Reternity Online : Rescue Quest : DIRECTOR'S CUT : a LitRPG Epic

by Baron Sord

  She dreamed she was somewhere in a dark, dead forest, and then—

  She was tipping over into the nearest inmate.

  The woman grumbled and used the heel of her bare foot to shove Emily’s shoulder rudely, knocking her down in the other direction.

  Emily spilled onto her side, unhurt. When she realized what had happened, she was deeply offended. She glared at the woman, yet another new inmate who may have been Russian or British or Australian. Emily couldn’t tell.

  “You smell like shit,” the woman growled through crooked teeth and scraggly hair.

  That couldn’t be right. Emily had cleaned herself up with a pitcher of water in the shower/toilet after her diarrhea. This woman must’ve meant Emily’s stress sweat and the fish dumpster stench that had set permanently into the stolen dirty gold dress she still wore.

  “Clean yourself up.” The woman pushed her foot against Emily’s butt and shoved again.

  Emily’s body rocked forward before settling. She ignored the offense. She didn’t have the energy to fight back. She would’ve if she had, but she didn’t.

  Still laying there, she closed her eyes as tightly as she could and wished with all her might that this was all a dream. If she tried hard enough, maybe she would wake up.

  She didn’t.

  She just laid there, feeling the suffocating heat of Bangkok pressing in around her like prison walls within literal prison walls.

  She tried to stay strong.

  But she wasn’t sure how much longer she could.

  —: Chapter 19 :—

  Wednesday, March 18th, 2037

  Reternity Online, in-game

  North of the Freelands

  Over the Frozen Forest

  En route to the border of the Dark Kingdom

  We were all piled in Jason’s chariot. The white and black dragons beat the air lazily with their wings as we flew through the clouds at supernatural speed.

  Me, Ty, Q, Dad, Jason, and about a dozen of Jason’s soldiers stood in the back. The soldiers all had big swords on their hips and wore white and black plate armor and held tall shields. The chariot was larger than before, so we had enough room and weren’t cramped. Turned out, Jason could adjust the size magically. That was handy.

  Jason stood at the front, holding the reins to the dragons. He said to me, “I gotta hand it to you, Low, that was epic work you did on that Quest last night.”

  “What about it?” I asked, rubbing my right palm through my glove with my left thumb. My sword hand was still raw from yesterday’s fighting. Guess I needed to build up some calluses. This game thought of everything.

  “I loved how you took out that mana accelerator.”

  “You mean the mana cannon?”

  “Yup. You blew the shit out of that thing.”

  “You saw it?”

  “Yeah. Watched the video on DreamStream.”

  “Video? Who was recording?”

  “Me.”

  “Figures.” More Big Brother from my little brother.

  “You really pissed off Keslak.”

  “You mean that drow warlock?”

  “Dark elf,” Jason corrected. “He’s going to be looking for you.”

  “Great,” I groaned. “With any luck, I’ll be long gone from RO before he tracks me down.” I glanced over at Dad, wondering if I’d ever really come back to play so he and I could go questing together. Nah. I didn’t want to see him get vaporized by another column of fire. Or worse. Real life was less stressful. So was pen and paper D&D.

  Not wanting Dad to hear any talk about Emily, I contacted Jason through the mental link.

  KingFarthurT:> Where are we flying to anyway?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> There’s an abandoned castle in the Frozen Forest on the border between the Freelands and the Dark Kingdom. Ever since the castle was nearly demolished by the Sacred Alliance during the pushback of the Profane Invasion, the ruins have been used as an outlaw hideout. I now have evidence that several mind-locked players may have been held there in the past. My spies working in the Dark Kingdom have been gathering intel since you told me about Emily, and apparently it’s a growing problem.

  KingFarthurT:> And they think Emily is in this castle now?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> I hope so.

  He raised his eyebrows at me, betraying his uncertainty.

  I didn’t like that look, but hope was all we had at this point.

  Below, the terrain changed from snow-covered alpine forest to snow covered rock and mountain. An hour later, the castle appeared in the distance, perched stoically on the summit of a craggy mountain peak. We circled the ragged ruins in Jason’s chariot. They were no more than rubble. The basic layout of the castle was evident, but not a single tower or structure or wall remained intact. It didn’t look like a viable hideout to me.

  After circling a few times, Jason landed the chariot in the immense courtyard.

  The second I stepped off the chariot and walked around, the frigid mountain air bit through my leather fencing armor (recently repaired, thanks to Jason’s armory staff).

  “D-d-d-damn!” I shivered. “It’s fricking freezing!”

  Ty chuckled, his breath puffing from his nose, “You think you cold? I ain’t got no clothes.”

  “Aren’t you a Siberian tiger? Isn’t this your element?”

  “Yeah, but I ain’t had no time to grow my winter coat, yo.”

  Qoorie nodded, also freezing.

  Jason’s soldiers huddled in a circle, stamping their feet to stay warm. They all had similar stats and were similarly badass.

  Soldiers of the Law

  Level: 35

  Health | Stamina: 1888 | 1777

  Mana | Mind: 888 | 999

  Size: Medium

  Armor: 550

  ===============

  Good | Evil: 37 | -

  Law | Chaos: 377 | -

  ===============

  Jason’s black dragon seemed agitated by the cold, but the white dragon sat there, content. This must’ve been his element. Jason walked over to us with a small sack in hand. “Here, everyone. Take one of these. They’re night vision rings.” The sack held a bunch of rune-covered rings that all had cat’s eye gems of various colors.

  Acquired: Cat’s Eye Ring. Weight: 0.2 kg. Durability: 40. Availability: Rare. Magic Class: Divination. Grants the wearer extreme low-light vision.

  Jason continued, “Now you’ll be able to see once we go inside the castle catacombs.”

  That explained where the hideout was.

  “We going in a dungeon?” Ty asked, excited.

  Jason nodded.

  Qoorie’s eyes lit up. “Finally. I was starting to think we’d never do a dungeon crawl.”

  Jason smiled at her, “The wait is over. I hope it lives up to your expectations. Somewhere around here, we’ll find an entrance.”

  We scouted around the ruins for about a half hour before finding the catacomb entrance beneath leaning slabs of broken stone.

  “I think this is it,” Jason said, excited.

  A staircase descended into the darkness.

  “Who goes first?” I asked.

  Jason smirked, “Do you have to ask?”

  He led us down the wide stairs, his soldiers surrounding me, Ty, Q, and Dad in a phalanx. The light from outside faded quickly as we descended and turned 90 degrees before going down another flight of stone steps. We turned 3 more times before reaching the bottom. The daylight was completely gone, but I could see because of the ring. It cast everything in a bluish gloom that fit the mood and the frigid temperature.

  “It’s even colder in here than outside,” I muttered, watching blue breath puff from my mouth.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> We should stick to comm chat while we’re down here. Everyone’s linked, so don’t blow our cover by talking out loud or making any more noise than necessary.

  KingFarthurT:> Ten-four, good buddy.

  Two corridors attached to the large chamber led off to the left and right.
The floor in the center was interrupted by a deep well about 40 feet across. I walked up to the waist-high wall circling it and leaned over.

  KingFarthurT:> Damn, that’s a long drop.

  I couldn’t begin to estimate how far down the well went, but I’d be surprised if it was less than a mile. Or five. I would’ve said further if I couldn’t see the bottom, but there was a tiny dot of orange light shining up from below.

  Ty and Q walked up and looked down.

  Tiygar:> Look like lava to me.

  Qoorie:> My guess would be molten magma.

  Tiygar:> Ain’t magma molten by definition?

  Qoorie:> Yes, but lava isn’t magma. It has to erupt from a volcano before it’s considered lava.

  She winked at him.

  Tiygar:> Bae, you keep talking like that, you gonna make my volcano erupt right here and now. You know I love it when you talk nerdy to me.

  Qoorie purred audibly.

  I groaned out loud.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Please stay on point, people.

  Jason reached into his armor and pulled out a small object: 3 black marbles and 3 white marbles clung together in a ball. He set it spinning in the air. The clump of marbles spun faster and faster until it was a blur. A second later it shot down the open corridor at blinding high speed and was gone.

  We all stood there for a minute in silence.

  Right when I was about to ask what was taking so long—

  WHOOSH!

  The ball of marbles shot back up the corridor and stopped suddenly a few feet in front of Jason. There was a literal wind that trailed after it. It had been going damn fast before stopping on a dime like that. Mach 1? Mach 5? I didn’t know. Surprised it hadn’t made a sonic boom. The thing drifted into Jason’s gauntleted palm and he put it away.

  KingFarthurT:> Now what?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Now we have a map of the dungeon.

  KingFarthurT:> What?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Take a look. Everybody, go to your menu and check your maps.

  I tapped my tongue 3 times.

  There was a new item on the list.

  Stats

  Gear

  Maps

  Settings

  Help

  Logout

  I tapped Maps and a 3D image of a dungeon floated in front of me.

  KingFarthurT:> Nice.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> You can move it and zoom in and out with your hands. Better than erasable markers and dungeons mats, right?

  KingFarthurT:> Never.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> You’re too young to be so old school, Low.

  KingFarthurT:> Ha ha ha. Blame Dad.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Why do you think I’m here all the time?

  All I could do was look at him. What was I going to say to that?

  Ty, Qoorie, and Dad were busy examining it, spinning their own invisible-to-me map in the air in front of them.

  Qoorie:> Is this the entire dungeon?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Hard to tell. There could be secret doors or distraction wards designed to confuse the probe, things like that. But it’s a start.

  Tiygar:> Ain’t too big. We can clear this out in no time.

  KingFarthurT:> What are all the red dots on the map?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Mobs. Sorry, a mob is—

  I held up my hand, stopping him with a confident smirk.

  KingFarthurT:> A mob is a monster. Dad told me.

  Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> I did.

  Dad smiled proudly at Jason, who nodded.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Anyway, there aren’t too many mobs. Unless they’re a legion from the Profane Army, they won’t be a problem.

  KingFarthurT:> What’s the Profane Army again?

  Tiygar:> Demons.

  KingFarthurT:> Nice.

  I’d always thought demons were cool.

  Qoorie:> Not nice.

  Tiygar:> Unless you like dyin’.

  KingFarthurT:> Oh.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Relax, people. I doubt it’s the Profane. We’re too close to the Freelands. So, follow my lead, stay in formation, and we’ll be fine, no matter what comes at us. I’m casting a globe of silence around us, so no one will hear us coming. But use your stalking skills and keep your movements small. Any sudden or dramatic motion can attract attention from scrying eyeballs.

  KingFarthurT:> Can you make us invisible too?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> I could, but if we can’t see each other, it’s hard to work as a team. Without some kind of spell-based vision for everyone, it’s more trouble than it’s worth.

  KingFarthurT:> Hadn’t thought of that. I’ve never actually been invisible before.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Yeah, it’s a bit different than minis on a map.

  KingFarthurT:> No doubt.

  With our weapons out, we marched slowly down the stone corridor in a phalanx, all of us with heads on swivels, watching for any sudden movements.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Steer clear of that. It’ll eat right through your boots.

  Jason pointed his sword at a wet black mass on the stone floor that resembled shiny black broccoli flowers densely packed together.

  KingFarthurT:> Black pudding?

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Close. Black Fungoid.

  I took a look.

  Black Fungoid

  Level: 3

  Health | Stamina: 300 | -

  Mana | Mind: - | -

  Size: Very Large

  Armor: -

  ===============

  Good | Evil: - | -

  Law | Chaos: - | -

  ===============

  The fungoid covered almost the entire floor for the next 30 feet or so. It also climbed up the far wall, covering it completely, and hung from the ceiling nearly out to our heads. We had to squeeze by single file and hug the wall. Although our footsteps were completely silent, the fungoid mass was ticking and clicking the same way slimy things did when you squeezed and kneaded them in your hands. Creepy. Worse, the oily black flowers seemed to twist and follow us as we passed. I was half expecting the flowers to pop open and reveal beady black eyes.

  Pop pop pop pop pop pop!

  Several hundred of them did pop open, but didn’t reveal eyes. Instead, they oozed an oily black goo that puddled and seeped toward our boots alarmingly fast.

  KingFarthurT:> Move it, people!

  Most of us avoided touching the goo, but enough was leaking out of the mass that it puddled over the entire floor in some areas. I had to jump several times, and on the last leap, the back edge of the heel of my boot touched sludge, causing the leather to instantly bubble and smoke. I tried to kick the goo off, but it stuck like glue, so I scraped it against the stone floor, leaving a trail of slimy melted leather behind me. I hated to think what that stuff did to skin. Worse than hydrochloric acid, if I had to guess.

  Walter_Simon_Byrne_1978:> Watch out for the rat.

  A fat gray rat as big as my forearm skittered toward us.

  Normally, I’d be thinking about rabies, but I was more worried about the Black Fungoid, so I moved in the direction of the rat like everyone else.

  The rat wove its way in and around our boots, clearly more scared of us then we of it. It shot past at top speed, skittering over a pile of rubble and heading for the black fungoid, its only escape route.

  “Don’t go that way buddy,” I whispered, but to my surprise, my whisper was absolutely silent. I’d forgotten about the silent sphere Jason had cast.

  Sadly, the rat didn’t hear me. Blundered right into a puddle of black ooze, his feet smoking as he ran. Legless, he slid to a stop within 10 feet, melting into the black goo seconds later, sizzling as he disappeared. Just as quick, new oily black broccoli bulbs grew from where he’d disappeared.

  Qoorie:> Poor thing.

  Tiygar:> I hope they’s another way outta here. Me and my woman ain’t wearing any shoes, y’all.

  His concern was genuine.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> D
on’t stress. We’ll figure something out.

  Tiygar:> I hope you right, cause that the way out.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> I said, don’t worry. We’ll be fi—

  Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk!

  KingFarthurT:> Everybody down!

  A hail of arrows peppered one of Jason’s soldiers who stood at the far end of the corridor, away from the group. He sank to the ground, dead. Dozens of black arrows sprouted from him like a man-sized porcupine.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Reform the phalanx! Everybody behind me!

  The soldiers jumped into position, shielding me, Ty, Q, and Dad.

  Another hail of arrows sailed toward us, but they all clattered and shattered off of an invisible barrier surrounding the phalanx, which I assumed Jason had just cast.

  SigurdDärksvärd:> Forward!

  As one, the phalanx marched with steady determination, deflecting hundreds of black arrows. Despite my Cat’s Eye Ring, there wasn’t enough light to see who or what was shooting at us from the end of the long straight corridor.

  Thanks to Jason’s barrier, we were able to push into a larger room. For whatever reason, there was slightly more blue light in here. As we entered, dozens of men aiming bows suddenly scattered around the rubble-strewn room, some firing off more shots as they backed up, others diving for cover behind heaps of broken stonework and piles of random stone slabs. The group of archers consisted of a mix of Orken and Humans with similar stats.

  Orken Outlaw

  Level: 7

  Health | Stamina: 435 | 375

  Mana | Mind: 0 | 38

  Size: Large

  Armor: 90

  ===============

  Good | Evil: - | 77

  Law | Chaos: - | 262

  ===============

  Human Outlaw

  Level: 6

  Health | Stamina: 330 | 305

  Mana | Mind: 0 | 95

  Size: Medium

  Armor: 75

  ===============

  Good | Evil: - | 68

  Law | Chaos: - | 238