by A. J. Markam
“Yes, but we can’t exactly walk right up, knock on the front door, and kill him.”
“Why not?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood. “I kind of like that plan.”
She gave me a half smile. “I do too, believe me – but my ex-master was a powerful warlock. Assuming he still is one and didn’t run off to join the priesthood, he’s not going to be quite as easy to defeat as Jastoth.”
I wondered if what she was saying was actually true – from an objective point of view, that is. In years past, the game had assigned different levels to different regions. Walk into a Region 80 when you were still a lowly 15, and you risked death by chipmunk.
But in the last year or two, OtherWorld had introduced a system where the threats you encountered were scaled down to fit your current level. That way you could seek out adventures in any region, rather than having to stick to specific zones until you leveled up enough to enter another one.
If the game was going to pit me against this Warlock ex-master, there had to be a way to defeat him. There had to be some device that would allow us to kill him – otherwise what was the point of sending us on a suicide mission?
Just like with the Rogue, I figured all it would take was a little ingenuity. The game would provide whatever we needed, as long as we used it in a clever enough fashion.
I wasn’t entirely wrong – and the opportunity showed up on horseback.
As we were walking along the dirt road, a horse trotted up with a finely dressed gentleman rider straight out of Gone With The Wind.
He also had a golden ‘!’ above his head – the sure sign of a quest giver.
As he approached he called out, “Good morning – might you be adventurers for hire?”
“We are,” I said.
“Then I have a proposition for you. Look around you,” the man said, and swept his hand out over the horizon. I couldn’t help but notice the glinting gold ring on his finger, stamped with some kind of a Medusa’s head symbol.
“Everything on this side of the road belongs to me. See that beautiful plantation house over there? That’s mine. But something out in the mangrove swamps is coming into my fields at night and killing my workers. Nothing left of them in the morning but the manacles we put on them to keep them here on the property. I sent out a group of hunters last week to kill whatever it is, but I’ve heard hide nor hair from them since. I would like you to find out what’s doing all the killing, and put a stop to it – and if you can find the hunters, all the better. You can rent a boat from Old Lil down at the swamp’s edge. She’ll set you right up.”
A window popped up with a list of new quests:
Pixie Land Blues
Something is making the workers on the plantation disappear. Find out what it is.
XP: 3000
5 Silver
Hunt the Hunters
The trio of hunters who tried to find out the secret of the mangrove swamp have disappeared. Find out what happened to them.
XP: 1000
10 Silver
Talk to Old Lil
Rent a boat from the proprietor of Old Lil’s Bait Shop to start your quest in the mangrove swamps.
XP: 200
“Old Lil?” I asked.
“Yes, she owns a shop down by the mangroves. You can rent a boat from her to go further into the swamp.”
“Great.”
Just what I wanted after hunting anacondas for two days – more proximity to horrible monsters.
I also wrestled with the morality of accepting a quest from a slave owner.
But you are too, a guilty little voice whispered in my head. I ignored it.
Still, it was a quest – several of them, in fact. And they would keep us occupied until we figured out what to do about Alaria’s ex-master Odeon.
I hit ‘Accept’ on all the quests, said goodbye to the rider, and set off across the field that led towards the mangrove swamp.
As we walked, dozens of featureless faces looked up at us, their bronze manacles and collars glinting in the sunlight.
It got to me, I have to admit.
“I don’t like taking quests from these assholes,” Alaria said.
“Neither do I, but we have to do something. Plus there are no coincidences in the – ”
I almost said ‘game,’ but stopped myself in time.
“In the what?” Alaria asked.
“In the grand scheme of things.”
We walked the half mile to the edge of the mangrove swamp, where we found a massive shack. There were a bunch of rowboats stacked up on the muddy shore. Next to them lounged a two-foot-tall, Creature-from-the-Black-Lagoon type thing. It glanced at us with lazy curiosity, then looked away.
We went inside the shack. It was sort of like a cross between a 7/11 and an herbalist’s shop, filled with a thousand different types of plants and flowers in different jars.
“Hello?” I called out.
“Hello, travelers!” a woman’s Caribbean-infused voice called out.
I looked behind me and stepped back in surprise. A slightly purple, white-haired, morbidly obese woman was coming up the aisle towards me – but she had no legs. Instead, she looked like Jabba the Hutt, her slug-like body trailing behind her. In many ways she resembled Ursula from The Little Mermaid – except that instead of an octopus for a lower body, she had a snail’s. Her black dress trailed the ground around her, covering up whatever she might’ve had below the waist.
“Are you Lil?” I asked, finding it hard not to stare.
“That I am! If you be wantin’ a boat, I can help you. If you be wantin’ a love potion, I can help you with dat as well! I have many magical charms, many magical potions!” She looked at Alaria. “Anyting for you, my pretty?”
Alaria glanced at me, and I could tell exactly what she was thinking: Yes, a way to kill my ex-master.
“Nothing at the moment,” Alaria said.
“If you change your mind, sweetie, just let me know.”
“A plantation owner said we should rent a boat from you,” I said.
“Oh – you be wantin’ to go back into the mangrove swamps!”
“Yes.”
“Would you be likin’ the simple boat or the deluxe?”
“What’s the difference?”
“The simple boat you row yourself. The deluxe boat, I get one of my workers to propel you. Much faster. Cut your travel time in half.”
I didn’t really relish the prospect of us rowing a boat through a hot, humid marsh for hours on end, so I said, “We’ll take the deluxe.”
“Good – dat’ll be two silva for the day, plus an extra silva for my worker Shoost.”
I handed over the money, and ‘200 XP’ appeared in the air in front of me.
Suddenly Old Lil yelled out at the top of her lungs, “SHOOST!”
The little merman from outside padded inside the shop.
“You take dese folks out wherever dey wanna go. You keep ‘em safe and bring ‘em back in one piece, you hear?”
The little merman nodded, then turned and padded out.
“Go on with him now,” Old Lil said. “Dey’s a rudder on da boat for you to steer. You wanna go forward, you knock on da boat once. Shoost will hear you. You want to stop, knock twice. You want to reverse, knock three times. Don’t you worry – Shoost will take care of you.”
“Great, thanks. The plantation owner said there was something in the mangrove swamps that’s killing his workers. Do you have any idea what might be?”
“No idea, mon, but there’s plenty of terrible things out in da mangrove swamp.” Lil flashed a big smile. “Mind you don’t step out of da boat in da wrong place.”
Okay…
We walked outside. Shoost was waiting for us on the bank, with the boat half in and half out of the water. Stig, Alaria, and I got in, and then Shoost pushed the boat off into the swamp and completely submerged himself. Suddenly the water behind the boat began to churn. I looked over the edge, and saw that Shoost was kicking his legs
furiously, acting just like an outboard motor.
“This is an interesting form of locomotion,” I muttered, as I used the rudder to steer the boat. It wasn’t a single rudder, because that would have interfered with where Shoost was positioned. Instead, it was a bar that attached to two dual rudders, one on each end of the stern.
“I don’t trust that woman,” Alaria said.
“What? Why not?”
“I’m a woman. We know.”
“What don’t you trust her about?”
“She knows something about what’s in the swamp. I’m pretty sure of that.”
I started to get an uneasy feeling. We were relying on a tiny merman to take us God knows where. What if he just happened to let us stumble into the den of the beast, then swim off while we got eaten?
“Why would she lie to us?” I asked.
“Did you see all those herbs in her shop?”
“Yeah?”
“She’s a witch.”
“She’s not an herbalist?”
“Well, I’m sure she’s that – but there were plenty of things like spider legs and bat wings in those bottles. Down on the lower shelves towards the end. I guess you didn’t look too closely, did you?”
“No,” I admitted.
I was beginning to feel very uneasy indeed.
Alaria shook her head. “I have no idea why she would want to do us harm, but… I’m just warning you, this is not looking good. Not from where I’m sitting.”
I nodded somberly. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“Sure,” she said, then smiled. “We’re getting out of this alive, don’t worry. I still have an ex-master to kill.”
We puttered around the mangrove swamp for a good hour or so. We didn’t see much that looked threatening, other than a few crocodiles in the water. I was afraid they would try to attack Shoost, but they didn’t. Apparently some sort of professional courtesy existed between them – sort of like how sharks won’t eat lawyers.
We were coming up on two hours when we heard a shriek from deeper inside the swamp.
I steered the boat towards a small island out in the middle of the trees, then knocked four times as we ran aground.
Shoost popped up out of the water and gave me a quizzical look. Four knocks hadn’t been on the menu.
“Stay here until we get back,” I said as Alaria, Stig, and I jumped off the boat and ran through the trees.
I was expecting some sort of hydra or swamp monster or something.
I was not at all prepared for what I saw next.
We came to a clearing with a bunch of water elementals huddled on the ground. I noticed something immediately: none of them were wearing manacles or collars.
Towering over them were three humanoids – an elf, a human, and a dwarf. The dwarf had an ax, the elf had a bow and arrow, and the human carried a staff that was glowing purple.
Everything became clear in an instant.
Nothing had been killing the workers at all. They had been escaping.
Those manacles in the fields that the plantation owner had found? Those had been their cast-off chains, left behind when they fled.
And these three assholes with the weapons were a slave hunting posse.
I got sick to my stomach when I realized that I was basically the cavalry come to help them.
The window that appeared confirmed my suspicion:
You have discovered what happened to the three hunters that the plantation owner sent into the forest!
‘1000 XP’ shimmered in the air.
The elf and human suddenly turned on us.
“What are you doing here?” the dwarf barked.
I held up my arms in a ‘don’t shoot’ pose. “The plantation owner sent us.”
The dwarf’s tune suddenly changed, and he became ten times friendlier. “Why didn’t you say so! Sneakin’ up on us like that… did he send you to find us?”
“Yes, he did – and to find out what happened to his workers.”
I couldn’t bear to call them what they really were: slaves.
“Well, now that you’ve found us, why don’t you help us transport this lot back to the plantation? We had to go deep into another territory to find them and drag them all the way back here!”
A new window appeared:
Help da MAN
Aid the three hunters in returning the workers back to the plantation.
1000 XP
15 Silver
I stood there looking at the window – staring at the ‘Accept’ and ‘Decline’ buttons.
It was an interesting moment. I had never refused a quest before on moral grounds.
I glanced over at Alaria. She just stared back at me with a blank look.
Then I looked down at Stig. He was staring silently at the frightened workers huddled on the ground.
“Well?” the dwarf said impatiently. “We don’t have all day! Are you gonna help us or not?”
I didn’t even bother to hit ‘Decline’ on the window.
I just shot a Darkbolt right at the dwarf’s face.
He went down on his back screaming.
I glanced over at Alaria – and was surprised to see her giant smile.
“Hell yeah,” she grinned, and immediately started to summon fireballs.
“Nice, boss!” Stig cackled, and summoned some fireballs of his own.
It was three against three – but I had gotten in the first shot against the dwarf and surprised the other two.
The fight raged hard and fast. I hit all three of them with Darkfire to start sapping away their hit points, but the elf got me with an arrow through the shoulder. Hurt like a bastard, but I Soul Sucked away some of his Health to heal it up.
Alaria blasted the human with a couple of fireballs, then used her whip to inflict some more damage.
Meanwhile, Stig jumped on top of the dwarf and just pummeled his face with fireball after little fireball. It wasn’t that many hit points overall, but it was totally disorienting to the dwarf, I’m sure.
We were halfway through the battle when something amazing happened.
Every one of the elementals – who had been cowering when we walked up, unsure whether we were going to help them or hurt them – suddenly rose up against the three hunters. They began to blast them with fire-hydrant-like shots of water from their arms.
“Hold up,” I said to Stig and Alaria, and held out my hand to stop them.
The elemental spirits finished up the job we’d started. The elf, dwarf, and human tried to fight back, but we had demonstrated that they were vulnerable. Once the elementals knew that, they attacked with full fury.
The final crowning moment was when the elementals all piled on the individual slavers at once. They melded their bodies together, forming giant blobs of water that enveloped each hunter. It was like three giant Jell-O molds of clear gelatin.
The slavers thrashed inside their watery prisons, but anytime they tried to get out, the water shifted just a little bit to accommodate their movements and keep them in the centers of their watery cells.
Within 60 seconds the three slavers breathed their last, the air escaping from their mouths and bubbling to the surface. After they stopped moving, the bodies slowly floated down and settled onto the island floor.
They had just drowned to death on dry land.
The three amorphous blobs of water separated back into individual elemental spirits, and they all turned back and looked at us. They gave tiny bows of their heads as though to acknowledge our help, and then they all began to wave.
I was confused, because they didn’t appear to be waving at us.
I turned around. There was Shoost the merman, hiding in the undergrowth, staring at us.
“Oh shit,” I muttered.
Now we had a witness.
I watched the twenty elementals move across the mangrove island, then enter the water one by one and disappear, free once again.
Then I looked at Shoost, who was staring up at me, Stig, and Alari
a with wide eyes.
“What we do with him?” Alaria asked.
I sighed. “After saving a bunch of sentient beings from slavery, I really don’t want to kill somebody else just because he saw us. But it’s your call. If he tells anybody, we’re screwed. The plantation owner will probably find out, they’ll know we’re coming, and there’s no way you’ll be able to kill your ex-master.”
Alaria stood there looking at Shoost for a long moment, weighing the options.
Shoost stared up at her, trembling slightly.
The sight of that – of his fear – just killed me. After that moment, I made up my mind that whatever Alaria decided on, I wasn’t going to let her kill the merman. He was going to go free no matter what. But I was still interested to hear her answer.
In the end, she sighed, too. “Screw it. We’ll just leave the territory and come back some other time. I don’t have a deadline. See if you can bribe him, though.”
I reached in my purse, pulled out 10 silver coins, and held them out to him. “Shoost – you can never, ever tell anybody about this, okay? Do we have a deal?”
He looked hesitantly from me to Stig to Alaria, then waddled over and took the coins out of my hand.
“We have a deal, right?” I repeated. “This is our secret, right?”
He nodded vigorously.
“How come you don’t pay me not to tell anybody, boss?” Stig asked in an annoyed voice.
“Because you’re my – ”
I was about to say ‘servant,’ but I couldn’t really bring myself to do it. I just trailed off instead.
Alaria smirked. “Your what?”
“My right hand man,” I said through gritted teeth, then moved over to the slavers’ bodies. “Come on, let’s see what they’ve got.”
The window with the Help da MAN quest hadn’t closed yet. It followed me around as I moved because I still hadn’t made a choice.
I hit ‘Decline,’ and immediately another window appeared:
Change of Heart
You found the hunters, you decided not to help them – so you better kill them.
Not only that, but bring back proof to the plantation owner of their ‘tragic, completely accidental deaths’ in the mangrove swamp.
XP: 1500