Survivors

by Dave Willmarth

  Bixby took a moment to recover. “Yes, well. Ambitious, aren’t we?” he tapped his fingers on the counter for a few heartbeats. “Heh. I never liked those thieves and slavers anyway. If you can do what you say, I’ll have these items waiting for you when you return. Minus the weapons and armor. But you can speak to Callahan the smith about those.”

  This time Mace wasn’t going to forget to ask. “And what will all the items on the list cost us?”

  Bixby took out a quill and began to scratch numbers onto a piece of parchment. “We’ll call it one hundred gold even. And if you really do destroy the slavers, I’ll make it ninety!”

  Mace chuckled at the old man and held out a hand. To Bixby’s credit, he barely hesitated before shaking the drow’s hand.

  “We’ll be back in five days. Maybe six if there are a lot of them.”

  He and Shari turned toward the door. As he held it open for her, Shari heard the old man mumble, “Good luck.”

  As soon as they were back on the street, Shari hissed, “What was that?”

  Mace replied “Jorin said there were lots of merchants here and in Graf who would be willing to pay a substantial reward for the elimination of the Black Flame. So I gambled, sort of. Either he would be one of those who’d be happy to see them dead, or he’d be inclined to warn them. In which case the local slavers will be huddling in their hideout worrying about the drow assassin all day.” His face took on a mischievous look as he glanced sideways at her.

  They’d walked another half block or so before she answered.

  “Next time, warn a girl first, okay?”

  She steered him toward the sound of hammer hitting metal that echoed from a nearby alley. Mace paused at the alley entrance to look around before he allowed her to lead them in. The shop was less than a block down. As they approached, Shari could feel the heat blasting from the furnace in the back. The alleyway was close and without much airflow, and she could feel sweat begin to trickle down her back.

  They entered the store and were greeted by a young orc boy who was wearing a leather apron. An apprentice, most likely.

  “We’re here to see Callahan.” Mace growled at the orcling.

  Eyes wide, the kid bobbed his head and disappeared so fast out the back door toward the smithy that Mace feared he might have caused the poor boy to hurt himself.

  A moment later, a much larger orc with shoulders wider than the doorway and arms that bulged with muscle stepped into the shop. He growled at the drow and the elf in front of him.

  “What do you want of Callahan the Crusher?”

  Mace felt a little effeminate as the massive orc’s arm flexed. No weakling himself, his lithe drow form was dwarfed by the ogre-sized orc smith. Shari said, “We would like to purchase or commission some arms and armor for the Lakeside settlement, sir.” She looked up at his face a good two feet above hers and tried not to let her voice tremble. Mace held up the list with, to his credit, a steady hand.

  The orc delicately took the parchment between two fingers and turned it to face him. He took a few moments to read through the items, grunting occasionally and raising his gaze to the ceiling in thought.

  “I have most of this here in my shop, or in the storage out back. When do you need these?”

  Shari rolled her eyes and stepped back several paces as Mace grinned at her. Looking up at the smith, he said, “We’re headed to Graf in the morning. Got a bunch of Black Flame assholes to kill. We figure we’ll be back in five or six days.”

  “Ha!” Callahan roared out a laugh that shook the building. “Just you two? Or are you hiding an army outside?”

  Mace’s hands dropped to his sides, coming up a quarter second later with his daggers. He twirled them both between his fingers, and as the orc’s attention was drawn by the grey smoky surface of the enchanted one in his right hand, he threw the left dagger toward a shield. It bounced off the metal and rebounded toward him.

  Keeping his eyes locked on the orc’s, he reached out and snagged it, resuming the spinning without pause.

  “I’m a drow Darkblade. Killing people is what I do. And this is personal.” His voice was dead flat, as were his eyes as he spoke.

  The orc actually took a step back. “Hey, now. No need to get hostile. I just make the weapons. Who gets killed and why are none of my concern.”

  Mace decided to push his advantage, not yet sure where Callahan stood on the whole ‘killing the slavers or not’ issue. He growled “Don’t suppose you’d want to tell me where they hide here in town? Can’t have them sneaking up behind as we travel to Graf.”

  Callahan scratched his head. “Sure. That’s no secret. They took over one of the warehouses a few months back after the dwarf who owned it died suddenly.”

  The venom in the orc’s voice said clearly that he wasn’t a fan.

  “Telgrin was a friend o’ mine and a fellow smith. He was my main competition in town. If you’d avenge his murder, I’ll support you in whatever way I can. You can’t miss the place. They burned their flame right into the door.”

  Mace relaxed, sheathing his daggers. “Good enough. We’ll take care of them tonight. If you want to help, meet us at the warehouse at midnight. In the meantime, how much for all the gear on the list?”

  Callahan ran through the list again. “Two hundred gold, and I’ll throw in some low-level enchantments on the weapons. Extra Strength, or Stamina.”

  Mace reached out a hand and it was engulfed in the orc’s massive paw. “If we don’t see you at midnight, I’ll be back in five days or so.”

  As they were leaving, Callahan called out, “Hey!”

  When they turned back, he said, “There are a few others… good with sword or bow. Others who’d like a little payback.”

  Mace considered for a few seconds. “Can you trust them not to warn the slavers?”

  Callahan nodded. “I’ll only tell those I know to be trustworthy.”

  “Good enough. Any idea how many of them will be in there?”

  The orc’s face fell. “Might be as many as fifty still here. A bunch have sailed north on a couple of boats in the past few days.”

  Mace grinned. “Yeah, they’re dead. Every single one of them. Along with the ones that were at the stronghold they sailed to. We’ve killed about a hundred and fifty so far; fifty more shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Callahan chuckled, his deep voice echoing in the small room. “I like your style, drow. I should warn you, though. They won’t all be in the warehouse. They work mostly at night. Collecting ‘taxes’ and robbing sailors and such.”

  Shari got into the spirit of the moment.

  “Well, how about you and your friends hit the spots you think they might be and kill any stragglers you find on the way to the warehouse? Once we’ve cleared the place, we can join you in hunting down the rest.”

  Callahan’s massive hand thumped Mace on the back, causing him to step forward to keep his feet.

  “Hold on to this one, drow! She’s got the heart of a wyvern!”

  Shari snorted. “Well, I did have one, but I sold it,” she said, eliciting a confused look from the orc as she waved and stepped out the door.

  Their mission accomplished, Shari and Mace headed back to the Purple Mushroom. They took a table in the tavern and ordered some lunch from one of the waitresses, who was dressed even more provocatively than Delilah had been. Shari bristled a bit as the woman flirted with Mace, but kept silent.

  When the woman left, Mace said, “I got the feeling that flirting is sort of a job requirement around here.”

  He tried to keep his poker face on, but the annoyed look on Shari’s face broke him. He burst out laughing and reached out to take hold of her hand.

  “I know this seems real, but remember, it’s just a bunch of code. I think your sync rating must be skyrocketing about now.”

  After giving him a dirty look, then a few minutes of reflection, Shari chuckled. “Yeah. Sorry. Here I am getting all ‘Jealous Judy’ over nothing. And I don’t even kn
ow why. I mean, it’s not like you’re all that amazing. I could do way better.”

  Mace nodded in agreement. He had no illusion that if the old world still existed, he’d have had no shot with the beautiful, smart, funny woman who now shared his home.

  Their food arrived, and shortly thereafter so did Layne and Lila. They took seats at the table and the waitress brought them drinks. They ordered meals for themselves, and the group spent some leisure time catching each other up.

  Layne had also learned that the slavers occupied the warehouse down at the docks. And that they controlled several small merchant shops that hadn’t been strong enough to resist them. As well as one of the rougher sailor bars. Shari filled them in on the plan to attack at midnight while Mace stuffed his face with some kind of roasted short ribs that practically fell off the bone. The food in Elysia was truly amazing.

  They talked about the supplies they had been able to secure. Shari was particularly proud of Lila, who had not only negotiated a good deal on a wagonload of fresh fruit, but had convinced the farmer to include a dozen saplings from his orchard for the sum of five gold. The trees would produce a fruit called Buluda, and its closest relative on earth was probably the breadfruit.

  Lila had seemed a little nervous when revealing this to Shari, worried that the amount was too high. Shari hugged the halfling and said “We can plant those saplings inside the walls. If they survive and thrive, you’ll have helped keep hundreds of people fed for decades. I think that’s well worth a few gold.”

  With their bellies full, they elected to retire to their rooms for a nap. They had several hours before midnight, and it promised to be a long night. Mace and Shari logged out and grabbed a light snack before crawling into bed and setting their alarms to wake them in six hours.

  *****

  Lisa woke feeling refreshed and relaxed. She’d slept a full nine hours, which was unusual for her. Probably because she hadn’t had Evan thrashing about or snoring next to her. That thought caused her to sit up and in alarm. The events of the previous evening came back to her, and she dressed quickly. Exiting her room she saw that both Evan’s and Griff’s doors were open. She listened carefully for any sounds of struggle, but heard nothing.

  “Uhm… Peabody? Can you tell me where Evan and Griff are, please?”

  “Of course, admin Lisa. Evan left the building approximately four hours ago. Griff is in the research lab that contains your immersion pod, effecting repairs.”

  “Repairs? Was there another fight?” She began to hurry toward the lab.

  “Evan departed while you and admin Griff were sleeping. But he damaged the pods before he exited the premises.”

  “What a wanker.” Lisa said out loud. Then quickly added “Not you, Peabody. You’re lovely.”

  She smiled up at the ceiling. Reaching her lab, she found Griff sitting cross-legged on the floor with an array of components and tools spread out in an arc in front of him. She smiled as she observed him tinkering with a delicate-looking circuit board, his tongue jutting slightly out the left side of his mouth as he concentrated. She waited for him to put it down before speaking.

  “Looks complicated.”

  He started slightly, then turned to her with a guilty smile.

  “I was hoping ta have all this done before ya woke up. Yer boy did quite the number on both our pods.”

  His face grew serious. “I’ve instructed Peabody not to let him in past the garage if he returns. But I’m not sure he will.” He looked at her, anticipation written all over his face. He clearly expected her to be upset with him.

  “I hope he doesn’t.” She gave him a gentle pat on the head as she stood above him. “There’s nothing left for him here, and I’m sure he knows it. It’s probably why he smashed these; he hoped that it would prevent us from uploading so that we’d eventually starve or be killed like he’ll be.

  “He likely went back to our flat. We lived in a high rise. He often talked about how our building could be secured, and how we could collect rainwater and grow crops on the roof. He just didn’t get the whole ‘everything is contaminated’ bit.”

  She sighed and joined Griff on the floor. “Anything I can do to help?”

  He shook his head, taking up a component in each hand and snapping them together.

  “I’m nearly through. I’ve focused on the damaged controls. He really did a number on yours. There was a lot of rage behind his attack on this thing.”

  He pointed to the cracked plexiglass bubble and the dented metal base. “I’ll find a replacement for the glass tomorrow. It’s fully functional, but you don’t need the reminder every time you get in and out.”

  She leaned into him, giving him a one-armed hug. “Thank you, Griff.” Then she got to her feet and began to pace anxiously. “I’m excited about the dungeon run today! I’ve never been through a dungeon before. Will it be difficult?”

  Griff nodded. “I expect so, if for no other reason than because our whole group is a bunch of dungeon newbies. We’re going to have to figure out how to work together and keep from getting killed. I mean, I have some basic background in group fights. Tanks and healers and such. But I’ve always just been pushing buttons on a controller and firing with auto-target. This game world feels so much different.”

  His concerns only made Lisa more excited. She was quickly becoming an adrenaline junkie, and she didn’t care. If Mace and Shari were right, and they could upload their consciousness into the game, she didn’t want to be some tame crafter, spending her days in a shop inside city walls. She wanted to be out adventuring. Exploring the world and fighting for loot! Griff watched her pace, and his eyes sparkled with a matching excitement.

  It took another quarter hour before he had her control panel reassembled and operational. He ran a complete diagnostic two times just to be sure nothing would go wrong with Lisa’s immersion. When he pronounced her pod ready, they were slightly late for their scheduled sunrise meeting with their group. Griff left her lab and closed the door behind him as he headed for his own pod. As they’d agreed, she locked her door before undressing and climbing into the pod. In case Evan managed to get back inside.

  Griff spoke to Peabody as he walked the short distance to his lab door.

  “Peabody, if Evan returns, can you notify me inside the game?”

  “I can indeed. I have access to the personal messaging system that players use. I will notify you of any unusual movement near the building, or if Evan returns.”

  “Thank you, Peabody. I’ll see you soon.” Griff stepped into his lab and locked his door behind him. He quickly shed his own clothes and crawled into his pod.

  He took a deep breath and crossed his fingers before activating the immersion. His control panel had been much more damaged than Lisa’s. Evan had clearly figured out that attacking the structure of the pod was futile, and focused his rage on the vulnerable control system. Griff was 99% sure he’d repaired his correctly. But he’d rushed the job in order to be sure he was able to repair Lisa’s pod.

  *****

  Lisa appeared in her room at the inn. She quickly gathered her gear and supplies from the chest at the end of the bed and exited the room. She found Jo, Meg, and Leroy at a table downstairs, already halfway through their breakfast. Quickly grabbing a seat, she apologized for their lateness, giving the vague explanation of trouble making the journey from her world to theirs. As soon as those words left her mouth, she realized Griff hadn’t come down yet.

  She shrugged, remembering that he had to walk from her lab to his and should be along any moment. She ordered some breakfast for herself, stealing a strip of bacon from Leroy’s plate while she waited.

  “Wait. Druids are animal lovers. Should you be eatin’ bacon?” She teased the boy. He looked defensive. “It’s not like this pig were a personal friend o’ mine.”

  He paused for a moment and pretended to inspect another strip he lifted from his plate. “I don’t think…” Which earned him a chuckle from the ladies.

  A
few minutes later, Lisa’s breakfast arrived and she dug hungrily into it. She realized she and Griff hadn’t taken time to eat before logging in. And the fact that he still hadn’t arrived began to trouble her. The others kept looking toward the stairs as well.

  Eventually, she got to her feet.

  “You three finish eating. I’m going to pop back to our world and check on Griff. He may not have been able to follow me.” She tried not to look as worried as she felt.

  She was walking toward the stairs when Griff came hustling down, his face red and his breath coming in puffs.

  “Sorry! Sorry! Had a bit o’ trouble with my panel. Had to get out and fix it. All good now!” he assured her.

  She gave him a little hug without even thinking about it. “I was worried. Thought ye’d managed to fry yer brain or somethin.”

  He shook his head as they walked back to the table. “Just a small jolt. No serious damage.”

  He greeted the others as she looked at him, wide-eyed. When he turned back around, he winked at her and took a seat. He stole some bacon too, this time from her plate.

  “Bah! That weren’t funny!” she griped at him half-heartedly.

  Ten minutes later with their bellies full the group made their way toward the gate. The guards on duty were the two that Griff had made into Chosen. They both saluted smartly, then bowed their heads in thanks.

  Griff returned the salute, fist to his chest. They already knew the group was headed for the nearest dungeon, as talk had spread like wildfire through the village. The lead guard said, “I hear tell from Campbell that the orcs have some fiery spirits that they brew from some kind of root or something. I’d be grateful if ye could bring us back a bottle or three.”

  Quest Accepted: Root of the Problem

  Apparently, the village guards don’t have enough ale to keep them properly inebriated in their off hours. Bring back bottles of the orc spirits known as Ang’bak for the village guards.

  Reward: Variable based on number of bottles and quality of the spirits.