"Hold it there!" a rough voice brought me back to reality. I became so lost in thought that I even stopped looking around as I walked.
"Are you deaf or wot?" I finally turned around, when I realised the voice was coming from behind. The bright red glow of the names above the heads of the three players obligingly informed me who it was I ran across: PKers. From level 120 to 205. What did these goons want?
"That's him, right?" the highest level player turned to one of the others.
"He's got the right nick. But where's the red headband? The Merchant mentioned it several times!"
"Yo! You from Beatwick?" that was addressed to me now.
"No. From Farstead. Finished a quest and coming back now," yeah, like I'll tell them all the truth this very minute. Being rude to PKers, especially of this level, is not a good idea: they'd send you for respawn at the drop of a hat and I had a herd to return. But being honest with them when they seem to have found out about my red headband somehow... My intuition told me it wasn't such a good idea. By the way, where the heck was the damned thing when I was catching Beth? Went completely shtum on me.
"Tiger, get him, don't let him slip off," said the head of this threesome, and then turned back to me. "We'll just quickly check, whether it's you or not, and then let you go," Dartoonian's face sported an evil grin. He could have at least written his name correctly, stupid bastard. "On the ready check."
"Ready," the player who was called 'Tiger' replied, though his full name came up as Tigerrat.
"Then let's roll," the boss got off his horse and headed towards me. I don't get it — what kind of nasty stuff did they have in mind?"
"Dart, leave a bit for me," the third player in this little show put in. Lanus. You didn't even have think of giving him a rude nickname, it was practically suggesting itself.
Everything that happened after this only took about a couple of seconds. At first I was given a buff 'Pain suppression', which reduced the sustained damage by 50% for 30 seconds and prevented me from being sent off for respawn while it was active. A useful ability to support the tank when the raid is bringing down a boss. Then Dartoonian dropped on me with his entire 205-level weight and started to shred my character, hitting me with the dagger, his feet, head and armour spikes. I held out until the last, having realised what this PKer was trying to do. He wanted to check if I could feel pain or not. What a scumbag! I broke after only twenty seconds, though they seemed an eternity to me, and screamed.
"Theeeere! Now we know!" said the leader slowly, getting up. I remained lying on the ground, fitfully gulping air. Damn! "You can tell us later how you got rid of the headband, or, rather, where you found that much cash. But now, listen here. I have come by information that you have a certain very interesting object. The Eye of the Dark Widow. I need it. Or do you want to find out what real pain feels like?"
There was a clap of the teleportation portal and a Herald appeared next to us.
"Good day, gentlemen. How do you like the weather around here? Don't you find that the sun in this region has such a special glow to it?"
"My salutations, Herald," Dartoonian bowed his head. "How can we be of service?"
"Oh, just a sheer trifle. Someone here mentioned pain in relation to a former resident of a mine. Regrettably for you, I cannot allow this. This is against the rules."
"Hold on, Herald. You are confusing something. This is an ordinary free citizen here. Is it no longer allowed to hunt free citizens in Barliona? Is this your official answer?" That leader's no fool. He didn't lose his nerve in front of such a high-ranking guest, is sticking to his guns and even trying to gain some advantage from it all.
"No, not a tall. Hunting is not forbidden. But torture is not allowed in Barliona. With the exception of those who descend the torture dungeons of their own accord: they know what they're getting into. Remember this. If I find out that someone was torturing a free citizen, measures would have to be taken. Thank you for your time. Good luck with your adventures in Barliona," the Herald went back into the portal, which then vanished with a loud bang.
"Dart, what are we gonna do now?" asked Lanus, stunned. "Did we trudge all the way out here for nothing?"
"Chill it. My bad. I forgot that those that leave the mines are being closely watched. Yeah, we can't torture him, but no-one said we can't play with him a little," Dart gave me a very unpleasant look. "Tiger, don't attack him — your turn to play nurse now. And restore him to full health or he'll drop at the first sneeze. If we can't get our way directly, we'll find a workaround."
At first I didn't get what he was on about, but once I heard Dart's shout, I understood:
"Attention all players! We are planning to carry out training exercises with AoE spells within a three-kilometre radius. I politely ask everyone to leave this zone. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience. Lan — you can start now. Show us your proficiency with Ice Rain. You can summon it over there, if you like," Dart pointed in my direction.
"All right. Just a moment," Lanus replied in the same tone. "I've had a feeling that something wasn't quite right with my rain for a while now. Take a look and tell me what I'm doing wrong."
At that moment an apocalypse began next to me. Icicles started to fall from the sky, my movement speed was reduced by 70% and my hit points crashed.
"Careful," shouted Tiger, in the same showy manner. "I think we accidentally hit a player! Let me heal him now!"
"Guys, have you totally lost it?" when the rain stopped I got back on my feet. This was really a bit much. I couldn't jump away, since the rain froze me to the ground, I couldn't run, because it felt like someone was holding you and it hurt like hell too. The bastards. The rain left me with only one Hit Point, but the damned buff slapped on me by the 'friendly' Tiger, prevented me from being sent for respawn. Well, they can kiss my ass. I started looking around for a tree or a stone. I'll crash into it and that's the last you gits will see of me.
"Tiger, patch him up. It's not good leaving a player in such a state when it's all our fault," the scumbags were having fun while they were at it, relishing their little victory. And why not? They did, after all, declare this place a test zone, asking everyone to leave it. So if you weren't quick enough, you had only yourself to blame. And when they did accidentally hit a player, they healed him up right away. That's some imaginative thinking. I'll kill these sickos.
One spell uttered by Tiger restored everything: Hit Points and Energy and removed the 'Run-down Horse' debuff too. I should experiment with the Spirits later, removing this debuff would be very useful. Right, if I could still think, not all was lost.
"Mahan. You don't happen to have the Eye on you? It would be so nice if you gave it to me as a present. My birthday is in half a year and it would make just the perfect gift."
"What on earth makes you think I have it? Have you tried using your head? I'm only level twenty one! I live in the middle of nowhere!"
"If you don't want to do this the easy way — fine. Let's continue our training. Lan, try the Ice Explosion," the earth next to me became covered in a crust of ice, bulged and exploded with a deafening bang, sending me on a riveting flight. While I flew, along with the stars flicking through my eyes came the messages that I received such and such damage and was healed that many Hit Points. As soon as I hit the ground, Tiger completely restored my health from 1, to prevent me doing anything stupidly suicidal. Quite the ace healer, not much else to say, really. Except for swear words. While PKers laughed their heads off, I did the only thing I could at that point: I took to my heels towards the forest, which I spotted a few kilometres off the road. I found myself thanking the developer who came up with the following interesting algorithm: the running speed was determined by the ratio of Stamina and Agility to the player level. Often low level players were much faster than higher level ones, but had a lot less stamina. Their Energy fell too quickly. Not wasting any time on the shouts of 'Stop or I'll kill you!', I entered the Spirit summoning mode as I ran and called a Strengthen
ing Spirit on myself. Let me run a little faster, even if not by much.
A minute later I realised that I had miscalculated. Yes, I was faster than the PKers, but the AoE radius of the Ice Rain turned out to be too large. A wall of ice appeared right before me and I dove into it at full speed. Please, let this one-shot me.... Alas, Tiger was too good at his job.
"Why'd you stop running?" By now the players got on their mounts and were circling me at leisure. "Just when I was getting into the stride of things and relishing the thrill of the chase, the bunny keeled over. Onwards with the training! Lan, some AoE, please. Let's see how long he'll last. Tiger, you better stay on the ball."
They made me run around the area for about an hour. As soon as I stopped an icy rain began to fall next to me, forcing me to keep running. My attempts to resist by summoning Spirits of Control or Water Strike yielded nothing except a good laugh.
"Who the hell told you about the Eye?" I finally lost it and screamed at them. That's it, I just couldn't take this barbarity anymore.
"Had your fill of running, eh? No biggie, you'll keep at it, I'm having a great time here. Black market, you little twerp. Black market. Heard about it? You can buy many interesting things there — from the items that high-level players sell to the Merchants, to the information that the Merchants manage to pick up. Do you know how much you cost me? Thirty thousand gold! Plus teleporting here — ten thousand each. Dude, we're talking some real money here."
The incomprehension on my face must have been very obvious, since all three broke out in laughter.
"Dart, he didn't get a word you said!" Tigerrat put in as he finished laughing. "Little girl, there aren't just nice little boys running around in the Game, but nasty grown men too. Like us. Those who did time at the mines. Those who know what the red headband means. Those who have got nearly everyone and everything in this Game under their thumb. We're kings here! And those who have levelled up in Meanness, have access to this little bonus called 'Black Market'. A damn useful thing. There Merchants sell information about what they saw, identified and bought. Information is worth a lot in this game."
"Tiger, why don't you do a little dance for him too, while you're at it? You're getting way too chatty," the leader interrupted him and turned to me, "our information is correct, NPCs cannot lie. Hand over the Eye or we'll continue with the training. You know, I still have a problem with the way Lan summons Ice Rain on the move."
"Go to hell!" I growled. "There's nothing you can do to me, stupid dipshits."
"Oh, rly? This is a game, sweetheart,the gaming process of PK-hunting and training. And Tiger there, bless his bleeding heart, keeps healing you and stops you from missing out on Barliona for the next twelve hours. I really haven't a clue how you keep ending up right in the centre of our training zone. Are you doing this on purpose? I see you still don't get it. Let's continue with our session then. Tiger, Lan, let's roll..."
After half an hour of the chase I've ran out of steam. I tried to grit my teeth and stand under the rain of icicles, but would break after two or three minutes. The pain was too much. Endurance steadily increased, having gone up by three points since we met, but it was a drop in the ocean. The mythical five hundred points were distant and hard to imagine.
I almost decided to give these scumbags the Eye and be done with it, when I saw a flicker of a silhouette in the shadow of the trees, which we have gradually reached. A goblin! A plan immediately emerged in my head of how I could give these bastards the slip at least for a few minutes.
"Help! Coordinator's envoy has been captured and sent for torture! Help me!"
The three players glanced at each other, not getting where it was I just told them to go. Little wonder, since I was screaming in the language of Dark Goblins!
"For Kartoss, attack!" ten green-skinned minions of the Dark Empire jumped out of the forest. Hm... all of them only level 50. Against the three PKers these were nothing. A brief distraction. But the goblins didn't give a damn about that. A representative of the Empire requested aid, so it had to be granted. While the players got to grips with the new obstacle, I ran for the forest. Time was too precious to lose.
"Where do you think you're going?" I was once again enveloped in the Ice Rain. "We haven't finished our chat yet... What the hell is that?" asked Dart in surprise, when a drawn-out roar came from the direction of the forest. Hairs stood up on the back of my neck. Few in the game didn't know what that roar meant: the Wild Pack. The main strike force of Kartoss in its fight against the players: ten 200-level trolls riding their raptors. Someone's not going to have a very good time in a minute.
"Dart, let's get out of here — it's the Pack!" Lanus started to shout when a hale of arrows sped towards the players. The Wild Pack had arrived.
"Tiger, get the shield up. Lan, finish off Mahan — he's the one who summoned the beasts. Faster!" once again Dart quickly grasped the situation. Clever bastard. I had nothing to deflect a level 100 Ice Arrow, so could only stand there and wait to be sent for respawn. Hiding from magic was useless, since it went through everything. A pity, I thought I had managed to outwit them.
Hit!
I was still standing and watching how ten raptors with their riders emerged out of the forest and surrounded the dome put up by Lanus, while Tigerrat, in wide-eyed surprise, was sending magic arrows at me one after another.
"Arnamal dragorhalv rpanvvly?" a human dressed in black appeared next to me and was asking me something with a lifted eyebrow. He was completely unperturbed by Lanus's magical efforts to break through my incomprehensible defence. The stranger was entirely sure of himself and was trying to ask me something. But I didn't understand him in the slightest. I only knew goblin of the dark languages, so I made good use of it in my reply:
"The Coordinator only taught me the goblin language. I don't understand what you are saying."
"The man frowned, uttered something and touched my head.
You have learned a new language: Common Language of the Dark Empire.
"I'm asking you if you are all right?"
"Thank you, you made it just in time. A little more and they would've destroyed me and I wouldn't have managed to deliver the message."
"Don't kill them," the stranger shouted to the trolls. "Mages, commence enwrapment!" then he turned to me, "I permitted myself to be so bold as to protect you with a dome from these sentients," he pointed to the players, who had already stopped resisting after being slapped with the 'Stun' debuff. "We would not be able to hold them long, as in twelve hours they will disappear. An unpleasant trait of the free citizens. But they can lie down here until then. In eleven hours or so my warriors will send them to the Grey Lands: that way we'll gain a whole day. What does the Coordinator need this time? Did he run out of teleportation scrolls again?"
So my current theory about the Coordinator got smashed to smithereens. Teleportation scrolls! I am a blind and stupid ass for failing to think of such a simple thing! Why waste time on travelling between bases, when you can jump there at any moment? And no-one would notice a thing. This means that the entire village falls under suspicion once again. Blast!
"Exactly. Teleportation scrolls have run out and there wasn't anyone else to send. You know the current situation," I began to spout out anything that came to mind. I had no idea what I was talking about, but the main thing was that I did it with a confident face! These may be advanced Intellect Imitators, but they're still programs, so could well fall for it.
"All right. Do climb on," the stranger pointed to the sharp-toothed raptor that the trolls immediately brought to my side. "I don't have a supply with me, I'll have to ask the Keeper, let him make some new ones."
Keeper? This title is given only to NPCs in charge of a castle. Have I stumbled across something interesting? The main thing was to behave naturally, as if none of this was out of the ordinary for me.
I failed.
After an hour-long wild ride through the forest, we found ourselves in an enormous clearing with a Dark Citad
el at its centre. My jaw hit the floor as I looked it over. There were 200-level ogres, goblins ranging from level 10 to level 100, dark orcs... The place was full of bustle and you got the feeling that you were right in the middle of the Dark Empire. When we came up to the castle I got the sense of the full scale of the local Kartoss operation: enormous walls, around twenty meters high and five meters thick and a deep water-filled moat... A typical Dark Castle of about level 400. The stranger smiled, looking at my reaction.
"Impressive, no?"
"Very," was my honest answer. "I would've never thought that such a wonder could be standing here."
"I agree. It was planned by none other than..."
"Who let the human in?" a terrible scream went through the castle.
"Keeper," my guide bowed his head, "this is the envoy of the Coordinator, who is in need of portal scrolls again."
"Does he snack on them or something? I just sent him a batch a month ago!"
"You know the current situation," the man in black replied with my words. Who is he? And what the heck is really going on here?
"All right, I'm coming down now. Wait there!"
"The eight free citizens and all the Heralds flying all over the place had caused us a world of trouble," my guide finally explained. "We were beginning to fear that the entire plan would collapse, but the Coordinator is pretty shrewd. I would admit that even I doubted that the idea of building a castle deep in Farstead lands, so far away from the ziggurat, was at all feasible, but practice has proved me wrong."
"Keeper, that isn't all," I decided to go for the big bluff.
"What is it?" the voice sounded once again.
"The Coordinator didn't send me here just for the scrolls. This morning several of those that turned have driven away the entire Beatwick herd. However, the Coordinator believes that it should be brought back. The residents are getting too worried. It's too early to show our hand." What was I saying? I was coming out with any old rubbish, as I improvised in the 'crazy as a coot' genre!
The Kartoss Gambit (The Way of the Shaman: Book #2) Page 30