The verses have been found and studied carefully— at least partially. Each line is analyzed, discussed many times over. But not all the stanzas are found. The search continues.
The poems, in fact, are badly written and confusing instructions on finding and opening the divine hell, and for getting what players have long called the "Hell-key". And each selected race is assigned a role in this. Who handed out the roles in the one script? The Greats — they were the ones who wrote this bloody play, and then disappeared without a trace. The roles cannot be changed.
Humans….
The role of the people in this scenario - to guide and to open. The human race, by means of “human" factors, is destined to find a way to Tantarial, and in the end to open the gate by means of some ordinary verbal spells.
Oh, yes ... I do not doubt this. People are the root of evil! It is they who will lead everyone to hell, and they who will open the door to the furnace filled with the fire-breathing moans and howls of the fallen gods. We are like the Anti Moses in this terrible journey. Although only in the figurative sense - because the verse must also include half-orcs, elves, and if you dig even deeper - quite often, people are still in the gaming pods. They are not real orcs and dwarves. But no matter. People are the guides! And only one person can cast the spell. Gnomes can try, but nothing will happen. And so, at the end of the path, there should be at least one member of the human race in front of the doors…
Moving on...
Achilots ....
They are underwater inhabitants. Without them, this story cannot be complete. Because it is in their underwater kingdom, in the deepest part of their domain, in Kvantonsky, that the hell-key lies - a bright light glowing in the dark underwater, which possesses magical powers, and affects the inhabitants of the depths. Affects all but the achilots. They are not affected. What about the underwater gods? Unknown. At the bottom of Kvanton there is a terrible army of monsters which admire the light day and night. It is their joy, their eyes delight. The role of the achilots— extract the key, and take it to its place. What kind of place is it? Really no one knows, but something is still known about this, and mentioned later in the folder.
What is the worst thing about this object? Well, it is not too big, but it has the ability of attracting inhabitants of the depths at a distance of not less than ten kilometers. But it is so deep in the water, that it is almost unreachable.
The second worst thing about it? The fact that it must remain underwater, and never out in the open air for more than half an hour. You cannot get around this.
There is also the conclusion that there is an underwater road that leads to the Fatal Union where the object exists. This is partly confirmed by a text found on a half-worn rock that had once been a part of the forgotten ancient underwater temple. The text claims that there are some special gates for blocking achilots from beginning the journey to the Fatal Union and that the gates are securely locked and protected by a huge crowd of Grebehroks. But where the gate is, and the place itself— none of the players know. A big reward is offered for this information - they say that the achilots alliance of clans offers ten million gold pieces to anyone who knows the locations of the gates.
Then there are the gnomes.
These mountain folk are miners, blacksmiths and merchants. If you believe “their” part of the verse, the dwarves will have to do two things - first, to find a very special forging recipe, and then to bring it to the royal forge of Hradalrome. They have to make horseshoes, and then bring the 'footwear' to the place of the Fatal Unity, and then put it onto the horse. What kind of horse? More on that later.
All of the above could be done only by dwarves.
There were still a few problems ....
The recipe for the horseshoes was never found, and not one gnome was ever allowed into the palace smithy of the Hradalrome, except for the Greatest King of Dwarfs, who sat on his crystal-ice throne in the throne room of the palace on top of the mountain. The king was old and never forged anything - he had only one hand, and it was without three fingers - the consequences of an ancient battle between the dwarves and some monstrous stone worms threatening the city at that time. For access to the smithy - you needed to obtain the approval of the King of the Dwarves. Only the best forger in the world of Valdira would be able to attain this. This gnome had not yet been found .... Therefore, the palace smithy was never used. Now it was all overgrown with ice, if you believed in the stories.
Again, if you follow the hints in the poetry, the recipe was in the possession of the legendary alchemist, Tainoborod, who lived and worked in the city which had suffered an apocalyptic explosion. It was where the crater appeared. That is - the recipe is somewhere in there, under the thick broken stone, in the ground. Players were digging for treasure day and night, and there was a chance that, at any time, someone would come across the desired recipe. Or maybe the recipe has already been found, but the lucky person did not hurry to notify the public about this.
In general, this was also a dead end.
The half-orcs ....
The next selection in the folder concerned orcs and half-orcs. The green-skinned giants had lots of work to do - they had to find, catch and drag to the Fatal Unity a certain monster called the Flame Horse.
What kind of a horse is this? Well, little is known about him. But there are some poems.
Where magma eagerly licks the earth,
And the clouds are full of angry soot,
Where the smoke billows
And the drums roar forever
There, in the streams of red-hot lava
Is the volcano
Waiting for a sign of the Flame Horse.
Other poems, with joyful sadism, explain that the horse is so hot that it is very difficult to approach without immediately turning into a well-cooked shish kebab. How hot is it? Well, so hot that even the earth cannot carry him. He instantly penetrates the ground and falls through. Therefore, it dwells in its element - it is free in streams of lava, in hot steam, in the bubbling depths of a powerful volcano. There he sits - in one of the many volcanoes of the world of Valdira. And the half-orcs must somehow catch him, and then manage to drag him to the place of Fatal Unity, where this horse will be made to wear the horseshoes - yes, those very same horseshoes forged in the legendary palace forge of Hradalrome.
And you could only put on the horseshoes there, at the Union. And how does one drag a horse, constantly puffing with deadly heat, to the desired location? There is no answer to this question except that, somehow, it must be done! Take a couple of thousand tons of ice, a thousand mages to create an Arctic wind - in general, you need to blast the path over which this horse will walk with ice. And it is impossible to freeze the horse. A bad idea.
But first, it would be good to find the horse! And only then to find the route. And then begin the construction of a frozen path for said fiery horse. What are some signs of the presence of this Horse in a volcano? Fuck knows. Dive into every single volcano and see. Suddenly, before death, you will see the somewhat baffled look of a burning horse.
But overall, it is an animal. It neighs, it stomps its hooves, it kicks, jumps back and forth in the rivers of lava.
However, it has yet to be found. Or else - again, maybe they did find it, but are silent.
Elves ....
And then I was interrupted, because the Black Baroness, who had returned, had stopped in front of me. In the same outfit, smiling mysteriously, stretching out a scroll to me.
“Hello,” I smiled and took the scroll.
It was a standard teleportation scroll that could carry me anywhere.
“Teleport?” I asked in surprise.
“Teleport,” confirmed the Baroness. “It's evening.”
"Are you kicking me out?" I said, with even more surprise. “Like, come for a ride and then get lost?”
“Hell no! My ship is your ship, O Great Navigator,” snapped the Baroness, and bit into a big green apple with a crunch.
“So
why?…. Time to go to the reception? To split the money?” I guessed.
“No. Everyone will be there but us. We are approaching the Bloody Reefs,” the head of the Sleepless shook her head. “We'll take them over and move on. While everyone is just starting to share their bags of gold, we will be going straight on to Kvanton. There is a long evening and night ahead, Ros. Some heavy hours.”
"But then, why do I need a teleportation scroll?"
"I told you, you've lost track of time. You sort out the folder with such attention that you did not look at the clock.”
“So what? I do not have a pie in the oven.”
"Your business," the Baroness shrugged, and smiled thinly. "As shown by the timer I turned on, you have been on the Swift for two hundred and ninety-nine minutes and fifty-six seconds now, my dear Great Navigator. Just, for your information.”
“So what?” I could not understand “What does that mean?”
"Well, nothing bad," the Baroness shrugged, and waited two seconds before she added, "For us."
Before she could say "For us", I received a message that was pure horror, and was accompanied by the solemn ringing of a bell.
Attention!
Message for everyone!
The great navigator has stayed at the head of a flagship without an anchor for exactly three hundred minutes!
The Great Navigator has confirmed his readiness for the long journey!
The Great Navigator has spoken by deed, not by word - HE IS READY FOR THE JOURNEY!
The Great Navigator exercised his right to Lead to Zar’Graad!
Attention!
The shipyards of the Ancients will be closed fifteen days early!
The start time (mandatory) was shifted fifteen days earlier!
Whoever did not have time to prepare is late!
Attention!
After exactly 24 hours after this Shift, the Great Navigator has the right to announce the Beginning of the Great March!
If the Commander of the selected navy navigates the ships to exit -
THE JOURNEY WILL COMMENCE!
(Subject to the chances of the chosen Navy to overcome all the difficulties of a long and grueling sea crossing. This estimate will be made by the Immortals, dispassionately and objectively.)
"A-ah ..." I squeezed out, still holding the scroll of teleportation in my hand.
“I was told, of course, that you were clever— but, judging by your character, you would have definitely never read all the books on the Great Navigator,” the Baroness smiled even wider. She had definitely received the same message as me— and the mad unanimous roar of joy from the decks tore at my eardrums. Magical discharges exploded in the sky.
"But I thought that you did read the instructions,” the Black Baroness shook her head and took a bottle of champagne from behind her. "It's good that we managed to complete the construction of the main ships early. The Sleepless are already ready to go, oh Great Navigator. Thanks for the early start. Let's drink.”
"Ah-ah ..." I continued to grow angry.
"For Zar'Graad!" Proclaimed the Baroness. “For the adventure that awaits us!”
"Bloody reefs on the horizon!" Came a shout from the top of the mast, with difficulty overcoming the noise. “Onward to the Bloody Reefs!”
“I wonder how many curses are now pouring down upon your sorry head," the Baroness noted, sipping the champagne. "You should go to church …. take a vacuum to your karma."
“Attention to the helmsman!” Shouted the sentinel. “We are entering dangerous waters! Keep a lookout!”
Chapter fourteen.
Beyond the bounds of the leap. A mess of rocks, a coral salad. Flotilla in the way.
"From now on, I will read the instructions right away! I will always read the instructions!” I repeated my new mantra for the hundredth time. I felt a little better.
To blame the Black Baroness for something? That would be silly.
Why?
Well, ignorance does not absolve one from responsibility.
You cannot ask the Baroness to be gracious - at the moment, being the Navigator was my direct profession, with which I hoped to make good money.
Similarly, the chief engineer of a nuclear power plant cannot ask the owner of the station what that and that button means - because he is obliged to know it initially.
Overall— I had fucked up.
Therefore, realizing perfectly what horror had just been unleashed all over Valdira, I put my hands behind my back, stood at the side of the ship, and peered with melancholy into the distance, repeating the same mantra over and over. The Baroness had already left to the bridge— to the controls.
Now somewhere out there, both on the shore and on the sea, and in different parts of the world, so many industries received terrible, hysterically identical orders from the shipyards - immediately accelerate the manufacture of everything tenfold! I am certain that such orders were immediately sent as soon a certain persons had digested the terrible news.
And shipbuilders at the shipyards themselves received the orders to speed up their work at times, so that the plans would be completed in only a couple of weeks.
Sawmills and loggers got the same orders.
Sailing and cable shops got the same.
Factories, nurseries, incubators - all.
Although I am not the main driver of the train and not the main shipbuilder, I was not spared a couple of messages.
"Honey, I do not understand ...." - this was from Kira. I said, "I will explain later, darling. Now I cannot. But do not be offended. I will tell you all later. In the meantime, fish calmly. Are you alright there?”
"All is well. Fishing is over. They are counting the results slowly, and everyone is drinking wine and eating fried frogs, there is a lot of music, many fireworks and dancing. Rakitushka is here by the way, drunk in the open, dancing with the bog creatures in the shallow water. It seems that she remembered your name. The forest spirit, you remember. I will see you in real life. A report from you, dinner from me, kisses, a story, more kisses, a second dinner, and then something else. Kisses.”
“Right on!” This was from Whisper. I did not answer. And what would I answer?
“Hell yeah! By the way, at night, we will go get you a mega-increase of mana of six percent! You will be begging me! Prepare yourself!"- I replied to this message a little angrily: “After a ten percent increment to my mana, your proposal still looks good, but I am unlikely to beg. We will go at night.”
Malice failed to remain silent, scribbling back with lightning speed: ”And her name?!”
I was silent ... I knew who he was asking about.
And again the message:
“The name?!"
Silence on my part ....
“HER NAME!"
I gazed proudly at the horizon and whispered the mantra.
"What the hell do you want in exchange? Money? The dirty secrets of the Baroness? What do you want?! "
The temptation was so great ....
I sighed, looked at the clouds, waited for the next “ring”:
"You're on Swift, are you not? I will be soon! I will bring a bag of gold in my right hand and a burning torch in my left. Choose with what hand to deal with- only choose yourself! And the Baroness will not stop me! What is her NAME?! ".
"Calm down, you fanatic!" I wrote the answer. "I do not know the name of the girl with the sunflower seeds! I did a lot for this one individual, and for this, she bit my skull and pumped my brain with poison mixed with acid. And the increase in mana - you can say it is just a side effect.”
"Let her bite me too! Let my skull break! Let her spit in my brain! I will pay her well for this! I am always happy to pay!”
“It will not work. I am serious. She does not like the Sleepless. But when I see her, I will ask for you. Maybe I even know how to quickly achieve a good relationship with her.... I will tell you when we meet. For free.”
"Understood! Thank you!"
The ship bell rang several
times, and I closed the correspondence window and looked at a tiny rock island. A log was hammered into it, a broad board on a log, and inscribed on it, with bright paint:
"THE BOUNDARY OF THE LEAP."
The ship drifted past the island and dipped her nose into a barely perceptible rainbow shroud consisting of a myriad of flying, tiny droplets, making a wide circle of about thirty kilometers in diameter. Within this circle, teleportation was impossible. This was what the warning sign, set up by players for the players, was meant to inform of. The tablet had been regularly broken and regularly repaired.
In places where it was impossible to "leap", there were a lot of aggrs. They love it when the catch cannot slip out of their grasp. However, now I strongly doubted that any agar ship would attack us. Only if they were planning a suicide.
The fog grew thicker, its circular movement becoming more noticeable. This fog was a giant lazy tornado spinning forever at the same speed, encircling the Bloody Reeds with a sort of shroud impenetrable by teleportation.
Because of the location, we did not fear mass attacks using teleports, as when suddenly, enemies fall out of a teleport flash and destroy everything in sight— destroy, kill and rob, and then fly away. This made the Bloody Reefs an excellent place for warships to hide. But it also turned the search for them into a kind of "Sea Battle” board game. Again, few clans of Valdira would risk attacking enemy ships hidden in the fog - I am a complete newcomer to this kind of battle, but I remember perfectly all the movies about sea sieges. If the Sleepless had time to clear the ocean, they would have been uplifting reefs and monsters seated at the bottom, those who likely attack in the style of the Kraken — with fiery waters, acid whirlpools and other highly unpleasant surprises. And as soon as you get to your enemy, you would look back and realize that you left dozens of broken ships behind you, and you would no longer be swimming to your enemies on a battleship but in a bathtub, and the rowing boy would plaintively cry: "Maybe it's time to retreat?”
The Way of the Clan 7 Page 28