Guardians of Camlan

by A. T. Gilbert

“Ew, I think I got its finger,” Erinocalypse says laughing.

  “It gave you the finger?”

  “Wow.” She grins at me, though her tone is deadpan. “Wow. I mean, that’s so bad it’s almost a dad joke.”

  With that, she takes over casting Burning Smite to hold the knight in its place against the wall. It’s my turn now and as I take my empty bottle out of my bag I can’t help but toss another comment her way.

  “Better a dad joke than getting the finger from a ghost.”

  For a moment she laughs so hard the spell falters and the knight grasps for me. We’re both too quick, though, and as she refocuses her beam, I grab a slice of the spirit smoke that makes up the knight’s weapon.

  Alithia Potion ingredients: 3 of 8 acquired

  Erinocalypse uses the spell to burn away the last of the knight, clearing the hallway.

  [+200 XP!]

  I save the Small Bottle in my inventory. My bag is filling up, but I’ll have just enough room for all the Alithia Potion ingredients. I feel like this is going well, so far. It’s going quickly. We’re collecting all the pieces.

  We should be in the Throne Room, meeting the queen and learning the truth for Lance in no time.

  Chapter 23

  Erinocalypse is still teasing me about my bad jokes when we return to the entrance hall of Castle Nennius, but Callidus interrupts us.

  “So, to get all the pieces we need for the Alithia Potion, we need the copper for the blacksmith, the Ice Blossom from the gardener, a handful of grave dirt, and the Starchwort Powder,” Callidus reads from his quest log. He frowns as he looks back at us. “The gardener’s quest and the grave dirt will both be outside the castle walls. What about the powder? Do we know how to get that?”

  I look at my own map, reading the instructions along with him. “Yeah, and look at that yellow dot here. That’s either Crowhurst—”

  “Seems unlikely,” Erinocalypse adds.

  “Right. If it’s not Crowhurst, it’s another piece of this potion quest. Since it’s in a room labeled Laundry, I wonder if that’s where we’ll find whatever the Starchwort Powder is. I don’t think there’s anything left it could be.”

  “Okay,” Callidus says. “We’ve got the copper somewhere in this entrance hall. We’ve got something in the laundry room. And then … we have to find some graves. I haven’t seen any graves around here, have you guys?”

  “I noticed some tombs in the chapel below us,” Erinocalypse says. “But no graves.”

  “Where is it on the map,” I wonder out loud. “There should be a yellow mark where we can find the quest items.”

  Both Callidus and I examine our maps more closely and while I see a few yellow spots on the castle layout, where Crowhurst is, for example, I don’t see anything that looks like a graveyard. I don’t see any yellow dots marking outside. On a hunch, I zoom out so my view shows more than just the castle interior and sure enough, I spot a blinking yellow dot outside the castle walls, probably another five-minute walk across the meadow surrounding Castle Nennius.

  I sigh deeply.

  “Well, it looks like we’re going to have to talk to Crowhurst sooner rather than later. The grave is outside the castle walls. We’ll have to get him to let us out and then also let us back in.”

  “Laundry first, though. We’ll need to talk to the captain as the very last thing before we need to go outside the castle.”

  A few minutes later and Callidus has located the door to the castle’s laundry. The steam billowing from the doorway is stifling, and it takes a few heavy knocks for us to get the attention of the women working within.

  One of younger girls, she can’t be any more than thirteen, greets us as she dries her hands on her apron.

  “Yes?”

  “We’re looking for whoever might be in charge of the laundry around here,” Callidus says. “Are we in the right place?”

  She nods. “You are. He’s just back here.”

  She leads us through the steam and tubs of soaking clothing to another room in the back. A large barrel-chested man sits at a table, scraps and bits of cloth spread out in front of him as he meticulously cuts along the chalk line that runs down the center of the fabric.

  Name: Mason Crone

  Level: 33

  Description: Head of all laundry, sewing and leatherwork at Castle Nennius.

  The girl clears her throat ostentatiously.

  “What?” he asks without looking.

  “Mason. You’ve got guests, love.”

  With that she leaves us with the man who, I see as soon as he stands to greet us, must be more than six-and-a-half feet tall. He holds a blade in one hand.

  “Yes?”

  There is no emotion in his voice. No indication if he wants to smash us flat or give us tea.

  “We’re collecting ingredients for Professor Dove and were hoping you could help us. Can you spare any Starchwort Powder?” I say.

  “Why would I help you?”

  “Well we’d be happy to do something for you in exchange. Maybe you have a pest we can help you get rid of, or a message to take—”

  “I don’t need you to do anything.” The launderer’s tone is still strangely flat, as though he doesn’t want to do anything to encourage more conversation.

  “We can pay,” I offer. Maybe the quicker we get out of here the faster Mason will warm to us. Maybe if we have something else to put in his hand he’ll set down that knife.

  He turns his eyes to me and tilts his head. “Gold?”

  I cringe inwardly. Gold for a little pinch of powder? Seems like robbery, but … then again, I at least have plenty of gold and it’s not like we have all that many options here at the castle.

  “How much?” I counter.

  He yawns and uses the end of a blade to clean underneath his fingernails.

  “Look, Mr. Crone.” He chuckles, but I press on. “Mr. Crone, we really don’t need much, and we need to get this taken care of so we can finish up a quest for Madam Avery. We don’t want to waste your time, but if you can’t help us can you just say so?”

  “Madam Avery?”

  I sigh. “Yes. She wants us to— never mind. If you can’t sell us or give us any of the Starchwort powder …” I don’t know how to finish that sentence. The quest is clearly directing us to this room. Are we supposed to steal it instead?

  “Alithia Potion?”

  “Yes, we need— wait. I didn’t say anything about the potion. How did you know?”

  “I know.”

  The giant man and I stare at each other. I have no idea what to make of him. Some bag or something falls over on the other side of the room, but he doesn’t take his eyes off me. In fact, he tosses up the knife he was holding and catches it again by the blade. I wince. Yeah, dude, I get it. You’re bigger and tougher than me. Maybe he only responds to strength.

  “Look … Can you sell us some of the powder or not?”

  “Tell me. Will you use the potion to humiliate Crowhurst?”

  I can’t help but smile. “I would like nothing more.”

  He nods. “Gold.”

  And we’re back to the beginning. “For how much?”

  “Enough.”

  We probably actually buy too much from him, but since Erinocalypse, TexBadass and I all need to acquire our own, we each hand over a gold coin and fill the small bottles that were waiting in our inventory for the ingredients.

  Alithia Potion ingredients: 4 of 8 acquired

  “Thank you,” Erinocalypse says as we leave.

  “Don’t thank him,” TexBadass says. “That was highway robbery.”

  “Sure, but we have plenty and we need this powder so what are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know yet,” he says petulantly.

  Our good moods carry us lightly out the door into the next headache.

  Chapter 24

  I breathe a sigh of relief as we exit the laundry. That could have been a lot more difficult. That Mason guy is massive and could have dema
nded nearly anything from us. I’m thankful we’ve had a tiny bit of a reprieve among all this other questing, but I know what we’re about to walk into is going to be about five times as difficult.

  Callidus is checking out his map again as we walk back down the corridor. “The yellow dot in the entrance hall keeps moving. I mean, dots. There’s two of them and they move in sequence. I don’t …” He trails off as he examines the map, but I’m already way ahead of him.

  “I bet it’s two quests that overlap,” I say.

  “It must be Crowhurst,” Erinocalypse says.

  I agree. “It’s got to be. Talking to the captain about Ezra and probably acquiring the pure copper for the blacksmith. I don’t know if Crowhurst is just holding some or what, but I don’t think we can put it off any longer.”

  “So you’re saying we need to find Crowhurst and ask him for three different things? How under the heavens are we going to pull that off?” TexBadass asks.

  “Bribery? Prayer? Muscle?” SteelFeather flexes his sword arm. “Come on, what are we waiting for?”

  He strides off to the center of the entrance hall on his own, looking all around for the familiar black hair of Captain Crowhurst. We find him in a group of soldiers near the front door of the castle.

  “Captain Crowhurst?”

  The man turns from the conversation he is having and stares us down. Balderdash13 steps up, all but fluttering her eyelashes as she tries to work some kind of magic on the captain.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt. You must be so busy. So important. We don’t want to take up too much of your time.”

  “Then don’t.”

  “Oh.” She falters. “Yes. Well, you see, we were hoping you could do something for us.”

  “Why would I do that?”

  Balderdash13 skips right over that question. “You see, through our work on behalf of Madam Avery, we have made the acquaintance of one of the boys that work here at Castle Nennius. In the kitchen. It seems as though this boy, Ezra, has agreed to become one of your soldiers, but has since changed his mind.”

  “So?”

  “So …” She falters. “So, his sister is worried about him. He’s not sure he is cut out to be a soldier. There is a very real chance that he could die in service to the castle if he becomes a guard.”

  “So?”

  “We were wondering if, as a favor to us, to Madam Avery, if you could possibly see a way to release Ezra from his promise to join the Queens Guard.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  Quest Failed: Change His Mind

  Description: In spite of your attempts, the captain of the guard will not change his mind and let the boy out of his commitment.

  “Come on,” I say. “Let’s talk about this. The poor kid—”

  “No.”

  “But—”

  “No.”

  I pause. Objecting more is just going to make him interrupt me. Erinocalypse tries instead.

  “We were also wondering what we need to do to get out of the castle for a couple hours. There are a few errands and things we need to collect outside the castle walls. Can you open the gates for us?”

  He grins. “That’s fine. I’ll be happy to have my men open the castle gates for you. But, if you leave, I am not letting you back in.”

  I swallow. That’s going to be a problem.

  “Why not?” SteelFeather demands. “We haven’t done anything wrong. You have no reason to bar us. Madam Avery has us working for her, and she may need us again.”

  “Working for her? You mean the favor you just asked of me that I refused? What exactly do you think will happen when she finds out that you failed?”

  “We’ll find a different way.”

  He sneers at us. It almost reminds me of the way Jargonaut condescended to us during the Camlan Challenge. That memory makes me realize that there is a different way. We don’t need Crowhurst to let us back in to the castle. We may not even need him to let Ezra out of his commitment.

  What we do need from him is the copper required for the blacksmith’s quest.

  “Okay. I have a proposal for you. We will go.” TexBadass starts to object more, but I hold up my hand to quiet him. “We’ll leave the castle, and we won’t harass you about that poor kitchen servant that you will probably be sending to his death, and we’ll get out of your way. But we need something from you in return.”

  “Why would I agree to any kind of deal?”

  “Because we can get in your way. We are protected by Madam Avery; she wants us here. She gave us this quest for a reason. We can make trouble for you and your men, waste your time, distract your soldiers, keep you from doing your job at every turn. Or, if you give us what we ask, we will leave.”

  He glances at the other members of my party. “What do you want?”

  “Copper. That’s all. The three of us,” I point to Erinocalypse and TexBadass, “need Small Pieces of Pure Copper that we know you have. You give us that and we will leave the castle voluntarily. You’ll be free of us.”

  … For a little while, I think to myself. I can get us back in when we’re done with our tasks outside the castle walls.

  Captain Crowhurst walks away from me, thinking about my proposal. He punches the wall as he walks past but doesn’t flinch or complain or even stop walking. He walks a long pace, to the end of the room and back. I don’t say anything or add anything to my proposal. We just watch.

  “You’ll leave? Right now?”

  I nod. “If you give us the copper.”

  “Fine.”

  He digs into his pocket and produces three coin-sized pieces of copper. I claim mine, saving it to my inventory.

  Flame of Eavoth ingredients: 2 of 2 acquired

  I’m still waving away game message when one of Crowhurst’s soldiers pulls open the heavy wooden door, releasing us into the unprotected meadow outside Castle Nennius.

  Chapter 25

  Outside the castle gate feels a lot more vulnerable than I expect. I equip my bow and arrow as we walk, trying to watch for danger in every direction. Maybe it’s just that it’s been so long since we were in actual open game territory, or maybe it’s that nagging reminder that there are other players now pouring into Camlan. Either way, my instinct tells me to stick close to the rest of the party, hugging the wall of the castle as long as possible.

  Castle Nennius is surrounded on all four sides by grassy meadow, extending to the cliff and then down to the beach on the west. Approximately a hundred yards away from the wall on the north, east and south, is forest. Far enough away that anyone defending the castle would have plenty of time to spot enemies coming, but also close enough that it’s not too much of a walk for us.

  The main gate of the castle is on the north side, so we have to walk around to find the graveyard and the yellow dot on the map. Across the meadow, just along the edge of the forest to the east is a small chapel and graveyard. As we get closer, stepping through the tall grass of the meadow, I estimate that the chapel can’t hold more than a dozen people at once. It also appears empty, and I wonder if it’s ever used between burials.

  Gathering ingredients in the castle has taken a few hours. The sun is now low in the sky, on the way to setting, which gives us even more of an incentive to get this done and find our way back into the castle as quickly as we can. If we have to fight our way in or come up with some elaborate plan to get Morgana’s attention again, I don’t want to have to do it in the dark.

  As we get closer to the chapel, Callidus pauses, holding his hand up for us to stop too.

  “What is it?” TexBadass asks in a whisper.

  “I’m not sure. Movement in the trees behind the chapel. But it’s too dark, my Night Vision isn’t giving me anything more than movement right now.”

  “Can you tell how close to the chapel it is?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “Not really. But close enough that whatever it is can probably see us too.”

  “Well,” I say. “Not like we have a choice. We ne
ed that Grave Dirt.”

  Callidus nods, shrugs and keeps walking, but more slowly this time.

  I nock an arrow and keep it pointed at the forest behind the chapel. I don’t yet see movement, but when I activate Power Perception, I get a faint red glow throughout the forest in general. Wonderful. Must be chock full of danger.

  Once we are a dozen yards away from the cemetery wall, Callidus motions for us to get down. We finish the final distance in a running crouch, rushing to take cover behind the stone wall. Whatever is in the forest has not yet attacked, but that doesn’t mean they don’t sense us or are already on their way.

  “Oh, great,” Callidus whispers.

  “What?”

  He shakes his head, eyes wide. “Go. Just go. Let’s get this done as fast as possible and get back. Trust me. We don’t want to deal with … with what is in there.”

  “What is it, kid?”

  Callidus swallows. “Um. Giant wolves.”

  Erinocalypse wastes no time.

  Enhancement received: Bubble of Protection

  Description: You will sustain -5% damage for the next sixty seconds

  “Go,” she says to me. “Grab as much as you can. We’ll cover you.”

  I’m off; still in a crouch, staying as small as possible I roll over the top of the low stone wall and find myself surrounded but gravestones that are mostly unmarked but look to be in the centuries old. They’re all covered in grass, and some in flowers, so in order to get at the actual dirt I am going to have to dig up the plants.

  With my bare hands.

  No, wait. My Goblin Dagger will offer more strength in the piercing. I put away my bow, pull out the dagger and start in at the grave closest to me.

  The stone is etched with the words “Beloved Son”. That gives me short pause, but I remind myself this is a game. Just a game. No real child died. I’m not actually defacing any real person’s grave.

  Still. This is creepy as hell.

  With my Goblin Dagger, I jab hard into to the thick grass near the stone. I stab and stab, six or seven times, before I break up the grass enough to pull it away.