The Crimson Quest: A LitRPG Adventure

by J. B. Smith

  The little man left the room and was replaced by an elf. The elf began to play the flute. As he played , he circled around. Did anyone really want to see this? Personally, I didn't want to see an elf playing the flute. This live entertainment sucked. Luke nudged me. "Maybe this place isn't that bad."

  “Dude, you saw what they did to that old man. What is this hole?

  “Maybe they had a good reason,” Luke replied.

  "What? Because he was thirsty?

  The elf continued to dance for several minutes. Some of the prisoners actually seemed amused by his skills as a piper. Two heavily armored men entered the room and started grabbing prisoners. One after another, the prisoners went to another room. It wasn't long before they got to me. “Let's go,” they said, leading me into the room. Once in the room, I realized the cold reality of the situation . It was a room full of prison cells. “Go ahead,” the men said with a kick in the back.

  I fell in my cell. “Hello. Welcome home,” a voice said.

  The door slammed shut. Was he my cellmate? I expected a huge built character , but instead he was a skinny little troll. Her face was round and her skin was green. On the top of his head he had about ten to twenty strands of yellow hair. In fact, it almost looked like someone had stuck hay on their head. Her pretty ugly outfit sucked. He was only wearing a brown shirt and dirty blue shorts. I looked at my living room. There were only four brown walls with a small barred window. The window, however, was not really a window. There was just another wall outside of it that I could see. I looked at my cellmate and he smiled. "My name is Douglas."

  "Nice to meet you," I replied.

  Douglas looked nervous. He put his two hands together and spoke with a shudder. "It's nice to meet me, isn't it?"

  I shrug my shoulders. "Yeah. That's what I just said.

  He sniffed the air in front of him. “It already smells different here. Don't you like change?

  Okay. This guy was acting a little weird. "Yes I think so. I appreciate the change of season."

  He begs an uncontrollable laugh. "That's funny. It's really funny."

  I did not answer. The laughter continued until it finally stopped. He turned his head to the side. "How do you like this place so far?"

  "It really sucks."

  “You won't say it for long. This place is awesome. It forces you to reach your potential. Can you imagine how jealous my friends will be once I am the new Grand Champion? They'll finally respect me, won't they? And do you know why? Because I won't stop until I reach the top. I just don't want to!

  I sighed. The poor troll was delusional. I knew a potential champion when I saw one, and he wasn't. There was, however, something strange about him. He had this desperate energy that he moved through the air. This will to succeed. In a way, I guess it was naive of me to say that he had no chance of being a champion. I guess it was possible if he worked hard enough. But maybe he was right. Maybe I needed to see this experience from a positive point of view. It was a chance for me to progress faster. To be honest, I was really going at a slow pace. There were so many distractions in the main game world. It was difficult to stay focused on leveling up when there was so much to do. It was a chance for me to become really powerful as I wanted.

  Then a feeling of shipwreck came to my stomach. What happened to Todd? It just hit me. I hadn't spoken to him for a while. And now I had no chance to actually bring her soul into her body. I took a mental note to send him a message. But for now, I had to question the troll. I narrowed my eyes and got straight to work. "Have you ever had fights at the Colosseum?"

  "Oh yes. I defeated this elf just a few days ago. Everyone thought I was going to lose. But guess what?

  I blinked. "What?"

  "I won!" he cried too loudly.

  I took a good look at Douglas. He was small. Really small. I guess size didn't matter though. "Is it exciting at the Colosseum?"

  Douglas walked over to the bars that contained us. He cocked his head against them. “It's the most exciting thing in the world. I feel like a king there. Everyone applauds my name.

  I smiled. It seemed rather desirable to me. Douglas paused before uttering his next sentence. “They want to be me. Each of them. "

  "Who? Who wants to be you?

  He turned around. A fierce look came to his face. “The crowd,” he said with his fist in the air. “Cowards live their dreams through me. And I can't let them down. I can never let them down.

  Okay. This troll was definitely delusional. I seriously doubted anyone would want to become an imprisoned troll. "Maybe they just want to be entertained?" Have you thought about this?

  He pointed his skinny green finger at me. “Don't be so blind,” he said with a chuckle.

  I did not respond. But, I quickly checked his level. Wow. Was he level 39? I was surprised. "Did you progress a lot after your arrival?"

  “Yeah. I pity myself,” he muttered. “I was only level 9 when I got here. I was like me in the real world back then. Now I was just like me in the real world back then. , I don't care who I kill. I'll kill anyone they tell me. I don't care. I just wanna kill stuff.

  Okay. Yes, it was worse than I expected. This troll had serious metal problems. Could I even trust him if I fell asleep? I did not know. But, one thing he said interested me. "Is there a champion here?"

  "You'll see. I don't want to spoil it for you," Douglas replied with a strange look on his face.

  I sat down on the dirty floor. Suddenly a new message alert popped up :

  "Hey. It's me Johnny. I just wanted to say I thought about it a lot. You were right. I was a coward. I ran because I was scared. But I'm going to save you. I'm going to you. saving and also saving Todd. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything. Even if it's me and I have to die! Tell me how I can get to where they took you. Oh, and our army is dead. But ... I'm going to create a new one. I'll be here soon.

  Johnny.

  I laughed. How was he going to save me? My eyes drifted to the ground. I was mad at Johnny , but I knew he meant it. If he said he was going to save me, he would do his best. It was true. He could be a coward sometimes. I couldn't forgive him for what he had done to me. In fact, the only way I would forgive him is if he saves me. I quickly replied:

  "If you can save me and Todd, I'll forgive you." The name of this place is FlatFall. You have to take a boat to get here. Ask around and find out how to get there. Save me and Todd, and you're forgiven. Get Todd first. Add h im as a friend. His name is "Todd The Wordsmith". He's been waiting forever so send him a message now! I'm about to send him a message soon. Do not let me down.

  Walker."

  I lay down on my back. My eyes grew heavy as a feeling of sleep took over. I wanted to fall asleep, but I didn't know if I could trust the troll. I stood up and glanced at him. What the hell? He was just looking at me. "Feeling tired?" he asked with a mischievous look on his face.

  "Maybe. I mean, maybe not. I don't know yet.

  He rubbed his hands. "You should probably get some rest."

  "Yeah? But why? Why do you want me to sleep?"

  He looked around as his body bowed. “Nothing special . I just like to watch people sleep sometimes. It interests me. I like to wonder what this person dreams of. Then I also like to wonder if they dream of me. Have you ever dreamed of me?

  What was this madman talking about ? Of course, I never dreamed of this little creep. "I don't think I dreamed about you."

  Douglas looked irritated. “We will solve this problem. Now, isn't it?

  I surely hoped not. It was hard enough having to share a cell with him. And I certainly didn't want him in my dreams. "Maybe," I replied in a worried voice.

  I lay down wondering if I wanted to sleep or not. My face was on the ground, and I could almost feel the weirdo looking at me. He actually told me he liked watching people sleep. It was so scary. How could I fall asleep knowing he was looking at me? I rolled onto my side and looked up. Thin. His eyes were fixed on me. He bowed. "Sleep well."

 
; I returned to my side. Shit. It was bad. Was I going to have to tell her to stop looking at me? Or did I need to slap him in the face? I did not know. Screw it on. I was just going to sleep. If he was doing something weird, I should just fight him. I would show her that I was the king of that cell if that was what she ended up with. I took a deep breath. My eyes closed. Slowly, I began to sink into a phase of sleep. Then suddenly I saw his face. It was Douglas! My eyes opened. Shit. I saw him in my dreams as he had hoped. I rubbed my eyes and tried to fall asleep. It was a struggle, but I finally managed to fall asleep after several minutes.

  Chapter twenty-one

  “Wake up,” a voice yelled. I opened my eyes and saw a man with golden shoulder blades. Underneath was silver armor. He didn't have a helmet and had curly black hair that was greasy. He looked like he was in his thirties and I was pretty sure he was a Gu ard NPC .

  I yawned and stood up. The first thing I saw was Douglas. His eyes were wide as he looked at me. Dude, that little creep was dedicated. "Have you dreamed of me?" he asked in an enthusiastic voice.

  My mouth opened, then it closed. I wasn't going to tell him what I saw. "No. Not at all," I replied.

  The door to our cell opened. The guard took off the chains around my wrist. "Thanks," I say.

  "Come with me," he replied, grabbing my arm. As I walked away, Douglas waved to me. The cell door closed. I was just grateful to be away from Douglas. Within moments, we were outside in the bright sunshine. We stood on a large square stone slab with pillars at each corner. I looked around at the large open area. I smiled. It didn't sound too bad. In front of me stood two other prisoners. A guard approached us. "The three of you are on a quest together today."

  It sounded pretty cool to me. But I was hungry. I hadn't eaten much since I first came into the gaming world. It was weird, but the hunger didn't develop as quickly as it did in the real world. But it was starting to hit me again. My stomach was starting to growl. "Do we eat before we go on a quest?"

  "Haven't you eaten today?" Mealtime was just a few minutes ago. "

  "No. I didn't have any food.

  The guard laughed. "Your cellmate ate it."

  Douglas? These two were facing a little troll. How dare he eat my meal during my nap? "When are we fed again?"

  The guard looked up at the sky. "In about twenty-four hours.

  Screw that. I was going to find something to eat first. There was a lot of grass and if I was hungry enough I would eat it. Plus, there must be a reason the cows loved grass so much. I looked at the other two players and reviewed their badges and level:

  Leo Leo 2 - Level 04

  Human - Warrior

  and

  Grant Gordonson - Level 02

  Human - Barbarian

  Okay. It was cool. They were about the same as me. I was excited about the chance to level up with other new players like me. I walked over to Grant and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. My name is Walker."

  “Same for you,” Grant replied.

  Leo introduced himself to Grant before walking over to me. “The name is Leo. Let's do this. "

  Leo and Grant both wore the same basic outfit, just like me. Leo had shaggy brown hair while Grant had lighter blonde hair. Grant's hair style was more of a “crew neck” type look. They both looked in their twenties and looked pretty cool. Overall, they looked like strong partners in quest. "So what do we do?" Leo asked.

  "Get out of here and go into the open field," replied the guard.

  We all entered the open field. There was a large green space surrounded by thick woods . To our left was a large pond. And on the right, there was a sort of town. It didn't look bad. In fact, it almost looked like the normal gaming world. But in the distance I could see a very large stone wall. My eyes scanned the wall. Yes, he went around the whole place. I guess it was the "barrier" that kept us from escaping. Awesome.

  Nearby, a shirtless man ran towards us. His face was bloodied and it looked like someone had just given him a beating. He stopped in front of us. “I need your help. I was at home and this goblin broke into my house. He told me he wanted my house.

  "We can take care of him," Leo replied with an arrogant tone in his voice.

  “He just started beating me. He wouldn't stop either. He kept saying he deserved a better life than he was living. He said it was the first step in changing his future. So he beat me and threw me out of my house. Can you kill this goblin?

  Suddenly, a quest alert popped up in front of me:

  Invitation to the quest!

  Kill the selfish house that is invading the goblin! Accept or refuse? Yes No?

  I accepted the quest. "My house is not far from here," said the man, pointing to his left.

  "Consider it's done," Leo replied.

  We started to run. "Is there a quest icon we can follow?"

  "Yeah. Just go to your menu and look for the quest. You can select and the map will appear. This is the blue diamond toward which we are moving. Do not worry not , I already take us there.

  We ran for about five minutes before we got to a lovely little house. There was a small garden with a pig in it. I had to admit the pig looked happy with his current lifestyle. Leo opened the front door. There was nothing but silence. “I don't have a weapon,” I said in a whisper.

  "You can borrow this shortsword," Leo replied.

  A tiny sword fell to the ground. I picked it up and fitted it. I didn't have time to check my stats, but I was sure it sucked. Leo entered the house as Grant and I followed him. We carefully looked around, but did not see the goblin. Then there was the sound of quick footsteps. It almost sounded like a rattle from the tail of a rattlesnake. “Get out,” Leo yelled. “We know you are here.”

  Suddenly the goblin jumped on Grant. Shit! It literally came out of nowhere. Grant started to scream. I took out my sword. The goblin grabbed my blade and tried to stop me. But he could not. I stuck the sword straight behind his back. There was a thud as the goblin hit the ground. His body curled up. Wow. It was super easy. How strong was this short sword? Suddenly I got a pop-up alert. What the hell? I had leveled? Already?

  Congratulations!

  You have progressed! Open your inventory to distribute points.

  I opened my inventory and got straight to work:

  Walker Williamson - Level 4

  Male Male - Warrior

  Statistics:

  HP: 16/16

  Endurance: 14

  Mana: 10

  Attributes:

  Strength: 10 (+3 added)

  Persuasion: 3

  Intelligence: 1

  Willpower: 1

  Stealth: 2

  Agility: 3 (+1 added)

  Skills:

  None yet

  Benefits:

  None yet

  Capacities:

  None yet

  Pleasant. I added 3 more points to my strength. I examined my arms. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination or not, but they seemed to be a bit bigger. "Does the increased strength actually create more muscle on you?" I asked.

  "Yeah. You will become a huge event everyone ," Leo replied.

  Impressive! I could already feel myself getting stronger. My HP was at 16/16 now. From my experience, I knew my health was restored when I progressed, but I wanted to make sure that was still the case. "So HP levels are always restored when you level up, right?"

  "Yeah. Unless you've got some kind of bloody sickness or something. I've seen it happen to players before. But generally your health is always restored when you level up."

  "Alright, cool," I replied. "Did you level up? I progressed faster than I should have.

  “Yeah. I think that's kind of a bonus they're giving you for completing your first quest in FlatFall. That's what I heard anyway.

  It was pretty cool. I walked over to the goblin loot and began to examine it:

  Wooden spoon

  Value: 0.00

  Weight: 0.2 lbs

  Gold: 0.15

  I examined the woode
n spoon. It looked hand carved. Did the goblin carve spoons in his spare time? Has he been sitting and carving spoons all day? I didn't know, but I didn't want the spoon. I threw it on the ground. At least I have some gold.

  Suddenly Grant fell to his side. “This goblin took a piece of my chest.

  I looked at Grant's chest. Man, that was bad. Leo ran to her side. "Take his other arm," he said, supporting him.