by Taj McCoy El
Stupid shoelaces!
Mayah pulled out one of the engraved stones with 6 Acid (D) runes. This was her supply from before the tournament and it was rapidly dwindling. She quickly assigned 4 points into her mana and 6 points into intelligence. The stone had yet to be enchanted, and she ground her teeth wishing she had potions to make this go faster. Well, time to get to work, she thought with a snort.
By this time they had all leveled twice more, leaving them all at level 14. The experience needed to level was finally getting to a point where it would take a ton of XP to gain levels quickly.
1,819XP for next level. if XP equals level, XP x 1.25 is the needed XP to reach the next threshold, if you factor in for rounding off to whole numbers. That means I’m gonna need a total of 5552XP, + or -, to get from level nineteen to twenty. Geez that is steep.
She continued her mathematical musings while engraving. Three grenades later while lost in thought, Grax landed on the ground next to her scaring the ever-loving flarfingstuff out of her.
“Stupid cat!!!”
“It was worth it for the look on your face.”
“What did you see?” she barked shortly.
“There’s a depression that’s free of any duskrass or duskleaf that direction.” He pointed off to the left of their previous heading. “It’s just past the base of the next stalagmite.”
Mayah looked over and saw a ring of evenly spaced stalagmites in that direction.
“We need more acid grenades. Wanna carve some or go on watch?”
“I’ll go on watch.”
“Okay, go relieve Mags and send her my way.”
Mayah pulled out a plain stone and began scratching the runes for Acid (D) into the stone. when she had six of them cast enchantment and her mana was absorbed by the runes. she felt the energies work their way into place and before the enchantment finished, she thought grenade. The enchantment clicked into place, and she examined the Acid (D) grenade and threw it in her bag. as she pulled out another stone Margaret walked up.
“Hey, Mags ready to make some grenades?”
“If that’s what’ll get us through this mess then yes.”
They spent the next hour making grenades for their next campaign across the ever-sloping field.
…..
They reached the next Stalagmite with nary a problem and were destroying vuurms much easier—and of course the necklace of sonic disruption helped a lot. Their journey had bumped Grax and Mayah up to level 15 and Margaret was quickly approaching that threshold as well. They could see the edge of the depression if not the bottom. It was in the center of the of eight stalagmites that formed an octagon three hundred feet in diameter. The depression was around two hundred feet across and it was the only differing feature they had come across as of yet.
Definitely something there. …And that’s why I’m making more grenades. I really wanna find a way to automate this process… So much mana, she griped internally. I mean air dry clay and a stamp would be awesome.
“So, are you ever gonna make us some earplugs?” Grax asked nudging Mayah out of her head.
“With what? Materials and runes don’t grow on trees.”
“You sure you don’t have anything to use. Those screams are making my whiskers curl.”
A peeved Margaret asked, “Why are you so worried about your whiskers?”
“They up my perception. Right now it’s only by three but as they grow there’s no limit.”
Why am I suddenly imagining him with whiskers drooping off his face like a Fu Manchu mustache?
Mayah laughed at the visual her mind had created.
Grax shot her a look.
“Something funny princess?”
“Very!” was all the response she revealed and kept chuckling to herself.
Grax growled and tried to ignore her but his face plainly displayed his irritation and his whiskers twitched.
Mayah chuckled to herself as she enchanted the last grenade and stood up brushing the dust off. “Ready to go?”
Her team nodded, and they began walking out while Margaret’s vuurms were clearing a path in front of them. They made their way forward without a single attack, which raised hairs on Mayah’s and Grax’s necks, but not Margaret’s. They walked right past the stalagmite that made up the octagonal boundary around the depression. As soon as they were fully past, an energy barrier rose between the eight stalagmites sealing them inside the octagon.
Margaret spun on the barrier and let out a surprised yelp, realizing she was trapped.
Grax slid his katanas over one another like a chef preparing dinner and growled, “Oh yeah, I’m so ready to kill something.”
“Wanna kill something? How about your cattitude?” Mayah snorted.
“Heh…heh…” he said, while slowly goose necking from side to side. Then mockingly, he added, “How about this for cattitude?”
“What do these barriers mean?” Noobiliscious asked with a look of uncertainty.
“It means that, either we grind the dungeon, or the dungeon grinds us,” Grax said with much certainty
“That’s what she said…” Mayah cut in.
“Really Fluff are we still doing that?” Grax said, giving her a disapproving stare.
"I guess so?” Mayah shrugged noncommittally then hefted Happiness.
“…That is soooo…two thousand and fifteen…” He shook his head.
Mayah Hmmff’ed and said, “Everybody, sharpen up. Let’s get back on target. We have a boss to find, fight and knock the flarfingstuff out of.” She counted the tasks off with her fingers. "I also think we could use a little back up.”
Mayah focused her energy and drew the rune for Summon (S) on her palm with her finger and cast the rune. Instead of throwing the invisible ball of energy she thrust her palm downwards and channeled her mana as shadows burst from her shoulder wrapping around her arm and billowing outwards from her palm towards the ground allowing Vergie, her bound vergax, to appear. Vergie’s head formed beneath Mayah’s hand. The condensing shadows drove against her palm lifting her whole arm and pushing Mayah sideways a step as if the vergax was climbing out of a hole at Mayah’s feet. Mayah petted the giant frilled cat for a brief moment before she was even fully formed. When Vergie was fully formed her large muscular body stood taller than Mayah at its shoulder and shadows writhed underneath her frill.
“Hey, girl,” Mayah cooed. “Sorry to always call you when I’m in trouble, but I could use your help.”
Vergie lifted her head, sniffed, looked around and focused on the dead vuurm standing around. “Do you think you can help us out here?” Mayah asked.
Vergie nodded.
“Well, afterwards I want you to hang out with us for a bit. I want to get to know you better.” She scratched her throat under her frill with both hands. Vergie purred her assent.
Mayah turned her head towards Margaret while still loving up on Vergie. “Mags remember, it’s a game. You can’t get hurt.” Mayah made sure to catch Margaret’s eyes after they dipped for a moment. “Grax, you do whatever it is you do.”
“What I do, is do the duel, to you,” Grax responded in a haughty tone. “Such coarse and philistine treatment from a plebeian interloper such as yourself. I never…” Grax deigned to look at her. He showed her his back, hands on his hips.
KA-Waiiiiiiiiiiii….. Mayah squealed with all her soul. Her heart melted, and she wanted to play with the kitty. All Grax saw over his shoulder was Mayah staring at him blankly.
“What are you doing?” Mayah finally asked.
“I’m snubbing you,” he said over his shoulder.
“Why?”
“Because you told ME…to do…what I do.”
Mayah palm smacked her forehead. "I meant in battle.”
“Too late. You should have specified,” he retorted in deepening degrees of snubbery.
“Ha!!!” An exasperated Mayah snorted. “Whatever…! You are the cheapest Baron Humbert Von Gikkingen knock-off I’ve ever seen!!”
> "I am a rogue not a detective and I am now off the leash. You’ll thank me for it later.” He folded his arms, still holding swords, across his chest.
“Sure, I will.” Mayah just shook her head.
They walked forward until they were on the edge of the depression and found it to be a wide bowl that was sixty-foot-deep and about two hundred fifty feet across with steep, stone walls that looked slick as glass. It was as if something had melted their surface like obsidian. The walls flared outwards toward the top of the walls and curved in at the bottom. Even though it continued to slope downwards after the curve, It was much flatter on the bottom. It looked like an extremely large, albeit abandoned fountain. At the center, in the lowest part of the bowl was another portal stone. Mayah checked her six and spied Vergie moving effortlessly through the duskrass. It didn’t hamper her movements at all.
Interesting…. And there’s no way to climb these walls without a rope.
“Hey…who’s got the rope?” Mayah called out
“Rope?” Margaret asked with wide eyes.
"I thought you had it,” Grax said.
“Well…that’s just trope wisdom down the drain.” Mayah disappointedly closed her eyes and shook her head.
“You are always, ALWAYS supposed to have rope.” Grax stood there breathing through the paw covering his mouth. “But even if we did have it where would we have tied if off?”
“And that’s why we need grappling hooks, Mr Rogue…”
Lightning shot between their eyes for a moment until Grax looked down and away.
“Fair point.” Grax shrugged in surrender. “That does fall under my purrrrrr-view.”
Mayah and Margaret groaned in unison.
“Cat…just… Do whatever it is you do…!” Mayah stuttered in frustration.
Mayah turned back to the portal stone observantly, Grax quickly followed suit. Margaret could only look back and forth between the two not understanding the importance of what she was looking at or what to expect.
“Looks like we’re going down—to where the sewers let out.” Mayah groaned.
“…again!!!” Grax blamed Margaret with a look.
“I’ve said I’m sorry so many times. There’s nothing else I can do.”
“Yes, there is, Margaret!” Grax turned his back to the edge of the depression.
“What is it?” Margaret asked in exasperation. “Please tell me what so we can get over this game of blame Margaret for everything,”
Grax looked as if he were thinking something over. He caught Margaret with a look and waved her over. “Let me whisper it to ya,” he said conspiratorially.
Margaret cautiously leaned over to hear what he was going to say. He waved her in closer and closer. When she was an inch away, he grabbed her by the neck and spun her face first into the empty air above the depression. He then yelled at the top of his lungs over her scream.
“YOU CAN GO FIRST!!!”
Margaret slid, screamed, bumped, and rolled down the slope.
“Gnarlz, bro…!!!” Mayah’s face was twisted and her hands rested on her hips. “That. Is. Not. Cool.”
“Nope,” he calmly agreed watching Margaret roll to a floppy stop at the bottom of the curved slope. “But it definitely made me feel better.” He cheesed at Mayah with the biggest cat grin he could muster.
Mayah could only shake her head at him but she knew Margaret needed to learn the truth about these games—and Grax had just literally given her the crash course. This was not her body, and she could literally take risks that would end her life if she was in the real world. Grax had only pushed her over the literal and proverbial learning curve and there wouldn’t be any permanent physical harm.
Mayah slowly shook her head at the cat again and yelled, “Mags are you okay???”
Margaret, who was laid out on her back, barely raised an arm, and gave her a wobbly thumbs up. Mayah turned to Grax with fire in her eyes. “She is so gonna get you. I can’t believe you pushed a seventy something year old lady down a hole.”
“THIS…IS…MAJESTA!!!” He roared, holding the last note until it turned into a chuckle. “She’s only seventy in real life. My abuelita would have kicked her over too. Plus, I’m trying to unstick her from her body.”
Mayah pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Whatever…I’m going down to take a look. Stay here in case all three of us being down there is the triggering event.”
“Got it. I’ll wait till she’s regened and had a moment to calm down.”
Mayah sat on the edge of the wall and dropped into it on her soles and her butt. She slid down the wall like a skateboarder, but finally had to run to keep herself from falling on her face at the bottom. She slowed down and saw the prone form of Margaret staring up at the cavern ceiling. She knelt down and put a hand on Margaret’s shoulder.
“You okay?”
“I’m going to kill that cat.”
“I’ll help if you want.”
“Nope…I want his blood on my fingers.” Margaret’s voice was icily calm. "I want to eviscerate his bowels and rip his stupid whiskers off. I want to make him …sufferrrrrr,” she hissed.
Mayah fell to the ground laughing.
“Make sure I get to watch okay. For now, just lay there and regen. But even if you don’t thank him, you should probably thank him.
“Why?”
“After that fall are you starting to realize your in-game hardiness?”
Margaret reluctantly nodded yes with an angry harrumph.
“You’re what we call body-stuck. When the level nine realism games came out there was a small portion of players who couldn’t seem to treat their game bodies different from their real bodies. Most of these players had avatars that very closely resembled their real-life appearances. After much testing it was found out that the only way to accelerate them being freed from their real-life actions was to expose them to as many dangerous things as possible. Climbing mountains, falling from mountains, diving into a snake pit, multiple death scenarios. Stuff you couldn’t walk away from in life. These all helped to release the self from the body—in game of course.”
“So, your saying that I can’t perform as well as you two because I think this is my real body?”
“Subconsciously, yes. Look at your dry heaves, those dolls aren’t made out of flesh. They’re computer code made to seem real. It’s all in your head.”
Margaret’s brow furrowed in thought.
Mayah tapped her shoulder before Margaret went too deep. “How many dolls can you call now?”
“Nine”
“You really shoulda leveled that skill already.”
Margaret just folded her arms and went into a pout.
“Hey, it’s spilled milk, but let it serve as a lesson.”
“I’m just tired of everyone picking on me.”
"I know, but you’re getting better, and you’ve got a great team. We’ll get you up to speed in no time. Besides if we didn’t like you where would you be? Probably sitting on a terravole mother waiting to starve to death—in a video game.” She chuckled while scooting closer to Margaret and gently rubbed her shoulder. “You didn’t have much fire before, but now you’ve got a furry target to aim for.”
A cold glint flashed across Margaret’s eyes and wicked smile grew on her face. “And I can’t really hurt him…while I hurt him.” the sneer that formed actually gave Mayah chills.
“Just wait till after we get to a safe space, okay? I don’t wanna get caught flat footed because you two were duking it out.”
"I can totally wait…” the wicked smile grew a bit. “That will make it so much better.”
“Alrighty then…” Mayah clapped her hands. How are you feeling? You regened?”
“Yep.”
“Then let’s get this party started.”
Mayah typed into the group chat.
Fluff: Heading to the portal stone. Stay put.
Grax: Got it.
Mags:Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…
Grax: Yeah right, like I’m falling for that
Mags: Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…
Mags: Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…
Grax: Stop it, weirdo!
This went on for four or five rounds before Mayah realized this was going to be long drawn out mental torture for the cat and muted her chat and went to the portal stone. She pressed her hand to the ball and it lit up. The copper ring floated out of her bag by its own volition and floated in front of her. A band of silver slid out of the portal stone and twined itself around the copper and melted seamlessly into the ring. It was now one perfect ring with two metals twisting together. It floated in front of her until she hooked it with a finger.
Ding!!!
You have received the key to the Shadow’s Sheer Shine City
Well don’t try to say that fast—and where’s the doorway?
She looked at Margaret who was furiously typing in midair. She turned her guild chat back on and it was endlessly scrolling with Margaret’s new mantra, as if she had attended the Jack Torrance school of writing.
“Mags stop terrorizing the fleabag for a moment and get your key.”
Mags jogged over to receive her silver ring and was also astonished that it flew out of her bag on its own. She watched with rapt attention as it reformed, and she hooked it out of the air.
“Well, since it’s pretty now I think I’m going to wear it.” Margaret slipped the ring over her wrist and it sized itself to fit perfectly.”
OOOhhhh…my turn…
The Bracelet fit Mayah’s slender wrist perfectly as well.
Mayah raised her hands to her mouth and bellowed. “Let’s go cat!!! Time to make an entrance!”
Grax bowed with his left hand across his stomach then quickly bowed again switching arms. He stood tall with his arms outstretched and leapt forward into a swan dive. Before hitting the surface, he tucked and rolled into a somersault that rolled and bounced and began picking up speed. He looked like Seamus or Sonic as the black fur spun around and around. He finally slowed to a walking pace about 20 feet from the center and uncurled with a flourish and smoothly stepped forward as if he had calmly walked all the way there.