Crimson Sands

by J. Arthur Klein

  Kjara replied, “Yeah a floaty eyeball thing will appear when you make a call and float where you want it to. It’s a prototype for player-controlled cameras that streamers can use to record their adventures from a third person perspective. It’ll be invisible to any other players or NPCs unless you tell it to be visible. Then players can see it, but it’ll still be invisible to the NPCs. You can also filter it to make you look like yourself in the real world. Just gotta toggle that on.”

  “Why don’t you call your family, their probably already getting impatient waiting for so long. They were quite emphatic about wanting to talk with you as soon as the game loaded up and we explained things"

  I settled myself on the edge of the bed and popped open the VidChat app and focused on calling Home. A floating, winged eyeball appeared in front of my face about a foot away and I flinched as a small rectangle appeared in my own view showing what the eyeball was seeing. I willed the creepy little thing to back up and centered its gaze on me and then toggled the IRL display mode.

  I don’t think the video phone had a chance to ring once before a large window appeared in the center of the room below the floating eye showing my mother and sister seated at my kitchen table.

  My mother was understandably upset, and once we were able to get past the tears, I was able to fill her in on the current situation.

  She demanded I tell her what I was thinking and what had happened, so I repeated the story for her.

  My sister was pretty quiet the entire time, not even taking one of the many opportunities my story gave her to insert a snarky comment about my gaming habits. She must have really been worried.

  They filled me in on what was going on at home, which was basically more of the same. My sister thanked me for her birthday gift, which helped improve my mood. I started to introduce them to Kimiko, but they stopped me, saying they already knew who she was.

  After multiple promises to call frequently and keep them up to date I ended the call, closing out the chat app and collapsing on the bed.

  “Hey Kimiko, how do I add more numbers to this thing?” I asked, looked over at her and trying to overcome a bit of nervousness.

  “I’m not sure, you probably just focus on adding a new contact and then filling in the info. Why? Who do you need to call?” she responded.

  “You, if you’d wouldn’t mind giving me your number that is?” I said, my voice shaking slightly.

  You’d think that with all of the insanity of the past couple days, asking for a girl’s number would be a little less nerve wracking, but there it was.

  She laughed, “Of course you can have my number, James. Although I don’t think you’ll need it much while you’re stuck in here. I’ll probably be in here most of the time. I managed to convince my family that assisting you while you recover from saving my life was a worthy use of my time. But afterwards I’d welcome your call… if you’re not sick of me by then.”

  I looked at her and shook my head. “I don’t think I could ever get sick of you, but I’ll let you know if I do.” I laughed.

  I glanced at the game clock and saw it was shaping up to be a nice Thursday morning.

  “Wait! It’s Thursday!?” I asked, and my companion nodded slowly.

  “Yeah…. You were unconscious for quite a while,” she responded.

  “Arg. My subscribers are probably deserting in droves, and I’m still paying for a pod rental I won’t be using for a long time. Ouch this is going to hurt,” I complained as I gathered my armor and tucked my Sunspear into my belt.

  She laughed and said, “Don’t worry about any of that Kheph. Last time I looked at your stream site your subscriptions were up. Your actions at the convention have been all over the news, and people are itching to see what you’re up to in the game. And my dad talked to your friends at the arcade. You won’t be charged while you’re not using the pod. He said the guy seemed almost happy to have the use of the pod back, something about an idiot named Bill making deals without consulting his partners.”

  “That’s great. One weight off my chest at least,” I said. “They didn’t happen to install video editing software and a web browser in here did they?” I tried to focus on the video stream editor and got nothing but attempts to access my stream website opened up a window in my view. “Oh, they did! A browser at least. I’ll be able to update my followers.”

  I glanced over at Kjara who was patiently waiting and continued, “But I can do that later. For now, I’m a little bit hungry. Would you care to finish our lunch, m’lady?” I asked, offering my arm. She laughed and took it, accompanying me out of the room.

  …

  Maeve was, as always, in the common room doing all of the tasks that were needed to keep her business running smoothly.

  A few of the girls were there as well, eating breakfast. Lei’ti waved as we entered, and I caught a glimpse of Kjara’s face. She seemed confused for a second but must have remembered what I told her had happened the day she was away.

  We ate a nice hearty breakfast and then headed towards the docks, making a small stop on the way at a local apothecary to restock on potions, and to stop by the mercs guild to get that necklace identified. Two more tasks from my list complete.

  I handed over the ten gold pieces they were charging and watched as the vender waved a wand over the necklace, a soft blue light permeating the target and identifying its properties.

  *** Necklace of Minor Protection – Protects the wearer with a minor enchantment that mitigates damage taken. ***

  My armor was better than Kjara’s so I gave it to her. Ideally I wouldnt be mixing it up on the front lines too much in the near future.

  We headed down to the docks near the sewer entrance and we prepared for our run at the undead. We each ate a travel cake and a meat skewer, I summoned Amenhotep, and then enchanted all of our weapons with Jackal’s Touch, gaining a rank in the spell.

  I filled Kjara in again on what I had encountered last time since my memories of our conversations at the con were a little foggy, making sure we were fully prepared.

  Once my mana had recovered, we descended to the sewer entrance and entered the undead lair.

  Amenhotep took point, his shield raised high. I followed close behind, my spear in hand and Kjara brought up the rear with her bow.

  We headed down the main tunnel until we reached the room where I had fought the swarm of lesser undead during my initial incursion.

  The room was pretty much as I had left it with bits and pieces of destroyed undead everywhere.

  “Damn,” I cursed, looking to Kjara. “I was hoping that there would have been some sort of dungeon reset so you could get the full xp.”

  She shrugged and we continued forward towards the group of Deathless undead, moving around the corner ready to brawl.

  The corpses of the raiders were where we had left them, but the knight and swordsmen had returned to the pool.

  Kjara’s first arrow sunk into the form of the Deathless Knight before it noticed our presence and its health bar dropped by close to ten percent from her aimed shot.

  Almost simultaneously my Sunstrike burned a hole through its armor and seared away another ten percent, and then they were rushing towards us, forming up in the same configuration as last time.

  We had just enough time for one more volley at range before they were on us, but this time they were ready.

  Kjara’s shot was easily deflected by the knight's heater shield and while my Sunstrike was able to get through, a slight shift of its stance reduced the spell to a glancing blow to its rotting leg.

  Kjara shouldered her bow and drew her swords, moving up to stand on Amenhotep’s right while I took up position behind them, resigned to playing more of a support role this fight.

  I angled the Sunspear rod past my companions and willed it to grow to its maximum size. The extra length was perfect for fighting from the second rank.

  Amenhotep used his shockwave skill and caught all three undead. They seemed immune to the k
nockback portion, but the taunt component worked long enough for Kjara to dart in and land a vicious combination on one of the swordsman’s flanks.

  Its health bar dipped to seventy percent and she danced back out of reach of its counterattack.

  The knight and the other swordsman were still focused on Amenhotep, taking advantage of a small gap in the guardian's defense to open a long gash through the warrior’s armor, releasing a small spray of crimson sand.

  Amenhotep was between me and the knight, but I had a clear view of the swordsman on the right. Targeting it, I summoned the glyphs for the Sever Bonds spell and cast it through my shield.

  The wave of energy struck the swordsman, bringing the image of the necromantic energies bound within it into full visibility as they struggled against the force of the spell, but managed to hold.

  *** Deathless Swordsman resists Sever Bonds. ***

  ***Note: Spells with the ability to instantly dispatch an enemy can be resisted. The resistance is based on the level difference between the caster and the target, the rank of the spell, and the current health of the target. ***

  The bit about the health of the target gave me some hope, and I’d have to experiment with it later on to see if my theory was correct. For now, we’d have to dispatch them the hard way.

  I readied a Precision Strike and waited for the swordsman to attack again. A small section of its armor glowed briefly as it raised its sword, identifying a weak point.

  I thrust my spear into that point, piercing through the undead's armor and into its rib cage. The force of the blow disrupted its attack and forced it back a step.

  A large chunk of its ribcage broke free as I twisted my spear and withdrew it, dropping its health down to close to thirty percent.

  I tried stabbing it again, but it easily batted my thrust to the side with a flick of its greatsword and then went back on the offensive.

  The party menu showed that both Amenhotep and Kjara had suffered some wounds so I paused in my offence and began casting cast Cure Wounds spells on each of them, undoing some of the damage the Deathless had wrought.

  With Kjara and me keeping the swordsmen busy, Amenhotep was able to go toe to toe with the knight.

  Their traded blows were mostly deflected or blocked outright by their skilled defenses and stamina; two tank classes engaged in a war of attrition.

  My healing had given Amenhotep a slight advantage, and once the swordsmen fell, we would all be able to pile on the knight.

  Kjara’s opponent had a two level advantage on her, but her dual blades gave her a one up on the greatsword wielder as she was able to defend and attack simultaneously.

  A single solid blow of the undead’s greatsword would likely prove fatal for the moon elf, but his chances of hitting her were pretty slim. Her quick reflexes and dexterity made the swordsman’s movements look clumsy.

  Amenhotep parried a blow from the knight and then lashed out with his shield, knocking the armored undead back a step, giving him room to use Shockwave again.

  All three undead turned their attention back to the Temple Guardian and Kjara and I took full advantage.

  She danced into her swordsman’s flank and became a whirlwind of blades, ending her dazzling combo with both blades sheathed in the swordsman’s back as it crumbled into pieces.

  *** Your party has released the tormented soul of a Deathless Swordsman! You gain 1 Divine Favor! ***

  My own swordsman found out what a shishkabob felt like as my Precision Strike guided my Sunspear through its pulsing heart, scoring a critical hit that I transformed into a Cure Wounds spell to heal more of Amenhotep’s wounds.

  *** Your party has released the tormented soul of a Deathless Swordsman! You gain 1 Divine Favor! ***

  With his two allies destroyed, the knight didn’t stand a chance against the three of us.

  If it wasn’t a rotting corpse fueled by an enslaved soul, I would have felt sorry for it as we circle beat it into a pile of mush.

  *** Your party has released the tormented soul of a Deathless Knight (Elite)! You gain 2 Divine Favor! ***

  *** Kjara has reached level 7! ***

  “Congratulations!” I said, clapping her on the back. She gave me a grin and began upgrading her character.

  While she did that, I looted the bodies, seeing what this level of enemy would net us.

  The undead of course had no coin, and their equipment wasnt usable except as salvage, but they did each have one interesting drop.

  Each of the corpses had small gems embedded in their hearts that were likely the focal points of whatever necromancy had been used to animate them.

  The knight’s stone was larger than the other two, probably due to its Elite status.

  I pocketed the gems until I had a chance to look at them more closely. They would probably fetch a good price, but I want to make sure there was no trace of necromancy left before allowing them back into the world.

  We rested a bit, letting our health and other pools regenerate while keeping a constant watch for the wraith.

  I still didn’t know where it had come from the first time or how it had tracked me to the surface, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

  No other undead arrived to challenge us while we explored the rest of the room, keeping clear of the bubbling sewage pool in the center.

  Most of the area was full of old, broken crates and other piles of detritus that had probably been fished from the sewage channels at some point.

  On the north side of the pool, running parallel to one of the smaller outlet pipes was a smaller tunnel leading further into the underground complex.

  The tunnel was barely wide enough for Amenhotep’s large form to fit, leaving almost no room to see past the guardian's form as we moved forward.

  The tunnel extended for quite a while, and I estimated that we were probably directly under the docks when Kjara tapped me on the shoulder and motioned to stop.

  She leaned in close and whispered, “I think I hear something up ahead. I can’t tell for sure with the sound of water washing out everything, but I thought I heard chanting.”

  I mentally directed Amenhotep to wait for a second as I responded, “Okay. Chanting could mean casters. Any suggestions?”

  “Kill them until they die from it?” she responded with a raised eyebrow. “But seriously, if its casters we will need to hit them hard and fast. They should be lightly armored so we shouldn’t have to focus fire unless they are elites, so let’s split them. You burn them starting from the right, I’ll pincushion the ones from the left, and Amenhotep here can grab the attention of the rest.”

  “Perfect,” I said and relayed the plans to Amenhotep as we continued forward.

  I didn’t think that the smell of this place could get worse, but I was wrong. As the tunnel opened into the next room, the smell of rot and decay was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

  We came into the room between two large wooden tables that were piled high with body parts, flies and maggots covering much of their surface.

  The walls of the room were full of these tables and their ghastly contents, each filled with a variety of people pieces in various states of decay.

  In the center of the room was a series of workbenches, their blood stained surfaces littered with saws, axes, and other maiming tools.

  Surrounding one of the workbenches near the northern end of the room was a group of three robed figures.

  They stood in a loose circle around the workbench and were in the middle of casting some sort of spell. Sickly green energy flowed around the three as they moved their arms in unison, directing the necromantic energy into a large mass of something that I couldn’t make out laying on the surface between them.

  Amenhotep raised his khopesh and charged while Kjara’s first arrow shot across the room.

  Amenhotep was already too close for me to use Flamestrike so I cast Sunstrike, targeting my designated target on the right.

  The blast of holy fire burned a hole through t
he necromancer’s robes, transforming his measured chant into a scream of pain.

  The leftmost necromancer was likewise disrupted when Kjara’s arrow sprouted from his kidney. He collapsed to the ground with a grunt of pain and was silent.

  The third caster looked up at the form of Amenhotep charging right at him and moved to put the table between him and the guardian.

  A look of fear crossed the casters face but he kept up the chant and the sickly green energy began flowing faster and faster into what I could now see was a humanoid form laying on the table.

  Amenhotep braced his shield and ducked, flipping the table and its occupant over onto the chanting caster, muffling his chant.

  Kjara drew her swords and we rushed forward together. The caster I’d burned with the Sunstrike backed away and looked between me and the still churning energies.

  Making his choice, he resumed his chant, joining the spell that was somehow still being maintained by the caster buried under the workbench and whatever had been on it.

  Kjara ran her target through and turned towards the still churning mass of green energy. The scorched caster closed his eyes and kept chanting even as my spear pierced his throat. The last words of his spell forced out through a gargle of blood.

  *** Congratulations! You have become more skilled with your Spear and have reached Rank 8! ***

  The silence was deafening as the chanting ceased, the green energy rushing into the thing that now lay crumpled on the ground a few steps off.

  Tendrils of green then exploded out of its form and attached themselves to the corpses of the two necromancers we had slain and the lone survivor.

  The bodies began to wither and rot away, leaving behind the necromancers' souls.

  The living caster screamed in agony as the process was repeated, and soon all three of their souls stood wrapped in chains of necromantic energy.

  The chains pulled taut, drawing the screaming, writhing souls into the pile of flesh sitting on the ground. It began to move.