by Erik Rounds
She flipped on the phone’s flashlight app and had a proper look at her surroundings. She was in a vast circular chamber. There were several flights of stairs from where the statues were arranged. As she approached the great door at the far end of the chamber, she began to question her earlier assumption that it was a door. Doors tended to have keys or knobs or some other mechanism to open them. The only thing that distinguished this door from the wall was a slightly darker shade of stone.
Circling the room, she came upon a raised platform along one side of the door. Curious, she stepped onto it and heard a loud grinding noise followed by a short musical tune. A horizontal sliver of light appeared from the base of the doorway as it lifted up. A few seconds passed, and the entire door opened, revealing a hint of the chamber beyond.
Grinning, she took a single step toward the door. The moment her foot left the pressure plate, the enormous stone door slammed against the ground with a loud bang.
Huh. Tasha had solved this exact puzzle dozens of times in video games. Clearly she just needed to put a heavy object on the plate to hold it down while she passed through the door.
She searched the room for something that she could use to hold down the plate. For the briefest of moments, she considered using the stone debris from her statue, but the clay fragments barely weighed anything and most likely wouldn’t do the job.
She discovered some ornamental spears on display against one of the walls. She examined one, and a small blue box appeared just above it with the item’s details:
Low-Quality Blunt Spear
Class: Weapon (spear)
A basic pole with a pointy bit at the end.
Damage: 0.75
Durability: 10
Snatching one of the spears, she gave it a practice thrust into the empty room. In the bottom corner of her vision, a message faded in:
Ability Unlocked: Spear Weapon Proficiency (Level 0)
Type: Passive weapon proficiency
Represents your experience using spear-based weapons. When using spears, accuracy is increased by 1% and damage is increased by 0.5%
Although her spearmanship clearly left much to be desired, she still felt more comfortable holding a weapon in her hands. The bit in the earlier quest notification about monsters lurking in the dark concerned her.
Spear in one hand, phone in the other, Tasha slowly made her way to the far side of the chamber to the left of the door. There she found what she was looking for: a large metal box with handles built into each side. It was slightly larger than she was tall. The handholds clearly implied that the box was meant to be pushed or pulled.
She returned her phone to her pocket and moved to the other side of the box. After putting her weight against it, the massive box only budged a few inches. She took a step back and threw herself against the box. The box only slid another foot, and Tasha’s shoulder felt the pain from the impact.
How does Link make this look so easy? Guess my strength score might be deserved after all.
It would take hours to move the box to the plate at this rate. She tried pulling the box, but that ended up being even less effective than pushing it. She made an effort to lift up the box to turn it over onto its side, but all that earned her was a sore back.
I’m not using my head. There’s gotta be some other way to move this besides brute force.
It was time to put her intelligence of 8 to work. Maybe she could use the spear as a lever to lift it. Unfortunately, there was nothing around that she could use as a fulcrum.
Instead, she removed the spearhead from the pole. After some experimentation, she discovered that it could be separated by detaching the rivet that bound the spearhead to the shaft. After repeating this process for the other spears, she laid them down in a series in front of the metal box. Finally, she lodged one of them underneath the box. This required a small amount of elbow grease, but she made it happen.
Moving to the far end of the crate, she pushed with all of her might. The box moved slowly at first, but rapidly picked up speed as it moved onto the pole and transferred its weight to the next one.
In this manner, Tasha was able to move the large metal box to the pressure plate. After she pushed the crate the final few inches, it pressed down against the plate, causing the door to side open.
She reattached one of the spearheads to one of the poles so that she wouldn’t have to face the next room unarmed. Spear in hand, she approached the doorway and entered the next room.
Chapter 4
Resurrection
Tasha found herself in a wide hall with a closed door at the far end of the room. Weapons of all kinds lined the walls, each upon their own pedestal. Floating in the center of the room was a faintly glowing glass sphere.
Another quest dialogue appeared before her as she entered the room.
Quest: Violence is Always the Answer
Class: Subquest (Compulsory)
It is dangerous to go alone. Take one of these with you.
Conditions for success: Select a weapon and find a way to the next room.
Conditions for failure: None
Reward: 5 XP, one weapon of your choice
Dismissing the quest message, Tasha approached the strange floating orb. The sphere resisted her attempts to move it. It wasn’t being suspended by any cords or other mechanism; it was simply floating in place. Tasha had witnessed dozens of impossible things in the last few hours, so she wasn’t as freaked out by the glowing sphere as she otherwise would have been.
Experimenting, she put her weight against it, and it moved ever so slightly. As it moved away from its original position, she noticed that the glow darkened just a bit. When she let go, it moved back, regaining its previous glow.
This must be another puzzle. She reasoned that if the orb was hit with enough force, it could trigger the door to open. Sure, she was using video game logic, but it felt appropriate. She would choose one of the weapons lining the walls and hit the orb with as much of an impact as she could.
One by one, she inspected each of the weapons. Each time she examined a weapon, a small translucent dialogue appeared, listing the weapon’s name and stats.
In a group along one wall were throwing axes, battle axes, and hatchets. A short distance off were several varieties of bows, crossbows, and slingshots. They were tempting, but Tasha didn’t see herself as a projectile-weapon user.
There was a small selection of firearms as well.
If there are guns in this world, why would anyone use a sword or a bow?
The answer became apparent when she read the description for one of the rifles.
Cheap Imitation Boomstick
Class: Weapon (firearm)
A low-quality Zhakaran-made firearm with low damage and poor aim. This is a cheap imitation of the higher-quality dwarven-made boomstick of the same name. Requires ammunition, which can either be crafted or purchased from NPC merchants.
Damage: 1.5
Aim: -2
Cooldown: 2 seconds
Durability: 190
The damage stat was only slightly higher than other weapons, and the cooldown and accuracy was low. On top of that, she would have to worry about ammunition. It was possible that other guns might have better stats, but if she was fighting close range, it would make more sense to use a sword or spear.
Tasha passed right by a set of steel knuckle gloves and examined a row of staves and wands. Being able to cast spells was an appealing possibility. She picked up an oaken staff and pointed it at the wall, saying, “Magic missile!”
Nothing happened. Maybe there was a way for her to acquire spells. While holding the staff, her Magic ATK increased from 7 to 9. But without any spells, it was little more than a walking stick.
On one table was a set of throwing stars, some nunchucks, an umbrella blade, and two metal war fans. She picked up the war fans and examined them. The item stat window said that it was called a tessen and dealt 1.25 damage. If she chose the metal fan, she could be stylish, fight lik
e a samurai, and be able to cool herself off if it got too hot.
After accidentally cutting herself with it twice, she returned the tessen to the table. In the right hands, it might be an effective weapon, but without the needed martial-arts training, she was more likely to injure herself than anyone else.
If this was going to be her adventure, she wanted a sword. Swords were cool. She made her way to the section of the wall that held blades of various types and sizes.
While it was true that Tasha had a measly two strength points and two agility points, there was no reason to believe that would always be the case. This was a point that she was firm on. She’d always wanted to fight using a sword. She had even practiced in her apartment using a wooden practice sword. She even had the busted lava lamp to prove it.
There were swords of varying lengths and styles. Tasha picked up a curved piratey sword that one might reasonably expect Redguards to use. It was light and she could swing it easily. It might be a smart choice, but it wasn’t speaking to her, so she returned it to its pedestal.
Mounted on the wall was an enormous buster sword that was actually taller than she was. She attempted to lift the large metal weapon from its pedestal, and it crashed onto the ground, very narrowly missing her good foot. She tried to pick it back up but could barely lift it a few inches. There was no way that Tasha could fight effectively using a weapon that she couldn’t even lift. Not having any way to return it to its mount, she left the enormous blade on the ground where it had fallen.
Just as she was about to try the katana, something else caught her eye. It was a long sword with a mahogany handle that sported a trigger as though it were a gun. Since the handle was designed to resemble a gun, it wasn’t completely parallel with the blade. This was it. This was her weapon, it just had to be, even though she had no idea how gunblades were actually supposed to work in a real-life sense. The weapon had a trigger, but no barrel.
Beginner Gunblade
Class: Weapon
A low-cost gunblade used for training.
Damage: 1.0
Durability: 300
There was a small question mark icon next to the weapons stats, so she tapped it.
Gunblades are a specialized form of sword with a trigger handle that allows you to rapidly invoke gun actions. Different spells can be selected by flicking the selector switch with your thumb. Both right and left handed gunblades are available for purchase.
The Beginner Gunblade is prebuilt with the following spell:
Firestorm
Spell class: Enchantment
Increases damage by 30% and adds fire element for 0.91 seconds.
Cost: 0.11 mana
Grasping the gunblade by the handle, she gave it a few practice swings. It had weight to it, but she could swing it around easily enough. The angled handle would take some getting used to, but the weapon just oozed with style.
Making her way to the floating sphere, Tasha assumed the familiar sword stance that she’d seen in countless Japanese cartoons and had practiced in front of the mirror when nobody was watching. The gunblade swept through the air and impacted the sphere, hitting it and causing it to darken for a moment. As the sword impacted, two hearts floated above the sphere, one of them emptying in response to the damage. The orb darkened slightly, but after a few seconds it returned to its original color as the hearts refilled.
Ability Unlocked: Gunblade Weapon Proficiency (Level 0)
Type: Passive weapon proficiency
Represents your experience using gunblades. When using gunblades, accuracy is increased by 1% and damage is increased by 0.5%
So apparently a single hit wasn’t strong enough to dislodge the orb. She took another look at the weapon’s description. It said that if she pulled the trigger, it would deal extra damage, but only for 0.91 seconds. If she timed her downswing, she might be able to get the damage boost with her next attack.
Deciding to try it out first, she extended the gunblade and pulled the trigger. Immediately the sword began to vibrate, and then the blade was wreathed in flames. She very nearly dropped the gunblade in surprise. Heat radiated from the fire, but the flames didn’t come in contact with her hand. A second later the vibration ended, and the flames vanished. One of the two mana containers on her HUD was ever so slightly reduced. With her two mana containers, she should be able to use the ability just under twenty times.
All right, it’s time to put this to the test. She raised the sword above her head, pulled the trigger, and slammed the sword onto the sphere. The glass sphere blackened and fell to the floor, shattering into pieces. The door at the far end of the hallway opened in response.
Before Tasha could advance into the next room, two smallish humanoid creatures entered through the now open door. They were short, skinny, mostly bald, greenish men wearing loincloths and carrying large knives with curved blades. She focused on one of them, and a description appeared alongside the creature in her field of view.
“Boblin A (Level 1)” floated in the air above the creature, along with two heart containers. Tasha glanced at the creature’s partner and similar text and hearts appeared above it. Scan data appeared in a small window in her battle HUD:
Boblin (Level 1)
The weakest monster at the outset of any adventure.
ATK 1Mag ATK 0
DEF 2Mag DEF 1
Beside the scan data and at the bottom of her HUD was her combat log. The text was big enough for her to read without having to turn her head.
2 Boblins appear! Combat started.
Boblin A fingers his sword menacingly.
Boblin B attacks Tasha.
The moment she read this text, one of the creatures rushed at her. Before she could react, the creature plunged its cold metal dagger into her midsection. As the metal blade met flesh, it sank into her belly. She could hear the sound of her muscles and tendons being ripped apart by the foreign object. For several seconds, the creature held the knife there before pulling it out and backing away.
The gunblade fell from Tasha’s hands and hit the stone floor at her side. For just a moment, she didn’t fully comprehend what had happened, but then waves of burning pain overwhelmed her senses. Tasha had never experienced this level of raw pain before.
The sound of her screams of pain and agony filled the air. Her hand instinctively went to the wound in her belly and came away dripping with a wet, sticky substance. She looked down at them and saw that her hands were coated in blood. Tasha wanted to say something, to beg for mercy, but her mouth was already filling with blood.
Her vision began to blur. She could barely make out the second grinning creature as it slashed her throat open with a single crosswise cut. She collapsed to the floor, her life essence draining away. Tasha tried to breathe but was unable to draw in air. Her awareness of the world around her diminished, and seconds later was gone.
♦ ♦ ♦
Tasha’s body had died, but she was still aware and fully conscious. She had no eyes to see with and everything was black as pitch. Panic flooded her mind as she tried to breathe but found that she could no longer do so. Her mouth and lungs were both gone, but the impulse to draw in air was no less urgent.
Am I dead? she wondered. That asshole creature must have killed me. What the hell kind of afterlife is this?
For a long while, she was overcome by the constant need to breathe. She had the urge to scream but couldn’t. Tears would have been welling up in her eyes, had she the tear ducts to produce them. Desperation and a sense of terror overwhelmed her. Tasha began to fear that she would never experience anything again, that she would just linger in a world of senseless nothingness.
It took time, it might have been minutes or hours, but eventually she became accustomed to not being able to breathe. There was no discomfort, no active sensation at all. No hunger, no thirst, and no pain. Her discomfort gradually diminished.
She distracted herself by focusing on her memories. Time she’d spent with her father growing up. She rem
embered how angry she was with her mother after the divorce. She’d barely spoken with her since then, even after her father’s funeral. In this place of death, Tasha wished that she had been more forgiving.
She thought about her job. She was going to be late for work, permanently. She’d never really done anything useful with her life. She had never worked on a video game that she could be proud of, not really. She didn’t have any close friends or family to remember her. She would die unaccomplished and unremembered.
It was too late to do anything about any of that now since she had died and this was surely Hell. It wasn’t like any sort of hell that she’d read about in Dante’s Inferno, but the thought of spending an eternity without sensory input was just as terrifying.
It was easy to lose track of time in that place devoid of dimension. Tasha had no idea how long she had lingered there. As the procession of moments went by, they blended together, and her awareness of the passage of time became less defined. For a long while, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Then, despite not having any ears to listen with, Tasha heard something. It was a voice in the darkness, calling out her name as though from a great distance.
“Tasha.”
Then she heard it again, this time louder, more distinct, and with her own voice. She could sort of see something now. It was an unclothed woman with her own body looking back at her.
“Tasha.”
The woman in front of her said her name a third time, her lips matching up to the sounds. She was so close. Tasha felt like she could reach out and touch her…
Her eyes snapped open, and she drew in a deep breath. Tasha was alive and had a body again. She could feel sensation once more. She could feel the air against her bare legs and arms and the course feeling of stone beneath her bare feet. The sound of her own breath filled her ears, and for a moment she reveled in the simple joy of filling her lungs with air.
Tasha was standing on a stone platform in a dimly lit room. Her legs were like wobbly noodles as she stepped down off the platform and onto the main floor. She was barefoot and clothed only in a plain sleeveless white shirt and a simple pair of short cloth pants.