by Sam Ferguson
Mike and Rhonda called for the others to join them. Augustin and Chris rushed out with the group’s five companions close behind.
Brian was out ahead of the pack by a good three yards. He rounded the corner of the alley and saw the two assassins walking slowly away from the Master’s corpse, one of them nursing an injured hand that appeared to be smoking. Brian’s corpse wasn’t there anymore.
“Hey!” Brian shouted. “Let’s do round two!”
The two assassins glanced at each other and then sprinted away, easily outpacing the group. Brian gave chase, but stopped short when he saw his dagger lying in the alley untouched.
“Looks like they tried to loot you,” Mike said.
Brian bent down and smiled as he picked up Khefir’s Malice. “They couldn’t take it,” he said. He smiled and put away Flaming Death so he could bring out the dagger.
“Sweet!” Mike said.
“And this is him?” Augustin asked as he moved close to the Master’s body.
Brian nodded and turned to loot the AI. He frowned when nothing happened—he was unable to see the master’s inventory. “It won’t let me take anything from him,” he said.
“How many experience points did he give you?” Mike asked.
Brian shot him a look.
“What? I’m just curious.”
Brian thought about it and realized he hadn’t seen an experience gain. There hadn’t been a message after the master died. The only thing that did show up was the broken bone symbol.
Brian turned around and shrugged. “Someone should go and tell Meredith he’s dead. We need to see if we can get her and Rojas out now.”
The group turned and walked down the alleyway, their companions chatting eagerly amongst themselves about how great the outlanders were at their craft. Freya called Brian “her man” as she boasted of how masterfully he had executed his plan. They crossed the street and the crowd in front of House Bob parted, but before they reached the gate that same creepy voice called out to them.
“Oh champion,” the Master said.
Brian felt his stomach flip. The whole group stopped in their tracks. Brian turned around and his mouth fell open. “No, how can this be?”
“You killed him,” Mike said.
The Master held his hands out wide. “I made a mistake in trusting you,” the Master said. “I will not make that mistake again. From now on, between us there can be nothing but enmity. I have spies everywhere. I will hunt you, and all who follow you, until every last one of you is removed from this land and your portals are laid to waste.”
Their own guards pulled their bows and started to fire, but the Master turned and ran though the alleyway.
“Brian...” Mike said.
“Yeah, I know. We don’t need to talk to Meredith, we need to beat the game.” Brian clenched his right hand and punched it into his left palm. “Let’s get moving. We’ll need to stay ahead of him to have any hope of winning.”
“This is not good,” Shuggra muttered to Atheron. The dwarf mage nodded his head and stroked his beard thoughtfully.
16
Urchin Rose
Brian led them inside, where they all interfaced with the save point and then quickly discussed where to go. The farthest they all had gone was Bohotes. A couple had gone to Ceta, but they decided not to split the group. The Master had also been in Bohotes, though, so they needed to pick a location he wouldn’t be and then figure out a way to travel to Ceta that was fast and also illogical enough that the Master wouldn’t guess their path. The VR went dark and then set them outside of Bohotes’ southern gate on the docks.
“We could charter a ship,” Rhonda said.
Mike nodded. “This will be good. Much faster than walking. We can sail in a nearly straight line to Ceta. Looking at the map, it’s about fifty miles. The road meanders and bows out to the east, so it’s probably seventy miles or so by land.”
“Hard to ambush us on the sea too,” Augustin said.
“Unless the leviathan comes after us,” Chris put in.
“Let’s try to think a little positively,” Mike coached.
“I can handle the negotiations, I have the best charisma,” Rhonda suggested and turned to walk away, but Augustin caught her by the arm.
“Allow me. I may not be a master of speechcraft, but I do have a useful contact. I’m confident I can arrange immediate passage on the best ship available.” He didn’t wait for approval, but took off at a light jog toward one of the docks.
“Do any of you know what that’s all about?” Brian asked.
“Yeah, I’ve got a fair idea,” Mike snickered. Brian looked with surprise from him to Rhonda, who was also smiling broadly as she rolled her eyes and shook her head.
The group followed behind at a casual pace and found Augustin just as he stepped out from a group of sailors to beckon them closer. He brought them to a large ship sporting three masts outfitted with marvelous blue sails and spiked rigging along the hull to ward off monsters. A fitting name for a thorny vessel, Urchin Rose was scrawled along the side in red letters. Ballista launchers could be seen, positioned strategically along the deck to seal the deal should there be any trouble out on the water. Brian marveled at the ship’s defenses as he was ushered up the gangplank by Augustin and a group of boisterous sailors who immediately set to, preparing the ship for departure.
Brian moved to the railing near the prow and watched the activity across the deck, trying his best to stay out of the way. Most of the other party members were doing the same, taking up positions in various places, some needing to scurry out of the way when a sailor brusquely urged them to step aside so that a task could be performed. There was so much commotion to entertain the eye, Brian nearly missed the exchange between Augustin and the captain in the moment before the crew snapped to attention to recognize the presence of the captain on deck.
Ah, I understand now why he spent so much time out on the water those last few days, Brian opened his mouth in surprise, but couldn’t help smiling at the same time. And I’ve been the one taking all the flack for initiating an in-game relationship!
It was immediately apparent that the captain of the Urchin Rose was a force to be reckoned with. Broad, surly looking pirates, representing every stereotype the silver screen had ever shown him, were sweeping out of her way, bowing and flinching whenever she came near. Wearing a motley assortment of leather and gilded metal armor, accented by colorful bits of fabric that peeked out here and there and drew the eye to all the right curves, both the uniform and the mannerisms of the woman left no doubt in Brian’s mind that business was the only thing that mattered to her.
If he hadn’t caught the playful smile and noticed how close their faces had come during that momentary exchange at the top of the gang plank, Brian would never have guessed that Augustin, or any man for that matter, would have had a chance with a woman like that.
He whistled through his teeth and chuckled appreciatively to himself as the vessel began to move away from the dock and then turned toward the bay’s exit.
“Don’t worry,” Augustin said, coming up from behind to join him at the prow. “I have sailed with this ship many times. It can take quite a beating, and the crew is top notch when it comes to fighting sea monsters.”
Rhonda joined them just as Brian was crafting a clever remark about the crew and its captain.
“This is not how I expected the summer to go,” Rhonda breathed out heavily as she settled her arms on the railing in front of her.
Augustin shrugged. “Could be worse, the volcanoes could erupt or there could be some earthquake while we’re all in here,” he said with a smile. He made a fist and knocked on the wooden railing. “We’ll be okay.”
“I had really thought I could end it all by taking down the Master,” Brian admitted. “I don’t really like the idea of playing a video game all the way through and hoping to win in order to save our lives, and that of the professor.”
“And Meredith,” Rhonda stated
dryly.
“Meh, she can stay locked in here with Barry, they’d be good for each other,” Brian snorted.
She shoved him. “You don’t mean that!”
Brian looked at her sideways and then over to Augustin. “Of course I don’t,” he sighed. “There is this little resentful piece of me though that can’t help but feel that none of this would have happened if she hadn’t joined our team. And then I realize how unfair that is. If I’m going to blame her, I should blame the professor too. For inviting her, for finding that artifact, for…” he trailed off, frustrated and confused.
“I can relate,” Augustin nodded, patting his arm. “It’s hard not to imagine how things could have gone differently to avoid the problems we find ourselves with right now. What could have been done to save Barry? It’s one thing for his consciousness to be intact somewhere here in the game and another thing entirely to be alive.”
“I felt this rush of relief when she told us his mind was ‘safe,’” Brian drew air quotes in front of his face, a touch of bitterness in his voice, “but the reality is that he’s gone in any real way he existed before. His family isn’t going to hug him again. What comfort are they going to take knowing that his personality is alive in a virtual environment, supposing they can even believe something like that?”
No one had any answers, but Brian felt like his friends understood the space he was in. The three settled back down and stared out over the water as the ship neared the bay’s edge where the jetty ended and the real danger began.
“I’m going to see what I can do to assist the captain,” Augustin said with one final pat on Brian’s shoulder. Rhonda waved a farewell to him and then turned back to watch the water.
Footsteps came up on Brian’s other side. He turned to see Freya, armor on but helmet off, approaching. She slipped her arm up under Brian’s and hugged it as she leaned on his left shoulder.
“I’ll give you two some space,” Rhonda said with a raised eyebrow over a tight-lipped smile.
The thought occurred to Brian to send Freya away so he could spend some time with Rhonda. It was nice to be with a friend, a real friend, and he had always been quite taken with Rhonda from the moment he met her. If he’d still had the DM system he could let Rhonda know that he needed to keep Freya happy with him so she would remain an ally, but, absent that, he just let things play out.
Freya and Brian didn’t speak, they just enjoyed each other’s company as the ship sailed into the open waters. Brian caught sight of a massive shark in the crystalline depths below. It swam lazily, and yet kept pace with the ship quite easily until it veered off after some other tentacled creature that resembled a giant squid. The two fought briefly and the shark won out.
“Look there,” Freya said as a pod of dolphins porpoised through the water. A few of them leapt high, spinning and diving back into the water gracefully.
“It’s a good luck omen to see dolphins near your ship where I come from,” Brian said.
“I was never fond of the sea,” Freya admitted. “It looks beautiful from a distance, and the water itself looks like it holds wonders down below, but I know there are merfolk and monsters that want nothing more than to kill me, so it’s hard to feel peaceful here.”
Brian laughed. “I have a similar issue,” he said. “I’m terrified of sharks. The idea that they can attack from literally any angle while I am stuck unable to move quickly is just...”
“Mortifying,” Freya finished.
Brian nodded.
The ship cut through the waves, its massive-bladed prow ensuring nothing would stay in its way for long. It cut through waves and flesh alike, as one ill-fated giant jellyfish discovered before it was sliced in half and left to float apart.
“Merfolk off the starboard side!” yelled a sailor from the crow’s nest. Brian looked up. A couple hundred yards beyond the dolphin pod was a huddled group of five humanoids bobbing effortlessly in the waves.
“Does your home consider seeing merfolk a good omen?” Freya asked, a hint of worry in her voice.
“Depends on who you ask,” Brian answered. “Some think it’s like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, others think it means almost certain death.”
Freya stood up straight and let her hands slip from Brian’s arm. “I don’t know about rainbows bearing gold, but I know about merfolk.” She brought out a crossbow and peered down into the depths.
Brian looked down too and saw a few mermen with long spears and tridents swimming about a hundred feet below the surface. Below them he could see the tops of large spires that stretched to disappear deeper down where the light couldn’t reach.
“Yeah, sharks and merfolk don’t seem like a good mix to me,” Brian said. He stepped back from the railing and the two of them moved toward the center of the ship where Rhonda and the others were sitting on several crates that had been arranged for them.
“I have gone out with Captain Oris several times,” Augustin said. “She’s very capable. We’ve hunted a few large sharks, a giant squid, and a few other things out here that have names I couldn’t remember. She’ll get us across safely.”
“Merfolk off the port side!” the sailor in the crow’s nest called out.
Brian looked out over the deck and toward the sea. About halfway between the ship and the coast was another group of five merfolk. They seemed to hover in the water as if waiting for something as they watched the ship sail onward.
“Don’t pay them any mind,” Augustin said. “I have made this journey from Bohotes to Ceta twice by ship. Never had an issue we couldn’t handle. The merfolk closer to the shore are looking for smaller ships, like fishermen. They lure them into the shallows, capsize them, and then drown the fishermen.”
“And what about the merfolk farther out to sea?” Freya asked.
Augustin shrugged. “They might attack some ships, but this one has a special hull. Not only does it have spikes along the sides, and the blade out front, but it has a sheet of plate armor covering the entire bottom of the hull. Sometimes at low tide you can see where the armor stops and the spikes begin. The merfolk pose no threat to this beauty.”
“It’s a wonder it floats,” Chris said.
The ship sailed on for several miles. After a while the sea grew calm. The waves almost stopped entirely, and there were no merfolk or sea creatures to be seen.
“Cap’n!” the sailor in the crow’s nest shouted. “We need to put into shore, now!”
“Nothing we can’t handle?” Chris asked Augustin as everyone in the group stood up to look at the sea.
The captain came out to the front of the ship and surveyed the waters with her spyglass.
“Hard to port! Hard to port!” she ordered.
The ship pitched to the right as it struggled to execute the turn the helmsman was making.
Brian and the others had to shuffle and gyrate awkwardly to keep their balance. The ship leveled out and chopped through the sea with its bladed prow as it sailed quickly to the shore.
“Why are we sailing straight into the shoreline?” Mike asked.
It was still about a mile off, but the ship was cruising much too fast to be doing anything other than a crash landing.
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen this behavior before,” Augustin said.
“Maybe the captain is a traitor,” Chris said, pulling his weapon.
“No, you fools,” Shuggra said. “Do you know nothing of Hatmul?”
“Hatmul?” Chris asked. “Yeah, he rules Hell, so what?”
Shuggra drew her weapon and took a couple steps toward the railing. “Across the waters leviathan strides, death upon its back doth ride. Hatmul’s thrall aims ever true, venomed barbs shall fly for you.”
“Leviathan?” Chris echoed.
“Oh...” Mike said. “By Icadion’s Beard...”
Brian then realized what was happening. The seas were calm because they had been manipulated. Somewhere in the depths below there was a creature so large that it could alter
the very patterns of the waves. They had all seen it in the cut scene when they first arrived at Bohotes, but Brian had hoped never to see it again. Despite himself, he walked toward the railing with Shuggra and peered over the edge. Deep within the blue waters, something silvery slithered along to the east, easily outpacing the ship.
“Guys, I think we might end up back at House Bob in about two minutes,” Brian called out.
“I can’t fast travel,” Chris said. “It says I am too close to danger!”
Brian knew that their death at sea would make it impossible to retrieve their items. They would wake up at House Bob with common clothes and have to start over collecting gold, potions, and other items. The weapons and equipment would be lost unless they could either find and loot their dead bodies or kill the leviathan and loot it.
An explosion of water erupted about a hundred yards in front of the ship. A silvery scaled serpentine creature rose from the depths, its body as thick as the ship was wide. It looked down with coal-black eyes and shrieked as its fangs glistened in the air.
“Don’t look at the face!” Mike shouted. “Watch the sides of the ship! The face distracts while the tail attacks!”
Brian caught sight of movement. “Off the starboard side!” he shouted.
“Down, down!” Mike ordered.
Everyone hit the deck as the spiked tail soared upward and then flicked its end, sending a hail of three-foot-long spikes to the ship.
“GAH!” a sailor screamed as he was pinned to the center mast.
Two other sailors were nailed together and flew out over the railing to splash into the water. The other spikes thunked harmlessly into the deck and crates around them.
“Man the ballistae!” the captain shouted. “Bring the beast down, and don’t let up on the sails. Ram that demon-serpent back down to Hammenfein! Make it rue the day it ever tried to mess with Captain Oris and the mighty Urchin Rose!”
