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  While working, I thought about Charlotte. I still wanted to convince her to team up with me, but the longer we weren’t together, the more I doubted she’d ever come to her senses and work together. Thoughts of her faded as I became more enthralled by my work on the wooden handle. I loved the rustic and primal look of the rune on it.

  The last battle had given me just over a thousand experience points, but I still needed quite a few to hit level two. What other runes would I get access to as I leveled my character? Should I go after Charlotte instead of letting her retaliate?

  I decided to wait on Augusta and Tom. With a bit of luck, they would bring back another dozen or more people. I kept carving until I finished both runes. They glowed with a bluish tinge as I stood and admired my handiwork. I sensed someone behind me and swung around, spear up.

  “Whoa,” Chris said, holding up his hands. “It’s just me.”

  “Careful sneaking up on me,” I said as I lowered the spear. “Come in. Everything okay?”

  “I think you’re right about the newcomers,” he said as he took a few steps forward.

  “Oh?” I smiled.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I talked to them, and they’re spooked. That spider is going crazy according to them. It wants to kill you and anyone who works with you. Everyone in Cocoa Village talks of Kron Village as if it’s nirvana.”

  “That’s good news,” I said, lifting my spear. “What do you think?”

  “Amazing!” he declared, reaching for it.

  “Nuh uh,” I said, pulling it away. “Don’t touch it. It’s tied to me.”

  “How did you learn such magic?” Chris asked. “Your father never knew magic.”

  “I’m special,” I said then winked.

  Chris grinned and nodded, a twinkle in his eyes. He put his hands on my waist. I pulled away, his smile turning into a frown.

  “We don’t have time for that now,” I said, determined to take out Charlotte.

  I wouldn’t rest until I felt safe from her.

  “You have another man?” Chris asked.

  “No,” I said. “This isn’t the time for love. It’s the time for war.”

  He grinned, the color coming back to his face.

  “I love you, Chief.”

  “Did you just come here to bust a move on me?” I asked.

  “No, I wanted to tell you about the newcomers. My feelings got the best of me when I saw you holding that magic spear.”

  I smiled, feeling more powerful than ever. Chris had no idea of my level in the game or that we were even trapped inside a virtual environment. The thought of hooking up with a virtual character run by artificial intelligence intrigued me a little, but I had too much other stuff to worry about. I would have plenty of time over the next twenty years to have fun.

  “Thank you for honoring me,” I said, keeping a solemn tone.

  Outside, the dinner bell rung. I nodded toward the entrance to my hut. After Chris left, I followed him to the Central Hut where all the other villagers were gathering. The more I leveled the gatherers, the better food they brought back with them. Between that and my investment in the healthy eating technology, we had been eating really well.

  I stayed on my feet, holding my spear with the two glowing runes as the others found seats. How big could I grow the village? I wondered as the people chatted with each other. Once they were all sitting on the dirt floor, I lifted my spear and rapped it against one of the wooden poles holding up the roof. Everyone quit talking and gave me their full attention.

  “We’ve come a long way since I became chief,” I said.

  Several women in front nodded with enthusiasm.

  “We still have a long way to go. I won’t rest until the evil spider running Cocoa Village is dead, and we liberate all the other villagers on the island.”

  Village Morale +10

  Current Village Morale: +25

  The entire village began snapping their fingers. I tilted my head back and soaked up all the good vibes coming from them. Would my speech help keep morale up? Stabilizing the number—making sure it didn’t get too high or too low—was an art form more than a science. The Tower of Gates frequently made it apparent the gamemaster AI was in charge of everything.

  I raised my spear, and the crowd quieted down. Before I could continue my speech, a lookout perched atop our palisades on a wooden plank whistled loudly. Chris and the other warriors stood as I glanced over at the gate. The whistle meant big emergency.

  What now? Another attack from Charlotte? Augusta returning? I followed the warriors over to the gate.

  Chapter 8

  Charlotte’s Web is Real

  Sarah

  “It’s our spies,” the guard called down as I approached.

  “Open the gate,” I said.

  The giant wooden door swung open as I approached. The two men I’d sent to scout and spy on Charlotte was jogging down the trail toward the clearing we’d made around the main palisades of our burgeoning village. They both stopped once inside, struggling to catch their breath.

  “Lock us back up,” I ordered then gave the two men a moment.

  “It’s the spider,” Kojack said, still breathing heavily.

  “What about her?” I asked.

  “She’s still building the huge web around Cocoa Village.”

  Chris, my second in command, walked up.

  “We need to attack now and kill her,” he said. “Now’s the time.”

  “We’re attacking, but I want to capture the spider,” I said. “Understood?”

  Chris frowned.

  “Spit it out,” I said.

  “Your idea sucks,” he said. “Capturing the spider is too dangerous. We need to kill it as fast as we can before it kills everyone in our village.”

  “I disagree,” I said, maintaining eye contact with him.

  “Then maybe you shouldn’t be chief,” Chris said.

  My eyes widened in surprise.

  “Are you kidding me right now?” I asked.

  “You know the spider’s dangerous,” he said.

  “I also know more about this situation than you, and I’m the chief. Have you forgotten?”

  “No,” he said then lowered his head.

  “They’re attacking soon,” Kojack said. “What should we do?”

  “Go get every warrior ready,” I said. “You have ten minutes. Move, move, move!”

  Kojack took off running to the Central Hut with the other spy close behind. I caught Chris staring at me, looking like he was about to say something.

  “What is it?” I asked, meaning to sound annoyed.

  “Nothing,” he muttered.

  “Don’t be that way,” I said. “You know I appreciate and listen to your advice.”

  “It’s not just this,” he said.

  “What is it?” I asked. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

  “The two newcomers gave me gold to tell you they were okay.”

  I tilted my head back and watched Chris’ face.

  “And? You don’t think we can trust them?”

  “No, no, I think we can trust them. I just wanted you to know.”

  “Thanks for being honest with me,” I said. “We shouldn’t argue in front of the others. It’s not good for morale, and we need as much of that as possible.”

  “Agreed,” he said, glancing up and finally looking me in the eyes.

  “We’re good now?” I asked.

  He nodded as Kojack returned with four additional warriors. Would it be enough? Maybe Chris is right about killing Charlotte instead of capturing her. I couldn’t let my ego get in the way of leading my tribe. I raised my spear to silence the others. Chris and Kojack plus the others made eight, less than a dozen to storm her protected village.

  “Get back!” Chris yelled, holding his spear up.

  I turned and saw Julian and Keith, the newcomers from the other tribe, walking over.

  “Let them have their say.” I motioned for Chris to lower his weapon. �
�Make it quick.”

  “We want to help,” Julian, the talkative one, said.

  “Help with what?” I asked.

  “Attacking that blasted spider,” he replied. “And freeing our people. We’d all follow you if you kill the spider. The world’s been crazy ever since she showed up.”

  With them, I’d have ten warriors plus the two shamans and myself. That might be enough to defeat Charlotte. One way or another, I planned on usurping her power and claiming it for myself. With a unified island, I could achieve bigger things during my twenty years of isolation from the other players. I smiled as I thought of the possibilities.

  “Maybe you’re right,” I said without giving it much thought.

  “Come on,” Chris complained. “You’re going to listen to him over me?”

  “Everyone be quiet,” I said. “We’re attacking tonight, but not everyone’s going. I want a third of the warriors to stay here in case there’s a counterattack. With eight fighters and two others who can cast spells, we’ll be fine. I need volunteers to go on this mission.”

  Several of my warriors walked forward. I nodded at them as they formed a line on my left hand side. Six warriors I didn’t know well stood with Chris, Kojack, Julian, and Keith. How am I going to keep track of everyone when the village starts growing faster? I need to come up with a better system. The others stared at me for direction as I thought about my plan.

  “Where’s the shamans?” I asked, glancing around.

  “Right here,” they said in unison.

  Jericho had been joined by someone new I’d assigned.

  “Are you rested up and ready for battle?” I asked.

  “Sure, sure,” the older one said, waving a hand through the air. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

  “Have you been drinking again?” I asked.

  A few of the warriors chuckled.

  “No, no,” Jericho said. “I smoked some magic herbs, though.”

  He leaned forward and winked his left eye. The others laughed again. I sighed. The magic herbs he smoked made him a bit crazier than usual, but they had also helped him hone his magic. Even though he acted even more eccentric when smoking, I didn’t want him to stop. His spellcasting would help us defeat Charlotte.

  “Fair enough,” I said. “Everyone calm down. It’s time to get serious. This mission won’t be easy, but if we succeed, the entire island will be ours.”

  “Kron! Kron! Kron!”

  As my villagers chanted and worked themselves up, I thought about my plan of attack. Killing Charlotte wouldn’t be easy literally or emotionally, but she needed to die. If she wouldn’t work with me and insisted on trying to kill me, I would take her out without remorse. After so much time inside the Tower of Gates, I had begun to understand what made players want to kill each other instead of working together.

  “Julian and Keith, get over here,” I said. “Everyone else get ready to leave.”

  The two newcomers glanced at each other then walked over, stopping a good ten feet away. I stared into Julian’s eyes, ignoring his friend.

  “I’m letting you two fight with us today,” I said. “This is your chance to prove yourselves. If you double-cross me, I won’t hesitate to stop whatever I’m doing and send a world of pain your way. Are we understood?”

  “Yes, Chief,” Julian said.

  Keith mumbled something.

  “I didn’t hear you,” I said. “Louder.”

  “We understand,” Julian said. “We like you, and we want to be a part of your tribe.”

  “Show me on the battlefield,” I said then dismissed them with a nod of my head.

  As they walked over to the others standing by the front gate, I caught Chris staring at me. He looked away the moment I noticed him. Would he eventually turn out to be a problem? If so, I would deal with him when the time came. Until then, I had other things to worry about.

  Ten warriors and two spellcasters wasn’t a lot of firepower. I hoped it was enough. Building the barracks and training for higher defense and more stealth had been a wise move, but would it be enough to give us victory? I pushed the thoughts away and joined the others.

  * * * * *

  Two hours after leaving, we approached the edge of the jungle outside Cocoa Village. I saw the massive spider web draped over their wooden palisades like some weird silk blanket. Would it make it harder to attack? Or had she gone completely nuts? I stopped and turned to the others. None of them showed fear.

  “We’re going in as quiet as possible,” I said, turning to the newcomers. “What’s the best way into your old village? Can you sneak us in?”

  Julian and Keith both stared at me doe-eyed. I should’ve asked them before we left, but I had another plan I wanted to try.

  “Shamans, do you have your magic ready?” I asked.

  Both of the elderly men nodded.

  “Great.” I looked at the others. “The rest of you need to protect those of us using magic. We don’t have a lot of offensive spells, but we’ll make what we have count. Does anyone have any questions?”

  “What about when we get inside?” Chris asked.

  “Go for the spider,” I replied, making eye contact with him. “She’s the head of the snake.”

  Chris nodded as he took a deep breath.

  “Everybody ready?” I asked.

  I glanced from one warrior to another as they all nodded.

  “Let’s do this,” I said.

  The others followed while I crept to the edge of the clearing. As the sun sunk below the horizon, I crept forward, heading toward the gate. When I reached it, I nodded at the shamans. They chanted some strange string of words under their breath before shaking the wood and rattling the feathers attached. It shook violently as his Rumble spell took effect.

  As the gate burst open, gripped my spear. The wood shattered into a few different pieces. A woman on the inside of their village screamed before running further into their village. Ugh. So much for stealth.

  “Attack!” I shouted then ran through the gateway.

  Several enemy warriors rushed out from behind a building then stopped. Their slings rained sharpened rocks and pebbles on us, but we kept running forward. None of the projectiles hit me, but I heard a few of the others screamed out. I’d held off on using ranged weapons like the sling in order to improve the melee skills of my tribe.

  I stabbed my spear into the gut of one of the men as we overwhelmed them. He fell quickly, followed by two more. The xp would be nice, but I wanted to teach Charlotte a lesson. She needed to learn to respect me. I still wasn’t sure how she’d been my familiar if she was a human being stuck in the Tower of Gates.

  Seven of their sling-men went down to my spear before Charlotte showed herself. I noticed her on the roof of one of the buildings, trying to be sly. She stopped, surrounded by several baby spiderlings around her. Had she been pregnant? I took a step back to a wall of one of the buildings and glanced around.

  Two of my warriors had fallen, but the rest surrounded the building with Charlotte on top of it. I dropped my spear to prepare for casting if necessary. My men turned to me, looking for directions. I stepped forward, head held high. A few screams in the distance died down. Had we gained an advantage over them?

  “You need to leave,” Charlotte said.

  “Not yet,” I defiantly replied. “You need to surrender.”

  Charlotte laughed, her cackles echoing throughout the village.

  “Never,” she said after settling down.

  “I see you’re a mother,” I said, nodding at her babies.

  “That’s why I need to destroy you,” Charlotte said. “You can’t be trusted.”

  “How did you even have children in the game?” I asked, going OOC.

  OOC Penalty: You lose 100xp.

  You have 2,700 xp.

  You have 5 minutes to talk OOC without penalty.

  “That’s none of your business,” Charlotte said. “Tell your men to back off.”

  “I’ll give the o
rder right now for them to kill your babies if you don’t surrender,” I said.

  “You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed.

  I sensed anger in her voice.

  “Kill one of them!” I shouted.

  Two of my remaining eight warriors chucked their spears at one of the small spiderlings on top of the slanted roof. Charlotte shrieked as the smaller version of herself fell over the edge and landed on the ground, not moving.

  “You’ll pay!” she screamed.

  Had I gone too far? The smaller spiders couldn’t have really been her children. I wasn’t up to date on spider reproduction systems, but they had to simply be baby giant spiders she’d found in the jungle or somewhere else. Charlotte moved two of her front legs, casting a spell. A web of energy fell from the sky, hitting my six warriors.

  They cried out as the energy net burned them all over their bodies. I only had a single spell at my disposal, but I planned on using it to its full effect. Two Golden Bolts shot from my hands and sailed through the air, slamming into Charlotte’s face.

  Your Golden Bolts INJURE [PC] Charlotte for 12 damage.

  You have [33/45] magic remaining today.

  As she screamed again, the smaller spiders scurried off the back of the roof.

  “Shamans, attack!” I shouted.

  The two older men came out from behind a nearby building and chanted. One of them countered the magic burning net while the other healed the hurt warriors. Charlotte scurried off the roof on the other side of the building. I grabbed my spear off the ground then rushed around to find her before she got away.

  When I rounded the second corner, I saw an empty alleyway. Stringy webs stuck to the sides of some of the buildings. I yelled for the others to come to me and motioned for them to follow before walking toward the center of Cocoa Village. Would Charlotte come to her senses and surrender?

  I stopped when I saw an immense web completely covering a building in the middle of the village. The shamans and warriors behind me talked among themselves as I surveyed the situation. Charlotte was nowhere in sight, but I was certain we’d found her home base. Should we burn it down to get her to come out?