Sally raised her head from her finger as Darcy’s implication dawned on her. “Another player?”
Darcy drew a deep breath and slowly let it out through her nose. “I don’t know. Nothing is as it should be. When it was just a game, the innkeeper never had any dealings with bandits. He’d stand behind the bar smiling and sell items and rent rooms to players, regardless of race. The Cut Throats don’t kidnap you to get back letters and you only saw them in the forest outside of the village. It’s the same world I know, but I still don’t recognize it.”
Sally recalled the previous night when she felt the cold presence of another person watching her. Was it the same person who had killed this man? Was it a player that believed they were still playing the game? Or an out of place NPC with dangerous weapons? If it was a player, it should be someone they could talk to and reason with. Yet, the sight of the dead man, still bound tight with arrows sticking out of his back was too gruesome to ignore. It was no accident, nor was it any form of self-defense. It was murder.
Looking over at the others, who were still watching the fire burn, Darcy said in a low voice, “Don’t repeat to them what I just told you. They have enough to worry about already.”
“Sure, the arrows are just between you and me.” When no one was watching, Darcy tossed the mastercraft arrow into the fire, and Sally did the same. They glowed with intense heat before turning black and breaking apart in the embers.
***
While the body continued to burn, Mina maneuvered to stand beside Darcy. Sally had gone to stand next to Naomi who was beginning to look crestfallen again, her excitement over the possibility of becoming a werewolf dissipating.
“Can we talk now?” Mina asked.
“Sure, but speak softly,” Darcy replied with a cautious glance towards Tom who was standing near Sally.
While Sally comforted Naomi, he raised a hand as if he wanted to touch the half-elf’s shoulder, but thought better of it and lowered it to his side. Darcy looked between the two of them and mentally sighed. This would not end well for either of them.
“You don’t want to be a Barbarian anymore,” Darcy said, turning her attention back to Darcy.
“Yeah, I want to change classes,” Mina said, looking at her large hands. “I’m no good at fighting.”
“You helped out back there with the Cut Throats,” Darcy said, recalling how Mina stood her ground despite her own fear against score of Cut Throats. “You managed to stand toe to toe with McRando.”
“I know, but I still don’t want to be a Barbarian,” Mina said, leaning forward seriously. “I’d rather stay in the back where it’s safer.”
“Well, the reason why it seems safer in the back because there’s a fighter in the front keeping the nasties from getting to me.” Darcy explained. “Every decent party needs a front-line fighter to deal and take damage for the others. I know it’s not ideal for you, but you were really kicking ass back there.”
“I was…I wasn’t myself when I Raged,” Mina looked away, fear and shame tightening her face.
“That’s the Barbarian’s special ability. It makes them stronger and does a lot more damage.”
“You keep saying damage, but what you really mean is hurting people.”
Oh, so that was what this was about. Darcy rubbed her mouth and chin as she carefully chose her words. “They would have killed us.”
“My family hates violence. Dad goes to gun control rallies, Mom runs a free clinic, and my brother joined the Doctors Without Borders. And I’m in this world, mowing down people with a sword and axe.” Mina looked down at her hands, which were large, with thick fingers from years (that she had never actually experienced) of handling weapons.
“So, what should we have done?” Darcy said a little heatedly. It was a struggle not to raise her voice and draw the others’ attention. “I’m not big on killing people either, but what else should we have done? Let them slit our throats? Stand by while they sold Sally into slavery and locked Tom up again?”
“I—I don’t know.” Mina lowered her eyes, and her hands closed into fists nearly the size of footballs.
“We didn’t ask for that fight.” Darcy’s anger rose, but she swallowed it back to speak calmly. “They were the ones who kidnapped us, and their pet werewolf nearly killed Naomi. We didn’t kill a convent of nuns, but bandits that called themselves the Cut Throats, dammit.”
“I know that! But it still doesn’t feel good that I did that.” Mina rejoined.
Darcy pinched the bridge of her nose and swallowed back all the mean things she wanted to say, but knew wouldn’t help anything. Then she said in a gentle tone, “Mina, if this were a tabletop or MMO, I would say do whatever you want, but it’s life or death now. I don’t know how long we’re going to be trapped in this world or…” As much as she didn’t want to say the words out loud, she continued, “or if we’re ever going home.”
Mina’s throat visibly bobbed as she swallowed. They both stood in silence as the horrible notion of never returning home weighed on them. Darcy brushed aside the thought, though it lingered at the back of her mind as she continued. “To survive, we have to be a strong party, and that means fulfilling our class roles. I do the healing and spell casting, Sally sneaks around and lands critical attacks on enemies, Naomi can distract and confuse the enemy, and you have to be at the front taking the hits and dealing the most damage.”
Mina sighed, deflating, and it was a pitiful sight for an Amazonian warrioress. Out of sympathy Darcy laid a hand on Mina’s shoulder and met her eyes, “But that doesn’t mean we can’t make some changes that can suit your personal needs and benefit the party too. We can look at some options for the next time you level up.”
Mina perked up and even smiled a little. “Thanks.”
“And I need to apologize for what I said to you in the cell and later during the fight with McRando.”
Mina shrugged. “It’s okay. It did the trick and made me Rage.”
“Still, I wanted to say I’m sorry,” Darcy insisted. “I shouldn’t have used your issues to trigger you.”
Mina shifted uneasily on her feet, and a pink blush spread across her olive cheeks. “You were right. I got myself into this situation because I wanted to impress a guy.”
Darcy looked away, feeling ashamed. “When we go home, you’ll have a story for him.”
Chapter13
The Inn
By the time they returned to Spring Bell village, Sally was tired, sore, and very hungry. Yet Darcy strode through the village as if she were leading a victorious army. People paused to stare at the strange ensemble following the Cleric. A bouncing girl in white tattered clothing; a red-faced barbarian woman who slumped her shoulders as if trying to hide; a nervous half-elf woman, and a tall, bearded man who walked with the grace of a nobleman.
Darcy used more force than necessary to throw open the doors of the inn and they banged against the inside walls. A startled Smiley Pete dropped the mug he had been cleaning. It hit the floor with a solid clunk and rolled out of sight as if fleeing the Cleric’s wrath.
The barman opened his mouth to roar at such aggressive mishandling of his building when he recognized Darcy and the others who walked in behind her.
The Cleric gave him a scathing look, the Monk scowled, the half-elf glared, and the Barbarian looked sullenly at him. But the most venomous eyes were those of the man, who looked as if he would rather cut off Pete’s head than look at him.
Recovering himself, Pete narrowed his eyes, brow wrinkling as his chins quivered. “What the bloody hell is this?”
“You know what this is,” Darcy replied evenly. “This is karma biting you in the ass. You’re going to provide us rooms and meals. You’re going to have our clothes washed and mended. You’re going to replace our lost backpacks and bedrolls with new ones. Then you’re going to give us each a week’s worth of rations and camping supplies. And you’re going to do all of this for free.”
Pete’s mouth flapped open, wholly fl
abbergasted and speechless. It took several tries to speak, his lips trembling in fury when he finally said, “Like bloody hell I will!”
“Like bloody hell you better!” Darcy returned, slapping the page from the ledger on the counter.
Pete arched an eyebrow and looked down at the page.
Never before had Sally seen someone go from beet red to white as a ghost so quickly. He looked sick as all the color bled from his face and his lips no longer quivered from hot rage, but cold terror.
“What do you want?” he said, his eyes focused on Darcy.
“What I already said,” Darcy said heatedly. “Hot meals, hot baths, and hell, hot beds too. Our clothes are to be washed and mended. If it can’t be mended as good as new, then replace them with brand new ones. It’s the least you can do since you’re responsible for…”
“Yes, yes, alright,” he said hastily, motioning for her to keep it down while casting a nervous look at some patrons who were peering curiously at them. “If I give you what you want, then you keep it hushed?”
Darcy nodded. “Tomorrow, if we’re happy with everything, I’ll hand this paper over to you, and you can burn it or wipe your ass, whatever you want to do with it.”
Then the half-elf leaned forward, bringing her nose almost close to his own. “We want dinner waiting for us by the time we’re done bathing. And we want the best rooms you have with clean beds.”
Nothing made Pete’s blood boil than being ordered about in his own inn by a half-breed wretch. He almost—almost—spat in her face and ordered them out of his inn. When word got around that he had served a non-human in his inn, then there would go his business. If his deal with the Cut Throats became public, however, the villagers would string him up and leave his corpse to feed the crows.
“Very well,” he said through his gritted teeth.
***
The floor of the bathroom was polished wood with a single drain in the center surrounded by three brass tubs, which were currently filled with hot water. Each of the adventurers had received a cake of soap and a washcloth and their clothes were collected by a serving girl who eyed Naomi’s ruined and bloody garments with shocked apprehension.
After undressing, yet again Sally marveled at her new body. Everything was so small and thin. Her arms were tight and toned, her legs didn’t brush together when she walked, and when she sat in the tub, she was amazed by how little space she took up. A second person might actually fit in with her, which was proven when Naomi unceremoniously jumped in with her, causing a huge splash that spread water across the floor.
“Jesus Christ!” Sally cried when Naomi, who had submerged, broke the surface, blinking water from her eyes. “What the hell?”
“Sorry, but there are only three tubs!” Naomi said, lying back against the side of the tub.
Mina was already soaping up her arms and shoulders. “She wanted to get in with me, but there’s no room in my tub.”
Sally groaned and scooted back, giving more space to Naomi. “Sit still and don’t splash.”
Darcy was standing by the door, listening. With a self-assured nod, she let the towel slip from her torso and claimed the last tub. Her body was thicker than Sally’s slim frame, but more muscular, solid, and athletic, “Alright, we’re alone. We can talk freely. Naomi: tell us what happened when you appeared in this world.”
“It’s like I already told Sally,” Naomi sighed. “I was at my computer playing Shadow’s Deep.”
“At what time were you playing?”
“I don’t know…”
“Was it morning or night?”
“Afternoon.”
Darcy lowered herself in the tub, both wincing and sighing in relief as the hot water eased the ache in her bones. Once she was settled with her toes wriggling beneath the water, she asked, “Where do you live?”
“Phoenix, Arizona.”
The skin between Darcy’s eyebrows knitted. “Was it sometime after four when you logged on?”
Naomi considered it a moment and nodded, “Yeah. I think so. I finished my school work, so Mom said I could play Shadow’s Deep.
“Alright, we have a connection now.”
“And what’s that?” Mina asked, leaning over the edge of the tub, which sloshed water onto the floor.
“We got transported at the same time. Six-twenty in Eastern time and likely four-twenty in Mountain time. So whatever happened, it happened to us all at the same time.”
“Alright,” Sally said, picking up the soap and rubbed it between her hands to build up a lather. “So why isn’t the village crawling with other players? We can’t be the only ones.”
“They might not be advertising themselves,” Mina suggested. “We were pretty freaked out when we appeared here, so they might be hiding.”
“I don’t know about that,” Sally said. “When we came back to the village, I was looking around and all I saw were villagers and no one that looked like an adventurer or a player. No fancy clothes or weapons. Or anyone that wasn’t human.”
“There’s got to be another connection other than the time.” Darcy moaned, sinking into the water if she would drown herself out of frustration.
Mina was quiet for several moments, then she said. “What about the server? Remember, you told me to choose the Aslan Twenty-Five server when I logged in.”
Naomi raised her head, recognizing the name. “Yeah, that’s the server with my character profile.”
“Forgive my ignorance, but what is a server?” Sally asked.
Darcy rubbed her brow and sighed. “I keep forgetting you don’t know much about MMOs. Think of a server as a copy of the game. Shadow’s Deep has over seven million players, but if you put them all into one server, it would crash the game. So they split the players onto hundreds of different servers so everyone can play at the same time.”
Then Darcy sat up, as a revelation dawned on her. “As more players subscribe, the techs create more servers to ease the queue times. And they would restrict the number of players on a new server to make sure there are no problems before it becomes fully accessible.”
As Darcy spoke, the connection was making sense now with the time and now the server. Were there other players in the same predicament as them?
“How many players can a server hold?” asked Sally
“About a hundred thousand, but in newer servers, we’re looking around a thousand online at any given time,” Darcy said, wrinkling her brow in thought. “The Aslan Twenty-Five server was only a few weeks old, so there shouldn’t have been that many people logged into it. It’s the reason why I chose it as a place to teach new players. The assholes and trolls tend to stick to bigger servers where there are more people to harass.”
Mina’s sloshed water over her shoulders, rinsing the soap from them, her face was set in a thoughtful demeanor. “That’s still a lot of players. We should have seen others by now.”
Darcy shook her head. “Not necessarily. Shadow’s Deep is pretty big, especially with all the expansions that extend the world map. Think of a country as big as Asia, with only a thousand people. How often do you think they run into each other? Then narrow that down by the number of players who were playing at the same time as the Incident, then there might be only a few hundred people, if that.”
Sally was scrubbing her arms and shoulders while listening. The soap released a fragrant smell that was soothing, clearing her head, and the warm water eased out all the aches in her legs and feet. If the conversation wasn’t so meaningful, she would have fallen asleep in the tub.
Darcy was thinking out loud, speaking more to herself than to them, but they listened intently as if she were. “Our best bet to find other players in this area of the world is Everguard. We can get Naomi cured of lycanthropy while we’re there.”
Mina was scrubbing the bottom of one foot. “What’s Everguard like?”
“It’s a pretty big seaside city that serves as a trade hub for the continent. Players can use the auction house and the bank…” Darc
y surged up so fast from the water that Sally thought she fell out of the tub. “Holy shit…holy shit…we have to go to Everguard…we have to.”
“We know,” Sally said slowly. “To get a Naomi cured of her lycanthropy and find other players.”
“Because yesterday,” Darcy said with eyes beaming brightly. “I transferred a hundred thousand gold from one of my previous characters into a bank in Everguard for my Cleric to buy equipment. If everything I did in Spring Bell village stands, then that money should still be in the bank under Sister Korra’s name.”
***
Smiley Pete must have taken Sally’s warning seriously, as fresh clothes and a hot meal were waiting for each of them when they finished their baths. They chose a table far away from the other patrons and ate with gusto without speaking. It wasn’t that they were afraid of being overheard if they talked, but because they were so hungry and the food so good that they were more focused on filling their bellies than anything else.
A hundred thousand gold would definitely help them out in this world, thought Sally. Between them, they had five gold coins that Naomi looted from fallen Cut Throats, and they had gotten this food, baths, and rooms for the night through blackmail. Plus, if Everguard was a hub of trade and banking, then there had to be other players there. Would finding them answer any of her questions about how this had happened and how to get home?
A man appeared at their table and sat down between Sally and Naomi. They stopped eating and stared as the man began helping himself to the meal. It took them nearly a minute to recognize Tom or Prince Alexander Tomas Draggoran. He had shaved his beard, revealing a handsome face with high boned aristocratic features. His hair was tied back from his face in a short tail still damp from the bath, and his new clothes were a linen shirt and dark trousers. Back at the hideout, Tom hadn’t been a bad looking man, but now that he was cleaned up, he was a fetching sight indeed.
He noticed the stares. “Forgive me, was I intruding?”
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