Gladiators of Warsong Read online

  "A few small headaches, nothing terrible." Alex held her hands out, palms down. "My fingernails are weirdly waxy, like I'm growing Chapstick on them."

  Dr. Fairlight chuckled.

  "That's a side effect of the alchemical work." The nurse returned and handed the doctor a small wooden box. "Here's your next round. These work really well."

  "Oh, great, so they're going to taste like a shark's anus or something," said Alex.

  "You can only wish. Shark's anus was last year's batch," said Dr. Fairlight. "You'll need to take these once a month for the next ten months."

  "Wait. Once a month?" said Alex. "I can't do that."

  She did the calculations on the impact of the log out penalties, quickly determining that it would cost her nearly a level's worth of experience.

  Dr. Fairlight quirked her lips to the side. "Why not?"

  "It's complicated, but my hall keeps me so busy that I couldn't take them without major penalties," said Alex.

  "I'm sorry, Alex, but if you're going to survive this tumor, you need to follow the directions exactly. No skipping or doubling doses," said Dr. Fairlight in that stern but encouraging tone that only doctors could use.

  Heavy with responsibility, Alex shoved the alchemy box into her backpack.

  Dr. Fairlight put her hand on Alex's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Alex. It's only going to get tougher."

  Alex lifted her chin. "I'll manage."

  "That's the spirit," said Dr. Fairlight with a wink. "Now go have a great start to your second year. I'll send for you after the specialist has had a chance to examine you."

  If the potions were any example of Dr. Fairlight's underselling, Alex guessed the specialist would be something like a full-fledged demon who would require a hunk of soul for a cure, or probably worse, but first things first. She had a game to log into and a zone to conquer.

  Chapter Three

  A soft rain bounced off Alex's shoulders as she made her way from the train station to Gamemakers Hall in the twelfth ward. Weeds grew from the cracks in the sidewalk. The old industrial buildings had more broken windows than whole, which made Alex wonder how any windows weren't broken by now.

  Gamemakers Hall was a soothing sight compared to the bland mix of industrial concrete gray and sun-washed beige that made up the surrounding buildings. Its colorful, tacked-on whimsical quality was antithetical to the stoic, square buildings that comprised this section of the city. Alex wondered if Patron Dimple had picked this forgotten location because it was cheap, or because it didn't really matter since they spent their time in the game.

  Crossing the archway outside the hall brought a tingle to her exposed skin, as if she were passing through a soap bubble. She made her way into the heart of the building in hopes of finding other members of her hall.

  Since it was the beginning of the school year, Alex expected to find her fellow classmates, but the place was empty. Only after she dropped off her backpack in the cathedral room did she hear a sneeze from a side hall, which led her to find Martina sitting on a bench.

  The blonde spikey-haired upperclassman had a ball of tissues in her hand as she dabbed her swollen eyes.

  "Are you okay, Martina?" asked Alex.

  "Hey, Alex," said Martina, who looked like she was going to melt into a puddle at any moment.

  "Is something wrong?" asked Alex.

  Martina pulled out another handful of tissues and blew her nose in them. Then she glanced down the hall as if she were expecting someone to be there.

  "No one's seen Bucket since last year," whispered Martina. "We meet every year before we enter the game, but he hasn't showed up and I don't know how to get ahold of him."

  "Don't you have his number or something? Like, I thought you two were dating," said Alex.

  "Not dating," said Martina with a frown that said she had higher hopes. "We've been looking out for each other, helping each other get through this crazy game. But we never really talk during the summer because no one really wants to think about Gamemakers after it's over. You just want to rest for a while, save your strength for the next year."

  "Are you sure he didn't log in already?" she asked.

  Martina buried her face in her hands and made a tiny scream that startled Alex into taking a step back.

  "Sorry," said Martina, eyes flashing wild for a moment. "No, no I don't know if he's logged in already, because there's no way to tell. But I don't think that's it. I waited around for him last year, and he never logged back out."

  Alex scrunched up her face. "What happens if you're in the game when the year is over?"

  "You get kicked out," said Martina.

  "Then maybe he left much earlier than you," said Alex, thinking of her own struggles. "Maybe he ran into a creature that knocked him back a few levels, so he didn't have a chance to finish at the target level. If so, I bet he was really embarrassed and went home without saying anything."

  Martina cradled her jaw in her hands, moving her head back and forth. "No, not Bucket. He was the best to play Gamemakers Online, period. No one got through their year as fast as he did. That's why he spent so much time outside of the game, screwing around with the magic he'd learned inside."

  "Have you tried Marzio? Maybe he could give you his contact information so you could check on him," said Alex.

  Martina slapped her hands against her thighs as she leaned towards Alex. "Don't you think I thought of that? He claims that he's not allowed to, which is bullshit in my opinion. I think something happened to Bucket and he's covering it up."

  Alex bit her lower lip. She didn't know what to say to Martina to help. While she felt bad about how Martina was feeling, she assumed it was more likely that Bucket had washed out of the game like she almost did last year, rather than something nefarious.

  In a quiet voice, Alex said, "I'm sorry, Martina."

  She nodded as she stared absently at the pea-green carpet.

  Before Alex had made it down the hallway, Martina called out behind her, "If you hear from him, or see him, tell him to leave a message in the usual place."

  The desperation in her eyes had Alex thinking that it was a one-way crush gone wrong, but she nodded anyway.

  With nothing else to do, she headed to the game room. She half expected the obsidian cube not to be there, that the previous year had been a hallucination and she was only dreaming. But even after she blinked a few times, the cube remained. Alex lay on the floor next to it, placed her hand against the cold stone, and logged in.

  Chapter Four

  The moment Alex applied faez to the stone, two things ran through her mind. The first was that there hadn't been one single instruction left for her from Professor Marzio, and the second was that when she'd logged out last year, she was at the Spire of Creation where she'd killed the Warped Mother.

  Alex expected to appear in the middle of the warped animal menagerie, only to find herself at the rotted log that had served as her first log in location. An insect landed on her neck, and she crushed it under her palm.

  "I guess that keeps people from camping out at the boss spawn to kill it again the following year," she said as she headed east towards the chasm, admiring the soft breeze rustling the leaves like a soothing green ocean wave.

  After spending the summer at home in Kentucky, she'd forgotten how fruity the Warped Forest smelled in comparison to a real old-growth forest. She thought about taking a short hike to the blood lemon tree but decided she'd rather figure out how to get to the Warsong Plains.

  At the location of her former camp, nothing remained that suggested she'd ever been there, which told Alex that the whole zone had likely been reset during the summer. She leaned over the edge in hopes of finding the bloat cave, but the hole in the cliffside was no longer there.

  "I guess I'm not going to get to exploit them again this year," she said.

  Alex pulled up her character sheet to review her skills and abilities.

  Character: Alexandria Duke

  Level: 20

&n
bsp; Strength: 1

  Intelligence: 7

  Cunning: 40

  Agility: 2

  Endurance: 7

  Charisma: 1

  Class: Arcane Mastermind

  Subclass: Undecided

  Health: 340/340

  Faez: 276/276

  Armor Class: 0

  Fatigue: 2%

  XP: 2,300,000/2,520,000

  Skills:

  Analyze: 38

  One-handed Slashing: 1

  Fire Spells: 2

  Devious Device: 8

  Sense Direction: 33

  One-handed Whip: 15

  Water Spells: 9

  Cooking: 18

  Stealth: 8

  Climbing: 3

  Air Spells: 32

  Unarmed Combat: 1

  Unique Skills:

  Cunning Strategist: 8

  Mastermind: 3

  Spells:

  Dewdrop Orb: 7

  Minor Creation: 8

  Transference: 24

  Cloud Taunt: 39

  Misdirection: 13

  Wind Gust: 18

  Heal Minions: 13

  Items:

  The Handysack (20 Slots)

  Exquisite Cooking Pot

  12 Various Meats

  13 Water

  18 Parchment

  Writing Quill

  Ethel's Adhesive Ointment (Uses: 12/20)

  Jagged Bone Knife

  The Shocking Strangler

  Dmg: 13-27 ׀ 35/35 Durability

  Effect: 15% chance of Electric Damage (Dmg: 10-40)

  Special Attribute: Strangulation (Only on restrained creatures / Cannot affect more than 5 levels above)

  Quests:

  Reach the Plains of Warsong (+5,000 XP)

  Achieve Third Year: 20/40 Levels

  Spells:

  Dewdrop Orb – Tier 1

  Faez: 10 ׀ Duration: 15-60 seconds

  Effect: Capture a small creature in a globe of water, removing them from the fight and suffocating them if they can't hold their breath for long.

  Minor Creation – Tier 1

  Faez: Varies ׀ Duration: Permanent

  Base Skill: Devious Device

  Effect: Create new magic items or copy mundane items.

  Transference – Tier 2

  Faez: Varies ׀ Duration: Permanent

  Effect: Transfer magic from one item or creature to another.

  Cloud Taunt – Tier 4

  Faez: 25 ׀ Duration: 1 minute

  Dmg: 31-55 (Repeat Shock Damage every 15 seconds)

  Effect: Enrages the creature to attack you.

  Misdirection – Tier 2

  Faez: 20 ׀ Range: 30 feet

  Effect: Divert a spell or attack from one creature into another

  Wind Gust – Tier 2

  Faez: 15 ׀ Range: 40 feet

  Effect: Summon a wall of wind to blow against your enemies, staggering them and pushing smaller creatures backwards, dealing 10-25 damage.

  Heal Minions – Tier 2

  Faez: 20 ׀ Range: 50 feet

  Effect: Heal target minion 50 damage

  "A lot of good that last one will do," she said, closing the sheet.

  The good thing about a summer away from the game was that it had allowed her to plan the trip across the chasm. Alex got right to work, summoning a massive coil of rope that she tied to the sturdiest trees near the edge. Starting at the bottom of the rope, she tied a knot the size of her fist every ten feet. When she was finished, she tossed the rope over the edge and climbed down. It wasn't a difficult climb using the rope, but it wasn't the part of the journey that she was worried about.

  A shallow river ran through the bottom of the chasm. Silvery shapes shot through the rapids, but she didn't feel like stopping to catch the fish. She had enough meat left over from last year to get through the first couple of days.

  The opposite cliff wasn't as steep as it appeared from a distance, and the craggy stone had plenty of handholds to facilitate her climb. It took an hour to make her way up, gaining two points in Climb, but eventually she reached the grassy plain.

  Quest Completed: Reach the Plains of Warsong

  You have gained experience: 5,000 XP

  "Well that was wholly unsatisfactory," said Alex, massaging away the ache in her palms using a rigid thumb.

  After hiking up a short rise, Alex found the terrain to consist of rolling hills covered in waist-high grass. She was reminded of the eastern half of Kansas near the Flint Hills that they'd visited once when she was a kid. Smoke trails drifted into the sky, suggesting at least a half dozen settlements within walking distance.

  Not long after she headed into the high grasses she heard the investigative snorting of a creature searching. Alex pulled out her whip and crept ahead, poking her head into a trampled trail in the grasses. She followed the direction the grasses were bent, finding a healthy sized boar digging in the dirt.

  Wild Boar, Animal, Level 9

  Disappointed by the low level, Alex turned to head the opposite direction, but the Wild Boar startled, spinning around and charging her. Alex barely got her whip out in time, hitting the wild boar twice, killing it. The body of the wild boar skidded to a stop at her feet.

  You have defeated a Wild Boar!

  You have gained experience: 100 XP

  When the message scrolled past her vision, Alex scratched her forehead with the handle of the whip. Last year, a level 9 creature would have been worth 750 experience, but this one had only been worth 100. Alex wondered if the creature type mattered, since it wasn't a warped animal, or if something else was going on.

  The mystery continued when she realized the Wild Boar wasn't dead, but lying almost motionless, chest rising and falling slowly. But she was still able to loot it.

  You have received: Wooden Cube

  Quest Offered: Find out the origins of the mysterious cube (Unknown Reward) [Y/N]

  The cube was perfectly smooth with intricate designs on the sides that suggested the moon in various phases, which was strange since the world of Gamemakers Online didn't have a lunar body.

  When she accepted the quest, she was presented with a secondary pop-up.

  Quest Chain I: Ask around about the box (+1,000 XP)

  "Oh, I love quest chains," she said, especially when they indicated that she would get to talk to NPCs. Normally, she wasn't much of a lore hound, but after a year in the Warped Forest, she was looking forward to a little more conversation in her zone.

  After looting the boar meat, Alex continued her journey towards the smoke trail, hoping the residents would be as entertaining as Bucket's pirates last year. She was so busy imagining herself in an eye patch and wooden leg singing bawdy songs, she didn't see the guy in boiled leather with a walking stick in his hand until she practically bumped into him.

  Andar the Crooked, Challenger: Cutthroat, Level 18

  Alex went for her whip, expecting Andar to raise the staff, but he threw it to the side, pulled a short sword from its sheath, and stomped his foot into the grass. To Alex's surprise, a puff of energy exploded from his foot, knocking down the grass in a three-meter-diameter circle around them. It felt like a mini-arena had appeared.

  Andar advanced methodically with his arms out, swiping his sword tip through the air.

  "We don't have to fight," said Alex, hoping to learn more about the zone before she got into trouble. She also didn't want to have to make the climb again if she died and respawned back in the Warped Forest.

  The limping warrior sneered, "Afraid you'll lose?"

  Alex uncoiled her whip and expertly twirled it around, snaking the tip between her legs with a crisp snap to show her control.

  "Prefer to talk first, unless you prefer to die instead," she said, relishing the chance to use a cheesy one-liner.

  He raised his sword and charged. "Prepare to submit to Andar the Crooked!"

  Before he reached her, Alex hit him with Cloud Taunt, which would periodically deal damage for the next minute. The
n she cracked her whip, catching him right in the neck.

  You deal Andar the Crooked 28 damage!

  Andar moved unevenly, which Alex realized was due to a bum leg, which was probably how he got the moniker. He sliced her across the shoulder, bringing a line of hot pain. Alex grimaced as she counterattacked, attempting to wrap the Shocking Strangler around his neck.

  You have gained a skill point: +1 One-handed Whip

  The tip of the whip coiled around his upper body rather than his neck. Andar flashed a toothy smile and grabbed the whip, trying to pull her within range of his blade.

  Alex briefly considered dropping the whip as she engaged in a tug of war with Andar. She got to use both hands, but he was stronger, so she inched forward with each tug until the tip of his short-sword sliced her left shoulder, taking her below half health.

  The Cloud Taunt crackled with electricity across his body, but otherwise her damage output was low. Andar managed another thrust, which pierced her side, making her feel like a pincushion.

  She realized with absolute certainty that she was going to lose the fight if she continued to hold on, but if she dropped the whip, he'd have a huge advantage over her.

  When Andar yanked on the whip again, Alex ran towards him, skipping past the tip of his blade and wrapping the cord around his neck. When she gave it a good tug, the whip triggered its proc.

  You have gained a unique skill point: +1 Cunning Strategist

  You deal Andar the Crooked 18 damage! Andar the Crooked is affected by Strangulation!

  Spittle formed on his lips as he struggled against the whip. Andar slashed backwards with his free hand, cutting her two more times, bringing her to a quarter of her health. His gargled cries ended when he slumped forward.

  You have defeated Andar the Crooked!