by Anthea Sharp
Carissa watched Jed stop by yet another tree, looking at the ground before striding to the next one. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for some rocks grouped together to form an arrow." Jed stared at the ground at the base of the next tree. "Dad said it'd be about twenty metres from that large boulder that was at the edge of the road."
Ross looked back the way they'd come. "You sure you haven't passed it? Those boulders are about twenty-five metres back."
Jed looked up from examining the ground, grinning. "Dad's never been the best judge of measurements."
Carissa joined him by the tree, scanning the ground at the base of it. "Which side of the tree?"
"The side closest to the road." Jed looked in both directions. "Maybe we should return to the boulders and search from there. I didn't start looking until we were about ten metres from them."
"Surely it wouldn't be closer to the boulders than that if he said twenty metres," Carissa said.
"We'll keep looking." Ross strode to the next tree.
"Okay." Carissa hurried ahead of him, searching the long grass at the base of the next one. There were a couple of rocks, but none of them formed an arrow. She strode towards the next tree.
"I found it," Ross called out.
Carissa hurried to her father's side, grinning when she spotted the group of rocks partially hidden by the long grass around the base of the tree. "Now where?"
"We follow the arrow until we run into another tree." Jed stood directly in front of the arrow point, his back to it.
Carissa looked ahead. There was nothing in his way. "Are you sure?"
Jed nodded, walking in a straight line.
Carissa walked at his side, her bow ready in case they were attacked. The region had been surprisingly quiet and she doubted it'd stay that way. When she was about to suggest they return to the arrow and try again, she saw a tree directly ahead of Jed. "Where do we go once we reach the tree?"
"The tree's our destination." Reaching the tree, Jed knelt on the ground and dug in the soft soil at the base of it.
Carissa tried to keep watch on their surroundings, but her gaze was continually drawn back to the hole, dark soil piled up at the side of it.
Jed unearthed a leather bag, tipping out thirty gold pieces, some of them falling onto the ground. A necklace landed on the pile of coins in his hand. "Great. Could they say any louder that they think I'm not going to survive?"
"What is it?" Ross asked.
"A revive necklace."
Jed's expression of disgust caused laughter to bubble up and Carissa clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. Let me spend some of that gold on better gear and I'll protect you."
Jed slipped the coins into one of his belt pouches, gathering up the ones that had fallen. "I've got a better idea." He rose to his feet, his expression clearing to be replaced by a smile.
"Which is?" Ross demanded.
"We all protect each other. I reckon we work well as a team."
Carissa looked at her father, watching as he came to the same conclusion as her, slowly nodding his head. She smiled. "Yeah, we do." She glanced around the area, surprised at how she felt. Even her father didn't have the usual sadness in his eyes. They could make a difference here. Unlike at home where they felt powerless against so many things. And in turn, when they made a difference here, it would make a difference in their world. Like countless guardians before them, they'd continue to stop the dark forces from using the world they'd created to cause havoc. She looked down the nearby road. "Ready for our next adventure?"
Jed slipped the necklace over his head, tucking it beneath his tunic. "Sounds good to me. How about we find a quest that needs completing. One we can actually do."
Ross rested a hand on the hilt of his short sword. "And some creatures that need to be dealt with."
Carissa looked between them. A hint of mischief in Jed's eyes and a sense of purpose in her father's. She could relate to that. It had been a long time since either of them had felt a sense of purpose. For a while, they'd barely managed to go through the motion of living. Glancing at the sky, she nodded. It was only a little past the middle of the day. "I reckon we've got more than enough time to stir up some trouble before dark."
Jed chuckled. "I like the sound of that." This time, he took the lead as they headed down the dirt road, going in the direction of Blackshore.
Carissa followed, walking at her father's side, scanning the area for resources. Jed could argue all he wanted. She would be gathering resources as they searched for a new quest. Today she'd level up. She wasn't about to remain a noob any longer than necessary.
Want to learn about who ended up with the first disc?
Visit www.avrilsabine.com/series/gotrt for more details.
Guardians Of The Round Table 1: Dexterity Fail
Mallory's brother brings home the wrong game disc. His latest disaster doesn't surprise her one little bit. What does surprise her is being transported to a role-playing style world when they check out the plain black disc. When you're a noob in a world you don't understand, death is always imminent. They aren't sure if they want to leave Inadon, even if they can figure out a way to return home. But they do know they need to either get good or they're likely to learn what happens when a player runs out of revives.
About The Authors
Avril is an Australian author who lives with her family on acreage in South East Queensland. She writes mostly young adult and children's speculative fiction, but has been known to dabble in other genres. She has been an avid gamer since she was ten, which was the year she discovered Dungeons & Dragons and was given a Commodore 64.
Rhys loves books and gaming and has thoroughly enjoyed combining two of his favourite things. He has been running tabletop gaming sessions for the past few years and enjoys creating characters and doing in depth worldbuilding.
Storm has a wide range of interests from gaming and blacksmithing to cooking and sewing. It's not unusual to find him cooking at any hour of the day or night, particularly after a long gaming session.
What’s in a Username? - Angel Leya
1
Maddy shrugged off her backpack as she flew through the front door. She raced to her digiTAB, which was sitting on the coffee table in the living room—one of mom’s rules, but a digiTAB in the living room was better than none at all. Most days Maddy would wait until after homework to grab the device, but this announcement was big.
Besides, Mom wasn't home yet.
With a few light taps, the crystal gaming tablet came to life, the blue glow flowing around the control commands and a light shooting out the front. It only took a couple seconds for the light to solidify and the Power logo to crash into the projected micro-hologram field like a UFO going down. Which is exactly what it was.
She’d been waiting all day for this. The announcement had been made last night before she logged out, but the message was cryptic, like everything else about the game.
The logo swept away, and her avatar sprang up, straightening and flexing her hands. Maddy mirrored the movements, rolling her neck and shoulders to try to ease some of her excitement. It wasn’t working.
The envelope hovered in the air in front of her avatar, and she swiped at the digiTAB to open the message.
The envelope unfolded, and the view zoomed into first person. Someone crawled out of the UFO wreckage, a black hood hanging low, cloaking facial features in shadows.
“To continue in world, you must build a team,” a dark voice said, giving Maddy goosebumps. "You have two hours to do so. Each team must consist of at least three people. Choose wisely, or it’s game over.” A beam of light flashed, and the figure disappeared.
Maddy sighed. Three was going to be a problem. She already knew who her number two was going to be, though.
Amber had befriended Maddy the first day she’d attended Ballyhack High, nearly five months ago. Dropping into a school mid-semester wasn’t ideal, but Mom’s new position made the move necessary. And then M
addy had run into Amber, wearing one of the unofficial Power shirts with “Whose shoes do you choose?” scrawled under the logo. Maddy sat next to Amber, and that was all the invitation Amber needed. After confirming they both loved Power, they began gaming together after school.
But shooting up alien bugs wasn’t the only thing they had in common. Reading, running (not competitively), and a love for all sorts of sugary cereals cemented their budding friendship.
“Did you see the new announcement?” Amber’s voice came through the digiTAB seconds before her avatar, SweetSurrender, walked into view.
“Yep. Teams, eh? Where're we gonna get a third member?”
“There’s some loners in the forums looking for teams to join.”
Maddy’s nose scrunched. “I suppose that’s our only option?”
“Yeppers.”
“Fine, but gimme a sec. I’m going incognito.”
“Seriously?"
“It’s just easier this way.” Maddy pulled up the equipment menu, scrolling through the options. She switched her ponytail to a short, spiky hairstyle that draped over her face, and added a large hood, which hid the rest of her avatar’s face in shadows. Finally, she equipped a long black trench coat to cover her gray tank and traded the skinny jeans for black cargo pants that tucked into boots.
“Going full trans on me, eh?” Amber asked.
“Why? You got a problem with that?”
“Me? Nah. I’m just wondering why you’re trying so hard not to be you . . . Or is that the real you?”
“Hah! You wish. Really, though—”
“Yeah, yeah. Spare me.”
Maddy and Amber had discussed the natural tendency for guys to think less of girls as players. It irked Maddy to no end, but Amber never seemed to mind. “Don’t you ever get tired of all . . . that?”
“Sure, but it’s so much more satisfying when they know they're getting their butt kicked by a girl.”
Maddy chuckled as she closed the equipment menu. “Let me get one more thing.”
WickedPixie didn’t exactly scream masculine. Maddy went to the avatar profile menu and selected her screen name. She wiped out the old one and then sat staring at the blinking cursor.
What to name her avatar? She was only allowed three changes, so she had to make this one good. A thousand ideas flooded her, but one name flicked to the surface: Dylan Link, the cute guy in all her AP classes. Maddy had a crush on Dylan from day one, admiring his Clark Kent-ish vibe—all dark and glasses and fumbling—and his beautifully brilliant mind. The way he handled himself in AP Calculus was enough to turn her head. She’d named characters after her crushes before, but this was an online world. Though, the chances of running into him online were slim.
Maddy quickly filled in Dylan’s name, playing off his last name with HTML coding—Dylan
“M’kay. I’m done," Maddy said, switching her mic to a teenage boy voice mod. "Ready to go find some more recruits?” Her new voice sounded so different. That might take a little getting used to.
“Did you really just—?”
“Yes! Okay? Can we just find someone already?”
Amber laughed. “Sure, h-ref.”
“Ugh. Do you have to say it like that?” Maddy was already regretting her decision. But with a couple of taps on the digiTAB, they were in the forums. Too late to switch now.
Maddy started scanning the room, which was set up like a bar. A group of Daghs sat in one corner, their character affiliation recognizable by the red veins that ran through their skin. Maddy wanted nothing to do with the Dagh, so branded because of their insistence on defying the unwritten rules and playing dirty.
A few Maq, sporting blue hair and nails, like herself, milled about, casting wary glances at the Dagh. Maddy wouldn’t mind having another do-gooder on the team, but she wasn’t sure what Amber would think. Plus, you had to be careful. Some of the Maq were a tad self-righteous. Not Maddy, though. She just liked to stick to the rules.
Maddy was scanning the crowd for prospects when a Rōg walked in. The purple tattoos of his class wound around modestly muscled arms—a quick glance at the other muscle-bound male avatars telling her this was atypical. But appearance didn’t impact stats, and a quick glance at his said he was a level 54 player, not far behind Maddy's level 62 and Amber's level 58. While the purple dancing across his skin was a little too red for Maddy's tastes, indicating a more Dagh-ish alliance, the username made her smile: missingLink.
“What do you think about that one?” Maddy asked. Amber would probably appreciate his class, being a Rōg, herself, but what would she think of the rest of the package?
“You read my mind. Let’s go snag ape-man before someone else does.”
Amber tagged missingLink for a group chat, Maddy joining in. The scene zoomed to the three of them, sitting around a table.
He’d accepted.
“I take it you need a member.” He sure sounded cute. And kind of familiar, though Maddy couldn't place his voice.
“First things first,” Maddy said. “Can we trust you?”
missingLink laughed. “Ah, you noticed the purple. I'm not a bad guy, just a little trigger happy sometimes. Plus, I'm a Dylan, too.”
Maddy froze. That voice. The username. But it couldn't be. There was no way.
Amber laughed. “What d’ya know? Another Dylan. Love your username, btw."
Maddy stared daggers at Amber's avatar. Not that it helped.
“Thanks. It’s a play on my last name, Link.” Dylan's voice had the ring of a smile to it.
Maddy gasped, then dropped the digiTAB in her lap as she slapped both hands over her mouth. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap! She removed her hands and then cautiously asked, “So, your name's Dylan Link?”
“Yep.”
Dylan Link? The Dylan Link? The one she’d just named her avatar after, under the assumption they’d never cross paths in the virtual world? Maddy couldn't decide how she felt about that, but it definitely made her want to puke.
“Oh really? Where you from?” Amber asked, practically purring. “You don’t happen to go to Ballyhack High, do you?”
“Sweetie!” Maddy hissed, using her nickname for Amber's username. She made a mad dash for her backpack and dumped it on the floor, searching for her phone. She knew where Amber was taking this.
Dylan paused—along with Maddy's heart—then answered, “Actually, I do. Why? You two go there?”
Maddy's fingers flew over the keys as she sent a quick text to Amber, praying it would reach her in time.
DT. Call me.
“I— Hold on a sec,” Amber said a moment later. “Sorry, missingLink. I need to have a word with h-ref. Privately.” Her avatar leaned back as Maddy’s phone started ringing.
Maddy hit the mute button on her digiTAB and accepted Amber’s call. “Hey.”
“What’s up?”
“You can’t tell him.”
“Tell him what?”
“Who we are.”
“Are you insane?” Amber asked.
“I don’t want him to know it’s me!” Maddy squealed, her heart skittering like a loose pebble on a runner's path.
“Okay. First, chill. Second, if he's on our team, you should tell him at some point.”
Maddy took a deep breath. “Let’s just play it cool for now.”
“You may not want to be truthful about who you are, but that doesn’t mean I need to lie about who I am.”
“I get that. It’s just . . .” Just what? Maddy took a moment to organize her thoughts, an idea blooming. “No, this is perfect. But you can’t tell him anything or it would just get all twisted.”
“I think you’ve already got it all twisted.”
“But this way I can actually talk to him. Get to know him.” Maddy had managed to make an idiot of herself plenty of times in the last couple of months, instantly becoming an air-headed klutz whenever he was around. Good thing he was onl
y in her AP classes. Well, both good and bad.
“I wouldn't call pretending to be him a great way to start communicating,” Amber said.
“Better than him thinking I'm some stalker."
“Hey, it’s your life. I just think you should tell him. Impress him with your mad game skills. You never know what can happen.”
“Oh, I know exactly what can happen.” Maddy had images of her tripping, stuttering, and generally embarrassing herself out of the room. “Look, it doesn’t have to be forever. Let’s just wait until we get to know him a little better, and then I’ll figure something out. Pleeeease?” Maddy paused, waiting for Amber's reply.
Amber sighed. “Whatever. But consider me a less than willing participant.”
“Don't worry. It’ll be fine.”
Amber made a noncommittal grunt. “So, can we get back to the chat before he decides to hit up another group?”
“Crap. Yeah.” Maddy turned her attention back to the game, only to find Dylan's chair empty. The air drained out of her. She selected his username from their chat, added Amber to the copy field, and typed up a message.
UR in.
Seconds later Amber added,
h-ref takes lead. Priority: Strategy over shooting. All spoils split in thirds.
Maddy watched the corner of the field for the new message notification to pop up.
“Sorry about that,” Amber said, her avatar sitting up. "Mom needs me to help with dinner."
“He's gone."
"Aw, hon—"
A chime sounded and Maddy jumped, her fingers opening the message before her brain could send the command.
Sounds good. Sorry. Got 2 do HW. C U tomorrow?
"Yes," Maddy breathed, a new thrill beating through her chest. She sent off a reply, said goodbye to Amber, and shut down the digiTAB. A rush of electricity flowed through her, and she let out a squeal, doing a little dance in her seat. She was gaming with Dylan freaking Link. Life could not get any better.
