It took me just over four seconds to call up the Spirit Summoning Mode. The Tambourine and the Emperor's Boots did their job. I summoned a Healing Spirit and cursed myself for failing to put things in order earlier. I got a third Spirit rank, which meant that now I could include three spirits in one summoning, but I hadn't selected that in the settings yet. It’s not like I had much time for that. ... All this went through my head in a flash while I was restoring my Hit Points. It was strange that no new attacks came as I was healing myself; it was as if Lloyd intended to allow me to heal myself. Had he decided to play around with me for a bit?
"Peed your pants, eh, you little shit?" Lloyd's pleased voice came from nowhere. "There's no obstacle course here to hide behind! You'll pay for that six grand you cost me!"
"Guards!" I shouted frantically. "An attack in the city!"
"The PK-restrictions have been turned off for you, you idiot," Lloyd's voice came from somewhere to the right, so I rolled to the left and caught another Critical Kick from a foot belonging to Mlish the Magnificent, level 154. He was another player who had refused to pay the money he lost on the bet. "You stupid turd. You went and pissed off the entire Dark Legion!"
The Rogues remained stealthed, so I couldn't select them and start to bite back with Water Spirits. As I flew through the air I saw that, like Lloyd, Mlish appeared for 5 seconds after the hit and then vanished once again. This meant that both he and Lloyd only had 2–3 stealth-dives left. After that, for the next 5 hours, I could do with them what I liked. The main thing was that I hoped they would keep to kicking and not switch to sticking pointy things into me. Any hit with a weapon or even a shuriken throwing star would land me at the respawn point. So then ... Mlish is to the left and Lloyd is to the right, but there's no-one in front of me and the way into the temple is clear. I hope Beth will save me ...
A direct hit to my chest completely winded me and sent me flying about twenty meters. The system happily informed me that a third bounty-hunting enthusiast had joined the fight. Another Rogue – one of those that tried to go back on our bet. I hit the corner of a house with my back and my vision began to swim: birds started to fly around my head and, alongside the message that I now had a 20-second Stun debuff on me and a critically low number of Hit Points (145), I was beginning to hallucinate:
Player Plinto has invited you to join a group. Do you accept?
I knew that fighting hallucinations was useless, so I pressed the 'Yes' button. This can't get any worse, so why not take the chance?
As soon as the Stun expired, I got back on my feet again, healed myself and looked around. So we had three Rogues (I really hoped there weren't more) who had decided to play cat-and-mouse with me and slowly trample me into the ground. They could've sent me for respawn several times over as I was lying there, but they opted not to, preferring to remain invisible. As did Plinto. His see-through outline, visible only to members of the group I had just joined, was a couple of meters away from me. Plinto was intently examining his surroundings and when I looked at him, put his finger to his lips, indicating that I should keep quiet. All right then; keeping quiet was just fine by me. But what was he up to?
A little more time went by before the former leader of the Dark Legion Clan seemed to come to a decision of some sort. He pointed towards a small alley about twenty meters from me, and did all he could to indicate that I should go there. The guards that had run over at the sound of the fight were standing about forty meters from me and were very busy doing nothing while looking various passersby over. All the local NPCs quickly dispersed, shops shut their doors and a crowd of onlookers began to gather along the edges of the street where the fight had taken place. These were mainly players below level 100, but from the shouts that reached me they were having a heated discussion about how many level 50s one might need to bring me down and get the Dark Legion's reward. How kind and considerate of them.
I tried to stop myself thinking as I followed Plinto's instructions and dashed towards the alley. As I was running past a house, another kick from Lloyd caught me below the belt and provided me with the acceleration required to get to my destination even faster. I ended up tumbling the last stretch like a football that had been kicked, but one that came with an added speed bonus. I ran around a corner, leaving my pursuers behind, purposefully summoned a Strengthening Spirit to give me added acceleration and ran forwards as fast as my legs could carry me. It was just as well that I had no time to change my ring bonuses from Agility back to Intellect. The extra speed would be pretty handy right now.
I only managed to take about a dozen steps before I came to a halt. A dead end! Plinto had sent me to a dead end!
"Looks like your luck's run out!" Lloyd appeared from behind the bend. He was still in stealth mode, but I could see him well enough: a mark was hanging above him that allowed both of us to see him. The other two were still completely invisible – looks like Plinto turned up after they had started their leisurely attempt to assassinate me and he hadn't managed to mark them out too. In all truth I gained little from seeing where Lloyd was. Our level difference was just too big for me to do much damage to him with my Spirits. "I want you to see how we are going to cut you to pieces." Lloyd de-stealthed and just a couple of seconds later two more players appeared next to him. "I'm done playing around. We'll meet in 12 hours at the respawn point!"
As he was saying this, I saw how Plinto put marks on Lloyd’s two buddies to keep them in his sights, pointed at Lloyd to me, then pointed at himself and at the other two players. Was he really suggesting I take on a 172-level player? And why the heck not? It's just a 105-level gap. That's nothing; I'll crush them all with my bare hands!
"Whoever hits him from twenty meters away gets a super-prize! I'll go first!" Lloyd shouted and then events went into overdrive ...
As soon as the first throwing stars flew towards me, Plinto entered the fight. His attack was quiet, fast and left Mlish zero chance of escape. I managed to duck, letting a shuriken fly past me and, at the same time, summoned a Spirit of Water Strike on Lloyd. I then surrounded myself with a Water Shield. Perhaps not by much, but it should have reduced any damage that would come my way. The second star cut through the shield as if it didn't exist and seemed to veer off course, but the system happily informed me that my Hit Points went down to 300.
"The super-prize is mine!" Lloyd managed to shout just before a sun seemed to flash under his feet, leaving the 'Blindness' debuff on all the attackers in its wake. Without stopping, Plinto took care of the second Rogue, leaving only Lloyd still standing.
"He's all yours." I finally heard his voice and a moment later Plinto left the group and stealthed.
"Why did you do this?" I shouted my question into empty air, but there was no reply. Plinto had vanished. And who's going to enlighten me on what just happened here? The 'Blindness' on Lloyd lasted the standard 5 minutes, so I decided not to give him a second chance and began summoning Spirit after Spirit onto him.
Achievement earned!
Elephant and Pug level 1 (until the next level: 9 kills of any creatures or players 50+ levels higher than you)
Achievement reward: Damage to all creatures and players 50+ levels higher is increased by 10%.
List of achievements to be found in character settings.
Even my Intellect went up by one point, giving a total of 106 – the difference in our levels was that big. As soon as Lloyd’s juice had ‘run out’, Sushiho flew to my side, screaming “die you bastard!” In the blink of an eye, he threw a green bubble of some kind around me, which reduced damage by 20%, judging by the description. Perfect timing.
"Hang in there Mahan!" A dozen seconds later Dukki appeared, getting his daggers out as he ran and stealthing.
The crowd of onlookers staring from behind the corner vanished as soon as they saw what happened to the three attackers. Plinto might still be somewhere nearby and he was considered a dangerous loose cannon, although I was becoming less and less sure of that myself.
&n
bsp; "Legion numbskulls," cursed Elenium, when the rest of the clan arrived on their horses to hear what had happened. "Where is this Barsina? Anhurs has so many people from the Legion running around it you'd think it was a queue for Anastaria's erotic show tickets. Maybe even enough for three queues.”
"An interesting metaphor. Are you Shaman Mahan?" asked a beautiful female voice, slightly lisping her 'sh's. I turned around and saw a petite girl. A human. She was a head lower than me in height. Small – even miniature –, she could have been confused with a child from afar. The name Barsina hung above her head and she had an empty space where a clan membership emblem might've been. I glanced over her gear and noted that she looked pretty well-equipped. Rare or perhaps even Epic items together with a meter-and-a-half-tall tiger made it clear that the girl wasn't experiencing any financial difficulties. An involuntary smile crossed my face as Barsina walked under her tiger's head barely having to bend her own.
"Hello Barsina. Guys, let me introduce you to our potential partner on this quest."
"It's Barsa for short, if you like. Hang on, you're not the Mahan about whom there was an announcement from the Emperor a couple of days ago and on whose account all the gaming forums are buzzing after the events in Beatwick, or whatever that place is called? And how did you manage to upset the Dark Legion so much that they're now offering five grand for your head? Will this affect the completion of the quest? I'm sorry for all the questions, but I prefer to settle any matters as they arise, before signing any agreement. I can't stand flakers."
"That's all right," I replied happily and briefly answered all of Barsina's questions. Had we actually managed to get hold of a competent player? That would be some stroke of luck!
"All right, I agree. Do you guys mind if I join you?" The girl looked over the other players. "But let's make some things clear from the start: I don't want any amorous attention or flirting. This is my main condition. I'll have to disappoint you straight away and say that I'm a married woman and don't want any problems with my husband. Deal?"
The entire male population of the group nodded, so Barsina continued:
"Then I have no more questions – let's sign the agreement. I have my own template that I usually use with all the groups that I join; here's the text. It's a little different from a standard group agreement: I added points about open flirting and show of emotions. They may seem like insignificant details, but these things can really do your head in when on a mission."
I carefully read the agreement and, not spotting anything unreasonable, I signed it and Barsina joined our group.
Requirements for the quest 'Restoration of the Holy Relic, Step 2 ,Searching for the Stone of Light' have been met. See the High Priestess of Eluna to be transported to the Free Lands.
"Wow, that's not exactly next door," sighed the girl as she read the description. A dot appeared on the map marking the location where we were heading, but that area was hidden to me, so I could only make a guess at the distance: it looked like around five trips between Farstead and Beatwick. That is, 10 days by cart, 15–20 days on foot or 6–10 days on a decent mount.
"Right you are. We have a long trip ahead of us. All right, guys, everyone ready? Barsina, we have one constraint – three of us can only be in the game from six in the evening until one in the morning, system-time. We have to set out right away so we can to cover as much ground as possible today. Do you need time to get ready?"
"No, I've been looking for a group to do some quests with for a couple of days now, so I've been ready for a while. Last question – where will we sleep? On the ground?"
"I have the Frontier Ranger Tent that sleeps up to 10, and will be very comfortable for 6, so that part is covered."
"In that case I'm ready. Let’s go!”
* * *
"You did the right thing by listening to my advice and taking your friends with you," said the High Priestess happily as soon as we stepped inside the temple. Surrounded by her handmaidens, Beth looked very majestic, having completely regained her previous role. "I see that you've taken a Priest of Eluna with you. A very good choice. Have a look through the items that you left for me to bless earlier and wait here; I need to have a private word with your Priest. Come." My jaw almost dropped as Beth took Elenium aside. We were prevented from following them as a crowd of junior Priestesses surrounded us. They quickly brought a small table and arranged all the rings and ore that I had made and gathered in Beatwick on it.
"May I?" asked Barsina, as she turned one of the rings over in her hand.
"Yes, have a look." I looked over the ring that now granted an extra 5% to Experience, and uncovered its properties. There was nothing secret about the ring, so I wasn't worried that its properties would surprise Barsina too much.
"Nice band," concluded the girl, putting the ring back on the table. "Made by you, judging by the properties. Are you a Jeweler?"
"Yes."
"How far have you leveled up in Jewelcraft? I need to upgrade my rings and I'm prepared to buy if you can make any with +20 to Intellect."
"I'm sorry, but I'm restricted in this respect for now: maximum stat bonus is only +12. So, for the moment I can't help you."
"All right, how much would you sell one of these for? It's always good to have an Experience bonus."
"Barsina, I don't know. I honestly have no idea how much such a ring should cost. If I say 100000 it could be too little and you'll consider me a total sucker, or it could be too much and you'll think I’m a greedy idiot. It cost me nothing to make, so there's no point talking about a markup."
"Would a thousand gold suffice?" asked the girl.
"Quite." I handed the ring to her and got a message that I just received 700 gold. 30% of the sum went towards the Empire, as usual.
"Do you have many rings like this?"
"I don't know yet – you yourself saw them being returned to me just a moment ago."
"Can I dig around? What if I find more things I could use in that pile?"
"Be my guest." I uncovered the properties of the rings. I could probably sell them for a better price at the Auction House, but good relations in the next couple of weeks were worth infinitely more. So I had no trouble sacrificing part of the profit. Barsina started going through my rings, looking at each of them in turn. Meanwhile I tried to figure out where Beth took Elenium. I would have to ask Sergei later why she called him aside.
"Also these two." Barsina highlighted two rings: for +10% to Intellect and +5% to Experience. I had no trouble letting go of the one with the Experience bonus, but the Intellect one ... I had 106 Intellect points at the moment, which meant that the ring would give me an extra 10 points. At the same time, I could now make rings with +12 bonus. The latter was a much better option, especially at this level. But if I spent all of my 265 free stat points on increasing Intellect, this ring would already give +36 ... then compared to that my +12 wasn't much to look at.
"Judging by your face, the Intellect ring has caught your eye as well," said Barsina, putting the ring back. "Then I'd like to take one more for Experience, all right?"
"We're back," declared Beth, who turned up just as I received another 700 gold from Barsina. "Mahan, I told you the aim of the assignment; here's the scroll with the return portal. Activate it as soon as you find the Stone and you'll be brought back to Anhurs. And now we should go, it's time."
After shoving all the blessed items into my bag, handing over the ring Barsina initially wanted to Elenium and giving the bags I bought to the other players, I followed the High Priestess. I'll ask what she was chatting with Sergei about later, in the absence of potential eavesdroppers in the form of the Heralds, who couldn't go to the Free Lands. By the way, there's a question – who ensures the law is obeyed in the Free Lands? Are there equivalents of the Heralds there? I'll have look into this. Our steeds turned into small bridles as soon as we entered the Temple. This was a rare, if not unique, concession to the players by the developers: you could take your mount into a building, upon
which it turned into a bridle. And as soon as I left the building, I knew I would regain my stallion. Or mare. Whatever it was – it's not like I had had much time to look.
The neighboring room contained the shimmering transportation portal, kept open by three priestesses. Beth looked at us in a regal manner as the expedition was about to set out and I realized that there wouldn't be much point asking her anything at this moment. I nodded to her in farewell, gripped the bridle in my hands and dove into the portal.
* * *
"A nice little forest they have around here!" uttered Dukki as soon as he appeared next to us. I totally got him – the forest was really quite something. Great, mast-like trees hung over us like some giants of legend. The cold wind, which only the convicts could actually feel, put a Chilled debuff on everyone, reducing all stats by 1%; the ground in the forest was covered by some kind of phosphorescent mist, puffs of which constantly seethed and bubbled, seemingly having a life of their own. There was no sign of any verdant plant life such as grass – instead bare gray sticks, dark brambles and a mass of hostile-looking shrubbery made the forest quite impassable. You could say it was created in the image of the best traditions of the antique horror movies. A small path, which one would have struggled to call a road, lead into the depths of this developers' fantasy and it became clear that our trip wasn't going to exactly be a walk in the park. I was the first one through the portal and, as the others arrived after me, I walked to the edge of the forest to get a better sense of the place – I was immediately immersed in a different world. Just before the forest there was an invisible boundary; crossing it took you to another location: there, the wind became even colder, some distant screams from what I hoped were animals started to reach my ears and odd whispers periodically floated at the limits of hearing. And, judging by the map, our 8 mounted treks would take us into the very depths of all this; we would not know whom or what we might bump into.
The Secret of the Dark Forest ( (The Way of the Shaman: Book #3) Page 12
