Neverfall: The Dark Path (Book 2): A Gamelit Lit RPG Series
Page 18
“Does Bonecall have any particular weakness?” Alicia asked.
There were mutterings around the group. People drew away from her. But Sorayan merely looked thoughtful.
Finally, she answered, “Bonecall is no fighter on his own. But getting past the creatures he has summoned is the difficulty. And avoiding his Soul Call ability, of course.”
Luke thought of Marty’s soul being sucked into that box. His dream of his friends being taken was not far out of his mind either. “Is there any protection against the Soul Call ability?”
Sorayan shrugged. “More magic is the only protection against other magic that I know of. But a spell to repel that ability? I know not where it would be, unless it be beneath old Lethbridge.”
Definitely have to go into that ancient city beneath Lethbridge. Even Father mentioned it. Was he actually trying to help in some way?
“We’re headed to Shadewell to check out the forge there. Any advice?” Mack asked.
“Yes, do not go,” Sorayan said.
“Why not?” Luke asked.
“Because,” Sorayan said, “that’s where Bonecall tests many of his experiments.”
18
BODYGUARD
The singing and storytelling had gone on for several hours after they had eaten their fill of soup and bread. Now, all of the children were sleeping in the two covered wagons. Most of the adults were rolled up in their sleeping mats. Only a few still spoke in low voices to one another. Sorayan was the only one completely awake.
She continued to smoke her pipe and hum to herself. She’d grown silent after telling them about Shadewell. All she would say is that there were no humans left alive in Shadewell. But what about dead ones that were still walking around like the Skeletons? Or what about other creatures? Who knew what Bonecall had reanimated?
“I’ll take the first watch,” Luke said to his sleepy friends.
He stood up from the log, and dusted off the front of his armor. Cassie’s head was pillowed on Mack’s stomach. The dwarf was lying down in front of the fire.
“Are you sure?” Cassie asked faintly, even as her eyes were closed.
He smiled. “I’m sure.”
“Wake me in a few hours. I’ll take over,” Mack offered, and almost immediately began to snore.
Christopher’s head was bobbing as he fought off exhaustion. “Perhaps I should stay up with you--”
Luke clapped his shoulder. “No, you sleep. I’ll be fine. We’re only doing this as a precaution. I don’t think these people are any risk to us.”
Christopher nodded sleepily. He then slid off the log, and curled by Mack and his sister, pulling his robes around him. Alicia remained up, one hand under her chin, as she stared moodily into the flames.
“You should get some sleep,” he told her.
“If you are tired, you should sleep,” she said, without looking at him.
“I’m good.”
He couldn’t sleep. He wanted to upgrade his Stats and Perks, not to mention see what other spells were available. But the truth was that he wanted to see what choosing the Dark Path had changed. He also desired to take off his gloves, and really study his tattoos. He was hoping to do so without any of his party seeing. Alicia evidently was intent on staying awake, so his inspection would have to wait.
Luke went over to another log, nearer Sorayan, to keep watch. Yet despite his desire to upgrade, he hesitated bringing up the Menu.
What am I doing? C’mon, just get it over. If there’s something bad in there to see, it’s not like not seeing it will mean it isn’t there.
With that, he brought the translucent Menu up. His heart was hammering in his chest, but it slowed as he saw the familiar Stats screen, which showed:
LEVEL 5
Abilities
------
Strength: 11 (+1)
Charisma: 11
Dexterity: 7 (+5)
Constitution: 16 (+9)
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 1
He was only given three points this time to add to his Abilities. His Constitution was still well above the rest of his Abilities. Wisdom was still at one, but he didn’t use that Ability much. Though he certainly hadn’t been potentially wise in his fight with the dragon. Had his father said nothing, would he feel so conflicted about his choice to follow the Dark Path? He shook himself. What was done was done.
Dexterity was really helping him in these battles. He thought of how he had twisted out of the way of the dragon’s attacks so he added a point there. He definitely wanted to upgrade his amount of mana so he put another point into Intelligence. Now he was torn between adding his final point between Strength or Charisma. Charisma would increase the power of his spells, and ability to Persuade, while Strength would give more power for his swordplay. He decided that whatever one he choose, such as Strength here, in the Perks he would choose to upgrade Sorcery there, or vice versa, with a point going into Athletics. Based on that, he put the third point in Strength.
His new Abilities were now:
LEVEL 6
Abilities
------
Strength: 12 (+1)
Charisma: 11
Dexterity: 8 (+5)
Constitution: 16 (+9)
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 1
He currently had the following Perks:
LEVEL 5
Perks
------
Persuasion: 3
Stealth: 0
Sorcery: 2
Healing: 0
Athletics: 2
Arcane: 0
Language: 0
Perception: 0
Intimidation: 0
Nature: 0
Since he had chosen to upgrade his Strength Ability, he determined to upgrade his Sorcery with another point. With the upgrade, his Perks now showed:
LEVEL 6
Perks
------
Persuasion: 3
Stealth: 0
Sorcery: 3
Healing: 0
Athletics: 2
Arcane: 0
Language: 0
Perception: 0
Intimidation: 0
Nature: 0
His hit points had risen from 600 to 700 while his mana had jumped up to 475. That would give him many more opportunities to use spells.
Speaking of spells…
He was still avoiding looking at his Special Abilities. But spells were awesome. He switched over to that screen and let out a low whistle as he saw so many options there. There were upgrades for his fire and ice spells, but then he saw a lightning spell that just looked brilliant.
Chain Lightning
------
Level: 6
Mana Cost: 50 Mana
Damage: 15-25 Hit Points
Casting Time: Immediate
Range: 25 Feet
Duration: Instantaneous
Modifier: Stun for 5 Seconds
Description: A line of lightning will streak from enemy to enemy with a five-foot radius from one another for a maximum of three enemies.
Luke grinned. This would be perfect. He could affect multiple enemies at once, stunning them so that the others could chop them down.
Very useful.
There was only one last screen, well, two, if he looked at the Glossary. But he was rather like Cassie and rarely read the instructions. But the Glossary would likely have invaluable information about the paths, and loads of other things. But he chickened out, and went to the Help section instead. He looked to see if there was any further communication from the Neverfall developers.
There were only a few sentences from them, but he let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding onto as he read them: Good plan. Keep us apprised of your progress. Your mother is well.
Luke closed his eyes. His mother was well. He wondered if they had lied to her about what was happening with him. If they had, he wondered how long they could keep up that lie.
They could tell he
r that I don’t want to see her. After how I left things, she might believe that. She’d likely imagine that I am with my father, learning about him, and ignoring her. He let out a mirthless laugh. Well, I am learning about him. Some would even say we’re spending quality time together!
Luke wrote back a single line to simply let them know that he and his group were fine, and continuing with the plan. The less he said, the better. His father seemed aware of too much already.
And to think I had hoped for us to gain three levels today. It took the entire day to level up once!
He sighed. But then he remembered one thing he hadn’t asked since he had reached the Neverfall developers, and that was whether Marty had survived having his soul sucked out by Bonecall. If they were truly lucky, they’d learn that Marty had awakened in his tank, and all was well. If they were less lucky, they would find out that Marty was still alive, but still stuck in the game. And if they were not lucky at all, they would discover that Marty was dead.
Luke knew that morale would plummet if it was the latter. But they needed to know so he asked the following question, Is Beta player Marty Fleumenbaum all right?
Finally, he closed out that screen. He’d put it off long enough. He had to look at his Special Abilities screen. He concentrated on it. It came up and he realized he was holding his breath. He forced himself to breathe. He saw the following:
Name: Dragon Call
Level: 5
Damage: Unlimited
Duration: Instantaneous
Modifier: Immune to Damage
Description: Asharoth comes to defend you from any and all enemies if party is dead and you are within one hit point of death. Revives all party member to full health and mana.
Dragon Call was awesome, but he would only be able to use it in very limited circumstances, unless he was able to upgrade it at some point. Drain, however, would be very useful right now.
Name: Drain (Dark Path Ability)
Level: 5
Damage: 200 hit points
Duration: Instantaneous
Modifier: None
Description: Up to 200 hit points can be drained and stored for later use in increasing power of spells or martial abilities.
He noted that the Light Path was grayed out. His heart beat sickly in his chest. Did that mean he could not ever access Light Path Special Abilities? Or had he just not unlocked any? He closed out of the Menu and looked down at his gloved hands. He wanted to see his tattoos. Did he dare take a look?
He glanced up to see if anyone was watching him. The last few members of Sorayan’s group had gone to bed, including the matriarch. He saw her wrapped up like a sausage in some blankets. Alicia was still staring into the fire moodily. He could take a chance. He turned around on the log so that he was facing away from the group, and tugged off his right glove. A hand on his shoulder had him nearly screaming, but another hand came over his mouth.
“You’re terrible at guarding us,” Alicia said low in his ear as he uncovered his lips.
“You moved quietly that time. Cassie would be proud.” He scowled at her.
She shrugged. “I think you were more focused on looking at your tattoos than keeping watch. Take your gloves off. I wish to see, too.”
“You’ve already seen them and poked them,” Luke pointed out.
“You wish to look at them again, why is it strange that I wish to?”
That was a good point.
“Don’t worry, I’m not turning to my father’s side.”
“You are hearing his voice in your head. Shouldn’t that worry me?” she asked. “Just show me your tattoos again.”
“Fine.”
He felt conspicuous as if he were taking off his pants in front of her instead of just his gloves. But these tattoos would show more about him than his naked ass would. He tugged off the gloves, folded them neatly together, and set them on the log beside him.
“Stop stalling,” Alicia said.
Luke gritted his teeth, but he shoved up his sleeves and gasped. The tattoos were far more elaborate than they had been before. Now, he saw that there were individual scales inked in. Crimson light flared over the black lines. Alicia poked them again.
“Would you stop that?” he hissed at her. “It hurts!”
“They hurt?”
“No, you poking me hurts!” he said. “Other than you poking me, they… burn. It doesn’t hurt exactly. It just… I don’t know. I’m aware of them.”
“These are strange,” Alicia said after studying the tattoos in silence for some time.
“You’ve never heard of anything like this in the game before?” Luke knew that the tattoos were used to identify him as the Dark Lord’s son, but maybe this had been a system that was co-opted.
She shook her head slowly. “I am no expert though. I only heard things when I was guarding your father.”
“You were my father’s bodyguard? I thought you were in the military!” Luke cried.
She shrugged. “Protecting personnel was part of my duty. I told you that.”
“You left out that you guarded my father, so don’t act all innocent here!”
Finally, she nodded. “I did not wish to… get your hopes up.”
“Get my hopes up? Ah, no. What it does is make me wonder what else you know? For example, what exactly is my father’s relationship to the U.S. government?” Luke asked her as he pulled back on the gloves so that none of their hosts caught sight of them.
“That’s Top Secret.”
“He’s my father.”
“It’s Top Secret,” she repeated. “Besides, I don’t know.” She was silent for a moment. “But I could guess.”
“Guess! Guess away!” Luke was more than curious.
“Think of the possibilities of this technology beyond children’s games,” she said.
“Neverfall is no place for children.”
She snorted. “True enough. But consider the possibilities. They’re practically limitless. You have access to people’s minds. Imagine interrogation of an enemy combatant in here. You could do anything to them. Torture them. Even kill them again and again. But you’re not really doing anything to their actual bodies.”
“That’s… awful.”
“Yes, but likely effective.” She continued, “Even this bug may be useful. Actually, more useful than anything else.”
“What? How?”
“You can make anyone, anywhere--including your enemy’s people--believe anything you want them to.” She stroked her chin. “Change them from enemy to ally. Have them betray their country to serve ours. And keep all of that going when they leave the game. Imagine the possibilities.”
Luke did, and it was stunning as well as terrifying. It made complete and utter sense why the government would be more than intrigued with Neverfall. Something else occurred to him.
“Do you think… do you think they’re actually trying to fix the bug and get everybody out okay?” he asked.
“I think they wish to study the bug, and be able to recreate it. But I also do think they are trying to fix this, because the game has to be released to have access to all those minds in the world.” She gestured to the world around them, though it was not the world she meant.
“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” Luke bit his lower lip. Somehow his concern about taking the Dark Path seemed childish compared to the dark path this technology could take if his father and Dr. Armitage weren’t careful.
Or maybe they agreed to allow it to be used for those goals. Mom seemed to think so.
He licked his lips. “You guarded my dad, so you knew him, right?”
She narrowed her eyes. “We were not friends. I kept him safe.”
“But surely you guys talked and--”
“You want to know if he spoke about you?” she interrupted him.
His mouth went dry, even though that felt like a betrayal of his belief that he didn’t care about his father at all. “N-no, I mean that wasn’t why I was asking. I wanted to know what t
ype of person he was. Maybe that can help us against him.”
Her gaze was steady upon him. “Okay, then I will tell you that he is…”
“Is?”
“Ruthless. Intelligent. Commanding. Cold,” she ticked off.
“Oh.”
“You sounded disappointed,” she said.
“No, I mean no, it’s just that makes him quite a formidable opponent,” Luke attempted to say casually. It came out brittle.
“And makes him sound like a terrible father,” she intuited. “Except when he spoke of you, watched the videos, looked at the pictures and read the reports on you and your mother, he was different.”
“Wait, he had pictures, videos, and reports on Mom and me?” Luke’s eyebrows were in his hairline.
“Of course. He watched everything you did, listened to everything you said. He debated how he could help you without you knowing it was him,” she said.
“Why not let me know?”
“Because your mother didn’t want you to know. So he was honoring her wishes.”
“She was wrong to do that!” Luke’s voice rose up, and he quickly glanced back at the sleepers, worrying he might wake them. Casting his voice low, he said, “She lied to me all my life. I had a right to know him. And he should have come out of the shadows. He knew how bad things were with her cancer and our finances!”
“I think…” She pressed her lips together, clearly debating whether or not to say something.
“Tell me,” he demanded.
“I think he was going to do something. Something big to help you both. But then he got caught in the game, and he obviously couldn’t do anything at all,” she said. Something in his face must have displeased her, because she snarled, “I shouldn’t have told you that!”
“What? Why?”
She pointed a thick finger towards his chest. “Because it makes you soft, and us vulnerable! You will think about the fact that your father loves you, so you won’t hit back against him hard! But he will come after you that way! He won’t be gentle or nice or anything like that! He’ll--”