Quest for Vengeance
Page 19
I toggled through the items in my shadow bag. An M&M. The weapons I’d looted from the dead elf. That stupid bat-wing “armor.” A scroll.
I pulled out the scroll, frowning. That’s right. It belonged to Glitch. Soulbound. I activated Mana Sight, but couldn’t find a binding rune anywhere. Weird. Deactivating the skill, I read the item’s stats.
It wasn’t bound to anyone.
The binding must have been broken when his spawn-point—the runestone—had been destroyed. It made sense, I supposed, assuming he hadn’t died beforehand. I guess that made it mine now. I rolled it open.
New Item: Land Deed
Congratulations, tycoon, you’ve discovered a land deed! With this scroll you can lay claim to the patch of wilderness it deeds, yours to do with as you will. Land deeds are a requisite item for founding a settlement. Activate the deed to see the land’s location on your map. You must be present at the location to lay your claim. Would you like to store this item in inventory, or activate it now?
I activated it. I had to know. Was I holding the deed to Thrannick’s dungeon?
I was not. A tiny green blip appeared on my map. It looked far from my current location. Very, very far, and in the opposite direction of the caves. I made a mental shrug. Ok. Could be of some value, but it looked like it was in the middle of nowhere. I tried to recall what the prison guards had said about it when they’d taken it from Glitch in the first place. They hadn’t seemed too impressed. Said something about how he would never get out there. I sighed through my nose.
I would have loved a cross-world journey with Angie.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. If I could have traded places, I would have in a heartbeat.
My rest that day was uneasy. I replayed the events from the runestone cave over and over in my mind, waiting for the sun to set.
___
Just before nightfall I was roused by the sound of someone else in the wood. I perked my ears up, rolled onto my belly, and scanned the forest for signs of movement.
He wasn’t hard to spot.
He was a player, that much was certain. A lowbie. But he had some strength to his build, by the look of him. He was a man, red-faired and ruddy faced with a bit of stubble, and he was stomping through the wood like he owned the place. Or like someone on a mission.
I determined to lie low and let him pass. If I’d thought there was any chance he was with The Noose, I’d have laid a trap and killed him for the pleasure of it, but I didn’t think someone who seemed that oblivious could possibly be with them. No, he was just a lone player, probably heading off on a quest. He carried a long-handled hammer in his hands. Could be a weapon, I supposed, but it looked more like a tool.
The problem was, he was heading straight for me. I was hiding in the middle of his path. And though I was a creature of the night, I had no stealth skills. He was going to see me. Arming one of the katanas I’d picked up from Dolan, I stood.
“Whoa!” The man stopped in his tracks and hefted his hammer. “Who’re you with?” he asked.
I cocked my head to the side.
“I said who are you with?”
“No one.” It was true. More now than ever.
He grunted. “Right. No one on their own has a blade like that. You a scout? That it?”
I shook my head. “You don’t believe me.”
“Man, forgive me, but I have seen some shit. I’m not really in the trusting mood.”
I watched him blandly. He had no idea.
“Ok, let’s try this again.” He concentrated, clearly reading what stats of mine he could access. “You’re a player?” He glanced up at me.
Had he thought I was an NPC?
I nodded.
“I’m gonna ask you one more time, man. And you better tell me something. Are you with that murderous bunch of PvP assholes?”
“No.”
“Huh.”
We were quiet a moment.
“But I know who you mean,” I said. I hitched a thumb over my shoulder. “Their base is back that way. Or it was. I might have blown it up a little. Run all night and you’ll come to a cliff-face with a nasty looking crevice at the base. Looks like hell itself is getting ready to climb out. Personally, I don’t recommend it, but…” I shrugged.
“Man!” He stepped back, eyes wide. “You blew it up? What the fuck?”
I didn’t see the point defending my actions. I shrugged again and strode past him, heading deeper into the forest. It was close enough to full night, and I wanted to get going.
“Hey!” He jogged to catch up. “Hey! Did they hurt you? Fuck with you? Those guys?”
I ignored him.
“Because they came and burned our settlement to the ground, man. Captured all the players, as far as I can tell. There’s this girl. Terra. They took her. And she has a sister, too, shit. Gemma.”
I stopped walking.
“They just fucking took them,” he went on. “Killed the town guide. Nailed him to his own cabin. Only reason they didn’t find me is I died and respawned a couple of hours later. But did you say you blew the place up? Like, do you think anyone could have survived?”
I turned and met his pleading gaze.
What could I tell him? I knew Gemma was dead. I’d seen her grayed-out notification in the party stats.
I’d seen her lifeless body.
I’d destroyed the door by which she was supposed to return.
“I knew Gemma,” I said, finally. “She’s gone.”
Hope and then disappointment washed over his face. “But do you know Terra? Have you seen her?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I think they’re all dead. Dead for real.”
“Man, this is bullshit!” He shoved me. His strength was impressive and I had to take a step back. I let him take his grief out, shoving me again. “What do you know? How could you possibly know that? All dead. Don’t give me that bullshit!”
I took a moment to look at his stats, taking his name and level. John. Level 3. Not bad, but not a threat to me. I sighed. “Look, John. I’m sorry. I know you’re hurting. But I can’t help you. Go back and look for yourself if you need to. But I’m telling you, she’s gone.”
“Oh yeah? How do you know? You check yourself, did you?”
I turned to leave him again. No point arguing about it. Then his words gave me pause.
I did have a way to check. Not for his friend specifically, but I knew how to tell if anyone had survived the blast. Pulling up my stats, I called up the party information for Taco Tuesday.
It was still active.
“Son of a bitch,” I growled.
“What?” He rounded back on me. “What is it? You find something?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I found something. They’re not all dead after all.”
“Oh my god, that’s great! Oh! Man!” He pushed his hair back with his hand. “Come with me. You’re obviously a skilled player. Come with me to help, and I’ll… I’ll find some way to pay you back. And in the meantime, think of it as a quest.”
I snorted. “For what?”
His eye glinted in the setting sun. “For vengeance.”
I looked back the way I’d come, back through the wood. Somewhere back there, an angry elder god was rising from the pits of the hellish dungeon, amid the lingering reminder of all the pain I’d caused. But there might be hope, too. Survivors. Prisoners who needed to get out.
Even better: there might be more Newlanders to kill.
I stuffed my katana back into inventory and nodded, my eyes on the forest trail.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
THE END.
(TO BE CONTINUED IN HERO ONLINE BOOK 2: QUEST FOR POWER)
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PLAYER STATS: GIDEON
Character Name: Gideon (AKA Chipdip)
Player
Level: 5
Race: Night Elf
Class: Civilian
Occupation: Scavenger
Agility: 11/11
HP: 350/350
Mana: 8/8
Spirit: 14/14
Stamina: 18/18
Strength: 17/17
Armed: Dueling Katana, 2; Longbow; Manual Mandible
Items: Eternal Torch; Land Deed; Untanned Leather Armor
Skills and Attributes
Fleet of Foot (passive): Level 3
Hard Labor (passive, influencer): Level 7
Mana Manipulation (passive): Level 4
Mana Sight (passive): Level 5
Night Vision (passive): Level 5
Outside the Box (passive): Level 5
Runecrafting (passive): Level 1
Runes unlocked: Binding
Soulbound (special): ---
Spirit Manipulation (passive): Level 3
Strategy (passive): Level 1