Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

The Castle was perched on a small hillside. Except for the front where the main entrance was situated, the other three sides of the Castle abutted sheer cliffs. In front of the main entrance lay a moat, now parched and dry, with a stone bridge spanning across it leading to the grand doors of the Castle.

As expected, upon arriving at the entrance, Liu Xing and his companions noticed a massive Elder Sign emblazoned upon the Castle's main gate. Even with Liu Xing's decent eyesight, he could make out that the not-so-towering walls were densely packed with Elder Signs. He speculated that perhaps every brick and stone of this Castle bore an Elder Sign. To the eyes of mythical creatures, this Castle might as well be a cesspool...

What on earth had the lord of this Castle been through?

Liu Xing couldn't help but fall into deep contemplation.

The main gate of the Castle was a tall, sturdy wooden door that seemed almost impossible to open by mere human strength. Thus, Liu Xing figured that this door might be the first significant obstacle to leaving the town of Eins. After all, the walls appeared to be about seven or eight meters high, and the cliffs on the other three sides were even taller, at about twenty meters. The likelihood of descending from these walls was slim to none without a rope, and even then, one would have to be prepared for a deadly fall.

Therefore, Liu Xing felt that if they wanted to leave the EinsCastle within twelve hours, they had to find a way through this main entrance.

At the lower left of the Castle's great door was a small iron door, with a little red button on it—presumably the doorbell.

Wang Siyi, who was leading the group, had just made the first roll of the dice for this session—a Navigation check, scoring 49 out of 70, a success.

Wang Siyi had opted for an open roll, so the result was communicated to every player by the game master, kp004.

Liu Xing looked at Wang Siyi in surprise. As a journalist, she had invested an unexpected number of Skill Points into the Navigation skill, a revelation indeed.

"This path we've taken is the shortest and safest from the Castle to the town," said Wang Siyi, speaking for the first time in this session.

Liu Xing nodded and prepared to press the doorbell. After all, the main quest required them to stay in the Castle for at least twelve hours straight; the sooner they entered, the sooner they could leave.

Just as Liu Xing was about to press the doorbell, Bai Hecheng suddenly darted over, elbowing his way past Liu Xing.

With a puzzled tone, Liu Xing asked, "Bai Hecheng, what are you doing? Why did you push me aside?"

With a sly grin, Bai Hecheng pulled out a piece of wire from his pocket, inserted it into the lock, and began to fiddle with it.

Liu Xing watched, flabbergasted, as Bai Hecheng, a mere university student, demonstrated his lock-picking skills. It was unexpected, and Liu Xing couldn't help but think it might come in handy later.

However, Liu Xing's contemplation was short-lived as he heard the outcome of Bai Hecheng's attempt—Lockpicking, 45 out of 1, a failure.

When a player attempted to use a skill they hadn't learned, there was a base value for the roll. For example, Liu Xing's Jump skill had a base of 20 points because anyone not disabled could jump, and Wang Siyi's Navigation had a base of 10 points. However, a specialized skill like Lockpicking had a mere base of 1...

Thus, with no points invested in Lockpicking, Bai Hecheng's attempt was doomed from the start, leaving Liu Xing at a loss for words.

"Bai Hecheng, what the hell are you doing?" Liu Xing hadn't voiced his exasperation, but Wang Qi couldn't contain his temper and pushed Bai Hecheng aside.

But it was too late. Bai Hecheng's failed lockpicking attempt had triggered the Castle's alarm mechanism, and suddenly, a shrill alarm blared out.

As the instigator of the chaos, Bai Hecheng wore a face of innocence as he explained, "I was merely trying to see if the door could be opened directly. Why the fuss?"

The mere attempt, even with a one percent chance, made Liu Xing see Bai Hecheng as a harbinger of group destruction.

Wang Qi, now barely containing the urge to lay hands on Bai Hecheng, found himself separated by Chen Ling who stepped forward between the two, in a bid to prevent further accidents. Chen Ling first parted them and then tried to calm Wang Qi down.

Wang Siyi, on the other hand, continued to watch from the sidelines.

Liu Xing looked on at the chaos unfolding before him and could not help but shake his head in dismay, fearing that their group could not continue.

At that moment, the small iron door of the Castle swung open, and an elderly man who seemed to be the butler emerged.

"I am the butler of this Castle. You may call me Old Wayne," he said, turning off the alarm and furrowing his brow. "May I ask who you all are?"

Since Liu Xing was standing in front of Wayne, it fell upon him to step forward and, albeit reluctantly, he spoke up, "My apologies, Mr. Wayne. We are foreign tourists referred by the Innkeeper. My friend here was overly curious. Having seen in movies and TV shows how Castle doors could be effortlessly picked with a wire, he wanted to try it out, inadvertently triggering the alarm. We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience."

As he spoke, Liu Xing pulled out the Castle pass given to them by the Innkeeper, with Wang Qi and the others doing the same.

Old Wayne took the passes from everyone and briefly examined them, his expression finally easing. "I see. Since you all come recommended by the old drunkard, we at EinsCastle are indeed happy to welcome you. However, please refrain from engaging in any more nonsensical actions."

With that, Old Wayne threw a pointed glare at Bai Hecheng, who responded with an unrepentant smile towards the butler.

Anthropology, 22/50, success.

A notification from kp004 suddenly resounded in Liu Xing's ears, and he hadn't expected that among them was someone who had actually invested in such an underwhelming skill like anthropology.

The primary use of anthropology was to discern whether NPCs or a certain corpse were human, or to study the customs and traditions of a particular area—which required a substantial amount of time. However, opportunities to employ anthropology were exceedingly rare, rendering it somewhat of a superfluous skill. Apart from a few players with professions as university professors who might choose it, other players generally did not. In all the playthrough videos Liu Xing had seen, less than one percent of players opted for anthropology, making it a surprise for Liu Xing to encounter a teammate who had chosen this skill in their current team.

"Please follow me; we shall proceed to the main building of the Castle," said Old Wayne, bowing genteelly to Liu Xing and the others, who then followed him to the principal edifice of the Castle.