Conrad’s eyes continue to inspect the room; it is circular with no signs of an exit anywhere. “There’s no way out,” he mutters to himself. “I guess this means fleeing is not an option.” Next to the throne is a stand with a lantern. Conrad sees an open book on the stand.
“I see you’re looking for a way out,” the master of the manor says, while watching the barbarian closely. “There is only one way out: a secret passageway right under my throne. I might consider letting you leave, but the price is steep.”
“How much?” the barbarian asks, trying to stall for time while thinking of a plan of action. Should I bum rush Blackheart and hope I make it in time to prevent him from activating the armor guardians? Or should I stay back and protect Laura while she flings spells at Blackheart? It’s too bad we’re encountering the big boss right away, or else I could observe her fighting capabilities first. There are too many unknown variables right now.
“How much?” the NPC repeats the question mockingly. “Oh I don’t know. I think I’m in the mood for a human heart.” He licks his lips. “So, who wants to sacrifice a life for safe passage for the other? Will it be you sir?” The host points a bony finger at the barbarian. “Or will you be the one to show your valor and bravery, mistress?” He shifts his finger over in the female’s direction.
Laura slowly walks up to the barbarian. “What a kind and generous offer, milord.” She sniffs her nose. “I think we’ll need to pass and just force you to get up from your throne.”
“Hohoho!” Blackheart claps. “I like your spirit, my child. I think I will enjoy devouring your heart first.” His eyes turn black as he drops his illusion, revealing a rotted corpse. He snaps his fingers, and the four Armor Guardians leave their positions along the walls to attack!
Chapter 16 – Guardians
“Time to party! Yeah!” Conrad yells while running towards Blackheart. The boss character is at least fifteen feet away, he thinks. With luck I could reach him before the Armor Guardians can intercept me. If I can take out the master first, the guardians may deactivate. Hopefully, Laura can deal with the guardians. If not, oh well, he grins.
“Damn you, Conrad!” Laura yells as she suddenly finds herself facing half the Armor Guardians, one coming to her left and the other coming to her right. Laura sees two swords slashing at her torso at the same time; the necromancer tumble rolls forward to avoid the blades. She quickly lands on her feet and tries to cast a flame arrow spell. However, she feels another blade approaching her head and drops down to the ground, interrupting her spell casting. Laura alertly rolls body away from the blade, which is stuck briefly to the ground. The spell caster holds out her right hand, with her palm facing the stuck blade, while her left hand is clutching her magical focus. “Atenlat!” A flame arrow hits the sword and engulfs it. The dull steel blade turns bright red in color. “Talneta!” An ice arrow hits the sword again. The sudden drop in temperature causes the blade to snap, ruining the sword.
“Yes!” The spell caster pumps her fist in the air. “Whoa!” She suddenly feels a blade approaching her head and tumble rolls forward again. When Laura’s body comes to a complete stop, she realizes she landed right in front of the ruined sword. She sees an armored foot about to stomp on her head, and instinctively rolls to her left, hitting the wall. She kicks out her leg, smashing into the ankle joint of the Armor Guardian and causing it to fall down. Laura quickly straddles the suit of armor, pulls out her enchanted dagger, and stabs down at the Guardian’s torso. Suddenly, she feels movement towards her head, and the necromancer quickly rolls to her right, away from the wall.
The other Armor Guardian’s heavy sword chop misses its intended target, and the blade is imbedded deep into the chest of the guardian still lying on the ground.
While the guardian tries to free its blade, Laura takes the opportunity to cast Death Sphere. Pulling out her skeletal hand focus, the necromancer takes aim at the two Armor Guardians and chants the words of power: “zozen-tulla-zozen-varid-zozen-weere-natel.” The spell completely drains the spell caster’s mana pool, and a small orb of nebulous black form in front of the skeletal hand. The orb expands outward in a flash until it encompasses the doomed guardians. The suits of armors instantly turn black and the next second they dissipate into nothingness.
With her opponents finally defeated, Laura’s avatar drops to the ground as the effect of emptying her mana pool causes a biofeedback loop to the player, resulting in a mild shock and blurriness inside the player’s visor.
The barbarian's mad dash towards the seated man is thwarted when Blackheart snaps his fingers, and a Wall of Air appears right in front of Conrad. Splat! The player's screen view is blurred momentarily as his in-game avatar is stunned by the impact of his character smashing into the unmovable wall. Bam-bam! Conrad slams his fists against the magic wall in frustration.
"Well played, Blackheart," Conrad says aloud as the fighter turns around to face the two Armor Guardians slowly approaching his position and exposing his back to Blackheart. He hears a chuckle from the NPC. Keeping his focus on the two suits of armors approaching his position, the experienced fighter quickly formulates his strategy for this encounter. There's no point in trying to locate the edge of the wall; there's no time for me to do so before the guardians reach me. If I can lure Blackheart into dropping his Wall of Air during my fight with his minions, I might be able to bum rush him when the opportunity arises. Conrad leans his left leg back so that his heel is touching the wall. The instant the magical shield drops, he will know. Also, in this position, his back won't be exposed to attacks from the guardians. He clangs his axe and club against each other in anticipation.
Taking the sound as a signal, the two enemy fighters launch their attack in unison with the left guardian chopping down with its sword from above, and the right guardian thrusting its blade into the human's torso.
Conrad expertly blocks the blow above his head with his ivory club. The fighter times his axe swing perfectly and turns his arm and wrist in unison to deflect the point of the other blade to smash into the invisible wall behind the defender. The deflection causes the attacker to over extend its arms, and Conrad turns the table on his opponent by smashing the top end of his war axe into the guardian's head. The player quickly follows up the smash with a kick to the guardian's torso; the strong, heavy blow catapults the suit of armor back a few feet.
The other guardian pulls its sword back, readying for another strike at the human player.
Conrad wastes no time in launching his counterattack. He throws two opposite, horizontal attacks simultaneously, swinging his ivory club from right to left at the area underneath the helmet while swinging the flat part of his double axe from left to right against the torso. Both strikes land on the Armor Guardian, causing the helmet to be knocked off and thereby decapitating the guardian. A fine black mist starts to envelop the fallen Armor Guardian as it starts to disintegrate.
"Drat! My Armor Guardians are hard to replace! I guess I have to defeat you myself," Blackheart says as he points his black, ebony staff at the human fighter and starts chanting the words of a powerful spell.
This is it, Conrad notes as he runs back toward the Armor Guardian still on the ground. When he arrives, the minion tries to take a swing with its gauntleted fist. The player drops his ivory club to the ground and catches the fist in the human's palm. The barbarian takes a mighty swing with his war axe, and chops off the guardian's arm at the elbow. He quickly follows up taking another mighty swing to cut off the guardian's other arm, this time at the shoulder.
The Armor Guardian tries to head butt the player, but Conrad reads the move and nods his head back in time to avoid the blow.
"Disintegrate!" Blackheart yells out and a black beam shoots out from his magical staff, aiming directly at Conrad!
The barbarian throws the Armor Guardian directly into the path of the deadly beam, and a black aura immediately envelops the minion. Conrad ignores the spectacle, choosing instead to run at Blackheart.
"Missed!" Blackheart says with irritation as he snaps his finger to throw up the Wall of Air again to intercept the charging human. However, his timing is too slow, and the wall appears behind the barbarian.
With a crazed look in his eyes, Conrad grabs his war axe with both hands and takes a mighty chop down on the NPC's head, intending to split the evil wizard in half!
Blackheart lifts up his magical staff with both hands and manages to block the blow. However, the force of the mighty blow causes the staff to crack!
Seeing this, Conrad presses on and takes another mighty swing downward again on the same spot. The barbarian swings a third time, and finally the ebony staff snaps! The vicious chop cuts both staff and man, splitting the two in half.
Black mists start to envelop Blackheart, and he too disintegrates before Conrad's eyes until nothing remains--except a smooth black gem the size of a human eye. The gem is opaque and dark as night. Although there is a lantern on the table, the light from the lantern is greedily sucked into the gem.
Conrad picks up the mysterious gem, which is cool to the touch. I guess this is what Laura is seeking. The victorious warrior looks around the room, sees nothing of value and hangs his head. Maybe I can convince the necromancer to reimburse me for the used potions, he thinks as Conrad slowly walks over to Laura, who is leaning against a wall on the far side of the cavern. Kneeling down before the spell caster, Conrad asks, “Are you okay?”
“Eventually,” Laura groans. “I emptied my mana pool,” she explains.
“Ah,” the barbarian nods in understanding as he recalls Lucious using up his own mana during the Castle Eternia campaign last year, and being incapacitated as a result. Unfortunately, there is nothing the fighter could do except wait patiently for the spell caster to recover on her own when her mana regenerates. He sits down next to her and passes the time in silence.
“Did you find the Blackstone?” Laura asks when she opens her eyes a few minutes later.
In response, Conrad holds the stone in front of Laura’s face. When her hand reaches for the valuable treasure, he quickly pulls his hand back. “Uh! Not so fast, Laura. We need to discuss compensation for my services,” he says.
“What do you mean by that?” the spell caster asks. “Didn’t we agree that you get two thirds of the gold we find and I get first pick of magical items? I choose to take the Blackstone,” she says while holding out her hand.
Conrad shakes his head. “Unfortunately, it appears that the game developers decided to be stingy in rewarding players completing this quest. This stone is the only item of value that I found. There is no gold I’m afraid,” he shrugs.
“In that case what do you propose, sir?” Laura looks directly into Conrad’s eyes.
“Two Elixirs of Health were used during this quest. I would like you to replace them, that’s all,” the warrior replies. He could probably get more for the item on the auction block, but in doing so Conrad would make an eternal enemy out of the necromancer and he would rather avoid that outcome. Besides, Laura could easily make a post of this mission in the public player forums, and subject him to ridicule from other players for his conduct.
“Fine,” Laura sucks her teeth. It's going to set her back a few hundred gold pieces to replace those potions, but she could easily make it back as a mercenary to adventuring parties in need of a spell caster. Besides, once the Blackstone is in her possession, the necromancer's mission will be completed and the experience reward will bump her character up to the next level. That in itself is worth the cost of reimbursement for the two Elixirs of Health.
“Good,” the barbarian nods and gets back to his feet. He holds out his hand.
The necromancer stares at it for a moment, and decides to accept his assistance.
“Let’s get out of here,” Conrad says. “The exit is supposedly under the throne.”
“Lead the way,” Laura replies, drawing a chuckle from the warrior.
Chapter 17 – Magic Guild
Lucious finds himself standing in front of the doorway. Before him is a tall, circular tower taking up an entire block in the southern end of Starter Town. The tower is made of stone and extends some two hundred feet into the air. Visible even from a long distance away, the Sky Mages, or Air mages specializing in flight magic, often use the tower as a marker while flying in the sky.
The tower belongs to the Magic Guild, a collection of mages who banded together to purchase land from King Richard, and received permission to create this enormous tower. Only the Lion Castle stands taller in the Starter Town, and that's because it is located on a small hilltop. If placed side by side, the tower is easily twice the height of the Lion Castle. In addition, the tower had cost over one hundred million gold pieces to construct, easily the most expensive player housing in the game.
Until the lifting of the Regent’s Curse over Castle Eternia, Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc. was steadfast in its refusal to permit player housing. The game developers relented as part of the package that provided player housing to The Strangers; implicit in the deal was the ability to create player housing within the Kingdom. Subsequently, the player class guilds decided to pool their resources and competed with each other to create the most extravagant housing. The Magic Guild quickly stood out from the other guilds in its ability to amass from its membership tremendous resources to create the runaway winner, resulting in the so-called “Mage Tower” overlooking the rest of Starter Town.
Standing on either side of the entrance of the Mage Tower are two lion statues. They are magical guardians which could animate and leave their guard spot when necessary. The two are imbued with limited sentience, and allow passage to recognized members of the Magic Guild only. Meetings with non-members take place in nearby taverns.
Lucious turns to face the lion on the right and looks directly into its eyes, which are red gemstones. "Lucious Trevis," the member identifies himself.
The sentinel's eyes light up for a second as it cross references the most recently updated record of members of the Magic Guild in good standing. On occasion, members lose standing for violation of the Magic Code, or conduct that result in temporary or permanent suspension from the guild itself. The right guardian’s eyes are imbued with the "True Sight" magic effect, which provides the ability to see in the dark, and to dispel illusions that hide the character's true identity. The guardian instantly confirms the player's identity, and that he is a member of the Magic Guild in good standing. "You may enter, Member Lucious."
The elementalist nods and walks through the opening. While the guardian on the right is imbued with True Sight, the one on the left has the ability to trigger a Wall of Force to prevent intrusion into the Tower itself. Additionally, there is at least one set of guards inside, near the entrance, armed with spells and magic items to repel intruders. The exact schedule of these guards is kept a secret.
In the past, the previously unknown Assassin's Guild decided to publicize its existence as an organization of hardcore player killers by putting a bounty on each member of the Magic Guild who was killed. This guild is made up of rogues and thieves specializing in the art of delivering instant kill blows. A group of assassins managed to overcome the lion guardians and killed several junior members of the Magic Guild on the lower floors before the assassins were defeated.
The episode exposed a weakness in reliance on magical devices. Henceforth, the leadership council decided to supplement the guardians with human player guards. Thus, all members of the Magic Guild are required to serve a rotation every year. Additionally, the guards are supplemented with players on loan from the Fighter's Guild, as part of an exchange of services between the two player guilds. The fighters are elevated to temporary members of the guild, in order to bypass the restrictions placed on the lion statues.
“Well met, Elementalist,” a mage calls out. He is wearing a set of leather bracers on his forearms that have been dyed red, and a matching blood red colored cloak. The bracers are worn by guildsmen on guard duty, while t
he color red signifies the mage’s membership in the Fire Faction.
“Well met, Tulin,” Lucious replies. He recognizes the younger player, who possesses a set of cool green eyes that contrasts with his pale white skin, jet black hair, and mostly importantly to Lucious, a shorter height than even the vertically challenged Lucious. “I see you’re stuck with guard duty today,” he grins.
“Don’t laugh too hard, my friend,” Tulin replies while offering his right fist for a fist bump, which Lucious obliges. “As I recall, your rotation will be coming up next week.”
Lucious makes a face at the unwelcome reminder. Each faction within the Magic Guild is responsible for putting their members into the rotation, and the faction responsible for each day of the month is decided in advance by the High Council of the Magic Guild. There is one faction for each element of fire, water, air, and earth, and there is also a faction for the unaffiliated group of mages, to which Lucious belongs.
The four elemental factions keep close track of the ranks of the unaffiliated faction, because once a mage decides to specialize in one elemental sphere of magic it becomes rather difficult to switch out of the specialty. As one of the most powerful members of the unaffiliated faction, the elemental factions want Lucious to join their ranks. His membership would increase the faction’s power and prestige in one fell swoop.
“I’m sure you’re busy now. Let’s catch up later when we’re both off guard duty,” Tulin replies. He has adventured with Lucious when they both started playing the game, and it’s been a while since they adventured together.
“Of course!” Lucious nods in response. He continues walking further into the tower until he is standing in front of a huge hole that extends from the dungeons up to the very top of the tower. A prerequisite to membership in the Magic Guild is access to the spell “Levitate,” precisely because this is the expected method of travel from one floor of the tower to another. There are no stairs at all. The more powerful a mage is, the higher he could levitate. Hence, the most important areas of the tower reside in the upper lowers of the Magic Guild. The Fire and Water Factions share the second floor, the Air and Earth Factions share the third floor, and the Unaffiliated Faction takes the fourth floor since it has the most members. Of course, the effect of having the unaffiliated group on a higher floor means that the unaffiliated mage would be subject to pitches from the elemental factions to convert to a specialty.
World of Eternia: The Complete Collection Page 24