by G. Akella
As we drew closer to the duchy's capital, the woods drew farther west, displaced by fields of grains, grand and sprawling. The towns were less frequent here, and the road much wider. From reading European classics, where you couldn't swing a cat without hitting one duke or other, it was not immediately obvious that a duke was something akin to a president of a decently-sized European country. After all, at nearly one hundred twenty thousand square miles, the Daar Duchy surpassed more than half of European countries in size.
This world instilled a healthy respect for distances. Living in San Francisco, it was natural to take for granted that LA was an hour away by plane, New York—less than six hours, and so on. Here, the duchy was a mere one hundred and fifty miles from Vynnern. The road was decent, though not exactly a super highway, and would take at most three hours on my old Rover. Only I wouldn't fit in my Rover anymore—I'm a tad larger now, and the horns... What if I'd need to quickly shift forms? And where would I put Gloom, in the trunk? Then again, I hadn't driven out to the country since the last time Max and I had gone fishing.
Max... I hope you're all right, my friend. I had found out earlier today that the "favor" bestowed upon the elves thanks to Max's sacrifice was a two percent boost to all stats, damage, armor class, healing and maximum resistances. But that wasn't all—the elves could now regenerate health in combat when fighting on the territory of the Great Forest. One percent HP every five seconds. A trifle on the face of it, until you realized the buff applied to every single one of them! Including the gods. Which was all fine and dandy, only I didn't give a damn about the Great Forest or its gods. I only cared about my friend, his safety and wellbeing. And the one thing that gave me comfort was that his safety and wellbeing was equally important to them, meaning they would do everything possible for him.
"We should camp here for the night, prince," the knight-commander rode up, stopping at my side, and pointed toward a small lake. "Up ahead is Kaffa, and they've got an inn, but we were planning on camping out in the open, right?"
"Right, I prefer the fresh air," I nodded, then ordered over my shoulder. "We're making camp by the lake!"
"The lake is good," Bonbon proclaimed, examining the shore overgrown with reeds, then turned around and stuck a finger at Reece. "Ever had roasted carp, boy? With pink crispy skin? Just you wait, I'll go fish some..."
"Quit talking about food, will you?" Raena interjected. "Everybody is hungry, but nobody is trained to eat in the saddle—aside from you, I assume." The young woman chuckled, then gestured at Reece. "And take our musician here fishing with you. He ought to learn how to procure food."
"No sweat! I've got three fishing rods. Just give us a minute to dig up some worms for bait, and—"
"Carps are a type of fish, I gather?" the mage clarified as Bonbon turned off the road. "Then why dig for worms? I've got some rotten viscera on me."
"Forget that," the bald man shook his head without turning around. "That rotten stuff of yours will only attract nasty shellfish. The good stuff will only go for worms."
"But the viscera have worms, too," the mage smiled. "Isn't that better than—"
He didn't finish his thought. Reality blinked and...
Oh, great...
The steppe stretched for as far as the eye could see, blood-red from the blooming tulips. A quarter mile east of us loomed the gray bulk of a castle.
"I suppose that means fishing is canceled," Bonbon mused, looking around himself curiously.
"Where are we?" Raena inquired, turning to me for answers.
"I know no more than you do," I shrugged in response, then motioned toward the castle. "But something tells me that's not Vynnern, and that we won't find a living soul inside."
The castle had rather a dreary look about it. In terms of size and tower design it was a carbon copy of Laetan, but that was where the similarities ended. The walls were cracked in many places, decrepit in others, the drawbridge was lopsided, and the moat devolved. It would seem that the castle's sentient denizens had abandoned it long ago. Just how long, it was impossible to tell, and none of us were archaeologists to offer any reasonable estimations. Besides, archaeological laws and practices wouldn't work in Arkon anyway for the simple reason that these ruins were designed by artists and the content composed by writers, all of whom were just as ignorant of the above science as we were.
"Are we in Arkaetania, Roman? On the Ancient Paths?" said the assassin, who had been quiet up until now.
"It would appear that way," I nodded. "And we're probably stuck here until something happens. Or until a natural day passes uneventfully."
"Either we find something, or something will find us," Kan echoed my thought. "I suggest being proactive, and starting with the castle. So, let's buff up and move out in that direction."
Naturally taking upon himself the command, he pointed toward the castle.
"We'll make a stop one hundred yards away. Donut, go and scout the area."
The sun in the steppe was just past its zenith, and the sky was perfectly clear, without a cloud in sight. Far to the east we could see snow-capped peaks of enormous mountains. The whole terrain was steeped in the intoxicating scent of spring.
Why? Why did the System send us here? I steered my boar toward the castle after the rogue. What were we supposed to find here? I doubted that this was to be the site of our inevitable encounter with Vill. Why, then?
"Look!" Masyanya yelled from behind me.
Standing up in the stirrups, the huntress was pointing east. A red star burned bright in the sky, visible even against the brilliant sunlight.
"That's—" Raena began to speak, but just then the earth quaked beneath our feet.
And then again, and again... There was an ear-piercing crash as the ground fifty yards ahead of us split open, and a colossal moss-green claw shot out, clumps of earth bursting like a volcano eruption. As big as a large sedan and dripping with foul goop, it propped itself up against the ground and pushed. The head broke through the surface moments later, covered in chitinous lumps.
"Steer clear! Into the castle, quick!" Kan bellowed.
I yanked the reins to round the beast crawling out of the ground, and tried to get a good look at it. Culho, Terror of the Abyss. Five billion HP, level 560, and close to sixty feet in length.
"Now that's a lobster!" Bonbon exclaimed in awe, then turned to Reece as he was turning his mount around, and raised his index finger. "A real beauty. Especially served with garlic sauce and a six-pack of beer, mmm!"
"That wasn't me! I swear it!" the mage rushed to assure us. "The viscera are still in my bag. And they don't smell!"
The ground was shaking nonstop now. Other extremities were emerging from the grass—ghastly crooked things with rotting flesh. Rakot's army was arriving in all its glory. Before long, the monster we had skirted was fully above ground. With nimbleness too fantastical for its mass, it turned toward us, let out a deafening roar, and threw up four terrible claws above its forebody. The very next second, a gray mist shrouded its mug—the effect of Vaessa's Silence of the Great Darkness.
The necromancer's daughter hurled something else at the monster, then turned and spurred her lizard toward the gates.
"Hurry! That is Rakot's companion! His entire army will be here soon!" she shouted to us as she rode past.
As if on cue, fiends of every stripe began crawling out of the ground.
Zombies, skeletons, giant insect-like creatures... I had never seen such a rich menagerie in my princedom. Their levels ranged mainly from 200 to 350, but their quantity couldn't be ascertained. Other than to mention that within moments the blooming prairie had turned to a heaving gray blob. Thankfully, not too many were blocking our path to the castle, and most of those hadn't yet fully emerged from ground.
The lobster gave an indignant howl from behind and trotted after us, mowing down the nasties in his path but struggling to keep up with the galloping mounts. We had a few minutes head start to find refuge or at least get far enough away to be
out of reach of the monster's spells. We weren't the kind of fools to take the battle here and now—against this kind of army, the eight of us were as sure as dead. We should be counting our lucky stars that the fiends hadn't appeared earlier or weren't crawling out of the ground faster, lest our chances of reaching the castle would be slim to none. The game's laws were a boon to us now—until the mobs were fully out on the surface, the System didn't register them as a hindrance.
"Throw your viscera to him!" Bonbon suggested anxiously, gesturing at the monster scuttling after us. "He must be hungry! Look at those big sad eyes!"
"He's got rotten flesh to spare!" Reece yelled back, making a sweeping gesture at the sea of undead. "Why waste my reagents?!"
"Just toss them!" Raena echoed Bonbon. "We'll get you more!"
Hart! Is this a combat squad or a circus troupe? Holding back a smile, I popped Charge, smashing through a dozen skeletons, then stabbing a bone spider in the eye with my lance.
"With the worms? Then what are we gonna use for bait?" the mage's baffled voice sounded behind me, and I nearly fell out of the saddle from laughter.
Here we were, in a strange prairie with an even stranger castle. A sinister crimson star in the sky, an undead army crawling out of the ground, and a terrible monster right on our tail. You couldn't begin to imagine a worse situation to find yourself in, and yet the party channel was filled with mirth.
Riding past the lopsided drawbridge, I waved at a stupefied Donut who had gotten to the castle five seconds prior, and took a look around. There were four decrepit stone structures, one of which appeared to have been a stable. The remains of a well, broken stone slabs, and a keep that had endured remarkably well by comparison. Most importantly, there weren't any undead in sight.
"Everybody inside! Release the animals!" Kan commanded, riding in after me.
The door into the main building hadn't survived, unsurprisingly, but the entrance was standard in size, meaning the monster pursuing us wouldn't get through. While we could prove quite the pests hiding behind yard-thick walls, especially since we'd only need to hole up in there for a day.
The darkness breathed mold and old dust into our faces. Reece and I sparked up two magic lanterns simultaneously, and looked around the place. The interior was very similar to that of Laetan. Two wide hallways running in opposite directions from the spacious main hall; a crumbling stairwell sitting directly across, and about a dozen narrow embrasures blocking all but trickles of sunlight.
There was a crash and clatter of falling stones behind us—our pursuer had apparently decided not to bother with gates.
"Raena! Titan's Hammer on the entrance! Donut, check the floors!" The knight-commander's voice reverberated through the hallways of the abandoned keep. Kan looked around at everyone, making sure we were listening, and waved in the stairwell's direction. "Everybody else, get upstairs! Nobody must stay in the main hall. Everybody got that? Not a soul in the hall when the Hammer strikes! Go, go, go!"
Dull blows were coming from the outside now—Rakot's companion was demolishing the wall. The din he was making could rival that of a couple of gun crews.
"To the third floor!" Vaessa added. "There's a platform, and Culho won't be able to cast at that angle!"
Hart! Our strategy of late was a little too heavy in the play-it-by-ear department, at least for my liking. What the heck was Titan's Hammer? Was it going to destroy everything in the hall? That would explain the order to get upstairs. Then again, it shouldn't surprise me that I didn't know it—Kan and Raena had a thirty-year history of campaigning together. And though I was sure nobody was hiding anything from me, there was no point in inundating anyone with unsolicited information. If I wanted to learn something, I'd have to ask the right questions, and that was easier said than done.
"To the third floor! Quickly! Donut, use the other staircase if this one doesn't hold!"
The fact that the castle was so similar to Laetan was an advantage. And it made perfect sense—why deviate too much from a perfectly fine template? Or was it a testament to the laziness of the designers? If so, that laziness was a boon to us now—on the third floor, some forty feet off the ground, the keep was girdled by a platform with a tall, thick fence. It offered a much better vantage point than the castle walls, where Daenic would always keep a couple of sentries.
"What a view!" Bonbon, who was walking in front, exclaimed in awe.
Vaessa and Masyana were right behind him, and their faces showed a far less enthusiastic reaction to what they saw. And for good reason—from here to the horizon line, the plain was filled with undead. Compared to the ones that had stormed Craedia, this horde seemed a lot less organized. Nothing but a mob of fiends from the Gray Frontier. Towering above this churning sea of dead creatures were the figures of raid bosses. And far to the west, shrouded in gray mist, loomed the colossal shapeless form of a god...
I couldn't see the name or the HP bar from here, but who else could it be given that kind of size? What did he even want with Erantia? Why couldn't he just mind his own business in Limbh? I hadn't a clue what kind of business a Gray Frontier deity might have, but surely there must be things to occupy oneself with, deity or not! As far as all the shit that was suddenly flowing into this world, that could be explained by all the events preplanned by the devs being activated the moment Arkon was born. Even so, any event ought to have a logical explanation. With Vill, it was all perfectly logical given his presence both there and here, but what reason did Rakot have for invading this realm when he hadn't left Limbh since times immemorial?
The wall below came crashing down—the god's companion was inside the castle. The lower undead began pouring into the breach after him.
"Fire!" Kan commanded dryly. The next moment, arrows and spells went flying at the monster.
Culho roared furiously, its body twisting in comical fashion, then gunned toward the keep entrance.
"Hold on!" Raena yelled just as the castle courtyard lit up with a blazing blue light.
The noise accompanying the spell clogged the ears. I felt the ground move under my feet, and would have surely lost my balance if I hadn't been holding onto the rails with a death grip. Crushed rock sprayed in every direction, compounded by clouds of dust to severely hinder our vision. Having lost nearly a third of its life, the beast leaped to the side with a shriek. As for the undead that had filled up the courtyard after Culho, they had simply disintegrated in the brilliant magical flash.
"Now that was some fireworks display!" Bonbon proclaimed quietly in the moment of silence that ensued. "I wouldn't mind stocking up on a few of those petards..."
Recovering fairly quickly, the boss started toward the caved-in entrance, ignoring the spells flying at him. Before long, all manner of undead were once more pouring into the castle.
"Doesn't look good," Vaessa said quietly, pointing somewhere down. Spiders can climb walls, and that freak will soon shatter everything in sight. We must move into the east wing of the building."
The necromancer's daughter was yet to fully recover from the blast, but that didn't stop her from continuing to attack nonstop. Masyanya appeared to have gotten the worst of it though. The huntress' health bar hadn't moved, but she seemed utterly disoriented just the same.
"There's an orange dungeon here! Level 250!" the rogue's exclamation in the party channel felt like divine revelation in our predicament. "Get to the basement, quickly! We only need to stay there a day!"
"Everybody down!" Kan issued the command right away.
Just then, the monster finally reached the main building, drew back all four of his claws, and struck out hard at the wall. The keep shuddered, and a deep fissure appeared across the platform we were standing on.
"Go, go, go!" Bonbon grabbed Masyanya, still shell-shocked, by the arm, and proceeded to drag her inside.
The others followed quickly after. Another blow came, shaking the building to its foundation as a plangent howl rose up over the prairie. I felt difficulty breathing and chills runn
ing down my spine, but it all passed momentarily—there was no debuff.
"I must admit, you're a way better singer than Rakot," Raena chortled, giving Reece a light push.
"Only because that one's missing a banjo," Kan replied for the mage when the entire squad made it downstairs. "Then he'll start checking out pine trees to partner up with."
There were more debris in the hall now, but the foundation of the building appeared to be intact—it would appear that the explosion's impact had been mostly on the outside. The stairwell was in shambles, but in this realm even a schoolchild could jump from a height of ten feet without hurting himself.
"This way!" After finding his girlfriend with his eyes and verifying she was all right, Donut pointed to the steps leading down to the basement. "Third door on the right!"
A dungeon on the Ancients Paths? How absurd! Then again, it was orange and hence designed to be completed only once. Maybe this was exactly what we were meant to find? Either way, this was our only escape route from the undead, so we would be taking it.
We descended the stairs to the dull blows dealt by the god's companion, ran down a wide corridor, and wasted no time slipping into the portal window misting midway through.
"We stay here for now," I said in response to Kan's questioning look, then set to studying the mold-covered walls and the murky corridor to our right. "Whatever is waiting for us there can wait. We need to discuss a few curious tidbits first."
"And have a bite to eat," Bonbon added, his mouth already full.
Nothing had changed with our crossing of the orange film. The dungeon, bearing the unassuming name "Gal'vert's Prison," began as a continuation of the corridor. Up ahead were a few puddles, formed by the water seeping through cracks in the walls and ceiling. The space was dimly lit by wall-mounted orange-glass lanterns, with a faint odor of decay in the air. Another undead dungeon?
"Something the matter, dar?" Vaessa asked, her voice tense.
