Continue Online (Part 4, Crash)

by Stephan Morse

  I felt bad for shoving it to one side during our reunion. She was in danger and we needed to figure out a way through that first.

  “Was this her plan?” I asked while running my eyes down the path again. “How long ago did she expect to die? This couldn’t have all been done in one week. How did these four even find out? Or get mixed up in it?”

  “Maybe because they’re special, like you. The chosen of William Carver.” Xin shrugged.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know everything, Gee. I’m only guessing based on this map. But Haven Valley is where William was, and he picked people during his last moment, or at least, his autopilot did.” She shrugged like it didn’t matter which was which. “He couldn’t have been hanging around Haven Valley to retire, he didn’t seem like the type.”

  Xin was right. William Carver had gone from one point to another to adventure endlessly until falling ill. The man’s journals stopped prior to killing the dragon, but he could have done a lot of other tasks. Or went into the real world and programmed something. An autopilot which copied William would have still been trying to help the people of [Arcadia] in some fashion. Bringing up new Travelers and sending them into the world might only be part of a grander goal.

  “That makes as much sense as any of this does.” I nodded and brought up my own player map. There were a lot of vaguely filled in areas but I could see the connections between my own recorded destinations and the map. “William had played this game long before anyone else. He loved the people here. He worked with The ARC Labs. He could have, no, would have done something.” I felt sure of it.

  “A way out.” Xin took a huge breath as the idea solidified.

  I stared at her and smiled again. What would happen between us if she went to a new place? Her survival meant more than being together. This sort of information was exactly what I had been waiting to hear from the Voices before. Now I knew that there was a part for me to play as well.

  “What do we do?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. But William’s friends might have more information,” she said while pointing toward the shoreline starter town.

  “Haven Valley,” I said slowly then turned to look at Wyl.

  It had to be coincidental, but it was a shred of hope. William Carver’s friends from [Haven Valley] might know what the old man had planned. Xin saw the bigger picture, and I had a rather unique insight to the old man’s past. High Priestess Peach, Peg Hall, Wyl, and just maybe a certain young rascal named Phil. Maybe one of his stories or journals could hold the key.

  One of my fingers ran along the smooth edge of [Morrigu’s Gift]. The weapon had been crafted by two of his friends and could change shape. Could it form up a key? Maybe there were more people involved than we even knew. Either way, we needed to get back to town and search for answers before everything fell apart.

  Wyl stepped back through the door. Xin and I turned around to look at him.

  “They’ve got a few ideas, but sent me back to get you and the others.”

  “Wyl! Xin and I will be going with you all. William might have left behind something to help everyone.”

  “From that destruction you talked about? I’m not sure I believe it, but that monster you fought…“ his words trailed off and the man shook momentarily.

  “Ask the others for anything you need to prepare yourself. We’ll have to leave soon.” I waved at him.

  Wyl’s lips went white from being pressed together. After a moment, he nodded. I sat down and scribble notes to the Voices while Xin stared at the map. A knocking noise filled my head which caused my hand to skip and ink to blot across the parchment. There was a hole forming in the world again.

  We had a lot of things to figure out and time was against us.

  Session Eighty Six - Skeleton Crew

  We stood on the beach being blasted by sea spray and salt smells. I held one hand up to block the overhead sun and wished [Wild Bill]’s brim was a bit wider. The other players had chatted about ways to cross the water before roping Xin in. I smiled at the sight of Beth as she pulled the shorter woman over to their workspace.

  “So, I told the others we should just use your skeleton boat!” Beth said while Awesome Jr. gave two thumbs up.

  “I don’t know if it will be enough for all of us.” Xin stared at our group. HotPants sat furthest away from us with Shadow in between. “It takes all three skeletons to even make a two person boat. We would need a lot of duct tape for a ship big enough to carry seven.”

  “Potions can fix it! I’ve got potions for everyone!” Awesome Jr. proudly proclaimed then deflated. “Except rashes, oddly.”

  The others grumbled but sounded positive. Three Travelers sat down and crafted one of the weirdest looking boats I had ever run across. Xin’s skeleton summons were pulled out piece by piece to make ribbing for the vessel. SweetPea rapidly sewed together a two layer tarp around their bodies.

  “Travelers are insane,” Wyl muttered next to me. We stood on the beach watching them assemble their monstrosity.

  Awesome Jr. shoved one of his foam potions into the lining and jiggled it around. Our boat filled up like a balloon. Moments later he boastfully declared the creation water ready. They argued additionally while SweetPea checked the edges for possible tears or weaknesses.

  “We could try a signal flare instead? Or start a fire maybe?” I suggested during their construction process. “There are people with ships who may come pick us up.”

  “No. None of your friends know if the town’s still in one piece, so we can’t wait that long,” Wyl answered.

  Dusk was off doing a flyby of the city, but it would take another half an hour before he made it back. He might also get distracted by every single bird, shiny object, and [Coo-Coo Rill] on the way. Afterward, would be a series of twenty questions then bribery. We could probably make it across before the [Messenger’s Pet] returned.

  Another sharp set of two raps made me jump. It had been forty minutes since the last set of knocking. I couldn’t tell if that made the danger close or far away. I knew how Miz Riley felt now, at least with regards to never having enough time.

  I needed to figure out a useful exercise to do than sitting around talking. My recent confession left me jumbled and disconnected. Part of me expected to turn around and face a row of Travelers prepared to host an intervention. To top it off I kept thinking about Xin’s lack of undergarments. Since now wasn’t the time to explore my fiancée’s clothing status I turned to Wyl. Maybe interacting with him would loosen the man up.

  “Can you show me that weapon stealing move?” I asked.

  “It’s not easy,” he responded.

  I had expected a denial. Apparently our relationship was high enough to warrant a vaguely positive response. At least Wyl didn’t call me convict anymore.

  We walked to a less sandy portion of the beach then went through the motion a few times. Wyl demonstrated the process by taking away [Morrigu’s Gift] repeatedly. I still didn’t have a firm grip on how he was allowed to wield it. [Bound] should have prevented him from getting far. In ten minutes I got a prompt from the machine.

  [Weapon Steal] learned!

  Details: This movement will perform automatically when certain conditions are met:

  Nothing in current hand

  No negative effects on hands

  Enemy must have weapon

  Traveler [Coordination], [Limberness], [Speed], and [Reaction] will all impact this move. Unaware strikes will increase the likelihood of success.

  Rank 1: Generally unsuccessful and will likely cause damage to the Traveler

  I stared at the box and wondered how the ability had come up so quickly, then filed it away as an Ultimate Edition perk. Self-harm from grabbing a weapon wrong sounded like a fair enough punishment for low skills.

  “Thank you, Wyl.” I nodded to the guard captain and he only stared in response. After all our time together the man remained standoffish.

  The guard didn’t
nod to acknowledge me. He handed back [Morrigu’s Gift] from the latest demonstration. Eventually, he wandered to the small beach then gazed across the span of ocean between us and [Haven Valley].

  I practiced the move a few more times but didn’t feel completely comfortable. My ARC dance program had similar activities. There was a series of paired events that involved handing fans back and forth while waving them around. Worse yet the ARC insisted I wear skin tight clothing, but the solitude of practicing offline helped mitigate the embarrassment. Those pieces involved inertia, timing, plus excessive practice. Most dancing and combat did as well.

  After the twentieth attempt, I wondered about the weapon William Carver had left behind. [Morrigu’s Gift] never felt any heavier or lighter despite my insanely high [Brawn]. Changing shapes to such a wide range of items had to be downright unusual, not to mention having a second weapon which did the same thing.

  Had he really thought things far enough along to put a key to NPC salvation in my hands? Me, of all people? What if I stopped playing? What if I got hit by a car in reality? Perhaps the old man hadn’t found any better options. His role as a new player guide would have been perfect for judging Travelers for worth to continue on the mission but maybe the other options were all terrible.

  I tried to picture the man, barely functioning and being more AI than human in the thought process. There could have easily been a line between the two where a Second Player helm picked up some surface thoughts and tried to act accordingly. Maybe those people mentioned in his journals had scattered more pieces about in case. Perhaps Wyl could use the weapon in case I died or quit. He might be able to shove it into a key slot.

  Or maybe I was reading too much into it.

  “Let’s go, Uncle Grant!” Thorny shouted.

  My head felt dormant. The actual clock showed late afternoon so maybe I was crashing. A heavy sigh heaved through me then I walked over. The boat looked like a lumpy hot air balloon that froze at partial deflation. Based on the size we would be able to squeeze the lot of us together but we needed a motor or paddles. Time and tide would take forever.

  Plus there were probably evil sea urchins that would spawn with so many players nearby. Honestly, this small island would probably mob us with stupid monsters if anyone stepped further off the beach. I looked around briefly and noticed some of our group was missing.

  “It’ll float,” Awesome Jr. said.

  “Maybe,” SweetPea responded. “Maybe it’ll float.”

  “Are you kidding? These potions are practically made of floatonium.” The teen male waved at their makeshift vessel. My basic understanding of boats amounted to a general shape and propulsion. Their conglomeration certainly looked right.

  “What?” My perplexed niece asked.

  “That’s great, but we need an engine.” I pointed at the rear of our new possibly seaworthy vessel. SweetPea was doing rounds and Xin stood there sweating.

  “Well, we saved like seven days of riding by taking the doors. I don’t think we have anything that works as an engine readily available.” Beth put her hands on her hips then chewed one lip for a moment. Seeing the Legate thinking expression replicated on yet another generation made me smile.

  “No portals. No scrolls. We can’t summon people over there because no one in the League has Arcane or Temporal Magic.” Awesome Jr. was typing away at an invisible screen and shaking his head every few seconds.

  “You mean hardly anyone, in the history of ever, has those,” Beth said while tapping her foot. “Even Hermes with that teleport move is pretty rare.”

  “I should have argued harder for jet powers,” Xin lamented quietly. She looked tired and worn out under the virtual sun. Hair clumped together. I walked over and put [Wild Bill] on her head. My fiancée tilted her head back in confusion then smiled briefly.

  “Or we row,” Wyl said and frowned. “Your jet device foolery sounds dangerous.”

  “Rowing!” HotPants came out of the jungle looking sweaty and ragged. Her body was clearly worn from an excessive amount of combat, made apparent by nicks along her arms and legs. She had large boards that were cut into paddles.

  SweetPea didn’t bother sparing a heal in her partner’s direction. I wondered why she let a friend stay suffering so, but HotPants also looked strangely calm compared to her earlier explosions of rage. There were no hints of red anywhere in the woman’s hair.

  HotPants set the oars down then motioned a hand toward me. She pointed at the boat and I got the hint. Between our [Brawn] moving the boat from shore into water was easy. The vessel rocked and bobbed then righted itself. Xin and a few other people waved away messages which made me smile.

  “It says we’re good,” Awesome Jr. stated to which his girlfriend nodded.

  The seven of us waded through the shallow waters and pushed off. I debated swimming but in the end we started rowing. I pulled the oars on one side and listened to the others shouting out a count of sorts. The message that popped up barely proceeded my screen turning fuzzy and nausea twisting my stomach. Our large skeleton raft rocked as waves pulled us back toward the island.

  [Seasickness]!

  [Focus] and [Coordination] suffering 25% reduction. Effects will continue until you reach dry land or drown.

  Warning!

  Drowning may cause a phobia to develop!

  “Stroke!” Awesome Jr. took over shouting for the group. We tried to row in unison but weren’t making enough progress. I took a moment then hurled up half a sandwich that Beth had prepared. The others were speaking and I didn’t fully register.

  Our vessel kept on moving and none of the others looked to be doing that great. I glanced behind me to see the smaller girls. Both were pale. SweetPea was hunched over and kept reaching for the knitted hood. Xin looked bored despite a lack of color in her face.

  The game world felt disconnected. I took a breath and got a mouthful of sea splash instead, and my skin grew goosebumps. I spit out water and kept rowing. My body coughed constantly which caused already tired muscles to clench. Getting out of the ARC and stretching would help but there was no time for such a task. We were on a time limit, and I would ride out the rest of this insanity until the problem was solved or I drowned.

  “Gee, are you okay?” Xin asked from behind me.

  I nodded then pulled again, trying to stay in time with the others. My head felt heavy and chest hurt. Each stroke of the paddles ground against dried hands. It would have taken too long to adapt [Morrigu’s Gift], and I wasn’t used to holding other objects in my grip.

  “Stroke!” Came the yell again.

  My arms pumped once more to get the paddle through. HotPants’ ability to march into an island forest and come out with solid oars felt worth admiring. Too bad she hadn’t made a better boat, but that probably would have taken far longer. They were doing better than my personal trade skills. All I knew was sleight of hand involving a deck of cards.

  The sky was clear above but every muscle burned. Sweat dripped into my eyes. Awesome Jr. yelled out for more pulls so I kept trying to focus on the timing. Though our world was digital I still felt out of breath and my palms hurt.

  “You don’t look well,” Xin said in front of me. I shook my head then lifted the oar up and cranked it forward.

  “I feel weird,” I responded.

  “Use your legs! Pull with your entire body! Stroke!” the teen captain shouted.

  We were almost somewhere. I lifted my head and saw town come into sight. Wyl next to me gasped then pulled harder than expected. Our course veered to the right along a beach that I had once sent SweetPea to clean. A wave of energy washed over me and I screwed up the timing. Our boat titled even farther off course while HotPants cursed a storm next to me.

  “Straighten us out!” Awesome said sitting across from Wyl. It took him, Shadow, and HotPants to balance out Wyl and I. Part of me felt smug but I didn’t look like a muscled man. Hermes as an Avatar was fit but athletic rather than bulky.

  We drove the vessel onto
the shore’s sandy beach. I pulled the oars back twice more before it registered. Thirty minutes of hellish rowing had been long enough to almost miss the sensation. Both hands gripped upon the wooden oar hard enough to turn knuckles white. My chest ached from the exertion.

  “Gee, you should take a break,” Xin said in a low voice.

  I shook my head then tried to stand up. One hand slipped and hit bone on the ship’s edge. Numbness rushed up one arm robbing me of more than tingles. My character should have been in far better shape than this. Maybe the different style of exercise hit harder than expected. Small boxes off to the side cited a stat increase, my first in ages.

  “What do you call him Gee?” SweetPea asked while getting out of the vessel. She lost footing and Awesome Jr. rushed behind the young woman.

  “It’s from her dad,” Beth answered for us while exiting. Her legs looked unsteady as well. “He said that Grant looked like a government gee man just after high school. It kind of stuck.”

  “Dad did not like him.” Xin sighed then frowned for a moment. I lifted my head and stared at her. Maybe it was stupid love-struck emotions surfacing after so long apart. Part of me worried that she might vanish if I blinked for too long or dared go to sleep.

  “He still hates me,” I muttered after another deep breath. The man blamed me for Xin’s passing, he blamed everyone. I had leftover voicemails from where he called up screaming about how I was a letdown. His little girl was dead and he’d been left all alone in a strange country, despite having lived here for almost twenty years.

  Notice!

  Skill Merger Demonstrated

  Skills merged: [Rowing], [Rowing [Lead]], and 100 [Brawn]

  Results: Rank one Oarsman Path Unlocked!

  Path Complexity: Simple

  Fingers unclenched and turned over. My palms were bloody with bits of wooden shavings in them. The oar itself had clear fingerprints from where I had gripped tightly. Just rowing across the water without any correct skills had worn me down. On this end of the small shore, I had gained a Path that meant nothing unless I got on a boat again. The likelihood of that happening was low.