by Domino Finn
From this height I could see all of Stronghold from a bird's-eye view. The west gate had so far held, but it was buckling under the pagan assault. Goblins and imps littered the streets anyway; many siege towers had made it to the wall. The pagans were gaining control of the battlements but lacked the support of the ogres and trolls. The heavier beasts couldn't readily scale the stone or climb the ropes.
Gladius and the centurions had strategically conceded ground to ensure the gate held as long as possible. They drew a hard red line across the wall which the pagans couldn't breach. Yet.
In the streets, conniving greens and grays lunged for Stronghold residents, player and NPC alike. Izzy, Kyle, Lash, and the others reoriented on the new threat. I could count on them for anything, but the numbers would soon become overwhelming.
It was entirely plausible that Stronghold could fall even without Orik reaching the Pantheon.
The cyclops took another heavy step and I readied my next move. The giant was a head taller than Dragonperch, which put his shoulders (and me) flush with the roof. The broken statue of Magnus Dragonrider came into view. A cracked head attached to half a torso stared into the sky. The expression was supposed to be bold and brave, but from here it just looked hollow.
As Orik passed, I jumped from his shoulder to the top of Dragonperch. I wanted to keep my dash available and fell short for being greedy. My chest crashed into the side of the building and I desperately clawed at the parapet. It was only by the grace of my climbing skill that I clambered safely to the top.
I scrambled on the ground and heaved broken rocks away. The dragon rider's spear, still held by a stone hand, wasn't part of the statue. Saint Peter's sidelong comment and the glint from the sun had tipped me off to it. This was a relic. A long piece of uniform material, metal or bone—I couldn't tell. It shimmered white and blue and nickel like a pearl. The rock sloughed away as I lifted the unnaturally light weapon.
[Dragonspear]
Unique, Unbreakable
The famed weapon of the hero Magnus Dragonrider, the dragonspear grants its wielder heroic power.
+3 Strength
+2 Agility
+1 Essence
Titanslayer
+25% damage versus dragons
+20% damage defending Stronghold
+15% damage versus pagans
I twirled the perfectly balanced dragonspear with ease. This was it. This was my god killer.
"Hey, stupid," I shouted.
At the edge of the river, Orik turned my way, surprised to face an enemy as tall as he was.
His eyeless socket blinked. I wondered what it was he could see exactly. My gaze followed his forehead and ran up the horn to the soulstone. The Eye of Orik gleamed brightly.
"Eyes are the windows to the soul," I muttered. I ground my teeth together, remembering more of the riddle. "Bodies petrify. Souls are forever."
What the hell did that mean?
That I could never kill Orik's soul. But that would imply—
It came to me. The lore wasn't just smarmy advice—it was an instruction manual. We'd been trying to attack the soul, but souls were invincible. It was the body that needed to be defeated.
Orik scowled and brought heavy hands around me.
I stood atop Dragonperch like a new statue. Waiting. The giant's mitts bore down on me, surrounding me as they had the obelisk on Blind Man's Peak. I pushed the gory vision of the pulped boggarts from my mind and carefully lined up the dragonspear, a model of supreme focus.
I triggered vault and dash and deadshot, surging up and out. The alabaster spear sunk into Orik like he was melted butter. I slid forward and crashed into his face, still gripping the spear. The dragonspear drove in all the way to my hands, right into Orik's empty eye socket.
I halted my fall by wildly clinging to the spear, dangling two hundred feet above the ground.
"Eyes might be the windows to soul," I said triumphantly, "but eye sockets are the windows to the brain."
Orik faltered and stumbled backward. His face twisted in a horrific agony. I was right next to his mouth as he let out a deafening cry. Hot air washed over me. The giant took two stuttering steps before buckling to his knees. I wrapped my arms and legs around the embedded spear to keep from plummeting to my death.
The titan's hands reached to the sky instead of going for his face. His movements became jerky. Forced. His bones were freezing up. His body, stiffening.
"Bodies petrify," I recited.
Orik stopped. A massive behemoth; pacified, frozen, but still breathing. He didn't have a health bar anymore. My attack had cleaned him out. A one and done. I wiggled upward, hopped to the horn, and climbed to the Eye of Orik.
I pulled my noob whittling knife from my inventory. "I knew you'd be useful for something," I said. Then I pried the soulstone from the obelisk.
The great titan heaved, the last of his breath fled him, and then he went silent forever.
I hefted the Eye of Orik in my hand. "But the soul still burns."
The pagan army below blew wailful horns. The centurions targeting the siege towers were starting to win back the battlements. It would be a hard battle, but the dying cry of their god unsettled the horde. Many of the pagans stalled their attack, waiting for word from their mighty cyclops.
At this stage in the game, that was as good as retreating.
[Orik] is defeated
26,339 XP awarded
Pagan Reputation -1000 (MAXED)
Swarms of blue fire enveloped me as overlapping chords sounded.
BWOOOOOM!
You have reached Level 7!
BWOOOOOM!
You have reached Level 8!
Quest Complete: Unveil the Pagans
Quest Type: Epic
Reward: Unknown
The threat of Orik has been subdued. Stronghold is safe.
9,000 XP awarded
500 silver bars
BWOOOOOM!
You have reached Level 9!
In the distance, Kyle and Ivy were likewise bathed in the same fires of achievement. They stared at each other in awe. We'd reached levels previously unheard of in the Haven beta.
But then, this wasn't a beta anymore, was it?
Global Haven Alert:
Talon has received the mantle of Protector of Stronghold.
I stared blankly at the final notification. This was getting intense. I wondered what the title meant, exactly.
But then, my arms were getting tired. I glanced to the top of Dragonperch, eager to get off the titanic statue. Unfortunately, the tower was too far away now. Orik had frozen halfway down its height, on both knees. Players were gathering below me, staring up in awe at the new hero who wielded the dragonspear.
I grumbled and searched for a way to get down.
0520 Titanfall
The battle didn't last long after that. Turns out morale's a bitch, and when your prophesized god-giant whom all your plans hinge upon turns into brick, there's not much left to do but turn tail and run.
Without the daunting threat of the cyclops, Stronghold rallied to contain the pagans within the walls. The goblins and imps were stunned at the impossible turn of events and didn't have a path of retreat. They were routed. We retook the battlements and fortified the gate, mowing down the pagans who didn't flee. The army didn't have much steam after that.
It was nice, for once, to see players and NPCs all unified under a single cause. Dune was high-fiving Gladius. Phil put some pants on. Even Izzy managed a smile. If that wasn't enough, Lash allowed that Kyle "wasn't completely worthless."
The players saluted me like I was their hero. Magnus reborn, they claimed. I modestly played it off. I mean, I'd kicked some serious butt, but so had they. Dune had rebelled against the centurions. Lash and Trafford had organized the titan tripwire. Izzy and Kyle had exhausted every resource against all odds to keep the gate and the city intact.
After Stronghold was secured, a new surprise greeted me. I wasn't sure what "heroic powers"
the dragonspear granted, but the great doors of Dragonperch opened before us. The mythical spear was recognized by the wards. It had been the key to the tower all along.
There wasn't some great dungeon inside, as we'd all imagined, but an incredible bastion of knowledge. A library, a war room, lodging. The new digs were so cool that Izzy and Kyle and I moved in immediately. We reset it to our home base, residents of Hillside no longer. And as always with mysterious RPG towers, there was lots left to explore.
I stood on the roof of Dragonperch, getting used to the grand height, gazing down on the destruction the pagans had caused. It would take weeks of restoration, but the populace was content to rest and recover for now. The tended land outside was marred by thousands of boots, but the field, too, would regrow. Instead I looked to the east, across the town, to the sunrise on the horizon. Bandit sniffed the air gently. She liked it up here. Reminded her of the mountains, I figured. Izzy and Kyle were exploring the tower below, leaving me with time to think.
You could say I was beginning to like the place.
"I was waiting for you to show," I said, not taking my eyes off the beautiful vista.
Saint Peter rustled behind me. "Oh, yes. I'm surprised you heard me."
I waited for him to tell me what he'd come to say.
"A lot has happened in a day. We've reconsidered our position on you, Tod—I'm sorry, it's Tad, isn't it? I'm awfully forgetful."
I turned around and looked him in the eye. "Actually, it's Talon from now on."
He nodded gravely and swiveled to study the petrified body of Orik. The titan kneeled before Dragonperch, arms skyward in praise of the city's might and the restored importance of Oldtown. The symbolism wasn't lost on the saint. It wasn't something I took lightly, either. The mantle of Protector of Stronghold was a big responsibility, but one I believed in.
For my part, I realized I'd been fighting so hard to get back my old life that I'd ignored what was right in front of me in Haven: a place worth saving.
"I don't see Decimus anywhere," I noted.
Saint Peter smiled weakly. "He's been deactivated. He's back atop his column in front of the Pantheon."
"So we're not enemies?"
He sighed. "Listen, Talon, we're not the bad guys. You might see us as an evil mega-corporation, but we're just capitalists. We do things to make money and cover our asses when we inevitably cross the line. Your upload was by the book, one hundred percent. But then you recovered. It shocked everybody. You were never supposed to be activated in the first place, but someone somewhere cut corners. An opportunity to run additional tests was utilized."
"I'm just a tool to you. A testing routine."
He raised a hand in surrender. "Mistakes were made. But how can you be mad about it? If we didn't do it, you wouldn't exist."
"I'm more sore at the whole trying-to-delete-me part."
He frowned. "We are sorry about that. Try to look at it from our point of view. You're not a person. You don't have human rights. We considered you a loose end. A glitch. Now we realize you're much more."
"I don't get it. If I'm just a copy, doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of Heaven? The person who died doesn't truly live on."
"It's the same person," he countered. "Uniqueness isn't a requirement of sentience. And families will still appreciate being able to connect with those who pass on."
"But it's smoke and mirrors. A magic trick. It's not real."
Saint Peter stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Do you feel like smoke and mirrors, Talon?"
I didn't answer. He had a point. "I don't want anyone else coming after me," I added.
"No one else will. The decision has been made to let you live. Besides, your stunt with the beta flags forced our hand."
"You can't kill me anymore."
He chuckled. "I wouldn't go that far, but it's much more trouble than it's worth. Kablammy is willing to entertain a truce. But you must understand, for purposes of posterity and preservation of the prime directive, we cannot acknowledge you as a person. The real Tad Lonnerman is alive somewhere. He still has an open contract with Kablammy. He still has the potential to die and be uploaded here one day. His human rights must follow him."
For the first time, I thought of the real me as a separate, distinct person. Him and my brother. My living family. "I wouldn't ask for less," I said.
He nodded and held out his hand expectantly.
"Oh. Yeah."
I tossed the Eye of Orik to him. Saint Peter deftly scooped it into his palm.
"I don't want any more attempts against the Pantheon," he warned. "That kind of activity will violate our truce."
I nodded.
He turned to go but paused. "And no more deals with Lucifer."
I clenched my jaw. The white robes didn't have to worry on that score. I was gonna find the fallen angel all right, and when I did I wasn't gonna shake his hand.
Saint Peter flashed out of existence. Moments later, Stronghold thrummed with renewed power. The Eye had been returned to the tabernacle. The walls were impenetrable to pagans once again.
I gazed down on the city once more. My town. My life. I was rebooted now, no longer Tad Lonnerman, but Talon. A new person. A new mission. I was gonna make this work. From here on out, I was gonna fight and grind for every last thing I had left.
-Finn
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Character Sheets
Talon
Level
9
Class
Explorer
XP
49417
Kit
Scout
Next
74950
4
Strength
17
Strike
324
Agility
21
Dodge
360
Craft
6
Health
247 / 247
Essence
9
Spirit
207 / 207
Coin
Silver
142
Bars
166
Skills
8
Spear
3
Crossblock
2
Deadshot
3
Tornado Spin
1
Traversal
Dash
Vault
Scale
Proficiencies
Skilled
Searcher
Fledgling
Tracker
Reputation
Pagan
-1000
Kyle
Level
8
Class
Artisan
XP
44042
Kit
Brewmaster
Next
49300
5
Strength
14
Strike
188
Agility
5
Dodge
116
Craft
15
Health
132 / 132
Essence
8
Spirit
134 / 134
Izzy
Level
9
Class
Mystic
XP
57239
Kit
Frost Mage
Next
74950
3
Strength
8
Strike
166
Agility
13
Dodge
211
Craft
6
Health
130 / 130
Essence
21
Spirit
330 / 330
Haven Live Feed
Saint Peter
I would like to welcome the residents of Stronghold to the Haven Live Feed beta! Post your thoughts, feelings, and latest happenings. Just another way Kablammy works for you.
PS - If I see any mentions of duping or hacking, you will be blocked.
Talon
Cool, like Facebook!
Saint Peter
No, no. This is completely and legally distinct.
Lash
I want everybody to friend me. Now.
Domino Finn invites you to Like his page.
Izzy
One of these days...
Kyle
Uh, vaguebook much?
Izzy
Complain to my face, you big whiner.