Travail Online: Transcend: LitRPG Series (Book 3)

by Brian Simons

  “Balance in the universe,” Onik said. “The pantheon creates what it needs. When Sivona forced herself in, I got an unexpected invitation myself. Onik, the god of fortune. I like it. It has a certain je ne sais quos.”

  Sivona snorted, drawing attention back toward her arachnoid shape. Her skin was no longer gray, but dark red, blending in with the russet hair that covered her new body from the waist down. “A goddess requires supplicants,” she said. “Who among you will follow your new queen, the goddess of ruin? Any elves or drow who follow will bathe in my blood and swear to destroy all they touch! You will also take a Bloodlust race bonus. The blood of your enemies will restore your health!”

  A handful of players and NPCs stood and walked toward their new leader, following her through the trees and disappearing.

  >> A new race has been born: Red Elves.

  Coral supposed it was too late to kill Sivona, though they had succeeded in saving the forest from her and putting an end to the ruined souls. Coral thought that counted for something, and the game must have thought so too. Daniel’s Spoils of War ability triggered, providing each surviving participant in that night’s war with XP based on their level.

  >> Spoils of War. You receive 10,750 bonus XP.

  “The rest of you are welcome to stay here,” Lora said, “elf and drow alike. We’re a common lineage, and we can repair our home here together.”

  >> Drow starting race re-enabled. Starting location: Diardenna.

  >> The magic barrier has fallen! Diardenna is now open to all races.

  “Coral,” Daniel said, casting his eyes toward the ground and holding out the ratty cloak he had been wearing all day.

  “Yeah?” she asked.

  “Put this on.”

  “Why?” Then she looked down. Once Xane’s Phoenix Fire had finished burning away the armor she made from evil incarnate, she was left in the modest white undergarments the game forced onto players to prevent the game from devolving into something less appropriate. Coral re-equipped her tattered sahuagin armor instead, letting Daniel put his cloak back on.

  Sybil and Sal stifled a few laughs, but the NPCs seemed unfazed.

  “I really cannot thank you all enough,” Lora said. “Here is your reward.”

  Quest Complete: Purge the Forest (III)

  You ousted Sivona. You saved Ze. Well done.

  Reward: 10 skill points!

  “Skill points are good,” Sybil said. “Dark lotuses would be better. I guess that’s a job for another day.”

  “You think there’s still a chance you can kill Sivona and get Tawn to give you those lotuses?” Daniel asked.

  “I don’t see why not,” Sybil said. “The gods aren’t invincible.”

  Lora held a small, featherless bird in her hands. Her skin was smooth and shone like polished gold. If she weren’t blinking Coral would have thought she was a statue. “Is that Xane?” Coral asked.

  “Yes,” Lora said. “You should have seen her before the change. Large puffy plumage six feet high. She’ll grow tall again, after some time.”

  A shadow fell on the glade, and for a moment Coral thought Embra had come back. It was no black dragon though, it was Hiber.

  “You missed all the action,” Daniel said. Hiber had a fresh gash across his face. It wasn’t bleeding, but it was still wet.

  “My reunion with Embra was not what I had hoped,” Hiber said, “but you did your part and I thank you. I will make myself… accessible to the dwarves from now on.”

  “I can’t care for Xane anymore,” Lora said. “She was an adult when we met. As a babe, she’ll need someone to take her under their wing. You should take her as a follower, as you haven’t one of your own.”

  Daniel stepped back. He looked at Sybil and Sal, but neither seemed offended. Coral had Blat. Daniel took the baby bird in his arms. “I don’t know what to say,” he said. “Raising an ancient would be a privilege.”

  Hiber’s brow furrowed. Daniel knew how Hiber felt about the way humans and other races abused the ancients. He also knew how desperately lonely Hiber was, thinking he was the only ancient alive for ages. “Hiber,” Daniel said, “would you raise Xane? I’m sure you’d give her a proper home and raise her well. Teach her your history.”

  The manticore took a step back and raised his thick scorpion tail like he thought this was a trick, but then bounded forward and nuzzled Daniel, briefly enveloping him in the large leonine mane that surrounded his face. “You are an honorable human, General Daniel_of_Manayunk. Thank you. If you should ever need me, all you must do is summon. I consider myself at your call.” Hiber took Xane in his paws and flapped his crimson wings before disappearing into the sky.

  “What a long day,” Daniel said, turning back toward the group.

  “Do you mind if I wait until morning to sell these off?” Sybil asked, holding out the bundle of wands she had nabbed from Tawn’s underground chamber. “A lot of them have full charges. I should get a few thousand for them for us to split, but Farah—”

  “Go,” Coral said. “This must have been awful for her. She’s logged off already?”

  “Yeah,” Sybil said.

  “Wait,” Coral said, “are you saying you’d split it with me and Sal too, even though we weren’t in The Ersatz with you?”

  “We’re a team,” Sybil said. “If you had gotten any loot, I’m sure you’d share it too.”

  “I do have this,” she said, raising Sivona’s dagger. Sybil’s jaw dropped. “That will sell for a lot,” Sybil said. “Like, a lot.”

  “Great,” Coral said. “We’ll figure it out in the morning. And what about that wand that’s lit up? Is that safe to ignore until then?”

  “Should be,” Sybil said. “It’s a petrification wand that I haven’t been able to turn off.”

  “Oh wow,” Coral said. “Can I borrow that? I may know what to do with it.”

  “Sure,” Sybil said, handing her the wand.

  “Thanks,” Coral said. “I have a long night of video editing to do, if I can figure that out, but first a little trip to the Ogrelands.”

  “Hey,” Daniel said. “Are you planning to disappear on us again?”

  “Absolutely not,” Coral said. “Whatever tomorrow brings, we face it together.”

  “Awesome,” Sal said. “I like us better as a group.”

  “Me too,” Coral said.

  45

  Coral dug out the teleport orb Varta had given her and disappeared in a quick burst of light. Moments later she appeared on the outskirts of the Ogrelands.

  If she thought this kingdom was a mess after the big-green-cheetah incident, it was ten times worse now. Canvas tents were torn apart, giant burn marks scorched the earth, and the grass still had smears of blood the width of a very large human (or a rather average ogre).

  As Coral approached the city, there were no cloaked elves to tell her to leave. That was a good sign.

  “Coral!” someone yelled.

  “Ernest!” she called back. He jogged to catch up with her, a very large fish in hand. “Nice catch.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “I’m glad you’re okay. You wouldn’t believe how many elves came here to start trouble. Varta handled them like a pro though. She kept jumping up and down in that silly cheetah suit the whole time, directing the troops.”

  “Coral_Daring!” Varta yelled from behind. Her cheetah outfit was torn in a few places, but she still wore it faithfully. “The elves came, but we were ready. The fight was a mess, but we won. They won’t be bothering us anymore.”

  “Congratulations,” Coral said. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “Better than okay,” Varta said. “How are you? How is that gorgeful man OgreEater?”

  “I’m great,” Coral said. “Sal sends his regards, but I have to say, I don’t think he’s looking for a relationship right now. He’s focusing on his career.”

  “Oh,” Varta said, a little puzzled.

  “Also,” Coral said, “I found something you mi
ght know how to handle.” She handed Varta the burning wand.

  Varta took the wand in her hand and inspected it. Then her eyes grew wide and she ran at full speed into the Ogrelands. It was all Coral could do to keep up with her. Aga was right. Varta runs too fast.

  She stopped when she got to the two-story tent at the edge of the open field in the Ogrelands’ center. Inside sat King Ploth in a large chair, slumped over and staring at the statue that was Varta’s mother.

  “Dad,” Varta said. “Here.”

  “What is this?” the king asked.

  “We stole this wand from Sage Tawn,” Coral said, “the former leader of the drow. It looks like it might be the wand that turned your wife to stone.”

  The king’s hands began to shake. He pointed the wand at the stone woman and waited. Long wisps of smoky gray magic wafted from Varta’s mother and wandered into the wand’s burning tip. The woman became green again, her skin soft and her bare bosom heaving with new breath.

  “I’m… in a tent?” she asked.

  “Mudge,” the king said, “you were turned to stone centuries ago. You’re finally back!”

  “Centuries?” Queen Mudge asked. “That means… we should celebrate! I missed so many birthdays!”

  Varta and her father embraced the woman, and Coral took a careful step forward. “Do you mind if I just take this?” she pinched the wand with two fingers and King Ploth let it go. She quietly left the tent to let the family have their reunion. She wished she could have a reunion like that of her own.

  She didn’t see Aga anywhere. Coral could kick herself for not claiming the quest reward from Aga after she saved Grum from Havenstock, but now wasn’t the time to look for Aga. She had work to do. Leaving a puff of smoke behind, she logged out and found herself back in her bedroom, alone inside her empty house.

  It was close to 1am. She opened the video files she had sent to herself. She had no experience editing videos, but she downloaded a simple program that let her cut scenes out of a larger file. Then she got to work.

  Coral fast forwarded through hours of footage and selected the most brutal scenes with the volume off. It was bad enough she had to watch some of this, but hearing the sadness in players’ voices, or their rage, or their shrieks of pain — it was more than she could stand after the day she had. She compiled the day’s most visceral scenes, not the least of which was footage of Farah, terrified and possessed by the game’s abusive mechanics. With a series of clips lined up, she emailed Domin Ansel.

  Mr. Ansel:

  I tried to record all of the ways players could thrive in Travail. I really did. Unfortunately, your game makes it difficult to survive, let alone thrive. You merged servers, creating significant lag. You turned a blind eye to the crumbling in-game economy. Worst of all, you allowed the game to force even the youngest players into scenes straight out of a horror movie. Take a look at the attached file. This is what Travail looks like.

  I’ve emailed these files to myself so I can share them with others, though I’d rather not do that. I’d rather you correct these issues and make Travail playable again.

  Call me,

  Coral

  She sat on her bed. It was just minutes before the 4 a.m. deadline Domin had set for her. She tried to fight off sleep, but she had been awake for 23 hours, and besides who knew when Domin would—

  The phone rang. “Hello?” Coral answered.

  “Well, well, well. I didn’t think you had this in you,” Domin said.

  “Had what in me?” Coral asked.

  “Blackmail.”

  “Who said anything about blackmail? I want you to do what’s right. People rely on Travail and you’re ruining it,” Coral said.

  “And if I don’t do as you say?” Domin asked. “You’ll show everyone this terrible footage so they can boo-hoo about it and agree what a horrible monster Domin Ansel is. It’s no different than when I asked you for footage and hinted that your parents might be worse off if you didn’t comply. You and I, we think alike.”

  She hadn’t thought of it that way. She wanted to appeal to whatever was left inside Domin that made him human, but she had made it very clear. She would use this footage as leverage.

  “So what do you want?” he asked.

  She wanted to be rid of the feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had stooped to his level, but he couldn’t offer absolution. She asked for the next best thing.

  “You make sure my parents get home safe. Then I want additional servers to reduce lag. Replace the ones you took down, and add more. I want a plan, announced publicly, to repay players for the gold you stole from them. I want you to re-hire Hector Pérez. That’s the start of my list.”

  “You don’t get to start a list. Make your demands or hold your peace. Is that all you have?”

  “I also want you to ban a player permanently,” she said. “TheBanished.”

  “I don’t ban players on your say-so,” Domin said. “That opens me up to allegations of unfairness, and we wouldn’t want unfairness would we?”

  Sybil wouldn’t let Farah play Travail for years, so the risk of Jack finding her in-game again was probably low. “Fine.”

  “And I’m not hiring Hector back,” Domin said. “I can’t trust him. That’s non-negotiable. I’ll do the other things though, if you delete the footage and promise never to post footage like that ever again. Make no mistakes, Coral Vipond, this is another contract you’re entering with Arbyten. If you break it, there will be financial consequences. Right, lawyer?”

  Another man’s voice creaked through the phone. “Yes, sir, Mr. Ansel. I am transcribing this conversation as we speak to maintain a written record of the agreement.”

  Coral couldn’t believe Domin had dragged the lawyer out of bed at 4 a.m. for this.

  “Let’s make this quick,” Domin said. “I’m sure you don’t want this call to go any longer than it has to. I know I don’t.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Servers, and money. A public announcement first thing in the morning. And if anything happens to my parents, all bets are off.”

  “Deal,” Domin said. Then he hung up.

  Coral hung up the phone when she remembered. Hector said Domin was using a separate server to add broken content to the game. Her stomach lurched when she realized she should have asked him to take it down but missed her chance. Though, she wouldn’t know if he followed through, and he’d never announce his secret server publicly. Was there anything else she should have asked for? If there were, she was too tired to think of it.

  She nearly jumped ten feet when someone knocked at her door. “Sweetie?” a woman’s voice said.

  Was she hallucinating? Her heart pounded against her ribs. “Mom?”

  Coral’s mother cracked open the door to her bedroom and peeked in, wearing a full set of adult pajamas. “Were you just on the phone, honey?”

  “Yeah, sorry, I didn’t realize you got back. When did you come home?”

  “Around midnight. We would have called but we didn’t want to wake you if you were resting, and we know it’s impossible to get your attention when you’re in-game,” her mother said. “That’s what they call it, in-game. Picked that up at the Arbyten call center. That job was a disaster, but we can talk about it in the morning.”

  Coral jumped up from her bed and threw her arms around her mother, nearly knocking her off her feet before she let go. All the worry she had carried in her bones melted away. This wasn’t an email, or a choppy video chat from across the globe. This was real. Her parents were home.

  “And Dad?” she asked.

  “Sound asleep,” her mother said.

  Coral nodded. “I have some money coming in for the property taxes now, so you won’t have to worry about that.”

  “I don’t know how you do it,” her mother said. She gave Coral a kiss on her forehead before turning toward the door. “Don’t stay up too late.”

  That bastard Domin. No wonder Hector couldn’t figure out where her parents were. They had
left Arbyten’s facility already, but Domin pretended he still had the power to hurt them. That’s why Domin was so impatient to get footage out of her. The second Coral realized her parents were home, the jig would be up.

  She wanted to be more angry, but sleep was coming on whether she wanted it or not.

  46

  Travail Server 215 (corrupt) Automated Intelligence Log.

  Additional resources to increase player difficulty found.

  Replicating artificial intelligence and personality duplication process housed on Travail Online Master Server…

  Location identified for increased challenge level: Philadelphia, PA, USA.

  Distance from Travail: incomputable.

  Connection to Finney’s Pianola Company server secure.

  Preparing to launch personality files…

  47

  Daniel woke up and stretched. Normally he couldn’t wait to put his visor on, but today he wanted the morning off, even though a quick visit to Mayor Hammergeld would get him the Fateblade he wondered so much about. He wasn’t sure if the previous day was the equivalent of working a “double,” but it felt like a “quintuple” at least.

  It started to dawn on him that he was alone in the house. The utilities were still on, for the moment, but those would leave soon too as the bank pressed forward with foreclosure. He drew the curtains tight and powered up his laptop.

  The first thing he saw was an email from Arbyten.