Darkness Fallen Read online

  Max moved up the street. It was only a few minutes before he was approaching the Ogre’s tavern door. Sweating a bit from the tension, he stepped inside and headed toward an empty table near the back of the room.

  Alexander teleported himself and Brick into the private dining room that Martin O’Malley had let him use to interview volunteers. As hoped, the room was empty. They quickly made their way through the restaurant and into the tavern.

  “Alexander!” Martin called out his name, emerging from the kitchen and spotting them. “Have you come for lunch?”

  Alexander shook the man’s hand. “We’ve spotted some adventurers following Max on the rooftops. We had him come in here to see if they’d follow. We don’t know yet who they are. There may be a bit of trouble…”

  “Bah! I’ve heard all about how you Greystones fight. Two strangers won’t last long enough to do any damage in here. But just in case...” Martin stepped behind the bar and grabbed a stout wooden cudgel. He grinned as he tapped the bar with it. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to knock a dent in a skull or two!”

  Grinning back, Brick thumped he innkeeper on the shoulder. “Bwahaha! Ye be my kind o’ man!”

  “They’re down off the roof and headed for the door. Maybe ten seconds,” Lainey reported.

  “They’re on their way in,” Alexander informed Martin. “Please don’t get involved if you don’t have to. They may have friends here in the city, and I don’t want them coming after you or the Ogre.” Martin made a face but nodded his head in agreement.

  Alexander and Brick retreated toward the kitchen so as not to be spotted. They peered around the door frame, watching the two players enter and look around. Catching sight of Max, they moved to one side of the room and sat a table close to his.

  “Okay, guys; they’re just sitting. Keeping an eye on Max. Change of plan. Max, order some food. Brick and I will watch your back. Lainey, Jules, Sasha, all of you head back to the compound. Keep an eye out for more stalkers. I don’t want to start trouble in here, so we’re going to lead them back to the compound. Sasha, deactivate the outer ward. We’ll let them walk inside just like Henry did.”

  “Will do,” Sasha said. “I just spoke to Captain Redmond. He’s on his way. He’s stationing guards a block away both in front and behind the Ogre. They’ll come running if they hear trouble.”

  “If we’re going to lead them to the compound, why am I ordering food?” Max asked even as he smiled at Martha O’Malley.

  “Jules said they had friends coming. I want to see if they show up here. And we need to give the ladies time to get back to the compound. Sasha, create a raid group. Invite all of us. Invite whomever you find at the compound, including the masters. If these guys are high level, they might get some free xp out of it. Stop and grab Lydia too if she’s there,” Alexander instructed.

  Alexander and Brick were handed sandwiches and cups of water while they observed Max’s fan club. The two were talking quietly among themselves, glancing occasionally over at Max. Martha delivered Max’s food, then stopped at the stalkers’ table to take their order. Passing by Brick and Alexander as she entered the kitchen, she said, “They just ordered food and drink for five.”

  “Thank ye, lass!” Brick winked at her and flipped her a gold coin.

  Max was barely halfway through his lunch when three more players entered the tavern and joined the first two at their table. There was a warrior in plate armor, another caster, and the last wore leather armor and carried twin daggers. Probably a rogue or assassin class. The newcomers began to eat as soon as they sat down, trying to avoid staring at Max as they did.

  “Okay, Max. Leave a nice tip for Martha, and head out. Let’s see if they abandon this excellent food to follow you,” Alexander said.

  Max dropped a couple gold coins on the table as he got up from his seat. Waving at Martin as he crossed the room, he passed by the group of players without making eye contact.

  The moment he was out the door, the players began to quickly stuff food into their mouths as they rose to follow. Noting that they hadn’t paid for their meals, Martin winked at Alexander before calling out, “That’ll be three gold total, gentlemen.”

  The rogue tossed coins to Martin as she headed for the door. Barely containing a smirk, Martin called out, “Thank you. And seee ya!” to their vanishing backs. Brick caught the reference. “Bwahaha! Ye be a funny one, too!”

  After giving the players a minute to move down the road, Alexander and Brick followed them outside. They kept their distance as the group followed Max down the street.

  Max began to mutter to himself. The back of his neck itched, as did the spot midpoint between his shoulder blades. He could almost feel an arrow sliding into his spine.

  Why do I get to be the lucky one they chose to follow? Brick should be the one. He’d be enjoying this!

  Max noticed Captain Redmond casually leaning against a wall in a side alley as he was passing. The captain was casually cleaning his fingernails with a dagger. He nodded at Max almost imperceptibly, then went back to cleaning.

  “Captain Redmond’s in the alley I just passed,” Max informed the group.

  Alexander said, “Sasha, have you done the invites? If so, make me raid leader so I can invite him.”

  “One sec. Okay, good to go,” Sasha said. Alexander’s UI blinked with an alert informing him that he was now raid leader. A quick check showed that in addition to their core group, there were ten dwarves, Lydia, and six humans already in the raid. As he approached the alley and could see the captain, he sent him an invite as well.

  In raid chat, the captain said, “Well, well. Back in town for what? Two hours? And already you’re making things interesting.”

  “Yes, sir. We thought you might be bored. So, we decided to put a target on Max’s back and walk him around town until someone was tempted to shoot at him!” Sasha joked. Alexander could picture the look on her face as she said it. He rolled his eyes.

  “Ha friggin’ ha!” Max chimed in. “You guys ARE watching my back, right? You’ll call ‘heads up!’ or something if an arrow is headed my way?”

  “Don’t worry, buddy. We got your back. I’ll throw up a shield behind you. You’ll be fine,” Alexander assured his friend.

  Max continued across town for the next few minutes, with both groups following his lead. When they reached the final intersection, Alexander said, “I’m going to teleport the captain and Brick into the courtyard. The rest of you, move to either side of the gate so you can’t be seen. And stay quiet. Max, you’re doing fine, buddy. You just stroll on in and head into the house. You can cover us from the balcony door in my suite.”

  Alexander teleported the three of them into the tunnel between the two gates. As Brick and the captain moved inside to join the others, he quickly confirmed that the outer gate ward was turned off. The inner ward was set to teleport intruders to the prison. He decided to leave it that way for the moment as he joined the others against the wall near the armory building.

  After about a minute, Max strolled through the inner gate. He held one hand against his chest and shot them the bird as he passed. Brick snorted.

  As Max moved into the manor house, Jules reported, “They’ve stopped in the street in front of the house next door. They’re talking about something, but I can’t hear what.”

  Alexander’s head jerked around, looking for Jules. His heart began to race, and he could feel panic rising within. “Jules, where are you?”

  “I’m in front of Lydia’s shop. I’m in stealth mode, so they can’t see me. I’m going to try and get closer, so I can hear.”

  “NO!” Alexander could hear the blood rushing in his ears. “Jules, one of them is a rogue, and two are casters. They might have stealth detection. And we don’t know how high level they are.” He ground his teeth, trying his best to overcome his panic and not yell at Jules again. “Just stay where you are, Jules. Tell us if they move.”

  WHY does she keep doing this? First the de
mon dungeon, now this. She’ll get herself killed!

  Sasha grabbed his shoulder and pulled him around to face her. She shook her head and spoke quietly “Stop. She’s fine. She can take care of herself. Take a deep breath and get your shit together.”

  Alexander fought the urge to growl at his best friend. He took her advice and inhaled deeply. He began his pre-fight ritual, breathing and flexing his muscles. He could feel his heart rate dropping as his breathing slowed. After a few moments, Sasha let go of him and nodded her head.

  Jules spoke up again, “They’re heading for the gate. The rogue stealthed; I can’t see her.”

  “Shit! The rogue will be well ahead of them, scouting the area. She’ll hit the inner ward ahead of the others, and they might not step inside the outer gate!” Alexander made a quick decision. He moved in front of the gate and stepped one pace through the inner ward. He then liquefied the ground behind him, between his back and the ward and on either side, leaving a paper-thin solid crust at the top. If the rogue tried for a backstab, she would sink. Or at the very least be knocked from stealth.

  “What are you doing?” Sasha asked. Alexander smiled to himself. He could hear the mental ‘idiot’ that was implied in her tone.

  “I’m betting she won’t just attack. She’ll stay in stealth mode and wait for the others to make contact. Maybe even for them to say something. As soon as they’re all inside, I’ll close the wards. If necessary, I’ll set them to kill. If she tries a backstab, my legendary chestpiece will prevent a crit. Impenetrable, remember?”

  “That won’t help if she slits your throat, idiot.” Lainey put in her two cents. Ah, the women in his life.

  Alexander didn’t have time to respond, as the other four players in the group stepped in through the outer gate into the bailey tunnel. Alexander held up a hand in greeting as he mentally activated the outer ward behind them.

  “Hello there. I’m Alexander.”

  The other players stopped. The caster who had been on the rooftop with the archer took a half stepped forward. She was wearing classic caster robes, dark blue with swirling red accents along the hem and neckline. She carried a wand at her belt, and held a dark wooden staff in her left hand. Her hair was dyed one of the unfortunate neon colors that so many players seem to opt for in game; it spiked upward so that her head resembled a bright green porcupine.

  “We know who you are. We’ve been given a bounty quest for your head.” The mage said very matter-of-factly.

  “A quest? Like an actual quest? Not just a bounty notice on the board in Antalia?” Alexander asked.

  “No, a quest from our guild leader. Potential guild leader. This is our audition. Nothing personal.” The archer behind her nodded his head as she spoke.

  “Let me guess. Chaos Nation? Or has some other guild decided to throw in with the Dark One?”

  “I don’t know Chaos Nation. We’re going to be in Odin’s Hammer. And come on! All that ‘Dark One’ stuff is just bullshit. Some kind of marketing ploy for the game. You can’t believe what you see on the internet, dude.”

  “Oh, trust me. It is very real. Here’s what you need to know before you try to kill me. The ‘Dark One’ is a real-life person, impersonating a god in-game. He’s been declared a terrorist by the FBI and is responsible for a car-bombing attack on the Jupiter Tech headquarters. He took over the PWP guild and seems to be in control of Chaos Nation as well. And he’s using their members as sacrificial lambs. Several of them were sent after us, both in-game and in real life, and have either lost their Io accounts, been arrested in real life, or both. And several are dead. He’s also responsible for that bounty quest you’ve taken,” Alexander explained patiently. He thought he heard a gasp at his ten o’clock when he mentioned the deaths. The rogue.

  “Something else you should know. You won’t kill me. Larger groups than yours have tried. I’m guessing by your gear that you’re all somewhere in your… 50s? You don’t stand a chance. And as I hold the rank of Knight-Advisor in this realm, an attack on me here in the city will mean, at a minimum, a year in the king’s prison. And if you’re found to have any direct ties to the terrorist cell, the consequences will be much worse. The smartest thing you can do right now is apologize and leave. You’re trespassing on guild territory, but I’ll let you go quietly. No harm, no foul. You have one minute to decide.”

  The tank shuffled his feet a bit where he stood behind the leader, an uncertain look on his face. The other caster was looking toward the spot where Alexander suspected the rogue was standing. Probably talking to her in party chat. The group appeared to be thinking things over. Which already made them smarter than the PWPs the Greystones had encountered.

  The leader hissed at the players behind her. They quieted and focused on her.

  “We’re not falling for your ruse. You’d say anything to avoid being killed and losing your gear. As for going to the king’s prison, well there are no guards here.” She motioned around the tunnel with her free hand. “And we have teleport scrolls back to the guild house.” She smirked as she pulled a scroll from her bag.

  Alexander shook his head. “Use them now. I believe that you’re not involved with the Dark One. At least not knowingly. I think maybe somebody gave you a quest. A legit one as far as you know. Let me guess. They offered you each… what? Five hundred gold?”

  “Six hundred!” the tank corrected him.

  “Right. Six hundred each. That’s three thousand gold total. The bounty, last I heard, was five thousand. Might be more now. So, somebody got smart and sent you here on the off chance you’d succeed. They pay you three thousand gold, and they keep two thousand for themselves. I can understand that. Even admire it. Solid business move. Did any of you even bother to check the bounty board?”

  Now the leader looked unsure.

  “You got any guild friends you can ask to quick check the board? They’ll confirm what I’m saying,” Alexander offered.

  “We’re not in the guild yet.” the helpful tank spoke up again. Alexander actually grinned at the guy.

  “Look, folks. I don’t want to kill you. I believe you had no bad intentions coming here. Other than to kill me, I mean. Let’s just chalk it up to a misunderstanding, and you can teleport back home. I’ll even give you a thousand gold for your expenses.” Alexander pulled a small pouch from his bag and held it up for them to see.

  “Ha! I knew you were full of shit. The money proves it. Nobody gives away a thousand gold just to be nice. You’d do or say anything to stay alive, you coward!” The group leader grabbed her wand and pulled it from her belt, pointing it at Alexander. “Kill him!”

  At that point, several things happened simultaneously. Alexander raised a magic shield in front of himself, then mentally changed both bailey wards to kill status. Captain Redmond and several guards appeared in the street outside the gate and held position there. The lead mage used her wand to cast a fireball at Alexander, which struck his shield just as it formed, and dispersed to either side as the shield disintegrated. And the rogue tried to move behind Alexander for a backstab, finding herself stuck to the knees in liquefied stone.

  After a brief hesitation, the remaining players took action. The tank rushed toward Alexander as the archer nocked an arrow and fired. The arrow sped past the lead mage and struck Alexander squarely in the chest. It failed to penetrate his mithril shirt, dropping to the ground at his feet.

  Alexander leaped backward over the softened stone and through the inner ward. As the tank’s charge took him forward, he struck the soft ground, and his lead foot sank. His momentum caused him to lean forward, hands out to catch himself. The moment his hands made contact with the ward, he dropped dead.

  Sasha and the others appeared on either side of Alexander. Max was already firing arrows over their heads. A silence arrow struck the healer that was standing in the back. Immediately after, five more arrows split from one and struck the healer, archer, and lead mage. The mage put up a magic shield in an attempt to hold off some of the in
coming damage. It didn’t last more than five seconds.

  Lainey stunned the rogue with a shock arrow as Brick hit her with a Holy Smite. Sasha filled the whole tunnel with a thorn trap that began to shred the legs of the four remaining players. The guild’s other ranged players began doing damage. Misty sent ice bolts as Beatrix engulfed the head of the healer in a water globe. Benny cast his own Holy Smite at the rogue.

  Lugs, Dayle, and Warren set up their shields in front of their party members to block incoming arrows from the archer.

  Alexander had no wish to cause pain to the players, so he held back from casting Wizard’s Fire. Instead, he cast his newly upgraded Magic Bolt at each of them. A lucky shot hit the lead mage in the face. He checked his combat log.

  Critical Hit! Magic Bolt does 2,920 damage.

  He fired another round at each of the players, then switched to another new spell. Focusing on the leader, he began to channel Drain Essence. A nearly invisible thread appeared as if being pulled out of the mage. It extended toward him and into his chest. Instantly he felt a tingling sensation, much like when he consumed a potion. His health, mana, and stamina levels began to increase.