Fragments (Somnia Online Book 3), page 19
You have increased your Thought Sensing options. This is only available to level four of Mental Affinity and above. Please see your trainer, like yesterday. It’s not the first time you’ve been told.
Murmur raised an eyebrow at the words scrolling her screen. “Hey Rash? Enchanter trainer?”
Rash frowned. “Oh, sure. Wait. Come with me.”
Wait and come with me were complete oxymorons, but Murmur followed her friend without wisecracking. She was extremely proud of her restraint. People didn’t appreciate the effort that could sometimes take.
They walked around the lily pad and through a few of the player stalls, toward a colorful hut attached to one of the trees on the outer ring. The colors were more in tune with nature out here in Curet, but still stood out in the colors of nature.
Murmur hesitated on the doorstep, unsure what she’d find inside. So far, the enchanter guilds had been a little different. Getting used to the slight idiosyncrasies took time. Maybe she should have gone back to Verendus and Dirsna, but she was here now.
“Thanks, Rash,” she said before pushing her way inside.
The interior of the Enchanter Guild in Curet was less cheery and more soothing. Perhaps they’d chosen to make it relaxing because the outside was less austere than most other places she’d visited. Still, there was no one at the front counter, and there didn’t seem to be any other players in the guild at all.
Strange. Did enchanters not choose to be cats? Agility helped everyone, at least, insofar as Murmur had experienced.
Stretching her sensing net out, she detected two people. One was definitely an NPC—the other, she wasn’t so sure about.
“Hello?”
She called out the word, feeling self-conscious for the first time since she started playing. It wasn’t hard to interact with people she could see right off the bat, but there was something about walking into this den of soothing calmness that set her on edge. Probably the exact opposite of what they intended, but since nothing in the world was like this, it made her suspicious.
“Coming!” A decidedly feminine voice echoed out to Murmur from the hall she could see in the back. But no footsteps sounded through to her, and the other presence didn’t even move. Perhaps they were asleep.
“So sorry for the wait.” A calico-colored feles stepped out, white robes billowing around her with slits up to her knee joints. Her footsteps had been, in typical cat like behavior, silent. She looked gorgeous. Delicate in coloring and features, she smiled that blissful cat smile. “Oh, Murmur! I’m Riasli. You’ve come to visit me. I’m so sorry—my greeter isn’t feeling well and is lying down. Not many feles become enchanters, so we’re never too busy. I didn’t think it would matter.”
Her words and way had a disarming quality to them, which again sent red flags up for Murmur, who slammed her shields up, tighter, just in case. She’d avoided being soothed by an NPC once; she wasn’t about to let this feles have their way, no matter how real or sympathetic she appeared to be.
Riasli frowned. “I mean you no harm. Sorry. It’s an automatic reaction to reach out and calm people.”
“You’re a psionicist?” Murmur was starting to think everyone had been full of shit when they told her it wasn’t a usual path. How many fucking psionicists were there out there?
“Oh gosh, no.” Riasli laughed. “I specialize in reinforced soothing, and have a healer hybrid. Second nature to make people feel better. After all, I’m a part of the cat family. And just having a cat on your lap does wonders for one’s mood, wouldn’t you say?”
Murmur blinked at her. She’d never had a pet, so she just shrugged her answer out. “Sure, seems to be the case.”
“Anyway, dear. Come on through. I see you’ve hit the fourth rank of MA. So fast! That’s very exciting.” And she waved Murmur through to her back office. The friendly feles talked as they entered her room. “With fourth rank, you get to choose your poison, so to speak. I have four options for you, and you get to choose two. One is a kinetic choice, and the other is psionic. You must choose one of each line. Not to mention getting an additional fifty MA at your disposal is pretty damned attractive, wouldn’t you say?”
Murmur just nodded, glancing at the two scrolls Riasli held. Another choice, and another expansion of her character. If she just had all the info at her fingertips so she could sit down and plan her character out. Dirsna had told her that at some stage, even though it was costly, she could reformulate her class. That was the only thing not making her have a panic attack right then and there.
Psionicist—Kinetic abilities.
Forcefield Push
Once used wildly, you can now activate this at will. This will form a bubble of force projecting directly outwards from you in an arc and push anything in its path out of your way. Having this ability directly available will now allow you to develop some measure of control.
Effects: This will cause some physical and mental damage to any opponent caught in the range of the push. The amount of damage inflicted depends on the level and strength of will behind the push. Damage is increased by MA level and usage.
Cost: This push requires that you have MA at eighty, but will not use MA to cast, as it is a kinetic ability. Can only be used once every five minutes.
Caution. This spell can create a mind backlash if over-utilized. Make sure those in your path are not allies, as this ability does not discriminate between friend and foe.
Unless you want to make them a foe. Then they’re fair game. Remember, try and maintain control.
Earth Belt
Due to your affinity with the druidic circle, this ability allows you to pull protection wards from the earth in the form of an earth wall that must first be broken through before your team can be reached.
Effects: This produces a physical barrier raised from the earth that cannot be scaled and must be fought before the opponent can reach you. Its durability hinges on the intent and level of the caster. Durability increases with MA level and usage.
Cost: This protection requires that MA be maintained at 120, but will not use MA to cast, as it is a kinetic ability. This can only be used once every 15 minutes.
Caution: This spell requires a hit point pool and will pull 10 life from the caster for every second it is active. Great in a pinch, but be cautious about using it too often. Remember, dying isn’t always a good thing.
Murmur frowned at the kinetic choices, feeling slightly underwhelmed. She’d used the Forcefield Push a few times now and wasn’t sure allowing it to be a more powerful skill was such a good idea around her currently volatile temper. However, Earth Belt would drain her life, and that just wasn’t an option she could afford right now. She placed her hand over Forcefield Push, absorbing it into her so that her runes lit up and danced over and under her skin. Earth Belt greyed out, no longer available to her.
“No going back now,” she mumbled to herself, pretty sure that as she did Riasli chuckled under her breath. At least she amused the NPCs.
Moving on, she picked up the next scroll.
Phantom
This ability allows you to convince your enemies that you are a different target. This renders you invisible to their aggro radar for all intents and purposes.
Effect: This ability not only transfers your generated aggro, but also takes you off the targetable list for the duration. It transfers aggression to your target, giving them your appearance, and rendering you invisible to any enemy near you. This may be used on allies, but also on enemies.
Cost: this ability requires MA to be at a minimum of 50, drains 5 MA per second, and will adjust as MA level and usage of this ability increase. Requires Charisma to be at 150 or more. Cannot be chained, must wait at least 5 minutes for MA to regenerate.
Caution: Make sure you do not cause your MA to run out. Should that happen, backlash will render the caster unconscious for a period of seconds not less than half the caster’s level. Make sure you choose your targets wisely.
Cool. Murmur actually really liked that one. Having enemies attacking each other by thinking that their target was her was kind of cool. A little dangerous if she got overzealous with its usage, though. Even her Mind Bolt that she’d used a lot was only down to costing fifteen MA per cast. That five per second was going to take a while to reduce. Adding it to Mind Wipe could really help herself not die a lot.
Bolster
This ability allows you to convince your allies that they are invincible. Damage taken by them is replaced by MA.
Effect: This ability convinces your allies they are invincible and makes it reality for a short duration of time.
Cost: Bolster serves as a type of shield to protect the group. For damage absorption of ten times the casters level, it costs the caster’s level in MA. Bolster must be directed by the caster’s intentions. Should the caster wish to absorb thirty times their level, they must have sufficient MA available, and make it clear in their instigation of the spell. Must wait for MA to regenerate. Ten minutes minimum between uses.
Caution: Overspending yourself using Bolster is a dangerous option. Always err on the side of caution, as you never know what other skills you will need.
Murmur frowned. Attack or protect. They were always difficult choices for her. If she could attack or distract them from attacking her, was that better or not?
“Will I get these choices again, or will they change with every MA level?” she asked somewhat tentatively.
Riasli shrugged. “It all depends on how you play, and what the world feels would be your next logical step dependent on that.”
“Hmm.” Ten versus five minutes. Again, time on recast was going to win out. With all her thought abilities active, her MA would regenerate easily within those five minutes. Taking a deep breath, she chose Phantom and hoped against hope that it would give her Bolster at another interval just as her runes fired up and Bolster faded from the scroll, Phantom absorbing into her flesh.
All set with provisions—mostly water and some food Murmur quickly cooked—the group was ready to head out. She fingered the copies of her level thirty-five spells. Most of them were simply upgrades to what she could already do, but the rest were interesting. She needed to hit the level first though, but this time she’d taken the precaution of getting her spells just in case. Thirty-two was so close, she could almost taste it.
Mounted up, Murmur leaned into the brace as Chi chattered excitedly in her ear in words Murmur couldn’t quite grasp. She made the applicable noises, hoping that the tiny creature didn’t take offense at Murmur splitting her attention, while the gentle bobbing of her disc made Murmur wonder if that’s what being on a boat was like.
Devlish yawned.
“Keeping you awake, are we?” Havoc asked, his politeness disguised behind an evilly tinged grin.
“Somewhat.” Devlish didn’t take offense easily, and he just smiled back at the necro. “I’m debating how wise it is to set out without sleep right now.”
Murmur glanced at her clock and frowned. He was right. Traveling in this game took way too long. They’d been on their mostly uneventful way along the road for hours. Counting the visit to Cognitia, and the fissure they encountered, no wonder they were tired.
“The thing is, it’ll probably take us hours to find and fight to the ruins.” Sinister started before Murmur had a chance to say anything. “If we go to sleep now, we’ll just want to sleep before we enter the ruins anyway. So, I vote we should go and kill shit outside of these ruins, if we can even find them, and then we should take a few hours’ worth of sleep, and log back in at the front entrance ready to fight shit. Because if Hightower is anything to go by, we’ll be in there a while.”
Veranol nodded slowly, and everyone muttered sounds of agreement. “I don’t expect this dungeon is going to be anything like the one we just did.”
Murmur laughed as they headed into the jungle. Light rain sounded on the canopy above them, but not even a drop made it through the dense foliage. “You say that like the game doesn’t keep changing shit up on us.”
“Shut it, Mur,” he quipped, but she could see the smile tugging at his mouth, even under his beard.
Their mounts moved slowly through the undergrowth, causing animals to skitter out from under them, race up trees, and glare at the group as they went by. The makeup of this tropical jungle, sort of like a rainforest, was remarkable. Staghorns clung to green tree trunks, and monkey creatures with bright coloring swung on stereotypical vines. It was pleasant to watch them having fun. The creatures conned yellow to Murmur’s inspection, and they’d give experience if her guildies slaughtered them, but as long as they didn’t attack first, Murmur believed in live and let live.
“I like this,” Rashlyn blurted out suddenly as she pulled her tiger mount to a halt. She flushed, like she’d accidentally shared something she’d only been thinking. “I mean, it’s fun to have a group to play and explore with, to not have to be stuck looking for a group.”
“Yeah.” Jinna smiled at her. “We’ve got each other’s backs.”
“Finding a group as a DPS sucks, so I have to echo the appreciation.” Merlin smiled wryly, eliciting chuckles from the other damage classes.
“I know that too well.” Sinister sighed. “I guess I don’t mind being a blood mage, though. It’s actually fun.”
“Quick! Someone tell me they recorded her saying that,” Beastial teased Sinister with a wry grin, and the group laughed as they began moving again. Murmur loved the aura of happiness that surrounded them. It felt peaceful and fun, just like it should.
That is, of course, until tiger warriors blocked their path with their spears raised.
Somnia Online location: Brevint
Ishmael Outskirts: Exodus Guild Headquarters
Currently Under Construction
Day Thirteen
“You can’t stay here and supervise, Ishwa. Delegate the damned overview of the building.” Masha resisted the urge to tap his foot in irritation. One thing about Somnia—he was learning many different methods of controlling his temper.
“Why the hell not?” The gnome raised an eyebrow.
Masha had to suppress a laugh because gnomes just didn’t do fierce well. “Because you’re the guild leader. And for the guild leader not to level is pretty shitty. Come out and join us before Jirald leaves us all behind.”
“What level is he now?” The gnome’s face took on a thoughtful look. Scrunched up more than usual, it made his nose seem extra-large.
“Just hit twenty-eight. He’s got his level back and then some. So much that he’s almost caught up to me. Can we just leave this in the crafter’s capable hands and go?” Masha rolled his neck, bored shitless.
Ishwa sighed. “No. We can’t. She didn’t even join the guild this time. I got so used to her just being in the guild, I kind of forgot to approach her early in the game. And now she’s not available.” His expression darkened, and Masha surreptitiously activated a screen capture, because that look was all too priceless.
“Really? It shouldn’t be too difficult to entice her back over, I mean...” Misha spoke as he checked for her, and then sighed heavily. “I see. I’m guessing a whole lot of enticement isn’t going to work then.”
Ishwa shook his head. “Nope. It’s what I get for taking her for granted. It seems playing with her big brother isn’t high on the list this game.”
“Anyway!” Masha clapped his hands, trying to bring his friend out of the doldrums. “Leave it to someone else. You’ve given fantastic plans; they’ve all been drawn up. We need to level, get some loot, stock the coffers!”
The gnome just crossed his arms and studied Masha. “Okay. What am I missing? What’s got you so worked up?”
“Nothing really.” Masha ran a hand through his hair and looked out of the frame that would soon be the structure of their guild hall. “It’s just that for once I agree with Jirald. We can’t be competitive if we don’t be competitive. To do that, we need to level, and I for one don’t want to stand around here while other guilds—not only Fable—get in front of us.”
“Seems legit,” the gnome said, jumping down from the stool he’d stood on to look at the plans on the table. He bustled toward the door. “Well, what are you waiting for?”
The tiger warriors stood over seven feet tall. Murmur was certain of it, since they were slightly taller than she was. The stripes on their faces started as a point between their eyebrows and curved back to draw all the way down the rest of the visible surface and—Murmur assumed—were also present underneath the armor they wore. Their predominant fur colors ranged from burned red right through to bright orange.
But each and every one of them had a snarl on their face. Weapons drawn and clenched tightly by fingers with wicked claws on them, Murmur felt quite lucky they’d not chosen to attack first and ask questions later. Their spears ranged in design but each stood more than eight feet high and had sickening barbs and points on them. Having those stuck in your gut would be a world of hurt, and she cringed inwardly.
“State your purpose.” The accent of the burnt orange warrior clung foreign, and they had difficulty with the pronunciation of s.
Murmur’s net grazed their presence, sensing hostility of a defensive nature that wasn’t prone to attacking first. If it wasn’t prone to attacking first then she just had to be careful about the words that she chose, right?
“We are explorers.”
“Explorers are not often welcome in the Jungles of Cenedril.” His grip tightened on his spear, and his fangs glistened in what little light filtered down from the canopy. “What do you seek to explore?”
Well, that response couldn’t possibly have been worse if she tried. She could have told them they were plunderers, and probably received a similar reaction. They were either going to let them pass, or they were going to fight them. In for a penny though. “We are exploring the jungle and its ruins, as most of us aren’t from around here.”
