1. Promises made in life and games.

Ryan started to shake and in reaction to her anger flames lit along her body. “You are out of your mind!” Ryan burst out, not able to contain herself “Commander you can’t expect us to be ok with this….this thing telling us what to do.” She pointed at Blackclaw “We don’t know anything about him, if he’s even on the correct side and not a spy of theirs and you want us to go against one of the greatest enemies with him. Nobody has ever so much as seen one of the True Fae be taken aback by anything, not to mention hurt one.”

Commander Dakka’s mouth became a thin line. “You’re out of line Ryan. Blackclaw has information that could prove useful. As we all know, neither we nor the lycanthropes have been able to ever get close enough to one of the True Fae to know really anything about them. The lycans mapped out where the True Fae’s domains were in their own world but here everything is different. While we and they know the rough areas that belong to them, the Fae creature soldiers have made it near impossible to get close enough to know for certain anything about how or where the Fae Lords are. We’ve been given an opportunity to change that. Thankfully for us, the Fae for once botched a raid on Blackclaw’s tribe. They managed to capture the leader of the raid after finishing off all the soldiers and extracted information about their lord out of it. Our orders are to recon the information and check its reliability. We know Fae are bound by magic and cannot lie, but that doesn’t always extend to their troops. The point is he knows the info that was extracted from the Fae, and the order from MAGUS is he’s going with us into the field. No debating. I know werewolves are a sore spot with you because of your past, but you’re going to have to bury it down deep for now. That’s our mission. We were specifically named as best for this mission so we’re going. We leave in two days. Briefing is tomorrow morning at dawn. Make sure to tell the others.”

“Aye Commander.” Rayne answered. “We’ll go find them now.” He locked his arm around Ryan and steered her toward the door of the training room. Blackclaw looked at Rayne as if he had just seen him for the first time and took a quick breath like he was surprised by something. If it weren’t for years of training, Rayne would never have noticed.

Blackclaw put his hand on the front of Rayne’s shoulder as they were about to walk passed to pause him for a moment. “Tell me please, where did you get that scar around your eye?” referring to the crescent moon shaped mark around Rayne’s left eye.

“It is not a scar, not from a wound at least. I have had it as long as I can remember. It is a birthmark as far as I know, just pale instead of dark.” While Rayne’s skin wasn’t exactly dark he did know the mark stuck out because it was really pale against the rest of his skin, so pale that in the moonlight at night it almost looked silver from what Ryan had told him. “My eye works just fine if that’s what you’re implying. Now if you’ll excuse us we have orders to deliver to the other Dragons.”

“I imply no handicap. Just curiosity and old werewolf talk.” Blackclaw took his hand off of Rayne’s shoulder and let them pass, looking back to the Commander.

They had to let the rest of the squad know about briefing in the morning, but the look of disgust on her face didn’t fall away as fast as she realized her place was to take orders. They left the training room, Commander Dakka and Blackclaw were talking.

Ryan made it all the way out to the street before she spoke again. “I can’t believe we’re going to work with one of them.” She complained to Rayne. “and you went right along with it.”

Rayne looked at his best friend. “Ryan, I know your history and you better than anyone. I know this is hard for you but its orders. It Blackclaw’s info is good and we can actually get reliable intel on one of the Fae Lords it could a step in the right direction to push them back. We’ve never lived in a world without constant threat of them and their armies. If its not them, it’s the vamps, and until just the last couple years the werewolves as well. You had to know with MAGUS’ changed stance of cooperation with the wolves that this would happen eventually. That we’d end up working with them.” He smiled at her. Of all people, it was only Rayne that could get through to her when she got angry and stubborn on a point. It was one of the multitude of reasons they were so close. Only he could get through to her that she’d listen and usually she was the only one that knew what he was really thinking. He chuckled, “I mean we are the best there is, of course MAGUS would try out a new partnership in our squad. Especially considering if anything goes wrong, we’re probably the only group that could come out of it alive with or without the werewolf’s help.” While the comment was made for her sake to get her to laugh, Rayne was right. For the age of their squad unit, no other group of Dragons had more confirmed monster kills or successful missions. “come on, let’s go find the others. I’m sure I know where they are, maybe we won’t be too late for some Labyrinthes and Shades.” He nudged her and she finally managed a slight smile. “It’ll only be a couple days and when the mission is over Blackclaw I’m sure will go back to his people or the embassy and we’ll take a few days of leave to go somewhere nice like the beach.”

“Promise?”

“Have I ever lied to you?” he chuckled again when he saw her brighten up a bit “Besides, while I want to go relax I’m sure you’ll find some way to work in training like working on our water or earth magic because it’s what you do.”

“Well maybe this time I just want to relax and spend some time with you at a beach, like we did before MAGUS realized how good we were.” She said as she watched him blush. “I seriously don’t know why you insist on playing that game with the rest of the squad. Like there isn’t enough action in our lives, that you have to pretend to be somebody else in a far off land battling monsters, we do that every day.”

“True, but playing that game making a mistake doesn’t get me actually killed. Besides, I’m a level ten mage in there, wielding magic spells we can’t do out here and with power only the True Fae could begin to accomplish and you can’t tame a bear out here as a friend to speak to. Not to mention your armor looks great on you there, haha.”

“Whatever, geek.” She teased. “You like my armor in there because it somehow shows off skin and is still just as protective as our real life body armor. If you’re lucky maybe when we go to the beach after this mission I’ll be tempted to wear something that shows off as much in the real world.” She laughed as Rayne stumbled stunned and she sashayed through the door into the Tavern to find the rest of their squad.

Rayne caught up to Ryan just inside the door. The Tavern was busy. The place was basically a second home for most of the younger Dragons, even some of the older ones. The Tavern was actually a place for a lot of people to get away. It was well known and opened to anyone that didn’t cause issues, MAGUS and regular civilians. The namesake might have been a bit of a misnomer, the Tavern was more like in size and entertainment ability as a small sports arena or amusement park. The building it was housed in was actually several buildings that had been interconnected through the years. It ended up taking up four New New York city blocks. There were bouncers for each section just to make sure anyone that god rowdy didn’t stay that way and cause other customers problems. You could walk through the Tavern from one end to the other and feel like you’d walked across the world and parts of time. There were multiple places to get different kinds of food and drinks depending on your taste. Magic went a long way for the place, giving the ability to grow different foods and spices that would normally only grow in other climates either by changing them as seeds or creating a small area that simulated different climates.

The door that Rayne and Ryan had gone through led into the club section. Hundreds of people were on the dance floor. The music blared through the room, changing rhythm every couple of minutes from manic to soothing. The band was doing a great job keeping everyone happy and everywhere colored lights danced around the room, moving over ceilings, walls, floors, and even out into the middle of the room above or among the people dancing. The lights were minor magical creations, their shape could be anything from a lightbulb to globes of color to torches depending on their creator. Looked like tonight the lights were strobing different colors and most were shaped like leaves, mushrooms and flying stones, someone was getting inventive. It was dark other than the lights around the band and the ones floating around the room, some of them moving in tune with the music as well. Ryan grabbed Rayne’s hand and pulled him across the dance floor to the back of the room then through two sets of doors.

When the second set of doors closed, suddenly the music changed. No longer the harsh electrical instruments but instead soothing harp, piano and xylophone. This large room was full of steam, it was the spa section of the Tavern where some people came to relax. This room was sectioned off into smaller segments. Each smaller section was enclosed with a large metal pipe running from it. The pipes Rayne knew all connected outside of the room and fed steam into each enclosed section. In each enclosed room were two pools, one heated and one cooled. Some of the larger rooms in this section also included massage tables for customers that could afford it. The steam throughout the room was infused with certain plants to help your pores open up before you got into the more concentrated steam rooms or something like that. Neither MAGUS agents really had spent time in this room, preferring a different kind of entertainment.

Ryan continued to lead him to their final destination, through different twists and turns, she never took the same twice because she always found the array of different rooms interesting. They left the spa room to find themselves moving through a room inspired by an eastern monastery, a bowling alley, several different bars, a couple different kinds of dance clubs, and a theatre performance before they finally emerged where the rest of the squad was.

The two Dragons walked into what one could only describe as an actual tavern but expanded in all directions to make sure people didn’t feel cramped. It was simple, a menu that changed daily and only included two choices at any one time, meat or vegetarian, and three choices of drink, water, wine, and of course ale. There were large wooden tables and stools, a couple booths along the walls, and that is where any similarity to an old style tavern ended. Each table and booth had a metallic sphere hanging down from a column that ran to the ceiling which could be moved down to within a foot of the table. Each sphere had magical sigils inscribed in it and wiring attached to it as well as up to eight visored helmets. They were virtual reality helmets. It let patrons play a virtual reality game of swords and sorcery known as Labyrinths and Shades, a favorite past time of Commander Dakka’s squad. When each player put the helmet and flipped the switch, they were transported into the world as their character. The spheres were all connected to a central computer that ran a story that occasionally changed but remembered a group’s progress in events of the fantasy world, matching players to characters and each other by biometric scan.

“There they are.” Rayne pointed to one of the tables. “Looks like Moose is only on his first helping, we’ve got time to eat.” He said to Ryan. They waved to their squadmates and walked over to the bar. A pretty girl in a home spun “peasant blouse” looked up at them and smiled.

“Usual, hun?” she asked Rayne.

“Yes please Hannah.” Hannah was this section of the Tavern’s server. She was always pleasant to everyone, but plenty of people over the years had learned not to cross her. She wasn’t a large woman but she had a mean left hook that flew when a drunken patron got too grabby, usually before a bouncer could even react. Hannah was another reason they came here. Her smile and happy go lucky attitude was infectious, and she liked swapping stories with Rayne’s crew, at least the details they were allowed to give. She kept them up to date on what was going on in town while they were away. That and Moose had a crush on her so much that he could barely get two words out whenever she was within five feet. Rayne and Ryan chuckled, both thinking the same thing. For someone that could pound through a wall of stone with his greathammer or even his own hands, when it came to Hannah he became like a puppy.

Hannah turned around and rapped on the window that led back to the kitchen. “Hey, the rest of my Dragons are here, including the birthday girl. Bring it out.” She winked at Ryan. “You didn’t think I’d forget did you? I know all my favorite people’s birthdays, especially their twenty first. Now go sit with the crew, I’ll be over in a couple minutes.”

Ryan shook her head. It wasn’t technically her birthday for another two days, but Hannah had a way of keeping tabs on people she liked as much as her job would allow. “Hannah, that’s not for another two days.”

“Right, but you and my guy Rayne there have that look in your eyes that either you just came back or you’re going out again really soon. I’ve seen you guys the last couple days so I know its not a just got back situations. We’re celebrating tonight since I don’t know when I’ll see you guys next. A girl can’t miss one of her best birthdays. The Lore Keepers say that before the invasion, we weren’t allowed to drink before twenty one legally in this country, can you imagine? That’s why everyone has a big party for their twenty first even though the law doesn’t exist anymore. Now no arguing or any of that we have to be up early nonsense. Time to party so go sit.” She shooed them to the table. Hannah was only twenty two, the same age as Rayne, but she looked at Ryan like a sister. The Dragons had saved her two years back from a particularly nasty monster the Fae had unleashed in the woods near her village. She’d lost her family a few years back to an accident but was moving along, then the monster stumbled upon her while she was picking berries in the woods. Rayne’s crew happened to be in the area when the call came in. They showed up, defeated the thing and brought her to the city originally to have her medically checked out, and Hannah didn’t have anything to go back to so she got a job at the Tavern and had since pretty much adopted Rayne and the crew as an impromptu family.

They went over to the table to sit with the rest of the Dragons of the squad. “Party hard but not too hard guys, we have a briefing in the morning. We’re out on mission day after. You’ll meet our new squadmate so I want everyone with a clear head.” He looked around to make sure nobody was listening and whispered anyway as the rest of the squad leaned in just in case someone was listening anyway. “It’s an unusual situation even for us, but if we succeed it could mean a step toward the end of the war we’ve known all our lives.” Rayne leaned back and spoke in a normal tone again. He wouldn’t give too much away in public, at least some paranoia came with the job being a Dragon even in one of their favorite places. It was still a public place after all and even though the city’s security was good, the Dragons still found the occasional vampire or fae spy among the citizens. It was just enough info to get the Dragons intrigued enough to make sure they could still have fun tonight and be up tomorrow for the briefing in good condition, especially considering the shock they were in for.

As Rayne leaned back and started to lean his chair back, he realized Hannah was standing behind him. She leaned over and put down two big flagons of ale, and two bowls of meat stew in front of a thankful Rayne and Ryan. She waited a moment and then pushed Ryan’s bowl off to the side.

“You can have that in a minute.” Hannah said as she moved Ryan to the side for a moment and put down a cake in front of her. The icing on it was sky blue, not too smooth but there were different kinds of flowers made out of icing and sugar all over the cake for decoration. In the center was a little figure of a girl in all black with auburn hair and green eyes next to another with blonde hair and blue eyes. All around them were 21 candles set into the cake. “Happy Birthday Ryan. I don’t bake much but I wanted to make it special for you. That’s supposed to be you and me on top.” She giggled

“ I got this.” Rayne said. He winked at Ryan and snapped his fingers. All the candles lit themselves. “Happy Birthday to you…..” Rayne wasn’t a great singer but all the Dragons and Hannah joined in the singing. After they were done singing, Ryan blew out the candles and closed her eyes for a moment.

“So, did you make a wish?” Sebastian asked. Sebastian voice was smooth, it was said he could probably talk anyone into anything. The Dragons knew his voice was an offshoot of his shadow magic, it had just become the way he talked even when he wasn’t employing and spells. Shadow magic was one of those that every Dragon knew the very basics to use to help them hide or move quietly when needed. Those that used it as their primary magic, often called Sneaks or Ghosts, however were often really creative with it, anything from moving from one shadow to another without anyone noticing you moved to making temporary objects that were quasi real but made of shadow, to the more rare uses that involved pushing the magic to affect minds. Usually these were subtle pushes, having someone turn a certain direction away so they could slip through an opening or making someone more open to being agreeable or following your suggestion, even convincing someone that you weren’t actually there without speaking. There were more dangerous applications of using shadow magic to deal with minds but they required a degree of skill most did not put the effort into and a somewhat blurring of the lines of what was right or wrong.

“There isn’t a thing I could wish for that was possible. I have almost anything I could ever want. Good friends, a career I love that gives me access to pursue whatever I want, and did I mention good friends?” Ryan laughed.

“Fair enough. Now for the best part of birthdays.” Sebastian said as he brought out a small box wrapped in brown paper and a black ribbon and slid it across the table “Presents.”

“Yeah, just what every woman needs.” Fred spoke up for the first time. Fred was the squad’s Druid, nature magic caster. He was probably the most contemplative of the group and the most patient. He was a terrible force to be reckoned with when angered though. He pulled out a small package that looked like it was wrapped in vines and flowers. He had probably grown them around whatever was inside.

“And last but hopefully not least.” Rayne said as he nudged Moose. Moose put a box on the table the size of a backpack that had something inside that rattled when he put it down on the table and slid it over.

Ryan took the gifts in order smiling the whole time. First she opened Sebastian’s gift. She tore through ribbon but left the bow intact. The cloth ribbon of the bow had been tied to look like a lotus blossom that she wanted to keep. She tore through the paper and inside was a lightweight metal box. Inside the box she found bullets. Laughing she looked at Sebastian. “Look closer.” He said. She did and found that each bullet was etched with a miniscule sigil. “Half of them will silence the explosion that propels your bullets while not interfering with your own magic, the other half will break apart into shards in a target and the entirety of the bullet will disappear within a minute of impact so nothing is left behind but a wound.”

“Aw thanks Sebastian, you really know a way to a girl’s heart.”

Next she opened Fred’s gift. The vines had to be peeled off like a line. It took a couple minutes but then the package opened to reveal a small glass box that looked like the night sky. Ryan opened the box and needed no explanation. Inside were small brushes, cloth that matched the scheme of the outside of the box, small tools, and a bottle of what she assumed was oil, a gun cleaning set. Fred spoke “While I prefer the capture missions because I’m not a fan of anything in nature dying, we can’t very well have you chancing any mishaps either so this help you keep your weapons in good repair. The oil is scented to smell like the air before it rains and the vine has grown magically to be stronger as resilient as chain.” Ryan smiled and kissed Fred on the cheek.

She moved onto the third gift, the box that Moose had put up on the table. The box was crafted with silver at it corners and a latch shaped like a dragon. The entirety of it was scorched not to the point of being destructive, but burnt sigils were inlaid within the grain of the wood. She saw sigils of protection and secrecy, ones representing each of the seven paths of magic and one that looked how Rayne’s tattoo had started out years ago although on a much smaller scale since his tattoo had started between his shoulder blades and grown from there. She opened the box and gasped.

Sitting inside the box was a silver chain belt. Each link had been covered on the outside by a scale of metal that had been painted black, but the edges left silver. Attached to the middle of the belt was a black leather double scabbard about the length of her forearm. Within the circle of the belt sitting on a red cloth that was lining the inside of the box were two daggers. They were double edged with only small crossguards the same width as the scabbard so when inserted they wouldn’t snag on anything. The blades themselves were two tones of colored metal, one bright silver, and the other a dull grey. She picked one up, they were only slightly heavier than they should be. It was then that she realized the coming off the crossguard was a filigree pattern that had the normal weapon sigils hidden in the pattern, and again etched into the pommel while the handles were wrapped in black leather. Each one looked like it was one piece of metal other than the odd two tone of colors. She looked at Rayne.

“Well we all know Moose is basically a master smith at this point so I brought him an idea and we managed it. They both fit into the belt and will sit at the small of your back, black so you can take them on mission as a backup weapon should you ever need it. The daggers look like that because the blade was actually created in four parts, if you flip it over you see the colors are reversed. Between the two of us, we were able to fuse silver and iron together to make a single blade and then fused that with the rest. He coaxed the metal together so that now they are one and both metals at the same time.”

Ryan got up from the stool and ran over to hug Moose, a kiss on his cheek. Then she did the same to Rayne, but she whispered in his ear so the others couldn’t hear “All I wished was that we all get back from this mission and you keep your promise.” She went to sit down.

“Ok, cake.” Hannah cheered. They cut the cake and everyone dug in, afterward Rayne and Ryan finished their own food. It wasn’t hot anymore, but still good. They took a couple rounds of ale. Hannah went back to serving the other customers.

“Game time?” Moose said.

“Hell yeah game time. You guys are geeks playing this game, but you’re my geeks.” Ryan laughed. “And I guess I am too since I keep going in with you.”

They all smiled, Sebastian pulled down the sphere and everyone took a helmet and put it on. The nice thing about the helmets was that they had sigils on them not only to match everyone together and power the devices. They were specially designed that when the helmet was activated and a player joined in the game, it shut down the parts of their brain that controlled magic usage and movement. So once a player put on the helmet and flipped the switch, they couldn’t move until they logged out of the game and the helmet shut itself down. The Dragons all switched their helmets on and heard the computerized voice through the speakers in the helmets. It still amused them all every time they logged in, that the voice was a modified capture of Hannah’s voice. It wasn’t originally, but the owner of this section, Hannah’s boss, had modified it after she’d been there a couple months and the customers had taken a shine to her and her infectious personality.

“Link established. Loading labyrinths and shades in 3….2….1…” As the voice kicked in the visuals went all dark and then lightened up to reveal a tavern very similar to the one they were actually in, almost as if they were waking up for the day. A smiling barrel chested dwarf stood behind the bar wiping out a mug with an old rag.

“Hello adventurers, welcome back.” he said with a smile. “Back to the Creepyy Crypts of the Castlewells today?” the AI was seamless. It knew where they had last left off as it heard “rumors” from other NPC’s. The Innkeeper always reminded the players logging in wherever their last known progression was in the game. Players generally logged out in town or a safe zone. Occasionally some of the longer dungeons or environs would have save spots that had a monster free safe area of about 50 feet around them, but they were few and far between. It was pretty easy to get from town to town. While if you logged out in a safe zone you were always greeted by the Innkeeper, the door to the inn would always open up to wherever you saved. Logging outside of a safe zone left a player’s avatar in place in essentially a zombie like state so a monster passing by might attack them and there was a chance you might lose equipment or items. Since the game world was open there was also the chance that logging out not in a safe zone you could be looted or attacked by other players. Teleport crystals were cheap in every actual inn and keyed to specific towns or places so it was easier to get somewhere after your first trip. It was one of the things the Dragons wished could actually be created given some of the situations they ran into out on mission, but nobody had ever discovered a way to make any kind of magic work like that. Not for lack of trying though. Some shadow spells could allow you to jump from one shadow to another instantaneously but they were limited in range and different kinds of air spells could transport you through the air but it generally wasn’t quick and only useful for short distances, not maintained flight.

Labyrinths and Shades was what they called a player driven class system. Every player started out without a class or job but was able to pick a certain number of skills and the appearance of their avatar. Since the VR helmet actually mapped out a player’s entire body the first time they ever logged into a game, it provided an avatar preset to what the player looked like, but there were certain tweaks a player could make to themselves like skin, eye, or hair color, even different ears and facial changes. The changes that could be made were basically anything that would not affect how the game felt in the virtual reality. The helmet could magically stimulate the parts of the body that were affected by anything the player interacted with such as swinging a weapon and hitting something to being hit themselves, even wounds could be simulated feeling with dulled ache. There were safety measures in place of course, couldn’t very well have a player coming out after losing an arm in the game and actually not be able to use their arm because they couldn’t feel it anymore in the real world. After the player made a character they were introduced to the world and given and option of a several skills to select from. These skills then became better as the player used them in game. As their skills got better they could go into more specialized versions of them. At any time a player could swap to a different specialty and their progress on their individual one would stay at the level it was so while the new specialty or skill may not be as strong as the previous, it gave more versatility to them. This versatility was what drove the class system. When a player learned certain skills they would be labeled as a certain class which would show to other people. In most cases opening up a certain class would open up other skills a player could try using. There were even a couple cases where some players that played extensively were said to have gone through skills pertaining to a certain class but also had lots of experience in a couple other skills and the system allowed them to name a new class that encompassed different skills they had focused on. The Dragons didn’t have that amount of time to play because they had a job to do. Mostly the reports of those people were testers for the system or just people that spent all of their free time in the game.

On the plus side, there were skills in the game that some of the Dragons used when they were on a mission as well with different combat skills. Going through the motions within the game would give them essentially more combat practice time to have their memory of the movements even if their body had not so they could teach their muscles how to do it later. It was an interesting perspective for the Dragons because the tattoos they had increased their senses and what their bodies could do often outside of a normal human, but in the game their real world magic didn’t work so it was similar to what it was like before they’d gotten their tattoos. It gave them a better appreciation of the magic they really had and since it would probably kill them if some monster didn’t first, it was always good to have a positive spin on something dangerous.

Rayne looked around. “Looking good as always Ryan.” He chuckled. Her hair in here was purple and the tops of her ears, slightly pointed, stuck out but other than that she looked exactly the same. In the game she was carrying a wooden shortbow and a quiver of arrows, two shortswords on her hips. Daggers hung at her hips from her belt. Her armor however none of them could figure out what the creator was thinking. Ryan was a hunter, she wore studded leather armor. It had metal studs at intervals that were more design that would be functional, but it didn’t really seem like armor. While the bottom of it was pants, it was basically a second skin and cut off at the knees. The top of the set was a sleeveless tank that was open above her midriff just below her chest, covered but not practical. There was of course the plus side of she could always get a cloak that went all the way around her if a quest called for stealth, and while it looked like it would not work practically she still got the benefit of leather armor as well as not being bulky allowed her a full range of movement as her real life combat armor. “Yeah yeah” she said “Come on Banana.” Ryan walked toward the door flicked her hand to the side to bring up her player menu to go to her inventory. She scrolled through with hand movements and found the correct icon then tapped on it and the menu closed. A bright blue light appeared next to her and when it disappeared a grizzly bear stood there, clad in its own studded black leather armor. “There’s my big guy.” She grabbed the bear’s fur and gave it a shake with a smile, the bear seemed to smile too. “Keep me safe Banana.” The bear growled an answer. To everyone else it just sounded like a growl, but as a hunter her character understood Banana the grizzly bear’s response of “as you wish.” When a hunter first used the companion summon item, it prompted for a name and keyed off the owner’s name. When Ryan first activated it, she didn’t know what would happen, they were all new to the game at that point and she took it even less seriously than everyone else, but it was good team building. Sebastian had been going through his inventory and all the random stuff he’d stolen to increase his skill and bad or good timing depending on perspective had named a Banana when the game had prompted Ryan for the bear’s name. She had repeated Banana and he game took it that she had named the bear Banana. They had all laughed, and while there was an option to change a companion’s name she had kept it because they all thought it amusing.

They all moved out to the inn and into the crypt’s save point where they had all logged out. It was a safe room, no roaming monsters. Everyone checked their gear and inventories, swapping potions and things as needed. There were only certain items that couldn’t be traded or given to another player.

“All right, let’s do this.” Rayne said and they headed out. Moose and Fred led the way through the door and back into the crypts. Sebastian nodded when they saw the room was clear and took point. He was the sneaky scout in the game just as he was in real life, the only difference was in game he was quite adept at all the thievery arts rather than just picking locks and moving stealthily. He was the only one of them that had put any time into stealing things and then talking npc merchants into a better price. There was one occasion he hadn’t realized at first he was talking to another player that had opened a shop and couldn’t figure out why his bartering wasn’t kicking in, thought the AI was busted for a good five minutes while the rest of the squad laughed and the shop owner stood confused but resolute on a price.

Rayne was in the back. As a mage he hadn’t built up his skills to be on the front lines yet. His dark blue robes were embroidered with yellow swirling patterns. They swished around him quietly as he walked. He liked being a mage here, spells that couldn’t be duplicated in the real world and being in the back put him in a position to see how the rest of them interacted in this simulated combat. He carried a staff of some black what felt like wood and metal capped with a bright orange crystal on top. Since none of them could see in the dark in the game, something they could do in the real world with minor spells, he occasionally had to make the crystal light up. It marked him as a target in the dark but at least it gave them all the ability to see what was coming.

Fred was the healer in the group, and was always in the middle. In game he wore green scaled armor and could stand up to some punishment at least with his spear. It suited him well enough because his magic in game while faster than in the real world has some similar spell effects at least.

Moose was in front of the main group while Sebastian scouted ahead. Moose in game was clad in great big silver plate armor head to toe. He wore a helmet that looked like the head of a silver dragon and carried a greathammer, a weapon not all that dissimilar from his real life counterpart. Moose wasn’t the most tactical thinker of the group but he understood orders and was a mechanical and smithing genius. He was also exceedingly loyal, kind, and honest.

Sebastian scouted ahead clad in his full black leather armor. In game it was magically enhanced to keep him better at being hidden and moving quietly. At his sides he carried two daggers and a bow. Normally he’d get a bit ahead of the group and report back. Sebastian was hard to read unless he was being obvious about something, you never really knew where you stood with him unless he wanted you to.

So the party moved forward through several rooms until they made it to set of giant bone doors, the boss room. It was probably going to be a short night, none of them had realized how close they had been to finishing the crypts at the end of last session. They had completed several quests while they were here and hadn’t had a chance to turn them in yet back in town so a short night wasn’t so bad considering the briefing in the morning.

Sebastian pushed open one of the doors gently and peeked inside. He motioned the rest of them to move forward but quietly as possible. When they were all inside they looked at the layout of the room. It was a great circular hall, there were three balconies set up near the ceiling around the room and one large circular platform made of stone in the middle. From where they stood at the doors there was a narrow walkway that lead to the circular platform, the sides of the platform and the walkway dropped off into shadows. Either there was nothing below them or it was just too far to see. In the center of the platform stood a ten foot tall throne of bones. There was nothing sitting on the throne, the room looked completely empty.

Sebastian moved forward and the rest of the party moved in close behind him, Moose, Fred, Banana, Ryan, then Rayne. They made it the center circular platform. It was about a hundred feet across before dropping off on the sides. After they crossed over the edge of the walkway onto the platform they heard a rumbling sound. Rayne and Ryan looked back and saw that the stone walkway that had just come across was falling away in chunks from the door inward. They were trapped on the platform, and committed to whatever happened next. She growled quietly and Banana moved out front next to Moose, Sebastian moved off to the side and they started moving forward.

Two steps in along the bone covered walls torches lit up of a dull green color. The whole room was bathed in bright light now. Fading into view lounging upon the throne was a ten foot tall humanoid in black metal armor. Its skin was a dull crimson and large black bull’s horns rose from its head. Its face was elongated into a lizardlike snout and its blue tongue flicked out before it spoke. Its voice was low and part hiss “Ah, adventurerssss. You’ve come unbidden to my home, dessstroyed my creationssss, and laid wassste to all my plansss. Now you will be defeated, tortured, and fed to my petsss.” The thing stood up. It reached back behind its head and brought forth a glaive that had a violet crystal embedded in the middle of the blade and brandished the weapon in front of it. It howled and ran forward right at Moose who barely got his weapon up in time to block.

Seeming to permeate the room a voice called out “Boss fight activated. Lord Castlewell, necromancer of evil.”

“Are there other kinds of necromancers?” Rayne laughed and asked out loud as he threw beams of ice at the creature. Ryan loosed arrow after arrow at the creature, some of them lighting up different colors with fire or poison or other special trick shots. Sebastian snuck up behind the creature and attacked from the rear, doing more damage as a scout against an enemy that was flanked, while Fred attacked with his spear from one side and Banana with its claws and bite on the other.

They watched as the creature’s health slowly diminished, it had multiple health bars. When they had gotten through half of them, Lord Castlewell broke off his attack. It dropped its glaive among the party and teleported back to the throne. It reached into the throne and pulled out a greatsword suited for its size, and a kite shield that had screaming faces all over the front and resumed its attack on the party.

Just as the party got into the rhythm of its attacks and blocking for it barely took any damage when it was in full blocking mode, Rayne waved his hand at Ryan casting a spell at her. As he raised his hand, she watched as a half bubble of hexagons appeared just above her and as soon as it appeared an arrow made of bone shattered against it. it would have hit her in the eye. She looked up and saw on each of the balconies was a skeleton archer. They must have materialized as a distraction while the main fight was going on. She looked over at Rayne.

“Careful, I only get so many of those a day.” He smirked and went to moving his hands to cast spells to take out the archers. She joined him moving next to him and bumping her hip against him as she pointed her bow at one of the skeletal archers. “I owe you one.”

“I’ll always be there when you need me.” He’d taken out two of the archers while she downed the third then they went back to the main enemy. “I promise.”

Rayne looked at the boss, its health was near gone. He raised his arms. His hands formed the gestures as he moved his arms around in a circle in front of him. As he moved his arms, sparks and electricity trailed behind them. Once the circle was complete, the electricity arced across the center of the circle. Rayne threw his arms in front of him toward Lord Castlewell and a streaks of bright blue lightning flew out straight toward the enemy. The bolts of lightning just missed Moose. He moved to the side a split second he saw the light next to him and it cleared the path to the enemy fully. The blast of lightning hit the monstrosity right in the chest and arced all across its body. It convulsed as the lightning arced up and over its face. Lord Castlewell’s head flew back and it howled as the lightning arced into its eyes and mouth, blowing them out and beams of light came streaking forth. Its weapons dropped and 2 seconds later so did Lord Castlewell as the light and lightning subsided. When the creature dropped, the room shifted. The stone walkway raised up again and put itself back together, giving them access to get out of the room again. Each of them got a pop up menu of the loot that came out of the boss encounter. Minor random items and money showed up for each character, however the creatures themselves also may have bonus things like enchanted items, weapons, or armor, sometimes even extra coins and gems. The party then got to decide what to do with the extra items.

“Alright, let’s loot this guy and get out of here.” Rayne walked over and waved his hand over the remains of Lord Castlewell. He waved his hand over the body. The shield, both weapons, and a necklace started to glow for a few seconds. They were enchanted and they could trade or sell off anything they didn’t need. Rayne picked up the shield and tossed it to Fred. It would give him a batter armor score than what he had at the moment, more staying power to help heal the fighters on the front line. The glaive turned out to be quite light, the gem in the blade could be used a spell focus so Rayne kept it, and the greatsword to Moose. As Rayne picked up the necklace it was identified to help a player’s agility score. Sebastian already had a better one so they gave it over to Ryan.

“Alright Moose, rope trick time.” Rayne pulled out a rope and tied it around his waist, handing the other end to Moose. He cast a quick spell. He wasn’t high enough in the right magic skill to be able to fly yet, but he could levitate. As Rayne started the spell, he ran toward one of the balconies and jumped as he completed the spell. His levitation would only allow him to move up and down, but any momentum he had would carry into the spell. To anyone that didn’t know any better it just looked like he jumped in slow motion up to the first balcony. Rayne waved his hand again over the skeleton archer that was on the balcony. No glow so nothing enchanted and no items or currency. Rayne kept his height and kicked off from the wall toward the next balcony. He repeated the process, again nothing. One more wall kick and he was at the third balcony. Another hand waved loot scrying spell, but this one was different than the others. It had a bag light up on its belt, its bow and quiver lit up as well. He took the bag, the quiver, and the bow.

“Ok, pull me in.” Since the floor other than the walkway still wasn’t present, Moose pulled on the rope as Rayne slowly lowered his height and the group reeled him in like some kind of flying fish. He tossed the bag to Sebastian. It was coins and gems but Sebastian hadn’t gotten anything and he was the party’s quartermaster essentially in game, and with his constant thievery, they never knew what would show up in the party’s bank.

Rayne looked at Ryan and tossed her the quiver and bow. “Looks like you win out on your birthday game, three items from the same fight.” Ryan looked down at the quiver and bow. The bow first. It looked like a metal canister enough to hold about thirty arrows, already an upgrade from what she had. She cast a minor spell to identify its properties. The quiver light up and a pop up came up showing her the quiver had a capacity of only ten, but had a unique quality Replenishment that she didn’t recognize.

“Replenishment?” she asked the rest of the group. All of them shook their heads. She was the only one that focused on archery. She’d have to find out later when they got back to town or just start using it and find out what happened. That seemed to be what the rest of her friends did, occasionally to their dismay. They’d found a couple items that looked ok at first then turned out to have really negative side effects that didn’t display themselves at first. It took a greater skill to appraise and identify than any of them had to find out if an item was cursed, perhaps in time. She hung the quiver on her back and brought the bow up to check. It was beautiful. It was a recurve bow. Not quite long enough to be considered a longbow but it was longer than a standard shortbow. The string for it was of some black material. The bow itself was made of some teal metal. It had three purple glowing crystals set in one side of the grip and a green one opposite them. Her item popup came up. It identified that the bow did more damage as its base than her own. It had a property that added extra damage of varying kinds to any arrow fired from it as well as a chance to poison anyone struck with an arrow fired from it. Well that was an interesting twist. The bow was called “Tempest’s Stinger.”

Sebastian in the meantime had checked the rest of the room while Rayne was on his rope leash looting the skeleton archers. He’d found a small treasure chest set in the back of the throne. Inside was a set of daggers that were an upgrade for him and a fair amount of gems. They would go to the party’s loot.

“Ok, room and dungeon are clear. Let’s get back to town.” Rayne suggested as he reached into a pouch that opened his inventory and pulled out a pyramidal block of light blue crystal that was guilded with silver filigree around the edges. Everyone else brought out a crystal pyramid of the same design.

“Freeport!” they all said together, holding up their crystals. Each one started to light up as a mist flowed out of the crystals and around each person. The crystals they were using to teleport back to town currently was a permanent item. You could only use it once every six hours, and it took about fifteen seconds to fully activate. The single use ones activated faster but then disappeared and cost money to buy them so they were best used to escape dangerous situations if needed. The mist surrounded everyone and they were transported back to the town of Freeport. The party went their separate ways first, turning in individual quests they had from their different associates. After that was completed they all met back up and turned in the quests that they had shared. Everyone gained some skill levels, Moose actually gained a level in a skill to give him a new class option. He’d determine it later though if he wanted to switch or not. It was getting late so they decided to figure out everything next time they logged in. They all logged out, coming back to the real world. They all took off the helmets and smiled. It was always fun to play Labyrinths and Shades in their off time. It was time to go home and get some rest before morning briefing.

They said goodbye to Hannah, well except Moose who waved. They left the Tavern from the closest door. The Tavern was in the middle of the MAGUS district of the city so it was only a couple of blocks to get to the main compound for the Dragons. When a person decided to join any branch of MAGUS they were given quarters within this district of the city. They still got paid in order to buy things, but normally almost anything a MAGUS member needed was already provided by the organization. Food, clothing, shelter, and equipment were all provided for any member of MAGUS within the district. Outside of it, they still needed to barter or buy other things, and most people that had anything to sell looked favorably on MAGUS members and gave them decent rates or easy to work out bargains. There were of course others that were convinced MAGUS hid things from the populace and that they were secretly treating regular non-MAGUS citizens as little better than slave labor, but those conspiracy theorists were few and far between. The squad continued to chat as they walked to the Dragons’ barracks, laughing and having a good time. This section of the city had been rebuilt really well, it was always clean and everything well maintained. They all knew that outside of the MAGUS district the rest of the city gradually declined in upkeep until you reached the poorer sections of town. Because there were only so many people left, the entirety of the city couldn’t be maintained but people did what they could. The slums of the city were actually separated by a new river. At some point during the invasion, one of the vampires’ attacks had blown a hole along the entirety of the island because it had hit a natural gas line that was still active at the time. It created a crevasse across the island New York sat on that was quickly filled in by the ocean. The majority of the island was now called New New York and while the smaller island was still technically part of the city, it had eventually become a prison facility. Even in the face of utter extinction, put enough people together and there was still a criminal element to contend with, but they were separated from the common populace so all was well most of the time.

The squad made it back to the Dragons’ compound and went inside. They all split up to their separate rooms and turned in for the night. Rayne walked into his room got undressed and dropped down on the bed. He rolled over and hit the console next to his bed on the wall. Setting a wake up alarm for the morning. When the alarm was set, he rolled back over and drifted off to sleep, excited and slightly apprehensive of what was coming up in the morning and where this mission would lead them.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3. The Briefing