The Way of the Shaman [06] Shaman's Revenge

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “It’s a pretty idea,” I said as soon as the man fell silent. “But there are two ‘buts’! The first is that I won’t be able to reach the entrance to the cave. I can’t teleport to the plateau and it’s sure to be guarded, so I’ll be killed before I make it to the Angels. Second—why would Phoenix spend the money? No item in Barliona, not even their cumulative price, can cost two billion gold and therefore there’s no reason Ehkiller should agree to pay such money. I don’t know what he’ll actually do naturally, but I definitely wouldn’t agree.”

  “These are reasonable objections. I’ll address them in order. As soon as you agree to our plan, the crystals will stop blocking your Blink spell. How that’ll happen is my problem—but it’ll happen. All you’ll have to do is enter the coordinates at the Angels’ location, blink in and then you’ll be under their protection. As for the second point—before departing, the Angels will announce that only he who carries the original key can receive the Salva. No one is forbidden from venturing the Tomb without you, but the Salva will only be obtainable with you.

  “The Salva?” I couldn’t help but ask.

  “That’s the second part of our plan. The Salva is an item that can destroy the Tears of Harrashess. Shall I go on?”

  The realization of whom I was dealing with was like an electric shock. And I don’t even mean the specific person with whom I was speaking, so much as the organization that stood behind him—you can’t accomplish things like this on your own. Eluna had already told me what the Tear of Harrashess was, but the fact that an ordinary player could be burdened with it after all, considering that the Barliona admins had told me otherwise…

  “You will have to complete two Dungeons,” the old man interrupted my thoughts. “In each one of them you’ll find two parts of an item which, combined, will create a portal. The Mages will charge it and you’ll be able to teleport right into the center of Geranika’s castle, which currently contains four activated Tears. Your job will then be to take the Tears and slip them to Anastaria, Hellfire, Fiona and Alveona—the leading players of Phoenix. I can’t tell you how you will be able to do this because that is the most sensitive part of our plan. However, as soon as the Phoenix players are in possession of the Tear, a notification will appear about the Salva and the fact that you are the only one who can find it. It’s for these reasons that you shouldn’t teleport to the angels before the time is right—otherwise, by the time you get your hands on the Tears, Phoenix might have completed the Dungeon.”

  The old man’s plan stunned me with its cruelty and thoughtfulness. If I slipped Anastaria the Tear, Phoenix would absolutely play two billion to free her—the other three affected players be damned. And yet…

  “According to its official description, the Tear cannot be transferred to another player,” I recalled the properties of the crystal that I’d found in Altameda. “The idea of giving this item to Anastaria is a good one, but it’s unrealistic.”

  “There’s nothing unrealistic about it,” smirked the old man. “You’ll have to hurry and reacquire at least one of the Crastils—those orbs scattered throughout the continent that no one knows what to do with. You had a couple, but Anastaria took them, so now you’ll have to obtain one from Grygz, the head of the pirates. We’ll help you in this. A player who has a Crastil as well as another item that you’ll find in the Dungeon, will be able to transfer an activated Tear. In fact, before it’s activated, a Tear won’t affect a player with a Crastil. Anastaria has a Crastil, but as soon as the Tear is activated, Phoenix won’t have a choice but to pay for access to the Salva…And still this isn’t all.”

  “There’s more?”

  “Salva isn’t an item. It’s a scroll with a recipe. A Jewelcrafting recipe. A Jewelcrafting recipe with certain requirements: 20 points in Crafting, the title of Blessed Artificer, and the ability to enter the Astral Plane. In other words, it’s a class-specific scroll for the Shaman and, when the raid is done, only you will be able to read it. No one will trick anyone—if there’s no raid, no one gains access to the Salva. But neither is there a guarantee that you’re the only one who’ll pick it up. This means that it’s vital you draw up a proper contract for your raid party. I’ll help you with that. After that, you activate the Tear and all four players will effectively lose their characters. That’ll be the biggest blow to Phoenix—ten years’ worth of grinding experience to level up their four top players will all be wasted. All of their Reputation, Achievements and skills. They wanted to destroy your Shaman so I’ll give you the opportunity to destroy their characters. A two-pronged attack on Phoenix—we’ll hit their money and their talent. It seems to me that this will be a worthy revenge for the humiliation you and I have suffered.”

  “Two billion is a very hefty sum to spend,” I said pensively. “It’d be easier for Ehkiller to sell his name or kill me in real life than spend that much money. Especially once the Tears have been activated.”

  “You will enjoy the best security available. You will leave this city. We will provide you with top-of-the-line equipment and high bandwidth uplinks to Barliona. No one will know where you are. The important thing is that we need your help, since the entire plan depends on your abilities.”

  “I won’t be able to complete the Dungeon without trusted people,” I continued thinking out loud. “I need people who can help me with advice at the right time, and therefore they will have to also be aware of what’s going on. How many players can you give me?”

  “Only one, at the moment,” the old man replied sadly. “As soon as we agree to the terms of the plan, my person will get in touch with you.”

  “How will your manipulation of the game affect me?” I couldn’t help but ask another vital question. “I don’t feel like being sent to the mines once again. A chat with you is one thing—altering game data is a whole different ballpark.”

  “It won’t affect you at all. You are an ordinary player, completing his series of scenarios. What happens in the other planes of the game doesn’t concern you. The important thing is that it helps you. You won’t be breaking any rules. This is why we won’t be signing any papers—if something doesn’t go according to plan, Daniel Mahan the player will remain unaffected.”

  “Do we split the money?”

  “Let’s wait until we get there,” the old man smiled. “As soon as the Phoenix players receive the Tear, they’ll file lawsuits against the Corporation for limiting their game experience. We’ll have to survive that. When it becomes clear that everything happened according to the rules and the players themselves are at fault—and that in fact there is a remedy in the form of the Salva—then we’ll talk. There’s no point discussing money at the moment. This by the way ensures your safety—as long as you have the money, your life won’t be in danger. Certainly not from me, at any rate.”

  I kept wanting to ask why the old man wanted to do all this, as the fairy tale about Barsina sounded very unconvincing, but I controlled myself. What difference did it make why this person hated Phoenix so much? What difference did it make that someone was about to use me again to achieve his personal ends (and again in the dark like Anastaria). What I wanted right now was to have a chance of revenge against Phoenix for what they had done to me and my clan. If I’d have to do what someone wanted to achieve this, I was ready. I couldn’t care less what ulterior ideas this person had in mind—even if it meant he’d take over Phoenix with my aid. It was all okay with me so long as those four Phoenix players would be destroyed. Even though I didn’t have any beef with Fiona and Alveona, destroying Anastaria and Hellfire would be an excellent revenge indeed. I could stand to be a puppet for the sake of it.

  “I’d like to know what to call you because ‘old man’ or ‘hey’ doesn’t really suit someone of your age.”

  “Agreed, I don’t particularly like responding to ‘hey,’ smiled the old man, still deep in his thoughts. “But I’m not opposed to ‘old man,’ so let’s just agree to that. What did you decide? Shall we work together?”

/>   “We shall,” I nodded. “What do you need me to do in order to begin making our plan a reality?”

  “Complete two Dungeons. You already have the quest for one of them—you need to kill the Dragon of Shadow. He will drop the first half of the artifact. It doesn’t matter who goes with you—take the artifact yourself. You’ll recognize it pretty easily—it’s the hilt of a dagger. I won’t tell you the name of the item, since I don’t know it, but you’ll know it when you read the description. The second Dungeon will be the Dungeon of Shadow. There you’ll receive the blade of the dagger and a unifier. You can find out the coordinates to the second Dungeon from the High Priestess—she’ll issue you the quest as well. And that’s all for now—you have four weeks to accomplish all of this. Then you’ll have to appear before the Angels. Otherwise Barsina will receive the key to the Tomb and all our efforts will be in vain. Don’t worry about the deadlines—my person will remind you of them constantly. Are there any questions?”

  “Not at the moment, but I’m still wondering—how will you adjust the game data? The Corporation runs such a comprehensive security system that any interference with the game process is typically intercepted at the level of intent. To say nothing of the unlawfulness of such actions. It’s one thing that I know about your plan. I’ll already be breaking the law if I don’t say anything to the law enforcement agencies. I really don’t want to go back to the mines, so I’d prefer to approach all of this with a clear understanding of the people I’m working with.”

  “With great knowledge comes great sorrow,” the old man remarked. “Don’t cram your head full of trivia—that’s my job. You’ve agreed to work with us. You don’t need to know anything else. That’s all for now then.” The old man got up from the bench, propping himself with his cane. “The driver will return you to your home, and I expect you to complete the two Dungeons as soon as possible. Remember—you only have four weeks.”

  “When am I going to meet your man?” I asked, also standing up.

  “Soon. A player will approach you and speak a code word. Let it be ‘Crastil.’ That’s how you’ll know that he’s come from me and that you can trust him completely. We shall meet again soon, Daniel! I hope everything will work out for us…”

  My return trip home flashed by unnoticed as I was buried in oppressive thought. On the one hand, the old man’s offer wasn’t just good—it was perfect. What scared me the most was that I saw no pitfalls, and yet there were definitely pitfalls. Life had taught me that if it seemed like nothing but roses, there were thorns lurking not far off. I couldn’t see the thorns at the moment and that stressed me out. As much as I hated her, Anastaria had taught me one thing—I could trust only myself. Everyone else only wanted to use me. And now I was consciously taking this step, since the advantages were evident, but the absence of pitfalls….it just wasn’t right. Things don’t work this way.

  Thinking in this manner, I collapsed into my bed and fell asleep…

  * * *

  “How’d you sleep, bunny?” Anastaria asked sarcastically, sitting down in the chair across from me. “Did you miss me?”

  My nocturnal escapade didn’t come without a price. I ended up sleeping in until it was almost two in the afternoon. Glancing at the clock, I almost swore out loud—I had a meeting to go to! I quickly stuffed two sandwiches down my throat and then stuffed myself into the capsule. It was very important to me that I wasn’t late to our ‘date’—I didn’t want to give Anastaria another opportunity to have fun at my expense.

  “I did, my sunshine,” I grinned, noting to my surprise that I didn’t actually feel any hate towards Anastaria at the moment. With a clear plan of action for the next month in my head, I no longer felt at a loss in front of the girl. In a month this doll would turn into a monument and I wasn’t about to give her the Salva to regain control of herself. Anastaria would be enshrined for all eternity in Barliona—as a statue.

  “Oh! You’re not spitting and sputtering today,” Stacey again tried to get into my head. “Did you have a good meal?”

  “Uh-huh. I sure did. Stacey, I’m officially asking you to return the Karmadont Chess Set to me as well as the Eye of the Dark Widow, the Crastil of Shalaar and of Gwar, Babar, et cetera et cetera. Oh! And the Bracers that Eric made and the squidolphin scale…I think that’s the full list of the things you stole from me.”

  “You forgot to turn your video recorder on,” the girl smiled back. “How are you going to prove that I’m a big ol’ bitch without it? Or did Clutzer decide to play with words and summon the Emperor as a witness to your oath that I refused to return your items upon your official request. A pretty move…I’ll think of something though. What do you plan on doing today?”

  “I dunno, stuff,” I shrugged. “You said yourself that I missed out on continental quests too often. So I guess maybe I’ll try and find one. I want to get a handle on being a Harbinger—I have the powers but I still can’t use them for the next two weeks. There’re lots of quests and I’m short on time, so I’ll find something to occupy myself with before the clan tournament begins. By the way, tell me again, when is it supposed to be?”

  “In a month and a half. The Emperor keeps delaying it—first it was the Dagger. Now it’s the heart of Chaos. Are you planning on saving Renox?”

  “No. Eluna made it very clear to me that I shouldn’t set foot in Armard. I’m an obedient person. I listen to a goddess when she speaks to me, so I’ll figure something else out…What about you? Will you go to fight Geranika?”

  “You know, I’ve been forbidden from going there too…No, this won’t do. Here you go!” Anastaria said suddenly, opened her bag—which was closed for me (I’d checked just in case)—and retrieved a painfully familiar case. The very one that contained the Chess Set of Karmadont. “Everything else is contestable, but the Chess Set really is yours regardless of how you spin it. Mahan, I officially give you these items.”

  Anastaria placed the case with the Chess Set right on the table. A notification flashed by saying that I had received an item and instantly a ‘self-destruct’ timer appeared—the case was lying on the table without an owner, so the system decided that it was trash that must be destroyed. In five minutes, there would be nothing left of the Chess Set—unless I pick it up.

  “Everything else, is my rightful loot,” the girl smiled as soon as I picked up the case in my hands and opened its lid. Eight green orcs, eight blue dwarves, two giants, two ogres, two lizards and one king. Everything that I managed to craft by that point was mine once again—but I didn’t understand how. Anastaria would never act so carelessly with items like this, which meant she had her reasons. I needed to speak with Clutzer. Damn it!

  “So I guess it’s pointless to ask for the Eye?” I ventured, replacing the figurines and stuffing the whole case into my bag.

  “Well…” said Anastaria with a silly face. “What Eye?”

  “I see. What do you want for Eric’s bracers and the Crastil of Shalaar? The Bracers are the first item Eric crafted, they unlocked Crafting for him, so I’d like to return them to him…As for the Crastil of Shalaar, that’s the only item that I have from Renox.”

  “You’re scaring me, Danny,” Anastaria shook her head with surprise. “You’re so calm, collected, thoughtful, constructive…You don’t seem at all like the Shaman that I spent three wonderful months with.”

  “But you haven’t answered me. We can deal with the Eye later, but I’d like to decide about the Bracers and the Crastil right now. Do you want to make a deal? And if so, what do you want for those items?”

  “Hmm, yeah, that’s quite a dilemma you’re raising,” said Anastaria, watching my eyes carefully. “I understand why you want the Bracers—the first crafted item is also the first of its kind. But the Crastil…You must know something no one else does, right?”

  “You still haven’t answered,” I went on plying my line.

  “I will give you these items in exchange for information—specifically, what you need the Crastil f
or,” Stacey announced. “You will tell me everything and summon the Emperor to confirm that you haven’t concealed anything from me. Once the Emperor confirms your words, you’ll get the bracers and Crastil.”

  “There are many Crastils in Barliona,” I shrugged, “and Eric can always make more bracers. It’s not like I won’t survive without them. Simply, they were originally mine and I’d like to have them back. We still have a half hour ahead of us. You don’t mind if I eat, do you? I have a busy day ahead of me…”

  Greetings Kreel! I’m finally ready to take a trip with you to the cave of the Dragon. When are you going to be ready? I’ll be bringing a Level 204+ Raid Party with fifty people, Plinto and several others. I figure that should be enough to kill the Shadow Dragon. Let me know when you can take on this Dungeon.

  Leaving Anastaria on her own as soon as our hour of daily spousal interaction had ended, I began to put our plan in action. To begin with, I wrote a letter to Kreel, the owner of the Dragon of Shadow quest. Who knows how long it’ll take him to get ready, so it was better to deal with this sooner. The important thing was to receive the Dungeon coordinates; I’d figure the terms of our venture with the Titan later. The right way to do it would be to buy the coordinates from him and stop worrying about…By the way! I can attack players now! I’ll have to fine tune our contract. Sorry Kreel, I’m not that easy to deal with—and neither is life in general…

  “Mahan!” Elizabeth met me as happily as ever. “I’m so happy that you’re doing what I asked you and spending time with your spouse! Family is the most important thing we have in Barliona!”

  “Elsa, I don’t have a lot of time right now. Tell me—do you have any quests for me? I’m a bit tired of sitting in one place and I want to wander around the world and encounter some scary monsters…If Eluna forbids me from participating in the war against Geranika, maybe I’ll be able to help some other way in my battle with Shadow? I don’t know…Maybe someone needs me to carry some water for them?”