by James Hunter
Sam brought his sword down in a powerful overhand strike, and the shield exploded in a dazzling display of golden bursts and lightning blue sparks. His swing carried straight through, the blade embedding itself in the Mage’s neck with a wet *thump*.
Critical hit! 33 slashing damage dealt! Bleeding (Heavy): -10 health per second!
The Mage sputtered for a moment as though he simply couldn’t believe what had just happened. A ‘this shouldn’t be possible,’ look was plastered on his face. Sam planted a foot on the Mage’s chest and kicked, dealing a single point of damage and pulling his blade free in the same instant. The Mage dropped, body limp, eyes glassy, mouth frozen in the shape of a shocked ‘O’.
You have killed an active, tracked agent of the Mage’s College! I would say well done, but have you really thought this through? Whatever, you do you. Congratulations, you are no longer just a Rogue Mage! As you have broken the laws of the Kingdom, you’ve gained a new title! Your reputation with the College has decreased -1500! Current reputation: Blood Feud.
Title gained: Warlock IV. You have broken the law of the Kingdom, and it shows! -10 charisma and prices increase by 50% when interacting with those loyal to the Kingdom of Ardania. If they will sell to you. Guards will look for any reason to detain or attack you. As you do not have an active warrant, they will not be able to do so without cause.
Skill increase: Dual casting (Novice VI). You have shown great strides in proficiency with Dual casting, and it is obviously starting to become second nature!
Skill increase: Quill Blade (Novice IV). Who said there was no reward for murder? Obviously, someone that can’t see their quantified progression!
Skill increase: Orbital Tome Casting (Novice III). This is kind of a gimme. No way for you not to increase this if you are casting spells!
Magical Origami, Origami Activation, Paper Shuriken, Bookmark, Ink Lance, Fireball, and Ice Orb had also increased a rank, which was somewhat of a relief. The preparation for them hadn't made the spell increase at all, and it seemed that he needed to use them in combat for his understanding of them to increase. It did make sense in a way—how would he know what to focus on without seeing it in action? He looked down at the robe-clad body. Killing the enemy Mage was satisfying, as the College had put Sam through hell, but he couldn’t relish in the victory for too long. There was still Dizzy and the others to consider.
He spun to find the battle had shifted dramatically in the handful of seconds he’d been occupied with the bounty-hunting Mage. Dizzy and the others had dispatched the rest of the wolves, but there was still one enemy left—the Wolfman Shaman, Yurij BrightBlood.
“No, no, no!” Sam couldn’t let this happen. Not now. Dizzy and Yurij were both allies—or at least potential allies—and they were about to massacre each other. Sam needed a ceasefire, and there was one weapon in his arsenal that might do the trick, and though he hated using such a costly spell, there was nothing for it.
He brought a brown volume with a gold spine to the front and unleashed his only area of effect spell. Pages and ink burst forth in a whirlwind, spinning and distorting as they took to the sky, morphing into a single giant scroll. Because of his position, Sam couldn’t see what was inked on the front side of the floating scroll, but from the spell description, he knew everyone else would be seeing a giant Rorschach Test—one designed to induce absolute terror.
The effects were immediate. Yurij BrightBlood howled in mad fear, his fur standing on end as he scrambled back… except there was nowhere for him to go since he was already on a tree branch high above the ground.
Dizzy, Kai, and Arrow all let out similar cries of panic, bolting in every direction, all thought of fighting completely forgotten for the time being. Their wild eyes, brimming with dread, told Sam that whatever they were seeing was far worse than any image he could’ve imagined on his own—a firm reminder that you were always your own worst enemy. Only Sphinx was unaffected, which meant she must’ve somehow been able to ignore the effects.
“Sam!” Sphinx turned with her weapons drawn, focusing him with killing intent. She practically growled at him, eyes narrowing to slits as she dropped into a crouch and circled left. “What’s going on here? What have you done?”
“Shut up,” Sam hissed in reply, “you’re not being even remotely helpful.”
“What did you just say to me?” Sphinx shot back, now sounding positively venomous. “I thought you were a good kid, but gosh darn it, maybe I was wrong about you.”
“What?” Sam’s eyebrows climbed for his hairline. “No. No! Sphinx! I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Bill.”
He waved at the floating book attached to his hip by the ghostly silver chain. “Which probably doesn’t make any sense. In fact, I know how this must look, but I swear I can explain everything. Just… not right now.”
He shook his head, feeling so frustrated with himself. “Look, my spell is about to wear off any second. When it does, your crew is going to try to tear that Wolfman apart, but we can’t let that happen. I know it’s a lot to ask, but please, please, keep them away. I’ll take care of the Shaman… and then I swear I’ll explain it all. Okay?”
Sam studied her face, but her expression was largely unreadable. Finally, she sighed and nodded, though Sam noticed she didn’t stow her weapons. “I’ll help you, but please don’t make me regret it, hon, or you’ll regret it.”
She offered him her back, a show of genuine trust, and hustled off to catch her teammates before they could regroup. Sam, in turn, used the moment of bedlam to position himself firmly between the heroes and the Wolfman Shaman. By the time he and Sphinx were both in position, the Rorschach-inspired terror had finally dissipated.
“Yurij BrightBlood,” Sam called up to the Wolfman, exposing his neck while simultaneously hunching his shoulders. “It’s me, Sam. You took me to The O’Baba several days ago.”
“I know your smell,” the Shaman growled down to him in the guttural Wolfman tongue. He reached toward a bronze ceremonial dagger tucked into a leather belt wrapped around his waist. “I knew The O’Baba was foolish to trust one of your kind. I should’ve killed you when I had the chance. An error I will fix now.”
“No,” Sam called up, raising his hands, palms in and angled toward his face to show he meant no harm. “It’s not what you think. Just a terrible coincidence. These are my former teammates, and I’m working to recruit them to the Wolfman cause. I couldn’t get in touch with them earlier because a Mage from the College has been tracking them.”
He canted his shoulders and gestured at the corpse of the blue-robed Mage, lying dead not far off. “Your cunning ambush forced me to reveal myself prematurely. I can assure you, these humans are not your enemies. They are future allies, but you need to let me explain the situation.”
The Shaman crouched, claws digging into the bark of the branch, and sniffed; his nostrils flaring wide. “I smell no deception in you, Mageling. If I find you have tricked me, I will declare you a blood enemy, and I will not stop until you are ruined by my claws. Understood?”
“Understood, esteemed Shaman,” Sam barked, dipping his head so low it nearly touched the ground. “I am entirely at your mercy.”
When Sam looked up from the bow a moment later, the Shaman was gone. The claw marks, gouged into the rough bark of the tree, were the only sign Yurij had ever been there. Sam let out a sigh of deep relief. One potential crisis averted… only one left to handle. He pulled open his character sheet to look everything over while he waited for the team to regroup. It might be a little while.
Name: Sam_K ‘Experimental Forger’
Class: Bibliomancer
Profession: Bookbinder
Level: 6 Exp: 19,646 Exp to next level: 1,3
54
Hit Points: 21/140
Mana: 478/478
Mana regen: 13.68/sec
Stamina: 145/145
Characteristic: Raw score (Modifier)
Strength: 20 (15+5 gear bonus) (1.15)
Dexterity: 30 (25+5 gear bonus) (1.25)
Constitution: 19 (1.19)
Intelligence: 45 (1.45)
Wisdom: 38 (1.38)
Charisma: 20 (15+5 gear bonus) (1.15)
Perception: 19 (1.19)
Luck: 14 (1.4)
Karmic Luck: -11
Huh… he had gained three hundred twenty-three experience killing wolves and such. When had that happened? Sam heard a snap, turned around, and froze. Behind him, arrayed in a loose semi-circle was his former team, the Wolf Pack. Dizzy stood front and center, her stance wide, her maul leaning against her shoulder. Kai stood on her left, his fists glowing with subtle orange light, his eyes blazing in wrathful anger. Sphinx waited off to the left, throwing daggers lined up and ready to hurl, while Arrow had somehow managed to position himself in a tree—just as Yurij had—an arrow nocked, the bowstring drawn taut.
Bill cackled madly.
“Sam,” Dizzy’s tone was icy, “I have no idea what’s going on, but you have about five seconds to explain, or we’re gonna drop you where you stand. Start talking.”
“Happy to,” Sam slowly lifted his arms and stored his orbiting tomes, “but I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Gee, I don’t know. How about with the part where you stood us up, except you were actually stalking us? Or how about this? Last time I saw you—just a week ago—you were an air Mage, but now you’re,” she glowered at him, pointedly staring at Bill, “some kind of magic librarian? And who is that guy?”
She nodded toward the enemy Mage, dead and sprawled across the ground. “Where is Finn? Why were you just talking to a Wolfman Shaman? How? More importantly, what could you have possibly said to get that monster to leave without a fight? Huh?”
Sam took a deep breath and blew out his cheeks as his mind raced. “What if I told you I had an… opportunity? That and a chance for us as a team to become the first Chartered Guild in the entire game?”
There was a moment of shocked stillness as Dizzy and the others traded guarded glances with one another. Dizzy’s stance said she was as ready to pounce as ever. “We might be willing to listen.”
“Good, then hear me out and promise not to kill me until I finish telling you everything. It all started last week when Finn and I went back to the College after our grinding session…” Sam spooled out the story bit by bit over the next half hour, talking them through the kangaroo court version of a trial he had and how Finn had been forced to endure under the oversight of the corrupt and power-hungry Archmage.
He explained about the library and the tricky sleight of hand which had resulted in him getting ahold of the keys to the most powerful repository of knowledge in all of Ardania. When he told them about unleashing Vh’uzathel the Hundred-Armed before escaping the library via a secret spatial tunnel that connected to the outer walls, Sphinx gasped while Dizzy howled with laughter.
Onward Sam forged, detailing his capture and subsequent deal with The O’Baba. His reentry into the city. His endless grinding over the past several days, followed by his plan to track them down. They listened intently, muttering darkly at all the right places and laughing at the sheer absurdity of it all. No one seemed interested in killing him by the time he trailed off into silence, the whole story finally told.
“Dude,” Kai’s words were dripping with awe, lifting his hands to make a mind-blown gesture, “that’s like. Woah, dude.”
“So, the College really did all that just because you and Finn partied with us for a few hours?” Arrow sounded almost as shocked and impressed as Kai. “The thing with The Accords… I can’t believe the game developers would allow something like that to just slip through the cracks. I mean, it’s so predatory, you know?”
“Oh, believe me, I know,” Sam replied with a firm nod, remembering just how painful it had been to ‘replenish’ The Accords with his Mana. “I think my experience is only the tip of the iceberg. When Mages advance, they have to sign The Accords again and again, and I think that gives the Archmage even more power over them.”
“I betcha it’s a quest chain.” Sphinx started pacing restlessly behind the rest of the party, idly running one hand along the hilt of her dagger. “Probably some kinda hidden event with some huge rewards for anyone who figures out how to topple the Archmage.”
“Yeah, probably,” Dizzy agreed, stroking her chin thoughtfully.
“Which means that teaming up with Sam might be the best way to bring the whole system down,” Arrow chipped in. The archer was now sitting in the grass cross-legged, absently spinning an arrow between his palms. “Plus, the benefits of joining with the Wolfmen are pretty significant. I mean, we could be Nobles. Think about that. Nobles. Every hour I’m not in-game, I’m on the forums, and I haven’t heard of anyone unlocking an achievement like that yet. We could be world-firsts, guys.”
“The guaranteed Guild charter is a nice bonus, too,” Dizzy added absently. “Everyone and their brother is trying to found a Noble Guild on the human side of the campaign. The competition is already crazy, and it’s only going to get worse, but I bet things are wide open with the wolves. This could be our shot.”
“Yeah, but like, we’ll have to betray humanity.” Kai didn’t sound like he was opposed to the idea, just laying out the facts.
“So?” Dizzy shot back, arching an eyebrow. “It’s just a game.”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “The fact that there is a viable route to join the Wolfmen—even if most people are unaware there’s a Wolfman playable faction—means the developers meant for at least some of the player population to take that path. I think this is a golden opportunity. There’s only one question I have…”
“What’s that?” Sam was suddenly unsure of himself. So far, things were going well, but that could all change at any minute. One wrong answer and he could wind up with a sword rammed through his guts or an oversized maul cracking his head open.
“Finn,” Dizzy’s voice was as frigid as Sam’s Ice Orb spell. “If what you’re saying is true, then those Mages at the College are practically torturing him. We can’t just leave him there. I’m in, but only if we can figure a way to break him out of the College.”
“Actually, getting to Finn is an important part of the plan.” Sam felt a flood of relief. “We can’t really stop Octavius without him. He’s signed The Accords but only one time. If we can force him away from the College, The O’Baba has a way to free him from the power of The Accords. He might fight us because The Accords will likely hurt him if he doesn’t, but we can make it happen. As far as I can tell, officially joining the Wolfman faction automatically nullifies all previously held human bonds and allegiances. So, it’s sorta perfect, actually.”
“There is a hitch, though,” Sam continued after a long pause. “See, I’m pretty sure Octavius’s spell will take place outside the College walls. In fact, somewhere relatively close to the Wolfman outpost. The thing is, I’m not exactly sure where the location is, and I’m not exactly sure how to sabotage the spell, but I do know all of his research is inside the College Library. If we can bust in there, I think I can piece together what Octavius is planning, which should tell me how to stop him.”
“Wait,” Dizzy held one hand up. “You’re saying we need to break
into the College? A place which is full of the most powerful NPCs in the game, all of whom want you either dead or captured?”
“Well… when you say it like that, it sounds crazy,” Sam muttered, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.
“I’m not saying you’re crazy, and I’m not saying no. I just want to make sure I understand exactly what you’re asking us to do.”
“Yes,” Sam replied bluntly with a dip of his chin. “That’s what I’m asking you to do. I need to break into the College, help Finn escape, find a way to smuggle out a Wolfman, and figure out where Octavius is planning to cast this uber spell. All of this so that we can take him out before he turns the outpost into a smoking crater in the ground.”
“No offense, dude,” Kai folded his sleek arms, “but this sounds, like, totally impossible or whatever. I want to help, but I’m not interested in a suicide mission. Like, how would we even get into the College?”
“We have a secret weapon.” Sam nodded toward Bill with a grin. The book, hanging in the air beside him fluttered its pages, drawing every eye as its dusty leather lips creaked open for the first time.
“Hey, kids. I’m Bill,” the book croaked, his voice drier and more papery than Sam remembered, but then again, Sam had never actually heard Bill speak before. Up until now, the book had only ever communicated with Sam telepathically. Honestly, Sam was a little surprised to find the book could speak out loud. “I’ve been around for about three hundred years and counting.”
“For the record, I can get us into the sewers that run beneath the College. Because I’m awesome, I can also get us back out without anyone knowing we were ever there.”
“I don’t know,” Dizzy scowled at the floating book as though she didn’t entirely trust it.
Sphinx, however, let out a midwestern squee of delight. “If you can get us a way into the College and provide a way back out, I think we have a darn good chance to make this happen.”