A World Called Memory

by M J Sweeney

  When the first worker’s alarm went off, we had chaos. I knew Elz was doing his job, when suddenly the howling wind picked up, and the echoing cries of the raging spirits started reverberating throughout the whole place. Elz had just placed two or three choice items we’d carefully nudged down that end in a couple of the thieves’ backpacks. Elz had previously shown me how easy it was to plant evidence on someone versus remove it. It was his idea to do this, and a good plan it was.

  I held my holy symbol, and when the howling noise peaked again, I intoned softly, “Stay thee shut.” With a grating thud, the stone doors closed, sealing us all within this tomb. It was an odd feature—whenever we were inside the ruins, the front door would remain open. Whenever we left, after a few minutes, it would slowly start to close. A couple of spirits came my way, expressions murderous, but I held my ground and quickly dispatched them. One or two was easy; fifty or sixty was another matter. Now the whole group of rogues down the end was a roiling turmoil of spirits, zombie goblins, and people…

  The rogue standing alone on the pressure plate was shouting at his guildmates, but it appeared some were shouting back. To add to the chaos, I simply Charged him, howling madly as I went. Dressed as I was all in whites and charcoal colours, with strips of cloth added to my armour and face painted a sickly white—courtesy of Menisme’s cosmetics—I managed to do a good number on the thief before he realised what was going on. Piercing his back was easy enough; he cried out, and drew a pair of long daggers. It wasn’t my best shot ever; he wasn’t stunned, but certainly looked terrified. Blood was now dripping down his back, his eyes wide as he watched more cursed spirits approaching. He waved both daggers at me, and caught his balance. I resisted the urge to say ‘boo!’ and give it away. He was trying to stay on the pressure plate, and so his footing was not so good…

  I waited a brief second, and made to move away, and while he hesitated, I quickly pivoted and shoulder-charged him. He came off the pressure plate rather abruptly, his mouth opened in surprise, and then… blade trap. The blood that came out of a dismembered body was considerable; his head and most of his shoulders went one way, while the lower half—legs, hips, and intestines—simply slumped wetly to the floor. I was liberally splattered, adding to my already itchy makeup. The smell was horrible: death was never a pleasant odour. Shuddering slightly, I yanked my mind back to the present moment.

  Courtesy of the interface I could sense Elz further down the corridor, and off to one side. He was likewise equipped, and masquerading as a cursed spirit. He had the enviable problem of avoiding both undead spirits and goblins—he couldn’t risk the fade now, lest the raging spirits attack him en masse. He was also doing his level best to make it look like he was one of them, so was taking a few blows stoicly.

  His health bar indicated he was doing okay on 80%, at least so far. Without waiting longer, I crouched down on my elbows and belly and gut-crawled under the trap. The crescent blade of the beastly thing whistled past me, barely overhead, the hairs on my neck standing up. When I got up, I kept close to the wall and hunched down in order to look smaller. I silently cast Breath of Life and Heart of Oak.

  Four of the rogues were still going, in a rough circle, standing facing out with their healer in the middle. It looked like their warrior was down; I couldn’t see him at all, and one more of the rogues was already dead. Sadly, those that remained seemed smart and capable. Elz and I would have to change that. There were still a number of cursed spirits and goblins surrounding them, perhaps ten or so of each, but they were being whittled down fast. The alarm was still dully echoing up and down the passageway.

  I could now see Elz quite clearly. With quick hand signals, we went for it. I ran well to the left of the group, dodging spirits as a few turned toward me, while Elz took off down the second corridor at his best speed. I soon landed on the pressure plate, while Elz passed around the bigger group. He had to leap over one grasping spirit and dodged the next, but as the trap was now disabled, he triggered the second alarm with ease. Then he was running back.

  The reduced group of rogues seemed none-the-wiser—we were making less noise than the rest, and were maintaining our camouflage. The second alarm was simply blending with the first alarm, which had yet to finish. Another spirit attacked me, and once again I dispatched it. I was looking right at the healer when he spotted me, and this time I could see realisation dawn.

  “Ware! Stealther!” he was shouting and pointing at me, which was kind of fortunate. He didn’t see Elz come up behind and backstab the rogue guarding his rear, that poor sod having turned around to look at me. He simply folded up and died. Go Elz. The elven healer also didn’t see when the first goblin grabbed him. Elz now had two goblins on him also—one he was poking at with one sword, the other latched onto one leg—so he dragged both as he made for the longer northern corridor. I waited two more seconds, and took a knife in the ribs, thrown by one of the rogues. It penetrated my armour and broke the skin, but didn’t hurt so much. As the rest were still contending with undead, I wasn’t under much threat.

  Then I leaped off the pressure plate, and their shrinking group was swamped by thirty more mini-zombies. The healer had a bunch on him, and the last three rogues were similarly swarmed. One poor fellow stumbled and fell to his knees, taking multiple bites and blows from work implements. A few goblins and a couple of the remaining spirits seemed to be coming my way. The healer got off some kind of group heal and buff effect; I could see them all glowing from it, but that seemed to only make the goblins and spirits wilder. They turned back to this threat, and ignored me. Go aggro! One by one, each of them looked to be overwhelmed. If I wasn’t careful, we would be too…

  But I was free at that point, with an easy line of sight, so I Charged one of the goblins latching onto Elz, killing it instantly. Elz finally shrugged off the second, and then we were madly running down the main corridor. After a few metres, we both dove low and belly-crawled under the trap. A couple of goblins and one spirit were following us—both the zombies where eviscerated, but the spirit passed harmlessly through. We turned quickly, dispatched it, and froze to listen.

  Not three seconds later, we could hear the cries of pain and the wet explosions of bodies being dismembered. The goblins had mindlessly pushed the final trio into the first set of traps… and killed them all, eviscerating the living and the dead. My experience bar made a massive jump, it seemed I was getting bonuses for that, even though we’d done little of the actual labour—merely assisted deaths and some creative mayhem.

  The howling of spirits faded, and the wet squelching of regenerating zombie parts ceased. None of the rogues made it to our location—no one appearing from stealth, and no one faking death. Elz and I shared a silent look, part relief, part elation, and part determination. There was still plenty more to do. We checked the bodies.

  The system was allowing us to loot them, but as seelie entities, we could only take one item, unless we wanted to steal something and engage a game of Isserad’s Luck. Elz was looking at me questioningly—he even had the Divine Deck in his hands, but I shook my head. I mean, I wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it, but I didn’t want to start a looting war with every rogue from Geras. We just took whatever we thought most valuable—a sword here, a ring there, a coin pouch there. The healer, despite being cloven in two, had minimal equipment and looked much the same as the rogues—leather armour, short swords and daggers, but a holy symbol to Cylvai around his neck. When I checked, I saw his level was only 25, one of the lowest of the group. Good healers seemed rare.

  All but two of the deceased had a countdown of somewhere between forty to fifty minutes for respawn. The two that didn’t were either not from Earth, not elite adventurers, or their luck had just run out. I can’t say that I cared too much.

  “Hey, Elz, I think the bonus to reduced aggro from your new swords and new ring really helped. You could have had the whole pack of goblins on you, but only a couple was a miracle.”

  “Yeah… was sti
ll close, Elz didn’t want to be legless Elz…” He nodded at the last body we looted, the fighter in chain mail, his legs and torso in separate places.

  I laughed a little grimly at the image. He had an odd way with words.

  Now we had to hope these guys all had bind points a long way from here. If they’d set the bind at their current campsite, we’d be in real trouble. Somehow I doubted it, as the camp was still so new, but it might have been possible. We also dragged the two remaining bodies down to the lower level, and stuffed them unceremoniously into one of the large ovens.

  Elz and I had stored some supplies on this level, in the small side room past the secret door of the dining room. We went there now and had a small bite to eat, then took a few minutes to rest. As we’d managed to kill their priest and the one with the key to get inside, we figured we should be safe enough. It was still more than a little spooky inside. I didn’t like the feeling of being trapped in with the door shut behind us.

  We had a short discussion about whether to try and utilise the blade traps again, as it had worked fairly well this time. In the end I decided against it; as the traps were so lethal, it would be easy to turn them against us—plus Ingriss being a higher level rogue, he would probably be able to detect such traps easily. One little mistake, and we’d be dead. Plus, the corridors there were fairly narrow, and much harder to manoeuvre. I preferred something a little different for the next effort.

  Chapter 37

  A little less than ten minutes later, I opened the front door again (“open sesame” also worked, but only while I was holding my amulet).

  “Good luck,” I whispered, and Elz grimly smiled.

  “Yes, leave some bad guys for me, yeah?”

  I nodded and smiled grimly in reply.

  “I’ll try and take it slow,” I said with false confidence. I wasn’t at all sure of myself and my capabilities right then.

  We both faded. This was the second use of my cloak. Once again, the world turned to sepia. Up the stairs, the colour of daylight did not improve things. The sky was a weird kind of ugly magenta, flat and lifeless, fading to black at the edges. I could see Elz’s shadow form as he passed me by and made toward the far northern side of the ruins, to the nearest copse of trees—to where Sacheen and Renniti and the scouts were secretly waiting, still hidden from view.

  I noticed Elz’s features were more than a little indistinct and blurry, and also not pleasant to look at, like an artist had accidentally smudged him all over, and not bothered to fix it. I think I knew why that was—the reduction of aggro also included the chances of detection in the fade.

  By my calculation I had only about thirty minutes before the skeletons up here reanimated. With Sacheen’s spyglass in hand, I found an appropriate gap in the old walls and peered about. Although looking through the fade distorted things, I could still make out some details. Besides, I would have the advantage of being able to see someone else in the fade if they were about. I couldn’t get too far from the entrance, as I didn’t want it to close on me.

  Over at the large oak tree, I could see most of their group seemed to be doing various chores. Lilac seemed to be studying a spellbook. She looked much the same as before, only with better gear, and some kind of mage armour. Her rose-red hair, which looked a faded yellow in this light, was also considerably longer than before.

  The guards patrolling weren’t holding to any particular pattern, merely looking about and wandering around at random. I couldn’t see any rogues in the fade, not nearby, and not in their camp either. I counted two women, one guard sleeping, two guards standing up and wondering about, two rogues fixing armour, another rogue talking to one of the women, one big fighter sleeping, another warrior, not as big as the first, polishing a large one-handed axe, and Lilac. And then there was Jayvar, who was propped up against the oak tree. They hadn’t let him exercise much, other than going to the toilet, so I was sure he must be hurting badly, tied up as he was.

  This left Ingriss, one rogue and one woman that I couldn’t see. They might have been in one of the tents. Then I remembered that Ingriss had some kind of obscurity ability. Perhaps he was invisible to me, even from the fade? I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t dare become visible to find out.

  I waited. And waited. Eventually I had to exit from the fade, as my mana was running out—my mana renewal was not enough to compensate for what staying in the fade used up. Even if I wasn’t moving, it still leaked me dry, just very slowly. If I was walking or running or fighting, it would drain my mana even faster. In any case, I had to keep distance as the skeletons would soon reanimate. Back down on the stairs I should be safe enough.

  By later afternoon, none of the first group of rogues had appeared back in camp. This was also a huge relief. I didn’t think you could change your bind point easily, and only when the system recognised an ongoing camp as ‘home.’ They hadn’t been here long enough for that to happen.

  When night fell and Ingriss hadn’t ventured inside the tomb after his compatriots, I became a little angry and perplexed, but what could I do? I had to stay inside the damned ruins to keep the front door open—surely that must have been a sign, and an open invitation for Ingriss’s group to enter? Sadly, I couldn’t stay spying on them and remain in the fade. Instead, I had to make do with peering from the bottom of the stairs, listening for the sounds of footsteps or voices—not to mention watching the damned undead skeletons patrolling past my ‘window,’ oblivious to my presence.

  I also spent a cold and almost sleepless night in the same antechamber next to the stairs. I didn’t really sleep—cat-naps only—spooky and haunted as the place was. But at least I rested. I could sleep sometime next month, anyway.

  It was now the first of Bourndas, and Maor was soon to be full. Any day now, the necromancer of the Eragdas could appear—of course, I had a sense the odds were not in my favour and doubted the creature would appear when most convenient to us. Quite the opposite. As they say, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

  Early that next morning, as prepared as I could be, I finally heard it when Ingriss was approaching. They had to kill skeletons in order to venture down into the open ruins, and so the noise of battle was obvious. A wave of relief flooded through me. At last. They had an easy time of it, and only took minor wounds and abrasions—it seemed his elite team were all competent. But now they had no healer. Sucks to be you, I thought, grinning happily to myself.

  When the cursed spirits started howling and carrying on—before Ingriss even entered, I thought that odd. But I ignored it, as they seemed powerless in all other ways. The group entered—the big muscular fighter to the front, followed by two rogues, then Ingriss and Lilac, followed by a last rogue to the rear. It seemed they’d left a couple of members behind to guard the camp.

  When the howling wind picked up again, then I really felt it. Something had changed. Something had come. Going by the looks on their faces, Ingriss and company felt it too. Some spooky shit. I saw a couple of the rogues make ‘warding off evil’ signs, the first two fingers of each hand crossed over.

  The moaning wind came to a crescendo, dropped away, and began again, followed by ghostly sighs and other alien noises. I was really beginning to hate this place. Lack of sleep does that to a person.

  With a third use of the cloak, I merged with the fade, and was also using what stealth I had—particularly as I’d received some useful pointers from Elz. I observed them coming in. Keeping plenty of distance from their group, I waited for some long, nerve-wracking moments as they checked the entry rooms and various doorways.

  After peering from the doorway into the main dining room on this level, I had to avoid a few choice obstacles so as not to alert anyone getting closer. Then I was hiding at the far end of the dining room by the stairs, listening—well, trying to listen over the rapid thud of my heart and the increasingly frequent moaning of spirits. Sneaking and waiting in dusty corners was not my idea of fun. I’d much rather have run out at them screaming and attacking, but
clamped down on that impulse.

  When the group chose to check more of the main corridor first, I had to resist trying to follow and watch how they did against the kamikaze zombies. At the moment, I had to be very careful where I placed my feet…

  It would have been nice to try the same trick again against this group, and lure more raging spirits and goblins to the fight… but Elz had insisted on being the designated rescuer of Jayvar. And I couldn’t blame him—it showed a good heart that he prioritised that over vengeance against Ingriss or even trying to kill the evil necromancer. Right now, I’d have to do this without his help. Later… time would tell.

  The more I thought on the necromancer, the more I realised I could feel its malignant presence, lurking like a foul stain at the bottom of the ruins. I could feel it in my bones. It seemed I was tuned to this place; every subtle nuance was affecting me and playing on my mind. I also felt more than a little mad, and going crazier by the minute, waiting here by myself.

  Once again, the alarms blared. I could hear the sounds of combat, and not a little cursing. Then there was a longish pause. There was no second alarm, and eventually I could hear the sound of the group approaching. They were not loud, and kept their voices very low, but the noise of their passing still carried.

  Before they entered the dining room, I opened the secret door and left it propped ajar. It wouldn’t be smart to make it too hard for them, as I didn’t want them to leave while Elz was doing his thing. I carefully crept down the curved stairs and unlocked the second Quadrinity door at the bottom. That made a bit of a grating noise, which made me flinch, so after wedging a few stones we’d placed there earlier, the door remained open. I did not dally and quickly jogged further down the stairs to my next hiding place. I was soon crouched behind the massive ovens in the large kitchen, just before the mini-bosses and immortal spirits on the second level. I also came out of the fade, as I didn’t want my mana on empty at this stage. Now I had to hope for a bit of luck.