Chapter Twenty-Seven

  During the first four months of Gamemakers Online, Alex managed to struggle her way to level 5. The task of reaching each successive level had felt Herculean, leaving her frustrated from the lack of progress and doubly so after she met Lily, who had managed to reach level 11 in the same amount of time.

  But once she perfected her AoE techniques, the experience flowed like a river and she reached level 11 in a fifth of the time.

  After taking down a group of tortured spikellamas, Alex reviewed her character sheet. She'd turned off the mass notifications during battle, but liked to review her information afterwards to see if anything had changed.

  Character: Alexandria Duke

  Level: 11

  Strength: 1

  Intelligence: 6

  Cunning: 23

  Agility: 2

  Endurance: 3

  Charisma: 1

  Class: Arcane Mastermind

  Subclass: Undecided

  Health: 81/144

  Faez: 54/153

  Armor Class: 15

  Fatigue: 45%

  XP: 834,199/900,000

  Skills:

  Analyze: 23

  One-handed Slashing: 1

  Fire Spells: 2

  Devious Device: 7

  Sense Direction: 25

  One-handed Whip: 9

  Water Spells: 8

  Cooking: 13

  Stealth: 6

  Climbing: 6 (+5 Ascending Boots)

  Air Spells: 26

  Unique Skills:

  Cunning Strategist: 4

  Mastermind: 2

  Spells:

  Dewdrop Orb: 7

  Minor Creation: 5

  Transference: 17

  Cloud Taunt: 33

  Misdirection: 5

  Wind Gust: 13

  Heal Minions: 8

  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.

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  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 1

  Faez: 20 ? Range: 20 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

  Heal Minions – Tier 2

  Faez: 20 ? Range: 50 feet

  Effect: Heal target minion 50 damage

  The additional spells she'd gained had been useful, especially Wind Gust when she had to deal with flying enemies. But mostly, she'd been keeping to her AoE strategy.

  Alex was finishing looting when she heard the sound of heavy wings approaching. She let the Wind Gust spell fade from her mind when she smelled butterscotch.

  "Hey, Ethel," said Alex.

  The Great Raven landed on a log near the pond, which looked different than it had a month ago. While the water remained, it was brackish, and the bushes and grass that had surrounded the pond were tramped into the mud. Only the colorful insects remained, biting her unprotected flesh when she wasn't paying attention.

  "Remind me never to ask you to remodel my nest," said Ethel.

  Alex wandered over to the bird. "I don't think I'll be getting my deposit back."

  While she stepped over the last spikellama corpse, Alex analyzed Ethel.

  Ethel Stormfeathers III, Great Raven, ??

  That the level was still hidden surprised Alex.

  "You know it's rude to do that while I'm staring right at you," said Ethel, with a head tilt.

  Alex raised an eyebrow. "You could tell?"

  Ethel ruffled her feathers as she high stepped to the edge of the log. "Lesser beings wouldn't know the difference, but I know how you visitors are, calculating everyone for profit."

  The coldness confused Alex. Last time they'd talked, they'd enjoyed friendly banter. Was she missing something or did reputation decay over time?

  "I have some more baubles for you," said Alex, reaching into her Handysack.

  The Great Raven lifted her head, her beak jawing at the air with excitement.

  To test her theory about decaying reputation, Alex handed over a single stack of fifty worthless baubles.

  +100 reputation with Great Ravens

  You have an indifferent reputation with Great Ravens

  Ethel tilted her shiny black head at Alex as she stood there with her hand hovering over her Handysack.

  "Holding out on me?" asked Ethel.

  "No," said Alex, shaking her head out of thought. "Here's the rest of them. I've been busy."

  The constant kills had provided an ample amount of meat, worthless baubles, and a fair number of chimeric stones. The additional three stacks brought her back to friendly territory.

  +100 reputation with Great Ravens

  +100 reputation with Great Ravens

  +100 reputation with Great Ravens

  You have a friendly reputation with Great Ravens

  Alex kicked at the ground. "So...how have you been?"

  Ethel lifted her beak as if she were standing before a fawning crowd. "I am well enough. These lands provide me enough amusement, though I suspect my enjoyment is different than that of you visitors."

  "Do you know where we come from?" asked Alex.

  She knew magic could bestow limited intelligence on constructs, but had never thought to consider artificial ones inside a game.

  "Yes, I am aware that you live outside this world and only come to play some strange game," said Ethel.

  "Then what is this world to you?" asked Alex.

  "For me, it is the real one, which makes you my illusion, rather than the other way around," said Ethel.

  "You're quite philosophical," said Alex.

  "And you're nothing more than a chicken hitting a button for a bit of feed corn," said Ethel.

  Alex held her hand to her chest. "Ouch. I thought we were friends."

  The Great Raven stared at her with pebble-black eyes. Alex pictured an old woman putting out a cigarette while blowing a plume of smoke.

  "We are, which is why I came back to visit you," said Ethel. "Or is that not something you do in your world?"

  "It is," said Alex. "It was good of you to come back. I enjoy having someone to talk to. This zone is rather lonely, and my minions are short on conversation."

  "Minions?" Ethel cawed. "You mean your little flying bloodsuckers."

  "Yes...and thank you again for the ointment. It's been pretty crucial." Alex cleared her throat. "Speaking of, do you happen to know anything about the high white spire on the western side of this zone?"

  "Ahh, yes. The Spire of Creation," said Ethel, adding a trilling croak.

  "I take it that's where the end boss for the Warped Forest is located," said Alex.

  "You got it," said Ethel.

  Quest Offered: Defeat the Warped Mother (+150,000 XP) [Y/N]

  Alex wasn't sure if Ethel had offered the quest or if the question she'd asked had triggered it, but she accepted it right away. That amount of experience would give her a whole level.

  "Anything you can tell me about the Warped Mother?" asked Alex.

  "Nothing you don't already know," said Ethel. "Look, kid. I like you, but I can't go spoiling the fun. That's frowned upon around these parts."

  "Yeah," said Alex. "I get it. But I had to ask."

  Ethel winked. "Actually, you didn't have to, but I get the sentiment."

  "What about the chimeric stones? Can you provide any insight into them?" Alex asked hopefully.

  "I can tell you as much as you already know," said Ethel.

  "Which is that they have to do with the Mother," said Alex.

  "You got it."

  "Wonderful," said Alex, thinking about her previous investigations, which had proved nothing about the stones. Her theory had been that they caused the warped creatures, but hearing about the Warped Mother changed her ideas. With a name like that, she imagined the creatures were birthed, or created somehow.

  But it wasn't her quest that intrigued her most. She'd thought about the Great Raven often during her time in the Warped Forest. Even the highest tech online games didn't have NPCs that seemed to have free will like Ethel Stormfeathers the Third. In fact, Alex wasn't entirely certain that Ethel was an artificial construct.She could be something else entirely. Maybe another person, or supernatural creature, living in the game like she was, with entirely different purposes.

  "So do you have a role in this world? Like a job, I mean? Flying around dispensing quests and items to us visitors?" asked Alex.

  Ethel stilled, her unblinking black eyes making Alex's face prickly with embarrassment.

  When Ethel didn't answer, Alex added, "Or...is asking a question like that rude?"

  -10 Reputation with Great Ravens

  "Got it," said Alex, hanging her head. "Sorry. I've been cooped up in my head for a while without anyone else to talk to, and I have all these questions about the nature of this place."

  Ethel shifted her black wings behind her back as if she were addressing a troop battalion.

  "I enjoy coming to visit you, kid. You've got spunk, but remember this is our world. We Great Ravens do not have jobs, nor are we merely quest dispensers. We have a higher purpose here, one that one of your limited experience would not understand. Remember that and we'll get along fine," said Ethel.

  With heat rising to her face, Alex bowed low before the Great Raven, bending until her face was only a foot from the ground. When she returned erect, the Great Raven gave her a little nod.

  +25 Reputation with Great Ravens

  "It's been a nice little visit, Alexandria Duke, Arcane Mastermind of the Eleventh Level." The big black bird shifted her body in preparation of flight. "I might come back and visit you again, so try not to die."

  "I would like that," said Alex, keeping her voice small. "It was good seeing you again. Have a good flight."

  Ethel lifted her huge black wings, thrusting downward with a little hop that lifted her into the air. Then three beats later, she was ascending quickly, once more leaving Alex alone.