The Arena

by Drew Seren

  Horc couldn’t shake the feeling that Tufkakes had done something to the little green man but had no proof. It didn’t make sense that the shopkeeper had fallen asleep so quickly after the other two party members had finished dealing with him, unless there was something affecting his program too. If there were major problems in the game, that might make it harder than ever for Horc to stay alive and he didn’t want to put his friends under too much stress helping him do that.

  11

  The rolling of the boat across the waves hit Horc hard. If there was one thing he never expected to get in a game, it was seasick. The Dancing Mermaid had timed its escape from Coconut Springs Harbor when the thing attached to the big fin was at the greatest distance from the dock.

  The ship was a large schooner. Its holds weren’t big enough for much in the way of cargo, but the captain, an obnoxious Goblin with one eye and a peg leg, named Captain Calamity Kidd, promised she was a fast ship, and had made the run to the Lone Palm Arena many times.

  Horc walked up on the bridge and waited while the captain finished dressing down a battered-looking Gnome who had apparently not swabbed the deck correctly and let water build up in a spot that was already showing signs of beginning to rot.

  As the Gnome hurried off carrying a mop, Horc closed the distance to the captain. “Could I ask you a question?”

  “Depends.” Kidd didn’t look at him, apparently keeping his attention on the ocean around them.

  “On what?” Horc wasn’t in the mood for word games. He was hoping the captain might have some answers for them.

  “What kind of question it is.” Kidd slowly shook his head. “I can’t tell things that were told to me in confidence, I’m sure you understand that.”

  Horc forced back a sigh and leaned against the thick wooden railing that encircled the deck. “You said when we boarded that you’ve made this run many times. Are you the only boat that goes from Coconut Springs to Lone Palm Arena?”

  Kidd nodded slowly, not taking his gaze off the ocean ahead of them. “That’s true. But then, we tend to run with just one boat from point A to point B. Saves on confusion. Why do you ask, Ranger Horc?”

  “We’re looking for some friends. They appear to have been kidnapped from Tragiczan and taken to the arena, or at least, that’s what our sources say. I was wondering if you might’ve seen them.”

  “I’ve ferried a good number of people across the ocean to that destination. What do your friends look like?” He still kept his focus on the sea and acted like he wasn’t really talking to Horc.

  “A big Warrior named Slasher and a Barbarian woman named Steelmaiden.” The way the captain was acting, he wasn’t about to provide Horc the information he needed, but Horc didn’t feel like it would hurt to ask.

  “Hmmm.” The captain finally looked away from the horizon and at Horc. “Yes, I think there might have been a Warrior and a Barbarian in a group seeking passage a day or so ago.”

  “A group? An adventuring group, or a different type?” It was a lead they were on the right path.

  A message flashed on his screen.

  Quest Completed: Snuff out the Darkness

  Follow the trail of darkness and find out where it leads.

  Rewards:

  5,000 XP

  A small thrill went through Horc as his XP bar flashed and filled in. It had been a while since he’d had any indication he was one the right path to make progress on the quest as well as work toward finding Slasher and Steelmaiden.

  His screen flashed again.

  Quest: Snuff out the Darkness

  Stay on the trail of darkness and reach the end.

  Rewards:

  5,000 XP

  Accept - Decline

  “Accept,” Horc whispered.

  Kidd stared at him, then laughed. “Not sure what you’re on about, but adventurers don’t travel to the arena, yet. At least not of their own free will. Just remember, you’re on the seas here, laddie. Even traveling with an experienced captain like myself doesn’t necessarily ensure a safe ride.”

  For a second, Horc wondered if he was getting threatened, then one of the crewmen shouted. “Fogbank off the port bow!”

  Captain Kidd frowned and turned the direction the crewman indicated. “There shouldn’t be a fogbank that far from shore. All hands, on deck!”

  Around them crew members appeared from every hatch and ladder. Baladara, Tufkakes, and Greensleeves ran up from the berths they’d been in.

  “What’s going on?” Baladara asked.

  “Fogbank.” Horc pointed in the direction of the thick clouds rolling toward them. “But the captain did confirm that Steelmaiden and Slasher were here, but not of their own free will.”

  Greensleeves peered across the horizon. “That’s not good. I can’t believe the AI’s kidnapping players. I bet there’s a boat in that fogbank.” His hands started glowing light blue as he worked a spell. “This one’s new, but it should work out here, better than some,” He thrust his hands forward and a jet of wind curled the waves opposite from the way they’d been rolling moments before.

  The only sign of the wind’s passage was the movement of the waves. When the wind hit the clouds, they splashed up like waves hitting a breaker. The clouds swirled around but didn’t break.

  “Magic!” Captain Kidd shouted. “The pirates’ll be upon us in no time. Battle stations!”

  “What can we do?” Horc asked, hoping the captain wouldn’t try to dance around that answer with something stupid like…’what can you do?’

  “Help my men repel boarders.” The captain spun the wheel, and the Dancing Mermaid changed course, running parallel to the clouds instead of toward them like it had been.

  The ship’s altered course seemed to encourage the pirates in the cloud. The mass of darkness churned like an angry storm as it rushed toward them, swinging slightly as if it was trying to cut them off at the pass, or whatever the nautical term was for such a maneuver.

  “Don’t start anything until they drop their clouds, or come on board,” said the captain, as he spun the wheel again, cut hard back in the direction they’d been going, and heading right across the path of the clouds.

  “I might be able to Shadowwalk over there,” Tufkakes said. “I don’t know how far I can go, but if they get close enough, maybe I can get over there and do some damage to them before they do any damage to us. That would be good.”

  “Yes, it would,” Horc agreed. “But don’t risk too much. If we’re going to be boarded, it might be just as well to stay here and hit them hard once they come over.”

  Baladara pursed her lips and sighed. “You know, I’ve never done a sea battle in a game before, or IRL either for that matter. Sure, I’ve seen them in movies and such.”

  “But this is too close to real life,” Greensleeves finished for her. “I’m with you. But hey, at least it appears to be a random encounter and will add something to an otherwise boring voyage.”

  “If you say so,” Horc said. He wasn’t sure if he should try his arrows, or if his axe was going to be the more effective weapon for close-quarters fighting on the ship. At his side, Wolf tensed and growled as the clouds brushed the schooner’s edge.

  “Brace yourselves!” the captain shouted.

  Something inside the cloud bumped the Dancing Mermaid. Three heavy grappling hooks came out of the clouds and dug into the wooden rails on the ship’s side.

  “I’ll be back.” Tufkakes stepped backwards into the shadow cast on the deck by the ship’s sails. He fuzzed out a bit, like a television channel having trouble holding onto a signal, then he was gone.

  “Okay, if I haven’t said it before, that’s freaky,” Baladara said as she started a spell making her hands glow red. “Let’s see how these pirates like a fireball in their sails.”

  “If you can hit their sails,” Greensleeves said as his own hands glowed with the light blue of an air spell.

  Their spells passed through the first layer of clouds that had blocked Greensl
eeves’ earlier spell. After a couple of seconds, there was a small explosion, and flames engulfed the clouds. The gray and white wisp flared red, then faded away. In the wake of the clouds a huge ship with dark sails towered over the smaller schooner. A large number of pirates of a multitude of species glared down at them.

  Horc’s heart sank. They’d managed to sail into a huge mess that he wasn’t likely to be able to survive, but he was damned if he was going to just lay down his bow and surrender. He pulled an Impact arrow from his quiver and after casting Flame on it, loosed it up at the nearest pirate. Around him, the rest of the Dancing Mermaid’s crew were also firing what ranged weapons they had.

  From under the deck, something exploded and the pirate ship rocked back away from them, only the grappling hooks held it tight.

  “Someone get those damned hooks out of my boat!” Kidd roared at the top of his lungs.

  Two of the crew ran to the hooks and started pulling at them. Shots rang out from the pirate ship. Bullets and arrows hit the Mermaid’s deck and the men fell back, one of them clutching his side while his health bar dropped.

  Horc forced himself to focus on the pirates above them. He didn’t have the time to worry about the NPC crew. Firing multiple arrows, he forced a couple of pirates away from the rail, but there were many more there waiting to take their places. Even the ones felled by Baladara’s spells were quickly replaced with fresh attackers.

  “This is the biggest mob we’ve faced so far,” Baladara said as she got off another spell. “Greensleeves, grab my pack and start pulling out potions, we’re going to need them.”

  “On it.” Greensleeves said after his own Druid spell left his fingers.

  Horc got off another couple rounds of arrows before the pirates grew bold enough to start coming over the railing, heading toward the Mermaid’s deck. With shouts and taunts, the pirates leapt from their ship into the schooner’s rigging and onto her deck. The effect made Horc want to drop his weapons and dive into the water. They looked like huge ants swarming over a carcass, ready to pick it clean.

  He didn’t have time to pick his targets, he fired at every dark-clad body that didn’t look familiar. Within several shots in a row, he was out of mana and relying on the special arrows in his quiver, thankful for the quiver’s enchantment that let him always have arrows. A pirate attack would be a very bad time to run out of arrows.

  “Horc, you focus on our boarders, I’ll keep firing on their ship,” Baladara said. “I don’t want to set our sails on fire.”

  “Roger that,” Horc said and realized he should probably not risk Flame arrows when his mana came back up and stuck with Poison.

  “Here.” Greensleeves thrust an open vial into Horc’s hand. “Mana.”

  “Thanks.” Horc slammed the vial’s contents back then resumed firing. Every shot rewarded him with a scream and a thud as the pirates fell from the rigging. The ones who weren’t killed between his shot and their fall, quickly fell to Wolf’s fangs and claws. Most of the pirates were level 15 or 16, fairly easy, and would be no contest if they were dealing with them in a one-on-one combat, but what they lacked in base power, they made up for in numbers. It was only going to be a matter of time before one or more of them broke through their assault and got close enough to do some damage to one of the party, or worse yet the captain. Horc knew he didn’t know how to pilot a schooner; if it had been a starship in Galactic Explorers, he wouldn’t have had a problem, but the schooner didn’t have a computer willing to help him make the hard-steering choices and things like that.

  When Wolf yelped loudly, Horc glanced over and realized his companion was facing down three pirates on his own. He quickly targeted and fired, sending multiple Razor arrows to finish off the men Wolf had already injured. Red flashed in the corner of his screen and Wolf’s health was dropping fast. Pausing in his arrow barrage, Horc cast his Healing spell to renew Wolf until he could feed it. As soon as the spell left his fingers and Wolf’s health bar was back in the green, Horc resumed his firing.

  Something bellowed, then a huge fur-covered ball flew from the pirate ship and hurled toward the deck of the Mermaid. Its landing shook the schooner hard. Then the ball uncurled and a towering pirate covered in thick white hair with huge cutlasses in each hand glowered at them.

  “A Yeti Pirate?” Baladara screamed.

  “Too hairy for me,” Greensleeves said, then hit the brute with a brown blast of Druid magic.

  Horc wanted to add his arrows to the fight with the big man that looked to be more beast than pirate, but if he did, then they’d be overrun with the more manageable boarding party members.

  “Damn it!” Baladara yelled.

  When Horc looked over, the massive pirate had grabbed hold of her. She was trying to cast spells directly into its face, but it kept shaking her before she could get the spells off. Physical attacks were one of the ways to break a mage’s casting, and it seemed to be working on Baladara.

  Before Horc could get a target lock on the Yeti, it smashed Baladara hard into the deck. Her health bar flashed red, then went out.

  “No!” Horc shouted and fired arrows as quickly as he could into the big beast.

  “Let me help,” Tufkakes shimmered into existence in the shadow of the pirate ship. Seeming to have appeared while in motion, the Rogue flung himself at the big pirate’s back and drove a dagger deep as Horc got off another round of multiple arrows at the pirates trying to avoid Wolf’s attacks. He wanted the Yeti to fall for what it had done to his friend, but didn’t want to risk being overwhelmed by the rest of the mob that was doing its best to swarm them.

  The big pirate screamed in pain from Tufkakes’ knives as it stepped over Baladara’s fading form and reached up toward Captain Kidd. The Goblin danced out of its way and slashed at it with his sword.

  Horc risked turning his attention away for an Impact arrow shot, hoping the arrow’s slowing spell would help give the defenders a chance to get the upper hand on the humongous pirate.

  As he turned back to the pirates still pouring over the side of the ship, he realized their numbers were dwindling. When his mana dropped again, he just relied on special arrows, knowing Greensleeves was busy helping take down the largest pirate.

  A glow flashed on Horc’s screen.

  Level Twenty-Two

  The icons around the rest of the party also flashed.

  Horc glanced over where the others were standing over the body of the Yeti. Then went back to hitting the last of the pirates coming over the side. “You guys might lend me a bit of a hand here.”

  “Oh, yeah, we might.” Tufkakes used the shadows along the deck to almost dance among the pirates, quickly dealing lethal blows to each one before going on to the next. Within moments the boarding party was defeated and they were able to stop and assess the damages.

  I’m back guys. Well sorta. Baladara

  Where are you? Horc asked quickly, glancing around to see if he could spot her. He wasn’t sure where she’d respawn since they were at sea. He was thankful it was a game and not real life. If she’d taken that kind of damage IRL, she’d be dead. Even if she’d been in a pod, she’d most likely feel battered for a day or so due to the feedback the pods provided.

  Lone Palm Area Graveyard Baladara

  Sit and rest up if you can. We beat the pirates and will be there in a little while. Greensleeves.

  Will do. Baladara

  “You are a party of incredible warriors,” Captain Kidd said, wrapping a piece of cloth around his arm as a makeshift bandage.

  “We do our best,” Greensleeves said, bending down to search the Yeti for loot. “This big guy must’ve been the pirate boss.”

  “Nope.” Tufkakes shook his head. “The pirate captain is dead at his steering wheel. I managed to take that fool out fairly easily. The Yeti was the first mate and I guess, when I killed their captain, he figured he’d return the favor by trying to off ours. Too bad we’re better than they are.”

  Horc tossed Wolf a chunk of me
at and bent to loot the nearest pirate, a small Gnome with chipped teeth that had one of his arrows in it. When he looted the Gnome Pirate, his coin purse clinked with loot. As they hurried to loot all the bodies on the deck before they disappeared, Horc tried to stay focused, but there were so many different types of pirates dead on the boards. Gnomes and Goblins were on and under the bodies of Humans, Elves, and even a Procyan.

  “I wonder if these pirates were here by choice, or if they’d been conscripted.” Horc was reaching for one of the first bodies to fall as it vanished. “Crap. Hurry up and loot, guys. They’re starting to vanish.” He scrambled to get to the next one before it returned to the electrons that had spawned it.

  “Don’t worry about them,” Tufkakes said. “There’s more than enough on the ship to keep us all very happy for a long time.”

  “And which one of us is going to claim the ship?” Greensleeves asked.

  Horc straightened and stared at the big pirate ship. “What do you mean claim the ship? Isn’t it just going to fade back into the system like these guys are doing?”

  “Probably not,” Tufkakes said. “If you look up at the top of the mast, it’s got a loot symbol up there. That means that whoever defeats the pirates gets their ship.”

  Horc stared and at the top of the mast was a spinning golden dollar sign, the game symbol for something that could be looted. Normally it was small enough he didn’t always make out the actual sign, but on the ship, it was proportionally huge. “Wow, so that thing belongs to one of us?”

  “Or it could belong to all of us, if we’d formed a guild already.” Tufkakes said. “Not sure we could do that out here.”

  “Probably not,” Greensleeves said. “But let me check on something.” He got that faraway look that said he was checking in with Rick on the question.

  Greensleeves blinked after a minute. “Sorry. Rick can’t set that up. We’re going to have to get to a town to do it ourselves. But the good thing about that is we’ll be able to think of an awesome guild name.”