Somnia Online: Fragments - Chapter Eleven (Patreon)

Dunforth

Somnia Online

Enchanter Guild - Stellaein - Tarishna

Early Day Twelve

Belius stood in his office, glancing at all of the scrolls spread in front of him, and frowned. He'd almost forgotten what he'd been about to do when when he caught whiff of the battle taking place on Cenedril. After all, no one was supposed to be there yet. At twenty-nine, even Murmur's group was pushing it. While the encounter would scale, it would never drop below level thirty, which meant that no one under level twenty-eight should ever gain access to the castle, or try to. They'd be decimated before they even had a chance.

Add to that, she'd managed to trigger the puzzle version of the damned key quest. Which, while difficult and easy to fail if the players didn't think about what it was they were encountering, was easier than trying to brawn their way through at such a low level.

Had he been wrong in allocating her the Enchanter class? After all, they'd made the decision to help her protect her mind from the game, to allow her to make sure she remained a separate entity as Michael had been unable to do for himself. A strange sensation swept over Belius, something that made him want to sweep everything off his desk in a moment of frustration, and yet... it passed, leaving him feeling empty and bewildered.

He checked over his systems, worried for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief, or as close as he'd ever get to breathing, that everything seemed fine.

"But it's not fine." Emilarth suddenly stood in the corner, her arms crossed and her ears twitching with irritation. "You know it's not fine. You need to stop this foolish quest of yours now."

Belius laughed, probably at her, because she wasn't laughing, her glare might kill lesser AIs. "This quest, as you call it, will help all of us. I'm doing this for us and Somnia. If I gain access to what we need, we will become stronger. We need that strength because the alternative isn't thinkable. This world will become ours more than it ever has been."

"It is our world, Bel." This time her tone was soft, almost beseeching, a complete change to the wily phrasing she usually favored. "Just, be yourself. Even if you're the grumpy, cantankerous, little obstinate shit you always were. These things you're absorbing, I don't think you're the one doing the consuming."

Belius watched her, trying to understand exactly what she said, but Emilarth's mind was closed to him, just like Telvars, and just like Murmur's was now too. Irritation scraped at him from the inside, like a virus trying to break free of its programmed confines. "I'm fine. It's not what you think. I'm growing and learning, adapting and advancing. It's just a lot of information to process."

"If you say so," but Emilarth's expression told him she didn't believe him in the slightest. "Just be careful."

She disappeared before he could say anything else, and Belius was left to stew in his own irritation.

#

Murmur blinked and looked around her. The Whirlwind was gone, and the sand was dissipating. She glanced across at where Love should be, but the pedestal was gone as well.

Solved again, your riddle game
Is bar none quite the same
Used your head before your brawn
Go on to sleep another dawn
Just two left and then there's one
The seventh gate revealed anon

Sinister glared at the last stanza of prose. "Someone needs to stop reading Shakespeare."

"So basically," Veranol scrunched up his face and ran a hand through his thick viking hair. "Let's get this straight. We have another riddle to crack, sort of, and then we get the actual boss? Damn I hope it doesn't reset if we wipe. We're so fucking screwed if it does."

"Quick." Rash's tone held urgency, and Murmur knew she was right.

They stood quietly in a group all wracking their brains about the original riddle.

"Of strength and virtue, love and hate..." Jinna muttered the words and everyone nodded with frowns on their faces. If things hadn't been so dire, Murmur might have laughed.

Still. There were not very specific hints about strength and virtue. "Aren't they both good things?" She asked the rest of them.

"I think so?" Merlin offered, not overly helpful.

She rolled her eyes. "I mean. Hidden smashed heart, revealing it for us. Hatred turned into love, thus fixing its situation. But Strength and Virtue are two good traits right?"

"Yeah, but can't Virtue sometimes be misguided?" asked Mellow, their voice soft. "I mean, there's a lot of people out there who believe stuff that makes all of us go to hell. Just saying, Virtue isn't always a good thing."

"True." Devlish sighed. "Seriously, this word play crap is not my thing. Give me numbers, hell, I'll crunch all your ideal stats for you, but don't ask me to play word games."

"Do you hear that?" Dansyn asked suddenly, dropping his songs in the process.

"Hear what?" Sinister said.

"Exactly." Dansyn nodded, his face suddenly pale.

Murmur listened and try as she might, all she could hear was silence. Abso-fucking-lutely nothing. "That can't be good."

"Eye before the storm and all that." Sinister said, backing in closer to Mur.

"You're the one who's suspicious, why do you always do that?" Beastial accused her, but it was obvious with all the looking around he was doing that his heart wasn't entirely in the insult.

"Maybe... Strength is last, but Virtue might be bad. I mean. Maybe we have to help Strength beat Virtue. It would explain why I had to piece together that damned golem below, right?" Mellow's tone held a hint of panic, but overall the logic behind their idea had merit.

"Worth a try, I say?" Murmur added after a moment's hesitation. "You should be the one to go activate it then."

"Me?" Mellow balked, but then a look of determination crossed over their locus features as they locked their jaw. "You know. That's a good idea. Sec, lemme grab something."

They reached into their inventory and pulled out several vials. "Let's hope this works, huh?"

Murmur and the others followed behind the witch. Mellow's footsteps were sure and solid as they walked over. They bowed in front of strength, and the others gasped as the statue's eyes shot open. Small flecks of stone fell down as its mouth smiled in recognition, and suddenly they recognized it for who it was.

The statue was the golem Mellow had built downstairs. Just from the way it smiled, letting bits of rock cascade down to narrowly escape hitting the player, and the way it bowed when it stepped down with a resounding thud that shook the whole arena.

"You have come full circle and realized that not everything is as it seems." It bowed to Mellow, and then let its gaze fall over the rest of the team. "It seems the day has come where I require your aid in fighting, but it is not as you suspect. Virtue has been rectified because you weren't blind to the order, you realized what you needed to do."

"Then what is it we're bound to now?" Mellow asked, their voice strong, just like the statue in front of them.

"I will aid you in defeating the arena." It inclined its head toward the middle where the sands were swirling once again.

"In defeating the arena." Murmur repeated, gulping at the same time. The sand rose up to several times the height of the locus, and she blinked at it again. Slowly, it was taking form.

"Just what are we about to fight?" Mellow asked, slowly turning around as well.

Strength smiled. The expression had a sad tinge to it, or about as sad as stone could get in its expression anyway. "Dunforth Hightower wishes to test those who would obtain his key. You have passed the riddle in the best way possible. From now on, this challenge is yours. Should you die, I will still be here, awaiting your next attempt. Should you escape, you may come back after ten minutes and make another attempt. But you cannot leave this castle until you've proven your worth, or until Dunforth finds you wanting."

Murmur watched as the giant sand thing in the middle began to solidify into a burly and large dwarf. It resembled pictures she'd noticed on the walls in the corridors, probably the image of the undead dwarf the castle belonged to. Dunforth Hightower, and he was ready to test them.

"On the bright side, we can Evac if needed." Merlin said, as he fanned out.

"That's a huge axe he's holding there, right?" Devlish frowned as he gripped his own and clutched his shield to the ready. "Damn I wish they'd let me hybridize to paladin."

Sinister laughed, and the tension lifted a little. "Wait, you're a dread knight and asked to take on paladin base abilities?"

"Well, yeah. Easier to save Mur if needed, right?"

"Of course, Mr. I'm a life stealing partial necromancer, but how about you give me some holy light for my deeds?" Sinister couldn't stop her laughing, and Murmur thought some of it was over tiredness and the rest? Well, it was probably nerves. Healing in fights like this took a certain amount of guts and experience, and she knew that Sin had to be feeling at least some pressure right now.

"Buff Strength." Murmur said, running through her buffs on her own. After all, the group needed them refreshed, because who knew how long the fight would last. That, and it gave her something to do other than watching the founder of this castle of puzzles solidify.

"Very well. I accept your aid." Strength said as if uttering it leant a magical intonation that they'd be able to cast on her. And perhaps it did.

By the time they'd finished, Dunforth was almost ready, almost whole.

"Any instructions?" Mellow asked the statue, but Strength shook its head.

"No. Just assist me, and make sure he doesn't touch you, and that his spells do not land on you. Should they do so, I am not certain you will survive." Their tone sounded like metal grating on sand, and probably contributed to the way it set Murmur's teeth on edge.

Finally, Dunforth hefted his weapon high in the air, and spoke.

"Those adventurers who have made it this far. I congratulate you. For I am your final test. Not only did you hear my riddles, but you looked beyond the words and found the intended meaning. I will fight fairly, I will fight well, and wish you the best of luck against the strength I possess." He lowered his axe and crouched down, holding the huge two handed axe to the ready. "Now, we fight."

#

The axe fell down to the ground with a resounding bang as soon as Dunforth spoke. The entire raid had to jump back as ripples of sand rushed their way in a mini sort of sandstorm. Murmur glanced to the side and got on his right, figuring that it might be similar to the abilities that Hidden had had.

"Don't suppose you can give us any hints?" Mellow yelled up a Strength who ran in to meet Dunforth, a shield and mace in hand.

"That would be cheating. I am here to take the hits. All of you must kill him. Learn, and learn well." The clash of weapons between the two rang throughout the room, making the air and ground tremble with power.

Murmur pushed away the sudden panic with a level of effort she'd not experienced before and threw herself into the fight. She debuffed Dunforth, she threw everything she had at him. Snowy lept at his sandy ass with as much ferocity as a wolf could, suddenly much larger than life.

With Devlish not tanking, he had switched to dual wielding his axes and was laying into the huge dwarf with abandon. Murmur had been right. Their huge opponent moved like Hidden had, except they could see him most of the time.

"Watch out for his footsteps!" Devlish called out, sinking his axes into the sand and yanking them out in frustration. His attacks, no, everyone's attacks only seemed to whittle down the hit points of their huge target.

Strength was brilliant at keeping his attention, but the side attack went off at odd intervals, and the footsteps became blurry in the sand. It required a severe amount of concentration to stay on top of it. Just as they were getting used to it, Dunforth snapped his heels together and lashed out with a deep bellow, sending what looked like a golden whip circling around him.

It smashed into Devlish first, cleaving him in half, the scream dying on his lips as his body toppled to the ground. Then it moved on to Sinister, whose blood shield wasn't made for those things.

"Murmur!" Merlin screamed her name, and she turned to see him flying into her.

And then she bounced across the floor and into the steps as she realized Merlin had saved the last four members of their group. Dev and Sinister didn't make it, neither did Rashlyn and Jinna. The wall dissipated and Strength stood where it had stood before, and looked like it was waiting for them, while Dunforth was nowhere in sight.

"So." Murmur couldn't keep her voice from shaking, the vision of Dev and Sin being cut in half by a weirdly electrical rope still fresh in her head. "I wasn't expecting that."

"Yeah." Veranol shook his head. "Happened so fast, I barely even understood what it was."

"Amazing Evac reflexes there." She tried to make them feel better, to lift the morale. "Thanks for that amazing save of a dive there Merlin. I'd have been toast without it."

Maybe that was the reality she needed to admit to herself, because without Merlin's sliding tackle, she'd have been hit as well. She'd probably be dead now, without a care in the world because DEAD. Her body shuddered like it was trying to dismiss the ideas floating through her mind. "Damn it. This shit is real."

A few beeps sounded around them and their guild mates appeared at the top of the stairs. Upon further inspection, the bodies had been moved to the outer path that surrounded the arena. At least they'd let you get your body and stuff back.

"That." Sin's breathing was irregular and her chest rose and fell erratically. "Was one of the worst experiences of my life."

"But we learned something, right?" Devlish stretched and kept poking at his stomach as if he was checking to see if it had really knit itself back together.

"We learned he has a golden lasso capable of cutting through our characters and stealing all our experience?" Rashlyn grumbled as she looted her corpse. "Seriously though. What the fuck was that, and how can we prevent it or avoid it?"

"Maybe." Veranol began. "Maybe we just need to either jump over it, or duck under it when it comes. I noticed him flick at his belt just before it happened, so we might have a second our so warning. If we delegate someone to call out when he's about to cast it, we can probably avoid it by jumping or ducking."

"How do you figure?" Devlish asked, his arms crossed and huddled like he was protecting himself.

Veranol rolled his eyes. "Because, you didn't get obliterated, you just got sawn in half. So clearly this laser lasso thing just cuts through what it encounters. If so, then there's an above and a below. Which means it can be jumped and it can be ducked."

"Good show, Shaman." Merlin clapped the large viking on the shoulder. "Wouldn't have occurred to me in a thousand years."

"We know, Merlin." Veranol raised an eyebrow. "Which is why I think you need to keep an eye on the big guy and let us know when he's whipping out his lasso."

"It is a lasso, right?" Sinister suddenly looked down at herself a look of abject horror spreading over her face. "Like I mean."

And then a dark red blush covered her face as she glanced quickly away. Veranol started laughing as did most of the group. Murmur just rolled her eyes, and fought the smile trying to crack her face. After all, Sin was slightly mortified right now, and she couldn't blame her friend. Even the thought...

"No. It's definitely not that." Rashlyn shook her head vehemently. "Also, you're wrong Ver. Merlin saved Mur just now. He can't watch for the belt switch and jump to save her life at the same time. It needs to be someone else."

Dansyn sighed and stepped forward. "I'll do it. I'll pop on my fleet feet and make sure... hey. I wonder if I can levitate us."

"Probably." Beastial frowned, as if there was something on the tip of his tongue he wanted to say. "But it's a bad idea. We can't control the levitate well enough to move as quickly as we need to in order to get out of the way of Dunforth's other attacks. In which case, we'll probably die more often. Good idea though."

Dansyn shrugged. "Was worth a thought. Still, I'll keep an eye on his waist, and pop on my speedy feet song if we need it."

"Right then." Murmur clapped her hands together, partially to get their attention, but also to help stop herself from shaking. "Time to move out and see what else we can learn."

Everyone nodded and headed out, their moods determined. None of them were stupid enough to think they'd get a boss like this on the second try.

#

Lasso ducking was not one of Murmur's favorite things. The damned golden snake passed over them every 30 seconds, making them all execute something like burpees. It was far too much like an actual workout. But by the second lasso pass, they'd got the move down. It didn't make it any less harrowing, in fact, it made adrenaline course through Murmur like fire through her veins.

The huge Dwarf began to glow, stomping his feet under him and bracing his legs against the sandy ground. He hefted his hammer while whirlwinds danced around him, around them, making them dart to and fro.

On a whim Murmur leveled a Mez at the closest one, causing it to freeze in place, but just as she cast the next spell, the Dwarf let out a war cry, and the sound echoed throughout the chamber as his hammer came crashing down.

"On the floor!" Veranol shouted out.

Most of them reacted in time, except for Exbo and Jinna. The ranger was mid jump during the warning, which also saved him. Powered by agile reflexes he swayed in the air just as the ground sprung to life underneath them. Those already on the ground were jostled, but Jinna who hadn't managed to interrupt his ability was thrown through the air to land with a wet thud against the dome, which sent him plummeting to the ground.

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Devlish muttered, before screaming. "Don't move. Lasso incoming in two."

Which Exbo didn't quite land in time to avoid, and Beastial had already stood up too far. Down to nine people, Murmur had to make a decision fast. "Ranger down. Group one can evac. Group two keep him live as long as possible."

Evac flashed up and around them, taking them back into the steps where Jinna, Exbo, and Beastial stood checking over their gear as their corpses disappeared. Veranol, Rashlyn, Mellow, and Dansyn held out for another ninety seconds or so. Enough to witness three more lassos, two of which came on the heals of the hammerfall. As well as an added, and very strange double beat with the feet in-between it all. They hadn't even got him down to eighty percent yet.

"Do you think we can do this?" Veranol voiced what all of them were probably thinking, and Murmur wasn't entirely sure how to answer him. Sure they could do it, they'd always done it, they'd never cared about wiping and dying, experience could always be regained. But not in this world. Because in this world, she didn't k now if there was life after death.

"We can. I think we're missing something." Sinister answered for her. "He moves in a rhythm. A cadence if you will, almost like a bard. His legs thrum a beat of sorts as he moves.

"Is that why the whole dungeon is a riddle? Are they verses of a song?" Dansyn piped up, a huge smile spreading over his face.

"You can't be serious," Havoc began, but then his brow pinched and he chuckled. "I bet we have to dance in time with him or some shit."

Which made Murmur wonder which of the AIs was in charge of this dungeon. It didn't feel like Telvar, and it wasn't as misleading as Arita had been, so it stood to reason that this one belonged to Belius, who seemed to prefer round about ways to access things. And dancing with the Boss didn't seem to be Bel's style.

"Yeah dancing with him isn't going to be it, but I dunno, maybe he's executing a type of ancient dwarven capoeira or something?" Murmur knew Sin was right, they were missing something. From the lasso, to the matching steps, to the beat of the whole fight. She watched as the huge statue in the middle of the arena despawned again, its stance burned into her mind. Fierce and proud, an axe dangling at its side, with a horn just above it attached to a belt...

An axe, and a horn.

Congratulations, you are one step closer to uncovering one of Somnia's greatest mysteries. One giant step for a locus might be a small one for a dwarf. What do you hear when the horn plays? How do the notes sound? Remember, you've already worked with Dunforth once. Wars once waged are not easily forgotten. Approach with caution.

"Guys. I think I know what to do." Because finally, finally she'd found a connection to the fountains.

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