A Song of Shadow Read online

  “To the velites?” the legate asked. “You think I should send her beyond the blighted ground at her level?” He squinted. “It’s too high a risk.”

  “She’s a free citizen,” the centurion reminded him. “It’s easier for her: The free citizens can return from the Gray Lands.”

  The legate twiddled his whiskers, weighing the pros and cons, as I tried to understand what they were even talking about. Well, I mean, in general I had understood that my formidable Level 7 made it difficult to find me a suitable quest, yet the details of their conversation escaped me.

  At the same time, Yavar glanced at me and asked with some doubt in his voice:

  “We need to think...You can’t summon an army of phantoms with your music like your Tenth, can you Lorelei?”

  “No...”

  “Then it’s decided,” the pirq stuck his paw into a huge bowl carved of wood, pulled out someone’s charred rib and began gnawing on it with a pensive look on his face.

  “To the velites,” he declared. “Seek the scarlet banner with the lightning bolt emblem on it. You will report to Centurion Altaik.”

  Quest available: Help the Renegades.

  Description: The Renegades of the Hidden Forest have committed themselves to preventing an alliance with Kartoss. Locate Centurion Altaik and offer your assistance. Quest type: Rare scenario. Reward for completion: +50 Reputation with the Renegades of the Hidden Forest; +100 XP. Penalty for failing or refusing the quest: -50 Reputation with the Renegades of the Hidden Forest.

  Naturally, I accepted the quest and leaving the hut began peering around for a scarlet standard. It was nowhere to be seen, but at least my old friend Vex appeared on the horizon. And I still had questions for that book thief.

  “Vex, hang on!” I called, hurrying after my fellow bard.

  “Ah, Lorelei,” he waved and stopped. “Are you feeling better?” he inquired when I approached.

  “Yes, quite a bit! I have some business to discuss with you.”

  “Is it urgent?”

  “Not very,” I confessed, “but it won’t take long.”

  Vex looked away somewhere to the right, in the direction of the enormous tree whose roots formed the seat of Astilba’s throne and answered unhurriedly: “Go on then, but do so quickly.”

  “Did you take a part of the songbook from the Tree library?” I asked without wasting any time.

  The renegade looked at me a little oddly and nodded.

  “I did. How do you know this?”

  “Back at the Tree, I was trying to decipher the songbook and discovered that it was incomplete. The librarian recalled that you were the last one to work with the scroll.”

  All of Vex’s hurry vanished instantly. He turned to face me, squinted his eyes and asked tensely: “You know how to decipher the songbook?”

  “Well, yeah,” I said with some surprise. “Weren’t you doing the same thing?”

  “Not at all. I’m a poet, not a musician. I was merely copying the scroll at Astilba’s request, but I didn’t manage to finish my work and was forced to...extract the last fragment from the library.”

  “What does Astilba want with the songbook? She’s definitely not a bard.”

  The renegade nodded, sighed deeply and waved his hand, offering me to have a seat in the shade of a sprawling thorn bush. It did not seem like he was in a hurry any longer.

  “As you know, a bard’s spells are learned in conjunction with the spells of other classes. Astilba is trying to divine the structure of Cypro’s spell and recreate it on her own.”

  “What kind of a spell is it?”

  Vex hesitated and then replied barely audibly:

  “Cypro knew how to summon the souls of heroes who had passed to the Gray Lands. Astilba cleaves to the hope that she can return the Fifth. She asked me to find all mention of this spell and my search brought me to this scroll. The writing in it is some kind of cypher, so I was simply copying the scroll to give it to the Sixth. Unfortunately we have no bards who specialize in music and so we had no luck deciphering the scroll. But if what you say is true...Perhaps Astilba will accomplish what she’s sought all this time.”

  “Perhaps,” I echoed, though I had my doubts.

  As far as I understand the info in the Barliona FAQs, the dead could only return as mindless undead or members of the zombie race. In order to have an NPC return to the world in his right mind and sense, some kind of magic seal would be required. It followed that the Fifth didn’t have this seal...and a zombie lover would please only some fan of stupid pseudo-romantic movies, not Astilba.

  “Notes are written in it,” I explained to the excited biota. “I already deciphered the part in the library, so if I get the rest of it, it won’t take me long to recreate the songbook.”

  Vex jumped lightly to his feet and announced decisively:

  “I will speak to the Sixth and if she grants her permission, I will bring you the missing fragment. Wait for me.”

  “Hang on,” I stopped the renegade from rushing off. “I’ve been sent to Centurion Altaik. Tell me where I can find him and we can just meet there.”

  “Altaik?” the bard ruminated. “Follow that there brook downstream and you’ll come upon his turma. But wait for me to return and if anyone orders you otherwise, tell them that you’re waiting for orders from the Sixth. Understand?”

  “Yes. Do I have to wait long?”

  “Not long,” Vex insisted and dashed toward Astilba’s meadow residence.

  I decided to pass the time productively—by filling in my map. To my surprise, Chip’s drills paid dividends and I managed to chart a part of my route from my former place of imprisonment to the renegades’ camp. It wasn’t very precise, but there were definitely less white space on the map when I finished. If things go on this way, the cartographer’s mysterious prize is as good as ours. Chip just has to copy my map and complete the quest. There was just one issue...If we did this, Eben would get his hands on the map with its vague, yet discernable, location of the renegades’ camp. And then who knows what the spymaster would do? No. First I have to find out how the Sixth’s attempts to resurrect her lover will turn out and only then move on to the map quest.

  At last Vex returned. He looked very worried and was all but dancing from impatience.

  “The songbook!” He waved a small scroll in front of me. “Here is the missing portion. You have to decipher all of it. This instant!”

  Quest available: Decipher the Songbook.

  Description: Vex wants you to restore and decipher Cypro’s songbook this instant. Quest type: Unique, class-based. Restrictions: You must begin the quest on the spot and perform it until it is complete.

  Reward for completion: +1,000 Reputation with the Renegades of the Hidden Forest, +14,000 XP. Penalty for failing or refusing the quest: -1,000 Reputation with the Renegades of the Hidden Forest.

  “Erm...” I mumbled, a little at a loss as I read the quest description. “I guess I’ll just do this now then.”

  I looked around, found myself a spot near the roots of a tree where a stranger wouldn’t run into me, sat down and leaning against the trunk unfurled the remainder of the scroll. This was definitely it—the same babble about the sun, the Milky Way and the seven planets. There was no surface suited for writing on, so per habit, I arranged the parchment on the body of my lute. Someone else might find this uncomfortable, but my guitar synth had served me as a desk, as an umbrella and even a club in its day.

  The experience I already had in deciphering the scroll did its part and my work went quickly. The only irritation was Vex who stood over me and drilled the scroll with his eyes to the point that I was afraid he really was going to burn a hole through it.

  “Are you going to stand there all day?”

  Instead of replying, Vex nodded curtly and pointed at the unfurled piece of scroll impatiently. No one has any patience these days. Although, hell, neither do I. I do want to know what spell the Tenth used to summon the army in my vision.

/>   Just over two hours had passed and the work was done. A lean stack of sheets covered in notes was lying before me, and still nothing happened. No fanfare, no system notifications about a completed quest...Nothing but Vex’s impatient and inquisitive look. There was nothing left but to shrug in reply and start reviewing the notes. Maybe I had made some mistake? A single inaccuracy could throw off the harmony of the composition. Of course, there was a simple way to check the thing.

  Having no music stand, I placed the sheet music right before me, picked up my lute and recreated my uneven row of marks with sound. The melody was a pretty one but clearly unsuited to a lute. The sound was missing something. As harmonious and complete as the music was, there was something inadequate about it. Still, I sensed no mistake in it.

  As soon as the final chord had rung, the sheets with the deciphered notes began to glow. My yearned-for fanfare sounded from somewhere and the parchment vanished, leaving behind a songbook shimmering in a pearl glow.

  Congratulations! You have recovered Cypro’s legendary songbook!

  Your deciphering of the songbook has taught you a new spell: ‘Bonds of Memory.’

  Since times of yore, bards were the keepers of memory about the feats and tragedies of Barliona’s heroes and villains. Thanks to the bards, tales of the past remain in the memories of the races, creating an imperceptible bond between the present and the past, the living and the dead. This bond permits certain bards to use their songs to summon the souls of the heroes of yore. To be resurrected, the souls require a portion of the Bard’s vitality and their strength depends on the strength of their summoner.

  Casting time: Perform a composition about the summoned soul from beginning to end. Cost of performance: 50% of the Bard’s max HP. Maximum level of the summoned soul: (Bard’s Level + Composition) Maximum number of the summoned soul’s skills and spells: (Soul Level ÷ 10 + Composition). Maximum number of souls summoned at once: (1 + Composition) Duration of summoned soul’s stay in Barliona: (Intellect ÷ 10 + Composition) hours until the soul exhausts its vitality. Cooldown: 72 hours.

  Skill increase:

  +3 to Bardic Inspiration. Total: 14.

  +3 to Fame. Total: 14.

  Quest complete: Recover the Songbook.

  +500 Reputation with the Biota. Current status: Hatred.

  +10 to Fame. Total: 21.

  Speak with the Tree’s Librarian to receive the rest of your reward.

  Quest complete: Decipher the Scroll.

  +1,000 Reputation with the Renegades of the Hidden Forest. Current status: Friendship.

  Experience earned: +14,000 XP.

  Level gained!

  ...

  Level gained!

  Current Level: 18.

  Unallocated stat points: 90.

  Training points remaining: 6.

  Achievement unlocked:

  ‘Legendary Hit I’ (Four learned or created songbooks remaining until next rank).

  Achievement reward: +1% chance to receive a quest that leads you to a legendary songbook.

  The pure glory of the notification made my eyes ripple, while the golden flashes that accompanied the new levels only aggravated the situation, and I spent a long time blinking dumbly and rereading the system messages. My entire rich lexicon failed me, leaving a single unprintable but ecstatic exclamation in my head. Now this is the way to complete a quest!

  “It worked,” Vex whispered in shock. “You did it, Lorelei! Quick! Give me the songbook so I may bring it to Astilba!”

  The songbook, which had managed to appear in my palm, was shining enticingly.

  Cypro’s songbook. Songbook type: Legendary. Contains the ‘Bonds of Memory’ spell.

  Attention! To reproduce this song, you must have a rare musical instrument.

  Attention! Your spellbook already contains ‘Bonds of Memory.’

  Attention! This songbook may not be copied.

  Attention! This songbook may not be traded.

  I was holding a scroll with a unique spell. I wonder, purely theoretically, how much I could ask Astilba for, for a spell she wanted so badly. As far as I know, NPCs in this game cannot take a player’s property outside of very rare scenarios. Theoretically I could haggle and refuse to hand over the songbook for free.

  Eh. I’m not much of a businesswoman and lucre’s just lucre.

  “Here you go.”

  I handed the songbook to Vex without further thought. It’s much more interesting to find out how the Sixth’s experiments will work out than to get my hands on a heap of gold.

  “Tell Astilba I wish her luck. I hope everything will work out for her.”

  The renegade clenched the scroll tightly in his hand and smiled warmly. My Attractiveness with him surged to 55 points.

  “I will relay your words to her. Thank you, sister.”

  And Vex rushed off like a whirlwind in the direction of the Sixth’s residence.

  “Think nothing of it,” I called in his wake, forcing him to look back.

  It was always like this: Either a torrent of new events or solitude and indecisiveness. If you discount the new levels I had gained, nothing had changed for me at all. I couldn’t even use my new spell—I had no rare instrument. And no way of finding one. The local quartermaster didn’t seem to have any, and the craftsmen around here weren’t exactly master luthiers. Maybe I could ask Chip? And yet, even if we pooled our resources we wouldn’t have enough for one of Pirus’ pieces. All right, we’ll talk it over out in meatspace. Only, before exiting the game, it wouldn’t be bad to find out what quest I’m supposed to get from the mysterious centurion.

  The camp, meanwhile, had gone on with its own life. You could hear the growling of the pirq teams, the clangor of arms, the coming and going of small bands of warriors. Those who had returned were eating ravenously outside of their quarters and then immediately collapsing and falling asleep in their bunks without taking off anything apart from their footwear and armor. It’s much easier for the players in that sense—we could sleep in our armor without experiencing the least bit of discomfort.

  Centurion Altaik turned out to be a light-ginger, almost blond, pirq. At the moment of my visit this glorious warrior was occupied with five tasks at once. He was hungrily consuming his bowl of gruel and meat, drinking milk, kicking his boots off his feet, glaring into a map and bitterly arguing with one of my cousins, a biota.

  “What’d you need?” Altaik growled, generously bespattering my new cape with his spittle and bits of gruel. Uncultured bastard...

  “Legate Yavar has sent me to you,” I rattled off, carefully brushing off my cape.

  My answer forced the two quarrelers to fall quiet. Then again, the centurion used this interlude productively, taking the moment to stuff more grub in his maw. Smacking, he began to inspect my person. My cousin, Immortal Biota, also fell to looking me over and for a while the silence in the hut was punctuated only by the centurion’s smacking and chewing. Having finally finished his meal, Altaik purred with contentment, licked his spoon, placed it on the table and deigned to interact with me.

  “Well and then what does he want?”

  I definitely didn’t expect this question. The transition from legendary events to ‘what’d you want?’ was a little too swift.

  “Erm...” I declaimed profoundly. “He wants you to give me some quest.”

  “Recruit,” the pirq barked at his companion.

  Only now did I notice how closely the two resembled each other—the pirq and the biota. Not in appearance but...in their expressions, their eyes. They were filled with an old weariness mixed with some kind of grim, doomed decisiveness and confidence, which did not gel with their intentionally-careless demeanor.

  Altaik slid the empty bowl aside and asked: “Do you know how to read a map?”

  Receiving my nod as an answer, he went on: “Look. We’re here right now.” The centurion’s finger poked a green triangle in the middle of a forest shaded with black. “Our turma’s objective is to extend the fo
rtifications up to this location...” Altaik picked up a lead pencil and marked a series of dots indicating a route. “We haven’t any time to spare, so everyone has to work. Right now, you will go to Signifier Lotos, receive equipment and instructions and then get to work. Any questions?”

  A short dotted line between the forest and the foothills indicated where my future work lay.

  “Where can I find Signa-uh-fier...Lotos?”

  “He’s in the third bulb-tent downstream from here.”

  Signifier Lotos turned out to be a sickly-gaunt biota of a reddish hue, which I couldn’t help but associate with the color of spoiled meat. Having heard my explanation, he quietly issued me two linen bags filled with black seeds, large and small, a piece of parchment with something that reminded me of a rat maze charted on it, made a mark in his giant book and dismissed me with a gesture.

  Quest complete: Help the Renegades.

  +50 Reputation with the Renegades of the Hidden Forest. Current status: Friendship.

  Experience earned: +100 XP.

  Items acquired: Shadow Seeds.

  Quest available: Help the Renegades. Step 2.

  Description: Sow the Shadow Seeds. Quest type: Rare scenario. Reward for completion: variable reputation increase with the Renegades of the Hidden Forest, variable XP gain. Penalty for failing or refusing the quest: -500 Reputation with the Renegades of the Hidden Forest.

  Boy, I sure am lucky: First the garrulous legate and centurion, and now this dumb plant who doesn’t even deem it necessary to explain what it is they want me to do.

  “Erm...And where am I supposed to sow them?” I asked when it became clear that further instructions would not be forthcoming.

  Lotos glanced over me gloomily, sighed barely noticeably as if he was sorry to have to speak the words and replied: “Sow them based on the pattern—the locations have been marked on your map.”

  And he stuck his thumb in the direction of the exit.

  Quest updated: Help the Renegades. Step 2.

  Description: Sow the Shadow Seeds in the locations indicated on your map.

  Once I was outside of the tent of the unfriendly biota I opened the map and studied the locations to be sowed. At least there was a bit of luck there: the quest area was practically abutting the Arras. This means that the time had come to coordinate with everyone who wanted to cross it.