by Evan Klein
“Once the alarm rang out, the ogre came barreling through the main gate ere we could get it closed. It wouldn’t have made no matter neither. That ogre would have knocked it into kindling for the fireplaces if it had been closed.”
“One more question, so we all know where we stand. Deaths and injuries?” I asked. The answer to this was definitely going to influence the questions I had.
“We were lucky that you and the Starborn were here or I fear there would have been deaths. We had about a dozen or so injured, and half of those from when the ogre threw Rendel’s pottery cart. A group of the militia happened to be coming around a corner ere he tossed it. It fell in front of them in an explosion of clay and shards of wood. And then there is Young Lucius who got a cut down his cheek. He is the most handsome youth or so the lasses say; I aint looked at a man like that since my Donald returned to the dirt…”
“Maybe more about Young Lucius later,” I interjected. I liked Danna and her folksy way. I didn’t, however, need to know every slight detail of every character in Freehold.
Danna gave me a bemused look and continued, “We may look like a ragtag bunch, but we have a militia of about twenty men and women, and most everyone else in the village is trained to at least defend themselves. Near’ everyone can at least shoot a bow as yee saw against that ogre. And we need to be prepared always as there are dark things that lurk yond those walls: wolves, mackers and the fanged frengoths. There was one death, however,” and she looked at Grothar. “Yee kin Krag refused to yield when three of the militia had him surrounded. He had no chance as they all be experienced fighters and were armed with some of our only real weapons. Yet he refused to yield. He cursed up a storm about how orcs had lost their way. Went from being great warriors and marauders, the terrors of the wilds, to farmers and traders. He fought on. He was tough. And caused a number of injuries. He came within an inch of slicing open Olane’s neck. And that is when he was struck and struck and struck again until he would never rise again. We are sorry for that Grothar. Yet no choice had we. He was like the rabid dog foaming from the maw that needs to be put down. When he fell, the other orcs decided enough was enough and fled into the woods. The ogre was driven off a few moments later and the rest yee know.”
I looked at Grothar and expected to see anger; instead, his countenance held defeat and exasperation
“So the question is,” I said looking at Grothar, “why did you attack Freehold?’ That stubborn glare just remained. He moved his mouth as though about to speak. But quickly shut it again. “Look,” I said, “I am trying to help you. No one died here and everything can be rebuilt. These are good folks and I am sure all will be forgiven if you just explain.”
“Me explain,” he snarled. “It is those three Everborn, the woman, the elf and the dwarf who need to explain,” he said, glaring at the trio. They must have walked in while Danna told her tale. Pieces started to click together. I thought the three of them knew something. Their hushed discourse clued me towards that.
“You!” Grothar growled at them. “You brought this evil down on us!” Cali showed neither outrage nor surprise at the accusations.
“What happened?” Danna asked. “Grothar accuses and you do not deny. What have yee Starborn wrought?”
Chapter 6: Story Two – Three of a Perfect Pair
Cali hesitated for a moment. Danna seemed impatient and said, “Yee have been good allies to us these last few weeks – clearing out that den of mackers, finding Lorene’s goat when it wandered off, and delivering that note to Deerhold – so we will hear yee tale with an open mind. But know if yee brought this danger to our doorstep we can take back what has been given.” The eyes of the trio rapidly began moving back and forth indicating they were reading a notification.
Jarrell sputtered, “They can’t do that, can they? Take away the experience we got from those quests. And the levels. I don’t want to lose the levels.”
“I guess they can,” Cali responded.
“Well I don’t want to lose any! We got to fix this!” Jarrell shouted, spittle flying from his virtual mouth.
Cali looked to Danna and said, “Believe me. We meant no ill to your kinfolk. We came here early this morning to tell you our tale, but the battle with the orcs prevented it.”
“Well out with it child,” Mother ordered.
As Cali began telling her part of the story, her demeanor showed she had run through the words several times in her mind already. She knew she was going to need to share the details at some time and had mentally prepared her speech. “Any Starborn who has read the lore of The Great Realm knows about the Blood War that was fought in Wildbrook a hundred years back, to defeat the Demon King Altirax.” All the locals spat at the name of the Demon King even the orc Grothar spat. “He was defeated by a vast army of many races of the Realmborn and by a massive host of Starborn. (There couldn’t have been Starborn a hundred years ago as the game was just a few years old. I made a mental note to ask her about this later on) Nevertheless, the key figure in the tale is a woman named Shatana.” The assemblage did not spit this time but crossed their arms below them and bowed their heads in reverence.
“Some say that Shatana is a lich, others a succubus, and even a few that she is a vampiress. Some say she had been the demon’s lover and they had a falling out. Whatever she was, she played an integral role in banishing the Demon Lord and saving the Wildbrook; nevertheless, she did so at a great cost. Her supernatural powers were drained – perhaps never to return. The books of lore all agree that after the battle she retreated to her crypt where she now sleeps, regaining her strength. Her resting place, as it turns out, is in a cave somewhere north of the seven villages near the edge of the foothills where the orcs and other humanoids dwell.”
“I still don’t see what any of this has to do with the attack on the town,” I said just wishing she would get to point instead of providing so much back-story. Back when I was a detective, I would let witnesses and even suspects describe their version of events at their own pace. I found this method very effective for getting them to spill the details.
The Starborn trio made eye contact with one another and Cali continued. “The cave entrance to the crypt where she is recovering her strength is supposed to remain hidden for another six months. Then its hiding place will be revealed through a series of quests that start hundreds of miles from here. It’s going to be the beginning of a great war, and we plan to be in the foreground of that war.”
“Aye,” Danna stated, “once again we are to be called to arms against this monstrosity. The legends foretell it.”
“While we are low level now,” Cali related, “we figure that in another six months with constant adventuring we can get to level thirty five or forty. We are planning to just adventure in the Wilderbrook for the next few months, get to know the people, the layout, etc. While Freehold where we are now is a starter village, some of the other villages, such as Rockhold and Deerhold, are designed for mid-level characters. We were going to become the experts on the region – make the leagues come to us for our knowledge and connections. Anyway, Jarrell and Flora had some free time from their responsibilities in the real world, so we decided to do some nighttime adventuring. You know, run into creatures that live in the dark – maybe even get offered some new quests.”
“Maybe get a drink or two in the inn,” Jarrell interjected.
Cali glared at Jarrell, two hazel eyes that burned into him like a laser. I would not want to be on the receiving end of that look. “We had been exploring for several hours at the base of the foothills when we were attacked by a pack of white wolves. We fought them off…”
Jarrell interrupted, “We didn’t just fight them off! We wrecked ‘em! Cali trapped them in her mud spell and Flora fried them with lightning and I...”
“Enough,” Cali said gently. “You can recount our heroic deeds later to anyone who will listen.” Jarrell lowered his head dejectedly. “After the fight with the wolves, we were fatigued and had some injurie
s that required tending to so we decided to rest, eat some food, and drink some water. Jarrell kept sensing something odd about the place. Like we were being watched. We thought maybe there were more wolves lurking about but none showed up. We were about to set off again when Jarrell saw something.”
I could see the little guy wanted to jump in again but Cali once again shot that death glare at him. I shrank back a bit myself.
“Dwarves have a racial perk that allows them to see hidden entrances in caves. And Jarrell found something. He saw a light – a faint yellow glow– emanating from a boulder not too far way. He walked over to it and noticed the boulder was blocking the entrance to what seemed to be a cave. He saw a notification which he shared with Flora and me: Welcome! You have found the resting place for Shatana. That was the whole message. We were shocked that we had found her resting place. There are supposed to be dozens of quests that will lead adventurers to discover its whereabouts and we just stumbled upon it.”
“Yee found her resting place,” the middle-aged guard spluttered. “The Lady of the Deep. She Who Dwells in the Dark. The one who saved the races from death, disease and thralldom.” The assemblage once again bowed their heads in respect.
Cali paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and told the next part of their story. “Most surprising, there was no information about a quest or anything else. Usually when a notification pops up like this one, a quest usually follows or at least some additional information about a side quest of some kind. There was nothing more than just a notification.”
Flora, who I hadn’t heard utter a single syllable yet, who hadn’t even lifted her eyes yet, began to speak—almost sing:
Shatana sang about days disappeared
When fire, plague, and famine consumed the Realm –
The silent wilderness foretold
The darkness about to prey on us all –
Altirax will rip asunder the earth – his mother and prison
War will ravage the forest
Ancient oaks will burn
Grass redden with blood
Shatana calls to us:
My blue beacon brightens the sky for one night
A call to arms:
‘Come gnomes with yee picks and tricks
And dwarves with yee sharp axes and bright gold
And elves with yee keen eyes and deadly arrows
And orcs with yee studded clubs and stalwart hearts
And ogres with yee thick heads and thicker arms
And mortal men and women with yee swords and spears
And finally come,
All Starborn, Everborn and yee dozen other names
Come and face the greatest foe
And if yee overcome
The rewards will be boundless
The most ancient weapons, magic and talismans
But know this ere yee come
Even the Starborn may die
With no hope of rebirth at the hands of Altirax’
When she concluded the verse, she appeared almost embarrassed, maybe even surprised, that she had spoken so many words. And then, almost at a whisper, she said, “That was a hundred years ago. The armies joined – Starborn – humans and orcs, dwarves and ogres – mortal enemies joined against an immortal foe. They prevailed. Oh did they prevail.” She looked at Cali for a second and ended with a strange query. “Still not sure about there being Starborn a hundred years ago, but I have a theory.” With that, silence fell over her. She lowered her eyes and fell back into herself.
Cali gently grabbed Flora’s hand for just a moment and quickly pulled it back as though prolonged contact would burn the girl.
“Flora has a photographic memory. She could recite the entire Great Realm Player’s Guide and Compendium,” Jarrell said proudly.
“Hush!’ Cali snapped at the dwarf who looked mortified at the reprimand. She took a breath and went on. “So we had found the entrance to Shatana’s crypt. Flora could sense the residue of ancient magics. The spells that kept the door hidden and locked seemed to have faded or been expelled because Jarrell could make out the edges of a door hidden inside the boulder… and the door was slightly ajar. So we did what adventurers do. We pried opened the door.”
“Actually I opened the door,” Jarrell said embarrassed. “Cali had told me not to do anything, but I have a listening problem she says. Cali and Flora had paused their characters to scour the forums.”
“Paused?” I asked.
“You are a real noob…” Cali seemed to glance above my forehead: “Mace, Human, Fighter, Level 2.” (The constable class would not show up until I entered Grandview. Until that time it would simply say fighter) For some reason her reading out my stats like that made me feel exposed, like my zipper was open and the fabric of my boxer shorts sticking out. It also made me realize in retrospect how odd it was for me to be leading this investigation at my low level. But Mother had given me the quest and I accepted it so that gave me the temporary authority. “Players sometimes want to check information about a quest they are on or find the weakness of a beast they are about to face,” Cali explained. “Instead of logging off and researching offline, they simply pause their character – who appears to be in a trance – and have access to the nexus and the forums while essentially still logged into the game. There are dangers to pausing your characters, but maybe we can discuss that another time. For now, I think I will let Jarrell tell you this part of the story.”
Jarrell seemed pleased and clearing his voice began, “So Cali and Flora are paused. One of us would have watched the other two either way and we kept sensing like someone or something was lurking out there so I said I would watch them; ‘sides I’m not really a reader and that is all the forums are.” He took a breath. “Kinda creepy the pause feature, like you’re asleep but with your eyes open, and like I said, I’m supposed to keep an eye on them but of course, I don’t. Like any good dwarf, I keep a little pick in my pack. Never know when you’re gonna need to pry a gem loose from a statue or a cave wall. I walked over to the boulder, examined the outline, worked the pick into a small groove along the rock’s edge, and yanked. There was a hiss. I guess from air entering the cave. The stone door moved towards me and over to the side of the boulder. I was shocked it worked. I really shouldn’t have had the strength to pry that door open. Even the three of us wouldn’t have been able to do it. It seemed like the door wanted to be opened. I realized too late that I had tripped some runes. I thought, ‘Wow Jarrell, you’re an idiot; Flora would have seen those runes. But here you went and set them off like some kind of noob.’ There was a blinding flash of light, energy coursed through me. If my pain sensor had been set higher than a one that blast would have hurt like a son of a you know what. Good thing Cali doesn’t let us keep the sensor above a one and we had to beg her for that. Anyway, I found myself respawning at the hearthstone near Freehold and a good six miles from Shatana’s cave. I thought I really got to let Cali and Flora know what I did, so I contacted Cali over the group chat. And she was pissed. She never curses. But she let one slip at me.”
“I can see where this is going,” I interjected, feeling I needed to cut Jarrell off before we heard the curse words and his chastisement. “You released something from that cave, didn’t you?”
“We did,” Cali responded with head held high. “We did what all gamers do, we adventured; we faced whatever was thrown at us. Besides, what if we found Shatana? Imagine the rewards we would get; the notoriety on the leaderboard. I told Jarrell to log off and that we would fill him in later. By the time he walked back to Shatana’s cave his allotted gaming time for the day would expire. You can imagine that he wasn’t happy.”
“Nope I wasn’t!” Jarrell exclaimed. “And worse than dying, Cali told me to go clean the apartment and make them some sandwiches for when they logged off. I hate making sandwiches more than cleaning my room.”
Cali took over the story. “Our searching of the forums got cut off when Jarrell told us what happened through the group ch
at. We unpaused the game. It is never a good idea to stay paused unless there is someone around to guard you as you can be robbed or even slain and find yourself at a hearthstone when you unpause. When we were active again, we both had the feeling like there was a presence around, though whether from the woods or from the cave we couldn’t tell. Flora cast a spell called Life Sense. Basically, the spell will let you know if there are any sentient or non-sentient creatures nearby. At Flora’s level the range isn’t great but it was enough to peer into the woods surrounding us. Anyway, she picked up something we wouldn’t have found without the spell. It is called The Piercing Death. And this one is level 20. It’s a carnivorous bush – think of a malevolent Venus flytrap on steroids. It has thick thorns that can pierce chain armor. The thorns inject a sedative into the captured creature which is instantly absorbed. From there the plant simply pulls your inert body into it and quickly consumes you. Quests are sometimes given out to harvest the sedative which sells for hundreds of gold coins. When this is all done, we are going to harvest some of it. Anyway, the bush is what we were sensing. You don’t want to get too close, within five feet; it has vines that will reach out, grab you, and pull you in.”
“So we definitely want to avoid the bush?” I said. “But continue.”
Cali proceeded. “Flora and I stared at the entry. Her spell didn’t sense any life coming from the cave. The door, if you really want to call it one, was really no more than a slab of rock. We weren’t planning to do much. Just scout out the cave and then leave. Especially since our tank and main fighter was gone. We could undertake a full-scale dungeon dive the following day. Stock up on stamina and magic potions; maybe get a few other Starborn who I know and trust to join us. Flora and I made our way into a cave. I remember one very odd thing. The air was stale.”
“It smelled like death; like a living cemetery,” Flora said in a barely audible voice.
“That too,” Cali declared and resumed her tale. “I told Flora to begin recording our scouting adventure and we entered. Flora cast several balls of floating light, which illuminated a good portion of the cavern. We didn’t have time to explore as that is when the attack happened.”