{Cain, did you notice from our first look at the map, somehow the Screamers and Throwers were not visible. Is seemed to be the Bashers and Grunts had masked their gamer tags, until they separated and they charged your position. That is something we need to look out for if we face Barbarians another time. Plus there are four types of Barbarians, Bashers, Grunts, Throwers and Screamers, yet the system originally highlighted them as Barbarians not giving their subsets.} Enoch said to Cain.
Chapter 32
Paradise Estate
Each member of Joseph and the DreamBabes drank from Cain's magical, never empty Flask, enjoying the cool refreshing water after the firefight. They looted the Barbarians on Harmon Cooper Drive; they left those beyond on Paradise Avenue alone. Neither Enoch nor Rahab could tell Toni and Cain if The Barbarians would re-spawn if they set foot on Paradise again. They did not want to risk another conflict so soon; they wanted the other DreamBabes to calm down, especially Bethany who was rubbing her leg where the spear hit her.
If the number of icons is like what we witnessed here, there could be Enoch and Rahab think over three hundred Barbarians camped out on Paradise Avenue. Even though we are good, I don't think we could make it over two hundred yards before we all died. I don't want that to happen to any of you, let alone me.
Enoch informed me the area beyond the Rodeo and Basketball centre is clear. We can then work our way through the Paradise Estates.
If we get bogged down, we can at least find a secure house to sleep there for the night. Anybody got a better option? C> Cain sent on the party chat. Everybody looked at their local area or Cains world map, each came up with the same option as Cain, Toni, Enoch and Rahab had. Cain asked Sophie and Bethany to take the point as they moved out heading on Harmon Cooper Drive, towards the ruined site of the University of Nevada. Cain made sure each of his DreamBabes had taken the point role in looking out for ambushes and traps.
They showed him they were all capable of identifying problems and reacting appropriately. Following Harmon Cooper Drive, until they reached the large burnt out building, its signage said it was once the 'Lied Library.' Skirting the burnt-out shell carefully, even though there were no red icons on their maps, Cain was not sure that in this beta build the map showed everything correctly. Harmon Cooper Drive ended in a car park.
Toni said the best route was down the old university pedestrian way past all the ruined and burnt-out buildings, rather than the access road on the opposite side of the Lied library. As Enoch had told Cain, the way past the rodeo centre was no longer clear. There were no icons although at the edge of Cain's map zoom, he could see the edge of the Barbarians on Paradise Avenue. Enoch and Rahab were both adamant there was a game triggered event tied to the rodeo centre.
The DreamBabes choose the route Toni suggested, Lesley and Bethany took the point and led them down the pedestrian way. Cain remembered this area from before the WWD. He'd visited an exhibition at the Marjorie Barrick Art Museum. All that remained were the two main outer walls, the roof had fallen in pushing the front and back walls out. Lesley and Bethany turned left at the art museum ruin and cut between more burnt-out buildings. Cain asked why, Lesley told him her gut wasn't happy with them moving in a straight line. Cain could understand that so was happy his women were growing in their skills. "Hey Joseph, come here, look at this," called Bethany as she stood beside a curtained plaque on the side of a housing complex. Opening the curtains, Cain spoke out for the others as they could not see the text.
"This here is the Jamie Hawke Lost Pirates Estate; the names of the buildings and streets are all named after characters found in The Lost Pirates series of books. Pay close attention, and you may even find the broom closet named after 'Rick Draper' a fitting place for such a bell end. Enjoy the estate but watch out for the rampaging machines of the Pirate King. Michael Cameron Durie, chief pirates coder." Cain read to his Babes.
"What is it with this Durie bloke? I mean it's fine he left what is this the second plaque for you to read, but what do you get out of finding them? That is two plaques mentioning Jamie Hawke and one Luke Chmilenko up at the gun range, who do you think the last one will be? Luke or Jamie?" Lesley asked as a screen prompt flashed on Cain's HUD.
"This is the third plaque, I read on during my first day in the game, it was at the Control Tower, in a storage room. There were also some lifelike movable dolls." Cain said and laughed as he told the women what someone had done with the dolls.
They moved cautiously into the fenced estate, moving past named buildings and down streets, such as Milly's square. The square ran off Esmerelda's Street and Teddy's Avenue, these were parallel to Esmerelda's Street. As they moved from Teddy's Avenue, they could feel a rumbling through their feet as they neared it end and entered Christmas Place, which was a large square covered in ankle deep snow. There in the slap bang in the middle of the square, a huge steam train all decked out in Christmas decorations, just as though it was Christmas. Occasional flurries drifted past the group as they walked through Christmas Place.
Cain looked up and noticed the snow was being generated by small nozzles fixed to all the buildings around the square. They watched as the trains wheels spun on the track causing the shuddering in the ground they all felt earlier, then the whistle blew giving them all a fright.
"Imagine living in the sixteenth century, and suddenly a man turns up with a steam train, it would turn your world upside down. That is what the Pirate King did in Jamie's books," Cain told his Babes. "We struggle to imagine not having vehicles that drive for you, or multi broadcast channels on every electronic device you have. Imagine going back only one hundred years. No multi channel devices, no mobile phones, limited vehicle use. Your only access to any news is national newspapers or radio stations. Movies all shown in black and white."
Toni led them out of the Pirate Estate as they exited from Rose Street and onto a battle-scarred highway. They carefully crossed the large holes in the highways surface, some holes contained bubbling liquids which gave off a caustic smell. Cain looked at the damage caused to the road surface.
Holes which looked as though they came from a mixture of heavy munitions, long runs of thumb-sized holes, from high-speed guns, like Vulcan Gatling guns, mounted on aircraft. Large ugly craters from either missile impacts or howitzer fire. From the degradation of the road surface, Cain estimated the damage occurred slightly after WW3.
Once across the highway, the entered the Paradise Estate.
Standing by a large dwelling, Cain suggested they stop for a break. Once inside, they made sure everything was safe, and they had at least two exits should the need arise.
"Can everyone please check their stats, I want to make sure everything lines up with the interface. I'll post on the message board what I have, can you all tell me what your Main and secondary skills are and their levels. Then I'll have, you know who make an easier to read interface for us all," Cain said. Then posted the current levels information in the message board, using two tables.
"These two lists contain the information we use, I intend to use the first one on the odd occasion, though I like table two better as it is more succinct, unless any of you wants to make a change. Please let me know if you think of anything," Cain said.
"I'll start the list by adding my main skills first then my secondary skills.
Marksmanship (lvl 4), Improvisation (lvl 4), in secondary I have Weapons Expert (lvl 4) and Leadership (lvl 3).
I'll put them in a table, so we can all see how we are doing, so we can help each other and hopefully get to max out our levels," Cain said. Toni said she had,
Field Craft (lvl 3) and Sniper (lvl 4) as her main skills, with I
nsight (lvl 3) and Weapons Expert (lvl 4) as her secondary skills.
Lesley told them she had,
Healing (lvl 2) and blessing (lvl 1) as her main skills with Learning (lvl 3) and Focus (lvl 3) as her secondary skills.
Sophie said she had as her main skills,
Identify (lvl 3), Learning (lvl 4) and Shielding (lvl 4) while her secondary skills were Healing (lvl 3) and Driving (lvl 2)
Bethany told them her skill set for the main skills were,
Two-Handed (lvl 1) and Armour (lvl 2), and Learning (lvl 2) with Charge (lvl 1) as her secondary skills.
They all took a fifteen-minute break, with Toni and Bethany keeping a watch out of the two windows, while Sophie kept her eyes on the map. Cain worked on the data and produced a large slightly in an unwieldy list so everyone could see what they all had.
Cain Proves A Point
"What on earth is that monstrosity? We are each numbers, then our main skills are the capital letter M, our secondary skills a capital S. Joseph, that is just pants, with a capital P. How about making our lists as individual and link them together, I'm sure you could get some help, oh, majestic and mighty leaper of buildings," Toni said.
Cain threw his empty bottle of beer into the can, liking the sound of glass clinking against the other empty bottles. Checking the inventory, Cain noticed all the beer had now been drunk, probably a good thing, the last thing we need is to not being focused as we work our way through the estate bypassing the Barbarians.
Enoch help save my arse here, please. I messed up I should have left the task to you. So can you make five new tables showing our skills. Cain asked Enoch
"That's much better stud. We knew you could do it, after all you done each of us," Sophie said then broke into peels of laughter, followed by the other women. Because the map shows no dangers does not mean there are no
dangers. An area message flashed on everybody's HUDs, an urgent quest open to all clans or players, within a distance of two-and-a-half miles from the quest originator.
Enoch, is there any way of seeing if other players or clans accept the quest, or does it stay open until they complete it? Do we need to accept it at the beginning or can we wait until we have killed all the Gekards?
{Even if you killed all the Gekards before you accept the quest. Once you accept the quest, another group will spawn. Because the quest is an open type, it allows every person or clan that accepts a try at completing it. The first to collect, hand in the quest after they have killed the Gekards will need to show they killed most of or persuaded the Gekards to leave the quest area for two days.} Enoch replied
[I have been looking at the code Vince wrote for the hidden portal. Cain will need another active member of his Harem for the portal to open, I know Vince didn't say an exact number, but the opening code mentions 5 counterpoints to the main character, only then can you activate the portal. The woman cannot just join the DreamBabes, and the Portal will open.She has to have made love to Cain with you in attendance. That Vince, sure has a perverted mind, I wonder if his partner knew or knows.] Rahab informed Toni.
What if I was the main character, what differences would there be to the clan now?
[You would need another four Cains. I somehow don't see Cain sharing you with another man, ever. He has difficulty in sharing you with the other women, even though he makes love to them. But with another man. No way. You would go to bed one night in the morning only Cain would be alive.]
I don't want four more men, Cain is enough for me. When we find Vince, I'll cut his virtual balls off, which is nothing compared to what Cain will do. The sick fuck why would he do this. I hope Des doesn't find out this side of Vince, it will break her heart, even though he has left her and the kids. I now love the other DreamBabes, but another one? Damn, I hope Cain's OK with it. It isn't like he is used to all this sex; he was practically a celibate monk until his legs got assimilated.
Thinking about the quest, yeah, it will piss Cain off. I wouldn't want to be Vince. I am pissed off at Vince too, so with Cain and me pissed off Vince is in deep shit. I hope the others will be fine with whoever we get. We all help and support each other, it's like having loving sisters, but closer and intimate. We better let Cain pick this one since the others have fallen into the group rather than consciously being picked. Toni was angry and annoyed at this extra twist they all had to jump through, it nearly made her cry.
"What's wrong hon, you look all upset," said Bethany. Who came and sat near her.
"I've just been… realised we need another active member of the DreamBabes so it will leave nobody alone when we're all making love," Toni said then messaged the group.
Cain looked up from checking the map and trying to come up with a plan to deal with the Gekards and the Barbarians at the bottom of Paradise Avenue.
How about letting my legs take the strain? Enoch. How fully are my legs assimilated back in the POD? Another woman, I don't know Vince, but he will walk funny and speak with a high contralto voice when I've finished with him. Not only will he be able to sing but he will be walking in the air, like that snowman and James.
{Cain while you are playing the Nanogel is aiding the assimilation and full integration of your robotic legs. Because of the special Nanogel John has created, your skin has fully grown, though it will be sensitive for another one or two days, regular days. I myself am fully integrated and have access to all parts of your neural network. The legs will give you a five-hundred percent boost, compared to yourself at your fittest.} Enoch replied.
Going over to Toni who was now standing with the other females all giving her a hug. "We can stop this any time you want. You know I only have eyes for you and the other DreamBabes, what would you have me do?" Cain asked Toni. Cain and the other DreamBabes waited on Toni, her face looked troubled, the weight of making a decision that would affect them all. They watched as Toni took a deep breath, pinched the top of her nose, closed her eyes then let out the breath.
"Fine, I'm not happy, but we still need to do what we set out for in the beginning," Toni replied, then threw her arms around Cain and cried on his shoulder. Cain held Toni close as the other DreamBabes joined the hug, offering Toni and Cain their love and support.
Then on foot, I'll lead them down to where the map shows where the Gekards are milling. My idea is to let them fight it out together, and we'll add our firepower into the mix. We eradicate the Gekards and reduce the Barbarian numbers so people can have a safer passage to and from the airfield. What do you think are you in or does anyone have a better idea? C> Cain sent.
The women all looked at Cain, none of them looked pleased about the prospect of Cain running away from the Barbarians, and Sophie said as much while she tried to pretend there were no tears in her eyes. It shocked the other Babes as Toni told Cain to go show his DreamBabes, his women why he could make his plan work. Cain went outside the building his DreamBabes following while Toni told them how strong Cain's legs were.
arranged for my flat to blow up killing another four men. My apartment was on the third floor, we escaped onto the roof, another two floors higher. He picked me up in a bridal carry and jumped from the roof. I did not feel the landing so strong are his legs. I have no worry over him playing as the bait to activate this quest. T> Toni added a little note as Cain got ready.
Cain began his walk out to roughly sixty yards away from the building, checking his surroundings to make sure they were still relatively safe. He listened to Toni making bets with the others on whether he could run as fast as he said. Once far enough out Cain turned and stood to wait, until he heard Lesley shout, GO.
Running back fast would not show his women how powerful his legs were, so Cain had a crazy idea to prove he could easily outpace the Barbarians. Running back towards his women, Cain practically increased his pace to flat out, keeping that speed going until he was ten yards from their position.
Cain jumped using about half of the boosted strength in his legs, he found out even that little was too much. His jump sent him soaring over his women and even the single floor of the building they had been using. Cain descended twenty yards beyond the building, landing with a controlled roll then returning to his women.
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