Day Three. Morning.

I chewed over the alchemist’s words as I slipped out of his cabin. I could not fault his logic even if it left a bitter taste in my mouth. He was only half-right, I thought. Gold in itself would not let me escape the region, but it would certainly make acquiring the means to do so easier.

Ducking into the shadows still about the square— there were noticeably fewer of now—I surveyed the village.

More players were about. Most seemed to be searching for me in a lackluster fashion, some though moved about in organized bands.

I hesitated, torn between leaving immediately or continuing onward to my next destination. But once I left, I was uncertain if I would be able to return. Best to visit the dark druid now, I thought. Moving cautiously, I made my way south through the village.

It took me longer than I liked, and more than one detour, but eventually I reached the cabin Benadean had indicated. Thankfully it was on the outskirts of the village and in a less trafficked region. Even the search parties were less numerous here.

~~~

Outside the door, I paused.

Benadean’s words had painted an interesting picture of the dark druid. Mariga’s cabin, set away from the rest of the village, almost as if shunned, gave further credence to the barkeep’s tale. Wondering what it was about the druid that perturbed the other players, I raised my hand and knocked softly.

There was no answer.

After a long minute, I knocked again. Again, no one answered.

Just as I began to wonder if I was wasting my time, the door opened.

“Go away,” an unseen voice hissed from inside.

I frowned. My night vision was fully active, yet I could not penetrate the gloom of the cabin. Squinting, I peered harder.

You have failed a perception check! A veil of darkness has foiled your night vision. Your attempt has been detected!

There was a moment of startled silence during which I felt myself being re-examined—minutely.

“My, my, what a day it is for strange visitors,” the voice chuckled. “Now you have me curious. Come on in.”

Uh… I puzzled over the speaker’s words but couldn’t make sense of them.

“Well?” the voice prompted.

Warily, I stepped inside. “I can’t see…” I began.

A veil of darkness has been lifted.

My words ran aground as the darkness receded, revealing a thin lizard woman standing in front of me. The Dark druid?

Unlike the other lizardmen players, I’d encountered Mariga’s body and limbs were slimmer, almost shrunken by comparison. She lacked a tail too.

I frowned. Was the druid starved or crippled in some way?

Mariga’s snout was shorter and her face flat. Her skin was also strange. Where the scales of someone like Xrex were dull and lifeless, hers glistened with an inner radiance.

Beginning to suspect my initial assessment wrong, I reached out and analyzed the druid.

You have failed a perception check and are unable to analyze your target. This entity bears a Mark of Greater Dark.

“And here I thought you were a polite boy,” Mariga said, hissing in displeasure.

I bowed. “You’ll have to forgive me, but you don’t look like any lizardfolk I’ve encountered before. I was only trying to identify your species.” I paused, then forged on bluntly. “What are you?”

“Rude and ignorant,” Mariga remarked, ignoring my question entirely. But despite her words, the dark druid did not kick me out as I half-expected. “Come sit,” she said. “Let’s talk.”

I moved towards the chair she indicated, but halfway to sitting down, I paused as something else occurred to me. “You are Mariga, right? The dark druid?”

My host chuckled. “I am,” she said confirming her identity as she glided to a stop in front of me.

I couldn’t see her feet, they were hidden by the voluminous black robes covering her form, but now I doubted she had any. She’s more snake than lizard, I thought. A snake-woman?

“Now sit,” she commanded.

I sat.

Mariga did not join me in sitting, I noted. “So,” she said, after a long moment of silence spent examining me, “you are the one that’s got them in such a bother.”

I stared at her. “Who?”

She smiled. “The Powers. Erebus, for one,” she said, ticking off points on her fingers. “Ishita for another. Artem makes three and Loken four.”

My eyes narrowed. “You seem well informed.”

“Oh, I know lots of things,” she said airily.

“So which one do you serve?” I asked, casually dropping my hands.

The move did not go unnoticed.

“Oh, you have no need of your weapons, dear boy,” Mariga said. “I’m no enemy of yours. Trust me.”

I didn’t, not in the least. I smiled without conviction. “That I will not do.”

The druid laughed, the sound a hissing gurgle. “I don’t blame you. Trapped in Erebus’ and Ishita’s web all this time, it’s a wonder you have not been more deeply infected by the Dark.” Before I could respond to that, she went on, “But as surprising as I find your presence here, I’m glad for it.”

I eyed her suspiciously. “Glad?”

“I could use your help,” she said. “As could my mistress.”

“Your mistress?” I asked, feeling lost by the abrupt swings in the conversation.

“Haven’t you guessed? I serve Artem.”

“I see,” I said, recalling that to be the name of one of the Powers whose attention I had attracted in the dungeon.

“I’m here at her behest,” the druid added.

I wasn’t sure I believed her, but she knew more of me than she had any right to and seemed to practice deception nearly as effortlessly as Hamish. I could well believe her to be an agent of Shadow. What I didn’t know was why Shadow would seek me out after I had shunned it. “Why?” I asked.

“To look out for you, for one. To halt the Awakened Dead’s machinations for another.”

“And what are those that exactly?” I asked. “Why do Erebus and Ishita want this sector so badly?”

Mariga expelled a breath. “That, I don’t know. Yet. But I intend on finding out, and with your help, perhaps I can do that sooner.”

“So, is this another recruiting attempt? I warn you Loken has failed at that already.”

“Oh no, dear boy. I won’t try that. I judge you too cynical for my mistress’ taste, but I do have a task for you. It involves—”

“I’m not interested,” I said, cutting in. “I’m only here to find out how to get out of the sector.”

Mariga hissed again.

She was laughing, I realized. “What’s so funny?”

“Well, it just so happens I have the means for you to escape.” Pulling out a scroll, she said, “I managed to sneak this through the portal when I arrived.”

Curiously, I analyzed the item in her hand.

This is a portal scroll. This item allows a spellcaster to open a portal for a single player to any sector known by the caster. This item requires a minimum Magic of 20 to use.

My gaze flew up to meet Mariga’s.

“Yes,” she said, seeing understanding dawn in my eyes. “I can get you out.”

But you will only do that for a price. “Why do you need my help?” I asked. “You seem more than capable enough.”

Mariga sighed. “Because I can’t leave the safe zone.”

I looked at her blankly.

“Only followers of the Awakened Dead Powers may come and go as they please in this sector. As for the rest of us, the goblins manning the fort have been instructed to allow only low-levelled players outside the village—writ or no writ and whatever is going on in this sector, the answers are not to be found here, but out there.”

“So that is why the Erebus and Ishita have allowed the Howlers to close off the village,” I murmured.

She nodded.

“But why did they let you into the sector in the first place?”

“Because as much as Erebus and those other Awakened Dead fools may pretend otherwise, they are not the only Powers amongst the Dark. Others in the Dark grow suspicious of what the Awakened Dead do here. They have demanded access for our representatives and for now, remain content with the limitations Erebus has imposed in granting that access.”

“But you serve Shadow,” I protested.

Mariga hissed in amusement. “The Awakened Dead do not know that. My deception is high enough to hide my true allegiances from their minions here.”

“You have the deception skill?” I asked sharply.

Mariga laughed again. “Yes. Just like you. Congratulations on acquiring it, by the way. It is not easily obtainable. Loken helped you with that, did he?”

I nodded slowly, my head bursting with all the information Mariga had dumped on me. I still didn’t trust her, but what she said made sense, and if she really had a way out of this sector for me, could I ignore it?

I sat back in my chair and folded my arms. “Why should I believe you?”

She shrugged. “Believe me or not, I care not. But if you want my help getting out, then you will aid me in my own mission.”

I sighed. It seemed like no one in this world did anything without expecting something in return. “What do you want?”

“I want you to get rid of the goblin tribes.”

I blinked. “What? All of them?” I asked jokingly.

“Yes,” she said.

I stared at her. There was no hint of mockery or amusement on her face. “You’re serious? You want me to get rid of the Howlers, Long Fangs, and the Red Rats?”

She nodded.

“If the Red Rats are anything like the Howlers in size and—”

“They are,” she interjected.

“Then how in hells do you expect me to get rid of two thousand goblins?”

The dark druid shrugged her delicate shoulders. “I don’t know.” She stroked her leathery chin with one long clawed hand and stared unblinkingly at me. “But I’m dying to find out. I’ve been told to expect great things from you, and I think this is a suitable challenge to test your mettle.”

“Told? By whom?”

She waved aside my question. “Perhaps I’ll tell you if you do as I ask.” She paused and looked down her snout at me. “Will you?”

I ground my teeth together. Dealing with the minions of Shadow seemed an exercise in frustration. “How does getting rid of the goblins help you figure out what Erebus is about.”

“It doesn’t, but I don’t need to know what Erebus is after to stop him. It is obvious the Awakened Dead want—no need— the goblins here. And that is reason enough for me to want to make them go away.”

She was asking for a lot more than for me to make them go away. Still, I didn’t think I had much choice in the matter. I stared at Mariga for a moment. “I will accept the task,” I said, finally, “but I can’t promise I’ll be able to fulfill it.”

The druid nodded solemnly. “That will suffice for now.”

On the tail-end of her words a message dropped in my mind.

The Adjudicator has allocated you a new task: Goblin Wars!

Eradicate the delegations off all three goblin tribes in the sector. Objective 1: Destroy the Howlers’ delegation. Objective 2: destroy the Red Rats’ delegation. Objective 3: destroy the Long Fang’s delegation.

“Now,” I said. “Do you have anything to sell?”

~~~

The dark druid did not stock many items, and the ones that she did keep were magic-focused. However, she did have a few deception ability tomes on sale.

Facial disguise spellbook. Governing attribute: Perception. Tier: basic. Cost: 10 gold. Requirement: rank 1 deception.

Ventro spellbook. Governing attribute: Perception. Tier: basic. Cost: 10 gold. Requirement: rank 1 deception.

Simple Parrot spellbook. Governing attribute: Perception. Tier: basic. Cost: 10 gold. Requirement: rank 1 deception.

Lesser Imitate spellbook. Governing attribute: Perception. Tier: advanced. Cost: 20 gold. Requirement: rank 5 deception.

Reading the titles of the four spellbooks, I itched to pick them up and devour their knowledge, but they were oh so far out of my reach. “Why so expensive?” I asked.

“Expensive?” Mariga’s forked tongue slipped out to lick her snout. “This sector is in the middle of nowhere. I had to travel through multiple portals to get here. Not to mention all the trouble I had to go through to lug around the damn books myself, which I was forced to do without access to the Nexus.” She shrugged. “Sorry, but I must cover my expenses somehow.”

I sighed. “So you won’t go cheaper?”

“I won’t.”

“What about a… loan?”

A derisive snort was my only response.

Regretfully, I turned away from the books. Perhaps I shouldn’t have traded the siphon Class stone so quickly. “Well then, I best be going,”

“I look forward to your return,” she called after me as I headed for the door. “And to the success of your mission.”

I didn’t respond.