Quest for Camlan_A LitRPG Adventure Page 19

  That was close. Too close to me. Too close to the front door where someone else could see him. I don’t know how much time I have before another soldier comes wandering by, and I still have almost a dozen keys to try. Fortunately, the luck that led me to the platinum key and the luck that looked out for me against the pixie still holds. The very next key I try turns smoothly and offers that satisfying thunk of unlocking. I frantically pull the lock free and pull open the wooden doors.

  The dark interior of the cellar gives me pause, but I have no time to think about it. I climb through to the short stairs below, and pull the door closed behind me, shutting myself into darkness.

  Darkness is good for staying hidden and stealthy, but I have no idea where to go next. With my hand outstretched I feel my way to the closest wall. Or in this case, what feels like open shelves lining the wall. Jars and baskets are stored in this cool cellar. I imagine in some alternate quest chain, a player would need to come down here to collect ingredients for a recipe or something harmless and fun. Not stalking through the darkness, trying to rescue a potion master from kidnapping.

  I’m still carrying the ring of keys, afraid to save them in my bag in case I come across more locked doors. But I have to hold all of the keys in my tightly closed fist to keep them from jangling and revealing my position.

  Now that I’m inside the house, Erinocalypse can’t help me.

  Feeling my way through the darkness, I reach what feels like a closed door. There must still be a ton of space down here under the house. My imagination starts racing thinking about what else could be down here with me. I pause at the door to listen. There are at least two, maybe three people on the other side. They’re talking to each other, but low enough that I can’t understand what they’re saying.

  I want to wait as long as possible, in case one of them leaves or maybe to gain more intelligence about what I’m walking into. But there’s no time. Lord Crimson could return. The Challenge is running out. For all I know the guys on the other side of this door are about to be joined by far more.

  I have to act.

  Chapter 39

  I feel for the handle and turn it slowly, listening for the click to let me know I can begin to pull the door open. There’s no creaking, thank goodness, but light coming from a nearby door down the hall spills onto me. I’m still partially in shadow but if anyone looked hard enough, they’d see me.

  The men I had heard talking earlier stand in the open doorway that lets in the light. Neither of them notice me yet, but the second I open this door wide enough to slip through, they will. They are only a dozen feet away. I might be able to preemptively attack one, but not both. I wonder if the same luring trick we used with the bears would work, but there’s just not enough space in this hallway.

  A similar trick might work, though.

  I leave the door cracked slightly, and back up again to the wall of shelves, supplies and storage. With the door ajar I have just enough light to see the outlines, and grab one of the larger glass jars. I creep slowly back to the doorway, dropping the jar on the stone floor where it breaks immediately.

  “What was that?” I hear one of the soldiers ask.

  “Seems like it came from in there.”

  “I’ll check it out.”

  I hold my breath as the footsteps come towards me. I step back from the door and recede into the shadows. The soldier pushes the door open and steps into the room. He barely has time to look around before I am behind him, stabbing my long Goblin Knife into his ribs.

  Attention: You have unlocked Active Skill: Backstab Level 1

  Description: Your enemies don’t even hear you coming.

  Requirements: Stealth Level 2, hand-held weapon

  Reward: +40 XP

  [+80 XP]

  One enemy down, and requisite XP for the accomplishment. Not bad.

  I drag the body away from the door. It will disappear and respawn eventually, but in order to fell the second soldier, I need more space. There is a silent pause as he waits for his now-dead colleague to report back.

  “Collins? Anything?”

  Silence.

  “Hey, Collins. What did you find?”

  Still silence. Footsteps come toward me. He pushes the door open and I repeat the backstab.

  [+80 XP]

  I don’t know how long I have before the NPCs respawn, so I pull both the bodies out of the way and continue my search.

  There are two other doors leading off of the cramped hallway, but my best option is to start with is the lit room at the end with the door already open. I cautiously approach the doorway, close to the wall to stay out of sight from anyone on the other side. I listen carefully, but I’m not sure I hear anyone in there.

  When I reach the doorway, I trust my instinct and look around the doorframe into the bright room. A table and chairs are pushed against the wall opposite the door, and in the far corner against the back wall stands a small holding cell.

  The same woman wearing green that Erinocalypse and I saw emerge from the woods sits on a bench in the cell, staring at me with a guarded expression. She doesn’t seem afraid, but neither does she seem eager to see me.

  “Helena?” I whisper as I cross the room. “I’m SirAsh3r. I’m here to rescue you. Mayor Barnaby of Allynton warned us that you might be in danger, so my, uh, colleague and I have come to free you and escort you back to safety.”

  She eyes me, unsure.

  “I’ve got, um.” I hesitate. How do I prove this? “I’ve got a map that I got from the mayor. I know about the Goblet of Vigor and whatever potion that Lord Crimson needs you to make. Will you trust me?”

  She nods. “I’ll trust you. But how do you propose to free me?”

  “Oh!” I hold up the keys I’ve been gripping tightly this whole time. “I’m hoping one of these will work.”

  “Be my guest.”

  I cross the room to the cell and begin trying key after key. Some of them are the wrong size or the wrong metal and it is easy to see at a glance that they won’t fit. Nevertheless, it still takes me five or six tries to find the right one.

  She puts her hand on mine, stopping me. “Be careful. This door creaks a bit when it opens. You might get some unwanted attention.”

  I nod, making myself as ready as I can. “Do you have everything? Are you ready to run?”

  “Where are we running to?”

  “At the other end of this hall is another room with an entrance to the outside. It’s not far, but we will have to cross the stairway up into the house above, and if anyone hears us, that’s where they’ll come.”

  She nods. “I’m ready.”

  I stow the keyring in my bag, equipping a Club in one hand and the Goblin Knife in the other. I move to open the cell door carefully, slowly, but the damn thing lets out a screech like a banshee, echoing down the short hallway. I pull it open quickly, cringing at the noise.

  “Go, go,” I whisper urgently.

  She passes me to cross the room and before we even reach the hallway we hear a man’s voice call down the stairwell from above.

  “Everything okay down there?”

  The voice is closer than I expect and I can hear the footsteps of at least two soldiers coming down the stairs straight toward us.

  “Come on,” I whisper.

  I grab her hand and pull her down the hall to the cellar storage room. I push her through the door ahead of me, out of sight, and rush in after her. I get the door closed behind me but I’m not quite fast enough. The soldiers arrive at the foot of the stairs in time to see me hurry through the door and they begin banging on the wood and trying to push it open. Once I’ve closed the door the room around us goes pitch black.

  “Damn.”

  “Thought this through, did you?” Helena says. “One minute.”

  It only takes a moment, but the room is soon dimly lit from an orb of energy she holds delicately in her hand.

  “Whoa.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  I don’t e
ven mind her condescension if it will help get us out of this.

  “Is there anything in here we can use to barricade the door?” I ask looking around.

  She very carefully rests the ball of light on one of the open shelves before taking a look around the room. I’ve got the door latched, but it doesn’t lock from inside, so my keys don’t help. I’m holding it closed with my own weight.

  “I suppose this will do?”

  Helena carries a heavy wooden crate from the far side of the room to wedge behind the closed door.

  “That’s great. Now, maybe a few more?”

  She shoots me a look, warning me to keep my mouth shut, and proceeds to carry over three more boxes as well as two heavy bags of flour. I’m not sure if it’s quickly enough. The guards could have had time to run around the outside cellar door. But it’s the best we can do.

  I hesitatingly step back from the door, but it holds and we cross to the stairs leading out of the cellar. I push the door wide open in my rush to escape.

  Helena gasps.

  A dead soldier lies next to where we were just about to climb out.

  Erinocalypse: I think they know you’re leaving.

  SirAsh3r: Cover us. I’ll take her back through the trees the same way I came in.

  Erinocalypse: You got it.

  I grab Helena’s hand again and pull her up the final few steps, out of the cellar and close to the building through the back of the house.

  “Hey!” I hear behind us, followed closely by a thump when the speaker undoubtedly falls to the ground.

  “Keep moving,” I hiss, pushing her ahead of me.

  Chapter 40

  Helena doesn’t argue with me. We head toward the trees behind the house at a flat sprint. There’s more yelling and more bodies dropping behind us, but we make it to the cover of forest without anyone reaching us. I stop a few feet in, where the sunlight is more blocked and hiding is easier. Next to me, Helena is casting another spell. This time instead of pulling light into a ball, she is drawing from the shadows around us, hiding us even better than we had been.

  “Stay quiet.”

  I wait silently and watch as two more soldiers come around the corner of the house and head toward the trees. They’re going wide of us, just walking into the forest on a guess instead of actually following any of our tracks. It’s working. If we can stay out of sight long enough we can get the potion maker to safety.

  The soldiers hold a brief discussion before turning around to return to the house.

  Quest Completed: Bodyguards IV

  Description: You have successfully rescued Helena from imprisonment

  Reward: +190 XP

  Quest Discovered: Bodyguards V

  Description: The potion maker may be free but she’s not yet safe. Escort Helena to safety in Allynton

  Reward: +190 XP, +100 Silver pieces, Archer’s Leather Bracers

  Once I’m sure the solders are out of earshot, I whisper, “Okay, let’s get you somewhere safer.”

  She nods and gestures me to lead. I wind my way through the trees, heading parallel to the river and downstream to where Erinocalypse waits.

  She’s still where I left her, crouched on the river’s edge, just passed the crest of the hill. She managed to stay out of sight the whole time and I’ve lost count of how many soldiers she took down. She probably leveled up her spell casting again too, which means she’s even closer to catching up to me in the Challenge.

  I pause across the river from her, still in the woods and send her a private message.

  SirAsh3r: We’re here. Across the river. Going downstream a bit before we cross.

  Erinocalypse: Sounds great

  From this distance I can see her begin to move. Helena and I have more tree cover on this side, and I’m hesitant to give that up sooner than we need to. We walk parallel paths along the river for twenty minutes, forty minutes, an hour. I either had forgotten or hadn’t noticed how rushing and wide the river is at this point and I’m hesitant for either of us to risk crossing it. On our side of the river, Helena and I come up on a series of small creatures I grind for a little XP, picking up a few small trinkets as I go. Foxes, badgers and hawks cross our path at regular intervals. I convince myself I am racking up XP faster than Erinocalypse.

  It’s not long before we come to a bridge across the water. We cross it to find a small cluster of roads and join up with Erinocalypse for the last bit of the walk into Allynton.

  “Do you know what level we have to be get a horse to ride?” she asks after we’ve been walking for more than two hours.

  I shake my head. I hope it’s soon. If it weren’t for those forest creatures, this would have been a long, fruitless hike. Turning in this quest with the potion maker better yield a big reward.

  It’s late afternoon by the time we reach the Allynton town square. There is a lot of traffic going in and out of the inn, and I wonder if there are other players on the same Lord Crimson quest as us. Helena hasn’t said much while we travelled, but she knows the town well and leads the way to the inn. Once inside we elbow past a group milling in the doorway, and I spot Mayor Barnaby commanding an armchair in the far corner of the room. He catches my eye and gestures us over.

  “You made it,” he says, standing to shake our hands.

  Quest Completed: Bodyguards V

  Description: Helena the potion maker has been escorted to safety. She and her potion are now out of reach of Lord Crimson

  Reward +190 XP, +100 Silver pieces, Archer’s Leather Bracers

  Congratulations! You have reached Level 18!

  You have one attribute point to distribute.

  Name: SirAsh3r

  Level: 18

  Strength: 18

  Intelligence: 21

  Dexterity: 19

  Stamina: 19

  Magic: 20

  Skills: Woodcraft 3, Slash 2, Club 3, Paddle 1, Climbing 1, Stealth 2, Archery 5, Power Perception 1, Backstab 1

  Abilities: Initiative 2, Focus 2

  Professions: Cooking 2

  Affinities: 2% Earth; 16% Water

  Fame: 350

  Achievements: First Explorer of Lake Galavant, First Explorer of Foyle Forest, First Visitor to Allynton, Friend of Water

  I check the clock while I equip my new bracers. We have about twelve hours left of the Challenge, six of which I will need to be resting in bed at the inn. I’m going to have to be fast, and deliberate if I’m going to have a chance at beating Jargonaut in this Challenge. That said, my Strength stat is looking a little anemic. I allot my new attribute point to Strength, even if it means following in Jargonaut’s footsteps.

  While I am reviewing my character sheet, Erinocalypse and Helena fill the mayor in on our rescue mission. While we were away from town, a host of Crimson soldiers invaded, looking for the mayor or the potion maker. He stayed safe surrounded by townspeople—and other players—in the inn, but such actions confirm Lord Crimson’s agenda.

  No one has seen the lord since we watched him ride away from his cottage upstream.

  “But more people keep showing up here, right?” I clarify. “Maybe later tonight someone will come in that knows something.”

  The end of my sentence is drowned out by a big booming voice coming from near the door. The crowd near the front actually parts for the man entering.

  It’s Jargonaut. Of course it is. Towering over the NPCs, bullying his way through the room and demanding special treatment. Erin and I watch him push his way to the bar and interrupt the bartender there who was in the middle of helping someone else.

  “Mayor Barnaby, do you happen to know where Jargonaut was all day?” Erinocalypse asks.

  “No, not for sure. I saw him leaving town with two other travelers like yourselves, but I don’t know where they went.”

  I look again and sure enough both Balderdash13 and SteelFeather stand just behind Jargonaut, blending into the crowd and just waiting on him. On a hunch I check the Leaderboard.

  Well, the good
news is I pulled ahead to the second place spot. The bad news is the two players hovering around Jargonaut are right behind me. Either they are tagging along with him to try to get some leverage, or he is taking them under his wing to boost his ego. Or both. Who is to say they’re not just using each other?

  I know Balderdash13 was looking for Lord Crimson earlier today, so I start with her. I cross the crowded room, stepping over people leaning into aisle, and squeezing around others standing in groups. It’s the busiest I have seen the inn, and I wonder if it has more to do with the time of day or with the feeling of safety in here away from Lord Crimson and his men.

  I hang back at the bar, waiting for SteelFeather and Balderdash13 to turn around. I catch Balderdash13’s eye as she nervously looks around and wave her toward me. She touches Jargonaut on the arm, whispers something in his ear and points to me. He glances, briefly and nods, before she makes her way through the crowd to where I wait.

  Did she just have to ask permission to come talk to me?

  “Hey,” I begin, as she approaches. I’m not sure where to start. She’s the one that suggested getting close to him to thwart him, but now it just looks like she’s sucking up to him.

  “Hey.”

  She is just as wary to talk to me as I am to talk to her.

  “So, um. Thanks for the tip about the fishing cottage earlier. I think we found a weird glitch in the game and we couldn’t have solved the quest without you.”

  “We?”

  “Oh, Erinocalypse and me.” I point to where she is talking to Helena. “We rescued that NPC from Lord Crimson.”

  “Oh! So, you found him?”

  “Well, we found the cottage, but he left right as we were getting there.”

  She nods.

  I press on. “You didn’t happen to see him after we talked, did you?”

  “Uh, I …”

  “SirAsh3r!” A big hand claps on my shoulder. Of course, it’s Jargonaut interrupting whatever Balderdash13 was about to say.

  Chapter 41