“So, what’s the game plan?” Frank asked.
“Riley and I should probably scout the island,” Jason replied, rubbing at his chin. “Perhaps you can stay here to defend the ship and watch the crew while they make the repairs? I’ll order them to follow your directions.”
“Works for me,” Frank said with a shrug, and Riley nodded in agreement.
“Great. We should be back in a few hours,” Jason replied, glancing up at the sun. They still had some time before nightfall. “Message me if something terrible happens.”
“I’d like to come with you and Riley,” Eliza interjected quietly, fumbling with her pack. “There might be useful ingredients in the forest.”
Jason glanced at the girl in surprise, chewing at his cheek in thought. There was something off about her behavior, but she hadn’t given him any real reason to distrust her. “Alright, that sounds fine. Just make certain you stay near me. Without Sneak, you will be vulnerable,” Jason finally said. Then he clapped his hands together. “Alright, let’s get started!”
As Frank started barking orders at the undead, the rest of the group immediately headed toward the small game trail and made their way further inland. Riley took the lead, scouting ahead in Sneak while Jason kept a watchful eye on his own map. Not for the first time, he was thankful that his Tactician skill allowed him to borrow and log his teammates’ map data.
The group quickly discovered that their progress through the forest was delayed by the dense vegetation that often obscured the trail. Jason was forced to use his dagger to hack at the branches and foliage that overhung the path while Eliza stumbled along behind him. He stayed on high alert, examining the area around them carefully as they moved forward. The forest was alive with birds rustling through the branches of the trees above them and the hum of insects, but he hadn’t noticed any signs of larger predators.
After nearly an hour spent walking in silence, Eliza finally spoke up from behind Jason. “So, you’re the Regent of the Twilight Throne?” she asked tentatively.
“The one and only,” he replied, his eyes on the trail ahead of them. “I don’t like to advertise – you know, what with the real-world bounty on my head.”
“That makes sense,” she said. “You just seem…”
“What?” Jason asked as she trailed off, looking back at her over his shoulder.
“Different from what I was expecting, I guess,” she finally answered, blushing slightly under his scrutiny.
“You mean like a psychopathic murderer?” he asked bluntly.
“Well, not exactly,” Eliza replied cautiously. “I see why you killed the sailors. Actually, I was going to say that you seem like a normal person.”
Jason was forced to do a double take, not quite expecting that response. He also didn’t rush to mention he had killed a bunch of unarmed slaves. He had kept that part quiet from his teammates although he had noticed a few confused glances at Jason’s new zombies. “A lot of the video footage posted online is either misleading or done to scare people away from my city. I don’t particularly want an army of players marching on the Twilight Throne.”
Eliza nodded. “I guess I understand that.”
“And what about you?” he asked, trying to move the topic away from himself. “Between that poisonous mist spell you used back in Falcon’s Hook and your Inspection ability, your character is rather unusual. In a good way,” he clarified quickly as he saw her expression fall.
“Those skills aren’t anything special. I received the Inspection ability during character creation,” Eliza said. “I think it’s a form of improved Perception – at least from what I’ve read online, but it only triggers if I activate it.”
“It’s incredibly useful,” Jason replied. “You were able to identify the Tentacle Horror’s resistances. What else can you tell from inspecting something?”
Eliza stopped and picked a bright-red flower growing alongside the trail, her brow furrowing as she examined its petals. “I can often determine a player’s health, primary skillset, resistances, etc. The information is usually incomplete, but at least it’s something.
“Items are different,” she continued, holding up the flower. Her voice sounded excited for the first time since Jason had met her, and her eyes lit up as she spoke. “Like this flower. I can tell you that it’s poisonous if the oil in the petals is distilled. I can also see several possible combinations with other ingredients that might provide an assortment of protective buffs.”
Jason’s eyes widened. That type of ability would be incredibly valuable with her alchemy profession. It just made him realize yet again how little he really understood about this game. “What made you decide to go into alchemy and herbalism?”
Eliza hesitated, glancing at him awkwardly. “My parents are pushing me to go to medical school. I’m pretty close to graduating high school, and they have me in a bunch of prep courses. I-I don’t really enjoy it – at least most of it. I’ve always loved gardening though, and the biology and chemistry classes translate well to Alchemy and Herbalism in-game.”
“I guess it just sort of fits,” she added in a quiet voice.
“It sounds like it,” Jason replied. He was just about to ask her another question when he received a frantic group message from Riley, his eyes darting along the lines of text.
“What…?” Eliza began, nearly running into Jason as he came to a sudden stop. He lifted a finger to his lips, indicating that she should stay quiet. Meanwhile, he scanned the dense forest around them but was unable to detect anything out of the ordinary. A moment later, Riley dropped from Sneak nearby, her chest heaving.
“What is it?” Jason asked.
“There’s a small clearing ahead,” Riley whispered, bringing up her map and projecting it into the air in front of them. “There are… well, some sort of creatures camped there.”
“Creatures?” Eliza asked, fear tinging her voice. “Like the thing we encountered on the ship?”
“No. These look like some sort of humanoid lizard,” Riley replied. “They are clearly intelligent. I saw tools and weapons.”
Jason immediately summoned his dark mana, the chill energy flooding his veins and pooling behind his eyes. With the clarity the malignant energy afforded him, he considered how to proceed. If the island was inhabited by some sort of intelligent lizard creature, he needed to determine their number, whether they were hostile, and, if so, what sort of danger they posed. Right now, they had too little information.
“I’d like to get a good look at this camp,” Jason said, turning to Riley. “Do you think I can get close enough to see it myself without being detected?”
Riley chewed on her lip for a second before replying, “Possibly. But Eliza will need to stay here since we’ll need to move forward in Sneak.”
“I’ll be fine by myself,” Eliza assured them as they glanced at her. Despite this declaration, Jason noticed that she was fiddling nervously with the hem of her pack again. Unfortunately, he had little choice but to leave her by herself if he was going to get a glimpse of the lizard creatures.
“Fine. You should stay out of sight and off the trail,” Jason suggested, motioning to the dense foliage that surrounded them. “We’ll only be fifteen minutes or so.”
At Eliza’s nod, Jason and Riley simultaneously activated Sneak and headed further down the trail, picking their way forward carefully and quietly. A few minutes later, they came to a halt, and Riley took up a position behind a nearby boulder, gesturing for Jason to join her.
Their new vantage point afforded them a view of a small clearing. It appeared that the trees had been removed from this glade some time ago and a series of aged stumps now littered the area. What captured Jason’s attention, however, were the creatures that lounged about the clearing. Riley hadn’t done them justice with her brief description. These were full-fledged lizardmen, standing nearly seven feet tall and each one covered in thick, patchy blue skin.
Jason inspected the group carefully, discovering th
at the creatures were each above level 160. His gaze lingered on the crude – almost primitive – spears and axes they carried. The weapons were a patchwork of stone and wood, bound together with vines that were likely native to the island. Although, Jason supposed they hardly needed the weapons since each lizardman’s fingers ended in vicious curved claws. As he watched, one of the creatures picked up a tree limb nearly five feet long, swiftly breaking it into smaller segments with its bare hands before tossing the lumber on a campfire in the middle of the clearing.
Damn, they must be strong.
The lizardmen appeared to be making camp for the evening, pitching patchwork tents in the clearing and hissing at each other in a way that indicated that they had developed their own language. Riley nudged Jason, gesturing off to one side of the clearing and his eyes widened in surprise. A pen composed of wooden stakes had been erected along the tree line, and enormous snakes were curled and coiled together within the enclosure. By Jason’s estimate, each one was nearly two dozen feet long. More disconcerting was the stack of leather saddles lying nearby.
Are they mounts? Jason wondered.
He had seen enough. This didn’t appear to be a settlement. The fresh carcasses strung up along one side of the camp indicated that this was some sort of hunting party, which meant that there were likely many more of the creatures further inland. Jason put a hand on Riley’s shoulder and motioned back down the path. The two quickly retreated further back into the woods.
A few minutes later, they reached the spot where they had left the water mage and dropped out of Sneak. “Eliza?” Jason whispered.
He started getting worried when they didn’t receive any response for several long moments. Then Eliza abruptly tumbled out of a bush nearby, landing heavily on the dirt trail – stray twigs and leaves caught in her hair. The mage grumbled to herself, looking flustered. Jason could have sworn she mentioned something about a sheep. He would just have to add that to the list of the mage’s oddball behaviors.
“Sorry,” Eliza said as she caught them staring at her in confusion. “What did you find?”
“My guess is that it’s a hunting party,” Jason said in a hushed voice, gesturing for her to be quiet. They couldn’t be certain whether the lizardmen had posted scouts or patrols around their camp. “What do you think, Riley?”
“I agree. Which means that there must be more of the creatures – probably a lot more.”
“So, what do we do now?” Eliza asked, her eyes wide and her finger pushing at her glasses.
“Our best bet is to regroup with Frank,” Jason suggested. “I was hoping to find the temple before we made our way back, but we should warn them of this potential threat and possibly grab a few of my minions before we go any further.”
“That’s a safe strategy,” Riley agreed.
With a decision in place, the group started back toward the beach. They kept silent as they traveled, speaking only in hushed voices for fear of drawing the attention of any other lizardmen that might be wandering the forest.
Jason froze as they caught sight of the beach, taking cover behind a tree and gesturing for the other two women to do the same. Something was off. Frank and the undead were nowhere to be seen, and the only sound was the roar of waves crashing against the beach. Riley must have come to the same conclusion since Jason noticed that she was already gripping her bow tightly and had nocked an arrow.
“Where did they go?” Eliza whispered, her knuckles white around the base of her wand.
“I have no idea,” Jason replied quietly, a sinking feeling in his stomach. They couldn’t afford to lose the undead sailors. Without them, they didn’t have an easy way to return to Falcon’s Hook. His dark mana flared as he considered what he would do if any harm had come to Frank or his crew. “But we’re going to find out.”
Chapter 15 - Hunted
Claire sat at a small café nursing a cup of tea. She was sitting at a table on the restaurant’s outdoor patio, watching as people walked passed on the street nearby. Since she was downtown, everyone was well-dressed and moving at a harried pace – likely trying to get back to their offices and the endless list of tasks they needed to complete.
For a brief moment, Claire wished she could return to her own office. She considered waving her Core across the payment terminal installed in the center of the table and leaving. Maybe she had made a mistake in approaching Gloria.
“Hello Ms. Thompson,” a voice interrupted her thoughts. Claire glanced up to find Gloria Bastion standing beside her table, the older woman scrutinizing her carefully.
“Gloria,” Claire offered in greeting. “Why don’t you take a seat?”
The older woman sat down delicately, her back rigid. She promptly waved a hand across the surface of the table, and a screen appeared. Gloria ordered a coffee and then dismissed the display with a flick of her wrist. The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, Claire waiting for Gloria to speak first.
“After our meeting a few days ago, I have undertaken an audit of our files and the original CPSC trial of the game system. Your report on the incident with the game master was also enlightening. In the process, I have noticed a few anomalies,” Gloria finally said, chewing on the word “anomalies” distastefully.
“What exactly do you mean?” Claire asked cautiously. She was treading a fine line during these conversations to avoid incriminating either herself or Robert.
“The logs for this game are woefully incomplete. It is also unusual that Cerillion Entertainment has no real-time access to the players’ information. Our game masters have complained that they have little information to work with when reviewing player conduct. In fact, it is clear that they are little more than high-level players themselves.”
Claire hesitated for a moment as she considered how to respond. “Some of those issues are outside of the company’s control. The hardware for the neural interface system offers a unique challenge. Since we have continuous access to a player’s brain activity, there are significant privacy and legal concerns. You might even classify some of the information we are recording as medical records – which carry their own legal protections. This is why we were forced to limit even our own access to the players’ information.”
She took a deep breath before continuing, “Regarding the logs, that is a result of how Alfred operates the game world. He makes so many changes – many of which take place in real-time – that we were having difficulty tracking his activity in a way that was easy to follow. We had to completely rethink the way we handle versioning control and log system changes.”
“I see,” Gloria said, raising a single, arched eyebrow. A waiter stopped by the table, depositing a cup in front of the older woman. She sipped at the contents delicately before continuing. “Our staff has also noticed dramatic differences between the game world during the CPSC trial and the one that is now offered in the live version.”
“Some of that is the result of patches,” Claire replied cautiously. “Otherwise, this is also a product of Alfred making dynamic changes to the game system.”
“Given our last conversation, you can see why I might find that more than a little alarming,” Gloria replied, meeting Claire’s gaze. “We now have some circumstantial evidence that would support re-opening an investigation into Awaken Online. However, we need more. Have you made any progress on your front?”
Claire grimaced, cradling the cup in front of her with both hands. “The records of the player being ejected from the game have been deleted,” she said quietly. “I still have the logs showing the player’s elevated neural activity, but I cannot prove that the AI was accessing his mind while he was logged out of the game world.”
With a sigh, Gloria set down her cup, rising from her chair at the same time. “Well, then I suggest you get to work. That information must be stored somewhere.” Gloria turned to leave but hesitated. “I know you understand the risk to the other players if you are right. I trust you will find a way.”
With that last statemen
t, Gloria walked away, swiftly stepping into the flow of pedestrians beside the café. Claire’s eyes followed the woman as she disappeared into the crowd. She knew that Gloria was right. She just didn’t know what she was going to do about it.
***
“I don’t see any enemies,” Riley said, sighting along an arrow as she carefully inspected the Marietta. The group had stood along the tree line for several minutes and yet the crew was still nowhere to be seen. “I think it’s safe to move closer and investigate.”
Jason nodded, and the group emerged cautiously from the trees. As they approached the ship, it soon became clear that the Marrietta had been completely abandoned. There was no trace of either Frank or the undead sailors. Although, he did notice that the larger holes in the hull had been boarded up already and woodworking tools lay scattered across the sandy beach. After searching the ship carefully, Jason stepped back down the gangplank.
He found Riley stooped over, examining an impression in the sand. “There’s no one onboard,” Jason reported in an angry tone. “They just vanished.”
Riley glanced up at him, her fingers tracing one of the indentations in the sand. “There are a ton of footprints further up the beach – my Perception skill is going crazy. Not all of these prints look human either. Like, look at this one. Unless your undead suddenly grew clawed feet, I think those lizardmen were here.”
Eliza pointed toward the tree line further down the beach. “It looks like the footprints are all headed in that direction. Maybe the lizardmen showed up and took Frank and the undead hostage?” she suggested tentatively.
Jason glanced at Riley, and she nodded in confirmation. “There are no bodies and no obvious signs of a fight aboard the ship,” he added, rubbing at his eyes tiredly.
“Hmm. How many lizardmen must have been here for Frank to give up willingly?” Riley murmured, trailing off as she examined the footprints.
Jason’s stomach sank as he realized she was right. Frank would only have given up if the odds had been overwhelming. He knew how crucial the undead sailors were – they were the group’s ticket back to Falcon’s Hook. He wouldn’t have surrendered willingly unless he knew he couldn’t win. That didn’t bode well. Now there were only three of them remaining against some unknown legion of lizardmen.
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