Tower of Gates Omnibus

by Paul Bellow

  The gnolls took a few steps forward. Half a dozen Golden Bolts of energy whizzed by my head and struck two hyenas. I kept running, ready to take all six of them out.

  I hoped Benji and Sarah could handle the hyenas.

  Two of the gnolls walked toward me while holding massive curved blades. I attacked, hitting the first one I came across.

  Critical Hit!

  Your slash WOUNDS the gnoll scout for 17 points of damage.

  The gnoll scout is dead!

  You have momentum to attack again.

  Your slash INJURES the gnoll scout for 12 points of damage.

  As one of the tall doglike creatures fell, two others came at me with swords. They both hit, one on each arm.

  I barely avoided falling to the ground after they hit my armor.

  With five left, I needed to be careful. Stepping back a few paces, I waited for one of them to come close.

  The unlucky gnoll came at me.

  I struck with no mercy.

  Your pierce HITS the gnoll scout for 8 points of damage.

  I need a strength buff or magic item, I thought as three gnolls surrounded me and all attacked at the same time. One missed while the other two was hit. I had a little over half my health remaining, but it would go fast in the battle.

  Do or die time.

  I slashed again.

  Your slash INJURES the gnoll scout for 12 points of damage.

  The gnoll scout is dead.

  As I prepared to get hit again, six Golden Bolts flew by. One of the gnolls dropped to the ground, screaming in agony. Benji ran up and smacked another gnoll with his mace.

  He hit it on the face, killing it instantly. I got back into the zone.

  Two more to go.

  As I stepped forward, a sword hit me on the arm.

  Pain and poison coursed through my body.

  “Again?” I screamed in frustration.

  With a mighty roar, I swung my sword.

  Your slash HITS the gnoll scout for 9 points of damage.

  My vision blurred. I felt another stab in my arm then fell to the ground with only one point of health remaining.

  What a way to die.

  I glanced up and barely made out the outline of a gnoll.

  He lifted a massive sword, ready to strike. I cringed and backed up.

  Before he brought the sword down and kill me, six Golden Bolts shot into him. Benji followed up with a lethal blow. I rolled over as the gnoll crashed to the ground, nearly crushing me.

  Combat is over!

  * * *

  You get 4,000 xp divided by two party members.

  You get 2,000 xp

  * * *

  Quest: A Hunting We Will Gnoll Completed!

  + 1,000 xp

  * * *

  Your Weapon Craft skill has increased to Basic Skill Level 4 of 10

  Your Sneaking skill has increased to Basic Skill level 2 of 10

  * * *

  You have 7,965 experience points, welcome to level 3, Rogue.

  * * *

  Level three requires a harder to find training manual or trainer. The nearest ones are in the City of Mednia to the West. You will make more decisions about your long term career as a rogue over the next few levels. Choose wisely.

  “Poison,” I gasped while smiling at the level gain. “About to die…”

  “Here we go again,” Benji said as I groaned.

  Sarah got out another Potion of Remove Poison from her sack. After handing it to me, I gulped down the entire contents.

  You are no longer poisoned.

  You have [1/31] health remaining.

  “Healing?” I asked then grinned sheepishly while looking up.

  “Sure,” Benji said. “I can do another spell.”

  He stepped forward and waved his arms near my stomach. Blue energy filled my game-body, healing me completely.

  “Thanks,” I said. “That was close.”

  “We have to be more careful,” Sarah said.

  I smiled then said, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained…”

  “We’ll end up with nothing if we’re dead,” she said.

  “She’s right,” Benji added.

  “Fine,” I relented. “We’ll be more careful.”

  I glanced around the encampment.

  “We should load as much of this stuff as we can on the cart,” I said.

  Benji sighed.

  “That’s a lot of work,” he said.

  “It’ll be worth it when we get back to Fishguard,” I said.

  “Do you think that’s all of them?” Benji asked. “The gnolls, I mean.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure,” I said, knowing we had defeated the quest.

  Sarah grinned but said nothing out of character—not that he would’ve understood. He was still the best NPC I’d ever played with.

  “Let’s see what exactly they have in the tents,” I said.

  I walked over to the one where we’d found all their supplies. Sarah followed by my side as Benji walked to collect weapons and coins.

  “That was too close,” Sarah said, staying in character as we entered the tent.

  “Yeah.” I nodded. “But we did good. I need to go to Mednia to train, and this haul will help fund the trip.”

  Sarah frowned.

  “What about our other companion?” she asked. “I’m getting worried about him.”

  “He’ll be fine,” I assured.

  She pressed her lips together and forced a smile.

  “He’s smart and strong, but his temper might get him in trouble,” she said. “I’m worried we haven’t found him yet.”

  “Do you have any parchment?” I asked to change the subject.

  “Yeah,” she said, digging in her sack. “A quill and ink too.”

  “Great,” I said. “Can you write everything down while I take inventory?”

  “Don’t think I didn’t notice you changing the subject,” she said.

  I sighed then said, “I’m worried about him too, but we need to take care of one thing at a time. Maybe he got to Fishguard first then went on to Mednia to look for us?”

  She shrugged.

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” she said. “Call out the items, and I’ll write them down.”

  We worked together to come up with a list of all the worthwhile items in the entire gnoll camp. I read them off to her after we finished, including my estimated value of everything using my rogue skills.

  One of the chests contained thousands of silver pieces. Neither of us bothered counting them all. All told, we had over a hundred gold in mundane objects to resell.

  “Not bad,” Sarah said, surveying our haul.

  Benji walked inside the tent.

  “Anything good?” he asked.

  “We got a gong,” I said with a chuckle.

  Benji nodded solemnly.

  “That’ll bring a nice price in the city,” he said.

  “Probably a hundred gold.” I turned to Sarah. “How do you want to do this? Any spells to get the stuff to the cart?”

  She shook her head.

  “None of my spells will help,” she said.

  “Ready to earn your keep, Benji?” I teased.

  He frowned and slowly shook his head.

  “If you two don’t think I’ve earned my keep yet,” he said. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Benji looked from Sarah to me, obviously not happy with something.

  “You okay?” I asked. “Don’t take it personally. I was just joking.”

  “I was just thinking how nice it would be to join you guys on a more permanent basis,” he said. “Have you thought about letting me join your party?”

  He lifted his right eyebrow expectantly.

  “Maybe we should let him,” Sarah said.

  Benji smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

  “Not yet,” I said, still unsure about the game’s warning.

  Something about his eagerness made me hesitant to trust him.

  “Y
ou’re being paranoid,” Sarah said. “He’s helped us a lot.”

  “We can talk about it when we get back to the city,” I said.

  “That’s fine with me,” Benji said. “To be honest, I’m having more fun than I’ve had in years.”

  “Great,” I said. “Let’s get this stuff to the cart.”

  We got to work, transferring the items to the cart. On the third trip, Benji found something I’d missed.

  “It’s a note,” he said, waving it in front of him. “I found it behind that stack of firewood.”

  “Read it,” I said, holding the box of arrowheads.

  “It’s gibberish to me,” he said.

  “Let me see.” Sarah held out her hand and walked over. “Maybe it’s a language I can understand.”

  She took the note from Benji and held it in front of her face.

  “This will take a bit of time to translate,” she said.

  “You love your word-puzzles.” I turned to Benji. “Let’s keep working while she translates the note.”

  “I knew I should’ve paid more attention in school,” he said. “The smart ones always get out of the hard work.”

  “Not all the time,” I said, considering myself smart.

  As Sarah translated the mysterious note, Benji and I transferred the rest of the items to the cart.

  The last item—a massive golden gong, we rolled through the woods.

  “Go slow,” I said. “We don’t want to damage it too much.”

  “Too late for that,” he said then chuckled. “We can always melt it down, but it’s probably not all gold.”

  “We’ll find out once we get to the city,” I said.

  After we positioned it in the cart with the other items, Benji took a deep breath, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

  “I’m exhausted,” he said.

  “Let’s get back to the camp and start a fire. We should stay here for the night. You two did a good job hiding the cart.”

  Benji’s face lit up.

  “Thanks,” he said.

  Back at the encampment, we ate next to a huge bonfire, sharing stories and reliving our exploits from earlier in the day. I laughed and remembered all the good times Sarah and I had shared in video games over the years. We made a great team.

  Later that evening, Sarah went into a tent to work on translating the note. I closed my eyes and promptly fell asleep by the fire.

  12

  This New Quest Sounds Too Easy

  SARAH

  I’d decided to sleep on the translation problem the night before.

  When I opened my eyes the next morning, I had a sudden insight. Benji had nodded off on guard duty, but I let it slide to get back to work on the strange note.

  Eric snored next to the fire.

  I read the note to myself as I translated.

  Not much of it made sense.

  Snargao,

  Protect the Cursed Pendant of Visions until we arrive. The future is ours. Magictology will spread throughout all the realms.

  Fail me, and you will face my wrath.

  Magi Inyontoo

  * * *

  Excited at my breakthrough, I woke Benji and Eric.

  “Get up, you two,” I said. “The note’s translated.”

  “Five more minutes,” Eric groaned.

  “Wake up,” I said. “This could be important.”

  Eric rolled over on his back and stared at me.

  “What does it say?” he asked, shielding his eyes from the sun.

  Benji stood. “Is it bad? I bet it’s bad news.”

  As the other two listened, I read the note aloud.

  Benji’s eyes widened.

  “Do you know this Magi person?” I asked.

  He nodded, his shoulders hunched as he rocked back and forth.

  “Who is it?” Eric asked. “Will we be battling him at some point?”

  Benji opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

  “Tell us,” I said.

  He groaned in frustration, then said, “He’s a bad man. We should find and destroy that pendant.”

  New quest?

  “What’s Magictology?” Eric asked.

  Benji frowned and his brow furrowed.

  “It’s a cult,” he said. “The pendant they’re talking about is magical in nature, but it’s cursed. Some say it’s powerful enough to destroy the whole realm.”

  Eric glanced over and raised an eyebrow.

  “We should check this out,” he said.

  As I nodded, a notification screen popped up.

  Main Quest: Destroy Cursed Pendant of Visions

  * * *

  Find and destroy the Cursed Pendant of Visions, and you will clear the first level of the first world in Tower of Gates.

  * * *

  +15,000 xp on Completion!

  First level of the first world? How big is the game?

  “You get that?” I asked, glancing over at Eric.

  He nodded—not breaking out of character.

  “Get what?” Benji asked. “Is there something you two want to tell me? Are you going to start speaking in that magical tongue again?”

  I pursed my lips together.

  Telling him the truth would only confuse him.

  “Nothing,” I said. “Don’t worry about it. Are you coming with us?”

  “I want to,” Benji said. “Especially if it’s in an official capacity.”

  “Nice try, buddy.” Eric smiled. “You’re getting closer.”

  “Either way is fine with me,” our priest replied.

  “Back to the matter at hand,” I said. “How are we going to find this cursed pendant?”

  “All we have to do is follow the smell of fish,” Benji said cryptically.

  “Back in Fishguard?” I asked.

  He shook his head and said, “No. The Cave of Fish Smells. It’s in the mountains north of Mednia, and I’ve heard it’s not a pretty place. That’s one of the few places I’ve not traveled to in the realms.”

  “It’s settled.” Eric got to his feet. “We’re going west to Mednia.”

  “The road should be clear of bandits,” Benji said. “But you never know these days. Are you two giving up on your barbarian friend?”

  “No,” I said. “But destroying this magic item and saving this realm is important. We can keep looking for him along the way.”

  The real reason was that I thought defeating the quest might help us get out of the game, but I kept quiet to avoid the xp penalty.

  “Let’s get everything back to Fishguard and sell it,” Eric said. “We can decide for sure after that’s all done.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Benji said. “Can we eat first?”

  “We’ll have trail rations on the way,” Eric said. “I want to get moving.”

  “Me too,” I said.

  After gathering our belongings, we walked through the trees and back to our hidden cart. Relief washed over me when we found it.

  “Great job on hiding this,” Eric said. “I almost didn’t see it.”

  “That’s all Benji,” I said.

  Our priest grinned, soaking up the praise.

  With loot filling the back, we all three climbed on front. I settled down on the bench between them, chewing on a granola bar.

  “Yah,” Eric yelled.

  I relaxed as the wagon lurched forward. Despite being trapped and not knowing more about Josh, the epic game had swept me up.

  Was it wrong to not think about the real world as much?

  I hated worrying about things I couldn’t change immediately.

  And the grand scale of the Tower of Gates had pulled me in stronger than my first RPG so many years ago.

  How time flies.

  Eric pulled on the reins, stopping the wagon a half-mile down the path.

  “Do you hear that?” he asked.

  I tilted my head and heard a distinct buzzing sound.

  “More bees,” I said. “Let me cast some protection.”
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  “Good idea,” Eric said then hopped off the cart.

  He pulled out his sword as Benji joined him.

  I cast Glorified Cloaks of Bronze.

  At level three, I could spend fourteen mana to increase the armor of a person by seven points. While that would help a bit, I didn’t want to blow all my mana on defense. I put twelve mana of protection on Eric and six on Benji.

  Golden energy swirled over the top of their armor and clothes.

  I was left with forty six mana for offensive spells.

  “Aren’t you going to protect yourself?” Eric asked.

  “I’m saving it for offense,” I said. “Just keep me safe.”

  He grinned. I realized then how much he was loving the game.

  The buzzing sound got louder.

  “Do you think the whole hive will come after us?” Benji asked.

  He held his mace aloft with one hand and ate a biscuit with the other.

  “We’ve got bees,” I yelled, pointing down the path.

  Three giant bees barreled through the air toward us.

  Here we go again, I thought. We’ve got this.

  Benji and Eric charged down the path toward the bees. I let loose another twelve-mana worth of Golden Bolts. The magical energy shot toward a giant bee.

  Your Golden Bolts WOUND the giant bee for 18 damage!

  The giant bee is dead.

  You have [18/64] mana remaining.

  The creature fell with a thump to the trail below while the other two continued forward. Eric and Benji stopped, preparing to defend.

  “Don’t get poisoned again,” I yelled, unable to resist.

  A bee broke away, flew higher then dove down toward me.

  Not so fast, busy bee.

  Your Golden Bolts MAUL the giant bee for 21 damage!

  The giant bee is dead.

  You have [6/64] mana remaining.

  “Got him,” Benji yelled.

  I looked over to see the final bee fall to the ground.

  Combat is Over!