Good point, Hawke thought.
“We should return to town, claim our share of the reward for Urso – don’t worry, Eternal, I’ll make sure you receive yours – and leave you to it,” the old hunter said. “You can die in the Lair as many times as you’d like, but not us. We only have one moment of stupidity or bad luck on which to lose everything.”
“Father!” Tava protested.
Kinto shook his head. “It’s not just that your kind cannot die and therefore take insane risks. It’s worse than that. Death and disorder follow Eternals like the stench of carrion. Like Old Urso over there. His normal range was miles away from here, and yet here he is. He happened to be close enough to hear us coming, did he? Or did he sense an Eternal’s presence and come running? What are the chances you’d meet the same beast twice in three days if you weren’t hunting for him?”
“Never hunted bear before, but I suppose it doesn’t happen often.”
“He was looking for you, I’d wager. All beasts and monsters on the Path to Power flock to Eternals. They know the rewards of killing your kind, and they can smell you from miles away.”
“That’s great,” Hawke said.
“The Path to Power has a price. I decided to leave it and live a normal life,” Kinto said before turning to his offspring. “But some young and stupid children of mine think they know better than me.”
“I don’t want to marry some burgher, raise children, and grow old in boredom,” Tava said defiantly. “I want to do great things. I want to live!”
“Glory and power,” her father replied. “Lies you tell yourself when you try to forget stepping on a friend’s spilled entrails while trying to kill the thing that gutted him.”
Tava shrugged. “All living things die, Father. Even Eternals, or so the stories say. I will go with Hawke if you will not.”
Kinto leaned on the spear and looked down. “You will learn better, child. Let us find the Lair and cleanse it. And pray to the gods that you don’t learn your lesson while taking your last breath.”
Twenty-Four
“I will keep my word,” Hawke told Kinto as the group stopped to get some rest.
They’d been going at it for hours, and the sun was descending behind the mountains to the west. The forest was mired in shadows already; soon it would go completely dark. Kinto had decided to make camp for the night. This was their last break before they headed to a suitable camping spot the old Hunter knew about.
“I believe you will try to,” Kinto said. He shook his head before continuing. “We are headed toward dark times, and knowing it has put me in a foul mood.”
It almost sounded like an apology; Hawke decided to take it as one.
“I think you are right,” he told Kinto.
“I was away, seeking help, because I knew Orom was in danger,” the Hunter continued. “The Necromancer has been stirring for some months now. The Lair coming awake is either his doing or part of the evil tide that is rising. I went to look for people who might do something about it.”
“Guess you didn’t find them,” Hawke said.
“No. I went to Akila, that’s the closest big city in these parts. A week’s travel on the Imperial Highway, leastways when the weather’s good. A couple of old friends live there, still walking the Path to Power. I was hoping to bring back a party to take on Domort. I found no takers.”
“Why not?”
“There is trouble in Akila. Trouble everywhere, as a matter of fact. Dead rising in the far north. Great dragons have been spotted outside the Northern Wastes for the first time in over a century. The Sea Folk are threatening the eastern coasts. All the Adventurers I know are already busy on one Quest or another. And there is a new Guild in Akila, made up of Eternals. Perhaps after we are done here you should try your luck with them.”
“A Guild?”
“They call themselves the ‘Nerf Herders,’ whatever ‘nerf’ means.”
Holy crap!
The Star Wars reference could only come from Earth. Some of his fellow gamers must have done better for themselves than Hawke, let alone the unlucky bastards still trapped in the Necromancer’s Stronghold. That Guild must be the work of fellow Earthlings. The idea of rejoining people from his world was tempting enough to make him consider abandoning his quests, but he decided against it. He had things to do here, and even if he wasn’t facing some major penalties if he broke his word, he might be better off finishing them before making other plans.
“I’d think twice about joining them, though. A group of nasty bastards, they are,” Kinto added, dashing Hawke’s hopes. “They are becoming a major force in Akila, for all that they all are in the lower levels of power. When I asked my friends about the new Guild, they said enough to dissuade me from seeking its help. That is another reason I was not happy to see another Eternal.”
Damn it, Hawke thought.
He’d been a gamer long enough to know there were plenty of a-holes in the community. Anyone who’d been ganked while minding his own business by some high-level sadist could tell you that. And now they were loose in a living version of the games where they’d been bullies and petty tyrants. Some of them might realize they weren’t dealing with pixel drawings anymore, but others… Hawke recoiled at the idea of the worst kinds of gamers – the murder hobos and the borderline sociopaths – running rampant on the Realms. He remembered the oath he had sworn about stopping other Eternals, and felt his heart sink.
Hawke abandoned the idea of traveling to Akila before finishing his Quests. Maybe after he had gone up a few more levels. Maybe the Nerf Herders wouldn’t be as bad as he feared, but he had to be ready if they were.
Kinto rose from the log he’d been sitting on while they all caught their breath. “Time to get going before night finds us.”
A half hour’s walk took the small group to a clearing near a small creek. They set up watches for the night; Hawke drew the first watch, alongside Gosto. The Paladin and the Druid stood guard quietly while the others slept in their bedrolls. After a few hours of tense boredom, he took the bedroll Kinto had lent him and went to sleep on the hard ground. If he had any nightmares, he didn’t remember them when Tava woke him up just before dawn.
The next morning, they found the Lair.
* * *
“Doesn’t look like much,” Hawke said, looking at the flat clearing below them.
Hidden between several overlapping hills, the shallow valley was dotted by rock pillars, crudely carved into pointed shapes that resembled giant spearheads. It was the first look Hawke had of an intact Faerie Ring; it looked like the work of untalented cavemen to him.
I’ll take your word for it. And I thought your previous owner destroyed them.
The vampire, maybe?
Someone like the Necromancer.
Six of the pillars formed a circle; five more were placed within the circle in a pentagonal formation. In the center lay the biggest stone of the bunch. Unlike the others, that monolith was lying on its side, revealing a tunnel descending into the darkness.
“See that?” Kinto said. “Nothing has dis
turbed the Fae stones since before I was born. Not grass nor tree, not wind nor earthquake. The stones have stood there for time immemorial. Until now.”
“Father,” Tava said. She’d spotted something off to one side of the game trail that had led them to the clearing. She walked over and picked up a shepherd’s crook. “It’s been there for a few days. Maybe a week.”
“Antos the shepherd has been missing for about that long,” Gosto said. “His sheep were found wandering around on their own, the few that didn’t get eaten or lost, that is.”
“The Lair lured him in,” the Hunter said. He pointed at the overturned stone. “How he managed to move that thing, only the gods know. Perhaps it was open already. And down he went, to whatever waited for him in the dark.”
“You think it was him that turned Kora?” Tava asked.
“Could be. Doesn’t matter none, though. We need to get the one who started it all.” He leveled his spear towards the hole in the ground. “And that’s where we’ll find him.”
Hawke noticed a notification prompt had appeared the moment he saw the Lair. He opened it.
You Have Found: Catacombs of the Risen
Level 7 Lair
3 Quests Available!
He checked the quests. They weren’t particularly surprising, but the rewards were impressive:
QUEST: Cleanse the Lair
A great evil sought refuge in this Place of Power, but was trapped inside and held there by magic. The Undead creature has been awakened and has raised many servants; they must be put down.
Objective: Destroy at least 10 Minions of the Risen Lord.
Rewards: 200 XP, 2 gold coins, one random item (Good or Enchanted Quality).
Penalties for Failure: None.
Accept? Y/N
Quest: Lay the Risen Lord to Rest
He once was a Patrician of the Onyx Empire, until a creature from the Dread Realms turned him into an undead monster. The local Priests could not destroy him but managed to imprison him in an ancient Troglodyte catacomb beneath a Faerie Ring, using the power of a Mana Node to contain his evil. Now he is awake and threatens this land again. If given enough time, he will escape the Lair at the head of an Undead army.
Objective: Destroy the Risen Lord.
Rewards: 350 XP, 10 gold, one random item (Enchanted Quality).
Penalties for Failure: None.
Accept? Y/N
Quest: Destroy the Lair
The Risen Lord cannot be destroyed permanently as long as the source of its power remains. Another follower of Undeath brought a Death Orb to him, awakening his evil. Until the Orb is destroyed or purified, the Risen Lord will be reborn 72 hours after he is killed.
Objective: Find the Death Orb and destroy it.
Optional Objective: Purify the Orb and alter its Affinity from Death to Light.
Rewards: 300 XP, 10 gold, one random item (Enchanted Quality)
Optional Objective Rewards: 150 XP, increase item quality to Masterwork, Orb of Light.
Penalties for Failure: Any Lair creature that is destroyed will rise again 72 hours later.
Accept? Y/N
Hawke mentally checked on the Orb of Light entry:
Orb of Light
A repository of power that can be used for good or evil. This Holy object can store Mana, focus spells, and act as a symbol of faith for Priests, Paladins, and other godly servants.
Mana Storage: 200 points.
Spell Focus: Adds +3 to the effective level of the caster to determine effects or damage. Reduces casting time by 1 second or 10%, whichever is better.
Symbol of Faith: Used by a servant of the gods, the Orb of Light can turn undead and demons. Chance of success: 10% per level of the wielder, modified by the Undead or Demon’s level and rank.
Okay, I want that, Hawke thought before he got to the small print at the bottom of the quests:
Warning: Accepting any of the Quests above will temporarily move your Reincarnation site to the entrance of the Lair. Should you fall in the Lair, you will automatically lose 3 Identity points.
It’s never easy, is it?
Hawke shrugged and accepted all the Quests. No rewards without risks; that had been true in his world as well, and no amount of participation trophies could change that.
“Did you all get Quests?” he asked his companions after he was done.
Kinto nodded. “We received two apiece. Rather generous rewards as well. Adventurers’ Coins are more highly regarded than those minted by kings and emperors, for they are of pure metal, unadulterated and of the proper weight. And Enchanted items are rare and expensive.”
He turned to his daughter and son. “Adventuring can be a road to riches, but also to an early grave. Never forget that.”
Hawke soon figured that none of his new buddies had gotten the third quest, the one related to the Orb. He wasn’t sure what that meant, so he asked his sword.
They have everything figured out, don’t they?
And the Arbiters are the ones who offer Quests and provide the little floating coin bags.
Hawke frowned. The whole thing was a game system overlaid on reality. Like a mod or hack on a game, except affecting breathing, living, bleeding people. He didn’t like the idea that he and everybody in this world were nothing but pawns of a greater power, but that seemed to be exactly what they were.
For now. If the Path leads to Power, I’ll follow it until I can start getting some direct answers.
Guess I’ll find out.
Out loud, he said: “All right, let’s go kill the Risen Lord.”
Twenty-Five
They approached the hole in the ground cautiously, expecting trouble. They weren’t disappointed.
Kinto and Hawke led the way, with the siblings fifty feet behind, ready to back them up with bow and spell. Just as the group reached the Faerie Ring, loud growling sounds coming from the hole warned them someone was headed out to meet the intruders.
“Steady, now,” Kinto said. “And Tava, for the love of all gods, do not shoot until I say the word.”
Hawke grinned; he’d been through enough ‘don’t draw aggro, dumbass’ conversations to recognize one. That was exactly what the girl had done with the Dire Bear, and it might have saved his life, but had almost gotten her killed. And unlike Hawke, she wouldn’t get better afterwards. His grin vanished as soon as a humanoid emerged from the Lair’s entrance. It was as wide as a Dwarf but taller than a human, with short legs and long gorilla-like arms; his forehead was bigger than normal, with oversized brows. And whatever race he’d once been, he was clearly Undead. The gray-purple skin, filmed-over eyes and bits of missing skin and flesh made that abundantly clear.
He – it – wore a ragged loincloth and held a club carved out of the bone of some big critter as its only weapon. Its stats were impressive:
Risen Troglodyte (Undead)
Level 3 (Elite)
Health 150 Mana 60 Endurance 120
Time to tank, Hawke told himself, and moved forward, shield in front of him and sword ready to strike.
His auras were up, barely visible in daylight but enough to attract the zombie’s attention. Kinto was moving off to one side, angling for a side or rear attack. Hawke opened up with his Hammer of Light, which burned almost one fourth of the Undea
d’s Health with a single hit. The Risen reacted by heading straight for him, club held high. This guy was no Walking Dead reject, either. It moved as quickly as the living.
Hawke stopped thinking and let his instincts take over. He took the swinging blow on his shield, grunting at the powerful impact, and countered with a sword thrust that the zombie nimbly avoided. He stepped forward to press the attack. The Undead caveman feigned a retreat and countercharged suddenly, slamming into Hawke’s shield before he could swing his sword. The creature was not only inhumanly strong, its body was as tough as petrified wood. Feeling like he’d run into a wall, Hawke was knocked back several steps; he took no damage but was off-balance. If he’d been alone, he would have gotten clubbed to death like a baby seal.
Luckily, he wasn’t alone.
“Tava, now!” Kinto shouted as he speared the zombie from behind. The hunter had moved as quickly as the Undead, unencumbered by his light armor. As a red ‘10’ flashed from the wounded Risen, Tava landed an arrow for another 16 damage. The zombie forgot about Hawke and whirled around, club whooshing through the air towards Kinto. The old Hunter tried to back up but his spear was still stuck in and he took a hit on his shoulder; the big ‘25’ over his head showed that the blow had been brutal. He ended up lying on his side but managed to rip the spear loose as he fell.
Hawke hadn’t been idle. The cooldown for Hammer of Light wasn’t over, so he closed into melee range. Saturnyx’s point punctured the creature’s in the side, inflicting 13 points of damage. He ducked under a swing as he twisted his blade free, and slammed the shield into the monster, edge first. That only did six damage but pushed him away from the monster, just as another arrow landed.
Kinto was still down on the ground, but his Health was improving, thanks to Gosto’s healing magic. The Trogg feinted towards Hawke, then whirled around and threw its club at Tava a moment after she loosed an arrow for a paltry five points of damage. The spinning bone struck her head with a sickening crunch and she went down, her Health reduced to just nine points. Critical hit!
Twilight Templar (The Eternal Journey Book 1) Page 14
