Fayroll [04] Gong and Chalice

by Andrey Vasilyev

  “You should be a good student; you shouldn’t upset your mother.”

  “You should go to university. Otherwise, you’ll have to join the army.”

  “You should win this competition and bring glory to our department.”

  “You should marry me. You’ll do the right thing, no?”

  “You should come with me to meet my mom. I mean, if you don’t want to, you certainly don’t have to, but…”

  “The kid should learn English. Who cares that he’s only three? That’s the perfect age to start.”

  “You should go on a business trip…”

  Should, should, should… You owe everyone everything all the time. Okay, so every once in a while, someone owes you something, but the tables turn that way with much less frequency. Bachelors owe people a little less than married men but they can’t completely escape their debt to society and the people around them. Women have it much easier since they—or at least most of them—are more organized in general, and they take limitations on their liberty in stride. They find the silver lining, quickly adapting to the limitations placed on them, unlike men. The latter are linear and less cerebral, accustomed to just surging ahead. Although, to be fair, hearing what goes on inside a woman’s head isn’t something any man should wish for. Some things are better off left unknown…

  Anyway, as a result, men only have three places where they can quickly spend at least a little time off by themselves without all the endless responsibilities they’re beset by: the garage, their porcelain throne, and, strange as it may seem, online games. Games are where they can freely choose their path, at least, unless they have the misfortune of joining a clan like mine. To be fair, though, even the Thunderbirds aren’t as bad as real life.

  And that was why I had mixed feelings every time I opened my eyes to see the barracks, where my squad’s life played out so wonderfully and fascinatingly. On the one hand, I’d chosen that road myself and therefore had nothing to complain about; on the other, showing up every day was like going to work, and I had to just follow orders. That was what was getting on my nerves the most, and that was the biggest reason why I wanted to take care of the ancient temples as fast as I could.

  I’d also spent half an hour the previous evening thinking about whether I should have some of the money deposited in my real-life account or just leave it in the game for the time being. My final decision was that pulling it out wasn’t worth the potential downside. The bosses, I was sure, already knew about the sale, but it was within the rules of the game and aimed at reaching a particular goal. That meant I was in the clear. Joker wasn’t in any danger either since the bosses had to know that he was my personal bug, and wouldn’t be touching him; he was useful. There was no saying what kind of future he’d have after I left the game, of course. But about pulling money out of the game…

  There wasn’t much inherently wrong with the transaction itself, though they could start throwing me snide comments like, “What, we don’t pay you enough?” They might find a way to get back at me, and they might not, but the headache wasn’t worth it. For the meantime, I decided the money could just sit there waiting for its moment in the sun. It was safer where it was, anyway. Once I made the decision to give up the game, I could decide what to do. Although, a test transfer wouldn’t be the worst idea… Sending a large sum (and it would be large, seeing as how I already had four items from the Knightly Collection set) could be dangerous, and worth breaking up into a number of smaller transfers. I figured I could give that more thought later—I had one idea about how I could resolve the situation.

  “Ohhh,” I heard Ur’s bass voice boom in the barracks. “This is miserable. And it’s only getting worse…”

  “What’s wrong with him?” I glanced at Lane, lying on his top bunk as always.

  “He overdid it yesterday,” giggled Ping, who was also there, along with his brother. “Hi, Hagen!”

  “Drank way too much,” Pong confirmed. “Hagen, hi!”

  “It wouldn’t be anything unusual if he’d just had too much to drink,” we heard from the top bunk. “But breaking three stools over his head yesterday…”

  “Why three?” I asked, surprised. There would have been nothing surprising if it had only been one; we mercenaries liked our simple joys.

  “On a bet,” Lane replied, his head hanging over the side of his bunk. “There were supposed to be three, and he might have pulled it off if he hadn’t had so much wine to drink. But he’d already been going hard, so there was no shot.”

  “Ohhhh,” Ur moaned in reply.

  “I had too much, too,” Lane concluded gloomily. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have lost all my money on this buffoon.”

  “So, you’re in the market for a job?” I asked, squinting.

  “Looks like it,” he nodded. “Why? Do you have something?”

  “Of course,” I replied. “But a magician never reveals his secrets.”

  “We’re going to kill a magician?” Lane frowned. “I don’t like going after them. Nothing’s ever straightforward; they always infect you with something, and then you spend the rest of your life itching or stinking.”

  “One time, we decided to kill one of them in our village—while he was sleeping, obviously. He was still able to torch half the village before we got him!” Pong said, his eyes wide.

  “Half the village!” Ping confirmed.

  “Why did you have to kill him? And especially when he was sleeping?” I asked. “He couldn’t have been hurting anyone right then…”

  “He had a purse full of gold. What choice did we have?” replied a surprised Ping.

  “Killing him was the only option,” Pong said. “What else could we have done? Society would never have forgiven us.”

  I need to figure out where that crazy pair is from and give wherever that is a wide berth. If that’s the kind of gentle, friendly people they have there…

  Lane jumped down.

  “Ur’s out of the game today,” he said to me, “so it’s either the two of us, or we take the robber brothers with us.”

  “We’re not robbers,” Ping cut in with a frown.

  “Not robbers in the least.” Pong was cut to the quick. “We’re honest warriors! We just don’t like it when other people’s gold isn’t in our pockets.”

  “Fantastic.” Lane was enjoying the brothers’ outrage. “And we’re supposed to trust our backs to them.”

  “We don’t stab friends in the back,” Ping responded grandly.

  I looked at Lane to see him grunt and nod his affirmation. “They’re not lying—we’ve never had anything like that from them. Yet.”

  “So what’s going on?” Ping asked quietly. “It isn’t too dangerous, is it?”

  “We aren’t cowards,” Pong interjected, “it’s just that the pay has to live up to the danger. Otherwise, there’s no point in doing it, right?”

  “It’s pretty simple,” I explained. “You have to get me somewhere and then wait for me there. If something happens along the way, we fight together. If not, then you’re off the hook. For all that, you get 600 gold apiece. The only thing to remember is that nobody can know about this— absolutely no one.”

  Ping and Pong whispered back and forth for a minute before telling me that they were in.

  “So where to today?” Lane asked as he came over, ready to go.

  “You’re going to have to tell me that. Do you have a map?” I’d forgotten that I wanted to buy a map. Maybe not as nice a map as Reineke had, maybe a bit cheaper…

  Lane pulled a map out of his pack and laid it out on the table. It was old, worn and creased, and filthy, though you could still read all the place names.

  “Where?” he asked.

  I pulled up my interface, compared the two visually, and stabbed a finger down in the middle of his map.

  “Here or somewhere nearby. Maybe a mile or two away.”

  “Sunitra,” Lane winced.

  Ping and Pong went back to whispering.

  �
�What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Well, it’s nothing exactly,” Lane answered evasively. “Just that the place isn’t a great one. It’s Sunitra.”

  “And?” My voice started to rise. “What’s the matter with it?”

  “People go missing there,” Pong hissed loudly.

  “Whole villages,” said Ping. “Not a soul left.”

  “The Great Snake lived around there in the swamps, too,” Pong continued, eyes wide.

  “Chingachgook?” I asked with a sigh.[6]

  “No, just the Great Snake.” Ping didn’t bother to ask who I was talking about.

  I grabbed the bull by the horns. “So, does that make a difference? Did you change your minds?”

  “I’m coming; I already signed up,” Lane replied as he pulled on his chainmail. I couldn’t help but note that he’d left it behind for our other adventures.

  “We’ll still come, so long as you throw in another hundred each,” the brothers said in unison.

  “Agreed,” I replied shortly. “Everyone gets another hundred.”

  The brothers cheered up and scurried around, getting ready.

  The spot really wasn’t all that great. It was a textbook jungle, complete with water vapor in the air and a squelching goo underfoot. I couldn’t even figure out if all the liquid around us was water or sap from some kind of plant. The sun could barely push its way through the tree branches, vines, and epiphytes above us, and so the portal took us from the camp’s sunny plain to a dark twilight.

  “Smells like snakes,” Lane said, his nose twitching. “It’s a rotten place, by Torok.”

  “Rotten, for sure,” Pong agreed. “I don’t like snakes.”

  “Who does?” I muttered, thanking my lucky stars I’d picked up a nice immune booster against the crawling nasties. It didn’t protect me completely, but still…

  Dear players,

  Tomorrow, from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Moscow time, we’ll be doing some server maintenance.

  In addition to what we had planned, we’ll also be installing an update, so please head over to the game’s official site to read all about what’s included.

  To avoid losing your experience and items, and to ensure a smooth gaming experience as you complete your quests, we recommend that you avoid logging in during that period.

  Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

  Well, I didn’t know everything about the update, but I did know that the Free Companies were about to get a new limitation. And the fact that they couldn’t be used as frequently meant that our recruiting efforts were about to yield benefits. I’d definitely made the right decision to start work on the temples. Otherwise, I might not have finished in time. I wonder if I can get to both temples today.

  The spot really was rotten. It stank of mucus and some other crap, and I had the constant feeling that there was something alive wiggling under my feet. Noises came at us from all sides, and the atmosphere… It was unpleasant.

  The brothers obviously didn’t like it either. They continually looked around and whispered back and forth. Only Lane tramped on ahead unperturbed; he couldn’t care less. There was a man in complete control of himself. I envied him.

  The temple sprang up suddenly out of the jungle like a walrus out of the water. We had been walking along, tripping over roots, slapping at buzzing insects, and maneuvering around enormous trees when there appeared a small clearing. In the middle, was the temple—which was a bit bigger than and just as partially ruined as the first temple.

  “Huh, I wonder what’s under the temple,” Pong said suddenly.

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind knowing. What if there’s gold?” Ping agreed. “Or diamonds!”

  “What makes you think there’s anything under the temple at all?” I asked.

  “Of course there is!” Ping perked up. “Look, can you see how the ground to the left is sunken into a kind of groove? And again from the other side? That means there’s some kind of brickwork down there, and where there’s an underground passage or something like that, there’s also a secret hidden. Nobody’s been here to fill in the earth or shore it up on the inside for a long time, which is why it looks like that. I just wonder why it’s so narrow… A human wouldn’t be able to fit in there.”

  “Absolutely. It’s narrow but long. See how far it stretches?” added Pong.

  It was true. The groove ran off into the trees.

  “I wonder who would possibly need an underground passage here in the jungle. Does anybody besides animals come here?” Lane looked to actually be surprised.

  “No idea,” I replied with a shrug. “Maybe it’s less a cave under a temple, and more a temple over a cave. The passage could’ve been there before they built the temple.”

  The brothers glanced at each other wordlessly, though Lane looked at me.

  “Going in alone again?”

  I nodded. Lane shook his head unhappily, though he went off and sat down by a tree. The brothers made themselves comfortable next to him. I waved and dove into the temple entrance.

  You entered the Temple of Maanasa

  Your task is to get the Key of Guile by beating the Test of Agility.

  If you can complete the task efficiently and intelligently, spending less than seven minutes on it, you will get a bonus reward.

  The air in the temple wasn’t as stale as in the last one, though I thought I caught a whiff of a swamp. Also, there were torches burning in the best gaming tradition—the kind that never go out. Sure, in some games, you can pull them off the wall and get a pretty penny for them, but in Fayroll you could neither get them off the wall nor find anyone willing to buy them.

  I pulled out my sword and walked cautiously into the temple hall. It definitely wasn’t smaller than the first temple, and I was pretty sure it was actually a bit larger. It also wasn’t as bare. There were chunks of rock, hooks on the walls that looked to be made for ceremonial lamps, benches around the outside of the hall, and some kind of stone shelves on the walls themselves. Everything was covered in dust. Most of it was lying on the floor, and everything had tufts of something hanging off them. On the far wall, just like the last time, I saw the key, though it was emanating an icy blue color, rather than the previous red. It wasn’t even covered by a grill like in the Temple of Lakashman; this time, it was behind an open-work mesh held shut by nothing more than a braid and a hook. All I had to do was unlatch it and grab the key. That was it!

  I looked around, examining the walls. I was sure the same trick wouldn’t happen twice but still… Everything looked good; the walls were smooth, with green streaks running down them and a thin film covering some sections.

  As I stood at the entrance, I tried to figure out what I was waiting for. It was quiet, with just the sound of the jungle wheezing and breathing in the background. Water dripped somewhere, and I heard the old stones of the temple rustling together. Taking a deep breath, I started walking across the flagstones that made up the floor, moving as quickly and silently as I could toward the key. Nothing happened as I pattered across the floor. My pace quickened, and my muscles tensed for a flight toward any of the walls at a moment’s notice. But nothing had happened by the time I got to the key. I took a closer look at the hook and the mesh. The whole thing looked fine, just waiting for me to open it. And that’s what I was about to do when a slight breeze ruffled my neck and the back of my head. I heard the same rustling behind me that I’d noticed at the entrance, only this time it was louder and much scarier. Turning around was the last thing I wanted to do. I’d already figured out what I was going to see when I did. But my whole being yelled at me, Turn, turn, or you’re a dead man!

  My head slowly swiveled around, and I stared into the enormous, unblinking eyes of a gigantic snake. “Old stones of the temple rustling together”…You’re no poet; you’re a fool. They even said who you’d find here! Who needs underground passageways in the jungle? Buddhist monks? The snake had been doing the rustling as it wormed its way through one of the tunnels into
the temple. There it was, the keeper of the temple, and I had to kill it! How? Or do I have to kill it? There was something about agility…

  The giant monster’s eyes looked deep into my own, pupil to pupil. If I hadn’t known that snakes weren’t intelligent, I would have sworn that the one in front of me was enjoying the situation and smiling sarcastically. Its mouth hung slightly open, and I saw two enormous fangs with greenish drops oozing from them. Just one of those drops, I could only imagine, was enough to take out my whole clan with enough left over for Fortune’s Favorites.

  “Hiss-ss,” it said, its forked tongue slithering in and out of its mouth.

  “Hi,” I answered, leaping for one of the shelves on the walls.

  It streaked after me, knocking me off with its powerful body. I bounced and flopped across the floor, rolling across a bench and grabbing a hook to jump once again to the side.

  The snake chased me around the temple like a rabbit. It could have killed me a hundred times over, though it didn’t. I swear by all the gods, it was just playing with me. I felt like I was trapped by the kind of child who would first tear the wings off the fly before jabbing it with a toothpick or match to watch it crawl desperately away. Only then would the child bring a slipper down on top of it. Or a newspaper…

  I dodged and weaved, I dropped to the floor to duck sweeps of its tail and head (though the snake hid its fangs, making sure I didn’t die before my time by getting accidentally scraped along one of them), and the whole time it hovered above me, waiting for me to pull myself up and make a run for it again.

  Because of the fear that engulfed me, I completely forgot why I was there and what I was supposed to be doing. All I wanted was to get out of the temple and never come back. Really, I was ready to give up the game forever right then and there. And there was another thing: I had the feeling that if the fanged beast bit into me right there, I wouldn’t just die there in the game; I’d die in the real world, as well. It was nonsense, of course, but I was sure of it in the moment.