Couch Potato Chaos- Gamebound

by Erik Rounds

  Pan couldn’t risk attacking the grogre. His most recent attack seemed to do four hearts of damage, and that was against Ari, who had a higher defense stat. She only had five hearts to work with. A single hit dead on from the grogre might be enough to finish her off. Instead she took aim at the lamia and pulled the trigger. The bolt left her crossbow and impacted the lamia in its shoulder, taking one heart and leaving it with five. The lamia abruptly changed targets, moving toward her.

  Without hesitating, Pan again began cocking and rearming the crossbow. By the time the reload was complete, the mob was right in front of her. Pan took aim and shot the lamia in its head, dealing critical damage. It recoiled in pain but recovered quickly, moving in for the attack.

  The lamia still had two hearts left. Having closed the distance, it bit down on Pan’s shoulder, drawing blood.

  Lamia deals 3 damage to Pan and inflicts Poison.

  Pan is poisoned and will lose 0.5 hearts per minute.

  Pain in her shoulder and a feeling of nausea overtook her. She drew the dagger from its sheath and plunged it into the lamia’s neck. The lamia screamed in pain and writhed on the ground for a moment before its solid form dissolved into a purple cloud of mist. By the time Pan fished out an antidote, she had lost half a heart from poison, leaving her with only one and a half hearts. Her nausea faded, but the pain from the injury remained.

  While this was happening, Ari was squaring off with the grogre. Its attacks were slow but powerful. Ari invoked his Stone Fist ability, hardening his hands and allowing him to break through tough armor. He focused on dodging and landed quick jabs on the monster as opportunities presented themselves. Due to the level difference, each jab only took off half a heart.

  When Ari had brought the grogre down to seven hearts, it let out a great roar, adding a momentary paralysis debuff to Ari. The giant drew back its club, readying to bash Ari’s head in. An attack like that would be enough to finish him.

  Pan took one of her expensive ice bolts and loaded it into her crossbow. As the grogre brought the club over its head, she let the bolt fly. It arced through the air and impacted the grogre’s chest, dealing no more than ¾ of a heart in damage. The beast suffered from the paralysis effect, but it wore off after only a few seconds. There was too much of a level difference between Pan and the grogre, but she had earned its enmity.

  As the creature broke free from its momentary paralysis, it turned away from the still-paralyzed pugilist and charged at Pan. Pan was already down to one and a half hearts, but it didn’t matter. Even at full strength she wouldn’t survive a single hit from the monster.

  There wasn’t enough time to reload the crossbow, so she dropped it to the ground and took off running. Daring to look back, she saw the grogre chasing her at a mad sprint, gradually closing the distance. Despite its slower body movements, its larger legs gave it a decided advantage in speed, though it suffered from an inability to make rapid changes in direction.

  Pan used this to her advantage, making sudden right-angle turns every time it got too close. Her shoulder continued to burn with pain from earlier. She wanted to stop and heal, but the grogre wouldn’t give her a moment’s rest.

  Pan was doing her best to lead the lumbering monster toward Ari, whose paralysis debuff had finally worn off. Despite her stat-augmented agility, her poor legs were getting worn out from the constant sprinting.

  Ari was running toward her, and as they passed each other he invoked his Stone Foot ability, leapt into the air and dropkicked the grogre in the head, dealing a full three hearts of critical damage. Before it could react, Ari kicked the creature an additional two times for half a heart each, bringing it down to just under three hearts.

  The grogre ignored his attacks and continued chasing Pan. Its targeting algorithm considered the girl’s low level, which made her a preferred target. The mob’s simple clockwork brain forced it to ignore Ari’s attacks in lieu of a softer target.

  Pan was still running, but her mad sprint had slowed to a jog. The grogre would have no trouble catching up with her now. In her exhaustion, Pan collapsed to the ground. She threw her knife at the monster, but it simply bounced off the grogre’s tough skin, dealing no damage.

  The grogre raised the club over its head once more, making ready to smash it into the poor girl’s body. Before it could do so, Ari wrapped his hands around the grogre’s waist and planted his feet into the ground. He quickly invoked his God Strength ability which would double his strength stat for the next ten seconds. Its ten-hour cooldown meant that it was a one-shot ability.

  Pushing his muscles to the limit, he lifted the grogre into the air and allowed himself to fall backward, slamming its head into the ground.

  Ari uses Suplex on Grogre, dealing 4 damage. Grogre dies.

  As the grogre crashed into the ground, its body exploded into a purple cloud.

  Victory! All enemies have been vanquished.

  Ari: +12 experience gained. (325 to next level)

  Pan: +3 experience gained. (110 to next level)

  30 GP found.

  Ari walked over to the girl and produced a health potion. She took it from him and downed it quickly. The injury to her shoulder vanished to be replaced by unbroken skin. The only evidence that she had ever been injured in the first place were the splatters of blood and torn fabric.

  “You were amazing,” said Ari. “That’s one of the toughest battles we’ve fought since we left home. You need to be more careful, though. In battle, it is more important for you to protect your own life than to risk it protecting mine. You should have run as soon as you finished off the lamia. That would have been the smart thing to do.”

  She wanted to say how grateful she was that he saved her life. If she had died, she would be too late, and then her dream would never come true. She wanted to explain that she didn’t want him to sacrifice his life for hers, even if it seemed like the rational move. Instead, she simply nodded, her face an unreadable mask.

  She pulled out the pouch that she had stolen from the grogre and handed it to Ari. Ari smiled and dropped the contents into the ground. There were several ten-piece GP coins and a hand grenade. Grenades were small consumable devices charged with single-use explosion spells. They were useful in combat but far too expensive to use regularly. They would most likely sell it next time they were in a city. Pan picked up the grenade and Ari scooped up the coins, adding them to his inventory.

  There were no other drops, so Pan retrieved her crossbow, and they resumed their trek toward the structure. Fortunately, they only faced one more random encounter—three level 8 lamias who posed little challenge for the two experienced travelers.

  When they finally reached the ruins, the sun was already brushing against the western horizon. All about them was a maze of ruined buildings covered in moss. Vegetation had long since claimed this ancient place. They traveled between broken stone walls where long ago there might have been a cobblestone street.

  Finally they reached the great pillars that Pan had seen hours earlier through her spyglass. They passed under a great stone archway that had somehow weathered the ravages of time. The shape of the walls was more or less apparent by the line of collapsed stone.

  After ten minutes, they had finally reached the waypoint. They were standing at the precise latitude and longitude described by Libra’s prediction. It was a grass clearing surrounded by the remains of the ruined temple.

  Pan watched Ari explore the small room. Its boundaries were roughly defined by the imprints from where the walls had once stood.

  She wanted to help with the search but found herself unable to focus. Her hands had begun shaking, and there was nothing she could do about it. The air was full of dust and caught in her throat, prickling her like dozens of tiny needles.

  The lines of her shirt were like razors against her skin, and her shoes were sandpaper against her feet. She hated having to wear shoes; they were so constraining and uncomfortable. She tore them off and threw them away as far as she could.
Her wristband was crushing her arm, so she tore that away too, scratching the skin as it came off.

  There were insects everywhere, and she scratched at several bug bites with annoyance, slapping herself to get the bugs off. She was vaguely aware of Ari saying something to her, but she couldn’t focus on his words; the sound of the insect life was deafening. He was too close too; she didn’t like people being this close. It made her feel vulnerable.

  She screamed and scrambled back against an ancient stone wall, scanning the area for somewhere to hide. She wanted to run away, but when she tried to stand she lost her balance and collapsed against the wall.

  This was happening now. Why did this have to happen now? She was supposed to be doing something important. This was no time for her to lose control. She hadn’t had the time to release her stress, and now she was paying the price.

  There was a dull pain on her head, and she realized that she had been slamming her fists against her skull. How long had she been doing that? She felt something being placed on her head.

  Her eyesight became blurry, and there were yellow dots at the periphery of her vision. Her body began trembling. Someone had covered her with a blanket. Her eyes were swollen with tears, and her throat was scratchy from the screaming. Eventually she lost consciousness.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Ari covered his daughter with the blanket where she was lying against the stone wall. There wasn’t much he could do to help her other than leave her alone and make sure she didn’t injure herself until the meltdown had passed.

  He took out a small bag that had a picture of a tent on it and placed it on the ground. He pulled the cord that held it shut, opening the bag and invoking the campground spell. Campgrounds were single-use items that repelled mobs and wild animals for a twelve-hour period. A lightly glowing blue circle appeared above the ground, indicating the boundaries of the spell. Even with this economy campground there was still enough room to set up several small tents and a campfire.

  First, he removed the collapsed tent from his inventory and began setting it up. It was little more than a few metal rods and some worn fabric to keep out the rain, but it was sufficient to grant them both shelter for the night. He had been meaning to purchase a new tent, but GP had always been tight for them.

  Once the tent was ready, he took out some wood and kindling and started up a fire. It was hard for him to focus with the sound of his daughter screaming and crying, but they needed fire to stave off the cold of night. He removed a matchbook from his inventory and lit the kindling.

  Pan’s autistic meltdown had grown worse. She was hitting herself on her head over and over. Ari had already removed a padded leather helmet from his inventory that he used for these situations and secured it on her head. That would limit how much she hurt herself until the meltdown passed.

  Pan would occasionally have these meltdowns in response to anxiety. When she did, she would become unresponsive until she wore herself out. Trying to stop her would be useless and even counterproductive. She hated being touched, so he didn’t try to comfort her. Instead he gently carried her into the tent where it was dark and didn’t have as many distractions.

  Their homeland of Zhakara was not kind to people with disabilities. In Zhakara, the weak were dominated by the strong, and most people saw autism as a critical weakness. Leaving their homeland was the best decision they could have made.

  His daughter could function normally most of the time. She could work, play, and even fight with Ari against the monsters of the mist. She was a decent marksman for someone of her level. She could even carry on a conversation, though her sentences tended to consist of short, simple phrases. Rather than speaking aloud, it was often easier for her to write down what she wanted to say in her notebook.

  Her screaming and crying went on long into the night until she finally fell asleep. Ari removed her helmet and bundled her up into her sleeping bag, then returned to the fire and heated up some coffee. He would stand watch. He would be fine without getting any sleep.

  This was where Libra had sent them, and the eidolon of prophecy was never wrong about anything. He had made thousands of predictions and was never wrong about any of them. Not even once.

  Ari opened his menu and checked the time. It was 6:10 a.m. The sun was rising, banishing the starry night. That’s when Ari noticed something peculiar on the northern horizon—a dark field of clouds in an otherwise empty sky. It didn’t drift gently like clouds tended to do; instead it sped with deliberate purpose. It was moving in their direction against the wind.

  Flashes of light were soon followed by roars of thunder. The clouds were closer now, and there was a rapid change of air pressure that caused his ears to pop.

  Pan appeared from inside the tent. There was a bruise on the side of her head where she had been hitting herself, and her hands were stained with blood. “Ari? I’m really sorry.”

  “It’s okay. It doesn’t matter now.”

  “But… last night I…”

  “Pan, just forget it. Look.”

  Ari pointed at the oncoming storm clouds. “There.”

  “Headache. So loud.”

  He handed her a healing potion as she watched the anomaly. The bruises on the side of her head vanished as she drank it.

  The sky darkened, and droplets of rain quickly formed pools in the campground. The wind stirred, causing the fabric of their tent to flap. As the minutes passed, the wind increased and the rain turned into a wild torrent.

  “We need to find shelter,” said Ari. Pan looked at the tent, but it had already been ripped out of the ground and was flying off into the air. That was their only tent!

  Pan shook her head. There was nowhere to take shelter. None of the ruins would provide them the least bit of protection. Her anxiety from before was diminished to manageable levels, she could deal with this.

  Something significant was happening, and she needed her wits to deal with it.

  The storm was now directly overhead. The storm clouds swirled above them in a spiral pattern. Normally that would indicate a forming cyclone, but no tornado emerged from the clouds.

  From the center of the vortex, a singular bolt of lightning struck an empty place in the air directly above the two travelers. Pan screamed and covered her head with her hands.

  There was no ground at the point of impact. Instead, a wave of purple mist formed at the bolt’s terminus. The mist grew downward, forming the outline of a great building, following the lines and contours of the brickwork. The wave continued until it hit the ground several seconds later.

  A second bolt of lightning struck the same location, and again a wave of purple mist formed the outline of the temple. A third bolt struck, and then a fourth.

  Pan pointed at one of the partially destroyed pillars. As the wave of purple mist passed over it, the unbroken part of the pillar was revealed.

  Through the rain, Ari said, “This must be Catalyst… the goddess of change. She’s said to take the form of a storm cloud.”

  As lightning continued to strike the air above them, the outline of the pillar became more and more pronounced. Above them, lines of mist began to form into a stone ceiling. Bricks formed walls. The translucent mist solidified, and the two travelers found themselves inside a stone room. The light, wind, and chaos from outside vanished, and they were in a room with dark walls covered in bookshelves and a single exit.

  “What just happened?” asked Ari, “You saw that, right?”

  “T-T-Temple?” asked Pan.

  “I think you’re right. For some reason, the goddess of change has reconstructed this ancient temple.”

  Pan pulled up her menu and checked the zone information. It read “Temple of the Player – Small Library.” In the corner of her menu, the clock caught her attention.

  “Ari, the c-clock is broken,” she said.

  Ari pulled up the menu and confirmed that the clock read 99:03:14.

  “You’re right… I see it too.”

  They both remained s
ilent for several minutes. Pan was the first to recover. “L-Let’s explore.”

  “Yeah, good idea,” agreed Ari.

  The two of them left the library and entered the bottom floor of the temple in search of answers and possibly the cure that they had come to find.

  Chapter 6

  Denver

  Tasha had just left her corpse behind in the room with all of the weapons. As the door shut behind her, a prompt appeared:

  Congratulations!

  Quest Completed: Violence is Always the Answer

  5 XP awarded.

  Dismissing the prompt, she took in her surroundings. It was a hallway that branched off to either side. The HUD’s map had filled in the shape of the room as she moved. Taking the path to the left, Tasha encountered another three boblins. They saw her right away, so backstabbing was out of the question. They were standing in a line, apparently waiting for her to make the first move.

  Deciding to hold back, Tasha studied their attacks. She found that they each had their own ready progress bar in the combat menu and would wait until it was full to attack. When Boblin B’s timer filled up, it left the formation and jumped at her. She slashed her gunblade horizontally, slicing the creature before it could reach her. Before she could follow up, Boblin A was already on the offensive. Tasha wasn’t able to dodge in time and took a minor hit on the side, costing her one heart.

  When Boblin C approached, she was ready and stabbed at it, impaling the creature before it could reach her. Once impaled, Tasha pulled the trigger, sending a wave of fire into the monster, killing it. Just as the other two boblins had, this one dissolved into purple mist upon its death. A rush of satisfaction overcame her as she killed it.

  It was Boblin B’s turn to attack again, but she had already studied its pattern and dodged to the side just as it reached her. Slashing horizontally, Tasha cut the creature’s throat, killing it instantly. After that, Boblin A wasn’t much of a challenge.