Surviving the Simulation: The Grand Crusade

The sun was low on the horizon, casting a warm glow over the fortified walls of the St. Joe safe zone as the caravan returned. The sentries atop the sturdy walls stood at attention, torches flickering in their hands. As the heavy gates creaked open, the cheers of the awaiting occupants echoed through the air.

The heroes rode in, their clothes and faces showing the dirt and wear of the last few days. A procession of rescued prisoners who were now free from the clutches of the gnolls followed close behind. The air buzzed with a mix of relief and excitement, and the village council stepped forward to welcome the triumphant adventurers.

The once modest defenses of the safe zone had undergone a remarkable transformation since the second gnoll battle. They reinforced wooden barricades with sturdy logs; archers patrolled the walls with heightened vigilance; and they hastily constructed an intricate locking mechanism for the main gate to repel any potential threat. The rescued prisoners, now reunited with tearful families, shared tales of the adventurers' valor during their captivity.

Something depicting what Xander thought was supposed to be the village flag hung on the old school flagpole. It reminded him that Chicagoans to the north had always had an almost fanatical devotion to their city flag. Xander wondered if that ideology was going to expand now that there was no central government for people to rally behind.

Considering that for a moment, he didn't think it would be a bad thing. Chicagoans always had pride in their city, even with its myriad of issues. That ability to stand behind something despite the flaws was something that St. Joe, in particular, was going to need as soon as the team had proof. People often discarded things they felt were broken too easily instead of trying to persevere and fix them.

As the team dismounted the carts they had been riding in, the captain of the guard whispered something to one of his team, who then went off running into the main high school building. Xander, Rex, and Zoey went right to where the council was waiting.

Victor stepped forward with a smile that tried too hard to look casual. "We were starting to get worried," he said. "We're glad you made it back and stopped the attacks. Rescuing the prisoners and claiming the mine for St. Joe was a delightful bonus."

Xander didn't answer. His attention moved across the group of councilors, reading posture and tone. Victor's grin held, but his stance was too deliberate. To Xander it looked as if Victor's confidence wasn't as strong as it outwardly appeared.

Cynthia stood a few steps behind him. At a glance, she looked normal. But her focus didn't land where it should have. Her eyes drifted slightly past the captain, and when she spoke, her voice was flat.

"Yes, they did an acceptable job. Welcome back, Captain. Hopefully, you haven't picked up any bad habits from these individuals. I'm feeling a bit tired, and I'm sure the people want to celebrate. Let's debrief first thing in the morning, now that the immediate danger has passed."

Victor paused. It was short, but real. His jaw clenched. His expression twitched, just for a second, before the smile came back. This time it felt stretched. Forced.

"Well, yes. I suppose waiting is for the best," he said. His eyes meeting Xander's for a moment.

Xander didn't react. He held the silence and let Victor keep wondering.

"Councilor, why don't you join me for something to eat?" the captain of the guard said, engaging Victor. "I can fill you in on what's happening to the east, as well as some critical information we discovered in the dungeon."

Xander wanted Victor out of the way so that the rest of the team could explore the high school for hidden locations. They already knew there was one locked door that hadn't been there before the reboot. Even though he had wanted to join the group, the captain of the guard had committed to distracting Victor for the duration of the operation.

Victor looked as if he was trying to come up with an excuse why he couldn't talk to the group without causing further questions. "We probably should wait until we can debrief the entire council."

"I agree, Councilor, but there are some things that we should probably tell you beforehand regarding one section of the dungeon that differed from the rest. It had a significant amount of books and tools of various trade crafts, including alchemy," the captain of the guard said, setting the hook.

The mention of the word alchemy and a chance to uncover hidden secrets were all Victor needed to hear. "Well, that sounds important. I had something else that I wanted to check on, but I think that can probably wait for now," Victor said, grinning like a child that had just found a cookie jar no one was watching.

Free to explore the high school building with no need to worry about Victor, the group of adventurers immediately set out for the locked door Xander had found previously. Tucked away in a forgotten corner, the door stood as the visual representation of all the secrets and rot within the safe zone. Xander knew in his heart that he was close to the end of his quest, and he was determined to reach that end tonight.

Pulling a fire axe from a nearby wall box, Rex wedged the pick side of the axe into the doorjamb. A testament to the door's strength, it took both Rex and Xander pulling on the axe handle before the door latch finally gave way, exposing a descending staircase.

There was nothing special about the staircase at first glance. It looked like any other public building staircase leading into a basement. Exposed electrical conduits and water piping hung from the open ceiling. If it weren't for the oil lanterns lighting the hallway, no one would have suspected anything to be amiss. If the basement appeared to be a typical maintenance basement, the second staircase leading farther down that the team found after thirty minutes of exploring the abandoned level did not.

The team descended the narrow stone staircase, its steps damp and uneven. The air grew colder with each descent, and an eerie silence settled in as they reached the sub-basement. Dimly flickering torches cast long shadows on the rough-hewn walls, revealing a chamber cloaked in gloom.

As the party cautiously advanced, the scent of decay became palpable, mingling with the metallic tang of blood. The flickering oil lamps illuminated a grisly sight: a dozen hooded figures, draped in tattered robes, huddled around arcane symbols etched onto the cold stone tables. An alchemy work table stood against one wall, a myriad of liquids and beakers scattered across its top.

"Well, if that isn't the Cult of the Simulation we heard about, then it's certainly a cult of some kind, because this is all kinds of messed up," Zoey whispered to Xander as they peered around the corner into the room.

Metal cages lined the perimeter. The prisoners in the dimly lit cells were a haunting tableau of despair and suffering. Their faces, once radiant with life, were now etched with exhaustion, fear, and the unmistakable stress of captivity. The clinking of chains echoed through the damp chamber, each prisoner bound in various states of restraint. The flickering light danced upon their gaunt faces, revealing the exhaustion and terror etched into their features.

In one cell, a frail old man sat huddled in the corner, his feeble frame shivering in threadbare rags. Beside him, a young woman with tear-streaked cheeks clutched a ragged doll, her eyes wide with terror. The juxtaposition of youth and age reflected the indiscriminate cruelty of the cult's actions.

The air within the cells carried a medley of hushed sobs and whispered prayers, a chorus of anguish. Motionless on straw-strewn floors, some prisoners lay with vacant eyes, as if hope had died.

As disturbing as the situation regarding the prisoners was, the genuine horror of what the group was facing were the cages on the other side of the room. Several cages held grotesque undead creatures with vacant eyes and pallid skin. Ghouls, once human, were now twisted into something unnatural.

"Good lord, those don't look like Simulation spawned undead. Look at the two on the right. They're wearing normal clothes and that one there in the nearest cage has tattoos. These were once actual people. Are they turning these people into undead?" Rex said in disbelief.

Xander couldn't believe it. The Simulation was a piece of work, but there had to be limits. Then his heart sank as movement from one cage grabbed his attention. There it was, the proof right in front of him that this group was turning people into undead.

Shuffling from one side of the cage to the other stood Alex, still wearing the adventuring gear Xander had last seen him with when he fell off the roof days earlier.

The weight of guilt came crashing down on him. He should have done more to look for Alex. He shouldn't have taken anyone's word that Alex had gone off by himself saying nothing.

"Is that…? Oh no," Zoey said, with regret in her voice.

"Yeah, that's him," Xander said quietly. "I fucked up."

"Don't do that to yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. We're a team, remember?" Zoey replied.

Xander glanced at her, eyes heavy with a weight he hadn't spoken aloud. The quiet between them wasn't awkward or empty. It held a kind of truth, one shaped by shared battles and near-deaths and choices that couldn't be undone. Zoey didn't press him. She didn't need to. The fact that she was still here, still helping him with his quest, said more than anything else could have.

"Guys, not to interrupt," Rex said, voice cutting through the moment, "but I know we agreed this was just supposed to be a recon mission. I don't think we can wait to deal with this. We need to take this group down now."

The original plan had been for the group to scout out the building and then report back to the captain of the guard. They wanted him present for any take down of nefarious activities. As the captain of the guard, he could spin any action taken as for the good of the safe zone instead of vigilantism. That didn't look like it was going to be an option now, because Rex was correct. They couldn't wait.

A runner peeled off from the group, boots pounding back down the corridor to alert the captain. The rest of them moved into position near the entryway, waiting, watching. The light in the chamber flickered against the stone, casting just enough shadow to make the already twisted scene look worse. Xander didn't need more detail. He had seen enough.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Rex's gaze swept the group, lingering on each face. Xander didn't know what the man saw, but he didn't signal a delay. No one spoke. No one backed off. They were ready. He met Rex's eyes and gave a single nod.

Rex lifted his axe and dropped it in a clean downward motion.

Xander moved with the others, feet hitting stone in perfect rhythm. They had just breached the threshold when a cultist turned, face twisted with something cold and angry. There was no shout of alarm, just a snarl and a dagger sailing toward him.

The blade struck high in his shoulder and twisted him off balance. Pain followed, but he kept his footing. He tore the dagger out and let it fall. Blood soaked his sleeve, but there wasn't time to care.

His hand came up. A radiant strike fell from the ceiling like a hammer, crashing into the cultist with a burst of golden energy. The body hit the ground in a twitching heap.

Shocked and struggling to regain her composure, the cultist tried to stand. As Xander's spear impaled the cultist, ending her life, the cultist abandoned that thought.

The sub-basement erupted in chaos as the clash between the cultists and the intrepid adventurers unfolded. First kill may have gone to the adventurers, but the cultists were far from beaten. The air crackled with dark magic as hooded cultists lashed out with whatever offensive spells they knew.

Zoey swiftly unleashed arrows imbued with icy enchantments, each shot finding its mark amidst the cultists. Frost magic danced through the air, leaving behind an ethereal trail of chill. Her target was profusely bleeding, but still standing. Dark energy swirled around the cultists' hands momentarily before twin whips of dark energy lashed back out at Zoey, striking her arm. Dropping her bow, she howled in pain, clutching her arm.

It was blow for blow, but the cultists were outmatched. The battle hardened adventurers were more than a little pissed off and had righteous fury on their side.

But the cultists still had a trump card to play.

One of the cultists shouted something sharp and furious, and several of them broke from the fight, sprinting toward the iron cages at the far wall. Xander caught movement of the undead inside crowding against the bars.

The cultists threw the locks. The cages opened.

What stumbled out were not prisoners. Not anymore. Their limbs moved wrong, too fast in some places, too slow in others. Milky eyes fixed on the first thing in reach, jaws working like they remembered how to bite, even if their minds had long since rotted away.

But the cultists' desperate gambit backfired. The ghouls, fueled by an insatiable hunger, turned on the nearest living being first, which were their captors. Tearing into the closest cultists with a frenzied appetite. Panic spread among the remaining cult members as they faced both the adventurers and the ravenous undead.

Thankfully, the live captives were safe where they were. There were several undead trying to get into the cages, but the steel bars held fast and there was just enough room for the captives to avoid the clawing arms reaching out with the hunger for living flesh.

Amidst the chaos, Alex, now reduced to an undead husk, attacked without hesitation. His movements lacked the finesse and strategy he once possessed, replaced by an unrelenting drive to rend and tear at the living. Xander hesitated for a moment, torn between the guilt of how he had failed his fallen comrade and the reality of the abomination Alex had become.

"I am so sorry, Alex. I failed you," Xander said as he cast crusader's verdict on his former friend.

While the spell did nothing directly to harm Alex, it still got his attention. Lunging at Xander, the ghoul's claws raked down its target's armor. Xander responded in kind by using the momentum of the lunge against Alex to push him to the ground before taking several steps back himself.

Alex continued to crawl his way toward Xander, his claws once again connecting with Xander's armor, this time the steel boot tip. Xander continued to back up, trying to put some distance between himself and Alex.

Having gained enough distance, Xander extended his hand for the second time in the battle and cast judgement strike. The blow caused Alex to lose one of his arms, but there was no blood, nor was he even stunned.

The unthinking killing machine, hungry for flesh, rose back to his feet instead of continuing to crawl toward Xander. It regarded his arm for the briefest of moments before becoming enraged and closing the distance between the two of them faster than Xander was expecting. The first blow from the one-armed Alex knocked Xander's spear from his hand. Swinging like a madman, Alex rained blow after blow down upon Xander, driving him to his knees.

Xander panicked for a moment as the two grappled, Alex's sharp teeth smashing together as he struggled to sink into Xander's flesh. Unhooking his mace with one hand while trying to hold Alex at bay with the other, Xander swung an awkward one-handed swing into Alex's knee. The smite empowered blow crushed the ghoul's knee, causing both combatants to collapse in a heap.

Thanks to his own blow, Xander had turned his situation from bad to worse, as Alex came down on top of him. The monster's onslaught pinned Xander, preventing him from swinging his mace.

"Zoey! A little help!" Xander called out. "Dammit, Alex. You never had any chill!"

Thinking he had nothing left to lose, Xander called down one last crusader's strike. He wasn't sure if he was going to be caught up in the blast, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

The strike caught Alex in the back of the neck, but thankfully didn't ground out through Xander. The monster gave one last attempt to sink its teeth into Xander before going still.

Heaving the now lifeless form of Alex off to the side, Xander went to get back to his feet. A hand appeared in his vision as Zoey had finally made her way over to help.

"Bit late, but still appreciate the thought," Xander said as he took in the room. Having eliminated all the ghouls, Xander performed a quick body count and then commented to no one in particular,

"Looks like a couple of assholes got away."

"Yeah, three ran out, but we caught this one in the hallway," Rex said, holding one cultist by the back of the neck.

Ignoring Rex and the cultist for a moment, Xander moved down the line of cages, checking each one quickly. Most of the prisoners looked away or stared through him, too far gone to register what was happening. He tried not to let the silence get to him. Hope was dangerous here.

"Xander... is that you?"

He stopped. The voice was quiet and cracked, but it cut through everything else. For a second, he didn't turn. He'd imagined her voice before. It had been wrong every time.

Jo stood inside the last cage, face pale, clothes torn, but her eyes were clear. She wasn't crying or calling out. She just watched him, steady, like she had been waiting and knew he'd come, eventually.

"Jo," he whispered.

He stepped forward, pulled off his helmet, and let it fall behind him. His mace came up and crashed into the lock. The cage swung open with a sharp creak.

She didn't fall into him. She walked out on her own, slow but on her feet. When she reached him, she leaned into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. For a moment, the rest of the world didn't matter.

"You took your time," she said. Her voice was soft, tired, but there was strength in it too. She hadn't given up.

"I can't very well survive the end of the world if you're not there to help me. Can I?" he replied.

She touched the side of his face, just once, and held there.

A mixture of emotions flickered across Jo's face: gratitude, relief, and something deeper that words could not express. She pressed a gentle kiss to Xander's forehead, sealing the unspoken bond between them.

Jo smiled. "Now, how about you explain to me what is up with your eyes?"

"That would be a long story, but the short version is that I picked up this little hitchhiker," Xander said as Cabbot poked her head out of her favorite pocket in his coat. He wondered for a moment if she was actually in there or if that's just where she materialized.

Noticing Jo, Cabbot leapt to Jo's shoulder to bump her head against Jo's. The sound of the spectral cat's purring caused more than a few people nearby to do a double take. Jo closed her eyes and leaned her head against Cabbot's. The tension and stress from her ordeal seeming to drain away from Cabbot's embrace. Giving Jo the moment, Xander took the opportunity to analyze Jo.

[Analyze] Jo Ashford | Level: 6 | Status: Ally | Class: Silver Blade

"Seems we both have some stories to trade once we finish up here. Silver blade?" Xander said.

The sound of someone clearing their throat nearby broke up their reunion. Rex and Zoey were both standing at a respectful distance from the pair, but needed their attention.

"Jo, I'm Zoey. It's a pleasure to meet you. Xander has told me so much about you," Zoey said.

"Xander, not to break up your reunion, but we need to wrap things up. We may have found your main objective, but there's still work to do," Rex added.

"You're right, of course. Jo, I'd like to introduce Zoey. She and another person we met at the Starlight Oasis helped get me back to you. This is Major Rex. He and the rest of his team have been helping clean up the mess at this safe zone and were instrumental in me being able to get back to you in one piece," Xander said.

"Pleasure to meet you both, but it sounds like there'll be time to catch up later. Xander, I need to find my armor. Plus, I'd like to have a word with this cultist and some wanker named Victor Stern," Jo said, shaking off her post-captivity unease.

She looked like someone who had seen too much in too little time, and Xander knew that kind of weight didn't disappear overnight. But when Rex called them back to focus, Jo didn't hesitate. She straightened, said nothing, and stepped forward. Whatever she'd been through, she wasn't giving in to it now.

"Let's find out what our friend here has to say," Xander barked as he ripped back the hood of their former attacker.

An elderly gentleman wasn't what Xander was expecting. The cultist reminded Xander of the older folks you'd normally find at the small town breakfast spot sitting at a table most of the morning with all the other elderly folks. Coffee klatches, if he remembered the term correctly.

"Who are you? What is the purpose of this place? Who is your leader?" Xander asked in rapid succession. Out of everything that was trying to end humanity, the reality that humanity was its own worst enemy didn't sit well with Xander and the values his parents had tried to instill him when he was growing up.

"You'll get nothing from me. You are all doomed to damnation! The Simulation's will be done," spat the cultist.

Zoey leaned over to whisper to Jo, "Seriously, who talks like that?"

"I swear to God I will break every bone in your body to get my answers." Xander's vision filled with red as he barely contained himself from putting the cultist's head on top of his spear.

"God? You have no concept of god!"

Rex intercepted Xander, pulling him off to the side just before Xander made good on his previous threat. "Torture doesn't get you good intel, Xander. Plus, I don't think this cultist is all here."

"Xander, Rex! I came as quickly as I could. You were supposed to recon and wait for me," the captain of the guard called out as he descended the stairs into the room.

Xander caught the shift in the captain's face as he took in the room. He had walked in speaking, ready to assert control, but whatever words he'd prepared faded from his posture as his eyes moved over the cages, the bodies, and the broken remnants of the fight. The edge in his voice was gone now. His stance stiffened and his jaw clenched before regaining his composure and directing the guard unit that had accompanied him.

"Everyone spread out and look for some type of proof of who is behind all of this. You there! Take this prisoner upstairs and place him in a holding cell. I want two guards on him at all times until I say differently."

"Hey guys, take a look at this," Zoey called from the alchemy table.

Handing Xander a potion when he arrived, she mumbled, "This explains a bit of what's going on, scan this."

Shadow Veil Elixir
Quality: Rare
Enchantments: Fatigue, Paranoia
Description: Upon drinking this elixir, the user will start hearing faint, unsettling whispers that seem to originate from the shadows. The whispers are indistinct, making it challenging for the user to discern whether they are real or imagined. The character becomes paranoid, questioning the motives of those around them. This heighted stage of stress leads to fatigue, which only serves to make the effect of the elixir more potent.

The potion certainly fit the change in the librarian's behavior noticed since the council's replacement. That gave them the what, but they were still missing the how and why. Looking around the alchemy table, Xander picked up a small notebook to thumb through the pages.

Everything they needed was right here, notes detailing the formula, how they were delivering it to the librarian, and several references to Victor. It didn't explain the undead or what the overall goals of the cult were, but it was the smoking gun they needed to connect Victor to everything. Tearing out the formula, Xander handed the rest of the notebook to the captain of the guard.

"You'd think for being a secret cult, they wouldn't leave damning information just sitting around," the captain of the guard responded, thumbing through the notebook for himself.

"Well, if they were smart enough for operational security, they probably wouldn't be in a cult in the first place… Just sayin'," Rex responded.

"Men, find me Victor Stern. Take him to the council chambers in handcuffs when you find him."