The Secret of the Dark Forest ( (The Way of the Shaman: Book #3) (15 page)

"Hello Barsina. Guys, let me introduce you to our potential partner on this quest."

"It's Barsa for short, if you like. Hang on, you're not the Mahan about whom there was an announcement from the Emperor a couple of days ago and on whose account all the gaming forums are buzzing after the events in Beatwick, or whatever that place is called? And how did you manage to upset the Dark Legion so much that they're now offering five grand for your head? Will this affect the completion of the quest? I'm sorry for all the questions, but I prefer to settle any matters as they arise, before signing any agreement. I can't stand flakers."

"That's all right," I replied happily and briefly answered all of Barsina's questions. Had we actually managed to get hold of a competent player? That would be some stroke of luck!

"All right, I agree. Do you guys mind if I join you?" The girl looked over the other players. "But let's make some things clear from the start: I don't want any amorous attention or flirting. This is my main condition. I'll have to disappoint you straight away and say that I'm a married woman and don't want any problems with my husband. Deal?"

The entire male population of the group nodded, so Barsina continued:

"Then I have no more questions – let's sign the agreement. I have my own template that I usually use with all the groups that I join; here's the text. It's a little different from a standard group agreement: I added points about open flirting and show of emotions. They may seem like insignificant details, but these things can really do your head in when on a mission."

I carefully read the agreement and, not spotting anything unreasonable, I signed it and Barsina joined our group.

Requirements for the quest 'Restoration of the Holy Relic, Step 2 ,Searching for the Stone of Light' have been met. See the High Priestess of Eluna to be transported to the Free Lands.

"Wow, that's not exactly next door," sighed the girl as she read the description. A dot appeared on the map marking the location where we were heading, but that area was hidden to me, so I could only make a guess at the distance: it looked like around five trips between Farstead and Beatwick. That is, 10 days by cart, 15–20 days on foot or 6–10 days on a decent mount.

"Right you are. We have a long trip ahead of us. All right, guys, everyone ready? Barsina, we have one constraint – three of us can only be in the game from six in the evening until one in the morning, system-time. We have to set out right away so we can to cover as much ground as possible today. Do you need time to get ready?"

"No, I've been looking for a group to do some quests with for a couple of days now, so I've been ready for a while. Last question – where will we sleep? On the ground?"

"I have the Frontier Ranger Tent that sleeps up to 10, and will be very comfortable for 6, so that part is covered."

"In that case I'm ready. Let’s go!”

* * *

"You did the right thing by listening to my advice and taking your friends with you," said the High Priestess happily as soon as we stepped inside the temple. Surrounded by her handmaidens, Beth looked very majestic, having completely regained her previous role. "I see that you've taken a Priest of Eluna with you. A very good choice. Have a look through the items that you left for me to bless earlier and wait here; I need to have a private word with your Priest. Come." My jaw almost dropped as Beth took Elenium aside. We were prevented from following them as a crowd of junior Priestesses surrounded us. They quickly brought a small table and arranged all the rings and ore that I had made and gathered in Beatwick on it.

"May I?" asked Barsina, as she turned one of the rings over in her hand.

"Yes, have a look." I looked over the ring that now granted an extra 5% to Experience, and uncovered its properties. There was nothing secret about the ring, so I wasn't worried that its properties would surprise Barsina too much.

"Nice band," concluded the girl, putting the ring back on the table. "Made by you, judging by the properties. Are you a Jeweler?"

"Yes."

"How far have you leveled up in Jewelcraft? I need to upgrade my rings and I'm prepared to buy if you can make any with +20 to Intellect."

"I'm sorry, but I'm restricted in this respect for now: maximum stat bonus is only +12. So, for the moment I can't help you."

"All right, how much would you sell one of these for? It's always good to have an Experience bonus."

"Barsina, I don't know. I honestly have no idea how much such a ring should cost. If I say 100000 it could be too little and you'll consider me a total sucker, or it could be too much and you'll think I’m a greedy idiot. It cost me nothing to make, so there's no point talking about a markup."

"Would a thousand gold suffice?" asked the girl.

"Quite." I handed the ring to her and got a message that I just received 700 gold. 30% of the sum went towards the Empire, as usual.

"Do you have many rings like this?"

"I don't know yet – you yourself saw them being returned to me just a moment ago."

"Can I dig around? What if I find more things I could use in that pile?"

"Be my guest." I uncovered the properties of the rings. I could probably sell them for a better price at the Auction House, but good relations in the next couple of weeks were worth infinitely more. So I had no trouble sacrificing part of the profit. Barsina started going through my rings, looking at each of them in turn. Meanwhile I tried to figure out where Beth took Elenium. I would have to ask Sergei later why she called him aside.

"Also these two." Barsina highlighted two rings: for +10% to Intellect and +5% to Experience. I had no trouble letting go of the one with the Experience bonus, but the Intellect one ... I had 106 Intellect points at the moment, which meant that the ring would give me an extra 10 points. At the same time, I could now make rings with +12 bonus. The latter was a much better option, especially at this level. But if I spent all of my 265 free stat points on increasing Intellect, this ring would already give +36 ... then compared to that my +12 wasn't much to look at.

"Judging by your face, the Intellect ring has caught your eye as well," said Barsina, putting the ring back. "Then I'd like to take one more for Experience, all right?"

"We're back," declared Beth, who turned up just as I received another 700 gold from Barsina. "Mahan, I told you the aim of the assignment; here's the scroll with the return portal. Activate it as soon as you find the Stone and you'll be brought back to Anhurs. And now we should go, it's time."

After shoving all the blessed items into my bag, handing over the ring Barsina initially wanted to Elenium and giving the bags I bought to the other players, I followed the High Priestess. I'll ask what she was chatting with Sergei about later, in the absence of potential eavesdroppers in the form of the Heralds, who couldn't go to the Free Lands. By the way, there's a question – who ensures the law is obeyed in the Free Lands? Are there equivalents of the Heralds there? I'll have look into this. Our steeds turned into small bridles as soon as we entered the Temple. This was a rare, if not unique, concession to the players by the developers: you could take your mount into a building, upon which it turned into a bridle. And as soon as I left the building, I knew I would regain my stallion. Or mare. Whatever it was – it's not like I had had much time to look.

The neighboring room contained the shimmering transportation portal, kept open by three priestesses. Beth looked at us in a regal manner as the expedition was about to set out and I realized that there wouldn't be much point asking her anything at this moment. I nodded to her in farewell, gripped the bridle in my hands and dove into the portal.

* * *

"A nice little forest they have around here!" uttered Dukki as soon as he appeared next to us. I totally got him – the forest was really quite something. Great, mast-like trees hung over us like some giants of legend. The cold wind, which only the convicts could actually feel, put a Chilled debuff on everyone, reducing all stats by 1%; the ground in the forest was covered by some kind of phosphorescent mist, puffs of which constantly seethed and bubbled, seemingly having a life of their own. There was no sign of any verdant plant life such as grass – instead bare gray sticks, dark brambles and a mass of hostile-looking shrubbery made the forest quite impassable. You could say it was created in the image of the best traditions of the antique horror movies. A small path, which one would have struggled to call a road, lead into the depths of this developers' fantasy and it became clear that our trip wasn't going to exactly be a walk in the park. I was the first one through the portal and, as the others arrived after me, I walked to the edge of the forest to get a better sense of the place – I was immediately immersed in a different world. Just before the forest there was an invisible boundary; crossing it took you to another location: there, the wind became even colder, some distant screams from what I hoped were animals started to reach my ears and odd whispers periodically floated at the limits of hearing. And, judging by the map, our 8 mounted treks would take us into the very depths of all this; we would not know whom or what we might bump into.

"The Dark Forest," said Slate. "There are many bad stories about it amongst my people. Terrifying and full of horrors, this is not a place from which you return ... the birthplace of Vampires."

"Vampires?" asked Barsina in surprise. "I thought they just stayed in their towns and didn't venture out much."

"Of course," he continued. “Those towns are for ordinary Vampires, the domesticated sort, you might say. But the Dark Forest is the place of the original, ancient ones, who put founded many a vampire clan. The Reardalox Clan, if that means anything to you. According to legend, this clan is ruled over by the oldest sentient in Barliona, the one who still remembers the Dragons." I pricked up my ears, but tried not to show it. If Dragons were mentioned, quests that feature them might not be far behind. If I summon Draco the clan head would be putty in my hands. The main thing was not to show my cards until the time was right.

"Right! Attention everyone! Our task is to get to the marked spot and find the Stone. If it was Reardalox's Vampires that did away with the priests, we'll have to do some thinking. But for now let's forget about Vampires – it's not like we can do much about them at the moment, even if they're actually hiding behind the next tree. Barsa, can you please check the forums and look up how to fight those things. Do we need stakes, garlic and other special gear or is the only difference between this and other mobs in the name?"

"All right, I'll look. But I should say that starting out by foisting tasks you could do yourself on others is bad form. I'm not against you giving orders, but don't get carried away."

"Hold on, don't go yet." I stopped the girl. "Here, take a look at my properties. I think that should make it clear why I can't look things up myself. The same goes for half of those present here." I opened access to the part of my properties where it said that I was a person of limited rights.

"I'm sorry," Barsina turned red, thus earning an additional ten points of Respect with me. "I ... I didn't know. ... Why didn't you say straight away?"

"Would you have joined us if I shouted 'A bunch of convicts are looking for a player ... Barsa, the fact that we've left the mines shows only one thing – we're reformed in the eyes of the law. I hope you have no issues with people like us."

"No, if you didn't say I would have never known. ... Please, once again, accept my apologies. ... So, are there any other disadvantages to your situation?"

"Pain: we feel pain. Otherwise we're just like other players."

"They also take 30% off all gold paid to us," put in Clutzer. I looked around and saw that everyone was listening in on my conversation with Barsina with some interest.

"Guys, I see that you've already finished the Clan Agreement, since you've gone into 'chill out and chat' mode. Can I have a read?"

"All right, I'll go and leave you to it," smiled Barsina, while the others looked down, slightly embarrassed. "A Clan Agreement is a very important thing. Be sure to cover everything." With that the girl's eyes clouded over and she left the game.

"Here." Clutzer surprised me. "We took a standard agreement and made a few corrections. We decided to change the structure slightly. The clan will have a Leader (that would be you), a Deputy, a vacant position for the moment and a Treasurer, also vacant for now. Then come the Officers, which would be the six of us, and then the Fighters and Recruits. A question arose about the Keepers – are we going to try to get our own castle like Phoenix, for example, or not?"

"Not for the moment. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. What else?"

"We set out the duties and powers of each and all – we didn't really change anything there. And also we set down that 30% of the clan's monthly income would be allocated for paying salaries. These would be proportional to the profit generated for the clan and to the member's rank. Also ..."

Clutzer handed me the draft agreement, explaining all the amendments that they'd made in this time.

"Good work." I accepted the agreement. "There is only one point I disagree with: namely, the one about making decisions that touch upon the clan's best interests. Right now it says that decisions should be made at an assembly of members with the rank of Officer and higher, but I propose that we leave this privilege to the Clan Head. To me, that is. What if the Emperor summons me and offers to send the clan to a Dungeon or complete a unique quest? What am I going to tell him? 'Can you wait a little. We have to decide this as a clan'? Can you imagine what would happen to our Reputation in that case? No, the clan should and must be consulted, but the decision should be made by one person and it has to be its Head ..."