Sally tapped her finger on the table as the Outsiders languished around the tavern. While they were almost decided on which faction to join, the whole atmosphere of the third area was a bit of a gloomy cloud over their joyous victory lap of the Wastes.
“You’re twitchy, Theo.” She turned a tired gaze toward him. “You want to go somewhere?”
“Yeah.” He sighed and looked out of the window. “You know what I’m going to ask.”
She rolled her eyes. “Again? I can’t stop you if that’s what you want. It’s just that you only have two days…”
“I just need one.” He wrinkled up his nose. “Maybe one and a half.”
“How are we supposed to heal you if you’re off being a goof?” She pressed a finger against a shoulder as if she was pinning him in place. “You leave this to the last minute and you’re getting your coffin rights taken away.”
Lucius shuffled on the stool beside the bar and leaned over to Humphrey. “What does that mean? Doesn’t he need that to sleep in?” A question mark appeared beside his head.
Humphrey exhaled, his empty sockets facing the System-created barman who seemed to be ignoring him. “Yes. That’s not what she means.”
“So then-“
Norah put her hand on his shoulder. “Best not to overthink things, Lucy.” A bandage moved around in the air to wrap around two bottles of alcohol from behind the bar.
“Isn’t that stealing?” Humphrey said with a wide grin.
The Mummy winked and hovered one over to him. “We’re villains, aren’t we?”
Sally deflated. “Fine. Go solo level and meet us at…” She scrunched her eyes up at the Scroll. “Heavy Logs. Wow, that’s a really inspired name. Or I guess we might not be there forever, so find us your own way.”
Theo glazed over as he went through his STAR menus. “Alright. I want to find out more about this Last Word group and try to put a stop to them if possible. While leveling. And finding new gear for you guys.”
“In one day?” Sally put her hand on his leg. “Don’t push yourself too hard, pup.”
He smiled, exposing his fangs. “You’ll barely miss me.”
Sally stared at him for a moment, silence filling the tavern. “Oh. Sorry, I was expecting you to teleport after that one-liner.”
“That would have been cooler, huh?” The vampire tilted his head. “But I’m staying here—you’ll need to teleport to… Heavy Log.”
“Heavy Log,” Humphrey repeated from across the room.
Sally raised an eyebrow. “You know much about it, Humps?”
“No. I just like saying the name.”
Lucius cupped his misty chin. “Heavy Log.”
“Heavy… Log.” Norah nodded her head slowly.
With a blank expression on her face, she turned back to Theo. “I think it’s the brain cell that you share with us that I’ll miss most.”
He grinned and gave her a light kick under the table. “Let me get going then. I don’t have long left.”
“Ugh, this isn’t going to be a thing, is it?” She shuffled out from the table to allow him to exit.
“Not for very long,” he said with a smirk.
“Ass. Serves you right if you die, it should have been me.” She crossed her arms as he stood up straight.
“I’d say don’t be envious, but green does suit you.” Theo gave her a pat on the head before looking at the rest of them. “Stay safe. I’ll be back before you know. It’s… inevitable.”
With a brief bow, he then spun around and walked out of the tavern, into the day beyond.
“I’m not green,” Sally said with a sulk.
Lucius shrugged. “You’re green-ish.”
She deflated further and turned to the Death Knight, who was now holding the open bottle but had made no attempt to drink it. “He seemed fine with leaving me to be assassinated while he was gone.”
“No,” Humphrey said, as he shook his head. “He sent me a message while you were talking. He trusts me to protect you at all costs.”
Sally rolled her eyes and sat back down at the table. All the talking today had ruined her appetite for adventure. Not even the prospect of slightly more acceptable brain-meals caused her to shift from the chair. She didn’t want to lose any of the gang, but especially not Theo. He was a dweeb, but with him around, she could remember her previous life and it gave her some hope that there was something after this.
Too many stakes in the Jungle. It was easier to punch the bullies, but now they were stepping into something that needed a few more thoughts to figure out. She grumbled to herself as she stared at the worn wooden table in front of her.
Norah shuffled in opposite, putting her full bottle to the side. “There’s a lot going on, hun. You doing okay?”
“Yeah,” she replied with a glum smile. “It’s just new area blues. Once we get on the trail of destruction, then things will sort themselves into order.”
If only Chuck wasn’t screening their calls. It was unfair he wasn’t his usual chummy self, but maybe something happened in the year just gone. Perhaps if they started to-
The doors to the tavern opened up, and the Outsiders looked over, expecting to see Theo on the return.
“Yeah, I must have left it in here, I was just-“ the first man began, before the pair of them stopped.
Their eyes looked around the tavern at the present undead, while Sally’s group was more focused on the tabards that they wore.
Red.
“Villany?” Norah murmured.
Sally licked her lips. “Anything we can help you gentlemen with?”
“You haven’t joined anyone yet,” the second man began, slightly less full of panic than the first. “Care to hear more on…”
“No,” she shook her head interrupting.
“I think this is them, the Outsiders,” the first man whispered louder than he hoped to the other. Sweat had started to run down the sides of his round face.
The second man didn’t reply, but his eyes glazed over, as if he was accessing his Chat messages.
Bandages shot out and wrapped around his arms, yanking him immediately toward the table where the two undead women were sitting. Sally stood and leveled her [Skeleton Key] into his eye socket as he stumbled toward them. [Eat Brains].
The other man turned to run but dropped suddenly as the planks of wood beneath him turned into shadow and he fell down into the basement below.
With a grin and blazing crimson light blaring from her eyes, Sally hopped down onto the floor and then jumped down after him. In the earlier areas, she might have expected the Player to have broken a leg or at least been injured enough to be easy prey. No such luck in this area, apparently.
Blue light illuminated the brickwork of the small basement, the stacked barrels and wine racks reflecting the glow of the spear raised and ready toward her. The man seemed prepared.
[Escape Fate]
Sally vanished and appeared on the other side of the underground room beside the stairs, four zombies crawling from the dusty floor where she had been. The Player was already swinging the long weapon around, easily carving through two of the raising dead as she stepped closer to her. A blue circle of carved runes started to build around his feet.
She was starting to consider they should have killed this one first. Then again, they often got lucky with Players who died before really getting into their stances to effectively use their skills. Most were used to fighting the simple System-created Monsters who followed a set routine. It seemed the third area Players had more experience in PvP.
The brick wall pressed up against her back as she ran out of space and the man dove toward her, lashing forward with the glowing spear tip with one hand. Pain flared down her left arm as it split through her collarbone and pinned her to the wall. With a grin, she grabbed the weapon with her offhand and held it there in place.
“Now what?” She hissed as he struggled to remove it.
He let go and withdrew a sword from his side, another flash of blue as a shockwave blew dust around the enclosed space. The two remaining zombies stumbled back, slightly stunned, and he spun to slash through them with his blade.
Sally pulled the offending weapon out of her as the shadowed floor above filled back in, plunging them into darkness aside from the blue glow of the Player’s skills.
[Curse: Decay]
A dark green tether slunk from her hand before it latched onto the man, sparkles of crimson flickering around where it touched him. She wasn’t absorbing the health as her own, but she could feel his life draining away. So could he.
“Monster!” He growled, lashing forward with his sword.
Sally grinned and stepped to the side, shoulder barging him as his attack missed. He stumbled away, but an after-image of him blurred through the space.
“I am!” She chuckled. “You don’t even know that you never had a chance.”
He spat, and a white sheen enveloped him. “That’s where you’re wrong.” His feet scraped against loose gravel as he got into a stance.
The crimson eyes of the zombie lit up in the darkness. “Drown in your inevitable future, mortal.”
[Endless Dead]
“Do you think we should go and help?” A question mark appeared by the Shade.
“No.” Humphrey shook his head. “It’s just one Player. She would-“
The entire tavern shook briefly, bottles and glass mugs clinking together before the vibration settled.
Before any of them could make a note about it, the door behind the bar swung open and Sally stomped out, coughing out dust.
“You okay, hun?” A bandage went around to support the zombie as she stepped around the bar back to them.
“Yeah, ahh.” She popped out a healing potion and downed it. “Turns out the System doesn’t really plan where it is going to stick forty zombies when you summon them in a small room.”
“Crushed and eaten?” Humphrey grinned.
“Sucks because they got in my way and I couldn’t eat him.” She yawned and watched her shoulder heal up under the effects of the magic potion. Was never long until her clothes were ruined and covered in blood or filth. Part and parcel of zombie life.
Lucius kicked his feet back and forth as he sat on the stool. “So I guess we’re killing Red Team on sight, then?”
Sally flexed her neck from side to side with a crack. “They knew who we were. Usually, that’s a bad sign.”
Humphrey nodded. “Especially after we have been away for so long. Unless Lenard told others about us, of course.”
“Probably did,” she agreed. “I think they could see that we weren’t on board with potentially erasing all others like us.”
They stood in thoughtful silence for a moment while Sally went over to loot the man she had eaten. There were no useful documents on him, and no items worth celebrating about. “Rats!” She stood and spun back to Humphrey.
“Mice?”
“No. Theo went off with that information from the assassin and didn’t tell us what it said.” She rolled her eyes and glared at the door.
Norah stood and stretched out her back. “Perhaps that’s why he wanted to go off alone, wants to deal with something before it’s a problem for all of us. He tends to be thoughtful like that, hun.”
Sally deflated. The vampire liked to showboat as if he was the star of the narrative occasionally, but he always did what was best for the team. When he had enough sleep, anyway. His portable coffin had been a lifesaver, literally.
“No use fussing about that now,” she said with a grin, shuffling those thoughts away.
From her pouch she withdrew the Teleport Scroll. “Let’s go level!”
Sally tapped her finger on the table as the Outsiders languished around the tavern. While they were almost decided on which faction to join, the whole atmosphere of the third area was a bit of a gloomy cloud over their joyous victory lap of the Wastes.
“You’re twitchy, Theo.” She turned a tired gaze toward him. “You want to go somewhere?”
“Yeah.” He sighed and looked out of the window. “You know what I’m going to ask.”
She rolled her eyes. “Again? I can’t stop you if that’s what you want. It’s just that you only have two days…”
“I just need one.” He wrinkled up his nose. “Maybe one and a half.”
“How are we supposed to heal you if you’re off being a goof?” She pressed a finger against a shoulder as if she was pinning him in place. “You leave this to the last minute and you’re getting your coffin rights taken away.”
Lucius shuffled on the stool beside the bar and leaned over to Humphrey. “What does that mean? Doesn’t he need that to sleep in?” A question mark appeared beside his head.
Humphrey exhaled, his empty sockets facing the System-created barman who seemed to be ignoring him. “Yes. That’s not what she means.”
“So then-“
Norah put her hand on his shoulder. “Best not to overthink things, Lucy.” A bandage moved around in the air to wrap around two bottles of alcohol from behind the bar.
“Isn’t that stealing?” Humphrey said with a wide grin.
The Mummy winked and hovered one over to him. “We’re villains, aren’t we?”
Sally deflated. “Fine. Go solo level and meet us at…” She scrunched her eyes up at the Scroll. “Heavy Logs. Wow, that’s a really inspired name. Or I guess we might not be there forever, so find us your own way.”
Theo glazed over as he went through his STAR menus. “Alright. I want to find out more about this Last Word group and try to put a stop to them if possible. While leveling. And finding new gear for you guys.”
“In one day?” Sally put her hand on his leg. “Don’t push yourself too hard, pup.”
He smiled, exposing his fangs. “You’ll barely miss me.”
Sally stared at him for a moment, silence filling the tavern. “Oh. Sorry, I was expecting you to teleport after that one-liner.”
“That would have been cooler, huh?” The vampire tilted his head. “But I’m staying here—you’ll need to teleport to… Heavy Log.”
“Heavy Log,” Humphrey repeated from across the room.
Sally raised an eyebrow. “You know much about it, Humps?”
“No. I just like saying the name.”
Lucius cupped his misty chin. “Heavy Log.”
“Heavy… Log.” Norah nodded her head slowly.
With a blank expression on her face, she turned back to Theo. “I think it’s the brain cell that you share with us that I’ll miss most.”
He grinned and gave her a light kick under the table. “Let me get going then. I don’t have long left.”
“Ugh, this isn’t going to be a thing, is it?” She shuffled out from the table to allow him to exit.
“Not for very long,” he said with a smirk.
“Ass. Serves you right if you die, it should have been me.” She crossed her arms as he stood up straight.
“I’d say don’t be envious, but green does suit you.” Theo gave her a pat on the head before looking at the rest of them. “Stay safe. I’ll be back before you know. It’s… inevitable.”
With a brief bow, he then spun around and walked out of the tavern, into the day beyond.
“I’m not green,” Sally said with a sulk.
Lucius shrugged. “You’re green-ish.”
She deflated further and turned to the Death Knight, who was now holding the open bottle but had made no attempt to drink it. “He seemed fine with leaving me to be assassinated while he was gone.”
“No,” Humphrey said, as he shook his head. “He sent me a message while you were talking. He trusts me to protect you at all costs.”
Sally rolled her eyes and sat back down at the table. All the talking today had ruined her appetite for adventure. Not even the prospect of slightly more acceptable brain-meals caused her to shift from the chair. She didn’t want to lose any of the gang, but especially not Theo. He was a dweeb, but with him around, she could remember her previous life and it gave her some hope that there was something after this.
Too many stakes in the Jungle. It was easier to punch the bullies, but now they were stepping into something that needed a few more thoughts to figure out. She grumbled to herself as she stared at the worn wooden table in front of her.
Norah shuffled in opposite, putting her full bottle to the side. “There’s a lot going on, hun. You doing okay?”
“Yeah,” she replied with a glum smile. “It’s just new area blues. Once we get on the trail of destruction, then things will sort themselves into order.”
If only Chuck wasn’t screening their calls. It was unfair he wasn’t his usual chummy self, but maybe something happened in the year just gone. Perhaps if they started to-
The doors to the tavern opened up, and the Outsiders looked over, expecting to see Theo on the return.
“Yeah, I must have left it in here, I was just-“ the first man began, before the pair of them stopped.
Their eyes looked around the tavern at the present undead, while Sally’s group was more focused on the tabards that they wore.
Red.
“Villany?” Norah murmured.
Sally licked her lips. “Anything we can help you gentlemen with?”
“You haven’t joined anyone yet,” the second man began, slightly less full of panic than the first. “Care to hear more on…”
“No,” she shook her head interrupting.
“I think this is them, the Outsiders,” the first man whispered louder than he hoped to the other. Sweat had started to run down the sides of his round face.
The second man didn’t reply, but his eyes glazed over, as if he was accessing his Chat messages.
Bandages shot out and wrapped around his arms, yanking him immediately toward the table where the two undead women were sitting. Sally stood and leveled her [Skeleton Key] into his eye socket as he stumbled toward them. [Eat Brains].
The other man turned to run but dropped suddenly as the planks of wood beneath him turned into shadow and he fell down into the basement below.
With a grin and blazing crimson light blaring from her eyes, Sally hopped down onto the floor and then jumped down after him. In the earlier areas, she might have expected the Player to have broken a leg or at least been injured enough to be easy prey. No such luck in this area, apparently.
Blue light illuminated the brickwork of the small basement, the stacked barrels and wine racks reflecting the glow of the spear raised and ready toward her. The man seemed prepared.
[Escape Fate]
Sally vanished and appeared on the other side of the underground room beside the stairs, four zombies crawling from the dusty floor where she had been. The Player was already swinging the long weapon around, easily carving through two of the raising dead as she stepped closer to her. A blue circle of carved runes started to build around his feet.
She was starting to consider they should have killed this one first. Then again, they often got lucky with Players who died before really getting into their stances to effectively use their skills. Most were used to fighting the simple System-created Monsters who followed a set routine. It seemed the third area Players had more experience in PvP.
The brick wall pressed up against her back as she ran out of space and the man dove toward her, lashing forward with the glowing spear tip with one hand. Pain flared down her left arm as it split through her collarbone and pinned her to the wall. With a grin, she grabbed the weapon with her offhand and held it there in place.
“Now what?” She hissed as he struggled to remove it.
He let go and withdrew a sword from his side, another flash of blue as a shockwave blew dust around the enclosed space. The two remaining zombies stumbled back, slightly stunned, and he spun to slash through them with his blade.
Sally pulled the offending weapon out of her as the shadowed floor above filled back in, plunging them into darkness aside from the blue glow of the Player’s skills.
[Curse: Decay]
A dark green tether slunk from her hand before it latched onto the man, sparkles of crimson flickering around where it touched him. She wasn’t absorbing the health as her own, but she could feel his life draining away. So could he.
“Monster!” He growled, lashing forward with his sword.
Sally grinned and stepped to the side, shoulder barging him as his attack missed. He stumbled away, but an after-image of him blurred through the space.
“I am!” She chuckled. “You don’t even know that you never had a chance.”
He spat, and a white sheen enveloped him. “That’s where you’re wrong.” His feet scraped against loose gravel as he got into a stance.
The crimson eyes of the zombie lit up in the darkness. “Drown in your inevitable future, mortal.”
[Endless Dead]
“Do you think we should go and help?” A question mark appeared by the Shade.
“No.” Humphrey shook his head. “It’s just one Player. She would-“
The entire tavern shook briefly, bottles and glass mugs clinking together before the vibration settled.
Before any of them could make a note about it, the door behind the bar swung open and Sally stomped out, coughing out dust.
“You okay, hun?” A bandage went around to support the zombie as she stepped around the bar back to them.
“Yeah, ahh.” She popped out a healing potion and downed it. “Turns out the System doesn’t really plan where it is going to stick forty zombies when you summon them in a small room.”
“Crushed and eaten?” Humphrey grinned.
“Sucks because they got in my way and I couldn’t eat him.” She yawned and watched her shoulder heal up under the effects of the magic potion. Was never long until her clothes were ruined and covered in blood or filth. Part and parcel of zombie life.
Lucius kicked his feet back and forth as he sat on the stool. “So I guess we’re killing Red Team on sight, then?”
Sally flexed her neck from side to side with a crack. “They knew who we were. Usually, that’s a bad sign.”
Humphrey nodded. “Especially after we have been away for so long. Unless Lenard told others about us, of course.”
“Probably did,” she agreed. “I think they could see that we weren’t on board with potentially erasing all others like us.”
They stood in thoughtful silence for a moment while Sally went over to loot the man she had eaten. There were no useful documents on him, and no items worth celebrating about. “Rats!” She stood and spun back to Humphrey.
“Mice?”
“No. Theo went off with that information from the assassin and didn’t tell us what it said.” She rolled her eyes and glared at the door.
Norah stood and stretched out her back. “Perhaps that’s why he wanted to go off alone, wants to deal with something before it’s a problem for all of us. He tends to be thoughtful like that, hun.”
Sally deflated. The vampire liked to showboat as if he was the star of the narrative occasionally, but he always did what was best for the team. When he had enough sleep, anyway. His portable coffin had been a lifesaver, literally.
“No use fussing about that now,” she said with a grin, shuffling those thoughts away.
From her pouch she withdrew the Teleport Scroll. “Let’s go level!”
