by Pdmac
“You two could be twins,” he replied, shifting his gaze back and forth.
“Yeah,” Conrad sighed. “We know. Wish they would’ve said something like, ‘someone already looks like that.’ I coulda chosen to look like someone else.”
“There ya go again,” Wendell huffed. “This is a perfect set up. We work this right and we’ll never get caught.”
“How ya figure that?” Conrad said, rolling his eyes. “I know, I know. One of us is seen while the other one steals what we need. That only works when no one knows who we are.”
Ignoring him, Wendell turned to Karl. “So what’s it like?”
“What’s what like?”
“The outside. What’s it like?”
“How long you been here?” Karl frowned.
“What’s the date?”
“Seventeenth of August.”
“What year?”
“2032.”
Wendell’s lips moved as he silently calculated. “Been in here for almost a year.”
“A year?” Karl sputtered. “And you’re still on the Misted Isle?”
Wendell shot a guilty look at Raquel then at Conrad.
“Wendell’s not sure he wants to leave here,” Raquel answered for him. “He and Conrad have been refining their skills –”
“With little success,” Conrad complained. “I arrived six months ago and when I saw him, I nearly fainted. But then I saw the advantage of looking like someone else.
“The problem is that the two of them are well known in town here, so after the third time of getting caught and tossed in the jail, they decided to call it quits for a while, especially when the burgomaster threatened to toss them over the wall and never let them come back in.” She smiled affectionately at them.
“How long have you two been here?” Karl asked, looking at the two women.
“A month,” Raquel replied with a seductive smile.
A serving girl in a low-scooped peasant blouse deposited the ale and a bowl of stew in front of Karl.
“How much?” he asked, turning to gaze up at her. She was probably in her early twenties, with long blond hair and Nordic skin and features. She was also quite attractive. Not as beautiful perhaps as Annabeth and Raquel, but certainly a close second.
“Is this your first meal here in Marbeck?” she asked, her voice warm and buoyant.
“Yes it is.”
“Then it’s on the house,” she beamed. “Missus Scully does that for all the newbies who have their first meal here.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she sweetly replied, laying a tender hand on his shoulder, a move at once innocent yet subtly sensual.
As she sashayed away, Karl looked around the room noting all the women were more than good looking, regardless of status. All except the cooks and Missus Sully whose wrinkled face wore a perpetual scowl.
“You noticed it too,” Raquel observed.
“Why?”
“Why not?” Conrad leered.
Raquel shook her head in patient indulgence. “It’s like a thematic meme. All the serving girls have to be babes. As far as the players, who’d want to choose to be ugly?” Eyebrows raised, she grinned at Conrad.
“How can you all afford to stay here for so long?” Karl asked, tallying up his own meager resources.
“We go out on daily hunts,” Raquel replied. “There’s a bounty on gnolls.”
“And there’s an unlimited supply,” Annabeth added.
The serving girl returned and placed a steaming bowl of stew and a stein of ale in front of Karl. “With Missus Scully’s compliments.”
“Thank you.” Karl caught Missus Scully’s attention and lifted his ale in appreciation, receiving a quick smile and nod in return. He turned his attention back to Raquel. “You were saying?”
“Whenever we run low on funds, we go kill a few gnolls to replenish our accounts,” Raquel explained then glanced around the room. “Everyone does it.”
Shoveling in a mouthful of stew, Karl turned to look around the room. “Are they all players?”
“Every one of them,” Conrad confirmed.
“There has to be almost twenty-five players in here,” he said, dumbfounded.
“Nineteen to be exact,” Wendell answered.
“But there are more than nineteen players in the game,” Karl pointed out.
“Some spend their time at other taverns,” he replied.
“And others decided to try Baker Chesel’s pie,” Annabeth grinned, “and they hang out in prison for a while until they figure out they need to bribe the guards to get out.”
Karl glanced around the table. “Has anyone ever left Marbeck?”
“I only know of three,” Annabeth replied, staring into her half-filled ale mug.
Karl looked at Wendell, who squirmed before saying, “I’ve met a few more.”
“What happened to them?”
“Don’t know,” Wendell answered with a shrug. “They never came back here.”
“As far as we can assume,” Raquel replied, “they crossed the bridge.”
Karl finished his stew and pushed the bowl away. “I still don’t understand why you all are still here.”
“It’s comfortable and you can level up without too much stress,” Annabeth replied.
“Yeah,” Raquel agreed. “Annabeth and I are Level 3 while these two clowns are still Level 2. All you have to do is kill a few gnolls and you can start raising your levels and your stats.”
“What about quests?” Karl asked, peering at her over the rim of his mug.
“Yeah, well, there is that,” she evasively answered.
Karl’s brow furrowed and he glanced around the table. “So you all are content to spend the next however many years in Marbeck, killing gnolls and drinking ale in the Widow’s Pantry?”
“Easy for you to say,” Conrad scoffed. “You just got here.”
“No offense intended,” Karl said. “How many of you were gamers before you came here?”
“None of us,” Raquel answered for the group. “In fact,” she ticked her head indicating the room’s occupants, “as far as I can tell, no one in here has ever been a gamer. We’re all literal newbies.”
Karl blinked at the revelation and gave voice to his thoughts. “Why would they do that?”
“Who knows?” she shrugged. “Maybe they figure a true gamer would be at the end before they had a chance to find the cure. Throwing us ignorant children into a complex game sort of makes sense. Do you know how many bridges we have to cross to get to the end?”
“No.”
“Neither does anyone else. The way I figure it, they can keep adding bridges so that the gifted among us will always have a challenge. Though it sort of puts it in the category of insanity. You know, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Only here, it’s the continual search for the last bridge.”
“Wow,” Wendell commented, impressed. “That’s deep.”
Karl too was impressed. Not only was Raquel gorgeous, she was smart. “So, in all your battles with the gnolls, have you ever been killed?”
Raquel, Annabeth, and Wendell shook their heads while Conrad assumed a look of guilt.
“What was it like?”
“It damn hurts,” he snapped. “Picture getting hit by a bus at full speed, a bus with flailing knives that slice you while it hits you.
“So you do feel pain,” Karl observed.
“Unimaginable pain,” he shot back. “I don’t recommend it, even knowing I can respawn.”
“So where was your bind spot?”
“Right here in this room.”
Wendell barked a loud laugh. “My God you shoulda seen him. One minute I’m eating a late dinner and the next minute I see dwarf-boy here materializing… buck naked.”
“Naked?”
“Yeah.” Wendell started laughing again. “So here he is, standing in the middle of the room when he suddenly realizes where he is. His hands leap do
wn to cover up his little tallywacker, which he only really needed a pinky to cover –”
“You shut up,” Conrad snarled.
“But if you two are exactly alike,” Annabeth interrupted with an innocent smile, holding up a pinky and gazing at Wendell.
“Yeah,” Conrad sneered, “Mister Big-mouth. At least I had the balls to try and fight, unlike the coward you are who ran screaming like a little girl once the battle started.”
“That’s a lie,” Wendell bellowed, rising out of his chair.
“Will you two either shut up or take it outside,” Raquel huffed then turned to Karl. “I swear these two are worse than little kid brothers sometimes.”
“Well he started it,” Conrad grumbled.
“See what I mean?” she said, rolling her eyes.
Karl turned to Conrad. “Did you lose everything?”
“Yes. Fortunately it wasn’t much, but I still had to start over. That’s when these two,” he nodded at Raquel and Annabeth, “stepped in and helped me get back on my feet.”
“We were glad to do it,” Raquel said with a sisterly smile. “After all, we’re all in this together.” She looked back at Karl. “So. What are your plans?”
Karl thought for a moment, taking a sip of ale. “I suppose I ought to get myself organized and get a feel of the place, leveling up as much as I can before I head out.”
“You intend to cross the bridge?” Conrad asked.
“That’s the plan.”
“Why?”
“While you got a great hustle going on here, I know I would get bored and need to move on. So I might as well prepare for the move.”
Raquel and Annabeth exchanged a glance and a nod.
“We can help you,” Raquel offered, “in exchange…”
“Exchange for what?” Karl asked, curious.
“We go with you.”
“You’re leaving?” Wendell blurted in shock.
“No, don’t leave,” Conrad begged.
“Sorry boys,” Raquel shrugged. “Now that we’ve found ourselves another competent warrior, it’s time to go.”
“How do you know he’s competent?” Conrad argued.
Raquel turned to Karl. “What did you do in real life?”
“I was a martial arts instructor,” he replied, purposely leaving out the university professor part. After all, he had an image to maintain.
“Damn,” Wendell uttered, dazzled.
“What level were you?” Conrad asked.
“I was midway thought my 6th degree black belt.”
“Double damn,” Wendell mumbled, awed.
“I knew it the minute I saw him,” Annabeth boasted. “The way he carried himself, he was more than just a newbie in a gorgeous body.”
Though liking the compliment, Karl felt a bit awkward, as though eavesdropping on a private conversation, even if it was about him.
Raquel studied her for a brief moment then gave her a sly grin. “Did you promise to show him your tits?”
“It worked, didn’t it,” she replied with a confident smile.
“Now you’re going to have to follow through.” Shifting her attention to Karl, she passed her tongue over her lips in a sensual lick. “I might have to join her.”
“Can I watch?” Conrad perked up.
“Perhaps another time, dear,” she replied with a maternal smile, patting his arm.
Karl smirked, though unsure what to make of it all. His first hope was for the two women to immediately make good on the tease, yet he felt awkward like it was simply a game for them. The second hope was to figure out how to proceed. They told him he had to accomplish a quest in order to cross the bridge, but they never told him what the quest was, or how to go about finding out what it was. His thoughts were interrupted when Raquel snapped her fingers at him.
“You were gone there for a moment,” she said.
“Sorry. Just thinking about how to move forward from here.”
“I believe we said that in exchange for helping you get started, we would join up as a team. There’s a greater chance of success in a team.”
“Besides,” Annabeth added. “You’d have two knock-out babes as your partners. One thing I forgot to mention is that in this world, there are no STDs and players can’t get pregnant.”
Karl smirked and nodded. “Yes. I would love to be a team with you two.”
His personal screen popped up.
Congratulations: You’ve joined a team. You’ve added team building to your skills.
Just as Karl closed the screen, Conrad stiffly demanded, “What about us?” He threw an arm around Wendell.
“I thought you two wanted to stay here,” Karl explained.
“Maybe we do and maybe we don’t,” he retorted. “At least we’d like to have the chance of deciding for ourselves.”
“By all means,” Karl readily agreed. “Think about it. By the way, what special skills do you have?”
“We’re rogues,” Wendell replied as explanation.
“Yes, I know, but if you’re level 2 rogues, what are your skills? What can you add to the group? These two are easy,” he said, indicating the two women. “One’s a warrior, a fighter, the other’s a sorceress working to be a powerful sorceress. When it comes to battle, I know I can depend on them to fight, and fight well.”
Annabeth shot a smug look at Raquel. “Told you.”
“Told her what?” Wendell sourly demanded.
“Told her that I would find the right person to lead this group.”
“So now he’s the damned leader?” Conrad snapped. “What the hell? He’s been here for what, five minutes maybe, and now he’s the leader?”
“Slow down Conrad,” Raquel coldly replied, “and pull your head out of your ass and think about it. What did you do before you came here?”
When he didn’t respond, instead choosing to glare at her, she answered for him. “You were an accountant. And you Wendell?” she continued, turning her hard gaze at him. “You were a restaurant manager. Annabeth here was in retail and I was a marketing guru. Out of all of us, Viking boy here,” she arced a thumb at Karl, “is the only one with true combat experience. You don’t come to a gunfight armed with a computer.” She sat back, her polemic finished.
“Just because he’s a martial arts expert, how do you know he’s got combat experience?” Wendell countered.
“Trust me. I can spot it a mile away.”
Conrad shifted his chair to study the Viking. “You ever been in the military?”
Karl was silent for a moment before admitting, “Yes.”
“Ha,” Raquel chortled. “Told you.”
“Combat?”
“Yes.”
“Where?” Wendell chimed in.
“South America.”
Conrad pondered for only a moment before his eyes widened and he exclaimed, “The Tiwanaku War.”
“Yes.”
“Who were you with and what did you do?”
“I was with the Widow-makers and that’s all I’ll say.”
“Triple damn,” Wendell uttered. “You ever get wounded?
“Four times,” he replied, frowning. “Can we get back to the present time, here and now?”
Raquel studied him with newfound curiosity and respect, though tinged with concern. The exploits of the Widow-makers made international news. “I’m surprised they put you into the game.”
“That part of my life is sealed away, private and classified. I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Works for me,” Annabeth brightly interjected. “You two still have a problem with him being the leader?”
“Nope.” Conrad shook his head and gulped his ale.
“And nope,” Wendell added, still in awe.
“Why me?” Karl asked looking at Annabeth and Raquel. “Both of you have more experience in this world than I do.”
“Call it a hunch,” Raquel smiled at him. “You OK with assuming leadership?”
Karl debated the idea. One of the r
easons he left the military was the responsibility for others’ lives. One wrong choice and good people get killed. Even good choices could result in good people dying. When he left too many friends on the battlefield, he knew it was time to move on. Was this different? Fortunately respawning could ameliorate bad choices.
“OK. I accept on the condition that I expect to be obeyed at all times, unconditionally. Once a decision is made, we all accept it like it was our own decision. Further, we’re a team and that means we leave no one behind. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” came the unanimous responses.
“The no-man-left-behind mantra might be hard to maintain,” Raquel pointed out, “especially if one of our bind spots is miles away from where we are and we have to move on.”
“Good point. If that happens, you’re on your own until you can get to the rendezvous point. I won’t jeopardize the group for one person’s safety. If you can’t make it in time, Xin Loi.”
“Sin Loi?” Conrad repeated?
“It’s Vietnamese,” Karl replied. “It literally means ‘excuse me’ or ‘pardon me.’ Translated into GI, it means, ‘It sucks to be you.’”
“Oh,” he quietly said, fully expecting him to be the one on his own. Maybe staying in Marbeck wasn’t such a bad idea. He slid his eyes to cast a surreptitious glance at Wendell who gawked at Karl in obvious hero worship.
“We all in agreement?” Karl asked, already assuming control.
Again they nodded and expressed their willingness.
“OK. Right now we’re five, with two possible ‘not coming.’” He held up a hand to stop Conrad’s objection. “I’m not condemning you. I’m merely stating the obvious. We need a backup plan if you two decide to stay here. Five’s a good sized group. Big enough to handle most situations, but not too big to be unmanageable. Three of us are warriors, but we need other skills besides warriors.”
“Like rogues for instance?” Raquel pointedly said.
“Exactly,” Karl replied.
Conrad and Wendell turned to each other and as if on cue, Conrad let out an exasperated sigh. “Aw hell, we’re comin’.”
“Excellent,” Karl grinned. “Now we need two more.”
“Two more?” Annabeth repeated. “I thought you said five was enough.”
“Seven is better,” Karl explained. “We need more diverse talent, like a mage and a monk or cleric.”
