World Tree Online: The Duchess of Hammers: 2nd Dive Begins

by M. A. Carlson

  “Holy crap, I just gained a full rank in ‘Enchanting’,” shouted Stephanie, seeming to have recovered a little.

  “So, did I, and two levels,” said another player from somewhere near the outermost ring.

  “Me too, the rank thing, not the level,” added another.

  “I think we all did, it was part of the reward,” said Rose, her eyes focused on something in front of her.

  “Grand Enchantments are a big deal,” said the very tired looking Giggle-Bella. “It has been millennia since one was accomplished. Not since the time of the Fallen Wars. You should all be proud of this achievement, your names will all go down in history.” Giggle-Bella sighed and yawned tiredly. “But, do not let this go to your heads. You all still have a long way to go.”

  Finally, Rose and I shared a look before we approached the scroll. She handed it to me.

  I unrolled the scroll but couldn’t read the language it was written in. Given we had just fought a Greek myth, I assumed it was written in Ancient Greek. “Anyone speak Greek?”

  Giggle-Bella, looking rather haggard and exhausted stumbled forward, looking at the open scroll. “Fallen God,” she hissed, spitting on the ground and making a strange symbol with her hand.

  Rose and I shared a small look of excitement between us.

  “Sundry?” Rose asked.

  “Sundry,” I said.

  Quest Alert: Blood Trail to Where? 6 (Recommended Level 6-8) – Completed!

  You have returned both the scroll and the assassin to the barracks and Lieutenant Saaya. Having learned the scroll has been enchanted to hide the information contained within, Lt. Saaya has asked you to find someone capable of breaking the enchantment and bring the information back to him.

  Reward: +2,000-Experience (+2,000-Experience Bonus), Information on the Ardentia Guild’s attempt to assassinate Bye-bye Jacko

  The information was still encoded but it was a significant step forward.

  Quest Alert: Blood Trail to Where? 7 (Recommended Level 6-8)

  The enchantment hiding the information of the Ardentia scroll has been broken but the information contained therein is hidden written by the followers of a fallen. Find and learn the language this scroll is written in.

  Reward: Experience, More Information on the Ardentia Guild’s attempt to assassinate Bye-bye Jacko

  Do you accept this quest?

  Yes

  No

  “Yeah we do,” said Rose, accepting the quest for both of us.

  Sitting down to rest, Rose addressed Giggle-Bella, asking what I had wanted to ask earlier but didn’t have the chance to do. “Say, you don’t have a sister or cousin in Hurlig Ridge, do you?”

  “You met Giggle-Ana?” Giggle-Bella asked, surprise on her face.

  “Yeah,” answered Rose.

  “So, you met my little sister. How is she, and the oaf she is married to, doing?” Giggle-Bella asked.

  “Quite well. Their sons are doing well too,” said Rose.

  “Well, if you ever make it back that way, tell her I say ‘hello’ or better yet, tell her to come visit,” requested Giggle-Bella.

  Quest Alert: Messenger Service 1

  Giggle-Bella has requested you pass along a friendly ‘Hello’ to her younger sister Giggle-Ana in Hurlig Ridge.

  Reward: Experience, Bonus if you convince Giggle-Ana to visit her sister

  Do you accept this Quest?

  Yes

  No

  “Sure, if we ever go back that way,” said Rose, accepting what could be a rather fun and entertaining quest if we ever made it back to Hurlig Ridge.

  Rose chatted with the other enchanters for a bit while we all recovered enough to leave.

  I did take a minute to pull Grave and Winky aside.

  “What’s up, yo?” Grave asked.

  “Were you two serious about learning ‘Edda of Light and Dark’?” I asked.

  “As a heart attack,” said Winky. “I’ve had five of them, so believe me when I say I’m serious.”

  “How old are you, Winks?” Grave asked.

  “I’m a young seventy-eight, thank you very much,” said Winky proudly and a little bit defensively.

  “Why not grow a new one?” Grave asked.

  “Birth defect, I get a new one grown every few years, but the genetic editors still haven’t quite eliminated it. They get closer with each new heart,” explained Winky.

  “We’re getting off topic,” I said, trying to steer the conversation back. “Are you serious about the money?”

  “Yeah, why, you have a line on the spell?” Grave asked.

  “I might,” I said.

  Grave studied me for a minute. “Alright, I can tell you’re serious. What do you want?”

  “I would need an NDA from both of you or we can forget this conversation ever began,” I started. Rose was right, the money was just too good.

  “Alright, but I want you to promise limited distribution. I don’t want everyone and their brother to have that spell or it becomes worthless,” said Grave.

  “I’m fine with that. I wouldn’t want it to be spread all over the place anyway. My second concern is PvP. I will not sell to player killers,” I stated firmly.

  Winky scoffed. “A spell like that is wasted on PvP anyway, most PvP fights don’t last long enough to build up ten stacks. Plus, I hate player killers. Maybe two months back, this real . . . a player name Six Fingers ganked me when I was level 7. Completely ruined my quest in the process.”

  I chuckled a little, I remembered Six Fingers only too well. He and his guild tried to raid Hurligville last month and paid for it with all his levels.

  “What’s so funny about that?” Winky asked, sounding offended.

  “Not what happened to you,” I said quickly. “Six had his levels reduced to 1 last month when he ran afoul of one of the Gods of Justice.”

  Winky giggled. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy,” he added, cackling.

  “So, the Justice Bringers are real?” Grave asked, “I thought they were something made up by the trolls on the forums.”

  “Justice Bringers?” I asked.

  “Yeah, that’s what players are calling them. I guess that the name of the spell they use to remove their levels,” said Grave.

  I kind of liked the sound of it.

  “We’re getting sidetracked again,” said Winky. “About the buff spell, I am not into PvP if you couldn’t tell.”

  “Same here,” said Grave. “I know, I know, I’m a rogue, and rogues all love PvP. But not this rogue, I’m all for the deeps.” ‘Deeps’ was slang for DPS or damage per second.

  “Alright, how do we set this up then? We need some kind of contract,” I said.

  “There are Lawyers in the game for exactly this kind of thing,” said Grave. “There are usually one or two offices next to each auction house. Crafters often contract directly with gatherers to provide a certain amount of materials for a set price and blah blah blah, you get the idea.”

  “Okay, I need to finish up this quest chain today and tomorrow is the last day of another quest we’re on. How about 9:00 AM, two days from now we meet here and go over to one of those contract law offices? It will give me time to acquire what you want,” I suggested.

  “Deal,” said Grave, offering his hand.

  I shook his hand then did the same with Winky.

  With the event resolved, we followed Giggle-Bella back to her office and I got my Rune License. Not long after, we were on our way back to the sundry.

  Chapter 20

  The stop into Wally’s Sundry was quick, I grabbed the last two available copies of all the Ancient Greek language books and one book of Greek Runes, which was all I needed. Rose complained a little about the money spent on a book for her, but I didn’t really care.

  “Is that a spell?” Rose asked, looking at the scroll.

  “I think so,” I said, studying the scroll.

  Ardentia Locator Spell (1/1) – A one time only use locator spell that
will lead the user to the leader of the Ardentia Guild.

  “We need to take this to Lieutenant Saaya,” said Rose, rolling the scroll up and tucking it back into her bag.

  Quest Alert: Blood Trail to Where? 7 (Recommended Level 6-8) – Completed!

  The enchantment hiding the information of the Ardentia scroll has been broken but the information contained therein is hidden written by the followers of a fallen. Find and learn the language this scroll is written in.

  Reward: +5,000-Experience (+5,000-Experience Bonus), A way to locate the Ardentia Guild Headquarters

  “Yes!” Rose shouted.

  I looked to her quickly to see she now sported a brand new Lvl 8 on her nameplate.

  “Congratulations!” I cheered for her. It was quite the coup for her, she gained 2 levels in Root City, best of all, she was now the same level I was.

  Quest Alert: Blood Trail to Where? 8 (Recommended Level 6-8)

  You have found a way for stop the Ardentia Guild once and for all. Return to Lieutenant Saaya with what you have discovered.

  Reward: Experience

  Do you accept this Quest?

  Yes

  No

  “What are waiting for? Let’s go,” said Rose excitedly, grinning for ear to ear.

  It was infectious, the joy and happiness Rose was expressing. I could see she loved this kind of thing. This event was exactly what I played for, and I could see it was the same for Rose.

  “Last one there is a rotten egg,” I taunted her, taking off at a brisk run for the guard jump point.

  Rose laughed and gave chase, running just behind me.

  Not much later, I met Rose on the other side of the jump point, she looked a lot less pale than last time.

  “Better . . . so much better,” said Rose, wiping sweat from her forehead.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” I said.

  “Bye-bye, Rose,” said a cold voice that sounded very out of place in Micaela’s tone and pitch.

  Almost mechanically, Rose and I turned to face a very displeased looking Micaela.

  “Hey,” I said, giving a friendly wave.

  “Micaela, we had no way of knowing that was going to happen,” started Rose, instantly trying to defend what happened and plead with her.

  “No. More. Solo. Adventures.” Micaela stated, heavily punctuating each word, before turning and stomping away.

  “Wait, we have another quest,” Rose called after her, causing the ogre to freeze at a half-step and rotate back to us.

  “I knew I loved you guys,” shouted Micaela, skipping over to us. “We should tell Olaf, he’s been sulking ever since the announcement went out.”

  And just like that, Micaela had forgiven us and was literally dragging us along behind her as she ran across multiple fields and into the barracks where Olaf was sitting at one of the long tables, shoulders sagged and lazily flipping pages in the book he picked up earlier. If the pout wasn’t enough, every time he flipped a page he sighed and sniffled.

  “Babe, stop sulking, they have another quest for us,” said Micaela.

  Olaf perked up for a second then sagged again. “Is it a grand profession quest?” he snarked.

  Micaela looked at us expectantly.

  “I don’t think so,” said Rose, cringing as the words left her mouth.

  “Then what’s the point,” Olaf said, sighing as he turned another page.

  “We have a single use spell to find the Ardentia Headquarters,” I said.

  “So what?” Olaf asked, clearly pouting.

  I understood he was upset that he missed out . . . again. But this could be a big deal.

  “There are fallen involved,” said Rose, in a sing-song voice. “You remember what happened last time, right?”

  Olaf twitched, it was subtle, but I could tell Rose had him. “It’s not a Grand quest.”

  “But it might be,” taunted Rose. “We won’t really know until we complete the next step. But, if you don’t want to come, I understand.”

  “Now hold on, I didn’t say I didn’t want to come,” said Olaf.

  “Oh, stop with the pouting already,” said Micaela. “We’re going.”

  “I suppose . . . if you insist,” said Olaf, putting his book away.

  I rolled my eyes. “Come on, we need to report to the lieutenant.”

  Up the winding staircase and down the hall we knocked on the office door and were greeted by the standard, gruff, “Enter” we had come to expect.

  “Ah, Bye-bye and his friends. I welcome you back. How might this humble officer be of assistance?” Saaya asked, looking up from some report or other.

  Rose grinned, removing and displaying the open scroll for the lieutenant.

  “To think, the Ardentia had access to a Grand Enchantment,” said Saaya, rushing around his desk to examine the scroll. He barely looked at it and spit on the floor, making the same symbol with his hands Giggle-Bella did. “Fallen,” he growled. “All that trouble and we cannot even read it.”

  “We can,” Rose and I said at the same time.

  “You can?” Saaya asked, sounding excited.

  “We have ‘Lore’ as one of our professions,” I explained.

  “What does it say?” Saaya asked.

  “It is a single use Locator spell, it guides the user to the Ardentia Headquarters,” Rose explained.

  “This is fantastic,” shouted Saaya. “We shall bring down the Ardentia Guild, once and for all. And it was due to your help.”

  Quest Alert: Blood Trail to Where? 8 (Recommended Level 6-8) – Completed!

  You have found a way to stop the Ardentia Guild once and for all. Return to Lieutenant Saaya with what you have discovered.

  Reward: +5,000-Experience (+5,000-Experience Bonus)

  “Okay, Bye-bye, I forgive you,” said Olaf, happy for the free experience and to be able to jump into the quest chain with Rose and I.

  “Now, as I cannot read this nor can most of my men, and I still fear there are spies among my men. I would ask you follow this spell and bring an end to the Ardentia Guild once and for all. Find their leaders, capture or kill them,” said Saaya, offering the next step in the quest chain.

  Quest Alert: Blood Trail to Where? 9 (Recommended Level 6-8)

  Lieutenant Saaya has asked for you to use the scroll and follow it to the end of the line. If at all possible, see to it the Ardentia Guild knows it’s the end of the line for them as well.

  Reward: Experience

  Do you accept this Quest?

  Yes

  No

  “We’ll do it,” said Olaf, eager to see this quest through to the end and finally get in on the action he missed out on most of this week already.

  “With the caveat we can all use the jump points, there is no telling where this spell will lead us,” I added. “And I mean all of us. We need to go back to the house and get Heath and hopefully Baby will be back, so we’ll have our full team assembled and ready to go.”

  Saaya huffed, “Fine, but my daughter goes with you for supervision, it is the best compromise I can make.”

  “Deal,” I said, knowing how strong Vari was. I had no qualms about her coming along with us, especially if Baby had returned to us from her training.

  “Let’s get moving then,” said Olaf.

  “Vari will meet you at the gates,” said Saaya, writing a note then dropping it into one of the tubes behind his desk.

  “Thank you, hopefully we will be back soon,” I said.

  As promised, Vari met us at the gates and joined our group. It was strange to see an NPC as part of my group in the User Interface. She displayed exactly the same way a player would, if I hadn’t known she was a Citizen of the World Tree, I never would’ve known she was an NPC.

  Back at the manor, Baby greeted us at the door, crashing into Rose and hugging her around the neck. She also earned a hiss of disapproval from Panther, who again I noticed had gotten larger, he must have leveled up after the Grand Enchantment quest.

  “I
saw the announcement, I am so happy for you,” gushed Baby, chattering quickly with her sister before she suddenly noticed the Dwarf in the room. “And who is this? A new friend?”

  “I am Vari, Vari Alone,” the dwarven girl introduce herself. “it is nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you too,” said Baby. “So, how did you come to join this motley crew?”

  And just like that, Baby and Vari had become fast friends.

  “Heath,” I said, looking to the stealthy thief hiding in the corner of the room. I don’t know why, but I found it somewhat satisfying to see him frown and silently stomp like a petulant child. “Is the Duchess back yet?”

  Heath pointed up, suggesting she was upstairs already.

  I invited him and Baby to the group. “We’ve got a quest, a big one so it’s all hands-on deck.”

  “Bigger than the ‘Grand Enchantment’?” Baby asked.

  “Okay, so maybe not that big but possibly. It is actually the next quest in the chain that gave us the ‘Grand Enchantment’ quest. The result of that quest was a scroll with a spell to lead us to the Ardentia Guild headquarters,” I explained.

  “I am coming then,” said Mardi as she entered the room. “I want to be done with them, once and for all. Maybe I’ll even be able to find out who hired them.”

  Now that was a conundrum. It really wasn’t safe to bring her right to the guys trying to capture her.

  “And if you do not bring me along, I will go find the nearest Ardentia Guild member and let them take me to their boss,” threatened Mardi.

  Okay, no longer a conundrum. It was now a threat to our success.

  “We’ve got three healers,” said Rose, looking at me and trying to alleviate my concerns. “Well . . . two and a third.”

  “Why a third? Why not a half?” Micaela asked, looking puzzled.

  “I just can’t bring myself to count Jack as a healer, not even half a healer, not with his weak magic that he never bothers to train,” answered Rose.