Cat's Quest

by Roman Prokofiev

  “Say the word, and you may enter!” Richie jumped up. “But the first door opened after I inserted the gem and pressed it!”

  “Exactly. This one needs a word,” Flame droned. “But we can try and press it!” The dwarf reached out to the gem and pressed it only to pull it back with an “ouch”. A needle stuck out from below the gem, piercing his finger. The door didn’t budge.

  “I’m sick of these traps!” he swore. “Once again I’m the one who gets hurt! It’s poison, a strong one!”

  “We only have two antidotes left,” I warned the group as I handed him a vial. “Be careful, we still have the boss to slay.”

  “I hope he’s behind this door,” Valkyrie nodded. “Clearing out the undead is exhausting...”

  “I think the boss is there,” Alex said. “Look at the map, the instance ends here. The question is, how do we open the door?”

  “Say the word, of course!” Richie laughed. “And we may enter! It’s a voice password, I’ve seen this kind of thing in dungeons!”

  “Yes, but what word?”

  “There should be hints!” AlexOrder was confident. “Look for them! Maybe there’s something on the revenants’ stuff, or a book, or an inscription?”

  “There are inscriptions!” the halfling blurted out as he ran toward the coffins, raising a cloud of dust. “Here, we only need to wipe the dust!” True, all coffins had words on them. The inscriptions contained the names of the creatures inside:

  Kel Taurong, Flame of the Abyss

  Dar Storm, Sword of the Abyss

  Ermis Doantar, Hope of the Abyss

  Tor Whed, Wind of the Abyss

  Ghelona Martin, Arrow of the Abyss

  Urm Torgrim, Axe of the Abyss

  “And what is that supposed to mean?” I asked, tired.

  “Fine,” Alex said as he started building a campfire, “let’s take a five-minute break. I can’t think straight yet. We’ll rebuff. I’ll call up the runes. Read the forums, the wiki, maybe that way, we’ll figure something out.” For a few minutes, everyone was quiet, until Valkyrie’s voice broke the silence.

  “I got it!” She said triumphantly. “It’s an anagram, a word puzzle! And a very simple one!”

  “I have such a smart wife!” Flame drawled as he put his arm around her waist.

  “So what’s the password?”

  “Haven’t you guessed?” Valkyrie laughed, enjoying making us wait. “It’s easy as ABC! Tor Whed—it’s not a name, it’s the word!”

  “What?”

  “Tor Whed is the anagram for ‘the word’! Just swap the letters!” the elf explained patiently. “Therefore, the password is…” She stood tall before the door and uttered, loud and clear,

  “Wind of the Abyss!” The door started shaking and, screeching and wheezing, grudgingly slid to the side, revealing the last room, which was big and round with a spherical ceiling. Words written in fine print, pentagrams, multi-rayed stars, and weird astronomical symbols riddled the walls. In the center, an iron maiden stood on a pedestal. The maiden was forged from a solid piece of black bronze, the head shaped like a bat. A chain with a huge lock was wrapped around it. Next to the statue, there was a small shrine covered in dark stains, with strange instruments scattered around it: crescent knives, implements of torture, and oddly-shaped chalices.

  “I’m afraid there are no other exits,” AlexOrder said softly. “He’s probably inside the iron maiden. Cat, pass around potions and scrolls to everyone in equal shares. The battle will be hard one... Everybody ready?”

  Without a word, Richie pointed at a curious niche in the floor, a rectangular indent that crossed the room from one wall to another.

  “Is it a trap, halfling?”

  “No,” Richie said, studying it carefully. “It’s something else… something mechanical. But what the catch is, I’ve no idea!” The halfling threw a couple of rocks at the indent to check, but nothing happened.

  “Maybe the boss necromancer will appear after we cross it,” I suggested.

  “Only one way to find out!” Flame growled, assuming a battle stance. “Let’s kick his ass!”

  “And then go to bed,” Helga yawned. But when we crossed the line, nothing happened. Richie cautiously snuck up to the iron maiden and picked the lock on the rusty chains wrapped around it. The chains crashed to the floor, raising clouds of dust, and the shutters started to slowly open, ghastly green light pouring through the slits in the maiden.

  “That’s Fokial!” AlexOrder warned. “Prepare your strongest skills and spread out. He’ll probably have some AoEs! In case of problems, retreat into the fall!”

  “WHO?! WHO DISTURBED MY REST?!”

  In the best traditions of horror, we heard the lifeless voice speak. I even winced at the prospect. It was so cheesy and hackneyed...but then, what would you expect from procedural generation? The iron maiden swung open, revealing its interior, dotted with blades. There, pierced by them, laid a mummified corpse in a crown of daggers, a tattered mantle, and a weird collar with inverted spikes. But this was not the source of the light. A ghostly creature woven from ghastly green light stepped out from within the corpse. The creature held a wand shining bright green, like the crown on his spectral head.

  Fokial the Lich

  “A lich! Silver, holy water! Sing ‘Silver Spring’!” Alex yelled. “Beware his aura!”

  “PUNY HUMANS... YOU’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!”

  I almost expected for the plaster to start falling at the sound of his voice. Fokial pointed his wand at us, made a short gesture with his hand, and a new sound appeared in the room: screeching. The rectangular niche that we had noticed before was filled with a wall that rapidly slid across it, barring the way back.

  “Jam it!” Alex yelled as he attacked the lich with Rune of Chains. But Fokial either didn’t notice it or resisted the spell as the blue rune flashed and disappeared in an instant. I ran to the wall, which was moving relentlessly forward. Desperately, I tried jamming it with the blade of my sword, but the fine metal didn’t hold, and with a pitiful crunch, the sword broke into two halves. The wall closed. We were trapped.

  Barley Ear: Durability decreased to 0/97. The weapon is broken!

  “YOU’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!”

  Flame tried to aggro the lich, hitting him with his shield. Fokial evaded the dwarf’s blows and then, with a wave of his burning wand, roared a spell. A pool of spectral green light flashed around Valkyrie’s husband, and hungry flames enveloped his armor.

  “Don’t stand there! Get out!” Alex screamed, throwing Runes of Regeneration at Flame. “Don’t stand inside the pools! Helga, regen song!” The bard touched the lute, producing the first chords,

  “Crimson and white are the sails of my boat,

  Watchful and green-eyed are the people abo—”

  “SHUT UP!”

  A ray of necrotic energy appeared from the lich and knocked Helga down, and his next spell paralyzed her. This attack was similar to that of the revenants in the burial chamber. Cursing, AlexOrder jumped toward Fokial, hitting him with his longsword, but the lich either parried his blows with his corporeal wand or dodged, laughing diabolically. In the meantime, I managed to coat my dagger with liquid silver and joined fray, attacking Fokial from the rear.

  You dealt Fokial the Lich 45 damage! You dealt Fokial the Lich 37 damage!

  He had more than two thousand hit points; I realized that if we kept on picking at him just like that, he would kill us all. I couldn’t stay in melee for long, as his aura damaged me.

  How would I tank him, then? Meanwhile, Flame finally finished healing and charged at the enemy, growling with rage. The lich took a powerful axe blow and got mad. He pushed the dwarf back and paralyzed him, paying no attention to Valkyrie’s silver arrows. Then, he cast a pool of spectral fire around AlexOrder, who barely managed to evade it. I threw my last firebomb at him, and the red flames shot upward, catching on… The lich started spinning at great speed, wailing and emanating bright green light. He relea
sed a cone of necrotic fire that flooded the room, and threw his hands up. Our torches blinked and went out, and darkness engulfed the room, illuminated only by the enemy’s spectral glow.

  You receive 57 necrotic damage from Deadfire Ring! Your HP: 178/300.

  “MINIONS! COME TO ME!”

  A ghastly radiance appeared around the lich taking the form of ghostly figures—eight of them. Fokial had summoned eight ghosts to assist him! That’s it, total party kill! Two of my group were paralyzed for three minutes, while the others had half hit points, at best. All my hopes had turned to dust. We had no chance of defeating him! We could barely scratch the lich, having only removed one third of his health, and now we had eight more opponents to deal with!

  In the meantime, our new enemies immediately got their bearings and charged at Elle, who was trying to heal our rapidly waning hit points with quick flashes of silvery light.

  “They’re on healer! Protect Elle!” Alex growled, rushing to help her, but freezing on the spot, as a result of Fokial’s paralysis spell. Alex’s henchwoman, surrounded by ghosts, suddenly sighed and vanished, disintegrating into a cloud of light. We have no healer! I didn’t even notice how I got my hands on the handle of the blue sword—the one forged from star metal. A second ago it had been lying in my inventory, and now… Its blade was burning bright blue, glowing in the dark like a torch. I felt a fiery heat emanating from it, and the closest ghost that was attacking me immediately dissipated upon taking a single blow.

  You dealt 3,750 damage to Necromancer Shadow. Necromancer Shadow was defeated! Receive 50 XP. Current XP: 28,960/45,000

  Whatever it was, I had to make use of it before all my team was killed! I saw the shadows mauling away at Helga and Alex who were paralyzed and pressing down on Valkyrie and Flame. I couldn’t see Richie anywhere; is he still alive?

  I pounced at the lich, lashing out with the blue sword. Fokial tried parrying the blow with his wand, but my sword met with almost no resistance. Buzzing furiously, it dissected the necromancer’s weapon, breaking it, and cutting into the lich’s incorporeal head right between the crown and the neck.

  You dealt Fokial the Lich 2,340 damage! Fokial the Lich was defeated! Receive 10,000 XP. Current XP: 38,960/45,000

  One-Handed Sword increased to 313. You unlock hidden skill: Blind Fight! Blind Fight increased to 5.

  I almost expected the lich’s death cry to blow down the walls, but then he crumbled into a pile of dust, and the ghosts that had almost dispatched with my group disappeared as well.

  “Whoa! That was so cool!” Richie crawled out from the iron maiden. “I don’t think I could ever make a scream like that! I’ll have to learn, though! Necromancers are awesome! Look what I’ve found, by the way!”

  “You’re full of surprises, mate!” Flame said as he scrambled to his feet. “What kind of sword is that?”

  “What was that, Cat?” AlexOrder asked. “How did you do it?” I shrugged. The star metal sword fizzled out right before my eyes, losing its glow. In a few seconds, it turned into a simple blue sword, and I sheathed it carefully.

  “We were almost done for,” Valkyrie said as she approached us. “I thought that was it... Helga had only 10 hit points left, can you imagine?”

  “Yep, he was a real bastard,” Alex agreed. “I also thought we were dead... Cat, how did you do it, pray tell?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged again. “I broke my sword and pulled out this one, unidentified. It was burning with blue fire...slaying everything it touched. Just look at the log!”

  “That’s some damage!” Alex gasped as he saw the damage numbers. “You pretty much one-shot him! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

  “It’s probably a bug,” Flame croaked. “It can’t be real!”

  “Link the sword stats!” Valkyrie requested. “I want to know what we’re fighting for here!” I linked the sword starts and, as expected, the guys could only see question marks, even if I saw something more. One stat line was revealed!

  ?????

  Quality: ????. Material: star metal, mithril, ????.

  ?????

  ?????

  True Flame: 3,500 true fire damage

  ?????

  ?????

  ?????

  ?????

  ?????

  ?????

  Slots: 2 (empty) (empty)

  “Definitely a bug,” Valkyrie replied. “Legendary items can only have six attributes, tops. This one has nine. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  True fire sword? Attributes hidden from everyone but me? My mind was a mess, and I was dead tired. I would deal with it later. First, we needed to finish up with the dungeon.

  The lich dropped a crown, a collar, and a wand, all of them cursed with a ten-point attribute penalty. The crown was an undead-only headpiece that gave adepts of darkness powerful bonuses and the Ring of Deadfire spell. It was part of some Grand Necromancer’s set that consisted of four items. The wand, which had lost all durability after meeting the flaming sword, which significantly amplified necromantic spells, could be used as a melee weapon, and had 46/100 charges of Deadfire. It required its wielder to have 500 SP in Necromancy and 500 SP in Magic Wands. Basically, it was a high-level necromancer’s weapon. The collar occupied the amulet slot. In addition to its intimidating appearance, it enhanced an undead’s innate abilities, gave immunity to fire and high resistance to paralysis, stun, and light damage. The wand and the collar were rare, and the crown, an epic quality item. Still, it was absolutely useless to us, as undead players were very uncommon in Dorsa. We also came across the quest jewelry box that I needed to take back to Eyre. The halfling found a ring inside the iron maiden that increased Luck by two points and had the See Unseen ability.

  “I tried it on!” Richie boasted. “It makes everything look kinda different!”

  “Let me take a look!” I took the ring from the halfling, curious to know what seemed different. When I put it on, the world became enveloped in a haze, blurry but somehow sharper. As I looked over the room, the altar caught my attention. There was something lying on it, glowing blue. I pulled the ring off. Nope, nothing. Then I put it on again. Aha! I went up to the altar and picked up the item, which turned out to be a triple-edged key with an eyelet.

  You receive Unseen Key! Warning: this item is only available to players with the Ancient Gene racial ability!

  You unlocked a special quest: Phylactery.

  Using the Unseen Key, find and destroy the phylactery of Fokial the Lich.

  Reward: XP, Fokial’s Spellbook, (varies).

  “I found it!” I told the group who had already finished with the loot.

  “A key! But I can’t see it!” Richie squinted. “Cool! An unseen key! I love necromancers!”

  “Interesting,” AlexOrder added. “Was it the Ancient Gene I guess only a player with the Ancient Gene can find the key, if they wear the See Unseen ring right here,” he continued theorizing. “Nicely thought out!”

  “A spellbook! A complete spellbook!” My eyes lit up. “Can you imagine how much that would cost?”

  “That’s a precious artifact,” Valkyrie nodded. “But shouldn’t you surrender it to finish the quest?”

  “It’s not mandatory!”

  “I can make a copy,” Alex remarked. “I’m not just a cartographer, I’m also a scribe.”

  “Give it a rest! Let’s just find this...phylactery!” Flame said, bringing us down to earth.

  “If there’s a key, there’s a keyhole!” the halfling laughed. “I’ll find it!”

  Alas, finding it took a while. We searched through the room three times, found a lever that moved the wall back, a stash inside a wall with one more necromantic scroll, but no secret doors. We were about to give up, when, in a fit of temper, Flame hit the iron maiden with the back of his axe, and it fell off the pedestal with a loud clatter revealing a triangular-shaped keyhole.

  The Unseen Key moved inside the stone lock surprisingly easily, and the square plate of the pedest
al slid away with a scraping noise, revealing a narrow staircase leading downward. Following the stairway, we came across a small cell with a stone reading stand and the long-sought-after Fokial’s Spellbook, a round tome bound in black leather with bone corner pieces. The book was locked with a padlock. It was an epic quality item and contained sixteen rare spells, rituals, and summonings. According to the stats, the book and its casing comprised a set that occupied the belt slot and gave impressive bonuses, for a practicing necromancy, that is.

  Behind the reading stand, we found the phylactery, a large yellow crystal in a metallic frame, pulsing with inner fire. This was the abode of the lich’s evil spirit, that allowed it to be reborn again and again. Phylacteries were created through a nasty ritual that included blood sacrifices; at the end of it, the necromancer had to sacrifice themselves, transforming into a lich and gaining immortality.

  “How do we destroy it?” Flame asked, his voice coarse. We shrugged in unison. The dwarf brought his axe down upon the crystal with a loud scream. It didn’t seem to do any damage, and harmlessly bouncing off the surface.

  “I dealt one damage out of three thousand!” Flame said. “Help me!” But the blows of the other players did not remove more than one hit point, if that.

  “It has mad physical resistance!” AlexOrder croaked. “At this rate, we’ll never break it!”

  “Cat, what about your sword?” Richie chimed in. “I want to see it glow!”