Jah shoved Xavier toward the portal. Xavier backed down.
Priest turned to Jah, “I can help Blades get Samantha alone. Just leave them—”
“She don’t want you anymore, Priest,” Jah said. “I took your girl. You can’t get her back so don’t try.”
“What?!” Priest said. The relationship was still fresh in his mind. He didn’t want to think of his ex with another man… even an NPC. He ignored Jah’s statement and focused on the current situation. “Look, I’m telling you I can—”
“Shut up,” Jah said kicking him off his feet and down into the portal.
He fell two meters and rolled down onto a small grassy hill. The sudden brightness of day hurt his eyes. He laid there a minute as an internal warmth made him shudder. He felt strange. A surge of energy swept through his body. It pulsed in him like a warm white light. The stats were in the bottom left of his peripheral:
Priest (Priest McKenna)
Level 1 Cleric
Role(s): Game Master
HP: 50/100
Mana: 200/200
Strength: 10 (Above Average +100 kg deadlift)
Stamina: 70/70
Dexterity: 10
His power was back! The good news was that his class and role as a game master had returned. The bad news was that he was a Level 1 Cleric. He had gotten to level 5 before the lost portal. It was better than nothing.
He laid there face down digging his fingers into the soil beneath the grass. He had spent months of being examined and psychoanalyzed by GM MedTechs. He’d allowed the Developer Labs to gather real-time data and conduct experiments to determine why he lost his power. He’d had months of wondering and worry. Now that he had his powers back, he should be happy. But he was pissed. His fingers ripped out bits of grass as he clenched his fist.
“These powers don’t mean anything without my friends,” he thought. He was left with an emptiness.
He still could not remember what had happened in the lost portal. Entering that damn portal had cost him 4 hard fought levels. He’d lost his powers in the simulation for months which had threatened his livelihood in the Corps. The Game Master Corps was questioning his judgment as a game master since he’d led his team into a lost portal after being asked not to. He had lost his brother in that portal as well as his team… people he called friends. Not only did he lose his wife, but she’d tried to kill him. Going through that damn portal had completely messed up his life… and now he had to go back in. He had to find it and go back inside.
He reached out with his intent and all his spells appeared. This included up to 5th level spells. The system interface dictated the menu as it displayed in peripheral vision:
The Level 0 and 5 spells include:
- Create Holy Water - Makes 1 gallon of water deadly to undead - Requires 50 mana
- Funeral Rite - Bless a corpse to remain resistant from becoming undead for 1 week - Requires 50 mana
- Simple Mind Trick - Allows the cleric to influence simple minded NPCs with a 1-word command - Requires 100 mana
- Cure Wounds - With a touch, it allows others to be healed for 10 HP of damage - Requires 25 mana
- Detect Undead - Allows the cleric to feel if undead are within 20 meters - Requires 25 mana
- Detect Poison & Disease, Detect Magic, Detect Undead (Requires 50 mana)
- Healing Word - Heal others from 20 meters away for 5 HP of damage - requires 25 mana
- Inflict Wounds - touch others to inflict 20 points of damage (Requires 50 mana)
- Object Glow - Allows the cleric to make an object glow for 1 hour (requires 25 mana)
- Spare the Dying - With a touch, revives those who are alive but at 0 HP to a stable condition (requires 100 mana)
- Magical Effects - cause flames to flicker; create sounds from another location (requires 50 mana)
- Toll the Undead - Increase damage to undead by 10 (requires 25 mana)
Having access to all his original spells sounded good but this meant that he could not use much of the higher-level spells without depleting his 200 unit mana pool.
Priest resisted the urge to heal his broken nose and gashed cheek. He needed to pretend as if nothing changed. He had to make a conscious effort not to self-heal because it was something he could do as easy as waving his hand or blinking his eyes. Priest would leave the bandage on his face and the bruises on his body.
He accessed his menu and selected the option to hide his stats. The only Metadata another system-realized player would see was a name and a health bar. He would look just like an NPC as before.
He rose to his feet and saw Gina come through the portal. They stared at each other as a soldier dropped down between them. Xavier, Noelle and the rest of the soldiers followed.
In his peripheral vision he saw the text of a new quest as the system interface spoke:
New Quest: Save Your Friends
You and your friends have been captured by Kali. The new bonds and friendships are fragile and uncertain, but hardships can bring people closer together. Save your friends from certain danger to earn their trust and admiration.
Reward: Earn 10% increase toward level 2 cleric level for each person rescued; increase the probability of gaining a portal mage; a new team; 200 system credits.
Failure: Any friends not rescued will not be a part of your team.
Difficulty: Hard
Chapter 18:
Save Your Friends
It felt good to hear the system interface. It was comforting like an old friend. Seeing the quest prompts and accessing the intent-driven user interface felt like validation. It felt like he was back in the game. But the quest didn’t sound hard, it sounded impossible.
They were the captives of five armed men, a fire mage and a smart game master. The five armed men were in front of him and surrounding the other captives. The fire mage, Jah, was behind him. In front of everyone was Lady Blades.
He’d gotten a peek at Jah’s stats. Jah had hidden his stats but a quick low-level Enemy Scan revealed basic stats:
Jah (Jaheim Bokem)
Level 3 Fire Mage
Level 1 Warrior
HP: 250/250
Mana: 310/400
Strength: 12 (Light Tank 350 kg deadlift)
Jah was a low-level henchman for sure. But compared to a level 1 cleric, Jah was a fire-breathing tank. If Priest turned around and tried to incapacitate him, Jah would most definitely murder him with a few attacks. Even as a Level 3 Cleric, Priest could not handle him in one on one, close quarters combat. The best he might do is land a couple of sucker punches imbued with an inflict wound spell and net maybe 60 points of damage. Maybe he could immobilize him briefly with simple mind trick using up half his mana and get in some more punches. But once the element of surprise was lost, Priest would get burned alive and punched to death at the same time.
Priest looked toward the front to see if there were other options for escape. On either side of X, Gina, Ebony, Shiori, and Noelle were the five street soldiers. All of them were Level 2 Warriors. Even if Priest landed an improbable critical punch that knocked the fire mage out, the street soldiers had M-4 rifles. At the sight of resistance, these guys might panic and spray everyone. They looked like a bunch of rookies who had never even seen a portal before. Now they were in another universe freaking the hell out. They looked jumpy and paranoid so they would probably end up killing one or all of them.
In the unlikely scenario he knocked out Jah, and took out ALL FOUR of the armed soldiers, he would be left with Kiera, aka Lady Blades. On quick scan he confirmed the data he’d already gotten in Dee’s lab:
Lady Blades (Kiera Kali)
Level 8, Warrior
Role(s): Game Master
HP: 800/800
She had been his tank in his first group so he knew how good she was. Fighting her would be straight up suicide. Her gang looked like a party she had recently recruited as a new GM. They had potential, but they were pretty new. He couldn’t tell how many of them were NPC or player cha
racters, but if he had to guess he would say all of them were NPC based on the way they responded to her. She was a goddess from a higher dimension, grooming and empowering them on an intimate personal level. That kind of relationship had a way of completely owning some NPCs, mind, body, and spirit.
His best bet was to pretend to be powerless and keep the hurt, whipped dog look on his face. He added a limp for extra effect, hoping he remembered what leg to limp on.
He had to pray that they didn’t initiate a scan on him and see he had his powers back. They would then see him as a threat and kill him.
Lady Blades walked toward a path through the forest and took a knee to examine a footprint and Samantha’s abandoned coat left behind a large rock. They followed a dirt road into the forest.
A little way down the path and Lady Blades stopped for a moment and listened. She put up a fist signaling for the soldiers to stop. She slowly drew a sword.
A slow, rhythmic clop, clop, clop of hooves hitting the dirt road came out of the shadows of the forest. A small horse came trotting out pulling a two-wheeled cart full of bales of hay being driven by a small man. Lady Blades saw that there was no threat and put her sword away.
“Excuse me, sir,” Lady Blades said raising a hand. The pack of strange smelling giants crowding the road spooked the horse. It took off running to get passed them. When the driver noticed the huge people, his eyes widened and he slapped the reigns to get the hell out of there.
The man got passed Lady Blades but not passed the soldier, Skull Face, who snatched him right off of his seat with one hand. The little man’s feet and legs were trying to run away. He was screaming with his eyes shut.
Lady Blades approached, “Excuse me, sir.”
He stopped screaming long enough to be gently put down on the ground where his body was as limp as a noodle, “Please don’t eat me.”
The soldiers laughed. One of them said, “Well, I am pretty hungry.”
Lady Blades shook her head and shot a glance at the offending soldier who apologized, “Sorry, Ma’am.”
“Sir, we don’t mean any harm. We are looking for a girl who we think came this way,” Blades said. “Have you seen anyone?”
“No-no. No one... P-please,” the little man was terrified.
“What world is this?” Lady Blades asked. “I mean, what is this place called?”
“The w-wood,” The merchant stammered. “Forever Forest... F-first Town.”
“Would you happen to have a map we could use?” Lady Blades asked.
The little man scrambled to find a map in his dingy tunic until he pulled one out and gave it to her with trembling hands.
The elven merchant’s name was Elrich. Since Kiera was asking for a map, she must have received an exploration quest. The system put great value on maps since it helped humanity navigate the multiverse and the worlds within.
Blades took the map gently with both hands and bowed, “Thank you, sir.”
They moved down the road until they reached First Town, right past the guards. The ridiculous size, the savage look of the tattooed street soldiers and the sheer presence of the group sent the people of First Town screaming and running.
A First Town guard named Pol Pin yelled, “S-stop.”
Lady Blades looked around for the source of the voice, “We’re over here. In the guard tower. Please stop and drop your weapons.”
Lady Blades turned to see two wood elf guards huddled in a small shack.
She sighed, “We don’t mean to bother you. We are looking for a young lady that must have passed through your town.”
The small voice trembled, “Place your weapons on the g-ground, or we will be forced to use f-force. We do NOT want to use force.”
Lady Blades shook her head and walked passed the shack. Her soldiers followed. The elven guards crammed in the shack blew a whistle. Lady Blades and her entourage got some distance into the town. They stopped for a while to consider which way to go. The streets were clear as the people of First Town ran for cover. Lady Blades and Jah were planning to split up to search the main streets that forked through the little village. A group of 20 elven soldiers dressed in polished wooden armor gathered in front of Lady Blades. They had long thin spears. Not a single one of them was above about 5 foot tall. Their stats showed that they were probably the best fighters in that town.
They were not system-realized. Their stats were wide open and they were responding with underwhelming force. The average First Town Soldier was significantly stronger than the average First Town citizen but significantly weaker than the average system-realized Level 2 warrior:
First Town citizen (Elf)
HP: 25
Strength: 7 (Below Average 20 kg deadlift)
Stamina: 30
Level 2, Warrior (Elf)
HP: 70
Strength: 9 (Above Average 50 kg deadlift)
Stamina: 80
System-realized
Level 2, Warrior (human)
HP: 190
Strength: 11 (Strong 150 kg deadlift)
Stamina: 210
With one swipe of a sword that was too fast to see, Lady Blades slashed all the long razor-sharp spears surrounding her into stubby short sticks.
She shook her head, “I am sorry about this, but I have a mission,” she turned to her soldiers and gave them a command, “Make a hole.”
The soldiers ran in to field goal kick the small soldiers cracking wooden armor and sending them flying back several feet.
Jah kicked First Town Soldier Halus for 26 points of damage.
ShankBlack stomped First Town Soldier Gal for 40 points of damage.
First Town Soldier Pyk is knocked unconscious for 30 points of damage by Skull Face.
More First Town Soldiers rushed in, and the street soldiers opened fire.
Chapter 19:
Attack on First Town
At the sound of the first gunshot, Priest and the other captives laid on the ground. The soldiers were shooting at everything that moved. And when they were done, the dirt road was littered with the bodies of First Town soldiers. Their health draining to zero as their blood made small puddles. A bleak overcast had crept in turning the once bright streets to a dark grave. Some elven soldiers attempted to continue to fight from the ground grabbing the legs of the street soldiers. They received a bullet to the temple at close range. Lady Blades made a few mercy killings of crawling elven soldiers. The soldiers reloaded and stepped over the bodies. Noelle, Ebony, and Shiori were huddled together crying, their faces showered with flecks of elven blood.
The street soldiers got the ladies to their feet when a single arrow caught a soldier in his thick throat.
ShankBlack is hit with an arrow through the windpipe for 35 points of damage!
ShankBlack collapsed on the ground and flopped around. He gargled and choked on spit and blood. His hand dropped from his M-4 and gripped the bloody shaft of the arrow. Another soldier went to help remove the arrow from his neck when a cloud of arrows rained down. The soldier maneuvered himself under the squirming body of ShankBlack for cover.
Lady Blades used a double spinning blade attack to knock out every arrow targeting her. She did not receive a single point of damage. The street soldier next to her was on the ground covered in arrows.
ShankBlack has died in a barrage of Elven Reich arrows.
Jah had grabbed Ebony and used her petite body as a human shield. Her body was covered in arrows and she was down to 10% of her health before she was tossed to the road like trash.
“Noooo,” Xavier yelled running toward his sister through the barrage of arrows. He caught an arrow in the shoulder and went down. X gripped the shaft of the arrow as he tried to low crawl toward his sister. He was down to 40 of his 50 health points. An additional shot in the leg had him seeping health points and gushing blood. More arrows rained down. Noelle managed to jump out of the way. Shiori used her own body to shield Ebony from more arrows. She arched her back in pain as 3 arrows found a home deep
in her shoulder blades and near her spine.
Lady Blades still at 100% health knocked away arrows like she was swatting flies.
Jah pulled out a hand full of flammable golf ball sized objects from his cargo pockets. He was igniting them and throwing them on the thatched rooves where the archers were perched. The objects exploded on impact. They were some kind of improvised Molotov cocktails that were lighter, smaller than and almost as destructive as grenades.
The structures of the buildings were affected by each explosive golf ball he threw:
Elven Hat Shop
Structural Points: 600/1800
Local Horse Feed
Structural Points: 432/1500
Tobin Firston’s Home
Structural Points: 3/1000
The buildings were shaken apart by the initial blast and then eaten away by the flames.
As a level 3 fire mage, his fire bolt, ignite and fire burst attacks were not long-range. He had created his own long-range attack. The arrows stopped as part of First Town was set ablaze. The three remaining street soldiers mowed down waves of charging First Town soldiers, chopping them down with fully automatic machetes until the metal was glowing red. No remorse. Stray drops of rain sizzled on the barrels.
System notification texts flowed red across the peripheral of all system-realized players in the battle as the bodies hit the floor in blood, guts, and glory. The road was quiet as Lady Blades took a quick inventory of casualties, ammo, and resources.
The sound of a horn interrupted the whimpering cries of Noelle. On the fifth long note, the sky darkened. A moment of silence on the blood-stained road allowed the patter of raindrops to be heard. The next wave of First Town soldiers paused and looked up. Three magic users descended right in the middle of the battle protected by an orb of light.
A wave of nausea hit the pit of Priest’s stomach, “Holy Shit!”
Sovar Elvenreich
Level 30, Wizard
HP: 500
Mana: 1500
The wizards were dressed in red robes that looked like they were lit on fire. Rain evaporated on contact as if thrown on hot coals. The wind swirled around the town that was so strong it was throwing some of their own soldiers off their feet. A storm of dirt, broken spears, arrows, thatch roofing and corpses were sucked into the centrifuge. The three wizards were in the eye of the storm with their eyes blazing red. Three remaining street soldiers frantically reloaded. They were back to back as a fresh batch of thirty elven fighters surrounded them with swords and spears. Jah was trying to shoot flames but they flickered out in the wind and rain.
Lost Portals Page 10