Well Done

by Andrew Seiple

  “Phantasmal Picture,” Renny said, and light flooded the room.

  Chase gasped and looked away.

  “Yeah, I’m a little indecent right now. Sorry, kid,” said the unshaven man sitting on the toilet. “They didn’t plan to come in here again until she got back. And they weren’t stupid enough to unchain me. So I figure this was the smart, if gross solution.”

  “Here,” The Muscle Wizaard said, taking off his vest and arranging it out of Chase’s field of view. “It’s safe to look now, Chase.”

  “Thanks, big guy,” Dijornos said. “I owe you one.”

  And Chase turned to look at the most physically dangerous player she knew.

  He was a tall man, black-haired and grinning with flawless teeth. Glittering blue eyes shown through wild bangs, a mane around leonine features that matched the battered and dented breastplate that glowed on his torso. The rest of him was bare, save for the Wizaard’s makeshift covering over his lap. And chains bound him to his ‘throne,’ crisscrossing his chest and anchoring his limbs to pitons all around the room.

  Some of them had been pulled free, Chase knew. Some of those chains were slack.

  She didn’t need her Oracular powers to visualize him sitting there in the dark, with nothing else to do but squirm and struggle with terrible, unending strength and determination...

  “Well,” she said, lowering her arm. “Here we are again.”

  “Yep. Have you reconsidered my offer?” Dijornos asked.

  Behind her, Yubai let out a triumphant cry. She glanced over to see the wall rebuild itself, now looking like worked stone instead of the smoothly-carved stuff it was before.

  “One minute,” Chase said, a note of eagerness entering her voice despite her attempts to stay cool.

  And there it was.

  You are now a level 8 Archer!

  DEX+3

  PER+3

  STR+3

  You are now a level 9 Archer!

  DEX+3

  PER+3

  STR+3

  Dijornos was laughing, as the others stared at him. Chase shook her head and focused back on the big man as he sneered. “A level junkie, huh? Can’t blame you. Right in the endorphins...”

  “I get the gist of what you’re saying, and I don’t think you have much room to insult me,” Chase said. “Considering that you were perfectly happy mowing your way through thousands to grow your own levels. The difference is that I’m managing to make my happy way through life without murder.”

  “Well, we did kill a few guys,” Renny said, rubbing his neck.

  “That was self-defense,” Chase shot him a ‘not the time’ look. “And anyway they had it coming.”

  “Blah blah blah I’m an evil bastard and you’re pure heroes of ess jay double you purity. Whatever. Look, you’ve gone to a lot of trouble to get here. You wouldn’t be here without a reason. Say it, already.” Then he frowned. “Maybe not here. They told me this whole place was wired to blow, so maybe we need to continue this talk elsewhere.”

  “I’d like to think that’s a good idea. But I’m well aware that this is a game and we’re not real to you,” Chase said, bluntly.

  His eyes widened, and she pressed the advantage. “So you don’t have a problem with murdering at least three of us, maybe four depending on how homicidal you are, once you’re free.”

  “Ah... no. Why would I do that?”

  He was a bad liar.

  “So I came prepared.” Chase said, staring him right in the eyes. “A bargain. We relocate to a safer place; you hear me out, and at the end of it we either go our separate ways or...” This was going a bit off script, but the more she thought it over, the more she needed to. “...or you join us.”

  “A truce? Sounds good. Naturally, I agree. But... you don’t trust me. So what makes this idea different than just letting me loose now?”

  “Because I know what happened to Tabita and Thomasi,” Chase said, unblinking, holding his blue eyes with a hawk’s gaze. “And if you harm even a hair on me or my friends’ heads, you’ll never learn of their fates.”

  Shock then, and the emotion that she had been hoping for.

  Worry.

  Gone in a second as he squinted at her. He took a deep breath, two more, then nodded. “All right. You have a deal. Got nothing against you anyway. Make sure to keep it that way, got it?”

  “Make sure it’s mutual,” Chase replied, and looked to Yubai. She tapped the walls around the chains. “Could you please?”

  It took a few tries to get the idea across, but Yubai finally started mining, doing the best he could with the chisel and hammer.

  While he did so, Dijornos took a long, hard look at him... and his face softened. He burst out laughing. “A gold-seller? You’re a gold-seller?”

  Yubai turned to him happily, interrupting his chisel work. “Yubai Gold? Bess prices! Bulk delivery!” Then he seemed to droop a bit. “Later. Things... broke. Now. Things broke.”

  “Keep chiseling! Don’t stop!” Dijornos yelled back at him, and Yubai shot back gibberish.

  While the two of them were arguing over incomprehensible matters with the few words they both understood, Chase pulled Renny and The Muscle Wizaard into a huddle.

  “You’re sure about this?” Bastien asked. “From what you’ve told me, he’s bad news.”

  “He is bad news. But I saw what I needed to in his eyes. They don’t care about us, but the other players? That’s a different matter. It should get us out of here, at least. After that if he goes his own way at least he’ll be a distraction.” Chase frowned. “They’ll hunt him first, before us.”

  “He might kill some innocent people,” Renny pointed out. “He is not a good man. We can’t trust him. They used to call him the Butcher! That’s who we’re letting loose here!”

  “No. We can’t trust him,” Chase conceded. “But he had a functioning guild and a mercenary company, and a lot of help back when he was Il Macellaio. The damage he’ll do this time without all his resources shouldn’t be much, he’ll be too busy running.”

  “It still goes against my grain.” Bastien shook his head, white beard swaying as he thought it over. “But I’ve trusted you so far, so I’ll trust you a bit longer. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, Chase.”

  There was a lump in her throat all of a sudden. Chase reached up and patted that kind, grandfatherly face. “Thank you,” she said. “If it goes bad I’ll make it right. Somehow.”

  Then her eyes went wide, as a familiar voice spoke in her ear. “You’ve been in there too long. I’m coming in.”

  “Cagna’s coming!” Chase said, and only then realized that the chisel noises had fallen silent.

  “Cagna?” Dijornos rumbled. “Wait, that means...” he laughed. “Cute. I look forward to meeting her.”

  He was standing, but he’d knotted the Muscle Wizaard’s loaned vest around his waist, so there was that at least. He still towered over her.

  Bastien rose to his full height, and the two large men glared at each other briefly, then gave almost simultaneous nods.

  “You know I can take you, yeah?” Dijornos told Bastien.

  “And I know you won’t try,” The Muscle Wizaard rumbled back. “Because neither of us have anything to prove, here.”

  Dijornos nodded, then tapped the wall to one side. “This one’s different. When the chains came out of it it sounded lighter. I think this is the trapped one.”

  “All right....” Chase grimaced, and thought. “Can you tell Yubai to take stone from the opposite wall and pile it in front of the trapped one? So the explosion doesn’t kill us? And maybe some support pillars too so the ceiling doesn’t fall in.”

  “I’ll try. I don’t speak Cantonese, and this guy’s English is crap,” Dijornos griped.

  “We could just go out into the hall. Tunnel back that way,” Renny offered.

  “No. They’re expecting that,” Chase said, rubbing her head. “I need you to use your memory, and draw me a map of this wing. I ha
ve an idea, but it’ll take some tunneling, so once Yubai’s done with the wall and supports, we’ll need him back...”

  It took Renny two minutes to draw a mostly-accurate map. It took Yubai three minutes to reconstruct the cell. Then he started on the escape tunnel.

  “Okay,” Chase said a minute later, as the group moved into the hole. She stared around at the rough-cut stone, and the chisel marks covering every surface of it. “It looks like we go for another fifty feet this way, then take a left and start ramping upward a bit... I’m not sure how much, but we can adjust it as—”

  Then she was on the floor, the light was out, and someone was lying on top of her. A high whistling tone was blaring in her ear, and for a madcap moment in her confusion she thought they’d turned on the alarm siren again.

  What? What the hell just...

  The tone faded, but with sweet silence came pain. She blinked and croaked out, “Lesser Healing.”

  You have healed yourself for 41 points!

  The pain left, and she inhaled, choked on dust. Everything was dark, and she felt carefully. “Bastien?” she guessed.

  “Chase?” he rumbled and got off her. “If you’re okay, everyone else is. Okay.”

  A flicker, and Renny’s lantern reappeared.

  Chase gasped and coughed harder as stone dust filled her throat.

  The cell was gone. The explosives had blown right through the barrier and taken out the stone supports nearest them. But the ones farther away had held... the makeshift stone wall Yubai had thrown up had saved them from a fast death.

  She tried to say something, coughed harder. Half the cell was gone... including the parts of it that allowed air vents access to the place. Over the pain in her freshly-healed eardrums, she could hear the others coughing...

  ...all save for Renny. Golems didn’t sweat the small stuff like that. Fortunately he had the presence of mind to realize that others did. “Create Air! Manipulate Air!” the little fox cried out.

  Instantly, a breeze swept the dust away, piling it into a whirling mass in the corner that compacted downward bit by bit. The stale air, rapidly filling with Dijornos’ stench, was replaced by sweet air, cool on her face. Chase coughed a couple of more times, spat out something gray in the illusionary lantern light, and took stock of things.

  Everyone was all right. Dijornos and Bastien had been at the back of the group, and taken the brunt of the explosion.

  “How long before we run out of air?” Chase asked Renny. “This place is sealed, so you can only create so much, right?”

  “Normally, yes,” Renny confirmed. “If I just kept creating air I would increase the pressure in here. Then when we opened into a larger space everyone except me would get really, really sick. But fortunately I can destroy air, too. So long as I don’t create more than I destroy you should be good.”

  “Let’s go, then,” Chase said, patting Yubai’s elbow and gesturing at the wall. “We don’t have much time. Cagna’s coming in, and we still have one more player to save.”

  “Wait...” Dijornos said, shooting a look at her. “You don’t seriously mean you’re going to let her loose? Because we might have a problem, if that’s so.”

  “We’re going to need her,” Chase said. “Look...” she glanced around. “We have time while Yubai works. He can only go about ten feet at a time or so—”

  “Thirteen. He’s a level thirteen miner,” Dijornos interrupted.

  “Whatever,” Chase snapped. “While he works, we have our talk early. They probably think we’re dead, so this is as safe a place as we’ve got. Sound good?”

  “I’m down,” Dijornos folded his arms over his ruined breastplate.

  “I’m... sorry?” Chase looked at him, feeling confused. “That you’re depressed, I mean?”

  “No, it means... look, let’s talk,” he sighed. “Got nothing better to do, anyway. What’s this about Tabita? And Thomasi? What happened to them?”

  “Thomasi died at the hands of another player. A man named Pwner.” She watched Dijornos carefully, but beyond a scowl, he didn’t show any tells.

  “That sucks. He’ll be back, though. Unless he lied about..” Dijornos shut up.

  “About his tokens? He didn’t,” Chase confirmed. “He’s got enough for at least one more respawn after this one.” There was the shock she’d been looking for. “Yes, he trusted me enough to tell me about those. I imagine you’ve got a few tokens as well.”

  “Some,” Dijornos said, sitting cross-legged on the floor, putting his face as near to her level as he could get. “This is pretty surreal, when you think about it. Us talking like this.”

  “I know. If you and everyone like you is to be believed, then we’re more or less dreams. Dreams that you made to do whatever you wanted with. But...” Chase put her hand on his shoulder. “To us, we’re real. And you’re like... daemons, or angels or supernatural things from outside the world. At least that’s how you are to the Inquisition. To me, not so much.”

  “And what are we to you?” The man’s leonine face softened as he considered her.

  “You’re just people. People with a really different perspective and a few weird tricks. And you’re trapped here, which is bad.” She squeezed his shoulder where it poked out of a hole in his breastplate. “So I’m going to try to help you get home, if you want to go.”

  The big man stared at her, and his lip twisted. It shuddered, and Chase watched in amazement as his countenance crumbled.

  He sobbed then, a big, honking sob as his hands came up to hide his face.

  Chase reached out again, stopped. One advantage she’d gained as her charisma went up, was an ability to understand the best social cue in an interaction, and right now her instincts were telling her that touching him again was a bad, bad idea.

  So she withdrew back to the other end of the tunnel, and watched Yubai work instead.

  She had meant what she said back there. Dijornos had been horrible, all things considered, back when he had power and was leading a guild full of other powerful players. Tabita... Tabita had been even worse. But Thomasi, by all accounts, had been a good man. And Yubai, here? She didn’t know him that well, but he didn’t seem like the sort of villain who deserved life imprisonment.

  No. They were people.

  The minutes passed, and Yubai worked, piling the stone in heaps behind them as he mined out in front of them.

  “Easy,” The Muscle Wizaard said, pausing in helping the bear-man carry a load of stone. He stared over Chase’s shoulder.

  She turned to find Dijornos behind her. Tears had cut furrows in the stone dust coating his cheeks, and his expression was inscrutable as he stared down at her.

  “Yes?” Chase asked.

  “You told me what happened to Thomasi. What about Tabita?”

  “Did you know about her plans?” Chase asked.

  “Yeah. She thought she’d found a way to glitch out.”

  “She... glitched... all right.” Chase said. Thomasi had called it that, she remembered. “But I honestly don’t know how well it worked. She’s either permanently stuck in wherever dungeons go when they seal, dead, or back home. Every time I throw the cards to try and figure out what happened the words appear and tell me it’s an error. So I think maybe... I think she’s not having a good time, wherever she is.”

  Dijornos sighed. “She was a mess. But I hope she made it out. Not her fault she was crazy.”

  “...no,” Chase lied. She’d found out more about Tabita back in Arretzi, and she rather thought that the woman’s punishment was entirely her fault. But she knew better than to disagree with Dijornos. In the emotional state he was in, he might take it as provocation. He didn’t handle that well.

  “So what’s your plan, kid? How you gonna save us all?” That smirk was back.

  “I didn’t tell you all of what happened to Thomasi,” Chase said. “Before he died, we made plans to meet up again in Gnome. But...” she bit her lip. “We got there, and we couldn’t find him. And when I used
my divination skills to try and find him, I found out why we couldn’t find him. He’s being hunted. The Inquisition... Zenobia... she’s going after him. Hard.”

  “Zenobia!” Dijornos snarled. “That—” the torrent of curses made her blush. Even after a month of adventures she’d never imagined possible, she still had trouble overcoming her upbringing. Such rudeness would have been unthinkable back in Bothernot.

  She waited until he wound down and cleared her throat. “I threw the cards and looked for omens, to try and figure out what I could do about this... what we could do. And I found out that we have a time limit. In about a week, if nothing happens to change his fate, they’ll capture him again. And then... they turn their attention to us.”

  Chase couldn’t help but shudder, as she remembered the visions. And how she’d seen each of her friends die, before Zenobia had put the blade to her throat and offered her one final choice...

  “You?” Dijornos snorted.

  Then he paused and remembered where he was and who had gotten him out of his cell. Again. “You,” he said, entirely seriously.

  “Us,” Chase hugged herself. “And I’m damn good at divination, but whatever the Inquisition is, they have people who are better than I am at it. Once they turn their attention and resources to us, that’s it. That’s all. We’re done in days.”

  “So... you need me to help find Thomasi?” Dijornos asked.

  “That wasn’t the plan, originally.” Chase shook her head. “But plans change. We were going to get Speranza. She’s easier to handle if she decides to betray us. You? We’d probably die if you betrayed us. With her we have a chance.” Chase grimaced. “We still need to get her. Which means we’ll have two of you to watch. Three,” she corrected, glancing over to Yubai.

  “Why the hell would I betray you?” Dijornos asked. “Sounds like you’re the enemy of my enemy.”

  “Because you’re not a monster, you’re a person,” Chase told him, with a hard look. “And people aren’t as predictable as monsters. I don’t know how you’ll jump or which way you’ll turn if things get hot, not really. And they will get hot, if you stay with us. But...” she sighed. “But I owe Thomasi. A lot. And I want him back.”