The Prisoner of Arabella

by Matthew Kent

  *Song of Courage - mana cost increased by 10. Duration decreased by 50%.

  * Song of Derision - always acts as a taunt.

  * Wood Sprite - racial ability, crafting exploit: negative 20% to final crafted quality.

  *Wood Sprite - racial ability, punching above weight class: XP increase changed to 1% per level up to 5 levels of difference.

  * Players may now purchase soul traps in the Arabella at the Hunters’ League.

  *Players may collect non-combat pets using soul traps.

  * True Bards - Spells limited to 1/2 level, rounded up.

  “Who is liaising with Arabella this week?” Miles asked curiously.

  “That would be Graham, sir.” Miles put his hand on his head and rubbed his eyes.

  “Thank you.” He sighed. He recognized the names of the race and the skills; it would seem that Arabella had decided to balance the game at an inopportune time. They should shoot whoever it was that used an AS to run the game.”

  “Sir, didn’t you propose that idea?” The engineer asked just as she received a baleful look from the head system engineer.

  “Truth be told that had really been a joke, but upper management saw it as a cost saving measure.”

  X - X - X

  System announcement: Arabella Online will implement the following game patch in 10:00 minutes.

  * Stealth scrolls - time effective has been reduced to half the previous time.

  * Invisibility - chance of detection has been extended by 1 foot per level difference.

  *Song of Healing - mana cost increased by 10. Healing capped at 100 HP.

  *Song of Courage - mana cost increased by 10. Duration decreased by 50%.

  * Song of Derision - always acts as a taunt.

  * Wood Sprite - racial ability, crafting exploit: negative 20% to final crafted quality.

  *Wood Sprite - racial ability, punching above weight class: XP increase changed to 1% per level up to 5 levels of difference.

  * Players may now purchase soul traps in the Arabella at the Hunters’ League.

  *Players may collect non-combat pets using soul traps.

  * True Bards - Spells limited to 1/2 level, rounded up.

  “What the hell?” I heard from BarbieQ as I read the system message in disbelief.

  “Man, they could at least have kissed you first, Lorcan.” Tekadan said.

  I looked up at Mikail.

  He shrugged. “Sayonara.”

  I only sighed and thought to myself, if it must be. “Time is wasting. Let’s get a move on. Lorcan, buff us, then you are to help heal.”

  As we moved out I cast my buffs one last time, then I determined what spell I would give up. I looked at the clock: nine minutes and thirty-one seconds. I followed at the back of the party with Synon. She had her weapon ready, and I was set to off heal and guard the party’s rear. My butterfly swords were at the ready. Then I had an uncomfortable thought.

  “Uh, this patch. Does anyone know if affects items we’ve already made?”

  I heard a muffled, “Ah, shit.”

  Raid: Mikail: Look, we’ve been dropped into the deep end, and we keep getting cement blocks handed to us. Stay steady, do your jobs, and let's get this piece of the bridge. MOVE OUT!

  Within moments, we were fighting the first of the dungeon’s monsters, a long-tailed spiny demon. It looked like a mix between a hedgehog and an anteater. It stood three feet tall at the shoulder with long chitinous spines and a large proboscis and a long tail as supple as a monkey’s. Mikail used an ability to focus the monster's attack on him.

  Mikail uses Intimidate. The target of the ability is forced to attack the caster.

  BarbieQ sent out a swarm of flame darts that struck the beast and gave off puffs of fire as they impacted.

  BarbieQ casts Flame Swarm. Flame Swarm does 119 damage.

  The beast lashed out with its tail, one swipe skittering of Mikail’s shield and scoring a grove in the wall.

  Long-Tailed Spiny Demon uses Tail Slap. Tail Slap misses.

  Long-Tailed Spiny Demon launches spines. Mikail takes 56 damage.

  Takaden popped up behind it, and the daggers I had made for him flashed. I saw the smirk on his face as the blades cut deep into the monster's side.

  Takaden uses Backstab. Long-Tailed Spiny Demon takes 175 damage.

  I cast a quick heal on Mikail after the monster’s tail struck his thigh. All the time, I noted the counter: 7:42.

  Just seconds after, the monster lay on the ground.

  “Can anyone skin him?” Appolyon asked.

  “Lorcan, skin it, but don’t be slow,” I heard as I bent over and took the creature‘s skin and the rest of its loot.

  Twenty-five copper split eight ways and some claws. And the hide I collected would be interesting to see what it could do.

  The dungeon seemed to be some type of a maze. The underground passages were regular in their monotony. The monsters, though, were fairly difficult, at least to my inexperienced eye. The most difficult fight came when we were three or four large rooms in we were battling six of the Long-Tailed Spiny Demons. Amahau the Undying—no, that was the title he bore next to his name—appeared behind BarbieQ and attacked her just as two of the others showed up and started casting spells.

  “You shall perish and serve our lord!” screamed Amahau. He used a control skill and locked BarbieQ’s casting down as he laid into her with his dagger.

  You play Song of Healing. You heal BarbieQ for 173 damage.

  You Play Song of Derision. Amahau attacks you.

  As the last notes faded, I dropped my lute and pulled my butterfly swords and met Amahau’s attack as he screamed out his defiance. Barbie glanced back at us as we dueled. Then she cast.

  Flame Spear: Tinashe takes 45 piercing damage. Tinashe takes 93 flame damage.

  Ceallach has cast Darkness Death upon you. You take 23 damage.

  I had allowed the notifications to distract me, and Amahua attacked me once again. This time he attacked with a throwing dagger and sprang forward to slice my left side with his other dagger.

  Amahau attacks with Eviscerate. You take 85 damage.

  Darkness Death does 12 damage.

  I riposted the attacks from him, and while he tried to block my left-hand blade I slashed across his stomach with my right. I heard a wail of pain, and there was a flash next to me. Amahau’s head disintegrated. Looking over to where I saw the flash, Synon stood, calmly reloading her weapon then taking careful aim at one of the other undead. I scanned the life bars of the rest of our group. Appolyon was hurting, so I sang healing toward him.

  One demon was working his way to the side, trying to flank us. That is when I cast my spell Lightning Bolt. The electricity shot out of my hand, striking the beast and passing through him. It glanced off the wall and bounced, striking the other undead player. It was a totally unintended but happy consequence. The demon fell dead, and the player expired on Takaden’s blades. We still had to kill the rest of the demons, but it went much smoother once the undead were down.

  We took a few pieces of gear from the players and more resources from the demon’s. I couldn’t help feeling that the Angels were loving this. I kept thinking back to what Mikail had been asking me as we rode here. I would have loved to work on the chapel he envisioned. I’m not what you would call religious, but I believe in God, the big “G” version. I was hoping this was a sign from him. I mean, to get to help build a place of worship the way Mikail had described. I think the last place on this scale was the national cathedral that had been built in Washington; it had taken over seventy years.

  I smiled, some dreams were worth living, I hoped Mikail and the others saw their dreams come real.

  Anything was possible in Arabella.

  Chapter 10

  We continued killing our way through the dungeon.

  “Where are they?” I heard BarbieQ say.

  We were impatient to confront the enemy team. The short skirmish with the first three had whetted ou
r appetites.

  The room at the end of the corridor was hexagonal. The floor went into a depression that was a few inches deep with a dais in the center. Above the dais, a key was suspended from the ceiling. I kept looking behind us to see if the undead were behind us and would choose now to attack us.

  “It’s a trap,” Tekadan said.

  “But what kind of trap?” Mikail said.

  “I don’t know,” Tekadan replied.

  That was when the first of the arrows came in. I saw it from the end of the corridor.

  “Incoming!” I yelled as I ducked the first of the volley.

  Spines passed by me and skidded on the floor. The timer was ticking. One minute fifty-three seconds until I had to choose which spells to lose. First, I cast Protection from Normal Missiles on BarbieQ and the other mages, then I cast Lightning Bolt. I thought I might as well see how it did before I discarded it.

  You cast Lightning Bolt. Long-Tailed Spine Launcher Demon takes 196 damage.

  Long-Tailed Spine Launcher Demon takes 141 damage.

  Long-Tailed Spine Launcher Demon takes 216 damage.

  Long-Tailed Spine Launcher Demon Alpha takes 179 damage.

  At the notifications, I sent bursts of lightning down the corridor. Each set of notifications was more telling and worrying. BarbieQ was also launching fireballs while Harut shot waves of darkness down the hall. One beast had charged us but finally fell about twenty feet from us.

  “Tekadan, is the way clear? We have more incoming,” yelled BarbieQ as fresh spines flew toward us.

  Even before the first wave, hit there was a second in the air and then a third soon behind it.

  “All right, into the room,” Mikail ordered.

  Backing up quickly, the beasts advanced as I was shooting bolts of lightening and magic missiles down the hall into the darkness. The messages were telling me I was scoring hits but no kills. I was the last through the door, and they slammed it shut behind me. Even as it did, I could hear the thumps of the beasts’ spines rattling against the thick wood and iron bindings of the door. They could feel when the latch became engaged.

  “There’s no lock,” I said before I took in the rest of the room.

  It was octagonal with a central dais. From that, a radial pattern spread in alternating red and black, bisected by two green rays opposite one another. “Is there another exit?”

  The room was not small, but I had never cared for tight spaces ever since Afghanistan.

  We all looked around the room to find an opening, a secret door, a trap door, anything to let us out of the trap we found ourselves in.

  “I found something,” I heard Appolyon say.

  We continued to search while Mikail went over to look at the discovery.

  “It’s a plaque,” Mikail stated, then read it out to us in his sonorous voice. “Choose your color red, black, or green. Choose a number one to five then let it spin—try to survive. Receive rewards greater to those who dare do.”

  “What does that mean?” Synon said as she scanned her section of the wall for any hints what it might hold.

  BarbieQ was the first to reply to her. “It sounds like it wants us to bet our life.”

  “You can bet your life. I’ll watch,” Synon replied.

  “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way. Everyone choose a ray,” Mikail said as he moved to the central dais.

  I looked around and spotted one of the green ones and hopped on it.

  “Dibs on the double zero,” I yelled as I moved to the wall. I placed my back against it as the others moved selecting colors and hopefully numbers.

  “Round and round she goes,” MIkail said as he took down the key and inserted it in the dais.

  We heard a strange rattling sound even as the floor lurched under us. We had, it seemed, all forgotten one important thing about roulette wheels: they spin.

  I saw BarbieQ, Appolyon, and Synon fall as the floor shifted beneath their feet. Harut, myself, and Tekadan kept our footing. Poor Mikail was blasted off his feet and slid into the wall with a sickening crunch. All the time, the teeth-shaking rattle continued. Then suddenly the walls reformed behind us into a circle. Once more we felt our feet give out from under us. That was when remembered I could Levitate.

  I cast the spell and pushed off from the spinning floor, the spin imparting momentum on me, but I sailed up and over the rest of the party. I was slightly dizzy from the fun house ride. But I could see the balls shoot out of the top of the wall and spin down along the wall to land on the wheel as it spun under everyone. The first of them plowed into Tekadan, knocking him prone and continuing around. Harut avoided the first two of them but was struck by the third.

  I moved myself to the dais and cast my Song of Healing on the party members who had taken damage. Finally there were five balls rattling around, but I noted the wheel was almost stopped as they slowed and came to a rest.

  The first ball shattered, and a many-limbed creature popped out. It had too many legs for a spider, but that was what it most resembled. I floated above it, noting the party were all affected by the sudden stop and spin. I retrieved my Ashandarei and dropped my Levitate spell. Clutching my weapon, I dropped towards its back, my body weight and the height of the fall aiding me as I barreled into the beast’s back.

  Critical hit! You strike the Gresharon for 175 damage.

  You have pierced the Gresharon’s poison sac.

  The Gresharon is poisoned.

  The other spheres burst open as they came to a rest. I was on the back of the Greharon as it screeched in pain and tried to remove me by bucking around like a wounded horse. I levered and sawed through its tough carapace, trying to slay the beast. The others reacted slowly. That’s when I knew what I had to do until they could pull themselves together. On each of the other monsters, I cast my Song of Derision. The beasts attacked in a frenzy. They shot toward me and struck out with their claws, talons lashing out at the headless of the monster I sat on. They tore it apart to get to me, and I tried fending their strikes off with my Ashandarei. They were in such a frenzy that they opened themselves up to BarbieQ, as she flung a pair of fireballs that struck the beasts from behind. Then Mikail was back up, and he took over tanking the creatures.

  Command of Challenge

  Tekadan launched himself on the back of a Hammershalg. His kukris were a blur as his strikes bit into the beast, and it roared. I backed off and observed who was the most critically injured and used the mana I had left for my healing.

  Harut was casting even before his feet were back under him. Blue rays shot out from his left hand, striking the Hammershalg its flesh taking on a bluish tinge. Tekadan’s blows when they hit the spots caused them to shatter. Samael took over, healing Mikail once he got himself sorted out.

  Critical Heal

  Critical Heal

  Cure Poison

  Suddenly the commotion had ceased the monsters were dead, and we were victorious.

  “We’ll, for all for that there had better be a good payout,” I heard BarbieQ say.

  Mikail searched the corpses while I skinned the beasts. It amazed me that skinning worked on the chitin of the monsters. I handed it over to Mikail. We had all collected about three silver from the monsters. The walls had remained curved after the last of the monsters were slain.

  “Everyone rest up,” Mikail said, pointing at a second door that had suddenly appeared. Nodding, I sat and put my head on my knees to think.

  Why was I here, I wondered. Well, other than getting my butt out of prison? There had to be a reason as to why me. Or maybe I was looking at it wrong. Maybe the question wasn’t why me, but why not me?

  “Up and at ‘em everyone,” I heard as I looked up after my musing and spotted a flashing icon.

  When I acknowledged it, I received a message.

  Your character holds two invalid spells which your character class no longer allows. You must choose two spells to surrender. The spells will be refunded to you.

  Knowing this would h
appen, I had thought long and hard. I selected Protection from Evil and Lightning Bolt.

  “God, this sucks,” I said and immediately had the attention of the male angels.

  “What's wrong?” Appolyon asked.

  “The errata for the system update. I was just notified I’m losing two spells.”

  “Oh,” Samael said. “We thought you were having a crisis of faith. About the only time we hear people call on God is to damn him.”

  Tekadan snorted and nodded in agreement.

  I laughed. “I was raised old school. You don’t damn God—he damns you.”

  “I knew there was something about you I liked,” Harut said. “Well, besides the exceptional weapons and armor you craft.”

  “I notice you’re the only healer and cleric. I know Mikail won’t be a paladin because of his faith, but why?” I said, vaguely waving my arm at him.