The Dragon's Revenge

by Conor Kostick

  It was time to check in on my twin. [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Hi Raitha, before you buy our spells, can we have a chat?’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Much as I welcome our conversations, I’m sorry I can’t oblige you.’ Raitha paused. ‘For we have all hurriedly made our purchases and are even now running across blighted fields to the tower.’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Ah. I was thinking about our priorities.’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Indeed. As was I. Since our role now is simply to shoot two arrows each and shoot them as well as we can, we will need archery buffs and I have those.’ By this time I knew Raitha well enough to detect a tone of amusement in his voice.

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘You’ve got this all worked out, haven’t you?’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘One rarely makes such absolute declarations of confidence in my part of the world. I did, however, spend a certain part of the night planning.’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘I have complete confidence in your plans,’ I replied and it was true. ‘What did you get us?’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Heat Arrow, Strength of a Bear, Refreshing Camp, Swiftshot, Find Path and Spark. Plus, Invisibility for myself.’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Perfect.’ I hesitated. ‘Except Spark. Would you ever equip it? I thought it was for lighting fires.’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘It may be in the game for that reason. And perhaps a situation might arise where lighting a fire at a distance proves to be very important. I am using it right now, however, for a very different reason. Can you guess?’

  This challenge made me smile. [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Right now?’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Correct.’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘But not to start a fire?’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Correct also.’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Is it dark outside? Does it act as a torch?’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Good guess. It has a small, brief, light effect. This, however, is not the answer.’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘I give up.’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Not so easily. Let me give you a clue. The spirit cost is miniscule, the cast time less than a second and the timer only two seconds.’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘So you can cast it frequently and often,’ I mused aloud. ‘You are trying to send signals?’

  Raitha simply laughed.

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Now let me give up.’

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘My Mobile Casting skill has already reached forty-seven,’ Raitha announced proudly.

  [Channel Klytotoxos/Raitha] ‘Ahhh. Clever.’ With Mobile Casting it was possible to move as well as launch a spell. At low levels you could walk and cast, high levels, run and cast and higher still, fly and cast. Repeated attempts of a quick and low-cost spell while moving was the way to get that skill to progress.

  When we resumed our struggle with The Tower of the Jewelled Skull, it was with the advantage of having not just a scroll of Resist Petrification but a potion too. Moving up to the fifth floor (the one below the maze), we earned a decent amount of exp in just a little over an hour, enough to bring me to 31. Then I had to go up to pull the six dark elves who were in the chamber with the stone undead minotaur. Before I did so, Braja cast Resist Petrification on me off the scroll, with Raitha holding on to the potion as a back-up.

  Running quickly through the maze (thank you, dark elves, for marking the route) I soon came to the centre where my six opponents were gathered around the stone undead minotaur.

  ‘Good evening, could someone tell me the way to the fancy dress party?’

  Immediately, the chase began and by easing up now and again to keep them interested, I was able to lead all six down to the fifth floor. This time, I had no difficulty biting into one of them, a rogue to judge by his leather armour, and holding the aggro while one by one my friends picked a target to pull across the room and take down.

  Efficient as we were, this still took time. Time in which a series of about twenty UI alerts reading You have resisted the spell Petrification came to an end. After which, the dark elf wizard, whom the others did not dare pull for fear he’d turn them all to stone, no longer wielded a wand. In other words, it was probably out of charges. And when the fighting was all over, so it proved.

  Having examined the wizard’s body, I announced, ‘Wand of Petrification, no charges.’

  ‘Here.’ Sapentia knelt down beside me. ‘I’ll take it. It might be possible to recharge it.’

  ‘There is something worthwhile on this hunter,’ announced Raitha and he linked a Setharian chain hauberk, +1/+3 at night. ‘You should have it.’

  It was true. Time to swap out my pirate clothes for more practical armour. Not only did I put on the chainmail, which covered both chest and waist slots, I also took leather drops for my shoulders and arms.

  ‘Now, that’s more like it,’ said Braja approvingly as I stood up from my last piece of looting. ‘I feel like I’m in a fighting unit now, not a comedy act.’

  ‘You are very handsome,’ added Raitha, which caused both Sapentia and Tuscl to look around at me. ‘At least, from the back, where the chainmail outlines your muscles. From the front, alas, the eye is drawn to your overly feral jawline.’

  ‘Thank you; at least, my back thanks you. My face is less flattered.’

  In good humour, I led the group up to the stone undead minotaur.

  ‘Chop it to piecesss?’ suggested Grythiss.

  ‘I was wondering about that. Maybe later. Because although we’d probably get exp, it would then start to respawn and might be a logistical problem if we are running up and down the tower.’

  Our lizardman nodded, so I left them in that relatively large room and went forward down dark stone corridors, taking the junctions marked by the dark elves. My four slotted spells were Swift as a Panther; Gather Shadow, Spark and Leave no Trace. There didn’t seem to be a need for Swiftshot at the present and I agreed with Raitha’s strategy of trying to obtain and increase Mobile Casting. It was just as well. For ahead of me, shown up by the flash of light from my fizzled attempt to send a shower of sparks ahead of me, was a strange carpet on the stone floor. Curiously, my vampiric infravision had missed it. The carpet had exactly the same heat as the stone. Or was it a carpet?

  As I leaned forward, a tentacle shot out from the black rectangle and struck me in the face.

  You have been hit by a slithering ambrile for 0 damage.

  A what? Anyway, it was time to back up and lead the monster to the group. It conned impossible, so the monster was at least level 36. A flicker; a sense of having been spat upon and a new message.

  You have been hit by Acid Spray for 58 damage.

  This left me on a comfortable 438, but still. As I picked up my pace to keep out of range of the spray, I made a note to myself that vampires were not immune to acid. Having this condition was teaching me a lot about their weaknesses.

  [Group] ‘Incoming, a slithering ambrile; it’s like a black rug that has tentacle attacks and it also has an acid spray AE. I suggest you tag it and turn it, Grythiss, and pull it into a corner.’

  [Group] ‘Lizardman understands.’

  The route back seemed short in comparison to my journey from my friends and soon I ran into their room and past the statue. As I had hoped, once the monster wriggled in from the corridor, Grythiss hit it with some dark, swirling shadow knight spell and drew it after him as he made for a corner of the room. There our tank built up aggro until on his call of, ‘join in’, we started attacking the ‘back’ of the slithering ambrile.

  I took out my bow and set about firing at the large black square I was aiming at. It took a dozen misses before I got a hit and, more importantly, an improvement to my Archery skill.

  You have increased the skill Archery (23).

  Once I’d managed to level up to 50, I’d have a huge archer
y grind ahead of me, so every point gained now was a few minutes off that prospect.

  Other than the fact that Braja burned through more than half of his spirit in heals, the fight presented no further surprises, at least until Tuscl stood up from trying to loot. ‘Is acid gland here. I think for A Cure for Derf…Dervgorilla?’

  ‘Derv-gilla,’ I pronounced the Celtic name for her. ‘Good, maybe Raitha should loot it as he can fly quickly back for the hand in when we get the other ingredients.’

  ‘I would be glad to. I’d welcome the opportunity to stretch my wings at some point and the ability has reset.’ Raitha stepped in and took the loot.

  By this time, I was fully regenerated and I made my way back up the corridors, constantly misfiring Spark and checking the walls and floors and even the roof (were those creatures able to slide along the ceiling?). I didn’t see any more ambriles, though I did get a very welcome message that accompanied a successful cast of a proper shower of bright yellow sparks.

  You have learned the skill Mobile Casting (1)

  Another hundred attempts and I was up to 2. I was also at a room with the stairs up. It was a ruin, with scorch marks streaking along the walls, four bodies of dark elves, fragments of furniture and a large, foul-smelling ogre with an extremely heavy-looking, iron-studded club. He stared at me, sniffed and raised his club, somewhat hesitantly I thought.

  I triggered Read Thoughts.

  The ogre is wondering what you taste like.

  ‘Hey, big fella, are you hungry? I know where some dark elves are sleeping.’

  With a lick of his lips, the ogre nodded.

  ‘This way.’

  ‘Bromgud on guard duty. You bring me food.’ Then a sly look stole across his broad, doughy face. ‘Wait. You come with Bromgud to captain. Bromgud not bash you and eat you as you go past.’ He pointed his club up the staircase. Nice. For some mobs you really didn’t need Read Thoughts. Delighted with his ruse, the ogre grimaced in what was probably a warm-hearted expression in the world of giants, but which displayed an alarming set of crooked teeth.

  ‘I’ll come, if you win a handshake contest.’

  ‘A handshake contest?’

  ‘We shake hands and squeeze hard. Whoever yells the first loses.’

  Now the ogre was really smiling. ‘Bromgud like that game.’

  Advancing towards him, I held out my right hand, obliging the ogre to put down his intimidating club. At the last moment, I swung my hand away, thumbed my nose and laughed. ‘You’ll never eat me, you big fool.’

  With a mighty roar the ogre charged at me and I fled, turning and twisting through the corridors with his heavy footfalls resounding through the maze. Until they stopped, about halfway back to my friends.

  [Group] ‘Quick, move out. Follow the dark elf arrows to me.’

  ‘Oh no!’ I cried out. ‘I’ve twisted my ankle, just when I thought I was getting away!’

  The stomping resumed and around the corner came my ogre, eager to eat me after all. Limping, I hurried on, just out of reach of his strong hands. And whenever he seemed to hesitate, I let out a groan.

  [Group] ‘Can you speak? What is happening?’ asked Raitha.

  [Group] ‘I’ve pulled an ogre, but he’s reluctant to come so far from his post. Trying to keep him interested.’

  Braja sounded uncertain [Group]. ‘An ogre? That’s a lot of healing.’

  [Group] ‘I think we can take him. He’s unarmed.’

  A glow from ahead of me announced the arrival of my group, where without hesitation, Grythiss charged past me and swung his longsword at the ogre. It was somewhat crowded, having the fight in the corridor rather than a room, within a few seconds though, we all had a view of the battle. And while it was initially alarming how severely Grythiss was damaged, as soon as Tuscl’s Slow landed we were fine. Although the ogre had plenty of hit points, he wasn’t doing damage anywhere near fast enough to drain Braja’s spirit pool.

  The ogre is dead. You gain experience.

  Poor, hungry Bromgud.

  The loot was a few coin, a large silver earring and a leather belt (which Raitha took). Our exp jump was noticeable though. I was nearly level 32 and Raitha, always just ahead of me, had levelled up. ‘One more for Heat Arrow,’ he announced with pleasure.

  ‘Shall I go up and find more ogres?’ I asked.

  ‘No,’ answered Braja, ‘I’m down to thirty per cent.’

  ‘In that case, let’s go back to the minotaur room and I’ll search the maze for those acid, crawling types.’

  Describing this level of the tower as a maze was something of an exaggeration on my part. This wasn’t like a proper maze, in which you could get lost without making a map. Knowing there was a large central room meant that despite several twists and forks in any particular corridor, I was never disorientated. Maybe I missed a secret door, but otherwise I cleared the level fairly thoroughly. It had another four of those ambriles as well as a ghast beyond a door on which the dark elves had scrawled, Keep Out. It was the ghast that dropped a Soulstone, which we needed for Scarlet.

  None of these encounters were particularly challenging and in fact, the most difficult moment on this level came when I fell into a pit trap with spikes at the bottom. Fortunately, they were iron and there was no danger of my receiving a wooden stake to the heart. What suffered most was my sense of pride, because although I could have used my cloud form, or giant bat form, to escape, I preferred to save them. Meaning I had to call my group to lower a rope for me, providing them with some entertainment, Braja most of all.

  With a last check that Bromgud hadn’t respawned, we then spent just over an hour clearing all the way back down the tower, to dump our junk loot on the merchant and settle down by the door of the tower to camp out for eight hours’ sleep. It had been a good day’s work:

  Klytotoxos: Half-elf, hunter, Level 33, Exp 43,650

  Condition: Vampire

  Natural Armour 8 + Crafted Armour 6 + Magical Armour 14

  Total Armour = 28

  Base speed 12 – Encumbrance 0 = Effective speed 12

  Strength 23Hit Points800

  Dexterity49Spirit 202

  Spirituality 20

  Intelligence 15

  Constitution 22

  Beauty 9

  Skills

  Combat:

  Dodge 165

  Bite 165

  Claw 165

  1-handed sword 73

  Archery 23

  Crafting:

  Bowyer 1

  Gathering 1

  Set Traps 10

  Other:

  Mobile Casting 4

  Abilities

  Wolf Form, Invisibility, Giant Bat Form, Cloud Form, Summon Bats, Summon Rats

  Immunities

  Weapon damage (exception: decapitation or wooden stake in the heart), electricity, cold, fire.

  Weaknesses

  Requires blood as food.

  Suffers damage in daylight.

  Spells Known

  Swift as a Panther; Gather Shadow, Swiftshot; Leave no Trace; Spark; Heat Arrow.

  Inventory

  Coins:

  Equipped:

  Feet: Boots of Dark Elvenkind.

  Legs: Pantaloons of the Pirate Captain.

  Waist: Setharian chain hauberk.

  Left hand:

  Right hand: Iron scimitar.

  Lower body: Setharian chain hauberk.

  Upper body: Setharian chain hauberk.

  Shoulders: Leather pauldrons.

  Cape:

  Left arm: Leather armguards.

  Right arm: Leather armguards.

  Fingers:

  Neck: Setharian chain hauberk

  Head: Setharian chain hauberk

  Stored:

  Canvas bag: six candles, lantern, lantern, flask oil, flask oil, flask oil, flask oil, flask oil.

  Canvas bag: iron spike, iron spike, iron spike, hammer, hand plane, drill, hand saw, bundles of charts.

  Small wooden box: diamond,
diamond, emerald, emerald, emerald, emerald, emerald, Cord of the Winds.

  Chapter 28

  The release of Sir Tregar

  Back in the Den, all the talk was of a Black Yhandis invasion of Port Placida. With the help of a red dragon, the port had been set on fire and now all the merchants and quest NPCs were gone. Instead, high-level lizardmen patrolled the smoking ruins of the town, presumably with the purpose of preventing an entry into the game of players who had set their spawn point there. Not that anyone was in that situation as far as I knew.

  ‘Uncanny, isn’t it.’ I moved up to stand beside the wiry Oveidio, who was wearing jeans and a hackathon T-shirt dated before either of us were born. Both of us studied the master map. The whole of the east coast was now vulnerable to the dragon’s armies. The overall situation reminded me a bit of the south in the endgame of the American Civil War: some strongpoints were still in our hands but really, there was no safety for us any more, no matter how far back you were from the biggest concentration of enemy forces. ‘Only this morning, we were at Port Placida, getting our spells.’

  With a strong sniff, Oveidio gave me a meaningful look. ‘She’s smart, the AI.’

  ‘You don’t think she hit Port Placida because we were there?’ I probably sounded incredulous.

  Oveidio shrugged, then said, ‘Maybe not. This must have been planned earlier. Two days of sailing for the Black Yhandis was needed.’

  That was true. Yet what if magic were used? Something like my rope with knots, only on a bigger scale, to move a whole fleet. If that were true - if Mikarkathat had somehow learned of our presence in the port and arranged the attack - then the situation was alarming, creepy, even. How much intelligence did the dragon have? How much understanding of the nature of her opponents? If she was smart enough to appreciate who we were and how to stop us entering the game, then surely that was consciousness? And if so, Mikarkathat might become one of the targets of the AI rights campaign that was currently a major issue around the globe. The last thing I wanted was to get caught up in that heated debate or be condemned as a murderer by those who believed that AI-driven software could be considered a form of life. For that matter, I wouldn’t want to kill her if she were more than a bot.