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  “Keep it up,” I said, hoping the sailors came back.

  “Let’s check that hole,” Jericho walked forward.

  “Wait,” I said, but he kept going.

  “I smell incense,” he said.

  “Don’t get too close,” I scolded as he got on his knees and peered into the hole.

  “There’s a stone room down there,” he said then glanced up.

  “Maybe we walked right past the temple,” I said.

  “I hear something,” Jericho whispered.

  As he bent down, I kneeled next to him.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “People chanting,” he said. “I can’t make out the language.”

  “We need to get down there somehow,” I said then got back up.

  He glanced up. “Any ideas?”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “Not yet. Let’s look around.”

  As he stood, I took a few steps and looked around.

  “There,” Jericho said, pointing.

  I followed his finger and saw a huge log on its side.

  “What?” I asked, not seeing anything.

  “It’s something,” he said, walking toward it.

  After glancing around, I followed him.

  “There’s just enough space to crawl under,” he said. “Maybe it’s an entrance.”

  “Or a trap,” I said.

  “I’ll go in and check.”

  Before I could tell him not to do it, he squirmed underneath the log. As his legs then feet disappeared, I took a deep breath. Even at my level, I feared the unknown. The Tower of Gates had a way of throwing nasty stuff at you when you least expected it, so I tried to always expect the worst in any given situation.

  “There’s a room,” Jericho said. “It’s safe.”

  Sighing, I got down on my stomach then snaked through the narrow, cramped opening. On the other side, it opened into a square room with intricately carved stone walls. Two doorways opened into hallways lit by torches on the walls. I heard chanting, mostly female, in the distance. Jericho stepped forward.

  “Hold on,” I said, grabbing his arm. “We need to be careful.”

  I glanced around the room and saw a wardrobe with a few robes against one wall.

  “Come on,” I said, walking over to it. “We need to disguise ourselves.”

  “Brilliant,” Jericho said. “This is why you’re the boss.”

  He almost sounded sarcastic, but I let it pass as we put on the loose fitting brown robes. He put the hood over his head, almost completely hiding his face.

  “Creepy,” I said. “This has to be a messed up cult or something.”

  “All temples are strange to me,” he said.

  I put my hood up before stepping toward one of the hallways. The chants sounded like it was coming from the other one, so I changed directions. We walked down the hall, side by side, getting closer to the chanting women. My heart beat faster. While I’d grown tired of the boring day to day tasks of running and growing a city, I missed the relative safety. The unknown had a way of putting fear in your heart and making the game more real somehow.

  At the end of the hall, I stopped and peered into the immense cavern. Someone had carved a stage into the stone across from us. Rows of benches spread out in two sections in front of the raised platform. A few people in robes like ours sat in front, but most of them were unoccupied. Had we come at the perfect time? Or the worst? We would soon find out.

  The few acolytes chanting near the stage stood and cheered as a man wearing an outrageous feathered costume walked out. He raised both arms, showing off fake wings attached to his back somehow. As I wondered what to do, he looked straight at Jericho and me, pointing a finger in our direction.

  “Come here!” he commanded. “Your essence is weak.”

  “Get the essence!” the women near him yelled. “Get the essence!”

  “No thanks,” I said, waving. “We have more than enough essence.”

  “Come here for your essence!” the man commanded.

  When we didn’t obey, he yelled, gesturing wildly. Several dozen acolytes appeared and made their way through the auditorium toward us.

  “You did it now,” Jericho muttered.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said. “Come on, let’s backtrack.”

  We slipped into the hallway we’d entered through and ran. After a few twists and turns, I realized we’d made a wrong turn somewhere.

  “This place is too big!” I said.

  For some reason, the in-game mapping wasn’t working.

  “They’re here,” Jericho said.

  I turned and saw a group of four acolytes stop in the hallway, two abreast.

  “Who are you?” a woman in front asked.

  She removed her hood, displaying bright red hair tied up in a bun.

  “Who are you?” I parroted back, trying to think of what to do.

  “A follower of Theo the Great Birdman,” she said in a serious tone.

  I stifled a smile. “Go on. Do you have a problem with us?”

  “You need the essence,” she said, a dead look in her eyes.

  “The essence,” the other three women intoned.

  “We’ll give you the essence,” the first woman said.

  I raised my spear as they stepped forward.

  “Hold on. Stay back. I’ll stick all of you before you know what happened.”

  “We would all lay down our lives for Theo,” the woman said, still moving forward.

  I stabbed her in the gut with my spear. She grabbed the wound then fell to the stone floor of the hallway. Her companions gasped and knelt at her side.

  “Arethea!” they cried. “Wake up, Arethea!”

  I stepped backward, grabbing Jericho’s arm. While I could easily kill the rest of them, the lack of experience points for killing the acolyte told me a penalty might be on the horizon.

  “You killed her good,” Jericho said, punching the air as we stopped at an intersection.

  “No more killing,” I said. “That didn’t feel right.”

  “Certainly didn’t feel right to her,” he said then chuckled.

  “I’m serious. No more killing. Something bad could happen if we kill them.”

  “What, are they going to come to life or something?” he asked.

  I heard a shrill scream down the hall in the direction we’d come from. The yelling stopped almost as suddenly as it started.

  “What was that?” I asked.

  Jericho shrugged. “Not our concern. Are we going? Which way?”

  “Back to the auditorium,” I said. “Maybe we can reason with Theo.”

  “Reasoning with cult leaders is never possible,” Jericho said.

  “We can try,” I insisted, making my way back down the hall.

  Before we reached the spot where I’d killed the single acolyte, I heard an inhuman growl. The woman I’d killed turned the corner. Alive with glowing eyes, she walked forward faster than a typical zombie. What was her problem? I wondered as I raised my spear.

  “Stay back,” I said, hoping to reason with it.

  “The dead don’t talk!” Jericho shouted. “Destroy it!”

  He cast a single Flaming Disc of Lava. As the magic slammed into the chest of the walking woman, she burst into flames. Still screaming, she continued forward as if she felt no pain. I jabbed her in the skull with my spear like you would a zombie. She kept coming forward despite her brains spilling out of the hole I’d put in her skull.

  “I told you killing her was a bad idea,” I said.

  “What do we do?” Jericho asked.

  “Run! To the auditorium!”

  I ran past the undead acolyte, hoping Jericho followed. The sailors running off earlier started to upset me, but I kept my mind focused on the task at hand. Back at the auditorium, I headed straight for the stage. Theo the Birdman stood, looking in my direction, eyes open wide. I leaped up onto the platform and stepped toward him.

  “Stop!” he
commanded.

  “I’m not one of your slaves,” I said.

  Why had the game brought me to this place?

  “That thing’s coming,” Jericho said from behind me.

  I kept my eyes on Theo.

  “What is that thing? How do we stop it?”

  “Did you kill one of the blessed with the essence?” he asked.

  “I have no idea what that means, and I don’t care. How do we stop it?”

  “You can’t stop the essence once it starts spreading,” he said, clapping his hands. “This is wonderful news. I’ll be taken to Nirvana soon!”

  What an idiot. I sighed, glancing over my shoulder. The crazed undead woman calmly walked into the auditorium. She continued coming toward us.

  “Light her up,” I said. “Maybe fire will work.”

  “No!” Theo shouted. “You’ll burn my whole temple.”

  “Maybe this place needs to be burned to the ground,” I said. “You had a bearbug infestation.”

  Jericho chanted a spell then shot two Flaming Discs of Lava at the undead acolyte. All three of them slammed into her still smoldering body. She continued coming forward, flames dripping off her and lighting some of the benches on fire.

  “No!” Theo shouted, running back and forth in a tight circle.

  I saw his left wing fall off as he raised a commotion. As I turned back to the undead acolyte, on fire yet still moving, an orb of bright white light appeared above it. Crusty the gnome technician fell from it, toppling the creature to the ground.

  “Try to kill it!” I shouted, moving forward.

  “Why?” Crusty asked, standing up and dusting himself off. “It’s just a nondead creature. They’re not dangerous like the undead.”

  I glanced down at the burning acolyte, almost nothing left of it.

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Positive,” Crusty said. “The bigger problem is Theo!”

  He pointed behind me. I whirled around and saw the birdman scurrying to a door on the far side of the stage.

  “You’ll never catch the birdman!” he yelled as he started running.

  “Get him,” I said, taking off across the stage.

  I wanted to ask Crusty how he’d mysteriously appeared right when I needed him the most, but I pushed it aside to concentrate on catching the crazy birdman. Were the Ruins of Monkey Island somehow connected to dungeon template 1b I’d found under the statue of myself in Kron City? Maybe that was why I hadn’t gotten any experience points for escaping?

  Theo ducked through a doorway, slamming the wooden door shut behind him. I stopped in front of it, ready to reach out and grab the handle.

  “Wait!” Crusty shouted. “There’s likely a trap.”

  I glanced back as he ran up and also stopped. Jericho followed a few seconds later.

  “Can you disarm it?” I asked.

  “They don’t call me the technician for no reason,” he said. “Besides, everyone knows gnomes rule!”

  I groaned and rolled my eyes at the tired meme still going so many years after it started on a World of Warcraft server.

  “Do it,” I said.

  Crusty pulled a metal tool out of a large pocket on the front of his jumpsuit. Using it, he fiddled with the door knob for almost an entire minute.

  “He’s getting away,” I said. “Can you do it or not?”

  “It’s actually not trapped,” he said.

  Jericho snorted. “So much for gnomes ruling.”

  “Give a gnome a break,” Crusty said.

  I opened the door and saw a stone hallway leading off. Torches lit each side, placed every ten feet or so. I saw the hallway end at an intersection further down.

  “He’s gone,” I said. “Let’s go find him.”

  “I’ll lead the way,” Crusty said, rushing forward.

  “Hold on,” I said, but he failed to stop.

  “I like him,” Jericho said. “Can we keep him?”

  “He’s not a possession,” I said. “He’s a gnome. Come on.”

  I walked into the hallway, running to keep up with the gnome. He stopped in the intersection briefly then turned to the left and took off again.

  “Wait up!” I yelled, but to no avail. He kept zooming down one hallway then another.

  I finally caught up to him at the end of one. He stood next to the door, carefully examining the doorknob.

  “Is this one actually trapped?” I asked.

  “Pretty sure,” he said, not convincing me.

  He touched his metal tool to the doorknob, causing sparks to fly.

  “Ah ha!” he exclaimed. “I was right this time!”

  “There’s a first time for everything,” Jericho said.

  I grabbed the doorknob and turned it, opening the door. Theo, his costume in ruins, crouched in a corner, whimpering.

  “Don’t kill me,” he said. “Please don’t kill me. I know what happens to the dead in this place. They never die, but they can’t affect the world of the living. I don’t want to be useless.”

  “You killed cousin Constance!” Crusty yelled.

  The gnome ran toward the cowering birdman.

  “Stop!” I shouted then threw my spear.

  It sailed past Crusty’s head, barely missing him before slamming into the wall next to Theo. The man screamed. I noticed a wet stream running down his left leg.

  “You can have the crossbows,” he said. “Just don’t kill me here.”

  “Crossbows?” I asked.

  “They’re cursed,” Crusty said. “Trust me. We need to kill Theo.”

  “Hold on,” I said. “What exactly has he done wrong other than living in this temple with a lot of women? Can you tell me his crime?”

  “I told you,” Crusty said. “He killed my cousin Constance.”

  “Do you have proof?” I asked then turned to Theo. “Did you kill her?”

  “No, I didn’t,” he said between sobs. “She came to follow me. It was all supposed to be a joke to impress a woman, but it got out of hand.”

  “Explain,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “I want to kill him!” Crusty growled.

  “No,” I said. “Let him tell us about these crossbows.”

  “They’re magic,” Theo said, slowly standing, hands raised. “You can have them all. There’s one thousand and one of them, the last one is more powerful than the others.”

  “Great,” I said, turning to Crusty. “See?”

  “I still want to kill him,” he said.

  “He didn’t kill your cousin,” I said. “Don’t you want to forget about all this nonsense and go back to your life as a technician?”

  “I guess,” he relented.

  Dungeon Template 1b Complete!

  You get 10,000 xp

  You have 832,600 xp

  You need 167,400 xp for level 10 Valkyrie Skyrider.

  “Wonderful,” I said. “Can you help us deliver these crossbows to the ship?”

  “Sure,” Crusty said, head lowered.

  “Most emotional gnome I’ve ever met,” Jericho noted.

  “Leave him alone,” I said. “Let’s get these weapons back to Kron.”

  “Can I go with you?” Theo asked. “My women...I mean, my acolytes can help transport the weapons we made to your ship.”

  “Now we’re helping him too?” Crusty complained.

  Was I stuck with both of them after clearing the test dungeon? And what would happen to Thomas the Quest Giver now that I finished his job. Would the gamemaster go after him? Did I care? The questions piled up.

  “You’re both staying here, aren’t you?”

  “Aww, man,” Crusty said like a disappointed teenager.

  “You’ll find your way,” I said. “You could help us load all these crossbows on the ship.”

  “Gotta go,” he said then snapped his fingers.

  A ball of white light surrounded him before disappearing. He was gone again.

  I took a deep breath before getting to wo
rk. It took several trips in the rowboat to get all the crates of weapons loaded on board, but it would be worth the effort.

  Chapter 19

  A Battle to End the War

  Sarah

  A month later, we finished preparing for a final assault on Cocoa City. I equipped special units with the new repeating magic crossbows. They would form the bulk of my power, the little bit of extra needed to tip the scales in my favor. Battalions of foot soldiers, mechanical warriors, and a fleet of ships also backed up my elite units—not to mention all the shamans.

  I stood on the back of a wagon at the back of my vast army. Over five thousand men and women had been conscripted for the special assault to finally vanquish Charlotte and capture her city. I held the wooden communication device in my right hand, waiting to hear from Keith at the front line and Julian at sea. Both would be crucial for finally winning the war.

  Charlotte and I had battled for well over ten years. While fun and amusing at first, I’d grown tired of having her hold me back and beat me down. She’d been given more than one opportunity to work with me. I had no other choice but to kill her. With her gone, I could concentrate on finding out how the Quest Giver had escaped the penalty level or if he’d been killed somehow. Either option was likely in the Tower of Gates.

  “There’s movement at their front gate,” Keith said, his voice sounded tinny coming through the block of wood.

  “Copy that,” I said. “We’re just waiting on Julian.”

  “I’m here,” my other general said. “We’re ready to fire artillery.”

  “Let’s do this,” I said. “The attack is on.”

  In the distance, I saw the bulk of my land soldiers rush forward. The multi-colored energy beams from the magic crossbows lit up the sky as they melted anything that came toward them. When they reached the gate to Cocoa City, they set it ablaze before crashing it down. Hundreds of my troops rushed into the city, operating so efficiently.

  At the same time, out of my view, Julian and his crew launched huge boulders from a floating catapult we’d designed just for this attack. The artillery platform was very vulnerable, but with enough ships full of men and missile weapons nearby, we would keep them protected long enough for them to do their job and loosen up Charlotte’s defenses.