World-Tree's End

by E A Hooper

  NPC Quest Completed: The Necromancer’s Folly

  Crownkeep Respect Rating: 249

  “You guys have any more quests for me?” Vincent asked.

  The guard thought for a few seconds before speaking. “There is one task the king has wanted handled for a long time. We used to have an outpost in the southeast, but the captain who ran it became greedy and power hungry. He made a pact with devils, summoning them to that place. No matter how many times we tried, we just couldn’t get rid of them for good. Other heroes have cleared out the outpost, but unless you kill Captain Wallace, the devils will return after a few weeks. However, Captain Wallace has retreated underground, deep below the outpost. To get to him, you’d have to slay the devils, then dig a tunnel underground.”

  The Captain’s Covenant (NPC Quest) – Captain Wallace made a pact with devils, summoning the creatures to the old outpost in the southeast. He’s created an underground refuge, making it difficult to reach him. If you can find a way to defeat him, you’ll raise your respect rating in Crownkeep. Do you accept? (Yes/No)

  Vincent accepted, but knew he might need to hold off on the quest until he had replenished his mana. In the meantime, he searched across the city for more quests. The only ones offered ended up as Minor Quests, which he soon discovered weren’t worth the time and effort. After helping a parcel delivery service for two hours, he received a fifty-gild reward and an insignificant increase to his rating.

  Crownkeep Respect Rating: 250

  Vincent sighed and kept looking for more quests, hoping to find major ones. He came across a few more players during that time, and all of them reacted like the first group. They took pictures of him, treating him more like a piece of history than a person. He eventually got enough information out of them to discover the whereabouts of the Cricket’s abandoned guildhall in Crownkeep.

  Halfway to the guildhall, a familiar NPC stopped him in his tracks.

  “Y-you!” the woman blubbered. “You’re the hero that saved my poor Reddy! Oh, please, you have to help me. He followed me to the Golden Fields and jumped into a gigantic suit of armor that had been laying in the grass—only it turned out to be a terrible monster! Please slay it without hurting my poor, sweet cat. He’s inside the breastplate.”

  Reddy the Mischievous Cat Part 2 (NPC Quest) – Ms. Tana Singleton needs a hero to retrieve her cat Reddy, who climbed inside Yinveil the Hollow. The World Boss will be agitated and start the fight at its full power. If Reddy dies, the quest will reset the next time the Yinveil spawns. Do you accept? (Yes/No)

  How’d she lose him again so fast? Vincent wondered as he accepted the quest.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll—” Vincent started, but the NPC interrupted by crying even louder.

  “He’s just a poor, sweet cat!” she yelled, grabbing him by the collar. “Oh Gods, why would this happen to my precious baby. Please—please help me!”

  “I will,” Vincent replied, breaking away from her grip. “I’ll have the cat back to you by the end of—”

  “Reddy!” the woman screamed, dropping to her knees. “My baby boy! Why? Why would the Gods allow such a horrible thing to happen?”

  Vincent hurried away and continued to the guildhall. When he approached, he found the door sealed by runes, but he had no problem breaking it open with his level of Strength. The inside looked no different from any other guildhall, although he found a few pictures of familiar faces on the wall. He smiled as he walked past, heading to the main counter where a receptionist would normally sit. Behind the counter, he found stacks of old rune papers still sitting there.

  Vincent grabbed one of the rune papers and filled out his application to join the Jiminy World Crickets.

  Thirty seconds later, he was accepted and promoted to 1st lieutenant.

  Five seconds after that, Vincent smiled at the guild alert that appeared on his HUD.

  Global Guild Alert (Jiminy World Crickets): WELCOME BACK, VINCE! YOU BETTER GET YOUR BUTT TO EDGELIGHT BY THE END OF THE DECADE! –Crowfoot Jim.

  Chapter 10

  Vincent flew across the Golden Fields until he spotted light gleaming off a massive pile of metal. As he landed in the wheat, the suit of armor rose from the ground and towered several times Vincent’s height. The metal flashed to a crimson-red color, and the World Boss raised its hand to cast Vaporize.

  Before the attack could fire, Vincent took off its arm with Voidfire. He made sure his spell wouldn’t damage Yinveil’s breastplate, since he knew Reddy was hiding somewhere inside. When the World Boss raised its other arm, Vincent obliterated it before it could start charging the spell.

  Yinveil’s visor blinked with light, and then a high-intensity beam of mana struck Vincent in the side, slicing through his clothes. The attack left a slight cut, and he guessed it might’ve cut him in two if it weren’t for his Density Shield.

  Vincent equipped Ol’ Righty and Ol’ Lefty, the hand cannons he’d gotten from Warro. He fired at Yinveil’s head with lightning-fast attacks. The boss tried its beam attack again, but the constant pummeling caused it to miss him by a few inches. Vincent saw cracks appearing on the helm, and he continued to fire until Yinveil’s empty head exploded into pieces.

  “Alright, now drop the cat,” Vincent said, waiting for the rest of the World Boss to disintegrate.

  Instead of turning to dust, though, Yinveil rushed forward with a powerful spin kick that Vincent blocked by raising his arm just in time. When the boss went for another kick, the Ranger swapped his guns for Endless Edge and sliced through the leg.

  The leg floated into the air, spun around, and kicked Vincent in the face.

  The Ranger paused, laughing at his own misfortune. “Okay, you would’ve been a hell of a challenge back in the day, but I’m in a rush. Sorry!”

  When the leg tried the same move again, Vincent sliced through it. He cut it in halves, then fourths, and then the limb finally disintegrated as he was dicing it into eighths. The rest of the boss dove forward with a heavy stomp, but Vincent split the leg from its heel to its hip. Yinveil’s flying breastplate tried a body slam, but the Ranger stopped it with just one hand.

  Vincent pried apart the breastplate, then looked down inside. “Reddy, you in there?” he asked the darkness.

  Reddy snarled back at him.

  “Come on, now, let’s not do this again.”

  Vincent bent away the metal, twisting open the gargantuan breastplate until it started to flake and turn into dust. Reddy dropped out from the bottom and landed in the grass, his back arched and his tailed puffed up in surprise.

  Once he’d collected Yinveil’s items, Vincent picked up Reddy with Zero Field. The cat continued to hiss at him all the way back to Crownkeep. After Vincent searched for an hour, Tana Singleton finally appeared to reclaim her cat.

  “Oh, my precious kitten!” the NPC said, still crying hysterically. “I’ll never let you go. Not now—not ever. My baby boy. My sweet angel. Thank the Gods you’ve been returned to me.”

  NPC Quest Completed: Reddy the Mischievous Cat Part 2

  Crownkeep Respect Rating: 350

  The NPC seemed to have forgotten about Vincent, so he stepped away and found a bench where he could rest, recover his mana, and watch the crowd. He kept his eyes on Tana Singleton as she carried Reddy around the marketplace and traded goods from one person to the next. Vincent noticed she’d get items from one store, walk across the street, and trade those goods immediately.

  It’s like she’s just wasting time.

  After an hour or so, Vincent noticed that Reddy, who’d been perched on Tana’s shoulder for a while, was staring directly at him. He kept his eyes on the cat for a few more minutes, and then it vanished like a flickering shadow.

  What the heck?

  Tana Singleton shouted, then collapsed to the ground. By the time Vincent sprang from the bench, dashed across the street, and reached her, she’d already crumbled into dust. The other NPCs crowded around Vincent and the woman’s remains, shouting in distress.


  Among Tana’s item crystals, Vincent discovered a journal, which NPCs sometimes dropped. Out of curiosity, he flipped through the pages, wondering if there was a clue related to the questline or the reason for her death. The first few pages were filled with the same monotonous information on daily routines that other NPCs wrote in their journals, but the last half of the book was covered in drawings of Reddy. The pictures started off fairly normal, though they were strangely well-drawn, but then became more simplistic and twisted as Vincent turned the pages. By the end of the book, her pictures became furious scribbles of a red-eyed figure.

  Reddy the Mischievous Cat Part 3 (NPC Quest) – You’ve discovered that Reddy the Cat isn’t an ordinary house pet. You have no leads on his whereabouts, although he’s likely still on Cryasal. If you find and destroy Reddy, King Rosebriar will almost certainly reward you. Do you accept? (Yes/No)

  Vincent accepted the quest, but he continued to stare at the text in disbelief.

  Where would I even begin searching for this dang cat? There’s an entire world where he could be hiding. Vincent stopped to think for a few seconds. I guess the last two times, he showed up near strong monsters.

  After returning to the bench, he continued to think about where Reddy might have gone. He considered the necromancer’s lair as one option, but he wasn’t sure if Reddy would hide there with its owner mid-respawn at the moment. Vincent thought about the two angels as another option.

  While Vincent thought it over, another team of players spotted him. They took a bunch of pictures, and asked him questions about Lucas, Isaac, Izrid, and the Demon Lord. He answered them politely, but was relieved when the group finally left him alone an hour later.

  I’ll never get used to that, Vincent thought, rising from the bench. He hurried to Crownkeep’s gate, but jogged to conserve his mana. I’m not sure about Reddy, so maybe I’ll start with that captain and his devils.

  Once he passed the boundary of the city, the Ranger took off southeast in a superhuman sprint. At his level of Vitality, he knew he had the stamina to circle the entire world once before he’d start getting tired. However, once he reached the southwestern quarter of the planet, he slowed his pace to regain that stamina so he’d be at full strength for the quest.

  A few old signs pointed him in the direction of the outpost, and he ran past burned-down farms and cabins on his way there.

  The devils must’ve done that. I’m surprised none of the teams here have taken care of them, but maybe other players just clear out the outpost and not the underground lair.

  A huge tower appeared in his line of sight, and Vincent continued toward it. The ancient marstone structure looked sturdy despite its weatherworn appearance, and he could tell the devils hadn’t taken good care of their captured outpost. The red-skinned monsters dotted the tops of the wall, and many of them readied green fireballs in their hands as he approached.

  Vincent came to a stop at the basteel gate, and his eyes locked with the large devil behind it. The smaller monsters behind him all glanced at one another and whispered.

  The devils know your name, Old Man Vincent. They are hesitant to attack or make deals as a result.

  The large devil in the front grunted at his comrades, silencing them. He faced Vincent, leaned toward the bars, and whispered something.

  Dreg the Mighty demands to know why you’ve come to his fort.

  “Your fort?” Vincent questioned. “From what I hear, Captain Wallace runs things around here.”

  Dreg replied with an angry hiss, then equipped a basteel war hammer.

  Dreg is displeased with your response.

  “Why are you guys even here?” Vincent asked. “I thought the devils couldn’t leave the mid-tier worlds?”

  Dreg whispered a long reply.

  Dreg says they’re only allowed on Cryasal thanks to their pact with Captain Wallace. They are bound to him, unable to travel more than ten miles from his location. This pact was made so they could overthrow King Rosebriar, but Wallace refuses to leave his lair. Until he conquers Crownkeep or is defeated, the devils cannot return home.

  The Captain’s Covenant ~Alternate Challenge~ (NPC Quest) – You’ve discovered the devils are bound to Captain Wallace as part of a pact to overthrow King Rosebriar. You may choose to lead the devils against the king to install Wallace as the new leader of Crownkeep, but if you fail, you will be banned from the city. However, you may also choose to challenge Wallace directly in order to free the devils from their pact with him. Which do you choose? (Attack the King / Defeat Wallace / Refuse Alternate Challenge)

  “I’ll take care of Wallace,” Vincent answered.

  Dreg reached one hand through the basteel bars, offering Vincent a handshake.

  Vincent hesitated, remembering his past mistakes with devils, but went ahead and shook Dreg’s hand. The gate opened slowly, and Vincent walked inside. He could feel dozens of eyes watching as Dreg led him to the tower. They stepped inside and came across a few dozen devils sitting around smoking some kind of herb. Dreg grunted at them, causing the devils to stand and salute, but then their leader huffed and continued past them.

  The large devil guided Vincent to the basement, past their armory, and finally to an empty chamber with a pentagram drawn on the floor. Dreg raised his hands and cast some kind of dark spell, and then the floor opened like a sharp-toothed mouth.

  Vincent glanced down into the red glow through the opening, but he couldn’t see the bottom. “How far down does this go?” he asked.

  Dreg slapped him on the back to knock Vincent into the pit, but the Ranger used Zero Field to float over it instead.

  “Seriously?” Vincent asked. “That was pretty cliché, even for you devils.”

  Dreg grunted and shrugged.

  “Wallace is really is down there, right?”

  The devil nodded.

  “Because if he’s not, I’m killing you and every single devil in this tower.”

  A whisper replied.

  Dreg wouldn’t expect anything less from Old Man Vincent.

  Vincent descended into the pit. It grew dark around him at first, but after a few seconds of falling, a fiery light swelled, revealing a tremendous cavern. Vincent slowed in midair, peering across the lake of red mana that stretched about a quarter-mile wide. His eyes caught sight of skeletal figures wading through the lake, but they didn’t seem to be in pain.

  Vincent floated toward the steep slope at the end of the lake, where he found a crowd of devils. They held pitchforks and would stab the skeletal figures whenever they neared the shore. Beyond the devils, there was a tower of bones, and a figure sitting atop it on a throne made of fused-together skulls. As the Ranger flew closer, the man that Vincent assumed to be Captain Wallace rose from his seat.

  “Oh, we have a visitor!” Wallace shouted, motioning at a few devil minions. “Go grab us some treats, will you?”

  Vincent kept himself suspended in midair as he eyed the captain. Wallace was dressed in attire more fitting a king than a traitorous captain, but he had a dark aura around him. A scepter stayed in his hands as he stepped down his mountain of bones and shouted orders at his devils. Despite the aura, he didn’t appear threatening and had an almost joyful expression on his face.

  “Tidy up the bone mountain a bit,” he told other devils. “By my own name, we really should be better prepared for guests.”

  The shaggy-haired captain turned to face Vincent and continued to shamble down his bone mountain with awkward steps.

  “Good sir!” Wallace called. “I thank ye for stopping by. It’s been decades since I had any guests.”

  “Waaallaaaace!” one of the skeletal figures in the red lake shouted. As he tried to climb over the ledge, devils stabbed pitchforks into his decayed body and knocked him back into the red mana with a splash.

  “What’s that about?” Vincent asked.

  “Oh, don’t mind them,” Wallace replied. He waved over one of his minions to bring him a mirror, and he used his reflec
tion to tidy up himself. “Bless me, I’m not looking my best. You really caught me off guard, my good man. I don’t even have my boards ready.”

  “Boards?” Vincent wondered out loud.

  A few devils hurried out from a passageway, carrying tables and charts. They started to set up a display, and Wallace commanded them to move faster.

  “I can’t believe I sold my soul for such lousy help,” Wallace said, turning back to Vincent. “Anyways, good hero, I’m sure you’re here to defeat me—save the city and whatnot. However, since you didn’t come in mana blazing, I also assume you’ve earned the respect of the devils. If you’ve earned their respect, then that means you’ve made bargains with them in the past—am I right?”

  Vincent floated in silence, trying to decide if he should hear out the man or kill him with Voidfire.

  “A listener, huh?” Wallace said after a few seconds of quietness. “I like that! Well, as you know by now, I’m Captain Wallace—King Wallace, rightfully. You see, centuries ago—”

  Vincent raised his hand.

  “Woah, woah, wait!” Wallace pleaded. “You seem like a man short on time, so I’ll give you the brief version. My ancestor was the rightful king, but Rosebriar the First usurped him. I want my kingdom back. King Rosebriar is a greedy man who only cares about his own self-interest, whereas I am noble and want to do good for my kingdom.”

  “So you’re really the misunderstood hero, and the king’s a jerk?” Vincent asked.

  “Exactly!” Wallace said.

  “But you sold your soul to devils?”

  “They aren’t so bad.”

  “Waaaaaallaaaace!” another figure in the lake shouted.

  “And those people in the lake are who, exactly?” Vincent asked

  “Just my old comrades. I had to sacrifice them into eternal damnation as part of my pact.”

  “And why haven’t you overthrown the king yourself?”

  “Look, I won’t lie. It was pretty nice having servants that give me anything I want and obey my every order. I was planning out a big attack, but then I got comfy down here. However, if you lead my devils and take back the castle for me, I’ll reward you with tremendous riches. Sounds good, right? Come on over to my table, and I’ll show you my plans.”