22
I awoke to the sound of angry voices. A lot of angry voices. I sat up, looking around blearily, wincing at the light lancing through the window of my small room. It couldn’t be past the seventh bell. My brows furrowed in growing concern as I realised the voices were coming from downstairs, just outside the tavern. I pulled on clothes, gathered myself into some semblance of readiness, and made my way downstairs to see what the commotion was. The common room was completely empty, but for the figures of Selwyn and Pamela, who were framed in the open double doors. Confused, I walked towards the door, and the sound of shouting quickly became a cacophony. As I stepped up behind Selwyn, I could see Gerard with his back to the tavern, Tally and Squish flanking him as he tried, and failed, to calm the crowd. As it was, the three of them were holding back a crowd of what had to be a hundred townsfolk. It was damn near the whole town, and they had the look of people who were about to take things into their own hands.
Squish looked back, and his dead eyes met mine. He put a hand on Gerard’s shoulder, and seemed to shout something into his ear. Gerard looked back at me, and his eyes were just slightly wild. He shook his head back and forth quickly as I stepped past Selwyn and Pamela, who stared at me. Selwyn put his small hand on my wrist as I stepped away from him.I looked down at him, confused. Concern creased his brow, and he tried to pull me back, but I resisted, stepping out onto the large porch of the tavern.
The shouting rose to a fever pitch and I turned from the gnomish bartender back to the crowd. As their eyes fell upon me, I realised with growing horror that I was the focus of the crowd’s fury. They surged forward as one, the men and women at the front throwing their hands up to point at me accusingly. Tally, Squish, and Gerard spread their arms wide in an effort to contain the first row. The townsfolk were beyond angry. A woman wept openly, her face twisted in…hatred. And fear. Holy shit, I thought, fear and bewilderment growing in me. There was only ever one person in my life who had ever said they hated me. He had been a good friend. A bandmate.
My heart began to thrash. Why? I thought desperately. I stood, stupefied, as the gathered townsfolk heaped rage upon me. I was genuinely speechless, and I just stood there, like an idiot, with not the faintest clue of what to do. My hands trembled, impotent and empty. Selwyn was saying something to me, and I could feel Pamela’s misshapen hand on my left shoulder, but I barely registered any of it. I stared out at the crowd. I’d been at the head of crowds before, pretty large ones, and while not every reception to our music was met with wild cheering, I had never experienced outright hostility from so many people at once. It was a palpable wave that hit me like a wall, and made me feel guilt and shame for something I didn’t even know I’d done. People don’t get this angry for no reason.
“What did I do…?” I asked, knowing no one could hear me.
Suddenly thunder rolled and burst in the sky above, and half of the crowd flinched and ducked at the crashing sound. I caught sight of faded green robes and a diminutive figure walking towards the crowd from across the square. Quicklily. She was flanked by the mayor, who looked downright terrified. Hovering just above Lily’s left hand was a thick, brown, leatherbound book, glowing a verdant green.The pages flipped and rolled to a stop, and she lifted a small hand. She stalked towards the crowd and her eyes were suffused with radiant green light. The tiny woman exuded power in a way I wouldn’t have thought possible of the surly druid. She looked like nature’s little avenging angel, wind whipping around her, thunder rumbling above. She stopped a short distance away, and raised her free hand.
My eyes widened, and the crowd was suddenly back peddling, desperate to escape…something. My eyes were drawn to the space just in front of the first row of onlookers, and the ground buckled, swelled, cracked, and then suddenly snaking vines and black, thorny brambles began to shoot up out of the earth and wind together in a wicked, clawed tangle that dared anyone to approach. The vines twisted and snapped outward, lashing at the crowd, but not striking anyone. The crowd’s outrage had turned to fear and another peel of thunder brought silence to the square. The hedge of vines and brambles formed a semi-circle surrounding Gerard, Tally, and Squish, as well as stopping anyone from approaching the entrance to the Fleet Fox. Lily boldly strode into the crowd, who parted for her like the sea for Moses. She came to stand before her wall of thorns, and turned to face the crowd. She held her floating spellbook aloft, its green radiance bright enough to cast its light over the gathered faces, who stared in awe.
She murmured something, and her free hand seemed to pull the green energy to it, then it burst in a wave, passing through everyone gathered. I instantly felt a wash of cool, calming air pass over me, and I instinctively released a sigh of relief. The effect on the crowd was likewise simultaneous. The situation didn’t exactly warrant relief, but her spell had accomplished just that. I examined her, and saw the same buff active that I’d seen the first night I met her. Natural Serenity. Looked over the crowd, allowing my HUD to populate with their indicators. As I examined each one, I saw that they too carried the buff. The crowd began to murmur, their anger diffused, but not extinguished.
“It’s his fault, ma’am!” someone, a woman, called from the crowd. “It’s ‘cause he’s here!” Another voice joined her.
“He brought them! He’s god-cursed!” yelled the man. “We haven’t seen a goblin raid in nearly a decade. This godling has been here for three bloody days, and now people are disappearing in the night, and goblins are bearing down on us. It’s high time we dealt with the real problem!”
“Hang him!” shouted someone, and several others took up the call. “The gods will turn their eyes from us if there’s no godling to play their game. Hang him!”
Holy shit. You can add “hang him!” to the list of phrases I never expected to be flung at me in my lifetime. I’m not usually the type of guy who engenders such strong feelings of…murder. This was decades, maybe centuries of superstition in action. These people had reckoned with the game throughout their whole lives, and it had likely been my kind who were the heralds of strife. I couldn’t really blame them. Their anger was justified, though misplaced.
I knew that killing me wouldn’t stop this raid. It had likely been a forgone conclusion when the World Spell hit. ‘Monsters stalk the land. Sleeping places have come awake.’ The words of Vedict A’tohl. My appearance here wasn’t a coincidence, but I was pretty sure trouble would have been coming even if I had ‘spawned’ elsewhere.
I tried to understand how it must feel for an entire civilisation to be bearing the burden of these awful games. Surely it would twist people. Strife like this tends to bring out the worst in humanity, and also the best. Some would rise to the occasion. That’s what I could do for these people. I could try and be one of the good ones.
“Was that you rattling your mouth, Belen Hardway?” called Lily, looking straight at the man who had spoken. “Ten years ago your own father was taken by the Blackmarrow. There were none of the Unproven here then. They took him anyway, did they not?” Her eyes went hard. “We didn’t even have a body to lay to rest, Belen.”
“I know that better than anyone!” he yelled back, his face twisting in anger.
“I wager you do,” said Quicklily. “That’s why you should hold your damned tongue.”
She let the voices fall back to silence before she spoke again, addressing the whole crowd. Her voice was filled with an unusual resonance, and it felt like it vibrated my bones.
“Do you suppose the murder of an innocent man is going to bring our loved ones back to us? Do you suppose they’ll simply return if we kill him? The gods thirst for blood. Any blood. It's at their feet you should be laying this crime. You all knew the Game was here. You all know what it means, and you all know what we have to do. We survive. Together. No matter what comes.”
“But he’s a godling! If we cast him out, maybe the trouble goes with him!” shouted another man. He was heavy set, with a graying beard, and his eyes betrayed his fear. “Otherwise we all end up like poor Tokk. And Jaysa. And Adeline. Gone in the night!” the man finished, his voice hoarse and cracked.
Adeline? My heart dropped. The little gnomish girl from my first day in Spade’s Rest. She had thought my antlers were pretty. I turned to the others, desperate for an answer, but Lily’s voice drew me back.
“The goblins are coming, Fennick,” she said to the bearded man.”That godling is as much a victim of the gods as we are. He didn’t ask for this.” She looked back and pointed at me.
“That damned fool has nearly gotten himself killed several times over slaying goblins for us! More than twenty, and he did it alone. I can’t attest to his wisdom, but I can speak to his courage and his sincerity. He could’ve ran off and left us to our fates. Worse, he could’ve followed the god’s whims and joined the Blackmarrow cause. But he’s here, fighting. Will you tell me we’re better off without him? Without another capable hand to keep our children alive?”
The crowd was silent, and Lily seemed to accept their silence as assent to continue. She seemed to have tempered their anger. For now. Her voice lacked the spell-enhanced resonance it had carried earlier, but her demeanour was one of command, and I have to say, it suited her. Gone was her surliness, replaced with a no-nonsense pragmatism that had everyone falling into line. The mayor watched on in awed silence.
“Now, how many damned fools ran off into the forest looking for the Atwards before we could properly organise a search?”
Men and women began calling out names, around ten in all. As they spoke, I looked at Selwyn. The gnomish man’s eyes carried concern and compassion.
“Jaysa didn’t come to work this morning. She’s a seamstress for Charles. She’s not one to shirk her duties, and Charles went to call upon her at home, to see if she was well. He found her and Tokk’s home ransacked and empty, looking like the lot had been dragged off. It must have happened in the night. There was some blood, but we think they were alive when they were taken.”
“Adeline? The little girl…”
He looked down. “Her too, Luck.”
My voice was clipped, desperate. “Just, into the forest? Which way?”
“North is the only way that makes sense,” he replied.
I turned and stalked from the tavern towards Gerard, who was gathered with Tally, Squish and Quicklily, alongside the mayor. I approached them, and as I did, my equipment began to pop into existence. My armor appeared, my gloves, my cloak, and my daggers. I didn’t equip the mask. Not yet. It didn’t exactly look heroic, and I needed to engender what faith I could in the townsfolk. Their rage had been very real, and their eyes had the fire of superstition. I have no doubt as to my fate, should Lily have left me to my own devices. I owed her.
“I’m going,” I said simply.
The four of them turned to look at me. “Not alone,” said Quicklily, her eyes stern. “We’ve another search party forming, this one properly prepared. You can join them if you want to help.”
“Of course I want to fucking help, Lily. You may have saved my ass just now, but we both know this is my fault.”
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“I meant what I said, Luck,” she said, her eyes steady.
“That girl, Lily…” I said, my eyes haunted. “She’s sweet and kind, and so god-damned small…” I flickered a glance to Gerard, who was frowning. He knew exactly why I was so upset.
“These people hate me, and rightfully so. It’s better if I go alone,” I said after I regained my composure.
“Take Tally and Squish, at the least,” said Gerard.
“No. I can move faster on my own. That creepy mask I have? It enhances tracking, speed, everything. I’m better equipped for this than anyone, and there’s no time to fuck around playing it safe. I’m going. I’ll bring them back. Keep preparing.”
I turned to walk away, heading towards the north gate. “I’ll bring them back,” I said more quietly, to myself.
***
Now entering: Upper Antellion, The Emerald Expanse - South
I found the second search party, the one Lily had organized, not far from the town. I deliberately avoided them, however, moving in a wide arc around them and deeper into the forest. Soon after, I found the first search party, the men and women who had taken off as an immediate reaction to finding the Atward’s home in disarray. Everyone now knew goblins were in the area, and their numbers were growing. Spade’s Rest was a relatively small town; everyone knew one another, and there was little need for suspicion among its residents. Except suspicion of me, I guess. At least they hadn’t accused me of murder. That I knew of. That said, with Lily’s endorsement of my character, there was no doubt as to who was responsible for this situation. Goblins. I hoped these people were armed, because I didn’t have time to scout the area around them.
I had the mask in the Hunter’s pattern, and I was leveraging its tracking enhancement as I surveyed the forest floor, moving steadily to the north in the direction of the goblin camp itself. It was still some distance away, and even if the abductors had gone straight towards the camp, they wouldn’t arrive there for another day. That said, they would have a significant head start on myself and the search parties. My advantage was that I could move unrestricted, and unlike the goblins, I wasn’t having to escort prisoners.
It was a few hours before I found the trail. They had taken care to avoid detection, using a circuitous route and making an effort, albeit an insufficient one, to cover their tracks. From what I could tell, and with the advanced intuitive knowledge the skill enhancement gave me, I was able to determine that there had been at least six individuals. Two had the clawed feet of goblins, but four were marked by the impressions of humans wearing boots. Four. Three had been kidnapped. That left a human unaccounted for. The tracks of this one didn’t have the scuffles and stilted steps of those who had clearly been shoved and ushered along, but instead seemed to walk free at the head of the goblins. My mind raced. Someone was helping them. A human. A man, by the looks of the footprint. I tried not to let all the awful possibilities derail me. If this was a player…
One set of tracks was very small, and it occasionally disappeared for long stints before appearing again. Someone was carrying the girl, I realised. I was crouched, staring down at the tracks. I remembered Adeline’s small voice as she had called over her shoulder, “Bye Luck.”
No, I thought. Not like this. I can make it. Please.
Sage’s camera pod whirred and danced through the trees along with me, and she’d already deployed her other stealth pods throughout the area, scanning for anything of note. She couldn’t scan beyond my mini map’s range, but she could put eyes where I couldn’t. The advisor was in mission mode, and her voice only came in the form of reports on our progress. She knew the desperation I was feeling.
We followed the trail for hours, well past noon and into the evening. It swept along gullies and streams, seeking to avoid leaving signs of their passing, but a level 10 Tracking skill isn’t anything to scoff at. I didn’t lose the trail, in spite of their attempts to foil my efforts. I had long since left the other search parties far behind me, and I didn’t want to waste time running back to tell them what I’d found. The only way I would intercept the abductors was to move, and move fast. As darkness edged into the forest, I knew my task was about to become much more difficult. I had the night vision provided by Smokeshadow’s mask, so navigating the trees and roots wasn’t a problem, but the trail was more difficult to follow.
I don’t know what time it was, or how long I’d been hunting, when I first saw the flickers of light through the maze of trees far ahead. It was just a touch of light shining between branches and trunks; then I saw what looked like more of the flickering lights, close to the ground. I crouched low and initiated stealth. I could still make out the trail, if I concentrated while I moved. It led steadily towards the light.
Suddenly a harsh tone sounded in my head, startling me, and a notification flew up.
Warning! You have detected a trap!
I froze, my foot suspended in the air just above the ground. I desperately looked around as I moved one step back, slowly and carefully. I let my foot sink back down and take my weight, eyes scanning. I found it a moment later, below me. It was similar to an animal trap, laid beneath detritus upon the forest floor, with sets of jagged metal teeth intended to trap or crush a limb. It certainly would have done so to my foot. I examined the trap, and the HUD gave me a description.
Clawfoot Trap - Level 1 - A basic trap intended to incapacitate or maim a target. Triggered by pressure. Damage: Medium. Note: This trap is poisoned. Higher levels of the Poisoner skill will allow for identification of the applied poison. The following options are available for this trap:
Trigger
Disable (Lockpicks required)
My heart thundering, I pulled my Unbreakable Lockpicks from my inventory and unfolded the leather case. Thankfully, my lockpicking skill helped me identify which tools would be necessary. I supposed a level 1 trap wasn’t beyond my skill level, and I selected two of the variously shaped tools, then set to work. My fingers trembled as I slowly manipulated the workings of the clamp, and heard a satisfying click as the mechanism released. It worked, though it had taken longer than I would have liked. I heaved a sigh of relief and I pulled the entire thing into my inventory. I might find a use for it down the line. If not, I thought I might be able to use it as practice material to improve my skill. I stood and began edging towards the flickering lights in the distance once more.
Warning! You have detected a trap!
Jesus fuck, I thought as I froze again. Another one. Whoever this was, they had known someone was coming, and from where. I was searching for the trap’s trigger when I heard the scream. A woman’s scream, long and agonized before it was joined by the choked, strangled cry of a man. The woman shrieked again as the man’s cry became a gasping gurgle, then fell silent. A tiny voice cried out in terror. Adeline, I knew it. I panicked.
No. Fucking no.
I scrambled to find the trap’s trigger, and when I did I sank desperately down, fumbling with my tools to disable it. I could hear the clipped rasp of goblin’s voices, then the woman began to scream again. Her voice was pleading, punctuated by harsh sobs. In a moment, her scream shrank to low fast words, begging. My fingers fumbled and dropped one of the lockpicks. Fucking no. No, no, no. I snatched it up and went back to work, my heart thundering. Finally, I disarmed the trap and started dashing towards the flickering firelight.
Warning! You have detected a trap!
Sage’s voice exploded in my head.
Luck! I’ve detected a play-
The crossbow bolt punched into my upper chest, just below my collar bone, and blew me right off my feet, the impact somehow strengthened to carry not just the power of the bolt, but the kinetic smash of a god-damned warhammer. I sailed back and crashed against the trunk of a huge tree, then sank slowly down, staring at the shaft in horror. Tendrils of luminous energy spun up and away from the bolt like smoke. Blood was welling up and spilling out in pulses. My head swam with pain and nausea. My health bar had sagged to 30 percent. It was still falling. Distantly I heard a tearing, agonizing scream from the clearing ahead. Soon, it too became a cracked gurgle, then fell silent.
There was another voice screaming. Small and so alone, piercing the night and my thrashing heart. I could hear the words now, from so far away. Too far away.
“Mommy! Mommy! I’m scared!!” the voice cried. The goblin voices rose in answer, almost rapturous.
“NO! FUCKING NO!” I roared, pulling myself to my feet. I gulped a health potion and staggered forward before a fist like iron smashed into my face and put me on my back again. The impact left me barely conscious, and I felt a sudden weight on my chest, right against the arrow shaft,wound, pressing down.
“Yes,” said the voice. It was human; low and male. Satisfied. He had his heavy foot on my chest, holding me flat against the earth, and he leaned down so his face was close to mine. I stared up at him, and features swam into view. He was around my age, hispanic or latin american, with a shaved head. His eyes were bright, and he wore a big smile, like it was his god-damned birthday. His icon on my mini map was blue. A player, then. The HUD materialised as I stared up at him.
Darrion Lock - Level 10 Unproven. Class: Boltmage Assassin
Level 10, I thought. A god-damned motherfucking embedded professional. I struggled to breathe and fight through the pain. The health potion had healed me, but his fist and now his foot had returned me to a mere 40 percent. The wound hadn’t had time to close, and blood was oozing out and trailing down across my chest plate in rivulettes.
“I didn’t expect you so soon. I had planned to take you while you wept over our leftovers, but this is going to play just fine. I get the mask, and my people still get what they want.”
He leaned down further, his face inches from the mask, and he spoke low and deliberate, masking his voice from the audience with the horrifying sounds in the background.
“Welcome to the Black Streams, Luck.”
I only heard him as a backdrop. No, no, no. The tiny voice was still shrieking, and hot tears flooded my vision and began spilling down my face beneath the mask. He rose, still looking down on me. His big, black crossbow pointed down at me, the bolt glowing with the same luminosity as the one sprouting from my chest. I struggled helplessly beneath the man’s weight. The chest wound had my mind reeling in panic.
“No…” I pleaded, twisting beneath him. His smile grew. I could still get there. I could. Stand up.
Luck. It was Sage, her voice low and very steady. Listen to me. Listen only to me. Listen only to my voice. I’m here with you.
“Listen…” He said, tilting his head. “You were a musician, weren’t you?” he asked reasonably. His foot pushed down harder and all I could do was gasp at the explosion of fresh pain.
Luck, please listen to me. We can’t stop this, but we can make him pay. I clung to her voice like a drowning man as she told me how.
“This is an altogether different kind of music, but it doesn’t lack for an audience” the maniac was saying as the screams echoed through the forest. They rose to a fever pitch, and they transformed from fear into something else. Something worse. I tried not to hear it. I tried so god-damned hard as my free hand worked slowly into the pouch at my side. The goblins cried out in ecstasy, and the screaming suddenly fell away. Their harsh tongue rang out, and the man above me sighed with satisfaction.
“All done,” he said, smiling, like he’d just finished baking a batch of fucking cookies. I saw a notification flash up and away, but it didn’t matter. Sickened, black hatred surged in me and a dagger appeared in my hand, streaking towards his calf. His crossbow thrummed and a second bolt slammed into me, pinning my shoulder to the ground. My health sank to twenty percent, draining steadily. My potion cooldown was still active.
“Stay still, little deer. Don’t die on me, Luck. Not yet. We still need your heart.” He held me fast, and turned to call out. “Bring the knife!”
Blood bubbled up from my mouth as life drained from my chest, and I struggled to speak. My head swam with pain. He tilted his head curiously, alleviating the pressure from his foot just slightly. “What’s that, little deer?” he asked, amused, leaning down to listen. “Famous last words?”
“Do you…like…to gamble?” I asked, sounding drunk. He laughed.
“As a matter of fact, Luck, I do.” He grinned at me. “Why do you ask?”
I watched my health bar drain away. Nearly there.
“If I don’t see you on the other side, thank you, Sage,” I said quietly in my head. “I wasn’t alone.”
“Shit! The ring!” Darrion Lock’s eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.
Do it, Luck, said Sage.
I crushed the Shadowblast in my left hand just as Batshit Crazy ignited.
Blood and fury.