Read The Kartoss Gambit (The Way of the Shaman: Book #2) for Free Online Page B

Tiny Tim and walked right through the wire as if it wasn't there. The dog's shadow walked at a relaxed pace around the courtyard, like it owned the place. I looked at the real Tiny Tim. He looked at himself, eyes wide, mouth open and tongue hanging out. He was the embodiment of doggy surprise. At this moment the dog phantom took a couple of steps and then suddenly cowered to the ground, tail between his legs, and began to backtrack. I never thought that dogs could backtrack, especially with their stomach to the ground. I could be mistaken, but weren't they not supposed be able to do that? All right, we'll write it off as the whim of the developers. The phantom crawled through the closed door of the enclosure, made his way to the dog-house and when his back was against it seemed to try to dig himself into the ground.
    "Did something frighten you?" I asked quietly. My voice sounded like a thunder clap. What could have made such an enormous dog run away in fear and try to dig itself into a hole?
    Something mist-covered and formless appeared next to the dog. For a couple of moments it loomed over him and then suddenly this silent drama was broken by the squealing of the real Tiny Tim. The wolfhound fell to the ground, tail between his legs, covered his face with his paws, made a puddle and generally looked so scared that I involuntarily drew back, stumbled and fell on my backside. The darkness around us dissipated and the dog's squealing was joined by the noises of the surrounding world.
     
    Update of the 'Night Terror of the Village' quest.
    The monster that roams Beatwick by night terrifies even the largest and most vicious dogs. Keep this in mind during your search.
     
    "What are you doing to Tiny Tim?" Clouter appeared next to me. "He's scared of you! Go away! Mr. Slate was right — you're a warlock! Don't be afraid Tiny Tim, I won't let him hurt you," Clouter put himself between me and the enclosure and looked ready to fight for his dog.
    I had little desire to explain anything to this small NPC, so I got up and went to the summer house. As I guessed, my gold was behind the bed. I automatically threw it into my bag and lay down on the bed. The wolves won't be going anywhere and now I really had to give the forum and the manual a thorough read. The place where I ended up was becoming very interesting and I had no intention of playing the hero and trying to find out the monster's secret all by myself.
    Let's think. What does a search for 'Beatwick' give us?
    Let's look in the manual first. It's a village on the border of the Empire, Krong Province. I already know that. Number of residents, livestock and other NPC statistics do not interest me, next. Yes, there we go. The Headman died recently in Beatwick. Cause of death remains unknown. He was replaced by the Farstead industrial association representative. There are no quests linked to Beatwick residents.
    The last sentence left me dumbfounded. According to the manual there were no quests in the village. As it stands, I had already collected two: 'Night Terror of the Village' and 'The Hunt for Grey Death'. Something wasn't tallying here.
    I made a search for the quest titles. Right, such quests do exist. However, their description made me think: 'Variable quest, not linked to a particular location.' So, there are no quests, and yet they do exist. That's just stupid. To the manual again. Search: 'Variable quest.' Description: a quest given out by an NPC depending on your progress within the scenario.
    Now I became totally confused. What scenario? Why would there be a playable scenario in Beatwick, a village in the middle of nowhere? There aren't even any players around here to do that.
    Right, moving on to the forum. What can we find out about 'Beatwick'? The forum also offered little comfort. My search came up with only one message that was over a year old:
     
    'Stupid village! In the middle of nowhere, gryphons don't fly there, the portal to the nearest town costs a grand