Into The Game- Dungeon Crawl Quest
Page 21
Ant-bot looks at us and holds two fingers up in a peace sign. “I’m a big fan of your questing party. DCQ is back and I love it.” He pushes his way into the DCQ game station crowd. “Let me see that dungeon, yo!”
Bella watches him for a moment then turns back to the bar. “That was really Ant-bot. I watch his stuff all the time.”
“I know, right?” I spin back to the bar and look over the bottles behind it. My drink just might have to be champagne. “We really did it.”
Anton tosses three coasters on the bar. “You name it, you got it. No drink tickets needed for the trio that saved my partner’s life and my business. You all got lifetime bottomless cups here.”
“All good.” Mack points to a curvy crystalline glass decanter on the bar’s top shelf. “I’ll take a triple Hennessy, Paradis Imperial.”
Bella points to a dragon topped tap handle. “I would like an ice cold Southfarthing Frogmorton Ginger Beer, please.”
I’ve always wanted to try Southfarthing. “That sounds refreshing. I’ll have the same, Anton.”
Bella licks her lips. “Did you know the Spirit & Game is the only U.S. bar with Southfarthing? The only other place you can get it is The Green Dragon Inn on the Hobbiton movie set in New Zealand. Don’t laugh, but I think it would be a nice place for a vacation. It’s on my bucket list.”
Okay, that’s it. I’m really starting to fall for this girl. She wants to visit Hobbiton just as much as I do. “You know I’ve done some research on the Hobbit movie set myself. It does sound cool.”
Anton drops two frosty glasses and a snifter on the counter in front on us. “I can use a drink myself.” He pours a shot of clear liquid. “Za zdorovie.”
Kurht returns to us with a drink already in hand. “That means ‘To your health’ in Russian, and I agree it’s time to celebrate.” He raises his glass.
I can’t believe I’m about to have a drink with the DCQ creator. I gotta make this good. “It’s times like these I like to quote Bilbo Baggins.” I raise my glass. “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”
Mack swirls his glass and raises it to ours. “Man, you gotta stop. Tonight, we drink for my main man, Tupac, Prince, and my girl Aaliyah.”
“Really, Mack?” Bella shakes her head and puts her glass to mine. “This drink is to the memory of our fallen comrades, Salo Fatback, and the colossal Biff Thunderpunch. Great questers that will always remain in our hearts.”
Anton looks over the crowded room and clanks his glass with ours. “To Dungeon Crawl Quest.” He swallows the liquid, drops the glass to the counter, and flips open his Grimoire. “Subscription numbers have now exceeded 260,000. The Spirit & Game is going to be in business for a long time.”
Kurht finishes his drink, rests an elbow on the bar, and rubs his chin. “Before I went into the game for that final, fateful beta-test, I sent out three packages. One to you Riff, another to Hans, and a third to a kid named Freddie.”
“Freddie is the guy who gave me his Grimoire,” Mack interjects. “He was a nice guy. Scary, but nice.”
Kurht acknowledges Mack with a tilt of his head. “Glad he made that call or we all might be dead.” A moment of silent victory hangs between us before he continues. “I wanted one of DCQ’s top three gamers to be the first into the expansion. Which brings me to the subject of some reward money. That call I got was from the very happy CEO of Blizivision Studios. He congratulated me on being alive, on the newfound popularity of DCQ, and on my lucrative new contract, which came into effect when the game passed the quarter million subscription mark. And it’s a good one this time.”
Bella drops her empty glass to the bar and looks at her dad with the widest smile “Yes!”
Anton wraps his arm around Kurht’s shoulder and nods his head. “Congratulations.”
“There’s more good news.” He drops a napkin and an ink pen in front of me. “I was asked who to forward a certain large reward to. Riff, I need to know where you’re going to be tomorrow afternoon. A Blizivision official would like to present you with a large and well-deserved check. Congratulations, Jarreth Goblinmasher. You won the prize money. You solved the goblin chamber puzzle.”
CHAPTER 20
Bang, bang, bang!
I kick off a sheet, roll over, and pull my curtain back a crack. Hot sunlight burns my eyes. I let the fabric go, roll back in bed, and look at the ceiling. Dorm sweet dorm. It’s good to be home alive. Alive-for-real-alive.
Bang, bang, bang!
Is that my head throbbing or are the police at my front door? I drop my legs over the edge of the bed, look down, and wiggle my toes. Hmm, I’m wearing the same clothes I had on when I left the Spirit & Game, minus the shoes. What time did I get home last night?
Bang, bang, bang!
I grab my head with both hands. And how much did I drink? Memories and details swirl like an unsettling fog. I feel like I should understand the situation better than I do.
Bang, bang, bang!
Okay, this better be good. Real, real, real, good. I slide on my hobbit foot slippers, open my bedroom door, and head into living room. Mack is passed out on the couch with one hand dangling over the side. “Mack.” I kick his hand. “Don’t you hear the door? Get up, you half dead sloth.”
Bang, bang, bang!
“I’m coming! Stop with the knocking already.” I fling the door open and rub the sleep from my eyes. A thin Asian man wearing a gray suit with no tie is standing next to a short, well-dressed bald man.
The short man yanks a pink piece of paper off the door and crumples it up. “Are you Riff Jenkins?”
I nod and the movement feels sluggish.
He looks me up and down once, then proceeds to speak in a professional tone. It seems to take some effort to maintain. “Good morning, Mr. Jenkins. I am Dean Williams, and this gentleman is Shigoshi Kojimoto, co-founder and President of Blizivision Studios. He tells me you solved a glitch that plagued a very popular game his company represents.”
Shigoshi holds out an envelope. “This is for you Mr. Jenkins. A check.”
The prize money. “Thank you, Sir.” I take the envelope. It’s thick and weighty in my hand. I point the envelope at the Dean. “It was not a glitch. It was a puzzle that needed to be solved.”
Dean Williams rests a hand on Shigoshi’s shoulder. “Mr. Kojimoto here has not only made a generous donation to our new Virtual Reality Development and Design program, but he has paid the remainder of your housing and tuition.”
“I have more good news,” Shigoshi says. “Blizivision would like to offer you a job after graduation. If you accept, we will put you in our Full-Immersion VR division. Your first order of business will be as project manager on a new groundbreaking version of the Dungeon Crawl Quest game you are so familiar with. You will be working hand in hand with Dr. Kurht Knaud.”
My jaw drops, and the reaction seems to please Shigoshi. “You know,” he continues. “Kurht’s knowledge on virtually everything regarding the phenomenon of human consciousness, the senses, and their relationship to the workings of the brain and nervous system are quite incredible. He has successfully combined principles of biology and technology. Our plan is to bring the first Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game to life. We want you to be a part of this.”
“Damn, you all are loud.” Mack yawns and looks over my shoulder. “Did someone say something about a VRMMORPG?”
Shigoshi’s eyes light up. “Ah, you must be Mack Jenkins. I was told of your hacking skills. A job offer to work on the DCQ team after graduation awaits you, as well. At Blizivision, we have the experience and technology needed to bring clarity and direction to Dr. Knaud’s full dive vision. Together, we will transform his ideas into reality. I look forward to having both of you as part of the company.”
I tap the envelope on Mack’s shoulder. “It’s the design team of Riff and Mack Jenkins, baby.”
Mack rakes severa
l dreadlocks away from his face. “What type of things will we be doing with Kurht? I don’t want to be nobody’s flunky. Technical aspects of productivity software development are my specialty.”
“Oh, there are no flunkies at Blizivision,” Shigoshi says. “One of your key jobs will be to make sure players that enter live to play another day. Full-dive needs to be a safe reality for everybody. Dr. Knaud has not been so forthcoming on this end.”
I step in front of Mack. “Don’t bore the man with technical aspects. Everyone knows game design and production is where it’s at.”
Mack nudges around me. “How much does this job pay, though? Where is my envelope?”
Shigoshi bows. “All the information is in your brother’s envelope. Take your time with it. Once again, Congratulations, Riff Jenkins. We will be in touch.” He turns and walks down the hall.
The Dean holds out both arms. “I’m proud of you two. We’ll get together on this early next week.” Sure, sure. How convenient of him to forget all our misdeeds now that we brought his department some money. I grin, enjoying my new status as favorite student and rich gamer. The Dean drops his arms and looks at us closely. “Now, go get some rest. You both look like hell.”
Mack and I sit on the couch and I finally get to tear open the envelope. The check sits in the center of several folded pieces of paper. I pull it out and hold it up. “Cha Ching.”
$25,000.00
“You’re gonna be proud to be my brother this weekend,” I say. “We are going to party for real with all this.”
Bang, bang, bang.
Bang… bang… bang…
BOOM!
“I recognize that knock.” Three quick, three slow, and one loud pound. “That sounded like—”
“—Hawkwinds Cadence.” Mack sits up and looks at the door. “It’s open!”
“Surprise.” Bella waltzes in the door. “Hi, guys.”
I stand and shake my head clear. “Bella?” So, it wasn’t all a dream. She is so fine.
Kurht ducks around her from behind and hops up and down. “Where is the bathroom?”
“Dad.” Bella rolls her eyes. “You’re so embarrassing.”
“Kurht?” Mack stands and points. “The bathroom’s right there.”
“Bio-break.” Kurht steps into the bathroom and closes the door.
Bella runs up to Mack and me for a group hug. “Good to see you two again. Your campus here is so cool, and the people are so nice. I ran into Mileena downstairs, she helped us find your room.”
“Oh really?” I scratch my temple. “How, uh, how is Mileena?”
Bella stands back and smiles. “Did you know she recently created a DCQ profile? She’s really interested in the game after what happened. As we departed, she noted I should watch out for you, Riff. What’s that all about?”
“Oh, um.” I shuffle my feet. “Probably just a joke. The people her are friendly jokesters.”
Mack looks at me from the corner of his eye and smirks. “Yep, jokesters.”
I straighten my shirt and run a hand through my hair. Oh man, I must look a steaming hot mess. “Hey, Mack and I just received job offers from Blizivision. A guy named Mr. Shinobi just left like five minutes ago.”
“You mean Mr. Shigoshi Kojimoto?” Bella laughs. “I know all about the deal. I’m part of it too. The three of us are going to be on a design team with my dad. I’m thinking about transferring to your school here for my senior year. We can start the groundwork on the game together as we work toward graduation. I mean, if that be all right with you too?”
“Sounds good to me.” Yes, a perfect way to get to know Bella better. Today really is my day.
Kurht walks out of the bathroom waving a hand in front of his nose. “Did you know that your toilet is broken?”
Oh, crap.
“Really, Dad?” Bella pinches her nose.
Kurht closes the bathroom door and shrugs. “What? It was like that when I got in there. I swear.”
He points a finger at Mack and me and cocks his head. “I need you two to come work with me at Blizivision as soon as possible. Not only do I have about a million ideas in my head for full dive VR, but also a problem has arisen in DCQ. Your friend Hans is causing havoc.”
“He’s not our friend,” Bella snaps.
Kurht shrugs. “Figure of speech. Anyway, Hans is using the power of an un-locked Grimoire to become some kind of a super-griefer. This man found a way to automate some actions in order to gain experience and has leveled up to be an overpowered tyrant. He is killing off all the games’ most popular players. He even made deals with the temple priests, so players can’t re-spawn. Can you believe he started a griefer-guild? It’s bad.”
“I got an idea,” Mack says. “Shut the game down for five minutes and erase that fool.”
“That would be murder,” Kurht says. “And not only is that illegal, it would be terrible PR for the game. No, we just need him out of there. And to do that, we need to get his Grimoire back. Hans’s family and the police have been asking about his whereabouts. He was last seen entering The DCQ Players Den. These people are on me for answers, and it’s a problem. The whole thing has got the Blizivision people nervous, and we don’t need them pulling the plug.”
Bella whisks by me and looks around the room. “Nice slippers, Riff. I really like them.”
Kurht holds up an index finger. “I need you all to get back into DCQ and Game Master Hans out of there. Expel him and return him to his family. I need these problems off my back, so we can concentrate on making our mark in game industry history, a true total emersion version of DCQ. I have the ground work ready and have even picked out a code name for the project.”
“You already have a code name?” I ask. “Let’s hear it.”
Kurht gathers Bella in next to him and lifts his chin. “The new version of Dungeon Crawl Quest will be called The Cave Maze.”
THE END
THE FINAL CHARACTER SHEET OF
RIFF JENKINS
NAME: Jareth Goblinmasher »
AGE: 22
LEVEL: 5
EXPERIENCE POINTS: 8,933
HIT POINTS: 8/48
ABILITIES: 63
Strength: 19
Agility: 10
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 12
Luck: 12
ARMOR CLASS: 4/40
Leather Armor, Small Shield, Bombardment Boots + (0)
GOLD COINS: 0
SILVER PENNIES: 0
SPELLS: N/A
PRIMARY WEAPON: Keris of Knaud + (2) Distinguished Hack. (Soulbound)
Executioner’s Sword
POSSESSIONS: Grimoire (5 of 6), Map+3, Perfect Placement Belt, Small Backpack, Flask of Oil, (10) Single Day’s Rations, Water Skin, The Routier’s Rest Rumor Table Scroll, Brim of Profound Musicianship, *Lute + (7) Charm person. (Soulbound)*Location: Mad Cobblers shop – Cittadella
RACE: Human
CLASS: Fighter
ALIGNMENT: Good
TASKS: Enter The Kingdom of Broxington.
THE SNAKE & APPLE INN:
ODDS ON TEAMS ENTERING THE WORLD OF DUNGEON CRAWL QUEST
Team: Bibliophile: 5 - 1
From: Nuevos Aires, Patuson
Members: 6
Key personnel: Nadine Brandes (Enchanter)
Ripley Patton (Purveyor of Myth)
Darko ‘Paganus’ Tomic (Master Artisan)
Craig McKenzie (Consilier de afaceri)
Robert Woodhead (Samurai)
Andrew C. Greenberg (Bishop)
Team: Family Faction: 8 - 1
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Members: 8
Key personnel: Michelle (Queen)
Christopher II (Prince)
La Skyeya (Princess)
Naleesa (Duchess)
C. KaeShawn (K-Dragon)
Lelia (Marchioness)
Angelina (Countess)
Antonio (The Amazing Brick Guy)
Team: Da Noses: 10 - 1
Fr
om: California, USA
Members: 6
Key personnel: 40ozChris (Concoctor)
Mackdread (Herbalist)
Porkchop (Barbarian)
Ma$$ (Troubadour)
Shock-G (Satan Couturier)
Edward Ellington Humphries, III (Mack-Minstrel)
Team: Fantastic Science Fantasy Adventures Press: 12 - 1
From: Nottingham, UK
Members: 7
Key personnel: John Palmer (Nobel)
Beeman Beeston (Apiarist)
Master IAM of Zwolle (Compositor)
Baen Tordaw (NY, USA)
Gerald E. Waterton (SD, USA)
Bryler Alire (TO, CA)
Blue Stringyblade (SA, AU)
Team: Upholders Guild: 16 - 1
From: Parts Unknown
Members: Unknown
Key personnel:
All who have entered The Cave Maze.
All who have ported Into The Game.
Odds subject to change.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C. A. A. Allen lives in San Diego with his wife and six children. He is a freelance writer, local hip-hop mogul, and fantasy e-book author. He writes for many online entities, and has been published in the San Diego Reader, and CityBeat magazines. He has provided backup vocals and performed as a “Humpty Dancer” for the multi-platinum hip-hop group Digital Underground. When he isn’t writing or spending time with his children, Mr. Allen enjoys horse racing, sports, and several different genres of music.
Thank you for reading!
I hope you liked the story. Into The Game: Dungeon Crawl Quest is my second novel and first installment in the four-part Wizard Warrior Quest universe. Note: Each book is a standalone and can be read and enjoyed without reading them in order. The third book in the Wizard Warrior Quest universe, The Cave Maze: Wizard Warrior Quest, is available on Amazon now!
If you’d like to keep up with my progress in the Wizard Warrior Quest universe, feel free to subscribe to my newsletter or check out the blog on my Goodreads page for updates.
Thanks again for porting Into The Game!!!