ã€ŠGiven Every Curse: A Card Combat LitRPGã€‹


 Chapter 1

    The grove was still and silent, the faint rustle of leaves sounding in complaint of a passing breeze. The dirt floor was hard, largely untouched by grass, the trees doing their stolid best to take in all the meager light offered in the valley. And among the knobby roots and what hardy creepers which could survive on what the trees didn¡¯t monopolize, lay a human figure.

    It was of the male persuasion, as would be obvious to other humans, it being only lightly clothed. The human male was unconscious, which was a momentary respite due to the knotted root which pressed into his back. Any conscious human laying as this one did, and in the way he was laying, would not be doing so of their own free will. He would be feeling it when he came to.

    And he was not asleep. What he was doing, while similar to sleep in the same way candlelight was similar to daylight, was something much less restful. Coming to would be a difficult prospect, fraught with a laundry list of complaints from throughout his body, the root in his back being only one item in a ribbon of troubles.

    His clothes, as previously mentioned, were spare. He had thin leather sandals on his feet, and was wrapped in a continuous white cloth which wound around him in various ways, covering all the important bits that humans cover for decency¡¯s sake. There was a rope wrapped once around his middle and tied in the front, as a sash, or belt. The most complicated bits of raiment on him were on his arms. Two broad leather arm bands, each with rectangular compartments on the outside, graced his arms. The left one had three small gems, circum-broidered with a simple but elegant pattern of stitches. And that was it for his clothes, really.

    Despite his meager appearance, the very existence of this unconscious boy in the middle of a grove in a shady valley was quite miraculous. He hadn¡¯t existed until a few minutes ago.

    The first stirrings of his mind were those boring proto-thoughts of a waking sleeper, which boil down to the concepts, if not the actual words, ¡°I am a thinking being¡±, ¡°I am currently existing,¡± ¡°Wait, there seems to be a body here, let me check on that.¡±

    He opened his eyes and thought, Hey, these graphics are pretty good.

    The serenity of his surroundings, so described earlier, subjected this waking human to a kind of calming sensation which was at odds with a growing turmoil within him, as his next thought was, My boss is going to find me playing this game, and he is going to kill me.

    The urgency of the thought caused him to sit bolt upright, startling what little creatures were resting about him which had hitherto gone unnoticed.

    They watched from a safe distance what followed as the human came to terms with its situation, which was known colloquially as an existential crisis. It was loud, it was startling, and ¨C especially for the human ¨C it was incredibly emotional. But through the cascading discoveries at odds with where he thought he should be, the scared, angry, and panicking human noted several things.

    One, he was not working at his company issued computer.

    Two, he was not wearing his company mandated uniform.

    Three, it really really hurts to kick a tree trunk if you¡¯re wearing sandals.

    He hopped on his good foot, holding his other sharply aching foot, before sitting down to wait for the pain to go away.

    Several expletives graced the peace of the grove, but did nothing to return him whence he had come.

    ¡°I just wanted to peek at the gameplay,¡± he said plaintively to the trees. ¡°I work sun-up to sundown, and it came out today, and I thought, what¡¯s the harm if I install it and get through the opening scenes?¡± They judged him silently, as trees are wont to do. ¡°The adventure of a lifetime,¡± he said dreamily, his words tinged with the faintest sarcasm. ¡°That¡¯s what the ads had said. A deck-building roleplay adventure. Open-world sandbox exploration, a cast of colorful characters, and unique card-based combat system.¡±

    A couple of birds alighted on a branch above him, now that the screaming was over. They had no interest in the sales pitch he was parroting, though.

    ¡°These wrist things I recognize from the trailer,¡± he said, turning his arms over to look at said wrist things. He tried to open the flap to one of the boxy containers built into the bracer. The clasp wouldn¡¯t come free, and the leather wouldn¡¯t give. He tried the other one only to find it was as stubborn as its brother.

    Laying on his back and dropping his arms in a huff, his body took the time to approach him with the complaints, probably finding it rude to disturb him in such a difficult time.

    ¡°Oooowwww,¡± he groaned lightly as every joint, muscle, and tree-root-originated bruise began to ache. Being written into a new world was not as pleasurable as one would think.

    But he was sitting up again when a nearby bush started to rustle. Our mysterious man in the grove realized all at once that he was alone in the wilderness, and all the implications that came with it. He¡¯d never even seen wilderness before this. Nor had he ever really been alone. Apartments, like the ones he rented from; subway stations, like the ones he frequented; and workplaces, like the ones he¡¯d slept at, found it economical to reduce the partitions between individuals as much as the people would allow. And even then, complaints were easy enough to ignore.

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    He got to his feet, sighting on the noise, preparing to run if something scary appeared, or preparing to kick himself if it was just a squirrel or bunny.

    Wouldn¡¯t that be the way of it, he thought to himself wryly. A little bunny shakes a bush, and my fight-or-flight pushes all its buttons and pulls all its levers.

    But instead of something hopping out, something rose up. It rose up and up above the bush. A white column which seemed to glisten in the dappled light. A thing like a marble rosebush rested on top of a white deer¡¯s head, its front legs in the bush, and it was chewing some leaves.

    Our mystery human realized he had assumed some ridiculous stance, half crouching, his muscles tensed and nearly twanging. He breathed and stood upright.

    ¡°You¡¯re just a deer,¡± he said in the way humans usually do, describing the obvious.

    And indeed it was a deer. A sparkling white deer.

    ¡°A deer made of salt, or snow perhaps,¡± he said to it.

    The clasp on his left bracer opened and closed suddenly, and five cards flew out of it. Each wreathed in a faint light trail, they hovered in front of him. Another expletive came out of his mouth in much the same way as the cards.

    He looked at his wrist, the one he felt had opened and closed. The three gems were lit by an inner light now.

    ¡°No, wait,¡± he whispered. The deer seemed oblivious to this. ¡°I remember now. Combat. Each turn, draw five cards, play three cards. The rest get discarded.¡±

    He looked at the deer.

    ¡°It must be an enemy,¡± he mused. It consumed more of the innocent bush under his gaze.

    His attention turned to the hovering cards. They seemed to move according to his needs. When he didn¡¯t want to look at them, they avoided his line of sight. When he wanted them to, they lined up in front of him.

    ¡°Ok, then. What are my options?¡± He added, ¡°What class am I?¡±

    The cards appeared in front of him read on their titles, from left to right:

    Punch, Kick, Punch, Precise Shot, Block

    Each had an image to assist the mind in visualizing the effects, if the titles hadn¡¯t done the job in advance. The Punches featured the same image of a fist in flight. The Kick was similar, featuring a foot instead. The Block image consisted of a battered bronze shield, and the Precise Shot had a helpful image of the business end of an arrow.

    The deer drew his attention again, a curious absence of noise caused by the deer freezing, and the cards clustered to one side. It was no longer chewing, and its bovine eyes were wide. It was about to bolt.

    Hastily, he selected the Precise Shot, and as an afterthought, the Punch and Kick. The remaining two cards were quickly absorbed by his right bracer. But the deer had fled. The human chased.

    The white hart fled bounding through the trees and over scrub and exposed roots. The human moved as fast as a biped could in these circumstances, but which was all the more slowly. In one of those moments where he could get two strides in sequentially without having to duck a branch, jump a root, or detour around an obstacle, he thought to himself, I¡¯m pretty good at this athletics thing, aren¡¯t I? And, in this new place, there was a grain of truth to this. Normally, merely running to catch the tube on a day when he left the apartment late would leave him breathless for the ride to work. It was the closest thing to exercise he got, and all it earned him was a demerit when he had forgotten his company badge in his haste. A far cry from the chase he was giving the pure white deer.

    Despite this unexpected prowess, he was losing the deer. The trees were blocking line of sight, and every third, fourth, fifth hop, the white flank would pass out of view. Eventually, he stopped to catch his breath.

    Doubled over on his knees, he saw three cards floating just outside his vision. He checked his left wrist. The three gemstones were still glowing.

    And then he heard a sound distinct to peaceful groves, particularly those which contained pure white hind. The sound of running water.

    That¡¯d be where it¡¯s headed, he thought, I can take my time now. And he glanced at the Precise Shot card.

    Then several things happened at once.

    The card retreated to the recesses of his right bracer, a gemstone went out on his left bracer, and a bow and arrow appeared in his hands, formed entirely of light. He shrugged at the surprise, which goes to show the comparative difference between a human¡¯s response to the positive unexpected as opposed to the negative unexpected.

    Here goes, he thought and held up the bow how he had seen one wielded before. He had never shot a bow and arrow before, and therefore had little hope of doing so successfully now. ¡°If nothing else,¡± he reasoned quietly with one end of the weapon laying along his cheek, ¡°no time like the present to learn how.¡± He crept - albeit rather noisily for it to be a creep - through the woods, following the sound of water.

    It wasn¡¯t far out, though his progress had been hindered by him slipping on a piece of ripe fruit. He had hoped fervently that no one had seen that, and also that the act hadn¡¯t been close enough to scare the deer away again. But he pressed on and came to a natural pool.

    Spread in a shape that was vaguely circular was an expanse of water ringed by the grove of trees. The canopy, though no trees grew in the water, stretched to cover even this patch of sunlight, extending the dappling of sunspots across the clearing and the water itself. The water was calm, save for minute sparkling ripples, and clear as window glass. And there by the pool, drinking, knelt the white hart.

    The human froze catlike. Not catlike like a big, wild cat. More like a domesticated feline raised on too much kibble, sun, and treats. But still catlike in his own way. It was time to take the shot. He¡¯d seen this part done, though more romantically exaggerated than he realized, in movies, games, and serials. He put the arrow to the string ¨C ¡°knocked¡± it, he remembered the term being ¨C and pulled back. He listened to the bubbling of the water and the wind in the trees.

    The draw on the bow was light, and he played with it a bit, drawing and letting out a centimeter or so, feeling the lack of resistance to the bow. The curve didn¡¯t creak, and the string didn¡¯t twang. There was tension, but greatly magnified from what he was exerting.

    Where do I need to hit on a deer? he thought, trying to sight down the arrow. Further thoughts ran through his mind, increasingly quickly, and decreasingly coherently, regarding ballistics mathematics, wind speed, wind direction, drop off¡­

    And then he loosed the shot.

 Chapter 2

    The projectile sped away like¡­well, like an arrow from a string. Our human, though fully intending to fire the arrow, was nonetheless shocked that he¡¯d released it. It left a faint trail of light in its wake, which he noticed in the slowed time that accompanies such moments. The arrow was off-course.

    But then it curved against all probability, as if of its own accord, towards the deer, which had looked up but had not yet run.

    The arrow struck the beast in its side, staggering it, burying itself little less than halfway. A golden shaft and fletching, the entry wound ringed with a dark rouge, stuck out.

    ¡°Yes!¡± the human said breathlessly. He had struck a blow against his first enemy. The stricken deer stood wobblingly, fighting the wound and weakness and gravity. And then in front of it, a card appeared with a picture of a pair of bull¡¯s horns.

    ¡°Gore twenty?¡± the human read, puzzled. And then the deer righted itself, the arrow melting into pieces and blowing away. With the vanishing of the card, the deer¡¯s antlers shimmered and grew. New points appeared, and the mass was looking less and less like tumbleweed, and more and more like a blossoming bear-trap. It snorted, pointing its new weapon at its opponent.

    ¡°Oh,¡± the human said, paling, ¡°Oh no.¡± He turned and ran.

    There was nowhere more favorable to run, his fear-stricken mind decided, than the other side of the pool. It looked deep, and the deer would be unlikely to catch him if it had to jump in, swim, and climb back out again. It would be ¨C probably ¨C equally unlikely to catch him if he could put the pool between it and him.

    By the way the deer now galloped behind him, this was proving a defunct theory.

    ¡°Uhh!¡± the human said, feet pounding, trying to get a glance at the cards without slowing, ¡°Kick five!¡±

    The Kick 5 card flew into his right bracer, which the human was beginning to call the Discard, and immediately felt a surge of tingly energy in his feet. He did not, to his dismay, feel like he was running any faster.

    On the second lap around the small pool, the deer steadily gaining, the boy noticed a low branch on the edge of the clearing. He had never climbed trees, though he knew it was possible, and the center of his brain for making quick decisions, overwhelmed with paperwork at the moment, was stamping everything that crossed its desk with ¡°Approved¡±.

    With the only sounds in the clearing being the human¡¯s breathing and the deer¡¯s occasional braying grunt, he leapt for the low branch with a huff.

    The branch, being described as low in this context, was only merely lower than those of the other surrounding trees. It was still half a foot above the human¡¯s head. But he leapt and reached and grabbed the branch anyway, hoping desperately to pull himself up.

    He kicked about, trying to do his very first chin-up.

    It was taking longer than he had originally expected, and it wasn¡¯t long before he felt a searing pain engulf his lower body. This caused him to cry out.

    The deer, like a nasty telling from a nasty fortune teller, had gored him as predicted. It felt like thousands of little needles piercing the meat of his legs, and then were suddenly all dislodged at once.

    He flailed in pain, only barely registering it when he felt his foot connect with something. He could hold on no longer, and his legs hurt too much to climb. He released the branch and fell bodily to the ground.

    When he wasn¡¯t immediately eviscerated by vengeful venison, he took a look around while lying supine.

    The deer was lying a little ways away on its side.

    The man blinked, and then to himself said, ¡°I kicked it. I must have kicked it right in the head.¡±

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    The power of the Gore gone, its antlers had returned to their less menacing form. It wasn¡¯t moving, aside from short breaths, possibly like those of one stunned by a hit to the head.

    ¡°It¡¯ll get back up in a moment,¡± he reasoned. His body hurt.

    Through the pain, he experienced a zen-like clarity. He selected the Punch 5 card. The third gem winked out and the card was discarded. He felt the same energy as with the Kick 5, but this time in his arms.

    ¡°I can crawl over there,¡± he thought to himself through gritted teeth. The human did so. The surge of energy didn¡¯t help him move, but when he was within arm¡¯s length of the hart, he thumped it on the chest. That was when the energy was expelled.

    It was a meaty thud, and he heard the deer breathe out sharply from the blow. A tiny fountain of blood welled up briefly from the earlier arrowshot.

    The human tried a second punch, but without the force of the card behind it, and with his strength sapped from the earlier horn attack, didn¡¯t do nearly as much damage. But he punched the beast many more times.

    And he yelled at the creature while he punched it. He screamed about how truly real this game felt. He screamed about how his legs hurt. He screamed about how he was screaming. He screamed his fears about dying in this grove all alone.

    He even screamed about how he hated this game now, all while beating the creature over and over.

    Once the therapy was fully realized, he stopped beating the motionless deer. It, and he, and the ground, were all slippery with the creature¡¯s blood now. There was a more modest streak of his own blood behind him, as it had been streaming out of his legs.

    It had grown dark, in a way, since he had arrived at the pool of water. The daylight was gone. But there was still a light illuminating the clearing. A soft blue light.

    Not bothering to lift himself, he looked to the water. There, indeed, was the source of light.

    ¡°Maybe I can get to the pool to wash myself up,¡± he said wearily. ¡°But I¡¯m so tired.¡±

    Still, he tried to stand up. As expected, his legs disagreed with the action. All the little holes where the horns had pierced him screamed out. He just screamed back at them.

    Limping, he made his way to the pool. ¡°The cold water will at least numb me to it,¡± he said resolutely. The man all but collapsed on the edge, swinging his legs into the water.

    The tincture of blood spread out into the clean water, as though seeking the middle. With it seemed to run his aches and pains. The pool became cloudy as his mind began to clear.

    ¡°I killed a wild deer with my own hands,¡± he said to himself as he splashed the water over his arms and thighs. He splashed some on his face and rubbed his eyes.

    When he pulled his hands away, there was something different about the pool. A figure had appeared in the middle, the cloud of blood stretching out from it like a formless shadow. It was lit from below by the shining waters, revealing it to be a woman with waves of hair billowing darkly behind her. She was wearing a white cloth like him, though in slightly different fashion as far as he could tell. The parts it covered were different for sure. She was looking at the dark strip in the pool, and her face seemed sad.

    ¡°Who killed my celestial hart?¡± she asked. The tones of her voice were like crystal, hollow and sharp.

    An expletive, as light and corrosive as a silent fart, drifted its way from him to her. They locked eyes.

    ¡°It was you,¡± she said icily. ¡°My pet is dead because of you!¡±

    She raised an accusing finger and started gliding towards him quickly over the surface of the pool. His eyes grew wide as saucers and he crawled away from her. He bumped into something large and covered in fur. The apparition from the pool, looming over him, gasped and covered her mouth. It was the body of the deer.

    The human put his hands up in supplication. ¡°I didn¡¯t know! I thought I was supposed to-¡° The words caught in his throat, as though he was being throttled by his own guilt.

    Tears were streaming from the woman¡¯s face now.

    ¡°There¡¯s only one thing to do,¡± she said. Her words were small and tinkly. She waved an open palm in front of her, purple cards appearing in front of her with the passing of her hand.

    ¡°Oh no,¡± he said. He said it many times, in fact.

    The woman drowned him out with her words, which filled the clearing, reverberating off the surrounding trees which stood as silent witnesses.

    ¡°Curses,¡± she said. ¡°I curse thee, human, for thine insolence and depravity. A curse upon the one who raised their hand to my sacred pet. A curse upon the one, for each blow struck.¡±

    The human felt light as the space in front of the woman ¨C goddess, he began supposing now ¨C filled up with purple cards. He couldn¡¯t see names or pictures. He almost couldn¡¯t see her behind them, the grid of shadows growing as large as it was.

    He was floating now. And the corpse of the deer, too.

    He felt a lightness about his arms. He looked down just in time to see his bracers disintegrate.

    ¡°Atone!¡± she decreed. Two new bracers, dark purple with aggressive designs stitched on them, appeared and clamped down, one on each arm. And with that, the cards flew towards him. Or to his left bracer. The box opened, sucking in each and every purple card like a hungry vacuum cleaner.

    After what seemed to him like an age, consisting entirely of a torrent of purple cards streaming into the recesses of his left bracer, the box closed with a sinister snap. Then he was merged with the remains of the celestial hart. Then blackness.

 Chapter 3

    The grove was still and silent, the faint rustle of leaves sounding in complaint of a passing breeze. The sunlight which streamed now through the foliage was that of a new day, and it lighted upon a small, curious, unconscious creature. Its cloven hooves, like those of a celestial hart which, until recently, frequented this very grove, were completely at odds with the ape-like hands on its front limbs. A sparkling white fur, like a pair of very fine pants, spread from the hooves to about the creature¡¯s waist, before halting suddenly before a more hairless skin, which completed the figure there upwards, save for a bit on the arms, the face, and the scalp. This sort of hair was very different. That of the scalp had been unchanged with the merger of the human and the body of the deer he had killed. It was as long and dark as before. It was, however, now accompanied by two stubby deer antlers.

    The faun, for that is what he was now, stirred and groaned.

    Gone now were the toga and sandals, and even the braided rope sash. But remaining on his arms were the same boxy bracers as before.

    He sat up, disturbing some squirrels who had deemed him safe enough to forage next to, but who now reconsidered and made for the relative safety of the trees.

    The faun rubbed his face in exhaustion. Then his hind brain tapped him on the shoulder and presented a recap of the latest events. He screamed.

    He wasn¡¯t surprised to find the rear half of a deer where his lower half should be. He had done all his ¡°being surprised¡± when he had lived the merger, and this was in large part the reason he had screamed. The bit of his brain which considered it aloof of panic and which thought itself better than the rest of his brain, noted that his scream sounded more than a little like a bleat. It also found this anachronistic with the fact that he was part deer now, and not part goat.

    Getting his breath back after a nice scream, he had to admit it had made him feel better.

    ¡°I suppose next item on the agenda,¡± he said to no one in particular, ¡°is to figure out how this all works. What was it the supervisors said at those meetings? The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time?¡±

    He tugged thoughtfully at his new curly goatee as he said this. Come to think of it, he thought, that was all rather difficult to pronounce. That would probably be the new teeth I felt come in. She really left no part of me untouched, did she? Spiteful bi-

    But the thought was cut short as with the sounding of a terrifying cry, he was rushed from behind the trees. A white-clad figure with a flash of bronze ¨C matching the bronze helmet - had rushed him, screaming.

    In what could only have been counted in seconds, unless you commonly used really tiny fractions of minutes, there was a human figure standing over him with a line of cold metal pressed to his throat. But the screaming continued.

    He realized by stages that he had joined in with the battle cry, and that the continued screaming was him. His attacker, who had been overcome with a stay of execution, was now silent. And perhaps curious? The scream was allowed to fade away.

    He was staring into two eyes beyond the face guard of a bronze helmet while he was being pressed to the ground with a forearm.

    Sparse moments passed and he was still alive, so he hazarded light conversation.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t kill me,¡± he begged as an icebreaker.

    The attacker, brow furrowed and frowning, pushed off him to stand back up. He remained where he lay.

    The foliage rustled again, and a man asked, ¡°Athena?¡± The faun risked a peek. A less armed man had just arrived, wearing both white and blue cloth, girded, but still rather impractical for traveling through the brush.

    ¡°It talked,¡± a woman¡¯s voice said, coming from the helmeted attacker. Now that he was given a moment¡¯s pause, the faun did notice a few hallmarks which telegraphed the aggressor as female. There was a subtle softness of what skin he could see, and, yes, he thought the hips were wider than normal despite the well-trimmed toga she wore.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly,¡± the man said.

    ¡°I got the drop on it, and it screamed and talked, Apollo,¡± the woman said more firmly. ¡°None of them have talked yet.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you were imagining things-¡° the unwise man said. He didn¡¯t get a chance to finish saying it, having decided better while in the act of speaking. The sudden elbow in his gut was merely a gentle reminder.

    ¡°What are we doing if it can talk?¡± his attacker asked. This she asked in the way some do where they have already decided and are looking for another to justify that decision.

    Deciding that the talking was a sticking point for her, the faun spoke up, saying, ¡°If you¡¯d like my opinion, for what it¡¯s worth, I¡¯d like to not die.¡± As an after thought, considering Apollo¡¯s rudeness, he added, ¡°Please.¡±

    He was able to get a better look at both of them. He couldn¡¯t see his attacker¡¯s face behind the helmet. She was wearing a toga similar to the one he had been before the whole deer incident, but it was more sufficiently secured with bronze clasps. She, too, wore leather sandals, though hers were equipped with shin guards and did a better job covering her feet.

    Apollo, on the other hand, was mostly concealed by his own toga, this one supplied with a purple sash that went over one shoulder. He had a sprig of shiny bronze leaves over one ear, held on either by hair clip or merely secured behind his ear. His toga was rather shoddily girded, freeing up his rather legs for movement through the brush. In his arms he carried some form of tablet or notepad - he analog kind ¨C and his sandals were rather simple.

    Both had similar boxy bracers to the faun¡¯s own. Apollo, if that was his name, had a royal blue set which had two gems on the left bracer, but Athena, whose bracers were bronze, had four gems.

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    ¡°See?¡± she asked, pointing at the faun. ¡°And he¡¯s got the bracers.¡±

    Clutching his side where the elbow had landed, without putting down the tablet, he walked steadily to the faun, who had decided on his own that it was in his best interests to remain sedentary.

    As the man walked closer, the faun noticed for the first time that there were five cards floating just outside of his vision, responding to his curiosity and moving such that he could get a better look. They each had a purple border, and the images themselves, at a glance, were not very pleasant.

    He began to worry, considering his last encounter with floating cards had not ended nicely.

    Will they think I¡¯m being offensive? He wondered. I¡¯m dead if they do.

    Apollo walked through the small cloud of cards, which moved around him to avoid being touched, and he at least pretended not to notice them as he crouched next to the little faun.

    ¡°I have selected for this encounter,¡± he said calmly but sternly, ¡°an attack with highest priority and sufficient damage to incapacitate. Do not try anything, and I will not be forced to use it.¡±

    He has an attack selected? The faun thought, But I don¡¯t see anything floating around his head. Can he really not see my cards? He nodded to let the man know he understood.

    ¡°Good,¡± Apollo said with a crisp smile. ¡°We¡¯re on the road to friendship, then, you and I. And, as budding friends, I would like to know your name.¡±

    The faun thought frantically. Name? Yes, right. People have names. And I have one. But I don¡¯t know these people. I don¡¯t know where I am. And what kind of name is Apollo or Athena? Are they real? Maybe they¡¯re in the same boat as me. I can¡¯t trust this guy as far as I can throw him. Come to think of it, that has grown much harder, of late.

    ¡°I need a name,¡± Apollo said again, looking at the tablet. He didn¡¯t sound rushed, but there was an implication of violence if he took too long to answer.

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡± the faun said, buying some time. It¡¯s probably the dumbest- he thought, but cutting himself off to say, ¡°Pan. Call me Pan.¡±

    Apollo¡¯s face didn¡¯t even twitch. ¡°Well, Pan, my sister and I have had an issue. It would be hard to describe, but we were wondering if you perhaps have come by this same issue.¡± Pan looked over the man¡¯s shoulder at his attacker. She was standing in a way he would describe as ¡°trying not to seem worried¡±, her arms crossed as though she trying to palm each of her elbows.

    ¡°Your sister?¡± Pan said skeptically.

    Apollo nodded, and Pan stifled a scoff.

    ¡°I¡¯d tell you not to get any funny ideas,¡± he said, regarding Pan¡¯s deer half briefly, ¡°but I think she would probably welcome the challenge. A contentious woman, my sister is.¡±

    Pan clicked his tongue as he nodded slowly, then said, ¡°I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll need more information on your problem. And,¡± he hazarded, ¡°some¡­personal space?¡±

    ¡°Where are my manners?¡± Apollo asked, a grin forming like a cold-snap. ¡°Of course. Please, help yourself up. Get comfortable.¡±

    Pan, who had been propping himself up on his elbows, tried to sit up and sit cross-legged. The deer legs didn¡¯t cooperate after an attempt, so he just laid them out in front. In the reconfiguration, he had had to move a short white deer tail out of the way.

    Apollo had stood up, and his sister came over. They whispered a few lines, and then he said, ¡°Our problem is rather outlandish. You¡¯re not likely to believe us. But we can probably risk it with you.¡±

    You¡¯re a loser, so we think we can trust you not to have friends, Pan translated in his head. ¡°Try me,¡± he said out loud, and if not Apollo, Athena had visually reacted as though she had recognized the phrase, like a circus ringleader recognizing his chief clown in the adult store they both happened to be patronizing.

    ¡°We¡¯re not from¡­er¡­this world,¡± Apollo started slowly. ¡°In fact, we had just started playing a game-¡°

    ¡°You were playing a game and suddenly it became all too real,¡± Pan finished.

    Athena looked relieved, like tension had just run out of her shoulders.

    ¡°So you are one of us, then?¡± Apollo guessed. ¡°I was rather unsure, given the-¡° He didn¡¯t finish the sentence, merely gesturing at Pan.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Pan said, ¡°but I¡¯ve had a hell of a time.¡±

    ***

    It was later in the day, and the trio had resolved to travel together.

    ¡°I¡¯m not the actual Apollo,¡± Apollo had said. ¡°That was going to be my handle. Likewise for my sister. We were interested in setting up twin characters to adventure together, with different main toons for personal play.¡±

    Pan, unversed in the lingo, had needed the term toon defined.

    ¡°A player character,¡± came the answer, rather surprisingly, from Athena. ¡°Like, Athena would be one toon of mine, and, for example, I¡¯d also have different characters to play. Like a Hunter or a Scholar.¡±

    Apollo knew more about the immediate area than the other two. He claimed there was a town several miles away at the mouth of the valley. ¡°You could get there by following the river. It¡¯s built on the same river. But I wouldn¡¯t recommend it.¡±

    ¡°The groves around here are decent for levelling,¡± Athena interjected, ¡°It¡¯s just that there¡¯s a dungeon upstream of the town. Things get dicey around there.¡±

    Pan had wondered if that town was where they were taking him.

    ¡°We¡¯re doing some scouting and resource collecting,¡± Athena replied.

    ¡°So we¡¯re not going straight there,¡± Apollo added.

    They¡¯re protecting something, Pan thought. They¡¯re not being outright dishonest, but they evaded my question.

    The group traveled with Athena on point and Apollo driving Pan between them, though not impolitely. Apollo seemed concerned with things on his tablet, which Pan saw was a dark slate. He was using a fine chalk stylus to make notes occasionally.

    Athena walked with her senses attuned, almost sniffing the air.

    ¡°We cleared out most of the area before we came upon you,¡± Apollo said quietly. ¡°We wanted to do a final sweep before we broke for camp.¡±

    So while they walked unimpeded by encounters, Pan took note of the cards which still hovered in a small cloud in front of him, just out of his vision. They graciously moved into his line of sight at the effort.

    Fumble, Trigger Trap, Extinguish, Voodoo, Rose Thorn? he read the titles to himself. I still don¡¯t like the look of these pictures very much.

    The Fumble card had an image like a leg ¨C a human leg, from the looks of it ¨C slamming its knee into a bar of some sort. Trigger Trap showed a man in pain as a mechanical bear trap clamped on his hand. Extinguish showed a candle flame against a black background, the flame bookended by two fiendish red eyes. Voodoo was split down the middle by a thin lightning bolt, one half showing a straw effigy being poked with pins and the other half a person in the same orientation as the doll ¨C that being wracked with pain where the pins went into the doll. Rose Thorn had some particularly evil looking black metal brambles surrounding a rose, which was in the act of dripping a single drop of blood.

    Why couldn¡¯t it be unicorn hugs and rainbow candy? Pan thought wryly.

    Below each of the images on the cards, which dominated the top half of the card, was an embossed plaque. He hadn¡¯t noticed before, but there was what looked like writing there.

    When he concentrated on that part of Fumble, the card shifted. The image shrunk and the plaque enlarged. It read: Discard your hand and draw two cards.

    He gave the card a rueful look. ¡°Well that¡¯s helpful,¡± he muttered.

    The card fled to the edge of his vision as he almost ran into Athena. She had stopped.

    ¡°Let¡¯s camp here,¡± she said. She held up a hand, a card appearing briefly in front of it before vanishing, a picture of some logs on fire. It was titled ¡°Campfire¡± appropriately.

    There appeared beside her, appropriately, a small but serviceable campfire.

    ¡°Sounds great. I¡¯m bushed,¡± Apollo said, sitting down.

    And the light of the fire, as it bathed Pan in its flickering glow, suffused him with a renewed vitality. Perhaps now he could get some sleep. Before he even knew it, he had.

    Unbeknownst to the sleeping Pan, a purple card slipped out of his left bracer, its picture and name both a Nightmare, and slunk off. If a card could cackle, this one would have.

 Chapter 4

    Pan, before his subconscious had even set the stage for any kind of dream to take place, was gently woken by the sound of a tree being felled in one go. This had the complete effect a cold bucket of water would have had, including wetting the ground he had been sleeping on.

    There was, currently, a huge and tattooed cyclops treading on their little campfire. He was trying to swat Athena with one of his fists the size of Pan¡¯s cubicle back home.

    Pan screamed, every part of his body trying to retreat at the same time. He watched in blood-freezing terror as one of the cyclops¡¯ ¨C cyclopses? ¨C fists came down on her a split second before she had moved. The calculating part of his mind, taking in details for examination by the more rational parts which were as of now indisposed, noticed she held a bright and shining spear in her hands, with which she jabbed at the creature in a smart riposte, stabbing five, ten, twenty¡­. A staggering twenty-five times.

    Pan didn¡¯t see if this had any effect on the giant creature, as his attention at that very moment was pulled upwards. He had retreated, crawling and sliding without bothering to stand, until his back had touched something. The thing he saw above him ¨C the something in question ¨C seemed to be a face of a beautiful woman. Except when she grinned down at him, she had no teeth but sharp canines where most people would have a variety of teeth, like incisors and molars. The light was low now that the campfire had been extinguished, but her skin seemed to have a pallid tone, almost lilac.

    She reached down and picked him up in what looked like a well-manicured hand, but which felt to his throat like a talon. She grinned at him as she held him up, choking, and her tongue lolled. It was more like a whip tentacle than a proper tongue.

    A card flashed, showing Pan briefly the face of a wretched and shriveled man, his life force being drawn into a black vortex. The title of the card read Life Drain.

    He immediately felt like a Capri-Sun, the strength of his body being drawn outward, quelling his struggle against the wife of Dracula. He could see dark red fire in the pits of her irises as he stared at her.

    And as he stared, a horizontal lightning bolt struck her, throwing Pan back through the air, end over end. He had himself another scream, if only for the look of the thing.

    When he stopped, he was at the feet of another figure, this one less immediately worrying. Apollo, not looking down at him, helped him to his feet.

    ¡°When we yell at you to wake up,¡± he said coldly, quietly, ¡°we need you to wake up, Pan.¡±

    A card appeared and vanished in front of Apollo¡¯s outstretched hand. A close-up of a forked lightning bolt against a field of dark blue. The title was simply Lightning.

    A twin of the bolt that had exploded behind him burst forth, exploding some other poor sap off in the distance. Pan didn¡¯t see what Apollo had hit, but he heard the cyclops bellow.

    ¡°And that¡¯s my second action,¡± Apollo sighed. ¡°Do you have anything to contribute?¡± As one, they searched for Athena. The cyclops was still standing, but with Athena leading his attention in a dizzying circle around his feet. A card appeared in front of the creature, big as a billboard. Pan could easily see a picture of a huge hand crushing some hapless furry creature, the head poking out in the crook of the thumb and index finger, eyes comically bulging. It was titled Squeeze.

    The hands of the cyclops began to sparkle, filled with power from the card. Pan could tell, if she let him grab her, she¡¯d be in a for a world of hurt.

    She weaved through the trees, her attacker making steady progress slapping them away. Their trail didn¡¯t wind too far into the woods, merely clearing a bit of space in fat, lazy curves at the edge of where they had been camping.

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    She¡¯s looking for something, Pan thought. She¡¯s trying to set him up.

    She activated a card that Pan couldn¡¯t read as she made another pass around the giant¡¯s feet, and a second spear appeared in her hands.

    Carrying her momentum to a tree, she narrowly dodged a blind grab by her large opponent, and kicked off from the trunk.

    As time seemed to slow down for the faun, Athena spun in mid-air, cocking back the spear, the weapon casting off flames as its wielder bellowed a war cry. The creature¡¯s one eye, already the size of one of those fancy world globes, grew wider and rounder, its grimace drooping in lazy surprise.

    The creature fell, the spear gently smoldering as it stuck out of its eye-socket, Athena landing and rolling just behind it. The creature and the weapon effervesced and dissolved.

    Athena, standing now, shouted at their twin stares. ¡°There¡¯s still two more! Let¡¯s move it!¡± She was facing down the sharp-toothed woman. Now that he could see her properly, she looked a bit like a vampire, a red cloak with intricate lace designs was strung across her back from wristlet to wristlet, like a shower curtain behind her leotard. Her dark hair hung in gothic arches, framing her red lips. She was standing in a light purple mist that Pan was just now recollecting had accompanied the cyclops. A chain wrapped many times about her middle like a belt.

    Apollo, shrugging with his arms spread, shouted back, ¡°I¡¯m out of actions, what more do you want?¡±

    ¡°Pan!¡± Athena replied, having not missed a beat, ¡°I know you¡¯ve got something!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a succubus,¡± Apollo leaned down to whisper, ¡°but I haven¡¯t seen one in these woods. Do you have anything for that?¡±

    Pan reviewed his cards. They were the same as last time.

    Voodoo, Fumble, Rose Thorn, Trigger Trap, and Extinguish.

    ¡°What works against a succubus?¡± he asked idly.

    ¡°They prefer non-physical attacks, instead going straight for the throat. So to speak. Most games balance out strong magic with weak defense, and so far this one doesn¡¯t seem much different.¡±

    Fumble, he recalled, didn¡¯t do much but replenish his hand, so that one was out. He needed to deal some damage.

    Selecting Voodoo, Rose Thorn, and Trigger Trap, he discarded the rest.

    ¡°I don¡¯t really know what my abilities do yet-¡° he called out, but Athena cut him off.

    ¡°If you spend an action, I get another action this turn. You¡¯re in my party. I¡¯m a Hoplite, Pan, it¡¯s a perk of the class. Now just pick something and do it now. I¡¯ve got another good one up at bat and I don¡¯t want to waste it.¡±

    Sensing there was a time element at play here that was usually absent in turn-based games, he selected Voodoo without reading it. Instead of disappearing into his discard, the thing just vanished.

    Moments passed and nothing happened. He shared a look with Athena and shrugged.

    She looked at her left bracer. One of the action gems was lit up again.

    Pan checked his, and one was extinguished. He noticed for the first time that the gems of these bracers were red.

    Athena, not wanting to wait, activated a card which, again, Pan was too far away to see. From the point in the air where the card had activated, a red shape flew out towards the succubus, hitting her in the head. A red X latched itself across her mouth.

    ¡°Oh! Silence! She¡¯ll be useless for a turn,¡± Apollo said. He couldn¡¯t restrain the fascination. ¡°And my new hand, right on cue,¡± he added, not that Pan could see the cards Apollo was looking at.

    And at that moment, a curious realization overcame Pan. It was something Athena had said. There were supposed to be three monsters.

    He elbowed Apollo in the hip to get his attention, to ask what the third monster had been, but he found he couldn¡¯t speak.

    ¡°Did you get anything good, Pan? All I got are kicks and blocks.¡±

    Pan couldn¡¯t open his mouth. He could work his jaw, but his lips wouldn¡¯t come apart. He felt with his hands, to try and peel them open, stumbling across the clearing in the effort.

    He almost tripped over the shattered stump of the tree the cyclops had felled.

    ¡°Pan?¡± Apollo asked, concern in his voice.

    Similarly, the succubus was tugging at the red X on her own mouth, unable to defend herself from a strike to the mid-section from Athena, sending her to the ground.

    Pan was immediately racked with pain about his mid-section. He curled up, his mute status forgotten temporarily. This time he almost ran into a vase as large as him. He wallowed , trying to shake off the random pain, not even seeing the faint purple haze that seemed to emanate from beneath the vase.

    ¡°Athena, stop!¡± Apollo shouted. It didn¡¯t stop her from kicking the monster in the back of the knee.

    Pan recoiled as it felt like his leg exploded.

    ¡°I think you¡¯re hurting Pan!¡± he said, ¡°Stop hitting the succubus!¡±

    She gave him a baffled look over the sprawling monster.

    While the siblings talked, Pan felt rubbery tendrils wrap around him, stifling movement before he could fight them off.

 Chapter 5

    ¡°Where is Pan?¡± Athena asked. She wanted to hit the succubus once more while it was silenced and prone. It¡¯s always the way of it, male developers putting half naked, busty women in their games. Not everyone had the body type for leotards and dramatic capes strung from the arms. This was much less the case for her, now that she was sporting the female Hoplite body, but the resentment still clung.

    She turned around, the action answering her own question. There, as suspicious as a snowman in summer, sat a beautiful Grecian vase, designs done in white, black, and bronze. Crisp lines depicted stylized men, each of them broad shouldered and thick muscled, doing something sporty. A purple haze about the bottom of the large jar somewhat ruined the effect.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t there when we camped,¡± Apollo explained, to which Athena rolled her eyes.

    ¡°What are mimics weak against?¡± she asked.

    Ignoring the new question in favor of a more complete answer for a previous one, Apollo said, ¡°I quite think he did this to himself.¡±

    ¡°You think he¡­I don¡¯t know this game¡¯s terminology¡­Destiny Bonded himself to the succubus? Everything that happens to her happens to him?¡±

    Apollo nodded. ¡°And maybe vice versa. If you hadn¡¯t been in such a rush to finish her off,¡± here he jerked a thumb to the still squirming vampiress and let the criticism hang in the air.

    Instead of getting angry, like he had expected, she looked contemplative. She said idly, ¡°Whatever. If he¡¯s still bonded to her, and we want to save him at all, we need to act quickly.¡±

    ¡°Why do you say that?¡±

    ¡°Because she just ran out of HP.¡±

    And indeed, the succubus and her accompanying cloud of purple haze particulated and evaporated.

    ¡°You don¡¯t think he¡¯s-?¡± Apollo started, but at the same time, a soft clink sounded as the jar had wobbled somehow.

    ¡°Press buttons until something sticks?¡± Apollo asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s gotten me through worse.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you can actually say that any more, now that we¡¯re living it.¡±

    A curved blade, the very essence of alacrity, appeared in her hand as a Slash card flashed. ¡°All I need you to do is to keep giving me my extra action point,¡± she said as she charged the jar.

    ¡°But that¡¯s how Pan got into this mess, remember?¡± he shouted impotently. He knew she had stopped listening.

    ¡°Spells, spells,¡± he muttered as he leafed through the invisible cards in front of him. ¡°How about a little fire, scarecrow?¡±

    He knew the reference didn¡¯t suit the circumstance, but his audience didn¡¯t really care. There was none to witness. But he liked this spell, and, yes, fire was involved.

    To Athena he shouted, ¡°I¡¯ll put a little pepper on this one!¡±

    And with that, a Firebolt card flashed, resulting in a trans-atmospheric comet to appear and hurl itself at the vase.

    ****

    Pan was in hell. More specifically, he felt like he was the only one not enjoying himself at the Rubber Hose, Eel, and Snake orgy. He was being steadily suffocated ¨C in addition to the silence ¨C by Cthullu¡¯s beard.

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    It hurt, and more than a little.

    Through the constantly squirming binding, which seemed to be actively trying to digest him, he heard a muffled cry. He recognized it as what he had heard just before meeting the siblings. It was slightly muffled, being on the outside of the living vase he was currently occupying.

    With a thunk, he felt the container rock, probably resisting a blow from who he was increasingly thinking of as Xena, Warrior Princess.

    In the hair curling moment following that, there came a roaring blast. It didn¡¯t enter the jar, but it did send the container backwards. The tentacles invading his personal space and trying to wring him like a damp towel had to stop what they were doing, extricate themselves from the vase, and absorb the shock.

    He looked around for a hand of cards, but none were to be seen.

    ****

    Without the vase, Apollo and Athena were treated to the horrific ordeal of watching what looked like a black octopus reach its many tendrils out the top of the vase to keep the thing from toppling.

    ¡°I know we didn¡¯t see any of these in this grove before,¡± Apollo said. ¡°How random is that? A mimic out in the woods?¡±

    ¡°I dunno, maybe it can change form. Maybe it¡¯s a chameleon.¡±

    Another card flashed in front of Apollo, depicting jagged rocks, titled Earth Spike.

    He stomped the ground mightily, sending a tectonic tremor towards the monster. Very much like the card depicted, a bouquet of rock spikes welled beneath the vase before subsiding.

    ¡°Did you draw that thing you bought yet? I¡¯m out of actions.¡± he called to his sister.

    ¡°I¡¯ve still got this basic crap to work through. It¡¯s not up at bat yet.¡±

    ¡°Pity,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯d be useful here.¡±

    ¡°I think your earth attack cracked it,¡± she said. ¡°I haven¡¯t built up any Shield, but maybe it needs impact attacks. I¡¯ll try a Shield Bash.¡±

    A card flashed, a bronze buckler appearing over her bracer. Stepping close, she put her weight behind the shield and shoved.

    There was a ringing like a bell.

    ¡°We¡¯re trying to save him, not deafen him!¡± Apollo cried.

    ¡°He¡¯s lucky we stuck around! I¡¯m starting to suspect he¡¯s the reason for the monsters!¡±

    The vase recoiled from the impact, reeling backwards on its many tentacles. Athena went down. And then went back up.

    ¡°Wooaaahh!¡± she cried.

    ¡°Athena!¡± Apollo cried.

    A tentacle had wrapped around her ankle, and now was arching over the battleground, the warrior girl trailing behind.

    A card appeared in front of the vase. Bash 15.

    Athena twirled gracefully in a brief spiral before being hurled bodily into the trunk of a tree. It knocked the wind out of her completely, and she slumped like a mannequin.

    ¡°You motherf-¡° Apollo growled, though the rest of the foul sentence was cut off by the roar of wind.

    ****

    Pan was clinging desperately to what consciousness remained in his suffocating brain. He barely even noticed five purple cards rise one by one out of his left bracer.

    He looked through them idly.

    That one looks neat. The thought drifted along on the crest of a blackout.

    The card, the picture a swirling torrent of blue and white, titled Vortex, vanished before him.

    ****

    Apollo raced to his sister.

    ¡°You¡¯re gonna want to hold on,¡± he said. With one arm he gripped her around the waist, and the other he wrapped around a low bough.

    The clouds above were swirling suddenly. Bits of debris were flying, and the trees were shaking their branches like nobody¡¯s business.

    A cone of swirly air reached down to the vase as Apollo struggled to hold himself and his sister in place. She grunted and moaned as the wind pulled at them both.

    The black, white, and bronze monstrosity, its tentacles hanging out the top, was lifted into the air by the swirling air. It clutched at the ground, but was unable to find enough purchase. Once free of the gravity that had moored it, it started to spin.

    A branch, broken from some tree, smacked Apollo in the face and he had to renew his grip.

    The vase, when he had a chance to look at it again, was spinning violently now. The black tentacles were completely outstretched, unable to pull themselves back in. Still it rose steadily higher.

    The larger detritus seemed to focus on the vase, spinning around it at the same height. Apollo thought it was all getting closer.

    Chips of ceramic began to fly off the creature, now completely helpless.

    How long would the effect last, Apollo seemed to ask.

    Then, all at once, the jar exploded. The orbiting rocks had buffeted it, sapping its integrity, and the rotational velocity finally pulled it apart.

    A writhing mass of tentacles and one big squid eye were revealed as its shell flew apart, and then just as quickly the body began to dissolve.

    And so, coincidentally, did the wind.

    Apollo had considered letting the tree and his sister go, as the one remaining bit in the writhing mass of the monster remained. In the end, he decided against it, and Pan hit the ground with a meaty thud.

 Chapter 6

    The grove was still and silent, the faint rustle of leaves sounding in complaint of a passing breeze.

    Pan was becoming surprisingly accustomed to waking up to many aches and pains in the middle of a picturesque grove, and the familiarity was making him uneasy.

    ¡°Did we win?¡± he asked groggily. His head hurt. Though, it hurt in new and interesting ways.

    ¡°You tell me,¡± Apollo said.

    Pan sat up and instantly regretted it as the world ¨C to him at least ¨C had been possessed by the spirit of a mischievous washing machine. It spun in jarring ways. So he laid back down and looked at the sky for a while.

    It was daytime, and the light streamed down through the leaves. This, of course, happened further away from Pan in many directions, as that was where the remaining trees were. Over Pan, however, there was no gently streaming light, just great torrents of morning sunlight, unimpeded by gently rustling leaves.

    It was now that he noticed there was something wrong with the light. There was no fiery eye in the blue heavens above. Instead, there was a sun-bright glowing line stretching almost three-fifths of the way across the sky. It was as though someone had glued the sun to the horizon and stretched it.

    ¡°Did you hear me, Pan?¡± Apollo started.

    Coming back to himself, he realized Apollo had been talking while he was trying to understand the mysteries of the cosmos. ¡°Uh, no. What was it again?¡±

    Apollo sighed and said, ¡°Athena seems to think that you might be the cause of that attack last night.¡±

    ¡°Pfft,¡± the faun said. ¡°As if.¡±

    ¡°But now that she mentioned it, I seem to recall a purple haze about those monsters. I certainly don¡¯t remember seeing those particular species in these woods before, and we cleared it out at least once already.¡±

    Pan put his fingertips to his chest as though wounded by the accusation. ¡°I would never-¡­It wasn¡¯t me, ok? You think I¡¯d do this to myself?¡±

    He rolled over on his side, which somehow didn¡¯t trigger his vertigo, and looked the boy in his eyes. ¡°That thing ate me.¡±

    For the first time, he saw Apollo was tending to another body. Athena was laid out on the ground before him.

    ¡°Is she going to be ok?¡± he asked. The defensive tone in his voice had vanished.

    What if it had been my fault? he thought guiltily.

    ¡°Yeah. We only brought the one campfire. It was going to be a routine farm, and we can take the usual fare out here. Her natural regeneration will have to bring her back to consciousness.¡±

    ¡°Another Hoplite class feature?¡± he asked, trying to do so mockingly, but didn¡¯t have the heart for it.

    ¡°What? No.¡± Apollo suddenly sounded like he was addressing an idiot. ¡°You know how you regain HP passively when you¡¯re outside of combat?¡±

    Pan decided to construct a lie to save face, but looked blank a fraction of a second too long.

    ¡°Did you play the beta?¡± Apollo probed knowingly.

    Pan just shook his head.

    ¡°Gods save us,¡± he muttered. A bit more loudly he said, ¡°It¡¯s a miracle you survived that fight. Those monsters, as far as I can figure, were randomly generated.¡± He stood up from kneeling at his sister¡¯s side and came over to Pan. He took the unresisting faun by the left arm and rotated it to show him the bracer.

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    ¡°This is your interface. It¡¯s got your deck list, character stats, action count¡­everything.¡± He tapped the cluster of red gems Pan had seen light up and go out over the course of his time in this world. Something like a card, though taller and wider, and which didn¡¯t come from the embedded deck box, flew from somewhere about the bracer like magic and floated in front of him.

    ¡°Do you see the menu screen?¡± Apollo asked as though blind.

    ¡°Yeah, I do. What? You can¡¯t?¡±

    ¡°No, I can¡¯t,¡± he said flatly. ¡°I can¡¯t see your cards, I can¡¯t see your stats. All I can see is the design of your bracer, your race, and if I look closely, I can see your remaining actions.¡±

    Pan was reading the screen.

    He saw his own name at the top of the table, not Pan, but his real name. The one he used when he made his account.

    Below that, he saw a line that said-

    ¡°Unnggh¡±, came a groan from behind Apollo. He reacted immediately, impromptu tutor lesson over.

    ¡°It swung you against that tree pretty hard,¡± he said, kneeling over her. He had his back to Pan now.

    For Class, it just says ¡°Cursed¡±. That¡¯s a class? he thought to himself. And all my stats but HP are a 1. Lady, he thought, referring to the woman from the pool, you are some kind of messed up doing this to me.

    ¡°What¡­rewards¡­?¡± came Athena¡¯s weak voice.

    ¡°There were none,¡± her brother said. He made no attempt to conceal his own disappointment.

    ¡°¡­sucks¡­¡± she replied.

    ¡°Are you well enough to walk? We¡¯re losing daylight.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m in the teens now,¡± she said. Her voice was coming back.

    ¡°We¡¯ve only got a few hours until the critters spawn again.¡±

    Pan spoke up, ¡°Hey, I¡¯ve got a question,¡± he started. ¡°What¡¯s up with the sun?¡±

    Athena groaned, then pulled Apollo in closer. The two whispered a sharp dialogue which Pan¡¯s ears weren¡¯t equipped to pick up. Though, he could tell he was the subject of the conversation.

    The matter decided, and Athena apparently having lost, Apollo said out loud, ¡°Alright Pan, you¡¯re coming with us to town.¡±

    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t get what that has to do with the sun,¡± he said carefully, ¡°but I appreciate it?¡±

    ****

    Working together, they were able to shoulder the injured Athena for a while as her HP returned. Eventually she was able to walk on her own, despite Apollo¡¯s hesitancy to let her, feeling she was pushing herself too hard.

    Freed of their load, Apollo eventually deigned to answer Pan¡¯s earlier question.

    ¡°It¡¯s just the way things are in this world,¡± he said. His tablet was in his arms again, and he seemed distracted as he drew on it with the stylus. ¡°There¡¯s a centerline in the sky, you see. Gradually, by parts, it lights up. The line of light creeps along the sky until the part at the beginning dims again.¡±

    Pan nearly blinded himself trying to see by what mechanism the light was generated. There was only blue and brilliant white.

    ¡°I have no reference by which to measure the line,¡± Apollo continued. ¡°But the part that¡¯s lit up has never stretched the whole way across.¡±

    ¡°When do you think they¡¯ll respawn?¡± Athena asked.

    ¡°They¡¯ll be repopulating¡­oh¡­in maybe half an hour.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s try not to get in a fight.¡±

    She must not have made a full recovery yet, Pan thought.

    ¡°I want to know something, Pan,¡± she said. He almost stopped walking, the comment came at him so suddenly. ¡°What do you know about what happened back there?¡±

    The air seemed to grow thick. I honestly don¡¯t know anything. I was sleeping, then there were monsters.

    But instead of that, he said defensively, ¡°What¡¯s the running theory right now?¡±

    ¡°I think,¡± Athena said carefully, ¡°that they weren¡¯t just a random encounter.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡±

    ¡°I think you might have done something to bring them to us.¡±

    ¡°I already said I didn¡¯t do it,¡± Pan retorted a bit more grumpily than he meant to. We didn¡¯t get much sleep last night, so emotions are high.

    ¡°I remember,¡± Athena replied. There was a noise not accounted for by their own movements and everyone stopped. A light rustle and impact, almost like a footfall.

    ¡°Fruit,¡± Apollo said. One of the trees had shed a ripe something or other that Pan couldn¡¯t see. The three began moving again.

    ¡°I remember you said it wasn¡¯t your fault, but I don¡¯t believe it. Apollo vouches for you, so you¡¯re with us.¡±

    ¡°Believe it or not,¡± Pan said graciously, ¡°I¡¯m appreciative.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s tenuous at best, so don¡¯t presume.¡± Her tone, no more pleasant than it had been so far, was petulant.

    Apollo, attention pulled from his tablet, spoke up. ¡°I tell you, I saw him beat the mimic. Plus, it was actively eating him.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Pan said, the grace in his tone evaporating.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Athena cut back. ¡°It could have been a failed attempt at taking us out. Or it could have been¡­I don¡¯t know.¡± Pan felt her attention shift to him, despite her leading the way and not looking at him. He stared at her back. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you. You¡¯ll have to give me better reasons, is all I¡¯m saying. When we get to town-¡°

    Apollo spoke up. ¡°If we get to town, we¡¯ll see how it goes from there. How¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°If? Why if?¡± Athena asked. She turned around, causing Pan to turn around. Apollo had stopped.

    ¡°Because it hadn¡¯t been fruit.¡±

    There, holding Apollo from behind and pressing a bronze knife to his throat, was a black clad and hooded centaur.

 Chapter 7

    ¡°Nobody make any sudden moves,¡± came the voice under the cowl. It sounded gritty, and Pan couldn¡¯t place the accent. ¡°Give me your money or the dude gets it.¡± He readjusted the knife he held.

    Five purple cards fluttered out of Pan¡¯s bracer. Unable to stop himself, he looked from the spectacle to the cards.

    ¡°And you definitely won¡¯t want to play thing funny,¡± the centaur added.

    How did he know I was looking at my cards? He shouldn¡¯t be able to see them, but on top of that, the hood is covering his face.

    ¡°He¡¯s not hurting you, is he?¡± Athena asked her brother.

    Apollo tried to shake his head, but the knife made it difficult. ¡°No. Not yet anyway,¡± he said through gritted teeth.

    ¡°You¡¯re wearing my patience out, dude. If you give me the money, you can talk all you want.¡±

    He sounds like a Dark Knight wannabe, Pan thought. He stole a glance at Athena. If stares were daggers, this centaur would already be dead.

    ¡°Just let him go. We don¡¯t have any money.¡±

    ¡°Haw haw dude,¡± the horse man said sarcastically, his raspy accent slipping. Where have I heard that accent before?

    ¡°I¡¯ve had my eye on you. You¡¯ve cleared this grove out at least once, so don¡¯t tell me-¡°

    ¡°Where,¡± Pan interrupted hesitantly, ¡°¡­.where did you come from?¡±

    The centaur regarded him, as though seeing him for the first time.

    ¡°What is that thing?¡±

    ¡°A friend,¡± Apollo said.

    ¡°A charity case,¡± Athena said at the same time. They shared a glance.

    ¡°Inconsequential,¡± Athena added. ¡°What¡¯s your price, blackguard?¡±

    The centaur paused at the remark, then whispered to Apollo, who spoke back.

    ¡°What?¡± Athena asked.

    ¡°He asked me what a blackguard is.¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± the centaur said, shaking Apollo.

    ¡°The only reason I ask,¡± Pan said as though what was said since his question hadn¡¯t been said, ¡°is because these trees aren¡¯t thick enough to hide a horse.¡±

    ¡°Aha,¡± the centaur remarked, ¡°but you weren¡¯t looking in the branches.¡±

    The three of them processed this, Athena and Pan looking at the back of the centaur, scanning down his four legs to his four hooves.

    ¡°¡­it¡­uhh¡­it was even harder than it looks, yeah. But no one checks the trees for centaurs, so-¡°

    ¡°That¡¯s stupid,¡± Athena said more bluntly than five tons of granite. Pan nodded.

    ¡°Who has who by the throat here?¡± the centaur asked, waving the dagger point at them indistinctly. And then he realized his mistake.

    A Firebolt card flashed, preceding an explosion which bloomed between him and Apollo. He recoiled to protect his face as Apollo catapulted forward. A spear materialized in Athena¡¯s hands in response to the activation of a Thrust card as she rushed the would-be thief.

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    Several rapid steps, bypassing the ballistic Apollo, and bringing the spear point first towards the centaur, a one-woman stampede ending in a four foot point.

    A clash of bronze rang out. Pan hadn¡¯t moved, caught flat-footed by the sudden action, and the scene laid out before him such that a prone and slightly singed Apollo lay between him and Athena, frozen in a pose of out-thrust spear at the centaur. The spear, however, did not find purchase. It was caught by crossing dagger blades and diverted over his shoulder.

    This lasted only a moment as a card flashed, titled Counter, a picture of figures fencing, one diverting the other¡¯s sword and driving his own into the first¡¯s body.

    In one movement, the daggers came apart, pulling the spear from Athena¡¯s hands, and on the follow-through were thrust into the unresisting Athena. All three weapons fizzled and vanished.

    ¡°Ha!¡± the Whispering Horse cried. He sounded incredulous. ¡°No Shield?¡±

    Athena staggered backward, tripping on her own feet and landing next to her brother, him face down and her face up. Both lay at the coven hooves of Pan, who still hadn¡¯t moved.

    The centaur was celebrating by doing a little dance. If a horse could do the Walking Man, Pan was witness to it.

    He¡¯s celebrating a bit early, he thought. Maybe he doesn¡¯t see me as a threat? His mind replayed for him his recent highlights. Maybe I¡¯m not a threat.

    The cards hovering to the side of his vision drew his attention. He hadn¡¯t had a chance to read them yet. He checked on the centaur, who was doing the Sprinkler. There might be just enough time to make a decision.

    The cards lined up for him. There was Slow, Deflate, Dirt Nap, Mirror, and-

    ¡°Wheel of Fate?¡± He remembered cards had hidden details, and inquired further. The box of text enlarged, revealing a rather complex description.

    While not able to make a full study of it, after flipping between them, Wheel of Fate was the only card that wasn¡¯t guaranteed to set him back. There was at least a chance it would hurt his opponent.

    It¡¯d take a few turns, though. And the centaur was dancing this way.

    He picked the Wheel of Fate card, with two others, and played it.

    The Whispering Horse was having a good day. The couple of chumps he¡¯d been tailing went down even easier than he had expected. Once he had taken out the Scholar, and the Hoplite had been dumb enough not to retain any Shield to soak his very obviously prepared Counter, that was that. The rewards of one whole farming of the grove were about to be his.

    But when he had finished showboating and tried to loot the bodies, a little demon the size of his fist appeared. It was curse-purple, which didn¡¯t bode well in his experience, and had little bat wings, claws at the end of each limb, and wore a poorly tailored suit jacket.

    ¡°Oh no bro,¡± the Whispering Horse said dismally.

    The creature flew over to two chance wheels suspended in mid air which hadn¡¯t been there before. On one wheel there were symbols he recognized as increases and decreases to health, stats, money¡­there were dozens of different wedges.

    On the other wheel, separated into quadrants, had faces. The first he recognized was his own. Two of the others were the dudes he just beat. The fourth was some dude with antlers.

    Wait, he remembered seeing that particular dude. And he remembered the weird little half-deer dude.

    Pan caught the Whispering Horse¡¯s eye as the demon set the wheels to spinning with a gleeful cackle.

    ¡°Dude. Curses?¡±

    ¡°I mean, I really didn¡¯t have a choice.¡±

    ¡°You know this takes two turns to resolve?¡± The centaur wasn¡¯t looking at him, but selecting his cards.

    Pan shrugged. This chat was destroying his morale. His legs felt weak as he stood before a thug who had to be measured in hands.

    ¡°You got anything good to follow it up, dude?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah, definitely,¡± Pan bluffed.

    They both had their cards selected. Between the two of them, Pan didn¡¯t know who was the good, who was the bad, and who was the ugly, but they stared each other down as fiercely as any two gun slingers in a town too small for the both of them.

    Only Pan didn¡¯t have any incentive to draw.

    The Whispering Horse noticed the bracers on the faun¡¯s arms. Curse purple with red action gems. He couldn¡¯t tell if he was about to take on a genius or an idiot. Some people, like the Whispering Horse himself, took terrible options as a challenge. This dude he was taking on could be one of those, or he could just be a lucky jackass to have survived this far as a Cursed class. He wondered what alterations the faun could have done to its deck so far. The Cursed could buy cards just like anyone else, after all.

    He thought about the downed Hoplite and decided more Shield couldn¡¯t hurt. It would absorb any direct damage if the Cursed faun was baiting him into a trap.

    A Block 10 card flashed as he played it, never breaking eye contact with his opponent.

    But the short dude didn¡¯t even flinch. He just stood there. That card he¡¯d played could have been anything, like the Trample he¡¯d been considering. High priority, high mobility, high damage¡­

    He was sure this faun was baiting him now.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got a lot riding on this Wheel of Fate,¡± he said. The faun hadn¡¯t moved, so the Whispering Horse started walking around him, burning off the nervous energy that was building.

    ¡°More than you realize,¡± he responded in a quiet voice.

    ¡°You got this turn and next turn dude. Hit me with your best shot.¡±

 Chapter 8

    A card flashed in front of the centaur reading Twinslash, depicting crossed swords. Two blades, menacingly jagged, appeared in the centaur¡¯s hands and he charged Pan. Pan ran.

    Four legs could outrun two legs, but not immediately, and only in fairly straight lines. And Pan found running wasn¡¯t the word for what he was doing. He was bounding like a deer. It was a pitiful two-legged bounding, and he thought he must look like a kangaroo, but it was weirdly efficient for getting over the natural tripping hazards and weaving around trees.

    Hoofbeats sounded in quarter time behind him, trampling whatever he was skipping over.

    Then, on a downswing, Pan was caught in the intense flames of a fire trap. For a moment, the air was unbreathably hot. He stumbled in three steps, his momentum rolling him and extinguishing the fire that had caught in his fur.

    There was a sound of laughter behind him.

    ¡°I dropped that when I was tailing you!¡± the centaur guffawed. ¡°And you still managed to hit it!¡±

    Pan looked up from the leaf litter, some of it clinging to the fur on his face. The centaur had his arms wrapped in front of himself, laughing and keeping his swords from cutting him while he did.

    The swords glittered and vanished, evaporating into sparkles.

    ¡°What? Hey!¡± the centaur said, his mirth leaving him similarly, ¡°My attack!¡±

    There were two cards in Pan¡¯s periphery. He¡¯d kept Mirror and Slow, oblivious to their actual effects. He stood and tried to scramble up a nearby tree. Slow, depicting a snail with a clock for a shell, flashed in front of him as he selected it.

    If I can hold him off for this turn and next, he thought. But then a funny feeling came over him as he mounted the lowest branch. It felt like he was moving through molasses.

    It meant me. The Slow was for me, he thought. It wasn¡¯t a panicked feeling, however. The effects of the card wouldn¡¯t allow for anything as hasty as panic.

    His hoof slipped on the tree branch and was only just able to right himself, moving in slow motion as he was.

    ¡°You just can¡¯t catch a break, can you?¡± the centaur said from below. ¡°You must just be some kind of idiot.¡± A card flashed in front of him, reading Dagger Shot, depicting three flying daggers. These appeared in his hand.

    Pan held his arm out in a gesture begging him not to throw them. It took several seconds longer than normal, and his words came out elongated and low.

    The centaur laughed again, but this time his weapons didn¡¯t vanish.

    ¡°Ok, ok¡±, he said, ¡°Ok ok ok. You know what? I¡¯ll be fair. I¡¯m gonna throw these at you, dude, but here¡¯s what I¡¯ll do. I¡¯ll close my eyes. Ok?¡±

    Pan clung to the trunk as he stood on the branch, realizing he¡¯d be unable to respond in time.

    The Whispering Horse got all three daggers in one hand and held the other over his eyes. ¡°No cheating, dude, I promise,¡± he said with a wide smile.

    His arm moved, and one dagger flicked out. Before Pan could even cover his own eyes, the dagger had embedded itself into the trunk, inches from his face.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°How¡¯d I do? That sounded like it hit wood, so I¡¯m gonna try again.¡±

    He repeated the effort, and just as he flicked his arm, Pan¡¯s hoof slipped again. The dagger sailed over his head, point first, as he came down butt first on the branch. He gripped the branch as quickly as he could muster, but went over backwards. When he made a grab for the branch again, it was just out of his reach. He hit the ground back first, knocking the wind out of him.

    A shadow moved across him. The centaur, bored of the game, was looking at him and holding up the last dagger.

    ¡°That was two shots I missed, dude. Not cool. I¡¯m not gonna let you dodge this one.¡±

    He plunged it into Pan¡¯s chest. His grin shone from under his cowl, and it was all he could see. He couldn¡¯t catch his breath, partly from the fall, partly from the weight of the centaur¡¯s lunge. Partly from the dagger thrust into his chest, too, he considered. Pain blossomed from his chest.

    But nothing happened. Pan felt he could move freely again, though he couldn¡¯t imagine it was the result of being stabbed. He looked down.

    There was nothing in the centaur¡¯s hands.

    ¡°Dude, what?¡± the Whispering Horse said, just as shocked as Pan. ¡°What the H? That¡¯s some BS, dude. What gives with these cards?¡±

    Pan took a gasping breath, the shock of the fall subsiding. ¡°I think huff huff it was supposed huff huff to be thrown.¡±

    The centaur let out a groan that gradually grew to a long shout of frustration, shaking his fists at the sky. Pan took advantage of the situation and scuttled away, his breath almost back.

    The card Mirror danced in his peripheral. Last action for the turn, and then a new hand.

    If I survive, he thought wryly.

    The centaur turned angrily to him, and a card flashed in front of him. Poisoned Strike. The picture, in the moment it appeared, consisted of a blade with a green liquid dripping from the metal. A black hilted dagger formed in his hand.

    Here goes nothing, Pan thought as he played his own final card. Nothing has gotten me this far, after all.

    The expression on the Whispering Horse¡¯s face flickered as he likely saw the card appear in front of Pan. And then he was beside himself.

    Literally.

    ¡°You gotta be kidding me,¡± Pan groaned. He couldn¡¯t stop himself.

    With the flash of an ethereal mirror, there was now a second centaur opposite him, an identical reflection of the first. Horse body, four hooves, black cowl, leather straps, poisoned dagger¡­ Everything.

    ¡°Ha hah!¡± they both exclaimed. As he pumped the air, his reflection duplicated the action with mirror precision. ¡°Just what the world needed! More me!¡±

    Pan rubbed his face. The exhaustion of the fight was catching up with him, and multiplying his own problems really took the cake.

    The centaurs were high-fiving.

    I¡¯m gonna be killed by twin idiots, he thought. But then something caught his notice. The two were mirror reflections. When they high fived, one held up his left hand and the other held up its right. It looked to Pan that there was an invisible line across which the centaur was reflected.

    He noticed something else. They were both looking at him.

    ¡°It¡¯s been fun, dude,¡± the centaurs said, but then they looked contemplative. ¡°Actually, no it hasn¡¯t. It¡¯ll be over soon, though. I¡¯ve got that to look forward to, at least.¡±

    And then they charged. Again, Pan turned and ran, bounding through the woods.

    This time, the Whispering Horse caught up. Before he knew it, he was caught between two racing horses. They closed to attack, and he dodged mirrored slashes. Crouching, he scrabbled in the leaf litter to make a quick about-face, juking the centaurs who were unable to follow suit.

    ¡°Get back here!¡± they called. Pan could hear the drumming hoofbeats accelerating behind him. He had no plan. He was playing keep-away.

    Maybe I can outlast the effect of the card. There¡¯s a time limit, isn¡¯t there? The dagger and the mirror image will vanish if I draw this out long enough, I¡¯m sure of it.

    Ahead of him were his spinning wheels, the fancy imp grinning madly from between them. Without thinking about it, he headed for them. Both were still spinning.

    ¡°I told you, dude,¡± the rapidly closing centaurs called, ¡°two turns for the wheel of fate.¡±

    His chest was burning. He couldn¡¯t out pace a horse, not after the punishment he¡¯d endured. Under the wheels which still hung magically in the air, he stopped and turned, panting.

    The hoofbeats slowed, the two centaurs dropping into a canter and then stopping a few feet away from him.

    ¡°You¡¯re out of time, dude,¡± the centaurs said, preparing to strike. Pan was breathing rapidly. He sat down to keep from falling over.

    Am I having a heart attack? he wondered as the thug came ever closer.

    The centaurs struck.

    With the imp grinning like a madman, the first wheel stopped with a resounding click.

 Chapter 9

    Sitting in his cubicle, he woke with a start as if from a brief nod. Caught sleeping at work the first time was a write up and being sent home. Second offenses were grounds for dismissal. If he were caught sleeping, it would technically be his third time, having been saved on a previous incident by good graces and old fashioned luck. His heart was racing now from the near miss and returned to the screen.

    ¡°I saw that.¡± A voice came from behind him.

    I really need to get a mirror, he thought. The cubicle was designed such that the computer could only be placed on the desk opposite the entrance, putting the occupant¡¯s back to the walkway.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t what it looked like, I thought I had spilled something on my shirt-¡° he said hurriedly. But when he turned around, it wasn¡¯t his supervisor, manager, boss, or the CEO of the company. It was just Tim.

    ¡°Gotcha,¡± the grinning man said.

    ¡°What are you doing away from your workstation?¡±

    ¡°The overseer is auditing the restroom,¡± Tim said. Translated, this meant their area supervisor was taking the traditional 2 pm constitutional, and the floor personal had 30 minutes to themselves. ¡°I wanted to stretch my legs and see if you were free this afternoon for a raid.¡± Tim sat on the exposed bit of desk space not taken up by office essentials. Being only 18, not athletic, and on the skinny side, the meager counter top supported him.

    ¡°I can¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? Why not?¡± Tim probed.

    ¡°Overtime,¡± he said, gesturing at the computer. ¡°I need to make up for¡­recent purchases.¡±

    ¡°You bought that card combat game, is what you¡¯re telling me.¡±

    ¡°I just think it¡¯s cool, alright?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just like any other MMO. I¡¯m not some purist, but we¡¯re finally getting into the swing of things at our level cap and you¡¯re starting a new commitment on me?¡±

    ¡°Tim, you bought that account. You didn¡¯t get to the level cap like I did, by crawling my way up, grinding, fishing, doing my geology-¡°

    ¡°I get it, grandpa,¡° Tim interjected, eyes rolling.

    ¡°-we don¡¯t all have parents in high places to get us jobs, Tim, or rich relatives to catch us when we fall. That¡¯s all I¡¯m saying.¡±

    ¡°Alright, you¡¯re up here. I need you down here,¡± Tim said, indicating with respect to the floor the intensity of the vibe in the cubicle. He hopped down from the desk. ¡°I get it. You want to try the new thing. Whatever.¡± He walked away with a final, ¡°See ya.¡±

    Watching his friend leave, he couldn¡¯t help but feel a pang of envy. College, internships, a safety net. Some guys get all the luck.

    He turned back to his screen again, thoughts now on his new purchase.

    I¡¯m going to be here a few more hours, he thought, and the boss is still on the toilet for close to half an hour. I could just take a peek at it. No one would notice.

    ****

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    The dagger stuck out of Pan like a thermometer in a Thanksgiving turkey, bronze blade terminating in a bloody wound in his torso, black handle still gripped by the centaur. A thought wandered across his mind like a plastic shopping bag across an empty parking lot.

    Shouldn¡¯t there be two handles?

    He looked up from his mortal wound. One of the centaurs was wrapped in glowing bands, the dagger still in his hand. Pan traced the bands which came off the monster like puppet strings, and they terminated a few feet away.

    ¡°Pan!¡± the figure shouted. It was Athena. ¡°Get up!¡±

    He looked back down at the handle in his chest, almost about to gesture to it as an excuse, when the weapon dissolved and disappeared. The bands, struggling centaur, and the dagger it held all vaporized in a similar manner all at once. Athena, freed from the chore of restraining a centaur, made her way to the faun.

    ¡°Get up, Pan, come on.¡±

    ¡°He¡­he got me,¡± Pan said feebly. He indicated the stab wound.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a stab wound-¡° she started to say, but Pan cut her off.

    ¡°Just? Just a stab wound? It went into my chest! A dagger!¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said impatiently, ¡°they typically do about ten damage. What are you at right now?¡±

    He looked at her with realization dawning. ¡°I mean,¡± he said lamely, ¡°ten damage. That¡¯s¡­well¡­¡± He looked at the wound, except that the wound was gone. ¡°But it was poisoned.¡±

    ¡°How many stacks of poison did it give you?¡±

    The centaur coughed, and both Pan and Athena looked at him.

    ¡°We already told you, we don¡¯t have any money! Leave us alone!¡± Athena shouted.

    The centaur tut-tutted. ¡°It¡¯s not about the money any more.¡±

    ¡°Wait, what do you mean when you say stacks?¡± Pan asked, his mind proving difficult to change gears even now. One minute he was dying, the next, it seemed it was only a minor inconvenience.

    Athena grunted in frustration, standing up. A card flashed before her, which Pan couldn¡¯t see, and suddenly she was holding a spear. The card flashed in front of the centaur which he did see. It was a close-up of something that looked like jacks littering a floor, with a person clutching their foot having stepped on one. The title read Caltrops.

    He spread his hand and the caltrops spread on the ground between them, but they disappeared when they landed.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to check on that Scholar of yours, and I don¡¯t think it¡¯d be a good idea to follow me.¡± He turned and galloped away.

    Athena, spear in one hand and Pan¡¯s arm in the other, tried to tug him onto his hooves. ¡°He¡¯s going to get-...he¡¯s going to get my brother! Come on!¡±

    She took a step back, then recoiled with a yowl of pain. She clutched at her leg, a caltrop embedded in the ball of her foot. It fizzled and disappeared. She glared at the ground.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see any. Do you suppose-¡°

    ¡°They¡¯re there alright. Damn Skulks.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know-¡°

    ¡°Skulks. Rogues?¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± Pan relented, ¡°now I¡¯m with you. He got me with some kind of trap earlier.¡±

    ¡°Underhanded tactics, responses to actions¡­you think you¡¯ve got them cornered and then the ground shifts beneath you and suddenly they have the upper hand. How¡¯s your health?¡±

    It took Pan a second to remember how to access that bit of information, which felt more like a minute under Athena¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°Aha, here,¡± he said, holding his arm out to her. ¡°Oh, right, you can¡¯t see it. It says-¡°

    ¡°I think the caltrop did three damage to me. It could be a random amount, though. How many steps could you make?¡±

    ¡°Umm¡­five?¡± Pan guessed.

    Athena frowned. ¡°How many stacks of poison, did you say?¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t-¡° Pan started, then saw the Status Effects field on the screen. A square image with a superimposed skull blinked lazily. There was a number next to it. ¡°Oh. Two.¡±

    ¡°You should be alright, then. It takes five to give you the actual Poisoned status effect, and the stacks of Poison deplete over time.¡±

    ¡°You know a lot about this game,¡± Pan said.

    ¡°My brother and I were waiting for it to release for a while now. The devs kept it in closed Alpha for about a year. It was torture watching the clips of gameplay they dribbled out occasionally.¡± Her eyes were studying the ground as she spoke. She crouched and brushed it with the shaft of her spear, disturbing nothing but the tufts of grass. ¡°Can you fly?¡±

    ¡°Me? I really don¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°With assistance?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like what you¡¯re implying here, and I don¡¯t want to know what you¡¯re thinking.¡±

    ¡°That idiot is going to kill my brother, and we¡¯re just sitting here chit-chatting!¡± Her shout reverberated through the woods and Pan recoiled. He nearly slipped on a piece of fruit.

    Athena¡¯s expression changed, flipping from anger to puzzlement to curiosity, and then looked up. Pan saw her look up and also looked up.

    ¡°Maybe we don¡¯t have to fly,¡± she mused, looking at the interlacing branch canopy above them. ¡°No one checks for centaurs in the trees.¡±

 Chapter 10

    The Whispering Horse galloped through the trees in the direction of the downed Scholar. He had one more card until his new hand and he was going to use it. He could use a Slash for a coup de grace.

    It was just over the Fisher downed and dead tree, around the half buried granite boulder, and-

    There was no Scholar, face down or otherwise. He cursed the only way he knew how and was suddenly very pensive. If the Hoplite had gotten up, the Scholar could be on his feet now too. And there was a reason he¡¯d targeted the Scholar at first.

    ¡°I can soak the damage,¡± he called to the trees and those who may be waiting behind. ¡°And I already got your friends, dude. I know it¡¯s you who¡¯s got the money now.¡±

    It was a bluff, but a calculated one. He knew how to rile people up.

    But it didn¡¯t work this time. There was no shock or fireball from behind a tree. No acid shot or earth tremor.

    Horse trotted past the trees and look a glance at his remaining card. It had a green border on the face of the card and an image of a sword mid-chop. The text listing the amount of damage the card would deal, the number modified by his Strength stat. He played it and a serrated sword appeared in his hand, assembling itself from triangular particles that seemed to come from the air.

    He only had the one swing, and then it would mean a new hand, a new change of tack, adapting to the semi-random abilities pulled from his deck.

    A slight sound drew his attention from across the clearing. The soft sound of leaves sliding on earth, perhaps underfoot. He caught a shadow flit behind a trunk. Off in the direction he had come from, he heard the distant rustle of leaves and clatter of branches. He backed into shadows and was swallowed by darkness.

    ****

    Athena crawled down from a tree, secure in her judgment of distance. The area of effect for the Caltrop card could only be so big. Pan clung to her back, and then slid down when the ground was once again near. ¡°I¡¯ve got one more action. Apollo must be moving around. He might be defending himself. Whatever it is, he cast something already.¡±

    ¡°Why are you still holding onto the trunk of the tree like that? Let¡¯s go,¡± Pan urged.

    Peeking around the trunk at the small clearing where they had met the centaur she said, ¡°Something is wrong. I don¡¯t see Apollo.¡±

    And as if by magic, Apollo appeared. He was running across the clearing and shouting. Pan didn¡¯t pick up on what he was saying because he was distracted by the centaur appearing at full gallop on a course to intercept the running Scholar.

    A spear appeared in Athena¡¯s hand and now she was running to deliver it point first to the brazen Skulk. This left Pan all alone.

    ¡°No! Go back!¡± Apollo cried as she crouched and grounded the butt of her spear between the centaur and her brother.

    She looked back at him to ask, ¡°What?¡±, but her weapon was deflected by the centaur¡¯s sword, the brute neither swerving or slowing.

    A card flashed in front of Apollo, who covered his face with his arm, bracing for impact. The clearing darkened as the clouds instantly thickened overhead. A white line crashed between the three of them as the fury of the heavens congealed as a single lightning bolt.

    The three of them went flying at the shock. Pan was momentarily blinded and deafened from the blast.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    When the ringing began to fade and shapes and colors returned, he saw arranged around a smoking black spot in the clearing a prone Athena, a prone Apollo, and a recovering Horse. A faint grey bubble around him was fading rapidly. And then it was gone. He still had his sword in hand.

    Pan ran to them. He reached Athena first.

    ¡°That¡¯s my Shield done with,¡± the Whispering Horse said. He flourished the sword, spinning it by the hilt in his palm, as he stepped towards Apollo. ¡°You put up a good fight dude.¡±

    Pan shook Athena, urging her to do something. He looked at the cards floating just outside of his vision. The first one he saw read Forgetfullness, depicting a grey mannequin having a headache, represented by a few halos at rakish angles. The textbox read, ¡°Discard your hand.¡±

    Is that all? he thought to himself.

    ¡°Please. Get up. If you can get up, you can save your brother.¡± He shook her a few more times and she made the faintest of noises. ¡°I¡¯m going to give you an action, ok? Whatever you¡¯ve got, get between him and your brother. I¡¯ll buy you a moment.¡±

    He ran in front of Apollo, halting the centaur.

    Frustrated at the latest interruption to his kill, the Skulk said, ¡°Not this again dude. Do you know when you¡¯ve lost? I¡¯ll deal with you in a second. You and the Hoplite can¡¯t have more than the barest life left.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to let you kill him.¡± He activated his card, sending it and the remaining cards in his hand to discard.

    ****

    Elsewhere in the forest, a wheel stopped spinning with a small, hard click.

    The imp between the two wheels cackled, and the wedges under each arrow began to glow. One, a mash-up portrait of a Hoplite, Scholar, Skulk, and Cursed. The other, a wooden door in a stone archway, cracked to reveal a dark sliver.

    ****

    The Horse laughed. ¡°Look at the hero,¡± he said, pointing the sword. He mocked Pan, ¡° ¡®I¡¯m not going to let you kill him.¡¯ What do you think this is? I didn¡¯t come here to RP.¡±

    Then something in Pan¡¯s mind clicked. He said, ¡°I thought I recognized something in your voice.¡±

    ¡°Whaddya mean?¡±

    ¡°¡­Tim?¡±

    A curious and vaguely fearful look stole over the centaur¡¯s hooded face. ¡°Who¡¯s asking?¡±

    ¡°You got the game too. You¡¯re playing it right now. You made fun of me for getting it and you bought it too you lousy hypocrite.¡± He jabbed an index finger in the direction of the Horse¡¯s nose. The centaur regarded the little faun like one would a strange and growling chihuahua.

    Then a battle cry split the air. They both turned to see an angry and desperate Athena, another spear in hand, slicing crosswise at the Horse, bloodlust in her eyes.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Pan cried. He stepped between Athena and the Whispering Horse. ¡°He doesn¡¯t know it¡¯s real! He¡¯s a friend!¡±

    But the swinging spear went over his head. The Horse reacted, but the spear sliced into him. He screamed in pain.

    They stood there, Athena with her suddenly dissolving weapon digging into the Horse¡¯s human ribcage from the side. Pan frozen, holding his arms out placating.

    ¡°God that hurts!¡± the Horse yelled, breathing heavily.

    ¡°Are you dead?¡± Pan asked.

    ¡°No,¡± Horse said between pants, ¡°It took a chunk off my HP bar though.¡± He cursed.

    Pan looked at Athena and, in a voice he hoped would draw someone away from a ledge, said, ¡°We got it wrong. This is my friend in real life. If I¡¯ve got things the right way around, I don¡¯t think he knows what¡¯s going on.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s going on that I don¡¯t know about?¡± he asked, pressing a hand to his cut.

    ¡°The game¡¯s real,¡± Athena said, also breathless. She seemed about to collapse.

    ¡°That¡¯s dumb,¡± Horse said.

    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s what happened. Doesn¡¯t this feel a bit too real?¡±

    ¡°My dad got me an immersive environment for Christmas. I could take the gear off and log out to prove it to you.¡±

    Pan shrugged at Athena.

    Moments later, proving to himself it wasn¡¯t as easy as removing the accoutrements of immersive environment gaming, Horse began to panic, galloping in circles and gibbering. Athena was sitting Apollo up, who was able to come back from the effects of the blast. Pan was calling to his friend, trying to calm him down by shouting soothing phrases like, ¡°It¡¯s going to be alright!¡± and ¡°We¡¯re going to make it through this!¡± On the whole, the calming effect was lost in the delivery.

    That was when the door appeared. It distracted Apollo from his injuries, Athena from her brother, Pan from his friend, and Horse from his panic attack.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a wooden door,¡± Apollo said. ¡°I¡¯m sure it wasn¡¯t here before.¡±

    ¡°Look, there¡¯s nothing behind it,¡± Pan observed. But he was wrong. There was the imp in fancy dress crawling atop the archway.

    Horse cursed. ¡°The Wheel of Fate, dude,¡± Horse said.

    ¡°What does it do?¡± Pan asked.

    The door opened and showed him. In the span of a handful of heartbeats, the clearing was empty. There were no more shouts of people being sucked into a disembodied door. There was no door. There wasn¡¯t even an imp in fancy dress.

 Chapter 11

    Pan awoke in a dark cavern. The darkness was dotted with glowing spots made of some kind of gem, and by their light he could see the black stone floor. It looked like a cooled lava flow, in places that kind of rough pitted look meteorites get, and in others like a hardened ooze. The stone also looked like it was dripping from the ceiling, forming stalactites on the ceiling, some of which touched the floor, making a column like a wineglass stem.

    His hooves made a clicking noise as he got to his feet and looked around. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he made out the form of a body near him. This was Athena, who was likewise passed out. She came to and looked around.

    ¡°Where are we?¡± she asked groggily. Pan shrugged, but realizing she might not yet see him in the dark added, ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Evil looking place, though.¡± He had expected their voices to echo, but there was no reverb when they spoke. Pan saw another form, Apollo, who was lying in a heap in his robes. There was a much bigger shape just beyond him, Horse, who looked like a smooth boulder if it weren¡¯t for the cloak he wore on his human half.

    The cavern was large, and Pan couldn¡¯t find how they had gotten in there. Worse, he didn¡¯t see an obvious way out. He recalled the doorway from the Wheel of Fate. This was the work of one of his curse cards. Athena was sitting up, overcoming the effects of having passed out, and Pan relayed these suspicions to her.

    ¡°I feel a slight breeze going that way,¡± she said after a moment of thought. She pointed into the darkness. It was hard to tell in all this gloom what was wall just beyond their sight horizon, and what actually led somewhere. Pan was checking on Horse, who came around with a start.

    ¡°What? Where am I?¡± he asked. He sounded skittish and Pan feared the centaur would panic.

    ¡°We¡¯re in some kind of cave. It¡¯s the effects of that Wheel of Fate card I used.¡±

    A piece of one of the stone columns detached itself from the darkness. It unfolded into some kind of gangly creature, all knees and elbows. It had rough, dark skin, and a pair of wings unfurled behind it, held together straight back like a kind of butterfly. An ugly butterfly made of cooled lava. Its head was pointed on either end, its snout on one and two straight horns forming the other. To Pan, the thing almost looked like the head space pirate from that game series with the girl bounty hunter everyone thought was a guy until she revealed the skin tight blue suit she wore underneath.

    Instinctively, Pan¡¯s eyes flicked to where he kept his cards in his peripherals. He hadn¡¯t had time to look at what he had when the thing spoke, its arms held wide in a gesture of greeting.

    ¡°Welcome,¡± the thing said in a grimy voice, ¡°welcome to your first dungeon. You have nothing to fear from me.¡± It got these words out quickly, as Apollo had just started waking up and Athena and Horse had noticed the creature. ¡°I am your guide, Arctus. I won¡¯t harm you, and you can¡¯t harm me, so don¡¯t waste your cards.¡±

    Athena was poised with her throwing arm back, ready to throw a spear should one appear in her hand. Pan made a mental note. He didn¡¯t know what cards she had right now, but this would be a clue for him.

    The two parties stood facing each other for a few silent moments, and Athena shot a glance at Pan and Apollo. She lowered her arm, remaining half on her guard, and spoke to the creature.

    ¡°We have had a trying couple of days. I¡¯m afraid you will have to repeat yourself, because I wasn¡¯t listening.¡±

    The thing chuckled, snapping its beak-like snout. There were sharp triangle teeth in there, Pan saw, and it reminded him of a picture he saw once of a pterodactyl catching a fish.

    ¡°That is alright. All I said was that this is your first dungeon, and I¡¯m here to help.¡±

    ¡°You can help by telling me what¡¯s going on,¡± Athena barked.

    The creature, its back hunched, folded its arms behind it, beneath its wings which remained straight out behind it. ¡°Confusion is normal for those just starting to seek Elysium. But believe you me, it¡¯s in my own best interests to catch you up to speed.¡±

    Pan remembered the name of the game. Vagrants to Elysium. The plot of the game which was now their lives hadn¡¯t interested him very much. Not when there was the dazzling footage of the settings, the attacks, and grand monster creatures, as depicted in the ads and teasers.

    ¡°What do you mean, creature?¡± Athena said. Apollo was on his feet and took his sister by the elbow.

    ¡°Athena,¡± he stage-whispered to her so the rock-bird-drake-person, this Arctus character, could hear, ¡°Let me handle this. You¡¯re frustrated, and it¡¯s making you come off as too blunt right now. I¡¯m afraid you may be accidentally rude to this person.¡±

    Arctus put his T-shaped head on one side, like he was trying not to intrude on this brother-sister moment.

    ¡°I must apologize for my sister,¡± Apollo said smiling. Arctus returned its attention to the conversation and Apollo continued, ¡°she can come off a bit strong and the past few days have made her cranky. But please, elaborate for us. You¡¯re here to help, and I don¡¯t want to interrupt.¡±

    It nodded and began to explain.

    ¡°You are all vagrants seeking Elysium. Heroes, no doubt, who have passed from your world into these Sundering Shores, across the Styx.¡±

    Apollo nodded, seeming to digest this information. Pan continued to wait for it to make sense to him.

    ¡°The journey before you is long and perilous, fraught with dangers to make you Hades-Sent. If you pass from these shores, it will be one of two ways. Either to the fields of peace and respite, or into the realm of the god of the dead and consignment to everlasting torment. One of these is far easier to achieve. I¡¯ll let you guess which.¡±

    ¡°And if we should make it through this cavern, this dungeon we¡¯re in, we¡¯ll arrive in Elysium?¡± Apollo asked.

    The thing clacked its beak again, chuckling. ¡°This is only one dungeon. You have many, many more ahead of you.¡±

    Pan felt uneasy. He could tell Horse felt similarly, his panic rising again. He clip-clopped nervously, pacing in the cavern. ¡°Many more of these?¡± Horse asked. ¡°What¡¯s even down here? What do we have to do?¡±

    Arctus watched Horse, and the creature worked its jaw side to side as though thinking, or judging. ¡°The purpose of the Shore is to test your worthiness, hero. As for what¡¯s down here, that is what I¡¯m to help you prepare for. As you no doubt know, the gods, like myself, have been given sovereignty over this realm. It is up to us collectively to see how and to what degree heroes are tested.¡±

    Athena broke in, saying, ¡°You¡¯re a god?¡± But was hushed by Apollo.

    Arctus nodded, and began walking back and forth, concentrating on his explanation.

    ¡°Each dungeon is created by a god, or demi-god, or some entity given the authority and power to do so. They monitor the progress of the vagrants in their dungeon, sending them monsters to defeat and challenges to overcome. But the vagrants are given limited aid as well. Some other god, usually one who wishes the ethos of the host god to be made low with the defeat of their dungeon, will act as guide for the vagrants attempting the dungeon. Aid to counterbalance the difficulties of the challenge.¡±

    Already this was a lot for Pan to take in, and he had some questions now. But Apollo questioned Arctus before Pan could get a word out.

    ¡°So if you¡¯re here to help us, whose dungeon are we in now? Some kind of fire god, or lava god obviously.¡± Luckily, this was one of the questions Pan wanted to ask anyway, so he silently seconded Apollo¡¯s question.

    Arctus nodded to the side, saying, ¡°This is Degranan¡¯s dungeon. Degranan is a minor deity of corpses and burial rites.¡±

    Corpses and burial rites? Pan looked again at the cooled lava effect on the rocks making up the cavern, and the eerie glowing gems. He noticed the others doing the same.

    Arctus sighed. ¡°Now don¡¯t look so incredulous like that, we don¡¯t always have to stick exactly to our theme. Sometimes you¡¯ll find a dungeon made by Voltaius the god of forges that isn¡¯t wrought of metal, or a dungeon made by Penelope goddess of the seasons and new growth that isn¡¯t all flowers and fields. We¡¯ve got to intimidate you and subvert your expectations. It¡¯s part of the challenge.¡±

    He thought for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to say something else and said quietly, ¡°Between you and me, Degrenan is more show than substance.¡±

    Horse spoke up, ¡°But you¡¯re here to help us with this? How are you going to do that?¡±

    Arctus nodded again. ¡°I was getting to that. It¡¯s my job to outfit you all with rewards. You¡¯ll be defeating monsters and solving puzzles, and as you do so you¡¯ll get boons from your dungeon guide. See, I¡¯ll be following your progress through the dungeon. I can¡¯t help you directly, and you won¡¯t always see me, but I¡¯m allowed to influence what you get. I know Degrenan¡¯s usual tricks, so I¡¯ll do what I can to make sure you can take what he throws at you and throw it right back.¡± As he said this, he held up an open hand and clenched it into a fist, like he was crushing an invisible onion with his claws.

    Pan felt something tapping on his shoulder as Athena asked, ¡°What are you going to give us right now?¡±

    It was Horse, who was looking out towards the darkness to their 5:00. Several small forms were marching towards them with menacing purpose. ¡°Hey, uh-¡° Horse began.

    Arctus didn¡¯t answer Athena. While all four of them looked away at Horse¡¯s alarm, he had disappeared.

    ¡°Where¡¯d he go?¡± Apollo asked.

    Athena growled in frustration. ¡°It was just a distraction!¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s not really going to help us, and we¡¯ve got incoming!¡±

    Pan wasn¡¯t sure if she was right, but it did occur to him that the creature Arctus might have been Degranan come to mislead them.

    ¡°We¡¯re stuck here without any help?¡± Horse said, his nerve breaking before their eyes.

    ¡°Yup,¡± Athena said unhelpfully, ¡°so nut up and let¡¯s take these guys. What¡¯d you get?¡±

    Pan took a moment to look at the marching figures clearly. They looked furry from a distance, but as they neared the party he saw they were just ragged at the edges, like pinched off clay. They looked vaguely hyena-like, though without fur, and they walked upright. The most notable thing about them was that they were all very squat, like they had been a digital image scaled down vertically but not horizontally. This made them seem wider than normal. Each carried a weapon. Either a hunk of wood, or a broken stalagmite.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    They marched out of the darkness with purpose, but when the closest saw the party, its big eyes bugged out and it screamed something incomprehensible before charging.

    ¡°They don¡¯t seem very bright,¡± Pan said.

    ¡°I recognize these guys,¡± Apollo said as Athena drew her arm back and conjured a spear. She hurled it at the first one to get in range. The spear made impact with a thud, and the creature gave out a grunt like Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks would if he¡¯d been kicked in the stomach. ¡°They¡¯re hobbs,¡± Apollo continued, ¡°think of them as just a different kind of goblin.¡± A card flashed in front of him as well and he filled another of the charging creatures with lightning.

    Pan couldn¡¯t see how many hobbs were coming out of the darkness, but the wave continued. The first one¡¯s alarm must have gotten the attention of all the hobbs in the area, because the ones headed their way now came charging.

    Horse flashed a card, and with a swipe of his hand, daggers appeared in three more of the creatures, which grunted and fell forward.

    The three of them threw attack after attack into the advancing wave of hobbs. They were accumulating a stack of bodies right on the edge of their sight horizon, but it didn¡¯t deter the squat monsters. They began hopping over the bodies of their fallen brothers, arms outstretched to put momentum into the attack they would inevitably make if they could just get close enough to the heroes.

    Pan stayed behind the other three. He had taken the time to look at his cards and determined that he wouldn¡¯t be much help this fight. He still had all five, and for good reason.

    Stoneform, with a picture of a nondescript, bullet-headed stone idol. The caster becomes the depicted stone idol for a duration. It didn¡¯t say if he would gain any special properties or not.

    Gibberer, which showed the head and shoulders of a stern looking creature with its arms crossed, but which had a cartoonish mouth, tongue out and blabbing, coming out the side of its head. Gibbering mouths sprout randomly around the caster. It didn¡¯t state what the mouths did aside from gibber, and Pan assumed it would be on both scenery as well as on monsters and other heroes.

    Joint Pain, which showed two silhouettes of people in agony, one with a red starburst over its right elbow, and the other with a blue starburst over its left elbow. The caster and its target become magically linked at the joints. Supposedly, if either moved an elbow, they both would move that elbow. Good single target immobilization, but it¡¯d be a battle of wills. Pan hoped it wouldn¡¯t hurt.

    And finally, Curtain Call, which had a picture of red stage curtains drawn shut with an empty yellow spotlight in the middle. It would resurrect all monsters in a wide area. Looking at the growing pile of hobb corpses well within the range of this card, Pan knew he absolutely couldn¡¯t cast this one.

    And last but not least, there was Rack, with a picture of a rack, the torture device. It looked like a wooden contraption with hand and wrist bindings at the corners meant to hold the victim in place while the whole thing stretched. This was the card that made him loathe to participate in the fight against the hobbs. The card had a passive effect. For every card he discarded, he would draw another one. For every card he played, he would take an instance of damage for each card he¡¯d played since drawing Rack. He couldn¡¯t discard Rack itself, as it forced him to choose it as part of his selection, and it couldn¡¯t be played. But, if it was the last card in his hand, it would disappear for good.

    Rack had a lot of text, but Pan understood the effect right away. It was going to hurt an increasing amount to play the cards out of his hand, but if he could get through it he could lose a curse. But there was no getting around it. It would make him choose itself and two other cards, and when he discarded the remainder he would get two more he would have to play before Rack would eat itself.

    Pan did some math in his head. If nothing else made him draw cards, he would have to play four cards to get down to just rack. It didn¡¯t total more than a quarter of his total health. Still, he¡¯d have to be careful. If he took more damage while playing the cards, or if he played the cards without being strategic about it, this could go worse for him.

    He relayed this information to the group.

    Horse said, ¡°Get rid of the Curtain one,¡± as he sliced another two hobbs with a pair of swords.

    ¡°And the Gibberer one,¡± Apollo added, ¡°It sounds dumb.¡±

    Between attacks, Pan asked Athena which ones he should discard.

    She thought for a while, killing two more hobbs in the process. One died to another spear to its chest, and another had a bell made of light drop on it and crush it. Pan made a note to ask her what the bell card had been.

    ¡°We¡¯re getting decent experience killing these things. There¡¯s a lot of them, but they¡¯re weak. I¡¯ve been through two hands already, but everything I¡¯m getting is something I can use.¡± She ran towards a hobb and did a basic kick, leaping onto the thing like Mario onto a turtle. It went down even to a basic attack like that, more or less proving her point.

    Pan checked his level. He hadn¡¯t increased from all this fighting, but even the experience he was leeching off the rest of the party was giving him enough that he was almost there.

    ¡°So I should keep Curtain Call and when the hobbs stop coming we can bring them back and double our experience?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, actually, I¡¯m ok with that,¡± Apollo said. Horse shrugged. Neither stopped killing hobbs as they responded.

    Pan discarded Gibberer and Stoneform. ¡°Apollo, do you have anything good for creep control?¡±

    ¡°Like, a multi-target or AoE? Yeah, most of my earth and lightning abilities do that.¡±

    Pan¡¯s heart sank as the two discarded cards were replaced. The first wasn¡¯t terrible, but the second made him groan.

    Miasma, which had a picture of a decaying zombie reaching through swirling mists. Fills the area up to the designated radius from the caster with a haze which causes fear.

    Wheel, depicting a device like a water wheel, but with the same kind of ankle and wrist braces like in Rack. It looked like it was in the same room as the one Rack showed. It also had a passive ability. While in-hand, whenever the holder played a card, they would then draw a card and take one instance of damage. When Wheel was played, the caster would discard the hand and draw three cards.

    This all but ensured Pan wouldn¡¯t be getting rid of Rack any time soon.

    When the wave of monsters stopped, the group remained huddled, waiting for stragglers. None came.

    ¡°Let¡¯s count the bodies and pile them together,¡± Pan said after recounting the bad news regarding his new cards. ¡°I can play Curtain Call, take my damage, and Apollo can try to get as many of these things as he can. Horse, Athena, you guys can catch any stragglers.¡±

    They had killed thirty two hobbs in all.

    ¡°They¡¯re less appealing as corpses,¡± Apollo groaned, trying to cover his nose with his robe and move a hobb corpse at the same time.

    While moving the bodies, Athena noticed a few of them with sparkling pockets.

    ¡°Hey, there¡¯s loot on these things,¡± she said. ¡°I got something called a Crystal Wars pack. I think it¡¯s a pack of cards.¡±

    They rooted through the bodies, finding a total of twelve packs. Three were Crystal Wars, five were Block & Tackle packs, and four were Ambrosia packs. They piled them on the floor between the four of them.

    ¡°We should hold off on round two until we divvy out the cards,¡± Apollo said. ¡°I think these were the rewards Arctus was talking about. They might be able to help us take these guys a little easier.¡±

    No one objected, and Apollo continued. ¡°Since there are three Crystal Wars packs, I think myself, Horse, and Athena should get one each. Pan, no offense, but you¡¯ve got no offense.¡±

    Pan bridled. ¡°So what, I¡¯m supposed to keep this deck full of curses? You aren¡¯t going to give me even one of those packs to help me offset my disability? Look at you guys, weapons coming out your, your-¡°

    Before he could decide on what swear word to use, Athena cut him off. ¡°Your stats suck. You wouldn¡¯t be able to use these effectively anyway.¡±

    Pan grumped and folded his arms. Then came the sound of plastic packaging being snapped open. Everyone looked at Horse as five cards came floating out of the pack on clouds of sparkles. The rest of the party could only see the backs of the cards and Horse chuckled and said, ¡°cool.¡±

    ¡°Horse!¡± they all said at once.

    He noticed their looks and shrugged. ¡°What? We said he didn¡¯t get one, so I opened mine.¡±

    The siblings, sensing it was every man or woman for themselves, sprang for their own packs. They each opened theirs, and Pan decided between Block & Tackle and Ambrosia.

    In the end, he chose Block & Tackle.

    ¡°There¡¯s twelve, so in the end, we should all get three packs each,¡± Apollo said even while reading the cards in front of him. ¡°Oh, now that sounds fantastic,¡± he whispered, clearly impressed with what he got.

    Pan opened the Block & Tackle set. Just like with the Crystal Wars set, five cards floated out of the packaging.

    Crobar, with a picture of a flat pry bar wedged between a crate and its lid. It was an Inventory card, with the same kind of design as the one Athena had once used to make a campfire. The caster could use it to open one nonmagical lock up to a certain level.

    Chalk, with a picture of a white cylinder. It provided the caster with a piece of chalk that would leave marks on most surfaces up to a maximum length.

    Torch, with a picture of a crude torch with a robust fire on one end. Provided the user with a torch which would burn for a few hours.

    Health Potion, with a picture of a round glass flask filled with what looked like red Kool-Aid. Provided the user with a health potion with a magnitude based on the caster¡¯s level.

    Mana Potion. The picture was the same as the Health Potion, but with blue Kool-Aid. This one didn¡¯t provide the user with a potion, but instead allowed the user to draw two cards and discard up to two cards.

    Pan wondered if these counted towards the Wheel and Rack triggers and suddenly became apprehensive about them. When he¡¯d read the last one, they flew not to either of his bracers, but instead to his waist. They disappeared, as if going into a nonexistent pocket.

    ¡°Is that normal, Athena?¡± he asked. Her cards flew down to her waist and disappeared.

    She nodded. ¡°You have a card inventory screen where you can pull these equipment type cards and use them right away, and where you can edit your deck. The brown bordered ones like these aren¡¯t deck cards. I think they¡¯re handled separately from the other colored cards.¡±

    He opened the screen she mentioned, and what she said was true. There were two panes on the screen, a smaller Inventory Cards panel summarizing his adventuring equipment like what he had gotten from the Block & Tackle set, and a much larger panel which was labeled Deck. He could scroll through the cards in his deck, organizing them by name, color, or quantity. There was effectively no difference between them, however, as he only had purple curse cards and only one of each besides.

    He nodded and closed the screen, making a note to revisit it when there was more time. He opened his second Block & Tackle, getting two more health potion cards in addition to three new ones. These were Rope, Stepladder, and an actual Block & Tackle card. Each depicted the named object and provided one to the caster. The new cards entered his inventory.

    ¡°What¡¯s in the Ambrosia packs?¡± he asked, reaching for one.

    ¡°Food,¡± Apollo replied. He was opening his own Block & Tackle pack with much less enthusiasm than he had done with the Crystal Wars pack.

    Five more Inventory cards appeared before Pan when he popped the pack. Four cards called Ration, and a different fifth card.

    Ration, depicting a plate with fire roasted meat and potatoes. Provides one day of sustenance.

    Breakfast of Champions, depicting a plate topped with two eggs sunny side up, a slice of bacon, and a slice of toast. Provides one day of sustenance and makes the caster Hearty until mid-day.

    ¡°What¡¯s Hearty?¡± Pan asked as the cards flew to his side.

    Apollo opened his own Ambrosia pack. ¡°That¡¯s a decent one. It gives you a boost to your base health. Why? What did you get?¡±

    Pan told him about the Breakfast of Champions.

    ¡°That would be much more effective if we knew what time it was in here.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, no kidding,¡± Pan said.

    ¡°Well, I think the best thing I got was Over Shardge,¡± Apollo said.

    ¡°Shardge?¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s a play on words. The Crystal Wars packs are all crystal themed cards. They show what I¡¯m guessing are mana gems and crystals, and all the weapons feature crystals in some way. I think it has something to do with overcharging a shard of crystal. What it does is let me draw two more cards and gain one more action.¡±

    Athena said, ¡°You should add that right now while we¡¯re out of combat. I got a Crystal Spear card. It does more damage than my other spear attacks and it stuns the target.¡±

    ¡°What did you get, Horse?¡± Pan asked. Two cards swapped places in Apollo¡¯s deck, one flying out of his bracer and the other flying from his inventory at his waist.

    ¡°Gemblade Dagger might have been the best for me,¡± he said, ¡°If I kill an opponent with it, I get to play the top card of my deck. The rest were kinda worthless.¡± Two cards similarly swapped places for him. Interestingly, the card didn¡¯t go to his horse¡¯s body¡¯s hip, but to his human torso waist, where it conjoined to the horse body.

    ¡°Did you all get cards in your class? I¡¯ll admit, I¡¯m curious how these packs work.¡± Pan was still a bit hurt over being denied an offensive pack, but he tried not to let it show.

    Apollo said, ¡°I think it¡¯s random what cards you get. They¡¯re themed according to the pack you open, but you get cards of all colors.¡±

    Athena stood up abruptly. ¡°We can sit here and talk about cards, or we can go ahead and raise these guys while they¡¯re still kind of fresh. Pan?¡±

    With that, they moved into position. Pan stood back while the other three circled the pile as best as they could. Apollo had a Chain Lightning ready to go, and Athena and Horse had bladed attacks on deck.

    Pan brought out a health potion card and used it. Just like with the Campfire card, the real thing appeared. He also didn¡¯t take damage.

    Good to know, he thought. Inventory cards really are treated separately from deck cards.

    Health potion in hand, he cast Curtain Call. He immediately wished he hadn¡¯t.

 Chapter 12

    The card had said it would resurrect all monsters in the area. Unfortunately, no one had been fully aware of what deceased monsters were in the area. There was the pile of dead hobbs, of course, but the group was made immediately aware of something else as the volcanic stone floor erupted in an open space several yards behind Pan.

    Pan grunted, taking damage from the casting of the card, and then became overwhelmed by the eruption.

    ¡°Pan!¡± Athena cried, ¡°What did you do?!¡±

    The monster roared. It came out both shrill and deep, a discordant duet of a pitched down and pitched up version of the same cry.

    ¡°B¡¯GAWWWWK!!¡±

    The hobbs came to life and began to charge the distracted heroes. Apollo looked away from the creature and triggered his spell. It was Earth Spike, and the bulk of the pile was immediately impaled on sudden rising spikes.

    Athena cast Thrust and killed one of them which had remained unaffected. There were still several more advancing on the heroes who surrounded them.

    The cavern rumbled with aftershocks as the huge creature lumbered out of its stony grave.

    ¡°Hell no man,¡± Horse said, his voice quavering. He turned and bolted into the darkness. A few hobbs followed him, leaving only a handful for the rest of the group to mop up.

    ¡°Horse!¡± Apollo yelled, ¡°Get back here!¡± The creature ¨C a giant scorched skeletal chicken, the size of a two-story house ¨C advanced on Pan. It looked down at the faun like he was a piece of corn or some helpless insect.

    A card flashed in front of Athena, a card called Javelin, and hurled a spear of light at one hobb.

    ¡°Apollo, he¡¯s gone, now cast a spell so I get another action. We¡¯ve got to deal with these mobs first.¡±

    As his response, a card flashed, Fork Lightning, and two hobbs fell with a zap of electricity.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Athena said, bowing dramatically before casting a card called Baton Strike. She whirled a light spear over her head briefly, swinging the end fatally into the skull of another hobb. ¡°Where¡¯s Pan?¡±

    Apollo kicked a hobb, sending the stout creature flying backwards only to get up and charge again. ¡°He¡¯s holding the bird¡¯s aggro right now.¡±

    Pan was fixed by the bird¡¯s gaze. He stared right up into those empty sockets in blackened bone as it took step after jerky step. It tilted its head first one way, and then the other, clucking softly. Pan couldn¡¯t look away.

    WHAM!

    The ground shuddered as the chicken pecked the ground. Pan, at the last moment, broke from the paralyzing fear and dove out of the way.

    ¡°Pan!¡± Athena cried. The final hobb fell. Both were out of actions, waiting for their hands to refresh.

    WHAM!

    WHAM!

    The chicken advanced, pecking at Pan as he dove and tumbled, dodging the deadly beak.

    ¡°I think we made the wrong call focusing on the little mobs,¡± Apollo said as he could only watch the creature advance on their helpless friend.

    ¡°Do you have something?¡± Athena asked, impatience edging her voice. ¡°Anything?¡±

    The chicken was getting angrier, and Pan was running out of stamina.

    B¡¯GAWWWK!!

    The beast cried out in fury, flapping its skeletal wings impotently.

    Apollo held his empty hands out, shrugging.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got to get him out of there. If I can time it right, I think I can grab him and spring away without it hitting us with that beak,¡± Athena said, indicating her route across the uneven terrain with her finger, more for her own sake than for Apollo¡¯s. ¡°If you can distract it, that would make you a smidge better than completely useless while running down the timer.¡±

    WHAM!

    WHAM!

    Another two pecks, both dodged by the huffing, wheezing faun.

    Then, before Athena could act, a card flashed in front of Pan. Athena got an action back, and her remaining card wasn¡¯t discarded. The skeletal chicken bawked curiously before becoming suddenly rigid.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°I cast Joint Pain on it,¡± Pan called to them through gritted teeth. ¡°Athena, make this count. I could move it if I were stronger, but all I can do now is hold it in place. Oh shit this hurts.¡± He began panting like someone struggling to lift and enormous load.

    ¡°Well, that worked out,¡± Athena said to herself. She sounded mildly surprised. She activated a card, Skull Splitter. It depicted a milky-eyed hoplite cracking a skull with an overhead strike from a spear. The familiar weapon formed in her hand as she leapt into the air, as if carried by a gust of wind.

    She twirled the spear, bringing it down heavily on the chicken¡¯s skull. Pan braced, making sure to keep the chicken held firm for the strike, thinking, Is this gonna hurt me?

    CRAACK!!

    The spear came down, and the impact resounded. The chicken, only held in place magically, recoiled from the hit. Unable to work its legs and arms, it lost its balance and fell forward.

    ¡°No, no!!¡± Pan shouted, cowering at the collapsing goliath. The chicken, while still falling and unable to resist the effect of the card, made the same pose before falling in a heap on top of the faun.

    Apollo ran forward, wading through the pile of giant bones and cloud of volcanic dust. ¡°Pan!¡± he shouted.

    The creature¡¯s wing bones were huge, and the impact with the floor sent them sprawling every which way like the shards of a dropped glass sculpture. From where he was standing, he had seen the thing¡¯s rib cage land directly on the cowering Pan, just before the cloud had sprung up.

    ¡°Pan!¡± came Athena¡¯s cry. She had landed just behind the massive creature and had also rushed to his aid.

    They found the faun still cowering, standing inside the chicken¡¯s breast. By stages, he realized he was ok.

    ¡°Tell me that wasn¡¯t a Kentucky fried chicken,¡± was all he said.

    Apollo couldn¡¯t help it. He laughed. Seeing Apollo laugh made Pan chuckle.

    ¡°That¡¯s stupid,¡± Athena said. But she was smiling.

    ¡°I think we¡¯re getting better at this monster slaying,¡± Pan said. And a cloud of sparkles appeared on one of the chicken''s ribs.

    ¡°No help from that Horse, though,¡± Athena said. She growled before adding, ¡°And we gave him one of the Crystal packs!¡±

    Pan, upon looting the chicken, had a card pack in his hands. ¡°Well, it looks like we got another one.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± Apollo said, ¡°What is it?¡±

    The packaging was black with mint green accents. It depicted skulls with green comet tails flying around a dark pyramid at night. It said, Necropolis.

    ¡°Spooky,¡± the Scholar said. ¡°Athena?¡±

    She had been only half paying attention, consumed by her frustration at the fleeing centaur. She waved irritatedly at her brother and walked off. ¡°Just, hurry up. I want to get a move on.¡±

    ¡°You open it, Pan,¡± Apollo said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to dip into necromancy.¡±

    Pan didn¡¯t tell the Scholar that he had no desire to either, but opened the pack anyway. Beggars and choosers. Four cards came out, along with an amber gem.

    ¡°What gives?¡± Pan said. ¡°There¡¯s only four cards in here.¡±

    Friends Till the End, depicting a human dressed in a breast plate and tricorner hat with a feather, his hand over the shoulder of a skeletal version of a man dressed similarly, its arm over the first guy¡¯s shoulder. When a chosen mob would die, it¡¯s reanimated for a limited time and fights for the caster.

    Life Drain, like what the succubus had from the fight in the forest. It dealt damage to a monster and the caster gained that much life.

    Again With Feeling, depicting a paused fight scene on a stage, the director talking to one of the sword wielding actors, the other looking bored. This card copies the previous card played by the caster.

    Ditch, depicting two cards being thrown down a well. This card and a random card in the caster¡¯s deck are destroyed.

    As Pan was considering the implications of Ditch, Apollo spoke up. ¡°You got an upgrade gem.¡± He sounded impressed. ¡°What color is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an amber color, like that stone with the fossilized mosquito from Jurassic Park.¡±

    ¡°Athena!¡± Apollo cried. But the girl didn¡¯t respond. To Pan he said, ¡°She¡¯ll be really interested in that. Hold onto it. I don¡¯t think you can use it.¡±

    The cards and gem flowed to Pan¡¯s inventory. Apollo started moving in his sister¡¯s direction.

    ¡°I can¡¯t use these cards yet. I¡¯ve got to empty my hand before I can edit my deck. This damned Rack is ruining me.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡± Apollo said, caught off guard. ¡°You can edit your deck so long as we¡¯re out of combat.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not letting me,¡± Pan said. It wouldn¡¯t let him select any cards to remove, and it wouldn¡¯t let him add any more. ¡°I went up a level though. My stats improved a bit. I¡¯ve got a couple two¡¯s now, and a three in dexterity. Is that good?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s check it out later,¡± Apollo said hurriedly, ¡°I think she¡¯s going to leave us behind.¡±

    The two chased after Athena, who was walking aggressively into the darkness.

    ¡°Your sister is really intense,¡± Pan whispered as the two rushed to catch up.

    The Scholar shrugged. ¡°She knows what she wants. We¡¯re total opposites in that way.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Pan pulled out a Torch card and activated it. A two foot length of stick with one end wrapped in cloth and set ablaze appeared in his hand, dispelling the darkness. The way Athena had gone had tapered into a tunnel, and Pan realized they were walking alongside a streamlet of pale green water.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen her take shit from anyone. She¡¯s usually on the giving end. She got banned from the coffee place on campus because she threatened the girl who kept spelling her name wrong on the cups.¡±

    Banned? Over a name on a coffee cup? He thought. ¡°Did you say college?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah. I¡¯m going for my bachelor¡¯s in poli sci and Athena¡¯s working on an engineering degree.¡±

    Pan thought about his own attempts at schooling. Below average grades all through grade school, and then when he graduated, he hadn¡¯t qualified for any scholarships. Of course, his parents weren¡¯t able to sponsor his attempt at higher education either. So right out the gate he had applied for any minimum wage job he could find. Then after working for retail for a year, he started applying for jobs with at least some kind of benefits. He ended up as a telemarketer on contract.

    He didn¡¯t mention any of this to Apollo and only shrugged. ¡°Do you think you¡¯ll be able to finish, considering¡­¡± he trailed off, gesturing vaguely at their surroundings.

    Apollo sighed and said, ¡°I¡¯m really hoping all of this is just some kind of dream. In the back of my mind I¡¯m thinking, this isn¡¯t real, I¡¯m going to wake up in a bit.¡± He smiled awkwardly. ¡°But that hope is beginning to fade.¡±

    Shortly thereafter, they caught back up with Athena. And right as they had, she shouted, ¡°There you are you motherfu-¡° and ran off, the rest of her sentence inaudible.

    Horse, who had just come into sight with the help of the torch, was caught like a deer in headlights, a vengeful Athena running at him full tilt.

 Chapter 13

    ¡°You abandoned us to deal with that monster by ourselves!¡± Athena screamed. She was beating her fists on the centaur¡¯s upper body as he fended off her blows with his human arms. His horse legs were folded beneath him and he wasn¡¯t even trying to get up to run away.

    She didn¡¯t use any cards to augment her abuse of the cowardly Horse, just raining blow after blow down on him where he sat.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± he cried, ¡°I¡¯m really sorry!¡±

    ¡°No you¡¯re not! Not yet you aren¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°It was an impulsive decision,¡± he said, the words lilting with his surfer accent. Athena¡¯s fists hit him in the shoulder and on the arm, in the ribs, and the side of his head, arms moving like a waterwheel. None of the blows were strong enough to incapacitate, and Pan wondered if she was pulling her punches on purpose.

    ¡°Don¡¯t do that ever again,¡± she ordered, her anger subsiding slightly. ¡°Never separate the party. It¡¯s the golden rule of dungeoning and it means more now than it ever has.¡±

    Apollo and Pan strolled up and Athena stopped wailing on Horse.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Apollo asked. There wasn¡¯t any irony in his voice, which was strange considering it was Horse which had left the three of them to face the gaint skeletal chicken.

    ¡°I was considering coming back,¡± Horse said pitifully. ¡°But I didn¡¯t know if it¡¯d be weird.¡± He chuckled. ¡°Funny how I could still be concerned about that now, huh? Worried how you guys would think of me if I came back after bugging out.¡±

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re fine,¡± Athena said with scathing emphasis.

    ¡°More than fine,¡± another voice said. The four of them looked in its direction to find Arctus standing there, hunched, wings straight back, and his arms clasped behind him. ¡°I really hadn¡¯t expected that giant chicken corpse to have been of any concern. You did a fine job dispatching it, however. Did you like your rewards?¡±

    Athena¡¯s rage renewed. She was up and marching towards the demon-looking thing even as it spoke to them. It didn¡¯t seem the least bit intimidated. She wagged a finger under its beaky snout.

    ¡°And you! You abandoned us too! ¡° she made a fist like she was about to punch him, but reconsidered when she looked at his rough volcanic looking skin. She squeezed her fist so hard it shook, then dropped it. ¡°What was it you said before? You¡¯re here to be our guide?¡±

    The creature nodded.

    ¡°Well some guide you are! I want answers, and I want them now!¡±

    He nodded to the side, shrugging. ¡°Ask away.¡±

    ¡°What do you want with us? Where are we?¡±

    The rest of the group, still clustered around the still seated Horse, nodded agreement amongst themselves and looked expectantly at Arctus.

    ¡°It¡¯s not uncommon for vagrants like yourselves to be confused. But surely you came here seeking Elysium?¡±

    The general consensus was no. Athena uncrossed her arm long enough to make a ¡°hurry it up¡± gesture.

    The creature continued. ¡°Then I¡¯ll start from the beginning. Vagrants come here to the Sundering Shore seeking Elysium. It is a perilous journey, and those who attempt it risk becoming Hades-Bound.¡±

    ¡°You said all this before,¡± Pan said. ¡°But we¡¯re telling you we didn¡¯t come here to seek this Elysium or whatever.¡±

    For the first time, the demon creature seemed genuinely shook. ¡°None of you perished at the end of a heroic life?¡±

    They all shook their heads.

    ¡°Surely you¡¯re here following some escapade into the underworld. Sometimes the living can cross the dread river Styx without dying per se¡­. Does that ring any bells for you?¡±

    ¡°Do you not get this? We are not dead.¡± Athena spoke slowly as though to an idiot.

    The creature didn¡¯t have a response. It twiddled its claws nervously against the tip of its snout.

    Athena pressed on, ¡°You¡¯re not even Arctus are you. You¡¯re that other guy, the one over corpses and burial.¡±

    ¡°Drigna,¡± Apollo interjected.

    ¡°No, it ended in an ¡®an¡¯. Driganan.¡± Horse amended.

    ¡°Degrenan,¡± the demon said impatiently. ¡°And no, I¡¯m not Degrenan. My name is Arctus, muse of architects and aquatects. And if you speak truthfully, then while it¡¯s highly unusual, I¡¯m afraid there¡¯s no appeal.¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Then I want to talk to someone in charge,¡± Athena asserted. Apollo rolled his eyes. Horse snickered, and Athena turned on him. ¡°No backtalk!¡±

    ¡°Ok, Karen,¡± Horse said. He and Apollo started giggling together. Athena¡¯s face turned red.

    Pan stepped toward the demon, his torch still flaming, illuminating the ugly creature a little more. ¡°You¡¯re a gargoyle,¡± he said.

    ¡°No, I am Arctus,¡± it said. ¡°Gargoyles are based off me.¡±

    ¡°So there¡¯s nothing you can do? You can¡¯t send us back home? We¡¯ve been talking, you see, and it¡¯s the same with all four of us. We started playing this game that had just come out-¡°

    ¡°A game?¡± Arctus suddenly looked hunted.

    ¡°Yes, a game. Vagrants to Elysium. I hadn¡¯t thought anything of it because it was supposed to be incredibly immersive. But now none of us can turn it off.¡±

    Arctus didn¡¯t seem to be listening to him. ¡°I can¡¯t promise anything, but I can ask around, ok?¡±

    At this, the whole party looked up. Athena stopped fuming, and Apollo and Horse stopped giggling and making customer service jokes at her expense.

    ¡°You¡¯ll do that?¡± Pan asked.

    Arctus waggled a claw dismissively. ¡°Like I said, don¡¯t get your hopes up. It¡¯s more than likely you¡¯re stuck here like a regular hero. But we¡¯ve gotten real far off the point of me being here. I was going to talk to you all about something else.¡±

    None of them had heard anything the demon creature had said. They had all gotten too excited at the prospect of going home after spending days in this alien wilderness, magic powers or no.

    Arctus snapped his claws impatiently. ¡°Hey. Hey! Let¡¯s get this back on topic. You¡¯re all still in here and every moment poses new and terrifying chances for you to be made Hades-Bound.¡±

    They un-rowdied themselves like a classroom being threatened with losing recess. ¡°What does that mean, exactly?¡± Pan hazarded before Arctus could continue. ¡°Hades-Bound? I really hope it doesn¡¯t mean what I think it does.¡±

    Apollo spoke up. ¡°Well, Hades was the Greek god of death, which the Romans called Pluto-¡°

    Arctus cut him off, ¡°Hades is the realm of eternal torment. Once you¡¯re in there, there¡¯s no getting out.¡±

    All but Pan were suddenly horror-stricken. Pan only looked downcast. ¡°Ah. Yeah. That¡¯s about what I thought,¡± he said sadly.

    ¡°Yup. Die in the Sundering Shore and that¡¯s where you¡¯ll go,¡± Arctus said.

    ¡°You can¡¯t do that,¡± Athena started to say.

    ¡°Upupup,¡± the gargoyle said, stopping her complaint in its tracks, ¡°I don¡¯t make the rules. I just enforce¡¯em. Die here, you¡¯re Hades-Bound. It¡¯s kinda the whole deal. Can we get to the part where I help you survive Degrenan¡¯s Dungeon of Doom?¡±

    Athena grumped but otherwise let the god talk. Apollo and Horse were too stunned by this bombshell reality to object. Pan merely looked resolved to listen to Arctus.

    ¡°Ok, good. What I really came here to tell you is how to use what I gave you. You,¡± he pointed a stony claw at Athena, ¡°were supposed to have looted that chicken. It was a rush job, considering you weren¡¯t really expected to interact with it, but you got the killing blow. I was trying to give you the yellow upgrade gem that he got.¡± He pointed at Pan. ¡°Do what you want, but you¡¯ve got a yellow card that you¡¯ll really benefit from upgrading. I can¡¯t tell you what it is, though. Rules is rules.¡±

    Athena¡¯s eyes changed, as though reading something close-up. A clear sign she was looking through her menus. ¡°How do I use it?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Well first, the faun here has got to trade it with you. Do you know how to do that yet?¡±

    Athena and Pan both said they didn¡¯t.

    ¡°That¡¯s alright. I¡¯ll walk you through the menus.¡±

    And for the next few minutes, the group got a crash course in trading their collectables. As a party, they could exchange and gift anything among themselves freely, but they couldn¡¯t just hand the objects over. There was a Trade menu option that one had to initiate with another player, and they had to both agree to the proposed trade.

    Pan moved the yellow gem to the panel intended to go to Athena¡¯s inventory and indicated he was Ready. The border turned green. He could also see a panel containing the things Athena was intending to give to him, but it was empty. It was also greyed out and he couldn¡¯t interact with it.

    ¡°Do you want anything for this gem?¡± she asked Pan. ¡°Maybe something like this?¡± She contributed a card to the trade, and it removed the Ready status from Pan¡¯s side. He looked at the card.

    Tent, depicting a cream colored canvas propped up with sticks and secured to the ground on either side, a typical camping tent. He could see the foot end of a sleeping bag on the inside.

    ¡°Sure. I don¡¯t have one of those,¡± he replied. They both indicated they were Ready, and the screen cleared. The gem was no longer in his inventory, but he now had a Tent card he could use at any time.

    While they were doing this, Horse said to Apollo, ¡°Hey, I think I¡¯ve got something you can use.¡± The two also explored the trade screen.

    A thought occurred to Pan after his trade with Athena, and it was a thought he didn¡¯t like. It was the realization that he could give his curses to his friends. He wondered where a thought like that came from. But still, he thought, it¡¯s an option. Some of these really aren¡¯t that bad. I could lighten the load a little bit, and maybe make myself more useful with cards they don¡¯t want. Despite the reasoning, he felt dirty for thinking it.

    Athena was still looking through her inventory, likely trying to find the best card for the upgrade she had just received.

    Arctus spoke up again. ¡°Ok? Are we all good?¡± he asked, feigning enthusiasm. Being a god, probably with his own dungeon, dealing with Pan and his friends must be a bit irritating. No one likes training the new guy.

    Apollo, Horse, and Pan all nodded in answer to his question.

    ¡°Great. Because you¡¯ve got more incoming.¡±

    Athena, distracted by the screen still, spoke up, saying, ¡°No I¡¯m still trying to find what card you mean-¡° in time for Arctus to disappear.

    And at the same time, a great big thing emerged from around a corner in the labyrinthine room.

    The creature, appearing in profile to the group, was big and humanoid covered in tattoos of wavy lines. It wore a rough leather loincloth and carried a stalactite by its point. The weapon was taller than a man and a quarter as wide at the base. It hadn¡¯t noticed them yet.

    ¡°It¡¯s another cyclops,¡± Pan said. He thought he had only breathed the words, but even as Apollo tried to shush him up, the creature turned to look at the party.

    On its shoulders was not one head, but two. The other head, hidden until it had turned, was nothing but a skeleton. Its other arm, too, was nothing but bones. The still living head furrowed its brow over its one great eye. The skeletal head rattled its jaw and bounced.

    ¡°Auuggh!¡±

    The cry didn¡¯t come from the creature, but from Athena. ¡°I¡¯ll upgrade later! It¡¯s just one damned thing after another here, isn¡¯t it?!¡±

    And the creature raised its club to attack.

 Chapter 14

    Athena activated a card, Multi Strike, which showed several after-images of the head of a spear, implying it being thrust many times, rapidly. Her spear formed in her hand as she ran towards the half-dead cyclops as it raised its club. The living head furrowed its brow, and its skeleton head bounced and clattered like a shaken marionette puppet.

    Pan looked at his cards. He hadn¡¯t noticed with everything else going on, but while he had played his first two actions just fine, when it came to playing Rack, the card remained stubbornly in his hand. His actions had renewed, and he had drawn back up to his five cards. He would have to select Rack and two more to play.

    In addition to Rack, he still had Miasma and Wheel. There were also two new cards, the drawing of which he hadn¡¯t felt through the healing effect of the potion he had chugged. The heal over time effect had remained on him through his Joint Pain confrontation with the Kentucky fried chicken.

    He had not read them, and didn¡¯t have the time now to get into their long descriptions.

    Hex depicted a fully fleshed and feathered chicken, sans head, laying ragdoll amidst lit candles on a chalk symbol.

    Dress Down looked more comical, depicting a cartoon warrior in heavy armor, a battle being waged behind him, but where his metal pants should be, there were only his heart-covered boxers and skinny legs. The warrior seemed to be in the act of discovering this for himself, surprise and embarrassment drawn on his face.

    Pan took this all in quickly. Even as Athena charged, Horse flashed a card, a basic Slash attack, and charged forth with his curved blade. ¡°She won¡¯t be giving me crap this time,¡± Pan heard him mumble.

    Looking to Apollo, he saw the Scholar in the act of selecting an attack of his own. Something with range, as he remained where he stood.

    The creature still had its weapon raised, poised to attack.

    But something tugged at Pan¡¯s thoughts. There was something missing.

    He pulled out another health potion, and his gaze hovered over Miasma. He didn¡¯t want to play the card. According to the description, it conjured a large haze which inflicted fear on whatever was caught in it. Not only would Wheel and Rack hurt him, but he could easily catch his allies in the haze if he placed it wrong. He also didn¡¯t know what the fear effect would cause the two-headed cyclops to do. Would it cause it to run away? He¡¯d have to let Athena and Horse not to chase it into the fog.

    Still, there was another reason he didn¡¯t want to play the card. He couldn¡¯t place his finger on it, but there was something different about this encounter.

    He put a hand on Apollo¡¯s arm just as he was about to play a card. ¡°Wait,¡± he told the Scholar. ¡°Did you see that thing play a card?¡±

    Athena loosed her attack. Just like with the Nightmare spawn cyclops, she only came up to the thing¡¯s thigh. Her spear struck again and again, the weapon moving so quickly Pan could barely count the attacks. It struck the creature five times, and it groaned in pain.

    ¡°Well, we want to deal with it before it can attack, right?¡± Apollo asked.

    ¡°But then why would it raise its weapon if it hadn¡¯t played a card yet? It¡¯s had plenty of time.¡±

    Horse didn¡¯t slow as he approached for his Slash to land. His weapon dragged on the creature¡¯s other leg, causing it to reel.

    ¡°It¡¯s not holding that thing like it¡¯s intending to attack with it. We need to call the others back. Arctus set us up.¡±

    Apollo looked at the little faun. ¡°You think he¡¯d do that?¡±

    Pan was about to answer, when the monster groaned again. Horse, his charge putting him behind the cyclops, had played another card. Pan hadn¡¯t seen it, but the centaur had stabbed the cyclops in the back with a dagger.

    The huge creature hadn¡¯t roared, but groaned louder than before, but mournfully this time. It threw its weapon arm back, and that¡¯s when Pan saw it.

    ¡°Stop!¡± he shouted, bounding forward and waving his arms at his allies. The creature collapsed, its legs failing, and the floor shook.

    Another card flashed in front of Athena, one with a picture of a person being dissolved in bright light called Purifying Rays.

    ¡°Stop attacking! Athena! Hold it!¡±

    No spear formed. Instead, she held her arm up palm out to the prone creature. It was still clutching the hollow thing they had thought was a weapon. Athena¡¯s hand shone as if illuminated by a spotlight.

    Pan rammed head first into the small of Athena¡¯s back, and both of them went down.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    With the wind knocked out of her, Athena propped herself up on her arms, coughing. ¡°What did you do that for?¡± she demanded.

    Pan, dazed, didn¡¯t provide an answer.

    ¡°Great, I lost the magic,¡± she said, looking at her palm. It no longer glowed.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take this guy out,¡± Horse said. He looked about to play a card.

    ¡°Before you do, we might want to look at this,¡± came Apollo¡¯s voice. He was examining the thing the creature had held. Horse held his action.

    The thing Pan had taken for a stalactite was actually hollow and relatively light. It was a large, stiff piece of paper, rolled up into a cone. When unrolled, it showed crudely drawn cartoon images of two cyclops heads surrounded by pictures of dungeon goods. It read ¡°Paul and Phemus: General Store ¨C Nobody¡¯s beating our prices¡±.

    Apollo chuckled. As Athena was getting back up from the tackle, he turned the poster around to show her. ¡°Pretty clever huh?¡±

    She rubbed her lower back as she read it. ¡°No, it¡¯s stupid.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like in the Odyssey,¡± Apollo started, ¡°They end up on that island and they¡¯re taken prisoner? He eats one of Odysseus¡¯ men every night? But when he talks to it, he says his name is Nobody, so that later when they take him out¡± ¨C he smacked a fist into his open palm ¨C ¡°it screams ¡®Help! Help! Nobody¡¯s killing me!¡¯ Even their names together like that-¡°

    Athena¡¯s shriveling glare found purchase, wilting Apollo¡¯s explanation. With her brother quiet, she turned on Pan. ¡°So what do you want to do with him, now that you¡¯ve assaulted me and cost me a spell?¡±

    Pan also found his feet, the daze fading quickly. He noticed he hadn¡¯t lost any health from the impact, and wondered if Athena hadn¡¯t either. ¡°I figure we talk to him. This game has NPC¡¯s right? Non-Player Characters? Arctus is one. At least, I think he is. I don¡¯t think he¡¯s from the real world.¡±

    Athena kicked the prone cyclops in its over-sized ribs. It curled into the fetal position at the touch. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt Phemus,¡± it moaned. The group shared a round of glances, and Pan shrugged.

    ¡°We won¡¯t hurt you,¡± Athena started. It wasn¡¯t convincing. ¡°What were you doing threatening us with that thing?¡± She indicated the poster, even though the cyclops was tucking its heads under its arms and couldn¡¯t see.

    ¡°Vagrants have good things to sell, and Phemus does too,¡± the creature said. ¡°Phemus was going to unroll the poster and ask if the little vagrants want to trade.¡±

    The tone of the big guy¡¯s voice had Pan feeling like a heel, even though he hadn¡¯t participated in the attack on him.

    Apollo rolled the poster back up and with it tapped the cyclops on the shoulder. The flesh-covered shoulder, not the skeletal one. ¡°We won¡¯t hurt you any more, especially not if you have good things to trade.¡±

    ¡°Oh good,¡± the cyclops sighed. He unrolled himself and sat up. Even sitting cross-legged, he towered over the group. He was eye-to-eyes with Horse, the tallest of the four of them. The skeleton head rattled and jittered, making only the sound of bones in the dark cavern.

    ¡°This is Paul,¡± the non-skeletal head said, pointing with an elephant-thick finger at the skeleton head, ¡°and I¡¯m Phemus.¡± He squinted his one eye at them. ¡°And you are a Scholar, Skulk, Hoplite, and- Oh. Oh no.¡± He shook his head sadly when he got to Pan. ¡°I don¡¯t think Phemus has anything for the poor little goat person.¡±

    ¡°Well, let¡¯s see what you do have, Phemus,¡± Apollo said. The cyclops held up his hand and then spread the fingers. Nothing happened, but Apollo reacted.

    ¡°This is the shop menu,¡± Phemus said. ¡°You can sell me things, and if you have the money, you can buy from me too. I won¡¯t sell you anything you can¡¯t use though. Scholars get blue cards, so that¡¯s all I¡¯m allowed to sell you. Except brown cards. Anyone can use those.¡±

    The inventory cards, like the potions and the meals, were brown cards, Pan remembered.

    ¡°So you can only sell me yellow cards and Horse, here, can only buy black cards?¡± Athena asked. Apollo was busy reading the invisible screen.

    Phemus¡¯ head nodded. The skeleton head kept jittering like a cold chihuahua.

    Pan regarded the creature again, now that they weren¡¯t in battle. The creature had two heads, one eye each, and long tusks at the corners of his mouths. The skeleton head ¨C on the creature¡¯s right - was connected to a skeleton neck which was in turn connected to the exposed bone of its shoulder. The flesh ended just before the skeleton¡¯s neck in black tatters. The arm on the creature¡¯s right side was also entirely bone, connecting to the bony shoulder. The rest of the creature was living flesh, all the way down to its feet. Its fingernails and toenails were thick and ragged too, split along the grain and gnarled like claws.

    Pan suspected something terrible had befallen the cyclops, considering there were two different faces drawn on the poster, and neither of them were a skull. But he figured it would be rude to ask.

    ¡°Aww nice,¡± Apollo said, ¡°an ice attack. I wonder if ice mages are good on defense in this system.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t sell the cards we just got from that chicken,¡± she chided.

    ¡°I won¡¯t,¡± he sighed.

    ¡°I guess while you¡¯re doing that, I¡¯ll use this upgrade.¡± She was referring to the amber gem Pan had given to her. But at the mention of a gem, Phemus perked up.

    ¡°You have gem?¡± he asked, crawling towards her all eagerness. He made a gesture over her, snapping Apollo out of his shop menu ¨C ¡°Hey!¡± ¨C and trapping Athena in an equally invisible menu.

    ¡°Will you trade Phemus the gem? We have many strong yellow cards for the Hoplite woman.¡±

    She was taken by his excitement at first, but had barely wavered when the giant had advanced on her. She looked at him curiously. ¡°And what do you want from it? Are gems that good?¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± Phemus exalted, ¡°Gems are very very good. Big market. Card upgrades are rare. Look, look! What yellow cards you want for gem?¡±

    She raised an eyebrow ¨C a gesture Pan had to wonder if cyclopses would even notice ¨C and said carefully, ¡°Well, Phemus, these look like good cards. But I think I will hold onto this gem of mine.¡±

    The creature looked crestfallen.

    ¡°But,¡± she continued, ¡°if you were to put this gem in a card, which one would you put it in?¡±

    ¡°Amber gem? That¡¯s easy. Put it in the Multi Strike you used against Phemus. Gem gives card chance to stun. Good on cards that deal many tiny bits of damage.¡±

    Apollo interrupted, saying, ¡°I have lots of creep control in my cards. Why not give the gem to me?¡±

    Phemus held up a finger, shushing him. ¡°Amber gems don¡¯t go in blue cards.¡± He spoke slowly as if explaining to an idiot. The skull¡¯s teeth continued to chatter.

    Pan sidled up to Athena and whispered, ¡°Do you really think we should take advice from this guy? He¡¯s a merchant, yeah, but maybe he¡¯s got some ulterior motive.¡±

    ¡°Done. I¡¯ve slotted the gem into my Multi Strike,¡± she said, ignoring Pan. ¡°Now let¡¯s see what you¡¯ve got for sale.¡±

 Chapter 15

    The group ended up trading Paul and Phemus, the two-headed cyclops merchant. Ambivalent at first about selling cards they had received not matching the color of their class, Athena, Apollo, and Horse were able to turn in the unusable cards they had each gotten from the recent packs.

    ¡°Nunna you even close to multi-classing,¡± Phemus had said. Paul¡¯s skeleton head continued to jitter. ¡°Sell cards to Phemus, buy what he selling. Blue cards for Scholar, black cards for Skulk, yellow cards for Hoplite.¡±

    ¡°What about grey cards?¡± Apollo had asked, ¡°I¡¯ve got these kicks and blocks and stuff that I¡¯ve been able to use. They¡¯re not blue.¡±

    ¡°Grey cards basics. Anyone can use.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the multi-classing you mentioned, Phemus?¡± Pan asked.

    ¡°You learn about that later,¡± the giant two-headed merchant had said. He waved the question away.

    While the rest of them were busy purchasing from the cyclops, Pan looked into his own deck composition. When he had opened the pack he had looted from the Kentucky Fried Chicken, the giant blackened bird skeleton he had inadvertently raised, he had gotten four cards: Friends Till the End, Life Drain, Again With Feeling, and Ditch.

    Life Drain and Ditch were both grey, and of the two, Pan was most interested in Ditch. It sounded like it would let him get rid of a curse card, potentially more if he could draw into it consistently.

    He tried to add them to his deck. It worked with Life Drain. He selected the card, and one appeared in the deck composition. The cards from his discard bracer flew across his body and into the bracer that he drew from.

    Damn. That was my first reshuffle. I might draw those cards I¡¯ve already suffered through using already.

    He sighed, pushing away the annoyance. If I add Ditch, I can start getting rid of them.

    But when he tried to add the card, the system wouldn¡¯t let him. The interface had greyed out his loose card collection panel. He could still interact with the cards, but it wouldn¡¯t let him add them to his deck. His deck composition panel, was still lit up. He could select cards from there.

    There are a lot of curses. I¡¯m supposed to get rid of all of them?

    He noticed a count at the top of the deck composition panel that read 40/40.

    That might be the problem. My deck is full.

    He removed Life Drain, and the count went to 39/40. The loose card selection panel lightened up again, and he could successfully add Ditch.

    Does this mean the maximum deck size is 40? Can I have fewer cards than that?

    He selected a curse card, finding Mirror close by. He remembered using it against Horse, and how it had immediately doubled his problems. The system wouldn¡¯t let him remove it.

    Figures. They¡¯re a punishment, after all. A bullshit punishment, but they¡¯re not going to let me out of this easily.

    ¡°Before you guys sell any blue cards, let me look at them first,¡± Apollo said. Pan couldn¡¯t see the actual menus his friends were using, so he couldn¡¯t tell who had the shop menu or who was looking in their own decks.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got this one. It¡¯s called Again With Feeling,¡± Pan replied. ¡°Horse, you might be interested in Friends Till the End.¡±

    He got a pop-up trade request from Apollo, and he put the card where the Scholar could see.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think I can make use of this one. You can sell it.,¡± Apollo said after a moment¡¯s study.

    ¡°Won¡¯t trade with goat person,¡± Phemus said as he crossed his one skeletal and one flesh-covered arm.

    ¡°Why not? Is my money not good here or something?¡± Pan half-joked. The creature had called him a goat-thing before, and Pan found himself slightly annoyed by it. He was half deer, not half goat. But he didn¡¯t raise any issue because he couldn¡¯t tell why it would matter. It¡¯s not like he chose to become a faun.

    ¡°Don¡¯t trade with marked-by-gods. You cursed. It bad juju.¡±

    What else did this curse saddle me with? Pan lamented in private.

    Apollo whispered, ¡°Gimme the blue card. I¡¯ll see if I can sell it for you. Is there anything you want?¡±

    Pan whispered back, ¡°Not really. I don¡¯t know what he has, anyway. Even if I did, I don¡¯t know what I can use. I don¡¯t want any more curses, and I don¡¯t know what cards I¡¯m restricted to while I¡¯m this Cursed class.¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Apollo nodded but didn¡¯t say anything.

    When everyone was done, Horse buying several cards, Apollo buying two, and Athena only buying one, and happy with their deck composition, they said their goodbyes to the cyclopes.

    ¡°How are your legs?¡± Athena asked, ¡°We did a number on you.¡±

    Phemus grinned and waved the concern away, ¡°No problem! You valued customers now, and Phemus heal quickly.¡± The wounds they had afflicted on him were indeed gone.

    ¡°What about Paul?¡± Pan asked. He immediately felt dumb for asking.

    The cyclops thought for a moment before answering. ¡°Paul ok. He have Phemus.¡± The skeleton head jittered, seemingly oblivious to the conversation.

    Athena moved to silence Pan from any further questions, saying, ¡°Yup, and we¡¯ve got each other, right? Gotta look out for one another.¡± She spoke in a forced cheerfulness. What made it all the more awkward to Pan was that it was coming from Athena of all people. ¡°Anyway, we¡¯ve got to get going now. Thanks for the shopping, you two take care now.¡±

    She ushered the group further into the dungeon. The group moved in silence.

    Pan had wanted to take further advantage of the time between the fights to experiment with his deck composition, finding what the system would allow. After some time of quiet walking through the dark tunnels of volcanic stone, he was about to raise the point with Apollo, but they encountered a group of Hobbs.

    ¡°These guys again,¡± Athena said. ¡°We can deal with them.¡± A card flashed in front of her, one reading Flurry, with a picture of a Hoplite windmilling a spear while beset by three nondescript monsters. The spear formed in her hand.

    But as she turned to approach the three creatures, forms detached from the black walls. They looked at first to Pan like moving shadows, indiscernible for how little mass they had, and blending in with the black stone wall. It was Apollo who stopped his sister.

    ¡°Look. Skeletons,¡± he said, pointing.

    The hobbs, the stout, squashed looking creatures they had fought earlier, had noticed the skeletons too, black as the crispy chicken skeleton. They circled the group of hobbs, working together.

    These might be harder to fight than the hobbs, Pan thought.

    Cards flashed. Red and green cards from many skeletons at once. The green cards netted the creatures, carrying them closer together. The red cards allowed their casters to conjure menacing axes. Unable to free themselves, the axe-wielding skeletons made short work of the hobbs.

    It happened so quickly, Athena still had her weapon in her hand. The magic hadn¡¯t faded.

    ¡°So,¡± Apollo started, ¡°are we thinking these guys are, like¡­ Human? As in, player characters?¡±

    With the hobbs dead, the creatures all turned as one and began walking away. They made no effort to loot the corpses.

    Pan saw no sparkles among them, however, and wondered if he would see what loot the skeletons could have taken.

    Then again, it was only three of them. Loot from these low powered mobs seems rare.

    ¡°C¡¯mon,¡± Athena said, moving to follow the skeletons.

    Apollo grabbed her arm. ¡°What? Follow these things?¡±

    ¡°Well yeah,¡± she rolled her eyes, ¡°We need to learn more about them.¡±

    ¡°What if we start a fight with them?¡± Horse asked.

    Athena¡¯s weapon evaporated, the magic suddenly running out. It didn¡¯t concern her so much as Horse¡¯s question. ¡°If we start a fight, then we¡¯re going to stay and finish it.¡±

    Apollo spoke up this time. ¡°But what if we can¡¯t take them? I mean, they¡¯re using colored cards. They¡¯ve got player classes.¡±

    She grabbed her brother by the collar of his toga and pulled him in. ¡°We fight until I say we¡¯re done fighting.¡± And with that, she let him go., turned, and stalked after the skeletons. ¡°We¡¯re losing them, so come on.¡±

    From the way the skeletons moved through the tunnels, it seemed practiced, like they were following a route.

    They¡¯re not just mindless undead. These things can think. Pan considered how the four of them might take these things out. We¡¯ll need the element of surprise, so maybe Horse can help out here.

    Pan knew he himself wouldn¡¯t be all that useful. He still only had Hex, Dress Down, Miasma, Wheel, and Rack. He¡¯d been so preoccupied with the shop and his deck composition, he hadn¡¯t looked more into the first two, his most recent draws. He considered casting Wheel, if only to get rid of it and Rack. Rack was poised to deal twice as much damage as when he¡¯d cast Joint Pain, and Wheel would replace whatever else he cast.

    He took the time to read more into Hex and Dress Down as the skeletons took down another ragtag of hobbs.

    Hex, it seemed, allowed him to target another and then have it share in whatever damage he took. He would take all the damage, but so would the target. As part of the casting, it also dealt some damage, effectively adding a third instance of damage to the two he would be taking from Rack, as this would be his second card cast.

    Dress Down caused all equipped items in the area to drop from the creatures they were equipped to. It seemed to hit both enemies and allies. He had seen the Equipment section in the menu and knew his was empty. But what about Horse¡¯s cowl and Apollo¡¯s wreath crown? He was certain the skeletons weren¡¯t wearing anything.

    He briefly considered if Athena¡¯s toga counted, but reconsidered thinking about her in that way, in case she could read his thoughts.

    But before he could decide if he wanted to rip off the band-aid and cast Wheel ¨C he had more health potions, just not many more ¨C the group came upon a town. Nestled in the cavern of black volcanic rock were stone buildings huddled together. The skeletons didn¡¯t break stride, obviously aware of the town¡¯s existence, and were taking a trajectory straight for it. The friends circled up to discuss this.

    ¡°Are they going to attack the town?¡± Apollo asked.

    ¡°Look at how they¡¯re walking,¡± Athena replied, ¡°Back there when we first started following them, they were hugging the walls. They were on a patrol route, hoping to sneak up on groups of enemies. But look at them now. They aren¡¯t moving the same way as they were, but walking out in the open. They¡¯re going straight towards the town.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡± asked Horse, ¡°Do you think they live here?¡±

    ¡°It makes about as much sense as anything else. Maybe the town is empty and they¡¯re just moving through,¡± Pan hazarded.

    But Apollo shook his head. ¡°There¡¯s movement down in the town. You can see it kinda in the shadows from the crystals they¡¯ve adapted for light.¡±

    Pan looked again, really studying the town. It wasn¡¯t close, but he could see something moving around.

    The town itself looked like a creepy imitation of an old-time village. If you replaced the black stone with rolling green hills, the buildings with cobblestone-and-thatch jobs, and swapped the pale green substance that flowed past with actual water, winding through a bend by which the town was built, it would look picturesque. It reminded Pan of that stop-motion halloween/christmas movie with the skeleton that wanted to be Santa Claus.

    ¡°So let¡¯s go down there and introduce ourselves,¡± Athena was saying.

    This snapped Pan back to the present. ¡°Wait, I think I missed a crucial part of this conversation.¡±

 Chapter 16

    The skeletons the four of them had been following entered the town, and Pan and his group followed after. There was no fence around the town, which allowed them all to walk leisurely through its borders.

    ¡°It¡¯s a village,¡± Athena had argued. ¡°And we¡¯re in a game, after all. Villages are a good thing for the player in these kinds of games.¡±

    ¡°Not abandoned villages,¡± Apollo had retorted.

    ¡°This one clearly isn¡¯t abandoned.¡± At this she had gestured to it, and, it was true, it was about as lively as a maggot-ridden corpse. They could all see the hustle and bustle even from this distance.

    Still, they had approached cautiously. They hadn¡¯t called out the skeletons they had been following, though they trailed behind the blackened bones by quite a bit. Of them, only Athena didn¡¯t twang with apprehension.

    ¡°Hey!¡± came a cry. Pan almost activated his Miasma card. As one, they turned to see one of the blackened skeletons calmly approaching. He had held back and blended in with the volcanic rock of the immense cavern. ¡°You finally made yourselves known.¡± He, for the voice sounded masculine, spoke the words like an accusation.

    Pan braced for a fight. This one¡¯s going to attack, and that¡¯ll summon the rest of the town down onto us.

    But before they could decide to strike first, he had reached Athena and abruptly held out his boney hand.

    ¡°Welcome to Gravestone. I¡¯m Maurice,¡± he said.

    ¡°Athena,¡± said Athena, shaking the proffered hand. As she did so, she shot a smug look at the rest of them.

    ¡°Apollo,¡± said Apollo, next to shake the skeleton¡¯s hand. Athena was looking at the ash residue the skeleton had left on her palm.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that,¡± the skeleton said, rattling his ribcage and conjuring a grey cloud, ¡°It¡¯s just a fact of death. Who are your-¡° the skeleton started to ask, gesturing to Horse and Pan.

    ¡°The Whispering Horse,¡± Horse said in his Dark Knight voice.

    ¡°I see. You¡¯re a bit of a surprise. We¡¯d seen your mates following us. White togas and gleaming metal in this pitch darkness? The old eye sockets get used to the dark. But you? I didn¡¯t see you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m only seen when I want to be seen,¡± Horse said grimly. ¡°And by then, you¡¯re already dead.¡±

    Maurice remained silent for a moment, considering the Skulk¡¯s words. ¡°Well, someone¡¯s already beat you to it. We¡¯re all dead here. And who might this be?¡± He turned to Pan and crouched down, hand bones on knee bones.

    ¡°I¡¯m Pan. As a matter of fact, I¡¯m a Faun. We¡¯re part deer, not part goat.¡±

    ¡°No you¡¯re not. I can see you¡¯re a Cursed. What were you before? A human? Or a centaur like your friend here?¡±

    ¡°How do you know that?¡± Pan asked, shocked.

    The skeleton pointed a boney finger at Pan¡¯s purple bracers. ¡°I can see your class. Only Cursed get purple bracers. You sorry sot. Who¡¯d you piss off?¡±

    ¡°I-¡° Pan started, but realized he didn¡¯t know. ¡°I¡¯m not sure who it was. She appeared in a cold lake in the middle of a grove.¡± He carefully left out the matter with the deer. He still hadn¡¯t had a chance to process what had possessed him to kill the celestial hart.

    ¡°Yeah? What dungeon was that, then? Was she your guide, or your host?¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t in a dungeon. I was in the overworld, I guess.¡±

    Maurice pulled up to his full height to think, scratching his chinbone. ¡°Hmm,¡± he said. ¡°Hurm.¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Her name is Hurm?¡±

    ¡°H-wha? No, son, I was thinking. Nope, I can¡¯t think of a woman who shows up out of a clear pond in any groves. But Gravestone is a big place, full of people from way back. Someone might know who she is.¡±

    The skeleton¡¯s words filled Pan with unexpected hope. He wanted to know more about the mysterious goddess he had slighted.

    ¡°Wait,¡± Apollo said, ¡°So, are you guys, uh¡­¡± He trailed off, but Maurice only looked expectantly at him. He started again. ¡°Earlier, we saw you guys fighting with those goblin creatures.¡±

    ¡°Hobbs,¡± Maurice said, cutting him off.

    ¡°Yeah. Hobbs-¡°

    ¡°Goblins are nastier.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Whatever. You were fighting and we saw you guys using class cards, not just basic attacks like most mobs. Are you all stuck here like us?¡±

    The skeleton looked thoughtful. ¡°You mean, are we vagrants like you?¡±

    Apollo nodded. Pan had been starting to wonder the same thing.

    The skeleton shook his head. He held up his arm and pointed to it. ¡°No bracers. We¡¯re just simple folk unliving our afterlives. I used to be a human, but when the mountain exploded, I died.¡±

    ¡°Aww, that must have been awful,¡± Pan said.

    The skeleton waved away his concern. ¡°Didn¡¯t feel a thing. Well, I heard a boom, and had just enough time to think ¡®What was-¡® and by the time I got to ¡®-that?¡¯ I found myself here, burned to a cinder.¡±

    Athena nudged Pan and whispered to him, ¡°So these guys are NPCs. Not playable characters, but they have some class features like we get.¡±

    He nodded as it was coming to him. In the story, this whole town must be vassals of Dreganan. But then what purpose does the village serve the dungeon?

    ¡°My whole family came with me,¡± the skeleton continued, ¡°and we all eventually found most of our ancestors, too.¡±

    ¡°You founded Gravestone together?¡± Apollo asked.

    The skeleton chuckled, his jawbone clattering. ¡°No, goodness, no. It was already here. There¡¯s more than just my clan. Like I said, you¡¯ll find people from all over around here. Come, I¡¯ll show you around.¡± He walked past them and into the village proper.

    As the group had seen from afar, Gravestone was bustling. But it wasn¡¯t full of only volcano-roasted skeletons. There were shambling zombies with tattered clothes as well as pristine ivory colored skeletons. Undead horses drew coffin carriages along the streets, and inside the buildings all manner of undead people were going about their ¨C what had Maurice called it? ¨C their un-lives.

    ¡°And this is the barbershop,¡± Maurice said as they passed a glass-paned shop front.

    ¡°Athena, look,¡± Pan said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to see it,¡± she grumbled.

    ¡°It¡¯s a barber shop. That skeleton is-¡°

    ¡°I don¡¯t. Want. To see it,¡± she said slowly.

    ¡°-getting its hair cut,¡± Pan finished lamely.

    And there was the ivory skeleton, sitting in a barber¡¯s chair and draped in a smock, having his skull tended to by a cinder skeleton. The charcoal skelly was busily clipping rusty scissors close to its client¡¯s cranium.

    ¡°What is even the point?¡± Athena mumbled under her breath, consumed by the ridiculousness.

    Apollo approached Pan, breathless. ¡°Pan! Did- Did you see it?¡± He pointed back at the barber shop.

    ¡°I did!¡± Pan said excitedly.

    ¡°I love this place!¡±

    Athena paused to look at both of them, then grunted. ¡°This place is stupid.¡±

    She turned and almost tripped over a skeleton sitting on the street. It was an ivory skeleton, not a cinder skeleton like Maurice.

    ¡°Can you spare some bones?¡± the creature asked in a hopeless and creaky voice.

    Athena recovered from the surprise. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, ¡°I didn¡¯t see you there.¡±

    ¡°Can you spare some bones?¡± The blackened skeleton held out both hands, an approximation of a beggar¡¯s bowl.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think I have any bones on me at the moment,¡± she said, patting her clothes. It took Pan a moment to remember that there were no pockets in the togas they were wearing, and that their inventory was held in some kind of card-themed pocket dimension.

    Maurice, back-tracking to see what the commotion was, intervened. ¡°No, no bones. They don¡¯t have anything to give you.¡± He spoke to the creature like it was an invalid.

    The homeless skeleton put its hands down and hugged its knees. It didn¡¯t meet Maurice¡¯s eyesockets with its own.

    But Maurice was staring intently at it.

    ¡°Great-gammy Theresa?¡± he asked in a small voice.

    This caused the homeless skeleton to look back up at him, as though surprised.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m Uriel¡¯s son,¡± he held a hand to his rib cage where his heart would have been.

    ¡°Little Uriel had a baby?¡± the old skeleton asked with the childlike wonder of the senile.

    Maurice hugged her. There was an unsettling clatter of bones as he did. ¡°Great gammy Theresa!¡±

    She patted his spine almost uncertainly.

    ¡°But what are you doing begging on the street? I thought you were given a magnificent burial.¡±

    The skeleton of Theresa had no answer for her great-grandson.

    ¡°I need to get you home right now,¡± he said, lifting her. She didn¡¯t resist, but moved like one under a compulsion. ¡°You all can find the inn without me.¡± He gave them directions. It was close by. Then he walked the opposite direction while fussing over the begging skeleton.

    ¡°What a whirlwind,¡± Apollo said. ¡°One moment he was leading us by the nose, the next he¡¯s gone.¡±

    ¡°Why was she begging for bones?¡± Horse asked. ¡°They¡¯re made of bones.¡±

    No one had an answer for him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about you guys, but I¡¯m bushed,¡± Apollo said. ¡°I say we take his advice and get some rooms.¡±

 Chapter 17

    The inn was similar in architecture to the rest of Gravestone. A sturdy stone building constructed from blocks of the volcanic stone which made up the rest of the cavern, and severely aged. Some kind of plant which had managed to take root in the harsh ground spread up the wall in places, but were now brown and desiccated. There was a wooden sign hanging from the establishment, though the paint had dried and cracked and almost entirely flaked away. Pan guessed the image might have been that of a bird, but it could also have been something else entirely.

    Inside, the inn was sparsely populated. Horse had had to duck to make it through the doorway. There were some skeletons, all of which were the crispy blackened sort. One ivory skeleton worked the bar which ran along the entirety of one wall, which was lined with shelves and stocked with unmarked bottles and casks. The room was lit by strategically placed gemstones, bathing the inside with an eerie glow.

    ¡°You can eat and drink here,¡± the bartender started unbidden, ¡°but you¡¯ll have to stay in the stables around back. I¡¯ve only got humanoid beds.¡±

    Pan looked up at Horse, who was maintaining his Strong Silent Type demeanor.

    There were a few skeletons at the bar, and one at a table with a plate in front of it. The ones at the bar were drinking what looked like the pale green water they had seen flowing past the town. The one at the table had a plate with the remnants of a meal ¨C a steak bone and the uneaten greens of some vegetables ¨C but was actively eating from the plate.

    It reminded Pan of the barbershop they had seen, with the barber only pretending to cut hair as the bald skeleton remained seated in front of him. It had stricken him as odd and he had found it a bit funny, but he started wondering of the people of this town saw substance where he saw none.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go talk to the bartender for rooms. You guys mingle,¡± Apollo said.

    ¡°What about food? Can we buy meals from him?¡± Athena asked.

    Apollo nodded. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll ask,¡± and approached the bar. Athena followed him, Pan guessed, to hover over his shoulder.

    Pan looked around the dingy room. The air felt clammy. There was a fireplace in the corner, sized and angled to hold a fire big enough to heat the whole room, but it was cold and dark. While the building was mostly made of stone, the rafters and furniture were made of an equally dark wood in great thick timbers. It looked entirely burned, but was apparently strong enough to support whatever it was meant to hold, whether that was the roof or, in the case of tables and chairs, the patrons inside.

    ¡°I hope they aren¡¯t stabling any horses right now,¡± Horse whispered to Pan in his regular surfer accent, ¡°I saw those skeleton ones earlier, and it looks like not everything here is a skeleton. Some things are zombies.¡±

    The skeleton eating its dinner shot them a disgruntled look, having potentially overheard Horse¡¯s anti-undead bias. If it had, it didn¡¯t make anything more of it.

    Pan took a seat at one of the tables and flipped open his menu and began navigating through them. Now that he had a moment to catch his breath, he could take a stab at actually studying his stats and things.

    ¡°What kind of class is Skulk, anyway?¡± he asked of the centaur. ¡°What kind of perks do you get? Athena being a Hoplite, she gets bonus actions in combat, but hadn¡¯t told me more about that, and I¡¯m curious what counts.¡±

    Horse wasn¡¯t able to sit at the table, so he stood nearby and loomed over Pan. ¡°I get a Move Silently passive that makes it harder for others to detect me so long as I¡¯m within cover. I also get a First Strike bonus to damage when I¡¯m hitting an enemy that either doesn¡¯t know I¡¯m there or is otherwise helpless.¡±

    Pan nodded, reading through his own stuff. The Cursed class had no benefits listed where there obviously would have been for any other class. As he had noted before, his stats had all been reduced to 1 across the board. Now that he had leveled slightly, he had more than 1 in a few stats, but nothing higher than a 3.

    There were six stats, and he took a moment to read through their descriptions. They each provided two types of benefits. There was a direct benefit, which increased for each point in the stat, and there were staged bonuses. These were awarded at intervals with the stat increased.

    Unarmed Power, which functioned like a strength stat, increased the damage dealt by melee attacks like Kick and Punch. For every eight points, it also increased a melee attack multiplier, which started at 1. This multiplier applied to damage dealt as well as increased resistance to melee attacks.

    Esoteric Mastery functioned like an intelligence stat. It increased the effect of so-called elemental sources. Pan recalled the types of attacks Apollo had used, which could be construed as elemental types: lightning, earth, and so on. He also noted the wording here. While Unarmed Power increased damage, this description worded it as ¡°effect¡±. The stage bonuses increased both the maximum number of targets for targeted elemental sources, and this number also applied as an elemental damage resistance multiplier. This bonus increased every ten points put into the stat.

    Deft Reflexes was the dexterity stat. It increased a dodge chance for the player and increased ranged attacks, which was yet another flavor of attack. Pan wondered briefly how much overlap there was between Physical, Elemental, and Ranged in the cardbase for this game. Looking more into dodge, he found it was a chance for physical damage to be negated. The stat also provided additional actions at every fourteen points.

    Below that was Physical Fortitude, which provided bonus block and did something else apart from the stage bonus. For every point above ten in the stat, it would grant the player bonus barbs whenever block was gained. The tooltip described barbs as a buff which dealt damage back to an attacker using a basic attack. The stage bonus, however, was an inverse multiplier applied to the duration of debuffs. The higher the multiplier, the shorter the duration of any and all debuffs. It was a regular multiplier for the duration of buffs.

    It took Pan a second to realize the next stat, Stage Presence, was a kind of charisma stat. He had had to read the description a few times over. It increased the duration of summoned allies, a mechanic he had not yet encountered, while also decreasing the cost of purchasable items from merchants and other NPC vendors. The stage bonus increased max party size, which apparently started at 6. It didn¡¯t make sense to him at first, but he had navigated away to the party menu tab.

    The screen told him he was in a party, which he guessed the system had done automatically when he had joined forces with Apollo and Athena. The party leader was Apollo, who had a 16 in this charisma stat as listed on the party screen. While he was party leader, it allowed them to have up to eight party members: the base six, plus two more from Apollo¡¯s Stage Presence bonus. From what he saw on the page, neither Athena¡¯s, nor Horse¡¯s, nor Pan¡¯s own ¨C non-existent ¨C Stage Presence bonuses applied to their party¡¯s size.

    ¡°Ok,¡± Apollo said, both him and his sister approaching their table, ¡°Two rooms and a stable stall.¡± Pan had more stats to read, but he closed the menu for now.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Horse snorted. ¡°I was hoping he¡¯d been joking.¡±

    Apollo shook his head. ¡°Sorry, man, you¡¯ve gotta take it outside for tonight.¡±

    ¡°What about food?¡± Pan asked.

    ¡°He had some meal cards available for non-undead like us. They¡¯re basic, but it¡¯s actual food.¡± He gestured at the skeleton sitting behind him at the other table. The plate in front of it, formerly full of the leftovers of some previous meal, was now empty. The skeleton had apparently eaten the bone and vegetable scraps while Pan wasn¡¯t looking. ¡°It sounds like these guys eat the skeleton of food, stuff left over from when the meal has been ¡®killed¡¯.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I dunno. This place is wonky.¡±

    Athena spoke up. ¡°Isn¡¯t is a mainstay of some ancient cultures to sacrifice offerings to-¡° she waved her hand vaguely, conjuring the words from memory ¡°-some god, or ancient ancestors? But the meat or lamb or crops or whatever stay in the real world, with the worshippers, and the priests or whatever actually eat the offering later. So it¡¯s like the ghosts or whatever they¡¯re worshipping get the spiritual version of the food. The dead version.¡±

    Apollo shrugged again. ¡°I hadn¡¯t put that much thought into it. Anyway. We¡¯ve got crab chowder, a turkey leg, bread with cheese, and some kind of roast fish.¡± He passed out the brown cards.

    ¡°I want the turkey,¡± Horse said, offering Athena the bread and cheese card. Apollo used the crab chowder card he had kept and began eating.

    ¡°We used my money,¡± Athena said flatly, ¡°I¡¯m keeping the turkey leg.¡±

    ¡°Do you want the fish?¡± Pan asked.

    Horse made a face and shook his head. He kept the card he had been dealt.

    The meal Pan summoned was a small roasted whitefish, seemingly caught and dropped straight on the fire. He had to dig through the flesh to pull out the million tiny bones as he ate.

    ¡°Did you ask him what time it was?¡± Pan asked conversationally.

    ¡°Wha whould whe do thaht?¡± Athena asked, mouth full of turkey straight from the drumstick.

    ¡°I got that Breakfast of Champions card that gives me a bonus if I eat it in the morning.¡±

    ¡°You can go ask him. I want to turn in,¡± Apollo said. He had been provided a bowl of fishy smelling white chowder, but no utensils, so he drank from the bowl like it was a cup.

    Horse sulked as he ripped pieces of bread and ate them with chunks of goat cheese.

    ¡°We should talk strategy,¡± Pan said. ¡°Horse has got those two Skulk abilities, the Move Silently and First Strike ones. Athena, you¡¯ve got the one that gives you bonus actions when a party member attacks-¡°

    ¡°Flanking Maneuver,¡± she said.

    ¡°Is that what It¡¯s called? Anyway, do you have any others?¡±

    Apollo spoke up instead. ¡°I¡¯ve got the Field Study ability. It gives me this tablet and stylus.¡± He pulled out the implements. Pan remembered these from when he had first met the pair. Apollo hadn¡¯t been using it lately.

    ¡°What does it do?¡± he asked the Scholar.

    ¡°Well, it lets me record details about monsters and cards I¡¯ve encountered. Maybe some other stuff. There¡¯s an upgrade screen, but I¡¯m not sure what game currency it uses. It¡¯s not money, like what we got trading with that cyclops guy.¡±

    ¡°The other ability I have,¡± Athena said while giving Apollo a look. He was suddenly absorbed in the contents of his tablet and didn¡¯t notice. ¡°is just a passive that gives me a buff to Unarmed Power and Deft Reflexes. Frontline Training is what it¡¯s called.¡±

    Pan nodded, picking out another fish bone from a chunk of whitefish. ¡°Do you have another ability, Apollo?¡±

    ¡°A flat bonus to Esoteric Mastery, and I start at the second stage of Natural Aptitude,¡± he said. He put away his tablet and slurped his soup. ¡°Academic Savant gives me that.¡±

    Pan pulled up his menu again. He crunched something ¨C a missed fishbone ¨C and dug it out of his mouth.

    Natural Aptitude was one of the bottom stats he had missed earlier. For every point, it increased the luck bonus, and for every point beyond ten it increased deck size. Luck, it seemed, was a second kind of dodge, but for elemental damage instead of physical.

    ¡°So you start at stage two? What does that mean?¡± Pan asked.

    ¡°Well,¡± Apollo said, chewing as he talked, ¡°Natural Aptitude, in addition to increasing luck and maximum deck size, has a staged bonus that increases both the limit for duplicate cards in your deck as well as increases your base hand size.¡± He counted on his fingers as he iterated the two effects.

    Pan flipped to his own stats. He had a 3 in Natural Aptitude, having thrown his level bonus stat point into a random stat. It now had one point base, one point from levelling, and one point from his race.

    He saw he had no stage bonuses. Not in Natural Aptitude, not in anything.

    I¡¯m guessing that new characters have an average of 10 stat points per stat. Getting cursed like this really set me back.

    But he also had racial bonuses to Deft Reflexes and the last stat he hadn¡¯t read yet. One called Vigor.

    His Vigor stat increased his health by a factor of his overall level.

    Woah, Pan thought as he read it. Higher levels must have godly amounts of health. Level 40 with 20 points in Vigor would give an 80 point max health bonus.

    His own health pool was fairly small. The base was also determined by his race, and at the moment his max health was 10: A base of 6 health for his Faun race, plus his level of 2 times his Vigor of 2 for a total of 4 bonus health points.

    He wondered briefly how much base health the other had. It was likely more than his, especially considering how big Horse was, plus they had a higher stat total than he did. He figured they easily had three times the max health.

    The stage bonus provided by Vigor for every five points was an increase to regeneration, health points per minute. The tooltip was clear to mention that regeneration was only active outside of combat.

    But still. With only a Vigor of 10 at level 1, a player could have 10 bonus health on top of their racial base. If that was also about 10, then out of combat they would recover 2 health per hour without any health potions. They could get back to full from almost nothing in ten hours. A little more than a good night¡¯s sleep.

    It didn¡¯t scale too well as levels increased, he noticed however. A level 40 character with all 40 bonus stats in Vigor alone would do well enough. With some mental math, he found that came to 1,610 max health with a regeneration rate of 8 per hour. Recovering from empty to full on regeneration alone would take more than a week.

    He spoke with the group about this.

    ¡°You did all that in your head?¡± Horse asked.

    Pan thought he was missing the point. ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s not a requirement for the kind of data entry I do, but it helps if you can.¡±

    Athena nodded in agreement.

    ¡°With scaling like that,¡± Apollo said, ¡°the upper levels must get a lot of support from external buffs. I think our equipment and deck building is going to have to carry us into our late-game builds.¡±

    The pieces of fish vanished from in front of Pan. He had finished eating as much as he¡¯d wanted, but it startled him a bit nonetheless.

    The card¡¯s time must have run out. Anything uneaten seems to disappear.

    To no one in particular, Athena said, ¡°Is this still a game?¡± No one answered her, so she explained further. ¡°When I discovered I couldn¡¯t take off my equipment ¨C my VR equipment, I mean ¨C I wasn¡¯t as shocked as I probably should have been. But I still can¡¯t take it off. It all feels real.¡±

    Apollo seemed to shrug it off, ¡°Vagrants is next-gen. I think they just included some new tech that makes us think we can¡¯t leave the game.¡± He sounded unconcerned, but Pan suspected he was a little freaked out. ¡°I¡¯m sure the more we play, we¡¯ll come across something that lets us access a rig-level menu.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen this before,¡± he started.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been stuck inside your rig before?¡± Athena asked before he could continue.

    Horse shook his head. ¡°No, I mean in games and TV. Getting stuck in the game as a setting. The MC has to learn the game or die.¡±

    The table was quiet as they processed this. Apollo eventually spoke up. ¡°You think we¡¯re in a tv show?¡±

    Again he shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m just saying, if it¡¯s happened to us, being stuck in this world and forced to play this game, then we¡¯ve got to get good at it. We could be here for any reason, but it doesn¡¯t change the fact of the matter that we¡¯ve got to play while we¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°What if we reach- What was it again? Elysian?¡±

    ¡°Elysium,¡± Apollo corrected.

    ¡°That might be how we get out,¡± Horse replied.

    He didn¡¯t sound certain enough for Pan¡¯s likeness.

    The remains of their food had all vanished, but they sat in silence, each stewing in their own thoughts.

    We¡¯ve got to find a way to get out of here, Pan thought. The real me could be rotting at my desk for all I know. Or maybe we¡¯re actually here. We could actually die. He considered how strong a player could get at the higher levels and considered what kinds of challenges would await a fully powered character. He looked again at his miserably low stats, and his heart sank.

    Athena¡¯s chair scraped the floor as she stood up, taking Pan out of his thoughts. It was time for bed. This time, he might actually get to sleep.

 Chapter 18

    Horse begrudgingly made his way outside and to the stables while Apollo, Athena, and Pan headed to their rooms.

    The three of them were standing before one of their rooms when Athena said, ¡°Good night. I¡¯ll see you both in the morning.¡±

    Apollo looked between her and Pan. ¡°I thought we were going to share a room,¡± he said to his sister.

    She scoffed. ¡°No, you get the room with Pan. I need my rest, and I¡¯m not getting any if you¡¯re in here.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡± he asked, offended.

    ¡°You¡¯re a big boy now. If we were still kids, it would be a different matter. Now give me the key, and you and Pan go right off and stay in your little room. Is it this one?¡± she pointed at a door adjacent.

    ¡°No, he gave us the one at the other end of the hall,¡± he gestured vaguely down the corridor as he passed the iron key to her. The inn wasn¡¯t big, so one could see the far wall of this straight boarding room hallway.

    Pan noticed Apollo didn¡¯t mention anything about not wanting to sleep in the same room as Pan, but considering the monster attack in the grove, he suspected it was at least part of the reason for Apollo wanting to sleep in a room with his sister.

    ¡°Then you won¡¯t be far. Good night.¡± She disappeared into the room.

    Apollo sighed. ¡°There¡¯s no arguing with her. C¡¯mon Pan.¡±

    Inside the room was one large bed. Its blankets were rough and threadbare, and the mattress was more of the same, folded up into layers to provide some cushioning from the hard surface.

    Why even bother with the bed if we don¡¯t get a proper mattress? Pan wondered wryly.

    There was a small wash basin, like a bathroom sink, but no water. The window in the wall was cracked, but had no gaping holes in the glass. At the foot of the bed was a wooden trunk. The room was lit not by candles, but shards of the glowing crystals held in specially constructed stands. While the crystals glowed continuously, they could be lowered into metal sleeves thereby dampening the light.

    And that was it for furniture. The room was shockingly sparse, yet still more than Pan had expected.

    There was a sudden tenseness, he realized, over there being only one bed. He found himself wanting Apollo to offer to sleep on the floor.

    He¡¯s probably waiting for me to say the same.

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t have gotten us three bedrooms?¡± Pan found himself asking.

    Apollo shook his head. ¡°They seemed hung up over Horse being with us. I think they were worried we were going to insist he got a room. I couldn¡¯t talk them up to a third.¡±

    Pan felt like he wasn¡¯t being entirely honest, with how he¡¯d assumed he would be sharing a room with Athena. He walked to the window, ignoring the bed for now.

    ¡°Well, at least we can see the stables.¡± The window didn¡¯t slide up on rails, like he¡¯d expected. That would be too modern, he thought. Instead, it was on hinges and swung outward. He unlatched it and pushed it open. Horse was just making his way inside, but cautiously. ¡°I think he¡¯s a bit skittish about undead monsters,¡± Pan mentioned over his shoulder to Apollo, who was now sitting on the bed and taking off his sandals.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think Athena¡¯s going to trust him as much, considering how he ran off.¡± The way he said it sounded like he wasn¡¯t just speaking for his sister, though he didn¡¯t explicitly give away his feelings about the trust he did or did not hold towards the centaur.

    ¡°He¡¯s just a kid,¡± Pan said. ¡°He might be a centaur in the game now, but I don¡¯t think that sped up his development.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Apollo said as though light was dawning, ¡°In the grove, you acted like you knew each other. What¡¯d you call him? Tim?¡±

    Pan felt immediately like he¡¯d made a mistake. I¡¯ve gone and given these people Tim¡¯s real name. Do I really want to break this anonymity? We could be working with these siblings for a while yet. It would be odd not to trust them with our real names.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never met him in person,¡± Pan lied. ¡°I don¡¯t know if Tim is his real name. It¡¯s part of the handles he uses on other platforms. TimDestroyer, Your_Tim_Is_Up¡­ Things like that. But we¡¯ve been friends online for a few years.¡±

    ¡°I never thanked you. He might have killed me. You probably saved my life.¡±

    Pan made a non-committal gesture.

    Horse, done inspecting the stall he had been assigned, started the arduous process of backing into the slim area. Pan waved at him, catching his attention, and he instead trotted over to the window.

    ¡°Ugh. It¡¯s clammy out here dude.¡±

    ¡°Not much better in here,¡± Pan said, ¡°I¡¯m gonna wake up with moss growing in my hair.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you guys got blankets?¡± he pushed his head in past Pan, eyes set on the bed.

    Apollo wordlessly dug through the so-called mattress, then said, ¡°Looks like we¡¯ve got four of these. If Athena¡¯s room is the same-¡°

    ¡°Hey yeah, where is she?¡± Horse asked.

    ¡°She put us guys together,¡± Pan explained. ¡°Looks like you don¡¯t have any neighbors to worry about,¡± he commented, pointing out the lack of undead horses in Horse¡¯s part of the stall.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go see if I can bum another couple blankets off her,¡± Apollo said. He left the room.

    Horse continued. ¡°I don¡¯t have any utility cards for sleeping dude. You got anything good?¡±

    Pan shook his head. ¡°If you need to draw something with some chalk, I got you covered.¡±

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Horse screwed his face up.

    Pan took the opportunity to change the subject. ¡°So what are you doing in this game anyway?¡±

    The centaur looked sheepish. ¡°Well, you talked it up so much¡­¡± he muttered.

    ¡°You criticized the card combat. It¡¯s just an MMO with random access to abilities, remember?¡±

    Horse jabbed the air with a finger. ¡°Hey, I was right about that part dude. You add these cards to your deck, but then you gotta draw into them to use them.¡±

    Pan rolled his eyes. ¡°That¡¯s part of the challenge. It¡¯s a deck-builder. You¡¯re supposed to remove the junk cards as you go. Slim it down to a specific build.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, well, look how well that¡¯s going for you, dude.¡±

    Pan snorted. ¡°I screwed up. If I hadn¡¯t killed that stupid deer¡­¡± He began to explain indignantly to Horse the early events of his time in the game.

    When his rant was over, all Horse said was, ¡°That¡¯s rough, dude.¡± And Apollo returned to the room.

    The scholar carried a folded blanket, as grey and coarse as any already on the bed. This he passed to the centaur through the window.

    ¡°She didn¡¯t give me a blanket. I had to buy this from the innkeeper,¡± he said, sounding disgruntled.

    ¡°Aww hell yeah,¡± Horse said as he took the folded blanket. ¡°I¡¯ll see you guys in the morning. I¡¯m getting what shut-eye I can get out here.¡± And with that he retreated to the stall again.

    Apollo and Pan lingered in their room awkwardly.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the floor,¡± Pan said, ¡°if you¡¯ll give me two blankets.¡±

    Apollo looked a bit ashamed before saying, ¡°We can alternate. You get the bed one night, then I get it the next. There¡¯s no telling how long we¡¯ll be in this town, so we¡¯ll be back to sleeping outside before we know it. You should get a bit of actual bed rest , too, even if there¡¯s nothing we can do for Horse.¡±

    Pan considered this before nodding. ¡°Alright. We¡¯ll do that.¡±

    They divvied up the blankets, and Pan made a bed roll on the floor in front of the basin while Apollo did similarly on the bed.

    Neither went to sleep immediately. Pan was drawn to looking at his deck in his menu.

    I should study these cards to prepare for these effects.

    One by one, he looked at the descriptions of the cards, loosely ranking them as he went. Some were nothing but negative, like Fumble and Slow. Some had mixed results, useful in certain cases if one could offset the negatives, like Wheel. Drawing cards as he played them was starkly different from how the game typically went, but while he gave up the ability to draw five and select three, it meant he could combo better.

    Some cards had passive effects while they were in hand, and some were played immediately. Yet more still had effects that played from his deck.

    Wait, what? he thought, looking at a curse called Feast of Tantalus. The description said the card would trigger from his deck whenever he would activate a Prepared Food utility card. Why hadn¡¯t this activated at dinner tonight?

    Pan flipped to his utility card inventory and looked at the food cards. There were the Traveler¡¯s Rations, of which he had several, and the singular Breakfast of Champions. The Breakfast of Champions did indeed have a sub-type, Prepared Food. The rations were type Rations.

    I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t use this breakfast card yet, he thought.

    When Feast of Tantalus activated, which it would do when Pan tried to use a Prepared Food Utility card, it would summon a random monster up to Pan¡¯s level plus three, and then the card would-

    What does it mean when it says it will Evaporate? Pan wondered.

    Apollo hadn¡¯t yet gone to sleep and was instead playing with the tablet that came with the Scholar class.

    ¡°What does it mean when a card Evaporates?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Hrm?¡± Apollo said, his attention shifting to conversation, ¡°Evaporate? It sounds like a key word. Let me search the card index. I might have seen a few already.¡±

    ¡°You can do that?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s part of the tablet¡¯s features.¡± He tapped around on the scroll-looking device with his stylus. ¡°I¡¯ve only seen a few, and one appears to be a curse card.¡± He held the tablet up for Pan to see.

    Pan¡¯s mind went immediately to the usefulness of this tablet. We can¡¯t see each other¡¯s cards unless we use them, but with this thing we might be able to get around that.

    To Apollo he said, ¡°How does it work? You have to see the card for it to be logged?¡±

    The Scholar bobbed his head side to side, uncertainly, ¡°Kinda. I have to either draw the card, or be in proximity of the card being activated, I think. There might be other ways, too.¡±

    Pan looked at the search results for cards with Evaporate. There was indeed one purple curse card among them. It was called Nightmare. He read the description and immediately wished he hadn¡¯t.

    ¡°So it really was my fault that we were attacked in the grove,¡± he said sadly.

    Apollo put the tablet away and rolled over to look at the faun. ¡°Aww, c¡¯mon. You couldn¡¯t have known. And Athena and I, we¡¯re both fine.¡±

    Except if I had actually studied what cards that goddess gave me. Except if I hadn¡¯t been cursed in the first place. Except if I hadn¡¯t gone and tried this stupid game out while I was at work.

    His mind filled with negatives and self-blame.

    ¡°Pan, there¡¯s nothing you can do about it now,¡± Apollo said sternly. ¡°So you¡¯re going to stop all that self pity going on right now. We need to get some sleep anyway, so you can¡¯t let this thing hang over you like a dark cloud.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still my fault,¡± he started.

    ¡°Listen to me. You couldn¡¯t help it. You need to forgive yourself. I recognize what you¡¯re doing. You¡¯re spiraling. You can¡¯t give in to the spiral or it¡¯s going to pull you down and you¡¯re going to waste all your energy on making yourself feel bad.¡±

    ¡°I broke you guys¡¯ trust,¡± he said. He felt miserable. The weight of his tiredness hitting him all at once.

    Pan had once seen a time-lapse of a decaying deer in a documentary. The events of several days happened in minutes as the camera crew had recorded the corpse from death until it was nothing but bones.

    The corpse of the deer had first inflated ¨C likely due to the gases of decomposition ¨C as bugs swarmed in and out of its orifices. But after it had inflated, and as the bugs did their work, the skin shrank, caving in where there had once been muscle and internal organs, shrink-wrapping the bones in its own skin.

    This is how Pan felt, like he was deflating and rotting. He was tired, and his shame, guilt, and self-pity were uniting against him in his weakened state. He felt trapped for the first time since he had come into this world, a jinx on Athena, Apollo, and Horse. Each of his poor decisions piled on top until it felt like there was a car balanced on his sternum.

    Apollo was right. He was spiraling, but he didn¡¯t know how to come out of it. And what¡¯s worse, he was spiraling over what he thought was the stupidest thing. He clenched and unclenched his fists as he lay on his bed roll, digging his fingernails into his palm.

    ¡°Pan, for what it¡¯s worth, I forgive you. You didn¡¯t do anything wrong. You slipped up, but you slipped up when the rules changed on you. They changed on all of us.¡± Apollo didn¡¯t shout these words, but said them quietly, firmly.

    Pan felt like he was going to cry, which made him more angry at himself. He¡¯s right, it¡¯s not my fault, he thought. But it didn¡¯t make him feel any better for it. It felt him now stripped of agency, tossed about by forces beyond his control.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that just the way of it?¡± he lamented, ¡°First I¡¯m denied the supervisor role because of obvious nepotism, then I lose to the bureaucracy when I try and update my driver¡¯s license, and now I put us all in danger due to a technicality.¡±

    Apollo shook his head. ¡°You¡¯ll get through it,¡± he encouraged. ¡°You¡¯ve got us now. I don¡¯t know what was going on in your life before this, but we need you, ok? I don¡¯t know how, but we need you. We¡¯re going to get through this together.¡±

    Pan felt like he was being selfish now. Apollo¡¯s words felt like empty platitudes, but then he realized Apollo didn¡¯t have to stay awake for him.

    He felt his spirits lift, ever so slightly. He wasn¡¯t selfish. He wasn¡¯t the only one going through this, but maybe he could afford himself some grace. ¡°You all would probably be better off without me.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not leaving you, Pan. We need all the help we can get.¡±

    Pan, still laying on his bed roll, took a few deep breaths. His mood was regulating again. He felt a little silly, making such a big deal about all of it, but he found he was coming out of the spiral. He didn¡¯t say anything to Apollo, but nodded.

    ¡°Now let¡¯s get some sleep,¡± Apollo said, ¡°We¡¯ve got to figure out what we¡¯ve got to do about all of this tomorrow.¡± He lowered the crystal into the sleeve of its stand, plunging the room into darkness.

    ¡°Hey, Apollo?¡±

    ¡°Yeah Pan?¡±

    ¡°Can you not tell anyone about this?¡±

    ¡°Sure, buddy. I¡¯ll keep this just between us.¡±

 Chapter 19

    Pan walked into the common area of the inn to find Horse awake and eating breakfast. Horse stood awkwardly tall at the table, unable to take a seat. He held a bowl of fried rice in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in the other, laboriously shoveling the rice into his mouth. So Pan asked him how he slept.

    ¡°Not great dude,¡± he said, sounding like it. ¡°Someone stabled a rotting zombie horse next to me after I turned in. I fought them on it and they moved it down to the other end, but I couldn¡¯t sleep knowing it was there. And then-¡°

    Pan had obviously stopped listening. The fried rice smelled delicious. The whitefish he had eaten last night hadn¡¯t carried him through the night very well, and he wanted something hearty.

    ¡°Hold that thought,¡± he said, interrupting Horse. ¡°I¡¯ve got to check what time it is.¡± Pan made his way to the barkeep.

    Horse grunted, but he held his story. Athena was entering the commons now, too.

    ¡°Morning, Horse,¡± she said as she pulled up a chair. ¡°Where¡¯s my brother?¡±

    Horse shrugged. He shoveled more rice into his mouth.

    ¡°Where did you get the fried rice? Did you buy it, or did you just have it on you?¡±

    ¡°Had it,¡± he grunted. She eyed him warily as he ate, holding the silence. After a while he said, ¡°They only give you chop sticks. Why is rice so hard to eat with chopsticks?¡±

    ¡°Good morning party people,¡± came Apollo¡¯s voice as he also entered the commons. He had his tablet in-hand as he took a seat at the table too. Athena tried to grab it from him.

    ¡°What¡¯cha reading?¡± she asked, plucking it from his grasp. She succeeded, Apollo giving an impotent ¡°Hey¡±, but before she could get a good look at it, it reappeared back in Apollo¡¯s hands. He stuck his tongue out at her.

    She leaned over the table and put her head in her hands. ¡°I really regret choosing Hoplite.¡±

    Apollo chuckled.

    ¡°No, seriously,¡± Athena said, ¡°I was up all night fretting over my lack of study material, and I remembered you had that stupid tablet, and not me.¡±

    ¡°Not to worry,¡± he said, attention turned back on the magical page, ¡°I¡¯m all over this.¡±

    ¡°You suck at studying,¡± she said flatly.

    He nodded his head to the side in a half shrug. ¡°I¡¯d say I¡¯m about average.¡±

    She rolled her eyes. ¡°You¡¯re barely averaging a C. In a Poli Sci major.¡± Pointing at herself she added, ¡°And I¡¯m valedictorian with-¡°

    ¡°Where¡¯s Pan?¡± he asked, cutting her off.

    Horse jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the bar, fisting both chopsticks. ¡°He went to go ask what time it is.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Athena said, cool despite the academic contest becoming suddenly over, ¡°he did have that Breakfast of Champions card.¡±

    And as soon as she said it, Apollo¡¯s eyes went wide.

    ¡°He can¡¯t use that card! Pan, stop!¡± he shouted, jumping up from the table. His chair clattered over behind him. But at the same time, there was the distinctive sound of a card being played. Then, an air-rending screech.

    The three of them turned as one towards the bar. Pan had been knocked on his back, and standing on the bar above him were three great birds.

    But they weren¡¯t quite birds. They had giant wings with feathers, and they had heron-like feet. In fact, they were birds up until the waist, where their body became that of an old hag. Their arms were an amalgamation of wings and human arms, and their heads were those of ancient old women with knotted dirty hair.

    ¡°Pan, what were you thinking?¡± Apollo called to him, ¡°You have that food curse, remember? We talked about it last night!¡±

    Athena was out of her chair and driving towards the creatures. Horse flashed a card where he stood, one called Stealth Shot. It depicted an indistinct character mostly concealed by dense leaves. All that could be seen of them were their eyes and a bow, arrow knocked and ready.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    A bow and arrow appeared in Horse¡¯s hands before he disappeared from sight.

    As Athena charged, she also played a card. Reversal. The art depicted a swipe being deflected, its white trail bouncing off an extended spear. Athena¡¯s spear formed as she moved towards the bird-women.

    ¡°They¡¯re Harpies,¡± Apollo said, hanging back and studying his tablet. He flipped a few times on the page with his finger. ¡°According to Pan¡¯s curse, if he summons a Prepared Meal it will instead summon a monster of equal level.¡±

    The lead harpy flashed a card, Rend, and swiped down at Pan with a leg. The tips of its tows shone, ending in sharp claws.

    Athena¡¯s spear drove in, diverting the attack to the bar counter. The claws sliced through the hard black wood like a sawblade through styrofoam.

    The harpy screeched, which was as unnerving to watch as it was to hear. The screech made Pan cringe and cover his ears, but to see it come out of the toothless mouth of a wrinkly old woman was icing on the disturbing cake. Drool strung from her gums, showing an amount of teeth Horse could count on one hoof.

    Athena helped Pan get to his feet. In one movement, she brought him up and put herself between him and the lead harpy.

    ¡°I could use some creep control, Apollo!¡± she shouted. Her spear fizzled and disintegrated.

    ¡°Lightning!¡± he cried. Pan looked over to see a card called Frost Shards flash. Immediately several icy spikes appeared and flung themselves at the birds.

    Two of them fluttered behind cover, leaving the third vulnerable. She cried out in pain as an icicle pierced her wing. Then two arrows appeared in her side.

    Horse became visible again, standing just behind the harpy. Pan deduced he would have had to shoot her point blank.

    ¡°If you¡¯re going to call out an attack,¡± Athena was shouting at her brother, ¡°then call out the one you¡¯re actually going to use!¡±

    A card flashed in front of Horse. Backstab. The handle of an ornate dagger sticking from the back of a nondescript character, bent backwards from the pain. A dagger appeared in Horse¡¯s hand as he prepared to strike between the bird¡¯s shoulders.

    But not before the creature¡¯s companions could intervene. They leapt over the bar, wing-arms fluttering like mad, bird feet flailing.

    ¡°Augh!¡± he cried. They were obviously much lighter than him, but he backed slowly out of the flurry of sharp claws. The dagger vanished as Horse was covered in scratches.

    ¡°Lightning!¡± Apollo cried again. A card called Whirlwind flashed, the picture similar to Pan¡¯s own curse Vortex, only less sinister in shade. A small but intense dust devil formed and flew towards the bird-women, carrying them away and into the far wall. They collapsed in a heap together, down but not out.

    ¡°Apollo!¡± Athena cried in frustration. She activated a card called Aerial Strike, which conjured her spear again. She jumped. For a brief moment, Pan worried her head would hit the ceiling. It brushed the roof between the rafters, and then she came plummeting down point-first on the lead harpy, the one still standing.

    Or rather, right next to it.

    The feathered hag grinned and flashed a Slash card, her claws gleaming.

    ¡°Lightning!¡± Apollo cried. A boulder came flying over Athena, who remained crouched from her landing. The boulder hit the surprised hag dead-center, sending it through the wall of the inn behind her with a deafening WHOOM-CRUSH.

    The barkeep, who had been hiding behind the bar, crept forward cautiously from around the end. The skeleton stared jawbone agape at the ragged hole. A few yards outside lay a large boulder, which was now resting atop a purple-tinged harpy pancake.

    Horse, using a Coup de Grace card, was finishing off the other two knocked aside by the Whirlwind, the card having conjured his dagger again. With all three harpies finished, they began to dissipate.

    ¡°My tavern,¡± the barkeep said quietly, staring at the hole.

    Athena, thinking quickly, began ushering Pan, Apollo, and Horse out the door.

    ****

    ¡°You knew that would happen?¡± Athena was saying as the four of them walked quickly away from the inn at which they had stayed. ¡°But you did it anyway?¡±

    Apollo had explained the relevant portions of his and Pan¡¯s discussion the previous night. He showed Athena the Feast of Tantalus curse which had caused the impromptu harpy attack.

    Pan did his best to shoulder the accusations and bewilderment coming from her.

    Apollo was deep in his tablet, his report of last night now dispensed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I just forgot. At least the card Evaporated.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lucky we¡¯re all still ok.¡± She gestured to Horse who was just finishing a health potion. The scars on his arms and face visibly sealed themselves.

    ¡°I remember it now, now that it¡¯s already happened. I remember going through the deck and finding that card. Usually I¡¯m better at remembering stuff like that. I don¡¯t know. Maybe it¡¯s this place.¡±

    Apollo spoke up. ¡°Actually, you might have a point, Pan. Here, I¡¯m looking into card properties and there¡¯s a section on curses.¡±

    He held the tablet in front of the faun as they all stopped so he could read.

    ¡°Best avoided, Curse type cards are harbingers of doom for their carriers. Effects of curses vary wildly from card to card, but cursed players will find themselves jinxed. Remove from your deck ASAP,¡± he read aloud.

    Apollo retracted the tablet. ¡°Sounds to me like they might-¡­ I dunno. Cause some mind-fog? Bad luck?¡±

    Or possibly depression, Pan thought to himself. Could a card do that? Moreso, could forty of them affect my mind that much?

    ¡°Well, I for one had an awful night,¡± Horse interjected.

    The other three looked at him, attention shifting off of Pan¡¯s recent lack of judgement.

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Pan said, recalling their brief discussion. ¡°You were saying you didn¡¯t get much sleep. They stabled a zombie horse next to you.¡±

    Horse nodded. ¡°Yeah. And that gargoyle guy showed up and started talking to me.¡±

    Apollo and Athena shared a look of confusion.

    ¡°What gargoyle guy?¡± Apollo asked.

    Horse tapped his forehead in intense thought. ¡°Uhh, Ruckto? Ar-¡­Arctoss.¡±

    ¡°Arctus?¡± Athena asked, astonished. ¡°Arctus appeared and spoke just to you, and you¡¯re just now telling us this?¡±

 Chapter 20

    Horse recoiled as if Athena had tried to bite him, instead of only advancing on him.

    ¡°Yeah, dude, but, like-¡° His words came out choppy.

    ¡°What did Arctus tell you?¡± Athena demanded.

    Horse made a placating gesture, but it looked more like he was warming his hands with Athena as the fire. ¡°I¡¯m trying to tell you, so just chill dude.¡±

    She huffed but was otherwise quiet.

    Horse let down the hood of his cowl and ran a hand through his hair. Somewhat nervously, Pan noted. The centaur started again. ¡°It was right before I passed out that night. I¡¯d just talked that guy into putting his gross zombie horse at the other end of the stable and his creepy gargoyle self showed up.¡±

    The way he blends in with the rocks here, I believe it, Pan thought.

    ¡°So I ask him what he¡¯s doing here, and he says since we split up he couldn¡¯t tell us what he came to tell me all at once.¡±

    Athena rolled her eyes, but Pan couldn¡¯t tell if it was at Horse or Arctus. Apollo said, ¡°I¡¯m beginning to suspect he doesn¡¯t have our best interests at heart.¡±

    ¡°He said that this dungeon isn¡¯t a typical dungeon, and that he¡¯d figured out what our goal is. We¡¯ve got to find a card. But not just any old card, we¡¯re looking for one in this town that will wake Degrenan.¡±

    Athena spoke up, but her impatience reigned in. ¡°Did he say what it was or where we can find it?¡±

    Horse shook his head. ¡°One of the skeleton dudes has it, but he didn¡¯t know which.¡±

    ¡°It sounds like maybe it¡¯ll be a utility card,¡± Apollo said, pinching his chin in thought. ¡°Or maybe a unique kind of card we haven¡¯t seen yet. Either way, I bet it won¡¯t be a card we have to put in one of our decks.¡±

    Horse shrugged. ¡°By that point I was exhausted and I think I fell asleep.¡±

    ¡°You should have woken us up,¡± Athena said sternly. ¡°I already have so many questions, and if you¡¯d brought him to us we might not be in the dark about this.¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Pan said for the first time on the subject, ¡°maybe. I think Apollo is right. He could have appeared to you, or to Apollo and me, but it sounds like he was waiting for a moment to get with Horse instead. He¡¯s being shady and it feels like he¡¯s sandbagging.¡±

    ¡°Sandbagging?¡± Horse asked.

    ¡°Holding back when he could be doing more,¡± Pan clarified.

    Athena thought in quiet then seemed as if she was about to say something. But she was interrupted by a new voice.

    ¡°Hey! New meat!¡±

    The group looked around as one, seeing a cinderling skeleton approaching. It spoke brightly and Pan placed the voice.

    ¡°Maurice,¡± he said as the skeleton reached them.

    ¡°How was your first night at Gravestone? I¡¯m sorry I had to leave you so suddenly yesterday.¡±

    Apollo fist bumped the skeleton, then wiped the ashes on his toga. ¡°No problem at all. We all got a good night¡¯s sleep. I had no idea this place was so¡­lively.¡±

    Maurice chuckled. ¡°You know how it is, people are dying to get in here.¡±

    Apollo laughed too, but Pan thought it was more about finding a kindred soul than the joke itself. ¡°Breakfast was something else. We had a blast.¡±

    Pan watched Maurice think about that. Apollo, you idiot. He doesn¡¯t need to know we blasted a hole in the inn. Out loud he changed the topic, ¡°So where are you going so early? Have you got scouting duty again?¡± The skeleton had a rough courier sack slung across his body, with rolls of paper stuffed inside.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh that. No, I¡¯m off shift for the patrol. I¡¯m out canvasing.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re what?¡±

    Apollo spoke up, ¡°Gravestone has elections?¡±

    The skeleton nodded enthusiastically. ¡°Democracy, baby!¡±

    Apollo looked astonished, apparently not believing a town of undead could ¨C or would ¨C have elected positions in government. ¡°What¡¯s up for election?¡±

    Maurice pulled one of the rolls out of his sack and unrolled it. A large blocky election logo in brown and green with white letters said ¡°Vote Maurice for Mayor!¡±

    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re the one running for mayor?¡±

    The skeleton grinned and nodded enthusiastically. He rolled the poster back up and pressed it into Apollo¡¯s hands. ¡°Sure am, and you can keep this one. Everyone in this town might be dead, but I¡¯m the one with the finger on the pulse.¡± He looked around conspiratorially before adding, loudly, ¡°And Maurice stands up for the lower class!¡± He pumped a fist in the air as he said it.

    Athena crossed her arms. ¡°And who is the lower class? If you¡¯re all dead, what do you undead even need? Why do you even need politicians?¡±

    At this Maurice clucked. ¡°What is undeath if not another kind of life? We still hunger and thirst, and we need shelter and comfort like anyone else. And the mayor of Gravestone is ultimately responsible for policy governing business, housing, immigration, the penal system, taxes-¡°

    ¡°Taxes?¡± Apollo scoffed.

    Maurice nodded apologetically. ¡°Not even death is an escape, I¡¯m afraid. But yes, taxes too.¡±

    Pan held a hand up, something he found he had to do to compensate for his height now. He said, ¡°So, I¡¯ve noticed something in this town. Stop me if this is taboo, but I¡¯ve noticed a¡­division in the people of Gravestone.¡±

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Maurice looked down at him expectantly.

    ¡°There seems to be two kinds of skeletons here?¡±

    The blackened skeleton remained impassive.

    ¡°Um. The burned ones, like you, and the, uh. Normal ones?¡±

    Horse spoke flatly, his voice slightly impatient. ¡°He¡¯s asking if the black skeletons are that ¡®lower class¡¯ you mentioned.¡±

    ¡°Tim!¡± Pan complained.

    But Maurice waved a hand. ¡°Oh, that. No.¡± Then he thought for a second. ¡°Well, kind of.¡±

    ¡°Kind of? So they¡¯re being racist against the black skeletons like you?¡± Pan asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated. I mean, yeah, I died to a volcano eruption. A lot of us did at once, actually. And I¡¯m not rich, no.¡±

    Pan shared a confused look with Horse.

    Maurice continued. ¡°Of course, though, none of you have died. You wouldn¡¯t know that your burial determines how well off you¡¯ll be in the afterlife.¡±

    Apollo¡¯s eyebrows shot up. Pan asked, ¡°So, because you died in that volcano eruption you didn¡¯t get a decent burial?¡±

    ¡°So the Egyptians were right,¡± Apollo muttered, smacking a fist into his palm.

    Maurice ignored him and spoke to Pan, ¡°Right on the money. And a lot of us died in that volcano eruption.¡± The way he said it, the sentence hung in the air.

    ¡°So let me get this straight,¡± Athena said, ¡°The rich people here are the ones who got a burial?¡±

    Maurice nodded, rattling his jaw, sending ash to the ground. ¡°The old money of Gravestone. The fancier the burial, the richer you are when you show up here.¡±

    ¡°Well that¡¯s,¡± she said, ¡°That¡¯s messed up.¡±

    The skeleton plucked out another poster and unrolled it. ¡°And I¡¯ve got a plan to fix it. Maurice ¨C that¡¯s me! - has a plan to guarantee a bearable afterlife for all of Gravestone, no matter the circumstances of their death.¡±

    ¡°I think that¡¯s a noble cause, Maurice,¡± Pan said. ¡°I wish you the best of luck.¡±

    Maurice nodded deeply, almost like a bow. He rolled the poster back up, but instead of putting it back in his bag he waved it at the group vaguely like a pointer. ¡°You all wouldn¡¯t want to help me put these up, would you?¡±

    Pan opened his mouth, but Athena spoke first. ¡°As much as we¡¯d like to, we¡¯re busy today.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s understandable,¡± but he sounded disappointed.

    ¡°But maybe you could help us. We¡¯re looking to fight some monsters.¡±

    Pan asked, ¡°Fight some monsters?¡±

    ¡°Leveling,¡± Apollo whispered to him. Pan had almost forgotten they were playing a game, despite the harpies that had almost killed him just an hour ago. I could afford to gain some levels. I¡¯m glad Athena¡¯s thinking about that.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± the skeleton said. It made Pan wonder briefly how he could make that noise, considering he didn¡¯t have lips. ¡°Well, we could use more bodies in the corps.¡±

    ¡°If it lets us kill monsters then we¡¯re all for it,¡± Athena said. ¡°What¡¯s the corps?¡±

    ¡°The patrol that keeps the riff-raff down, controlling the monster population around the tunnels. You can tell my cousin you want to join up.¡±

    He gave them directions to where his cousin could be found. ¡°And his name is Seymour. Anything else I can help you with, meat? I¡¯ve got a lot of posters to put up, and crystal light is burning.¡± Pan thought the skeleton said that last bit just to say it. He hadn¡¯t seen the light from the crystals wane since they¡¯d arrived in this dungeon.

    ¡°Yes, actually,¡± Apollo said. ¡°Were looking for a unique card.¡±

    ****

    The group approached an official-looking building close to the edge of town. It was as dilapidated as any of the others in Gravestone, but the big-boxxiness of it screamed ¡°government¡± to Pan.

    ¡°I wish Maurice had known about that card we¡¯re looking for,¡± Athena said as they approached the building. ¡°Arctus didn¡¯t say anything else about it? Like maybe what it did, or what it was called?¡±

    The centaur¡¯s cowl moved as he shook his head.

    ¡°We¡¯ll find it,¡± Apollo said as he pushed through the door.

    Inside, the group was instantly sapped of all hope and virility. The far wall was comprised of teller counters, with a labyrinth of rope cordons to wrangle any rowdy lines of patrons. A potted stick ¨C Pan assumed they were once ficusses ¨C sat in each corner to their immediate right and left. It had the air of a bank lobby, without the excitement. It was more like a public bureau for regulating instruction manuals. The draining atmosphere wasn¡¯t magical. Merely bureaucratic.

    ¡°Now this is dead,¡± Apollo said in a hushed voice.

    There was one teller that was occupied and no line waiting to have their paperwork denied. If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d think we could be in and out quickly.

    The cinderling skeleton at the teller desk looked bored, hunched over a yellowed tome, one hand supporting its head and the other fingering the page.

    ¡°Well there¡¯s no line,¡± Horse said. He entered the cordoned labyrinth leading to the tellers.

    Pan put a hand out to stop Athena. ¡°Are we sure we have all our documents?¡± he asked, sounding desperate.

    ¡°Documents?¡± she scoffed. ¡°Pan, we¡¯re just joining the patrol. I hardly think that needs paperwork.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure,¡± he said. ¡°These places always expect more than what you¡¯ve brought with you.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re being ridiculous.¡± She walked past him, following Horse. The centaur was almost too big for the rope lane, and he had to carefully navigate the switchbacks.

    ¡°C¡¯mon Pan, Maurice sent us here. How bad could it be?¡± Apollo said. He too entered the lane, leaving Pan standing alone in the doorway.

    He felt uneasy. They¡¯re just kids, he thought. Athena and Apollo are in college and Tim isn¡¯t even out of highschool. They don¡¯t know how to navigate these kinds of places.

    He considered the siblings. Had they gone to the DMV for drivers licenses her? And Tim probably didn¡¯t even have a permit yet. He doubted they had never had to deal with hospital bills or insurance yet.

    Horse had reached the front of the line for the teller, but if the skeleton behind the counter had noticed, it didn¡¯t show it.

    He waved at the skeleton which remained engrossed in its book. ¡°Hey dude, we¡¯re here-¡°

    ¡°Please stay in line, sir. I¡¯ll be with you in a moment.¡± There was a loud crackling noise as the skeleton turned the page. Otherwise it hadn¡¯t moved.

    ¡°What- What do you mean? There¡¯s no one else here.¡±

    ¡°In a moment, sir,¡± the skeleton repeated.

    Horse sighed.

    Pan took a moment to review his cards, if only from the sheer anxiety from being in this place.

    Rack, Miasma, Wheel, Hex, and Dress Down. He had taken the time along the way to read their long descriptions.

    Out of Miasma, Hex, and Dress Down, Hex was the most generally useful. Miasma would create a confusing fog, and Dress Down claimed it would undress everyone in the area. Hex at least would hurt an enemy. When it played the card, he and a targeted enemy received the same strong Damage Over Time effect.

    Rack was the card dealing damage to him in increasing amounts for every card he played, and he was sick of it being in his hand. He could bite the bullet by playing Wheel to discard his hand and draw new cards.

    I do have another health potion, he reasoned, trying to decide if he wanted to play Wheel, or if he should endure Rack to make the most of what was in his hand right now. As long as he had Wheel, he got to draw a new card for every card he played.

    ¡°There¡¯s no one else here!¡± came Athena¡¯s voice from across the room.

    ¡°Ma¡¯am, I assure you we¡¯re working as fast as we can to get to you,¡± the skeleton teller said. It sounded bored.

    She huffed and crossed her arms.

    ¡°Hey man,¡± Apollo said as he pushed past Athena and Horse, ¡°we just want to join the patrol. Can you at least tell us if we¡¯re in the right place?¡±

    ¡°Sir-¡° the skeleton said, looking up for the first time. It saw Apollo approaching the counter and looked shocked. ¡°Sir! Return to the line now! We take patrons on a first-come first-served basis-¡°

    Apollo breasted up to the counter before the skeleton, which pulled back looking indignant. Apollo chuckled nervously. ¡°Hey, I know, I know, but can you just tell me-¡°

    ¡°Security!¡± the skeleton cried.

    ¡°No! Hey, no no no. We ¨C my friends and I ¨C we just want to fight monsters,¡± Apollo explained hurriedly, ¡°so if we could just sign up for the corps-¡°

    His request seemed to register with the teller for the first time since their arrival. ¡°You want to join the corps?¡±

    Athena groaned. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s why we¡¯re here.¡±

    Pan summoned a health potion and cast Wheel. His hand flew to the discard as a chunk of his health bar fell away.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so?¡± A green card flashed in front of the teller, making Apollo pull back from the counter.

    It showed for a moment, depicting a top down view of a group of ravening wolves baring yellow teeth. It was called Thorn Pack.

    Three creatures appeared, flanking Apollo on his 9, 6, and 3. They were the wolves from the picture of the card, fur grey and stiff as spikes. They also had what appeared to be thorns growing out of their fur as well. As their name implied.

    The skeleton continued in a low voice over the growls of the wolves, ¡°I hope you brought your paperwork.¡±

 Chapter 21

    Cards drew themselves from Pan¡¯s deck as he stared at Apollo surrounded by three enormous wolves. Instinctively he read the titles.

    Following Footsteps, Slow, Five Finger Fillet, Transporter Accident, and Pox. He immediately felt nauseous from the Infected status he gained from merely drawing Pox.

    The wolves were truly huge. Each was at least eye-level with Horse, and the hunch to their shoulders was higher than that. They looked more like thorny bison, except their heads, feet, and tails.

    Their grey fur was comprised of thick, stiff hairs which clustered to hide dark thorns which seemed to be growing off their bodies. Pan¡¯s mind went back to the cards, remembering their effects. He had studied what was in his deck recently and was able to recall their effects without needing to read them, and Slow he had seen when facing off against Horse.

    Following Footsteps showed a trail of footsteps that glowed with green fire. It had a hold effect like Rack and Wheel. While it was in his hand, his footsteps glowed. If he discarded the card, it would outline him with a faerie fire, increasing his own visibility to others. But if he played it, he would gain a stack of block for each card played before it this hand.

    Slow he already knew. It gave him a debuff that would slow his movements for some time after playing. He also noticed something that he hadn¡¯t the first time. If he had discarded it, it would have instead increased the duration until his new hand.

    Five Finger Fillet showed the hand of someone playing the game ¨C the one where you put your hand on a table and tried to stab between your fingers in a pattern as quickly as possible without hitting yourself. Playing it upgraded the card and put it back on top of his deck, unless it had been upgraded at least five times. In which case it would give him a buff to damage he dealt. But if he discarded it, it would give him a Bleed debuff. The card noted that the debuff got worse somehow when the card was upgraded.

    Transporter Accident had been rather gruesome. It depicted two people physically intersecting one another, likely in a teleportation accident like the name implied. When played, it would swap his position with that of a targeted individual in a limited range, but it had a 25% chance of teleporting only him and temporarily merging him with the target.

    Finally, there was Pox. When drawn, it gave him Infected. It made him feel nauseated, which he only learned just now. It also lowered his Virility, the seventh stat which determined his health pool. If he discarded the card, it would give him another stack of Infected, doubling the duration. The card needed to be discarded, though, because playing it discarded a copy of Pox to the deck of every individual in an area. The picture on the card showed a person suffering from skin legions all over their body, mouth open and screaming.

    The growls gently effervesced in the moment of surprise. The reading only took a moment, and nobody had moved. A green haze accented each of the wolves¡¯ shadows, which Pan recognized.

    It¡¯s just like the summoned creatures from the curse cards, except those had been purple. The haze identifies what color of card created them, he thought.

    The growling was then supplanted by Athena¡¯s war cry. Two cards flashed in quick succession in front of her, which Pan could only see the backs of. Athena glowed with the same light that typically formed her spear. She hopped the rope line, her fist charged with power, meteor-bombing one of the wolves threatening her brother.

    The creature recoiled from the strike, but only slightly, taking the hit to its armored shoulder. While the creature shrugged off her attack, it was Athena who seemed to come away from the engagement the worse off. She gripped her fist, staggered from the thorn wolf¡¯s barbs. He wanted to move, to help his friends, but he couldn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t a magical rooting effect, only his fear.

    The longer I have these cards ¨C the more that happens to us ¨C the less willing I¡¯m becoming to act.

    Apollo turned from the teller¡¯s counter to put the wolves in front of him. The one behind him ¨C now the one in front ¨C was slowly advancing. Pan saw only the back of the one Apollo was facing, but he could see the bared yellow teeth of the one stage right. And he could see the panic on his friend¡¯s own face, eyes darting from wolf to wolf. Then he nodded, almost imperceptibly.

    Then a few things happened at once. A card flashed in front of Horse, and then another in front of Apollo. Pan couldn¡¯t see the one that Horse played, but a round object materialized in his hand. The card that Apollo played was Acid Shot. The picture was that of a glob of thick yellow liquid flying through the air. The substance materialized, splashing the advancing wolf. It clung to the creature¡¯s matted spikey fur. As it sizzled, the fur and thorns it touched began to melt away. Then Horse threw the thing he had conjured.

    It hit the wolf to Apollo¡¯s left ¨C the one Athena hadn¡¯t hit ¨C and shattered, letting out a thin wisp of smoke. It seemed rather ineffectual to Pan.

    If it was a smoke bomb, it would have begun filling the room. The little bit it released was pathetic.

    Despite this, it had an immediate effect. The creature began to shrink and atrophy. In the barest of moments, it became the size of a regular wolf.

    A card flashed in front of Athena. Dig In, a card showing a spear with its butt in the ground and its point menacing a doomed mounted combatant, already airborne with its horse headed straight at the weapon.

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    This time her weapon formed. While she was still on the ground next to the wolf, nursing her injury, she took the spear and ran it up point first under the wolf. Then, like in the picture, she planted the handle against the ground. The building had a tiled floor, but the weapon remained fixed as though by magic. The wolf, now propped up on the spearpoint, thrashed futilely.

    The weapon didn¡¯t pierce the creature¡¯s fur armor, but the wolf had lost its leverage. It stood awkwardly on its hind legs, unable to reach the spear with its front legs or roll off the point. Some more thorns released themselves in the attack, showering Athena with more clapback damage. She grunted in pain, covering her face.

    In a matter of seconds ¨C and without Pan¡¯s involvement ¨C the group had managed to turn the surprise attack around.

    ¡°Very interesting,¡± came the skeleton¡¯s voice from behind the teller counter. ¡°Now you must finish them off if you¡¯re to pass your patrol examination.¡±

    Apollo made a break towards his sister, past the acid-splashed wolf in front of him. But the creature had recovered all too quickly from the acid attack and moved to block him, cornering him again. The smaller wolf ¨C the one which had been hit by Horse¡¯s weakening smoke bomb ¨C lunged and clamped on Apollo¡¯s leg.

    ¡°Auuggh!¡± he cried, the teeth sinking into his fleshy calf. If the creature had been full size, it would have been the whole leg.

    Athena¡¯s spear shattered while she was brushing thorns off her face, the wolf dropping on her and pinning her.

    Pan¡¯s eyes flicked to the Transporter Accident card, which came forward to meet his glance, ready to be played.

    I could swap places with one of them, he thought desperately. But which one? It¡¯s only a twenty-five percent chance of screwing up, and that¡¯s only temporary. But who do I save?

    He remembered how excited Apollo had been seeing the skeleton getting a haircut. The way the Scholar had stood up for him against Athena¡¯s judgement. He liked Apollo. He was nice and accepting and always joking around.

    But would he want me to save him instead of his sister?

    Athena was arguably the worse off, her wolf being much bigger and her movement far more restricted. But would Pan survive if he swapped places with Athena? If the bad outcome happened, she would be in even more danger.

    If he cast Following Footsteps, he would gain two stacks of block. Would that be enough for him to take a hit from the wolf? Surely it wouldn¡¯t save him from two. He would be doing this to sacrifice himself to save her.

    But then Horse screamed, ¡°I¡¯m not gonna let this happen, dude!¡± and cast another two cards. Pan didn¡¯t see either of them, but he saw the effects.

    The first was a hole opening in the wall between the teller stations. It opened like a cartoon hole, appearing and rapidly expanding like an aperture. Then the centaur jumped the rope line and charged through the hole, which had stopped growing when it was big enough for Horse to enter while ducking.

    His hooves glowed with power from the card he had used, and he trampled his way to the hunter.

    The wolves looked up, distracted by the threat to their summoner. And then the skeleton exploded in a shower of crispy, blackened bones and a cloud of ash. Immediately, the wolves flashed a neon green, and then disappeared.

    Only the four of them were left in the room. Athena on her back, no longer pinned, covered in small thorn wounds. Apollo gripping his bleeding leg. Pan too stunned to move.

    They were in danger and I just stood there, he thought in the silence. Useless. I¡¯m entirely useless.

    Horse started coughing. ¡°He¡¯s in my lungs!¡± he managed to say. ¡°I can taste him! I got that ash in my mouth!¡±

    Pan conjured a pair of health potions ¨C his third and second to last ¨C and hoofed it over to the siblings, ducking easily under the rope cordons.

    He handed one to Apollo before kneeling down to tend to Athena. He helped her sit up, stricken more by the emotional toll of looking down the barrel of a dire wolf than from the clapback damage.

    She drank the potion, which closed up her perforations. Apollo¡¯s wounds had done the same, but his leg was still wet with blood.

    ¡°So now what?¡± came Horse¡¯s voice from behind the teller counter.

    Pan looked at him to say he had no clue what to do next, but something was happening behind the centaur. Horse registered the look and turned.

    The cloud of ash, which had been lazily expanding and falling to the ground, was now doing the same thing in reverse. The teller¡¯s blackened skull rose above the cloud, flying back from the corner Horse¡¯s bullrush had sent it to. The rest of the creature¡¯s bones made a cacophonous clattering as they reassembled like the pins of a bowling strike played backwards.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have another Passwall!¡± Horse cried from the other side of the teller station. ¡°Where¡¯s the door?! This window is too small for me to fit through!¡±

    But before any of them could react, the skeleton had re-formed.

    ¡°It takes a lot more than that to kill the dead!¡± the skeleton cried. ¡°But you¡¯re going to regret attacking your proctor!¡±

    Pan ran towards the window, trailing hoofprints which burned green, and hopped up on the counter. He headbutted the tiny glass window. The force dazed him briefly, making floating colors flash in his vision, but the glass cracked so he tried again.

    ¡°Hey!¡± the skeleton cried, distracted by Pan¡¯s desperate vandalism. ¡°Hey, you stop that!¡±

    But Pan headbutted the glass again. And again.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to be useless!¡± Pan cried, ¡°I¡¯m not going to sit and take this while you hurt my friends!¡±

    The skeleton went from frustrated to worried as the glass finally broke. There wasn¡¯t enough room for him to fit, so he gripped the jagged edges and started breaking pieces off with his hands. It cut his palms and fingers but he wasn¡¯t worried about that right now.

    ¡°Ever since I got here,¡± he said, breaking pieces of glass off hand over fist, ¡°I¡¯ve been at someone else¡¯s mercy. I¡¯ve been mauled, disfigured, cursed, and weakened. But I¡¯m not going to take it lying down any more!¡±

    The hole was wide enough, so he stepped through and jumped down, making more the burning green tracks. He discarded Pox and Slow, giving him another stack of Infected, doubling the duration of his stat debuff, and increasing his wait time until his next hand. He played Five Finger Fillet, which paused to show the card being upgraded before returning to the top of his deck. He played Following Footsteps, giving him two stacks of block. He prepared to cast Transporter Accident. While he was close to his target, he was now banking on the twenty-five percent chance of the bad outcome. He and the skeleton would physically merge and would give his friends time enough to prepare for another fight. He hoped, anyway.

    ¡°If you guys see Maurice again, give him a piece of my mind,¡± he said over his shoulder to Horse.

    The skeleton had been fretting more over the damage to the building than to the faun attempting to threaten him, but when Pan said that last, his whole expression changed.

    ¡°Maurice? Maurice sent you guys?¡± the skeleton asked. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so in the first place!¡±

 Chapter 22

    The skeleton teller, who was the Seymore that Maurice had sent them inquiring after, had inducted each of them into the Gravestone Corps. The job came with a badge of office: a playing card which showed their rank. He had taken the time to help Pan and Horse leave the little room behind the teller desks and regroup with the rest of them out in the lobby.

    The glass was still broken from where Pan had headbutted it, and his hands still cut. He didn¡¯t have a health potion left, but when he checked his inventory he reviewed what utility cards he did have. There was a mana potion among them, which he recalled getting from a Block & Tackle pack at the beginning of the dungeon.

    I¡¯ll need to remember I have that. It could have come in handy in that last fight, he thought.

    Seymour explained the Corps card. ¡°As you kill monsters while on patrol around Gravestone, those cards will level with you. Increase your rank and you can come back here for your rewards.¡±

    Athena flipped the card over and over in her hands, examining the thing in detail. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Her voice reflected Pan¡¯s own disappointment.

    His card¡¯s border was purple, indicating his Cursed class, and was titled ¡°Polis Cadet Pan¡±. The picture showed not stars, bars, or chevrons, but shadowy spaces where such things may one day exist. When he examined the plaque where the rules would appear on a normal card, it read:

    Rank up to earn a patrol bonus. Bonus scales with rank.

    Next rank: Polis Private

    Kills: 0 / 10

    He would have to actually kill some monsters himself if he wanted to earn whatever it was this job would reward him with. He noticed Apollo leaning over to his sister, whispering, ¡°We could have just gone and done grinding without the rigmarole.¡± At this, she pushed him away.

    ¡°When is the next patrol?¡± Pan asked. But Horse also had a question which trampled over Pan¡¯s own.

    ¡°If it¡¯s so hard to kill you guys, why do you need to patrol to kill monsters?¡±

    ¡°I figured that would be obvious,¡± Seymour said. ¡°We must appease our holy patron, Degrenan the Ever-Restful.¡±

    At the mention of the god¡¯s name, the party exchanged surprised looks. While Apollo¡¯s raised eyebrows seemed to ask, ¡°They know who Degrenan is?¡±, Horse¡¯s now round eyes spoke volumes about the ominous choice of words the skeleton had chosen.

    ¡°Gravestone¡¯s purpose is as a rallying point for his chosen people. We are those from the living world hand picked by the One Most Deeply Buried to organize a defense meant to keep his rest peaceful.¡± The capital letters in Seymour¡¯s cultish spiel.

    It was Athena who spoke first. ¡°And who is trying to upset his rest?¡±

    At this the skeleton shook his head sadly. ¡°We still don¡¯t know. The monsters continue to appear in the tunnels just as fast as we can eradicate them.¡± He indicated the empty lobby. ¡°And people are forgetting our sacred duty. We¡¯ve had so few newcomers interested in joining the patrol, it¡¯s like they come here expecting to kick back and relax in their afterlife.¡±

    Pan made to drop the card, but it particulated and disappeared as it left his hand. He looked in his inventory. There was a new category: key cards. Below the category name was his Gravestone Corps Member Card.

    ¡°Maybe Maurice will do something about it when he becomes mayor,¡± Horse hazarded.

    ¡°I love my cousin, don¡¯t get me wrong,¡± Seymour started, clearly intending to say something to make them doubt this claim, ¡°but he has absolutely no chance in this election.¡±

    ¡°And why do you say that?¡± Athena asked.

    ¡°Have you seen his platform? Of course you have, you met him already. He wants to take people¡¯s money.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not the impression I got,¡± Athena started to say.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t use those words exactly. But it¡¯s there. He wants to take people¡¯s hard-earned wealth and just give it away. Or, what I think is more likely, give it to himself and his friends.¡± The skeleton turned his head to the side and nodded in a way that at first confused Pan. But then he realized Seymour was making a gesture that would be impossible without flesh. He was trying to give the group a conspiratorial wink. ¡°Don¡¯t be suckered in by his outward good nature. He¡¯ll ruin this town if he wins the election, you mark my words.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re his cousin. Surely you would at least be among the people he would give that money to, right?¡±

    ¡°Hey, if he wins, I won¡¯t say no to free money. Who would? But a redistribution like he¡¯s planning will ruin a town like Gravestone.¡± He believed so strongly in this ruination theory that he thought it bore repeating.

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    None of them ¨C not even Athena, surprisingly ¨C had the expertise to debate him on this. They looked awkwardly around as the conversation began to decay.

    ¡°When and where do we go on patrol?¡± Pan asked again.

    Seymour told them a patrol was happening shortly, and the group made their way out of the building.

    ****

    ¡°So what¡¯s his problem?¡± Horse asked as they proceeded to the rendezvous.

    ¡°I was thinking about that, myself,¡± Apollo said. ¡°It¡¯s got me wondering what the distribution of wealth looks like in this town, and who are the haves and who are the have-nots.¡± They joined a throng of skeletons moving among the buildings. Most of them were the crispy kind, with a few ivory skeletons dotted about.

    ¡°If he had a lot of money, I don¡¯t think he¡¯d be working a government job like that,¡± Pan said from nearer the ground. His tiny faun body was making it difficult to move through the crowd. With his head at hip-bone height on most of the skeletons, it was like walking through a sooty forest, but with every limb and bough moving.

    He felt a pair of hands suddenly under his armpits, and he was lifted from behind. He landed atop Horse¡¯s horseback.

    ¡°Be useful for once, Horse,¡± came Athena¡¯s voice. It had been her who had moved him.

    ¡°Yeah, alright,¡± the centaur said, clearly fighting the indignation.

    Neither of them mentioned the encounter with Seymour, but Pan assumed this treatment had something to do with that.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get used to this,¡± Horse said over his shoulder.

    ¡°It¡¯s kind of weird, I¡¯m not gonna lie.¡±

    ¡°No kidding.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s better than walking through the crowd at my height.¡±

    Before long they reached the patrol house. It was a two-story affair, as dilapidated as any other building in Gravestone. It conformed to the dark stone, dark wood, dry stick theme of the town.

    A few skeleton cinderlings hung around outside, leaning against walls or sitting with wide stances on the terrain. Pan assumed they were trying to look intimidating. Considering how little effort it had taken for Horse to completely shatter Seymour, he figured it wasn¡¯t working. The skulls of the gaggle of skeletons turned, following the group as they walked up to the door.

    As though on cue, one of the skeletons moved to intercept them. This one was sitting on a volcanic outcropping, chewing on a stick. He got up and strode between the party and the door and stopped them, saying, ¡°You got business with the Corps?¡±

    Athena folded her arms. ¡°Absolutely not.¡±

    ¡°Then why are you here?¡± He gestured to Apollo, Horse, and Pan.

    ¡°The Corps has got business with me. Seeing as it¡¯s a building and might not know this, I was gracious and came to it. That¡¯s about all I¡¯ve got the patience for so move or be moved.¡±

    The skeleton didn¡¯t react to this, slowly chewing his stick as he thought. His gaze wandered as he took them all in. He noticed their bracers and mentioned as much. ¡°You all are vagrants?¡±

    ¡°They were just giving these away and I thought they looked cool,¡± Athena retorted. ¡°Now, I want to be inside.¡± She moved past him to enter the building. Pan tottled on Horse¡¯s back as Apollo and the centaur nervously followed her.

    ¡°Now, I don¡¯t mean to stop you,¡± the skeleton said casually, ¡°but I don¡¯t think you¡¯re expecting what¡¯s going on inside. I would be remiss if I didn¡¯t at least inform you.¡±

    Athena stopped with her hand on the door, not responding, but obviously listening.

    ¡°I thought so. See, we¡¯re going through a¡­¡± his words hung in the air as he thought how to word it ¡°restructuring¡­ right now. Higher level patrols are on hold, and a lot of us don¡¯t particularly appreciate that fact. All that¡¯s available is hobb clean-up.¡± He plucked the stick from between his jaws and studied the chewed end for a moment. ¡°And we don¡¯t take kindly to scabs.¡± He started chewing the other end of the stick as he crossed his arms and looked at the party.

    Apollo replied brightly, ¡°Well luckily for everyone,¡± he made a grand gesture with both arms, looking around at the various skeletons hanging around outside the patrol office, ¡°we¡¯re here for the hobb clean-up. That sounds perfectly fine with us.¡± He shot them a grin that would have looked much nicer in sunlight and not in the waxy glow of the all-pervading crystal lights.

    This earned him a hard stare from their interloper. ¡°Do any of you have names?¡±

    Athena scoffed. ¡°I¡¯m not-¡° but Apollo cut her off, pointing at and naming the four of them in turn.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m Trace. That¡¯s Earnest,¡± he pointed at a skeleton leaning against the wall. ¡°That¡¯s Hampton,¡± pointing to a skeleton sitting on an outcropping, knees wide and back bent. ¡°Lang, Butcher, Sammy, and Champ.¡± He gestured in turn at the rest of the skeletons hanging about.

    Pan realized he couldn¡¯t easily tell any of them apart, but he kept quiet about this.

    Athena squinted at Trace. ¡°What kind of restructuring is going on? Does this have to do with that mayoral election?¡±

    He plucked the stick from his jaws, said, ¡°Maybe,¡± and returned to chewing on the stick.

    Athena rolled her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s been a pleasure. Really.¡± She met the gaze of several of the skeletons. ¡°But we¡¯ve got some grinding to do, so¡­¡± And then she pushed into the building without finishing the sentiment.

    Apollo and Horse followed suit, Horse ducking to pass through. Pan, having no choice but join or jump down, came as well.

    The four of them froze as they saw what was happening inside.

    The biggest hairy caterpillar Pan had ever seen was marching about ransacking the place. It was slightly longer than Horse, but half as tall with its squat legs. The front end took a right turn upwards, making the front-most two pairs of legs available for the ransacking.

    And the thing was fully caterpillar, not a caterpillar centaur. Pan saw the creature had a caterpillar face, complete with mandibles suited to eat leaves.

    He had no idea what kind of caterpillar it was, just that it was covered in a kind of stiff fur. They weren¡¯t exactly spines, but tufts of fur running down the length of the plump buggy body.

    Also in the room were several skeletons, one of which was ivory and the others cinderling. Each of them were following the crazy bug as it pulled things off the walls, shelves, and desktops arranged about the room.

    The caterpillar, Pan also noticed, was fussing grumpily.

    ¡°This can go, and this is ugly. And throw these away. This absolutely does not belong. Get this out of here,¡± and so forth.

    The skeletons seemed unable to do anything to stop the rampaging bug. They followed behind, trying their hardest to placate it, picking up what it had pulled onto the floor. It took several moments, but Pan realized they were doing whatever they could without physically touching the caterpillar.

    ¡°What the-¡° Athena started.

    But the caterpillar had made its way around the room and suddenly faced them. The sight of the party paused its ransacking of the patrol office.

    That was when Pan also noticed the bracers on the caterpillar¡¯s foremost arms.