When it was time to split the loot, Jack suggested,
"How about, instead of three coins of my share, I take the bracelet? As a keepsake. Never seen a possession quest before. Turns out, they're pretty fun."
Mike looked at him suspiciously, but Jack smiled widely with his most innocent expression, and the Cleric handed him the bracelet. Jack carelessly shoved the trinket into an inventory slot and suggested that they celebrate at the Rusty Rose. Although his companions thought that the exorcised ghost's words meant nothing, Jack had formed his own opinion on the matter. Annabelle the Beautiful was the founder of Svetlograd. There was a monument in her honor in one of the city squares. This was a notable character in the history of Alterra. Which meant that the quest associated with the ghost of Beleth should be a high-level quest.
And another thing — the possessed woman didn't attack people at all. She could hit and push only those who stood between her and the flickering spot on the wall, which was where she was actually trying to go. When Jack held her from behind, Milena didn't even try to turn around and attack. There wasn't any aggression in her behavior, just the drive to get to the mark on the wall. For what? The spot was somehow connected with the stone on the bracelet, since they both flared at the same time.
* * *
THAT EVENING in the Rusty Rose only began with the celebration of the successfully completed quest. At first, Jack sat at a table with the members of their temporary group. Then the party itself disbanded as each person found business at a neighboring table or the need to have a couple of words with someone from another group, and within an hour Jack was left alone. He quietly nursed a beer and occasionally glanced at the entrance. The person he needed usually appeared later.
The sky outside the window had darkened, the musicians on the podium were banging out the twentieth tune to count... and, finally, Stang made his appearance in the Rusty Rose
Stang, Areut
Level: 36
Health: 30
This guy was not a friend of Jack's. But they knew each other and had talked a few times. They both came the Rusty Rose fairly often and this was the only thing that linked them. Stang was a Thief and probably didn't keep many friends.
Jack waited until the Thief had settled at a free table, took two mugs from the barkeeper and joined him. Stang stared in surprise at the beer placed in front of him and slightly stiffened. People of his profession, as a rule, were not showered with gifts.
Jack winked.
"Don't worry, I'm not your fairy godmother and I'm not going to treat you to beer on a regular basis. I just need advice."
Stang relaxed.
"Go ahead, ask. Just don't expect me to give up professional secrets for a beer."
"Hmm, and I was counting on that... Okay, I'll get to the point. How does someone break into a townsman's house? Here, in Svetlograd?"
"Well, that depends on the citizen. There are houses, where secret infiltration is part of the quest. In those cases, you may encounter specific difficulties. There are vendors, who have warehouses and homes that are protected by magic spells. There are nobles' mansions that even I won't touch without good reason. Sometimes they're guarded by ghosts, sentry golems, or some other kind of particularly evil deviousness."
"And if it's only an unremarkable, small-time merchant or a master artisan's workshop? And there's nothing much to anticipate inside the home?"
"People usually don't rob those kinds of houses, unless they're really hard up," Stang squared his shoulders proudly. "Only a total noob would go that small. And I value my reputation enough to not waste my time on such nonsense."
"I wasn't talking about you. If I want to try something for the first time, then it would make sense to choose something simple."
"Going to switch professions?" Stang eyed his companion with a skeptical look. "You can't cut it. I can tell right away if a person has what it takes to be a thief or not. You're a Warrior, so stick with that."
"If I don't like it, I'll quit after the first try. But I should try at least once," said Jack.
"If the City Guard catches you, then they'll slap you with a fine or stick you in the slammer.”
This was true. Svetlograd's City Guard were NPCs with ungodly defense bonuses and their health was 200 or higher. It was almost impossible to deal with them.
"Well, teach me, then, so that I don't get caught," Jack took a swig of beer. "I'll just sneak into the house, see what it's like. Probably won't even take anything."
"Strange desire. Well, if you only want to sneak into someone's house... Even a newbie like you could do it. You’ll need this."
And Stang laid a weirdly bent steel rod on the table. Above the item, a message window appeared:
Universal Lockpick
Level: Common
Unlocks most residential buildings in Svetlograd with expertise up to 40.
"Twenty gold," added Stang.
"For a common item? No way."
"Try to get one yourself and you'll see — they don't come any cheaper," the Thief explained. "The price is so high because it's universal. You won't have to figure out the exact construction of the lock, plus it'll work for someone who hasn't leveled Lockpicking. If you don't want it, don't take it, but you asked a Thief for help, didn't you? So, here it is.
Transferring the coins, Jack carefully watched his companion's hands. You never knew what a thief was planning. Stang noticed his discomfort and laughed:
"Relax, I have a rule: never nick anything in the Rusty Rose". I come here to unwind, understand?"
"Well, if my field baptism is successful, I'll owe you a beer. And if your lockpick doesn't work..." he winked at the Thief, "then you'd better not catch my eye outside the city."
The lockpick migrated into his inventory and a message floated before his eyes:
You made a payment in the amount of 20 gold.
Would you like to see the transaction details?
Yes / No
You have 323 gold in your account.
Would you like to perform another transaction?
Yes / No
He clinked his mug with Stang's, marking the successful transaction. Jack sat for a while longer listening to the Thief's stories about his successful campaigns, then left the tavern.
At night, Svetlograd transformed. Everywhere, colorful lanterns burned, music played in taverns, and the number of people on the streets was no less than during the day. In the twilight, they looked even more picturesque and the luminous magical arts enchanting wizards' rings and circlets added a mysterious beauty to the picture.
Jack walked up and down the streets a few times to be sure that Stang hadn't followed him. You never knew what to expect from him... But it seemed that the Thief had remained at the Rusty Rose and wasn't going to follow. Which meant that it was time to get down to business.
It was already well after midnight and those still out on the streets were, for the most part, players. The NPCs had gone to bed for the night. The rare exceptions were those NPCs that the script had instructed to be nocturnal. In particular, the City Guard. Jack wandered for half an hour around the block where Jacob and Milena's house sat, waiting for the patrol with torches to pass by. Now he had at least half an hour at his disposal before the Guard would come back around to this street.
As for the owners of the house... Well, they were asleep. And unlike omegas, who were accustomed to sleeping very lightly, NPCs were guaranteed not to wake until morning. Well, if he didn't make too much noise. Jack wasn't planning on it. Jacob said that they had locked his wife in the bedroom, which was on the second floor. Which most likely meant that no one would be on the first floor.
Jack cautiously approached the door and pulled the lockpick out. When he slipped it into the keyhole, a new window with an image appeared at the top right of his vision: rollers and levers, and the shiny silver pin inserted between them. This was the inside of the lock and his lockpick. After a few turns, the prongs of the lockpick aligned with the lock p
attern and a quiet click announced the successful Lockpicking attempt.
You have opened the lock. Used 1 attempt.
You have 9/10 uses of Universal Lockpick at your disposal.
Uh, Stang didn't mention that it was a limited resource. Though, on the other hand, it was fine. It worked on the first try and Jack wasn't planning on becoming a career Thief. He cautiously pushed the door and slipped into the darkness beyond it. Night in Alterra was drawn so that everything could be seen, while still keeping a sense of darkness. Jack stood for a minute, listening. Silence. The inhabitants were in the bedroom on the second floor. There was nobody on the first floor with Jack. He crept stealthily along the wall to the place, where he had noticed the spot that had glowed in time with flickering of the bracelet’s stone. Well, and how was he supposed to find it in the dark? Jack pulled the bracelet out — nothing changed. The red stone didn't light up and nothing happened on the wall.
"Well, Beleth, how were you planning to do this?" Jack whispered.
At the mention of his name, the stone's ghost reacted with a weak flicker.
"Beleth," Jack repeated, watching the wall intently, "Beleth, Beleth..."
Got it! On the wall, there was a barely noticeable stain, slightly lighter than the brickwork next to it. Jack touched the bracelet to the spot and the wall shook. Not the whole wall, of course, but something in it shifted and the overall image changed. Jack made out a crack in the wall and, extending his arm, pushed the bricks. He tried in one place, then another... There it was – part of the wall silently turned inward on invisible hinges, opening a passage into darkness.
Jack made out through the darkness the silhouette of steps and began to descend. The wall behind him shuddered again and clicked back into place. The crack behind him also disappeared.
"Guess it’s only forward from here!" Jack proclaimed, continuing down the stairs.
A wave passed over the image before his eyes. What was that? Oh, an unexpected message appeared in chat. Jack wasn't expecting any news or anything. He stopped and opened the message. The window was dark grey, unusually designed, with some system icons at the bottom.
Greetings! The first stage of my quest has been solved. Congratulations. I say "my" because I was the one who developed it. And this is my best quest. By the way, welcome. To create Jacob's house, I digitalized my own home. So, in a sense, you are my guest. Feel free to make yourself at home. And when you've fully completed the quest, be sure to fulfill the task that needs to be done afterwards. [email protected]
Jack, puzzled, paused on the stairs and re-read the message twice. Holy crap! For the first time in his career in Alterra, he’d received a non-default message from the current game administration — and it was a message from the developers themselves! What did that mean? Shaking his head, he continued down. This "Simon Wenzowich" had certainly died long ago. He’d lived and worked before the Gendemic, and even if he'd survived the catastrophe... How many years had passed since then? And that e-mail address format hadn't been used for a long time. Those services died out along with civilization. Too bad, of course. It would have been interesting to shoot the breeze with a real game designer. What was he thinking when he imagined Alterra? What had he wanted to say, when he drew the virtual world this way? There would be time later to think about it — after Jack reached the end of Beleth's quest.
The steps finally ended and ahead was total darkness, in which divergent tunnels could just barely be seen. He stood on a small platform, from which three pathways led into the gloom.
"Beleth!" Jack tried.
It didn't help. No sign came from the darkness. He chose the middle path and began to walk along it. And soon came to a trembling light. A torch was burning on the wall. It was hard to imagine that it had been lit recently. Especially considering the fact that the flame was violet. A magical fire lighting the way, that's what it was. Jack strode with more confidence and soon found himself on a platform from which another three tunnels branched off in different directions. The path in the middle was a bit brighter. There was another magical flame burning and both sides of the tunnel were lined with white bones. Piles of them, each topped with a skull. But this wasn't the Blighted Wasteland. It was quite clear what was about to happen here. As soon as Jack moved toward the middle tunnel, the bones creaked nastily into motion. Two skeletons stood up on each side of the pathway. Above each one appeared:
Dungeon Guardian
Expertise: 10
Disease: 20
As Jack stepped toward them, the skeletons stepped in his way. One threw a hand forward, its sharp bones ripping through the air, but Jack was ready. He ducked, stepped back, and kicked his opponent back into the other skeleton. Their bones jumbled, intertwined. Jack ran over and destroyed the resulting ridiculous two-headed figure with a few punches, smashing it against the wall.
Afterwards, he continued down the tunnel. Ahead there was a grinding rattle, as if two rough pieces of iron were rubbing against each other. Jack had already seen the burning torch with violet fire when a skeleton appeared, coming at him. This one was more impressive, with rusty steel bands on its wrists. Pieces of chain hung from the bands and the skeleton's right claw was clamped around a curved knife, also rusted and very sinister looking.
Dungeon Guardian
Expertise: 20
Disease: 30
Jack withdrew his sword from his inventory. He used a "bastard" sword, which was long enough to swing with both hands if necessary. Against the dead warrior, it was just an excessively long blade to keep the enemy at a distance while Jack smashed its skull and shattered the skeleton to pieces. He turned around when he heard a rattle from behind.
A second skeleton, armed with a heavy axe, had crept up behind him. Jack managed to get his sword under the blow and drove his enemy back. With a few thrusts, he forced it to break its guard and plunged the tip between the skeleton's ribs, then teased and slammed the impaled bones into the wall. The dead soldier scattered with a clatter, but once again from the hallway came the scrape and rattle of more bones. Enemies were approaching from both directions. Jack stepped back to the torch. There, at least, it was brighter. He could see the corridor from here. At equal intervals, roughly every seven or eight steps, alcoves extended along both sides, each one holding a skeleton. They were moving, ripping out the rusted chains that were fastened to steel rings embedded in the walls. Bending down, one picked up a knife, another an axe, and they shuffled forward.
And in the distance, the purple light of the next torch fluttered. Could he fight his way through to it? Jack moved down the corridor towards the sluggish Guardians. He had to spend about a minute on each one, but luckily the hallway was so narrow that he could fight one mob at a time. Jack dispatched five opponents, reached the next torch, and saw that the next alcove was a pass-through that ended at a set steps leading down.
He fled downstairs. The Guardians, their bones awkwardly dropping on the narrow steps and rusted weapons scraping the walls, followed after him.
"Must be fun for you guys, Jacob and Milena, living with these folks... Yeah, and Simon Wenzowich definitely had an interesting cellar."
Jack ran to the torch burning just ahead, hurrying to stay ahead of the slow-moving undead. He ran so fast that the next opponent to come forward barely had time to raise its shield. This skeleton was in plate armor, rusted and bent. Jack slammed his shoulder into the shield and the sent the skeleton blocking his path spinning.
Dungeon Guardian
Expertise: 30
Disease: 50
The hit was diseased.
You receive damage!
You lose 4 hit points!
Jack hadn't even noticed that the rusty blade had stuck him, but a rivulet of red flowed down his side.
You lose 2 hit points!
And the skeleton was already approaching with its sword raised. Jack quickly attacked, forcing his enemy to step back. Crouching low, he rushed forward and the skeleton's weapon swung over his
head. Lunging, he struck its bony legs. The dead soldier staggered and he dealt another strike from above on its helmet, putting all of his strength into it.
You lose 1 hit point!
The wound continued to bleed, leeching his hit points. And behind him was the approaching clatter of dry bones and the scrape of rusty iron.
Jack raised his sword again. The skeleton in front of him stepped back and shielded its head. Then he lunged powerfully at it and smashed his shoulder into the shield while his sword, held with both hands, slipped in under the shield. His weapon parried the skeleton's rusty blade and passed through bones, crushing them. Shake off the clinging bones to the blade and move forward. Jack drank a healing elixir on the go, filling his health bar.
Near the next torch, another Guardian in rusted chainmail was waiting. Jack was prepared for this one. He was well ahead of his pursuers and could dispatch the skeleton at his own pace, according to the rules of swordplay.
Well, where was the exit? The recess near this torch was ordinary — no steps leading down. He'd have to run to the next one. Jack swore out loud. There were two skeletons here, each with expertise in the thirties. But there was no alcove with a passage behind them, just a thick plank door fastened with steel strips. The door looked solid enough to block his pursuers... if, that is, he could take care of the pair of Guardians in front of him.
He had to take care of them, and quickly, for the passage here was wider and, if the undead shambling in the narrow corridor behind him reached this place... Jack rushed his opponents, swinging his sword hastily. One skeleton shielded himself behind a buckler and Jack, putting all of his strength and inertia behind it, struck with his sword. The enemy flew back, its bones rattling inside the rusty cuirass. The second tried to pierce Jack from the side and nearly got him.
You're in Game! LitRPG Stories from Bestselling Authors Page 8