Apostle of the Sleeping Gods

by Dan Sugralinov

  “Ama! Osha!”

  Nightshade (player Madison Raisman) is dead.

  I turned to the survivors and saw Bomber preventing the capture of the ins, catching Amanita with a charge. They all focused fire on her while Tissa held Oshandra down tight, not letting her move. I ran up and pacified Oshandra with a Kick. Meanwhile, Deidre turned into a she-wolf and turned to flee.

  Amanita (player Lori Simmons) is dead.

  “I got the druid!” I shouted and ran off to give chase.

  A second later, the wolf took a throwing dagger to the back from Infect and an Incendiary Shot from Crawler after which they turned to Oshandra. I looked around for a second, seeing her twirling her spear in rage and screaming, not letting anyone near.

  Deidre in wolf form had a thirty-percent movement speed bonus, but I had more tricks up my sleeve: plus thirty percent from class bonus, ten from the quiver I bought from Rita, and the same amount from the Lightfoot buff.

  Oshandra (player Oshandra Nguyen) is dead.

  “Ah, they got spear girl,” I noted as I chased down the druid. She was almost all the way to the top by the time I caught her. I knocked her down with a Stunning Kick and, although it didn’t stun, Deidre whined, turned around and snapped at my hand. With my other, I landed three Hammers in a row, a normal blow then the first two of a series on her broad forehead, finishing the Combo with a punishing Kick.

  Deidre (player Deidre Douglas) is dead.

  After she died, the druid returned to human form. Her bag was a standard one, so all the contents dropped and so I went back down and sent Hung up for the loot. Meanwhile, the others sorted through the things that dropped when they died and looted the other ambushers. Nikkin, as it turned out, had lost a blue bow and the others just greens. “All’s fair in love and war,” I said, recalling another of my uncle’s beloved sayings as Tissa extended the bow to me.

  “Yours is green, right archer?” she smiled. “This one is definitely better, here.”

  Poison Shot

  Rare.

  Bow.

  Damage: 16-18.

  Possible effect on hit: poison for 5 pt. of damage.

  +9 Agility.

  +11 Endurance.

  Durability: 80/80.

  Requires level: 14.

  Sell price: 9 gold coins, 45 silver coins.

  Chance of losing after death reduced by 50%.

  I removed the green bow and exchanged it with Tissa. I felt no pangs of conscience either: sure this would make life harder for Ambush, but it wasn’t like I forced their hand. They attacked me first and it was five against one.

  “Nobody around yet,” Infect spoke up, raising his eyes.

  “Should we go in?” Crawler asked me.

  “Everyone except Malik,” I answered. “We should see what it shows at the entrance.”

  My heart skipping beats, I awaited the verdict, preparing to write tech support about the fact that their so-called camouflage was giving me away, and I wanted it gone, but I didn’t need to.

  A few minutes later, while we were looking around inside the Hive, the thief wrote:

  [17:14] [Clan] [Infect]: Nothing out of the ordinary. It shows 4/5 group members inside. I’m coming in.

  Had the false maintenance had gone away along with Patrick’s curse? Oh well, one less headache and one less reason for Big Po to get suspicious. All that remained was to decide whether we should complete the ins and whether the possible reward was worth potentially revealing my threat status.

  So when Infect entered the dungeon, and Bomber started a fire, raising all of our energy regain speed, we sat around it and started to think.

  Already able to taste the the First Kill, the former lead Dementor’s eyes were burning so bright that anyone might take him for a follower of the Radiant god. But the first one to say something intelligent was actually Crawler, a person prepared to risk a lot for any game achievement.

  “We have to get out of here,” he announced, somewhat unsure. “It’s very, very conspicuous!”

  “What?!” Bomber roared. “Are you in your right mind, Rodriguez? When else are we gonna have this kind of luck? Remember what we got from Murkiss! That’s for the rest of our lives! And you’re afraid of getting burned by some Poly-wanna-cracker? He can shove his whining up Pythagoras’s ass! After we get out of the sandbox in three or four months, we might never see him again for the rest of our lives!”

  “Hung, you actually learned something!” Malik whinnied. “Now tell me, who do you think Pythagoras was?”

  “Not now,” Crawler cut him off.

  “Ed?” Tissa raised a brow, expecting an explanation of what he said at first, then turned to me.

  “He’s right,” I said gloomily. “We’re one false move away from Po sending the preventers after us. And that’s if he doesn’t decide to just handle us himself. For now, the bet is stopping him from pursuing it actively, but if his suspicions get any stronger I think he’d be willing to sacrifice a legendary.”

  “But Sheppard, he won’t be able to kill you no matter what!” the tank shot out.

  “But all the preventers would be lined up at the sandbox exit. Figuring out my birthday would be a piece of cake. Then they’d roll out the red carpet, and greet me with fanfares, sharpened stakes in hand.”

  “But how would they be able to kill you?” Infect asked.

  “Guys, whether they can or not, I might as well forget about playing from then on...”

  I didn’t tell them about the Achilles’ heel of my ability: there was nothing stopping preventers from catching me and healing me up to get rid of the curse, then taking me out in one shot. Even with Resilience at max for my level, I didn’t stand a chance against a level-three-hundred player. That much level difference would make the skill useless, and who could say when I’d get a higher cap – the maximum level for any skill only went up by one hundred every hundred levels.

  And at the end of the day, they could just immobilize me and tie me up in the basement of their clan castle. I could imagine a number of ways and, if they thought it through, they could probably figure out one. Maybe they’d use a magic suppressor or neutralizer to kill me? I didn’t know, I didn’t have enough information. But for the time being, I didn’t even want to think about it. There was only one thing that mattered: if I fell into the hands of the preventers, I’d definitely lose my threat status.

  “Maybe we just clear the first bosses?” Infect suggested, his voice hopeful.

  “No,” Crawler said. “The bosses here are at least level twenty. Our progress is shown at the entrance, and how will we explain that? I’m afraid even Axiom wouldn’t be able to clear this ins their first go. It takes a bunch of tries to learn boss tactics and practice countering them.”

  “Let’s just stick to the plan,” I suggested. “We’re all on even footing, we all made away with vampirism, or what is it called?”

  “Lifesteal,” Tissa answered. “Oh, I forgot. I need to attach it to Hand of Nergal, my highest damage.”

  “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask,” I said. “You’re not a priestess anymore, but you get to keep the spell?”

  “I always had it,” she answered. “It’s from the light magic arsenal. It’s just a name.”

  We all spent a bit of time choosing what attack to give the property. I did what might have been called the clever move and chose Combo. Now every chain of attacks would steal a bit of health.

  “Just one percent,” Hung chuckled. “Not much.”

  “That’s for now,” Crawler chuckled. “As the attack improves, it will go up.”

  “Friends, that’s all well and good, but I say we get out of here with Depths Teleportation,” I said. “There’s definitely gonna be people waiting outside.”

  Infect and Bomber sighed loudly and I tried to reassure them:

  “Don’t worry, guys! We’ll come back once we hit level twenty. If it took Big Po and his crew that long to pass Evil from the Depths, they’ll get stuck here a long time
as well.”

  “That’s right!” Bomber brightened up. “Cooldown for raid dungeons is a week. And with the way we’re leveling, we’ll be back in fifteen days!”

  “And we should look over the loot from Mok’Rhyssa,” Crawler added. “You, dear Scyth, are either forgetful, or just as much of a smart... guy as ever. We can’t see what you got in the chat.”

  I looked in my inventory and smiled happily:

  “I’ll show you later. For now, let’s get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”

  * * *

  The sun dipped beneath the canopy of the sparse forest just as a wall of dead dark trees came into view beyond the impetuous course of the Tremitelle. Maximillian’s Farm, which is where Crawler was bringing us, was behind. Ed didn’t port us right into the Gloomwood. That might have thrown us out anywhere in it, but we wanted to specifically be close to the dead lumberjack village.

  In the field, other than the farmer and his family, there was a swarm of magic golem harvesters. They worked something like ancient tractors, but walked on two wooden legs and had dangerous-looking blades for upper appendages. I noticed a couple level-two players running around the field as well.

  “Have you done any quests here before?” Crawler asked me. I shook my head and he continued: “Sometimes the harvesters act up, and old Maximillian gives a quest to pacify and repair them. But those people running around over there are catching Pesky Gophers. It’s a nightmare quest. You’ve gotta spend a whole day running around the field.”

  “I once got put on scarecrow duty for Maximillian,” Bomber reminisced, a certain nostalgia in his voice. “I scared a bunch of crows away, but then accidentally went after a raven. And it was not neutral! It aggro’d on me...”

  “And then what?”

  “It pecked me to death,” the tank answered glumly.

  We decided not to go back to Goro Gorge. At first, the guys still wanted to go get some gear there. Sure, it may have been blue for the most part, but sometimes epics dropped. But most likely the new ins had stirred up so much activity that we figured it was better not to show our faces without good reason. We still had time to get geared up before the Arena so, we were more concerned with getting our levels up.

  “Mok’Rhyssa dropped another two items. Look...” I pulled the loot from my backpack, starting with an epic.

  Belt of Evil from the Depths

  Epic, part of the Evil from the Depths set

  Cloth armor.

  Armor: 18.

  +15 Intelligence.

  +15 Endurance.

  +12% mana regeneration speed.

  +5% spell power bonus.

  Durability: 250/250.

  Requires level: 20.

  Sell price: 89 gold coins.

  Chance of losing after death reduced by 90%.

  Evil from the Depths set: belt, armbands, crown, gloves, neckpiece, robe, sandals and pants.

  2/8 of the Evil from the Depths set: Reduces magic damage taken by 15%.

  4/8 of the Evil from the Depths set: When taking damage in battle, the wearer has a chance to spawn a 350-HP shield.

  6/8 of the Evil from the Depths set: +20 Intelligence.

  8/8 of the Evil from the Depths set: +100 armor, +33% mana regeneration.

  “You’re in luck, Tissa...” Infect squeezed out, jealous and looked to Ed. “Or Crawler.”

  “Tissa,” he shook his head. “Mana regen speed and spell power are more her thing. We’re doing just fine for damage, but a lot is gonna hinge on heal in the Arena.”

  Melissa Schafer beamed like a true priestess of Nergal the Radiant. At level twenty, she could put on two epics from the same set, which would give an extra bonus.

  “Scyth, don’t keep us waiting!” Infect pleaded. “What else did you get?”

  I pulled out my next find. Turning my gaze from one nascent smile to the next, I just had to laugh.

  Fragment of the Seal of Shog’rassar

  Personal Quest Item.

  Cast out of this layer of reality by the Sleeping Gods, the ancient mage Shog’rassar made himself a god in another world, subjugating the sarantapod race. Ever since, he has yearned to return to Disgardium, never losing hope. Now he has created a portal between worlds, and sent an advance party of sarantapods into our world.

  For now, the portal is too weak for Shog’rassar himself to pass through. In order to expand it, the sarantapod generals have decided to lay low, gathering the forces and resources necessary to descend upon Disgardium with all the might and wrath of the banished deity who generously shared his power with his underlings.

  Each of the three generals of the invasion force is in possession of one seal fragment. The seven fragments, when combined and placed at the base of the portal in the Sarantapod Hive, will summon Shog’rassar, God of the sarantapods.

  Collected: 1/7.

  “I think I’m missing something,” Bomber said thoughtfully. “There are three bosses, but we need to seven seal fragments?”

  “Yep,” Crawler nodded happily. “And you know what’s so great about that?”

  “Not yet,” the tank frowned.

  “It’s easy, Bomb,” Infect shot out. “Even if Axiom kills everything in the Hive, they’ll only have three fragments, so they won’t be able to summon the final boss. What’s his name... Shog’rassar.”

  “Or I guess they could but it would take them three weeks at least. They’d have to fully clear the ins two times to collect six fragments,” Tissa corrected. “Don’t forget about the one-week cooldown. They’ll only be able to get number seven on their third run-through.”

  “And farming in groups won’t help them either. The fragments are personal,” Ed added. “Most likely, Po will send a couple groups into the ins to study it, then he’ll go in with the main static.”

  “We should have taken a couple bosses down if that’s so,” Bomber said.

  “No, too many people are watching right now,” I didn’t agree. “And when we go to clear the Hive, we can go in the morning while everyone is still in school, then leave via teleport. We have to collect the fragments secretly. But it’s a shame I picked up the loot...”

  “Why?” Bomber asked, ever the slowpoke.

  “Because now Scyth has two of three slots full, that’s why, dummy!” Infect answered for me.

  With all the loot accounted for – Hung would keep Tissa’s epic until she grew into it – we stood up and headed into the Gloomwood.

  The narrow path along the river looped toward the east like a never-ending rope. A hundred steps in front of us we saw a group of players at level seven and eight.

  “Oh, a wandering trader!” Bomber said in astonishment. “I haven’t seen one of those in a while...”

  Taking a closer look, I could see them all crowed around an unusual looking NPC wearing a turban with a huge pile of bags behind him. There was a small horse stamping around next to the trader, packed in so tight that only its head and mane stuck out from under the man’s wares.

  “Let’s go see what he has,” Crawler suggested. “Sometimes you can find things that are impossible to get from any...” He suddenly stumbled, craned his neck, peered with his hand to his forehead, and took off, screaming: “What are you doing, you morons?! Idiots!”

  The rest of the gang ran after him, and I followed, baffled. Anyway, it all became clear when I saw that the players were in battle with the trader.

  Crawler stopped twenty steps from the fight, turned in our direction and spread his arms:

  “Wait, stop. It’s too late, we can’t save them now. Everybody stay out of the aggro zone!”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “It’s a wandering merchant,” Tissa explained. “From the guild. They carry goods worth tens of thousands of gold and travel without any security. Why do you think that is?”

  “Well... Maybe if you rob one, you become and enemy of the guild of wandering traders?”

  “A bit worse,” Tissa said. “Just watch. You’ll see for yoursel
f soon.”

  Just then, one of the players scuffling with the trader turned to us and shouted:

  “Hey! Get out of here! We saw him first!”

  “And hey, best of luck to you,” Ed noted gloomily, putting on a brave face.

  The trader, a squat man with a head like a wrinkled raisin, was just level ten in fact. And he was barefoot, wearing a scruffy colorful robe and loose-fitting billowy pants. He had no armor and no weapon, so he was fighting bare-handed. And that was not to say it was going well for him. He looked to be missing more often than not, then he left the road and they gave chase. The horse, which I realized when we got up closer was a little donkey with clipped ears, didn’t join the fight until it got hurt by a sweeping blow from one of the robbers. “Hee-haw!” the little level-five donkey brayed, kicking with its hooves.