Somnia Online: Fragments - Chapter Eighteen (Patreon)

Our Roots

Somnia Online

Fable's Castle - Mikrum Isle - Himmel Lake

Eighteen Days Post Launch

Telvar looked up from the workbench he was standing next to while helping Neva infuse another set of armor for Murmur. It appeared his favorite enchanter had a sixth sense about her, as she materialzed on the home port with the snowy wolf by her side.

"Murmur." He said with genuine fondness as he strode out from the workshop. "You look... consternated. What's wrong?"

She eyed him appraisingly, as if she wasn't sure how much she could trust him. It was a little disappointing, but Telvar supposed it was to be expected.

"How much do you know about Riasli?" She stood with one hand on her hip, while the other gripped her staff tightly. If he hadn't known it was impossible, he would have said the dragons around the staff's gem were writhing.

"Riasli... she's an enchanter NPC over in Curet." He frowned at her as he tried to locate the NPC, but for some reason the system wasn't allowing him to find her. "Why?"

"Just an NPC, not an enchanter trainer?" Murmur's gaze was full of an unusual intensity and Telvar hesitated, till scanning for the NPC.

He finally spied her in the jungles of Curet, heavily warded and shielded with any manner of psionic and enchanter means. She was difficult to get a hold on, so much that he frowned with the effort. "That's very odd. She was just an enchanter NPC for the trainer hall in... Oh."

He cringed. It seemed the actual enchanter trainer from Curet had met an unfortunate accident in the back room of the guild hall. Along with about three other NPCs. The latter three were in the process of decaying at the normal rate, but Pushkin was not. She was held in a type of stasis that slowly ate away at her hit points, something that Telvar knew he hadn't introduced to the game, and was fairly certain no one else had. At least not either of his AI siblings.

"What's happened?" He asked Murmur forthright as usual. It seemed to work best with her. And he didn't need to give her all the information yet.

Murmur frowned. "You need to get your NPCs under control. She posed as a trainer, gave me a few choices of abilities and spells and the next time I saw her she was a hostile NPC, with a group of guards under her Thrall, who were fighting mechanically sort of like pre-programmed  robots, and were damned hard to kill. They had been impersonating some of the L'Tigri and had no emotions whatsoever. I couldn't sense jack shit from them. It was really bloody weird."

She sounded rattled, something that Murmur rarely let herself be. Telvar had to fight down his concern for her and make sure he was checking all viable avenues about this NPC. "Did she give you the scribing ability?"

"The what now?" Murmur crossed her arms, glaring at him. "Nothing of the sort. She gave me the choices for my Mental Affinity upgrades. I chose Forcefield Push and Phantom."

"Those are the only choices you could make?" Telvar's tone was suddenly stern as he ran through a heap of calculations in his head. "You should have had one more choice. It may be that she didn't get that choice herself. You'll need to go and see a trainer, I sadly can't give them to you."

"Can't or won't?" At least now she half smiled at him.

"Can't if I don't want the others to jump on me and try and take away any other powers I have. We divided them up before the game launched and we each have our areas of expertise. I am not a trainer, so I cannot help you with that." Telvar inclined his head in apology. "Sorry, I wish I could, but it's better that you go and see my brother."

"Brother?" Murmur cocked her head to one side with a sigh. "There's nothing even remotely like a resemblance between you. I'd best be going. Just wanted to let you know about Riasli."

She tapped her Tiachi on the head, summoning her mount, and hovered away just as Neva called out to her: "Don't forget to come back and get your armor upgrade!"

Telvar chuckled and watched the annoyance on the little Luna's face.

"She never thinks about herself ever!" The girl stomped her foot, as if trying to fight off the worry in her eyes and turned to glare at Telvar. "Next time, remind her, the better her armor is, the more protected she'll be."

And then she stomped off back to her workbench and continued her work.

Telvar watched as Murmur grew smaller so fast in the distance, and turned back to watch Neva. The thing was, he didn't think the armor was what would protect Murmur. Whatever else there was in Somnia, elements attacked the mind, and her real mind was stuck here for now. They'd done the only thing they could to protect her -- they'd given her the enchanter class.

And now he was no longer sure that'd be enough.

#

The Stellaein enchanter guild hadn't changed in the week or so since Murmur had last stepped foot in it. There were still a healthy number of low level enchanters, even if the room wasn't crowded. Elvita's face lit up with a huge smile, so wide it bared her teeth when she saw Murmur enter the building.

"Murmur! It's been a while. You've grown." She looked Murmur up and down, her gaze appraising. "Yes, you've definitely grown."

Murmur knew her shields were tight, but clenched them a little more anyway. Considering it was here she'd first noticed that some of the enchanter NPCs might have a little too much influence over things, even with Elvita seemingly excited to see her, she wasn't about to take a chance.

"Elvita. Care for me to break your bank again?" She winked at the locus, happy to see her regardless of anything else.

"You're out of luck, with all the newbies running around here, I don't have enough money to spend on you. Your stuff is expensive." She winked back at Murmur and waved to the door. "I'm sure Belius will be happy to see you. He's not got many who grow as fast as you."

Not many meant there were some more enchanters out there making leaps and bounds. Which was good to know. She should probably dive into that damned chat and see if any of them were any good, or needed a new home. The guild was going to need more than one enchanter at this rate, and the game didn't seem to worry about allocating classes for numeric balance. "Thanks Elvita. I'll see you after I talk to Bel."

The lines to see trainers weren't long anymore, probably because the game was almost two weeks old, and they'd begun to even out while leveling. She hesitated before knocking on the door, not entirely sure how he'd react. She hadn't seen him since he'd stepped in and given her a figurative smack in the face to break up her panic attack during the war. That was over ten levels ago.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door, and watched it swing open without any sign of anyone opening it. The nostalgia of the action made her smile. It felt like an age in the game world since she'd last been here.

"Ah, Murmur." Belius smiled kindly, eerily mirroring the first time she met him. He seemed sweet and old, but she knew now he wasn't quite like that. "It's good to see you again."

Even though she was sure that in some way he was being completely truthful at that moment, Belius was just a whole mess of contradiction, and even though it was his fault that Jirald had painted a target on her back now, she still couldn't quite get rid of the fondness she'd once had for the enchanter.

Still, she couldn't bring herself to agree that it was good to see him again. "I've missed this place."

His eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. "Well then, come and have a seat."

Somehow the tension in the room was so thick she couldn't have cut it with a knife. Almost suffocating, the atmosphere pressed down on her, and she instinctively pushed back, noticing Belius' eyes open wide for an instant. But it was enough. The AI was playing with her, and Murmur didn't like that shit.

"Look. Unless you're the one who set Riasli on this path of destruction, I'm not upset with you for withholding spells from me. I don't know everyone's spell lines, but I know enough that she used some pretty tricky shit on some NPCs out there that neither I, nor any of my friends could undo. So, just help me make sure my MA skills are rounded out, please?" She tried so hard not to sound demanding, but she was actually feeling tired, and wanted a nap before the others got back.

Belius' vision clouded over for a moment, and made her wonder who he was communicating with. "My apologies. That was neither myself nor anyone I know."

The frown lifted his lips down and furrowed his brow so much, it took on a slightly alien horror movie appearance, and Murmur shuddered.

"Sorry." He said, blinking rapidly. "Riasli seems to be acting on her own. I'll see if I can look into it."

Gee thanks, teetered on the tip of her tongue just for a moment, but Murmur swallowed it. "Great. Now, are you still able to see the spells and abilities I have?"

Belius nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, that damned frown was back. "You're missing one of your kinetic abilities -- the options at any rate."

He didn't sound as sure as she'd expected, and a kinetic ability wasn't one she'd considered. "So the abilities she used, are they higher level enchanter?"

Belius shook his head. "In a way. I believe they're from the Sinuous line as you level up."

"Then what did she mean when she told me she forgot to teach me one?" Perplexed, Murmur barely realized she was thinking out loud. "Sorry. I'm just a little..."

"Upset that you're not all powerful?" Belius chided gently.

"I'm not all powerful anyway." She snapped, and paused herself to steady her breathing. "But I do wish I could do more. I don't like feeling that vulnerable."

The enchanter master rolled his shoulders, much like a fluid octopus shrug, and gave her a half smile, as if he didn't quite know what to say, or else, how much he could say. "Riasli is a problem, but a problem I'm certain you can solve. Right now, you're the only guild who has a key, let alone who can tackle a dungeon for a key. Make use of that. Because others are pushing right behind."

Enigmatic and cryptic shit yet again. "What's the MA I'm missing thanks?"

Beius chuckled. "Always straight to the point. Some divergence might be good for you Murmur." He waved a hand with a flourish and pulled a scroll out of his robes.

"This is a basic kinetic ability. It reinforces your thought shielding, thought sensing, and thought projection, lending it tangibility if required. Be cautious with this. While it will allow you to punch through someone's own shielding, you could damage their minds if you hit too hard. You can also reinforce your own shielding, and turn your thoughts into momentary solidity -- as you level it up." His gaze didn't waver from hers, and for a few seconds, Murmur felt like she was falling, until he handed her the scroll and gave her some grounding.

She unrolled it immediately, and frowned at what she read.

Base Kinetic Structure.

In order to take advantage of your ability to turn thought into weapons, you must reinforce the skills that ground all of your telepathic and telekinetic abilities.

Effect: This ability allows you to strengthen the base of all three arms of psionics. Thought shielding will eventually physically repel an attack. Thought sensing can break through other's shields to reveal what is hidden. Thought projection can lend a solidity to the induced hallucinations managed once skill level two hundred and fifty is passed.

Cost: This is a passive skill, and will begin working to bolster your abilities as soon as you absorb it.

Caution: Do not presume to know how this passive ability works. You will need to test this out. The difference for these abilities between telepathic and telekinesis is very fine. What this ability does is allow your kinetic field to grow at the same rate as your telepathy. What it does not do is make you infallible. Always remember that if you're not sure, you can do more damage than you think. Not only to yourself, but to those you target.

Murmur blinked at it, very confused. It seemed like she should have had the underlying structure for her kinetic abilities a long time ago. "How late am I getting this?"

Belius smiled, an easy expression that made her feel slightly better. "Not at all. MA four is when it applies. Before that you don't have access to true kinetic abilities, and so won't understand most of it. You'll need to practice with this a lot, but with a kinetic base to your skills, subtle though it is, your kinetic abilities will gain power. Otherwise using those abilities could be tantamount to suicide. Without the kinetic grounding this ability gives you, you could have blown yourself, and all your friends up."

Murmur suddenly felt queasy. Riasli hadn't given this to her. On purpose. Which was probably what she meant by her cheeky oops comment. "So..."

"Yes. She deliberately withheld this from you. I for one, would love to know why." He seemed eager to know. Maybe he'd help Telvar figure shit out, but all that Murmur knew right then, was that Riasli had almost seriously fucked her over, and worse, potentially hurt her friends.  Now she hated her even more.

"Murmur." Belius broke her out of her reverie and she had to jump to cancel her cast of home.

"Yes?"

"Don't rush things. Even with your new active and passive abilities, you need to grow. All of your skills need to be used in order for them to be easier to cast, easier to activate. Just because you get amazing things, doesn't mean you're immediately going to be a master of them all." His tone was grave and his expression somber.

Murmur didn't like the way the warning rang through those words. She'd been getting far too cocky lately. Time to dial it back.

#

Storm Entertainment

Somnia Online Division

Game Development Offices Artificial Intelligence Server Room

Day Thirteen

"Whose NPC is Riasli?" Sui spoke before Rav could say anything.

"I was going to ask the same question." Oddly enough, Rav felt like his thunder had been stolen. Wren probably visited Sui straight after she visited the island, which was why it had taken the other so long to answer the summons for a meeting.

"I'd love to know what you're all talking about." Thra drawled the words out, sheer boredom working through her words. "Something to do with Murmur again, I take it?"

"So she's not yours either?" Suddenly Rav didn't feel so strong anymore. They had a rogue NPC? How had that happened?

"She's in Curet. Of course she has to be Thra's. Not to mention she's an interfering bitch who could have blown Wren up." Sui sounded heated, leading Rav to believe that somewhere in there, he actually cared about the girl. In some weird and twisted, further his agenda sort of way.

Thra raised a disinterested eyebrow. "No. Arita was mine, and I've apologized for that indiscretion. But Riasli was not mine at all. I don't even recall her being a blip on the radar. She's not an enchanter master, she's not even a trainer. She's just one of the NPCs players need to talk to in that Queen quest thing option for gaining access to the ruins."

Rav pulled up data and subroutines, trying to calculate how Riasli breaking her role could have happened. Of course he knew characters acted on their own due to interactions all the time in Somnia. They'd given them the ability to extrapolate and act on their own for a reason, but it should have been within set parameters. But from what he could see, there was no inciting event. Nothing Murmur had said to her had triggered any of this.

"Murmur didn't activate this in any way. Riasli had already rendered the trainers immobile. And so she didn't have to worry about the actual master respawning, she placed her in a type of stasis I didn't even know we had." Rav's words trailed away, and he looked at his brethren with an air of hopelessness. Somethings apparently, just weren't quantifiable through his algorithms. It made him feel surprisingly vulnerable.

"Look." Thra spoke out, irritation obvious in the timber of her voice. "Riasli isn't mine. The Queen is. If Riasli is out of line like this, I'll look into it since I'll have to activate and assign a different NPC to be a part of the quest if a player's choices trigger it. If not, it'll be broken. Luckily, the only guild with any possibility of being close to doing that quest at this point in time, is Fable. So at least it's not out of hand."

"Not out of hand?" Sui's bad mood rumbled through his voice. "You realize the bitch didn't give Wren her kinetic grounding passive, right?"

Both Rav and Thra stared at him. "But that..."

"Exactly. Not only could that have killed her, but if she activated one of her skills to too great a degree, she could have blown the whole fucking game apart. Now that, is a problem. And we need to fix it sooner than later."

<<<<>>>>