We approached the City of Zan in Panarena's late afternoon, gazing in awe at the massive gates that loomed before us. Its walls were a deep red hue of color, and the gates themselves were made from a sturdy looking wood framed with silver-steel, Anhe told us. Two towers stood on either side of them, and other towers continued around the wall in an equidistant fashion, their hip-and-gable roofs made of a dark slate. Two great lion-dog statues stood near the gates as well, along with eight guards and their captain, all of them wielding halberds. The captain nodded to someone on the wall as we approached, and the gates opened almost soundlessly to reveal the bustling city within.
It almost reminded me of the China-town I had gone to when I was a little kid, except it was fantasy-themed and there were no modernisms around, being based upon a more medieval society. Well, insofar as that word applies to East Asia, anyway. Citizens milled about the streets, we could see many quest NPCs, tiny creatures like fantastical monkeys or larger ones in the likeness of apes and gorillas and even some with elephantine features roamed the area alongside the more human population, as well as a few that seemed either squirrelly or serpentine. Merchants and mongers were hawking their wares, whether food or drink, weapons or armor, fashion or magic, and we could see several other places where special mini-events were going on in certain areas.
“Some of these places are restricted,” Anhe told us as we passed one by.
“Hmm?” I wondered.
“I almost entered one a few days ago by accident while doing a quest; it gave me an eighteen-plus warning, so I turned away very quickly.” she told me.
“Hehh??” I said with shock. “Th-then this game really is something else... I bet it probably can estimate our age, too, based upon the initial calibration... so even if someone was to just go ahead and accept the warning, the system would throw them out.” I mused aloud.
“Probably. But none of us are here for that junk anyway.” Healina remarked, and I nodded back.
“Definitely not... but it's good to have some warning about it,” I said.
“True!” she agreed.
“Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure there was a setting kind of like that in our personal preference options...” Ariana then added, gazing in idle thoughtfulness as she tried to recall the details. “Hmm,” she sighed, shaking her head.
“Probably some master setting we don't need to know about or use,” I shrugged, lying back against the cart as we continued through the streets.
“Very true.” Ari nodded as she leaned on me. “But like you said, it's nice to have a bit of warning about these things so we can avoid them.”
“Hmm.” I nodded back.
Fyu led us through the winding streets of the outer districts, the markets, entertainments, and residential ones, to the more ordered pathways of the inner districts, where the palace, barracks, temple, libraries, and arcane society were located. The palace itself almost looked like the Forbidden Palace, except it was pure white with silver roof tiles. All the buildings around it were likewise colored, white walls and silver-clad roofing, and there were many statues of either marble or jade situated around the area. At the heart of the city was a great courtyard and garden, with an open-walled pagoda and a majestic fountain shaped in the likeness of an eastern dragon with a regal woman at its side.
The garden was astonishingly beautiful. As we got out of the cart and asked Fyu to hang around, ensuring that he had something to eat and drink for his services, Ari and I wandered towards it straight off, gazing at the colorful varieties of flowers and smiling as cherry blossoms fluttered down to the ground in wavy paths with the breeze.
“Now I definitely want to go back to Japan for a while, or even to China,” Ariana said as she took a deep breath, letting it out with a happy sigh.
“That'd be fun; maybe... maybe we can try it this summer? Or maybe for a graduation celebration further down the road?” I returned, and she looked at me with one of those heart-stopping radiant smiles.
“You come up with the best ideas!” she said to me.
No, just when I'm with you... or just because of you, I thought to myself with a smile of my own, gently squeezing her hand.
“Hey! Quest marker leads this way!” Lizzy called over to us.
“Aww, let them enjoy it a bit longer; I want to see it for a bit, too!” Healina's voice said to her in reply.
“It's not as if we have to do this all now.” Maryn added.
“Ughhh... hel-lo? Last week of free-dom?” the Nordian smith retorted brusquely.
“Let's meander towards them.” I said with a smirk to Ari, who smirked back and nodded at me. We made our way over, not too fast, not too slow, giving the others just enough time (we hoped) to enjoy the garden until we regrouped with them. Lizzy huffed, then shrugged as we made our way to the barracks.
“It's just Tuesday, Lizzy. We have five days left... and Saturday will count as three or four days on account of the time acceleration.” Maryn smiled to her.
“Boo.” the other girl remarked flatly.
“Still, we're getting caught up in something pretty huge now,” I said quietly, and the others stopped, turning to me.
“What do you mean, Lana?” Maryn wondered.
“Remember how Fyu said the general might be plotting against the emperor?” I said, and they nodded back. “I think this might be one of those quests, where you start out on one side and have to make choices whether to continue with that side or go with the other.” I told them, and their eyes lit up.
“Ahh! I understand now!” Anhe whispered excitedly. “So the general's quest might be about his ambition to become the new emperor?”
“And we'll probably get opportunities to play both sides until we're forced to make a choice near the climax,” Lizzy nodded, becoming more serious again. “Ooh, this is gonna be a fun week!” she grinned.
“But a quest like this in a game like this might not reset itself; meaning that the outcome may be permanent, and we may be altering the game itself for future players.” I then said.
“Or it could have a different kind of reset; the true emperor goes into hiding and spawns a quest to reclaim his throne, or the general goes into exile and generates a different version of the quest.” Lizzy told us, and I snapped my fingers.
“Oh! Good point! Now I feel less anxious about it!” I replied.
“We're really just speculating here, but I bet you're both right,” Ariana nodded. “From what we've seen so far, this game would be ambitious enough to do something like that.”
“'Kingdom of Harmonia' my foot, right?” Lizzy smirked.
“Pretty much.” I grinned back.
“Anyway, let's get to the general and see what the quest is. There's always the chance we're overthinking things, you know.” Healina pointed out; a couple of us shrugged in answer, but we all agreed to get on with it and find the quest.
As we approached the main door of the barracks, we were greeted by an attendant of the general; the NPC led us inside when we stated our business, and as we made our way to the general's quarters we looked around at the austere interior now revealed to us. I felt like I was in one of those old martial arts or samurai films. Guards were at every entryway, and servants hastened about their duties. We passed by an audience chamber; there was a raised seat for the general, and a few paces away from this was a gong. Jade dragon statues lined the walls and flowery tapestries hung from the ceiling.
A few moments after this we reached the general's quarters. The servant knocked four times, and a voice spoke, granting us entry. We were ushered in to a large private chamber, and the door was shut behind us.
“Greetings, honored travellers; I understand you have taken up my request. It is a matter of utmost delicacy, and it is urgent, I assure you. Will you hear me out?” the general asked us.
“We will.” I said, and the general seemed to be relieved at those words. He then continued.
“I am glad, then. Listen! What I am about to say must not leave these walls; the emperor is in decline. I have received suspicious reports from my men at all corners of Xuanpu. Many strange creatures and foreign legions cross our borders, dark cultists lurk in the shadows, and wicked outlaws prey upon paths once thought safe. I do not want to place the blame at his majesty's feet, but I need to act, and for that I need evidence. Will you be so gracious as to give these reports a thorough examination, and then come back to me with your findings, that I may know how to respond?” Dai-Gong Wu asked us.
All-righty. So far this was shaping up in a way that was more or less the way I thought it might go once Fyu had given us his innocuous comments on the issue. Find evidence of wrong-doing, bad governing, or some other form of betrayal. The question now was probably whether the evidence would point to the emperor or to the general, or if it was planted by one or the other. Either way...
“We would be glad to assist you in discovering the truth,” Anhe replied; I nodded to her, and she smiled back.
“Then I am pleased. Here, take this scroll! It has all the details you will need; please examine each location and each situation thoroughly. We cannot have any mistakes on this matter, for the good of the kingdom rests on its outcome.”
“We understand, General Dai-Gong.” I said with a bow, and he nodded to us.
“Remember, keep these matters as secret and discreet as you can!” he said, and then clapped his hands. The servant showed us out of the room and then out of the barracks; I accidentally bumped one of the servant girls on the way, both of us apologizing to the other.
Th-this game makes you forget sometimes that NPCs are NPCs, I thought to myself as we exited the barracks, suddenly noticing my inventory had a new item. From the servant girl? I wondered as we returned to the garden, taking it out; it was a note.
Please, honored guest, my sister's honor is in danger! It has something to do with the general's doings, I know it does, but I am afraid to act! Please meet me in the South Gardens when the moon crowns the sky. I looked over the note twice; this was definitely related to the quest in some way.
“When the moon crowns the sky, huh...” I mused aloud as Ariana read it over my shoulder.
“Hmm? Part of the same quest?”
“Or a related sub-quest, yeah,” I nodded.
“Let's split up for now,” Maryn said to us then. “Lizzy, Heali and I will go examine the things the general wants us to examine, and you can take Ari and Anhe to follow up this lead.”
“Good idea,” I agreed.
“Fair enough,” our halberdier nodded. “All right! We get Fyu!” she softly crowed, and the beast in question perked up his ears.
“Masters?” he asked us, raising up his head.
“We've gotta go places, buddy,” Lizzy told him, patting his head.
“Hmm, hmm, that feels very nice, I must admit; where shall we go now?”
“Ehh, what is it... the Mines of Xizi-jiang! I think is how you say it...” the blonde girl returned.
“Very well; that is at least an hour to the west. Let us go!” Fyu returned, and the three of them departed with a wave, hastening through the streets of Zan to their objective.
“Ahh!” I suddenly remembered, letting out a sigh. “We forgot to set a rendezvous...”
***
Ariana sent messages to Heali as we walked through the streets of Zan, and we agreed to try and meet up at either the second or third objective out of town, once my party had met with the secret message sender.
“Good thing it's already late here,” I murmured as I saw the moon working its way up into the sky.
“It is almost crowning the sky,” Anhe remarked. “Let us head for the South Gardens and see who is there.”
“Let's go,” I nodded back, and I checked our position on the map to make sure we were heading the right way. “The South Gardens should be down the next turn to our left, and then we'll see them on the right,” I said as the three of us walked along the streets briskly.
Sure enough, when we headed down that left avenue, we saw an ornate fence with trailings of ivy on our right, and this separated briefly into an inward-opening gate that led into one of the prettiest gardens we had seen. It reminded me of the Park, except that this place, of course, had trees, flowers, and plants that were more native to Asia rather than the Americas. A great cherry tree stood near the center, surrounded by three simple fountains and five benches, and a host of colorful flowers and bushes, all of them well-ordered and carefully trimmed. There was a young lady seated on the bench; her hair was a midnight black and she wore a simple dress with an outer robe. She looked up at our approach, and stood to her feet, clasping her hands together nervously. Immediately I recognized her as the one I had bumped into earlier.
“Honored guests, thank you for answering my message; please forgive its suddenness, and the rude way in which it was delivered, but I could think of nothing else to do!”
I've never heard an NPC sound so distressed like this, I mused to myself internally. I wonder if she's one of the more advanced ones, or if her programming is just that much different from the others, or--
“My sister has been held for at least two weeks now by people who claim they are bandits near the Mines of Xizi-jiang, but I work specifically for the captain who oversees those mines and he says there are no bandits! I am afraid of what will happen, and I am sure something is very amiss! Please, say you will look for her and find out what it all means!” she pleaded.
“Ari, call Heali and tell them to swing back for us,” I said to her, and she nodded at once. Anhe approached the servant girl, and put a hand on her as the other woman started crying.
W-whoa... maybe there really are all levels of NPCs in this game; the simple ones, the more advanced, and ones that are almost... real, I suddenly thought to myself, feeling a tightness in my chest.
“She really makes you feel, huh?” Ariana whispered, reaching up to wipe a tear out of my eye as she finished sending the message. I looked back at her; there were tears forming in her eyes also.
“Yeah.” I replied.
“We will find your sister, I promise.” Anhe said to the servant girl. “May we know your name and hers?” she asked, and the other woman stopped crying for a moment.
“Of course, of course, how foolish of me,” she said as she dried her eyes. “I am Wèi Lisha; my sister is Wèi Yù Míng. Her hair is longer than mine, and it is the color of earth, a rich and lovely brown. If they have not taken it from her, and I pray they have not--for it would be an offense to the divine!--she will be wearing a silver pendant with an emerald, and on top of the emerald in fine gold is our family name.”
“Ohh! Your sister is a priestess!” Anhe said with interest.
H-how, just from that little tidbit? I wondered.
“It is true; she was selected for holy duties, and she has risen quite high, while I am yet a simple maid for the general's barrack.” Wèi Lisha returned.
“Then, Lisha, we will find Yù Míng as quickly as we can and bring her home; please be safe in the meantime and do not worry.” Anhe told her, and Lisha nodded to her slowly.
“Help me get back to my home for now; I am afraid of the streets at night!” she said to us in reply.
“It'll take them about five or ten minutes to get back with Fyu's speed.” Ariana told me.
Stolen story; please report.
“P-poor Fyu...” I remarked.
“I know.” she smiled.
“Let's go then,” I said in a louder voice.
We then escorted Lisha to her family home; on the way there, I detected people following us. I looked over at Ariana, who nodded to me. She knew they were around too. Anhe gave me a look as well, as if to say she also knew. We can't wait until we're at Lisha's house; they'll probably slip away and we'll lose them. We have to do something about them now.
“Ari... keep going. Anhe... the ones on the left.” I whispered, and Ariana nodded to me, murmuring ward spells as she and Lisha continued on their way while Anhe swung up to the roof like a cat and I disappeared with my shadow skills to do the same.
A few seconds later I heard several grunts. Anhe had begun her attack. I began mine as well, using my unarmed skills instead of my daggers or my bow, disabling two and sending them down in a heap to the road below. I took down three more, intermittently looking over to see how Anhe was doing. She had managed to run into quite a lot more than I had. I may have to help her as soon as I finish with these guys here, I noted. I finished off a sixth, and then saw a seventh skittering away across the rooftops. Snap! I swore, taking out my bow at once and carefully firing an arrow; it hit him in the leg, right under the knee-joint, and he tumbled down with a cry. I turned to see if Anhe needed help, but at that moment she jumped, staff in hand, and twirled in the air, coming back down and thumping her staff onto the roof with a loud cry.
“Tian zhi shěnpàn!” she shouted out, and upon her impact there was a small quake that knocked away her remaining adversaries, hurtling them to earth.
“Wh-whoa...!” I remarked with awe, and she stood back to her feet, letting out a sigh.
“Lana, what happened to the one you just shot?” she asked me.
“Ahh, they fell into that alleyway, I guess,” I returned.
“These are all asleep now; let us find that one and question him.” Anhe then said, and I nodded back.
“We sure we got them all?” I wondered cautiously turning on Shadow Vision to check as she jumped to the roof I was on.
“Do you see anything?” she asked me softly. I looked around for a few moments more and then shook my head.
“Come on, let's get gimpy before he crawls away.” I said, and she nodded back as we hurried over to the alley. “What was that you said back there anyway?” I asked her.
“Hmm? Ahh! What I said was 'Heaven's Judgment'. It is the name of my big attack.” she said to me with a grin.
“N-nice... remind me not to make you angry!” I returned, and she giggled.
We hopped down into the alley a few moments later and quickly looked around; there was a trail of blood. We followed this, and found our “friend” halfheartedly slithering away. I sped up a bit and jumped in front of him while Anhe took out her staff again and came up from behind; he stopped as soon as I landed in front of him, and, seeing Anhe, let out a tired sigh.
“Why were you following us?” I asked him.
“Orders.” he said.
“From whom?”
“I will not say.”
“Why not?” I knelt down, drawing out one of my daggers.
“It does not matter. You will not succeed. My employers are the ones who will win this conflict!” he said to me, and then took out a small vial, drinking it before I could react. In a moment he was dead, and I stepped back in shock.
“Uh--!!” I gaped in disbelief.
“Oh my!” Anhe said in surprise. The two of us looked at each other uncertainly, and then decided to hurry after Ariana. As we did so I took a badge from one of the others we left lying in the street, wondering it it was a clue.
We found her and Lisha at the entrance to the Wèi family manor, where we said our goodbyes to her, more assured of her safety now, and then headed to the gates to meet the others. Ariana was likewise shocked by what had happened in our encounter with the wounded man, puzzled by his words at the end.
“He emphasized it was his employers who would win whatever conflict is going on?” she asked me.
“That's what it sounded like,” I nodded.
“What do you think, Ariana?” Anhe asked her. The Wood Elf girl turned the badge I had shown her over in her hand, gazing at it curiously.
“This definitely has to do with whomever we're dealing with, whatever is going on. I wonder if it connects to the emperor or the general...” she wondered, handing it back to me.
“I don't remember seeing something like that in the general's place,” I said.
“So it's most likely someone affiliated with the emperor.” Ariana concluded.
“I wonder.” Anhe remarked softly as we approached the gates. We found Lizzy and the others had just gotten there, and we exchanged sheepish looks with each other as we joined them on the waggon.
“I guess we overthought it.” Maryn said with a laugh.
“Shall we return to our course of the mines, masters?” Fyu wondered. I then hopped out to talk with him directly.
“Fyu! Do you know anything about this?” I said, showing him the badge. Our dog-beast stared at it for a while, and then his eyes narrowed.
“I do not know this symbol, master; and I know all the heraldry of all the clans and dynasties of Xuanpu. This is something new, or perhaps a clever reinvention of something old that is meant to obscure its identity from even such as I,” he said to me.
“Gotcha; we'll keep an eye out then. For now... for now take us to a town near the mines. I doubt we have much time left for now.” I said as I got back in the waggon.
“We've got two and a half hours of Panarena time,” Lizzy told us. “… Unless, of course, you want to be naughty for a change and pull an all-nighter.” she suggested innocently, and the rest of us looked around at each other.
“Now that sounds fun.” Healina said with a faint smirk.
“I'm sure my dad might be a little angry, but as long as we don't make a habit of it I can pass it off as getting caught up in the excitement and losing track of time.” Maryn shrugged.
“My mother will not greatly care; she will actually be pleased that I am doing things with friends, even if it is 'naughty',” Anhe remarked.
“We all know I don't care.” Lizzy said. Ariana and I then looked at each other.
“You good?” she asked me.
“What about you?”
“Maybe this will be a good thing; I move in with Heali Friday and Saturday so it'd be nice to have those days mostly free of other obligations, at least until later.” she said to me.
“Oh that's true,” I nodded back. “Ehh...” I then said, still hesitant. “L-let's try it.”
“Whoo! The boss is in!” Lizzy grinned.
H-here we go... our first all-nighter... why am I not excited? I wondered to myself with a slight grimace as Fyu took off, heading across Xuanpu for a place close to the mines so that we could investigate both of the quests we had happened upon.
***
At a more relaxed pace, Fyu had us to the Mines of Xizi-jiang by early morning Panarena time. I looked at the real-world clock; it was now around midnight. Best case scenario: we pulled this first part off in the next few Panarena hours and would head off around one or two in the morning. But will we actually stop there or will we keep going? Come to think of it, we did “sleep” at least a couple times on Fridays and Saturdays in-world, and we weren't too groggy after logging out... maybe if we catch a nap in-world and set an alarm we won't be so badly off, I pondered to myself as we slowed to a halt. I mentioned this to the others, who agreed with me about the matter.
“Time acceleration really messes with things sometimes, but we can get an actual eight-hour sleep in two hours here.” Lizzy remarked.
“I wonder if mental aging is a thing for seriously heavy users,” Healina wondered.
“I'm sure it is to some degree,” I nodded.
“That'd be crazy, to practically live in this world and be older mentally than you are physically,” Lizzy said as we slipped off of the waggon.
“Would be kind of cool, though,” I murmured softly. Ariana looked over at me with a concerned expression, but then shook her head.
“Maybe.” she softly agreed.
“I bet there's testers the company takes really good care of trying out that very concept,” Maryn said as we readied ourselves.
“Hmm.” Anhe said, an intrigued look on her face.
You too, huh?
“Masters, be careful; I see sentries in the distance.” Fyu rumbled to us in as soft a voice as he could muster. “They should not have seen us for the trees, yet these grow sparse ahead.”
“No worries, Fyu,” I said to him, “We'll be careful.”
“Hmm.” the dog-beast nodded.
“All right; both of these quest markers lead into the Mines themselves,” Maryn said to us. “Let's see where being 'official' gets us.”
“Hopefully inside, and without suspicion.” Healina said as we cautiously advanced to the entrance.
There were five sentries situated at the entrance to the Mines, three on one side of the door and two on the other. A few palisades were ringed around their position, with just enough space for one person to safely walk through. Up on a hill to our left I could see a camp with several tents; there were archers looking down lazily, but they would probably attack at a word from the sentries if something went wrong for us. The sentries' uniforms were similar to the general's legion, but there was a different emblem on them, probably signifying a different unit that answered to one of the other legion generals serving the emperor.
According to the quest log, General Dai-Gong was one of seven generals, and he was the greatest of them in rank. But the others only answered to him in times of war; the rest of the time they all took orders from the emperor alone. So this legion here was acting on imperial orders from the emperor, whatever they were doing -- unless they weren't, and they were somehow bandits in disguise, which can be a thing in certain games. They didn't attack us at least, and we were allowed inside to pursue the two quests.
“All right; Healina, Lizzy, and I will search for suspicious activity and incriminating evidence, you three search for the missing girl,” Maryn said to me, Ari, and Anhe.
“Got it,” I nodded back. I wrapped the three of us in shadows, and we followed the hints through the Mines to locate our objective.
All around us we could see and hear the normal, day-to-day activity of the place going on around us; the miners were hard at work, digging for whatever it was they mined here (Anhe said she was almost positive they were iron deposits) and taking it to the refineries in the upper levels. We crossed paths with the other group at least once, though they didn't see us. And neither did all of the legionnaires guarding or pathing around the place. From their chatter we learned that they weren't certain what their higher-ups were thinking or planning, only that there was a lot of iron and jade being mined.
A valuable stone and an industrial ore; sounds like someone's planning for a war to me, I thought to myself. Granted I didn't know much about economics and stuff, but even I know you need money and resources to back up any sort of battle.
But as we got further in, their conversations got more specific; soon we began to hear about a prisoner that had been taken several days ago, someone from Zan who had been found inadvertently snooping around. We listened more intently as this kind of chatter increased, hoping to find a clue to Yù Míng's location. Finally, after nearly three Panarena hours of sneaking around, someone dropped the clue.
“Ahh, but that girl, that priestess-in-training? She was fiery; I though the captain was going to lose a finger or more!” one of the guards remarked.
“You say it truthfully!” his companion returned. “We cannot have details of the plan leaking out, however; our master pays us too much for that!”
*My* employers; *our* master; hmm...
“Yes, yes! That is why we have locked her away below, near the river source where the monster dwells.” the first one said.
“Oh? Is that why the cells behind this door are empty now?”
“It is so; but you can get down there from the last cell on the left, if you are so bold. Gai-Zan had to do it this morning to check on her.”
“And she is still down there? That monster must be asleep!”
“That is also why he went down; he put some bloodied meat down there to wake it up!”
“Ahh, our master is a cruel one!” the second seemed to sigh.
“I can't take it anymore!” I hissed.
“Lana!” Anhe said to me, and jumped ahead, rendering the two guards unconscious with her staff. I sighed in relief, and we hurried to join her. She then retrieved the keys, and we opened the door to head into the cells.
“Last cell on the left,” I said aloud to remind myself and the others, and we found that we had to turn a corner to the right before reaching said cell. There were no living prisoners here, only skeletons and rags. It was a gruesome sight.
“Here!” Ariana said, using a fire-spell to destroy the lock and open the cell door. We then found a hole in the floor with a rope-ladder neatly rolled up next to it, and we used this to go down.
“He said the monster would be baited out by the meat; we have to act quickly!” Anhe said as she hopped down after us.
“Right!” I nodded back, and we hurried off through the dark passages with Ari's staff light to guide us.
Eventually we came to a large cavern, where, just as the guards had said, a river sprang forth to begin making its way out above ground. And, tied to a stake on the other side, a girl with luscious brown hair and many bruises; rags were all that was left of her once-fine clothes, and her face was streaked with dirt and tears from weeping. There was a putrid pile of meat situated not far from her. We looked at this scene with shock and indignation for several moments before recovering ourselves.
“Ari!” I said in a choked voice, and she set fire to the bait, destroying it as I hurried over with Anhe to set Yù Míng free from her bonds. She opened her eyes, and shuddered.
“The creature...!” she said in a ragged whisper.
“It hasn't appeared yet, we need to--” I began as Ariana joined us, but then we heard a low, rumbling growl.
It occurred to me then that maybe having Ari set the bait of meat on fire probably wasn't the best idea in the world. The rotten stuff had already been sending up a stench, and now it was sending out a greater one, one that was irresistible to our new “friend” who was coming out of his lair to our right with slow and heavy steps. I stood up, taking out my bow as Anhe readied her staff again, and Ariana set a few defensive wards around us and Yù Míng.
Two gleaming eyes suddenly shone in the darkness ahead, and a menacing, simian-like face with sharp teeth set in a crooked, grinning jaw with two down-curved horns jutting from its head slowly appeared, attached to a large, gorilla-like body of great girth and great claws on its hands that emerged soon after.
“Wh-what is th-that?” I said nervously, taking note that the thing was nearly three-meters in height.
“S-some kind of d-demon, I am not sure what they h-have b-based it on,” Anhe returned with an equal anxiety. Behind us we heard Ariana gulp.
“It d-doesn't seem as s-stupid as it l-l-looks...!” she commented.
“It... is... the Harbinger... of Yan-shi, the Death Lord!” Yù Míng told us.
“Oh, fun,” I said in a squeaking voice.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Come on, Sean, you've been through a few dungeons by this point; why's this thing creeping you out? Well, because it was. It was like there was some sort of literal aura the thing had that was repelling us. And knowing that it was a minion of some in-game death god somehow made it worse, you know?
But as soon as Yù Míng had named the creature, Anhe activated a few skills of her own, and then with a loud yell she thumped her staff into the ground. All of a sudden the weird feeling was gone, and I was able to look at the monster before me as if it was no more than a large bear. I blinked, and turned to Anhe. She smiled at us, and nodded.
“It is a special skill I learned from the Monks at Shushi-mei; it will protect us from the evil influence long enough to defeat it!” she said to us.
“Nice going!” I said, switching from bow to daggers as the two of us rushed the monster. Behind us I heard Ariana casting several fire and lightning spells as our attack began.
It was still a rough fight, even with Anhe's protective aura shielding us from the Harbinger's aura. That thing had plenty of other tricks and skills available to it. Every forty seconds or so it would let out a bellow that literally stunned us for three seconds, and then a few minion-monsters would swarm out to help it. Not of the same kind as the big guy himself, mind you. The minions were worm-like things that would try and trap you with sticky goo or put a debuff on your health. They were really conducive to their boss' muscle-brained tactics.
Fortunately they were very weak to fire, and Ariana was able to burn them down without too much interference. I had to switch back between daggers and bow a few times, simply because I would get trapped the most by the sticky goo, and I swear Anhe had this magical ability to jump every single time a worm tried to target her, even when she was stunned -- maybe that's an exaggeration. But she was definitely good.
After maybe ten minutes we finished off the boss, and it died with a long and pitiful howl before finally exploding into pixels. We then sent a message to the others, and decided to escape by following the river. Ariana pulled out a different outfit for Yù Míng to wear, and she changed into it gratefully before we hastened away from the place, feeling certain that the creature's howls had attracted the notice of the guards by now and that there would be those among them who knew they weren't the victorious kind.
Very fortunately for us, the river led out of the caverns and away from the camps near the Mines. When I looked at the map, it said Fyu was to our right a couple hundred meters away. The four of us cautiously made our way through the forest, making sure we went unseen, and found Fyu still holding position.
“Masters! You have rescued this woman, I take it?” he asked us.
“That's right; we're waiting for the others now,” I told him as Anhe and Ariana helped Yù Míng into the waggon.
“I have not seen them, but the Mines seem agitated. Perhaps it is to do with your battle below?” the dog-beast said.
“Y-you knew?”
“I could smell battle, young master, and I knew something had gone awry in part.” Fyu nodded to me.
“Gotcha.” I nodded back. “We had to defeat something called the Harbinger of Yan-shi, but we managed.”
“Hmm!” Fyu remarked with interest. “But my personal curiosity must wait; I see our three friends exiting the Mines; they are unmolested, but in a hurry. Ahh, they seem to have sent the guards back inside the Mines. This will help us to get away,” he then said, and sure enough Maryn and the others came hurrying up to us.
“We got our clues and the quest log updated! Let's go!” Lizzy said, and we jumped in, taking off towards the east.
“Where should we go, though?” Ariana wondered.
“Honored warriors, forgive me my selfish request, but do not bring me to Zan yet; take me to Shushi-mei, to the monasteries there, that way my family will not come to harm and I can send them a message without fear,” Yù Míng said to us.
“What say you, masters?” Fyu Dongtian asked us.
“We have to go there anyway; circle wide around the Mines and let's go!” I said to him, and he obliged us, shifting our course to avoid the Mines as he turned to the south, and then when he judged it safe he turned directly west, and began galloping away from the Mines of Xizi-jiang as if a horde of enemies was on our trail. And so began our ride to the Monasteries of Shushi-mei.