The Greystone Chronicles: Book One: Io Online

by Dave Willmarth

  Father Ignatius took the stone from his hand and examined it. “Ah. I see. You channeled elemental fire. And you were holding the stone when you did so?”

  Alexander nodded.

  Fitz finished the thought for the priest. “You just learned enchanting two days ago, boy. If you had studied longer, you’d know that there is a limit to how much magic any particular substance will hold. You got lucky, in that you chose obsidian. Not only does it hold magic well, but its origin is fire based. So it was more willing to accept what you fed it.” He looked grim for a moment.

  “But when you feed too much magic into an item while enchanting it, one of two things happens. The item is destroyed, often in an explosion. Or the magic will feed back into the enchanter, which is what happened to you. You would have died if we arrived a minute or two later.”

  Not one to miss a chance, Brick broadcast in group chat, “Our boy literally nuked his self. Like a microwave burrito, all normal lookin’ warm crust on the outside, fiery hot on the inside! Father Ignatius healed him. He be fine.”

  This was met with complete silence. Alexander sighed. He was going to pay for this when Lainey and Sasha got back.

  Fitz sat down with him as Brick and the priest went back to the chapel. “Listen to me, boy. You have a wondrous mind, and a rare talent for magic. All kinds of magic, as far as I can tell. I watched you and the others fight in the dungeon. It was impressive the way you’ve altered and combined magic. But you lack patience, boy. You sprint ahead where you should tread carefully.” The wizard paused, as if considering whether to continue. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. Or rather, make you aware that I know YOUR secret. I know that when you do something stupid and kill yourself, your soul does not move on. Your body is recreated good as new, and your soul re-occupies it as if you’ve never died. It is so with all adventurers.”

  Alexander looked at the wizard in shock. NPC’s were NOT supposed to know about respawns. They weren’t even supposed to know that adventurers were from another world instead of another land. Like when Brick mentioned microwaves a minute ago, any player conversation about items or concepts foreign to the game world don’t even register with NPC’s, as if they never heard them. They’ll just wait patiently until the player re-engages in conversation within their context.

  He needed to know more. “Well, not good as new. We suffer a loss of experience. And we lose some of our possessions and gold.” Alexander said. “How is it you know of this, Fitz?”

  The wizard laughed. “Alexander. I am a several thousand year old wizard. I have completed quests on behalf of the gods, and rival some of them in power. I have the knowledge and abilities one would expect of an entity that has been studying magic and the world in general for millennia. I know there are other worlds, other dimensions, like the void from which the demons spring. And I can see the difference in the souls of adventurers.” The wizard paused to waggle his eyebrows. “Not to mention the fact that you all act like complete morons and throw yourselves into the meat grinder at every opportunity. It doesn’t take a genius to realize you have no fear of death! More than once I’ve seen a dead adventurer walk into a tavern after being mauled by some beastie in the woods. Besides…” Fitz paused for dramatic effect, “Odin is a friend of mine!”

  Alexander laughed in spite of himself. “And who else knows this?”

  “Very few, boy. The king and Captain Redmond know. As do most rulers on Io. The head of the Mage’s Guild. The other one. Not me. Well, obviously me, too. Maybe a very few others who have figured it out. But it is a closely guarded secret. We cannot have it become common knowledge that you adventurers are immortal. It would destroy our society. Faith in the gods would be destroyed. Adventurers would be feared by common folk. Who wouldn’t fear someone who could kill them with no consequence?”

  “But we’re getting off topic. You must learn to think before you just go off and try something new with magic. You nearly killed yourself raising the stone for your portal. You nearly killed yourself again doing the same for Brick’s forge. And again just now. Those are only the times I witnessed over the last 4 days! I let those go with a mild warning, because in each instance it would have been only you that died. But today, sitting where you are, with the power you put into that stone… if it had exploded, you’d have killed Millicent and maybe several others. Let me be clear. It SHOULD have exploded. Only the most amazing luck, or maybe the intervention of the gods, kept it from doing so!”

  It was as if the wizard had kicked Alexander in the stomach. I nearly killed Millicent! And her daughters. All these innocent people I’ve been trying to protect. He felt physically sick.

  “Don’t misunderstand me, Alexander. You should experiment. As I said, the way you and Sasha have combined spells is smart and effective. But practice those experiments in dungeons where the only ones who can be hurt are yourselves. And when you want to do experiments like this stone, check with me first. I’ll tell you if your idea is sound, how dangerous it might be. And I’ll help you put protections in place for unexpected explosions.”

  Alexander could only nod his head.

  “Speaking of protections. I’m going to teach you a healing enchantment. It won’t heal you of minor cuts and wounds, but if you receive a fatal blow, it will keep your health from hitting zero. It will only work once. Meaning if you take two fatal blows in rapid succession, like in combat, the second will indeed kill you. In an instance like today, if this stone had exploded, it would protect you from death.” Fitz put his hand on Alexander’s head and shared with him the enchantment formula called Undying. Compared to the pain of the boiling blood, he hardly felt it.

  “Thank you, Fitz. And I’m truly sorry. I didn’t know. You’re right. I’m new to magic, and haven’t learned nearly enough of the basics to be experimenting as I have. I’m like a child who just learned to crawl, trying to run across a room. A room that’s on fire. And full of sharp things. I’ll be more careful now. I couldn’t live with myself if I’d hurt anyone here today.”

  And he absolutely meant it. With every fiber of his being. If he’d caused an explosion here and killed villagers, he’d be worse than the asshole who set off the bomb that killed his mother. He wouldn’t have done it out of some misguided belief, but out of simple thoughtlessness.

  “If… you don’t mind, Fitz, I think I need to be alone for a bit. What I almost did…”

  “Aye, son. Find yourself a quiet spot. Someplace at a distance from here. In case your contemplation leads to more experimentation!” the wizard winked at him.

  Alexander wandered toward the village gate. He needed to be away from people. The people he had nearly killed. Leaving the village, he simply walked into the forest. Lost in thought, he paid no attention to where he was headed. He simply walked until a tree or bush got in his way, turned to avoid it, and kept going. What he really wanted to do was log out of the game and talk to his dad, but ending the immersion early would cause other problems. Some time alone would have to do.

  Eventually he stopped walking and took in his surroundings. He was standing at the edge of a small clearing that surrounded a creek-fed pond. It was a lovely setting. No picturesque fountains or manicured grass. Just simple nature. He sat down with his back to a tree to rest. After a few moments of listening to the sounds of the creek as it burbled into, then back out of, the pond, he realized something wasn’t right. Though he was in a thick forest, there we no signs of life. Sure, he had been clumsily stumbling through the brush, probably scaring off all the bunnies and squirrels. But where were the birds? The crickets and frogs?

  His first thought, being in a game, was that he’d wandered into a boss area. Some kind of mutated version of Nessie, or a freakishly large and hungry murloc was going to lunge out of the pond and try to eat his face. He stood up to try and leave quietly before whatever it was discovered him.

  He realized he was wrong when he heard a familiar voice beside him. “I want my gear back.”

  Henry. Alex
ander looked toward the voice, turning on his recorder as he did so, and the PWP leader blinked out of stealth roughly 3 feet away. “PWP boss at my location!” he sent into guild chat. “Hello, Henry. You just don’t know when to give up, do you?”

  “We’ll get Fitz to port us to you! Just hold on!” Max replied.

  “No. I got this. I’m going to get this bastard out of our hair. But gather in the village with Fitz, just in case. If I fail, port to me and deal with him.”

  “I’ve been following you for an hour,” Henry said, unsheathing two new and savage looking daggers. “Your guildies won’t get here in time to save you.”

  “I was actually just telling them to stay away,” Alexander smiled at Henry, who looked less smug than he had a moment before. “I can deal with an idiot like you alone. Just like I did before.”

  Alexander put up a magic shield between Henry and himself as he spoke. He was going to have to be clever. He couldn’t defeat the level 80 player in combat, he needed to outsmart him. And he needed time. “You aren’t getting your armor back, by the way. We put it on training dummy in the compound. We named it ‘Dummy’ in honor of you.” Alexander focused his earth mover magic as he talked. He was very gently creating a 20x20 hole in the rock below Henry. Leaving the ground at his feet intact, like a trap door. “Anyway, it’s still in pretty good shape, as we haven’t used Dummy much. You’ve seen Brick’s mount? The battle boar? His name’s Bacon. Bacon apparently didn’t like your scent, cuz he pee’d all over Dummy and your armor. And, I mean, he’s a big pig, so there was a LOT of pee. I don’t think you’d ever get the smell out. It is leather, after all.”

  Henry snarled at him. “You’re gonna die slowly, noob. I don’t know how you killed me before. But I won’t give you the chance to do it again!”

  The rogue lunged toward Alexander. At the same time, Alexander liquefied the ground underneath Henry’s feet. The rogue struck the shield with his dagger, and pierced it. Henry was, after all, 60 levels above Alexander. The resistance caused enough of a deflection that the dagger stabbed at Alexander’s shoulder instead of his chest. The legendary mithril shirt did its job, preventing the dagger from penetrating. Alexander was pushed back a step, while Henry, having lost all momentum, fell into the pit below. In his surprise, he tried to save himself by jamming his off-hand dagger into the ground like an ice axe. But it didn’t hold, and he lost his grip on the dagger trying to hold onto the edge of the pit.

  Alexander quickly closed the roof of the pit, except for a small hole through which he could hear Henry cursing. He stepped forward and looked down into the pit. “How bout we have a little conversation, Henry?” he asked.

  “Fuck you!” Henry replied, pulling out a teleport scroll.

  Before he could fully open it, Alexander hit him with wizard’s fire. The damage interrupted the teleport cast, burning the scroll and making Henry scream.

  “All I want is a conversation, Henry. We can do this all day. You’re an enemy of the realm. I have a quest to detain you, which I have just done. And as you pointed out, we’re an hour away from everyone. I’ve had the guards notified, and they’re on their way, but we’ve got lots of time before they get here. In the meantime… “ Alexander focused on Henry’s remaining dagger. He used earth magic to fill the dagger with power, just as he’d done with the heat crystal in the imp barracks. With a massive shove, he put half his mana into the dagger, causing it to explode.

  Henry screamed again. “You blew off my fucking HAND!”

  Alexander had stepped back from the hole as the dagger exploded, not wanting to catch any shrapnel. Now he looked back down the hole to see Henry covered in bloody shrapnel wounds, his arm a ragged stump above the wrist. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Henry. I didn’t touch your dagger. I think you must have pissed off the gods or something.” Alexander tossed down a healing potion. “Drink that. It’ll stop the pain.” He held his breath to see if Henry would drink it. Henry’s only hope at this point was to let himself die. One of his daggers was up top with Alexander, the other had just exploded. Without those, his best bet was to bleed to death. Otherwise he’d be arrested and his toon would be useless for a year. But up till now, Henry had proved to be nearly as stupid as his brother.

  True to form, Henry drank the potion. It wasn’t nearly enough to heal him completely, but it stopped the bleeding, which was what Alexander needed. To be safe, he cast another enchantment. This time he enchanted Henry’s belt. He used the Undying healing enchantment Fitz had given him. If the stupid man somehow managed to kill himself before Alexander could prevent it, this would buy a few precious seconds. To cover his bases, he asked “Brick, please notify the captain that I’ve captured Henry, and to send a couple guards to my location. Slowly.” in guild chat.

  As Henry glared up at him with pure hatred, Alexander began again. “Ok. Let’s recap. You tried to kill me. Again. What is this, like the fifth time? As a wanted murderer and enemy of the realm, I have detained you and placed you under arrest. You will be held here until the king’s guards come to collect you, at which point you will stand trial and be locked up for a full year. Your people killed NPC’s right out in the open, Henry. And you admitted to telling them to do it.”

  “Fuck you,” drifted up from the pit.

  “All I want is a conversation, Henry. Give me what I want, and I might even kill you so you can come back and try again.”

  “Fuck you and your little dog, too.” Henry produced another scroll.

  Alexander hit him with wizard’s fire again. There was more screaming. Alexander wasn’t worried about killing the man. His health pool at level 80 could handle wizard’s fire for hours. His sanity was another matter.

  “Every time you try to resist or escape, I have to stop you, Henry. It’s my duty. I’m not enjoying this any more than you are. Well, that’s a lie. I’m quite enjoying this. But why make this more painful than it needs to be? Let’s just talk.”

  That did it. Henry ran at the closest wall and began to scratch at it, trying to claw his way up one-handed to kill his tormentor. He screamed, “The dark one will come for you! He’ll tear pieces from you as you scream for mercy! I’ll find a way to get out of here! And when I do, I’ll sacrifice you to him as a gift!”

  Still concerned that the now unbalanced man would manage to kill himself, Alexander liquefied the stone under Henry’s feet. He watched the man sink into the mud, then solidified it when it reached the level of his armpits. With both arms now secured, there would be no more attempts at escape, via death or otherwise.

  “Who is this dark one? I thought you were the leader of PWP. Are you working for somebody else, now? Or have you just gone completely nutballs?”

  “Fuck you, noob. You should never have started this. You’re going to pay. You, your guild, all those people in the village. All dead.”

  Blind anger raged through Alexander. He nearly dropped wizard fire on the man again, but he was currently helpless and hadn’t moved to escape or attack. Alexander decided to fix that.

  “Good one Henry. You can’t even kill yourself, let alone me. But I tell you what. You tell me who the dark one is, and I’ll teleport you right on out of there. You’re no threat to me. And I’m getting bored. The guards will be here before too much longer. What do you say?”

  “Let me out, and I’ll tell you.”

  Alexander shook his head. Damn this guy is stupid. “I’ll compromise, Henry. I’m going to let you out of the floor. You’re going to toss me your inventory bag so that I can be sure you don’t try another teleport scroll. Then you’ll tell me what I want to know. When I’m satisfied, I’ll give you back the bag and teleport you out of here. Deal?”

  Henry was quiet for a while, clearly plotting something. Alexander wasn’t worried.

  “Fine. Free me. Let’s just do this.”

  Alexander liquefied the stone around Henry, and pushed him gently back up to the pit’s floor level. He kept wizard fire ready, just in case.

&n
bsp; Henry removed the inventory bag from his belt with his one good hand and held it up. “I can’t toss it through that tiny hole,” he said.

  “Just drop it over in the corner,” Alexander said. Henry complied. Alexander pushed the rock underneath the bag upward, raising it to ground level, and retrieved it. He stuck it in his own inventory.

  “Tell the captain to recall his guards. I’m going to teleport Henry to our bailey tunnel in about 5 min. Have men ready to secure him. Warn them not to touch the wards. They’ll be set to kill. He has no weapons and is missing a hand, but I don’t want him to be able to kill himself. You guys get Fitz to teleport you and meet me there.” He quickly made Sasha group leader in his UI. “Add Lydia and the captain to the group. And Thea too, if she’s close. We’re all gonna get some levels.”

  “Now, who is this dark one?” Alexander asked politely.

  “The dark one is the patron god of rogues, moron. He rewards us for acts of murder, theft, and betrayal. When I betrayed Martin and took over the guild, he made me his priest.”