The XP: Chapter 7

Bob and Blackout appear back at the front entrance of The Hall. Their avatars are ghostly see through versions of their characters.

“What the hell was that?” Bob exploded.

Blackout stretches. “I dunno but whatever it was, it was painful.”

Stygian’s ghost appears. “Ooooo kay. Hows about we try that again but without the part where we 

suck?” He said. Bob and Blackout nod in agreement.

“For real though Blackout you need to be quicker on your spot heals.” Bob pointed out.

“Oh, you’re gonna blame this on me? I was supposed to run the waterfall remember? And what about Stygian skipping his countdown timer and blowing his enrage early?!” Blackout exploded.

Stygian holds up his hands “Woah, woah, woah! I was just trying to –“

Bob turned on him. ‘You were trying to be the Hero! We could have recovered if you hadn’t gone all Die Hard on us!” She yelled.

Stygian got in Bob’s face “Gee I’ll remember that the next time you drop your music to get into the fight because you got bored!” He yelled.

“That’s not the same thing!” Bob shouted right back.

Trart’s Ghost faded in. “Oh man that was so Awesome!”

Bob spun on Trart “And you –“

Trart floated right through Bob. “We got our butts kicked! How cool was that! Does the fire wave always explode like that, cause it looked so cool!” He rambled on pacing back and forth.” He stopped and looked at the others. “Are we going again?” He asked with excitement.

Bob had completely lost the momentum of her anger and was caught off guard. She glared at him. 

“On one condition.” She offered.

Trart smiled sheepishly “I remove the key binding to auto run?” He offered.

She nodded. “You remove the key binding to auto run.”

Trart smiled. “Deal!” He shouted as he ran back in through the hall gates.

By the time the group returned to the room where they had fought the Keeper of Forgotten Promises they found the boss dead. Torcano was standing on its corpse. Their bodies arranged to spell out ‘U SUK’.

Bob glared up at Torcano. “Oh look, the GM has discovered humor.”

Torcano laughed as he looked down on them. “That was hysterical you guys.” He said as he floated down to the ground. “Blackout was all -“ He ran back and forth flailing his arms “Ah I’m on fire!” He stopped running next to Trart. “and you were all ‘watch my Leroy Jenkins impression’ which is way funnier in person than it is on the internet.” He laughed.

Bob shook her head. “We are on the internet you tool.” She grumbled.

Torcano walked over to Bob all smiles. “Oh come on! You have to admit, that was funny.” He said as she shook her head.

“Oh sure, it’s super funny to someone who can’t die and wields a special weapon that can kill anything in the game in one hit. It’s super easy to talk trash when you’re an immortal God.” She glared at him.

Torcano’s mood drops. “I was just kidding around Bob.”

Bob moved away from him. “Kid around with someone else.” She spat.

Torcano shuffles toward the door. Blackout follows Bob and Stygian looks at Torcano.

“Thanks for taking care of the boss though.” Stygian offers.

Torcano nods and then disappears in a blink of light.

Trart looks in Bob’s direction as he walks over to where Stygian is standing. “What was all that about?” He asked.

Stygian looked in Bob’s direction as well. “About two and a half years ago, Torcano and his brother got Jobs as Game Masters. They dropped the guild and started working for the game. Bob started skirting the line of breaking the EULA and they’ve been picking at each other ever since.” Stygian explained.

Trart looked up at Stygian’s giant Helm. “That why you quit back in the day?” he asked.

Stygian looked down at Trart. “Not that it’s any of your business but I left because the game stopped being fun.” He clarified.

“Still it was awful nice of him to take the Boss out for us!” Trart shouted in Bob’s direction.

Bob walked back over to Stygian and Trart. “Yeah sure, nothing says ‘nice’ like showing off and taking one swing with the GM weapon.” She spat.

Trart pointed at the dead Keeper. “Soooo, you don’t want you’re share of the loot?” He asked.

She stepped between Trart and the Keeper. “I’m angry, not stupid.”  She clarified, as she opened the loot window.