by Andrew Novak
“Hey, stay out of sight!” a voice sounded from above. “Come here, but be careful.”
The old man was hiding in the deckhouse. Jack joined him. From there, the view was even better, but Goodwin wasn’t admiring the vista. He was sitting on the floor, occasionally peeking out.
“Omegas were wandering around in the ruins nearby, a few people,” he explained. “One was very big. When the sun rose higher, they left.”
“Big? It might have been Carl,” Jack said. “Did you see a one-eyed guy with him?”
“I think so, yeah. I was afraid of being seen, so I didn’t get a good look. But it seemed to me that one had a bandage across his face.”
“That makes it a little easier. That’s Peter… although he probably shouldn’t know that we are here, either. I’m going to contact Egghead. What do you think?”
“I wouldn’t tell anybody that we managed to survive. Don’t talk to anyone, for that matter. Lay low.”
Jack again felt queasy. “In less than a week, I’m going to be lying very low in a forever kind of way if we do nothing, you get me? I’ll have to show myself to someone, and Egghead seems to me to be the safest option. He is interested and we have a mutually beneficial enterprise in Alterra. If you’re going to sit here inside, then we need to at least think about food. He can send some. And I need his expertise.”
Jack went down to the hold to Goodwin’s hideout. Lots of stuff to do. Where should he start? And there was Peter… He and his people, what were they doing near the shore? Hoping that his dear friend Jack had survived and was in need of help? Yeah, he wouldn’t count on that. Rather, he had probably hoped that Jack had the infragun during the chase and that he’d find it lying on the bank. Probably so.
Well, it was good that he was so interested. Motivation was important for future negotiations. Jack was expecting that sooner or later Shifty would deliver Brandt to him. In any case, how else would it go? Certainly, it wasn’t easy to sell out your partner, but Peter was a clever man, right? If he had time to think about it, then he would definitely come to the right decision.
After all, he was up to his neck in friends. He himself bragged that he got along with the entire ghetto. And this infragun was the only prototype. When you have so many friends, you can afford to lose one in exchange for a unique little thing like the infragun.
Never mind. He could worry about Peter later. Right now, it was time for Alterra and its Great Mysteries.
First things first, he wrote a message to Egghead:
My plans have changed. Ruger is dead, and I’m looking for another way. But it doesn’t change our agreement. I went to Ged’s temple and lit the fire there. That’s after I had fought the War Hound. The drop was a Fiery Heart. When I entered the temple, Ged’s ghost appeared. Deigned to address a mere mortal, can you imagine? Anyway, he tried to dissuade me, wanted me to abandon the quest. But I remembered Necta’s warning and ignored him. In the temple I was attacked by a dead priest, who also tried to stop me. That loot was a flying priest’s dagger. It’s not for sale right now, but if you pick up info on these artifacts it would be awesome and would save us time in the future. And one more thing. What did you learn about Brandt? I need any and all information about him and the Battle Seekers. Oh, and also about his primary hideout in real life. Had he already left the Presbyterian church? Where did he move to?
If Sartorius showed up in the game only in the evenings, and Egghead was hanging out in Alterra now and not checking his mail in the Shell, then Jack had some time to kill. Jack checked his pockets. Bah. His old cloak which now rested in its radioactive tomb was far better than this jacket Egghead had given him. That cloak was like a good person — modest in appearance, but with a rich inner nature. It had cost him a whole revolver! And now all that was left from his combat gear was the folding knife.
Jack walked through the hold, checked the cabins, then peered out cautiously at the deck. He didn’t see anything that would work. Exposed to the Barrier emitters or not, the omegas had long ago made away with anything that would help him in his tête-à-tête with Brandt.
Nothing he could do about it. He’d have make do with what he had. With this thought in mind, Jack fell back to sleep. It was unwise to spend precious hours of his life dreaming, but he was planning to deal with matters at night, and the disease was already making its presence felt. Weakness overcame him. It was unusual.
Later that day, Jack woke up and hurried to turn on the console. Egghead had sent him a long message — essentially, about everything he’d managed to dig up concerning Brandt and his guild. The Battle Seekers owned lands in the northeast of Havian where the state bordered the lands of the Lahitte nomads. The seekers had bought three small castles there trying to expand their holdings along the border. With those castles, of course, came peasants who attended to the farming. So, not counting NPCs, omegas from Astoria and Woodside were farming for Brandt.
There. That’s where his lair was. Still, the Seekers primarily engaged in selling horses that the nomadic clans of Sepheron and Berch bred. Well that, and fighting with these nomads, of course. The pet trade was a lucrative business, and the Seekers were competing with other guilds wanting to break into it. Brandt was attempting to become an exclusive supplier of horses, but had so far been unable to.
Jack took note of this. Any attack on Brandt should start in Alterra, distract his players from real life and force him to pay more attention to the game. He had money in the game, as well as big plans.
With regard to the real world, Egghead wrote, it was much more modest. Brandt’s gang traded in the usual omega things — cooking drugs, intercepting consignments, and so on. But that was kind of like a side business. The key was the pet trade in Alterra.
After reading the message, Jack was even more certain that his first strike needed to happen in-game. After all, it was Brandt’s main commercial interest. He wouldn’t take an attack on his castles lightly.
His people were still in the Presbyterian church. That is, he himself had returned to his own Cluster, but seized the building and kept his men there. A few people. They prowled the neighborhood and got on the locals’ nerves, particularly Sango.
As for the artifacts that Jack had picked up, Egghead asked for more time. The Fiery Heart of the War Hound was too rare to allow into circulation immediately. First, he needed to find out the details, dig around in the old legends, and find someone who wanted to fork out the maximum price. It was truly a unique artifact, so they couldn’t sell it for too little.
Alright, work on it, replied Jack. I’m hoping that there will be a new item tomorrow. While you’re at it, how can I contact Romeo, the mob boss in Murray Hill that Brandt commandeered the church from?
Egghead was online. He responded right away,
I am amazed at the scope of your interests. I’ll find you a way to Romeo, not a problem.
And then came another letter, this one from Sartorius.
Jack, you found it, after all! The Great Mystery Of Alterra! Of course, I want to know everything. I’m logging into Alterra right now and I’ll head out on the first ship I can scrounge.
Sartorius was generous with the exclamation points. That was a good sign. Jack even smiled entering the game although, to be honest, he was far from happy.
* * *
The Dead Wind hurtled at full sail, and the jagged, dark strip of shore already blackened the horizon.
“Wind, where are we? What’s our course? Nightmare?”
“Yes, Master. What are you commands?”
“We should be meeting a vessel coming from Nightmare, and we may take passengers on board. But don’t approach the coast. I need only one passenger, and not a gang of pirate-necromancers.”
“As you wish, Master.”
Jack freed the goblins from their box and allowed them to jump around a little on the lines as they liked to do after being confined for a while. Then he sent a lookout up the mast. Sartorius wasn’t in chat, but Jack sent him a message,
<
br /> I can see the shore of Nightmare. Don’t want to approach because you’re not the only necromancer who wants to chat with me.
Half an hour later, Sartorius wrote a reply,
Leaving for the sea.
Just then, the goblin on the mast screeched. It had seen a sail.
The Dead Wind steered to meet the vessel as it approached. Sartorius was standing on the foredeck of a small boat, clutching the rigging, his eyes devouring the black schooner. It had been his dream, which had already come true, but had been yanked out of his outstretched hands at the last moment. And here was that dream again before him.
The mage must have chartered the ship with a crew of NPCs, to avoid prying eyes.
“Hi, Jack!” Sartorius waved to him once the vessel was near. He had exchanged his mage costume for black robes, but otherwise he hadn’t changed. He was still soft and round. “Where’s Lisa? Doesn’t she want to see me?”
He was taking great pains to be friendly and spoke to please Jack. But this was a misstep.
“She’s not here. Come up on board. You worked so long toward this ship. You probably want to check it out.”
The two ships dropped their sails and stood next to each other. Sartorius’s crew gazed incredulously at the goblins galloping along the deck of the Dead Wind. They made faces and minced around, trying to give the sailors the strong impression that the schooner was a much cooler ship. But the NPCs were absolutely unfazed by this fact. They moored carefully to the side of the black schooner and kept quiet.
Sartorius jumped over to Jack and admired his surroundings. They remained quiet for a few minutes.
“So, this, then, is the very ship that knows the way to Gaerthon,” Sartorius finally said.
“Yep, this is it. Please meet the Dead Wind. And yes, we — the ship, my goblins, and I — have all been to the forgotten continent. No one else. Did you hear what happened to Ruger?”
Sartorius’s smile disappeared. Unwittingly he cast a guarded look to his right and left, as if someone was watching him even here, in the middle of the ocean. This was the natural reaction of a man who would have acted exactly the same in real life.
“I did. It’s all people can talk about. I mean, Ruger! No one knows how it could have happened. They say it was an accident, something about an equipment failure, an emergency… and nobody saw him dead. Maybe he’s still alive and this is all some kind of trick?”
“I watched it happen,” Jack interrupted. “And everything was very clear. His ship was downed over the East River, shot by an emitter. A Barrier emitter, from behind. The ray hit the nozzles on the stern and everything exploded in an instant. The ship fell into the water. I saw Ruger’s body. Lisa is dead, too. She was murdered in the ghetto.”
Sartorius, who wanted to say something about Ruger, stopped short and gasped.
“How… er… Jack, I… I’m so sorry… Really. I really am very sorry.”
“Save it. I remember that you two didn’t get along right from the start. Now, it’s not important. What is important that we were one team, a guild. You, Lisa, and me. And Ruger Eckerhart, though he wasn’t with us at the time. He also visited Gaerthon. Now the only one left alive is me. And I don’t have much time. I’ve been poisoned. I’m going to die in a few days. So much has happened.”
Perplexed, Sartorius stared at Jack, soundlessly moving his lips. He was struggling to say something but apparently couldn’t find the words.
“Do you want to get to Gaerthon?” asked Jack. “We could go right now. I’m dying and soon there will be no one left who can step ashore on the lost continent. I want to make a final act of kindness and show you Gaerthon. But I have a contract with… well, I agreed not to give anyone the coordinates or show them the way, et cetera. Are you willing to keep it a secret? Not give Gaerthon’s coordinates to anyone until the player who holds my contract allows you to?”
It seemed like something had snatched Sartorius’s breath away IRL. He just nodded silently but vigorously.
“Then I must inform my partner. I can’t open a chat from here. I’m going to try through the Shell.”
Jack left Sartorius to suffer impatiently on the deck while he went into the cabin and logged into the Shell. There, he quickly typed a message to Egghead:
You don’t mind if I bring Sartorius with me to Gaerthon, do you? If I can’t be your artifacts supplier, he will take my place. Give him the same terms as you agreed to with me. We have a contract between us, and I’m asking for your consent.
Reading Egghead’s response, Jack imagined the fat man grinning mischievously. He understood everything. They didn’t call him Egghead for nothing.
In my opinion, you’re not really asking for my consent. Rather, you’re putting me on notice. So, Sartorius is your backup plan for crossing the Barrier? Well, things must be very bad indeed for you if you’re relying on that little weenie.
Jack scratched the back of his head. It’s bad, you’re right. But I’ve got nothing better and no time to spare. So, I’m taking him to Gaerthon. Tomorrow, expect new trophies. Under my leadership, Sartorius will do great things and capture the best loot.
Fine, take him, Egghead replied. Like I have a choice in the matter! And the Fiery Heart is proving to be a difficult task. I found one buyer, an alpha, collector and connoisseur. Right now I’m trying to bring him up to the right price. He’s almost ready to give, so the Heart needs to be ready. It would be ideal if I already had it in my possession. Tomorrow, no later. Check the attachment, it’s Romeo’s address. He’s a very angry man right now, mind you. He’s fed up with Brandt, but doesn’t want to risk war with a madman. Good luck on Gaerthon!
Jack promptly dashed off a message to Romeo,
Hi, this is Jack the Tramp. I thought you might be an alright guy, since you had your men fix my door. So I decided that I can trust you. Want to increase your debt to me? I’ll help you deal with Brandt Ironfist. You won’t even have to meet with him, and he’ll leave your Cluster alone. For good, you understand? But you must do as I say and when I tell you. No risk, but it’ll directly benefit you. Don’t take too long to think about it because the deal has to happen very quickly or not at all.
He could end the message on that. Settling the score with Brandt would require much more serious preparation, but Sartorius was waiting. Right now, he needed to inspire the mage with the story of Theokrist’s Journey, so that he felt he couldn’t live without this quest. Otherwise, Jack wouldn’t live.
Funny how things turned out.
* * *
When Jack stepped out of the cabin onto the deck, Sartorius was waiting in front of the door. “Well?”
“Permission granted,” Jack nodded importantly. “You can release your ship. Give the crew to the skipper.”
Sartorius paid the NPCs who had delivered him to the black schooner. The goblins bade their own farewell to the departing ship with squeals and silly faces.
Jack, on the other hand, was very serious. “Dead Wind, set a course for Gaerthon! Maximum speed! So, my friend, it will take us all night to cross and we’ll have plenty of time for the story of my adventures. Listen carefully and try to remember because, besides me, there will be nobody to repeat it. Ruger and Lisa are gone, so…”
Sartorius nodded, clearly embarrassed, “Yes, I’m sorry, but I really want to ask you one more question.”
“Shoot.”
“How were you able to witness Ruger’s death? If you can talk about it, that is. I understand that it’s a delicate topic. But if you can?”
“I can,” Jack sighed. “Ruger was flying over to take me to New Atrium. There’s a cure for me there. I don’t know how much longer I can hang on, and he wanted to continue the lost continent quest. I’ll explain now why it won’t work without me. I made some kind of deal with Dark Necta. A personal deal. I got her blessing, her weapon, and the quest from her personally, not through a priestess. You might say we’ve become friends, I suppose. We meet sometimes, talk heart to heart, all that.”<
br />
“With the Goddess? She’s controlled by the AI. Although… Yes, I understand. The AI has some freedom within its specified parameters. And it’s self-learning. Therefore, Necta may be capable of independent decisions.”
“Well, she’s had a falling-out with the other gods,” Jack continued. “Necta told me that they are not who they claim to be. So, basically, the woman’s in a tough spot. One against the Four Younger Gods. She needs the help of a real man. Her choice fell on me.”
Jack paused for effect, then continued,
“Therefore, I’m the only one who can complete her quest. Without me, Gaerthon is just a gray place on a map. There may be some local quests, some loot… but without me it’s just peanuts. I’m on the path to unlocking the Great Mysteries of Alterra. When we light the fire in Astra’s temple, you’ll see the sign for yourself. This is why Ruger was going to bring me over the Barrier — to learn more and help me in my task. Only now it’s impossible.”
Jack tried to say these words nonchalantly. He stared out at the sea, all the while watching Sartorius from the corner of his eye.
The mage wanted to say something… but didn’t dare. He raised his head, then lowered it and stared at the deck. Finally he mumbled:
“I don’t know how he was going to do it. In New Atrium, there are tracking sensors everywhere. Without the chip, you wouldn’t be able to take one step across the border. Of course, that was the kind of person Ruger Eckerhart was. Around him, I felt… I don’t even know how to describe it. A certain energy, a vitality that radiated from him. It was evil but very powerful. He was very much alive even though already old. He always got whatever he wanted. He acted as if obstacles didn’t exist and… he just took what he wanted.”
“That’s for sure. He probably scrounged a chip, too,” Jack nodded. “But he’s dead, so what’s there to say? Now listen. I’ll tell you about Theokrist’s Journey. It’s the quest that leads to the Great Mysteries of Alterra.