Gamers

by Cambry Varner

  “Naomi!” Sally shrieked and her scream was echoed by the others.

  A second wolf, black fur and amber eyes, cut through the darkness and caught Tom by the wrist. The prince howled, the blade fell from his nerveless fingers. Sally leaped over the fire, and as she landed on the other side, she shoved the rapier between the wolf’s ribs. It crumbled and died with a choked yelped. Backing away, Tom held his wrist with one hand, using his sleeve to stave the bleeding.

  A glance suggested he was okay, so Sally turned her attention to what was happening with Naomi, yet before she could help the Monk another wolf appeared, lips curled back revealing rows of sharp teeth. Sally positioned the dagger and rapier and waited. If it leaped at her, she would go low and cut open its belly. If it charged, she could sidestep it and get it from the side.

  Neither happened, for when it charged her, a gout of flame appeared along its left flank, catching its fur on fire. It screamed as fur and flesh burned. It took off in a blur of light from the glade. Darcy was standing with two fingers pointed at where the wolf had charged, her mouth still forming the word of power used to utter the cantrip.

  Screams drew their attention. Mina was standing over where Naomi and the wolf still fought. She had dropped the greataxe, and with both hands, she grabbed the wolf by the scruff and lifted it off the girl. Naomi was lying on her back, panting and bleeding from several places.

  The wolf twisted, trying to flip over to tear into Mina’s arm, but the Barbarian held it high above her head and heaved it across the glade. It smacked into a tree with a crack and landed on the ground with its back broken. Darcy put the creature out of its misery with a swing of her mace.

  They all remained standing, too afraid to move or too shocked to do so. All of them looked about the trees, waiting for the next attack, but none came. Mina bent down to collect Naomi from the ground while Darcy hurried over to heal her. The girl’s arms and shoulders were covered in scratches and bites with a gash above her right eye.

  “Sweet Jesus, Naomi, you didn’t have to fight a wolf with your bare hands,” Darcy moaned, seeing the injuries.

  “You didn’t notice, but I bit off a chunk of its ear,” Naomi said through bloody teeth.

  “Just hold still,” With a single spell, the Monk’s injuries were healed, replaced with puffy pink skin. Then Darcy turned to Tom who was still holding his wrist. “How is it?”

  “Deep and painful,” Tom said as blood dotted the ground at his feet.

  “C’mere and I’ll take care of it for you.” One healing spell later, Tom’s wrist was tender, but no longer bleeding. “Sally, Mina, are you two okay?”

  Sally checked herself and found no injuries. “I’m fine.”

  “Mina? Mina! Are you okay?” Darcy looked frantically at the Barbarian who was bent double panting.

  Her broad shoulders heaved as she dragged in deep breaths, coming down from the Rage she entered moments earlier. “Just need a few moments to catch my breath…are they gone?”

  “I think it’s over,” Sally scanned the trees but saw nothing. The tension in the air was gone with the danger. Relief eased the tension in her shoulders, and she almost sagged onto the ground. “God, I just want to sleep and never wake up.”

  Chapter 15

  River’s Edge

  The sun was just making its appearance when they broke camp and left the glade, eager to be on their way. There was no mention of breakfast, as none of them could find their appetites after the attack, and they wished to leave that place as quickly as possible.

  Naomi was her usual merry self, as if she hadn’t gotten into a dog fight with a wolf. Mina’s injury was only the shallow cut on her leg, which had long since stopped bleeding. It didn’t seem to trouble her, but she walked with a slight slump in her shoulders. Sally and Tom kept a careful watch as they left, no longer striding with cool confidence.

  Yesterday had been more cheerful and easygoing, but today a cloud hung over them as they all scanned the forest for any wolves, and the slightest movement startled them. Everyone chastised Naomi from straying too far, and Mina didn’t feel confident about leaving the road to search for food.

  We had thought the dangers were over. Darcy thought as midday drew near. We had dealt with the Cut Throats, and we let ourselves be lulled into a false sense of security, which the wolves tore to pieces. None of us are safe as long as we’re in this world.

  Darcy was thinking of how she wanted to stop the group and give them a much-needed pep talk and tell them it was just a random encounter and praise them for handling it so well. They needed to know that everything was going to be okay.

  Yet, her own hands were shaking. It was easier to believe all would be well when she was on the other end of the monitor or seeing everything through character sheets and miniatures. This was real, and they could be hurt or worse.

  Sally walked up beside Darcy, shouldering her backpack and wearing her hood up. “There’s something I noticed about the log.”

  “What?” Lord help if there was something else the System was doing to make their lives miserable.

  “I notice that it’ll tell if you failed succeed a Sneak or a Swim check and others, but it doesn’t say anything about Perception checks. I’m sure I must have passed that skill check several times since the Incident…or at least failed it yesterday.”

  She told Darcy about the cold feeling she and Mina had experienced yesterday in the clearing. Darcy listened and nodded with her mouth set in a grim line. “I was afraid of that. I hate to say it, but the System is actually being a good Game Master.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Sally paused for a moment to check the forest to her left and when there was no sign of any wolf, she caught up to Darcy.

  “Well, let me explain it like this,” Darcy said, getting into her lecturing mode. “I’m running a game and the players are in a room. One of them wants to look for treasure or a secret room. I tell them to roll an Perception check and they roll it. If they roll high enough and there is a treasure or secret room, I tell them where it’s located and what it looks like. However, if they roll the check and failed it, I wouldn’t tell them they failed the roll, I’d say they didn’t find anything.”

  “I see. You keep it ambiguous so they don’t know whether there is something to find or not. Is it the same with Charm and Deceit?”

  “Pretty close. Another example is a player trying to determine if an NPC is lying to them. They would roll a Perception check. They roll higher than the NPC’s Deceit check, I’d tell them the NPC is trying to bullshit them. However, if they roll lower, then I’d say their character believes the NPC is telling the truth. I wouldn’t advertise whether they failed or passed a social check because roleplaying is supposed to reflect real life,” Darcy explained, looking ahead at the road, but not really seeing it.

  “Think about the celebrities you and I liked until we heard they had harassed and assaulted women. They were so charming they fooled fans into thinking they were cool when they were really assholes. Remember in high school, when I had a crush on Beverly Kemp? I thought she was the coolest girl in school until I found out she was putting cigarettes out on the back of middle-schooler’s necks between classes. Damn, I wished somebody told me I had failed my Perception check on her so I could have spared myself the heartbreak.”

  “Jesus, I remember that. Whatever happened to her after they expelled her?”

  “She’s shacked up in a trailer with more kids than she can afford and a boyfriend who is maybe the father of one or two of them,” Darcy said, waving a hand to dismiss the memory of Beverly. “Back to the topic, the System will keep a log of checks that are clear cut about whether we failed or succeed like Climbing or Swimming, but anything that can be ambiguous will be left out.”

  They walked on in silence for a while. Darcy found herself missing her car. It’d be a tight squeeze, but all five of them could travel in it. She’d be sitting in the driver’s seat, Mina would have to take the passenger side as she was
so big. Then Tom, Sally, and Naomi could squeeze in together in the back. Then this five-day journey would be done within an hour, maybe two, tops.

  “Then there would have to be a second log,” Sally said, breaking up her fantasy.

  “Sorry, pardon?” Darcy said, refocusing on Sally.

  “Well, if there is a log that we can see, then there should be a second log with checks that we can’t see.”

  “That’s possible,” Darcy said with a shrug.

  “Then, my next question is, why keep a log, a recording of all our failures and successes? To go back and review later?”

  Darcy pondered this for a moment. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

  “You said that an NPC rolls a Deceit check that the players have to roll against. Who’s rolling for the NPC? Who determines how high the NPC’s Deceit skill is?” Sally said, thin golden brows knitting in deep thought. “I don’t think it’s the System that needs a log, it’s whoever is running the System that needs it.”

  “That’s a plausible theory,” Darcy said, getting tired thinking about it. “But we’re just going around in circles with this. We just don’t have enough information to come up with anything other than theories. Maybe other players can give us more details. Right now, let’s focus on getting to Everguard. Later, you and I will sit down and have a really hard think about this.”

  “Oh, that reminds me. Tom said we could stay in his uncle’s manor in Everguard.”

  Darcy perked up. “That’s nice. We’ll have a back-up if the money isn’t there.”

  Sally grimaced and looked away. “But I think he might have changed his mind after last night.”

  “What? He thinks we summoned up the wolves?”

  “No, I…I was kinda mean to him last night.” Then she told Darcy what had happened before the wolves attacked.

  Darcy stared at Sally appalled. “Why would you say such a shitty thing to him?”

  “I don’t know. It just came out.”

  “You need to go apologized to him right now.”

  “I did…just before the wolves attacked.”

  “Jesus Christ, Sally, I know you have bad social skills, but I thought you had better manners than that.”

  “I’m sorry. Tom makes me nervous, and you know how I get.”

  “Don’t apologize to me,” Darcy growled, glowering at Sally. “You need to go smooth things over. Don’t burn bridges we might need later. We have no clue if we’re ever going to get home again, and having a royal prince in our corner can make things a lot easier for us.”

  Darcy being angry with her hurt more than Sally would care to admit. “What do you want me to do? Hook up with him?”

  “Why not?” the Cleric muttered. “It might do you some good.”

  Sally bright red, and it wasn’t just from the anger. “He’s not interested in me. He wants this!” She motioned at her body with both hands. “If he saw my real fat ass, he’d run in the opposite direction.”

  “What does it matter? It’s not like he’s going to follow you back into the real world,” Darcy retorted. “Look, you have the body thousands of women have made themselves miserable to get, and you’re not enjoying it? I’m not saying you should marry him or anything, but he seems like a nice guy. What’s it going to hurt?”

  “You mean to lead him on?” Sally couldn’t believe what Darcy was suggesting.

  “Set some boundaries first and tell him it’s just for funsies. He’s a prince of a kingdom that hates elves he would know it can’t go any further than a fling.”

  “Okay, okay, sure, I’ll go back there and fuck him dry, I just need one thing,” Sally said before thrusting a hand out in front of Darcy.

  Darcy looked down at the empty palm. “What?”

  “A condom.”

  The Cleric’s face went blank. Her mouth opened to speak, but no words came.

  “That’s right,” Sally said, lowering her hand. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to get pregnant in a world where the number one cause of death for women is giving birth. And if this world is going to treat me, a half-elf, like shit, I don’t think a quarter elf kid is going to have it any easier.”

  She had caught Darcy completely caught off guard, and Sally took some pleasure in that. It wasn’t often that she could shake up Darcy.

  “It might not work like that…”

  “Why wouldn’t it?” Sally said, not letting up. “All my other bodily functions work here. I’ve bled, cried, pissed, and sweated here as I did in the real world. I bet if we’re here long enough, I’ll have a period. Why wouldn’t I get pregnant too? And since you’re such an expert in this world, tell me, what sort of birth control do they have here? Other than the pull it out method?”

  “Alright, alright, you have a point,” Darcy conceded, but not to be put off too much, she insisted, “You still have to make things right with him.”

  “And I will,” Sally promised.

  They didn’t stop long for a midday meal. Instead, Mina passed out what was left of the bird, which was just a few bites for everyone. They ate in silence, still watchful of the forest and the road while Sally stole glances at Tom, wondering how the hell she was going to apologize. Before, he had been the one to initiate conversations between them, but this time she knew she would have to be the one to do so, and she had no idea how. Should she walk beside him and say “hi”? Or just come right out with an apology? What should she say or do if he became angry? Maybe should she wait until it blew over?

  The one thing she did decide was that whatever she said or did, it could wait until they arrived in River’s Edge. Maybe by then, once they had a good meal in their bellies and some wine, he might be more malleable towards an apology than he would be on the road.

  ***

  Naomi was becoming bored with the group who were all slouching about as if their mothers had just died. Sure, wolves attacked them, but that happened all the time in the game, and why should it be any different in this world? Even Tom seemed down. Naomi suspected that Sally had been mean to him again. What was wrong with Sally? Tom was cool and liked her, and she acted like he had cooties.

  The one that seemed worst off was Mina. If she looked any lower, she would be dragging her belly on the ground. Naomi had no idea what was troubling her as she had been magnificent the previous night, tossing that wolf like it was a dirty dish towel, and she didn’t even get hurt enough to warrant a healing spell from Darcy. Naomi hung back until she was walking side by side with Mina and then walked backwards so she could look into Mina’s face. From their height difference, Naomi could look directly up at Mina’s downcast face.

  “Why so glum, chum?” Naomi asked. It was something she and her brother said when the other was sad.

  Mina arched her eyebrows. “Naomi, you’re going to trip if you do that.”

  Why did everyone have to scold her as if they were her mother?

  Be careful, Naomi, or you’ll hurt yourself.

  Don’t do that.

  Watch what you’re doing.

  Would you listen to me?

  “I’m not going to trip,” Naomi said wryly. “And what about you? You’re going to run into something if you keep your head down like that.”

  Mina rolled her eyes. “What do you want?”

  “Just wanted to say you were awesome last night.”

  The Barbarian made a derisive noise through her teeth and looked away. “What I did was not awesome. I got pissed off and broke an animal’s back. A freakin’ wolf, for God’s sake. They’re a protected species.”

  Naomi considered this for only a few seconds. “I think that law only applies if you’re hunting them, not if they’re hunting you.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I mean…I hate this Rage thing.” Mina’s face darkened as she remembered the sudden fury that overtook her when she saw Naomi wrestling with the wolf. “I didn’t summon it or activate it. It just happened on its own.”

  “So? It’s a Barbarian thing,” Nao
mi said unconcerned. “I thought about taking a level in Barbarian so I could have Rage too, but the Monk gets something cool every level, so I decided to stick with it.”

  Mina shook her head and said nothing as she knew Naomi wouldn’t understand. It wasn’t Raging that scared her. It was what she wanted to do during under its effect: she wasn’t just angry with the wolf for fighting with Naomi, but at Naomi for carelessly putting herself in danger. When she reached into the pile of fur and girl, she was going to tear apart whichever she grabbed first. In her red filled mind’s eye, she saw herself lifting Naomi and breaking her across her knee like a stick. It had been sheer luck that it had been the wolf and not Naomi.

  What happened if she should go into another Rage and this time, she injured someone in the party?

  ***

  It was late afternoon by the time they came across the overturned cart and a dead horse on the side of the road. The horse’s mangled legs were tangled in the reins, and its exposed flesh drew flies and carrion birds, hiding the body with their wings until they took flight. A terrible smell hung in the air, and they kept their distance with hands over their noses.

  “What should we do?” Sally asked.

  “There might be loot?” Naomi suggested.

  This earned her several severe looks and Mina glowered at her. “We can’t just loot it. It’s not ours. It would be stealing.”

  “But it’s not stealing if the owners are dead,” Naomi said pointedly.

  “We don’t know that,” Tom said. “Someone could be injured and needing help.”

  “I do need help!”