Everyone in the room glanced at him in surprise. “You what?” Melissa asked. “Just how old are you?”
“That’s none of your damn business,” Cecil snapped. “Do you all want to gossip, or do you want me to explain the layout and defenses of the library?”
“By all means, go right ahead,” the rogue said as she gestured at the map. “You ancient grump,” she muttered under her breath.
Cecil ignored Melissa and launched back into his explanation. “The exterior of the library is heavily warded. I expect that it would take most of the fire guild working together to breach the shielding around the building – not that they would actually work together, of course. At night, these wards extend to the main entrance and the various service entrances along the side of the building.
“Assuming we can get inside, there are a number of safeguards in place to protect the books and scrolls that are kept there. It will only take a single librarian to sound an alarm, and I can tell you that the place is filled to the brim with the brown-robed men and women. Our best bet here is stealth rather than a direct confrontation.”
“Are the librarians a threat?” Ethan asked, his brow furrowed.
“Not exactly,” Cecil explained. “The librarians are chosen for their complete lack of magic. The idea, such as it is, was that they would be less tempted to take advantage of their position and knowledge of the library if they couldn’t use magic.”
“But what he hasn’t mentioned is that they are all trained in martial weaponry skills,” Marie added. “They maintain their own training hall inside the library. I’ve personally seen them take down a mouthy mage – rather quickly I might add.”
“Awesome,” Ethan said with a chuckle. “So, we’re going up against a group of warrior librarians that are supported by some unknown magic defense system. I see now why we’re going to try to sneak through.”
“Assuming we can even get inside. How exactly are we going to get in?” Marie asked calmly, her eyes on Cecil. “I’m certain you must have some plan.”
The short man nodded curtly, his hand running through his beard. “We need to go underneath the wards,” he said, watching the group, as though testing to see if they could guess at his strategy.
Melissa sighed. “Stop trying to be mysterious. Just tell us how we’re getting in.”
Cecil glared at the rogue. “We will have to use the sewers.” He pulled out another scroll, unfurling it along the table. This parchment showed a map of a round disc, radial lines running out from the center. Riley could see that the lines connected to a large circle in the middle of the disc.
“Each of the twelve discs that make up Vaerwald were initially designed to last quite a long time. Obviously, the original engineers needed to take into account growing population density and relevant utilities. This included a working sewage system.” He noted Melissa’s bored expression. “Or have you never wondered why you didn’t have to throw your waste over the side of the discs?”
“Never occurred to me,” the rogue responded with a yawn. Riley couldn’t help but notice that she took pleasure in antagonizing the enchanter. She was like a slightly more homicidal version of Jerry.
Cecil sighed. “Ingrates,” he muttered. “Anyway, large tubing was installed inside each disc that stretches out from the center. Waste funnels down these central lines into a single main sewage line that runs through the heart of the city. Once the refuse is landside, an aqueduct runs it out to the coast.”
His fingers traced a path from a portion of the tubing toward the edge of the ring. Riley suddenly realized she was looking at the sewage system for the level ten disc, the faint outlines of the buildings overlaid on the map of the sewers. She could just make out the rough border of the library.
“The buildings have changed over time – accidental explosions and what not. The Great Library, however, has remained in the same place. It rests directly over one of the main sewer lines. The library should have its own access to the tunnels since it’s such a large structure. As a result, if we enter the sewer through one of the maintenance grates outside, we should be able to access the library through the lower levels.”
“You intend for us to crawl through a sewer?” Melissa asked in an incredulous tone. “What a shit plan…” Ethan stifled a laugh while Lucas punched him gently in the side.
“You can always stay behind,” Cecil groused.
“Stop it,” Marie snapped. “It’s a workable strategy. As Cecil explained, we can’t assault the outside of the structure or enter during the day.” She glanced at the little man. “What do we do once we’re inside?”
He snorted, eyeing Melissa out of the corner of his eye. “We’ll have to make our way up through the lower levels and the Great Hall to the laboratories. Ideally, we would manage to do this without being detected.”
“And getting back out?” Riley asked softly.
Cecil turned to her, a smile slowly curling his lips. This was the first time she had seen the dwarf look somewhat happy. She decided that she didn’t particularly like it. “Leave that to me. I can get us out in a hurry if need be.”
“We are risking a lot here on a hunch,” Ethan added, his eyes on the map. “If we do get caught, it sounds like we will be dealing with the library’s defenses and the librarians. If we take too long, I expect that the city guards will show up.”
Marie nodded. “The fire guild patrols the upper levels regularly. We could probably handle a small patrol, but, if an alarm is sounded, we would only have maybe thirty minutes before a larger group managed to gather and make it to the library from level eleven.”
Cecil’s grin widened. “Unless I blow the tubing on that level remotely. I could buy us nearly an hour that way. They’d have to take the long way through the low streets.”
The small man glanced at Melissa. “I suppose your group could delay them further once they’re on level one, assuming they’re up to the task.”
The red-haired rogue looked surprised. “You’re planning to destroy the tubing, and we get to kill some mages?” She slapped him on the back. “I knew I always liked you.” This earned her a weary sigh from the enchanter.
“You can’t kill them,” Marie said, eyeing the rogue. “You can injure and maim, but nothing a journeyman light mage couldn’t heal – and no deaths! Our goal is just to slow them down.”
“Really? You have grown soft in your old age. I remember a time when…”
“Those days are long gone,” Marie interrupted her bluntly, her eyes flaring with anger. “Our goal here is to protect the city and find more information on the cultists – it isn’t to kill off the city guards. The same goes for the librarians. You can incapacitate them, but you can’t kill them.”
“Besides, even if we do find the cultists and stop this plague somehow, we don’t want to end up in a magical prison,” Riley added. “Blowing up part of the city seems bad enough.”
Cecil shrugged. “I can trigger the explosives late at night. I doubt this will cause much collateral damage at that time of day since few people use the tubes after dusk except for travelers. That won’t make much difference; they always come back. Besides, the earth guild can replace the tubes in less than a day.”
Riley could only imagine what Vivian’s reaction would be to that particular chore. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to find out. Ethan was right, though. This plan was risky. However, as she surveyed the maps laid out on the table, she didn’t see any other way. They were going to have to gamble big. Hopefully, it would pay off.
Riley’s gaze shifted to the group around the table. They were an odd bunch – an old matron of an orphanage, a disgruntled enchanter, what she could only assume was a hired assassin and her gang, and a group of novice adventurers. Yet she saw an oddly determined look in their eyes. They were all in this room for different reasons, but none of them looked like they planned to back out of this crazy plan.
“What’s the next step?” Riley asked in the silence that had descended across the room.
> Marie glanced up at her from the map. “The sun will set soon. We all need to get ready. I expect it’s going to be a long night.”
Chapter 21- Disgusting
The group was walking quickly and quietly down the streets of level eleven. Ornate stone buildings loomed over them on either side of the street, their windows dark and vacant. In contrast to the last time Riley had visited the library, the streets were nearly deserted. Riley could only assume that the NPCs had turned in for the evening and that the players had moved to different portions of the city since they couldn’t visit the library at night.
Glancing beside her, Riley noticed that Lucas and Emma trudged along silently. The light mage had been almost mute since her betrayal, as though she were worried the others would abandon her if she drew any attention to herself. Riley expected that the couple’s eventual conversation outside of the game wasn’t going to be fun.
Maybe this is a great reason to just not date anyone, she thought somberly.
“First, we meet this girl who wants to travel to Vaerwald. Looks like her gear sucks, so why not help her out?” Ethan grumbled good-naturedly. “Now we’re going to crawl through a sewer in a magical city to infiltrate a library full of emotionless warrior librarians.
“Oh, and it’s all because we’re looking for a group of cultists that are hell-bent on summoning some sort of demi-god and are willing to destroy a whole city to do it.” He shook his head. “God, I love this game…
“Does this happen to you a lot?” he asked Riley.
She hesitated for a moment, thinking back over the last couple of weeks in-game. “Well, yeah I guess. I do seem to get into these sorts of situations a lot lately.”
She raised a hand as she heard the sound of voices ahead of them. Her group slinked back against the front of one of the nearby buildings, hiding in the shadows of the building’s enormous columns. A group of four red-robed mages walked past a street a few dozen yards away. Flames flickered at the tops of their staves, brightly illuminating the area around them as they bickered and shoved each other animatedly.
“A patrol?” Lucas asked.
“It looks like it, but you all would probably know better than me,” Riley said. She was still acclimating to the mage city. She pulled up her map, realizing they were only a few streets away from their meeting spot.
“Let’s be careful,” Riley continued. “Since there aren’t many people on the street, it would be better to avoid the patrols. We don’t exactly have a good reason to be here.” The other members of the group nodded in response.
They made the rest of the journey in complete silence, staying alert and wary of the fire mage guards. Luckily, they made it to the rendezvous location without incident. It appeared that Cecil had marked off an abandoned alley for their meet-up. As they entered the narrow space between two buildings, Riley heard a faint whistle, and a cool blade pressed against her neck.
“What’s the password?” a feminine voice purred.
“There is no password,” Riley replied in a weary voice.
“Touché,” Melissa replied as the blade withdrew. “But what’s the point of a secret meeting spot without a password? Cecil has no flare for clandestine meetings.”
“Oh? Is that necessary for breaking into a library? You’ve been treating this like some sort of game,” the small man groused, walking out from behind a stack of crates. He grunted as he hoisted a pack onto his back. Riley noticed that he had strapped a series of pouches and sacks across his waist and chest.
“Everything is a game,” Melissa explained as she flipped her dagger through the air and caught it by the tip. “Most people just don’t realize that they’re playing.” She winked at Riley before sliding her blade back into its sheath.
Riley heard a sigh, and Marie walked out from behind the crate near Cecil. The older woman had shed her worn woolen attire and was now clothed in a full set of leather armor. The material looked like it had seen many conflicts, evident by the scratches and tears that marred the surface. Yet it was still well-oiled and cared for. Riley noted a crimson lining peeking from the inside of Marie’s hood, the joints of her equipment, and embroidered into the sheaths swinging at her waist. She was a bit surprised; this didn’t look the typical attire of the matron of an orphanage.
“Thank goodness you all showed up. They have been bickering for the last hour,” Marie said in a weary voice.
“I figured you would stay with your rogues,” Riley said to Melissa.
The red-haired women looked at her in surprise. “Are you kidding? As much as I’d love to stab some fire mages, I’m not giving up a chance to break into the library!”
Cecil rubbed at his neck. “I managed to set the explosives on level eleven, and they’re scheduled to go off in a couple of hours. That should buy us plenty of time.”
“Are we ready to move then?” Marie asked as she surveyed the group carefully. “There likely won’t be any turning back once we’re in the sewers.”
“I’m ready,” Ethan said, shouldering his sword. “Let’s do this thing!”
Cecil raised an eyebrow. “We’ll see if you still feel that way once you are walking through a foot of muck.” The small man reached down beside him, grabbing a crowbar that leaned against the crate. With a swift gesture, he struck the floor of the alley and yanked hard. A manhole cover flipped open and dropped to the ground with a solid thud. Riley could see a ladder leading down into the sewers, and the rungs trailed off into the darkness.
“After you,” Cecil said to Ethan, gesturing at the hole.
The warrior grimaced but stepped forward and started down the ladder. The group quickly filed down after him and soon found themselves standing in a dark tunnel. Riley had no trouble seeing clearly in the gloom, taking in the large passage that stretched out before her. The tube was over a dozen feet across, and a river of muck ran down the center. A raised metal platform was installed along either side, providing a makeshift walkway.
A white light suddenly flared in the tunnel, Emma’s staff igniting and pushing back at the encroaching darkness. “I’m glad my sense of smell is muted in-game,” the light mage muttered, eyeing the filth that ran past them.
“Amen to that,” Lucas added, glancing awkwardly at Emma.
“You’ll get used to it. We need to get moving. We’ll put the muscle in front,” Cecil said, motioning at Ethan. The burly warrior took up the point position, switching to his longsword and shield. He kept his weapon at the ready as they slowly moved forward. Emma and Lucas stayed close behind him, the light mage’s staff illuminating the tunnel. The walkway was cramped, just barely allowing two people to walk side-by-side.
Riley took up a position in the rear of the group next to Marie. She noticed that the older woman scanned the tunnel with a calm, practiced gaze while keeping a hand on her dagger. She barely made any noise as she moved, a remarkable feat on the rusty metallic platform.
“What did Melissa mean back at the orphanage when she referred to your past?” Riley asked Marie tentatively. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want,” she added quickly.
The older woman eyed her with a cautious expression. “I have yet to meet a person with a pristine past. Like most people, my particular story is riddled with events that I prefer to forget – and a few that I deeply regret. Suffice it to say that I wasn’t always the matron of an orphanage.”
Marie’s eyes clouded as she recalled some unknown memory. Then her gaze refocused and she watched Riley with a renewed clarity. “I have witnessed you wielding dark mana. I expect you understand how the sensation flushes away all of your guilt and reservation, allowing you to act on your desires. This can be incredibly helpful in some situations. However, it is also easy to go too far, especially if you are upset.”
“I… I have noticed that myself,” Riley said softly, recalling some of her actions while under the effects of her dark mana. She also hadn’t missed the implication of the older woman’s words. Was Marie a practitioner
of dark magic?
“You are just starting along this path,” Marie continued in a weary voice. “As you continue, it will only get darker. The trail also splits and branches at multiple points. There are many applications of dark magic you haven’t encountered yet.
“It is easy to lose yourself and hurt those around you. Unfortunately, I have experienced that myself. I try to give back by caring for the children in my orphanage.” Marie’s expression hardened, and she eyed the tunnel ahead. “Yet my mistakes still haunt me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here right now.”
“What…?” Riley began but was cut off by a shout ahead of them. The pair couldn’t see anything from their position at the back of the group, and so they didn’t know what was coming.
“Jump to the other walkway,” Marie ordered, her eyes suddenly pulsing with dark mana as she motioned to the other platform across the river of sludge. “We will be useless back here.”
Without any warning, the older woman pressed her back to the wall and then launched forward, hurtling over the expanse. Her feet landed lightly against the metal grate on the other side, barely shaking the walkway. Taking a deep breath, Riley followed her example, springing across the tunnel. She landed with shaky steps and Marie grabbed her arm, pulling her onto the walkway.
Riley could finally see what was coming. And she really wished she hadn’t. Gigantic white worms roiled down the tunnel en masse. Their bodies were nearly a foot in diameter, and they each appeared to be over a dozen feet long. As she watched in horror, their mouths opened, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. The light from Emma’s staff reflected off their skin, revealing a thick layer of slime.
“What are those?” Riley asked. Their group was already moving into position on the other side of the tunnel. Ethan hoisted his shield, and his skin took on a gray appearance as he cast Stone Skin while Lucas, Emma, and Cecil lined up behind him.
“Crawlers,” Marie answered, her gaze steady. “They are resistant to physical attacks. Their bites are also poisonous – a paralytic – and their blood is heavily acidic. If you get into close quarters, avoid being hit.”
Awaken Online: Retribution (Side Quest) Page 16
