As she moved up the road, hoping none of the guard would stop and question her, she hoped to find some kind of store that might actually be open. Actually, as she thought more about it, she decided to actually make a stop by the nearest Guard station. Maybe she could join the Guard like Meas had.
Novaroa wasn’t looking to become a legend, or even famous, but she had real power now and a whole orphanage full of reasons to use it, to actually make something out of herself. Her life had changed immeasurably over the past few nights—she’d been attacked by demons and a cultist, lost her second father, fought to the death with a witch, and had become…something more, but she was still—
Just another life on Ludus.
Just Another Life on Ludus, Note
From the Author, Daylan Ethridge:
As an avid reader of fantasy and an active participant in the GameLit community, I am always looking for that next story to delve into. I'm a classic nerd and geek, always gaming in all varieties, or immersing myself in the worlds that so many have built for others to enjoy. I strive to revel in all of it.
It is to the many people who have built the numerous worlds I so enjoy that I dedicate this first work I have put out in earnest. And to those who wish to do the same, I offer up this prayer; May we all not only think outside the box but burn that son of a bitch down and dance on the ashes!
Author’s website: https://www.amazon.com/Daylan-Ethridge/e/B07ZZDKK9S/
Missing in Action - Introduction
Missing in Action
By Blaise Corvin
A story of redemption, family, and loyalty. Join an adventuring party encounter something on Ludus they were never prepared to face. This story will directly tie into the Delvers LLC storyline, and contains a major reveal for a Delvers LLC main character.
Missing in Action, Chapter One
Nicole walked toward the little village at the rear of her adventuring party and looked around curiously. Ahead of her, Pasha sneered. “What a dump.”
“Be kind, Pasha,” said Diore.
“Yeah, or at least keep it down so the villagers don’t hear us,” muttered Nicole.
“Always practical, eh Nicky?” chuckled Bentru. The Ludus-born woman switched her big hammer from one hand to the other, then took her cigarette from her mouth while she exhaled smoke.
Nicole shrugged. “It’s common sense. We just got done with a job, and we could use a rest and refit. I’d rather not be hated by strangers.”
Bentru blew another cloud of smoke. “Common sense doesn’t matter in Pasha’s world, don’t mind her. In fact, maybe we should buy a muzzle for her while we’re here.”
“Oh really now?” asked Pasha. Nicole winced when she heard her tone. It sounded like Pasha and Tru were going to start bickering again, and right before they actually rejoined civilization.
Pasha hefted the big, heavy, lightning-type mag-rifle on her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder, dramatically talking to an imaginary person. “What, you noticed it too? Yes, I also want to know why Tru is smoking. That shit lingers and lets every nasty thing within a mile know where we are.”
“Calm your tits.” Bentru rolled her eyes. “We’re about to walk into a village. Smoking is a hell of a lot better than offending the natives, especially right before we’re about to buy things.”
Pasha spit. “If you all wanted me to be in a good mood, maybe we should have protected the zebras better so we could have at least ridden in turns. I’ve been walking for a rotting week, and I don’t care about being polite. These people will either take our money or they won’t.”
Nicole eyed Pasha, silently wishing she’d shut up before she truly antagonized Tru. The Tolstey-born woman was close-mouthed about her past, but Nicole believed the rumor that she’d been born a noble. Despite her rough-and-tumble attitude, Pasha’s vocabulary was impressive and her Luda was spoken with perfect grammar. When she grew angry, her speech got even more refined, even cold, which seemed to push Bentru’s buttons.
Tru frowned.
“Well, maybe if we had a porter, something wouldn’t have eaten our zebras when we were in the rotting dungeon—”
“That’s enough,” ordered Diore, and the other two women fell silent. Bentru rolled one shoulder as Pasha turned her mouth like she’d eaten a neu-lemon and tucked her hair behind her ear, staring ahead.
Diore didn’t usually jump into their squabbles, the serious-minded woman was generally poring over her religious books instead. The group respected their leader, though, and would listen. Besides, she kept them all alive on missions, and could break any of them in half.
“Yes, mother,” groused Pasha. Apparently she hadn’t been able to resist a parting shot.
“I am not your rotting mother, and you are not a rotting child.” Diore’s reply was calm. “And Nicole, stop instigating, too.”
The words hit Nicole like a fist. “What? I wasn’t instigating!”
“I don’t want to hear it, from any of you. We are about to enter a new area, with actual people, and we are going to look and sound like a professional adventuring party, even if we aren’t most of the time. Besides, none of you even have anything to be upset about. Yes, we had to walk this time because something ate a couple of the zebras, but the others are loaded down with loot and the cart is full of gear we can sell. We actually have enough money now to maybe get a porter—”
“And upgrades,” interjected Pasha.
“Yes, and upgrades. This is the first time we’ve gotten a serious win since we’ve been in Berber for a year. We should all be happy, and be thanking Great Dolos!”
Nicole mentally rolled her eyes at that. Diore was the only Dolos-worshipper in the party, but she unfortunately took her faith very seriously. Nicole had been raised Methodist back on Earth, before she’d woken up to find herself in this messed-up world. She didn’t know what she believed anymore after all the weird stuff she’d seen, but she definitely knew if Dolos really was a god, he wasn’t worth worshiping.
What kind of god had police robots? The first time she’d seen a dolosbot, she’d had flashbacks to goofy science fiction movies she’d seen as a girl. Death robots wandering around the countryside on a world like Ludus never got normal. All of Ludus was like that—medieval meeting the futuristic. For heaven's sake, Pasha wore enchanted armor and used a huge lightning rifle that ran on magic stones.
As the group fell into a sullen silence, walking toward the nearby village or town, leading their zebras full of loot, Nicole began feeling wistful, maybe even a bit nostalgic. She’d been on Ludus for over five years, and had known these three girls the entire time. They’d saved her, taught her to survive, and had been her best friends.
They were like family now, a really messed-up family that wore masks.
Diore walked at the front, moving nearly soundlessly in her heavy, monster-hide armor. She’d had it before Nicole had met her. The orb-Bonded woman claimed she'd had it made after her first adventuring party had killed a nest of ultra-durable monsters with poison gas.
She was second-rank orb-Bonded, which was why their group had to wear masks. After Dolos had told the world about how to hunt orb-Bonded for fun and profit, most adventuring companies, and even some regular people, had begun wearing masks to help protect orb-Bonded from being assassinated.
Nicole felt sorry for anyone who tried to assassinate Diore. An enchanted greatsword rode in a custom sheath on her back, and she had her powerful, and very expensive air rifle slung over one shoulder.
The woman was brunette with a wide face, and thin lips. Other than her gear, she didn’t look all that amazing—she was average height, and not particularly beautiful, but she radiated vitality and certainty like a flame cast heat. It was too bad she’d named their adventuring party the Dolos’ Chosen, since she was the only believer, but at least she was a good leader.
In the middle of the group, Bentru plodded along, big and confident. As an earth mage, she’d been gifted by fate with a little more luck than an av
erage, low-born person on Ludus, but not by much. As an earth mage, she might have gotten a job making walls, mining for various ores if she had the aptitude, or maybe even joined a city’s road crew. Instead, after spending several years to master pulling strength from the earth, she’d become an adventurer.
The tan-skinned woman was already tall and athletic, and by pulling strength from the earth using magic, she could generate fearsome strength. Her kit had changed a little since Nicole had known her, but not much. She now carried an extremely powerful slingshot, and a one-hand, enchanted hammer. A large bronze shield was slung on her back. She was the only person in the group to have her own bag of holding, which she’d won at cards years ago. She also had enchanted load-bearing devices that lowered her weight, so carrying the shield wasn’t too great of a burden.
Bentru was the only married person in the group. She and her sister-wife lived on a small farm outside of Mensk. Nicole thought all Ludus women were insane for sharing a husband, but she had to admit that having a family in this place might help her attitude. She wasn’t going to share a man, though, even if most Ludus men she’d met hadn’t been good enough to keep solo, much less worth sharing.
The last member of the group other than Nicole, Pasha, was slightly shorter than average on Ludus, but also the most physically fit of their group. If she’d been back on Earth, she’d probably be a fitness model or something. Her two passions seemed to be killing things in dungeons and exercise, which Nicole thought more than a little strange.
Other than Nicole, Pasha was the most educated person in the group, which was something she usually didn’t advertise. Brash and sharp-tongued, Pasha never seemed to care who she pissed off. Her ethnicity was vague, not that it mattered on Ludus anyway. Nicole could only guess about the woman’s ancestry, but believed she should have been born a redhead. She had no idea what her hair looked like naturally either since she was always dyeing it different colors.
As cute as she was grumpy, Pasha probably had the most enchanted gear in the group. She carried her mag-rifle, a devastating, but expensive-to-use weapon that was situational at best. Her other, more commonly used weapons were two swords, one blessed steel, and one bronze but enchanted. She always wore gloves that made her hands blur if she activated them, which she called gauntlets of swiftness. Apparently they were difficult to use. Nicole had seen another adventurer a year ago with similar gloves punch herself in the face during a duel.
Pasha also had some of the best armor in the group—enchanted against heat and cold, it kept her body at a comfortable temperature most of the time, and rippled in dark-blue waves as she walked, each little scale creating an effect like it was made of metallic cloth. She also had an enchanted belt that increased her overall strength, an extremely expensive enchanted item, even more pricey than Bentru’s bag of holding.
Nicole was the newest member of the group. In fact, she’d joined about five years ago, not long after she’d been transported to Ludus from California. She didn’t think she was very pretty, although she had to admit she was proud of her skin. Despite being out in the middle of nowhere, likely covered in guts, she worked hard to maintain it, dammit. Her mother had taught her to be proud of her rich, dark skin, and she still was.
Years earlier, after asking around, she found out that the year she’d been transported, a number of blonde women from North America had also suddenly found themselves on Ludus. Nicole must have been the exception.
Now after years of adventuring, she was no longer the scared, timid girl she’d been when she’d almost been killed during her first few days on Ludus. As her team traveled, she walked with an enchanted spear. The weapon was weak; it didn’t do much more than create a puff of air to help pull it out of wounds, but it was still good. On her hips rode two decent air pistols. They’d been top-of-the-line for Tolstey, but in Berber they were adequate. She loved the weapons, and they still helped her remember her time on Earth, being taught to shoot BB guns by her father.
A small, magic stone-powered air pump in her pack helped her easily charge the pistols. The device was used to charge Diore’s rifle too, but her weapon rarely needed to be filled.
Nicole’s enchanted armor and her rings were really what she relied on to keep her alive. She had two shield rings—both would generate a glowing, magic shield that would block or absorb multiple types of damage. Her third enchanted ring created two spears per day, more like pilums. The simple tool had saved her life more than once.
Her armor looked and felt like leather, but was as strong as steel, and repaired itself over time. It wasn’t the greatest defense in the world, but she still hadn’t found anything better to replace it. Since Nicole didn’t have any fancy or expensive gear to lower her weight, or make her stronger, the fact that she could actually walk in her armor all day, even sleeping in it, made it invaluable.
Their little independent adventuring party, Dolos’ Chosen, had practically been hell on wheels in Tolstey, especially after Nicole had taken a few months to learn the ropes and had stopped being dead weight. Of course, Diore had always carefully chosen dungeons to raid that had been good fits for the group, and had played it safe.
After coming to Berber, playing it safe hadn’t been possible anymore. Dungeons in this country were just far more dangerous than in Tolstey. Even though the rewards had been better, their expenses had been higher. The group had been forced to rely too much on Pasha’s lightning rifle, and feeding the damn thing cost a fortune in magic stones.
At least now they had their remaining zebras loaded down with loot, and the single little cart being pulled by one of the animals was stacked with carefully wrapped, hopefully enchanted weapons.
Nicole’s eyebrows rose as she noticed a small group of people leaving the village to approach her party.
“Heads up, girls, be ready,” ordered Diore, her voice wary.
“They’re the first people we’ve seen in ages. Do you really think the villagers are going to attack us?” said Pasha.
Diore shrugged. “I’d rather be safe than sorry. Besides, remember when that pretty boy tried to stab you a few years ago in...what was that village?”
Bentru shook her head. “No it was outside the village, and it was named Carthyge. The boy was part of a bandit gang, one of those all-male ones that have started springing up over the last couple decades.”
“Yes, I think you’re right, Tru.” Diore nodded as her hands moved over her gear without her conscious guidance, checking straps and buckles with the ease of long practice.
“I’ve heard the story,” admitted Nicole.
“Even you, Nicky? This day sucks,” grumbled Pasha, but she still did a quick check too. She likely hadn’t needed it. Pasha was always ready for everything to go sideways. The woman even seemed to sleep on a hair trigger while she had a hangover.
“Alright, so this is what we are going to do,” said Diore. “We are going to be professional, courteous, and polite.” She fixed Pasha with a steely eyeball. “What we are not going to do is complain in front of strangers, or act rude, or proposition strange, likely married men within minutes of entering the village.” Their orb-Bonded leader turned to Nicole. “And we are not going to let them get too close to our zebras or our loot, so they can try to steal one or the other. Right, Nicky?”
Nicole muttered, “Hey, that was only one time...alright, maybe two.”
“Wait, why doesn’t Tru get any nasty looks?” complained Pasha.
“Because Tru never fucks anything up except bickering with Pasha and pushing my patience.”
“Damn straight,” said Bentru with a grin.
Nicole rolled her eyes and did her own check, making sure her air pistols were loose in their holsters, her armor riding where it should be. She agreed with Pasha that it wasn’t likely they were in any danger, but she’d been surprised before. Diore may be paranoid, but she wasn’t always wrong.
Besides, as the three-person group from the village got closer, Nicole began to get a stra
nge chill that had nothing to do with the breeze. Her instincts were trying to tell her something, and she wished she could understand what they were saying.
Missing in Action, Chapter Two
The three representatives from the village were middle-aged or older. Two were women, and Nicole raised her eyebrow when she saw that one was a white-haired old man. Usually men on Ludus seemed to be busy lazing around and doing nothing, so this development was surprising.
Even after five years, cultural aspects of Ludus seemed really strange, even unnatural to Nicole.
Most of the women on Ludus being willing to share men in the first place, much less useless men, boggled her mind. Since Bentru was the only married member of the group, Nicole seemed to end up arguing with her about the topic most, especially about the other woman’s living arrangement.
Bentru’s husband stayed home, living with another woman, all while Bentru traveled and worked hard to make money as an adventurer, all of which offended Nicole. Then Nicole being offended would usually offend Bentru. Their arguments usually didn’t get ugly, but there had been a few exceptions, like once when Nicole had asked Tru why she didn’t beat the other woman, her “sister wife”, to a pulp. That had been one of the few times that Nicole had seriously feared that Bentru might hit her. Apparently, the earth mage would tolerate people badmouthing her husband, but not her sister wife.
Nicole thought it was all madness.
The three people from the strange village came to a stop before Nicole’s group, and in the distance, she could see curious villagers and children watching from the safety of windows and rooftops. This place obviously didn’t get many visitors.
Delvers LLC- Surviving Ludus Page 33
