Anomaly (Somnia Online Book 2)

by K. T. Hanna

  A plan began to form in Belius’s mind. Those pieces of Michael’s brain didn’t have to be obtained through only one source. They were scattered far and wide. It didn’t even make sense to only send Murmur after them. Surely a couple more getashi questers wouldn’t hurt. Many new people entered Somnia every day. Okay, he wasn’t a hundred percent sure if another player would be immune to the whisperings as he was fairly sure Murmur was—she did have excellent mental shielding by now—but hey, if he was going to be less desirable, then he’d be the best at it ever.

  Picking up his sense of pride and his sense of self—both things he’d gained over the last couple of years, not in small amounts directly from Michael—Belius began to form his plan. All he had to do was locate his target, figure out where they’d be next, and insert himself into their game vision. Now. Which NPC would be the best for him to use. Class trainer? It might work; not all class trainers had been given the same autonomy. There had to be bodies for them all to access to reach all different corners of Somnia. Even though each of them had chosen their ultimate characters, Thra had changed hers after Belius decided he’d be a locus too. Something about not leaving all their mains on one island. There were only so many characters they could allow to roam freely. They were pushing the boundaries as it was.

  Belius’s grin when he sat down at his table didn’t reach his eyes. He put his enchanter on auto and slipped into the form he’d need to execute the next stage of his plan.

  “Get down!” Murmur yelled instinctively, wishing she could project a real shield over her friends. But the mental shield wasn’t going to protect anyone from a physical projectile.

  Arrows continued to fly as everyone cowered behind the decaying body of the golem. Magic decayed faster than flesh and since the golem was a magical creation this wasn’t going to be an ideal hiding place for long. She glanced around and saw Merlin sneaking to the cover of the trees behind the strange tents the golems used for who knew what. Extending her own sensor net, she encountered what appeared to be a group of archers. Only four, but since they had the advantage of apparently knowing this portion of the mountains very well. Murmur was hesitant on what to do. Guild chat lit up.

  Rashlyn: Guys, I think we’re under attack.

  Devlish: Well, that makes all of us. You guys able to deal with it?

  Veranol: Yeah, we’ll just make Exbo have to earn his keep for once.

  Exbo: Shut up, old man.

  Murmur chuckled, their banter loosening the tension in her shoulders. They were going to be fine; she just needed to use her head. Jinna said there were multiple places to level in this mountain range, which meant there were multiple camps of mobs. Considering the intelligence targets had displayed before this, and the noise the golems made, they should have been prepared for something like this. Why wouldn’t those other camps have scouts going out to protect the area? She knew that’s what she’d do if it were her. She closed her eyes and cast out her mind, feeling for the presence, attempting to see them like she had seen Telvar back on the island. Mind’s Eye was proving to be a useful thing, but there wasn’t time to dwell on how she obtained it when it wasn’t listed as a skill. It was also difficult to use when there was too much action and noise.

  “There are four of them out there. As far as I can discern from their flow of thoughts, they’re a patrol from another of the camps in these mountains and well. Golems aren’t exactly quiet. They must be the shoot first ask questions later types.” Murmur inched around, reluctantly admitting that their hiding place was about to be compromised, and headed to the closest trees on the left hand side. They needed to get to cover in order to have any chance of returning the ambushing favor. She tried not to let the rising panic in the back of her mind bother her. The others would respawn; the others didn’t have as much riding on this. Murmur needed to be more careful, because she couldn’t afford an ambush catching her unaware.

  Merlin shot a distraction volley up. The skill was a spectacular one. It seemed that most of their group’s hidden spells and abilities were born out of a need to protect the group as a whole. A twinge of guilt assailed her, because she knew in a way they were all trying to protect her.

  The arrows flew up in the sky, scattering out and almost floating for a second before they zoomed down, directly targeted on the four people attacking them. As soon as they arced over, Murmur and the rest ran for cover, reaching the trees with perfect timing, and narrowly avoided a delayed shower of arrows that landed just short of the tree line. Merlin was a damn good ranger. She’d have to remember to tell him that.

  “Beast, can you get Shir-Khan to sneak in and clamp down on one? Like, tear at their Achilles, or sever a hamstring or something? I’ve seen the way you can work in unison, but does he have any special abilities he can use?” Murmur really hoped that the true pet classes like Beast and Havoc were gifted with more than just their own abilities.

  Beastial’s eyes unfocused for a moment, and a light frown spread across his face. “Got it. Haven’t used it before because I tend to love the fusion combos, but I think we can do that.”

  Murmur nodded, not yet giving into relief. “We’ll need Merlin to root one, and as long as I creep behind Shir-Khan while invisible I should be able to get one of them in my sights and Mez them.”

  She rubbed her armor while the others muttered their agreement, realizing it would give her some mild protection anyway since their opponents were rangers and not casters. “Sin and Dev, go with the cat so we can start by dropping that one.”

  “Done.” Dev grinned, an almost feral gleam to his eyes. “This is the Mur I like best.”

  “Shush.” She was glad the treeline was dark and hid her blush. She’d almost forgotten how much she loved the strategy and adrenaline rush of a good fight plan. This was nothing, just a mere warm up.

  Merlin. Root the one closest to you and creep over to us.

  Merlin: Done.

  Taking a deep breath, they set out, putting the plan into action. Shir-Khan found a scent and latched on, his movements sure and deft as he wove silently through the undergrowth. It was all Murmur could do to keep up with him, and she was fairly sure her way of traveling totally negated his silence. The only thing she had going for her was that she was invisible.

  The tiger latched onto the calf of one of the well-hidden archers. So well-hidden in fact, that Murmur hadn’t seen them until the cat dug its teeth in, moving his jaw down and finally anchoring in the mob’s Achilles. She gasped and moved on as silently as she could while the others swooped in. Focusing her senses outward, she found herself nearing one of the remaining rangers who seemed to be crouching in wait while trying to figure out where their targets were. Mind’s Eye would have been easier to use, but she didn’t think she could walk with it yet.

  Several more creeping steps and she was behind her newfound prey. A brief twisting of her fingers, and the archer froze in place. Mez would never cease to give Murmur that sense of satisfaction. It grew every day, a little more power in every way. She chuckled softly and moved on, trying to make sure she stayed in reach of her initial target so refreshing the spell was easy. Her target appeared to be an elf, similar to Merlin yet somehow a little different. Her coloring was darker, but she wasn’t a dark elf. They probably had directions on which parts of the wood to patrol. When this one didn’t answer, and the other who was fighting was dead, surely more would come to their aid.

  What if they didn’t? What if these two were willing to sacrifice themselves while the others went and fetched more members from their camp? This was not good. Crap. Murmur wracked her brain trying to think clearly, to think what she would do in their place. And there was no way she’d run to help—she’d go fetch another patrol, or just grab more people.

  Just as the thoughts ran through her head and she refreshed her Mez, Devlish appeared by her side and spied the next target. “Just one?”

  “Well, it’s not
like they’re grouped together. They’re scouts. And the other two, because the root has broken by now, are probably fetching reinforcements. If we don’t head them off we’re probably screwed.”

  “Damn it.” Devlish broke the Mez by hacking away at the scout’s less-than-stellar leather armor immediately, and she could see Hatred go into effect in the way the mob shivered and focused on the tank. “What was the matter with dumb mobs? I mean, come on give us a break. Do they really have to be this intelligent?”

  Murmur smiled to herself as she followed Merlin. Maybe they didn’t have to be this intelligent, but she was pretty sure she knew who made them this way.

  Have you got all of your ambush? Or did some get away? Murmur sent the thought off and waited.

  Veranol: We got three. One must be running for help

  Merlin: We seem to have two runners.

  Rashlyn: Shit.

  Neva: Are you always so eloquent?

  Murmur laughed. Always.

  Merlin was attempting to use his tracking skill, which he apparently hadn’t used since they first began playing because he’d been with the group the whole time and never mentioned having it. Murmur had to bite her tongue to stop from berating him for not making their lives easier, sooner. But he was having enough troubles with getting it to work in this area that she felt like he was already suffering enough. That’s what you got when you didn’t up your skills. Though the temptation to make him suffer more wasn’t helping.

  It wouldn’t be difficult, she could just coax him, push him...

  All it would take was a thought vaguely directed at him. It would easily overwhelm him with frustration, add in a touch of guilt to top it off. His lack of foresight could cost them here; shouldn’t he pay for it?

  She snapped out of it as he grinned and stood up, pushing down on the shame she felt every time her mind veered in that direction.

  “They’re headed over that way, but they’re not running. They’re trying to hide their noise and footsteps. With any luck, we should be able to cut them off before they bring their whole camp down on us.”

  “With any luck?” Murmur stood, contemplating several choices, kicking herself for not having thought of it earlier. She’d just been so preoccupied with immobilizing them. Her own sensor net couldn’t find them, so instead of berating the ranger, she probably needed to strengthen her own skills. “Get me in range. I have an idea.”

  Merlin raised an eyebrow at her, but moved swiftly and she followed behind, hoping that a mob two levels higher than her wasn’t going to resist the crap out of her spell. Moving quickly and quietly was far more difficult than it might seem, but the underbrush was mostly damp, and therefore didn’t crackle beneath them. Finally, they were close to one of the elf scouts.

  Murmur inched forward and cast her spell as soon as she got in range, releasing it in the blink of an eye with perfect precision. It hit the scout, cascading over her in a whirl of blue incandescence for a split second. And then the scout turned around and joined Murmur, standing at attention. Now she had to gamble that the others wouldn’t know their comrade had been charmed. Soothing with her projection, Murmur attempted to coax the scout into understanding their plight. That they’d not even been close to the scout’s camp. Since that avenue didn’t seem to be working, she attempted the thought process that they weren’t going to harm her, which seemed to settle her down just a little. The scout was strong-minded and took a lot more thought projection than Murmur had ever used, but finally the danger of breaking the charm immediately died down a fraction. There was no doubt that if she set this scout to attack another scout, it would end up breaking the charm.

  Murmur suggested, just barely, just sort of on the outside chance that the archer would help, to please ask her friends to stop. Even as the scout scowled, Murmur could almost hear the thought go out. Begrudgingly, her pet glanced at her, and the disparity in levels grated against Murmur’s will. She needed to up her charisma. She needed to up her mana pool. Stupid game giving her only four points per level. It was exhausting, even as the rest of the group found them and hid while they waited for the rest of the scouts to come back.

  There was something off about this scout. She was stronger in magical will than Murmur had expected, and somehow highly aware that the spell being used on her was controlling her actions and mind. And then it hit her.

  “Shit.” Murmur muttered softly, drawing the eyes of the rest of her group to her with questioning eyebrows raised. “These mobs already have their hybrid skills.”

  A ripple of unease spread through the group at the realization that these scouts and their camp would all be level twenty or above, and most probably had accessed the hybrid skill set. While it may have unsettled the others, all it made her do was want to hit level twenty so she, too, could have a set of hybrid skills. She basically just wanted to take a hit better than she could right now. Anything to gain more survivability in a game she wasn’t sure she could survive.

  There was no time for those sobering thoughts as the scouts crept into the small copse they were in. It was difficult to see them at first, considering their gear was a strange sort of camouflage. It blended in and out of the trees as they moved, the brush providing the perfect cover as the cloth they wore played tricks on their eyes. Sort of like Murmur’s armor.

  Then everything happened at once.

  Murmur’s charge broke her charm with one huge exertion of willpower, so big it almost knocked the wind out of the psionicist. Stumbling, Murmur placed one hand on the ground and immediately cast Mez on that same target. Luckily, since she’d nullified it while charmed, it froze the hybrid scout in place, a look of shock replacing her gloating.

  With surefire arrows, Merlin sealed another of them in a root, and Devlish had already hurled himself toward it, while the third tried to slink back into the shadows but found Shir-Khan briefly attached to its leg, which gave Murmur just enough time to Mez it too. She had to give Beastial props for the attack as well as knowing not to allow the cat to use a DoT ability.

  “Try to keep it quiet. We don’t know how close we are to their headquarters, and the last thing we need is dozens of these hybrids descending on us.” Murmur kept her voice calm as she watched them fight the only scout she thought wasn’t a hybrid. She didn’t seem capable of using anything but her bow and small knife. Her health went down faster than Murmur thought it would. However the other two were different. She’d still not figured out what their hybrid classes were, which meant it was difficult to gauge just what they could do, but for now keeping them locked down was her job.

  The first one dispatched, Devlish broke the Mez with Hatred on the one farthest away. Murmur still didn’t understand how he generated his hidden abilities. It left the one who’d escaped her charm slowly glaring daggers into Murmur’s back. Her shoulders began to feel a tad uncomfortable. Maybe she was part mage; it would explain why her resistances were so high. Refreshing Nullify and Mez, Murmur felt a bit safer, and backed behind the group, keeping a sharp eye on her tricky target.

  Devlish visibly taunted the crap out of that mob using his normal Terror taunt, but its eyes never left Murmur, not even for a second. They followed her wherever she moved, hungrily, eager for revenge.

  Murmur gulped when the second scout died, feeling guilty for luring them into her trap. But, to be fair, this was a case of eat or be eaten. Or killed, however you looked at it. She’d done what needed to be done to protect her guild, to protect herself. Luckily, she’d not used one of her MA abilities, because she’d probably be on the bottom of the karma pile right now. Although they did ambush them first, so technically this was all in self-defense. She really needed to talk to Telvar about the karma thing.

  When Devlish broke the Mez, the scout took one hit with the shield right in the gut, and vanished. Almost as if they’d practiced, the other four in her group closed ranks around Murmur, because the scout was likely
looking for a way to kill the person who’d enslaved it.

  “Knew it was a hybrid, didn’t think it’d be a mage.” Havoc whispered under his breath. “Once she drops her invis, she won’t be able to activate that Blink skill for another few minutes, so that’ll be our chance.”

  Murmur nodded, grateful for Havoc’s quiet observance. “Let’s give her some bait then, shall we?”

  Beastial raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You’re bait now?”

  Sinister shrugged. “I’ve got her. She’ll cast her own shield, I’ll pop a HoT on her. It’ll be fine.”

  Casting the shield, Murmur grinned. “Hopefully it’ll make me irresistible.”

  Sin winked. “You know you are, baby.”

  With a chuckle, Sin backed away from her guard spot, only to encounter the scout materializing behind her as she sank a dagger into Sinister’s ribs.

  Somnia Online Location: Ululate

  Beneath the Dunkel Tavern: Rogue Trainer Lair

  Seven Days Post Launch

  Jirald walked into his trainer’s lair, irritated that he’d not hit eighteen yet. He was close, but since he’d just leveled up his shadow affinity, it was more important to come and see his trainer than to gain that next physical level. The back room of the seediest tavern in Stellaein hid the trapdoor that led to the lair of thieves. Three taps against it and the floor opened. Just looking at the ground wouldn’t reveal the entrance, as it was seamless and well-hidden.

  He jumped down, landing lightly on his feet and nodded to the large bouncer who guarded the door well. He definitely wouldn’t want to go up against Brutus. Jirald meandered down the hall, scraping his dirty nails along the compacted walls, barely making a dent and nodded to the barkeep, who shot him a sideways glare.