In the seconds after her victory, as the information scrolled past her vision, a profound sense of relief passed through her like a wave of relaxation. This peaceful exhalation lasted until the first rumbles formed in her belly.
"Not good," said Alex, holding an enormous hand to her midsection.
The first belch came like a sonic blast. Alex had turned her head, which blew over a section of trees in its wake.
She bent over as the forces in her guts pushed outward as if they were trying to escape. Alex felt like she'd spent the day at Golden Corral eating until she was a plump summer tick.
Alex reared back, a sickly warmth passing from her midsection, up her throat and out her mouth as a jet of black dust. It wasn't quite vomiting, but it was close. A forceful ejection of chimeric magic blasted from her lips into the air above the Warped Forest.
As the material left her body, she shrank like a balloon that'd been untied. The wounds and injuries from the fight knitted themselves until after a minute of shouting at the sky, she was back to her original size.
Alex followed up her reverse transformation with a last burp from behind her closed fist as the cloud of chimeric dust floated away on a breeze into the sky.
"Wow. That was unpleasant," said Alex, rubbing her stomach. "At least it didn't exit the back end."
She stood at the center of the destruction, trying to make sense of what had happened. Even though she'd been in the middle of it, the fight had been so chaotic that she felt numb.
When a black shape flew in from her left, Alex fell into a defensive stance, readying a Wind Gust, but she let her hands drop when she saw who it was.
A huge black bird landed on a nearby crumbled stone.
"Hey, Ethel," said Alex.
"Greetings, Alex, and congratulations on your victory," said Ethel as she preened her wings in the sunlight.
"Thank you. Did you watch the final battle or is this a coincidental visit?" asked Alex.
"A Great Raven does not normally reveal its secrets," said Ethel, cocking her head. "But in this case, yes, I was watching from afar."
"You knew I was about to fight the Warped Mother, didn't you? You're keeping tabs on me."
The Great Raven shuffled her feet and glanced askew. "Ahem. The confrontation was inevitable. I was merely an interested observer."
Alex squinted at Ethel, who was clearly hiding information about the nature of her position in Gamemakers Online. But given she was only of a friendly reputation, she was unlikely to gain a deeper understanding.
The Great Raven stared at Alex as if she was expecting something in particular. Alex checked her bag for worthless baubles, but she found no more, since her recent kills had gone over the cliff's edge.
"Have you seen the Warped Mother's corpse?" asked Alex.
"I thought you'd never ask," said Ethel, nodding her beak towards a location fifty feet away.
Alex picked through the rubble as pale dust swirled around her feet to find a pile of lifeless black goo.
"Hard to believe that a pool of gunk could cause so many problems," said Alex.
Ethel, who had flown to a nearby rock, said, "Not so different from the soup of creation that birthed all life, and look how that turned out."
"So you're a scientist as well as a philosopher," said Alex.
"When you have time, you can learn all manner of things," said Ethel.
"I like you, Ethel. I hope you visit me more often next year," said Alex.
"I visit as much as my responsibilities allow, but know that I, too, do enjoy your company," said Ethel.
"As long as I have a positive reputation with you," said Alex.
"I am required to stick to the precepts of the game logic," said Ethel.
The comment was interesting for Alex, because it suggested that Ethel was separate from Gamemakers, not an artifact of it, and knew of its existence in an artificial place. If things weren't so pressing outside of the game, she would have liked to stay and chat with the Great Raven.
Alex crouched down to loot what remained of the Warped Mother.
Item: Glowing Jewel
As soon as she saw the egg-sized gem, she knew why Ethel had been keeping tabs on the fight. The baby blue jewel glimmered with an internal light. Alex had no doubt that if she could find a populated area with a proper NPC vendor, she'd be extremely wealthy when she sold it.
Alex plucked the Glowing Jewel from the corpse, which promptly disappeared, and held it up, carefully watching Ethel's gaze, which was firmly tranced.
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"This thing must be worth a fortune," said Alex.
"A fair bit of coin," said Ethel, whose black pebble eyes hadn't deviated from the gem.
But Alex realized that while coinage would be valuable in the game, information meant more. While she'd survived her first year in Gamemakers Hall, she sensed it would only get harder. Alex made her decision before she could have second thoughts, throwing the Glowing Jewel to Ethel, who caught it in her beak.
"A gift for you," said Alex, pushing away the regrets boiling in her gut.
"Are you sure?" asked Ethel, who had dropped the gem into her hip pouch.
"I am."
Ethel inclined her head. "Thank you."
+2,000 reputation with Great Ravens
You are now honored with Great Ravens
"As a token of appreciation for your gift, given without expectations, I offer a special reward. Ask me for a favor and I will grant it if I can," said Ethel.
Excitement bubbled up, making Alex a little lightheaded. "Any favor?"
"Within my ability to grant it," said Ethel.
"So...I could ask for an item, or a spell, or information," said Alex.
"Those are possibilities," Ethel said coolly.
Alex cupped her hand to her chin. Her armor had been destroyed by the terrorbees. Having a bit of AC would help her next year, but so would a new spell or ability. She considered asking for whatever the Great Raven thought best, but decided that would probably backfire. Ethel wasn't altruistically magnanimous. There was a logic to the game she had to follow.
As she considered her options, her gaze fell upon a tiny brown body amid the wreckage of the Spire of Creation. Both her minions had given their lives for her to win the fight. She didn't know how much individuality the game allowed its NPCs, but they'd shown her affection in the final month.
When Inky had thrown herself in the way of the warped triplet, it'd been her own decision. Alex hadn't given the command, because she hadn't known that Inky could get into the spire.
"Is there a way to bring back my minions?" asked Alex.
"It is possible to bring them back," said Ethel, "but they will no longer be your minions. That link has been broken by death. They would return to the world, changed but no longer bound to your needs."
"Minions? I could bring back both?" asked Alex, hopefully.
"I'm sorry, it would only be one," said Ethel, who placed her wings behind her back rather stoically.
"I see," said Alex. "Or I could ask for a boon in the game, a new spell or item."
"That would probably be wise," said Ethel.
Alex wandered away from Ethel, shaking her head. She couldn't believe she was considering bringing back her minion rather than taking a boon that would directly improve her standing in the game.
"I...I want to bring back one of my minions," said Alex, after walking back.
"Very well," said Ethel. "Which one?"
Alex groaned internally. She hated choosing which one got to live.
"This is so hard," said Alex. "I had to take Pinky's ability to win the fight, but Inky offered herself up without my asking. I wouldn't have won without them both. But I guess since I have to choose, I'll pick Pinky since she wasn't given a choice about her sacrifice."
Ethel nodded sagely, followed by two successive, ear-splitting caws.
Special Achievement Reached: Make a selfless act!
Effect: Double your reward
Inky has been resurrected!
Pinky has been resurrected!
Two brown, fluttering shapes rose from the earth, shooting into the sky. Her former minions flew past Alex's head, then headed east. She was a little hurt that they didn't send her a farewell thought, but she knew it was unfair to expect it since they were broken from her link.
Alex watched them both until she could no longer see them against the pale blue sky.
"Thank you," she said to their fleeing forms.
When she turned back to Ethel, she found the Great Raven was staring at her with considerable interest.
"Well, Alex, dear, it appears it is time for me to go. I suspect it is the same for you," said Ethel.
Alex thought about the hospital and the challenges that awaited.
"Yeah, I have to go."
"Farewell, Alexandria Duke," said Ethel, bowing her black head.
"See you next year, Ethel Stormfeathers the Third," said Alex, returning the bow.
She was about to log out when she remembered she hadn't placed her new stats. She considered waiting until next year, but didn't want to risk losing them.
After a few minutes of thought, Alex sunk ten points in Cunning so her max possible ability scores could hit sixty, and put the remaining points into Intelligence. If she didn't have to head to the hospital to start treatments, she could have stayed in game and leveled them up before the end of the year.
Alex took one last look at her character sheet before logging out.
Character: Alexandria Duke
Level: 20
Strength: 1
Intelligence: 14
Cunning: 40
Agility: 2
Endurance: 5
Charisma: 1
Class: Arcane Mastermind
Subclass: Undecided
Health: 98 / 300
Faez: 71 / 306
Armor Class: 0
Fatigue: 35%
XP: 2,300,000 / 2,520,000
Skills:
Analyze: 38
One-handed Slashing: 1
Fire Spells: 2
Devious Device: 8
Sense Direction: 33
One-handed Whip: 15
Water Spells: 9
Cooking: 18
Stealth: 8
Climbing: 3
Air Spells: 32
Unarmed Combat: 1
Unique Skills:
Cunning Strategist: 8
Mastermind: 3
Spells:
Dewdrop Orb: 7
Minor Creation: 8
Transference: 24
Cloud Taunt: 39
Misdirection: 13
Wind Gust: 18
Heal Minions: 13
Items:
The Handysack (20 Slots)
- Exquisite Cooking Pot
- 12 Various Meats
- 13 Water
Ethel's Adhesive Ointment (Uses: 12/20)
Jagged Bone Knife
The Shocking Strangler
Dmg: 13-27 ? 35/35 Durability
Effect: 15% chance of Electric Damage (Dmg: 10-40)
Special Attribute: Strangulation (Only on restrained creatures / Cannot affect more than 5 levels above)
Quests:
Reach the Plains of Warsong (+5,000 XP)
Spells:
Dewdrop Orb – Tier 1
Faez: 10 ? Duration: 15-60 seconds
Effect: Capture a small creature in a globe of water, removing them from the fight and suffocating them if they can't hold their breath for long.
Minor Creation – Tier 1
Faez: Varies ? Duration: Permanent
Base Skill: Devious Device
Effect: Create new magic items or copy mundane items.
Transference – Tier 2
Faez: Varies ? Duration: Permanent
Effect: Transfer magic from one item or creature to another.
Cloud Taunt – Tier 4
Faez: 25 ? Duration: 1 minute
Dmg: 31-55 (Repeat Shock Damage every 15 seconds)
Effect: Enrages the creature to attack you.
Misdirection – Tier 2
Faez: 20 ? Range: 30 feet
Effect: Divert a spell or attack from one creature into another
Wind Gust – Tier 2
Faez: 15 ? Range: 40 feet
Effect: Summon a wall of wind to blow against your enemies, staggering them and pushing smaller creatures backwards, dealing 10-25 damage.
Heal Minions – Tier 2
Faez: 20 ? Range: 50 feet
Effect: Heal target minion 50 damage
When it came time to log out, a wave of apprehension nearly overwhelmed her. Back in the real world she had a tumor in her head that was going to kill her unless the doctors at Golden Willow could get it out, which they said could take years, and there was probably a good chance she would lose her magic completely.
She had no regrets. If she hadn't pulled the tumor from her mother's head, she'd be dead by now. But the road ahead seemed like it would only get harder.
Alex sighed.
"Everything is impossible if you don't try."
She logged out of Gamemakers Online.