With a great burst of willpower, Chloe moved her hands away and shoved them into her armpits. There they continued to writhe, emitting a series of muffled utterances.
Gideon stared, mouth agape, and pointed at her wrists. “What the…”
Chloe sighed. “It’s kind of a lot to explain.”
Chapter Eighteen
Gideon exhaled. “You have got to be the luckiest son-of-a—”
“KieraFreya, do the honors, please.”
“I’m not a dancing monkey!”
“Do. The. Honors. Otherwise, you’re going back into my pits.”
KieraFreya sighed. “Bitch.”
“Thank you.” Chloe nodded. “Gid?”
“In the whole realm.”
Chloe grinned. “Yeah, something like that.”
She had told Gideon everything about KieraFreya. About stumbling across the cave, the hidden entrance, and the arrival of her first quest in the form of the Deathwalk. She had laughed out loud as she recounted the tale, realizing now that she was in the comfort safety of the tribal village how ludicrous it all sounded. A level 1 had conquered a high-difficulty dungeon, lived to tell the tale, and inherited mythical armor that could talk and was unaffected in her language capacities by the system.
“Level 1 to 8 in one mission.” Gideon sighed, unable to take it all in. “Your attribute points must be completely out of proportion with your level.”
“What do you mean?”
Gideon explained how usually in play, as players leveled up and found their playing style, they’d inherit items from quests and learn a whole host of skills that would bulk up their character to suit each level. However, since Chloe had jumped 7 levels from one quest in which her only treasure acquired were a pair of bracers and a rusty dagger, this meant her attribute skills were much lower than anyone who would have been an equivalent level 8.
“I’d imagine that by level 8 I’ll have honed a few of my skills to level 5 or 6, with my intelligence and etheric potential hovering around 60 or 70 with my bonuses. What are you on?”
“My highest is endurance, which is around 40 points.”
“Well, that’s why we’re here, I guess. To find bugs in the game, eh?”
“I imagine there are still a fair few bugs to find,” Chloe said as the pair skirted the borders of the village. Chloe had wanted to get out of the small abode for fear of others listening in on their conversation.
Gid continued, more to himself, “I mean, there’re bugs, and then there’s full-blown error reports. I thought I was lucky just to have been in the first cohort of players, but you take it to a whole new level.” His eyes sparkled. “I wonder if I could find any bugs out there that boost my level and give me mythical treasure too?”
“Not the way you shoot, genius,” KieraFreya quipped.
Gideon glared at KieraFreya, then deflated.
“She’s probably right. I’d need the extra boosts from points.”
Chloe placed her arm around Gid’s neck, resting her head on his shoulder. “Don’t pay any attention to her. She may think that she’s all-knowing and powerful, but she forgets that she’s strapped to me. Talk about a fall from grace, huh, KieraFreya?”
The bracers pinched Chloe’s wrists.
“Ouch! Fine. Let’s both be nice, shall we?”
“So, this quest. You have to unite all of the pieces of Kifarna’s armor to fulfill the requirements?”
KieraFreya growled, "It's Ke-erra-Fra-ya. One word, no space. Dumbass."
“Yep. That’s about the size of it. The only problem is, I have no real idea of where to start.” Chloe remembered Mia’s words. “My only hope, as far as I can figure, is to search for some kind of shrine or altar. Something that will give me a leg up with the deities of Obsidian.”
Gideon tapped his chin. “Shrine. A shrine…” His eyes lit up. “There’s a woman...or man...or…I don’t know, one of them. They call him ‘the shaman.’ He’s feared by many in the tribe, so he has his own little place in the woods past the outskirts of the village.”
“How do you know this?” Chloe asked.
Gideon wracked his brain. “It was just something I overheard one night when Tag was hogging the stage. I ducked out the back of the tent to get some air and enjoy the starlight when I saw him standing at the edge of the woods, eyes glinting. At first, I was ready to sound the alarm, thinking it was some kind of creature until I asked a villager and they dragged me inside real quick.”
Gideon rubbed his hands nervously. “Apparently he can speak to the gods. Uses their powers to heal and curse.”
Chloe pulled up her map, and, sure enough, there was a mark in the tree line around the village. She could understand how she had missed it before since the house was nothing more than a tiny mark with a strange sigil over the top.
She grabbed Gideon’s hand. “Come on!” she urged excitedly.
Gideon resisted, freeing his hand from Chloe’s. “I can’t. I really should be getting back to the guys. We promised that we’d get in one final quest with the villagers before we were no longer welcome to stay here, y’know? Gain some experience that could be useful for dungeon-raiding.”
Chloe nodded. She understood but had to admit that it felt a little sad leaving Gideon behind, given all that she had just shared.
“Sure thing,” Chloe said. “Just promise me something, will you?”
Gideon mimed zipping his lips. “I won’t tell a soul.”
Chloe beamed and kissed his cheek. “I know you won’t.”
With that, she sped into the trees.
The shaman’s house was difficult as hell to find. Chloe navigated through the forest, occasionally blinking up her map to check her progress and make sure she was on track. The damn marker seemed to move every time she pulled up the display—either that, or the forest was shifting around her.
When she finally approached the hut, she almost walked straight past it. Whereas the Oakston huts were built in such a way that they were unmissable when one was up close, the shaman’s hut was a complete tangle of leaves, foliage, and brush. It was a covered top to bottom in vines and blended in perfectly with the trees around it.
Chloe made her way toward the entrance, feeling a strange chill creep along the forest floor and prick her skin into gooseflesh.
“What’s the matter? Not scared, are you?” KieraFreya teased.
Chloe puffed out her chest and went to knock on the door. Before her knuckles connected, the door swung open.
“Efficient,” KieraFreya whispered.
“Shut up,” Chloe hissed.
The inside of the house looked like an abandoned mess, accurately reflecting the outside. It was hard to tell where the greenery on the walls ended and the tangles on the ceiling began. Several vines sported blooming purple flowers that hung like bells across the ceiling. There was a horrid stench of decay and rot around her, and Chloe tugged her shirt up to cover her nose, only realizing then how bad she herself smelled. She chose the lesser of two evils and kept the shirt over her face.
“Hello?” she called, pacing from room to room. No answer came.
Strange, Chloe thought, bringing up her map again. She zoomed in, and, sure enough, her marker was over the house with the sigil on it. This has to be it.
“You realize nobody actually told you that this is the shaman’s house, right?” KieraFreya pointed out, pulling up the map again for Chloe. “See? It doesn’t even mention the shaman here. You just assumed it would be here, and you know what happens when you assume, right? It makes an ASS out of U and—”
KieraFreya stopped short as a notification blinked. Chloe opened it.
Quest unlocked: Where’s the shaman?
You have quite the inquisitive mind. You’ve found the shaman’s house, but the shaman is nowhere to be found.
Use your powers of detection to track down the shaman before the poisonous gas from the Deathbell flowers that has been filling your lungs sends you into your final slumber.
&n
bsp; Difficulty: 4/10
Rewards: 500 exp, final slumber potion recipe
Instinctively Chloe grabbed her throat, now tasting the air as it went down her windpipe with every breath. Sure enough, upon inspection of her Activity Log, she noticed that her health had taken several large hits in the immediate past. There was an initial message about the poison, followed by a new notification every few seconds that informed Chloe she’d lost more health.
Uh-oh! You’ve been poisoned.
You have ingested the infamous scent of the Deathbell flower.
Effects: Poison debuff. -5HP for every 10 seconds that you breathe it.
Duration: Poison lasts an additional 15 minutes after vacating the poisonous vicinity.
Uh-oh! You’ve been poisoned.
Clear the vicinity or find an antidote!
-10HP
Uh-oh! You’ve been poisoned.
Clear the vicinity or find an antidote!
-10HP
Uh-oh! You’ve been poisoned.
Clear the vicinity or find an antidote!
-10HP
Uh-oh! You’ve been poisoned.
Clear the vicinity or find an antidote!
-10HP
Uh-oh! You’ve been poisoned.
Clear the vicinity or find an antidote!
-10HP
Uh-oh! You’ve been poisoned.
Clear the vicinity or find an antidote!
-10HP
Uh-oh! You’ve been poisoned.
Clear the vicinity or find an antidote!
-10HP
Chloe pulled up her character sheet, checking the state of her health.
Bio
Character name: Chloe (click to select a new character name)
Level: 8
Class: Null
Race: Human
Stats
HP: 150/220
MP: 150/150
Stamina: 142/300
Active effects: Poison debuff (ongoing)
Attributes
Strength: 22 (+16)
Intelligence: 6 (+5)
Dexterity: 20 (+13)
Endurance: 25 (+15)
Etheric Potential: 9 (+8)
Skills
Languages: Human
Acrobatics: Lv 3
Armed Combat: Lv 1
Cooking: Lv 1
Crafting: Lv 1
Creature Identification: Lv 2
Dark Vision: Lv 2
Dual Wielding: Lv 1
Fishing: Lv 1
Herb Identification: Lv 1
Sneak: Lv 3
Swimming: Lv 1
Reckless: Lv 3
Available Points: 32
Chloe quickly did some mental arithmetic, working out that that with 150HP remaining—
Uh-oh! You’ve been poisoned.
Clear the vicinity or find an antidote!
-10HP
—Fine! 140HP remaining, that gave her just under 5 minutes to find out what the hell was going on and identify some kind of antidote before she died of the poison. If she didn’t find the antidote, it wouldn’t matter how quickly she found the shaman. With the active debuff effects currently on her, even if she cleared the vicinity, she’d still have to battle to keep her health above 0 until either the villagers healed her or she drank enough potions to outlast the debuff.
Chloe whirled, searching for something—anything—that might provide some sort of clue. Remembering her Herb Identification skill, she focused on the deathbells.
Deathbell (plant)
Emits a poison that can be made into potions.
“Great. Well, that’s as useful as…” Chloe stomped her foot.
“What?” KieraFreya said, snapping to attention. “Did you want me to say ‘shit?’ Or ‘fuck?’ Or how about ‘fuckity-fuck?’ Let’s be honest, this ventriloquist blaspheming isn’t really working, is it?”
Chloe glared at her bracers. “Well, forget the swearing, then. Any ideas for surviving this poison? I’d really rather not die if I can help it.”
“Are you sure? You are very good at it.”
Chloe threw down her wrists and ran through the house, doing her best to ignore the blinking notifications as her health drained from her.
After a full lap, she turned on her heels and looked longingly at the exit.
It was there that something caught her eye.
Nestled behind the thick stem of a vine, Chloe saw markings on the wall. Without thinking, she drew her knife and hacked at the plant, revealing a series of lines that snaked around the room in all directions. She followed the first, hacking and slashing at the plants until the line veered off from the others, swirling and whirling around on the walls.
Chloe growled when the line reached a dead end.
She followed the next one, making her way halfway across the room before she met yet another dead end. After a quick cry of frustration, a check of her health revealed that she was now down to just 60HP.
As quickly as she could, she followed two more trails. One worked its way into a hole in the floor, clearly set up as a misdirection, Chloe realized that after a rat poked out its head and bit her finger, taking an additional 4HPs with it. The second curled back on itself instantly, Chloe now beginning to feel woozy and light-headed.
Chloe looked at the dozen remaining trails and recited a rhyme that she’d used hundreds of times over the years when she wasn’t sure what decision to make or which way to go.
“And my mother said that you.” Chloe pointed at a thick line with thorns decorating the art. “Are.” Another line, thin and sleek. “It!” she exclaimed, ignoring the warning notification that she was almost out of health points. She sprinted around the room, dragging the knife along the walls and finding that the trail led through the door and into the next, then the next room.
The trail made its way to a broad wall that was thick with vines. Chloe coughed into her hand, small spatters of blood appearing on her palm. Her eyes felt heavy. KieraFreya said something, but the words turned to cotton puffs.
With a last burst of energy, Chloe cut the vines, which melted away to reveal a shimmering white portal. Without conscious thought, she closed her eyes and fell forward, her body disappearing into the white liquid pool of light.
Chapter Nineteen
The moment that Chloe’s head fell passed the portal, she felt sick.
Not sick-from-poison sick, sick as in the whole house literally cartwheeled alongside her as she emerged on the other side.
Chloe placed her hands out in front, managing to break her fall before her face hit bare wood. If she had missed, the damage surely would have sucked up the last 6HP she had remaining.
Shit. 6HP left and a poison debuff.
Chloe scrambled to her feet, realizing that she was soaked from head to foot. She blinked in the blinding light that poured in through the open windows, her vision affected. The room was still swimming, and she was so disorientated and confused that for a moment, she couldn’t find her bearings.
A warm humming greeted her ears as she ran from one side of the room to the other, calling for help as she looked for some kind of antidote that might do the trick.
“The blessed ones should learn that panic is the ultimate breeding ground for the poison of a Deathbell flower,” a gravelly voice crooned. “When panicked, the blood flow becomes more rapid. When blood runs fast, the poison speeds to catch up.”
“Who’s there?” Chloe called. “Show yourself!”
“I am here. All one must do is calm oneself to see.”
Chloe’s chest rose and fell with desperate breaths. She stopped in her tracks, continuing to take rapid breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth. The walls were bright white, reminding her of the room she went to when she died. After a few more breaths, her heart began too slow. Surely the poison had taken her, and she was back in the white room?
She turned, looking for the phone and computer. Instead, she saw a strange-looking man sitting cross-legged on the floor. He ha
d a hookah beside him, the pipe trailing from his mouth and smoke rising in purple coils.
“You narrowly survived, child.”
“Who are you?” Chloe asked, her nose recoiling at the stench of the greasy hair tied back on the man’s neck. He sported the tribal tattoos of the villagers, only his were thorny and dark.
“I am the one you seek, Chloe. The shaman of the Oakston village. Tell me what it is that you wish to find?”
He motioned for Chloe to approach, and she took a seat in front of him.
Chloe told the shaman that she desired to know more about the gods. She wanted to walk a holy path and connect with those above in any way she could. The shaman listened patiently the entire time, occasionally puffing on his hookah.
When Chloe was finished, she waited patiently for a response. She looked around the house, wondering if this was the same house she had entered when it was covered from top to bottom in vines. The shaman was slow to respond.
“Here, child. Taste this.”
The shaman offered the hookah to Chloe. She held the pipe near her mouth. “What will this do?”
The shaman stared at her, as still as a gargoyle.
Chloe slowly placed the pipe in her mouth and took a long draft of the smoke. It caught in her throat, and she coughed.
The shaman smiled. “See?”
Unbidden, Chloe’s menu opened to her character sheet.
Bio
Character name: Chloe (click to select a new character name)
Level: 8
Class: Null
Race: Human
Stats
HP: 36/220
MP: 150/150
Stamina: 158/300
Active effects: Null
Attributes
Strength: 22 (+16)
Intelligence: 6 (+5)
Dexterity: 20 (+13)
Endurance: 25 (+15)
Etheric Potential: 9 (+8)
Skills
Languages: Human
Acrobatics: Lv 3
Armed Combat: Lv 1
Cooking: Lv 1
Crafting: Lv 1
Creature Identification: Lv 2
Dark Vision: Lv 2
Collecting The Goddess (Chronicles Of KieraFreya Book 1) Page 13