Trapped in a Game Pt. 04

*Cast message: target 'Caliban,' I typed through my character interface, and as I cast the message spell I tried to focus its delivery on our new pawed comrade, and to my surprise, the 'user not found' response immediately changed into a 'message sent,' and a few short moments later Caliban materialized beside us.

"My search for the player identity tag 'Trevor14' has thus far proved unsuccessful."

"Scruffy!" Serra yelled, leaping at Caliban, and though the oversized mutt seemed wary of her onslaught, I noted with curiosity that he neither faded from view, as he often did when he felt threatened, nor did he recoil from her overzealous affections.

She wore a sarcastic smirk as she tugged at his thick grey fur, but I knew that she was genuinely relieved to see him back safely.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Serra called, as I took my leave.

"I'm gonna check on things, get some rest!" I called back, closing the tent flap and redirecting my attention to Kelly and David.

They spoke softly, but as they spoke I noted that her expression had shifted into one of worry and concern.

"What was that about?" I asked, as soon as she rejoined me, and she pulled me away with her to a reclusive spot.

"David thinks Trevor's betrayed us," Kelly muttered, looking around at the rest of her group.

"Why does he think that?" I asked.

"Because we can't send messages to Trevor, and thanks to Dana's locate dead spell we know he's alive. That means he's either put us on ignore, or he's still somewhere where he's unable to receive our messages; but the latter shouldn't be a problem anymore since the communication barriers are down."

"Has he told the rest of the group?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"He doesn't want to worry them- and I think he might be blaming himself since Trevor was his comrade from long before."

"Hmm," I muttered, as I gave the situation some thought.

I scanned the group with her and noted with interest that Dana seemed to be sitting at a nearby table, sipping ale from a mug absently.

Weren't she and Trevor pretty close?

If he had betrayed them, then you would think that she'd be more upset than the rest of them.

Unless...

"Dana seems to be taking it... well," I noted, and Kelly glanced at her worriedly.

"You think she's in on it?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"You tell me. I don't know her at all."

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, and I smiled at her affectionately.

"What?" she asked, as her cheeks began to redden cutely.

"Nothing- you're just cute when you get all thoughtful like that," I muttered, and she shoved my shoulder playfully, before taking my hand and-

*Growl.

A deep low growl came suddenly from behind us, and I tilted my head in confusion as I found the source of the growl to be none other than Caliban.

"Caliban?" I asked uncertainly, wondering if I had the wrong blink dog before he growled again in Kelly's direction.

She took a cautious step back, and I stepped uncertainly between them.

"The priest-human does not seem to like it when the pretty wizard holds the Josh-human's hand."

Kelly's shriek told me that the voice had spoken in her head as well, but her fearful response quickly gave way to a playful smile.

She stepped forward, then bent over at the hips to look at Caliban in the eye.

"I'll try not to hold his hand when she's around- but this human," she pointed at me, "he belongs to me," she added thoughtfully, "so sometimes we might do things that might upset Serra- but it doesn't mean that we're doing it to hurt her."

Caliban stared at her with his red menacing eyes for a moment, before retreating with a dissatisfied 'hm!' and I stared after him before returning my gaze to Kelly who was studying me with a curious smirk.

"He certainly seems to be pretty protective of you two," she commented.

"Yo! Chef! We need to get a move on dinner!" Pete called, and to my surprise Kelly turned and waved in response.

"Chef?" I asked, my interest piqued, and she fidgeted nervously like a naughty child caught red handed.

"What? I wanted to improve my cooking skill, so I kept practicing. Next thing I know I'm the resident chef," she offered, with a cheeky dismissive shrug.

I offered my assistance but they seemed to be set, so I decided to check on Serra instead.

She was sound asleep, but as I exited her tent I noticed that Caliban was keeping a watchful eye on Kelly, so I settled down beside him, feeding him one of my previously prepared meat skewers.

"You know- she's a much better cook than I am," I commented, and Caliban raised his head, before settling back down grumpily.

"How did the pretty wizard come to enslave the human-with-the-tasty-meats?"

"Enslave?"

"Did she trick you? Did she force you to sign a contract?

"Whoa, she didn't force me to do anything," I quickly replied as he continued:

"You didn't seal the contract with blood, did you? No matter- the priest human is smart. She will find a way to free you from the clutches of the pretty wizard."

"Sorry bud- Serra might be a genius but even she won't win that fight," I added with a light chuckle, and Caliban settled down and resumed his brooding.

Over dinner, I brought some of the meat that Kelly had prepared over to Caliban and though he seemed reluctant to try them, the enticing aroma eventually won him over and he begrudgingly ate.

"The pretty wizard-cook. Her meats might be- magical, but she still won't win me over," Caliban ruminated as he chewed.

He seemed to take a different interest in Kelly afterwards, and a few times when she looked over and caught his eyes upon her, she smiled and waved, making him stand up and circle around, fading in and out of existence a few quick times before settling back down.

After one such occasion, I stole over to her side:

"I think he likes you," I whispered into her ear, and she blushed lightly, a little smile on her face as she kept studying Caliban with interest.

"I still can't get over the fact that you two befriended a monster," she observed, as I settled down next to her, and she linked her arm in mines before resting her head tiredly against my shoulder.

She nuzzled my shoulder affectionately with her nose, before looking up at me with a naughty smile.

"Are we sharing a tent tonight?" she asked, and I looked around nervously.

"I dunno- how do you usually sleep?" I asked, and she looked cautiously in Dana's direction.

"Usually, I share with Dana... well, when she's not sneaking off to visit Trevor's tent at night," she added in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Hmm... they're that close, huh," I asked, my interest piqued, and she leaned in before continuing in a whisper:

"Yeah, at first I thought 'why don't they just make this official already?' but- apparently it's complicated."

"How so?"

"Trevor's got a wife and three kids- in real life, I mean. And Dana's twenty."

"Jeez. But they played together before, right?" I asked, and she nodded in response.

"More than you think- they've been playing together for about five years now."

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully as I processed the information.

When the search for Trevor had been called off, Pete raised one hell of a fuss- but Dana's reaction was pretty subdued.

Come to think of it, even earlier when she'd spied us from across the bridge- there was no urgency in her actions.

She was just going through the motions, as if the result to her was always a foregone conclusion.

Did she know something?

She certainly seemed on edge all evening- though unlike Pete, getting back out there to search for Trevor didn't seem to be on her agenda.

"So- are we sharing a tent, or are you still caring about what people will think?" Kelly asked teasingly as everyone started getting ready for bed.

"What about your tent-mate?" I asked, and she looked back at Dana, before sighing a little.

"True- she might not want to be alone right now," Kelly muttered absently, before turning back to me with a sly look on her face. "Why don't you set up your own tent, and I'll sneak over sometime tonight," she added, putting a finger playfully to her lips.

"I- uh, I guess," I responded, rubbing the back of my head uncertainly, and she quickly took off in Dana's direction with that excited little hop in her step that never failed to make me smile.

There was no doubt about it. Beneath the flawless face and perfectly proportioned body of her character's avatar, she was still Kelly; my quirky kid sister.

I had had to adjust to her altered appearance twice since we'd started playing this game; but her quirks, her habits, all of her curious but endearing idiosyncrasies; even when the strangeness of her unfamiliar appearance threatened to overwhelm me, they reassured me that beyond the shadow of a doubt she was Kelly, and the constant reassurances were more comforting than I could ever possibly articulate.

As I went about setting up my tent, Kelly eventually came over with a pleased smile on her face.

"Dana wants to be alone, it seems," she offered with a shrug, but as Kelly climbed into my tent an idea popped into my head.

"I'll be right back," I muttered, and Kelly made a whining sound in protest like an impatient little pup.

I quickly stole into Serra's tent, then sighed as I realized that I'd have to wake her to put my plan into action.

I took a deep breath, then shook her a little.

She groaned in protest before her eyes began to flutter open, and as she spied my form, suspended above her, her face broke into a little smile to my surprise.

"Josh- you came," she whispered, before wrapping her arms about my neck.

"Uh- yeah, I -uh," I started, but she began to pull me closer, mumbling in her sleep induced stupor.

"Hug me," she commanded, her typically sarcastic tone giving way to a genuine cuteness that I had to admit was pretty endearing.

"I can't stay," I muttered softly, as she rolled over into our usual sleeping positions, and she looked back at me grumpily.

She blinked a few times, before rubbing her eyes gingerly.

"Why are you here then?" she asked, and I quickly told her about Dana's suspicious behavior and my plan to get to the bottom of it.

"So you want my cloak to spy on her?" she asked, sitting up and pulling her knees into her chest as she pondered my story.

"Yeah. Pretty much."

She cracked a little smile at this.

"That's such a Serra-like plan. Just how much am I rubbing off on you?" she asked, with a semi-suggestive smirk.

"Not too much, I hope," I responded with a tone of serious worry, and she kicked out at me in response.

"Okay- well I guess Caliban can keep watch on her tent, and if she goes anywhere we'll cloak up and-"

"I'll cloak up. You are not going anywhere," I cut her off almost immediately, and she stared at me incredulously.

"What?"

"You haven't rested properly since- you know, almost dying? You need to rest."

"And leave you alone?"

"I won't be alone. Caliban will come with me... and Kelly."

If I imagined that I knew how Serra would react to that, I was wrong. Because nothing prepared me for the 'stung' expression on her face. But her shock quickly gave way to outright indignation, as her face contorted into anger.

"Fine then! Go out there and die like a fucking idiot! See if I care. Just don't expect me to come running to your rescue when you get into trouble!"

She retrieved the cloak from her inventory in angry exaggerated movements, then threw it at my feet before plopping back down onto her sleeping mat, her back to me.

As I stepped out of the tent I kept ahold of the flap, pausing to keep an eye on Serra for any kind of reaction, but she didn't so much as shift, so with a sigh I pulled the flap shut.

As it fell though I thought I heard a sound that sounded like a faint whimper, and I paused for a moment.

But that was so unlike Serra, wasn't it?

I chalked it up to my mind playing tricks on me, and I quickly headed over to my tent where Kelly was lying in wait.

She had a huge pout on her face as I entered, but as I relayed my plan to her, her face quickly lit up with excitement.

"This is so exciting!" she exclaimed, and although I mentioned that Caliban would be more than capable of keeping watch, she insisted on sneaking out from time to time to keep an eye on Dana's tent.

"Do you think Trevor really betrayed your group?" I asked, as Kelly wiggled around next to me, making herself comfortable under the concealed protection of Serra's chameleon cloak.

"I dunno. I've only been with them for a few weeks. They all seemed so nice, but..."

"But?"

Kelly sighed.

"Our group- we've been keeping pretty safe, but the fear of death... it changes people. I've seen people just completely trip out after being wounded. One second they're just ordinary people- caring, considerate, kind... but just a little taste of that fear and you just never know what a person can become... or what they might really be capable of."

She shuddered a little as she spoke, and I pulled her closer, planting a little kiss on her neck as I hugged her tight.

"There she goes!" she suddenly muttered, and I followed her gaze to see that Dana had indeed left her tent.

She seemed to be walking around, as if looking for something on the floor- but it was just a cover for her to make sure that no-one was around the tents.

Mackenzie's scouts were keeping watch on the outer perimeter, so there was no one keeping guard on the camp itself, and after making sure that the coast was clear she donned a strange hooded robe and quickly made her way down one of the corridors on the eastern side of the great hall.

"Mark prey," I whispered softly, before pointing my finger in her direction.

Cailban nodded at this signal and without another word, he vanished, reappearing further up the corridor where Dana had just left.

As I took Kelly's hand and activated synergy, I felt the subtle stare of Caliban's deep red eyes momentarily expressing his disapproval, but he quickly refocused himself on the task at hand.

"Something is different about the weak priest," Caliban observed as he appeared at our sides.

"What do you mean?"

"The black cloth- it changed her."

"Changed her how?" I asked.

"I no longer sense her the way I do you. It's almost as if she is no longer human."

"What's wrong?" Kelly asked, and the confusion on her face suddenly made me aware that Caliban was speaking only to me.

I glanced at him again and noted that he was now sort of fidgeting, and making a show of investigating a nearby pillar for no discernible reason.

"Sorry, I'll tell you about it in a bit," I whispered, and she nodded as we hurried along after Dana.

We continued after her until we came at last to one of the scouts on guard along the subterranean castle's outer perimeter.

"Nowhere to go. What do you think she'll do?" Kelly whispered, but I maintained my focus on Dana.

She didn't seem to be deep in thought, as if considering her plan of action.

In fact she seemed to be steeling herself, as if she was working up the nerve to do what she had already planned.

Kelly placed a hand on my shoulder, and I nodded as we both prepared to cast counter-spells in case she was about to attack the scout on guard, but to our surprise, she instead crouched low, and after withdrawing something from within her robe, she vanished from sight.

"What the fuck. There aren't supposed to be any at will invisibility spells in this game," Kelly whispered, and I nodded before taking her hand:

"Come on- my mark can still pick her up."

As we continued to tail her, I led Kelly by the hand and she followed along while looking through the blueprints of the lair we'd used earlier.

"Where's she headed," I asked, and she made an 'hm' sound as she concentrated on the map for a bit.

"Looks like a dead end, but there's this little symbol here. I'm not sure what it is, because I haven't seen the symbol anywhere else just yet. But apart from that, just a long winding corridor that ends with... something?"

We decided not to continue along in case it was indeed a dead end and she came back this way, so we found a good spot to conceal ourselves and got properly under the cloak.

"Eek!" Kelly shrieked as Caliban materialized beside us, and I noted that he seemed particularly pleased by her alarm.

"Do you know what's ahead?" I asked, and he sniffed the air a bit as he faded slightly, before materializing in full beside us.

"A dimension door," he replied, and I rubbed my chin thoughtfully in response.

Dimension doors represented portals to alternate planes of existence that could exist in parallel to our own. Some acted as shortcuts between large expanses of lands in our plane, while others served as secret hidden chambers where a powerful creature might hide away some of his most prized possessions.

If this was indeed a dimension door as Caliban said, it was entirely possible that the entire party that attacked Kelly's team could be hidden here.

It could even be the means by which they escaped the grasp of Mackenzie's scouting party.

Either way- this was bad, because there was no way to know what was on the other side of the portal without stepping through it.

I was still ruminating over our next move when Caliban suddenly faded just as his voice spoke into my head with alarm:

"Another one is coming!"

We quickly wrapped ourselves in the cover of the cloak, and I fortified our synergy as lay nervously in wait- but the figure merely swept past us without pause, heading straight for the dimension door where Dana now stood in wait.

"Should we follow?" Kelly whispered, and I nodded as we extricated ourselves from each other and crept silently along the pathway.

The corridor came to a winding stairwell that wound down, and deeper into the great mountain's depths.

"Echo sense," Kelly whispered, before offering her hand to me, and as I took it a faint image appeared in my mind.

There seemed to be two robed figures; the leaner one I assumed was Dana was pacing back and forth, and the other seemed to be trying in vain to calm her down.

I took a deep breath.

"Unseen servant," I chanted, and a shadowy form appeared before me. "Cast: project sound," I commanded, transferring the spell to the shadowy apparition, along with the instructions for silent casting that I had recently learned.

"A natural agent of espionage, I see," she whispered, and I smiled nervously as my spell took effect, and I placed my hand over Kelly's just voices began to accompany the now clearer image in my head.

"I never said I would do that!" Dana's voice exclaimed. "Look, I've kept quiet about you so far. But it's not my fault you fucked it up."

"Really? Then who the hell were those people?"

"Friends of your little buddy Morrigan," she spat bitterly, and Kelly tilted her head in confusion as she continued: "If you weren't so busy perving on her all the time maybe you'd have figured out that she's got two fucking S-rank players watching her back!"

"Fuck! Without the invite this was all for nothing!" the man exclaimed, as he paced back and forth anxiously, before taking a seat on the rocky floor.

Dana took a deep breath, before approaching the man from behind. She wrapped her arms about his neck, before pulling his hood down to reveal his face.