Otherlife Dreams: The Selfless Hero Trilogy

by William D. Arand

  It was strange. It felt like wood, smelled like it, and probably tasted like it too. Holding it up to his nose he gave it a sniff and briefly considered the strange thought of putting his teeth on it. He couldn’t trust his senses anymore and a memory could only tell you that, yes, this clearly is wood. Was it actually wood then? Did it no longer theoretically exist but actually did exist? At least to him?

  Rapidly backing up from this line of speculation he settled his mind. Shaking his head as if to fling loose any lingering thoughts he puffed his bit his lip and started working.

  9:04pm Sovereign Earth time

  10/11/43

  Katarina pushed the door open and stepped into the inn room. Close behind her followed Thana and Hannah. Runner’s attention was diverted by the sudden entrance. Smiling at her he nodded his head before resuming his work on the bronze barbute.

  Reattaching the interior webbing to the hooks he flipped it over to the other side. Sliding the visor back into place with a pop he rotated it around to secure the other side. Much of the helmet had been lined with rivets, and it’d taken him some time to break each one out and insert a new enchanted one.

  This helmet he’d made in particular for Katarina. It’d been put together with the goal of mitigation and bolstering her health. The visor portion he had placed Night Sight on. As a barbarian she had just as bad of night vision as he did.

  It wasn’t perfect of course, it made everything black and white but did a fair job of providing nearly the same visibility as a normal day. Checking it one more time for anything loose or out of place he set it down on the table. A second helmet, minus the visor, that he had made for himself rested beside it with the rest of the table filled with various selections of armor and Nadine’s crossbow.

  Katarina came over to him and leaned over him. She put her left hand on his shoulder and with her right she accessed the bronze helmet.

  “Oh,” Katarina whispered. “Good helmet.”

  A mirthful chuckle escapes his lips at her clipped compliment. With a firm pat to her hand on his shoulder he looked up at her.

  “Can’t let anyone mar that pretty face of yours Kitten. Be sure to flip the visor down to actually use that night vision enchantment. Anything with more metal than leather on the table is yours. I’ll try to get to your shield while on the road if possible,” he apologized. Standing he picked up his own bronze barbute and pushed it into his open equipment screen. Snagging a thick robe with an attachable mantle from the table he made his way over to Thana.

  “My Lady Death, I’m afraid you’re going to need to wait till the road as well for your staff to be repurposed. Hannah, your swords too. I’ll do my best to get them all up to snuff before we get Crivel. There really wasn’t much in the way of inventory in this rink-a-dink little town. Nadine wore herself out getting the best deals for us.”

  With an apologetic smirk he handed the reinforced cloth to Thana. It’d taken some doing getting the boiled leather strips to sit correctly inside of the cloth, but the end result had upped it’s armor and looked acceptable. Nothing a few level ups in tailoring and a few wasted materials hadn’t spruced up.

  After Thana took the armor from his hands he sat on the edge of the bed Nadine was sleeping in. Using his elbow he lightly nudged Nadine’s feet and he felt her stirring from her slumber. Throwing out a lazy hand gesture to the table he continued.

  “Sort through the gear, find out what works for you, what doesn’t. Make sure you get your cranequin Nadine. We’ll sell the rest,” Runner lied. Fear of betraying that deception kept his lips pressed tightly together.

  He’d prepared each individual piece of armor for them in mind and doubted if anything would be left over. He wasn’t keen on pigeon holing people but he truly believed he knew what would emphasize their kits the best. If they didn’t want to use it, so be it.

  “If you replace something just trade it to me later since you can’t technically drop it. I’ll pass it over to our little merchant queen. We’ll be leaving tonight. Nadine and I set up the prep work this afternoon. With a bit of luck we should be able to leave town without anyone the wiser. We did pick up a tail by the way.”

  That got their attention, each looked to him to elaborate.

  “I don’t know anything beyond that we have a tail. I didn’t want them to figure out I’d spotted them. For the plan, it’s a fairly straightforward one really. Make our way out of the inn under cover of Stealth, head west, pick up our supplies, then exit through the harbor gate, loop around to the north, and follow the North Road north. We’ll hit a few towns and villages on our way, buy, sell, trade, the normal shtick.”

  Hannah snorted as she tucked a pair of boiled leather gloves into her inventory.

  “Nothing is that easy with your stupid ass. I’m sure you’ll fuck something up or piss off someone or something on our way. A flock of chickens maybe? Scurry of squirrels? Luck is a fickle bitch and thinks you need all the bad luck she can spare like a spurned ex. When she isn’t trying to get back with you.”

  Runner couldn’t really argue with Hannah’s logic as it had proven accurate up to this point.

  “Is this the part where I mention Crivel is going to be under siege from the Sunless empire? Cause yeah, if we don’t get there fast enough the city will get shut tighter than a quartermaster’s medical supply depot.”

  Letting out a bark of laughter Katarina shook her head. She now sat in the chair he’d vacated at the table. Her fingers were tightening the straps to her new bronze gorget and pauldrons, adjusting the length to sit right on her shoulders and collar bone. Since she only had to pull off her leather armor to equip the new bronze set she hadn’t needed privacy to change, her underclothes were separate.

  “Never easy. Always a problem with you,” Katarina muttered. Slapping a buckle down hard enough that the metal pinged she looked up at him with a challenging smile.

  “Yeah. Well, you all knew this wasn’t going to be pleasant. I wouldn’t begrudge of any of you from backing out now that you know the plan.”

  Runner let that sink in for a minute. Silence spread throughout the room and hung over the conversation like a brewing storm cloud. Everyone stared at him from their various positions throughout the room.

  “Katarina, slap him for me? I’m unfortunately indisposed, otherwise his head would be spinning,” Thana called over. She was behind the wooden screen they’d put up as a dressing area previously. She was fastidious about changing regardless of the circumstances.

  “Whoa there Kitten,” Runner pleaded, holding up his hands to Katarina. “Sorry. I admit, it sounds stupid but it still needed to be said,” admitted Runner. Despite being sincere, Nadine started to kick him repeatedly in the back.

  “Alright, alright! For fucks sake already,” grumbling to himself Runner hurriedly got up and stood near the door. Motioning to an end table that held a collection of bottles. “Everyone be sure to take five of those flasks. I managed to instill a very low grade Stealth into them. It isn’t exactly master alchemy but it’ll work. Nor will it get anywhere close to Hannah’s level of ability with stealth, but it should get everyone out the door without being immediately spotted. I figure we might get twenty minutes out of each of them, more than enough to do most of the work when we need to Stealth. First things first of course, exit the Inn, get in the alley next to it.”

  “Another alley. Too many alleys with you,” said Katarina. Connecting the breast plate into the gorget she let go to test the way it hung. Apparently it was sufficient as she started in on the greaves. Runner wasn’t sure why she didn’t just equip it through her character screen, but he supposed that maybe it felt more correct for a Natural to do it this way.

  “I’ll get out there and take a look around. See if I can mark these whoresons for the rest of you.”

  Hannah crossed the room and left them all there without waiting or a response. With a shake of his head he clapped his hands together and looked to the rest of his party.

  “Right. I�
�d say let’s get everything ready to go then.”

  11:09pm Sovereign Earth time

  10/11/43

  Katarina, Nadine, and Thana were lined up behind him. They’d halted at the top of the stairs, out of sight of the common room. Nearly all of the customers who were players had long gone to sleep. A bonus to experience for sleeping a majority of the night was hard to resist. The fact that it was a percentage boost to all experience gained, regardless of source, made it nearly a daily quest.

  Runner activated Stealth and moved down to the first floor, the bar. Slipping between customers Runner did his best to give them enough space to not fully alert them. He paid the detection warning indicators no mind. Even if every patron in the place was suspicious of his presence they wouldn’t do anything unless he was fully revealed. Trusting in his group he didn’t look back, but instead pressed on, turning immediately to the right as he exited the building.

  There at the corner of the street crouched Hannah. She waved him over to her position. If her name wasn’t floating above her head he wouldn’t have spotted her that easily.

  Glory be to the Sovereign Seven for nameplates.

  Sparing a glance down the roadway as he moved he couldn’t detect anyone. Reaching Hannah he passed her, not stopping until he’d entered the alley proper.

  In short order Thana, Nadine and Katarina joined him, Hannah coming up last.

  “Anything?” Runner inquired.

  Hannah shook her head slowly. “Not a thing. I’ve been searching for two hours and I haven’t found anything. If they’re watching, they fell asleep on the job. Or maybe they’re all extremely well fucking hidden.”

  “Fantastic. I’ll bet on sleeping and pray they’re not that proficient. Time to bug out.”

  Turning deeper into the alley Runner started off at a slow trot. Using his left hand he called up the spell Night Sight and cast it upon himself. Runner was momentarily distracted when he realized he’d used his hand to cast something that only needed a mental command. With an imperceptible grunt he cast it again on Nadine, only using his mind to access her from the HUD and cast.

  “Oh! T-that’s han-n-ndy. I can see.”

  Behind him he heard a subdued clank. Flicking his eyes to the HUD he concluded with a smirk that Katarina had forgotten to drop her visor till now. The party flitted through the night time city streets like shadows. Luckily it was a new moon tonight. It provided the perfect ambiance for skulking about, no moonlight.

  They stuck to the alleyways and short streets, avoiding the thoroughfares entirely, and keeping to the shadows when they had no choice. Crossing a boulevard they were separated by a series of wagons that turned a corner and cast a bright light across the road. Katarina, Nadine, and Hannah were all on the other side, Thana and Runner having been the first two to get to the other side when they noticed it coming.

  Thana turned away and pressed herself into the steps leading up to a large tenement building. Deciding it as the best option available, Runner did likewise. Taking the front position he then backed up, forcing Thana into the corner. Hunching into himself as much as possible he could only curse whoever decided to lead an entire convoy of wagons through town at this hour. Probably some idiot who over estimated his speed and under estimated the distance.

  Looking around with a wary eye he found no one close enough to see through their stealth. Other than the wagons and the residential buildings there was a lone closed confectioners shop with two customers who’d yet to clear out of the darkened patio.

  His eyes settled on those sitting at the table and felt his heart lurch in his chest. There was his dinner companion. The woman who apparently he’d been in some type of relationship with. Sitting across from her was Mr. Personality himself. Bullard didn’t even have the demeanor of a quest NPC anymore, and seemed far more akin to one of Runner’s Awakened. It was clear he was interested in Miss Mystery from his body posture. Leaning forward, his shoulders and hips turned directly towards her, his hands spread apart and on the table between them.

  Runner could only watch, his tongue too large for his mouth, his hands, feet, and heart were made of ice. It wasn’t that he was suffering the Chilled debuff from the cool night air either. The most sickening fact of all was they were too distant for the nameplates to reveal her name or be selected.

  Damn the designers! DAMN THEM!

  Forcing a breath through his teeth it came out in a shudder. For better or worse Miss Mystery had a hold over him. One he couldn’t even explain to himself yet.

  It’d only been ten seconds since they’d crammed themselves into this spot, but now it felt like years. The wagons were just now reaching their position and trundling by. It’d be another minute or two before the last one at the end cleared them

  “While difficult, and with regret, I must inquire. Do you know the young lady who seems to have our friend so infatuated?” Thana whispered, a concerned note in her voice. She’d noticed the pair as well.

  It wasn’t something he felt he could explain correctly. It’d surely come out wrong. Thana had never balked at anything he’d asked of her though and it was his turn to share of himself. His turn to give her the trust she’d given him.

  “I do, I think. She’s a player, like me. A soldier on the starship with me. I’m pretty sure she’s an ex. Pretty sure. It’s all jumbled up. I’m missing things, but there’s a lot of bitter bubbling boiling things inside me. Acrid and sharp. But it feels like a sham. Old I guess. Stale. I don’t even know her name.”

  Thana’s lack of a response wasn’t very surprising. It wasn’t every day Runner offered up that much personal information in a tidy carry on of emotional baggage. What was surprising was when her cool hand rested on his elbow.

  “I’ll be the first to admit I don’t truly understand. My life was written for me and was not my own. My experiences do not exist beyond more than the month of time spent with you. I can tell you this much though, whatever the root of the split may be, it’s incontrovertibly not of your doing. It’d be strange to have that intense of a negative reaction and be at fault for it.”

  Runner found he wasn’t able to respond. Miss Mystery said something that made Bullard lean his head back and laugh. If Runner could throw up, he was sure his dinner would be decorating the sidewalk.

  “Come, let us be away from here. Hannah will keep them safe and they’ll meet up with us further along.”

  Gripping his elbow she began coaxing him from the stairwell, heedless of the wagons. Down a different street they went and into the hollow night.

  An hour had passed since their close encounter and near exposure. The slow advance through the city and determination to remain unseen by all cost them in time but hopefully would pay off tenfold when they were no longer pursued. Runner and Nadine left the others behind the building they were hiding behind, moving to a spot beside the stables inside the city.

  “This isn-n-n’t the person we sold it-t-t to!” whispered Nadine in an urgent voice. She still followed him, hunched over and attempted to be quiet. Her attempt at stealth was a a poor imitation of his own, though he was appreciative of her dedication to his desires.

  “Anyone selling from the same faction, with the same type of equipment, will work. The trick here is this little stall was set up for people who needed to repair a wagon before or after coming off the boats. It doesn’t sell wagons per-se, but it does sell everything one would need. Go up there and access the vendor like I showed you. Should be right on the inside there. Pass me anything that’ll encumber you too much to move. Try to get the rear of the wagon as close as possible too.”

  “I kn-n-n-now. You don’t have t-t-to tell me again, darn-n-nit.”

  Harrumphing at him Nadine sidled up along the wall. Runner smiled and quirked a brow, that was probably the closest to cursing she’d ever get.

  One Hannah is enough actually.

  Without any indication or warning the wagon appeared atop of him. His boot happened to be pinned beneath the wheel. Startled
, Runner flailed his arms and fell backwards. Kicking his foot free of the wagon wheel he looked up, trying to find Nadine so he could glare at her. There was no doubt in his mind that the placement had been intentional.

  “If you’re don-n-ne playing aroun-n-n-nd back there, get everyon-n-n-ne up here,” Nadine crowed. Mirth hung in her words even if she wasn’t laughing. She stood near the base of the drivers box, smiling.

  “Don’t get comfortable. The one person who can pass by with the least amount of notice is Hanners, even with the guild looking for her.”

  Muttering to himself Runner grumped his way back to the others. Turning the corner he hooked a thumb in the direction he had just come from. “Right, we’re set, time to go. Nadine is loading the trade goods we’ll sell on our way.”

  “Marvelous. And? What follows this juncture?” Thana asked, closing the distance between them.

  Katarina stalked up behind Thana and nodded. “Mounted or on foot?”

  “That’s the thing. If we just traipse out past the guards, this whole sortie was pointless and we’re back to the SP.”

  “SP? The fuck are you talking about now? Actually, forget that. Hurry up with the explaining, asshole. It’s cold out,” swore Hannah. She wasn’t exactly wrong, it was below a comfortable temperature now. Hannah stomped her feet as if to warm them while waiting for him to continue.

  “Sure. Katarina, Thana, Nadine, and myself get in the back. Hanners rides the driver position. She’s the least likely to be remembered even with the guild looking for her.”

  “She’s a half breed. She’ll stand out.”

  “Yes, you’re right Kitten. The other choices are Barbarian, full Sunless, disfigured, and player character. Any of those sounds less likely to stand out?”

  Frowning Katarina turned her thoughts inward. Struggling with the problem she could only eventually shake her head at the same conclusion everyone else came to.