by Oliver Mayes
From the remaining unchecked tunnel on the opposite side, a pair of surprised squawks sounded, alarmed by the sudden conflagration.
Cursing his hasty decision, Damien ducked out of sight just as the gargling voices filled the chamber. If the mysterious fire wasn’t cause enough for concern, the sight of their enflamed, decapitated friend probably would be.
So much for stealth.
As soon as he took in the scene Damien realized he was in luck. The two new arrivals were far too busy putting out the fire to be concerned with their surroundings. They were extinguishing it with the only suitable tools they had available: their bare feet.
It was remarkably effective. They were disproportionately large compared to the rest of their bodies and must have also been incredibly tough; the two goblins tirelessly jumped up and down on the fire for a good twenty seconds before it was well and truly out.
The moment they finished, the entire chamber was plunged into darkness. Of course, Damien’s wraith had Shadow Beast, so Damien could see perfectly fine. If the wraith also had a mouth, he would’ve smiled. This was turning out well.
All he had to do was wait for the goblins to split up and then pick them off.
The goblins jabbered at each other urgently, a level 8 and another level 7. Damien prepared himself. He’d seen this scenario play out plenty of times. One of them was going to stay here and keep watch while the other ran for reinforcements. He’d have to kill the remaining guard quickly and chase the other down, before he could sound the alarm.
The two goblins nodded at each other and against all Damien’s expectations did the worst possible thing. They ran at full pace in completely opposite directions, each of them screaming at the top of their lungs.
The level 7 ran deeper into the warren, exactly as Damien had predicted. The level 8 was running down the passageway to the outside, right toward Damien’s unprotected body. He’d been caught off guard. He was so surprised that he hesitated, losing precious seconds.
The higher level goblin was getting closer to stumbling upon his hollow shell with every step and Damien had no doubts about what it would do when it found a human having a nap. He had no choice. The low level goblin might alert the rest of the warren to his presence, but the other would snuff it out first. He put the level 7 out of mind and lurched into the room, struggling to align himself with the doorway leading to the passage outside.
The screaming in front of him abruptly stopped. It had found him. Damien stretched his body forward as far as it would go and the room blurred as he shot forward. A startling view of the level 8 goblin raising its axe above his human head rushed to greet him and he threw his hands out in front to brace for impact.
He smashed into it at full tilt, hard enough for his tail to lose its grip. The two of them bounced down the corridor, giving Damien a taste of life inside a washing machine.
Damien blinked and held his aching head before checking his health. He was down to 37/100. Not good.
His mind rebooted slowly. Where is the goblin?
Then he noticed his blade arm was sticking into something brown and oozing. Through some luck he’d run the goblin straight through; impact damage had likely taken care of the rest.
Damien withdrew the blade and rose on his smoky tail.
He’d only just gathered himself when Noigel came bounding forward, waving his arms around frantically, mewling, jabbering and pointing back the way he’d come.
Damien had no way of communicating with him. Probably the worst thing about possessing the wraith was not having a mouth.
When Damien responded only by staring dumbly, Noigel ran over to his human body and started furiously tapping it on the forehead. He was doing it so hard it hurt, and Damien irritably moved forward to make him stop when he realized what it meant.
Someone was coming.
Members of Rising Tide were here. And there were likely goblin reinforcements coming from behind. He was trapped on both sides.
Damien didn’t feel so powerful anymore.
He canceled the possession, brushing away Noigel’s incessant pokes as he reacclimatized himself to his regular body. Carefree voices were already echoing down the corridor from outside, players happily going about their questing or grinding without a care in the world.
Damien staggered to his feet, one hand braced against the wall to stop himself from falling over as Noigel clutched his head in despair and the wraith looked on with annoying calmness.
“Back inside!”
After a few more steps Damien regained his sense of self and hurried back into the chamber. There were already screams coming from the bowels of the cave. The goblin had found allies. It didn’t sound like they were taking the threat lightly, either.
Damien was sandwiched between higher level enemies on one side and unknown members of Rising Tide on the other. They’d all converge on him at any moment.
He reached the side chamber with the hay. It was the only option he had left.
“In here, quick!”
He sprinted inside, Noigel and the wraith following close on his heels. A few seconds later the stamping feet of the goblin horde reached their peak and the glow of burning torches shone from the chamber into their hiding place.
The wraith shrank into the darkest corner of the room while Noigel and Damien each cowered on either side of the doorway.
It sounded like half the cave had been called to arms. The stampede passed straight through the room, running toward the exit. Damien’s eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.
A warbling shriek of outrage came from afar and was immediately echoed by the rest of the goblin tribe. Moments later, the clang of metal striking metal reverberated through the cavern. The goblins and the guild were fighting it out.
Damien pointed at the wraith.
“Possession!”
The wraith hadn’t fully recovered yet, but that didn’t matter. The player characters would be keeping the goblins nicely distracted. He could get this quest finished off before anyone knew what was happening.
Damien followed the screams. Goblins were spaced out down the narrow corridor, jostling for position and waiting to jump into the fray. Not a single one of them was facing in his direction.
Standing against them was an aggravated level 12 paladin, swinging his war hammer in wide arcs to keep them at a distance. The rest of his party were arrayed behind him, providing support as needed.
Damien couldn’t hope to kill the paladin. He had plenty of time to kill a few of the things facing away from him, though.
He spotted the runt of the litter, a level 6, and slashed it straight through the neck. It died without so much as a whimper. There were two more goblins only a couple of paces ahead, but they were far too busy fighting for position to notice him. Damien scissored his arm blades through the two of them horizontally at their throats, each blade passing through each goblin’s neck for a double decapitation.
After finishing these two, a ping and a gold glow in Damien’s peripheral vision confirmed that he’d killed five enemies and the quest was complete. All he had to do now was get back to Bartholomew, which was easier said than done.
Rising Tide players blocked the only exit, and they were going to win this battle. It was only a matter of time before they pushed the goblins back and searched for the cause of the disturbance.
He turned and propelled himself back to the side room before canceling the possession.
“Noigel, I need you to go outside and lure the enemy party through the room as fast as possible so we can escape. Don’t worry—” he quickly blurted out as Noigel’s eyes started to water, “I won’t let them kill you.”
Noigel had other ideas that didn’t involve acting as bait. He stood behind the wraith and started trying to shunt it out into the chamber, failing to move it even an inch. Damien realized it had gone quiet. The battle had ended much faster than he’d expected.
“No, Noigel, I need the wraith in case someone checks in h
ere. We’re not discussing this! Get in po—”
“Helloooo? Anybody home?”
The sound had come from right outside the chamber. It was too late for Noigel to go now. Resisting the urge to punch the imp in the face, Damien pressed a finger to his lips, motioning for him to be silent.
“Somebody bring a torch, I can’t see a damn thing… That’s better. All right everybody, stick together. There’s definitely something funny going on in here. Might be players. We can have ourselves a good old-fashioned lynching. Wunderra, check the rooms as we go along. I don’t want to get ambushed.”
Damien blanched. He had to hide. The wraith had already withdrawn to the back of the room and was blending in with the corner, but Damien’s Shadow Walker skill wasn’t nearly as advanced as the wraith’s Shadow Beast. It was only a small room; if they entered, they’d spot him for sure.
He did the only thing he could, joining the wraith at the back wall and crouching down to blend in. Noigel, however, had no affinity for the shadows. He’d be spotted instantly.
Light bobbed into the chamber and Wunderra appeared in the doorway, his torch held high. Noigel was standing just in front of them, trembling with fear. The light swept over him and Damien panicked. This was it. The moment Wunderra called out to the rest of the party, they’d be trapped like rats in a cage. Noigel had failed to follow his instructions, and now it had got them all killed. Damien hadn’t wanted Noigel to leave once Rising Tide entered the chamber beyond; it would have drawn as much attention to the room as it took away from it. Now there was no choice. He needed Noigel out of there, and fast. Only he couldn’t give him any instructions, or else Wunderra would hear.
The blood pulsing in his ears, Damien stared at the back of Noigel’s illuminated head and silently vented at him:
This is all your fault, you disobedient little git. If you’d listened to me, I’d have dismissed you before they caught you and we’d all still be alive. Why are you just standing there? Do something! If you just stand there, we’re all going to die. Run! Run awa—
For once, it seemed that Damien and Noigel were in agreement. The imp abruptly screeched in abject terror and darted out of the room between Wunderra’s legs, his hands flailing in the air as he made a beeline toward the passageway on the opposite side. Wunderra yelped in surprise and leapt upwards as Noigel passed underneath him, turning his back on Damien’s hiding place to trace the imp’s movement with his torch.
Noigel paused in the far doorway and bent over, waving his little red rump at the players while they looked on open-mouthed. He started running down the corridor again, still screaming, as an arrow whizzed over his head. The players gave chase, stampeding after him.
Damien hurried out, keeping an eye on Noigel’s health bar. He’d taken no damage but would surely be caught soon, and the sound of the chase had traveled far enough away for Damien to be safe.
He dismissed Noigel, imagining the looks on the players' faces as he got sucked back into a portal. Cries of dismay echoed down the tunnel but Damien didn’t hang around to find out what they thought of it all.
Running for the exit, he could barely hear anything besides his own heartbeat. Once out in the sunlight, he dismissed the wraith too so it wouldn’t slow him down or draw unwanted attention.
He wouldn’t feel safe until he got back to The Downward Spiral.
14
The High Road or the Low Road
“Ah, there you are. Did you bring something to mop up Noigel’s vomit?”
Damien had forgotten about Bartholomew’s threat. He paused and shook his head. Bartholomew sneered at him for a moment, then shrugged.
“No matter. The rats ate it while you were gone. It appears they serve some purpose after all. Did you complete your quest?”
“I did, and it almost got me killed. Everything that could go wrong did. You didn’t even warn me the wraith can’t go in sunlight!”
The quest text glowed gold and Damien advanced to level 7. He’d have been much happier if not for the condescension Bart followed it up with.
“In fact, I did. I told you the moment I bestowed the wraith upon you. It’s hardly my fault you summoned it so hastily upon your return. Yet despite your inability to heed your betters, here you stand. Wiser, more experienced and quite alive. Still as whiny as usual, I might add, so at least you still possess enough energy to complain. You may as well put it to good use. Tell me what happened, and why Noigel isn’t with you.”
Damien was not pleased, but as Bartholomew drawled on he realized it was true. He had been warned about the wraith’s aversion to light, approximately ten minutes before CU called and made him homeless. Of course he hadn’t remembered in the midst of all that! Not to mention, the ordeal could have been avoided had Bart simply allowed him to kill five rats instead. At the very least, a small, gentle reminder before he set off on his ill-fated trip would’ve spared him the shock of finding out first hand. Still, explaining this to Bartholomew would only invite more snide feedback. Damien didn’t have the time or the energy. With some difficulty, he collected himself and gave his Machiavellian master the rundown.
There were three things he really wanted to address, so he made them the focus: the black curtain surrounding Bartholomew’s cursed wood, the claiming of the cave by Rising Tide and his near escape thanks to Noigel. Bartholomew listened without a single interruption until he was completely finished.
“I am pleased that Noigel did his part, but I believe you may have played a larger role in your salvation than you realize. Tell me; when Noigel fled and drew your enemies away, what did you have in mind?”
“I was thinking if he didn’t run out of the room right then and there, he wouldn’t have had to worry about Rising Tide anymore. I’d have strangled the little turd myself.”
The comment was half made in jest, but Bartholomew extended a clawed hand to rub his chin as if he’d been entirely serious. Damien was about to take it back before Bart posed him a second question;
“And from what you told me, Noigel was out of sight when you dismissed him. I take it you didn’t yell down the corridor, past the arrayed Rising Tide forces, that he was dismissed?”
Damien hadn’t thought about that. He’d been so intent on saving Noigel that he hadn’t realized it shouldn’t have been possible. He was still trying to figure it out when Bartholomew solved it for him.
“I knew I wasn’t mistaken when I recruited you. Those were mental commands. I was planning on teaching you this a little later, but it appears you’ve already happened upon it yourself: your minions are bound not to your orders, but to your will. If you will them to do something with sufficient conviction and clarity, you can give them orders without the need for speech.”
Whoa! Having demons to draw upon was already a sweet ability, now he could control them with his mind? It was a superb application of the headset technology. Mobius had outdone themselves when they created this class.
He thought about it some more and realized Aetherius had been controlling his Mana Wisp without vocal instructions as well. The wisps were only useful for lighting dark areas or using their viewpoint for streaming, and only one could be summoned per player at a time. With combat troops under his command, Damien felt he could get a lot more use out of this little gimmick.
“It will require some time to successfully issue more complex orders without saying them out loud,” Bartholomew continued in the ensuing silence, “so I suggest you practice when you are able. The dark wall of energy surrounding the forest is a far simpler matter. It’s the border of my territory. I once had many safe havens like this spread far and wide, but the combined efforts of the Empire in general and Rising Tide in particular have diminished it to what you see now.”
“Rising Tide is a problem for me as well. I need somewhere safe to level… to become stronger, but Aetherius’s guild is running quests right next to my home base.”
Bartholomew’s eyes widened warningly and Damien hesitated.
�
�Uh, our home base. Fine, your home base. How am I supposed to improve if they’re constantly hovering over me?”
Bartholomew reached forward and patted Damien on the head.
“I have just the quest to answer that question. I will only say it once, so if you wish to resummon Noigel so you don’t have to inform him yourself afterward, now is the time to do so.”
Damien pointed at the ground and the sigils started to revolve. Noigel dropped in and was striking a pose until he caught Damien’s eye. The imp lowered his gaze and started fidgeting with his fingers awkwardly.
“You did well, Noigel,” Damien said. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”
Noigel stood taller and grinned.
Bartholomew interrupted their reunion.
“Now we’re all here, I have a new set of assignments for you.” He paused for effect, hands clasped behind his back. “I have a choice of two quests. One is easy, one is hard, both have rewards worthy of the effort invested in them. The first is simple: kill ten hostile enemies outside of this dungeon. As long as they are worthy adversaries, any ten enemies will do.”
‘You Take the High Road - Kill ten enemies (0/10)’
Bartholomew continued. “The second quest only requires you to kill three enemies. Already much easier, is it not? However, the three enemies must be members of Rising Tide.”
Damien was surprised an NPC would give him a quest that targeted other players. Bartholomew had made no secret of his hatred for Rising Tide during Damien’s conscription, not to mention the subsequent deal to provide early game protection in exchange for Damien’s pledge to kill Aetherius. Even so, for the “loathed” status between their factions to translate into quest rewards for killing Rising Tide members was extremely strange. As far as Damien knew, player killing was quite separate from questing in Saga Online. An activity pursued for loot, guild territorial rights and glory, rather than EXP. This quest removed the separation between player-killing and questing completely.
