The Secret of the Dark Forest ( (The Way of the Shaman: Book #3) (7 page)

"Mahan, please drink this." I came to myself as a waiter shook me by the shoulder and handed me a glass containing a liquid of some kind. There was still seven minutes of the Berserker left, so it took some effort to suppress my desire to punch the waiter in the face and instead focus on what he was saying. "Please drink this. It will remove the debuff."

With some difficulty and shaking hands I poured the liquid down my throat. It burned, but my head cleared straight away; the overwhelming impulse to act left me and I could look around with normal eyes. Hmm. Where did all these people come from? There were two waiters, standing in a line, a plump dwarf, wringing a chef's hat in his hands, an elven lady in a luxurious dress and a Herald. That was all, aside from Evolett who was warily examining my face.

"Mahan, how are you feeling?" The tension was broken by the Herald's question. The crowd had exploded: the waiters were shouting threats at the chef, the lady at the waiters, Evolett at the lady and only the dwarf stood silent and downcast, his eyes on the ground.

"What exactly happened here?" I asked the Herald in return "Why did I end up with the Berserker debuff?"

"A chain of coincidences," came the chef's whisper through the surrounding din. "Who would have thought that mixing elysks and karpatosses, while washing them down with swanna and snacking on shurpilus, could result in a Berserker? This is pure Alchemy and I'm no expert in that. No-one before you has ever ordered such an original collection of dishes, so totally unsuitable to each other ..."

Yeah, that's me all right! Fear the Shaman who has landed a freebie.

"Mahan, could I have a moment of your time?" said the Herald in an official tone. Everyone around me immediately fell silent. No-one wanted to interrupt a Herald. "Please sign Form 12.4a to submit an official complaint about a premeditated attempt to make you cause damage to bystanders and send you back to the mines." At this news the lady in the dress gave a subdued shriek and went pale. I didn't even know that a player's avatar could lose color, something to remember. "This complaint will be examined in the course of an hour. The minimal punishment for this offence stipulated by the law on Prisoners of the Malabar Empire in Barliona (and consequently the real world) amounts to a year-long confinement in the mines. The punishment will be applied to the executive manager of the Golden Horseshoe tavern …" At this the elven lady turned a shade whiter, which previously seemed impossible "… and to the chef who cooked these dishes. The form has already been filled out; all you have to do is add your signature."

A text with 'Signature' button appeared before my eyes. The dwarf didn’t lift his head and everyone else froze expecting my decision.

"Why am I not on this list?" I asked the Herald after reading the statement. "I was the one that chose the dishes – no-one was exactly force-feeding me here. This means that I'm as much to blame as these two." I nodded towards the chef and the manager.

"According to the rules of sensory establishments," volunteered Evolett, "the checking of the dishes and their combinations is the responsibility of said establishment. Even a crazy combination like the one you ordered should've been checked for compatibility and any eventual negative results. Those who fail to follow procedure will be punished. From what I can remember, this is the ninth time this sort of thing has happened, am I right?" He looked questioningly at the pale-faced elven manager. The latter was only capable of giving a weak nod and swallowing. "The Golden Horseshoe values its clients too much to permit itself such errors."

I read over the statement once again, looked at the dwarf, the elf, Evolett and the Herald, found the small 'Refuse' button and, with a swift move of my virtual hand, pressed it without hesitation.

"Please explain your choice," asked the Herald, his words devoid of any emotion. Even the usual ringing in his voice seemed subdued.

"I've done time at the mines and I know what it's like. You have to be a complete bastard to wish ill towards someone who has tried to achieve perfection with his creation. I don't need this."

"Your choice had been made." There was a clap of the portal and the Herald sped away to his other errands.

"You're fired," the manager, who had now come to herself, hissed to the chef "I want you out of my sight and out of the tavern this very second!"

"Will you let us eat and to talk in peace already?" Evolett got their attention by leaning over the table and banging a knife on a glass. "Please sort your problems out after my meeting."

After throwing me a meaningful gaze the manager departed. The waiters blurred into the scenery and the chef simply vanished. He was probably automatically removed from the building.

"It was a mistake to let it go," chided Evolett as soon as everyone was gone, "she will still be fired – the owner will not stand for such a disgrace. This tavern's reputation has taken a serious blow in any case. When it comes to it, don't agree to anything less than three free meals a day for a year. You can send the request within the next seven days – they will agree to all of your demands. I'm sorry that I've become the unwitting cause of this situation. Nothing would've happened had I not invited you here. But let's not lose any more time. The map: I really need the full version. The change in Kartoss locations has meant an automatic update of all the maps so old maps have not become obsolete. I won't ask how you got it; I'll just say that I need it. What would you ask for it?"

"This is a very abrupt jump," now it was my turn to smile "from fighting the Berserker debuff to selling the map – please let me catch my breath a little. I never thought that the map could interest you quite that much, so I haven't thought of what I could ask in return. What can you offer?"

"It's not very nice to try to shift responsibility onto others. How am I supposed to know what it is exactly you might need? Are you suggesting that I should decide instead of you?"

"You've missed the mark in trying to appeal to my pride. Unlike me, you know very well just how much this map is worth, so we are on very unequal footing here. After all, you've most likely already decided what you're prepared to pay for the second half, so there’s no point beating about the bush. Make your offer and I will agree or decline."

"Are you feeling so completely unperturbed when talking to one of the most influential players in the Game?" Evolett had adopted a familiar, informal manner and was addressing me more directly now. "One gets the feeling that speaking to players of my level is something you do every day. Emperor, Heralds ... almost all the players that I know start to worry, stutter or confuse their words when speaking with someone of my standing. You, on the other hand ..."

"Have I understood you correctly that you have no intention of making an offer?" I interrupted the leader of the future best clan of Kartoss.

"One million gold," Evolett finally decided. "That's excluding the compulsory 30% that, as I know, you get deducted from every payment."

A million gold for a copy of the map? This isn't just a good deal – it's the deal of the century!

"But I have one condition," Evolett brought me down to earth "we sign an agreement that no-one else except you is to use this map. After this it couldn't be sold, gifted or exchanged. I don't wish to see another clan in Kartoss in possession of this information. This is my offer."

"I agree." I didn't even have to think about this deal. A million gold for a bunch of virtual numbers is a very good investment.

Skill increase:

+2 to Trade. Total: 9

Achievement earned!

Moneybags level: 1 (9 transactions worth over a million until the next level)

Achievement reward: the amount of money dropped by mobs has increased by 10%. This ability affects any players under your command.

You can look at the list of achievements in the character settings.

"I didn't think there existed a man capable of surprising me twice" a pleased Evolett stretched in his armchair after putting away the full copy of the Kartoss map I gave him. "After Beatwick and the opening up of Kartoss everyone forgot that Dragons have returned into the game and you are directly connected to this development. You even know one of them. And then the map. You are simply a mine of surprises. I have a proposal for you: if you're able to surprise me a third time I'll give you a present. This has no time limit – you can take forever, if you like. I'm just curious if you'd manage it a third time."

"'Forever' is just too long. I prefer to act in the moment." With that I opened my sack, took out the Eye of the Dark Widow, uncovered its properties and put it on the table before Evolett. I'd been intending to start showing off the Eye for some time, since I had to start gathering the team to complete this quest, so now was as good a time as any.

The Dark Legion’s leader's hands jerked in a grasping movement towards the Eye and his face turned into one big question: HOW? But he quickly controlled himself and regained his impassive demeanor.

"In just two days you will receive the promised present." After a pause Evolett asked, 'How much?"

"It's not for sale. I'd like to try this myself."

"Then I propose an alliance. As soon as I cross over to Kartoss, only competent players will remain in the clan. We can help you do the quest. Naturally, all the loot will be yours and I'm prepared to pay for my clan to be included. Think about it, no need to decide now. Making an alliance with the first clan on Kartoss would bring many benefits.”

"I'll definitely think it over," I promised Evolett and returned to my food.

At the tavern's exit I was met by a respectable-looking goblin, the owner of the place, by the look of it. After a brief bout of bargaining I was granted the opportunity to come to the tavern three times a day for two years. I could also bring up to three people with me. Keeping in mind the buffs one could gain in the tavern, I considered this a good investment for my future clan.

Speaking of the clan. With all these meetings, I completely forgot that I had been planning to drop by the Registrar. While there was still time, it was a mistake I had to quickly remedy.

* * *

The mark in the shape of azure Seathistle looked simply magnificent on my cloak and the see-through flower before my name indicated that I belonged to a clan. The Seathistles clan has made its début in Barliona.

At first I wanted to pick a serious and intimidating name, like 'Wings of Terror', 'Night Legion' or 'Dragon', but then some common sense clawed its way back: why? Who was it that I was trying to impress? And for whose benefit was I thinking up excuses? Myself? It's just that the alternatives were even worse.

The registrar, an old plump man with an impressive moustache and similarly impressive potbelly, stood by the desk, patiently penning something down. Registering a clan was abominably simple: you pay five thousand gold, pick a name for the clan from the list of available names and you've got your clan. The system automatically generated the emblem, which could be edited later – should you ever get around to it – then the clan emblem was slotted next to the player names and that was pretty much it.

After paying the required fee, I opened the list of names. Just like player names, clan names had to be unique within each continent. The list of recommended names numbered over ten thousand and I had no idea which filter to use to narrow down my search.

"Dragon." I tried my luck and saw a message that this name was unavailable. The recommended names of 'Red-nosed Dragon' and 'Gold digger Dragon Killers' and so on sounded like the products of someone with a small imagination and a big hangover. After going through a couple more possibilities that sounded interesting, I finally gave up. Will I really have to name it 'I don't care, I've been playing in Barliona for many years now'? I think not. After playing around with name filters and setting them to look for single-word clan names, I looked at the list of the names that came up: 'Phartizans', 'Floodland', 'Seathistles', 'Croutonistas' ... Hmm ... 'Seathistles' ... Why not?

Name of newly-created clan: Seathistles. Please confirm.

There were two buttons: 'Yes' and 'No'. I could see, of course, that the name sounded stupid and off-the-wall, but I liked it.

Clan Seathistles has been created.

Clan leader: Mahan

Current clan level: 1

Next level gained: 20 million clan points

That was that. The registrar handed me a paper confirming my right of clan ownership and returned to his desk. I would have to go and read up in the manual what these clan points were and how to go about getting them.

Due to the presence of players that have earned the 'First Kill' achievement in the Mushu Dungeon, clan Seathistles receives:

+2 Resource Points for all gathering professions

+2% chance of creating a copy of an object for all crafting professions at no extra resource cost

These properties combine with the properties of other Dungeon First Kills.

I'll take two of those! How could I forget about this? The First Kill! Now I saw why Phoenix tried so hard to get at least one person with this achievement to join its ranks. At higher profession levels, especially with gathering (of Diamonds, for example) getting +2 to the gathered resource ... Mm ... I think I want another First Kill!