by T. K. Kato
Awed by the sight around me, I strolled the walkways. I had walked for no more than thirty seconds when the water before me erupted. A Deep One bearing a trident landed some ten feet ahead of me on the stone path, brandishing his weapon.
The creature croaked at me, the horrible sound answered almost immediately by a dozen more guttural cries through the city.
Through the waters I spied Deep Ones closing in on my location. Not so happy about a human intruder in their sacred city? Well, that was okay. I had a little something for them.
These creatures may have been resistant to my telekinetic blasts, but I had been getting stronger. I jerked both hands forward, sending twin ripples at the one right before me, even as it raised its trident in preparation to strike.
13 damage
13 damage
Both waves slammed into the Deep One and hurled it off the walkway. It disintegrated before it even splashed back into the waters. Grinning like a madman, I ran forward and sent another set of twin blasts at the nearest Deep One as it tried to leap out of the water. That one too exploded into green particles and vanished.
Oh, hell yeah.
I continued racing, blasting away Deep Ones as I went. None of them seemed able to stand up to two blasts at once.
A large cluster of Deep Ones, five of them all together, began approaching me as a unit. They were too far out to hit with blast waves, but I had another idea.
I pressed my hands together, focused on the path in front of them and on a building in the distance. With a wicked grin I pulled my hands apart, warping reality beneath them and sucking them into the building. It snapped back in place, slicing all five Deep Ones cleanly in half.
-1 Sanity
Yeah. That would do it.
I turned about, taking in the city, focusing on the pools, the buildings, or anywhere else Deep Ones might lurk. If any remained in this part of the city they chose not to show themselves. Perhaps after all I had just done they decided it was best to just let me be.
While that worked well for me, I still wasn’t sure where I needed to go. I could spend hours walking around this massive cluster of buildings even if it wasn’t for the strange geometries that dominated the Deep One city.
If I wanted to navigate this place in a timely fashion I needed an edge. The only thing that came to mind was the same trick that had allowed me to escape the warrens.
I followed the stone pathway, this one buoyant and floating atop the waters just as the one by the sub had been. Eventually, it led me around to a building. Here, I traced my fingers along the surface, hoping to get some kind of psychometric impression. I got nothing at first, but as I continued on past a window, I began to get strange sensations flooding into my mind.
Images of Deep Ones bombarded me, most of them swimming. However, a few used the walkways, guiding human cultists along. Eventually they came to a massive circular door. While I could make out no sounds of their conversations, it became clear this doorway led to some kind of inner sanctum and thus needed to be my ultimate destination.
And they had reached it by pressing on deeper into the city, following a series of walkways, with passages within the buildings leading to nonlinear routes much like I had experienced inside the lighthouse.
Trying to fix this route in my mind, I made my way forward. I had to cross another bobbing and waving platform to come to a large building that might well have been apartments for all I could tell. Numerous windows dotted the building, no two of which were the same. Some windows were roughly rectangular, others overly long, while some seemed to bear no sensible shape at all.
Stepping into this building led me to a landing, one with the staircase leading up. I climbed the stairs onto a higher floor. From here I was able to look out the windows. But my view was different from what I would’ve expected. It seemed as though just walking into the apartment building had carried me across the gulf and left me in a similar building, but on the far side of the city.
I took the next flight of stairs and continued my journey upward, trusting to the visions I had been granted. Atop this flight of stairs I faltered.
A human stood there, slightly out of focus thanks to the headset. She leaned against the wall, arms folded over her chest, and stared at me.
Even with the distortion of my headset, I knew her.
“What … ? How are you even here?”
Elise shrugged, a wry grin on her face. “I was waiting for you.”
“But…” I shook my head, trying to clear it from the mess of cobwebs that seemed to have grown over it. “So you mean there was more than one sub?”
Elise just smiled. “Bobby, I can’t believe how far you’ve come so quickly.” She looked around a moment, and then beckoned me to follow.
She led me down the hall and up to one of the apartments. Hidden within the door frame was a hand scanner she placed her palm against. After a quick scan, it opened up to reveal a cozy-looking living room that had absolutely no place within a Deep One city. I mean, we’re not talking Martha Stewart cozy, but it could’ve passed for a model.
“So I guess this isn’t part of the actual park, huh?”
“Hey, we gotta have some places for the employees to relax and recuperate, you know?”
I supposed that was true. Though honestly, I’d seen very few real employees since coming here.
Elise moved to sit down on the couch and I joined her. “Elise … I … I was actually just thinking of you not very long ago. Like remembering all the stuff we used to do together.”
Still smiling, she leaned back against the couch, taking her legs up underneath her. “Yeah? Like what?”
I shrugged, not really sure how much I wanted to tell her. I mean, back when I was getting that psychometry power I was having these flashbacks of her, and part of me wanted to tell her about them. Reliving my memories … heady stuff that brought up long-dead feelings. The smarter part of me knew I could never handle where that would lead. With a sigh, I tossed the headset onto the couch. “Just how we used to play the old tabletop game together. You were always so into it.”
“Bobby, you know, there’s always just been something … Enticing about Lovecraft’s work. I mean, it’s horror, yeah, but it’s so compelling.”
I chuckled at that a little. After spending most of the day and most of the night in the park, I could definitely understand her point of view. Enticing … the word fell well short. I mean, I couldn’t walk away from this now if I wanted to.
And I didn’t.
Part of me longed to dive right back into the game, like even sitting here talking to Elise was a distraction from what I was meant to be doing.
After a moment, I shifted my shoulders and turned to look at her. “I’m glad you brought me here. I … I appreciate all you’re trying to do for me. I didn’t think it would work, to be honest. But maybe it has.”
Her smile grew just a tad wider and she traced a finger along the tip of my knee. “How many of the details do you actually remember? I mean, you know, like, do you remember the actual stories we played out?”
At that I chuckled again, this time slightly embarrassed. I didn’t remember the stories because most of the time my mind was on something else. “Well, I … Well, it was a long time ago. I mean, I don’t remember too many details. Just, like, feelings.”
She leaned in a little closer, her hand tightening on my knee. “Feelings? Can you be more specific, Bobby?”
I swallowed hard and pulled back just a little. This felt like it was going somewhere I had wanted to go for so long with her. But now … Well, now after having lost Zoe and Grace … Now it felt like some kind of betrayal. I mean, even if she was offering what she seemed to be offering, how could I ever …
Even as I debated, Elise leaned in and kissed me. Her tongue caressed over mine. The closeness of the warmth, it pushed down against any attempt I made at resistance. It became hard to even form a coherent thought.
“Come on, Bobby,” she said breathily in my
ear. “I know you always wanted to fuck me. You wanted to, way back then. I saw the way you looked at me. If you’d asked … If you’d even really tried …” Her voice had become so throaty, so intense I couldn’t focus on anything else.
Flushed and barely aware of what I was doing, I pulled at the buttons on her shirt. My hands fumbled and, rather than give up, I simply yanked harder.
This could not be denied.
Still slightly breathless, Elise climbed off the couch and pulled her shirt back on. For a moment she fumbled with the buttons, then finally gave up on the ones I’d actually broken in the process. She cast me a naughty grin, then shook her head and winked.
I admit, I hardly knew how to feel. I’d dreamed about doing that with Elise since we were kids back in high school. But now, a strange mix of guilt and relief and other emotions I couldn’t even name roiled around inside me. Had I cheated on Zoe? I mean, it’s not cheating if she’s dead, right? Cheating on her memory, maybe.
My empty stomach rumbled, and not just from hunger. Watching Elise dress was arousing, I admit that too. That’s why I turned away and stared at the door. I needed to get back to the game. Maybe this had been a mistake.
Or maybe it was just too soon.
“You all right there, Bobby?”
I slid off the couch and began pulling my pants on, not quite managing to look at her. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” What the hell had I been thinking? Well, yeah. Of course, it was pretty obvious what I’d been thinking. But still. “I should, uh … I should probably finish the job, right?”
“Oh, definitely. Yeah, you absolutely should get back to the game. Just think of this as a side quest.”
“Uh huh. Did I, uh … score 100% completion?”
She winked. “Achievement unlocked, boy-o.” She sighed, rubbed her arms, and smiled lazily at me. “Anyway, this has just been perfect. I mean now it’s so wonderful and soon we’ll have our child.”
I was tugging on my shirt and had already opened my mouth to continue flirting. My words died on my tongue. My jaw hung open and I stammered, not quite certain that I’d heard what I thought I’d heard. “Our what?”
Elise rubbed her hands over her abdomen and grinned, her eyes a little too wide. “Oh … I’m betting it’s a daughter. What do you think?”
I continued to stammer, totally unsure how to react to any of that. I was dreaming, right? This was some erotic dream turned sour. Had to be. “Have you lost your mind? What in the world are you even talking … And you know I just lost my daughter. How could you even say something like that?”
Elise strode toward me, raising her hand as if to brush my cheek. “Oh, Bobby, don’t worry. Everything is going to be all right now. We’ll be a family. You’ll have everything you ever need.”
Still sputtering, I backed away from her, hands raised to stop her from drawing any closer. I felt ready to gag on the sudden shift in our conversation. Might as I wanted to believe she was playing a tasteless prank on me, I knew she wasn’t. “You’re insane! Just stay the hell away from me!”
I half-ran toward the door. As I reached it, Elise called out to me again.
“Bobby!”
Something in her voice forced me to turn, to look at her and see. She was holding out the headset toward me. I had half a mind to refuse, to just turn and walk away right then and there. I mean, she had brought me into this madness, and she was clearly even more deranged than anything I’d seen in the game.
But … But I was caught in the game’s web. The thought of not finishing it hurt like a physical pain in my gut. Yeah, the thought of not getting paid crossed my mind, too. That would’ve sucked. But it was more than that.
I just had to see this through.
But I was done with Elise. She’d crossed way, way beyond the lines of … of anything.
Grimacing, I snatched the headset from her, then turned and fled out into the hall, slamming the door behind me. Dazed and still unable to believe what I had just witnessed, I hurried down the hall, eager to put as much distance between myself and Elise as possible.
What the hell had she been smoking? Sure, she’d always been a little weird. But never like that. And to hit me with something like that, now when I was so clearly grieving … What do you even do with something like that?
Well, I knew what to do. Try not to think of it at all. Try not to think of anything in the real world. No, this Innsmouth, it was better than reality. Despite the insane levels the madness infusing the town, this place made more sense than my real life.
Way more, given that Elise represented real life.
And so I put the headset back on.
I couldn’t quit.
I traced my fingers along the wall as I walked, trying to get another psychometric impression. The only sensation I got was myself and Elise, and I quickly broke contact with the wall, not wanting to see where that vision led.
Instead I hurried up the next flight of stairs. On this level, I looked out the window to find the position of the building had changed once again, at least relative to the location I’d come in. Now, it seemed like I was looking straight down at the pools across from the sub hangar. So I’d basically come back to my starting point, more or less.
It was okay. The shifting perspectives no longer bothered me, and, in fact, they were actually starting to make a strange kind of sense. All I really had to do was follow the psychic impressions. To that end, I touched the wall again. This time I did see Deep Ones passing this way. They opened a particular door that ought to have led into a penthouse apartment. Instead, when I opened that door, it led me to a walkway outside on the main path once again.
Before exiting, I let the vision play out in my mind and got a sense of the passages and routes the Deep Ones used. With this information in mind, I was pretty certain I could avoid them while still following their rough passage to my destination by the circular door.
I was making progress through the city. I didn’t know what I’d find in the end, but I was determined to reach it, no matter what. Nothing else truly mattered.
Following the psychic impressions the Deep Ones left eventually led me to the giant door I had seen before. It was a stone circle almost twelve feet high, designed to look like it rolled into the wall. As I paced around in front of it, I found neither a lock to pick nor any other mechanism to open the door. Clearly, it was far too heavy for me to push it open.
For a moment I ground my teeth in frustration. There had to be a way past this. Maybe the same way that I had gotten into the houses in the warrens? Make my own path.
I pressed my hands together in front of my chest and pulled them apart, trying to warp space to create a hole in the door. A ripple opened before me, but it failed to pierce through the giant stone door, as if the architects had anticipated such a move and built in some kind of resistance.
Or the designers just didn’t want me to cheat my way past a primary obstacle.
Game 1, Verisimilitude 0.
Grumbling under my breath, I backed away from the door and looked about the city. This had to be the way. So how did I get past this door? The only other major location I could spot was that giant tower across from me.
Well, if I couldn’t open the door from here, maybe the mechanism to do so lay inside that tower.
All right then. I shook my shoulders to loosen them up, wrung out my hands, and cracked my neck from side to side.
Here we go.
I created a spatial warp right in front of me and another at the base of the tower in the distance. The shifting gravity pulled me through, and suddenly I was stumbling onto the landing at the base of the spire.
-1 Sanity
Well, that worked.
Minus the usual price for warping space, I guess.
The entrance to the tower was blocked by a stone door, but this one did have a keyhole. So, I supposed I could go hunting the city for whatever Deep One might have said key. But … that sounded tedious as hell.
Instead I pulled out
the lock picks and fumbled with the lock. After a moment’s work, the mechanism clicked inside.
+1 Dex
Yeah. So apparently my lock picking skills extended to picking alien locks in underwater cities. You gotta love video game logic.
Even unlocked, the stone door was enormously heavy and took a great effort to pull open. Grunting under the strain, I managed to edge it ajar, inch by difficult inch. The heavy door grated against the stone landing, the sound equally fraying to my nerves.
+1 Might
Hey, look at that. I was gaining levels all over the place.
Finally, the open door revealed the inner workings of a tower. And I do mean inner workings. A mass of interlocking gears on an enormous scale turned and twisted, as if the entire tower was some giant clockwork mechanism.
Yeah, I stood there and gaped. Sure, I had seen shit like this in games before, but to look at it in absolute, real, in-your-face 3D? That was something else. The sheer scale of it took my breath away.
So I stood there, staring at the maze of gears blocking my way up. The nearest one was only a foot away, but why would I risk jumping there? Instead I focused higher up on a horizontal gear maybe thirty feet above me. There. I created a spatial warp twisting reality.
That ripple in the air caused the entire tower to bend, the gears separating and everything twisting out of place. I stumbled backwards, just barely avoiding falling through the ripple I created. What the hell? The power had never worked like that before. Was this another designer’s trick?
So, they were seriously forcing me to jump from one gear to the next? I mean, how did that work? Okay, don’t get me wrong. I actually like platforming games.
I like platformers.
What I don’t like is games of other genres inserting random platforming elements smack in the middle of them. It’s pretty much the same problem as a mandatory stealth mission in a non-stealth game. I mean, if you’ve got a game engine that works well, why are you gonna force players into playing a certain way? Or into doing things beyond their genre expectations—usually with an engine that barely pulls it off.
