Mark of the fated a litr.., p.6
Mark of the Fated: A LitRPG Adventure, page 6
A Green and Pleasant Land – Boglug Gutrender has emerged from the caverns beneath Mount Whitespear. Decades after the crushing defeat of his predecessor by Grand Marshal Milton Dawnstar, the legendary tinkerer wants retribution. Driven by their genius goblin masters, the orcish hordes raze everything in their path. Towns and villages fall under the green wave that is washing across the kingdom. Refugees and the remnants of Dawnstar’s defeated armies flee for their lives towards the last bastions of human life on the far side of Grimwolf Forest to the east. Should these fortresses fall, so too will the world itself.
World size - Large
Orcish armies and fallen kingdoms? Sod that. It was like something out of Warhammer. Aside from the tutorial dungeon, I was zero for two on my choices. Number 4 was next.
Stop Bugging Me – What do you get when you cross a faculty of nerdy entomologists and a secret nuclear experiment in the bowels of the university? This isn’t a joke! You get insects the size of frickin’ busses! When the prototype fusion reactor fails, the radiation released triggers an extreme evolutionary response from the insects kept in the lab above. Growing in mass by hundreds, sometimes thousands of times, humanity now finds itself hunted by the cold, emotionless bugs we all used to crush under our boots or burn with magnifying glasses for fun. Oh, you didn’t? My bad. I’m not a serial killer. Honest. Just don’t look in my basement. What?
World size – Large
“Nope. Let’s see what’s behind door number 5.”
Prehistoric Pandemonium – 65 million years in the making, and they’re very, very hungry. From lawyers cowering on toilets, to innocent goats staked out in the open, nothing is safe. Spliced in to the prehistoric genetic code were advances in intelligence, and a hidden secret that only adds to the danger. They’re now taking over the world, one area at a time. They’re at the top of the food chain. We rank somewhere above gophers. At least they can burrow when they’re in danger. You will need to fight back against the Jurassic menace and uncover the secret that will send them back to the tar pits from whence they came.
World size - Large
“Are you kidding me?”
I imagined myself slipping down some huge carnivore’s digestive tract. Then I imagined myself as a massive pile of shit that Jeff Goldblum remarked upon in a partly buttoned black shirt. I wasn’t sure which was the most humiliating, though I suspected the former would be the more painful part of the process.
“This just gets worse and worse. Don’t they have any safety protocols in these bloody labs?”
I clicked on 6.
Hellscape Nightmare – The Gates of Hell were thrown open and the mighty legions of that fiery realm subjugated our world. The demon lords farm souls from the last surviving humans to feed their infernal war machine in preparation for the Final Battle with Heaven. Small groups survive by hiding and moving from shelter to shelter. You will need to find these warriors and join their ranks. From the shadows you will strike back, liberate the slaves, and crush the demon princes that control the sulphurous horrors. Only then can the Gates of Hell be sealed for good. Or a few years, anyway. There’s always some arsehole trying to summon the devil.
World size - Large
“Fuck. Right. Off.”
7.
Mecha Tyrannicus – We created the machines to serve us coffee and clean up our mess. A crazed tech billionaire hacked their code and made them his own personal army. Now they serve us our guts on a plate. The world’s war machines have been fighting valiantly, but for every one we kill, they build ten more. We’re on the verge of annihilation. Only by joining the resistance can you hope to fight back. Find the Phased Plasma Rifle in the 40 Watt range, the only weapon capable of penetrating the armour of the mechanical overlord, and end the reign of terror before we’re all terminated.
World size - Medium
“That makes more sense.”
I’d often thought a certain cyborg looking fucker from Silicon Valley had plans to enslave humanity with his toxic slurry pit of a social platform. I didn’t relish being laser blasted by a glowing eyed terror in a dank tunnel, however, so I closed that one down and clicked on the final world.
Realm of the Lich King – In the mystical kingdom of Tulahr, the banished warrior mage Hamon Dred has fallen to the darkness and emerged as a powerful necromancer. Dwelling in the long shunned fortress of Bloodfang Citadel in the barren north, he has summoned the Lich King Raz’Gharag. Together they have raised an army of supernatural creatures. Their undead blight has spread like a plague, consuming all before it. The strong fade and perish. The land itself withers and rots. All that is good and warm in the world is under threat from the seeping chill of their touch. You must rekindle the flame of humanity and burn the corruption from the land, lest all fall forever to the dark.
World size - Large
I facepalmed. “For the love of god, can I get some better choices? Like investigate the alcohol in the beach resort of Benalmadena?”
“No!”
“Oh, so you can hear that then?”
“Make your choice, human. Or stay in that room and die.”
That sounded ominous. I expected the ceiling to sprout spikes and begin dropping. I didn’t have a Willie Scott to reach through giant insects to save me, though. I was a six-two-and-a-half Short Round, prone to disaster. I just hoped I’d have the same blind luck that the plucky character had when the time came.
“You’re not giving me many options here!”
“You have eight.”
“Very funny! You know what I mean!”
They didn’t respond any further. Common sense dictated the next page was only going to contain harder worlds to overcome, so asking the aliens to unlock them was pointless. To have any real chance of survival, I had one choice. The only world that would help me to learn when I was completely ignorant of the rules of the game. I pressed 1 for the Tutorial Dungeon and the ancient door in front of me creaked open on unoiled hinges.
“Weapons? Armour?”
Our new overlords said nothing.
“Shall I beat them with my dick?”
“Only if you want to do zero damage.”
“Oh, you’re funny fuckers, aren’t you?” I gave every angle of the room the finger.
With a cringe inducing groan-scrape, streamers of dust fell from the ceiling as it started to drop. I shielded my eyes and saw seams that hadn’t existed a moment ago. I spent a split second wondering how they’d done it before realising they could do absolutely anything they wanted. They’d travelled from another reality for goodness sake.
I was in their world now.
Without further pause, I snatched up my imaginary brown fedora and charged into the darkness to escape the newly revealed spikes.
Chapter 8
Here Goes Nothing
I found myself at the end of a long passage that resembled one of the many castles I’d visited in the real world. Layers of large limestone blocks and mortar meshed into bleak, cold walls. I checked behind me and it was solid stone which wasn’t unexpected. There would be no scuttling back into the killer room even if I’d wanted to.
Torches burned in iron sconces, throwing pools of weak orange light onto the damp walls. Water was trickling in places to form small pools on the flagstones. Mineral deposits from years of runoff glittered on the walls. Being below ground, I reached out and took one of the torches. As soon as my fingers touched the handle, the flame was doused and it disappeared.
“What the hell?”
Item – Torch (common)
Type – Weapon/utility
Description – A stick topped with wrapped cloth, dipped in resin.
User Requirements – None
Effect – Illuminates the dark corners of your fevered imagination. Is that something hiding in the shadows? Now you can know for sure before you get eaten.
Can be used to ignite combustibles.
Misc – None.
“Well, ok. I’m getting the hang of this.”
A new tab was flashing that hadn’t been visible before. It was for new achievements. These things were really going all out on the immersion.
Achievement Unlocked – Enter a dungeon.
Description – You’ve picked your first trial! Way to go! Now you just have to survive the never-ending threats contained within them. Only kidding. There are some safe areas. You just have to find them.
Reward – None. You’re one step closer to saving humanity. Isn’t that enough?
There was a second.
Achievement Unlocked – Loot your first item
Description – You’ve worked out how to use your hands to pick things up! There’s no stopping you now, champ!
Reward – The item you just looted. We’re not made of rewards.
“That’s a bit stingy.”
I opened the inventory to look for my torch and found a new gift that had escaped my attention. After slipping it on, I was no longer completely naked, just mostly naked.
Item – Adventurer’s Loincloth (common)
Type – Clothing
Description – A black loincloth, basic and snug. Not blue.
User Requirements – Strength 1, Dexterity 1
Effect – Hides one’s modesty from the creatures of the dungeon. They don’t want to see that thing! Lol.
Misc - None
The bastards had the capability to listen in and recall my exchange with Cris in the arcade. I had to move on with the assumption that everything was available to them, memory, history, and day to day activities. I was an open book, their tentacles turning my pages at a whim. I wasn’t sure why, but that really pissed me off. I hadn’t done much to be ashamed of, but what sort of person doesn’t have a few secrets? Some unkind words or thoughts conjured unbidden and immediately regretted. A few events that they wish they could have a second chance to relive. I was also concerned at their bizarre behavioural change. They had arrived as merciless, humourless conquerors, and now they were throwing out sarcasm bombs like they were at the Universal Sarcasm Awards on Planet Sarc in the Sarcastic System.
“What’s the deal with that?” I called.
My voice echoed away down the passage and I stumbled back in fear when a chittering shriek answered.
“There goes that twenty percent down to ten,” I groaned. “Think before you act, moron!”
I activated the torch and waited. With the game now in play, I increased the visibility of my HUD. The mini-map was mostly obscured by the fog of war. A small, uncovered circle around my dot showed the straight passage and nothing else. I listened harder and could just make out the skittering of claws on stone. From the distant junction, a pair of dark furred creatures appeared. As they scurried towards me, their presence was marked on the periphery of the observable map with two red dots.
I backed up against the stone which was frigid and moist against my skin. The torch was wavering as my hand trembled. It wasn’t that I hated rats, it was more that I was scared of rats that were five times the size of their normal kin. Their eyes were twin spots of glowing hatred. Saliva dripped from their cracked, yellow fangs. Their black fur was slick and crusted with filth.
“Who’s a good rat then?” I cooed weakly as they picked up speed.
I didn’t know what else to say. I wasn’t a violent person by nature unless it was forced upon me. I’d assumed I could switch off my morality in the same way I did when I was hacking apart pixelated critters in any one of a hundred games that sat on my hard drive. Now that I was face to face with what seemed to be living, breathing creatures, it wasn’t that easy. I jabbed out with the torch which managed to keep them at bay within the narrowness of the passage.
“Think!”
I tried. What came to mind was even more terrifying than the rats.
“My health!”
I waved the flame back and forth while concentrating on my flashing health pool. The bar was now filled with red, and I almost collapsed with relief.
One of the rodents made a play for me but got a blazing tip to the snout for its trouble. It pawed at the injury while its companion tried unsuccessfully to sneak past.
Where was their health? My question triggered its immediate appearance over their bulky forms. The one I’d burned had just under half remaining which made no sense from a bit of light blistering and burned whiskers. It renewed its attack and I lashed out with my bare foot, catching it a glancing blow. The thing squealed shrilly as it slammed against the wall. My guard dropped as it fell to the ground, shuddered in its death throes, and curled into a corpse ball. Its friend darted in and nipped at my calf. The dirty incisors had none of the problems my teeth had in the previous room and pierced through effortlessly. I screamed in a most unwarriorlike way and batted at its flank with the torch. Two blows was enough to see its health vanish and it curled into the same form as the other corpse.
Status Effect – Bleed (training)
Description – You have been wounded by an enemy. Use a healing cloth to bind the wound (A clean one, we don’t want infections) or use a potion. In the real worlds, this effect will be far more severe.
Duration – 1 minute.
“Damnit,” I hissed, looking at the ragged punctures from which my blood trickled freely. I had neither cloth, nor healing ability, so I would need to suffer the loss on top of the points already taken by the bite. I double checked, and my pool was sitting at over ninety five percent. This was most definitely a training area if a half torn off muscle could be brushed off with such small cost. I noticed a glowing droplet of blood flashing on my HUD next to the red bar, so at least I would know when I’d been given something nasty. I sat on the ground and laid the torch aside. Putting pressure on the wound did nothing to stymie the bleeding which confirmed real world solutions may not transfer to the game world. It had said healing cloth, whatever that meant. As the bleeding effect reached the minute mark it took a tiny sliver of health, shrinking my bar slightly.
Status Effect – Ended
I was injured and I’d only just set foot in the place, which bode slightly less favourably than a snowball in hell. My ten percent survival chance deleted the zero.
I was in pain and bloody miserable.
I missed Honey and Marco. I missed Marmite on toast.
I missed Mrs Atkins’ slightly pervasive aroma of stagnant wee.
This was only the tutorial dungeon for god’s sake! What possible hope did I have against necromancers and goblin kings? Beneath my sticky, blood saturated hands, I felt something give. Pulling them away, the holes were slowly closing of their own accord. The drizzle of claret slowed and then stopped completely. I felt the agonising throb abate second by second as the skin reformed while I stared at it open-mouthed.
“What on earth?”
I probed at the unscarred calf with my bloodied fingers, expecting lingering pain or at the very least severe subdermal bruising. Nothing. Tentatively rotating my foot and flexing, I knew there had to be something remaining of the damage. There wasn’t. It felt as good as new. I pulled up the health bar and it directed me to the constitution stat.
Constitution – A player’s constitution dictates many factors. Among these is resilience to contact status effects, stamina, increases to health pool value at level-up, regeneration, and others.
There was a secondary tab to give more information, but I’d seen the word I was looking for. Regeneration. Suddenly, my melancholy fell away and I felt almost normal. I could afford to slip up and learn from the mistakes rather than face a doom laden gong and the words Game Over manifesting on my dying vision in bold red typeface. Knowing that, I still made a vow to try and make as few mistakes as possible and not put that brief surge of excitement to the ultimate test. I was not immortal. I doubt if the rodent had fastened its teeth on my neck I’d have been sat there with a cheesy grin on my face. In fact, I doubt I would’ve even had a face as the creatures peeled it away to feed their young. I felt very naked in my loincloth and wondered where the first armour drops might be.
Looking at the two corpses, I was still nauseated at having killed them, but I needed to move past that. And fast. It was kill or be killed.
Climbing to my knees, I reached out towards the bodies.
Corpse – Ratling (Level 1)
I ignored the loot function and tried the bestiary.
Name – Ratling
Description – The smallest and weakest of the dungeon dwellers. They’re life’s garbage disposal units, gnawing their way through our leftovers. Now they’re eager to gnaw through you! Larger variants carry a taint in their bites. Keep them at arm’s length!
Weakness – Fire.
Immunities – Disease.
That explained the charred snout’s excessive damage. I wondered if there was a way to check for vulnerabilities in the enemies before summoning them with a mistimed yell. It was something to consider before the next encounter. Because of the proximity of the bodies, the loot was collectible from a single icon. Another thing about my normal playstyle is that I was a loot hoarder. I picked up everything, no matter how random or mundane and I held on to that shit come hell or high water. I saw no evidence in my inventory or loot descriptions that indicated the items held weight. In the games from the real world, I was often torn between realism and the aggravation weight limits brought with them. I wanted every dragon bone I could carry god damnit!
Item – Ratling tail (common)
Type – Consumable
Description – Delicious after grilling. Like a crunchy meat stick with middling chance of disease surviving the heat.
User Requirements – None. Chow down!
