by Andrew Novak
Attention! Your servants had a successful hunt. Their prey’s experience exceeds theirs by 10 XP. Your servants receive +1 XP.
Continue to actively use your dark servants, and their experience will grow.
The proud hunters, now with 3 XP each, made a bonfire. The wolf’s tail was ceremoniously presented to Jack, but he let them keep the trophy. Right away, one of the goblins made himself a hat out of twigs and decorated it with the wolf’s fluffy tail. Jack recalled: that goblin was the first to catch a rat. He had a prominent purple wart on his nose. It looked like this goblin company now had a leader. When the flames took hold, the goblins started roasting the meat, the one in the hat being in charge. As a result, his experience went up another unit. When Jack focused on him, a tooltip appeared:
Your most diligent servant. He will be the first to acquire new skills. You can give him a name to address all your servants through him in the future.
A blank input field and a keyboard appeared. Jack looked at the satisfied goblin that was eating roasted wolf meat. What should he call him? A name from some ancient story appeared. Let him be Hercules, like that invincible hero from a long time ago.
Hercules.
At that very moment Lisa logged on, and soon Sartorius did, too. Upon seeing the goblins, the mage raised his hands placing them in front of himself, the lights of some deadly spell appearing in his hands... but then he noticed that both Jack and Lisa were at ease, so he put down his magic flame and asked what was going on.
“These guys are my servants,” Jack explained. “Like your doorman at the Stargazer’s Tower, Malvey, only mine are much prettier. Well, shall we depart then? Hey, Hercules! Gather your gang!”
The Mausoleum was surrounded by unevenly placed chipped gray boulders which formed some kind of a maze. Sometimes savages with spears could be seen among the rocks; they were walking around inside the maze, never leaving it. Jack volunteered to go and scout the area. He got near one of the entrances and looked inside. A dozen paces ahead of him there was a smoking bonfire, with bones and pieces of weapons scattered around. Jack could see a couple of human skulls, rusted bent helmets, ragged ring-mails, and other tokens of past battles. Near the fire sat two savages daubed in blue paint. Soon another one appeared, with a spear on his shoulder. He came closer, stood there for a while, and then went round the maze again.
Savage Demon Worshiper of Gezal
Expertise: 20
Health: 30
Jack reckoned that he could deal with such opponents alone, and three people would have no problem at all.
But Sartorius preferred to act carefully. Enveloped in defensive spells, he sneaked up to one of the maze’s entrances, provoked demon worshipers and led them to Jack who put them down with a single blow of his black sword.
They were muscular fellows, painted blue, with bones stuck in their dirty tangled hair. In alleys of the ghetto one could meet even more colorful characters; their appearance could seem strange only to the alpha who lived in New Atrium. Or to the developers who worked on Alterra before the Gendemic.
This way, one or two at a time, Jack minced seven NPCs, and after that the mage agreed that the remaining ones didn’t pose any serious danger. That meant they could finally enter the maze.
The structure of the maze wasn’t very complex, though there were many false passages and turns which made them go in circles, returning to the same intersection again and again. Moreover, several demon worshipers were hiding inside, so Jack and company had to take care of them when they appeared out of the darkness with wild cries, charging at the aliens with spears and clubs. Among the boulders, which the maze was built from, it was dimly lit. There were rough sketches of various eerie scenes: battles with dragons, and ritualistic killings of Areuts with a lot of red textures. All in all, this whole spooky gallery meant that the local savage tribe shed rivers of blood in the name of their minor god.
Several similar boulders formed a circle, and in the center stood the Mausoleum itself, a massive rectangular building topped with a spired cupola.
The boss of this dungeon was considered to be a shaman with thirty experience. He was standing by the entrance to the Mausoleum, leaning on a monstrous club.
Jack nodded to Sartorius:
"Your feat, Master. If you're going to get XP here, it'll most likely be for that shaman. Kill him."
Sartorius nodded and resolutely began to work up a magical defense. His figure clouded, the outlines blurred, as if the mage were covered with thick glass. After completing his preparations, he poured the contents of a blue bottle down his throat and moved toward the entrance of the Mausoleum. The shaman saw the stranger and, roaring, banged the club at his feet. The earth shuddered. The stone blocks that created the labyrinth came into motion. They began to tremble dangerously and seemed as if they were about to collapse. So, Jack and Eloise, who were going to stand to the side, also rushed after Sartorius to the open area by the Mausoleum.
The shaman, twirling the club over his shaggy head, moved toward Sartorius. He continued his roar, and the stones around him groaned and shook.
Sartorius met him with such a flood of fire that Eloise, who was actually hiding behind Jack, also lost two points of health. Even Jack himself stayed behind their Master. But Sartorius didn't waste time. When he needed to strike down an enemy, he spilled enough heat for everyone.
The shaman disappeared in the stream of fire. The stones gradually came to a rest. However, the mage did not gain any experience. The visitors slipped one by one into the gap that served as the entrance to the Mausoleum. The demon's tomb occupied half of the free space inside. Next to it stood the idol of Gezal.
The demon looked like something formless and vile, with a bunch of horns, tentacles, and claws. The nine-foot statue was buried waist-high in offerings from the savages, and shoveling these piles took another ten minutes. Sartorius finally picked a scrap of parchment from the pile of trash. Jack checked his map. A new waypoint had appeared on it: the troll's lair.
A troll. This was very serious. Usually, it took a whole team to slay that kind of enemy. The black sword was good against regular-sized opponents since it cut through any weapon or armor, but a troll didn't use steel weapons. It was a weapon itself, and a big one. It was good that Beor had described how to defeat it. And Sartorius needed to do it. He needed the XP.
It was half an hour's walk to the troll's lair. It turned out to be something of a nest of uprooted trees, littered with bones, among which human skulls stared with empty eyes. The nest's owner was sitting on top of this pile and was pensively scratching his back with a hefty gleaming, golden hammer covered in elaborate engraving. The troll wasn't the largest. Jack had heard that there were bigger in Alterra. But this lunker would be fifteen feet tall if it stood up. Observing the monster from the bushes, Jack realized that, if he were honest, he really did not want the troll to get up. But there was nothing to do about it. They had to draw him out of the nest. He resolutely unsheathed the black sword and walked to the monster's lair.
Lisa followed, but Jack ordered her to stay back. Before reaching the giant nest, he began yelling and waving the Shadow of the King, floating waves of darkness around himself. Seeing Jack, the troll grumbled and began to rise. It was a mountain of meat and bones under a hairy pelt, fifteen feet of deadly eyesore. Jack stopped and waved his sword more vigorously, the darkness around him started to thicken. A sort of little night, in which Jack took shelter from the troll.
The earth trembled noticeably with each step under the giant's feet. Jack had time to think that he was creating the night, and the troll – an earthquake. Then there was no time for though. He had to jump and dodge as the troll plunged its paws into the cloud of darkness. The troll tried to feel for its enemy. Jack recoiled, crouched and brushed it aside with his sword. A couple of times, he caught his enemy, but the troll was much too large to be taken down with such a blow. It just got angry at the few deep cuts it received.
Jack retreated, backed
away, and raced along the shaking ground. The monster was not far behind – and had moved away from its nest, where the Hammer lay. Then Jack noticed green flashes cutting through the darkness he had created. Eloise had joined the fight anyway... The troll roared. It seemed that it was more sensitive to necromancer magic than blows from the sword. Nearby, something hit the ground, a rock, which the troll hit with a fist. Jack staggered and backed away. He himself did not understand whether it was the ground shaking, or his knees. The troll seemed invincible. Its great feet beat into the ground right next to Jack. And then, when it appeared that he was about to be walloped by a giant fist, Jack heard Sartorius shout:
"Geza-a-al!"
His feet caught in the root of an upturned tree. Jack stumbled and flew into the grass. He rolled, tried to stand, but the troll's paw imprinted itself into the ground a foot away, causing a new bout of tremors. Jack realized that, if the troll spotted him in the gloom, then he wouldn't be able to slip out of this... B-bah! Above his head, something rumbled deafeningly and the troll's roar quieted. Jack sensed, rather than saw movement in the darkness above him, and jerked to the side. On all fours, he quickly looked over all his limbs. He was somehow able to rise to his feet on the shaking earth... and then the shaking stopped. Jack lowered his sword and slowly moved back, away from the night he had created.
The troll was lying with its snout in the plowed dirt. From its back, between the shoulder blades, the grip of Gezal's Hammer, covered with engraved patterns, was sticking out.
Sartorius walked proudly to the defeated giant, climbed on top of it, grabbed the Hammer and, resting his foot on the troll's shoulder blade, proceeded to pull the weapon out of the dead body.
"With this Hammer," he declared, "the demon Gezal killed dragons, swatted them in flight. It can be sent into the air, and the Hammer will hit its mark, even a flying one. Then Gezal called his weapon, as I just summoned it from the troll's lair, and the Hammer returned to him. Last night, I reread what I found in the Shell. The main thing was, I knew where to look because I've been collecting information on demons for a long time."
Sartorius finally released the weapon and tossed it up onto his shoulder with some effort.
"It's a great hammer," Jack said, peering at it. He was starting to get some ideas.
"Well, of course. Legendary level, after all. It's a pity that it disappears after the quest is complete. All the dark wonders of Gezal will be lost when his tomb is destroyed. This's the point of the quest."
While they were discussing the Hammer, Eloise had climbed into the troll's nest and began to rattle the bones there.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Jack called.
"These bones can be taken, they're not just part of the overall picture. Isn't it interesting? Oh, look!"
Lisa appeared over the nest and displayed a necklace made of large fangs.
"It a rare level, plus five percent to strength. But don't get distracted, discuss your gentlemen's issues, or whatever. And I'll take the necklace for myself, I found it. You didn't think to look."
"All right, all right," Sartorius agreed, "necklaces are for ladies, go ahead. If you are finished, then let's go to the Mausoleum. We need to complete the quest and use the Hammer."
"Wait," Jack finally managed to articulate what had been bothering him. "Why do we need to complete your quest? Let's take the Hammer with us, we'll introduce it the Gravediggers."
Sartorius stopped abruptly. The Hammer nearly slipped from his shoulder, and the mage, grunting with effort, straightened his weapon.
"But I have to finish... after all, a mortal can use the Hammer only three times. Although, I must admit, the idea is sound. Most likely, in the demon city we'll need any weapons we can find. But the destruction of the Mausoleum might give XP, no?"
Jack lifted his head and looked at the sky above the forest. The trees partially covered the view, but the flying spy was not visible.
"He didn't show up at all today," Lisa said, trying on the necklace she had found. "Sometimes I look."
"What are you talking about?" Sartorius was becoming agitated. "Who didn't show up?"
Jack briefly told him about the pursuers on the river, and then the rider on the winged mount of some incomprehensible breed.
"But today he wasn't here," Lisa reminded him. "That means they lost us after we left Alterra for the night."
"No," said the mage, "it means they are sure that we are going to the black city, and they're waiting for us there. And the watcher was called back, so as not to frighten us off. Oh, now if we could wait a couple of weeks, really disappoint them... The Gravediggers can't afford to keep a strike force in the wilderness forever. But I can't wait. After a while, matters in New Atrium will pile up again, and I will only be able to log in to Alterra in the evenings. And this is not the last step. There's still Dagon Castle, and then only after that can we travel to the lost continent."
Jack was in total agreement because he had more serious reasons to rush this quest. A hundred panbucks placed on his head by some alpha, it didn't get more serious than that...
"So, we take the Hammer with us. We'll need to break through the Gravediggers' ambush, run back to the Palace of Azeroth, and along the way, you'll have to complete several adventures. You'll probably get a point of experience for that.
The closer to the black city, the slower the Stargazer guild moved. Sartorius frequently stopped, peered first at one, then another amulet. He feared traps. The absence of magical traps appeared to depress him even more. He believed that the Gravediggers had prepared an ambush and did not want to alert the travelers ahead of time. Lisa, eyeballing his gimmicks, sighed conspicuously but kept quiet, for which Jack was grateful. Their guild Master was already upset, there was no reason to annoy him once more.
Finally, the outskirts of the demon city appeared ahead. There was no clear boundary between the forest and the ruins. They found hewn black stones scattered here and there among the conifers, long before they reached even one piece of intact masonry.
"Look," Sartorius said in a dismal voice, pointing up, "they raised the watcher. They know that we're coming.
Above the forest, a rider had appeared astride a winged mount of an unintelligible breed. Suddenly Jack knew what kind of beast was flying there up high.
Chapter Seventeen. Battle in the Black City
"THEY FOUND us," Sartorius repeated. "That, up there... It's a fiery hippogriff."
"I also recognized it," Jack nodded. "A rare and very dangerous creature, it'll wipe us out in one blow. So, let's see... When I say, throw the Hammer him. We need to drop him first, then immediately attack. They know that we are somewhere nearby, but if they had a clear picture, they wouldn't be following us from the sky. It means they can't determine too much. We're going to tear through here. I'll go first, you cover me. You have defense spells? Not for long, only so I can get to their fighters. And then try to disable Mages, distract or neutralize them. Cheer up, Master! We are already around the corner from the portal of Bacchus."
"And me?" Eloise immediately jumped up.
"You've got the most difficult part."
"What, exactly? Because I suspect you want to put me at the rear of our great army for cover. Mind you, I don't agree."
"You have the shortest life bar and, actually, everything will depend on you when we get to the portal. No one – you will be able to activate it. Necromancers borrowed their magic from demons. That means it will be easiest for you to work with Necroportal. So, Sartorius?"
The mage nodded.
"Right! So, we'll need you at the portal. Take care of yourself, don't put yourself at risk. Ready your elixirs and use them without hesitation. You must go to the portal. You hear? I'm not kidding. Your task is to conduct a ritual that would open the way to the castle of Dagon. Stay behind and keep your elixirs ready."
Lisa frowned and gazed to the side. Jack waited for an answer. Finally she nodded reluctantly:
"Okay, have it your way. Will keep my eli
xirs ready and the Rod of Despair."
"And remain in the rear," Jack reminded insistently.
"And remain in the rear. Only if you let yourself get killed, I'll raise you and make you apologize."
But Jack was already no longer listening. It was time to get down to business. This is how their strange team – a cowardly forty-ninth level mage and a little, too-bold witch of the twenty-fourth level – lost time getting into a fighting mood. It was a shame that their experience points hadn't been distributed to them in reverse order. But what was there to do about it? You worked with what you had. So, all that was left was the last phase of preparations. Jack released his team of fighting goblins from the box. The tiny monsters lined up in front of him, trying to assume a smart appearance, as much as they were capable. Hercules came forward and lifted its snout, directing its wart-covered nose at Jack.
"Command, master!"
"Your day has come," began Jack from afar. "Today we go into battle. Back the glorious days when a banner soared above our heads with the creed "Service"! Are you ready?"
Goblins hopped in delight, so much that the quivers full of arrows shook on their backs.
"Excellent," Jack said graciously, "I see that you, brave warriors, are worthy of the glory of your ancestors. Then listen up. Can you get to the black ruins? Those over there, see? There are many of your brethren there, wandering idly, and you must tell them that..."
Goblins listened to the order and solemnly promised that they would die, but would fulfill it as best they could.
Now everything was ready. All that remained was to wait half an hour for the little ones to get into the black city and gather more of their tribesmen. Jack was not sure that the other goblins would listen to Hercules, but there was no choice. But if it succeeded... There, in the ruins of the capital Azeroth, were a countless number of goblins.