[center][h1][color=bf7300][u]L a n d o n[/u][/color][/h1][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][hr][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]  • The Dungeon • [/center][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][hr][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
Landon sat on the ground for several more moments, still quite stunned by that much explosive not even putting a dent into the walls or gate that blocked their primary escape route from the dungeon.  Or was he stunned by the fact that he had escaped death in the "real world" only to face it again here in this one?

Landon - no, Watts Broker - didn't just view Pariah as a fantastical escape from an inconvenient existence.  It was literally salvation, a second chance at life.  He was terrified of dying the slow death that awaited him back "home."  And even the slimmest chance of bringing some kind of immortality to the real world from this video game...he thought that was worth every risk he could possibly take.

And yet, as he reflected on it, he realized that he probably had the least reason to worry about going back to the "real world" than any of the others.  Landon's real body was hooked up to life support machines already, a measure he had taken to ensure that he could spend as much time in Pariah as he possibly could.  His servants, though some of them were practically family, would follow his instructions to keep his body alive even if he became unresponsive.  That wouldn't prevent brain death at the hands of the game's machinery, but it did mean he was in no hurry to awaken in the real world.

As Graves rallied the group, Landon watched him, still pale and in a nervous sweat, but fascinated.  [i]Heckuva lot different than he was before,[/i] thought Landon as he idly put another cigarette into his mouth and lit it with his own lighter, trying to ignore the shakiness that made it hard to keep the lighter still long enough to do the job.  [i]Guess now that this isn't "just" a game, it's getting to everybody...kids.  Most of these guys are just kids.  They still have the rest of their lives in front of them, and they probably have friends, family even, waiting for them to get back.  I don't got nobody to go back to...[/i]

And right there, Landon steeled himself with all the courage he could muster, pricked with the memory of what it felt like to be defying death every time he had to disarm a bomb as a combat engineer back in the military.  Hadn't he risked life and limb before, long ago?  Sure, he had been too young and stupid to know his own mortality back then, but if he had cut even a single different wire, or if any battles he had been in had gone even a little differently...

No, the memories of courage were too faint in themselves after all these years.  He couldn't possibly rely on those alone.  He had been young, idealistic and far too stupid to realize how much danger he had really been in; only later, when he was old enough to feel aches in his bones and muscles left over from all the crouching, running and tightly-gripped field tools from those days, that he had the wisdom to see just how terrifying being a demolition specialist had been.  Even in his reborn form in Pariah, he didn't have the same youthful sense of invincibility he once had.

It was the fact that he needed to get these kids out of this dungeon that he could rely on.  His entire life, he had tried to make things better for the younger generation.  And here, now, this group of kids needed him far too much for him to give up now.

He got up to his feet, dusted himself off from where he had sat on the hard rock-block floor, and then dug around in his backpack for several vials of a purple fluid that glimmered with an inner light that hinted at their magical origin.  He nearly dropped one when Tessa had her outburst.  Her very reasonable outburst.  With Ochre's help, he could probably lay out a minefield of explosives in front of a defensive position...

No.  Digging their heels in here would be the worst thing they could do.  And they had no idea if this dungeon had any burrowing monsters, which would make such explosives worse than useless; it would box them between impassable walls, and the only possible exit forward.

Once everyone had been reorganized, Landon passed out the slim vials with the purple liquid.  "Everyone gets one o' these elixirs," he explained, letting himself go into lecture mode, which helped him ease his trembling voice back to his normal gruff baritone the longer he spoke.  He was still somewhat pale, but he was no longer sweating with raw anxiety.  "They will refill your health and mana pools to the max.  Obviously, if your HP goes to zero, you can't use it on yourself, but you can use it on someone else who goes down.  Doesn't have to be drunk - skin contact is enough to activate it, so just pour it on or smash it if you can't get it unplugged.  Remember, they said that your HP has to be down to zero for more than fifteen minutes, so this is a way to make sure that doesn't happen."

He didn't have to mention that he had been saving these for the final room of the dungeon, or why he was passing them out now instead of later.  Survival had now become the priority, instead of maximizing their overall effectiveness.  He hoped that mentioning the time limit would remind everyone they still had the ability to be healed before that limit was reached.

Of course, he still had his max buff bolts ready in case they were needed...now he wished he hadn't wasted one showing off earlier.  He would hate to think he had used up the one last buff they needed on a whim.  And he had healing bolts, too.  But it was his explosive, acid, napalm, and Tesla bolts that he made sure were closest to his hand from his bolt case.

"So, what are we waiting for?" he growled as he racked one of the explosive bolts onto his crossbow.  "Sooner we clear this dungeon, sooner we can go back for drinks.  Heck, I'll even buy for everybody!"

Oh yes, he was certainly willing to do that...but he mostly just wanted to get this over with, and some bravado was helping him cover his nervous fears just like it had back when he was a soldier.