Chapter 68

The Safari Resort, Etson - 7:21 PM

I sat comfortably in one of the Safari Resort’s meeting rooms where I had begun writing while waiting for people to arrive. Gloria had been kind enough to begin preparing a registration booth and gave me a room out of the way that would give me privacy. It was refreshing to see that she was ready and raring to go back into the thick of things, though I’m sure it mostly came from feeling cooped up in the safe zone while her brother played catch up. I respected her drive even after her run in with the Writhing Zeppelin.

A knock on the door grabbed my attention. I finished writing the short letter I had already started before picking up the pile and shoving them into my inventory. The amount of progress I made was small overall, but I still considered it time well spent. Standing up from the conference table, I walked around and opened the door.

“Someone tried to assassinate you?” Kayla immediately asked with her hands on her hips and a look of fire in her tired eyes. Jeff was behind her, and gave me a small smile.

“Good to see you, too, Kayla, Jeff,” I said jovially. “Please, come in and have a seat.”

She glowered at me for a few moments before sighing. “You’re being too reckless, psychic boy.” After giving me a small hug, which I reciprocated, she entered the meeting room with her husband. We bumped fists and I closed the door to take a seat.

“I’m surprised to hear you calling me psychic boy already,” I teased once I became comfortable. “I thought you’d still be mad at me over Serranras.”

Kayla sighed again. “I am mad, but now I’m just tired. Honestly, it would have been fine if you had just told us what to expect and we had some harder liquor on hand. I’d have liked to have been drunk for it, is all,” she claimed as she began rubbing her temples. While Kayla had taken a seat, Jeff had stood behind her and started rubbing her shoulders. I could see the tension melt out of her almost as soon as he began. “Thanks, honey.”

“I got you, Kay,” Jeff said.

“How did talking to Gabrielle about the Kobolds go?” I asked. “I assume it went well since you two were talking things over with Thomas when Jeff and I arrived.”

Kayla nodded. “She actually insisted on going to meet them herself, so we took a few people and snuck out of the Square. We ran into a bit of trouble on the way there and back, but having a healer handy is a literal game changer. After the first fight I was hesitant to continue because the group got banged up, and then we were all fine. Gabrielle started talking to people as soon as we got back. She's very passionate.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, Gabrielle is great. And having access to healing on tap can never be discounted. Did Jeff tell you about his new healing skill?”

“He was so excited it was one of the first things he told me about after you left.”

“Pocket Bacon is the best skill,” Jeff said as if he had to defend himself.

“No one’s arguing that, honey,” she replied, reaching up to pat his hand.

“Healing is why we needed the Etson Faithful so much,” I said as I folded my arms on the table. “But be careful, alright? Magical healing is wonderful, but don’t rely on it too much. It can run out and sometimes it just takes time. Right now, I can admit that I may be a bit too dependent on my Writhing Belt Whip for healing. I’ve taken a few risks knowing it would heal me, but I also almost got assassinated today.”

“Speaking of that,” Kayla said sharply, pointing at me. “Why would you go and stand in the middle of Etson Square where you were a huge target when you have a sniper after you? Were you looking to get shot?”

“Kinda,” I admitted. When both of the Mills glared at me, I chuckled. “Can you imagine how I could have played off of getting shot if it happened? Holding up the Vespae stinger and yelling about how they were scared of me in particular? Man, that would have been great.”

“Been great? You could have died!” Kayla protested.

Grinning, I pulled up the item screen for Boss Steener’s Golden Bowling Ball and shared it with the both of them. I watched as Jeff nodded approvingly and Kayla’s face softened as she read it. “Okay, fine,” she said once she had finished. “What other hidden features are there?”

“Secret ones,” I said mysteriously while waving my fingers in the air. Kayla rolled her eyes and I laughed. Then I reeled it in and sighed, knocking on the table. “Also, sorry but it’s kind of stuck in my head now, but if you guys ever don’t want to do something then you’re free to say no.”

“You know the Dryad thing can die if you let it, right?” Jeff asked in amusement.

“I know, but that’s not something that I should have just expected out of you two, especially considering how I first acted around Kayla,” I said. “There will be times where I push, but you can say no. If I’m not pushing, then you know I have other ways around whatever it is that’s needed at the time.”

“Okay. What do we need the Queen of the Forest passive for?” Kayla asked, leaning forward.

“Well, when we go to Atlanta there’s a specific plant nursery there that I’ll need some plants harvested from.” I leaned back in my chair and pulled my hat off of my head to fidget with it. “The plants are monsters, as you could probably guess, and they’re tough. Having the X of the Forest passive given to you by the Dryads can make the whole encounter a cake walk.”

“What are the plants used for?”

“So, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a dungeon underneath it run by a druid. The King of the Forest, or Queen in your case, and Champion in Jeff’s, will allow you two to get in unmolested. Once inside, you’ll help the druid with a cure for a disease that hasn’t been made yet. Which is, like, the big thing to do in Atlanta. It’ll look like we’re not doing jack shit for the CDC at first, but everything we’ll do will be to protect that dungeon.”

“Because other people will want to complete it?” Jeff asked.

I shook my head. “No, because there are a couple of NPC types, like the tutorial runners, up there that have plans to destroy it. We have to protect it from the system.”

“They really try to screw with us every way they can, don’t they?” Kayla asked quietly.

“Yes, they do,” I answered as another knock came from the door. I glanced at Kayla and Jeff, who shrugged, and got up to answer it.

Benjamin stood on the other side. The middle aged man wore comfortable clothes under a loose fitting gray cloak. As before, he casually held a cheap lighter in one hand and was constantly pressing the button without lighting it. He grinned as he saw me. “Hey, Anthony. Nice speech.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Congrats on taking out your first scenario. I have to admit, I didn’t expect you guys to be done so soon.”

“That’s the power of teamwork, my man,” he said with a chuckle. “If you’ve got time, I was asked by… the Savior of Stanley to grab you.”

“Too good to come and see me himself, eh?”

“Nah, that’s not it. We just want you to see the fruits of your labor.”

I arched an eyebrow at that. With the door open, I could now hear the hustle and bustle coming from the lobby. “You two want to come?” I asked, looking back at the Mills.

“I haven’t been with my husband all day. We’ll come, but I need about five more minutes of this,” Kayla said, closing her eyes. Jeff was still massaging her shoulders, and he just smirked at me.

I chuckled and nodded. “Alright, fair,” I replied before turning to Benjamin and gesturing him forward. He began walking, and I closed the door behind me.

The business conference rooms of the Safari Resort weren’t too far from the lobby. We made it there after navigating a few halls and, despite the ever growing din, I hadn’t expected the scene in front of me to be so intense.

People packed inside the front of the large room like sardines in a can. They came in from the front door, registered with a few people sitting at reception and a long desk that seemed to have been recently constructed, and left through the side door. I saw that Gabrielle and Officer Miller were some of the people registering folks with Corwin supervising. Gabrielle I could understand, but I wasn’t expecting the old cop to give up his post in the Square. I was pleasantly surprised.

When the crowd saw me, they erupted in shouts and cheers. I raised up a hand to wave and stood up on the tip of my toes. They extended far outside the front doors. Benjamin tapped me on the shoulder and pointed up to the second floor. I looked to see the masked figure, Thomas, and Gloria standing and overseeing the whole operation. We headed up the nearest stairwell.

With a better view of the room and through the front windows, I marveled at the crowd. I had expected about fifty or so people to come to our aid, but there had to be at least two hundred people out there. “Looks like you really struck a nerve with that Stanley comment,” Benjamin stated with a chuckle.

“Sure looks like I did, I was lucky you guys showed up,” I answered honestly.

“Right, I almost forgot, but Heather wanted me to give this to you.” Reaching into his inventory, Benjamin fished out an envelope. I took it from him and opened it, pulling out the letter inside to read.

Anthony Franklin,

I hope this letter finds you well.

Looks like the time for Stanley and Etson to join forces has come.

I’m glad that it started with you that day.

Thank you for putting this into motion.

Be safe and good luck.

Sincerely,

Heather Cappola

I couldn’t help but snort as she threw my words back in my face. Despite myself, a warm feeling began to spread through my body. Apparently, she counted my appearance as the beginning of Stanley’s turning point despite the fact that I hadn’t done anything to help.

As we reached the top of the stairs, I realized that wasn’t exactly fair. Even though I didn’t consider what I did to be a lot, taking out Pustibule had been a great boon for Doctor Sterling and the Medics. While I still didn’t know what made him cover up the deaths of those he sent inside to deal with the demon, it had obviously cost him a big chunk of his forces including a powerful combatant in Jeff.

With his people alive, then he would have had a lot more power behind the Medics when dealing with the Flyers and the Pines. I suspected that the words I left both Sterling and Benjamin before I went in to deal with Pustibule had longer lasting effects than I originally thought. Not that my thoughts at that time were particularly deep with the hatred of demons springing up and blindsiding me.

The masked man noticed us coming up before the Browns did, and he raised a hand to pause the conversation before turning towards me. We met in the middle of the balcony. “Anthony Franklin, you have been busy,” he said, voice still unnaturally deep and distorted.

“I could say the same thing about the Savior of Stanley,” I returned, looking the man up and down. The dark robes and cow skull mask didn’t give me a lot to go by. “So who’re you?”

“You don’t recognize me? I’m hurt,” he said before chuckling. “Sorry, Benjamin thought I should stay this way for a while. Said it lends me a gravitas that I was sorely lacking in before. Plus, I may have wanted to freak you out a little bit since you didn’t say goodbye before heading back home.”

I arched my eyebrow, and then realization blew through me. “Todd?” I asked incredulously. Laughing, the masked man pulled his cowl off of his head and removed the mask. Sure enough, it was the same young man I had met at the exit of the interstate who led me to Festival Pointe. “You killed the necromancer from your main scenario?”

“Wow, harsh,” Todd said, a big grin on his face despite my accidental insult. “No, no, that’s a completely fair question. To be honest, Carl, me, and the others weren’t a part of the efforts to storm the necromancer’s underground base. We were on surface duty in case any of the Amalgams came home to protect their maker. However…” Todd pointed to Benjamin.

To which Benjamin sighed. “We got the necromancer down to his last leg when he fled to the surface.”

“And I just so happened to be at the right place at the right time,” Todd finished. “We started shooting, but I was the one to take him down. I figured a Spell Slinger type class was a long way off and Heather had talked about how you got your class from a boss, so I decided I wanted to be as cool as you and became the Amalgamancer.”

“I don’t know about ‘as cool as me’ but hell yeah, bro, good work,” I said, grinning back at the younger man. I reached out for a fist bump, and he reciprocated.

I knew that the class was a good one, too, and he was lucky to have gotten it the way he had. The Amalgamancer was a type of necromancer that only worked with two corpses at first, fusing them together with a flash of necromantic energy. The more powerful he got, the more creatures he would be able to fuse. It was definitely a minion class, but a powerful one befitting a boss class. I had done it once before, but didn’t find it to my taste.

“Yeah, man. And I took a few cuttings from the big tentacle jellyfish just laying around next to the safe zone. The time for harvesting had almost passed, but I got some of it in my Corpse Locker now,” Todd said excitedly. His enthusiasm was dampened somewhat by the horrified looks Thomas and Gloria were giving him, and he threw his hands up. “It’s not as sinister as it sounds! I can save monster parts for later fusion, like we talked about. The Corpse Locker was something the necromancer dropped that lets me save pieces for later, that’s all.”

“Amalgamating the Writhing Zeppelin is going to net you good results later on,” I said with a whistle.

“Yeah, I’m excited! The system says I can’t right now because I’m not strong enough yet, but I’m super stoked about the opportunities it opens up for me.”

Thomas cleared his throat to grab our attention. “Benjamin, Todd here hasn’t given us a really clear look into what actually happened inside the necromancer’s lair. Care to shed some light on that?”

“Yeah, Benjamin’s a lot better at telling the story, and he was there for it,” Todd said, taking a step back.

Benjamin gave Todd a smile and a nod. “There’s not much to talk about. One of my scouts found the entrance to the necromancer’s lair in a second hand shop near the center of town. He got the screen telling him so and the points, and our time limit dropped to a day as the necromancer knew they had been found. But, we were already preparing at that point.”

“Carl’s group was just a backup team because of how small we were,” Todd interjected.

Benjamin continued. “I talked to my wife, Sally, who’s the head of our faction and was the middle man between her and Sterling, the head of the Medics. She’d kick him out the moment he’d say something callous, I knew, so I took the role of diplomat. After what happened to Ben, I really took your words to heart, Anthony,” he said, glancing at me with a grimace. “Reconcile, and don’t let in-fighting destroy the city.”

I nodded. “Together is the way forward.”

“Says the guy trying to do everything alone,” Thomas huffed.

“Not on this, though,” I said, waving my hand towards the crowd below. There had barely been a dent made to it while we were having this conversation.

“Together, that’s what we were going for,” Benjamin said, reining the conversation back on topic. “The Flyers and Medics were good to go, but we still couldn’t convince the Pines to join us. The bastards thought they were safe, and they still are, but we’ve got the points and they didn’t. Their leader is the kind of no good guy who undoubtedly expected to step in and pick up the pieces of our factions if we failed.”

“People like that shouldn’t be in charge,” Thomas spat.

“Agreed, but we didn’t push it. They’re regretting it now, anyway,” Benjamin said, sighing. “We didn’t lose as many people as we thought we were going to. The Flyers were mostly made up of fighters and, I guess the proper word for them is tanks, and the Medics had a lot of healers. We kept the healers in the back and rotated people once they were injured.”

“That’s a good way to do it,” Gloria said.

“It was, but the terrain was also very advantageous for us,” Benjamin continued. “The dungeon wasn’t huge, there weren’t any battlefields like the one we’re going to tomorrow, which made getting our fighters back at full hit points much easier. I was at the front of the group almost the whole time, including the fight with the necromancer, that was…”

Once he hesitated, I reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked haunted by the memory, which I understood. “Don’t worry about that, man,” I said soothingly. “We all understand how fighting someone who tenaciously brings back the dead can be traumatizing.”

With the others murmuring their confirmation, Benjamin resumed his tale. “It was rough. We kept hitting him with everything we had. Swords, bullets, magic. By the time he was fleeing, it looked like he dropped enough blood for a whole platoon of men. It was unreal. But, we got him fleeing and he escaped through what looked like a giant pneumatic tube, like the kind you’d find at a bank.”

When Benjamin pointed to Todd, the young man picked it up. “That’s when we found him. Popped out of a manhole, opened the door to get out and we lit him up,” Todd said proudly, throwing his fist in the air. “And that was this morning. We left to come help you guys out after a few hours of celebrating.”

“Brought about fifty volunteers. Fifteen healers and the rest a mix of combatant classes. All at your disposal.”

“We appreciate all the help we can get,” Thomas said with a tired smile. He looked at me. “So, how are we doing this, Anthony?”

I took a breath and looked at the people who had gathered. “Okay, so we need to grab Gabrielle, Francis, and I need to get the Mills.”

“Francis, too?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah, we’re going into a battle in a forest,” I said, turning to look Thomas dead in the eye. “That means we’re going to be bringing a lot of fire.”