by M Helbig
“Nanny!” Olaf leapt up and patted the squat ball of slick fur on the back.
Nanny wobbled into a seat next to me. “Always glad to see all of you, dearie, especially since jerkus isn’t here. Where is the dead weight, by the way?”
“Sheeeessh with contaaaaacts!” Alizia sang surprisingly in key.
Nanny rolled her eyes. “Ehh, the ‘contacts’ of hers. Not that crap again.”
“Do not laugh, Nanny,” Olaf said. “They discovered that my son’s character is named ‘Repsak’ and that there is a Holy Fist named Oskar that he hangs out with.”
“Interesting. If I hear anything about them, I’ll let you know,” Nanny said. “Maybe she does have her uses, but I’d rather hang out with a rabid skunk.”
“Shku,” Alizia said.
“What else do you guys know about these contacts of hers?” I asked.
Olaf shrugged. “She has been pretty tightlipped about her contacts, since they are a ‘secret organization.’”
The waitress set down our drinks as well as one for Nanny.
“More than likely they trade info for money,” Nanny said.
“She mentioned earlier that her brother knows one of them from the real world,” I said. “What’s he like?”
“Herrrrr brother ishhh a cootie . . . cuuuutie,” Alizia said. “But I’ve a shhhoft spot for dwarves.”
“He grouped with us once,” Nanny said as she grabbed a towel from the waitress’s apron and set it under Alizia’s head as it crashed to the table. “Haven’t seen him in weeks, though.”
My breath caught in my throat as the door opened slowly, but I let out another sigh of disappointment when a forest giant with two eye patches was revealed. “Three minutes,” I said.
“Three minutes until what?” Nanny asked.
“Until Decrona is due to join us,” Olaf said. “We happened to overhear her talking to Cedra—”
Nanny almost toppled her glass. “Cedra of the Bass Kickers?”
Olaf nodded. “Decrona was performing some work for one of her contacts that involved Cedra. And, Horus, please be patient. I think we owe her the benefit of the doubt if she isn’t here at exactly thirty minutes. You did prevent her from leaving right away.”
Alizia mumbled something into the towel.
“Fine, an extra five minutes, and then we go looking for her,” I said.
“And right after you leave, she will show up and you will look like a fool.” Olaf raised my still full cup to my mouth.
“This sounds fun,” Nanny said. “If she doesn’t show, mind if I tag along? I’d love to catch her up to no good.”
“I would like to group with you again, Nanny,” Olaf said. His eyes joined mine as the door opened again to reveal a graying woman in plate. “But I think we should give Decrona until morning.” He eyed the snoring Alizia. “I don’t think Alizia will be able to move until then.”
The door swung open hard, almost knocking the graying woman over to reveal a familiar head of long blonde hair with pointy ears. Olaf only got the first letter of the word “see” out before a booming voice cut him off.
“Highwall is under attack!”
The Scion Will Protect Us. Now, Who Was It That Was Going to Protect Him?
Alizia shot to full attention as the voice snapped her from her dreams. Mouths moved rapidly as everyone tried to talk at once, yet the booming voice with its constant repetition of the same message blocked all other sound from being heard. Everyone in the tavern scrambled to their feet at once and began pushing their way toward the exit. I could now determine the voice hadn’t come from the doorway, but rather from every direction at once. It must have been some sort of automated alarm system.
Our table wisely decided to stay still and not get trampled in the stampede, though with our levels and relative low Strength, it was doubtful we’d have gotten anywhere had we tried.
A couple of minutes later, the tavern was completely clear except for the bedraggled waitress who alternated between seeming thankful she’d survived the stampede and pissed that an entire bar full of people had left without paying. The danger and the noise had sobered Alizia up considerably as she only knocked over two chairs on our way out. Olaf ran back and dropped a pile of coins in the waitress’s hands. Decrona was nowhere to be seen.
“So, where should we go first?” Olaf asked as soon as the repeating voice stopped. “The gates are probably where the main assaults are happening. Or would it be better to find a spot with a smaller assault? It will be less chaotic there, which should give us room to maneuver and focus on individual targets.”
It took Alizia three tries to get through the door behind us. “Some place close. Preferably with chairs.”
“I think we should find Decrona first,” I said.
“Good idea,” Olaf said. “Not safe to be solo around here, and we’re going to need everyone.”
I turned on Tracking. The list was huge, and as I scrolled though it I realized it’d probably be quicker to look for Decrona the old-fashioned way than to find her in that massive number of names. When I absentmindedly muttered Decrona’s name under my breath, the message “Player not found” popped up over the list. I cursed myself for forgetting about that function.
“Looks like she left the area,” I said. “Tracking came up empty.”
“Then what’s that pile of blond hair over there?” Alizia pointed across the street. “Or am I seeing things? This better not mean I’m going to start seeing phantom Decronas in my dreams.”
I closed the Tracking interface and looked where she was pointing. She wasn’t seeing things. There was a mass of familiar long, blonde hair peeking up over a wooden fence across the street. We raced over and discovered the same figure we’d seen in the doorway before (with the addition of a few footprints and bruises).
I readied Regrowth as Olaf turned her over, but my spell fizzled out a second later when I saw her face. The hair, complexion, and shape of the elf’s face were a perfect match to Decrona’s, but the eyes were the wrong color, the nose was too big, and most telling of all, her name displayed as “DeezNuts.” I cast a new spell anyway, and we sent her on her way.
“I messaged Decrona, but she hasn’t responded yet. Probably too caught up in the chaos,” Olaf said. “Where are we going? I want to let her know where to meet us.”
“Where’s the most likely place she’d be meeting these contacts of hers?” I asked.
“Probably the Palace District. It’s where most of the rich players and guilds have their houses. Most of the best information would be coming from those kinds of people and I bet these contacts of hers are similarly wealthy.”
Nanny pipped up behind me and I spun around. I hadn't realized she was still with us. Olaf’s reaction told me he hadn’t either.
“My friends just told me the main gate is a death trap,” Nanny said. “They died as soon as they set foot in the area. I guess I’ll stay with you guys. This mystery sounds more fun than dying, especially if we catch Decrona up to no good.”
Olaf invited Nanny to the group, and she joined.
I flipped on Tracking again to the same result and then shook my head at Olaf. We headed toward the Palace District. While we did encounter several groups of players and guards rushing about, they were heading in the opposite direction, toward one of the two gates. As such, we made it there in a quarter of the time it’d have normally taken, even with Alizia’s stumbling, zigzagging walk. I checked her debuff as we entered the district and she was now only “Stupid Drunk” instead of “Druuuuuunk . . . Lookie, birdies!”
Decrona’s name finally showed up in Tracking. The arrow pointed toward the palace but slightly to the right. With the palace being in the middle of the city and far removed from the two gates where most of the action seemed to be, I figured it’d be mostly deserted and that we’d have an easy time getting to her.
I was partially correct, as there were only six people in the large, open area in front of the palace where The Scion g
ave his bi-monthly speeches—correction, only six living people. Strewn about the area were the corpses of dozens of royal guards and a smattering of players. In the center of the area were five Shadow players in physics-defying armor, and opposite them stood a twenty-foot-tall bearded man in blindingly white armor. I didn’t have to use Inspect to identify him as his name loomed over his head like a halo: The Scion.
With every motion of his hands, The Scion unleashed bolts and beams of white-hot energy at his attackers, melting the marble floor in their wake. The Shadow players dodged most of them by darting and dancing with motions too fast for my eyes to process, but occasionally one of the blasts did connect, searing through their flesh and tearing limbs from bodies. Even as they screamed, the Shadow players still kept moving as best they could and were quickly rewarded for their persistence by the green or white glow of a spell from one of their two healers in the back. Amazingly, the spells managed to regrow their limbs as soon as they landed. I had no idea limb regrowth was even possible—let alone that it could done in so little time—but suspected the effect could only be produced by the highest level of healing magic.
As powerful as The Scion’s magic was, it was the only method of attack he used. With each new pulse of magic, the Shadow players slowly figured out his pattern and got hit less and less. And having to spend less effort on dodging, they began to do more and more damage.
“For being one of the game’s creators, he’s really terrible at playing it,” I said.
“I do not think he is in there,” Olaf said. “Probably the computer playing him. He cannot possibly be in there all the time.”
I nodded as The Scion missed yet again. “Come on. I figured out his pattern, and we can make it to the other side of the plaza if we go now.”
Olaf stared at the battle through a triangle he made with his fingers. “I think the attack angle on them is better from here. And that will put you out of range to heal The Scion.”
“Are you insane? Those five probably have pocket lint that could kill us. I’m not getting near that. I just want to get to Decrona, and Tracking says she’s over there.”
“Hate to agree with the new kid, but he’s right.” Nanny shrugged at Olaf.
Another blast tore off the left arm of a rail-thin orc. She screamed as her limb bounced on the marble floor while somehow continuing her weaving dance, stabbing her impossibly long blade through The Scion’s shin guard and drawing blood. Up until that point, I wasn’t even sure that The Scion was capable of bleeding, but red blood poured out from the wound the same as it would out of any normal player.
“Wow,” Olaf said. “Everything I have read said he was invincible. Maybe you are right.”
Red drool dribbled out of Alizia’s wide open mouth, blending with a puddle of blood from a fallen guard. “I’m gonna need a lot more alcohol to go in there.”
I yanked Olaf’s sleeve and he reluctantly followed. My analysis of The Scion’s pattern proved correct as the fight moved to the other side of the plaza. Even with her drunken, shambling pattern of movement, Alizia easily made it through a few steps behind us as we reached a garden to the side of the palace, adjacent to the city’s walls. It appeared that either the Shadow players were too absorbed in their fight with The Scion to notice us, or else they hadn’t deemed us enough of a threat to bother, as we arrived unscathed.
I peeked around the edge of the marble column that separated the garden from the steps up to the palace. I turned back and gave everyone a thumbs up. “Now, according to the arrow Decrona’s somewhere over here.”
Our eyes darted around the garden. The city’s wall towered over us and ran up against the back corner of the palace, making the garden a dead end. I thought that feature was an odd security decision, since an attacker could drop from the wall onto the palace, but as I took in the scope of the wall, it occurred to me that no one would survive the drop. I’d been told that falling damage was a percentage of the players’ Hit Points, scaling up based on distance, and that it was lethal at approximately twenty feet. The drop from the walls to the palace had to be at least twice that. Additionally, the magic protecting the city prevented the use of any flying, levitating, or safe falling abilities to gain entrance.
Unlike the garden surrounding the library, this one contained no large hedges or other tall obstacles to hide behind. Besides a lone marble bench, the highest things were ankle-high flowers. I followed the tracking arrow in case we were missing something, and it led me straight to the city wall.
“Can you travel inside the walls?” I asked.
“Nope,” Alizia said. “Can’t go through it either. And don’t ask me how I know that, how many drinks I had, or what the judge’s sentence was for trying it.”
Nanny smirked. “Because she tried it, we lost count at thirty, and community service.”
Alizia shuddered at the mention of community service. I made a note to ask for that story later.
“So, then she must be outside,” I said. “Which gate is the closest?”
Olaf bit his lip. “The one in the Mage Quarters is close. But we’d never survive a trip out of there. We’d have to take the long way through the main gate and circle around to get to her out there at our level. I’ll try asking Decrona if she can come to us.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Nanny said. “My friends told me that both gates are under heavy assault. We ain’t getting through those alive.”
Alizia propped her feet up on the bench. “Then the only sane thing is to hide out here, sit back, and consume lots of alcohol.” She held her hands out. “Now, who’s holding out on me?”
Olaf shook his head. “No answer from Decrona. I hope the Shadow are not out there.”
“The mystery widens,” Nanny barked out. “So, which do you guys think it is? She’s up to no good or she’s running away from danger? My money’s on no good.”
“No good,” I said.
“Neither,” Alizia said. “She’s decided to cheat on her encyclopedia with something younger and is out there looking for a sapling or a pinecone.”
Relief washed over Olaf’s face. “She responded! She says she just finished meeting her contact and wasn’t aware that the Shadow were attacking. There’s an abandoned cave nearby, and she’s going to hide out there until the assault is over. She recommends we do the same.”
Nanny turned to Alizia. “I’d collect from you, but I’m not buying any of that.”
Alizia popped open a healing potion. “I buy it completely, and that has nothing at all to do with her agreeing with what I want. Now, did anyone bring pretzels?”
My gut agreed with Nanny’s assessment, but there didn’t seem to be any way for us to verify it. If those five Shadow in front of us were any indication of what was going on at the gates, our ragtag trio of level sevens and lone level twelve wouldn’t last more than a few seconds.
In the minute since I’d started watching again, The Scion hadn’t hit them once. It took all my concentration to just follow their three melee characters as they danced and darted back and forth. The goblin with the impossibly thin daggers was definitely some sort of Thief. The orc in half plate had to be a Warrior, but I wasn’t sure if she or the glove-wielding foxkin was their tank; they’d both traded taking damage. The gloves meant the foxkin was a Bruiser and the Brawler sub-class of Bruisers were just as viable as tanks as the Shield sub-class of the Warrior that Alizia was going for.
The two healers stood toward the back, somehow managing to simultaneously backpedal out of The Scions’ range, while still keeping their groupmates alive. Fortunately for them, the latter part had gotten so easy that one of them switched to offense. The green color of the human’s spells meant she was a Woodsman like me, though probably of the Druid sub-class. The centaur’s bright white spells indicated he was probably the more common healer class of Light Mage.
Watching their perfect coordination and effortless teamwork made me feel like a child by comparison and realize exactly how much our group had to lea
rn. Part of me wanted to give up on the whole adventuring thing right there and focus on something safer like becoming a crafter, but the more rational part of me paid attention to everything they were doing so we could incorporate them in our tactics.
I caught a sudden flurry of motion from the corner of my eye from the other side of the palace, but before I could see what it was, someone yanked me backward over the bench. My calves banged hard on the intricate floral latticework before my chest slammed to the ground. By the time I regained enough breath to curse out Alizia, I saw her reason—at least a dozen more Shadow warriors had joined in on the assault.
The orc in the half plate didn’t seem terribly happy about the reinforcements. As she yelled something at them, she missed a dodge and one of The Scion’s beams caught her midsection, tearing her in half. As she lay there from what I assumed was a fatal wound, both of her healers frantically tossed spells on her anyway. She didn’t regain any body parts like before, but the heals did stop her screaming. The Druid tossed another quick heal on her while the Light Mage continued to weave a much lengthier and more dramatic spell.
None of the newcomers did anything to help the orc healing-wise—probably assuming she was a lost cause, like I had—but they did draw The Scion’s attention away. They crashed into the back of The Scion’s huge legs like a choppy wave, hacking and blasting with rapid abandon. While their ragged assault was the exact opposite of the well-choreographed ballet of the original five, the result was the same. More wounds appeared on the giant’s lower extremities. The ground quaked as the last of his leg armor clattered to the ground.
I couldn’t see the Scion’s exact HPs, as my attempts at Inspect only produced failures, but his HP bar showed 50%. Fifty percent, coincidentally, also described the newcomers as the first wave of blasts from the Scion tore through five of them. Unlike the orc, not a single one let out a scream or any sound at all; the white-hot energy struck them and what was left of them stopped moving. Their healers landed a few spells as they fell, but nothing changed. They were very clearly dead. Twenty seconds later, the remaining five newcomers joined them in death; the distraction provided by the fate of their friends doing them in.