No Longer a Game Ch. 03

As she ran closer, Natalie noticed her eyes. The iris was a bright blood red. Natalie thought her clothes were straight out of some medieval bondage porn scene. She wore a black leather corset that was strapless but held up by three thin straps that came down from a color around her neck. One strap ran down the center of her chest and the other two down the side. The corset was low cut and the woman's breasts were perfectly formed and large. The corset had six thin buckled belts that started at the bottom just above her pubic area and the last one ended just below her breasts. In the center of the top was a very intricate symbol; a nude long-haired female dancing with a silver sword in front of a full moon. The female on the symbol resembled the woman running to Natalie...a drow elf.

The dark elf running to her wore long thigh high boots and instead of pants she wore what resembled very short leather shorts. Her face was beautiful and looked as if carved perfectly by a gifted artist. She wore a black hooded cloak with the hood currently off. On her belt was a cruel looking weapon. A mace of black metal and the head of the weapon took the appearance of some type of horned demon. Natalie's magic ability picked up the power that radiated from the weapon. When she stood over Natalie, the girl could almost feel the sex appeal radiating from the drow.

Natalie knew instantly when she saw her it was Christie and her drow elf character. The picture in the book did not do the actual being justice. Natalie had never seen anyone so alluring and sexy.

Christie kneeled in front of Natalie, "Oh, baby, I was so worried."

As she reached out Rain stood and joined the others to give the girls some privacy. The rest of the group stood near the destroyed chest talking. Natalie pulled away from Christie's attempt to hold her.

"Tell me! Tell me this is a dream and we will wake up soon!" Natalie said harshly.

Christie placed her hands on her thighs as she knelt on the ground, "No, baby, it's real. Somehow it's all real. Did you see Habersham's letter?"

Natalie nodded, "It can't be real. I want to go home. Its...it's your fault! All of it. If you had not made me go play that stupid game I would not be here...none of us would be! It's all your fault!" Natalie screamed.

Christie shook her head and anger suddenly built up in her, "I...I am sorry but...don't blame me for it. How the fuck was I to know? Like I knew this was even fucking possible!"

"Get me home! Just leave me the fuck alone and get me home! Don't talk to me, don't ever touch me again, and don't even look at me. Just get me home!"

Christie stood up and her red eyes glowed with anger, "Fuck you, Natalie! You want to be left alone so be it! But remember this, this is not a game and we...I know a lot more about this world than you do and if you want to live to get home you had belter stop being a whiney little brat and help us or I swear we will leave you here alone!"

Christie stormed off to join the others. Rain had been watching the two girls and as Christie walked to the rest of the group Rain met her halfway and they exchanged some words that Natalie did not hear, saw Christie push past Rain in anger, and Rain walked back over to the elf girl.

"She did not mean it. It's the drow personality trait in her. Drow are well...difficult at best and very frightening at worse. She has a quick temper."

Natalie sniffled, "So do they all blame me for losing their chest and for well...everything? Habersham said in his letter that he could not send us here until I came to play with y'all."

Rain shrugged, "Derrick wants to cut your throat...well his game personality does, but the real Derrick is sorry he attacked you. Lou is still whining about his spell book for some reason, Michael is pissed but Jason is calming him down."

"I am sorry I blew it up."

"We know it was an accident...but well...honestly, Natalie, since we are finding out this is all for real and what stuff can do like your robes and boots...I mean they look and feel like the finest cloth ever made but protect you like the strongest plate armor there is. I lost some good stuff also...we all did and the gold and most important the map to the portal. We are talking about our next move. You really should join us. We could use you."

"I...I don't know anything about this place and stuff like Christie said. How can I help?"

Rain smiled and took Natalie's hand, "You are smart and you have magical power and you are part of our group. I hate to be a bitch to you cause you have not had time to process this like the rest of us, but Christie was right. Stop being a brat and stop your self-pity and help us. We are all stuck here until we find that portal and go home."

Natalie nodded and took Rain's hand. As she got close she took note of the Jason, Michael, and Lou and how they looked.

Jason was about the least changed besides Natalie. He was taller, a lot taller and stood about six seven and was powerfully built with bulging muscles. His hair was dirty blonde and so was his trimmed beard. His face looked familiar as his real self but now seemed more chiseled and more handsome. He wore a sleepless silvery metal breastplate with a symbol of a fist pointing upward holding justice scales on the chest in gold. Over his back was a huge two handed sword.

Lou looked the oldest of the group. He appeared about sixty with a short, untrimmed beard that was as grey as his hair. He was thin but not frail looking. He wore a crimson robe with gold trim on the sleeves and hem of the long robe. At his belt was a dagger similar to Natalie's.

Michael was the most changed of the group; even more saw than Rain and Christie. Michael was a powerfully built dwarf with huge hands. He had red hair and a long braided red beard. He was dressed in brown leather pants and shirt but over his body he wore bright silver chain mail and at his belt was a mean looking ax and he was leaning on a large double headed ax that was almost as tall as his five foot body. He smiled kindly to Natalie as she approached the group.

"Ok I am going to say this once and once only and not another word about it from anyone else ever." Michael said in a gruff but deep booming voice as Natalie stood between him and Rain. "She fucked up. It was an accident so we leave it at that. We can't change what she did so not another word about it." Michael glared at Derrick, "And no more threats on her life. Anyone says another word about it will have me to deal with, understood?"

Everyone nodded, even Derrick.

"Lou, you can use my spell book...you can have it." Natalie told the old man.

Lou actually smiled but shook his head. "No won't work. A mage's spell book is attuned to that mage only. I can read it but can't learn the spells from it. So...wait...I can read it! That's it! Perfect! You are a genius, Natalie. Yes that will work perfect. Now you are not as powerful as I am and there were spells in my book a lot stronger than in yours but I can use yours as a building block and when we get to Ahm I can use the mage library there and get my other spells...yes perfect! I could kiss you!"

Natalie blushed and then looked at Lou confused along with everyone else.

"What the hell are you babbling about, Lou?" Derrick asked.

"I can copy spells from her book to a new one. I just need the supplies and I should be able to get a lot of them in Lund."

"Ok that's settled then. Now let me fill Natalie in on what we are planning." Jason said. "While I do that we need Rain and Derrick to go into Lund like we discussed."

"Why can't we all go?" Natalie asked.

"From playing the game we have been there before...in the game. It's a large trading city on a river that leads out to the sea and they close and lock the gates at night and we won't make it there by night fall. Rain and Derrick can scale the walls easy enough I think."

"Why can't we all just go in the morning?" Natalie asked.

"The city has a certain reputation to outsiders, does not take too kindly to them per Habersham's description when we played and I think we should be careful and let our rogues scout it out first. Let them sneak in, find an inn and bunk there tonight and they can already be in the city and people will think they made it past the inspection at the gate and they can buy us some supplies so we can maybe disguise ourselves as merchants looking to book a ship to Ahm. We can make a back story about being attacked by bandits or something. In the mean time we need to figure out what to do with Christie and how to get her in the gate. They see her and the guards will take her and burn her alive in view of the public without a trial."

"Why...what did she do this time?" Natalie asked as she glared at the dark elf.

"Nothing, it's just that she is a drow and they have a certain reputation."

"But she is a good drow...she said that when we were making characters and stuff."

"Yes but surface dwellers don't see that. All they see are drow and all drow are evil." Christie said, "Well other Underdark races think that also about the drow." She chuckled.

Natalie rolled her eyes, "So what is this Ahm place and why is it so important we go there. Shouldn't we look for the portal and how to get there?"

"We don't have the map and Ahm is our best chance." Rain told her. "Jason will fill you in. It's going to be dark soon and Derrick and I have a mission from our fearless leader."

"I'll get you some gold from the other chest." Michael told her.

Natalie grabbed Rain's hand and then hugged her, "You be careful."

Rain smiled, "Always...I told you I was good."

Natalie watched as Rian and Derrick walked down the hill to the city. It was the first time she saw the city. It was surrounded by walls and there was a large visible gate in the front. The hill they were at had a few large trees but other than that it was clear and grassy. Between the hill and the city were some woods. She could not help but giggle at Rain.

As her and Derrick walked to the city, Rain would skip and twirl gracefully around Derrick. She seemed to be enjoying herself. Natalie watched them until they disappeared into the woods. Sighing she went to talk to Jason to learn more on how to get home.