Somnia Online: Fragments - Chapter Fifteen (Patreon)

Curet

Storm Entertainment

Somnia Online Division

Game Development Offices - Shayla Johnson's Office

Day Twelve

Shayla grumbled at her desk, leafing through report after report was driving her insane. The thing was, James always seemed to be close at hand. Moreso than he'd been before the game launched, or in the few days after. It was either because he was genuinely worried about her, or he was trying to find something. Frankly, being who she was, Shayla believed it was the latter.

Gearing up for their fortnightly report to Mr Davenport, Shayla couldn't concentrate on her work, and it was driving her insane. With so many irons in the fire right now, her head was doing her in. The AIs were exhibiting signs of sentience, her lead developer had gone slightly rogue and whisked her daughter into a containment pod so she could keep her in a coma while playing.

The urge to laugh was great, but Shayla knew the sound would ring hysterical. It was probably better not to laugh hysterically in her office.

"Do you need anything, Shayla?"

James' voice ripped her out of her thoughts and almost sent her jumping three feet into the air. Barely managing to compose herself in time, like almost every time he unexpectedly interrupted her, she turned to face him, her smile fixed in place. "Nope. Not at all. I'll send for you if I do."

He definitely wasn't the quiet and unassuming assistant Ava had been. He didn't have all the reports ready to go and at her fingertips when she didn't even know she needed them. Worst of all, he didn't seem to understand the meaning of alone time. Or at least, he didn't in the last week or so.

Shayla frowned, swiveling toward her door to watch anyone passing by outside. The blinds were drawn, lending her some amount of privacy at least. James hadn't been this clingy in the first couple of weeks he'd assisted her. So what had changed?

Several days into launch, she'd brought some sensitive information up with Teddy. Did he have something to do with her new bestest buddy? She really hoped not, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized he probably did. The promise of promotions could do a lot to a person.

What did Teddy suspect, and how much did he know? She needed to be more careful around James until she figured out just what was up. Staying so late as he had been, wasn't a part of his job description. In fact, it wasn't part of hers either. Was he simply just staying to show he was dedicated?

Or was she just seeing ghosts around every corner now?

#

Curet was the polar opposite of Cognitia, at least insofar as the mood that pervaded the city. Giant trees rose up, their leaves spreading wide to envelope the rainforest in a natural canopy. Vines swung down from the trees and Murmur could see feles in various states of ascent. Small huts wound around trunks at different intervals, with only the vine-ropes to traverse between them.

In the center of the clearing was a huge platform that dwarfed the one they'd seen in Cognitia. It looked like it was formed on a huge lily pad, its fountain at the center gave off a joyous vibe. There were larger huts all around the perimeter, with stalls selling wares ranging closer toward the middle. Small feles ran around, some with stripes, and others solid -- like Dansyn and Rash. Their tales whipped around, steadying them as they ran and jumped, tumbled and squealed.

Then Murmur realized they'd not seen any small elves. No children had been running anywhere, everywhere and almost into her path. Not even one.

You have noticed an abnormality within the world. This might be worth further inspection.

This time the vague didn't bother Murmur so much, after all, it was right. That she hadn't noticed it while in Cognitia spoke volumes about the atmosphere in the place. Even with her shielding, it had been affecting them all.

Rash nudged her with her hip. "What do you think, Mur?"

"I like this. It's got a much more friendly vibe. Don't you think?" Murmur grinned, and glanced at the rest of the group. Everyone's expressions seemed surprised and happy, and just a small test of her sensor net let her know it was genuine and not a forced sensation.

A flash of speed stopped right in front of them, actually skidded to a halt, its feline eyes blinking at them. "Travelers! Wait..." Its eyes squinted while its tail lashed back and forth and its grey mouth pulled back slightly to reveal sharp teeth.

"Dansyn and Rashlyn!" The sound practically mewled forth from their greeter, and Rash and Dansyn smiled.

"Hey Ceshli. What have you been up to?" Rash's tone held a fond note that Murmur hadn't often heard from her. If she was right this Ceshli was an NPC, but damned if it wasn't acting like one. At least the elves had kept it mysterious and irritating enough that she didn't feel they were real.

Ceshli smiled, which was a disconcerting effect on a cat. While Murmur had gotten used to it on her friends, it seemed that didn't translate to foreign kitties. Their ears folded back slightly and their face took on a brief look as if it had been scratched behind the ears. The wide smile was very Cheshire Cat like in appearance, just no disappearing face.

"People will be so glad to see you!" Ceshli clapped their hands together, their claws extending out. Murmur frowned. She'd not noticed her friends doing that at all. Conning the friendly greeter, she realized they were still red to her. Must be a quest NPC, beginner anyway.

"Ceshli, these are our friends." Rash smiled as she gestured to the group of them. "We wanted to bind here and show them where we grew up."

It was all Murmur could do not to laugh. She'd never seen Rash role-play before, wasn't even sure that was quite what this was, but at any rate, it was endearing.

"Fantastic! Are you thinking to go out into the jungle? You've grown fast. I think you should be able to weather the storms out there. Frankly," And Ceshli stepped closer, their whisper loud enough to hear even in the conspirital tones. "Just between us, there's something not right out there. At night, if you go to the edges of Curet, you can hear noises. Non jungle like screams. At least not what we're used to around here."

"How long has this been going on?" Murmur asked, trying to fish out whether this was a quest or not. The right questions, the right actions. All of it triggered things. Which meant taking even innocent seeming comments or information as a prompt for something bigger.

"About a week now. Very odd actually. Has the kids actually listening to us when we tell them it's bedtime." Ceshli grinned again in that cat like way, and then gestured to them. "Anyway, come, come with me. You must need supplies, and I'm sure you'll want to bind at the statue. Makes the most sense in the long run."

You have noticed that the Feles are worried about the cause of noises in the jungle between Curet and Cognitia. It even scares the kittens at night. Surely you love kittens. Everyone loves kittens. Find out what's scaring them and what you can do about it.

That was an oddly specific task for once. At least it was along the lines that Murmur was already considering pursuing. Fountains, quests, odd occurrences. Sometimes she just wished she could mindlessly grind away until she hit fifty. But then again, where would the fun in that be. Glancing at the rest of the raid, she frowned. Everyone had look of consternation on their faces, which probably meant they'd all got the prompt. In a way that was good, because this solo questing shit was getting annoying.

As they walked through the city, Murmur noticed a slew of other players. All green to her. As usual, it seemed the cat race was getting deserved attention. Most of the players seemed to be around level five to ten, with some teens loitering about.

Dansyn spoke right next to her, and Murmur almost jumped.

"They have some quests here where higher levels need to help younger levels. There weren't any players to help us, so NPCs took that job. Ceshli helped us. When we've leveled, we'll come back and do the same. This village," he gestured around them, a soft expression on his face. "Seems so real some of the time. Caring, helpful, and sort of jolly. If you ever need to come and forget worries for a while, just come and watch the children play. Or else, just come and play hide and seek with them. You might be surprised."

"Hide and seek with sneaky cats, huh?" Murmur found her own mood softening as she glanced out over the city that was bustling with life. Ululate had its fair share of players mixed with NPCs, as did Frangit and the big cities. Yet she hadn't seen many players hanging around Verendus. Perhaps it was because everyone who'd come that far was intent on leveling.

Which left her to wonder where the hell Exodus was now. They didn't appear to be anywhere near her, which she was actually grateful for.

"Mur?" Dansyn was trying to get her attention. "You sort of stopped in the middle of saying something, I think?"

She blinked at him and backtracked. "Oh, I just meant playing hide and seek with sneaky cats might actually be fun."

He raised an eyebrow. "Sneaky are we?"

"Yes. Soft footed and hard to detect when you creep up on people. Sneaky." She nodded emphatically, trying to catalogue the rest of her thoughts so she didn't keep running in circles.

It was a longer walk to the huge lily-pad center than she'd thought. From a distance it had appeared smaller, but in actuality it was solid if a little bouncy underfoot, and the fountain at its center captured pure feline grace. Two feles graced the structure, one at the bottom, dual wielding axes, its leg lunged forward to provide what appeared to be support for the feles above it. The second appeared to have catapulted itself off the other's knee, twisting in mid air, it drew back its bow, and arrow about to shoot out. There appeared to be no actual connection between the two statues, and no other way for the second to be secured, but even still, it hovered there, in perfect stationery motion.

Yet another piece of the puzzle, another path to a key. What will the arrow hit? Can you tell yet?

Murmur did her best not to get angry. Literally clenching her fists so her fingernails bit into her skin. "No I can't bloody well tell yet," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that Mur?" Sin leaned in front of her, her dark hair hanging over her shoulders like a waterfall, and Murmur's mood broke.

"Nothing. Just another quest pop up." She tried to belay Sin's questions by smiling at her, but the blood mage wasn't deterred.

"You seem to get a lot of quest pop ups." She stated, squaring her shoulders as she stood upright.

"Don't you get any about the fountains?" Murmur was only slightly surprised. It seemed her thoughts about things triggered quests, and she didn't for one moment doubt that Sinister had her own quests that she'd discovered without anyone else.

Sin pursed her lips, her brows furrowing in thought. "Not about the fountains themselves, just about some of the statues so far."

Maybe it was because Sin noticed the artistry in the statues more than the way they interacted with the function of the fountain. Such small and subtle differences. Murmur wanted desperately to ask Telvar how this shit all worked, but she got the feeling all she'd get would be an enigmatic smile and avoidance of the question. "Mostly the same as mine then."

"Oh!" Sin's face brightened up. "I thought I was missing out."

She winked at Murmur before moving over to the non-casters of the group and helping Mellow bind them.

Murmur watched her go, a thousand thoughts running through her head. Already having bound herself, she glanced around the huge platform. Several player manned stalls were scattered over the area, with other players and even NPCs stopping by to look at their wares. She glanced over at Beastial who nodded at her.

"Already on it, Mur. Seeking out some new crafters even as you think."

She laughed and wondered just how transparent she was. At least until she felt a spark of discomfort between her shoulder blades. She turned around to find the source of it, and noticed several lower level players watching her, but with their focus slightly out of whack.

They had to be inspecting her. After the initial moment of irritation subsided, she remembered when she'd first begun gaming, before the endgame got a hold of her. Inspecting those who were higher level had spurred her on, made her want to be better at the game and her class. Sometimes she forgot others might like that too. A bit of incentive could go very far. She also guessed her sensing net didn't differentiate between different types of observance. If something or someone was watching her, it flagged it. Maybe there was a setting of sorts she'd not yet discovered. Like, ill intentions only.

You have increased your thought sensing options. This is only available to level four of Mental Affinity and above. Please see your trainer, like yesterday. It's not the first time you've been told.

Murmur raised an eyebrow at the words scrolling her screen. "Hey Rash? Enchanter trainer?"

Rash frowned. "Oh, sure. Wait. Come with me."

Wait and come with me were complete oxymorons, but Murmur followed her friend without wisecracking. She was extremely proud of her restraint. People didn't appreciate the effort that could sometimes take.

They walked around the lily-pad, and through a few of the player stalls, toward a colorful hut attached to one of the trees on the outer ring. The colors were more in tune with nature out here in Curet, but still more colorful than just the greenery of the rest of the area.

Murmur hesitated on the doorstep, unsure to what she'd find inside. Maybe she should have gone back to Verendus and Dirsna, but she was here now. "Thanks Rash." She said, before pushing her way inside.

#

The interior of the Enchanter guild was less cheery and more soothing. Perhaps they'd chosen to make it relaxing because the outside was less austere than most other places she'd visited. Still, there was no one at the front counter, and didn't seem to be any other players in the guild at all.

Strange. Did enchanters not choose to be cats? Agility helped everyone, at least, insofar as Murmur had experienced.

Stretching her sensing net out, she detected two people. One was definitely an NPC, the other, she wasn't so sure about. "Hello?"

She called out the word, feeling slightly self-conscious for the first time since she started playing. It wasn't hard to interact with people she could see right off the bat, but there was something about walking into this den of soothing calmness that set her on edge. Probably the exact opposite of what they intended, but since nothing in the world was like this, it made her suspicious.

"Coming!" A decidedly feminine voice echoed out to her from the hall she could see in the back. But no footsteps echoed through to her, and the other presence didn't even move. Perhaps they were asleep.

"So sorry for the wait." A calico colored feles stepped out, white robes billowing around her with slits up to her knee joints. She looked gorgeous. Delicate in coloring and features, she smiled that blissful cat smile. "Oh, Murmur! I'm Riasli. You've come to visit me. I'm so sorry, my greeter isn't feeling well and is laying down. Not many feles become enchanters, so we're never too busy. I didn't think it would matter."

Her words and way had a disarming quality to them, which again sent red flags up for Murmur who slammed her shields up, tighter, just in case.

Riasli frowned. "I mean you no harm. Sorry. It's just an automatic reaction to reach out and calm people."

"You're a psionicist?" Murmur was starting to think everyone had been full of shit when they told her it wasn't a usual path. After all, how many fucking psionicists were there out there?

"Oh gosh no." Riasli laughed. "I specialize in reinforced soothing, and have a healer hybrid. Second nature to make people feel better. After all, I'm a part of the cat family. And just having a cat on your lap does wonders for one's mood, wouldn't you say?"

Murmur blinked at her. She'd never had a pet, so she just shrugged her answer out. "Sure."

"Anyway, dear. Come on through. I see you've hit the fourth rank of MA. So fast! That's very exciting." And she waved Murmur through to her back office.

"With fourth rank, you get to choose your poison so to speak." The friendly feles talked as they entered her room. "I have four options for you, and you get to choose two. One is a kinetic choice, and the other is psionic. You must choose one of each line. Not to mention getting an additional fifty MA at your disposal, is pretty damned attractive, wouldn't you say?"

Murmur just nodded, glancing at the two scrolls Riasli held. Another choice, and another expansion of her character. If she just had all the info at her fingertips so she could sit down and plan her character out. But Dirsna had told her that at some stage, even though it was costly, she could reformulate her class, was the only thing not making her have a panic attack right then and there.

Psionicist -- Kinetic abilities.

Forcefield Push
Once used wildly, you can now activate this at will. This will form a bubble of force projecting directly outwards from you in an arc, and push anything in its path out of your way.
Effects: This will cause some physical and mental damage to any opponent caught in the crosshairs. The amount of damage inflicted depends on the level and strength of will behind the push. Damage is increased by MA level and usage.
Cost: This push requires that you have MA at eighty, but will not use MA to cast as it is a kinetic ability. Can only be used once every five minutes.
Caution. This spell can create a mind backlash if over utilized. Make sure those in your path are not allies as this ability does not discriminate between friend and foe. Unless you want to make them a foe. Then they're fair game.

Earth Belt
Due to your affinity with the druidic circle, this ability allows you to pull protection wards from the earth in the form of an earth wall that must first be broken through before your team can be reached.
Effects: This produces a physical barrier raised from the earth which cannot be scaled and must be fought before the opponent can reach you. Its durability hinges on the intent and level of the caster. Durability increases due to MA level and usage.
Cost: This protection requires that MA be maintained at one hundred and twenty, but will not use MA to cast as it is a kinetic ability. This can only be used once every fifteen minutes.
Caution: This spell requires a good hitpoint pool and will pull ten life from the caster for every second it is active. Great in a pinch, be cautious about using it too often. Remember, dying isn't always a good thing.

Murmur frowned at the kinetic choices, feeling slightly underwhelmed. She'd used the forcefield push a few times now, and wasn't sure allowing it to be a more powerful skill was such a good idea around her currently volatile temper. However, Earth Belt would drain her life, and that just wasn't a good option right now. She placed her hand over Forcefield Push, absorbing it into her so that her runes lit up and danced over and under her skin. Earth Belt greyed out, no longer available to her.

"No going back now." She mumbled to herself, pretty sure that as she did Riasli chuckled under her breath. At least she amused the NPCs.

Moving on, she picked up the next scroll.

Phantom
This ability allows you to convince your enemies that you are a different target. This renders you for all intents and purposes invisible to their aggro radar.
Effect: This ability not only transfers your generated aggro, but also takes you off the targetable list for the duration. It transfers aggression to your target, giving them your appearance, and rendering you invisible to any enemy near you. This may be used on allies, but also on enemies.
Cost: this ability requires MA to be at a minimum of fifty, and drains 5 MA per second, and will adjust as MA level and usage of this ability increase. Requires Charisma to be at 150 or more. Cannot be chained, must wait at least five minutes for MA to regenerate.
Caution: Make sure you do not cause your MA to run out. Should that happen backlash will render the caster unconscious for a period of seconds not less than half the caster's level. Make sure you choose your targets wisely.

Cool. Murmur actually really liked that one. Having enemies attacking themselves by thinking that its her was kind of cool. A little dangerous if she got overzealous with its usage though. Even her Mind Bolt that she'd used a lot, was only down to costing fifteen MA per cast. That five per second was going to take a while to reduce. Adding it to Mind Wipe and she could really help herself not die a lot.

Bolster
This ability allows you to convince your allies that they are invincible. Damage taken by them is replaced by MA.
Effect: This ability convinces your allies they are invincible and makes it reality for a short duration of time.
Cost: Bolster serves as a type of shield to protect the group. For a damage absorption of ten times the casters level, it costs the caster's level in MA. Bolster must be directed by the casters intentions. Should the caster wish to absorb thirty times their level, they must have sufficient MA available, and make it clear in their instigation of the spell. Must wait for MA to regenerate. Ten minutes minimum between use.

Caution: Overspending yourself using Bolster is a dangerous option. Always err on the side of caution as you never know what other skills you will need.

Murmur frowned. Attack or protect. They were always difficult choices for her. If she could attack or distract them from attacking her, was that better or not?

"Will I get theses choices again, or will they change with every MA level?" She asked somewhat tentatively.

Riasli shrugged. "It all depends on how you play, and what the world feels would be your next logical step dependent on that."

"Hmm." Ten versus five minutes. Again time on recast was going to win out. With all her thought abilities active, her MA would regenerate easily within those five minutes. Taking a deep breath she chose Phantom and just hoped against hope that it would give her Bolster at another interval just as her runes fired up and Bolster faded from the scroll as the other absorbed into her flesh.

#

All set with provisions, mostly water and some food Murmur quickly cooked, the group was ready to head out. Mounted up, Murmur leaned into the brace as Chi chattered excitedly in her ear in words Murmur couldn't quite grasp. She made the applicable noises, hoping that the tiny creature didn't take offense at Murmur splitting her attention.

Devlish yawned.

"Keeping you awake, are we?" Havoc asked, his politeness disguised behind an evilly tinged grin.

"Somewhat." Devlish didn't take offense easily, and he just smiled back at the necro. "I'm debating how wise it is to set out without sleep right now."

Murmur glanced at her clock and frowned. He was right. Traveling in this game took way too long. They'd been on their uneventful way along the road for hours. Come to think of it, why hadn't they encountered anything along the way. Everything felt a tad too easy.

"The thing is, it'll probably take us hours to find and fight to the ruins." Sinister started before Murmur had a chance to say anything. "If we go to sleep now, we'll just want to sleep before we enter the ruins anyway. So, I vote we should go and kill shit outside of these ruins, if we can even find them, and then we should take a few hours worth of sleep, and log back in at the front entrance ready to fight shit. Because if Hightower is anything to go by, we'll be in there a while."

Veranol nodded slowly, and everyone muttered sounds of agreeance. "Thing is, I don't think this dungeon is going to be anything like the one we just did."

Murmur laughed as they headed into the jungle, the light rain she could hear on the canopy above them never even making a drop down to them. "You say that like the game doesn't keep changing shit up on us."

"Shut it, Mur." He quipped, but she could see the smile tugging at his mouth, even under his beard.

Their mounts moved slowly through the undergrowth, causing animals to skitter out from under them, race up trees and glare at the group as they went by. The makeup of this tropical jungle, sort of like a rainforest was remarkable. Staghorns clung to green tree trunks and monkey type creatures with bright coloring swung on stereotypical vines. All in all it was pleasant to watch yellow conning creatures that would give experience if they slaughtered them, having fun in the wilderness. As long as it didn't attack them, Murmur believed in live and let live.

That is of course, until the distinctive tiger warriors blocked their path with their spears raised.

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