by Andrew Novak
Jack perked up a bit. So, this dandy didn't know everything! Until now, he had felt awkward, sitting on the edge of his chair, and didn't know how to act. Now Jack sat back in his seat, crossed one leg over the other, and smiled:
"Here's where you're wrong – they do exist. I've stumbled onto one myself. That's why I'm asking."
"Outstanding. I just wanted to be sure this was real," Egghead was not the least bit flustered "Not much is known about these kinds of quests. This will be interesting to hear. So?"
"Uh, no, I came to ask, not answer. I need someone familiar with demon artifacts, history of the demon war, and service to Dark Necta. I'm willing to pay a reasonable price... Oh, and one more question! Where is Dargoth? And what is it?
“After Necta gave the last quest, no new waypoints were added to the map." Jack hadn't heard anything about Dargoth and had no idea what it was.
"The more you tell me, the more complete my answer will be," the pretty boy explained. "I can't answer half a question. Right now, based on what you've told me, I would answer this way. For one hundred gold, I'll give you the name of a person who deals in demon artifacts and will find Dargoth's coordinates for you."
"That's not much... for a hundred."
"See for yourself. For example, demon artifacts: they exist and are used by the necromancers in Nightmare for their rituals. These rituals aren't game quests, but are for their own entertainment. The sorcerers of Nightmare arrange these spectacles for the Despot and for each other. They're all nutjobs there, who have their own special kind of fun. Sometimes, their rituals are just that – simple entertainment, no game rewards. What's more, they're very specific. The Necromancers' guild is... a private club. Do you know what that means?"
"No"
"A private club. This means that not just anyone can get in. You can start the quests associated with black magic; get some experience along the way. But after level ten, the game throws a limit at you: to continue leveling in black magic, you must join the necromancers' guild. And you can join only if three active guild members can recommend you. In other words, you have to prove to at least three of these crackpots that you, like them, have a few bats in the belfry. I don't have any dealings with the Nightmarians and know very little about their activities."
Egghead went silent for a moment, straightening his cuffs and smoothing the wrinkles on his green and gold-trimmed waistcoat. Jack waited patiently. He had never met with such a pretty boy. He'd seen them around. You couldn't go out on the streets in Svetlograd and miss such a sight. To sit here and chat with one, no, this was a first for Jack. For this reason, he didn't know how to act around Egghead and, just to be on the safe side, simply waited. But his host was in no hurry. He spoke only when he finished straightening his cuffs.
"And I'm not the only one. Maxitorian warriors deal with them, but only during border skirmishes, which happen fairly often. But!"
"But?"
"There is a player here, in Maxitor, who hunts after demon relics and surely knows a good deal about them. I will give you a name and address. Get him talking and he will share what he knows with you. But it won't be easy, as black magic is banned and showing interest will raise suspicion."
"And it's a hundred gold for that?" Jack said with an incredulous smile. "A name and address?"
"I'm telling you, no one's going to talk about necromancy and demons with a stranger. But you may use my name as a reference. I'll write to this player and give him a heads up. I'll also give you Dargoth's coordinates. As a free bonus, I'll briefly explain why demon relics are useless."
Jack thought for several minutes. One hundred gold was not a huge sum, but sizeable... Twenty-five panbucks, if you converted it into real money. Besides, he'd recently had to spend gold on teleports and still had to form a guild. On the other hand, Jack's hands were tied. If he so much as poked his head out, he'd immediately catch the eye of the Gravediggers. It would have been wiser not to get mixed up with those jackasses, but by some quirk of fate, they had locked the portal to the black city and he'd had no choice but to go through them.
He glanced at Egghead, who smiled indifferently. If Shifty Peter wasn't lying, then Egghead had plenty of customers. And that meant that, for a dandy like him, a hundred gold was practically nothing – a trifle. For Jack it sure as hell wasn't a trifle! Egghead knew that he wasn't selling a valuable commodity and had named a low price. Jack figured he'd better get used to throwing hundreds of gold around without a second thought.
"I sent you a contact request," he told Egghead. "Accept it, and I'll transfer the gold."
A melodious twinkling, very pleasing to the ear, usually followed money transfers in Alterra. It was a very nice sound. But this time, when the gold had drained from his pouch, that melodious twinkling did not please him at all. Jack, wrinkling his nose, reviewed the floating window in front of his eyes and sighed heavily. It was going to require a heap of game gold for the guild registration needed to buy a ship capable of sea voyages... As it was looking, it wasn't going to be easy for him to scrape it together.
You have transferred 100 gold.
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You have 432 gold in your account.
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When the payment had been completed, Egghead spoke.
"First, a bit of theory. Originally, according to game lore, there were two continents in Alterra, Stoglav and Gaerthon. The gods of Order, led by Chronos, ruled Gaerthon and the Scands, Achaeans, Lahittes and Taunites lived there. Then there was Stoglav, Chaos's land, ruled by the Dragon God. The dragons dwelt on Stoglav and the Areuts inhabited the islands off its coast. Chaos and Order, naturally, opposed each other. But from somewhere outside, from another world, the demons came to Stoglav, headed by Azeroth. They began to drive out the dragon nation. Then the Dragon God called on the Areut peoples for assistance, and Stoglav became their land. Together, the Areuts and dragons prevailed over the demons. Supposedly, the Dragon God took out Azeroth himself..."
"It's a theory I already know," Jack interrupted. "How could I not? If I've been to the ruins in the demon city myself... Maybe we can something more practical?"
"I was just getting to that," Egghead gave another of his honey-sweet smiles. "Then, consider this Alterran history lesson as a bonus. You aren't paying for this. So, Dark Azeroth, King of the Demons, had been vanquished. However, the Dragon God, having received serious wounds in the final battle, disappeared somewhere. The strangest thing was that the great Chronos failed to take advantage of the disappearance of the Dragon God, his eternal nemesis. Because shortly after, Chronos also disappeared from this world. How and why did Chronos and the Dragon God disappear are the two Great Mysteries, which were the whole essence of the game in the old days."
"In the old days?"
"In the very beginning, right after its creation."
"You mean, before the Gendemic?"
"Precisely."
"And why are you telling me this?"
"Here's why. After Chronos vanished..."
"His continent began to deteriorate. Everyone knows this!"
"Yes. The four peoples of Gaerthon crossed over to Stoglav and conquered it. The dragons were exterminated; the Areuts were herded into ghettos. The descendants of the conquerors and the vanquished are we, the players. We no longer search for demon relics or investigate the disappearance of the gods. The key to solving the Great Mysteries of Alterra is tied to that first war and the demon relics. They would have been useful... but for some reason, the alphas decided to replace this game objective with another, simpler one – the Battles. We no longer care about the legend; we don't try to unravel the mystery. We just fight. And the old quests that could lead to the Great Mysteries, well, nobody can find them. There are no tasks associated with them."
Jack nodded thoughtfully. That meant that other well-informed people Egghead did business with also thought as he did. Something unfolded that n
ight Jack went down to Necta's temple. Something unusual, some anomaly in the game had allowed an early quest from an older version of Alterra to rise to the surface. What brought it on? The relics from the black city, naturally.
"That's why demon artifacts are useless – no one studies the Great Mysteries. Everyone thinks only about winning the annual Battle."
"Yes, I understand," Jack nodded. "And the necromancers?"
"Then there's those psychos! They don't take part in the Battles. They're looking for something..." Egghead snapped his fingers, "special. Alterra, for them, is just a way to get something that doesn't exist in reality... No, that's not it! We all find something in Alterra that's better, cleaner, more beautiful than reality. But what they want is abominable, understand? So foul that you won't see it in real life."
"Gonna be hard to find, then," said Jack.
"I've never understood those who play necromancers. But you're lucky you've come to me. I know the player you need. Sartorius, a light mage. Well, ostensibly light. He lives in a tower on the outskirts of Maxitown. He spends his time searching in secret for anything related to the first war between the dragons and the demons. Tell him about your artifacts and he'll dance a jig out sheer joy. On the ceiling."
"How do I find him?"
"Stargazer's Tower. That's what his lair is called. Bring up the map of Maxitown and zoom in on the northeastern quadrant... ready? Find Three Copper Rings street and look there, where it meets the city wall. And there next to the wall..."
"Ah, I see! The Stargazer's Tower!"
"Exactly! That's the one. The mage Sartorius. I'll write to him about you. Otherwise he won't even talk to you. You do understand, this is a forbidden topic and shouldn't be discussed with just any player. I'll tell him that you can be trusted."
"Outstanding. What about Dargoth?"
"It's rubble. Gloomy, black ruins. All manner of evil spirits, goblins, snakes, and spiders nest there... And there are catacombs that descend several floors. Essentially, it’s a multi-level dungeon. The only odd thing about it is that no one sends players thing there. There are no tasks for Dargoth, no quests, and no rewards. I gained a couple of levels there, just out of curiosity. There were no rewards, no loot... So, it's a useless area that everyone's just forgotten about. Check the chat, I sent you the coordinates."
Jack quickly entered the numbers into the map search bar. It was on Maxitorian territory. For Jack, Dargoth was in a gray zone. It was a place he hadn't been yet, and that area on the map was just a flat colorless, gray.
He didn't ask about the temple. No reason to tip Egghead off. Better to go and explore the area himself.
When their business had concluded, Egghead added one last piece of advice.
"And there’s this thing about Sartorius... He usually appears in the game around evening time. You won't catch him at any other time."
"Why's that, do you know?"
"He's an alpha. Who knows why they do what they do..."
"An alpha?"
Wow, Egghead had some impressive acquaintances! Jack had yet to run across alphas. It was a fact that he had absolutely no idea how the alphas lived on the other side of the Barrier. Living in the ghetto, on this side of the wall surrounding New Atrium, to put it bluntly, sucked. Those who were born after Gendemic didn't even realize how awful it was. They just hadn't seen anything other than the filth and destitution. But the Walkers, like Jack, occasionally came across fragments of the old world in the Blighted Wasteland and had a basis for comparison. Everything in New Atrium was probably pretty and clean, like the pictures in the old magazines that Jack had found a couple of times. Generally speaking, all omegas aspired to live in New Atrium. They dreamt of becoming alphas and getting that implanted chip, living in comfort, and stuffing themselves to their heart's content. This was their idea of happiness.
But who knew what it was really like? No one came back from there. As for Jack, he wanted something else entirely, since he'd never thought much about how the alphas lived.
And really, it was better not to think about it. Jack had no intention of being shut up behind the Barrier. It was much better to have a distant goal, blue skies, with the wind in the sails and blowing on his face.
He came back to the main square. First, he found the weaponsmith's stall. The NPC bought any drop, but at a rather low price. If he approached a player, then he could haggle a bit, squeeze them for a bit more... but the NPC took everything in bulk and, most importantly, didn’t want to chit-chat with the customer. The loot Jack picked up after the encounter the Gravediggers at the crossroads near Narim brought in more than three hundred gold.
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Jack cheered up at this. Now he could use the portals without worry. Practically speaking, the fact that the Brotherhood was hounding him had a positive side!
He found Three Copper Rings Street and went to look for the alpha-mage's place. When the lofty tower came into sight, its top jutting out above the other roofs, Jack knew at once that he'd found it. Eyeing the tower, he nearly missed it – two Gravediggers walking down the street. He barely had time to read their stats and dip into an alley.
Jack couldn't tell if they'd noticed him or not. Half running, he ran through a few blocks, frequently turning down different streets. The top of the tower served as a great landmark so he wasn't afraid of getting lost in the unfamiliar city.
The Stargazer's Tower was a huge, white-stone structure. It abutted the city wall on one side and its foundation occupied a sizeable area. Five, maybe six, average-sized city townhouses could fit within it.
Before knocking on the massive, copper-banded oak doors, Jack walked up and down the front several times. The Gravediggers were nowhere to be found, so Jack figured that they hadn't seen him. It was possible that the pair was doing their own thing and didn't have anything to do with Weaver. If there were more than one thousand players in their guild, then not all of them would necessarily drop everything to scour cities and villages just because Weaver Lund got offended.
A handsome old man with a neatly trimmed white beard opened the door when he knocked.
Doorman Malvey, Scand
Expertise: 20
Health: 40
The color of his stats banner was light turquoise, which meant this was an NPC. The doorman was probably bound to the Stargazer's Tower. Jack had never thought about what it would be like to have real estate in Alterra, let alone NPC servants. This wasn't just some mount that you could pull out of your sleeve in a tight spot, but a character who lived here, who was always in Alterra, even when you exited the game. You could give him some kind of particular function, set his behavior. It was probably amusing.
"How may I be of service?" Malvey enquired sedately.
"My name is Jack and I have an important matter with Lord Sartorius. He should be expecting me."
"I do apologize," the older man bowed his head ceremoniously, "but the master is very busy right now with magical studies. He is not accepting visitors. Be so kind as to stop by later. We accept visitors in the evenings."
Jack had already opened his mouth to insist that he needed to see the mage right away... but then he caught on. Sartorius wasn't in the game. He had programmed the NPC servant to answer the door with this phrase.
"All right, I'll stop by later," Jack agreed. "Please tell him, good sir... that I have something that he needs."
You could argue with a living doorman and probably even convince him. But it was useless to squabble with an NPC. Jack turned and strode away. In order to make good use of time, he could pay a visit to Dargoth and look around for the abandoned temple. Since the red dot marking Dargoth’s coordinates on the map stuck out amid a sea of gray, that meant that covering the whole way by teleport wouldn’t work. Though, a teleport t
o the nearest point on the open part of the map would, of course, shorten the road.
He could find a Wanderer mage in the city, but that encounter with the Gravediggers had Jack inclined to get out of there soon. So, he followed the city wall from the Stargazer's Tower and would leave Maxitor via the first gate he came across.
As usual, there was commotion at the gates. Players and NPCs of all sorts, some on foot, mounted, in carts and wagons... and a couple of Gravediggers, standing off to the side and talking animatedly. Or perhaps they were faking the lively banter, but were actually keeping track of who passed through the gates? Jack froze for a few seconds, then turned around and walked back. Which was a mistake, as the abrupt movement definitely attracted the attention of the pair of observers. As he turned into an alley, Jack threw a glance over his shoulder. Nope, no Gravediggers running after him. But it was enough for Jack that they broke off their chatter and intently watched him go.
This was bullshit... Jack broke into a run. Then stopped. Where was he going and what was the hurry? In the city, those bastards could do precisely zilch – it was a PvE zone. There was just one question: how could he shake them and leave Maxitor without being noticed? If the Gravediggers were guarding the gates, then they probably also put eyes on the shops that sold teleports. Had something like this happened in Svetlograd, Jack would have found a way, maybe asked someone for help... but he didn't know anyone in Maxitown. Although... why nobody?
Jack reached out to Egghead in chat.
Hi. I have another question. It's not exactly up your alley, but you're in the business of answering questions. How can I leave Maxitown unnoticed?
Fortunately, Egghead was in the game and replied right away.
"What happened?"
"Nothing yet. And it would be nice to keep it that way. I need to leave the city, but not through the gates or by teleport. It’s a very simple question. You're not going to charge me for nothing, are you?"