Continue Online The Complete Series

by Stephan Morse

  TinkerHell looked at the cave entrance and tilted her head. “Is that Edward?”

  “I don’t know. He’s too quiet for me to hear.” SheHulk readied her armor with a shoulder roll. A giant shield and mace appeared in either hand. “Better safe than sorry.”

  The Spanish woman looked good in armor. She was lacking sunlight and a battle cry in order to complete the inspiring aura.

  “Mmmh.” I was actually happy about meeting her down here. As awkward as our parting had been, it was nice to know that people from my past were doing well.

  “Runnnn! Run, we have to run, we have to run! Ladies!” A taller pasty-white man came screaming out of the tunnel. His footsteps were silent, but the panic in his voice was not. “Why are you all standing around? Run!” He ran across the bridge.

  “That way’s a dead end!” TinkerHell cut him off.

  “Then find another exit! This place is too bright. We can’t hide, we’re all going to die. Ladies, I don’t like dying!” He was frantic and ran back to TinkerHell and SheHulk.

  Elane bashed him with her giant shield. Small stars circled his head as he swayed. I bit my lips to prevent a laugh.

  “Edward, calm your tits. What’s chasing you and how long do we have?” SheHulk said.

  “The Ooze! It’s back there. It laid eyes upon my person.”

  “It doesn’t have eyes.” Her hand went to one hip as she frowned at Edward.

  “It-it-it whatever’d me! The point is that that passageway is already filled.” Edward’s eyes were huge, and he grabbed TinkerHell by the shoulders and shook her. “We have mere minutes, ladies, before it comes this way.”

  TinkerHell lifted her staff and got Edward in the groin. I managed to contain the latest laugh. This was neat. Carver would have stared blankly or scowled, but I was me again. I could find humor in a situation and express it.

  “Grant, you sure this is a dead end?”

  “Pretty sure. I fell down a long tunnel.” Then a quest told me that climbing back up was impossible with my skills.

  “A tunnel? No problem, I can climb!” Edward rushed over to me with a delighted look. “How long was the fall? Ten feet? Twenty? We’ve got to be close to the surface.”

  “It was a lot of feet.” I nodded and tried not to smile.

  They acted like impending doom was right around the corner. Maybe it was, but I had no clue what could be done about it. [Morrigu’s Gift] probably didn’t come with an “Ooze Bane” title attached to it.

  This was a game after all. Maybe there was a secret to killing this creature. I could be Hermes, Messenger of the Voices, Destroyer of The Ooze. None of the other players seemed to share my mirth.

  “What’s this Ooze thing?” I asked.

  “It’s like that movie creature from a few years ago,” SheHulk said.

  I had probably missed that movie. Movies hadn’t been on my list of hobbies in that time frame. My shrug must have pissed Elane off though, since she rolled her eyes at me.

  “It’s unkillable so far, and it destroys armor and weapons, plus a disease that lingers after you die,” TinkerHell said.

  “That’s not neat at all.” Maybe my niece knew a secret about it. She seemed to know a lot of random things about this world.

  “We need an exit. Edward, think you can get up that tunnel and throw down a rope?”

  Dusk dodged off of my shoulder while SheHulk and Edward talked. Edward seemed to be dressed similarly to how Shadow had been. Only he looked far more, I don’t know, minstrel-like. Maybe he had some sort of Bard Rank? Was there a Bard system? His voice did have a musical lilt to it.

  “Maybe. I’d have a hard time getting up myself.” His eyes flickered back and forth between his party members and the doorway. “For you, I’ll try.” Then he smiled and white teeth nearly blinded me.

  “It’s a long, long slope,” I grumbled. I had spent a good fifteen seconds rolling down and hitting things. Even now my health wasn’t completely recovered. Though Dusk had blown a ball of fire into my face.

  “Really? So what, we’re just stuck here?” TinkerHell groaned, and both her shoulders sagged. She too had equipped weapons like SheHulk. There was a bladed staff with jewels on it in her hands.

  “Or…” Edward pointed at the bridge.

  Dusk was ignoring us all. The image of fish had formed above his head once more. His butt wiggled back and forth, oblivious to our impending doom. Why he had gone from upset to battle mode so quickly was beyond me.

  A long sigh escaped me. The other three people stood between the [Messenger’s Pet] and me. By the time I nudged Elane out of the way, Dusk had already gone for a swim. Moments later, he was squawking in confused satisfaction. On one hand, he had managed to snag a fish almost instantly. On the other, Dusk was now being swept away by a raging current.

  “After you, ladies,” Edward said with a quick bow.

  I put Carver’s staff into player inventory and dove into the water. Being considered a lady for going before Edward didn’t bother me. Dusk was more important than the silly timed quest and questions of survival. This was just a game; it was only a game. The mantra escaped me as the current swept me down the river and into questionable darkness.

  I heard Dusk flopping around ahead of me. His cries, bird-like, or maybe cat-like, but completely belonging to his tiny dragon self, were mixed up in the rush of water. System messages flew up on my screen, telling me about skill increases for [Swimming] and [Breath Holding]. I waved them away while trying to tread the current.

  Rocks dipped into the river. My swimming skills in real life were poor. The game world wasn’t much better. I tried to mitigate the current’s desire to smash me into everything.

  Successfully hit a rock

  Total health loss: 40%

  I cursed and tried to navigate the underground river again. Failure abounded as I rolled from one stalactite to another.

  Continued success at hitting rocks

  Total health loss: 50%

  “Dusk!” I got a mouthful of water from trying to yell out for my companion.

  I smacked away the latest message while trying to clear water from my eyes. These messages had to be coming from one of the Voices. There was no way a game would be programmed to screw with me to this extent.

  “Dusk!”

  There, I heard him squawk again. I had enough time to see the tiny creature hanging onto one of the rocks dipping down from the ceiling. Then we collided. During the scramble, he managed to latch onto my shoulder.

  “Hang on!”

  Dusk still had that stupid fish impaled on one of his claws. Its body weakly flapping against my ear. The [Messenger’s Pet] wrapped his tail around my neck. I choked on water and slammed into something again.

  The three players were shouting something behind me, but I couldn’t hear them with water in my ears. More rocks connected with me, and the river’s flow tried to pull me under. We were swept along for a few more minutes before the water fed out into a giant lake.

  The current carried us straight to shore. I pulled myself onto land while heaving up my guts. The other three players came in right behind me. SheHulk was being carried along by Edward and TinkerHell. Once on the shore, she lay on her back groaning. Her heavy armor had not been kind during the trip.

  Edward was the first of us to recover. He staggered to his feet to walk around while Elane panted in agony. “Where are we? I don’t recognize this part of the dungeon.”

  “I don’t know; this place isn’t on my map.” TinkerHell shuddered violently. Her face looked blue and extremely cold. Even I felt the chill.

  “You okay, Elane?” I asked.

  She raised one hand weakly and flipped me the bird.

  “Okay. Okay. You’re all right.” I nodded.

  “Edward, can you scout?” TinkerHell sent the pale man off.

  He nodded and stumbled away.

  I looked around. We seemed to be in a basin for the underground river. There was another level of shore up higher.
Edward was partway up a smooth incline.

  I pulled myself up and tugged at Dusk. His eyes were closed and little murmurs escaped him. Gargling sounds came from deep within his throat, and steam issued forth from his mouth. After a moment of me prying, he looked around and chirped. He was clearly doing better than me. Hopefully soon there would be a visible health bar for him that would let me better gauge his progress.

  “Really, I mean, I hope you’re proud of yourself.” I coughed up a mouthful of water and phlegm. If this game had full pain sensors, that little joy ride would have put me in a coma.

  Dusk’s smile was answer enough. Failing that, above his head, a pleased yellow smiley face floated in one of those stupid thought bubbles. Dusk, who had claws deeply embedded in the now-still fish, set about happily eating his latest prize.

  “You little savage.” I rolled my eyes and collapsed backward in the same pose Elane had.

  My brief respite was interrupted as Edward came cruising back down in a panic. “Guys, up here, but be quiet.” Edward was whispering and gestured with both hands to stay low.

  A leftover groan from the Age of Carverism escaped me as I rolled to my feet. [Morrigu’s Gift] came out of my inventory. Holding it made me feel better.

  “What is that?” TinkerHell whispered as we scaled the ramp upward.

  Elane stayed on the beach to recover while Edward led us.

  “A cane?” I shrugged and crept along Edward’s trail.

  He reached near the top and gestured for us to stop. Something up there had a fire or another light source. The flames danced across the edge of Edward’s face. He turned and pressed one finger over his lips.

  I tried not to roll my eyes. Edward wanted us to be quiet. This was the same man who had shown up screaming in a tizzy about “The Ooze” just a few minutes ago. I wouldn’t even be following these players except for my uselessness outside [Haven Valley]. Attempts at being quiet resulted in a pop-up message about [Silent Step] skill demonstration. Demonstration alone wasn’t enough though. My feet missed a step near the top. Continue Online graced me with a message.

  General clumsiness noted, stealth skills too low to mitigate.

  Auditory failure to hide has attracted attention.

  Edward went ashen and just screamed, “Kill them before they kill us!” He leapt over the edge. “AHHHHHHHHHH!” Edward had metal on his hands that reflected light from over the ridge.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Oh, Jesus.” TinkerHell stood. She ran past me, using my head to propel herself. “SheHulk! He’s doing it again!”

  As I rolled downhill, a kind message displayed regarding my failure to hold the high ground. Elane groaned below us. Her armor clinked as the woman staggered to her feet. She was complaining about Edward while grunting. I stood and tried to be sneakier on the way back up.

  “What?” SheHulk tried to yell but ended up coughing violently.

  “Gobblers, the orange ones!” TinkerHell leaned over the ledge and shouted down at Elane. “We’re doing a stack-and-smash!”

  Moments later, TinkerHell was focused on the attacking creatures. She had taken position right at the ramp’s top. She used the butt end of her staff to scribble in the dirt, a grim line on her face. I pulled myself farther up and saw Edward fighting a mess of creatures.

  “Voices.” That was not a fire. I tried to use [Identification] and barely got anything useful. They were glowing creatures called [Gobbler]s. More details required a higher Rank of my skill.

  Edward swung his arms at monsters while announcing his successes. “Backstab successful!” His eyes were wide, and his mustache quivered in excitement. “Critical hit! Another!”

  “He’s a bigger idiot than you, Grant.” Elane stomped by me. She shared a similar disregard for my ability to stand and shoved me down the ramp as she passed.

  Another system message happily informed me of failure.

  “Die, fiend!” Edward’s shout kept me company as I rolled downward again.

  Victim of Gravity

  Total health loss: 55%

  Dazed! Abilities requiring [Focus] suffer a 50% penalty

  Not this again. At least there wasn’t a giant tentacle-dragon-ink thing screaming over and over. I pinched my nose to stop my eyes from watering. I tried to stand using Carver’s cane. Only weeks of practice gripping it overcame the penalty. The daze wore off quickly.

  Upward I went again. At the top of the ramp’s ridge, I saw a mess. SheHulk was slamming her shield into monster faces with a grim happiness each time she got close enough to hit one. The glow was almost the same as HotPants’s. Why did they seem so similar? Was it a side effect of being in a game world?

  “Tink!” Elane yelled.

  “Almost!” TinkerHell was busy scribbling out the last of a giant circle.

  “I’ve been hit!” Edward yelled. “Hamstrung that one!”

  The damage didn’t slow him down. He seemed to be going from creature to creature and slashing at their legs. The action was too fast for my mind to keep up correctly.

  “Goddammit, Edward!” Elane threw up a hand and a light spilled outward.

  I saw Edward’s health bar go up as whatever she did healed him. Was she a paladin? Or something similar? Sweat dripped down her face.

  I had no clue where to fit into this. This, this was madness. It was worse than my trip as William Carver. They’d had hours to figure out working together. I’d had ten minutes. Two of those involved a wild river ride.

  Okay. Okay. I could do this. Those creatures looked more like giant walking opal golem monsters. Edward was like a damn [Coo-Coo Rill] and just all over the place. SheHulk was getting swarmed on one side.

  “Done! Five seconds!” TinkerHell called.

  Two circles started glowing. First, one under TinkerHell formed around her runes and lit up with an ice blue that started fogging the air. A larger circle appeared under all the damaged golems.

  “Edward! Find cover!” SheHulk yelled while slamming back another one of the opal-colored golems.

  It spun out of control backward and crashed into others. They fell in a heap into the second larger circle. Their feet almost froze suddenly.

  “Dodge!” His voice had an annoyingly musical lilt to it now. He leapt over one of the creatures and over the ramp’s edge. Moments later, he was sitting next to me with a wild grin. “Fancy meeting you here.”

  “Grant, down!” SheHulk yelled.

  I was staring at the circle under the golems. It grew brighter.

  “Best to do it, mate.” Edward smiled and wiped at head with one hand. He nearly stabbed himself with the claw attached to his hand.

  SheHulk pulled in tightly between her tower shield. Her feet were on the edge of the giant circle. Ice spikes rapidly formed in the center and swallowed up some of the creatures.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Edward muttered to himself.

  The pile of ice was huge and glowing where the monsters had been swallowed up. There was a snap and one crack, followed by a second as the ice pile bulged.

  Oh.

  I finally realized why everyone was taking cover. Even TinkerHell was behind Elane. As the cold-snap-style spell shattered, I pulled my head back behind the ledge.

  My eyes cast downward while my hands went above my head in cover. Shards of ice and broken Gobbler things went flying over our heads. Edward smiled, and TinkerHell squeaked. Dusk, still sitting below on the lake’s shore, jumped as a chunk of monster landed next to him.

  In the aftermath of an explosion, the [Messenger’s Pet] set about sniffing the dead monster.

  “Anything to clean up?” Edward shouted up the ramp.

  “All clear,” TinkerHell whispered back.

  I peeked over the ridge again. It looked as if an ice bomb had gone off. All the health bars of our—their—enemies had successfully reached zero.

  TinkerHell tapped Elane’s shoulder. The woman was a mess and looked beaten, exhausted, and pleased. Her teeth were gritted to
gether.

  “Camp?” TinkerHell asked.

  Elane nodded.

  “Great. I need to step out for a bite.” Edward smiled, and his face lost color as the autopilot took over.

  “Tink, you okay on watch?” Elane, SheHulk, whatever, asked. Knowing a player’s reallife name was confusing me.

  “Yeah.” TinkerHell was knocking off dust by waving her hands. She was probably getting rid of system messages. “How about your boy toy?”

  “Grant can go fuck himself for all I care.”

  Nice to know I was needed. Elane too lost color as she logged out. TinkerHell looked at me. She smiled helplessly and gave a shrug.

  “I’ll…” Follow Elane’s suggestion, I guessed.

  I needed a restroom break and real food. Maybe they would be gone by the time I got back. Dusk could probably lead me to the exit just fine without the other players. Plus, Elane seemed strained when talking to me.

  I clicked the log-out button and let my session in Continue Online end for a little while.

  Session Twenty-Three — Lost, in Earth

  Being inside the ARC numbed most sensations from the physical body. My trip to the bathroom and the resulting relief told me that I had needed to go for quite some time. I fired up some music and scarfed down hastily made microwaved food. Ten minutes out here, forty inside the game.

  One day I would learn the science behind how the Continue Online provided a time compression. There were a few theories, but Trillium hadn’t provided any public answers beyond “magic.” I knew, from my excessive hours under their hulls, that a number of the ARC parts read brain waves. Other pieces sent out sonar-style pulses and other waves to muddle human senses. Maybe it was a hypnotic sensation?

  The preset alarm went off, telling me it was time to return to my game. I shoved aside the silly questions and stepped into the digital world.

  I lay back and tried to catch a glimpse of the “magic” happening. My mind fuzzed out before anything became apparent. I only wondered because of this silly timed quest. I had roughly two days to get through the dungeon. After that was one more day to hike to [Broken Mountain Pass] and retain my [Messenger of the Voices] title. And Dusk had led me into the depths of some strange dungeon I understood nothing of.