The Kartoss Gambit (The Way of the Shaman: Book #2) (40 page)

"You are right, we do have a certain interest. I can't deny something so obvious. But every interest has its limits. If you ask something unrealistic, I would have to pass on this quest, no matter how much I may want to get it."

"That's why I didn't make any demands. To be honest, I expected a reasonable reaction from Phoenix and a corresponding offer, but in no way a discussion about what it was I needed. I'm somewhat disappointed."

"Something tells me that money is not the thing you're after," Ehkiller dropped into thoughtful silence. "Before I make you an offer, please answer this question. As far as I know, you have Plinto's amulet and also a chance to choose any player. Why Anastaria?"

"You wouldn't believe it, but her amulet was simply closer to my hand. I really don't care which of the clans becomes first and which second. It's all purely rhetorical to me. My task is to serve the rest of my sentence, preferably in as much comfort as possible."

"I understand now. Are you familiar with such a faction as Thricinians?"

"Of course," I swallowed. Ehkiller managed to surprise me and strike at my most vulnerable spot: these traders in Scaling Items were world-famous.

"Anastaria has levelled up her reputation with them to Esteemed and may invite another player with her, for whom she can choose and buy from the items they have for sale. I offer you any four items from the Thricinians — paid for by Phoenix. What do you say?"

The most unpleasant part was that we both understood that Ehkiller won our little duel the moment he uttered word 'Thricinians'. It is an artificial faction in Barliona, whose only purpose was to sell Scaling Items — items that levelled up together with the players that owned them. At the same time, the faction guaranteed that any player, even one lacking any reputation with them, could come in spend a crazy amount of money to buy some simple object like my Tambourine. However, as soon as you increased your reputation with this faction, the items became a whole lot more interesting. I never imagined that it was possible to gain Esteemed with them, thinking it was totally out of reach, so my regard for Anastaria had shot up quite a lot. This was impressive stuff. Whatever she might be in real life, but gaining Esteemed with the Thricinians was worth a lot. And I could choose any four objects... Eh... I sold myself down the river, completely. All right, I knew what I was getting into. The initial deal I was fishing for with Phoenix was any four wishes that could be carried out and would not be harmful to the clan. To have a look at the scroll of Karmadont, for example. But then thought better of it. Be careful what you wish for, as they say. What if a Phoenix battle group got hold of me, like those three PKers, locked me down and chased me around until I begged them for mercy. And then they'd ask: "Is that one of your wishes?" That's one way to lose them all. I think not. Everything has to be clearly set down in writing and made official according to the letter of the law. That's the only way of dealing with the leading clans.

"That's more like it. Now I understand who holds the real power in your clan. Drop me an agreement: if I'm happy with it, I'll approve it and choose Anastaria. The choice must be made today, so it would be good to get through all the formalities straight away. "

"You will get the text in a minute," said Ehkiller, satisfied. "It's been good working with you. Until we speak again.”

Two minutes later a message lit up saying that player Ehkiller on behalf of the Phoenix clan is offering an agreement for me to sign. The text described in detail both what I would get if I chose Anastaria for the quest and what I would not get if I did not choose her. Moreover, Anastaria's success in completing the quest in no way affected any bonuses I should receive. Great. I carefully read the text, but it didn't leave much open to interpretation: everything was written clearly and properly, so I accepted it and, turning to the Herald, made my choice:

"I choose Anastaria from the Phoenix clan for watching over the castle. "

The Herald closed his eyes, checking that Stacey was present in the game, whispered something and a portal formed next to him. A couple of seconds went by and the one I considered the ideal of female beauty stepped out. Unlike our previous encounters, this time I was no longer in the grips of the desire to roll over like a puppy and start rubbing against Stacy's feet. Something else occupied my mind: how old was she really? Let's suppose she started playing when she was fourteen, as soon as she became a provisional adult. She would have needed at least ten years to get to her current position. Thus, she was at least twenty five, if not more.

"Well, hello again, Mahan," Anastaria fixed her hair and closed her eyes. A few seconds later she lifted an eyebrow in surprise — she was probably reading the conditions of the Herald's quest — and then broke out in laughter.

"Ah, just beautiful. Eh, Mahan..." still laughing, Anastaria started to clap, "if Barliona ever has a contest for the most epic set-up, you'd win hands down! Beautiful, just beautiful! And, most importantly, it's all totally above board!"

"Anastaria, the Emperor places his hopes in you," the Herald interrupted her. "And now I must go," the Herald nodded, opened a portal and disappeared, leaving me alone with a laughing 330-level girl.

"Stacey, you really are exaggerating," I smiled. The lady paladin's laughter was too infectious.

"Like hell I am! Managing to sell a four-week-long banishment for such a price — takes some considerable skill. But you managed it! At least tell me how you found them."

That was no great secret, so I told her how the PKers hunted me and how I ran across the goblins and asked them for help.

"If I didn't see the result with my own eyes, I would've never believed it. Why on earth do you always end up in the middle of such interesting events? Do you have a certain bodypart smeared in honey so that adventures fly to it like a swarm of bees? Hey, you can chill — I'm just kidding. What are you going to do now? By the looks of it, I'll be stuck here until you finish your quest. I wouldn't even think of offering help: it'll end up costing the clan an arm and a leg, going by your current rates," smiled Stacey.

"I'll go back to Beatwick and will try not to set foot outside it for the next four weeks. The three morons will soon be back on their feet and eager to get their own back, so I'll have a bunch of crazies on my case. Best if I waited it out in a safe zone."

"Since when is Beatwick a safe zone?" asked Anastaria in surprise.

"As far as I know, it's not. It's just conditionally safe. But that's good enough for me."

"So it is," Anastaria smiled once again and began to take out her things. "Will you help me put up the tent or do you have to go back right away?"

"I do, but I can spare a couple of minutes. What needs doing?"

Anastaria took out a big roll and handed it to me. Wow! A Middle-earth Ranger Tent! If you put it up in a forest, you can stop worrying about your safety — it was only possible to see the tent by walking right into it. Or if the owner had given you his permission. Or if you're a Hunter and turned on you 'find humanoids' mode. Or... Well, there were ways, but none very easy.

After putting up the tent and hanging up alarm traps around it, Anastaria looked at me and suddenly asked:

"Mahan, I realise that you won't hand over the chess pieces just like that, but can you at least let me have a look at them? I've seen so many fakes by now and here I have a chance to see the original. I would never forgive myself if I didn't at least take a look at them."

Right. Something strange is going on here. Since when did Anastaria turn into a nice girl who would refer to her wishes and desires? Something wasn't right. Should I show them? Not on my life!

"Stacey, we have agreed that you would only get the pieces when you put together a decent agreement. We've gone over the conditions. Where is it? I haven't seen one materialise. No agreement — no chess pieces. You should understand, being a lawyer."

"I'm not a lawyer! Where no earth did you get that? I have two good higher educations, but neither of them is in law."

"Really? Strange, as far as I know, all of Malabar speaks of you as a lawyer. What's your degree in then?" Now things were becoming clearer with the girl's age. You cannot study for two degrees at the same time — only one after the other. So, if she has two, she's been studying for ten-eleven years, which makes Stacey older than twenty-eight... Damn, what the heck am I thinking about?

"Radio electronics and economics. Right now I'm studying for a marketing consultant."

"No way! Tell me the Kirchhoff's law."

"Which of the two?" laughed the girl, "Mahan, it makes no sense for me to lie."

"I'm sorry, that was stupid. I just find this totally mindblowing: a beautiful girl in an electronics faculty... You would've seriously distracted people from studying."

"You think me beautiful?" Anastaria dropped her eyes. She was quite the actress! I'll have to train long and hard before I get this good!

"Well... I should go. Good luck in your monster fighting."

"Wait," Anastaria stood up, made a barely perceptible hand movement, as if activating an aura, then exhaled and in a syrupy voice, which I heard before from the amulet, said, "Won't you give me the Orc Warrior figurines, eh? You don't need them, and I would find them real handy."

"Stacey, we already went over this," at first I didn't get what the girl was doing and then it dawned on me. I nearly choked with indignation. She was using her poison. On me!

"Pleeeease! I would be ever so grateful!"

Yeah... Somehow I thought better of her. Does she really want the figurines so bad she'd take such a risk?

"Stacey..." a plan emerged in my head, but I had to wrestle with myself a bit before putting it into action.

"Mahan, dear, they would make such a perfect gift, pretty please with sugar on top." Stacey was trying her best, even blushing from the effort. Right, it was time to act.

"Sweetest Stacey..." I fell to my knees before the girl. Somebody stop me! So you need the figurines, eh? Let's see how much I've learned from your acting lessons. "Stacey, my darling," I started to do what I had been fantasising about ever since I first found out about this girl: I grabbed her legs in an embrace and started to make my way up, in a most brazen manner exploring the girl's game avatar. "Stacey, baby...."

"Mahan, the chess pieces! Where are they?" Stacey's face was a picture of revulsion, but that only amused me. I well aware that this was only a digital copy of the girl, that her filters were probably turned on and she couldn't feel my touch, but she could see everything all right!

It took me a minute to get all the way up, all the while keeping Anastaria in my embrace. The girl wasn't even trying to resist, she was convinced that I had completely succumb to her poison. Well, the shit's about to hit the fan! Although, it's hard not to admit that Stacey was rather pleasant to the touch!

"Mahan! The figurines!" she repeated forcefully, when just a dozen centimetres remained between our faces. I leaned over to her ear and whispered:

"In your dreams, sweetheart. If you try to do this again, I'll summon a Herald and say that you've been trying to gain control over my character. Shall I tell you what would happen next?"

And then I saw that for which I put on this entire performance, starting with falling on my knees. Fear appeared in the lady paladin's eyes. Fear that she was just a pawn in this game. Damn, I was relishing this!

"How?" Stacey whispered "There are no antidotes to this...."

"You're smart and will have plenty of time on your hands to figure it out. And now, farewell," I leant over and kissed her on the lips. I'll consider that a bonus. Whatever she was like in reality, right now I had a very beautiful frightened woman in my hands. It would've been wrong not to kiss her. Too bad it wasn't reciprocated. That would have been very nice. But this will do.

I let go of the dumbfounded girl, took out one of the scrolls I got from the Keeper and activated the portal. It was time I got back to Beatwick — to receive the herd of cows, complete the quest, drop by Elizabeth to clear things up with her and prepare for the fight with the mist beast.

"Mahan!" Anastaria's shout caught me just as I stepped through the portal. I looked back at the girl's sparkling eyes and raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Who are you?"

T
he scrolls were a let-down: I came out of the portal right in the centre of Beatwick square, where you usually ended up if not bound to a particular place. A pity, it would've been good to settle the matter of the Coordinator straight away.

"Mahan! You're back already? What about the cows?" Tisha appeared next to me.

"Aren't they here yet?" I was surprised. According to my estimates, the herd should've been already in place.

"Why on earth..." Tisha began, but was interrupted by a guard running up to us.

"There... we... the cows have come," he said, out of breath from his run. "We won't be going to fetch them though."

"Why?" frowned the girl.

"There are goblins and the Wild Pack. They're pacing around the cows, as if waiting for something.

Well, I'll be.... Did the escort really have instructions to hand them over to me personally? What would the villagers think if I started speaking in goblin? They might go straight for their pitchforks. Some quick 'disengagement' was in order.

"Mahan, what are we going to do?" the Headman's daughter started to sound worried. "Father is busy, brothers are away and Slate is gone as well. We have no-one to go to the goblins!"

"I will go. I just happen to know goblin language. I'll go and ask what they want. Maybe they've come to apologise and you're all fretting over nothing. Where is everyone?" Only now did Tisha's words sink in.

"My brothers rode off to hunt the mist monster..."

"Who?" asked the guard who was still loitering nearby.

"It doesn't matter. And Slate went to travel round the villages to fix things. Would you really go?"

"I'll go, don't you worry."

The Wild Pack was pacing by the smithy, trying not to come near the gates. The poor cows, eyes wild from such neighbours, huddled by the stockade, threatening to topple it with their weight. There was little cause to worry, however. This wasn't reality — in Barliona even the most flimsy-looking fence could be an impenetrable wall. Not a single cow would get through.

"Here's the herd," said one of the goblins, as soon as I came out of the gates. "We were told to hand it over to you in person, now we go back," with this they turned around and sped away from the village. Somewhat perplexed, I stood there and watched the departing cloud of dust, when the gates opened and people poured out of them.

"What did they say?" Tisha started to question me right away.

"They apologised, saying they made a mistake and won't do it again," I told a blatant lie. I doubt anyone else understood what the goblin barked.

"Count the cows," the Headman finally appeared, looking like he had been torn away from his work. "We have to be sure that they all came back."

"Ten are missing," someone shouted straight away. "These green mugs pinched ten cows!"

"Tisha and the Headman were noticeably disheartened.

"That's very bad," the village boss said, "ten cows less would be a heavy blow to the village. We'll have to replace the missing ones by buying more in Farstead. But that's for us to worry about. Thank you, Mahan. You did an honest job of this assignment."

Quest 'Returning the Herd' completed. Completion percentage: 80%. You received: +100 to Reputation with the Krong Province, +300 Experience, +80 Silver.

That's it? What was the point of running after the herd for such a measly reward? I was expecting more, somehow. I read through the quest conditions once again: Variable.

"How much does a cow cost in Farstead?" I asked the Headman, as he was about to leave.

"Five thousand a head. But I can probably bargain a thirty percent discount if I buy all ten in one go. But where would we get so much money? I just don't have that amount on me right now. I'll have to think of something."

What a snag! Damned Imitator in charge of this quest! Even counted the money that was taken off me automatically. A thirty percent discount. Does that mean I fooled that goblin for nothing? And what if I didn't ask the castle Keeper for anything? Was I supposed to have volunteered my own gold? Interesting quests they have in this area!

"Wait," I stopped the Headman and handed him the all the money I got from the goblin in the Kartoss castle, "here you go: I believe I am partly at fault here. I failed to get the entire herd back."

On one hand — easy come, easy go. But on the other hand — minus thirty five thousand gold... I tried not to even think what I was doing when I was handing over the money. And the main thing — why am I doing this if I have three people in Anhurs living on short rations? I'm acting like a major spendthrift!

"I have nothing to give you in return," the Headman visibly swallowed, as his greedy gaze fell on the money. "I can promise only one thing: if you are ever in need, I will come to your aid."

"Take it already! I'm not doing this for something, but simply because," I had no idea what I just said, but it had a good ring to it. "When the time comes, we'll square up."

You received: +500 to Reputation with the Krong Province, +500 Experience, +2 to all the main stats.

Now was the turn for my jaw to drop in surprise. Reputation is a good thing, for sure, and I've already reached Friendly with Krong, but +2 to all the main stats... That's just super! It may not be much, but it's in the stat hard currency! I thought that such quests were available only from level 90! It's so nice to be wrong sometimes! Moreover, the promise of help from the Headman... Something tells me that it would come in useful when I find out the identity of the Coordinator.

"I heard you're having problems with Elizabeth," the Headman asked when I finally scraped my jaw off the floor. When did he get so well-informed? "Do you need a new place to stay?"

"No, I'll go visit her now and I think that we'll come to an understanding. Thank you for your concern."

"If you need anything, just drop by. I will be in," the visibly cheered up Headman went off to his house. Right, the time had now come to find out who Elizabeth really was...

"Didn't I tell you: don't come here anymore!" came Beth's angry shout as soon as I entered the gates.

"Yes, you did, I won't dispute that," I checked the level of Attractiveness just in case: '83 points'. That should be enough for a chat, and then we'll see. "I won't go anywhere until we talk. And no need to turn around so pointedly. I didn't bring the herd back to be speaking to a back."

"You... you brought back the herd?" there was now uncertainty in the woman's voice now and I decided to make use of that. "And what about the people?"

"The situation with the people is not as good. Those who changed can't be brought back. They've become goblins forever, but at least now the villagers of Beatwick won't be going hungry. I think I earned the right to a conversation. Let me tell you what I know and then you can decide for yourself whether to chuck me out or not. You shouldn't make decisions in a moment of passion, priestess."

The last word made Elizabeth start.

"I... I am no longer a priestess. The goddess has turned away from me."

"Of course she did. And yet in your anger you threw me into Mistrust with the priestesses of Eluna. How can a former priestess, from whom the goddess has turned away, remove reputation? Especially in such large amounts. Tell, me, were you a High Priestess?" the last phrase was intended as a joke. As far as I knew, the High Priestess is the top rank in the hierarchy and it's virtually impossible to remove her from her position.

"Yes," tears appeared in Beth's eyes. "Ten years ago I was the High Priestess of Eluna in Anhurs. But I was removed as soon as.... You're lying, I couldn't have removed reputation!" with those last words Beth was shouting.

"Mum, are you ok?" Clouter popped out of the house. "Hi, Mahan. Are you the one that upset mum?"

"It's all right, dear. Everything's all right," said the woman, wiping away her tears. "It's just that Mahan told me a story, which I had almost believed. Everything's all right."

"A story?" Some joke that was! 'High Priestess'! It was my turn to be indignant. "Oh No! You better take a look!" I did something I would've never done with another player: gave full access to my reputation table. From it you could see straight away, whom I've met and have been in touch with. "Before meeting you Shaman Mahan never met Priestesses of Eluna. As the Emperor is my witness," I called Barliona's most dangerous arbiter as a witness. A cloud of light immediately formed around me and quickly dissipated, leaving me unharmed. Calling on the Emperor is one of the last arguments in communications both with other players and NPCs. Only free citizens are able to call upon the Emperor, at least those not sporting a red headband. At the mine this would have come in really useful, especially then Bat set me up that first time by taking my Rat Skins. When a player calls upon the Emperor, a special Imitator is activated. It analyses the words of the summons, looks up the game logs, checks the truth or falsehood of the words and then surrounds the player either by a light dome, showing that he was right, or by a dark one, which comes with a three-month debuff of -50% to all stats. Moreover, the owner of the dark dome gets a special 'bonus': -10% to levels. All the players are informed of these facts, so there have never been any complaints. Although it did occur to me that prisoners were never told these rules, but placed directly in the mines. I should write to tech support, telling them that they have a lapse on this point. How could they fail to foresee the possibility of someone leaving the mines, removing the headband and calling the Emperor as a witness? Or is it that they didn't tell me the rules because I played before? Right, this is unimportant. A dumbfounded priestess of Eluna was now standing in front of me wide-eyed as she read my reputation table. Admittedly, there were many interesting things to see there.

"You know the Emperor?" that wasn't the question that I expected from Beth once she had come round.

"No. The Herald handed that to me," there was little sense in deceiving the lady.

"A Herald cannot increase favour with the Emperor without his knowledge, you can trust me on this one. It's not for nothing that I was.... that I am a priestess of Eluna."

Your reputation with priestesses of Goddess Eluna has increased by 1000 points. Current level: Neutral. You are 995 points away from the status of Friendly.

"Forgive me. We really should have spoken right at the start. Then we might have prevented all of this from happening. Come, we shouldn't repeat past mistakes. And, Mahan," the priestess turned towards me, "keep calling me Beth. I like that."

"It all started ten years ago," began the lady when we settled down in her house. "My husband was one of the assistants to Advisor Brast, and I, as you already know, was the High Priestess of Eluna. My husband stumbled upon information about a Kartoss plan for the takeover of Malabar. First we thought it was some bad joke, but gradually we became convinced of the truth of this intelligence. We informed Brast of this, but were only laughed at and called panic-mongers. None of the Advisers that we approached in a vain attempt to get through took us seriously. Then we approached the Emperor directly, bypassing the Heralds and the Advisers. The Emperor heard us out and then..." Beth sighed bitterly, "we were banished as panic spreaders and a threat for the integrity of the Empire. My husband was appointed as the Headman in Beatwick and I was stripped of my rank. We had governed this village for eight years, until my husband disappeared. That's the end of our story. I already told you about the curse: two years ago I noticed that our lands — and, as I started to travel between villages looking for a new place to live, the lands of the neighbouring villages too — began to be darkened. Someone was putting a curse on them. I appealed to the Headman, but there was nothing he could do for me — magic was beyond his understanding. His main concern was that the people and the cows were safe. I didn't even bother approaching the Priest. He wasn't interested in anything except wine. I wrote letters to my former sisters asking for help, only to be rebuked for thinking up non-existent problems. I considered talking with the village residents, but then thought — to what end? They have nowhere else to go and they wouldn't even bother hearing me out. Then I decided to try and protect Beatwick all by myself. Every seven days I put Eluna's blessing on the villagers. A few months later the mist monster turned up, who tried to break my concentration. One of the villagers was summoning him. This could mean only one thing: we had a traitor in our midst, someone who wanted to plunge our region into the abyss of darkness. There was no-one I could trust. So when you turned up and started running around in search of the monster... I thought all of this was arranged for your benefit. I was even glad that the Headman put you to live with me. I thought it would be easier to keep an eye on you. How wrong I was..."

"And I first thought that you actually were the mist monster and then that you were a demonologist who summoned it," I said, somewhat lost. That's just crazy: I had the High Priestess of Eluna — allbeit a former one — sitting right in front of me. "So I decided to catch you to stop you summoning the mist beast. Very 'smart' of me too — I could've just had a chat with you..."