“Except they didn’t take any loot,” her teammate offered in rebuttal. “What’s the point of slaying a bunch of players if you don’t collect their stuff? You’d be better off just hunting other creatures in that case – especially if they were skilled enough to come up with this type of spell.”
“You’re right. I don’t get it,” the older man said, shaking his head in confusion. His reaction was mirrored by the group of players near Eliza. “But one thing is for sure, we need to start being careful in the forest. Regardless of whoever or whatever is responsible, it’s becoming really dangerous to try to level near town.”
Eliza hastened her steps further at that point, putting some distance between herself and the players. Her mind was wheeling as she tried to process their conversation. One thing was certain, it looked like she was responsible for killing quite a few players – even if it had been an accident. That hadn’t been her goal at all, and she hadn’t even thought about the other players when she had set the traps the day before. She had just wanted to test them on the forest creatures!
What would happen if the other players somehow discovered that she was responsible for the traps? The conversation she had just overheard had already hit a little too close to home. They had identified her Cold Grasp spell at least – which was to be expected. The spell was a pretty common choice for low-level water mages. Although, the fact that they hadn’t been able to identify her poison was a positive. They also hadn’t mentioned her name, so their combat log must not have populated that information.
That made her hesitate. She pulled up her own combat log and saw that the damage and deaths had been registered, but the creatures and players afflicted by her spells and poisons weren’t identified. Maybe she needed to be within range to gain this information – the game system limiting her info to things that her character knew or that she had observed herself. If that were the case, it would be really difficult for the players to link the deaths to her.
The more Eliza thought through the problem, the more she began to relax. A worm of worry still wriggled in her stomach, but it didn’t seem like the players would be able to start a witch hunt targeting her specifically. They might be on the lookout for water mages, though. At that thought, Eliza glanced down at herself, noting her faded tunic and trousers. She had barely upgraded from the beginner equipment, and the cloth was stained by the various ingredients she used in her potions.
I don’t even really look like a mage, she thought to herself. At least, I’m not wearing the typical robes or using a staff. If she could figure out some way to hide her class and abilities further, that would be to her advantage. Plus, she had a cover for being in the forest since she needed ingredients for her potions and she had a good reputation in town. She might be able to avoid detection for a long time.
What am I saying? Eliza demanded of herself, stopping that line of thought short. Am I really planning to keep laying traps?
She couldn’t help but recall how helpless she had felt at the hands of the PK’ers or the looks of frustrated anger on the other players’ faces. She shook her head. She wouldn’t really wish that on anyone. Yet, at the same time, the experience and skill increases she had gained were incredible. A not-insignificant part of her wanted to keep going.
Maybe I can just wait and talk to Evan. If I can retrieve my new weapons and take out the stag, then I can go back to helping Alma, and I won’t need to worry about any of this, she decided, her hands clenching into fists as the city’s gates loomed in front of her.
With a tentative plan in place, Eliza focused on making her way through the town, taking a winding path through its chaotic streets until she found herself in front of the door to Evan’s shop – the familiar worn shingle fluttering in the stiff ocean breeze that blew through the city’s streets.
Eliza hesitantly stepped inside the gloomy little shop, immediately overwhelmed once more by the incessant, rhythmic tick of Evan’s many clocks. The grizzled engineer was standing in his work area near the back of the shop, and he didn’t bother to glance up as she approached.
“I’ll be with you in a moment,” Evan barked in a distracted voice while hunched over a strange-looking contraption on his workbench.
“N-no problem,” Eliza replied shyly. “I’m just here to pick up my comission.”
That immediately got the engineer’s attention, and he glanced up, his eyes widening. “Ahh, Eliza! Nevermind, I’ve been waiting for you to show up for more than a day now. Let me go get your new beauties.”
Evan rushed into the back room before Eliza could say anything in response, her mouth hanging open in surprise. The engineer returned only a moment later, carrying what appeared to be a cloth bundle. As Eliza looked on, he set the bundle on a table and unrolled it, revealing a row of wands attached to the interior.
“So, instead of a staff, I decided to go with something a little different,” Evan said with a grand gesture, his mouth twisting into a broad smile. He picked up a single wand and handed it to her. It had a plain metallic base that gave off a faint sheen in the dull light of the shop, and a single colored band had been attached halfway up the hilt. The top of the wand was adorned with a milky white crystal. In many ways, it looked like an ordinary wand.
A quick inspection revealed the following:
Deathwind Wand V1.0
At a first glance, this wand appears rather normal. However, upon closer inspection, you notice that a clever mechanism has been installed in the interior of the shaft and the head of the wand can be removed. Additional testing and improvements may increase the efficiency and casting speed of the wand.
Quality: C
Damage: NA
Durability: 20/20
+5 Intelligence
+5 Willpower
+5% Casting Speed
“How does it work?” Eliza asked, curiosity lacing her voice.
“Here, let me show you,” Evan said, picking up another wand – this one had a green band. “The base of the wand is actually hollow. You can pop the top by pressing this catch,” he explained, thumbing a nearly invisible latch just underneath the crystal. The top of the wand promptly flipped open, revealing a small compartment.
“You can place a vial in this compartment. I have taken the liberty of creating a special cartridge just for these wands,” Evan explained, pulling out a wooden container filled with small jars. He pulled one out and handed it to Eliza. “I designed the cartridge to hook into a crystal matrix built into the bottom of the wand and the top portion of the vial is covered with a semi-porous material.”
“Okay…,” Eliza said, flabbergasted by the man’s rapid-fire explanation. “So what happens if I press this button on the side,” she asked, pointing to a small crystal button near the base of the rod.
Evan’ smile widened. “If a cartridge is loaded, that will ignite the air crystals along the bottom, causing a gust of air to push the vial’s contents up and through the crystal. He flipped the top back down and showed Eliza the top of the wand. “I drilled small holes in the focusing crystal so that the substance would shoot out of the top.”
Eliza’s eyes widened in surprise. “If I’m understanding you correctly, I would basically shove the wand into the orb of water and then push this button on the side, and it would eject the contents into the sphere?”
“Exactly,” the engineer said, nodding excitedly. “You can then put different cartridges in different wands. You will need to pre-load them of course, but I have color coded the wands so that you can keep track of which poisons are associated with each weapon.”
“This… this is amazing,” Eliza murmured as she inspected the wands. She hadn’t even considered color-coding her wands or how she would keep each one straight.
“You haven’t even tried them yet!” Evan exclaimed. “And I took the liberty of setting up a little demonstration.” With that statement, the engineer circled around his worktable and quickly stepped toward the front door, throwing the lock into place.
Evan then headed back to Eliza and yanked away a tarp covering what she had initially assumed was a crate in the corner of his shop. Inside, Eliza could see a rabbit, its ears perking up and flicking back and forth as it surveyed the shop. “Here is your specimen and you can load a vial with one of your own poisons.”
Eliza was also curious to see the wands in operation, and she pulled a green vial from her bag, carefully pouring its contents into one of the new cartridges that Evan had designed. She then slotted the cartridge into a wand and snapped the crystal lid closed. With her preparations complete, Eliza squared off facing the cage – Evan hovering near her shoulder and bouncing slightly on his toes in his excitement.
“Here goes nothing,” Eliza murmured.
Her free hand began to wind through the gesture of Obscuring Mist. The wand’s crystal flared to life, sapphire energy swirling across its surface before forming a globe of water in front of Eliza. Instead of suspending the spell as she typically did, Eliza simply plunged the wand into the globe and depressed the button that Evan had indicated while continuing the spell. She felt the wand vibrate slightly and her poison was ejected from the end of the wand and into the sphere – quickly turning it an ominous emerald.
As the spell completed, the orb exploded in a cloud of dense green fog, and Eliza was already mentally ordering the mist to cover the rabbit’s cage. A moment later, the animal was obscured from sight, and she heard a faint gurgling sound. As the spell began to dissipate, the rabbit came back into view, its corpse lying unmoving on its side.
“Ahh, now that’s fascinating,” Evan murmured from beside Eliza. He snatched at the wand and opened it to inspect the cartridge, noting that some of the poison hadn’t been ejected properly. “I can still improve on the internal mechanism…” he muttered to himself and turned to his worktable to start scratching out some rough notes.
“It works fine for now,” Eliza said before he completely forgot she was there. “Actually, this is kind of amazing. Thank you so much, Evan.”
“No problem. The next version will be better, I promise,” he said, waving a distracted hand at her. “You can take this batch in the meantime.”
“Uh, do I owe you for the next group,” Eliza asked cautiously, suddenly realizing that she didn’t have any more loot to offer in payment. She wasn’t looking forward to another trip to the troll’s former den.
Evan turned to face her, his eyes meeting hers. “No, no. You paid more than enough to cover a few rounds of prototypes and cartridges. Plus, this project is fascinating.”
Then the man hesitated, his mechanical arm whirring slightly as he fiddled with it with his free hand. “Speaking of which, Alma stopped by the other day and explained your goal – to kill the Silver Stag. That’s rather ambitious.”
Eliza’s eyes dropped to the floor self-consciously. “I’m going to try at least,” she said quietly. “Even if I’ll probably fail.”
“Well, I have a vested interest in your success now, so I wanted to mention that the competition has become quite fierce. The bounty has also been increased to 500 gold. It seems Lord Baen is getting a little more frantic. He must have a potential buyer for the pelt on the line.” Evan looked at her with a sober expression. “You should be careful out there.”
Eliza managed to meet his gaze, seeing that he was dead serious. “I mean it,” Evan continued. “Don’t hesitate to use your new toys. Even if you manage to slay the beast, the other travelers may simply take the pelt from you.”
“I-I will,” Eliza stuttered slightly. She wasn’t about to correct him about why she was pursuing this quest. She wasn’t exactly in it for the money. Regardless of the reason, it wouldn’t matter much to him. Trying to tell someone else about the Hippie and all of his nonsense seemed like more of a headache than it was worth anyway.
With that, Eliza gathered up her new equipment, strapping the bundle of wands to her back and deciding to hold the tray of new cartridges so that they didn’t get broken. It was a little unwieldy to carry everything at once, but she assumed she could travel in a lighter fashion once she had everything stored away at Alma’s compound.
Eliza soon found herself standing outside of Evan’ shop, the tray of cartridges grasped tightly in front of her. She could already see travelers passing the mouth of the alley as they wound their way through the nearby market. She couldn’t help but reflect on what Evan had told her – and the conversation she had overheard on her way into town.
She hadn’t meant to kill the players with her traps, but perhaps Evan was right. If she was to have any hope of slaying the Silver Stag and keeping its pelt, she might need to thin the herd – so to speak. Besides, if she were being completely honest with herself, it had been sort of fun to hear the other players talking about her, albeit in a slightly terrifying way.
The memory of her encounter with Rebecca and Josh earlier that day was also still fresh in her mind. Instead of removing her traps, what if she doubled down? A small, excited grin curled her lips as she considered ways she could ramp up her trap production and placement. She could only imagine her classmates’ reactions if they knew what she was planning next.
Chapter 19 - Nefarious
Eliza got home from school early the next day, having decided to ditch PE. She had little interest in wasting time walking around a track when she had work to do in-game. Throwing her bag on the kitchen counter, she took the stairs up to the second floor two at a time – making it to the top in record time. As she stepped into her room, the terminal on her desk flashed to life, a screen flickering into existence above the wooden tabletop.
Before she logged into the game, she wanted to check the forums. She quickly pulled up the homepage for Rogue-Net, a site that catered to AO – acting as a cross between a player trading house and a forum. The forums themselves had been subdivided by the discovered game regions and cities, and she scrolled immediately to Falcon’s Hook, her eyes skimming the posts. It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for. In fact, it was the very first post on the regional forum, with over 300,000 views.
The post was titled “The Ice Witch.” The comments were rather enlightening, and Eliza still felt a chaotic mixture of pride and worry as she read through them. It had been a little scary to see so many people talking about her at first, but after several days without anyone catching onto her antics in-game, she had come to enjoy skimming the player feedback on her in-game exploits.
MonkeyKing: I died… again. What the hell is going on with these damned traps? At first, it felt like there were only a handful, but now they’re all over the forest west of Falcon’s Hook.
Legolass: The Witch strikes again... It’s not the ice spikes that are the problem. It’s the DOT with a 20-damage tick over 20 seconds. That’s just a death sentence unless you have a healing potion (which most people can’t afford at this point).
Kryptic: Even then, you better drink it fast… and avoid the next trap two feet away.
Chango: Are we even sure this is a player? This doesn’t seem possible. At this point, we know this is some variant of Cold Grasp, but how did they add the DOT? I personally think it’s some sort of NPC boss.
Caltrops: An NPC that no one has seen? Really? Maybe this is one of the stag’s abilities?
MonkeyKing: We had a full wipe because of this shit. Took us an hour to walk back and our bodies had already been picked clean. I don’t care who is doing this or how. They just need to die – painfully.
Eliza chuckled at a few of the comments. She had taken Evan’s advice to heart and had begun thinning out the players in the woods over the last few days by dramatically increasing the number of traps she laid in the forest. This was relatively easy since she spent most of the day harvesting ingredients while she set the traps, and then she used the evenings in-game to brew new poisons. She had also improved on her Wasting Poison, and the combination of her Cold Grasp spell and the poison was now usually enough to finish off anyone below level 40 unless they had immediate access
to a healer.
However, she had been extremely careful not to reveal her identity – and she had continued delivering potions every so often for Alma to keep up appearances. She also didn’t always loot the corpses, hoping that the deceased would infer that other players were stumbling upon the bodies. In short, she did everything in her power to make people think that there really was some sort of ghost haunting the woods.
Eliza would have loved to see the looks on her classmates’ faces if they knew that their diminutive egghead – who was apparently also a lying, useless water mage – was secretly the infamous Ice Witch. The thought was tantalizing, but she had been careful not to say anything at school – instead, suffering through the boredom and her classmates’ comments in stony silence.
Smiling to herself, Eliza hopped up from her chair and donned her headgear. She then laid down on her bed and tapped at the side of the helmet. A moment later, she was inside of AO. Her character sat perched on a branch roughly a dozen feet above the ground. Eliza had taken the liberty of purchasing a thick cloak with her newfound loot and the dark green fabric helped to conceal her in the dense foliage of the forest.
First things first, she needed to check her progress. Eliza brought up her system UI and quickly checked her notifications.
x22 Level Up!
You have (0) undistributed stat points.
New Passive Skill: Climbing
After hours spent scurrying up trees to avoid your enemies, you’ve improved at this particular method of running away. Good for you!
Skill Level: Beginner Level 6
Effect: 6% increase to Strength and Dexterity when climbing.
New Passive Skill: Camouflage
Awaken Online (Book 3.5): Apathy Page 14