[Player Log Start!]
[Log Holder: Nancy Mitt]
[Level: 2 (Sub-Level)]
Nancy was marching down the picturesque grassy bank, vision tinted red as she barged towards Paterson’s workshop.
How dare he. How dare he turn on them like this. He was one of them! He’d been here for so long, there had to be some reason-
“Hiya, Nancy!” A sweet, oblivious voice interrupted her thoughts of vicious revenge.
“Linda.” She breathed, turned around to face her. There wasn’t enough strength in her to force on a smile, but at least she could stop frowning, “Kid, this isn’t a good time.”
“Why not?” She frowned, “Are you upset? Are you going to start a fight? Ooh, who are you going to fight?” She seemed oddly gleeful about the idea. The charming civility of this place had never sunk into her like it did with the others. Probably because of Danny constantly letting her roam the Realm Delica was connected to.
Still, even though she thought she could handle it, Nancy had to protect her from this. No matter what they had uncovered, or what grudges would be revealed, the others were just bystanders. And Nancy had to step forward and protect them from Paterson’s destruction.
“Linda, listen to me.” She kept her voice low and steady. Linda immediately stood to attention, picking up on when a person Was Not Joking, “You have to find Danny. And then you tell her to get you out of here. Take a walk in CephaloRaven. Look for oysters. Just don’t bother me right now.”
Her eyes were big and watery, “I- I’m bothering you?”
Crap, crap, crap, “No, I, I meant-”
Behind Linda, Danny came up. The woman truly never left her side, and Nancy couldn’t be more grateful for that now. They made silent eye contact, and Danny nodded. She didn’t understand danger, but she could tell when someone was trying to protect her sprog.
She wound an arm around Linda’s shoulders, who was now spiraling even faster into a panic, “I don’t want to bother you! You’re always so busy now, and even Kathy likes hanging out with the new people more, and, and, and I thought since you were having a fight with someone, you could use a cheerleader! Like in the movies!”
Where had she been seeing these movies? Nancy didn’t remember seeing a single piece of media that implied violence until the so-called Players came. She made pointed eye contact with Danny, who scooped Linda up and gruffly patted her shoulders.
“Nancy’s not trying to be mean.” She soothed, and her tone was so gentle compared to the stalwart demeanor Nancy had gotten to accustomed to, it shocked her, “But I think she’s right, Linda. Perhaps we should go pearl-hunting.”
“We never find pearls in the oysters.” Linda sniffled.
“Because they’re very rare. And that will make it extra special when we do.” They turned away, heading into the direction of the Warp Point. Nancy received a DM, before they were even out of sight.
[Message from Danny Winston: I’ll warn the others to evacuate?]
She hesitated for a second before replying, [We think Paterson is going to kick up that much of a fuss?]
[Message from Danny Winston: Shit, that’s who you’re picking a fight with? Then yes. It will definitely blow up.]
She wanted to turn around and ask Danny face-to-face what she knew about Paterson. Nancy had never considered that. Did everyone except her know what was going on with him? Chances of this all being a very dangerous misunderstanding were dwindling.
[More context pls?]
[Message from Danny Winston: Listen, it’s a long story. We’re heading into CephaloRaven, and taking people there. Catch up then? There’s no returning to Delica if Paterson has lost it.]
Was he really that powerful? They couldn’t even instigate combat mode for fights until specific event requirements were hit. Nancy wasn’t expecting this to develop into a full fight, but she was worried now.
Too late to rethink this now, she could see Paterson stomping down the hillside, his expression stormy. Nancy was starting to rethink her decision to try and talk him through this.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Paterson almost walked past her. Right. He didn’t know that she had been warned of his betrayal. Channeling her inner Linda, she braced herself and followed him, “Hey, what’re you doing, Mister Paterson?”
The technique was effective, as he ground his teeth together, but still froze in his tracks to address her, “I’m looking for Lucky Paine.” He told her, turning around with an almost painful smile, “Is she at home right now?”
If Nancy were to tell him that, he was likely to fall into a tunnel vision state again. She needed to keep him talking as much as she could. So she deflected, “Are you alright? You don’t look like you’re doing well. Getting this worked up at your age isn’t good for you.”
He scoffed, “That really isn’t my concern right now. I’m trying to get out of here. Take your siblings and head for the CephaloRaven level if you know what’s good for you.”
That was strange. So far everyone had talked as if he had gone completely insane. But the advice thrown her way made it clear that he was still thinking clearly enough to not want everyone dead. Just Lucky. And anyone else who got between him and that Console.
“You’ve never tried to get out before.” She pointed out carefully, not trying to provoke him further.
He pulled at his hair, “Because she did something to me!” He insisted.
“…Lucky?” Nancy asked.
“Monroe!” He barked, as if he had only just remembered the name. Nancy flinched at the force he yelled it with, but the man didn’t care, still muttering to himself, “Eleanor Monroe. She must have done something to me. That two-timing bitch-” He shook himself, and for a second that familiar stately personality overtook him as he nodded at her, “I will be seeing you, Nancy. Take my words into account. Now I have to deal with this little kerfuffle.”
Then he continued his warpath up to the house.
In his wake, he left behind smoldering shoeprints on the velvety grass. Nancy stomped the few glowing embers out in a panic. She hadn’t known the man had a Fire Ability until now. Not a good time to find out this information.
She circled around from a distance, trying to head him off once more. What she would say to him next never became an issue as suddenly Simon was screaming as he ran out, all shock and rage.
“They’re gone!” He yelled, skidding to a stop between Paterson and Nancy.
Paterson looked at him, too confused to even be angry anymore as he warily asked, “Who’s gone?” The air around him still wavered, as if it was a heat illusion.
Nancy carefully put herself between him and her sort-of brother, using a hand to nonverbally equip a weapon, hand hovering over the button invisible to all but her.
Seemingly oblivious to the tense situation he had walked in, Simon launched into his tirade with full force, “Lucky and Tench and all those guys! They left us, even when they promised they would wait!” He cut himself off with a frustrated growl.
Paterson’s nostrils flared, “They’re gone?!”
“They can’t be!” Green text boxes and foreign speech announced the arrival of two more interlopers. Asadullah, restored to his semi-cat glory, followed closely by Terry. The two came to a stop at the dip between hillocks where they were having this conversation, trying desperately to catch their breath.
“They wouldn’t have left you behind.” Asadullah takes a moment to assure Simon once he has enough room in his lungs to think of that. Then, he continues with something which seemed slightly more plausible, “They wouldn’t have left us behind, either.”
Paterson scoffed, unimpressed with this defense. Over his shoulder, Nancy could see a few people moving out of nearby houses, single-file and hunched up, trying to hide from him. Danny had worked surprisingly fast, considering Nancy hadn’t even known they had evacuation plans in place.
Delica was the most perfect place in the world, after all. Who needed evacuation drills?
“They could be anywhere in the Realms by now.” He glared at Nancy – kindly old Paterson glared – and she wanted the ground to swallow her up, even though logically she knew that that Paterson was likely some odd façade, “You just had to waste my time with your prattle, and you let my one chance at escape slip through my fingers.”
“We all have Consoles.” She tried to appease him, holding out her arm, as if he didn’t have one strapped to his own.
“Not just any Console will get me out of here.” He replied sharply, “She’s blocked me off the System. Permanently. All these Consoles I’ve been working on have been building towards bypassing that restriction – the one I gave the Linda girl came closest – but none of it works for me. I need a Harbinger’s Console!”
When he declared that, a wave of powerful heat rippled out from around him. Nancy made a split second decision to press on the Dragon Shield that was right next to the Astral Sword she had been meaning to equip, and the fireproof shield slammed into her.
Beside her, Simon had had similar thoughts, except the shield now miraculously in his hands was the Cobalt Sheild from last month’s special event. A black swath of something was protecting Terry and Asadullah, but the surrounding houses weren’t quite so lucky. They were sliced in half, the roofs crumbling to the ground, even as the first floors were reduced to ash, the parts of the walls which had come in contact with the energy already blazing.
Where had he pulled that from?
Nancy could hear the few people who hadn’t managed to leave the village proper scream.
“Trusting them was your mistake. Everyone who plays that Game… they’re liars and backstabbers.” Paterson told them darkly, not even looking around him at the destruction he had wrought, “I refuse to be boxed away, playing games for their sick enjoyment for the rest of my life. Are you going to let them get away with this, too?”
Nancy had to agree with him, he made a compelling case. However…
“You’re just speaking in riddles and vague references.” She told him, forcing herself to look into his dead, broken eyes, “Tell us the truth, Paterson. Why are you here?”
[Player Log End!]