by Paul Bellow
“I can’t stay,” he said. “They only gave me so much time.”
“How did the Battle of Eight Wizards go?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“Don’t ask,” he said then frowned. “I can’t tell you without a penalty.”
“They can’t keep me at bay forever,” I said. “Has anyone found the exit out of the dungeon?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ve looked myself for a few years.”
“Maybe the gamemaster destroyed it,” I said.
“I doubt it,” he replied. “I’ve heard rumors.”
“Rumors are worth about as much as the gold in this place.” I turned to the fortified Tower of Sherlock. “Ryu spawned as a bone dragon necromancer, and I’m close to killing and talking to the new player they call Eric.”
Gord-En cleared his throat and looked away.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I ran into him on level One-One,” he said. “And his barbarian friend. They’re not bad people.”
“Why didn’t you kill him?” I asked. “Nobody I send seems to be able to get it done except for the brownies.”
“You shouldn’t use kids to do your dirty work,” he said. “I can’t kill him anymore than you can. We both have the same limitations on us because of what happened.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said.
He nodded and said, “I thought so.”
“I need to talk to Eric about how he hacked into the game without a prisoner identification number,” I said. “That might be key in getting us out of here.”
“Maybe this is our reality, and everything else was a dream,” Gord-En said.
“Don’t talk crazy.” I shook my head. “We’ve both been in here too long.”
“I need to go. Do you have a message for the Guild Council?”
“Guild Council,” I said then snorted. “They’ll never accept my apology.”
“You shouldn’t give up,” he said, taking a few steps toward the tower.
“Thanks for coming,” I said.
He looked back and grinned.
“I can’t help,” he said. “Sorry.”
“Go report to your masters,” I snapped.
He resumed his walk toward the tower entrance. I stayed on the ledge, looking out at the virtual world. All of it would be mine if I could never escape.
Someone would get out eventually.
I wanted it to be me so badly.
Nobody would stop me.
I would survive.
Complete.
Glossary
1dx - Random number between 1 and x. For example, 1d4 would be one to four damage, and 1d20 would be a number between one and twenty.
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AC (Armor Class) - This is a way to show how well armored a player or creature/monster/mob is in the game. 0 = Naked and 100+ = Very Well Armored.
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Alignment – A character’s alignment score runs from -100 (very evil) to +100 (very good). Some actions in the game may affect alignment negatively or positively.
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Currency - The currency system on this level of the Tower of Gates series is as follows.
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1 Platinum Piece (pp) = 20 Gold Pieces (gp)
1 Gold Piece (gp) = 20 Silver Pieces (sp)
1 Silver Piece (sp) = 20 Bronze Pieces (bp)
1 Bronze Piece (bp) = 50 Copper Pieces (cp)
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DPS - Damage Per Second
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Experience Points - Numerical representation of progression through various levels. Different classes need a variable amount of experience points (xp) in order to level-up and improve their character in the game.
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Health Points – When a character’s health points dip below zero, they die in the game. Resting and magic can restore health.
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Stats / Statistics - Strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, charisma, and constitution are the basic statistics of a character. A score of one in any stat is considered very low while a score of a hundred (or more) is god-like.
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Levels - Numerical representation of progression. For example, a level one character is very new and inexperienced. As they gain xp (experience points), they gain in level and become more powerful.
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Mana / Magic Points – Each spell cast costs a certain number of magic points. A spellcaster regains all their magic points after a full night of sleep. Mana can also be restored via magical means.
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Mindspeak / Mindspeech - Telepathic communication between characters. Signified in this novel with italics in quotes, Example: … “Can you hear me,” I asked. A character’s internal thoughts are signified with italics and no quotes. Example: Wow. That was close!
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MOB / Mobile – A non-intelligent NPC or monster in the game.
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NPC - Non-Player Characters in Tower of Gates might be controlled by the AI or players that were killed in the game.
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PK - Player Killer - A character who kills other players for one reason or another.
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PvP - Player vs Player; a mode of gameplay where players can attack each other.
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XP - (See Experience Points.)
Tower of Gates Saga
Book 1 - HACK
Book 2 - HATE
Book 3 - HERO
Book 4 - SPELL
Book 5 - STAFF
Book 6 - SKULL
Book 7 - LUCK
Book 8 - LOCK
Book 9 - LOST
Book 10 - ENIGMA
Book 11 - ECHOES
Book 12 - ESCAPE
Tower of Gates Supplemental Adventures
BRUTE
ROGUELIKE
MAGI
RETURN
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