“How much gold did we get?”
Isaac posed the question to Marie, as they strolled out the garage-style door of their one-time employer’s workshop, dodging the trail of drying blood left by their delivery.
“Well, not counting whatever we get for selling the stuff we scavenged off the Wyrm, 250 gold pieces,” Marie returned, jingling a hefty bag of coins, before returning them to her inventory.
“Counting in Charles’ share, that’s about 60 gold each.” Isaac tallied mentally.
“Hol' up, why does Charles get a share?” Marie objected. “I didn’t see him during the battle.”
“We don’t share with our team?” Isaac asked, incredulous.
“Well, it’s not like he doesn’t profit anyway, he got his share of the experience points,” Marie countered. “I think it's only fair we get what we earn.”
“I require no remuneration,” Tenshi chimed in.
“So that’s settled, we get 125 gold each, and nobody’s any the wiser.” Marie grinned, chucking him a jingling purse and strolling on ahead. “C’mon, Charles said he’d meet us back at the bar in the evening, it’s almost time.”
“Somehow, this doesn’t sit too well with me,” Isaac admitted, pocketing the gold anyways as he followed after her.
*******
Charles was already waiting for them by the time they arrived. After filling him in on their plans for the rescue and reconnaissance mission, the party decided to head for the fort by the main road, having noticed a small forest within sight of their objective which they declared a good place to wait for the sun to go down.
“Oh, before we leave, I’d better send a text out,” Isaac mentioned, opening his menu.
“Last will and testament?” Charles joked.
“Dream on.” Isaac smirked. “Just thought I’d call in some backup. I know a guy who’s always itching for a fight, and probably doesn’t have anything else going on this time of night.”
“Good in combat?” Charles probed.
“I don’t know anybody better,” Isaac boasted.
“Hmm, I might want to vie for that position myself.” Charles grinned, flipping the dagger out of his sheath experimentally.
“Guys really gotta make everything a contest, don’t they?” Marie complained. “M’a dire comme on dit: “grosse Corvette, p’tite quéquette”. What is this, the “Strongest Friend of Isaac” challenge or something?”
“If it’s muscles alone, you probably win that Marie,” Isaac shot back, grinning.
“You tryin' to pick a fight?” she muttered.
*******
Exiting the town, the three players continued along their way to the forest, jesting and laughing as they walked. A half-dozen paces behind, Tenshi followed noiselessly, not contributing to their conversation, merely watching with her piercing red eyes as she took in everything.
“Nice friends,” an oily voice interrupted Tenshi’s silent musing. Turning in mild surprise, she saw a short, wiry man in a dust-coloured cloak strolling peacefully alongside her. “Of course,” he continued, “they can’t be that good as far as friends go. They still haven’t noticed your predicament.”
Tenshi moved her mouth as if to retort, but no sound came out. Startled, she stepped back a few paces, stumbling over an unseen obstacle. Looking down, she gave a soundless yelp of surprise, for her feet were no longer visible. Swallowing them up completely, some form of pooling shadow was amassing at her feet, slowly climbing its way up her ankles. Drawing her weapon, she attempted to shoot, but found no bullet erupting from her rifle.
The man chuckled silently in response, holding up his hands in a dismissive gesture. “Please, no need for such a violent display. Allow me to introduce myself. 'Name's Polygraph_Jazz, and I assure you my NIGHTMARE-TWISTED RAPTURE is completely harmless. It merely renders you incapable of any form of dangerous action, be it speech, escape, or attacking. In a few moments” -- here the man gestured to a shadowy number which was ticking down impassively at her feet -- “in 113 seconds to be precise, you will be carried to any location of my desire.”
Unable to speak, Tenshi glared daggers at the man, as the shadows twisted their way up her thighs.
“Come on now, don’t give me that look.” The man shrugged. “I’m a reasonable man, I’ll even tell you how to escape. My ability takes three and a half minutes to activate, and if any third party touches you within 45 seconds before the ritual completes, the effect ceases and you’re free. You have…” He looked down at the number. “About 40 seconds left. Think your friends will notice?”
Tenshi gazed imploringly at the backs of her friends, who were now disappearing into the distance, still jiving with each other casually. Without her.
Tenshi sighed. The shadows had now covered her entire lower body and were creeping up her chest. Summoning her will, Tenshi tried to reach any of her clones in the nearby area but found herself unable to connect.
“Well, looks like your time’s almost up.” The man shrugged, as the shadowy digits slowly ticked towards the 45-second cut-off point. “Don’t worry little lady, you’ll see your friends again right quick.” He patted her cheek in an off-handed manner, then summoned a similar pool of shadows at his own feet. “‘Sides,” he continued. “I’ll be following right behind you.”
As the tendrils of shadow crept up her neck, Tenshi made a last-ditch effort, lunging forward and dropping to the dirt road heavily, sending up a cloud of dust. The shadows slowly covering her vision, Tenshi could only watch sadly as her friends’ backs receded out of her sight. Then, everything went black.
Silence reigned on the pathway again, as the man lit himself a cigarette, drawing deeply. “Well,” he said to himself, blowing a lazy smoke ring. “Guess it’s time to report back to the Lieutenant.”
Then, the shadows covered him too, and in a wink, he was gone.
*******
Meanwhile, the friends continued on their adventure, blissfully unaware of the whole exchange.
"Keep talking smack to me, and I'll straighten you out." Marie threatened Charles.
"I really don't know if I can get much straighter." Charles smirked back.
"Pffft, okay, you got me there." Marie laughed. "I'm just sayin', don't expect me to pay any ransom if you get kidnapped, bud."
“Hey, did anybody actually try that?" Isaac inquired curiously. "Paying the ransom, I mean."
“Well, a couple guilds did,” Charles admitted. “True to their word, the bandits released the players at some random location in the nearby area, unharmed and with all their equipment. Contrary to what you’d expect, all the captured players said they weren’t treated that badly.”
“Still, it’s kinda lame that some people would just pay up like that,” Isaac argued. “It just gives them an incentive to keep doing it.”
“Can’t really blame ‘em,” Marie defended. “I heard they only take the party leaders hostage. They must have some kind of ability that lets them figure out that kind of info.”
“Well, we’re safe then,” Isaac laughed. “I forgot to send out the invites to our team.” His laugh trailed off when he caught Charles and Marie looking at him incredulously.
“No, I got an invite and accepted it,” Marie returned.
“Yeah, me too,” Charles confirmed. “I even got the experience points you guys earned fighting monsters. Believe me, you’d have gotten a text from me if you hadn’t, I wasn’t about to pass up on free leveling.”
“But… I didn’t send anything!” Isaac objected, confused.
“You sure you aren’t just forgetting?” Marie offered. “You said you did it just before bed, right? That kind of thing could easily slip.”
“Maybe…” Isaac conceded. “A lot of stuff did happen that night. I’ll double-check.”
Opening his menu and selecting the “friends” drop-down box, Isaac broke into a chuckle. What the heck is this? He laughed to himself. Team Antivirus? Team leader Tenshi? How'd she manage this...? Suddenly, he remembered how his menu and bedside window were left open when he last logged in. "Tenshi, did you seriously sneak into my room and...?" His sentence trailed off into questioning silence as he turned around to see no sign of their friend.
“Huh?” He scanned the empty road, confused. “Hey, where’d Tenshi go?”
All merriment died as the small party retraced their steps, looking in vain for any sign of their missing comrade.
“Hey,” Charles started, his mouth dry. “You said that the bandits target the leaders of teams, right? You don’t suppose…”
“Don’t even go there,” Isaac objected. “We didn’t get any ransom note, did we? This is Tenshi. There’s no way she would’ve just silently gone off with her captors. We would’ve heard something, right?”
He was met with silence.
“Right, guys?” he continued.
Marie kicked a pebble on the road pensively. “This seems too perfect,” she muttered. “Even Tenshi wouldn’t just leave without telling us. Besides, all the other captives said they were snatched away suddenly through some kind of player’s ability. Tenshi being the team leader just ties it all together.”
“Okay, so what are we going to do about it?”
Charles’s outburst brought the other two back to reality. He slammed his sword blade-first in the dirt, smashing a gauntleted fist down on the pommel stone, accenting his point. “We sure as hell aren’t going to just leave a teammate captured, are we?”
"Hell no!" Marie exclaimed.
“Come on, let's not jump to conclusions…” Isaac started, when all three of their menus dinged with a message alert at the same time. Looking at each other with fearful eyes, the three players swallowed their apprehension and opened their mail.
“From: Tenshi.
Re: Captured.
Dear Charles, Marie, Isaac.
I have been apprehended by bandits. They demand a ransom of 5,000 (five thousand) gold pieces to be delivered to these co-ordinates (see attached map link) at your earliest convenience. They request a message be sent to me before you drop off the aforementioned money, so they can make arrangements to collect it. They are proofreading my message and would not let me send it were I to attempt to include any unwarranted hints. Do not try to rescue me.
Sincerely,
Tenshi.”
Isaac’s heart sank. By the style alone, he was able to tell it was authentic, if the sender’s ID didn’t already confirm it.
“Okay, so now what?” Charles once again broke the silence.
“We bust into that damn fortress and take back Tenshi so fast it makes their eyes spin!” Marie shot back, slamming a fist into her palm. “C’mon, let’s go!”
“Wait!” Isaac called out, clamping a hand over her shoulder.
“What?!” Marie shot back, turning to face him.
“Let's at least meet up with my friend first,” Isaac reasoned. “We’re down to just three, and Tenshi was holding the items for our quest.”
Marie sighed, tensing and untensing her hands as she calmed down. "You're right, sorry Isaac. Let's go."
All joviality departed, the trio trudged onward, heading towards the now-visible smoky-coloured fortress, jutting out on a small hillock beyond the long ridge ahead of them. Although their motive had changed, their goal was still the same: storm the enemy fortress under the cover of night, and rescue those held prisoner. As they approached the forested meeting spot, each of them mentally prepared themselves for the long night ahead.
ns18.222.32.191da2
