The Secret of the Dark Forest ( (The Way of the Shaman: Book #3) (5 page)

"I won't go alone," I assured Beth, turning over all my acquaintances in my mind. The combined level of 600 is quite a lot. On the one hand, that's just Anastaria and Hellfire together, but I had no intention of handing this quest over to them. I had to get back in touch with my old connections, find Eric and co. and quickly level up.

"How much time do I have to find it?" If the quest could be postponed by a month, I might have a chance to level up at break-neck speed and gain a dozen levels, irrespective of Evolett's emphatic threats. That would be great.

"The sooner the better, but you do have two months. Gather your team and return to me – you will all be sent by teleportation to the borders of the Free Lands. A month later I will send other teams. I'm sorry, but this matter is just too important. If we don’t hear news from you, I will have to appeal for help from the heroes of the Empire. The Stone must be returned."

Changes to the quest “Restoration of the Holy Relic. Step 2: Searching for the Stone of Light."

Time given for completion: 2 months.

"I hope you will return with the Stone," said Beth, finally. "And now you must excuse me, I am catastrophically behind in getting my affairs in order. Oh! What's wrong with me? I still haven't thanked you for the rescue! The Great Priest rank wasn't even the main reward. It’s this," said Beth taking out a small box from under her table. Eluna's High Priestess is really quite something – so changeable that you end up feeling you're dealing with a child: ...she switches to a new topic every ten minutes, any longer than that and her brain just gets too tired. It made me wonder if this Imitator got a concussion in Beatwick.

"It may not be the Emperor's ring, but you may still find it useful. Wear it honorably." Beth opened the lid of the box and took out a ring. She looked at it closely for a couple of seconds, as if searching for a flaw, and then handed it to me.

Item acquired: “Holy Ring of Eluna”.

Description: +20% Experience gain.

Requirements: Reputation with the Priestesses of Goddess Eluna: friendly or higher.

Item class: Unusual, Blessed.

Minimal description, but the effect was simply amazing! So, Blessed Items can be rather useful! That’s it: Blessed Items!

"Beth, I also have a certain matter to discuss with you! I've made so many cursed things in Beatwick it's crazy! I still have some of that dubious ore left as well. Can you bless all of these things? I can't sell them and it seems a pity to just throw all of it away."

"Of course, put them all on the table. It's time to give my Priestesses some proper work – they could use a break from all the heavy-duty flirting with the guards. You can come and collect all of this tomorrow."

"Great! Then I'm off to gather my team. The Stone will be found!"

I put on the new ring and headed for the Bank of Barliona. A flashing pictogram in the form of a letter had been trying to catch my attention for the best part of the last ten minutes. This could mean only one thing – I had a message in the mail. Of all possible limitations, I only had Tax and the Presence of Pain remaining, so little comforts like notifications and internal clan chats were now accessible. But who could be so keen to get hold of me?

"H
ow can I help you?" the Bank of Barliona gremlin asked in a squeaky voice as his dark eyes looked up at me.

"I'd like to get a personal mailbox that would permit me to send mail from anywhere. I was finally getting around to buying the most important item in Barliona: the Basic Portable Mailbox. Many players head to the Bank and buy this useful device on the very first day they roll up a character. Now there would be no need to run to the Bank every time I had to send a message or read a letter: I'd have it all right there in my pocket. Of course, the basic version doesn't have all the nice features with settings, content-sorting and use of the mail Intellect Imitator, but I saw little sense in buying the enhanced version to get all these things: it's not like I was expecting mountains of mail.

"The annual cost of the Basic Portable Mailbox service is two hundred gold. Do you wish to make the purchase?"

"But it used to cost five hundred!" I exclaimed involuntarily, greatly surprised by the unexpected decrease in the cost of the service. Lowering prices in any way, let alone halving them, seemed out of line with the Corporation's usual way of doing things.

"This is the policy of the Bank of Barliona towards persons that have achieved Respect with the Emperor," the gremlin said somewhat pompously, tearing himself away from his papers. "Should you reach Exalted, this service would be provided free of charge. Do you wish to acquire the Mailbox?"

Well, I'll be … ! When I played as a Hunter I hadn't managed to increase my Reputation with the Emperor by a single point and had no idea about a nice perk like that. The saving of three hundred a year may not be huge, but was still nice.

"Yes, I do. Please deduct the sum from my account." I confirmed the message that popped up about the deducted amount and again turned to the gremlin.

"Your Portable Mailbox." I was handed a small folder, showily tied together with a red ribbon.

Item acquired: Basic Portable Mailbox.

Description: You shall now be able to send and receive mail in any location in Barliona.

Annual service cost of Mailbox: 200 gold. Does not take up inventory bag space.

I thanked the gremlin and entered my Personal Room. The flashing icon indicating new mail didn't go anywhere and was telling me that I had five letters waiting for me now. I sat down on the uncomfortable chair, noting that I should look into expanding my personal space here to reduce general discomfort, and opened the first letter:

"Only today! New erotic show with a copy of the Great Anastaria! 21+. Ticket price: 2300 gold, video recording prohibited. Show venue: The Anhurs Dating House!’

Well I'll be ... spam! Real, genuine spam! It really has been a while! The filters that I had turned on when I was in Beatwick blocked all mail except that sent directly by other players, so in the past six months I hadn't seen any bulk messages. After adding the sender to the blacklist to prevent similar messages getting through, I continued to read the rest:

"Clan 'Pwnage Meisters' invites you into its ranks. We have a friendly and fun team and all you need to do is bring your 'First Kill'. Repair covered by the clan (we have our own repair experts)."

"Clan 'XXX’ invites you ..."
and twenty more letters with similar offers. I went through them one by one, wondering why I was never notified of their arrival and then noticed their date. Most of the letters had arrived well before the events in Beatwick, when I was still under my parole limitations. Five had arrived just in the two hours that had elapsed since my virtual freedom. And here was I thinking that I had received something important ... got my hopes up, and all that. I continued looking through the letters with dampened enthusiasm, gradually forming a 'blacklist' of my own: just in the last few minutes four more spam letters had arrived. Then I finally came across something unusual: a letter from Evolett.

The envelope had a pictogram of a box next to it, indicating an attachment. I pressed the pictogram and saw the list of things that had been sent to me: fifty-seven scrolls – all Jewelcraft recipes – judging by the description. Riiight ... What's in the message then?

"Hello Mahan,

First of all, I would like to apologize for the performance that I had to put on today, but everything had to look genuine to the Heralds: Imitators – no way around it’. I believe that the enormous boon that you managed to hand my clan merits an explanation on my part. So here it is.

The idea of letting people play on the side of Kartoss has been floating around the Corporation for some time. They did their best to keep a lid on it but you can't get away from the human factor in the workforce, so if you know your way around the net not only can you find the description of all the new races and classes, but also make an approximate prediction of the update’s release date. About six months ago it became clear that all the preparations have been completed and that the Corporation was ready to launch the scenario. By some unfathomable miracle you have ended up being part of it, so I can only hope that your luck will hold out. As soon as the Heralds told us that members of the clan have been banned from appearing in the Krong Province, it became clear that the scenario had commenced.

Constantly coming second can get very tedious, so the decision to transfer the clan to Kartoss was taken at the clan assembly. We conducted a clan-wide survey and established our base: four thousand players who were prepared to move to Kartoss. The rest of the rabble was removed from the clan, just as Plinto was. Unfortunately people like him are uncontrollable. Please keep that in mind when creating your own clan. So all we had to do was wait for the start of the transfer and become the First Clan of the Dark Empire.

That is when I had a very interesting idea. According to the rumors that reached me, the worse your Reputation with the Emperor and the Empire, the easier it would be to transfer your clan, even going as far as gaining Respect with Kartoss and the Dark Lord. At the clan assembly we decided to put a player with a positive Reputation with both required factions on our official blacklist so we could end up deep in the minus. It's not possible to just add people to this list on a whim – you need approval of a Herald and a dramatic performance. Everything had to be official and clear, including the over-the-top rhetoric, otherwise it wouldn't have worked. So I played my part in the theatrics. We've spent some time looking for a 'victim', even considering adding Ehkiller at first, but he had positive Reputation with too many useful factions with which we also would have preferred to remain on good terms – Thricinians, for example. And then you turned up. The Emperor expressed his gratitude to you and this could only mean that your Reputation with him is higher than Friendly. Then I took a chance, and, as you can see, hit the mark. Aside from the Malabar factions you don't have any Reputation leveled above Friendly.

Just moments after the Herald took you away I was contacted by the representatives of the Corporation expressing their thanks for finding a 'loophole' that allowed a very favorable migration to Kartoss. This move has already been blocked, so it can't be used a second time, but our clan was left as it was. We acted within the framework of the Game and didn't break any rules, so there won't be any penalties imposed on Dark Legion. Thus, when in three weeks' time we migrate to the other Empire, we will ALREADY have Respect with Kartoss and the Dark Lord.

I realize that the next three weeks will be very tough for you and would like to offer you at least some compensation for the moral damages suffered on my account. I know that you are a very skilled and exceptional Jeweler (the Cursed Chess Pieces are proof of this), so I'm sending you Jewelcraft recipes that cannot be bought from the trainers. All of them are drops from Dungeon bosses and all are of Rare (and some even Epic) quality, so I believe they should be sufficient to compensate you for any distress you might experience. I don't want to send you money, as that's unimaginative and will mean that I've bought you.

Yours sincerely, the Head of the Dark Legion Clan, Evolett.

P.S. I hope my idea will not affect the clan's Reputation with the Dark Lord. As far as I know, you are in good standing with him as well. It would be a great pity to make that mistake.

P.P.S. Try to vanish from places frequented by players for the next three weeks. Take a trip to the Free Lands, go on a walkabout or focus on leveling up. Neither I nor the Dark Legion clan have any desire to be constantly sending you for respawn.

P.P.P.S. (Hmm, rather a lot of postscripts here.) The only thing I will really miss is the Cursed Chess Pieces. They will disappear the moment we move to Kartoss – this has already been verified. I hope that the recipes that I sent will aid you in creating something as beautiful and magnificent.”

All this hit me like a bolt out of the blue. There was so much information and all of it so interesting: it was quite overwhelming. Plinto was removed from the clan because he was uncontrollable. I now have a ton of recipes that were not normally available for sale! The Dark Legion is preparing to migrate to the dark side. Stop! Shouldn't I have a letter about that as well?

Only two unread letters remained. I looked at the senders: Barliona Administration and Reptilis. Reptilis' letter came with an attachment – that green lizard probably sent me the rest of the money he owed me, so that can wait.

"Dear player!

We would like to inform you that from today you have the opportunity to transfer your character to the side of the Kartoss Empire. If you decide to take this step, utter the phrase: 'I call upon a Magister, I request your assistance’, and you will be teleported to the Nameless City (the capital of Kartoss) and offered the choice of a new race and class (you can find the description of all races and classes in the game manual). Number of times you can refuse to change your Empire: not more than 2. After the second refusal the transfer of the character will become impossible.

Duration: a month from the moment you read this letter.

To the owners of the clans: you can transfer your clan to the side of Kartoss only if you have the written agreement of each clan member.

Yours sincerely,

Barliona Administration”

Hmm ... a transfer to Kartoss. ... Maybe I should just throw in the towel now and become a 'dark one'? I opened the manual and immersed myself in reading.

Trolls, thaurun, undead, ogres, dark bloods, ashen elves ... well, I'll be! Over twenty previously inaccessible new races. For players who love everything new – this was paradise! New quests, new lands, new skills, new ... new everything! I thought about moving to Kartoss for a few seconds, but then smiled and shooed that thought away. I'm quite happy in Malabar, as it happens.

“Hi, Mahan!

This is Reptilis, the one you sold the Dress to. Here is the remainder of the money and huge thanks for the Dress. I'm lost for words in expressing my gratitude. Once again, please accept my apologies for trying to lead you like a sheep to the slaughter. I had no idea that things would turn out this way. If you ever need help – just say the word. I'll do all that's in my power straight away.

Tillis”

So it looks like Anastaria did like my Dress after all. The Greed Toad heaved a deep sigh one last time and with sadness saw the 24500 gold drop into my purse. The time had come for me to reap the results of my work. I opened the folder and started to write letters.

“Hello Marina,

Listen, you know that I've been put on the Dark Legion blacklist, so I'll be in hiding for the next three weeks. Consequently, it won't be possible to meet up with you in the near future. Let's do the following: as soon as I know that I'm no longer under threat, I'll contact you.

Daniel”

This player is not currently in the Game. Your letter will be delivered later.

First of all I postponed the meeting with Mirida to an unspecified point in the future. I had already decided that we should meet, so it made sense to warn her that I was about to vanish for an uncertain amount of time. Something was telling me that I had to speak with her, but to be honest I had to admit that I was afraid of this meeting. In the first few months, I would've given a lot to look Marina in the eyes but now, after I had actually seen those eyes, even just those of her avatar, I had no negative feelings towards her: I realized that I felt neither anger nor rage. Emotions had ebbed away, leaving only the harsh reality behind. Still, it felt so strange to sign with my real name! I had become so unused to it in the last half a year that I had begun to forget it. I had to try to use it more often, or after my release in seven years' time I would still be insisting that my name is Mahan.

Right after the letter to Marina, I wrote letters to my former acquaintances, with whom I've played for almost a year and a half, and asked to meet with them. I urgently had to gather my own team, preferably made up of people that I had known before.

Elenium was a junior Priest of Eluna. Since we were going on a quest handed to us by Priestesses, he was bound to get some special bonus out of it. Just a few months before I ended up in prison, Sergei, as he was called in real life, had become a father, so he disappeared from Barliona for a while. I hoped that his little son was doing well and that Elenium was still playing.