With a diving swoop, my love dove Varengan shoots into Djinn as he’s coming out of Confusion, and his HP drops to literally 1%.
Simple casts Ball Lighting on Djinn. Djinn takes lightning damage.
Still, Djinn’s HP stays at 1%.
Djinn uses First Wish.
Sorry casts Reflection of Darkness and Simple is not affected. Djinn’s move is stopped, and he takes arcane damage over time.
One percent.
We all stop, and I command Varengan to retreat, quit attacking.
“Not bad, not bad. But you do realize I am easily going to defeat you. However, that Confusion of Varengan’s tricked me well. Good job, Mystic Sid. May we have a word in private?”
“Sure,” I say. Does this mean I got him? That easily?
My companions look as confused as I am, and then…
It goes dark for a moment, and next, I’m alone with Djinn in the lava-moat arena.
“You have a lot to learn, but I do believe you are the kind of master who will not abuse that which I offer you. I can give you three wishes. You may also choose to release me. That is upto you. But be aware—if you release me to freedom, I will fight my hardest for you, but I will again have the option to decide if you are the master I wish to serve.” The green smoke around him swirls and glitters.
“Sounds good to me. Thank you, Djinn.”
“Nuudle masters have always been my favorite. Such a way with words. I now serve you, but keep conscientious of your use of my powers. I like how you used Confusion first, considerate of damage and pain, and all the buffing was quite amusing to watch.” He instantly collapses into a thin stream of green smoke and it slides into my chest.
Mmmm, full heart, life has meaning.
I got him, and that was probably the easiest fight we’ve had. Days is gonna be pissed. When you enter an exclusive boss battle, guild chat automatically gets cut off. He’d have no idea how it went down until I got out.
As vision fades to black, and then the dark cave at the entrance of the fight appears, lit by a torch Sorry holds, I can already hear him bitching as guild chat cuts back in.
“…Warps me back. And I don’t even know if he got Djinn and neither do you, but at least you got to see him in action,” he’s saying.
“You’re back! Did you get him?” Sorry asks, clasping her hands together.
“Yep.” I grin.
“Let’s see him!” Simple begs.
“Let’s wait for Days.”
We do, and he’s quite delighted for that.
Sid summons Djinn.
Green smoke shoots out of my chest and Djinn forms in the air beside me. He’s enormous. “Master, what is your bidding?” he asks.
“Just showing you to my friends,” I tell him.
“I am impressive, aren’t I?” he brags.
“Oh, yes, Djinn. You certainly are,” I tell him.
“Read his moves list,” says Sorry.
I open the menu in my interface and read.
Description:
Djinn is the very first of his kind, coming into being when time itself started. He is made only to serve. Be good to him and he will be good to you.
Abilities:
First Wish—Return target to home point.
Second Wish—Target will become a ruler. If in a party, target will become party leader. All stats are increased 50% for 20 seconds. Some items and abilities may enhance this ability.
Third Wish—Find treasure. Icons will appear on map.
Seizure Ability: Release Djinn—Summon attacks for random, high damage to opponent. After each use, Djinn may or may not be able to be summoned again.
“Find treasure,” Sorry says with a sigh.
“I want to become a ruler. Stats at an extra 50%? Damn,” says Simple, tossing her blue pigtails around.
We discuss the Seizure Move for a little bit. Djinn listens carefully. I like him. He has personality, likes being involved. I might enjoy just talking to this NPC summon, much like Master Gronai in the temple. Varengan doesn’t talk, and to be honest, the Counts creep me out a bit every time I summon them. That black and white against the vivid colors of the game. The world. This place.
It occurs to me to ask Master Gronai about helping me write scrolls next time I try the craft. I bookmark the idea. There’s still Mediation to get in Mylop Territory.
“I’m going to take Djinn down to Mylop Territory to get Meditation,” I say my thoughts aloud. I can’t stop staring at all of Djinn’s gold adornments.
“Good luck!” says Simple, and then adds, “Don’t forget that Second Wish and make the guild a shit ton of money.”
I laugh. “You bet.”
It’s nice spending time with someone my own size, and she’s very friendly now that she’s comfortable with me. Whenever I get strong enough to help her with White Nile and her Casta Lot Hat drop, I will. I always liked White Nile runs in Elora, the White Elf crumbling shrine dungeon. I wonder if in Dark World it’s not crumbling, but rather brand spanking new.
I bet it is.
I’ll warp back to my HP, with Djinn’s First Wish help, check for Calla and a new summon quest, then head back through Kila Crystals to Bane. After that, Djinn and I will explore what Mylop Territory is all about in Dark World.
CHAPTER 11: MYLOP TERRITORY
“Do you have Xiuhcoatl’s quest?” Shell asks in guild chat just after I warp to Bane through the Kila Crystals.
“Yeah,” I tell her.
“How did you get it?” Is it my imagination, or does she sound a bit pissed? She must not have gotten it yet. My instincts tell me there’s more, but I tell myself Dark World is making me paranoid. Shell has helped me a lot.
“The NPC at my grave gave it to me.”
“Mine hasn’t. That’s weird.”
“Did you get Mantra?” I ask her as I walk through the city, still astounding in its differences from Elora’s Kane.
“Yes.” She sighs. “If you figure out how I get the quest, please let me know. Anyway, I’m sending that list of Psychic spells to you. Hope it helps. The Psychic I got it from says he doesn’t know if these are all of them.”
My mailbox icon lights up in my interface with the number one sparkling in its corner. “Thank you so much.”
“Send it to me, too,” Days says.
“Send it to all of us.”
I hear her sigh again.
“I’ll do it,” I tell them, making a right, walking to the AH and the mailboxes. I can’t wait to read what it says.
Once at the mailbox, I open up Shell’s letter and read
Psychic spells:
Crystal Ball—Blocks target’s next move.
Telekinesis—Controls chosen target for 10 seconds. Some items and gear may enhance this ability.
X-Ray Vision—See target’s abilities and bags. Target will not be notified of your action.
Reiki—Heals target to full HP.
Clairvoyance—Finds the location of any player.
ESP—Choose target’s next move.
Mental Anguish—Deal brain damage to target equal to Psychic’s Mind statistic, +/-. Some items or gear may enhance this ability.
Special Ability: Mind Control—You control opponent’s moves for 20 seconds. Use once an hour.
At a glance, it doesn’t seem like much, but I don’t like that phrase “deal brain damage.” What does that mean? Besides, the way Seeker handled me was excruciating. He knows his class well, and how to manipulate his skills to perfection. How many of these moves does he have? What items has he stolen to boost his stats and abilities? I imagine he has the best. And what moves aren’t on this list?
Clairvoyance. That’s how he’s been finding me.
I buy some paper from the AH, copy and paste the list, and then mail it out to the guildies. Spent the last of my cash on it, too. I’m broke for the zillionth time in Dark World. It’s like living paycheck to paycheck in RL.
I listen to them discuss the list of spells when they get
their letters as I head toward the Wall of Bane. I was thrilled when Calla gave me the Xiuhcoatl quest, and it happened to be in Mylop Territory, where I planned to go for Meditation anyway. Lucky me.
I’m far away from Bane’s gate now, safe from curious players, and summon Djinn.
“How may I serve you, Master?” he says as he takes form out of green, glowing smoke.
“Keep me company?” I ask.
“As you wish, Mystic Sid.”
“Oh, and keep your eye out for mobs and Psychics,” I add.
I glance back because he isn’t next to me anymore. Djinn hovers behind me with one eyeball popped out and spinning. I can’t help but laugh.
He laughs, too. “Good to see my new master has a sense of humor.” He catches upto me and we prowl through the black valley toward the wall.
I spend about an hour walking the length of the Wall of Bane, but can’t find a way through without fighting Dragonbane guards at all the exits. I can take on lots of fights now, but each gate is covered by six to eight high-stat guards, and I admit I can’t do that.
“Djinn, any ideas as to how to get through here?” I ask him.
He rubs his green chin. “Perhaps another summon can help you.”
“Think so? But I’ll miss you.”
He grins, then gives a belly laugh. “You can invite me back if they cannot help you.”
“Good deal,” I say, and dismiss Djinn. He turns into a green mist and swoops into my chest.
I have an idea.
Sid summons the Counts of Hell.
I read the Counts’ abilities again, thinking.
Surround—Surround target and push it back forty feet, dealing damage according to if and what target is pushed into.
Could that possibly work on a piece of wall?
Sid commands Surround.
Pieces of volcanic rock spew outward, upward, and back at us. I instinctively duck, but one of the Counts, the biggest one with tiger furs, zooms in front of me and protects me from flying debris.
As the dust settles, I raise my head and look. They did it. There’s a narrow hole leading straight through the Wall of Bane to the desert of Mylop Territory.
I hear Dragonbane guards in the distance shouting, trying to figure out what the noise and explosion was.
“We better go, guys,” I tell them, and squeeze through the hole in the wall to the other side. I run with the Counts for about ten minutes until I can’t hear the guards anymore.
I stop, catch my breath. “Thanks,” I tell the Counts.
The one who protected me says, “Too much light, too many nearby.”
The Counts of Hell release themselves.
My heart jumps into my throat. I check my summons list. Thank God. The Counts are still there. They could have decided not to let me summon them again until night.
Sid summons Djinn.
“How may I serve you, Master Sid?” he says.
“You were right. The Counts got me through the wall.”
“I usually am right.” He crosses his arms and smirks with satisfaction.
Mylop Territory is sand dune after sand dune further south, but here, I see the usual hard sand ground and desert shrubs. We’re on a path heading directly south, where the Mylop caverns are. In Elora, the caverns were jam-packed with crafting stations. You could craft pretty much anything but scrolls in a cavern in Mylop Territory. In Dark World, I’m not so sure. Days said I would have to see it for myself to understand, and the other guildies said the same. He told me the Mylop there are in hiding, and that there’s no crafting going on in Mylop Territory here.
Or is it now?
As Djinn and I walk the path, with my commands to warp mobs back to their home points as I go—I have no clue if mobs have HPs, but apparently, they do—I don’t see any other players. I walk for a couple hours and it gets hot. So damn hot.
I’m soaked with sweat by the time I get to the first of Mylop’s Serenity Caverns, and Djinn is sympathetic to me and my nearheat-stroke self. He blows white, cool air in my face.
This cavern used to be a metalworking hub, but as I peer inside, I see steel bars just within the entrance. “What the—?”
“Those poor Mylop,” says Djinn.
I step through the overhanging rock and walk upto the bars, letting my eyes adjust to the dark.
Beyond the bars, I see dozens of Mylop NPCs chained to the walls. Their shackles clang much like the sounds of the crafters in Elora when they did their metalworking.
“What’s wrong with them?”
“Hello?” a female voice calls out to me. “Can you help me? You, Nuudle. Please, help us.”
I see a deep blue Mylop woman nearby on the other side of the bars. The NPC’s name is Singh. I’ve never seen a female Mylop and find her fascinating.
“Please,” she says. “You have to get us out of here.”
“Okay,” I say, unsure of what to do. “What’s going on here?”
“Bane. It’s Bane. He’s taken all the women Mylop he could catch and put us in here, the Cavern of Compassion. He betrays and mocks us by chaining us up like animals for the slaughter in our holy shrine.” She pulls at the shackles on her wrists, flicks her black lizard tongue.
Other female Mylop voices join in. I can’t make out what any of them are saying, so I wait for them to calm down.
“Will you help, Nuudle Mystic? Can’t you do something?”
Shell told me I had to do something with Mylop females for Meditation, so is this it? She said she’d done it several years ago—which got me thinking about other things, like how long all my new friends have been here—and was foggy on the specifics of where and how she did it. Said it had been so long that she couldn’t remember.
“Sure, I’ll help you,” I tell her. “I need to think about how to, though. Djinn?” I look up at him. “Any ideas?”
“I have so many ideas. This is your quest, Master. Think, think, think.”
Only hours ago had I looked at the Counts’ abilities list, even though I know them by heart, and I have an idea.
“Thank you, Djinn. I did think and I do have an idea.”
“Wise Master Sid.” He smiles.
Sid releases Djinn.
Sid summons the Counts of Hell.
They rush out of my chest in a gray fog. “So many, so many,” says my savior Count.
“Just for a sec, guys, then you’re out of here. Okay?”
They look peeved.
Sid uses Seizure.
Sid commands Hell on Earth.
“Yes!” I call out as the lava from my Counts’ staffs melts the bars. I’m quick to dismiss them before they dismiss themselves again. The last time made me nervous.
“Thank you, thank you!” says Singh. “Now, the steel puddle has hardened. You must release us from our chains. If you can just get my hands, I can do the rest. Our claws fit the locks, but the Dragonbane bound our hands, as you see.” Her hands are clamped inside a metal box.
I cross the warm, hard steel, and investigate the curious box around her claws. The others cry and whisper.
“How do I get it off?”
“I don’t know,” she says. “The guards, when they take one of us, leave them on.”
I look way up at her lizard eyes. “Why are they taking you?”
She shakes her head. “Bane uses our essence to create Dragonbane. Mylop women have special blood, ancient blood. We are the second race of Dark World. We have Creation Magic inside us, having created ourselves, and he uses our blood to make Dragonbane.”
So that’s why all the female Mylop are gone in Elora.
Sid summons Djinn.
The ladies all gasp and cry out at the sight of my Djinn.
“Master, how may I be of service?” he says once he’s fully-formed.
“Trying to figure stuff out again, Djinn. You help me think.”
“Of course I do.”
“Ladies,” I say, “no need to panic. He’s a friend.”
“That
’s Djinn!” says Singh. “He has been, and always will be, older than we!”
They quieten down just a little as I continue trying to calm them. “Djinn, any way you can convince them you’re not going to hurt them?”
“I’m not going to hurt the Mylop, of course not. Why would I do that?”
“See?” I say to them, and a hush falls over the cavern.
“Djinn, do Mylop NPCs have HPs?” I ask him.
“Everything and everybody has a home point, Master Nuudle.”
I turn back to Singh. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Just a little magic from Djinn, and I’ll get you all home safely where you can have one of your kind release these bonds.”
She looks panicked. “No, no magic from Djinn. I’d rather stay here and die at Bane’s hands.”
“It’s a simple spell. I promise.”
“No, no, no,” a cacophony of women’s voices call out through the cave.
“Calm down! Everybody, calm down. It’s one of his wishes. You’ll be safe.”
“I don’t trust timeless magic,” says Singh. “What if it hurts?”
“It won’t hurt, but it’ll take a while. How many of you are there?”
She looks back. “Many, many.”
“Okay, well, because I can’t undo your shackles—these steel boxes around your hands—I’ll warp each and every one of you back home.”
“You won’t,” she says. “He will!”
Djinn cocks a dark green eyebrow at her.
“It’ll take some time, but I’ll get you all.”
“How long?”
“Probably a couple hours… I guess…”
“We don’t have that much time,” another voice says from the darkness.
“That’s right. The guards will be here within the hour to take some of us. There’s no time!” Singh says. She sighs. “Young Nuudle, I can sense in you a gentle and trustworthy character. Mylop women, do you agree?” Murmurs. “I reacted poorly. You offer salvation, and I fear ancient magic. I can see your magic intentions are pure of heart. There is something I can do to expedite this. Here, I have a gift for you. An old, old skill to help you get us all at once.”
What is this? It’s not Meditation… could this be…?
“Put your head down, young Nuudle,” she says.
I do.
Total Immersion: Dark World: A LitRPG Adventure Page 11
