One quick rickshaw ride later, we stood outside the high-rise hotel designated as the Godfeathers’ stronghold. An old-timey sign on the brick building read, “The Bada Bing Hotel.”
Sync hopped off the rickshaw. “Time to split up.”
I nodded. For a moment, we stared at each other in grim silence.
“So, what? Do we hug? Any words of confession about your barely restrained attraction to me before we begin?”
Sync looked at me, incredulous. “Uhhh…”
“Normally, I’d say a passionate kiss and a bit of groping would be in order but, again, you’re a freakish owl thing, so I’ll pass.”
She tensed her jaw and glared at me.
“It was a joke, Sync.” I rolled my eyes. “Just… watch yourself. I’ll be waiting.” I held up my hand. “You know what? Here. Take one of my Health Packs, just in case.”
Silas flung himself off my shoulder and onto hers, wrapping his tentacles around her in an embrace. “Be careful, my lady! I won’t bear it if you come to harm! And don’t you worry, I’ll keep this hooligan on track.”
She chuckled and hugged Silas. “I know. Don’t worry. See you soon.”
“At what point do I barge in, guns blazing, if I don’t hear from you?”
Silas hopped back onto my shoulder.
She fixed her gaze on the Bada Bing. “If two hours go by or I’m listed as offline in your WHIM, assume the worst. If you break in without me, it’ll trigger a faction assault, and you’re just one man and a Karjok.
“I think you mean a Karjok and just one man,” Silas corrected.
“Either way, it won’t go well,” Sync continued. “So if I don’t make it, I’d say meet up with Brandon and try a different approach.”
“Mmkay, but we won’t let it come to that. We got this.” I still didn’t believe that, but I’d faked it before, and I could do it again, for her sake.
She gave me the side-eye. “You sound so confident.”
I winked. “Confidence is key, babe.”
She shook her head, once again nearly rotating it a full circle, and hurried off toward the objective.
I folded my arms. “This plan sucks. It’s gonna get us killed.”
Silas tapped his chin. “Agreed. This’ll go suckers-up in a hurry. I think there’s a better way.”
As much as I hated to entertain anything proposed to me by an NPC octopus, I took the bait. With a sigh, I asked, “What do you have in mind?”
“I’d say you two have certainly earned some goodwill from the Karjok.”
I wasn’t sure I liked where this was going. “And?”
“Do you have the transmitter Hachem gave you?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, by now, Hachem and the others have found Will and our people in the sanitation plant. So that makes about fifty Karjok armed to the gills with munitions and a whole lot of interstellar angst to work off.”
Honestly, he had a point. Out of all the ideas I’d heard today, that one was, unfortunately, the best. A sad state of affairs that I might be relying on a bunch of space octopus to help us, but it was the best I had.
Except…
“Chancellor Hachem didn’t want to give us any of the weapons, and he seemed to think he needed to keep them locked down in case of a threat to his people,” I countered. “How does that factor in?”
“I’d say you’re in luck,” Silas replied. “It just so happens that I’m one of his people, too, mate, and I’m going in that hotel one way or another.”
“Fair enough.”
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
I activated the transmitter.
* * *
[Initiating Player Review]
[Sync – Level 20]
[Game/Class: The Godfeather – *~ERROR~*]
[Beginning Report]
Sync took a deep breath and approached the Godfeather headquarters. Four guards stood outside the hotel doors on the street, which was crowded with NPCs and Players of many different games.
The guards stood rigid like NPCs: a Golden Eagle, a Buteo, a Northern Harrier, and a Peregrine Falcon. Sync scanned them as she approached.
| Silvio – Level 12 NPC |
| Game/Class: The Godfeather |
| Junior – Level 12 NPC |
| Game/Class: The Godfeather |
| Paulie – Level 12 NPC |
| Game/Class: The Godfeather |
| Bobby – Level 12 NPC |
| Game/Class: The Godfeather |
True to her assumption, they were all NPCs, left to guard the hotel entrance while the actual Godfeather Players were out on missions or doing whatever else this game entailed.
Sync approached confidently. She doubted the NPCs would react to her bounty, as those were only given to Players—as far as she knew. Still, Silvio intercepted her and blocked her from the door.
She stopped, folded her feathered arms, and tilted her hips. “I’m here to see the Godfeather. I have a mission objective to complete. He’s still on the top floor, yeah?”
“Yeah, of course he is. Forget to check your map or somethin’?” Silvio challenged. “Don’t recognize ya, and I’d never forget a dame with legs like those. But you got no wings. You new to the nest?”
She nodded and smiled. “That’s right. I’ve got news for the Godfeather, and I’m about to level up and get my wings. Never been to headquarters yet. Is this where we get the next wave of missions?”
“Yeah, go inside since you can’t fly.” Junior motioned with his beak. “Take the elevator to the top floor, then go up the spiral staircase. Everybirdie knows you don’t keep him waiting. Hey Paulie, wanna cracker?”
“Yeah, don’t mind if I do,” Paulie replied.
The fancy glass doors gave way to an opulent lobby with marble tile floors, reception desks, and a staff of hotel personnel. Gold crown molding lined the perimeter of the ceiling, and renaissance-style paintings adorned the walls, but all the people in the artwork had bird heads as well.
Overall, the interior bore a striking resemblance to the Edison Hotel, which made Sync wonder if Lucretia had sampled the real-life location to help construct this place, or perhaps the creators of the original mobster game had done it instead.
Ahead, two Godfeathers sat on a pair of sofas and talked. She didn’t need to scan them; their body language and conversation gave them away as Players. One was a Red Kite, and the other was a Sparrowhawk.
But as soon as Sync crossed the threshold into the hotel, an alert pinged on her WHIM.
| Objective: Player Sync – Kill or Capture |
| ALERT: Objective is within the Godfeather family’s headquarters |
| Bonus Objective: Capture Player Sync Alive |
“What the?” the Red Kite Player squinted at his WHIM. He looked up and scanned the hotel lobby and bar. “Hey! You there, Snowy Owl!”
Sync slowed her stride and attempted to act casual. She’d hoped to get farther before being noticed, but that was no longer an option. She kept her back turned to him and weighed whether it was better to try to fake her way through or just make a run for it.
“Hey!” The Red Kite Player hurried over to her and gripped her shoulder. “I don’t recognize—ghk!”
Sync whirled around and jammed her hand into his throat, eliciting a squawk that cut off abruptly as his esophagus collapsed. His bird eyes widened as he choked, trying to pull in air, but failing.
An old-timey jazz riff sounded, and words flashed on Sync’s HUD.
| CRITICAL HIT |
The Red Kite staggered backward with a fraction of his HP bar left and clutching his throat, but Sync drew her revolver and shot him square in his chest, putting him down. He hit the floor and shattered into a cloud of glitter and feathers, dropping a loot crate, which Sync ignored.
Instead, she dashed to the elevator while the hotel staff NPCs scrambled around in panic.
“Holy Schmidt! Everybirdie get in here now!” The Sparrowhawk Player drew a Tommy gun and opened fire.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Sync kept running as bullets thudded into the walls and floor around her, sparking with each impact. Her WHIM pinged with multiple Godfeather alerts, all of them centered around her presence in their headquarters.
The NPC guards outside the front entrance burst in and opened fire on her. Even without her Sunshine Overdraft game skills, Sync dropped into a slide across the smooth floor and skirted behind a fake plant next to the elevator. She reached up and slammed the button to call the elevator and returned fire from her position.
The elevator wasn’t fast. It was an outdated model, one with an old wrought-iron gate that fit the aesthetic of this hotel a bit too well, and she could hear it groaning and creaking as it descended.
One of the Godfeather NPCs rounded toward her position and sprayed bullets from his Tommy gun at her. Sync took several hits to her leg and shoulder, and she cried out in pain. Numbers flashed in her HUD and tumbled out of her wounds along with glitter and feathers.
| -55 HP |
| -79 HP |
She returned fire, winging the Godfeather NPC, who went down with a squawk.
Sync glanced up at the elevator number. “C’mon, hurry up!”
The other three Godfeather NPCs darted behind pillars when she returned fire, but anytime she needed to reload her revolver, they advanced. The NPC she’d hit stirred, trying to get back up to his feet. She was running out of time.
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Dungeon Crawler Carl Audio Immersion Tunnel for Soundbooth Theater, and he's the lead writer for the Dungeon Crawler Carl Role Playing Game.
