Blood and Cupcakes

by Taj McCoy El

“I was a sales woman for a developing technologies firm. I scouted labs to find the best solutions to common problems on construction sites, medical centers, and tech conglomerates."

  “In that case, there's an ability you should get.”

  “What’s an ability?”

  “It modifies what your character can do. The ability I was thinking of is called Skinflint. At first it gives you a 5% discount off of anything you purchase.”

  “Really?” She sounded interested.

  “Mine is already at level 2 so I get 7%”

  “How do I go about getting it?”

  “Haggle relentlessly. And once you get it, don’t call it out. Please, just say it in your head. I'm having a hard time with Ibn Daw because I said it out loud and now he adjusts his prices accordingly.”

  “Good advice. So, what's with your golden glow?”

  “Oh, it’s my runes. The glow is called shield and its great. Reflects 10% of incoming damage to the attacker. Now watch this.”

  An orb of white energy came into existence and she threw it at a tree. Margaret oohed at the sight of the tree being frozen through with a spike. “That’s spike.”

  “What else did you get?”

  “How about this?” A green blob formed in her hand and she tossed it to the ground where it smoked and sizzled. “Acid (D) blob.”

  “That looks painful.”

  “I do believe it would be. But I haven’t tried it on myself yet. Hopefully, I never will. I have one more but I'm saving it as my surprise attack so I can’t use it yet.”

  “What is it?”

  “I can summon a Shadow Vergax.” She pulled the skull from her bag. Margaret jumped back stifling a scream as she realized what Mayah had in her hands.

  “Calm down, will ya! This is only its skull.”

  “I, for one, wouldn’t want to meet the rest of it,” Margaret shuddered.

  “Well, it’ll be under my control so if you see it, don’t wet yourself, OR stab it, okay?”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  Mayah gave Margaret a heavy helping of side-eye, then said, “We’ve still got a few minutes before we need to leave. Why don’t you train your stamina and I'll continue working on my runes?”

  “Sounds as good a plan as any. And how do I train my stamina?” She clapped her hands together in anticipation.

  “You see that big rock over there….”

  …..

  Carelton was standing at the table as he finished his presentation. “...It’s at least semi-sentient. And it’s way off of the reserve. We’ve wiped 400 cores, and as soon as they boot back up with the new patches, they just get corrupted by Ouroboros again.”

  “Does anyone have any suggestions?” Josh asked the room. For a long moment, no one said anything

  “What if we could trap it in the game?” Ronald’s voice came from the back of the room.

  “I thought we wanted it out of the game?” said another

  “We do, but if it were in game it would have to conform to the rules of Majesta and we’d be able to at least put a stranglehold on it,” Ronald suggested.

  “That’s just totally insane,” Carelton asserted

  Josh thought about it, “But it might just work.”

  “Look, I know it sounds crazy… okay, it is crazy but I'm not hearing any other suggestions. Worst case scenario here, we lose all of the AIs, but even if we do nothing that may be the outcome anyway.” Ronald ran his fingers through his red mop top, removing the stray hairs from his face.

  “Mayah said it’s looking for a way out. Why don’t we give it one, but one that we can control? We can feed it an avatar with all of the resources the avatars have at their disposal. It might find it to be more comfortable. Then we clamp down on the code and erase the avatar.”

  “That’s too reckless, Ronald.”

  “Maybe Kyle, but I’m not seeing any other options.”

  “Does anyone else have any other ideas?” Josh waited, looking at the faces around the conference table. “Well then, I want teams on this immediately. Feasibility reports every hour until we go ahead or determine another course of action. Carleton… You’re in charge.”

  …..

  4.3 A Swing and A Miss

  “Hey Jensen, I got somebody I want you to meet.”

  “Hello lassie, what stories of trouble and terror do ye have for me today, and how did they come to include such a fine lady?” He made the most grandiose bow Mayah had ever seen. Mayah hadn’t known he was that flexible.

  “Jensen, this is Margaret the Necromancer I told you about.”

  “This here fine lady is the one ye had to rescue??? I don’t believe a word of it.” He waved the back of his hand at Mayah. “She is too fine of a woman to let some terravoles bother her. Fluff, I now consider yer story rubbish.” He winked at Mayah, then took Margaret's hand and kissed it as he made another bow. Margaret stood there with a rising blush.

  “Hello…”

  “It is well to meet ye. Are ye planning on joining our little ragtag band of merry men?”

  “And women,” Mayah inserted.

  “...Yes, and women…” Jensen replied, his eyes never leaving Margaret.

  “I was thinking about it,” she said sheepishly

  “It’s not always fun and games, so don’t think we’ll be easy on ye forever.”

  “Fluff had me doing some of your stamina training. And I got 2 points already. 1 in strength and 1 in stamina”

  “That’s the spirit!” he said boisterously.

  “Have you seen Grax?” Mayah was looking around for the little predator.

  “He’ll be along, but it wouldn’t do to let this pretty flower wilt from the heat. We should head to the tavern.”

  “But it’s not hot out,” Mayah scoffed.

  “That’s beside the point,” he chided her.

  Margaret laughed at their banter and said, “I could use a drink.”

  “A lady after me own tastes.” Jensen clapped his hands to punctuate the discussion.

  “Fine then,” Mayah acquiesced, “But we should leave Grax a note.”

  “Why don’t you ladies head over to the tavern? I'll finish closing up and leave a note for the scoundrel.” He passed Fluff a few silvers, “First round is on me.”

  Mayah and Margaret were finishing their drinks and waiting for food when Jensen slid into their booth. “Hello ladies.” He took Margaret’s hand in his. “So, Margaret, tell me about yerself.”

  “Hey, that mushy stuff can wait till I'm not around,” Mayah quickly bashed that conversation to the floor grinding it into the dirt with her heel. “Besides we’ve got tales of trouble and terror to discuss.”

  “Again?” Jensen didn’t look fazed at all.

  “Yup and I’ve got under two hours to get ready for my duel.”

  “Yer duel???” It was quite lucky he didn't have a drink, for he surely would have spat it out in surprise.

  “Yep, I have a duel at 8 o’clock.”

  “With who?” Margaret asked.

  Mayah began the story for both of them about her confrontation with Travisty at the smithy.

  “Simple minded, simpleton chauvinists. I'm surprised they still exist. You will lay him out good won’t you, dear?” Margaret gave Mayah a look that offered her any support she might need.

  “Sure thing, Mags, but I wanted to get some strategy from Jensen. I’ve never fought a duel in Majesta before.”

  “It’s the first one I’ve seen in the training village, but I’ve had my fair share of them in my day. The first rule is that you can only use what you have at the beginning of the match. I’ve seen summoners lose by having their pets out before the bell rung and they’ve gotten torn apart. The only ones that doesn’t effect is necromancers because their magic activates in an external shell. They're allowed to bring corpses, but not dolls or zombies,” he said for Margaret's edification.

  “Second, no one can die in a duel in the training village, but the bragging rights and
money from the side bets are astronomical. It’s a no-holds barred free-for-all. Better make sure ye use yer Achilles Heel constantly for this.”

  She hit her head with her hand. She hadn’t thought about that. She needed to use Achilles Heel all of the time to level it up. She had been wasting time, another of her pet peeves. She triggered it twice in quick succession; areas on Margaret and then Jensen lit up blue.

  “All in all, there's not much help I can give ye since I haven’t seen this Travisty fight. Just manage yer stamina like I taught ye and ye’ll be fine. I'm sure of it.”

  “So, I got this new hammer and I'm wondering if I should use it. I haven’t really trained with it except for the last couple of hours.”

  “How many DP does it deal?”

  “DP?” Margaret asked.

  “Damage points," Jensen clarified.

  “17, but its 15 pounds heavier.”

  “Well, ye win some, ye lose some,” he shrugged taking a drink from his mug.

  “I wish I could've gone to the training field, but I didn’t want anyone to see my new runes.”

  “Oooh, ye got the Runeskill now do ye?”

  “I most certainly do.” she told Jensen about her shield, Spike (W) and Acid (D) runes but kept the Vergax secret.

  “New runist usually get four new runes,” he said, arching an eyebrow.

  “And so, did I.”

  “So yer keeping secrets from me now.” He made a poor attempt at a sorrowful face.

  “You’ll see, I promise,” Mayah laughed at Jensen’s antics. “I still haven’t even seen it. Since it takes eight hours to recharge, I'm glad I didn’t use it yet. If I had, I wouldn’t have gotten to show off Vergie in the duel.”

  “Whatever ye’re planning, I know it’s gonna be spectacular. Ye never fail to disappoint me or my coin purse.” He jingled the bag at his waist.

  “Wait, I’ve got an even better way to get back at this travesty named Travisty.”

  They all leaned in and Mayah whispered conspiratorially.

  Margaret and Jensen’s faces lit with awe as she outlined the plan.

  …..

  Grax found them as they were leaving the tavern. They did the necessary introductions and recounted a little of Margaret’s tale. Grax put his foot in his mouth as soon as he opened it, “So you were trapped there for hours and didn’t think about respawning??? Total noob.”

  “Well, rude cat, we’re off. I gotta go fight a guy.” Mayah turned and started walking towards the practice field. She had a duel to get to and a socially tactless cat to get away from.

  “Hey, what about food?” he mewled.

  Mayah threw him a terravole meat. “That should stave off any hunger for a while.” And hopefully shut you up.

  “Thanks Fluff.” He took a bite and, oblivious to manners, began to speak again. “So, who’s dis guy yer gonna fight?” the words tumbled out with a few bits of terravole meat.

  Ugh...boys... so dirty... “Some jerk who wanted to keep the smithy all to himself.”

  “So, he got in your way, huh?”

  “And now he gets to be under my way.” She used Achilles Heel on Grax and the telltale blue areas lit up.

  “Man, you’re creepy when you talk like that.”

  “Well then you better let me pet you when I ask," she leered at him.

  “Not when you ask like that,” he laughed.

  “Oh, by the way, I’ve got Shadow Eye and wanna try it out. Can you Shadow Step for me?”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  He disappeared into Margaret’s shadow. She squeaked at the suddenly vanishing cat. Mayah could still make him out, but he had become a foggy outline that melted into the background. Fortunately, she knew where to look. “Thanks, Grax.”

  “No problemo.”

  As they approached the training field, a sizable crowd was already gathered. She pulled her hood on and shouldered her way into the large ring of people. Travisty stood menacingly in a heavy black breastplate with pauldrons and gauntlets.

  Holy geez, at least he wasn’t wasting time in the smithy.

  “There you are,” he boomed. “I didn’t think you would show, little girl.”

  “...And miss the opportunity to crush your skull in? I think not.”

  He sneered at her.

  Jensen forced his way to the center of the ring of spectators. “Now I'm here set some rules. Rule number one: everybody to the bleachers so these two can move freely.”

  The spectators began moving back and finding seats.

  “Rule number two: this is a no-holds barred duel. Paladins, use everything you’ve got in your arsenal. Rule number three: I'm taking bets on Pretty Princess Cuddle Fluff.” There were some chuckles at that, and when they calmed Jensen finished with, “Now arm yourselves so we can see what we’re betting on.”

  Travisty pulled his bastard sword from his back and held it above his head with one hand. The crowd was starting to get riled up. There were cheers and loud praise, for it was a magnificent sword. The edge was keen and it looked thirsty. It had ornate scrollwork on the hilt and a small spiked pommel. It would surely deal significant damage.

  Mayah pulled her new great hammer from her back with some struggling against the straps. She let it fall and rest on the ground, huffing like it took some effort. There were jeers and laughter from the crowd.

  “Place your bets," Jensen yelled over the commotion. Mayah stood stock still waiting for the bell to ring.

  In a few minutes Jensen said, “All bets in? Let’s watch a duel.”

  “Wait!!!” Mayah raised a hand into the air and looked towards Travisty. “How about we make a bet of our own?”

  “What would you have to give me?”

  “Let’ see,” she scratched her chin. “I just bought 40 gold worth of supplies today and I still have about 60 gold and some silver left. How about I bet everything in my bag against everything in your bag?”

  “Everything???” He looked a little perplexed.

  “Yes everything,” she said. He was taking his time mulling it over.

  “Don’t tell me big ole bad Travisty is afraid of a widdle goil?” She activated Skinflint, hoping to make the deal seem more lucrative. She couldn’t tell if it was the taunting or the Skinflint that pushed him over the edge, but over the edge he went anyway.

  “Fine, it’s your funeral.”

  “So why don’t we give my Majestan friend over there our bags and give him permission to access them?”

  “Sounds fair, but I want an oath out of him.”

  Jensen snorted at Travisty but then said, “May Ba'alquion take me if I break my vow.”

  An Oath

  Jensen Clanmeister has sworn to uphold the outcome of the battle and decide fairly the rewards and punishments of this duel. If he breaks this vow, you will be notified and his relationships with Majestans will fall from trusted to untrusted and his presence attribute will drop to a score of zero for the length of one year.

  Do you accept?

  Y/N?

  She accepted and Jensen proclaimed, “I have access to both bags.”

  She looked at Travisty. “Now how am I supposed to take your word for granted …OATHBREAKER?” She angrily spat the last word.

  Anger rushed into his eyes.

  “I Travisty Ironfist, will uphold the outcome of this duel. If I break my vow, may Ba'alquion come and take me.”

  Jensen made a strange face at this, shaking his head but saying nothing.

  She accepted his oath.

  “Now ‘widdle goil’ it’s your turn.”

  Mayah made the same oath and it was time to duel.

  “Both fighters stand 20 feet apart.”

  They positioned themselves on the field.

  “READY…???” Jensen checked each fighter to make sure they were ready.

  “TO BATTLE…!!!!”

  Mayah cast the rune for Summon (S) and a shadow raced along her arm from her shoulder to her outstretched hand. Shadows quickly shot fort
h from her palm and all 300 pounds of the Vergax formed in midair. A snarling, clawing beast of destruction, it leapt forward on the billowing shadows, crossing twenty feet in a flash and landing right on Travisty’s chest. Vergie began to savage him before he even hit the ground, while the crowd let up a raucous cheer.

  She let the cheers fall away to keep it from distracting her. She lifted her hammer with one hand and dumped half of her stamina into her mana as it refilled, she activated Shield and then went on the offensive.

  Travisty had gotten back on his feet and was swinging at Vergie, trying to ward off her powerful claws.

  Idiot, if you kill the summoner the creature disappears.

  Mayah pulled a stone from her bag and began the enchantment. Right before it clicked, she threw it at the lumbering cretin and it exploded in his face. He reeled back and threw a blind fireball at Vergie who took the hit in the shoulder, removing a quarter of her remaining HP. She was down to 60%. Vergie swiped at his leg. Travisty danced back trying to get some distance. How much strength does he have to dance around in armor like that? Then Vergie took another fireball to the face and dropped to under a quarter of her hit points.

  Keep your head in the game, Fluff.

  Hefting her hammer she said, “Time to see what this baby can do.”

  She circled right to flank Travisty. Vergie was spinning him left with slashes across his face and legs. Travisty daren’t look away from the big cat. Activating Achilles Heel, Crushing Blow and Whack-A-Vole she lined up for center mass and dove into the fray. Travisty took a wild backhanded swing, at about her head height. It was close. Close enough for Mayah to hear its whistle as the tip of the blade missed her eyes by less than six inches. She saw the blue spot on the side of his armor, underneath the arm and above the ribs. She stepped forward under the sword, turned her torso, and in a fierce underhanded golf swing, delivered the powerful strike like a cannonball. She followed through with all of her body weight. The strike carried every ounce of strength she possessed. The blow was so powerful that his body practically wrapped around her hammer. His head almost touched his knee and small pieces of his armor cracked and flew off of his chest. He spun way from Mayah before he fell sprawling in the dirt on all fours.