The Prisoner of Arabella
Page 18
She loaded the gun and then took aim again. With another crack, she sent the round into the old shaman’s head as he lay on the floor.
“Let's finish this,” she said while she reloaded.
Mikail charged the old goblin dressed in armor. As he charged, I played the Song of Iron Skin. The other two tried to flee the ensuing melee.
BarbieQ pounced on the female kobold and knocked her to the ground, then stood over her, hand raised into the air. A glowing ball of blue fire coalesced in her hand. The old woman was scrambling back, babbling “No hurt, no hurt.”
But BarbieQ was beyond caring as she drove the ball of plasma down into the prone form, striking like a snake with as little care or pity as a reptile would show. There was this hiss and sizzle of flesh, and the old kobold lay still at her feet, her sightless eyes staring out at us.
Mikail’s partner was soon down. His armor shredded, the body lay broken and bleeding. The last of the elders was frozen into a pillar of ice, and it reminded me a lot of Han Solo from that old Star Wars movie. The original, not the remake from the 30s. Who ever came up with a CGI Heath Ledger as Han should have been shot.
“What do you think is up there?” I asked the party.
“A boss mob,” Harut replied.
Apollyon chimed in. “We probably can’t take it, whatever it is.”
“We will try anyway and report back to the guild,” Samael said, though I heard the weariness in his voice.
I stepped over and reached up. The dais had steps leading up, but the side I was closest to was about six feet up. I reached up and looked over the ledge. There was a prone figure there. Human-sized, I thought. I looked around briefly but saw nothing or anyone else. I tried to identify it, but for some reason I wasn’t able to get a good read on what it was I was seeing.
I used party chat to talk’
From Lorcan: One figure that's lying down. I couldn’t tell much about it, and I couldn’t identify it. But it looked like it was alone.
From Mikail: So the plan is to go up the stairs, surround it, and then we attack. Barbie, focus on any adds. Harut, Apollyon, you use ice. Samael and Lorcan, buffs and healing. I’ll tank, and Synon, you do DPS. On three.
He held up a hand. Three fingers in the air, then two, then one, and we rushed up the stairs to surround the figure, so it didn’t have an easy target. When we drew close, we saw a woman lying on the floor, chains around her feet and wrists. She was cowering from us in fear.
“Please not hurt Cassandra. I good girl.”
I looked at her carefully. She was humanoid with what appeared to be a greenish blue-scaled hide, not skin. What I thought to be a shawl over her shoulders instead turned out to be small wings about two feet wide. I knelt down and moved up toward her.
“Cassandra, can you tell us what's going on and why they have you chained up?”
“Kobolds see Cassandra and think dragon. Cassandra no dragon. Cassandra is Cassandra.” She shuddered but looked at me.
She had a small snout, and her teeth were herbivorous instead of the sharp teeth one would see in a carnivore. As she gained confidence, she lifted her head off the floor, and that's when I noticed the necklace she wore. It resembled the pieces of the bridge we had recovered, in design and style.
“Look at her necklace,” I said. “Oh, god. Now it makes sense.”
I took out one of the pieces of the bridge to reexamine it.
“What makes sense?” Harut asked.
“The clues to the stupid bridge. We climbed a spire higher than the fire below. We found someone here, on what would normally be a throne.”
“So she’s the bridge?” Synon asked.
“Bridge? No bridge. Cassandra is no bridge, not big enough. But Cassandra knows things, lots of things.” She was kneeling in that way some women can, with their knees before them, somehow not grimacing in pain.
“Cassandra, do you know how to stop the lich king?” Samael asked.
She smiled and nodded. “What you pay for answer? Free Cassandra?”
I took out my hammer and nodded to her. “We were always going to free you. Do you want more?”
Nodding she continued to speak. “Yes, me want the necklace, me want go home. This place hard on me. Much time lost, much time must be gained.”
“How do we stop the lich king and stop the undead?” Samael urged.
She paused and thought then replied. “Kill lich as always. Kill lich. Destroy phylactery destroy soul. Lich die, all magic die.”
“Shit,” Synon said. “Where are we going to find that?”
“Cassandra help. Cassandra need necklace, but Cassandra help. Cassandra know when it was lost.”
I focused on knocking the chains binding the poor woman, then fished out some clothing to cover her. She dressed quickly in the leather armor I had collected from some goblins we had killed.
“Mikail,” Harut asked.
“Cassandra, we need the last piece of the bridge from the elves, but once we have it, it's all yours, if you can take us to where the phylactery can be found.” Mikail shook his head and looked around, growing still. “The battle is over, and the dwarven representative is here. He should have the last piece for us. The battle is over.”
“Did we lose anyone else?” I asked him.
“No, not like Tekadan,” he said in a world-weary voice.
We back tracked down and found Tekadan’s body gray and lifeless. We made a litter for him out of spare cloaks and spears. Samael and I carried him while Mikail, Harut, and Appollyon guarded us from stragglers.
The trip down the spire was uneventful. When we reached the entrance, the guild members were drawn up, and a somber air pervaded area as we marched his body out of the tunnel into the light.
“What happened?” Morner asked.
“We don’t know,” Mikail said. “He dropped after the last major fight, a storm golem. He didn’t get back up.”
Morner clapped Mikail on the back and nodded.
“Take him over there.” He gestured to a spot beside the piles of coin, armor, and weapons we had taken as loot.
We then saw the representatives of the council. Osran Steelthistle, one of the elves we had talked to, and Hezman Nightshield, the dwarven emissary stepped up to us.
Osran held out a polished box. “The last piece you should need.”
I reached over and took the case. Smiling in thanks, I opened it. I moved off to see if I could reconnect the pieces. The three large pieces went together. Then I motioned for Cassandra to step over and combined them with her necklace.
“It’s done," I said to her. “Can you take us now?”
“All of you come,” she said, motioning us together.
As we stepped around her, the necklace began to glow, taking on an eerie green light. My skin pricked like someone was blowing sand on it. I felt the mother of all headaches.
And then I didn’t recall anything more.
“Wake up, Lorcan,” I heard someone say as I was being shaken awake. There was an irate dwarven voice in the distance.
“Aright, what you think yer doin’ in our mines?” said one with what I took to be a horrible Scottish burr.
“Aye, they be stinkin’ of goblins and blood,” said another.
“Methinks the king will want to be hearin’ somat about this.”
I couldn’t find the energy to move, and I lay there with little to say. When I was able to open my eyes through the blinding headache, the Angels and BarbieQ were there with Synon and myself.
“Sir, I implore you for sanctuary. We seek a method to end a rising evil,” I said to the dwarf I took to be the leader.
“Oh, I just bet you do,” he replied. “Yer comin’ with us, and ye can tell it to tha king.”
Epilogue
“Sir, I’m getting an anomaly here,” said a technician as he sat in the control chair.
“What's the anomaly, corporal?” the officer said as he walked over to stand behind the tech as he worked.
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��I’m registering test subjects,” he said as he worked the system for more detailed information.
“There are supposed to be test subjects today,” the officer stated blandly.
“Yes, sir. Out of Alama Gordo. But I’m registering seven subjects in the simulation.”
“That is odd,” the officer said musingly. “There are only supposed to be two play testers for this project right now. Track the server they are from and get in touch with Dr. Hanimaga. We need to know if this is a fluke or testing that someone forgot to authorize through us.”
“Yes, sir,” he said as he keyed in the request for the lead programmer.
Name: Lorcan Race: Woodsprite Class:True Bard Level: 12
Height 5’ 6” Weight 152 lbs Eyes Blue Hair Brown
Statistics:
39-Strength - carry 390 pounds and 3.9% Damage to weapons damage and energy regeneration
21-Agility - 2.1% increase weapon skill and avoid damage
40-Endurance - 400hp to base hp and 4% to base energy pool
30-Intelligence - 300 to base Mana pool and 4.5% spell damage
21-Wisdom - 2.1% recovery base Mana regeneration rate
21-Charisma - 4.2% increase in favorability from NPC’s
23-Luck - 4.6% increase to all positive rolls or negative rolls
Mana Pool: 490
Hit Points: 420
Energy Points: 240
Spells:
Magic Missile
Levitate
Enchant Weapon
Dispel Evil
Heat/Cool Metal
Protection from Normal Missiles
Silence
Sleep
Burning Hands
Songs:
Song of healing - Energy cost 20 and 20 HP +5hp per second for 30 seconds
Song of Courage - Energy Cost 80 Increases a players HP by 10% and damage by 5%
Song of derision - Energy cost 40 Debuffs enemy with -5% to hit and -5% damage, Will act as a taunt.
Song of Ice - Energy cost 200 Creates an Ice storm
Song of Iron Skin - Energy cost 100 provides increased armor and player buffed may take 1-3 hits with no damage
Song of Mass Healing _ Energy 200 Singer heals party for 40 HP and provides a regeneration boost of 5hp per
second for 5 seconds
Song of Mass Visibility: Energy Cost 100 Reveals enemies that are unseen, stealthed or invisible.
Known Skills:
Alchemy: Apprentice
Armor Smith Journeyman
Burglary: Journeyman
Blacksmith: Journeyman
Cooking: Journeyman
Engineer: Apprentice
Farmer: Apprentice
Gem Cutter: Apprentice
Herbalist: Apprentice
Jeweler: Apprentice
Leather working: Journeyman
Lore Master: Journeyman
Medic: Apprentice
Weapon smith: Journeyman
Wood Worker: Apprentice
Martial Skills:
Thrown weapons: Neophyte
Bows: Apprentice
Swords: Neophyte
Exotic weapons: Journeyman
Pole Arms: Journeyman
Unarmed combat: Apprentice
Dodge: Neophyte
For years I’ve enjoyed other authors work. There are a few writers whose work has been the most influential to me. For anyone looking for a good fantasy book let me recommend: David Eddings’s; The Belgariad and David Gemmel’s: The Stones of Power and his Drenai Series. For Sci-fi, I fell in love with David Weber and Anne McCaffrey’s Pern:, and R. A. Heinlein; Starship Troopers is suggested reading for officers in various branches of the US Military. For Game Lit, I highly recommend Delvers LLC by Blaise Corvin.
There are truly too many writers that I have read to be able to list all who have had an influence on my work. But I have explored many others’ universes, and am now trying to create my own, which I hope the readers enjoy and look forward to returning to as we follow James/Lorcan and his Guild, as he learns more of the secrets of Arabella Online, and the role he has to play in affecting it and the real world.
I would like to thank the following people:
My Beta Readers;You know who you are and a special Shout out to Adam Shook
My Cover Artist: Heather Hamilton-Senter
My Editors:
Jami Nord, Emmie Mears, & K.T Hannah,
The Chimera Editorial Services Team
Chimeraediting.com
I would like to extend out my thanks to the Gamelit Society Writers Workshop for your patience in helping me to craft what I believe to be a good story.
My wife for her help in editing my work (you have no idea how much work I am either:-D)
Alchemy – a tradition practiced in Europe aimed to purify or perfect an object. The precursor to chemistry
Alloy – the combination of metals or a metal and another element
Amalgamation – process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form
Annealing - A heat treatment process to reduce a metals or other substances hardness
Blacksmith – a metalsmith who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut
Brain tanning – a process of creating leather using emulsified brain solution to keep the hide more supple and soft
Brewing – often referring to the production of alcohol specifically beer
Heat treatment – a process used to alter the physical or chemical properties of a material
Quenching - The rapid cooling of a substance (usually metal) in oil, water or air to obtain certain material properties. Most often used in metal working to harden steel
Striker – An assistant (often an apprentice) whose job is to swing a large hammer in to assist the blacksmith
Pattern – a design that is easily replicated
Pattern Welding- The practice of forming a blade of several metal pieces that are then forge welded together to form a pattern
Tempering - A process to improve the hardness or elasticity of a metal or other substance
Welding- Joining one piece of metal to another like it or similar metal.