By the time Enzo came back, the four college kids had left with the corpse of Kevin Avery. Tantalus, Redgrave, and Rachel remained. Redgrave and Rachel were standing near each other, and Tantalus was shouting at some NPCs. Now that Enzo really looked at Redgrave’s model for the first time, he was struck by how strange it was. Redgrave absolutely towered over Rachel, and his hair was snow white even though he couldn't have been more than twenty years old. As Enzo got closer and compared his own height to Redgrave's, he figured Redgrave must have been about six and a half feet tall. This paired with his body’s muscular frame made Enzo thankful it was Elias and not Redgrave that had hit him. Tantalus, on the other hand, was only slightly taller than Rachel. Tantalus must have been about five and a half feet tall.
“Sorry about all that,” Enzo said sheepishly as he got closer to Redgrave and Rachel. “Now that I’ve had some time to think, I realize I was wrong. Even if I was right," he sighed, "I shouldn’t have put it like that.”
“We understand,” said Rachel with a faint smile, gesturing slightly to Redgrave. “We all experience trauma differently. I just wish Elias hadn’t resorted to violence like that.” Enzo smiled meekly as Rachel spoke.
Redgrave looked at Enzo for a few seconds. “As long as you’re not crazy, that’s good enough for me. Plus, it’s not us you’ve gotta reconcile with, it’s the college kids.”
Tantalus passed by the three of them on his way to the next group of NPCs. While he was passing, he said, “Oh, Enzo, you’re back. Good. Red, send him a friend request.”
“What’s he doing?” Enzo asked soon after he was out of earshot. A ringing in Enzo's ears indicated that he had received a message. He closed his eyes and saw [Friend Request: Redgrave22].
“He’s organizing the defense,” Redgrave said as Enzo accepted his friend request.
“He started shouting about the NPCs’ lack of guns soon after the college kids left,” Rachel said, gesturing as if to indicate the college students. “I heard him say, ‘I want to talk to the West Gate’s commanding officer,’ when he passed by one time.” Rachel put on a poor Southern accent when she quoted Tantalus, causing Enzo to chuckle slightly. “Anyway,” Rachel continued, “Redgrave here was just telling me that Tantalus and he are internet celebrities.”
“Minor internet celebrities,” Redgrave said, not making eye contact.
“Apparently, Tantalus won some Ninth Oasis tournaments in 2029 and 2030, and he used this popularity to start a YouTube channel. Redgrave was a big fan of his and started a YouTube channel of his own last year. Tantalus’s channel has a million subscribers and Redgrave’s has half a million."
“It sounds kinda lame when you put it that way,” Redgrave said sheepishly.
A deafening gunshot interrupted their conversation. At the epicenter of the sound, Tantalus stood with his sidearm pointed to the ceiling of the West Gate. He was shouting, but none of the three players could hear him. Some of the NPCs around him had drawn swords and were eyeing him with concern.
“Hey! Hey!” Redgrave shouted as he drew his sidearm and started running toward Tantalus. Rachel and Enzo followed close behind. Some NPC officer was trying to say something, but Tantalus was shouting over him.
“No! You don’t seem to fully appreciate the power of a 1911! A man armed with one of these things is easily worth ten men armed with swords and spears! I’ve got seven shots left in this gun. If you attack me, seven of you will be dead in seven seconds. That’s to say nothing of the angry albino standing behind me right now,” he pointed his thumb back at Redgrave without looking. Tantalus leveled his gun at the officer and said, “So... I’m going to ask nicely one last time… Let me talk to the commanding officer.” After a long pause, the officer stood down and acquiesced to Tantalus's demands.
The three Revenants walked closer to Tantalus. He said, “I’ll be fine by myself. Trust me,” he scoffed derisively, “they couldn’t kill me if they wanted to.”
After about ten minutes, Tantalus rejoined the group, his gait indicating a deep anger. Redgrave asked, “What happened?”
“Their religion, Nurism, prevents any mortal man from touching any ranged weapon due to their similarity to the profane instrument that killed their messiah,” Tantalus spat. “This holy law doesn’t apply to Revenants… which is what we are, apparently,” as Tantalus said this, he gestured vaguely to the four players arrayed there. “As 'homunculi created from blood and dust,' we are not bound by the laws of Nur's father, the God of Civilization.”
“I guess the Deluvians are also excluded from their god's edicts?” Enzo asked.
“Well, they were using guns, so...” Tantalus said, "probably."
“What you’re saying is they won’t be any help at all in killing GM. God, our NPCs suck,” Redgrave spat.
“I’m sure we can find some use for them,” Rachel said diplomatically. “We need supplies for war, right? I’m sure we can use them to help supply us Revenants who are actually doing the fighting.”
“You’re right, Concerto,” Tantalus said, calming himself down with some effort. “I just got angry because I assumed they’d be able to fight, but we’re going to have to do all of it. By the way,” Tantalus said casually, “we’re gonna need to be ready to air this place out if the NPCs get in the way of the defense of the City."
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“What do you mean?” Rachel said, genuinely confused.
“I figured it’ll be our job in the early days of the game to defend this gate,” Tantalus said diplomatically. “And it seems that, lore-wise, the NPCs consider the Revenants to be second-class citizens. I'm not a hundred percent sure of that, but I got that vibe from the officers." The words seemed unnatural in Tantalus's mouth. "They’ll probably have us serve as auxiliary soldiers, meaning they’ll be expecting us to follow the orders of NPC officers. If our leaders are really stupid, that might hinder our ability to defend the gate. In that case, it would be better for us to just kill all of the NPCs at the West Gate and take control ourselves."
“What? We can’t just kill them!” Rachel said.
“We totally could,” Redgrave said with clear confusion in his voice. “There can’t be more than forty of them here. Tantalus and I could probably do it ourselves.”
“No!” Rachel shouted, shocked. “They’re self-aware. GM said so.”
“Technically, he said they’re shards of himself,” Tantalus said but did not get the reaction he was hoping for. “That's not important. What I mean is... I understand your perspective, Concerto, I really do, but... from a certain perspective, it’s the same as killing an NPC in any other game. They’re still... at their core... just ones and zeroes. They don't have a - pardon the religious vernacular - soul."
“My name is Rachel York, not Concerto,” Rachel said angrily.
“Right,” Tantalus said, surprised. It seemed that he himself wasn’t fully aware that he had been referring to Rachel by her username.
“What are your real names, anyway?” Enzo asked Tantalus and Redgrave. “If we’re gonna be stuck here together, we should at least know each other's names.” He mostly asked this question to move on to the next topic before Rachel and Tantalus killed each other.
“Do you really gotta know that?” Tantalus said quietly. His response was strange. Usually, Tantalus was outgoing, domineering, and arrogant, but this response was the exact opposite. He broke eye contact, and his posture suddenly indicated a lack of confidence.
“Our identities aren’t exactly secret,” Redgrave said. He sounded like he was trying to draw attention away from Tantalus’s behavior. “When you reach a certain level of popularity without hiding your face, people figure out your real name. My real name is Simon Miller. I’m a twenty-year-old high school dropout from California.”
Tantalus took a moment to compose himself and said, “My real name is Vincent Blackwell, if you must know, but Red and I will probably stick with our usernames for the foreseeable future. For us, our usernames are kind of like stage names. I have frequently introduced myself as ‘John Tantalus’ to people IRL if I know them through YouTube.”
“My real name is Geoffrey Lachlan,” Enzo said. “I’m an accountant and amateur writer from Wisconsin.” The other three looked at Enzo in confusion.
“Huh,” said Rachel. “I figured Enzo was your real name.”
“Me too,” said Redgrave. “Why’s your username EnzoTheBaker, then?”
A look of annoyance passed over Tantalus’s face, mirroring Enzo's. He opened his mouth to speak, but Tantalus began speaking a moment before him.
“Come on, don’t tell me you guys haven’t seen The Godfather," said Tantalus.
“What?” asked Redgrave.
“Oh, yeah,” said Rachel. “The mafia movie. I’ve heard of it but haven’t seen it. What does that have to do with his username?”
“Enzo the Baker's a minor character who…” Tantalus began before shaking his head. “No... it’s not important.”
Enzo pointed to Tantalus and enthusiastically said, “Yes! Somebody gets it! You’d be surprised by how often people don’t get the reference.”
“Kids these days, they don’t have any respect for the classics,” Tantalus said in an almost perfect impression of Marlon Brando. From this brief sentence, Enzo could tell that Tantalus was particularly good at impressions. Any evidence of his Southern drawl was completely absent from his impression.
Tantalus's apparent age made it strange that he would make this comment. He seemed to be in his early twenties, but the “Kids these days” line made him seem much older. When Enzo thought about it, he probably was much older than he looked considering that it was actually "Tantalus" and not "Vincent Blackwell" that stood before him. Tantalus was completely in control of the age of his avatar at character creation, so his apparent age had no bearing on his real age. What a strange concept. Enzo could tell that it would take him a long time to get used to that.
Redgrave turned toward the road that led from the City to the Gate. The rest of the group turned, and they saw that two of the college students were stepping out of a car that was a few hundred feet away. They couldn’t get any closer by car because there were hundreds of abandoned cars in the way. In fact, cars completely surrounded the West Gate on both sides. It seemed that, at a certain point in time, cars could no longer pass through the Gate, and people just had to pass through on foot. No one could possibly pass through by car.
Volta and Dendrite approached the Gate. Tantalus waved them over. When they rejoined the group, there was a moment of silence before Dendrite said, “We buried Kevin.” The two of them peered warily at Enzo. They probably expected him to say something else to deny his death.
“Good… good,” said Tantalus. “Everyone deserves a funeral.” He seemed like he was somewhere else for a moment, but he lightly shook his head and continued speaking. “So what’s the plan? What’s your next move?”
Volta and Dendrite looked confused by the question. Dendrite began speaking first. He said, “I guess we’ll just hang around the City until we figure out what to do next. There’s not really a ‘next step’ yet.”
“Well, then it’s a good thing I’m working on your ‘next step,’” said Tantalus. “I’m thinkin’ about starting a guild, and I want you guys to join. What do you say?”
The two college students whispered back and forth with each other for a moment. Volta said, “Well, you guys did save our lives, and you seem like relatively solid people. Yeah, we ought to stay together.”
A smile appeared on Tantalus’s lips. “You guys are good judges of character. I'm impressed,” he said. “Stick with me, and you just might be able to survive this game."
“Come on,” said Tantalus as he started walking toward the City. “If we’re going to survive, we need to be proactive. By the end of the day, we should have a good understanding of the City of Osiris."
He started striding confidently toward the City, and the rest of the group followed close behind him. Skyscrapers rose in the distance bearing neon signs in a language Enzo did not understand. Fear had settled firmly in Enzo's stomach, but it became somewhat more bearable when he was following Tantalus. Despite everything, Enzo felt that he could survive this game as long as he followed Tantalus. Only time would tell whether this instinct was correct.
[Volta_Fossa]
https://i.imgur.com/N7MBEfW.png [https://i.imgur.com/N7MBEfW.png]