Adam Drake - Blackout

The ogre dismounted and grinned. “That was fun,” he said. He patted the huge mallet against a meaty palm. “But this little game is over,” he said.

In answer, I snapped my fingers and Smoke winked out of existence. Then I drew my sword, turned and promptly fled into the tunnel entrance.

Kragg shouted something which was filtered, but I ignored him as I ran through the darkness.

The tunnel was short, and I emerged in a vaulted chamber. Huge, ancient tapestries lined the walls, punctuated by the occasional fire sconce. The floor was made of flat stone, covered in a thin layer of sand.

I looked about. There was nowhere else to go. From the tunnel I heard more filtered words, getting louder. He was coming.

I dashed to the wall on the other side of the chamber and turned, sword at the ready.

Kragg burst in, blood covered mallet in his hands. He stopped when he saw me and took a moment to examine the new surroundings. Then he smiled.

“You want to die here? Not outside?” he shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me.” He sauntered forward.

I waited. Not yet, I thought. Not quite yet.

“I’m a little disappointed with you, little Shadow,” Kragg said. He took another step closer. “I expected greater things. A bigger fight. You have a reputation as someone not to tangle with.” He laughed.

I said nothing and concentrated on his position. This would be close.

“All those tough quests you’ve completed. A legendary one, too. Now it all comes down to this.” He motioned at the chamber dramatically. “You die in little room in the dirt. So sad.”

Another step. This one kicked some of the sand aside, revealing the section of a symbol painted on the stone floor beneath.

“What do you have to say now, little Shadow? Do you-,” Kragg’s gaze snagged on the partial symbol. “What is-,” he said, but didn’t finish. At the last moment, his eyes widened at his mistake.

“Now!” I shouted.

One of the tapestries fell to the ground. Behind it, stood a tall breast-plate wearing minotaur. The man-bull was not carrying a weapon. Instead, he clutched a crystal orb in each of his huge hands.

“No!” shouted Kragg as he turned to confront this new threat.

The minotaur, with a wide maniacal grin, smashed the orbs together, and they shattered.

Instantly, from the drawn symbol on the floor, a massive glass orb bubbled up and fully encased Kragg.

The ogre blinked in shock, hands outstretched pressing against the inside of the orb. The orb floated up a short distance from the ground with Kragg inside, like the universe’s ugliest snow globe. He looked from the minotaur to me, in stunned amazement.

“What do I have to say about this?” I said, looking smug. I raised eyebrows and offered a huge smile. “Gotcha!”

Kragg punched a massive fist against the clear material of the orb which only produced a low thud. “What the FILTERED is this?” he roared. The orb allowed sound to pass through it, but nothing else.

The minotaur stood next to me, wiping shards of crystal from his large hands. “That is your new home, Snot-rag.” He looked to me and grinned. “I did good, didn’t I, Vee?”

I nodded and patted his huge arm. “You always do good, Muddie. Even if I say you don’t.” Muddie – or Mudhoof – was a warrior-minotaur and long-time fellow adventurer. We’d completed a lot of quests together and failed our fair share of them as well. But I could always count on the guy to fight to the bitter end. No logging out of the game because things got too tough.

Kragg, now furious, punched the interior of the orb several more times and yelled profanities. After a few moments he stopped to glare at us. “Let me out of here! NOW! If you know what’s good for you.”

I watched the ugly green ogre, trapped and helpless within his prison, up to the count of ten. Then I said, “We need to have a conversation before I even consider letting you out of there.”

Kragg turned to look at the tunnel entrance. He seemed to expect something.

I shook my head. “Nope, no mount, sorry. The moment the orb encases a subject all summonings, companions, mounts and whatnot are disbanded. Your crazy yellow friend won’t be able to help you now.”

Mudhoof looked confused. “Yo, Snot-rag. What’s the deal with riding around on a yellow unicorn? It makes little sense. Don’t you have any dignity?”

“Shut up!” Kragg roared. He was panting heavily, working himself up into a real lather.

Mudhoof asked quizzically, “Or maybe there’s a more deep-seated reason for prancing around on a horse with a long thing on its forehead. Trying to make up for something, or we? A little short where it counts? Betcha don’t even know that’s why you ride around on it, huh?”

Kragg was now shaking, eyes bulging out of his head, knuckles of his fists pressing hard against the orb.

“I think he’s gonna blow,” Mudhoof said.

Kragg did. The ogre exploded into a fury of filtered expletives and roars as he punched, kicked, and even head-butted his enclosure. This went on for several minutes while Mudhoof and I watched, unimpressed.

Then, spent of energy, Kragg stopped and went silent, panting heavily. He sagged down within the orb, his legs crossed beneath him.

“Berzerker-Rage ability timed out, huh?” I said. “Good, because now we can have a civil conversation.”

Kragg focused on me and leaned forward. “I don’t care what you have to say, little Shadow. It won’t matter. I’m still going to kill you and collect that bounty.” He sneered at Mudhoof. “I’ll take out this walking cheese burger, too, as a bonus.”

Mudhoof snorted and kicked a hoof through the sand on the floor. “You won’t be killing anyone today, Snot-rag. And try not to look so smug. Who’s the one who got his dumb-ass led straight into a simple trap?”

I raised a hand. “Mudhoof, please.”

The minotaur snorted again, but went quiet. Mudhoof knew when I used his full name it meant to chill out. Long-time friends can get away with that.

To Kragg, I said, “Yes, we trapped you. And it wasn’t hard. We’ve been tracking you for a few days now, waiting for a chance for you to ‘find’ me.”

Kragg furrowed his unibrow, “You tracked me? What for? You should be doing everything to avoid me. I’m the bounty hunter, not you. What kind of idiot goes out of their way to get caught?”

Mudhoof took an intake of breath but I cut him off with a glance before he could say anything.

I gave Kragg a serious look and pointed a thumb at myself, “ This idiot is sick and tired of being hunted by half the gaming universe. So, to put an end to all this bounty nonsense I decided that, as the game’s most influential bounty hunter, we could come to an arrangement.”

Kragg was thoroughly confused. “You want to split the bounty? Is that it? Let me kill you so we can share the reward?” He made a show of thinking, looking up in the air pensively and screwing a finger against his chin. “Hmm. Nope. Not gonna happen. Still going to kill you, and the bounty is all mine.”

“You’re not in a position to negotiate, Booger,” Mudhoof blurted.

I said, “At least hear me out. It’s not like you are going anywhere for a while.”

Kragg barked a laugh. “Okay, I’ve had enough of this. I’m outta here.” He wore a tiny leather vest that only came down past his armpits. He reached inside and rummaged around.

Mudhoof and I watched expectantly.

With a dramatic flourish the ogre pulled out a large gold coin and held it up for us to see. “Teleport Token, morons,” he said with a wide grin. “Going to port back to my guildhall, round up some friends, and come find you. Bring this to a close.” He rubbed at the Token.