Fragments (Somnia Online Book 3), page 20
A wave of fear passed through the gathered guards so fast that Murmur barely caught it. Their eyes widened, their pupils dilated, and their hackles shot up.
“You would brave the ruins?” This time his voice was somewhat reverent.
Which gave Murmur pause. What the hell were they letting themselves in for? “We’ve heard many things about the ruins. We wish to get close enough to them to witness them for ourselves.”
She had to remind herself to breathe as she waited for the response; the rampant confusion her net fed her was difficult to separate from her own emotions. All of these beings that inhabited this world had so many feelings and emotions it was astounding. Her shields needed work, needed to be stronger. It was a never-ending cycle.
The tiger-like guards exchanged glances, almost like they were speaking with one another by telepathic needs. Murmur supposed it made sense for the world’s inhabitants to also have another communication avenue like a chat or something.
She eyed her friends, and Rash surreptitiously shrugged her shoulders. If she’d never met these guards before, it gave Murmur some hope. Perhaps something triggered their presence if they weren’t a usual addition to the area.
“We are charged with ensuring that no one approaches the ruins.” The leader took a deep breath. “The queen of Curet demands that no one else be lost to it.”
Be lost? That no one approach it. Murmur was starting to feel a little queasy about the whole thing, and was about to respectfully decline and figure stuff out after they sorted themselves when the leader continued to speak.
“But you seem to have met the requirements already. Perhaps you stand a chance. The L’tigri will not stand in your way.” He bowed to Murmur, flourishing with his spear to let them pass as the others moved to allow them passage behind him.
You have encountered the L’tigri. These are the personal guard of the feles queen. They have placed you on a watch list and will not interfere with your exploration of the Curet jungle. Take heed that you do not endanger any of the Curet population who do not willingly follow you already. Regardless of the state of these members of the clan, the warning still stands. Seek out the ruins of Curet, and explore what it holds.
Murmur held onto that second last sentence. Regardless of the state? What the hell did that mean? When she refocused on the area the guards had been standing in, the L’tigri were gone.
“What was that all about?” Jinna sounded disgruntled, but Murmur couldn’t blame him. That had been quite eerie and unsettling in its own way. Their reactions changed so quickly, she felt like it couldn’t have been on script.
“I have no clue.” Rashlyn answered before anyone else could. “But the L’tigri are real. They’re the queen’s guards. They wear that weirdly conforming light metal armor and carry those spears.”
“Curet has a queen?” Devlish brushed at his chin with his fingers as if he was used to a beard being there.
“Well, the feles are based on cats,” Dansyn shrugged matter-of-factly. “Cats often feel like queens I guess, and are treated as such. Can’t really blame them.”
“The dark elves have a queen too.” Sinister pointed out, crossing her arms. “It’s not just a feline thing.”
“Well, yes, they do.” Murmur found herself interjecting. “But she’s a total witch.”
“We’re getting off track here. Why would they be stopping people from adventuring to the ruins?” For once Beastial interrupted the conversation with a well-reasoned question instead of his usual sarcasm.
Every single one of their group turned to look at Murmur.
“What?” she said, raising her hands. “I can’t read actual thoughts. Not yet anyway. I still have a heap of shit I need to learn.”
“Well then, what did they feel like?” Mellow cocked their head to one side, picking up on the pedantic nature of Murmur’s abilities.
“They felt angry, then confused, then awed, and then something else I can’t pinpoint. I think our level triggered a different reaction in them than they might otherwise have for players. Considering all of those guards were at least in their high forties since they were a deep red con, I’m pretty sure they could take out anything in there.” Murmur was slightly irritated by the thought. After all, most of the interactions they’d had with in-game characters had been of the non-combatant variety. At least if they weren’t monsters, anyway.
“No one else feels a little...hesitant about this whole thing?” Exbo threw it out there, cringing slightly, as if he knew what the answer was going to be.
“Hesitant like?” Merlin prodded him.
“You know, the part of this that says the ruins are big and scary and will probably gobble you up the moment you step in there.” Exbo’s voice raced faster the more he spoke until all the words were out and he heaved in a brand-new breath.
“That’s never stopped us before.” The other ranger laughed, but Murmur understood exactly what Exbo was saying.
“No, I think he means the part that screams this is a trap.”
Jinna’s voice broke through the rising tension amongst them. “We should scout it out before we commit to anything time wise. We need to make sure we’re fresh this time. The riddles or process or whatever it’ll be that this one has? This will be different than the one we just went through. Not only that, but we almost made a few really stupid mistakes back at Hightower. I get the feeling we can’t afford that here.”
“You make sense. Again.” Veranol patted the dwarf’s shoulder, oblivious to the glare his friend leveled at him. “We should dismount and make sure the mounts are safe before we move in and scout it out. Stick in teams of two to three at most, so we can cover more area. And scout it out to assess if we should kill the exterior mobs now or if we should log and sleep first.”
“Sounds like a plan there.” Havoc grinned. “Lead on old chap.”
Murmur groaned at the fake English accent. She was about to open her mouth and divide up the groups when Veranol stood in front of her.
“Jinna and I will accompany you. Jinna can stealth and fuck shit up, and I can ward you and tank almost anything that isn’t boss-like.” His reasoning was sound, and his voice was full of caring. It was difficult to admit she needed the help, but she knew more than anyone that staying safe was better than asking forgiveness after she got herself killed.
“Okay. Let’s go then.” She tapped Chi three times on her tiny head and stepped off her hovering disc as it began to shrink back down to nothing. She had no idea what type of magic made her ride possible, but Chi was slowly growing on her, and she was getting used to the small weight on the particular strand of hair the Tiachi seemed to favor. Her mount master curled up against the bulb at the end of her hair and went to sleep again.
“That still freaks me out a little. I don’t get why they couldn’t just give us horses.” Mellow patted their own little Tiachi and adjusted their robes.
“Something about our joints being different.” Murmur shrugged and moved to Jinna and Veranol. She glanced at her two search partners and frowned. “You know. I get the feeling we’re not going to be the stealthiest bunch.”
Veranol looked her directly in the eyes. “Speak for yourself. My footsteps are as light as a ballerina’s.”
Murmur wasn’t sure if it was a joke, but Jinna’s serious expression told her it might only have a hint of sarcasm.
“He’s pretty fleet and silent when he wants to be.”
“You better take care of her.” Sinister stood defiantly in front of the shaman, her arms crossed and the corners of her eyes pinched a little. She was worrying, Murmur could tell. “If you don’t, you’re so not going to like my dueling techniques.”
“Simmer down, Sin.” Veranol’s tone changed to a soft one, no jokes in it at all. “You know I’ll take care of her.”
“Well, yeah. Just do.” Sin grimaced and stomped away to go with Beastial and Merlin.
Before they set out, Murmur cast See Invis on everyone, and then Invis on Veranol and herself, leaving Jinna to his stealth. He moved as quickly as they did but didn’t have to be as careful about where he put his feet. They fanned out, losing sight of the other groups almost immediately, and headed east toward where they assumed the ruins would be.
After slapping at a huge mosquito creature for about the fifth time, Murmur secretly wished that the game devs—her mother included—had forgone some of the realism in this jungle. She could even see camouflaged snakes following them through treetops at a distance, slithering from branch to branch. Cresting a small rise, Murmur yawned, and in the split second her eyes closed, Veranol put out an arm and stopped her from walking.
“What?” She almost hissed at him, only to see him holding a finger up in front of his lips. Universal silence. Fine then. She looked around to see what had caught his attention and noticed Jinna crouching near the outcrop of the rise. Slowly, Murmur and the shaman moved toward the spot, ducking down and practically crawling on all fours to join the dwarf.
And there, only about thirty yards in front of them was a smoldering campfire surrounded by six catlike humanoids with smears of black, or soot, or something through their fur. It wasn’t until one with burnt orange fur turned their head as they laughed to exhibit that the black on their fur began just past the nose in what looked like a point, that Murmur realized what she was seeing.
Even now, her sensing net didn’t detect any heinous thoughts. These were carefree bandits, without a feeling of guilt in the world. And even as her eyes focused on the half dozen bodies at the far edge of the clearing she knew just who they were.
They were bandits who’d killed the L’tigri they’d just met. She hadn’t sensed any of it. Either her sensor net was no longer working, or something else had interfered. They should have been able to save the guards, but all that was left was their murderers.
Murmurs first thought was to send to raid chat that they’d fount the L’tigri dead and their killers. Her second thought was to fervently hope that these damned bandits weren’t affiliated with the bandit coalition of Tarishna, because the gods knew they were already in enough trouble with them.
And while she knew the AI was incredibly complex and worryingly close to sentience, she wasn’t sure if Somnian residents of this nature would be able to pull off such a ruse just to lure them in because of a vendetta. Although she’d been surprised before. Checking her MA, Murmur reached out a hand to rest on Snowy’s neck. With him, her 250 MA was permanently reduced to 215, but it was worth it.
With ten MA required for each person, she shielded with her Shield Expansion. It was easy enough to hide the thoughts of her small group, and as the others gathered with them, she’d be able to extend it until all eleven of her friends were protected from mind examination too. Doing it gradually would hopefully fend off the backlash she’d felt last time too. It’d leave her with a measly ninety-five MA, but if push came to shove, that’s all she’d need.
Still, she examined her sensory abilities, making sure they were regaining her mental affinity. The net was working. It could pick up small creatures, large creatures, and hone in on the types of thoughts they were having. But all she got from the bandits was a merry sort of overlay. Which could mean a couple of things. Either they were just harsh and callous and calculating, or else there was an enchanter who’d created something to grant them protection similar to her own. Thirdly, there was the other option she wasn’t looking forward to. Maybe they had an enchanter with them, and she just hadn’t seen them yet.
Not that she was worried about confrontation, but she’d not yet fought another enchanter, and if there was one powerful enough to create what she thought they’d created? It was going to be a tough fight.
Veranol: you should be able to hone in on our location, since we’re all still raid grouped.
Sinister: we’re already on our way. Do we have a plan yet?
It pulled Murmur out of her reflections. Scout it out, make sure it’s only these six and not more hiding out beyond the trees and then split them down the middle. I’ll set the groups back the way they were.
Rashlyn: This is fucking personal.
Murmur didn’t comment on that. She wasn’t sure if Rash was just roleplaying or if there was perhaps an incident from when she first started the character that made her more prone to want to kill impersonators, but either way, the passion was good. In more ways than one, it helped to know her friends were becoming as attached to Somnia as she was. Murmur still wanted to be careful though.
I think the killing happened after we encountered them, or perhaps was happening as we met them.
Rashlyn: Doesn’t matter. Posing as, or posed as, either way, they’re dying.
Murmur couldn’t argue with that. As long as they didn’t realize Fable was there, Murmur should be able to stun them en masse. Allowing for a few resists to the spell, it should be relatively easy to get them under control. Theoretically. She wasn’t worried about them hearing her thoughts. Her shielding was tight, and she was pretty sure it would be difficult for someone to even pick up intentions from her. Which made her reading of the bandits all the more confusing.
Jinna: If we gather at intervals around this hilltop, it should be easy enough to ambush them.
I’ll stay invis and move with Ver in a few yards so I can activate my stun. I think there might be an enchanter nearby, or else they’ve somehow purchased enchanter protections.
Devlish: What makes you say that, Mur?
I can’t read them. It took a lot to admit that. Either they’re protected, or they’re just plain callous fuckwits. I’m not sure which I prefer.
Once everyone was in place, Murmur rose slightly and inched around with Veranol on her heels, to a line of trees that led slightly closer to the bandits. They were dishing out some soup from over the campfire and laughing with each other. Not a care in the world. Not a shred of remorse over the dead bodies at the edge of their camp, soaking it with their blood as they cooled.
Anger boiled in Murmur. Game or no game, these were reprehensible beings. Never mind NPCs, these were non-human characters. Whether they were made of light and circuitry didn’t matter—this behavior was unforgivable.
She stepped forward, and jumped in shock as her Tiachi screamed loudly against her ear. The sound was so loud that all of the bandits swiveled to look in the exact direction she was standing. Murmur released the stun she’d been holding, still taking most of them by surprise as they adjusted to someone being there when they didn’t expect it.
But she wasn’t the only one with a surprise. Stepping out from a tent that had been hidden by the outcrop they were hiding on was a feles enchanter. Their white robes whipped in the breeze. Their eyes lit up like a thousand fires.
“Ah, Murmur. I really wasn’t expecting to meet you again so soon. This is a bit of a dilemma.” Riasli stood, that same soft smile on her face. And it was in that moment Murmur realized the enchanter master was utterly bat shit crazy.
Murmur released her Mass Enthrall spell despite the fact that she was scrambling to put together what the enchanter master being there meant. The spell managed to hold most of the bandits at bay while her thoughts ran rampant through her mind. Riasli conned deep orange right now, whereas in the village she’d been red. Murmur’s thoughts raced, trying to understand what that meant. After all, she’d just been trained by this character. Did that mean the spells she’d received were all defective or bogus?
“Really, though. I didn’t sense you.” Riasli’s face scrunched up in confusion. “You’ve got your Shield Expansion working wonders for you. I’m so impressed, I have to ask you something.”
Murmur nodded, feeling the tension from her guild mates at her back. They didn’t understand this. Not the confrontation with the caster in front of them, and not why they weren’t all attacking the six frozen guard impersonators.
“What?” Murmur tried to keep her voice even, keep the anger and worry from her voice, but she wasn’t sure it was successful. Sinister took a step toward her, but Murmur gave a half shake of her head to keep her at bay. The worry that rose in her friend’s eyes tugged at her heart, but it was going to be okay because she’d make sure of it.
“Join me.” Riasli smiled, her ears twitching just as her tail stilled. Her words drifted over like silk on skin, soft and tantalizing. “Join me and break the vault in the ancient ruins.”
Murmur resisted the tug of those words, the sensation they created. “I think we’ll do just fine defeating the ancient ruins, thanks.”
Apparently, she’d have to go and train somewhere else, because it was obvious the position of enchanter master at Curet had just opened up. What had Riasli been doing there to begin with? She was glad she’d got her enchanter spells at least for level thirty-five. Although now she wanted to check over them, to make sure they weren’t booby-trapped or something.
“Just fine? You don’t know the half of it. You’re still a child. There are requirements to enter the ruins, requirements to control it, and dangers you don’t understand. Not that I’ll let you understand them. None of you will get that far. You have no idea what I’ve done so that I might open the door.” Riasli’s pretense at sanity faded with every word, leaving wild and unkempt hunger in her eyes that leaked out like a miasma. She was infectious, and Murmur clamped the Shield Expansion tighter as Snowy growled low in his throat.
Your skill in Thought Shielding has increased (185)
Update: Due to prolonged protection of others, it now costs eight MA per person to cast and maintain. Always remember: you can’t save everyone.
Murmur tried to ignore the system notification, but the caution at the end left her frustrated. She wanted to save everyone, including herself.
“We came to explore the ruins.” Murmur tried to keep her voice steady and her words calm, but this portion of the questing line threw her for an unexpected loop. The person before them was solid, with rampant emotions running through them. Using her mind to probe, it seemed Riasli was as real as the rest of them, and Murmur didn’t know how to deal with that information.
