Infinite Assassins: Daggerland Online Novel 2 A LITRPG Adventure

by Peter Meredith

  Cricket was only a blur, though her voice came to him loud and clear. “Sorry! I didn’t know it would do that. I thought it would…”

  He snatched the wand from her hand. “Get the potion!” he yelled. When he turned back to the ghouls, seven of them were slipping and sliding in the snow. He pointed the wand and gave it a flick. The effect was immediate: another blast of cold that was so sharp his wand hand blistered(Damage -1HP).

  It did the trick, blowing them back and freezing them in place(XP +665) like grotesque statues. Blinking madly, Roan pushed Tyrean to the side and shot the wand down into the room, freezing another five in place, killing three of them(XP +285) and incapacitating the other two.

  Even though everything was one big blur, he could read the neon green letters that floated in front of him: Congratulations! You are now a Level Eight Rogue/ Level One Assassin and have gained the following bonuses:

  Increased Hit Points(+9)

  Reflex Saving Throws +2

  Sneak Attack Damage x5

  Automatic +10 Skill Ranks in Poison Use

  Assassination: Automatic Kill if victim fails Fortitude Saving Throw—Level +Int Modifier +10

  You have 11 skill points to allocate

  He was now an assassin. Normally leveling up made him feel good. He had “achieved” something desirable. Now, he was officially a paid murderer. And what was more, he had fulfilled Magenlune’s ridiculous prophecy. He wanted to yell out: I’m an assassin, so where’s Arching and Amanda? It would do nothing for him, so he bit his tongue.

  In the meantime, Tyrean had her head poked down into the hole where the ghouls were dead or frozen. “That was a waste of…” She glanced up and saw his eyes. The sight of them made her jerk. “Crypt Eye! Tell me you have a remove disease potion. I don’t want to have to face Skag with you blind.”

  “I have a potion, does it work against two diseases at once? I also have something called Verimon’s Strain.”

  Tyrean sighed in aggravation. “It will heal one at random. Let’s hope it’s the Crypt Eye. It’s bad news.” They both looked at Cricket who had her entire arm stuffed down in a bag that should have only gone up to her wrist. “Think the potion into your hand,” Tyrean suggested.

  A second later, the little girl had the purple potion sitting in the palm of her hand. Roan took it, whispered, “Come on, Crypt Eye and drank it back.” Potions usually worked very quickly and in this case, there was a notice reading: Congratulations! You have been cured of the Verimon’s Strain.

  “It was the other one,” he told them. He could barely make out Tyrean’s face, now. His eyesight was getting worse by the minute.

  Chapter 37

  The Slums, Oberast

  “We have to go before you get any worse,” Tyrean said. As though she were his mother and they were about to cross a busy street, she grabbed his hand and began pulling him along. At first the hand holding wasn’t really necessary. His vision was blurry, like he was wearing someone else’s glasses. Soon, however he began tripping over every rise or dip and they had to slow their pace.

  Where he had been confused before concerning north and south, now he was at the whim of fate. He only knew forward. Tyrean could have been running him in circles for all he knew. Everything beyond the light of his sword was completely dark.

  Ten minutes later, when Roan could barely make out the individual fingers on his hand, Tyrean stopped them. She wiped gunk from his face with a rag and then tossed the rag aside. “Cricket, take the wand. Give them a blast if things get hairy. After that, run and take Roan with you. Get to the surface, if you can, and find a healer.”

  “Hold on. Can we bribe this guy?” Roan asked.

  “He’ll sense weakness if we try. No, we’ll just try to bluff our way through. Even if you can’t see, keep your eyes open and fake it.”

  With a long breath, she sheathed her sword and walked away. Roan sheathed his own and what little sight he’d had went right out the window. Everything was becoming shadowy. He tried to follow but brushed up against the tunnel wall. “Here,” Cricket said, taking his hand. “You can pretend I’m the one who’s ascared.”

  “And you’re not?”

  The vague figure of Cricket shifted upward. Roan guessed that she had shrugged. “A little. The slave guys acted as though it was best if I wan’t touched. They said I should be ‘saved,’ which I thought was good. They didn’t hurt me.”

  Roan decided not to tell her what they were saving her for. They would have undoubtedly sold her virginity off to the highest bidder. Then again, in this world of driders and assassins, they might also be saving her for a human sacrifice. “Just act scared,” he told her as they entered the room.

  He made a great show of slowly looking around, nodding his head as if nothing about the place was anything but ordinary.

  “I’m looking for Skag,” Tyrean was saying. “Actually, I’m looking for the girl who is with him.”

  “They busy,” a croaking voice answered. “But they be out a second.”

  Cricket squeezed Roan’s hand and he leaned in towards her. “There’s four of them,” she whispered. “They all gots armor and axes. They look tough.” Tyrean shushed her. There then came a wait, which felt very long to Roan. Being blind made it difficult to tell how time was passing. All he could do was strain his ears, listening to the creak of armor, the thump of the axes and the mouth breathing of the orcs. He was the only one relieved when Skag came into the room with Clareleth, Amanda’s mother.

  “What the hell is this? Tyrean? What are ya doin’ here and…ah, look it’s the little girl. Did Magenlune send ya. If so, she shoulda knownd you’re out of your league, ‘specially if a beat-up rogue is your only backup.”

  “Magenlune did not send her,” a human voice said. It came from Skag’s left. From another doorway Roan supposed. “Tyrean is no longer under her thumb. I can sense it.” This last he said with such an air of exaggerated self-importance that Roan wondered if he expected them to applaud.

  A whispering broke out among the orcs. Finally, Skag said, “This even better. Ya brung us the brat and ya no longer Magenlune’s servant. Ya shoulda gotted out of the slums while ya still had the chance.”

  Tyrean voice remained calm as she said, “If you want to fight, Skag, we can fight, but I’m here for the other girl. I’m going to take her with me one way or the other. You would be wise to accept gold while I’m inclined to offer it.”

  “I woulds be wise? Ooh, big talk. But I get the feelin’ that’s all ya got goin’ on. Just a bunch of talk.”

  Roan could hear movement to his front left and his front right. The orcs were shuffling to either side so that they could attack from three directions at once. As he was pretty much helpless, Roan did not react other than to force a grin onto his face.

  “Perhaps you should be wondering why Magenlune decided to free Tyrean,” he said. “Anyone with any smarts would be very curious about that. And perhaps a bit nervous.”

  Skag grunted. “I ain’t afraid a ya. I ain’t afraid of Magenlune, needer.” He paused and was probably inspecting Roan, who turned away, with a bored expression on his face.

  “I’ll kill Skag,” Roan said to Tyrean. “You can have the rest if you wish. You can take four of them, right?”

  “Uh, no. Not really.”

  He shrugged, double-barreling his bluff the way gamblers do. “Then pick up the pieces as you will. I didn’t need help to torch half of K Street to the ground. I doubt I’ll need help with these slum vermin.”

  Roan had no idea how his bluff was going over. His only option was to carry it to its end. He started to draw his sword when one of the orcs asked, “Ya was the one what did all that?”

  “I get what I want,” Roan said, “and I hurt those who get in my way.”

  “And ya made Magenlune give up Tyrean?” another asked.

  Before he could answer, Cricket said, “Yes, I saw him do it. He…uh, what’s the word? Demanded it. That’s what he done and boy, the spide
r-lady was angry but she couldn’t do nothing about it.”

  The orcs murmured in their croaking language for a moment. They seemed to be coming to some sort of agreement. Skag asked, “What do ya want with the girls?”

  “That is my business. Your business is staying alive. Give me the girl. I won’t ask again.”

  Once more the orcs murmured in their language. This time they sounded worried. “Okay I will,” Skag said. “Only, we did pay ten fer her.”

  “Give them five,” Roan told Tyrean. “Who pays full price for used goods?” He didn’t know if he was going too far this time. He had plenty of gold, however he felt that he had built up his “tough guy” exterior to such an extent that to cave on the price did not seem right.

  Skag growled a curse in his language, though he did so under his breath as he counted the five gold Tyrean gave him. It took him three tries. When he had his gold, he pushed Clareleth towards Roan and then left in a hurry. Roan waited until the sound of the orc’s hob-nailed boots ground away before he breathed out a sigh of relief.

  Quest completed! You have Saved Cricket and her mother. EXP +2000.

  2—

  Seeing the green neon was the first bit of good news, the second came from the illusionist. The only thing Roan knew about him was that his voice was “frail,” as if he were an older man.

  “I have a Cure Disease potion for sale,” he said. “Three hundred gold. And don’t bother trying to bully me. You may have caused all that chaos like you said, but I know a weak string of bull when I hear it.”

  Roan grinned at the apt description. “Three hundred seems like a fair price under the circumstances.” He would have paid more. Being blind was a terrible thing, and to be blind in the slums, surrounded by monsters, thieves, and cutthroats was even worse.

  The potion worked in seconds and after Roan sucked down two healing potions, he gazed around with his grin widening into a beaming smile. It was good to see again, and it was good to see Clareleth hugging Cricket like a mother should, despite the haunted look in her eyes.

  “Let’s get to the surface,” he said, eager to be out of the tunnels and up into the sunshine. “I want you three out of town as soon as possible.”

  “What are you going to do, Mister Ratchet?” Cricket asked, handing over the Blizzard Wand. “Or is it Roan? She called you Roan.”

  Roan’s smile twerked at the edges and then disappeared as a wave of uncertainty struck him. Tyrean had called him Roan and he hadn’t even noticed. How did she know that name? Was she with the Infinite Assassins? Had she been just keeping him busy while the hours ticked away for Amanda?

  Roan shifted the Blizzard Wand towards Tyrean; her eyes widened. “What’s wrong? Your name is Roan, is it not?” He nodded and she shrugged. “Then I don’t see what the problem is. Magenlune told me your name, but also told me that there could be imposters about. That’s why you were tested. Only a good person would have passed up so much money for a child.”

  A good person…how much longer would he be good? Magenlune had told him he’d have burn out the last of his goodness if he wanted to prevail. “Sorry, it’s just the name of Roan is supposed to be secret and whenever I hear it, I get a little wiggy. You’re the second person in the last couple of days to use it and I just…”

  He broke off, realizing that wasn’t right either. One other person had used his name. Someone who shouldn’t have had any idea who he was. Someone who had slipped up—and Roan hadn’t caught the mistake. If he had, Amanda wouldn’t be in the position she was. Suddenly furious at himself, Roan started for the tunnel. “We have to go. Now.”

  Cricket had to jog to keep up as Roan wasn’t slowing. Although he had made the biggest blunder of his life, he finally had an actual lead. He had a name and a face. Whenever he thought of it, he felt that bit of goodness in him shrivel.

  They made it unmolested to the surface and after being in the wretched tunnels for so long, the slums themselves did not seem nearly as miserable as they had. They were close to one of the city gates and Roan, with revenge burning his heart, wanted to say his goodbyes and march straight off, only Cricket grabbed the hem of his cloak.

  She had her skinny arms out to him. “We have to say goodbye properly.”

  “Yes, we do. What was I thinking?” He dropped down to one knee and embraced her carefully. Because of his armor and weapons, he wasn’t a soft person to hug.

  She didn’t seem to care. She crushed herself into him and whispered: “I wish you was coming with us.”

  “I’ll try to visit when this is all over. In the meantime, I want you to be brave and smart. And listen to your mother and Tyrean.” She promised to be good and squeezed him even harder. He thought he’d have to peel her off of him but she seemed to know he was in a hurry and released him.

  Clareleth gave him an awkward hug, while Tyrean put out a hand. “Good luck,” she said, instead of goodbye. The three turned for the gate while Roan headed directly west to Ghak territory. As he marched along, he looked back three times and each time he caught Cricket waving at him.

  He waved as well. “She’s making it hard to be evil.” When a building finally blocked her from view, he felt the ugly weight of the city descend on his shoulders. “I hate this place,” he said, reaching for his Shawl of Disguise. He turned himself into one of the ubiquitous Ghak thugs and hurried across the bridge.

  It was a strange feeling crossing that bridge. It no longer felt like home even in the slightest. Although nothing had changed as far as he could tell, the very air left a bad taste in his mouth and the sullen looks of the down trodden seemed twisted, as if they were in on a colossal conspiracy to get him.

  Itching for a fight, he brazenly walked through the middle of the Ghak streets, passed Tarranon’s mill and headed for K Street territory. As he neared the boundary, he saw smoke rising and for once it wasn’t his doing. It was Corvo and his men taking on the K Street Killers.

  They were expanding towards C Street. The fighting was ragged. Mobs of thugs would come together, hack at each other with swords for a minute or two, and then disperse leaving behind the dead or wounded. The fighting would flare up again a few blocks over and everyone would rush over only to duplicate the same uncertain outcome.

  In the back, directing the Ghak thugs was Corvo—the same man who had accidentally called him “Roan” the evening before when he had given Roan the gold wheels with an email address scratched into them. How did this mid-level lieutenant come to know his name? And where did he get the email address from? Had Tarranon given it to him? Was it even a real address and if not, did that mean Corvo was working with the Infinite Assassins?

  That didn’t seem likely since he was a bit of a nobody and would they really give out such sensitive information to a lackey? Almost certainly not.

  That left what? Maybe he was one of the assassins in disguise and had managed to wheedle information out of Tarranon. “Hmmm,” Roan said, his face queered up. That seemed even less likely. He’d been on Tarranon’s payroll long before Roan had shown up and long before Tarranon had tried to destroy the temple of the Infinite One. Roan was sure assassins didn’t play local thug in their spare time.

  “Everything in Daggerland happens for a reason,” Roan whispered. “So, what is the reason Corvo knows my name?” Perhaps the only thing that made sense was that Tarranon had made a very shrewd guess by piecing together everything that he knew about both Arching and Roan. It was possible and yet to go from such a smart deduction to opening his mouth to Corvo and letting him in on a dangerous secret made zero sense.

  This left Roan up in the air and completely confused over who was a bad guy, who was a very bad guy and who was an assassin. The confusion only added to his anger. So far nothing had gone right during this adventure. Everything he had done or thought he had accomplished had been turned against him, and now he was in a worse position than ever.

  Yes, he had saved Cricket, Clareleth and Tyrean, but he had done so in a game world. They were no mo
re real than the pieces on a checker board. And in exchange for saving them he had become a virtual slave to a drider.

  “Puppet in one world and slave in the other,” he growled, summing up the terrible position he found himself in. At least the predicament wouldn’t last. He was certain that his time as a puppet in the real world would start the moment he sat up in his motel and end with a bullet in his head. Knowing the assassins, they would make him shoot himself.

  His main concern was figuring out how to know Amanda was safe. There was no way he would trust them.

  But first, he would have to try something and since Corvo was his only link to the assassins, it would start with him. Although Magenlune had suggested that he become an assassin, Roan couldn’t start his career by killing the rogue. It was hard to squeeze information from a corpse.

  Roan decided to use his Basilisk Blade. First, however, he changed his appearance so that he matched his enemy exactly, hoping that the Ghak would be too confused to interfere. Waiting for a moment when the mobs of thieves were once again fighting, Roan came up from behind moving with such stealth that even he couldn’t hear his own footfalls. He should’ve been able to plant that dagger up to the hilt in Corvo’s back.

  Corvo was at least level eight and had Improved Spirit Dodge which meant he could no long be flanked, and that made a sneak attack impossible. Roan tried and only managed to get in a slashing attack with the blade, cutting through his studded leather armor and drawing blood. Somehow, Corvo made his saving throw and wasn’t paralyzed.

  He let out a cry as he dodged and when he turned to face his attacker, he was brought up short by Roan’s disguise. The surprise lasted only a second. “That’s you, Roan, isn’t it?” he hissed, springing in with his own attack. Corvo had a magical sword of his own and when it split the flesh of Roan’s throat, it felt like a line of acid had been poured into the wound(Damage -10HP).