Somnia Online: Fragments - Chapter Seventeen (Patreon)

Traitor

Murmur remembered to release her Mass Enthrall spell despite the fact that she was scrambling to put together what seeing the enchanter master there meant. The spell managed to hold most of the bandits at bay while her thoughts ran rampant through her mind. Riasli conned deep orange right now, whereas in the village she'd been red. Murmur's thoughts raced, trying to understand what that meant. After all, she'd just been trained by this character. Did that mean the spells she'd received were all defective or bogus.

"Really though. I didn't sense you." Riasli's face scrunched up in confusion. "You've got your Shield Expansion working wonders for you. I'm impressed. So, I have to ask you something."

Murmur nodded, feeling the tension from her guild mates at her back. They didn't understand this. Not the confrontation with the caster in front of them, and not why they weren't all attacking the six frozen guard impersonators.

"What?" She tried to keep her voice even, keep the anger and worry from her voice, but she wasn't sure it was successful. Sinister took a step toward her, but Murmur gave a half shake of her head to keep her at bay. The worry that rose in her friend's eyes tugged at her heart, but it was going to be okay, because she'd make sure of it.

"Join me." Riasli smiled, her ears twitching just as her tail stilled. "Join me and break through to the vault in the ancient ruins."

"I think we'll do just fine breaking into the ancient ruins thanks." Apparently she'd have to go and train somewhere else because it was obvious the position of enchanter master at Curet had just opened up. No hitting level thirty-five before she could go somewhere else.

"Just fine? You don't know the half of it. You're still a child. There are requirements to enter it, requirements to conquer it, and dangers you don't understand. You have no idea what I've done so that I might open the door." Riasli's pretense at sanity faded with every word, leaving a wild and unkempt hunger in her eyes that leaked out like a miasma. She was infectious, and Murmur clamped the Shield Expansion tighter as Snowy growled low in his throat.

"We came to explore the ruins." Murmur tried to keep her voice steady and her words calm, but this portion of the game was throwing her for an unexpected loop.

Riasli cocked her head to one side, a madness gleaming from her eyes that reminded Murmur of when Belius had absorbed the first shard she'd found. It probably meant Riasli had a shard inside her. Which just made it more dangerous since she was so close to real. 

"You don't get to decide what you do." She twisted her fingers in intricate knots of a pattern Murmur hadn't seen before. "I'll decide for you."

A flash appeared through the air, breaking Murmur's Mesmerize with ease, which sent her scrambling to replace the Mass Enthrall, which, because of how the bandits fanned out, completely missed two of them. She leveled a glare at Riasli.

"Oops, guess I forgot to give you that spell. My bad." The bitch cackled fiercely making Murmur wish she had time to just sink a fist into her face, but violence never solved anything, right?

Murmur ignored her in favor of buffing her guild mates, debuffing the bandits, and Mesmerizing each of the four not currently engaged in combat, all the while watching Riasli gloat out of the corner of her eye. With everything taken care of, she turned her attention back to the trainer.

"What do you want?" She breathed out the words, frustration making it difficult to speak.

"Want?" Riasli seemed to genuinely consider it for a moment. "What I want is for you not to be here. Everything would go so much more smoothly without you. You were never meant to connect like this!"

Murmur gaped at her. What exactly did she mean?

"Excellent. Let's get together sometime and have tea. Must catch up later, you seem so busy now." And with a loud bang, Riasli disappeared, leaving four broken Mezmerizes in her wake.

#

Murmur managed to get off her Shift spell just in time to stun five of the six bandits. But the one with burnt orange fur resisted and headed straight toward her, his eyes gleaming maniacally. She got the distinct feeling these creatures were held under the thrall of Riasli, but couldn't quite understand how. Were there sincerely spells she'd not given Murmur?

This time she targeted him with Stupefy, freezing him in place. Nullify made the rounds again, and this time when she Mez'd him, it stuck. With Riasli not in sight, all they had to do was fight the bandits.

But it seemed they had a measure of fanaticism instilled in them. Their fighting was leagues above what they'd experienced before, and Murmur kicked herself for not being more prepared. Buffing as they fought was the single worst thing support classes could do. It drained mana like a tap turned onto full. Her kingdom for a decent mana drain.

Rash was holding her own nicely against one of the lighter, almost calico bandits. Her gloves smashed into its body, just before she melted away when her opponent attempted to hit her. Catlike reflexes were probably perfect for a monk. She twisted, and ducked, her face fierce, and her eyes blazing. Murmur really wanted to know the story behind this reaction, because Dansyn didn't seem to feel as strongly.

Devlish, Sinister, and Havoc each plied their targets with strong life draining DoTs. Devlish didn't take much damage, which left Sinister to do more harm to the mobs than usual with a constant stream of converted healing trickling back to the group. Murmur refreshed the Mez on each of the other bandits, weakening and slowing all of them she could reach. There was still something off about these fights.

Almost like their opponent's movements lacked fire or passion. Like they were just reacting and acting robotically. She worried more and more that they were under a spell. And even as she tried to cancel magic on them and remove any hostile effects, it wasn't possible, it wasn't changing anything. Then she attempted to charm them too.

This target cannot be placed under your thrall. You do not have the required stamina to do this. Maybe don't try to take on situations that are over your head next time. Seriously, you're going to make some powerful enemies.

Havoc moved over to her, concentration pinching his face as he directed his pet to use several scythe swings. But the feles were agile and adept fighters. Their armor was difficult to pierce. The few levels they had on the group didn't help either.

"What's wrong?" He asked her, genuine concern in his tone. "You've got that what the fuck expression on your face."

Murmur laughed despite herself. "I do? Well, I just don't feel this is right. Their fighting is too mechanical and not what I'd come to expect from experienced bandits. Which leads me to wonder why they're fighting."

Havoc raised an eyebrow, not stopping his casting for even a moment, as their target finally began to wear down. "They're fighting to not die? You know, like most targets do?"

Murmur shook her head, casting a shield over Snowy as she did. One hundred and fifty hit points of damage absorption wasn't much, but it helped. "No. Most targets have a reason. These guys, have no desperation at all. Not even now. Look at this target. He's just hit ten percent life. Usually at this stage they'll start to ignite any left over last ditch defensive abilities, or they're enraging and determined to take some of us down with them. But look at him."

The brown furred feles, just continued attacking. In fact, it was like he used a rotation, and stuck to it regardless of the situation. He rotated through four specific attacks and rinse and repeated them every time.

"I see what you mean." Havoc frowned. "Is there anything we can do."

Murmur shrugged, biting her lip. "No. I can't even charm them. It's like they're above my pay grade. I'm starting to feel that Riasli may have left out a couple of things from my level thirty training. Wish I'd gone back to see Dirsna."

"So we have to kill them then."

"Yeah." Murmur shook her head again. "Seems like it. I can't figure out how to free them from whatever they're under. I wonder if... I wonder if I can shield them."

She tried to extend her Shield Expansion, which was going to drain another sixty of her MA, but since it had already built up a ways, it wasn't too dire. But again, she was blocked from it.

You do not have the mastery to shield forced enemies. Please raise your Mental Affinity to enable this. Stop dilly dallying.

Murmur raised an eyebrow at the text. "So much for that idea. I'm not strong enough to do this yet. There's no other choice, they have to die."

Killing the bandits gave her little joy. Not only had she fallen into another enchanter's trap, but she wasn't near strong enough to be a real threat. Which was just fucking annoying. She was going to have to go and see Belius, because if nothing else, she knew she could strong arm him into giving her what she needed. Or at least, that was the hope. He might try and bargain for a Getashi, but she'd figure that out when she came to it.

Meanwhile, getting rid of these bandits had to be the most boring chore she'd experienced in the game so far.

#

Storm Entertainment

Somnia Online Division

Game Development Offices - Shayla Johnson's Office

Day Thirteen 

"David and I had a talk." Laria stood at the door, leaning against it, her arms crossed, and her eyes, for the first time in two weeks, were almost normal. Sure, a little haunted around the edges, but overall, not too bad.

Shayla smiled. "I'm guessing that for once you're the one who did the listening."

"Wild guess that, don't know how you came to such a conclusion." Laria smiled, and moved into the room, closing the door behind her.

"It's all good. He's going to research some different ways to help bring Wren out of it. I've no idea what he means, but he has a totally geeky doctor friend I think he may pose a couple of hypotheticals to." Laria leaned back in the chair, stretching her legs. "Plus he's set a hypothetical assignment for his students, so that should get interesting."

But Shayla frowned, unsure if that was a good idea. "He needs to make sure these are hypothetical though. Too many people know already. We can't let it get out."

"I know." And Shayla kicked herself, because Laria did know that the possibility of Wren being taken in for observation was very real, and very possible if they couldn't get her out first.

"Sorry. Just thought I'd help you by telling you things you already know far too well." Shayla leaned back and stared at the ceiling, listening to Laria choke down a laugh.

"It's all good. I seriously feel quite a bit more like myself now." Laria stood back up and crossed her arms, walking to the window and parting the blinds with a thoughtful frown on her face. "He really is always just out of your reach, isn't he?"

Shayla stood up smoothly and joined the other woman at the window. "James is hovering these days. Always just out of reach, out of hearing range, maybe." There was no reason for him to be there that she could think of. His desk was a ways down the hall. Giving him the benefit of the doubt didn't sit well with her.

"Keep an eye on him for me when you get the chance too Laria? He might not suspect that you're suspicious too." Shayla ran a hand through her hair and sighed, scrolling through her to do list in an effort to multitask.

"Sure thing, boss." Laria laughed again, causing Shayla to raise an eyebrow. "Sorry. I just have a speck of hope for the first time in a while, and I'd like the chance to feel good about that before I go and confront the AIs again and get all flustered and frustrated at them."

"Going to see the AIs again?" Shayla phrased the question and watched the way her friend's expression reacted in little to no way at all.

"David had some ideas for Rav, since he seems to be the AI most attached to Wren." Laria shrugged and leaned against the sturdy oak desk in the office. "Of course, knowing my luck Rav is becoming obsessed and trying to figure out ways to keep her in there instead of ways to get her out."

"Well then." Shayla spoke her thoughts out loud to avoid them taking a dark turn inside her head. "Shall we head on and see how the servers are doing?"

Laria's answering smile was a bit tighter this time, but she nodded and opened the door, to reveal James' raising a fist to knock, a completely surprised expression on his face.

Shayla frowned, not liking the coincidence at all. There was no such thing. "What's up James?" She knew her tone was curt, but she didn't have the time to deal with a potential spy in her office right now.

He smiled easily, his light blond hair and blue eyes attempting to lend a soothing aura to the expression, but Shayla only found it more annoying. "I was just checking if you wanted coffee, or remembered that you have a meeting at three."

"We're about to run a routine check on the servers, and we'll pick up coffee on the way." Shayla gestured to the hall in front of her as she exited her office fully and clicked the locking mechanism very deliberately so the state of her office was obvious.

"Ah, my timing is off. Next time I'll catch you in time." He nodded and half bowed as the women walked down the hall. Until they turned the corner, Shayla couldn't get the feeling of eyes boring into her back out of her head.

#

"Well." Rashlyn brushed her hands against each other as she stood up after checking the bandits for loot. "That has to have been the shittiest fight we've had so far."

"Boring as hell." Exbo muttered, sheathing his bow.

"You really think hell would be boring?" Sinister shrugged. "I'd like to think the heat would keep it interesting."

Exbo blinked at her. "I didn't mean it literally."

Sinister raised an eyebrow. "I'm not Murmur."

At least the comment lightened the mood of the group somewhat. Murmur could handle being the butt of a joke if it did that.

"They were under an enchanter's Thrall, and I couldn't break it." She still couldn't quite get passed the initial feeling of total inferiority. She didn't like that. Murmur never played a game to be second best, not even to the NPCs. But hadn't Telvar said it wasn't a game, that it was a world? It was becoming more and more apparent that he'd meant that.

Riasli wasn't the normal NPC villain, she wasn't the dastardly stereotype that could be caught and defeated. Murmur needed to check and see if she'd been robbed of any abilities by the scheming trainer.

"Mur. You hit thirty-one." Devlish pulled her out of her thoughts.

"What?" She checked, and sure enough, she'd leveled up. Not that it was unexpected, just that she thought she'd have noticed a ding in the boredom that had been this last fight. Maybe she'd zoned out more than she realized. "Oh. Well. At least we gained something from that fight."

"You gained. Remember? You gained." Havoc crossed his arms. "We've all died a tad more."

"Speaking of dying, do you have coffins now?" Murmur grinned at him.

"Why yes, yes I do. I got them at twenty-nine but I have to buy or craft the fuckers and carry some on me." Havoc rummaged in his inventory. "I only have five so make sure none of you die in difficult spots too much."

"Anyone else get anything interesting?" Murmur scanned everyone, knowing they would have and being totally aware that she'd have yet another fifty or so skills to categorize. Her head was starting to feel a bit full.

"Combat Res." Sinister shrugged. "It has some odd restrictions on it, so I'm unsure exactly how useful it'll be, and has a long ass recast on it. We'll see."

"Combat Res?" Murmur smiled. "Don't suppose it gives any experience return?"

"Nope. Not yet. My new normal res does. A whopping 25% returned." Sinister rolled her eyes. "Not planning on using it on you though. Don't get any ideas."

They'd stood still long enough. Murmur looked down at the corpses as they began to decay. Their rate was slower than usual, perhaps a side effect of whatever spell they'd been held under. Maybe they wouldn't respawn, which would be sad. But if they did respawn she wished she could locate them and figure out just what had been done to them.

"Merlin, Exbo, Jinna? Can you scout around and check out the ruins. I have no idea what sort of ruins they are, but we need info and you guys have that stealthy thing you do." She turned around, squinting at the light through the trees. "Take half an hour or so? Unless you run into trouble, then call for us, but we need to know how long it's going to take to get through any gutter perimeter monsters. We can't go into the dungeon the same way we did with Hightower. We were so sleep deprived we made some really stupid mistakes."

Sin frowned as she sidled over, placing a gentle hand on Murmur's shoulder. "Are you ok?"

Murmur shook her head as she watched the rangers and rogue move out into the deeper part of the jungle. Something was nagging at the back of her mind that she couldn't quite place. "No. I'm not. It's taken us almost a full in-game day to get here. Which means by the time you all sleep again, we're going to have almost a full real day in between levels. That's far too much time for people to catch up to us."

"Exodus is pretty far behind us, Mur." Sin added quietly. "What's really wrong?"

Murmur weighed her words, looking at her oldest friend and decided to be completely blunt. "I get the distinct feeling Riasli has gone off script. This doesn't feel like the usual organic quest lines we trigger. So now I have to wonder, if she went off script, just who or what is controlling her?"

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