The Arena

by Drew Seren

  “We want to get some supplies and leave,” Horc said, trying to focus on the barmaid while his friends talked. “We need to find the rest of our party.”

  “They haven’t been seen-” she started again.

  “Since they left the inn,” Baladara finished for her. “Yeah, you already said that. We get it. We just want provisions and we’ll be out of your hair.”

  “It’s really dangerous to be outside at night.” The barmaid put her hands in her blue apron and looked at the floor. “People are disappearing.”

  A message flashed on Horc’s screen.

  Quest Completed: Snuff out the Darkness

  Travel to Tragiczan and find the trail to the source of darkness there.

  Rewards:

  5,000 XP

  Horc’s XP bar flashed and grew longer. Then another message popped up

  Quest: Snuff out the Darkness

  Follow the trail of darkness and find out where it leads.

  Rewards:

  5,000 XP

  Accept - Decline

  “Accept,” Horc muttered under his breath.

  “Accept what?” Baladara asked.

  “Apparently, talking with the barmaid here was the completion of the first part of the quest chain to find the source of darkness in Tragiczan. We’re supposed to follow the trail and find out where it leads.” Horc didn’t like things that weren’t fairly direct and laid out for him, particularly when he was in a game and supposed to be relaxing.

  “And you didn’t think to share that quest with those of us who didn’t get it?” Baladara asked with her hands on her hips.

  Sharing quests wasn’t something he was used to in the other games he played. “How do I do that?”

  “Pull up the quest details,” Baladara instructed. “There should be a share option.”

  Doing what she said, he spotted the button. When he tapped share, a message popped up.

  The quest isn’t available for sharing.

  “Not an option,” Horc relayed.

  Baladara pouted slightly.

  “I wonder if Steelmaiden and Slasher were taken as part of this quest,” Greensleeves muttered as he headed for the main room and the bar.

  “That sounds a little strange,” Horc replied, following him. “Wouldn’t that mean the AI kidnapped them or something?”

  “Although I don’t want you hurt, I cannot keep you here.” The barmaid rushed past them. “It might be a long quest, so let me stock you up.”

  “Thanks.” Tufkakes leaned against the bar when they got across the main room.

  “I don’t know much about the AI. While you guys restock, I’ll check with Rick and see if this might be something that’s been programmed.” Greensleeves pulled out a few coins. “This should cover my part.”

  “I wish we all had spouses who were programmers,” Baladara said. “Would make it a lot easier for things in the game.”

  “I don’t think he’s trying to cheat,” Horc said, then told the barmaid what they were going to need.

  “Then what do you call the new race?” Baladara pulled out a few coins to help pay for her part.

  “Trying to help me stay alive.” Horc hadn’t really thought about that being a form of cheating. There were several games he’d heard about that for a little extra cash, players could change things about their toons without losing their levels and belongings.

  “It’s nice having friends who are willing to pull strings for you,” Tufkakes added his part of the coins as the barmaid began putting their order on the counter and they divided up the food, drink, and a couple of potions.

  “Which reminds me,” Baladara turned from the barmaid and focused on Tufkakes. “We all know who each of us is IRL, but who are you? All we know is your handle of Tufkakes. What kind of name is Tufkakes?”

  “I kinda combined the name of a character in a song to come up with it. I really liked the song and when I saw that Procyans are basically humanoid raccoons, it made sense.” Tufkakes looked more uncomfortable than he had since Horc had met him.

  “Ooookaaaaay, so who are you IRL?” Baladara pushed. “My name’s Mike Simmons from the Dallas office.”

  Tufkakes nodded. “You’re a guy in real life, huh…I guess that explains some of the attitude.”

  Baladara frowned. “Attitude? I don’t have an attitude, and this isn’t about me—it’s about you.”

  “Fine. My name’s Shelia Green. I’m out of the Houston office.”

  “Shelia, didn’t we meet at one of the big company training sessions a couple of years ago? You’re in the billing department. In case you forgot from the server message, I’m Alan Gosling.” Horc put the last of his part of the supplies into his bag.

  “Alan Gosling, yes we did, now that you mention it.” Tufkakes put his part of the supplies away.

  “Okay, Shelia, I like looking at girls when I play, rather than boys, what’s your excuse?” Baladara continued to grill her.

  “I get tired of the general pompous attitude of a lot of the guys who play these games. For years, when I play a female character, I get hit on a lot by guys who probably look and act a lot worse than their avatars IRL. After I got tired of being invited to harems every few days, I started playing male toons. One of the things I like about Halfworld is there are enough non-human races I can find things that are male, but still give me a little female feel.” He ran his hand through the brown fur on his arm. “Some of these games have toons that aren’t really male or female in any real sense.”

  “Well said,” Greensleeves said, drawing attention to himself.

  “Tufkakes, you’re safe with us, no matter what sex you want to be,” Horc said. He always hated it when gamers substituted their in-game lives for their real ones and thought they were all kinds of hot stuff when they really weren’t.

  Tufkakes grinned. “Thanks. It really amazes me that you’re holding yourself together so well when your real life is hanging by a thread.”

  “Can’t do much else.” Horc turned to Greensleeves. “What did you find out?”

  “Rick doesn’t have much. The game AI isn’t supposed to be going around kidnapping players, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t bugs in the system.”

  “Right,” Baladara said. “So, I guess we catch up to Steelmaiden and Slasher and see what’s going on.”

  “Rick’s working on something that’ll help with that.” Greensleeves glanced at the remaining pile of supplies on the bar. “I guess these are mine?”

  Horc nodded. “Figured you could carry your own stuff. What’s Rick working on?”

  “Well, I asked if we could either get a special case, so we could get mounts, or if we could get a level boost so we can ride.”

  “Yeah, level boosts would be awesome.” Tufkakes fist pumped and grinned.

  Greensleeves shook his head. “Sorry, can’t pull that off without approval from higher up. But he is going to arrange for us some transport but we won’t be riding mounts.”

  “Not riding mounts?” Baladara frowned. “And what does that mean exactly?”

  “He wouldn’t say—just that I’d probably like it a lot.” Greensleeves finished putting his supplies away. “Let’s head out into the center of town and see what he’s worked up.”

  Again, the barmaid ran ahead of us. “I really don’t think this is a good idea.” She touched the door and started to raise the beam locking us in.

  “We’re players, sweetie,” Tufkakes said. “We’ll be fine.”

  The beam cleared the thick iron brackets holding it against the doors and something hit them hard from outside. The room shook. Horc’s wolf growled, and Horc reflexively grabbed his axe. It might look cheap, but it still had a good edge and could do some damage.

  7

  The door shuddered again, then when the next blow hit, it flew open. The cold desert night air flooded in around them as they the party griped their weapons and prepared their spells.

  There was nothing there.

  “Okay. What
’s happening here?” Horc peered into the darkness, wishing the torches in the inn hadn’t been so bright and that night hadn’t fallen so fast and bleak outside the building.

  “Not sure.” Baladara’s hands glowed a soft yellow. “But let’s shed some light on the situation.”

  “I don’t see anything out here,” Tufkakes’ voice came from outside the door.

  “How did he get out there?” Baladara asked as she finished the spell she’d started, and light erupted just beyond the door.

  “Damn! Warn me next time.” Tufkakes sounded pained.

  “Same to ya,” Baladara retorted.

  “It’s Shadowwalking and, when you do something like that, I can’t do it. Okay.” Tufkakes appeared at the edge of the door, then his eyes widened. “Shit. It’s right here.” He threw two knives quickly.

  “Right where?” Baladara ran through the door with Horc, his wolf, and Greensleeves right on her heels.

  A huge skeletal shadow standing nearly ten feet tall towered just to the side of the door. Above the monster were the words Sand Giant Shadow Level 30 with a single star next to the name.

  “Freaking great.” Baladara got off a fireball. “The shadow of a giant. Not what we need right now.”

  “And it’s a special critter too.” Greensleeves’ Druid spell was a dusty brown as it flew toward the giant.

  Horc stopped just outside the door as his wolf rushed the monster. He fired an Flaming Impact arrow.

  The shadow howled in pain as the flaming arrow coated in spells struck. Its health dropped a bit, but not much. Horc had no idea whose attack did the most damage.

  As the next round of spells went off, Tufkakes, who Horc hadn’t even realized had vanished again, appeared behind the shadow and managed to run up its leg before plunging a knife into its ribs from behind. More points came off its health.

  For the next few minutes, Horc didn’t bother keeping track of who was doing what damage to the thing; he just loosed arrow after arrow at it. When his mana was high enough, he hit it with spell arrows, but they drained him quickly. Baladara and Greensleeves pounded on it with their magics while Tufkakes and Horc’s wolf worked at it up close and personal.

  When its health had dropped to flashing orange, it flung Tufkakes and the wolf aside and took off toward the far side of the village.

  “Oh no, you don’t.” Horc held his arrow and focused his shot on the shadow’s head. His mana flashed indicating he could add Flame to his Impact arrow. He let it fly. The bonus buff for the careful aim added damage to the blow. Along with the Impact arrow slowing it, the flames burning it caused the giant shadow to stumble. Horc’s wolf dashed back in and grabbed at its leg.

  With a loud bellow, the giant crashed to the ground.

  “Gotcha!” Tufkakes threw himself on the dark form that struggled to rise again. His knives did a lot of damage as he struck blow after blow on the thing.

  Two more spells from Baladara and Greensleeves had its health flashing and Horc finished it off with a Razor arrow that managed to cut through the thing’s neck before embedding itself into the wall of the house across from it.

  Tufkakes stood up and shook himself, looking for a moment like Horc’s wolf who was doing the same thing. Dirt and dust flew around them.

  “I’ve got you, Tufkakes.” Greensleeves’ spell glow turned from brown to blue as he healed Tufkakes, who, with the wolf had taken the most damage in the fight. He’d nearly died; he was so slow.

  “Thanks,” Tufkakes said as he started looting the shadow.

  Horc cast his Heal Pet spell to bring his wolf up to max, then tossed him a chunk of meat for good measure. “That was intense.” Horc slung his bow over his shoulder as his coin purse rang and felt heavier.

  “At least it only had one star,” Baladara said, pulling out a drink and sitting down. “Almost made me feel like we were back in the dungeon, and that was no fun.”

  “But we got cool stuff,” Horc said, opening his own flask to bring his mana back up to max.

  “Dungeons suck,” Tufkakes said. “Tried one near the starting zone and that was a complete PITA.”

  Horc frowned. “Pita?”

  “Pain in the ass.” Tufkakes grinned. “Sorry. I know I have a bit of a mouth on me, and I’m always fussing at the kids about cussing.”

  “And it doesn’t help, does it?” Baladara replied. “I get you there.”

  A bright glow erupted from the center of the town square and a carriage complete with a driver and four-in-hand team of horses stood there. The horses were huge beasts that glistened shiny black in the remnants of Baladara’s light spell. The carriage was an open affair that looked like it was ready for a loving couple to take a blanket covered ride around a winter park. It wasn’t anything Horc expected to find in a game.

  “Okay, now, that’s cool.” Baladara stood and started toward it. “Is this what Rick was working on for us?”

  “It is,” the driver grinned down at them. There wasn’t any text over his head and something in his bearing reminded Horc of Miranda, the developer who’d been keeping tabs on him and had actually been the one to defeat the Gnoll King in the final battle of the dungeon. The developers were a little out of sync with the rest of the game world and it set them apart, almost like gods. This one was even overly handsome with wavy blond hair, high cheekbones, broad shoulders and perfect teeth.

  “Hey Rick!” Greensleeves ran over to the carriage. “How did you pull this off?”

  “It’s my own personal vehicle. There’s a few places in game where even the developers can’t just pop in. So, we all have our own steeds and such.” Rick gestured to the horses. “You know I’m not much of an animal person, and I could’ve designed my own motorcycle or car, or something, but this reminded me of that carriage from our wedding.”

  Greensleeves grinned foolishly. “Oh my god. It does. You’re too much.”

  “Well, you guys get in.” Rick gestured to the back of the open-air carriage. “I can’t stay in game too long. We’re still looking into the AI acting up.”

  Horc gave Baladara a hand up into the powder-blue cushioned seat, then settled in beside her. His wolf sat at his feet, and Tufkakes sat opposite them as Greensleeves hopped up on the driver’s bench next to Rick.

  “Alright, everyone, hold on. I don’t promise this will be smooth.” Rick picked up the reins, snapped them, and yelled “Yee-haa!”

  The horses reared and took off at a high speed. Dust flew up around them. Horc glanced back toward the inn. The door was already closed, and he had no doubt it was probably barred on the inside too. There were no signs of anyone in the little village. Even during their battle, no one had stepped out to see what was going on. It all fell quickly behind them as Rick’s carriage carried them away and out into the desert night.

  “We may have figured out why Slasher and Steelmaiden can’t log out,” Rick said as they rode along.

  “Why?” Greensleeves responded.

  “They’re stuck in combat.” Rick flicked his wrists, shaking the reins to urge the horses to greater speed.

  “Why should that matter?” Horc asked. He’d never tried to log out during a fight—it always sounded like a way to cheat.

  “Game rules,” Baladara said. “Actually, that’s the rules in most games. If you’re in combat, you have to finish the combat before you can log out. Keeps people honest. Think about that moron Stan from the mailroom. I bet if he was losing a fight, he’d log out to get away from it, then log back in when he thought it was safe.”

  “Exactly,” Rick added. “We’re not totally sure how they’re locked in combat.”

  Horc glanced at their icons in the party list. “Neither one of them is losing health points, but they both seem down.”

  “Exactly. It’s almost like they are stuck in a state of being harmed just enough that their normal regeneration is covering the damage, so they aren’t falling too far.” Rick looked a little uncomfortable as the carriage bounced along.

  �
��But if they weren’t in pods and stuck in combat, wouldn’t they eventually die from the stress of the VR gear keeping them on their feet for a long time?” Baladara asked, looking at her own hands as if wondering what would happen to her if she was the one they’d misplaced.

  “We don’t have studies on that,” Rick said. “We might have to keep an eye on things if it looks like any of you are stuck in the game. We’re already monitoring Alan for everything that happens. Hopefully we’ll have more good news soon.”

  “I hope so,” Greensleeves said as Horc settled himself into the seat and crossed his arms to attempt to relax on their journey.

  Horc’s screen flashed, indicating he had a new text. Since all he was doing was riding in the carriage, he decided to look at it.

  Alan, how are you doing? We haven’t heard from you in a couple of days. Mom

  I’m fine. Still stuck in the game. They’re supposed to be working on getting my pod out of the house.

  Your father and I have tried to get in there and lend a hand, but we can’t get past the barricades they have set up on 75. Mom

  Don’t worry about it. Have you guys found a hotel yet?

  Yes. We’re settling in there nicely. It’s a bit pricy, but it was all we could find. Mom

  He hated the idea of his folks spending too much money just to be close when he came out of the pod. If it would be better for you guys to head home, I’ll understand. I could come visit when I get out of here.

  No. We’re staying right where we’re at. It’s not like we don’t have plenty of cash stashed away in case of emergencies. Mom

  We don’t know how long this is going to take. I don’t want you stressing yourself out. He’d feel terrible if something happened to either of his folks due to stress of him being in his predicament.

  We’ll be fine. Your father has found some guys who like to sit around watching old war movies, so he’s happy among his people. He’s promised to take me shopping at the Galleria tomorrow, so that will be nice. We’re finding things to do—just wish you were here with us. Mom

  Me too. As they let me know how they’re coming on digging me out, I’ll pass it along.

  Thanks. We’ll be there when you wake up, if they let us. Mom