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

by M. A. Carlson

  “Keep talking,” I encouraged her.

  “You called me the cure. You said as long as we were together I would never be Vari Alone, just very loved!” Vari almost screamed now.

  Cap recoiled as if in shock, dropping the knife, he stumbled backwards grabbing his head and screaming. Eventually he looked up. “What . . . what did you do to me?” he demanded, though he was not looking at Vari or us. His gaze was focused on a furious looking dwarf, the one holding one arm of the Duchess in a vicelike grip.

  Looking back at Cap, I was surprised to see his flesh starting to turn grey then tear and break. A long slit formed from ear to ear under his chin but didn’t bleed.

  “You murdered me, my right-hand man, why?” Cap demanded, pointing an excoriated finger at him.

  “Because you were a fool,” snapped the Barber. “You were more useful to me as a zombie slave than as a two-bit crook who was happy just making himself rich. You had so much more potential and you threw it all away on that whore and her child.”

  “MY CHILD!” Cap Alone raged, the zombifying effect taking hold quickly over the mafioso boss.

  “So yes, I killed you. Slit your throat when you came in for your weekly shave. Then I resurrected you as a zombie, enslaved you. Do you have any idea how many spells I have had to cast on you ever day for the last 20-years just to maintain your appearance?” Fitti complained, having clearly let the spells release, thus returning him to a state of decay.

  “Why do all this? What are you trying to achieve?” I asked.

  “Chaos,” said the Barber, smirking as he looked at me. “And oh, the chaos I was able to sow. Corrupting the Ardentia was one of my finer works and then you had to go and ruin it. That stupid cow Aphrodite was months, maybe even weeks from falling, years of work ruined in less than a week. And now, you have the gall to ruin yet another of my plans. I have spent years and no small sum of gold trying to bring about this wedding.”

  “To what end?” I asked, glaring at the dwarf.

  “Only the fall of the God all dwarves hold most dear to their hearts, Ivaldi,” said the Barber disrespectfully. “Imagine what he would have felt when he found out his only mortal daughter was forced to marry an undead criminal. He would have fallen in an instant.”

  “I doubt that,” I grumbled, having met the old dwarf a few times I was aware of just how powerful he was. And if he was anything like Mardi, then he was stubborn as well.

  The Barber snorted. “Maybe you are right. Still, the pain he would have suffered. The chaos it would have caused in the realms of the Gods.”

  “So now what?” I asked.

  “I really should thank you and your people for all the corpses they left behind,” laughed the Barber.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Rose asked.

  The Barber of Fitti cackled louder then spoke in a clearly amused tone, “Usually, this is the part where I would leave you here to die, fighting against an army of undead,” he answered. Then he looked at me and smirked, like he knew something I didn’t, “But because it is you, the servant of Issara, just for you, I am going to stay and watch. Make sure you suffer before you die a slow and agonizing death as my minions eat you, one bite at a time.”

  Olaf charged first with his horns forward, only to stop suddenly as they impacted with a wall of bones, the shield spell the dwarf activated earlier. Olaf fell backwards, a new debuff appeared in his status ‘Curse of Fatigue’.

  Curse of Fatigue – A curse reducing your stamina by 99% for 10-minutes. Unable to move or act while under the effects of this curse.

  The dwarf chuckled, “Too bad, you probably could have used his help. I am sure you can hear them coming by now.”

  I could hear shambling and shuffling feet from outside the shrine and it was getting louder, closer.

  “Barricade the door,” Rose shouted, rushing to slam the doors shuts.

  Micaela and I ran and grabbed one of the pews, pushing it up to the door.

  As we started to move another pew, the Barber clicked his tongue and shook his head. “That just will not do,” he said, raising a hand, a black bolt of energy flew from it, striking Micaela in the back.

  Suddenly, moving the pew wasn’t so easy. I could see Micaela was down now with the same debuff.

  “If you’re so powerful, why not just kill us?” Rose taunted, baring her teeth angrily at the necromancer.

  “Where is the fun in that? Do you not think those noble dwarves you slew deserve a chance for revenge?” the Barber of Fitti asked, laughing maniacally.

  We were probably going to die, the Duchess was probably going to die, and Vari was probably going to die. I looked at the young dwarf and felt such sympathy for her. She broke her father from the control of the necromancer only for him to begin rapidly decaying. He would inevitably die, at least he wouldn’t be forced to watch his daughter’s death, small mercy though it was.

  “Shh, it is okay, daughter,” said Cap, barely able to hold himself together. Vari could only watch and sob. “You need to know, you saved me. Because of you, I die free from that wretched necromancer’s curse. And for that, I can never tell you just how proud I am of you, daughter. Just remember, you will never be Vari Alone, just very loved.” With his last words, the process of decay ended, and the bones collapsed, turning to dust not long after.

  “Such a poetic death,” sneered the Barber. “Pathetic.”

  I felt rage on Vari’s behalf.

  Vari trembled, a few tears falling on the dust that remained of her first father. She stood slowly, her head lowered. She turned slowly before looking up and glaring at the Barber of Fitti with such hate and rage.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised by the move, but Vari leapt, light wafting from the tip of her spear, “Vari-able Pierce,” she cried out, her spear shot forward a dozen times, ignoring the bone shield that sprang up, each hit striking the necromancer causing his health to melt away. I thought she had him, but then the attack petered out and Vari finally bounce off the shield, landing roughly, the same debuff that afflicted Olaf and Micaela now afflicted her.

  It wasn’t fair. There was no justice in this ending. Vari deserved justice. Olaf and Micaela deserved justice after they fought so hard to get to this point.

  Rose and Baby were knocked down with the same debuff a moment later after they both tried to attack, to get revenge for Vari.

  And then there was the quest itself. It was impossible. No one could beat this, not the highest-level player in the game. That thought gave me pause, that wasn’t right. There was no such thing as an impossible quest. I was missing something, some detail. What was it the Goddess told me?

  She said there was an agent of Chaos in the city. She warned me he was here. Tasked me with defeating him. That it was my job to fight against Chaos. That meant there had to be a way to defeat him that was unique to me. But I wasn’t seeing it. None of my spells or skills would work. I sent a small prayer to her for any guidance or help, hoping for an answer . . . praying for another miracle.

  Pass my Final Judgment!

  “What does that mean?” I asked, frustrated and getting a confused look from the Barber.

  “Who are you talking to?” the Barber asked, looking around wild look in his eyes, clearly afraid of something.

  I heard a giggle. I told you before, sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith.

  I leapt. “In the name of the Goddess Issara, I deliver her ‘Final Judgment’,” I shouted, channeling all the mana and stamina I could into the action, my spear and body became enveloped in holy light, burning through the bone barrier as soon as it came in contact with my spear and body. The golden light pierced through the necromancer, the holy power of the Goddess Issara’s ‘Final Judgment’ passing through him unhindered, impaling him and stabbing into the floor.

  “He said . . . you would . . . solve this one,” said the Barber, grinning, starting to chuckle but coughing black blood instead. “This is . . . only the . . . beginning.”

 
The light that enveloped me and my spear, Gungnir, grew, widening, eating away at the unholy abomination that was the necromancer, the Barber of Fitti. The last thing I saw before the light blinded me was a damage notification -3,956-HP floating away from where the body had been.

  It took a minute for me to blink away all the spots. One of these days I would learn to close my eyes when there are bright overwhelming light shows of Godly power. That day was not today apparently.

  Quest Alert: Spear Mastery 2 (Recommended Level 7-9)

  You have risen to the challenge and earned ‘Two-Handed Polearms II’. The chance to learn a unique skill has been offered if you are willing to put in the work.

  Reward: +10,000-Experience, Spell-Skill ‘Final Judgement’

  You have learned a holy skill-spell ‘Final Judgment’

  Final Judgment

  Level: 1

  Experience: 0.00%

  Skill Effect: Deliver the Final Judgment of Issara upon an enemy of the World Tree dealing -1-HP damage per point of MP and SP used plus weapon damage. Ignores armor, cannot be blocked or dodged.

  Skill Stamina Cost: All Spell Mana Cost: All

  That explained why I felt like I could nap for a month.

  “Hax,” echoed the tired voices of my group.

  I sagged to the floor, leaning against my spear that was still embedded in the floor. I couldn’t help but agree with them. “Yeah . . . but aren’t you glad I’m on your side?” I asked.

  “Think the undead army is . . . you know, dead again?” Heath asked, appearing from nowhere.

  “And just, where were you?” Rose asked, glaring at the thief.

  “Watching you all make a heroic last stand,” said Heath. “Why? Was I supposed to foolishly sacrifice my life with the rest of you? Cause . . . I totally was just waiting for the right opportunity to strike, I swear.”

  “If I could move, I’d hurt you,” said Rose. “As it is, you have about an 8-minute head start.”

  “Oh, come, it’s all in good fun, I was only joking,” said Heath nervously.

  “Seven minutes,” said Rose, staring intently at her debuff.

  “Maybe you should go meet the Royal Guard and City Watch, they should be here by now,” I suggested, it was more of a hope that they made it here safely.

  “Spiffy plan, mate, consider me on the way,” said Heath. Awkwardly trying to push the pew we blocked the door with out of the way. Finally, making just enough space for him to squeeze through, he exited. I heard a slosh of something then a thump from outside the doors followed by Heath complaining, “Aw man, zombie guts, I’m going to stink for a month.”

  Rose snorted which broke the damn loose, we all started laughing, happy to have survived the encountered.

  “Hey, how did we get here?” Mardi asked, coming out of her drug induced state of compliance.

  “It’s a long story,” said Olaf.

  “I like long stories,” said Mardi. “Especially those that can explain how I ended up in a wedding dress in a mithril shrine to my old man.”

  “What is the last thing you remember?” Olaf asked, prompting the start of a long story of the events that brought us to this point.

  “Well, aside from risking my life repeatedly, almost causing me to be married to a zombie slave and bringing about the dwarven apocalypse after my dad found out, I would say you did a pretty good job,” said Mardi when the story finished.

  Quest Alert: Jail Break and Rescue (Recommended Level 8-10) – Completed!

  Escape your prison and fight your way through the Stonebreaker Stronghold to rescue the Duchess. If you can, capture or kill ‘The Barber of Fitti’ and ‘Cap Alone’. Stop that wedding at all cost or it just might cost you everything. (00:00:00.07)

  Reward: +20,000-Experience, Mark of Hammerton, Reputation with City Watch Restored, Reputation with Royal Guard Restored, Friend of Hammerton (‘Local Hero’ title now includes Hammerton).

  Chapter 27

  “Now, stop lazing about, there is a book here I am going to get my hands on before some other greedy grub gets to it first,” said Mardi.

  “Huh?” Olaf asked intelligibly, standing up after the curse finally faded away.

  “Remember the clue Dite gave me,” said Mardi, referring to the Goddess Aphrodite. I suppose as a former goddess herself, she felt she could get away with it. She rolled her eyes at the confused look on Olaf’s face and recited it “In the City of Roots, where light and dark dwell in equal measure lies the home of a dead man. Locked in darkness and guarded by an army of adventurers and criminals, you will find what you seek.”

  “Is this still considered Root City?” I asked.

  “Once we are outside, look up. So long as the branches of the tree are above us, we are in Root City, though you will not find a portal out here, it’s just too far from the source. By the same token, the branches of the World Tree above us are too thin and far from the source to support portals either, at least that is what World Tree astronomers say,” explained Mardi. “Anyway, stop sidetracking me. I want that book.”

  “We did leave behind a lot of loot,” said Rose. “Though, I am not sure how I feel about looting zombie corpses.”

  “She has a point,” said Olaf, cringing as he looked towards the door.

  “We should probably leave the corpses for the City Watch, I am sure some of them will have bounties,” I started. “That said, I can’t stop you from looting the dwarves you killed. Personally, I am more interest in finding the Treasure Room.”

  “Treasure Room?” Olaf, Rose, Baby and Micaela asked in one voice.

  “It is a Dwarven built stronghold,” said Mardi. “One of the first things any dwarf lord worth his salt would build would be a vault to store his treasures. The only question is, as the rightful inheritor of the vault and stronghold, will Vari allow us to claim the treasure?”

  Blinking in surprise, unsure of how to respond. “Mine?” Vari asked just to confirm.

  “Yours,” said Mardi confirming it.

  Vari didn’t answer right away. After a long pause, she finally spoke. “I do not want it. I do not want any of my father’s ill-gotten gains. You can have it all,” she said, then added, “All but the stronghold. I am giving that to the City Watch for a training facility or an outpost, whatever Papa and the higher ups decide to do with it. I want something good to come out of this place.”

  “I like it,” I said, glad to see Vari came through the experience a stronger person and I wasn’t talking about her going from level 13 to 14, which she did.

  “So . . . I know you just had a moment and not to sound indelicate . . . but . . . about the treasure room?” Olaf asked.

  “The usual suspects for the hidden entrance are the master bed chamber, the throne and the shrine. Now, this shrine itself is already a treasure from the mithril alone. That said, I do not see any hidden switches or keyholes,” said Mardi.

  “I have the key,” said Vari, holding up a small key. “It was all that was left after . . . you know.”

  “And you can keep the key once we have gotten into the treasure room. So, that leaves us looking for a throne and the bed chamber unless one of you sees something in here that I do not,” said Mardi.

  I took my time looking around before answering her, hoping one of my ‘Perception’ subskills would find something but neither ‘Eye for Detail’ nor ‘See Intrigue’ saw anything out of place.

  “I’m going to go find the girls, see about bringing them back inside for safety,” said Rose, standing. “Maybe Tessa will know where to find the vault.”

  “Good idea,” said Micaela. “I’ll go with her just in case she runs into any trouble.”

  “Me too,” said Baby.

  Micaela easily moved the pew Heath had struggled to move earlier, allowing the doors to open wide.

  “Eww,” whined Baby as soon as they were out the door.

  “Watch your step when you come out, lots of zombie guts,” Rose’s voice called back.

  “Vari, are you
coming with us?” I asked.

  The dwarf girl nodded once.

  The walk back through the stronghold was significantly slower than the trip to the shrine. Mostly because we were looking through every nook and cranny to make sure we didn’t miss anything. We even found a few secret stashes, most likely those belonging to one of the dwarves that worked for the Stonebreaker Mafia. A jeweled necklace, diamond earrings, precious gems and mithril nuggets were the most commonly found prizes, nothing really magical about them, just valuable, not that any of us was complaining about that. Seeing as Olaf had the largest bag and highest carrying capacity, he was elected to carry whatever loot we found.

  Olaf shared a few recollections about the few battles they had to fight as they worked back the way he originally came from. Except this time, we made sure to check every side room along the way.

  We found another surprise in one of those side rooms. Three of the dwarves Olaf had taken prisoner on the way in were huddled and hiding, terrified of being eaten by the zombie horde. They even begged to go to prison as anything would be better than being eaten by the zombies.

  We found a few more prisoners as we went through the rooms and found a few dwarves that had to be captured in addition to more private stashes. Apparently, it paid to be dishonest in a mafia crew.

  Still, no sign of the vault yet.

  Eventually, we ended up at the top of the tower. “From what Tessa said, this is Cap’s room. It is also where Mardi was held captive,” Olaf said, before kicking open the locked door.

  “You know, I was going to pick the lock to try and level it,” I complained.

  “Yeah, but you’re too slow,” Olaf grunted and grinned, entering the large round tower room.

  I wasn’t sure what to expect of a mafia boss’s room, but it was nice. It was really nice. Rich mahogany furniture all sized for a dwarf. A large four-poster bed sat near the wall to the right of the door we entered through. There were large windows wrapped around most of the room, each with maroon colored drapes. Across from the door was a sitting area, with a couch and a few chairs. And to the left of that was a squared off room and next to that was a desk and tool bench covered with papers, all lit up in my user interface.