"Who?"
"Spoilt brats. Players who had reached level 280+, but behave like little children. Phoenix tries not to accept such players, but sometimes it needs to. Like Rick, for instance. It's no secret that with the launch of Barliona very many 16-year-old misfits, rejected by society, headed for the Game to fill their gray world with new colors. They kept leveling up without stepping out of the Game for months at a time until, at last, they became 'Great'. They never really grew out of being teenagers or out of their insatiable desire to be total pwners. Damn, I hate that word."
"Why?"
"There is a certain 'pretty boy' with a similar name. Anyway, these 300-something-levelers tend to be a pretty unpleasant bunch. So between ourselves that's what we call them: 'spoilt brats'. By the way, have you ever wondered why in a game that has existed for over 15 years so few players are above level 300? And why that is only the case on our continent? There are over 10 times more high-level players in Astrum than in Malabar, while the Celestial Empire should soon welcome the first 400-level player. But not in Malabar. Here people are prepared to sacrifice their Reputation, money, anything, just to prevent someone else from gaining levels. If you're drowning, you have to pull the next guy in with you ... . There are several clans even set up especially for hunting down level 300s and sending them for respawn. They do it simply because they can."
"Hold on, isn't the Celestial Empire part of Malabar?"
"Why would it be? The division amongst the continents in Barliona differs from the real world. The number may be the same, but in Barliona Malabar is Europe and the Celestial Empire is the whole of Asia. Astrum is North America, Rathrand includes South America and Australia, and everything else is part of Caltuah."
"Strange, I never really thought about it ... but let's get back to the raid. So it looks like the Beatwick experience wasn't enough for the clan leaders. Have they developed a taste for repeated respawn or something? There we had a mere level-20 location, but half of the high-level players who answered the Emperor's call ended up taking a dirt nap without even having the chance to do anything. Why on earth did they decide that it would be any different here?"
"Because it was announced from the start there that was a continent-wide scenario, but this time it was a normal quest and a normal location. Nothing global was supposed to go down here. ..."
"I agree," Donotpunnik came up to us, "We fumbled when we put the group together. If Plinto is right about his level, there's little point in going after the General with a raid like this."
"Our best chance would be to get our Raiders and Fighters here," proposed Anastaria, "They don't even have to do the quest or be included in the group. Six thousand level-200s can be here in as little as two days' time ..."
"Stacey, did you forget that you were kicked out of Phoenix?" smiled Donotpunnik, "And by the way, while no-one can hear us, I can tell you I didn't buy your and Ehkiller's performance for a second. You've decided to put Rick and Hellfire back in their place, haven't you? And you can stop trying to drill a hole in me with those eyes! I haven't said anything about this even inside my clan; you're bound to have a number of Phoenix moles in there. Don't worry, you secret's safe with me. The Dragons can also bring seven or eight thousand level-200s. We would be able to mow down the General and Midial by force of numbers: our raid wouldn't even have to lift a finger – the Fighters will handle it all themselves."
"It's decided then," I agreed after a brief discussion where it was explained to me what a huge crowd like this would be doing around one lone boss, when no more than 15 players are able to stand right next to him, and even then they'd be getting in each other's way. "Let's get six thousand players from each clan, including the Heirs of the Titans – we should get Etamzilat in on it too. I'm just not that eager to go for respawn. Will a day be enough to gather everyone? In that case we can have a breather until then. I'll go make the announcement ..."
At first glance the idea seemed excellent, but its implementation ... not a single extra player was able to enter the Dark Forest and, on top of that, the quest description now sported an additional point saying that after the Lieutenant the conditions forbade adding anyone else to the group. I also felt rather uneasy about the absence of any new letters: the old ones didn't go anywhere, but new ones had stopped arriving. There was the possibility that Anastaria's admirers had finally come to their senses, but I had limited faith in people suddenly seeing reason. Things like that were just too rare. When I shared my suspicions with Anastaria, she checked something, cursed and logged out of the Game to get to the bottom of what was happening in the Dark Forest. ...
That's how we eventually reached the announcement of the Emperor's quest. Moreover, this was the updated, not the original version of it. As I tried to focus on another ring, my thoughts constantly returned to the update. If the object required for completing a quest always drops from your inventory on death, Anhurs will turn into one big bloodbath. Why trudge all the way to Rastrum, when you can just sit it out in the Capital, wait for a small group with a symbol above their heads to turn up and simply take all that you needed off them? As for getting Exalted straight away ... isn't that a bit much? According to Anastaria, Exalted Reputation with the Emperor automatically gives a player Exalted status with all other Malabar factions. This happens irrespective of what Reputation he had with them to begin with. For example, this would've allowed me to sort out my relations with Serrest and pay Prontho, the mine governor, a visit. I still had to get to the bottom of what happened between him and Shiam. But then ... why did the developers even make this change, I wonder? This was nothing less than open encouragement of PVP ... after all, the 5000 gold fine for killing a player within the city wasn't much of a deterrent. They even shut down the safe zones, so that the quest would have to be handed in by an enormous group, which would thereby protect a small group with those symbols above their heads. Although ... even if such a group tried to make its way there, you could just throw an Armageddon spell and – Boom! The leading clans have enough resources for a spell like that.
"Stacey," I finally tore myself away from ring-making and addressed the girl who was sitting lost in thought nearby, "listen, even if, purely hypothetically, our clan manages to get the necessary quest item, how would we ever get it to the Emperor?
"Do you have any ideas?" Anastaria immediately snapped out of her thoughts.
"Of course. According to the conditions of the High Priestess's quest, we must recover the Stone of Light. We could try to see if that might do it."
"It won't work. I already thought about that. You yourself said that there is a pile of these Stones around the Throne right now and they are only blocking the effect of the Dagger. No, something else is needed here. And as for handing it in, we'll come to some arrangement with 'Killer – they can hand it in while leaving us in their group. Twenty people, there's two of us ..."
"Six. I'm not ditching the guys."
"So, whom did you decide to leave out? Plinto or Barsina?"
"The Druid. She's only with us temporarily, so there is little sense in giving her anything. Plinto is definitely with me for at least a year and then we'll see. Perhaps after that he'll stick around for longer. Essentially, if I get the Stone, Seathistles will only get five places ... the rest would will be taken by Phoenix."
"Mahan, I get that you're not exactly an average guy, but don't you think this is a bit much? I'm not into selling the skin before killing the bear – especially when the aforementioned bear is definitely out of your league. I'm sorry, but this just isn't your level. If you manage to get your hands on the holy object that would put the sign above you, I don't know ... you get one wish from me. Any wish. Up to and including my agreeing to spend a year in the Seathistles clan."
"I'll hold you to that. By the way, you also promised to tell me what the deal was with the Dwarf riddle."
"They used the Vigenère cipher with 'Master' as the code word. This produces the line 'threeandfiveandtwoandninewithoutfort
y', without spaces. This expression is too ambiguous, so there has to be several other clues."
"Yeah, there are a couple more lines."
"Seems child's play now," smiled Anastaria after receiving the remaining formulas. "Although ... if you hadn't come across it before, you might have had trouble solving it. How many answer attempts do the Dwarves have? Three? You can try two yourself and if neither works, don't waste the third one – I'll help you with the answer. Damn! No, leave me two attempts, because there are two possible solutions here, either one could work, so it's best to play it safe."
"Couldn't you just tell me?" I asked, taken aback.
"I think not.” The girl shook her head, "Figure this one out for yourself, but only input the answer when you're completely sure it's right. What do you intend to do next?"
"To travel to the spot marked on the map. Looks like we'll have to fight the remaining bosses ourselves. I don't see any other way ... "
"There's rather a lot of them there”, said Donotpunnik when we finished watching the results of Plinto's reconnaissance. “The base of the Fallen was exactly where the High Priestess had marked on the map. It looked somewhat like a wooden castle, surrounded by a stockade, a few watchtowers (although personally I didn't get why you needed them in a forest), manned with guards, small huts, randomly strewn through the grounds, and two enormous houses, probably the abodes of the General and Midial. ... All in all a fairly standard model of a Kartoss wooden castle. But why the Kartoss look when the Priest had come from Malabar remained unclear. Around a hundred level 250+ Fallen Vampires, twenty or so enslaved level-300 Elementals and an undetermined number of level 350+ mages – who periodically came out of the huts – was a disheartening sight, but there was an interesting detail: there was no mist inside the stockade, so from Plinto's video you could clearly see two glades in the very middle of the settlement. One was completely black and the other one green and covered in flowers. A small object glinted in each of the glades: it couldn't be seen very clearly, but most probably these were the Stone of Light and the Tear of Eluna respectively. The goal of our raid ..."
"I have a proposal," the Azure Dragons’ deputy said straight away, "Why don't we send Plinto inside, he'll grab the Tear of Eluna and then all of us will make tracks for the Guardian's glade? I reckon we can make it back there in a day. Our task is not to kill everything that moves here, but simply retrieve the Tear. By the way, is the second Stone related to your quest?"
"It's a good idea, definitely worth thinking about. But we shouldn't all crowd in, it's enough to ...”
"I'm against it," I interrupted Anastaria. "Our aim is to cleanse the forest. If we take out the Tear, that NPC will stick something else in its place. We'll fight. I'll handle the strategy; you work out the tactics. Can you think of a way to take care of this local mob in the most painless manner possible? Ants and myself will get the Elementals ... damn! Ants will get them, I'm still under a penalty ..."
"A fight, then," said the girl thoughtfully, looking through the recording one more time. "There's only one gate, through which no more than five mobs at a time may pass ... . If we block them, then ... no that won't work. There’re the watchtowers and the mages ... they'll down the tanks in no time. ... So we can only lure them out into the forest ... . What do you say, Don?"
"That all depends on how long it takes Antsinthepantsa to free the Elementals. Last time it took around a minute to free one. But that was with two Shamans at it. Right now, from what I understand, Mahan is as much use as a chocolate teapot. ... Two minutes for each and there are twenty of them. ... We only have three tanks. No, we won't hold out. That's five complete sets, which is too much even for Hellfire ..."
"Yeah...," said Anastaria slowly, "there is of course the option of breaking into the castle, killing as many mobs as possible, getting sent for respawn, returning, and repeating until we clear them all ... . The time it takes for mobs to respawn is three months, so we should have enough time."
"Yeah, right, and get our experience gain bar knocked all the way back to zero," chuckled Donotpunnik. "The entire raid will be falling over to thank you for that one."
"Then I'm out of ideas for now. The only sensible course of action is to send Plinto out and then have the entire raid running for the Guardian's glade. Everything else is pure suicide."
"Right, it's getting late already, so I propose we continue this tomorrow morning," I decided, "and all the same, try to think of how we could destroy that base."
Painful as it was to admit, the idea voiced by Donotpunnik made perfect sense. We are too few for such a big crowd of mobs, so either we have to resort to trickery or look for a workaround. The 'trickery' part was easy: Plinto would sneak in, snatch the Tear and the Stone – good thing he's got that quest already – and leg it out of there. Then he’d mount his Phoenix and speed towards the Guardian's glade. Then there'd be general happiness, celebration and rejoicing. And yet I could feel it in my bones that in if this were to occur, I could kiss good-bye to the second earring of the Guardian. My conclusion: we had to look for a workaround. And here Anastaria should be able to help me. ...
"Natalie, do you have a minute?" I managed to shout just in time as I noticed that the lady Shaman was about to log back to reality. "A word before you go, or rather a task for you. Do you remember the strange dark phantoms that surrounded the Elementals? Can you dig around Shaman history? That's the only place it could be. Please look for information or articles mentioning the words 'mist', 'phantom' or 'shadow'. These entities didn't just turn up by accident, they are certain to be recorded in history in some way."
"As you remember, the Supreme Spirits know nothing about the nature of these phantoms, despite being the custodians of Shamanistic knowledge in the Game. So there would be little use in doing this."
"You have a look and then we'll see, all right? First thing tomorrow tell me all about it. Stacey!" after leaving the Shaman I called Anastaria over, "I have a question."
"I can't tell you this," came the girl's immediate answer, "I signed an NDA."
"You don't even know what I want to ask you ..."
"I heard your conversation with Ants. You want to ask about the nature of Elenium's quest. I can't tell you, but I can give you a hint that you've started to dig in the right direction."
"I see. Then another question: why haven't you asked me about Slate yet, although it's already been a week? He's the only NPC among us and you know who he is, but are behaving as if there’s nothing’ unusual here."
"What's the point? We'll have a chat once we are finished with the Forest, assuming we don't lose him. If you tell me about this now you've as good as shared the quest with me. And then suddenly the Prince dies. Do you think the Princess will be happy when she finds out that I too was involved in the death of her intended? So, thanks, but no thanks. Once we make it out of the Forest, I'll start asking questions. Who needs the extra stress right now? Everything in good time ..."
I watched the girl as she walked away and instead of feasting my eyes on her beautifully drawn avatar I was turning over Stacey's last word: time ... hmm... there's a time for everything. ... Once again: there is a time for everything ... well, I'll be! Stacey, you're a genius!
"Mahan." The voice of Barsina, my only female Fighter, tore me away from my musings about the epic plan to capture the Castle of the Fallen. "Tell me, are you going to exclude me from the clan after we’re finished in the Dark Forest, or is there a possibility that I could stick around?"
"What do you mean 'exclude you'? Didn't we agree that you are joining the clan temporarily so that you could be part of the Imitator's loot allocation for both quests? As for sticking around ... why the sudden interest?"
"There are a good number of reasons really. The first and the main one being that it's profitable to be around you. In one week I've earned more than in the previous few months. Two levels more and I'll gain access to several interesting locations, where I can earn good money. I'm set to reach level 170
once we complete the Guardian's quest. This would mean a new ability and class-based quests. The second, and no less significant, reason is the presence of Anastaria and Plinto. They are legends in Malabar and I can learn a lot from them. Just the amendment of the Clan Agreement that Anastaria proposed today is quite something. Right now our Officers are sitting and scratching their heads, wondering how they could miss such obvious loopholes. I would've never spotted them myself either, by the way. The third ... you know, the third reason actually outweighs the other two – I like it here, in your clan. So I'd like to stay, if possible."
"Fine. In that case I'll put you in change of everything healing-related. Look at the current membership agreement and have a chat with Anastaria. In a couple of days I'd like to have a list of all the classes we might need: how many Priests, Druids, Shamans, Paladins of Light and other healer classes you would find in any normal clan. Plinto, Eric – I have a task for you!" I immediately called over the Rogue and the Warrior and told them to put together the best possible team of Fighters and Tanks. If one wanted to take part in the clan tournament (and I did), you would need people. Bugging Anastaria for every small task ... is pretty daft if there are other capable players just idling about.
So, having given everyone their tasks, I sat under the tree and started to put together my plan for getting into the Fallen Ones' castle. I watched through Plinto's video a few more times and saw once again that the mobs were spread throughout the entire castle, except for the green glade with the Stone of Light. As Anastaria put it, 'everything in good time'. If we swap 'time' for 'place' then ... .
What if the fallen mobs cannot step into an area affected by a Blessed object? And what if this prohibition is at the level of their programming? If my memory doesn't fail me, in Beatwick I managed to save a good number of NPCs from modification by giving them Blessed amulets. What if we weren't meant to kill the mobs, but scare them away? Or even – and here another bulb lit above my head – free them, as we did with the Elementals or the Lieutenant? Perhaps even my Reputation problems would go away if I returned about two hundred Vamps and Mages to the Patriarch. It may not work for me, but Anastaria definitely wouldn't miss a chance like that. In order to enact my plan, I needed Blessed statuettes ... I was feeling very thankful to Beth that she hurried her Priestesses and now, among other things, I had some Blessed ore and marble in my sack. It was time to get busy with some crafting ... .
The Secret of the Dark Forest ( (The Way of the Shaman: Book #3) Page 32
