I was stomping through croc carcasses, cutting one from its head down to its tail when I raised Keel’s knife and found that Trix was in my way, her jagged bleach-blonde hair in high contrast to her piercing blue eyes.
TRIX: Will, look at me. It’s time to put down the knife.
KEEL: DON’T LOOK AT HER! HUNT THE WITCH!
WILL: I must hunt.
Kiara grabbed my arm.
KIARA: Stop, Will! It’s over! It’s over. We’re okay.
KEEL: It’s not over until I say. Hunt!
TRIX: Don’t listen to the knife, Will. Listen to us. We’re your friends.
Maybe it was Trix’s psychic strength. Maybe it was Kiara’s touch. But the knife’s hold on me weakened, and I saw Kiara and Trix through my own eyes instead of Keel’s. Strong as Keel was, he was still trapped in his knife.
The frenzy waned. I looked down at the weapon and thought I saw a faint silhouette of Keel inside the steel. A second later I’d shelved the knife, and I was looking at my empty hand.
Kiara collapsed to the ground, trembling, and ran her hands over her face, covering her eyes.
TRIX: You okay, Ki?
KIARA: Yeah, but no. I know I am okay, but I don’t feel okay.
Her eyes were focusing on nothing in particular.
Trix crouched down beside her.
TRIX: What happened wasn’t your fault.
Kiara withdrew her hands from her face and looked at Trix.
KIARA: Thanks, T.
Trix smiled.
WILL: I’m sorry. I, I almost lost control.
TRIX: Yeah, but it’s alright. Not my first rodeo.
KIARA: I feel like I’m the reason you went into that rage, Will.
TRIX: Don’t blame yourself.
KIARA: But I’d have died otherwise.
TRIX: We’re a team, Ki. We’re getting out of this place together.
Kiara took a deep breath and stared into the middle distance.
I felt like I should say something else. Maybe promise to stay in control, but I didn’t know if I could keep that promise. I’d lost it. I’d made Kiara feel unsafe, and probably Trix too. She was maybe just able to hide more. Worst of all, I wasn’t sure that the same thing wouldn’t happen again.
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KIARA: Do you think about those new players that were dropped in the game? You think we could save them?
I shook my head.
WILL: Trix and I still have a bounty on our heads. Anyone we see will throw themselves at us to claim it.
TRIX: Will’s right. And time’s ticking.
I nodded.
WILL: We’ve got to get out of this quadrant before they send in the goons. That’s not debatable.
KIARA: I understand—but if all I’m doing is saving myself, I just don’t feel like that’s enough.
I combed through all the carcasses, looting credits and picking up all the bobbleheads for Ki. The crocs were not good credit or equipment mobs. In all, we netted a little over a hundred credits from them along with a small army of bobblehead dolls in the crocs’ likeness. One of them dropped a small silver bracelet charm of a croc’s head. I read the stats on it.
Croc Charm. Though a charm, it’s not all that charming is it?
+1 constitution.
Add more charms to your charm bracelet for bonus modifiers!
I retrieved the shepherd’s crook from under a pile of crocs and handed it back to Kiara along with the charm.
WILL: See if you can put this on.
She took the little charm and smiled, then affixed it to her necklace and adjusted it so it hung directly below her chin.
KIARA: Thanks, Will.
We walked back into the clutch. I was bracing for the portcullis to slam down again and for heavy metal to turn up, but, thankfully, nothing happened. I was happy to let Keel cool off for a while longer.
I hit loot all on the clutch room, adding 500 credits to our party and the next key item. Key shard, 2 out of 4. This item can be combined to create a complete key.
The serpents had a bunch of bobbleheads and a couple of PEZ dispensers with snake heads that we didn’t need. But they dropped two useful items, one each for Trix and Kiara.
Olde English dropped a Serpent’s Charm in the shape of a bottle of malt liquor with a +1 to intelligence. Kiara added that to her necklace right away and it added an extra +1 constitution to the croc charm.
TRIX: Try taking off both charms and putting on the malt liquor one first. See if it changes the bonus.
Kiara reversed the order and received an intelligence bonus instead of a constitution bonus.
KIARA: Should I keep it that way? As long as we’re together, constitution isn’t as important as intelligence.
WILL: Yeah, keep it that way as long as there’s no threat. We need your spells.
The best item we found in the Clutch was from King Cobra.
Snakeskin Leather Boots. Do you just melt for that warm, cuddly feeling you get handling a snake? Then wait until you step into these bad boys. Made 100% from the skin of the serpent that you just sent packing, these boots are ready for the catwalk or quiet walks through the woods with your cat. Remember, nothing says luxury like BioZone Brand. +1 dexterity, +1 intelligence, +1 strength, +1 charisma, +1 constitution. With every ten levels, distribute one more stat point to the attribute of your choice.
TRIX: I must have those.
WILL: Wait, is this a commercial for actual boots that BioZone is selling?
TRIX: Looks like it, and they’ve found their target audience.
Trix put on the boots and admired the look of the yellow and black snake skin.
WILL: Then why hasn’t other equipment read like products for sale?
KIARA: What about the bobblehead dolls?
WILL: Oh.
It occurred to me to take a look at a screen that I hadn’t bothered with for a while:
Feed views: 250,012
Profile clicks: 4,730
Quadrant player ranking: 58/523
Betting total: $4,791,358
Action Figures sold: 462
I still wasn’t exactly sure what all of that meant, but it looked like they were trending well. It was unnerving to know that at least 57 players could kill me if they wanted my bounty. But I had no intention of dying in this place, and after torching one room full of nightmare snakes and another full of crocodiles, was feeling like an expert at cheating death.
Council of the Eternal Hiatus.
My username is auburn77
