But something hit him. I heard him cry out and knew my group was on him. Baltos, Xavier, they were both ganging up on him.
I swung out again and scored a critical hit on Chaucey. The force from the blow knocked him head over heels and he slammed down on his back.
“No!” Chaucey stammered as I stood over him, my blade held high. “No—don’t!”
“Why shouldn’t I?” I growled through my teeth. “How many people have you killed, you son of a bitch? Why should I spare you!?”
“I’ll—I’ll die!” he replied.
Pathetic, I thought, consumed by anger.
“You think we’re ever getting out of here!?” I asked him, repeating the words he’d said to me. “You think he will ever just let us leave!?”
Bonecrusher fired another frost bolt at someone, but I was busy. The rest of them would have to fend for themselves for the time being.
Chaucey’s health was below critical. One more blow would kill him. Chaucey would be no more, and Stoneburg would be a safer place.
The sounds of battle echoed all around me.
I twisted my Executioner’s Blade in my hand as I looked down at Chaucey.
Do it! I told myself. You have to do it!
“Don’t…” Chaucey begged. I felt a sting in my heart as I looked into his eyes, but I had no choice. If I let him go again, more people would die.
“Wake up,” I told him, repeating his words. “It’s kill or be killed.”
I raised my sword above my head and activated my final ability—Execute.
50
The Solo Grind
Two months later…
Crash!
Another Ice Golem shattered to pieces as I struck it down with my Froleal’s Sword.
“One hundred and eleven,” I muttered as I kicked at the ice shards before they exploded into a puff of smoke and flame. I’d been grinding them aimlessly all day, collecting Pareals and Sapphires which seemed to drop every eight or ten of them.
There were tons of them up North, which was only a ten minute run from Mountain Retreat, the small fortress I’d made my home after leaving Stoneburg.
I flipped my sword lazily in my hand. I’d been itching to replace it for a while. It was boring and bland and would have preferred something a little more flashy, but it was a rare sword that did bludgeoning damage and since golems were more vulnerable to bludgeoning, that’s what I was using.
Level 75.
I could hardly believe it when I thought back to when I was in my 20s. I was so much stronger, but it really meant nothing to me. I hadn’t seen another player in two weeks—not since a level 40 mage showed up at the fortress, thinking it was uninhabited. I’d chased him away easily, shredding over half his health with a single blow.
He wouldn’t be coming back any time soon.
Honestly, I was only grinding levels to give me something to do. As it turns out, the only thing to do in a virtual reality MMO is level. Sure, there are non-combat things like trade skills or spell research, but they’re all in service of the larger goal—leveling up.
So that’s what I was doing. Without anyone else around, I had no one to talk to, no one to interrupt or distract me, but more importantly, no one to worry about.
Stoneburg would be fine without me. They had D, Baltos, Xavier, Cavey, and the rest of his men. The Mercenaries had been crippled by The Ripper, and without Chaucey, I highly doubted Bonecrusher would show his face in town again.
Naturally, I’d upgraded my gear a lot since then. My Executioner’s Blade was long gone, as was Gehman’s suit of armor. They were both locked in a chest back at Mountain Retreat. Compared to what I was wearing now, Gehman’s suit was garbage, even with Kattenschind’s upgrades. But still, it had a sentimental value and I wasn’t just going to throw it away.
Plucking two Sapphire Shards from the ground that had fallen off the Ice Golem, I shouldered my sword and headed back home.
Home had a new meaning now.
I was way up North where nobody else bothered to come. The air was cold. The ground was covered with snow that always seemed to fall from the sky. The days were short, but the nights were brilliant, with bright stars shining everywhere and views of the aurora that twisted overhead with a rainbow of greens and reds.
The trees were all fir, varying from tall towering pines with no lower branches to shorter clusters with brush so thick that it was almost impossible to go through them. The sun was starting to set, and a small flock of Ice Bats fluttered overhead, their crystalline bodies catching the last rays of sun and reflecting them across the icy needles of the towering pines.
I managed to smile as I trudged through the snow. There was something calming about the quiet of the North. No howling Horngrin, no screeching Ilizak and no skeleton hordes chasing after me. But most of all—no other players.
Chaucey’s face flickered through my mind.
No! I thought, shaking my head, trying to push the image away.
“Don’t…”
He’d begged me to spare him.
“You had no choice,” I said out loud. I’d started talking to myself a lot after leaving Stoneburg. It wasn’t a crazy thing, it just helped get my feelings out there—especially without having anyone else around to talk to.
I passed a small group of Ice Golems but swung wide to avoid getting into a fight. They stood there motionless mostly, occasionally shifting with a sound like enormous boulders scraping against one another, unless of course you got near them.
The only real thing to worry about were the wooly Ratkers, a sort of wolf-cat hybrid with an enormous aggro range. They were quiet too and sometimes hard to spot as they blended in well with the snow. I really wasn’t interested in fighting them, after the first five I’d killed only dropped some ruined pelts and meat that wasn’t fit for anything.
As I came over the crest of a small hill, Mountain Retreat came into view.
“Home sweet home.”
It wasn’t much, just a small square fortress with five small towers clad in blue-green tiles. There was a single gate around the front, but at my level, I could easily jump off the slope and land on the back wall. That was my normal way of getting inside. It was easy, but also had the added bonus of giving me the high ground in case any unexpected visitors had arrived while I was gone.
I landed easily on the back wall and gazed into the courtyard. The snow was undisturbed. It appeared as though I was alone.
“Good,” I muttered as I leapt down from the wall.
The fortress had a simple layout. The walls were hollow and lit by small torches. Each tower had a set of chests and a few beds.
There were two NPCs: a bowyer and a general merchant. I sold most of my loot to the bowyer, who offered slightly higher prices, and bought Health Kits and Potions from the general merchant.
At the center of the courtyard was the Bindstone I was using, and a fountain that somehow defied the laws of physics and refused to freeze. It sparkled with flecks of purple and gold. If you stood close enough, it actually did a tiny amount of healing, but as far as I could tell it had no more use than that.
I turned and stepped into the first tower.
“Hey, Frank,” I joked as I stepped up to the Roaming Bowyer NPC. No one had apparently given him a name.
“Welcome, traveler! What can I do for you today!?”
It was a strange thing in Carrethen that no matter how many times you ran into them, the NPCs always interacted with you the same way.
“More crap to sell,” I replied, bringing up my inventory.
“I’ll be happy to buy anything you have for sale!” he replied happily. While very realistic, the NPCs in Carrethen could sometimes be quite lacking in conversational skills.
I sold off the random junk I’d picked up fighting Ice Golems and added the Pareals to my ever growing stack. I was probably pretty wealthy but had no real use for the money.
My armor and weapons were all random drops from the monsters, except for the
Gelid Helm that I had picked up as a reward from a long collection quest involving finding 15 Glimmering Ice Crystals from around the area and delivering them to an NPC living in a cave not too far off. It was a dull sea-green with incredible frost protection, which made it ideal for life in the North.
My plate mail was a suit just cobbled together from random drops. None of it matched, but I didn’t care. I was surviving, not entering a fashion contest. There was no one around to give me grief about it anyway.
The pants were bronze, the boots and arms were gold, the chest plate was silver, and the shoulders were a bright shiny purple. And then of course, to top it all off, was my sea-green helm.
“Good luck on your travels!” Frank said as he always did as I closed my trade window.
“Thanks, Frank.” I chuckled as I stepped back out into the courtyard as night fell. An owl hooted somewhere in the distance. It always happened as the sun went down. But beyond that, the only sounds were the slight breeze and the gurgling of the fountain.
I stood there and watched the stars for a while, trying not to think about my friends and what they were up to. I hadn’t planned on being gone for so long, only a few days max, and then I’d return to Stoneburg.
But once I found the Mountain Retreat and realized just how far away I was from the chaos of the rest of the world, things changed. A few days turned into a week, and then a week became two, and before I knew it, two months had passed, and Mountain Retreat became my home.
I closed my eyes and instantly saw Chaucey’s face as his health drained completely and his body collapsed in front of me. Somewhere in the back of my mind I could hear The Ripper’s voice like the angel of death.
“Lost forever in the electronic void…”
No matter what I did, that day back at Stoneburg still haunted me.
“Nooooo!” Bonecrusher screamed from behind me as Chaucey’s body hit the ground.
He was dead, and I had killed him.
I whirled around to see Bonecrusher standing there stunned, frozen in place, staring at his fallen comrade who lay at my feet.
D struck him with an arrow, and I quickly pulled out my wand and cast Menace. Bonecrusher looked at me with shock as the debuff hit him.
He’s going to die too, I thought miserably. But it had to happen. This was the reality of the world we were living in. Kill or be killed. Just like Chaucey had said.
D fired another acid arrow at him, but just at the last second, Bonecrusher threw himself out of the way and broke into a full sprint and began to race away from town.
“Get him!” D shouted, firing more arrows, but Bonecrusher was weaving and ducking as he ran, and his shots flew harmlessly past him. “He’s making a run for it!”
Xavier and Baltos raced after him, but all I could do was stand there and watch.
I didn’t follow.
I couldn’t.
I was numb. My mind was frozen and spinning at the same time as I stared down at Chaucey’s lifeless body at my feet.
I knew it wasn’t real.
I knew the body was just a model in the game engine and what I was looking at wasn’t actual flesh and blood, but that didn’t help any. The consequences were real.
I’d just killed someone, and there was no changing that.
“It had to be done,” I heard Cavey say from behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder. “There’s no telling how many lives you just saved.”
“I know,” I replied sullenly. “If only it felt right.”
“Many of our men fell to those two and their guild,” he replied. His voice was sad as though he was thinking back to those he’d lost. “Sometimes they didn’t even loot their bodies. They just killed them and left.”
“Take his loot,” I told him, turning my back on the body. “Give it to your men. I don’t want it.”
I looked up to see my group emerging from the tree line on their way back towards us.
“Managed to Bindstone before we could finish him off,” D said with a scowl. He hated letting anyone get away. Normally D was the one doing the PKing, not me. “You all right?”
It took me a moment to answer.
“No,” I finally said. “I’m not all right. I just killed someone.”
D hesitated. “It had to be done—”
“I know!” I roared. “That’s why it’s so horrible! This is a game, D! A game! Think about Vayde’s family! Shorros’ family! Gehman’s family—Hell, even Chaucey’s family! They’re never going to see them again!”
Carrethen had become a prison.
I felt all the hope draining out of me as I thought about everything that had just happened.
The Ripper was unstoppable, that was obvious now. He hadn’t even used a weapon. How were we expected to beat him? Even with every player on the server he could just freeze us in place and then tear us apart with a single swipe of his hand.
Xavier knelt down and began picking loot off Chaucey’s corpse as his men came up the slope and joined us. I turned away.
It felt wrong. Like desecrating a body. Normally looting a good PK was a cause for celebration. Not only did you get new loot, but you also made sure he lost some of his and would have to go hunting to gear back up, but now, knowing his mind was lost somewhere, spinning in the electronic void, it felt… sinful.
Sheathing my sword, I walked away from the group. My heart was heavy, and I didn’t know what to do next. All our plans were pointless after what had just happened.
The exploit spot was fixed, so we wouldn’t be able to use it to level up quickly. Baltos was dead. Cavey’s crew was dwindling, and worst of all, The Ripper had shown us that we were never going to escape. What was there left to work for in Carrethen? What was the point of even trying?
“Jack!” D called after me. “Jack, where are you going?”
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. I just needed to be alone.
I heard footsteps race up behind me and felt D’s hand on my shoulder. “Dude, where are you going!?”
“I’m leaving…” I muttered as I kept moving.
“You’re what!?” he replied, tugging me around to face him. Instinctively, I lashed out and pushed him away from me. He looked shocked as he stepped backwards.
“I’m leaving!” I roared. “I can’t do this anymore! Gehman’s dead! Baltos is dead! Which one of us is next?!”
“Where are you going to go!?” D shouted. “Just walk off into the woods and die?”
“I don’t intend to die, D,” I snapped back. “I just… I can’t be here anymore. I need some time alone.”
Again, I turned my back on my friend and walked away. I heard him open his mouth and start to speak, but he must have decided against it and said nothing.
I could feel the eyes of the others on my back as I stepped into the trees, leaving all of Stoneburg behind me. But I couldn’t go back—not yet. I couldn’t face them. They’d been looking to me for leadership for so long, but I was out of ideas. The world of Carrethen had finally defeated me.
I opened my eyes to the stars above Mountain Retreat and breathed a sigh of relief. I glanced to my left at the portal swirling in the corner of the courtyard.
Mountaintop—that’s what it was labeled.
I’d discovered it when I first arrived. It took me a few days, but eventually I worked up the courage to see where it led. I almost couldn’t believe it.
The portal dropped me off a few minutes North of Stoneburg. It was as if fate was trying to tell me something that I wasn’t ready to hear. For a second, I almost found myself wondering if it had been planted there by The Ripper.
I immediately used my Bindstone Shard and came back to the fort.
My friends were fine.
Stoneburg was safe. Chaucey was gone and Bonecrusher wouldn’t show his face there without his partner in crime. I wasn’t worried about them. Or at least, that’s what I was telling myself. But a question was plaguing me day after day, growing in the back of my mind with every swing of my sword.
<
br /> Is that why I’m out here on my own? Or am I just afraid of what I might find when I return?
51
The Secret Tunnel
I awoke to another cloudy, snowy day. I wasn’t tired of course and had no need for the minor stamina bonus sleep gave you. It was more just a mental break from the world.
“More Ice Golems…” I groaned as I got to my feet and stepped outside. “No. Not again. Not today.”
I needed a change, and if I had to loot one more Sapphire Shard I was going to vomit. So instead of taking my normal route, I decided to head out in a new direction and follow the slope up a small hill to the West and do a little exploring. Despite the fact that Mountain Retreat had been my home for the last two months, there was still plenty of undiscovered area around, and I wasn’t in the mood to grind.
The snow fell softly around me as I walked, spinning my Froleal’s Sword in my hand as I passed a small cave. I could hear the breathing of a Bolgrin inside and swung wide to avoid it. Bolgrin were basically yetis and rarely ventured out of their caves. They were a pain in the ass too, as they had enormous health pools but barely did any damage, which basically meant the fight just went on as you repeated the same moves over and over.
I’d picked up some new moves since leaving Stoneburg. Frenzied Slash, which was a single strike attack that dealt 300 percent normal weapon damage, and Battle Cry, which was an AoE knockback spell that didn’t do a ton of damage but was useful for clearing space during a fight. I also picked up a great opening ability, Swordmaster’s Fury, which provided a buff to my sword skill for 3 seconds. It sounded like a blade being sharpened as it went off.
Abilities were great in Call of Carrethen but were almost secondary to the actual personal skill involved in combat. It was satisfying to actually use your weapons and get better at swinging them, instead of just pressing 1 on a keyboard and watching your character auto-attack like so many old MMOs.
I went on for a long time, navigating the hilly terrain and staying clear of any monsters. I could handle anything I saw; I just wasn’t really in the mood to fight.
The trees began to thin out as I walked and as I came over a crest, the terrain sloped down drastically and opened into a small valley, sparsely covered with short fir trees.
Call of Carrethen: A LitRPG and GameLit novel (Wellspring Book 1) Page 22
