by Adam Drake
Kragg furrowed his unibrow, “You tracked me? What for? You should be doing everything to avoid me. I'm the bounty hunter, not you. What kind of idiot goes out of their way to get caught?”
Mudhoof took an intake of breath but I cut him off with a glance before he could say anything.
I gave Kragg a serious look and pointed a thumb at myself, “This idiot is sick and tired of being hunted by half the gaming universe. So, to put an end to all this bounty nonsense I decided that, as the game's most influential bounty hunter, we could come to an arrangement.”
Kragg was thoroughly confused. “You want to split the bounty? Is that it? Let me kill you so we can share the reward?” He made a show of thinking, looking up in the air pensively and screwing a finger against his chin. “Hmm. Nope. Not gonna happen. Still going to kill you, and the bounty is all mine.”
“You're not in a position to negotiate, Booger,” Mudhoof blurted.
I said, “At least hear me out. It's not like you are going anywhere for a while.”
Kragg barked a laugh. “Okay, I've had enough of this. I'm outta here.” He wore a tiny leather vest that only came down past his armpits. He reached inside and rummaged around.
Mudhoof and I watched expectantly.
With a dramatic flourish the ogre pulled out a large gold coin and held it up for us to see. “Teleport Token, morons,” he said with a wide grin. “Going to port back to my guildhall, round up some friends, and come find you. Bring this to a close.” He rubbed at the Token.
“Not going to work,” I said.
After a few seconds of rubbing, nothing happened. Kragg got more agitated. “What the FILTERED? This should work. They always do!”
I stepped forward and rapped a knuckle against the orb's clear material. “Not in this, it won't. In fact, nothing will. It's called an Orb of Oblivion for a reason.”
Kragg blinked at the Token, then at me in bewilderment. Once it had sunk in he wasn't going anywhere, he slipped it back into his vest and sagged back down; a look of consternation plastered on his face. “Okay, fine. What do you want to talk about? The latest patch notes? How my class is now gimped for PvP in the war-arenas? I'd be willing to talk a lot about that.”
Shaking my head, I said, “I want to get rid of the bounty on my head.”
The ogre snorted. “Then you shouldn't have ticked off Ogden Trite. That guy is the definition of over-powered. At least when it comes to gold.”
Ogden Trite. One of the richest players in the whole game tried to renege on a deal we made. I'd been hired to finish a Legendary Quest, which resulted in finding the Cloak of Shadows. But instead of paying me he tried to have me killed and take the Cloak, anyway. Didn't work out the way he hoped. Now he's placed a large bounty on my head, mostly out of spite.
The silver lining to this whole dilemma is I now own the Cloak. But questing, even general game play, was made impossible by the stupid bounty. Everyone and their game-playing grandmother is out to get me. I had to get rid of this bounty once and for all.
“Ogden is an idiot if he ever thought this bounty thing would work out in his favor,” I said. “No one wants to give up a Legendary item, regardless of the reward.”
“Oh, yeah?” Kragg laughed. “Why do you say that?”
“Because the amount of Legendaries in the game are finite. Minuscule in number. But making more gold in this game is the easy part. So it doesn't matter the amount of the payout. It's money you'd eventually earn, anyway.”
Kragg rolled his big beady eyes. “Yeah, the bounty includes an insane bonus for the Cloak, but I'll decide what to do with it after I kill you.”
Okay, time to play hardball, I thought.
I pointed at the chamber wall next to where Kragg floated.
Summon Void Portal.
A tiny black dot appeared at the wall's center. It then grew bigger and bigger. In moments it was as large as the wall itself and looked like a huge black dish. From within the dish could be seen stars and multicolored gas clouds floating in the void of dark space.
Kragg sat up and looked at the portal in unmasked awe. “Whoa,” he said. “What's that?”
“That is a gateway into the Void Dimension. Heard of it?” I said.
“Yeah,” said Kragg. “People go in, but they never come out again.” He looked at me, worried now.
I said, “Kragg, I know you can't remove the bounty on my head, not without killing me at least, which will not happen. But you have information which could help me on my way to having the bounty negated.”
“What's that?” the ogre asked, genuinely curious.
“If I kill Ogden Trite, the bounty is canceled. And, as everyone knows, Ogden always hides in his guildhall, and you know where his guildhall is hidden.”
Kragg blanched, which is strange to see considering how green he is. “I don't know that. Never been there.”. He folded his arms in front of him.
“No?” I asked, then gave the orb a small push. It, along with Kragg inside, floated a few feet toward the gaping portal. “We've done our research on you, buddy, and wouldn't be asking if you didn't have the answer.”
Kragg's eyes widened in alarm. “Wait! Don't!”
Mudhoof chuckled. “Got something to share with us, Booger?”
The ogre seemed to wrestle with himself over spilling the beans. I gave the orb another little nudge.
“Okay!” Kragg finally said. “I'll tell you what I know. Just stop pushing me!” His eyes stared at the gate in fear. And he had reason to be. Once inside the Void there was no way out. Not any way that is known. He could be floating forever in there. Even if he died or deleted his character, the new one would appear back inside the void, floating through space.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“Well, I don't know where he is at this exact moment. But, like you said, he has a guildhall.”
“Where is it located?”
“I don't know the exact spot,” Kragg said.
Mudhoof snorted and tapped his horns, which were tipped in steel, against the orb. The orb moved closer to the portal.
Kragg held up his hands. “No one knows exactly where the guildhall is, but I know where the travel gate is that will lead you to it.”
I waited a heartbeat then motioned for him to keep talking.
“Wally's Womp,” Kragg said.
“Wally's Womp?” Mudhoof said. “There's a place called Wally's Womp?”
Kragg shook his head. “No beef-for-brains. It's the name of the travel gate.”
“Watch your mouth!” Mudhoof said. The two scowled at each other.
“Huh?” I said, befuddled. “Wally's Womp is the name of the gate? That doesn't make sense.”
Kragg waved a hand dismissively, “You know what, this is crap. How am I suppose to deal with someone so dense? Besides, without an invite from Ogden himself, you won't gain access to the gate.”
Mudhoof said to me, “Do you believe him?”
I saw Kragg give the Void Portal another worried glance. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Really?” Mudhoof said, sceptical. “Why?”
“Because if I faced my character floating through a void for all eternity, I'd spill the beans, too.” I said and meant it. I looked to the Void Portal. The view it gave was beautiful but cold. Then I thought I glanced something moving, far off in the distance, snake-like and huge. But before I could query the game for an identity and statistics, the thing was gone.
Mudhoof's voice pulled me back to the situation.
“There is no such thing as a Wally's Womp,” Mudhoof said. He hitched a thumb at Kragg. “This green sack of unicorn dung is worthless.”
Now enraged, Kragg stood up in the orb. “It does exist! But if you weren't so daft you would take the time to check it out.” He punched at the orb. “Let me out of here and I'll turn you into hamburger, stupid man-cow!”
“That's it!” Mudhoof yelled and with nostrils flaring suddenly used his Charge ability.
“No!” I shouted a
nd reached for Mudhoof. But there was no way you could stop a charging minotaur.
Mudhoof head-butted the orb at full speed hitting it with a loud crack. His head whipped back from the impact, snorting with rage.
The orb shot away, with Kragg panicking inside, and passed straight into the Void Portal. The moment the orb crossed over from our dimension into the other, the gate instantly shrunk and vanished.
Mudhoof looked at me with a sheepish grin. “Been wanting to do that since this started.”
“That was uncalled for,” I said. I intended to let Kragg go, but by leaving him here in the Orb for a few days, at least. Once we checked out if the gate existed where he said, I would return and reverse the orb's creation. Now that would not happen at all.
Mudhoof shrugged, “Yeah, maybe a little, but it felt good. So, Vee, what do we do now?”
I let my anger subside. Mudhoof was one of only a handful of allies I had in this entire game. I could not afford to alienate him by losing my temper. Instead, I put Kragg out of my mind and answered Mudhoof's question.
“Now?” I said. “Now we go kill Ogden Trite.”
CHAPTER THREE
We emerged from the dank chamber and out into the shadows cast by the high cliffs which surrounded us.
I glanced over at the river and its opposite bank. There was no one here. None of Kragg's cronies had arrived, yet. But I did not doubt they were coming. We may have trapped the ogre in the Orb, but that did not prevent him from using the in-game chat to call for help. While we were interrogating him he was calling in favors.
Mudhoof must have been thinking the same thing. “We need to make tracks, Vee. The cavalry may be coming.”
“Agreed,” I said, “let's find the closest Locators Guild, then try to get a bead on this Wally's Womp.” I pulled up the local area map and did a quick search.
While I did so, a chat request appeared at the edge of my vision. From 'Bishop The Red'. I rejected the request out of annoyance. Whoever it was could wait.
Mudhoof snorted and kicked at the sand. “Wally's Womp? Nonsense. We couldn't trust that guy to tell the truth, anyway. Yeah, it was worth the shot to trap him, and kinda fun, too, but come on. Can't trust him as far as I could throw him.” He thought for a moment. “Oh, wait. I did throw him, and damn far, too. Never mind.”
I tuned the minotaur's rambling out and found what I needed. “Ingot's Perch has a Locators branch. And, hey, it's just down the river from us, not that far.” I closed the map. “Okay, we need to-”.
I didn't get a chance to finish. Mudhoof was looking at me when something over my shoulder caught his attention. As he opened his mouth to shout a warning, I was already moving.
But not fast enough.
My simulation suit registered a sudden deep pain under my left shoulder blade.
The combat log window at the lower right of my vision blared a message in bright red font:
Perriwinkle KillUGood Backstabs Vivian Valesh for 388 hit points of damage.
Then beneath that:
You have been poisoned. Poison unidentified.
My avatar was stunned and collapsed to the sandy ground. I twisted around to look at my assailant.
A man wearing a dark hooded cowl whirled away. In one hand was a long crystal dagger, covered in blood. My blood. Across his back was a quiver, and a sword sheathed on one thigh. He had struck from a point of camouflage.
Another Shadow! I thought as I watched Perriwinkle run away.
Mudhoof roared, a double-bladed axe appearing in his hands, and gave chase. But Perriwinkle was quicker and made a dash for the river. Had Mudhoof not already used his Charge ability back in the chamber to knock Kragg's orb, he may have been able to use it now to catch the fleeing Shadow.
As Perriwinkle reached the edge of the river he dived into its rushing waters and vanished. Mudhoof stopped at the edge and screamed filtered profanities at him. I know he wanted to keep chasing him, but I needed help.
Fuming, the angry minotaur returned to my side. “Sorry, Vee! He came out of nowhere. Nothing I could do.”
I nodded and tried to get into a sitting position. Mudhoof eased me up a little, cradling me in one massive arm. “No worries,” I said. “Now I know what it's like to get attacked my a Shadow.” I managed a laugh but my avatar coughed up blood, instead.
Mudhoof looked me over. “How bad is it? Tell me you ain't gonna have to re-roll. Not now.”
A green icon shaped like a water drop appeared in the top right corner of my view-screen, indicating my poisoned status. That backstab took almost eighty percent of my health in one fell swoop. Had I not turned when I did, I might have been killed instantly.
But now, what little health I had slowly ebbed away because of the poison.
“No re-roll. At least not in the next few minutes. But time is counting down.”
“Here, take this Health Boost,” Mudhoof said passing a little square packet with a red cross on it. “Should buy you some time.”
I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd already used a Health Boost during my initial encounter with Kragg. Applying this one so soon after would dull its effect. I still used it though and my health bar only went up fifteen percent. This was looking grim.
“I need a Temple,” I said, stating the obvious.
“Right,” Mudhoof said, nodding vigorously. “Good idea. I'll just-”.
An arrow suddenly thunked into the side of Mudhoof's head just below a horn.
“What the...?” he said. He grabbed the arrow and yanked it out. He looked around, angrily. “Who the hell did that?!”
I pointed weakly upward.
Far above, on the edge of the cliffs that encircled this little sandy patch, stood a row of archers. From what I could see, there were close to ten of them.
“Oh, FILTERED,” said Mudhoof as he gazed up at them. “Kragg called in an army?”
“They're not players,” I said when I tried to focus on one of them.
“Huh?” Mudhoof said, then another arrow hit him in the back. Several others hit the surrounding sand.
Frustrated, Mudhoof brought out a shield from his inventory. It was a black segmented shell from a huge beetle. From end to end it was almost as tall as Mudhoof.
Braced against an arm, Mudhoof put it over us as he hunched down. A volley of arrows cracked against its surface and were deflected. None of them could even pierce it.
“Nice,” I said, trying not to stare at my dropping health bar. Got to keep an upbeat attitude in the face of impending doom.
“Picked this baby up while doing a Daily Quest, believe it or not,” he said with a wide grin. More arrows struck the beetle shield. “Sometimes mindlessly grinding experience points can pay off.”
I had pulled up the local area map, again, this time enquiring about the nearest Healer's Temple.
“Ingot's Perch,” I said.
“What?”
“It has a Temple!”
“Oh,” Mudhoof said as if realizing our current situation. “Right. Well, Vee, there seems to be only way to get out of here.” A machine-gun like cracking of arrows assailed the shield as if to emphasize his words.
“What's that?” I dared to ask.
“Time to pull out the big Sausage,” the minotaur said with an even wider grin.
I shouldn't have dared. “What? Sausage?” I said confused.
“Don't mind while I whip this out, ma'am?” Mudhoof said. He dismissed his battle axe and motioned the free hand toward his waist.
I was beside myself in disbelief. “What the heck are you going on about, Muddie? Now is not the time for juvenile jokes about your-”.
Mudhoof laughed and tipped the shield up a little and pointed at a patch of sand next to us. “Here, check out my big Sausage.”
At that moment, a massive pig popped into existence beside us. No, not a pig. A warthog!
I blinked in surprise. Huh?
“He's my new mount!” Mudhoof said with pride which was partly drowned out by
a staccato of arrow impacts.
The creature was nearly twice the size as Smoke, and easily a million times uglier. A jumbled forest of tusks stuck out at all angles from its mouth. Thick tufts of hair bristled from unspeakable nooks and crannies along its dark pitted hide.
Fastened to its arched back was an almost comically small saddle.
“You named your giant pig mount, Sausage?” I said, shrinking health bar momentarily forgotten. Then I started to laugh, and couldn't stop.
