Legends of Tarthirious: The Complete Collection

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  After he’d finished everything he’d said to me before I was given a new quest and a whole new set of questions to ask.

  Mission Started: First Class.

  Objective added: Meet Your Class at the Girit Outskirt Swamp After Dark.

  “Thank you Vilor.” I said with a bow before catching him by the arm as he turned to leave and spinning him to face me, something that stunned him, but didn’t quite anger him, “If you wouldn’t mind, I’ve also a question. What can you tell me about Relian Tyos?”

  Vilor straightened up and made a disgusted face as if the name itself was foul, “He was once a mage here, reached the rank of Master Mage in fact, and became quite the scholar. Though, he never quite did shake his druidic heritage, right up until his death.”

  Vilor’s racism was starting to grind on me, but I forced myself passed it, “How do you mean?” I asked as politely as I could through a fake smile.

  “Well he practiced spells and taught lessons that were clearly made for druids. A whole lot of forcing poor students to live life with nature, and telling them about how Tarthirious and all of its inhabitants were one organism. Utterly ridiculous nonsense if you ask me, but it is the way of the mage’s college to allow for all ideas and theologies be heard.”

  “Even if they fly in the face of logic and reason.” I said to appease Vilor.

  I was glad to see that selling out my people worked, a charmed smile landing in place of Vilor’s detested frown, “Exactly. If you ask me, he got exactly what was coming to him.”

  “And what was that exactly?”

  He jutted his head toward the back of the college and grew stern again, “The tree in the courtyard, it consumed him.”

  “Pardon?” I asked, giving him a confused look.

  “The tree, he created it when he first got here, the well having been less than worthless at that point, and, after years of nurturing and protection, it consumed him. Grabbed him when he was out on a midnight stroll, tore him to pieces, then absorbed his life-force, there wasn’t even a body left to bury.”

  I suddenly regretted getting so close to the tree, “Well… thank you for the information Vilor. I’ll be on my way.”

  “Most welcome, I hope to see you out at the swamp.”

  “As do I.” I lied.

  I wasn’t trying to be deliberately deceptive, well, at least not in order to upset him, I was just aware of what I had to do in order to get the book back, which was to wait.

  Wait until Relian Tyos came to his tree.

  Armelia: Chapter 16

  It wasn’t all bad sitting by the tree, especially considering I’d found a nice stone bench far from where the tree could grab me should it get hungry. It was almost relaxing, listening to steady buzz of people, watching the wind blowing through the garden, so much so in fact that I figured I’d let myself have a little nap, just until Relian arrived.

  Midnight came quickly for me, and, just as I suspected, so did Relian, his spellcrafting book in hand as he whispered something to the tree, and still wearing the robes that I’m sure were the ones he died in.

  “Good evening Master Tyos,” I said to the blue spectre as I slowly rose to my feet, “quite the night for a walk, isn’t it?”

  The mage stopped his whisperings and turned to me, revealing a surprisingly friendly face, “Hello fellow druid, what brings you out on this night?” he asked in his echoed and ethereal voice.

  “You,” I said as I walked toward the welcoming face, “I’ve come to understand that you’ve been looking for your book.”

  Relian gave a weak smile and nodded, “Yes, yes, and I’ve found it,” he said, raising the book a little before clutching it to his chest, “it had some information that I needed.”

  “Why?” I asked with a little chuckle, “Didn’t you write it?”

  “Of course. Doesn’t mean I remember every word. Most of what is written in here was told to me by the elders of my village when I went on my pilgrimage. In one ear and out on the parchment as my father would say.” he said with a reminiscent smile to the ground before turning his attention back to me, “I’m sorry, but is there something you need? I’m really quite busy,”

  “Just one thing,” I said, pointing my head at the book, “I have a feeling there’s a reason you weren’t able to get it yourself.”’

  The mage looked embarrassedly at the ground again, “Yes, I’m afraid the library has been warded in order to keep spirits like myself out, and I couldn’t let everyone know I was in need of it.”

  “Is that why you murdered Gelth?” I asked coarsely.

  Relian’s ears perked up slightly but stopped as he straightened up and looked at me with conviction, “The death of Gelth was unfortunate, yes, but the poor boy simply knew too much and couldn’t handle the pressure of keeping a secret. I could see into his mind, as I can see into yours, and I knew that the moment I left he’d have told you everything.”

  “But… if you can read my mind, you’d have known I was there. Why not let Gelth live and come tell me?”

  “Because I wanted you to find me on your own, to prove that you are still connected to Tarthirious as you were before you lost your memories.”

  I didn’t want to tell him that I’d just followed the clues and paid attention, he seemed like a fairly nice person, aside from the whole murder thing, and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “That doesn’t excuse your actions, I need that book.”

  Relian frowned and shook his head, “No, I’m afraid I need it just a little while longer. I’m almost free, I can feel it.”

  “Free?”

  “Yes. When my body was destroyed by the tree, it absorbed my soul as well, as you know, and over the past five years I’ve been able to wander the college for the three days surrounding the anniversary of my death. However, it wasn’t until yesterday that I was able to find someone willing to help me get free.”

  “And for it he got a broken neck.” I mumbled.

  Relian ignored my bitter remark though, and decided that everything I’d said meant that I wanted to help him, “Why don’t you help me finish the spell? If you do that, I’ll gladly hand over the book and become one with the energies of Tarthirious.”

  I was hesitant to join the man who’d only a few hours ago broken someone’s neck, but at the same time I was sure that I wouldn’t be forced into a similar situation. I was also quite curious to see how all of it turned out.

  “Alright, what do you need me to do?”

  Progress made in mission: Overdue.

  Objective completed: Investigate the Death of Relian Tyos.

  Objective added: Help Relian Tyos Complete his Spell.

  The spectral figure glowed brighter than normal, a huge grin having come across his face, “Thank you fellow druid, thank you. All that I require is some Essence of the Wind, there should be some in the Alchemist’s study. I’d get it, but as with the library, it’s warded.”

  Without saying another word I got a move on to the Alchemist’s study, which was actually a right prick to find. Some moron had decided that it had to be accessed through a trapdoor in the library in between two random shelves with the only label of where and what was printed on the door.

  Honestly though? Kinda wished I didn’t go in there.

  Wasn’t dangerous or anything like that, it was just creepy as all sin. Cats hanging by their tails from the ceiling, there were various fungi sprouting from everywhere, and I was pretty sure the fifteen skeletons that lined the back wall were fairly fresh based on the orc one that had its neck held together with bits of wire.

  I shuddered and started looking around at the dozens of potions that were on the dark and mouldy shelves, as well as sitting precariously over a large cauldron sitting in the corner.

  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, alchemists are just witches with acceptable jobs.

  It took a few minutes, but I eventually found a bottle labelled ‘Essence of the Wind’ that was filled with a red liquid, and bolted out of t
he study before I breathed in any more of the dozens of things that could kill me.

  Once I was back in the courtyard I almost smiled when Relian saw what was in my hands, “You got it!” he shouted excitedly, snatching the bottle from my hands, “I can’t believe you got it! Thank you so much!”

  He continued to dance around like a man possessed for a few seconds before eventually calming down to the point where he could keep both of his feet on the ground, only twitching with excitement when he pulled the cork from the bottle, “You may want to take a few steps back.” he said as he poured the essence into the well.

  I did as I was told, having seen enough magic gone wrong to know that it was best to listen to the experts, and watched on as Relian started his chant.

  It was clearly in old Druidic from the guttural and throaty accentuation on the end of each word, which relaxed me a bit. I’d honestly been kind of waiting for him to summon a daemon, which I was not really in the mood for.

  But no, the Master Mage, upon saying the final word, threw his head back and roared into the sky, sending a blinding blue light in all directions so intense that I was forced to close my eyes and turn my head away.

  A massive gust of wind hit me and I was forced to the ground as the sound of a magical explosion rocked its way through the college.

  Not wanting to test fate, I stayed on the ground a while after the lights stopped and the wind died down, but succumbed to my curiosity when I heard a thump at my feet.

  It was the book, and as I looked around it became clear that Relian was gone, and the tree would definitely need to be replanted, having been split in two right down the middle with what looked like burns covering the inside.

  Progress made in mission: Overdue.

  Objective completed: Help Relian Tyos Complete his Spell.

  Objective added: Take Relian Tyos’ Guide to Spellcrafting to Joliv Fren.

  I smiled at the book in my hands, sure, Gelth had died, but someone else had been set free of their prison, that particular someone else did also happen to kill Gelth, but at least he wasn’t going to kill anyone else, which was a victory as far as I was concerned.

  I was just about to enter the library when I heard a heavy pounding coming from somewhere unseen. I looked around anxiously in search of what it could be, before nearly slapping myself in the head for being such an idiot.

  Someone was knocking on my door.

  Kylia: Chapter 9

  “Keep your bloody pants on!” I shouted over the thunderous knocks when I was almost at the door, “I’m coming!”

  In hindsight, it was pretty shitty of me to log off before going to answer the door, but leaving an empty shell just wasn’t appealing.

  The moment I turned the handle Detective Will came barging into my flat, and not just in the rude way he did last time, “Has anyone contacted you?” he asked as he darted into my Rig Room, out again, checked the windows, then came back to me.

  “Pardon?”

  “Has. Anyone. Contacted. You? Phone call, email, anything?”

  I shook my head, “No, not that I know of. I’ve been playing LoT all day, and I’d honestly really like to get back into it. So, if you wouldn’t mind..?”

  Will took a few deep breaths, a few of relief, most simply because he’d clearly been running his lungs on half capacity, “Alright, good. I need you to come down to the station.”

  “What? Why in the bloody Hell would I do that? You were saying to me not twelv- eighteen hours- eighteen hours ago? Christ almighty I’ve got to start watching that clock. Anyway, wouldn’t it be really bad for me to be seen going back to the station? Aren’t I meant to be staying indoors?” I asked with just a bit of condescension.

  “We got him.” Will said as calmly as he could, “We got the bastard.”

  Kylia: Chapter 10

  “So you’ve never seen him before? Not at work, or your building, or anything like that?”

  I looked into the interrogation room through the two-way mirror, my mind scrolling through memories in search of the face of the man sitting handcuffed to the table. He was a rough looking fellow, but I was sure that if you wiped away all of the dirt and blood he’d look like a typical geek in his early forties.

  Years of living on fast-food having caught up with him a few years back had forced him to try and fix himself up with a daily run and eating vegetables. A few of the blokes around my office had the same look.

  Short blonde hair, green eyes, and a blood-spattered and poorly trimmed beard all built up into the image of a man I most certainly did not know.

  “No, not once. I’m sure of it.”

  Will gave a defeated sigh and nodded, “Alright, well he sure knows a lot about you. He wants to talk, something for your ears only apparently.”

  Something about going into a room with a man with three, self-treated gunshot wounds made me more than a little uncomfortable.

  “I… I don’t think I want to.” I trailed off before coming back strong and pointing at him, “This guy actively went out of his way to try and ruin my life, there’s no telling what he’ll do to me when we’re in a room together.”

  “He also turned himself in without any prompting. I hate to say it, but we were certain we weren’t gonna find the guy.” Will said with an embarrassed laugh. “I’m not tryin’ to tell you what to do or anything, I just think that he wants to help you.”

  I looked at Will, waiting for some witty joke that never came, “You seriously believe that he wants to help me? After what he did?”

  The Detective looked around unsurely for a few seconds, as if trying to find someone else to validate what he was saying, and then nodded, “Yeah, I really do. Judgin’ on what he’s told us, he’s not the mastermind. He’s just some bloke from an IT department who happened to get involved with some shady dealings.”

  “And you can’t just get the information out of him?” I asked, remembering how ‘influential’ Will could be in an interrogation room.

  “’Fraid not, best we can do is threaten him with prison time, and he’s not against the idea of a cell.”

  It sucked, it really did. The idea that I had to go in and have my ear talked off by the creepy prick who’d not only managed to find exactly where I was on the other side of the two-way mirror, but had also tried to have me thrown in jail.

  I’ve probably put those things in the wrong order, but at the time the whole ‘seeing through a mirror’ thing was far worse.

  “Alright,” I said tiredly, “I’ll do it, just… keep an eye on us, would you? I don’t want to have my neck broken.”

  Will gave me a reassuring smile, “Course, won’t let you leave my sight for a second.” he said before leading me to the door.

  I wished what he’d said was enough, that I could take him for his word and accept that I was going to be okay, but I still had a pit in my stomach. My position was clear though, it was the right thing to do, I had to talk to him and find out exactly what was going on.

  I took a few calming breaths, which only made me more nervous, then nodded, indicating to Will that I was ready for him to open the door.

  Even though stepping into that room was probably the most important thing I’ve ever done, I still wonder to this day what would’ve happened if I’d just stayed at home.

  Kylia: Chapter 11

  I hesitantly took my seat across from the smiling man, which seemed to be truly well-meaning and not at all to make me uneasy, though that’s exactly what it did. We sat in silence for a time, him waiting for me to say something, me waiting for him to disappear and for me to wake up.

  The man got tired of waiting though, “Hello,” he said in a raspy but charming voice, “sorry, bit parched. No matter how much water I seem to drink I’m still thirsty, you ever get like that?”

  I knew exactly what he meant, but shook my head anyway, the last thing I wanted was to have something in common with him.

  “Ah, well, that’s alright. My name’s Bishop, and you must be Miss Kylia Redmond,
correct?”

  I nodded, still not quite comfortable enough to say anything.

  “Good, very good. I must say, you look much better in person. Only picture I have was a copy of your ID card, and they’re not the most flattering, are they?”

  That time I didn’t bother with any sort of response, just let him sit in his creepiness a while.

  Didn’t stop him from talking though, “Quite… Anyway, on to the reason I’m here today. I’m in a great deal of danger, and so are you.”

  “What?”

  “Ah! She speaks!” he shouted hoarsely before letting out a little chuckle, “Anyway, yes, danger. As I said before, my name’s Bishop, and I used to work in IT for the government. Not as glamorous as it sounds, a lot of fixing printers and whatnot, but in that work I got good at keeping my mouth shut about what got printed once I fixed the printers, that’s the first reason I got hired. The second reason is that I’m an avid gamer, when Tarthirious first came out I was the one who found exploit after exploit and managed to pay off my debt before anyone else.”

  “You were the first citizen? Heh, sure mate, and I’m six five and have a cock the size of a tuna.”

  Sometimes I forget just how delightful I can be, but at least I was talking.

  Bishop smiled, “Well that’s good for you then, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that what I’m telling you is the truth. Where was I… Oh yes, paying off my debt. What happened after that was I was approached by some men that represented Frankie Lithfield, they had a job for me. They wanted me to be a part of a group of people who go into Tarthirious when a player gets too close to paying off their debt and ramp up their funds to the point that it’s investigated and… well, what happened to you, except normally the people end up in prison. Or kill themselves, or ‘kill themselves’.”

  “Oh…” I said understandingly, “So you’re just a horrible person. Gotcha.”

  “What? No! I don’t kill people, well, didn’t, I only had the most basic of training, and that was just meant for if anyone found out where I was and came for me. That’s not the point though, the point is that in a few moments two, maybe three men are going to come through that door, and, no matter what happens, you have to trust me.”