Reward:
2000 experience
Valuable trophy
That just left finding the trophy. Maybe I’m supposed to go pick something myself?
You completed a set of hidden quests: All Hail the King!
Reward for completing the entire set:
8000 experience
4000 gold
Title: Pillar of the Western Throne
And then: ding!
You unlocked Level 60!
Points ready to be distributed: 5
“Anna, would you m-mind if our noble friend Hagen t-took Gaynor’s sword for himself?” Brother Yur asked suddenly, stopping next to the body once belonging to Federik’s chief of security. “To remember all th-this by.”
“He’s welcome to it,” the queen replied graciously, her voice slightly quivering. “That’s even better.”
“T-take it, my friend. It’s a g-good sword, and it belonged to a g-good warrior. Sometimes enemies are vile and c-cowardly; sometimes they’re good.” Brother Yur bent over and picked up the sword, which had a gilded hilt besides the wavy blade, and held it out to me.
“Okay,” the queen said, straightening up and looking at me. “Now that we’re talking about rewards, I’m happy to give you, Thane Hagen of the Western Mark, your well-earned trophy. That title will be yours by right as soon as I give the decree tomorrow. As far as your other rewards, come and take them.”
I went over to the throne and saw that Anna was holding a filthy old chalice with something rolling around in the bottom of it.
You completed a quest: Chalice of Memory
You found the Chalice of Memory.
To get your reward, talk to Idrissa the South.
I looked inside it to see two rings.
“Are they for me, too?” I asked cautiously.
“They are,” she nodded. “How could I give one of the heroes of my coronation—a hero whose blade and good will made me queen—just this old chalice? That would have been an unworthy beginning for my reign. Take the two rings.”
“My Queen,” Bran said, walking into the hall. “Did I miss something? It’s just that about a hundred guards tried to break into the palace…”
“And?” The queen’s brow curved inquisitively.
“They won’t be breaking in anywhere else.” Bran flashed a white-toothed smile, and the queen gave him a look laden with more than one meaning.
Ah, I realized happily, now she has someone to take control of her guards, so I’d better get out of here. It was a fantastic opportunity for a role player, and they would have been overjoyed at the whole thing: the plot, knocking off the king, taking control of the palace guard… But it wasn’t for me.
“Your majesty,” I started, coughing into my fist.
She stopped contemplating Bran and glanced over at me.
“Do you mind if I run off for a bit to take care of the chalice?” I waved the artifact. “I’ll be back later.”
“Of course not.” The queen waved back, gesturing for me to leave.
“See you soon, H-Hagen,” Brother Yur said, coming over and starting in a low voice, “Y-you’re making a good decision. Stay away from Aegan f-for the n-next year or two. I would be h-happy to see you a-at the order’s castle in Leeba.”
“I’ll stop by if I have the chance,” I promised. “If I happen to be in that area.”
I opened a portal and headed straight to Eiliana the West’s grove. I wasn’t sure if my friends from all the different clans were following me, though I didn’t care. Not even a little bit. The whole adventure was supposed to end right there—or at least the part of it I’d been working on.
Still, before I headed into the grove, I looked around. With nobody in sight, I pulled Gaynor’s sword out of my bag.
Four-in-One Sword
This one-handed sword once belonged to four generations of heroes, passed down from one to the other.
Damage: 295-380
+34 to strength
+20% chance of doing critical damage
+14% chance of successfully counter-attacking
+14% chance of disarming your opponent
+7% chance that abilities used in battle will recharge instantly
Class limitation: warrior
Durability: 533/700
Minimum level for use: 65
It wasn’t a bad sword at all, and at least as good as the one I was using. Five levels later, I’d be able to think about upgrading to it. And what about those rings?
Friend of the West Ring
Reputational item
Gives the right to enter the palace of the Western kings.
Gives the right to receive any and all information at the Academy of Wisdom.
Frees the holder from the obligation to pay tariffs and taxes in the Western lands.
Guarantees the loyalty of the royal services in the Western lands.
Cannot be stolen, lost, or gifted.
Does not disappear from the holder’s inventory after dying.
Durability: 1000/1000
Class limit: none
Minimum level for use: none
There was a lot there, but it was also a lot about nothing. Still, I figured it might come in handy at some point—especially that part about visiting the Academy of Wisdom.
Krone’s Signet Ring
Belonged to Krone, one of the greatest kings of ancient times. He was born a lowly barbarian but endured trials and wars to become king of all the North.
From the Krone, Barbarian King set
Set includes:
Krone’s Helmet
Krone’s Chainmail
Krone’s Cloak
Krone’s Boots
Krone’s Sword
Krone’s Signet Ring
+65 to strength
+54 to stamina
+18% to dodge ability
+16% chance of giving your opponent a penetrating wound
+9% chance of finding treasure and hiding places
+11% running speed
Durability: 3000/3000
Minimum level for use: 130
Class limitation: warrior
Cannot be stolen, lost, broken, or gifted.
The following bonuses are unlocked by using the complete set:
+100 to strength
+25% chance of doing critical damage
+15% chance of getting a weapon from dead enemies
+15% resistance to cold
The ring wasn’t completely pointless, though with that minimum level… Anyway, I figured it would be good to have in reserve. I could always just sell it to Joker. All right, time to face the music in the woods.
I walked in and shouted into the trees, not really worried about tails.
“Hey, Eiliana, are you here?”
“Come this way,” I heard the dryad call. “I’m here.”
Ten steps later, I tripped over a root and tumbled into a field I didn’t really remember. The grove of trees had been there the last time I was there, but not the field.
Flashing in the center of the field was a fire that lit up the area, and I noticed Eiliana as well as the rest of the dryads. They were all standing across from each other at different ends of the field. I couldn’t tell, but I imagined they were standing in each of their four directions.
“Wow, you’re like Satanists or something,” I said to them. Something wasn’t right, and I didn’t like it.
“Did you get what we need?” Eiliana asked, ignoring what I said.
“The chalice?” I responded.
“Obviously!” She and her sisters were all tense, and the way they were looking at me made me want to grab my sword. “Where is it?”
“Right here.” I tapped my bag. “But first I want to know what you all are up to.”
“I’d be happy to tell you,” Eiliana said with a smile as she smoothly pulled a dagger out of somewhere. Its blade glinted in the light of the fire.
Chapter Twenty-Six
In which the sun comes up over Fayroll (part one
)
“Sisters!” Eiliana went back to her spot and lifted the hand with the dagger toward the sky.
The other dryads also held their palms high, daggers flashing, duelling with the reflection from the fire.
“Dome!” A small red flame burst out of the tip of Eiliana’s dagger. It looked like ball lightning, and a small filament stretched skyward. The same thing happened to each of Mesmerta’s other servants, though each of them had differently colored filaments shooting toward the heavens. It was a fascinating sight, and one I thought was absolutely gorgeous to watch. With that said, I would have preferred to be a witness, rather than a participant in whatever was happening. I didn’t know if the filaments were going to entangle me and leave me vulnerable to whatever the dryads had planned, or if something else was going on. How was I supposed to know what Eiliana meant by the word “dome”?
As those thoughts ran through my head, the filaments met a good distance up in the sky, and a transparent, rainbow-colored dome filled in between them. It looked like the force fields in fantasy movies. What’s going on?
“Now nobody will be able to get in or out,” Eiliana said with satisfaction. “Nobody will be able to hear or see us either.”
“Who’s going to be watching?” I asked. “It’s late, everybody’s asleep.”
“The trees told me there were two spies hiding in them,” she replied. “They came with you.”
So I really was being followed. Is this my life now? Ridiculous... It wasn’t that I was annoyed, it was just…No, you know what? I really am annoyed!
“Hagen, give me the chalice. There isn’t much time left before dawn, so we need to hurry.”
“If you don’t get it done tonight, you can postpone the ceremony until tomorrow,” I replied with a shrug. “What’s the big deal?”
“When Mesmerta finds out—and she will find out—that we had that chalice and didn’t perform the ceremony right away, she’ll destroy us,” Ogina the East said, wincing in fear. “She’s terrifying when she’s angry, you have to believe me!”
Wow. They’ve devoted their lives to the goddess, lived in some holes, and she might still get on their case…
“Fine, take your chalice. Idrissa, here.” I pulled it out of my bag and gave it to the dryad, who had walked over.
You completed a quest: Chalice of Memory
Reward:
30,000 experience
Dryad Friendship Ring
Your choice of unique animal helpers (pets)
The ability to use transportation (one-time use unlocking your choice of transportation type)
And then there it was again: ding!
You unlocked Level 61!
Points ready to be distributed: 5
I was really racking up the levels.
You received a single-use scroll with a passive ability: Rider.
You can learn it to gain the ability to use a means of transportation. To do so, select one of the five creatures designated as means of transportation in the Fayroll world.
To active the scroll, break the seal and say the name of the animal you would like to choose.
The scroll is a reward you received for completing a quest, and it cannot be given or sold to another player or NPC. If you attempt to do so, it will be destroyed. The scroll will not be removed from your inventory if you die.
Class limit: none
Minimum level for use: 60
Just one more expensive and pointless item for my collection. I could only guess how much a scroll like that must cost, though I wasn’t going to get to use it. I had no desire to buy a horse for the same amount a car would cost in real life. Well, if the bosses just want to give me an animal, then okay, but I doubt that will happen…
You received a single-use scroll: Faithful Friend and Helper.
You can learn it to get one of four representatives of Fayroll’s animal world as a pet. The choices are:
Polar Wolf
Mazaranda Tiger
Cleaver Boar
Giant Battle Mantis
Each of the animals has their own unique combat ability they improve as they level-up.
Once you select one of the animals and activate the scroll, it will be always at your side to protect and preserve you. If you enter a building, it will wait near the entrance.
The animal’s level depends on your level. When you first summon it, its level will be a quarter of your level.
The animal will receive 25% of the experience you get for each kill. The experience you get for completing quests doesn’t count.
If the animal is killed, it suffers the following penalties:
35% of its experience gained toward the next level is lost
-20% strength for 24 hours
To activate the scroll, break the seal and say the name of the animal you would like to choose.
The scroll is a reward you received for completing a quest, and it cannot be given or sold to another player or NPC. If you attempt to do so, it will be destroyed. The scroll will not be removed from your inventory if you die.
Class limit: none
Minimum level for use: 60
It struck me as more of a vacuum than a companion. A little creature at just Level 15, and sucking up some of my experience…although…I’ll think about it.
Dryad Friendship Ring
Unique reputational item
Gives the holder the ability to find the way to the nearest settlement in any forest (to activate the ability, which costs 200 mana, say “Road” while wearing the ring).
Gives the ability to ask any of the dryads for help once a month (to activate the ability, which costs 500 mana, say “Dryad help” while wearing the ring, and the dryad responsible for the part of Rattermark where you are at that moment will appear).
+25% chance of receiving unexpected aid from the Fayroll animal world
Cannot be stolen, lost, gifted, or sold.
Does not disappear from the holder’s inventory after dying.
Durability: 1000/1000
Class limitation: none
Minimum level for use: none
It wasn’t any big bombshell of a ring, but it wasn’t bad… I figured I’d just been handed a compass, or maybe a GPS. Okay, so I hadn’t been in any forests that I thought I could have gotten lost in, but I didn’t know what lay ahead of me. There were a lot of places I hadn’t been in Fayroll since I’d spent most of my time there hopping from one location to another. But what was it with the reputational items? I’d just pick one up, and there was another.
The dryads didn’t wait for me to read through all the messages I’d gotten before getting down to business. They had dragged a blackened tripod over and set it up right in the coals of the fire, which had nearly burned itself out, and were about to slice open their hands with the knives. I’d suspected that was their plan. I felt a heaviness come over me as I realized what was about to happen. Sure, I’d been ready for it for a while, though I’d hoped against hope that I would be wrong.
Each of the dryads gashed a hand. They weren’t even small cuts, like on a finger or the palm; they practically cut through to the bone, leaving blood to pour out into the chalice. Once again, I was surprised. Wasn’t the game getting just a bit too realistic? I had to think it was going overboard. The king was killed, the two rebels were stabbed to death, and then there was a blood sacrifice.
Idrissa lifted the chalice up onto the tripod, the dryads all went back to their positions, and then they got down on their knees and started to sing in unison—or, rather, they howled out some sort of slow tune or mournful spell, I wasn’t sure which. I stepped away to the edge of the field, leaned up against a birch tree, and watched the proceedings.
The howling got louder, their voices wobbling and their hands shaking above their heads. It hit me what the scene looked like a shaman rite. They rock around like that, too, when they’re going into their trances.
To my great surprise, my head was filled with odd, unrelated thoughts (for example,
about how rarely I saw players in the game with pets). I’d been surprised, but at that point, I understood what was going on. Who needed something running around behind you and taking your experience? The experience wasn’t even the biggest thing. Let’s say you wanted to sneak up on some marauders in the forest. There you’d be creeping along to make sure you didn’t startle them and lose the element of surprise, but then you’d have your bear pounding along behind you like some kind of tractor. Or it might be a boar, but the only difference that would have made is that it would have done less roaring and more grunting. Regardless, there was no big draw.
Things in the field were clearly drawing toward their climax. The dryads wriggled their limbs in the air, repeating their refrain over and over again. “Mesmerta, Mesmerta, Mesmerta!”
Sparks of all different colors shot out of the bonfire, an enormous flame licked up nearly to the sky and engulfed the chalice, and I could only assume the fire was visible for a good distance out from the woods. If anybody was waiting for me to leave, they knew something was up. It wasn’t the type of thing you saw every day.
Just then, Eiliana struck the gong in front of her.
The flame exploded into a shower of sparks that kept coming for a full thirty seconds. Finally, they subsided, and out of the fire and into the field stepped a tall, beautiful woman wearing a white silk dress. It was something like a wedding dress, only without all the lace and decorations. Also, she wasn’t holding a bouquet of flowers.
“Goddess!” the dryads all gasped as they prostrated themselves on the ground.
“Cool,” I added, appreciating how extraordinary Mesmerta was.
Boom! The thunder that peeled across the clear sky seconded my assessment.
Mesmerta cast her eyes around the field and dryads, stopping when she got to me. “And why didn’t you fall on the ground when you saw me?” she asked a bit crustily.
“Why should I?” I shrugged.
“I’m a goddess,” she replied, frowning meaningfully.
Fayroll [04] Gong and Chalice Page 35
