Chapter 3

Jake laid it all out, he’d recognized that what was going on out there, was also going on in here. “It’s a real clusterfuck, there’s rules though. Ya’ can see yer weapon, but ya can’t access it until you enter for the first time.” he lectured. There is a Store, and people who go in can buy stuff with silver that they earn inside. No outside weapons work, guns don’t fire, and people sometimes go in, but never go out.” “Does everyone get a dagger?” I asked. “Nope, from what I heard though, all you get is some hand weapon, or maybe a magic staff.” “Magic wands a thing?” I wondered out loud. “Never heard either way” Jake shrugged.

After dinner that night, I broached the idea that I wasn’t the only one in here who had the Vision. “Jake, I think that at least two other guys got weapons in here...” and I told him about the one fat Hispanic guy I heard, and the other guy that I’d only heard talk about secondhand: ‘Billy’. “Unless they entered the Portal, they can’t access their weapon yet. We need to be the only guys that go down there. Oh, a few other things. As many as six can go together, but you can only go into two different portals every two weeks, and each portal only lets a party in once every ten days. We need to know if there are any other portals in this place, but first we need to get reassigned to checking the steam drains.

It wasn’t that hard, we had the skills, and nobody wanted the job. We were scheduled for a week from now.

“Robbie, I want you to try to call up your status screen tonight ... rumor is you can do it outside the portal, but I don’t want anyone seeing it. Smarter guys than us have put two and two together before, someone must have figured out that some convicts have been granted weapons, just due to the overall number of us. We need to keep a low profile.” He carefully mouthed as we walked toward laundry.

The week went by, but small things changed. Jake taught me about killing with a knife, and we did different exercises than we used to. “Robbie,” he finally said. “You’re supposed to be a Shadow Rogue, so you need to be learning some sneaky ways of moving.” In our cell, he showed me moving really slowly. It seemed stupid at first, but over 15 min he could go from leaning against one wall, to leaning against the other, and I couldn’t guarantee I ever saw him really move. It was hard, really hard. I went to bed tired more often than not.

Inspection day rolled around, and I was all keyed up. “Settle down Bucko, you’re drawing attention.” was all my Big Celly said while sipping his coffee. I finished breakfast, trying to not look or feel too excited. As soon as we had the gear, we walked quickly to where we were unobserved, then broke into a jog. “Gimme the camera and flashlight, you get in that portal and through it quick. Get the silver, get the magic items, get the gems (I’d told him about everything but my Sword and Needle by this point) and get back! I zipped up my coveralls to the neck and got to the portal as fast as possible. The start room was the same, I called out “Store” and up popped a store list. There were a few things, but priced way beyond me right now. I pulled my Needle and Sword and basically ran down the steps to the lower portal.

The island and marsh were much like before, but perhaps a bit larger? I’d killed the first Rat and gutted it before I thought to look around. Good thing I did, because a smaller (but faster) one was basically right behind me. I lashed out with the dagger (I was poking around for the silver nugget at this time) and caught it in the snout, damn near lopping it right off. I swapped for the sword quickly and finished this one off also.

Digging through both rats, I had an epiphany, I’d brought the dagger into my inventory just by wanting it. Could I do the same with other things? I waved my hand over the piece of silver I’d just found, wanting it in my private stash. It disappeared, thank heavens for small mercies. The next island had only one Rat, but I was able to confirm my new way of picking up silver without a full gut-job. An hour or so had passed and I’d cleared 6 islands. There were no caches, but I found 4 of the nice stones. I picked up a long stick to use as well, it wasn’t as sturdy as the ones I found last time, but it worked well enough. Half the islands had a second Rat, but they didn’t work together, so I wasn’t really stretched. I promised myself I’d take 20 minutes to just enjoy the scenery after I killed the last King Rat.

Being here, in this marsh was amazing, but I felt like I was just working and while I liked the thrill of the fight, I’d rather have done it in a different way than just racing through it.

The second last island had a hidden cairn. It was nowhere near the fireplace, and I wondered if I’d missed them on other islands. Inside was a large brown key, to what? I had no idea. It was heavy that’s for certain. It looked like it wouldn’t be out of place in an antique market. I stowed it and moved on.

The final island had not two, but three Rats, two small(ish) and one really big one. The three worked together too, with the big one squealing out things, and the smaller ones trying to move to my sides. I recognized their intent (you see this exact move in the Yard), and I was faster than the big one. Out-racing him, I was able to slide in a jab with Needle on one of the smaller ones. I lost Needle though, stuck in the rat. I continued to run, putting space between me and the big one until I figured that I had enough room to turn and fight, with enough time that the other two wouldn’t be able to join in. I didn’t make it. The King Rat was badly injured (I’d caught a few swipes myself without Needle being used to keep him at a distance) when his first ‘subject’ arrived. This was the one that I hadn’t injured yet, so she was faster, I guess.

We danced around a bit, and I again went for the smaller one, injuring it (this time with the sword before tearing off through the undergrowth again. I saw another cairn from the side of my eye as I raced along, marking it in my mind for further exploration. Surprisingly, I came across the first injured rat, the one still had Needle stuck in it. I stabbed it some more with my sword and it dropped, my Needle still stuck somehow. I just kept jogging, around the island until I found a rat again. It was the King this time, and after a short brutal fight (where I actually used the dagger in my offhand and for a left-handed hit) the King collapsed and I jogged off to confront the last of the smaller two.

Circling the island and gathering the silver, I also found a blue stone, and the cairn again. Inside was a small safe of the same colour as my key. I tried to put it in my inventory, and it disappeared, but I could really feel its added weight. Finding the exit was easy, and I made certain I spent a few quiet minutes just sitting, catching my breath, and thinking about the adventure I just had. The safe should probably be opened right here (if I could) since leaving it in my world would invite too many questions and carrying it around was problematic. I fished it and the key out and what do you know, it worked. Inside was a small book. I stored it and moved on to the exit portal, sad to leave the swamp.

I loitered in the start-room, wishing I had stayed in the swamp for a while longer, and dreading taking the pink portal back to lockup. I called up the store, and the only thing I could afford any time soon was a scroll of identify. I found out that my stones were able to be sold for silver, but I waited on that. 9 stones at 5 silver each wasn’t going to get me to the 100 silver I needed to make my purchase. The book title was “Fade”. Requirements: Rogue class: Level 1

Level 1 was a long ways off.

I crawled out of the portal and found Jake right there. “Holy cow, that’s amazing! You just appeared, no travelling through, you were just here!” I’d never heard him excited like this before. We crawled out and took off, slowing to a walk when we got close to the CO and the engineers office. We knocked and waited the cycle time for the gate to open. They must have noticed the fact that Jake was as filthy as I was for a change but said nothing. Probably putting it down to all the recent changes in the Yard.

Those changes weren’t just a few of us, it was damn near all of us. The COs were having an easier time of it too. Fewer fights and assaults had the atmosphere inside getting somewhere near calm.

We were talking again after lights out. I had pulled everything out (besides my two hidden weapons) and spread it on Jakes bunk, discussing the various items, and how they could be used, or traded. The problem was, any hint of Game (they were calling it ‘The Game’ right now on the outside) material or Silver inside the walls meant that some Con inside the walls had a weapon. We couldn’t let that information out, so we couldn’t let anyone know. Rumors and secrets inside, have a way of making it to the COs, they’d tear the place apart then find the portal. “Jake, can we rent-out the knife?” I asked, cautiously. I could see the wheels spinning. “Put this all away, let me think about it.” was all he said. We hit the rack. Tomorrow was laundry day, and you woke at the same time, regardless of when you went to bed.

It was the next evening, just before lights out, when Jake asked me to give him the knife. I was worried, as he was on his way to the John. “I don’t have an appointment; I just want to see if you can take it back from a long way off. Wait a bit ‘till you figure I’m about there, then try to take it back. If that works, I want you to try to give it back to me. I don’t know if it’ll work, but aim for putting it in my hand would you? I don’t want it appearing in my guts!” He laughed, as carefree when discussing getting stabbed by a magic knife as he was when discussing the weather. I sat and counted breaths, after about 50, I called my Dagger. I knew it came back, I could feel it. I tried to push it into Jakes hand, focusing on its shape, colour, his rough placement in the building ... nope. I put it in my own hand, trying to will it to Jake ... nope, nothing. I stashed it and turned down Jakes bed, and my own.