Lost Lands: The Game - Atlantis Read Online Free PDF Page A

eyes had shifted from red to a deep blue. “Never thought much about it but I guess I do.”
    “ But you’re right, given our surroundings I think I would prefer to be called Cozad.”
    With a nod Tao gestured at the limp forms of their companions. “We need to wake everyone and get this sorted out. We might be safe for the moment but I don’t want to tempt fate by lying around. Do you?”
    Cozad shook his head. “No. Waiting to be attacked is about as smart as a screen door on a submarine.”
    Tao clapped him on the shoulder . “I think I like you. This sounds like the beginning of a great friendship.”
    Cozad grinned and the two moved off to begin reviving the rest of the group.
    Whitney turned out to be the easiest to revive and the one who took the least amount of time to adjust to being inside the game. Maybe it’s because she was a teenager and her dreams of magic were suddenly real. Or possibly it was that she was now a faerie with the innate ability to fly, change her size and turn invisible. She also insisted that everyone call her Pixi.
    Earl and Kaslene were the slowest to fully come around but neither seemed upset at the situation. Earl briefly explained that back home in Alaska, both of them were pushing seventy and Kaslene was completely home-bound due to her medical condition. There was probably a Freudian explanation as to why she chose to play a nature-based healer but Tao had no reason to explore that. They both decided that as long as they were here, they too would go by their avatar names and neither showed any sign of internal struggle with their alter-egos on this side.
    Matthew was stressed, plain and simple. In the real world, his fiancé was off at a spa for the weekend getting prepped for their upcoming wedding next Friday. However, as long as he could make it back in time for the rehearsal dinner on Thursday night, he was game. To Matthew, getting a chance to really be Mathias the archer was just the ultimate bachelor’s weekend.
    Roland seemed to take the whole situation in stride, as if this was just a walk through Central Park. To hear Steve explain it, “I’m a New Yorker and New Yorkers can take anything dished out to us. Hell, if we can survive Nine-Eleven then we can survive anything.”
    Marvin was another problem. His and Mac’s friendship went back over thirty years. They had been friends through many a tough time and Mac could tell that his friend was torn between the excitement of the adventure before them and the guilt of being separated from his family. He was married with two wonderful kids and a third on the way. Of course now he was Gamble, the dwarven skald with skills and abilities he had only dreamed of back in the real world. What that meant exactly, he didn’t know…yet.
    Arieal and Tariq remained enigmas. Neither would answer questions about their situation in the real world and would only respond to direct questions with short monosyllable answers if at all possible. However, both seemed to be stable for the moment.
    By the time everyone was coherent enough for a meeting, the twin suns were beginning to set. Since Pixi could fly and stay invisible, Tao had sent her to search the surrounding countryside but nothing was within easy walking distance. She had found evidence that someone fished this area of the lake. There were several buoys a stone’s throw from the waterline but other than the dead prisoner in the gibbet, they were effectively in the middle of nowhere.
    Clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention, Tao waited until everyone settled down before he began. “We seem to be in a bit of a jam at the moment.”
    “Ya think!” snapped Tariq.
    Tao i gnored the snide remark and continued. “I am unsure how or why Al Shaytan sent us through the gateway but it seems we’re inside the game.”
    “Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant,” said Tariq.
    Everyone ignored the slender rogue except Cozad who turned a harsh eye on him. The glow around his eyes had