Rise of the Grandmaster

by Bradford Bates

  “I could use some company. These kobolds are sneaky little bastards when they want to be.”

  ShadowLily nodded toward them. “I’ll go.”

  “I guess I’ll just wait here then,” Cassie said, starting to pout.

  “Yeah, must be tough always being left behind with the healer.” Tim chuckled. “It will give us time to talk about your new armor.”

  “Now he wants to talk fashion accessories.” She stared at ShadowLily. “Where did you even find this guy?”

  “I was volunteering at the mental hospital, and he just had the cutest smile.” ShadowLily moved next to Tim and pinched his cheek like an annoying relative. “Now he’s all mine.”

  “Love at first insanity.” Cassie laughed. “Got it.”

  “Hey!” Tim sputtered. “That’s not how it happened.”

  “You tell it your way, I’ll tell it mine.” ShadowLily gave Tim a quick kiss on the lips and disappeared into the shadows.

  Throwing his hand up, Tim stared at Cassie. “See what I have to deal with?”

  Cassie sniggered. “At least she’s hot.”

  “That takes a good deal of the sting out of it.” Tim smiled as he thought about the first night he’d spent in bed with his half-eleven girlfriend. “And she kicks major ass.”

  Cassie looked around the cavern, taking in the scattered corpses around them. “You can say that again.”

  Tim nodded. It sure was nice to have Gaston and ShadowLily around. They made mincemeat out of just about anything. All he had to do was stand back and heal the odd scratch. Every now and then, he used his flameburst spell to make sure they didn’t get surrounded, but otherwise, he mostly watched the battle.

  It was kind of nice to be in the back; it made Tim feel more like a general. When they were in a fight, he controlled the ebb and flow of the battle by shouting out orders. Normally shouting orders at your girlfriend was a sure-fire way to end up castrated with your man parts thrown out of a window on the side of the road, but ShadowLily took it well.

  As long as they were in combat.

  He wasn’t dumb enough to shout at her any other time. Maybe it was something he learned from his parents. Tim could count on one hand the number of times he’d heard them raise their voices in anger at each other. At him? Well, that was a whole different story.

  Gaston reappeared. “We’ve got a problem.”

  “A big fucking problem,” ShadowLily added as she popped out of stealth.

  A big horrible smelly problem was the last thing they fucking needed. The clock was ticking, and it wasn’t like he could ask for more time. Malvonis seemed more inclined to rip your arms off than to let you weasel out of a deal.

  “Don’t leave me in suspense.” Tim knew there was a tidal wave of shit coming his way, but if any group could handle the situation, it would be his group of misfits.

  “They’ve built defenses around the entrance to the dungeon.” Gaston looked worried.

  Tim wanted to feel more concerned about the fact Gaston was worried, but he chose to focus on the positive. The assassin had just told him they’d found the entrance to the dungeon. The news was almost too good to be true.

  He had to be sure he heard him right. “So, you saw the entrance?”

  “Of course, that’s all you’d think about.” ShadowLily smacked him in the chest. “Not the more than twenty kobolds hiding behind wooden barricades.”

  “Twenty?” Tim coughed. “Wooden barricades?” None of that sounded very positive, and the most kobolds they’d faced at once still stood at ten. “Any ideas?”

  “I thought you were the idea guy.” Cassie pointed at the thief and the assassin. “Just like they go stabby-stabby, and I take all the hits.”

  “Do you really want to get hit by twenty of them?” He chuckled at the dour look on Cassie’s face. “I’m a good healer, but even I can’t cure ten knife wounds at once.”

  “What the fuck are we going to do?” ShadowLily growled. “We have to get past them.”

  “Maybe we could try to lead some of them away.” Gaston shrugged, knowing it wasn’t much of a plan.

  “But if they all charged…” ShadowLily looked at the floor. “We might need some more help.”

  Tim thought about it for a moment. He didn’t want anyone else to know about the dungeon, not unless he was forced to reveal it. When he owned the inn and had control of the dungeon, he could make some real money. People would pay to get in there, or at the very least, he could conquer it once a week and use the loot to help with his other projects.

  “We can’t bring anyone else in on this. Our situation is precarious enough.” He turned toward Gaston. “Do you think Ernie could make us anything? Like a poison gas, or something we can use from range?”

  “Even if he can, he won’t be able to do it tonight.” The assassin kept his eyes focused, but Tim was afraid he might have let him down.

  “Shit.” Tim looked at his group, desperation washing over him. Permanent death until you registered as an adventurer was a real hindrance to getting shit done. In other games you could just go in and idle while you figured out the mechanics of the fight. Their group didn’t have that luxury, and Gaston couldn’t respawn.

  Rushing heedlessly into a fight they couldn’t win was reckless and stupid. He needed time to come up with a plan, but he couldn’t do it without seeing what was waiting for them up ahead.

  Tim switched into his assassin’s gear and looked at Gaston. “Show me.”

  “You sure?” the assassin asked.

  “I can’t plan a strategy if I don’t know what I’m up against.” Tim dropped into stealth mode. “Let’s go.”

  “I’m coming too,” ShadowLily interjected.

  “Don’t worry about me, guys. I’ll just stay in the creepy cave surrounded by dead bodies until you get back.” Cassie took a seat in the middle of the cavern.

  Tim wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t risk breaking stealth until he’d seen what was up ahead. Gaston led the way until they reached a bend in the tunnel. He stopped there and pointed around the corner.

  Creeping forward, Tim tried to control his breathing. His nerves tried to get the better of him as the other room came into view. The last thing he wanted was to be responsible for killing his friends. Even if they could run all the way back to the inn before the kobolds caught them, would they be able to hold the door against twenty of them?

  Inch by inch, he moved around the gentle bend.

  Tim came to a stop, all the air seemed to have rushed out of his lungs. Gaston and ShadowLily might have been understating things just a bit. Sure, there were only twenty kobolds they could see, but they were entrenched behind barriers and had two small towers with archers. Beyond the kobold’s defenses, he could just make out two giant stone doors.

  The only place those doors could lead was the dungeon.

  If they could take out the archers, they would have a chance. None of them had any useful ranged abilities. Tim didn’t fancy their chances with throwing knives versus kobolds with bows. Plus, if the warriors charged, they’d be too preoccupied to get the archers, and the group would become fish in a barrel.

  Tim tried to commit the layout to memory, but he realized he didn’t have to. There had to be a way to screenshot or something. Opening his user interface, he searched through the options until he found a picture application. He snapped a couple pictures of the entire layout and some of just the towers.

  This was exactly what he needed to come up with a plan. When they came back tomorrow, he’d have thought it through. Tim wasn’t willing to risk his team unless he knew they could win. Just because he had a ticking clock hanging over his head, it didn’t mean they all had to feel the Grim Reaper’s cold embrace.

  Tim trudged back toward his waiting friends. His steps felt heavy, but he knew they would find a way through this. As he reached the waiting thieves, he said, “Let’s go.”

  When they were out of sight of the kobolds’ defenses, the three of them dropped
out of stealth and walked back to Cassie. She was sitting in the middle of the cavern and looked zoned out. Tim wondered if he looked the same way when he had his user interface up. Glancing at their tank again, Tim decided he’d make sure to only dip into his menus in private from now on.

  ShadowLily reached out, touching Cassie’s shoulder. “It’s time to go.”

  Cassie made a motion with her hand as she closed out of her user interface. “What, already?”

  Extending his hand to help her up, Tim flashed a weak smile. “We’ve got some planning to do.”

  Cassie started walking back to the inn, and the others followed her out of habit. “That bad, huh?”

  “It sure would be easier if we had some ranged firepower.” Tim looked at the cavern walls as if the roughhewn stone would somehow give him the answer. When one didn’t materialize, he focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

  It always felt this way in games. Being a ranged class was normally easier. You could avoid a ton of the pitfalls that plagued melee classes. But if you needed healing as a ranged class, sometimes you were out on an island and didn’t get nearly as much attention. Tim shuddered as he thought about staying out of the red indicators on the ground and hearing one of his friends, screaming “MORE DOTS.”

  The easiest way out of this was to try to recruit someone to the team with a ranged class, but he wasn’t ready to do that yet. They were so close, and he was sure they could handle this on their own if they just thought about the right way to approach it. Plus, did he really want to share the dungeon loot with some rando who wouldn’t stick around?

  Sometimes gaming could be frustrating when all you wanted was to rip through some content quickly but kept hitting roadblocks.

  This wasn’t going to be a fucking roadblock.

  Not if he could help it. The stairs leading up to the inn appeared before them, and the crew made it to the top and back inside.

  “How’d it go?” Ernie asked, his face lined with worry as he sealed the door behind them.

  Gaston sat down heavily and lifted his hand to call for a beer. “One last hurdle to overcome.”

  Cassie took a seat next to him. “But it’s a damn big hurdle.”

  Ernie looked at Tim. “Surely it can’t be that bad.”

  Tim frowned at the defeated look on his team’s faces. “Actually, there was something I needed to talk with you about.” Putting on a brave face, Tim grinned at the innkeeper, trying to reassure him. “How do you feel about poison gas?”

  “It can be a bit tricky.” Ernie grimaced as a memory from his past came back to haunt him. “Once it’s released, the gas is an indiscriminate killer. It will drop friend and foe alike.”

  “So, what I’m hearing is you can make it, but we need to be careful.” Tim patted Ernie on the shoulder. “How much time do you need?”

  Ernie looked at Tim, clearly wondering how he’d gotten roped into making the gas without saying he could. “At least a full day, but probably a day and a half.”

  “That will take us into the weekend.” ShadowLily looked at Tim. “Doesn’t leave us a lot of time for the dungeon.”

  “If Ernie can help us get past the entrance, I think we’ll have plenty of time. It’s going to be one hell of a grind, though.”

  Cassie took a beer from Liz. “Well, I, for one, didn’t have any other plans, so I’m ready to go.”

  Gaston stood on his chair. “Facing death with a chance for epic rewards might as well be the assassin’s credo. I’m in.”

  ShadowLily looked at the others before taking Tim’s hands in her own. “You don’t even have to ask. I’m with you.” She leaned forward and gave him a kiss. “We’re in this together.”

  Tim returned the kiss and looked at his friends—his team, his group—and smiled. Things were coming together. One final push and they’d get to see the dungeon. It didn’t hurt that the extra time Ernie needed would give him time to complete his other quest. Despite how bleak things had looked before, he could see a break in the clouds starting.

  It was almost time to bask in the sun.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  “Happy Transcendence Day!” Ironbeard cheered.

  Tim looked at his boss and couldn’t help but smile. He’d never seen the grumpy dwarf happier than he was right now. “What’s Transcendence day?”

  “It’s the day we celebrate the Goddess Eternia. Did you know she used to be mortal just like us until she transcended into a God?” Ironbeard looked around the shop to make sure no one was paying attention. “All of Promethia takes the day off to celebrate.”

  “Then why are we working so hard?” Tim wiped the sweat from his eyes. “Shouldn’t we be drinking beer or something?”

  Laughter bubbled up from deep within the dwarf’s belly. “You can drink beer on Monday with everyone else, but you should enjoy some of the festival this weekend.”

  “Aren’t you starting to congratulate people early if the holiday isn’t until Monday? Tim couldn’t help but grin back at the dwarf. He’d never seen his boss so elated.

  “I like to get started now, so Monday can be a recovery day.” Ironbeard chuckled. “You’ll understand what I mean when you get a little older.” He slapped Tim on the back. “Which also means I expect you to show up Tuesday morning ready to work your ass off.”

  It took Tim a second to realize that he had just scored an extra day off. Having the extra day made getting through the dungeon and not dying on one of Malvonis’ blades a real possibility. If Ernie could come through with something special, they would be set.

  “I’ll be ready to work,” Tim promised.

  “Just know that you can still pump the bellows with a hangover and a bucket.” Ironbeard chuckled. “Now get the fuck out of here so I can start celebrating properly.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice.” Tim walked out of the shop, thinking about how to spend the next three days. Tonight he had something to take care of, but the rest of time would be dedicated to getting through the dungeon.

  Walking through the market before heading back to the slums was his go-to move. He stopped to buy a few rumpleberries and took his time at some booths, looking over the wares before exiting the market at a different location than he had the day before.

  “Look at this, Chris. The dead have risen.” Barry pointed at Tim as he approached the archway to the slums.

  “Well, it is almost Transcendence day. Maybe he’s next on the list for godhood.” Chris snickered.

  “Nice to see you,” Tim snapped as he walked past them. It wasn’t his fault that he died and came back to life. Not that these two assholes would have cared if he died and stayed dead.

  “You don’t have to get upset about it,” Barry called after him.

  “But if you do end up dying again, come and tell us straight away.” Chris turned away from the opening, a cruel smile dancing across his face.

  Despite how mad the two guards had made him, Tim understood how it must have looked to them. They probably thought he was just some crazy person begging for attention. His clothes weren’t bloody, and he didn’t have any injuries. How would he have ever been able to convince them he’d just been murdered?

  Not being able to prove it, didn’t make the man with the orange sash any less real. The bastard was still out there somewhere.

  As it started to rain, Tim looked at the rolling clouds and let a few sprinkles splatter against his face. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever feel safe until he knew the man in the orange sash was dead. Not to mention, he still had Cardinal Jepsom hanging over his head.

  It was never a very good idea to make powerful enemies.

  If the cardinal hadn’t been such a threat, Tim would have been content to simply adventure with his friends. As it was, he needed eyes in the back of his head just to feel safe. Since he didn’t have a spell for that particular affinity, he was on edge all the time.

  Seeing people lined up outside of the healing shack didn’t make him feel any safer, but
he still had to help them. Between work and his mad dash to clear the caverns, he’d been ignoring the people who truly needed his help. He felt ashamed that he’d let anything stand in the way of helping them. All he’d wanted to do from the second he’d entered the game was to be a healer.

  And a fucking good one.

  Instead of heading for the door and the sanctuary of his room, Tim went to the people waiting outside. Ernie still had the doors locked as the renovations went on inside, but Tim didn’t need a private room to heal. He could do it right here on the street.

  Stepping in front of the shack, Tim called the first person forward. It didn’t take long for him to work through the small group. He healed a burn, a cut, a broken wrist, and a turned ankle before the last person stepped forward.

  “Tell me what happened,” Tim asked as he looked the woman over for any sign of injury.

  “It’s my son. He fell on his back.” She broke into sobs. “I don’t have any way to get him here.”

  He thought about it for a minute. It could be another trap. They were so close to getting what Malvonis wanted that he couldn’t risk going with her. An arm wrapped around Tim’s waist, startling him from his dark thoughts.

  “I see you still have a golden touch when it comes to the ladies,” ShadowLily purred into his ear.

  Tim turned to hug her and whispered into her ear, “It’s just, the last time I went to heal someone, they tried to kill me.”

  “Well, I’m here now. Tell the poor woman we’ll help her.” ShadowLily smiled reassuringly at him. “We’ve got this.”

  Tim turned toward the woman, who was watching them with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Lead the way.”

  This had better not turn out like the last time.

  An older woman ran out of the house as they approached. “Maria, is this the healer?” She ran past the woman they were following before Tim could say a word. The older version of Maria grabbed his hand and started yanking him toward the house. “Please, you have to hurry.”

  Tim didn’t know what to do. This entire situation felt like a trap, creating a sense of urgency so he would rush into the house despite the danger it presented. He looked desperately at ShadowLily as the woman pulled him along.