Crystalfire Keep

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Tear these biscuit-burning used car salesmen apart!” I yelled like a madman as I led the charge. Battle cries cascaded across the courtyard, echoing off the walls alongside bursts of offensive Boons firing off, and the raid collectively charged.

  18

  After that, there wasn’t much else to add. We knew the tactics now, we knew how the three golems fought, and Merina’s sacrifice turned what could have been a cascading series of deaths after my own, a full raid wipe, into a clear path to victory. No more mistakes, no more missteps, we were hyped up on stacking Boons and a desire to pay back our one loss three-fold.

  The badly damaged Right Hand fell first without letting out another Nova, dragged along as I used the tunnels back and forth to kite the other two golems. As soon as it was down, Vanni picked up the Left Hand, using a Threat Transfer from me combined with a Champion’s Throw to cement the aggro, and then we pulled them apart, me taking the Grand Golem to one corner of the room and Vanni leading the Left Hand to the opposite corner. While the big guy was huge, its arms were nowhere near long enough to threaten the entire room with one golem down.

  From there, it really was child’s play, not that it felt that way in the moment. No, I was still riding the feelings of anger and frustration. The first was paradoxically from someone sacrificing themselves for me. Dying for the team was my job! The second was equally dumb. My heart was berating me for not figuring the fight out sooner, that no one would have been blown apart if I had done so. My brain tried to soothe me with the fact that we'd still figured it out as fast as anyone could have and that it could have been so much worse.

  At least the rage was satisfied when the Grand Golem let out one last heaving step before its cracked chest plate fell apart in chunks, digging gouges into the quartz floor and starting a terrible chain reaction, more and more pieces falling away along with steaming pipes and spinning gears. The mighty engine of war fell to its knees, sending the entire courtyard shaking with the impact before the elemental core at its heart detonated not with an ear-shattering thunderclap but a near-silent whump. That didn’t lessen the violence of the rainbow colors of pure elemental energy that were unleashed, blinding me and everyone else for that matter as the shockwave sent my teeth chattering and my plate armor clattering.

  Victory! You gain 18% Experience! Experience 2,283,000/2,400,000

  As the spots in my eyes cleared, both the Soul of the Paladin and Chernobog’s might draining out of my body, four shining orbs remained, no trick of the light but actual honest-to-God loot. Realization spread across the courtyard and within seconds, a chorus of cheers erupted, joined by one ghostly whoop echoing across raid chat.

  Merina: Yes! Geeze, I thought I had screwed it up for everyone but … I’m glad I could make up for it.

  Crysta: Like, you’re totally good! I’d say sit tight while I resurrect you but, uh, you don’t exactly have a choice.

  Vanni: Crys, that’s a really bad joke, especially at a time like this.

  Crysta: Sorry, I couldn’t resist!

  As the Ranger skipped over to Merina’s broken body (that was one thing I wish the art team had skipped on … the corpse was frighteningly realistic), most of the Knights gathered around the loot orbs as they came together and began a slow, steady rotation around the center of the room. Dunya was the only one who wasn’t immediately lured in by the promise of ‘phat lewtz’. Instead, she was standing on the largest chunk of wreckage from the Grand Golem, her scimitar plunged into the junked metal, letting out a primal scream of dominance.

  She might have been a teenager and a young one at that, but I didn’t think I ever wanted to meet her in a dark alley.

  “Holy brimstone,” Burndall said as he sheathed his Spellblade, “I thought we were going to wipe there for a minute!”

  Vindril let out a final cough from all the smoke. “I was confident in the sarge to pull us through.”

  “If I didn’t know better, I would never have known you hadn’t done a raid before, Shale,” Vanni noted as she rolled her shoulders. That was high praise coming from someone with her reputation and what cracks that were left in my confidence were patched for the moment. “Gah, I am so stiff and sore. You would think that …” Her eyes widened a moment before she shook her head furiously. “… uh, so … loot?”

  Kayla bit her lip at that but slowly nodded. “Right, that gate is still closed, and we aren’t done with this segment until that Life Crystal is restored.” She sighed. “The clock is still ticking, boys and girls.”

  “Then let’s do it, Mr. Shale,” Nahma chimed in with all the enthusiasm of a pro cheerleader. “The answer has to be in the loot!”

  With a firm nod, I stepped forward and reached out towards the circling orbs. Upon touching the closest one, the entire circle rotated to a vertical axis, the speed of the spin increasing as the Loot UI pane materialized before us.

  The Grand War Golem’s Remains contain:

  Crystallized Ancient Weapon (Keep Weapon Token)

  Crystallized Ancient Headpiece (Keep Helmet Token)

  Crystallized Ancient Ring (Keep Ring Token)

  Inner Keep Keystone (Key, lootable by all)

  “Score one for Nahma,” Wazif chuckled.

  Now that the loot was visible, Dunya’s attention had shifted onto us, even as golden light filled the courtyard around Merina’s body, the result of Crysta’s Resurrection spell going off. “Tokens, huh?” She rubbed the nose that had to exist behind her head scarf. “I’d say you should give me an upgrade, you know, to kill things faster, but I’m already so amazing, you should spread the love to some of the others instead.”

  Burndall rolled his eyes. “And people think I’m full of myself?”

  “You are,” Crysta giggled as she took a place right next to Vanni, immediately grabbing one of her Promised’s free hands, “but Dunya’s totally got you beat in that department.”

  “I can’t help that I’m incredible,” the little Bladesaint laughed as Merina came up beside me, moving with all the weakness I was all too familiar with after an in-game death, opposite of Kayla.

  “I feel like crap but … why don’t we get that key and finish the quest, so the timer stops?” the Dancer said weakly. “Shale knows best. He’ll give out what needs to go where.”

  I did, in fact, know where I wanted to give out the tokens if I could convince at least one recipient to hear me out. If it was like other raids so far, these tokens could be redeemed back at the quest hub for the raid (the Shadowyard warcamp in our case) for selections of raid-level gear. It was a solid system, ensuring that there were few throw-away drops, always a downer after the blood, sweat, and tears that went with downing a raid boss. Merina was right, though, the faster we unlocked the Crystal, the better.

  “Okay,” I agreed as I tapped the Keystone’s listing, instantly distributing an Inner Keep Keystone to the entire raid. “Finish this up while I sort the tokens.”

  Burnie flashed me a thumbs-up and produced the keystone in his hand. Like the stone that opened the front gate, it was a fragment of quartz no doubt chipped from the Keep itself, but this piece had a wire-wrapped handle and had been shaped to resemble a traditional key. As most of the others followed along, drawn to see the conclusion of this, Kayla stayed by my side, a hand on my shoulder, while Merina put her arms around herself and drifted over to the far side of the courtyard, away from everyone.

  I could feel Kayla’s big blue eyes focused on my furrowed brow as she talked through our private channel. I know you probably have this figured out, but if you need my advice, I’m here.

  With a faint smile, I nodded, putting a hand on hers. Thanks, Mina. Yeah, I think I do. Vanni and Crysta are geared out hard. Though the returns from these tokens would likely be upgrades, any gear from here would make a bigger difference to the others. Likewise, Burnie, Wazif, you, me, we’ve had the advantage of Wazif’s crafting to get us better gear beforehand.

  Kayla hummed to herself. So that leaves Vindril, Dunya, Nahma, and Me
rina. Dunya said she doesn’t want anything and yet she really was our top DPS on this. It couldn’t hurt to make her stronger and, well, Merina’s gear layout is so specific …

  I have an idea there, I confessed, but I need to talk to her. Hold on a sec.

  It only took a quick turn of the keystone in a socket of the portcullis lock to bring it up in a swift, smooth motion. As I slipped away from Kayla with a smile to talk to Merina, the remaining Knights raised their hands in unison, the same as if they were going to bind themselves to the Crystal, and spiritual energy flowed out from their hands, Light warring with the creeping web of Darkness in the Crystal. For a moment, the light they poured forth wavered but in the end, with a sickening squelch, the black gooey tendrils were blasted away from the Crystal, its renewed radiance lighting up the dim courtyard.

  Raid quest ‘A Courtyard of Flames’ completed!

  Your raid group has successfully secured the Life Crystal in the courtyard of Crystalfire Keep!

  Your time to complete this first leg of the raid has been recorded! All results are confidential until the end of the contest period.

  Report to Mountain King Crystain V at the Shadowyard warcamp for your reward.

  Merina perked a bit at that, looking up with a wan smile only to see me in front of her. Her eyes widened a little as she cut away, avoiding eye contact as she stared off to one side. “If you’re going to tell me how bad I messed that up, don’t bother. I already know.”

  “Don’t jump to conclusions,” I said with a shake of my head. A good leader needed to take responsibility for his mistakes. “It was my screw-up that caused the situation in the first place. I should have realized the problem the line of sight blocking would have caused and sent either Vanni or I with you guys on the other side. Besides, it worked out in the end. Our mad scramble there showed us how to beat the things in the easiest way possible.”

  “Then why am I the only one who got killed? You guys didn’t need me to finish those golems off, did you?” She sighed as her eyes focused everywhere but at me, this time rolling to the irregular crystal of the ceiling. “At least you didn’t die. I didn’t fail there.”

  “Which is the whole point, isn’t it?” I settled my hands on my hips and smiled. “I didn’t even know that sort of Gem existed and yet, you had it right when we needed it.”

  Merina’s courage must have started to grow again because she dared to glance at me sidelong. “Sure, I guess.” She chewed on her lip. “If you’re not booting me from the guild, then why exactly are you here?”

  Burndall: Shale, dude, when are you handing out the loot? We’ve still got time to turn in, cash out, and get ready for the next session!

  Shale: One more minute, man. We’re all good on time.

  Shaking my head from the interruption, I refocused on Merina. “I want to give you that Weapon Token, that’s why, but I want you to hear me out on something first.”

  She arched an eyebrow and turned her head to actually look me eye-to-eye. “Okay …?”

  “I think we can use what happened here, your ability to get all the hate in the world on mobs with your Support skills, to our advantage.” I took a deep breath, hoping that what I would say next wouldn’t offend her. “I think if you use that token for a full-bore tanking weapon, which I don’t think will mess up your Dancer’s Regalia support bonuses, you can be not only our third healer but our third tank as well.”

  Her well-honed body had started to tense as her eyes narrowed, the tall Nix seeing me literally eye to eye, as I started talking but by the time I was done, Merina’s gaze softened even if she was still as tightly wound as a clock spring. “So … you don’t want me to stop being Support, to stop healing, but you want me to tank in addition to that?”

  “Right,” I nodded. “You saw that Vanni and I can keep aggro off you if we can focus on a solo MOB, but you can easily play off-tank simply by doing healing, the hate boosted by your Class modifier. All you need is a little more durability, be it Stamina, Dodge Rate, Armor, whatever. Weapons have the most stats attached to them based on the choices of token we have, so – ”

  “I know, I’ve played the game a lot,” she said to cut me off. “It’s just … I almost wiped us trying to do one role and now you’re asking me to do two? I’m not sure if I can do that.”

  I held out my open hands to her. “Well, I’m sure you can. You said you trusted me to divide the loot the best way, right? Trust me on this too.”

  She stared at me with those ocean-green eyes and I thought she was about to break down. Instead, she took in a deep breath and grabbed ahold of my outstretched hands. “I’ll do my best then.”

  “That’s all anyone can ask of anyone.” I gave her hands a squeeze of reassurance and then stepped away.

  Shale: Okay, here comes the loot. Don’t worry, I’ll be spreading the love once we clear the next section!

  You assign the Crystallized Ancient Weapon to Merina!

  You assign the Crystallized Ancient Headpiece to Vindril!

  You assign the Crystallized Ancient Ring to Nahma!

  Another round of cheers echoed through the courtyard mixed with a resounding exchange of congratulations and thanks. Merina flashed me another smile, one I returned, as I nodded towards the Life Crystal. “You better bind here before we teleport back to the warcamp. It’ll make things faster when we come back this afternoon.”

  “And you better do the same,” Kayla chimed in from behind as she snatched my right hand into hers. “Maybe we’ll even have time after this for a little private celebration, eh?”

  The Dancer giggled and shook her head, the grace back into her step as she strode towards the Crystal. “He’s all yours, Kayla.”

  “A part of me wants to dispute that,” I said with a quirked grin to Kayla, “but I’m honestly completely fine with that assessment.”

  She spun around, twisting until she had my other hand and was looking up at me. “And part of me would say that you’re past the point of having a leg to stand on in such a dispute, but I’m happier to know you’re fine with it.” She gave me a kiss on the nose. “So, let’s get this done so I can get us back to the Shadowyard.”

  “Yes, ma’am!”

  It didn’t take us long to finish binding to the Courtyard Life Crystal and regroup, all smiles and laughs as Kayla opened a watery portal back to the war camp. There was the usual twisting sensation as space warped around us and a moment later, we were all stepping from the organic crystal of the Keep and into the grim grave markers and guttering campfires of the Shadowyard camp.

  The place was still busy but not nearly as packed as it was initially. New raid groups were forming up, moving back and forth from the royal pavilion and the main gates, most of them being champions that I didn’t recognize. Not that it meant anything, with so many participants, I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure anyone I saw had been there at the official start one way or the other. Instead of trying to second guess how well we had done, I focused instead on simply helping our merry band get through the crowds to the central tent to turn in the quest and get the next one.

  The unnaturally enlarged space inside the tent was a bit sparser than the rest of the camp. There were groups and stragglers alike gathered around the central platform where Copperholt, King Crystain, and Princess Kallisandre still held court.

  Nahma: Do you think we’re the first ones, Mr. Shale?

  Shale: I don’t know but it doesn’t matter if we are or aren’t.

  Dunya: Yep, it only matters if we were the fastest. Considering I was with you guys –

  Burndall: Okay, short stuff, we know what you’re going to say.

  Dunya: That doesn’t make it not true!

  Chuckling, I shook my head as I pushed the last bit of the way up to the foot of the mighty Mountain King. Well, everybody, pay attention. I’m doing the turn-in, okay?

  The Knights settled down as I looked up and opened the NPC interaction interface with Crystain. The rest of the world went fuzzy ev
en as the notables on the platform and our entire raid sharpened into harsh focus. All the chatter became muffled background noise as the mighty king folded his arms and turned to look down at us.

  “Ah, one of our warbands returns!” He tapped a fist to his breastplate in salute. “I only hope you have had the same success in the depths of the Keep as you had displayed in this same field facing down the Dark Rider.”

  Suggested dialogue lines came to life next to his right shoulder, but I ignored them as the narrative focus shifted to me. “Great Mountain King, I am honored to say that your faith in us has not been misplaced.” I returned the same salute as I bowed to him. “We have penetrated into the main courtyard and were challenged by three ancient war machines. Though it was no easy battle, we persevered, destroying the corrupted machines and restoring the Life Crystal there.”

  The reaction was swift as Sir Copperholt rose to his feet, turning to the king, and Kallisandre’s even expression broke into a bright smile. The aging knight saluted the king as he spoke, “We must fortify the courtyard immediately!” He coughed roughly. “With your leave, of course, Your Highness.”

  Crystain let out a deep, throaty laugh. “Of course, Agnar.” He gave Copperholt a friendly clap on the shoulder, a blow that almost knocked the portly knight back into his chair. “Make it so while we confer with our champions.”

  Kallisandre stood with careful grace as well. “You have done well, friends, and your success gives us renewed faith towards our inevitable victory. Perhaps my hopes are too great, but have you uncovered any lore or information that might prove helpful in deciphering the Needle’s Light?” She gestured at the silver casket in front of her.

  It was Kayla’s turn next and she was already shaking her head sadly as focus shifted to her. “No, princess, there was nothing we found that could hint as to its purpose or full power. There were not even bodies remaining of the Keep’s defenders.” She raised a finger. “There is still hope, though. With the key we recovered, we can explore the main keep freely. Most of it was locked off when we first arrived, so there may still be answers to find.”