Sorcerers quest, p.17
Sorcerer's Quest, page 17
She frowned, not believing it could be as good as it first appeared. But after a third time through she couldn’t find anything that he could use against her. She asked him for a few minutes to think about it, which he graciously gave her and departed to gather supplies. “My signature is already on it, so once you sign I’ll see that it has been finalized.”
After her fourth time through, she glanced at Grendalt. “What do you think?” she asked him.
He shrugged, but his mouth contorted into a subtle why-not frown.
“So you think he’s on the up and up about this?”
“He’ll still use it to his advantage,” the shapeshfter growled. His voice was guttural and inhuman in wolf form, but Jane had heard him talk in different forms before. “But he’ll help. He won’t screw us over.”
“You believe that?”
“He’s honest. He’s conniving, cunning, and power hungry but he has honor. You are not his enemy. He’ll help,” he said, turning an eye to Jane. It was a strangely human look in an animal.
She nodded. It was more than she had expected from the shapeshifter. She thought he would outright dismiss Conti coming along.
The contract looked ironclad enough. Conti wanted her to trust him. Was that just another twist in his plans? Was there any way he could betray them through it? She could think of one: if she or her friends did not return. But she agreed with Grendalt. She was not Conti’s enemy. She might be an anomaly to him that he wanted to figure out, or just another player he wanted to try to control, but she couldn’t see any advantage for him to offer help and then betray them along the way. He had enough minions and power he could do that from outside her party.
The only conclusion she could reach was that he genuinely wanted to help her. She wasn’t naive enough to think that he didn’t have an ulterior motive, but he had made the contract restricted enough that she could trust him to help with the quest.
She signed the contract. “Dave’s not going to like this,” she said out loud. She looked down at Grendalt. “Korrond,” she said, correcting herself. “He’s going to hate this.”
Grendalt just grinned up at her. “Yeah I bet you’d think that’s funny,” Jane told him.
A few moments later Conti reappeared. “I’m glad you accepted. Truly.”
“I’m sure you are,” Jane said dryly “I’ll let you know when we are leaving. Should be within an hour or two.”
“I’m ready when you are. I’ll await your message.”
He walked away and left her alone. She hoped this was a good choice. She had to trust herself, that her reason and instincts were right about him. But telling Dave was going to be a fun conversation.
~ ~ ~
Hey, I found someone, but I’m not sure if you’re going to like it, Dave messaged to Jane. She was still in Thundershield, but ready to head out. She wasn’t sure if she should fast travel directly to Fort Prenth or wait for the others first.
What a coincidence, she messaged back. I found someone and I’m sure you’re not going to like it. Who’s yours?
Lazorhawkk.
Conti.
Jane let out an audible groan. Lazorhawkk wasn’t exactly top of her list of people she’d like to rely on.
Wait, you’re bringing Conti? Was Grendalt not enough? What reason could he possibly have to come along except to backstab us in the worst possible way?
This was going better than Jane had anticipated. She had expected silence followed by profanity. She had only seen Dave go off on a swearing rant three times before, but she thought this would be enough to see a fourth time. The fact that he was still talking meant he might was open to discussion about it.
Let’s talk. I have a few good reasons.
Ten minutes later they had met up. Dave had found an empty building outside of Meraville. Brett and Gavin were there too. Jane invited Ruby, figuring she might as well let them all know at once and the two of them teleported to the guys. Grendalt teleported in too, but went outside to give them some privacy. He left wordlessly as he must have known what their topic of conversation would be.
“So why in the world are we bringing someone who’s clearly already spying on you?” Brett asked as soon as Grendalt left the room. The open room had a table in the center. It was one of those buildings that NPCs were never in, as if made for clandestine meetings like this. Ruby found a wall to lean against. Dave, Gavin and Brett were all standing around the table.
“Well, to start, look at this,” Jane said, sharing a copy of the contract with each of them. She walked over to the table. “He’s signed it already. So have I, but I can terminate it at any time without any penalty. Just look at it.”
There was a few minutes of silence as they all read through it.
“I don’t like it,” Gavin said, placing his hands on the table and shaking his head. “He still has a game going on.”
“I don’t doubt that,” Jane replied. “The question is...can he backstab us? Is there anything the contract doesn’t cover, or that he can turn around against us?”
“He could stop giving help when we need,” answered Gavin.
“Page three, section seven, I believe,” said Jane.
Dave nodded. “Any inaction on his part that causes the quest to fail or causes harm on our end will be met with fines of game time and gold. It also says he will still remain responsible to help complete the quest. It seems ironclad.”
“I’m not foolish to believe he has no other motivation in coming, but this contract ensures he will help us. Whatever he wants, it can’t interfere with the quest or it will cost him more than it’s worth. Any objections?” She looked around the room.
“No objections,” said Brett raising a finger, “but do we want to see what we can milk from him? There are a lot of ways we could use the contract to penalize him, and we get the benefit from it. I can think of three ways we could get a week’s worth of game time, just off the top of my head. I’m not saying we should. I’m just also not saying we shouldn’t.”
“Do we want to make an enemy?” asked Ruby, walking forward to the table. “Because that’s what that would do.”
Dave nodded after a moment. “Ruby’s right. Is a bit of game time worth making an enemy out of him? I certainly don’t think so. This is Jane’s contract though, and her quest as well.”
Everyone turned to her.
Jane shook her head.“No. No enemies. We let him help us. We don’t interfere with whatever else he may be doing unless we all agree that it’s wrong.” She looked at each of them in turn. Everyone gave her a nod. “And there is another thing we need to talk about.”
She told them about the edge zone and the rumors about it. She also explained what Conti had said about it, as well as Wanda’s vague warnings.
“Pod sickness,” said Brett, shivering. “Ugh.”
“I believe him about it,” said Jane. “But two might be a coincidence. Still, it would be best to avoid the place.”
“So we stay away from the zone,” Dave said, shrugging. “Even if Conti is on the level, it doesn’t matter. We just don’t go in it. We can still get this done for Jasmine.”
“I agree,” Gavin said. “I can’t speak about any disappearances, but I’ve heard people getting glitches inside that mess up their character. Abilities no longer working properly, getting levels removed— stuff that sticks around even after they leave the zone.”
“And what if the quest items are inside?” Brett asked.
“They shouldn’t be from everything I heard,” said Jane.
“What if it has expanded though?” asked Brett. “They’ve been known to do that.”
“Then we leave them,” said Jane. “We’ll regroup and figure something out.” She gave the three guys a knowing look. Ruby was not in on Jane’s secret, so she did not want to say it outloud, but if all else failed, then she would just twiddle her thumbs until a GM contacted her. It was much preferable than disappearing.
“Do you need me to leave for a few minutes?” Ruby asked.
Jane grinned. Ruby was always more perceptive than Jane gave her credit for. “No. I think we’re good. I want to do this, but we need to stay safe. We play this game for fun. If that place is remotely dangerous, we’ll get out immediately.”
They all nodded. Jane looked at each one of them, glad to be friends with each one. She took a deep breath and wondered for a moment if she was being selfish asking them to go even close to danger.
Maybe this would end up being more trouble than it’s worth, but it was the best adventure she had in the game in years. Being a sorcerer was unlike anything else, and she didn’t want to stop now, but she also didn’t want anyone to get hurt. She glanced at them all again and vowed to keep them safe.
“Let’s get the others and get going,” she said outloud.
~ ~ ~
They fast traveled to Fort Prenth. Conti and Lazorhawkk were waiting there for them. The fees to fast travel outside of a kingdom were high enough that it made most players think twice before using it, but since it would take them at least a week to travel to Fort Prenth from Thundershield otherwise, it was well worth it. Jane had enough gold to pay for the fees, but it did cost a good chunk of what she had earned this week. For the way back she had set up a teleporter stone near Thundershield. The stones started to decay after a few days, which meant if they took more than three or so days she wouldn’t have a hundred percent success chance to get them back. She hoped the quest wouldn’t take that long. Conti refused to let her pay him back, stating that the contract required him to pay his own travel fees.
Seeing Lazorhawkk went about as well as she could have expected. He gawked and then introduced himself.
“I’m Lazorhawkk,” he said, reaching out a hand to shake. He almost dropped the bow he held in his other hand in the process. “I heard we have the privilege of helping you on your quest.”
“I know who you are,” she said simply, ignoring his hand. She really disliked him, and couldn’t bring herself to shake his hand, but he was here to help. “Thanks for coming to help,” she added lamely.
With everyone together she started walking through the fort to the travel merchants. Lazorhawkk’s politeness right now just showed how much he disliked “Jane.” Maybe “Jasmine” was pretty enough for him, or maybe being a sorceress was exotic enough. Jane didn’t care. He was helping her, so she’d be polite, but that was all she could muster right now.
The Fort was closer to a small town than an outpost, but it was the only settlement for miles. Stone walls thick enough to walk on surrounded it, and NPC guards patrolled it, but players owned it. Currently a small guild called Eastminster ran the fort. All the services and NPCs were setup and maintained by members of that guild. Jane had never heard of them before learning about the quest, but they were a merchant guild, part of a medium sized alliance devoted to owning and running small hubs like Fort Prenth.
There was little to see as they walked through the town . They were on the fringe of nowhere, with little around except rocky plains. The town could only support the basic needs, a single inn, basic merchants, and everything related to travel. Even in game, supplies like food and water were needed, and for NPCs as well as players. Players wouldn’t die if they missed a meal or didn’t drink enough, but they would become weaker over time through the fatigue mechanic. NPCs would eventually stop working if the town wasn’t getting the proper supplies. Anything that couldn’t be supplied locally needed to be imported. There was underground water near here, which let the Fort sustain itself, but there were little beyond the necessities.
The travel center was just a few merchants set in a corner near the far gate. Wagons sat behind them as well as some barrels of common traveling supplies. Jane procured two wagons for the caravan. Two was plenty to carry the eight of them and supplies for a few days. Food and water was included in the transaction. The wagons would have enough of each stored for six people for a week, which was hopefully far longer than they’d need.
They hopped into the wagons. Dave took the helm on the first wagon and Conti the second. The wagon’s didn’t have horses, but appeared steam powered in some way. In game appearances could be deceiving but the important part was that instead of horses to feed the wagons had some power supply to keep them running.
A player from Eastminster greeted the group at the gate.
“Where you heading?” he asked. He was dressed with the clothing and hat of a typical merchant. Jane wondered if there were stats that gave bonuses to bureaucracy work, or if merchants just liked that look.
“Sorceress quest, out east,” Dave said, nodding at Jane.
“Oh!” said the player. “Well good luck. Haven’t had many people go out that way in the last few months. I don’t want to discourage you, but rumor has it the edge zone that way is growing. Don’t have anything to fear here, since we’re still far away, but you ought to be cautious heading out that way.”
“We will be,” Dave said, shifting in his seat.
“The wagons are magical. If you are forced to abandon them, they will attempt to return without you. It will take a few days and it is possible they might fail to return at all. Your deposit will be returned when they arrive—minus damages of course.”
Dave nodded, and Conti gave a small laugh. If they were forced to abandon the wagons they would probably have more to worry about than a deposit. The merchant casted a spell on the wagons, which turned them into a caravan.
They headed out east from the fort. Conti pulled up the second wagon beside the first so they could talk and sort out the details of shifts. Now that they were part of the caravan they would stay with the wagons even if they logged out. Arantor was a globe, like the real world, and Fort Prenth was much farther east than Thundershield so they had lost a few hours of daylight. Jane planned on staying logged in the entire time, even if most of it was sitting around. Conti had plenty of game time and so did Grendalt. The other five would rotate in and out as needed.
Jane had more than a week’s worth of game time saved up but that wasn’t much spread over six people. It worked out to just over a day for each, which she hoped would be enough. The plan was to conserve hours until they were near the quest area and then they would try to pound out her quest in less than twenty four hours. Dave, Gavin, and Brett even offered to throw some extra hours in for themselves if needed, which would allow everyone to stay logged in longer if it came down to that. Jane hoped that wouldn’t be needed.
She looked out ahead of them. There was the road, a hard packed section of dirt surrounded by scattered brush. Small hills were dispersed around. If it wasn’t for the road itself, she would doubt there was anything in this direction. This was the farthest she had ever been from civilization. Looking out she had to remind herself she could go back anytime. It was just a game and she had her teleport stones that she could use. However, going back was admitting defeat, so she did not plan on doing it without the quest items. With a hardened look, she gave the order to press forward.
Chapter Three
Soon everyone was logged out except Conti, Grendalt, and Jane. The three of them would drive until the sun set. The roads were much more dangerous at night, and while nothing should be beyond what they could handle as a group, it was easier to set up camp and have those with extra hours keep watch through the night.
Even though she trusted Conti not to betray them—because of the contract if nothing else—she still felt the need to keep an eye on him. He was up to something, and she was curious to know what. She couldn’t figure out what he might want out here in the middle of nowhere.
Grendalt was driving the front wagon, and Jane rode in the back. It was almost strange to see him in a fully human form. He didn’t seem to like it that much. He still wore little in clothing, having no shirt on. From what little she gleaned from him about his class, apparently restrictive armor or clothing made it tougher to shift between forms. He had loose shorts on and bracers, but other than that his armor seemed to be all trinkets and jewelry.
She looked around at the barren landscape before glancing at the second wagon behind them, where Conti was driving.
“Any misgivings so far?” Conti asked. He wore a different set of armor than he had in Thundershield. It had no livery on it, and looked more what an average player would wear. She bet he had his real gear in his quickswap, so he could use it at a moment if needed.
“No. Should I have?” she asked, giving him a pointed look.
“About me? What do you expect me to say?” he asked, laughing.” Of course I’ll say no, and you’ll have to choose whether you believe me or not. We’ll be right back where we were before. What about your friends? An odd group there.”
“We’ve worked well together,” she said, smoothing out her robe. “I’m glad to have them along.”
“And yet, they didn’t help you when you were stuck at level zero,” said Conti. He shook his head. “Was that just four days ago? I feel like we’ve known each other forever, Jasmine.”
“They would have helped me if they could. The patch glitched me out, like I said.”
“Ah yes, I do recall that.” Conti tilted his head as he looked at her. “I am curious, though...what class were you before you prestiged?”
“A warrior,” she said without hesitating. She needed to be careful talking with Conti, but she also knew he could read a lot from a moment’s hesitation. She had already put her ticket in, so he couldn’t report her if he suspected something was wrong. But she still really didn’t want him to find out that this had all been some sort of mistake. Who knew what he could glean from even her answering a simple question?
“A warrior?” he said, raising his eyebrows. It was the first time she had seen him be surprised. Even when she’d first met him and told him about the glitch, he was nonchalant about the whole thing. He liked to know what was coming, or look like he did even if he didn’t. “That’s about as opposite from a sorceress as possible. I just can’t picture you running up and hitting things, hoping you whack them hard enough that they fall before you do.” He laughed.
