by Mason Roth
"Good catch." Janelle commended her. "You really saved my bacon twice now."
"Jeremy helped the first time." Piper replied shyly, trying to give credit where it was due. Janelle shot Jeremy a quick look and gave him a terse smile. They both had strong personalities and were having trouble warming to each other. They continued down the hallway before it turned sharply to the left and ended in yet another door. Janelle cautiously moved towards the door and hesitated before opening it, in case there was yet another trap. She scanned the surrounding walls and ceiling and determined that it was safe to proceed. She tried the door, but the handle wouldn't budge.
"Locked." She announced to the party.
"So we have a locked door no matter which way we go." Jeremy mused. "I'd offer to break it down again to conserve lock picks, but unfortunately both doors were made from stone." Ethan piped up for the first time in a while.
"We should probably avoid that method anyway or we'd lose all elements of surprise with that racket." His accent mirrored his sister’s, and he looked very proud of himself for bringing up such a valid point. Jeremy didn't look thrilled to be corrected by a fourteen-year-old boy, but took it gracefully. Piper supposed he was used to it because of his teaching career.
"I think it'd be silly to double back." Said Piper. "Janelle, if it's okay with you, could you unlock this door?”
"Not a problem." She replied. "I've never used a lock pick in real life before, but there should be nothing to it." There was something to it, however, and Janelle struggled with the door for several minutes before finally shouting, "Aha! I get it now!” A couple of more twists and turns of the tool and the party heard a satisfying click as the door became unlocked.
Janelle went ahead and slipped in first without having to be asked. She returned quickly with her report. "Stinks to high heaven in there, but looks pretty empty despite a ramp leading to a chest on the south wall.”
"Let's go get the treasure!" Ethan exclaimed. Piper leaned over to Jeremy.
"What if it's another copycat?"
"I'd doubt they'd pull the same trick twice in a game like this. The chest is likely authentic, but that doesn't mean it isn't guarded by traps or something worse. "One more thing, ya'll." Janelle continued. "That room is a dead end. We'll have to turn around anyway".
"Well, this one is already unlocked so we might as well check it out, right?" Piper asked the party. Everyone nodded in agreement and Janelle pushed open the door. The room was exactly as she described: Large but mostly empty, save the ramp to the chest along the south wall. She was also right about the smell. Something in this room was absolutely rancid. As they split up to investigate, Piper decided that the smell is what she would check out first. The others scattered across the room and Ethan made a beeline for the chest.
"Ethan!" Jeremy called out. "Be careful! The chest we found before was a fake." Jeremy shot a look at Janelle as if to say ‘get your kid.’ Janelle rolled her eyes at Jeremy but went after her brother anyway. Just then, Piper discovered the source of the stink. Near the center of the room sat a pile of rancid meat. On the other side of the room, she heard a shout.
"Ethan!" Janelle screamed. But Piper didn't have time to turn around and check what had happened. Out of the pile of rancid meat rose a dark swirling figure carrying a scythe. Piper pulled up her UI immediately:
Specter: 22 VP
It was much weaker than the copycat, and her party was unfortunately spilt. She would have to handle it on her own. She couldn't see what was going on with Ethan but she assumed that the chest was either trapped or contained a monster of its own. She drew her pistols to fire at the skeletal face of the specter, but just as she was about to fire, it disappeared.
"Jeremy!" She screamed desperately. "I need you over here!"
"We have a bit of a situation with the chest." He called back. "Jesus Christ what IS that?"
Piper whirled around. He had seen it, which means it must have reappeared. She spun until she locked eyes on it floating towards the ceiling. She aimed and fired. Right before her shot could connect with the specter, it vanished once more. This wasn't going to work on her own. She felt it appear again behind her. She turned as it raised its glowing scythe to strike her down. Suddenly, Jeremy appeared in front of her. He must have sprinted from across the room, and now the scythe was buried into his left leg before it disappeared again. He screamed in anguish. Piper's voice caught in her throat.
"Hang in there, buddy." Her hand shook as she covered the wound with her hand knowing that it wouldn't do him any good. "What's your VP looking like?" She asked hurriedly. Jeremy winced and took a moment to call up his UI.
"I'm at 3 points..." He managed. "I can't take another hit like that."
"Don't worry. You're gonna be okay." Piper quickly opened her rucksack and pulled out the red potion within, the potion of minor healing. "Here, drink up."
"Piper... we shouldn't waste this. We still haven't found the boss."
"Exactly." She replied. "We can't afford you to suffer a death here before we face the drow. Now drink up." Jeremy obeyed and downed the potion. A magical light swirled around his leg and seemed to stitch it up with threads of golden light.
Just as Jeremy seemed good as new, she heard a scream from across the room. She stood up and looked around wildly. The specter had appeared behind the chest and it seemed that Ethan was frozen in place just in front of it. Janelle drew two daggers. She threw one with amazing speed, and it struck the specter right in the eye socket. Piper checked the UI:
VP: 17
She had done some damage. But she still didn't fully understand what was going on.
"Why is Ethan frozen in place?" She asked.
"He got to the chest before we could stop him." Jeremy explained. "There was some kind of paralyzation trap on it. Janelle and I were trying to figure out where it was and disable it before this thing appeared."
"Why not just destroy the chest?" Piper asked.
"It's not that simple." If we get close to it we'll be paralyzed too. My axe only reaches so far and Janelle has strong arms but she can't aim her daggers at a trap she can't even see. Our best bet at getting him out is going to be you, Piper. Your pistols are much more precise and you can shoot from further away." Piper pondered this and realized he was right.
She had kept it to herself, but she couldn't help but feel a little useless when Janelle and Ethan showed up, though she was happy to have more people to fight with. Janelle's stats were very similar to hers, yet her abilities as a rogue made her more useful. And while Ethan's spell casting might be limited, it was still impressive and he was so smart for someone so young. Piper pushed it to the back of her mind, but she realized that it was only a matter of time until she was no longer needed, just like in her real life. She had nothing to offer. But what Jeremy said brought her hope. They needed her to free Ethan. She was an essential part of this team, so they couldn't leave her behind.
She didn't have time to celebrate to herself for long because the specter reappeared once more between her and Jeremy. As if reading her mind, instead of swinging, Jeremy slowly backed up in a serpentine motion. Not only was he leading it away from her, he was also keeping its attention in a non-threatening way so it wouldn't disappear. And it was working. With its focus drawn on Jeremy, Piper could take a clean shot. She aimed both pistols and fired. The first one struck the specter squarely in its skeletal face. Chips of bone flew to the floor as it took the damage, but it disappeared before the second bullet could connect.
Now able to see each other in the specter’s absence, Jeremy and Piper air-fived each other.
"Now, go free Ethan."
"I'm on it." Piper ran off. But instead of meeting Janelle in front of the chest, she had an idea to attack from the rear. She instead went under the ramp and craned her head up to see if she could make out the back of the chest. Sure enough, she could see it, along with some kind of rune scrawled onto the back. It was out of place with the iron bands of the chest and
resembled more the drawing in the last room than anything else. She pulled up her UI to verify. Sure enough, when the red cursor encircled the rune it read:
Paralyzation Ruin: Paralyzes all living creatures within 10 feet.
No issue, Piper thought. She was much more than ten feet away from the chest. She wondered if the chest itself was a fake or if the ruin was in place to hide a very important treasure. There was only one way to find out. She fired a bullet from her pistol, but it missed, ricocheting off the iron bands of the chest.
"Shit." Piper swore. She had to be more careful. If the bullet had bounced the wrong way, it could have struck Ethan. She aimed again, this time keeping both eyes open to ensure she hit her mark.
She fired. Instead of bouncing off the chest, the bullet seemed to tear through the drawing itself, releasing Ethan from the enchantment. He clapped his hands excitedly before rubbing them together.
"Thanks, Piper!" He made sure to call to her before unleashing his spell. Fire swirled around his hands until it formed a large ball. He held it steady for a moment before the specter appeared in front of Jeremy once more. As soon as it came into view, he launched it. It collided with the specter, sending it burning and writhing to the floor where it was reduced to ash.
"My bad, guys." Ethan scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. "Can we open it now?" He asked his sister. She took a deep breath as she seemed to stuff her reprimand deep down with a smile.
"Go for it, kiddo."
Chapter 10
The chest contained a pretty good haul. They found several precious looking gemstones as well as three wearable items. Piper was given the Lightfoot Boots, which not only doubled her jump height, but also caused her to fall slowly while in the air.
Janelle was given the Gloves of Bullet Snaring. Using her dexterity stat, these beautiful black leather gloves not only matched her outfit, but allowed her an opportunity to catch ranged projectiles in midair using her dexterity stat.
The third item in the chest was gifted to Ethan and was called the Spider Staff. It was long and black with a purple gem affixed to the end. It contained seven charges of the 'web' spell that would ensure capturing enemies in web, incapacitating them.
As consolation for not having an item suited for him, Jeremy held on to all the precious gemstones. Although the party insisted he should take them for himself in lieu of an item, he promised them that they would be sold and the GP split evenly among them.
Thankfully, when the specter was reduced to ash, so was the rotted pile of meat it emerged from. This made the room an ideal place to regroup. They all sat in a circle and pulled up their UIs. Sure enough, everyone had leveled up. Piper had another ten stat points to allocate. This time she decided to round out her character more, putting four points each into strength, and then two each into dexterity, vitality, and intelligence. She couldn't rely on Jeremy to be the strong one, or Janelle to be the fast one. They were all counting on her too. So she decided right then and there to make the best character she could.
EXP to next level: 2000
Strength: 16
Dexterity: 22
Intelligence: 16
Vitality: 16
Satisfied with her traits, she closed the UI and sat chatting with her teammates. Although they did not technically tire, hunger, nor thirst within the game, it had to be the middle of the night by now, and they were all mentally exhausted. They were all aware of the urgency of escape, but knew that they'd never make it if they didn't sprinkle in breaks here and there.
Piper asked Jeremy once more about why he joined the study. She couldn't help but wonder how someone so competent got trapped here, and she hoped he trusted her enough to give her a real answer. He sighed heavily and began to speak.
"My wife left me last year." He said somberly.
"I'm so sorry." Piper said, passing her waterskin to Janelle, wishing it contained something stronger. Despite their absence of thirst, it was human nature to want to bond over a drink.
"I couldn't even imagine." said Janelle as she took a swig.
"Wait, Jeremy, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" Piper asked confusedly. He said he had been married, but he didn't look a day older than twenty-four. She supposed it was possible for him to marry that young, but she was under the impression that her generation was marrying later and later.
Jeremy laughed at her question. “I'm thirty-one." He said, straight-faced.
Now, Piper was the one laughing. "There's no way."
"I'd show you my ID if I could access it in this universe!" I'm really thirty-one. My young face is a blessing and a curse." He finished dramatically.
"Oh, I'm sure." Janelle rolled her eyes at him. But instead of the distrust Piper sensed in the action earlier, it truly seemed playful now. They were finally starting to come together after all of their ordeals.
"But yeah." Jeremy continued. "She was really the breadwinner in our house. She's a pediatrician."
"You're a teacher, right?" Ethan asked. "So you both loved kids!" Jeremy smiled and nodded.
"Wait," Ethan suddenly looked serious. "Does that mean I have to call you MISTER Jeremy?"
Jeremy laughed out loud. "It would be Mr. Steffens, and no, you do not." Ethan sighed in relief.
"But yeah," Jeremy continued, "Between the mortgage, the alimony, and my student loans, I was broke. I signed up for this study to get back on my feet."
"Makes perfect sense." Piper said comfortingly.
"You all are probably wondering why Ethan is here, even though he's so young." Janelle offered without being asked. "Ethan, why don't you tell them, now."
Ethan looked at them all, bright-eyed. "I have leukemia."
Piper felt her own blood run cold. No one knew what to say. Jeremy and Piper just looked at him, horrified.
"We've been in and out of the foster system our whole lives." Janelle explained. Never met our parents. "When I turned eighteen, I became Ethan's legal guardian." Piper nodded along with her, but she was still processing what Ethan had just said. Leukemia. The survival rates were not good. "I worked three jobs trying to provide for us and save up to go to college one day." She looked into the distance wistfully. "Then, Ethan was diagnosed." Her voice broke. "We just couldn't keep up with the medical bills!"
Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she spoke. "When I heard about this study, I thought it could at least get us through to Ethan's next treatment. But I knew that if he came along too, we could make twice the amount." Ethan got up to sit closer to her.
"It's okay, sis." You were just trying to take care of me. "Everything is going to be okay." He soothed her as if he was the adult in this scenario. Janelle took a shaky breath and continued.
"Now we're stuck here. And Ethan needs his treatment if he's going to have a chance."
Piper grabbed her hand instinctively. She thought briefly about her reluctance to get close to people and how much that had changed due to this horrific experience. Now, her teammates were all she had.
"We will get you out of here, you and Ethan. All of us together. We won't let them do this to us. We'll go to Ogoloth mountain, take the Verdante, and get the hell out of this game."
Janelle smiled sadly and squeezed her hand.
"Your turn, Piper." Jeremy said, breaking up the tender moment the two women shared.
Piper laughed nervously. "I don't know, guys... it's nothing as serious as what all of you are going through."
“That doesn’t make it any less important.” Ethan began with wisdom beyond his years. "It's an important reason to you and that's what matters." Piper took a deep breath. It really did sound so trivial next to divorce, leukemia, and all that went with it, but everyone had been so vulnerable with her, she decided to open up to them.
"I... I broke my computer." Piper expected everyone to laugh at her statement, but they didn't. They only listened. "I know that doesn't sound like too big of a deal, but I need it for work." She paused. "My computer is the only thing that makes me h
appy... if you can even call it that."
Janelle nodded at her to continue. And Piper felt all of her emotions spill out of her. "This is the first time I've left my apartment in over a month." She looked up at the ceiling, willing the tears to stop before they fell. "I'm an embarrassment to my family. I draw porn for a living, if you can even call it that. I signed up for the study to get a new computer and get my life together." Piper finished. She breathed a long sigh of relief.
