by Paul Bellow
“I think you’re being naïve,” Charlotte said. “We should take the scroll and help ourselves first.”
“No. We’re not taking their food source.”
Your Alignment Has Gone Up!
+5 Alignment.
You are +5 (On the Good Path)
If it were a normal game, I might’ve taken it. Then again, with the other players we’d met, I didn’t want to take a chance of hurting someone stuck as a goblin NPC. That would suck so bad.
Maybe there’s something else.
I turned around.
The practically empty hut with a dirt floor wasn’t hiding any other secrets that I could tell. Having Bernard or Eric around to search would’ve been helpful. As I pondered whether to go get them or not, I heard the drums outside getting louder.
Time to go.
I walked to the door.
Before I reached it, I heard several voices outside laughing about killing an elf. Had Bernard and Eric blown our cover somehow?
I quickly cast Shut the Front Door then ran toward the back wall.
“Open this door,” someone outside yelled, their voice full of anger.
I cast a single Flaming Disc of Lava at the back wall, setting it ablaze. After a few seconds, I rushed forward, telling Charlotte to hang on. We crashed through the wall and ended up behind the hut.
The fire behind me spread as I took off running toward a nearby shrub.
If I make it to some cover, I might have a chance of getting away. Had the others been captured already? Do I need to rescue them?
Behind the bush, I stopped to catch my breath. A goblin yelled orders near the shaman’s hut, telling someone to find me but not kill me.
I peered around the bush, then a goblin spotted me and yelled.
My heart beat faster as I thought about what to do.
I’d already screwed up so much. Could I fix it?
“We should find the others,” Charlotte said.
“Good idea. But how? There’s too many of them.”
“You’re still a goblin,” Charlotte said. “Use that to your advantage.”
My eyes widened. In all the excitement, I’d forgotten my disguise was still intact. Without wasting another moment, I walked out from behind the bush.
Could I talk my way out of it?
“Nothing back there,” I said as I wandered toward the town. “Maybe she headed back this way.”
“Find her,” a nasty-looking goblin shouted as I passed less than a hundred feet away. “And make sure she’s alive.”
I kept my mouth shut and continued walking toward the city center. The drums increased in intensity as I approached. Other goblins ran past me in both directions, but none of them paid me any attention.
I stopped at the city center. The crowd had dispersed, but a wagon with a cage on the back had pulled up. I watched as two hobgoblins lifted Bernard and Eric.
As they stuffed them into the cage, my heart sank. How could I take out so many goblins and save them?
I needed to wait for a better moment.
“That’s smart,” Charlotte said.
“I hope they’re still alive.”
“They wouldn’t put them in the cage dead, would they?”
“You’re right. Good thinking. I’m so happy I have you,” I told Charlotte.
“We should follow them from a distance and wait for an opportune moment.”
“That’s exactly what I think, Charlotte.”
A pep-talk from my telepathic spider was exactly what I needed in that moment. Before anyone called me out, I walked away. With no destination in mind, I circled the city square while keeping my eyes on the wagon.
A group of goblins surrounded it.
Are they taking them somewhere?
The wagon, pulled by an old, grey horse, moved forward. A long line of goblins followed behind; several of them had drums.
I moved to an alley running parallel with the street.
As the wagon headed toward the southern edge of the city, I followed it.
They continued down a dirt road outside the city. I moved from bush to tree a few hundred feet behind them. Should I strike now?
I waited for a better moment. Their sheer numbers frightened me—I counted over two dozen goblins and the two hobgoblins in armor.
Wishing I had an invisibility spell or even flying, I followed the goblins. Neither Bernard or Eric stirred in the cage as we continued south.
I hoped they were alive.
* * * * *
Miles added up fast. The goblins moved quickly. The shaman had stayed behind, but I still wasn’t ready to chance a battle.
If they went to sleep, I might be able to overpower their guards, then take them all out with a few carefully targeted offensive spells.
The further we went into the barren wastelands south of Changtao, the more miserable I became. Even the majestic mountains didn’t calm me.
I moved from bush to shrub to tree then back again.
The goblins sung songs and banged on their drums as they marched behind the wagon. One of the smaller goblins picked up a handful of mud and threw it into the cage. The youngster cackled when it hit Bernard.
“Cut it out,” I thought, tempted to start a battle with them.
“Don’t do it,” Charlotte said. “Not yet.”
Stealth wasn’t my forte, but I stayed out of sight as we kept traveling south. The terrain switched to hills, slowing our progress. All the ups and downs helped me stay out of sight, but climbing the hills sapped my energy.
The drums made me feel even worse.
My stomach growled as I straggled behind.
“This is just a game. We should’ve taken the shaman’s scroll.”
“Just a game?” Charlotte asked. “What do you mean?”
I thought about telling the truth—confiding in her—but something stopped me. Her not knowing the real me, was comforting.
“Just a figure of speech. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay,” she said, not sounding convinced.
As I marched in secrecy, I saw a goblin stumble in the mud.
He fell in front of the wagon’s back wheel. It kept going, running him over. His screams filled the air until another goblin ran up and stabbed him through the throat to shut him up.
The violence stunned me.
At some point, the game had taken a dark turn.
Did we have a chance of winning even the first level? Would another PC kill us first?
I kept walking, one foot in front of the other. My virtual stomach growled so loud, I thought I would get discovered and caught.
This will end eventually. Right?
We continued marching.
* * * * *
At daybreak, the goblins finally stopped.
To the left of the road, a path led up a hill toward the entrance of a cave.
I stood behind a tree. While the wagon continued toward the cave, the others made camp at the edge of the road. I noticed a few of them heading toward me.
Hunters? I’ve got to get out of here.
As I backtracked down the hillside, my stomach growled.
I hadn’t eaten anything since the morning before.
“You should eat something,” Charlotte said.
“I will. But we need to find somewhere to hide first.”
“Put me down, please. I want to hunt.”
“Hold on,” I snapped. “Give me a minute.”
Impatient as ever, Charlotte crawled down my arm.
I put my hand to the ground. After she got off, I got my last granola bar.
“Maybe I should go rescue them now. I can take on a few goblins.”
“No, Kali. You’ve not rested, and you need more mana.”
I took a deep breath.
“You’re right.”
“I just killed an ant,” Charlotte said in an excited tone. “The red ones are so juicy and delicious.”
Despite our dire circumstances, I smiled at the crazines
s of the game. The Tower of Gates was only as dark as you made it out to be. As Charlotte enjoyed hunting insects, I bit into the last of my food.
My feet ached, so I sat down with my back against a tree.
Just a minute to rest my eyes.
Sleep overtook me.
* * * * *
I opened my eyes and saw the sun had set.
“How long ago?” I looked around the dark hillside, seeing nothing to cause alarm.
“Charlotte? Are you here?”
“Here, Kali,” she said. “You needed the rest. How do you feel?”
“Cold,” I said. “But better. Thanks for keeping watch.”
“We make a good team,” she said. “You should get up and move around.”
I crawled to the edge of a nearby bush and peered out. Seeing nothing, I stood up and stretched to get blood circulating through my body.
“You should eat, Kali.”
“There’s not much food left.”
“You could summon something and kill it,” Charlotte said.
“That would make too much noise. I’ll eat the last of these rations for now. I need to rescue Eric and Bernard, but I don’t know what to do.”
I took another deep breath.
The sound of drums filled the air again, coming from the road. Were they permanently camped?
“Don’t go, Kali. It’s not safe.”
“We’ve got to rescue them, Charlotte. It’s what they would do for us.”
After Charlotte crawled back on my shoulder, I snuck closer to the cave entrance. The main group of goblins had left, but a few guards remained. No ideas had popped up, but I had enough mana to be considered armed and dangerous to stupid goblins.
Time to come up with a plan.
18
Escape is a Bittersweet Word
Eric
* * *
I opened my eyes and found myself in a dank cell with natural stone walls.
My head pounded as I sat up and glanced around. Bernard sat nearby with his back against a rough wall. On the other side of the room, bars blocked our escape.
Where are we?
Outside the crude cage, I saw a small open area with a cave leading off into the darkness. Two torches were our only source of light.
“You’re awake,” Bernard said in a low voice—so unlike him.
I struggled to my feet.
“Careful,” he said. “I think they slipped something in the soup.”
“Yeah...” I rubbed the top of my head.
My armor and everything else was gone.
Had we lost all our Dawn Acid? Was the quest over?
Unless Sarah had hers, we might be in trouble. I didn’t know if she was alive or not—which really frightened me.
The room spun.
“Sit down,” Bernard said. “You need to rest. The effects will wear off all the way soon.”
I took a seat near him—my back against the cold, hard stone.
“What happened?” I asked. “We ate that soup, and then…”
Bernard nodded his head.
“It countered her illusion spell somehow…
His voice trailed off.
“And Sarah?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Bernard said. “Maybe she got away?”
“We can hope,” I said. “How long have you been awake?”
“Half an hour or so,” he said.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “You don’t look that good yourself.”
He nodded, lips pressed tightly together in a frown.
“Are you sure? You seem upset.”
Bernard took a deep breath.
“I need to talk to you,” he said. “Out of character.”
“We don’t have the staff around.”
“I don’t care about losing the xp right now,” he said. “We’ve got bigger things to worry about. I need to come clean with you.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“There’s only one way for us to get out of this situation,” he said. “But I want to be honest with you first.”
I didn’t like where the conversation was headed.
“We’ve got this,” I said, trying to stay upbeat and positive.
His frown deepened as he bowed his head.
“I didn’t tell you the truth,” he said.
“What do you mean?” I asked, waiting for the punchline.
Bernard hadn’t been anything over than exemplary since we’d met him—except for lying and saying he was a cleric and not a rogue.
“I wasn’t lying about signing up for a beta test, but it wasn’t exactly voluntary.”
“How did you get in the game?” I asked.
Bernard turned away, staring at the wall.
“My parents had me committed,” he said. “In this mental institution in North Berlin, they drugged me and signed me up to test this game. I thought it sounded cool at first, but they lied to me. They never said it would be like this…”
He whipped around, anger on his face.
“What does your father have to do with this game?” he asked.
“Not much,” I said, pushing him back. “Settle down.”
“You don’t know anything else?” Bernard asked.
I took a deep breath, wanting to come clean.
“All I know is that the game was in beta and might not even be released. My father said the AI was buggy. That’s why I was able to hack in so easily with only three players.”
Bernard turned away.
“I didn’t know people were trapped in here,” I said. “You have to believe me. All I want to do is get out of this stupid game.”
Bernard snorted.
“It’s the stupidest cool game I’ve ever played,” he said.
“With a quit option, it would be the best. To be honest, I thought my hack into the game might’ve been the reason we were stuck. I was so happy to learn others were trapped in here too.”
“That’s messed up,” Bernard said. “Us human players need to stick together.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Like you said, the AI for the game is buggy. The game’s constantly evolving.” He turned and put a hand on my shoulder. “I think we have a shot of getting out of here, especially if you are who you say you are in the real world.”
“I’m just me,” I said. “But I’m known for hacking virtual worlds.”
“Games in the real world were never my thing,” Bernard said, pulling his hand away and turning away from me. “I suffered from depression, so I spent a lot of time reading and writing.”
We both stayed silent a moment.
His head bobbed back and forth as if he was considering something.
“I’ve seen so much in here during the last twenty or more years,” he said. “Some days it feels like even longer. All these memories and quests…Things get confusing quickly.”
He stood and paced back and forth in the cramped cell, gesticulating with his arms as he continued talking.
“Some days I feel fine,” he said. “But then I realize I’m stuck in this game and won’t ever get out.”
He stopped and turned.
“Do you know what I mean?” he asked.
I nodded, not imagining what twenty or more years in the game would do to me. Sarah would hate me and stop talking to me if that happened to us.
“The game can do permanent damage to a person,” Bernard said. “I wanted to say something about Monde before, but I didn’t. She was in my original group that got sent into the game. My depression was nothing compared to the fantasy world she lived in back in reality.”
“Great,” I said, shaking my head. “You should’ve told us before.”
“I know.” Bernard took a deep breath. “I’ve been in this game so long, man. You don’t even know what it’s like…”
“You’re right,” I said. “And I shouldn’t be blaming you. If there’s a way out of this game, I’m the perfect person to find it.”
He
sat on the floor with his back to the wall, staring outside the cell with a blank expression on his face. My thoughts went to Sarah.
Was she okay? Did we still have a chance of defeating the quest, clearing level one-one, and finding a way out of the stupid game?
I leaned back and closed my eyes. Sleep overtook me as I sorted through all the crazy thoughts in my mind.
Being a prisoner sucked.
* * * * *
I felt someone touching my arm.
“Are you up?” Bernard asked.
I opened my eyes. Had I dozed off?
“Yeah,” I said, sitting up. “Everything okay?”
“Not really,” he said, his head bobbing back and forth. “I need to talk to you.”
“Something else?” I asked as I stood and stretched. “You can tell me.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not sure.”
“You can tell me,” I said. “We’re bonding in this goblin cell.”
I smiled, hoping to calm him down.
He stepped toward me.
“I figured out a way to get us out of this mess,” he said.
“That’s great.” I smiled. “What’s the plan?”
He kept his lips pursed together, his brow furrowed.
“Spit it out,” I said. “Has to be better than my non-existent plan.”
“One of us needs to sacrifice themselves for the other,” he said. “I’ve given it a lot of thought, and that’s the only way out.”
“Any plan that doesn’t involve both of us getting out of here isn’t a plan,” I said. “Period. End of discussion.”
He shook his head, still not smiling.
“This is the only way. We’re too close to clearing level one-one. After you get out, you can go find Sarah, get the Dawn Acid, and finish the quest. You two deserve to keep going.”
“Don’t talk crazy,” I said. “Besides, your plan wouldn’t even work. The goblins are dumb, but not that dumb.”
“What else can we do?” Bernard asked.
