Free The Kartoss Gambit (The Way of the Shaman: Book #2) by Vasily Mahanenko

cataclysm the Tarantula Lords vanished, and all the races tried to wipe the thousands of years of Tarantula yoke from their memory, letting them be entirely forgotten. But in the depths of the Free Lands there still exists a cult worshipping these Lords, and its Patriarch dreams of bringing back the Tarantulas and submerging the world in fear and pain. Stop them or it will be too late. Go to the Emperor for further instructions. Quest type: Legendary. Level requirements: 100+. Group requirements: 20+ participants. Reward: hidden.
     
    Twenty level hundred players, who will need to make their way deep into the Free Lands and bring down some Patriarch… For all the esteem in which I hold my dear self, organising a raid like this is beyond me — at least at this point in time. But that’s no reason to throw away such an object! I turned the Eye over in my hand for a little while and put it back in the bag. That’s right, I might make some use of it yet.
    “Five thousand now and another forty in a week’s time,” the words of the trader, who seemed to regain his faculties, completely stunned me. Usually such things are in use among players and are little more than an inventory item for NPCs. But here was forty-five thousand gold on offer! And that’s despite my red band and the fact that an NPC would automatically try to rip me off as much as possible. I don’t think so. First I would have to find out more about the Eye and who the Tarantula Lords were and only then would I make a decision.
    "No, thank you. I am not going to sell the Eye right now.”
    “Ninety thousand gold. Tomorrow,” by the looks of it the trader decided to finish me off completely. What was it about this thing? I went to the manual and made a search for the item’s name. Nothing. At all. A search in the forums also brought zero results. Could it be the same as with a quest chain, where you wouldn’t be allowed into the hidden help area until you accepted the quest? Most probably. But I cannot accept the quest now. A hundred levels are, after all, a hundred levels. It would be laughable to even approach the Eye with my current fourteen levels.
    "No, thank you. I will not sell the Eye even for two hundred thousand,” judging by the long face of the trader his third offer was probably going to be in this area. When I get to Anhurs and create my Clan, it should become clearer what to do with the Eye. It cannot disappear from the bag since it’s not a Legendary item, so there it can stay.
    As I left the disappointed merchant, who immediately started to pack up shop to the frustration of the locals, I headed back to the forest. The counter measuring my forty eight hours spent outside the village was reset, so I again had two days to rescue the wolf cubs and kick some goblin ass.
    The wolves were still sitting in the place where I left them – behind the shrubs before the wooden gates of the mine. If that’s how they’ve been guarding the entrance before, how did a lone goblin manage to make his way outside? There wasn’t another exit, as far as I remember, and it wasn’t possible to climb out of the pit. Well, who knows, maybe even wolves need to sleep…
    Having taken the necessary items out of the bag, I commenced my metamorphosis. At first I went radically green. I painted my arms, face, legs and in general anything that may show from under the skirt and tunic. The wolves stared at this outrage full of incomprehension. From an ordinary human being the Shaman was turning into a green paint covered God-knows-what. One thing was comforting: there were no witnesses – it’s not like the wolves were going to tell anyone of my loss of dignity. The leather tunic left enough space for me to stuff plenty of grass in the relevant places, giving me a truly feminine appearance. When I put on the skirt and the wig, the pack leader couldn’t help snorting. Yeah, I’ll make a note to kick the leader’s grey hairy behind once we get rid of all the