Arcane kingdom online co.., p.109
Arcane Kingdom Online: Complete Box Set, page 109
“Were you really gonna go out the front?” he asked.
“And what if we were?” balked Serena.
Shade rolled his eyes and I noticed he had a healing charm around his neck.
“What’s that?” I asked.
Shade picked up the necklace and grinned at it. There was even a hint at a blush. “Kari made it for me.”
“Oooooooh,” said Serena.
Shade’s face went completely deadpan. “No time for gossip, kiddies. Follow me.”
The cat man walked past Serena and I with an overconfident gait. He led us to the back of the control center, going down a spiral staircase to the dungeons.
“Um, we’re trying to leave Iron Citadel,” said Serena. “Not burrow ourselves deeper in it to hibernate.”
“Hardy-har,” said Shade, walking past the unused cell bars and crypts. “There’s a secret exit through here.”
He pushed a brick at the end wall, revealing a trap door, leading to a tunnel neither one of us had seen before.
“I bet you didn’t know we had this feature,” said Shade, winking at us.
“How did you find out about it?”
“Every good criminal knows to scan the place,” said Shade. “What do you think I do all day? Drink?”
We both looked at each other and nodded. “Pretty much.”
“Well, you’d be 98% right,” he laughed. “But don’t underestimate that final 2%!”
Shade continued to lead the way down the secret tunnel until we emerged at a ladder. He climbed up and poked open a trap door, which brought in a gust of wind from the outside. He climbed up first and then called down to say the coast was clear. Serena went next and I followed right after her. We emerged from the underground in a pile of hay in the horses’ stable.
A pile of brown horse shit stood right by where I almost planted my hand.
“Charming,” I said.
Outside the barn, Shade had a wagon cart waiting for us. The sky was still dark, faint orange light coming from far in the distance. A group of snowgulls chirped from their perched spot high on the tower. A brisk wind drifted through, pressing against our clothes.
“Here equip these,” said Shade, handing us some cloth robes. “We’re keeping a low profile, right? So put on those low-stat peasant garbs. We’re traveling merchants, if anybody asks.”
“Not very successful ones by the looks of things,” said Serena, looking grossed-out by the rags.
“Good thinking, Ms. Serena—color in the rest of our backstory if you like.”
Shade equipped the rags himself and threw a hood up, concealing his face. He went round and took the reins of the horses.
I equipped the merchant disguise and a message popped up on my HUD.
You have donned a disguise! People will believe you to be a merchant. That is, unless you make them suspicious.
Current disguise level effectiveness: 100%.
With our new disguises on, Serena and I shuffled into the back. Shade whipped the reins and the cart bumbled along the thoroughfares and alleys of Iron Citadel.
The murmurings of the guards grew louder as we approached the gate. There was laughter and the sounds of bottles clinking. They were drinking and acting like goofs. We got close enough that I started to pick up their conversation.
“Here we are in the bloody Storm Mountains, can you believe it?”
A whole round of them laughed. “Not in a million years did I think we’d end up here. After this Clay bloke took over Crystal Port, I stopped questioning I had any idea what the hell was going on.”
“Aye, I feel that,” said another soldier. “Part of me wonders if I ever should’ve taken up arms with him. Maybe I should’ve left when he offered it to us.”
“Mighty fine of him to have let us walk off,” said another voice.
I smiled. I thought that had been a fair decision of mine. I didn’t want to conquer or lead out of fear and I didn’t want the Arethkarians to think I did either; so when we conquered Crystal Port, I offered them a chance to leave, to head off somewhere else.
“Aye—but is that the same man these days. Did you see him in the battle for Iron Citadel? Did you see him against the storm drakes? He went bloody nuts. Out of control. Druid magic. Not to mention the mark on his arm. I didn’t expect so many people to willingly align themselves with someone using dark magic so openly.”
There was a sigh from the guards.
Another voice spoke up. “Yeah, but we’ve stuck with him this long, are we really going to change sides now?”
“Ah, you’re right I guess.”
Footsteps echoed behind us. The first of the morning watch was coming to relieve those who’d stood guard over the long night. The new guard walked close to our caravan.
“Here to relieve ya,” said the new guard. It was a woman.
“Aye—what do you make of this Clay Hopewell fella?”
“It looks like you three have had quite a bit to drink,” she said. “Not quite what guard duty is supposed to entail, is it?”
“Agh,” spat one of the drunken guard. “No one is coming for us, up here in these bloody mountaintops.”
“Did a storm drake not attack us just yesterday?” said the new lady guard.
“Pah,” shouted the man. “You’re avoiding my question. What do you make of this Clay fellow? You’re like us—former Arethkarians, traitors to our own country. What do you make of this young conqueror?
There was a pause.
“I think,” said the woman. “Clay is a good and strong man. I’m happy I’m on his side.”
A commotion followed. Logs falling over, beer bottles breaking.
Serena clutched my arm. “Keep it cool,” she whispered.
“Agh get your hands off me,” said the lady guard. “I’ll take all three of you, if I have to. Why don’t you stop buggering me and deal with this here caravan.”
“Oi,” said one of the guards. “Where ya going now?”
“Orders from up top,” said Shade, calmly. “We’re delivering merchant goods down the mountain pass to see if there are any traders down below.”
“Hrmph,” said one of the guards. “As far as I know, there’s no easy way down these mountains, other than through the mines.”
“Orders from up top,” said Shade. “Maybe they found a shortcut.”
“Blimey,” said the guard. “Alright then, on you go.”
The wheels of the carriage began to move again, splashing through puddles of slush.
“Alright lads, time for bed then,” said one of the drunk guards. “The missus is here to take over.”
Some kind of altercation took place as the guards grew silent.
“We’re almost out,” whispered Serena.
The swishing sound of swords being pulled out of their sheaths echoed across the morning quiet.
Screw this.
I stood up in the carriage and triggered dream dance. The world slowed to a complete standstill. I was in the faded dream realm of pink flames. I had thirty seconds. I jumped out of the carriage and ran towards the guards.
The female soldier had her sword drawn against the drunk guard, who also had his sword raised. I ran up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, putting him down on the ground, defenseless.
I hurried back. I sat down on the carriage seat as soon as dream dance finished, time rushed back into motion. The cart moved ahead. Loads of laughter came from the bailey we were now riding away from.
Serena poked her head out carriage’s curtains, and turned back to me with furrowed eyebrows and an irritated expression. “Tell me you didn’t do that.”
“Hybrid classes are pretty sweet,” I grinned.
“Great,” she said. “Let’s just hope you haven’t spoiled our mission before it’s even begun.”
7
The wagon rushed down the mountain path, bumping over rocks and leaning to the side as Shade whipped the reins, forcing the horses to speed down the hill. The cat-thief had been smoking a rolled-up cigarette of mountain thrush—a coffee substitute that gave you an intense wakeful head rush. Unfortunately for us, the plant when burnt left a potent smell, which was enough to aggro a group of grumpy ice shardlings who were now floating after us with vicious intent.
“Shade—do you know what you’re doing?” shouted Serena from the back.
The wagon tumbled down the hill. The hiss of the ice shardlings echoed behind.
“Of course I do,” shouted Shade, above the rush of the horses frantic hoofs kicking through the mud. “I’ve done this before.”
“How many times before?”
“Once, thankyouverymuch,” said Shade.
“Once doesn’t make you a freaking expert on wagon driving,” shouted Serena.
“I think Ms. Serena, if you just calm down, you’ll see that—agh!!!”
The horses made a sharp turn sending the wagon onto one wheel. The whole cart tipped over on a muddy hill. The horses reins snapped loose. The cart rolled over, sending us all tumbling along with it.
I didn’t even have a chance to get my bearings when gunshots echoed across the land.
“Take that you goddamn ice shardling scum,” shouted Shade.
“I thought we were trying to stay inconspicuous moron,” shouted Serena, kicking and punching her way out from beneath the cloth wagon curtains covering us. I followed behind her. Once out beneath the cloth rooftop, I saw the five ice monsters had surrounded us.
Ice shardlings were strange creatures. They were a collection of floating bright diamond like shards of ice that composed a fragmented shape of a body.
“Glad you guys finally decided to help,” yelled Shade.
Serena unsheathed her sword from behind her back. “You shut your dirty-mountain-thrush-smoking-ignorant-of-proper-horse-carriage-driving-procedure-mouth, Shade, or I won’t take all these shardlings aggro off you this minute!”
Shade gulped and scratched the back of his furry head. “I’m sorry Ms. Serena. You’re totally right.”
“Good,” grinned Serena. She then beat her chest and shouted, “Protect Thy Allies!”
The powerful shout’s energy reverberated across the wagon crash site, knocking back the ice shardlings. They all then turned with hypnotized bloodlust and charged towards Serena.
Serena sliced her blade upward at the first shardling, creating cracks into the creature’s crystalline skin. The creature retaliated with a burst of frost and wind damage shooting in a wide-ranged radius. The blast hit me as well, taking off a chunk of HP.
Dual-wielding his flintlock pistols, Shade fired off bullet after bullet at the ice monster. The hits knocked into the cracking shards, pushing the monsters back a step.
“A little help Clay?” said Serena, slashing the surrounding ice creatures.
“Got it,” I said, triggering dream dance. The battle around me paused. Everyone froze mid-step. Serena held her sword up in the air, newly shot bullets floated at a standstill. I weaved my hands together and conjured the dream blade out of pink burning flames of the dream realm.
With my new magic sword in hand, I stepped out of the dream realm and unleashed mind slash, a rippling wave of energy smashed into the ice shardlings, shattering them to pieces.
+Critical Hit!
+110 EXP!
“Nice sword,” said Serena, with raised eyebrows.
“It’s actually called a dream blade,” I gloated.
“Oh yeah?” she said.
I was about to say something back when the three other shardlings all hit me with a massive ice blast.
Ack! The collective hit took out 25% of my HP. Little bits of ice clawed into my skin. They burned, but I paid them no heed. I unleashed mind slash again, knocking the ice shardlings back. I then ran and stabbed my sword into the other.
“Clay!” said Serena.
But I didn’t listen to her, feasting on the violence of the moment.
“Clay!” shouted Shade.
“You’re healing them!” said Serena.
I’m what? I paused and saw that my most recent attack had increased the HP of the shardling in front of me.
I immediately rolled away, triggering flame dodge, propelling myself away from my enemies with a line of fire.
What the heck was happening? I checked my HUD and saw I had a new debuff in my status.
Glacier Skin (Debuff): Ice magic is imbued in all magical attacks (Duration: 5 minutes)
“Oh dang, all my attacks are being imbued with ice magic that heals them,” I explained.
Serena leapt in the air and drove her sword right through the ice shardlings head, crushing the collection of shards into half shaped rocks on the ground.
+110 EXP!
“It was cool seeing the dream druid magic,” teased Serena. “But now it’s time for the real effective tools to be used.”
Serena stabbed the other shardling and then the other, drawing their aggro through sheer damage output. Then as they came at her she triggered blade tornado, spinning her sword around and obliterating the rest of the ice shardlings’ HP.
+110 EXP!
+110 EXP!
Serena lifted her sword and sheathed it behind her back. She clapped her hands, patting off any dirt and sweat, while congratulating herself for a job well done.
I checked my HUD and saw I had leveled up twice. The hauntling kills during the dream druid trial and this fight alone must have shot me up. Early levels were always easy to gain. I was now level three dream druid.
“I honestly don’t know what you’d guys would do without me,” she sighed.
“Run away probably,” I conceded.
“Or hide,” added Shade. “Or is that the same as running away?”
“They fall under the same umbrella,” I shrugged. “Anyways—” I looked over my shoulder. No one was around, thankfully. We were supposed to be weak traveling merchants and here we were slashing swords and wielding dream magic.
The sky was darkening now, so we had a brief cover of night. The journey down the mountain had been relatively peaceful, until the very end with the shardlings. But it was all over now. We were in a rocky valley with a river and forest in the distance. A little bit closer there was a windmill and a cluster of homes with smoke billowing out the chimneys.
A village. This was where the smuggler we needed was supposed to be.
“What are we going to do with our cart?” said Shade, picking up a piece of broken wood. “The horses ran off too.”
“Forget it all,” I said. “We made it down the mountain and kept our cover, that was the most important thing. Let’s go check out the village over there. There’s probably an inn we can stay at. We can figure out our next moves in the morning.”
The party agreed. We adjusted our crappy fake merchant gear and headed towards the village. We got closer and saw the village didn’t amount to much: a few stone houses with a dirt road running through it. Noises of people chatting and laughing came from the end of the street. We headed down the dirt road and found an old stone building with a hanging wooden sign. Brakeshire Village Inn. Bright light spilled out from the windows. Laughter and cheering echoed from beyond the walls.
I swung open the door and stepped inside. One foot in the door and it was as if the entire conversation stopped and everybody in the room turned to us. The inn was surprisingly busy for what looked like a little village. All the main races of Illyria were present: rough looking Haeren farmers clustered around one table with large pints of stout, a mixed group of Lirana, Rorn and Muumuu were at another table with cards and chips splayed out. Despite their game, they’d stopped to look at us. Two Lirana that made up a musical duo—the man played the lute while the other looked to be a singer—paused their song, irritated as if our stepping into what was clearly a public establishment had somehow wrecked whatever piece they had been performing. The bartender, a Haeren-Rorn halfling with slicked back black hair and a handle bar moustache, polished a beer glass with a rag while staring us down. I got the feeling not a lot of passersby came through these parts.
Then, like someone had flicked a switch back on, everyone turned away from us and returned to their conversation. The lute player strummed his instrument and picked at the strings, while his partner began to sing. The farmers turned back to their aggressive pint drinking, paying us no heed. The group at the inn had assessed us and it had been decided we were either 1) no importance to them or 2) not looking for trouble or 3) even if we were, we looked weaker than peanuts and the collective group would be able to run us out of town.
It was pretty impressive what a disguise could achieve.
We made our way to the bar. Despite the humble furnishings of the place, the back of the bar was state of the art with clear glass tanks full of different liquids of bright golden ales bubbling away while black stouts foamed at the top. Shade’s eyes glowed at it all. “Finally, magitech put to good use.”
The bartender nodded at the statement. “What can I do for you three?”
“We need a place to stay for the evening,” I said.
“I got a room upstairs that should do the three of you just fine,” said the bartender. “But I gotta ask, we don’t get a lot passersby coming through these parts. Can you promise me you’re not bringing any trouble?”
“We’re just three traveling merchants, sir,” I said.
The bartender’s eyebrows furrowed.
Warning! Your disguise effectiveness has dropped from 100% to 25%!
“Traveling merchants? There’s nowhere to go around these parts and I don’t think you’ll find many villagers looking to part with much of their coin.”
“Um,” I said.
“We have adventurer contacts who went into the storm mountains,” explained Shade. “We’re hoping we can negotiate a deal with their loot findings before the competition gets stiffer at Ryr’s Ascension.”
The bartender nodded his head. “Not a foolish move, except no one’s entered the Storm Mountains from this here side in months. Unless your adventurer’s were the Arethkarian regiment that went through that there pass, but they haven’t returned either; and from what I hear, they won’t be coming back as well. So why don’t you tell me why you three are actually here?”
