“As kids?” asked Tira. “At least you guys are all old. I’m nine. I’m too little to be a starting character.”
“So are we,” said Keith. “The Player’s Compendium suggests fourteen or fifteen at the minimum age. Ash is twelve, and—”
“By two months,” snapped Ashur. “I consider myself thirteen.”
Sarah raised her hand. “I’m fourteen, but the kid’s got a point. This isn’t a game anymore. All the people in here except for us are fiction brought to life somehow. They’re not real. We are real, and we need to get out of here instead of running at a giant evil wraith-wizard. Did you see its stats?”
Keith almost passed out at the thought. “Uhh, yeah. She’s right. That thing’s way nasty. It’s like level ten.”
“What?” Elliot gawked. “You were gonna make us fight a level ten monster?”
“By the time you got to him, you guys would’ve been like sixth, and a group of multiple level six characters can take out one level ten pretty easy,” said Keith.
“Except we’re level two now. I wanna go home.” Tira pouted.
“Yes. We’re going home.” Keith grasped Sarah’s hand and pulled her close. “All of us.”
She blushed.
Once the awkward silence faded, Sarah picked up her bow (no longer a full-sized longbow) and headed to the wall’s only door.
“We’d be level three if you didn’t forget to give us experience again,” said Tira.
Keith flapped his arms in exasperation. “I didn’t forget to give it out. The book pulled us in before I could!”
Sarah grinned and led the kids across the blackened field to the west. They walked for almost an hour before the spire of the small tower rose over a distant hilltop.
Elliot coughed. “Umm. Why are we going to the tower? Shouldn’t we go back the other way?”
Sarah didn’t slow down. “You’re on the other side of it now, where I’ve been stuck.” She looked at Keith. “At least you’re not wearing pajamas this time.”
He blushed.
“Wait, you were here before?” asked Carlos.
“I thought it was a dream.” Keith explained the night his closet had become a portal to this game world. As they marched onward, he told them of the first time he’d met Sarah, and how he had to run from the jackalweres. “Remember I told you about the mud?”
“Whoa,” mumbled Carlos.
“We’ll be gone before they show up,” said Sarah. “They can’t stand sunlight.”
“Jackalweres have ninety health, a +8 to attack on claws and three attacks per round. They’re immune to ‘necromantic direct’ damage or ‘life drain,’ take half damage from cold, but are vulnerable to ‘light’ or ‘divine’ attacks,” said Tira.
Sarah glanced at Keith. “Wow. Your powergamer’s a little kid?”
He laughed. “Yeah, but I don’t think she’s a glory hound.”
“I’m not a dog,” muttered Tira.
“No,” said Sarah. “A glory hound is a subclass of rules lawyer. They’re the type of player who can’t stand it if another player’s character feels more powerful then them, so they’ll go into auditor mode and try to figure out how the other player is breaking the rules, ’cause clearly, if someone else made a more effective character than them, they must be cheating.”
“Eww,” said Tira. “I’m not a butthead! I helped Ash fix his character. I want us all to win.”
“See.” Keith grinned. “Not a glory hound.”
“Once we open this gate, we’ll need to move fast.” Sarah took on a commanding posture, holding her head high and walking with confidence. “There are creatures.”
“Umm,” said Keith. “You’re a kid, too.”
“Yeah, but if this thing is playing by the rules, we should be able to handle something like goblins… not that we should fight if we can run. But we don’t have to be terrified.” Sarah glanced sideways at him. Her face remained stoic, but her hazel eyes glimmered with thanks. “It’s much less scary not being alone.”
Keith’s chest got all tight and awkward, which felt only a little stranger than having the weight of a shield on his arm and a sword dangling from his belt. His voice failed him, but he nodded.
They walked down the sloping side of a hill, approaching the rounded face of the foreboding grey tower. In person during the day, it frightened him more than anything he’d previously imagined.
Without the cloak of night hiding the upper reaches, the top appeared empty. A platform five stories up with a plain, conical roof above it had two metal racks, but he couldn’t tell what they held from so far below. The perch offered no protection beyond the four thin poles that supported the roof, so who or whatever stood lookout up there would’ve been both defenseless and considered expendable.
It’s the Dark Wizard. He’d have used someone who’s already dead.
Keith shivered. The more he thought about that, the less ‘cool’ it was to be trapped in the game world.
“Here.” Sarah walked into the archway.
A corridor ran through the base of the tower, passing one spiral staircase on the left halfway in. At the far end, a familiar gate blocked their way. Sarah stopped at it and held her hand out toward Keith like a surgeon asking for a scalpel.
“Oh, wow. She’s the girl who left handprints on the gate,” said Tira. “This is that stupid lock I couldn’t pick.”
Keith pulled the key out, took the pendant off, and laid it in Sarah’s waiting hand. Her fingers closed around it. Once he noticed her trembling, he grasped her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
Sarah held the key in front of the lock. “As long as I’ve been stuck in here, it’s like Yzil’s forgotten about me. I lost him in the forest and I haven’t seen him since… until he jumped out at you in that hallway. Before that, I’d been thinking he won, having captured me or something, but I know as soon as I open this gate… he’s going to come back.”
“A comfortable cage or scary freedom,” said Carlos. “My dad says anyone who likes a comfortable cage deserves to be in one.”
“Oh, I’m definitely opening it.” Sarah laughed nervously. “Doesn’t mean I can’t be worried.”
“If she doesn’t, we don’t go home.” Tira squeezed between them to the door and tried to wedge herself between the bars. She started to make it, but Sarah pulled her back. “Hey!”
“I’m going to open it. Don’t hurt yourself.”
Tira folded her arms. “Guess that’s why there’s a minimum age. Kids my size can skip past your cheaty doors.”
“It’s not cheating,” said Elliot. “It’s a plot element.”
The little girl whipped out a fistful of lock picks. “I have a skill that doesn’t work because, ‘just because.’ That’s cheaty.”
“Okay. Everyone ready?” asked Sarah.
After a chorus of “yeahs,” she stuck the key in the lock and gave it a twist.
Keith braced for something magnificent, but the old metal grate merely creaked open on slow, loud hinges.
“Come on.” Sarah grabbed his hand and pulled him along.
He stumbled after her, grinning like a fool.
“Oh, he’s got it bad,” muttered Elliot. “Phoebe looks at me like he’s looking at her.”
Keith blushed.
They rushed out across the blackened ground at a pace a little faster than a brisk walk, but not quite a jog. After a while, Tira began to lag behind and whined about being tired, so they slowed to a normal walk.
Ashur glanced around, his skinny body shivering.
“What’s wrong?” asked Elliot.
“Umm, other than everything?” Ashur scratched at his head. “If there’s creatures here, we could die.”
“First level characters are expected to be like fourteen or fifteen.” Tira glared up at him, equal parts angry and terrified. “How do you think I feel? At least you guys have a chance.” She looked down, her voice shrinking into a tiny mewl. “I don’t want to run out of health points.”
> “Aww.” Ashur picked her up. “I won’t let anything get you.”
“Same here.” Keith brandished his shield. “We should be okay if we’re careful and don’t do stupid things.”
Sarah led them across the broken land for hours. Eventually, another ruined village came into view. The huts had decayed to the point it looked as though a bulldozer ran the entire town over.
“We should go around,” said Elliot. “An abandoned village is guaranteed to have a random encounter.”
“Okay.” Sarah altered course, taking a sweeping turn around the outskirts of the rightmost building.
Not long after the village disappeared into the distance behind them, Tira made a noise of discomfort.
“What?” asked Ashur.
“Where’s the bathroom?” asked Tira.
Elliot blushed.
“Oh. Umm.” Carlos shrugged. “We’re inside a medieval world. There’s no bathrooms here. Only outhouses.”
“There’s garderobes in wealthy people’s houses,” said Sarah, sounding bored.
“So where do you…?” asked Keith.
“Outside. Anywhere…” Sarah gestured at the open nothingness. “Not like we have any choice right now.”
“Dude, what do our characters do?” asked Elliot.
Sarah laughed. “Characters never go to the bathroom. They’re all probably huge because they eat and drink, but never go. Like I said. This isn’t a game anymore, it’s real.”
Tira whined. “But there’s no door! Anyone could see me!”
“Like camping. Damn. She had to say bathroom didn’t she?” Carlos walked a few paces off to the left. “Where’s the zipper on this thing?”
“Come on.” Sarah approached and took Tira’s hand. “I’ll stand guard while you go. No one should wander off alone.”
“Wander off?” Keith looked around. “It’s wide open. We can see for miles.”
“No one look!” yelled Tira.
Keith decided it a good a time as any to empty his bladder, and took up a ‘firing position’ a few steps away from Carlos.
A few minutes later, the group reassembled and continued. Tira couldn’t make eye contact with anyone, her light brown face much darker than normal. Walking beside Sarah, Keith felt certain his pasty white cheeks had become permanently pink, but he found himself not caring if the guys made fun of him.
Past mid-day, they entered a dead grove of trees. Naked branches, the wood grey and lifeless, scratched at the sky in the breeze, though the thousand witch’s fingers failed to grasp the clouds. Minutes into the desiccated forest, Tira stopped short and pointed, though only Elliot and Carlos noticed since they walked behind her.
Sarah also came to a sudden halt, her arm out to block Keith’s chest.
With an explosion of dirt and long-withered leaves, Ashur, screaming, sailed into the branches, wrapped in a bundle of netting.
Sarah pulled her glimmering silver shortsword and slashed at something in the ground. A bent tree six paces to the left sprang upright, wavering back and forth, a length of cut rope swaying from it.
“Snare,” muttered Sarah.
“What the crap!” yelled Ashur.
“You stepped on it!” shouted Tira.
A heavy grunt came from a large mound of leaves and dirt, which burst apart as a man-sized creature jumped to its feet. Short for an adult, it wound up about the same height as Carlos, an inch or so taller than Keith. Green skin rippled with muscles, and its squat, powerful body stank like sour milk and rotting meat. Beady yellow eyes regarded the kids with eagerness. Its wide, upturned nose and oversized eyes had a hint of goblin ancestry, as did the pointed ears, though while some considered goblins cute, this thing wound up on the high end of ugly.
“Hobgoblin.” Sarah brandished her sword.
“Whoa, that thing smells worse than Elliot’s butt,” said Carlos.
Elliot raised an eyebrow. “I shall take that as a challenge.”
“No, please don’t,” muttered Tira.
Keith readied his shield before he realized what he’d done. “Uhh, crap. We can’t run and leave Ash behind.”
The hobgoblin raised a metal club, tipped with a cylindrical striking head about the size of a soda can, covered with spikes. Tira started to scream, but swallowed it, and darted off to find a place to hide.
Keith stepped toward the hobgoblin. Oh, please let this character class stuff work. That’s going to hurt. Hobgoblins are level two, and there’s only one of them. “I’ll hold it off, you guys cut Ash down.”
Sarah started to give him a ‘who are you ordering around’ glare, but ran to the dangling boy.
With a snort, the hobgoblin whirled its weapon around and charged. Keith raised his shield. Mace struck wood with an ear-splitting crack. The force of the blow launched him off his feet. He hit the ground on his back, winded, his arm numb from wrist to shoulder.
“Oof.”
Elliot’s eyes widened. His face went bright red and he let off a war cry before running headlong at the hobgoblin. The creature leaned to the side in an effort to avoid the spiked ball of Elliot’s morningstar, but he caught it in the shoulder with a satisfying thump. The creature merely grunted, recovering its stance.
Carlos stared at his hands, shrugged, and muttered strange words in a language Keith had never heard before. The boy’s facial expression suggested he had no idea where it came from either. In seconds, fire surrounded his hand and rocketed off in a bolt that hit the hobgoblin in the hip, lighting its tunic on fire.
Howling, the green-skinned menace swatted at the flames.
The stink of burned flesh and hair assaulted Keith’s nose as he scrambled back to his feet.
Ashur screamed for a second and a half before a loud thud cut it short.
Keith pulled his sword, gave it a ‘here goes nothing’ glance, and thrust it at the distracted hobgoblin. Preoccupied with its fire-covered clothing, it looked up too late. The tip of Keith’s sword plunged a few inches into its side, spilling green blood.
The hobgoblin let off an enraged roar and rounded its mace so fast Keith barely noticed the attack until the spiked head smashed into his chest. A dull crunch of broken rib accompanied the worst pain he had ever experienced. Seeing spots, he staggered to the side, a strange metallic taste in his mouth.
“Keith!” shouted Sarah.
An arrow struck the hobgoblin in the chest. It snarled, glaring down at the white wooden shaft protruding from its breast. Green blood oozed between its teeth, pushed out on a growl. It made to run at Sarah, but Keith forced himself in front of it, taking another two mace blows to his shield one after the next. Each hit caused an explosion of pain within his chest. Despite his paladin’s conviction to protect her, his thirteen-year-old body reacted to such agony with tears.
Carlos launched another bolt of flames, but the hobgoblin ducked, its fury focused solely on the girl with the longbow loading another arrow.
“Your momma was an elf!” shouted Keith, while stabbing at it again.
The creature ducked, but it appeared to forget entirely about Sarah and took a swing at him, enraged.
“Gah!” yelled Keith, raising his shield to deflect the mace strike over his head. He grunted from the pain in his side, on the verge of passing out.
“Uhh, you shouldn’t have said that.” Elliot blinked.
“Thanks, but I can handle myself.”
Sarah shot it again, a near-miss that glanced off its shoulder.
Keith struggled to talk past the agony of broken ribs grinding around each time he breathed. “It’s… okay…”
Roaring, the hobgoblin swung its mace in a wild overhead swing. Keith shoved his shield up in time to protect his face, but the powerful strike knocked him down to one knee. A flare of white-hot pain spread across his whole left side. He coughed up blood and spat it to the ground.
“Yaah!” roared Ashur, running at the hobgoblin. He led with a left-handed sword swing. The attack stalled against the creature’s mace
with a loud clank, but his right-handed blade bit deep into the crook of the green-skinned neck, leaving its head hanging on by only a scrap of skin.
“Nearly headless hobgoblin,” said Elliot, laughing.
Dead in an instant, the creature fell over backward and lay still.
Keith slouched to his left, cradling his ribs. It hurt too much to breathe.
Ashur stared down at his kill. Three seconds later, he collapsed to all fours and threw up.
“The light of Hæm is my guide. In times of darkness, he lights the path. In times of joy, he warms the soul. The light of Hæm is my guide,” chanted Elliot.
Another crunch came from Keith’s side as his ribs expanded back to their normal, unbroken shape. The sudden lack of pain left him confused and feeling ready to join Ashur in vomiting. He shook off the disorientation and spun in a circle.
“Where’s Tira?” He looked left and right. “Tira?!”
She stepped out from behind a tree, but still clung to the trunk like a frightened little girl.
Elliot took a knee at Keith’s side. “You okay man? Still hurt?”
“Umm.” Keith reached under his left arm and prodded at his ribs, no longer even tender anymore. “No… it’s good. Wow, all the pain’s gone.”
Ashur kicked the dead thing and wiped a bit of bile from his lip. “That’s right. That’s what you get for hurting my friend.” He put his swords away and walked over to collect his sister from the Tree of Clinging. “Hey, it’s all right.”
She sniffled and attached herself to him instead.
“Wow. All our skills and stuff still work.” Carlos stared at his hands in awe. “I… umm. Maybe I should lead off with Mage Armor?”
“Dude.” Elliot patted his stomach, grinning. “I’m really a damn healer. How cool is that? And this place is definitely a reality warp. Ash actually hit something.”
“Go to hell, man,” muttered Ashur over a chuckle. He patted Tira on the back and pointed at the others. “No one’s mad at you for hiding. All our skills and stuff still work. You’re the smartest person here. Don’t be scared.”
Keith walked over to Sarah and handed her back both arrows while whispering, “You’re smart too.”
The Cursed Codex Page 18
