Termination protocol interrupted by game function

  Seeking input from Outrider to continue

  Error: Outrider Draconautis not found

  Shutting down termination protocol.

  Game function resumed.

  James collapsed onto the ground as the world around him began to fade away with the pain. His senses refocused on his digital body, and he soon found himself in Corigrad again. It was a much different city than the one he left, though. Buildings were in ruins, stone and dust covering the air and blotting out all but the strongest rays of light. The palace had been damaged in the battle, spires broken and glass shattered by catapulted rocks. The party were currently standing in the middle of what had been the garden, which was now nothing but burnt trees covered in ash and blood. James looked around to see Grey walking towards him. He hugged Grey immediately.

  “That bad, huh?” They timidly hugged back. “Welcome back, James. I'm glad we could help you.”

  Raid Complete

  All Party Members gain 5000XP

  All Party Members gain 5000 Gold

  All Party Members: Level 9

  Level Up!

  Cieth: +5 DEF

  GlassAngel: +5 DEX

  Trident743: +5 DEF

  Skibabylon: +5 STR

  Amelia and Patrick stumbled over to the two of them, clearly dazed.

  “I’m sorry, I fucked up,” Amelia said James, not even looking at him. “I couldn’t stop Oblivia…”

  “It’s fine,” James put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. “You all did…exactly what you needed to.”

  “So what did you find?” Grey asked.

  James paused for a second, smiled nonchalantly, and then said, “Nothing.”

  Patrick looked confused, Grey looked intrigued and Amelia looked a little pissed off.

  “I’m sorry?” Amelia asked. “We went through all that shit for nothing? What was up with that old guy then?”

  “He was a dumb hacker, messing with code. Think he might have been an ex-dev. Learnt how to do some clips, spawn in a few late game monsters, it’s easy to make people believe they were playing some kind of haunted game with that kind of stuff. I just reported him while I was stuck in the floor and he was dealt with pretty swiftly. Gotta hand it to the automated moderation system, it works fast.”

  James chuckled as the rest of the party looked at him in shock.

  “You’re lying,” Amelia growled. “That can’t be it. There’s no way. I remembe-“

  “Yeah, he did some pretty bad stuff to us, but it was just engine manipulation. Nothing more than that.”

  As they were talking, Lilian Lightbreaker appeared in front of the raid party.

  “Thank you, travellers,” she said to them. “You have all done a spectacular job in defeating the horde.”

  “Suuure we have,” Lambda muttered. His party all looked quite downtrodden after their slow battle through the streets, except for Gungnir, who looked like she could go another round.

  “Meet me in the palace, and we can discuss things further.”

  The Baroness vanished in a flash of light.

  Fast Travel Unlocked

  Ruins of Corigrad

  Most of the former raid party began to trudge towards the palace, most of them limping after being revived on one hit point.

  “Now we’ve unlocked fast travel here, I think we should finish up,” James said. “It’s been a long day. I need some rest.”

  Patrick and Amelia were about to protest, but Grey interrupted them. “Ok then. I might take a look around the ruins and see if there are any shops. Thanks for playing with us, and I’m glad that this was…resolved.”

  James nodded and turned away from the party before logging out.

  Cieth has left the party.

  “Why is he lying?” Amelia asked. “After all the shit we did for him?”

  “Same reason I tried to kill you.”

  The party turned around to see Oblivia leaning on the burnt husk of a tree.

  “I was trying to protect you guys,” she continued, “because I knew something like this would happen. Even though I tried to warn you, you were too headstrong. Look where it got you.”

  “Do you know what James saw?” Grey asked.

  Oblivia shook her head. “I never got as far as him. I never wanted to, because I knew that would happen to me. Your friend isn’t going to be the same again…and soon enough, he may not be around at all.”

  Amelia walked up to Oblivia and punched her in the face. Patrick pulled her away, but Oblivia had barely even flinched.

  “Don’t worry, I deserved that,” Oblivia admitted. She slowly removed her helmet and put it down on the ground next to her. She didn’t look that much older than the party, with white hair tied in a short braid, pale skin and bright blue eyes.

  “I expected you to look…tougher,” Amelia said.

  “Why do you think I wear this thing?” Oblivia patted her helmet before continuing. “I don’t want to do this stuff, believe me. I just wanted to play the game. But I can’t bear to see what happened to my party happen to anyone else. And despite everything I did…it is happening again.”

  “Then help us,” Grey said. Amelia and Oblivia both looked at them in confusion, but they carried on speaking regardless. “We’ll probably keep playing this game to find out whatever James is hiding from us. We could do with someone with your knowledge of the game even with your level dropped down.”

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Oblivia looked bemused. “After everything I’ve done, what makes you think I would want to work with you?”

  “You said you wanted to protect us. Surely the best way of doing that is travelling by our side?”

  Oblivia put her helmet back on and stood up. A black cloak faded into existence around her shoulders.

  “I appreciate the sentiment. It isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

  Grey smiled back. “I’ll make sure to prove you wrong.”

  Oblivia scoffed as she walked away.

  “Asshole,” Amelia hissed, once she was out of earshot.

  “I like her,” Grey admitted. “I think she really does care about the people around her, she just doesn’t show it in the best way.”

  “You just have a thing for goth girls,” Patrick replied. Grey gave him a slightly embarrassed chuckle before regaining their composure.

  “I think we should call it a day,” Grey said. “Whatever James saw, he needs time to process. Once he’s ready to talk to us, he will. I’m sure of it.”

  >>>

  Lambda watched Cieth’s party log out before turning back to the palace in front of them. They slowly trudged up the steps, now littered with bodies and debris that the knights around them were diligently trying to clean up. The palace interior was mostly intact but now covered in dust and broken glass. They walked through the winding corridors before finding a large circular meeting room with a massive round table that almost touched the sides. Lillian was sitting at the other end of the room, chatting with a butler who quickly left the room as the party arrived.

  “Welcome,” Lillian said. “This is an unprecedented time for Corinth. The King and the immediate heir to the throne are both dead. As such, rule falls to the barons and baronesses…and we’ve already lost one of those to the darkness.”

  “Are there no other heirs to the throne?” Mantis asked.

  “There was a Princess, but she died years ago.”

  “Did they find the body?” Lambda asked.

  Lilian just looked at him incredulously, before answering, “I did not personally, but I have it on authority of the people she gave her life to protect. She was keen to help those in need…shame it cost her her life.”

  Lambda turned to the others, “Alright, how certain are we that she’s dead?”

  “50%,” Gungnir replied.

  “I don’t buy it for a second,” Mantis said.

  Lillian ignored them and continued her explanation.

  “This has been a severe blow to our sovereignty and our morale. The threat of Valzekt cannot be held off anymore, and we need help.” She pulled tickets out of her dress and slid them across the table to the party. “You are to board a ship from Sirensport to my homeland, the Hammerfell Republic. You will be ambassadors on behalf of Corinth, and request an alliance between our two nations to invade Bradelgard. With that, we should have the martial strength to invade the Dark Lord’s territory. Additionally, there are rumours of an archaeological dig that has found a Holy Weapon. You need those to hurt Valzekt directly. Will you take these quests to protect our kingdom?”

  Lambda smirked, picking up the ticket. “How could we possibly say no?”

  “Excellent. I shall summon the other barons here and attend to ruling Corinth. Enjoy your time in Hammerfell.”

  Lilian vanished in a flash of light.

  “It just occurred to me,” Lambda said, “where was she during the invasion? We really could have done with some healing back there.”

  Mantis and Gungnir shrugged. Ambrosia didn’t say a word.

  “You’re unusually quiet,” Lambda said to the Armournaut.

  “I have beaten this game before, you know,” Ambrosia admitted. “I already know how the story goes down. Well, the base game. DLC wasn’t out when I played.”

  “Why the new account?”

  “I used an item duplication glitch in the player marketplace to cause severe hyperinflation. Tanked the game’s economy for a week before they could fix the exploit. It got my account banned.”

  “Well, that’s as good a reason as an-wait, what?”

  Gungnir smiled, “Well, no spoilers. I’m kinda invested in this story at this point.”

  “Y’know,” Mantis interjected, “we made a pretty good team back there. I’ve been playing this game solo up until now and I was wondering if we could…y’know…maybe team up?”

  “I was thinking the same,” Ambrosia admitted. “You guys clearly need a tank, you’ve got almost no health.

  “I could provide a little bit of support,” Mantis said, “Between me and Lambda we can probably have a decent amount of healing without having to constantly rely on potions.”

  Gungnir and Lambda looked at each other and nodded.

  “Alright, we’d love to have you in our party,” Gungnir smiled. “Just so you know, we’re kinda completionists. We like doing everything we possibly can in a city before we move on.”

  “Have you done the Haelshire quest with the squirrels yet?” Ambrosia asked.

  Lambda and Gungnir looked at him in confusion.

  “Must be unlocked later,” Ambrosia muttered.

  “I’m ok with doing side quests,” Mantis admitted. “I’ve spent too much money on this game already to just do the main story.”

  “Before we do that, we need to go out and buy gear,” Lambda said. “We kind of haven’t bought anything since the start of the game, just hoarded all of the gold.”

  “I noticed,” Ambrosia said. “You really can’t get far in this game without gear. Thought you were doing a challenge run or something.”

  “Nah we’re just…kinda dumb?” Gungnir admitted.

  “We’re kinda dumb,” Lambda agreed. “Do you know if there are any shops in these ruins?”

  Ambrosia shrugged. “I dunno. Never needed to shop here. There probably is.”

  “Well, it seems we have our first objective,” Lambda stood up and swung open the doors. “Forward, new party, on to our first adventure!”

  “We’re just going shopping, it’s not much of an adventure,” Gungnir added. “Also, I think you hit someone with the door.”

  Lambda sighed. “Why is this party stuff so hard?”

  James Stats: Level: 9 VIT: 350/350 STR: 20 DEF: 30 DEX: 10 SPL: 20 INT: 1

  Amelia Stats: Level: 9 VIT: 1/200 STR: 30 DEF: 15 DEX: 25 SPL: 5 INT: 1

  Grey stats: Level: 9 VIT: 50/200 STR: 20 DEF: 15 DEX: 15 SPL: 30 INT: 1 Healing Pool: 600/600

  Patrick stats: Level: 9 VIT: 1/150 STR: 35 DEF: 15 DEX: 20 SPL: 25 INT: 1 Mana: 170/250

  Gungnir Stats: Level: 9 VIT: 150/200 STR: 30 DEF: 10 DEX: 25 SPL: 5 INT: 0

  Lambda Stats: Level: 9 VIT: 51/200 STR: 15 DEF: 5 DEX: 10 SPL: 25 INT: 0