Dagger of Doom: A LitRPG Adventure (Beta Tester Book 5)

by Rachel Ford

  “As for Migli? Well, I don’t know where he is, by his choice. So I shall not waste my time worrying about it. Nor am I particularly interested. He wanted to go his separate way, and he has. I have eight other children – five sons and three daughters who make me proud.”

  “Hear, hear,” said Dagon.

  “I have no need to compound my disappoint in Migli by keeping appraised of his comings and goings.

  “Now leave, before I call my guards to hasten your departure. And do not return. You will be treated as trespassers if you do – you, or any of your underworld friends.”

  This said, she turned her countenance away from Jack as if he wasn’t there, and began to converse with her husband. “The south lawn is coming in quite nicely, I know, but I’m a little concerned about the perennial beds.”

  Jack didn’t waste any more time, or words. He shook his head and departed, leaving the lord and lady to discuss the pressing matter of slow-blooming perennials.

  “And I thought Migli was insufferable,” Arath murmured as they stepped into the crimson hall. “I mean, he is. But at least now I know where he gets it.”

  “I thought you and Migli were thick as thieves?” Karag asked. “Now he’s insufferable?”

  The ranger shrugged. “He always was. I’m not blind to a man’s faults just because I tolerate his company. I’m an honest man, and I call ‘em like I see ‘em. Anyway, I’ve always been a good judge of character. It’s one of my best qualities.”

  Jack and Karag rolled their eyes in unison, but said nothing else. They went on walking, eager to be out of the eyesore palace. Jack thought that, if he had more time, he’d stick around to rob the noble lord and lady blind. They deserved nothing less. But he figured the quest couldn’t progress until he returned and relayed his success – dubious as it was. So he headed outside.

  As if to confirm his suspicions, as soon as he crossed the threshold, the game told him:

  Objective added: now that you’ve spoken to Lady Milia, report to Advisor Moinn

  The guards watched him and his party pass with curiosity, and a newfound hostility. “Get along with you, then,” one of them called.

  “You’re not welcome here, strangers. Best be on your way,” another declared. But they allowed the group to pass unmolested.

  Jack and his companions retraced their steps over the seemingly endless lawns and past the sprawling expanse of gardens, past the patches of shade trees and the fruit orchards. They found Varr waiting for them exactly where they’d left him.

  He was staring out to the lake and singing.

  Like finest spun gold,

  Braid upon golden braid

  A joy to behold

  But beauty begins to fade.

  Jack cleared his throat, and the dwarf started. “Oh, Sir Jack: there you are. I was starting to fear some harm might have befallen you.”

  “Yeah, you looked really worried…”

  “Indeed. But by your manner of return – alive, I mean – I take it your mission proved a success?”

  “Kind of. She –”

  “Excellent. Shall we head back, then?”

  Jack sighed. He forgot, sometimes, that the characters he met were just NPC’s, after all. It didn’t matter how real they seemed. They weren’t real. They were artificial intelligences, preprogrammed with responses. “Sure, Varr. Let’s go back.”

  “Right.” The dwarf started walking the way they’d come, singing softly, “Even gold loses its luster, if bought with blood and bluster…”

  The palace faded from sight until it was only a blip on the horizon, and then disappeared entirely. Jack found himself wondering which of Jordan’s coworkers had designed it. He figured it hadn’t been Jordan herself. Her designs had a little more elegance and subtlety to them. This looked like a cross between the Queen of Hearts’ palace from Alice in Wonderland, and some kind of medieval reboot of a dystopian fascist capitol. In short, it was a little too on the nose for Jordan.

  That precise thought registered in his mind just as the game froze, and he heard Jordan’s voice. “Jack?”

  It was a little too uncanny, and he started. “Son-of-a…I mean, hi.”

  She was there, alright. Or, her avatar anyway, watching him with concern. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. You just startled me is all.”

  “Oh. Okay. William mentioned that you were a little jumpy.”

  “He did, did he?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. Listen, Jack, I assume he told you about his plan, right?”

  “To fix my brain by torturing me?”

  She smiled wanly. “Yeah. That plan.”

  “He did. I told him I wanted him to run it by you.”

  She nodded again. “Well, he did.”

  “And?”

  She puffed out her cheeks and let out a long, drawn out breath. “To be honest? I think he’s right. I wish I didn’t. I wish I could have found something – anything – in his data. But Jack? His numbers are solid. Your neural activity during Roberts’ so-called tests, they all support it: your brain started dropping its connections to your avatar.”

  “Yeah, but then it re-established them.”

  “Yes, it did. But I think that’s because he didn’t finish the job. You were still in a kind of limbo. The human brain hasn’t evolved to operate two bodies simultaneously. It hadn’t gotten much feedback at all from your real one, and it’s gotten a lot from your fake one.”

  “Ergo, it’s assuming the avatar is real.”

  “I think so, yeah. So we got to – basically, overwhelm your brain with so much stimuli all at once that there can’t be any more confusion.”

  “Shock and awe.”

  “Pretty much. I think it’s the only way to retrain your brain.”

  He took that in for a long moment. “Okay. So what next?”

  “Well,” she said, shaking her head, “I don’t know. Are you okay with this? Do you need time to…digest it?”

  “No. I’m not really okay with it, but what choice do I have? I don’t want to die over something this stupid. And it isn’t something I want to sit around thinking about. I want to just get it done. The sooner the better.”

  “Okay. Right. I guess that makes sense. Okay.”

  He watched her for a moment, nodding to herself – reassuring herself. He reached out a hand to her shoulder. “Hey…are you okay with this?”

  She stared up at him. “Um…I don’t know, to be honest. Like, I get it, logically. It’s…it’s the right thing to do. But…”

  He nodded. “Yeah. It stinks.”

  “Yeah. And a lot more for you than me.”

  “That’s bollocks.”

  She laughed. “Bollocks, eh?”

  “You know what I mean: bovine feces.”

  She snorted at his translation, which somehow came out worse than the game’s profanity filter.

  “You’re going to be the one actually doing it. I just have to suck it up and survive.”

  She flashed him a deeply skeptical look. “Oh, is that all?”

  “Yes. But – hey, seriously, listen to me, Jordan. If we do this, I need you to be strong, okay? There’s no sense getting started if we can’t see it through.”

  She set her jaw grimly and nodded. “I know.”

  “Are you going to be okay with that?”

  She shook her head and nodded in turns. Her eyes glimmered with moisture. “I don’t know. I guess I will have to be. Heck, Jack: you’re the one about to be tortured. Stop feeling sorry for me. Forget about me.

  “Are you okay?”

  He smiled and pulled her into a hug. Her armor clanged against him, but he didn’t care how awkward the cold steel felt. “I’ll be fine. And we’ll get through this, okay?”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Despite their intention to begin immediately, circumstances intervened. Specifically, Dr. Roberts. He arrived at work just as Jordan was prepping – and she didn’t dare proceed while he was in the office.

 
; They’d both agreed that they couldn’t trust Roberts in any way, so they couldn’t include him. However, if he happened to be around, he might randomly check on Jack’s readings. Even if they disabled the alarms, he might notice that.

  No, the safest way forward involved waiting until after Roberts left the building. So they waited. And waited. And waited some more.

  William popped in to tell them he’d jump on as soon as they began. “I can keep an eye on his stats, and coordinate with you, Jordan. But yeah: I’d definitely wait until Roberts is out of the way before we get cracking.”

  Jack felt a little awkward hanging around with Jordan in the other man’s presence, on account of their recent conversation. He found himself unable to carry on with the same ease as before, knowing how his and Jordan’s banter would be parsed and misinterpreted. He didn’t dare express any of the frankness they’d shared earlier, for the same reason. So he was glad when William finally signed off.

  Jordan jumped out of the game a few times for team meetings and once to do reconnaissance. “He looks like he’s offline, but I’m going to head to the breakroom – take the long way, and make sure he’s actually gone.”

  This proved to be a bust, though, when she returned a few minutes later. “Well, I’ve got bad coffee and worse news: he’s still here.”

  But even when she had to go, she always came back afterwards. They talked through their plans and contingency plans. He insisted on recording a message detailing how this was his idea, and that he accepted all risks. He didn’t know if it would mean much, legally, should things go south, but he hoped it would. He didn’t plan on dying, of course. But he didn’t want Jordan left taking the fall for helping him, if the worst happened.

  Then five o’clock rolled around. Technically, Roberts didn’t leave until eight after five. Jordan planned to scope out his office again, but she didn’t need to: the doctor stopped by on his way out the door. He took them by surprise, which turned out alright. She was still active in the game, and wearing her visor, so Jack saw the motions reflected in the game and heard their conversation.

  Ostensibly, it was just a routine check-in: “How’s he doing?” and “No complaints?” and so on. Then he mentioned, “I notice recording’s been pretty hit and miss lately. You know anything about that?”

  Jordan shook her head. “No, not a thing.”

  Roberts started to say that maybe he’d have Nate or one of the other support developers look at it when Jordan nodded enthusiastically. “Good idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s related to that hacking thing the other week.”

  A silence followed, so absolute that Jack could have heard a pin drop in the office. Then, Roberts said, “You know, the more I think about it, the more I think it’s probably just a glitch. I’m pretty sure I heard Avery mention it.”

  “Really?” Jordan’s eyes widened in an admirable impression of surprise. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “No. But it’s one of those bugs we don’t want to mess with – not while Jack’s in there.”

  “Oh, right.”

  “Who knows what we could break trying to fix that. Too much risk.”

  She nodded and agreed that it definitely wasn’t worth the risk.

  Then he lingered awkwardly for a long moment, eventually breaking the silence with, “Well, let me know if anything comes up.”

  “Of course.”

  “I know you’re as anxious as any of us to wrap this up, and get him out of there, safe and sound.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Good. Well, I want you to know, Jordan, that hasn’t gone unnoticed. Not by me, and not by Avery. You’re a credit to the studio. And believe me – it’s been hectic, I know, and tempers are hot sometimes. But when the dust settles and things get back to normal here, that kind of drive and loyalty to the company is going to put you at the top of a lot of very important lists. I don’t know what your career plans are, but if you ever thought about a management track…I’m not a gambling man, but I’d lay odds on you getting pretty much any job you wanted.”

  Jordan made a show of being surprised and flattered, and duly grateful. Jack, meanwhile, seethed at the blatant manipulation – all without guarantees, of course. Then Roberts took his leave.

  She let out a long, slow breath. “Ho-ly stuff-and-nonsense.”

  “He’s scared,” Jack said. “Whatever William did in their network, he must have done it well, because they’re running scared.”

  She nodded. “I’m not crazy, right? I didn’t imagine him trying to buy my loyalty there, did I?”

  Jack shook his head. “Nope. That’s exactly what that was.”

  “Son-of-a-biscotti.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, that.”

  She laughed too, and then proposed they give it a quarter of an hour. “Just in case he comes back for something.”

  Which put them perilously close to the change of shift, in Jack’s book. After all, they didn’t know how long this would take. Maybe it would wrap up in half an hour. Maybe it would take two or three hours.

  “Gosh, I hope not,” she said.

  “You and me both.”

  Still, it wouldn’t do to get started only to have Dr. Roberts walk in. So they waited the allotted fifteen minutes. Then Jack called, “William? We’re getting ready to get started.”

  He figured the other man probably had some kind of alert set up to his own name, even if he wasn’t actively monitoring their conversation. And he didn’t rule out that possibility, either.

  Sure enough, William Xi’s lean, purple-haired avatar sprang up. It felt a little bit like rubbing a magic lamp to summon some kind of all-powerful genie. He glanced the pair over, a bemused smile playing at the corner of his lips. But he said only, “Alright. Let’s get started.”

  First things first, they had to prep the tools they’d need. Which is to say, a lot of trespassing and theft, as what they needed was secured in Dr. Roberts’ office. This introduced more delay. Roberts’ neighbors hadn’t all left for the night; and one of the programmers loitering around the senior medical officer’s office would draw all kinds of eyes. So she had to wait until the coast was clear and move quickly and carefully when she had openings.

  She brought back the targeted electroshock device – the mad doctor’s medical grade taser. But that was it. “I didn’t find anything else. Jack, I think he might have had Richard using his hands. You know, to slap you.”

  Jack nodded. “Yeah, he said something about ‘prehensile appendages.’”

  She didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then, she asked, “What are we going to do?”

  “Same plan as last time,” William answered. “We’ll use the TED if necessary, but I think we should focus on impact over electroshock. As long as the strikes are measured, we run less risk that way.”

  “You mean…you want me to hit Jack? Like, with my hands?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh. Okay, that’s – that’s going to be a problem.”

  “It’s got to be done, Jordan.”

  At the same time, Jack said, “It’s the only way to rewire my head, Jordan. I need you to do this. For me.”

  They went round and round a few times – she, insisting she couldn’t do it; and them, insisting she had to. Finally, she caved. “Alright, I’ll do it. If I can.”

  Then began the waiting game on Jack’s end. Jordan’s avatar remained in-game, but it had frozen, expressionless. She’d set her headset down.

  William, meanwhile, narrated a play-by-play based on the readings he could see. “She’s unlocking the VR capsule. Okay, it’s open. She’s disabling the automatic alerts.”

  Then Jordan asked, her voice trembling, “Okay…you ready?”

  Jack nodded, then remembered that she’d removed her headset, and so was probably waiting on vocal confirmation. “Ready.”

  “Okay,” she said again. “Here goes nothing.”

  Which proved to be an accurate prediction, because nothing happened. In a momen
t, he said, “Jordan?”

  “Yeah?”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Give me a minute.”

  “Okay.”

  William, meanwhile, rolled his eyes.

  Then, she said, “Okay, I’m really ready this time.”

  “Go for it.”

  She did. He couldn’t feel anything, but he heard the faint thwack of a gentle slap in the background. “Did you…did that work?”

  William had escalated to a face palm. Jack scowled at him, but said, “No. You have to – it has to be harder than that.”

  “Okay. Right. Harder.”

  Another faint thwack sounded, which registered nothing at all on Jack’s end. William gritted his teeth. “For the love of God…the whole point of this is to hurt him, Jordan. If you don’t hurt him, it’s never going to work.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you sure? Because it sounds like you’re tickling him. You’re supposed to be slapping him. Like you mean it.”

  “I am, dagnabbit,” she snapped. Then she added in softer tones, “I’m trying, anyway.”

  “Try harder. We’re on a clock.”

  So she did. Jack could make out no appreciable difference – none of the hits registered pain, and they all sounded about as weak as the first one. William’s persuasions did nothing to help, either. The more he pressed, the harder Jordan seemed to find it.

  Finally, Jack intervened. “For pity’s sake, give her a break, William. Jordan, take a breath. Take a minute, and focus on something else, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said.

  “Good God,” William said.

  “Let’s just think it through, okay? We won’t do anything until you’re ready.”

  “Okay,” she said again. He heard her taking long, deep breaths. “I’m sorry, Jack. I know I should be – better at this.”

  “No,” he said. “You shouldn’t. This is – this is crazy. No one ever thinks they’ll have to do something like this. It’s okay. I get it. I really do.” He ignored the gagging William mimed out. “Listen, Jordan, if you can’t do this – if it’s too much – I understand. Really.”

  “Oh Jack.” She sounded like she might cry. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”