The Arena

by Drew Seren

  “But what about the pirate ship?” Tufkakes wondered. “We’re going to have to do something with that before we get back to a large enough town to find a guild master to handle our setup.”

  “Let Horc hold onto it,” Greensleeves suggested. “He’s the reason we’ve all partied together. When we get to a big town and can find someone with enough gold to buy it, he’ll be the one to divvy up the goods for us.”

  Horc wasn’t sure exactly what it was going to take to claim the ship as loot, but he was willing to try. The gold from such a prize would set their toons up nicely for a long time. “Okay. How do I do this?”

  Tufkakes looked from the ship to Horc and back again. “I’d say go over on the ship and focus on the main mast. There should be a window popup like when you claim a soul-bound item asking you if you want it.”

  “Okay. I guess I should hurry or it might disappear while we’re flapping our gums over here.” Horc instructed Wolf to stay as he grabbed hold of one of the ropes attached to the grappling hooks and climbed up to the deck of the pirate ship. Halfway up, he realized there was no way he’d be able to do that IRL. He was in decent shape, but not that good. Climbing rope was never his thing.

  Once on deck, he headed over to the main mast of the ship. There wasn’t any kind of glow around it or anything that indicated he could select it. He tried waving his hand at it. Nothing. He tried touching it. Nothing.

  “Clock’s ticking over there,” Tufkakes shouted from the schooner.

  “Working on it.” Horc had never tried to claim anything that large in a game before. When he’d bought the Star Reacher in Galactic Explorers he’d just gone to a ship merchant, shelled out his credits, the ship appeared in his inventory, but he’d had to go to the docking ring of the station to use the ship from his inventory.

  Horc glanced around the deck trying to spot anything with a glow. The steering wheel shimmered with a gold light. He dashed up to the piloting deck and touched the wheel. The gold light turned red and a message appeared

  You do not possess the skills to use this item.

  Do you wish to claim it anyway?

  Yes - No

  “Yes.” Horc muttered.

  The ship shook under his feet, then disappeared. There was a heavy clinking in his coin pouch as he fell feet-first into the ocean.

  Salt water filled his mouth as he swam up toward the surface. He was instantly thankful for the swimming lessons he’d endured as a kid. He’d have hated to drown in the ocean after he’d just survived a pirate attack.

  “Did you get it?” Tufkakes shouted as soon as he surfaced.

  Treading water, Horc quickly looked at his inventory. The pirate ship was there, with a thin red line around it. He’d seen similar lines around weapons he couldn’t use, but the weapons hadn’t asked him he wanted them or not. That message must’ve been due to the nature of the boat. “Yeah. I got it.”

  “Wahoo!” Tufkakes cheered. “We’re rich! You guys are awesome to hang out with.”

  Horc resumed paddling toward the schooner as Greensleeves and Tufkakes lowered a rope ladder for him to climb back up on. Although he’d never expected to fight pirates, it had been rather fun, other than Baladara dying, but she was fine and already at their destination. If they were lucky, they’d make it to the island without any other mishaps. But the loot from the pirates had been sweet.

  12

  Horc stood in the bow of the Dancing Mermaid as the schooner approached the island where the Lone Palm Arena was. Baladara had kept them appraised of what she was finding, which was a fair number of players, most of whom appeared to be in chains, or practicing for some kind of gladiatorial competition. It sounded fairly bleak, but so far, she hadn’t spotted either Steelmaiden or Slasher.

  “It doesn’t look to be a large island,” Horc said as he studied the windblown beach at the base of the pier with its single palm tree that grew near a high stone wall that appeared to run at least halfway around the island. “How hard is it going to be to find them?”

  “Depends on how much of the place is underground,” Greensleeves replied. “The thing with game world construction is the designers aren’t always limited to what the natural world allows. Sure, according to Rick, they tried to stick to as Earth-like as possible with Halfworld, but they did take some liberties.”

  “Some?” Tufkakes laughed beside them. “Come on guys, I’m a walking talking raccoon, that’s more than some liberties.”

  “And possibly going deep underground on an island is another one,” Greensleeves agreed. “The other problem, is Rick’s having trouble figuring out which designer team worked on this island, so he can find us information on it.”

  Horc stared at the Druid. “Wait, what? How can they not know who made this island? What kind of design team are they running if they can’t figure out who did what?”

  “Rick’s freaking out about it too, although he’s trying to hide it.” Greensleeves frowned and gestured to the rapidly approaching dock. “This island is showing on their maps, but there are no details, and no one knows how it got there. There’s no paper trail for it. It’s almost like the game put it there for some reason.”

  “I don’t like this.” Horc shook his head. “The more I hear, the more it sounds like the AI running the game knows more about what’s going on than the people who designed it. That can’t be good.”

  “And it’s not how it’s supposed to work,” Greensleeves agreed. “Remember, I’m not the designer in the family, but from what Rick’s saying, there’s been more than just this instance where there are abnormalities in the game play. Things they didn’t design in. The big problem is until we can get you out of the game, they can’t take it down. Well, now we’ve got to get other people where they can log out too.”

  Horc nodded. “Right, so we ride this out until we can get everyone safe, then they take things down and figure out what’s going on. My big question with all this is why wasn’t this discovered before we began beta testing?”

  Greensleeves shrugged. “Can’t answer that one. Again, not the programmer. If I come back and say that the AI may have been waiting for an opportunity to take over, it comes across as paranoid and giving the program a bit too much sentience.”

  “Our robot overlords are just waiting for the chance to take control.” Tufkakes glanced up at the bridge where Captain Kidd was steering them closer to the pier. “Do you think we need to help tie this boat to the dock?”

  “Most of the rest of his crew was lost in the battle with the pirates,” Horc said, realizing they hadn’t seen but a couple of the schooner’s NPC crew since the battle that had left Baladara dead only to respawn on the island.

  “Is he going to wait for us, or will he keep on his preprogrammed pattern and go back and forth between here and the mainland until we’re waiting for him to pick us back up?” Tufkakes asked.

  “Wow, don’t know,” Greensleeves said. “But I bet we won’t be able to break his pattern, particularly if the AI is acting up.”

  “Then we better get ready to disembark,” Horc said as the schooner pulled up alongside the pier.

  Baladara appeared at end of the wooden planks, like she’d been standing there the whole time. “Well, come on, you guys, before the ship starts off again. If this game’s like most, he’s not going to wait around for you to get off.”

  Horc looked up at the Goblin captain. “Thanks for the ride! I guess we’ll catch you on the return trip.”

  “I’ll be back later.” Captain Kidd raised a hand in parting. “Hope I can find a replacement crew quickly.”

  “Good luck.” Horc turned and followed the others off the boat, a strange feeling of dread settling into his stomach as he went. He just hoped the boat would be there when they needed it. If they had to make a fast escape from the island, not having the boat there would make things a lot harder.

  Wolf seemed happy to see Baladara standing at the end of the pier and raced back and forth between the Elven Mage and Horc. He
woofed more dog-like than wolf-like and wagged his bushy gray tail.

  “You know, I really think he’s become more and more pet-like,” Baladara said as she rubbed his head.

  “Could be,” Horc agreed. He hadn’t wanted to say anything since he didn’t want to make it sound like he was normalizing his companion. The thing was, Wolf was become a lot more than he had been at the start, and Horc wasn’t sure what that meant.

  “Well, have you found out anything more since your last check in?” Greensleeves asked as they strolled down the dock toward the light brown sand of the beach.

  Baladara shook her head. “Not really.” She pointed to the wall. “I didn’t say anything about the wall because I don’t think it’s really important, although looking at it from this angle, it’s probably meant to defend from pirates or other people attacking from the pier. But it doesn’t go all the way around the island. At the one edge I went around, it looks fairly unfinished.”

  Horc frowned. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of an unfinished wall. If the AI was building the island from its own imagination, they might be in real trouble if they got trapped on the wrong side of it.

  “Let’s check out the other end,” Greensleeves suggested. “Since you’ve already been the other way. Maybe we’ll find something more useful.”

  “This way then.” Baladara headed off to the left.

  “So where were you seeing them practicing for gladiatorial stuff?” Tufkakes asked as they walked across the sand.

  “Not far from the respawn spot in the graveyard. It’s almost like they tried to make the spot as convenient to the arena as possible.” Baladara paused and stared out at the ocean. “Oh, that doesn’t look good.”

  Horc turned and followed her gaze. Several large serpent men were swimming quickly toward shore. The low hanging evening sun glistened off their blueish scales and sharp tridents. “Definitely not good.” He stared at them until they were close enough he could make out the red text over their heads, indicating their hostility. Serpent Cult Warrior, Level 25, read the first one.

  “There’s at least six of them,” Greensleeves said. “They look like they’re coming this way.”

  “Why are we already pulling agro?” Tufkakes asked just as Horc’s screen flashed red, indicating something had targeted him.

  “No clue.” Horc pulled his bow and knocked an Impact arrow. “But I’m not waiting for them to hit us first.” He added Flame to the arrow and let it fly at the closest warrior’s blue-scaled head.

  “With you there.” Baladara let fly a Fireball at the same snakeman. The two attacks hit the thing in the head. He reeled backward as his health dropped nearly half of what it had been before they hit it.

  “Hard and fast guys,” Horc said as he hit the thing again.

  As the others started their attacks, Horc focused his arrows on one warrior at a time until they fell. By the time he was working on his second target, they were reaching the beach and Wolf was able to lend his fangs and claws to the assault on them.

  Being on the beach seemed to empower Greensleeves’ new, sand-based spells. Torrents of dirt and small shells lashed out at the snakemen who were advancing on them.

  “This is really weird,” Baladara said as she got off another fireball and started a magical force blast. “There weren’t any of these things around the other side of the island. I wonder where these guys came from.”

  “Different side of the island, different rules?” Tufkakes threw two daggers at a reptilian warrior closing on Baladara, drawing its wrath on himself.

  “Possible,” Greensleeves’ sand attack finished off the Warrior he and Horc had been working on. “Or maybe we’re being viewed as more of a threat.”

  “I hope not,” Horc said as he targeted the snakeman slithering quickly down the beach toward Tufkakes. “Having the AI viewing us as a threat wouldn’t be a good thing, particularly since I’m not supposed to die in the game at the moment.”

  “Trust me, even if you were, it’s not a great experience,” Baladara said as she got off another blast of magical force and her mana began flashing orange. “Damn these things are taking a lot out of me right now.”

  “Hold on.” Greensleeves pulled out a potion and tossed it to her. “Use this.”

  Tufkakes threw himself at the one rushing him. The move seemed to take the reptile by surprise and the Rogue managed to get on its back. His blades flashed in the dying sunlight, and quickly ended the thing’s life.

  A huge form rose up out of the surf, easily twice the size of the other Warriors. There were still two of the original set they were having to deal with.

  Snake Cult High Priest, Level 28.

  “Guys take these others out, while I keep the big guy off you!” Horc pulled an Impact arrow and gave it a Poison spell. He knew the others could knock out the lower level ones if he could keep the big guy off their back, but to do that, he was going to need to hit it with Impact arrows to slow its movement and keep it slow until they could help him bring it down. Wolf turned its attention on the High Priest as the first arrow struck.

  The snakeman slowed but the word immune flashed in red letters on Horc’s screen.

  “He’s immune to poison.” Horc used Flame on the next arrow. His manna flashed red. He wasn’t going to be able to cast spells on his arrows quickly unless he got a potion, and if he took time to down a potion at that moment, it might give the High Priest the opening he needed to close in and do major damage.

  “We’re almost done here!” Greensleeves said.

  As Horc glanced at the party icons, he used a Razor arrow. Greensleeves was holding pretty well, but Baladara was again low on mana, and Tufkakes was below half health. The snake cultists were taking a toll.

  Horc got off another Impact arrow just as the High Priest shook off the effects of the first one. Even with the damage from the arrows and Wolf, the big reptile was down only a quarter of his health as it slashed at Wolf with its huge trident. “Get potioned up first.” Horc hoped he’d have the opportunity to get a mana potion when the party was able to distract the High Priest from him.

  “Working on it.” Greensleeves threw a couple of potions to the others as he started casting a healing spell.

  “Good.” Horc back up, trying to keep the High Priest in bow range so he wouldn’t have to go melee with it. He stumbled on something buried in the beach sand.

  “Shit.” He went down hard on his back, dropping his bow.

  The High Priest broke out of the Impact arrow’s slowing effect and surged at him, even as Wolf grabbed its tail and bit down hard. The snake man threw its trident at Horc, who managed to roll out of the way just in time.

  Surging to his feet, Horc pulled out his ax. The High Priest still had over half of its health, and its hands were suddenly moving in rapid movements and glowing with a blue glow Horc recognized as a healing spell.

  “Oh no you don’t.” Horc rushed the reptile, swinging his ax down on the thing’s hands as hard as he could. He didn’t want to risk the chance that it could regenerate part, or all of its health and make it that much harder to kill.

  When his ax hit the serpentman’s hands, something exploded. The force of the blast knocked Horc back several feet into the sand. His health flashed, and he lost a quarter of his points instantly. Pain shot through his back. His ax was gone. He still held the handle, but the blade was obliterated.

  “Damn you, Ranger!” The High Priest rushed him looking like he was ready to pummel Horc with the sparking, bleeding stumps of his hands. Its health was approaching a quarter, but it was still up and fighting.

  “What just happened?” Horc scrambled to get back on his feet. With his ax destroyed, he reached into his quiver for arrows. He might not be able to fire them, but he could hopefully slash at the monster with them.

  “You made boom.” Tufkakes jumped on the High Priest and drove a knife into the base of its skull.

  Horc jammed a Razor arrow into the thing’s chest.

  The H
igh Priest screamed as its health flashed red, then went out. It collapsed onto the sand.

  “Well that sucks.” Horc pulled his arrow out of the scaly chest, wiped it off in the sand, and returned it to his quiver. “Guess that ax is really done for now.”

  “Kinda looks that way,” Greensleeves said as he began casting a healing spell on Horc. “I guess a disenchanted weapon isn’t the best thing to use to break a casting, huh? We’ll have to remember that if we ever have another weapon that loses its magic.”

  As the spell finished, Horc’s health returned to full. “I guess we’ll just have to make a point to keep away from Gnoll weapons in the future.”

  “But you managed to blow that thing’s hands right off.” Baladara stood from looting the one of the other corpses as coins jingled in everyone’s purses. “That was really impressive.”

  “And gross,” Tufkakes said. “You did see that thing dripping blood as it rushed him.”

  “Yeah. That was cool too.” Baladara brushed sand off her hands. “Don’t be such a girl about things.”

  Tufkakes frowned. “You don’t have to be a guy about everything. We could try harder to do more role playing here.”

  “Maybe when the stakes aren’t so high,” Greensleeves said. “Now, let’s see about getting off this beach before more of these things show up. This wall can’t be that much longer, can it?”

  Horc dusted himself off and remembered to toss food to Wolf, who’d sustained a bit of damage in the fight. “I hope not, but we don’t know what we’re going to find over there either. It might be worse than this.”

  Baladara shrugged. “When I was watching, it wasn’t too bad, if you don’t mind watching other players obviously being enslaved by whatever the AI is up to.”

  “Then we’d better be careful.” Horc wasn’t sure how smart it was for them to go venturing into somewhere if the AI was working against them in more ways than just as a game master trying to make the story interesting to the players. It was like going against some kind of all-knowing deity who’d gone on a kidnapping spree and was determined to keep everyone it got its hands on. He was already a prisoner of the game in a different sense, and just hoped things weren’t going to get worse.