“We thought you were dead!” Cavey exclaimed, wrapping his arms around his guild mate. “What happened at Fort Keth!? You were right with us, but you never showed up at the Bindstone.”
“I was getting ready to jump, but I couldn’t find my Bindstone Shard in my inventory,” he explained. “I’m always so full up on smithing mats. You guys jumped, but I was still sifting through my stuff. A group of Bleed bastards thought I was Jack and jumped on me.”
“Sorry about that,” I apologized.”
“Ain’t your fault, bub,” he grinned. “Once they realized they were beating the snot out of the guild’s most prized blacksmith, they let me go. By the time I got back to the wall and jumped, you guys must have already been gone out of town.”
“We were going to wait for you,” I told him, grimacing in D’s direction. “But we didn’t have time.”
“No harm no foul!” he replied, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “If you hadn’t showed up I’d still be there. Bastards had me locked up tighter than a nun’s asshole!”
“That’s nice,” D said sarcastically.
“Kattenschind,” I said as an idea began to formulate in my mind. “Did anyone see you back in town?”
“Of course they did.” He laughed. “Place is swarming with those little bastards.”
“But they didn’t see you with us…”
“Where you going with this, Jack?” Xavier asked.
“Well, if they didn’t see Kattenschind with us, then they have no reason to assume he’s a traitor.”
“I’m with you so far.”
“So, let’s use that to our advantage,” I explained, feeling an excitement growing in my chest. “Kattenschind, we need to get into town to turn in a quest item. And we’re going to need your help.”
“A quest item?” He laughed. “Must be a pretty crazy reward for you to want to risk heading back into the lion’s den.”
“Yeah, I have a feeling it will be,” I replied. “I just need a distraction—get those Bleed pricks out of the center of town so I can get to Boddry the NPC.”
“Yeah, but how?” Baltos asked. “You want him to go in there and fight them all?”
“No.” D shook his head. “It’s simple. You go in and tell them there’s been an incident at Fort Keth. Tell them they need reinforcements immediately. Someone there must have a portal, right?”
“Definitely,” Kattenschind replied with a nod.
“Good.” D grinned. “You get them to take a trip to Keth, and by the time they realize they’ve been tricked, we’ll be long gone.”
“You know what, D?” I said with a smile. “That just might work.”
69
The Goddess of Binding
It’s going to work, I told myself as we made our way back towards Stoneburg. I couldn’t help but feel like I’d been telling myself that a lot since arriving in Carrethen.
Originally, I’d volunteered to go on my own, but the rest of the group wasn’t having any of that.
“No way,” D said firmly. “Anything goes wrong; you’re going to want us with you.”
“Agreed,” Xavier added. I couldn’t help but wonder who he was on the other end of the Wellspring interface. He was stoic, a warrior, like someone from another era.
So we’d all left the cave and headed out. Kattenschind had taken the lead of course and was about a hundred yards ahead of us. It was risky, our plan, but I couldn’t stop myself from getting excited about whatever the quest reward was going to be.
An artifact weapon or suit of armor could go a long way. Maybe even the most epic item in the game! A sword that did so much damage I’d kill The Ripper in one hit!
Not likely, I thought. But still, it was fun to think about.
Ahead of us, Kattenschind reached the tree line overlooking Stoneburg and held up his hand, signaling for us to stop. We did and crouched down in case any of the Bleed scouts decided to come up to greet him.
But he marched forward, and I could hear the sound of voices greeting him.
“So far so good,” I said softly.
And then we waited for the signal we’d all agreed on.
“I’ll get into town and fire up the forge,” he’d told us. “I’ll close the chimney for a few and then when I open it, you’ll get a real massive cloud of soot and smoke. You won’t be able to miss it.”
“That won’t take too long?” D asked.
“Nah,” he replied. “I know my way around the flames.”
The waiting was the worst part. If we didn’t see smoke soon, we’d have to start considering other options. If Kattenschind couldn’t convince them to reinforce Keth, or if by some strange chance no one in town had a portal, then our plan was done for, and it wasn’t a guarantee that Kattenschind would be able to get out of there again and rejoin us.
“Do you think he made it!?” Baltos asked nervously.
“Probably killed him,” D replied quickly. Baltos gasped and looked at him with wide eyes. D chuckled. “Man, you’re too easy, Baltos.”
“Aw, you’re evil,” he replied, narrowing his eyes.
“There!” Cavey hissed, pointing to the sky. And there it was—a billow of black smoke rising above the trees.
“Just like when Gehman was there,” I said solemnly, getting to my feet. “Come on. No time to waste.”
I took off at a run with the rest of my group right behind me. I paused briefly at the tree line to make sure the coast was clear, but Kattenschind had done his job. A portal swirled by the Bindstone, and the town was empty.
“Looks like they bought it.” Og grinned.
“Keep your weapons out,” D said. “Never know if there are still some milling about in the buildings.”
“I’m gonna go turn this in,” I said as I dashed forward and down the slope towards town. It felt good to be back in Stoneburg without being surrounded by people that wanted to kill me. But there was no time to stop and smell the roses. I had a job to do.
“Greetings, travelers! Name’s Boddry,” he called out as I rounded the corner of the building. “Interest you in some of my wares?”
“Not today, Boddry,” I replied. “Just thought you might be interested in this.”
I produced the Sparkling Arlan Stone and held it out for him to see. I wasn’t sure exactly what I had been expecting, or how I thought he’d react, but I definitely didn’t anticipate what happened next.
Boddry’s eyes went wide as dinner plates, and before I could react, exploded out of existence the way a monster would do when its hit points reached zero.
“Uh…”
Then, a purple flash of mist appeared and in Boddry’s place, was a character model that was so unique it almost looked out of place.
It was a woman, who somehow gave off the appearance of a goddess. She was tall, clad in a robe of white and green that clung to her body seductively. A golden sash wrapped her waist, matching a wreath of golden flowers that adorned her auburn hair. She was undeniably beautiful, but there was something… off about her.
It was like her character model had been designed prior to the finalization of the game. She wasn’t real like the other NPCs in Carrethen that were indistinguishable from the player models in every way but their behavior. She looked like a character from a game with really good graphics as opposed to the completely real ones that defined the rest of the world.
“Greetings, worthy traveler,” she spoke. Her voice was melodic, almost musical. “What a generous and powerful gift you have bestowed upon me. I am to assume you seek the power of binding?”
I looked around as the rest of my group came up behind me.
“Whoa,” Baltos remarked quietly. I held out my hand to silence the rest of them. I got the impression that if someone made the wrong comment, it could ruin everything.
“I am,” I replied.
Just go along with it.
“Excellent,” she replied, twisting and spinning her hands before her as though casting a spell. “For those who depart this
land, life can be cruel and desolate. Without the touch of Carrethen, only the void remains, but if that is the choice you make, I, the Goddess of Binding, shall honor it for you.”
I glanced back at my party, who were standing there completely dumbstruck. This was unlike anything we’d encountered in the world thus far, and while the NPCs in Carrethen spoke somewhat awkwardly, the goddess’ words were like something from a pulp fantasy novel. For some reason, I couldn’t help but feeling like I was getting a glimpse of the man behind the curtain.
The Goddess of Binding stretched out a glowing, pearl-colored hand towards me. I stepped forward and she opened her fingers to reveal a sparkling stone lying on her palm.
No, not a stone. Not even a gem. In fact, whatever it was, didn’t seem to be solid at all. It was as though she was holding out a piece of light, pure energy.
“Take this, traveler,” she spoke. “But remember, the decision is final. Do not take it lightly. Make it with all your heart and you will not be led astray.”
It took me a minute to reach out and take the item from her. I was star struck. It wasn’t an artifact weapon or suit of armor, or a simple piece of jewelry with stat bonuses. This was something else entirely—something way more exciting.
I lifted it from her hand, and with a sound like the rustling of leaves, the Goddess of Binding disappeared.
70
Sacrificial Stone of Binding
Everyone stood motionless before Baltos broke the silence.
“What is it, Jack!?” he asked excitedly.
“Yeah, what the Hell?” D added.
I snapped out of it and inspected the item.
“Sacrificial Stone of Binding,” I read out loud. “Use to combine the strength of two players and combine into one. This is a onetime use item.”
Silence.
“Uh, what the Hell does that mean?” Og asked.
“Yeah, what is this?” Cavey asked, sounding let down.
“Who was the babe?” Kattenschind joked.
“Read that to me again, Jack?” D asked. I did. He frowned like he was thinking hard about something.
“What is it, D?” I asked.
“I—I’m not sure, but I think it’s an item to combine two characters into one,” he replied. “Sort of like a developer’s tool, so if your friend wanted to quit the game but give his experience to you, you’d use that stone.”
“But—that would mean one of the characters would be… destroyed?”
“Yeah,” D nodded. “I think so.”
“Well, ain’t that wonderful,” Kattenschind grumbled.
“Would work fine if your character being destroyed didn’t mean you frigging die,” D spat.
“Great,” I replied, slumping down on the ground with my back against the building. “Completely and totally useless.”
“What a letdown,” Baltos groaned. “I wanted to see like a badass artifact sword or something!”
Thunk! Thunk!
Everyone turned at the sound of people portaling in at the Bindstone.
“Time to go,” Xavier said as I leapt to my feet.
“This way,” I said, racing forward and down the slope towards the lake. We couldn’t head back to the cave, as we’d have to pass the Bindstone to get there, and I could hear more players portaling in. They must have realized when they got to Fort Keth that they’d been tricked, which meant they’d be on the lookout for us when they got back.
What a letdown, I thought as we raced away from Stoneburg yet again. Just another thing that had gone wrong on our adventure, and again, we had to run.
We ran until we reached the lake, circled around it and found a cluster of trees to gather in where we couldn’t be seen.
“Now what?” Baltos asked, sounding miserable.
“Back to our old plan,” Cavey replied.
“What old plan?” D asked. “Find somewhere to level? And where’s that?”
“Shouldn’t be that hard to find,” Xavier added. “This world is enormous after all.”
“So, we just run around until we find a place to level?” Og asked.
“What else can we do?”
“There are high-level monsters at Mountain Retreat,” I said, interrupting the argument. “We can go there.”
“You said the spawns were slow,” D reminded me.
“I know,” I said, shaking my head. “But I don’t know what else to do. Do you?”
I looked around my group and saw the level of disappointment on everybody’s faces. Somehow, I felt responsible. I knew I shouldn’t, but I’d gotten them amped up about the Sparkling Arlan Stone, and it just sort of fizzled out like a set of dud fireworks.
Heading back up to Mountain Retreat was an option of course, but it was a bad one. It was passive, and we needed to be on aggressive, on the attack, if we were going to be able to go up against The Ripper.
Plus, I was now carrying a secret. D’s and mine. The identity of The Ripper and his insane plan to get back at me for something I hadn’t even done. Or was it to steal D from me, even though she wasn’t mine? Or was it to impress her so she’d be with him forever in Carrethen? I still didn’t fully understand. But either way, it was a burden I felt against my chest as we headed out.
“This way,” I told everyone, taking the lead. “We’ll have to go wide around Stoneburg to the East. Then it’s a long haul North into the mountains.”
Nobody spoke as we walked. I knew they were feeling as disappointed as I was. We’d lost our home. Cavey’s guild had been scattered or swallowed up by Bleed, and we no longer had a goal.
Since arriving in Carrethen it always felt as though we had something on the horizon, something we knew would get us to the next step of our journey, but now it felt like we were just floundering around with no sense of purpose.
D and I walked alongside each other, but for the first time since I could remember, we had nothing to say. Anything related to what had happened with The Ripper couldn’t be spoken about near the others in case they overheard.
Our relationship had changed. I hated to admit it, but it was the truth, and I found myself wondering if it would ever go back to normal.
71
What Now?
“Here we are,” I told the group as we stepped through the main gate of Mountain Retreat. The snow was falling as usual, and the sound of the fountain welcomed me back home as we entered the courtyard.
“This is nice!” Baltos said, his voice upbeat, doing his best to lighten the mood. “I can see why you stayed here for so long.”
“There’s beds and chests in the towers,” I explained. “And a bowyer and general merchant. They should have everything you need.”
“No mage?” Cavey asked.
“There’s an Archmage up North,” I explained. “Up past the ice golems.”
Cavey nodded and filtered inside with everyone else.
“Hey, Kattenschind,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Any chance you can upgrade my armor while we’re here? Or—all your mats are down in Stoneburg aren’t they…?”
“Nah,” he replied casually. “I got those babies when I went in to signal to you guys!”
“You did?!” I asked, getting excited.
“Damn straight, I did!” he cackled. “Only thing is, we need a forge and an anvil for me to work on anything. Don’t suppose this place has got one?”
My heart sank again. “Nope.”
“And there ain’t any other towns or anything around here?” he asked. “No settlements or nothing?”
“Not that I found in the two months I was here,” I replied.
“Darn. Well, we could always figure out a way to sneak back into Stoneburg!” He laughed, knowing the suggestion was absurd. They knew all of us by now, including Kattenschind. Getting back into Stoneburg would be harder than sneaking our way into Fort Knox.
“Damn,” I said, feeling defeated.
Kattenschind clapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, buddy. We’l
l figure something out. I’m gonna go check out the inside of this place. You comin’?”
“I’m gonna hang back a second,” I told him, looking up at the familiar sky.
“Righto,” he replied before heading inside to join the others.
It was strange to be back at the Retreat with everyone. For so long it had been my own, solitary place, and now, in comparison, it was bustling with activity. It felt good to have them with me, but I was lost with what to do next.
Just keep leveling up? Another 51 levels to go before I could even think about facing off with The Ripper. What was worse, is everything we were facing was now completely unknown.
When D and I were just starting out, I’d been under his—her guidance. She’d played Beta and had a head start, and that helped a lot when I was a beginner. But we’d surpassed that point and were now in completely new territory.
Where would we go to level? Where were the best items? Where even was The Ripper hiding when we wanted to go fight him?
I had no answers to these questions. Normally, I would have been fine with that. Exploration is one of the best parts of a game, but I needed to get us out, and was growing more and more anxious as I thought about the fact that I had absolutely no plan what so ever for how to do that.
Night had fallen, and the aurora was bright in the sky, heavy with greens and reds. I’d never seen it in real life. Just seeing the stars back in The Sprawl was a rare thing to see with all the light pollution from the city.
Was it possible we’d be stuck in Carrethen forever? After what had happened back at Stoneburg, I’d realized The Ripper, Norman, was even more unstable and insane than I’d originally thought. Was he really going to allow himself to be bested by another player and give up his control over Carrethen?
“I doubt it…” I muttered.
“Doubt what?” I spun around to see D standing behind me and realized that I’d fallen back into the habit of talking to myself that I’d developed during the months I’d been alone at the Retreat.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough, Mikey. Long enough.”
“Okay, Goonies? That’s a quote I can get behind.”
D smiled and stepped up beside me and looked up at the sky. “Sure is beautiful up here.”
Call of Carrethen: A LitRPG and GameLit novel (Wellspring Book 1) Page 30