The Dragon's Revenge

by Conor Kostick

  ‘Thisss iss good?’ Grythiss spat towards the sea.

  ‘How much?’ I asked.

  ‘A gold each.’

  ‘We’ll pay four gold for the lot of us.’

  ‘Eh? Five.’

  ‘Deal.’ Having moved to the jetty I jumped down and handed over the coins. We had to economise, I only had fifty-four gold left and while I suppose I could have rounded up all the spare coins from the hundreds of players assisting us and gathered together a reasonable stash, I didn’t want the time delay and hassle of having to do so.

  ‘Soft southerners, are you?’ The dwarf was looking at the design on the gold coin and then back at us.

  ‘That’s it.’ I took a seat.

  ‘Two of you have to row.’

  ‘I shall be one of them,’ offered Raitha, climbing in, then leaning over to me with a whisper added, ‘I got the rowing skill from when we went to your vampire island and should like to improve it. Even though we are not long for this game.’

  ‘Lizardman takesss other oar. Will keep me warm.’

  When we were all settled, the dwarf cast off the ropes and jumped down into the craft, facing me as he pulled his oar. His avatar was incredibly detailed, from the watery, grey eyes, to the rawness of his cheeks above the beard line. And that beard: a mass of unkempt brown and grey hair, looking as stiff as wire.

  ‘You’re not here for gold and gems, are you?’ he asked with a frown.

  ‘No, furs. We are hunters.’ I nodded to the bow at my feet.

  Grunting approvingly, the dwarf’s face became more relaxed, bored even.

  As the boat rode up and down the black waves, I talked to the ferry owner and found out what I could about the settlement and our hunting prospects. Golden Valley was a free town: no lord or theocrat ruled there. Mostly dwarves, who were mining the gold in the mountains, there were also humans and a few gnomes. They got visitors like us, usually via the stone rings on Little Island, who came to trade for their furs and gold.

  Although I tried to evoke a quest or two, either this dwarf didn’t have any or I hadn’t used the right phrases.

  We disembarked at another wooden jetty and looked around. There were perhaps thirty buildings in a town protected by a large stockade, with a dozen of them well-lit and open. I could make out the nature of the businesses from the signs in front of some of them: two inns; a furrier; an ironmonger; a potter and a food store.

  ‘We need place to set our spawn points,’ Sapentia reminded me. So we walked along the main street, while she checked. Usually, spawn points were at town halls, or churches, or a place like a central fountain.

  We were passing a building with a tall wooden steeple and several Holy images over the door.

  ‘Here.’ Our wizard led the way in and one after another we tramped through an unlocked door to a wide hall. I was about to wipe my muddy boots on the mat, when I found that my foot wouldn’t carry over the entrance. Nor my hands. It was like I was pressing against an invisible glass wall.

  ‘Can I help you?’ a dwarf with the garb of a fighting cleric (metal hauberk beneath a wide red beard, mace at his belt) came over to the others and shot me a suspicious glance.

  ‘We wish to make this the place that we respawn in the event of our deaths,’ said Raitha politely.

  The dwarf just looked blankly at him.

  Raising her arms, Sapentia ignored the cleric. ‘I cast now.’ Blue light encased Tuscl and then a chime let us know her respawn point was now in this church. The same effect soon was evident for everyone else. Except me.

  ‘Come closer,’ Sapentia instructed me. Except by now I was sure I wouldn’t be able to use the church as a respawn point. As though to emphasise my conclusion, the dwarf became more animated, walking over to just in front of me and holding out a silver necklace, on which dangled a hammer.

  ‘I don’t seem able to cross the threshold.’

  ‘I invite you in, Tyro, I mean Klytotoxos,’ Raitha had obviously realised that the problem was my being a vampire. Clearly, he was hoping that the trope of the vampire myth about the undead creature needing an invitation to enter a house applied in Epic 2. It probably wouldn’t have worked, as I’d been in plenty of town buildings without invites. In any case, we didn’t find out as the cleric shouted with an impressively deep voice.

  ‘Begone, foul creature of the night!’

  You have been Turned. You must flee as long as this condition lasts.

  And I was off, rushing as fast as I could out of the porch and away through the town, the laughter of Braja ringing out behind me.

  [Group] ‘Hah, hah, hah! Oh man, you should have seen the look of panic on your face. I’ve got to try that trick.’

  By the time I stopped, I was cowered against the northernmost part of the stockade.

  Braja asked, [Group] ‘Can you make me group leader? There is a quest here from this cleric, for those of us who aren’t foul and evil.’

  [Group] ‘Sure. But if only he knew.’

  A moment later we had the quest Gather Erisia, which, the pop-up said, was a challenge to find a very rare plant with healing properties.

  [Group] ‘You know,’ said Raitha, ‘I’m enjoying this. It is a great shame that we are in a rush and just here to grind. I like this rough, isolated community and if I were playing the game for fun, would work through all the quests here.’

  [Group] ‘Grrrr,’ replied Grythiss.

  Sapentia spoke, [Group] ‘Speaking of cold. Shop here sells cloaks. Do we have much coin?’

  [Group] ‘I’ve fifty-four gold left, I think. I’ve also got some emeralds though.’ I started walking back down the main street, somewhat anxious whenever I passed a dwarf, pulling my hood up to make sure my face was in shadows. Probably, it was the fact that I couldn’t enter the temple that had alerted the cleric, but had he already warned other citizens about me? I didn’t want the whole town to go on a vampire hunt.

  On finding my friends outside a furriers, Braja grinned broadly at me making sure to rub it in that I’d just been Turned by an NPC. I gave Sapentia my gold and gems. ‘You go in. I’d better wait outside.’

  While I waited, looking at the bright stars between the rooftops, I could hear muted voices and my friends tramping over the floorboards. Then came a new quest message: Furs for Algernon. For twenty, high-quality lynx furs we would get a cloak: +1 AC, +1 beauty, removes Bitter Cold condition. It was repeatable.

  When the rest of the group tramped out, they looked a lot more impressive than when they’d gone in. All were now wearing fur cloaks that seemed to enhance their stature, not through magic, but through the way that they all appeared lordly, like the entourage of a prince on a northern hunting expedition.

  ‘Here.’ Sapentia gave me a cloak, twelve gold coins and just two emeralds (really? Only two left? These cloaks were expensive). I put it on.

  You no longer have the condition Bitter Cold.

  ‘Happier now, Grythiss?’ I asked. He just grunted by way of reply.

  Our imposing-looking group marched through the town, attracting attention from the dwarves, gnomes and humans we passed. Where the street met the north wall of the stockade was a gate and the four guards - two dwarves, two humans looking like Vikings - let us out without question.

  ‘Where to?’ I asked, looking at Raitha.

  ‘Let’s move away from the town, just a mile or so, and try our tracking.’

  For the next twenty minutes we tramped over heather and stone. There was a cart track to follow, two lines of pale dirt between heather on which rested ice and clumps of snow. The route meandered as it went towards the interior of the island, always rising and sometimes bringing us close to a fast-flowing, cold river that had cut a steep notch into the land. There were very few trees, several bushes and always I felt I was being watched by the huge mountains that rose up steeply ahead.

  ‘Here, let us set up.’ Raitha left the track for a slight rise, which gave us a good view in all directions. While Tuscl buffed us and then slot
ted battle spells, I called up my own list of spells.

  ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘let me try Refreshing Camp.’

  Having slotted the spell and waited a moment for it to become active, I then stared at it on the UI long enough for it to trigger. My avatar waved his arms around, a green light sprang from my fingers and we had a ready-made fire, complete with a large pot of hot stew. Warm blood in the pot would have been more helpful to my character, but no doubt less appealing to the others who now hurriedly gathered to feed themselves.

  ‘What a great spell,’ I congratulated myself.

  ‘How long does it last?’ asked Braja.

  ‘An hour per ten levels, so nearly five hours.’

  ‘Good,’ said Grythiss, sitting on a rock and almost looking comfortable with a thick, warm cloak around him and bowl of soup in hand.

  While the others ate, I swapped my spells around. Obviously, I needed Swift as a Panther; also, if I were creeping up on a pull, I’d want Gather Shadow. Since reaching level 46 I’d gained Swiftshot II, the upgrade to the very useful archery enhancement Swiftshot, so that was another important one. I had two more and the contenders were Heat Arrow (33), Frost Arrow (34), Find Path (44), Read Tracks (38) and Spark (30). One had to be Read Tracks and for the other I took Find Path. Tempted as I was to work on my mobile casting skill with Spark, I was a little anxious that in this dark, unfamiliar landscape I could easily end up pulling mobs from so far away from my friends that I couldn’t locate them.

  Comparing notes with Raitha, I found that he had done exactly the same.

  ‘All set?’ I asked and to a background of nods and people saying ‘yes’, I cast Read Tracks. As I looked around, a new layer of imagery lay over my vision. With delicate glowing light marking them, I could see tracks, dozens of tracks. You never would have expected so many in such a bleak environment and when I focused on one particular set, kneeling over a paw print in the snow, I obtained information in a pop up: Lynx, Dangerous.

  [Group] ‘Tracking a Lynx here. Raitha, I suggest you find a pull too, whoever brings one back first, the other circles until the group are ready. Hopefully, we’ll be bringing mobs non-stop when we find our rhythm.’

  [Group] ‘Snow Spider tracks to the west of us for me then.’

  It was a real pleasure to run across the bleak, northern landscape, under bright stars (both moons were up but their direct light was blocked by the mountains) scanning for my prey and for other possible dangers. Coming over a rise, I saw a Lynx walking away from me, head down, sniffing the ground. With my Boots of Dark Elvenkind I was confident I could sneak closer. As silently as I could, I crept up, into bow range, then fired. It didn’t matter that I missed, the Lynx turned towards me and with a snarl of anger, rushed over the rough terrain with the obvious intention of sinking its two large incisors into my body.

  [Group] ‘Incoming! A Lynx.’

  [Group] ‘And I’ve pulled a Snow Spider. I’ll kite it until you’re done with the Lynx.’

  As I might have expected, the Lynx was fast and I only reached my friends ahead of it thanks to my Swift as a Panther buff. An arrow that had missed had hardly any aggro compared to the impact of Grythiss’s purple-skull-effect spell and with a roar the Lynx swerved to claw at him. For a few seconds it was a fair fight, but then Tuscl landed a debuff and a Slow, while Braja kept Grythiss’s hit points from declining too swiftly. I chipped in with some arrow damage and when the Lynx was around 35 per cent, Sapentia let loose with her nukes.

  The Lynx is dead. You gain experience.

  My experience bar moved fractionally. About twenty of these would be needed for 48.

  Raitha called out, [Group] ‘Incoming! A Snow Spider.’

  [Group] ‘Lizardman findsss poor quality fur as loot.’

  With a laugh, Braja said, [Group] ‘Well, that’s hardly surprising given the scorch marks on the pelt.’

  [Group] ‘I do not have delicate spells,’ replied Sapentia.

  As Raitha arrived, I departed, running northwards, pausing to cast Read Tracks. This time, I located the trail of an impossible Lynx and had it in my wake when the others finished the Snow Spider.

  The Snow Spider is dead. You gain experience.

  [Group] ‘Incoming! A Lynx.’

  There was a lot to be said for playing a warrior in Epic. There was even more to be said for playing a hunter in Epic 2, especially if you had a hunter partner and an effective group who could keep up their concentration and maximise their use of spirit and hit points. For the next two hours or so we had non-stop action and it almost became a challenge between Raitha and I to deliver our next mob just as Grythiss straightened up from having looted the last one.

  Eventually, having comfortably reached level 48 and with Grythiss holding five high-quality Lynx pelts and eleven Snow Spider silks, I called a halt. We’d cleared out all the mobs around the area and although there were a few still evident from my tracking spell, they were some distance away. It would be better to move up the valley and find a new camp.

  It was midnight. In game, the weather was clear, the night sky (that part of it not obscured by the gigantic peaks) filled with an incredible display of glittering stars. Our breath came in clouds.

  ‘That was terrific.’

  ‘Lizardman enjoyed it. Desspite cold.’

  ‘I enjoyed it very much too and I’d like you all to consider revisiting a decision we made some days ago,’ said Raitha. ‘If Yuno let us keep our current characters after the launch of the game, perhaps we should stay in Epic 2. There are dozens of unexplored regions like this one, where we would be the first to make discoveries, solve quests, find items. And I find I relish the role of hunter more than I do my warrior.’

  ‘I do too,’ I replied. ‘Let’s unclip, take a break and discuss this. For me, it’s not an easy choice because I spent four years creating Tyro and there are still some raid events I haven’t experienced.’

  When we resumed, an hour later, we still hadn’t resolved whether to play Epic or Epic 2 in the future. I was sitting on the fence. It certainly did appeal to me that none of the regions of Epic 2 were explored. Take Fang Island. You could stay here all the way up to level 70. There were dozens of interesting storylines to follow, many of them leading to a Frost Giant castle high in the mountains. And this was just one region out of about twenty for levels 50 - 70. Then, too, Braja’s observation that there would be more money in my broadcasting Epic 2 streams than Epic ones had brought a new consideration into play for me. In favour of swapping were Raitha and Braja and perhaps me. Against were Sapentia and Tuscl (who had a maxed-out shaman build on Epic). What was heartening about the discussion was the sentiment we all shared that whatever choice we made, we’d stick together.

  After our discussion and snacks, on re-entering the game we pushed on northwards up a valley that rose steeply towards a pass on the shoulder of a ridge between two peaks. We were soon walking through snow, which obscured the cart track. Partially out of curiosity and partly because it would be wise to stick to the track (I was concerned about ditches and even more alarming falls being hidden by the snow), I slotted Find Path into my UI, a level 44 spell, and tried it for the first time. Immediately, the meandering route glowed with a comforting yellow colour. Since the buff would now stay in place for an hour, I swapped Find Path out of a spell slot again. No need to take up a valuable slot with a buff that I could refresh again later if I wanted to.

  On the ridge itself, a strong wind pulled at our cloaks and hair. Beyond it, I had thought I might see the frozen seas that were supposed to lie north of us. Fang Island was not that big, maybe twenty kilometres by thirty, so at this height, we should be able to see well beyond the far coast. There was, however, after a dip, another rise, to an even higher ridge.

  ‘Let’s backtrack a little, out of the wind and set up.’

  ‘There?’ Grythiss pointed to a large boulder, which would make for a good landmark.

  ‘Perfect.’

  Soon, we were back into grind
ing mode, this time pulling slightly tougher Lynxes and Snow Spiders, along with some new mobs: Varwolfs (a larger, shaggier wolf); Snowtrolls and Eochar. The latter were gleaming, translucent oval-shaped figures which floated over the snow. To my mind, they had the quality of the northern lights, if you could somehow capture the lights in tall glass. Apparently, they cast illusions, though I was unaffected. So for safety, Raitha left all those pulls to me. Now and again, Grythiss stopped fighting when faced with an Eochar, saying his attack button was greyed out and the mob appeared like a friendly lizardman, but as soon as one of my arrows struck home, the effect broke. The Eochar drained hit points with a magical attack that looked like tendrils of pale blue and green, flickering around their target. Their rare drop was a Fragment of Frozen Light, which I vaguely recalled was a trade skill item.

  Another two hours of this, with a much better drop rate on the high-quality Lynx pelts (we gained another nine), I hit 49.

  ‘Congratulations!’ Braja gave me a heavy slap on the back, while Raitha held out his fist for a knuckle slap, which I gave him.

  ‘It’s hard to believe I’m so close to fifty.’

  Sapentia said, ‘Should get there if we stay late. We get finished tonight.’

  ‘Yeah. I’ll almost be sorry to stop after that though. I was hoping to explore more of this island. At least until we get a sight of the Frost Giant castle.’

  Although we were all tired, we decided to keep going without a break. Partly for the sake of driving Raitha and me towards the crucial 50 while we had a good set-up for the grind, but also to promote Sapentia, who was just a fraction short of 51.

  I was a fair way off our camp, tracking an Eochar (although they floated, they left a faint set of thin lines, like someone had been brushing the snow), when Raitha called out, [Group] ‘Tyro, are you seeing Ketzi on track?’