Book 4: Chapter 27: Begin again

Book 4: Chapter 27: Begin again

Heather? a woman's voice called. Heather, are you alright?

Where am I? she replied.

You're safe. That's all that matters.

Im safe?

For now. I am sorry, but I can only keep you for a little bit. When you wake, you must run; they know where you are.

We were already running, but they came too soon.

I know. I have been watching you, helping you.

Who are you?

A friend in the mirror, the voice replied. Now listen carefully, you are about to wake up, and everything will be in chaos. He is there to rescue you. Hold strong to him; I chose him to be your protector.

Hold strong to who?

I'm sorry, but we're out of time, the voice said as screeching howls drowned it out.

There was a sound like wind rushing through a tunnel followed by shrill cries. Wood was breaking someplace and the air smelled of smoke. Her eyes were heavy, but slowly they opened to see black clouds drifting overhead. Something ran past her as more howls and cries filled her ears. Then a shadow fell over her, and the narrow slits of yellow eyes looked down.

She was only vaguely aware of moving as the world change orientation. She looked about to see trees blasted and burning as goblins ran through them, hurling spears and spells. It was only then she realized it was their cries she was hearing, but suddenly she was moving again. The scene of fire and goblins retreated with great speed as she tumbled down a tunnel of trees.

As her senses began to clear, she realized she was thrown over the shoulder of a man, or maybe not a man. He was huge, with gray skin and muscles like iron. He held her with one arm as he blasted through the branches of the forest at a terrible speed.

Who? What? Heather cried as her vision started to clear.

Quiet, or they will hear you! Frank snapped as he ran.

Heather felt more and more of her senses returning as the world came into focus.

Frank?

Yes, he replied.

What are you doing? she asked, still dazed.

Carrying you to safety, he replied. They know you died and are searching the nearby spawns. If they find us, they will force you to reset.

Heather leaned up from where he held her over his shoulder to see the trees racing by in a blur. Frank tore through brush and branches, running in nearly a straight line away from the spawn.

I died? she asked.

You didnt know?

She shook her head as her memory came back.

Moon attacked the tower, she said.

That wasn't Moon, Frank interjected. That was an army or mercenary company.

No, it was Moon, Heather insisted as her thoughts were labored. She knew the others were coming and stole me away from them. I was in a wagon on the road someplace when I woke up.

If Moon had you, then why did she kill you? Frank asked as he jumped over a log, jostling her enough to make her fall limp.

She didn't, Heather said in a grunt. She thought back to her last memories and saw the image of Skullman looking down. She remembered the light glowing on his sword as he swung it and...

Heather?

Skullman killed me! she squealed.

Keep your voice down, Frank groaned. There could be scouts anywhere. They are sweeping the forest around the spawns. Thank goodness the goblins were passing through when we needed them.

The goblins are fighting them?

Umtha put them all in the spawn by the old village. She was certain you would respawn there.

Why didnt I respawn in my tower?

Your tower is gone. Everything we built is gone.

All of it? she said in alarm.

Well, not all of it. Legeis still has our stuff, so they only destroyed the things we can replace with points.

She leaned up in alarm, taking a branch to the back of her head for her trouble.

Ow! she cried as she rubbed. Put me down; let me walk at least.

I can run faster and for a lot longer, Frank replied, never slowing his pace. Just keep your head down.

As she rubbed, another thought came to mind that made her jerk up. Oh, Frank, did you get reset?

No, he replied and turned to run down a hill. They were in the forest nearly two hours before they attacked. They killed Quinny while we were talking, and she was well into her respawn countdown before they attacked the tower. She woke up in her tomb and quickly gathered up our soul stones while they were in some kind of confusion.

She took the stones? But those only work if buried in a graveyard, she argued.

Ahh, but remember, I expanded my graveyard over the stream. I never built anything in it because the goblins were over there. Quinny used the tunnels to move the stones right to the edge, and Breanne and I respawned there. I tunneled along the bank of the river until we were decently far away to make a run for it.

She is a clever zombie, Heather laughed.

What doesnt make sense is why they were confused, Frank said. Breanne dared a few peeks outside and said they were tearing everything down and saying a wizard took you.

That was Moon, Heather said. She blasted open the side of the tower and came in with two wizards. They snatched me right from under the noses of the other players and teleported me away. The next thing I knew, I was tied up in a wagon with two guards. I only got away because we happened to ride past Skullman, and he noticed me.

Why did he kill you?

Moon had help, and he couldn't beat them. He used a spell that put him inside a bubble they couldn't enter, and then he. She paused to think about what happened next. He killed me so I could get away.

That was smart of him. We hid outside the forest, and Breanne dared to sneak in and get close enough to hear them say you were dead. We ran to the spawns to find Umtha passing through and told her what happened. We wanted to spread out and watch three of the closest spawns, but she was sure you would be in that one.

Probably because its the closest one to the statue of Hathlisora, Heather replied.

Maybe, Frank said. I'm just glad she was right.

So she is back there right now fighting all those players?

There were five of them waiting in the spawn when we arrived. We saw you start to reform, and she ordered the goblins to kill them.

Heather went to say something but lost her words when he leaped over another log and slid down an embankment to a stream. His pace didn't slow as he splashed across it and headed up the other side, carrying her the whole way.

We're going to the ruined tower. Breanne, Quinny, and Legeis will be waiting. Legeis said he would trap the whole place with explosives to slow down anybody who found it.

Heather nodded from her awkward position and took a deep breath. Frank, Im sorry.

About what?

About not leaving sooner. You warned me a bunch of times and told me I wasnt prepared to deal with what was coming. I should have listened to you.

Forget about all that, Frank said. Lets get away and start over.

Heather felt a tear welling in one eye as he dismissed her mistakes without concern. She thought of all the times people criticized her for far less. How many boyfriends had called her terrible things because she made a simple mistake?

Why are you so nice to me?

He turned his head just enough to meet her gaze and tightened his grip on her waist.

What's the point in being mean to you? You don't know this world or what it's like. You make the best decisions you can based on what information you have, and you care about your friends.

But I got you all killed, she argued.

You were just trying to protect us and the lairs we built, Frank corrected. But remember, you brought us together and made us friends. We knew staying around a necromancer was probably going to get us killed. That's why I dug extensive escape tunnels and sealed rooms. Besides, dying is part of the system. he added with a pat at her waist.

I keep making terrible mistakes, Heather cried. And I ignorantly believed I could handle anything that came. I am such a fool! What made me think I could take on the whole world?

You did well, Frank replied. There must have been thirty players outside, and most of them were higher level than we are. From what Breanne learned, you managed to kill a few of them with your undead and traps. There were too many of them for you to hold off, though. They were going to get to you no matter what you did.

And Moon manages to steal me away, Heather said with a shake of her head. At least Skullman stole me back.

By killing you, Frank added.

Heather recounted the final moments of the fight in great detail and repeated Skullmans last words. Frank carried her on, running out of the forest and into the grassy plains beyond. He never slowed or showed any signs of tiring as she barreled across the landscape.

We were all worried, Breanne remarked. None of us was sure we would ever see you again.

Then I chalk it up to one of my crazy dreams, Heather replied, not ready to add one more worry to her list.

You are awfully quick to discard things and blaze ahead, Breanne pointed out.

I have been given very little choice but to blaze ahead, Heather replied before taking a bite. In fact, I think its well past time I stop dragging my feet and move ahead. I will keep this memory tucked away until something down the road sheds more light on it, but for now, I have a more important question.

Which is?

Heather looked her in the eyes as a smile crossed her face. She may not remember the buffer, but she did remember the wagon and the final words before her death. Do you forgive Skullman?

Breanne tensed and set her face in a stone expression. Heather could see she was annoyed by the question, but that didn't matter. Skullman was ready to forgive, now was Breanne ready as well?

I suppose you think I should.

Of course you should, Heather said with a shrug. He even rescued me from Moon. He directly aided a monster player.

You are not a monster player.

No, I am worse than a monster player, Heather replied. In the eyes of the players of this world, I am the worst thing in existence.

Dont be dramatic, Breanne scolded as Webster jumped on to the table and made her recoil.

Still afraid of spiders? Heather asked with a smile.

I never liked the tiny ones, let alone one large enough to eat a cat.

Heather held out a cookie to him, but he batted it out of her hand and walked across the table.

Fine, but you don't know what your missing, Heather remarked and bit into another one. So, do you forgive him?

Breanne smiled a little and nodded her head. I will overlook his past transgressions since he rescued you, but you're avoiding my questions.

Heather caught Breanne's watchful gaze and paused in her nibbling. I am fine. The respawn was a lot less terrifying than I thought it would be.

I wasn't concerned about that, Breanne replied. I am wondering what you plan to do now. I know we're going to rebuild, but you have said very little about your actual plans.

Heather pondered that a moment and realized that was because she didn't have any. She was more concerned with the egg than rebuilding and hadn't thought much past that. Frank had the idea of making her tower square and building it right in front of the caves. She supposed that's what she would do but again hadn't given it much thought.

I think my problem is I have too many things to do. I have the egg to deal with, and let's not forget the bracelet that points to the hand, whatever that is. We need to give Gwen back her stone but not before I try to use it to make a few golems of my own. Then there is the matter of settling Umtha and Finneous. I have too many things to do and no desire to do anything but build our home.

Youre feeling overwhelmed, Breanne agreed.

That's an understatement, Heather laughed. As if that list wasn't hard enough, let's add that I have an army of bounty hunters after me. I knew this day was coming, but I couldn't appreciate it until now. She paused to look at her hand and turned it over as if trying to prove it was real.

Is something wrong?

Heather put her hand down and took a deep breath. I know I died, but it all happened so fast I can't feel anything for it. I don't have any memory of the time I was in the buffer except that voice, and that was only a few moments right before I woke up. Even that was surreal, like I was waking up slowly, and Frank picked me up and ran off before I was coherent. By the time I could think, it was all behind me and growing more distant. Maybe I am in a state of shock, and it will hit me later, but I don't feel anything right now.

You should slow down and do things one at a time. Solve one problem before even thinking of the next one, Breanne suggested.

Heather nodded and picked up the last of her cookies. At least I have nearly unlimited cakes and cookies now.

Let's hope they never find you here, Breanne added with a smile.

Heather sincerely hoped not, then wondered if they could take the magic cabinet with them if they had to flee. She finished the sweets and joined Breanne to go looking for the others. Once together, they took the hidden passages and made their way out the lowest tunnel into the swamp. It was vital they reestablished their homes, and she bound them to soul stones to protect them from resets.

So I should make my tower square? she asked, speaking up to be heard over the nearby waterfalls.

Yeah, Frank said excitedly. Look how flat the cliff face is. I bet you can put your tower up against it and set your floors to be level with the various cave tunnels. Then you can walk into any of the caves with ease and not have to work your way through all the tunnels.

Heather had to admit that it sounded like a good idea and rubbed at her tattoo to bring up the panel. She stepped back to look through the holographic screen at the cliff face and selected the options. She went for a clean-cut stone this time, choosing something light gray with dark streaks. She toggled through the tower shapes and settled on a simple square, and began to tamper with the options. By the time she was done, her tower had seven floors with a connecting cave tunnel on floor two, four, and six.

On the ground floor, she bought a large double door twice her height and made the ground floor a tunnel that went straight through the tower and out the other side into the caves. There was a room to either side of her tunnel, one of which she made a guard room. This was something she wanted before but didn't want to spend the points. Now six NPC guards would spawn and be assigned to protecting the lower level of the tower. She chose a dark gothic theme for them and armed them with dangerous-looking spears and hooked poles. The room on the other side was cut into a small hallway with two more rooms. One led to a stair up, the other a stair down. She intentionally wanted to make the ground floor all about defense, and the more doors enemies had to pass through, the better. She made all the doors on this floor thick wooden barriers bound in iron plates for extra strength. Permanent pit traps were added to the rooms, and the door to the stairs up had two skeleton sentries.

Going a little heavy on defense, Breanne said with a raised brow.

I have the points for it, Heather said. I know we are building to entice players to adventure her, but my tower needs to be a fortress. I may even use some of my gold to boost my points so I can add more.

If you want to save some points, I can put traps in your rooms, Legeis chimed in.

You can? Heather asked, looking up from her panel.

I can, but they take time to build, and you have to reset them manually, he cautioned.

Doesn't your class allow you to make magical traps, though? Heather asked, wondering why they didn't reset like the ones she put in her tower.

Yeah, but those are inside my lair, he replied. For your lair, I would have to build physical machines to act as the traps.

Heather looked over her designs and had some thoughts. She remembered Frank telling her players could combine bases and work together. She asked about it, and he agreed it could be done, allowing players to build inside each other's lairs. This led to a further conversation with Legeis about how large an area he could occupy. If she could give him control of the lower floor, then he could use his class skills to add traps that would reset. Frank suggested he could dig pits for traps, and Legeis could build the doors that dropped people in. The more they talked about it, the more the idea sounded great. She moved the barracks to the second floor to protect the stairs and gave Legeis the entire lower level to fill with dangers. She would keep the tunnel straight through the tower, hoping players would see the larger doors as more attractive. This would send them into the lower tunnels of the caves where Legeis could build even more traps.

As for the yard, the square tower had a similar design as the round one did. The yard would surround the tower, but she could extend it out a little. Since the mountain blocked half her yard, she extended to the other side, following the cliff face. She cut the yard into two sections. The inner yard was surrounded by a tall hedge wall and only accessible from a side door on the tower. Inside this yard, she planted her magic fruit tree and added flower beds and decorative plants. Outside the wall, she turned into a graveyard, extending it out and filling it with dark trees and areas of dense brush. She didn't want it to be open like before and give her enemies easy targets. She made this yard twice the size of her old graveyard and added three skeletons spawners, one of which she boosted so high it spawned advanced skeleton soldiers. These wore armor and carried heavy weapons, even crossbows. A rare few would spawn with simple spells and wander the yard in search of prey. She added something called a haunted tree that would produce a cloud of bats to attack a nearby foe and perpetually produced a mist for twenty meters around it. A tall twisted iron fence encircled this yard, but she planned to use her flower singer powers to add dense brush along the wall and inside the yard in key places. In these areas, she would place her deadly thornwhips and strangler vines.

Are you done? Frank asked with a somewhat perplexed expression.

For now, Heather remarked. I just wanted to get the yard set, so you knew where to build.

Do you want me to surround your yard?

No, just cover the front and the side by the waterfall, then extend down the trail, she said. I want to be able to expand the other way if I want.

Dont forget there are two paths in, Legeis warned.

Heather knew that, but she had a plan for it. Umtha's goblins would need a village of their own, and that side was where they would build it. This would put a friendly goblin village on either side of the tower, making it impossible to approach unnoticed.

I would still rather be alerted, Frank said. Let me put a thin layer around it just in case.

I suppose, Heather relented as she reconsidered. Her true concern was that he was wasting points better spent expanding the other direction. He set about marking a spot a dozen meters from her gates and created a lair. She thought it was neat how the ground suddenly sunk, forming an earthen pit with random skulls and bones poking out. He then crouched in the pit and entered the buffer, tapping at the air as he made changes.

I always thought this was fascinating to watch, Breanne said as the land around them began to change. I sometimes regret not playing a real building class.

I think it's neat how you can haunt other people's stuff, Heather said as tombstones began to grow out of the ground.

It spread in all directions, coming right up to the metal bars of her outer yard. Mausoleums sprang up, and a tall obelisk of black stone rose into the air. It was surrounded by a ring of white stone with green symbols glowing on its surface. His yard stretched around hers as planned, ending in a statue of an angel with cupped hands. In the other direction, the yard spread wide and suddenly rose as Frank turned the land near the cliff face into a hill. Stone steps went up to mausoleums that grew out of the cliff walls. Stone doors sealed most, but one was wide open, a mist creeping out of the dark maw.

She was surprised how intricate he was making them, decking them out with columns and carvings. Brass plates with family names appeared on some of them, and one even had planters outside with dark red roses in them.

A clump of trees laced with spider webs appeared just off a stone path that traced the trail from the goblin village. The yard then extended out, pushing toward the village until finally coming to a stop at an iron fence. Frank then began to sink into the ground as his pit grew, forming a deep depression that suddenly covered over. Heather realized he was adding tunnels and chambers below the ground, expanding his holdings.

I guess I can start my forest, Quinny said as she looked at the distant fence. Frank almost reaches the water from the falls. Maybe I should start over the river so he can expand to the edge.

You should start on this side and spread between him and swamp, then expand closer to the goblins, Breanne suggested.

Hmm, Quinny replied as she looked around. I can spread over a massive area with enough points. Maybe I should go ahead and do it.

You dont have the points, Breanne reminded her.

No, but I do have a share of all that gold, Quinny said with a smile.

Heather smiled back as she understood what Quinny was getting at. Quinny could grow a great deal more with a sacrifice of gold. She was just about to respond when Frank's yard suddenly expanded, stretching out in a narrow line for the distant wall of mash plants. It ran all the way to the water's edge and became a raised berm with a brick path leading to a small island that rose from the water. The largest mausoleum thus far appeared on the island, with a shallow stone wall and an iron gate protecting it.

That must be for you, Quinny said with a glance at Breanne.

I didn't expect him to do it, Breanne said with a pleased tone.

Why dont I spread my forest to the side of the island, Quinny said. I can make a bunch of small islands with trees to this side of it, and then spread around the graveyard and over the river.

Where will you put your barrow mound? Heather asked.

I want to be closer to you guys. I am going to put it right across the river and face the entrance to the graveyard.

So we can see if anybody is there, Heather said in approval.

Yeah, next time somebody attacks me, you will know long before they reach the tower. She wandered off and headed for the bridge crossing to the other side of the river, starting to mark the ground. A mound of earth rose and formed a doorway that Quinny entered and began her work. Moments later, the trees began to appear, spreading around the graveyard to Breanne's island. This created a swampy area of the forest that was dark and foreboding. The rest was on the dry expanse along the mountains, full of towering fir trees and great gnarled oaks. It expanded out, stretching down the trail that Quinny turned into a wide stone road of mossy bricks. Heather was pleasantly surprised when a black lamp post appeared, giving off a dim yellow glow in the gloom beneath the trees.

Well, this is a good start, Heather said. I might spend some of that gold to improve my tower as well. I want four gargoyles this time, oh, and one of those pumpkin monsters.

I am going to spend some to upgrade my workshop, Legeis said. And put some traps in your tower.

Heather let out a deep sigh as Breanne went to haunt the island and surrounding swamps. Legeis went back into the tunnels to begin work on his new workshop. It all seemed to be coming together and felt right as she looked over the new and improved lairs. All she had to do now was keep a low profile and prevent anyone from discovering she was here.

Well, I suppose we need to get to work decorating the rooms of the tower, Heather said to the spider by her feet. He chirped, and she listened to the voice in her head before frowning. I am not putting in a room to raise giant insects for you to eat. A second squeak made her laugh, and she pulled open the panel as they headed for the door. I will consider some giant rats in the graveyard if you promise to stop eating my alarm crows.

He squeaked and ran ahead to explore their new home as Heather entered the tower. Soon they would be hard at work on their projects, and players would begin coming. Then the real fun would begin.