“Okay, let’s see. Board says…” Urgot was looking around on the wall next to him. My commentary caught up with him eventually. “Oh yeah, Camp Gray Skull gets me every time. We make new recruits to the guild climb halfway up the mountain and give their best He-Man impression.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
Urgot wasn’t looking in my direction. He kept checking the pictures and mumbling under his breath.
“Oh yeah. It’s a hoot every time,” he said to me after another pause. Urgot gave a short smile, and this time, I managed to identify what was disturbing me.
“Are these all bounties?” I asked.
“Oh yeah. The first half of the alphabet is over there, second half over here.” He waved at the wall I had been reading. I tried to ignore his slight slur of the longer words.
“Neat,” I said. A player-accessible bounty system was really interesting. I poked through a few more while reading the notes.
“Let’s see… nope, nothing on here for a Hermes. I have a Hernando, and a HiddenBlade and a HarlotKing, what the…” He shook his head and barely lifted his cheek as his lips curled. Clearly the man had noticed my noticing. “No Hermes. Grats. You’re as free as anyone.”
Whew.
“Maybe you can help with my quest.” I kept checking to make sure, but the man clearly had sharpened teeth. They were almost shark-like. Once it was confirmed, I hastily pretended to study the wall of faces nearby.
“Fire away. I’m on duty for another twenty minutes before real life kicks in.” He was consciously covering it up now. His teeth must have embarrassed Urgot, because he kept tucking in a lip.
“Do you know a Shazam?” I asked.
“Uhhh… maybe. Wait.” He poked a finger at the air. Urgot was a player, so he must be checking his user interface. “Hold on.”
“No rush,” I said in my customer service voice. Dealing with pleasant people always made things much easier. This one just happened to have strange teeth. Given my niece’s red-tinted skin, this was nearly invisible.
“Hey, Alucard! What’s Miss Thing’s actual name?” Urgot shouted over a counter top.
A small, thin man in the back was polishing a piece of armor. His skills were probably slightly better than mine. I would have to ask Hal Pal for tips once back in the real world.
“Our guild master?” the thin man answered. His voice seemed to bounce around the storage room.
Alucard… wasn’t that from a television show during my childhood? James was right. People picked all sorts of names.
“Yeah. I can’t tell past all the stupid titles.” Urgot reached over the counter top and plucked something that looked like a pink banana. “You know she has a million of them. Whenever I try to analyze them, I want to take a nap.”
“Her name is Shazam.” Alucard stared at Urgot and put out a hand.
The hairless man with pointy teeth sighed and forked over a few coppers.
“Really?” I asked. Shazam was a weird name for a female guild leader. Then again my name was Hermes, what right did I have to judge?
Urgot turned back to me, one hand busy banging the pink banana against a wall and making the small shack shake. “Why are you looking for our guild master?”
“Uhhh…” It was almost easier to show the two men instead of explaining it. I pulled out the [Bound] letter and held it up for them to use [Inspection] on.
Alucard was behind the counter, looking for a stool to stand on. “Well?”
“I’ve got a letter for her,” I said.
“No shit? There’s mail in this game? Hey, Alucard! There’s mail in this game! And a player is delivering it!”
“No shit?” Alucard didn’t seem impressed at all. His short frame was lined with annoyance at the other man.
“This guy totally has a bound scroll for Miss Thing!”
“You mean Shazam,” Alucard said.
“So where is she?” I asked.
“Oh. You’ll have to walk up the mountain for that. The path is over there. Can’t miss it. In fact, I think there’s a new scrub headed up there now.” Urgot pointed.
A fairly beaten path went from the pit we had been at all the way toward a steep mountain path. It seemed to shoot straight up the cliff side and vanish into the clouds.
“Huh?” I questioned. “That’s convenient.”
“Nah. There’s always one scrub on the path. Takes ‘em a while to build up their resists. That’s part of the point, plus it’s funny.” Urgot waved toward the path. “It is pretty funny. They scream, ‘I have the power,’ and it just echoes. Everyone gets a laugh.”
Alucard nodded. “Even the people in the jail cells.” He was straightening up the counter top.
“Even them. Speaking of, did you see the latest catch?” the bald man said.
Both of them shared a glance before looking at me. Urgot motioned to one side.
“Oh, man, did I…”
They grew hushed as Alucard hopped over the counter and walked off with Urgot. The last thing I heard was commentary about the perfection that was some other player’s backside.
“Can I help you?” another voice said.
The store was still being manned by someone. I shook my head and eyed the mountain. Shazam was up the path? Interestingly, my quest marker for [Pass to Pass] also showed in that direction. A giant blue arrow bobbed over an area obscured by clouds.
“Good luck,” the other person behind the counter said.
I smiled and started off. Climbing a mountain was completely new to me. I had only ever looked up at them. My childhood had contained a few plane rides over entire ranges. None of those reallife experiences looked quite like [Broken Mountain]. What had once been a giant mountain now seemed to be literally cleaved down the middle. There was a road maybe four people wide that went straight through. Clearly that was the pass in [Broken Mountain Pass]. Age had done a number on the landscape. Both mountains only shared a few points in common anymore.
Camp Gray Skull was parked on one side with the resurrection point. A handful of constructed buildings and a fortified wall faced outward from the mountain’s path. This whole thing seemed to be a defensive point between this side of the mountain range and the other. [Broken Mountain Pass] must have been a choke point.
Neat. The political arena of Continue Online was still vague and unimportant to me. First was this quest for the Voices and their letter. Afterward, I would probably need to learn more landmarks to go with my retained knowledge from William Carver’s hut.
The path upward was clearly marked. Everything was well-worn for the first few hundred feet. My arms and legs felt heavy and tuckered out, but finding purchase was easy enough. I managed to hike up a few hundred feet without much in the way of issues. It razor-backed upon itself a number of times. The marker for my [Pass to Pass] quest was fairly high up there.
Shortly after that, things turned annoying. The temperature dropped, and a small box came up telling me what was happening.
Chilled (1)!
Details: Total stacks that can be endured are measured by your [Endurance]. Response times will be delayed the higher your chill stacks grow. This can be overcome by a high [Focus] or [Tenacity].
Great. I had those skills, but there was no easy way for me to tell if they were high enough. I would need something to stave off the cold air. None of the gifts provided by the Voices for my starting equipment were useful. The cloak that had once been new and undamaged was torn from where I’d used it as a fire blanket, plus my physical stats had taken a hit from [The Ooze].
“Hey, Dusk.”
The [Messenger’s Pet] seemed fairly comfortable on my shoulder. I was tempted to grab him and try to steal fire or something. The small creature chirped and had a frowning face above him.
“I’m glad you survived,” I said.
The face shifted a little and seemed less annoyed. Those thought bubbles above his head were neat. Not realistic, but they helped me understand what was happening. I doubted there w
as any better way for the game to provide feedback regarding the [Messenger’s Pet]’s mental status.
“If we can get up the mountain and meet Shazam, I think we’ll be one step closer to desserts.”
Pie sounded heavenly. Thoughts of dessert kept me going for another twenty minutes of climbing. Dusk and I had a vague conversation. Every so often he would scamper off and get into a fight with something. I sat down twice to eat the last of my rations while he triumphed over nature’s mountain creatures.
The longer I climbed the mountain, the more it occurred to me how woefully unprepared I was. All I really had was a cane and a hat.
“Nnngh.” A groan slipped out.
Of course the hat had slipped my mind. My hand fumbled around in the frigid air and found it sitting on my head. This was my prize for gambling within Continue and had been one of my mysteries to look into upon returning. Another stack of [Chilled] made my teeth chatter. I grabbed the hat and brought it down for visual inspection.
Skill Used: [Identification]
Item: [Wild Bill]
Durability: Above Average
Added Trait(s): Regeneration, Gamble
History: This hat has been worn by Ray for an age. As you left the room of Trials, a bet was made. He gambled that you wouldn’t honor the deals proposed or receive the same coin side three times. Clearly, he lost. Due to once belonging to a Voice, this hat has added traits.
The Gamble: The owner of this hat may propose a wager to Ray. This bet must be fair; rigging the game will not be tolerated. In addition, 5% of the Traveler’s accumulated wealth must be bet. This is non-refundable. (I need a new hat – Ray)
In the event of winning the Gamble, the Traveler may ask for a blessing.
In the event of losing the Gamble, the Traveler will receive one curse.
Balance Dictates: The Voice of Balance has touched this hat prior to that fool Ray being allowed to lose it. All results from your gamble will be limited by your highest Rank and Path.
Ray’s Reminder: All luck based activities suffer -10% to results for one year. “Know when to hold, and know when to fold.”
What was this name all about? Wild Bill? Was that some clever allusion to William Carver being called Wild Willy? I used [Identification] again and didn’t get anything new. Oh well. The name was beyond me right now. That would be a problem for life outside the ARC.
The use effect [The Gamble] was nice. Maybe there was a blessing that would help me. I licked my lips and tried not to wonder what could possibly go wrong. This hat could be my salvation. Or at least it would be interesting to see what came of it. This game was all about distraction with a goal.
“Still, isn’t this a little too convenient?” I stared out across the landscape.
No clever thunder or pulses of light answered. Thunder was more Selena’s gig. Heh. Wait until I found a statue of her as myself. Picking on the female Voice made me feel like I was bothering my sister in high school all over again.
“Dusk, you don’t happen to have a coin?”
Wait. I did get a few coppers as a new player. It wasn’t anything impressive, but it was enough to flip. Losing five percent of my money didn’t mean much to me this early in the game.
For a moment, it occurred to me that maybe I shouldn’t feel so comfortable with the Voices. I had spent a lot of time with them though. It was hard to think of them as distant creatures that ruled Continue and the continent of [Arcadia] from a great distance. Of course, they had allowed me this neat [Messenger of the Voices] title. A title I would lose if things didn’t progress forward in time. Fourteen hours were left on my timer.
“All right. A copper coin—sorry, Ray. Here’s the proposal. Heads, I keep walking up the hill. Tails, I go back down and start over. How’s that for a starter?” I flipped the coin and almost lost it over the cliff’s edge. This was too small a platform for such a high arc. Luckily it landed in Ray’s old hat and came up tails.
Predictable. Two messages popped up, the first telling me that choosing to gamble on a result that went against my quest goals could result in a failure. That was followed rapidly by punishment for getting a result that would send me back down the hill.
Curse activated!
[Chatterbox] – The Traveler is currently suffering from an inability to filter their thoughts. The system will translate all understood thought patterns to verbal words.
“What the heck? Dusk? What is this nonsense? Oh, Voices. Now I have to deal… is that what I sound like? Jesus, I’m whining!” I crossed my arms and slowly started my descent. The deal was to walk back down the mountain after all. “Seriously, this is crazy. Why on earth would they send me out to meet someone up on a mountain anyway? How cliché is this? I bet there will be some silly training montage where I have to haul rocks around.”
On the way back down, I passed a grumbling player. He seemed to also be suffering from an inability to hold back what he was thinking. A single glare was his greeting.
“Hi. I hate this mountain. It’s cold up there. That’s nonsense. How long does it take to get to the top? Do you think it takes a long time?” I unleashed my stream of words at the other player.
He shook his head and stomped past me, still grumbling.
“Fine. I don’t like you either. Jerk. I’ve got to walk all the way back down…”
And so it went for another hour. At least climbing down took less time than my first attempt at going up.
Once at the bottom, I held up the coin again. “Heads, I win; tails, you win! Do what you will.”
The copper coin went into the air. It came down tails again.
Curse activated!
[Hiccups] – The Traveler will suffer from intermittent hiccups until cured.
“Are you kidding—” I had a series of hiccups right in the middle of my commentary. “This is nonsense.”
More of them ensued, leaving my midsection groaning with pain. The combination of [The Ooze]’s leftover debilitations with these two new ones was plain unfair.
“Last.” The latest hiccup almost made me screw up completely. “I need.” Hiccup. “I need cold resistance! Heads, me; tails, you!”
The coin went into the air for the third time. It landed in the hat with a plink. Thank the other Voices, all the other Voices besides Ray anyway, it was heads. This time, I won the coin toss.
“I don’t know why I even said I would walk down here. That was just stupid of me. What was I thinking?” I was upset too, but at least the system rewarded me with a box.
Blessing Given!
[Frost Immunity] – You’ll find no bite from a frigid sting for the next twenty-four hours.
“It’s about time. Now I’ve got to walk all the way back up this stupid mountain.”
This time, I was able to keep right on going up. Complaints escaped me about nearly everything nearby though. I got distracted talking about the state of my shoes, Carver’s cane, the setting sun, and anything else that was visible.
“Look at these footsteps. This must be from that other guy. He’s way faster than I am. I wonder how many times he’s failed to get up this mountain. I bet it was at least a few times. I know I wouldn’t…”
My feet traveled the same path as the other player. He had to be at least an hour ahead, if not more. After a few hundred feet, the mountain path was covered in snow.
Every five minutes, I got a message about the [Chilled] effect being resisted. The system was happily reminding me that without [Frost Immunity], I would be a meat popsicle somewhere along the path. This climb upward trailed along the broken passageway between the once-whole mountain. There was just enough visibility to look over and see where the path fell off into the road below.
Dusk was having the time of his life. He hopped from one bit of snow to another. He seemed completely unaffected by the cold. Every so often he would run over and his tiny scales would make the side of my neck tingle with a chill. The sensation quickly passed in light of my immunity.
“I have
the power!” A lingering shout rang through the entire passageway.
“Okay, that is kind of funny. I wonder how much farther it is until I get to that spot? It can’t be too far now. The quest marker is only an hour or so tops. What do you think, Dusk?” My words showed no signs of slowing. Covering my mouth didn’t work. I just mumbled from the side of my mouth. “Oh, there, we finally found it.”
The other player I had passed earlier was on the ground, huffing. Chilled air escaped him and faded into the surrounding fog. He looked happy at least.
“You could just jump off. That’s a quick way down. I’ve heard that it’s a rush. My niece plays this game, and she really likes doing that sort of thing.” My face was lighting up with horror. Talking about my family to random strangers in a game was not a good idea at all. “I shouldn’t have said any of that. Ignore me.”
The other man raised an eyebrow but otherwise stayed silent.
“Hey, do you know where Shazam is?” I kept talking and hiccupping. My sentences took almost three times as long to get out. Each time my body heaved with the reaction, I would restart the sentence. “Is she this way? I’m going to go this way. Good-bye.”
Twenty minutes more passed with me following the quest arrows. The path that I had been taking stopped at the outcropping. Apparently they only cared about guiding new recruits to their designated hazing point. Further directions weren’t needed. Luckily I was getting close to her.
Around the next corner, a person was fighting. A woman with a completely passive face was clad in white leathers and carried a small dagger, clearly facing off against something else. I strained to see who her enemy was.
On the other side of the small snow plane was a difficult-to-pick-out mass of white fur. Its coloring blended almost perfectly with the mountain top. I couldn’t even make out enough to trigger an [Identification].
The two figures clashed a few more times. My quest marker for [Pass to Pass] was following the female around as she engaged her foe.
“Well, this is silly.” I hiccupped. “What are you doing up here, ahhh!”
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