Chapter 14: Reconnaissance
"Okay, we have to get some intelligence on the enemy," said Tariel. "First things first, we should probably find a tavern. That's where all the quests are." Although the city was several kilometers across, it was easy to find the tavern because it was clearly marked on the heroes' new MGPS unit. When they got to the tavern they saw the following sign:
Welcome to the Dancing Donkey
Carpathia City's Largest Tavern
Over 10,000 Quests Per Day
NEW! Now a Wireless Hot Spot
"What's a wireless hot spot?," Tariel thought as he walked into the tavern. When he got in, he saw a tavern bigger than anything he had ever seen before. There were hundreds of customers milling about. He noticed that many of the customers had their own crystal balls similar to the one he used at the Temple of the Snake, except that they seemed to work without needing to be connected to anything. He approached the bartender for more information.
"Hello, brave adventurer," said the bartender. "I'm Joe. Are you here for a drink? Or are you looking for ... employment?"
"Yes. I want to know if you have any quests. At lest I think this is where you go to get quests…"
Joe turned around and shouted to someone in the back."Hey, Cliff, you better come over here. I think we have another Altarian in the house."
"Okay, look, I know we Altarians are technologically inferior," Tariel said. "I figured that out about fifteen seconds after I arrived. You people don't have to keep rubbing it in our face everywhere we go."
Cliff came out of the back room. "Let me guess: You're about to tell me that quests are obsolets, aren't you, Cliff?"
"Of course not. I was just surprised that you were asking Joe over here for a quest. Didn't you see the sign outside that says we're a wireless hot spot?"
"Yes, I saw that, but I didn't know what it meant."
"Okay. Just like I thought, you are technologically inferior. Okay, here's how it works. If you have one of these wireless-enabled crystal ball devices, you can link up to the network and download quest updates automatically. It's a lot more efficient than the traditional method."
Tariel looked at the crystal ball Cliff handed him, and spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to operate it. Eventually, he found a quest that he liked: to retrieve a crystal of enormous power from an abandoned cave. "Okay, I found a quest I want. Now what?"
"Now you can upload the quest coordinates to your MGPS device. It can automatically give you directions to the quest site. You'll never get lost again!"
Tariel walked out of the tavern and rejoined his companions outside. "Okay, what did you find out?", Artalax asked.
"Here's what I found. If you thought our new MGPS devices were technologically advanced, just wait until you see this."
"What is it?"
"Not much. Just a complete automation of the entire quest-searching procedure. You just push a few buttons, and then it automatically tells you where to go."
"Wait a second. So you mean you don't have to waste time uncovering ancient prophecies and deciphering difficult-to-read maps to find out where to gou; you can just get right to the action?"
"That's what it looked like to me."
"Well, considering that over 96 percent of our time up until now has been spent either looking for a quest or figuring out which direction to go so we would maybe be in the somewhat-near vicinity of the bad guys, I would say that this represents a major step forward in helping us do more to fight evil."
Princess Talia interrupted. "Good. So does this mean we can do the quest now? I really want to finish this mission so we can head home."
"We're nowhere near close to that," Tariel said. "Remember, nobody who has entered here has ever returned so far. We don't know where the danger is, so we have to be careful."
"I agree," said Artalax. "But I think we'll be safe as long as we stay within the city limits. We should probably get more information before we venture farther out."
"Okay, mayber the first thing we should do is go to the royal palace. That's normally a good place to start. We might find some information there."
Later, just outside CarpathiaPalace…
"What is this," Tariel asked as he approached the palace. He was not referring to the palace itself; rather, he was referring to the wall of pink light that separated them from the palace. Just in front of the wall was a sign:
You Are Now Leaving Carpathia City
DANGER: Monsters May Attack You Beyond This Point
Artalax looked at the built-in map on his MGPS unit. "It says here that this is the boundary perimeter defense shield. According to the map, it encloses the whole city."
Tariel put his hand through the shield wall. It went through and he barely felt anything. He then walked through the shield, then back the other way. "This isn't much of a shield," he said. "I can walk straight through it."
"All I know is that on the map it says "boundary perimeter defense shield". That's all it says."
"First of all," replied Tariel, "that name certainly seems redundant. I mean. They could easily have cut it down to two words. But more importantly, are you saying that the palace lies on the outside of the shield?"
"That's what it looks like."
"But why? You'd think that if they just moved it to the inside it would be a lot safer. I mean, I would think that palace is the first thing they would want to protect. I'm a little bit suspicious."
"Okay. Just like you said before, we never know whether it might be a trap. We have to proceed carefully. Now how do we get inside?"
Robari stood at the base of one of the side walls and shot a rope up to the roof of the palace. He started to climb up the rope. He eventually got to a set of windows below the roof, but when he put his hand on one to open it he found that the window was completely flat, with nowhere to grab on at all. It was as if a fake window was simply painted onto the surface of the wall.
"This doesn't work," Robari screamed down. "It's a fake window."
"Just what I suspected," remarked Artalax. "These are all just texture-mapped surfaces. There probably isn't a single real window in all of Carpathia City. And by the way, why are we sneaking in? Why can't we just go in through the main entrance?"
"You know about the stability of these foreign governments,"
Tariel answered. "There could be a coup at any
moment. We have to play it safe. Now I'll go up there and see what's going on.
There has to be a ventilation shaft up there somewhere."
ater, just outside Carpathia Palace...ght find some informatino ce.
Tariel climbed up onto the roof and found a ventilation shaft. He opened it up and peered into the hole. A voice shouted up from below:
"I see you up there. You don't have to come in up there."
"Oh, no, I've been discovered. I'll have to get out of here," Tariel thought.
The voice continued: "The main entrance is on the east side of the palace."
Tariel climbed back down the rope. "I was right," Artalax said. "Just like that voice said, we can go in through the main entrance."
And so they went through the main entrance. But what would they find?