The reward is too small to split between the three of us, so Rachel opts to hang back and teach Mika about being a Tinkerer. Richter, however, is glad to join me and suggests we stake the place out before trying to break in.
We watch several sets of guards coming and going in timely intervals. Aristeo's mansion is actually described by the locals as his "playhouse" since he lived with his mother, stepmother actually, in a grander abode at the center of the city. Both sets of information confirmed by several market goers and stall owners.
We bide our time in the market area, picking up some yellow and red dye, more baking ingredients, and a dozen dormant chicken eggs. The birds simply need to be "activated" to hatch and all they'll need is a bit of food and a place to live. Their maturation speed is boosted, needing only a week instead of the six months Chef Jose taught me about from his own chickens.
Richter even won an elaborate shell game, with a little help from his Arcane Lenses. Afterwards, he tells me that the guy running it was using a mix of spatial magic and actual slight of hand, so I didn't feel so bad for what we had to do to win. For a single silver coin his prize is a Pawn Chesst. We both agree that the guy running the game must have made a fortune with such an alluring prize. When he opened it, we thought he got a refund, but upon closer inspection we found it to be a magical item.
[Three Sided Coin. Wondrous Item
[On one side, is the sorrowful face of a woman. On the other are crossed swords. But, if the owner of this coin calls out the jester, the magic activates. Everyone within a 10ft radius becomes Enraptured by the coin for as long as it is flipping through the air. The only thing they hear is the ringing, the only thing they see is the coin, the only thing they're thinking is the outcome. Ability is usable once per hour. If the coin is dropped during the Ability, recharge time becomes 24 hours and those Enraptured will know they were effected by something the owner did.]
With my consent, he tests it on me, calling out "Jester" before flicking it with his thumb. The world vanishes. The abyss swallows me whole as my heart beats faster. The dulcet tone singing from the circular object of my deepest affection makes me swoon. Every rotation reflects light and sends flashing cascades of rainbows across the endless panorama of darkness. It will be the joker's face I see when this rollercoaster ride comes to an end and my soul shall finally find peace. I shall see the joker and I will know--
"What the hell?" I blink several times, trying to get my bearings.
In Richter's open palm is the coin, it's the woman, but she's smiling. He puts it away and I look dully at him, almost hoping he brings the coin back out again.
"So, how was it bro?" He asks, looking over me as a corner man would his boxer, checking for signs of permanent damage.
"I feel like I just sobered up real fast. How did I act?" I look around to see if anyone else was under the same effects, but we were far enough from the closest stall that it was just me.
"You were staring so hard that I think you drooled a little," he says, grinning as he mimes dabbing his chin with his hands.
I wipe my mouth with my sleeve, "I think I'm more bothered by the fact that I can't remember what happened in the span of a coin flip. I feel like I was under for an hour!"
I scrunch my eyebrows together and put my hands on my hips, trying to force the memory to resurface. It's not a real memory, just something conjured by a virtual world, but I still find it frustrating that a moment, as brief as it was, could be blocked out like that. It reminds me of the feelings after battle. After the death of Ramona. After I died. How long of a span of time could be potentially blocked out?
A hand rests on my shoulder and I look up at a smiling Half-Elf, "Don't worry about it, bro. Come on, it's dark enough for some sneaking around now so let's play!"
Just outside the market, our bodies melt into the environment. With the added level of Stealth from our armor set bonus, any sounds we make are muffled and easily passed off as imagination. We move through the shadows as a breeze would travel through an empty sidewalk. We are careful not to cast any other Abilities or bring up any screens while nearing the mansion, the guards would be vigilant enough to spot us then. We sneak around back, to an open kitchen door and window venting unbearable heat and tantalizing smells.
I couldn't help myself and pilfered any unique looking food I could lay my hands on, dancing around and between three rapidly moving cooks. As familiar with the dance that I am, Richter is having a hard time picking when to dart in and out between them. He almost gets smashed between them when the sound of a bell stops the sweaty cooks in their tracks, giving Richter enough time and room to slip by. As we leave the kitchen, we can hear the panic in the cooks voices when they argue loudly to each other about who's fault it was that dinner will be late. I don't know how many people are here, but three cooks are preparing what looks to be a feast for at least a dozen people.
We find a room without anybody in it and deactivate our Stealth. I switch my Bolt Ring with the Hedge Mage's. After our MP tops off, we reactivate Stealth and head off on our own seperate goals. Richter searches for any damning evidence and I try to rescue Genevieve.
I have to admit my ineptitude at espionage when, even using my sniffer, I find myself lost in what looks to be a darkened study or library on the third floor. The trail ends here, but there isn't a trace of anyone.
With no one else around, I deactivate Stealth once more and let the smell of old books fill my head until my brain swam in it. A window swings open, seemingly of its own accord and a small shadow flips in and lands flat on the floor, making less noise than we did with our Stealth at level two.
The player; Dominic Turner, Level 14, Full Goblin, stands as tall as he can at about four feet. His pointy, olive green ears pop out of dark purple cloth wrapped around his head. His clothes, too, are dark purple. His two kunai, small knives with diamond-shaped blades, thin handles, and rings for hilts, look like shortswords in his hands. He continues to scan the room. I wave my hands in slow, controlled motions, trying not to startle him. I whisper, "Hey, you on a Quest, too?" I know it is a stupid question to ask, but hopefully it establishes two things. One, I'm also a player. And two, I'm here for a reason, not just to poke around some rich weirdo's house.
"Oh shit!" The goblin's voice is a resounding baritone and it doesn't fit the image of a tiny monster person at all. I bite my lip, trying to hold back laughter when he asks in his jarringly deep voice, "Who the hell are you? You here to kill Aristeo, too?" His tiny, green fists clench harder on his weapons.
I take an extra second to clear my head, "No. Rescue mission. A girl he was with this morning." I can see the tension leave his eyes, but not his grip. I ask him, "You really gonna kill him?"
He nods, his yellow eyes search the shelves, landing on one book in particular. When he pulls it, a dim portal opens in front of the bookshelf. He gestures his hand, the universal sign of "If one of us has to go first, it's going to be you."
"Um, mind if I Whisper my partner first?" I ask as I turn around, not waiting for an answer. "Hey, Richter. I'm going into a magic portal with my new goblin friend, Dominic Turner. If you need us, go to the library and use the book…" I look over Dominic.
He rolls his eyes at me, "Pavaros and Her Message of Love and Understanding."
I repeat the title back to him, describing its location and red leather binding with pearlescent accents. Dominic kicks me in the butt and I fall into the portal, stumbling into a stone passageway lit by torches on the wall.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
He joins me on the other side and he lets me know that we're in a mini-map dungeon, seperate from the mansion. "Don't worry, you can still message your boyfriend," he says, still holding his kunai. The portal vanishes several seconds later.
I ignore him, sniffing the air like a hound dog and regaining the trail. It only takes us four minutes of maneuvering through the twists and turns of the tunnel to wind up at the entrance of a large, cavernous room. At this point, in a normal video game, one would expect the autosave feature to kick in. The music would start to feature a deep, menacing drumming or a single eerie, violin note. We both peek into the room, not wanting to step in and activate the boss fight just yet.
The hallway spills into the makings of a poorly lit temple, complete with pillars along the walls, a white, stone altar in the center, and shadows everywhere. The rattling of chains and soft whimpering echo from atop the slab of rock and I finally spot the target of my Quest. Dominic also finds his mark at the foot of the altar, Aristeo's back toward us. I whisper to the Goblin next to me, "How are we gonna do this?"
He points a sharp finger at Aristeo and cuts a thumb across his throat. I roll my eyes, too high up for him to see, and he points to the altar, "You save the young lady."
"Hm. A goblin with manners. A little out of character."
"Kiss my little green ass." I can hear the smile in his voice and, even in a whisper, his voice seems to boom.
"Now who's being gay," I activate Disguise Self, leaving me with two more charges on the ring. I don't want to risk being recognized or remembered later so I turn myself into a red skinned Tiefling, styling myself after Serenity, complete with black horns. In an hour I'll have three charges, but for now I'll probably get the best use out of Shocking Touch (1 charge) or maybe Minor Illusion (1 charge). We both cast Stealth and walk carefully as close as we can.
Dominic veers to the right as I walk straight towards the altar. I notice too late that the ground below me is feintly glowing and I scan my surroundings. I could kick myself for stumbling into a giant magic circle on the ground and the lights glow brighter.
Aristeo's laughter begins in a giggle and culminates into hearty guffaws. The lady on the altar joins him in the mocking laughter as Genevieve lifts herself from the slab. She smiles at me and throws her head back laughing harder than ever. If they had pointy hats and a couldron, instead of silver circlets and an altar, I would expect them to call us "my pretties."
Instead, Aristeo says, "You travellers are such fools! All it takes is a hint of a Quest and you come skipping into danger." His tone, which was lacy and whiny in the carriage, is now harsh and sharp.
[Minor Quest Altered! Suspicious Minds has now become: Caught in a Trap.]
[Escape the trap set by Genevieve Foxbrook.
[Kill Young Chimera 0/1
[Optional: Kill Aristeo Higo 0/1
[Optional: Kill Genevieve Foxbrook 0/1
[Reward: ???
[Punishment: Refix Respawn Point to site of death.]
My eyes bug out of my head like some cartoon wolf as I read the Punishment. "What the--" A cacophonous noice from a host of animals erupts from the shadows as several heads emerge into the light. Though familiar in shape and appearence, the goat, lion, and snake heads are many times larger than they should be. The goat and lion have seperate necks, but they stem from the same lion body. The snake, which is just as long as the main body, replaces what should be the tail. It whips around, surveying the room, and locks on to an empty spot far to my right.
The snake hisses, glows blue, and sprays a torrent of water at the floor. Dominic reappears and dodges the high pressure hosing, flinging several yellow glowing daggers. Of the three, one of them hits the snake's body, bursts into flames, and knocks it back like it received a sharp punch. But even that did little damage, not leaving so much as a scorch mark.
"Damn," Dominic withdraws more kunai, holding them in a calm, well practiced stance. He looks like a seasoned fighter, but I refocus on my targets. Aristeo is holding a whip, letting it coil on the floor, and Genevieve is wielding a metal staff, a head with three faces adorns the tip. I chance a scan of the beast, since they'll see the screen pop up and I might not get any time to read it.
>Scan< [Young Chimera. Lvl 16. Boss Tier 1 598/598HP(Lion), 770/770HP(Goat), 480/480HP(Snake), 1040/1040MP, 90/90SP]
When I skip the wordy description and get to the list of Abilities, the damn thing is crazy long, probably in the ballpark of two dozen Abilities. Most of them indicate that they're learnable and for a brief moment I hope that I can learn more than one at a time. It has been a while since--
A flaming whip, stream of lightning, jet of fire, and cone of shadows converge on me and I leap out of the way. Aristeo twirls the fiery whip around himself, embers falling like deadly snow, "Stand still, this will only hurt for a moment!"
"What," I call out, keeping my eyes on the four heads as best as I can, "You're not going to call me a fool again?" A bolt of lightning flies past my head and my whole body feels the effects of heavy static. Sparks of electricity fly off of the goat's horn, remnants of it's recently cast Spell. Okay, four against one isn't good. There's gotta be a way to even this out. I cast Toxic and Assassinate, reappearing next to Genevieve.
I drive my claws toward her, but she uses her staff to stop me. I activate Shocking Touch and it travels through the staff. Her body becomes a rigid statue of agony, shutting her eyes and gritting her teeth. As I watch her face clench, I notice that her black eye isn't there anymore. It was probably part of the ruse.
[You deal 34 lightning damage!]
[Genevieve is Paralyzed for 3 seconds!]
With no way to protect herself, I slash Genevieve's arms, black veins spreading from the cuts. All of the poison's effects activate and her stiff body hits the floor. The flaming whip lashes at me like a sword, burning through my armor without actually damaging it, my Willpower softening the hit.
[Aristeo Higo whips you for 34 flame damage!]
The whip circles around, ready to strike me again when both the open jaws of the lion and the horns of the goat start glowing blue. (97/130MP) I cast Zone of Silence and I'm close enough for everyone's Spells and the whip's fire to cancel out. Their looks of bewilderment stoke the grin on my face and it spreads and spreads and spreads.
Three daggers fly toward us and into the heads of the lion and goat, grazing the back of Aristeo's neck. They deal minimal damage, but they're perfect distractions for what I need to do.
Adding the water element to my strikes, I Critical Stab and Echo Strike the lion's face.
[Elemental Weakness! +100% Damage. You deal 264 water damage!]
[Elemental Weakness! +100% Damage. You deal 284 water damage!]
Before I can deal the killing blow, a leathery whip restrains me and pulls my arm away from the lion. The goat head rams into me. My Brigandine armor does a great job of absorbing the bludgeoning damage, but I still fly out of the Zone, canceling it. From the ground I neutralize my elemental effects, grip the whip, and send my last Shocking Touch through it. I'm rewarded with Aristeo's pained growls.
He yanks me off the ground with the whip and I fly into the air.
In a sort of slow motion trance one enters when things go from bad to worse, I spot the snake with a kunai sticking out of an eye and an upside-down goblin sticking out of its mouth, Dominic desperately stabs at the underside of its jaw. Beastly attention is being placed on me in the air and I wait until they commit to trying to spray me with magic. Pearls of lightning and fire grow larger in their mouths before spilling over. I activate Assassinate once more (22/130MP left), reappearing at the base of the snake. Several slashes are enough to sever the living tail and release Dominic. Both bodies hit the ground hard enough to create clouds of dust.
By the time the goat and lion are done shrieking and roaring, their attention turning back at me, I activate Reach and add Water element to my hands. I claw at both of their eyes, killing the weakened lion head and blinding the goat.
Aristeo is getting up off the ground as the Chimera backs up past him. I can't help the next moment any more than I can help taking in several ragged breaths, "I'm- I'm not lion when I say your Chimera has- has a reptile disfunction…"
Aristeo looks at me in shock. A deep booing sounds off from behind me and I chance a look at Dominic drinking a red potion. He aims his pointy thumb to the ground and shakes his head.
I throw my hands up in exasperation, "I save your life and give you a double pun and that's how you thank me? I even save you the idiot for you to kill for your Quest.""
"Hey," Aristeo protests.
"Gee, thanks," he launches a glowing kunai at him and it splits into nine more. They each land on target and Aristeo dies on the spot. All of the magically conjured kunai disappear, leaving only one sticking out of his chest and several weeping wounds. The sound of rolling thunder confuses us for a moment and Aristeo's still standing body comes flying toward us, slamming into Dominic. The goat continues its charge at me, but a well timed Roundhouse Kick knocks it to the side. The limp lion head hits me as it flails about.
[Young Chimera tackles you for 37 bludgeoning damage!]
With a struggle, I climb up off the floor and dust myself off. The Chimera is still laying on its side. Not wanting to get too close, I activate Reach again. Clawing at the body until I get the all important
[Young Chimera has died!]
"You alright, Dominic?" Exhausted, I turn back around.
A thumbs up from under the dead noble preceeds, "Yeah, man. Can you get this freakin idiot off me though?"
"Sure."
Several notifications form a conga line under my quickly refilling point bars, but they wait for me as I help out my new friend.