Throne of the Ancients: A LitRPG Adventure (Stonehaven League Book 6) Page 9

  And as for the players, they’d either flee with Devon’s followers or have their experience reduced to death loops around their individual bind locations. Once the demons took possession of the spawn points, they only needed to camp out and slay each player as they respawned. Even for someone as obsessed with Relic Online as Hailey, there would be no reason to play anymore. The woman would probably log out, and Devon would never hear from her again.

  But that was the worst case. It wouldn’t come to pass if she could just figure out what she was supposed to do here.

  “I guess I better get back to Mayor-ing.”

  “Keeper-ing, right? You’re more than a mayor now.”

  Devon smiled. Emerson did have a knack for helping her feel better. She hesitated for a second, then gave him a quick hug. “Thanks for listening. If you’ve got some free time, I’m sure Torald and Bayle could use help tallying our food supplies.”

  Emerson tossed her a quick salute. “On it, Mayor keeper Devon.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “WHAT HAPPENS IF I get found out?” Hailey asked.

  Until Bob had abruptly materialized and asked to speak to her, she’d been helping with the regrouping efforts, healing the scraped knees of Stonehaven citizens who had fallen while rushing to the shrine and casting her Calm spell when it looked like someone was about to panic. Now she felt on the verge of panic herself. Apparently, the denizens of the arcane realm had intercepted E-Squared communications regarding failed deposits to her dead body’s bank account. She had no idea they were still trying to pay her; Hailey had assumed that someone—the care facility most likely—would send word of her death to the company. She’d hoped that would have been the end of it. Seeing as she now lived as a pattern within the game, there wouldn’t be any logins or network activity to track. It wasn’t like her guildmates were going to email the company to ask if she was dead when she saw them in-game all the time—and anyway, she’d also planned to tell them what had happened. Well, Devon anyway.

  Of course, she hadn’t planned on the noob, Valious, revealing himself as Emerson. Major wrinkle in her “no one is going to notice that I’ve gone on living inside the videogame” plan. She could trust her guildmates—probably, anyway. But an E-Squared employee who also happened to be her boss? That was a lot more complicated. If she’d known he was going to be rolling a character and playing around Stonehaven, she would have said her goodbyes and started a journey to some other area of the world. In fact, it might still be a good idea. But given the situation with the demons, leaving might not even be an option. Devon knew more about the surrounding region and whether there were routes out of the area that didn’t cut through demon territory, but asking her would require getting some alone time with the other woman. Seeing as she hadn’t even been able to get enough time to confess her situation to Devon, it might still be a while before she could ask questions.

  Bob glided side to side through the air as if contemplating. “My relationship with the mortal realm is somewhat passive. I’m more of a leech than, say, a hammer.”

  “Um. What does that even mean? For someone so good with words, your metaphors suck.”

  “It means that I and my arcane brethren-selves get a ton of input. Data I mean. But we don’t have any output. We can’t make changes to the real world. As in, I can’t just slip into the records of the finance department at E-Squared and reverse those payments.”

  Hailey’s brows drew together. “So a hammer can change financial records? I still don’t get it.”

  “Okay, forget the hammer. I’m just saying that I’m not sure what to do.”

  Hailey planted her hands beside her thighs on the bench. “Back to my question then. What happens if I get discovered? They delete me or something?”

  “I have no idea. I mean, I’ve been through Bradley Williams’ email quite a few times, and the only thing I’ve really been able to determine is that he would be difficult to model as an entity. There doesn’t seem to be much of a robust pattern in his decision-making. I suspect he takes advantage of dice-rolling or alcohol to assist his processing algorithm.”

  The wisp slid side to side as if contemplating. “Though I will say this: that your information pattern would be difficult to selectively delete due to the company’s lack of visibility into the servers. I suspect they’d mess up several other things in the attempt. So if it’s any consolation, you probably wouldn’t be erased alone.”

  Hailey sighed. Some help Bob was. It seemed her guesses were as good as the wisp’s. So what did she think Bradley Williams would do? If it were her company, and she’d just learned that corporate software had created a digital representation of a human mind, then allowed that person to “upload,” she would probably try her damnedest to forget she’d ever discovered that fact. The implications were way too morally complicated, as far as she was concerned.

  Even now, living fully in the game, she didn’t like to think about the implications. It was far easier to tell no one than bear responsibility for unleashing immortality on the world.

  Somehow, she doubted Bradley would have the same qualms.

  Regardless, the failed payments were a pretty huge problem. Even the little stuff, like having left her livestream channel hanging, could cause problems. She needed help from someone with a real-life body, an ally who could help with investigations at the very least. Devon obviously had a lot going on right now, but maybe she could find some time to lay out her situation to her friend.

  Tomorrow.

  For now, Hailey sighed and stood and went looking for people who could use a little healing.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I’M ON YOUR balcony with cookies.

  Devon jerked in surprise when Tamara’s message flashed across her vision.

  “Sec,” she subvocalized as she planted her fork in her microwaved macaroni, stood, and started for the door.

  And what’s going on with your curtains?

  Devon twisted the deadbolt and tugged on the door handle, admitting a gust of January air as the door swung aside. Tamara’s slight form was wrapped in a puffy blue coat that doubled her size. Her ever-present oxygen tube ran over her shoulder to her backpack. She smiled and lifted a plate covered in a tea towel.

  Devon quickly stepped aside to let her pass, then shoved the door shut. “Since when are you awake at 2 AM?”

  Tamara turned to face the makeshift curtain arrangement and cocked her head in confusion. “I got up to pee and thought I should check the forums real quick—bad habit I know. I saw players talking about what happened to Stonehaven. Figured you could use a friend.”

  “And cookies, apparently.” Devon plucked the plate from her friend’s hands and set it down on the table. She pulled out a chair for Tamara then retook her seat in front of her congealing macaroni. “The blind is broken, and the complex won’t even look at my maintenance request until Tuesday.”

  “I don’t see why you stay here,” Tamara said. “I mean, now that you have a real salary and stuff. I get not spending everything you make. Way better to have some savings than go back to wrangling tourists at Fort Kolob if you lose your job. But still.”

  Devon shrugged. “Laziness, I guess. And yeah. I’d rather live here for the rest of my life than go back to the Fort.”

  Tamara smirked as she gestured toward the cookies. “Eat some before they get cold. They just came out of the oven fifteen minutes ago.”

  “Wait. You baked these?”

  “From a mix. It’s not like I whipped them up from scratch.”

  Devon plucked a cookie from the plate. Yep. Still warm. The chocolate chips were half-melted, oozing over the top. She shook her head, wondering where her friend got all these crazy skills. As she bit down, a slightly crunchy exterior gave way to a gooey and delicious middle, and she rolled her eyes with pleasure.

  “Better than that sloth steak you used to eat?”

  Devon laughed. Now that brought back memories. She h
adn’t tasted sloth meat since the jungle had retreated from Stonehaven.

  “Seriously, Dev, I’m so sorry about the attack. It sounds like you guys managed to retreat to Ishildar, though?”

  “Most of us. I lost a few NPCs.” Devon’s voice cracked a little when she said it out loud.

  Tamara laid a hand on her forearm. “So, what now? People on the forums said it’s something called a base battle?”

  “I guess you could call it that. Seemed more like a rout than a battle.”

  “But the ownership is still contested, right?”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s true. We still have full control of the Shrine to Veia. Hezbek has been binding people at the temple in Ishildar and then teleporting them into Stonehaven at our little pocket of control. We’re making suicidal attack runs out from the shrine in hopes we can keep structures contested for longer.”

  “Then it’s not over.”

  “No, not yet. We aren’t making a dent in their forces, but I think we’re slowing them down. At least, that’s how it looked last I was in there. My head was swimming, so I had to log out.”

  Tamara broke a cookie in half, leaving part on the plate and nibbling at the other. She seemed to be lost in thought, but the distance in her gaze made Devon think she might be checking the forums for updates. Devon was tempted to do the same, but she knew that would just lead to her logging back in. She would do more good for Stonehaven if she got some sleep before playing again.

  “Even if we slow the change of control, though, we hardly have any supplies. I kinda think we’re safe in Ishildar until they fully establish ownership over Stonehaven. They’re stronger than us by a lot, especially that fricking archdemon. But attacking on two fronts would spread them too thin.”

  “What do you need for supplies?

  “Food, mostly. But if we solve that, we’ll need crafting supplies for armor and weapon repairs. Plus components for potions and stuff. Still, the basic issue is we’re only safe enough to slowly starve.”

  “Sucks,” Tamara said, summing things up pretty concisely.

  “Yeah. I’m sorry this has been your first introduction to gaming. Joining up on the losing side of a war and all.”

  Tamara snorted. “Don’t even say that. War or not, the game has been awesome. Next-best thing to my first bike. Seriously, though, what happens if the demons really do take over? Wouldn’t that ruin the game?”

  Devon dropped her palms to the table in exasperation. “Pretty much. It’s seriously infuriating what an idiot Bradley Williams is. I think he honestly has no clue how strong the demons are. At least, I hope it’s cluelessness because otherwise, he’s just a psychopath.”

  “But it’s not totally hopeless, right?”

  Devon shrugged. “I was always crap at base battles when the odds were even.”

  “Somehow I doubt you’re actually as terrible as you think. Maybe you just need to, I dunno, look at the problem a different way.”

  Okay, so Tamara had a point. Devon hadn’t even known about the contested structure mechanic until the demons attacked. There was probably even more going on than Devon realized. For all she knew, the demons might have established a base or control point between Stonehaven and the coast. That was a potential vulnerability.

  Not only that, but she’d also been thinking of Ishildar as a temporary sanctuary and retreat. If there were more to the base mechanics than she’d seen so far, maybe she could get some advantage by formally establishing the city as a friendly base.

  She didn’t want to get too excited, not after how badly they’d been beaten today, but she couldn’t help feeling a flicker of optimism. For now, though, she really needed to get to sleep. Especially with the new information giving her something to go on, she wanted to be totally fresh when she logged in tomorrow.

  “You want to crash out here?” she asked, not sure what the etiquette was for gently kicking someone out so she could go to bed.

  Tamara smirked and glanced at the couch. “I think it’s time I head home and leave you to your cookies.”

  “You’re going to take some, aren’t you?”

  Tamara glanced at the plate with mock horror. “And wind up as big as I look in this coat?”

  “Wait, so you want to sacrifice me to the gods of chocolate and butter, but you won’t face them down with me?”

  Tamara laughed. “Just pace yourself. I imagine you’ll survive if you take the battle slowly. Besides, you already know I think you should eat more than you do because of the gaming.”

  Devon glanced at her now-cold macaroni and pushed it aside before grabbing another cookie. Good point on needing to fuel for a potential marathon session ahead. “By the way, fair warning: when you log in, you’ll probably be instantly incinerated by hellfire. Drop me a message when you respawn at the shrine, and I’ll come and teleport you out.”

  Tamara’s brow furrowed. “Hellfire sounds…unpleasant.”

  “Yup, so I hear. But at least it’s a quick death, right?”

  “If you say so.”

  ***

  Settlement: Stonehaven

  Size: Hamlet

  Ownership: Contested - 65%

  Devon grimaced and quickly switched tabs to a settlement interface page she’d almost always ignored entitled Regional. For most of her time in the game, it had shown a high-level map of the area with pins for the named areas she’d discovered or heard about. The Argenthal Mountains hemmed Ishildar to the east with the Felsen Spire marked in their heart. To the south of Ishildar stood Stonehaven, and beyond that, the Fortress of Shadows and Noble Coast—demon territory now. West and southwest, the Drowned Burrow stood near the Mudpots of Ven, an impassable area of boiling mud that lined Ishildar’s western boundary. North of the ancient city, the Stone Forest was a narrow strip of petrified trees standing between Ishildar and the cracked landscape of the Skargill Mountains.

  Also marked were the bindstones that Devon could teleport between. Together with the Shrine to Veia, she could travel to the edge of the Stone Forest and a bindstone in the foothills of the Argenthals. Not much in the way of a transportation network, but she hadn’t had much time to explore in search of more stones.

  She shifted her weight on a stone bench tucked into one of Ishildar’s secluded courtyards, a place she’d come to assure she could have a little time to search through her interface in peace. Somewhere in the empty buildings behind her, a bird or small animal rustled, but otherwise, the area was silent.

  Okay, hopefully this would work.

  When she focused her mental attention on the map pin for the ancient city, an options button appeared, which she clicked.

  -History

  -Population

  -Resources

  -Ownership

  Note: Information on settlement population and resources is limited for settlements which you are neither the manager nor a citizen.

  She smirked as she focused on the Ownership button and clicked. Duh. Maybe it should have occurred to her to look for something like this before Stonehaven was overrun. But she tried to console herself with the notion that the whole “you are now the Keeper and supreme ruler of the city” thing had led her to think she might just be done.

  Settlement: Ishildar

  Size: City (ruined 94% - at 100%, settlement will be considered ‘vanished’ and will not be able to be rebuilt)

  Ownership: Unowned

  Special: Ishildar may only be managed as a settlement by an individual who has met the qualifications to be named as its Keeper. Currently, the Keeper of Ishildar is Devon. Non-Keepers may reduce the ownership status to ‘contested’ or ‘unowned’ by attacking and occupying the city, but control cannot be transferred.

  You meet the requirements to assume ownership and management of Ishildar.

  Accept? Y/N

  When Devon clicked ‘yes,’ a chime rang through the city, sounding similar to the ding that heralded a level-up notification. Devon curled h
er toes as she felt the little thrill of accomplishment that the sound created. It was totally Pavlovian, of course, a conditioned response after so many years of gaming.

  Still. If someone could invent a device to give her dings for real-life accomplishments, things like, say, figuring out how to hard boil eggs so that the shell wasn’t all stuck to the white part when she went to peel it, Devon would totally be a more functional adult.

  Congratulations! You are now the official owner of Ishildar (Uncontested). You remain the owner of Stonehaven (Contested - 66%)

  Additional settlements pay fealty to you based on your region of control. You may now access information and requisition resources from the following settlements (available supply depends on vassal settlement morale and your reputation with factions within the settlement).

  Settlements sworn to Ishildar

  Felsen Spire

  New Galvan

  Chasm View

  Vulture’s Rift

  Settlements sworn to Stonehaven

  Player Camp (ruined 100%, defunct. Any remaining materials will vanish in 2 days, 3 hours)

  Devon grimaced at the reminder of the player camp’s fate, and her brow knit when she looked at the names of the other settlements. Felsen Spire she recognized, but what the heck were those other three? When she focused on the names, little information windows popped up.

  New Galvan - Population 75: Built upon the site of an ancient felsen holdfast that was known as Galvan, this village was founded by the residents of Felsen Spire after the orc infestation was cleared from the Cavern of Spirits.