Forced Login

by R K Billiau

  “I know it sucks, that’s why we can’t leave him out here, and whoever else Tim might have!” Cora kept her voice lower this time.

  “You’re right Cora, we need to prevent this from getting worse, but we have to be smart about it. What if we get to wherever Austin is and find out he’s surrounded by another huge group of zombies?” Kai said.

  “Wait, a minute,” I interjected “Every time you die, it takes your death total in minutes to spawn, if you don’t choose to spawn right away. If Tim has set this up as a spawn-camping death trap, then there’s a chance that Austin is in the Death Tunnel right now. It probably only takes a few seconds for this many zombies to kill him again. I think we need to clear this zone then when he spawns here, we can get him out.”

  Congratulations! You have increased your Conscious attribute!

  “That’s one idea Hudson, but if we die, we will just get caught in this trap as well. As much as I hate to say it, I think we need to get the tribe involved,” Kai said.

  “Wait,” I said, “we don’t even know if what’s going on here is the same as what’s going on at the other spawn sites, should we check those out first?”

  “Maybe we’ll find Austin at one,” Cora said. “I’m in, let’s go to the next site.”

  Kai agreed. “That’s a good idea, we need an accurate assessment of the situation before we try to come up with a plan.” We left the grove of trees to the zombies, hoping that nobody else would die and end up trapped, creating even more zombies we were inevitably going to have to slay.

  Chapter 13

  Our hike took us through a light forest, which in and of itself was not spooky at all. But any glance upward showed large webs stretched throughout the canopy.

  “This place creeps me out,” Cora said. I didn’t want to say it out loud, but I had to agree with her. As we made it deeper into the woods and the light began to be more and more filtered through the trees, we saw webs with larger and larger cocoons on them. The deeper in we went, the large the cocoons got. First one the size of large bugs, then one the size of a small bird, then… even larger. I couldn’t stand it anymore. “Kai, how far is this place, these webs are freaking me out...”

  “It’s not too far, when you spawn it’s at a rocky depression close to the edge of this forest. I’ve seen these webs from the outskirts, but I admit I didn’t realize they were this big.”

  “We should be okay though, right?” Cora asked. “We have Attunements now, that should keep us safe… shouldn’t it?” The cracking in her voice made me think she wasn’t convinced.

  I didn’t answer her, I was hoping the cores would keep us safe, but nothing about this place screamed ‘safety’. We had time to test it soon thereafter though, thanks to me. Kai and Cora seemed to slink through the woods with ease while I lumbered about with my piddly Stealth skill. Cora looked back at me with a raised eyebrow and I ducked my head, embarrassed, trying to pay better attention to my footing. That’s when I tripped over a rogue root, and arms wind-milling, fell through one of the huge spider webs face first.

  “Oh, shit,” I heard Cora whisper as I tried to get back to my feet. Then I heard the chittering. Frantically wiping the webbing from my face and spitting the foul-tasting stuff out of my mouth, I saw what had her nervous. Dropping down on lines descending from the trees all around us were huge spiders. Not huge like, “woah, look at that big spider in the corner of the bathtub, I’m going to smash it with my shoe.” Oh no. Big wasn’t good enough here for the devs, they had to make monster spiders. The smallest were the size of my palm while others were as big as small dogs. It was really gross and completely terrifying. I almost threw up. Spiders. Why did it have to be spiders?

  “Ah, yeah. Shit,” I said. Kai entered a battle stance, and the spiders wasted no time attacking, leaping in at us from all sides. Cora screamed when the first spider bit into her. I screamed, still unscathed, because spiders suck and I was freaking out. I wasn’t sure if dying from their attack or having to kill one and risk getting monster spider guts all over me was worse. The Panic debuff popped up for me and this time I took a chance to read it.

  Panic - When afflicted with this debuff you have a chance to act abnormally. When attempting to perform an action you may instead perform one of these actions; fainting, running and screaming, standing still. Attacks made while under the effects of this debuff may hit an ally if one is within range.

  I was only at a 40% panic so gritting my teeth, I readied a rock to throw.

  I couldn’t do it. Instead I flailed about, screaming. “Dude! Calm down!” Cora screamed, taking this whole spider attack much better than me. I probably should have been embarrassed. She grabbed a spider threw it to the ground and stomped the life out of it. The thing exploded in green guts, sliming all of us like a kids game show. I threw up instantly, spraying Cora.

  “What the hell man!?” she screamed at me. I shrugged a feigned apology. I had half a mind to just respawn and get this all over with, but nothing in me could willingly give myself over to the mutant spiders.

  Kai had two huge spiders on him, and I swear he was dodging their mandibles as they clacked closed. It looked and sounded like a tap dance. The show ended quickly as the spider on his back bit into him, ripping a hunk of flesh out.

  “Damn you!” Kai shouted as he reached back grabbing the spider by one of its mandibles and yanking it forward in front of him. He grabbed the other mandible and in a show of strength ripped the spider in half.

  “Why didn’t we just fight the zombies?” I mumbled, half to myself, half out loud. I could feel the blackness of a faint coming on, but it was ripped away along with a chunk of my shoulder by one of the larger spiders.

  Congratulations! You have increased your Toughness skill!

  My Panic skipped to 60%, and I ran towards the nearest tree, slamming my shoulder complete with my spider shawl into it. It exploded with an audible popping noise, spraying my face with guts and ichor. I watched as my health bar turned green and a pictogram of little green bubbles appeared next to it. Poison. Great. I passed out.

  I woke up to a flashing red health bar, being slapped in the face by Kai. “Wake UP!” he yelled in my face as he reached back to slap me again.

  “I’m awake! I’m awake!” I yelled, flinching. Cora stood behind him, covering her mouth as she laughed at me. “Uh... so yeah. Spiders have always kinda... freaked me out. I guess the game interpreted that a little worse than I remembered on Earth. I mean, the spiders were way worse. It gave me a Panic debuff.”

  “Is that why you fainted?” Cora asked.

  “Uh yeah.... yeah, that’s why I fainted,” I said, hoping it was convincing. Kai lifted me to my feet. “How did I take so much damage? I was only bitten once, wasn’t I?”

  Kai cleared his throat. “That was me, I might have gotten a little rough trying to wake you up.”

  “You beat the crap out of me to wake me up? That wasn’t very... nice...”

  “Well, we had to show you something.” Kai pointed above us to a massive web in the canopy. The intricacy of the details was astounding. If the creator wasn’t so vile, I would have found it beautiful. The thick web glittered in the sunlight that poured across it, illuminating it and making it appear almost golden. The web bounced a little and I saw what they wanted to show me. Right in the middle of the web was a huge cocoon the vague size and shape of a person. It was squirming.

  “Ah crap. That’s a boss fight, isn’t it?”

  “The spiders weren’t that bad,” Cora said. “They inject you with venom, but it fades quickly without doing much. We should try to help that person in there, though, before he or she is liquified into spider juice.”

  “Are you trying to make me puke again?” I asked, shuddering.

  “Couldn’t you see these things on your mini-map?” Kai asked me.

  “No, I didn’t see anything. Maybe they were Stealthed or... I don’t know... Maybe I just don’t understand how it works. I didn’t see birds flying earlier, eit
her.”

  Kai grunted. “Well we wanted you to heal up before we attacked, so you stay back and throw rocks at it okay?”

  “Yes! That sounds like a great idea!” I said, maybe too enthusiastically. I hoped they didn’t think I was a coward, but spiders, well, spiders made me a coward. If I stayed far enough away I wouldn’t panic, at least. I hoped. “Are you guys all healed up?”

  “Yeah, we didn’t take too much damage, and got no injuries,” Cora said.

  Kai stood up. “Can you see if you can find the spider and maybe draw it out Hudson? With one of those sneak attack things?”

  “I’ll try... and it’s Sucker Punch.”

  “Wait... I’ve never seen you punch anything though...”

  “Yeah, I don’t get it either.” I scanned throughout the web. I knew the spider had to be in there somewhere but couldn’t find it. “I can’t see anything in there, want me to throw something into the web?”

  “Sure,” Kai said. “We need to draw this thing out somehow. Get ready Cora.”

  “No worries on my end, I won’t faint,” she said with a chuckle.

  I grumbled. “Funny girl.” Then I took careful aim at the web, throwing my rock right into the center, but away from the cocoon. The rock hit the web and tore a hole in it. We stood there battle ready, adrenaline pumping, and waited. “Huh,” I said, turning around. As soon as I made a full 180, I came face to face with the most unholy abomination imaginable. I froze in place as the massive spider, at least as large as a bison from the plains, less than a foot away from me opened its mandibles right towards my face. I screamed so loud and high-pitched that the spider actually backed up as if the sound was a defense mechanism.

  Panic - 50%

  Kai and Cora both spun around and to their credit reacted far better than I did. As I stood there frozen, eyes wide as saucers and mouth hung open like a fool, a spear flew in from one side bursting one of the spider’s four eyes, while Kai’s foot flew in from the other. The weight of the jump kick sent the spider back like a pinball. After a yard it dug its feet in and stopped. Raising its head and screeching, (yet another thing I didn’t know could scream) it looked at Cora and a stream of green goo shot from its mouth right at her, faster than she could dodge.

  Cora screamed as the smell of cooking flesh wafted off her. This snapped me out of my fright. My compatriot was burning from acid or something, and I needed to act! I closed my eyes, slowing my breath and trying to find a calm determination. When I opened my eyes the Panic debuff showed 37% and I saw another System message.

  Congratulations! You have increased your Emotion attribute!

  Congratulations! You have learned the Center skill!

  Center - Taking time to calm your emotions and breathing, you reduce the effects of emotional reactions. The longer you spend centering yourself the greater the effect.

  Confronting my fears and using my breathing techniques gave me a new skill! I took a few more seconds to center myself as Kai waded in, swinging his fists and slamming them against the terrifying boss spider’s chelicera with a loud crack. I couldn’t tell if it was Kai’s hand or the spiders exoskeleton that broke, but it was my time to do something, except I didn’t have anything to throw.

  I had used up all my rocks, so I dug around through my inventory to find anything that could help the situation. I pulled out the only useful thing I could find that I felt like I could waste. A lemon. I must have put it in my inventory on the starter island, with a shrug I brought it out and chucked it at the spider’s eyes. The massive spider paused briefly, it’s head turning to me as if to say “really?” Kai leapt in to take advantage of the spiders distracted state, performing his palm strike right against one of the spider eyes. The power of the blow exploded the eye and all hell broke loose.

  The massive spider screeched, lashing out with several of its legs, striking both me and Kai. It sent me sprawling to the ground, while Kai, taking the hit, grabbed the leg and hung on. The spider spun with its legs and a long stream of silk shot out of its spinneret in every direction. It wasn’t long before it coated the entire area, me included, in wet, sticky silk strands. Then the silk began to harden.

  “Uh-oh. Kai! This webbing is hardening!” I could barely speak by this point as the webbing turned almost hard as a rock. I was stuck fast in place. Kai, who had ridden the spider’s leg like a twisted fair ride, climbed up onto the thing’s thorax holding on for his life, while the spider bashed at him with its legs.

  “I’m hurryi- OOF,” he started to say before a leg caught him in the chest. He held on, but I could tell that one hurt. Kai kept climbing his way to the spider’s head and finally got there, slamming his fist down over and over, looking for a weak spot. He held onto the spider’s long hairs with one hand while he kept punching. The spider did not sit idly though and used its back legs to pummel the poor Martial Artist. Kai found- or made- a weak point and I heard a splorching noise as his fist broke through the exoskeleton into the hot, gooey insides.

  The spider screeched again and fell onto its belly, its limbs spasming. It managed another powerful blow on Kai, almost knocking the man off, but he punched his fist through the creature’s head again and, grabbing everything inside, squished it like he was cleaning out a pumpkin. Finally, it was over.

  Congratulations! You have defeated a Spider Princess!

  I shuddered at that message, if this was only a princess it meant that there had to be a queen somewhere too. Gross.

  The spider a disgusting mess, Kai beaten and bloody and gooey, fell to the ground. He lay there, chest heaving, trying to catch his breath. The webbing that had sprayed everywhere softened again, and I could fight my way free.

  Cora was lying on the ground whimpering in the fetal position, moaning, smoke streaming off her burning head, the hair melted off one side. I jumped over to her while Kai struggled to his feet. Ripping the webbing off her I helped her to a sitting position. The acid seemed to have stopped burning, but its damage was done. Half of Cora’s face was melted with dripping skin, her hair and one eye burned away. She groaned, but said nothing, in a catatonic state.

  “Kai, we have to get her back. She has a bunch of nasty injuries and she needs to rest and heal.” Kai had made his way over to the cocoon in the huge web, and with a stone knife cut it down, laying it gently on the ground. It wiggled and thrashed about but stopped when he spoke to it.

  “Hello in there. We will get you out if you can stop all the thrashing so I don’t cut you!” The cocoon stopped moving. I stood up, laying Cora to the ground and stepped over to see what could be in this cocoon. Kai poked the knife in, and with strong but careful strokes, cut it open. A woman reached out, gasping for air. An extremely beautiful woman.

  Congratulations! You have increased your Connection attribute!

  “Oh, thank you!” she shouted through labored breaths. “The smell in there was terrible! Plus, I’m sure I was going to be liquified and consumed, which would certainly not be pleasant.” She shook her hair from her face. “I’m Madison. Who are you?” The woman climbed out of the cocoon, dusted herself off, and stretched. She was just on the tall side of short, with black hair cut into a shorter style, a light dusting of freckles across her nose and strangely enough for just having come out of a cocoon, a warm smile. The most striking part about her however, was her outfit. She had on a chain-mail hauberk with four octagonal plates of filigreed metal strapped to it. The hauberk ended just past her waist in a plaid skirt. You could see a small amount of the flesh of her legs before the silvery greaves began, ending in sturdy looking boots.

  “Whoa, you must be an Advanced class,” I said in answer to her question. Real smooth.

  Kai laughed with me, except I wasn’t laughing. “I’m Kai, this is Hudson. Over there on the ground is Cora. The spiders hurt her bad, so if you are okay, we would like to head back to our cave so we can help her.” Kai strode over to Cora, who was still out of it, and picked her up in a fireman’s carry.

  “Oh! Here
, I can help!” Madison strode over to Cora and placed her hand on the woman’s mangled face. Her face focused and a white light emanated from her hand. Cora’s face grew healthy, new skin and after a minute Madison stopped, gasping for air. Her body, which had looked not too bad for being almost smothered by a cocoon, had gone pale, bloody sweat drops formed on her brow. Cora looked like the acid had never burned her, except for the hair that hadn’t grown back. Her eyes opened, and she looked around from her strange position.

  “Hey uh, Kai, why are you carrying me like this?” Kai set her down and Cora reached her hand to her face, feeling the soft, new flesh. “What happened? I remember that spider spitting at me, and that it hurt. Who is this?” Cora pointed to Madison.

  “Hi! I’m Madison! I healed you. I’m a System Cleric! It was my job to find your tribe and teach you guys how to use the System, but I kind of got caught up playing with the monkeys in the tutorial zone, then when I got here, some ass with necromancy powers kept killing me over and over as part of his undead army. We should probably stop him before he kills all of you and wipes out your tribe.” Madison put one hand on a hip and cocked it out while giving the V for victory sign and a wink.

  You have Been Invited to a Group: Madison’s Group

  Do you wish to join? Yes/No

  Chapter 14

  “What the heck woman!?” Cora shouted at Madison. “You’re a cleric and you can access System features? Are you one of the creators or something?” Cora stamped her feet and waved her hands around. I think she might have been more angry hearing about this than she was learning about the death trap that Austin was most certainly in. “You got caught up playing with the damn monkeys!? We have been suffering out here when you could have been helping!” She took a step towards Madison, her hands like claws reaching for her.

  Madison didn’t seem to miss a beat and hopped backwards out of reach. “No-no-no, I’m not an admin or anything like that. As far as I know, the only admin is the AI that runs this world, and they designed it not to have any kind of personality. I’m just a System Cleric, it’s a type of unique class. I have a healing ability, and can access things like party screens, trade screens, display settings… stuff like that. When my number came up, I was a teacher, which I’m sure you may know, is a dying job on Earth with all the AI lessons available. So I was excited to join this adventure, and the company told me they would give me this unique class and make my carryover skill be Teaching if I would help the people of this world and teach them what I could of how to use the System.” She cocked her head, a big smile on her face. I don’t think she took a breath during that whole thing.