Cody rode silently in the wooden transport wagon, leaned awkwardly into a corner with his hands and feet bound tightly with rough rope.
In the wagon with him were three other human men. The one sitting directly across from him had passed out from the oppressive heat an hour ago. They had been riding for far too long, bouncing along the rutted dirt road out into the deep countryside. It was humid, and the midday sun beat down relentlessly through the slats of the wagon bed.
Cody craned his neck, looking over his furry shoulder. He could see a massive vineyard in the distance. It was sprawling, blotting out the rolling hills ahead. He took a quick tactical inventory of their caravan. There were two prisoner wagons, two drivers, and four mounted horse guards. Four prisoners per cart put the captives at a numerical advantage, but looking at the malnourished farmers sharing his ride, Cody knew at least two of these guys would get cut down like weeds the second they tried anything. Dense, gray forest lined one side of the road; open fields stretched everywhere else.
He had to wait for the perfect moment.
And then, it happened.
Cough! The man across from him suddenly sputtered awake, gasping for air and looking around in wide-eyed panic.
“Hey, you,” Cody said, lowering his voice and trying desperately to contain the massive, shit-eating grin spreading across his feline face. “You’re finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there.” He nodded his head dramatically at the confused old man sitting in the opposite corner.
“What?” The old man’s eyes went wide. “I’m not a thief! What ambush? I'm a baker!”
“Silence in there!” A guard on horseback galloped up alongside the open back of the wagon, rearing back and snapping a heavy leather whip blindly into the cart.
Cody moved. Trusting his heightened Catfolk reflexes, he lunged forward, thrusting his bound wrists directly into the path of the crack. The heavy leather whip wrapped violently around the taut rope binding his hands. The sheer velocity and friction sliced right through the cheap hemp.
His hands burst free. He instantly dropped into a crouch, ducking the guard's frantic backhand strike, and extended the razor-sharp claws on his fingers, slicing effortlessly through the ropes binding his own ankles.
Chaos erupted. Seeing Cody break free, the younger man beside him surged forward with desperate adrenaline, reaching out of the cart, grabbing the trailing end of the whip, and violently yanking the mounted rider out of his saddle. The guard crashed face-first onto the wooden floorboards of the wagon. Before the guard could even draw breath to scream, the old "thief" snatched the iron shortsword from the guard's hip and shoved it clumsily but effectively into his back.
Cody didn't wait to watch the light fade. He vaulted over the wooden bench onto the driver’s back, shoving the stunned teamster hard off the buckboard. The driver tumbled into the dirt, bouncing brutally into the path of the second wagon trailing right behind them.
Cody grabbed the heavy leather reins and snapped them hard. He pulled the horses violently to the left, intentionally swerving the massive wooden cart to clip an oncoming, panicked horse guard. The heavy wheels slammed into the mount, sending the second guard tumbling into the ditch.
The dead guard in the back was unceremoniously shoved out of the cart by the remaining prisoners as Cody spurred the horses to a full gallop, putting distance between them and the ambush.
“Anyone actually know where we are?” Cody yelled over his shoulder, snapping the reins, heading ever closer to the massive mountain peak in the distance.
“That’s King Dong’s estate ahead!” the old man yelled back over the rushing wind. “My daughter’s trapped in there! We have to save her!”
“Not my monkeys!” Cody yelled. He let go of the reins, jumped cleanly from the speeding buckboard, landed perfectly on his feet in the dirt, and dashed straight into the dense tree line.
He darted through the woods as fast as his digitigrade legs could carry him, weaving through the underbrush until he noticed no one was actively following him. He couldn’t hear the violent commotion of the road anymore.
He slowed to a stop, leaning against a tree, and checked himself over. One piece. His furry wrists were a little chafed and sore from the bindings, but he’d seen worse days on Earth.
The King’s estate. That was a lot of vines. Cody scratched his ears, letting the tactical ideas marinate. He wasn’t familiar with exactly where this location was on the map. He’d completely lost track of their coordinates somewhere back around Shrimpwhistler’s Hustle.
He thought about the video game UI. He had an inventory, he had a character sheet... did he have a nav system? He raised a furry eyebrow and tested the theory.
“Map!”
A rolled parchment map materialized out of thin air and dropped into his hands. He unrolled it. It was complete with a blinking red X marking his current location in a wood just outside the sprawling borders of King Dong’s Estate. The detailed cartography definitely wasn’t made by Mark. The system was generating it.
He was deep in the Outermap territories, a place they rarely went in-game on Earth because of the brutally high difficulty level. Fuck, how was he going to get back? Sunnydale was dead center of the map, and the Forest of Nihilism was just southeast of that. His blinking X was way further southeast, past the massive bridge and way past Beachwatch.
He spooked, his ears flattening, as another set of heavy hoofbeats and wagon wheels rolled past on a parallel path through the trees, but they were gone immediately. He looked at the map again. If he just went back to the main road and crossed the open field on the other side, he would get to Beachwatch relatively soon.
He shook the map away, dissolving it, and hurried back toward the dirt road. He crouched in the brush, catching sight of the rear of a new wagon rumbling by in the distance.
Wait. He put his fingers to his brow to shield the glare and looked hard at the back of the cart. Sitting on the tailgate was a familiar silhouette. Horns. A leather jacket. A Tiefling.
Shit, they came to get me. Cody's heart swelled. Aww. They came to get me! But they were heading straight for the heavily fortified front gates of the estate.
Shit. They were his monkeys now.
He ran.
“SARA!” he yelled, bursting from the tree line. “I’M HERE!”
His feline agility made him incredibly quick, but the horses pulling the wagon were quicker. He chased them up the dirt road, watching the wagon pass smoothly through the open, wrought-iron gates of the estate and disappear over a manicured hill. His lungs burned like fire as he finally caught up, cresting the hill and slipping past the distracted gate guards.
In the distance, the wagon went out of sight behind the massive, opulent stone walls of the main manor, but Cody saw their wagon—the familiar wooden cart Cody had bought yesterday—abandoned near a half-collapsed section of the estate's outer stone wall.
Fuck, they’re quick.
Cody scrambled over the recently made rubble, slipping into the back of the estate. It was a massive, pristine grass corridor stretching as far as the eye could see in both directions, flanked by towering topiary hedges shaped like giant phalluses.
High up on the manor's stone wall, a makeshift rope made of tied-together bedsheets dangled from an open, second-story window.
Cody didn't hesitate. He scaled the stone wall, grabbed the sheet, pulled himself up, and vaulted over the wooden windowsill.
He froze.
Sitting in the middle of a lavishly decorated bedroom were two half-nude, incredibly wealthy-looking noblemen. They were tied securely to ornate wooden chairs, with their own frilly, silk panties stuffed unceremoniously into their mouths as gags. They saw the giant Catfolk climb through their window, their eyes going wide with muffled, screaming terror.
“Yikes, guys,” Cody whispered, wincing sympathetically. He tiptoed quietly past them toward the heavy oak door. “Sorry for the intrusion. Lookin' good, though.”
Pushing out into the carpeted hallway, he saw a heavily armored guard lying at the other end, completely knocked out cold. Cody bolted. Maybe he could catch them before they hit the lower levels.
Shit. He jumped over the downed man and rounded the corner. It was another long, opulent hallway, this time decorated with massive, imported ceramic potting plants. Sticking out of two of the largest pots were two perfectly plump, white, noble asses. The owners’ muffled wailing echoed from deep inside the dirt openings.
Cody slipped by quickly, ensuring he delivered a weak, solid spank to one of the cheeks on the way through. It was practically required by law in this situation.
He had to catch up to Sara. He peeked through the heavy wooden door at the end of the hall, looking down a sweeping, grand staircase into a parlor. At the bottom of the steps lay a single guard with a fatal sword wound slashed cleanly across his chest.
Fuck, they were killing for him. He had to find them fast before they took on the whole garrison. He rushed silently down the grand staircase and crept toward the sound of clattering dishes and hushed voices echoing from the manor's massive kitchen.
He burst through the swinging doors, shortsword drawn.
What he saw shocked him.
A couple of head cooks were knocked out and tied up in the corner near a massive brick oven. Standing over them, weapons drawn and covered in sweat, was a Tiefling. But it wasn't Sara. The horns were completely wrong. And standing with this unknown Tiefling were three other heavily armed, very confused-looking adventurers.
All four of them whipped around and pointed their bloody weapons directly at Cody.
Cody froze, his sword raised awkwardly in the air. He stared at the strange Tiefling. The Tiefling stared back.
The silence stretched for three agonizing seconds.
“Umm. Wrong rescue group,” Cody whispered, slowly lowering his sword. “My bad. BRB.”
Cody slowly backed out of the kitchen, never taking his eyes off them, and gently pulled the swinging door shut.
He was absolutely mortified. The social anxiety of walking into the wrong fantasy heist was physically painful. He turned and bolted back up the stairs, sprinting past the potted asses, past the bound noblemen, and threw himself out the second-story window. He shinnied down the bedsheet rope, hit the ground running, and scrambled back atop the collapsed stone wall to escape.
Just as he straddled the rubble, a hand shot up from the other side, grabbing the stone. A figure pulled herself up, panting heavily.
“Hey, Simone,” Cody said casually, shocking the absolute hell out of her.
He looked down over the other side of the wall, seeing Sara, Raven, and Mark, pulling up in a secondary wagon below, weapons drawn and looking completely frantic.
Huh, they were gonna come this way, anyway. “We should probably go now,” Cody suggested, pointing a thumb back at the manor. “Place is super crowded.”
[SYSTEM ALERT: Elite Encounter Cleared.]
[SYSTEM ALERT: Legendary Quest Begun.]
[XP Awarded: 24,000]
[Level Up Available! Unspent Attribute Points: 10]