by Andrew Novak
"Jack, come down! Right now I'm offering decent terms, but my patience will soon run out. If we have to break in there with force, it will go much worse for you. We don't really need you, understand? We saw you run into this building, and now we know where to look."
Now Jack realized why the fire mages of the Gravediggers delayed their shots. Shit, they were simply herding him! Driving him, so he would lead the chase to the quest objective. Wow, and he had considered them dim-witted, but they had worked this perfectly.
He thumped his fist on the wall in irritation:
"It's not supposed to end like this!"
"It's not over," Lisa said quietly. "There is a way out."
While he had been listening to Weaver brag, the girl had come and stood behind him. Jack turned around. Lisa unfastened her belt, removed the black, necromancer's cuirass, and continued, poking a finger under her left breast:
"Strike here. If you do it quickly, I'll feel almost nothing. I will stand right next to the portal, my blood will surely hit it."
"No"
She smiled unhappily:
"You simply forgot, that I've been doing this for a long time already. I'm a victim in black rituals. For the first time, I'm playing my role readily."
"No," Jack repeated. "As long as I'm alive, nobody's going to kill you."
"Come on, it's just a game. We are actually sitting on the floor in a dark basement in the middle of the Blighted Wasteland. Sitting at arm's length. You can find me later in Alterra and bring me to Dagon. Come on! Let's go to the portal."
Another message from the alpha came:
Don't go without me. Wait for me no matter what, this is important. No matter what! Jack, you must wait for me. I order you. I am the Master of the guild. You are obligated to wait for me."
"No," Jack said for the third time and looked through the window again.
The Gravediggers were still standing at the wall. Behind them, a broad shadow was creeping along the grass. The Shadow was growing rapidly. There was the whoosh of something falling. Something huge, broad, and black descended on the Gravediggers from the sky. Then the cries of the crushed players, hammered into the ground, were drowned out by another sound – it was either a scream or a roar. Jack was blinded by a violent flash, instantly showered with a cascade of green lights with a very sinister appearance.
Then Ruger Eckerhart spurred his black gryphon and made it careen about in a circle in long hops. With his left hand, he sent a new blast of green fire at the Gravediggers. In the right, he held a sword, which he also used to deal out more devastation. Ruger roared with laughter. This laughter was louder than snarling of his gryphon and screams of the dying Gravediggers.
Another five mounted pegasi dropped from the sky after Ruger – black beasts, black armor, and black cloaks fluttering behind them. Sartorius was sitting behind one of the riders. Jack saw Weaver among the confused Gravediggers thrashing about under Ruger's blows. While everyone was running cluelessly around the square, trying to dodge the butcher on the gryphon, the mage slipped through the archway. Jack waved Lisa off and ran to the stairs.
Chapter Eighteen. The Black Schooner
IN THE GREAT HALL below, nothing had changed. Outside, Ruger was staging a massacre complete with the rattling of spells, the snarling of the gryphon and the howling of Gravediggers, but inside, the sounds were barely audible. Darting between columns, Jack made for the entrance and soon saw Weaver. The mage was hanging back without taking his eyes from the arch. He held his staff trained on the entrance; a hot flame burned on the crystal orb that capped his weapon. The Palace of Azeroth had been built so that a rider on a gryphon could easily enter through the arch. It was also possible for a person to keep to the shadows if he hid behind the massive columns.
It was very convenient to be able to hide, especially if you were stalking a man, terrified to death, who wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Jack shifted to get behind the Gravedigger and lifted the Shadow of the King. But when Weapons came closer, Jack hit him across the crown of his head, turning the sword so that it struck with the flat of the blade. He measured out precisely the amount of force so the blow dealt a stun debuff.
Weaver dropped the staff and fell backward. The player, of course, did not lose consciousness, but his character control capabilities had been severely reduced. Jack captured his hand, so the mage couldn't grope in his inventory for an elixir or a spell scroll, put the black blade to his throat, and dragged him across the hall.
When they had climbed the stairs, Weaver's ability to control his body had started to return to him. But the blade placed to his throat also greatly limited his control.
"Jack, is that you?"
"Who else? I thought about it and decided to accept your offer. We'll bury the hatchet, right? But the terms will now be slightly more severe than you imagined."
"What are your conditions?"
"I'll show you a very interesting location that you missed when you explored the black city. You're even going to take part in the ritual that will allow us to use it. In exchange, you will stop chasing me. Especially, as it will be in your best interests. How many fighters has your guild lost, huh? And you understand, of course, that the conditions are non-negotiable."
"What ritual do you mean?"
"You know what they say: better to see it for yourself."
Without interrupting the conversation, Jack dragged his captive to the portal, where Lisa was already waiting.
"All right, let's start," Jack told her. "Do you need anything else to activate it? Or are we ready?"
"Ready," the girl nodded. "What's with this guy? Is he the one stalking us?"
"Yep, this mess is because of him. He is one of the more important Gravediggers. He was probably going to become even the most important, right, Weaver?"
"What's happening here?" Weaver managed to ask as Jack pushed him closer to the Necroportal and forced him to bow.
Lisa, with a bloodthirsty expression on her face, slit the Gravedigger's throat with a dagger. A red wave gushed onto the mysteriously shimmering, black slab.
The black stone vanished. Now there were four doors in the room. Beyond the newly opened entrance, he could make out a square room just like this one.
Attention! You have opened the Portal of Bacchus.
Do you wish to make the Portal permanent? Yes/No
Do you wish to configure it to specific players or a guild? Yes/No/Answer later
"No" and "Answer later".
Jack unclenched his hands and let Weaver's body slip to the floor.
"Lisa, how long will the portal last if I didn't make it permanent?"
"I'm not exactly sure, but... Five minutes maximum. Even less, rather."
"We'll wait a bit to be sure nobody follows after us."
Jack and Lisa joined hands. The Gravedigger's body had started to melt. No voices or footsteps could be heard. The necromancers had, of course, won, but they hadn't gotten here yet.
Lying in front of the portal, Weaver became colorless, transparent, as if cast from glass, and soon disappeared. A wallet and ring with a large white stone remained on the floor.
Jack bent down and scooped up the loot.
Ring of Passion
Level: rare
Bonus: increases Mana by 10%
And the purse? What was there in store for old Jack?
A deposit of 642 gold has been made to your account.
Would you like to see the details of the transaction? Yes/No
You have 2298 gold in your account.
Do you want to perform another transaction? Yes/No
"A friend of mine who goes by the name Shifty Peter sometimes used to say: you can find something good in any person," remarked Jack. "In Weaver Lund's case, it is, naturally, his wallet."
Attention! The Portal of Bacchus will close in one minute.
To reactivate it, you will have to repeat the ritual.
"It's time!" Jack again took Eloise by the hand. Togeth
er they stepped into the darkness on the other side of the portal. At first it seemed that they hadn't gone anywhere. This location was an exact copy of the former, with the same four doors, the false door behind them: a smooth black stone slab with a male face engraved above it.
Attention! Quest progression in "Service to the Dark".
Board the Dead Wind, the ship built for the King of the Demons, Azeroth.
You are the first player to enter Dagon Castle.
You receive +3 XP.
You have 50 XP.
You receive a new skill: Shadowmaster
Earn 10 XP to unlock a new skill.
Light shone from the door opposite. Exactly like in the palace of Azeroth, where there had been a gallery of windows across from the portal, the rays of sunlight likewise penetrated from there.
Jack and Lisa walked toward the light. They stepped across the threshold and both stood transfixed, enchanted by the scene revealed to them. They were standing on a tiny, almost ornamental, balcony. Under them, stone masonry led down the tower wall. Thirty feet below, it became the wrinkled side of the cliffs, and even further down was the surf. The waves rolled in, one after another, from the endless ocean to the base of the cliffs, spraying dazzling white against the rocks. On the horizon, at an incredible distance, where the waves emerged, hung the glowing, crimson sun.
"At the least, it is clear that we're on the western shores of Stoglav," murmured Jack.
He brought up his map. Sure enough, Dagon Castle was located on the shore of the ocean, at the very tip of a small peninsula to the north of Nightmare. Not the most pleasant neighborhood.
"Jack," called Lisa. "We did it, right? This is the same place... And what about Sartorius? He was with Ruger... Did they conspire beforehand? But he bought the Book of Bacchus. So, that means he contacted the necromancer later?"
"I don't know. He wrote to me in chat before you opened the Necroportal. He demanded that we wait for him. Whether he conspired in advance or not, they both appeared together in the black city."
"He's a slimy one, I told you from the start!" Lisa frowned. "Jack, listen! You have fifty points of XP. I'm leaving the Stargazers. Understand?"
"Yeah, I understand," Jack smiled. "But we still need five thousand gold to register our own guild. And I only have... um... I only have 2298."
"Take mine. I was going to give it to a Walker anyway, remember? Two thousand and..."
Lisa hastily dug in her inventory and shook out anything that could contain coins. Several wallets and boxes remained after all their adventures and she still hadn't opened them. But, alas, she had only collected 2023 coins. That was a total of 4321.
"But I'm still leaving the Stargazers," the girl grumbled stubbornly.
Lisa's stats blinked and her guild identity disappeared. Jack followed her example.
Do you wish to leave the guild Stargazer? Yes/No
Yes, yes!
That was it. They were all free people. For now, open sea wasn't available to them, but it couldn't hurt to perform the next stage of the quest and find the schooner Dead Wind.
The castle had been built on the top of a cliff and was, in fact, a tower. A small holding, one could say. But schooner Bacchus built was definitely here. Where to look? At the bottom, of course, closer to the sea.
Going down the stairs, Jack remembered about the box with his goblins. How were his troops? After activating the box, all five goblins, headed by Hercules, were present. Despite their heroic deaths, which were accompanied by a loss of experience points, the little green guys had 5 XP. Hercules even had six.
"You fought bravely," Jack declared. "The enemy was strong, but the victory was ours. Now listen to your new order. Search the castle and find gold. I need coins, money, is that clear? Move out!"
The goblins, joyfully chattering, rushed along the stairs, some went up, some down. There were only five, but the impression formed that Dagon Castle was crammed full of the little, green guys. Their howls carried from all over, everywhere a tiny figure streaked by. And Jack continued to descend the stairs, which seemed endless. Flight after flight went down into the body of the rock, and on each floor was a gallery, leading somewhere into the depths of the stone. Torches in the rings embedded in the walls, chains of the lamps leading deep into the stone body of the cliffs.
A small Tower on top, eh? This was actually a city carved in the stone. Jack would explore. Surely there were many interesting nooks and crannies to be found.
"Master! Master!" a little green wave dashed down the stairs, topped with a wolf tail. Goblins surrounded Jack, hopping and dancing on the steps around him. "We found, found, found!"
Jack returned one floor up. The corridor led into a room, littered all kinds of stuff. There was broken armor, rotting banners, broken shields, and similar evidence of ancient battles. Most of the relics of the past were part of the surroundings, a single texture monolith with walls and floors, but if he dug, then he could find items that could be taken. The goblins triumphantly pointed out a chest.
Locked Chest
Contents unknown
It looked like the castle of Dagon had some small, local quests. For example, the search for the key to the Locked Chest. Sartorius would have been happy. Here, he would have prepared mind games and sophisticated intellectual riddles. But Jack was too tired to be bothered with these issues. He pulled the sword out of its scabbard, assess the situation... Would it work or not? Well, it wouldn't make it worse! – and with this thought, he ran the blade into the chest.
Which fell apart with the first blow. The wreckage soon began to fade and melt. The chest has behaved in exactly the same way as a slain player. It would be nice if it would respawn, with all its contents... He'd have to test that theory later. For the time being, in place of the deceased chest, a handful of gold coins dropped.
1000 gold coins.
Jack scooped up the loot.
A deposit of 1000 gold has been made you your account.
Would you like to see the details of the transaction? Yes/No
You have 3298 gold in your account.
Do you want to perform another transaction? Yes/No
"I do," Jack muttered. "Lisa, are you ready to invest your savings into a lucrative venture? Or maybe not very lucrative, but ridiculously entertaining? I invite you to become my Deputy."
"Yes, master," the necromancer curtsied. "What is your command, master?"
"What? Give me your cash. We're going to register a guild."
The game took the five thousand from his account no problem. The questions began later. As expected, the name "Wanderer" was already taken, so the game suggested "Rogue-23".
"And I was hoping to be original..." Jack scratched his head. "Let's try this,"
Immortal Wanderer
The interface window thought for a moment, then text flew across his vision with frightening speed.
Attention! You have registered the guild Immortal Wanderer.
Now your guild has the "temporary registration" status. You have 24 hours to enter the Charter, the Player List, and open the Forum in the Shell.
Congratulations on the creation of your guild.
For information about new opportunities, see Help (link), Game Rules (link), the Alterran Companion (link)...
The lines crawled and crawled, replacing each other, and Jack turned the interface so that it did not block his view. There would be time to read later.
Accompanied by Lisa, as well as the bounding, squealing goblins, he went down a few more flights of the endless staircase until finally the sound of the surf reached him from below. Their journey ended in a huge grotto. Along the wall of the cave was a narrow gallery, encircling the underground bay. The water, black and oily in the dim light of the torches, rose and fell like the breast of a sleeping giant. And together with the water, a black yacht rose and fell, the most amazing vessel Jack had ever seen in Alterra.
It looked... well, to put it mildly, unusual. What material was the ship made of
? Not wood, that was for sure. It looked more like woven, pressed human bodies, formed into the shape of the schooner. If he looked closely, it began to seem that he could discern, arms, legs, torsos and distorted faces, arched in unbearable agony. Then the illusion disappeared, and the outlines of the bodies blurred, smoothed out into the soft contours of the vessel's sides.
At the berth, the ship was held by chains, massive and heavy in appearance. The Immortal Wanderer guild and their goblins climbed on board. The schooner was small, and the arrangement resembled that of the Runner, only the lines were more elegant, and the cabin was furnished much more comfortably. In addition to the narrow bunks, there was a table, chairs, and shelves on the walls. It wasn't even a cabin, but a deckhouse. There were both a telescope and navigation instruments, the purpose of which Jack could only guess.
On one wall free of shelves, a lamp burned. The bas-relief that it lit up represented Chronos or Astra, as in the usual exit points of the game, but also the same man with a hollow on his cheek as on the Portal of Bacchus. Jack, already familiar, put the Tear in place. Something rattled, the floor trembled underfoot. And then a voice, sounding from everywhere as if the schooner itself was speaking, intoned:
The Dead Wind is ready to serve you, sir.
Jack was too tired to be surprised. Too much had happened recently, he had seen too many new things. Lisa jumped, but he just looked around and, unable to determine the source of the voice, asked:
"Can we get underway right now? Or is there something you require? Sailors, for example?"
Again the voice sounded from all sides:
The Dead Wind does not need sailors. It needs your will, master. Declare your desire. Name your destination.