I waited, second by excruciating second.
Lethmiel must have already stopped maintaining it.
Silence. The portal was still there.
"We advance slowly," I ordered. Davre, you stay by the portal."
The arch in front was topped by two large statues hewn from white limestone. I had a bad feeling about them. Two humanoid creatures stared at us, their faces cracked, parts of them missing. I couldn't quite make out their features. They had three-digit hands. Their gear looked strange: it was neither armor nor regular clothing. Long snakes arched over their shoulders, reaching from their backs and sinking into their chests. I'd never seen anything like it.
"These are the Founders!" Sciatant exclaimed, visibly shocked.
"Are you sure?" I asked him.
"A hundred percent. There was an ancient temple discovered recently which was preserved better than most. It's packed with statues identical to these."
Walking in formation, we warily approached the arch.
"I can't get the streaming function working," Sciatant complained.
"You can still record it," Togien quipped.
Rodrigo stopped, peering at something. He brushed away a thin layer of snow, revealing a big lump of ice.
A player's avatar was frozen within the ice waterfall. He was emaciated and gearless.
"This is a Raven guy," Rodrigo said softly. "I met him a few times."
Where the hell were we? I checked the map-making app. The main map opened, showing a small island, its precipitous rocky shores surrounded by icebergs.
I tried to scroll the map to the nearest continent but couldn't. The island was surrounded by the Mist of War.
"Look, another player," Raoul's voice broke. "No gear. That's against the rules, isn't it?"
Sciatant ported to a rocky platform above and took a look around. "There're dozens of them here!"
He paused, observing the coastline. "The island is small, surrounded by the ocean. No vegetation... Alexatis! My Agrion bind point is gone!"
"So is mine," Iskandar agreed.
Enea nodded, too.
A new message appeared in my interface,
Your resurrection point is not available.
New Quest Alert: Survival
Brief and totally incomprehensible.
Our group stopped in its tracks. The portal behind us was making crackling noises. The entrance to the mysterious structure gaped before us.
I checked the scrolls. Rion Castle's coordinates had disappeared from them.
The only logical thing to do would be to admit our defeat and go back. However, I could still see Archibald's green marker on my map. He was somewhere within the ancient building.
"Group, return!" I shouted. "I'm staying!"
"But, Alexatis-"
"Do it! The portal is the only way out of here!"
"But what if it shuts down?" Enea exclaimed. "What's gonna happen to you?"
"My Blood Ties ability isn't blocked. I can use it to get back to Rion. You can't. The teleport scrolls are ruined!"
No one moved.
"Go!" I shouted. "Davre! What are you playing at? In you go, now!"
Reluctantly the orc walked back to the portal and tried to step into it. An invisible force pushed him back out.
* * *
AFTER A FEW MORE futile attempts to port, it became clear that the island wasn't going to release us easily.
It was cold. Big fluffy snowflakes descended from the sky. We peered at the large transparent ice clusters, discerning players' figures within. So many of them. You could tell that some of them hadn't been on the island that long: the ice didn't cover them completely.
"Do players disappear often in the Crystal Sphere?" I asked Sciatant.
"It can happen," he admitted. "Normally, the admins apologize and recompense the loss of characters to the players."
"That's not what I asked. Does it happen often?"
"Not that I'm aware of. I only know of two such cases. One was during the recent Spectral Dust farming fever when an Agrion dungeon turned into a trap due to server overload. Players would enter it and disappear without a trace. The second one was the Ravens' recent attempt to complete the Helping Hand quest. They lost five clan members."
"Did they reappear?"
"No idea. I've never heard about this island, either. What are we going to do?"
"We have to go in," I said. "There's no other way. We'll have to pay Mossy Yorm a visit."
Togien entered the structure first and froze, casting watchful glances around him.
We followed him into a long rectangular room. Three holes in the ceiling were casting pillars of daylight onto three small platforms. A petrified troll stood motionless on one of them.
Was it Mossy Yorm?
"Is he going to come alive after sunset?" Enea whispered to me.
"I don't think so. Can you see the moss growing on the stones? It creeps right up his leg. There're no bones lying around. No treasures, no loot."
"So whose gang is it?"
"We'll soon find out."
Warily Togien advanced, walking down the center of the hall. The two Guards of Gloom slid along the walls, shadowlike.
Once we reached the troll, I motioned the raid to stop and tilted my head up to study the statue.
A ladder was leaned to the troll's back. A makeshift plank platform had been rigged up under the hall's ceiling, housing hoists, rusty chains and other machinery.
A primitive but quite clever contraption. If you climbed the ladder and pulled the levers, you could in theory close the hole in the ceiling, shutting down the light. Would the troll come alive then?
"Does the sun ever set here?" Enea asked.
Good question. The moss overgrowing the troll's leg was indeed undamaged. And he could only come back to life in the dark.
"Legends tell of only one place where the sun never leaves its zenith," Kray replied. "It's the Lost Island, the Founders' last refuge. But no one knows where it is."
"Arwan, would you climb up and take up a position there," I said. "And while you're at it, will you please check the mechanisms and see if they still work?"
Effortlessly the Elf began the risky ascent.
"You sure you want to bring Mossy Yorm to life?" Enea whispered anxiously. "You really think it's a good idea?"
"I don't know yet. We need to check, anyway. It's too quiet here. The gang has been active for six months already. This place should be packed with loot."
"Unless it gets sold straight away," Sciatant pointed out.
"By whom — the NPCs?"
"By a player who's made his lair here."
That made sense. It explained a lot of things.
We heard a soft popping sound. Simultaneously, a fireball made of entangled lightning appeared at the far end of the hall.
"The portal's shut down," Davre reported.
This was a no-brainer. The portal's shutdown must have triggered the arrival of the lightning ball. The only thing left to work out was how to reactivate the portal.
Further on, we discovered a few more bodies lying on the floor, robbed naked.
"Why are they all so skinny?" Enea asked.
"The Crystal Sphere pays great attention to detail," Sciatant replied, filming non-stop. "If you want to cast a spell, you have to memorize and actually recite it. And those players who think they can go without food soon notice that their physical energy levels drop and their avatars develop a gaunt expression."
Enea shook her head in surprise. "Why would they do that?"
"To boost the game's economy. Not many players would bother cooking but they still need at least one meal a day. So they buy their food. Now multiply a few silver by the number of registered users, and the result might surprise you."
"Does that mean that these are the avatars of players who just dumped them here when they realized they couldn't get out?"
"Apparently," Sciatant agreed. "Can't see any other explanation."
"T
his location is glitchy," Togien grumbled.
"No, it's not," Sciatant replied. "Locations like this one do exist. Whoever manages to complete them without dying receives something truly special."
"I think someone has already done it," I said. "So now they're using their new advantages."
"Doing what?"
"Luring players here and robbing them."
"Why would he need the Mossy Yorm story, then?"
"To draw more players to the place by triggering quest generation. Whoever tried to complete the "gangster quest" consequently lost their chars. But if the player skulking within this location has already completed it himself, it makes it perfectly legitimate. The admins see no reason to interfere."
"No reason?" Enea repeated. "I thought you weren't allowed to kill other players?"
Sciatant smiled. "That depends. Had I been the one who'd discovered this location, my karma would still be positive."
"How would you do that?" Togien chuckled skeptically, casting him a sideways glance.
"I think that his victims died from cold, hunger and desperation," Sciatant replied. "The location's owner visits it, say, once a week to collect the loot. And if one of the trapped players attacks him, then it's self-defense, isn't it?"
"That's awful," Enea said. "How can one be so cynical?"
Sciatant shrugged. "We all have our little money-making schemes."
"Has everybody received the Survival quest?" I interrupted him.
"Yeah," Togien grumbled. "Question is, how do you want us to do it? The only enemy I can see is the stone troll. Any ideas why they would need this machinery for his activation?"
"I'd say it's in case the portal lets in a large group like ours," Iskandar suggested. "We can last a week, can't we? I always have some food and elixirs on me. We can also use spells to start a fire."
I really wasn't looking forward to the prospect of spending a week or two away from the castle, unable to handle any potential emergencies. Also, Enea's and my authenticity levels could become a problem.
"Excuse me!" Togien protested. "I'm not spending a week stuck behind the console waiting for that scumbag to come and collect his loot!"
"You have other options?" Raoul said. "Dude, we're trapped here."
"Let's have a look around first," I said, "and see if we can find my friend. Arwan, are the hoists working?"
"They are but I need someone to help me. You need to turn two levers at once."
"Davre, go and help him. If we need to unpetrify the troll, I'll let you know. In the meantime, I'd like you to block the mechanism somehow to make sure nobody else can use it."
As I spoke, Sciatant was busy filming the emaciated ice-bound bodies with a dramatic running commentary,
"So here we are, trapped on this tiny island surrounded by icebergs. Still, Alexatis and his beautiful advisor Enea don't lose heart. Our clan leader definitely has more aces up his sleeve!"
Ignoring his pretentious soliloquy, I motioned the others to follow me.
* * *
THE FIRST HALL ended in a corridor cut into the rock.
According to the map, it led to a cave with Archibald's marker hovering over it.
And there he was, my old friend, doing something totally out of character for him. This level-43 warrior was busy bashing a slab of stone with a rusty hammer.
"Hi Arch," I said. "Have you decided to level up Mining?"
He swung round, promptly changing his gear set. Now an armor-clad knight towered before us, clenching a two-handed sword. "Alex! What are you doing here?"
I wasn't surprised he'd recognized me: after all, my avatar was based on my real-life appearance. "Believe it or not, I'm here to rescue you."
"Yeah right! But anyway! Oh man, it's so good to see you!"
He sheathed his sword behind his back, lifted his visor and scooped me unceremoniously into his steely hug.
"Watch out!" I managed. "You're squashing me!"
The two Guards of Gloom watched us anxiously, ready to leap to my aid.
Archibald had become one with his role. Having released me, he knelt on one knee before Enea, paying tribute to my lady's beauty. Today she looked lovelier than ever, even when she frowned.
I peered at her stats,
+10 to Charm
+10 to Loveliness
This was Lethmiel and his Forest Nymph buff at work!
I decided to stop Arch's ham acting. "You know this is a trap, don't you?"
"Is it?" he asked without taking his eyes off Enea. "Why, what's the problem?"
"We need to talk."
"Wait a sec," he finally focused on my stats. "A clan leader? No way! You have a clan?!"
I nodded. "And a castle. These are my clanmates," I introduced Enea and the others to him. "Now tell me how you got here!"
"By pure accident. I was having dinner in the inn when all of a sudden I heard a terrible noise. All the tables and benches just flew against the walls. When I looked up there was a portal open right in the middle of the room."
"Did you see the robbers come out of it?" Togien interrupted him impatiently.
"Oh no, man. The robbers were hiding in the woods near the village. I'd seen them on my way to the inn but thought I'd deal with them after dinner."
"We saw three dead robbers lying by the portal."
"That's right. They came in from the street, so I killed them. They had a cheek, really!"
"Did you see anybody else enter the portal?"
"Don't remember seeing anyone. But I did. I was curious. All communications cut off straight away. I really didn't notice. I was too busy walking around this place. I saw the frozen bodies and the two Founder statues. Then I knew it. The fake dead bodies didn't bother me. It takes more than that to freak me out. But the entrance... You know I like to do a bit of reading when I can't sleep at night? These days I study The Crystal Sphere and Its Mythology — highly entertaining! Quite an eye-opener, too. It was written by the scriptwriters — which means there's a location for every legend mentioned in it."
"So where do you think we are?"
"This is the Temple of Oblivion on the Lost Island," Archibald replied confidently.
"And what's under that slab of stone?"
"Treasures like you can't imagine, man!"
"I see. Now listen to me. The frozen bodies you saw are the actual players' avatars. There's no way back from here. The portal has closed. This is hardcore, man. A no-respawn location. You have any supplies on you?"
"A couple of health elixirs and a bit of bread."
"That's exactly the kind of player this trap targets. How long do you think you can last without food?"
"Don't know. I never tried. From what I heard, five days is tops. After that, strength, agility and stamina drop to critical. Also, old wounds might begin to bleed."
"We'd better start thinking about how to get out of here," I said.
The Old Friend quest was still active. I might have found Archibald but we still had to survive.
"The place is empty," Togien said. "No artifacts, nothing. Whoever those bastards are, they still have to reactivate the portal and control it somehow. What if there are indeed treasures hidden under this stone?"
"Archibald, could you please tell us more about this Temple?" Enea asked. "We can't access the Wiki. You're our only hope."
"There's a legend," Archibald eagerly began, "which says that when the Founder Gods got fed up with their new creation, many of them left the Crystal Sphere, weakening the pantheon. That's when the powers of Light and Dark came into being, giving rise to new religions. The Founders didn't interfere. Gradually, their control over this world began to dwindle. Still, the ancient artifacts preserved their original powers. People began hunting for them, starting wars and destroying whole cities, razing temples and great citadels to the ground. Their incompetent use of the artifacts led to the portal system malfunctions. That's when our world broke down into isolated regions and fell into degradation. No one has seen the Founders e
ver since. According to the legend, they took their last refuge in the Temple of Oblivion on the Lost Island where time is slowed down. One day spent here is equal to several years. Did you notice that the sun barely moves in the sky? According to another legend, when the sun finally begins to decline over the Lost Island, it will usher the fall of all our civilizations, inviting the Era of Black Sun: the millennia of never-ending cold and darkness."
Togien shivered.
"This is a nice legend," Enea said, having listened to Archibald's story. "I'm sure it has some grains of truth to it. I especially like the idea of a different time flow. We can't leave the castle unsupervised. The sooner we get out of here the better."
"How about the treasure?" Togien asked.
"We need to find a way out first. We can always come back for that later."
"I don't think so!" Raoul exclaimed. "If this is indeed a unique Founder location, we might not be able to come back. Don't you realize how lucky we are? Normally, to get to a location like this, you need to complete dozens if not hundreds of quest chains!"
"So how can you explain it?" Enea asked, busy thinking about something.
"Easy!" Raoul said. "Some lucky player must have got here by accident. He smoked the troll and discovered one of the Founders' last teleports. He probably even had no idea of all these legends and things. He decided to use the opportunity by making agreements with some of the local gangs, then porting there. The gangs would rob villages pretending they arrived by portal; the local authorities would alert everyone and issue quests targeting the mysterious portal. Whoever accepts the quest will end up here, losing all their gear which costs a lot of money these days."
"Sounds logical," I agreed. "I suggest we accept it as a working theory."
"To tell you the truth, this Black Sun legend is common among many of the Crystal Sphere nations," Togien said.
"This is true," the two Guards of Gloom agreed.
"We'll deal with all the legends at some later date," I said firmly. "What's really important is the fact that someone's already managed to work out how to control the portal. Which means we can do it, too."
The Curse of Rion Castle (The Neuro Book #2) LitRPG Series Page 22
