Gamers

by Cambry Varner

  “Explain these alignments. I heard of them in memes, but I’m not sure what they are.”

  Darcy set her elbow on a knee and propped her head on her hand. “It doesn’t matter in the online game, but tabletop it helps define how players roleplay a character. And there are items in the game that only players of certain alignments can use.”

  “Can Mina change her alignment so she can become a Paladin?”

  “I don’t know. It’s not something you can change by just leveling up. It depends on the Game Master, or in this case, the System, whether her alignment changes based upon her actions.”

  Finishing with copying her character stats, Sally handed the parchment to Darcy who looked them over with a nod. “You got good stats and you were smart to boost your Sneak skill.” She paused. “I would have put the points you spent on Swim into Charm or Perception instead.”

  “I thought I’d have to swim out the way we came,” Sally said with a shrug.

  “That’s the challenge with raising skills,” Darcy explained. “You want to raise the skills that will be useful later on, but then you end up not having to use them. Like bumping up Climb because you think you’re going to a mountainous area, but you end up in a marshland where Swim would be more useful.”

  “I take it you have opinions on how we should level our characters from now on?”

  “Yeah,” Darcy said with a “that’s obvious” tone. “As for you, keep boosting your Sneak skill. I don’t need to tell you how useful that is. And I know you haven’t been using it, but Charm and Perception are good skills, especially in Everguard. At level three, your Sneak Attack will do more damage and you’ll get a plus one to finding traps.”

  “What about Mina and Naomi?”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure,” Darcy said, stretching out on the bed, fatigue finally claiming her. “Barbarian and Monk are the two classes I’m not that familiar with as I tend to play spell casters or Rogues and I don’t have the game books with me to consult. Since Naomi’s level five, it’ll be awhile before she levels up and Mina is going to go with whatever will keep her safer so I suggested she stick to Climb and Swim so she doesn’t fall from tall heights and drown.”

  Earlier Sally had checked her experience points and saw that she had only gained 180 from the encounter with the Cut Throats and McRando. As did Mina and the others. Darcy explained that XP was divided between participating party members. It still seemed a little low since it was supposed to be a boss fight, but Sally wasn’t one to complain about coming out of that mess alive.

  Now she needed sleep, but she remembered there was something else she needed to share with Darcy. “There’s another thing: Tom told me about people in a caravan being killed. All of them with white arrows.”

  Darcy look at the ceiling soberly and nodded, “I heard about that too from the serving girl, and it has me worried.”

  “Is it other players?” Sally’s question hung in the air between them like a guillotine blade.

  Darcy’s voice carried an imperceptive tremor. “Maybe. And if it is, then they’re high level. They would have to be able to make mastercraft arrows and kill off an entire caravan of people. That’s why I want Tom to come along with us: he can fight and will be another pair of eyes on the road. If anything should happen, we’re better off with him than without.”

  Sally considered this for a moment then said, “It’s worse if it’s players, isn’t it?”

  Darcy drew a breath and released it through her nose. “Yeah. Way worse.”

  Sally wasn’t familiar with multiplayer games. Still, she had heard enough to know about griefers and trolls who purposely ruined the game for others by camping near spawn points to gun down emerging players or harass other players through chat or mic. What would those trolls do if they found themselves in a game world come to life? Sally had figured trolls were cowards who used the anonymity of the internet to make people’s lives miserable.

  What if the players—and Sally hope to god that it wasn’t players—were people who still saw this as a game where anything goes. Instead of worrying about finding a way home, they saw this as a means to cut loose, to fulfil dark fantasies of death and power.

  Fear squeezed her heart, and Sally asked, “Will we be safe in Everguard?”

  Darcy nodded firmly. “Yes. Everguard is full of high-level guards, and I’m sure there’s plenty of other high-level NPCs who won’t fancy being killed.”

  Sally fidgeted with the blankets, seeing some comfort in the walls of a medieval city filled with guards. It was better than traveling out in the woods. “Shouldn’t we tell someone? Not Naomi or Mina, of course, but the law or Tom?”

  “No way,” Darcy said. “They’ll suspect we have something to do with it, and then what can we tell them? This is just a hunch, and things aren’t exactly happening as it does in the game. This could be some high level boss hiding out in the forest having himself a good time attacking caravans. If it is players, then how do we describe them? We don’t know what race or class they are.”

  “If that is what you think is best,” Sally said despite her own misgivings about it. Then another worry came to mind. “Darcy, do you know who Riker is?”

  “Yeah, but don’t worry about him. We’re going to steer clear of him in Everguard. As long as we don’t trigger his questline, we’ll be fine.”

  “McRando said something about Riker coming after us for killing him.”

  Darcy shook her head, “In the game, McRando and Riker had nothing to do with each other.”

  “Like Stinky Pete and the Cut Throats?”

  Sighing, Darcy said, “Riker is the leader of the Thieves’ Guild in Everguard. You encounter him when you take an investigative quest from the city watch. As long as we don’t get involved with the quest, we shouldn’t run into him.”

  “So, we shouldn’t worry about him at all?”

  “There’s no need to worry about him until we get to Everguard. Right now, we need to focus on the trip,” Darcy said, promptly closing the topic of Riker and studying the map. “It’s a five-day journey, so we should get to Everguard with two days to spare before the full moon. We’ll go to the bank, get the money, and go straight to a temple. After that’ll figure out what we’re going to do next.”

  With that said, they both settled down to an uneasy sleep. Darcy put the papers away on a shelf and blew out the candle. In the dark, there were several long moments of silence until it was broken.

  “Sally?”

  “Yes?”

  “Thanks for coming to save me. And Mina too. I don’t think I thanked you for that.”

  “You would have done the same for me.”

  “Yeah, I would have.”

  There was another long moment of silence.

  “Darcy?”

  “Yes?”

  “Will it be weird if I sleep with you tonight?”

  “No, come on over.”

  There was silence again, and this one lasted many hours.

  Chapter 14

  Departure

  The sun was just beginning to rise when Darcy gently shook her awake. Sally yawned, wishing she could take a morning shower to fully wake up.

  “Is there any coffee?”

  “Yeah,” Darcy said, adjusting the armor in place at her shoulder. “Stinky Pete wants us out of here as soon as possible, so he had breakfast prepared early. Don’t take too long. We need to be on our way as soon as we can.”

  With the promise of fresh coffee and food, it took Sally very little time to dress and head down. As Darcy said, a table laden with food was waiting, and the welcoming scent of coffee touched her nose as she approached. The others were already seated and partaking of the food.

  Darcy was sitting next to Tom and studying the map with him. After downing a cup of coffee, Sally made herself eat despite not being a breakfast person. They had a long journey to make with a time limit, and the more ground they covered today, the better. Naomi was talking animatedly with Mina, almost spraying br
ead crumbs as she spoke with her mouth full. The Barbarian listened with a slight smile, maybe the first genuine smile Sally had seen on the swarthy face since they met. Naomi was excited about the journey claiming it would be like the Lord of the Rings.

  Stinky Pete was watching them from behind the bar with foul expression. Sally believed that if he had owned a gun, he would shoot them all, starting with Darcy or her. It was best to finish eating quickly and be on their way. As if perceiving the same thing, Darcy rolled up the map and ate the last few bites of her sausage.

  “Eat up, guys. We’re leaving in ten minutes.” Then she and Tom rose together and went to the bar.

  Seeing Darcy coming towards him, Pete squared his shoulders and leveled his gaze at her as if she were a charging bull, and he had no intention of giving ground. “Is there anything else you wish? All my teeth? My first born? Or the skin off my back?”

  “You can keep all of that,” Darcy sniffed and laid the page on the counter but didn’t relinquish it when he tried to pick it up. It was pinned it to the wood with two fingers. “Did you get everything I asked for?”

  Pete looked as if he could spit in her face. “Yes, it’s all there in backpacks.” He nodded to five backpacks setting in a neat row on the edge of the counter. Folded on each one was a travel cloak with a hood.

  “Good,” Darcy said with a frosty stare. “We’re leaving, which I’m sure you’re pleased about, but before we go, I’m going to leave you something you don’t deserve: a warning.”

  Darcy leaned forward, bringing her face within inches of Stinky Pete. “Open up your ears and listen good because this might save your life. Your working with bandits is done. You will not sell out your patrons to any criminals ever again. If I hear of any travelers being attacked or robbed near Spring Bell, I’m going to assume you had something to do with it and come back here and burn this place down with your sorry ass inside it. Do you understand?”

  A trickle of sweat rolled down his pale brow, but he nodded slowly. “I do.”

  “Good.” Darcy removed her hand and let Stinky Pete take the ledger page. She must have rolled well for her Intimidate. “We will be checking back to make sure you understand.”

  With that said, she turned away, and Tom followed her. Once they were out of earshot, he whispered, “Are we just going to let him get off easily? People have lost their lives because of him. My guards and valet, all good men, were killed.”

  Darcy glanced back to make sure Stinky Pete couldn’t see and then reached into her armor and pulled out a few folded pages of the ledger. “I told him he could have that page. Not that he could have all the pages.” She offered them to him. “You take them and make sure he pays for what he’s done later.”

  ***

  The early morning air was cold and crisp and Sally could just make out the mist of her exhalations. Only the villages who tended their gardens and who were eager to begin their daily work were outside, starting their day. So the group only received a few glances as they left the village. Sally wasn’t sad to see it fall behind them until it was out of sight.

  “Sally, wear your hood.” Darcy had been leading the party as they departed the village, but now she had fallen behind to speak with Sally.

  “Why?”

  “The reason why I wanted travel cloaks with hoods was so you can hide your ears,” Darcy said, touching Sally’s shoulder. “We’re traveling through a part of the world that’s racist against non-humans. It’s better to avoid trouble as much as possible.”

  Sally lifted the hood over her head. It was comfortable, like wearing a hat that didn’t pinch her forehead. “Good idea.”

  “It’s two days’ walk to the next village, River’s Edge,” Darcy told everyone once they were well outside the village. “It’s a little bit of a detour, but we can spend the night the tavern and restock our supplies. Then we’ll spend three days traveling to Everguard.”

  The next thing she did was made them throw out their rations. “I’m not putting anything from that man in my body. If he’s willing to sell out his own customers, then he isn’t above poisoning us for blackmailing him. Between Naomi and Mina, we should be able to scrounge enough food for us to eat along the way until we reach River’s Edge.”

  Mina furrowed her brow. “Then why did you make him give us rations then?”

  Darcy gave her a smug grin. “Because it cost that bastard. I hope someone tells him we threw them on the side of the road for the animals.”

  “Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Mina muttered as she threw her ration bundles onto the grass.

  Sally did the same, though with some doubt. It seemed pretty risky to rely solely on their survival skills for sustenance for two days. Darcy, however, was the closest thing they had to an expert this world and the System, so she likely knew what she was talking about.

  Holding his rations in both hands, Tom gave Sally a questioning look that told her that he shared the same thoughts. Sally gave a shrug and an uneasy smile to indicate that she felt the same, but there was nothing she could or would do about it. With a sigh, he tossed his rations onto the ground too.

  Then Darcy noticed something and furrowed her eyebrows. “Naomi, where are your shoes?”

  The blonde girl blinked. “What shoes?”

  “The ones I made Stinky Pete get for you. The ones I made you put on before we left. Where are they?”

  “I left those behind. I don’t need them,” Naomi said with a casual shrug and wiggled her toes in the dirt. “I like going barefoot.”

  Darcy shook her head, “It’s a long walk and your feet are going to get blistered, and we’re in a hurry to get to Everguard for…reasons you know about.”

  “I don’t need shoes,” Naomi said stoutly.

  “You’re not a hobbit.”

  Sally interposed herself before this blew into a diatribe. “Darcy! I’ve seen her run barefoot through the forest and her feet were fine. If they do get hurt, she’s small enough that one of us can carry her or you can use a heal spell on them.”

  The Cleric huffed at the thought of blowing a spell on a preventative problem like blistered feet, but relented with a stern warning. “The next time I blackmail someone for a pair of shoes, you’re going to wear them, even if I have to nail your feet into them.”

  When they resumed their journey, Tom sidled next to Sally and whispered, “Your sister has some colorful threats.”

  Sally shrugged, “She gets it from her dad. He was always making threats that he wouldn’t ever carry out. He once threatened to knock our teeth down our throats for talking back, but he’d never laid a hand on us.”

  “You have different mothers?”

  “And fathers,” Sally said. “Her father married my mother when we were kids.”

  “Was your mother an elf? Or was it your father?”

  Sally skipped a step, mad at herself for not being on guard. “It was my father. He was the elf.” She was going to have to tell Darcy, so she will give him the same story if he asked her the same questions.

  “Her father didn’t mind marrying a woman with a half-elven daughter?”

  “He was open-minded,” Sally replied.

  They had to be with gamers for daughters and they met because of their daughters’ hobby. When the Xbox 360s came out, both Darcy and Sally had dragged their parents to Gamestop to get their pre-ordered consoles. While both girls were eyeing people who were leaving the counter with newly purchased consoles, their parents had eyes for each other. Neither could understand the obsession their daughters had for something they had both sank several hundred dollars into and stood hours in line to collect. Maybe that was the common link between them that led to a romance that saw them marrying by the end of the following year.

  Sally liked Darcy’s father instantly as he didn’t expect her to do girly things like hanging out at the mall or obsessing over celebrities and music idols. Likely because he knew what he was in for, as his own daughter pored over RPG gaming books and bought dice
instead of shoes.

  Their parents tried to get their daughters to bond over gaming, but their tastes in games were too drastically different. Sally had been into single-player console and PC gaming while Darcy was all about MMOs and tabletop. Sally thought Darcy was too loud, and Darcy thought Sally was a recluse. It wasn’t until Fallout 3 came out that they were forced game together. Though the girls had their own consoles, their parents saw no need to buy two copies of the same game.

  “Unless one of you has fifty dollars hidden away, you can either play it together, or you can take turns with it,” they said when Sally and Darcy each demanded their own copy.

  The matter was settled with a coin toss that Darcy won, and Sally went to her room to sulk. Later, unable to help herself, Sally ventured into Darcy’s room to watch her play the opening scenes and got sucked into the story and graphics. They both created the character together and made decisions through discussion and took turns playing the action scenes while exploring the apocalyptic Capital Wasteland together.

  That was when Sally realized there was a kindred spirit in Darcy who understood the hold a game can have over someone. To fall in love with a digital world and the characters inside of it and to immerse yourself in the gameplay, the satisfaction of success, and the fury of failure. To pine for a delayed release only to be disappointed by the unfulfilled promises of the developers.

  And here there was no screen in front of her nor a controller in her hand. She could imagine this was a dream for many people to be inside a fantasy realm straight out of a Tolkien or George R.R. Martin book, but the stakes were too real. Twice, Naomi had almost been killed, Mina and Darcy kidnapped, and she still felt the aches from fighting Cut Throats the day before.

  Were they stuck here forever, or was there a way back home? These thoughts rolled through her mind over and over and she was certain the same question was troubling Darcy and Mina. Naomi, however, was too busy enjoying herself, actually skipping as if they were on the way to a merry picnic or festival.