A global crisis has humble beginnings. When King Dagon stole all of the money in the entire world, the first ripple was felt in Parlor City, NY. Edna P. Granbo was purchasing lemons and cat food at Behemoth-Mart Food Stores Branch 13 on Main St. near the high school. Having made her grandson check the balance three times on his SpectaPhone IndividuWeb before they left the house, Edna did not believe the plump sales girl who informed Edna's card had been declined. Edna struck the cashier with her cane. Then, suspecting her grandson of stealing her money with his new phone, Edna struck him as well.
When Branch Manager Mike Hutchinson heard the beeps of registers rejecting credit cards of little old ladies, he knew there were doings transpiring. Mike leapt over a shopping cart and did a military roll for the Customer Service kiosk. Ten years Navy SEAL training had Mike back on his feet in a second, but did nothing to prepare him for the can of Juicy-Juice to the back of the head that struck him unconscious. The little old ladies next tore out the deli counter and put the butcher to the meat slicers. The entire store was in flames ten minutes later.
The disaster struck while Will Whatley was buying lunch at the Dunwich Community College cafeteria. Video of fights, fires, and explosions flashed on the TV screens mounted at the corners of the room. No one knew what has happening, but everyone knew that everyone else was broke.
Will handed five bucks to white-haired Janice at the checkout counter, and both watched the screens without talking. As Will sat down to eat, DCC announced that all classes were being cancelled until further notice. The few remaining students cheered and fled the room. Janice tossed her hairnet in the trash and sat down beside Will. Twenty minutes later, the cell phone companies announced they were shutting off all phone service until the world could establish a payment method.
“What’s going on?” Janice asked, eyes crunched, glasses about to slip off her nose.
“Nobody has any money,” Will said. There is no smooth transition from the Free Market to barter and exchange. People riot quickly when there is no more food.
Will Whatley could not help but see this as a well-deserved vacation. The out-of-town kids were caught in the traffic jams leaving Boston, and the local students were busy fortifying their homes. Will’s apartment ran on the school generator, and there was food in the café that would last for a month. Someone was sure to figure this mess out in a day or two. Until then, Will’s salary was still being paid, the computers were still on, and the Network was still moving at full speed.
Will opted to play video games. He’d been running a successful business as a mercenary in the Tactical Adventure Online game. Known as a MERC, Gollum the Goblin collected rare items and artifacts to sell through black market online auctions. To acquire them, Gollum used an illegal dagger Will had written into the game. That level of Terms of Service violation gave the Mods carte blanche to attack on sight. However, this did not stop violators from paying membership fees and starting a new PC right away.
Will had done this before he went for lunch and all the money went away. She was a half-elf ranger named Sita Moon, and started the game with three elfin abilities without the low endurance that made full-blooded-elves so unpopular. Will chose HOP, FIRST STRIKE, and MARKSMAN EYE. Sita Moon nimbly fought Dragons and Barrow Wights in a fitted dress slit all the way up her leg.
The upside of a major catastrophe is very few people have time for video games. Will went turn after turn seeing only NPC’s, giving him hope that Gollum the Goblin’s equipment would be undiscovered. All new PC’s start in the White Hall of the Emperor, roughly an hour's travel from Corinth, where Gollum had been killed. Sita Moon ran that direction and killed everything that didn’t step out of the path.
Corinth was a ghost city. King Dagon and the ScornFish had smashed the buildings and walls, and any PC's that had not fled could not have survived long. Sita Moon came across several pockets of ScornFish that had been trapped in holes too steep to climb, but she didn't have time to put the monsters out of their misery. Gollum’s equipment lay where Gollum fell, in the remains of an alley between a tavern and weapon store. Sita Moon took all 412 items and did a quick inventory.
The only item Will noticed missing was the CTHULHU DAGGER that could kill any PC, NPC, or monster with a single strike. Will was furious. Why leave so many rare and valuable items to take one bootlegged dagger? Like most bootlegged weapons, the dagger was password protected. He’d never told anyone what the dagger could do, and only the most die-hard players knew the dagger’s origin in Fantasy Quest 3. There was no reason to take it but aesthetics.
In a sea-side hut, Will paid a NPC witch for a homing spell. Sita Moon received a magic compass that pointed her south, leaving a flashing yellow beacon on the OverWorld map. The weapon was on the frozen island of Char in the south seas. Ancient monsters ruled this land during tropical climes, and their buildings honeycomb the ice sheet. If a PC stands too close to a frozen section of the dungeon, the rage of the Star Things will melt the ice, and the monsters are close to unbeatable. A vast array of rare items wait to be recovered, especially in the deep levels.
Will had erased FQ3, and would have download and translate the code again to write a new CTHULHU DAGGER into TAO. That could take all day. The crisis could be over by then. and Will might have to go back to work. Sita Moon was low level for such an endeavor, but the remains of Gollum’s equipment left her equipped for the journey south.
Sita Moon chartered a ferry down the Halberd Coast to Mozabell and killed the NPC crew when they refused to press further south into the open ocean. The craft was small and hard to control with only one crew member, but Sita Moon handled the few encounters with her natural elfin aptitude with a bow.
The ship was a few blocks from Char when King Dagon rocketed from the depths. The ferry was slammed into an iceberg and broke apart, leaving Sita Moon clinging to the peak, taking 444 damage. Her hit points in the red, she swallowed a HEAL potion and used her HOP ability which allowed her to leap three blocks, bounce off another glacier, and land on Char’s snowy shore.
Equipping a YETI BLADE that could manipulate ice and snow. Sita Moon braced for attack. King Dagon took its first step on dry land, towering over her, long arms almost crushing her as they dragged up the beach. The monster shuddered, loosing a rain of Poison Barnacles that sprayed Sita Moon with199 points of damage. She drank another HEAL. King Dagon roared and stomped up the icy mountain slopes of the ruined Star Thing city. King Dagon was not here for Sita Moon.
The ScornFish surging from the sea were another matter. Arms out, baying their terrible wail, the ScornFish would attack anything they came in contact. Sita Moon sprayed the growing front line with arrows. Three ScornFish flashed and faded, but those that couldn’t step in their place spread down the beach out of sight, not-so-patiently waiting their turn. Sita Moon ran after King Dagon.
Will got $5 apiece for Snow Slither teeth that made PC’s invisible, so Gollum came often to Char. Winter gales blow up sporadically, limiting sight to a single block. Will had no means of navigation but the OverWorld map, which he set to 3D to find anything burrowing under the ice.
A second green dot flashed on the OverWorld, with two blue Non Player Characters following. The witch’s amulet confirmed Gollum’s CTHULHU DAGGER approached. Will couldn’t think of a better time or place to commit a robbery. He equipped Sita Moon’s ELVEN BOW and SLEEP ARROWS. It would take a special crazy to explore the most inhospitable place in the TAO world without other PC’s to teleport in.
The snow blew back to reveal Duke, the same Mod who slew Gollum the Goblin. Duke led two White Knights down the slope as fast as their armored legs were animated to move. Duke didn’t acknowledge Sita Moon as he passed.
Will took aim and blasted Duke in the back with one arrow, driving the fighter face-first in the snow. This was a warning. Will grinned and sipped his coffee. This was going to be sweet.
DUKE: What are you doing?
DUKE: It’s not safe here.
DUKE: We have to get off this island.
“Continent, dumbass,” Will said. The snow-storm spiraled around the YETI BLADE, driving back the White Knights who had already taken a battle posture.
DUKE: King Dagon is here.
DUKE: This is bad.
DUKE: Real bad.
King Dagon crested the mountain, barely visible in the swirling cloud. The monster’s roar shook the ground beneath Duke and Sita Moon.
DUKE: Avalanch!!
Sita Moon was fast enough to drink a SHIELD potion a moment before a wave of ice swept down the mountain. Duke, Sita Moon, and one of the White Knights were slammed into an icy outcropping. The White Knight attacked Sita Moon as soon as it recovered, consistently missing her with broad, clumsy strokes the half-elf nimbly avoided. She drove the White Knight toward the ledge and called down the storm. Icy winds blew the White Knight into the waiting claws of the ScornFish, who’d begun climbing up to them.
DUKE: We have to get away.
From an ice cave above them, barrel-shaped and tentacled Star Things were spilling out of the hole and rolling down the slope. Duke parried Sita Moon’s attacks.
DUKE: Stop fighting!
DUKE: Those things are going to fight Dagon.
DUKE: It’s the sequel.
DUKE: King Dagon vs. the Star Things.
Sita Moon used her YETI BLADE to slice off the ice block they stood on. It slid down the side of the mountain, crushing ScornFish beneath it as smashed to the floor of the plateau. Sita Moon used HOP to reach a ledge, leaving Duke to fend off the ScornFish. The Star Things were rolling off the mountain into combat, strangling ScornFish with plant-like tendrils and cutting with razor-sharp wings. Duke was able to break from combat and scramble after Sita Moon.
DUKE: Stop!
DUKE: That monster crashed the economy.
It would take a crazy person to be playing video games during a global crisis. Sita Moon backed up, sword drawn as Will caught his breath. Will sipped his coffee.
DUKE: If the Star Things don’t kill him, I have to.
Combat boiled below. King Dagon stomped and bellowed and swept the ground with its claws. The Star Things clung to King Dagon’s limbs, climbing up the monster’s body, biting and tearing with other-worldly teeth and claws. Star Things and fish men rolled across the snow, biting, clawing, and wrestling each other in a spectacle displaying the raw talent of the TAO visual arts team. Every creature in TAO had an internal skeleton articulated at 700 points for lifelike movement that responded to external stimuli. Virtual combatants fought and died in a drama no game designer had scripted. The Internet had learned to make war.
Andy McCarthy was not in a protected hamlet in the New England woods. Andy was in Portland, Oregon, where people were not as friendly. Andy could see half the city burning from the window of his office, and did not expect the power to stay on much longer. He’d figured out King Dagon was behind the crisis when he witnessed his AIN SOPH program shifting balances between SpectraCom bank accounts. The world needed solutions, not answers. Andy was desperate to keep others from discovering he was responsible for the catastrophe. If he didn’t kill King Dagon, Andy McCarthy would probably lose his job.
DUKE: I need your help.
DUKE: We need to wake up the Star Things.
DUKE: No other weapon or spell can do more than 1 damage.
SITA MOON: cthuhlu dag
SITA MOON: 1 hit kill
Sita Moon lunged at Duke. If she could get close enough, she could freeze Duke and take back the weapon.
DUKE: I can’t use it.
DUKE: Password.
SITA MOON: i know it
SITA MOON: i wrote it
Duke hopped back and equipped his HOLY SWORD.
DUKE: Tell me the password.
Sita Moon dropped a Circle of Fire from a CINDER WAND and blasted Duke within hand's reach of the ScornFish, who were running out of Star Things to kill. Duke burned for a moment, allowing Sita Moon to equip her bow to rain POISON ARROWS on Duke.
DUKE: Tell me.
SITA MOON: u figure
DUKE: You think this is a game?
DUKE: People are dying!
A fire ignited on an upper floor across the street. Andy could hear rioters shouting below, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails. Duke absorbed the arrows and swallowed a HEAL as he climbed back up the ice. Duke’s charge gave Sita Moon her FIRST STRIKE, but Duke parried the rest of her attacks and cut Sita Moon to single-digit Hit Points in a few rounds.
SITA MOON: i die you lose
Duke pressed his advantage on Sita Moon, keeping her from healing or re-equipping. She backed up to the ledge in a defensive crouch. The Star Things were almost gone. King Dagon lunged for Duke, chomping air as the fighter dodged and jumped, unable to score a hit. Ignored, Sita Moon restored maximum Health.
SITA MOON: give my dagger
SITA MOON: no other way
Andy sighed and selected “GIVE,” “CTHULHU DAGGER,” to “SITA MOON,” from a succession of drop-down menus.
DUKE: When the world turns normal, I’m hunting you down and taking this back.
SITA MOON: The world will never be normal.
Sita Moon equipped the CTHULHU DAGGER and leapt from the ledge into the ocean of ScornFish. Duke jumped after her, slashing with his HOLY SWORD before he landed. Even with a one-hit kill, Sita Moon needed to survive long enough to score the final blow. The last Star Things were gone, and many of the ScornFish had already lost interest. King Dagon was leading them back to the sea.
A shrill ring slashed from Andy’s speakers as Sita Moon launched a Ball Lightning from her LIGHTNING LANCE that arced up and fizzled across King Dagon's flanks, nearly toppling the monster. It roared in pain at the 1 point of damage floating above it. Four seconds were needed to spin King Dagon’s full girth and look down to Sita Moon.
Andy McCarthy’s computer screen went black, along with every remaining desk lamp and digital clock in the office. Only the reflection of fire provided light. Andy wailed and threw up his hands.
If Andy didn’t get out of Portland, he could count himself among the dead. Andy ran down seven flights of back stairs and out through a loading dock. Rioters were storming buildings down the block, but largely ignoring the alleys. Hobos and junkies took refuge back here, covering their faces as Andy approached.
Joining a mob crossing the bridge out of Portland, Andy found the National Guard checkpoint had been over-run by militants armed from pawnshops in Vancouver. Intent on keeping the city closed, the militants opened fire with very little provocation. Enough guns were coming out of the city that a firefight exploded with women and children retreating all around, stamping feet on whatever didn’t move. Andy tried to stay in the back. He’d accomplished too much to be shot tonight.
Cell phone service was gone nearly 16 hours, and the ring of a SpectraVex II put the battle on pause almost immediately. The phone was held by a college student named Nepotism Baldwin, who seemed as shocked as anyone else.
The combatants stumbled toward Nepotism like a mass of undead, eyes glazed, tiny runners of drool hanging from their lips. Nepotism flipped open the Vex and put it to his ear agonizing-slow. “Uh huh,” he said, jaw slack, staring off into space. “Uh huh. Sure. I’ll tell them.”
Nepotism closed the phone and put it back in his pocket. “There’s money again,” he said. “Everything is being turned back on.”
A great cheer went up from the crowd.
Everyone went back to work the next morning, doing their best to ignore the bodies in trucks passing broken windows. Employees catalogued missing and damaged office supplies that were guaranteed replacement in one business day. Andy McCarthy was never discovered responsible for the global crisis, and he was even promoted the following week. It didn’t leave him much time for TAO, but he made time each week chasing rumors of a half-elf boasting of the dagger that slew King Dagon.
END
Part 3
When Branch Manager Mike Hutchinson heard the beeps of registers rejecting credit cards of little old ladies, he knew there were doings transpiring. Mike leapt over a shopping cart and did a military roll for the Customer Service kiosk. Ten years Navy SEAL training had Mike back on his feet in a second, but did nothing to prepare him for the can of Juicy-Juice to the back of the head that struck him unconscious. The little old ladies next tore out the deli counter and put the butcher to the meat slicers. The entire store was in flames ten minutes later.
The disaster struck while Will Whatley was buying lunch at the Dunwich Community College cafeteria. Video of fights, fires, and explosions flashed on the TV screens mounted at the corners of the room. No one knew what has happening, but everyone knew that everyone else was broke.
Will handed five bucks to white-haired Janice at the checkout counter, and both watched the screens without talking. As Will sat down to eat, DCC announced that all classes were being cancelled until further notice. The few remaining students cheered and fled the room. Janice tossed her hairnet in the trash and sat down beside Will. Twenty minutes later, the cell phone companies announced they were shutting off all phone service until the world could establish a payment method.
“What’s going on?” Janice asked, eyes crunched, glasses about to slip off her nose.
“Nobody has any money,” Will said. There is no smooth transition from the Free Market to barter and exchange. People riot quickly when there is no more food.
Will Whatley could not help but see this as a well-deserved vacation. The out-of-town kids were caught in the traffic jams leaving Boston, and the local students were busy fortifying their homes. Will’s apartment ran on the school generator, and there was food in the café that would last for a month. Someone was sure to figure this mess out in a day or two. Until then, Will’s salary was still being paid, the computers were still on, and the Network was still moving at full speed.
Will opted to play video games. He’d been running a successful business as a mercenary in the Tactical Adventure Online game. Known as a MERC, Gollum the Goblin collected rare items and artifacts to sell through black market online auctions. To acquire them, Gollum used an illegal dagger Will had written into the game. That level of Terms of Service violation gave the Mods carte blanche to attack on sight. However, this did not stop violators from paying membership fees and starting a new PC right away.
Will had done this before he went for lunch and all the money went away. She was a half-elf ranger named Sita Moon, and started the game with three elfin abilities without the low endurance that made full-blooded-elves so unpopular. Will chose HOP, FIRST STRIKE, and MARKSMAN EYE. Sita Moon nimbly fought Dragons and Barrow Wights in a fitted dress slit all the way up her leg.
The upside of a major catastrophe is very few people have time for video games. Will went turn after turn seeing only NPC’s, giving him hope that Gollum the Goblin’s equipment would be undiscovered. All new PC’s start in the White Hall of the Emperor, roughly an hour's travel from Corinth, where Gollum had been killed. Sita Moon ran that direction and killed everything that didn’t step out of the path.
Corinth was a ghost city. King Dagon and the ScornFish had smashed the buildings and walls, and any PC's that had not fled could not have survived long. Sita Moon came across several pockets of ScornFish that had been trapped in holes too steep to climb, but she didn't have time to put the monsters out of their misery. Gollum’s equipment lay where Gollum fell, in the remains of an alley between a tavern and weapon store. Sita Moon took all 412 items and did a quick inventory.
The only item Will noticed missing was the CTHULHU DAGGER that could kill any PC, NPC, or monster with a single strike. Will was furious. Why leave so many rare and valuable items to take one bootlegged dagger? Like most bootlegged weapons, the dagger was password protected. He’d never told anyone what the dagger could do, and only the most die-hard players knew the dagger’s origin in Fantasy Quest 3. There was no reason to take it but aesthetics.
In a sea-side hut, Will paid a NPC witch for a homing spell. Sita Moon received a magic compass that pointed her south, leaving a flashing yellow beacon on the OverWorld map. The weapon was on the frozen island of Char in the south seas. Ancient monsters ruled this land during tropical climes, and their buildings honeycomb the ice sheet. If a PC stands too close to a frozen section of the dungeon, the rage of the Star Things will melt the ice, and the monsters are close to unbeatable. A vast array of rare items wait to be recovered, especially in the deep levels.
Will had erased FQ3, and would have download and translate the code again to write a new CTHULHU DAGGER into TAO. That could take all day. The crisis could be over by then. and Will might have to go back to work. Sita Moon was low level for such an endeavor, but the remains of Gollum’s equipment left her equipped for the journey south.
Sita Moon chartered a ferry down the Halberd Coast to Mozabell and killed the NPC crew when they refused to press further south into the open ocean. The craft was small and hard to control with only one crew member, but Sita Moon handled the few encounters with her natural elfin aptitude with a bow.
The ship was a few blocks from Char when King Dagon rocketed from the depths. The ferry was slammed into an iceberg and broke apart, leaving Sita Moon clinging to the peak, taking 444 damage. Her hit points in the red, she swallowed a HEAL potion and used her HOP ability which allowed her to leap three blocks, bounce off another glacier, and land on Char’s snowy shore.
Equipping a YETI BLADE that could manipulate ice and snow. Sita Moon braced for attack. King Dagon took its first step on dry land, towering over her, long arms almost crushing her as they dragged up the beach. The monster shuddered, loosing a rain of Poison Barnacles that sprayed Sita Moon with199 points of damage. She drank another HEAL. King Dagon roared and stomped up the icy mountain slopes of the ruined Star Thing city. King Dagon was not here for Sita Moon.
The ScornFish surging from the sea were another matter. Arms out, baying their terrible wail, the ScornFish would attack anything they came in contact. Sita Moon sprayed the growing front line with arrows. Three ScornFish flashed and faded, but those that couldn’t step in their place spread down the beach out of sight, not-so-patiently waiting their turn. Sita Moon ran after King Dagon.
Will got $5 apiece for Snow Slither teeth that made PC’s invisible, so Gollum came often to Char. Winter gales blow up sporadically, limiting sight to a single block. Will had no means of navigation but the OverWorld map, which he set to 3D to find anything burrowing under the ice.
A second green dot flashed on the OverWorld, with two blue Non Player Characters following. The witch’s amulet confirmed Gollum’s CTHULHU DAGGER approached. Will couldn’t think of a better time or place to commit a robbery. He equipped Sita Moon’s ELVEN BOW and SLEEP ARROWS. It would take a special crazy to explore the most inhospitable place in the TAO world without other PC’s to teleport in.
The snow blew back to reveal Duke, the same Mod who slew Gollum the Goblin. Duke led two White Knights down the slope as fast as their armored legs were animated to move. Duke didn’t acknowledge Sita Moon as he passed.
Will took aim and blasted Duke in the back with one arrow, driving the fighter face-first in the snow. This was a warning. Will grinned and sipped his coffee. This was going to be sweet.
DUKE: What are you doing?
DUKE: It’s not safe here.
DUKE: We have to get off this island.
“Continent, dumbass,” Will said. The snow-storm spiraled around the YETI BLADE, driving back the White Knights who had already taken a battle posture.
DUKE: King Dagon is here.
DUKE: This is bad.
DUKE: Real bad.
King Dagon crested the mountain, barely visible in the swirling cloud. The monster’s roar shook the ground beneath Duke and Sita Moon.
DUKE: Avalanch!!
Sita Moon was fast enough to drink a SHIELD potion a moment before a wave of ice swept down the mountain. Duke, Sita Moon, and one of the White Knights were slammed into an icy outcropping. The White Knight attacked Sita Moon as soon as it recovered, consistently missing her with broad, clumsy strokes the half-elf nimbly avoided. She drove the White Knight toward the ledge and called down the storm. Icy winds blew the White Knight into the waiting claws of the ScornFish, who’d begun climbing up to them.
DUKE: We have to get away.
From an ice cave above them, barrel-shaped and tentacled Star Things were spilling out of the hole and rolling down the slope. Duke parried Sita Moon’s attacks.
DUKE: Stop fighting!
DUKE: Those things are going to fight Dagon.
DUKE: It’s the sequel.
DUKE: King Dagon vs. the Star Things.
Sita Moon used her YETI BLADE to slice off the ice block they stood on. It slid down the side of the mountain, crushing ScornFish beneath it as smashed to the floor of the plateau. Sita Moon used HOP to reach a ledge, leaving Duke to fend off the ScornFish. The Star Things were rolling off the mountain into combat, strangling ScornFish with plant-like tendrils and cutting with razor-sharp wings. Duke was able to break from combat and scramble after Sita Moon.
DUKE: Stop!
DUKE: That monster crashed the economy.
It would take a crazy person to be playing video games during a global crisis. Sita Moon backed up, sword drawn as Will caught his breath. Will sipped his coffee.
DUKE: If the Star Things don’t kill him, I have to.
Combat boiled below. King Dagon stomped and bellowed and swept the ground with its claws. The Star Things clung to King Dagon’s limbs, climbing up the monster’s body, biting and tearing with other-worldly teeth and claws. Star Things and fish men rolled across the snow, biting, clawing, and wrestling each other in a spectacle displaying the raw talent of the TAO visual arts team. Every creature in TAO had an internal skeleton articulated at 700 points for lifelike movement that responded to external stimuli. Virtual combatants fought and died in a drama no game designer had scripted. The Internet had learned to make war.
Andy McCarthy was not in a protected hamlet in the New England woods. Andy was in Portland, Oregon, where people were not as friendly. Andy could see half the city burning from the window of his office, and did not expect the power to stay on much longer. He’d figured out King Dagon was behind the crisis when he witnessed his AIN SOPH program shifting balances between SpectraCom bank accounts. The world needed solutions, not answers. Andy was desperate to keep others from discovering he was responsible for the catastrophe. If he didn’t kill King Dagon, Andy McCarthy would probably lose his job.
DUKE: I need your help.
DUKE: We need to wake up the Star Things.
DUKE: No other weapon or spell can do more than 1 damage.
SITA MOON: cthuhlu dag
SITA MOON: 1 hit kill
Sita Moon lunged at Duke. If she could get close enough, she could freeze Duke and take back the weapon.
DUKE: I can’t use it.
DUKE: Password.
SITA MOON: i know it
SITA MOON: i wrote it
Duke hopped back and equipped his HOLY SWORD.
DUKE: Tell me the password.
Sita Moon dropped a Circle of Fire from a CINDER WAND and blasted Duke within hand's reach of the ScornFish, who were running out of Star Things to kill. Duke burned for a moment, allowing Sita Moon to equip her bow to rain POISON ARROWS on Duke.
DUKE: Tell me.
SITA MOON: u figure
DUKE: You think this is a game?
DUKE: People are dying!
A fire ignited on an upper floor across the street. Andy could hear rioters shouting below, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails. Duke absorbed the arrows and swallowed a HEAL as he climbed back up the ice. Duke’s charge gave Sita Moon her FIRST STRIKE, but Duke parried the rest of her attacks and cut Sita Moon to single-digit Hit Points in a few rounds.
SITA MOON: i die you lose
Duke pressed his advantage on Sita Moon, keeping her from healing or re-equipping. She backed up to the ledge in a defensive crouch. The Star Things were almost gone. King Dagon lunged for Duke, chomping air as the fighter dodged and jumped, unable to score a hit. Ignored, Sita Moon restored maximum Health.
SITA MOON: give my dagger
SITA MOON: no other way
Andy sighed and selected “GIVE,” “CTHULHU DAGGER,” to “SITA MOON,” from a succession of drop-down menus.
DUKE: When the world turns normal, I’m hunting you down and taking this back.
SITA MOON: The world will never be normal.
Sita Moon equipped the CTHULHU DAGGER and leapt from the ledge into the ocean of ScornFish. Duke jumped after her, slashing with his HOLY SWORD before he landed. Even with a one-hit kill, Sita Moon needed to survive long enough to score the final blow. The last Star Things were gone, and many of the ScornFish had already lost interest. King Dagon was leading them back to the sea.
A shrill ring slashed from Andy’s speakers as Sita Moon launched a Ball Lightning from her LIGHTNING LANCE that arced up and fizzled across King Dagon's flanks, nearly toppling the monster. It roared in pain at the 1 point of damage floating above it. Four seconds were needed to spin King Dagon’s full girth and look down to Sita Moon.
Andy McCarthy’s computer screen went black, along with every remaining desk lamp and digital clock in the office. Only the reflection of fire provided light. Andy wailed and threw up his hands.
If Andy didn’t get out of Portland, he could count himself among the dead. Andy ran down seven flights of back stairs and out through a loading dock. Rioters were storming buildings down the block, but largely ignoring the alleys. Hobos and junkies took refuge back here, covering their faces as Andy approached.
Joining a mob crossing the bridge out of Portland, Andy found the National Guard checkpoint had been over-run by militants armed from pawnshops in Vancouver. Intent on keeping the city closed, the militants opened fire with very little provocation. Enough guns were coming out of the city that a firefight exploded with women and children retreating all around, stamping feet on whatever didn’t move. Andy tried to stay in the back. He’d accomplished too much to be shot tonight.
Cell phone service was gone nearly 16 hours, and the ring of a SpectraVex II put the battle on pause almost immediately. The phone was held by a college student named Nepotism Baldwin, who seemed as shocked as anyone else.
The combatants stumbled toward Nepotism like a mass of undead, eyes glazed, tiny runners of drool hanging from their lips. Nepotism flipped open the Vex and put it to his ear agonizing-slow. “Uh huh,” he said, jaw slack, staring off into space. “Uh huh. Sure. I’ll tell them.”
Nepotism closed the phone and put it back in his pocket. “There’s money again,” he said. “Everything is being turned back on.”
A great cheer went up from the crowd.
Everyone went back to work the next morning, doing their best to ignore the bodies in trucks passing broken windows. Employees catalogued missing and damaged office supplies that were guaranteed replacement in one business day. Andy McCarthy was never discovered responsible for the global crisis, and he was even promoted the following week. It didn’t leave him much time for TAO, but he made time each week chasing rumors of a half-elf boasting of the dagger that slew King Dagon.
END
Part 3
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