The Kartoss Gambit (The Way of the Shaman: Book #2)

by Vasily Mahanenko

  "Good sirs, is there a Shaman trainer and a Cartographer in your town?" I asked for directions from the first patrol that I came across, as they were cruising the town streets at a steady pace. Even despite my red band, which would produce a negative reaction with the NPCs, the guards were obliged to answer the questions asked of them.

  "We do have a Cartographer. To get to him you need to walk to the end of the street, until that overturned cart, then turn right and then keep going straight until a fountain with a unicorn. From the fountain you turn left and three houses later on the right you will see a sign with a map. That's where the cartographer lives," said the guard. His chesty yet quiet voice strongly reminded me of the orc from the mine, which brought to my memory the desire to find out why he was sent to Pryke and stripped of the title of a trainer. "We don't have any Shaman trainers, just one former one by the name of Almis. If you want to learn something about Shamans, you can go to him. Almis lives right by the town wall. To find him you need to go straight..." the guard started to give me a rather complicated set of directions to Almis, so I caught only half of what he was saying. First I needed to buy a map of the town that would show me where I was and then simply ask a guard to point out the location, mark it and systematically make my way there.

  "Any more questions?"

  "No, thank you. You were of great help."

  "We serve the Emperor!" barked the guards and unhurriedly continued on their beat.

  "Dearie, can you help out a weak helpless woman?" I almost got as far as the Cartographer when an old lady standing in a house entrance called me over. She was leaning on a walking stick and holding a sealed envelope, which she was stretching towards me. A delivery quest! At last I'm becoming an ordinary player, who is being asked to do various assignments! And where you get assignments, you get Experience, reputation and money. Of course I will help the elderly woman, the Cartographer and Almis aren't going anywhere.

  "I'm at your service, dear lady. What was it that you wanted?"

  "I wanted to send a letter to my friend Mabel. Both of us have become too old to walk over for a chat, so we've decided to send each other letters. Would you deliver it? It isn't far, just around the corner. It's a house painted with a flower pattern," she waved her hand assumingly towards the said house.

  "Of course I'll do it, give me the letter and I'll deliver it in no time."

  "I'll be honest with you, my good lad, I have no money, so I can't pay you anything for your good deed. I can only put in a good word for you later."

  "Who cares about the money if it's that close," I said cheerfully, though inside I was very disappointed. Just my luck to come across a free quest, of which there are plenty in Barliona. Such quests are aimed at socialization of the players when they have nothing better to do. Just a few grains of Experience, no money or reputation. Few people waste their time on them. Fine, if I said I’d do it, backing out of it wouldn't look nice. There wouldn't be any consequences, of course, but I would feel bad about ditching the old lady, even if she was an NPC.

  Quest accepted: 'Deliver a letter'.

  Description: Deliver a letter to Mabel, who lives in a flower-painted house. Quest type: Common. Reward: 10 Experience. Penalty for not completing the quest: None.

  I celebrated starting to get quests too soon. How could I forget about the socializers? And I got all excited about raking in all that cash and Experience. Yeah, right, I in my dreams. Mabel turned out to be a wrinkled old woman, leaning on a stick, just like the one that sent me. It was as if they were sisters — they even resembled each other somewhat. Probably the developers didn't want to spend too much time on their appearance and used the same template, sticking them into different houses and forgetting all about them. This isn't the capital, where each NPC is thought-through to the extent of being able to tell the history of their ancestors several generations back at the drop of a hat. Here on the periphery, where there aren't that many players, they didn't have to bother all that hard.

  "Oh, thank you sonny, I've given up hope of getting a letter from Patricia. Before we used to write to each other every day, but these days few people want to help us out. Everyone wants to see some cash for the help, but help is best given freely, is it not? No-one's really mindful of old age..."

  Quest 'Deliver a letter' completed. Reward: 10 Experience, points remaining until next level: 1091 Experience.

  I nodded in a resigned fashion, giving little heed to Mabel's moral instruction. A socializer quest, not much you can do with it. Aside from getting no money out of it, you're bound to have to listen to moral stories about the injustice of the world. The old woman finally fell silent, I turned around and tried to quietly disappear, but that was all wishful thinking.

  "Dearie, can you help out a weak helpless woman? I jotted down a note for Patricia here, but have no-one except you to deliver it. Would you do a kindness for Granny?" Mabel, was ready to hand me a sealed envelope. When on earth did she have the time? All she seemed to be doing was stand there giving me a lecture, but now had an envelope ready all of a sudden. "I'll be honest with you, my good lad, I have no money, so I can't pay you anything for your good deed. I can only put in a good word for you later." This one's at it too — ‘No money, can't pay, but you must do the work well and without a complaint and we'll just put in a good word for you.’

  "Of course, dear lady. I will deliver your letter to Patricia, don't you worry. Good day to you."

  Quest accepted: 'Deliver a letter'.

  Description: Deliver a letter to Patricia, who lives in a brown house. Quest type: Common. Reward: 10 Experience. Penalty for not completing the quest: None.

  Patricia stood in the door of her house, as if awaiting my return.

  "So, is Mabel still with us?"

  "She's alive and well and is sending a letter back to you, here you go," I said, handing the old lady the envelope.

  "That's good to know. We're living in troubled times, you see. Everyone's out to wrong old and frail people, they threaten to..." this one also hopped on the moral lecture train. I really do have a good deal of respect for old people. Before I ended up in Barliona, I often visited my old parents and would usually give up my seat to an older person in public transport. However, hearing moralistic lectures several times a day, especially from NPCs in a Game — was too much.

  Quest 'Deliver a letter' completed. Reward: 10 Experience, points remaining until next level: 1081 Experience.

  "Dearie, can you help out a weak helpless woman? I jotted down a note for Mabel here, but there's no-one except for you to deliver it. Would you do a kindness for Granny," the old lady's words, who was giving me the envelope with an innocent smile, nearly gave me a coughing fit. A cyclical quest! Well, I'll be! Count on me to get this 'lucky'! I could spend the rest of the day running between the two old women, who would keep bashing me with lectures on morality and ethics and asking me to deliver the next letter. I almost decided to decline, but was hit with a crazy idea. And why not?

  "Can you tell me why you can't give her the letter yourself?"

  "I told you, I'm too old and have no strength to walk over there. And if you delivered the letter, everything would be just swell," she once again tried to give me the envelope.

  "Then hang on tight," I warned the old lady, came up to her, took the letter, crouched, gripped her by the legs and stood up.

  "Aw!" Patricia's voice had notes of panic in it. She gripped my hair with one hand and started vigorously waving the other one around. "What are you doing, you maniac?! Dear me! Ah! Oh!" the old woman started to wail and fret.

  I confidently headed towards the flower-painted house, where Mabel lived. A cyclical delivery quest, you say? Well, well. We'll see just how advanced an Imitator was installed in these old ladies when they find themselves sitting opposite each other. Will they keep passing messages through me or will they start speaking directly? They can give those moral lectures to each other then. One thing worried me somewhat — the wailing exclamations of the
old woman we loud enough for the whole town to hear and could have got me in trouble with the guards.

  "My goodness, Patricia, you've got yourself some stallion there!" exclaimed Mabel when we arrived at her doorstep. I put the now quiet old lady down and was surprised once again by how similar they looked. The developers really decided not to work too hard on a free cyclical quest, took one prototype and just changed the color of its clothes.

  "Here you go, please sign for a successful delivery," I said, smiling, seeing the befuddled faces of both grannies. "Now you can talk enough to last you a whole week, I'll come by in the evening and carry Patricia back home."

  "Why are we standing on the doorstep?" fussed Mabel. "If you've come for a visit, do come in for a cup of tea. You also come in — since you've brought Patricia here, you can look after us for a bit."

  Quest accepted: 'Serving old lady friends.'

  Description: Look after two lady friends who had just met up. Quest type: Uncommon. Reward: 80 Experience. Penalty for failing or refusing the quest: 3 hours of community service.

  'What!? Where the heck did those three hours of community service come from? You can go to hell with quests like that!' I though angrily and got ready to leave, but then saw a group of guards who were casting interested glances in our direction. A chill went down my spine. Looks like they did come in response to the old woman's cries after all, but decided not to interfere and see first how it all ended. If I refused right now, I'd be immediately tied up and spend those three hours doing community service: washing walls, cleaning horses or sweeping the square. What possessed me to carry this granny here?

  "Of course, dear ladies, I will look after you, since I helped you meet up," I muttered, entering the house after the old ladies.

  Mabel's house turned out to be very cozy and full of light. The white and seemingly weightless curtains were hung on the windows and big pots with flowers stood on small tables. As the old lady passed one of them, she swiped one of the leaves with her finger, carefully looking at the result — she probably wipes dust (which doesn't exist in Barliona) off her flowers on daily basis.

  "You go to the kitchen, dearie, and make us some tea. You'll find cookies and sugar in the cupboard; when you make it, bring it here," said the hostess, after settling down in a comfy armchair. "We'll have a girl-to-girl chat while you're at it."

  "Tea is a good thing, of course, but I don't know how to make it, I never learned," I made a last-ditch attempt to get out of the quest.

  "Have to teach you everything these days — how will these youngsters survive without us, I wonder? It's like you can never retire," grumbled Patricia, and then waved me away. "Go and don't come back without the tea."

  "And don't forget the cookies," Mable reminded me, as I examined the message that appeared before my eyes.

  New Rare Cooking recipe learned: Aromatic Black Tea. Total recipes: 3.

  I quickly opened my cookbook to have a look at what it was I just learned:

  Aromatic Black Tea.

  Description: Excellent black tea from the leaves of the highland tea tree, which give off an unforgettable aroma. Crafting stat bonus: + (Crafting) to the maximum Energy value. Whoever drinks this tea will feel extraordinary vitality. Duration: 12 hours. On use: Restores 20% of Hit Points and Mana. Minimum level: 10.

  Crafting requirements: minimum Cooking level 5.

  Ingredients: simple water, leaves of the highland tea tree.

  Instruments: Cooking kit

  Great! I got a nice little bonus practically free! Sure, I'll make the tea for the old ladies, and then see what the result of doing that with Crafting could be!

  I spent some time preparing the tea, found a tray and placed on it two cups full of hot tea, steaming with fragrant aroma. Now I had to find some cookies, which the grannies implacably demanded. Their ceaseless chatter could be heard even from behind a closed door. What a boisterous pair! I wondered how their tongues weren't hurting from talking all the time... After going through practically every cupboard I was about to go to Mable to ask for the exact coordinates of the cookies, but found them in one of the farthest shelves. They were hidden behind an almost full bottle, which was labeled 'Cherry liqueur'. I glanced around thievishly and poured some liqueur into both cups of tea. They really shouldn't have shanghaied me. I don't remember wrongs, but I don't suffer from amnesia either. The liqueur shouldn't do them any harm, but just in case I selected the cup and had a look at its properties. Better safe than sorry.

  Aromatic Black Tea with Liqueur. +4 to the maximum value of Energy, +50 Attractiveness to the maker (does not stack with similar effects). The drinker of such tea becomes slightly tipsy and feels an exceptional surge of energy. Duration: 12 hours. On use: Restores 20% of Hit Points and Mana. Minimum level: 10.

  Plus fifty to Attractiveness? It sounds familiar, but I don't remember what it affects. I went to the guide to look it up.

  Attractiveness — a character stat that has a value between 0 and 100 and which determines the attitude of NPCs towards the player. It is impossible to choose to level up in this stat — it can only be increased by temporary buffs, a change of clothes, communicating with NPCs or other available means. Unlike Reputation, which affects the entire faction, Attractiveness affects each NPC separately, including an NPC belonging to a faction with which you have a negative reputation. When Attractiveness reaches 80 and above, NPCs of the opposite sex could offer the player a visit to the Dating House. You can look up your current level of Attractiveness of your character to an NPC in that NPC's properties.

  That it! How could I forget?! This is the thing for which players create beautiful-looking characters, dress in bright clothes and wear jewelry. The higher the Attractiveness, the higher the probability of being given unique quests. I took the tray and entered the room with endlessly chattering old ladies and smiled — when I looked up my level of Attractiveness in Mable's properties: it was a solid three. It was a surprise that the old lady let me into her house if she finds me so unpleasant.

  Without looking in my direction and barely pausing from their talk, the old ladies quickly drank their tea, taking no notice of its temperature. I knew that I couldn't leave until I was dismissed, so I sat on the sofa and briefly closed my eyes. A five-hour nap is a good thing, but it's no substitute for proper sleep. The old ladies started off on another lively discussion and without noticing it, I fell asleep for the second time that day. I was woken up by a song:

  And it's no, nay, never,

  No nay never no more,

  Will I play the wild rover

  No never no more.

  Embracing each other, the old ladies swayed to the melody and diligently sang out the lyrics, looking at the world with tipsy eyes. Great, now they'll accuse me of making grannies into drunkards. At some point the hazy gazes of Mabel and Patricia fell on me and they stopped singing.

  "Just tell me Mabel, how could a young man, who makes such delicious tea, end up in prison, eh?"

  "You don't say, Patricia! I'm at a loss with it myself. He seems to have it all: hands, feet and a head, but he still ended up a murderous thug. All the youth is like this today — they want all it quick and easy."

  "I think that's because he doesn’t have a proper woman behind him! If he had a wife, she'd stop him going down the slippery slope!"

  "Too true! I happen to have an unmarried lady neighbor. She'd put him on the straight and narrow. Even our blacksmith is afraid of her. She's scary, he says... What does he know of beauty in women?"

  "You don't say. Always walks past my house with thin stick-like waifs. There's hardly anything there to look at. And your neighbor’s a different story — a pleasure to see how she can carry three sacks of flour on her shoulder."

  At this point I completely woke up and stared at the old ladies. What the heck is going on? Drunken NPCs are planning to marry me off? And to some female version of Hercules too? Baffled, I looked from Patricia to Mabel and back. I'm really in it now! First I carried the old
lady here and then got them so drunk on liqueur that they intend to get me married. I was afraid to think of what would happen next.

  "But where would this pretty boy have the money for our sweet dove? He doesn't have a penny to his name, just look at him. I reckon we need to help him, what do you think?"

  "Helping is good. But would he manage it? How many seekers have we already sent? None came back, the woodwothe did them all in, including my own sweetheart," Mabel wiped a tear.

  "He'll make it, just look at the wild glances he's giving us. It's like he was himself a woodwothe!"

  "True, that. Dearie," Mabel turned to me now, "we decided to help you. You're kind and understanding, arranged this meeting for us, and all. A good lad! But that's not enough for you to win over our sweet lass. You need to prepare yourself. She has to see you as a handsome lad and not some roving riff raff. We know of a hidden treasure. A long time ago a rich merchant Swiftbel buried it and put a woodwothe to guard it. If you can get the better of the wothe, the treasure will be yours and you can ask our sweet lass for her hand in marriage. What do you say?"

  Quest accepted: "Don’t wake the wothe in its snooze".

  Description: Deep in the forest, ten kilometers to the south of the town (the location is marked on the map) there lives a woodwothe. Find it and take Swiftbel's treasure that it is guarding. Quest type: Rare. Reward: Swiftbel's treasure. Penalty for failing or refusing the quest: none.