Absalom’s Fate

by J. D. L. Rosell

  As little as I wanted to, I did. I had to save Farelle anyhow. “How?” I asked for the second time.

  “Speak this command in the tongue of the afterlife: Saq’suul.”

  The words themselves seemed to carry force. Just hearing them, I knew the command would work. But I hesitated. “What do they mean?”

  Now it was Ava’s turn to hesitate. “Stone-sleep,” she said finally.

  “It will make you rest, too?”

  “I am not of these lands. It will not affect me.” I could tell from her tone that there was something left unsaid. But I didn’t bother with it — now was not the time.

  I raised the Ghost Ring above my head once more, and felt the hush of anticipation throughout the hollow stump. I looked down at Farelle and made a wish for it to work. “Saq’suul!” I commanded the air in front of me, feeling more than a bit silly as I did.

  The word echoed up, then dissipated. Nothing happened. I lowered my hand, disappointed. Either this was some kind of elaborate trick, or I wasn’t supposed to be the Catalyst or whatever I was made out to be. I’d failed my companion.

  Suddenly, the green glow in front of me grew dimmer. I stared, hoping beyond hope it had worked after all. Sure enough, as the last of the light fell away, Farelle, clumsy and cross-eyed, sat up on the wooden altar.

  “It is done,” Ava said softly. “Now, I must leave you.”

  I wrenched my eyes from my awakening companion as the druids crowded forward and looked up to Ava, but I was roughly shoved to the side and stumbled. When I’d regained my balance, I saw it was Sulfel who had pushed me and the others out of the way so he could hold his daughter.

  I looked up again, but it was too late. My Spectral guide was gone. But as I looked around, she whispered one last thing in my ear. “I’ll still be with you…” Then she was gone.

  I looked at all the Satyr druids crowding around Farelle. Her family, welcoming her back to home and health. Suddenly, I grinned. I’d done it, with a little help from a couple friends. I’d saved an entire land and community. Nothing in my life had matched this feeling. I didn’t think anything could.

  “A celebration!” Sulfel roared suddenly over the growing din from the Satyrs. “Everyone will feel the heat of our victory tonight!”

  I didn’t wonder long what that meant.

  21

  Merriment in Maluwae

  After the village-wide celebration — during which I may or may not have witnessed my first Satyr orgy — I retreated to Hanil’s house for the night. I’d seen more than enough for a lifetime, and drank and eaten enough that I was ready to pass out.

  But sleep wasn’t in the books for me quite yet. No sooner had I lay down than a figure shadowed the doorway. As the soft light from the room’s orb illuminated them, my jaw dropped open. It was Farelle, but not as I’d ever seen her before. Sometime during the festivities, she’d abandoned her clothes, and now stood as nude as any other Satyr in her hometown. And was she a sight to see.

  “I don’t care,” Farelle said, swaying as she walked into the room. I could see she’d been partaking of the drink that had been heartily passed around all day.

  “Don’t care?” I asked, my throat suddenly tight.

  “I don’t care if you see me without clothes.” She came even closer. “I don’t care if you think I’m a simple beast because of it.”

  “I don’t—”

  “I don’t care,” she interrupted, “because I want you to see me. The real me.” She raised her hands and did a little spin.

  I watched her the whole time, taking the sight in. “I don’t mind seeing the real you.”

  She smirked. “I’ll bet you don’t.” She walked over to the bed and, with a sudden leap, she hopped onto the bed. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

  My mouth was dry. “I guess we’ll find out.”

  But that’s as much as I’ll say. After all, a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.

  In the morning, I woke to find many things awaiting me. First, the crook of my arm, where Farelle had fallen asleep the night before, was empty. I rubbed my messy hair and sat up when I noticed the other things. Several notifications preyed at the bottom of my vision. Figuring Farelle might have just gone out for a whiz or something, I decided to wait in bed and see what messages I had.

  Seeing the first two icons, I was nearly in disbelief as I brought up their messages:

  You are now Level 6! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)

  You are now Level 7! (+10 Status Points, +4 Attribute Points)

  How had I jumped two levels? I guess they didn’t call scoring it with the ladies for nothing…

  Chuckling to myself, I opened the next several messages, and it became clear where the XP had come from. Fighting off the mire mummies in the pyramid — or barrow, as the Satyrs here called it — had apparently given me 1200 XP, or 300 per mummy. That entailed a big chunk of level 6. Then healing Farelle of the Devalyn prince’s curse had turned into a mini-quest, appropriately called Cursed Companion. whose prompt I’d completely neglected to see at the time. Obviously I had finished that, gaining an additional 3500 XP, which had probably put me into level 6. But then additionally, I’d finished my other quest with Farelle, The Wilder’s Past, gaining 3000 XP. As if that wasn’t enough, when it turned out Maluwae as well as the whole of the Mired Copses was in danger, that had turned into a major quest called Uprising of the Undead, which I’d immediately solved for a whopping 7500 XP.

  I was loving this incidental quest business.

  Still, I wasn’t accepting this all at face value. I hadn’t forgotten in the revelries that I couldn’t leave the Everlands even if I wanted to, nor that I seemed to be a pawn for the gods. This latest development with the Ghost Ring and the mysterious boy who gifted it to me was only an extension of that I was sure, though I didn’t know how it fit yet. I held up my hand and squinted at my middle finger, but I couldn’t detect even a hint of the ring there. I’d need more of that druidic green light to see it apparently. Though that came with an issue: how would I know if it fell off if I could neither see nor feel it?

  An idea occurred to me, and I checked my inventory. Sure enough, Ghost Ring took up one of the squares. Bringing up its stats reminded me it couldn’t be unequipped, lost, or stolen, so I guess my mind could be put at ease on that front. So long as it hadn’t cursed me, of course.

  That concern alleviated, I needed to attend to my level ups, so I pulled up my stats to puzzle out what to do:

  There were a couple surprises in there — “The Catalyst” had shown up as an alternate name for me. I guessed that label was going to stick, whatever it meant. Also super exciting was just how much gold I’d gotten from the barrow, well over 5000 coins. I’d have to split half of that with Farelle, but still, that left me with quite the healthy sum.

  But I needed to assign my SP and AP now. I considered my experiences since my last level up. Since then, we’d been attacked by a troll and harpies, and nearly died in the fall out. I’d also struggled to keep up with my Belt of Speed-enhanced Companion as we waded through mucky swamps. Last but not least, I’d been too curious to pass up exploring a barrow, looted it, and gotten Farelle cursed by a Spectral prince. Then, somehow, I’d saved with her and her village with a mysteriously granted ring that I couldn’t see.

  Wow. A lot had happened, apparently.

  First, I split my 20 Status Points between Health and Spirit without hesitation. As for my Attribute Points, a few adjustments popped out to me immediately. While I often used magic in battle, channels promised to overtake them as my primary skill for combat, so I put two points into belief. The second was a little less conventional, but I invested two AP into charisma. It had been hard enough getting out of that Council gathering alive, and I had only done it with a lot of help. I had to assume situations were only going to get trickier from here on out. Of the other four, two went to agility so I could keep up with Farelle while traveling and not feel like I was dying, and the
last two went to strength, not only to compensate for my hurt ego when Farelle had called me weak, but to unlock further combat skills and make carrying all my barrow loot easier.

  Speaking of barrow loot, I had those two magic weapons I’d gotten, as well as all my other unidentified magic items. It was past time that I attended to them and figured out what all of them did, if I could here in Maluwae. I could get a head start on which of the two barrow weapons I wanted to give to her.

  “Waiting for something, are you?”

  I startled and looked up at the door, but it just Farelle who stood in the entrance, leering at me with what I thought was possessiveness in her eyes.

  “Just, uh, attending to things.

  She shook her head and smiled. ““Come on, lover boy. Time to go.” She threw me my pack, and I fumbled to catch it.

  “Talk about a rude awakening,” I complained.

  She smirked. “What? Did you think I’d give you less flak just because I got you in the sack?” She winked at me. “Only thing it changes is how comfortable we are at night. If you behave, that is.”

  I had more than half a mind to comply, but I wasn’t about to let her know that. “Hold your horses, partner. I have get some items identified first. Any places here I can get that done?”

  She frowned, and I wondered if she wasn’t looking to make her stay as brief as possible. Even happy reunions weren’t enough to make her want to linger, it seemed. “Yeah, there is,” she said. “Hanil can get that done for you.”

  “You have your bow and belt to identify too,” I pointed out to her.

  She shrugged. “I know more or less what they do — one sets arrows on the fire, the other makes me speedy. I don’t need the nuances.”

  I shook my head but let it slide. “I don’t suppose that old druid is here, is he?”

  “Who are you calling old?” Hanil called from the room beyond.

  I chuckled, and Farelle shook her head. “I’ll be out gathering supplies,” she said. “Meet me back here in an hour.”

  “Wait! Maybe I should come with. I might want to buy some things too.”

  She shook her head. “Most are too hungover to sell anything after last night, and no one is manning their stores. Except our old geezer here, that is.”

  Well, that was lucky at least. “I guess I’ll take what I can get.”

  Farelle went out on her errands, and I equipped my usual clothing and walked up front. Hanil waited for me behind a counter, gently grinding with his mortar and pestle. “If my old ears are working,” he winked at me, “I do believe you’re after some item identification.”

  “You’ve got it.” I pulled out all the items needing it and set them on his counter. Seeing all of them, Hanil whistled. “That’s quite the bunch you’ve gathered. All from barrows?”

  “Not all,” I said uncomfortably. I wasn’t sure if the Night Sisters lair counted as a tomb or not.

  But Hanil just shook his head and smiled. “Let’s here… at a cost of 50 coins per item, six items will cost you 300 coins to identify.”

  My eyes nearly boggled. “Wait. You’re charging me?”

  He frowned. “Of course. It takes valuable resources for me to identify items. It is very draining, and uses several rare herbs.”

  I waved a hand. “Fine, fine. It just needs to happen, so I’ll pay it.”

  I pushed over the stacks to the Satyr. At least my money was going to a good man. Nodding with a satisfied smile to himself, he said, “I’ll take a little while to identify with these. Why don’t you take a walk around town while you wait?”

  Shrugging, I complied. The day was bright and sunny, a good day for traveling. The denizens of Maluwae looked less pleased about the day than I was. All were sluggard, and many openly in pain, wincing or clutching a hand to their head. Considering my resistance and vitality were low, I didn’t know how I’d come out so well myself, but was glad for it.

  Most of the Satyrs I can across were strangers, but when I saw one striding up to me, I found one who wasn’t. Sulfel, Farelle’s father, didn’t looked pleased to see me either.

  Coming in close to my face, he spoke in a low, dangerous voice, “You think you’re taking her away again?”

  “Actually, she makes that decision herself,” I said calmly. I’d already seen the measure of his anger. I wasn’t afraid of him anymore. “It’s true we have a contract for her to bring me to J’anteau, but it’s completely up to her whether or not she chooses to honor that.”

  His expression tightened angrily. “You Humans all think you’re so smart—”

  “Hey,” I cut him off. “I don’t go around saying Satyrs are all the same. I’d appreciate if you didn’t do it as well.”

  That shut him up, but only for a moment. “If you ever get her into harm’s way, I’ll find you and kill you. Understand?”

  “I don’t want her hurt either,” I said. More, I couldn’t say. Adventures were dangerous, and who knew how the rest of our journey would fare.

  Sulfel stared a moment longer, then snorted with derision and clumped away across the village green.

  I turned away myself and, hoping Hanil was done, returned to the old druid’s house.

  He wasn’t quite, and was secreted to some back room to work his rituals, so I waited the final ten or so minutes while he finished up. Finally, he came back, waddling with my items in a sling before him, which he dumped on the counter before him. “Those are quite some items you have,” he said, puffing with the exertion. “Some of them are likely quite valuable.”

  Gathering them up eagerly, I began examining their stats to see what I had:

  Hard Leather Greaves of Resistance

  Quality: Fair (12/25)

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Attributes: Provides 5% resistance against poisons, reducing damage and duration.

  Journeyman’s Cloak of Insight

  Quality: Exceptional (52/100)

  Rarity: Rare

  Attributes: Gain 5% additional experience points.

  Mithril Sword of Thirst

  Quality: Fine (32/50)

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Attributes: Gain 3 points of mana per strike on enemy.

  Leather Boots of Grip

  Quality: Fine (38/50)

  Rarity: Uncommon

  Attributes: +25% resistance to tripping and slipping.

  Jeweled Longsword of the Stars

  Quality: Master (181/200)

  Rarity: Rare

  Attributes: Burn for 10 Light damage per hit. Possible bonus damage against creatures of any other element.

  Obsidian Axe of Wrath

  Quality: Exceptional (78/100)

  Rarity: Rare

  Attributes: Gain active ability: Barbarian’s Rage. While Barbarian’s Rage is activated, you have the bonus stats of +5 strength, +3 vitality, +2 resistance, and cannot be affected by attacks on mental fortitude. However, you also have penalties of -2 dexterity, -3 belief, -5 perception, -4 intellect, and cannot succeed at acts required charisma.

  Hanil was definitely right — this was quite the haul. I’d have to think carefully about what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to sell, when it came time to do that. It also explained a few things along my journey, particularly why the poison from the bandits hadn’t debilitated me quite so badly and why I had gained small amounts of mana back in the barrow. I also liked that +5% experience boost from my cloak. It needed some mending, but it’d be well worth the cost if I could find someone to do it.

  Thanking the Satyr again, I made my goodbyes and waited for Farelle out front. A short while later, she came up, fully ready to go this time. A few of the villagers, seeing us readying ourselves, had drifted over. A few heartfelt farewells later, and one lingering embrace from her father, Farelle and I set off on the road again, bound for J’anteau. And, if I had any luck, the end of my quest.

  22

  J’anteau

  According to Farelle, we were only two days out from J’anteau. Two days until I comple
ted the quest that had first set me on this journey. The quest that had so intrigued Sheika as to help out a wet-behind-the-ears player like me. The quest that, if she was right, would allow me to figure out why she and I couldn't log off.

  My companion kept up the air of nonchalance between us, and we fell back into our usual bantering aspects. There was, however, a thrilling anticipation now, as I wondered about the sleeping arrangements for that night.

  I wasn't disappointed.

  Before hitting the sack, though, Farelle took me up on combat training once again. This time, approving of my increased strength and speed, she finally taught me a new combat skill: Spinning Blades. A move that was exactly how it sounded, it made me feel ridiculous and dizzy, but was supposed to effective when swarmed by enemies on all sides.

  The next day, we finally made it out of the swamps and began ascending towards the ever-growing mountains. By late afternoon, the tops of city towers came into view. Nervous anticipation rose up in me as I contemplated what awaited me there, especially since I thought about what Farelle might think of my task, should she find out. A quick check on our relationship showed it had progressed leaps and bounds, from Wary to Trusting. But now that we were sleeping together, I had a feeling things could dip very fast if my task of poisoning priests came to light. I remembered all too well how the Council had seen I was a servant of the Night Sisters, and though that fact had been lost in all the other excitement thankfully, I had to assume Farelle would feel similarly should she discover it. As for the relations between her goddess, Yalua, and the Naiadic goddess, Nali, I didn't know what they were like. There was too much uncertainty, and too many tricky things to balance. I'd have to walk carefully.

  But I hadn't fashioned myself a rogue for nothing. We were used to treading softly.