Legends of Tarthirious: The Complete Collection

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  “He’s fine, sent him home for the day after the MPs though. I’ve got to get back to work, if you’d like I could forward that project to your private account so you can do it from home. You don’t have to, I can assign it to someone else, I just know I don’t like leaving jobs half-finished.”

  “That’d be great, thanks. See you next week.”

  “See you.”

  I kept the phone to my ear a while longer after Phillip had hung-up, something about it comforting me just a little bit, like the conversation hadn’t ended and I could keep on pretending that I wasn’t having a nervous breakdown.

  The next thing I wanted to do was call Gerald, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to him, it was just that I was so sure I’d either just be annoying him while he was in pain, or that I’d piss him off by trying to keep a line of communication between us.

  I decided that before I did anything with Gerald I’d check on my characters and make sure everything was running smoothly in that regard.

  The Rig Room was a semi comforting sight, and I was so happy that the investigation hadn’t led to the MPs busting my door down. I switched on all the monitors and waited for them to thrum to life.

  The miners were still doing their thing, which was at least something, but instead of finding Daemion smashing it out in the Arena, a flashing ‘ACCOUNT UNAVAILABLE’ was spread out across the screen in an almost taunting fashion.

  “Great…” I snarled as I started pacing the room, “Fucking fantastic!”

  That was about the moment my mind went from self-pity to undeniable rage.

  I screamed and stomped and did my best not to punch a hole in the screen. I knew what the ‘ACCOUNT UNAVAILABLE’ really meant, it meant everything I’d received from his account had been reduced to nothing.

  There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the money in my account hadn’t already been frozen so that the police could pick through it and find every piece of invalid earnings. I also knew that they weren’t going to be too thinky about it either, instead they’d just end up going through my records and getting rid of everything that Daemion had earned over the weekend, legitimately or not.

  I was midway through screaming some unintelligible nonsense about corruption or something when a thought hit me. I jumped onto Daemion’s computer and, without hesitation, closed Legends. It took a little bit of digging, but eventually I found Gerald’s digital footprint, which I used to find his email.

  It only just now occurs to me that I could’ve simply logged into my work email and gone from there, but I was in crisis mode at that time, so meh.

  ‘Hey Gerald,’ I wrote, then immediately backspaced.

  ‘Hey Gerry,’

  Backspace again.

  ‘Hi Sexy Bear,’

  “Nope.”

  That went on for a while, until I came up with the perfect system of communication.

  Pretend I was someone else, someone confident, someone witty, someone who didn’t just get wrongly arrested.

  ‘Good day Grand Gerry the Good,

  I write to you on this day to see, perchance, if thou’d be interested in a night of merry questing and monster slaying.

  Sincerest Regards,

  Armelia Fireheart.’

  “Aaaand send.” I said, then immediately regretted the action.

  What I’d written was mental, proper mental, talking like I lived in a fairy-tale. For some God unknown reason I hit ‘CTRL Z’ as if to take back the last five seconds of my life, but no, life is a heartless bitch and has no undo shortcut. I was convinced that if the arrest hadn’t done our relationship in, the email certainly must’ve.

  But it didn’t.

  ‘Good morrow fair maiden,

  I’d be delighted at an opportunity to fight alongside you, milady, but what of the tales of your imprisonment? Hath the evil Kingdom of Cocks & Bollocks not taken thou from me?

  Regards,

  Grand Gerry the Good.’

  I must say that that had me smiling, and not just the part about the Kingdom of Cocks & Bollocks either.

  ‘The stories of my capture were greatly exaggerated, no prison can hold a Fireheart. When would thy be available for the aforementioned questing?’

  As much as I’d like to pretend there wasn’t, there was a bit of a delay before I heard a knocking at the door. I swear I’d never run so fast, it was like I’d teleported to the front door. I didn’t bother trying to hide my dishevelled appearance, and threw open the door to see a smiling Gerald with his phone in hand.

  I almost tackled him with my hug before burying my face in his shoulder and crying, and then smiling, then sobbing, then smiling again.

  I doubt I have to clarify this, but I will anyway, it had been a very bad, confusing, and all around weird day.

  If it were up to me we’d have stayed out there all day, but Gerald got me through the door, shutting it behind us, and onto the couch so we could stay cuddling for a while longer.

  I was all over the shop, not a minute prior to me sitting on the couch and crying into Gerald’s jumper I’d been smiling at our emails and was convinced I was going to buckle down and get some real game time in.

  But life isn’t like that.

  Life isn’t about you making goals and sticking to them, it’s about breaking down and crying like a child between brief moments of happiness.

  Life is pain.

  At least, that’s what I thought at the time.

  Kylia: Chapter 3

  “Are you sure you’re okay though?” Gerald asked from the kitchen as he made me a cup of tea.

  “Yeah, it was just… I’ll be fine. Are you?”

  “Course, why wouldn’t I be?”

  I gave him a confused look, “Because you got hit by an MP a couple of hours ago, you know, after finding out the girl you were sleeping with was a hacker.”

  “I’m fine, just winded me a little, Phillip’s still given me tomorrow off though. And I knew from the beginning that you weren’t, I hope you know that.” he said as he walked over to me.

  Honestly? I didn’t, I really didn’t. I’d never had a person in my life who trusted me so completely before and had so much faith in me. But I didn’t want to bring down the already low tone of the evening, so instead just said “I know, and you know that I’d never think for a second that you’d do something like that either, right?”

  He chuckled a little, “Only because you know that I couldn’t pull something like that off to save my life.”

  We sat like that for a little, drinking our tea and struggling to smile before we both decided we’d had enough and I blurted out “Wanna play?”

  “So much. Should I go get my laptop?”

  I shook my head as I stood up and started walking over to the Rig Room, tea still in hand, “You can use Daemion’s rig. Lord knows he’s not.”

  “Are… are you sure? I know you have a bit of a connection with them.” he said, warming my heart with the knowledge that he really did know me.

  “Yeah, it’s like he’s in a coma or something. Not going to keep him around the house just because I like the company.”

  Gerald laughed a little at the disturbing imagery then stopped, “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

  I nodded, “Course, wasted enough time over the past few days, and with Daemion banned I really need to pull my head in. Luckily Phillip’s given me the next week off, so I’ve got plenty of time to really dig my claws into gaming.”

  Gerald gave me a little smirk, “So time with me is a waste then?”

  I thought about it for a second then nodded, “When it comes to putting food on the table, Hell yeah it is.” I said before poking my tongue out playfully, a sentiment that he returned.

  That little bit of warmth in my life was all I needed to get game ready. That good long cry, the tea, Gerald, it all accumulated into one big motivation booster.

  It was time to kick some arse.

  Armelia: Chapter 1
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br />   Welcome back Armelia Fireheart.

  Transaction occurred:

  -12,995 gold.

  0 gold.

  “So where to first Armelia?” Grand Gerry asked as we walked through the city of Lukithir, “Another bounty? Perhaps we can go back to those bears?”

  I shook my head, “No, first things first we head to the castle and accept the hardest quest we can. As I said before Gerry, I don’t want to be messing around.”

  Without saying another word we broke into a sprint, ducking and dodging our way through the bustling city streets on our way to the castle. I ignored the dozen voices calling for help after being robbed or were being attacked, the pay-out wouldn’t be nearly worth the time, and if there was one thing I was sure of, it was that time was of the essence.

  I burst into the castle in a more explosive manner than I meant to with Gerry just behind. After a quick surveillance of the gorgeous throne room I discovered I had three choices, the court warlock, the steward, or the Lord of the city himself, all of whom were discussing something at the throne.

  “What do you think?” I asked Gerry as we started to cross the room.

  He looked around contemplatively, a small frown spreading across his face, “The Lord’ll definitely give us the most gold, however the warlock will more than likely put us in a position to get a lot from a dungeon. The steward’ll just send us to a nearby camp which, as we saw before, probably won’t have a great amount.”

  I reflected his frown, then gave a deciding nod, “I reckon we go with the warlock. It’ll be a lot more interesting, and get us more XP, meaning better quests down the road.”

  “Agreed.”

  We reached the throne, discovering that the three were actually arguing fervently about a situation that most definitely wouldn’t have a whole lot to offer in terms of reward. I’d come to notice that, the deeper the story, the lower the prize.

  “Good day warlock!” I said with more gusto than expected.

  The relatively young man turned, his black cloak obscuring a great deal of his face as the name ‘Brathil Moal’ appeared in glowing text next to his head. “What do you want, I’m very busy.”

  I kept the smile on my face despite the evil voices in my head egging me into killing the impolite witch-boy, “I was just wondering if you had any quests available?”

  Brathil rolled his eyes, “Have a look,” he said as he handed me three sheets of parchment, “doubt you’ll be able to do them.”

  Available Brathil Moal Quests:

  (Novice) Find the Secret Tome of Bellows-Deep Cavern.

  (Champion) Investigate the Strange Sounds in the Well.

  (Master) Kill the Necromancer Aldok Dethrisr at his Hideout in the Lukithir Mountain Range.

  I took a deep breath, then handed back the two easier ones, “Is there anything else you can tell me about Aldok?”

  “Only that he’ll probably kill you and use your body for his sick puppet show. Bye.”

  Mission Started: Back From the Dead.

  Objective added: Go to Aldok Dethrisr’s Hideout.

  When Gerry was done reading over the quest details he turned to me, “Want to ask around the court for more information about Aldok?”

  I shook my head and started for the door, “I doubt any of them will be able to tell us anything we don’t know. Besides, I want to get at least three of these done before we stop.”

  Gerry stopped me at the door, “Wait, seriously? These go for an hour, minimum, are you sure you want to be doing that? Not that I’m against it or anything, it’s just been a long day I don’t want you to crash.”

  It took me a few seconds to decide which response I wanted to go with, finally settling on a reassuring smile, “I’m fine, promise. I just want to make sure I’m back in the green, who knows when I could get locked up next.” I laughed weakly.

  “…As long as you’re sure you’re alright.” he said with a concerned frown.

  “Like I said, I’m fine.” I said, trying not sound as shitty as I felt. “Now come on, we’ve got a necromancer to kill.”

  Bishop: Chapter 1

  Bishop closed his eyes and looked away as he pressed the red-hot knife to the wound on his left arm, biting down hard on the stick in his mouth. He cursed himself for being so stupid as to leave the safety of the treeline, he’d known that once the hit squad saw the burning cottage they’d come hunting for him.

  ‘At least I’ve a little reminder to keep my head down.’ he thought to himself as he regarded the cauterised through-and-through bullet wound near his shoulder.

  He dropped his knife next to the heated stones that were acting as his only source of warmth in the tiny cave, a small but nearly invisible fire burning just under them. The rain was acting as a great cover, a slight lip at the top of the cave allowing for a waterfall cloak as Bishop sat in relative comfort in his little pocket 150 feet from the ground, but even still he thought lighting a full-fledged fire would be a bad idea, especially in the middle of the night.

  There was a lightning strike just outside, causing Bishop to spit out the stick and check himself over for another gunshot wound. He chuckled a little at his stupidity, then pulled out a flask from his bag and brought the engraved metal container of brandy to his lips. Without really thinking about it, he ran his fingers over the cursive letters when he was done and mouthed it out, “To Bishop. Love, Dad.”

  He knew that his hunters wouldn’t be able to hear him, but over the years he’d learned when to keep his mouth shut, which was almost always. He’d always preferred to look and listen anyway.

  With another quick sip, Bishop turned back to looking out into the dark water, catching glimpses of the rolling hills just outside his reach. In that moment he made himself a promise, he was going to survive, and he was going to see his father again.

  Armelia: Chapter 2

  The journey to the mountain range didn’t take too long, being just a few minutes further from the still burning bonfire at the bandit camp strewn with bodies. Finding the hideout? That was a right bloody annoyance.

  “Are you sure we’ve checked that ridge?” I asked as I dismounted Shadow-Stal for the fifth time in search of our invisible goal, the snow that covered the stone path shifting under my weight and nearly slipping me up.

  Gerry followed my line of sight from where he was standing near the edge and nodded when he saw the snow-capped rocky face I was talking about, “I’m sure. Maybe it’s at the bottom?”

  “No, we’ve circled down there three times already, if it was down there we’d have seen it.” I was starting to get antsy, to the point where I wondered if it wouldn’t be better to just abandon the quest and find a new one.

  But then Gerry had an epiphany, “The ridges!” he exclaimed, startling Shadow-Stal, “He’s hiding in the ridges!”

  I looked at him in confusedly, “Well… Yeah, that’s what the quest sheet says.”

  “No, no, he’s in the ridges, like his hideout is actually built into the mountainside, not on it.”

  I wanted to be more excited, I really did, but looking around at the miles worth of space that made up the mountain range made my head hurt. “You see, you’re saying that like it’s good news, but it really isn’t.”

  “It is though! If the hideout’s just hidden under all this snow I can burn it away.”

  “What?” I scoffed, “Do you know how many more hours of walking around that’d take?”

  Gerry gave me a cheeky smirk, “Not if we use my puppy.”

  Before I could ask him what he was talking about he’d started a long whistle, often hitting notes above my range of hearing, before stopping and sitting down cross-legged.

  “What are you doing?” I asked as I walked over to him.

  “He likes it when I sit and wait for him.”

  That’s when I heard a thunderous roar bouncing around the mountains, “What’d you summon?” I asked as the world around me started to shake.

  “You’ll see.”

  A f
ew seconds went by with nothing but the occasional, and ever nearer, roars surrounding us until, “Hey little buddy!” Gerry shouted excitedly as a tiny red puppy shot past me and landed in Gerry’s waiting lap.

  Only it wasn’t a puppy.

  “Is that…”

  “A fire drake, yeah.” he said as he pat the adorable little creature labelled Blazie, “Got him from a trader a while back.”

  Fire Drake discovered.

  Journal entry made.

  I watched on as the two played, “Why not keep him around then?”

  “Can only summon him once a day, after that he disappears again, so I like to save it for when I really need it. Unless there’s a special event, of course.” Gerry said as the Blazie crawled all over him.

  “Why?” I asked confusedly, “Not trying to be rude, but he doesn’t exactly seem to do much.”

  Gerry’s cheeky smile returned, “Because he’s the one who’s going to clear up this mountain for us.”

  When I continued to look utterly perplexed he started whispering a bizarre incantation in Blazie’s ear and, in a display akin to a man shedding his skin and becoming a werewolf, I watched in a mix of horror and amazement as the tiny puppy-level drake turned into a gargantuan fire-breathing beast.

  Grand Gerry the Good commanded Blazie to hunt.

  “More effective than detect life, and a whole lot cooler.” Gerry said as Blazie beat his mighty wings against the frozen air and rose into the sky, before diving along the side of the mountain in search of our prey.

  It wasn’t long before the drake ended his search, coming to hover in place above a part of the mountain not far from us that Gerry and I had walked past a dozen times.

  I mounted Shadow-Stal who, unsurprisingly, was absolutely terrified of Blazie as he blew massive streams of fire at the mountain face. “It’s alright boy, he’s with us.” I said as Gerry joined me on the horse.

  He seemed a bit unsure, but gave me an affirmative neigh and started following my orders to move.