“Something like that. As you’ve probably figured out by now the AI that Camlan is based on is extremely powerful. There’s a lot—I’m talking A LOT—that can be done with it.”
“Yeah, Fountain said that,” I reply. I don’t know how much MadMachine knows, and how much we should reveal about it all. “I don’t understand how that works. He made it sound like Toterra could take over the world or something.”
MadMachine takes another bite, chewing slowly as we watch. He seems to be considering what all to say. He probably has the same reservations about what to say to me, but I’m determined to get answers from him.
“How do you know all this?” I ask. “How did you get involved?”
He scratches his cheek, and I feel like he’s stalling. I don’t blame him. That’s not really the kind of information any of us need to accomplish the mission.
“I know someone who is involved.” He hesitates, but continues on. “My father, actually. He’s the head of legal for FGI and when he learned what the company was doing he … Well, he knew I loved to play, and he knew they would need someone like me.”
“That’s awesome,” SteelFeather says, leaning forward toward him.
MadMachine grins. “Yeah. I know, I’m pretty lucky.”
As he is explaining this to us, two more players come and join us at the table. One is the sorcerer I worked so hard to take down during the attack on Castle Nennius. ElJugador nods, acknowledging me as he takes a seat at the foot of the table. The third player, a rogue, looks familiar, but I can’t place her until she grins at me as she sits directly across the table from me. It’s one of the players that tried to scale the walls of Castle Nennius, one of the ones I sent falling to the ground when I burned their scaling rope. The blue translucent word above her head reads 88EGG88.
“Good, you made it,” MadMachine says. “Let’s get started.”
Chapter 30
“Wait a minute,” I say, putting my hand up to stop MadMachine. I feel like we’re being swept up in whatever this is and all control has been turned over to this other player. I am determined to seize some back. I turn to the girl sitting across from me. “Who do you fight for?”
She pauses, blinks in surprise a couple times, and then laughs loudly, startling me.
“What’s so funny? You just show up, don’t even introduce yourself and I’m supposed to go along with whatever plan you tell me?”
88EGG88 leans back in her chair and crosses her arms across her chest. She’s maybe high-school-age and tall and thin like a volleyball player. She’s perfected the condescending smirk she gives me. “Guinevere,” she says. “Can we do this now?”
“Yeah,” I mutter. “Okay.”
“Let’s get on with it,” MadMachine says, taking control of the conversation again. “If that’s all, then?”
He leans forward and looks at each one of us in the eye, one by one. When he holds my gaze, I feel defiant. I still am not convinced we need his help. Whatever he is about to say is sure to be something along the lines of we need to listen to him.
“As you know,” MadMachine begins, “your team was supposed to make your way north to the Citadel. You would have been met by the next emissary for that leg of the journey, at which time the next stage of the plan would have been revealed to you. But, well, we know how that worked out.”
“Fountain isn’t blaming us for that is he?” TexBadass sputters. “He sent us into a—”
“No, no, nothing like that,” MadMachine says, cutting him off and trying to soothe the riled up Texan. “I’m just saying, there’s no point in going over that. You did what you had to do to stay safe and out of the crosshairs. And now we need to adjust our plan.”
“Does Jargonaut know where we are now?”
MadMachine glances at ElJugador, who answers. “We’re not sure. It’s certainly possible, and I think safe to assume he does. Our own information has a little bit of a delay, since any change then needs to be relayed through several levels of security.”
“Of course,” Erinocalypse says. “Knowing Jargonaut, he’s too self absorbed to listen if Toterra is trying to help him.”
MadMachine snorts trying to hold back his laugh, but doesn’t otherwise comment.
“So, when we realized you were heading east through Dyrnwood, we had to move some pieces around. This town,” he gestures around him, “was thrown together just in the last few hours. We’ve also got a new emissary ready to guide us through the Pendragon Mountains to the other side. It’s the long way to the north side of Camlan, but—”
“Wait,” I say. “Did you say ‘us’?”
“Aw, hell,” TexBadass mutters angrily. “One of y’all better be able to heal,” he says, pointing his finger at the three in turn. “I ain’t gonna be able to keep all y’all alive if we hit trouble.”
“You’re coming with us?” I ask.
MadMachine nods. “We’ve decided that is the best option. If you had more in your group, you could have taken on Jargonaut back at Summerrun.”
“I don’t know if that’s true,” Erinocalypse interjects.
“Our best data says that it is.” MadMachine barely deigns to have the discussion. It’s clear from his demeanor that he expects us to accept this without question.
“But,” I counter, “we must be at least several levels ahead of you. What are you? Twenty-two? Twenty-three?”
“That’s not a problem,” MacMachine says. “Everyone can contribute. Especially since your party is without a player.”
“No.” I shake my head. “That’s not going to work. Don’t you think a bigger group will slow us down? Particularly when half of the group is far worse equipped to handle the terrain?”
MadMachine smirks. “I think we can keep up.”
“And I think this is a bad idea,” I say, pointedly. “I don’t like this.”
“Sorry, but it doesn’t really matter what you think,” he says with a shrug. “It’s not up to you. If you want to be part of taking down Toterra, you’ll be doing it alongside us.”
“I—” I sputter before closing my mouth abruptly. I do. I do want that. I want to be responsible for … whatever the plan is. Whatever steps are needed to liberate the artificial intelligence and expose Toterra, I want to do that. I hate that I don’t even know what I’m agreeing to, but whatever it is I want to be part of it.
“Fine. What’s the plan?” I ask.
“It’s simple. For now. We head east from here, and get to Slade Pass in Pendragon Mountains.”
“Um.” Erinocalypse raises her hand to get attention. “You know that’s what we were already doing before you intercepted us, right? We were going east to the King’s Road on the other side of the mountains. I still don’t see why we need you.”
“For the same reason we’re all here: because Mr. Fountain said so. You have to admit, he knows this AI better than anyone, and if he thinks our group needs to all be together, it does. You’re welcome to log out and go home, if you like. Mr. Fountain has assured me you still have that option any time.”
Erinocalypse exchanges a look with me, shakes her head a little and sighs. “So. East?”
MadMachine smiles. “Right. There’s still no road, but just about straight east from where we are we’ll meet up with Lance DuLock high in the hills of the Pendragon Mountains. Then he will be our guide under the mountain pass to the King’s Road.”
“An NPC is going to help us? How can you manage that?”
MadMachine grins. “It’s part of a quest, actually. I’ll share it with you all before we leave Bearguard. But before we leave, we need to make sure you are all healed up, geared up, and ready for another cross-country trek.”
“Can we set new save spots?” Erinocalypse asks. “What if we die?”
MadMachine shakes his head. “No. Sorry. You’ll respawn back in Summerrun. This place will be dismantled right after we leave.”
“Damn. So even if we wanted to log out, we’d lose basically everything we’ve done today
,” TexBadass says.
“That’s right.” MadMachine stands. “Do you have any other questions? Are you still hungry? We still have some hours of daylight left and the sooner we get on the road, the sooner the team can wipe the record of Bearguard from the servers.”
I look at the others, alert for any sign of hesitation or doubt. Our group has been tightly knit together for so long. We’ve worked hard to learn to trust and rely on each other, and it has served us well. Opening up that trust to new players will be totally against my instinct, but …
I rub my temples, feeling a headache coming on.
MadMachine has us between a rock and a hard place. We can either do the quest with him or not at all.
I choose with him.
I stand up from the table.
“I’m ready.”
Chapter 31
MadMachine gives us an hour to get our weapons and armor repaired, to pack up extra food and fully prepare for the hike ahead. Fortunately, this cobbled-together town of Bearguard is exactly equipped with everything we need to embark on the next leg of the journey. Whatever copy-and-paste job the spy at Toterra did was extremely thorough. While the others are guided around the town by others, 88EGG88 takes me with her to the necessary NPC merchants, heading first to a cobbler for a new pair of shoes.
She shakes her head at me, her long limbs folded across her chest, keeping her distance. That’s fine. I don’t want to get too close to her either.
“Wait. You’ve gone how long without shoes?”
“Not far,” I insist again. “I told you. Most of the time we were on the raft.”
“But you’ve just been walking around Bearguard shoeless?”
I shrug. “It didn’t seem important to bring up when there were spears pointed at us.”
“And then while we were eating?”
“Look,” I say. “No one noticed I was barefoot. What’s the problem?”
“Yeah, okay.” She laughs derisively. “Whatever.”
Once we enter the shop, I’m pleasantly surprised by the selection available. They’ve got supplies sufficient to provide for players at every level, every need. There are options here just waiting for me that I didn’t even see when I was in Summerrun. After some negotiations and trying to decide what needs to be a priority, I leave the shop with a new amulet, a second bag of holding, and pair of shoes, all equipped immediately.
Name: Darkling Amulet
Level: 30
Description: +10% resistance to Water damage; +5 Intelligence
Name: Embroidered Pouch
Level: 24
Description: A small bag that holds up to 24 items.
Name: Hiking Boots
Level: 27
Description: +2 Dexterity
We return to the courtyard, where MadMachine, TexBadass, and both of our tanks are waiting. While the two sorcerers are still finalizing their equipment, I take the much-needed downtime to reorganize my inventory. I always forget to do this, and then I can never seem to find the ingredient or supply I need in a quick moment. It takes a bit of shuffling, but in a few minutes I have all of my potions and the recipes for potions stored in the new Embroidered Pouch, and then that smaller bag takes up an inventory slot in the larger bag. That should be good for a while.
As I’m finishing this up, the last members of the group join us and a game message appears in the air in front of me.
MadMachine has invited you to a group. Do you accept?
Ugh. I know I have to do this. I know it’s for the best. I know that in order to finish what I’m in the game to take care of, I don’t have a choice. But I don’t have to like it.
As soon as I accept the new group, a new message offers me an open quest. I quickly and eagerly read the details of what we’re about to embark on.
Quest Discovered: One Way Through
Description: There is only one path through Pendragon Mountains, and you can’t cross it alone. Find Slade Pass where your guide will be waiting to take you to the King’s Road on the eastern side of the mountain range.
Reward: +500 XP; assistance in passing under Pendragon Mountains to the other side
As soon as I accept the quest, the Camlan Realm map flashes a yellow dot for our destination. Slade Pass is to the northeast of us, so we’ll be leaving the shore of Bors River to walk through the center of the Dyrnwood again. I don’t see any marked towns along the way, which means we probably won’t have a chance to save our games either. I’m still going over the map and details of the quest, when 88EGG88 interrupts.
“We’re all here? All ready? Speak now or forever hold your peace.”
She grins at us, raising her eyebrows a bit manically. I’m not sure how I feel about her being our lead scout, but, again, none of this is up to me any more. After all that work I did to make our little group a tight-knit team, now I’m starting all over, having to get to know three new players, three new styles, three new ways for our party to be vulnerable.
But… Whatever. Here we go.
I equip my bow and arrow, close out the inventory I was sorting through, and fall into line behind the tanks.
88EGG88 leads us out of Bearguard on the far side from where we entered, back into Dyrnwood. It’s now late afternoon, and while the sun is now on our side of Pendragon Mountains, the thick canopy blocks most of the light. The gloom and shadows of the forest instinctively make us all quiet. Though the Raptorial Bushes still seem to be keeping away any creatures, each member of our party is cautious and on guard.
After about twenty minutes of walking in silence, I can’t take it any more. I make my way to MadMachine’s side and elbow him in the ribs.
“So, you’re … what? A tank, right? And ElJugador is a sorcerer. I saw some of his casts back at the castle. 88EGG88 is …?”
“She’s playing a rogue. Stealth and lock-picking and all that.”
“Huh.” I wonder how much of a coincidence that is. “Who picked her to join the group?”
“I did.” MadMachine glares at me. “Is there a problem?”
“No.” I try to back pedal, and cut the suspicion from my voice. “No. We could use a rogue, is all. I was wondering if anyone at FGI actually has a real idea of what we’re walking into. I can’t tell how much of this mission is blind and how much is meticulously planned.”
MadMachine opens his mouth as though to respond, but then closes it again when he changes his mind. “Yeah, I don’t know.” He shrugs.
“Is there a path between here and the pass through the mountains that we’re looking for.”
“I don’t know,” he says again after a short pause.
I’m taken aback. “Okay, then, do you at least know what could be in this forest between here and there?”
“No, I don’t know.”
“Dude.” I can’t help but raise my voice, even though I know better. Balderdash13 turns to glare at me as she walks. “Why—? I mean, we already didn’t know what we were getting into before you intercepted us at Bearguard. What good is it doing us to have you along on this quest? Especially since the bigger group makes us a bigger target.”
“Look.” MadMachine stops walking, turns to me, and pushes his fingertips hard into my shoulder. “I know enough. I know more than you.”
“Yeah, that’s what you keep saying, but I don’t see it.”
“We don’t know exactly what we’re expecting because the game can literally be changed at any moment!” He lowers his voice after 88EGG88 shushes him. “You were just in a town that had appeared out of nowhere at the last minute. Our developer at Toterra can make changes on the fly. Someone else could change it back.”
“Okay, I—”
“This is chaos, SirAsh3r. Pure and simple. It’s warfare, with us as the pawns, and with the terrain and the goal posts constantly changing. Sorry I can’t provide you a detailed map of every little rat and side quest you might get XP from.”
His sarcasm bites, but I can’t deny I get a certain rush from what he’s saying. O
f all the players in the game, FGI trusts me to walk into this minefield.
There’s a rustle up ahead that interrupts us. With my Power Perception skill, I peer into the forest.
“Shhh…” 88EGG88 warns. “Do you hear that?”
Chapter 32
I gaze into the dark forest of Dyrnwood. What is that we are hearing? Power Perception picks up a low-level of dangerous red all over, just as it has the entire day we’ve been trekking through the forest. Everything around us is a risk; I can’t identify the specific danger that I know is coming.
Half of the party is ahead of me, half behind. 88EGG88, SteelFeather and Balderdash13 stand at the lead of our group, in a staggered line, weapons ready as we all stand still and listen to the rustling in the darkness ahead of us. We are probably only an hour or so away from sunset. The darkness is deep and the shadows are long. Though I can see movement, it’s indefinable.
Enhancement received: Arm of Monmouth
Description: You will enjoy +5% Strength for the next sixty seconds
I glance back at TexBadass who just cast the buff on the party. He looks grimly into the trees in front of us, preparing for the worst. Next to him, Erinocalypse stands ready with a spell, and on the other side of her ElJugador casts one of his own.
Enhancement received: True Aim
Description: You will enjoy +3% accuracy for the next sixty seconds
I feel like we’re all holding our breaths, waiting for something to happen. Waiting to see what this is. Waiting to make sure we are as prepared as we can be. Waiting for the battle to start.
“What are we waiting for?” 88EGG88 says in a carrying whisper.
Some Stealth, she’s got.
She strides forward with purpose, but before she takes more than a couple steps, the rustling sound up ahead starts again. I still can’t see what it is, but after a moment I can identify the sound: hoofbeats. Those are horses or gigantic elk or something. Who knows what kind of creatures could be in here, but some big and heavy creature is walking through the forest towards us.
Fate of Camlan Page 12
