The Kartoss Gambit (The Way of the Shaman: Book #2) (18 page)

"Draco, hello. Would you like to play?"

“To pway? I wike to pway. Do you pwomise that we pway? We didn't pway wast time."

"We will, for sure. Come now."

"To whom, 'him'?" chuckled the wothe, "It's not like you have a friend who's a Dra..." it didn't manage to finish, as a projection of a little dragon appeared next to me.

The world froze. It was like someone flicked a switch and turned off all the bog sounds at once.

"Hewwo. I came to your call," the high-pitched child's voice put an end to the silence that surrounded us.

"My Lord!" I could be wrong, but judging by the wothe's look, it fell to its knees. If it had any.

"Who's this? What's he doin'?" Draco looked at it in surprise.

"He's just fooling around. Just imagine — before we could play hide and seek, we need to get hold of a chest. The wothe — that thing lying over there — has one, but doesn't want to give it up. It says it would only give it if a Dragon asks it. So, do you want to play hide-and-seek?"

"Hide and feek! I wike hide and feek!" Draco even started spinning around me in anticipation of the fun. "Am I Dlagon?"

"Yes, a Dragon."

"Give me the chest," Draco looked at the wothe. And then added, "Pweese."

"Yes, Lord," immediately a small — about knee-high — chest appeared next to the wothe. So that's what all the fuss is about! Could it contain a Legendary or an Epic item? That would be great!

"And now we pway. Wothe, you with us?"

"If you command, my Lord," the wothe showed no sign of getting up from the ground.

"I command it. Pway with us. I'll be 'it'..."

The hide-and-seek took us about two hours. The island turned out to have an abundance of hiding places — so much for me thinking of the tree as the only place to hide. Small hollows, stones, and even a burrow where the wothe lived — all could be used for hiding. I never touched the chest and Draco didn't ask why we weren't using it. He even tried it out as a hiding place, but the see-through tail always let me know that my Totem was behind the chest. At last Draco started to yawn and asked if he could go now. I had to promise that soon I would call him once again and we would continue the game.

You have summoned your Totem: Because your Totem is still disembodied, the next summoning can only happen in 7 days' time.

Ehh... And I was all set on continuing to play with Draco later today. But never mind. In seven days' time I'd be sure to summon him again.

"So you have a dragon as a Totem," said the wothe when Draco disappeared. "It's been a long time since I've seen one of them. I even forgot what it feels like — when a Dragon is looking at you."

"That's right. So can I take the treasure then?" I glanced at the chest that was still standing by the tree.

"Yes, you can. My service had come to an end. I'll go back to the woods and seek out a dryad. Or a couple..." the wothe fell silent and, before disappearing, uttered: "The little turtle will wake up in a minute. I'm not controlling it any more. Good luck to you."

In a minute? The teleportation scroll takes thirty seconds to activate. I had no idea how long it would take for the Turtle to get to the island (what if it decides to nibble on me some more), but I'd venture a guess that it's not long at all. This means...

I ran to the chest and lifted the lid. So, where's my Legendary or Epic Item?

Leara's Ball Gown. Description: "The world-famous beauty Leara took great pride in her wardrobe. The star of the collection was a special dress, the likes of which has not been seen in Barliona. A girl wearing this dress would become the owner of a truly unique object and would gladly fall into the arms of him who presented her this gift." Durability: unbreakable. If the item is presented to a female NPC: +100 to Attractiveness with that NPC. Item class: Unique, nothing like it exists in Barliona. Level requirements: none.

'Don't wake the wothe in its snoose' Quest completed.

I automatically threw the dress into my bag, took out a scroll of teleportation to Beatwick and activated it. While the portal was being formed, I had time to think that it's been a long while wince anyone had fooled me so beautifully.

T
he next day I bought some food from the trader and headed out for my work team. I have to supply them with rations for the next couple of days and should take some ore off them as well. By now they should have something to show for all that pick-swinging. Then I would drop by the Smithy and will start to level up in Smithing, what if a gem....

"Hey Mahan," my thoughts were interrupted by a low and self-assured voice. "What are you doing here?"

I looked around and saw no-one. What the...? Am I starting to hallucinate now?

"Look up," said a breathtakingly beautiful female voice. I looked up and saw two griffins, silently flapping their wings above my head. Well I'll be... It took a lot of willpower to stay upright, as my legs became like rubber and I sincerely hoped that I didn't actually start to drool. Anastaria! And Hellfire with her! Both leaders of the Phoenix clan in person!

"I'm in exile here," I somehow managed to get a grip on the awe that overwhelmed me and respond. "People, if it's not too much trouble, would you mind coming down? Looking up at you like this is doing my neck in."

"Hel, this boy's cheeky," chuckled Anastaria.

"Or maybe he has no idea who we are." "Let's land," Hellfire barely moved his hand and his griffin began to descend.

I stood there, trying to suppress the shakes. Two top players of our continent within Barliona. Hellfire had a 340-level dwarf warrior and Anastaria, a 330-level human paladin. What on earth did they want with a 20-level player? They shouldn't even take any notice of someone like me...

"Don't fret, we're not PK-ers," the paladin beauty's voice was simply divine! "If I understand correctly, you are one of the five prisoners that were the first to complete the Mushu Dungeon, correct?" with some effort, I forced myself to nod, following which Anastaria continued: "I'm Anastaria, this here is Hellfire. We represent the Phoenix clan, have you heard of it?"

I took several deep breaths, gathered my thoughts and was finally able to come out with something other than groaning:

"I know full well what Phoenix is and who Hellfire and Anastaria are: the two most levelled-up players from our continent, leaders of the most successful clan, winners of the intercontinental clan tournaments and holders of a mindboggling number of First Kills. If you took me for a complete noob, without any real interest in the game, you were mistaken."

"Great! Then we can go straight to business," Hellfire stopped examining the scenery and turned to me. "You didn't answer my question. What are you doing here? What does this 'exile' mean? Since when do 'red riding hoods' get exiled?"

I briefly told them the main points of the law, which required the first six months of the sentence to be served either at a mine or in a settlement."

"So you've managed to earn Respect with the guards in less than six months?" Anastaria's somewhat distracted demeanour changed to visible interest. "How did you manage that?"

Damn... Should I tell them about Jewelcrafting or not? If yes, they would probably ask me to show them and then simply to hand over the chess pieces. Then I would never solve the riddle contained within them.

"I stood up for another prisoner, who was set up at the mine. Then I killed the culprit. I was thrown for respawn and the commission for prisoner affairs ruled that I should be given three character levels and Friendly status with the guards. And then it was simple: Rats. I'm a Shaman, who can summon Spirits, and rat tails provided a decent reputation increase. So that's how I got out in three months. You could say I just got damn lucky."

"You got lucky with the Dungeon too?" now Hellfire joined our conversation.

"To be honest, yes. Eric, one of our five-strong group, saw a dot in a mountain. He played Barliona before prison as a tank, so we believed him. That dot turned out to be a cave entrance. We completed the Malachite gathering quest and went through the Dungeon. It was aimed right at our level, so it wasn't too difficult."

"But Eric, as you call him, Leite and Clutzer said it was actually pretty hard," judging by the way Hellfire was watching me, he was expecting some sort of a reaction. It was strange, but the more time I spent in Anastaria's company, the more I wanted to curl up in a ball under her feet. She's just an ordinary girl, even if unbelievably beautiful, with such wonderful hair that you want to... Right, pull yourself together, you sop!

"'Hard' is when you've had a hundred wipes and are out of ideas on how to keep going. When a Dungeon is completed at the first attempt — it's not that hard," where was I getting all this confidence from? "And how did you find out about Leite, Clutzer and Eric?"

"They've gone through a trial and became our Recruits. They're part of Phoenix now. When you get to Anhurs, drop by our clan's representative office. You're expected there already. When you complete the trial, you'll join us as well," Hellfire did not have a shred of doubt that I would be unable to turn down his offer, and my pride reared its head. So what's this then — Eric, Leite and Clutzer are already in Phoenix? Have all our plans for creating our own clan gone to the dogs now? Well, you can all go bugger yourselves! I won't join, and that's that! Damn, this really has got to me. I was really hoping that I could play the remainder of my sentence with others like me — former prisoners. But it didn't turn out that way at all...

"Right, we're done with small talk, now to business. We are looking for a squad of dark goblins. They're roaming around somewhere in this region. Have you seen anything?"

"Can't you see from the air who's where?" I was genuinely surprised.

"That's the problem — there's a ziggurat standing in this area, with a forty-kilometre radius of effect."

A ziggurat? This was serious! I went to the manual to refresh my memory with the description of this wonder from Kartoss.

Ziggurat — is a unique Kartoss device for suppressing the maps and airborne forces of the enemy. A Ziggurat conceals a certain area of the map and is located in a random spot of the covered area. It is impossible to conduct a search from the air in an area affected by a ziggurat: all Kartoss buildings and units gain the 'Invisibility' buff.

"Have you fallen asleep?"

"Eh? No, just thinking. A ziggurat in this province? Guys, are you sure you're not confusing something? All right, there may be a squad of dark goblins, even ten quads with ten goblins in each. They are all level twenty-thirty. A ziggurat is something a lot more serious! Only a Magister can set one up! Why would there be a Dark Magister of Kartoss in the Krong province?"

"You really aren't a noob," smiled Anastaria. "When you join the clan, I'll take you into my squad. Although... stop! Hel, drive!"

A gust rushed through the area. Hellfire, who was standing a couple of meters away, was suddenly sitting on me — I was pinned to the ground and practically immobilised.

"Stacey, what happened?" though Hellfire didn't understand anything, he carried out Anastaria's command without question. Like an experienced raider — first do, then ask why. It's the only way it works in the Dungeons.

"Our little Shaman here is getting just a little too curious. Are we looking at competition here? Even if he's too much of a small fish to be a competitor. Hel, think about it: we didn't say how many goblin squads there were. We didn't say what level they were. We didn't say how many goblins there were in each squad. But Mahan told us all these things just like that, while the Herald shared this information with us as highly confidential. You don't find it all a bit strange?"

"You think the Seconds hired him?" Hellfire's voice became steely. He bent my head so I saw his grey eyes. "Mahan? Is there something you want to tell us?" Or will we have to be persuading you? You think I don't know what the red band on your head means?"

"Just let me go, I'll tell you all I know," I growled. Hellfire looked questioningly at Anastaria, waited for her nod and got off me. Phew! Right, the time had come to spill the beans. I got up, flexed my neck that was roughed up by Hellfire and began my tale:

"It so happens that I was the one who discovered the first squad of dark goblins. I found it and destroyed it, taking its leader prisoner," I recounted that entire fight, including the 'Romeo and Juliet' achievement. I kept quiet about the Wolves, since they weren't really connected to the goblins.

"That's how I got hold of a work team. They are mining the ore not far from here. That's it, I think."

Hellfire and Anastaria even laughed when I told them about how I lured out the goblins, but as soon as I mentioned the work team, they immediately fell silent.

"So those ten were yours?" Hellfire finally muttered, after the tale of my adventures had come to an end.

"Were?"

"You see, we've already been roaming this territory in search of goblins for two days," Anastaria's tone was strangely apologetic. "We only found out about the ziggurat today, when we were adding our route to the maps. Anyway, we saw your goblins from the air, took them for a dark goblin squad and because our quest said 'destroy' we didn't even bother landing. You know what a meteor shower is, right? Well, I'm afraid you don't have a work group anymore."

"What???"

"Right, chill it" intervened Hellfire. "You should put up signs when you hire work groups. You can take any complaints to the clan, they'll be reviewed there."

"Hel, there's no need to be this way. He's a small-fry, where would he get the money? You could say he had a great stroke of luck, and we just stripped him of ten grand in gold."

"Ehh, Stacey! One day your kindness would bring our clan to ruin! Here you go!" Hellfire threw me seven thousand gold into the trade window." "The cost of a beginner level work group ranges between ten and a hundred gold. The annual profit that they could generate for you wouldn't exceed ten thousand gold, so you can't have any claims against the clan from the financial side. On behalf of the Phoenix clan please accept my apologies for this misunderstanding. I hope that your gaming experience has not suffered. Stacey, let's keep flying, we have another square to cover."

"Mahan, if you see the goblins, let me know," Anastaria handed me a communication amulet. "Call me right away."

The griffins soared into the sky, leaving me in a state of complete befuddlement. Seven thousand gold is good, of course, but now I would have to mine the ore myself. I wonder if they took the gathered ore or just left it lying on the ground. If they didn't actually land, it should still be there. I have to go and check. I’ll do some swinging with my pick as well, take my anger out on a Tin Vein at least. Why does Phoenix think that all the players owe them? And, most importantly, how could Eric, Leite and Clutzer flake out on me like that?

The mine was transformed after the meteorite attack. There were huge holes and piles of stones and not a trace of my workers. The place where the ore was collected was also worse for wear, or rather, it had simply disappeared under a pile of enormous rocks. Even if my former workers did gather anything, it was impossible to get at it now. Damn! I took out my pick and unleashed my fury on the vein. Although why get angry? Some high-level players flew by, made it clear who was boss around here, paid some money and flew off. Same as everywhere else.

“Oi, you there,” a rough voice interrupted my involved, Tin Vein-facilitated anger management session. I'd taken off about 40% of its durability in about half an hour. Not bad for a vein of this level. My hand still remembered how these things were done. “Wotcha mucking about with here?”

Taught by experience, I looked up. There was another standard griffin and a great bird of flame. I knew well enough who it was that managed to get his hands on the only phoenix in the game. The Dark Legion clan, or, ‘Seconds’, as everyone called them behind their backs. The phoenix was carrying none other than Plinto, the head of the clan, a three hundred and thirty-level player. A rogue. Hellfire offered him a crazy amount of money to buy out the phoenix, but Plinto laughed at his requests. He said that this was showing Phoenix's proper place – under Plinto's… Basically, there was a non-stop war between these two clans. Phoenix's strength was in their mastery, while the Dark Legion's was in greater numbers. When a crowd of a hundred 100-level players are trying to catch a level 200 player, the outcome of the battle is very hard to predict. The Dark Legion had tens of thousands of members — Plinto accepted everyone. This included those rejected by Phoenix and those eager to take part in capturing a castle. Almost all high-level PKers were members of this clan, but the Dark Legion always remained in the second place. Right now I had two main players from this clan floating above me. I seem to be having quite a day for running into people.

“I’m mining ore,” I had little desire to be rude to Plinto, who was famous for his short temper. He could send me for respawn in the blink of an eye.

“Have you seen any goblins?”

I could barely restrain myself from saying that I was looking at a couple right now.

“Yes, there were ten of them in this mine. Then Hellfire and Anastaria from Phoenix flew by and destroyed them. You can see the result: total chaos and ruin.” They really shouldn’t have killed off my workers. It wasn’t much, but it was still revenge.