by Adam Drake
I tuned the minotaur's rambling out and found what I needed. “Ingot's Perch has a Locators branch. And, hey, it's just down the river from us, not that far.” I closed the map. “Okay, we need to-”.
I didn't get a chance to finish. Mudhoof was looking at me when something over my shoulder caught his attention. As he opened his mouth to shout a warning, I was already moving.
But not fast enough.
My simulation suit registered a sudden deep pain under my left shoulder blade.
The combat log window at the lower right of my vision blared a message in bright red font:
Perriwinkle KillUGood Backstabs Vivian Valesh for 388 hit points of damage.
Then beneath that:
You have been poisoned. Poison unidentified.
My avatar was stunned and collapsed to the sandy ground. I twisted around to look at my assailant.
A man wearing a dark hooded cowl whirled away. In one hand was a long crystal dagger, covered in blood. My blood. Across his back was a quiver, and a sword sheathed on one thigh. He had struck from a point of camouflage.
Another Shadow! I thought as I watched Perriwinkle run away.
Mudhoof roared, a double-bladed axe appearing in his hands, and gave chase. But Perriwinkle was quicker and made a dash for the river. Had Mudhoof not already used his Charge ability back in the chamber to knock Kragg's orb, he may have been able to use it now to catch the fleeing Shadow.
As Perriwinkle reached the edge of the river he dived into its rushing waters and vanished. Mudhoof stopped at the edge and screamed filtered profanities at him. I know he wanted to keep chasing him, but I needed help.
Fuming, the angry minotaur returned to my side. “Sorry, Vee! He came out of nowhere. Nothing I could do.”
I nodded and tried to get into a sitting position. Mudhoof eased me up a little, cradling me in one massive arm. “No worries,” I said. “Now I know what it's like to get attacked my a Shadow.” I managed a laugh but my avatar coughed up blood, instead.
Mudhoof looked me over. “How bad is it? Tell me you ain't gonna have to re-roll. Not now.”
A green icon shaped like a water drop appeared in the top right corner of my view-screen, indicating my poisoned status. That backstab took almost eighty percent of my health in one fell swoop. Had I not turned when I did, I might have been killed instantly.
But now, what little health I had slowly ebbed away because of the poison.
“No re-roll. At least not in the next few minutes. But time is counting down.”
“Here, take this Health Boost,” Mudhoof said passing a little square packet with a red cross on it. “Should buy you some time.”
I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd already used a Health Boost during my initial encounter with Kragg. Applying this one so soon after would dull its effect. I still used it though and my health bar only went up fifteen percent. This was looking grim.
“I need a Temple,” I said, stating the obvious.
“Right,” Mudhoof said, nodding vigorously. “Good idea. I'll just-”.
An arrow suddenly thunked into the side of Mudhoof's head just below a horn.
“What the...?” he said. He grabbed the arrow and yanked it out. He looked around, angrily. “Who the hell did that?!”
I pointed weakly upward.
Far above, on the edge of the cliffs that encircled this little sandy patch, stood a row of archers. From what I could see, there were close to ten of them.
“Oh, FILTERED,” said Mudhoof as he gazed up at them. “Kragg called in an army?”
“They're not players,” I said when I tried to focus on one of them.
“Huh?” Mudhoof said, then another arrow hit him in the back. Several others hit the surrounding sand.
Frustrated, Mudhoof brought out a shield from his inventory. It was a black segmented shell from a huge beetle. From end to end it was almost as tall as Mudhoof.
Braced against an arm, Mudhoof put it over us as he hunched down. A volley of arrows cracked against its surface and were deflected. None of them could even pierce it.
“Nice,” I said, trying not to stare at my dropping health bar. Got to keep an upbeat attitude in the face of impending doom.
“Picked this baby up while doing a Daily Quest, believe it or not,” he said with a wide grin. More arrows struck the beetle shield. “Sometimes mindlessly grinding experience points can pay off.”
I had pulled up the local area map, again, this time enquiring about the nearest Healer's Temple.
“Ingot's Perch,” I said.
“What?”
“It has a Temple!”
“Oh,” Mudhoof said as if realizing our current situation. “Right. Well, Vee, there seems to be only way to get out of here.” A machine-gun like cracking of arrows assailed the shield as if to emphasize his words.
“What's that?” I dared to ask.
“Time to pull out the big Sausage,” the minotaur said with an even wider grin.
I shouldn't have dared. “What? Sausage?” I said confused.
“Don't mind while I whip this out, ma'am?” Mudhoof said. He dismissed his battle axe and motioned the free hand toward his waist.
I was beside myself in disbelief. “What the heck are you going on about, Muddie? Now is not the time for juvenile jokes about your-”.
Mudhoof laughed and tipped the shield up a little and pointed at a patch of sand next to us. “Here, check out my big Sausage.”
At that moment, a massive pig popped into existence beside us. No, not a pig. A warthog!
I blinked in surprise. Huh?
“He's my new mount!” Mudhoof said with pride which was partly drowned out by a staccato of arrow impacts.
The creature was nearly twice the size as Smoke, and easily a million times uglier. A jumbled forest of tusks stuck out at all angles from its mouth. Thick tufts of hair bristled from unspeakable nooks and crannies along its dark pitted hide.
Fastened to its arched back was an almost comically small saddle.
“You named your giant pig mount, Sausage?” I said, shrinking health bar momentarily forgotten. Then I started to laugh, and couldn't stop.
“That's the spirit!” Mudhoof declared. “Now let's get out of here!”
With that he hoisted me up with his free arm and, while keeping the beetle shield over our heads, ran to his mount.
Mudhoof leapt into the saddle and wedged me between him and the enormously wide neck of the warthog. Arrows thunked into the animal's thick hide, but it didn't appear to even notice.
Mudhoof grabbed the reigns and kicked at Sausage. “Go! Go! Go!”
Sausage snorted loudly, spraying an ungodly amount of mucus and spit all over the place. Then he wheeled about and charged toward the river at full speed. Arrows continued to rain over us, and I grudgingly had to acknowledge the skill of those archers, so far up.
As we neared the river's edge I asked, “Does Sausage have a Leap ability?”
“Nope!” Mudhoof said.
“Do you?” I asked in alarm as the roiling water neared.
“Nope!” he said again.
When he reached the very edge of sandy bank Sausage made an effort to jump. And barely a third of the way across we dropped straight into the water.
For a few moments we sank like a stone, but to my relief we all popped back up to the surface. Sausage was more buoyant than he looked.
As water sloshed around us, we looked back. The sandy spot, and the archers on the cliffs above, slipped from view.
“This is good,” Mudhoof said, watching the landscape fly by on either side of us. “We'll be at Ingot's Perch in no time. How's the poison situation?”
I looked at my health bar. What tiny gain the health boost had given me was gone, and the rest was slipping away. The edges of my view-screen distorted and blurred. “As bad as you'd expect.”
Despite his size and burden, Sausage excelled at swimming in the churning waters. Soon, a small town appeared by the river in the
distance.
“There it is!” Mudhoof said.
My health bar was at eleven percent. Things were going dark.
As we reached Ingot's Perch, Mudhoof steered Sausage's massive bulk up onto a low part of the shoreline. A man, fishing rod in hand, stood nearby lost in contemplation about a potential meal. He fell back in shock as Sausage surged out of the water and stood dripping next to him.
“Where's the Temple?” Mudhoof roared at the fisherman.
The man was wide eyed with shock and I could only imagine how we must appear to him: larger than life and terrifying.
“Wh-what?” he asked, confused.
“WHERE IS THE FILTERING TEMPLE!?” Mudhoof bellowed.
The man shrank back in fear, dropping his rod. “At the town square,” he said, pointing.
And we were gone, Mudhoof driving Sausage at high speed. Sausage's large hooves clopped loudly on the cobblestone streets, as townsfolk scrambled to get out of the way.
We entered the square at a full gallop. Mudhoof yanked on the reigns to turn Sausage toward a large squat building, topped with a pyramid. At the pinnacle was a statue of a dove.
He drove Sausage up the Temple's stairs and through the open entrance. I heard shrieks of alarm, and Mudhoof shouting orders, but now my simulation suit was locking off my hearing, and my vision was an opaque slate grey.
There was movement, and I had the sense my avatar was being carried. I heard the words, “FILTERing backstabbed with poison.” Mudhoof? I couldn't tell.
I looked to my health bar, panic rising in my chest. One percent.
A message appeared.
You have been rendered unconscious.
Then my view-screen went black.
CHAPTER FOUR
I watched my black screen with concern, but then my health bar shot upwards.
Much to my relief the screen brightened, and I could see again.
Mudhoof hovered over me, huge battle-axe in one hand, and the long shell shield in the other. Next to him was a small bald man with a white topknot of hair hanging down his back. The Temple's healer.
“You okay now, Vee?” Mudhoof asked, his eyes darting around. He looked nervous.
I was about to answer when a system message appeared, floating in front of me.
Achievement Unlocked! 'That Was A Close Call.' You have been revived from having only 1 hit point remaining and lived to tell the tale. Bonus: +2% effectiveness from Health Boosts.
When I told Mudhoof this, he burst out laughing. “Really? You're only getting that now after all these years with your character? Sheesh. I unlocked that achievement just twenty minutes into my very first play session in.” He laughed some more.
“I'm glad to be a late bloomer,” I said, standing. To the healer I asked, “I have you to thank from bringing be back from the brink of death?”
The little man offered a modest bow. “It is my duty, miss. Shale, the Goddess of Health, will not have any suffering while in her temple. Your friend should be thanked. Had you arrived but a few minutes later I'm afraid Shale would be most displeased right now.”
“Well, I thank you both,” I said and dropped Mudhoof a wink. The minotaur barely noticed, still casting anxious looks about the place.
“Allow me to offer you a gift for Shale's wonderful services,” I said and placed fifty gold pieces in the healer's hand.
“Shale is pleased,” he said.
To Mudhoof, I asked, “What's got you spooked?”
He looked at me like I was nuts. “You kidding? That Pickle-winkle is around here, I know it.”
I gave the main chamber of the Temple a look. Several cots, like the one I'd used, filled the place, but there were no other patients present. Only a roaring fire in the hearth at one end, and various tapestries depicting a flying dove, Shale's symbol. Few shadows for Perriwinkle to spring from.
Still, Mudhoof was right to be on guard. The would-be assassin jumped in the same river we did, and could have rode it down to Ingot's Perch.
The healer spoke up. “None can harm another while they are under the pyramid of Shale,” he said.
“True enough,” I said, and patted Mudhoof on his massive arm. “You can ease up a little, my protector. That Shadow would have a tough time catching us off guard again, now we know he's hunting me.”
Mudhoof snorted in irritation. “Still, it was a cheap shot. Stabbing someone in the back when they're not looking? How cowardly can you...” his voice trailed off as he realized who he was talking to. He smiled sheepishly. “I'm excluding you, of course, Vee.”
“Of course,” I said with a playful rolling of the eyes. “But Perriwinkle is a symptom of my problem. It is the disease we need to cure once and for all. The sooner the better.”
I turned to the healer. “Where might we find the nearest Locators Guild here in town?”
“You will find one across the main square. They are beside the new clockworks shop. Can't miss them.”
Thanking him, Mudhoof and I went to the Temple's entrance. We stood in the wide open doorway and took in the sight of the town.
Typical medieval setting with cobblestone streets and stone-earth buildings wedged up against each other. Beggars begged and barkers barked. Occasionally, a player would pass our view and I tensed up if they looked in my direction.
“No worries, Vee,” Mudhoof said, tightening the grip on his battle axe. “I got your back.”
Any of these players could be a bounty hunter, biding their time for the right opportunity to strike once I left the safety of the Temple.
Casually, we descended the stairs and made our way across the town square. Many people milled about, townsfolk and players, and we did our best to keep some distance from all of them.
“This just underscores what I've been saying,” I said, keeping one hand on the pommel of the sword sheathed at my hip.
Mudhoof sneered at a woman carrying a basket of apples who got to close, causing her to give us a wide birth. “What's that? That I'm awesome and wonderful and you can't have a proper adventure without me?”
“Well, yes, that is all true, too. But I mean getting rid of this bounty. I'll never have a moments rest until that happens. Questing is almost entirely out of the question. At least not open world quests.”
Mudhoof said, “You can still do instances with me and Thorm. No worries there.”
“Yes, but I can't stay in an instance forever. And I'm not logging out and staying away from the game just because of it.”
Mudhoof scoffed. “Now that would be a fate worse than death.”
We reached the other side of the square unmolested, but our guard was still up. I spotted the Locators Guild sign with its stylized symbol of a compass, a few doors down.
As we walked to it Mudhoof stopped in front of the clockworks shop next door. Its wide bay windows were filled with little clockwork robots which teetered around and belched steam. A shopkeeper emerged and placed a small robot on the ground. The machine wobbled about, inner gears grinding loudly.
I was unimpressed. Clockworks was a new feature recently implemented into the game. Players can purchase, and even learn to make, clockwork beings for a myriad of tasks. Many players loved it. Personally, I didn't care for them. Too steampunk for me, but to each their own.
“Cute, huh?” Mudhoof said as the robot bumped into a flower pot, shot out steam from a suspiciously placed orifice, then teetered off in a new direction. When Mudhoof noticed my expression he added, “Uh, maybe I should just smash it.”
I motioned to the Locators Guild. “Let's get inside before the shopkeeper brings out bigger versions of that thing.”
Entering a Locators Guild always gave me a little rush. It was crammed with maps. Large tapestry maps hung from the walls, rolled parchment maps were stacked on top of each other within narrow shelves. The smell of inked parchment and stitched wool assailed my nostrils and I turned up my simulation suit's olfactory settings to take it in like an addict.
Various globes spun o
n stands, each representing some of the more popular worlds that filled the game.
The service counter was at the back wall, and as we walked toward it I took my time to peruse all the worlds and places I would love to visit. There was so much to see and do within the game; billions of locations and near limitless quests to go on. I had no hope of seeing and doing it all within my lifetime. But I would have fun trying.
