Reward for successfully completing the raid:
25 gold
500 experience as your bonus for the battle and victory
Points collected toward the hidden bonus: 39 of 1000
“Oh, wow, the raid was a success,” I told the Hounds in surprise. “They finished it just now.”
“Really?” The mistress said happily. “That changes things a bit. I’m glad they did it. We’ll still have issues, but at least we can try to push back on that one.”
“You think they’ll argue with you about it? It sounded to me like they have their sights set much higher,” I noted.
“I don’t think our clan’s plan of action should really concern you much,” the scout said gently.
“Fredegar, if I were you, I’d sooner go run and find Hagen a gift and a thank-you for what he did for us and you personally rather than try to put him in his place. He partially made up for your mistake, in case you haven’t figured that out yet. And he certainly didn’t have to.”
The scout stood there for a second before leaving the office. The Witch followed him out with a rather unpleasant gaze.
***
“One thing I don’t understand,” I said in an attempt to ease the tension in the air, “is why the Favorites didn’t leave anyone to stand guard.”
“I can only see two possible reasons,” the Gray Witch responded quickly. “First, they probably assumed—as would have any other clan, including ours—that nobody would even think to violate the unwritten rules of the game. Everyone knows that clans are untouchable when they’re on a raid. Or I guess we should say, everyone knew that. It looks like the unwritten rules don’t mean anything anymore, which puts us in uncharted water.”
She walked over to her collection of symbols representing enemy clans and started pulling them off the board.
“And the second possibility?” I asked, prompting her after waiting for a bit.
“As if you don’t know what it is. You’re the clever one. Why haven’t you figured it out?”
“Well, maybe I have, maybe I haven’t,” I fidgeted. “I have an idea…”
“And? Out with it.” Six symbols dropped into a basket.
“They already knew it would happen. Maybe not all of them, but somebody—and not just some swordsman, either.”
“Exactly!” The Witch pointed a finger upward. “Although that’s pretty obvious, and the most obvious solutions usually aren’t the right ones.”
“But something’s not right,” I said, staring at the mistress. “If this was just a reason to start a war, they would have declared it already. Although…”
I realized that I might not have been right and cut myself off.
“Not necessarily,” the Gray Witch responded with a shake of her head. “It looks like you have an idea?”
“Well, yes. They may have already declared war, though not a war of strength—an information war.”
“Bingo.” The Gray Witch smiled. “Let me just make one small change: it isn’t a war of strength yet. ‘Yet’ is the key word there.”
“You think it’ll come to that?” Her tranquility shocked me.
“I’m sure it will—that’s why they formed their alliance. Well, that’s one of the reasons; I imagine there are three of them. But that, my friend, is where I’d like to finish our discussion of that topic. I hope you don’t mind.”
I shrugged. “Why would I? And hey, the less you know, the better you sleep.”
“Why did you join the Free Companies, by the way? It’s hard work from what I’ve been told.” The Witch’s question took me by surprise.
“I needed to get to the South, and that was the fastest way,” I replied, giving her a nearly honest answer.
“The fastest way?” The Witch whistled. “You could have just written me, and I’d have sent you South no problem.”
“No, I’m not going to be bothering you for little stuff like that. And it really isn’t that bad, though getting out is brutal. If that’s what you want.”
“Oh, yes?” the Witch asked. “What’s so hard about it? That wasn’t a problem before.”
“It’s more expensive than hard,” I said with a sigh. “You either serve out your year or pay 50,000 gold. I don’t have that kind of money, so it looks like I’ll be there a while.”
“Fifty grand? Pff!” the Witch snorted. “Just let our clan take care of it for you. Please, that’s nothing…”
“Oh, no, I’m enjoying it for now. The experience is good, and the money’s not bad either. Plus, it keeps me out of Miurat’s clutches.”
“You think he wants to get his hands on you?” She squinted at me.
“He promised to, at least,” I said, sighing again. “It wasn’t so much a threat, just…”
“If he promised, he’ll do it. That’s the kind of person he is,” the Witch said, making me feel so much better. “I wonder what he wants from you.”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. Not a clue.”
Someone knocked at the door, and Fredegar walked in before the Witch could answer.
“Hagen,” he said grandly, “thank you for what you did today for the Hounds of Death as well as for me personally. Please allow me the honor of giving you something I think you’ll find a use for in the game.”
“I hope it’s something nice?” The Gray Witch looked at her clan mate dubiously.
“I talked it over with Cedric just to make sure,” Fredegar said with a wave. “By the way, he’s in the hallway waiting for an audience. I traded two of my things to Pshik in the clan storehouse so he’d give me this. Hagen, open your exchange and send me a copper coin.”
Thoroughly intrigued by what he was going to give me, I decided not to play games, instead simply opening my exchange and sending Fredegar the coin he asked for. He winked, and a nondescript black belt popped up in my inventory. It was heavy, decorated with engraved…roses! You’re kidding!
Black Rose Belt
Belonged to one of the great warriors of the past, the Black Rose Knight. His devotion to his suzerain was so strong that, following the latter’s death in battle, he killed himself, holding himself to blame. His body was buried near the grave of his lord at his request.
From the Knightly Collection set
Set includes:
Wilfred’s Helmet
Sir Nigel’s Pauldrons
Sir Adrian’s Gauntlets
Molton’s Cuirass
Black Rose Belt
Mihal’s Greaves
+35 to strength
+31 to agility
+14% chance of avoiding critical wounds
+16% chance of disarming your opponent
+9% to abilities that have to do with the use of your shield
+7% running speed
Durability: 2400/2400
Minimum level for use: 92
Class limitation: warrior
Cannot be stolen, lost, broken, or gifted.
Does not disappear from the holder’s inventory after dying when coupled with at least two other items from the set.
The following bonuses are unlocked by using the complete set:
Three random active class abilities
Two random passive class abilities
+3 to one random attribute
+15% to your chances of getting items from dead enemies
+13% life energy
Yes! A fourth item from my set! At least there was some benefit to the crazy life I was leading. All I had left to do was make the short hop to Level 92.
“He’s a fan,” the Witch noted with a smile. “Nice work. What did you give him?”
Fredegar whispered quietly in her ear, apparently telling her about his gift.
“Hmm…I don’t think you're poor enough to be that excited about a simple set item,” the mistress remarked shrewdly. “Although, what difference does it make? You’re happy, and that’s the important thing. Where are you going now?”
“Headed back to the companies,” I said, shrugging. “
Where else? Maybe some of them survived. Even if they didn’t, though, they’ll reform the companies. Fattah and I will be veterans.”
“Fattah?” asked Fredegar. “Is he a player, too?”
I nodded. “Yep, and a good guy. We already became friends. Thanks so much for the present—it’s fantastic. I could jump for joy!”
“You got it,” Fredegar replied, and I could tell that he was tickled pink. “If you don’t mind, let’s get together in the next couple days for a chat. I wouldn’t mind meeting your Fattah either.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Fredegar wants to add you as a friend.
Accept?
I clicked accept only to have the interface pop up again.
The Gray Witch wants to add you as a friend.
Accept?
“I don’t think Elina needs to know about everything that goes on,” the Witch said, a smile barely creasing her face. “Better write me directly in the future.”
“Of course,” I agreed. “That’ll be faster. Okay, I’m off. I just need to find my friend…”
“He’s right on the other side of the door,” Fredegar said with a laugh. “He’s coming to his senses after seeing our small clan storehouse.”
“He sent you the file?” the Witch asked the rogue.
The latter nodded, adding a quick clarification. “And he erased his copy; I made sure with some powder.”
I sneezed, remembering the truth powder. Can’t stand that stuff.
“Thanks again, Hagen.” The Gray Witch came over to me. “I’m happy I have friends like you who are always willing to help, not even thinking about what’s in it for them or wondering how their actions could do a good turn for others.”
“Always at your service, mistress,” I said, bowing my head, only for it to be filled suddenly with the thought of who else might have had an interest in the commotion. What if there’s a third party out there? Somebody invisible, somebody right now in the shadows, somebody who’s giving orders because they have the right to—because they pay to have their orders carried out. I didn’t say that out loud, figuring that the other people in the room were at least as intelligent as I was—probably much more so.
“And now let’s talk about what I’m going to do with you,” I heard the Gray Witch say just before the door closed.
Poor Fredegar. Sure, he’d screwed up, but I felt bad for him nonetheless.
Cedric Sekira was standing near the entrance to the Gray Witch’s office. “How is it in there?” he asked, skipping the greeting and nodding toward the closed door.
I pantomimed first suffocating myself and then slitting my throat.
“Seriously?” He frowned, and I nodded in reply.
Cedric crossed himself, knocked on the door, and went in.
“You know, you’re a good friend to have,” I heard Joker say. The scout was sitting on his heels against the other wall, where he was spinning a dagger in his hand. The blue and red flashes coming from the blade matched his smile.
“It’s incredible,” he said, giving it another spin. “I tend to have pretty good stuff, and my work sees all kinds of things pass through my hands, though I’ve never seen anything like this. I’m thrilled!”
“All’s well that ends well,” I agreed.
“What’d you get?” Joker asked with an innocent expression on his face.
“A very big thank-you,” I replied, giving him an unbelievably honest look.
“How big?” the scout asked stubbornly.
“Three kisses on each cheek, a clap on the back, and a ‘well done.’”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Joker replied, apparently without taking the least offense. “I don’t really like showing off my things either.”
“Then what’s that about?” I glanced at the dagger.
“What’s the point of hiding it from you? If you wanted to know what I picked, you could have just asked your friends. You’re cool though. I wouldn’t have thought someone at Level 50 wearing what you’re wearing would be on such good terms with the Gray Witch. We definitely need to be friends. I may not have tea parties with the heads of the top guilds, but I do have good connections in the underworld. Like I said, buy, sell, find things out, hire people.”
“Why didn’t you use your connections in Maykong? How’d you get in trouble?” I squinted at him dubiously.
Joker sighed. “It happens…”
“Okay, my friend,” I said, emphasizing that last word, “let’s head back to the camp. Maybe they’ll tell us something about the raid. I’m interested to hear what happened. They told you to keep your mouth shut about where we were and what you saw, right?”
“That’s just the half of it.” He’d obviously been given the full rundown. “Not a word to anyone.”
“Excellent.”
***
It was oddly quiet at headquarters. Nobody was running anywhere, there were no corporals or lieutenants yelling orders, and there weren’t any warriors tramping through portals to rescue villages in need. It was empty, deserted, and dreary.
“Wow, everyone’s dead,” Joker murmured as we walked between two barracks.
“That’s pretty much the size of it,” we heard Fattah say from around a corner. A second later, he appeared.
“Fattah! It’s great to see you on this side of the grave,” I said.
“Good to see you, too,” the elf replied as calmly as ever. “Hey, what happened on the human side of the Crisna? I have no idea what went down in Mettan, and I’d rather not remember what happened in the Emperor’s palace—the night of the living dead.”
“It was crazy,” Joker said with a wild gesture. “Unbelievable!”
Fattah raised his right eyebrow inquisitively.
“Joker, why don’t I tell him?” I said, worried that he might blurt out something he shouldn’t. Fattah was one of us, of course, but still…
I gave him the lite version, avoiding most of the details and taking care to emphasize that we jumped into the hotel before we could see how things wrapped up.
“And as soon as everything calmed down, we came down here. We must have just missed each other,” I said in conclusion, quickly asking a question to make sure Fattah couldn’t ask any of his own. “So what happened on that side of the river? After that monster knocked me out with his hammer, I mean…”
“I didn’t see you get killed,” Fattah replied, rubbing his temples. “We got the two giants ourselves, though half of what was left from the Free Companies died in the process. Once that was done, I don’t think you could have come up with a single company between us. Then the gates came crashing down, which was when the clan jumped in. They told us to guard the entrance, so that’s what we did. Ten minutes later all the undead we’d already killed started coming back to life—including the two giants. Singkh gave the command to close the gate, and we headed toward the throne room.”
Fattah fell silent.
“And?” I asked.
“And what? It was hell in the corridors, or at least something like it. The dead started coming out of the piles of bones, collecting themselves like Transformers and throwing themselves at us. It was a massacre in the throne room. There was no taking out the clan, obviously, but they had a much harder time when everything started respawning. Their main group had just gotten to the Emperor, too…”
“How was there room for all of them?” Joker rubbed the bridge of his nose in surprise. “Was the throne room really that big?”
“Just think of a soccer field,” Fattah said, glancing at him. “And now imagine four of them, with people fighting across every square inch.”
“Brutal.” Joker was impressed.
“As soon as they killed the Emperor, the portals opened, and everyone jumped in—some to their fortresses, others to Mettan. The clan leadership went to Mettan, presumably to deal with that whole incident.”
“Probably,” I agreed. “So our guys are all dead?”
“No, actual
ly. At least, there’s some good news,” Fattah replied, cheering me up. “Lane, Ur, and the brothers somehow managed to survive. I was shocked. Other squads were wiped out; there are only four players left in the Third Company.”
“Really?” I was overjoyed to hear the news. “So half our squad survived? Well, with me, more than half!”
“Yep. Sure, we don’t have a commander, but I imagine that situation will be remedied soon. Grokkh survived, too, and he was asking around to see if anyone saw what happened to his goblin.”
“And?” The topic was a serious one, and I had to be ready for anything.
“Nobody saw anything, but that doesn’t mean you can let down your guard.”
“Of course. All right, who’s going where?”
“I’m headed offline,” Joker said with a wave.
“Me, too, I think,” I replied with a sigh. “I need a break.”
“And I—” Fattah started to say something, though he was interrupted by a bossy roar.
“You warriors are only going to decide who goes where after you get permission from your commander!”
The three of us turned to see Grokkh, his eyes bloodshot and his tone livid.
“Yes, sir, Master Lieutenant!” Fattah and I barked in unison. Joker stood to attention and eyed Grokkh warily. He wasn’t his commander, but there was no sense arguing.
“Listen up, warriors! Because of the heavy losses sustained by all nine of the companies, we’re taking the time to fit up and reform. All combat missions are canceled for five days, though you will be paid as usual. Questions?”
“Do we have to be here for the five days?” I asked quickly.
“No, you can use passes,” Grokkh said grudgingly. “Anything else?”
“No questions, Master Lieutenant,” I answered.
“You and I, warrior, are going to have a talk,” Grokkh said, jabbing a finger at my chest before heading toward the command post. We could see a couple figures moving around in it.
“Excellent,” Joker said, rubbing his hands. “Then, gentlemen, I’m off. I changed my mind about heading offline.”
He opened a portal and jumped into it.
Fayroll [04] Gong and Chalice Page 12
