Stay on the Wing

by Michael Atamanov

  "Yeah, I know. But don't come into the room. There's a player in here over level 70, and you've still got the criminal marker for all to see. I'm gonna give the girl the headband now and go out into the hallway. We can think about what to do next together."

  "Fenrir's heir?" I asked, latching onto the girl’s incautious words. I then said with feigned surprise: "This is huge evil wolf tall as house with two story? You are must confused, Darina. Your aunt... how is little kid saying... she normal person, not lady of wolf. No is head-sick zoophile, making unnatural such couple. And also, hard to imagine how to start process with such size in difference."

  The girl didn't answer, just smiled barely perceptibly with the very corners of her lips. But then, her brother couldn't hold back and burst out laughing, which garnered him a stiff wallop from his aunt.

  "Is that all, Amra?" Belle asked, no longer trying to hide her annoyance.

  "Almost. Last topic and goblin is leave. Amra is also having quest long time. It may is boring and not so unusual as with Belle pretending pregnant. Goblin to be in Stonetown. Man in there is asking goblin to look for owner of headband to return lost-and-found item. Saying only vague: 'niece and nephew of pregnant human woman, were live in Stonetown, but is leave, not known where.' Honest admitting, I was thinking that mission is useless and 'jammed' — real bad hard finding such people in huge Boundless Realm. But before eyes, I seeing pregnant human aunt lady. See nephew. See niece. So Amra is ask kids: you in Stonetown no is losing this headband so pretty with all colorful?"

  The girl turned in hesitation to her severe aunt, awaiting her reaction, but then lowered her eyes. The boy then unexpectedly stood from the floor and extended an arm demandingly:

  "That's mine! Dara gave it to me so I could keep my long hair out of my eyes!"

  "You're mistaken, Darius," the lady said with tension in her voice. "We were never in Stonetown. It's just a similar headband."

  The child somehow shrank and collapsed. Nevertheless, I managed to slip him the band:

  "Here! Goblin is give for you! This long hair go in back, not in front of seeing!"

  Mission completed: The Gray Pack's Past

  Experience received: 2000 Exp.

  Ability gained: you may now include Wargs in the Gray Pack

  On the mini-map, the yellow NPC child marker changed to green — the character was now friendly to me. Taking advantage of the spontaneous break, I got a second headband out and handed it to the girl:

  "Here! Goblin is see that you is want, but of shame to ask. Gift for you!"

  Passive use of artifact: Ring of Fenrir

  Successful Charisma check

  Experience received: 16 Exp.

  Despite the druid’s angry shout and the obvious threat of punishment, Darina decisively grabbed the headband from me and placed it in her dress pocket.

  Hidden mission completed: Gray Pack's Past (additional, wolves)

  Experience received: 4000 Exp.

  Charisma increased by +2

  Default relationship improved by +5 with all NPC creatures of the following types: Dogs, Wolves, Wargs, Volkodlaks, Rougarous, Canine Chimeroids, Hellhounds

  "Get out of my room!" Belle Sweetypie demanded, her voice raising to a shriek and her eyes growing dark with rage.

  I understood that, if I didn't get out of the druid's room immediately, the high-level player would attack me and, naturally, kill me quickly. So, I hurried to apologize and leave, closing the door behind me. My heart was beating frantically in anxiety. From behind the door, I heard Belle screaming, reproaching her "niece and nephew," but I smiled to the wood nymph, who was standing a few steps from me:

  "It worked! Alright, there's nothing else keeping us here. Let's go down to the dining hall, get the goblins fed, give Irek and Yunna the new duds we took off the star-crossed lovers and get the hell out of here."

  When we reached the stairs, my sister started bombarding me with questions:

  "So, did you see Dar and Dara? Were they really wargs? Can they be included in the Gray Pack?"

  "They're the pets of a level-78 druid, and the player is not prepared to give up her acolytes. But I gave them the headband and completed the quest so, if we do come across any wargs now, we could try and take control of them and add them to the Gray Pack."

  They'd just brought in the goblins' dinner. The fat chef was setting plates on the table. Time was of the essence, so I asked Taisha and Tamina Fierce's children to wolf down the food then, together with Valerianna Quickfoot, went to visit the trade depot. Kobolds being night creatures, there was little surprising in the fact that the trader was awake to greet us in a room piled high with boxes and bales.

  Would you like to choose Poisoner (A I) as a secondary skill?

  I needed a few seconds to figure out why I'd gotten that message: Belle Sweetypie had begun eating her specially seasoned dinner. No, I didn't take the "Poisoner" skill, but my mood was dramatically increased — the high-level druid would not be able to take her combat form for some time, so we didn’t have to worry about dangerous aggressive animals. And that was perfectly fine by me.

  "For some reason, he's only got trash," the wood nymph said, frowning in dissatisfaction as she looked over the kobold merchant’s truly modest assortment. "Big ears, it looks like we've already outgrown all the equipment and weapons they suppose might be of use to the newbies who come upon this place. Hold up, someone's calling my cellphone."

  The wood nymph froze motionless — my sister went afk. Meanwhile, my gaze caught on a pair of short spears with wide flat tips — they seemed well suited to a pair of goblin wolf-riders. They could be used from wolfback, or standing. The merchant didn't accept bank notes, so I had to pay in coins — ten pieces of silver for each spear. After counting the money I gave him two times, the shop owner strung the seven-sided silver coins with holes in the middle onto a leather strap and hung it from his neck.

  I realized a bit belatedly that I had slightly too much in the way of bank notes from the Most Reliable Bank of Gremlins and the Subterranean Bank of Thorin the Ninth. I opened my finance window once again and couldn't believe the reality of what was happening — I now had promissory notes from Boundless Realm banks to the tune of over eighty-six thousand coins! Could it really be that over eight thousand players had bought my paid video clip on how to hatch and raise a wyvern? It seemed they had! And at that, the sum was gradually increasing before my very eyes — the sales were ongoing. I'd have to make my way to some big city to cash in these notes soon. I already had up to eight thousand credits worth. That could provide Val and I with a decent car! And if I could get another two thousand credits, I'd be able to afford biotic prostheses for my sister.

  The mavka started moving again — my sister was back in the game.

  "It was Max Sochnier. He's also been reading the Boundless Realm game forum and, to put it lightly, he's in shock. The mess on the forums just won't die down. There's a bunch of new petitions demanding they confiscate your flying mount. As an argument, they're writing that you had an unfair advantage, exclusively available to goblins — the method of hatching the egg was known only to the NPC shaman Kaiak Badgerleg, and he would only share it with other goblins. A player of any other race wouldn't have such hints on how to grow a wyvern from an egg, and the fetus would have surely died. The admins are doing their best to call for patience, assuring the players that they'll announce a decision on the wyvern tomorrow. Max is asking if we need his help. He says he could get the ogre fortifier, too. Apparently, they’re both well rested and are ready to enter the game. Max can pick Leon up in his car, and they could both be in Boundless Realm in forty minutes."

  "Yeah, have them both come!" I replied, joyful at the unexpected help of my friends. "Tell them we'll meet up in forty minutes at the forest encampment, then we can keep going from there together. By the way, ask the naiad when the merchant ship comes to the Ookaa docks. Max Sochnier once told me about a sailboat that comes once a week with human NPC merchants t
o buy up the fish caught by the undersea residents."

  My sister "froze up" for another few seconds, then said elatedly:

  "Tim, you're a genius! The merchants should be coming tomorrow at the crack of dawn. They'll only be there for an hour, then they go on to some far-off islands. If we can get on that ship, it would be a very unexpected tack for our pursuers!"

  * * *

  Unfortunately, we were not simply allowed to leave the inn in peace. Just a hundred steps past the gates, I saw Belle Sweetypie five meters ahead of me in the dark forest, accompanied by her niece and nephew. Over the big-bellied lady's head, there was a black skull symbol hovering ominously — the player surpassed me by over fifty levels. And though the druid didn't have any apparent weaponry in hand, she didn't really need to. The druid’s strength was her ability to morph into a predatory beast at any moment. Considering the fact she was level seventy-eight and had very well-leveled combat skills, Belle Sweetypie could take us all down in a matter of seconds.

  "First, let’s just talk," the woman said with a predatory smile, noticing the criminal marker over the wood nymph's head with satisfaction. "'Just talk' means I talk and you answer honestly and in detail. If your answers are to my liking, I might let you go. Except the mavka — I'll be sending her to respawn no matter what, because it is not in my habit to let lawbreakers off scot free."

  "Why so lopsided? I'd also like to ask a few questions to such an interesting character as yourself," I said, understanding that I was being quite impudent, but not prepared to audition for the role of helpless victim. "First, answer me honestly: are you really carrying Fenrir’s child?"

  The druid winced in discontent. I suspect that Belle thought we would be shaking in fear when we saw her, terrified to make a peep and risk upsetting such a strong player. But our calm demeanor astonished her. And also, my big-eared goblin's ability to speak normally, I suppose, came as an unpleasant surprise as well. I thought the woman might not answer my question, but she did anyway:

  "Alright, I'll answer that one question. Yes, I was one of the many wolves in the Gray Pack. One day, I caught the Pack Leader's attention. It was in the last days of Fenrir, when the Gray Pack didn't even have a tenth of its former numbers. We had just lost three battles in a row, and all our strongest and most battle-hardened predators were dead. They had once formed the military backbone of the Gray Pack, so we were done for. Players hunted us down day and night, chasing us into the impassable swamps east of the city of Lars. Fenrir was wise and understood perfectly that the end was near. But while the Leader was alive, the pack continued to fight. That moonless night, the Great Leader lay with me, then ordered me to go and take all the pups over an unsteady dike his wargs were building by placing branches over the bog. Initially, there were around ten pups, but only these two managed to make it through the swamp," the druid said, pointing at Darius and Darina. "A few days later, I found out that Fenrir had fallen heroically in an uneven battle with undying, and his Pack was disintegrated. At that time, a chain of unique quests started for me about rebuilding the Gray Pack. I am carrying Fenrir's heir, and my child may one day rally the beasts of this forest and lead the Pack back to its former greatness!"

  Mission received: Leader of the Gray Pack

  Mission class: Rare, group

  Description: The Gray Pack can only have one Leader. Eliminate your competition!!!

  Attention! If you die, the chance of losing the object Ring of Fenrir (cursed item) in this battle has been increased to 100%

  Reward: 8000 Exp., +1 to maximum Gray Pack member limit (up to seven)

  The druid went on for a bit longer, giving a passionate retelling of how she confused the tracks and found a new place to live, all the while avoiding encounters with other players. Then, she described how she went into the wild unknown parts of Boundless Realm and taught the two surviving warg pups how to behave properly in human society and how to approach humans. But suddenly, the woman clammed up and looked at me in surprise as if she was seeing me for the first time.

  "Well, well! How interesting. It's been a long time since any mission about the Gray Pack updated for me. Probably two months at this point. So then, Amra, you must understand perfectly that I can no longer let you go alive. Attack!"

  At the very beginning of the druid's long speech, I already understood that our encounter would not be ending peacefully. For that reason, I’d already given my sister a curt warning and prepared my throwing net, taking it into my hands and starting to wind up. I had no desire to attack first and get the criminal marker for myself but, if there was aggression against me or any of my allies, I was prepared to strike back at a moment’s notice.

  Despite the gravity of the moment, I was forced to laugh as I watched the enemy camp start a maneuver that looked like a high-speed striptease competition. Both Belle's niece and nephew managed to undress in a matter of seconds and get down on all fours, quickly changing their appearance to that of fur-covered long-legged toothy predators. The druid also removed all her clothing but one piece, probably placing them in her inventory, then fell down onto all fours. But, unlike her pets, the druid didn't change appearance, remaining a big-bellied vulnerable human woman.

  I cast my net at the druid, hoping to immobilize our strongest enemy.

  Exotic Weapons skill increased to level 7!

  But then, my sister completely surprised me — the figure of the wood nymph instantly split into two, then both copies did the same. Now, there were four identical mavkas running in different directions and starting to cast freezing spells on the still-kneeling pregnant lady. The wargs took bounding leaps at the nearest figure but when they tried to bite the delicate green-haired girl, they found themselves jumping through a phantom.

  Belle gave a few twitches, trying to find the path of least resistance, then saw the wolves running across the field and the wyvern darting downward and... exited the game!

  She was attempting an emergency logoff in the hope that we wouldn't manage to kill her character within thirty seconds, at which point she should disappear. Considering the huge number of hitpoints she had (many of her primary skills leveled Constitution), her incredibly high resistances and her well-leveled damage-absorption skill Thick Skin, the tactic just might have worked. But Belle Sweetypie, whether out of inexperience or ignorance of game mechanics, missed one very important factor—althoughshe had yet to attack anyone, her warg pets had already managed to come at my sister, thus giving their master a thirty-minute delay before she could leave Boundless Realm. If she had ordered them to attack me or any of the goblins accompanying me, Belle Sweetypie would have become a criminal, and the leaving penalty would have been eight whole hours, but a half hour was plenty for us, given no resistance.

  After losing their connection to their master, and not receiving new commands, both wargs simply laid down on the ground and looked on indifferently as dozens of malicious hornets stung the woman's body, goblins poked her with spears and daggers, and enraged wolves tried to damage the high-level druid. The wyvern, meanwhile, was spitting down acid from above. My sister was trying out various spells from her magical arsenal, blanketing the kneeling woman with a sheet of ice, or shooting her with icicles. Belle Sweetypie's life bar was going down very quickly, and had already reached the red zone. I also shot a few thorns from my blowgun, but both times did no damage and just placed the weapon back in my inventory, as it was no longer needed. Finished! All told, it took us a little under a minute.

  Experience received: 780 Exp.

  Achievement unlocked: Player killer (5)

  I got "Player Killer?" That meant one of my NPC pets must have made the final blow. The experience gain was quite paltry, though that wasn't too surprising — we had to share the prize with a fairly large crowd.

  I stopped Irek and Taisha from throwing themselves at the defenseless wargs, and also ordered the Gray Pack to lie down and get some rest. My attention was drawn by a frantically pulsating game icon, the one used for controlling
mounts and pets. Oh, that was new! New lines had appeared in the Gray Pack settings, but only the first two were available to choose:

  Young female warg, level 18

  Young male warg, level 19

  Garm, level 0 (inactive)

  Garm?! I tried selecting the last line a few times, but it never worked. What was more, the line quickly went pale and I watched as the words slowly faded into nothingness. "Garm, the greatest of dogs…" The huge four-eyed monster from Scandinavian mythology must have not been born yet. It was a great pity to miss out on the unique creature, but I was forced to make do with what I had. I put a tick next to the two wargs, confirming their inclusion in the Gray Pack. A moment later, the NPC triangles changed color from red to blue — allies.

  But the quest wasn't considered complete–something must have remained unfinished. I walked up to the body of the druid lady and opened the loot window. Coins, nearly two hundred. Raw meat. Two vials of human blood. A pair of woman's boots with unknown properties. There it was! A dark metal chain with a pendant stylized in the form of a predatory claw.

  Fenrir's Claw amulet (unique item)

  Gives +250 Constitution, +250 Strength, +50% resistance to physical damage, +50 to reaction of the following creatures: Dogs, Wolves, Wargs, Volkodlaks

  Attention! Your character's level is too low to use this object

  Requisite level: 125

  Based on that, the level-78 Belle Sweetypie had also been unable to use this object and was just carrying it around "to grow into." As soon as I took the amulet in my hands, the quest finally completed:

  Mission completed: Leader of the Gray Pack