by K. T. Hanna
“Merlin, Dansyn, you’re with me. Cast when in range.” Together the three of them moved forward, the bard and Murmur using invisibility, and the ranger in sneak.
Storm Entertainment
Somnia Online Division—Suit delivery—Warehouse
Countdown: Six weeks before release
Ava Jackson and Shayla Johnson stood at the entrance to Warehouse Seven and watched the flurry of activity. The automated inventory system worked seamlessly with its self-operated forklifts.
Storm Corp certainly knew how to outfit its warehouses. They were the epitome of efficiency, once stock entered the warehouse anyway.
The suits arrived two days late and with a portion of one crate badly damaged. Shayla was barely holding it together. Ava could tell from the way her left eye occasionally twitched. It was never a good idea to upset Shayla.
Michael was nowhere to be seen, but James and Silke were scurrying around triple checking the remaining shipment. Even Luke, the head of the shipping department, had lost his usual cool. Not surprising really.
The whole future of Storm Entertainment—no, Storm Corp—depended on this launch. The release of a game for people to play in and forget about their real lives.
Ava was tempted to play it herself, but her cats would probably try to eat her alive.
“Make sure to address the situation both to the manufacturer and the shipping company.” Shayla muttered the words softly, and Ava made a note of them through her augmented reality contacts.
“Anything else?” Ava paused on sending it off, just in case.
Shayla looked at Ava and frowned. “Are you getting enough sleep?”
“Well, I have been testing the headgear for minor improvement and tweaks.” She laughed nervously.
“Testing. Did you take part in the alpha and beta tests too?”
Ava nodded enthusiastically. “I was part of the in-house testing team, which is why I agreed to help Michael test further. For implementation into the game, and the future training regimens we’ve begun designing.”
Shayla watched her for a few moments, thoughts flitting across her eyes so fast that Ava wondered if she could reach out and catch them. Suddenly Shayla nodded. “Yes. Michael then. Good. Thank you, Ava. That will be all.”
Ava was used to both Shayla and Laria’s abruptness. But whereas Laria oversaw the game design, Shayla was responsible for Somnia as a whole. Everything hinged on this.
Everything.
So Ava contacted Michael again, and agreed to help him after all.
Real World Day 2: Somnia Online
The left guard, who seemed to be a thief, froze perfectly, followed almost instantaneously by the right. Merlin’s arrow sailed true and strong, hitting Darjin in a small gap beneath his breastplate. The bandit leader roared so loudly that the whole cavern shook, and he leapt down from the dais, sprinting toward their group.
Devlish met him head on in a clash of metal, his shield protecting him from a deadly mace smash. This boss seemed far better at combat that any other named they’d previously encountered. Intuitive and smart. A thrill of excitement hummed around their small raid as each Fable member remembered other glory days.
DoT-ing Darjin, Murmur moved between the named and the targets she was keeping Mez’d, having already taken over Dan’s. It seemed to be going smoothly, and the stun rotation was working well, each of them coordinating precisely and announcing when they were taking their turns to interrupt spells and heals.
Murmur watched the left guard, wishing she had access to more useful spells already and angry at herself for not getting them.
And then Darjin’s health hit seventy-five percent.
A wave shot out from him, stunning every single one of the raid. Maybe two seconds, but Murmur watched as her Mesmerizes were simply wiped from the guards, helpless to stop it. By the time she was free of the stun and casting her first Mez, both of them were dangerously close to her, and those daggers didn’t look like fun. “Dan, right! Quick!”
Releasing the first Mez, it slammed into her guard when he was about six feet from her, freezing him in place with a look of rage contorting his face. She turned in time to see the second guard slashing toward her. Her movement was the only thing that saved what probably would have been a critical hit. Instead of taking it in her back, it slashed across her right arm and down, gouging a nasty hole in her stomach before Dan’s Mez hit it.
“Fuck!” She screamed as the pain hit her nervous system. A heated stinging sensation began to spread and she cursed again and called out, “Cure!”
“Lucky some of us got our level twelve spells.” Veranol muttered as he threw a cure in her direction, perspiration beading on his forehead as he cast his ass off.
“You’ll be laughing on the other side of your face if I can’t use my arm in another ten seconds.”
Her comment resulted in heals being thrown to her dwindling health by both Sin and Ver.
Gasping for breath, the pain still fresh in her mind, Murmur wove her hands in the spell that she could now cast in her sleep. Both guards taken care of, she took quick stock of the group. Both of the healers were still somewhat okay with mana, although they were by no means safe yet. With Darjin fast approaching fifty percent and them sitting at sixty she wasn’t sure if they could handle another unexpected hit. She watched Devlish and Rashlyn desperately swapping out aggro. They must have figured out something she couldn’t see from this far away.
“Make sure to watch out for that special ability. Be ready to act as soon as the stun drops.” She moved out of reach of both the guards, signaling to Dan to make sure he knew to grab his as well. Almost as an afterthought she added “Might want to be ready for something else too. We have no idea what he’s capable of.”
Beastial guffawed. “He’s a level fifteen boss, you really think he’s going to have more special abilities?”
Havoc shrugged. “He’s also a bandit leader. Maybe that’s another avenue you gain shit from here. These mobs don’t react like other games. Look at him parrying, shielding, blocking. His eyes are everywhere. It’s almost like he’s a real person.”
Murmur paused for a moment, noticing the same things Havoc just mentioned. She eyed Darjin’s health and turned to face her guard. “Watch out.”
At fifty percent the stun hit, harder, like a wave crashing. This time it ticked for about three seconds, and Murmur cursed under her breath as she watched the guard move ever closer as if it were in slow motion. At the same time as the stun wave, a DoT landed on all of them, disease ticking down, attacking their health.
Murmur grunted and cast her Mez as soon as she could, barely hitting the thief before he reached her. He was close to Darjin now—she’d have to reverse where she stood, maybe move back behind the others for the twenty-five percent mark. Too slowly, Veranol cured them all of the disease.
With a glance at all their sixtyish percent health bars and the mana of Sin and Veranol, Murmur sighed. This was going to be cutting it close. Twenty-five percent was going to be a doozy. She moved back behind the healers with Dan, to give the guards more of a running distance to reach them. It certainly wasn’t going to reduce the aggression those guards held for them.
Darjin’s health dropped below thirty and Murmur called out, “Logically, his stun should hit four seconds duration this time. Stack any protections you might have. Ward Dev if you can, Ver.”
The tanks grunted in response, their ability to even answer in unison somehow made Murmur feel better.
When Darjin’s health hit twenty-five percent, the cavern rocked.
The stun wave this time was caused by Darjin pounding the ground beneath him, effectively knocking back their melee. At the same time, the Mez dropped on the two guards and sure enough, they sprinted across the hall toward Mur. Murmur strained against the stun, irritated that she couldn’t figure out a way around it.
Her fingers flew as soon as she could move them, tracing the intricate symbols she needed in order to freeze one
of the guard’s minds. Releasing it, the guard stopped about three feet away, anger boiling to the surface of his gaze. She wasn’t even sure if taunting would help this time.
Moments after Dan’s froze, she took over, and nudged him to go and help the others. His slight healing regeneration would help the healers who were already strapped for mana as it was. She watched the rest of the fight, rapt, remembering to keep the guards locked in place and free from any damage that might break their state of rest.
Darjin was a masterpiece. He fought with a shield and a mace, protecting his vital parts, twisting and turning and countering multiple different attacks coming from all angles. If they hadn’t been able to stun lock him, there’s no way they would even be this close to defeating him. He was a monster. This dungeon was a challenge, and Darjin’s attacks only seemed to increase in fury as his health ticked down.
The strain showed on Devlish’s face as he battled front and center with the boss. Every now and again a bright aura shot around him that Murmur hadn’t noticed before, and she made a mental note to ask what it was. Regardless, it seemed to grant him strength, to allow him to take hits and complete actions that weren’t normal.
When Darjin finally fell, the ground shuddered again, and a huge gong resounded through all of their heads, even as Dev was taunting the next guard.
Darjin the Bandit Leader has been slain.
He has been vanquished for the first time, by the guild Fable.
While his soul rejuvenates, his duties are delegated to lesser, yet worthy opponents who reinforce his motto. The bandits are the daggers in the mist, and no one will see them coming.
“Aw yeah. Server first!” Merlin danced, as Dev broke the Mez on the right-hand guard. The thief was going to be a pain, blending in and out of the shadows as the group targeted him. Although he seemed to grow more frustrated with each moment as the DoTs on him didn’t allow him to stay melded for long.
“Darjin wasn’t just a shaman,” grunted Veranol. “He’s a defiler. I think it might be like you, Mur. A branch off of some sort. Fucking-A. I want to be that strong. Really hoping that this hidden path I’m on opens up the defiler tree.”
“Wow.” Murmur glanced back at the body waiting to be looted and the glow around it. “I want you to be that strong.”
Veranol laughed. “So glad Sinister contacted us. You could do with being a little more social yourself, Mur. All those lonely thoughts in your head can’t be the best of company.”
She shrugged, maintaining the final mob in her grasp. “I’m not lonely as long as I have you guys. Besides, as long as I don’t argue with myself, it should be fine.”
Veranol watched her for a moment and shook his head. “Well, I’m glad to be fighting by your side.”
Murmur smiled and focused on the last guard, hopping out of its way until Dev managed to get a hold on its aggro.
“It really hates you.” Dev said with a grin.
She laughed. “Getting used to that. By the way, what was that bright light thing you were using?”
Dev smiled, even through a grunt. “I listened to my trainer. Just like you said. I don’t have a different class yet, but I do have a hidden skill. It lets me pull on anger from myself and my allies and channel it at my opponent. It’s like a two-fold thing. I only just figured it out.”
“That’s freaking awesome.” Murmur smiled as the last guard fell.
They cheered while Sin bitched about having no mana and not enough life of her own to replenish it, and then they looted the defiler.
“Hey Mur, come get this.” Dev motioned her to come over from where she’d just sat down. Even though she glared at him, she still stood up and walked over. He held up an odd crystal; it had jagged sections jutting out of an otherwise smooth, ball-like body. It was mostly clear at the ends, but clouded in the middle. Inspecting it revealed it was a Midia crystal.
She shrugged. “Guess I’ll hold onto that?”
Dev nodded.
She peeked into the loot, seeing nothing amazing, except a small black disc-shaped rock. It glittered when she looked at it, but when she touched it, it flashed at her brightly for moment, causing her to cover her eyes. Once her sight readjusted, an update blazed across her screen.
It seems you’ve discovered what Belius was looking for. While in the Obsidian Forest Darjin came across the artifact, taking it and its powers for himself. Return this to your trainer, and find out what secrets it holds.
Murmur blinked. Well, that was a fantastically vague update, yet again.
Veranol was hooting around the cavern, dancing a little jig. “Shaman archetype only. Shaman archetype only!”
She noticed his weapons hadn’t changed. “Level cap?”
He scowled. “Yeah. Have to be fourteen to use them.”
Murmur grinned. “Something to work toward then.”
“Guess what?” Havoc asked the group, stretching as he stood up. “Time to hand that bloody quest in.”
The sun was high in the sky when Fable finally entered Ululate. It seemed a full day had passed in the game world, and maybe a little more. Murmur shielded her eyes in the bright, crowded city square, which was more circular than square. Why did people call things what they weren’t?
Adventurers and NPCs alike were squashing around them, and her slight claustrophobia decided to skyrocket. She could feel the pulse in her own body, pushing against her skin as her heart beat so loudly it threatened to deafen her. It was all Murmur could do to remember to breathe as they pushed their way through the crowd. Finally, they made it to the town hall, where the throng of people eased, and she was able to regain control of her breathing.
Murmur went to speak to the luna lady at the front desk. Brown doe eyes regarded her for a moment before her soft snout melted into a smile. “You’re from Fable. Fantastic. The mayor is waiting for you.” She stood up and led them through the long hall to the end, which opened into a large room.
The mayor sat at an enormous wooden table that appeared to have been carved out of one solid tree trunk. Several other luna discussed something in hushed tones with him. Upon spying their entry, the man stood and approached them, his hand outstretched in greeting. Murmur clasped his hand, making sure to be firm in her own grip so that no one mistook her for being weak.
Mayor Dul’uak raised an eyebrow. “A psionicist. I see, then, how you managed to defeat the bandit! Come, come! Sit where you will.” He motioned vaguely at the table.
Dev was the first one to lean his hip against it, whereas Jinna just hauled himself up on it. Murmur remained standing.
“You’ve come for your reward then,” he announced, the smile reaching his eyes and making the soft brown sparkle with flecks of gold. “You may each choose an item that would best accompany you on your adventures. Let Lady Mila at the front know on your way out. She handles all such affairs for me. If your item is not readily available, we will endeavor to have it by the end of today.”
Murmur ran over in her head what she might want, knowing that most of her gear needed serious upgrades. But the bandits hadn’t dropped anything better than she’d already had. She wasn’t sure how to respond, but decided politeness never went astray. “Thank you, Mayor Dul’uak.”
“As for your efforts, I also reward you with gold, and name you friends of Ululate.”
Murmur’s log ticked over with a ching sound. She activated the feed and saw, to her surprise, they’d been given fifty gold each, with a note about twenty extra gold, probably because they killed it first. “Thank you. That’s very generous.”
The mayor guffawed and slapped her on the back so hard she coughed. “That’s the least I can do. And maybe, with generous rewards, you’ll one day help us scare off the demons camped behind us in that dastardly castle.”
Behind the city of Ululate, toward the marshlands of Vahrir, stands an abandoned castle on a jagged outcrop. Denizens of deadlier times reside here, strengthened by the blood of thousands who have tried to clear the castle of their inf
luence, who have tried to rescue the region from their shadows. It is said this keep holds a key. One day, in the not too distant future, events will come to a head. Make sure you are ready when they do.
Murmur could see from the reactions of the others—they’d all just received the same quest of vagueness.
Dismissed from the mayor, Murmur pushed through to the front of the group again and approached Lady Mila. “Hi, M’lady.”
Mila looked up at Murmur, a smile gracing her lips. Lunas looked frightening when they smiled, since their smiles exposed canine teeth in all their glory. “Yes, Lady Murmur.”
Someone in the group behind her snickered, followed shortly by a groan. Sin had probably elbowed whoever it was. Murmur ignored them and continued. “Might I ask if it’s possible to imbue a piece of armor with the Mental Acuity attribute?”
Mila blinked at her and frowned. “Well, it is possible, it just requires a master of the trade.”
She paused, eyes distant for a moment. Murmur wondered if the NPCs actually used a chat interface to talk to each other. The more she observed these generated people, the more real they appeared. “Actually, the mayor didn’t place restrictions on you, so yes, you may request such an item.”
“Why, thank you.” Murmur returned the lady’s smile, inwardly gleeful that this was possible. “I’d like a necklace that can add on to my Mental Acuity limit please. Even if it means I have to wait a few levels to use it.”
Mila smiled. “That is a wise choice. It may take longer than the end of today to obtain this, is that satisfactory?”
Murmur nodded, pleased she’d thought of it. “I must go meet my trainer. Thank you very much for your help today.”
Lady Mila bowed her head briefly, her teeth shining through her smile.
“Guys, I have to go, hope the cart is there!” Murmur dashed out of the building before anyone else could answer her, and flew down to the gate just in time to see Jan arriving to drop people off.
Heaving a sigh of relief, she waited until the travelers had disembarked before greeting Jan. “Hey there!”
