A World Called Memory

by M J Sweeney

  After climbing down, I found another section of wall on the outer rim, further along to the west to climb up. The rest of the skeletons were here, so after some more jaw-clacking, I quickly dispatched those as well.

  After collecting all the weapons, I noticed a few were better quality: ancient steel broadswords versus a rusty steel broadsword, and ancient elven round-shields versus a cracked elven round-shield. There were a few pieces of armour as well. I gathered them into a pile under the same oak tree.

  I crept up about 200 metres to the next section and saw a bunch of meandering skeleton archers. Shit. They wore quivers over their back and the odd piece of leather armour. There were also a bit more than twenty of them, although spread out. The sandstone wall here rose to about two and a half metres in height, and the last semi-circular rim looked to be just over three metres up. Too hard to climb, plus I didn’t want to make myself a pincushion target. On ground level I did have cover, and thought I could use that. I threw a stone at one of the archers, then quickly ran around the corner of the wall. As it came charging around, I smashed it with the haft of my spear, keeping to the outside of its bow. Two more quick blows, and it was down.

  I wasn’t so successful the next time. Three archers came bounding around the corner, so rather than running and being shot in the back, I waded in with Breath of Life and activated Frenzy, then multiple Holy Smites. The first skeleton managed to shoot me in the foot as I smashed it.

  “Fuck!” I hissed, but didn’t stop, standing as close as I could and hampering their shots. I felled the first two, and the third got off a shot that flew over my shoulder, but then they were all down. I pulled the arrow out of my foot with a wet pop. Damn, that hurt! I activated Heart of Oak. Oh… that felt nice. My armour would need repair later, I thought glumly.

  My stamina and mana were low, so I paused and rested a moment while they renewed. When Frenzy expired, I experienced more fatigue. Damn, that was annoying, but Frenzy was too good an ability not to use. So I simply waited for the fatigue state to pass. As I looked inside the rim, I could see the archers moving around. It was about 200 metres to the next rim, so they just wandered aimlessly within their assigned area. If I waited for long enough, I could pick them off one at a time when only one or two were in view, rather than three or four. About three hours had passed since I started killing undead, so it was heading toward late afternoon. Probably I would have to stop soon, but hoped to kill most of the archers before I checked the last section tomorrow.

  On the next throw, I pulled one archer, and was busy smacking it down when I felt another presence. A skeleton warrior was taking a swing. It was too close to dodge, so I took a bad hit through my shoulder. Fuck! As its sword pulled out, I thrust at it with the spear head, but did little damage. The archer was still trying to shoot me, so I shuffled quickly to the side and did my best to break that one down first. The swordsman still came after me, but I ducked and spun. I finally flattened the archer, but the swordsman managed two more blows into my armour and ribs. Shit, that hurt too. Frenzy hadn’t ended, but it would soon. I activated Heart of Oak and just slugged it out with the creature. Out of my periphery, I could see a swirl of dust and debris, like something was manifesting. What the—?

  I realised then that the skeletons were reanimating—that wasn’t debris; it was their bones reforming. Shortly, I would be mobbed by the ones I’d already killed. Dropping some defence, I attacked harder, and sliced and clubbed at the one in front of me, taking another hard blow to the ribs. As soon as it fell, I ran like the wind. I could hear clacking jaws not far behind me, so I ran until I got to the relative safety of the tree, then collapsed into a fatigue crash. Sheesh.

  Panting a little, I took stock. They must reanimate within a certain time frame. I checked the time on the log. Yup, in three hours or less, I’d need to kill about fifty skeletons and deal with whatever was within the last rim before I could even get to the front door. And even if I got in the front door, I’d have to exit before the three hours was up, or else I’d be mobbed for sure. Damn. Nothing like a bit of pressure.

  Munching on half a health cake, I also applied some health balm on my injured foot and shoulder. I wasn’t fully healed, but damn, that stuff was good.

  I noticed all the weapons and armour I had collected were still under the tree and hadn’t disappeared when the skeletons reanimated. I crept up to the first rim again. Most of the soldiers were back again now, and all had their weapons. Or new weapons. Where did they get them from? Bugger. I had been hoping they would return unarmed; that would have made it easier, for sure. But no such luck.

  Then I remembered one of the moon elves saying the soulless recollected their gear in the shadow of the red moon—some vast fortress of Ulgorrim, that had stored weapons from millennia of fighting the living. And they always reanimated freshly equipped.

  And then I grinned, as my inner greedy pig came awake—all that loot on every respawn, mine for the taking!

  Jogging back to the oak tree, I decided I didn’t like being so close to the ruins as that, particularly not for sleeping. So I retrieved my pack from the upper branches and went further south to find a suitable place to camp. That night, as I played on my lute, I thought about my options. I could keep trying this solo, or I could do my first “Looking For Group.” I looked at my experience log and saw that it had gone up quite a bit. I was now almost at level 10! And that decided me; solo it was.

  I also decided I wanted to look for a cave or somewhere protected from the rain, to create a better camp and a better place to store all the gear.

  The next two days were spent searching, mostly around the lower slopes of the mountain to the north and south, but to no avail. The crooked path that led up into the mountains might have been a possibility, but I didn’t want to venture too far that way, else I encounter some unlikely creature with an unfortunate disposition. I ventured back the way I had come, towards Escow, and eventually found an old abandoned fisherman’s hut by the edge of the lake with the geese. It was a bit of a walk to the ruins, but still, it had a solid roof, and an interior I could at least clean up and make liveable for a few days.

  I assumed it was abandoned, as it was full of dust and mould, so I spent a day cleaning it up, cleaning out the fireplace, repairing my armour, and carting all the weapons inside. Fortunately I managed to kill a couple of geese with my throwing knives (lying in the mud waiting for them to glide gracefully onto the water was no fun, but it did work). And I found some marsh greens and tubers that grew by the bank, so that night I enjoyed a rather nice meal inside the shack, sitting by the glowing fireplace. I toasted my socks, not that they needed it, and tried singing a few elvish songs I recalled from the tavern, but didn’t remember enough of the words.

  The next day, I began at dawn. First, I enjoyed the “fish in a barrel” part, as I could kill the skeleton warriors with little risk—swinging from the top of the sandstone block, clubbing heads, and staving skulls. This time, I did so as quickly as possible. It took me more time to kill the skeleton archers. One by one, or occasionally two at a time, I picked them off. I didn’t dare stand on a sandstone block with them.

  It took a bit over an hour to kill all of them. Partway through that fight, I heard the trumpet fanfare. I had gained level 10! New abilities! I decided to collect all of the weapons and armour first and drop them under the same tree again. That took a few trips and more time, so only an hour or a bit more to go. Sitting under the tree, I opened my interface.

  There was one standard point and three bonus points for my statistics again, so I put three into intellect and one into vitality. Once again I felt my body grow and expand somewhat, and the effect to my brain and nervous system was awesome. I was actually starting to feel smarter. Like options and pathways were opening up—a fresh kind of optimism that was not my usual state of mind.

  / Tier I Active Abilities /

  / Priest Active Abilities /

  / Warrior Active Abilities /

  / 3
points /

  My choice for abilities was quite simple. I could upgrade any of my Tier I Level 1 abilities to Level 2. The best choice was Breath of Life 2. As the two heal-over-time spells were my staple ongoing defence, it was best to keep them as effective as I could. My second choice was for upgrading Frenzy 1 to Frenzy 2: an additional +10% increased attack speed, for a limited time. I was keeping one extra active ability spare for later use.

  I wouldn’t be able to choose any Tier II warrior or priest abilities until level 20, and because I was a hybrid I could only acquire two Tier III warrior abilities (at level 60) and no Tier III priest spells. A single class character could start choosing Tier III abilities at level 40, and could get as many as he or she had points for.

  / Tier I Passive Abilities /

  / Priest Passive Abilities /

  / Warrior Passive Abilities /

  / 3 points /

  I had already earmarked these, so I picked Staff-Spear Specialisation (Deflection 2), Leather Armour Specialisation (Dodge 2), and Meditate 2 (+66% Mana Regen and +33% Stamina Regen) as my three upgrades. They all increased my defensive capabilities, and for better attack capabilities and damage, I was mostly relying on my weapon-skill and training, and my upgraded Frenzy ability. The excitement and buzz (literally up and down my spine) as I gained better knowledge of each ability was wonderful.

  / Cordaen Sequoia / Level 10 Warrior-Priest /

  STR 21

  INT 27

  AGI 30

  VIT 28

  CHA 22

  LCK 17

  Health: 784 (+40%)

  Mana: 621 (+15%)

  Stamina: 560

  Active Abilities (6 - 1 spare point)

  Heart of Oak 1 (free)

  Breath of Life 2

  Frenzy 2

  Holy Smite 1

  Passive Abilities (6)

  Holy Aura 1 (free)

  Staff-Spear 2

  Light Armour 2

  Meditate 2

  The other thing I noticed there was that my socks had somehow been identified.

  / Unique Socks of Warming / Elite Wool

  [+20% Cold Resistance, Wearer suffers no ill effects from mundane cold ailments, +50% Stamina Regeneration]

  Ha, my first elite item! I really had gotten a good deal from Maximus. There were five colours for magic items: grey/common (non-magical), orange/uncommon, green/rare, blue/elite, and purple/legendary. Most orange items had one bonus statistic, while green had two, blue had three or four, and legendary had four to seven.

  I ate half a health-cake and surprised myself that I was almost liking the taste. Perhaps that was a kind of positive reinforcement, as they were bad-tasting medicine, but the feeling of abundance and health they gave, that tasted good. Getting up, I looked over at the ruins; the risen hadn’t really gone anywhere, so I crept over there once again. The first two rims were cleared in less than an hour this time. I got hit a couple times by the archers, but my heal-over-time took care of that.

  In the final rim, there were three skeletal sergeants—one on the main avenue, one to the west side, and one to the east. They prowled the outskirts of the final area, weighted down with longbows, chainmail, longswords, and light buckler. Even from this distance, I could tell they looked mean. They also were better armed and armoured, and were a lot more vigilant. I crept to a crumbling section of wall, snagged a dislodged rock, and threw it at the closest one, diving back behind the wall as soon as the stone left my hand.

  I could hear it thunking against its target, followed by the unmistakable clacking sound. And then the soulless came running to the wall I was hiding behind. I didn’t wait—I immediately activated Breath of Life and Frenzy and spun to meet it just around the corner, driving my spear right through its middle.

  It didn’t kill it, of course. That would have been too easy.

  Instead, it practically hung there, pinned to my spear… until it managed to move closer, rattling jaws lunging for my shoulder until—fuck—it bit me! Little prick.

  I wrenched a knife from beneath my cloak and rained down holy blows on its head, making small silver explosions crackle across its face. Slowly, it sagged, until the flickering red light in its eyes dulled and extinguished.

  Before I knew it, I felt a punishing impact in my back, and a blade pierced my shoulder. What the—? With the ringing in my ears, I realised I was stunned. Fuck! An arrow pierced my chest, but not too deep, partially halted by the leather. Double fuck. Despite the distance and my care, I had still somehow managed to aggro the other two sergeants. The stun shortly wore off, and I put everything into my next attack.

  “Hai!” I backed off with my spear in defence and deflected a couple of wild sword attacks, then activated Heart of Oak.

  The swordsman was grinning at me maniacally, its jaw clacking. I could even hear some kind of sibilant hissing, like it was trying to tell me something. Creepy. I could see the other one back by the archway, taking aim again. I managed to whack the arrow from the sky—lucky chance, that. The swordsman got in a blow while I was distracted—a hard hit to my shoulder—but it didn’t land cleanly on the edge, so my armour prevented a deep cut. I ducked and spun away further from the swordsman’s continued mad hacking. It had little grace and accuracy, but a lot of speed.

  My frenzy abruptly ended, and I was suddenly fatigued. It didn’t stop my defence, but boy was it hard to focus. It was like my arms and legs were made of lead all of a sudden, after a night of long drinking. Out of desperation, I decided to cast Breath of Life on the skeleton, hoping it would cause it to dissolve or something. I managed to touch one bony arm… Nothing. I dodged its next sword blow as the spell fizzled. There was a ding from my interface, but I ignored it. And now I was also out of mana.

  Continuing to back-peddle, I took more damage from the swordsman in the form of small cuts and bruises to my arms through my bracers. But I was managing to get around the nearest stone block for cover.

  I didn’t see the next arrow until it pierced my left thigh. Fuck again. Bastard was accurate. Typical elf, undead or not. My health was down below half, but luckily, between my Breath of Life, Heart of Oak, and the health-cake, it was renewing steadily. As long as I didn’t take too many more arrows or another critical charge…

  Once I was around the block, I was out of sight of the archer. Then my fatigue state gradually receded, so I went toe-to-toe with the swordsman. He didn’t last long after a few good silver bursts from Holy Smite, soon crumpling to the earth. When I peeked my head around the wall, the archer was still aiming with his bow in my direction and slowly walking forward. He let loose as soon as he saw me, so I ducked back, the arrow spanging off the side of the stone where I’d just been. He was not deigning to use his sword, so I backed off a bit more.

  Frenzy was on cooldown, so I kept peering at the archer, checking where he was, and backing off around the curve of the wall. Once it looked close enough and I had enough mana again to activate Breath of Life, I sprinted out from cover, quickly put my head down, and ran. Its arrow whistled over my head, and as it didn’t have time for another before I was upon it, I pierced my spear through its middle, splitting the chain mail and almost losing my grip.

  I’d have to improve on the technique of that somehow, as once again we were pinned together and the thing started biting at my face. I stayed in close, however, manoeuvring my head out the way, and once again I rained down blows with my knife until it collapsed.

  “Yeah!” I gave a little cheer. Steep learning curve, I thought. Between my increased skills and my understanding of combat, I was definitely improving. Things were definitely getting better, if not easier.

  I cast another Breath of Life, as the first had run out, and began collecting all the gear. I still had an hour before reanimation. I was also over halfway to level 11. The sergeants had been a good bonus.

  Back at the large oak tree, I examined the sergeants’ gear. It mostly looked identical, old elven make, but all in good condition compared to the guar
dsmen. I retrieved a hooded lantern from my pack—one of the last items I had bought from Maximus. It was a simple iron affair, with oil and wick and wooden handle. I also checked the combat log and saw the following notification:

  / Breath of Life / Spell Failure /

  / Healing spells do not work on undead, nor do they cause harm /

  Damn. It had been a long shot, but it would have been a nice bonus. Would have made me overpowered against them, I guessed. Before the reanimation started, I jogged over to the large front entrance. The door was large and circular, of heavy stone construction, with what looked like two massive stone hinges. In the centre was a carved circle divided into four, with elven symbols engraved within each section—a flower for Seti, a harp for Anthul, three stars for Cylvai, and a bow and eye for Lindane. Clearly, this represented the Quadrinity. The door was split down the middle through the centre of the circle.

  I pressed my palms tentatively to the surface. It was super solid, and rough, cold stone. It was unlikely it could be moved by force or guile. Uncertain if I wanted to enter right now, I wondered if I should wait. Fortune favours the bold, as they say.

  Holding out the holy symbol, I placed one palm on the door. “By Cylvai, I command thee to open!” Maybe it was a bit theatrical, but there was no one but old bones to hear me. I heard a click and rumble and a ding from my interface. The door had felt really solid before, locked, but now as I touched it, I knew it would move easily.

  Entry added

  / Quest of the Elven Quadrinity / Part One (of Four)

  / Explore the Ruins of Eragdas Alfar /

  There was no other information from the interface, but the quest update did give me some bonus experience. Prizing my fingers into the cracks, I found each section now split, and the two sides neatly creaked open, releasing some dust and powdered stone. There were also two large stone handles on the inside to pull it shut.