Создатели Судьбы / The Creators of Destiny: Глава 34

Chapter 34

Camrad_RIP 06.12.22 в 13:19

++The same destroyers have passed, destroying everything in their path, and nothing is left alive

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 06:56

Darn! When will it end?

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 06:57

I marked the seventy-eighth option and set aside the folder with the papers.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 06:58

Searching in the archives turned out to be a real search: apparently, the developers wanted to make even this aspect of the gameplay as authentic as possible, and after a short conversation with the archivist I did not get, as is customary, an extract with all the information I needed. No - I looked for them myself!

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 06:58

The fight of free for all, now called "The Coming of the Armies of the Dark Mistress," lasted four years, ending in mutual extermination and the founding of the city of Adar, to whose town hall all these many documents were eventually brought.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 07:00

In fact, the room with the archives dedicated to those events was filled with drawers of folders filled with papers of varying degrees of shabbiness. Well, since it would be too expensive and time-consuming to fill up so much text, there was only one phrase or even one or two words on each sheet. But there was a whole page full of letters. One had to find a readable text among this mishmash, put the phrase together, and only then it appeared on the record sheet issued by the archivist.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 07:01

Realism, darn it!

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 07:02

I vaguely suspected that there were some mods or cheats that allowed me to immediately select the pieces of text I wanted without spending hours staring at the virtual paper I was using my virtual gloves. But a much more obvious suspicion was that once I started cheating and goodbye, solution!

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 07:05

When my wayward partner and I had led, or rather escorted, the crowd of civilians to the gate, we had to return, for it was at the entrance to the city that one of the rescued told us that there were three more brigands: those who were trapping lonely travelers. Those we had beaten out were taking their prey back to camp, but the catchers were still sitting in ambush and posing a threat. We had to go back. Healer whined and moaned, my legs were humming, my eyes were slipping, coffee in my mouth was bitter, bandits were two archers and a mage, that is the most uncomfortable opponent for the paladin. We barely made it. The healer quit right after the fight, had to wait for his body to disappear, and then dragged himself back to the city, alone, looking in all directions.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 07:10

After muttering to the priest in the temple that the kidnappers had been eliminated, I fell asleep and saw congratulations on receiving my new rank and a pile of reputation. They didn't give me any money or gear, the greedy bastards. I think I even managed to take a shower, judging by the towel hanging on the dryer, but when it was, I did not remember in the morning.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 07:11

And here I am in the archives. "Warrior of the Temple Guard" at level twenty-five. Ten levels ahead of the average paladin. I was a little bit ahead, but that didn't help with the papers.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 07:12

I adjusted my pillow, took a new sheet of notes from the drawer, leaned back, and started looking through it. Something was missing. That's right! I had to get up, go to the kitchen, make myself a coffee, peel off the finally cooled cookies from the tray and go back to bed. Work should be fun!

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:28

So, the sheet. There must be something in here that's useful, because I wasn't sent here for nothing, right?

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:29

"Stazza"... no, not that. "Vira"... not it again. Too "many letters," as they used to say when I was a kid, even if it was for a different reason. "Attb"... not... stop! "At the time before"... where? "Watch found"... "many fell"... Damn, what was in between? Watch found many have fallen - what to fill the gap? Nothing. All right, next.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:30

"Buried"... "laid down"... "retreated"... "reaped"... no, that's not it... "waited"... "fort"... "tower".

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:31

Turning the leaf over, I continued to fish the words out of the mishmash of letters and signs. "At that time... the watch found... many fell and were buried... lay... could not return after... waited for help at the fort... the tower was destroyed over."

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:32

There! "The tower was destroyed over the entrance to the old warehouses". Buried.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:33

Found it. No, I found it! This is exactly how a quest text to find a forgotten grave should look - a lot of water, vague hints, and minimum information.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:34

I looked at the seven remaining shelves of boxes and grimaced. There was nothing to be done, so I had to check. No matter how I looked at it, there might still be a clue. But as long as I can lift the visor of your helmet and eat a cookie, it's working! Now let's get on with it...

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:37

So far, everything was going as I thought it would. The quest for the title of a full-fledged Warrior of the Temple included everything I was supposed to - the enemy was a little stronger than I could handle, the combat tactics involved the use of all the studied abilities, the reward was meager, but it hinted that things would be much more interesting in the future. So, by the same logic, I should be tested by a quest. But what could be the reward? I thought that just by finding the armor of fallen warriors, I will get my title, but it was given just for the simple task of carrying out the robbers and escorting prisoners. What can I get for a full-fledged story quest, then?

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:40

Struggling to suppress the greed that cried out, "Gold! EXP!" - I took the next sheet. "Atraz"... "melitre"... "monedgar"...

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:41

"Brother Paladin, are you finished? It's evening, the archive is closing."

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:41

I stretched out on the bed. The pillow behind me was in hard clumps, the blanket had slid to the floor, and the sheet was strewn with crumbs and even coffee. Of course, there are advantages to working from home, but there are also disadvantages, such as the lack of cleaners.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:42

"Certainly, honorable Rakis. I've almost finished watching everything."

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 11:50

"Your diligence inspires some optimism about the current generation. Usually, people who come here demand to know everything about me and aren't even going to pay for it." The old man with the long gray beard and the scar across his face looked at me fiercely, as if expecting an objection, but then softened. "I always give them the same thing. As a small lad in the training detachment of His Majesty Aralix of the Seventh Uthar of the Second Heavy Infantry Regiment it was firmly ingrained - no diligence? No reward!"

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:01

I opened my mouth... and closed it. I picked up the sheet of paper with the notes reduced to a readable form.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:02

*****"In the battles for the foothills of the Adar range, the Uttar armies finished off the remnants of the Mala Destroyer's armies. The heavy infantry detachment closing the pass was retreating with the fighting and (apparently) encountered a detachment of special enemy fighters, suffered heavy losses, and the dead were left in the dungeons of some ruined tower, which was reported to the border fortress of Adar"

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:03

"Tell me, honorable Rakis, did the paladins of Amala often go with your regiment? No, wait, let me even ask you this: did your regiment take part in the war over the Adar Ridge two centuries ago?"

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:04

The old man proudly stroked his beard:

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:04

"Sure! Yours was there, too! The annals of my regiment are like a second history of this city!"

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:32

"And how often do people want to know this story?"

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:32

"You first, brother Paladin. Why are you smiling like that? Did I say something funny?!"

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:33

"No, no, I'm just glad for the unexpected turn of the search. I have to find out where my brothers fell in that war, and suddenly I find out that such a worthy man as you, a veteran of a glorious regiment, works in the archive, where there is a lot of information about this very "Second Heavy Uthar Regiment". Admit it, honorable Rakis, you have this chronicle, don't you?"

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:34

"Yeah, indeed. When I lost my leg, I was transferred to the magistrate and spent a long time digging through the dust. But what makes you think I'll give it to you?"

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:34

As expected.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:34

"We can come to an agreement, honorable one. For example..."

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:35

The old man withstood the gold. The armor was considered unnecessary. He needed no help with anything. He's the wrong kind of NPC. He's the one who should be asking for help, offering me his notes!

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:36

"This will work! Bring it, and I'll give you my work... temporarily."

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:47

Wait, stop, what did I promise?

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:49

"It's about time we had a song about those glorious times! And it should be like a march! In the meantime, get out, young man, get out! I remember how many times I slept on a soft paper in the archive. Off you go!"

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:51

I walked out of the room into the hallway of the town hall, bowed mechanically to the magistrate's clerk, for whom I had done a couple of messenger tasks, building up my reputation, and stopped on the porch. A song? In the rhythm of a march? If I sing, the gods will descend from heaven and change my class to the knight of death!

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:52

Although...

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:52

Calling up a list of friends, I checked online. There is one!

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:53

****Doroy, level 36 bard - Adar, the Tavern of Three Broken Fangs.

Camrad_RIP 10.12.22 в 13:53

Outside the windows, the evening turns to night, but in Adar the day has just ended. A light rain had fallen, summoned by the city's magicians to sweep the sidewalk of the day's dust, and couples were walking the streets. Deliverymen were hurrying about - and why couldn't they do it during the day? The Three Broken Fangs Tavern was in what they called the slums. So-called because even the most deprived parts of the city were more fun than some of the more upscale places I'd been taken to in the real world. Here, even the drunks are not so much lying around as lying against the walls of the houses, there is no dirty swearing or depressing argument between a man and his woman about the fate of a never-existing bottle that one of them supposedly drank, no hungry children, no piles of garbage. The latter, however, is thanks in part to city services entertaining noobs with clean-up quests.

Camrad_RIP 15.12.22 в 15:55

I would gladly trade my management company and neighborhood watchmen for the local utility magician and gatekeepers!

Camrad_RIP 15.12.22 в 15:56

It's unlikely they'll agree, though.

Camrad_RIP 15.12.22 в 15:57

I stood in front of the tavern for about five minutes, waiting for the stereotypical drunkard to fly out the door, but I didn't wait and entered. To the right of the door, on a high stool, sat a clan orc with a baton, a bouncer. At four long tables in the center of the room sat people of relatively bandit appearance - not exactly thieves, but no longer law-abiding citizens. So, people (and not people) of hard fate. The walls were lined with tables for two or three, separated by wicker partitions.

Camrad_RIP 15.12.22 в 15:59

Next to the counter, on a stool similar to the orc's, my acquaintance sat cheerfully playing something.

Camrad_RIP 15.12.22 в 15:59