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

by Vasily Mahanenko

  "Arr-r-rgh!" cursed the voice. "I already sent ten of them for slaughter, to give a feast to my Warriors. Will the Coordinator get very angry if these aren't returned?"

  "No, but the villagers have to be compensated the cost of the lost animals. He warned me that this could happen and said that five thousand gold for a killed cow would be sufficient. Then the missing cows might be bought in the neighbouring villages," that was my sense of profit, which I had no idea I had, suddenly rearing its head. I had to get as much as I could out of the dark ones.

  "Arr-r-gh thrice over! Fine. Wait there, I'm coming down."

  "Our master sure is careful of his own safety," said the guide. I wasn't quite getting this bit: which 'master' was he on about now? "He is prepared to reimburse the loss of the herd, just to remain in the shade," ah, that would be the Coordinator then. Is he the local master then? Very interesting.

  "Here are thirty teleportation scrolls and fifty thousand gold," said the 300-level goblin that came out of a small building. I was wrong. This was just a 300-level castle. The level of the castle was always determined by the level of its Keeper. "What do we do with the herd?"

  "Let the goblins drive it back — take it as far as the village and leg it back here," I proposed.

  "That's how we'll do it then. I'll get the Wild Pack to see this through," the goblin looked at my guide. "Why are you still here? Go!"

  "Who's he?" I nodded towards the departing man.

  "That? Our mage. And take no notice of his appearance. He is trying to copy his previous looks, the underbaked lich. I told the master that we should have taken a dozen ordinary battle mages, but no. Said it's easier with a lich."

  "I see. How is the construction progressing? The preparation of the army? What shall I tell the Coordinator?" I was doing all I could to make some progress with the quest. I needed at least a slight hint to understand who the Coordinator was.

  "We are finishing construction. Two blackeners have been built, but are yet to be launched. We are waiting for the third. The army is in full battle-readiness — prepared to fight off an attack of two hundred free citizens of up to and including level 300."

  I don't get it — are they setting up a separate country here? In the gap of the castle entrance I saw the herd of cows being driven past. At least that quest was sorted out.

  "Tell the master that we are ready to begin and are awaiting his signal," the Keeper added for a total knock-out effect. What was it they were so ready to start?

  "Want to share the tactics? I'm just interested to compare it to what the master told me."

  Attention! You have called the Dark Coordinator your master. If you repeat this title again in the next ten minutes, your Reputation with the Malabar Empire would decrease and your Reputation with the Dark Empire would increase by 1000 points. Make your choice!

  What on earth do I need a reputation with Kartoss for? Have the developers completely lost their marbles? What kind of a scenario did they cook up here? Never mind, I already know what to do.

  "It is in no way different from the one planned by the master," the goblin looked at me in surprise. "Is something wrong with you?"

  "Don't mind me. I still haven't quite recovered from the chase those three free citizens gave me," I lied through my teeth.

  "Yes, I was already told. What did they want?"

  "Nothing in particular. They just didn't like the look of me and decided to make my life difficult. Can you show me around the castle? I'd love to see how you've put things together around here."

  I spent around three hours in the castle. The keeper gave me a tour around the citadel, showing me the blackeners being built — the things that curse the land and its inhabitants within a large radius. A similar one was standing somewhere near the ziggurat. At last it was time for me to head back. The herd would soon be arriving at the Beatwick gates, so I would have use a portal. What if it's linked to a particular house? Then I'll figure out who the Coordinator is. The guards took me to the edge of the forest, pointed in the direction of Beatwick and returned to their posts. Time had come to act.

  After disappearing into the forest and hiding myself in thick shrubbery, to make sure nothing could be seen from the side of the castle, I made a summons:

  "I call upon a Herald. I require your assistance."

  The portal opened with a subdued clap and an NPC dressed in white stepped out of it.

  "You have summoned me. I hope the reason for my summons is substantial, otherwise a penalty will be imposed on you."

  "Does that look substantial enough to you?" I asked, chuckling and moving away the foliage to show the Herald the Dark Castle in the distance. "I think we're doing fine in the 'substance department'."

  "Great Emperor," whispered the Herald. "This completely changes..."

  Your reputation with the Malabar Empire has increased by 500 points. Current level: Friendly. You are 2,930 points away from the status of Respect.

  "Changes what?" I looked at the Herald, who seemed somewhat at a loss.

  "The citadel cannot be left unwatched. We have to know when and where the Kartoss forces are being moved. A 300-level castle on Malabar territory... This equates to an invasion!"

  "The idea with keeping an eye on it is great, but I can't stay here. I will be forcibly teleported to Beatwick. Can you remove this limitation from me?" I looked at the Herald expectantly. What if it works and my debuffs get removed?

  "No, taking off this limitation is beyond my power," the Herald shook his head thoughtfully. Damn, what a pity!

  "Then I can recommend a couple of free citizens who would be happy to watch this structure."

  "Interesting. And whom can you recommend?"

  "In Anhurs there are several sentients. Their names are..." I told the Herald the correct names for Eric, Clutzer and Leite. "These sentients would do anything that's needed of them."

  "These citizens of the Empire cannot be used for this task," the Herald gave me a reality check. I was all set on seeing my future troopers get busy with levelling up their reputation right now. "Their threshold of trust with the Empire is too low. We cannot rely on those in whom we have no trust."

  "I can vouch for them," I wasn't going to give up so easy on this. "They will carry out this task better than anyone else in this world."

  "No," the Herald cut me off. "We already gave you a chance to find the Coordinator. You have only four weeks left now, but there are still no results. Who is the Coordinator? What is he up to? And what are Kartoss armies even doing in these lands? You have no answers for any of this, so soon real heroes of the Empire would be sent here to succeed where you have failed."

  "I found the castle for you!" I was almost screaming. Why was the Herald having a go at me?

  "We thank you for the castle, but you weren't able to find out who is coordinating all the work. Because the task of finding the Coordinator is still currently in your hands, I ask you to choose from a list of recommended heroes the person who will keep track of the movements of Kartoss forces."

  A really long list of players appeared before me. All as one were above level 260. Beginning with the strange-sounding Etamzilat and ending with Hellfire. Scanning over the list didn't reveal a single good acquaintance of mine. They all looked the same to me. So I had to choose one, eh? No problem!

  "Fortieth from above-he can do it," I had no idea who that was, but he was definitely not from Phoenix.

  The Herald closed his eyes, stood there for a few moments and then was with me once again.

  "Unfortunately, the free citizen that you've chosen is not currently in this world. Please choose another watcher."

  "How will the watcher be rewarded?" that was the question I should have asked at the start, but it popped up only now. It was rather fortunate that that my first choice of player was offline.

  "Since this is a unique situation (Kartoss had never before risked building a castle on our lands, remote though they are), the watcher will receive his reward directly from the
hands of the Emperor. The exact nature of the reward will be decided by the Emperor himself, depending on his relationship with the watcher. The list contains only those who have access to the palace."

  "Will there be only one watcher, or several?"

  "There will be the main one, who must stay by the castle seventy percent of the time. The other thirty percent of the time it will be watched by his deputy, chosen by the watcher himself."

  "Could I take a time-out for a couple of minutes? I need to think."

  "Of course. I will watch the building myself in the meantime."

  The Herald turned away from me and stared at the castle. In the meantime I was hit by a crazy idea, which I immediately decided to put into action: Anastaria. She has spent her entire gaming life chasing unique items, quests and mobs, so if I chose her as the watcher, I would put her squarely in my debt. Yes, she may have promised to rip something out of me, but she's far too proud to shaft a player who helped her. She would bend over backwards to repay the debt. This could be useful should the need arise. Moreover, she should be punished for saying what she did. Four weeks of being stuck in shrubbery, away from the capital and the centre of events — would be a small kind of revenge. Let her sit here and stare at the goblins. It'll do her good. I took out the communication amulet and crossed my fingers for Anastaria to be in the game.

  "Speaking!"

  Yes! Hang on, Stacey, today is your 'lucky' day!

  "Hello, Anastaria. This is Mahan. Do you have a minute?"

  "Mahan..." Anastaria's voice became icy. If a voice could inflict damage, I would have simply been sent for respawn by the cold right now. "I don't have time now. Rick will call you back. He'll help you solve whatever it is."

  "Fine, it's just that I have a Herald standing here right now, asking me to choose a player for some unique quest. With a reward from the Emperor. Your name is on the list that I've been given, so I decided to see if you were interested. But, it seems you're too busy now. That's fine, I'll choose someone else. Sorry to have bothered you."

  "Hol...!" came the girl's scream, but I already switched off the communicator.

  The amulet in my hands immediately started to vibrate. Of course, Stacey can't let a chance like that slip. Three magic words: 'reward', 'unique' and 'Emperor' have been uttered and now she's hooked for certain. I'll have to get some bonus out of her for this.

  "Yes," I responded in a detached voice.

  "Mahan," the icy blizzard of the lady paladin's voice vanished, as if by a wave of a magic wand. "What's the quest? Tell me more."

  "I have no idea. I found one interesting object here and summoned a Herald. He flew in, had a look and told me to choose a player who would carry out the subsequent instructions connected with this object."

  "How do I know that this isn't a set-up?"

  "Stacey, do you think I have hostile intentions towards my own wellbeing? Like I have nothing better to do than just give you a random call. As if I missed you so much, dammit!"

  "Is the object in Krong?"

  "Yes."

  "Then I pass," the girl's voice was now a world of grief. She was sure good at playing with emotions. I just knew that hundreds of ways of solving the problem and different possible reactions were racing through her head right now.

  "Hold on, let me ask the Herald about the limitations," I said plainly, playing a total simpleton. I was offered to choose any player irrespective of their clan membership, so the clan would not be incurring any penalties. But Anastaria didn't know this and I was aiming for a good bargain here. "Herald, if the player that I choose is from Phoenix, Anastaria in particular, will her clan incur any penalties?"

  "No. Anastaria would be carrying out only my assignment. If the clan does not want to breach the conditions for the future quest, Phoenix members are forbidden from showing up in Krong."

  "Hear that?" I asked the girl, who was breathing heavily now. Yes, she's all mine! Now I had to gradually make her realise that I have to be paid a handsome sum for giving her the right to sit in the bushes for four weeks and practise goblin watching. Because I do not work for free. "There won't be any penalties. You will be given personal access here."

  "I agree! Tell the Herald to summon me! Right now!"

  "Whoa! What's the hurry? I haven't spoken to Plinto yet. I have to ask him if he wants to take part in all this. I'll give him a call right now and then make a decision. Thanks for agreeing so quickly. I will call you back."

  "Stop! Mahan, no need to talk up your price. Plinto promised not to let you step off the respawn point until the Herald slaps a ban on killing you. Can you imagine what will happen if you call him now?"

  "Plinto promised to waste me? Thanks for the information. But you must understand that I can't invite you just like that. Everyone and their dog will laugh me in the face after that — I had a chance to get a good deal out of Phoenix, but fell for Anastaria's beautifully-designed eyes. I don't think so. We'll agree at the outset on what I'll be getting and sign a clear-cut agreement, after which I will make my decision. I have no time limitations, since the Herald said I had until tomorrow for choosing the player if need be. Think — what can Phoenix offer that would decide it for me straight away?

  "Mahan, please," Anastaria began to speak in such a sweet voice that I began to shiver. "I promise that you won't regret picking me. I'll be very well-behaved...."

  Reptilis was right — women can't be trusted. I could just see what Stacey was counting on right now: the action of the poison would play to her advantage and I, like some obedient puppy, would eagerly fulfil her every whim. You can dream on, my pretty!

  "Of course, my darling Stacey. I will choose you..." I paused and then moved in for the kill, "as soon as we come to an agreement on the price of my choice. You have ten minutes. If you do not call me back in that time, I'll choose Plinto, be what may. Maybe he'll forgive me the chess pieces. The countdown begins now!" with these words I turned off the amulet.

  "Have you made your choice?" the Herald turned away from the castle and looked at me. "Please note that you have to make the choice within an hour or I would have to choose myself."

  "I'll make it, don't you worry," I assured the Emperor's representative and sat on the ground. Right now Anastaria is contacting Ehkiller as quickly as she can and they are trying to decide on the next course of action. I was very lucky that she heard the jingly voice of the Herald. It was possible to fake a Herald's voice in the game, but it could land you in a whole world of trouble.

  Nine minutes later — I noted the time on my return-to-Beatwick timer — the Phoenix amulet started to vibrate.

  "Have you thought of something?" I asked straight away — no point beating about the bush.

  "Good day Mahan, I'm sorry I don't think I know your real name," a male voice came from the amulet. "My name is Ehkiller. I'm the one you depicted as a King with an up-turned nose. Anastaria filled me in on the problem and I'm ready to listen to your demands."

  So they brought out the big guns. I didn't quite see that coming. This was unfortunate — I'd have to improvise on the go.

  "Hello. I apologise for my words: I didn't know that Anastaria would give the amulet to you. As for the problem, I don't really understand you. I offered the charming lady to take part in a certain unique quest. She agreed and now I'm trying to see what I would get out of choosing her. You must understand that I can't simply offer a quest from the Herald, who represents the Emperor himself in this, for nothing. That's it, I think. No demands — on the contrary, I was expecting an offer from Phoenix. I am quite sure that your clan would be interested in this assignment."

  "You are right, we do have a certain interest. I can't deny something so obvious. But every interest has its limits. If you ask something unrealistic, I would have to pass on this quest, no matter how much I may want to get it."

  "That's why I didn't make any demands. To be honest, I expected a reasonable reaction from Phoenix and a corresponding offer, but in no way a discussion about wh
at it was I needed. I'm somewhat disappointed."

  "Something tells me that money is not the thing you're after," Ehkiller dropped into thoughtful silence. "Before I make you an offer, please answer this question. As far as I know, you have Plinto's amulet and also a chance to choose any player. Why Anastaria?"

  "You wouldn't believe it, but her amulet was simply closer to my hand. I really don't care which of the clans becomes first and which second. It's all purely rhetorical to me. My task is to serve the rest of my sentence, preferably in as much comfort as possible."

  "I understand now. Are you familiar with such a faction as Thricinians?"

  "Of course," I swallowed. Ehkiller managed to surprise me and strike at my most vulnerable spot: these traders in Scaling Items were world-famous.

  "Anastaria has levelled up her reputation with them to Esteemed and may invite another player with her, for whom she can choose and buy from the items they have for sale. I offer you any four items from the Thricinians — paid for by Phoenix. What do you say?"

  The most unpleasant part was that we both understood that Ehkiller won our little duel the moment he uttered word 'Thricinians'. It is an artificial faction in Barliona, whose only purpose was to sell Scaling Items — items that levelled up together with the players that owned them. At the same time, the faction guaranteed that any player, even one lacking any reputation with them, could come in spend a crazy amount of money to buy some simple object like my Tambourine. However, as soon as you increased your reputation with this faction, the items became a whole lot more interesting. I never imagined that it was possible to gain Esteemed with them, thinking it was totally out of reach, so my regard for Anastaria had shot up quite a lot. This was impressive stuff. Whatever she might be in real life, but gaining Esteemed with the Thricinians was worth a lot. And I could choose any four objects... Eh... I sold myself down the river, completely. All right, I knew what I was getting into. The initial deal I was fishing for with Phoenix was any four wishes that could be carried out and would not be harmful to the clan. To have a look at the scroll of Karmadont, for example. But then thought better of it. Be careful what you wish for, as they say. What if a Phoenix battle group got hold of me, like those three PKers, locked me down and chased me around until I begged them for mercy. And then they'd ask: "Is that one of your wishes?" That's one way to lose them all. I think not. Everything has to be clearly set down in writing and made official according to the letter of the law. That's the only way of dealing with the leading clans.