by K. T. Hanna
“It’s okay. I got yours finished!” With a flourish she reached beneath her crowded work bench to a shelf and pulled out a neatly folded pile of clothes. They were a dark grayish silver, with undertones of purple dancing in the background.
Murmur picked up the bracers that were on top, holding them up to the light with their translucent material. She poked at it with her fingernail and realized it was far more robust than she initially thought. “These are...wow.”
“Well, your runes, on your arms. You need to see them sometimes, right? Since they light up when you cast. So I didn’t want them to hide behind your armor. I mean, who doesn’t like sparkly purple things?” Neva’s voice was small, hesitant, like she wasn’t sure if her work would be well-received.
“These are gorgeous.” Putting them gently to the side, Mur picked up the shoulder piece. It sat almost like a cape, except it was lightly quilted, far sturdier than just cloth, and would fit down over her shoulder blades. Like the rest of the clothes, it seemed to absorb and repel the light at the same time. Murmur was falling in love with it.
The best part about the set was the tunic. It was made out of the same quilted material, giving her far better protection that anything she’d had so far, almost like true armor. It gathered in slightly at the waist to give some form, and yet not enough to restrict movement. If her eyes judged it correctly, it would stop about an inch or two under her butt, which was absolutely perfect, because it seemed Neva had made her matching pants.
Each piece held attributes and beautifully crafted, amazing details. She turned to Neva and gave her a swift hug, letting go before the girl could get overwhelmed again. “Thank you. This is amazing.”
“It’s not done yet. I’m still making the boots. I had robes already done that Sinister, Havoc, and Mellow could use. But I was just about to finish your boots.” She smiled, beaming from ear to ear in that amazing way only canines can smile.
“Just let Hiro know if you need anything. We’ll get it for you.” Murmur ran her hands over her armor again. “We’re still waiting for Dansyn, so we’re not leaving quite yet.”
Neva’s face lit up. “Great! I’ll have the boots ready shortly. I’m much better at the tricky part for this armor now, so you’ll be set. Five pieces will give you a bonus. It’s the best armor I can make until I upgrade my ingredients for the level twenty-three specialties.”
“Best stuff?” Murmur wanted to know.
“Well, there are several ways I can expand my knowledge. One of those is creating or expanding on existing recipes. So with this one, I sort of did both. It’s intermediate crafted psionicist armor. I thought I’d wait until you’re at max level before I make one named after you, though.” Neva grinned and began hammering away at some leather vaguely shaped like shoe soles, leaving Murmur to gape at her in amazement.
Murmur pulled the armor on and stood, trying to get a good look at herself. It wasn’t like there were mirrors anywhere in the castle. Come to think of it, constantly seeing her locus self in the mirror might get a little confusing. Talk about letting reality and Somnia mix.
The color of the armor almost blended with her skin as she pulled it on, and sometimes wavered in and out of her vision so successfully, she felt invisible. She really hoped Neva would be able to pull off this color scheme further into the game. Getting only five levels out of this was going to be the biggest shame of all, even if she knew it was going to take them a while.
The cut fit perfectly. It made Murmur wonder if Neva had followed a locus-based pattern. Maybe one day, when she’d hit max level, when the guild had killed every conceivable contested monster on the server, and downed every single available raid, maybe then she’d sit down and take a look at more crafting. She laughed at her own joke. That was never going to happen.
Happy with her new outfit, she ripped the skirt of her old robe into several more wraps of material and shoved it into her inventory. After all, she couldn’t be sure when she’d come across another piece of Michael’s brain now, could she?
Just as she emerged from the kitchen, feeling damn spiffy in her new gear, Dansyn logged in. She walked out to greet them all in her old, worn boots, with absolutely no idea where she was taking them beyond Pelagu.
Rashlyn was the first to spy her, and if Murmur hadn’t known better, she would have thought her friend’s jaw almost hit the floor.
“Holy crap, Mur! That is insane!” She ran to Murmur and pulled at the tunic, tugged at the shoulder guard and eyed the bracers. “You look like some sort of assassin. That material winks in and out, sort of confuses the eye.”
Murmur blinked and looked down at herself with a frown. With the whole outfit on her now, it looked perfectly normal to her. Gorgeous, but normal. “Really?”
The others had gathered by now and nodded. Sinister, dressed in her blood red robe, scowled. “That’s not fair, I thought I was going to stand out.”
“You always stand out, Sin.” Murmur gave her a quick hug, and moved away realizing that she felt the need to hug more in the last little while, as if not being in her physical body meant she craved physical contact. Neva came dashing out, small beads of sweat lingering on her muzzle.
“Done!” She held out a pair of matching boots, their soles an almost iridescent black, while the rest of them was made out of the strong quilted fabric. An intricate bit of embroidery ran up the sides. The smile on her face was worth a million platinum. “Your set is complete.”
“Thank you so much!” Murmur was genuinely excited in a way nothing in the game had made her happy before. She didn’t really care if everyone else knew she was vain. It was part of the fun. “Neva, did you do something special to this?”
The young girl nodded, her eyes shining brightly. “Yes. I asked Telvar if he could get me a vial of mana. He made me one, right then and there! Not just one total, one for each piece! So if the person looking at or for you isn’t an ally or intends you harm, it will trick the mind and your visage will fade in and out. Well. And sometimes direct sunlight does that too. But it only works because it taps into part of your mind magic shield, which, if I did my homework right, is how you protect your thoughts?”
She was waiting, sort of like a puppy waiting for a pat. Murmur just wanted to pick her up and twirl her around, but instead she knelt down in front of the girl and gave her a huge hug. “Thank you so much. I really hope you feel at home here. We’re going to have to head out now though. Will you be okay?”
“Hiro is here too. So is Tel. I’m sure more will make their way. I can always try and seek out crafters from the crafting channels I’m in. I’ll just get started on that herb garden. Oh!” She spoke so fast it was difficult keeping up with her. Murmur had to try not to laugh at her eagerness.
“Don’t forget to take potions. Both mana and healing. I stocked up for you. Sadly I didn’t have the ingredients for anything other than the heal over time, so it’s not going to help too much. The mana potions were easier. Once I can get my own garden going, we shouldn’t ever want for them. There should be enough for...” She broke off and looked at them, a frown on her face as she counted. “Each mana user will get four. Everyone should get two healing potions.”
Once they were all stocked up, and Neva had left to bug Hiro to help her set up her garden, Murmur clapped her hands.
“Jinna! Will you stop chatting up Hiro and come the hell with us?” She grinned at her dwarf friend, who blushed just a little before jogging over. “Seriously...he’s got everything under control.”
“I know, I know.” Jinna laughed. “I’m just not used to others in this game being so capable.”
Murmur knew exactly what he meant. Clearing her throat, she raised her voice and called out. “Okay everyone! Off we go! To Pelagu!”
Just before they left, she quickly checked over her total Psionicist set’s values.
CON +2
STR +2
&
nbsp; AGI +2
WIS +2
INT +10
CHA +10
HP +20
MANA +50
MA +20
She blinked and pulled up her adjusted statistics. What with the gear on top of her base stats, her stats were getting better.
Level Eighteen (18)
CONstitution: 22 (24)
STRength :10 (12)
AGIlity:20 (22)
WISdom: 12 (14)
INTelligence:34 (44)
CHArisma: 50 (60)
HitPoints: 328 (348)
MANA: 402 (452)
MA: 100 (145)
Abjuration:96
Alteration:93
Conjuration:95
Divinition:97
Evocation:81
2H Blunt: 65
1H Piercing:69
Murmur let out a low whistle. This was going to help so much with her whole better not die thing.
Somnia Online location: Pelagu
Early Day Seven
Pelagu’s drawbridge alone dwarfed the two cities Murmur had visited so far. The twelve of them could have spread out as they crossed it, if they’d wanted to block outgoing traffic. White walls towered above them, their slits up top armed with bows or crossbows. She wasn’t sure which, as she could only see the tip of the arrows jutting out through them. Her first thoughts were that it was impressive yet ostentatious.
When the pathway poured them out onto the main thoroughfare, she gasped. The city was colorfully strewn with streamers, and carts and stalls lined the streets. Not many of them were filled, though. A few had some wares out on display, but the majority were vacant. Still, guards patrolled the area, nasty looking scimitars hanging from their waists. With a deep breath, she approached one.
“Excuse me?”
The guard stopped, looking directly at her, his own locus face impassive. “Yes? Can I help you, miss?”
“Why are these stalls empty? If you don’t mind?” Despite her eagerness, she really couldn’t afford to make enemies. Bandits already hated them, the last thing they needed was for guards to ignore them because she’d managed to snub one of them.
“This is a new set up. Pelagu administration decided on creating a thoroughfare market. We’re awaiting applicants for these stalls. Many farmers, guilds, or traders will rent a stall and sell their wares to the visitors passing through.”
“Thank you so much.” She inclined her head and hurried on, barely avoiding three small children—a luna, locus, and dark elf who were chasing each other through the pathway completely oblivious to the people trying to walk through as well. Their laughter echoed off the sandstone walls like a waterfall of happiness and Murmur smiled, her mind filled with endless possibilities. She immediately contacted Neva.
Neva, Pelagu has a bunch of stalls we can rent out if we need to. As in, once the guild is taken care of we could easily sell excess wares here. Let me know if you think it’s possible or worth it.
After a few seconds the young girl shot back a reply. That would be really cool, but I’d need a lot more than just me doing the crafting in order to have enough to stock a stall.
On it. I’ll check with Beastial and make sure he’s recruiting.
Neva: Excellent. Let him know I can take care of finding crafters and send them to him for recruitment if he likes.
Done. Murmur smiled as she blinked the chat interface to the side.
The others hovered around one of the few stands in operation. It had some odd-looking fruit on it. It was khaki green with bumps on it that bled into yellow. She eyed it as she walked up and didn’t think dinsta fruit looked like it would taste nice. “Come on, let’s get through the city and to the harbor.”
“It’s beautiful here. Don’t you think, Mur?” Rash nudged her. “Besides, you’re getting a lot of looks with that gorgeous armor you have on.”
“They can have it when they pry it from my cold, dead body.” She moved ahead of the rest, knowing they’d follow her.
The streets were bustling with people going on their merry way, calling out to each other. All four species intermingled like they were one, and the kids all played together, often getting underfoot. She watched as a small luna gave chase to a dark elf child, both of them full of peals of giggling laughter. At one point the dark elf almost careened into a locus shopkeeper who was juggling two baskets.
But even the yell to stop them from getting in the way was half-hearted at best.
Life in the large city appeared to be peaceful. In a way, Murmur envied them. She wondered if it was only a facade. After all, how real had they made the conflict in the game?
The street opened into a central plaza with stalls, and another fountain in the middle. People in Somnia were very fond of fountains it seemed. Those same people also stood at all different areas around said fountain in small groups of mixed species having loud discussions that were partially obscured by the happy water. Luna and vikings alike used hand gestures to emphasize their words. The locus seemed more serious, and the dark elves held mischievous smiles. The cobbled streets were smooth, and not as bumpy as others she’d seen in the world, like the ones in Stellaein.
She studied the statue in the middle of the fountain. One figure of each species of the continent of Tarishna stood proud and tall. The locus was a caster, but she couldn’t tell which type it was by the frozen action of its hands. Mages came in all different shapes and sizes. The viking was undoubtedly a tank, standing tall and proud with a tower shield, his axe ready to swing. The luna was crouched low, double daggers equipped with eyes narrowed. Undoubtedly a rogue of some kind. And the dark elf was very obviously a blood mage, just like Sin. She wove blood droplets somehow suspended between her hands, and Murmur could have sworn they were moving. Perhaps she was imagining things. Again.
The fountain in Pelagu is a masterpiece of art. You’ve discovered the existence of magical art. But what does it mean? Make sure to inspect each fountain you come across in more detail, just in case something jumps out at you.
Sighing at the vagueness again, she moved away. Just as she was about to step through the passageway toward the docks, someone grabbed her arm.
Murmur whirled around, her shields slamming down over her mind as she cast her mental net out tighter, trying to garner more information about whoever was touching her. Murmur didn’t recognize them. It was a taller human, still short in comparison to her seven-foot locus self, and there was a shine to those eyes, like a type of want mixing with curiosity.
“What?” Murmur said, yanking her elbow away and doing her best to let her menace show, going even so far as to reveal her small sharp teeth.
“I’m a tailor, and I just love that armor. Can you tell me who made it?” The woman’s voice was a little squeaky, like she had to know and had to know now or her life was over. Murmur was amazed at the amount of melodrama a game could hold.
“My tailor made it specifically for me. I’m not sure how. Sorry.” There was something about the woman that gave Murmur pause. The others finally caught up, so she twisted away and continued on toward the ocean, all the while still feeling that woman’s eyes boring into the back of her head.
The disconcerting experience sent small shivers up her back. Why on earth had that woman grabbed her like that? She rubbed the spot on her elbow where she could still feel the fingers digging into her skin. Instead, she chose to concentrate on the city.
Pelagu really was beautiful. Old sandstone buildings yielded intricately carved figurines between each level. She loved the essence of it all.
“Mur?” Devlish drew abreast with her. “You’re hurrying. Are you okay?”
She eyed him out of her peripheral vision, ignoring the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she should go back to the tailor woman and inspect her now that the shock of being grabbed
had subsided.
Murmur sighed as she responded. “I just want to level. You guys were asleep for ages and now I feel like I was standing still for hours, like we haven’t made enough ground, and you know how I am when I need to level.”
“It’s all good.” He placed a hand firmly on her shoulder, or at least she assumed it was firmly considering that’s how he usually gripped her, but she could barely feel anything through her new armor.
“Take it easy,” he continued, his typical brotherly smile pushing into her view. “We’re going to level. We’ll find a great place, I know Havoc and Merlin are researching it while we walk, which is why it’s taking them a little longer. By the time we get to Cenedril, we’ll know the best places to go. That’s our plan anyway.”
Even his words had a way of making her feel like there was nothing they couldn’t do. Murmur smiled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. You know me, must hit that level cap.”
Devlish chuckled. “You still take too much on yourself, Mur. You act like you’ve got to take care of all of us, even though realistically you’re one of the youngest here. That sense of duty is going to help you later in life, but be careful you don’t burn yourself out. Let me help. Ask for help. I can’t mind read like some people.”
He winked at her, and for a few moments they continued down the slight incline as the docks came into view.
“Yeah. I know it. It’s just hard for my brain to listen to me, you know?” She didn’t expect an answer to her rhetorical questions, which was a good thing, because at that moment they came into the full view of the ocean at the edge of the docks, and Murmur’s breath caught in her throat.
The view from the top of the stairs that finished the gently sloping path they’d walked down was simply breathtaking.
Water rippled with tiny waves as far as the eye could see, so blue the sky paled by comparison. Far out into the water was an ant-sized dot on the horizon, which Murmur thought was the island of Cenedril.