Turin was sincerely happy to have the players back, although he had to do a decent job. Until nightfall, the dwarf crushed Draugr"s bones with his hammer.

The players carefully collected the ashes of the monster and placed them in a specially forged container, which was later hidden in a stash. One day they will reach the sea, and the dead spirit will rest in the salty waters of this world.

There had been many changes in the castle, but because of fatigue, Dan didn"t have the strength to look around.

The carpenters made the furniture, and the castle got a residential appearance. Now each of the players slept in their own room.

Dan took a look around his room. A bed with a pillow and a mattress stuffed with gra.s.s. Several animal skins sewn together replaced the blanket. A small chest for personal belongings. That"s all he noticed in the evening when he fell on the bed.

*

This morning, Dan decided to look at all the changes in the castle.

The living room was empty, all players had already got up and left their rooms.

There were fixtures and candles on the walls. The Donjon Gate was open, there was a noise from the yard. The flame of the Respect was cheerfully crackling with tiny sparks. The bowl was filled almost to the edges.

Dan stepped out into the courtyard and smiled at the frowning sky, looking at the courtyard, which had changed beyond recognition.

Now there was a real sports ground near the chapel under the wall, where Dan saw the equipment. The dwarf managed to make a simulator from John"s drawings. The a.s.sa.s.sin got some Glory from this case.

Michael and Alexander are now frozen on a small training ground. They listened attentively to a man who wasn"t young and was sitting at the edge of the court. Dan noticed a couple of rough crutches near the chair. Looks like that"s the cripple from the caravan security.

Nick was at the gym, John was standing next to him and saying something to a friend.

Another stranger was standing next to them, sometimes saying his words.

Yesterday, when Turin opened the gate, Dan walked past them and didn"t even notice.

Dan walked up to the boys.

"Alan, don"t be scared, this is our Inquisitor. His name is Dan," said John.

"I"m not scared," said the redheaded guy. "Are you the Inquisitor or the Witcher?"

Dan took a good look at the new player"s eyes. The redhead wasn"t afraid, his face expressed complete peace of mind. Dan thought that Alan wasn"t particularly concerned about the details of the new world. Alan made the impression of a tourist.

"Good morning, Alan. You know, I only looked like a witcher after visiting the local cemetery. But you"re right! I"m more like a witcher than an Inquisitor," replied Dan.

"You"re good with monsters, disgusting att.i.tude with locals," nodded Alan.

"I didn"t have time to talk to the locals," said the Inquisitor.

"But you"re right about monsters, Alan," said Nick. "Dan was our main force in the cemetery."

Dan waved his hand and apologized:

"Nice to meet you, Alan. Guys, I"m going to the blacksmith"s."

Alan seemed like a smart and calculating man.

There was smoke over the blacksmith"s, hammer hits. Dan was planning a mission for Turin. The player had an idea.

There were changes in the blacksmith shop, too. Some of the charcoal crates had disappeared, and Jim was sitting at his private desk in the vacant s.p.a.ce. He was carving something out of leather.

"I"m on a case," said Dan.

The dwarf hummed and looked at the player with interest.

"Can you wrap my bracelets in regular gloves? I got a sword, I got to get used to it."

"I heard about your sword and your adventures," said the dwarf.

Turin took the bracelets and spun them in his hands, then put them aside. He looked at Dan and said quietly:

"I have a strong desire to put your empty head on an anvil and knock on it with a hammer. Maybe then you"ll have something in your head that will help you think."

"If I get an achievement for an experiment like this, I"m willing to try," joked Dan.

"Joker. With bracelets, I"ll try. It"ll be hard, but I can rebuild them. But their quality can change."

"It"s not scary. I"m used to them when I"m not wearing them, it"s like I"m naked. And I don"t want to lose my protection."

"Dan, you want some advice? Take your new sword and bury it in the ground deep. Things like this have never done any good."

"I can bury my sword. What do you suggest I do with this?" The player patted on an artifact that was hanging on his belt. "It can"t be taken off or sold."

"You"re a fool who plays dangerous games. These things are not cursed for nothing," said the dwarf angrily.

"So I"m a fool. Can you do such a thing?"

Dan pulled out a dwarf page with a drawing of an armor part...

The dwarf picked up the piece, looked at it carefully, looked at the player and hummed it again.

"Do you think they"ll pay less attention to you with that?"

"It"s going to wrinkle less. Will you do it? Michael has given permission for any material available."

"I"ll do it. But it"s an unusual armor. Although your cla.s.s will be better with it."

Dan nodded to Turin and decided to go back to the castle.

He made some important requests. He"ll get better equipment.

Dan went into the hall with the fireplace in the donjon. He wanted to finish the bestiary and start describing yesterday"s events.

Cursed sword, you fool, bury it deep... oh Turin, Turin.

This strange sword told me how the cursed objects appeared.

Michael doesn"t know yet, but he"ll also be interested in the story of the sword.

There was a fireplace burning in the hall, two rocking chairs set up in front of him. In the center of the hall appeared a large wooden table and chairs.

On the table, there was a flat wooden box. Dan was surprised. Who made chess? The figurines were stylized to reflect the realities of this world. By the chess, there was a wooden gla.s.s with dice already familiar. Soon the company of players would make Gandalf draw playing cards.

Dan came to the fireplace and pulled on his chair, and heard a low growl. Right in front of the chairs, wolves were sleeping by the fireplace. And they had grown well, three times their original size, and that"s only the second feed. It"s unbelievable.

Dan sat in the chair and started working. He"d write down memories on a page, and he"d sew this page to a stack of homemade books. The work was monotonous, and time flew by unnoticed.

At the edge of his hearing, it was like a bell rang.

What the h.e.l.l"s this about?

He checked the interface, there were no new messages. Dan shrugged his shoulders and continued recording. Interrupted his session with the leader"s voice:

"Dan, do you need a special invitation?"

"Invitation to what?"

"For lunch, did you not hear the bell?"

"Was that the bell for lunch?"

"Let"s go to the table."

"Is there still time?"

"We"ve got about ten minutes until Turin and Jim get here."

"Then sit down next to me and listen to an interesting story before lunch."

Michael sat in his chair. Dan took the writing instruments out of the inventory, and a sword appeared on the Inquisitor"s lap.

"And he changed," Michael noticed.

"Yes, he"s lost his skull and bone jewelers, now Tarrok looks like this. Tarrok is the name of the sword."

"Why can"t I see his description? What does he look like?"

"It"s a feature of all cursed objects, characteristics, and descriptions only the owner of the object can see."

"And now what? You"re not showing it to me just to show off. You"ve learned something, haven"t you?"

"I learned a lot. I now know why these objects are called cursed. Are you interested?"

"Of course I"m interested, go ahead and tell me."

"This blade was forged about nine centuries ago for a young knight from an ancient n.o.ble family in Galatea. These are the ruins in which you appeared in this world."

"How do you know this is the city?"

"My subcla.s.s has a skill, it allows you to read unfamiliar symbols. Many symbols I don"t understand, but I do understand the general meaning. And I"ve seen the name of the city a lot."

"In a cemetery, on gravestones," Michael guessed.

"Yes, that"s where. This blade is made for a certain cla.s.s. It cost a lot of money to make it. The description refers to a box of gold bars. And most of the gold didn"t go to the blacksmith who made that sword."

"And who got the gold?"

"You"re a disgusting listener, you always interrupt!"

"Yes, I am an impatient man. What cla.s.s could own this object?"

"Paladin."

"And the paladin is supposed to be G.o.d"s warrior. Then it"s clear where most of the gold has gone. As a gift to the G.o.d."

"That"s right, Michael. You got it right."

"But there are no G.o.ds in this world."

"Wrong."

"Dan, you"re going to make me hysterical."

"There are G.o.ds here, they"re just dead right now."

Michael leaned back in his chair and said softly:

"This is the moment I don"t understand. You can"t kill the G.o.ds. Or is it possible?"

"I won"t be reminiscent of the different Earth religions. We are dealing with a new world. Here, G.o.d can be killed by another G.o.d, according to information received. And this sword on my lap was dedicated to one of the local G.o.ds. That"s why it"s cursed."

"Are there any G.o.ds here that aren"t local, other people"s G.o.ds?" immediately captured Michael"s main point.

"Gandalf had a wonderful memory for symbols and hieroglyphs. He drew me a whole leaf of strange symbols, which I could hardly translate."

"Are these the inscriptions on the stove where he was tortured by the witch?"

"It"s from the stove on which he survived the most unpleasant hours in the world.

That"s interesting information. It looks like a legend. Some G.o.ds created this world, and everything here was like heaven. The situation changed when other people"s G.o.ds came into this world. There was a war with no winners left."

"Wait, did they kill each other?"

"Yes. The raging cataclysms practically destroyed the civilization that exists here. That explains why this world is so poorly populated. But the worst part is that the dead bodies of the G.o.ds are still lying somewhere in this world! And yet all these remains are very hard to radiate.

It"s because of this magical divine influence that a lot of magical creatures are around here.

This fact explains why the locals don"t like to talk about G.o.ds. At this point, it"s all the information from the stove. To learn more, to get the big quest, we have to go there. And there will be a witch waiting for us, a friend of Gandalf"s. You"ve seen the initial level of our magician.

Our magician is weak, but he"s already impressive. I"m sure the old sorceress will cause us a lot of trouble."

"Huh, when you think about how wonderful the storyline is in our game. And the most interesting thing is how it can develop," Michael thought. "I don"t understand what you can do with the bodies of the G.o.ds."

"That"s a good question. Saw it up and tear it apart as a souvenir! You"ll understand that there will be a long quest for each part of the body."

"We"ll go to the witch when we solve the werewolf problem. What else did the information reveal to you?"

"My knowledge also works on cursed objects and complements the description. For example, there"s a whole page written on Tarrok and it"s not all description.

This blade was dedicated to a local deity named Sardar. Judging by the description, this G.o.d was not a cutie, but a big b.a.s.t.a.r.d. He loved sacrifices and encouraged them very much.

Also interesting are the features of the blade itself. It"s not proper for a paladin to wear such a sword."

"You"re kidding me on purpose, right?"

"He made me a Kamikaze. I have every right to be. This sword is an ancient, handmade thing."

Dan looked at the swords and read a description of Michael:

*

Tarrok

Type: unique. Linked to Dan"s character

Attention! Cursed artifact! The influence on the gameplay 0%

Damage: 1600-2400 [Critical damage: 4400-7200]

Durability: Indestructible

Weight: 3 pounds

Combat skill:

"Cutting the Void" Increases the chance to ignore the enemy"s armor and cla.s.s abilities. Cooldown 120 seconds. [10/10]

"Drinking the Life" 4% of the damage done in HP restores health. [10/10]

*

Michael listened carefully to the characteristics of the sword and admitted honestly:

"You"re so sly, Dan. You got a vampire sword. Alexander will die of envy. The skill of ignoring the enemy"s armor is also excellent."

"Unique weapon. Very solid and impressive. I"m most excited about Durability: Indestructible," said Dan.

"Guys, let"s go down to the hall. Everybody"s here, just waiting for you," said John, who looked in the room.

"We"ll be right there," said Dan.

Michael asked another question:

"If the blade is made for the paladin, how could you equip it?"

Dan shrugged his shoulders and smiled:

"The Inquisition is holy and infallible. A cursed object made for the paladin, but there"s no limit to it. I have a hunch about that. You see, such objects are considered dangerous for a reason."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, these things are a little "alive". I don"t have all the information yet, I"m going to have to wait until I"m as good as I can. But what we do know isn"t little. This sword really does give me a piece of the life of an enemy being killed. But I am sure! Only a smaller part will suit me. Do you have any idea where the rest will go?"

"It can"t be," Michael looked at the blade with fear. "Is he going to develop himself?"

"The sword will become stronger and more powerful. My description clearly states that one day this sword will consume too much of someone else"s life. Then it can swap with the master of the roles."

"Can you get rid of this sword?"

"Can"t, it"s not taken off, it"s not transmitted."

"Then don"t use it. I don"t care about his bonuses for that price."

"No way! The sword has "equipment automatically activated in combat" status. I can"t put it out of my inventory."

"And you"ve got a book," mumbled funny Michael.

"And a book, too. And until I reach a certain level, I won"t know what it can do. I can only hope that the effects of the book are still blocked."

"You can make me happy, Dan."

"I"m amazed at myself. I was nothing and n.o.body in the past life. And then suddenly there"s a bunch of talent. Throw myself off a cliff with a heavy load, but there"s no point, I"ll come back to life."

"Okay, Dan, don"t worry, we"ll figure something out. Come on, we"re having a party today.

About everything you"ve told me, don"t say a word to anyone yet."

"You can"t do that, they have to know."

"Then see for yourself, let"s go. Let"s take the newcomers to the clan."

"Is it that serious now? Did you come up with a special ritual?"

"We don"t need a ritual. But we can add a little celebration for such an important occasion."

Players have left the room. Then another person came out of the room. n.o.body noticed him.