by Brian Simons
>> You’ve been hit! 67 Damage.
It was all the time the spiders needed to cinch their web around Daniel’s back and tighten it. His arms didn’t stay free for long. The spiders worked together to pin him down and wrap him in a thick straitjacket of webbing.
As he bucked against the tightening web, he heard Sybil and Sal scream out for help, but there was nothing he could do. Onik was nowhere to be found. He had vanished, just as he had after The Ersatz collapsed in on itself.
They had only killed a few of the spiders before the others succeeded in incapacitating them. They began dragging Daniel and the others behind them on long ropes of web. He was finally going to see what this game had in store for players unlucky enough to become arackid food.
Then a dark shape caught Daniel’s eye. It was the darkest black he had ever seen, stalking through the trees behind them. It was the size of a large man, though Daniel couldn’t make out any features.
Daniel’s spider captor continued to haul him through the forest in a sack of its own secretions. His head hit against rocks and debris as he dragged along. He kept his eyes on that impossibly black shape. It moved with uncanny speed through the forest, making no sound.
Daniel’s journey came to an abrupt end. The spiders chittered among themselves. It looked like they disagreed on which direction to take. That disagreement was a fatal mistake.
The black shape erupted from a nearby bush. It was a hulking silhouette, with outstretched arms and a short blade as black as its bearer. Daniel struggled to crane his neck and watch the carnage unfold. That shape swept through the spiders, slashing their sides open and releasing their oozing viscera. It sliced legs at the knees. It gouged eyes.
The spiders skittered back, unsure which direction held the safest retreat. They didn’t have time to strike back or to run. In a matter of moments, every last spider was torn apart. Their hairy bodies vanished, leaving no trace of their violent deaths.
The black shape didn’t stop. It continued to sweep through the group until their tethers were ripped open.
Daniel scrambled to his feet and readied his sword, not sure if their savior would turn on them.
“Oh, put it down,” the man said, deactivating the darkness and revealing himself. It was Onik.
“What the hell was that about?” Daniel asked.
“Some things should not be left to chance,” he said. He pulled the small nose ring that hung from his giant nostrils and held it out for everyone to see. Blat cooed and reached up toward the obsidian ring, but Onik lifted it higher and out of the goblin’s reach.
“After we escaped the minotaurs’ underground prison,” Onik said, “I fled. I confess it was more than just my fear of being punished for rousing warriors to storm the drow. King Rumin buried this relic long ago, afraid of what the drow would do with it. They are cutthroat enough without having the heart of darkness on their side.
“I thought we might need it in the battle against Tawn, so I dug it up. It was no easy task. It took me ages to find its hiding spot and remove it from the bowels of the earth, but time was one resource I had down there. Equipping it helped convince others that we could defeat the drow, so they followed me further into the tunnels where we could plan in hiding. I couldn’t risk Rumin seeing this prize in my nose.”
Onik walked while he talked, and the group followed behind.
“If King Ulthor knew I stole this from his father’s hiding place, the punishment would be severe. Notwithstanding the fact that I’m the reason it’s not buried under the rocks forever. The line between hero and scofflaw is black and white with my people.”
“That ring would have made a huge difference in the fight with Tawn,” Daniel said.
“Yes,” Onik replied. “I was loathe to reveal my possession of it unless necessary. When the battle turned against us, I was about to use the ring. That’s when you cast off your cloak and created a frenzy with that blood red armor of yours.”
“Hey guys,” Coral asked. Daniel was so focused on Onik’s story that her voice only registered as something quiet and distant.
“I didn’t spirit this away out of selfishness,” Onik said. “Quite the opposite. I recovered this ring at great personal risk for the benefit of my people. They are safe now, thanks in no small part to you. Sybil_in_Shrouds got her reward. You should take this as yours.”
Daniel stared at it, incredulous that the NPC would just hand over a valuable item like that.
“I have no hidden motive, other than earning back some of the karma I’ve lost recently. Fortune does favor the giving, don’t you think?”
“This ring isn’t yours to give,” Daniel said.
“One should always be more generous than allowed,” Onik replied. “Be forewarned though, the ring has a long cooldown. Now that I’ve used it, it won’t be much use for a while.”
Daniel took the obsidian ring, ignoring the moisture from Onik’s nose. Daniel equipped the item and watched it resize to fit his human hand. He may not be able to activate it just yet, but it was too impressive not to wear.
>> Ring of Endless Night. Activate once per week for 60 seconds of Haste, +100% Sneak, and +50% chance of Backstab. Endless… for the first 60 seconds. Durability: 498/500.
“Guys?” Coral asked again.
Daniel’s head half-turned toward Coral, but his eyes were trained on this new ring. He admired it for a moment and wondered what it would sell for. Then his eyes fell on the mark of honor King Rumin had branded onto his hand and he felt guilty for even considering fencing the minotaurs’ ancient relic.
“GUYS!” Coral yelled.
Daniel looked back, and saw that Coral really was distant. The group had continued into the forest, but Coral was stuck behind. Her hands were posed in midair, as if pressing against an invisible wall. The area around her palms glowed the color of rose gold.
“Remember that magic barrier?” she said. “I found it.”
37
No matter how hard Coral pushed against the magic blocking off the forest, the air ahead was like a brick wall. Ripples of pink and gold spread from her hands while the rest of the barrier remained perfectly invisible.
Daniel was the first to walk back through the barrier, though neither he nor anyone else caused the same colorful effects Coral and Blat did when they touched it. Blat stood by her side, his dark green hands pressed against the wall just like Coral’s were. His hands caused gold ripples as well, mixed with the same green color as his skin.
“How come we could get through?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know,” Coral said.
“The barrier has always let elves through,” Sybil said. “That’s all I know. Coral, we may have to leave you behind.”
“There’s got to be a way to get through here,” Coral said.
“I’m sorry,” Sybil said. “We don’t have time to figure it out. Farah must be locked in a state of constant combat right now. Otherwise she’d have logged out. I can see she’s been online this whole time. I tried PMing her, but I don’t think she can respond.”
Sybil turned to walk further into the forest. “Wait!” Coral said. “There may be a way to force her to log out.”
Sybil turned back. “How?”
“I met the game’s head programmer when the CEO demanded that I show up to corporate headquarters,” she said. She hadn’t explained all that to Sybil and Sal earlier and they were appropriately surprised. Onik just stared at her with a puzzled look on his bovine face.
“Hector Pérez. He said there was a way to log players out remotely. Let me see if I can reach him.” She logged off and jumped up from her bed. She could kick herself for not thinking of this earlier. Farah had been under Sivona’s control for the better part of an hour.
She dialed the number on Hector’s business card, hoping for her sake that he was still in the office despite the late hour. It rang twice before someone answered.
“Arbyten, Inc., how may I direct your call?” It was the robot reception
ist.
“I was trying to reach Hector Pérez,” Coral said. “I thought I dialed his direct number.”
“Mr. Pérez no longer works here,” the robot said. “Is there someone else I can connect you with?”
“No, thank you,” Coral said and hung up. This was bad, and Coral didn’t understand how it happened so suddenly. She was relying on Hector to help shut down Domin and make sure her parents were safe. She logged back in and saw Sybil pacing back and forth.
“Well?” Sybil asked.
“Hector doesn’t work there anymore,” Coral said. “Give me a second to think.”
There was no point in emailing Hector again. He wouldn’t have access to his work account anymore. Why hadn’t I thought to ask for his cell phone number?, Coral thought. With no other options, she absently opened game menus hoping for inspiration. Inventory showed nothing that would help with Farah. Equipment had nothing she didn’t already know. Skills and Attributes, not helpful. Communications — and that’s when she saw all the PMs that had been accumulating.
The first few were from Daniel. She had the one from Sal that she read earlier. Messages from Domin, which she had been ignoring. Then there was one from a player named DamnYouPerez. That had to be Hector.
Coral’s heart sank further as she opened the message. “The plan is off,” it said. Hector had been fired, but not before he discovered the extent to which Domin was to blame for what was going wrong with Travail. It was the last line of the message that upset her most. “If you have video that will keep your parents safe, send it directly to Domin.”
There was no video footage that would show happy healthy people winning at life through Travail. Without an ally on the inside, Domin would do what Domin seemed to do best: ruin lives.
She opened the messages from Domin next.
From [unnamed_account]: Coral, it’s what those of us with office jobs call “close of business.” That means nothing to you, but to me it means you have seven hours to get me footage I can use.
From [unnamed_account]: Video shouldn’t take this long. Let’s see some of that hard play I’ve heard you’re famous for.
From [unnamed_account]: Coral, time is ticking. I need video by midnight.
From [unnamed_account]: Coral, I got the message you sent. With Pérez gone, all of his emails redirect to me. You have some nerve going behind my back. First thing tomorrow I’m having your parents transferred to another facility. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were carjacked and held for ransom en route. Can you afford ransom? 8 a.m. Sierra Leone time = 4 a.m. EST. Get me footage by 4 a.m. or else. Plus, I want a video of you apologizing for ever criticizing Travail and thanking me personally for creating such an amazing way to earn a living. The phrase “dream come true” comes to mind.
She closed the messages and felt the blood drain from her face. It was unreal that a businessman could do these kinds of things and get away with it. She went to read that last message again to make sure she read it right, but it was gone. All of his messages were gone. It was like they had self-destructed after she finished reading them.
“Coral?” Sybil asked.
“Nevermind,” Coral said. “I can’t help Farah. I can’t help anyone.”
“What are you talking about?” Sal asked.
“Nothing,” Coral said. She had no choice now but to look for an opportunity to make a pleasant little video for Domin and then grovel before a camera. Not her avatar, her. Lauding Domin and singing Travail’s praises. It made her sick.
It was almost 11 p.m. That gave her five hours to meet Domin’s revised deadline, but first she had to help Sybil rescue her sister.
“Hector’s not there anymore,” she said, “and the CEO absolutely won’t help us.” She turned toward the minotaur. “Onik, do you know why you were able to get through the barrier?”
“Not really,” he said.
“Can you ask your magic dice?” Daniel asked.
“The dice aren’t magic,” Onik said. “The magic is my own and the dice are how I channel it. But yes, I can roll for it.” He took a large twenty-sided die from his pouch and threw it on the ground. The word Perception appeared over his head and the die tumbled forward, landing on a 12.
Onik stared forward for a long moment. “It’s not a barrier,” he said. “It is layers and layers of barriers. I can see them all, shimmering in the air together. They’re beautiful.”
“Focus,” Sybil said.
“Right,” Onik said. “There’s a barrier to keep out humans, one to keep out ogres, and one to keep out dwarves. There are others, related to the gods, and others still that target monsters and a few other species. None takes aim at minotaurs. I assume the queen erected these barriers, and expected my race had long perished.”
“If there’s a barrier for humans, why is Coral affected but not me?” Daniel asked.
“That’s not what I rolled for,” Onik said.
“Roll again,” Daniel said.
“It doesn’t work like that,” Onik said. “But I will hazard a guess. If the barrier blocks humans, and you got through, you’re not as human as you thought.”
“Maybe,” Sal said, “it’s like when Coral and I were in the Ogrelands and we saw a ruined soul turn Bergg into a monster. He melted into some kind of ogre-cheetah hybrid. After that, the game said he was blighted, just like me and Daniel are now.”
“Or,” Sybil said, “when we saw a dwarf get turned into a rock monster. He was blighted too.”
“Okay,” Daniel said, “so you’re saying we need to find a ruined soul and convince it to blight Coral?”
“No,” Sybil said. “Farah is blighted now. It doesn’t always work out so well.”
Suddenly it dawned on Coral. There might be another way. “I could try adding a layer to this outfit.”
“Doesn’t that gear feed off your stats?” Sal asked.
“Yes,” Coral said, “but the next piece of this armor opens up Shiftwalking through ‘magic and fey.’” She hated the idea of her armor bleeding her dry, but not nearly as much as she hated to think about Farah held against her will and unable to log out.
“If that doesn’t work,” Sybil said, “you’ll still be stuck out there.”
“And weaker,” Sal said.
“I know,” Coral said, “but I have to try.”
She dug into her bag for a piece of death’s veil and opened her skills and attributes screen. She sank her last two skill points into opening up helmets under Standard Etherworking and got to work.
She tore the fabric into long strips and rolled each along its long side, resulting in five long rolls of the weightless fabric. She held them in her hand and twisted all five of them together, forcing them to curl around each other in a thick bunch. She pressed the ends of the rolls together with her fingers, smoothing out the seam and making one continuous headpiece that would sit on her head like a wreath. She equipped the item, knowing she wouldn’t be able to remove it.
>> Forbidden Halo (+). For servants of a darker Covenant. Constitution -5, Spirit +25. Durability: 35/35. Set bonus Shiftwalking: 1 piece (metal and bone), 2 pieces (glass and stone), 3 pieces (magic and fey), 4 pieces (night and day), 5 pieces (another dimension), 6 pieces (death’s ascension).
>> Congratulations! You have improved your Etherworking ability to 9. +12% additional crafting speed when crafting Etherworks.
Immediately she was prompted to feed her armor.
>> Feed Ravager’s Rags? Y / N
She wanted to resist, to deny the ghostly armor a meal made of her stats, but she wasn’t sure what happened to rags that starved. Did they cripple the wearer? Did they fall apart? This armor had proven useful, even in battle despite her diminished Defense. She sighed and selected “Y.”
>> Ravager’s Rags (+) (3 pieces) consume 24 Defense.
As her stats declined she felt a familiar dull ache in every bone. It was like her armor had tapped into her marrow and drank away her strength.
“Lucky for you,” Coral
said to Blat, “you fit in my Mary Poppins bag. Come on.” Blat hopped in the bag and Coral stepped forward.
She smuggled Blat into the forest without triggering the invisible barrier’s golden ripples. “Everybody ready?” she asked.
“Wait,” Sybil said. “Onik, you didn’t say there was a barrier preventing drow. When I was a drow I couldn’t get into Diardenna.”
“Maybe the queen took down that part of the wall,” Onik said.
“So she wants Sage Tawn and an army of drow to march on the forest?” Sal asked. “Why?”
“I suppose we’ll see,” Coral said. It had struck 11 p.m.
>> Sage Tawn’s army clashes with Sivona in: 1 hour.
38
Daniel stopped walking every few feet and peered into the trees. Between the constant feeling of eyes trained on his back, the sound of spiders rustling in the branches above them, and the faint echo of voices from the forest’s depth, his nerves were on edge.
“This is my fault,” Sybil said, brushing a low branch to the side. “We spent all that time on the mountain. How could I not see Farah there?”
“I don’t know how much time she spent logged in,” Daniel said. “I should have noticed a Paladin in our ranks. We had so few healers as it was.”
Sybil nodded and kept walking, clearly struggling with the guilt welling up inside.
“Was that really your father?” Coral asked.
“I wouldn’t waste a word like that on him,” Sybil said. “If he comes near Farah, I will kill him so dead.”