The Kartoss Gambit (The Way of the Shaman: Book #2)

by Vasily Mahanenko

  "Hey, you know what I read on the Phoenix forum yesterday? They are prepared to pay a hundred grand in gold for information about the Jeweler who created the Karmadont Chess Pieces!" Overhearing the conversation between two dwarf players made me throw my prisoner to the ground, pretend that I was stretching my stiff shoulders and generally look like I was simply passing by and not paying any attention to anyone around me. In actual fact I turned into one big ear.

  "What were you doing over there?"

  "Well..."

  "Ah-ha! You're thinking about applying to join, aren't you?" laughed one of the dwarves. "Don't you know that they don't take anyone under level sixty as a matter of principle?"

  "Yes, I know. It's just they've got interesting stuff going on — every now and then they upload videos of Dungeon tactics and even if these are mostly old Dungeons, they are top quality walkthroughs! This way I can learn from their experience. And also Anastaria posted new holograms...."

  "So what about the Jeweler and the hundred grand?"

  "Ah, yes! It's posted on the main page of their website: "Attention! We are prepared to buy information about the Jeweler who created the Karmadont Chess Pieces. Payment for the information — a hundred thousand gold." This is followed by a message: "Jeweler! We are offering you a place in our ranks and the title of a Master." Just imagine — a Master!"

  "So what?"

  Shaking his head as if to say 'what a noob!', the first dwarf gave a resigned sigh and went on:

  "In Phoenix 'Master' is the third top rank in the clan! It means full access to the vault, the right to order about Recruits, Raiders and Mercenaries. They only have eight Masters and they have been in the clan from the day it was created, but now they are making such an offer to some unknown Jeweler!"

  "Yeah, they're a pretty serious bunch. Well, whatever. Did you hear what Roxie came up with yesterday? She and her friends..."

  What followed was of little interest. I stopped stretching, slung the goblin across my shoulders and headed off to pay the town authorities a visit. So, by the looks of it, Phoenix, the best guild in the Empire, is offering the Jeweler, that is me, to enter its ranks as a Master. And this is all because of some chess pieces. At the Pryke mine the Regional Governor let it slip that the pieces are a key to somewhere, but could this 'somewhere' be worth more than the rank of a Master? I really must make a closer study of the chess piece properties and it wouldn't hurt to sift through the forum on this topic either.

  The idea of joining Phoenix is quite attractive. Not only was it the best clan on the continent, but Anastaria is a member as well. Phoenix was one of the oldest clans in the game. When the clan's raid group received its twentieth 'First Kill', it began to represent our Empire on the annual contest of the top clans. Phoenix took part in seven contests and twice became the best clan in Barliona. Although in the last four years their position had weakened and they were unable to get higher than the third place. The Emperor decided that a month before the next tournament, which was set to take place in nine month's time, an internal imperial contest should be held to decide which was the best clan in Malabar. Phoenix would once again have to fight for this title, but I could bet that it would take the top place with little difficulty. My evil-minded internal 'Greed Toad' started to fuss and kick me around: I also have a 'First Kill', as well as plans to create a clan of my own, so I also should have the right to take part in the tournament. To make it worse, the Hoarding Hamster gave it his full support — probably because he remembered all the nice prizes that were given to the winner of the last tournament.

  Damn, why am I stuffing my thoughts with rubbish again? I have to go and hand in the goblin, drop by the Bank and visit the profession trainers. I also need to buy a return teleportation scroll — that timer didn't go anywhere. Speaking of the timer: '43 hours 25 minutes.' That's fine. I have enough time.

  "Halt in the name of the Emperor!" Two mustached guards blocked the entrance to the administration building, pointing their halberds in my direction. At least I remembered that I was green all over and cleaned myself up before the jump. Better not show up in front of other players looking like that. It could lead to a serious misunderstanding.

  "Halting," was my simple response. It was dangerous to argue or quarrel with guards. They could easily throw you in jail for twenty-four hours. 'Do you have any reputation with the province? No. This means you're an unreliable social element. You can sit in the cell and do some thinking, until we find out for sure, so to speak.'

  "I caught an infiltrator and have come to hand him in. Let your superiors figure out why there is a dark goblin hanging around in Krong."

  The guards came closer and warily examined my face. Did I miss some when taking the paint off? I thought such things were fairly simple in Barliona.

  "How can you prove that this is an infiltrator or that you are the one that caught him, instead of stealing him from the real brave heroes? Why didn't you ride into the town properly — through the gates on a horse, but got here by teleporting?"

  Picky bastards! Just because I have a red band on my head doesn't mean that I commit a crime every five minutes, between killing players and NPCs. Ok, breathing deeply and staying calm. I have to hand in the quest and no hurdle in the form of two jobworth Imitators is going to stop me.

  "Because it's an infiltrator! Just look at him! What else could a dark goblin be inside the Malabar Empire? It's not like he's an honest merchant! That I didn't steal him you can see for yourselves, since I'm not carrying the mark. Yes I do have the headband, but there is no mark saying I've committed a crime. As for not riding into the town on a horse — well, I don't have one. To top it off, I live in Beatwick, which is two days travel from here. Teleporting is faster, even if more expensive. Does that answer all you questions? If yes, please let me through — I need to hand over the infiltrator to the person in charge here."

  The guards had no further questions and I walked into the administration building unhindered. What's good about Barliona is that you can get to see an official at the level of a town mayor in a couple of seconds. You just come and have a chat. No conditions and no long waits. If two players come at the same time, each ends up with his own copy of the official, without holding up the others. From the level of the Governor things get more complicated. And if getting to see him is not impossible, getting through to Heralds and Advisers is much more difficult. Getting an audience with the Emperor is practically impossible. As Eric said, two hundred thousand gold is the normal price for a ticket to see the Emperor.

  "How can I help you?" the Farstead Mayor looked up from his papers, giving me an expectant stare. I threw the goblin on the carpeted floor, flexed my shoulders to get rid of the virtual stiffness and said:

  "I caught this munchkin near Beatwick, a village right on the border. An infiltrator, by the looks of it. I decided not to kill him and brought him to you instead. That's it, I think."

  "Take him away for questioning," the Mayor told the guards, who appeared when he rang a small bell. "As for you, young man, please wait for the results of the questioning in the adjacent room. What if it's just a merchant and you have disrupted his trade," in such a simple manner the Mayor left me in little doubt as to exactly how much trust he had in me. Damn, I'll have to waste my precious limited time stuck in here. But... not much for it, since I was the one that brought him in, I'll have to take the responsibility. After settling down in a small but cozy room, I decided to get some sleep. I would have to sleep at least once in the two days that I could spend outside Beatwick, so why not get some rest right here and now? I barely closed my eyes when a guard shook me awake:

  "Mister Mayor wants to see you."

  I looked at my timer: '38 hours 22 minutes.' That was some nap! Five hours gone in a flash, although it feels like I dozed off just five minutes ago!

  "Please allow me to express my gratitude on behalf of the Malabar Empire and present you with a small reward for your services," said the Mayor in a completely differ
ent tone and handed me a scroll.

  Quest 'Head of the Green Raiders' is completed.

  Reward: +400 Reputation with the Malabar Empire. +500 Experience; points remaining until next level: 1101.

  Level gained!

  Free stat points: 10.

  Item acquired: Irrepressible Leather Pauldron. Durability: 60. Physical damage resistance: 30. + Stamina, +4 Intellect. Item class: Rare.

  “Now have a seat, there is something I have to tell you,” the Mayor said in a much more informal tone, falling silent and lifting his folded hands to his lips, as if in a prayer, but without closing his eyes. You got the impression that he didn’t know how to start.

  “Today you delivered a very interesting prisoner to us. I’d even say exceptionally interesting. He has already been sent to Anhurs, where he will be questioned by one of the Advisers or Heralds. I was asked to relay the fact that Kartoss representatives have already contacted our Heralds and offered ransom for the goblin. Negotiations on his price are being carried out as we speak. According to our laws ten percent of the ransom for the prisoner belongs to you. It will be transferred to your account. Now about what happened. The appearance of a squad of dark goblins is a very unusual event in our neighborhood. This is not the only squad either. The prisoner said that ten of them have been put together and sent to the Krong province to gather resources that are so badly needed in Kartoss. What Kartoss needs them for is something the Heralds will be finding out. The search for the remaining eight squads is being carried out by eight heroes that have just been hired for the purpose. However, something else is worrying the Advisers. All of the squads have to be communicating with each other in some way. There simply must be someone who is coordinating the activity of the goblins in these lands and setting them various tasks. At the moment we have no way of finding this sentient. The Malabar Empire is asking your help – please find him. I understand that you cannot leave Beatwick for too long, but we suspect that all the threads in fact lead there. Our prisoner is flatly refusing to tell us the identity of the coordinator or what else they might be doing here and even the telepathic mages cannot break through the defense he has on him. We will see what the chat with an Advisor will yield. In any case, you are the one that brought this prisoner, so we will entrust the search for the coordinator to you. If in two month’s time your search brings no results, the assignment will be given to one of the heroes hired to look for the goblins. We have to be sure that the coordinator will be found and it would be foolish to rely entirely on a free citizen of sixteen levels. You have two months.”

  Quest available: 'Search for the Dark Coordinator'

  Description: The Dark Empire of Kartoss has been actively sending its squads into the Krong province. It is believed that the activity of the ten Kartoss squads is being coordinated by one sentient. Find him. Time given for completing the quest — 60 days. Quest type: Unique. Reward: +4000 to Reputation with the Malabar Empire, +4000 Experience, +10000 Gold coins, a Scaling item from the Emperor's stores. Penalty for failing the quest: +40 to Reputation with the Malabar Empire, +400 Experience, +100 Silver.

  “I will find out who is coordinating the activity of the squads” I almost stuttered as I accepted the quest. Could a simple goblin trigger the system to give me a unique quest? I can understand it with the Eye – the chance of such an item dropping during the first completion of a Dungeon is very high. Barliona is extremely vast, so quests like that drop quite often. A clan like Phoenix completes them fairly regularly. I’m certain of that. However, getting a unique quest from a Mayor is just nonsense! Could my stars have simply aligned in such a lucky way?

  "Excellent. Then until we meet again. When you find out the identity of the squad coordinator just say: 'Summoning a Herald. I require assistance." One of them would turn up right away. Now, if you please excuse me, I have business to attend to. The guard will show you out."

  I left the administration building feeling dazed. That was some stroke of luck! To get a quest that gives bonuses even if you fail it is a dream for any would-be slacker. Right. I need to calm down or get all these emotions under control. What do I have to do in Farstead? Why did I come here in the first place? I have to find out if there is a Shaman trainer here. I need to drop by a Cartographer and buy maps of Malabar and the town. I also need to find profession trainers, buy a scroll of teleportation to Beatwick and to the town. Should I buy a portal scroll to Anhurs too, perhaps? If it's less than two thousand gold, I'll get it for sure.

  But first — to the Bank.

  "How can I be of service?" the drawling and somewhat squeaky voice belonged to a small gremlin, dressed in a chequered suit and sporting two enormous goblin-like ears.

  "I would like to access my account and withdraw items belonging to Mahan the Hunter."

  "Identification was successful. The items of Mahan the Hunter are in your personal room and you may withdraw them," the gremlin said a few seconds later. "Regarding accessing your account, we would like to offer you a new system for the storage of cash funds. Now as soon as you get the money, it could go to your account immediately, bypassing the need to visit the Bank. Any needed amount, limited only by the size of your deposit, would always be in your purse. The cost of the service is two thousand gold a year and also five percent of the total of any transaction with the account. Would you like to sign up for our new offer?"

  Wow! A new banking feature in Barliona! The idea of introducing such a deposit was quite ingenious, since now PK-players would only be able to get their hands on Legendary Items, with money remaining out of their reach. But two grand a year and five percent from each transaction, on top of the minus thirty percent from the red headband... This is just way too much money for me. But then again, it would mean greater security...

  "All right, sign me up," ignoring my inner Greed Toad, which was protesting vigorously and stomping around my head with a sign 'We want our money back!', I decided to set up the new account. Keeping my money safe was a number one priority, as I had little desire to inadvertently enrich random robbers.

  "It's done," the gremlin handed me a new purse, which immediately found its place on my belt. "Your current funds on account amount to sixteen thousand and forty five gold, thirty two silver and forty five copper coins. You have been given the purse for this account. There are also two invitations in your name, here they are," the gremlin gave me two golden coupons: my four hundred thousand of potential gold pieces. All that remained was to find a buyer and it's in the bag. "Is there anything else you want?" seeing me shake my head, the gremlin went on: "thank you for using the Bank of Barliona. Your personal room awaits you," he pointed towards an open door.

  A personal room in the Bank... It's a bit of a joke really. There's a table, a chair (not even a chair, a stool) and an empty cupboard for items and all of this was contained in three square meters. There was barely any place to turn. I took out the Orc Warrior figurines and arranged them on the table. What was so valuable about them? They looked like ordinary green chess pieces. And yet people were prepared to pay crazy money for them and offer sky-high positions. This was crazy. I took one of the orc figurines and looked at its properties. What did we have?

  "Grichin the Unbreakable. Around three thousand years ago the orc tribes..."

  I already knew this text. The head of the Pryke mine told me the story when he examined the figurines. The description text could not fit on one virtual page, so I scrolled it down, right to the end. Ah! What's this?

  a2+b2=c2

  An ordinary and uncomplicated line of characters. No explanations. Nothing. Just a quadratic equation. But why on earth was it there? I started to go through each figurine in turn.

  ||x||=√x12+x22+...+xn2

  1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21….

  Seven digits after the dot

  *

  *

  =

  [Value entry field]

  Entry field. As soon as I pressed it a virtual keyboard appeared in front of me, for typing in
the needed value. I entered an empty line. Nothing happened. I put in each sign from the figurines separately. There was no result. I then spent almost an hour on entering different combinations. Zero. Judging by the text, you had to work out some value with precision of seven digits after the dot, but I saw no logic at all in these lines.

  Having spent all that time on attempts to come up with a value, starting from an empty line and ending with typing in random numbers, I gave up. There was no result. Damn, this is really messing with my head! That's it! I need a break. I would walk around, drop by the merchants, visit the Cartographer and chill out a bit. Perhaps some clever thought would hit me after that. One thing was clear — I would not be leaving the figurines in the Bank. What if I get a sudden insight into how to solve this puzzle and the figurines would be far away in the Bank. I think not. I put the Hunter's items and the chess pieces in my bag and left the Bank. What could those signs mean?