Pangea Online: The Complete Trilogy

by S. L. Rowland

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  When I emerge from the immersion capsule, I feel tired and hungry. Not in the same debilitating way as last time, but a slight fogginess invades everything. I can stand and walk, it just feels like I’ve been put through the wringer.

  Marty cleans me up, wiping off the nanoreceptor gel as best he can before I take a shower. I let the hot water wash over me, thoughts of war and town-building holding me hostage. I feel responsible for the lives of three hundred people. If we aren’t able to fight the goblins off, those lives will be lost forever. We’re up against a threat I’m not sure we can defeat. If we are going to have a chance, though, I’ll need to spend my time out here wisely.

  After I dry off and dress, I spend a few minutes with the doctor telling him how I feel and letting him check my vitals. Everything is normal. The IV did its job of keeping me nourished while I was in-game.

  On my way out, I notice that the two new immersion capsules have been filled with the nanoreceptor gel. Benjamin is nowhere to be seen. Is he ready to move on to phase two?

  Aleesia exits the viewing dock and greets me in the lab with a firm bear hug and a kiss on the cheek. I bury my nose in her neck and let the fragrant aroma engulf me. How does she always manage to smell good, even with working so much?

  “What was it like to really experience magic?” She gazes intently into my eyes, her brown eyes boring into me.

  “It was crazy, like I could see the way enchanting worked in my mind and feel its power inside of me. All of the formulas, the intricacies, I can still see them in my mind. How is that even possible?”

  I still remember the feeling and the formulas that ran through my head like they had always been there. It’s like the information for enchanting was hardwired into my brain.

  “The game feeds directly into your brain. It’s the closest thing to actually being there that you can experience.”

  Remembering the dreams I had in-game, I decide to tell her about them.

  “I had these weird dreams when I went to sleep, like I could see this energy invading my memories. It moved from one to another, replaying them. Some of the memories I didn’t even know I had. Do you think it was real or just my imagination?”

  Her smile disappears at the news. “That’s…odd. That you had dreams. I guess it makes sense since you were still logged in.”

  “How long do I have to stay out before I can go back? There is a big battle we have to prepare for.”

  She smiles. “I know. I’m sure Benjamin will have you in as soon as he can.”

  “Where is he, by the way?” I ask.

  “He said he had some business to attend to. I’m not really sure what he’s up to. He hasn’t been getting much sleep, that’s for sure. I’ve got to get back to work, though. Do you want to grab dinner tonight when I’m done?”

  “That sounds great.” Maybe she will have some ideas for how I can save Carolton. We hug and then I leave.

  Something doesn’t feel right when I step into my apartment. My things are moved around, and I can tell someone has been here. Several pieces of clothing are tossed around and the pieces to my haptic suit are not how I left them.

  I make my way around the room, checking to see if anything is missing. Everything looks like it is still here. Why would someone go through my things? What could they hope to find?

  Something moves in my closet.

  Is someone in there?

  I search the room for any kind of weapon. Why would someone want to rob me? It’s not like I have anything valuable that they couldn’t find in the rest of the headquarters. I’ve only been here a few months and haven’t bought anything really.

  Not knowing what else to use, I pick up a tablet. If nothing else, I can use it as a blunt object.

  With trepidation, I move towards the closet. I’m seconds away from opening the door when it slides open and someone jumps out.

  “Surprise!” they shout.

  It takes me a moment to recognize Buzz and his mom, Maria. I realize the source of my clothes lying around the room. Buzz is wearing some of my sponsor gear sent to me for streaming. Next to them, an old man beams at me. His hair is balding down the center, and his arms are thin and wrinkled.

  “Esil,” he says, and I recognize the voice.

  “Grayson…holy shit. What are you all doing here?” This doesn’t make any sense.

  Buzz’s mom hugs me while I stand there, my jaw sitting on the floor.

  “You paid to move us out,” she says. “Benjamin came and picked us up himself. He had nothing but nice things to say about you. Just another example of your generosity. Grayson wasn’t going to come, but I threatened to make his life a living hell if he didn’t.”

  “That she did,” says Grayson, his lips in a half-smile. “I didn’t think it was worth the trouble to fight her on it.”

  “Yeah,” says Buzz. “Looks like we finally found someone who can keep the sexy pirate in check.” He pats Grayson on the back.

  “You look rough,” says Maria. “Is everything okay?”

  “I just finished up my research. I’ve been putting in the hours.” They don’t know about the alpha testing and I’m not allowed to talk about it, so I just call it research.

  “Well, whatever it is, it’s taking a toll on you,” says Buzz. “Maybe you should lay down for a bit. We’re getting settled into our new apartment, but Aleesia said you were coming home soon so we decided to surprise you. Come find us once you look like a normal human again.”

  I wake up feeling refreshed, able to focus and think more clearly. I know I need to go see Buzz and Grayson, but there is something I need to do first. Putting on my haptic suit, I log into Pangea. In my home portal, I have access to the world’s greatest library. Fenrir spins in circles, excited to see me, but I don’t have time to play. I toss him a ball while I search through the database. Bringing up everything I can on medieval warfare, I send it to my tablet so that I can view it later.

  Essentially, I have one day to come up with a plan and then a week to implement it before a horde of brutal warriors descends on the town. While I’m logged in, I open a list of all the gameworlds in Pangea. There’s a world I’ve seen several times but have never checked it out. The premise always seemed very boring to me. Now that I think of it, it might be just what I need to save Carolton.

  Craftwar: Town and Tower Defense. Set up towers to defend your town from the onrush of orcs that want to tear it to the ground.

  I couldn’t have planned a better game if I tried.

  Fenrir bounds across the room several more times as we play fetch. I wish I could play more, but time is of the essence.

  “Once this is over, I’ll have more time to play,” I promise before logging out.

  The secretary gives me the details of where Buzz, Maria, and Grayson are staying. It’s only a few apartments down from mine. Along my walk, I briefly look through some of the medieval defenses I sent to my tablet. Several defensive obstacles catch my attention, like abatis, caltrops, and tiger pits as well as the advanced ranged weaponry of trebuchets and ballistae. These are all certainly attainable with enough wood and workers. I silently hope that Carter and Kindra have stumbled upon some of these ideas themselves.

  I knock on the door a few times before it opens with a whoosh. Maria and Grayson sit at a table. Buzz greets me with a high-five.

  “This place is awesome!” says Buzz. “Check this out.” He tosses me an apple from the bowl of fresh fruit sitting on the table. “An apple. Who knew they were so hard? I’ve eaten three already.”

  “You might want to slow down on that,” I warn. “Your body is not exactly used to fresh fruits.”

  “What do you mean?” he asks, but as soon as he does, Buzz’s face contorts and his hand grabs his stomach. “Oh…excuse me for a moment.”

  “What do you think of the place?” I ask Grayson and Maria.

  “It’s an entirely different world,” Maria says. Tears well up on the edge of her eyes. “To
think we were living like that. I almost died, you know. And there are places like this. It doesn’t seem fair.”

  I know all too well what she means. It’s something that has weighed heavily on my heart, but at least I helped the three of them out of The Boxes.

  “It’s something else,” says Grayson. “Not that I imagined anything less. I’m not sure what we are supposed to do now that we aren’t in the mines.”

  Buzz steps back into the room, looking relieved as he wipes sweat from his forehead. “Benjamin had mentioned putting us to work. I’m not sure what he has in mind, though.”

  “That’s great.” I’m surprised that Benjamin took such an effort in moving everyone here. I had only mentioned it to Aleesia, so she must have set the wheels in motion. I wonder if he thought this would placate me for the time being so that he wouldn’t have to listen to me talk about those in The Boxes or if he was simply being a decent human? “I’d love to show you around the headquarters, but there is actually something I was hoping you could help me with.”

  “What is it?” asks Buzz.

  “We’re going to need to log in to Pangea.”

  “We come to a place where it’s actually nice enough to go outside and the first thing you want to do is log into Pangea,” says Buzz. I know he’s joking, but I can feel there is some truth to what he is saying. The outside world is such a magnificent place when you’ve never experienced it before. Still, it means more to me than he will ever know that both he and Grayson are even here at all.

  “Help me with this and I can handle the rest myself. I just need a basic understanding of what it will be like so that I can make a game-plan.”

  “And you can’t tell us anything about why you need to know how to defend a town from a horde of orcs?”

  “Let it be,” says Grayson, who obviously senses my stress about the situation.

  We enter Craftwar: Town and Tower Defenses, and it’s different from any other gameworld I’ve been to. We stand in the middle of a small town. It has a church, and several other buildings surrounded by a wooden wall almost identical to Carolton. Ten workers stand in the middle of the town awaiting orders. They wear blue tunics with gray pants. All of the buildings have blue features as well. A timer counts down from five minutes in the top center of my vision.

  To the right of my vision, there are icons for several defensive buildings and upgrade options. Underneath each, it tells me the cost in lumber, gold, and manpower. When I select one, I’m able to move a hologram of it around the map until I select the location for the workers to build it. I have no lumber or gold to start with. All of the options before us are a bit overwhelming. While I get the lay of the land, the time continues to count down.

  “We should probably start by gathering materials,” says Grayson. He orders half of the workers to enter the nearby forest to chop wood and the other half to mine gold. They set off muttering ‘yes, sir’ and ‘right away, sir.’

  Buildings cost lumber to build and then gold to upgrade. There are options for some of the defensive obstacles I saw in my research as well as options to upgrade the town wall, build turrets, and train advanced warriors to meet the orc forces in the field.

  To create more workers and warriors, I will need to build a barracks that will spawn one new worker every thirty seconds or one warrior every minute. There is also the option for a mystical sanctum, which will spawn wizards and allow for magical upgrades to turrets.

  “Here is what I’m thinking. Our primary focus will be on building defensive structures and towers. No more than three wizards at any time. Once our buildings are constructed, we can reinforce them with magic, but it’s not our primary defense.”

  Buzz and Grayson both nod. I can see the wheels in their brains already turning.

  “What about warriors?” asks Buzz.

  “Basic warriors only. No knights.” I want to keep this game as close to a simulation of what might happen as possible.

  The workers continue to gather wood and gold. When there is enough to build a barracks, we pull two workers from the mines for construction and leave the others to farming. A long wooden building begins to form as the workers hammer away.

  Once, the barracks is completed, it immediately starts churning out new workers. Each new worker heads directly to the forest or gold mine, increasing our supply. There is a limit of five miners at a time, so once the positions are filled, all workers go to the forest. After the barracks, I build a lumber mill that will allow further upgrades to buildings. Wood piles up outside of the mill and reforms as lumber on the other side.

  Next, I build a blacksmith, allowing for tower upgrades, weapon upgrades, as well as caltrops, which will slow down any mobile attack the orcs might bring with them. I tell Grayson and Buzz not to upgrade our warriors with better weapons. Our fighters in Carolton will be working with whatever materials Tarence can scrape together. The mystical sanctum can wait for now as well.

  We will start with constructing towers at four points around the town, protecting each side. The initial towers are for scouting only and will be equipped with projectiles once it is upgraded.

  The timer hits zero before I know it and the orc forces begin to mobilize across the map. It will take them time to reach us, but we aren’t nearly prepared enough.

  “We need to take workers out into the field and set up obstacles to slow them down,” says Grayson.

  “Okay, you take care of that. Buzz, I need you to upgrade the barracks for faster warrior production and mobilize the ones we have. We have enough workers. I’m going to start on upgrades.”

  My first upgrade is to the towers. Twenty-five gold and lumber turns it into a ranged tower, capable of firing on anything that comes within twenty meters. All four towers get the upgrade.

  Buzz forms ranks with the warriors just inside the tower’s range. Grayson sets traps and obstacles along the way and is nearly back to us.

  Finally, I start construction on the mystical sanctum. It produces one wizard every minute and allows for magical upgrades to weapons.

  The first wizard pops out and joins up at the rear of our militia. He wears a blue hat and carries a staff topped with a glowing sapphire. While I wait for the next wizard, I check in with Grayson on the obstacles.

  “I have dozens of caltrops hidden throughout. If they have any wagons or siege gear, it’ll slow them down. I also set up abatis at various intervals to help funnel their forces. It won’t do much but slow them down, but if we have any ranged attacks, it should help with that. My favorites are the tiger pits. You can’t even see them with the brush cover. Once enough weight is on it, the orcs will fall right through and be impaled on dozens of sharp spikes. I imagine by the time they are halfway here, they’ll be as focused on the ground as they are on us.”

  “Good job. How are the soldiers looking, Buzz?”

  “We have a handful of warriors, a few archers, and one mage. We’re ready to attack when you are.”

  “Go ahead, you and Grayson are in charge of the troops. I’m going to stay back and keep working on our defenses.”

  They take their place beside our small army. In this world, we are immune from attacks and damage and are also unable to interact with any of the objects, so that we can’t physically influence the battles. We can set targets and movement, but the fighting is done by the warriors.

  The two other wizards join Buzz and Grayson. Wizards deal magical damage, which can’t be blocked by shields or armor. They also have the ability to cast a random spell every tenth attack, from a stun to increased attack speed buffs to several others.

  With the magical sanctum up and running, I focus on the towers. They are the bread and butter of our defense and I want them dishing out as much power as possible. The magical upgrade increases their range to forty meters and deals bonus magical damage with each attack. I upgrade all four towers and pull all of the workers from the mines and forests.

  Along with my twenty-two workers, I set off to join Buzz and Grayson on
the battlefield.

  I could keep farming and building, but I see no point. I want this to be a simulation of the fight to come and once the battle begins, everything will be set and there will be nothing left to do but fight.

  “How’s it looking up there? I’m on my way with the townsfolk.”

  “Esil, what the hell? Why aren’t you building more towers?” asks Buzz, incredulously.

  “It’s the way it has to be. Now, how are things?”

  “So far, it’s pretty even,” says Grayson. “They’ve pushed past a few of the obstacles I’ve set up. Our archers are dealing some damage, but our warriors are no match for their brute strength. The wizards are the only ones who are really making a dent.”

  The clamor of steel greets us as the workers join in the ranks of a massive battle. The orc warriors are nearly twice as large as their human counterparts. Two long teeth protrude over their jowls. Dark green skin, covered in black war paint, make them look all the more intimidating than the polished humans in blue tunics and chainmail. Using iron and bone weapons, they attack with great ferocity, taking down nearly two humans for every one orc lost.

  Armed with only axes and pickaxes, the workers join in the chaos. Icons float on the battlefield, warning them of the tiger pits and other dangerous obstacles.

  Our warriors fall back under the immense pressure of the orc ranks.

  An orc shaman, black hair pulled into a ponytail and clad in an array of furs, moves in line against the workers I brought. A necklace of skulls rattles ominously as he walks. He raises a glowing bone scepter high into the air. With a flash of purple light, half of the workers keel over dead, little more than fodder. The others press on with a sense of resolve no real army would have in the face of such actions. A brute of an orc riding a bear gallops toward the helpless workers, but the bear steps on a caltrop and falls to the ground, tossing the rider off.

  The orc rider crawls to his feet carrying a blade as tall as the workers themselves. With a powerful swing, he cleaves two workers in half with one blow.