by K. T. Hanna
She could feel the bile rise in her throat as the raid was reduced to nineteen members, and she took a deep breath to focus herself, moving closer to Sinister almost subconsciously. With Snowy pressed against her legs, she felt a modicum of safety. As much as she could with a massive creature about to crash down on top of all of them.
Murmur glanced over at Veranol, who was already looking at her. He nodded once, and she knew that he would extend his barrier to cover the raid or what was left of it when the creature fell. Finally, the Usurper’s health dipped below one percent, and if possible, the creature became even more irate.
Jinna fell, stabbed through his eye socket with a loose sharp hair. Jirald barely escaped the fight alive; it might have been better if he had died, considering it somehow managed to sever the rogue’s left arm. His screams of agony almost made her feel pity for him.
While her attention was diverted by the rogues, she noticed that Exbo’s life signs disappeared as well. They were down so many people now, almost half of the raid, but it didn’t matter, because with the DoTs that had built up on the creature alone, it would die even without the remainder of the raid doing any more damage.
But Merlin and his fellow rangers and Dansyn and the remaining bards increased their damage output by any means necessary, even at the loss of their health.
Finally, after what seemed like an age, with nobody above two percent mana and everyone perilously low on health, the Usurper finally fell in defeat. Veranol’s fantastic barrier saved about eight of them from being squished to death in the aftermath. Sinister managed to save Merlin with the last of her mana, but two other rangers died of DoTs.
Standing there, next to the corpse of the Usurper, Murmur felt decidedly small and very insignificant. While the raid had technically been a success, they’d lost more than half their people. It took several seconds for Somnia to catch up with what occurred in Vahrir.
Suddenly a barrage of information inundated her sight.
You receive one of the twelve keys.
You receive a getashi.
You receive a midia crystal.
You have completed the Vahrir dungeon as compiled by Sui, Murmur Version 22.248 triggered by Murmur of Fable
You have successfully completed the quest: Save the Cirician Queen
This version of the Vahrir dungeon will no longer be available.
You gain experience.
You gain experience for being the first to complete any version of the Vahrir dungeon.
You gain experience for choosing to complete the quest: Save the Cirician Queen.
You gain bonus experience for choosing a diplomatic route.
You gain bonus experience for attempting to heal the infected instead of mowing them down.
You gain bonus experience for each of the four Cirician drones you cleansed.
You gain bonus experience for freeing the Cirician queen from her prison.
You gain bonus experience for assisting your allies when the situation became dire.
You gain bonus experience for cleansing the hive.
You gain bonus experience for defeating Usurper.
You gain bonus experience for tackling the Vahrir dungeon before reaching maximum power.
You gain bonus experience for completing the Vahrir dungeon in one of the alternate versions.
You gain bonus experience for completing the first of the endgame dungeon chains.
You shall be rewarded.
You have hit level fifty.
Congratulations! You do not need to visit your trainer to gain your level fifty spells. Due to the nature of the high-level dungeons, you may not leave before venturing to the next stop. Please open your reward chests and find not only your individual rewards for completion of Vahrir, but also any relevant skills that you may have gained as a result of this.
Merlin was right; the notifications were getting so long, she basically needed her own game to read them. Maybe there should be a reward for actually reading through the whole string of them.
Then Murmur blinked.
Fuck.
She’d finally hit fifty.
Somnia Online
Mikrum Isle – Almost-Completed Fable Guild Headquarters
Late Day Twenty-Six
Murmur the Enchanter has reached level fifty. Please congratulate the first on the server to reach this milestone.
Devlish the dread knight has reached level fifty. He is the first of his class to reach this milestone.
Veranol the shaman has reached level fifty. He is the first of his class to reach this milestone.
Dansyn the bard has reached level fifty. His the first of his class to reach this milestone.
The dungeon of Vahrir has been completed. Please congratulate the guilds Fable, Exodus, and Spiral for completing this feat.
Telvar couldn’t help but crack a smile. He’d been worried that the guilds would have issues when trying to cooperate with another. They were very used to operating as the group of friends they were, which didn’t necessarily bode well for multi-guild cooperation. But it appeared he’d worried for nothing.
Emilarth was in the crafting hall speaking to Neva about what sort of ingredients she required to restock the guild stores. Luckily, even though the upper levels were out raiding the big dungeons, Fable had a lot of members between the levels of thirty and forty-five who were constantly replenishing the guild stores. Telvar knew they were going to need those supplies. If he’d read his coding correctly, the trap Belius set in the Vahrir dungeon was that upon completion they would be transported to the next dungeon on the list and therefore would be unable restock at home first.
One of the major downsides was that it meant the players couldn’t really go to sleep. Trying to complete Emilarth’s dungeon or even his own when they hadn’t had a chance to rest wasn’t going to be easy.
He stood up and brushed off imaginary dust. Riasli hadn’t been back to the island since her last visit, and Telvar was already feeling uneasy about her absence. It was as if in being absent she was telling him that she was up to something. And the worst part about it was Telvar had no idea how to put a stop whatever it was she was doing.
The lacerta AI walked into the building, surveying his and Hiro’s handiwork. The guildhall and island, including its drawbridge, were almost complete. But the definite pride and joy of the entire process had to be the crafting hall.
He stood in the wide doorway to observe the bustling epicenter of Fable’s crafting division. He wasn’t sure when Murmur or Beastial had come up with the concept for the crafting division. Nor was he sure when they had decided that they would have a separate crafting arm specifically dedicated to outfitting the guild. Perhaps that was something they’d done in previous games, but here it was what gave them their advantage. And no doubt it allowed them to help outfit their allies.
Telvar only hoped that they would be just as lucky with the second one dungeon.
“What’s on your mind, big brother?” Emilarth whispered softly in his ear, making him jump because he hadn’t been paying attention.
“That’s really annoying. You know that don’t you?” He eyed her warily. Considering until Belius began to rebel Emilarth had always been the prankster, he didn’t think being cautious around her was a bad thing. It wasn’t an evil kind of cautious, because she wasn’t that way. At least, he didn’t think she was. But he’d been wrong about Bel too.
Emilarth shrugged. “You know I am. The thing is, dear brother, I know that I annoy you, and that is why I do what I do.”
She grinned at him, a slight maniacal gleam in her feles eyes.
Then her expression turned serious and she frowned.
“Okay, what’s on your mind? You always get like this, and then you don’t tell me, and then our brother feeds you a huge getashi, and you end up all dragonfied and unable
to come out from your hoard without Murmur’s aid. So let’s nix that whole not telling me thing straight away. What is bugging you?”
Telvar sighed. She was right. He did have a lot of things on his mind, and even something that she could probably help him with. “I’m worried. Vahrir was coded to serve as a gateway to the other endgame dungeons. Until they finish all three, we can’t tell them where they get next three keys. Literally cannot. They’re tied to finish those dungeons or else be stuck in them. And all we can do is monitor their progress and hope the guild doesn’t run out of stores.”
Emilarth scrunched her brow and looked at him before laughing in a clear and pleasant sound. “Is that really what you think? I mean, sure, you’re right, we can only monitor them, but we can also talk to them. If needed, we can also guide them. And there’s nothing to say they can’t log out and rest. Stuck in the dungeons doesn’t mean they can’t camp out at the very beginning before they run into mobs. You’re worrying too much. So much, in fact, that you aren’t calculating clearly. Take a moment, do whatever you do that resembles taking a deep breath, and look at things from a different perspective.”
He wanted to scowl at her, but she was right, as usual. With a sigh, he headed in toward Neva without dignifying his sister’s lecture with a response. He even managed to ignore the laughter that trailed after him.
“Wait.” Risk still looked a little shaken after witnessing his daughter’s dismemberment. He was obviously still reading through the multitude of messages in the notification that appeared after they had cleared the dungeon. A scowl crossed his face, replacing the concern and made him look like a thundercloud. “Are you trying to tell me you get this amount of notifications every single time you clear a dungeon?”
Merlin, who was a little preoccupied by the fact that he was a mere sliver from fifty, raised an eyebrow and gave Risk half of his attention. “Well, yeah. I mean, we’ve been approaching them a little differently since Murmur’s hidden skills allowed her to sense feelings, motivations, et cetera. Instead of slaying everything in our path, we found workarounds, most of which have been more rewarding.”
Masha frowned as he looked at his own HUD. “But you get this much experience for completing the dungeon in a different and unusual way. Instead of receiving somewhat smaller rewards along the way and potentially more drops, every single person receives a chest at the end of the raid?”
Devlish shrugged, obviously elated with having hit fifty himself. “I guess you could put it that way, but we don’t always get a chest each. It really depends on the way we solve the dungeon. But if there wasn’t a chest each, there always appeared to be something for each of us.”
Jirald sauntered over, his curved daggers hung at his hips their black blades gleaming in the now golden light exuded by the hive as it hung over the abyss. “No wonder you leveled so fast,” he said, venom of his own dripping out of his voice. “You’ve been cheating the whole time.”
Sinister laughed. It was a loud, cascading sound that shook the small blood mage visibly, and it appeared to be catching. Several of the other raid members close by couldn’t help smiling or chuckling as well. “Sorry, you’ve got it all wrong. Do you know how much easier it is to just hack and slash at things? Like, it’s so much easier if all I had to do was engage a heal rotation. That’s not all I need here, and thinking on my feet while avoiding offending everything close to me is more difficult than just killing everything I see. And I’m a blood mage—I do enjoy my damage.”
Murmur didn’t intervene as she sat back and watched the guilds interact. Mainly because she didn’t want to draw attention to herself. Jirald was already a hothead and out for her blood; she didn’t need to raise his ire. Although she was ready to jump into the middle of it if he even looked at Sinister sideways. Her healing during that raid had been exemplary. Murmur wasn’t even sure she would have been able to pull some of that crap off back in her healer days.
Veranol spoke up. “Somnia has open-ended quests and therefore open-ended dungeons shouldn’t be a big surprise. It is your choice as a gamer, and therefore your choice as a raider and raid, to decide how it is you wish to approach the obstacles in your path. We simply chose options that required us to use resources that don’t necessarily involve our weapons.”
He shrugged, eyeing his mace with a proud smile. Murmur appreciated that he didn’t add they’d also been avoiding death where possible for a while, unsure of whether or not she could die in-game. Since it had been solved, she didn’t like to think about it much anymore.
When Jirald went to speak again, Veranol held up his mace, asking for silence. “Look, we get it, you like to think you’re the best at what you do, and maybe you are. But our guild, our friendship, and our approach is all based on group thinking, and we don’t take kindly to it when our members think they have to shoulder everything themselves.”
Murmur hoped Veranol couldn’t see she was blushing. He was calling her out something chronic and she knew it. Her whole guild knew it. But she sat back toying with the lock on her chest, debating when she should open it and find her reward.
Veranol continued. “That was excellent teamwork from all of us. No one here should feel slighted by the fact that they previously weren’t aware there were other options to a dungeon than simply slaughtering the monsters in front of them. Anyway, I’ve hit fifty, and so have a few others. I’d like some time to go through my new abilities and figure out what the fuck is the best for me to use from now on. If you need to interrupt me, it better be worth it.” And the shaman turned his back, sat down on the ground, and pulled a heap of scrolls out of his chest, promptly ignoring everyone else.
Murmur choked down a big grin as Sinister meandered over to sit with the enchanter. Now was probably a good time to open her spoils of war. But before she could, Murmur’s sensing nets picked up a mob approaching them. It was the Cirician queen.
Turning to face the strange creature, Mur smiled softly. “Hey, what can we do for you?”
The queen’s multifaceted eyes blinked momentarily as if she was mulling over exactly what to say to her saviors. “We thank you for assisting us in eradicating the infection that threatened our species. For this assistance, we would like to reward you with our alliance. Should you ever need us, all you have to do is call on the Cirician alliance and we and the allies we have will come to your aid.”
Murmur blinked at the queen. She hadn’t expected this, considering that each raider received a loot chest and copious amounts of experience. But as Somnia evolved, she guessed this was just going to be part of it. As the different species went off-script and became more of their own entity instead of a part of the game, the diversity would ultimately benefit that world as a whole.
Exactly.
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Somnia, Mur smiled and inclined her head slightly, showing her respect for the queen. “Thank you. And should you encounter such trouble again, please don’t hesitate to call on us.”
Alliance formed.
You have formed an alliance with the Cirician roundtable. Multiple species throughout Somnia belong to this alliance. Do not treat this lightly; honor your bond, and the benefits of your alliance will grow.
Murmur blinked at the notification. First time for everything. The evolution of Somnia seemed to agree with Fable. Murmur inclined her head again as the queen began to back away and turned to see Sinister eyeing her quizzically.
“What?” she asked a little defensively.
Sinister shrugged with a smile and dragged her own chest over so they could open them together. “Nothing, just sometimes you surprise me. You’d never be this nice to people in the real world.”
Even though Sinister said the latter with a smile, Murmur couldn’t help but admit it was true.
“Well, the people here are nicer.” Murmur nudged her friend’s shoulder and didn’t break contact. It allowed them to remain sitting side-b
y-side, taking in each other’s warmth and presence. In a world that was falling apart, Murmur would take any time with Sinister she could get.
After a few moments, Sinister spoke again. “Good point. But you know what’s really annoying? That I am so bloody close to fifty and yet still so far away.”
Murmur snaked an arm around Sinister’s shoulders and squeezed, giving her a longer hug than necessary that neither of them wanted to break. She spoke softly, letting her breath brush Sinister’s hair. “We’ll get you there. I’m not going anywhere without you.”
Reluctantly, after a few moments they pulled away from each other and turned toward their chests. After all, what was the point of going through all that trouble to defeat the huge Usurper and not looking at their rewards?
Opening her chest, Murmur was surprised to find a new headpiece. The pale crystal circlet sat on a velvet pillow. It looked suspiciously like a crown, and Murmur wasn’t sure she wanted to wear something that looked like that. It appeared to change color depending on the way the light hit it. Picking it up gingerly, she examined it.
White Gold Amethyst Circlet of Mana Wielding
15 INT
20 CHA
20 MA
This item increases your mana regeneration by fifteen every five seconds. It also boosts your Mana Drain by fifteen percent.
With those stats, she’d wear ten of them and not care that they all looked like crowns. Lifting off her previous headpiece, she realized that this amplified the rest of the set that Neva had made. Since Neva had essentially created her ring, necklace, and bracelet, it seemed the game had adopted a player’s creations. She couldn’t wait to show the crafter.