Hotel Acheron
8:45 P.M.
Elias stood in the lobby of Hotel Acheron. He was armed with only his pistol and a single extra magazine. Elias’s rifle and bayonet had been left in Room 602, which he shared with Cadmium. Since the City was a safezone and Elias had no intention of leaving the City, he figured there was no reason for him to bring his rifle.
Ten minutes before, Redgrave and Pixie had arrived at the lobby of Hotel Acheron after Kuro had informed them that they had acquired a place to stay for the night. Elias was the only one in the lobby when they appeared, and he could tell that they had recently been in the same room as Tantalus since they still smelled like cigarette smoke. The three of them had taken the elevator up to the sixth floor to check out the rooms and drop off their rifles. When they returned to the lobby, Pixie had retrieved Volta from her room.
Pixie and Volta were talking about where they wanted to go while Redgrave stood in the corner with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. Elias decided to do the same and check his Menu. A notification started flashing as soon as Elias opened it.
New Talent available!
Redgrave opened his eyes as Pixie approached the two men.
“Do you know where you wanna go?” Redgrave asked.
“Other players seem to be gravitating toward two establishments,” Pixie said. “One is a bar near the local university, and the other is a casino on the eastern side of town. The bar is closer, but the casino has, well, gambling.
“My vote is for the casino,” Elias said without hesitation.
“College bar or casino?” Redgrave mused for a moment, putting a thumb and forefinger to his chin. “Eh, I’m feeling lucky. What’s the casino’s name?”
“The Lucky Dragon Casino,” Pixie said.
Redgrave closed his eyes and spent slightly longer than a minute typing something on the air. While typing, he said, “I’m writing a forum post that we’ll be at the Lucky Dragon Casino, and anyone who fought at the West Gate or wants to help defend the West Gate should come meet us.”
When Redgrave opened his eyes, Elias asked, “What? Are you an army recruiter now?”
“That's probably a good name for it, yes,” Redgrave said as they left the hotel lobby. “We still need thirty soldiers to defend the West Gate. So far, I can only think of about a dozen people that will defend it reliably. There were thirty people who showed up when the City was under attack, but that was a self-defense situation. We need people who are committed.”
Now in the parking lot of Hotel Acheron, the four Revenants boarded the SUV they had stolen earlier from the car pileup outside of the West Gate. Redgrave sat in the driver’s seat, Volta sat in the passenger seat, and Elias and Pixie got in the back. They wordlessly decided to array themselves about the car in this way. It was only natural that either Redgrave or Pixie would drive the car as their experience in Ninth Oasis made them much more coordinated than Volta or Elias. A hierarchy had begun to form, and Redgrave's proximity to Tantalus placed him the highest within that hierarchy. They were all, to an extent, followers of Tantalus at that point.
Elias silently wondered if he would even be able to safely drive a car in his current state. In the Old World, he was a particularly experienced driver. In Ferrum, however, his hand-eye coordination was severely hampered, and his missing left eye seriously cut down on his peripheral vision. He would have to turn his head just to see the side-view mirror.
Overall, there was a strong sense of excitement in the car. Redgrave and Volta were talking about what games they wanted to play when they arrived at the casino. Out of the corner of his eye, Elias could see that Pixie was smiling, and it caught his attention. For a moment, Elias thought that Pixie was extremely attractive, even dressed in a military uniform. He had always been a sucker for blondes. Then, as quick as it came, he shook off the feeling. He had to remind himself that he was looking at an avatar, not a real person. What was her real name? It certainly wasn’t Pixie. Linda Brown, that was it. Linda Brown had created a character named "Pixie." Of course she was attractive; Linda Brown had created the avatar. Plus, Elias was certain that Pixie would not reciprocate. Who could love a crazy bastard with anger issues?
Elias’s thoughts were drawn to the mythical Hercules. The fatal flaw of most Greek heroes was pride, but Hercules’s was rage. Elias wished he could control his anger, but he just couldn’t. Back when he was a kid, the world just kept screwing him over, so he became angry with the world. It became a defense mechanism. People wouldn’t screw with him if he made it clear that he wouldn’t put up with it. This defense mechanism became a hindrance once he had gotten into college on a pity scholarship. In only two years of college, he had been involved in three fights and had almost been expelled once. Most people tried to keep their distance with Elias, but the Gaming Club was different. Perhaps because they were rarely in the same room and played mostly over discord, the small friend group he had found within the Gaming Club had been with him for a while. Elias had connected especially well with Dendrite, largely due to their similar backgrounds.
“Do you know the rules of blackjack, Elias?” Pixie suddenly asked.
“Huh? Yeah,” Elias said, blinking back to reality. “Get to twenty-one but not over, hit, stand, split, double-down, the whole shebang.”
“Has anyone here ever been in a casino, anyway?” Redgrave asked. “I’m only twenty-years-old, so I haven’t.”
“I’m eighteen, and Elias is twenty,” Volta said. “You need to be twenty-one to get into one, so I assume neither of us have been to a casino.
Elias nodded his assent, and Pixie said, “I’m twenty, so same here.”
“I didn’t know I had a bunch of kids in my car,” Redgrave said, chuckling.
“By the way,” Pixie said, “how old is Tantalus? He looks like he’s twenty, but he acts like he’s much older.”
“I’m not sure, myself,” Redgrave said. “His YouTube account was created in 2015. Based on other things he's said, I’d guess he’s about forty.”
"Wow," Pixie said with wide eyes.
“Our commander is a millennial." Elias chuckled.
At that point, the SUV hit traffic. They were within close proximity of the Lucky Dragon when they became stuck in the traffic jam.
“We went from no traffic at all to standstill traffic,” Redgrave grunted. “What happened here?”
Nobody answered the rhetorical question. After about five minutes, Redgrave parked the SUV in a cramped parking lot within a few hundred feet away from the Lucky Dragon. When the four Revenants disembarked, they saw that the parking lot was populated with about a dozen other Revenants clad in their blue military uniforms.
“They must have had the same idea as us,” Volta said as she closed the car door behind herself.
They followed the trickle of Revenants a few hundred feet until they turned a corner and saw the Lucky Dragon Casino for the first time. The huge building in front of them was adorned with inviting neon lights. Unreadable words decorated the exterior, though there were plenty of pictures that got the point across. Flashing images of cards, dice, and casino chips filled any empty space. Right over the main entrance to the building was a sleek design of a green dragon sitting atop a mountain of casino chips.
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
Elias whistled as the group approached the tantalizing shrine to luck and possibility. The building represented a promise. A promise of easy money and terrible loss. He immediately knew that this was his kind of place.
The Lucky Dragon Casino
9:10 P.M.
Upon reaching the front of the line, the four Revenants saw a large sign with a message written on it in English. LEAVE GUNS IN SIDEROOM. Next to the text was an arrow pointing to the left. Even there at the entrance, they could hear the sound of live music and see the flashing game machines inside. Elias could even smell cigarette smoke wafting from inside the casino to the open air outside.
They turned left and headed into the side room. The room that Redgrave, Elias, Pixie, and Volta then found themselves in was a thirty-foot by sixty-foot antechamber that held a dozen coat hangers, walls lined with lockers, and five large crates. The crates seemed like the kind that would be used to transport large quantities of goods inside of a supermarket. There were wheels on the bottom and thick paritions on the side. An average-sized person could easily lay down inside one of the crates without bending.
Atop each of the crates was a sign with a short bit of handwritten English text. The signs for the three crates on the left read: RIFLES/SHOTGUNS. The signs for the two crates on the right read: PISTOLS. Within each of the crates was either a pile of 1911s and revolvers or a pile of Springfield bolt-action rifles and pump-action shotguns.
Without putting much thought into it, Elias took his pistol out of its holster and placed it in one of the crates labeled “pistols.”
“What are you doing?” Volta said. “How are you going to find your gun when you come back?”
“Does it matter?” Elias asked. “They’re all the same gun. I’ll just pick a 1911 at random from the pile when I come back.”
While Elias and Volta were speaking, Redgrave took his pistol from its holster, removed the magazine, placed the magazine in a pouch at his belt, ejected the chambered bullet, and caught it in his off-hand. Redgrave then returned the pistol to its holster and removed the holster from his belt. He took his bayonet and carved a capital “R” on the side of his holster.
Volta followed Redgrave’s example, carving a capital “V” in her holster. Unlike Redgrave, however, Volta did not eject her bullet after removing the magazine. Elias couldn’t tell if she did this because she forgot there was one in the chamber or because she had not yet chambered a bullet. Like Elias, Pixie merely placed her pistol in the pile of other 1911s.
“Why can’t we bring our guns in?” Elias complained. “We can’t shoot them, anyway.”
“I think it’s a religious thing for the NPCs,” Redgrave answered. “They believe that their souls will be hurt in some way if they touch a gun. That’s why we can bring our bayonets in."
“What an annoying religion,” Elias muttered.
The four Revenants returned to the entrance and were waved through after one of the guards at the front visually checked them for guns. They didn’t even have to come to a complete stop at the checkpoint.
Now inside, their senses were overwhelmed by light and noise. An upbeat song was playing over the speakers, and various electronic slot machines glittered in Elias’s peripheral vision. People were talking, laughing, and cheering, though it was difficult to hear over the sound of the music. Notable also was the smell of cigarette smoke. The ventilation in the Lucky Dragon was good, so the smell was noticeable but not overpowering. Just about every table or machine had an ashtray.
Directly in front of the entrance were an assorted set of tables for blackjack, roulette, and craps. Beyond those tables was a set of windows, each with a casino employee standing behind it. To the right was an assortment of electronic machines. One could play slots, poker, or several other games Elias did not recognize at these machines. To the left were more tables where one could gamble with physical chips. At the back wall was a line of machines that looked a lot like ATMs. There must have been two hundred people in this single large room, and half of them were Revenants based on their attire. The Revenants were mostly hanging around the roulette and blackjack tables.
Elias swore under his breath and said, “It’s like a theme park.”
“What was that?” Pixie asked, unable to hear Elias over the music.
“Nothing,” Elias said. “What do you guys wanna play first?”
“First, we need to get some chips,” Redgrave said.
The Revenants approached the line for the chip counter. As they got closer, Elias could read a sign near one of the employees that read: THE BILLS YOU SPAWNED WITH ARE EACH WORTH 100 REN.
“Who do you think wrote those things?” Elias asked no one in particular.
“A player, probably,” Pixie answered.
Elias barely managed to stop himself from saying something snarky.
A moment after the four Revenants joined the line for the chip counter, another Revenant approached them. He was a young Hispanic man who had left his jacket unbuttoned. It took a moment, but Elias soon remembered the man from the fighting at the West Gate. Elias and the man had briefly taken cover behind the same concrete barrier at one point during the fight.
“Are you Redgrave?” the Hispanic man asked.
“Yes,” Redgrave answered simply. “Who are you?”
“He was at the West Gate,” Elias interjected.
For the first time, the Hispanic man turned toward Elias.
“You!” he suddenly shouted. The man smiled, “I thought that headshot had killed you.”
“Nope,” Elias said with a smile. Elias gestured to the eyepatch now over his left eye and said, “The bullet didn’t get through my eye socket. My skull basically cracked in half, but that’s nothing a little Rapid Healing can’t fix.” Elias laughed at the thought before saying, “Anyway, I’m Elias, what’s your name?”
“My username is Grim_Fando,” the man said.
“Nice to meet you, Grim,” Redgrave said. “Would you be interested in joining Tantalus’s group as a soldier? You have shown a willingness to fight, and we need fighters right now.”
“Hell yeah,” Grim said without hesitation. “If you didn’t say it, I would have asked.”
“Welcome to the team,” Redgrave said before gesturing to the rest of the team. “This is Pixie, Volta, and you’ve already met Elias.”
“I also answer to ‘cyclops,’” Elias said, smiling.
“By the way,” Grim said, “I’ve taken the Identify skill. If you need me to, I can tell you someone’s name, level, race, and physical stats as long as I can see their face.”
Grim turned to Redgrave and looked him in the eyes. Suddenly, Grim’s eyes flashed a bright yellow. The yellow color remained there for a few seconds before they faded back to Grim’s natural brown.
“Level eight,” Grim said. “I’m impressed.”
Elias quietly fumed at Redgrave’s level. Elias’s own level was only five. They had both seen roughly the same amount of combat. Why was Redgrave’s level three higher than Elias’s?
Redgrave looked slightly uncomfortable at the information he had previously thought private being suddenly revealed, but he quickly regained composure. “Interesting,” Redgrave said, forcing a smile. “I’m sure Tantalus will put your ability to good use.”
“You said you can only use Identify if you can see someone’s face,” Volta said. “Will it work if someone’s wearing a mask?”
“No,” Grim said. “It also doesn’t work on someone wearing sunglasses.”
“Your eyes flashed yellow when you did that,” Elias said. “Does that happen every time someone activates a Talent?”
Grim shrugged his shoulders.
The four Revenants then reached the front of the line. Redgrave, Pixie, and Volta each handed over two thousand Ren and received twenty black chips. Grim already carried a handful of chips, and Elias handed over five thousand Ren. Elias received five yellow chips instead of the black chips carried by everyone else. Each of the chips held a silhouette of a dragon in the center.
They then headed for the tables. The tables were so packed that it would have been impossible for them all to play at a single table. Pixie, Volta, and Grim sat at a blackjack table while Elias and Redgrave went to a roulette table.
Elias and Redgrave soon found a roulette table that was only occupied by two male NPCs. One NPC was in his thirties, and the other was in his sixties. The employee running the roulette table was a thirty-year-old woman with dark skin. Elias would have said she was black, but he wasn’t entirely certain that races mapped onto NPCs in the same way it did with real people. The two Revenants walked up to the table, and Elias held his small stack of yellow chips out to the croupier.
“Sorry, sir,” the woman at the roulette table said, “I’m not allowed to take the chips from your hand.”
“Ah,” Elias said and put the chips on the table.
The croupier slid the chips back and asked, “Would you like your chips in hundreds?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Elias said.
“Same for you, sir?” she asked Redgrave after whisking away his chips.
“Sure,” Redgrave said.
The croupier placed two stacks of green chips in front of Redgrave and five stacks of yellow chips in front of Elias.
“Ready?” the croupier said automatically. A moment later, the two NPCs at the table began placing their bets down.
Redgrave placed four chips on black. A moment later, Elias placed ten chips on black next to Redgrave’s chips.
“You’re betting on black as well?” Redgrave said to fill the air.
“Might as well,” Elias said. “If I bet on red, then one of us will definitely lose. If I bet on black, then we’ll either win together or lose together.”
The croupier retrieved the ball from where it laid on the spinning roulette wheel and sent it spinning in the opposite direction of the wheel’s spin. The ball spun several times. The croupier waved her hand over the table and said, “No more bets.” Then, a moment later, the ball clattered around the roulette wheel, finally coming to a stop in one of the wheel’s nooks. Elias and Redgrave craned their necks to see where the ball landed.
“Twenty-eight,” the croupier said. “Black, even, high.”
Elias pumped his fist, and Redgrave nodded happily. One of the two NPCs left in a huff as the croupier pulled his chips back to the dealer’s side.
“A thousand Ren richer, baby!” Elias shouted.
“Congratulations,” the croupier said with a smile.
While the croupier counted out Elias’s and Redgrave’s chips, an unseen figure took the spot that had been recently vacated by the NPC. Out of the corner of his eye, Elias saw a blue-clad arm place down two yellow chips.
After organizing his chips in six neat rows, Elias turned to the newcomer.
“Nice place they got here,” said Ashcroft, his stolen saber still hanging proudly from his hip.