by Adam Drake
“Are you sure?” I asked the ferret.
“His head nearly snapped off when he did a double take as you passed by. Moved fast to catch up. Pretty obvious, actually. And he's not hard to miss.”
“Why is that?”
“He's bright red.”
This was a little confusing. What if someone else was interested in the Legendary Quest scroll? Ogden wouldn't be the only one who paid the Locators Guild to inform them of new quests. If they knew I had the scroll, then it wouldn't take much to pin down my location. Although it would take insanely high magic to get my exact placement, someone might hedge their bets and put lookouts at the most likely nearby travel gates and ports.
I shook my head. Was I being paranoid?
“I'm going to make a quick turn. Keep watching him,” I said. As I passed the open entrance of a cluttered warehouse, I altered my course and went inside.
Quickly, I dashed behind a stack of wine barrels. Then, keeping Phlixx close, I activated my Shadow ability. My body, and Phlixx, shimmered then vanished. As long as I kept to the shadows I was effectively invisible.
A ninja entered the warehouse a moment later. Clothed from head to toe in ninja garb, twin swords sheathed on his back, he hurried by. Everything he wore, from his ninja mask which only showed his eyes, to his ninja shoes were a bright red.
For a second he seemed to glance in my direction looking straight at me. But he moved on as if in a hurry to catch up with someone.
Me.
After a count to ten I dropped my Shadow and stepped out of hiding. I could not be sure the red ninja followed me for the Quest scroll, or I had simply been targeted for pickpocketing. But I didn't believe in coincidences.
I went back out into the street and approached the docks with their waiting sky-barges. This time I kept my eye open for the red ninja. The barge to Benton Fields was at the end with a half dozen players and crew milling about on deck.
Stacks of goods and crates lined the dock, and I slinked my way through them. I concentrated on getting to the sky-barge while Phlixx watched behind us.
“Last call for Benton Fields!” Bellowed the sky-barge captain. I crouched next to a pile of wooden crates a short distance away.
The captain boarded, and the ramp retracted. The barge lifted up.
“Clear?” I asked Phlixx.
“All clear, my love!”
I ran, Phlixx clinging to me. Bolting out from my hiding place I charged right at the ascending barge. When I hit the edge of the dock, I activated my leap ability and jumped. Although I didn't have a lot of skill points in leap, it was enough for me to catch the barge railing with both hands. After pulling myself up and over to stand on the deck, I looked around. The other players gave me indifferent looks, but no one said anything. Just another crazy player risking a re-roll because she couldn't wait for the next sky-barge.
“That was fun,” I said. But Phlixx gasped and pointed.
There, on the edge of the receding dock, too far to jump from now, stood the red ninja looking in my direction.
“Oh, crud,” I said. “I could have handled that better, Phlixx.”
“What? Why?” Asked Phlixx looking gravely concerned.
“Now he knows where we're going,” I said, feeling immensely stupid. “And we'll have his friends waiting for us at Benton Fields which is a PvP zone.”
And if they caught me they'd get the Quest scroll.
CHAPTER FOUR
I sat on the bow of the sky-barge, feeling forlorn.
Phlixx sensed my despondency and patted my shoulder. “Don't be sad, love of my life. It can't be all bad.”
Companions weren't the most perceptive of game constructs. I doubted Phlixx even fully understood why I was annoyed with myself. But it gave me someone to talk to.
“I'm not sad,” I said, watching a carpet of green forest pass below. “Grabbing this barge was a short sighted mistake. I should of taken a different one leading somewhere else, like Kratin's Crater or the Far Banks. Then made my way to the Quest site. Would have given whoever is trying to follow me another direction to go.”
“Can't we do that at Benton Fields?” Phlixx asked. The wind made little waves across his fur.
“Nope. The Quest site is on the way there. Would take too long to circle back.” I shook my head, thinking I was taking this too seriously. My intent was to jump off the sky-barge at its closest point to the Quest site. But once the sky-barge arrived at Benton Fields and I wasn't on it, whoever waited for me there would figure things out.
Still, maybe it wasn't so bad. I'd still have significant lead time to finish the Quest before anyone else got a chance. And the moment I officially activated the scroll everyone's gossip feeds will spill the news that a new Legendary Quest was available.
In essence, I had only one chance to complete it because soon there would be legions of players descending on it.
Phlixx tapped the hilt of my sheathed sword. “We are arriving at the place.” I had Phlixx tuned into the drop-off point so I wouldn't miss it. Letting your mind wander while floating for hours on a sky-barge was a gamer's hazard.
I stood and peered down. The sky-barge was approaching a range of high hills. They would shorten the distance I would have to fall.
“Going to have to put you away for a bit, little buddy,” I said to Phlixx.
The ferret looked aghast. “But why! I don't want to leave you now, oh, dearest one! It would break my heart.”
“Yeah, but a fall like this will kill you, and your death respawn time is too long. Unsummoning you drops that to a fraction of the time.” I offered my little companion a reassuring smile, but it didn't work.
Phlixx started crying, sitting on the railing and wailing into the wind. “No! Please! Don't do this!”
The hills were now passing by. I didn't have time for this. “I'll see you soon, I promise.”
Before he could respond I selected my companion icon and Phlixx blinked out of existence. I'd bring him back once I made to the Quest zone.
Gripping the side rigging, I scampered down a rope. Trees swept by underneath at an alarming speed.
No point delaying this. It's now or never, I thought, and released the rope. At the same time I activated my free-fall ability which would slow my drop speed. It wouldn't do much but I had to try to use it.
As I fell the wind whipped at my face and clothes. The ground raced up to meet me.
Whether good luck, or grave misfortune, I hit a tree and snapped branches as I dropped through the foliage. It may have slowed me a little, but it did damage, too.
The moment before impact I selected a health booster icon on my view screen. A message 'Health Increased 400%' appeared before me. Then I hit the ground, hard.
For a few disoriented moments I lay on my back and tried to get my bearings. High above, through the tree canopy, I saw the sky-barge pass from view.
Wow, that's really high up, I thought. The drop had been greater than I anticipated.
I sat up to find myself in a shallow crater that my fall had made. Branches and leaves from above cascaded down around me.
My health indicator now said, 'Health at 3%'.
Sheesh, that was bad. Without the booster I would have been re-rolling my character right now, cursing up a storm. All my gear, including the Quest scroll would have been left here at my point of death for anyone to come along and take.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. I stood and checked myself over, not that I expected anything to be really broken.
Although my health was low, I couldn't use another booster, or even one of the salves in my inventory, for a few more hours. I'd needed some genuine healing magic to fix me up.
I looked about. Trees and greenery everywhere. Pulling up my map I checked the location of the Quest zone, then I set off in that direction. It was still a fair distance away, so I set my avatar to auto-walk and pulled up a game news-feed to pass the time.
Nothing interesting. Just more of the same. Rumors of hacks and chea
ts. Interviews with high-level players talking about their adventures. Along the bottom was an auction house ticker which displayed the latest high value items and their most current (insane) bids.
One headline did catch my interest. A group of lore-hounds, players who studied and cataloged the games vast and detailed history, stated that some game characters were now discussing the possibility of the Demon King's return to the known realm. This was a trope played out for years. The ultimate goal of the Demon King, like all big bad guys, was to destroy the world and enslave the survivors. Thousands of years ago his minions had spread evil across the land, but only the mighty efforts of a few stalwart heroes drove him back to the Demon Void.
Typical stuff. But now, it seemed the game had decided to reintroduce this big bad guy, instead of keeping him relegated to the history books.
I shrugged and checked my map. The Quest location was close, so I closed down my news-feed and resumed control of my avatar.
A majestic view of a mountain range presented itself as the forest thinned out. The terrain became more rocky and my walk turned into a climb. My eyes kept darting to my low health bar, but there was little I could do about it now. As long as a bear or wandering monster didn't surprise me I would be okay.
Soon I reached what looked to be the place where the red 'X' on the map was. A flat rock wall against a large rocky outcropping appeared to be the most likely spot. I peered about but saw nothing else remarkable about the area.
From behind me I heard a noise. I whirled around sword in my hands ready for an ambush. No one was there. But the noise continued from nearby. I realized the echoing effect off the rocks confused my senses.
Then a man emerged from around a boulder. He appeared to be floating above the ground but in actuality he stood on a small platform. No, not a platform. A sheet of ice. As he propelled toward me, the ice forming a trail in the air behind him that melted away to water which rained on the ground and vanished.
The man on his moving ice sheet got closer, stopped, and raised a hand. “Greetings!” He said. The ice sheet lowered and touched down. It melted away in a few moments leaving the man standing solidly on the rocky ground.
I knew who this was. “Feign?” I said and cautiously sheathed my sword. This guy knew how to make an entrance.
The man bowed. “The one and only. You are Vivian Valesh?”
Nodding, I got a better look at this new arrival. He was of average build, a little taller than me, and wore a sky-blue robe. He had a beard, sort of. It was a tight cluster of icicles that splayed out from his chin and glinted with the sunlight. His hair was snow - real snow, and shaped in a curl similar to what a snow drift would look like after a strong wind. When he spoke cold clouds of air plumed from his mouth. He looked to be in a perpetual deep freeze.
“You're an ice mage,” I said matter-of-factly.
“Very astute observation,” Feign said with a wink. “My favorite class to play. I've been leveling this avatar for years and can't get enough of the things he can do.”
I offered a smile. He seemed friendly enough. But I still had to be on my guard. He was Ogden Trite's man and needed to be dealt with caution. “You'll have a chance to use those abilities soon enough. I fully expect this Quest to be a tough one. You up for it?”
Feign chuckled, and little snow flakes shook from his body. “A Legendary Quest would be nothing but tough. I look forward to the challenge.” He looked around. “The others haven't arrived yet?”
“Not yet, but I'll check on them now.” I sent Mudhoof a chat request and it was immediately answered.
“Vee!” Said Mudhoof. “Are you there yet?”
“Yeah, I'm here. How far out are you now? What's your ETA?”
Mudhoof laughed. “My ETA is about three seconds.”
I peered at the screen in confusion. He didn't look to be moving at all. In fact he was sitting in what appeared to be a pub. He even drank from a tankard of ale.
“What the heck, Muddie? You aren't even en route.” Anger flared in my chest. If he was holed up in a bar, it could be hours before he arrived.
“Now, Vee. When have I ever let you down?” Said the minotaur and closed our chat window.
I blinked in surprise and was about to issue a volley of curse words when the air to my right shimmered and glowed.
Then, the air returned to normal, and standing before me was Mudhoof, and a knight clad in shiny silver armor.
“Here we are!” Mudhoof declared with a grin. “Three seconds. Not bad, huh?” He still held the tankard of ale and took a swig from it.
I was incredulous. “You used a Teleport Token? Those are some the most expensive things in the game!” Even my newly acquired deposit money would take a hefty dent just to buy one Teleport Token.
“Actually, we used two,” said the tall knight.
I gave Thorm, a Holy Knight, a scowl. “You could have just taken gates and sky-barges like some of us lowly players do.” I made a show of rubbing my back. “It nearly killed me, too.”
Thorm stepped forward, looking concerned. “Yeah, you look like you're almost done in. Let me cast a healing spell on you.” He waved his hands which were gloved in armor. His entire body was encased in heavy silver armor, just like the knights of the round table might have worn. The helmet he wore was peaked with a topknot of red manticore hair. Sheathed at his belt was a great broadsword. His long blonde mustache wiggled frantically as he uttered the arcane words of the spell.
A swirling cloud of bright little stars fell over my body. My health indicator shot up to 100%.
“Thank you, sir knight,” I said with a bow.
“Anytime, m'lady,” Thorm returned the bow.
“If you two are done flirting, can we get the show on the road?” Mudhoof said. He stood taller than Thorm and wore a simple gold breastplate, and a gold chainmail skirt that went to his knees. Across his back was his uber ax. His long bull horns were capped with wicked spikes of steel.
“Oh, and this is Feign,” I said indicating the ice mage. “He'll be our magical backup.”
Mudhoof and Thorm gave the ice mage a once over, but politely greeted him. They were thinking the same as me. Who was this guy, and more importantly, what could he do?
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Feign said with a smile. If the two high-level fighters made him nervous, he didn't show it.
“Okay, let's do this,” I said and pulled the Quest scroll from my inventory. The others stared at it in wonder. But before I opened I said, “Remember, the second this is opened the quest marker will appear on the world map for all the other players to see. So, even though we get first run at it, we will be on a time limit.”
“It will take a while for other groups to get organized and get out here,” Thorm said.
“Not if they use Teleport Tokens,” Mudhoof said with a wry smile.
“True,” I said, “But I figure we will only have one shot at this, so let's make it count. Get in, follow the quest and get the Legendary Item.”
“And don't die,” Thorm said.
I didn't have a retort for that as it may be the likely outcome.
I opened the scroll and touched the red 'X'.
In the rock face before us, a circular gate appeared. The runes around its edges glowed a bright purple. Through the gate could be seen a staging platform surrounded by darkness.
“This is very exciting,” said Feign. “But I vote for a bathroom break before we continue. It might be a while before we get a chance.”
“Agreed,” I said.
Mudhoof said, “You guys are wimps. I keep a bucket near me. Saves time.” He grinned.
“Too much information, Muddie,” I said.
We took turns watching the other's idle avatars while each player stepped out of their simulation-suits to do their business. No one wanted to log off; would be too much of a hassle.
Once that was all taken care of I said, “Okay, let's get that Legendary.” But before any of us moved we were inter
rupted.
From behind us someone screamed, “Don't go through that gate!”
CHAPTER FIVE
We turned to see who yelled.
From the far tree line a centaur broke through and charged at us. His human torso was clad in the armored outfit of a samurai, and in his hands was a samurai sword. A stylized helmet of Japanese design hid his face except for his eyes.
“Don't go through, you FILTERED idiots!” The centaur-samurai screamed.
