Awaken Online (Book 3): Evolution Read online

  “What? You don’t like my new mount?” Frank asked Riley with a shit-eating grin.

  “Uh, sure. What I mean is… where did you find a bunch of enormous wolves?” Riley retorted, circling Frank and inspecting his new mount, her hand running down its ribs.

  “Apparently, one of William’s delivery crews ran into a pack on their way here with the last load of corpses. We sort of repurposed them,” Jason explained.

  “And I’m sure you also caused a huge scene riding through the city,” she replied, shaking her head. “Won’t we have an army of players following us at this rate?”

  “Jason thought of that,” Frank jumped in. “We sent a decoy force to the northern gate to draw away anyone that might be watching us. We then circled back through the southern part of the city with the rest of the crew.”

  “Fine. Well, then I have just one last question,” Riley said with a small smile. “Where’s mine?”

  “Actually, I made this one especially for you,” Jason said, gesturing to one of the unoccupied wolves standing nearby. “I modified the regular bone saddle so that it’s a little shorter to make it more comfortable for you and I tweaked the bones along the bottom of the ribs so that you have footholds. You’ll have to test it, but my thought was that you could stand and shoot while riding – at least in theory.”

  Riley’s smile widened as she looked at her new wolf. With a small mental nudge from Jason, the creature gently rubbed his skeletal head against Riley’s shoulder. “Ahh, she’s sort of cute – you know, for a dead skeleton wolf. I think I’ll name her Lucy.”

  “I’m glad you approve,” Jason replied with a smile of his own.

  “Let’s hit the road!” Frank urged them, starting toward the gate. “We’ve got a long way to go, and we’re burning daylight, or… err… eternal darkness,” he amended, glancing at the ever-present dark cloud cover that hovered over the city.

  Jason chuckled at Frank’s attempt at a joke as he watched Riley pet her new mount. He hadn’t realized until now how much he had missed his friends over the last few days. Maybe he could find some solace during their quest – or at least something to distract him from the painful memories that continuously threatened to bubble to the surface. He sure hoped so.

  Chapter 6 - Crumbling

  A loud crack could be heard as the floor of the wooden platform gave way. The man that had been standing on the structure gave an audible gasp before plunging downward. His fall was abruptly halted by the noose bound around his neck. His head jerked at an odd angle, another more muted cracking sound accompanying the blow.

  Alexion watched as the latest batch of rebels was strung up and hung in the marketplace of the Crystal Reach. A crowd of NPCs had gathered around to watch, and he noted the mixture of anger and fear in their eyes.

  “I see you’ve been busy,” Tom observed as he approached Alexion. He spared an insolent wink for Caerus who stood beside Alexion.

  “I hear you have been as well,” Alexion retorted, noting the fresh blood staining the player’s armor. His eyes also lingered on the new guild tag that now hung over Tom’s head – indicating that he was a member of . He knew that a similar tag now hovered above his own head as well – which was to be expected of his status as the new guild leader. “How has our new project been going?” Alexion asked, turning his gaze back to the gallows.

  “As you suggested, we secured the more popular farming areas outside of town. A few players gave us some trouble over the new fee, but we made an ‘example’ of them,” Tom replied with a dark chuckle. “We’re taking the job of watching the fields in shifts. It seems this is an attractive way to make money and the new guild’s ranks have been growing.”

  “Fantastic,” Alexion said. His new plan was working nicely. He had formed a new guild, enlisting his groupies to secure the hunting grounds outside the city and tax the other players for their use. He had effectively killed two birds with one stone. This brought in much-needed tax revenue, and it allowed him to pay the players under his employ. As a result, the looting and pillaging inside the Crystal Reach had dropped off significantly.

  His thoughts were interrupted as his soldiers led a woman to the gallows, her head covered in a coarse woolen bag. The cloth only barely muffled the sound of the woman’s sobbing. Alexion knew from personal experience what it felt like to be led onto the platform – blind and uncertain – yet he felt no sympathy for her plight. She shouldn’t have harbored fugitives.

  Tom eyed the scene distastefully. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. Message me if something comes up.” With that, the player turned and walked away quickly.

  “I see that the other travelers have a weak stomach for this type of work,” Caerus observed as he watched Tom walk away.

  “They don’t understand the larger picture,” Alexion replied, watching impassively as the floor dropped out from under the woman and her body twitched helplessly at the end of the noose.

  “Certainly. However, we have still been struggling to ferret out the remaining rebels,” Caerus said. His gaze shifted to the nearby townspeople who had gathered to watch the hangings. “This sort of display helps discourage unsavory activity, but it also solidifies a faction of the city against our cause.”

  Alexion could feel the condescension in the man’s voice, and the whisper in the back of his mind railed against his implied weakness. “I know that,” Alexion spat. “What is your point?”

  “Of course, sir,” Caerus said, bowing his head demurely. “Fear is always a powerful motivator, but there are other ways to… incentivize people. For example, the desecration of the Lady’s temple was a powerful source of ‘inspiration’ for your followers. One might even say that it was rather convenient that the Twilight Throne acted when they did.”

  Alexion turned to look at the older man, noticing the malicious gleam in his eye and catching the implication behind his words. “Out with it, Caerus. You clearly have an idea, so just get to it.”

  “Perhaps we can do something similar – provide the people with a common enemy. Someone to hate besides us. If we’re able to unite them behind a single foe, then they would be less likely to undermine our efforts and harbor these fugitives. I have heard that one of the guilds in the mage city south of the Twilight Throne has begun purchasing undead slaves. With a few of those undead, we could possibly persuade our people to cooperate.”

  Alexion mulled on this information. He had also heard of the recent events in Vaerwald and had watched a few clips online. A magical plague had nearly broken out within the city and had been stopped by someone using dark magic. The Dark One had also made a surprise appearance in the courtyard of the Great Library. With Jason out of commission in the real world, Alexion suspected one of his two friends had been involved. The insidious voice in the back of his mind raged at the thought that Riley might have somehow been responsible.

  Yet that thought gave him pause and he clamped down on the malignant whisper, turning back to Caerus. “Or perhaps you’re thinking too small Caerus. Get in contact with this guild in Vaerwald that is purchasing undead slaves. I think it’s time that I met with its leader.”

  ***

  With their new mounts, the group made great time. The skeletal wolves had nearly infinite stamina, which allowed them to maintain a continuous loping gait. It was actually rather surprising how much distance they had put behind them in less than half a day in-game – although that might have been due in part to the relentless pace Jason had set. He felt compelled to catch up on the time he had lost in the real world.

  The impenetrable darkness that hung over the Twilight Throne had quickly given way to bright sunlight, the rays struggling to penetrate the dense forest cover. As they continued further east, the road had soon hit the ocean and veered sharply south, tracing a path along the coast. The forest and flatlands around the undead city had disappeared, and now craggy bluffs hung on either side of the group. A stiff wind rushed down between the canyon walls, carrying the faint hint of salt on th
e air.

  The group had encountered few players or NPCs on the road. Jason supposed that most of the tourists that visited the Twilight Throne must travel from the larger cities to the south and west. The lack of established trade channels with other neighboring kingdoms probably explained the sparse foot traffic as well. He would need to deal with that problem eventually.

  “This sure beats running,” Frank said, stretching his arms over his head lazily as his skeletal wolf raced forward.

  “You also have to love that there is no such thing as sore muscles or blisters in this game,” Riley added. “At least not yet, anyway. I’ve ridden a few real horses, and I bet we would be dying by now if this were real.”

  Jason couldn’t help but agree. “I can definitely live with a couple of unrealistic features,” he replied before glancing over his shoulder. His undead minions trailed along behind them, sunlight shining down on their cloaked forms. “Speaking of which, I could really do without the undead decay,” he muttered.

  “Yeah, they do seem to be looking a little worse for wear,” Frank replied, watching Jason’s minions with a slightly disgusted look on his face.

  That might have been an understatement. Jason had robed all of the cultist zombies in rough cloaks – which reduced the decay. However, this merely slowed the process, and there was no way to completely shield the wolves. The zombies’ flesh had already begun to deteriorate, rotten chunks occasionally sloughing off the zombies and dropping onto the roadway with a wet thud. Jason had also detected hairline fractures along the skeletal bodies of their new mounts.

  A glance at his summon information window had confirmed that the undead were all afflicted by a debuff – a timer counting down in the window’s margin. The debuff decreased his minions’ total health by a growing percentage. He only had about two days before each summon entirely decayed and fell apart. Although, he figured he might be able to slow the process further if he began traveling at night and hiding his minions underground during the day.

  “If we could beef up the ranks of our new guild, maybe we could get some players on our team,” Frank continued, still eyeing the undead. “That could be sort of useful when we need to venture outside the Twilight Throne’s area of influence.”

  “Vetting them is going to be a problem, though,” Riley muttered. “Have you talked to some of those people that have shown up in the Twilight Throne? They’re an odd group.”

  “Well, I can deal with odd,” Frank replied. “I’ve only spoken to a handful of people so far, but, from what I could tell, they were also a bit hesitant to join the guild. That’s a bigger problem. Despite recent events, it’s as though everyone is waiting to see if Jason can keep his city before they commit.”

  Jason’s burly friend lapsed into silence for a moment. His eyes darted to Jason and then back to the ravine they were traveling through. “You both are probably not going to like this idea, but there might be one way we could grow our ranks quickly.”

  Jason raised an eyebrow. “I can only imagine what you’re going to say next. Should I brace myself or something?” he joked.

  Frank’s lips widened into a grin. “Probably.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “We could release the fact that you… umm… took out those two intruders in the real world.” He put up his hands defensively at Jason and Riley’s scowling expressions. “I’m just saying we could maybe hint that the real-life Jason and the leader of the Twilight Throne are the same person.”

  “That is a truly terrible idea,” Riley said, glaring at Frank. Jason also noted that Alfred was watching Frank closely from where he was perched on the front of Jason’s mount. His expression looked anxious.

  As his two friends began bickering, Jason stayed silent. He could understand Frank’s reasoning. If the players in-game knew or suspected that he had killed the two teenagers in the real world, that would certainly increase his “evil street cred.” However, George’s warning and his conversation with Alfred still lingered in the back of his mind. The real-world blowback would almost certainly outweigh the in-game benefits.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Jason said quietly, interrupting his friends. “We still don’t know why I was attacked – or who was ultimately responsible. The detective thought there might be more to the story than just a simple break-in. We also don’t know how revealing my identity might affect the investigation. You all heard Florius’ rant. How long do you think it would take before people started claiming I killed those two teenagers in cold blood?”

  “All good points,” Riley offered, still glaring daggers at Frank.

  The burly barbarian shrugged. “It was just an idea. I’m not dead set on it or anything, but it would be great publicity for Original Sin.”

  The group quieted and came to an abrupt stop as they saw one of their scouts approaching from the front of the column. The undead was riding his own wolf mount and was acting as the group’s vanguard – with instructions to identify any threats coming from farther down the road and report back to Jason.

  “Master,” the creature croaked as it neared. “There are several travelers up ahead. Five by my count. They have stopped to make camp.”

  “Can we go around them?” Jason asked. His goals were two-fold: travel as quickly as possible and avoid detection. If any players caught wind of his quest or his group’s location, he suspected they would constantly be on the run.

  The zombie shook his head, the gesture jerky and uncoordinated. “The ravine continues for some distance, and I did not see an alternate path.”

  Riley inspected the stone walls looming on either side of the road. The nearest cliff face was roughly sixty feet tall, the surface dotted with loose rocks and vines. “We could probably scale the cliff, but the wolves would have trouble. We could also circle back and find an easier place to climb up,” she suggested. Her hands darted through the air, bringing up her map. “Hmm, but that’ll cost us a few hours at least.”

  “We can’t afford the delay,” Jason murmured, his gaze resting on his undead again. They wouldn’t just lose a few hours – his minions would also continue to deteriorate.

  “Did you manage to determine the travelers’ levels?” Jason asked his zombie.

  “No, master,” his minion replied.

  Frank glanced at Jason in surprise. “Are you thinking of killing them?”

  Jason bit his lip. A preemptive strike was likely their best strategy, despite his own hang-ups. “I’m not sure we have much choice. We can’t afford to wait, we can’t just leave the undead here, and we can’t afford to let them see us.”

  He sighed. “We’ll need to take them out quickly. We can’t afford to be identified – they might alert other players that we are near Falcon’s Hook. That means we also can’t let them see the wolves or the other undead.”

  Jason’s gaze shifted to the cliff face beside him. His Perception skill automatically identified foot and handholds on the surface. Riley was right. They could probably scale the wall and attack from the ridgeline. This would at least give them the element of surprise.

  Riley was following his gaze and seemed to pick up on his plan. “If we attack from the cliff, that would put us above them. I might be able to pick off at least one before they noticed they were under fire.”

  Frank was nodding along as he listened to the two of them. “We also passed a shady part of the ravine a mile or so back. We could position your other undead there so they will be out of sight.”

  Jason mulled over the tentative plan but couldn’t see any way to improve upon it. “That’s probably our best strategy under the circumstances. Riley, why don’t you scale this cliff first since you have the highest Dexterity. I think I have some spare rope in my pack,” he added, rummaging in his bag before finding the coiled material.

  Without waiting for further instructions, Riley headed for the cliff face. She quickened her pace as she approached, beginning a light jog before leaping forward and catching a handhold. Jason shook his head as he
watched how quickly she scaled the rough surface. It was at times like this that he regretted investing all of his points in Willpower.

  Jason turned his attention back to the undead. With a quick mental order, he grouped the wolves and cultist zombies and ordered them to return to the shadowy portion of the ravine farther back along the road. He quickly gave them a few instructions – ensuring that they wouldn’t merely stand there dumbly if they were attacked while he was gone. As he finished giving his orders, the group turned and began traveling back along the road in the direction they had just come.

  With his undead secure, Frank and Jason made their way to the cliff face. Riley now stood far above them. She tossed down the rope, one end presumably anchored to something out of sight at the top of the bluff. Jason looked up at her and sighed. He wouldn’t have tried to attempt something this stupid in the real world.

  “After you,” Frank said, eyeing the rope skeptically.

  “Wimp,” Jason muttered.

  A few minutes later, the pair had crested the top of the ridge. Jason took a moment to look around. In contrast to the ravine below, his view of the area was now unobstructed. Puffy white clouds drifted slowly through the sky. On the other side of the gorge, an endless blue expanse of water stretched out toward the horizon, sunlight shimmering over the water.

  “Great view, huh?” Riley commented with a smile.

  “Definitely,” Jason replied. After the gloomy surroundings of the Twilight Throne, it was interesting to explore other parts of the game world.

  The view was lost on Frank. The barbarian peered back over the edge of the cliff, noting the sharp drop down to the ravine below. He backed away slowly, looking a little green. “You guys are nuts. I hate heights.”

  “It’ll be fine,” Jason assured his friend, patting him on the back. “Just remember you can’t really die in-game. Let’s move forward quickly and quietly. We want to catch these guys off guard before they decide to break camp.”