by Paul Bellow
You cast Snares of Dust.
You have [45/48] mana remaining.
The silver-haired warrior who’d hit Eric launched into a coughing fit as clouds of magical dust assaulted his head.
Benji rushed over, weapon drawn, as Thrukad pulled the warrior away.
“Settle down, Leroy,” she said. “These are friends who want to help on our quest to rid the realms of you-know-what.”
I cancelled the spell then knelt to check Eric.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He moaned, eyes still closed.
“The you-know-what?” Leroy asked. “Seriously?”
“Yes,” Thrukad said. “But now that you’ve hurt one of them, I’m not sure they’ll even want to help us.”
Leroy raised his hands and weakly said, “He fell on his own. It’s not my fault. This is all a mistake.”
I turned back to Eric as he opened his eyes.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “What happened?”
“Don’t you remember?” I waved my arm. “Give him some room.”
The other three backed away.
Eric sat up and said, “That guy came rushing at me, and then...I don’t know. I blacked out.”
“You hit your head,” I said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’ll be fine,” he said as he struggled to stand.
Leroy extended his hand.
“Sorry, stranger,” the muscled man said.
“You’re fine,” Eric said as he accepted the help. “This is trophy armor from my father. He wore it during the Great Wars while fighting behind enemy lines for the good guys. As a warrior, you’ve got to respect that, right?”
Leroy nodded then grinned sheepishly.
“We’re going to kill Snargao the Impatient,” he said. “You don’t’ have a problem with that, do you?”
“No problem with me,” Eric said. “Any evil hobgoblin is a good one to kill. That’s my motto.”
Leroy’s grin widened.
“Have a seat,” he said, slurring the words.
Was he too drunk to help us? Did it matter for an NPC?
“Over here,” Thrukad said, walking to a back corner of the room.
Everyone followed, each of us taking a seat at a round, wooden table.
“I hate that hobgoblin,” Leroy said. “He’s hurt too many people around here. If you’re going after him, I’d love to help. Apologies for my earlier outburst. I’ve been in this city...this realm...way too long.”
“You’ll get a share of any treasure we find,” Eric said, continuing to lead the encounter. “And we need to leave quickly.”
“We’re looking for our friend too,” I added. “A half-orc.”
Leroy narrowed his eyes.
“Have you seen him?” I asked.
“No, but I hate orcs and half-orcs,” Leroy said. “I’ll need an hour or two to sober up. Life in the realms is hard these days with the curse of Magictology all about. Time is all stretched out.”
“We’ll come back and pick you up in a few hours,” Eric said.
“Meet us at the city gates,” I added. “We need to move quickly.”
“Agreed,” Thrukad said. “Now, where’s that damn waitress?”
“Let’s go,” Eric said. “We’ve got shopping to do.”
“Can you go without me?” I asked.
“Sure,” Eric said. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to study magic,” I said.
He didn’t need to know everything I had planned.
“Okay,” he said. “We’ll meet you back at the inn. Benji, Thrukad, you two can come with me. I’ll need help carrying things.”
“Don’t forget the rope,” I said as they walked away.
Eric raised a hand in farewell or to wave away my concerns. I left the rough and tumble tavern and walked back to the Golden Eagle Inn.
The magic I wanted to study was my Find Familiar scroll.
Would I find a suitable animal companion in the city?
I couldn’t wait to find out.
Maybe I’ll get a black panther, remembering old, worn copies of the best Drizzt books Eric had loaned me years earlier.
Or maybe an eagle or owl? Anything to help me get out of this game.
When I reached the inn, I went straight up to our room. Inside, I locked the door before retrieving the scroll from my sack.
Should I go outside to cast it?
I unrolled it.
The radius was big enough for me to cast it in the room. I read the words.
Nothing happened.
“Did it work?” I asked.
“Hello,” a voice, distinctly feminine, said in my mind.
“Who is that?” I asked, jumping back and looking around the room.
Had the Magi character cast some weird spell on me?
“Careful,” the voice said. “I’m down here.”
I glanced to the floor, still not seeing anything.
“Make yourself known,” I said, mustering some courage.
“I can’t speak out loud yet, Kali,” the voice said. “But we can talk with just our thoughts like we are right now.”
“Oh. You’re my familiar?” I asked. “Where are you?”
I glanced back and forth, not seeing anything.
“Down here,” came the reply. “I’m a spider. Do you have a name for me? I would love to have a name.”
I grinned, unable to resist.
“Your name is Charlotte,” I declared.
When game-life gave you spiders, you named them Charlotte.
Congratulations! You Have a Familiar!
You have found your familiar, Charlotte – a Scarlet Sac Spider with a body roughly two inches. As you raise in levels, her intelligence and power will also increase.
“Very well, Kali,” Charlotte said. “I’m rather fond of the name. Thank you for bonding with me.”
“Are you going to be talking in my head all the time?”
“Only when you need me, but please keep me safe,” she said.
“Agreed,” I said out loud, still getting accustomed to the telepathy.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Quiet now,” I said. “Crawl on my arm.”
I stooped down. The spider crawled onto my body.
“Open up,” Eric shouted from outside.
I walked over to the door and opened it.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “You got back in a hurry.”
He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.
“The others are still shopping,” he said. “I wanted to check on you.”
“Check on me, huh?” I asked in a teasing tone.
“Watch out,” he said, raising his arm. “There’s a spider on you.”
“Don’t…” I stepped back. “That’s my familiar…Charlotte.”
“You chose a spider as familiar?” he asked.
“I didn’t get to choose,” I said. “But she’s great. I love her.”
“Nasty thing is probably poisonous,” Eric said.
I laughed, covering my mouth with my right hand.
“She’s harmless,” I said. “Trust me.”
We stared at each other in silence for a moment.
“Anyway,” he said. “I wanted to ask for your help finding a good ring to buff my stats a little.”
“Why’d you go OOC?” I asked.
He shrugged and said, “I’m still leveling faster than you.”
“Talking about the real world does make it easier somehow,” I said.
He nodded.
“Right? I’ve been thinking the same thing.”
“What kind of ring do you want?” I asked.
“Something to increase my constitution,” he said. “We have a couple fighters with us now, but I still want as much health as possible.”
“The bulky rogue,” I said then smiled.
“You’ll come with me, then?” he asked.
I nodded
then glanced over at Charlotte on my shoulder.
“All I wanted to do was find my familiar,” I said. “And I got a great one. Not sure what she can do yet, but she’ll advance in power as I level.”
“Nice,” Eric said. “It’ll be kind of sad to finish this quest and get out of the game. Do you ever wonder about who’s gotten furthest in the game?”
“Yeah…”
My voice trailed off. Would we ever escape?
Eric smiled. I felt another bad joke.
“I like everything in the game except the poison,” he said.
“You and your poison fixation.” I shook my head. “We need to find you a Ring of Remove Poison.”
He smiled and stood. “Come on, let’s go.”
I followed him out of the room, the game drawing me in.
* * * * *
After learning a ring to remove poison would cost twenty five thousand gold pieces, we laughed our way back to the inn. Benji and the other two stood by the cart as we walked up.
They stopped talking to each other and turned as we approached.
Leroy still looked drunk, but as long as he could fight, I didn’t care.
“Everything alright?” I asked.
“Fine, fine,” Benji said. “I was just getting to know our new crew.”
“We’re excited to be killing Snargao,” Leroy said. “He’s one of the foulest hobgoblins that ever lived.”
Thrukad lifted her battle-axe above her head.
“One less hobgoblin in the world is one less problem if you ask me,” she said.
“Not all goblins and hobgoblins are bad,” Eric said.
The silver haired NPC warrior stared at him in confusion.
“We should get going,” I said to change the subject. “We want to reach the base of the hills by evening.”
As the three of them climbed into the back of the cart, Eric and I walked around to the front. I climbed aboard and took the reins.
“Oh, wait, my bowstring,” I said then sighed. “Ugh. Never mind. I’ll get it fixed when we get back.”
“What kind of mage uses a bow, anyway?” Leroy gruffly asked from the back of the cart.
“She’s a powerful one,” Benji said, jumping to my defense. “Don’t underestimate my favorite elf in all the realms.”
As the cart rolled forward, I admired the beautiful architecture. Everything looked brand new.
“Mednia was built less than fifty years ago,” Charlotte said.
“Oh, that’s nice to know,” I said aloud.
Eric glanced over and said, “Huh?”
“Sorry,” I said. “Just daydreaming.”
Why hadn’t I told him more about my familiar? Simply staying in character or was there something more to it?
I grinned at the thought of needing time to become familiar with my familiar.
“Just so you know,” Leroy said as we reached the northern city gates a few minutes later. “If we run out of food, I know five good mule recipes I learned during the Great Wars.”
“Gross,” I said, scrunching up my face. “We’re not eating Muley.”
“You named your mule?” he asked.
I nodded, not bothering to look back at him.
Once again, Benji came to my rescue.
“They’re both strange,” he said. “But I trust them.”
Our talkative tank continued blathering like a blowhard and reminding me of Josh—my missing boyfriend.
“All I care about is killing that stupid mother-grabbing goblin and smashing his...”
“That’s enough,” I snapped. “Save your energy for the real thing.”
Leroy quit talking along with everyone else in the cart. My thoughts returned to the game as we rode north, away from the city.
Would we be successful in our quest? Could we get out?
And what about Josh?
We were higher levels, but we had less answers.
The landscape changed to hills as we approached the mountain range. If we ever got out of the game, I would consider coming back.
I called up my new spell list to figure out the best way to cast as many as possible with the mana I had available at my low level.
>> Stats Spells
* * *
Spells: Level One
* * *
>> Fish Slaying (1mp)
>> Golden Bolts (2mp per bolt up to 4+ lvl of caster)
>> Glorified Cloaks of Bronze (2mp per armor adjustment up to 4+ lvl of caster)
>> Ladder of Dwarven Earth (2mp per square foot) – Build an earthen ramp.
* * *
Spells: Level Two
* * *
>> Snares of Dust (3mp) – Clouds of dust particles rise, often rendering a person unable to do anything other than cough and stumble away.
* * *
Tip: At level four, you will gain one third level spell, one more second level spell and one more first level spell.
And how far to the next level?
You have 8,855 xp.
You need 5,145 xp for next level.
You have a -20% xp penalty next encounter.
Ugh. Stupid OOC rules.
Not being able to talk openly had slowed our progress in the game considerably.
Is that the point of the penalties? And why hadn’t we just found small encounters to minimize the penalty?
Escaping with our lives had taken some of the fun out of the game.
The road—as Tolkien wrote—went ever, ever on.
We stopped at the foothills that evening to camp for the night and rest up for our big assault. I watched from the cart as Eric ordered the others around.
His leadership qualities had impressed me from the moment we’d first met. Why he hadn’t applied to any colleges still escaped me. He would easily get a dream job—programming for some corporation or another.
After setting up for the night, I volunteered for the first guard shift. Too many thoughts bounced around my mind to sleep right away.
I sat on a boulder just outside the glow of our campfire.
“What do you know about this world, Charlotte?”
“Not much,”she answered. “You know more than me.”
“That’s depressing. What can you tell me about yourself? Do you have skills?”
“As we both progress in life, our bond will grow; opening up new possibilities.”
“Like what?”I asked, eager to learn more about my familiar.
“We’ll find out together,” Charlotte said.
She stayed silent as I stared out into the darkness surrounding our camp. The others slept, leaving me alone with my unfamiliar familiar.
I stood and walked around the perimeter of our camping spot. The cool night air had descended, and the movement helped warm me.
While walking, I sensed someone watching me.
“Charlotte, can you see anyone?”
I stopped, ready to cast a spell if necessary.
“Should I call for the others?”
Bright green moss on the ground caught my attention. I stepped forward, and my foot got stuck in the moss. Unable to lift it, I freaked out. When I opened my mouth to scream, nothing came out.
Panic overtook me.
A mage in red robes stepped out of the darkness. He stayed just outside the ring of neon-green moss surrounding me like some sick, natural noose.
I could barely make out a sick grin on his face.
“Charlotte, can you hear me?”
No answer.
The mage waved his hand.
“You can speak now, but in your quiet voice,” he said.
“How did you find us?” I asked, barely above a whisper.
“You’re asking a powerful wizard like me how I easily found a low level character like you on the first zone in the game?” He shook his head. “I thought you were the smart one of the bunch. Your boyfriend’s a real loser, by the way.”
“Where’s Josh?” I asked.
The mage laughed.
; “Don’t worry,” he said. “I need him around for now.”
“Why are you doing this to us?” I asked.
I glanced over at Charlotte on my shoulder.
“Your familiar is blocked,” he said. “Nice choice, though.”
“I didn’t choose her,” I shouted. “Stop trying to change the subject.”
“You didn’t choose the spider?” He nodded slowly. “Interesting.”
“Are you going to kill me?” I asked, not afraid to die.
“My moss protects me from the likes of you,” he said. “I don’t need to get my dainty hands dirty doing that myself. After you’re dead, you’ll find out what’s going on.”
“Why are you fighting us?” I asked.
He laughed then turned and stalked away into the darkness. I looked down and saw the ring of moss slowly advancing toward me.
“Charlotte, can you hear me? Help me, please.
I screamed as loudly as possible, but no sound came out.
“Save your voice,” Charlotte said in my mind. “I’ve broken his spell.”
“That’s great! It’s so good to hear your voice. We just met, but I don’t want to lose you. Not yet.”
“I’ve got good news and bad news, she said. Which do you want first?”
“The bad news. Always start with the bad news.”
“I think the moss will reach and kill us both before the others wake up,” she said.
“And the good news?”
“I love you, Kali…”
“Sweet but useless. Can I burn the moss?”
“Don’t try it,” she said.
I struggled to move my feet. The moss continued creeping closer. I didn’t want to die from stupid moss—a low level spell.
Eric would never let me live it down.
16
A Maze of Twisty Little Passages
ERIC
I opened my eyes and sat up.
Why hadn’t Sarah woken me for my guard shift?
I glanced around, not seeing her anywhere nearby.
Benji and the other two hirelings were asleep around the fire. I stood, scanning the immediate area for any signs of her.
