Neverfall: The Dark Path (Book 2): A Gamelit Lit RPG Series

by C. Wintertide

  Neverfall: The Dark Path (Book 2)

  A Gamelit Lit RPG Series

  C. Wintertide

  Contents

  The Dark Path

  1. WHAT’S HAPPENED IN NEVERFALL SO FAR

  2. GONE

  3. OBJECT LESSON

  4. GETTING STARTED

  5. BATTLE MAGES NEED NOT APPLY

  6. TOO HIGH A PRICE?

  7. QUESTS, QUESTS, AND MORE QUESTS

  8. THE GLOWING PATH

  9. THE TEST OF THE TEMPLE OF THE HUNTRESS

  10. SHORT CUT

  11. ANIMAL FRIENDSHIP

  12. MUSHROOM PICKING

  13. DRAGON KING

  14. IN THE BLOOD

  15. DRAIN

  16. DARKNESS FALLS

  17. TALES AROUND THE CAMPFIRE

  18. BODYGUARD

  19. ALLY OR ENEMY?

  20. NATURE OF A CLERIC

  21. SHADOW

  22. WELCOME PARTY

  23. OBSERVED

  24. LOCK

  25. TWIST

  26. KEY

  27. RECKONING

  28. YIELD

  29. THE DARK PATH

  The Dark Path

  Dragon Prince, will you choose the Light Path or the Dark? Neverfall does not forgive weakness. It will take everything--and everyone--from you unless you have the power to conquer it.

  Luke is haunted by his friends’ near deaths when they faced off against the much stronger Beta player, Manon. While he was able to strike down Manon, and revive his friends using his Special Ability, Dragon Call, he knows that he cannot depend upon the Ancient Black Dragon Asharoth to always save them in the dangerous and unforgiving world of Neverfall.

  So when Luke discovers that there are two different magical paths to be taken in the game--the Light and the Dark--he realizes that he has a very serious choice to make. At least, he thinks he has a choice. But does being the Dark Lord’s son mean that he’s already aligned with the darkness? And does Luke, as a potential Dark Path walker, face greater dangers than he realizes?

  1

  WHAT’S HAPPENED IN NEVERFALL SO FAR

  Mysterious billionaire, Xander Mallory, created the first virtual reality, massive multiplayer role playing game in the world called Neverfall Online. The game is played in the mind, so that the players experience Neverfall just like they do the real world. But like all such great undertakings, there are risks, and some of those risks proved fatal.

  Weeks from releasing to the general public, a young, healthy Beta player in Neverfall died from an unexplained heart attack. It was theorized that she had turned off all of the safety measures that reminded her brain that Neverfall was just a game when she was killed in a fight with a powerful boss known as the Lich King. But Mallory thought something else happened. Despite the pleas of his best friend and fellow creator of Neverfall, Dr. Richard Armitage, Mallory went into the game and recreated what happened to the Beta player.

  Mallory though did not die.

  Instead, he respawned as the Dark Lord, the ultimate villain of the game, with no memory of who he really is or that Neverfall isn’t real. The other Beta players soon come to believe the same. The Dark Lord locked out the developers from the game, and locked himself and the Beta players in.

  But there is a backdoor that only one person can access: Luke Stephens--Mallory’s son.

  Luke Stephens is an 18-year-old senior in high school. It’s been him and his mom, Jessica, against the world for as long as he can remember. His father supposedly died before he was born. But he may soon become an orphan. Jessica is dying of breast cancer, and her last chance of beating it, a drug trial, has turned her down. Between that, and the money running out, Luke isn’t sure whether his mother will lose his life, or they will lose their home first.

  But then the mysterious Dr. Armitage shows up on their doorstep with an offer, and the money they desperately need. He tells Luke that not only is his father alive, but that he is Luke’s hero: Xander Mallory. Jessica explains that she kept this information from Luke because Mallory and Dr. Armitage are dangerous men, and she was trying to keep him safe.

  Dr. Armitage convinces Luke to use the backdoor, and enter Neverfall to save his father and the Beta players. He insists that his friends, Mack, Cassie and Christopher go with him. The plan? All Luke needs to do is to go into the game--already set up as the highest-level character with companions who are also maxed out--and defeat the Dark Lord in the final battle. During the game’s natural reset, the Neverfall team will insert the correct code that will fix the bug that is affecting his father and the Beta players, and everyone will be released.

  Except it doesn’t go that way.

  Luke and his friends enter the game at Level 1 in the first of Five Kingdoms of the game with only one of the promised six Neverfall security personnel as support. The functionality to save or quit the game is completely inaccessible. At first, Luke cannot even contact anyone from Neverfall. They are locked in the game, just like his father and the Beta players are, but they, at least, know that Neverfall is a game. Yet that doesn’t mean they can’t die in it.

  Though Luke starts nearly powerless, he soon discovers he has strange gifts, like the ability to see who are Beta players as opposed to NPCs, create portals to different kingdoms, and call the ancient black dragon, Asharoth, to fight for him.

  Luke and his friends managed to defeat Reeve Manon, one of the Beta players his father sent to collect him, but only after Luke’s friends are killed. Though his friends are revived, Luke is haunted by their deaths, and his powerlessness to stop it from happening in the first place.

  So when he finally receives a Help Chat from the Neverfall devs telling him that, while they are working on the problem, the only sure way for Luke and his friends to escape Neverfall is to defeat the Dark Lord like originally planned, Luke realizes that they must level up as fast as they can.

  And he will do anything, even delve into the darkness, to become powerful enough to keep his friends safe.

  2

  GONE

  The gray-cloaked thing tittered at Luke Stephens from the edge of the sunken temple. The ancient black dragon, Asharoth, had wrenched out the massive tree whose roots had made up the temple’s ceiling to reveal them to the night air. It had then burned the Beta player, Reeve Manon--or really Marty Fleumenbaum, and how was that as a villain’s name?--to a crisp for Luke. The smell of Marty’s charred flesh still hung heavy in the air, even though his body had disappeared.

  After Asharoth had flown away, the tittering thing had appeared and collected Marty’s soul in its wooden box. Luke wished that Asharoth was still there. They needed the ancient black dragon now. He instinctively knew that they were not strong enough to kill the tittering thing.

  With the tree gone, bone-white moonlight shone down on the temple’s interior, making it almost as bright as day. The light allowed Luke to see more of the tittering thing. It regarded him and his friends from within its voluminous gray hood. It held the wooden box containing Marty’s soul in hands that had abnormally long fingers. The skin stretched over the digits was an unhealthy gray color veined with phosphorescent green veins, similar to the fungi that inhabited the sewers and other underground places of Lethbridge. Its nails were sharpened to points and were stained black. With poison? With rot? Luke didn’t know, and he didn’t want to find out.

  “Who the hell is that?” Duncan MacDougall AKA “Mack” asked in his rich Scottish brogue.

  Of all of them, Mack should have known who it was as he had the Perception Perk, which could identify the stats for monsters and characters. But perha
ps the tittering thing was too powerful for Mack to scan. Maybe it could hide its abilities from them.

  “You mean what the hell is that?” Cassie Saito corrected him, and spun her daggers nervously in both hands.

  “Who? What? Does it matter? It means us harm us. You saw what it did to Marty,” Christopher Saito, pointed out.

  Christopher was Cassie’s twin brother, but was as different from her as night was to day. While she relished the life of a wood elf rogue, with its stealing loot and backstabbing her enemies, he wouldn’t even raise a hand against the monsters that attacked them, including the tittering thing. He would only cast defensive and healing spells.

  “It is out of range of our weapons,” Alicia Lopez growled.

  Her orc face was screwed up in disgust because she could not bash the tittering thing into a fine paste with her cudgel. She was a warrior, a soldier in the military in real life, but her fighting prowess and strength could do nothing for them here and now. Maybe Luke’s magic could reach the tittering thing, but would his spells be strong enough to do any damage?

  “Is it a Beta player, Luke?” Mack asked. “Can you see the Matrix thing over it?”

  Luke could glimpse an occasional Matrix-like fall of ones and zeroes over the people in the game who were Beta players, while all the non-player characters, or NPCs, remained static. They couldn’t kill the Betas, because the Betas might die in real life due to the shock of their deaths in the game. But even as Luke narrowed his eyes there was no change to the tittering thing. It was an NPC. That was the one good thing.

  “No, definitely not a Beta player, so we can kill it if we have to,” Luke told them. “But if you can’t see its stats, Mack, I’m thinking it might be too powerful for us to defeat.”

  “Maybe we could talk to it?” Christopher asked, his pacifist nature coming through.

  But Luke did have the Persuasion Perk, so maybe he could reach this thing, and avoid a fight they might not be able to win.

  “Yeah, here goes nothing.” Luke stepped towards the tittering thing.

  His mind tugged at him then. Something was wrong. He thought--or maybe remembered was the right word--that the tittering thing should have looked directly at him before rasping out, “Give my most esteemed greetings to your father, Dragon Prince.”

  Then it should have turned and left.

  But it didn’t say those words, and it didn’t leave.

  It stayed, and said something quite different, “Dragon Prince, will you choose the Light Path or the Dark? Neverfall does not forgive weakness. It will take everything--and everyone--from you unless you have the power to conquer it.”

  “What are you talking about? Dragon Prince? Paths?” Luke shouted.

  “I wonder if you even have a choice about your path. I see so much of your father in you,” it cackled.

  Luke straightened up and swallowed sharply. His father. Xander Mallory. The Dark Lord. His mind flashed on two very different images of his father. The first was that of Xander Mallory, mysterious billionaire game designer in his black pullovers and tailored slacks, who spoke about the wonders of Neverfall with an almost religious zeal. The second image was of the armor-clad Dark Lord, his father’s persona in the game, who crushed his enemies under his booted heel without a care. Both versions were be rather terrifying. Luke was nothing like either of those versions of the man.

  “That’s not true!” Luke yelled.

  The tittering thing tapped the box. “If Manon could be resurrected for you to kill again, tell me, would you spare him once more? I think you would reach for the darkness and drain him.”

  Luke opened his mouth to reject that statement. But his lips fell closed without a word leaving them. Would he spare Marty? Some part of him wanted to end the Beta player and the threat he posed forever.

  But he would die in real life! That would mean I’m a murderer. But if I had to do it to save my friends… yes, yes, I would do it. He’s right.

  “Of course Luke would spare Marty! He did not kill him before! He wouldn’t again! Luke’s a good person! He preserves life! He doesn’t just take it!” Christopher shouted loyally.

  “A high elf cleric who values preserving life! How strange!” the tittering thing chuckled.

  Luke frowned. Christopher chose to be a cleric because of that class’ enhanced ability to heal, but this thing seemed to be indicating the cleric class in Neverfall was something very different. But Luke didn’t have time to ask it more questions. For with another titter, the thing opened the box again.

  “Let’s see how pacifist all of you are when your souls are at stake,” it laughed shrilly.

  And then Luke heard Mack cry out. He spun towards him just as Mack fell to his knees, before toppling onto his back.

  “Mack?! What’s happening to him? Oh, my God, no!” Cassie cried as she leaped towards their friend.

  A mask of white smoke issued from Mack’s lips before hovered above his bearded face. Mack’s eyes were staring at it as if he was seeing something precious being taken from him. More smoke issued from Mack’s parted lips. Cassie slapped a hand over Mack’s mouth to stop the smoke from escaping, but it snuck between her fingers and around the outside of her palm.

  “His soul! It’s taking his soul!” Christopher cried, as he rushed to Mack’s side as well.

  “Mack’s dying! I--I can’t stop it!” Cassie cried. She clutched Mack to her. “Christopher, do something! Can’t you do something with your healing?”

  “Yes! Maybe! I don’t know! I’ll try!” The crystal on the top of Christopher’s staff began to glow as he spun that staff in front of him faster and faster. Red light poured from the staff and flowed into Mack, but his soul kept streaming out of his body.

  “Sad that you won’t be able to use his body and soul in any of your little spells, eh, cleric?” the thing taunted.

  Christopher didn’t respond. He just continued to heal Mack, but the smoke--Mack’s soul--just poured out of him like water through a sieve.

  This is wrong! This didn’t happen! I saved them! The tittering thing left us alone!

  But whatever his memories of this moment were, he couldn’t deny that Mack’s soul was being ripped from his body. He was the only one who had a chance to stop it. Asharoth had crushed Marty. It could destroy this tittering thing, too.

  “Dragon Call!” he cried, using the words that would summon the ancient black dragon, Asharoth. “DRAGON CALL!”

  But his HUD informed him that, We’re sorry, but you can’t use the Special Ability, Dragon Call, at this time as your Special Ability meter has not yet filled.

  “What’s wrong? Where is the big black dragon?” Alicia demanded.

  Luke’s tongue clove to the roof of his mouth, but he got out, “My Special Ability bar isn’t filled! I can’t summon Asharoth!”

  Mack’s warm brown eyes became covered with white cataracts as his soul was fully stripped from him. Luke jumped in front of that last bit of smoke as it streamed towards the tittering thing’s box, but it just slid around him. Mack’s body went completely limp. His skin was pale as milk instead of its usual ruddy color. And then… Mack’s body simply disappeared, leaving his axe, a scattering of coins, and some potions on the ground.

  Mack was gone.

  “No!” Luke reached towards where Mack had been, but there was nothing there to touch or hold onto.

  This is wrong!

  It was wrong. It was all wrong. How were they back in the temple and not at The Drunken Dwarf Inn celebrating their victory over Marty? They’d escaped from here, alive, and well. But now Mack was gone.

  Christopher looked bleak, sinking down onto his knees. “I need to learn how to revive people. That’s the next spell I’ll choose. I promise.” He then covered his face with his hands and began to weep.

  Cassie sobbed, “Mack! Oh, my God, Mack! He’s gone--he’s gone--”

  “No, that thing has him!” Alicia cried.

  She lifted her cudgel above her bald green head. Using all
of her orcish strength, she threw it directly at the tittering thing. The thing dodged, but the cudgel struck its left shoulder. Yet the powerful blow caused only a single red one to float upwards above its form. The thing’s health bar appeared above its head. It was huge and a different color than the others in the game, which indicated to Luke that there was likely a shield or it had multiple transformations. Luke’s stomach dropped into his feet.

  Yet despite the lack of real damage, she’d made the thing angry. It hissed at Alicia, “You are a crude instrument, orc. Your soul though will be turned into something sublime!”

  Alicia though ignored the taunt, and grasped Luke’s arm before shaking him. “Come, we must stop this!”

  Luke was staring at his HUD, focused on the Special Ability bar. It was still empty. “There’s no stopping this thing without Dragon Call.”

  “We have to try! Will you die on your feet or on your knees, Luke?” Alicia’s dark gaze pinned him.

  Luke nodded. She was right. All they could do was fight. Then Cassie screamed as the thing started to take her soul, too.

  “Cassie!” Christopher wailed as he stretched his magic out to his sister. Waves of red light flowed from him to her.

  We’re not losing her too!

  Luke ignited one hand with Firestream and the other with Ice Ball. His health was not low enough to use Coldfire--the powerful, combination spell between his fire and ice spells that could be activated when he was below 50% health--but he sent a stream of fire at the thing accompanied by several Ice Balls. Yet despite hitting the tittering thing full on, only red ones and twos floated upwards from the thing, and its health bar showed no real change. He exhausted his mana. He had no potions to refill it.