The Kartoss Gambit (The Way of the Shaman: Book #2) (9 page)

"Then this is your job for the week. You mine the ore and don't mind the wolves, they won’t touch you. Put the ore here," I pointed to a small hollow in the ground. "In two days Shaman Mahan will come and will say a password 'Blah-Boom'. You obey him like you do me, understood?" the goblins quickly nodded and I continued: "Why are you loitering here? Off to work with you!"

In a split second they were gone – they grabbed their picks, spreading throughout the mine, and I went around it gathering everything dropped by the 'Romeos' when they ran off after their 'Juliet'. After me, that is. I walked some distance away, but still managed to catch the goblins whispering amongst themselves:

"New mastermun, she a real beauty! All green and in a skirt, her bust bigger than my head! Pity no bone in nose, but that fine — it grow in time."

“I
’m gathering a party for the Rortus Dungeon! Need healers and a tank!”

“WTS 40 Wolf Pelts! Just 20 gold each!”

“WTB a lvl 20 Warrior sword with a bonus to STR!”

Farstead welcomed me with familiar town buzz. In this respect it was no different from all the other standard towns in Barliona, from which only Anhurs really stood out. Similar-looking two-story stone houses, gray walls, from which here and there hung the shingles of merchants or various profession trainers. There was a cobbled street, an overturned cart, half-drowned in a haystack (probably a favorite playground for the local kids), and crowds of people, both players and NPCs, hurrying in every direction. Although there weren't exactly hoards of players around, they were making a great din. If you were to believe the manuals, the Krong province was meant for players between level 20 and 40, so looking for good offers on items or groups would be a waste of time here. Savvy players under level 50 level up by themselves or in special clan locations and only visit a town for the Bank, the Dating House, for traders or profession trainers. Those now shouting about forming groups for Dungeons or buying low-level gear are… Let’s put it this way, such players are usually called 'noobs'. That sums it up. There’s little joy in ending up in the same group with a beginner tank or healer: "Oh, I didn't manage to select you as a target and so couldn't heal you in time. Why didn't you heal yourself with bandages?", "Oooh, look at that cute Rat, let's not kill it", "Aaahhh! I'm being attacked! I'm leaving the group!", "Do you kids want daddy to show you how to use them pointy things?"... A couple of times I was careless enough to end up in a group with such players and had very little desire to repeat that experience. They never read any manuals or forums, but are more bigheaded and arrogant than the elves.

The portal threw me out practically in the middle to the main town square. Why was it the main one? Because it contained the local government headquarters and a Barliona Bank branch.

Generally speaking, the Bank of Barliona is really something else. As if playing a joke on real banks, the Barliona version resembles a small three-meter-high gazebo surrounded by small trees. There are no thick walls or armies of guards. There is no need for them, because when entering the gazebo each player ends up in a separate dimension, a personal room of sorts. In each room there is a small table with a gremlin sitting behind it, always wearing black brassards, and constantly writing something. You could give him gold to be deposited and he is the one to retrieve it on withdrawal and hand it over to its owner. The gremlin received requests for credit or for expansion of your personal room — its initial modest size meant that it wasn't ideal for storing all your resources. The only item storage limitation the Banks had was that you couldn't store more than ten items of the same class in them. This meant that you could not save up more than ten Legendary or ten Epic items and so on. The Bank had no intention of turning into a warehouse. Clans kept all the accumulated riches inside their own castles, kept secure by guards and by protective spells. There were even special clans dedicated to the production of 'wards' and clans, which focused on breaking through these 'wards'. Same as anywhere, really. I had little to save for the rainy day other than the Warrior Orc figurines. I was going to the Bank for a different reason — I had to withdraw my Hunter items. Extra money and gear, even if focused on Agility, would come in handy. Before I got there some words stood out from the general buzz and caught my ear.

"Hey, you know what I read on the Phoenix forum yesterday? They are prepared to pay a hundred grand in gold for information about the Jeweler who created the Karmadont Chess Pieces!" Overhearing the conversation between two dwarf players made me throw my prisoner to the ground, pretend that I was stretching my stiff shoulders and generally look like I was simply passing by and not paying any attention to anyone around me. In actual fact I turned into one big ear.

"What were you doing over there?"

"Well..."

"Ah-ha! You're thinking about applying to join, aren't you?" laughed one of the dwarves. "Don't you know that they don't take anyone under level sixty as a matter of principle?"

"Yes, I know. It's just they've got interesting stuff going on — every now and then they upload videos of Dungeon tactics and even if these are mostly old Dungeons, they are top quality walkthroughs! This way I can learn from their experience. And also Anastaria posted new holograms...."

"So what about the Jeweler and the hundred grand?"

"Ah, yes! It's posted on the main page of their website: "Attention! We are prepared to buy information about the Jeweler who created the Karmadont Chess Pieces. Payment for the information — a hundred thousand gold." This is followed by a message: "Jeweler! We are offering you a place in our ranks and the title of a Master." Just imagine — a Master!"

"So what?"

Shaking his head as if to say 'what a noob!', the first dwarf gave a resigned sigh and went on:

"In Phoenix 'Master' is the third top rank in the clan! It means full access to the vault, the right to order about Recruits, Raiders and Mercenaries. They only have eight Masters and they have been in the clan from the day it was created, but now they are making such an offer to some unknown Jeweler!"

"Yeah, they're a pretty serious bunch. Well, whatever. Did you hear what Roxie came up with yesterday? She and her friends..."

What followed was of little interest. I stopped stretching, slung the goblin across my shoulders and headed off to pay the town authorities a visit. So, by the looks of it, Phoenix, the best guild in the Empire, is offering the Jeweler, that is me, to enter its ranks as a Master. And this is all because of some chess pieces. At the Pryke mine the Regional Governor let it slip that the pieces are a key to somewhere, but could this 'somewhere' be worth more than the rank of a Master? I really must make a closer study of the chess piece properties and it wouldn't hurt to sift through the forum on this topic either.

The idea of joining Phoenix is quite attractive. Not only was it the best clan on the continent, but Anastaria is a member as well. Phoenix was one of the oldest clans in the game. When the clan's raid group received its twentieth 'First Kill', it began to represent our Empire on the annual contest of the top clans. Phoenix took part in seven contests and twice became the best clan in Barliona. Although in the last four years their position had weakened and they were unable to get higher than the third place. The Emperor decided that a month before the next tournament, which was set to take place in nine month's time, an internal imperial contest should be held to decide which was the best clan in Malabar. Phoenix would once again have to fight for this title, but I could bet that it would take the top place with little difficulty. My evil-minded internal 'Greed Toad' started to fuss and kick me around: I also have a 'First Kill', as well as plans to create a clan of my own, so I also should have the right to take part in the tournament. To make it worse, the Hoarding Hamster gave it his full support — probably because he remembered all the nice prizes that were given to the winner of the last tournament.

Damn, why am I stuffing my thoughts with rubbish again? I have to go and hand in the goblin, drop by the Bank and visit the profession trainers. I also need to buy a return teleportation scroll — that timer didn't go anywhere. Speaking of the timer: '43 hours 25 minutes.' That's fine. I have enough time.

"Halt in the name of the Emperor!" Two mustached guards blocked the entrance to the administration building, pointing their halberds in my direction. At least I remembered that I was green all over and cleaned myself up before the jump. Better not show up in front of other players looking like that. It could lead to a serious misunderstanding.

"Halting," was my simple response. It was dangerous to argue or quarrel with guards. They could easily throw you in jail for twenty-four hours. 'Do you have any reputation with the province? No. This means you're an unreliable social element. You can sit in the cell and do some thinking, until we find out for sure, so to speak.'

"I caught an infiltrator and have come to hand him in. Let your superiors figure out why there is a dark goblin hanging around in Krong."

The guards came closer and warily examined my face. Did I miss some when taking the paint off? I thought such things were fairly simple in Barliona.

"How can you prove that this is an infiltrator or that you are the one that caught him, instead of stealing him from the real brave heroes? Why didn't you ride into the town properly — through the gates on a horse, but got here by teleporting?"

Picky bastards! Just because I have a red band on my head doesn't mean that I commit a crime every five minutes, between killing players and NPCs. Ok, breathing deeply and staying calm. I have to hand in the quest and no hurdle in the form of two jobworth Imitators is going to stop me.

"Because it's an infiltrator! Just look at him! What else could a dark goblin be inside the Malabar Empire? It's not like he's an honest merchant! That I didn't steal him you can see for yourselves, since I'm not carrying the mark. Yes I do have the headband, but there is no mark saying I've committed a crime. As for not riding into the town on a horse — well, I don't have one. To top it off, I live in Beatwick, which is two days travel from here. Teleporting is faster, even if more expensive. Does that answer all you questions? If yes, please let me through — I need to hand over the infiltrator to the person in charge here."

The guards had no further questions and I walked into the administration building unhindered. What's good about Barliona is that you can get to see an official at the level of a town mayor in a couple of seconds. You just come and have a chat. No conditions and no long waits. If two players come at the same time, each ends up with his own copy of the official, without holding up the others. From the level of the Governor things get more complicated. And if getting to see him is not impossible, getting through to Heralds and Advisers is much more difficult. Getting an audience with the Emperor is practically impossible. As Eric said, two hundred thousand gold is the normal price for a ticket to see the Emperor.

"How can I help you?" the Farstead Mayor looked up from his papers, giving me an expectant stare. I threw the goblin on the carpeted floor, flexed my shoulders to get rid of the virtual stiffness and said:

"I caught this munchkin near Beatwick, a village right on the border. An infiltrator, by the looks of it. I decided not to kill him and brought him to you instead. That's it, I think."

"Take him away for questioning," the Mayor told the guards, who appeared when he rang a small bell. "As for you, young man, please wait for the results of the questioning in the adjacent room. What if it's just a merchant and you have disrupted his trade," in such a simple manner the Mayor left me in little doubt as to exactly how much trust he had in me. Damn, I'll have to waste my precious limited time stuck in here. But... not much for it, since I was the one that brought him in, I'll have to take the responsibility. After settling down in a small but cozy room, I decided to get some sleep. I would have to sleep at least once in the two days that I could spend outside Beatwick, so why not get some rest right here and now? I barely closed my eyes when a guard shook me awake:

"Mister Mayor wants to see you."

I looked at my timer: '38 hours 22 minutes.' That was some nap! Five hours gone in a flash, although it feels like I dozed off just five minutes ago!

"Please allow me to express my gratitude on behalf of the Malabar Empire and present you with a small reward for your services," said the Mayor in a completely different tone and handed me a scroll.

Quest 'Head of the Green Raiders' is completed.

Reward: +400 Reputation with the Malabar Empire. +500 Experience; points remaining until next level: 1101.

Level gained!

Free stat points: 10.

Item acquired: Irrepressible Leather Pauldron. Durability: 60. Physical damage resistance: 30. + Stamina, +4 Intellect. Item class: Rare.

“Now have a seat, there is something I have to tell you,” the Mayor said in a much more informal tone, falling silent and lifting his folded hands to his lips, as if in a prayer, but without closing his eyes. You got the impression that he didn’t know how to start.

“Today you delivered a very interesting prisoner to us. I’d even say exceptionally interesting. He has already been sent to Anhurs, where he will be questioned by one of the Advisers or Heralds. I was asked to relay the fact that Kartoss representatives have already contacted our Heralds and offered ransom for the goblin. Negotiations on his price are being carried out as we speak. According to our laws ten percent of the ransom for the prisoner belongs to you. It will be transferred to your account. Now about what happened. The appearance of a squad of dark goblins is a very unusual event in our neighborhood. This is not the only squad either. The prisoner said that ten of them have been put together and sent to the Krong province to gather resources that are so badly needed in Kartoss. What Kartoss needs them for is something the Heralds will be finding out. The search for the remaining eight squads is being carried out by eight heroes that have just been hired for the purpose. However, something else is worrying the Advisers. All of the squads have to be communicating with each other in some way. There simply must be someone who is coordinating the activity of the goblins in these lands and setting them various tasks. At the moment we have no way of finding this sentient. The Malabar Empire is asking your help – please find him. I understand that you cannot leave Beatwick for too long, but we suspect that all the threads in fact lead there. Our prisoner is flatly refusing to tell us the identity of the coordinator or what else they might be doing here and even the telepathic mages cannot break through the defense he has on him. We will see what the chat with an Advisor will yield. In any case, you are the one that brought this prisoner, so we will entrust the search for the coordinator to you. If in two month’s time your search brings no results, the assignment will be given to one of the heroes hired to look for the goblins. We have to be sure that the coordinator will be found and it would be foolish to rely entirely on a free citizen of sixteen levels. You have two months.”