Lord of the Flame: A LitRPG novel (Call of Carrethen Book 2)

by Stephen Roark

  “Yeah, you wish,” I muttered to myself as I cut down another archer.

  I’d always been there for Jack, no matter what we were doing. But now, I didn’t even know where to find him, and I felt helpless. It wasn’t something I was used to, and thinking about it only made me angrier.

  One of the bushes puffed a cloud of putrid green smoke as I passed, undoubtedly some kind of poisonous debuff, but I managed to sidestep out of the way to avoid it. Compared to this place, the icy tundra of the North past Mountain Retreat was an absolute joy.

  I spied a hole in the stone and saw it was definitely the opening to some kind of cavern. I had no light source but luckily there was more glowing moss inside, only this time it was a yellowish green instead of the comforting blue of the woods around Cara.

  Thick hexagonal stone spires jutted out from the ground, each one slightly smaller than one of my legs. Some kind of spores hung from the ceiling, slowly emitting the greenish gasses I knew would definitely poison me if I walked beneath them, but there weren’t any monsters that I could see.

  I made my way into the cave, carefully avoiding the obnoxious spores that clung to the dark red stone of the walls, hoping to find a secret chest or start to some kind of epic quest. But as far as I could tell, it was just an empty cave.

  “Hmmm,” I grumbled, turning back. “Waste of time.”

  But as I headed back to the entrance, I noticed that the spires of rock at my feet had a slight bluish hue to them, with tiny tendril-like veins running through them in an almost organic way. I realized they were a mineable stone, and if I’d had a pickaxe or a smith’s hammer, I’d be able to crack them open and get whatever mineral was inside them.

  Have to tell Gehman when he gets back, I thought as I made my way back to the surface. I headed back over to where the Nameless Archer had spawned and continued clearing the area of monsters, adding to the enormous mass of loot that lay on the ground, and just as I was finishing off a knight, I saw my party emerging from the woods.

  “Aye, Jane!” Gehman shouted, waving enthusiastically. “Did you kill him?”

  “I sure did, Gehman!” I called back.

  “Awesome!”

  I chuckled and walked across the plains to meet them. They all seemed tired, a little dull in the eyes like they hadn’t had a good night’s sleep, and I realized I was looking at the effects of dying in the Dark World, the progression towards being one of the Sunken.

  “Jane!” Gehman cried out again as I approached. “Did you kill him?

  “You—you just said that, Gehman,” I replied.

  “I did?” he asked, frowning with confusion.

  “You did,” Sabotenda agreed.

  “Hey, uh…what was the boss called?” Lock asked. “The Archer With No Name or something?”

  “Wow,” I said. “You guys are sinking already. Here, let me fix you right up.”

  “You can do that?” Gwin asked.

  “Yeah, she said she could, dumbass,” Lambert scoffed.

  “Did she?” Sabotenda asked.

  “Yes!” I said loudly. “Yes, I did. Now, everyone just hold still and shut up.”

  I opened my character sheet and selected the restore button. My hand glowed golden and I went down the line, restoring all the boys from their Sunken states. One by one, the life returned fully to their eyes, each of them shaking the cobwebs from their brains.

  “Wow,” Sabotenda said, obviously shocked by what I’d done. “You weren’t shitting us.”

  “Come on.” I grinned. “I don’t shit people.”

  “Yeah, that would probably hurt.” Lambert grinned. “Babum chhh.”

  “Ewww, gross.” I grimaced. “Gehman, I found some blue rocks in a cave up beyond the ridge. I think they’re mineable. Want to check them out?”

  “Oooh, definitely,” he said happily. “Might be Cobalt!”

  “And there’s tons of loot on the ground where the Festering Army bit the dust,” I continued. “I looted a bunch of it, but there’s tons left for you guys.”

  “Have to loot our bodies too,” Sabotenda said. “I dropped my halberd.”

  “Yeah, you’ll want to get that back,” Kodiak chuckled.

  “So, how did you get him?” Kodiak asked. “Did you just fight him straight up?”

  “Not quite,” I laughed. “Sabotenda tried to cast his portal spell thing, but he fell, and when he did, he put his exit portal on top of the frigging Nameless Archer!”

  “I did?” Sabotenda asked, genuinely surprised. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously!” I nodded. “I went in, landed up on his shoulder and just unleashed on him. Without the army of goons, he went down nice and quick.”

  “That’s awesome,” Sabotenda replied, tossing his arms around the back of his neck in a cocky fashion, as though it was something he’d planned on all along.

  “And I got this, of course,” I said proudly, equipping my bow and showing it off. “150 damage modifier! You know how insane that is? Just need some arrows.”

  “Does that mean I can have your crossbow now?” Gwin asked eagerly.

  “Once we get back to Cara and I buy some regular arrows, it’s all yours, buddy.”

  “Where’s this Cobalt you were talking about?” Gehman asked excitedly.

  “Just over past the ridge,” I told him. “But watch out for the bush things. They spit nasty poison gas stuff when you get close.”

  29

  Serenity

  “Yuck!” Lambert grimaced as he activated yet another fungal spore that spewed its noxious green gas all over him. The debuff was pretty nasty, but we had Curafin with the heal spells at the ready to keep him from dropping too low.

  “You know, you step into another one of those and I’m just gonna watch you die,” Curafin scolded him.

  “Hey, it’s your job isn’t it?” Lambert retorted. “Keeping us all alive?”

  “You know, it’s guys like you that make people never want to play support characters,” he replied. “That’s the last heal you’re getting until we get back to Cara.”

  Lambert grinned mischievously and turned away, meandering deeper into the cave. Gehman’s smith hammer rang out as he moved to his third cobalt shard, smashing away at the rock to reveal the deep blue mineral hidden within.

  “There’s so much!” he cackled as he smashed the stone pillar into smithereens.

  “And what do you do with it, Gehman?” Kodiak asked.

  “It’s for smithing,” he replied. “Upgrading plate mail mostly. I can also upgrade Jane’s studs I think, but I’ll have to check.”

  “Sabotenda will be happy,” I said. He, Lock and Gwin were up on the surface killing Festering Archers and Knights, just getting a bit of extra experience while we watched over Gehman. The cave seemed safe, but he was still only 55 and I wasn’t about to leave him here for some random cave troll or venomous rat to surprise him out of nowhere and send him back to the Bindstone.

  “What is your armor, Kodiak?” I asked. “It looks like leather…”

  “It’s cloth actually,” he replied proudly. “An epic quest that had me running all over the world. Took forever, but it was worth it.”

  “It looks awesome.”

  “Thanks.” He grinned. “It’s around 300 armor level for the whole set—”

  “What!?” I stammered. “That’s like, almost the same as mine!”

  “Yeah, well, yours was just a drop,” he replied. “Mine took like a week. It started at this random NPC I ran into in this nasty swamp on the other side of the oasis. He sent me up to The Plains of Arana for some feathers, then to the Crater Town to this other NPC who had me go collect all these plant fibers—don’t ask! It was a nightmare, but also awesome at the same time.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. Long quests like that were always fun, but I knew exactly what he meant. I always had little patience for things like that too, as I just wanted the damn armor so I could get back to PvPing.

  “You look like a ninja,” I tol
d him.

  “That’s the idea.”

  “Okay, I think I have enough now,” Gehman said as he smashed the last bit of a stone shard to bits and collected the Cobalt fragments. “If I had a pickaxe this would have gone a lot faster, but whatever.”

  “You sure?” I asked. “We can stick around a little longer if you want more.”

  “No, it’s fine,” he replied. “If I was back in Stoneburg with Cavey’s guild, I’d probably stock up on a lot more, but seeing as how we only have one person wearing plate mail, this should be more than enough.”

  “Okay.” I shrugged, cupping my hands over my mouth and shouting down into the cave. “Let’s go, Lambert! We’re done!”

  My voice echoed through the chamber and after a moment, I heard Lambert’s voice call back. “Coming, mom!”

  “You know,” I grumbled, shaking my head. “If this was regular Call of Carrethen, I’d PK his ass so quick right now!”

  “You could always kill him and then restore him from going Sunken when we get back to town,” Kodiak suggested deviously.

  I laughed at the thought. “You know, if he keeps it up with the smart mouth, I just might!”

  Lambert came lumbering out of the darkness and stepped right on another fungal spore that exploded in his face. Instantly, he started hacking and coughing as he staggered towards us.

  “Little help?” he called out. Curafin simply crossed his arms defiantly.

  “What did I tell you?” he asked. “I said that would be the last time, didn’t I? Didn’t I?”

  His health ticking down, Lambert just glared at Curafin. He’d have to wait for the debuff to finish before he could use a charge from his Health Kit. Hiding my smile, I turned and made my way out of the cavern and back out onto the Festering Plains.

  “How’s it going, fellas?” I called out as Sabotenda drove his halberd into an archer’s chest and finished him off. “Anyone level up?”

  “Not quite,” Lock called back. “But we’re getting there.”

  “Full up on loot too,” Gwin said. “But can we get back to Cara and buy Jane some arrows so I can get her frigging crossbow?”

  “Amen to that,” I chuckled.

  We grouped up and headed off towards Cara. The Dark World may have been twisted, corrupted and strange, but at least we’d managed to find a place of refuge, unlike anything we’d had in Carrethen.

  We’d had the Bandit Tower for a while, Jack and I, but PKs had put an end to that. Stoneburg had always been under constant threat of attack and we weren’t at Mountain Retreat for long enough to really feel at home. But despite the fact that we’d only been in Cara for a short time, as we walked through the woods I couldn’t help but feel like I was heading home.

  “Why are there no monsters here?” I asked as we walked.

  “Who knows?” Lambert scoffed. “Who cares?”

  “I don’t really care,” I replied, a little annoyed by his snippy attitude. “It’s just weird.”

  “So then why talk about it?” Lambert retorted. I frowned, again bewildered by his attitude. I couldn’t tell if he was just one of those guys that made unfunny jokes or whether he was trying to just be a troll and failing miserably, or if he was just a genuine dick head.

  “We used to joke that one day we’d run into a group of carnivorous fairies,” Lock chuckled. “But so far that hasn’t happened.”

  Cara was sitting comfortably right where we’d left it, and I quickly made my way over to the Bowyer’s hut to pick up some arrows. I bought a stack of 100 basic Armor Piercing Arrows, then a few stacks of shafts and arrowheads to fletch up later once I ran out.

  “Let’s see it!” Gehman said with excitement. “Give us some Robin Hood action!”

  I noticed Lambert wasn’t paying any attention, so I quickly nocked an arrow, took careful aim, and sent my shot streaking right over his shoulder, less than an inch from his throat. It slammed into a tree in front of him and he almost jumped out of his skin, whirling around to face me.

  “Hey, what the Hell!?” he cried out, brandishing his nekodes like he was going to do something.

  “It’s got a nice pull,” I said, ignoring him and admiring my new bow.

  “That was awesome!” Gehman cackled quietly behind me. Even the other Red Devils were smiling to themselves, obviously fed up with Lambert’s attitude as well.

  “You better watch yourself, missy,” Lambert warned, aiming one of his nekode in my direction.

  “Yeah?” I countered. “Or what, Wolverine? You’re gonna carve me up like a pumpkin for one of your pies? Why don’t you go inside and cook us all a nice meal?”

  Lambert looked like he was going to explode, but I was cracking up inside.

  “That supposed to be a joke or something?” he growled angrily.

  “I wonder how much damage this thing does,” I said to myself, nocking another arrow. I threw Lambert a devilish grin as I raised the bow straight at him. “Wanna test it out with me?”

  “Hey, what are you doing!?” he shouted, leaping out of the way and ducking behind the well. “Lock, what the Hell, man?”

  “What’s the matter, Lambert?” I asked, giggling like an anime girl. “Scared of a girl?”

  At that, Lambert stood up and scowled. “What’d you just say?”

  “Oh, you heard me, smart mouth,” I told him. “I’ve had about enough of your trolling.”

  “Trolling!?” he gasped. “What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, so you’re not a troll?” I asked. “You’re just an asshole then?”

  I felt Kodiak’s hand on my back. “Relax, Jane,” he whispered. “We don’t want to wear out our welcome here.”

  He was right, but at the same time, it didn’t seem like the other Red Devils were about to jump in to defend Lambert any time soon. There was no way he hadn’t been getting on their nerves too, no matter how much great cooking he was providing.

  “I’m just really blunt,” Lambert replied.

  “AKA rude,” I corrected him. “Tell you what, I’ll duel you. If I win, you make an effort to be nice from now on. If you win, you can talk as much smack as you want. Deal?”

  Lambert’s eyes went wide. “You’re level 127! That wouldn’t be fair!”

  I giggled innocently again and lowered my bow. “You’re right. Then do me a favor and just chill out a bit, will you? Thanks.”

  I turned away from him and walked over to Lock, who was doing his best to hide his smile.

  “Sorry about that,” I told him quietly. “He was just really getting on my nerves.”

  “Oh, you’re good,” he nodded. “To be honest, I kind of wish he’d taken you up on your duel offer.”

  30

  Scouting Party

  Hearing the sound of Gehman’s smith hammer ring out from the blacksmith’s hut made me smile and I couldn’t help but think about when we’d met back in Stoneburg. I had thought he was a bit corny then, and I still did, but he was my friend now so I wasn’t giving him as much of a hard time.

  But I couldn’t ignore the fact that he was obviously crushing on me, and that was probably going to be something I’d have to deal with in the future. But for right now, I was content to just take a seat on the steps of the General Merchant’s shop and relax, if only for a little while.

  There were so many things on my to-do list that it was hard to keep track. Not only was there the ever present goal of leveling up, but I also had to track down my friends and get in contact with Wintermute. Sure, it was great that I could restore the Sunken, but if I was sent to the Dark World to pull players back to reality, then Wintermute was going to have to let me know how to do that.

  Sabotenda was in the hut with Gehman, while Gwin and Lock had decided to head back to the Festering Plains to test out the crossbow I’d been happy to give him. After being used to traditional bows for so long, the thing had felt gaumy and awkward. My new bow, on the other hand, was sweet.

  Kodiak had Curafin on a quick patrol around the woods to “e
stablish a perimeter,” like they were a group of marines or something. But it was probably a good idea. Just because we hadn’t run into any hostile PKs in the Dark World didn’t mean there weren’t any, and the last thing we needed was a war over Cara like there’d been in Stoneburg.

  I wondered what had become of Sinful and The Mercenaries. Were they trapped in Sheol? Hopefully. It simply wouldn’t be fair to have my friends there, losing themselves, while Bonecrusher and Chaucey were running around as Unchained, doing whatever they pleased. Part of me hoped that Wintermute’s backup program had screwed up and they were actually gone forever.

  And why not? They were murderers, plain and simple. Jack, as much as I liked him, had been a softie when it came to them. He should have dealt with them early on and saved us a ton of headache. They’d been killing people when, as far as they knew, the consequences were real and permanent. They had no idea there was a backup world. As far as I was concerned, killing someone in cold blood meant you forfeited your right to life. I understood why Jack had a hard time with it, but in the end he’d stepped up and done what needed to be done.

  Where are you, Jack? I thought, looking up at the forest canopy above me. I couldn’t help but think how incredible it would be to see him come walking through the trees, a big smile on his face, not even recognizing me when he saw me. How would he react when he did?

  “Whoa, this is sick!” I heard Sabotenda cry out from the blacksmith’s hut as Gehman’s hammering stopped.

  “I know, right!?” Gehman cackled with glee.

  I got to my feet and headed over to see what he’d whipped up, but before I could, Kodiak swept through the trees and rushed up beside me.

  “Trouble!” he hissed.

  “What? Where!?”

  “Back that way,” he pointed, “a small group of players, looks like a scouting party.”

  “Did they spot you?”

  “No, but they’re headed this way,” he said quickly. “We have to cut them off.”