Somnia Online: Fragments - Chapter Twenty (Patreon)

Acient Ruins

Almost as one, the raid split off into their groups and hid behind a set of trees each, cutting out line of sight for the mobs.

"I thought you said the path was clear." Murmur whispered at Merlin.

He shrugged, "Well it was like six hours ago."

Murmur tapped her foot in frustration. "How many more are there? I can't sense them. Their minds are blocked from me. Not even like a void, but more like just plain space."

Merlin activated stealth and crept out slightly, disappearing from sight after a few seconds. Murmur counted the heartbeats until he came back, fighting down an irrational sense of helplessness. After a few moments he returned.

"Just those six at the base, four camouflaged to each side a ways down. There are ledges there you could use to jump down to the bottom instead of the stairs with a good chunk of agility. Then at the bottom in front of the actual crumbling door that is just around a corner, there are another four." He paused, and Murmur breathed a sigh of relief. "That seems to be it. So we should still be marginally refreshed by the time we move in there."

"Do they all have that blank look in their eyes? Like they're puppets?" Sinister hugged herself, crouching low.

Merlin nodded. "That they do."

"Fantastic." Murmur had grown used to her abilities making things easier on her group mates, but right now it wasn't good. After all, this NPC seemed to be much more powerful than she was. It grated on her nerves and agitated her. She wasn't used to being rivaled this early in the game. The fact that it was an NPC, felt wrong. Other players would light a fire under her, but an NPC? That was scary, unpredictable, and above all, unreadable.

Still, they couldn't let this stop them. "Well guys, there are ruins there that we need to get into. No time like the present. I'll be pretty useless against them. I don't have anything yet that will combat her control of them."

"Don't be an idiot Mur." Vernanol didn't even stop to look back at her. "You bolster the defense, you enhance our offensive. Even if you can't take over her puppets, you can do much more than just be useless. I can't tell whether you're putting yourself down because you believe it, or if you're fishing for compliments. So just stop it."

Murmur blinked at the Shaman. "What? That's pretty fucked up Ver. You didn't need to be a dick about it."

"You're not the only cast member here. We're a team, of twelve. We've raided together on and off for a few games and we should know to trust each other all the time, and not just make one of us do the most work. Give us more credit. We've always known each other's strengths and weaknesses. Don't make it seem like you stand above the team." His tone wasn't nasty, there were kind undertones to it, and his eyes expressed the same. Still though, it really rubbed Mur the wrong way and she had to count to ten to not yell in his face.

"I was forewarning you that I wouldn't be likely able to do as much as I usually do. Take it as you will." She stepped forward, intent on heading back out and stopped herself to sigh. "This is foreign to me. I'm not used to having to tread this carefully. Even as another class, in any other game, I would always tempt risk in order to figure out how to get our reward, no matter what it took. You know that. I can't tempt it here, or I shouldn't. Maybe I should, just to see if the suppositions are right?" But she knew that wasn't the answer either.

A sharp slap to the back of her head made Murmur turn around where she came face to face with Sin. "Don't even fucking think that sort of shit. Unless we have a guarantee, you're not doing anything that fucking stupid."

Her face was on fire, anger reflected in the red blush under her coloring. Angry tears welled in her eyes, and her teeth were bared in something resembling a snarl. "It's not just about you Mur. You should know better than to pull that self pitying shit."

Murmur blinked and stepped back. Sin was right. Since when had she felt so sorry for herself all the time? Was there something affecting her thoughts again? "Yeah. I know, I should."

She scanned her own shields, and the sensor net. She double checked the way her shields were built, how tight they were. As usual, they were rock solid. "I'm not sorry for sharing how I feel. Or for warning you that I won't be as effective with this particular encounter. I am sorry if that made you worry, or upset. But that's not my problem, so don't try to fix what isn't broken. I usually lead our raids. When it's just us twelve, it's never a problem, because we've worked together so much that I can rely on each and everyone of you. But, when the raids are bigger, you have to remember that every role counts in a specific way, and my knowing our weaknesses, and knowing you know those same weaknesses, is part of how I organize us."

Sin's expression fell, and she cringed slightly. "Didn't think of it like that. We haven't really been pulling the raid leader card, and to be honest, I haven't exactly been treating it like mini raids."

"I get it, Mur. I think I'm just hypersensitive to your plight." Veranol was probably referring to his actual occupation. Still though, she needed them to understand not everything she thought about her predicament was self pity based. A lot of it was practical insofar as the game went. "These mobs aren't going to kill themselves. At least, I don't think they are. I've been wrong about things before."

#

Murmur grimaced as she renewed one of her target's Mez. The effort she had to exert to override its mind was strenuous. Though it stood to reason that if she could increase her power, others would be able to increase their defenses. From the blank look in their eyes, they were being controlled, which meant Riasli had taken these mobs over too. Even with her first reaction being anger at the audacity of the other enchanter, a part of her thirsted for power like that, for the ability to control a number of beings.

Snowy ran past on his way to assist the others, and licked her hand. It hit her. Of course she had that. She could command pets for thirty-five MA each. Right now, she'd be able to control six of them at a time. Maybe that was what Riasli was using. But if that was the case, she'd have to have an obscene amount of MA. Then again she was an NPC. The rules swam in her head, just this side of a headache and Murmur shook herself to stop the train of thought. Focus. She needed to concentrate on what they had in front of them.

Four at a time were doable. She couldn't quite define their races or classes. They moved as if they possessed martial arts training, and yet fought more like a ninja with swords or daggers. Their movements resembled some sort of deathly dance, and she had to force herself not to become entranced by it.

Taking on the Mez's herself was the best idea, as it allowed Dansyn the ability to utilize songs that bolstered the group with some extra mana and health regeneration. Anything like that helped their overall productivity. Not that the heals would ever save them if the healers died, but it helped alleviate a portion of the burden. And that mana song? Well, she had to admit it was rather delicious. That, her mana tide, and the fact that the healers had taken on the hybrid of the enchanter class allowed their mana regeneration to refill at a solid rate. 

It made Murmur glad she'd chosen the Sidious path. It was going to give her so much more versatility when it came to dealing with mobs that seemed far too human like to be AI products. Like Riasli. Murmur frowned, thoughts still rampant in her head as she focused half on her inner diatribe and half on the mobs. She loved their armor too. It had echoes of old fashioned Asian armor underlying its usefulness. The plates that seemed to be flimsy at first were made of more resilient stuff. As guards of the temple, that made sense. She knew, without a doubt, that the mobs inside the ruins, or crypt, or catacombs, whatever it would be when they opened those doors, would be at least two levels higher than them.

This adjusting raid zone idea was fantastic. Waiting until they reached the end game to get the keys would have been a nightmare. With the last of the four stealthers finished off, the group pulled back a little to take stock of their situation.

"They weren't nearly as difficult as I'd assumed they'd be, considering how hard we had to work to get past the undead dwarves back at Hightower." Havoc mused out loud, his fingers stroking his chin as if he had a beard there. It made Murmur curious to know if that were the case in the real world. 

"No. They weren't that difficult. Very straightforward, and not at all what we've come to expect from anything Riasli related." Veranon, words rang deeply through Murmur.

Something was very wrong with the situation. Given their last encounters with the feles traitor, Murmur had come to expect a certain level of deviousness. But this didn't have the same atmosphere to it. All that was similar was the way their minds and intentions were hidden from her. Could it be that she'd simply extended her mind shielding over these? But in total that made eighteen guards. Surely she didn't have that much MA? Of course, that would only be one hundred and eighty without the depreciating cost that went with levels, so perhaps she had.

"Mur?" Devlish stood in front of her, arms crossed, his body moving slightly in time with the foot he was tapping impatiently. "What do you think?"

"I think it's a trap. A false sense of security. She hasn't given these guards anything special except for the fact that she's shielding them with her mind protection which means I can't get a read on them, nor can I seem to break through her hold to gain my own." Murmur shrugged. Sure, it was more like fighting a really good guild leader who knew what they were doing with all of their members, but she had to give Riasli some credit. So far, she'd been entirely capable of throwing Murmur and her guild off guard. The thing was, they were fighting mechanically and not intuitively like all the other intelligent master races they'd encountered.

"Traps aren't that dangerous when we know them, right?" Sinister pulled at the belt around her tunic, a thoughtful expression on her face. Her dark hair whipped in the wind, and for just a moment she held an ethereal glow to her that made Murmur gasp softly. 

"Not too dangerous if we know they're there. But since we don't know what she'll do, nor actually what she's capable of, it's still pretty touch and go." Havoc's no nonsense tone was calming. "Mur, is there nothing you can do to break her hold."

Murmur went over all of her abilities in her mind, trying to figure out if she had something. "If I can get close enough to her, I might be able to put a stop to her with a few of my sinuous abilities. She's going to have a high magic resist so the odds of me being able to charm or control her are relatively low. But at least it's something to go with right?"

Beastial clapped his hands together, making all of them jump a bit. His face spread into a wide grin and his eyes list up like sparks. "At least we have the makings of a plan now, right?"

Merlin shook his head. "It'll have to do for now. Better to run with a plan than run away, right?"

"I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a joke, but if it was, it's a bad one." Rashlyn rolled her shoulders, and moved her neck from side to side like she was stretching while getting ready for the upcoming prolonged battle. "Don't know about any of you guys, but I almost feel like this game is making me fitter."

Murmur blinked at her friend while the others laughed softly, and only half in jest. It made her wish she could log out and test that theory. But then most things made her want to log out. She shook herself and plastered a smile over her face. "Well, it might be fun for you all to sit around here, but I feel like killing some shit, and we've got another fourteen mobs to go before we finally get in there." 

She moved over to the next spot without waiting for the others. Pulling was a fine art if done correctly. Line of sight, the feign death ability that Rashlyn had, all of them led to the ability to pick the area of combat. She couldn't shake the feeling that for once they weren't the ones able to choose, that instead they were being ushered into a corner and that once they got to their designated place, it would be all they could do to avoid death. 

#

Murmur panted, leaning up against the moss covered wall at the bottom of the stairs. She surveyed the last group of four they'd fought with a frown. After all, they'd been decent opponents, but nothing like the dwarves from Hightower, nothing like any of the mobs they'd fought until now really. Their reactions seemed scripted, and fighting them had barely been a challenge. She wasn't impressed, but it had nothing to do with the AIs she knew who ran the game, no, she put this down to Riasli's interference. 

"This was way too easy." Merlin stood with his back leaning against the opposite wall, his eyes on the door in front of him. "Those guards were barely an inconvenience. I feel like they should have been a hell of a lot more trouble."

Devlish nodded slowly, a thoughtful frown curling his lips. "Yeah it wasn't challenging at all, more boring really. If we had to fight mechanical mobs like that for the whole game..."

Mellow piped up. "False sense of security then do you think? Like to lure us in?"

Murmur shook her head, reaching down a hand to tangle it in Snowy's fur while the wolf let his tongue lol out. "I thought she said she wasn't going to let us get in, but maybe that wasn't what she meant, but instead more like a way of ushering us in to get us to take on the ruins before she swoops in or something. Like a deliberate lack of letting us experience any types of fighting styles we might run into in the ruins. In a sort of -- you'll have no idea what you're expecting sort of way."

"Seems legit." Merlin shrugged. "Look. At least we're refreshed." 

Beastial smiled, moving toward the entrance from where he'd sat at the bottom of the steps. "If we go in now, there's a large chance that we're not going to get out for a good long while. Merlin's right. We're refreshed, far more than we were in Hightower. So we'll be able to do this."

"You're awfully confident for a DPS you know," Devlish drawled, a minor hint of irritation under his words. 

"Yep. Someone has to be, because our tank is being cautious as fuck." Beastial's barb even stung Mur. Maybe he hadn't gotten over not being a tank this time after all. She'd thought he was happy with beastmaster.

"Let's not do this shall we, and say we did?" Havoc suddenly stood quietly between them. "We don't need to measure our in-game peens here. You can do that before the next time we log off."

"Seriously? You're trying to lecture us about this?" Beastial raised an eyebrow, his tension visible in the set of his shoulders. "Fuck you, Havoc."

Havocs response was the last thing Murmur expected. He laughed. Threw his head back and laughed. "That's amazingly droll of you, but at least come up with a better insult than that. Now pull yourselves together and lets get whatever issues you're both currently having and take them out on the mobs waiting for us in there."

Murmur glanced at Sinister to see what her reaction was. The dark elf's eyes were narrowed and the frown on her face wasn't friendly. In fact, Murmur was pretty sure she was about to have a word with both of them. They didn't need to be battling amongst one another out here though, so she stepped in before the inevitable storm was about to blow up. 

"Why don't we just open the door and see what awaits us, you know, since none of us can apparate to inside there?" She tried to soften the words with her smile, but just received glares in return. It irritated her no end that every since their big secret had been revealed, they'd all seemed to devolved into children. "Guys give it a fucking rest. We all want to kill shit. It's therapeutic. So, let's do it."

"True that, Mur. True that." Jinna laid a hand on her shoulder for a brief moment, as if trying to forestall her own explosion. While she appreciated the gesture on one hand, she was annoyed that he felt the need to step in for her, and not for the guys. 

"Great then." She pushed on despite Jinna's attempt to diffuse the situation. "How about we go in there and not get me killed."

Without waiting for an answer, she sidled up to the door and placed her palm against the round circle in the middle of the doors. The words around it were barely legible and in some strange kind of script she had to tap into her interface to read. Without a second thought she pushed against the circle while chanting the words, letting her mind flow with the game and pull from her powers.

She extended her mental shield outward, reinforcing it with a kinetic barrier as her thought sensing and shielding refueled her MA. "Ithis, meris, grant me entry, for I seek the age of old. Effris, Leshis, grant me grace, as I fight evils untold."

The door beneath her hand shook as the words and kinetic barrier made contact. With a rumble they began to roll to the sides, opening to reveal a gaping darkness behind it. No sconces lit the way this time, no guards were in sight, and there was no welcoming person at the beginning to get them started. 

A swirl of golden sparkles fluttered around the group, enveloping each of them in turn, but still the darkness swallowed it. Maybe that was the grace the inscription spoke about. All Murmur knew was that it tingled, like something that made her feel better and felt dangerous all at once. She had no idea what this grace did, and just as she was about to pull up her HUD to enquire, she heard a grating of stone against stone. Looking up, she barely stopped the involuntary step back she instinctively began to take.

There, in the depths of the blending shadows, they saw movement. 

Step over the threshold and keep your promise, lest you feel my wrath

Well, that was easy, wasn't it? Hesitantly they stepped over the threshold as one, just as the huge approaching shadow began to gain some form. It stood at least ten feet high, and in the fading light as the doors began to close behind them, Murmur realized they were facing a stone statue. Her eyes gradually used to the darkness, she watched as it closed in on them, its footsteps rumbling the ground.

#

Storm Entertainment

Somnia Online Division

Game Development Offices Artificial Intelligence Server Room

Day Nine

Laria paced her office, her eyes never leaving the portion of forrest her daughter was currently in. Mainly because while she knew that was where Murmur was, she also couldn't see her daughter. None of that made sense. The tracker allowed her to maintain contact at a distance, and so far it'd been the one thing holding her together through all of this. But right now the system said they were all standing outside of the ancient ruins.

An ancient ruins that didn't quite look like the one she recalled approving for the Cenedril Isle. The homes of the keys were all meticulously arranged, and this one was nothing like its original incarnation. The rising pyramid modeled on Mayan history was no longer. Instead a smaller version rose up, covered in a slimy moss with a more sinister air. Steps led down instead of up, to what appeared to be an entrance to a maze or labyrinth, and she couldn't see past the steps, she couldn't even see the door. 

What had the AIs done this time? Did they decide to step in and prevent her from keeping an eye on her daughter? Anything was possible what with the way they'd grown in the last weeks.

What with the change in the ruins, and the inability to see into them, or even around them, Laria was verging on a state of panic. She took a breath to calm herself and focused. She'd worked under far more questionable circumstances before. The dev who thought it was oh so clever to insert an easter egg into one game that stripped any female players nearby against their will. Yeah, that one had been a barrel of harassment suits. Then there was that time when one of the devs decided to mark one of the newbie items with a cautionary message of: do not use near fire.

Which, for the majority of people ever was tantamount to telling them to go and light it on fire.

She shook her head, laughing at the past. In its own way it bolstered her bravery. Shit happened in games, coding fucked up and things went wrong. Perhaps not Michael, Ava, and Wren levels of wrong, but there was a first time for everything.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and activated her communication channel with Shayla. "Hey. Don't suppose you know what's going on with the ruins in the jungle do you?"

"Hi, love you too." Came Shayla's marginally irritated voice through the earpiece. "Let me check."

Laria knew without a doubt that Shayla was scrunching her eyes just a little, squinting without realizing it as she activated the augmented reality in her contacts. The action was something she'd done for years, and helped ground Laria in this reality. She waited, albeit impatiently. Nothing about the game currently involved patience. 

"Oh." Shayla's confusion came across magnificently in that single syllable. "That's rather odd. I take it no one ran this by you? When did you last check this area?"

"Just before launch and it was fine. But it's been under strict monitoring ever since launch, so I'm unsure why it's currently in this... state." Laria frowned again. "Do you think we'll be able to access the inside of the dungeon?"

"Sure. We should be able to access everything, right? Maybe only the entrance is inaccessible because of the new positioning of it." Shayla sounded a lot more confident of her hypothesis than Laria knew she felt. She appreciated her friend trying to make her feel better, and she'd figure out a way to view it somehow.

"Do you think the AIs have anything to do with this?" She grudgingly asked.

"No." Shayla hesitated. "This doesn't quite seem like their sort of MO, wouldn't you say? I mean, they're not usually this antagonistic. This smacks of someone trying to hide something from us, and I'm not entirely sure how to deal with that. The AI haven't hidden anything..."

"If you don't count Michael and Ava." Laria snapped the words out, immediately regretting them.

"They haven't hidden anything since then. The fact that they're achieving sentience isn't something they're hiding when we haven't directly asked them, either." Shayla's breath sounded softly over the connection. Laria could almost hear the cogs whirring in her head. 

"And? What do you mean?"

"Well, they don't seem to be able to lie, or at least don't feel comfortable lying, right?" A hint of excitement attached itself to her words, traveling down the line like static electricity and made Laria jump.

"Since we haven't directly asked them if they're sentient, they've neither denied nor confirmed it." Shayla hurried and continued. "So, if we want to know this, why don't we just go and ask if they had anything to do with it?"

"How do we know doing that won't teach them how to lie. I mean, it's not that they can't right? We have no idea." Something about the situation struck Laria as desperate. The thing was, she didn't have many other options that came to mind. 

"They never actually hid the other damned incidents." Shayla stamped her foot so loudly that Laria heard it through their link up. "They simply didn't tell us. Withholding something isn't the same as lying, and it's very obvious they know the distinction exists."

"So then, they obviously haven't told us about this change because either they have no idea, or it's that we haven't asked." Laria could see where Shayla was going with it. And although she tried to fight it, even such a vague straw was something she could cling to.

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