The Karmadont Chess Set (The Way of the Shaman: Book #5) LitRPG series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “Sitting behind bars in a dank dungeon…a young Dragon stripped of his freedom.”

  “What bars? Crap! I failed the trial again…Where are you?”

  “In Narlak…Sitting here, bored…”

  “But you’re at Hatred status with them! For how long?”

  “24 hours…”

  “Got it…Well it’s not a big deal. Sit it out. It’ll do you some good.”

  “Hey! I’m talking to you!” Someone flung me around roughly, tearing me from my pleasant chat. Raising my head, I was so stunned that for a moment I forgot that I was in a game. Before me stood a gigantic, unshaven thug with the fancy name of Calrandos. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, evidently wishing to show to the world his triangular torso—the fantasy of women and envy of men. He was also missing two teeth and bore a very unfriendly expression on his face, which promised me nothing good. Calrandos was quite the terrifying sight. “You better sit still and stay quiet! Stool pigeons like you are the last thing we need in our cell! Get in your corner!”

  Why look at that! Welcome to Pryke Part 2! The three months I had spent in the mine instantly flashed before my eyes, so instead of submitting to the bully—and in terms of Strength, this monster really did have me beat, a fact made worse by the unavailability of magic in the cell—I straightened my shoulders and gave this gorilla an assured look. I’m going to let some program browbeat me? In its digital dreams! Even Pronto couldn’t manage that!

  “How dare you speak to me like that, maggot?” I said the first thing that came to mind. “To your knees this instant—you are facing an Earl!”

  My 88 points of Charisma with all its attendant bonuses granted me the hope that in several minutes I would become the ‘boss’ of this cell. The Imitators simply have nothing else to do than to follow my orders, which is all why I didn’t anticipate the stiff straight that sent me flying across the cell. The last thing I saw before losing my consciousness was a message that I had taken damage and received the ‘Disoriented’ debuff for ten minutes. After that, my eyes shut and I along with my Level 88 Charisma drifted off to non-being.

  “…Say, he hasn’t moved in a while,” said a creaky senile voice through the murk of unconsciousness. “You didn’t by chance off him, did you?”

  “Ah he’s a Freemie. If you off them they vanish and come back again later. He’s fine. No but did you see what an ass he was? ‘On your knees…!’ Argh. Could the boss really find no better rat?”

  “You’ll pay for that.” Back at Pryke, I had learned once and for all—never let anyone humiliate you, or you’ll be far worse off later. Since I have 24 hours ahead of me here, I’d prefer to pass it in peace and harmony—and without listening to insults from some Imitators. On the other hand, I knew I’d have to earn this respect too.

  “I told you he’s fine,” said Calrandos, at which point I felt my head shatter into a hundred little shivers that all went flying every which way. Thankfully, the system informed me that I was okay but had to sit out another 10 minutes. He’d used his foot that time…

  “…Eh, I wish I’d ran into this Freemie on the seas,” Calrandos’ wistful voice broke through the film of fog and ushered me back into the game. “I’d have a nice chat with him…”

  “So what’s the problem?” My words didn’t come out very clearly as if my mouth was full of cotton and I had to spit a couple times to keep talking. “Once we’re out, we’ll head to the sea. We can settle our accounts there and let it go which way it will.”

  “Hold on, Calran,” spoke up the now familiar senile voice. It sounded like the thug was about to knock me unconscious again. “The sea doesn’t care for empty words, Freemy! If you have a ship, let’s see who has the better crew! Are you ready to wager two months’ work on my ship if you lose?”

  Oh no way—these guys are pirates! Sitting up on the floor I looked at the gaunt old man. I didn’t pay any attention to the muscle head—one way or another my conversation would be with Darius, as this prune was called.

  “I don’t have a ship at the moment.” The fire in Darius’ eyes went out, as he’d expected more from me, so I went on: “But I won’t refuse your bet. As soon as I get out of here, I’ll get a ship. Surely Grygz the Bloodied Hoof will let me borrow one of his ships. I’ll think of something for the crew on my own.”

  “You know Grygz?” The old man’s face changed to such sincere astonishment that I couldn’t help but laugh. Opening the properties for the ‘Pirate Fraternity. Step 1: Getting acquainted’ quest, I sent it to Darius. There’s no harm in letting the NPC see it, especially considering he’s a pirate.

  “Well then, Freemie, now we’re talking,” the old man perked up. I have a task for you. I need you to deliver something to Grygz…”

  “Darius!” yelled the thug, but the old man silenced him with a glance.

  “We’re to be hanged on the morrow—and not even from a yard. A mizzen would be better, but a chance is better than a guaranteed death…”

  “Why did you suggest the bet then?” I asked surprised. “If tomorrow you’re to be…”

  “Tomorrow’s a ways away!” the old man cut me off. “When tomorrow comes, we’ll talk about it. For the moment life goes on as it always does! Will you do what I ask?”

  “What do I need to deliver?”

  “A message…word for word. It’s too bad I don’t have any paper to write it down.”

  “I have paper, but that can wait.” A plan was forming in my mind. If I was about to get another pirate quest, then it wouldn’t do to accept it without Evolett. “When’s the execution?”

  “Your mail won’t work here,” smirked the ruffian when I received a notification that my message would be delivered only once I’d been released from jail. “And messages inside the clan as well. They want to do us in early in the morning so they can feel good the rest of the day…”

  It was only then that I noticed the utter silence in the clan chat—it was dead empty like as if all the players had logged out to reality, leaving me one on one with the game’s limitations. Were I an ordinary player, I’d pop out to reality myself, get in touch with Evolett and advise him to storm the town and the prison, but of course I wasn’t allowed to do this…

  Then again, I always have Anastaria!

  “Stacey, hello again!”

  “What—are you bored again and want me to keep you entertained?”

  “Situation’s changed drastically. You’ll have to act as my messenger again. I will have to take breaks to let my Energy recharge but I need you to listen to what I want you to do…”

  It took me about a half hour to describe the action. Most of this time I spent drinking whatever elixirs of Energy remained in my inventory. Telepathy sure does require a lot of energy.

  “All right guys—now I have a lot of questions about Narlak’s defenses.” An hour later I returned to the pirates. Stacey told me that not only was Evolett interested in assaulting the city, but he was already mustering his players and by seven o’clock in the morning Narlak would come under attack—which no doubt would interfere with the execution. However, I needed to come up with whatever intel I could about this city.

  “We don’t really know that much,” Darius replied indecisively, still unable to believe that some ‘Freemies’ would risk Hatred status with such a politically important port city over a bunch of pirates. “But there are some things. It’s like this…”

  The patrols along the walls reported back to their commander every minute by amulet. If even one report failed to come in, the city would raise a general alarm. Narlak knew what it meant to be careless with pirates around. It was better to apologize an extra time to some inconvenienced citizen and bawl out a careless guard than risk the city being plundered. Considering that about half of the city’s armed forces were stationed at various castles like Glarnis, twenty minutes after the general alarm, the attackers would receive a hefty blow to their rear. You could of course assemble such a large army of players that any reinforcements woul
d be crushed to dust, as would the city, but firstly, such an army would earn almost no loot—each player would gain a crumb or two—and second, there was no way to get it together in one night. I needed to mull things over…

  The city was even better defended from the sea—catapults, ballistae, searchlights, magical shields—it was easier to come in from the sky then…

  The sky!

  “Stacey, tell Evolett that the plan’s changed. There’s no need to take the city by storm—he won’t manage it without good planning and the pirates we need will be fish food by then. I need a pair of Assassins who can infiltrate the city and break us out of the city jail.”

  “I’ll let him know—but Evolett really has his mind set on capturing Narlak.”

  “And he still can—but only after we break out of this place…”

  “You want to fly out?”

  “You bet!”

  “Okay. Hold on. In an hour, one of our kobold acquaintances will pay you a visit. If Reptilis can’t get into that cell, no one can…”

  Waiting for something you have absolutely no control over is one of the most difficult things to do in this life. Until I made good on my promise to set everyone free, I didn’t really exist for the pirates—why comfort yourself with a million to one chance? I was left alone, yet no one was overly friendly either. The developers really had created some colorful characters. I’d need to see if I could hire them somehow. But all that was for later. For now we had to wait for Reptilis.

  “Boy, they really did tuck you guys away!” About five hours later we heard a smothered whisper, which caused the pirates to jump to their feet, arrange themselves back to back and clench their fists in anticipation of a brawl. By their faces I could tell that my cell mates were ready to give their lives—even though they still had no idea where the voice was coming from. And neither did I, for the cell door remained shut…

  “Would you believe it? You two are truly a scary pair. I can hardly keep from shaking!” giggled Reptilis, as this was the voice of my kobold friend, and one of the cell’s shadowy corners materialized into a smallish, green crocodile. “Well, what are you staring at? Are you going to bust out of here or what?”

  “Mahan, is this your kobold?” Darius asked carefully.

  “Not really his,” Reptilis answered for me. “In fact, you could say, I’m not his at all. But I’m with him, yes. As I understand it, you lot need to come with too, right? You there—steroid junkie,” the kobold’s crooked finger pointed at Calrandos, “you wouldn’t happen to know how to be skinnier? Sewage pipes are, uh, not really meant for waste of your girth.”

  “Can’t we just open the door?” I asked Reptilis, shocked at his manner of infiltrating our cell. Unlike players, most NPCs played their roles perfectly—and this included going to the bathroom when necessary, which meant that most buildings had plumbing as well, but escaping through the sewage pipes…I wouldn’t dream of it. Compared to our last meeting, Reptilis had grown a lot. I was now looking at a Level 212 Assassin, glimmering with the star of a First Kill. He was also the lone member of the ‘Reptilis’ Exclusive Clan for Himself’ clan. The guy really had a sense of humor about him…

  “Sure, if you want the entire city guard to show up here. There’re so many spells on these doors that unless you really roll up your sleeves and break them the right way, which would take four hours or so, there’s no point in even touching them. So the problem remains—unless this heap of flesh can suck it in and I mean really suck it in—we can’t do anything with him.”

  Seven out of eight, including the leader—Darius—was a pretty good escape rate, but I had a bad feeling about leaving the giant. Even though Calran had really let me have it a couple of times, this enormous NPC had something about him that wasn’t evident at first glance, but that was still very much there. I was curious to find out exactly what…

  “Will the others get through for sure?” Calran asked.

  “Who knows?” Reptilis smirked. “Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. But you’re a lost cause, that’s for sure.”

  “In that case, I’ll remain here,” Calran said decisively.

  “Okay, but spare us the grandiloquent speech asking us to tell your offspring to not sell the family farm,” Reptilis jeered, after which he turned to me and pointed at the toilet. “Since everyone’s ready, then, after you, your highness…”

  “Get the pirates out,” I made my decision, “and then open the door. We’ll escape through the roof…”

  “Your cell is located at the bottom floor of this building. There are twelve floors above us, including several dungeons. As soon as the cell is opened, as I already explained, the entire city guard will rush here…Naturally, I couldn’t care less, but Anastaria requested that I break you out—not that I add to your incarceration time with an attempted escape.”

  “Reptilis—get the pirates out,” I reiterated implacably to the mini-crocodile. “We’ll figure out my escape after that’s done.”

  “Goddamn idiot,” Reptilis said to himself, shook his head and made one more attempt to appeal to my reason. “Do you even realize that you’re currently obsessed with saving a piece of software code?”

  “Are you still here?” I arched an eyebrow in surprise. “I thought you had no time to spare…”

  The kobold again muttered something to himself about my intelligence and then demonstrated to the pirates the correct way to dive into a toilet. Watching the sinewy pirates struggle to squeeze through in his wake, I knew for certain that I wasn’t going to follow them…It wasn’t even about the smell—it’s simply unbecoming of an Earl to go crawling around some pipes…Okay, okay, that’s a lie—it was very much about the smell.

  “Can’t do much damage with empty hands,” Calran mused sadly. “Eh…If I just had a scimitar right now—boy I’d show these scurvy dogs how to sail straight and true…”

  “Stacey, Reptilis came by and picked up the pirates. One of them remained. I’m planning on making my way out through the roof with him. Send Reptilis a Level 200 scimitar, will you? We’re going to swashbuckler a bit here.”

  “What, without me? And you call yourself my husband! So be it—you’ll have your scimitar.”

  “Reptilis, are you with us or what?” I asked the kobold when he reappeared and, without saying anything, pulled a scimitar out of his inventory and handed it to me. “As I recall, you really like gassing everyone around you. That could be really handy right now.”

  “I still can’t figure out what Stacey saw in you…” said Reptilis instead of answering my question. He approached the door, leaned back on his tail and froze. His narrowing and widening eyes told me that Reptilis was occupied with lock picking—without using his hands somehow. I’ll have to look up exactly how that’s supposed to work.

  “Okay, here’s the deal—there are five protective spells on this door and one lock. I can break the lock and annul three of the spells, but the remaining two will take me up to two hours each. That is—it could take ten seconds if I guess the code on my first try, or it could take two hours if I have to go through all the possible permutations. It’s five in the morning right now. The hanging, as I understood it, is scheduled for seven, so you two need to make up your minds: Are we going to break out quietly but without any guarantees of success or are we going to cause a ruckus but leave here no matter what?”

  “What’s all the security for?” I said with surprise, handing the scimitar to Calran and forming a raid group out of the three of us.

  “I’d guess you’ve really hurt the locals’ feelings?” Reptilis shrugged. “Anyway, what’s our move?”

  “Who will be notified by the remaining two spells?” Calran asked.

  “How would I know?” Reptilis replied. “Since everyone’s ready—I’m opening her up…”

  The siren began to blare as soon as the door cracked open. Reptilis hummed to himself thoughtfully, as though something had gone differently than he had expected, and then said:

  �
�Follow me.”

  Even though the kobold was helping us, I had no illusions about his ‘charity—the first time we met, this player was ready to sacrifice me to complete one of his quests, so it was a bit difficult to believe in his altruism. No doubt he had in mind to dig around the local castle to see what loot was lying around—while we were little more than a diversionary tactic.

  “Halt!” the door we were rushing toward flew open and three Level 150 guards burst through it.

  “Mine!” Calran yelled, rushed ahead and swung his scimitar several times. The system announced that I’d received experience, even though Calran couldn’t actually kill the guards—at one Hit Point, they just collapsed to the floor and lay there awaiting healing. “Where to next?”

  “Up the stairs until they end!” ordered Reptilis and began to ascend. We could hear the clamor of running feet and the clatter of steel coming from the doors we ran past, but we continued up the stairs without even a thought of stopping.

  “Through that door—move it!” Reptilis yelled. He stopped and cast a cloud of venomous-green gas. “I don’t know what you did to piss off the locals, Mahan, but I know they don’t send gnashers after any old runaway.

  “Gnashers? What is that—some kind of monster?” I asked with surprise, dashing through the door that Reptilis shut right behind me.

  “They’re really annoying guards,” Calran replied. “You only find them in treasure vaults brimming with gold…Reptilis—are you sure that was a gnasher?”

  Was I tired—or did I hear a note of curiosity in Calran’s voice? There’s a pirate for you! Even in the face of death he won’t miss a chance to get his paws on some loot.

  “I’m sure. I stunned him for a little while. When he comes back to his senses…well, this door sure won’t stop him. I got a look at his Level though—he’s a 300.”

  “That means thirty tons of gold at least,” Calran concluded in an expert’s voice. “Where could the treasure vault be?”

  “People! What treasure vault?” I objected. “We need to reach the roof!”