Heart of the Void: Sosaku Online - Book 2 Read online

  A quick Analyze put a name to the creature.

  *** Arothrok Warrior, Level 11 ***

  *** HP: 100%, SP: 45% ***

  *** Conditions: None ***

  *** Active Spells/Abilities: Thrill of the Hunt, ???? ***

  *** Weakness: Fire, Lightning ***

  *** Highest Statistics: Strength, Constitution ***

  My review of the lead arothrok was cut short by an arrow sprouting from its chest and its subsequent collapse.

  It slid along the ground, still alive, but not by much. Kjara’s opening shot had taken off about eighty percent of its total health.

  The remaining creatures leapt over their downed comrade as it struggled to regain its feet, and charged towards Kjara.

  I cursed and held my flamestrike, my original target no longer viable due to their proximity of my elven companion.

  With no other real options, I hurled the flaming javelin at the previously injured arothrok who had just regained its feet, making sure it was going to have a very bad day.

  Turning back to support Kjara, I heard the sweet sound of my flamestrike piercing the enemy’s chest with a sizzle and then the loud whoosh as the javelin transformed into a raging ball of fire that turned the arothrok into red mist.

  Kjara dropped her bow and dodged to the side to avoid the sharp claws of her latest attacker. She rolled down the muddy hillside to give herself room to draw her blades and easily regained her feet.

  With a well-practiced gesture, she drew the Temple Blades and smiled as they began to glow slightly with the power of her new gifts.

  The next claw seeking to end her life was met in transit by the edge of her left blade, shearing through the arothrok’s flesh and bone.

  The severed hand continued on its path, barely scratching the moon elven warrior as it collided with her shoulder and fell to the ground. Before the arothrok had even registered its loss, her right blade flashed across and opened its stomach, finishing it off.

  The last creature took advantage of his partner’s demise to land a wicked two-handed attack on Kjara’s side. Its claws ripped through her leather armor and sent her sprawling, her health bar dropping more than half.

  The arothrok screamed something in its chittering tongue and raised its claws for a finishing blow.

  Its coup de grâce was interrupted when it suddenly gained a new backpack in the form of the strange mouse-man who raised his twin daggers and began to sing as he drove his blades into the enemy’s neck.

  “Les.” Stab. “pois-” Stab. “-son,” he sang at the top of his lungs, one blade after the other digging into the arothrok’s flesh, each hit taking off a large chunk of hit points.

  “Les poisson. Les poisson. How I LOVE, les poisson,” the mouse man bellowed as the arothrok’s blood splashed into the mud and two icons appeared next to its health bar: bleeding and poisoned.

  With barely a sliver of health left, the arothrok reached up and managed to dislodge its living backpack with a quick slash of its claws.

  The dýrafólk went sliding through the mud, but his work was done. With a garbled attempt at speech, the spiny creature fell to its knees and then flat on its face as the poison and bleed effects finished it off.

  *** Your party has killed 2 Arothrok Warriors! Your party gains 824xp ***

  I rushed over to Kjara as the xp notifications flashed past my eyes and cast Cure Wounds, replenishing her health as she regained her feet. The patch notes said we shouldn’t get any xp messages until the end of an encounter, but I wasn’t going to take the chance.

  I glanced over to the mouse-man who was sitting in a giant puddle of mud with barely five percent of his health remaining and winced. Every inch of his body was covered in mud, and his large, rat-like ears were plastered to the sides of his head with blood and dirt.

  After I healed her back to full, Kjara grabbed her bow and climbed back up the hill to make sure nothing else was coming, leaving me to experience the multi-player aspects of this VRMMO.

  I healed the injured dýrafólk while he rested, earning a nod and a weak wave as he pulled himself out of the mud. His soft leather armor was plastered to his body, even more encrusted than we were after our mud sledding adventures.

  I waved back and said, “What’s up, man. Were there any more of those things on your tail?”

  He shook his head slowly and started washing some of the mud out of his fur with some of the cleaner puddles as he regained his breath.

  His features began to blur, and the mouselike fur, ears, and other features slowly morphed into a small, humanoid form that looked like a miniature, slightly heartier, elf.

  “Thanks,” he said between breaths. “I don’t think I had much more in me.”

  “Our pleasure,” I said, offering him one of my spare waterskins. “I’m Kheph, and my lovely companion over there is Kjara,” I said and gestured towards where she was scanning the surrounding countryside.

  He glanced over at Kjara and waved as I continued, “What brings you out here? I haven’t seen anyone else playing your race on this side of the world. Hell, I don’t even know what that race is. What’s a dýrafólk?”

  He smiled and replied, “I’m Mika, and as to your other questions, the stupid auto-respawn thing dumped me down here in Egypt-land for some reason. Even though I was bound in Svarthöfn back on Njor.”

  Kjara rejoined us. “Coast is clear. Looks like that was all of them,” she said and handed us each a handful of silver coins, earning a confused look from Mika.

  “Thanks,” he said and grinned. “I’m definitely not in Njor anymore.”

  She chuckled and shrugged. “It’s the least we can do for your performance of ‘Les Poisson,’ after all.”

  Mika gave a tired smile, but his relief was short lived. Looking around with a worried expression he asked, “So… Where am I?”

  …

  7

  We continued east towards the river while keeping an eye out for any additional threats, getting to know our newfound companion along the way.

  Mika, contrary to the majority of players who chose to play on the northern continent, was not a PvPer. In fact, after he made his character, he was quite surprised to discover his in-game home was overflowing with people who would like nothing better than to act out their might-makes-right philosophies upon anyone they could find.

  The dýrafólk was a custom race that the developers had created to give the northern continent some additional flavor. Their racial abilities allowed them to choose an animal and get some passive bonuses based on the animal type, as well as an active skill that let them turn into a pseudo-lycanthropic version of that animal.

  Out of all the animal types available, Mika had chosen the mouse since it gave bonuses to Agility and Fortune, which were ideal stats for rogues. His hybrid form actually took those abilities to the next level and gave him the ability to climb and squeeze through small gaps just like the pesky real world rodents could.

  His choice ended up being his saving grace, letting him slip away from the hordes of predator players on the northern continent and stow away on board a trading ship bound for Karillia. Unfortunately, even his enhanced Fortune stat couldn’t counter the world event, and his trip was doomed from the start.

  Not only was the ship chased way off course by a veritable swarm of raiding ships, but it was caught up in the tsunami that had wiped out Sehkem and was smashed to pieces on the rocks somewhere on the northern coast.

  The aftermath of the wreck wasn’t any better. After spawning in a small Saa village at the very edge of the disaster zone, the poor guy was forced to flee when the village was attacked almost immediately by the Devourer’s creatures. After that it was one long, tiring slog until he ran into us.

  I felt pretty sorry for the guy, but his misfortune might just be a godsend for Kjara and I. The dungeon we were headed towards was bound to be full of all sorts of nasty traps and having a rogue along might be critical to our success. Maybe his Fortune stat had played a part in
things after all.

  I mentally brought up the private message interface and shot Kjara a message.

  >>>Me: So… remember how I said we should find a rogue? What do you think about Mr. Mika here?

  >>>Kjara: He seems ok. I say we see if he’s interested and give him a chance. If he ends up being a toolbag we can always kick him later.

  >>>Me: Okay. Sounds like a plan.

  While we paused for some water, Mika took the opportunity to scan the plants along the riverbank. Every once in a while he would pluck a flower here, a leaf there.

  When I approached he looked up and held up his latest find. “Saa’eth Lily. I’ve got no clue what it’s used for, but my herbalism says its rare and picking it’s really upping my skill. You have any clue what it’s for?”

  I glanced at Kjara and she shrugged, “Hell if I know.”

  I shrugged. “I’d recommend a good apothecary I know but they are likely swimming with the fishes right now… literally.”

  He tucked the plants into his pack and brushed off his hands. “Eh, I’ll figure it out eventually I guess, once I get back to civilization,” he said with an uncertain look. “Any chance you could direct me to the closest, non-infested port?”

  I opened my map and looked for anything that might qualify. “Well, I would if I could, but the only ports I’m familiar with are to the north, and thus fish central,” I said with a gesture towards where we could barely see Sehkem in the distance. “I guess you could follow the river south and maybe find something in Khem’et, but I don’t know how dangerous that trek may be. With the current state of things, the spawn points aren’t very reliable. What’s your build, anyway? You built for DPS? Utility?”

  The dýrafólk gazed to the south, scanning the horizon as he answered. “Utility for the most part, although I did have to pick up a few DPS skills to survive in the north. My original plan was a treasure hunter, delving into ancient ruins, robbing tyrants, that sort of thing. But instead I learned all sorts of ways to get killed by players, how to hide from them, and eventually how to take them out from the shadows when they didn’t get the ‘leave me alone’ memo. So, I’ve got my bases covered but haven’t been able to specialize.”

  Kjara winced in sympathy. “That sounds like a hell of a way to start off a game,” she said. “I’m glad you decided to stick it out.”

  “Yeah, man,” I added. “That sounds like a total shit show. Glad you managed to escape to our slightly less crappy situation here,” I said with a gesture to the muddy riverbanks all around.

  Mika shrugged. “I already paid for my pod rental, and I wasn’t about to let those idiots ruin my fun. Even with all the bullshit I still got some satisfaction out of turning the tides on them and making my escape.”

  “Glad you’ve kept your spirits up, man, and I may have something to improve them even further,” I said, gesturing to the north. “How would you like to join us for some good old fashioned tomb raiding?”

  His eyes went wide, and he looked between us and whispered, “A dungeon? You found a dungeon?”

  Kjara responded, “Yeah. We’re heading to a dungeon, although we still have to find the entrance.”

  “It’s part of a quest,” I added, absently straightening my stole. “We know where the entrance is supposed to be, but we still have to get to it. It’s probably going to be hard as hell, but if you’re game you’re more than welcome to join us. I think your skillset would make things a whole lot easier.”

  Kjara nodded in agreement. “Dusty tombs, ancient mummy puzzles and loot… can’t forget the dungeon loot,” she said, patting her replenishing quiver.

  With a wide grin, Mika replied, “Oh… I am so in.”

  I sent him an invitation to our party and his information appeared in the party window.

  Kjara Mistwalker:

  HP: [100%], SP: [100%]

  Mika Músin:

  HP: [100%], SP: [100%]

  Kheph Sa’tep:

  HP: [100%], MP: [100%], SP: [100%]

  “When do we start?” the dýrafólk said with an eager look, and Kjara and I shared a chuckle as she led the way towards the city.

  …

  8

  It took us the better part of a day to make our way to the outskirts of the city. Our new companion’s rogue skills proved to be invaluable in detecting the approaching patrols and finding cover to avoid them. All of his practice dodging the PKers on his home continent made keeping clear of the fish folk seem easy for the dýrafólk.

  Unfortunately, our luck ran out when we entered the city itself. The damage done by the tsunami was insane. Most of the buildings were in ruins and provided ample cover to move around without being detected, but even that couldn’t negate my clumsiness.

  As I was crossing from one ruined building to the next, my boot slipped on a wet patch of road and my feet went out from under me. The residual mud on the road turned the entire thing into a makeshift slip and slide, delivering me into the debris gathered against the buildings.

  The only injury I suffered was to my pride, but the noise was enough to draw attention of a nearby patrol. A series of loud clicks mixed with a trill filtered in from around the corner.

  “Damn it!” I cursed under my breath as I regained my feet, ducking behind the debris as the clicking and trilling language of the fishmen was joined by the sound of their footsteps in the muddy puddles that covered most of Sehkem’s roads.

  Mika sighed and shook his head as he invoked his stealth ability and faded from view.

  Kjara pulled out her bow and took cover behind a pile of rubble on the other side of the road, giving me a joking glare and whispering, “Klutz.”

  I unslung my shield and readied my Sunspear, triggering the magic that elongated it from its easily stored rod form into a short spear.

  With the scraping of talons on stone, a group of ten skreel came scrambling around the corner. They were just as ugly as I remembered, their features a mad blend of goblin and fish. They ran on all fours towards me, their wide, soulless eyes and slavering maws promising a painful end.

  As soon as they were in range, I activated my Aura of the Underworld skill, shivering as my body became a conduit between the land of the dead and the material plane. The icon representing the aura’s empowering effects appeared next to Mika and Kjara’s names in the party window, showing they were both in range.

  The creatures visibly slowed as the aura washed over them, the death energy draining some of their vigor.

  The lead skreel collapsed as Kjara’s first shot pierced its heart, its lifeless body trampled under the feet of its companions.

  The skreel turned towards Kjara and hissed, their goblin-like maws hissing and snapping as they changed direction to attack the archer who’d pulled their aggro.

  Free of the impending wave of enemies heading my way, I triggered Analyze and skimmed the creatures’ stats.

  *** Skreel, Level 6 ***

  *** HP: 100%, SP: 95% ***

  *** Conditions: None ***

  *** Active Spells/Abilities: Frenzied ***

  *** Weakness: Fire, Lightning ***

  *** Highest Statistics: Strength, Agility ***

  Sixth level enemies shouldn’t be that much of a challenge for our group, but with the level of realism they’d built into the game I was afraid that their numbers would allow them to just pile on top of us and tear us to pieces, regardless of any mathematical advantages.

  With a high-pitched screech, the skreel patrol cleared the barrier, completely missing Mika’s stealthed form in their mad rush to get at the moon elf. Kjara stood calmly, and released another arrow, skewering a second skreel through the stomach.

  The fish-goblin clutched at the arrow standing out from its stomach and collapsed in pain.

  At the same time, I summoned the glyphs for Sunstrike into my mind and channeled my mana to blast another of the creatures with a bolt channeled through my spear.

  The lance of fire shot forth and struck my target, burning a hole t
hrough its shoulder and dropped its health to less than half. It screeched in pain and stumbled to the side, causing one of its companions to stumble as well.

  The scorched creature and two of its friends broke off their charge at Kjara and headed towards me, flexing their claws eagerly.

  I raised my shield and set my spear, absorbing their charge and finishing off the injured skreel with a quick thrust to the heart.

  My world became a chaotic whirl of frantic blocks and parries as the other two attempted to overwhelm me with a flurry of claws and teeth.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw another fall with an arrow in its neck. I raised my spear to intercept a slash intended for my throat and winced as another seized the opportunity to slash at my thigh. My health bar dropped by five percent as blood began to flow.

  I punched out with my shield, sending the offending skreel stumbling backwards, but that small gap was enough for his friend to score another minor hit to my chest, dropping my health another two percent.

  Growling with frustration, I tried to bring my spear to bear, but the press of bodies was too tight.

  I took a quick step backwards, lashing out with my spear to give myself some space and grinned as my wild swing opened a wide gash across the creature’s stomach, dropping its health by half.

  As the wounded skreel attempted to recover, I finished it with a quick thrust, leaving me with a single opponent. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kjara easily cutting down the ones that had reached her, and Mika was slightly further away with a pair of corpses laying at his feet.

  Kjara turned towards me and asked, “Need help?” as she flicked the blood from her gleaming blades.

  Glancing at the party window I saw she’d barely been scratched by the numerous foes.

  I shook my head and switched to a more offensive footing, quickly putting the last skreel down.

  *** Your party has killed 10 Skreel! Your party gains 800xp. ***