by Michael Ryan
This quest offers to shorten your journey by one day’s march.
Perils to overcome will present themselves.
Accept quest: [Y/N]
Dale opened the Lore Book and scanned for anything of immediate interest.
You’ve opened a Lore Book with an Open Quest!
The 13 Unlucky Gems Quest:
King Rudra III of the Arogrodian Dynasty sent thirteen knights on a quest seeking the legendary Gems of Sadness.
Each of these gemstones was worn by a lady, a princess, or a queen, at the time of her demise.
Legends claim that a king in possession of all thirteen stones will wield unnatural powers over the undead, and will rule for a thousand years. While this may be just another stupid legend, you never really know, do you?
When King Rudra III had gathered twelve of the thirteen gems, his kingdom fell under attack. He and his knights were burned alive, and the gems were scattered and hidden throughout Almaach under orders of his widow, Queen Ashtrain.
She decreed that the gems must never be controlled by one person.
Dale looked up from his reading, “Smith?” he said.
“Huh?”
“You reading through this list of stones?” Dale asked.
“Of course not,” Smith answered. “I told you…that stuff is like being forced to sit still and listen to your grandmother tell you about her childhood on a farm collecting chicken eggs.”
“Okay,” Dale said. “That’s what I feel about romance—”
“Hey, don’t knock it until you try it—”
“I’ll stick to virtual-lover porn—”
“I like to go both ways—”
“Huh?”
“Never mind,” Smith said, “go back to your gems—”
“Let me just finish with this one interesting—”
“Knock yourself out, brother,” Smith said. “I’m going to take a piss. I’ll be right back.”
Dale went back to his reading.
The Grandidierite Gem:
This five-carat stone is the only stone in the quest that is not in a setting.
At the time of the rule of the White Elven King, an argument between twin sister princesses of King Cerion over the best use of the gemstone ensued. The older princess (by five minutes) stole the stone.
While carrying it to her personal jeweler, she fell off a bridge, and plunged to her death.
The second sister retrieved the stone and openly mocked her sister in court. A Purple Death Adder bit her that very night while she slept with the stone under her pillow.
The King was so distraught over the loss of his only two daughters, that he placed a curse on the gem.
“It is decreed, anyone in all of Almaach, throughout all time, who dares to covet and use treachery to obtain this cursed rock, shall surely die.”
“It is spoken, thus shall it be,” his court worshippers chanted.
Dale placed the Lore Book into his inventory. Some of the stones had especially nasty curses, all directed at women.
“Just what I need,” Dale muttered. “A cursed quest that will cause women I love to die.”
Ërin: I’m sure there’s eventually going to be a quest that kills only men.
Smith returned. “Should we take the shortcut?”
“Huh?”
“The shortcut?”
“Oh, of course,” Dale said. “Why not?”
“You’re the one that’s got a thing against giant spiders, and this quest goes through a Black Widow Dungeon.”
“Bring it.”
“Sounds like false bravado to me…”
“It’s only death…” Dale didn’t feel brave at all, but he wasn’t about to tell Smith he’d rather take the long way home.
“Yeah, okay, then, if you’re good to go.” Smith asked.
“I’m sure nothing is going to get easier, no matter what route we take,” Dale said. He kicked a rock. “If we can get ahead of Amy, we might be able to aid Jara and Yingtai, before…you know, my former girlfriend and her fellow assassin murder them both.”
“Still bitter, I see,” Smith said.
“No. Just a realist.”
“Well, I accept the quest,” Smith said.
Dale accepted it as well.
“Welcome to darkness, my friends,” the statue said. He pointed to a crack in a large stone. The stone split in two pieces, revealing a small passageway. The stone guard pointed at it. “Be wary and swift my friends, and thank you…”
Dale walked into the passageway. “Looks like more steps into an abyss of darkness. You want to light the first torch, or should I?”
“Go ahead.”
Dale retrieved a torch, lit it, and began the descent into gloom.
After twenty-six steps the ground leveled, followed by a long straight path, and then a new set of stone stairs led upward.
They climbed a hundred steps, followed a short hallway, and arrived at a large wooden door.
“I bet there’s a spider guarding the door knob…” Dale hit it with the tip of a sword. Nothing happened.
“Well?” Smith said.
“I don’t like it.” Dale touched the door knob. Nothing happened. He tried to turn it, but the door was locked. “We need a key.”
They searched the hallway for hidden compartments, loose stones, or anything else. Nothing.
“Well, now what?” Smith asked. “I’m going to eat something and rest for a minute. Let me know if you think of something.”
Dale sat against the opposite wall and shut his eyes. Usually a locked door has something to guard it, or a key or code necessary to open the door.
Defeating a guard will often reveal a key, or in some other way open the door.
Of course the standard for many years was simply to use a lock picking kit, but neither Dale nor Smith had acquired that equipment or skill.
“You remember that old game, where there was this space station and aliens could change into objects?” Dale asked.
“No. Why? You think the door is an NPC?”
“No. But in that game the way you got past this door on the space station was by turning into a coffee cup and bouncing under the door.”
“You want to turn into a cup?”
“No, but I was wondering if there might be a shape-shifting skill tree or something. I don’t know, I’m just brainstorming here.”
“Why don’t you try knocking on the door?” Smith asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure that someone is just sitting on the other side waiting for us to come and visit.”
“It can’t hurt.” Smith got up and knocked on the door.
A little window opened, and a voice spoke. “Who knocks?
“See?” Smith said.
“What is your mission, Master See?” the voice asked.
“I’m Private Smith of the Third Platoon. I’m on a mission to get to the Three Queens to find the path to the Castle Pierstone.”
“Enter then, Master Private Smith of the Third Platoon. The spiders have been lonely for many moons.” The voice cackled, the door opened, and they were greeted by an old witch with a crooked wooden staff and a broken, dirty-toothed grin.
“Thank you,” Smith said.
The witch turned to dust, which slowly settled on the ground.
“That was freaky,” Dale said.
“Yeah. Come on, let’s go kill some spiders.”
They walked into the hallway and the wooden door behind them slammed shut.
“Crap.” Dale shuddered and coughed. He was nervous, but he also knew that this was always a one-way journey. They’d either defeat the queen spider or die trying. There was no other way.
The chamber had its own light source. A series of small skylights filtered natural light into the cavern. Although he couldn’t see the sky through them, Dale felt a little less claustrophobic.
The spiders—mostly level three and four, with a few fives and sixes tossed in—began attacking the moment they set foot in the room. Spider we
bs hung everywhere, forcing the duo to continually brush them out of their faces while smashing the mob.
Dale brought out Gingo. Sure enough, his loyal dog happily and skillfully killed spiders. Enjoying the game, she bit them, shook her head, and tossed. Dead spiders piled up. Dale decided to experiment. He tossed out his adder shield. The snake uncoiled and began biting spiders. Between the two pets, Smith’s war hammer, and Dale’s two swords, the dead spiders continued to form into mounds of creepy death.
The small spiders didn’t drop any loot, although the level six spiders occasionally dropped a small gemstone. Each dead spider gave Dale three or four hundred Experience Points, which eventually added up.
+300XP
+400XP
+300XP
The arachnid killing seemed endless, but eventually he received a notification of leveling up.
Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 9!
Dale’s arms tired. “I’m getting worn out,” he said.
“I think that’s the queen’s plan,” Smith said. “She’s going to wait until we can’t stand anymore, and then she’ll attack.”
“Watch my back for a minute.” Dale moved away from the center of the room and began warming up a Fire Magic Spell.
Fire Magic Skill Increased: Student Level Achieved.
Congratulations! You have unlocked the Logi Fire Magic Tree.
As you gain higher fire magic skills you’ll become the target of more dangerous creatures…nothing in life is free.
Hint: It’s a good idea to balance spells with enchantments, because ‘ya never know what you’re gonna get.
Dale watched his mana bar drop drastically as his hands heated up like they were on fire. When the spell was active, he called his pets back, stored them, and yelled at Smith. “Move out of the way!”
Once the path cleared, Dale launched Fireballs.
Bright yellow, orange, and red explosions glowed in a mass of flame and light.
When the spider mob burned into piles of ash, the Queen jumped from the darkness and attacked.
His dark mana depleted, Dale brought out his longsword and the adder shield, but left Gingo safely stored. He joined Smith in assaulting the Queen.
It was precarious to tank without support, but they had little choice. It was impossible to range without a tank occupying the boss, and Dale didn’t have enough light mana to effectively support Smith. It was do-or-die for the both of them.
The Queen struck at Dale. He blocked her fangs with his shield, and sliced her with his sword.
Smith slammed his war hammer at the spider next, dealing a substantial amount of damage. She hissed at him, and attacked.
Dale, at her rear, flung his shield. The adder bit the Queen, and she spun back towards Dale.
Smith rewarded her change of direction with another powerful smash from his war hammer.
She spun again. Dale leaped and stabbed her with both his sword and his rapier, which he’d freed after tossing his shield.
The shield adder continued to strike the boss.
Smith moved swiftly around the Queen, his war hammer flying in quick strikes, causing a fair amount of damage when the both connected.
She leaped towards Dale, struck him in the arm with her fangs, and hit his armor. The blow caused damage in spite of the toughness of the dragonling armor gauntlet.
“You’d better bring out your other battle pet,” Smith yelled.
Dale knew he was right. He released Gingo and she attacked the spider. Dale took a moment to drink a potion that brought his health back up to sixty percent, but he was wearing out. He had no more potions, he was low on mana, his stamina was flagging, and he knew they needed to think of something clever or they’d drain all their resources while trying to stay alive.
“Do you have any more iron weapons you can try?” Dale asked.
“Sure, but I’m in love with my war hammer,” Smith said.
Dale remembered he had four iron-tipped arrows from the dragonling drop.
He nocked an arrow, aimed, and fired. The shaft flew on target, penetrated the Queen, and she spun around in a crazy circle. She fired silken thread everywhere. Gingo became caught up in the webbing, and the Queen struck her.
“NO!” Dale screamed. He was about to lose something special to him, and there wasn’t any respawning for an NPC battle pet.
He nocked another iron-tipped arrow, but before he fired it Smith moved in and hammered the Queen squarely on the head, and shoved Gingo out of the way.
Dale inspected her. She wasn’t moving, but she wasn’t dead either.
He was furious with himself.
Going through his entire inventory as fast as he could, he noticed a small potion, labeled Earth-Magic-Herb-Infused-Mana-Helper. He drank it.
A boost in his mana allowed him to channel a small amount of Fire Magic into an iron-tipped arrow and he let it loose.
The imbued arrow screamed through the room with a trail of fire behind it and struck the Queen.
She exploded in a bloody, goopy mess.
Dale ran to Gingo.
He pulled out a hunting knife, cut away the webbing, and asked Smith if he had anything left—any potion, or any healing powers—to attempt to bring back her health.
“I don’t know if this will work, but I have—”
“Don’t tell me about it, just give it to me!”
“That’s what she said,” Smith said, handing him the potion.
“Not a good time for joking—”
“I’m sorry, Dale, I just thought—”
“It’s my fault,” Dale said. “I shouldn’t have brought her out to fight a boss.”
“I know you like your pet, but don’t forget that—”
“Don’t say it,” Dale said. He poured the potion into Gingo’s mouth. “She’s as real to me as any pet I’ve ever owned. We’re going to have an Old Yeller moment here if this doesn’t work.”
“What’s Old Yeller?”
“It’s like, an old movie—a real old movie—Disney I think.”
“Disney? Wasn’t that the company that screwed up Star Wars?”
“Yeah, they were bought out years ago by George R.R. Martin.”
“You mean George Lucas?”
“No, Lucas sold to Disney, and then Martin Productions bought them out in an attempt to fix—”
“Look!”
Gingo jumped.
She licked him all over his face and he felt his warm tears being licked away.
Dale laughed. “I’m sorry, girl. I’ll never do that again.”
She bounced around, spun, barked, and jumped on Smith and licked him, too.
Smith laughed. He changed out of his ape-form back into himself, petted the golden retriever, brought out some meat, and fed her a snack. “Good dog,” he said. “Good girl.”
Dale changed into his personal avatar, wiped his eyes, and hoped Smith hadn’t seen him.
Ërin: That’s some powerful self-actualization there, champ.
Dale: Are you mocking me?
No, honey, of course not. I want the best for you, I promise.
Okay, I guess I’m a bit overly sensitive right now.
I can tell, sweetie. One of my protocols is to monitor your emotional state.
Huh?
Sure, I have constant access to the DSM-12, and one of the—
What?
Never mind, love. I’m just here to help you and monitor your reactions, feelings, and mental states.
I’m confused again.
The program you’re in, the UEDA and Rhith trainings, the war, everything, it’s not just for fun and games. Dale, you’re part of a research project.
Huh?
It’s complicated. I’m now allowed to share this with you because nobody has beaten that spider yet. We’re breaking new ground here.
You’re saying I’m being watched?
Of course, honey, you’re kind of special. Well, you’re really super-duper special to me, adorable thing that you are
, but the mucky-mucks in Rhith and the UEDA have taken notice of your performance.
Hell.
I know, more pressure.
So, why tell me then?
Because someone, somewhere—wanted to know if it would change your strategy, decisions, emotions, and your desire to succeed.
So, you’re telling me that they now want me to know how they’ve been fucking with me in order to see if I’ll still fight to my full potential in their fucked-up experiment after I found out I was just a goddamn lab rat to them?
Yup.
That’s another level of completed fucked-up-ness.
I wouldn’t know, Dale, sorry.
“Hell,” Dale said, petting Gingo and wondering about her nature.
As a complex NPC, the artificial intelligence that made Gingo was more evolved, and computed with more signals, than synapses in a dog’s brain.
Gingo, as loyal and kind as she appeared to be, was only a construct…right?
Not a real dog…or was she?
What was the difference?
Dale knew people back at home who kept pets locked in small enclosures all day and only brought them out to play for a few minutes each day. That seemed cruel and inhumane. At least when he put Gingo into his inventory she was non-aware—asleep—non-computing.
But it raised the question in his mind—what was real about her?
He decided he didn’t want to know. Dale sat on the floor, Gingo kissed him and kissed him, and he cried—not giving the slightest fuck if Smith saw his tears.
When he regained his composure, he viewed his updates.
+5000XP
Killed: Queen Spider in her Lair
Dropped: Earth Magic Book
Dropped: Fire Magic Book
Dropped: 2 Carat Ruby, Exquisite Quality
Dropped: Black Widow Battle Pet
Dropped: 4 potions of healing Earth Magic
Arachnid Fighting Skill Increased: Student Level Achieved.
As you grow in the skills of fighting spiders and other danger arachnids, you’ll unlock the ability to capture them and milk their venom which can be used to create poison puncturing weapons.
Hint: Spiders with healing bites exist, but they are hard to find.
Dale put his spendable stat points into Vigor and Thaumaturgy.
He banked his Perk Points, and checked his status.
“Hey, Dale?” Smith said.
“Yeah?”
