Eyes shooting to Karen, Gerald nodded once, “True enough.”
“See? So no more frowns,” Marysue told him, kissing his cheek. “I want to have happy times with my friends, for as long as we can.”
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly to quell his anger, Gerald shook his head, “Right, you said that before we set off today.” He gave her a sheepish smile, “I’ll do better, for you.”
“I know you will,” she replied. She pointed down the path. “Let’s get these quests done.”
Chapter Thirty
As they started moving again Alburet told TJ to stay back and guard Marysue, so the mobs couldn’t pull the same trick twice. Tiny’s Copy rumbled his acknowledgement and took a position directly behind Marysue. Watching his minion’s Copy do as directed, Alburet took a breath to put his thoughts in order.
“Marysue, you asked about the sudden need to level,” Alburet began. “I’ll tell you as much about that as I can.”
Marysue nodded, eyes focused on Alburet. “Don’t break your NDA, but please, I do want to know as much as possible.”
“You know about Alpha World, I assume. At least the basics of the who, where, why, and when that allows us to come here.”
“Yes. I took a lot of interest in it when I heard it would be fully immersive and have cutting edge AI.”
“Good. There is an overriding AI that is in charge of everything. Stacia and the other Natives call her the Overlord.”
“Aye, the one who stands above even the Gods,” Stacia murmured, her eyes continually scanning the forest around them.
“The Overlord has given me a quest,” Alburet continued. “I have to complete a number of tasks before my time here is up.”
“Your time is up?” Marysue queried with puzzlement. “Is your six month timer coming up soon? No, that can’t be right.”
“I’m in a different sort of program. That touches on my NDA though, so I can’t say more about that,” he paused to make sure she understood that part. “However, I won’t be testing Alpha World for much longer. It has been hinted at that I will be moved to testing a different product for Mindblown.” He felt a prickling along his neck and realized he was edging into dangerous waters. “I can’t say more than that,” he rubbed his neck as the prickling subsided.
“Is that another reason you handed off the guild to Gerald?” Marysue asked.
“No. I just found out about this part the other day. I told you two as quickly as I could.”
“What does that mean for your… personal… relationships?” Gerald asked as politely as he could.
“It worries us,” Fluffball told him, “but the quest gives us some hope.”
“I don’t think I can share the quest, but let me see if I can show it to you both,” Alburet said as his eyes flicked to Fluffball. Her worry, along with her words tugged at his heart. He poked at his interface, trying to see if he could show them the quest. While he was doing so, Bob warned them of incoming mobs. His head snapped up to see three Furious Dead lurch onto the path. Gerald and Tiny were already moving to engage them, while Karen, Fluff, and Stacia held back to let them get aggro on the mobs.
TJ looked to Alburet from his position near Marysue, “Master?”
“Hold back,” Alburet told him.
“I’ve got two,” Gerald said, triggering Ground Stomp as they came into range. The two Furious Dead nearest him slumped in place, stunned by the ability. Tiny taunted the third one, leading it to the other side of the path.
Gerald was alternating attacks on the two mobs he held, so Stacia moved up to add the damage she could with her blades. Karen appeared behind Tiny’s target, her blades sinking into the creature. Fluff sank her claws into the same one, using her Piercing Strike ability to ignore half of its armor. Above them, Bob and BJ peppered it with Fire Blasts. Alburet added his own Fire Blasts, piling even more damage onto the Furious Dead that Tiny was tanking.
The mob triggered its Whirlwind, but Karen and Fluff had been watching for it and dove out of range without taking much damage. Tiny was also ready, triggering Demonic Shell to mitigate most of the damage he took from the Whirlwind. Half a second later the two mobs on Gerald used their Whirlwind abilities. Stacia scurried out of range, but Gerald shrugged off the attacks with Marysue’s Divine Heal countering most of the damage he took from them to continue his own assault on the mobs.
As soon as the mob Tiny was tanking came out of its Whirlwind, Tiny used his shield to Bash it, stunning the mob. Alburet was puzzled until one of the Furious Dead facing Gerald roared, stunning him and Stacia. Gerald’s health began to drop alarmingly under the combined attacks of the two Furious Dead until he triggered Unbreakable to reduce the damage he took while stunned. As soon as Tiny’s stun wore off his target, it roared. Tiny, Fluff and Karen were all stunned and the Furious Dead charged past them, directly at Marysue. TJ stepped forward to intercept the mob, Bashing it as soon as it came in range.
Alburet kept throwing Fire Blasts at the mob, knowing that TJ could hold it until the others could shake free of their stuns. Gerald came out of his stun, only to get caught again as the second Furious Dead roared. Marysue looked worried, healing him as quickly as she could while the two mobs landed multiple critical attacks.
Tiny came out of his stun and taunted the two Furious Undead off of Gerald, to Marysue’s relief as she had been slowly losing ground in keeping Gerald healed. Karen and Fluff raced off to their original target, since it was the most damaged of all the mobs. Gerald came out of the second stun just as the Furious Dead that had charged Marysue was cut down.
Gerald taunted one of the remaining two mobs back to him, as the damage dealers pivoted onto the mob that had stayed with Tiny. They cut it down just as it and the other Furious Dead started their Whirlwind ability again. Tiny, Fluff, and Karen waited while the only mob left stopped spinning and roared at Gerald, stunning him yet again. Tiny stepped forward, Bashing the mob and taunting it while damage poured in on it from everyone else. Looting the mobs turned up a surprise for Karen. A second piece of her Assassin armor set dropped, a leather hood that concealed her face and conferred Agility and Constitution.
“Woohoo,” Karen cheered as she showed it to the others while they took a few minutes to recover. “Amazing,” she cried as she traded out her current head piece for the new one. It settled into place, leaving only her eyes visible. “How do I look?”
“Sexy as always,” Alburet replied with a grin. “Your eyes really stand out with it on. Oddly enough, you sound just as clear. The mask doesn’t seem to muffle your voice any.”
“Probably a design feature,” Fluffball mentioned. “It would be a problem in raids and dungeons if it did.”
“She has a point,” Gerald agreed. “Before we were attacked though, you were trying to show us the quest,” he reminded Alburet.
“Oh, right,” Alburet said as he pulled his interface back up again. “Give me a second to figure this out. Did anyone else think it odd that only the one on Tiny charged at Marysue?”
“Maybe they switch targets if they have a certain number attacking them?” Karen suggested. “We can test it out with the next set.”
“I’m interested to know how Tiny knew when to stun the mob,” Gerald said, looking at the Destroyer with a raised brow.
“It is when I would have chosen to stun me,” Tiny rumbled with a shrug.
“Fair enough,” Gerald replied. “I’ll have to consider that tactic.”
“There we go,” Alburet said after a moment. He tapped the right spot on the interface, then turned his attention to Marysue and Gerald. “Do you see it?”
“Hmm,” Gerald mumbled. “That is interesting. What does it mean by boon?”
“We think it be meanin’ tha’ we three will be allowed to go with-,” Stacia shuddered, her eyes briefly glazing over, “I be nay allowed to speculate further.”
Alburet, Fluff, and Karen felt her momentary spike of fear and worry when she shuddered and converged on her.
“You okay?” Alburet asked.
“Aye. I was reprimanded and told to say nay more, by the Overlord,” Stacia told him in a whisper.
“So, she is going to be keeping close tabs on us,” Karen muttered as she looked around, as though she expected to spot a camera lens.
“It makes sense, we are all under a strict NDA,” Fluff reminded her.
“All of you?” Marysue asked eagerly. “Why?”
Alburet sighed as he looked at Fluff, who looked away embarrassed. “They signed one so they could help me. We can’t say anything more on that subject.”
Gerald touched Marysue’s arm when it looked like she was going to press the issue. “Mary, leave it be. We can maybe help, after the testing is over.”
Frowning, Marysue nodded, “Okay.” Her eyes went back to Alburet, “So you’re doing this so you can all stay together?”
“Yes,” he didn’t know what his eyes showed but Marysue took a step back, her hand going to her mouth in shock.
“I’m so sorry. I won’t complain any more. If we get left behind, so be it,” she looked to Gerald.
“Yes,” the word was full of sympathy as the Defender looked at Alburet. “We will support you in your quest.”
Alburet found himself suddenly in the middle of a three way hug between his wives. He hadn’t been expecting the wave of soul crushing need that had crashed through him at Marysue’s question. “Ladies? You okay?” He turned in their grasp to check on them, being kissed by each of them in turn which only made him more confused.
“Ya silly husband of ours, we felt ya need of us as if it was the sun,” Stacia told him, her own eyes bright with unshed tears.
“She’s right,” Karen added, closing her own eyes for a moment. “It was almost overpowering. I can’t even consider denying how much you love us when you do that.”
“Al?” Fluff added a second later. When his head turned back to her as he worked through their words, Fluff continued. “We love you just as much and want this just as badly.” Her hands trembled where they held him. “We will do this.”
Nodding slowly, Alburet let out a deep breath as their love and concern for him surrounded him, providing him a steady rock to cling to. Their confidence bolstered his resolve to do whatever he needed to do, to keep his family together. “Okay.”
“Al?” Marysue asked from behind him, her face thoughtful. When he finally disengaged from his trio of lovers, Marysue continued talking. “Would you be okay if, after our six months is up, Gerald and I tried to find out what we could and maybe tried to help you in some way?”
His worries and fears over what people would think of him crashed back over him. He had thought he was past it, but her question brought it all right back. He found himself again being held by the wonderful women who loved him. “I don’t know,” he finally managed to say.
Gerald nodded, “Think it over. We won’t if you don’t approve, but we would like to help. You’ve helped us, after all, and it’s only fair we repay that debt.”
Rubbing at his face, Alburet nodded, “I’ll think about it.”
“Good,” Gerald said clamping his hand on Marysue’s shoulder gently, but firmly enough to stop her from objecting. “We should get moving. We have to get you all leveled as soon as we can, after all.”
They made their way down the path, pausing when groups of Broken and Furious Dead attacked them. Now that they knew what to expect from the mobs, the group didn’t have much trouble defeating each attack. As they neared the Ruins of Lament, a cloud of black smoke blew out of the forest and flowed over the group.
Without any warning, Fluffball sank her claws into Alburet. Crying out in pain as her claws dug into him, he stared into eyes full of malicious pleasure while her emotions were a mixture of that and horror. “Taker,” Alburet barely managed to form the word against the pain.
Tiny and TJ grabbed Fluff, pulling her claws out of Alburet and holding her still. Marysue cast a quick heal on Alburet then turned to Fluff, healing her to drive the Spiritual Taker out of her. After two heals a cloud of black smoke flowed out of Fluff, hanging in the air. It twisted to form a snarling face. Marysue was able to land another heal on the Taker before it seemed to vanish. “Not dead yet…” Marysue warned them. Alburet used Demonic Vitality on himself to finish healing the damage Fluff had inflicted while Marysue had been doing the hard work of killing the monster.
Everyone looked around nervously, wondering where the mob was going to show up next. “I really hate those monsters,” Fluff grumbled as Tiny and TJ let her go. “I’ve had enough of things controlling me in my life.”
“Totally understa-” Alburet began, then his eyes seemed to dim briefly. A creepy smile came to his lips as fire flared out from around him, scorching everyone but his minions as a Fire Burst swept out. Marysue had started casting a healing spell when Alburet had trailed off. She followed it up with an instant-cast heal, trying to drive the Taker out faster. Another Fire Burst flared as Tiny and TJ grabbed him.
Marysue used an area healing spell to help heal the damage done to the group by the Fire Bursts as well as damaging the Spiritual Taker further. Alburet’s minions winced as the Light-based spell washed over them. One more single target healing spell was enough to drive the Taker out of Alburet before it could unleash another Fire Burst.
“God damn it, that sucks,” Alburet snapped as he shook his head clear of the control.
“We can’t help with this,” Tiny rumbled.
“You’re doing fine,” Alburet reassured the Destroyer.
“It’s almost dead,” Marysue told them as she watched the mob vanish after hitting it with another heal. “It’s only got a fraction of life left. We can do-” she cut off as a vicious smile spread over her face.
Gerald grabbed her before she could move, trapping her arms against her body as she started to snarl and twist in his arms. “Now what do we do? We can’t heal without a healer.”
Stacia glided up to them, her eyes focused on Marysue. Her fingers barely brushed Marysue’s face as a surge of dark energy surged from Stacia’s fingers into Marysue. Marysue’s head fell back and she went limp in Gerald’s arms as a mournful wail drifted up.
“What did you do?” Gerald asked in a slightly panicky voice as he pulled Marysue back away from Stacia.
“I healed her,” Stacia replied simply as she stepped back.
“Gerald, it’s fine,” Marysue murmured. “She did enough healing to drive it the rest of the way out.”
“Good choice on that Ability, Al,” Karen said.
“Thanks. I was thinking of feeding her a potion,” Alburet commented as he put the potion back into his belt slot.
“We need to kill four more of those?” Fluffball asked.
“That is what the quest calls for,” Marysue nodded. “As long as they don’t jump Al again, it should be okay. You might want to keep your potions handy, in case I get taken again, though.”
“Good idea,” Gerald agreed to her plan. “Well, now we know what the Takers are. Let’s get going.”
“It would be easier to deal with them if we had a Shaman with us,” Fluffball mentioned as they resumed walking.
“I heard someone talking about that during the Keep raid,” Marysue said. “They are designed to counter spirits, is what they said.”
“Yeah,” Fluff nodded. “They are. I almost played one. The idea of being able to banish evil spirits was really compelling to me at the time.”
Karen hooked an arm around the Lunari. “Well, I would have liked you regardless, but I really do love your ferocity in combat as you are.”
Fluff gave her a small smile, “Thank you.” With a quick kiss the two of them lapsed into silence.
“We might want to see about picking up a Shaman if there are going to be Spirits when we go with Vladimir,” Alburet murmured.
“Aye, tha’ mayhap be a good notion,” Stacia added. “The place will probably be overrun with undead of all types, includin’ Spirits.”
&nb
sp; “You might want to ask Vladimir about it when he asks you about going,” Gerald commented.
“Fair enough,” Alburet replied. “Let’s finish these quests and see about the ruins.”
Chapter Thirty-one
The next Spiritual Takers they encountered gave them fewer problems, now that the group knew how they attacked. By the time they found the ruins they’d killed enough Spiritual Takers, Broken Dead and Furious Dead to complete those quests.
The sun was just sinking when they finally found the ruins. The dim light outlined the broken remains of buildings as the path opened onto a ruined village.
“Broken down ruins in the middle of a deserted forest. This isn’t creepy at all. At least it won’t get worse,” Marysue shivered. The sun finished setting, plunging the group into darkness. “I was wrong, it got worse.”
Fractured Spirit (Alpha World Book 5) Page 29
