The Next Game Master Pt. 01

Then we are ready we bring in a goddess, mother nature you would call her, to begin with. She is the goddess who has been elevated to take over a new world. Rarely one will flounder like your first world."

He glared at her, "You left players there to suffer under her and the only exit was suicide which permanently killed them? Do you not think that is a bit sadistic on your part?"

She sighed, "Most players on her world she would get killed off and they would be moved on to another world. Committing suicide does not kill them, willing themselves dead does kill them. It is different. In the case of her second to the last player, she refused to part with her because of your stubbornness to deal with her.

Not your fault, you knew nothing of this. I could not force her to kill her to move her on. I could not take her with the predicament she put herself in. I did intercede with her to find out if she really wanted to die or just go to another world. She was ready to die. I do that with all who will themselves to die. To better understand their reasons."

He looked at her, "Are all players fertile?"

She nodded, "Your goddess lied to you on that. As I told you, she used that to lure Kerria away was the promise of fertility with your child the day before she left. She kept her infertile on purpose.

She did not want you to have other children in her world with anybody but her. Before you ask, I will ensure that any of your offspring going forward will move on when you choose to make this new universe.

The same goes for Myssara daughter's children on down. It will take eons for her to potentially ascend. It is a long road. You found a major and rare shortcut. If you had been female."

He looked at her, "When another male has this issue let him know immediately of the option to switch universes or to switch when it becomes available. He might jump at the chance."

She nodded. "Talented but troublesome."

He smiled, "As none of the other goddesses will know what happens here, I might find myself making another one pregnant down the line."

Myssara laughed, "I could see that happening you are a cad and a charmer."

He looked at her, "Time to go back."

Myssara looked at him, "Till tomorrow my love."

He woke next to the pretty minxes who were still asleep. He extricated himself from them. Then he prepared his spells and saddled up his horse. He saw Lirana approaching. She did not look happy.

He held up a hand and she hugged him and whispered "84 times. Now we know what our mistakes were. A few changed classes. Thank you for talking her into showing us so we could learn. I wish you were the father of my child. Gardner wants nothing to do with raising him."

Raven tapped the bottom of the two ladies' feet and they woke. They looked at each other and then at Raven. They got up naked and hugged him. Ersa was crying. "I died first 35 times. I went through 4 other classes."

Shia looked at Raven, "9 times first. Was party leader 39 times. We have had a seventh and eighth on 20 occasions. A seventh only on 60 now."

He nodded, "I did not know more than you. I knew you had tried several times. I had my guesses about which characters were more experience than the others. You are confirming it. But that is not why I woke you 2."

He dropped to a whispered voice, "I woke you because I only wanted to say this to you once. All 3 of you are with child. You 2 after last night's antics or the first night's antics I do not know. Both of you have a pair of twin boys. You Lirana have 2 girls, not a boy.

In this world or should I say universe, the rules are different than where we came from. We are getting close to the second inn. By the time we get to the third inn, you will all be ready to deliver while we are there. Lirana and the 2 of you or 3 of us can name the children.

Give them their birth names. You will not raise them. All of the children born to players with players are taken away for 18 years of training. They become a part of this world for their first world. Before they have to move onto another. I do not know how many worlds they have but it is a lot.

These are not my rules and I do not agree with them. As players, we should have the option. That is not how it works. Any children you have with a non-player goes through a normal birthing cycle for the race. Elves with half-elves and elves with elves that are 2 years.

Unless they accelerated it; I did not stop and ask that question. Then another 85 to see those children reach adulthood. They could be a Jake or our Wagon Master. You get the idea. The thing is even if you die the children will not.

They will continue into your next attempt and be born at the time you hit a particular inn or after you have returned from dying a certain number of times. I do not know. I just know your pregnancies will advance quickly. Even quicker is your recovery. You will be back into your skinny fighting form by the next morning.

No signs of having been pregnant. You may have been already. Given the number of times. The next time you see her ask. Most of the players in these worlds are born in this universe, not on Earth. They only get a few a player here and there usual to help with new versions of the different types of rules."

He just floored them all. He kissed all 3 on the cheek. "Your next life you may not even remember that fact. I only know because of what happened in my first world. I am given a bit more insight but only when I ask the right questions.

Personally, I would rather spend one day with a real child. Then go 20 years with 1 who is not real. That may simply disappear as soon as I turn a corner."

Shia looked at him, "So all the children are human?"

He thought, "Are they all human?"

He heard mother, "They could never reproduce with a dwarf or halfling persona; even if playing a halfling. The genetics is based on the player not off the race they play."

He thought, "What about my genetics? Is it all human?"

He heard mother, "You are half of each, as you wrote it in your background. We can discuss that later. Yes, elves are real, remember."

He nodded. "They will eventually be able to choose to be a dwarf, elf, half-elf, etc. For all I know, one or all of you could have been born here."

Ersa nodded and raised a hand. "I know that now."

He pulled her toward him and held her. "All the more reason you needed that information. The same goes for you 2. You could have been born on another one of these worlds. Once you moved on you got that information in the form of memories of playing the game on Earth.

There is no way of knowing one from the other without dropping from character. I know about my case because of everything that went wrong. I have played these games for years; over 12 years before coming here. Almost daily for long stretches. My parents taught me to play.

Now you know, at least until you die again, the facts on the children. Keep all of this between the 4 of us, except for the fact that you know you will have quick pregnancies and will not be allowed to raise your children."

They looked at him and Ersa asked, "Why?"

He looked at her, "You won't retain that information beyond this playthrough. This character's life. To the best of my knowledge. That is another question you can ask. You guys need to get dressed and get your day started. I need to hunt because we can still starve to death."

They nodded at him. He looked closer at them, "You are all beautiful human women. Know that bringing a child into the world, even this world, is a way to extend your legacy beyond your life. I am happy to have real children. I am not sorry you are with children. Any of you. I am sorry that the situation to raise them sucks."

Lirana looked at him, "It makes the argument with Gardner pointless."

He shook his head, "Your feelings are not pointless. Remember you have all been playing wild and carefree with sharing your bed. You knew enough to know you have hooked up with every male here at least once except Marshal. I am willing to bet he is like you Ersa. Bringing in a gay player would make little sense in the scheme of making more children for the worlds."

Ersa nodded, "You are probably right."

Shia looked at Raven, "Your thoughts on me?"

He looked at her, "You gave me a year; that told me enough. At a minimum, you have played in many worlds. Not as hardcore as I am but I am the exception, not the rule. I never had sex until I got to my first world here. Then I had it for 20 years, day-to-day with non-players. That is why I am so good at it. Just like my gaming skills. Lots of practice."

They all nodded. He got up on his horse. He returned to his normal voice, "We can talk about this more at the inn. That would be more ideal." They gave him a weak smile and he knew they were crushed.

He looked at them. "Stay on your toes. The dragon may not be the only nasty creature around."

That brought them around and getting dressed. He rode off to the woods. He headed into them and went deep after figuring out which direction the wind was blowing. He switched directions to ensure he hunted from downwind.

He rode for about a half an hour at a slow pace. He saw the tails first. He dropped off his horse quietly. He approached it as slowly and quietly as he could. An Auroch, Texas longhorns had nothing on these creatures. He saw a female further off and it looks like he just finished fucking her. Cum was dripping from his cock and her cunt.

He shows no interest in pursuing her. Raven lined up his shot on the closer male. He put an arrow into it. It charged and he shot a second arrow; it is deflected off a horn as he charged towards Raven.

Raven stuck out his hand and hit it with a scorching ray right between the eyes and it slid to a stop 20 feet from him. He looked at it, "Enough for 3 days by itself."

He got up on his horse and rode up the hill. There was a vast section of plain with about a hundred of them milling about and moving away from him as he approached. He rode back and secured the bull. This beast was about 900 pounds. He went and found 8-4-inch-thick saplings.

He used some of the leather strips and lashed them together. He tied them between the horns. He then used the horse to roll the beast on its side. He ran a section of rope across the torso and down the back. He rolled it onto its back. He looked at his handy work.

It took about 2 hours to get back as he weaved through the trees. He got it out onto the flats and decided this was a good time to use the new spell. He launched a snapdragon up the road. He set off another each round. He saw Lirana on horseback and she came riding out toward him.

She looked at what he got, "Where in the hell?"

He pointed, "About 30 minutes that way. If you travel straight is a set of plains. I caught this guy as he charged me. Took me almost 2 hours to get it 30 minutes away by horse." He handed her a rope and hooked it in between the horns and they rode it back together.

She looked at him, "You missed the attack, well most of us did. Ersa got off two bolts and every spell she had but killed 4 wolves. Took a nice bite on her arm but she did well considering how far away we were. She killed the last one with a dagger because it had her arm. One of the wagon horses got mauled pretty badly."

He nodded, "It would be great if we had some wands for her."

They pulled along the wagon's side. He gutted it and removed its head.

He looked at the cook, "Better start cooking some of this now. He cut off the four legs and left them with the rest. The cook looked at Raven, "For that bear?"

He nodded, "Pull this wagon up by the first wagon. I have to get the guys building that second set of smokers."

He nodded and he pulled it past the wagons and the dwarf looked at him as he finished up with Ersa, "I heard about your excitement. I just had this big guy charge at me after the first arrow."

She looked at it, "How much meat is that?"

He looked it over, "About 750 pounds of beef and bone. The other 150 we left back up behind the wagon for the bear. Shot it just over 2 hours ago. Flar now you have reason to assemble that second set of smokers. That hide is your roof and your polls are under the big meal waiting for us."

Raven looked as the cook pulled up, "Where are the wolves?"

She pointed to the other side of the wagon. He unhooked the rope. He strung the wolves together, "Let me guess Flar was talking about cooking them?"

She laughed. He shook his head, "No. I will skin them and leave the meat for the bear." He tied them together. Ersa came up and gave him a kiss as he stood. "Thank you again for that crossbow."

He nodded, "You are more than welcome my little minx."

She smiled as he got up on his horse. He dragged the 4 wolves to the back of the wagon, skinned them, and left the meat.

He looked into the woods, "To our druid. We were not counting on the wolves. We took the skins to use for the material. I will also be leaving the wounded horse a little further up. You can feed it to the bear or nurse it back to health. We will not have time to tend to it properly today, I am hoping you will find the most appropriate use for her. I know you are watching to see that we are keeping our promises. We have done our best to deal with you honorably."

He rode back to the group and got the one mangled horse. He took it further away from the group and tied her off on a dead branch. He headed back to the group and looked at Jake, "You want to pull wagon 4 behind 6 and 5 behind that one? I want to put some distance between the bears feeding spot and us. I left the mauled horse with the druid as well. Alive let her decide what she wishes to do with it."

Lirana had cut the beef up nicely and they got the first set going and a warm-midday meal. He found the Wagon Master. "We are done hunting for this trip."

He looked at me, "You found a lot of game?"

He shrugged. "I just killed one."

He rode back and took a look and laughed, "We could have used that yesterday!"

He nodded. "It was a part of a herd over a hundred on the other side of those woods. Flar is working on assembling the second set of smokers and with the wolf hides, bedrolls, and that cowhide we have what we need for the walls. Found it in under an hour. Took 2 to bring it back. I gave the mauled horse to the druid as well. She can claim it, heal it, set it free, or feed it to the bear."

He nodded, "We picked up a lot of extra horses on this trip."

Ersa extended an arm and he pulled her up and into his lap. She smiled at him, "Thanks for making me feel better this morning. What spell was that?"

He smiled, "Snapdragon fireworks. You want to copy it you can."

She smiled, "I would love too. I am also interested to see what other spells you have."

He smiled, "Good. Glad to see you are enjoying yourself, wizard. Where is Shia?"

She pointed at the far end, "With Gardner and Marshal." He took her to the front step of the wagon and pulled his spellbook and handed it to her. "Good light right now. You need something to do anyway."

She smiled and got up into the seat and he rode down to Marshal and Gardner. They looked up as Raven approached. Marshal spoke, "Thank you for getting us the information on our past attempts."

He nodded, "Plus a lot of beef."

Gardner looked at Raven, "It was depressing but informative."

Raven looked at him, "I did not see it. I just asked that you be allowed to see it. To learn. I do not need to know what the mistakes were. I do hope my guidance on this trip is proving useful to you. We have hardly spoken."

He nodded, "You have. I was just a bit defensive after hearing Lirana talk about your sexual prowess. Then that sword."

He looked at him. "Is that why you pushed Lirana away when you heard she was pregnant?"

He shook his head, "I am bi but I do prefer guys. I never planned on having children. After your news this morning I feel like shit."

He nodded and whispered, "I spent 20 years watching 7 children grow. None of them were real to me. Because of who the mother was and my attitude toward her. I would rather have a day with a real child with a real human, elf, or half-elf in these worlds. In both cases, I was not given a choice. I would point out what I believe. I do not have any confirmation that you, Flar, Ersa, and Marshal were all born in this world. That was my guess, Ersa confirmed hers for me earlier. He nodded as did Marshal.

He looked at me, "Why did you think that?"

He looked at him, "Because you are gay. Goddesses would bring in those who would procreate first. You are Bi same reason, but it is possible. Flar for his lack of knowledge on dwarves. Like he could never get a human or elf pregnant.

I tested his knowledge on dwarves when I told him it could be any of the 3 of us. A dwarf cannot get a human pregnant. He went white and tested her. You see morning sickness that many times you kind of get a feel for it.

Especially when you see it again. The other reason for you though is a fighter is the easiest class to play for most. Mine is a multi-class monstrosity in design."

He looked at me, "Thought you were an arcane archer?"

He smiled, "I am a ranger mage mix at the moment. I will be adding arcane archer and another class into this build. By the time it hits level 12, it will be deadly. Level 20, devastating. I had to explain my plan for the character to the goddess.

On Earth, it is known as metagaming. Maximizing a character builds potential that gets people scratching their heads as to how did he make that work. I had been doing that level of gaming for 10 years before being brought here. That is why I can see things about your characters that you could be doing differently."

He looked at Raven, "Like what?"

Raven looked at him, "Sleep in armor."

Gardner looked at me, "You cannot rest in full plate."

He pulled the leather from his pack and hand it to him, "I never said full plate, just armor. Sleeping naked works for a wizard if they have bracers. Bracers are another option for the big beefy turtle tanks. Heavy armor does hinder a lot of abilities. You cannot do what I did to that dragon. Jumping off a horse and tumbling like that in full plate. Not normally or should I say consistently."

He nodded, "That's why you were so far ahead."

Raven nodded, "I got further ahead by the leap and I knew Lirana was coming in. I figured if I did not kill it, she would. You 2 were further back because Marshal was blocked but you both have heavy armor which required the heavier warhorses that are slower.

It is not just working your character but working as a team. In a dungeon or where we have a defined front line, I am happy with you two and the barbarian swinging away. I will switch to a sword when I have too.

Like that nighttime ambush with the assassins. Our rogue was kicking ass because she played off of me having the attention. Ersa stayed ranged and further back. We would get a lull in a wave and it gave her time to reload that crossbow. The other thing that gave Marshal away was when you were on the ground bleeding out.

I went to stop it. Healing skill. While asking him about his lay-on-hands which he should have been all over if he was a seasoned player. Healing skills even if he were a first time Paladin. Anyone can try to stop you from bleeding out."

He nodded, "I could see that as being a giveaway as well."

Marshal looked at Raven, "Explain metagaming with your build. Not classes and such just what is the end result."

Raven nodded, "At level 20 I will hit like a 17th level ranger with four attacks, and a 16th level wizard with 8th level spells. With all my base saves in double digits. No items and no stats. With 14 feats. The paladin will have 11 while the fighter will have 22. That count includes the extra feats you get for being human. What you lose in feats you gain in special abilities and clerical spells."