Trapped in a Game

Author's note

: This is chapter 4 in my 'Trapped in a Game" series. It's not a self-contained story so you'll be pretty much lost if you don't read chapters 1-3. This is fantasy heavy, and would be in the fantasy category if not for the incestuous relationship between the protagonist and his sister. Enjoy, and feel free to leave your comments below. :)

*****

"Hey! Hold up!" Serra called to me as I dashed hastily across the hillside.

I paused long enough to shoot her an impatient stare, while our new companion shifted into reality at her side.

"Four Lizard-men; two with bows to our left and two with spears on our tail."

Serra nodded, then shot me a look of concern:

"I know you care about her; but if we tear across open fields like this we'll draw more attention than it's worth."

She put a hand on my shoulder, and I gulped, then nodded, blinking back the fearful tears that had been threatening to fall since I'd read Kelly's message.

I'd sent her a few messages since, warning her about the danger, but I'd gotten no response from her which meant that she might already be inside some kind of lair protected by communication and detection barriers.

While that didn't automatically mean she was already in the vampire lair; I'd panicked and immediately taken off for Ravenloft.

Our blink dog growled just as a couple arrows came whizzing across the field and I leapt away from Serra as they landed near where we'd been standing.

"I'll take the archers," I shouted as I took off to our left in the direction from which the arrows had been launched, and I descended on them just as they were notching another arrow in their bows.

I struck the first in the shoulder with my rapier, just as the second notched his arrow and took aim; but I was on him, and I kicked the bow out of my direction just as he loosed the arrow, sending it flying harmlessly into the ground before pulling him to the ground and sticking rapier through the back of his head. A dagger slashed at me from behind, and it lightly grazed my shoulder as I attempted to evade just a second too late, but I countered with a series of quick jabs, landing a couple about his stomach and eventually dropping him to the ground with his friend.

I stowed my rapier, then dashed over to Serra who had just finished taking care of the lizard-folk on her end as well.

"How far away can you shift?" she asked the blink dog.

"Fifty feet at a time,"

came his response in our heads.

"Okay-" she turned to me; "he'll scout a path for us back to the main road, and we'll pick up the pace from there back to Ravenloft- okay?"

I nodded blankly as I used the pause to check pointlessly for messages that I knew I would never have missed anyway.

Serra took my hand and shot me a reassuring smile, but it did little to alleviate the anxiety that was gnawing at my chest.

We made it to the road in under twenty minutes, but even then, while moving at full speed (and drawing quite a few concerned and frightened glances along the way), it still took us the better part of two hours to get back to Ravenloft; and by the time we got there the sun had already set, cloaking the spooky town in the kind of darkness for which it seemed to have been designed.

I made a beeline for the tavern as Serra headed off to meet up with her contact, Mackenzie, and in little under twenty minutes she came over to the tavern to meet up with me.

"Please tell me you got something," I asked desperately, running my hands through my hair; no-one at the tavern seemed to know anything about Kelly's group, but all the talk about the rising death count over the last day had me going crazier by the minute.

"Two possibilities," Serra started as soon as she'd met up with me; "one is an underground lair connecting to

Karach

; the mountains that run along the south of Ravenloft."

Karach was the second furthest target from Ravenloft, second only to the lair from which we'd just returned.

"The other?" I asked.

"A master vampire that's been raising an undead army across the bogs west of Ravenloft."

"What are you thinking?" I asked, as I rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

"The undead army defeated two parties today alone; you said they were looking for info on a master vampire, so they might have heard of the defeats and headed there."

"That's a possibility... but-"

"Your friend died at that necromancer lair, right?"

"Yeah."

Pete and Karn were in this group after all, and I doubt they would be all that enthusiastic about fighting another necromancer, vampire or not. But that would be assuming that they had any say in the decision; after all, prior to the leak, info on vampire lairs were rare and expensive.

"I still think that it might be our best bet," Serra continued, "the one under

Karach

was unknown until the leak."

I gulped, nodding uncertainly, before something occurred to me.

"Wait- if the info was leaked today, then someone might have sold them info on the lair under

Karach

today

after

the leak."

"Huh?"

I pulled up Kelly's message again, and noted that she stated that they'd 'scored some info'.

She definitely wouldn't have phrased it like that if they'd just heard of defeats from other adventurers.

I was still thinking it over when the girl who I now recognized as Mackenzie came over to Serra.

"I think your best bet might be across the bogs," she spoke in a hushed tone. "One of my scouts just reported that a group is attacking the master vampire there right now."

I scratched at my face absently, as despite the info I had a gut feeling that they wouldn't have gone after another necromancer.

"Wait- how did you get word?" Serra asked.

Mackenzie tilted her head uncomfortably and blinked twice in quick succession, evidently unaccustomed to having her info questioned.

"I'm in direct communication with him. He messaged me just a little-"

"Messaged?" I asked, and Serra shot me a smirk.

"Karach,"

we chanted in unison.

"I owe you one," Serra exclaimed, and Mackenzie wore an expression of utter confusion as Serra hugged her roughly before taking my hand and hurrying out of the tavern.

***

As we left Ravenloft, the blink dog rejoined us and we took the road that wound southwards to the great mountain range that separated our continent from the

Southern Domain

.

Serra kept her hands on mine, and as I studied her I noticed that she seemed a little less sharp than usual, and I recalled that she had not rested fully since her earlier near death ordeal.

"Hey, Serra- do you need to rest?"

She glanced back at me, before scoffing.

"Are you trying to imply that I can't keep up with you, Joshie?"

She sounded defensive and spoke in a tone a little harsher than her usual terseness.

I pulled my hand from hers and paused, forcing her to come to a halt.

"Seriously?" she asked, looking a bit more hurt than I'd expected.

"We don't know if she's in trouble, and even if she is I can still be of help alone."

"Are you trying to say, Josh" she asked, advancing on me angrily; "that you don't need me?"

I sighed, but as I studied her face I saw a little sliver sadness hidden behind her outward mask of anger.

I closed the remaining distance between us, before cupping Serra's face between my hands, to her surprise.

"I almost lost you today- I'm in no hurry to go through that again."

Her eyelids fluttered a bit as she studied my eyes with guarded curiosity.

"I won't overdo it- but even if I don't swing my hammer even once, you're hopeless without me, so quit worrying and let's go."

She took my hand and we began moving again, but now I noticed that the blink dog in our company was studying the gesture with a curious look of interest.

"That gesture- you used it when you slew my master. What does it mean?"

Serra eyed me for a moment before returning her gaze to our route, so I answered as I followed her lead:

"Physical contact allows me to cast

synergy

, improving both of our abilities."

A 'hm' like sound of thoughtfulness echoed in my mind before he continued:

"But you aren't using magic right now,"

the creature observed, and Serra clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"No, I'm not," I replied, and he gave another 'hm' in response.

"Is the gesture itself magical then?"

he continued, and I studied him curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"I cannot sense the flow of magic between you, but the priest-human seems to operate about thirty percent more efficiently when holding your hand."

"Wha-?"

"Fuck off, you stupid mutt!" Serra seethed, pulling her hand away from mine and stalking off, and the blink dog stared between us, a look of confusion on his face.

"Did I say something wrong?"

The hound spoke this time, I think, only to me, and I shot him a nervous smile as I whispered in response, "No- but keep that observation between the two of us next time," before taking off after Serra with a little chuckle.

"What did your master call you," I asked, as the dog kept pace, fading from view as he occasionally did before reappearing in full stride.

His head seemed to tilt at the question, before he spoke, a little uncertainly:

"It's so strange- I know I've served my master for centuries but I can't seem to recall him calling me even once. Perhaps the magic that bound me to him has affected my memory."

Serra eyed me cautiously as he said this and I gulped.

Surely the gaps in his memory were a result of the inevitable flaws that would arise from programming a monster with centuries of history; but he accepted it as the possible consequence of magical interference almost without a second thought.

Just how much were these monsters designed to accept?

Come to think of it, even with my limited knowledge of programming, I was aware that massively online games like this one would need to reset from time to time in order to clear up the errors that would accumulate from prolonged periods of operation.

During this time monster camps, bosses, quests and other resources would be reset, allowing the game world to fix any game breaking changes that might have occurred through natural progression.

Without such regular maintenance, the accumulation of errors would inevitably lead to a major slowing down of operations culminating in a system crash.

Despite this, I had to admit that there was never anything resembling an error or lag since the game had begun, and it had already been a month.

The blink dog seemed to remember everything that had happened since we'd met, didn't he? Now that I think about it, even Lina had remembered me after as long as a week of game time.

Their memories weren't being reset.

If every NPC in this game was creating and storing memories as the game progressed, wouldn't this lead to an eventual system crash?

The amount of memory that might have been made available for such an ambitious game was sure to be incredible; but even then, surely there had to be an eventual limit?

I studied the blink dog, remembering that he wasn't exactly an NPC. This was a monster that we might have fought and destroyed.

If he was destroyed, his memories would be destroyed with him.

I shuddered as I noted how eerily human it made him, and as I glanced at him again I noted that his eyes were studying me with a curious look.

"Is something wrong, human-with-the-tasty-meats?"

his voice spoke, and Serra glanced at us, a little curiously.

"My name is Josh," I responded, "and hers is Serra. Since you don't have a name, do you mind if we give you one?"

The dog considered it, then gave another thoughtful 'hm.'

"It might increase the effectiveness of our communication,"

he noted.

"What name do you have in mind?"

"How about-"

"-Lassie!" Serra offered with an enthusiastic smile, and I shot her a sharp disapproving glare as she shrugged unapologetically.

"I was thinking something more along the lines of... Caliban."

"Caliban... I think I approve,"

the dog added thoughtfully.

"Caliban, then," I offered with a smile, and I noted that his tail wagged a bit at this.

"Come on, let's move," Serra muttered impatiently, and we resumed our journey towards

Karach

.

***

The trip to the entrance that would take us to the underground passageway under

Karach

went by without incident, thanks largely to Caliban' ability to teleport around and scout for major threats, but as we scouted the lair entrance, I noticed that Serra was busy doing something on her character interface.

"Yes!" she finally exclaimed, "we're in luck Joshie. Mackenzie got her hands on the lair's complete schematics."

"How much did you pay for that?" I asked worriedly, but she waved a hand, dismissing the question.

Serra was generally a harsh and straightforward person, but she could be so thoughtful sometimes; I found myself wondering when her quirkiness had become so endearing.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked with annoyance, and I patted her head affectionately to her chagrin before adding:

"Nothing. Let's go."

We had no trouble getting into the underground chamber, but navigating it proved to be a bit troublesome as it had been designed very much like a labyrinth.

Caliban was able to get around easily enough with his phase ability, but very often we'd be trying to get to a room that he had described only to find that we'd taken a wrong turn somewhere along the intricate web of twists and turns.

After spending the better part of thirty minutes getting lost in the maze, we finally made it into the actual lair; marked by a grand staircase that led up to a pair of heavy stone doors, with intricate maze like patterns carved across its large stone face.

The doors were open, thankfully, and as we stepped inside we found the first signs of the recent passage of a party of players; the entry chamber was wrecked, with broken glass and bits of stone and wood strewn everywhere, and the corpses of two thralls lay several feet apart, near to the wall on the far left.

"Looks like they decided to take out the thralls first," Serra noted, and I examined one of the dead thralls as Caliban materialized beside us.

"There's a priest-human running through some corridors near to the eastern side of the lair,"

Caliban noted, and I retrieved a little skewer from my inventory, and tossed it at him to his delight.

"You a dog person in real life?" Serra asked, and I shook my head with a little chuckle:

"Nope."

"Good," she commented. "I hate dogs."

I was about to ask why that mattered to her when a loud piercing shriek came echoing to us from down one of the corridors off of the entry room.

"Thrall?" I asked, and Caliban faded away as he set off to investigate.

"Come on," Serra called, taking my hand as we darted down the corridor in the direction from which it came.

We went down several corridors before coming to another large stone entryway where Serra came to a sudden halt.

"What?"

"Hold up-

Detect traps

," she chanted, and I took her hand as the telling green glow appeared in her eyes.

"I highly doubt that-"

My words cut off as she pointed at an arrow trap above the archway that the doors stood under.

"Your friend was a bounty hunter, remember? They probably by-passed a lot of traps without disarming them."

I sighed, remembering that Karn was indeed a bounty hunter.

These aren't the kind of mistakes you should still be making,

I thought to myself, but Serra was shooting me a strange smile.

"Don't be hard on yourself, Joshie- Not everyone can be awesome like me."

I rolled my eyes at her as she smirked at me, and Serra used her

detect

spell to guide me to through the trap's mechanisms, allowing me to successfully disarm it.

"The priest-human is in trouble,"

Caliban commented as he materialized beside us.

I glanced at Serra and she nodded at me.

"Lead on," Serra muttered, and we took off as Caliban led us through the doorway and down some more corridors before coming to a stop at an intersection.

He sniffed at the air a bit, before glancing to the left and as I followed his gaze a girl in white robes dashed past the corridor to our left, which ran parallel to the one we were on.

"How can we get over there," I asked, as another howl alerted me to the close proximity of the thrall, now almost on her.

Serra pulled up her schematics, then pulled me with her:

"This way!"

She led me down the corridor until we came to a door, and Serra consulted her map for a second more before bashing into it, knocking the wooden barrier off of its hinges.

I arched my eyebrows appreciatively as we dashed into what appeared to be a library.

"Quick, catapult a shelf through

that window," she commanded, and I wasted no time in complying:

"

Catapult

!" I chanted, touching a nearby shelf, and I used the force of the spell to hurl it into the glass barrier, shattering it to pieces.

We climbed a little stairway to a nearby platform, and jumped over to where the wide window had stood.

"

Illusion

," I muttered, creating a little platform which I gave physical form, and Serra leapt down on it, and into the corridor just as the thrall caught up to the girl, hurling her into the wall at the end of the corridor.

"Shackles,"

she chanted, just as she landed, and I immediately charged at the thrall with my rapier ready.

*Cling!

The thrall escaped the bindings just as I was on him, and the metal blade ringed as it struck the stone wall above his head as he ducked under the blow.

With a vicious snarl, he swiped at my exposed ribs, but Caliban materialized at my side, growling as he bit into the thrall's clawed hand.

I stabbed at the thrall twice more, when another pair of lightning shackles shot out of the priest to my right, and as he writhed, trying to break free once again, Serra came barging down the corridor with her hammer ready.

"

Smite

!" she chanted, and the blow struck hard, staggering the thrall, and keeping him bound by the light shackles as I continued to stab him while Caliban tore across his torso and legs with his sharp fangs.

The thrall struggled a bit with the bindings, but unable to free himself he instead tried to snap and bite at us as we struck him again and again while the priest continued to fire various light spells, further incapacitating him.

We kept up the assault and less than a minute later, he went down.

There was no way we were killing twelve of these in combat.

Christ, if even one of these had survived Serra's firestorm spell it might have destroyed us back at that castle

, I thought, as I remembered the weakened state that that battle had left us in.

Serra panted in the aftermath of the fight, and I glanced at her worriedly, remembering that she had not yet rested properly since that fight.

I turned my attention to the priest we had just rescued. She had long black hair which had been braided elaborately, and embroidered with pretty butterfly and flower shaped clips, and which hung cutely over her right shoulder.

As I studied her, I suddenly recognized her as the girl from David's party.

Kelly had joined David's group! She was here. This was the right place.

"Are you okay?" I asked, offering a hand to the girl, but she as she reached for it, she hesitated, glancing dubiously between me and Serra.