Gamers

by Cambry Varner

  “Because they’re dangerous! Look at what happened when the Cut Throats only thought we had them.” Darcy began looking around for a lit candle or a torch until she got an idea. Dropping the packet on the floor, she pointed a finger at it. A word of arcana left her lips and the parcel and its contents was ablaze, much to Naomi’s dismay.

  “Hey! That was a quest item!” She would have bounded off the table to stop the burning if Sally hadn’t caught her. The girl was almost in tears as she cried, “You can’t do that…what about the quest?”

  “Trust me when I tell you that we want nothing to do with that quest.” Darcy ground out the flames with her heel until the letters were nothing more than ash. “It’s far too advanced for our levels. Two first level characters, a third level Cleric and whatever level you are, which isn’t high enough as you have no idea what kind of quest these letters will lead us into.”

  “One level two,” Sally quietly corrected as she consoled a weepy Naomi. From Darcy’s bemused look, she said, “I leveled up a while ago.”

  “You leveled up?” Darcy said, turning to see her. “How?”

  “When the werewolf injured Naomi, I managed to hurt him enough that he ran away. After that, a screen popped up saying I leveled up.” Sally leveled a hard gaze at Darcy. “And that’s not all. We can switch to other pages on our character screens. You only have to swipe left or right. Check it out.”

  Darcy’s eyes went wide as she brought up her character screen. Her finger waved back and forth as she switched screens. “Holy shit…”

  “Um, I leveled up too,” Mina said, sheepishly raising her hand. “Everything went black and all these gold words told me I had leveled up.”

  “The same thing happened to me!” Sally said, almost excited at the shared experienced. “It told me I got Rogue’s Evasion. It’s supposed to help me evade traps and damage?”

  “Yeah,” Darcy said, deep in thought. “If a trap goes off or there’s an area affect, like a fireball or acid spray, without surprising you, you take half damage on a failed save or no damage at all on a successful save.”

  “What does Sense Danger do?” Mina asked. For the first time since Sally and Darcy met her, she seemed actually excited. “It says I have a bonus to perceiving danger and it’s harder to surprise me.”

  “It gives you a bonus to Perception whenever someone or something is trying to sneak up on you,” Darcy said offhandedly, as if speaking on autopilot. “What your XP numbers now?”

  “Four hundred and thirty-seven,” Sally said. “That’s fifty for finishing the Lair of Tears and Naomi and I fought some Cut Throats on the way here so that added thirty-seven. Then I guess I earned three hundred and fifty for chasing off the werewolf.”

  “I’m at four hundred, so I guess it’s just the Lair of Tears for me and the werewolf,” Mina said, then screwed up her face in confusion. “Why didn’t we get any experience points for all the Cut Throats we fought on the way down here?”

  “Yeah, Naomi and I took out two guarding the waterfall cave, but I looked at the log and didn’t see where I got any for that,” Sally said, checking the log again just to be certain.

  It had updated to reflect the new level.

  LEVEL UP!!!

  350 XP for Successful Boss Fight: Lieutenant Wolfe!

  Sneak Check: Failed!

  “Because we’re in a dungeon,” Darcy explained. She was rubbing her chin in her usual habit of deep thinking and was pacing back and forth. “The rules for earning XP are different because they didn’t want players camping in dungeons to grind rare drops and XP. So you don’t gain any XP until you accomplish a dungeon goal, in this case fighting Wolfe. When Sally and Naomi forced him to flee, they won the encounter and got XP for it. When he attacked us at the door, Mina and I fought him in a separate encounter. Sally may have been the one to deal the killing blow, but she had already been awarded for beating him so it was divided between Mina and me.”

  The game—the System—followed the rules, but it kept throwing everything off. It was harder for Darcy to get a bead on what would happen next or the best way to handle this world. Ultimately, it came down to one thing they were certain of. If there was a System in place controlling everything, then someone or something created it and made those changes to Shadow’s Deep.

  There was a thumping at the door, and Prince Alexander Tomas Dragoran burst through the door and slammed it shut behind him. “The Cut Throats are coming. All of them. From below and above. We can’t get out without running into a score of them.”

  They all reacted in different ways: Mina wailed and dropped to the floor covering her face, Naomi brought up her fists with a happy hop, Sally felt tired, and Darcy’s eyes burned with determination.

  “We can do this,” she said. “It won’t be easy, but we’re better off now than we were separated. Mina, get off the floor and help pri—Tom—blockade the door. Sally, check for any secret passages out of this room. Naomi, how is your health? Do you need another healing spell?”

  Working together, Tom and Mina overturn the table Naomi had laid on and pushed it against the door. Naomi declared she could use another cure spell only if there was one to spare, but taking no chances Darcy cast one on her anyway. Now she only had three spells left.

  Eyeing the room and mentally taking in what she saw, Darcy pictured it on an overhead map like the one she had used for countless encounters and many campaigns and modules. Except this time it would be life or death.

  Sally searched the walls, knowing what to look for, but not finding it. There were no hidden doors behind furniture or nearly invisible seams of a panel. The room was sealed with the door being the entry and exit. She went to Darcy shaking her head, “Sorry. No way out of here other than the door.”

  “Good,” Darcy said staring at the door with a tactical eye. “I didn’t think there was one, but I wanted to be sure.”

  “Good? How is that good? We can’t get out of here,” Sally pointed out with a wave of a hand. “We’re trapped.”

  “True, but it also means they can’t attack us from behind nor surround us,” Darcy said, satisfied, almost mad, gleam in her eye. “They may have the numbers, but we have the advantage. We know they’re coming and which way they’ll come in. And we already dealt with Lieutenant Wolfe, so we only have McRando and some Cut Throats to deal with.”

  Sally swallowed, fear filling her chest and stomach like cotton, thick and suffocating. “How?”

  Darcy ignored her and motioned for the others together. Pointing at a group of barrels sitting forgotten in the corner of the room, she said, “Gather the barrels and set them on both sides of the door with just a little bit of space between them. No more than three side by side.”

  Tom looked at Darcy with his brow furrowed, “What are you planning?”

  “We’re going to bottleneck the doorway. Only a few of them can come in at a time; that way, we don’t get overwhelmed. Hurry, they’ll be here any second.”

  Between the five of them, they managed to set up the barrels as Darcy ordered. Naomi perched on the edge of one looking like a kid at a fair while the others looked grimly to Darcy. None of them could see how setting up the barrels could help them, but Darcy’s felt full of energy.

  As if on cue, she pointed at the barrels. “That is our kill zone. Mina and Tom, you two are going to fight side by side at the end of the barrels, opposite the door. When they kick in the door, let them come to you. I’ll be standing right behind you casting Divine Flame and healing you.”

  Sally chewed her lip and asked, “Wouldn’t Divine Flame burn a spell?”

  “It’s a cantrip so I can cast as many of those a day as I need to. My remaining three spells are for healing serious injuries, so don’t turn to me for healing if you get nicked.” She shot a hard look at Mina, who was trembling and pale. “Sally and Naomi will be behind the barrels. Since they are smaller and more dexterous, they can surprise attack the bandits as they come in and keep them from going through the barrels
. The Cut Throats will have to deal with attacks from the front and side while getting hit with fire from overhead. If we kill enough of them, they’ll have to deal with rough terrain as they walk over the bodies.”

  As if a deliberate signal, Sally heard a crash outside, down the hall. She held her breath and listened to the distant echo of boots on stone. Sally and Darcy reached out and held the other’s hand for a moment.

  “Sally, I’m sorry,” Darcy said, surprising the half-elf. “I got you into this.”

  “No, it’s not your fault. You didn’t know this would happen,” Sally said, shaking her head and flinched when the crashing became loud

  “If we survive this, I’ll see to it that we make it home,” Darcy promised.

  ***

  First the doorknob was tried and upon finding it locked heavy boots began hammering on the door. Sally was kneeling behind a barrel with gritted teeth. A part of her had hoped the bandits would move onto the next room, but another part knew battle was inevitable.

  There were shouts from outside, soon joined by more voices. Mina was trembling, but she clutched the hilt of the sword with both hands in a white-knuckle grip. A trickle of sweat rolled down between the prince’s eyes as he focused on the door with the grimness of a knight going to war. Darcy fletched her hands open and shut as she waited with the cantrip at the ready. Sally took slow, deep breaths through her nose, finding her thoughts surprisingly calm. Only Naomi seemed giddy with excitement at the incoming onslaught.

  Within seconds, the door burst open, banging the table aside to make way for two men with swords. They spotted Tom and Mina and charged with the confidence of being backed by many. They didn’t realize until it was too late, that there were more than two opponents present. Sally and Naomi attacked, fists flying and rapier slicing the air. They were down before they reached Mina and Tom, but more were coming through as the first fell.

  Tom met blade with blade while Mina was able to hold her own. Darcy pointed with two fingers and shouted a word of power that sent a plume of radiant fire at an unlucky Cut Throat. Sally ducked behind the barrels each time a Cut Throat focused on her and if he persisted in trying to get at her, he was punished for his efforts with a blow from behind by Naomi. And when a Cut Throat went for Naomi, Sally shoved her rapier between his ribs from behind. More men came in only to be surprised by the force waiting for them on the other side.

  Soon five men were dead, then eight, then ten, and then Sally lost count. Just as Darcy predicted, the numerous dead and wounded made it difficult for the men coming into the room to keep their balance making it easier to catch them unawares.

  We’re doing it. Sally thought as she pierced the side of an unsuspecting Cut Throat with the tip of her rapier. We could actually win this. We could come out of this alive.

  Then McRando made his appearance.

  “I don’t care if you have to drown them in your filthy blood! You kill those bastards or I’ll make boots out of the lot of you!” A roar thundered through the doorway. “Get out of the way and I’ll show you how it’s done!”

  A tall, powerful man with a thick beard burst into the room, knocking aside the men who were scrambling to get out of the way. Half of his face was covered in a red cloth, hiding a missing eye while his remaining eye burned with absolute fury. He paused at the door, with an expression of disgust, as though he could not believe such a rabble could have killed his right-hand man and made a mockery of his gang.

  Naomi leapt over the barrel at him, going on the attack. He caught her wrist as easily as he would a tossed beachball and just like a ball, threw her across the room. The small girl spiraled through the air until she smashed against the far wall and landed on the floor, unmoving. Darcy turned away to tend to the fallen Monk while Tom surged forward swinging his sword which was blocked by McRando’s cutlass. The blades sang together as steel kissed steel.

  “Should have stayed in your room, Prince,” McRando growled over the locked blades.

  “Go to the Abyss,” Tom snarled back.

  The swords hissed as they parted with a spray of sparks and then met again in clash of metal. Sally waited, breathing through her nose and biting her lip hard enough to bleed. Any second the metallic clanging would be replaced with the wet sound of flesh being sliced. From where she hid, she saw Darcy casting a healing spell on Naomi and Mina backing away, sweating in terror.

  Tom was able to stand against McRando, but he shouldn’t have to do it alone. When metal clashed again, she moved. From between the barrels, she brought her knife around to sink it into McRando’s right kidney only to have her hand caught in a meaty fist.

  “You thought I couldn’t see you there, elf bitch?” McRando snarled at her, holding Tom’s sword at bay with ease. Tom was looked at her in concern, distracted, and that was all the bandit boss needed. With a mighty thrust, he shoved Tom away and swung his sword downward towards Sally.

  For several terrifying seconds, Sally knew she was going to die. She couldn’t move, couldn’t react, but could only wait for the blade to render her in half.

  Bright light burst across McRando’s face. He threw back his head at the last second, but the Divine Flame cantrip still put his beard on fire. Darcy had two fingers pointed at McRando from where she knelt beside Naomi. He howled, thrashing his face to and fro to put out the flames crawling along his beard. Sally raked the rapier across his leg, cutting through his pants leg and flesh.

  He cursed and released her and Sally rolled away and didn’t bother to try hiding again; his one eye could see her despite her Sneak skill. The least she could do now was back up Tom.

  “Mina!” Darcy yelled. “Get in there and help!”

  “I can’t!” Mina whimpered backing up near her. “I’m not a fighter! I was studying to be a doctor!”

  “Rage! Help Tom and Sally or he’s going to kill all of us. You boy-crazy loser!”

  Color surged to her face, turning it bright red, and before the fear could take back control, Mina was evidently able to seize her anger.

  Get angry. Be angry. Swallow it and feed it at the same time.

  Her embarrassment ignited into fury and an image of her attacking Darcy with the sword trembling in her hands came, but she squashed it down. No, Darcy was not the object of her anger, no, her true transgressor was the man who had caused them to be kidnapped and put them in this situation to be scared, attacked, and humiliated.

  With a shriek that would outmatch a bear with a nail in its paw, she lunged at McRando, swinging the sword overhead. He blocked it, but his arms strained to keep his metal between his face and her sword. He stepped back, letting the sword slide off, only to be nicked by the glancing blow of a rapier.

  Shocked by the ferocity of the Barbarian, McRando found there was no time to react or strike back at her, as the prince had returned to the melee.

  Blades flew through the hair like panicked birds. McRando artfully blocked, parried, and dodged, but felt that luck would run out for him eventually. Soon his clothing was bloody from the numerous shallow cuts where blows found their mark. And he had to be on guard for the sudden hot burst of fire that more than once had scorched his face.

  Though he was a strong fighter in his own right, he knew he couldn’t hold out forever against three combatants and a magic-user. Retreat now, and he would bring a reckoning upon these fools that would make the gods weep. With a solid punch to the barbarian woman’s solar plexus, he spun and kicked the prince’s feet from beneath him. Leaping around, he had barely taken a step towards the door when a presence blocked him.

  The damn elf woman. No matter, he was the stronger fighter. She was small and weak; he could rip her apart with a swipe of the cutlass. When she tried to block it, her thin rapier would break in two, and her pretty head would roll on the floor.

  The sword cut the air, but not her. She ducked down beneath the blade and thrust upward. The tip penetrated through cloak and flesh, sinking into McRando’s abdomen. Agony lance through his torso and he drew bac
k, sliding his gut off her rapier. He touched his front and his hand came back bloody.

  The bitch had almost gutted him, and she still wasn’t moving out of the way. He swung at her, each swipe of the sword going wild, the pain throwing off his arm.

  Why didn’t I let him run away? The fight would have been over.

  With both dagger and rapier forming a V, Sally blocked his attack and realized the answer.

  If we let him escape, we’ll have to watch our backs forever. I saw the hate in his eyes. I know he’ll keep coming after us until we’re dead. One way or another, we have to end this now.

  Tom rose from the floor and rammed into McRando from behind.

  McRando gave a roar. “I might be going down, but I’ll take one of you into the Abyss with me!”

  As much as he would like to cut the bitch in half, killing the prince would be more satisfying. The political fallout when his body was found in a thieves’ hideout would cause a war. McRando knew he must strike hard and true, fell the prince with one blow, so the cleric had no time to heal him.

  He turned at the waist, aiming for the prince’s exposed flank. Steel bit into flesh and Tom cried in pain, stepping back, blood rushing down his side. The wound was deep, but not fatal, for the bandit leader had forgotten the barbarian woman, who pulled Tom back at the last second and caused the blade to miss the vital organs. Worse, McRando had turned his back to a rogue.

  The sharp metal thrust into his body so fast that it was almost painless. Every muscle twitched and blood filled McRando’s mouth. Then the rapier was pulled from his back and the bandit boss dropped to his knees, dropping his sword. This was the end, he knew, the inevitable end for those who led the life he had. Yet, he wasn’t quite ready to leave this life quietly.

  “You have no idea what ye’ve done,” he muttered darkly, looking at them all. The cleric was tending to the prince’s wound, using one of her final healing spells to stop the bleeding. The barbarian woman was panting, coming off her Rage, and the monk girl was sitting on the floor, still dizzy from a concussion. He saved his last gaze for the half-elf rogue staring down at him, her rapier still covered in his blood. “Ye’ve no idea what is waiting for you when Riker finds out what ye’ve done. When he does, you’ll wish I had sold you down the river.”