Somnia Online: Fragments - Chapter Eight (Patreon)

Pick One

"What's with this world and it's bloody armored insects?" Dansyn muttered, hugging his arms to his chest.

Murmur glanced over at him, worried about whatever after effects he'd experienced when that venom melted him to death. Not the way anyone wants to go. Had they even researched potential mental side effects? Speaking of mental side effects, she wondered if she could target him with thought projection and perhaps help him past the healing hurdle. It was worth a try, wasn't it?

But the golem chose that moment to move inwards to the oddly padded square area in the center of the room. It turned to face the scarab, and flexed its arms into a fighting stance.

Overhead a huge countdown began, blaring the number five into existence.

Four

Three

Two

One

FIGHT

Murmur blinked and automatically cast Weaken, Enfeeblement, and her dots on the scarab as it raced toward its target. She watched Devlish out of the corner of her eye, turning off the black haze that usually hung around him. She'd never realized it generated hate before, and slotted it away for future raiding reference.

With everyone's DoTs and debuffs in, she settled in for a long fight, only to find that the creature's health was already down to thirty percent. Murmur frowned and began nuking it. She barely got two direct damage spells in before the creature collapsed and convulsed on the ground in death throes that almost lasted longer than the actual fight.

The golem headed back over and bowed to them all. When it spoke, its voice had change to a deep and resonant sound that echoed through the room like a death knoll bell.

You have completed the upper level of Hightower. Be on your guard, for now the true test begins.

Of strength and virtue, love and hate
Find the steps and seal the gate
Within stone the heart you'll find
Leave the hidden far behind
Finally your test is true
Kill the last, if its blue
If it's not, run, take heed
The order was not what you need

The golem fell silent and the light went out of its eyes, like the life had left its body.

"Wait." Veranol tapped it on the shoulder lightly with his mace. "That was way too easy. We barely fought that thing."

"Maybe the actual test was solving the riddle?" Havoc shrugged, but his brows were drawn in irritation and his tone said as much.

"So now we head downstairs for the true test." Devlish reactivated his aura, and hefted his weapons.

Murmur frowned, looking between the scarab corpse and the demobilized golem. This was way too easy. "It's got to get harder. There's no way this can hold one of the twelve keys if we can just waltz in, kill a boss, assemble a golem, and then fight the weakest monster I've seen in the game so far."

"To be fair." Mellow cleared their throat. "The golem fought the scarab. Probably hit pretty hard."

"Fair point." But Murmur wasn't convinced. This was all far too easy, and she didn't feel so good about going downstairs. "Also, because the damned golem killed the scarab, we didn't get any experience. This had so better be worth it."

"You know you're going to get punched by me if we end up going down there and it's a total shitfest, right?" Sinister glared directly at her, as if trying to make her understand more than just the surface words.

Only Murmur knew there was no deeper meaning. Sinister just fully believed that speaking in that way completely and utterly tempted fate. So far from their experience in the game, Murmur couldn't help but agree. "Well, let's just hope I'm wrong. I just don't think I am."

No other doors had opened in the room, and after Merlin ran to check on the scarab's corpse for loot and returned with just a few crafting supplies, Murmur took a deep breath and led the group out of the room by the door they'd entered from.

The corridor was lit up to the north more than it had been earlier, while the way back behind them to the south had been dimmed again. With nothing but swallowing blackness behind them, Murmur led her guild the way of the flickering torches.

No one spoke, so the only noise was their footsteps as they all walked down the stone hallway. They clacked loudly, echoing off the impossibly high ceilings they couldn't see an end to, and then the light abruptly led them to turn right, and stopped them in front of a massive iron gate that barred the way to the stairs behind it.

Murmur stole a glance at all her friends and sighed. They seemed to be so tired. She could even see it filtering through to their characters in the way they held themselves, and the expression in their eyes, the droopiness of their eyelids.

"Hey. Liven up a bit. Once we've got this done, we can all go take a rest." She tried to push some pep into her voice, but it was difficult considering the level of stress she felt about this dungeon. It wasn't what she expected, and she had no idea what was coming next.

"It's locked." Merlin offered very unhelpfully, leaning against the bars. "Locked like a ... thing that's really locked. Leave me alone, I'm tired."

Murmur chuckled along with the rest of them, and the tension lifted a tad. "Any ideas? Scarab didn't drop a key, and I haven't seen one anywhere else..."

Jinna pushed through to the front, the burly dwarf frowning as he examined the lock. "Aye. Maybe I can lock pick it. Since I've not had the chance to practice much, I've been pouring all the points I get every level into lock picking. I have 142 points in it at the moment. I can try to pick the lock?"

Murmur blinked at him. "You can pick locks?"

"Yep. Every rogue can choose it as a beginner skill. Most who do would probably go thief. But I've learned the hard way that you need lock picking in other games, so I decided I'd go all in this time." He grinned as he flourished his hands, a small set of picks spread between them. "Now, if you'll excuse me."

He leaned over, then straightened and plucked the glowing vial out of Mellow's hands before turning back to the lock. Jinna held the vial in his teeth as he worked, and after about a minute there was a resounding click, and he pushed the gates open.

Thinking quick
Lock to pick
Done it now
Won't ask how
Down you go
But do you know
Nothing is as it seems

Rashlyn snorted. "Well now it's not even making an effort to rhyme."

The gates finished swinging open and hit the side of the walls, clanging extra loudly because of how quiet they'd been when they moved. They watched as torches lining the walls suddenly flared to life one by one, illuminating the sturdy wooden staircase that disappeared into the darkness below.

#

Murmur followed closely behind Merlin, not entirely sure she liked the way everything kept lighting up like a runway that followed them around the whole castle. As they fanned out in the room below, torches illuminated one at a time in a giant circular motion, highlighting a huge round sanded area in the middle. Sort of like a coliseum except this had huge statues all over it.

Six to be precise, all seemingly at perfect intervals around the outside line of the circle.

Each statue, from what she could see anyway because the opposite side was so far away to begin with, depicted a dwarf in different stages of combat. She frowned at it, wondering if these statues might link to the statues in the cities.

You have pieced together a portion of one puzzle. Statues are as Statues seem, in this place and in between. Should you succeed, make sure to take extra special heed next time you visit Verendus, for you may see that things have changed.

You gain experience.

Murmur took a step back, despite the fact that she knew her HUD was attached to her character. She frowned at the words that faded from her view, and double checked her quest journal for them, making sure they weren't just in her head out of wishful thinking.

Pulling out of the HUD, she noticed her friends were looking up at the statues in wonder, their mouths open in awe, as they maneuvered themselves slowly around, trying to get a better look. She then looked down at their feet, and the stone that ringed the huge sandy arena and a sudden gut wrenching certainty tore at her.

"Don't step into the sand!" She yelled out, startling a jump out of a couple of them, and watched in horror as Rashlyn barely maintained her balance to stay on the stone pathway.

"What the fuck Mur?" The monk didn't sound impressed as she leveraged herself back to stand glaring at Mur with her hands on her hips.

"Look at the arena or whatever this is." She gestured around them. "Whatever this is, it's surrounded by that damned stone pathway, so if you step onto the sand, odds are, you're going to trigger something. Those statues aren't just there to be pretty, they're there for a reason, and I'm guessing we probably have to fight them or something."

"That's a lot of, probably valid, guesses, Mur. Something you're not telling us?" Delvish used his best older brother voice and Murmur had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"I got a quest update from some fountain quest thing I got way back." She shrugged. "What, you've never noticed statues in every major city that sometimes aren't in the same position they were earlier?"

Sinister shrugged. "Sure, but I thought it was just magic."

"Probably is, but it's still noteworthy." Murmur gestured back to the six huge ones in the arena. "My guess is we have to fight these in order, and I have no idea how we're going to figure it out. "Sin, Ver? Do your resurrections give any experience back?"

Veranol cringed, "Like fifty percent, but I can't resurrect while in combat, and I can't resurrect if the body isn't recognizable." It was like he was apologizing to Dansyn for not being able to help him earlier.

Sinister shook her head. "Nope. Probably because I'm a blood mage and they're like fuck no, no percentage restorative resurrection spells for that destructive cow."

Murmur had to force herself not to laugh out loud. The situation was too serious for that. "Basically, we need people to volunteer to potentially die."

Merlin stepped forward, a cocky grin on his face. "No we don't. What we need, is rangers with an evac."

She blinked up at him and smiled for the first time since realizing they'd have to figure out which order the mobs had to be pulled in. But then she frowned, because they couldn't leave the castle, so where would it deposit them? "Where is it going to take you in here? Will it even work?"

Merlin frowned, turned and ran to the other side of the arena, and hit evacuate before Murmur could yell at him.

She glared at the spot he'd been standing in no more than a second ago, and crossed her arms. It had definitely worked, but where had it taken him. There was a tap on her shoulder and she turned around, almost jumping out of her skin because she'd not been expecting it.

Merlin stood with a huge grin on his face. "Takes us to just inside the staircase, already down on this level."

Murmur perked up at the information. While not easy, this was an option that could potentially keep everyone, including herself alive. She'd admit that she was very concerned for her own skin, but shouldn't that be natural?

"So," Beastial grinned and planted himself in front of the groups. "What's the plan now boss?"

"Basically?" Murmur raised an eyebrow and gestured to all of the statues in their varying fighting poses around them and the pedestals they stood on. "I'm guessing we have to fight each of those. We need to know what each pedestal says so we can match it up with the riddle."

"Match it," Jinna muttered and then a huge smile spread across his features. "Of course! Strength, Virtue, Love, Hate, Heart, Hidden. Six different things."

"Why'd you have to steal my thunder, Jinna?" Murmur tried to sound offended but couldn't quite pull it off. "We'll all need to back into the stairwell so the rangers can go get the names for us, and we can start trying to whittle them down in the order we have to."

"Sounds like a plan. Just remember there's a cool down on Evac." Merlin cautioned. "But hey, we've got nothing but time, right?"

"Speak for yourself," Murmur muttered, but immediately felt bad for saying it. None of them technically had time. She had a sneaking suspicion that Exodus wasn't going to sit on its ass anymore.

"One at a time then? Let's see if entering the arena triggers the quest, or the event, or whatever this is going to be." She really hoped something happened when one of them entered the arena because she'd look foolish otherwise.

Merlin nodded and flexed his arms across his chest. "Well then. How about I go first. My cool down is almost up. Everyone needs to pull back into the evac area."

"Wait." Jinna frowned and crossed his arms. "How are you going to narrow it down? I say we discuss it a little bit before you go racing off half cocked like a typical damn ranger."

Merlin blinked at the dwarf. "Fine."

Murmur rolled her eyes and hoped the debate wasn't going to take too long.

#

"But clearly love has to be the one with the hands over its heart." Veranol almost yelled for about the fourth time, because no one was really listening to anyone else. Murmur put her hands over her ears and sighed inwardly. This was never going to happen if they didn't stop fart arsing around. Just as she was about to clear her throat, Sinister spoke up.

"Hey. Give it a rest." She stood with her hands on her hips, all regal in her diminutive stature. It probably helped that her armor was the color of blood. The way it blended in with her skin gave her a totally ominous vibe. Once she had their attention, she continued. "Hands over the heart is more likely to signify heart. The statue with the flower woven crown on its head. Probably love."

Everyone looked in the direction she pointed. On the left hand side of the heart statue, stood a dwarven female with a flower crown.

Not even Murmur had noticed it before, and she kicked herself. She'd been so caught up in the raging debate between her friends. Then she frowned as she looked closer, squinting her eyes. "Hey. Anyone else unable to figure out exactly what the one to the left of the Love statue looks like?"

The rest of them leaned forward, almost straining to see, their eyes all scrunched up as well. Exbo leaned back and crossed his arms. "Nope. Can't tell a damned thing."

"Hidden. It's features are hidden." Murmur tried to scale back the excitement in her voice, after all, not only was it hidden, it also really resembled those damned binders in the cities she'd come across whose features couldn't be recognized.

You may have discovered a hidden link between all the cities, all the keys, and all the castles. File it away for reference should you ever exit your current situation alive. No pressure though.

Murmur blinked at the message as it faded away from her view. What the hell was with the AI now? She shook her head trying to get her thoughts back on track and concentrated on the riddle in front of them. "So... hidden is last, right?"

Jinna nodded, and everyone else made agreeable murmurings.

"You're being amazingly non contributive." Murmur rolled her eyes in their direction, and ignored the mass of shrugging shoulders.

Sin gave her a quick hug. "But you love us anyway, right?"

"Not right now." Murmur grumbled, a little put out. Didn't any of them have a damned sense of urgency. She forced herself to slow down the train of thought a little, breathing keeping. Snowy nudged at her hip, and she turned to see concern in his big brown eyes. Weird how this wolf seemed to be so alive.

"Look. We have to figure this out. It's our first true dungeon, or first true boss mob. We don't even know if this triggers or is an event, or what's expected of us." She paused, watching everyone, her eyes raking over each of them in turn. "This is the beginning of our endgame guys. It's our first serious fight, and I can't direct you all like I usually do, because that would involve letting us wipe the raid each time as we learn the different aspects of the fight."

She saw the realization dawning on each one of them in quick succession. It was like a light had gone on in their heads, and the looks of dismay on their faces almost broke her.

"I can't be killed. Or at least, we can't risk me being killed in game right now." Even though she still found it difficult to believe that her brain might actually be convinced of it, Dansyn's recent death had persuaded her there was a remote possibility that the pain could overwhelm her common sense, even momentarily.

"So we can't throw ourselves at it to gain ground and understanding and not care if we wipe. I have to care the whole time. So I need you all at your best, helping me try to figure out how we're going to tackle learning complex fights like this... when experience isn't the only potential loss."

#

Storm Entertainment

Somnia Online Division

Game Development Offices Conference Room

Day Eleven

Teddy Davenport walked into the room glancing at his watch as he did so, with a frown on his face. His brow didn't cease to crease when he looked up at Shayla, and he stood near the door, his hands clasped behind his back as if standing to attention.

It took almost every bit of willpower Shayla had, but she managed to suppress the urge to raise her eyebrow. She waited for him, knowing he'd speak as soon as he was ready, never letting her eyes waver, because showing this man weakness was like stepping on a vipers tail.

Well, perhaps that analogy was a little callous. Teddy Davenport was a good business man, a fair businessman even, and he never made any decision without a reason in the grand scheme of things. Which left Shayla itching to ask him why he was here when it wasn't a scheduled day for him to be.

"Tomorrow is day Twelve." Teddy paused, and it wasn't like him to state the bleeding obvious so all Shayla did was nod in response. "The reports due tomorrow, must be delivered to our contract contact."

His mouth twisted with distaste so fast that Shayla wasn't certain she'd seen it do so at all. "I believe we'll have all required reports ready, sir. The team is working on it."

All the required reports. Every single person's data except Wren's. Because they couldn't give him Wren's and that was a problem she wasn't sure would fly under the radar for long. After all, she was logged in twenty-four seven.

For a brief second, Shayla wondered if Teddy could read her mind. He was peering at her, like he could read her thoughts and see right through her and Laria's plan. Only that couldn't be true, she was just being paranoid.

Shayla inclined her head. "Sir?"

"Excellent work. You and Laria are to be commended. Somnia is far exceeding any of the projected expectations. Doubling them even." And yet he didn't seem completely pleased. Like there was something itching the back of his throat but he couldn't cough it out. "Somnia has become mighty in its own right now. Not just thanks to the headgear. After all, the interface and the creation of the content is what draws the players. I wanted to thank you both."

That's when it hit Shayla. Laria was supposed to be at this meeting with her, and yet they'd decided it was a better idea for her not to be, because right now Laria wasn't at her strongest. She was volatile and weak right now, and didn't trust herself to talk to anyone. Shayla feigned surprise. "Oh. I completely forgot to tell her to come. I am so sorry sir. Completely my fault. She's in the middle of something right now, so it'll have to wait until a later date."

The expression on Teddy's face lightened up a little, a shadow of relief passing across his eyes. "Very well. I'll see you at the same time as usual next week, then."

"Thank you sir."

Shayla was just about to breathe out in relief when Teddy stopped at the door and turned back to her. "Oh, and Shayla. We should probably have a very candid discussion about the overuse of some of our enhancement features while testing the headgear. We don't want to skew the data."

Shayla smiled, trying to force the expression to her eyes. "Of course not sir."

She watched him as he walked down the corridor, worry nibbling at the back of her mind. He knew. And if he didn't know exactly what, he sure as hell knew that something was going on.

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