by Paul Bellow
Tower of Gates
Omnibus One
Paul Bellow
Contents
Tower of Gates Omnibus One
Hack
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Chapter 1 - Never Ever Split the Party
Chapter 2 - Elf Mage Spawns in Thyananore
Chapter 3 - Half-Orc Warrior Spawns in Mang
Chapter 4 - Human Rogue Spawns in Harrisburg
Chapter 5 - What’s that Strange, Sour Smell?
Chapter 6 - I Don’t Know Your Father, Brah
Chapter 7 - Quest: Join Party is ... Successful?
Chapter 8 - Take as Many Maps as You Want
Chapter 9 - Can we negotiate my payment?
Chapter 10 - Monster Hunting We Will Gnoll
Chapter 11 - Master Gong and a Strange Note
Chapter 12 - This New Quest Sounds Too Easy
Chapter 13 - Cut Scene
Chapter 14 - We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Party
Chapter 15 - Finally Finding a Friendly Familiar
Chapter 16 - A Maze of Twisty Little Passages
Chapter 17 - That’s No Ordinary Wax Golem
Chapter 18 - Rogue’s Ring of Spider Climbing
Chapter 19 - Let’s Destroy the Pendant Now
Chapter 20 - At Least We Got the Pendant
Chapter 21 - A Resource Gathering Side Quest
Chapter 22 - Benji Knows This Guy Too?
Chapter 23 - Random Overland Encounters
Chapter 24 - When Heroes and Villains Die
Chapter 25 - How Long Were You an NPC?
Epilogue
Hate
Prologue
Chapter 1 - Old Friends and New Enemies
Chapter 2 - On the Road to Fort Bliss
Chapter 3 - More Like Sylvar the Stupid
Chapter 4 - Two Wizards Walk into a Bar
Chapter 5 - Grisly Grizzly Gang Attacks
Chapter 6 - Time to Use Summon Monster
Chapter 7 - There’s No Place Like Gnome
Chapter 8 - Never Trust a Ranger Weasel
Chapter 9 - Off to See the Four Wizards
Chapter 10 - Bringing Out Their Evil Dead
Chapter 11 - Inconceivably Botched Ambush
Chapter 12 - That Dawn Acid is Dangerous
Chapter 13 - CUT SCENE: I’ll Take Nerds Over Crazy
Chapter 14 - Entering the Forbidden Kingdom
Chapter 15 - We Should Probably Leave Now
Chapter 16 - Goblin-Style Soup for the Soul
Chapter 17 - Back on the Road Again
Chapter 18 - Escape is a Bittersweet Word
Chapter 19 - Are You Two Following Us?
Chapter 20 - His Armor Sure Looks Familiar
Chapter 21 - Think This Happens Every Day?
Chapter 22 - Preparing for Chong Monastery
Chapter 23 - Sometimes You Just Get Lucky
Chapter 24 - He’s Not Your Real Father
Chapter 25 - What Can I Say? I'm Thrilled
Epilogue
Brute
Prologue
Chapter 1 - Barbarian on the Run
Chapter 2 - Initiate Initial Initiation
Chapter 3 - A Ring of Teleportation
Chapter 4 - Not a Victimless Crime
Chapter 5 - Can We Work Together?
Chapter 6 - No Remorse, No Regret
Chapter 7 - Controlling My Emotions
Chapter 8 - Raising a Quick Army
Chapter 9 - The Battle of the Brute
Chapter 10 - Trapping the Dwarves
Chapter 11 - A Lich and a Rogue
Chapter 12 - Stupid Giant Stone Trolls
Chapter 13 - You Guys Aren’t Nice
Chapter 14 - A Battle with Gord-En
Chapter 15 - Another Choice to Make
Chapter 16 - The Smartest Barbarian
Chapter 17 - Fate Worse than Death
Chapter 18 - Miscommunication Mirror
Chapter 19 - How to Befriend a Dragon
Chapter 20 - The Midgaard Arenas
Chapter 21 - Controlling the Rage
Chapter 22 - Where Is My Mind?
Chapter 23 - Call me Spartacus
Chapter 24 - The Four Deadly Sins
Chapter 25 - Brains of the Brute
Chapter 26 - The Dragon of Truth
Chapter 27 - The More You Know
Chapter 28 - Memory is so Strange
Chapter 29 - The Scent of a Woman
Chapter 30 - Enter the Wastelands
Chapter 31 - Another Huge Monster
Chapter 32 - Just a Rat in a Cage
Chapter 33 - Return of the Wizards
Chapter 34 - Guild Council Decision
Chapter 35 - Battle of Eight Wizards
Chapter 36 - Big City, Bright Lights
Epilogue
Hero
Prologue
Chapter 1 - No Honor Among Thieves or Old Men
Chapter 2 - Magic the Mirror Gathering
Chapter 3 - Chain Mail of Orc Odors Stinks
Chapter 4 - You Know, Half-Lion and Half-Tiger
Chapter 5 - Why Won’t Anyone Join Party?
Chapter 6 - An Attorney Will be Provided
Chapter 7 - If the Gauntlet Fits, You Must Acquit
Chapter 8 - Cut Scene
Chapter 9 - Random Encounter Resources
Chapter 10 - Solemnly Seeking the Sword of Sands
Chapter 11 - Can’t Keep a Good Dwarf Down
Chapter 12 - Formerly Known as the Four
Chapter 13 - Entering the Mines of Oriam
Chapter 14 - Revenge of the Hill Giants
Chapter 15 - A Giant By Any Other Name
Chapter 16 - A Game Within a Game?
Chapter 17 - Dream a Little Nightmare
Chapter 18 - Standard Troglodyte Infestation
Chapter 19 - Troglodyte Mass Destruction
Chapter 20 - That’s No Ordinary Tunnel
Chapter 21 - Feats of Dwarven Engineering
Chapter 22 - Wight Mage, Glitches
Chapter 23 - Cut Scene: Potion Power
Chapter 24 - Blame a Black Dragon
Chapter 25 - Remember the Worm!
Chapter 26 - Not So Wonderful Wand
Chapter 27 - Dark Knight Seeks Asylum
Chapter 28 - Goodbye, Dear Friend
Chapter 29 - Prisoner Identification Number?
Chapter 30 - New Class: Valkyrie Skyrider
Epilogue
Roguelike
Chapter 1 - Out of the Game?
Chapter 2 - Mage Morphs to Rogue
Chapter 3 - Don’t Get Distracted!
Chapter 4 - Not (Usually) a Thief
Chapter 5 - There Goes My Recall
Chapter 6 - The Amulet of Yendro
Chapter 7 - Way of the Samurai
Chapter 8 - Master of Min / Max
Chapter 9 - The Gnome Impersonator
Chapter 10 - Chasing Bones Files
Chapter 11 - Rusty the Monster
Chapter 12 - Victory is So Close!
Chapter 13 - Cursed Item Blues
Chapter 14 - Twisty Little Passages
Chapter 15 - Fall of the Zookeeper
Chapter 16 - Everyone Gets Stoned
Chapter 17 - Speedrunning Levels
Chapter 18 - Guess I’m a Thief Then
Chapter 19 - Best Weapon Ever
Chapter 20 - Crafting in a Dungeon
Chapter 21 - Worse Than a Dragon?
Chapter 22 - Riders on the Storm
Chapter 23 - Wizard of Yendro
Chapter 24 - Out of the Frying Pan
Newsletter
Glossary
© 2018
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NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Thanks to all who helped on my journey.
Paul Bellow Newsletter
LitRPG Reads Newsletter
Hack
Tower Of Gates: Book 1
Paul Bellow
1
Never Ever Split the Party
ERIC
I stared at my father as he stood behind his desk, wondering if he would ever leave. He swiped the screen of his tablet, ignoring me.
“Why can’t I play the game a few minutes?” I asked. “You said it’s safe, right? I can help playtest.”
He looked up and frowned.
“It’s perfectly safe,” he said. “But I don’t want you playing it.”
Using my mind, I moved my hover-chair toward the door.
“Why aren’t you using your exoskeleton?” he asked.
“They give me headaches, remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” he said in a distracted tone.
I watched as he peered back down at his tablet.
“You can go to your meeting,” I said as I hovered near the door. “You know I can’t get into the gaming cabinets myself.”
He sighed as he lowered the tablet.
“Come on, Eric. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You spend too much time in games. You need to grow up and decide what you want to do with your life.”
“Maybe I want to be a game tester,” I said.
He shook his head and said, “No. That’s my final decision. I need to leave for a meeting, but I’ll be back in a few hours. Can you stay out of trouble that long?”
I frowned and dropped my head to hide my excitement.
That’s more than enough time for my plan, I thought.
“We’ll talk about it at dinner,” he said. “Maybe I’ll tell you more about the Tower of Gates when I get back. We’ll look at a new exoskeleton for you tonight too. There’s no reason for you to be wallowing in self-pity. You’re paralyzed, but it’s not the end of the world.”
“Sounds good,” I said then whisked out of his study.
As I floated up the stairwell to the second floor, I thought about the Tower of Gates. My father had been working on the Virtual Reality Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Game for years. If half the features I’d read about in his notes had been completed, it would be the most immersive and immense RPG ever created.
At the top of the stairs, I veered left and headed toward my bedroom. I went to the large window facing the front of the house and looked out the smart glass. I smiled as I watched my father walk toward his land speeder, and the side slid open as he approached. The dull grey vehicle levitated a few feet off the ground before speeding down the driveway. With him gone, I’d be able to try out the game and see Sarah in person.
When I could no longer see him, I spun around, ready to put my plan into motion. He had programmed the androids to not help me get into the gaming cabinets, but I didn’t need them. Sarah had promised to come over and help if I let her try the game.
I grabbed my tablet and tapped out a message to her.
He’s gone, I wrote. Come quick.
On my way, she responded.
I smiled as I set my tablet down. We hadn’t hung out as much as we had in our younger years, but I still considered her my best friend.
My heart raced as I went back downstairs to wait by the door.
Time to get rid of the robo-snitches, I thought as I lifted my tablet.
With a few swipes and taps, I sent all our androids to their charging stations.
They couldn’t stop me if they were plugged in.
Hacking our state of the art security system to allow entry into the basement had been more difficult, but I’d pulled it off. If my father caught me sneaking into the game, it wouldn’t be good. He’d been super-secretive since he started to work on it.
The doorbell rang. Another tap of my tablet screen opened the front door. I smiled as I saw Sarah step inside, but my expression changed when I noticed Josh, her boyfriend.
“What’s up, brah?” he asked as he strolled in.
“Hey,” I said, looking at Sarah. “You made it…and you brought him.”
“I’m her boyfriend. Why wouldn’t I come?”
Josh looked around the grand entrance of our ten thousand square foot house.
“Great pad.”
Why did she bring him? I wondered.
“I’m sorry.” Sarah put her hand on the edge of my hover-chair. “I didn’t think you’d mind if I brought him along. We won’t be staying long anyway.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, playing it off. “Good to see you.”
“Besides, there’s no way I could’ve lifted you on my own,” she said.
“Yeah.” Josh grinned. “She’s cute but not strong.”
I ignored him, still staring at Sarah.
“Are you sure it’s okay for us to try this game?” she asked.
“It’ll be fine,” I said. “The script I wrote to get us in should work great. I haven’t tested it yet, but you trust me, don’t you?”
Josh stepped forward, still looking around.
“Your dad invented this game or something?” he asked.
“He works for the company that’ll be releasing Tower of Gates,” I said.
Josh nodded like he didn’t care. “Sarah doesn’t play games anymore.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Which is a shame.”
“Let’s do this,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of time.”
“You can’t stay and play for a few hours?” I asked.
“We’re going on a date,” Josh piped in. “You know, like normal people.”
He laughed, your typical level twenty brainless jock.
“Cool,” I said. “The game is in the basement. Let’s go.”
Josh stepped forward and waved his arms.
“Lead the way, fly boy,” he said.
I ignored the insult and turned my chair.
They followed as I floated toward the back of the house.
“How have you been?” Sarah asked as we headed down the stairs to the basement. “You didn’t answer my last email.”
“Busy,” I said, still wishing Josh hadn’t shown up.
At the bottom of the stairs, I lifted my tablet.
“Prepare to be amazed,” I said as I tapped the screen.
My subroutine flooded our security system with bogus data, allowing me to unlock the door to the basement. It swung open inward.
“After you two,” I said.
Sarah and Josh walked past me, and the lights came on automatically as they entered, illuminating the once dark room. Six metal boxes stood against two of the walls, a single light flickered on each one.
“Whoa,” Josh said. “What kind of game is this?”
He walked toward one of the six cryogenic units.
“The latest in immersive VR,” I said. “My dad’s a genius.”
“Sure thing, kid.” Josh stepped over to one of the machines. “Are we supposed to get in these, or what?”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “Won’t hurt too bad.”
“It’ll hurt?” Sarah asked.
“No,” I said. “Just teasing.”
She frowned then said, “don’t do that. You know I hate it.”
I floated toward the nearest game-pod and stopped next to it.
“Josh, can you help me get in here?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said, walking over.
“Why are there six of them?” Sarah asked.
“Groups are supposed to be six people,” I said. “But we should be okay because we’re just checking it out. We won’t stay long.”
She walked over to one of the other units, running her hand over the smooth, black metal below the glass cover.
“How do you want to do this?” Josh asked.
/> “Just don’t hurt me,” I said. “Hold on.”
I leaned over then pressed a square button on the side of the machine. The glass bubble over the unit lifted open, revealing a plush interior. A cap with wires sat on one end.
