CA Chapter Eighteen (Patreon)

When Tessle heard about the encounter, and how close Alpha had come to losing, it was all Alpha could do to keep her friend from coming to find them. They were still arguing about it ten minutes after Alpha’s little group set out again.

::You’re in a completely different area,:: Alpha reminded the half-dwarf for the third time. ::And you can’t find or disarm traps. At best, you’ll trip a few until you’re disabled, and we’ll just have to find you anyway, only now you’d be hurt.::

::Fine,:: Tess mumbled, though she sounded hurt. ::But it’s not like you’re in much better shape. You can’t fight with a broken arm.::

Alpha shook her head, though the other woman couldn’t see her. ::I can use some vampire mind tricks on anything that doesn’t have a rock for a brain, and I’m plenty strong enough even with only one arm. I would have been all right against almost anything except a stone golem.::

::And what if you meet another one?:: Tess demanded. ::I can beat a golem into rubble with my War Hammer before Vexxx can even chant a spell.::

::Hey!:: Vexxx interjected, ::I don’t chant! That’s for noobs!::

::Shut up!:: chorused Tess and Alpha, and the boy subsided to angry muttering.

::We won’t,:: Alpha said. ::Toggle said he knows where he went wrong with the last Wandering Monster trap, and he’s sure he won’t set off any more.::

Tess huffed. ::If it’s the same kind of trap.::

Toggle paused, and Alpha and Vexxx stopped as well, while Amy froze in place as soon as Alpha halted. Leaning forward, Toggle touched the ground in front of him. Looking back over his shoulder, he asked, “Mistress, you said the lady Tessle was in an area with bricks instead of raw stone?”

Alpha nodded, and Toggle smiled. “I think we’re near her, then.” He tapped the ground meaningfully, and Alpha and Vexxx both stepped forward, bumping shoulders as they looked at what the gnome was touching. It was a single blue brick, but now that Alpha was looking for them, she could see another one not far down the passage ahead.

::We’re almost there, Tess,:: Alpha sent. ::Can you make some noise? Just once, so we can tell if we’re close enough to hear you.::

There was a pause, and then Tess asked, ::Did you hear me?::

Alpha and Vexxx exchanged glances, and Alpha shook her head. ::Nothing. We’ll go further in, and then you can try again.::

Toggle stood and started down the hall again, his small body tense as he scanned their surroundings, looking for any sign of more traps. A soft scuffing sound came from the darkness beyond the reach of Vexxx’s glowstone, and they all stopped again. A staff appeared in Vexxx’s hand, while Alpha’s second-best sword appeared in hers. Sadly, when she found her favorite sword after the battle with the golem, it had been reduced to only two durability, and would be essentially useless until she could get it repaired.

A figure stepped into the light, hands raised. It was Myles, his green eyes bright, and a little smile playing around his mouth. “Peace,” he said. “I almost never bite. Unlike some people.” He tilted a teasing brow at Alpha, and her annoyance helped her repress the urge to dart over and hug him.

::Myles just turned up like a bad penny,:: Alpha told Tess over party chat. ::Would have been nice if he’d told us he was coming.::

Myles blinked innocently. ::What? How was I to know you were just around the corner?::

It was all she could do not to roll her eyes, but Vexxx nodded in agreement, walking over to stand beside his only real ally in the group. ::Yeah, Alpha. Challax.::

Sighing, Alpha sent her sword back into her inventory and looked at Toggle. “Okay, Toggle. Let’s find a dwarf.”

::We’re on our way, Tess,:: she added silently. ::Just hang on a little longer.::

(===||:::::::::::::::>

It took another forty minutes, and several more disarmed traps, before Toggle’s big ears finally picked up the faintest trace of Tess’ voice. After that, they were able to triangulate on the sound, and finally found their friend sitting in the middle of what looked for all the world like a picnic in the middle of one of the small, open rooms that served as intersections in this part of the dungeon.

A red and white checked tablecloth had been spread out on the floor, and a basket was in the center of it. Four plates were arrayed around a large wicker basket, which was filled to overflowing with fruits, wrapped sandwiches, and small tubs that turned out to contain things like pickled eggs and potato salad.

Vexxx and Myles immediately sat down beside plates, and began digging into the basket. Tess grinned, tension vanishing from her face as she jumped up and hurried to hug Alpha. “I’m so glad you made it!” She pointed down a corridor behind her, and then indicated another to her right. “There are pitfalls down both of those, and I actually got the [Trap Detection] skill after the second one, so I know there’s something down there, too.” She glanced at a third opening, also in the right-hand wall. “I really wanted to come find you, but I swear this place is more trap than dungeon!”

Alpha flinched as Tess reached for her, then held up her still-broken arm in explanation when the dwarf looked crestfallen. While wounds healed rapidly once out of battle, only a doctor or priest could quickly heal a broken bone, and only a priest could dispel a curse. Since none of them had either of those classes, Alpha’s arm would be broken for a full week in game, and it could take longer if she reinjured it.

Alpha felt a tug at her pants, and looked down, into Toggle’s pleading blue eyes. “Mistress, may I eat?” the gnome asked, and Alpha thought she could actually hear his stomach growl.

Tess clapped a hand over her mouth, then spun to look at the boys, who had most of the basket’s contents strewn across the tablecloth, and the rest of it piled on their plates.

“This’s awesome!” Vexxx managed, spewing bread crumbs as he spoke.

“Of course it is!” Tess said. “Millie made it for me before I left Refuge. She’s the best cook… anywhere, I think.” She reached out and snatched a second sandwich from the boy wizard’s hand. “Now, share!” Turning, she handed it to Toggle. “Eat whatever you want, Toggle. That plate’s for you.” She indicated a plate, and the grateful gnome sank down onto the tablecloth beside it, already biting into his sandwich.

Tess looked at Alpha and Amy uncertainly. “I, um, didn’t know if you two would eat.” She held up a hand, holding two more plates aloft for Alpha’s inspection. “I have more plates if you want to try!”

Alpha shook her head, but looked uncertainly at Amy. The woman was barely better than a Zombie, most of the time, but Alpha thought there might be a faint glimmer of awareness in her eyes as she gazed at the others devouring the picnic.

“Amy?” Alpha asked. “Do you want some?”

At first, she thought this question was going to be as pointless as every other one she’d asked the woman, but after a long hesitation, Amy’s mouth moved. “-illie?” she said, managing a faintly interrogative tone.

Tess nodded, face lighting up. “Yes, Millie! She runs the Smiling Ostrich in Refuge. Her food gives better buffs than anyone else’s, and it tastes amazing, too! They kinda nerfed the food taste a few months back, so it’s still good, but not as good, but I swear Millie’s food is still exactly the same.” She leaned over and scooped up a bowl wrapped in waxed cloth that had somehow managed to evade Vexxx and Myles’ notice until now. Peeling back the cloth, she revealed gleaming mounds of fluffy pasta salad.

Amy’s hand twitched, but fell back to her side without accepting the bowl. Alpha leaned down and picked up a fork from beside the last plate, which presumably belonged to Tess. Placing the fork in Amy’s hand, Alpha commanded, “Eat two bites of the salad.”

Automatically, Amy’s hand stretched out, and she scooped up a bite of pasta, placing it into her mouth. She chewed awkwardly as her hand stretched out to gather more noodles onto the tines of the fork. A second bite joined the first, and Alpha could see that it was almost too much for her. She managed it, however, and she smiled faintly even as the fork fell from her limp fingers, and her eyes drifted into their usual blank stare.

Alpha felt someone come up behind her, and looked over her shoulder to see Myles, who had abandoned his half-eaten sandwich on his plate, and came to watch Amy eat. He was grinning, his eyes bright as he looked at Amy. “It’s working,” he muttered, and shook his head. Turning to meet Alpha’s eyes, his grin grew even wider. “It’s working!” he whooped. “She’s in there!” He reached out as if to embrace her, but hesitated, looking at her arm, which was hanging awkwardly in a sling she’d fashioned from a piece of Tattered Cloth she’d found in her inventory.

“Why haven’t you fixed that, yet?” he asked, expression shifting from jubilant to teasing in an instant.

She glared, wishing she didn’t regret the lack of hug so badly. “And how am I supposed to do that, exactly?” She could already tell from the way his eyes twinkled that when he finally explained, she was going to be irritated with herself for missing something obvious. Again.

He reached out and gently tapped Orah’s head, where it rested on Alpha’s collarbone. Alpha was so used to the snake’s presence that she hadn’t even thought about her, other than to check and make sure she was fine after the battle with the golem.

Alpha reached up with her good hand and lifted the sleepy serpent from around her neck. “Orah? What about her?”

Myles shrugged. “Do you remember why you got her?”

Alpha cast her mind back to the events of the day she dedicated herself to Quezal, the only non-evil god who was willing to take on a vampire follower without placing a terrible curse of some sort on her for the privilege. Of course, Quezal had only accepted her because he’d liked the Meditation Stone she’d given as an offering, and because she was his only follower.

And, as his only follower, she also automatically became his High Priestess.

Groaning, Alpha lifted Orah a little higher. The snake curled around her forearm, spreading her gleaming rainbow wings so they created a sort of halo behind her head.

“Quezal, as your priestess, I humbly ask that you restore my broken arm. In return, I promise to find something good as an offering, soon.” Usually, offerings were made at temples or shrines, but Orah practically was a mobile shrine, so surely giving something to the serpent would count.

Your Deity, Quezal, has heard your prayer! Due to your high Relationship with Him, He is willing to grant you this boon.

Your Broken Arm has recovered!

Orah’s tongue flickered, and she hissed in satisfaction. Flapping her wings, she lifted into the air and settled onto the tablecloth not far from Vexxx, her head darting out as she opened her jaws wider than it seemed like they should go and swallowed one of the pickled eggs that had sloshed from their jar when the boy pushed it aside.

“Or you could find your own offering,” Alpha muttered, but she was smiling as she watched the large lump of the egg begin to work its way down through the snake’s slim body.

Tess and Vexxx were both staring at her as she pulled her arm from the sling.

“When did you become a priestess, Alpha?” Tess gasped.

“And why didn’t you do that sooner?” Vexxx mumbled through a mouthful of cheese.

Alpha started to answer their questions, but stopped as a few things clicked together rather belatedly. Veritas Online seemed to have hundreds of gods, but ninety-five percent of the players followed the same ten or so. If you could become a high priest or priestess just by choosing to follow a god who didn’t have any other worshipers, wasn’t that a little bit… broken? Glancing at Vexxx, she decided now wasn’t the time to get into it.

Tilting her head toward Orah, who had now had a second egg-shaped lump following the first, she told Vexxx, “I needed an offering.” She gave Tess a meaningful look as Vexxx nodded, and hoped her friend understood that it meant ‘I’ll explain later’.

Tess glanced at Vexxx and smirked.