AlterWorld

Slowly, she shook her head. "I thank you, young warlock. I am not going anywhere without my warriors."

New quest available! Free the Drow Princess I!

The Cutthroats' leader can't leave her men imprisoned. Dead or alive, famous warriors always come back together. Or they don't come back at all. You must free all the captured Elves.

Reward: Access to the Quest Free the Drow Princess II.

A cutthroats' Princess? Apparently, I was into some serious people. I ran my eyes over the line of caged Drow. Inerion, level 94. Lauinel, level 101. Akhsan, level 98. Princess Ruata, level 161. What had I gotten myself into? How had my gnolls managed to put these aces behind bars? Was this cave really as low-level as I thought? Let's just hope I was dealing with nothing more serious than goblin magic or game developers' sick sense of humor.

I accepted the quest and nodded my agreement with the Drow maiden's conditions. An emaciated face, thin wrists, a blue vein pulsating on her neck. How long had they been here?

I dropped my bag and knelt, feeling inside for a sandwich. Then I turned to a silent rogue nearby.

"You think you could spare some food and drink?"

He nodded.

"You mind sharing it between the Drow, please? I'll make it up to you."

The kid nodded again and reached into his bag without saying a word. He seemed all right. I had to add him to my friend list. That would make him my second rogue friend.

The Princess pressed a clenched fist to her chest (and a wonderful chest it was, I had to admit) and gave me a slight bow. "Thank you, my High brother. I shall never forget it."

Quest alert! Free the Drow Princess I quest is now unique!

Reward: Unknown.

I mirrored her gesture. For a second, I stared deep into her eyes, my gaze cementing my promise. Then I turned around and walked towards the cave's entrance without looking back.

The cave wasn't pitch black but rather semi-dark. Colonies of some fluffy moss clung to its walls and emitted a purple light, lending the place the likeness of an acid club.

Normally, the first few dozen feet are safe in any location. This is where teams meet before the raid and this is where they stack up the killed monsters in order to clear the way. There you could often see a player in his underpants about to start looking for his grave somewhere in the depths of the tu

Right now the safe spot was deserted. Or so I thought. Then I heard a fearful hick! I turned my head, trying to locate the source of the sound, then slapped my bear's iron ass to push him aside. In a niche behind him sat Taali, crouched in a heap.

"Gotcha!" I offered her a hand but the girl got stuck so deep in the crack that it took me some brute force to drag her out. "How did you manage to get in there?"

"How do you think?" she glared at the bear. "You've got your hippo to thank for that. He's sort of bigger than you think."

Okay, okay. I glanced at her stats. She was 14 already, leveling slowly but surely. Actually, considering the time she spent online, she could've done better.

"How's farming? How're mobs?"

"Actually, I only pull them from the edge. I manage to do about a dozen before they respawn. Gnoll warriors mainly, levels 9 to 11. You can get a few casters here, like shamans, healers and summoners, but then it's more difficult."

The girl fell silent and circled the bear with mistrust, studying whichever parts of him she could peek into. My pet shifted from foot to foot, red-eyed, not detecting any aggression toward either him or his master, his non-retractable claws screeching on the stone.

"Is it all yours? Wow. Where from? Is it my imagination or it used to be a Red Bear in its past life?"

"I still can't believe it myself. Don't even ask me to do the same again. It was a bit like jumping into a glass of water—you can do this sort of thing but once."

Taali shook her head. "Holy cow."

"You could say that. Well, I'm off then."

I crossed my fingers, praying the girl wouldn't ask me to join their group. Not that I'm greedy or anything. Far from it. But this was a single ticket. True, Teddy could get us both beyond level 30. But it would take twice as long—no sleep, no logout. Could take a day or two. Tired, we'd most likely start making mistakes and flunk after ten hours or so. No amount of thanks and eyelash-fluttering could convince me to do it.

Taali proved quick on the uptake. "All right, sir. Off you go. By the way, from what I've heard, Gnoll King drops some crazy paladin gear," the girl glanced at me meaningfully.

I breathed a sigh of relief and saluted her. "Yes, ma'am. I got the message."

She laughed and poked me in the shoulder. "Go rattle your sword for a bit. Make sure you stay in one piece. There's only so much you can loot."

Who was it who said that women prefer men with potential?

I waved her good-bye and stepped inside the cave. Taali had already mopped up the first few rooms. I peeped into the next one. A couple of gnoll warriors guarded the entrance and the exit. A few patrols were cruising the room in chaotic and unpredictable trajectories. In the back, a master gnoll was fidgeting over some ancient-looking machine. Level 14, he was the highest of all present, surrounded by a handful of apprentices. In total, just a snack for my pet. Let the show begin!

I didn't care much about a nice clean pull. Teddy had no problems handling a train. I simply selected the warrior closest to me as target and said, "Attack!"

With a growl, the bear charged.

After two minutes of animal noises, metal clanging and paws slapping flesh, the first room was gnoll-free. I glanced up at my experience bar. The fight had added twenty-four percent, not bad at all. I went through the bodies picking out the most valuable spoils. I wasn't sure whether to take Soul Stones or not but decided for it. You never knew when you might die, and that way I always had some high-level items. I was happy to see some quest bracelets—not just gray ones as earlier on the surface, but also a couple black ones. If I wasn't mistaken, they went for a good fifty copper.

I stopped for a moment checking the master gnoll. Among other trash, he dropped a heavy bunch of lockpicks. I fingered them, thinking, and turned around looking for my rogue friend. I couldn't see the little thief but the disappearing objects I'd discarded gave his location away.

"Hey, dude. Mind showing up for a bit?"

The rogue unstealthed and looked up at me, curious. He couldn't do much else, actually. He was kneeling with the end of his bag between his teeth where I'd just smoked four of the warriors, scooping in the battle booty.

I laughed. I couldn't help it. "Boy, you're a scream. What's your name? Bug? Suits you, sort of. If you think you're a super thief, here're some trade tools for you."

I flung him the lockpicks. The kid grabbed and inspected them.

"Zool! And I'm not a thief but a super spy. I'd love to level all stealth skills and become No 1 Spy."

"You go for it, dude. A spy will never want for work," I tried to conceal the skepticism in my voice. "If you don't mind me asking, why is your char the size of a garden gnome? Where have you seen a High Elf two feet tall?"

"I've just told you. Spies may need to crawl into places, especially hiding places. It's perfect."

"It is indeed," I had to agree. "Go ahead and hide, then. We're off. Hummungus, heel!"