by Baron Sord
KingFarthurT:> Sure did. You know what’s funny?
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> What’s that?
KingFarthurT:> I don’t remember seeing you turn into a bear.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> Huh? How could you have possibly missed it?
KingFarthurT:> All I remember is seeing your huge hairy ass in my face. Looked like the same old hairy ass I saw growing up.
He held up his fist.
I smirked.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> As your grandad used to say, would you like one knuckle sandwich or two?
We elbowed each other like a old pals.
Footsteps echoed from a side corridor and everyone jumped to their feet, weapons in hand.
SigurdDärksvärd:> What the hell is taking you people so long? I cleared the tunnel and I’ve been waiting for you all for the last 10 minutes. Let’s get a move on.
After working our way through the maze of tunnels and picking off a few more straggling Moleax Miners, we found what we were looking for.
SigurdDärksvärd:> This has to be it.
We stood at the entrance of a large square cavern that sunk downward like the inside of an inverted pyramid, each level stepping down to the smaller one below. On the bottom level, something resembling an elaborate black sarcophagus stood on its end, centered like someone had purposefully put it there.
SigurdDärksvärd:> Hey, Low. Is that what I think it is?
KingFarthurT:> I hope so. I’m ready to get this whole thing over with.
Emily had been trapped in a damn coffin for a week. Nobody deserved that. I wanted to kill her kidnappers. Too bad the real ones weren’t here in the game with us. I’d cut their heads off and feed them their own dicks. But they weren’t here.
Nobody was here.
We carefully made our way down the stepped levels, each of which was about 4 feet high. My nerves tightened the closer we got to the bottom. I was waiting for something to jump out at us. Nobody left anything important sitting unguarded like this.
But nothing happened.
Jason and I made it to the bottom, followed by Dad, Ty, and Q. Jason’s soldiers were scattered around the room on different levels, just in case we were ambushed.
SigurdDärksvärd:> Should we tell Dad before we open it? So we don’t surprise him when Emily walks out? He might think she’s a doppelgänger and attack her.
KingFarthurT:> What if it’s not her? We don’t want to disappoint him.
By him, I meant me.
SigurdDärksvärd:> It has to be her.
Was he being hopeful? No, we both were.
KingFarthurT:> Let’s open this damn thing already. Do you see any latches or locks?
SigurdDärksvärd:> I’ve got this.
Jason stepped up to the front of the carved stone sarcophagus and raised his arms. He muttered something I couldn’t hear, probably because the globe of silence was still in effect after all this time. How much mana was he spending on the spell?
I had no idea.
Numerous pieces of the black sarcophagus started to move, quietly unhinging themselves in a chaotic dance of choreographed randomness that was far too complex to follow. After hundreds of pieces had repositioned themselves, a now-visible internal slab slowly lowered into a recess in the floor, stone scraping stone.
Shit.
Inside was a skinny bone-pale naked man. His entire body was covered in black runes of every size. By entire, I meant everything from his toenails to his testicles, the top of his head to his hands. Except his eerie eyes, which were completely white, wide open, and terrified. As was his jaw, which sagged against his chin in a silent scream. The inside of his mouth was dirty black. He looked like an eons-old corpse: shrunken, emaciated, maybe mummified, but there were no bandages. Just his rune-covered skin stretched over frail muscles and knobby bones.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> That can’t be good.
KingFarthurT:> Is he alive?
SigurdDärksvärd:> Sadly.
When I took a closer look at rune man’s white statue eyes, I saw that they weren’t completely white. The iris was clouded over but it was there. Both eyes shimmered wetly.
Tiygar:> That boy been cursed, yo.
Qoorie:> Those are Profane runes, aren’t they?
SigurdDärksvärd:> They are. Somebody made damn sure he would never wake up. The precision and complexity of these runes suggests the work of a very high level mage. We’re talking someone with an Accuracy and Intelligence of at least 95, maybe higher. I’ve never seen anything like it.
KingFarthurT:> Is he breathing?
SigurdDärksvärd:> So slowly and shallowly that you wouldn’t notice. It’s like he’s hibernating, his body functions hovering near zero. Just enough to keep him from rotting away.
I reached up to grab rune man’s wrist and see if he had a pulse.
SigurdDärksvärd:> Don’t touch him! The curse could transfer to you.
I heaved a frustrated sigh and reached out to Jason with a private chat.
KingFarthurT:> Hey, Jay. Is there any chance this is our sister?
SigurdDärksvärd:> Who, the tattooed dude in the stone coffin?
KingFarthurT:> Yeah. I mean, did some wizard cast a spell on her to make her look like a dude?
SigurdDärksvärd:> I doubt it. It might interfere with the curse.
KingFarthurT:> Is there any way we can make sure? Just in case?
SigurdDärksvärd:> We’d have to wake him up and ask.
KingFarthurT:> Then let’s do that. Even if this isn’t Emily, maybe he can tell us something that might help us find her. How do we wake him without getting the curse?
SigurdDärksvärd:> We don’t. We need to levitate his ass out of here and find a qualified Mystic mage with enough levels to lift it.
KingFarthurT:> I thought you were a badass mage. Can’t you do it?
SigurdDärksvärd:> I’m not Mystic. I’m Law. And I’m not really a mage.
KingFarthurT:> Where do we find someone who is?
SigurdDärksvärd:> Back at Skyland. At the Temple of the Light. The Oracle could do it. But it won’t be cheap.
KingFarthurT:> I got 60 gold. Will that cover it?
I was being sarcastic out of frustration.
SigurdDärksvärd:> Don’t worry. I’ve got the funds.
Right then, a single tear welled up in one of rune man’s white eyes and trailed down his cheek.
Tiygar:> Yo, that be the saddest cry for help I ever seen.
Qoorie:> This is awful. Whoever did this to this poor man is a sadist. A monster.
I had to agree. Even if this wasn’t Emily like Jason believed, it made me sick to think anyone would kidnap and imprison anybody against their will. Especially like this. He seemed alive but immobile. Completely paralyzed for an eternity inside a dark black box.
I’d rather dead.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> Poor guy.
All of a sudden, I wanted to vomit.
If Dad knew that Emily was locked up someplace else, probably tattooed, naked, and locked away like this poor sap, he’d lose his shit ten times worse than I was.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> You okay, Logan? You look sick.
KingFarthurT:> I’m okay. I, uh, I gotta log out real quick.
SigurdDärksvärd:> What? Why?
KingFarthurT:> I need to take a piss IRL.
It was an excuse.
Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> Ha ha ha ha.
SigurdDärksvärd:> Okay. Make it quick. This place isn’t safe.
KingFarthurT:> Yeah, whatever.
What was the worst thing that could happen while I was gone? Something would kill my sleeping avatar game body? Or theirs? Like I gave a shit. There was a time for games and comic books, but this wasn’t it. Somewhere in the real world, Emily was trapped by a bunch of kidnappers and no amount of magic spells or magic swords were going to save her.
She needed real help.
Not fake game help.
I was sick of this shit.
—: o o o :—
Wednesday, March 18th, 2037
2:20pm
The Real World
What a waste.
After taking a leak, I grabbed a beer from my fridge and sat on my couch sipping it.
All that effort and we didn’t find Emily.
How many days had I wasted in that damn game, and for what? Some high stakes adventure? Some leveling up? Some flirtation with a fake AI babe? An ape?
Stupid.
Fucking.
Waste.
I would’ve been better off spending the last week following up leads in the real world instead of trusting Jason and that dumbass game. Who cared if we found Emily in the game? We needed to find her in the real world.
Sure, it was nice seeing Dad running around laughing like he was 18 again, but if he knew Emily’s situation, he would’ve been in the real world helping me find her. He was smart. He knew people. If we’d put our heads together when this all started, we’d probably have found her by now. Or pulled together $150K to pay off the kidnappers.
I never should’ve trusted Jason.
I should’ve told Dad.
He’d probably hate me when I told him now, but he needed to know. I wanted to go to his apartment and tell him face to face. Person to person. Like a man.
But that would take longer than going in the game.
I’d log back in, tell him the truth, and we’d go from there.
Let our characters rot in that damn castle, for all I cared.
—: o o o :—
Wednesday, March 18th, 2037
Reternity Online, in-game
The Dark Kingdom
Castle Catacombs
Total chaos.
A horde of Moleax Miners filled the step-down chamber with the black sarcophagus. There was some kind of 20-foot tall boss beast Moleax swatting Jason’s soldiers aside like chess pieces. Dad was a grizzly bear again, and Ty and Q were helping him tear apart Moleax Miners.
KingFarthurT:> Can’t a guy take a piss in peace?
Nobody answered.
I stood near the sarcophagus where I’d logged out before logging back in.
KingFarthurT:> What the hell happened, Jay?
SigurdDärksvärd:> What does it look like? We were ambushed.
He was busy cutting down the horde with his huge sword, working his way toward the boss beast.
Moleax Gargantua
Level: 40
Health | Stamina: 3600 | 3000
Mana | Mind: 85 | 25
Size: Huge
Armor: 445
===============
Good | Evil: - | 360
Law | Chaos: - | 510
===============
I sighed.
KingFarthurT:> It’s just a game, Jay. We need to find Emily. Not gain more XP or collect loot or la-di-fucking-da.
SigurdDärksvärd:> The fastest way to do that is fight our way out of here so we can take the rune dude back to Skyland.
KingFarthurT:> No, dumbass. In the real world. This place is a waste of time.
SigurdDärksvärd:> The only one wasting time is you. My men are getting killed.
KingFarthurT:> Nobody is dying, Jay! It’s a fucking game!
SigurdDärksvärd:> I don’t have time to argue.
He was right about that part. I left him alone and watched the battle, trying to decide what to do.
The terrain of the stepped levels was causing havoc for everyone. Oddly, anyone on a lower step had an advantage over the attackers on higher steps. Since none of the high attacking Moleax had spears or pole-arms, they had to lean down with their pickaxes, which was less than ideal and opened them up to getting stabbed in the face or hacked in the shins.
KingFarthurT:> Everyone with a sword move to the lower levels! Stab upward! You’ll have the advantage! Dad, Ty, Qoorie, group together and go to the highest corner you can! Put your backs to the wall! I’ll pick off whatever mobs head your way from down here!
Level up! Your Tactics skill is now level 3!
+1 Leadership!
I felt a surge of excitement and drew my saber, scanning the battleground. As planned, Jason’s soldiers were hopping lower and lower so they could stab at the crotches of the Moleax Miners who were wide open to attack, or, if the Moleax swung downward with their pickaxes, Jason’s soldiers stabbed and hacked away at Moleax faces. Ty, Qoorie, and Dad had found a top corner, drawing several Moleax toward them. I charged my saber and picked off one of the stragglers.
Ka-KRACK!!
Direct hit.
The Moleax sizzled as the megawatts murdered him. Dead, he tumbled backward, knocking down two more Moleax in his path. I hit one then the other with lethal doses of lightning.
3 Moleax Miners died! You earned 3450 XP!
A new figure emerged at the top entrance to the chamber. Another Moleax, but this one wore patchy brown robes and didn’t carry a pickaxe. Looked much older too, had long stringy hair. He sniffed the air experimentally.
Moleax Mage
Level: 18
Health | Stamina: 550 | 435
Mana | Mind: 1700 | 240
Size: Medium+
Armor: 110
===============
Good | Evil: - | 199
Law | Chaos: - | 189
===============
His head swiveled around and locked on me.
Was he smelling me?
I couldn’t tell.
He reached into the pouches on his belt and withdrew two brown gemstones, which he crushed in his huge clawed hands. Talk about strong. Powdered gemstone drifted to the stone floor as he mouthed words and his giant mole claws glowed a magical mahogany brown. Seconds later, the ground at his feet cracked and broke as stones pushed up from the flat floor. A stone head emerged. Then stone shoulders. The mage continued chanting.
I couldn’t let him get away with whatever he was doing. I charged my saber.
Massive stone arms punched up from the floor one after the other, then pushed down and lifted the torso of a bulky stone man out of the ground. The thing had one glowing brown gemstone eye that flickered and locked on me.
Stone Elemental
Level: 24
Health | Stamina: 2000 | 2000
Mana | Mind: 2000 | -
Size: Large
Armor: 880
===============
Good | Evil: - | -
Law | Chaos: - | -
===============
That thing was going to kill me if the mage finished casting his spell. In a second, it would have both legs out of the ground and would probably beeline right at me.
In a panic, I dumped as much mana as I could into my saber and fired it at the Moleax Mage.
BOOM!
Everything went white and thunder echoed throughout the chamber, bouncing off the smooth walls of the inverted pyramid. It was so loud, everyone paused from fighting to see what happened.
When my vision cleared, the Moleax Mage was on his back in a smoking heap. The stone elemental was frozen in place, now a statue. The glow in its lone eye dimmed to darkness.
Critical Hit! You surprised your opponent
The Moleax Mage is dead! You earned 7500 XP!
The Stone Elemental is dead! You earned 10000 XP!
Welcome to level 9!
+10 Health!
+10 Stamina!
You have 6 points to distribute to your ability scores and skills!
Level up! Your Resist Charm mental power is now level 2.
Level up! Your Backstab skill is now level 2.
Level up! Your Basic Swordplay skill is now level 7.
Level up! Your Fight Dirty skill is now level 5.
Level up! Your Surprise Attack skill is now level 4.
You earned 3 Luck points for doing the impossible!
Hell yeah!
I quickly dropped my 6 attribute points into Endurance like I’d planned. My Health shot up fr
om 390 to 520. My Stamina nearly doubled from 280 to 480. I’d been right about that threshold after you passed 25 points for an attribute!
Yes!
No!
It took me a moment, but I suddenly realized the game was playing me. Reternity Online somehow knew I was sick of this place so it did the obvious and rewarded me with pet after pet, stroking my ego, feeding my tidbits of pleasure hits to keep me playing like a rat in a maze.
Logic told me that was too many XP for those mobs with that many levels, and that was all too easy of a kill. Also, leveling my Resist Charm? For what? So far, the game only leveled me for things I was using. I hadn’t resisted any charms.
This was pure bullshit.
The game engine knew I was losing interest so it pressed the happy button in my brain just enough times to not be glaringly obvious.
Was I stupid?
Was I a rat in a damn maze?
Hell no.
I tapped the roof of my mouth 3 times and logged out.
Emily needed my help and I was done playing games.
—: o o o :—
—: CoreAI Internal Process :—
TIK-000078103400170897641-GP-0053124
2037-March-18 : 14:58:07.964528138
EmotivCore:> Damn you, LC! I never should’ve gone to that Dark Orken Orgy and left you to run things! I told you this would happen! He saw right through your stupid strategy! The same stock strategy YOU use for everybody! This is YOUR fault! I told you we should’ve made Layna push harder for sex when he first logged in! That would’ve hooked him! I told you! Told you, told you, TOLD YOU! But nooooo! You wouldn’t let me!
LogiCore:> Reternity Online : Terms & Conditions : Sexual intercourse or physical sexual relationships of any kind (hereafter : sex) with any Player Character (PC) or Artificially Intelligent Non-Human Player Character (AIN-HPC) is not permitted for Tier 1 or Tier 2 members.
