by R K Billiau
Congratulations! You have increased your Toughness attribute!
The young man adjusted and stabbed the zombie directly in the eye socket. He must have scored a critical hit, as it collapsed onto me, bits of it entering my mouth. I retched while trying to roll the damned thing off me. I stood and assessed the situation.
Things had gone from bad to worse as another Hunter on the line had fallen and one of the last zombies made its way through the gap to lunge at Arnold. Arnold did a good job of not panicking, and in an impressive judo move, rolled onto his back, flipping the zombie over him and kicking away. Right towards the back of the cave with the rest of the tribe.
The remaining Hunters at the entrance had their hands full having taken down another two zombies and fighting the remaining two. They were bloody and battered though, so I looked for Madison to see if she could heal them, or Boost them, or something. I found her in the back trying to protect the rest of the tribe, her muscles swollen up for fighting. I watched as she kicked the zombie, sending it flying into the wall while the Hunter who had been helping me slammed his spear through its skull, ending it.
“Madison!” I shouted, “come with me, we can stop this!” I waved her over. By this point another Hunter in the entrance had fallen, but so had another zombie. I charged out past them, heading towards Tim. If I could take him out, maybe we could end this. Madison followed me and I shouted over the sounds of battle.” Keep healing me, I don’t know what kind of abilities he has, but let’s take him down!” She nodded and made a swift gesture with her hand, her muscles shrinking back down to normal.
“I’m low on mana, but I’ll do what I can, go get him!”
Just then Cora came running out, spear at the ready.
“You don’t get to go after him without me!” she shouted at us and I smiled. What’s the saying? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? This woman was Scorned with a capital S.
Tim held up his hands as if to ward us off. “Ah ah ah!” he said. “You better think twice about this, I learned something new that will make you change your mind about attacking me.”
I smirked, this had to be a ploy, maybe he is about to super-villain lecture me?
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” He returned my smirk, but his seemed a lot more smug. “I learned how to raise zombies on my own.” He made a quick gesture and I heard screaming coming from inside the cave. I glanced at Madison.
“Go!” I shouted. “Help them!” She took off running and I heard Tim laugh.
“So, who are you? You don’t look like a basic player like all these other n00bs.”
“I’ve played a few games,” I said. “Why are you doing all this, anyway? Don’t you think it’s a bit much for a little revenge?”
Tim just laughed and I followed his eyes as he looked behind me. I turned to see what he was looking at, only to catch him darting off in my peripheral. “Seriously!?” I shouted. “I fell for that!?” and I took off after him, Cora right behind me looking as angry as ever.
“How could you fall for that!” Cora shouted from behind me, her tone acerbic as always.
“I didn’t see you stopping him!”
Tim was faster than me, which was annoying because he’s supposed to be a puny caster. I guess all that time on his own bumped his attributes up.
I didn’t have long to run though, as Tim stopped as soon as he got into the tree line. I briefly wondered why but didn’t have to wait long to find out. He was getting his backup. Out of the trees came another zombie. Dammit. After all this crap is over, I was definitely learning some combat skills.
“Cora! You take Tim, I’ll take the zombie!” Hopefully I’ve leveled enough to take one down. Guess we’d find out. I flung a rock at it and missed as my aim was thrown off by the spear sticking out of my back.
Critical hit! You have been stabbed for 47 damage!
“Ahhhh! What are you doing!?” I screamed at Cora, who stabbed me again, this time in the calf, causing me to fall to the ground.
“Isn’t it obvious?” she asked. “I’m killing you.”
“But why!? You hate Tim!”
Tim laughed as he walked up and slapped her on the ass. She growled at him but made no threatening move.
“Ha-ha, you were right babe, this one is slow on the take.” With a snap of his fingers his zombie attacked, and I screamed as the last thing I witnessed was Tim and Cora kissing, their gross tongues swirling around each other, before the zombie tore half my neck off and the Death Tunnel sucked me in.
Chapter 20
The Death Maze.
I felt like it’d been forever since I’d been here. It hadn’t actually been all that long, just so much had happened. I was frustrated and angry. What was up with Cora? Why was she in on it with Tim? Was Tim cuckolding Arnold? This whole thing was a mess. I wanted to solve the mystery of this place, this dark maze, but I wished I could just get out now, and try to figure out what was going on. No sooner than I thought this, I noticed myself speeding up, going towards the light at an incredible rate, then I was through it back into the world. That was strange. The first thing I noticed was my Death debuff timer was twice what it should be. It seemed you could get out of the maze faster, but your debuff lasts longer. Everything has its price, I guess.
I didn’t have much time to contemplate it, as a horde of zombies descended on me, and I watched with detachment, not feeling a thing as I was killed again. Damn. I forgot about the death traps. At least Madison was right that you don’t have to go through the pain of death all over again. Still, it was weird in its own way.
Darkness, again. I pushed myself out again knowing I didn’t have to stay in here and wait any longer, hoping I’d maybe spawn somewhere different. No such luck though, the zombies were still there and still endlessly hungry for living flesh. One more time gave me a different spawn point but same zombie issue, and I concluded that each of the spawn zones had a horde of zombies. Tim had a solid strategy, and I was unwillingly playing my part.
What would I do now? Was I doomed to repeat this over and over until Tim got bored or forgot or finally had enough puppet corpses? He’d find out soon enough that my corpse didn’t spawn zombies. Somehow, I didn’t think that would give me a ‘get-out-of-death-trap-free’ pass.
Paying attention again to the Death Maze, I turned on my mini-map, and followed the route I knew. There was still so much to learn about this game, and with literally more time on my hands than I could imagine, I looked forward to the opportunity. I chuckled out loud when the comic popped into my mind of the man sitting up on a cloud saying, “I wish I brought a magazine.” Alas, this Death Maze mystery needed solving, and while trapped in this cycle, I might as well try. I concentrated on my Hunch skill and perked up when I immediately felt it pull at me.
Congratulations! You have increased your Hunch skill!
That’s odd, I don’t know how I leveled it, maybe just activating it is enough? Before I got too far though, I inspected another skill that I had little chance to use.
Driven - When following a Hunch, activate to gain a boost to an attribute group of your choice. May only be used when actively pursuing a Hunch. Drains Zeal at a rate of X (level of Driven/4 Minimum 1) per minute of use. Gain +X (level of Driven) to attribute group while active.
What!? This skill was awesome! Why hadn’t I given it a better look earlier? Granted, I had only ever gotten a single Hunch outside of the Death Maze, but it could have helped against the zombies surrounding that treasure. Could it get me out of this mess? Activating it gave me the option between Body, Mind, Heart, and Soul, each with their own unique icons on my HUD. Body, a picture of an arm curled with the bicep bulging, granted me +1 to all my Body attributes. Not much, but I suppose every little bit helped.
With the buff active, I sped up the Death Tunnel to spit me out faster, only to watch as the Driven buff deactivated as soon as I entered the world again. Well crap. I couldn’t be too upset, it wouldn’t have helped with the Death debuff on, anyway. But it
would have been nice to have a way to not be ripped apart by gnashing teeth.
Death 19
I activated my mini-map again and followed the path I knew in the darkness. What would happen the next time I died? Would the Death Maze be all lit up again? I don’t know if you can lose levels because of experience loss from death, but I really didn’t want to find out. The longer I stayed in the tunnel the more time people had to rescue me. Us. All the people of the tribe that Tim had captured in this trap. What an ass. Cora too. Just thinking about her made me clench my fists. I wondered what the game was to them. I could understand Tim’s actions from a gameplay perspective and maybe even a personal one, but Cora? Was all that hating on this game world an act?
I felt like something was off as I followed my path, then I realized that my Hunch wasn’t active. I focused on it, getting the familiar tugging.
Congratulations! You have increased your Hunch skill!
Huh, I guess just like my mini-map I had to reactivate Hunch whenever I went to a different zone. I wondered if that meant I’d have an easy way to level it? A kind of mini-exploit! I did the same for Driven, going down the line and selecting Mind as the attribute group and I got a System message for it, too!
Congratulations! You have increased your Driven skill!
I looked at the buff icon, noting its increase of +2 for all my Mind attributes now. That was great! I raced down the pathways I knew, following my mini-map when another idea hit me; I should use my Illugraphy for this also! Focusing, I brought up my Illusory map. It showed a pitch blackness surrounded by the golden lit border of its edges. I thought I should draw out the map that I already knew of the area, so I opened my infinite notebook and focused on making my magic writing finger. I touched the map, and a dot appeared under my finger.
Congratulations! You have increased your Illugraphy skill!
This was great! I could grind my skills in here! I mean, as great as dying over and over could be, anyway. Most games didn’t let you gain skills while in their death transition, but then the death transition wasn’t normally this interactive either. I was drawing my map, taking care to be precise, when time ran out and I was brought back into the world.
Congratulations! You have increased your Archive skill!
Death 20
The Death Maze was lit up again. That was interesting to note. I only had two instances of it happening, but so far it looked like every 10th death the maze was lit up. I wondered what that meant, this game world seemed to run on a 100 and 10s based system, so this was just another aspect of that. I felt like that was something I should pay close attention to as it pertains to everything I did. I bet milestone skills came on the tens, and I wondered what happened when you hit 100 in a skill or attribute.
I followed the path at a ‘run’ this time, not bothering to break out my Illusory map yet. I wanted to make it in as far as I could first. When I reached the point I couldn’t easily remember where to go, I slowed and mapped everything. I turned on Hunch, sad that I didn’t get a skill up, and followed the direction it led me, as best I could anyway in the twisting turns of this maze. I reached a dead end and tried doubling back but caught the timer and was brought back to another horrible demise. The zombie horde around me seemed a little bigger than last time. I made a note to keep an eye on this.
Death 21
Darkness again. Activating my skills gave me a skill up in Hunch and Driven. I followed the path much slower this time, but took another turn I hadn’t gone down yet, keeping my map running.
Death 25
More blind mapping. Another point in Archive and I found another dead end, but I wasn’t too discouraged because that left a single path I hadn’t been down yet.
Death 30
The lights were on, looks like I might be right about every 10th death! I had missed a path on my map which was a little disheartening, but I made careful note of it for next time. In order to get my map more precise I ended up speeding through the death tunnel, not allowing it to take it’s time. Sure, it would mean a longer death debuff, but when I knew I was just being lunched onto the buffet line, I didn’t care.
Death 33
The zombie hordes were definitely getting bigger. I could tell by how fast I died. I swear I saw new faces in the horde which means more people from the tribe were killed. I hoped Arnold got away at least and was able to get some more members attuned.
Death 40
Grinding my skills seemed to be slowing down considerably. My map had been accurate in what I’d been able to chart this time.
Death 45
I took some time to fill in my notebook on some things I hadn’t archived yet. Information about the bison, the skills I had talked about with people, etc. It netted me another point in Archive and It felt good to be doing something productive, keeping my mind off the depressing cycle of being ripped apart over and over.
Death 50
Much fewer zombies at this spawn, only five. I tried to make a break for it, but my Death debuff made me easy prey. I wondered what the reason was for such a large amount of them being gone. Tim was probably using them for something. Either that or some unlucky fool wandered by.
Death 67
I hadn’t received a skill up in a long time. I didn’t know if it’s because I was only activating them in the same place, or chasing the same treasure or what, but the difference was noticeable. Still, it was exciting how high they’d gotten.
Hunch – 28
No milestones yet, but I could tell almost like a game of hot & cold which direction to go when given multiple options. It didn’t happen all the time but enough that I could tell it was the skill.
Driven - 29 milestone level 10: Driven can now use Spirit instead of Zeal, milestone 20: Driven can now use Mana or Spirit instead of Zeal.
Illugraphy - 27 milestone level 20: May now overlay mini-map on Illusory map to auto-draw in areas that have been seen in your mini-map. Only works at close to mid-level zoom.
Archive – 19
No milestone for this one yet either.
All The milestones I’d seen so far have come at a 10s mark, so I was fairly certain about my concept of the game’s design.
Death 77
Finally got Archive to 20 and got a neat milestone ability that allowed me to rip a page out of my infinite notebook. After the page was ripped out it would grow back just as it was before.
Death 83
This was getting tiring. The zombies came and went in waves, but there was always enough to kill me. My sense of time was so distorted, I had no idea how much had passed. My map was now huge and detailed. I had found many dead ends, but with my Hunch at 33 I was getting a lot more direction at crossroads. I had also gotten a milestone ability at level 30 to add a glowing treasure box on my Illusory map where my Hunch thought treasure might be. I couldn’t test it very well because of being stuck in a FREAKING MAZE for as long as I had been, but I was excited to see it in action when- or if- I ever got back to the world.
Death 86
This was it. I could feel it. My Hunch had brought me through the twisting corridors, the dead ends, the endless tunnels, to this spot. Ahead of me, in the brightly lit corridor. was a massive room, unlike anything I had seen before in the maze. This particular death run had been hard, my Hunch didn’t kick in at a few crossroads causing me to hit a couple dead ends. I could feel the pull of the world as I raced down the hall towards the room. It felt like I was on one of those floor escalators as I ran. I didn’t make it. Once again, I popped into the world, the daylight stinging my eyes, and once again, I was immediately devoured by zombies. By now I was so used to being eaten alive I hardly noticed it anymore and kind of wished they’d eat faster. I welcomed the embrace of the darkness.
Death 89
I knew the way now, I had it mapped well; where to turn and where to avoid. I raced through the tunnels, pushing myself and my Stamina bar to the limit, only slowing when I got to my destination. I stood outside its inky blackness
with plenty of time left on my clock before another trip back to the zombie teeth. I took a deep breath, letting it out in a rush, and stepped into the room.
Torches in sconces lit up, glowing with an eerie blue white light. The whole room was illuminated, and I found myself in what looked like one of those ancient, huge cathedral churches on Earth. There were no pews, but there were massive alcoves where the torch sconces were set. My eyes followed the walls up, and they went on and on into darkness, the endless stone building having no ceiling, just walls reaching into a black infinity. There was a huge stained-glass window to the front, the light of galaxies shining through. The design of the window showed a man and a woman at various stages of life, formed around a circle like a clock. They started as babies, then turned into children, then adolescents, then adults, and at last turning elderly only to have the very top spot be a ball of bright light. That light looked familiar, and I stared at it until I realized it was the same light at the end of the Death Maze when you first enter, the light that draws you back to the world.
My eyes traveled down from the colorful window to a chair, more like a throne, of black stone. There was a carpeted path from the chair to where I stood in the doorway, and I followed it. Sitting in the chair, was a... person... wearing luxurious looking black leather pants and doublet lined with the purest white fur. I couldn’t even imagine the kind of animal it had come from. This person’s features were shifting, from one type to another, as if timed on a pendulum. Switch… switch… switch… One second it looked like a typical white male, then an Asian female, then a dark-skinned female, the features cycled to a new face constantly. Male, female, female, male. Black, white, brown, white. Old, young, middle-aged. Change, change, change.
“Welcome,” it said. Its voice was an amalgamation of all voices and a single voice at the same time. “I… am the Adjudicator.”