Chapter 2

Esther woke in agony.

Her head throbbed like one of Gromphy’s acid bombs, pulsing with pain every few seconds. At first, Esther was too consumed by the pain even to recognize she was lying down or had her eyes closed, but as consciousness slowly took hold, she became more aware of her environment, and the pain drifted to the back of her mind, still there but manageable.

As the ringing of her headache receded from her ears she heard the white noise of the ocean surf rising and falling in the background. Where was she? Where had she been?

A beach.

Esther had spent many hours relaxing in the sand beside the warm lake outside Jace’s stronghold. But that pool was calm and quiet. The sound greeting her now was the constant thrum of waves against the shore. Memories of a sea and a beach returned to her, and she remembered defending the keep against boat after boat that came ashore and dumped out the most diverse collection of enemies she had ever seen. Was she still there? Had she been injured and was now recovering in a quiet room on the upper floors of the keep, the battle a distant memory, and the waves crashing on the shore?

Esther opened her eyes and looked around. This wasn’t a castle room. The walls were painted, and the windows framed with wood, silk curtains dancing about in the breeze. Thick carpet and plush furniture filled the room. As she realized she wasn’t at the keep, she remembered she hadn’t been injured in the fight. She had been killed.

Esther had long thought to test Jace’s theory that if she died, she would wake up in her bed, but had never been bold enough. It looked like her leader was right. But . . .

Something was wrong. This wasn’t her bed. This wasn’t her room. Her quarters in the stronghold were cut from a mountain with smooth, curved stone walls. She had luxurious furniture, but this wasn’t it. Her hot tub was missing, along with the large table and dresser. But there was still something familiar about this room. She knew it from her past, but why?

The ocean surf rose in her mind and stirred a distant memory. The Gilded Swan sat on the coast, and before Jace had rescued her and she had been fully undead, she had only been able to look at the water at night, or else the sunlight would kill her. So, she was far more familiar with the sound of the waves than the sight of them. Was she back in her old home? Was Jace wrong about what would happen to her when she died? Had her life been reset, and she was once again a prisoner?

Esther swung her legs over the side of the bed and moved to the window. The familiar coast along the city of Portsmith greeted her. The sun had gone down, and the dark shore was exactly as she had remembered it. Well, almost exactly. Her viewing angle was slightly different. Esther turned back to the room and examined it again, her eyes growing accustomed to the dark.

This wasn’t her room. It was bigger and higher up in the building. This was Jezebel’s room, the swamp hag who had ruled the brothel. Only . . . this wasn’t her room. Well, it was, and it wasn’t. It was the right size and shape, and the view out the window told Esther she was on the top floor of the Gilded Swan, but the décor was all wrong. The colors were blue and red, not pink and gold like they had been when she had stayed here. The vanity was gone, replaced by a coat rack and stand for staves and other polearms.

The first memory that had come back to Esther when she had woken was of the fight at the keep where Jace’s lightning bolt had vaporized her. Then, when she realized where she was, her thoughts jumped back to the time before she had met Jace, and her memories went forward from there. She remembered the odd orc rescuing her and their fight against Drescher and his minions. Then, they had acquired Draya, Gromphy, and Psycho. She and the goblin had gone on a side quest, and her skin tingled uncomfortably as she remembered more of her past. Then they had rescued the kidnapped players. Jace had been out of the game for a while after that, and Esther had spent most of her time here, in this room, with . . .

“Vithium,” Esther said out loud, all her memories returning to her now. Jace had said she would wake up in her bed after she died, but he had assumed that was where she spent her nights.

The door to the room opened slowly, and Esther tensed for action. Her hands dropped instinctively to her sword hilts, but they weren’t there. For the first time, she looked down at her attire. She wore a gray cotton tunic. Jace had once described it as a Roman slave outfit, but she didn’t know what a “Roman” was. It was a loose-fitting, knee-length tunic. Without really thinking about it, she used her Fashion Design skill to alter the outfit. The neckline dropped as the top became sleeveless. The middle gathered tight against her ribs and hips but remained loose over her legs to allow a full range of motion.

Esther had nowhere to hide and chose to drop into the shadows instead. The door opened, and a young man holding a sword and shield entered cautiously. After a wave of his hand, the room flooded with magical light, yanking Esther from the shadows. She stood in plain sight between the bed and the window.

“Hello, Tristan,” Esther said, disarming the young man with an innocent smile. “Nice to see you again.” The spellsword was a companion Vithium had acquired recently, and Esther didn’t like him. He was loyal to his master, so he didn’t harm or mistreat her, but he had a look about him like he would stab his own brother in the back if it would help him out of a bind.

“Good evening, Miss Xerxes,” he replied, sheathing his weapon. “We weren’t expecting you this evening. Vithium said you were with Jace tonight.” He moved completely into the room and spoke quietly into a medallion around his neck.

Esther shrugged. “We finished early.”

The necklace was obviously been to summon his master, and within a few seconds, Vithium was at the door. The monk was all smiles, dressed in vibrantly colored robes and jewelry. As the owner of the most famous brothel in the realms, he had probably been socializing with important clientele downstairs. Esther looked around the room, understanding that there must be magical motion detectors that had alerted him to her presence, and he had sent Tristan up to investigate.

“Well,” Vithium said. “This is a pleasant surprise.” He turned to his companion. “Tristan, please go downstairs and tell our guests I’ll be detained for . . .” his eyes went to Esther as he contemplated a time frame, “a while,” he finally settled with.

The spellsword nodded and left in a hurry. As Vithium undid the sash at his waist to loosen his robes, Esther lifted her hand and shook her head. “Vithi, no, not tonight. I’m not in the mood.”

He laughed at her. “What are you talking about? Are you playing hard to get? You sneak into my room wearing . . . almost nothing on a night when you said you wouldn’t be available. And, what? You just want to talk? We can talk with our clothes off.”

“No, you don’t understand. I have a headache.”

The monk laughed. “Like I’ve never heard that before. You’d think Gandhi would be more creative.”

Esther stomped her foot. “I’m serious.”

Vithium stopped laughing and studied her. Esther saw the moment reality struck him. Her outfit, even with her modifications, wasn’t that hard to recognize. His eyes moved to the ruffled covers of the bed, which she had obviously already been in. It didn’t take a genius to figure the rest out. “You died,” he said solemnly. “You were with Jace, and he killed you.”

“He didn’t kill me,” Esther argued but then remembered it had been his spell that did her in.

“He was careless, and you died,” Vithium clarified. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve been telling you to leave him, and you won’t listen to me. What if you had been in someone’s stronghold? You’d be held captive right now. Can you even be reset? This isn’t a MIM anymore. Do you even have a module you could wake up in? You’d probably just be deleted. You don’t belong with Jace. He doesn’t deserve you.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Oh,” Esther scowled. “And you do? And what would my life look like? I’d be back in this hell hole, turning tricks for your profit. You really think that is the life I want?”

“You know I wouldn’t do that to you,” the monk bit back. “You would be in control of your life. You could work as you want, adventure as you want, do anything you want.”

“I’m happy where I am.”

Vithium laughed again. “If you are so happy with Jace, why did you wake up here when you died? Huh? Explain that to me. He doesn’t meet all your needs, and you know it. You might not want to live as a permanent escort anymore, but the people who visit my establishment now would bring more excitement to your life than you would know what to do with. Your adventures with them wouldn’t be limited to the bedroom. They would take you to fight dragons, visit the underground kingdoms of the gnomes, and have tea with powerful wizards. What does Jace do with you? Let me guess, he cheated and had you sneak him into one of the trials to raise his Wisdom.”

Esther shrugged. “Constitution, actually.”

“Those modules are boring and repetitive, designed for min-maxers to flex their muscles. There is real excitement in these realms if you are just willing to let go.”

Esther scowled at his ability to debate. It was like arguing with Gromphy, and it always left her feeling stupid and depressed. So, she changed topics. “If we are going to have the same arguments we always do, then let’s have one I’m interested in. Have you found my sisters yet?”

Vithium smiled. “Yes.”

“See, then you have nothing to bargain with . . .” she stopped, realizing he hadn’t said, “Not yet,” which was his typical answer.

“Yes,” he repeated. “I have. I located Leah early on, but I didn’t want to tell you until I knew where all three were. I found Deli two days ago, and just two hours ago, I was talking with someone downstairs who knows where Tami is.”

Esther was stunned and took a few stuttering steps backward until she sat on the bed. “Where are they? Are they okay? Can we go see them?”

The monk walked toward her but kept a distance of at least a dozen feet. “They are okay for now, but they are all being held against their will to some extent. When Jace disrupted your lives, Gandhi created quests for all of you. Right now, your sisters are trapped in theirs.”

“Tell me. Tell me where they are.”

“No.”

Esther was stunned. “What? Why not? Are you afraid I’ll stop sleeping with you?”

He motioned to the bed they were currently not lying on. “Seems that is already the case.”

Esther leaped toward him, but the monk rolled to safety. She was practically naked with Resurrection Sickness, giving banes to all her abilities. Vithium was a fully clothed monk with . . . who knew how many rings, spells, and other equipment boosting his stats. In this arrangement, they were close to evenly matched.

Esther recovered from her miss and spun to face him. “Do you really think that is why I am doing this? Why I spend my nights with you? I’m just sleeping with you to get information, and then I will dump you when I get what I want? What do you think I am?”

“A guile vampire rogue who lies to her own party leader to get what she wants,” Vithium responded with a straight face.

Esther scowled at the accurate description. “Touche.” She didn’t know exactly what the word meant, but Gromphy said it all the time in situations like this. She attacked again. This time, she grabbed hold of an outer layer of his trailing robe and ripped it off.

Vithium somersaulted 20 feet away and came up smiling. “I offered to remove my clothes earlier, but you turned me down.”

“Why won’t you tell me?” she cried. “What is the real reason?”

“Promise me you won’t tell Jace.”

Now Esther laughed. “Is that what this is about? You’re jealous of him.”

“He has you. I don’t.”

“I don’t sleep with him,” she countered.

“No,” he admitted. “But you trust him.”

“If I recall,” Esther said, “you worship a deity who is guile.”

Vithium frowned. “Touche.”

She thought him distracted and dove again, but he spun out of the way. “What was the first thought you had when I told you I knew where they were?”

Esther was breathing hard in her sickened state and didn’t want to have a deep conversation right now. “What do you mean? I want to know where they are?”

“Why?”

Esther shrugged. “To rescue them. Why else?”

“With me?”

Esther looked confused. “Of course not, I would ask . . .”

“Exactly,” Vithium said, taking a few steps toward her to ensure he stayed in her vision as her eyes lost focus after realizing his primary concern. “I am nothing to you. I’m good for a fun time or as an informant. But if something important comes up, something truly meaningful, you run to Jace.”

“He makes good plans,” Esther said weakly.

“Plans that get you killed!” Vithium got even closer as her eyes dropped to the floor. “I want to make plans with you. Just give me a chance.”

“Do you know how to free them?” Esther asked quietly. She didn’t hear a response from the man for a few seconds, and she looked up. “If I agree to go on a quest with you to rescue my sisters, do you know how to free them?” Esther made eye contact with him and saw his face frozen in uncertainty. “Exactly,” she said and attacked.

As soon as her hands touched his shoulder to wrestle him into a Grappled condition, his body exploded in a shower of fibers, and the illusion disappeared. “Stupid Strawman,” she muttered. Esther spun about but was too disoriented to defend against his maneuver. He came at her from behind and wrapped an arm around her throat. She tried to free herself and throw him over her shoulder, but she failed and was rendered Helpless.

The monk didn’t put any pressure against her windpipe but held her close so he could whisper in her ear. “No, of course, I don’t know how to free them. No one does. That is why they are still being held against their will. I tried to rescue Leah, but I failed.”

He paused as if considering something. Esther knew he only had a few rounds before her Helpless state ended. Already, the bonus he received from his Strawman ability had expired, and she would easily escape when she had a chance.

“I will tell you on one condition. That when you tell Jace, and you free all three of them, he isn’t allowed to take any of them into your party. Let them choose their own path.”

His advantage over her expired, but Esther didn’t move. She could talk now. “You want them,” she replied. “You would put them back to work here?”

“You think I’m a monster, don’t you?”

“I think you are a brothel owner who has that exact arrangement with a dozen other men and women.”

“Leah, Deli, Tami, and yourself are different,” Vithium said. “You know that. Jace would only have room for one of your sisters in his party. Who else would he get rid of? Psycho? Draya? No. He would help you free them, but he wouldn’t let you stay with them. I have room for all four of you.”

“Alongside Tristan?” Esther did free herself now and spun so she could face him.

The monk laughed. “I can trade him away if you girls don’t like him.”

Esther smiled. “For Thursa, maybe.”

“Thursa Hamley?” Vithium said. “Sir Wallace’s druid?”

Esther took a step back. “How do you know that?”

He grinned. “I know many things.”

Esther took a deep breath and let it out. “Okay. If you tell me, I will tell Jace on the strict conditions that he cannot take any of them into his party. Unlike us, he is honest. He will keep his word.”

“And then afterward,” Vithium continued. “If your sisters join with me, will you at least consider following suit? Think of the adventures we could go on. We would be the perfect party. A monk, a barbarian, a witch, a bard, and a rogue.”

“And a shapeshifting druid,” Esther added with a smirk.

“I can’t make any promises,” he said. “But I will try.”

Esther understood and nodded. “I will consider it.”

“Good,” Vithium said. He motioned to a pair of plush chairs along the wall of the large room. “Let’s have a seat. I have a lot to tell you.”

They talked for almost an hour. Esther tried to ask as many questions as possible, putting herself in Jace’s shoes and trying to think like he did. Of course, it might be easiest if the two men could sit together and discuss the issue, but the idea of Jace and Vithium meeting sent chills down the vampire’s spine, and she would work hard to keep that from happening.

When Vithium had told her everything he knew, Esther glanced at the clock on the wall. It was past midnight. She didn’t have a good grasp of when she had died other than it had been after sunset, and she had no idea how long she had remained unconscious between death and resurrection. “I need to go,” she said, rising from the chair.

“Jace is waiting for you,” Vithium said without animus, and Esther tried not to assume any.

“No,” she said. “Draya probably finally told him where I am, and he has already . . . what do you players call it? Logged off? Whatever that means.”

Vithium gave her a look that told her he disagreed, but he didn’t argue. “I understand you must leave, but don’t go like that.”

Esther looked at her noob outfit and shrugged. “It’s dark. I can hide in the shadows. No one will see me. I’ll go to the coastal travel node.”

Vithium shook his head. “You don’t even have shoes.” He rose from his chair and moved over to the closet. After opening a few drawers, he found what he was looking for. “At least wear these.” He tossed her a pair of leather moccasins. The tan color meshed well with her tunic.

Esther slipped them on and looked back at the monk to say goodbye but saw he had something else in his hands. Diamonds sparkled in the room’s light, piquing her interest.

“I’ve been meaning to give these to you for a while,” he said. “I know Gromphy is a better crafter, but . . . well, it is traditional where I come from to give a girl you like diamonds. And I know you like them.” He looked embarrassed, and Esther was touched.

She closed the distance between them and took the two items. They were gold bracers with a vibrant blue diamond in the center of each. She tried them on and found that one gave her +5 to attack and the other gave +5 to damage. She usually wore a shield bracelet on one wrist and a string of diamonds on the other. Jace had originally given her a single diamond with an Athletic boon spell inside, but Gromphy had done better and strung five of them together, and Jace loaded each one with the spell. Her usual items were better than these bracers, but she appreciated the thought.

“I love them,” she said and leaned in to kiss the man on the cheek. Color rose in Vithium’s face, and she backed away before he got any ideas and delayed her further. “I will see you again, hopefully with all my sisters.” She turned and left through the window, disappearing into the night.