“You got it, Alex!”
With that finished, I fully engaged in working this guy over. Not long after, I saw an arrow fly past me and hit the Mage, and I knew Dan had joined the fight again.
The Death Mage was not out of it, though. Once he regained some composure, he started casting one of his complex spells. It launched from his hands and smacked into Wayne’s breastplate. And then through it. Wayne was knocked back on his ass.
The spell had taken almost 15 percent of Wayne’s health points. That was no small amount for our Warrior. But even with that, he was soon back on his feet and running at the Death Mage again.
Just as before, the Mage moved his arms and fingers in a complex pattern that symbolized one of his stronger spells. It looked to be almost completed when one of our strikes finally disrupted his casting.
The look on the Death Mage’s face when his spell was stopped can only be described as pure, unfiltered rage. “I will end you all and feed you to my rats! Then use your bones as puppets!”
Obviously not wanting to get interrupted again, the Mage cast his quick spell to root us all in place, allowing him to move away from our attacks and complete his spell without interruption. This must have been programmed into the Mage’s fighting style, because he apparently didn’t learn his lesson.
As soon as the skeleton’s arms had traveled around Wayne’s legs, they were blown apart by Jason’s spell. Bone fragments went flying everywhere, and the Mage’s next spell was disrupted again.
Not wanting to risk the Mage getting off any more spells, we ran at him to try and bring him down.
Bring him down, we did. The Mage landed some life stealing spells that transferred Wayne’s hit points directly to him, but not enough to make up for what we were taking. And he never tried to use the skeleton arms again.
Despite the intensity of the fight just moments before, the end was really anti-climactic. Not that it stopped us from cheering. Because, you know, dying to Undead Swamp Rats is something none of us would have ever lived down.
“Let’s see if this guy has that stone!” Jason said as we approached the body.
“Before I use my ring and we loot this guy, I want to look around a bit first. The Mage said he killed Constantine, so we should probably sort through these bones and try to find him.”
I was met with definite looks of unhappiness. “That’s not cool at all, man. Do you see how many bones are here?”
“Yes, Allister, I see how many bones are here. I can do it myself, or you guys can help, but it still has to be done. You know, to make sure we don’t miss the body and then not be able to put it to rest.”
“I’ll help,” Wayne said, as I knew he would as soon as I brought up that part of Lady Tessa’s quest.
“Yeah, we’ll all help.”
“Thanks for the enthusiasm, Dan.”
No one mentioned Dan’s freak-out, at least not yet. I couldn’t imagine Jason would ignore that forever, though. Ten minutes later, because there were that many bones, Wayne had found the corpse. Or at least we figured it was. I wouldn’t know more until I tried to loot it. Either way, it was the only humanoid skeleton in a sea of rats, so I was thinking our odds were pretty good.
With nothing more to do, I activated my ring and looted the corpse. It was a nice haul, for sure. There were five items, and they were all useable by everyone, and all some kind of jewelry.
Resurgence allows you to wear two rings, an amulet, and one earring. We had only a few of these types of items so far. However, there was one item in particular that made me freak out.
Now normally that wouldn’t cause anyone to panic. Since this was an item that anyone could use, however, there was no doubt in my mind that unless I won the roll, my team was going to figure out my secret quickly.
I didn’t have much time to think, and the ruse I came up with was lame, but necessary. “Guys, did you notice that the hallway goes around the corner there?”
“Yeah. It continues for quite a way. Why?”
“Well I just saw that on my map, Dan. Obviously my map does not project out as far as yours. I would hate it if there is something down there for us to loot that we didn’t know about, like at the last Monastery. You guys stay here. I am going to quickly run down the hall and see if anything is there and make sure we don’t actually have more mobs.”
“Makes sense, we only have five minutes on your ring, after all.”
“Exactly my thinking, Allister.”
Without waiting for anyone to say another word, I activated my Conceal/Stealth and took off down the hall as fast as I could. As it turned out, the hall went on for quite some ways and descended a good bit. More importantly, there were no more mobs, and I was far enough away that even Dan’s map wouldn’t see me.
“Wanderer, I need you. Now!”
From literally out of the friggin’ wall came the Wanderer. “Ok, that was awesome.”
The Wanderer looked around for a moment and then addressed me. “The Monastery of Might. Excellent. It seems you have finished as well, so why have you called me? Not for idle chit-chat, surely.”
“Yeah, no. We’ve got a problem. Can you see the items that were on the Death Mage up the hall?”
“Of course. Let me look. Ahh, yes, I see the items, but I still don’t understand the problem.”
“Really? Because if someone other than me wins the roll on that earring, our little secret isn’t going to last all that long. And then we are going to have a much more difficult time.”
“I understand now. When you are using your Blacksuit, you still would be unseen.”
“Exactly. So I need you to fix the roll so I win.”
The Wanderer looked at me for several seconds. “Alex, did you not get angry at me for doing just that? You yelled at me to never do such a thing. I can play back the footage for you, if you would like?”
“No, I remember. And I don’t need to see the footage. Also, it freaks me out that there even is footage.”
The Wanderer didn’t say any more, and after a second, I gave a deep sigh and continued.
“Look. I know I was an asshole, but you have to see things from my perspective. I had all of this dumped on me, all at once, and I found out that you have been manipulating my life from the moment I entered the game—hell, even before that, when I interviewed. I was a pawn in your chess game. And I was pissed.
“So yeah, I lashed out at you. I saw it as the one way I could assert some kind of control over the situation. It was stupid, I know. Even bringing my team into it and blaming my anger on how you treated them was a dick move.”
The Wanderer simply nodded once.
“And now I need you to do this, or we aren’t going to be moving forward at all.”
“I can’t, I’m afraid. The last time was dangerous. This would be suicidal. There is an active review on your player, as you know. Something like this would be flagged as an irregularity. I’m already doing a great deal to cover the tracks of the other irregularities I’ve had to hide, like your Gift from Lady Tessa. I’ve had no time to create the appropriate protections to hide this.”
“How long would you need?”
“Longer than you have, I’m afraid.”
I wracked my brain for another answer. If one of the guys got this earring and couldn’t see me when I was in my Blacksuit, I was going to be royally screwed.
That was it! They just needed to see me in my Blacksuit.
“Wanderer, would it be alerting if you just made it so that the earring could see through regular Invis and a Blacksuit? That would be one of those instances where you changed a 0 to a 1, right?”
He thought about it for a brief second and then nodded. “This I can do and it will continue to register as ‘See Invisible.’” The Wanderer paused for a second. “It is done. Now return to your team and complete the quest. I grow more worried as time passes, and we have found nothing about our mission.”
“I’m worried, too, bud, but I have been actively looking, you
know.”
“I know you have. I am not commenting on your diligence, just our lack of results thus far.
“Go. We will speak again, I am sure. While I understand why you called me, remember that this, too, is a danger.”
Once the Wanderer departed, again by just walking through the wall, I went back to the group. I explained to them that the tunnel went on for quite a distance and I didn’t see any end to it. Since there wasn’t anything immediately around where we killed the Death Mage, I surmised we weren’t going to find anything else.
“Ok, guys, since everything is useable by everyone, we have to come up with a way to roll for this stuff. I’ve got an idea if you guys want to hear it?”
“Shoot.”
“Alright, we’ve got five things. Dan says which ones he wants in priority 1 through 5. Each person does the same thing. Then, we look at the lists and whoever lists a particular item as their top priority will get to roll against whoever else put it as theirs. Make sense?”
“Sort of, but what if two people roll for an item that isn’t either’s first priority? Do they get to roll on their number 1 item as well?.”
“Right, Wayne. Sorry, I forgot about that part. We will skip any item that isn’t someone’s highest priority. Then when someone wins an item, everyone’s list moves up over the item won, and the person who won it is out until everyone has something. That will leave us with one final item that we all roll on. This way, only one of us gets two items. Seem fair?”
“Yeah, I like that method. It means you aren’t always going to be rolling against everybody. And if there is something that you really want, but everyone else puts it lower on their list, then you just get it, right?”
“Exactly, and then you are out of the running until the last item is available. So want to get started?”
With that I linked all of the items:
It worked out very well, and everyone seemed happy with what they got. Dan got the Deadeye Ring, Jason took the Earring of Transcendence, Wayne opted for the bonus to Attack in the Blessed Steel ring and I opted for the Dexterity with the Earring of Altruism. I also thought it funny for me, the seller who never wants to part with an extra copper, gets the item that allows the player an opportunity to share easily with everyone. I was just in it for the Dexterity.
The last item to come up for bid was the Earring of Sight. I wasn’t surprised since all of the other gear had much better bonuses.
Now that the earring could see through a Blacksuit, I didn’t really care who got it. It wouldn’t bother me that my team knew where I was, and it would be helpful to have anyone on the team who could see through someone’s Invis status, especially with PvP and Player Killers around.
Jason ended up winning the earring. He put it on, and I let him see how I would look with my Conceal/Stealth on. He said it was “almost” the same. There was the slightest haze that surrounded me, and my name had an asterisk next to it.
“There’s no stone.”
This came from Wayne as he was walking around the room where the Death Mage met his demise.
“Yeah, I noticed that as well. Maybe it was destroyed. Or maybe it didn’t exist. Either way, we did what we could. We have Constantine’s bones, and we can take those somewhere outside of the swamp and bury them all proper like.”
“But Alex, we should really try to find the stone.”
“We did. We went through this whole place, and it’s not here.”
Wayne turned toward the hallway I had run down to meet the Wanderer. “You said you didn’t find the end of that tunnel, right?”
“What’s going to happen if we just leave, Wayne? We’ve got the stuff we need, and we completed the quest we were on. I don’t know about you, but I want to see what’s next on the list. So I’m voting that we leave and head back toward the Keep.”
Without warning, a huge screen blocked my field of vision and a message in dark red letters hung before me.
“God Damnit! No more swearing!” Following my outburst, the confused looks from my teammates led me to believe that no one else had seen the message. “Oaths, I mean. To do shit in this fucking game!
“I’m sorry, guys. I’ll read this to you, and you’ll see why I got pissed. I thought you all saw it too.”
You have requested to abandon a sworn oath. Failure to fulfill your oath will immediately result in a loss of 50 points to each character Statistic and 50 percent to each resistance. Do you wish to abandon your Oath?
After reading the message, to which I had already hit “Cancel,” the guys understood my anger. We now had no choice in the matter. Wayne seemed most upset, but at himself, not me.
“This is totally my bad, Alex. I was the one who swore to help Lady Tessa.”
“Dude, stop it. I was the one who swore to help the Witch. We had no idea how this crap would work out,” I said to Wayne and then turned to Dan and Jason. “And really, guys, I’m sorry for my outburst. It was way out of line.”
“Shit man, I can’t even imagine the foul language that would have flowed from my mouth if I’d been the one to get that message. Think nothing of it.”
“Thanks, Dan.”
“Let’s just head down that hall. And I’m with Dan, Alex; you’ve got nothing to apologize for. Now Dan, he has plenty to apologize for but never seems willing to start checking off that list!”
Laughter accompanied us as we headed down the tunnel, and the dour mood of before passed. No thanks to yours truly, though.
*
We had found the stone. And a Monk. Not a dead Monk, though—a breathing, living Monk. He was really old.
The tunnel had gone on for another 15 minutes, twisting and turning downward. When we reached the bottom, we found ourselves in a tiny grove inside a miniature forest. If you think that makes no sense, it doesn’t. We were, after all, way underground.
The Monk we saw was sitting in the lotus position in front of a pedestal, eyes closed, apparently meditating. On top of the pedestal was a book, and floating above the book was our stone. At least, we figured it was the stone, since it was glowing and hovering just over the book and the pedestal itself.
As we took our first steps onto the grove, the Monk opened his eyes and stared at us. Like any good Kung-Fu movie, the Monk was, of course, blind.
Jason was apparently thinking the same thing I was. “Wow, stereotype much, bitches?”
I knew that Jason’s words wouldn’t trigger the NPC, but I didn’t want my laughter to be the first thing he heard. I was able to fight back the giggles, difficult though it was, and focus on the task at hand.
“Greetings, Master Monk.”
“What makes you think I am a Master?” The Monk replied while tilting his head to the side.
“Because, I am sorry to say, you are the only one remaining of your Monastery.”
The Monk lowered his head when he heard the news, and we gave him his moment of silence. After a brief respite, the Monk looked up again and said, “Well, that does make sense. How have you come to this place?”
“Don’t say walking. That’s not what he means.”
“Thanks, Dan.”
“Got your back, bro.”
I shook my head, as I often do after a conversation with Dan, and responded to the Monk. “We were on a separate journey to find a family man lost years ago. That journey led us to this Monastery. With the battle over, we have arrived here.”
“You speak, but you leave much out.”
“What would you like to know, Master Monk?”
“I shall ask again, and this time, the truth. Another time I shall not ask. How have you come to this place?”
Before Dan could say a word, I put my hand in front of his mouth. “I’m good, Dan.”
“Cool,” he said from behind my fingers, which felt as strange as it probably sounds.
“On our journey through these lands, we discovered a woman in the swamp. She provided us aid to reach the Monastery, and in return, she asked that we return with the ston
e floating on that pedestal. She was once a fair maiden and has been deformed by the curse that plagues this land.”
The Monk sat quietly again, apparently weighing this information in his mind, then he started to stand. “You have spoken pure truth. For that I am grateful.”
“Dude, way better than what I was going to tell you to say. You got this.”
I put my hand on Dan’s shoulder and looked him in the eye. “Never doubt the power of your words, my friend. They give strength. Without them, I fear many, even our dear Allister, would be lost.”
Dan soaked in the words I said and then placed his hand on my shoulder. “Thank you, Alex. You are a true friend.”
As I turned my head back to look at the Monk, I caught a quick glimpse of Jason mouthing the words “fuck you,” to me. So yeah, totally worth it.
“I have sat in front of this pedestal for countless years. I can hear the youth deep in your voice, but even some trees seem young to me. I have guarded this stone for the hope that one day it could be the salvation of this land.”
“What is it, Master Monk?”
“Sacrifice, child. The creation of that stone took the sacrifice of hundreds of Monks to create. Given freely, their lives had power. We considered this a sacred duty, and the ceremony where we grant the stone a portion of our essence was our highest holy day. In generations, perhaps, this ritual could bestow the grandeur you see in front of you to the rest of the blighted lands.
“It was just after one of these very ceremonies that disaster struck. The Monks, weak from their charity, were unable to defend the Monastery from the fiend who had infested our sacred halls. My duty, as it has been for centuries, was to guard the stone and our Tome. I heard the screams, but I could do naught to stop them.”
“That fiend is gone, Master Monk. Your temple is cleansed of the foulness that once took up residence here.”
“The only place the foulness is gone is here, next to the Vivre Stone.”
Restoration: The Rise of Resurgence: Book II Page 36
