“I blame you for this.” Alex glared at Jamie as they walked, the road rockier as they got closer to the mountain. Lina whistled as they approached.

“W-What? W-Why?” Jamie stuttered.

“Because ve vouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t asked about his brother! Now ve have to go and traipse all over a virtual mountain full of who knows vhat to get a blacksmith who thinks he’s a dvarf!” he snapped, and Jamie shrunk back.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he cried.

“Enough. We’re here now, and you’re getting two weapons out of the deal. Be thankful we’re coming along to help.” Lina said.

“Hmph. Probably got drunk, voke up somevhere, had another drink and passed out again. Ve’ll probably find him in a field sleeping it off, mark my vords.” Alex said half-scornfully, half-hopefully. He begged to let it be all that this mission was. In the pit of his stomach, he knew that it wasn’t. “So vhat sort of monsters live around here, vhat threats vill ve be facing?”

“If I recall the bestiary correctly, the mountains around here are home to undine, sylphs, occasionally harpies, mandragoras on the surface, bloodhunter bats, bouldermaws, and the most powerful here, griffons. But they’re pretty rare, we should be able to avoid them no problem.” Jamie said automatically. Lina raised an eyebrow.”

“Did you memorize the monsters in their habitats for the whole game or something?”

“Yeah?” he said. They both turned to stare at him. “W-What?”

“Such a nerd.” Alex muttered.

“A-Anyway, the average level here is 33, so even as low as we are, eh, sorry Alex, we can take care of the lower threats no problem, and sneaking past higher level enemies shouldn’t be too hard.” Jamie said.

“Alright, sounds like some good grinding!” Lina said, punching her palm with a grin.

“That is a little unusual, though. If the monsters here aren’t too much trouble, why didn’t this guy return yet?” Jamie wondered aloud.

“That’s vhat ve’re here to find out.” Alex said grimly, marching along.

The mountain had a path for adventurers, so at least it was hard to get lost, even in the encroaching shadows of evening. There was a main path, with multiple smaller branches that they discovered usually led to caverns, containing nothing, a monster they had to fight, or treasure. Or, as the party approached an old chest warily, both.

“Okay. The bouldermaws weren’t too bad, and this could contain some good loot. B-Be careful, careful…” Jamie whispered, creeping closer as stealthily as he could. Alex rolled his eyes. The Magus was dressed in light green clothes and a brilliant white cloak, concealment wasn’t much of an option. He strode forward and kicked open the chest, sighing at Jamie’s muffled protest.

“Skreeek!” He glanced up at the shrill squeak, a dozen red-eyed bats with razor talons had spawned and were swooping down on him. He snorted.

“Ahhh! Bloodhunter bats! F-Flamejet!” A gout of fire erupted from Jamie’s staff, damaging the swarm and forcing them away, right into Lina’s swinging sword. They exploded into sparks of data and disappeared.

“Yeesh. Those things’re nasty, glad we got ‘em.” She said, wiping her brow.

“Really? They didn’t seem that formidable to me.” Alex said.

“T-They’re not, individually. They’re level seven to ten usually, not much of a threat one on one. The problem is they’ve got high SPD and heal with every attack they make, and hit hard to boot. We were lucky this was a small swarm, easy to-ack!” He dropped to a knee, his health bar falling to half. They all glanced at the black shape swooping and flapping in the air. The bloodhunter bat snarled, saliva dripping from its enlarged fangs.

“We missed one!” Lina charged, slicing. The bat zipped around the blade with ease, slashing at her face for -13. “Aaaggh! You *bleep!*”

“High-speed, small flying target, heals with every strike, this’s gonna be a tough one. Rrrgh, Targetshoot!” -10 MP as the targeting reticule appeared in his eyes, guiding his staff. “Stay still!” Even with magical aid, the bat darted and swooped around too quickly to draw a proper bead on it. Alex folded his arms.

“This thing is qvite-” The bat screeched and dove at him as a black blur, faster than eyes could follow. It snarled furiously, Jamie and Lina both flinching at the attack. With how fast it could hit, it would wipe out Alex’s smaller HP in three seconds!

“NOOOO-”

“-annoying.” Alex frowned, his hand outstretched and wrapped around the monster’s throat.

“-OOoooo.” Jamie finished. “Wow! How did you do that?”

“I possess excellent hand-eye coordination.” Alex deadpanned, pulling out his knife and stabbing it repeatedly, finishing with a swift, practiced slash to the throat. He was intimately familiar with the flight patterns of bats; no matter how fast, they flew like their real-life counterparts and were thus easily predicted. “Now vhat do ve have here?” he muttered, kneeling over the loot. Lina and Jamie shared a surreptitious glance. He moved like a panther, and fought like a brutal assassin. Who was the man behind Allocrax?

“Vhat? ‘Shadow Bracers?’ Vhat are these?” Alex said, puzzled. The gold was easily counted, a common item called a Tattered Cloak, an oversized sword he couldn’t use and Lina wouldn’t, and three small health potions.

“Let me see. Huh. These give +2 STR and +6 TGH, with 10% more concealment in areas of darkness and shadow. Not bad. Easily the pick of the loot, that sword’s a strict downgrade.” Jamie said.

“I’ll take the sword to sell, you take the rest of the cash, and Alex should have the bracers, the needs the boost the most. Sound good?’ Lina said.

“I’ve no objections. But who gets the cloak?” Alex asked. They all stared at it.

“These’re everywhere. I don’t even think it gives bonuses, just a cloak to warm or hide yourself with.” Jamie said.

“Very vell, I’ll take it. It could come in handy, maybe.” Alex pulled up the menu and fed it into the inventory square.

They trekked along, going deeper up the mountain. Though there were handholds up cliffs for more athletic classes, Jamie had no STR to speak of and Lina’s armor weighed her down. Since they didn’t want to get separated, they took the longer and slower route. They hugged the wall on a narrow precipice, leapt (and Jamie was thrown) across deep gorges, and had to narrowly avoid a landslide. Jamie assured them it was scripted, the mountain was in no danger of collapsing. Eventually, they came to a large cavern near the peak. The sun was low in the sky, the breathtaking view turning the mountain purple.

“Right. Did…anyone remember to bring a lantern?” Lina asked. The other two shook their heads, and they sighed. “Guys, that’s what we had trouble with in the forest!”

“It doesn’t matter. Ve have something now.” Alex pulled out the cloak, and loosely wrapped it around Jamie’s staff. “Now, set it ablaze.”

“Oh yeah! Flamejet!” His MPO dropped by twenty as the cloth caught fire. “I don’t know how long this’ll last, so we should hurry.”

They descended into the cave, weapons ready. Lina took point, Alex bringing up the rear. Accursed game! This would be child’s play if he were in his real body. Vampires could see night as if day.

“Stay sharp. Danger could be anywhere.” Lina warned. Jamie bit his lip.

“You know, I think that’s worrying by itself. Because the last enemies we encountered were guarding that chest, the bats. I don’t think we’ve seen anything else spawn in like two hours.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? We’ll be in and out in no time.” Lina said.

“Have you heard of any RPG that you could walk around for two hours without a random encounter?” he asked. She blinked, then felt the path beneath her change.

“Guys, something’s up.” She huddled close and eyed the walls suspiciously.

The path had led downward, but now was evening off, a flat plane headed up to the left, and further on to the right. They paused. “Left or right?”

“Hmm. I think there was a quest at the top of the mountain. Beat a griffon chief or something. I don’t see any player doing that solo except for Lucien, so we should go right.” Jamie said after contemplation. Alex grunted and followed them. Lina and Jamie both knew this world far better than he did. How quickly the next generation replaced the old.

“Vell, several removed.” he muttered dryly.

“What?”

“Nothing. How large is this mountain?” Alex asked.

“Umm, I’ve only been to the foothills once, but Moonreach Mountain isn’t that big. The current speedrun is 18 minutes 46.3 seconds, it was designed to get all the way through in about half an hour, if you didn’t go for any sidequests or much exploring. Not including random encounters.” Jamie said, looking around. Where were all the monsters? He was glad they didn’t have to fight all the time, but there should have been more than none.

They steered clear of the path to the underground lake, and the ground started to level out. Jamie hushed them as he slowly crept forward and peered around the corner. It was a lot brighter in this portion of the caverns, and when the Magus found out why he grinned, motioning them to join him.

“This is Moonreach Meadow.” he said, throwing his arm out. They turned the corner. Both Lina and Alex gasped.

The moon was almost full, and hung heavy and low in the sky, a smattering of stars dotting the deep, deep, dark blue sky with shining silver clouds, not black in the slightest. The last fading rays of the sun sank below the horizon, but the view was nearly day-bright anyway.

Pink, red, and purple wildflowers grew in inviting clumps on soft, carpet-like grass, coo land green. The meadow was encased within the mountain, surrounded by rock on all sides, with several trees springing up, and two almost forming an archway around the next cave entrance. There was a babbling brook fed by a small stream flowing across the side of the wall, laughing and bubbling, crystal clear. The wind softly blew in the night, lightning bugs rising in the air, which smelled fresh and wild, tantalizing the senses. In all his seven hundred years, Alexandru had never seen anything quite like this, not together at once.

“Vhat…vhat ist all dis?” he said, momentarily slipping into an older, thicker accent.

“Moonreach Meadow. It’s supposed to be a refuge from the monster attacks, I think. Nothing’s ever spawned here.” Jamie said, opening the menu and clicking on the picture camera. The image his eyes saw was recorded. Now he knew why so many other players had a picture of this, and why they all said it didn’t do the meadow justice.

“It’s beautiful.” Lina said breathlessly, walking forward to twirl along the flowers. She giggled at her clanking armor.

“So dere…there is no treasure, no monsters here? A meadow in the middle of a mountain?” Alex asked, almost unable to pry away from the view. The wind ruffled his hair.

“Yeah, I think it’s just here to look nice. I think it does a good job.” Jamie said.

They must have spent ten minutes there in silence, simply taking in the gorgeous sight. But eventually they would have to get moving. At least they felt more refreshed from the trek.

“I take it those are the flowers for the moonflower extract, or whatever.” Lina said, pointing with a thumb.

“Yeah. I think we found where he was going.” Jamie said, scratching his head. “But where did he go?”

“Hmm.” Alex kneeled down, brushing aside a clump of flowers rooting on the ground. They were digital, so it might not be the same, but he had to check anyway. If the developers did their job as advertised, then…he grinned. “Aha.” The virtual flowers and grass did regenerate, but it seemed at the same rate as real plants. And that meant damage done wouldn’t be restored so quickly.

There weren't any obvious signs of player crossings, so that meant few if any had come to the mountain since he’d gone missing. However, several of the flowers had snapped stems, easily overlooked in the beauty. Alex nodded. “He vas here for sure. If it’s half a day’s valk, and he’s as small an avatar as his brother, then he couldn’t have gone far. At least, on his own.” He said, dusting himself off and showing the stems.

“But then why would he up and leave like that?” Jamie wondered. Lina’s eyes went wide.

“Unless he didn’t, not by his own choice.” She and Alex shared a look.

“There are no signs of monster attack. Nor signs of a struggle. Vhatever happened to him didn’t happen here, most likely. Perhaps ve should press on and try to find more ahead.” Alex suggested.

“Good idea. Most of the spells in this game aren’t suited to detective work, I think.” Jamie said.

“Why would they be?” Lina wondered.

They passed on into the next cave, a dark stretch of rock that was basically one long tunnel sloping downward, with lots of ledges they could hop down from. It was easy to descend, but getting back up this way could prove difficult. Jamie shook his head.

“Normally we’d see arocknes here. Kinda like big spider hermit crabs.” he added at Alex’s confusion. “But we haven’t seen one yet. I’m getting worried, guys.”

“And my XP bar’s almost full. Level-up’s just a couple hundred away, we gotta find something soon.” Lina growled. It had been far too long since she’d hit something, and was starting to get irritated about it.

In no time at all they left the cave, and were at the foot of the mountain, overlooking the plains. The night was still bright, but not nearly as magical as the meadow.

“Hey, what’s that?” Jamie said. Down in the distance was a faint glow in the air, almost surreal in the sweeping night landscape.

“Let’s check it out.” Lina said, gripping the sword slung across her back. They cautiously proceeded down the path, Alex’s brain itching with unrecognized familiarity. As they got closer, they realized the single glow they’d been following actually broke up into several. Alex’s eyes went wide and he suddenly tackled the others into the bushes.

“Hey!”

“W-What’s-”

“Shh!” Alex hissed, covering their mouths. He stared intently ahead, trying to make out what he knew was there. It was something he’d both been in and attacked countless times.

“What gives?” Lina whispered fiercely. He glared at her.

“Ve can get closer, but remove your armor. I vill not have our position discovered. Huffing, Lina put her suit in her inventory. He stared at Jamie, and the Magus sheepishly stashed his pure white cloak away. He then bade them to continue silently, crawling commando style. A short time later, they crept up behind a rock on an outcropping, overlooking what seemed to be an army encampment.

“What the…” Jamie muttered in disbelief.

Orcs. An entire army of orcs, at least 20,000 strong. Alex, Jamie, and Lina stared at the stretching encampment. Fires illuminated orcs as they cooked, hammered cruel-looking weapons, and bludgeoned each other with their fists. The wind changed, and they all gagged as the stench of the unwashed bodies wafted over to them.

“Good lord. Look at all those adds! That’s beyond a horde!” Lina said.

“A-A-And did you s-see their levels? I, I think the w-weakest one w-was level 4-45.” Jamie said, trembling. This wasn’t right! What was happening! “This is close to the starting area. A-Aside form rare enemies like the mossbear, t-there shouldn’t be anything like that close to here! B-Besides, orcs a-are spawned in the s-southern plains, and never in levels that high!” He had to take a moment to try and breathe. The stress of the sudden encounter felt like a ton on his whole body. His lungs felt too tight. “I-I never heard of s-such a horde in an M-MMO before, n-not with enemies that strong! W-What’s going on!? Is it an event? T-This is bad game design!”

Alex narrowed his eyes. So these enemies were not supposed to be here, especially not in numbers and individual strength like this. His brain churned with unpleasant thoughts, narrowing down possibilities. He scanned the encampment, a familiar sight that he had not seen in nearly a hundred years. He grunted. There, near the back. He tapped Lina’s shoulder and pointed.

“Oh my God.” Her squinted eyes widened as she saw the cages. Each barely big enough to fit a man, there were four men and one woman avatars huddled in them.

They weren’t NPCs.

They were each garbed in mismatched armor and clothing, chosen for stats, not style. All their weapons and gear had been left on, and it seemed it didn’t matter to the captors. One of them was idly tossing a Magbolt every few seconds at the cage, and it seemed he’d been doing it for some time.

“I-I t-think those c-cages might be indestructible.” Jamie whispered, hugging himself to try and keep warm. His body was shivering fiercely. NPCs! NPCs couldn’t take players captive! “I-I-I don’t understand. W-What’s g-going on?” he whimpered.

“I don’t know, but I think I found where our blacksmith went.” Lina said, pointing to a short, stocky, bearded man turning his head from side to side, desperately looking for a way out. She sucked in air through her teeth. “This…looks real bad. We have to go get help. This’s too weird. I’ve never heard of an A.I. enemy not just killing an avatar. How? Why do they know to capture players instead?”

“Ohmanohmanohman. I, I don’t know if the server we’re on h-has enough players to take these guys. There’s so many.” Jamie said, biting his nails. “What’s going on?”

“I do not know. But vhat I do know is that ve vill not find out just sitting here.” Alex said, standing up. The other two silently freaked and pulled him back down again.

“Are you crazy!?” Lina whispered harshly.

“No no nonononono! You’ll get captured if you go out there don’t do it!” Jamie said breathlessly, trying to hold him down. Alex rolled his eyes and shifted his body, slipping free. He brushed off his tunic and looked at them imperiously.

“Please do not assume I am a moron. Attacking a force that large head-on is suicide. But I am not suicidal. I have the best chance of slipping in and amongst the camp unnoticed. I am much smaller than either of you, and I have these.” He held up his arms, clad in the Shadow Bracers. “10% more concealment in darkness. If night doesn’t count, I don’t know vhat does.” Lina and Jamie glanced at each other.

“It’s an awful big risk. You’re still level 13, if you’re spotted you’ll be squished like a bug instantly.” Lina said, biting her lip.

“And those things don’t make you invisible. We don’t know up with those orcs, they could do anything to you!” Jamie squeaked. Alex sniffed disdainfully.

“I am vell avare of the risk. However, do not underestimate my advantages. Of us, I have both the highest SPD and mobility. Not to mention, I’ve done this before.” he said, grinning and staring at the fires.

“You have?” Jamie said, his eyes bugging out.

“Something similar, at least.” the vampire tried to smooth over. “This von’t take a minute.” He crept on all fours from the rock, low to the ground.

It was slow going, but better to be safe than sorry. He had only one chance at this, he had to be both swift and sure. Damn those imbeciles, why did they allow themselves to be captured? But that didn’t matter now, only the mission.

At last he reached the edge of the firelight. Moving like a spider, he maneuvered himself behind a tent, the occupant snoring loudly. Sidling up into a crouch, he peered around the rough cloth. The orcs seemed to be in pre-set routines, one hammering a piece of metal, standing up to circle the workplace, then coming back to hammer the metal again.

‘Hmm. They don’t appear to be responsive to anything within their camp, though that will likely change should I reveal myself. The cages are about fifty feet away.’ There were orcs in plain view between them and him, but there were also tents and piles of scrap metal, bones, and weapons between them. Haphazard and unorganized, it seemed to be the cover he needed.

“Perfect.” he muttered, and crawled forward. Not fast, not slow, at a sedate clip to curl up behind a large round shield, ducking behind before the orc next to him turned.

It had been years since he’d done anything like this, and he couldn’t help but flash a toothy grin. Even if he was out of practice, his mundane stealth skills were enough to see him through. Quiet as a whisper, he slipped from one pile of trash to another, avoiding the orcs patrolling the area. Crouch, duck, hold still, advance, crawl, it was a game, a deadly game of hide and seek.

The next thing he could hide behind was an open sword rack filled with rusty blades. Inwardly deploring the state of the swords, for this one Alex had to be careful. It was in the light of the torches stuck into the ground, his bracers would be of less use. His eyes flickering to and fro, trying to take in the movement of each orc, he waited for the perfect time to move.

“How’s he doing?” Jamie asked nervously, curled up in a ball on the hill. He didn’t know how Alex could stand it, he was such a wreck at the mere thought of getting close to them, he couldn’t even watch.

“Pretty good so far, I think.” Lina said with ground teeth. His movements had been hard to follow, darting away and behind everything he could, but no one had noticed him yet. “Guess he wasn’t blowing smoke, but he’s still cutting it too close for my taste.” Her palms itched, clenching and unclenching around an imaginary sword. She thought she saw a twitch, then he quick rolled behind a weapons rack. “Aeaaeeuughh. He’s gonna be the death of me.” she groaned, sighing in exasperated relief. Then an orc came by and picked up the whole sword rack, leaving Alexandru wide-eyed on the ground, and her heart leapt into her throat.

The orc hadn’t seen him, but he was totally exposed and splayed face down on the ground. He struggled to breathe as his heart went into overdrive, his limbs heavy and languid. His eyes zipped back and forth, trying to find a way out. There, to the left! A partially open tent flap!

The guards turned back as he moved, diving into the tent just as one came over. The orc blinked, the A.I. not recognizing why the tent flap was shaking. He turned away to do other preprogrammed tasks. Inside the blackened tent, Alex huffed in relief, the alarm not raised yet. That had been far too close. Suddenly, he heard a rustling behind him.

The orc sleeping in the tent sat up, barely illuminated by the ambient light outside. Alex immediately dropped into a lower crouch, hand going to the knife, knowing he couldn’t do enough damage in time to prevent a commotion. Curse it! Curse it all to the blackest pit of Hell!

The orc drowsily turned from side to side, smacking his digital lips. He stared straight at Alex, making his undead heart stop, then pass over. Alex didn’t dare even breathe. With a sigh the orc flopped back and went to sleep again, surprisingly gentle snores filling the tent. Alex counted to ten, then quietly let out the breath he was holding. He glanced back outside. No cover from the front. He turned to the orc, or rather the cloth tent beside him. Alex drew the knife and quickly cut a slit in the back. Checking for cover, he silently slipped out.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Fred was sulking in his cage, muttering angrily to himself. The others had been captured earlier, so they’d gotten used to the listless, crushing boredom and despair more, but he was too restless. At least his stuff was still with him, and his inventory. Fat lot of good it did him, though. He glared at the bars.

A small clump of dirt landed on his shoulder. He brushed it off and looked back to see a short player with blonde hair and red eyes hold a finger to his lips, lying flat so as not to be seen.

“Talk qvick and qviet. I’m here to rescue you.” he said in an accented voice. Fred’s eyes widened and he sucked in a breath, hope soaring in his heart, but then glanced to the orc NPCs.

“Thank you. It’s been horrible in here!” he whispered.

“I’ll bet.” Alex crawled around to examine the cage, and frowned. “There is no lock. How do I free you?”

“They just threw me down and the cage digitized around me. I don’t think this’s a regular in-game item.” he said. Alex’s frown deepened.

“That is a problem. If there is no lock, and these cages truly are indestructible, I don’t know how I am to free you.” Fred whimpered at that.

“Psst! Psst! Hey! Over here!” The rest of the prisoners had overheard, and were desperately trying not to give the game away. A Priest in a tri-cornered hat was frantically waving him over. “I know how to free us!”

“You do?” Alex cautiously sidled over.

“Yes! These orcs have been hacked. They’re way stronger than initially programmed, armed with these special cages designed to capture players. But there’s a release key. See that guy?” He pointed to the biggest, meanest, ugliest orc there, seated on a throne of misshapen metal. “That’s their chief. He’s got a yellow rod on his belt, it’s the emergency release key. Get that, and you can free us!” he whispered fiercely. Alex’s eyes went from the Priest, to the chief, to Fred, and back to the Priest.

“I see. Have a good life.” Alex lowered himself to crawl away. The Priest reached through the bars to grab his tunic.

“No! You can’t go yet! You have to save us!”

“No, I have to save him.” Alex pointed at Fred’s cage. “And I only need to do that if I want a svord. And considering vhat I’m up against, I don’t think a mere svord is going to be compensation enough.” He tugged free from the Priest’s grip and started to crawl off. The Priest was panicking at this point, sweating bullets.

“Then what will? Money? Rare items? I can give you anything, anything you want, just save me please!” he pleaded. Alex snorted.

“Heard that before. I’d really like to vhy ve’re still in this blasted videogame.” Alex tossed back. The Priest glanced from side to side, then grinned desperately.

“Hey! Dude! Come here now, or I’ll yell and alert the guards!”

“What!”

“What are you doing? He’s our only hope!” others whispered fiercely, but Alex froze, turning to face him with a white-hot fury.

“You vouldn’t dare.”

“I’ve got nothing left to lose.” the Priest said. Grumbling, Alex made his way over to the cage. The Priest wiped his brow and let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m truly sorry about this, but this’s more important than you realize.” he whispered quietly, even lower than before so the other prisoners wouldn’t hear. “I wasn’t lying, though. I can get you anything…including information.” Allocrax’s red eyes narrowed. This man was a shrewd one, and they tended to be valuable sources. And such intel was worth much more than gold.

“Is this true?” Alex said, as quietly as the Priest. He nodded.

“Release us, especially me, and I can tell you what’s going on. That’s the deal.” he said sincerely.

Alex was silent for a long moment, breathing out through his nose, weighing his options. But of course, there was only one real choice.

“Very vell. Sit tight, and make no moves until it is time.” he said at last. Grumbling to himself, he crawled off to the chief.

“What’s he doing!?” Jamie said as they barely made Alex out, slipping between shadows and behind tents.

“It looks like he’s…oh no.” Lina muttered, her eyes trailing to the only major thing in his path. The orc chieftain knocked back a goblet of wine, hurling the empty vessel at a subordinate.

“Another one for the mighty G’nashark!” he bellowed. He’d been shouting the same thing every six minutes for the last five hours. The A.I. dutifully refilled his cup, and his attention turned back to the scantily-clad dancing slave elves. Alex had already checked his menu, and they were NPCs. No doubt the quest was to free them, but he had no time for humanoid approximations of ones and zeros.

He stealthily crept up behind the throne, grateful for the bracers and the night. There were torches all around, but no one was watching, all eyes on the elves. He licked his lips and drew his knife. The edge was sharp enough.

Slowly, gently, he reached around the throne and began to softly lift the key from the orc’s belt, cutting the leather strap with the knife, glancing up furiously to check if his rapt attention wandered. However, nothing happened. The orc drank and grinned at the dance as programmed. Alex silently drew the key from the belt, and slipped into the darkness like a ghost.

Retracing his steps and timing, he easily reached the cages undetected again. The orcs rounds were predictable, and that made it easy. The PC prisoners all smiled as he approached.

“I saw everything! That made me chew my nails down!” Fred whispered.

“Yes, yes, I’m amazing.” Alex said absently as he regarded the key, when there was no lock to the cages.

“Just point and turn at the cage, that should do it.” the Priest said. Alex shrugged and did so. There was a loud click, and the cage digitized into bright sparks of blue light. The prisoners stared in shock. The vampire stared in horror. And all the orcs nearby stared at the glow, resulting in a freed Priest.

“Oh no.” Jamie said, watching from the hill.

“Run!” Alex cried, pointing and turning the key at all the cages as the orcs bellowed, raising the alarm.

“Hurry lad!” Fred grabbed his axe and sprinted off, extremely fast for such a short, stocky avatar. The adventurers scattered, the Priest muttering a prayer to form a Divine Barrier, saving him from a club to the head. He was yoinked back by Alex.

“Uh-uh, you’re sticking vith me until you talk!” he growled, launching into a gallop behind Fred. The other three took off elsewhere, escaping or causing chaos. The more distractions the better.

“Yaaaaaahhh!” Fred swung his axe into the knee of an orc, making him buckle but only hitting for 32 damage. The orc’s HP was 887 to start with. “Why are they so strong!?” The orc roared and swung down with a rusty blade, but even with comparatively lower SPD momentum still carried, and Alex knocked him out of the way. They all rolled on the ground, Alex popping up and taking careful aim.

“Magbolt!” He shot the spell straight between the orc’s legs. He let out an oof and bent over, but only a -3 appeared beside him. The orc growled.

“Oh come on!”

“It was a critical hit.” Fred consoled.

“Pillar of Flame!” The orc was engulfed in a deadly conflagration, held in place by the damaging flames.

“Hurry!” Lina said, smacking another orc in the face with the flat of her blade.

“Go go go!” They all ran for the relative safety of the mountain, an entire army hot on their heels, hurling rocks and spears at them.

“We’re not gonna make it!” Jamie howled, running as fast as he could, his lungs burning.

“Shut up and run!” Alex snapped, glancing behind. The mountain would be harder for the army to scale and search, but he didn’t think they could run all the way back to town. Hell, he wasn’t sure the players in town could help them. They were running out of options, and fast.

The Priest glanced back, then at the running PCs, and sighed. There was nothing else for it. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. He mumbled something, then threw it back behind them.

FWOOOSH!

The front line was bowled back as a blue glowing barrier stretched out for miles, fifty feet high. The orcs smashed into it, hammering with everything they had, but the barrier was as indestructible as the cages. There was no deterioration or time limit like with a normal spell. Alex cast a suspicious eye on him, all the way to the cave.

“Whoo lads! They got some real doozies at high level, don’t they?” Fred said, staring at the barrier.

“Ah, yes. Does anyone need any healing? It’s the least I can do for freeing me.” the Priest said, casting spells and restoring battered hit points.

“NO, the least you could do is keep your promise.” Alex said, voice as hard as granite.

“Um, yeah. All shall be made clear. So, you need some HP back?” The Priest went over and touched Alex’s shoulder, healing him of the minor damage he’d accumulated running. “I can’t explain with so many people here. I’ll tell you when we get some time alone.” he whispered. Alex narrowed his eyes.

“You’ll tell everyvun in my group. That’s vhat ve’ve been searching for.” he said. The Priest was about to argue, then caught sight of Alex’s glare. He sighed.

“Very well. You’re all done.” he declared. “My tag is Father Mayhew, but you can call me Josh if you want.”

“Pleasure.” Jamie said, sticking a hand up from where he’d collapsed.

“This has been a day.” Lina said, cracking her neck. “But at least most of our troubles are over now.” Alex rolled his eyes.