Anastaria had laid out so many arguments why we shouldn't tell the others about the Patriarch, that in the end I agreed with her. I may have Hatred with him, but she, when she goes back to Phoenix, will have a chance of finding him and getting some quests out of him. When I voiced these suspicions, Anastaria smiled and proposed an agreement whereby Seathistles would get ten percent of any loot that Phoenix could manage to get out of the Patriarch from the moment this promise is made. This agreement was made on Ehkiller’s behalf. Of all things, I've never heard of such a method of signing agreements on behalf of another clan, so after swapping a couple of phrases with Clutzer and raising our profit to 15%, I agreed. The text of the agreement appeared before my eyes, sporting Ehkiller's signature just a minute later. He signed under the girl's words – and that was that. The door to the Patriarch was now closed to me anyhow. ...
"I summoned my Totem during my meeting with the Vamps: him." With these words I summoned Draco. I had debated this point quite furiously with Anastaria: she was very insistent that I should show off my Dragon, switching all the attention from the Vampire boss to him. I kept refusing, arguing that he was still too small: if people were to see him now they'd start hunting and killing him, bringing his level down by 10 levels per death. All in all my arguments were quite childish, while Anastaria contended that I’d have to hurry up with leveling my Dragon, and that this would be pretty difficult if I kept hiding him from everyone. And I also had to give some kind of explanation for the increase in my rank: yesterday everyone had left an Elemental Shaman behind, but they were suddenly seeing a Great one. Ranks don't go up just like that; you have to do something extraordinary for that to happen. In the end I’d agreed to show Draco, so now I was watching the reactions of the players very closely. There had been all kinds of creatures in Barliona in the fifteen years of the Game, but no-one had come across a Dragon before. Before the events in Beatwick no-one had even believed they existed, and suddenly here's a Shaman with a pet Dragon! "With the help of the Dragon I’ve fulfilled certain class-based conditions and become a Great Shaman, but I also learnt of a certain Dragon trait: Hatred with Vampires. I discovered this last night, when the local partisan boss almost sent me for respawn, so I'm not a suitable contact for this group. If we should run across any more unchanged ones, I propose that we send Anastaria and Donotpunnik, my deputies, to communicate with them. What I just described is exactly what happened during the night. Let the Emperor be my judge if I lied!" I waved away the message informing me that I was summoning the main Imitator in Malabar as a witness too often and that from my next summons I would start receiving terrible penalties, and looked at the players. As Stacey had pointed out, I wasn't facing a bunch of gamer kids, who had just seen a Dragon for the first time, but the top managers of the largest Game corporations: they would not take even their own word at face value unless it has been verified in writing and certified by a notary. After I’d honestly retold last night's events it would be impossible not to believe me. You couldn't deceive the Emperor. He doesn't check just the formal side of things, when something unsaid is equated with the truth, oh no. If you wanted your words to be verified, you had to tell enough of the truth to pass the test. Any play on words counts as a lie for him ... .
In a few hours' time, having gathered into one big group, we ventured out from the Guardian's glade. According to our scouts, there was no-one for a radius of a couple of kilometers around, so the raid wasn't in danger of running across another Ash. The option of using flying pets to travel was ruled out after one of the players mounted his griffin and flew up. As soon as he rose ten meters above the ground, he immediately disappeared. According to the map – upon which the player was indicated by a small dot – and the swearing in the raid chat, he was thrown right back to the entrance to the Dark Forest, where we’d been initially teleported by the High Priestess. The player tried to fly back to us from there but as he got close to us he disappeared again upon landing. He was back at the start of the Dark Forest and once again there was much swearing. It became clear that only travel on foot was possible in this location. According to the unlucky player, he needed two hours to get to where we were. So we would have to wait ...
"Elementals, two hundred meters, 300+, eight heads, two full sets: twenty meters apart. Mage support, twenty, 350+: zero meters apart." Plinto's economical report appeared before my eyes in the raid chat. As soon as our raid group was back together, we moved towards the center of the forest. All possible paths vanished within an hour of walking, so after sending the scouts ahead, we started to beat our way through the trees, leaving a narrow path behind us. The mages, to give them their due, managed to burn a hundred meters of the forest in less than five minutes by using their Mana prudently, allowing the raid to keep moving. No-one was keen on trying to fight through the thicket. In the end, after three hours of this kind of movement, we'd put quite a distance between the Guardian’s glade and us as we searched for Midial's troops. Now finally Plinto had run across them. I couldn't help feeling pleased that I’d managed to understand at first glance what that potentially incomprehensible text actually meant. A sure sign that I was getting the hang of it.
"The Rogues take the mages, keep half stunned and interrupt the casts of the rest," Anastaria said as soon as we called a council. "Elementals are more difficult. One tank won't be able to handle a full set; he'll get mowed down. But the distance between the mobs will allow us to pull them one by one, so it shouldn't be too bad. Then we ..."
"Elementals and mages fifty meters. ETA to raid – 30 seconds. You've been spotted." Plinto's next message interrupted Anastaria's lecture. The girl spent a couple of seconds looking at Donotpunnik, somewhat lost, but then the spark appeared once more in her eyes and my Deputy began to muster the raid:
"Phoenix, drive Alpha, Hell you're on the fire ones! Undigit, the water ones are yours, Etamzilat, get the air ones. 'Killer, try to stop the earth ones. We hit single-target only! If I see anyone using AoE spells, I'll rip them a new one! All Rogues, to the mages! Stun them! Small fries – three hundred meters back into the forest, now! All the Priests twenty paces back and get anyone who’s down back up! Here we go guys, this is gonna get messy!"
"Visitors – 20 meters. Hitting you in 10 seconds. Moving very fast, I can't manage to ..."
With a wild crash the trees twenty meters from us fell down and for the first time in my gaming life I saw a Fire Elemental. Before, in pictures, holograms and video this mob didn't look all that big or scary, but now ... it was a nearly two-meter tall pillar of fire, moving in the air about a meter off the ground and burning off even the mist from underneath it. The players were engulfed in a wave of warm air. After bursting into our clearing the Elemental halted for a second, looked around and, with a strange screech, headed toward us. Behind what was presumably its back pillars of water, earth and air started to appear, figures of human mages flashing between them. The 'guests' had arrived.
"I'm taking the flaming ones!" shouted Hellfire, throwing an axe at the impressive spectacle and pulling another with his tanking ability.
"I'm on Hell and Undigit," shouted Anastaria, starting to pour healings into the Tank, whose Health started to slide. "Plinto, the mages! 'Killer, slow the earth! Don – help with the mages! Mahan! Why are you still here? Get back, now!"
"Minus two! Five are in stun! Crowd-control on the rest! ..."
"Elenium, get Brast up! Some Priest, damn you! Move it!"
"Mahan, get out of the way! Beat it already! Hell, I'm running out of Mana! Hunker down, I'll recharge! Everyone hit the mages – Elementals have immunity slapped on them!"
Unlike in Beatwick, right now the raid was functioning like a single organism. Six of the Elementals were being held off by the tanks, and the two remaining were constantly crowd-controlled by the mages. The healers were pouring healings into the Tanks, without sparing any Mana, and the main body of the players were focused on the group of level 350+ mages. Not wanting to be the odd one out, I star
ted to summon Spirits, but all of them had pretty much zero effect. The difference between a 68-level Shaman and such a high-level mob was just too big. All that I could do was summon strengthenings into the tanks and restorations into the healers.
"Minus Undigit! Hell, take the mobs! Priests – resurrect on cool down! Plinto! Switch to the Elementals; try stunning them! Get those mages down already!"
"Mahan," Antsinthepantsa appeared next to me, downing some restorative potion. "It's not the mages who are keeping the shields up around the Elementals!"
"What?"
"The mages aren't the ones keeping up the shields on the Elementals! Someone else is doing that!"
"Plinto, did you hear that?" I didn't doubt the High Shaman's words for a second. When you have twelve players already sent for respawn, while the enemy’s lost only ten mages, doubts can go hang. "Find him!"
"On it!" After putting a 20-second stun on another Elemental, the Rogue stealthed and rushed into the forest at top speed.
"Damn, we're doing something wrong," whispered Antsinthepantsa, wincing at the unpleasant squelching sound as one of the Elementals tore away from Hellfire, flew over to a group of our mages and smashed into them. Four players lost. "Elementals are counterparts of the Spirits, so why are they on the side of the Fallen?"
"The Lieutenant, 300 meters. Dark Priest 400+. I’m gone.” Plinto's frame went down to zero in less than two seconds and became gray. The Rogue had gone for a 6-hour rest. There were only two Priests in the raid and they could only resurrect one player every five minutes, so given that almost half the raid was already lying dead, Plinto's turn wasn't going to come around any time soon.
"Natalie, what do you know about Elementals? You're supposed to be a Shaman, no? Out with it! Quit dragging your feet, we're running out of time!"
"'Killer, chuck the Elementals, we can't do anything to them. Destroy as many mages as you can!" came the order from Anastaria.
"Nothing special." Antsinthepantsa finally snapped out of it. At this point all four Elementals had surrounded Etamzilat and only twenty-three fighters remained alive. "Elementals are warriors of the elements, while Spirits are the souls of the elements. They're like brothers. At level 100 you will gain the ability to summon an Elemental for a few minutes, depending on your rank. Similar to a Totem, but temporary."
"How do you communicate with them?" A crazy idea popped into my head. If you could talk to Elementals, what if it were possible to strike a deal with these ones?
"Through the Astral Plane," said Antsinthepantsa slowly and suddenly her eyes lit up. "That it! We can subdue them – just give me a minute!" With these words the girl sat in lotus pose and – what surprised me the most – began to rise above the ground. Not very far, but ... looks like Shamans are quite the high flyers, with a special relationship to gravity and all that ... . Strange that when I ended up in the Astral Plane, there was a message from Ehkiller that I’d disappeared. But now this girl simply rose up ... is that because each Shaman has a different way of entering the Astral Plane or did I disappear in the Guardian's Glade because I ended up there by mistake?
"Stacey, bubble over Antsinthepantsa!" I thought it right that the lady Shaman be protected from being interrupted by any mob that might suddenly break loose.
"I can't! I threw it on Hell recently, it's still in cool down! What did you guys think up?" Only after Anastaria's reply did I realize that the bubble lasts merely a few seconds and wouldn't be much help. She may as well throw it on Hellfire in this case. I was being a bit slow on the uptake. ...
"There's a chance of gaining control over the Elementals. Antsinthepantsa is checking it out."
"All right, try using the scrolls that I sent you ..."
"Mahan!" Antsinthepantsa's baffled shout interrupted Anastaria's. "Come with me, I will be your guide, Great One. There will be a ton of penalties, but you have to see this!"
"What do I do?"
"Sit next to me, give me your hand and close your eyes. Open them when I tell you. Nothing else. Let's go!"
"I'll cover you." Slate flew up to me from the heat of battle. Wow! How the heck did I forget about you? If we fail, I can forget about my Attractiveness with the Princess for sure. "No enemy shall get through! Over my dead body!"
Sitting next to the girl and hoping that the only remaining tank, Hellfire, would be able to hold out long enough, I touched the girl's hand and closed my eyes. The noise of the battle and shouts of the players died away, as if a dome had been placed over me, and I heard Antsinthepantsa's voice: "You can open them now, we're here."
There was the familiar gray mist of the Astral Plane, into which I was pulled from the Guardian's glade, and I saw eight Elementals hanging in the air. In contrast to 'reality', in the Astral Plane the Elementals had eyes, which were now looking at us, with pleading gazes ...
The brothers of our Spirits were surrounded by strange entities circling around them, which looked very similar to dark phantoms from old horror movies. Or to those that flew out of the hands of Midial and Geranika. Several phantoms, probably the controllers, floated around the heads of the Elementals, while others circled each body, moving them in different directions. Several more phantoms maintained domes that surrounded each Elemental. So that's where the active defense of those mobs had come from.
"We cannot help you," the thundering voices of the High Spirits of both worlds sounded behind us. "We can only destroy them together with our brothers, so you're on your own. All we can do is to cut the penalty for remaining in our world by half. Act quickly – time is running out!"
"My spirits can't do any harm to these phantoms!" Antsinthepantsa’s words stunned me. "I thought that perhaps you'd think of something, so I brought you here. If we manage to get rid of this Darkness, the Elementals will be set free and we will be able to stop them."
"Mahan, hurry!!! There’s only fifteen of us left!"
I selected one phantom so I could examine its properties and understand what we were dealing with, but found them blocked. It turned out that you weren't allowed to look at the properties of these shady pieces of scum. Then it was like someone flicked a switch in my head: Beatwick and the Sklic ... there was only one instance when a mob's properties wouldn't show – when you were meant to discover what you were up against ... A quest for a Shaman!
"Mahan! Time! Do something!" Now Antsinthepantsa was telling me to hurry. Strange, why does this girl think that I can do something with these beasts? It's not like the Spirits can even touch them ... .
"Draco, I urgently need your help!"
"Coming!"
To make sure of the lady Shaman's words I selected one phantom and tried summoning a Spirit on it. It was only a level one, there was no way I could miss, but ... incomprehensibly the Spirit ricocheted and hit me instead.
"What is that, brother?" my Totem appeared next to me, staring in surprise at the phantoms circling around the Elemental. "They seem familiar, but I just can't remember. What do I do?"
"Try burning them."
"I can't," said Draco, not even trying to attack. "I can't target this ... what is the correct name for them? It's at the tip of my tongue, but I just can't find the right word ... . If I simply unleash my flame at them, I'll burn the warrior too. They are good, so I can't ... if only these shadowy things were real ... . But I don't know how to embody them ..."
Embody! Draco is a genius!
"Antsinthepantsa, time to activate Change of Essence! We have to change the phantoms! We'll be able to destroy them after that!"
"I'm on it!" the lady Shaman replied without even asking why I suddenly came to this decision. "We'll start with the closest fire one. I'm on the left. Bussy! Destroy them when you're able." In addition the girl summoned her Panther and started to change the essence of the phantoms.
"I thank you, brothers!" thundered the Elemental a few seconds later, engulfing us in a wave of hot air. Draco and Bussy acted quickly and made a good team. Changing the essence of a phantom turned out to b
e quite easy – all you had to do was imagine it becoming very solid and then one of our Totems would proceed to wipe it out. "If it wasn't for you we would still have to ..."
"Stop destroying the free citizens and help us with the Fallen mages," I shouted, interrupting the flaming pillar's 'thank you' speech. "Stacey, one of the flaming ones is on our side. Don't hit him! We're working on the rest!"
"I accept your conditions, elder brother, and my brothers will follow me once you free them," some sort of a greenish aura formed around the Elemental in the Astral Plane and he froze. Let's hope he switched to destroying the mages instead of my raid.
"Natalie, it's working! Let's keep at it! A water one is next!"
+100 to Reputation with the Supreme Spirits of the Higher and Lower Worlds.
Current level: Neutral. You are 890 points away from the status of Friendly.
As soon as we finished with the last Elemental, both Antsinthepantsa and I were kicked out of the Astral Plane – seems we overstayed our welcome. I glanced forlornly at the list of the week-long debuffs: -1 rank of the summoned Spirit, the Totem summoning time had been reduced to 1 hour a day and the strength of the summoned Spirits had been reduced by 20%. And this was barely even half the penalties. In this case, the Supreme ones have really gone into overdrive – increasing my Reputation with them looks to be virtually impossible.
"That's it, we're done." Anastaria sunk to the ground in relief when the last mage was destroyed and the Elementals had frozen like statues. Only the crackling of the fire, the noise of wind and water and the rumbling of the rocking earth indicated that the eight mobs were still alive and ready to spring into action. "Barsa, here, take these resurrection scrolls – get Ehkiller, Etamzilat and Donotpunnik up. I have no Mana and I will only be able to use a potion in three minutes. Guys, up we get, the Lieutenant is three hundred meters away! Mahan, will the Elementals help us?"
The Secret of the Dark Forest ( (The Way of the Shaman: Book #3) Page 29
