Rise of the Grandmaster

by Bradford Bates

  If Tim was able to level the spell up enough, he might even be able to heal through some of the boss’ status effects. No more jumping into the river to get rid of the acid. Just keep killing, and he’d be able to keep you alive.

  That was his job, after all.

  “Paul, this is more than I deserve,” Tim mumbled, still not quite believing his luck.

  The high priest shook his head from side to side. “For all that you’ve done in service of the goddess, you deserve it. I trust that when the time comes to carry out this last task, you won’t hesitate?”

  Tim had to think about it for a moment. He’d waffled about the killing thing for too long. This was a game, and he was a hero. Stamping out evil wherever he found it was part of every hero’s journey. No one ever shouted, “Hey that Lancelot is a real looker, too bad he’s shit with a sword.” One of the biggest parts of being a hero was the ability to take down the game’s most vile enemies.

  Jepsom certainly counted as vile.

  He wondered why it had taken him so long to come to grips with killing the NPCs. It probably had something to do with the NPCs in this game feeling so real. It wasn’t like he could walk through his neighborhood back home and smite people for bad attitudes or not trimming their grass.

  He’d leave the grass-measuring homicides to Dennis Rader.

  Here in The Etheric Coast, the people felt just as real as the ones back home, but they weren’t. He didn’t have to feel bad about killing an NPC as long as he was on the right side of things. It also helped that Jepsom was a giant ass. He might have a problem killing an innocent man, but the cardinal was anything but innocent.

  Tim looked into Paul’s searching eyes and spoke with resolve. “You can count on me to handle it. I won’t let you down.”

  “May the goddess’ light shine upon you,” Paul intoned. “I’ll do my best to spread the word to our people that they are not to interfere with any healing taking place in the slums. Mentioning that the healer working there has been blessed by the goddess herself and is to be left alone should be a sufficient story to accomplish that goal.”

  Shaking the high priest’s hand again, Tim couldn’t help but grin. This was really going to piss Jepsom off, and angry people made mistakes. “Thank you so much, Paul. I’ll have to get with my team, but I think we might be able to handle this quickly.”

  “Then go into the world and spread the light of the goddess to those who need it most.” Paul made the sign of the goddess over his chest and called for one of his guards to lead Tim out of the temple.

  Tim looked back once to see Paul sitting on his throne, head bowed in thought or prayer. It couldn't have been easy to condemn one of his own to death, but sometimes you had to cut out the rot before the infection could spread. Hopefully, having the blessing of the goddess eased the high priest’s mind.

  Tim stepped into the sunshine and felt a sense of determination. This part of his journey was almost over. After he finished his quest for the temple, he’d be able to move onto something else. Maybe they could find a new dungeon to explore, or another quest chain meant for a group instead of just him.

  Whatever the future held, Tim had the feeling it would be fucking awesome.

  Chapter Seventy

  “Come on. Let’s go,” Cassie whined.

  “But Tim should be back in a couple hours, and I want to know what happened at the temple.” ShadowLily leaned back in her chair and propped her feet up. She hoped Cassie would get the point.

  “That’s why we have to go now.” Cassie put her hands on her hips. “You know as well as I do that as soon as lover boy gets back, we’re going to get roped into some crazy scheme.”

  ShadowLily grinned at her best friend. “I do know. Why do you think I’m trying to rest right now?”

  Cassie kicked ShadowLily’s feet off the chair and sat across from her. “If we leave now, I’m sure we’ll be back before he gets here.” She knew no such thing, but getting the last step of her class change quest done was too important for whole truths.

  “Do you really think we’ll be back in time?” ShadowLily’s expression said she hoped what Cassie said was true, but she was also just really tired of sitting around.

  “Of course, we will. Remember how quick the last part of your class change quest was.” Cassie smiled reassuringly. “We got this.”

  “Fine.” ShadowLily turned away from her wily little friend and looked at the fire mage. “JaKobi, can you handle guard duty later?”

  He looked at the book he was reading. “I don’t know. My schedule’s kind of full.” He held up the book to make sure she saw it.

  “I hope that’s a joke.” ShadowLily stood up and walked toward him. “What are you reading, anyway?”

  “History of Ragnus the Burner. Apparently, he was a grandmaster fire mage who snapped and started burning people alive as sacrifices to the Shining God.” He set the book down. “And yes, it was a joke. I don’t mind staying with Tim while you knock out Cassie’s quest.”

  Cassie blew a raspberry at JaKobi from across the room. “Don’t pout because I didn’t ask you to come.”

  “Don’t worry. You can pay me back by helping with my class change.” The fire mage beamed at her affectionately.

  Cassie stood up and grabbed her bō staff from where it rested against the table. “See, Tim’s in good hands. Let’s go do this thing.”

  ShadowLily tapped her fingers on the back cover of JaKobi’s book. “Do you think there is more than one God in the game right now?”

  “There could be, but this is from at least five hundred years ago.” JaKobi laughed at Cassie’s exaggerated hurry the fuck up expression. “When we have some time, I can talk to one of the mages in the great library. I’m sure they would know if the people of The Etheric Coast worship multiple members of the divine.”

  “What does it matter?” Cassie whined. “Let’s get a move on. We don’t want to be late for lover boy’s triumphant return.”

  “It matters because if there is more than one god, there could be repercussions for helping one of them.” ShadowLily frowned. “I’ve never read a story where there were multiple gods who lived amongst each other in harmony.”

  “But that wouldn’t have anything to do with us.” Cassie motioned toward the door. When ShadowLily didn’t move, she grabbed her hand and started pulling.

  “Says the lady resurrected by the goddess.” ShadowLily let Cassie drag her toward the door. “JaKobi, if you think you can make it back on time, I’d love to find out the answer.”

  The fire mage grinned as he watched ShadowLily struggle in the doorway, waiting for his answer. He’d never felt as important as he did right now. Having someone wait on your very words felt oddly satisfying to him. “I’ll follow you out.” JaKobi tucked the book back into his inventory and headed for the door.

  ShadowLily gave him a wave and let Cassie pull her outside.

  “I thought you said this would be easy,” ShadowLily wheezed out between gasps.

  “It was easy until they started chasing us.” Cassie grinned like Nicholas Cage in Face Off. “But we’ve got this.”

  ShadowLily jumped over a fallen log and picked up her pace. “Tell me again how we got this?”

  “You’re acting like it’s my fault. How was I supposed to know the cool-ass jungle hidden inside a cave would be filled with giant lizard-men? This isn’t my fault; the quest is marked solo. Why would I plan on running into a shit-ton of monsters? All I did was follow the quest arrow on my map.” A branch hit Cassie in the face and scratched her below the eye.

  Cassie wiped the blood away but kept running. “Never a healer around when you need one.”

  “We could have had one, but you didn’t want to wait,” ShadowLily snapped.

  A group of lizard-men with shields and swords appeared on their left, forcing the two women to turn right and keep running. Cassie got the distinct impression they were being funneled farther into the jungle when all they wanted to do was leave and com
e back with a full group. She looked behind her one more time to confirm they were still being chased.

  Cassie’s grin disappeared. She was pretty sure the lizard-men could have run them down by now if they truly wanted to. The bastards had to be seven or eight feet tall. The lizard-men also had huge tails that they used like third legs to run even faster. While Cassie considered herself pretty fast, this was like Michael Phelps trying to outswim a Great White; it was never going to happen.

  Not to mention, if the fuckers weren’t trying to catch them, they might be in real trouble.

  She kept running though because facing off against fifteen of the giant green-skinned monsters with just the two of them was suicide. Cassie hadn’t completed her class change quest yet, and she was pretty sure the goddess was done handing out favors. It must be tough being a goddess. The number of people constantly hounding you for help had to be overwhelming.

  What Cassie wanted right now was a get the hell out of Dodge. If this was Monopoly, the lizard-men wouldn’t be allowed past go, but this wasn’t a board game. There was no way to know what would happen if they were caught, although she doubted it would be pleasant. Instead of hoping things would work out for the best, Cassie pushed her legs to move a little faster. Eventually, she’d run out of endurance, but she wasn’t going to give up.

  Giving up just wasn’t in her.

  Cassie had spent most of her life being told she was too small. Sure it came in handy when they wanted her to be on top of the pyramid or to stand in front for a photo, but it sucked when they were picking teams. It didn’t matter that she could drop dimes on the basketball court or kick the shit out of a soccer ball. People saw her and thought, “She’s too small to be good.”

  She didn’t let the haters bring her down in the real world, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to let some overaggressive lizards do it to her now. When the moment they were too tired to keep running came, she’d turn and fight. Those green fuckers wouldn’t know what hit them.

  ShadowLily was already starting to slow. Her higher dexterity was nice for fights when she needed to dodge and get stabby, but for cross-country marathons, it wasn’t the stat she needed.

  It was almost time to make the choice. If she had to decide between getting shot in the back by arrows or hacked apart by swords while running away, she’d rather go down swinging. Cassie glanced at her friend, hoping she wouldn’t be the cause of ShadowLily’s first death after becoming an adventurer.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’ve done about all the running I can.” Cassie lunged to the left to avoid a branch, but quickly corrected her course as another group of lizard-men appeared out of thin air to keep them on track.

  Cassie couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being herded toward something.

  ShadowLily tried to smile, but her chest was heaving so hard, it looked more like a grimace. “I’m not missing the heals as much as I’m missing Tim’s ideas. I could really go for one of his crazy plans right now.”

  “Me too.” Cassie gulped for air. “But if you tell him I said that, I’ll have to kill you.”

  “Might not be alive long enough for you to get the chance.” ShadowLily pointed at a giant hole in front of them.

  “Fuck!” Cassie screamed as she skidded to a stop.

  There wasn’t anywhere for them to go. Lizard-men stepped out of the dense foliage, creating a path that led to only one place: the fucking hole. The giant fuckers who had been chasing them filled the gaps between trees. They raised their shields and slowly marched forward. Cassie felt like she was in the movie 300 and was about to get kicked into the well.

  If she was going to die, it’d be on her terms.

  “You should stealth and see if you can get out of here,” Cassie whispered as she pulled her staff from behind her back. She’d been playing around with her new trident, but the weight of the tip threw off her movements. For now, she was sticking with her old tried and true bō staff.

  “And let you have all the fun?” ShadowLily’s bravado might have been faked, but it sure as fuck made Cassie feel better.

  “This is Sparta!” Cassie roared and charged toward the line of shields.

  Her bō staff clanged harmlessly off the solid iron shields. Despite Cassie’s best efforts, she couldn’t land a single hit against the well-organized lizard-men. They snarled fiercely as they used their shields to push them toward the precipice. It reminded her of riot police trying to clear a street.

  There was only one place the two of them were going.

  ShadowLily tried to dart through a gap in the shields, but it closed quickly, and she was slammed in the chest by one of the shields. The lizard-men waited for her to stand up before herding them toward the hole again.

  “You know, the Spartans kicked their enemies into the well, right?” ShadowLily tried to smile, but her eyes had the look of a trapped animal.

  “They also had abs of steel,” Cassie retorted.

  ShadowLily took a step back. The lip of the hole was only twenty feet away now. “What in the fuck do their abs have to do with anything?”

  “If I’m going to die, I want to do it thinking about being surrounded by three hundred men whose abs I could scrub my clothes on.”

  “Gerard Butler, I’ve got a new role for you to consider.” ShadowLily grinned. “It’s playing a washboard in a film titled Cassie Does Laundry.”

  “I’d fucking watch the shit out of that.” Cassie looked over the edge of the pit as they shuffled backward. It wouldn’t be long now before they had to put up or shut up.

  “So, do we make one last attempt to get out of here, or are we going to Thelma-and-Louise this shit?” ShadowLily slipped her daggers back into their sheaths and held out her hand.

  “We ride together, or we die together. Bad girls for life.” Cassie thumped her chest. “Just know that I’m totally the Will Smith of our group.”

  ShadowLily took Cassie’s hand in her own. “Well, I do have funny ears.”

  Looking into her best friend’s eyes, she paused when her heels hit the edge. There was nothing behind them but darkness. One more step and they might be dead. The lizard-men moved forward with their shields raised to shove the two women over the edge, but they took the final step themselves.

  Chittering laughter filled the air as the women’s screams descended into darkness.

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Where in the hell was everyone?

  Tim looked around the inn’s main room and saw Ernie and Liz talking to a man at the bar. The rest of the guild was gone. Even JaKobi, who never seemed to leave the inn, was absent from his normal spot at the bar. The Blue Dagger Inn hadn’t been this empty in forever. Even on his first day in the game, Gaston had been here with his crew.

  Speaking of Gaston’s merry men, Tim hadn’t seen them in a while. It reminded him that Gaston had a life outside of helping them. He’d have to find out how long the assassin was willing to continue lending them his services. There was always the chance Gaston would want to go back to doing his normal day to day operations now that the inn was safe and Malvonis was off their backs.

  Ernie saw Tim standing in the entrance and walked around the bar to come and meet him. “We’re waiting on JaKobi to get back before we open up the healing shack.” The innkeeper shook Tim’s hand. “Until then, Lady Briarthorn sent someone to speak to you about real estate.”

  “And my two girls? Where did they get off to?” Tim watched the man at the bar, trying to gain his measure. He was speaking to Liz in a well-mannered way that earned Tim’s approval.

  “They left in a hurry. Something about Cassie wanting to finish her quest before you came back and ruined her chances for the evening.” Ernie sniffed him. “I’d suggest a bath before your meeting, but I know you’re in a hurry.”

  Tim wafted air toward his nose. It wasn’t as bad as normal. Leaving the smithy early did wonders for his aroma. “Thanks, Ernie.”

  The man at the bar stood up as Tim approached and extend
ed his hand in greeting. “Randolph Applebottom, at your service.”

  “You can call me Tim.” He shook the man’s hand and motioned for him to join him at a table. “Sorry about my appearance. I just came from my job at the smithy.”

  Mr. Applebottom waved away his apology. “I understand you are in the market for some real estate?”

  “I am.” Tim leaned back in his chair. “Lady Briarthorn seems to think you can help me in that regard.”

  “I should certainly think so. There aren’t many people who can do what I do. Working in real estate is more of an art than a science, and I am a very good artist.” Randolph tipped his glasses down so he was looking at Tim eye to eye. “Tell me what I can do for you.”

  Tim tried not to like the man. Mr. Applebottom certainly seemed proud of his real estate prowess, but despite his best efforts, Tim found that he was enjoying his company. “I’d like to find out how much the buildings surrounding the inn are selling for, and what it would cost to repair them.”

  Randolph smiled. “Acquisition should be easy enough. The crown has been trying to unload most of them for years. As for fixing them up, I’d expect that to take a big slice of your budget.” He dropped his excited tone for one more conspiratorial. “How big a budget do we have to work with?”

  That was the question, wasn’t it. He had a pretty good chunk of gold, but how much was he willing to risk? If his ideas to revitalize the area didn’t pan out, he could be losing all the money he’d planned on sending home to his family. If it did work out, he could be set for life.

  Was he willing to bet the farm on one roll of the dice?

  “Tell me what you think you could accomplish with five hundred gold.” It wasn’t all his money, but it was enough that if Tim lost it, it would hurt quite a bit.