  “What do you want?” I demanded my spear at the ready.

  “Relax, I’m not here to fight. I just wanted to see who was breaking into, the unbreakable house, mate,” Heath replied, still looking around the room. “I’ve been trying to break into this place for almost a week. Bloody traps are everywhere in this bloody nightmare. How’d you manage it?”

  “I disarmed the traps,” I answered.

  “Which thieves guild rep taught you that?” he asked.

  I responded, “None of them, I’m not a thief.”

  “Ha, well how do you like that. Brilliant mate,” he said in a British accent. Something about it sounded off though. Was he trying to force the accent?

  “So, what is your interest in this house?” I asked, wondering if our quests had crossed paths or if he was just a thief.

  “Me? I’ve broken into every house in this town at least twice, but this place has bloody killed me, every bloody time. It’s bloody ridiculous, is what it is. Where did you learn to disarm traps?” Heath asked, clearly not taking me seriously or my spear being aimed at him.

  “A book in the townhall, called ‘Trapology’,” I answered. “So, you’ve robbed everyone in this town then?”

  “No, I didn’t say anything about robbing anyone. I just picked the locks, snuck around, did a little eavesdropping, maybe checked a few pockets, but never took anything,” he explained.

  “Why would a thief, and I’m assuming you are a thief, not steal anything?” I asked.

  “I’m only a thief out of necessity, not because I want to be,” Heath replied.

  “Same question, why not steal if you need to be a thief?” I asked.

  “I have to get rank II, in all the thief skills to become a bard, mate,” he finally explained.

  “Who told you that?” I asked.

  “The Thieves Guild,” he answered. “Once I get my rank up in ‘Stealth’, ‘Lockpicking’, ‘Pickpocketing’ and ‘Espionage’, they let you choose a specialization. I’m going the Bard path.”

  Huh, this was a first for me. Someone who actually used the game for knowledge on advanced classes, instead of the forums.

  “Mind if I ask what your interest is in this place?” asked Heath.

  “Oh, a quest. I’m looking for information on the owner,” I answered, relaxing a little. This guy didn’t seem to be too threatening.

  “And why are the guards outside gambling on this instead of arresting you?” he asked, grinning.

  I blinked unsure how to respond to that. Not even sure if I believed him. So, I walked back toward the front door and low and behold, a crowd had indeed gathered to watch. I also saw Gavin running some kind of betting pool.

  “Ah, that would be Gavin running the bet
ting pool. I imagine Rose is probably responsible for some of this too,” I added as I watch Rose and Gavin chatting before separating and working the crowd again.

  I shook my head and sighed. “Why? Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this?”

  “Not sure, mate,” said Heath, patting me on the shoulder, surprising me. I forgot he was here.

  “Are you gonna stay and watch me?” I asked.

  “Might, might not,” he replied, not moving.

  Deciding I would just have to ignore the man, I started exploring the first floor. The dining room, where I was with the clock was empty, nothing behind any of the paintings or hidden under loose floorboards. I opened the kitchen door and nearly vomited. The room was covered in blood, and there appeared to be a rotting animal carcass on a butchers table in the center. I decided right then, the kitchen would be the last room searched, and only if I can’t find what I’m looking for elsewhere.

  I returned to the front entranceway, putting the dining room and kitchen behind me, the exit to my right and stairs going up on the left. Directly ahead of me was the living room. It was sparse, only a couch and end table, an oil lamp sitting on top of it. To my disappointment, there was nothing to be found after searching the room, even pulling off the couch cushions and searching the crevasses.

  There was a door under the stairs that’s lit up brightly with a small panel next to it flashing red. I looked at it carefully without touching it. There were two slots that appeared to be the perfect size to fit two crystals, the same size, and shape as the one I pulled from above the door.

  “That kitchen is nasty, mate,” commented Heath, having joined me in the living room.

  I ignored him. I needed to find another crystal. The only place left to search was upstairs. I looked at the stairs carefully, trying to see if there were any trick steps or traps waiting, but nothing lit up on the steps or the walls around the steps. I stepped up the first stair tentatively and other than a little creaking, there were no sounds of imminent death and danger. About five steps up was a small landing, where the stairs turned back in the other direction.

  I took another step and thankfully, same as the first step, nothing happened. It wasn’t until I could see the landing at the top of the stairs, my vision was filled again with light, this time there was nowhere safe to step. That said, I could see the line of light leading up the wall at the far end of the hall, to a stone looking completely out of place. I understood though, I would need to press that stone to disarm the trap. I tried to cast ‘Holy Smite’ and ‘Lesser Holy Shock’ on it just in case it might work, but nothing happened, not even a twitch. I need someone who could shoot it or throw something accurately at it.

  Then I sighed as a thought occurred to me. There was a thief in the house and thieves usually picked up a throwing or bow skill.

  “Heath,” I called down the stair.

  “Yeah, mate?” the thief answered.

  “Can you throw accurately or shoot a bow?” I asked.

  “Both actually, why?” he confirmed.

  “Can you come up here?” I asked.

  “Sure,” I heard him climbing the steps without care, making me pray he didn’t set off something I might have missed.

  “So, what do you need me to shoot?” Heath asked.

  “See that stone sticking out of the wall?” I asked pointing to the end of the hallway. “Can you hit it?”

  “Sure,” he said, pulling out a small stone from a pouch at his hip. He tossed it up once and caught it, then suddenly threw it. The stone shot from his hand, hitting the out of place stone, at the end of the hall, with a loud crunch, as the stone switch slammed home. I was relieved he didn’t break the trap, as hard as he threw. Still, the floor was no longer glowing.

  Now I had three doors to search. The first, right next to the top of the stairs was a bathroom, only a sink, and tub. I was cautious about exploring, carefully watching the floor ahead of me. I opened the only door on the left, in the middle of the hall. It was the bedroom. There was a large bed, it had been torn to shreds and covered in claw marks. And I’m pretty sure, the sheets were not naturally brownish-red. I checked under the bed and around the edges, even flipped the mattress off of it before finally checking the two shallow closets, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

  I returned to the hall to find Heath was kneeling before the last door, working with his lockpicks.

  “Tricky bugger, this one is,” he said, grinning a little, as he fiddled with the lock. Meanwhile, I was trying to see if there were any traps on the lock or door, but nothing was popping in my User Interface.

  I heard a click of the lock coming free. “There we go, mate, all yours,” Heath stood and backed away from the now unlocked door. I cracked the door slightly and just as I had with all of the other doors I had opened in this house so far. The wall to the right of the door and the floor were glowing brightly. I found the line again, running along the ceiling toward the door. I risked opening it a little further, to see the line run again to a little crystal. I reached up and popped the little crystal loose, causing the glow to vanish.

  I let the door swing open now, careful to stand out of sight, using the wall, to shield me from the room. I peeked around the door again, studying the room carefully. It was an office. The room had only a large desk and a comfortable looking chair sitting behind it. I didn’t see any readily apparent traps, so I entered. I looked around again, now that I was in the room, but there were no traps as far as I could see.

  “Well done,” said Heath, striding in without a care.

  Meanwhile, I was still being cautious. I carefully moved toward the desk, terrified something might be lurking, inside or underneath it.

  “Relax mate, we’re home free,” said Heath, moving around the desk and pulling out the chair and sitting in it only to hear a click making both our stomachs drop. “Not again,” he groaned, his British accent suddenly forgotten.

  Now there was a visible glow coming from the bottom of the chair. “Don’t move,” I warned him. I slowly, carefully approached, dropping to the floor, and lying on my back. I scooted toward the trapped thief, to see what he was dealing with. I saw a metal casing with screws, pinning it to the bottom of the chair.

  “Don’t suppose you have a screwdriver?” I asked.

  “Yeah, you need one?” Heath asked.

  “If you do, yeah, just move slowly. This feels like one of those old movies, where the chair goes boom, if you move too much or get off of it,” I warned him.

  “Yeah, sure,” he replied, moving slowly. A minute later, I felt something drop onto my stomach. He actually did have a screwdriver, I had no idea why he had one, but I wasn’t going to complain.

  I slowly unscrewed the plate from the chair. As the plate dropped away I could see an old alarm clock and a couple of small sticks of what I could only guess was explosives. And worse, the clock was now ticking down. Please ‘Disarm Trap’ do not fail me now, I send a small prayer to my goddess and get to work. My vision glows again, I followed the glowing line into the bomb until I found a glowing red wire. My utility knife cut the wire with ease, instantly, glow stops.

  I crept slowly away from the now disarmed bomb and the man who armed it.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Heath asked.

  “I gonna go get a drink, just . . . wait here. I’ll be back,” I said, my voice shaky, mostly because my nerves were still shaky from that experience. I literally, just disarmed, a freaking bomb. I cut the red wire. How awesome was that?

  “Don’t leave me here,” Heath’s voice pitched high in panic.

  “You’ll be fine, just . . . don’t move,” I said. Then I stomped loudly, “Boom!”

  The girlish scream coming from Heath, as he jumped out of the chair and leaped over the desk in a single move, almost had me doubled over with laughter.

  “Oh, you jerk,” he said, breathing heavily and holding his chest, feeling his heart hammer in his chest.

  “You should have seen
the look on your face,” I said, through my laughter.

  Finally, Heath laughed a little too. “Okay, so I may have deserved that.”

  “You definitely deserved that. I can’t help but notice you’re not British anymore,” I commented.

  “Hey, it’s a game mate, you can be whoever you want to be. Me, I want to be a British rocker,” Heath said, slipping back into his bad British accent.

  I couldn’t disagree with him, but he still sounds ridiculous. “Anyway, I am actually here for a reason,” I said, even as I began digging through the desk. Being careful as I open each drawer, to make sure there were no traps. I pulled the drawers completely free and dump the contents on the floor, making sure I shook the drawers to check for hidden compartments. The only draw I couldn’t search, was the center, as it was locked tight.

  Heath volunteered once again to open it, or rather, he just started to pick the lock, as soon as, he saw it was locked.

  Meanwhile, I was looking through everything in the other drawers. It was all guard reports and personnel files. Drunken disorderly citations for Gavin and a few other guards but nothing incriminating.

  Eventually, only the central drawer remained, Heath was still working on. It took him a few minutes, but eventually, the lock clicked open. I started to slide the drawer back, stopping when I saw a glow right away. There were two lines leading to two different strings on opposite sides of the drawer.

  “I think they have to be cut at the same time, can I borrow your knife?” I asked.

  Heath handed it over to me. And with a simple flick of both wrists, at the same time, his knife and my utility knife cut the strings with ease causing the glow to fade.

  Pulling the drawer back, there was a single large envelope. I dumped the contents onto the desk. There were land deeds for some land, to the northwest, if I read it correctly. They went back centuries, under dozens of names, but the handwriting of the owner was the same on all of them. Maybe Graves really was immortal. But this was definitive proof, the kind of proof I needed.