The Alchemist of Aetheria: A LitRPG Adventure

by Jared Mandani

  When he finally saw his first infernal enemy, Zack was thrilled, even though the encounter played out a bit anticlimactic: no sudden attack, no saurian wings flopping above, no red muscular horned figures armed with flaming tridents or whatever weapon a demon might wield. He merely spotted the creature from a distance, and it looked as lonely and devoid of purpose as any RPG mob may ever look. Two times his own height, it was hobbling towards Zack in long uncertain strides.

  The creature wasn’t exactly demonic, more like fashionably Daliesque and Lovecraftian: a towering abomination with looks of a meaty chicken carcass on long blood-red stilts, its two thin mantis limbs, also crimson red, raised as if to pin him down. The creature had no head and no visible eyes, and its gaping maw was found somewhere around its belly. It looked absurd but scary enough, walking on its spindly legs like an upright insect, one timed magma-piercing step at a time, in stop-motion clockwork fashion.

  “Okay,” Zack said, one glove of his wrapped around a Potion of Dizziness, another holding the powerful Tainted Scimitar. He felt unnerved but not yet ready to flee. Zack added, his teeth clenched in resolution, “Time to try these new toys I’ve got.”

  As the creature got closer, it roared at him, its huge maw drooping, and switched the gears, walking faster, homing on his position.

  You encountered a Lesser Basilisk!

  Lesser Basilisk Lvl 31

  “This?” Zack laughed. “This is a basilisk? Come on. I don’t even want to know how a bigger basilisk looks like. Man. That’s some twisted mythology.”

  Wait, he thought. Basilisks. What was their fantasy superpower again? Turning people into stone? Or maybe setting them ablaze. Stone was a Gorgon Medusa’s thing, right? Now he was genuinely sorry he paid so little attention to history and mythology. What dirty tricks to expect from this spindly chicken carcass abomination? The name must have been a hint, and yet he had totally forgotten what it implied.

  The level gap was what genuinely worried him. Premium armor and whatnot, this was still an RPG. In an RPG, especially if it was MMO, he knew, it was silly to rely on items alone. Items were found and lost at a whim, even by the best players, of the highest level possible. The game had to be made in the way it wasn’t the end of things. The level of your character, the skills you managed to buff up permanently, the stuff you didn’t lose when you died – this was what mattered, this was what kept you in the game after you lost all these fancy items you invested so much time in, not to mention hard cash. This level gap meant his Dragonscale Armor and Tainted Scimitar might just turn out to make little difference in combat.

  The Lesser Basilisk ate up the distance between them and was now towering right near. Zack decided to stay on the safe side and tossed his Potion of Dizziness in a wide arc, trying to hit the creature at maximum range. WHOOSH!

  IMMUNE!

  Basilisk Lvl 31

  Magical Resistance

  “Oh great,” he said. “Just wonderful. Like it’s not dangerous enough. And what if I was a Mage or something?”

  Then he remembered Pandemonia wasn’t exactly meant for support characters and flimsy damage dealers traveling alone: local monsters were party-oriented, and a Mage would be here to buff his raid members, not to nuke lonely mobs with fireballs from a safe distance; it was far too easy an exploit to be true. And an Alchemist… well, he’d be far behind, harvesting the land and crafting potions for everyone, something Zack was meant to do but didn’t want to do. A one-on-one fight with creepy Basilisks was definitely not his specialty. And still…

  And still I’m dressed up like a tank, he thought. And his blade was high enough level to make some damage. Who knew, maybe this was a borderland monster, a moderately easy fight, something to be killed to entice him and make him go further in.

  His Tainted Scimitar poised for the first piercing blow, Zack dashed straight into the creature’s biologically absurd belly-mouth.

  Lesser Basilisk Lvl 31 reveals Petrifying Horror!

  WURP! As he dashed, the Lesser Basilisk plunged its upraised mantis limbs into the ashen soil, and Zack was stopped halfway by a pair of twisting and lashing bloody appendages sprouting from under the ground. Both of them quickly found his legs and latched to them, wrapping around Zack’s newly purchased Boots of Dexterity +5 in two crimson coils and fixing him in place.

  Petrifying Horror: Basilisk’s terrible mandibles burrow through the ground

  and grab you from below! Immobilize Target. Stamina drain

  Zack reached out with the blade, first trying to hack at his feet to no avail, then going for the monster; yet, the distance was twice as long as the reach.

  WURP! The abomination made a stop-motion flip forward and its former hind legs now became a pair of new upraised needle-like talons hovering right above Zack’s head. A cluster of warily staring eyeballs was found on the arched back of the fleshy monster. They regarded Zack and blinked in unison.

  At least its mouth is now on the other side, Zack thought, blocking a series of fast piercing blows raining down on his head like machine-gun fire. One blow connected, and then another one.

  Zack was hit by Lesser Basilisk Lvl 31 and lost 3 hit points

  Zack was CRITICALLY hit by Lesser Basilisk Lvl 31 and lost 14 hit points

  Oh no, Zack thought. If every second or third hit of these needles was going to be a crit, he’d die right on this spot. It was clear now like never before the monster was far too high a level for him – this, and the ever-present party requirement. The Basilisk obviously had a major weakness: it latched on one party member and negated its Melee attack potential, as it was hardly possible to reach it with any sword – and yet it left behind its gaping maw, most likely a spot resulting in massive damage when hit by someone with a Ranged weapon. It was so obviously only dangerous to swordsmen and Mages, Zack thought, frantically blocking more and more needle strikes from the above. The creature’s constellation of eyes blinked again, all of them regarding him with stupid combined attention.

  If only I had something Ranged, he thought. And then Zack remembered.

  “Poison Dart! Equip Poison Dart!” he shouted, cringing under the rain of quick insectile blows aimed at his head and shoulders.

  Zack was hit by Lesser Basilisk Lvl 31 and lost 5 hit points

  Item Equipped:

  Poison Dart (2/2)

  It was an amazing twist of fortune he had spotted another couple birds while fencing loot back at Hawkspoint, and was driven to chase them and whack them. He had then crafted a couple more Poison Darts he had nearly forgotten about. He had enough Iron Needles and Poison for two more, but there were no birds to be found on the way back to the fast-travel gate, and he never considered the fact they would not be found in Pandemonia. For an Alchemist, he was still very inexperienced.

  Still, for a fighter, he thought fast enough. As soon as the lucky Dart filled his hand, Zack tossed it point-blank, straight at the biggest bulging eye of the Basilisk.

  Lesser Basilisk Lvl 31 was CRITICALLY hit by Zack and lost 26 hit points

  Lesser Basilisk lost 1 hit point to Poison damage!

  The attack was ridiculous of course, but he managed to score a crit anyway. His Poison Dart delivered straight into another weak spot the creature had, and it did the trick: the Basilisk’s Petrifying Terror hold was broken. Zack’s legs were freed as two flexible tentacles sunk back into the ground like spaghetti sucked in, and the monster backflipped, the bloodshot eye replaced by a huge maw full of crooked teeth. It snapped at Zack’s head, but he was already backtracking as fast as he could, at terribly sluggish speed, his Stamina completely drained by the petrifying spell. As soon as it was safe to turn his back on the monster, Zack did so and took to his heels, knowing the thing was too slow to effectively chase him even with his depleted Stamina.

  Thunder roared behind his real-life window, and the flash of lightning was strong enough to pierce the world painted by the VR glasses, blinding Zack for a fraction of second and mak
ing his escape even more dramatic.

  He ran for a whole minute or more, without looking anywhere but right in front of him. If he was to bump into another Basilisk, or a player party, or any other kind of ambush, Zack knew he was toast. Still, his luck seemed to hold for now.

  As Zack finally ran into some piece of rune-carved rock too big to quickly evade, he stopped to let his Stamina start replenishing. Only now he realized he had lost his bearings completely. Cracked plains of magma now stretched all around him. Here and there, it was broken by twisted and bent standing rocks defying the laws of gravity or grim half-ruined ebony arches and colonnades. The ruins of Pandemonia also looked as heavy-metal evil as they come. They boasted some alien and malicious design implying cyclopean proportions of ancient temples long collapsed.

  Zack checked his surroundings for any signs of danger. No other Basilisks were near. A bunch of three pterodactyl-looking birds circled up high, right under the dome, and Zack had a bad feeling one of them would spot him at any given moment, and the whole trio of them would swoop down on his head, finishing him off in an instant. He crouched and enabled Sneaking, and still felt exposed to an attack, overexposed and vulnerable.

  “Just great. This is just great,” Zack muttered though his teeth, applying three Healing Salves to himself at once so his depleted hit points would regenerate at triple speed. He had learned his lesson. Of all the lands filled with nasty things conceived by the level designers, Pandemonia was true hell. Here, everything was meant to inspire awe, to make him afraid for his safety. A terrible thing of any sort could catch him unawares anytime, and neither his Dragonscale Armor, nor his ubercool Tainted Scimitar didn’t help with him being a Lvl 3 Alchemist amidst thirty-something leveled abominations.

  Zack would go straight for the exit portal, but he had completely lost the way.

  “So what do I do now?” he asked quietly, even though airborne pterodactyl creatures, just as any NPCs not meant for dialogue, most likely ignored the mic speech, attracted by his in-game sounds and motion instead.

  “Greetings, traveler,” Zack heard a calm and friendly voice behind him. “Are you on your Pilgrimage towards the Well of Light?”

  “An NPC!” He turned around and found a robed figure right behind his back – not Dante but someone looking pretty much like Dante, the old man who had greeted him upon entering the game for the first time. This one must have spawned straight behind him, with no warning at all: seems like it was okay for the game designers to play such tricks on him. Well, Zack thought, at least it’s not another demonic thing, thank y’all for small favors.

  “My name is Dorian the Messenger,” the robed figure said, oblivious towards falling ash, circling pterodactyls, and glamorously infernal surroundings. “I guide Paladin pilgrims towards the holy Well of Light that lies to the south from here. The Well is the only place in Pandemonia built by ancient Mages and not the forces of darkness, the only place where a weary fighter can replenish their Stamina and restore their Mana and Health.”

  “Full rejuvenation!” Zack exclaimed, his hopes already replenished. “Where is it? I need to get there, fast!”

  Location Marker Added: The Well of Light (2 leagues)

  The Well of Light was constructed by Paladin Mages of the Ancient Empire as the only beacon of hope in the desolate ash-infested lands of Pandemonia. Health regeneration. Mana source. Stamina regeneration. The entrance to the Shrine of Marduk can be found right nearby, straight to the south of the Well.

  You earned 3 XP for using your Scouting skill

  LEVEL UP!

  Congratulations!

  Your Alchemist is now Level 4!

  +1 to Intelligence

  +1 to one of the skills:

  Scouting >Short Blades< Acrobatics

  Without saying goodbye or even acknowledging the presence of Dorian the Messenger, Zack set out for this beacon of hope, leaving the pterodactyls behind, carefully watching the surroundings for any movement and thanking once again this invisible anonymous game designer who made sure you always knew where to go next, even if it meant spawning an NPC guide behind your back.

  The world around remained as dangerous as before. As Zack made his way through the columns, he kept noticing more and more threats. A spiked ball of some dark metal was fastened to the top of a crumbling arch covered with runes, ready to fall on the head of anyone who passed underneath. Another giant abomination stumbled and roared through the mist in the distance – he only could see a couple of its legs, huge as tree trunks, and some kind of a proboscis or maybe a tentacle. One time, something snarled at him from the shadows, its eyes of molten gold glowing in the dark, but the next moment, when Zack looked, it must have scurried away.

  “I hate these ruins,” Zack muttered. “Even out there in the open, it felt much safer than this.”

  Finally, after long minutes of complex navigations and rather simple concerns for his survival, Zack made it out of this batch of twisted passages amongst broken archways and rune-streaked columns. He already could see the location of the Well – a lonely beam of pure bluish light shining straight up and feeding the magical dome itself.

  On coming closer, however, Zack saw the source of the beam was not the Well of Light – he couldn’t yet see the well from here – but rather a statue on top of a massive obsidian obelisk, some kind of winged and hooded figure standing with its wings spread and arms outstretched, the pillar of magical light emanating from its chest and going up to the sky.

  Location Marker Added: The Shrine of Marduk (0.6 leagues)

  The old demonic shrine is the place of entombment of Marduk, the Eater of Worlds, an ancient demon trapped and subdued by Paladin Mages of the Ancient Empire, keeping the Gates of Hell shut and Pandemomia sealed off by the Ghost Shield. Some dark cults still worship and revere the ancient Eater, and bring gifts to his statue within the shrine, and yet everyone agrees Marduk is best entrapped, and the Gates of Hell must remain sealed forever.

  “Probably some megaboss dungeon,” Zack muttered, the shrine with the statue on top closer to him with every step. “I wonder if you can actually switch that beam off somehow. That would be fun.”

  There was a new sound, and Zack stopped. He heard shouts and commotion to the right of him. Zack instantly darted back and hid behind the nearest fallen cyclopean column of purplish-black obsidian. He walked all the way along the column and carefully peeked out, already sure he had run into a party of other players.

  The party was fighting a bunch of weird local creatures – a big meaty flower in the middle, its petals spread wide, a giant pink starfish on the cracked volcanic ground, and six little gossamer umbrellas circling high above it, surreal hybrids of jellyfish and dandelion seeds. Zack saw the meat flower’s petal reach out, contract, then toss one of the Human party members, a mage in a high-level emerald garb, high up into the air, where the jellyfish umbrellas started to zap him in turns with tiny arches of electricity. Zack smelled ozone, but it was probably just the thunderstorm behind his real-life window: it was raging all around now, loud booms of real-life thunder heard through the VR headphones, mixing with the earthquake rumbling underfoot. It made the game feel quite realistic, not an alternate reality but something built on top of real-life sounds and smells; something bigger than life.

  You encountered a Demonseed Blossom!

  Demonseed Lvl 41 Demonseed Lvl 41 Demonseed Lvl 41

  Demonseed Lvl 41 Demonseed Lvl 41

  Demonflower Lvl 41

  Zack watched in amazement as another player character, a huge Barbarian wielding a flaming axe, leaped high up, almost reaching the zapped party member, and brought down one of the circling umbrellas, interrupting the incessant chain of zaps stunning the Mage. The emerald-robed guy was obviously expecting this, for he instantly changed positions and cast a fireball straight down, right into the flower’s middle. The flower contracted and curled into a round blue-veined bud, pulsating and glowing with malignant magic.

  The
remaining five jellyfish umbrellas stopped their zapping and spiraled lower to the ground, looking as lost and discouraged as their weird appearance allowed. They were instantly hacked down by the Barbarian and two other party members, a Paladin and an Elven Ranger, while the Mage was still up in the air, slowly descending right on top of the flower.

  As he descended low enough, the Demonflower’s petals unfolded once again, ready to swallow their levitating victim. And yet the party knew what they were doing – the Mage enabled some debuffing or damaging aura, and as the flower grabbed him with its meaty petals, it was instantly engulfed by a swarm of corrosive-looking fireflies. The Ranger, the Paladin, and the Barbarian converged on the meaty flower the same instant, arrows and blows raining down on the debuffed monster until it died in convulsions, dried up, burned out, and crumbled into black ash.

  The party moved on, without bothering to loot the remains of their demonic victims, so Zack followed them in their wake. First he harvested a little pile of black ash which was the Demonflower’s dried-up corpse.

  Item Found: Bag of Gold (32 gold)

  Item Found: Venom Sac X3 (36 gold)

  “Aha,” Zack said. “So this flower thing was also poisonous.”

  He was quite lucky to run into this party – Zack realized this only now. Otherwise he would never find a safe passage towards this Well of Light, and would most likely die quite soon, in a gruesome way.