At the end of your training period, you will get six pieces of equipment and three weapons matching your level. All of them will be elite or better, depending on the reputation level you reach.
You will receive all of the above if:
You stay in Atarin Castle for six months, logging into the game for at least one hour of in-game time every day.
You do not leave the castle, with the exception of visiting locations that are part of Atarin.
You do not invite anyone to the castle or send any mail from the castle or the locations it controls.
If you decide to stay, hit Yes.
It was certainly a cool opportunity, but I would have declined even if it had been an option for me. Six months in one place? That was no good, and so I went with No.
“Yeah, that’s no good,” Brother Yur said, taking a bite out of the sweet dripping with honey and clucking his tongue in enjoyment. “I nee-eed him.”
“You know best, brother,” Hassan said, looking warmly at the purring treasurer. “Good, isn’t it?”
“Delicious-s,” Brother Yur replied. “Pack some up for me to t-take with me—I’ll enjoy them tonight in my own castle.”
“Of course! How could I not do that for you?”
How about doing something like giving me a small part of a key? I had no intention of broaching the topic himself.
“Okay, son,” the sheik said to me suddenly. “I’m not getting you, so what do you want from me? Just, be straightforward with me—don’t try to be clever about it.”
“I need part of a key. It probably looks like a golden rod that ends in some teeth or notches. A key, basically, but only part of it.”
“My son, you need to work on your speech,” the sheik said. “You have no idea how to explain what you want. ‘Probably looks’…‘basically’… I’ll tell you this—you can’t get anywhere unless you know how to say what you want.”
“You’re t-telling me, Hassan,” Brother Yur chimed in. “K-kids just don’t-t want to learn. Hunt-ting, dancing until-l they drop, war… Not like they-y used to be.”
“They’re the same as ever; we’re just getting old,” the sheik said. “My father and uncle used to say the same thing about me when I was this kid’s age or even younger, I swear. But see? I turned out fine.”
Brother Yur didn’t say anything.
“I know what you’re talking about,” the sheik said to me. “I don’t have what you’re looking for, though I know where it is.”
“What do I need to do to get there? I really need it. Really.”
“It’s under my castle,” the sheik said after pausing for a second. “My castle is the peak of a mountain, though the mountain has roots, and there are caves in the roots. Down there, in those caves, lives the spawn of darkness, the evil genie Zulfad al Akhr. He can’t leave the caves, and we can’t go in there. Or rather, we can, but we can’t come back out.”
“And? There’s something else. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have told me that,” I replied.
“Good guess, just never hurry someone who’s telling you a story,” the sheik said. “It isn’t polite. Far from here, near the sea, you’ll find an oasis called Al Albain, which was once a great city.”
Ah-ha! And that was why I’d been taken there.
“The living can’t go there, however.” The sheik took a bite of sherbet when he finished.
“What’s at that oasis?” I asked warily.
“A palace. In the palace, there’s a dungeon, and in the dungeon, there’s a terrifying enemy, labyrinths, and treasures. A bow is in with the treasures. It isn’t just a bow, though; it once belonged to a great warrior, and it has a quiver full of arrows next to it. You won’t miss it—it glows in the dark, alive with great power. If you have that bow, you can go down into the cave, try to kill the evil genie, and return the treasure chest he stole from me fifteen years ago. The negligent guard who let that happen, needless to say, is no longer with us.”
“What are you talking about?” Brother Yur asked, brows raised in surprise. “I didn’t know about that!”
“I didn’t tell you,” the sheik replied. “There was no point upsetting you. Oh, by the way…”
You completed a quest: The Right Questions.
Reward:
1500 experience
The old man hadn’t exactly cheered me up.
You unlocked Dead Sands of Al Albain.
This is the third in the Third Part of the Key series of quests.
Task: Get into the palace built by the necromancer Ffarg the Wicked.
Reward:
3000 experience
1500 gold
A random rare item matching your class
The next quest in the series
Warning! This quest will be very difficult to complete on your own, so consider bringing 16-20 friends with you.
Sixteen or twenty friends? I thought back to all the walking dead that popped up from under the sand and wondered if even that would be enough. Plus, I had the palace, the dungeons, and the necromancer to deal with. Oh, and the labyrinth. That trader dwarf had mentioned something about how he could get any map for me if I had the money, but then I had to find the people. That was the hardest part. I had my clan, of course, but I didn’t know them well enough to explain what took me to that oasis and why I was taking an elite—or maybe even set—bow for myself. Nope, that’s no good.
Wait a second, what kind of idiot am I? I’d forgotten that I was protected from all the walkers out there—night or day, skeletons were my new best friends.
There was still a problem, though. First, I couldn’t be sure that the skeletons really would just come out and do a happy dance when they saw me. They were there for the quest, after all, and they had their own boss to answer to. Second, even if they didn’t touch me, I had to doubt Mr. Ffarg would just invite me to sit down for a cup of tea. It sounded like he was a pretty tough cookie, and he had magic, too. No, I can’t do it alone. I couldn’t do it with my clan mates, either, since they’d have to wonder why the skeletons were coming up to me for hugs. There would be a scene, I’d have a lot of explaining to do, and things might even get back to the inquisitors. I was a goner if that happened. The bonfire would burn brightly, I’d yell like a madman, and the surviving members of the college would stand around, arm in arm, singing something lyrical and soulful.
Suddenly, it dawned on me, and I practically gasped. As a friend of mine always said, I remembered that I’d forgotten something. About to clap myself on the forehead, I realized that I’d been doing that a lot recently and thought better of it.
I’d forgotten about Semadi. We were supposed to have met, and almost a whole week had gone by. Didn’t he want to tell me about that competitor of his? Well, that was a mystery no longer. And when Zimin and Valyaev find out that there was some information I completely forgot to go get, they’ll kill me. Sometimes, it’s like even the most important things just drop straight out of your head.
“…and that’s how that spawn of darkness stole my treasure!” the sheik said. “I sent people in to kill him a few times, of course, and even went in with them myself once, but we couldn’t finish him off, and I was the only one to make it out alive. Then, Fassah-Suleiman—you remember—told me that you can only kill the offspring of Jammanam with the bow that belonged to great Voliin ibn Alinsh. He’s the one who devoted his whole life to fighting genies. He was pretty good at it, too.”
“If I need to get the bow, that’s what I’ll do,” I assured the sheik. “I know where the oasis is, already, and I’ll take care of the rest. Thank you for the advice and the story.”
“Get the bow, my boy, and we’ll continue this conversation,” he said, and then gave me a scary-looking amulet on a leather string. “Take this, too. You can use it to get into my castle, and the guards will bring you to me if you show it to them—of course, that’s just if you come back alive.”
Sheik Hassan ibn Kemal Friendship Badge
Reputational item
Let’s you get into Hassan ibn Kemal’s castle and inner quarters.
Note!
Not meant to be worn around your neck.
Does not disappear from your inventory after death.
That was much better; I’d been worried about grabbing Brother Yur again.
Soon, we got ready and started toward the exit. I noticed the sheik give Brother Yur a pile of papers that momentarily disappeared into the latter’s sleeve, though I pretended not to have seen the exchange. He also gave Brother Yur a sack of baklava. I have no idea what’s going on between them. I couldn’t tell if they were funny or scary…
After we traversed the terrifying bridge going the opposite direction, the treasurer and I parted ways. He said goodbye without listening to my expressions of gratitude, patted me on the shoulder, gave me a stuttering good work, handed me one piece of baklava from the sack, and stepped into a portal. I opened another one back to my village.
Things were still quiet, with nobody even out singing—surprising, given the fact that the moon and stars shone brightly in the clear sky. None of the players were there, either, including Tren-Bren. The only familiar face belonged to von Richter. He was sitting on our popular bench thinking about something.
“Where is everyone?” I asked him.
“All off doing their thing,” Gunther sighed. “Your daughter evaporated right in front of me, Master Lossarnakh and the redhead glutton aren’t back yet, and Flosi is sleeping in a closet. He got into a fight with some halfling today, though they made up and drank until they couldn’t stand upright afterward. As far as Krolina goes… She left, too.”
“Where did she go?” I couldn’t help but notice Gunther faltered when he mentioned her. Something’s up.
“They headed over to your village to see how things are with the inquisitors,” the knight replied, averting his eyes.
“Who is ‘they’?”
“Lady Krolina and that snotnose Kale,” Gunther muttered as his nose twitched.
Oh, God, he’s jealous. The great Junior Master von Richter, NPC, was jealous because another NPC was hanging out with a player. I’m going to need an aspirin.
“So, what?” I asked as casually as I could. “That’s fine—Kale’s still a young guy learning the ropes. You aren’t a squire, so you aren’t going to go carrying her things around, are you? She knows your place in the order hierarchy, and she’s using this to show you how much she respects you.”
Obviously, that wouldn’t have worked in real life but with an NPC… Gunther perked up. To put the final nail in the coffin of his jealousy, I pulled the parchment with the map out of my bag.
“Here, buddy, riddle me this,” I said to him. “There’s some kind of connection between these places, but I have no idea what it is. Any ideas?”
Gunther took the parchment and started looking it over.
“Well?” I asked a couple minutes later.
He looked at me. “I can’t figure it out. There’s something going around in my head, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
“Okay, then you sit here and think about it, and I’ll be back in half an hour. Wait for me here, okay?”
“Of course. I’ll be here.”
I had just stepped into the portal when I heard Gunther slam one armored fist against the other.
“That’s it!”
There was no point going back because it didn’t matter too much if I heard what he’d figured out sooner rather than later. I was much more interested in having a chat with the baron.
It wasn’t yet midnight, but I didn’t think that was important—it was dark, it was nighttime, and the moon was high in the sky, all the way he liked it. Pulling one of his nuts out, I looked around carefully. I was standing at a crossroads, of course, and anybody could have been walking by. That didn’t look to be the case, however.
I crushed the nut in my hand.
“Baron Semadi, come here,” I muttered, and almost instantly heard a familiar voice.
“My white brother, you certainly weren’t in a hurry!”
Chapter Eight
In which everyone goes around striking bargains.
“I had a lot going on,” I replied, not interested in getting into the details. I couldn’t tell him the truth—I’d completely forgotten about him. He’d probably get mad at me… And I needed him too much for that.
“You can’t do it all,” Semadi replied. He stepped off the road toward the edge of a forest, sitting down on a log and gesturing for me to sit down next to him.
I did just that. “We do have to try, though.”
“Ah, it’s just a bunch of hustle and bustle,” the baron said, tossing one of his innumerable nuts into his mouth. Then, he held out a handful to me. I took one and popped it into my mouth.
You ate one of Baron Semadi’s nuts.
You received:
+5% mana regeneration speed
-9% damage done to you by wild animals
These effects will last for three hours.
That took me by surprise—I hadn’t realized the nuts had different effects. The first time, I’d gotten something about night vision and something else. I didn’t remember what it was, though I knew it wasn’t one of the two bonuses I’d just gotten.
“Can I have another one?” I asked, and the baron held out his hand silently.
You ate one of Baron Semadi’s nuts.
You received:
+9% gold from dead opponents
+2 minutes to the time you can spend underwater
These effects will last for three hours.
A thought occurred to me: what if I ate another ten of the nuts?
Note!
The bonuses you get from eating Baron Semadi’s nuts cannot be combined.
You need to decide which of the options you would like.
Do you want the first set of bonuses or the second?
That’s a shame. The good part was that I could experiment with them when I had something big coming up since there were a good dozen in my bag. He’d probably give me more if I asked for them, too.
I picked the bonuses I’d gotten from the first nut and asked the baron a question. He was looking up silently at the moon.
“So, how are things here? Getting used to it?”
“It’s nice,” Semadi replied gravely. “It’s a good spot, and there are some great people in the ground. I like it here in the West much more than on the islands.”
“There are some bright spots over there, too, of course,” I replied. “It’s warm, the sea, the palms…”
“Okay, white brother, let’s say we had our polite little talk. Do you need something from me?”
“Yes, actually. You were going to tell me about some competitor of yours who was gathering forces and recruiting people to his faith.”
“That’s putting it a little strongly,” Semadi smiled, and I jumped yet again to see the grinning skull in the top hat. “It’s just that some of those who should be serving me went over to him, and I’m not sure why. At least, I think, I know why. I’m not sure, though.”
“Who is he? And what do you know about him?”
“All I know is what his servants have told me. And, as you’ve noticed, they’re not the cleverest bunch by and large.”
“Something is better than nothing. Come on, out with it.”
“He just came to this world recently,” the baron said. “A year ago, none of the dead had so much as heard of him. Nobody knows how he gained power over the Dark, either, though they’re sure one source of his authority is a powerful artifact laced with the magic of the dead. They’re not lying, either—I can feel that, too. It’s a mighty object, so somebody must have been generous with the magic and energy from that side. And that’s just one part of his power. Like I told you, there must be other sources pushing him above the rest and letting him rule them.”
“Who are the rest?”
Semadi adjusted his top hat. “The rest? That opportunist is gathering everyon
e who wants to join his banner. He already has the werewolves, the dead, humans and unhumans that fight for evil, and orcs from the mountains—I don’t really know what they are since we don’t have them in the archipelago. My bony troops mentioned someone else, but I don’t remember who. He’s gathering them all with a single promise.”
The baron crossed his arms over his chest and stared darkly at me. The pause was so pregnant that even Stanislavski would probably have yelled how believable it was.
Lost in the drama of the moment, I practically forgot to push him for what was next.
“So, what does he promise them? Come on!”
“Freedom and revenge,” the baron said ominously. “All they have to do is spill the blood of the light peoples, and happiness will be theirs.”
One good thing was that it was definitely a player. The rest was much more problematic.
“Could you take me to see him?” I asked the baron and wasn’t really surprised when he shook his head.
“I’m not going to go visit him, and I suggest that you stay away, as well. We wouldn’t make it, together or separately. He definitely doesn’t need a competitor. Us children of darkness are awfully egotistical—have you noticed that? We wouldn’t be able to deal with him if we got there, either, since you’re mortal, and I still don’t have my power. Okay, so, maybe I’m exaggerating. I’d definitely survive, though you’d be a dead man. And I need you, so let’s avoid that outcome.”
“Could you just find him? I mean, where he is, where he isn’t…”
“He’s never in one place long,” the baron replied quickly. “He’s always on the move. I don’t have information like that, anyway, since the dead are all pretty simple—they only serve one master.”
“So, that’s it?” I asked, crestfallen. “You’re not really helping here.”
Baron Semadi crunched on a nut. “Not exactly. I’m not going to help you find him, though I’ll definitely help you kill him—I don’t need competitors, either. If you find a good army, collect powerful artifacts, find out where he’s going to be and set off on the hunt, let me know. I’ll be sure to join you. We won’t even count that as one of the three times I promised to help you.”
The Crown and the Key Page 12
