by Galen Wolf
"Is he allowed to threaten me like that? Surely there are rules against harassment even in this place."
Ahn shrugged. "It's technically illegal and against the game rules, but people do it all the time and the Devs ignore it. Maybe they think it makes the game more exciting."
"That sounds like bullying," I said.
"Quit your whining," Ajora said. "I thought you got the second Easter Egg. Aren't you going to tell us about it?"
I sighed. "That guy Loki is never gonna leave me alone. For as long as I am in the Greenwood, He's gonna hunt me and kill me and steal all of my stuff."
Ajora sat back on the tree stump that served as a seat in the Rangers guild house. "Well, that leaves you two options – you either quit, or you get good and make him run from you. The only way you can deal with creeps like this is to get better than them and make them scared of you."
"Harsh as it sounds," Ahn said, "she's talking the truth. Anyway, tell us about this egg."
I said, "I thought that inside the egg would be another riddle but in fact there was something even more mysterious than a riddle."
"Like what?" Ajora asked.
I reached mentally into my inventory and pulled out the flaming red key. It appeared in my hand. Ajora leaned over about to take it and I flinched back.
Ahn said, "Hey man, it's your key. We don't want to take it from you; we're only here to help."
"Suit yourself if you don't want to give it to me to look at," Ajora said. "I think you're annoying sometimes but you're my guild mate and I would never steal from you. I'm actually affronted that you think I might."
"It's not that." I leaned forward and gave Ajora the key "I've just no idea where this leads me."
Ahn glanced at the key. His bearded face looked wise in the firelight. "I know where it's the key to, or at least I've got a good guess."
I raised my eyebrows. "Like where?"
Ahn said, "I think it's the key to one of the rooms in the Red Tower."
"That doesn't help me much," I said. "Where on earth is the Red Tower?"
"It's not on earth," Ahn chuckled. "It's in Horrabia."
My spirit fell. How on earth were they going to get into a tower in Horrabia? "As soon as we enter the city," I said, "everybody will be on us – the NPC guards and all the player characters."
Ahn sucked his teeth. "It's actually worse than that," he said. "The Red Tower is part of the Royal Palace. The Palace lies in its own gardens to the north of the city within the Horrabia city walls. It's heavily guarded."
I buried my face in my hands. "That's the end of that then. The whole competition is fixed. You can only win if you're a citizen of Horrabia."
"Did no one ever tell you of the value of persistence?" Ajora asked.
"It just seems so doomed," I said." I thought I was close to getting something that would help me in this land – that would help me get Loki off my back and making him scared of me, but now it seems completely out of my reach."
Ajora said," Think of it more like a challenge."
Ahn looked thoughtful. "If we could get into Horrabia and raid the Royal Palace and bring out whatever goodies are in there waiting for us – or waiting for you, Barcud. What a feather that would be in the cap of the Rangers Guild." Ahn leaned over and poked the burning logs of the fire. "You know, that attack by the thieves guild on our Guild house got my goat. To think that those people believe they can just teleport in and attack us, and they think that we won't do anything to retaliate. Sure, we've rebuilt the Guildhouse but if we don't strike back, all we're doing is waiting for them to attack again."
"You're right, boss," Ajora said. " It's like the advice we were giving to little Barcud here."
"Can you leave out the little?"
Ahn laughed out loud.
"No," Ajora continued. "If they think that we're scared of them they'll just attack us anytime they like and we'll sit here cowering waiting for them to come for us. But if we can take part in a raid on Horrabia, we'll show them that the Rangers guild is a group of people who stand together, and a group of people who is to be feared."
I rubbed my forehead. "But how the hell do we do it?"
Ahn said, "We need a plan, simple. Let me think."
Ajora said, "It's true about all of their defenses, and no one, no player in this world could get through those alone. Even a huge group of players would have drawbacks, so we need to be clever and we need to use our stealth. After all, it's one of our class skills. It's not just the thieves who are stealthy and sneak around. We can do it too."
Ahn said, "Though we're better in forest areas and they're better in urban areas."
Ajora was really in her flow now. Her eyes shone. "But we can do it."
Ahn said, "We can't go in on the eagles; they've got too much in the sky. They have their raptor patrols always flying above Horrabia."
"We'll have to go over the Lake. In boats," Ajora said.
I said, "How big a team?
Ahn said, "Me, Ajora, Griffin – from the Guild."
I smiled winningly.
"And you of course; you're the guy with the key. You're the guy we're doing it for because one message I want to send to Loki and his friends is that the Rangers look after our little ones. We nurture our Guildies. If we get the reputation of not protecting our small ones, then no one will join us."
Ajora said, "What about traps?"
I sat forward. "Yes, what about traps? I've put no skills into trapping. Do you think I should start?"
He shook his head. "There's no way that your trapping skills would be good enough in such a short space of time. No, we need a rogue."
"But rogues are part of the Thieves Guild?" I said, "I thought they were all the same."
Ajora shook her head. "No, you can be a rogue without being a member of the Thieves Guild, like you can have ranger skills without joining our guild. There is a guy, I know." She looked at Ahn. "You know Achilles?"
Ahn nodded.
"I don't," I said.
Ahn said, "He was kicked out of the Thieves Guild by Loki when he became guild-master. Achilles was always a citizen of Vinab and he wouldn't go to Horrabia. I guess he didn't like being told what to do."
"But we're not aligned with Vinab," I said.
Ahn twisted his face. "We may not be officially aligned, but unofficially the Rangers guild has always looked for support to the city of Vinab. And that I guess is why we've been continually hated by the city of Horrabia across all the years."
Ajora said, "Achilles rolled up his toon first as a warrior, but he changed his class long ago and has been a thief, or rather ,'a rogue', ever since. I know him pretty well. We do need a thief to get us through the traps in the Royal Palace, I'll ask Achilles."
"Can you trust him not to blab?" I asked.
Ajora nodded. "Completely."
Something about her tone of voice made me believe her.
"And what about healing?" I said. "I can imagine we're going to take some heavy damage going in, even if we are stealthy."
Ajora said, "Well that's a problem and not a problem at the same time."
"I don't get what you mean."
Ajora said, "Getting a healer is no problem. We have our friend Elfhair. She said she met you while she was fishing."
I blushed remembering how I thought I was sneaking up on the elf priestess and how I believed I posed some threat to her when I clearly didn't. I hadn't seen her since Loki attacked her. I imagined Ajora and Elfhair laughing at me behind my back. "So you think she'll do it for us?" I asked.
Ajora nodded. "Oh yes, she has personal beef with Loki. Loki hounded her lover and drove him out of the Greenwood. It was a few years ago now, but they had one of these virtual relationships and she was very fond of him. He was a pacifist druid but Loki never liked him and took every opportunity to harass him, steal from him and kill him. And then the guy gave up. He said it was no fun coming every day to a world where he was going to be tortured."
"I know what
that feels like," I said.
Ahn said, "But the upshot of that is that Elfhair will definitely aid us against Loki. And the whole population of Horrabia because she hates them all."
"So what's the problem?" I asked.
Ahn said, "The problem is she is a clunking priestess in heavy armor. She has about as much stealth as an elephant."
"But she looks a lot nicer," I said.
Ajora shook her head.
Ahn scratched his chin. "So what I think is that we should go under cover of darkness in boats across the Midnight Lake. We anchor down halfway across the lake out of range of Horrabia's defenses. We want to be well away from their raptor screen. Then a few of us will go in stealthy and clear a path as quietly as we can to the Royal Palace." He looked at me. "Once that's done, we'll bring you and Elfhair in after us."
"Okay," I said. "That sounds like a plan. The only thing is – you're not leaving me behind. I'm going in with the first wave."
#
We stood at the edge of the Midnight Lake. Small waves came into shore, rippling under the light of a half-moon. The moon was red and wicked-looking, standing above the silhouetted turrets and towers of the evil city of Horrabia. Horrabia lay across the Midnight Lake and was our destination.
I checked my inventory – I had the flaming key to the Red Tower. I also had my flame bow on my back, and I wore the gear I got from the werewolf cave. Also in my inventory was the gold and black icon of the Forlorn Tiger. That could prove useful in a pinch.
I looked at my companions. To my right stood Ahn and Ajora both fully stealthed and appearing as shadowy figures. To my left was the other ranger Griffin, and beside him the friendly rogue from Vinab, Achilles. It appeared that he too had a history of falling out with Loki who was now the Thieves Guildmaster and he wanted to cause some trouble for him. Achilles was also stealthed and shadowy. Beside him, in gleaming armor was the elf priestess Elfhair. Elfhair had no stealth skills to speak of and that could be a problem for our silent approach to the city of Horrabia.
I looked across the wide expanses of the dark lake. It was about a mile over to Horrabia. The Rangers Guild had provided canoes and we were to go halfway across a lake in those and stop before we came to the outer perimeter defenses.
Griffin pointed at the water, "That's full of piranhas, you know."
"I'll try not to fall in," I said.
Griffin grinned. I could tell he was nervous. The other two big rangers appeared confident; they were saying very little. Then Ahn looked around and said. "So we know the plan?"
Achilles nodded. "I'm going in with the first wave," he said. "And that will be with Ahn and Ajora."
I interrupted, "There's no way I am waiting. I've got too much at stake in this."
Ahn shook his head. "We discussed this. You're only a Level 8. This is going to be really hard for you. The NPC guards will be level 20s."
"I thought we were going to sneak past and not attack them," I said.
Ajora said, "That is the plan, however it's not impossible that we will have to clear the way for those following behind us." She pointed at Elfhair. "My darling priestess friend here clanks like a tin box full of spanners every time she walks."
Elfhair frowned. "That's not fair."
Ajora grinned. "Maybe not fair, but accurate."
Griffin said, "I'll wait at the centre of the lake with Elfhair until we get the word from the advance party. Unlike some." He narrowed his eyes at me."I don't have a problem with my ego."
I wondered whether he was being serious but then I saw his beaming smile.
He patted me on the shoulder. "I understand your keenness, kid. I was like that about getting to a fight too when I was young."
Ahn said, "And to be fair this is his gig. He's the one who's got all the clues so far in the Easter Egg challenge. And he has the key to the Red Tower."
Ajora said, "I just thought it would be better for us to clear the way up to the palace gates and then call back for the less stealthy."
"My stealth is pretty good."
Ahn said, "He can come."
Ajora shrugged. "You're the boss. It's not that I don't like him. I've grown fond of young Barcud in fact. Just sayin'."
Ahn looked around. "Are we about ready? Time to get into the canoes."
I could hear the sound of the waves. Achilles got into the first canoe and Ajora went in after him.
As I stepped into a canoe with Ahn. I said, "I take it some of us know our way around Horrabia, because I don't."
Ahn nodded and indicated Ajora. "Ajora used to be a citizen of Horrabia. Until she got kicked out."
I raised my eyebrows. "You got kicked out?"
Ajora shrugged and grinned. "I guess I just wasn't evil enough."
I nearly made a smart comment, but I buttoned my mouth. I was in the canoe behind Ahn. Ajora and Achilles went in another, and Elfhair and Griffin in the third. We paddled as quietly as we could forward. It seemed to take ages to get to the middle of the lake. No one spoke. I felt the tension building. The city battlements got closer and the blood red moon did nothing to alleviate the electric anxiety that coursed through my veins.
Idly, I trailed my fingers in the water just to test the temperature. And then I heard a snapping noise and jerked my hand free of the lake, raining drips on my companion. Ahn grinned. "Do you want to lose your fingers?" Then he whispered. "I don't care whether you do lose your fingers – but I don't want you screaming and raising the alarm."
"Sorry", I said sheepishly.
We were about halfway across the lake in the middle when Achilles raised a silent hand. He switched to internal communication and messages would now appear on our HUD.
Okay - a message flashed up. It was from Achilles: It looks like four of us are going forward so if Griffin and Elfhair wait here and we will get a message back to you when the way is clear. I looked at Elfhair who nodded. Griffin just smiled.
I saw circling shapes in the air above the lake and sent a message via the HUD: What are those things up there?
Achilles replied via HUD: The city itself has an aerial defense of raptors - a kind of dinosaur creature -but out here on the lake, there are giant bats that are the eyes of the AI defenses. They have a high spot skill. Luckily, they only patrol to the middle.
Won't they spot us?
No. We will all be in stealth. They'll see the canoes, but they're not programmed to take notice of inanimate objects.
I looked around and saw all of us who were going forward had engaged our stealth skills. We were liquid shadows that were merely tricks of the eye if you didn't know better.
We paddled forward silently until I saw the jetties of Horrabia in front of us. It was the middle of the night and quiet. From here, the ferry would take passengers down the Great River after crossing the Midnight Lake and eventually it would deliver them to the port of Vinab. Of course, the ferry would go regularly throughout the night even if there were no players wanting to take it. We decided to avoid that and paddled north around the jetties that were used for fishing boats. Even at this time of night there were people fishing - probably auto fishing, but we didn't want them to see us. We went as quietly as we could and came to the northernmost of the wooden jetties. Ahn and then Achilles silently tied up the canoes and stepped onto the wooden pier. Achilles was a Level 20 thief and had maxed out stealth skills. As mentioned, my stealth wasn't bad and of course, I had temporary augments such as Trueblend and Vanish that I could use if I was spotted.
The four of us made our way like ghostly shadows through the jetties and I expected us to follow the path into the city proper. Ajora sent a message onto our HUD that indicated that we should leave the path and cross an area of parkland. She was the one who knew her way around. We were still outside the city walls, and I saw them loom above as we got closer. The bats flitted above our heads but clearly still hadn't spotted us. I saw larger shapes swooping around the city walls and guessed these were the raptor guards. I also expected human NPC guard
s. It was good that's Ajora knew where she was going.
Across the parkland, I could see through a rose bower entrance that opened onto an alley running east west. Behind that were the tall red walls of Horrabia. Ajora sent another message to our HUD. This is this sally port. It is the secret entrance and exit to the city to be used whenever the city is besieged.
How do we get in though? I said via the HUD.
There's a password, Ajora messaged. I don't think they ever knew that I had the password and so I am sitting with my fingers crossed that they haven't seen fit to change it.
Ajora moved through the rose bower exit from the park and we all followed. We came onto the cobbled alley just at the foot of the red city walls. There was a stone portal, blocked by a mighty slab with no markings as to how it could be opened.
Ajora went to the stone portal. There was a brass mouth in the middle of the stone and she spoke the password, which I couldn't hear. Stone ground and rumbled as the block moved aside revealing a dark tunnel in front of us.
I'll go first, Ajora messaged.
Ahn nodded then went after her as she clambered through the opening. Achilles went next and then me.
We had got around ten yards down the cramped stone passage, stooping so we didn't bang our heads when Achilles flashed up a warning on the HUD: trap ahead. As he pushed past Ahn and Ajora, I heard him mutter, "Rogue should always go first."
"My bad," Ajora said, "I just thought because I knew the place..."
Ahn patted her on her shoulder. "You know Achilles is always grumpy."
Achilles took only a couple of minutes to disarm the razor trap. And then we went forward. As I passed by the trap, I saw that the blade would have sliced me in half if we hadn't spotted it. We got a bit further along the passage and Achilles spotted another trap. This time it was a pit trap he easily disarmed.
