The afternoon whiled away in the warm silence of the library, Peter comforted himself with the words of various authors as he sought to escape his worldly problems. It was with a heavy heart he extracted himself from the bean bag and dragged himself to the bus stop when the final bell rang. He still felt small twinges of guilt every time his mind strayed to the events of the day, disturbing his father and preventing him from getting home after an extended weekend working, breezing through two exams he hadn’t really studied for - just played games and hoped for the best, possibly even helping the Bully instead of outing him as he had planned to.

Climbing onto the bus, Peter did his best to distract himself by drawing his mind back to the problems in Averton, the problems he could solve, every time it drifted away. Warren had agreed to assist, even if it came at a price, so now they had a way through the door. Once the door was open, they needed to defeat whatever was on the other side. One problem at a time, Peter stared out the window as the buildings streamed past, get the door open, then worry about the next room. We still have to get Warren past the slimes. I’m willing to bet his stealth score is in the negatives.

Peter climbed carefully off the bus, in case the controller got any funny ideas, and collapsed painfully onto the concrete as a pizza delivery drone smashed into his ankle. The little wheeled bot beeped angrily at his supine form as though it was his fault and Peter lashed out at it with his good foot, only to stub his toe on the only exposed metal part of its frame. “ARGH! Stupid. Metal. Piece. Of. CRAP!” He landed several good hits on the machine with his heel, probably scrambling someone’s dinner in the process but at least making himself feel a little better. People around him on the sidewalk inched away, muttering about ‘children these days’ and ‘where are your parents’ but not willing to step in and help him up.

Eventually it backed up and rolled around him and Peter sat up and rubbed his ankle until he felt he could walk again. Rather than deal with the elevator, he hobbled up the stairs to his apartment. “Mum? Dad? Anyone home?”

The unrelenting silence gave him all the answer he was going to get. Peter hung his backpack and shuffled around the kitchen making himself a cup of tea and fetching a cold pack from the freezer for his ankle. There were fewer mugs in the cupboard than he remembered and some fresh dints in the door beside his bag. Clearly his parents had discussed his father’s absence over the weekend while he was at school. And I made it worse, he thought as he sipped his tea, making Dad even later this morning. Maybe they’d be better off if I wasn’t here.

By the time his cup was empty the cold pack wasn’t cold anymore and Peter couldn’t feel his ankle. The sun had dropped towards the horizon and he realised he couldn’t feel his butt either. Damn, how long have I been here? I gotta meet Dani and Warren. He whipped up a note for his parents, explaining that he was exhausted, had dinner from the fridge and was turning in early to be rested for the next day’s exams. That should cover it.

Diving straight into the game, Peter didn’t tarry long in the cottage, scooping up DB and hurrying out the door as he chinned the party ring to let Dani know he was online. I really have to do something about that, he gave his useless hand a frustrated shake.

In the square in the middle of town a small crowd had gathered, their voices mingling into a concerned hubbub. The mayor was standing on the top step of his manor addressing the townspeople. “I assure you, my good fellows, there is nothing to be worried about. The town guard have it under control. In fact,” he paused and pointed towards Peter, “we even have our newly appointed Defender of Averton on hand to effect decisive action. Peter, do please step up here for a moment.”

Peter ascended the stairs to stand beside the mayor and stare out over the sea of heads. “What’s going on?” he asked out the side of his mouth while trying to maintain a smile for the crowd.

The mayor wrapped an avuncular arm around Peter’s shoulders and pulled him close, his own smile starting to show cracks. “There’s been imp attacks across the town,” he whispered out the side of his mouth. “People are, understandably, concerned. I need you, my boy, to smile, wave and tell them you have it in hand.”

“But…”

“In. Hand.” The cracks were widening.

Peter hiked the smile on his own face up another notch, beaming at the assembly. “Hi everyone! I understand you’re worried. That’s a normal and healthy reaction to finding imps inside the city limits. As your Defender, I pledge to rid this town of the flying menace once and for all.” Peter infused all the confidence he wasn’t feeling into the words he spoke. “In fact, I’m off to find the source of the outbreak right now. Mayor, if you will.”

Dashing down the stairs in an attempt to escape the rather creepy hug, Peter found the mass of Citizens parted like the seas in front of a certain biblical figure fleeing some quite angry Egyptians. At the very back of the group, washed up on the shores like a shark beached by the same biblical figure stood Dani, tapping her foot and looking at her wrist. Not that she was even wearing a watch, but the message was clear: get a move on.

Gathering his companion in his wake, Peter powered towards the tavern. Warren was just stepping up onto the patio when they arrived so Peter snagged him by the arm and stopped dead. He had intended to drag Warren along but physics is a harsh mistress even in a game where magic is possible.

Warren looked down at the arm hooked through his, then up at Peter. “Ay, lost weight did ye?”

“Very funny.” Dani came up beside them as Peter disentangled himself. “Mate, I know you and Petey here have a, well, complicated past, but we really need some help,” she looked back at the murmuring crowd, “and we need to get moving. Travellers are not going to be particularly welcome around here if we don’t get this sorted quick smart.”

Realisation dawning on the larger Traveller, Warren gave a snort and accompanied them to the brick shed that led to the underground. “This is why we don’t come back to starter towns. If it wasn’t for Pham finding out that the Geas had been bestowed in this region we’d all be in the capital doing raids or merc work.”

Dani started to protest, but Peter cut over her. “Warren, I know they’re just NPCs to you, but have you considered that they’re still people with lives, wants and desires? Have you ever talked to any of them?”

“I’ve been playing since,” Warren stopped, blinking. He pulled the visor on his helmet down but Peter caught a glitter of wetness to his eyes. “Since the game was first released,” he continued. “I have seen the Citizens develop from mindless cardboard cut-outs to the complex characters they are now. Every patch has added more detail to the world and interaction between the elements.” There was a complete lack of accent in his voice, just a deep sadness with a hint of anger. “I have definitely spoken to some of them.”

Taken aback, Peter chose his next words more carefully. “Then you understand what I’m talking about. How can you abandon them? They’re scared,” Peter swept his arm backwards to where the crowd were still listening to the Mayor assuring them of their safety, unwilling or unable to return to their homes. Here and there couples embraced each other, a child began to cry and was lovingly soothed by a parent with troubled eyes. Nobody was untouched by the issue.

“Don’t lecture me on responsibility,” Warren stepped close to Peter and loomed, as only a walking wall of metal could do. “You’ve paid me to do a job, and by god I’ll see it through. But don’t for a minute think that this is my fault, or my responsibility. You should have let us help when we offered.” He gestured towards the door. “We doing this or what?”

Peter grunted and pressed his badge to the indentation. Leading the way back down the staircase with a lantern swinging from the butt of his weapon and his bony hand scraping at the brick wall, Peter held his tongue until they reached the landing at the bottom. “We have to keep quiet now. There’s some high-ish level slimes down here and they’ll mob us if we’re not careful.” He raised the lantern to reveal the gelatinous monsters slurping about the tunnel ahead. “Do you think you can manage that?” He looked meaningfully at Warren’s steel shod feet.

Ignoring the implied insult, Warren drew his sword from behind his back and twisted the grip like wringing out a rag. The blade immediately burst into flame, lighting the tunnel better than the lanterns did. He clomped over to the nearest slime and plunged the sword clean through it and into the floor slightly. Peter winced, the memory of exactly how that felt rushing through him. The slime burst apart in a shower of chunks and steam. “How about that? Will that do?”

Giggling despite herself, Dani piped up. “Yeah, that’ll do mate. Now what about them?” She chinned towards the sea of glistening wrath churning their way towards Warren’s back. They dropped from the ceiling, surged from the channel in the middle of the room and glooped across the floor.

“Oh.” Warren sheathed his sword and shuffle-clanked back to the base of the stairs as fast as he could. “Aye, tha’ could be a worry. My bad.”

The three Travellers retreated back up the stairs to the shed at the top. Warren took off his helmet and wiped his forehead. Dani leaned on the shelf, careful not to knock off any of the lanterns. Peter just threw himself on the cold brick floor and blew out an explosive breath. He picked up his hand and tucked it into his belt to keep it from flopping everywhere.

“How’d that happen?” Warren asked when he’d managed to get his breath back under control.

Peter looked at the skeletal limb and contemplated how much to share. “I had another run in with Fjor. It… didn’t go so well.”

“She didn’t rescind the Geas, did she?” Warren frowned, wiping the inside of his helmet. “I’ve never heard of it happening, but I’ve never heard of the Avatar of Life ripping someone’s arm off either.”

Dani rolled her eyes. “It’s not ripped off, and it was an accident.”

“How,” Peter started, “ah, whatever. She’s right though. Apparently I’m ‘synchronised’ with Bani so much that when Fjor touched my arm the flesh just melted off.” He rubbed the bones, the pain a memory he didn’t want to relive. “And no, the Geas is still active too. In fact, she was pissed I hadn’t progressed as fast as she’d like.”

Warren paused what he was doing and looked up. “Bani? I haven’t heard that name in ages. I thought they patched him out months ago? How are you synching to an Avatar that doesn’t exist anymore?” He put the helmet back on and swivelled it around a few times.

Peter shrugged, pulling the hand out of his belt in the process. “Dunno, just have I guess. Fjor says I’ve died in the most number of ways in a short time, if that makes any sense. You ready to try this our way?” He stood up, using the wall for balance.

“Just a minute,” Warren pulled off his armoured boots and stashed them in his inventory. He pulled out a pair of leather shoes and slipped them on instead. “Glad I kept these. Maybe it’ll be a mite quieter.”

This time, at the bottom of the stairs they made their way along the tunnel in silence. The slimes had dispersed, leaving the shining clean floor as the only evidence they had been there. Warren carried a lantern like Dani and Peter, the light less intense than the massive sword but less likely to attract attention. They arrived at the bulkhead styled door and Peter and Dani stepped aside to let Warren work his magic.

Heh, muscle magic, Peter smiled and made a note to share this thought with Dani later.

Carefully setting the lantern on the floor, Warren took hold of the wheel and braced himself. “You sure you’re ready?” When the other two nodded he started to wrestle the door open. The bars screamed as they were ripped from the recesses in the wall, rust flaking off in a brown shower. Warren heaved mightily, forcing the door to swing wide despite its protesting hinges.

A wet sloshing sound from behind the adventurers alerted them to the fact that this had not gone unnoticed. Peter looked over his shoulder and saw the slimes congregating again. “Go!” He pushed Dani through the doorway. “Come on!” He dropped his lantern and scythe to the side of the door and lent a hand to Warren who was already through and doing his best to shut the door again before the assault arrived.

The leading slime had managed to ooze half of its mass through the gap before their combined strength could grind the door shut with a final shriek of tortured metal. Pinching the monster in half was enough to kill it, the body losing cohesion and splattering over their shoes. Peter and Warren leaned back on the door and listened to the crashing of waves against the other side. “Huh,” Peter managed between gasps, “it sounds just like the beach. I hope they can’t eat through it. What do you think? Dani? Dani?”

Further into the room, Dani was standing entranced in front of a complex series of glyphs. Her lantern revealed what could be a map of the tunnels they were in, or perhaps a curse word written in an ancient language. Or both. “Peter, you might want to get over here. I think we might be in trouble.”

Leaving Warren to recover, Peter came up beside Dani and examined the markings on the wall. There was a blue glowing gem set into the wall at the far left side with a brass plaque above it. Extending to the right of the gem was a pipe of copper on the back side and glass on the front embedded half its diameter into the wall, such that had something been in this pipe it would be visible. It stopped at second gem, unlit this time. From that gem extended two pipes of the same construction, up and down. The one down stopped at another gem, also unlit. The one going up arrived at a similarly unlit gem, but split off into three tubes. From there it became really complicated. Peter reached out and tapped the first dead-end gem, but nothing happened.

“Idiot!” Dani slapped his hand away. “What if that had done something dangerous?”

Peter held his stinging hand up to his face and pouted. “That hurt. I just wanted to know what it would do.” He looked around the dark room. “Besides, nothing happened.”

“This time,” Dani waved a finger under his nose. “Don’t go pushing random buttons in creepy underground rooms. You never know what might happen.”

“She’s right, you know.” Warren rumbled from behind Peter, startling him. “I’m not looking forward to a respawn. You might be used to dying but I’m not. Damn it, we need Pham on this. She’s a math whiz.” Warren leaned in close to the pipes without touching them.

Dani shook her head, confused. “You mean ‘he’ right? I’m sure Pham’s a guy.”

Warren shot her a look. “It’s complicated. Don’t worry about it. Now, how do we get out because we sure as heck aren’t getting back that way, and the other door’s got no handle.” Sure enough the door in the opposite wall was made of bare metal. Above it, what looked to be a light globe sat in a steel reinforced glass housing. There didn’t appear to be any sort of switch to turn it on, however.

Joining Warren at the wall, Peter tried tracing the pipe network without touching it. He tried shining the light of the lantern through the unlit gems to see what colour they were and found that the dead end ones were rubies or some other red gem. The gems with multiple pipes connecting them seemed colourless, letting the lantern light pass through without even refracting it. Finally, at the far right of the maze of pipework, there was a single gem that, when the light was shone through it, coloured it blue.

“Okay, I think I know what we need to do,” Peter explained. “It’s a map, sort of. We have to get something, usually water, from here,” he indicated the glowing blue gem, “to here,” he indicated the unlit blue gem, “without lighting any of these red gems.”

“Makes sense,” Dani agreed, “but how?”

Peter hovered his left hand over the first unlit gem. “May I?”

Warren and Dani braced themselves and Peter leaned as far away from the wall as possible, then poked the gem with the tip of his index finger. “Aaarrgh!”

“What?” shouted Dani and Warren in unison.

“Nothing. It was more of a pre-emptive scream.”

Warren smacked him in the shoulder. “Scunner. Quit it and get a move on.”

Peter hovered his hand over the lit blue gem this time. “Everybody ready?” Instead of waiting this time he smacked the gem with his palm. Glowing blue liquid sloshed into the pipe, illuminating the room with its radiance. When it reached the first unlit gem, the gem began to glow with a soft green light. A loud clunk from the far end of the room drew their attention as the door there swung open and the light above it lit green. “I guess that means it worked?”

Through the now open door a pedestal was visible in the middle of the room. The trio entered cautiously, looking around the bare room as though monsters were going to burst out of the floor or drop from the roof. When they were sufficiently satisfied at the lack of threat they clustered around the pedestal. It was a fluted steel column rising out of the floor, crusted with rust and detritus, and topped with a jade disc. Inlaid into the disc was a brass L, as similarly corroded and tarnished.

“What now?” Warren asked, kicking the pedestal idly.

Peter reached out to the disc only to have his hands slapped again. “What did I say about touching things?” Dani admonished.

“It worked last time,” Peter protested. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Surprisingly it was Warren that supplied the answer his time. “Acid pool, monster spawns, room fills with water, spikes from the roof. I could go on, but I won’t. But I could.”

“Then what do we do? That door there and that door there,” Peter pointed to the doors set into the north and south walls respectively, “aren’t going to open themselves. Or, you know what I mean.” Peter reached for the disc again. “Look, I think I know this one. The ‘L’ represents the flow of whatever that blue liquid is, so I turn the disc so that it points from the door we came in to the north door. It can’t point at the south door and the door we came in by, the ‘L’ doesn’t bend that way. See?” He tried to spin the disc but found that it wouldn’t rotate. After some fumbling he discovered that it had to be lifted and placed in the desired orientation as four protrusions on the bottom lined up with four indentations on the pedestal. As soon as the disc clicked into place the jade disc turned blue, the light over the northern door came on and the door itself opened. “See?”

“You got lucky,” Dani groused. “What’s next?”

Peter lead the way into the next room. It was similarly bare, but this time the pedestal had no disc on top. There were four jade discs mounted on the side of the pedestal at each of the cardinal directions, at about knee height. Each held a different shaped brass inlay, two ‘L’s that bent in different directions, an ‘I’ and a cross. Peter looked at the door they came in through, the pedestal itself, and the three other doors. One on each wall. “Yeah, I’m lost already. Suggestions?”

While Warren tried fiddling with the discs Dani made her way back to the original room to look at the glyphs on the wall. “Don’t, whatever you do, put the cross one in!” Her voice echoed through the chambers.

“Why not?” Peter yelled from where he stood watching Warren about to drop that very disc into place.

“There’s a red gem east of you.”

Click.

“Peter. The gem in here just went green and there’s liquid flowing in all directions. What did you do?”

Peter stared at Warren, who was looking back at him guiltily. “I didn’t do anything?”

“Well, you’re about to find out what happens when you light up a red gem.”

The pedestal in the centre of the room lit up, only this time the jade disc turned red. The lights over all the doors lit red as well and the door back to the entrance slammed shut with a clang. Warren muttered a few words under his breath that were not repeatable in polite company, but Peter just picked up his discarded scythe and readied himself.

“Get ready for a respawn, Warren. It’s probably going to hurt.” Peter swung the scythe, trying to feel the balance and watch the three doors at the same time. Fortunately, only one snapped open. Unfortunately, what it revealed made his stomach drop.

The eastern door yawned wide and through it stepped a skeletal figure. Bronze helm, cuirasse, bracers and shin guards protected the bony body. What made it particularly horrific was that the body was ‘fleshed’ out by a green translucent slime within which floated various flotsam and jetsam. The figure dragged behind it a bronze greatsword, improbably striking sparks from the brick flooring with a grating noise that put nails on a chalkboard to shame. Where its eyes should have been, two ruby pinpoints glowed with malevolence. It opened its mouth and uttered a gurgling roar, summoning a vanguard of similarly tinted slimes that flowed around it and into the room.

“Two against,” Pete counted out loud, “three, four, five. Two against five. We are so dead.”

“Six,” corrected Warren. “Let’s see if we can even those odds.” He rapped on his own breastplate, making more of a hollow booming than Peter would have expected. The back plates hinged open like a pair of doors, revealing a mass of gears, sprockets and springs. They whirred to life, a reddish golden light filtering through the mass of clockwork, intensifying until it was too bright to look at. With a final burst of light two Gearlings popped out, rolling to their feet and drawing weapons. One had a pair of swords, the other a hand cranked multi-shot crossbow. Warren dropped to a knee, the process clearly having cost him.

Peter gawped at the mechanical marvels. “What the heck?” They looked like the little automata that lit the lamps in Averton above but a whole lot more deadly. “Where did they come from?”

Warren hauled himself to his feet and drew his sword as their enemies flowed towards them. “That’s a tale for another day. How about instead of dying, we fight?”

Peter felt something well up inside him. Warren, who had discharged his responsibilities with the opening of the first door, had stuck around to explore the maze. He could have stomped his way through the slimes but helped hold the door. He could log off any time, but he stood as the wall of angry ooze washed towards them. “Thanks, Warren. You’re right.” He swung the scythe again. “Let’s fight.”

“Call me Woz.”