On the Lost Continent

by Andrew Novak

  Shit, Jack thought. And Egghead said it was the Wardens they needed to watch out for!

  “Well, then they followed you,” Clive continued. “The Key Wardens were chasing a strange ship off the southern coast. I was able to get information about the players who boarded that ship in Leuven. It all adds up. So you decide. Five hundred panbucks and my silence. Or…”

  Something in Jack’s expression unsettled Clive so much, that he shut his mouth and took another step back. Jack cleared his throat.

  “I don’t like it either, to be honest,” Clive added. “But business is business. We desperately need a good Walker.”

  “Strong guilds have a Walker they work with regularly.”

  Clive winced.

  “We had one, but we lost him.”

  “Killed in the Wasteland?”

  “No, he… have you heard about the degenerates?”

  “Yeah… players who’ve fallen into a coma, right? I heard about a few cases.”

  “It recently began happening more often. People are blacking out, lying unconscious in their homes. They’re still alive in Alterra, but can’t remember anything. But in reality… they’re just lifeless lumps of meat that still breathe. Anyhow, we don’t have a Walker anymore. But the offer is an honest one. I’ll give you a detailed description of the place and item you need to find. So just agree and everyone will be happy. You’ll get the five hundred and your secret is safe. We’re not going to back down, so let’s settle this peacefully. Or all of Alterra will hear who to look for… Every guild, every alpha. Then the manhunt will begin and, believe me, not everyone will agree to keep your secret for a single service, like me. Think about it.”

  Jack hadn’t considered the other guilds and alphas. Ruger promised to wring his neck if he were to shoot his mouth off about Gaerthon and that was enough for Jack. And there was still Lisa. This was going to leave a sour taste. Gaerthon! Omegas would resort to any old trick to get their hands on the coordinates of the lost continent. Not to mention batty old Ruger.

  Jack’s first thought was to take care of Clive right now. He even considered dragging the body into the trailer and where to dump it after dark. But then what? It wouldn’t solve the problem. The Seekers were an entire guild. If not Clive, then someone else would step forward to trap him and Lisa. What were they supposed to do? Hide from the whole ghetto, like rats? Cower in some hole again, afraid to stick their noses out? How long could they last like that? No, hiding away for their entire lives was out of the question. Later on, it would interfere with the game. As soon as they showed their faces in Maxitown, a whole mob would be on their tail.

  He had no choice but to strike a bargain with Clive.

  “What’s the item? And how do I find it?”

  Clive approached him warily and extended a piece of paper folded in four.

  “A drawing and description. You’ll have to go up to the seventeenth floor of the Middle Finger. There will be an inscription: “Department Three”. It’s a large, multi-room section with a laboratory… You can’t miss the entrance, a short corridor chamber lined with white plastic, with a thick, densely insulated steel door at both ends…”

  Jack listened to the description. Damn, there was a mystery here. Clive was describing it with too much detail, everything written on the paper explained exactly what and where to look. How did he know all this if no one had been to the Middle Finger in several years? Or maybe someone had been? He would have to keep that in mind when setting out. He nodded, slammed the door, and spun around. Lisa had been standing next to him and heard everything.

  “I have to go,” Jack threw his hands up. “Can’t do anything. They’ve got me where they want me and we won’t be able to wriggle out of it. On the plus side, it’ll give Egghead time to find info about the fire beast.”

  “I’m going with you!”

  “No. End of discussion. And don’t play without me, okay?”

  “Will you be gone long?” Lisa asked quietly.

  Jack could see that she was near tears, and not entirely because of the game. He swore to himself. After all, he’d just blurted out that the Middle Finger meant death. Now who knew what Lisa would imagine.

  “Two, maybe three days. Try not to leave the trailer unless absolutely necessary. Don’t open the door for anyone and check your mail in the Shell… Well, that’s it, I guess.”

  Jack desperately lacked the words to express all his feelings. Talkers like Sartorius somehow always found plenty of suitable ways to express the most ridiculous things in detail, but this was a serious matter and Jack simply couldn’t find the words. How could he explain it to Lisa to keep her from worrying? That he’d hurry back, no big deal? That it was only a couple of days and then everything would be okay?

  But nothing came. Lisa sighed and said:

  “You need to get some sleep. I’ll pack a bag.”

  Naturally, he prepared himself for the trip as well. When you didn’t know what you might encounter, it was best to take as many weapons as possible. Jack disassembled the revolver, cleaned it, and counted his cartridges. He found one he didn’t like and set it aside. Then he resharpened his knives, one large and one switchblade. They were already sharp and didn’t need it, but the activity was calming. And one last thing — Egghead’s device. A strange little thing. It emitted a subsonic sound and had an unpredictable effect on Wasteland beasts.

  * * *

  Jack woke up long before dawn. Something shoved him out of his dream. True, he had been dreaming of the flaming monster from Gaerthon. In his dream, he’d been able to get a better look. And Jack knew exactly what it was… a dog. A huge, fiery hound with wings.

  He looked out the window. Dawn was still some ways off, but Jack was wide awake. He crossed the room, opened the door and sat down on the doorstep. There, he rolled a cigarette and lit it. He generally didn’t smoke but sometimes it just called him, so he carried a tobacco pouch. Like now, he had a craving for some reason. Jack watched the smoke, illuminated by the light of the cigarette tip, as it floated up to the heavens, then dissolved in the darkness. The stars shone through web of cables over the ghetto… No, sleep was out of the question. Quietly, so as not to wake Lisa, Jack put the virt-helmet on and powered on the console.

  The Dead Wind cut through moon-silvered waves, the light of Shadris dancing the whitecaps. A flat, black shadow in the shape of mountains loomed on the horizon. The ship was approaching Gaerthon. Jack sat on the deck, his back resting against the mast, and wished smoking was allowed in Alterra. Which made him crave it even more. A good fight would be a welcome distraction right now. Not with the fiery dog, though, because another defeat wouldn’t give him any peace of mind. Jack needed a victory.

  The closest mountain of Gaerthon rose from the wave as the schooner neared the island.

  “Wind, we were on this island, right?”

  “Yes, Master. I cast anchor off these shores.”

  And then an answer came from another direction. A fire appeared on the mountaintop. A red glow, restrained by the wall remnants, roamed through the ruined city on the mountain. The burning hound was still guarding the ruins.

  “Hard starboard, Wind,” Jack commanded. “Find another land.”

  The rigging creaked and the sail slammed as the schooner laid a new course. Jack’s gaze followed the light wandering the mountaintop and already another crag had appeared from the waves in front of the Dead Wind. The schooner slowed and Jack could make out a scattering of dim lights on the shore. Another village.

  When the Dead Wind had come to a stop in the surf and the anchor chain unrolled with a roar, Jack leaped into the water and waded to the settlement. He reached the shore, crossed the pebble-strewn strip, and stopped amidst squalid homes with dimly glowing windows.

  “Hey, people!” He shouted. “Come out!”

  Shadows flitted across the lit windows, then he heard the faint creak of a door. An aged voice uttered:

  “Who’s there?”

  “I’m a tra
veler,” Jack replied. “Visiting your lands for the first time. Why won’t you come out and greet your visitor?”

  “Please don’t take offense, stranger,” the old man answered, “but we don’t dare leave our home after sunset. A dreadful monster preys on the unwary at night.”

  Jack took a couple of steps to stand before the door shielding the old man. A moment of silence passed as he looked Jack over.

  “You look like a great warrior,” continued the old man, “Perhaps, you would agree to rid us of this menace? My name is Kaled, the elder of this village.”

  When Kaled opened the door wider and more light filtered out, Jack read the NPC’s stats:

  Kaled, Lahitte

  Expertise: 40

  Health: 35

  “What kind of monster is troubling you? And how can I find it?”

  “We call it a hydra, a tremendous and ghastly beast. It has five heads, each with a sharp-toothed maw. These heads sit atop long necks and attack as one from different sides and none of my fellow townsmen can endure such an attack. As if those heads weren’t enough, the monster strikes with its poison, stinger-tipped tail. One strike from the stinger of a hydra injects venom into the victim’s bloodstream. Our weapons inflict only minimal damage to it’s armored hide. It’s difficult to fend off. We have but one hope left, the arrival of a brave hero from beyond the sea who will save us from the hydra. Do you think you can beat this beast?”

  Attention! You receive the quest “Kill the hydra”.

  Reward: Unknown

  Jack accepted the quest and asked Kaled where to find the hydra.

  “It’s settled in an old, derelict temple,” the old man pointed at a winding path leading into the hills. “Before the Gods abandoned us, we went there to worship noble Astra.”

  And so, their brave champion trotted off along the trail. He walked about ten minutes, then saw the silhouette of a temple with a pointed roof, silvered by the light of Shadris. Time hadn’t been kind to Astra’s shrine. Pieces of crumbling stone from broken masonry lay around the building, forming a bizarre labyrinth. The hewn chunks were massive, some even taller than a man.

  Jack picked one of the bigger stones, climbed onto it and began examining the building. Judging by the bones scattered near the broad entryway, the monster had made itself quite comfortable inside. Jack hopped to another stone, one closer to the building. The slap of his soles on the rock must have disturbed the hydra. Jack saw the faint yellow glow of its eyes first. Then, a head on a long, sinuous neck emerged from the darkness beyond the entryway arch. It issued a long hiss and rushed at him, its toothy mouth parted wide. The endlessly long neck stretched and stretched, but the torso was still concealed in the shadows… Jack drew Shadow of the King and prepared to slash at the crown of its head when it came close enough, but the rustle and clatter of rocks at the base of his boulder made him glance down. Two more heads atop long necks were creeping along the ground, slipping between the gravel, and were positioning themselves to attack from the left and right. The stats over their heads read:

  Five-headed

  Hydra Health: 1500

  Agro zone: 200

  True, the giants each had a zone of about a thousand, and the difficulty of an encounter with a boss should increase. Although the three giants together were a combined total of three thousand, they attacked in turns. Here, though, were five adversaries attacking as one… A serious opponent, to put it mildly.

  He had to retreat. Jack leapt from the boulder and the teeth of the first head clicked fruitlessly over him. The other two immediately appeared on either side, their necks gently curved, flowing around the stone. Jack waved the black blade to create a veil of darkness around himself, and broke into a run. When the temple and its inhabitant had disappeared behind a turn in the road, he pulled the box of goblins from his inventory and summoned Hercules and his brothers.

  As usual, he had to wait for their newly-liberated exuberance to pass, then Jack briefly described their enemy in the upcoming heroic battle.

  “Your task is to avoid the creature’s mouth. Keep your distance,” he counseled, “but fire an arrow occasionally to keep the heads busy. I’m going to try flank it.”

  The goblins turned serious and, taking up their repeating chu-ko-nu crossbows, and split up. Meanwhile, the monster had left the temple. Now it was out, big as life and twice as ugly. Stubby, bowed legs supported the scale-covered body. Not the nimblest creature. In contrast, the heads were constantly moving, ducking between stones, occasionally popping up to look around. That’s how they were able to attack with lightning speed.

  And there was still the tail, arched over its haunches, like a scorpion’s, and tipped with a curved needle a good foot long. A transparent drop of viscous liquid swelled at the tip and the light of Shadris danced across it. A goblin appeared from behind a stone with its crossbow, released an arrow and took cover. One of the heads darted for it, lunging behind the boulder… A second goblin fired, then a third, each from a different direction. The goblins team worked efficiently together, like parts of a single organism. They attacked, quickly retreated, and a minute later, all five of the hydra’s heads were bristling with arrows. In truth, the short arrows didn’t cause any significant damage. The hydra’s health was decreasing too slowly. However, it was enough to make the hydra stand still while its heads were busy darting between stones after the goblins.

  Jack couldn’t have asked for more. He dashed around the ruins, keeping his distance, and approached the temple from the rear, pressed close to the rough stones and carefully slipped around the building. There was the entrance… and the hydra, which was waddling slowly among the rocks, heads shooting in all directions, wherever a grimacing goblin mug appeared. The venom-filled stinger bobbed with each step. Jack, raising his sword, flew at the creature. Armored or not, he had the Shadow of the King, a divine sword. He severed the tail in a single stroke, seized the wiggling appendage and plunged it into the hydra’s broad, hulking rump, then immediately rushed back toward the temple wall.

  From the corner of his eye, Jack saw the hydra’s health bar jolt, the numbers changed on it changed, and the lumbering body spasmed with waves convulsions. No time to watch, though, because Jack was busy defending himself from two attacking hydra heads. He tried to chop off one head but his stance was slightly off, and the sword simply slid across the ugly snout. The second head, meanwhile, managed to nip Jack in the thigh.

  You receive damage!

  You lose 20 hit points!

  He broke free and ran. Teeth snapped behind him, but missed. Faster, faster… Jack ran as fast as he could and managed to reach a safe distance before the hydra turned around. It was still shuffling after him, a mass of snapping teeth and lashing necks, but Jack was already out of reach.

  It was impossible to see its health bar at this distance, but the tail stump was still sticking out of the fat hindquarters. The poison was doing its thing.

  “Hercules, retreat!” Jack roared as he withdrew farther from the temple and hydra.

  Behind his back, he heard the crash of toppling boulders as the beast advanced after him. There was the faint squealing of goblins, barely audible over the sound.

  “I told you to retreat,” Jack muttered. “That’s how the strategy works. Gotta cut out at the right time.”

  The noise was getting closer. It seemed the goblins carried out his order after all and were now chasing the hydra at a distance. Good job, guys.

  When the first head appeared from behind a stone, Jack backed away slowly, swinging the sword to create more darkness around himself. The head, swaying, crept between the stones, as if feeling out the road for the others. It no longer moved with a smooth glide, but in faltering twitches. The venom possessed some kind of paralytic properties. Good thing those toothy chops weren’t venomous.

  Jack moved behind a boulder and got ready. A head on a trembling neck slithered listlessly by and Jack, gripping the Shadow of the King’s hilt with both hands, chopped it off
and broke into a run without a second glance. He heard something behind him flopping heavily, scales scratching the rocks, and the sound of teeth snapping at air. Jack circled back, often peeking around stones, ready to withdraw. But it wasn’t necessary. The poison was working. The hydra’s movements became more and more sluggish. Then, the goblins’ triumphant howl pealed through the night. It was over. All he had to do now was return to the coastal village for his reward, but decided to save it for later. The temple was right here… why not try to continue Theokrist’s questline? He couldn’t find anything resembling a portal in the area surrounding Astra’s shrine. It was worth a shot.

  The hydra’s carcass lay sprawled among the overturned and scattered stones. The goblins didn’t dare approach, and chose to hop and dance around off to the side. Jack took a closer look… No, the monster was still alive.

  Five-headed Hydra

  Health: 187

  Agro zone: 5…

  Health: 157…

  Health: 127…

  Every two or three seconds, the inflicted poison damage was reflected in its stats.

  “Great. We’re on the right path,” Jack told the dying hydra, “keep it up.”

  The hydra couldn’t hear him, but diligently continued to expire anyway. Eventually, the hulking form began to melt away… and all that remained were the victor’s spoils.

  Venomous Hydra Stinger

  Rare

  Properties unknown

  There was also a full drop of teeth.

  Hydra Tooth

  Rare

  Properties unknown

  “Oh, look, more work for Egghead,” Jack muttered, shoving the loot into bag slots. Let him have all the dirty work, I’ll take the glory. Astra’s shrine awaits. Hey, Hercules! Gather your team and I’ll put you away. You can’t go into the temple.”

  Attention! You have completed the quest “Kill the hydra”.