"Angelica Wayward is a fully fledged undying, but I'm not!" Taisha blurted out in reply, nearly screaming. Angry tears started welling up in the girl's eyes immediately. "The dryad had a whole arsenal of the best and most expensive cosmetics. What's more, she dresses so flagrantly and behaves defiantly sexually. All the men always turn to look at her. I can't act like that, and don't want to!"
That must mean I had guessed, and the problem wasn't just Taisha and her bad manners. The Dryad Dancer and her provocative ways had made a very strong and onerous impression on the goblin girl. Now it was at least clear what to say in this case and how to reassure the upset beauty.
"Taisha, if you started behaving like that Dryad Dancer, I'd throw you out on the first island we came across and try to forget about you as fast as possible. I value you for entirely different qualities and would get very upset if you tried to imitate the lewd undying lady."
The green-skinned thief girl was standing in thought, then she returned into my cabin nevertheless and closed the door.
+10 to Taisha's opinion of you
"Maybe I really did give in to my emotions and act foolish. Forgive me if I did. It was just that Angelica Wayward put the devil in me today. She behaves like she's sovereign ruler on White Shark. When they see the naked dryad, all the sailors are dumbstruck and obediently do whatever she orders. And after the way Angelica danced for the crew on the upper deck, the orc pirates went in droves after her with wild eyes and caught every word, racing one another to fulfill her every wish."
I listened carefully to Taisha and frowned all the harder. I'm no specialist in the skills and abilities of dryads. It was better to ask my sister — she'd studied the issue. It must have been that Angelica Wayward had placed charms on my entire pirate crew. And meanwhile, the goblin beauty continued her tale:
"This evening, when the storm had slightly subsided, I saw the bay on the horizon with a bunch of fires and tons of sails. A big port. And though the first mate was categorically opposed to going there, Angelica Wayward wanted to see it. And the crew agreed! They nearly mutinied, demanding the dryad's wish be fulfilled! Ziabash Hardy and Shaman Ghuu couldn't do a thing, and were forced to agree. They just ordered the black flag lowered, and for the banner of a trade ship to be raised. The Dryad Dancer returned to the ship only a few hours later. And the Ogre Fortifier, who went ashore with her, was dragging all these vessels of perfume and boxes," Taisha pointed at the shelf of cosmetics.
"Stop, stop! The White Shark went into port?! Were there undying there?" I asked, immediately alarmed.
The huge ogre was quite head-turning all on his own. It was hard to miss him coming down a street. But if he was accompanied by the naked dryad, the couple were sure to have attracted attention. I'd mentioned the name Shrekson Bastard in my video clips several times, and even shown the Ogre Fortifier’s face more than once. He was probably in the list of players being tracked. His appearance in the port must have been noted, and messages on his discovery were probably sent to interested clans. It wouldn't be very hard to connect the Ogre Fortifier's arrival to port with White Shark docking. Or, they could have just followed the titan and watched to see what ship he was returning to. This was the end of the secret of Amra’s flight from the Island of the Wanton Widow... Didn't Leon himself understand that?! So, were there living players in the port or not?
Unfortunately, Taisha didn't know the answer to that question. The goblin girl herself didn't go ashore — first of all, no one had offered to take her and second, the thief girl was afraid of leaving the ship and getting lost. According to Taisha, after returning to the bireme, the dryad had thrown a fit to the titan, demanding he immediately take up his tools and make her some little cabinets to store her personal things. In doing so, the dryad had both cursed the ogre decisively, and made obvious remarks to the titan about the reward that awaited him for his labor. The goblin girl was put out the door fairly unceremoniously, and the howling of the saw and knocking of the hammer from the captain's bunk were interspersed with passionate groans for some time. Only when night fell had both undying left Boundless Realm and then Taisha returned to the cabin.
"The dryad called me a 'stupid bot,' and wasn't polite at all. She talked to the titan as if I wasn't even there, like I was a piece of furniture or an empty spot. You don't even know how insulting it was!"
"And what did they talk about, if it's not a secret?"
Taisha shrugged her shoulders and admitted that she didn't understand even half of what the undying had said in her presence. But the dryad’s offensive words and disdainful remarks hadn't upset the thief girl so much as her behavior.
"Amra, the way Angelica acted for those orc pirates was disgusting to watch! The Dryad Dancer was constantly in a crowd of pirates, provoking them with her behavior and appearance, allowing all takers to paw at her, laughing at their filthy jokes and giving out lecherous promises. The Dryad Dancer teased the hot and bothered wild males all day, constantly walking the line, balancing on the blade of a knife. At times, it seemed to me that the lustful, drooling crowd would throw themselves on the dryad at any minute and rape her. But Angelica behaved as if that was totally normal. She simply lapped up the attention of all the men, leading the crowd and controlling it. These wild orcs were prepared to do anything just to get a tiny bit of attention from the naked dancer!"
"And how did Shrekson react to all this?" I wondered.
"The giant was very jealous of the others, but didn't dare oppose her and was always racing off to fulfill the Dryad Dancer's every wish. I'll admit, I even felt bad for him. Especially when he watched wide-eyed as his girlfriend kissed, hugged, and pawed at other men. But he didn't dare intervene and stop all the nonsense. I even..."
Taisha stopped her speech mid-word, because a bluish aura suddenly flickered up in the middle of the room. A crouching Valerianna Quickfoot slowly materialized inside it. My sister had entered the game? Strange. When I left, she was about to go to sleep.
"Hello, Taisha!" the green-haired girl greeted the NPC thief, stood to her feet, turned around and saw me. "There was no other way for me to get in touch with you, Tim. You aren't answering your phone, so I had to load up Boundless Realm."
"Has something happened?" I asked, getting on guard, as I could hear panic in Val's voice.
"You could say that, Tim. Some lady I don't know came into our apartment. She opened the door with her own keys and came in without knocking. She said her name is Kira and that she owns the apartment. Quite young, and tall. She's rude and has red hair like a fox. She was asking about you, but I answered that you were at work. Then she put on a dressing gown and fluffy slippers and went into the kitchen. She said that pizza and soda was bad for my young body and that she'd make me a decent dinner. Tim, is all this ok?"
Despite all her impressive, and I'd even say exceptional abilities in virtual games, Valeria remained the very same home-body thirteen-year-old girl in real life, timid in conversation with other people and not at all accustomed to the idea that a stranger might come into her apartment. I hurried to reassure my sister not to be afraid, and said that Kira really was the owner of the apartment.
"But she said she'd be staying the night!" Val said, notes of obvious panic slipping through in her voice.
On top of the little girl's stress, she now had to spend the night under the same roof as a total stranger, even if it was the owner of her apartment! In the virtual game, my sister wasn't afraid to fight in the dark night, at an unquiet cemetery with a whole host of ghastly undead, but in the real world, Valeria was very shy and easily embarrassed.
"Tim, she left the kitchen, and she's coming this way!!! Bye! I need to leave Boundless Realm right now before Kira sees you on the ship!"
"Hold up, Val! There's no need to exit! You don't even have to turn off the monitor — I'm sure Kira isn't taking part in the hunt for the wyvern. She has no need for it. In fact, give her the microphone. I want to talk with her."
If Valeria was surprised, she d
idn't show it. I listened to my sister's indistinct explanation, then Valerianna Quickfoot's voice in the game changed:
"Hello, Timothy! Your videos are almost always first person. I feel like I’ve never seen Amra. You're such a big-eared little cutie! And who's the curvy barbie next to you? Ah, this must be that Taisha you're always droning on about. She really is a rare beauty for a goblin. Clearly not just a common model, but a character handmade by designers."
+10 to Taisha's opinion of you
It was funny to watch the green-skinned Taisha blush in embarrassment and lower her eyes to the floor. It was strange as well, of course. Normal NPC's in virtual worlds were programmed to entirely ignore things said by players not directly concerning them or the game. But the thief girl was listening carefully to the conversation of the undying about another world, and even reacting to it. I wondered how much of it all she understood.
Kira told me that she had returned by plane an hour ago from the designer clothing exhibition and immediately headed to my see my sister and me, as she was very worried for us and wanted to personally make sure that the unpleasant story with the gang trap had ended favorably. According to the beautiful redhead, she was horribly burnt out after the long day, and so just wanted to get some sleep in whatever room was available, if my sister wasn't opposed. I couldn't make out Val's reply, but it didn't seem like she'd objected.
"That's great, then! Dinner is almost ready. And it isn't that factory plastic you poison yourselves with, but natural and healthy food. So then, Valeria, go wash up and take your seat! And I don't want to hear any nonsense about you already being full."
Valerianna Quickfoot smiled laboriously at me, crouched down and exited Boundless Realm. As soon as the silhouette of the wood nymph had entirely faded, Taisha threw herself at me with questions. The girl was shaking with curiosity and impatience. But here then I, having long noticed the unhidden interest of my NPC companion in any information on the life of the undying, sniffed out an excellent opportunity to negotiate and, at the same time, have a heart-to-heart discussion with Taisha.
"Weren't you going to go sleep in the nook with the servants?"
The thief girl grew obviously ashamed and, smiling uncertainly, answered:
"Amra, I've already apologized for my behavior. Yes, I was wrong, but I explained myself. If you'd like, I can tell you how stupid I was again. You can even call me a silly girl, if that will make things better. I won't get offended."
"Taisha, that's too much," I laughed. "I'd just like to avoid such misunderstandings in the future, because they cause problems in our relationship. And the best way to do that is for me to get to understand you better. I'd like at least to have complete information on your condition, skills and abilities. Ideally, I'd like to see your potential reaction to my actions in advance so I don't make such stupid errors in the future, too."
The thief girl thought for a moment, then decided to argue:
"Only skills. Everything else is too personal."
"No, Taisha. It's too little to understand you. It's important for me to see your hitpoints, endurance and hunger, opinion of me, all skills and characteristics. I mean, you demanded I become more agile than you. How am I supposed know your Agility in the first place? What if I've already surpassed you there long ago, but you won't admit it?! I have no interest in your inventory or wallet, and would never claim control over your actions. I'll even remove the demand to know your reaction in advance — that one really does seem a bit extreme to me. No girl would agree to be read like an open book, so others could shamelessly take advantage of their moments of weakness."
"That's better, but I still need to think seriously," my NPC bride warned me, and the world started lagging, becoming a slide-show of separate pictures.
Once again, the Boundless Realm servers lacked the power to calculate my companion's reaction... I didn't think I'd put the girl in such a difficult position this time, but for some reason, the beautiful NPC had a very serious outlook on my request to see her statistics. It was as if Taisha wasn't even there... I led my hand before the girl's eyes a few times, but no reaction followed. Still frozen.
Five minutes passed, then the surrounding world abruptly "caught back up with itself," but Taisha still looked like nothing but a lifeless wax statue. Leaving the girl in peace, I left the captain's cabin and headed out to inspect my ship. I was strongly upset by the tale of the chaos wrought here during the day, and the charms the Dryad Dancer had placed on the pirate crew. And unfortunately, I'd heard the truth — the first mate, with untold joy at my arrival, fully confirmed the words of the NPC thief girl about the crew getting out of control.
Ziabash Hardy also told me that, in the port of Piren, where White Shark had docked this evening, he had seen several undying watching the Ogre Fortifier and Dryad Dancer closely, then milling about on the pier near the anchored bireme. It seemed my worst fears had come true.
"I should have just thrown that damned chest overboard while I had the chance!" I flared up angrily.
"Captain Amra, it's hard for me to talk about it, but the truth of the matter is that, in the case of a conflict between our undying, the crew would be sure to side with the Dryad Dancer. Only a few sailors remain true to their captain, I among them. But we'd just lose numbers in the case of a big fight."
I already understood that perfectly. Having beguiled my orcish crew with her witchery, Angelica Wayward was just one step away from becoming master of White Shark. I guess I should have listened to the sage advice of my sister and immediately gotten rid of the dangerous creature on my pirate bireme, even though it would have ruined my friendship with Leon. I was sure Shrekson would still be on the side of his flame now, would find justifications for her behavior and say that the dryad had yet to do anything bad to the captain of White Shark. It would have been good to speak with Leon or at least send him a message before taking any action against the ticketless passenger.
By the way... it turned out I had two unread private messages from the Ogre Fortifier. The first had been written by Leon this morning:
"For some reason, we never are in Boundless Realm at the same time to talk. You mostly play at night, and I can only play during the day. We're just living out of sync. I wanted to tell you that I might not be with our gaming team for a little while due to issues in real life. I've hired lawyers to start the divorce process. Yes, Timothy, I've made the difficult decision. Twenty long years I've been in the family yoke. My wife and three daughters, meanwhile, have spent the whole time taking advantage of me. They've squeezed me dry. My family only wanted my money, and they didn't give a damn about my desires, interests or dreams. After talking with Veronica, it was like my eyes were opened. I saw the light and suddenly understood that I could have achieved much more if not for my tunnel vision in the past and pointlessly wasted years."
Well there's a twist... It was hard for me to form my own opinion on Leon taking such a consequential decision without knowing all the details of what had happened. No matter what, I wasn't planning on judging the former construction worker out of hand — maybe he and Veronica really were in love. Maybe it was a boundless love that simply washed away everything in its path. But now, at least, Shrekson's behavior in the game was becoming more clear.
The Ogre Fortifier had written the last message three hours earlier, before he'd exited Boundless Realm together with his new mistress:
"Timothy, I thought I should write you some commentary so you wouldn’t take Veronica's behavior in the game the wrong way, and all the more-so so you wouldn't think her a perverted nymphomaniac trying to tempt your pirate crew. She really has a very rare talent. She's a genius and beauty in real life, who set herself a high goal and is confidently pursuing it. In the virtual world, though, Veronica is a very particular and complex character to play. You know. The dryad dancer gains experience by dancing and speaking with members of the male sex. Tempting them with her evident availability, teasing, but never allowing anything. This is a very subtle
gameplay style that simply must be seen to be understood. After a few mistakes at the beginning of the game, Angelica learned brilliantly how to balance on the edge, earning good experience and money. Just imagine it: she's already reached level thirty-five without ever picking up a weapon or killing anyone! And she is stopping direct streams of her gameplay now, even though that was her main source of income. She understands that, otherwise, the viewers will see the location of White Shark and her captain."
Just as I expected, Leon saw only the good in his girlfriend. I then started thinking, staring into the distant night. Maybe we were demonizing the dryad too much. She never killed anyone and didn’t even have weapons or weapon skills. After all, a corporate tester has to gain experience somehow. She's just playing the best she can. For her character, this is natural and normal. All the same, insuring myself against possible foul play wouldn't be a bad idea...
"Captain Amra," the first mate broke off my considerations. "There's one more aspect that's upsetting me. When we left the port of Piren, Angelica performed a strange ritual with our ship — she broke a bottle on the bow filled with fresh blood. She said: 'To good fortune.' The dryad said when doing it that the undying usually perform this ritual with a bottle of wine. But because, she said, the ship was a combat ship and named White Shark, she had to christen it not with wine, but blood. Shaman Ghuu was strongly opposed — he said blood would attract predators, but the sailors were elated by the dancer's idea and didn't let the shaman stop the ritual."
I had read at some point that, in ancient times, instead of breaking a bottle of wine on the bow, they would make a sacrifice to the gods, slitting the throat of a sheep or chicken on the deck and bathing the boards in blood. But that was all done with freshly built ships, not those that had already been sailing for some time. What was Angelica thinking? After all, the shaman was right: sharks and other maritime predators would be able to detect the fresh blood for dozens of kilometers. But what if that was her intent? She may have wanted to bring tragedy upon us. Or perhaps this was a method of tracking our bireme?!
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