"Meet us at the entry hall," said Martina with a wink.
It took Alex a few minutes to find the hallway with the rotary phone. Her mother answered after a few rings.
"Duke residence," she said with a slight slur.
"Mom! Merry Christmas!"
"Alexandria," said her mom. "I'm so glad you called. I was worried I wasn't going to get to hear your voice."
"Have you been drinking?" laughed Alex.
"Just a little," her mom said, and she could imagine her mother holding up her fingers near the phone a few millimeters apart. "You know, gotta enjoy it while you can. Life is short."
"Don't be so morbid, Mom." Nearby laughter came through the phone. "Are you having a party?"
"Sort of, a traveling one. Frank and a few others stopped by. We're going into town to look at the lights," said her mom.
"Oh, that's sweet of them to take you out," said Alex, pleased to hear her mom wasn't alone on the holidays. Their neighbors tended to be loners, so it was a pleasant surprise to hear they'd gathered together for even a night.
"I hate to do this, but we were just headed to the car," said her mom.
"That's okay, we're headed into the city ourselves," said Alex.
"Are you having a good time at school?" asked her mom.
Alex thought about her progress in the game. "It's hard, but yeah, I am."
"That's good, sweetie. You know I love you very much. I always will."
"Love you too, Mom. Have a good time tonight."
After she hung up, Alex stared at the wall. It'd only been four months, but it felt like years since she'd seen her mom. And how quickly her mom had found other things to do. It's not like she expected her mom to be pining away for her, on the contrary, that would break her heart, but part of her felt some weird misplaced jealousy and sadness that that part of their lives had come to an end.
With a few more layers, and wearing a winter coat she'd found hanging in the hallway, Alex joined the group headed into town. Bucket and Martina led the expedition, which included a tall guy with brown skin wearing earbuds and nodding his head to music, and the red-haired girl, who seemed vaguely familiar to Alex, though that seemed ridiculous since she'd just met her.
The six of them headed to the train station. Martina bought them all tickets into the second ward. The car was full, forcing them to stand crowded together near the door.
Alex found herself standing next to the red-haired girl, who was much taller than she'd expected. She had a long-distance runner's frame. Her flat expression suggested that she wasn't interested in talking, but it felt more awkward to stand next to her and not say something.
"Hi, I'm Alex," she said, offering a hand.
The red-haired girl frowned, keeping her hands in her jean jacket pockets.
"Lily."
"Nice to meet you."
Lily stared back with barely a blink. The silence after felt like a shield. Since Lily was taller, it left Alex staring at the buttons on her jacket. There were a variety of languages and places displayed on them. Alex still had the nagging suspicion that she'd seen Lily before.
"What zone are you in?" asked Alex.
When Lily didn’t answer, Martina leaned over with a pleasant smirk. "She's in Redstone Mesa."
The answer brought a wrinkling of Lily's nose in Martina's direction, which received an eyeroll in turn.
"I'm in the Warped Forest. What about you, Martina?" asked Alex.
Martina, who wore a big, fluffy white coat that matched her wild haircut, tapped on her chest. "I'm in Direkelp Keep, Bucket's on Dreadbone Island, and Haviere's in the Harrowed Ruins of Entropy."
"Are any of those near each other?" asked Alex, hoping for in-game companionship.
"Unfortunately, no," said Martina.
"Yeah, Marzio's an asshole," said Bucket, who was leaning against the pole with his eyes closed. "And not just about his placements."
"Are you still bitching about those three flying fireballing mage-pirates?" asked Martina, laughing.
"Till the day I die," said Bucket, with eyes now open, shaking his head. "After I finally killed them, I wanted to stomp their pixels into the dirt. Bastards didn't even have the courtesy to have loot."
"Dreadbone Island sounds pretty crazy," said Alex, thinking about swashbuckling pirates and three-mast ships.
"Minus those flying freaks, it hasn’t been too terrible. The pirates have been hilarious. I talked my way into one of their camps a few weeks back, and we spent the night drinking and singing bawdy pirate songs," said Bucket.
He raised an eyebrow in Martina's direction. "But Dreadbone Island ain't got nothin' compared to Direkelp Keep. Everything is underwater. No thank you, I like my sharks to circle the island, not have to swim with them."
"Wow," said Alex, thinking about the challenge of living underwater. "Where do you sleep?"
"In a warm bed of kelp," said Martina. "While I'm underwater, I wear a nice pair of gills, curtesy of the Argent Changeling class. Speaking of classes, have you gotten yours yet?"
"Barely," said Alex. "I'm an Arcane Mastermind."
"Oh, Cunning stat," said Bucket, eyes wide with excitement.
Martina shook her head. "Bucket, if you even—"
Bucket looked directly at her. "Clever girl..."
Both Alex and Martina groaned at his Jurassic Park joke.
Chuckling, Alex asked, "Dare I ask what class you are?"
In the limited space, and as the train car rumbled around a corner, Bucket bowed. "I am the Puppet Master."
"Oh, the mannequin," said Alex, referencing when she'd first met him. "Charisma?"
He nodded.
Hoping to pull Lily into the conversation, she turned. "What about you, Lily?"
The red-haired girl glanced around as if she were deciding if she were going to answer, but eventually she said with a hint of exasperation, "Elemental Champion."
"Endurance?"
"Strength," said Lily, "with an Agility sub."
"Gotta play to your strengths," said Martina with a knowing nod.
The sense of familiarity hit Alex again. She looked hard at Lily, trying to figure it out.
Martina caught her expression and said, "Lily, the Hammer, Brodziak, current MechLeague world champion."
A downward curl caught the edge of Lily's lips as her nostrils flared. "Not any more. World championship was last month."
"Oh, shit," said Alex. "I've totally watched you play. You're awesome. What level are you?"
"Eleven," said Lily, who still held herself apart despite the confined space.
"Damn," said Alex. "I'm way behind."
"Haven't figured out how to exploit your way to winning yet?" Lily asked, eyes narrowing.
A stone formed in Alex's gut. Based on the look, it appeared that Lily had seen her streams. Exploiters had their detractors, but she normally didn't have to face them in person. It was made worse by the fact that she would have been excited to learn that the world champion of MechLeague had heard of her, but it was clear that the fascination wasn't mutual.
The train lurched to a stop, providing an end to the suddenly awkward conversation.
Alex hurried out behind Bucket and the others. The second ward train station was packed, forcing them to shoulder their way through the crowd.
But once they came out onto the street, Alex sucked in a breath as a giant princess in pink braids wielding a two-handed sword the length of a city block went charging past towards a giant robot with four spinning blades for arms.
The cheers as the two illusions fought in the middle of the street—cars zooming through their feet—stretched a grin across her chilly cheeks. They found a spot at a street café. Martina passed the hostess something to get them a seat. Almost as soon as they sat down a tray of steaming mugs of hot chocolate appeared.
Bundled against the cold, breath forming white mist before her lips as she sipped the hot drink, Alex watched the massive illusions do battle. A tingling warmth traveled
up her spine, not only from the delicious drink, but from the excitement of knowing she was part of something greater than herself.
In her wildest dreams, she'd never imagined herself in the Hundred Halls. The city of Invictus seemed like a faraway place, a mirage that no one actually visited, because it seemed so fantastic that it couldn't be real. But here she was, sitting in a café, having drinks with her classmates, watching an illusionary Santa wield a flamethrower against a band of knife-wielding punk reindeer.
It was the first time she felt like she belonged at the Hundred Halls.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alex stayed in the real world for a few days, mostly so she could scribe her in-game notes, as much as she could remember, into a notebook she’d purchased while they were in the second ward. She didn't know if it would help, given that she spent all her time in game, but she took the hint from the walls of scribbles in one of the rooms and the handwritten spell book she'd found.
The rest of the group had disappeared back into the game the next morning, leaving Alex in an empty house. She wished someone might have stayed, as she'd enjoyed talking with her classmates—even Lily.
She tried calling her mom a few more times while she was out, but never made the connection. Eventually Alex realized she was delaying returning to Gamemakers Online because she knew her next task was to slay the Ghostly Cobrawasp.
It was afternoon when she returned, which meant her minions were in their nests, plump from hunting during the night. Axo was nowhere to be found, but there was an offering of crickets on the log by the nests.
Alex got right to work, using her jagged bone knife and ability to make endless ropes to create the right tools for hunting the elusive cobrawasp.
The next day, before she left, Alex smeared berry ink beneath her eyes as war paint. She was tired from staying up all night working, but once she got moving, the exhaustion slipped away.
As she hiked into the center of the forest, she kept her minions in a tight halo around her with instructions to scan constantly. Until she could get set up, she was at her most vulnerable.
After a few hours of searching, Alex found the right area. A tall tree had fallen over, landing in the upper branches of another. The long slope was at the perfect angle for her plan, though her initial climb proved it was too unstable.
She had to spend the next hour fitting supporting logs beneath it and lashing them into place. The structure wouldn't survive any significant impact, but it would stay in place long enough for her to kill the cobrawasp.
Alex climbed the sloped tree without her ascending rope, getting into the upper branches of the second tree. She pulled ropes and nets from her Handysack, thankful that multiple items of the same kind could stack, and started the lengthy process of hanging them in the surrounding trees.
The whole time she worked the spot between her shoulder blades itched. The Ghostly Cobrawasp had a bad habit of showing up directly behind her, putting her at an immediate tactical disadvantage.
Alex hoped that her precautions would eliminate the cobrawasp's advantage of surprise. She worked through the day until the shadows in the forest lengthened.
Before she lost the sunlight, Alex climbed the second tree into the high canopy. Because the area was on a hill, it rose above the rest of the Warped Forest, giving her a better view of what remained.
As she stuck her head above the leaves, Alex had a moment of vertigo when the wind blew and her perch swayed precipitously. Clutching the thin branches gave respite, and the breeze eventually passed, leaving her more stable.
Behind her, towards the chasm and the Plains of Warsong, faint lines of smoke trailed into the sky, suggesting camps of intelligent beings. While Bucket and Martina had warned her away from that zone, it would be nice to talk to other people, even if they were NPCs. Bucket's story about spending the night drinking and singing bawdy songs with his pirates had been appealing to her.
Past the Plains and high in the air, Alex caught a shimmer of movement again, but when she tried to examine it, she saw empty sky.
Alex turned towards the backside of the Warped Forest. The trees sloped down towards a hollow against the mountains, growing more colorful until they were a rainbow riot covered in a soap bubble shimmer.
At the center of this chaotic mass of color was a single white spire, a sharp extended peak that looked like a pale stalagmite sticking from the ground. From a distance it looked small, but given the scale of the backdrop, Alex assumed the spire had to be as wide as a small stadium.
The region around the spire shifted as if it couldn't decide what color it needed to be. The effect made it difficult to look at, and Alex had to squeeze her eyes shut a few times to ward away the dizziness.
Quest Offered: Investigate the heart of the Warped Forest (+25,000 XP) [Y/N]
From her airy perch, Alex accepted the quest, then when she'd seen all she could see, she descended through the trees, stopping at the top of the angled slope. The light from the setting sun cut through the forest at an angle, leaving sideways parallel rays of light.
Though she could feel her minions hovering above her, Alex glanced up as Pinky sent a warning cry. The Ghostly Cobrawasp appeared above Pinky, driving a stinger into its furry brown body.
But Pinky's new ability, Reactionary Armor, kicked in, making her minion temporarily invulnerable.
While the cobrawasp hovered above Pinky, Alex shot her enemy with Cloud Taunt. Gray clouds snaked through with electricity flew from her fingers, surrounding the cobrawasp.
The winged creature shot towards Alex, but paused high above her, out of reach of her whip. Its shimmering black hood rippled as it made midair adjustments because of the various nets hanging in the trees. Its tail snapped like a cat, clearly agitated.
"Come on, you stupid snake," she said with her hand on the nearest net rope.
It hovered between the trees, providing her with her first good look of her enemy. Its belly was gray, with a silvery edge that bordered its black back. Shimmering wings buzzed ominously, making minute adjustments like an energetic hummingbird. The long glistening black stinger made her chest ache with the memory of it piercing her flesh when it'd killed her in the past.
When the cobrawasp realized it couldn't make a direct attack, its neck expanded and its head reared back. Right when the snake-head shot its venom towards her, Alex expanded a shield she'd made with one of her tigersloth furs by stretching it over a frame of wood.
The rotting venom has destroyed the Tigersloth Shield!
Alex threw the protective device away. It'd done its job. Now she had to hope that the cobrawasp couldn't spit its venom again.
Before the cobrawasp could dart towards her, Alex ran down the tree slope to a pull rope and yanked it, releasing a hail of wooden darts and filling up her view with messages.
The wooden dart deals the Ghostly Cobrawasp 4 damage!
The wooden dart deals the Ghostly Cobrawasp 3 damage!
The wooden dart misses the Ghostly Cobrawasp!
The trap didn't deal much damage, but it had the effect she wanted, as the cobrawasp made a wide circling attack to avoid the possibility of more darts.
She'd hoped to get a proc off the Shocking Strangler before she had to move again. Alex stowed her whip on her hip, grabbed a descending rope, and made a rapid journey to the forest floor.
As she landed in a pile of leaves, Inky shot her a warning, so she threw herself to the left, rolling away from the cobrawasp, which had somehow beat her down.
The Ghostly Cobrawasp misses you!
The huge stinger impaled the ground right where she'd been standing. The cobrawasp made an angry buzzing sound in frustration.
Alex threw a Dewdrop Orb in hopes of distracting it, but the spell fizzled, forcing her to retreat. The cobrawasp flew after her, filling the air with an angry buzzing.
She escaped behind a tree as the flying insect-snake tried to impale her. One hit and she'd be dead. Alex couldn't fight the creature head-o
n, but the cobrawasp's unexpected speed had forced her away from the main traps.
Dodging around the trunk as the cobrawasp circled was driving her fatigue bar up quickly. She couldn't outlast it, so Alex called in Clyde.
Without regard to its safety, her minion shot in, thrusting its daggerlike proboscis into the cobrawasp's unprotected back.
Clyde assassinates the Ghostly Cobrawasp for 56 damage!
She had no illusions that the strike would kill her enemy, but the attack did what she hoped. The cobrawasp turned on Clyde.
"Go! Fly away!"
The cobrawasp hesitated, so she shot it successfully with another Cloud Taunt as she ran back towards her trap. The cobrawasp shot after her, but Alex ducked under the sloped tree before it could reach her.
She yanked on her ropes, launching a weighted net towards the cobrawasp and capturing it beneath its weight. The creature strained against the ropes.
Alex approached with her whip in her hand, ready to finish off her antagonist. But before she could send in her minions to drain the cobrawasp, it turned incorporeal, its shiny black body turning misty gray. Once the creature finished changing, it shifted through the ropes as if they didn't exist.
"Oh, no," said Alex as it rose into the air, then hovering in place, shifted to solid.
Doubt crashed through her, filling her with trembling frustration.
"How the hell am I going to kill this thing?"
The cobrawasp shot at her, forcing her to flee beneath the fallen tree. She was able to use the tree's bulk to keep it away from her, but she knew her death was inevitable. She was out of tricks and the cobrawasp was immune to her nets.
"Come on, Alex, think of something," she said, ducking back under the angled tree. "It's got to have a weakness."
One of the tricks that had sometimes worked for her was to figure out how to turn an enemy's strength against them. But how do you turn the ability to go incorporeal and escape any trap into a negative?
When the idea formed in her head, she knew the chance of it working was slim, but she had no alternatives.
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