Unbound Deathlord: Challenge

by Edward Castle

  He had a deep frown on his face. He had a way with words.

 

 

 

  For the next few hours, Bear kept a pensive face and killed rats in silence. The fact that he didn't eat a single rat – even thought they were reserved for my plans – was a testament of how disturbed he was feeling.

  Just like the ants' cave, this one's cat theory worked via countless holes in the walls, from which the animals appeared. A sorin might be able to crawl through them, but not Bear or I.

  We found a few other players in there and killed them without difficulty. Only newbies would be hunting here, which was one of the reasons I had decided on that cave. The other reasons were its proximity to the Catacombs and defensibility.

  Killing them was a defensive measure. Valia's death penalties were extreme: besides losing all your items, except for soul bound ones, the player also lost ten percent of all attributes and traits levels, and was forced out of the game for a while.

  The logged-out time increased the more a player died until it hit a cap. The first time it would be somewhere between eighteen and twenty-four hours. The second time, twenty to twenty-six. The third time, twenty-two to twenty-eight. Finally, from the fourth time onwards, the forced logout time would be between twenty-four and thirty hours.

  V-Soft claimed the range would make it slightly harder for enemies to camp a starting point. For the suicide system to take effect and transport a player to a safe starting point, the player had to, well, kill himself. Being assassinated didn't count, and it was theoretically possible to keep murdering someone as long as the starting point's NPCs didn't care.

  Players didn't buy the explanation. We all knew the truth: they only wanted to laugh at us as we raged. A six-hour range was big enough that any player would be furious for receiving the max penalty.

  By killing the newbies, we could assure that the only way for them to tell the world about us would be using the internet. And in the big web, no one would care about low-level nobodies dying in a rat hunt.

 

  We were sitting at the end of the cave. For a long time now I had believed Bear to be sleeping while I was replaying my plans in my head. His voice startled me.

 

 

  Gods, what did I do to deserve this?

 

 

 

 

  I sighed.

 

 

 

  I felt an ache in my heart.

 

 

 

  But as he said he was sorry, I realized I did. That conversation was making me uncomfortable. Time to deflect.

 

  My laugh was a sad one.

 

 

 

  The throbbing deepened.

 

 

 

  Just like that, I thought of something for the war.

 

 

 

  I tried to open the phone window but instead I got a message.

  Phone Calls – Disabled

  As of day 4 of the Challenge, all Challengers are forbidden from contacting Earth by any means.

  If you choose to use your phone, you'll be removed from the Challenge.

  I didn't care so much about the lack of communication, but I cared deeply about not being told about it. They had the right to change the conditions of the Challenge, but they had to inform me about it when they did.

  Suddenly, the call dropped from grandfather also made more sense. He wasn't a man to simply change his mind about anything at all.

  Bear shrugged.

  I had an idea. V-Soft had various other means of reaching me – as they had done before with the cheat thing – and not doing so was a contract breach. Even so, anything I'd get out of it would be money, which I didn't need.

 

 

  We talked and killed a lot of rats, periodically stopping when someone came to collect the dead rat corpses for another scheme of mine.

  Ted's icon had just appeared on my minimap a second before her voice came through.

 

 

  I interrupted before they started arguing.

  * * *

  The Slums were packed. Thousands of people were there, doing nothing productive. There was so much yelling going around that even from afar it was hard to listen to the mind chat.

  On the far edge of the cave chamber, at t
he divide between the Catacombs and the drow country, there was a line of black cloaked people at least two hundred people long.

  I sat on the ground.

  He started walking their direction.

 

 

  I touched my purse.

 

 

 

 

 

  Ted sat beside me. She threw a red piece of metal at him.

  He put the armlet of the White Tree on.

  Our zombie friend headed towards the middle of the line of Blackguards. The message he would give was simple: the White Tree clan would be ready to fight in a few moments, after I got to the Slums I supposedly owned and talked to my subordinates.

  I even waved their direction.

  Everything went smoothly, and we proceeded to the Slums.

 

 

 

 

  Bear laughed, and I smiled. I could see the beauty in pissing Ted off.

  Ted and I were squeezing between people, until we noticed Bear was opening a path as he walked, like a damn snow plow. After that, we walked behind him and got some respite.

  It took us much more time to get to the Slums proper than it should have and it messed up my timetable a little. What I had planned would still probably happen, but the more I waited, the fewer people would die.

 

 

  Ted asked.

 

  When we got to his stall, he was grinning like a madman, as were all the merchants around.

  "Hey, man!" I had to yell to be heard over all the chatter around.

  "My ex-favorite vampire customer!"

  "What? Why 'ex'?"

  "Prices have gone up too much! What I sold you is now worth a lot more!"

  "Okay! Listen, man, I have to tell you something!"

  "What is it?"

  "Get out of here!"

  "What?"

  "Get out of this place!"

  "I heard you the first time! Why are you telling me this? Are you threatening me?"

  "No! I'm trying to help! Shit is gonna hit the fan soon!"

  "Don't worry, man! We've had some thieves, but the White Tree can deal with them!"

  "You don't understand! Jack Thorn is-"

  "He's gonna die! The specters put a price on his head, just like Dakar, and guaranteed everyone that he'll be here today! Everyone's waiting for him!"

  "Yeah, exactly! And what do you think is gonna happen when there's only one Jack head and thousands of headhunters wanting it?"

  He frowned, and I kept talking.

  "Listen, man! Do you remember when I told you I always help who helps me? Trust me on this one! Get out of here right now! Yes, right this moment! The mess in here will be huge, and it's about to start!"

  For a few seconds, he looked in silence at me. Then, he sighed. "Alright! Hey, you morons, the store's closed!" He started packing his things. "I'm almost sold out, but if I discover you were lying to me, I'll pay someone lots of money to bring me your head!"

  "Fair enough!" I pulled my Communication Crystal out of my purse. "Do you have one?"

  "I do!" We touched crystals and said our goodbyes.

  Ted said as we walked to our original destination in the Slums.

 

  Plus, I'd need an associated merchant sooner or later, and I'd rather have one who was honest. I didn't doubt for a second that when I first entered the Slums, he could've sold me the information I wanted. And if the guards came after him, for having done so without a permit, he could've just bribed them.

  Ted asked when we were close to one of the stone buildings.

 

 

 
 
 

  "Hey, food guy!" Someone nearby yelled. "I want fried rat!"

  "Sorry!" The food guy yelled back. "Business is closed! The permit only went until an hour ago!"

  "This is bullshit! I'm hungry!"

  "Sorry!"

  I smiled.

 

  Ted didn't answer.

  The closer we got to the stone building we were going to, the more Challengers we saw, as identified by the red C floating above their heads. Lots of guards from the White Tree were also Challengers.

  "Stop!" A line made of seven guards in full plate armor was before the stone building's doors. One of them raised his hand as we approached. "This is the White Tree Clan Headquarters! Authorized people only!"

  "Don't worry!" Ted appeared from behind Bear and showed them the red armlet. "I have authorization!"

  The guard put his hand on his sword handle. "I don't know how you-"

  "Wait, solder!" Another one yelled. "The boss is waiting for a specter with an armlet. Where is the vampire?"

  Bear suddenly turned around and grabbed me. "Hey!" I yelled. "What is the meaning of this!" The zombie held me in a bear hug, making sure my arms were locked close to my body. "Let go of me!"

  "There he is," Ted said. "Mage with bound arms incoming!"

  "Okay, guys! Hold the line! You," the commander pointed to a guard, "come with me; get behind them and be watchful. You two," he pointed to Ted and Bear, " follow me."

  The commander hit the big metal door in calculated intervals. It opened, and we went inside. I wasn't walking, as Bear held me aloft.

  "Let me go!" I yelled. "You traitor! I trusted you!"

  "Bear," Ted said, "be a dear and crush his spine if he speaks, yes? We promised him alive, but a little squishy should be okay, too."

  "What? I-"

  20 blunt damage received

  HP: 600 / 620

  I let out a pained moan and shut up.

  The building had three floors and no windows. There were fewer people than I expected inside, only the occasional guard here and there. It seemed the White Tree was spread thin patrolling outside, with all those people around.

  Furniture on the first floor rooms was sparse and consisted mostly of metal tables and chairs. The second floor had a few metal beds that looked as comfortable as sleeping on needles. The third floor was completely bare, except for a long table with multiple chairs in a big meeting room, and the clan master's room.

  The master's room had two other guards: a specter and a vampire. They wore scale armor just like mine
, and a few morbs – fire, water, darkness, death, light and earth – were floating above their heads. They didn't have any visible weapons other than magic but held massive metal riot shields in front of them.

  I said in the mind chat.

  Ted's voice was shaky.

  "Password," the specter said.

  "A-X-X-Eight-Nine-Two-Three-Blue-Red-R."

  "Really, guys? An actual password? What about some cool passphrases? Maybe something poetic like 'the blue butterfly has wings that-'"

  20 blunt damage received

  HP: 580 / 620

  "The boss told me about him," the drow said. "He's an asshole, alright."

  I frowned. "Ted? What's he talking about? How does the boss know about my charm?"

  She didn't answer. Bear laughed in the mind chat, and I was happy for his helmet covering the big idiot grin I knew would be in his face.

  "Second password?" The specter asked.

  "Two-P-Five-P-Seven-Eight-A-B-C."

  All my willpower was required to keep my mouth shut.

  The specter nodded and walked through the door, his morbs vanishing as they touched the walls. A little ectoplasm stayed behind and quickly evaporated. It was a pretty neat usage of the specter's ability.

 

 

  I did. The shield was slightly curved, and I thought that had been the reason for it not to drop when the specter left it. However, it was the stone around the shield's base that was bent upwards and holding it in place.

  I guessed. This clan had some smart people; I'd give them that.

  The doors opened, and we entered the room. It had a big wooden table, a wooden chair, and a big map on the wall behind, full of markings.

  A drow with short white hair in a gray metal armor was rising from the chair, his helmet on the table. He had no visible weapon.

  I said.

 

  Ted yelled.

  There was no reason for him to be in that closed room, especially not wearing that expensive armor. It was damn obvious he was doing that for show.