The Phantom Castle (The Way of the Shaman: Book #4) LitRPG series

by Vasily Mahanenko

  “Don! It’s good to see you!” smiled Anastaria as a shadow swooped over me—a player was landing beside us. Donotpunnik was deputy head of the Azure Dragons, Undigit’s assistant and—as Anastaria liked to describe him (while naturally giving herself first place)—the second best mind in Malabar.

  “Hello everyone!” he said, folding the gryphon into a bridle and putting it away in his bag. “I see you’re expanding?” Don nodded at the departing raiders. “A laudable beginning. Plinto! The impenetrable wall! Have you managed to take first place in the player level rankings?”

  “Not yet,” smiled the Rogue. “Hell and I are on the same level at the moment. It’s no big deal though. There’s a nice juicy castle up ahead. I’ll have some fun there.”

  “So that nameless castle really is the Urusai that the Emperor promised you? Have you come here because of that miracle, oh most noble of the clans? What, have you already managed to scatter the barbarians?”

  “Plinto, if you don’t mind, let me and Mahan do the talking here.” A message from Stacey immediately appeared in the clan chat. “I’d rather not ‘gift’ Don any information.”

  “You’ve warned him to bite his tongue?” Donotpunnik smirked right away. “Don’t stress it. We lay no claim to the castle. We have enough phantoms as it stands. I take it you’re already aware that you have Level 300s flying around your new real estate? Invisible, mean, tremendously hard-hitting and on top of it all they respawn every 24 hours as if they’re key NPCs. And please note: This is all information I’ve provided you entirely gratis. Unlike some…”

  “Hmm…” I smirked to myself, silently cursing the creators of the film who chose to include the Emperor’s entire speech about the barbarian quest. “I just don’t get one thing. We’re here to look over our new possession and figure out why there are so many players hovering around it. But what is a Level 314 player like you doing so far from all the main events? By the way, you’ve grown quite a bit too. If I’m not mistaken, back in the Dark Forest you were at Level 303?”

  “Why I’m just wandering around, what else? The air here is so fresh, that like it or not, you simply get acclimated to this place! The capital can only boast of the Imperial garden as competition to the local outdoors! But okay…It was nice to see all of you, but unfortunately, I have business to attend to. If you need any help—don’t hesitate to write.”

  “Of course! You be well too,” Stacey replied and watched the Death Knight walk off and through the city gates. Flying over large cities was prohibited.

  “The Azure Dragons are snooping around Altameda, reckoning that there is some item in it that can help the Emperor,” Anastaria conjectured as soon as Donotpunnik had entered the city. “They’ll do their best to keep us from getting to the castle…Plinto, there’s an assignment for you. We’ll go register, while you head to Altameda. I need to know what’s going on around the castle. Mahan and I will wander around the city for a few days and then take our time heading to the castle. If the Azures decide to bar us from getting to it,” Anastaria trailed off and then continued to herself, “They’re the last thing we needed here.”

  * * *

  “Please state your reason for visiting the city,” said the registration clerk with long whimsical whiskers in the manner of Dali’s. Despite his imposing appearance, I couldn’t help but frown—I’ve never seen anyone inquire about a player’s purpose for visiting a location in Barliona. Since when had the bureaucracy taken up residence in the virtual world? We weren’t even allowed to see the Mayor and had to deal with his aide.

  “To take possession of our lawful property,” Anastaria instantly replied and added telepathically: “Dan, this is normal. No one may leave the continent without registering. It’s a rule of the game, provided for in the agreement.”

  “Lawful property?” the registrar was so surprised that his whiskers began to writhe like worms. “There are no castles around Narlak that are slated for transfer to Free Citizens!”

  “Now there is.” Since Anastaria started the conversation, I was fine with letting her see it through. “Castle Urusai, which recently crushed Castle Glarnis. Mahan and I will become the rightful owners of the castle as soon as we destroy the monster inhabiting it. Such is the will of the Emperor, and I am prepared to warrant my words by summoning a Herald!”

  “This is a border territory, Countess. Heralds have no power here,” grumbled the registrar, contorting his face in deep consideration. “Let’s say I believe that you are the new owners. Let’s assume that I even allow you to pass through the security cordon. An assumption, nothing more, mind you. May I see the documents that support your claim?”

  “The Emperor gave us an order. Is that not enough?” I asked surprised. I could not believe how the registrar was behaving. He seemed like an ordinary person, with the exception of his whimsical whiskers, yet he was behaving like a regular goblin! How could this be?

  “Once again…these are all nothing but mere words with no evidence provided in their support. On what basis should I issue you a security pass for our guard posts? It is as if we didn’t have enough vagrants as it stands! Please remove yourselves from the premises or I will be forced to call the city guard!”

  “Stacey?”

  “Stay calm, Dan. The mere fact that the Herald brought us to the city gates and not straight here speaks volumes about the city’s status. I’d somehow missed that. Look, I need time to figure out what’s going on here. I suggest we depart peacefully and resolve this issue later.”

  However, the smirking registrar, Anastaria’s consternation, the bad day and on top of it all the proposal to let things be while the girl figured them out, finally tipped my keel. How dares this little scoundrel who hasn’t yet reached Level 150, behave himself this way? It’s unheard of in Barliona!

  “How dare you tell an Earl what he should do?” I growled, stepping toward the registrar. “How dare you bar me from my castle? How dare you oppose the will of the Emperor and the Dark Lord? Does their authority mean nothing to you? Let’s summon one who holds that authority! Don’t look away!”

  “Be-begging your pa-pardon, but according to…” the whiskers began to protest, but I had already lost my temper:

  “SILENCE VILLAIN! HOW DARE YOU INSULT A MEMBER OF THE NOBILITY? WHO IS IN CHARGE IN THIS OFFICE? I DEMAND THE RECOGNITION OF MY RIGHTS!”

  “YOU ARE PLAYING WITH FIRE, SHAMAN!” The walls of the Mayor’s Residence shook around us. Considering that only the Guardian could speak this way, it followed that he was the boss in Narlak. But why? Wasn’t this Imperial territory?

  “I AM WELL WITHIN MY RIGHT! NO ONE MAY PROHIBIT ME FROM TAKING POSSESSION OF MY LAWFUL PROPERTY! URUSAI IS NOT IN NARLAK! THE CASTLE BELONGS TO THE EMPIRE AND I AM PREPARED TO SUMMON THE EMPEROR AS WELL AS THE DARK LORD TO CONFIRM MY RIGHTS!”

  “THIS SENTIENT,” boomed the voice, as a ball of flame appeared over the registrar, “IS AT FAULT AND SHALL BE PUNISHED! YOUR SECURITY PASS GRANTING PASSAGE TO URUSAI WILL BE ISSUED! I CONFIRM YOUR RIGHT!”

  +3 to Charisma. Total: 75

  Waving away the notification, I saw three green discs appear on the registrar’s desk. These would grant Anastaria, Plinto and me passage to the castle. The registration clerk collapsed in his opulent armchair, while his whiskers fell limp as if all their vigor had fled them. The NPC’s eyes became glassy—the Guardian had commenced with the punishment.

  “TREAD CAREFULLY, SHAMAN! NOT ALL PROBLEMS CAN BE SOLVED WITH BLUSTER!” advised the walls in the name of the Guardian, indicating that our conversation had ended.

  “Earl, please pass into my office,” said a low-timbered voice. “I’d like to speak with you. Don’t forget to take your security passes.”

  “Mr. Mayor,” I said, nodding in greeting to the NPC that had appeared beside us. His strict uniform, proudly-held head, and prim posture suggested the Mayor had formerly been in the military. The absence of any extra weight and his luxurious sideburns added to the impression of a true cavalry officer
. All he lacked was a saber, a horse, spurs and boots.

  “Countess,” said the Mayor to Anastaria, “I would deem it an honor if you joined our conversation. And I beg of you an enormous favor—please tell your Rogue, who is currently trying to crawl through the second-floor window, that his efforts are in vain. The building is entirely protected by magic.”

  “Plinto, cut out the Tarzan act. They’re onto you,” Stacey, who to my immense surprise had stayed quiet this entire time, instantly wrote in the chat. She had offered no reaction even when I had ad-libbed my dressing down of the registrar. No doubt she’d tell me all about it later.

  The Mayor turned and headed for the massive, open doors. Assuming that Narlak made use of the same floor-plan for the Mayor’s Residence as elsewhere in Malabar, it was safe to assume that he had entered his office and that we should follow after him.

  “Please excuse my registrar,” the Mayor said wearily, lowering himself on a wooden chair. Comparing the furnishings in the registrar’s and Mayor’s offices, you could be forgiven for confusing who was in charge. The city’s senior official had a very, very simple office. Everything in it was laconic and to the point. There were no unnecessary statuettes, paintings, plush furniture, bells or whistles—even in his own office, the Mayor remained an old soldier. “Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Frantir, the Mayor of this city.”

  “That’s it, I can’t stay quiet any longer! Danny, what the hell is going on?!” Anastaria’s thought immediately invaded my mind. “You are aware of why NPCs typically introduce themselves, right?”

  “Uh-huh. Either to dispense punishment or to issue a quest. It’s not looking like a punishment’s coming, so...”

  “Well goddamn!” Oh! I didn’t know that Anastaria knew how to curse. “Only in extreme circumstances. When there’s a hint of something extremely rare! For crying out loud! I get the impression that as soon as you approach them, all the NPCs instantly start recalling secret quests and trip over themselves to share them with you! And yet, as far as I can see, you have no special characteristics that may cause this!”

  “Charisma plus Crafting. Formally speaking, these stats are entirely unrelated, but I suspect that the chance of getting a secret quest that’s mentioned in the description for Charisma is multiplied by Crafting.”

  Energy level: 30. Stop, you angry Shaman!

  “Frantir, perhaps you might be so kind as to attenuate our informational entropy regarding what has taken place here? Because at the moment, it’s leaving us positively puzzled,” Anastaria began to ‘milk’ the Mayor.

  “Finely put, Countess. Have a seat, please. Our conversation may take some time. As you know, Narlak is practically the only point of communication with Astrum, the neighboring continent—and is so both for Malabar and Kartoss. This is precisely why we do fall neither in the jurisdiction of the Emperor nor the Dark Lord. We are ruled by the Narlak city Council. The position of Mayor, as sad as it is to admit, is merely one that implements the Council’s decrees in real life. Although, that’s not entirely accurate: There is in Narlak one location that belongs entirely to the Empire—the Governor’s Residence. The Governor rules the Province and I, as I already mentioned, execute the will of the Council of the Nameless, as the city Council is formally called. It is this Council that holds the reins of power in this city.”

  “The Council of the Nameless?” Anastaria echoed, simultaneously sending me a thought: “You know, instead of scouring the library for info about Urusai or Altameda or whatever, we should have done our research about this place.”

  “It is our custom that those who rule this city, lose their names and never announce that they have become our rulers. It is even inscribed in the city laws that if the true name of a city Council member becomes known, he shall lose his post. This is precisely why everyone pretends like they don’t know who our rulers are, while the actual rulers act like they have no relation with the Nameless—even as they gallivant about in luxurious carriages and throw exquisite balls.”

  “But what does your registrar have to do with all of this? He was behaving as if…”

  “Let’s not discuss those who are best left in peace,” said Frantir, not allowing me to finish my thought. “Each sentient has his weaknesses and at times one must simply abide them.”

  “Could you explain why the repre…hmm…the Council is trying to block our access to the castle?”

  “Glarnis, the castle that Urusai landed on, is located within Narlak’s jurisdiction, not that of the Province. Precisely for this reason, when the Council discovered the true nature of the castle, it took over its guardianship.”

  “Its true nature?”

  “I don’t know how to even explain this…The castle generates phantoms, many phantoms. And they try to destroy any living thing they come across. However, two hundred meters from the castle walls, there is an invisible boundary which causes the phantoms to lose half their Hit Points when they cross it. Furthermore they’re instantly saddled with all kinds of debuffs and slowing spells, as though something forbids these monsters from straying too far from their castle. It’s not even a boundary, but a zone, with a width of about twenty meters. As they travel through it, each meter of the zone causes immense damage to the phantoms as though Eluna herself has placed a guarding curse on them. And yet the zone does not kill them entirely. This is why we have erected a security cordon around the castle. The guards’ job is to finish off the all-but-dead foes.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question about why we are prohibited from approaching the castle,” I redirected the conversation back to the topic at hand. “In fact, we would be happy to destroy the phantoms on our way to the castle and thereby allow your soldiers to rest.”

  “My spouse has posed a somewhat general question,” Anastaria interfered. “Allow me to clarify it a little. Is the security cordon inside the zone?”

  “Yes,” nodded the Mayor, smiling oddly and added even more mysteriously, “but finish your thought.”

  “Well it’s all basically clear to me,” Anastaria smiled at me no less mysteriously. “All that remains is to clear up some issues that shouldn’t have much of an effect on the overall picture. First, how much has the average level of the guard increased by? Second, what did the Azure Dragons do for the city to ensure that access to the castle was blocked? Third, what’s so useful about this zone for Free Citizens? Let me stress that these are all only rhetorical questions that have no substantial effect on the overall picture of what’s going on here. I get the general gist.”

  “To your first question: ten. To your second: That’s confidential. To your third: The zone grants a bonus of 45x to experience gained within it.”

  I think Stacey exaggerated a bit about getting the general gist here. I personally could understand little from the hints flying so thickly through this room. It was like sitting in on a conspiracy session! If as the Emperor suggested, the castle has such useful properties that the Barbarians ran off from their lands, then how were they destroyed to begin with? Or how is it that thirty scouts went to Urusai and never returned? Or that the peasants who fled the lands around the castle rotted alive? I for one, don’t really follow the logic here at all.

  “Thank you for the information,” Anastaria got up from her chair. “As I understand it, it would be better if we immediately left Narlak?”

  “I did not say that,” the Mayor also got up from his chair, forcing me to do the same, “however…The Azure Dragons stand in very good account with our city, so there is a chance that the guards will look past any minor misunderstandings instigated by members of that esteemed clan. Our dungeon is not very comfortable and I would not like to see…Well, we understand each other, correct?”

  “Correct,” Anastaria nodded and dragged me out of the office. “Plinto—our plans have changed. We’re going to Altameda this instant and all together.”

  “Uh-huh. Only get me out of prison first,” came the Rogue’s response enclosed in brackets. “I miscalc
ulated a bit with that window.”

  * * *

  “Stacey, maybe you’d like to let us in on that mysterious secret that only you seem to understand?” I began to badger the girl as soon as we had flown out of the city. Plinto was mounted on his swift-winged phoenix and Stacey on her swift-winged Dragon—me, that is.

  “Hang on, I’m looking through the forums. When I know something, I’ll tell you everything.”

  “She’s a good one to ask,” smirked Plinto. “This madam is busy cursing herself in her head for not researching our destination earlier. Catch me if you can!” yelled the Rogue as his phoenix zoomed far ahead.

  “Oh sure, catch him if I can,” I muttered, nevertheless flapping my wings at a faster pace. Funny guy, Plinto. He’s sitting on a bird and everything looks hilarious to him. I meanwhile am sweating bullets, keeping Stacey aloft. From afar it may seem that this all comes easy to me like second nature, but considering how I feel….

  “Land by that tree,” said Anastaria when she returned back to the game. We were just passing a dense forest and the tree that the girl indicated marked a boundary between the woods and an idyllic valley. Neither hills nor gullies—a perfect green square, latticed with roads, sprinkled with peasant huts, furrowed fields and an immense black inkblot several kilometers from our glade—Urusai.

  Even from afar the castle screamed that there was something amiss about it—dark clouds of fog swirled around its towers, wholly occluding the castle from the sun’s rays. The flickering, pale entities seemed to be the very phantoms themselves. There was a bright shining halo around the castle clearly visible even from this distance, as well as intermittent flashes of light which suggested that the players were already ‘helping out’ the castle’s residents. The castle itself did not at all resemble a ruin. To the opposite, it looked like a stout fortress with tall walls and all kinds of buildings within. There were even some kind of black banners flying from its towers. There were certain downsides too—there was no moat; the castle was standing crooked, having awkwardly crushed Glarnis beneath itself; in addition to this, the players had no doubt done plenty of damage to its walls. My walls.