Fate of Camlan

by A. T. Gilbert

  [+124 XP!]

  [+132 XP!]

  [+135 XP!]

  My Bow of Eternal Rest is performing beautifully and I’m hugely satisfied with the power I’m wielding. But now I want to kick it up a notch. While the tanks continue to swing at swooping owls, I step back just a bit, out of the way, to review the details of my new weapon’s functions. How do I use this Slay Poison? The game interface makes it pretty easy to just choose a poison-laden arrow. I have to use some of my mana, and I’ll have a cool down period, both of which will keep me from using the poison for every arrow, but it still will be pretty awesome.

  With arrow nocked, I imbue the point with the poison. It glows a faint green as I take aim. A large, nearly black Twilight Owl is dive-bombing Erinocalypse, headed straight toward her outstretched arm with talons extended. I pull back the string and fire.

  [+147 XP!]

  The Twilight Owl falls to the earth, and Erin doesn’t even notice she was in danger.

  That was incredible. That seems to be a powerful poison, but since my arrows on their own can bring down an owl, I decide to save my mana, and poison, for a more worthy enemy.

  Arrow after arrow, the Twilight Owls drop to the ground. The forest floor around us is littered with corpses, even as they slowly disappear in the usual video game magic.

  [+131 XP!]

  [+124 XP!]

  [+113 XP!]

  The flock is thinning. I can see the sky again through the mob. A wide, arcing swing of Balderdash13’s axe brings down the last of the Twilight Owls, and we all get a bump in XP.

  [+140 XP!]

  “Everyone okay?” TexBadass asks.

  “Stay alert,” I call, looking around. That could not have been the last of this quest.

  The words have barely left my mouth when another flicker of movement catches my eye. Where the owls had been perched and hiding in the branches of the oak tree, the shadow remains. As we watch, the deep black of shadow pours down the trunk, solidifying, forming a human-like shape.

  “Here we go,” Erinocalypse whispers.

  Chapter 11

  Right before my eyes, the darkness and shadows that had seeped throughout the enormous fir tree at the edge of the forest, now take form and slide down the trunk. As we stand outside of Summerrun, the dark creature we have been tasked with destroying slowly begins to materialize. The pools of black gather together, creating a waterfall-like current of shade that streams down to the ground. TexBadass backs up from the foot of the tree, hastily getting out of the way.

  The shadow flowing down the coarse tree bark seems both strangely solid and transparent at the same time. I can see the tree through the developing figure, but at the same time, the branches and leaves tremble under the movement of the shadow over it.

  Name: Fell Shadow Walker

  Level: 37

  Description: This creature is darkness itself. The Fell Shadow Walker lives where light cannot thrive, drawing its power from deep wells of shade and black. It is no more corporeal than a cloud, but far more dangerous.

  Reading the description of the Fell Shadow Walker, I immediately start brainstorming how we are going to defeat it. How are the tanks’ weapons going to injure something made of darkness? How are my arrows going to pierce something that doesn’t actually have mass?

  I take a few more steps back. The Fell Shadow Walker continues to form, pulling darkness from the farthest reaches of the fir tree’s branches and niches. Against the bright light of mid-morning, the blackness seems harsh and angular. As more and more shadows gather, the creature towers above us. It’s faceless, almost formless. Edges swirl and blur, suggesting a limb here, or a head there, but nothing definite. Nothing to be sure of.

  No wonder Mrs. Murkle and her family have been petrified of this thing. Imagine seeing such a figure outside your home every night. The unknown is one of our most basic fears.

  The creature continues to grow, continues to pull darkness and shadows from the tree, and I realize it has begun to pull shadows from nearby trees as well. From farther back in the forest. The Fell Shadow Walker will just continue to get bigger and bigger as long as there is darkness to attract.

  “Draw it away!” I yell. “Get it away from the tree.”

  SteelFeather looks at my quizzically.

  “But it’s cornered,” Balderdash13 says. “We can beat it back.”

  At this statement, the Fell Shadow Walker takes a slow, arching swipe at her. Since the tank had looked away to talk to me, she doesn’t have quite enough time to dodge the attack and the tendrils of smokey shadow rake over her.

  Her cry of pain makes me cringe, and her collapse to the ground is more abrupt than I would have expected.

  “Whoa, girl,” TexBadass says, hurrying to cast a healing spell on Balderdash13. “You wanna rest a minute?”

  The tank is still groaning on the ground, in spite of her health points refilling. The pain receptors in this game are turned way down from what it would be in real life, but still not nothing. I know we agreed when we signed up to play to put up with some measure of pain, but this seems like a lot.

  “It’s…” Balderdash13 begins weakly, getting to her knees. “It’s not just the physical hit. It’s… I don’t know how to describe it.”

  She is interrupted by a loud curse from SteelFeather, who has continued the attempted assault on the Fell Shadow Walker. “Mother of God! What the hell!”

  He is shuddering, part trembling from the pain, and part trying to shake it off so he can keep fighting. He seems to have trouble lifting his sword up to the monster. By this time Balderdash13 is on her feet again, axe in hand, strength recovered.

  “What does it feel like?” I ask the tanks as I aim an arrow at the undulating creature.

  Balderdash13 shakes her head. “It’s like a cold knife skewering you. It’s … That shadow was in me.”

  I fire an arrow at the head-like shadow near the top of the creature. The weapon flies right through the transparent darkness. The arrow’s point seems to be slowed ever-so-slightly, almost like something sharp might snag on fabric, but it doesn’t appear to make any difference. The monster’s health drops only a few points, even with my direct hit.

  I try again with a poison-infused arrow, but it too makes barely an impression. Around me, SteelFeather and Balderdash13 are both trying valiantly to land hits, but to no avail. Even before my eyes, the Fell Shadow Walker grows and grows, more dark power being drawn from the shades of the extensive forest behind it.

  “SteelFeather! Balderdash13!” I call. “Get behind it! Get it away from the tree.”

  Neither of the tanks look at me, but move to follow my instructions. I watch helplessly as they attempt to drive the creature back. I back up a few steps, aim an arrow but hesitate to fire it. What would be the point? I’m useless in this fight. My weapon almost doesn’t even register with this thing. I would give anything to have my Bow of Elements and Fire arrows back right now.

  As I let out a slow sigh, disappointed I can’t do more, the entire area around the giant fir tree lights up with a flash of flame. I stumble backwards, not sure where the flame is coming from and trying to stay out of the way.

  “Get it, girl!” TexBadass yells joyfully.

  I look around and realize the flame—another burst fires—comes from Erinocalypse. As with her earlier cast of Surge of Air, the Fire Bolts she is throwing at the Fell Shadow Walker are bigger, stronger, more damaging than I’ve ever seen her. Whatever abilities or enhancements she got on her last level-up are breathtaking.

  My stomach clenches as I watch her single-handedly beat down the Fell Shadow Walker. The rest time in between casts must be lower too, now. Erin shoots blast of flame after flame at the shadows. The tanks continue to edge their way between the creature and the tree to cut it off from strengthening itself further, but their blows still lack any real damage. It’s all Erinocalypse.

  I am useless.

  And, I realize with a jolt, I’m jealous.

  They
don’t need me. I’m not even helping. I might as well just sit down right here and wait for the rest of them to be done. I suppress an annoyed sigh, and cross my arms across my chest. I don’t know that I can catch up with Erinocalypse as far as spells go, but I can get more magic my own way.

  I decide I will make it to Smeaton. I will. I’m determined. And I will finish that quest to learn alchemy. I am determined to learn so many magical skills, we won’t be able to come across an enemy that I can’t defeat.

  As I resolve this, Erinocalypse continues to blast the Fell Shadow Walker with flame, burning off the darkness and eviscerating the shadow. The creature lands a few more hard hits to our tanks, but they absorb them bravely, and TexBadass refills their health points almost immediately.

  Defeating this creature becomes simple, routine, and predictable. And all without any input from me.

  Erinocalypse casts one final enormous Fire Bolt to disintegrate the last of the Fell Shadow Walker, and I get the game message informing me of our victory.

  Quest Completed: Be Gone, Fell Shadow!

  Description: You have defeated the Fell Shadow Walker from the edge of Dyrnwood and provided Mrs. Murkle and her family with a future of sleep-filled nights.

  Reward: + 600 XP, 30 Gold Crowns, Recipe for Starless Night Potion, weapons

  “Phew!” Erinocalypse says. She brushes a few strands of hair off her sweaty forehead and grins at me. “That was intense.”

  I half-heartedly return the smile.

  Chapter 12

  In the aftermath of the battle, we have a few minutes of downtime to catch our breaths, check our stats and loot the defeated enemies. The additional XP from taking down the mob of Twilight Owls and defeating the Fell Shadow Walker helps me inch my way ever closer to the next level up. The higher I level, the more I can add to my magic attribute, and the more effective I can be as an alchemist. Watching everyone else be able to kill that thing has refocused my goals, and I start thinking about how I can talk them all into heading east towards Smeaton as soon as possible.

  I grin to myself as I examine the loot now saved in my bag.

  Name: Recipe for Starless Night Potion

  Description: Perfect for thieves or secret missions. The Starless Night Potion creates a veritable blackout. Just sprinkle a few drops throughout a room to completely erase all light and illumination to everyone but the potion-maker.

  Requirements: Alchemy Level 3

  Wow, that seems like it could be extremely helpful—once I meet the requirements and learn it of course. With this and the other recipe stowed away, I can’t wait to get started.

  But I also manage to loot a new belt. It’s almost as wide as my hand and the additional stat points will definitely come in handy.

  Name: Leather Braided Belt

  Level: 27

  Description: +2 Dexterity, + 2 Strength

  I equip my new belt; this is the first upgrade to this piece of armor I’ve gotten since we were in White Rock Ravine and it’s about time.

  My thoughts are interrupted by Erinocalypse.

  “Um.” She frowns at the message the game is giving her. “Wait, SirAsh3r, I thought you said the reward from this quest was something that we would need for the journey north.”

  “Well, yeah.” I shrug, a little sheepishly. “I mean, we can always use more loot, right?”

  “Not necessarily loot worth risking a delay and Jargonaut for though,” she replies, hands on her hips and now glaring at me. “For god’s sake, Asher. I thought you were past this thinking only of yourself thing. When are you going to start acting like we’re all in this together?”

  I am surprised by the anger I hear in her voice, and it puts me on the defensive. “I am,” I insist. “I just looted a recipe for a blackout potion, and when we ever get over to Smeaton where I can get more alchemy training, this is exactly the kind of tool we could use.”

  “You are so selfish!” she yells at me. “We’re not just here to do your bidding and protect you.”

  “I KNOW THAT!” I roll my eyes, exasperated. “But if I’m going to be any use I need to up my skills. Did you see how much I helped fight this last one?” She glares at me in silence, but I barrel on. “I didn’t! There was nothing I could do. I was just … useless.” I hate—I mean hate—admitting this weakness, but I need her to see my side. I need them to see what this means to me. It’s not being selfish to want to contribute to the group, right?

  Erin’s eyes are cold when she finally responds. “But you didn’t know all that when you tricked us into taking this quest, did you?”

  I’m stunned. I … I don’t know how to respond. I guess I didn’t think … Nevermind. She doesn’t get it. “Fine!” I yell back. SteelFeather and Balderdash13 look at each other uncomfortably. “I’ll just go do it on my own. If I’m such a terrible, selfish person, I guess you don’t want me around, huh?”

  “Fine,” she says, still prickly cold.

  “Okay, now.” TexBadass sidles in between us, hands up, talking in his soothing southern drawl. “Nobody is being selfish.”

  Erinocalypse snorts derisively.

  “Nobody is going to go off by themselves,” he continued. “Let’s just keep moving north like we’re supposed to and it’ll all work out.”

  “I just …” I want her to understand. I want her to be on my side. I’m not just being selfish. I’m doing my best and progress my game for the good of the mission and the whole team.

  She glares at me, arms crossed, lips pursed, as though daring me to finish my sentence.

  “Nevermind,” I whisper.

  “Hey, what’d you loot?” Balderdash13 asks TexBadass in a blatant attempt to change the subject.

  They continue animated conversation for a minute or so while I reassess. If Erinocalypse and the others are not on board with my needing to advance my skills, I don’t know how to continue. Before I can follow that train of thought much farther, though, I notice something strange.

  “Do you smell that?” I sniff experimentally. “Erin, you didn’t cast a fire spell did you?”

  She shakes her head.

  I look around for the source. It’s smoky and—

  Over the wall of Summerrun, past the closest roofs and across several streets, small flames wink in and out of sight.

  “Oh no,” I say as I point. “Something has caught fire.”

  The rest of the team turns to look.

  “Should we go help?” Balderdash13 asks.

  “Naw,” TexBadass says pointing towards the south end of town. “We’re too late.”

  As we all watch a tall knight, armored from head to toe, exits the main gate of Summerrun holding a fiery torch aloft.

  “That’s an NPC,” I realize. “No gamer name. This is part of a quest or storyline or something.”

  “Then maybe we should stop them,” SteelFeather says. “Get the XP for saving the town or something?”

  As he says that another figure emerges from the town’s gate, but this one has the translucent blue of a player tag hovering above his head: Jargonaut.

  “I don’t think so,” I say in a whisper.

  We watch as Jargonaut walks around to the far side of the town wall. He crosses out of our sight, but only moments later we see that part of the wall begin to smoke.

  As we watch, Summerrun begins to burn.

  Chapter 13

  The flames grow higher, filling the sky with thick smoke.

  “We can’t go back,” SteelFeather calls over the crash of the collapsing roof near us.

  “We have to,” says TexBadass. “We have to go north. That’s the only road north.”

  “It can’t be the only road north,” says Erinocalypse, exasperated. “See? This is exactly why I told Fountain we needed to be able to improvise. I told him!”

  I make my way along the edge of the forest to see how the town is faring farther up, but all I see is a wall of flame. Jargonaut and his henchmen must have lit the fire in multiple places to get it to go up s
o fast. The log wall that had protected Summerrun from invaders or enemies is soon to be razed to the ground. In no time it will be reduced to charcoal. The screams and cries for help from the town’s residents tug at me, but I know if I go any closer I’ll either get trapped myself by the flames, or I’ll be targeted by one of the knights that caused the destruction.

  “What else can we do?” Balderdash13 asks.

  I take one last look at Summerrun, before turning my back on it, facing Dyrnwood and the dense forest that stretches for miles. “We have to go the long way.”

  TexBadass follows my gaze into the forest and then looks back at me. “You’re crazy. There’s no road there. We’ll have to spend every step battling more of those wolf-things.”

  “There’s got to be a road somewhere,” Erinocalypse says. She pulls out her map. “Right. There. It’s not close, but we can bypass the west coast and move inland and head north on …” She squints at the map. “King’s Road. It’s on the far side of Pendragon Mountains, though. The mountain range meanders a bit, but it essentially runs north and south up the the middle of Camlan, with the King’s Road on the east side.”

  “But we have to get through Dyrnwood to get to it, right?” TexBadass says.

  “Look, it’s either that or fight our way through flame and at least a dozen heavily armed warriors who have who knows what kind of cheats and enhancements granted them by Toterra Online,” I point out. “Who, remember, are probably specifically looking for us.”

  Before I’ve even finished speaking, SteelFeather’s eyes widen, he points at something over my shoulder and Balderdash13 holds her new massive axe up, ready to attack. I spin around to see one of the faceless knights leaving the circle of the town wall and stalking slowly toward us. He must have climbed over smoldering logs and collapsed buildings to reach the edge of Summerrun and spot us standing here. What kind of fire resistance is in that armor?