Clan Dominance: The Sleepless Ones-6 by Dem Mikhailov
The
Land Beyond Is not the End
Chapter
1
Arriving,
Falling, and Getting In
We never managed to found out whether our bald imp had
managed to set the wooly mammoth Callowan on fire.
Obviously, a living creature would not have blown up,
but the mammoth could have gone off his rocker, making lots of noise and
causing us a lot of trouble. On second thought, that might have been for the
better. The Land Beyond wasn’t all too welcoming a place; our troubles began as
soon as we arrived.
The myriad of spiraling stars flashed brightly for a
moment; there was a loud hum, almost drowning out Orbit’s voice—he was still carrying
on with the countdown. On the count of one I felt the starry sky shatter into a
thousand of pieces. We were no longer free from the inexorable pull of gravity.
Bright sunlight blinded us for a second. I was
relieved to see the familiar cerulean sky with cirrus clouds scattered here and
there. Afterwards, everything became an enormous vortex and we started to
crash-land. The mammoths started to trumpet, unable to stand straight, their
bodies leaning against the thin rods forming the wicker cage.
“God almighty! We’re falling!” The thought ran through
my mind somewhat belatedly, and I yelled at the top of my lungs,
“Hold on!” However, after having yelled, I realized
people around me had already been giving concise and confident orders, quite at
odds to my dilettante’s exclamation.
“Jump! Jump!” The Crimson Lynx roared. “Everybody jump
outside! Don’t dally!”
“Pterodactyls! Take off!” A loud woman’s voice sounded
in unison with that of Crimson Lynx. “Take off, everybody!”
There was a loud scream, and a huge orange shadow
flashed somewhere in the distance, veering off somewhere to the right. I
noticed a few players clinging to its scaly back. There was a lunge, and I fell
off, Trouble holding fast to my hand. The three of us tumbled out of the wicker
cage, still spinning through the air, and all I managed to do was yell at the
top of my voice,
“Follow us!”
Brown earth with green spots scattered across it
flashed before my eyes. Kyre was holding on to me, and I was holding on to
Tyrant, the legendary wolf, howling loudly to express his extreme displeasure
at this way of travel.
Bits of wood kept splintering off the cage, still
above us. Players and animals kept falling out. One of the white rhinos was
plummeting, fast as any bomb, its horn pointed downwards, mooing in surprise.
All of the above objects and beasts were catching up with us at breakneck pace,
being much heavier.
“Spread out your arms!” Kyre yelled.
“Perhaps I should flap them as well? Oh, hell!
Callowan!”
Callowan the mammoth was falling right on us, his
thick legs twitching frenziedly and his thick trunk reaching up as if he was
trying to find something to hold on to. We jerked aside and barely managed to
get out of the prehistoric creature’s way; fortunately, the mammoth missed us.
The hero piloting the creature spread himself out on the latter’s head—in baggy
trousers and with a bald head as per usual. We heard his extremely confident
and decisive voice giving orders so outlandish I forgot we’d been falling from
an enormous height.
“Your years! Move your ears! Tail to the left! Blow
through the trunk!”
“O-o-o-o-orbit!” I howled.
The pilot of the doomed Callowan plane didn’t hear me,
still plummeting and trying to save his aircraft.
“Turbines on!” The hero cried in just as confident a
voice, and the heavy mammoth passed us by at last, still in freefall, catching
up quickly with the white rhino as if it was a race.
Wooden bits of the cage caught up with us in the
meantime, as well as yelling players, long snakes slithering through the air,
and a bunch of other animals. Kyre kicked away a stuffed sack, and I barely
managed to dodge an enormous spike covered in wet mud.
“My dear,” Trouble purred into my ear, holding on to
my neck. “Since we haven’t landed yet, tell me one thing… Do you love me?”
“The best time to ask a question like that!” I barked.
Tyrant chimed in with a roar of outrage.
“Sourpuss!” Kyre puffed in a voice that made her
discontent very clear. “The best time… Ros, to the right! All of us!”
I glanced towards the ground quickly, realized what
she’d been talking about, and lunged to the right, holding on to the wolf’s
shaggy fur. That was enough to change the view from the brown checker to a
green one. We were indeed falling onto a checkered field; a game of life and
death (in theory). The brown checkers represented hard and ruthless ground.
Fortunately, we were heading for the green; water, which would be our
salvation, given enough depth. I sincerely hoped there wouldn’t be a catch with
that one as well—like a ravenous Loch Ness monster, for example.
Pterodactyls were flapping their wings about, clearly
following somebody’s orders, grabbing snakes, still slithering helplessly, and
carrying them away, releasing them over the green checkers. They were doing the
same to the players, pulling them away from the death-bound trajectory. But who
could have given orders so quickly, given that every clan was fending for
itself?
“I believe I can fly-y-y-y!” Dock shrieked in the
distance, already pulled away and heading for one of the watery patches. I
could see no other members of my team with the exception of Orbit, who’d
already fallen towards an unknown fate accompanied by Callowan the mammoth.
“Halapuer tulips! Halapuer tulips!” An unknown player
from The Sleepless Ones’ team yelled, staring at the approaching ground through
a copper spyglass. A herbalist? A madman? Or both?
“Yee-haw!” an achylote player hissed fiercely, trying
to maneuver with his webbed hands. I didn’t notice him before. Above him, a
girl of the same race was doing the same; both of them affiliated with the
Architects. Water races in a landlubber clan? We’d had our share of surprise
before even having made a landing—or a splashdown. There seemed to be a few
more achylotes from The Sleepless Ones in the distance.
The cage fell apart completely, with debris flying in
every direction and with the last passengers leaving its torn-apart maw.
I managed to notice a few more details such as sealed
boxes, sacks, enormous carrier bags, and so on. Then the freefall ended and we
fell into duckweed-covered water. The duckweed layer must have been incredibly
thick, but we barely managed to notice it as we plunged into the dark depths.
Kyre was trying to reach the surface, and Tyrant was paddling furiously
underneath. The bar showing the remaining amount of available air popped up
before my eyes, but I still managed to pull the girl down, the general
commotion notwithstanding, my eyes on the glowing green duckweed carpet above
us. The surface kept getting broken by players, beasts, and objects, each of
which could smash us. There were splashes of bubbling water everywhere. We used
our arms and legs not to drown, waited for about ten seconds, and decided to
emerge around that time; fortunately, the hail of heavy stuff was already
coming to an end.
Two achylote shadows slipped by gracefully; one in front,
and the other in the back. They looked like predatory fish out for a hunt.
A few agonizing moments later, my head tore through
the duckweed layer. I gulped in the air of The Land Beyond, paying no attention
to the horrendous ruckus beside me. Some must have gotten less lucky than us
and had a hard landing on the hostile and hard ground.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You
are the first heroes to have reached The Land Beyond: a mysterious location.
You’ve
had bad luck!
And
yet, resilience and courage may help you get over all the obstacles.
You’re
a trailblazer!
Being
a trailblazer is always hard. Those following in your footsteps will have it
easier.
Penalties:
Physical
damage dealt to those populating these lands is lowered by 25%.
Magical
damage dealt to those populating these lands is lowered by 25%.
Chance
of getting loot from the monsters you destroy is lowered by 25%.
The
chance of dealing critical physical or magical damage is lowered by 25%.
The
chance of collecting resources successfully is lowered by 25%.
The
physical damage dealt by monsters is up by 25%.
The
magical damage dealt by monsters is up by 25%.
The
cartography quality is lowered by 25%.
The
speed of travel by any means is lowered by 10%.
HP
and mana regeneration speed is lowered by 10%.
The
penalties will be valid for: 23:59:59.
Bonuses:
Ancient
artifacts: Yes.
Current
condition and quantity: 5/5.
Availability
of ancient non-magical skills and recipes: Yes.
Current
condition and quantity: unknown.
Availability
of ancient magical knowledge: Yes.
Current
condition and quantity: unknown.
Unique
monsters not encountered previously: Yes.
The
number of species: Unknown.
Signs
of former presence of the extinct race of The Great Ones: Unknown.
A
reminder!
There
are many guilds that will be delighted to pay handsomely for any unique trophy
or skill you might find here!
A unique achievement!
You have received the following achievement:
Trailblazer!
(This achievement has no tiers and cannot be
upgraded).
This achievement only applies to any adventurer to
have found a way to a previously undiscovered location!
Congratulations!
Your reward: A deliberately crudely-made wooden
figurine of a weary traveler peering into the horizon.
Item class: rare.
Object status: a collector’s item.
WARNING!
The
guardian of these lands has not been destroyed yet!
Stay
vigilant!
ATTENTION!
Flora
and fauna status: E. A. F. D.
“Damn! Damn!” I could find nothing better to say as I
was spitting out the water, approaching the bank without even moving a limb.
Tyrant did all the work, paddling hard towards terra firma and dragging me
along. Kyre was holding on to the neck of her armadillo, looking like a
disfigured turtle in water. “Did you get that, Kyre? The local ‘daddy’ is still
unvanquished.
“Could be a mommy…” The paladin maiden nodded, clad in
a full suit of armor and looking at me through the T-shaped opening in the
visor of her dark blue barbute helmet. A long sodden cape of a matching color
without any markings was trailing behind her. “We’re the first ones. Gods
forbid we run into the Protector. Given our powers… And yet, if we do and we
manage to off it…”
“Yup,” I bubbled to her. The wolf had reached the
bank, so sheer it wouldn’t be out of place in a swimming pool, and leapt to dry
land swiftly. I followed him at a much slower pace.
Protectors… All parts of Waldyra had them—a long time
ago. Absolutely unique monsters of any kind, of any size, and with any
characteristics one could possibly imagine. They could only be killed once—they
didn’t respawn.
Back in the day, you could run into a Protector as
soon as you’d leave your main city; such an encounter would not necessarily be
deadly. For instance, there were the Rabbit Downs populated by a bunch of gray
and white rabbits living in deep warrens among the bushes, thriving. There was
also a pitch black rabbit among them with thrice their level. Not much of a
“daddy.” Impressive, but nothing to write home about. And yet, offing one of
these was quite a feat—you’d get a bunch of loot and an achievement, as well as
a chance of getting something truly unique, although not necessarily useful,
with the loot.
Single or multiple encounters with the Protectors were
the privilege of the very first players; the ones who’d leave their starting
point and wade straight into terra incognita. To our generation of players, an
achievement like that was next to impossible. It was just like the real world
in that respect, with every spot already explored by someone else. The first
players had been trailblazers; we were mere tourists.
But everything changed upon our arrival here, and I
became a trailblazer against my will. The Protectors might be called “mums” and
“dads,” but they had no paternal or maternal sentiment, and would often be
capable of calling upon other denizens of their domain. As for the legendary
Land Beyond… I was pretty certain that the local Protector was someone like the
abovementioned black rabbit. It was guaranteed it would be someone else, and
we’d be fortunate indeed not to run into the creature in question. Even if it
was someone peaceful like a unique bison or a sloth sleeping on a bough all day
long.
“There must be a lair, too,” Kyrea said in a low
voice, having just crawled out.
“Oh, there must be,” I said with a sigh.
Any protector would definitely have a lair—a hole, a
nest, a ravine, a bunch of bushes, and so on. And there’d definitely be a bunch
of loot there—some were bigger; others were smaller. Including
equipment—especially if the Protector in question was a predator of some sort,
but even the herbivores had unique items of some quality. However, in this case
all my information came from tavern banter, books, and forums. This was the
first time I found myself in the role of a trailblazer.
“But we’re not gonna look for it, are we?” Trouble had
to be sure.
“We won’t!” I nodded. “The others definitely will—the
beast, its lair, lock, stock, and barrel, hoping to find a bunch of quality
items—some of them might even turn out unique. But what about our
comrades-in-arms? I hope none of them have become human pancakes after falling,
unfit for battle. And what about respawning?”
“No way!” I was happy to hear the well-familiar roar
of Bom the half-orc. Our mule was alive, spitting out water and shaking off the
duckweed. “What about it?”
“I was wondering where we’d respawn in case of death,”
I explained, taking a good look around me for the first time. “I haven’t
noticed any respawn location from above. In this case, the winner takes it all,
and the loser has to fall, and things will look even more dire. Hey! Kray!
Callen! Doc! Orbit! Are you alive?!”
“There’s no respawn location!” An unfamiliar dwarf
from The Sleepless Ones notified me as he passed by. “One of our mages landed
on a bastard of a rock. He fell down here, and right now he’s taking stock of
his losses on ‘mainland,’ sitting naked on another rock. It really sucks…”
“Thanks!” I said with gratitude. “It does indeed.”
“Tell me about it!” An impassioned female voice, well
familiar, addressed me from behind.
I turned around and nearly lost my speech. The first
thing I saw was a shimmering haze that shortly became black, and then
transformed into a slim silhouette covered in black leather. The Baroness… At
least I thought so, since she’d had no readable nickname or indeed any other
information displayed about her head. There was a half-mask covering the lower
part of her face and reaching up to her eyes, looking like a hideous maw, bare
fangs and all. Her dilated pupils darkened, but the air around her kept on
shimmering like a heat haze, although I didn’t feel her emit any heat.
Baroness slid right past me easily, headed for the
direction where the excited voices were coming from.
“Kyre,” I whispered. “That was The Black Baroness
right now, wasn’t it?”
“Sure was.”
“I wonder what her character class is.”
“Don’t you know?” My troublesome girlfriend looked
surprised as she petted the armored head of her pet fondly. “It’s another one
of Waldyra’s legends—if the rumor has it right, that is. The Black Baroness
studied with the Dead Sands Clan. Everybody assumes it, but nobody knows for
sure. But only they have this character class. Warrior and battle mage both.”
“That mask of hers makes her look like a damn ninja!”
“That’s exactly what she is,” Kyre nodded, dead
earnest. “Even though this class doesn’t officially exist. It’s all based on
rumors alone. People say she’d somehow weaseled her way into the Dead Sands
Clan and managed to get trained by them. That’s no skill you can learn in a
guild by paying them some money and pressing your thumb against a page in some
tome. She’s got the full training, and it must have taken more than a week or
two. Some say she’d spent a whole year IRL training in those sands and learning
all sorts of secret skills, but I’ll never believe that. Spending a year in the
game with nothing but training drills in barracks hidden away in some desert?
Doesn’t make sense to me. Who’d do that? That makes as much sense as a
conspiracy theory. Some had believed the story and even tried to follow suit,
the result invariably being a complete fiasco.
“Well,” I replied musingly. “They’re a hard-headed and
eccentric family… I-i-i-i-i-i-interesting, in other words. The Dead Sands Clan…
I’ve heard the name before; I’m certain of that.”
“We’ll all be better off if you think about E. A. F.
D.”
“Why would I think about it? I’ve never heard of it or
seen what it is.”
“I had a few encounters back in the day. We’d better
stick around the higher-level boys and girls, or we’re toast.”
E. A. F. D. stood for “Extreme Aggression, First
Degree.”
My knowledge of said phenomenon was, however,
extremely limited. I spoke the truth when I told Kyre that I’d never
experienced it before. There were three aggression degrees in general, the
first one being the toughest, and this must have been a complete nightmare,
since the plants would be as aggressive as monsters. It didn’t take the players
long to change the acronym to S. N. A. F. U. And that reflected the nature of
what one would be likely to expect perfectly.
The land we’d ended up in was completely hostile to
us. It would be like swimming across a pool filled up with sulfuric acid
concentrate.
The only reason we could have a breather now was that
we’d ended up in a starting point of sorts, providing us with the opportunity
to prepare for the unknown and the inevitable tribulations.
“Hey!” I yelled once again, looking around me. The
only ones I could see were Kyre and Bom; the rest kept silent, and I was
beginning to wonder whether my comrades may have had a hard landing.
The terrain was as flat as a tabletop and looked like
an enormous chessboard. Good visibility with nothing obscuring the sight. Yet
all I could see so far was a seething mass of players and animals. Some of the
latter made a successful splashdown and were now crawling out of the water,
roaring, grunting, and howling irritatedly. Four warrior-class players were
sweating as they pulled on a thick rope tied to the white rhino, trying to get
him out of the square swimming-pool, albeit made by nature, but just as steep.
They kept getting closer to success, inch by inch.
Two mammoths were stepping heavily some forty feet
away from me, with their wooly hides, covered in duckweed, dripping with water
profusely. Players from both clans were making a bustle around them; four
healers at once thrust their hands forward, healing the beasts with their
magic.
There was a trumpet call from behind, and I was
relieved to see yet another mammoth as I turned my head—Callowan and none
other, with the bald elf smiling broadly, standing on his head. I had no idea
how they’d managed to land, but judging by the wet pelt and the duckweed, they
landed in one of the “survival” locations; apparently, Callowan was in no dire
need of healing, moving his enormous bulk energetically and looking perky.
Orbit the pilot managed to land his “aircraft” safely, after all.
Kray was sitting right behind the elf on the mammoth’s
broad back, with Callen holding him by the waist. The dwarf looked a little
worse for the wear, but Callen the mage was pouring the well-familiar white
light of healing into him. The pets followed the enormous animal—there’d been
no place left on the mammoth for them, the only exception being the two-headed
parrot sitting on Orbit’s shoulder. It took me a while to see there was a ghost
clinging to each of Callowan’s ears, with another one flying in circles around
the bald elf’s scarred head.
So, where were we?
I automatically started to count my fellow party
members on my fingers.
Yours truly, Kray, Callen, Orbit, and Bom. All six of
them alive and kicking.
I’d still need to find out about Doc, but I remained
calm, having seen a pterodactyl carry him to a safe landing zone.
“Hey, guys!”
The man himself. Doc, too, was alive and well,
harrumphing and shaking off duckweed as he hurried towards us. There was a
snake coiled around his neck, blessed by an actual goddess and looking much
bigger now.
Everybody else reached us by this point, Callowan the
mammoth included. Our healer instantly turned on his auras to heal us and to
boost our regeneration. The air became filled with healing goodness instantly,
leaving no one out—not even Callowan. He shook his head, broad forehead and
all, clearly displaying gratitude, expressing it physically by slapping our
company’s healer on the back in his trunk. Doc merely managed to stay on his
feet, but he didn’t begrudge the mammoth such a heavyweight gesture of
affection.
“So, we’re all here,” I summed up. “And everybody
seems to be alive. The pets…” I took stock of the beasts surrounding us. “The
pets are also OK. So, shall we take a look around?”
“Hold o-o-o-o-o-on, Ros,” Orbit said softly, stopping
me with a gesture only the two of us could see.
“What’s the matter?” I froze for a moment.
“Right no-o-o-ow we ne-e-e-ed to step aside. Over
the-e-e-e-ere,” the tall elf’s spindly finger pointed towards the cage lying
nearby; none of the players who’d arrived to The Land Beyond were to be seen
there. “To avo-o-o-o-oid becoming victims of colla-a-a-a-teral damage.”
“Victims of collateral damage?” Kray said gruffly. The
mage, standing nearby, looked at the elf in surprise as well.
“A showdown?” I asked in a businesslike manner.
“Inde-e-e-e-ed…”
“OK, folks we grab Callowan by the trunk and head off
towards where our bald friend had told us to go,” I ordered, and started in
said direction first, to lead by example. “You think there’ll be a skirmish
between them, Orbit?”
“De-e-e-e-efinitely… Right now they’re counting their
lo-o-o-o-osses… Once they’re do-o-one… Given there’s no respa-a-a-a-awn point
here…”
Indeed. The place would be ideal for a showdown, since
none of the dead players could return into action; nor could either clan count
on support from their ranks. We were on our own, and only the survivors could
carry on. Given our enormous level gap, we’d be fools to participate; we
wouldn’t contribute much, and the consequences would be dire.
“Just make sure you walk calmly,” Kyre added, already
by my side. “Don’t look back, don’t run, and don’t discuss high-level players
aloud, placing wagers on who’d kick whose ass. The last thing we want for our
little group would be an area damage spell. There’ve been lots of cases when
those who’d expressed the most interest in other clans’ skirmishes got burnt
the first.”
We didn’t walk away too far, deciding to stop around a
hundred and fifty feet away, on the checker right next to us, out of the way of
the two clan blocks gathering closer. The general chaos was over, and the
process of saving the drowning was coming to an end. The wedge driven between
the members of what had started off as a single team was becoming more visible,
and the split got wider by the minute. Characters of high-HP warrior classes
were gathering around the no man’s land in between the teams of both clans,
forming the avant-garde in an unobtrusive way. Hell’s bells… Orbit had been
right and we were now witnessing preparations for a serious showdown. So silly!
They couldn’t have picked a worse time—or a worse place. Instead of forgetting
the beef the two clans had had between them, The Sleepless Ones and The
Architects were about to start rattling their sabers at each other. Damn!
A huge shadow passed us by in an instance. The bright
yellow wings made a loud clapping sound, and the legendary dragon landed right
next to us. Two of its riders got off—the knight in shining golden armor and
the burly dwarf. There was a loud screeching sound as another legendary
creature appeared from underground, instantly coiling itself around its owner
as a stone wall. A huge crater remained where the rock monster had emerged.
“Oss!” The Architects’ golden knight smiled, giving us
the traditional karate greeting. The owner of the rock worm stayed silent, just
giving a slight nod in response. A taciturn character, that one…
“I get what his interests are,” I said, shooting a
glance at Murkchrome. “But what about you? You’re supposed to be a great clan
warrior of The Architects. Why would you decide not to take sides?”
“I’m here to get legendary equipment for my little
one,” Florian responded. “And I’ve told as much to everyone in advance,
including my clan leader and The Black Baroness so as not to get caught between
a rock and a hard place. Losing a chance to get legendary equipment for my pet
just to take part in another clan showdown? The hell I will. Murkchrome is of
the same opinion. You concur, too, I believe.”
“Sure, I nodded. I’m only here for the gear.”
Florian was definitely telling the truth. To piss away
a chance to get legendary gear at such a moment would be complete idiocy.
Florian definitely wasn’t an idiot. Cunning, yes. Sweet-tongued, definitely.
Vindictive, perhaps. But definitely not a fool, and he knew which of his bread
was buttered on.
Apart from that, a legendary dragon meant a lot for
his clan, and a dragon with legendary equipment would be an even greater asset.
“What if The Sleepless Ones win?” Doc inquired. “And then turn on you?”
“I have a promise from the Baroness,” the knight said
as he shook his head. “And she stands by her word. I’m telling you, I’d
instantly told everyone explicitly that I’d only go here to receive legendary
equipment for my pet; it would be useless to anybody else.”
“On the other hand, you could place it in your clan
vault and make anyone pay through their nose for it,” Bom shrugged his wide
shoulders. “That’s what I’d have done.”
“I have the word of the Baroness,” Florian reiterated.
“Also, I hope they’ll cool down. We’re as friendly as cats and dogs, but
settling old scores here, in The Land Beyond is just so silly!”
“But it’s i-i-i-i-i-interesting!” Orbit interjected.
“No, count me out!” Florian said gruffly. “No matter
how interesting. By the way, is the mammoth ours or yours!”
“It’s our bo-o-o-o-o-omber jet!” Orbit said curtly.
“With a ve-e-e-e-ertical landing option! A jump je-e-e-e-et!”
“Speak about technological progress,” Kyre sighed.
“Right on,” I said, producing my spyglass from the
pack and observing the two great clans from afar. You could see a lot even
without it, but this way everything could be seen in finest detail.
The clan leader of The Architects decided to skip it.
But the Black Baroness would never give up the chance to take part in such an
adventure. And she was standing right in front of an enormous half-orc
affiliated with The Architects, fearlessly, her hands behind her back. Her
opponent must have been the leader. Two small armies were preparing for war,
and the outcome of their exchange would decide the further course of events.
War and Peace. Tolstoy wouldn’t have been out of place here. Those damn clans!
The Architects’ half-orc looked very Italian, inasmuch
as an orc can—his gestures, stomping, and facial gestures expressed his
emotions most eloquently. The Black Baroness remained perfectly calm, like a
shield maiden statue. She might have been saying something, but I couldn’t see
her lips for the face mask. However, I could clearly see the Crimson Lynx
holding two crystal spheres glowing furiously red, behind his back—they must
have been the local equivalent of high-power explosives.
The half-orc roared in anger—not the way a mere player
would do, but more like a mythical monster brought to life, loud enough for us
to hear. At the very same time, two players left The Architects. A human mage
and an elven archer crossed the distance between the two clans in just a couple
of paces, joining ranks with the Sleepless Ones in an instance, turning around
to face their former allies.
I wondered what the hell was happening.
The roaring half-orc choked on his cry of rage, his
eyes bulging out at the comrades who’d just betrayed him and joined an opposing
clan.
“What the…” words failed me.
“Cobalt? Edge?” Florian seemed to be just as baffled.
“Well, I’ll be…”
“They’re moles!” Kyrea interjected. “Moles of The
Sleepless ones! Now, that’s what I call weird.”
“Hell!” Florian still sounded pissed off. “They’ve
been with us for over a year, and we’d run background checks on them both! It’s
impossible!”
“It’s possible—and, moreover, a done deed,” I grunted.
“Can’t you see? There’s your Edge, if you’re talking about the elf nicknamed
Death’s Edge, already aiming at your colleagues, with five arrows on his bow.”
“That’s it,” Kyrea sighed with relief. “The fight’s
off. It would be stupid now that the opposing party has an archer and a battle
mage, and you’ve lost as many fighters.”
I could but agree. The half-orc looked deflated,
looking at traitors with eyes like gimlets. Baroness showed no emotion at all,
although I could swear she’d given the moles a secret signal to reveal
themselves.
The party leaders continued their conversation.
However, judging by the now-silent half-orc, The Black Baroness was doing all
the talking now. The atmosphere was becoming less tense by the minute.
“We can prepare for the expedition,” I said, passing
the spyglass to Kyre. “The only thing I didn’t get is: are we setting off
together or separately?”
“Separately, I think,” Kyre said with a shrug.
“Not toge-e-e-e-e-ether,” the bald elf drawled. “Two
battle forma-a-a-a-ations moving pa-a-a-a-arallel to each other…”
“I don’t care as long as we’re going somewhere!” Bom
grumbled, eyeing the purple flower he’d just picked thoughtfully and clearly
trying to find out how it could be used. “There’s no name, just question marks!
Does anyone know anything about these flowers? What are they worth in cold hard
cash?”
“Ask a specialist,” I shrugged. The flower was
completely unfamiliar to me.
“Where’d I get a specialist?” Bom said gruffly,
looking at the poor flower with malice.
The poor half-orc hoarder was in a bit of a quandary—there
were at least fifty purple flowers like that one in our immediate vicinity,
with more to be seen in the distance. So they could be worth serious money or
turn out to be pretty weeds. What could one do?
“Specialists!” Bom said in a merrier tone of voice,
smiling so wide you could see the size of his fangs. “Hey, I know one! I’ll
call Braver’s alchemy hotline. He might know something.”
“Sure,” I said indifferently, my attention focused on
the loosening tension between the two clans.
Both parties pulled back. The mages and the warriors
turned their backs to the enemy one by one, headed towards the beasts of burden
standing close nearby, also divided by clan allegiance. The pets followed. The
skirmish turned out to be psychological rather than physical. No one had wanted
to respawn back home, and everyone would rather stay in the legendary and the
previously inaccessible location longer.
I exhaled, relieved, and instantly got tense, having
heard the bald elf’s incredibly mournful whining.
“This is bo-o-o-o-o-oring! Oh! There’s a
balli-i-i-i-ista in this pack! Prepa-a-a-are to fire!”
Having noticed everybody’s baleful eye fixed on him,
Orbit pouted and started to shake up the enormous carrier bag hanging on the
wooly mammoth. The elf snorted in dejection and turned away to admire a
waterfall roaring in the distance. The mammoth snorted through his fat trunk,
too, and also turned his attention to the waterfall. He was clearly on the
elf’s side.
“He’s like a nuclear warhead with a broken timer,” I
sighed as I peered at the back of the reckless boredom hater’s head. “Bom, and
what are you doing?”
The half-orc was like a combine harvester, picking the
purple flowers with both his hands.
“Can’t you see?” Bom roared, still on all fours. “The
lot of you might help! These aren’t flowers! These are purple diamonds growing
right out of the earth!”
“Purple diamonds?” I chortled. “They must be really
valuable.”
However, I couldn’t help myself, picking half a dozen
of purple flowers and stashing them in my pack. The rest started to harvest the
local flora with a lot more diligence. I could understand them—plants of this
type and size weighed next to nothing. There’d be thirty flowers to a pound at
least; most likely, more. Their diamond-like quality depended on the demand on
the alchemy ingredients market. In that case, the legendary Land Beyond was a
gold mine comparable only to the mythical Inca cities of gold, lost in the
jungle. There was money right underneath our feet—one only needed to pick it
up. And we were doing exactly that. It must have been contagious—I’d gathered
about two dozen before I knew it. Did I come here to gather flowers or
mushrooms, I thought to myself? Damn!
The only good thing was that the clans didn’t waste a
minute while we were picking flowers; I could only marvel at their discipline.
The Sleepless Ones were already approaching us in rows of three—beasts of
burden at the center; battle pets and warriors to their side, keeping
formation. Four riders and two powerful glowing ballistae appeared on the back
of the second mammoth walking right in the middle, already with a helmet on its head, with something like
sharp spikes on its trunk—a morning star like that would deal a lot of damage.
The other beasts got their gear on, too. The entire party seemed engulfed in a
nebula of protective auras—like an iridescent bubble, with pterodactyls and a
couple of birds hovering above. That was a true raid party. Limited in
capacity, but nonetheless powerful.
That was how one would do raids in Waldyra, slamming
through the enemy lines and barricades right to the goal.
And this was a raid—I couldn’t have described it
differently.
To our side there was a similar bubbles—the
Architects. Our potential enemy and ally at the same time. The orange-and-white
dragon flying above our heads flapped its enormous wings and took off with
Florian on his back. The golden knight was clearly given orders to change his
dislocation. As for Murkchrome the dwarf, he seemed to be in no hurry, waiting
for the Sleepless Ones patiently together with the rest of us.
He was a secretive and an extremely mysterious
character. He must have come to some conclusions of his own and decided to stay
with us rather than join the Architects.
As soon as the dome-like and multi-layered aura
reached us, we all got messages offering to join a raid group pop up. More
proof.
There was a limit to the side of a regular fighting
team—a dozen. No one else could join, and that was that.
The size of a raid group was set at eight dozen, or
ninety-six players. But there was an important limitation, since a raid group
could not be formed in just any location—only those associated with quests or
extremely hostile to players.
I decided not to screw around and pound my broad
leader’s chest with my fists. Instead, I accepted the invitation from The Black
Baroness herself, the raid leader. A list of the rest of the members flashed up
before my eyes; then it shriveled up into an icon located in the top left
corner of the virtual screen. It was followed by a list of protective auras and
buffs I could now have all access to.
Then I let Callowan grab me by his mighty trunk and
place me on his wide back. Callen the mage was shortly aboard, too; as for the
bald elf Orbit, he’d already been sitting on the mammoth’s massive head and
definitely didn’t seem like he’d swap places with anyone. We were joined by
Doc, who plopped down right next to me. All the rest of the old brigade
remained on foot, which stood to reason—the “intellectuals” with low HP needed protection
first and foremost; the armored warriors had enough HP to withstand a sudden
enemy attack. An unfamiliar player nicknamed Ultima Forever placed himself
right behind Orbit. He made a gesture with his hand, and, suddenly, there were
two ballistae of a familiar kind on the mammoth’s back.
The construction was simple, but effective. Two bows
placed upon a long pole. Judging by the smooth predatory shape of the mediaeval
weapons, they were made by a truly experienced craftsman. Afterwards, they must
have been passed on to master wizards, who’d added some mojo to the already
powerful weapon to make it recharge faster, shoot quicker, and hit the target
with a higher likelihood.
“Do you know how to use one of these?” Ultima, whom
I’d already dubbed Ull, inquired.
“I used to be an archer,” I nodded in agreement. “But
I don’t have any of the necessary skills.”
“Nobody does,” Ull sighed, placing the ballista into a
special mount in Callowan’s harness with one swift motion. “The teleport
couldn’t handle another archer. So you’ll play the part now. Do I need to
explain to you how to use it and so on?”
“No,” I shook my head, grabbing the ballista and
turning it from side to side effortlessly. “This is cool! What projectiles does
it use? What are the markings?”
“The markings are standard. Those with green
arrowheads are poison; red ones, fire; black ones, explosive. Everything deals
area damage, so mind your aiming. The tan ones are those you have to be really
careful with—they’re rust and will devour any metallic armor better than a
bunch of specialized nanobots. If you fire one of them at a warrior, first
you’ll see an involuntary striptease, and then a very angry face and a pair of huge
fists. Get it?”
“Sure. How about this?” The moment I joined the
raiding party, I instantly got access to Callowan’s cargo bags and a bunch of
other stuff. “Blue is frost, obviously. What about the blue ones with a white
spiral?”
“Tornado,” Ull replied.
“Blue ones with white lightning are electricity,
right?”
“That’s right. They produce an electric sphere on
impact. Duh! Forgot all about these! Do you see the ones with large orange
arrowheads, Ros?”
“What about them?”
“That’s flak! You only shoot them upwards. A large
explosion with lots of smoke. Real cool stuff!”
We exchanged a few more phrases while the
heavily-treading mammoth took his place in the team. The outside rows stood in
tight formation again. I gave Tyrant a short order to stay by my side and not
get involved in any fights. The black-and-white wolf obediently took his place
to the left of Callowan, followed by Kyre’s armadillo and Callen’s deer, prancing
gracefully.
“And now, some brief instructions,” Ultima said in a
loud and clear voice. Listen up, everyone!”
Having made sure he’d had all the passengers’
attention, he gave a very short speech.
“We have several categories, but ‘everyone’ is the
only one that concerns you. Unless you hear the tactician say ‘everyone,’ you
just enjoy the view. Until then, none of you attacks any opponent, even if
they’re close to you or trying to gnaw at the mammoth’s leg. We don’t need any heroes
or martyrs! Just stay put! Got it?”
Everybody started to nod except for myself and Orbit.
The bald elf didn’t give a damn, being busy with Callowan. I realized that
since I’d been entrusted with a ballista, I’d be in a different category.
Ull turned to me, saying, “Our category is ‘Stake.’ So
listen well to the arrow type requirements and change it accordingly. Doc helps
you with loading and so on. Callen follows my orders. We only fire once our
category and the target are named. If they just say ‘Stake,’ don’t shoot at
once. Wait for the target to be named by voice or marked read on your screen by
a tactician. But you seem to know what you’re about,” the instructor said,
looking at the expression on my face, and added, “Your call sign is Ros, to be
used in case if you need to fire at a specific target. That’s it… Damn, no
one’s got their shields up!”
“Damn!” I cursed myself as I rummaged through my bag.
I found what I’d been looking for… and shrugged in embarrassment. Protective
barriers, also known as shields were so heavy I couldn’t pull them out.”
“Fun, isn’t it?” Ull chortled. His class wasn’t that
big on Strength, either. “Roni! Set up our shields!”
Roni the Fiery leaped onto the back of the mammoth,
who expressed his displeasure by trumpeting loudly, in a single easy motion,
placing his two-handed sword behind his back while still in air. He instantly
pulled out the necessary items, muttering something about “wimps” under his
breath, placed them in their mounts, and left us. What we had on the mammoth’s
back now was like a machine-gun nest, well-defended. Every shield was covered
in spikes and hooks on the outside, with boosting runes glowing on the inside.
Ull gave Callen two milky-white glass spheres,
explaining,
“If I say ‘fire,’ activate them at once.
“Aye aye, sergeant!” The mage squeaked readily,
already at ease with playing her role.
“Just don’t throw them at the enemy immediately upon
activation,” Ultima grumbled. “We’ve had such a case… It’s not a damn grenade!
Well, so far, so good. We’ll soon stare the Grim Reaper in his cunning eyes!
I’m enjoying this!”
I was envious as hell, rocking on Callowan’s back. I
didn’t mean it in a bad way, but the envy sure was there. I’d make learning
this spell a priority!
One of the riders on the other mammoth turned out to
be an extremely high-level earth mage, specializing in just that field. It just
took him a wave of his hand for the ground to the sides of our team to erupt,
forming enormous mounds. The rocks crawled across it, as if of their own
volition, gaining momentum with every second and leaving deep tracks behind it.
In but three minutes, two colossal rock warriors appeared next to us, taking
their first heavy steps. They looked as if made of solid rock—on the outside,
at least. They had rectangular shields and enormous spiked maces. Underneath
the crested helmets there were menacing black holes instead of eyes. Each one
was over twenty feet tall, and I’d had no idea about what their weight might
be. Your average high-level stone golems. The mage, wearing a dark cherry-red
cape managed to support two of them, although such creatures normally consumed
an enormous amount of mana, and the supply had to be constant.
At any rate, the guy on the mammoth next to mine was
almost a role model. Golems had high resistance to physical and magical damage.
They had enormous strength, although were somewhat slow—inasmuch as the term
could apply to someone making fifteen-foot steps. We had another magical
barrier—a mobile and aggressive one this time.
But that wasn’t all.
The player in a violet velvet suit with fancy golden
embroidery sitting right next to the mage spread his hands. A bunch of
multicolor cards flashed between his arms.
A living and breathing card master with a level above
200. He paused for a moment, listening to someone’s question or request, chose
three cards, and flicked his fingers to send them flying. They turned into dust
in flashes of different colors. Two birds soared—a minivan-sized pitch black
one, and another avian wonder, all ablaze. A phoenix. The damn card master
managed to stuff an actual phoenix into a card!
The strangest thing was that such birds weren’t
indigenous to any location. Those were no regular mobs—they’d occasionally
appear in some location for a short while, only to disappear in an unknown
direction afterwards. They were extremely hard to kill, especially considering
their unique ability to rise from the ashes. Regular players dreamed of such
pets, while others fancied extremely unique ingredients phoenixes yielded—their
fiery hearts, feathers, eyes, and other body parts, each of which would cost a
mint. Fancy this player trapping a bird like that in a card! Alternatively, he
could have bought the card from a luckier colleague.
Two majestic birds joined the pterodactyls and birds
of the regular sort hovering above us: one fiery, and the other, pitch black…
or so it seemed. Its breast and the inside of its wings were light blue. It
emitted cold, and it would begin to snow wherever it would fly. An interesting
creature of the air. I’d never seen its like, my “close” familiarity with a
wide variety of monsters notwithstanding. We had fire and ice floating in the
air right above us. But that wasn’t all. There was also the third card. The
monster that came out of it preferred hard ground—predictably enough, giving
its appearance. It was a cloud of fog with what looked like lighting inside it
trailing along on the ground. Another completely unfamiliar monster that dashed
forward bravely to be on the front line. I just saw an enormous amount of gold
scattered to the wind—even the combined gifts from all the crabbers we’d
received for finding their fallen god wouldn’t have covered those expenses.
I wondered for a while, my hands still on the
ballista, what exactly The Black Baroness had expected to find here, given the
resources invested into the expedition and her personal presence.
Even the leader of The Architects decided to stay
behind, preferring to remain on “mainland” and take care of the clan’s other affairs.
The investment could have been explained by hopes of getting even more gold in
return, but why would the leader of The Sleepless Ones decide to tag along?
I remembered the system’s warning about unique
monsters. I also had good eyesight and picked up many details, such as our
team’s firepower growing exponentially. What else would one want? But each time
I got convinced that the sky was the limit. None of my prior experience, which
had often saved my skin, would be of any real use here.
I could have pondered this most interesting topic for
a little longer, but my focus shifted elsewhere in a second—there were warning
cries from the pterodactyls. Something stirred in front of us, in the
fog-covered tall wall of green—in many places at once. Both raiding parties
were headed right there like tank battalions aiming to break through enemy
lines. And we’d had no idea what kind of enemies waited for us there.
Given the fact that the ground was literally shaking
under our feet, our foes would probably prove really tough.
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