We don’t have time to go around. I don’t have time. If I take the shorter path, maybe I can catch up to Jargonaut, let alone pass him. One glance at Erinocalypse tells me she’s thinking along the same lines.
“Well, I’m ready,” she says. “Anything else we need to know before we go?”
I wonder if we should buy more supplies before we leave town. I think I still have enough arrows and we will probably be fine with food. I can always fill my flask when we come across a river or at the potion maker’s well or something. Erinocalypse is probably right—best to get started as soon as possible.
Mayor Barnaby hands each of us a small corked vial filled with a light blue liquid. “One last gift and warning for you. This is a health potion and will return you to full strength, up to 90% of your health. You also both know Bestow Relief so use the potion wisely.”
With that ominous goodbye, he walks us to the front door, wishes us luck, and locks up behind us.
Chapter 32
“Any other stops you need to make before we leave town?” Erinocalypse asks.
This girl is … direct. No nonsense. Which I appreciate, except that it just makes me feel one step behind. I’m determined to keep up with her if it kills me.
“No. You?”
“Nope.”
There’s a short beat of silence as we stare at each other, unwilling allies. It goes against every instinct I have for this Challenge, but I have to trust her. Mayor Barnaby all but said it is not possible to complete this quest alone and I must complete this quest if I’m going to win the Challenge. The trick now is to stay just this bit ahead of Erinocalypse.
“Let’s go.” I set out leading the way. I can check the map again when we get outside of the village limits; I just know we’ve got to go east.
She has no trouble keeping pace with me and we almost power-walk, shoulder to shoulder, through the crowd in town square, down the eastern boulevard, past the tiny cottages and out of town.
The small farms that line the perimeter of Allynton give us an open, tranquil landscape to look at as we hike. There are some wooden fences here and there, but primarily wide open fields surround us. Slightly in the distance, low grassy hills are dotted with livestock. I take in a deep breath and silently praise whatever game designer decided that players would get the scent of grass without the scent of manure.
At practically every turn, I’m greeted with yet another detail that makes me wish I could keep playing this game forever. Whether I win or lose I will definitely miss being in Camlan once we have to log out tomorrow morning.
Erinocalypse and I walk in silence all the way through town, past the farms and calm, open spaces. There is a pretty clear division where the town officially ends, and once we cross over into the open game space she says, “Weapons equipped, I think.”
She’s right. We’re still on a road, but enemies could approach from anywhere—whether it’s one of Lord Crimson’s men or another wild boar. We remain on guard, and as the road curves to turn around the small forest, I pause.
“I think we should leave the road and risk going through these trees.”
But Erinocalypse doesn’t stop. Apparently, it doesn’t even warrant a discussion for her and she is already a few steps into the forest before I can follow.
“Oh, wow!” she exclaims. “XP bonus for being the first to discover this place!”
Goddamnit. Damn it. I should have known. I hurry to catch up to her so she’s not the first to do anything else. I can’t afford to give up any more of my lead.
Discovered: Bedivere Forest
The trees here are young and still spaced far enough apart to allow plenty of light onto the forest floor. It doesn’t feel dangerous or sinister, but looks can be deceiving. Especially in video games. Especially in this video game. Both Erinocalypse and I slow our steps to be quieter and to be able to listen more carefully to the space around us. Birds chirping and what is likely a bunny or squirrel or something playing in the fallen leaves don’t alarm me. We seem okay for the time being.
I take three more steps after that thought before it all ends.
Erinocalypse and I were walking side by side, each turned outward, looking to the right and left, weapons equipped and ready for whatever enemy might approach us. Apparently neither of us were looking where we stepped.
I feel a slight resistance on my ankle, and then in quick succession hear a series of clicks and find myself crushed against Erinocalypse’s knees, suspended high above the forest floor in a large net.
Trapped.
“No …” Erin whispers, almost to herself.
“Can you cut us out?” I ask. Last I saw she had a sword in her hand.
“I hope so. Hold still.”
She uses my legs as leverage and tries to pull herself into a better position, still keeping one hand on her sword. I’m sure my ribs will be bruised with the way she puts all her weight on me, literally using me as a crutch or step stool to adjust herself.
“Ow!” I say pointedly.
“Yeah, yeah.” She’s dismissive as she maneuvers her body in the small space. “If I can cut us out I’m sure you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me.”
I close my eyes, trying to stay as still as possible so she can complete her task. The net starts swaying a bit from her sawing.
“Please work. Please work,” she prays under her breath.
The swaying becomes more pronounced as she puts more strength into it.
“Um, I’m not sure this will work.” She pauses in her attempt. “Maybe the net is magic or there’s some limitation on my sword, but I’m not even making a dent.”
“Let me try,” I say, holding out a hand for the sword.
“What, just because you’re this big strong man you think you can cut through rope when I couldn’t?”
“No,” I retort. But, actually … yes. I guess that is what I thought. I shrug. “Fine.”
I equip my Small Dagger and begin to try cutting through the rope closest to me. Nothing. I turn the dagger over, wondering if one edge is sharper than the other, and lean hard into the sawing as I try again.
Still nothing.
“Huh.”
“Huh,” she mimics sarcastically. “What do you know?”
“Hey, look, I was just trying to help. I don’t want to be stuck in here any more than you do.”
“I know. You have a bow and arrow, right? Think you can shoot the rope holding us up?”
My initial reaction is ‘highly unlikely,’ but then I remember my aim has improved after my battle with the bats, so I mentally downgrade to ‘maybe.’
“Sure,” I say out loud.
But before we can try jostling positions again we hear a thin cackle from the ground below.
“Oh, yes, lovelies. Please try.”
Chapter 33
My face pressed against the net’s thick rope, Erinocalypse and I crane our necks to see who is taunting us. Below us, sitting—no, lounging—on a tree stump as though he is just missing a bowl of popcorn to enjoy the show, is a goblin. Skin the green color of moss, white tufts of hair sprouting from his pointy, bat-like ears, he grins at us with a mouth missing more than a couple teeth.
Name: Brew
Race: Goblin
Level 26
“Level 26,” Erin whispers.
I clear my throat, hoping she takes that for assent.
“No, no, my darlings,” Brew the goblin says. “Don’t let me interrupt. You were about to try fraying my rope with your precious little non-magic arrow. Please continue.”
He gestures grandly as though making a huge concession for us.
“No, I don’t think I will. I think we’ve probably been defeated and will just have to wait here to die.” I load my voice with despair. Maybe if we refuse to play along with whatever the thing wants us to do, we can get free of it faster.
“Oh, come now,” he pleads. “You tried your sword and your dagger. You were going to try the arrow next. I bet if I wait
long enough you might even get around to trying whatever attack magic you have hidden away.”
“We don’t have any magic,” Erinocalypse says loudly.
I glance at her and she refuses to meet my look. She’s lying. Or bluffing, rather. Wish I had thought of that first.
“My dear, my precious. How quaint you are. No magic? What a shame. You don’t get to see the wonder of the Rope of Guarding.”
Erinocalypse and I glance at each other. I shrug. One of the perils of being a first player—we have no idea what we’re getting into. No forums full of tips or videos of Camlan walkthroughs.
“Our apologies. You are our first exposure to a goblin. We are but new travelers in this land.”
I admit, I get a strange kick out of pulling out the archaic language. My admission that we have no idea who he is or why his rope is special deflates the goblin. But only for a moment.
“Well, then allow me to enlighten you.”
With no warning at all, he reaches behind the tree stump, tugs on the end of the rope and half a second later Erinocalypse and I lie in a tangled pile on the ground in front of him. The net is partially wrapped around us, but before we can disentangle ourselves, the goblin has cast his own magic spell, binding us at the wrists.
“The Rope of Guarding,” he begins deliberately, calmly imprisoning us, “is magically woven to be impenetrable. It cannot be cut or burned or unwoven, and someone wrapped in it is rendered harmless.”
“So, then, now what?” I work helplessly at trying to free my wrists. “We’re dumb travelers and homeless. You can’t have any use for us.”
“Ah, but you’re wrong,” Brew says. He begins recoiling the rope and plucking the net from our heads and elbows. “I have plenty of use for you.”
That can’t be good.
He cackles again as he gathers his magical rope and net.
I’m glad we had the foresight to stow our weapons before he could get to them. We can’t reequip or use them now with our hands bound, but at least we haven’t lost them.
He pokes at my back.
“Up up up. We’re going and I’m not carrying you.”
Erinocalypse and I manage to stand, hips sticking out at odd angles. We’re unbalanced and awkward, since our wrists are still tied together. Once we’re standing, Brew wraps his magical rope around our bound wrists again, creating leashes and leading us like cattle out of the clearing.
“Come, come. I have big plans for you two.”
We have to keep up if we don’t want to be dragged behind him. We don’t have very far to go. Brew leads us around a few trees, then we push through some low berry-laden shrubs and soon he stops in another small clearing. He ties his end of the rope to a tree nearby.
“Here we are, here we are. Home sweet home. You lot wait here.” He chuckles to himself and abandons us. On the other side of the clearing is a small shack. He seems to have built his house out of scavenged branches and smaller trees from around the forest. The wide, irregular gaps in between the planks make this look like it was built by a toddler. There can’t be much protection from the weather with a flimsy house like this. But then, who knows what the weather in Camlan is like.
He returns almost immediately, looking quite pleased with himself. “Well well well well. What shall we do now? I had never thought I’d catch me some creatures like you. I hardly know where to begin.”
“We’re not toys,” Erin says through gritted teeth. “We’re not your entertainment.”
Brew cackles, bending over double with the force of his laughter. “Oh my dear, but you are. I have no need of labor, and I’m not going to just catch you to let you go again. You shall be my entertainment.”
All of a sudden this situation feels very familiar, as though the video game itself is toying with me. I’m reminded of my quest to clear the barn and the way I was misdirected to use weapons that wouldn’t help. There’s something of that here, I can feel it. Some way we are supposed to outsmart the NPC, or even the game itself.
I just don’t know how yet.
“You two are enemies, yes?” Brew asks, looking from one of us to another.
“Yes,” Erinocalypse says cautiously. “We are in a competition with each other.”
“Good good good. As enemies you will undoubtedly want to defeat the other. This will make the games more fun, see? More entertaining for me.”
“Oh, good,” I say, though I’m not sure if goblins can pick up on sarcasm.
“First a race. A feat of speed and stamina.” The goblin unties us from the tree, but leaves our wrists bound.
I feel a jolt of hope. Maybe this will be easier than I thought. If he lets us run, we can get away and just figure out how to get our hands unbound once we’re elsewhere.
But that hope is short lived when I realize Brew is retying shorter lengths of rope to our wrists, keeping one end in his hand and leaving us on our own individual leashes.
“You want us to run while tied up?” Erinocalypse asks, frowning.
“Yes, yes! ’Twill be fun, you see? You run as fast as you can and whoever reaches the end of the rope first wins.”
Quest Offered: Footrace
Description: Run faster than your opponent; reach the end of your rope leash before she does
Reward: +75 XP
“You’re on,” Erin says, grinning at me.
Until we can figure out how to escape, we’re stuck here as entertainment. At least I can log some XP in the meantime.
“Sure, let’s go,” I answer.
“Good, good, my pretties, my precious. Let us see who is the faster.”
He directs us to what is more or less a straight shot through the trees and spaces us a couple feet apart.
“No pushing or tripping. No fair, that. Running only, if you please.” He giggles. I can’t imagine how boring his life is if this is such a source of joy for him. “Go!”
The abruptness surprises me, but I recover and dart off. The lack of much physical limitations in this game means I can sprint for quite a while without getting tired, and my legs are longer than Erinocalypse’s so I’m fairly confident in my lead. I haven’t thought this all the way through, though. I forget about physics and suddenly I feel my arms yanked back as the rope goes taut. But my feet don’t stop in time and I find myself flat on my back, my arms stretched over my head to where they are still tied to the leash.
Quest Completed: Footrace
Description: You beat your opponent
Reward: +75 XP
Erinocalypse stands over me. “Best two out of three?”
“We’ve got to get out of here,” I answer in a low voice as I get to my feet again.
“Yeah, I’m thinking about how. In the meantime, we might as well rack up as much XP as we can.”
I nod. Our walk back is hurried along by Brew pulling on our lashes, drawing us towards him faster than we would otherwise return.
“Again?” Erinocalypse asks when we’re in ear shot.
“No no no,” he says, shaking his head. “That wasn’t fun for me. I didn’t even get to see you fall.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
“What to do; what to do.” He rubs his chin, thoughtfully looking each of us over.
“You didn’t have a plan when you set the trap?”
“Oh, yes. Yes yes, I had a plan.” Brew looks insulted. “I didn’t expect tall gangly creatures that I would need to keep tied up. I thought maybe something small and cute I could overpower.”
“Hey!” Erin laughs. “I’m cute.”
“No, you’re strange.” Brew takes her protest seriously. “You’re pale and have unnaturally long limbs and hair growing out of the top of your head.” He looks at us as though he can’t believe we would put up with such foolishness.
“So, you’re, what? Just going to keep us tied up?” I ask.
“What would you have done if you had caught someone else?”
Brew grins wildly. “Oh, lots of things. Lots lots. J
uggling or checkers or acrobatics. There’s lots of games to play. But you need your hands untied for all of them.”
“I can juggle,” Erinocalypse volunteers.
“Can you really?” I wonder if this is just a ploy to get him to untie her.
She shrugs. “I went through a magician phase when I was in middle school. I can also make coins disappear. Kinda.”
“Juggling? You can juggle? Well, now, that changes things. Can you juggle?” he asks me.
“No, but I can—”
“Never mind.” He cuts me off. “Doesn’t matter. If you can’t juggle there is no reason to untie you. But you, long-haired one. You I can do something with. Let me think; let me think; let me think.”
The goblin drags my leash to the tree again and ties me up. I’m getting frustrated. This is the point in the game that I would want to log out. It’s just not fun anymore if I can’t see a way out, if I don’t know what my objective is. I don’t relax my guard, just in case, but I am frustrated.
“Now now now,” Brew says as he drags Erinocalypse by her leash closer to the shack. “I will tie your feet and then you can’t run, see? Your hands are free to juggle but you’re stuck here with me, see? Good plan. Good plan.”
Erinocalypse locks eyes with me from across the clearing. I have no idea what she has in mind. But with her hands free and my feet free, maybe we have a chance? She nudges her head to one side as she continues to look at me. She wants me to move? I take a small step in the direction she moved her head and she nods.
Thank god someone here has a plan.
Chapter 34
Brew returns from his shack with a long dagger and a basket of fruit.
“This will keep you in line, see?” He holds up the knife. “You won’t be doing anything fishy with this pointed at you.”
He sets the basket of fruit near Erinocalypse and approaches cautiously. She doesn’t say anything to encourage him or to warn him. She holds her wrists out for him to free her.
“You be good now,” he says again. “We’ll have fun and play games and maybe I won’t have to kill you.”
Quest for Camlan_A LitRPG Adventure Page 16
