I quickly found my master and company outside the walls. “Congratulations!” cheered Thun'xanxuhm, “I can see the massive plumes of smoke, hear the cries of agony and even smell the stench of death. The spider's payment is her- What's this?” Just as he finished cheering, he stopped speaking, everyone turned their gazes to match that of Thun'xanxuhm's. He was staring at the Arachnae.
She was smiling while looking at the cocoons, as if deciding on which to eat first. In an instant her face turned from that of smiling to that of shock as a blade spouted from her chest. The blade then moved diagonally upward, removing itself from her shoulder. The Arachnae then fell and all of her legs curled toward itself. Only a soldier stood in her place. He looked much stronger than the guards defending the town, and he stood there with much hatred in his eyes.
“You- you dare do this to my town?! I will kill you all! I'll make you pay for the crimes that you have committed with your very lives!” His face contorted with rage as he put himself in a fighting pose. Thun'xanxuhm looked terrified, but our master was not his first target. His first target was the only other non-humanoid figure, the Lamia, but I quickly stepped between them only to be bulldozed out of the way. On my way down I saw that a four of the robbed figures had tried to get a hold of the enraged soldier as he made his way toward the Lamia, only to be dismembered by his sword.
He had the Lamia's throat in hand, poised to strike her with his blood stained sword. It was then, the Lamia spat hazy green fluid into his eyes, causing him to let go over her and drop to his knees. I ran forward as he clutched at his eyes, I unsheathed my rapier and stabbed him in the neck.
After a few minutes of him choking on his own blood, the soldier died at my feet. I swished the blood of my blade before returning it to my scabbard. I was disgusted to see that Thun'xanxuhm was still alive and even smiling at all the corpses on the ground, “This is good, I don't have to pay those men anymore, or even worry about the spider's contract. What's more, you saved my life, now we can continue our movements East.”
Rage was boiling in my head, it even took me a few moments to realize this was only a game. Seriously, for a game to evoke such emotion, this was definitely worth playing I wanted to congradulate NPI for their writing. After I calmed down, I asked, “Payment?”
Our master just stared at me for a few moments, before resting his gaze back at the corpses. “You know, it is impressive that you know the Common Tongue. I had no idea what the other two were saying, so I forbade them from speaking. As for your payment, let me see...” he began moving some of the corpses around.
I guess that explains their silence, he had stolen their voices. He also put us in a mission that could of well killed us without a second thought, one of us actually died. He didn't even care that his fellow men had died, truly he was scum. I decided to approach him and only stopped when I stood next to him. He gave me a disinterested gaze before continuing what he was doing, until I grabbed him by the throat.
“What are you- aah!” He choked.
He desperately looked toward the remaining robed figures but saw they just stare back at him, not moving an inch. I then shook him and tightened my grip to force him to look at me. I looked into his reddening face, with veins popping, and tears running down his eyes, “I'm only getting my payment, it looks like the contract wasn't very specific. Maybe you will plan more carefully in your next life.” As I finish saying this, I brought my mouth upon his vulnerable neck, ripping out the flesh before I even start drinking my fill. I made sure to bleed him dry before I dropped his corpse on the ground.
It seems the blood between people and races is different in tastes. Thun'xanxuhm had slightly salty blood, while the Lamia had blood that was a little tart like candy and some citrus fruits. When the deed was done, a few of notifications popped up.
Quest Complete: This town needs a raze
Results: 95% civilians scattered, 5% kill, 87% military personnel scattered, 13% dead, 531 buildings on fire
Reward: Blood, 2,000 Exp., 1 SP
Bonus: 7,550 Exp., Stealth Mastery Rank II
Level Up! You Earned 6 levels!
You've gained: 18 Strength, 30 Mag. Str., 18 Defense, 30 Mag. Def., 18% Stealth, 18% Speed, 30% Accuracy, 60% Blood Thirst, 6 SP, 60 Health, 120 Mana, and 60 Stamina.
Congratulations on reaching Level 7
“Ah, um I can talk?” The Lamia was surprised.
“It seems I can understand you. Was Thun'xanxuhm lying?” I asked.
At this time, the remaining robed figures started to stir and whisper among themselves. Some didn't hide the fact that were curious or even scared of their immediate future.
“No, Thun'xanxuhm couldn't understand Aethersii, or Elvish Tongue. That is why he silenced us, in fear that we would conspire against him in secret.”
At first it didn't make since, but it probably means I know two languages, without even realizing they sound different. Hmm, listening to my own voice, I noticed that Elvish sounds a little whimsical, compared to the Common Tongue, which sounded a little flat. We should move away.
We were still surrounded by a few of the robed figures, eight in total. Through some of the whispers I heard some plans to attack us. I looked over to the Lamia as if to start a conversation but I lunged at the closest robed figure and stabbed my hand through his heart. My hand was now blood stained, as I removed it from his chest. The Lamia used the time that they stood there motionless to attack, she shot the same hazy fluid from her mouth and blinded two more robed figures while coiling around another, crushing him.
The remaining four ran toward me, three tried to grab me, while one stopped advancing only to incite a spell. The spell sounded like it was a song from another language, it was beautiful. I used my superior speed to evade their hands and even dodged an incoming fireball that managed to hit his ally.
The one set ablaze screamed for help and pain, drew the other three's attention to stomp out the fire. These men aren't too smart, huh? I casually walk behind one of the distracted trio and slit his throat wide open with my unsheathed rapier. I was busy with these men, I couldn't see how the Lamia was doing. One of the men actually grabbed me, which tripped me up, he then held me in front of the other robed figure who just finished his aria. “End of the line.” he said in a gruff voice.
He pointed his wooden staff at me and I witnessed a flame start to swell into a ball at the tip of it, just a few inches in front of my face. I could actually feel the intense heat starting to cook the edges of my skin, making it tingle and burn. Suddenly, the staffed leaned back and the fireball launched toward the sky. Why? I looked back the mage whom, a moment ago, almost had me toasted and saw that his neck had been bent at an unnatural angle. His body slumped to the ground and life had escaped his eyes.
Seeing this happen, and that he was alone, the restraints around my hands instantly loosened and he ran away. The last robed figure ran with all his might without looking back. I figured it would be bad to leave a witness, I ran forward with all my power, easily I caught up to him. Unsheathing my rapier, I slammed my left foot down and thrusted with all my might, stabbing a hole through his body, causing him to stumble to the ground.
I watched as he bled out and died. We then spent a little effort of gathering all of the corpses of the robed figures and put them into a pile and looted all the corpses. I ended gathering: 451 gold coins (mostly from Thun'xanxuhm), the tome used to summon me, three intricate wooden staves, one metal staff, a few copies of six different maps, and a magic pouch that seemed to have camping supplies in it.
“It seems, people may recognize us in this Kingdom if we were spotted. Let us move North-East. Around the same path as described from our late master, without killing the towns.” I suggest.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Quest: Journey to the North
Mission: Cross the border of the Principality of Shadows and the Kingdom of Lunari.
Bonus: Discover 10 towns
Reward: 1,000 Exp.
Hmm, that is a very useful quest that is convenient to my current objective. I quickly glanced toward the sky and saw that it was a little past noon, and the sun was to my left, telling me that I was facing North. That is if the sun sets in the West here. “Hey... I apologize I don't know your name.”
“My name is Seraphine-sii. May I know your name?” She peeked at me.
“Ah, of course Seraphine-sii, my name is Jack Frost. It is nice too meet you. Though I have a question for you.”
“En, ask away.” She nodded once.
“Okay, so I am oblivious to this world, so I want to ask a few questions actually. The Sun, does it set in the West? How many languages are there? Will I hit a language barrier in the other countries?”
She shook her head to all of my questions, “No, no, no. The Sun sets in the East, and there are four languages, if I remember correctly. Well, only three is spoken regularly, the fourth is used for magic. The one we are speaking is called Aethersii, or the Elvish Tongue. It is spoken by everyone in the plane of Creation, and most of the Elves know the language as well. Though everyone on Aezorish knows Aezordii, or the Common Tongue. Next is the language only known to the Xernurochs, which is called Xernurochii, or the Demon Tongue. Aetherzii, or the Old Elvish Tongue is the last language, though it was lost when all of the High Elves went extinct mid Chaos Era. The Old Elvish Tongue is the language of magic, it is used in magic incantations, though the incatations remain mostly unchanged in the eras, the meaning of most of the words in the incantations are lost. No one alive is fluent in Aetherzii.”
I started walking North with the new found knowledge. Seraphine-sii followed as I ask many more questions. The more I asked, the more answers I got, though the more answers I got, the more I knew that I didn't know. But it blew my mind that High Elves are Extinct. I was expecting their snobbish personalities with their self entitlement in this game, but I guess the writers went into a whole different direction. Hmm, I am glad I won't deal with those personalities in this game, but it does take away a lot from regular fantasy tropes. I feel conflicted, but it could be interesting.
We passed by several towns and received rides from one to other by passing carriages, I ended up spending half of my money but we made it across the border into the Principality of Shadows. We ended up passing by eight small towns and two densely populated cities while we were in the Solaeum Kingdom. While in those towns we collected information on where we were, where we were headed and some necessary food stuffs. The names we passed by were Charreden, Ironspire, Ashwood, Burn Valley, Igniton, Valley Pass, Rockhaven, etc. Apparently, most of the towns and cities we passed through were part of the Iron Valley Provence.
Iron Valley, a fitting name. Thinking back to the miserable time of passing through the valley between the mountain range, those mountains were just really giant mounds of Iron ore. Though we passed a small segment of the Iron Valley, apparently, most of the Iron Valley is now owned by the Principality we just arrived in.
It had taken hours to get this far, almost a whole day, and we had only just got close to the border, however, we were close to the border with the Kingdom of Lunari as well. After passing the Mountain Pass Village, Ironhand Village, and Mountainview City, we got off the carriage outside of Rockmine Village. I paid my dues, and ended up with a quarter of my initial gold. I noticed the architectural differences between the Solaeum Kingdom and this country, this town had very squarish buildings that were made from stone through and through. With flat top stone houses, and cobblestone roads, the village looked washed out with grayness. The setting sun, didn't help.
On foot we made our way toward the Rockmine Village, though it was evening, it was still lively in this small town. There were many onlookers waiting by some stone paths and watched the horizon diligently. Suddenly, a man bearing a torch came into view, he was sprinting with all his might. He ran past the crowd with a determined look in his eyes, when he was almost out of view, he stopped at this huge vat of oil and tossed the flaming torch into it. The flames leaped to life as it became immense in size before calming to just a mid sized flame.
With the lighting of the vat of oil, everyone cheered, some louder than others. When I pulled aside someone to ask what was happening, they gave Seraphine-sii a cautious look before looking back at me. “Ahh... I don't think you should have your summons creature walking about. You know given your... unhealthy appearance.” He eyed me with worry.
I looked at him and asked, “What's wrong with what I am doing?”
He breathed a sigh, “Ah, I know elves have higher affinity for magic, and that they have better control of it. However, even an elf who is sick will not be able to concentrate and lose control of their magic. I don't want any harm come to this, here village, due to someone trying to show off their magic. So, I am going to have to ask you to put your summoned creature away.” He gave me a serious look.
Ignoring his demands, I asked another question, “What is this event going on?”
He seemed to instantly forget about the Lamia and spoke with a kind of pride, “Why, it's Sun-down Festival. It's a festival that we celebrate every year, celebrating this half of the Principality of Shadows being liberated from the Solaeum Kingdom. On this day, 500 years ago, our nation's founder, Cardinal Jasef, ended the civil wars within both the Kingdom of Lunari and the Solaeum Kingdom, by calling a Moot. During this peace talk, he negotiated with the the Kings and skillful made way for his people's freedom. What am I saying, you have probably already heard about our nation's founder.” His voiced raised at one point, had now calmed as he remembered where he was at.
“He was a Cardinal?” I mumble. Though I think I was heard, because he responded.
“Why, yes. He attained Cardinal status, shortly after he attained the title of Prince-Archbishop. He almost attained the title King-Archbishop, however once he attained the Cardinal status, all secular titles are meaningless. Though you may already know this, you do know there are only five Cardinals, they make up the Elder Council of the clergy, one of which is to always be the Bishop of the Dark hand of Shadows, the leading Church of this glorious nation?” He drew in a long breath, as he seemed to forget to breathe. “What you may not know is that all five of the current Cardinals are bishops from the Principality of Shadows, this has only happened twice since our nations founding.”
His voice had gotten loud again, causing others to migrate around us. The others were cheering, as he started to break into scriptures about their religion. We used this moment to slip through the crowd as more and more people came to hear him talk about the history of their nation. I turned around to look at the over zealous crowd, I had the feeling that more was afoot.
“They are brainwashed. All of them. This entire nation.” I jumped as a new voice appeared behind me. It belong to an older man that seemed to witness the whole ordeal, he had a few wrinkles, but dark hair, indicating that he was a middle aged man that had a stressful life. His clothes were nicer than some of the others that we had passed by, “Come with me. I trust you can handle your beast?” He pointed with his jaw.
“Hah, I assure you, she is perfectly safe. So what are we doing?” I began to follow him, with Seraphine-sii behind me.
“We are leaving, I assume you will want to leave this place as soon as possible after you learn the truth of this place. Most everyone in the Silent Continent knows of it, so it isn't much of a secret, but you seem ignorant of it, so I feel it is my duty to enlighten you.” We got to far side of town where a wagon awaited us.
“I am sorry, I have not enough money on me, I cannot pay for this.” I apologized.
“It is fine, I am on my way to the Kingdom of Lunari anyway, I have to stop off in the mountain village of Iglaku to pick up a delivery. I may not look like it now, but I used to be a Peddler, I am now a Shop Owner.” He puffed out his chest as he climbed in the wagon and took the reigns, over his six magnificent Stallions.
“Iglaku is also on a mountain? Why are there so many mountains?” I ask in astonishment of the number of mountain settles we have come across. I help Seraphine-sii, climb aboard the wagon, which her lower half fills most of the wagon. It seems Seraphine-sii has been rather silent these last few hours I just noticed. Well, she doesn't know the Common Tongue, so it makes since. “Excuse me kind, sir. I have experienced a traumatic event not long ago, and I seem to have developed amnesia, and I need to relearn the ways and teachings of the world.” I lied.
He turned to look at me before he commanded his horses forward, “Hmm, I see. Do you happen to have any maps, I can teach you some simple geography.” When I nodded my head, he motioned for me to sit next to him, “Alright, let's see. Ah, this map here. All of this is the continent we live on, named the Silent Continent. Around fifteen percent of the continent's land mass is taken up by this volcano in the middle, this volcano is inactive, named the Heart of the Stars. In the Caldera, there is a lake that shows the reflections of everything above. This lake, Celestial Lake, doesn't have any magical properties in the water at all, though the rivers that flow from it are huge sources of magical power.”
He then circled over a few areas on the map, “This entire Northern area belongs to the Kingdom of Lunari. The Southern are belongs to the Solaeum Kingdom, this area is the North-East is the nation we are currently leaving, the Principality of Shadows. Last but not least, is this large chunk here, in the South-West is corrupted and controlled by a Lich, Thun'quqyg.” he shivered for a moment before continuing. “Remember when I told you about how everyone is brainwashed in the Principality? Well, it is true that their founder ended the civil wars in the Kingdoms, however, he was the one that started it, when he became leader of the assassin's guild, by the same name as the current ruling church of the Principality, the Dark Hand of Shadows, founded 6,000 years ago by Zetif.”
He went on about history of which, I got bored of listening to, as I can gather this information later in the game. It was all very interesting, but I think I want to try some other things out before I get into the Lore. While this kind man was trying to explain the wold to the ignorant me, I tried to see if an old NPI gaming mechanic was implemented in this game as well. I thought of opening the status menu in my head. I saw that everything around me slowed to a stop, sounds of nature and the grinding wheels on the dirt road faded to nothing. All in front of me was a screen, much like the notification screens.