Perla Online, Book Two: Shella (A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure) Page 4

  Good. That gave us an easy target. “Okay, so how do we get on the ship?” I asked.

  Quinn blinked. “You want to board the Privateer’s Fall? Are you out of your minds?”

  Bastion shrugged. “They’ve got my sword. I want it back.”

  “And my bear,” Evey said.

  Quinn looked at us like we had lost our minds. “I can take you to it,” he said. “But it won’t be easy. And you’ll probably get yourselves killed.”

  “Let us take that risk,” I said. “Now where’s that inn?”

  Quinn sighed and pointed to a street at the end of the dock. The townspeople stayed within their homes at night, the doors shut and locked, the windows shuttered. Light shone under doorways and from between cracks, but few braved the streets.

  A group of pirates approached. I ducked into an alley, the rest of the party behind me, and waited for the men to pass. “A lot of pirates on the streets,” Evey said. "Think they know yet?"

  “They're too calm,” Quinn said. “If they knew, they'd turn the city upside down. But it’s not safe to be out at night. The sooner we reach the tavern, the better.”

  The promised tavern towered over the end of the street. At first glance, it looked no different than any other bar. A wooden sign hung from a hook above the door, the name "DJ's" scrawled above it.

  "DJ's?" I asked. "Doesn't seem as fantasy-esque as the rest of the places here."

  "DJ," Quinn said. "Davy Jones."

  Someone had scratched an upside down skull and bones on the doorframe, hidden so well I almost didn't notice.

  Quinn caught my stare. “That’s the symbol for the resistance,” he said. “A few of the braver townsfolk have banded together to free the city. They claim Tarawi came to them in a dream and asked them to break the pirate’s grip on the town.”

  At this, a strange look crept across Evey’s face, but she said nothing. I raised an eyebrow, but Evey shook her head.

  Alright then. I guess she’d tell me later.

  “Come on,” Quinn said. “Inside. Before another group of pirates come by.” He opened the door and ushered us all inside.

  A redheaded woman stood at the bar and cleaned a glass. She didn't even look up whens he spoke. “Sorry, we’re closed for the night. Haven’t you folks drunk enough? It’s nearly dawn.”

  “Not here to drink, I’m afraid,” Quinn said.

  At the sound of his voice, the woman's posture stiffened and she turned around. “Quinn. Didn’t think you’d show your face around here again.”

  “Oh, come on, Roxy. Is that any way to treat an old friend?”

  “Friend?” The woman scoffed. “Hardly. You were a fun tumble in the sheets, though.” She eyed the rest of us. “Who’re they?”

  “More friends,” he said. “And allies.”

  Roxy leaned one arm on the counter. “You guys like pirates?”

  I grinned. “Not even a little,” I said. “I don't like people that steal my gear."

  “Want to take them out?” Roxy asked.

  Despite the Swashbuckler's promises, I didn't trust her yet. No way was I going to tell her my plan. “Quinn says you can give us a place to hide until we get enough gear to raid the Privateer’s Fall," I said.

  Roxy’s eyebrows shot up and she whistled. “Raid the Privateer’s Fall? Quinn, where on earth did you find these four? You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need. Door’s right there.” She pointed to the wall. “Rooms are in the basement. You’ll be out of sight and hard to find from any of the pirates.”

  "Is there a backdoor?" I asked. A basement sounded like an easy way to trap us.

  "Look behind the armoire," Roxy said. "The tunnel leads to a cellar door two blocks over from here."

  I smiled. Maybe I could trust her. “Thank you,” I said. “I hate to be rude, but mind if we continue this chat later? We’ve been in a prison hold all night. Didn’t get much sleep.”

  “Some of us didn’t get any sleep,” Bastion growled. “You’re the one who nodded off.”

  Roxy grinned. "Take off. We'll talk later."

  I thanked her again and followed the stairs down. A set of makeshift beds had been set up along the walls—enough room for ten people or more. I set the lizard on the ground. It stared back up with its dark eyes. “You’re free to go now,” I said. “Thanks for the help.”

  The lizard scurried under the bed. I figured he would take the chance to disappear when it quieted in here.

  Evey sat down on the bed across from mine and sighed. I glanced up at her. “What’s going on?”

  “I accepted a quest,” she said, without preamble.

  “What? When?”

  “Last night.” She took a deep breath. “I dozed off during the night, and I dreamed about the turtle. She had a conversation with me.”

  “She?" I blinked. "You mean Tarawi?”

  Evey nodded. “She wants me to break the pirate occupation in this city. She says she can't act against them, but if we do this task for her, she’ll give us what we need to break the corruption on Shella.”

  What she said wasn't completely impossible. Evey was a Beast Tamer. She had a good relationship with animals, so it made sense that Tarawi would ask Evey for help. “How would she help us?”

  “I don’t know. She said she would be able to give us more information after the job was complete.”

  “Alright,” I said. “It’s strange, but Shella has been nothing like Toris for the entirety of the time we’ve been here." I noticed that Bastion and Wish had started to listen in. "You two have any objections?"

  They shook their heads. “If Evey felt alright about accepting it, then so do I,” Wish said.

  “Same here,” Bastion said.

  “Then we find out what the turtle has to say,” I said. "And figure out a way to break the pirate occupation on the island." Those must have been the magic words, because a prompt appeared as soon as I spoke them.

  <<<>>>

  New Quest! "Free Tarawi"

  Break the pirate’s grip on the city and its people, and in return, Tarawi will bestow upon you her knowledge.

  <<<>>>

  “Well, looks like we all have the quest now,” I said. “Let’s get some rest. We'll figure out our next step in the morning.”

  The flat pillow was a vast improvement over the iron bars of the night before. Before I fell asleep, I reviewed my stats and assigned the new points from the level up. No new abilities, but the additional points in CON would give me a bit more survivability—especially since I still didn’t have any weapons.

  <<<>>>

  Character: Ren

  Class: Marauder (Subclass Duelist)

  Level 21

  Strength (STR): 16—160 lb. Carry Capacity

  Dexterity (DEX): 45 (+13 Equipment Bonus)—+58% Accuracy

  Constitution (CON): 40 (+10 Equipment Bonus)—500 HP

  Intelligence (INT): 23—230 Mana

  Wisdom (WIS): 13—29.5% Mana Regen

  Luck: 5—Unknown

  <<<>>>

  Chapter Five: Armorcraft

  The equipment vendor smiled and gestured to his wares. “Anything you need, I’ve got. Weapons, armor, even utility items. All for reasonable, competitive prices.”

  I stared at a pair of basic pistols. The guns were weak, but a definite improvement of my current lack of weaponry. There was just one problem.

  I had no money.

  “I didn’t think this through,” I said. “The pirates took all our gold when they captured us."

  Bastion shot a sly look at Wish. “I don’t suppose you can conjure gold up with those Invoker abilities?”

  “Nope.” She eyed the weapons. “Though I could summon wolves to distract the vendors while we take what we want.”

  “Don’t tempt me,” I said. I only half-joked. A small part of me wanted the expedient route over the moral one. It worked for the pirates.

  “So what do we do?” Evey asked. “We can’t exactly buy weapons with how little gold
we have, and we don’t have a way to generate more gold. It’s a catch-22.”

  "You could just ask," Quinn said.

  I raised an eyebrow. “For money? Not a chance,” I said. “And there’s no way you’ve got enough gold to fund the entire party.”

  The Swashbuckler shrugged. “You’d be right about that, but there are other methods of arming yourselves."

  “And those would be?”

  Quinn grinned. “Talk to Roxy. She’s got quite the weapons cache in that tavern of hers.”

  I supposed that could be true. I hadn’t spent much time in there. That morning, the party gathered and slipped out the back door to avoid attention. It had been mid-day by the time everyone woke up, so the tavern had been full.

  And we had all agreed it was a better idea not to move through the streets alone. Not after our previous capture.

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Evey said. "Especially if she wants to help resist the pirates. Does she have armor?"

  Quinn shrugged. “Roxy’s not big on armor. Figures the best defense is a really, really good offense.”

  “We’re not boarding that ship without some decent armor,” I said. “I’m not going to have anyone here killed just because a pirate gets a lucky hit in with a sword.”

  Bastion cleared his throat. “Well, I picked up Armor Crafting back on Toris. I haven’t used it much, so the level is really low. Around 7 or so.”

  “Armor crafting?” Quinn rubbed his chin. “The only things that are cheap in this city are materials. There are so many plundered weapons and armor being broken down that the economy is flooded. How much do you need to make something decent?”

  Bastion’s eyes glazed over. “Let me check. None of the armor I can craft right now would do us any good. I need to level the skill up a bit before I can produce something halfway decent. Would take maybe a couple days’ time.”

  “That’s longer than I care to sit and wait,” I said. “But I’d rather wait than go in without protection.”

  Bastion pulled out a piece of paper and started scribbling down items, then handed it to Quinn. “Those are the materials I need,” he said. “With those, I should be able to level my Armor Crafting skill up to 10 and make some decent gear."

  Quinn whistled. “You don’t ask for much, do you?” He shot a sideways glance at Evey, then leaned in close to Bastion. Unfortunately for the Swashbuckler, his whispers were not quiet. Or subtle. “Think you can craft something a bit sexy for the lady?”

  “Do it, and I’ll kill you both,” Evey said.

  The two exchanged amused glances, but Bastion shrugged. “Just bring the materials back to the tavern and I’ll get to work.”

  We re-entered the tavern through the back door. The sounds of conversation and the clatter of plates had softened after the lunch rush. Roxy met us in the basement. “Welcome back,” she said. "Find what you needed?"

  "Not quite. We had no money to buy anything with. And even if we did, the prices are too high." I shook my head. "By the way, I'm Ren. I don't think we were properly introduced."

  "Nah. You four fell asleep like that." Roxy snapped her fingers. “But I suppose the hospitality of pirates would wear anyone out.”

  “It’s not the most relaxing day I’ve ever had,” I said. “This is Evey, Bastion, and Wish. You already know Quinn.”

  She grinned. “Biblically, you might say.”

  I ignored the innuendo. “How did you come to own a piece of property in game, anyway?

  Roxy’s eyes darkened. “The previous owner of this place was an NPC. Pirates killed them, so I took it over. Had to find some way to survive and make some money during all of this, right? Besides, the pirates don’t hassle people that have beer.”

  “And they’d never guess you were the one sheltering fugitives, either.”

  “Exactly.” She shot me a satisfied grin. “It’ll be nice to oust them from this city.”

  Bastion browsed through the materials Quinn laid on the table. “I’m going to get started crafting,” he said. “I don’t know how long it will take, so the faster I get started, the better off we’ll be.”

  "And we'll look for weapons while you do.”

  At the mention of weapons, the little lizard scooted out from under my bed and clambered up my leg. I gave it a surprised look. “I didn’t think you’d stick around,” I said.

  The lizard cocked its head to the side and settled onto my shoulder.

  “Looks like you’ve made a friend,” Roxy said. “Strange breed, though. I see them around every so often. Most people tend to ignore them since they're classified as Critters, not monsters.”

  “Yeah, I picked him up on the prison ship,” I said. “He’s kind of stuck around since then. Spits fire every so often.”

  “Huh. Didn't know they did that.” Roxy shrugged. “So, you need weapons?”

  “We do,” Evey said. “A bow for me, if you have one. I’ve still got this dagger I snatched from a dead pirate, but I prefer a bit of distance.”

  “Pistols for me,” I said. “Or a Blunderbuss.”

  Bastion cleared his throat. “I’ll take a sword.” Roxy shot him a look.

  “A sword?” Aren’t you a Prophet of Truth?”

  “Yup.”

  “That class normally uses a club or a mace. You use a sword?”

  “Long story, but yeah. The pirates have mine, and I’m going to get it back.”

  “Whatever you say,” Roxy said. She looked to Wish. “And what’s your weapon of choice?”

  Wish held up her hands. “All I need are these,” she said. “Although I would like my pouch of soul stones back.”

  “Soul…stones? Actually, you know what—I don’t want to know.” Roxy turned toward a back closet. Four different locks, each the size of my fist and clad in iron, hung from the door. Roxy pulled a keychain from her pocket and unlocked them one by one. “I'll get you the best weapons I can,” she said. “Just wait here.”

  As Roxy vanished into the store room, Bastion picked items from the table. He examined one component after another and furrowed his brow. “I need a forge,” he said. “I can make nails, and that should boost my crafting level enough to make better armor."

  "Why nails?" I asked.

  He sighed. “The crafting in this game isn’t normal. Of course this would be the one realistic detail they include."

  “You said you’d never played an MMO before this one, right?”

  “Right. So I don’t know what to compare it to. But I don’t see any way to just craft these items without a proper setup. Each time I try, I get a message: forge required.”

  Roxy reappeared from the closet in time to hear his last few words, her arms laden with weapons. “Crafting items? You’ll need tools for that,” she said. “I’m a Cook. And in this world, it’s just like cooking in the real world.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “You need all the ingredients, and you have to cook it for the right length of time.”

  Bastion had cooked back on Toris, but I hadn’t thought to ask how he did it. “Is that right?”

  He shrugged. “I cooked a stew. I threw ingredients in a pot and boiled them. I didn’t think much about it.” Bastion sighed. “So that means I’ll have to actually work a forge?”

  “That’s exactly what it means,” Roxy said. “Good thing you’ve got some strength from swinging a sword around, right?”

  “Right.” He scowled. “Then I better get started. Don’t suppose you have a forge in this tavern, do you?”

  “Not a chance,” Roxy said. “But there is an abandoned blacksmith shop not too far away. You can use it. It’s in a dead part of the town, so you aren’t likely to attract a lot of attention. I suggest going as a group anyway, though.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of going alone,” Bastion said. “But a hot forge seems like a decent weapon by itself. Toss a pirate in there if he comes after us.”

  Quinn raised an eyebrow. “You would throw an enemy in a furnace? What
kind of healer are you?”

  Bastion only grinned.

  “Come on,” Roxy said. “I’ll show you where it is.”

  Roxy led us through empty streets. Small thoroughfares crossed boulevards that crossed service carriageways. The ordered, planned grid of the rest of the city fell to pieces in this area. Roads twisted and curved, shrank and enlarged at random.

  The chaotic layout of this area made it the perfect place for an ambush. I wondered who abandoned it first: the townspeople or the pirates. Our footsteps echoed on the empty cobblestone street, and I hoped we were alone. There would be no stealth in this district. Roxy stopped in front of a building, the sign that hung over the doorway faded to obscurity. “Here it is,” she said. “The forge is under a shelter out back. Plenty of coal to go around, too.”

  “Thanks,” Bastion said. “Any advice on how not to get burned in there?”

  She grinned. “You know those aprons blacksmiths wear?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Wear one. Trust me. Or you’ll boil away any chance of having children.” Roxy laughed. “That’s what the smith that used to run this place told me.”

  “What happened to him? Or to any of the people out here, for that matter?”

  She shrugged. “They left. Some voluntarily, some not. Most saw the direction Tarawi was headed with the pirates and took the first chance they could to get out of the city." Roxy glanced up at the sun. "I've got to get back to the tavern. Come back when you're finished here."

  The forge lay behind the shop, its massive oven cold and topped with an arch of solid stone. A wooden bellows, its nozzles blackened by soot, hung between two thick posts. The leather-wrapped handles bore the old smith's faded handprints. Bastion hefted a shovel and tossed a load of coal into the forge.

  “Now…how do we light this?”

  I shrugged. If I had my Caster Shells, I could light it with a Desert Bullet. The lizard might do the trick, but it had stayed in the tavern. “Flint and steel?”

  Evey pulled out the dagger she had taken from the pirate. “This is steel,” she said. “And the flint is on the edge of the cooling tank.”