Somnia Online: Fragments - Chapter Three (Patreon)

Grindstone

Somnia Online location: Ululate

Dustmoon Tavern: meeting room two

End of day ten

Masha stood next to the doorway, leaning against the wall with one leg up, bent at the knee. His arms were crossed and he chewed on a stalk of grass as he watched the events unfold in the meeting room. Ishwa probably thought the cleric took up the stance next to the door so he could make sure only those people they wanted entered the room, and Masha was perfectly content to let him continue to think that way.

Realistically, Masha liked his spot near the door so he could walk out if things got boring, or else a little too violent for his liking. As much as he valued his friendship with the gnome, lately, he'd been wondering if it might not just be better to sever ties and go join another guild, say Fable. It'd be nice not to have to keep cleaning up after messes people like Jirald made.

Speak of the devil.

Jirald sauntered into the room, his health still regenerating slowly after god knows what it was he'd just had a run in with. His rogue leathers were tattered in a few spots, especially around the mid-left of his body, where it appeared large rat claws had ripped through the fabric, rending the flesh below that was now bright red fresh scar and healing slowly.

Resisting the urge to heal the rogue, Masha kept his arms crossed. After all, maybe the kid would learn through pain for once. Not that Jirald was actually a kid. As far as Masha had been able to tell, Jirald was close to his twenties, if not already in them. But his volatile temperament often made him seem far younger. At any rate, a lot of the players were younger than Masha.

"Excellent." Ishwa's voice projected over the tightly squeezed gathering. There were about thirty people at the meeting, standing room only. Masha scowled, irritated at people being so close to him and his path of retreat. But he listened to his friend, directing the scowl at anyone else who eyed the door instead.

"We're moving our guild base." Ishwa announced, his tone as firm as steel was met with only a few grumbles. "We've managed to amass enough coin to purchase a fantastic bit of land over on the Firtulai continent. It's perfect for defending our land and collecting a following."

Whispers spread throughout the room. Most of them agreeable. Only Jirald remained unmoved, or perhaps unmovable. His eyes twitched slightly, the only indication he wasn't a statue. Masha focused on the rogue whose shoulders carried strict tension that was building and not dissipating.

"We'll be building to the south-west of the gnome city, Brevint. Yeah, yeah, I know." He held up his hands as mumbles began circling the room. "I know it's close to my home city, but what did you expect?"

His large blue gnome eyes twinkled just a tad, enough to cause a small ripple of laughter to spread throughout the room. From everyone except Jirald that is. Masha frowned. He could almost see visible lines of steam rising up from Jirald's head, like they were in some old cartoon.

With a sigh, he pushed himself away from the wall and walked over stand next to the rogue, elbowing a couple of people out of the way in the process.

"We'll venture to Pelagu and catch the boat across to Elgors. From there we take the wagons out to Brevint. I want everyone there within the next ten in-game hours, and we'll go over our leveling strategies from there. It's time to knuckle down and take this seriously." For such a small being, Ishwa was full of presence, and his voice resonated throughout the room warning everyone that he was serious.

"You know he's right, don't you?" Masha spoke close to Jirald's ear, perfectly aware that the younger man knew he was standing there.

"So?" Jirald's tension levels remained the same.

"So, stop acting like you're five, and behave like you're an adult. Get your head out of your ass, and out of foiling Murmur's plans and work on getting stronger so you have a hope in hell." Masha shoved his hands in his pockets as the rest of the room began to file out past them. "And for the love of all things in this game, stop the sulking. You're walking around like a dark thundercloud over a piece of loot from a different game and all because a girl played you into the ground. Deal with it, Jirald. Come up with a way to play better, and just deal with it."

Jirald's eyes grew bigger, like shocked galaxies. "Sure. I'm figuring that shit out."

"You're a good kid, and I know you hate being called kid, so start acting like an adult, and we'll all treat you like one." With that, Masha turned on his heel and headed to talk to Ishwa. He only hoped that Jirald actually took his words to heart for once.

#

Murmur hit twenty-seven without any fanfare whatsoever, and cast weaken for about the eighty-seventh time. She wished beyond anything that she could just set her character to do things automatically while she tried to scour the internet for things of more interest. One more level for her, and about one and a half for the rest of the group.

"I hate hate hate hate undead dwarves." She muttered under her breath, again.

"We know!" her group chorused like a dissonant song that echoed off the stone walls surrounding them.

"We're never going to hit twenty-eight you know." Sinister grumbled as she cast yet another blood tap.

If Mur had lost count of the amount of times she'd weakened an enemy, Sinister had to be going out of her mind healing in the same monotonous manner. If they ever hit level twenty-eight and got to venture into the castle, she knew killing that damned boss inside was going to be a breath of cold wintry air.

"This should be called monotony online." Beastial growled out as his cat, yet again, went for an undead Achilles heel.

"If something suddenly pushes up from under the ground and devours us all," Sinister drawled out in a bored tone. "I'm probably going to hug you for waking me up."

Devlish laughed and grunted as he shield bashed yet another grey dwarf. "Sadly right now I'd like something with super powers to jump out of the ground and scare us. Or maybe over the wall. Or perhaps even out of a window."

Merlin stopped firing his bow and glanced at his fingers with a frown. "You know, I think I actually have calluses on my finger tips. Isn't that weirdly specific?"

Havoc shrugged, and even his tone was filled with boredom. "It's also something you'd probably only notice when you're bored shitless. Me on the other hand, I'm contemplating just how I'm able to do so much more damage to undead when it seems logical that everyone should be able to. Seriously though. Why would it be more difficult for anyone? After all, they're already dead, right? They're not regenerating or anything."

Merlin frowned, loosing another arrow. "Technically sure, by normal means. But in order to be animated dead, don't they have to be powered by something, like dark magic?"

"True." Havoc bit his lip, sending his specter pet in again, this time equipped with a scythe. "There's got to be some level of dark magic there. I can't raise a full bodied zombie or undead like this. I can only pull the skeletons out of already existing bodies."

He stood for a moment with a frown on his face. "That sounded wrong. Out of already dead bodies."

"Had me worried there for a moment." Devlish grinned as he got through a dwarf's defenses and finally cleaved it almost clean in two at the juncture of the neck and shoulder. He leaned on his axe and smiled, panting. "You know, this whole having to aim properly and shit is damned tiring. I get realistic, but I swear this is actually a work out. Maybe after a few more weeks of this, I'll be ripped?"

Beastial cracked up. "Ripped? You?"

"Shut up." Devlish punched him in the arm. "You're one to talk."

"Yeah, but I'm not dreaming like some people." This time Beast bounced out the way before Devlish could connect with a not so light punch. "Seriously though. It's a work out and a half. The amount of damage the enemies mitigate when I don't get the perfect hit in? Very frustrating. But on the bright side..."

"There's a bright side?" Havoc interrupted drolly.

"As I was saying." Beastial scowled. "On the bright side, at least it treats us the same. The enemy has to hit us in exactly the right spot to be able to do critical damage."

"Unless you wear cloth." Sinister offered helpfully.

"Yeah." Beastial looked away. "I don't have that problem though."

Murmur watched her friends and their theories, their banter and their interactions. She didn't feel like they were trying to shelter her anymore, and so they weren't making stupid mistakes or being inadvertent dicks. "We need to move past this rock so we can get bogged down with tedium again guys."

Sinister chuckled. "Yes. By golly! We need to go and be absolutely bored, in ennui, in the doldrums!"

Havov raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't think that last word means what you think it means."

The blood mage blinked. "Was I at least close?"

"Sort of?" Havoc ended up shaking his head. "Almost. Within a similar vicinity."

"I vote we kill shit." Devlish interrupted their thesaurus lesson. "Starting with the three dwarves Merlin has run off to pull over to us. Concentrate or we're going to die and have to start this all over again."

The last got their attention and everyone focused on the incoming undead.

#

Murmur groaned. Clearing the entire left side around the humungous castle that Hightower was, had taken it all out of her. They'd been here for at least fourteen in-game hours which meant seven real world ones. She'd only just hit twenty-eight herself, and knew the others weren't far behind her. If only they could just get through the last twenty or so small patrols who worked themselves in and out of what appeared to be a maze of rocks and small collapsed shacks, then the rest of them would be twenty-eight as well and they could all go into the castle. Snowy sat at her feet on occasion looking back up at her as if to ask why the hell they were still killing these really annoying enemies. He was obviously a bit disgruntled by the whole situation. She couldn't blame him.

Casting her debuffs, buffs, and damage spells had become second nature, to such an extent that she reacted now instead of consciously doing it. Even right down to no longer needing to knot her fingers together. Summoning the ability with just a thought took far less time and felt more powerful, more immediate.

She kept a close eye on both Sinister and Havoc, wanting to know if they had the same progression, but both of them required the use of their spell fingers still. Maybe her mind was more in tune with the system, given how it was intertwined with it. She just didn't know.

Last time they'd decided not to clear all around the castle before heading in. She was grateful to Telvar for letting them know how the castle worked. It gave her hope they could clear this, and then head back to Hazenthorne at some stage for a good dose of revenge on that power leeching queen bitch.

Murmur sighed.

"Don't sigh, Mur. It's catching." Even Sin's tone wasn't fully into her attempt at sarcasm. It fell flat.

"You know we can't even take a break after you all hit your level, right? We need to go inside as a guild and just go for it." Murmur's voice took on a commanding tone. "Otherwise by the time you wake back up, we're going to have respawns. All the damned undead dwarves we don't want to kill again.

Devlish actually shuddered, visibly as his strong lacerta arms swung that axe, partially blocked by his opponents sword. "I'm not doing this next time. We have to make this count. Oh, how we have to make this count."

"Good thing we got some sleep then." Havoc remarked, side-eyeing Sinister.

"What?" the blood mage protested. "I got some sleep. I was just too excited about this mindless grinding and had to get back in."

Murmur rolled her eyes. She knew full well Sin had come back to keep Mur company. Everyone knew it, but no one said anything, which was probably for the best. She glanced around and noticed the one line of the maze they hadn't actually worked through yet. It was closest to the actual castle, backing onto it in fact. "We should move toward that long line of small patrols. If we take them one after another, we should get everyone else leveled by the time we reach the entrance."

"It looks like they're pointing us in that direction anyway." Beastial said as they moved onto the next group. "I wish these guys at least dropped something interesting along the way. Right now all we're getting is armor remnants and shitty silver swords."

"Just funnel them through to guild storage." Murmur shrugged, trying not to yawn too loudly. "At least this killing me with tedium adventure can make Neva happy."

"You realize what's going to happen, don't you?" Havoc asked, and continued without waiting for an answer. "We're goin to get in that castle, and the enemies are going to shit on us."

"Counting on it." Devlish grinned, and attacked his current target with renewed zeal. "We're going to go down in a blaze of glory."

Merlin smacked him on the shoulder. "Don't go getting ahead of ourselves there. It's going to take us a bit to get through here. Let's wait a bit before we decide to go down fighting, okay?"

Even as he spoke the words, Murmur got a sudden feeling of foreboding. She glanced up at the stocky castle and its grey stone ramparts, shadowed by the oncoming clouds. Wind whipped at the flags that were three stories up, making them seem like tiny, angry symbols of war.

Merlin signaled her, and she responded with a thought, immediately freezing the two undead dwarves they wouldn't be fighting in place in such quick succession it appeared she'd done them both at once, and yet she knew better. She'd activated the spell twice, but the higher her levels got, and the more her mental shielding increased, the faster her mind could trigger her spells, unless they had a specified cool down.

Though Shielding has increased to 122. Your rampant use of this skill has enabled you to cast with a thought. Be careful what you think of. It might just come true.

Murmur frowned at the sudden message across her system, sure that she'd initially turned them off. The timing was eerie, almost like someone had been listening to her thoughts, but could they still do that if she shielded her mind? She wasn't even sure anymore. Every time they left Telvar, she came up with about thirty more questions she should have asked.

Snowy nipped at her fingers, wuffing gently against them as she looked down as if to apologize for any pain he caused. Maybe he'd been reading her mind, after all, she'd pretty much invited him in. But he was a fake wolf... everything was fake, wasn't it?

She focused on the undead dwarves once again, determined to make it into the bloody castle this time.

#

Sinister collapsed on the ground at the top of the stone steps in front of the castle, which swept up majestically, wide at the bottom and narrowing at the top, with actual stone gargoyles perched on the small pillars at the beginning and end of it. The grey almost blended with the clouds that were still rolling in, like a steady thunderstorm about to descend on them.

Murmur didn't think she liked the metaphor the weather seemed to be trying to convey.

"You sure we can't just camp out here and go and take a nap?" Merlin asked as he sat down and rested against the bannister. "Seriously, I'm actually pooped over here."

Murmur watched him for a moment, the tension tangible as they waited for the other group to get there. She knew they were all waiting for her answer, and she didn't really want to give one. "If you want to take a nap, that's ok. But it'd have to be a power nap. We know these will respawn within twenty-four game hours, so twelve real ones. And we can't risk that it might take less than that. We weren't here, and we don't know. So if anything, maybe a 90 minute nap?"

Even saying it felt wrong. Murmur could feel the tug on her mind to enter the castle, to find its secrets, and to finally have an amazing boss fight that she was quite certain lay within. And yet, her friends needed sleep. What was she supposed to say?

"But what about you, Mur? Are you and Snowy just going to stay here and hope for the best?" Devlish moved to go to her, but stopped, the hesitance obvious in his uneasy tone.

"I might..." Murmur paused and took a deep breath. "I might actually go home, in a way."

Sin brightened up immediately and stood up as if life had suddenly reentered her body. "Seriously? Your mom would be so happy!"

Murmur balked at the thought. She had no clue if she was ready to speak to her mom again. Plus, since she wasn't truly logging out, she'd have to be careful of her temper, just in case her abilities snuck through the cracks again. "Maybe. I don't know yet. Snow and I could just go find a few single pull somethings and give it a go."

But her voice didn't even sound convinced to her.

"What's all this about pulling small things?" Rash wiggled her eyebrows as she bounded up the steps. If the monk was tired, she definitely wasn't showing it to anyone.

Havoc scowled at her, but answered her question anyway. "We're debating logging out and having a nap, but we talked for too long and now you guys are here, so I guess we should get going."

Rashlyn blinked. "You've all got to be crazy. There's no way we're not going in there now, right? I mean, I've been conserving all my energy just for this."

Which sort of explained how she still had so much. Murmur didn't feel tired either way. While the others argued she switched off for a bit and examined her mental acuity abilities.

Thought Sensing (138)

Thought Shielding (142)

Thought Projection (122)

Somehow projection kept going up, even though she hadn't been using it intentionally much at all. Although, she glanced at Snowy, maybe it had to do with that Charming cooperation she constantly used on him. Even so, thoughts were becoming more open to her, and now reflected some form of emotion back at her, toward her. She wasn't certain it was a good thing.

Perplexed, she looked up at everyone and cleared her throat. She'd had it with the indecisiveness. "Nap or fight -- pick now."

Beastial grinned. "Fight."

"Excellent." Murmur clapped her hands and reflexively went through the motions to buff the entire raid. The other casters did the same, while the melee and ranged used their self buffs that they couldn't share with anyone. Once done with their pre-fight ritual, Murmur motioned to Devlish, who sighed.

But even he seemed to have regained some of his energy as he approached the huge iron bound wooden doors in front of them. He grabbed a hold of the iron ring set into it, and pulled. Murmur could see his huge lacerta muscles bulging so much they showed veins. And then, with a small whoosh of air, the door opened, swinging silently back on its hinges to reveal a pitch black entryway with nothing but silence to greet them.

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