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HTN 5-21 hiding the truth
🕑 Added 2021-04-07 01:56:18 +0000 UTCHeather stood at the foot of a robed Hathlisora with wings folded and tail wrapped around one leg. A delicate smile graced her face as she looked down with narrow eyes. Her left arm was curled as if about to play with her hair, but her right arm was extended, a single finger pointing down. At her feet was something of a map, laid out in stone.
“How did you find this?” Heather asked as Breanny and Quinny looked on in awe.
Iskathet scratched at her head, as she considered her reply.
“There were ruins here when I began,” she admitted. “On the surface were some minor buildings, nearly lost to the desert. Below was a scattering of collapsed tunnels or empty chambers. As I build my home, I exposed a few, but this was the only one that held anything of interest. If you do not mind my asking, why is this statue so important to you?”
“Can't you tell?” Quinny laughed. “Look at her face; she looks exactly like Heather.”
Iskathet looked between the two and tilted her head in confusion. “Is this you?”
“No,” Heather replied firmly. “But it's the reason why everyone mistakes me for her. I have managed to stumble on a trail of her artifacts. She even left things behind with messages addressed to me.”
“What?” Iskathet scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. Who would do such a thing?”
“None of us know,” Frank answered for her. “But we have decided to follow the trail and find out.”
“You must be making huge leaps of logic to connect these dots,” she argued.
“Hardly,” Heather replied. “She left me notes addressed to me, knowing I would arrive to find them. I can’t take a walk in the woods without magically tripping over one of her discarded gloves.”
“This doesn’t make sense,” Iskathet pressed.
“I have been saying that since it all started,” Heather replied and stepped closer to study the statue. “What is she pointing at?”
Iskathet turned to study the map and pointed to a location off to the side. “That is where we are now.”
Heather looked to see a miniature city with a blue-domed temple. This must have been an image of how this place once looked. She followed the path to see it was a significant distance to where the pointed finger indicated. Roughly following the point led to a black rectangular stone with a red line.
“And where is that?” Heather pressed.
“In the middle of the glass sea,” Iskathet said. “The mountain nobody dares go to.”
“Wonderful,” Heather remarked and looked to the others. “It’s obvious she is pointing to something important.”
Legeis looked over the map and did a silent calculation. “Maybe, but judging by the distance, that's days away.”
“And the map predates the glass,” Breanne observed. “So that structure she is pointing at was their first.”
“Who is this person that looks like you?” Iskathet asked.
“Her name is Hathlisora,” Heather replied. “She is rather infamous from the server's early history.”
“Hathlisora,” the ghoul woman said with a nod. “I have heard this name before. She was involved in something that sent King Kevin on a rampage.”
“Yep, that’s her,” Heather said. “She has angered nearly every major group of organization that I know of. She also bears a striking resemblance to me, which has caused no end of trouble.”
“Surely she has gone far from here,” Iskathet said.
“As far as we know, she's dead and hasn't respawned,” Heather corrected. “Which is another problem because people seem to think she is going to respawn and try whatever she was doing, again.”
“And they think you are her,” Iskathet replied as she connected the dots. “How unlucky.”
“Tell me about it,” Heather sighed and returned her gaze to the object in the center. “Did you know anything about the ruins before you built here?”
“I knew they were player-made and abandoned long ago. Two-player wraiths were haunting what remained when I arrived. It was only a single crumbling building and a few tunnels that hadn’t yet collapsed. They are both down in the city below the pyramid now. They are very nice.”
“I can only imagine,” Heather sighed and looked to the others. “Well, Frank was right; following this path was going to lead to more. And following that will likely lead to more and more.” She shook her head in frustration and paced along the map's edge studying the building in the center.
“Have you ever been to this mountain?” Heather asked, turning her gaze on Iskathet.
“Me? No, I cannot cross the glass, and I am not sure I would want to try,” she admitted.
“Why can’t you cross the glass?” Quinny asked.
Iskathet laughed and stood tall, her gaze sweeping the group. “The heat of the sands is nothing compared to the glass. Once the sun is high, the surface acts like a mirror, and the heat will kill anything trying to cross it. Even us undead don't dare the glass. We slowly burn and char like paper in a fire.”
“Sounds unpleasant,” Heather remarked and looked to the building. “What are the odds that building even remains? If Endril was telling the truth, a mountain fell on it and turned the sand to molten glass for miles around. What might have once been there could very likely be destroyed or inaccessible without a month worth of digging.”
“You aren't seriously considering going there?” Iskathet asked. “Nobody goes there.”
“How do you know that?” Heather asked. “Do you get out much?”
“There is no need to be rude,” Iskathet replied. “I have friends who come to visit from time to time. I hear of what is going on in the wider world and especially the desert. One of them has a temple on the trails used by travelers. She could tell you much of what is going on right now.”
“Maybe we should go speak to her,” Frank suggested. “She might know more about the mountain or the building that was once there.”
“If you seriously want to know more, she can tell you where to find a hidden library,” Iskathet pointed out.
“But that would mean veering off our current task,” Quinny pointed out.
“Hmm,” Heather said as she considered the map. “Is your friend's temple here someplace?”
Iskathet walked around to the side and pointed to a spot on the floor. “The map does not show it, but she would be roughly about here.”
“And that’s where the roads to the oasis are?”
Iskathet nodded as Heather began to weigh her options. There were now three paths to consider. Option one was to press on to cross the desert and deal with the egg. Two head for the glass and the mountain at the center, or three seek out this friend of Iskathet and see if she will share this library's location. Of all the options, this one was the most alluring. A library from years ago might contain all sorts of useful information. Not to mention there were a dozen books she was hungry to find and use to further her research. Still, this was one more distraction from what they all wanted, to settle down and play in their new homes.
“Alright,” Heather said as she worked out a plan. “We wanted to go to the town on the edge of the glass anyway. That means we need to get back to the roads. So, we return to the road, visit her friend and see if she is willing to help us. Then we move on to the glass and play the role of curious adventurers, asking a lot of questions about the mountain. Our primary task is to cross it and get to the other side and press on with our quest.”
“So you don’t want to investigate this object in the center?” Breanne asked.
Heather looked back to the map and shook her head. “I want to investigate all of it, but Frank is right once again; I have to finish some of the things I started first. We press on and deliver the egg. Then on our way back, we consider exploring what might be found in the glass.”
“It’s a good plan,” Breanne agreed with a smile.
“Egg go first,” Umtha acknowledged.
Frank stepped forward to look Heather in the eyes as she tipped her head back.
“You are sure about this?” he asked.
“When am I ever sure about any of this?” Heather asked. “All we can do is focus on one thing at a time and pay attention to the clues along the way. We already knew Hathlisora spent a lot of time in the desert. It only makes sense she visited some of the old player cities before they were destroyed. What she was doing at that black object, and why was it hit by a mountain, we can only speculate. Tantalizing as it is, I don't want to waste any time running down something that was likely destroyed. We have the egg and the bracelet to guide us. Let's get that part done and then worry about the rest.”
Frank nodded and turned back to Iskathet as she listened on, dumbfounded by what she was hearing.
“So, could you show us where that water is?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said and motioned them to follow her.
Heather was amazed as they passed down narrow halls and through grand chambers whose walls were covered in pictures and symbols. Some rooms were lit, many others dark, but all were shrouded in mystery. They passed through a secret door in one chamber to a spiral staircase that went down for many long minutes. It arrived at a series of rooms meant to hide a second secret door that led to a vast cave tunnel. This eventually opened out into a massive cavern whose ceiling was so high Heather couldn't see it. Stagtites hung from above, appearing out of the blackness to reach the floor. Here before them was a city of yellow stone buildings decorated with bone motifs. It was a city of the dead, with streets were populated by wandering skeletons and shambling zombies.
“This is impressive,” Frank said as they passed down a broad causeway. “You made all this?”
“Beleive it or not, the cave was already here,” Iskathet admitted. “There is an entire underworld of tunnels under the lands. The entrances are hard to find, but once you do, you can wander for weeks in the twisting tunnels.”
“Don’t the dwarves have cities in the under realms?” Quinny asked.
“I know they do,” Frank said. “So do a bunch of other races, but I have never seen them.”
“You mean there are whole civilizations underground?” Heather asked.
“You didn’t know?” Iskathet remarked as she cast a glance over her shoulder at Heather.
“She doesn’t play games,” Frank replied for her.
Iskathet shrugged and moved on, taking them around a corner of a building that looked boarded up and haunted. Ahead of them was a stone basin, and to their great relief, water flowed out of a central spire to create a fountain.
“Thank goodness,” Heather said as they drew closer. The water looked clear and wonderful, so she instructed Legeis to set the door against a wall. Iskathet was shocked when Frank walked through the opening and vanished, only to return a moment later with a barrel over his shoulder.
“This is amazing,” she said and looked at the wooden frame that created a slight arch. “I can see right through it, but it goes someplace else?”
“It does,” Heather said. “You’re welcome to go inside. It’s just a small storeroom.”
“I will remain here,” she replied and studied the structure intently.
Frank and Legeis filled five barrels and returned them to the room as Heather asked questions about the city. She was enthralled by the idea of an underworld hidden from the surface. Iskathet didn't know much about the underworld itself, but she explained the tunnels' twisting nature. Several connected to this massive cavern, and she had dared to explore a few for a short distance. The only players who dwelt down here were two wraiths, a couple who came into the server together. Heather didn't see either of them the whole time, and Iskathet said they preferred to haunt distant part of the cavern.
Once the barrels were full, Iskathet took them to a building that resembled a warehouse. Inside was an assortment of chests, urns, baskets, and the like. In one of them were dozens of bundles of dry rations, the starting food of new players. She explained that adventurers still managed to stumble into the upper pyramid from time to time, and she collected their equipment here.
Heather graciously thanked her for the food, and Legeis carried it in by the basket full to store in the magic room. Once it was packed away, she offered to give them a tour of the city, explaining the many buildings and the nature of the cities inhabitants.
“I keep most of my minor undead here,” Iskathet admitted. “I prefer to use the ghouls in the pyramid as my main force, though there are other monsters about.”
It all made sense, but something bothered Heather. She leaned over to whisper to Breanne as they rounded a corner.
“Do you remember the pictures on the walls in the first chamber?”
“Yes?” Breanne replied, wondering why they were whispering.
“It showed the pyramid being built by hand using magic and portals,” Heather pointed out. “But when Frank asked earlier, she brushed it off with a vague answer.”
Breanne nodded gently and leaned over to speak more carefully as Frank asked Iskathet about one of the buildings.
“She is hiding something,” Breanne agreed. “But how do we find out?”
“Simple,” Heather replied. “We ask her directly.” With that, she cleared her throat and spoke up, causing the group to cease its march.
“So who really built this place?”
Frank turned about in alarm, looking to Heather as if insulted for Iskathet.
“She already told you she did,” he implored.
“No, she told you the cave was already here. She never committed to an answer. She doesn't want to answer because she is trying to hide something.”
Frank turned to Iskathet as the ghoul woman tensed.
“You did build this place, didn't you?” he asked.
Slowly she shook her head as Frank flinched, his hands curling as if about to fight.
“I suppose it is time I told you the truth,” she said, causing the others to look about nervously. She threw up her arms to show she meant no harm. “Please, I am not about to attack you.”
“Then what are you about to do?” Heather asked.
Iskathet let out a sigh and dropped her arms. “I didn’t build this pyramid here by chance. I was told to build it here and to keep it safe until it was needed.”
“Needed for what?” Heather asked and looked to Frank for support. He scratched at his head and moved forward to meet Iskathet face to face.
“Why are you keeping this a secret from us?”
Iskathet let out a sigh. “I used to lair in the hills that run along the desert. When the server was young, I met a group of adventurers hoping to set out into the desert and form a new kingdom. One of them was a woman who looked very much like her,” she said pointed to Heather. “She went by the name Hathlisora and was one of the kindest players I have ever met.”
“You knew who Hathlisora was?” Breanne stammered. “Then what was that act you put on in the chamber above?”
“I needed to know why this was important to you,” Iskathet replied. “When you entered my pyramid, and I got a good look at her, I knew I had to learn more. I took Frank directly to the statue to see how he would react. As I suspected, he insisted on bringing the rest of you down.”
“You were testing us,” Heather said. “But who told you to build it here?”
Iskathet looked to Heather with sorrowful eyes. “The wizard who traveled with them did. He helped lay out the geometry and exact placement. He said the earlier complex was destroyed by enemies seeking to prevent something from happening. He and the woman who looks like Heather opened portals to other places, and using the ghouls; we quarried stones. They were brought here, and the pyramid was built by hand. I took possession of the tunnels and halls, of course, but the city is fully my creation, as is the graveyard around the pyramid.”
“I have a headache,” Heather groaned. “What was this wizard's name anyway?”
“He didn't tell me,” Iskathet replied. “But he was specific about how this place had to be built. He said it was going to be important.”
“Why didn’t he remove that strange room with the statue?” Heather pressed, trying to make the pieces fit.
“I dug the lower tunnels with some of my ghouls,” Iskathet admitted. “I found that room myself.”
“So Hathlisora and a wizard friend come to you and offer to help you build a pyramid on this specific spot for a reason unknown. It's to replace the structure that used to be here but was destroyed by other players to prevent something from happening. You are to guard this pyramid until it is needed. They move on, and you decide to dig deeper tunnels, finding both the chamber and the caves. You then build your city down here, with a couple of other players, and have been here ever since.” Heather listed off all the points as Iskathet nodded, looking rather uncomfortable.
“I realize how silly this sounds,” Iskathet said. “I don’t know why they built it, or why I am protecting it, or even when it will be needed. But I could not turn Hathlisora down. She was very kind to me and treated me like any other player. I am sure you understand how rare that is for a monster player.”
“Unfortunately, I do,” Heather agreed. “Well, this is another bundle of mysteries to add to my list. Now we need to figure out why she wanted this pyramid built and protected.”
“It would be fascinating to know what was here first and why it was destroyed,” Breanne added.
“Maybe this friend of hers can tell us,” Quinny suggested.
Heather nodded but went back to Iskathet with a thought. “You have been here since the beginning, living in the hills. Surely you know something of what was happening in the desert.”
“It was a better time,” Iskathet said with a sense of remorse. “Players came to the desert in large numbers, and many monster players laired in the hills or deep sands. There was a nearly straight road through the desert linking a series of player cities. There was one that had pyramids as well, but they were golden, and there was a garden with fountains and flowing water all around them. It was an open city, where monster players were welcome to buy and sell.”
“They had cities like that?” Heather balked.
“I told you about those,” Breanne remarked indignantly.
Heather shook her head and acknowledged Breanne had indeed told her about such cities, but they were in the necromancer’s kingdoms where it seemed expected. She had no idea such cities existed outside that isolated incidence.
Iskathet went on to explain how thousands of players once played in and around the desert. The open city allowed monster players to issue challenges and offer rewards to players to tempt them into their carefully crafted dungeons. It was a good time, but it had its problems. There was always the core of problem players who made it a rule to reset monster players. The more a monster player had to lose, the greater a target they became. It was a constant struggle and the monster players, along with some hero players, formed a sort of guild to challenge the trouble makers. In the midst of all this came Hathlisora, who, along with her party, began some sort of project in the desert. She heard of their group taking down some of the biggest threats, including those problem players. Her party took on some of the highest-level players and drove them off, restoring a sort of peace to the region.
“I am beginning to like this woman,” Heather said and urged her to continue.
Iskathet explained how this period went on for over a year, but then it all changed. Players were suddenly at each other's throats, and monster players were not welcome anywhere, even in the open cities. She heard through her friends that some sort of fight happened between Hathlisora and some members of her party. They split into two groups, and players began to pick sides. Battles raged across the desert, and the cities burned, ending the shorter road across the sands. The battles extended to the surrounding lands, and suddenly, monster players were seen as a threat to everyone. It was now openly encouraged to reset monster players as a punishment for choosing to play such a class. People boasted that they were doing monster players a favor by allowing them to pick a proper race.
“This sounds familiar,” Breanne remarked. “I am willing to bet this coincides with the war on the necromancers.”
“I have heard that it does, but I never went to see the necromancer empire,” Iskathet admitted. “I have been told that Hathlisora was doing something here that upset people. She was accused of all sorts of crazy things like somehow killing players to steal their power or turning them to stone forever. I heard one rumor say she was raising an army of orcs, trolls, goblins, and giants to rampage through and destroy the player kingdoms.”
With a sigh, she finished with a description of how the desert became a barren landscape nearly devoid of players. Most moved on to seek less turbulent grounds to play, and many of the monster players grew sick of being reset. They picked hero classes and joined the other side. It was the only way to accomplish anything without being hunted down. Those few who still traveled here seemed only to be interested in crossing it. The battle that created the glass happened a few months after the sands were nearly empty. She had escaped the worst of this carnage by a clever ruse. She damaged and looted her lair, changing it so that every door was broken open and the traps all laid bare. It gave the illusion that other players had already raided it. She secluded herself to some hidden halls with all the ghouls she could muster. She wasn't sure how long they were there, but players did finally find them.
One fateful day the hidden doors that protected them were discovered and thrown open. She was sure this would be a group of players seeking to reset her, but instead, it was Hathlisora. She needed somebody to help her rebuild something important. She had four friends with her, a vampire named Lydia Valrossa, another a harpy woman with great blue feathers. She was called Sersi and was particularly angry. One was a human wizard, but she never did get his name. The last was a troll whose true class she never found out. She suspected it was a witch doctor as he carried a skull in one hand. He was always pressing them to hurry, saying it was going badly and time was running out.
“They offered to build me a fortress in the sands if I would lend them the aid of my ghouls to help do the work. They needed their ability to tunnel to accomplish the task quickly. She was very cordial and spoke to me as if we had always known one another. I realized that hiding in a hole was only going to last so long. I agreed to help them, and they took us into the sands, to the ruins of a previous city. I am not sure what city this was or how it came to be destroyed, but she was very upset about it. I heard her once say that another woman had betrayed her and caused all this. She was in some kind of pain as if her very body was a prison. Despite this, she worked with the wizard to open portals to other places. I sent hundreds of ghouls through and quarried the rocks with ease. They began to flow to the desert faster than they could be placed. The wizard left for a day and returned with a dozen rock giants who helped with the work. They can shape stone and levitate it with ease. They smoothed the rough cut blocks to polished perfection and placed them according to some plan. I never learned what was so special about this particular stone or why it had to be done this exact way. The inner rooms were left bare, but they told me to decorate them as I wished, even providing a vast amount of gold to help me purchase points.”
“This is all starting to sound much larger than we expected it to be,” Heather said and asked the obvious question.”Then what happened?”
“They finished the work and left,” Iskathet replied. “They told me I had to protect this place and to use a portion of the gold to fill the halls with traps, monsters, and every trick I could throw at players.”
“And you have been here ever since?” Heather surmised. “You have no idea what happened to Hathlisora?”
“Most of what I know about her current state I learned from you. I know she is missing,” Iskathet said. “I know because, as I said, I do have friends who come to visit from time to time. I asked Black Bast about her, and she relayed a rumor that Hathlisora had been accused of some kind of plot by King Kevin. He sent his paladins after her and condemned anyone who would aid her.” She paused to look at Legeis and Umtha, who noted the sudden glace. “I am told they went after the goblins particularly hard. For some reason, the goblins revered her and would not give her up.”
“Goblins, love Hathlisora,” Umtha grunted as Iskathet nodded.
Iskathet looked to Heather as her eyes dropped, producing a look of sadness. “I am sorry for you. Not only did you pick the most hated class in all the land, but you look like a woman detested by those in power. You should reset and pick a new race and class. To keep on this road is going to lead you to great pain.”
“Sorry, I happen to like who I am,” Heather replied but bit back her anger. “Thank you for telling us all this. I understand why you needed to be sure we could be trusted.”
“I appreciate that,” she replied. “But let me give you a warning. Do not be so quick to trust a player simply because they are undead. You told me right away that you were Heather the necromancer because you assumed I could be trusted with your secret. I assure you there are monster players who would gladly sell you out.”
Heather felt a chill run down her spine to think that such could ever happen. She realized that Iskathet was right, and the bounty on necromancers was so high even a monster player might try to collect it.
“Thanks for the warning. You have been a tremendous help to us. I wish there was some way we could repay you.”
Iskathet shrugged and scratched at her chin. “You could come and visit once in a while. I do find skulking about the city to be boring, thankfully Tanya and Tharsis are excellent at games.”
“Are those the wraiths?” Frank asked.
“Yes, they have a small collection of board games, and Tharsis is very good at crafting things. He makes little statues and creates new games out of them.”
“So what do we do now?” Quinny asked.
Heather paused to think about her next move. They needed to cross a significant amount of sand, so she asked Iskathet how her friends managed it. To no one's surprise, they all had magical means of travel and thus avoided the dangers.
“Well, then there is only one solution to this problem,” Heather said with a smile.
It took a long while, but they finally gathered in the graveyard to see a sky filled with stars. Heather led them to the walls and looked out into the sands from the direction they came.
“Wait here,” she said and took out her bird statue before handing the pack with Webster still inside to Frank.
“What are you planning to do?” Frank asked.
“I am going to arrange a ride,” Heather said with a smile and then changed into the raven, flying off over the dunes.
“She is very headstrong,” Iskathet pointed out.
“Heather is amazing,” Frank sighed. “I have never known anybody to think as creatively as her.”
Iskathet smiled at the response as a green light flashed in the distance.
“What is that girl doing?” Breanne remarked as something moved in the distance.
“Is that a sand dune coming this way?” Quinny asked.
“No,” Legeis said. “It’s bigger.”
“It has legs,” Frank added as the object plowed over the sands, coming closer and closer.
“It's the crab!” Quinny cried as they looked on in awe to see a single figure standing on top of the beast's shell.
Heather's hair blew in the breeze as she stood tall, holding her scythe firmly in hand. The zombie crab moved sideways across the dunes, effortlessly passing over them until it arrived beside the graveyard, towering over those below.
“Your chariot has arrived,” Heather called from above. She issued a command, and the crab began to shuffle its legs, burying itself into the sand until the others could easily walk onto the shell.
“She is powerful!” Iskathet gasped in awe as the group climbed onto the shell.
“Thank you again,” Heather said with a wave. “We will come back and visit, I promise.”
“I am sure you will, but heed one more bit of advice before you go. Don’t let Black Bast scare you off. She can be a little playful.”
With that thought in her mind, Heather tapped the shell, and the crab stood back up, scuttling across the sand with ease as they vanished into the night.
“Good luck,” Iskathet called to the night. “I hope you find what you are looking for before they find you.”
