Chapter 97

The Pain Pin, Atlanta - 12:17 PM

The path from Merder Stadium to the bowling alley formerly known as The Painted Pin was not a straightforward one, but I was familiar with it. It led me through several neighborhoods that had been mostly abandoned. Very few people ventured out this far from the safe zone, and the empty streets reflected that.

Where there weren’t many people, there weren’t many monsters, either. Houses had been ransacked, picked clean of any valuables and left abandoned. It was no longer safe here so it made sense, but I always hated to see broken homes. People were already displaced and knowing that you had no place to go back to was kicking the demoralized while they were already down.

Despite the feelings, there was nothing to do but wheel past them. Anything good would have already been taken and everything else was depressing. Lingering would have only given monsters a reason to come back.

So, while it took me a while to get to the bowling alley, I did so with relative ease. It was a small bowling alley compared to the Seven-Ten back in Etson, with a large broken sign out front and a metal door. I stood outside and looked at the burnished plaque that used to name the establishment as The Painted Pin, but the “ted” had been covered in red paint, leaving its new name The Pain Pin. Inside, I could hear hooting, hollering, and overall cheer from the Filbins who made this place their home.

Taking a moment to unzip my Ringmaster’s Hoodie so that my Seven-Tenners Bowling Shirt underneath could be seen, I opened the door and walked in.

[[Item]]

Seven-Tenner Bowling Shirt

(+2 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, Heavy Strike passive acquired)

[[Passive]]

Heavy Strike

Any projectile thrown underhanded will deal 25% additional damage at the moment of impact.

Once upon the time, this bowling alley had been an upscale establishment with comfortable seating, a fantastic ambiance, and good food. There were only eight lanes here, but the space still felt large. Games were on one side, food and drink on the other, with bowling in the middle.

It was no longer an upscale establishment.

The Filbins were avid bowlers and they were, quite frankly, very good at it. They roamed in packs lead by the biggest and strongest member, whom they literally called Boss, and traveled from one bowling alley to another. It wasn’t that they were looking for challengers; Filbins were fiercely territorial and were very competitive with others coming into their turf, but that wasn’t why they roamed or left.

They left because they trashed every alley they came across, and this one was no different. The basketball and Skee-Ball machines had been completely destroyed. Couches and lounge chairs had been cut up, dismantled, and put in a corner. By the lounge and bar, several bottles of alcohol littered the ground in pieces and the smell of it was, thankfully, overpowering anything else inside.

Of the entire building, the only things that looked mostly intact were the lanes but I could see that they weren’t completely without damage. Once those were unplayable, then the group would begin looking for another alley. A roaming crew of Filbin was dangerous, rambunctious, and very confrontational, only settling down once they found their next home.

When I entered, everything stopped. The Filbin crew led by Boss Anchor wasn’t nearly as large as the Seven-Tenners, so the smaller alley suited them just fine. This crew was odd because, of the three types of Filbins,  the medium sized ones were the most numerous. While all Filbins had multicolored hair covering their bodies in swirling patterns, they had three distinct shapes.

The smallest ones were usually the majority. They were about knee height, but were the loudest and most destructive of the bunch. Medium sized Filbins came up to my chest height and were very wide. About half again as wide as I was, on average.

Finally, there was the boss. The lead Filbin of this particular crew stood up from his throne of broken furniture and looked me up and down. His body was massive, and he was at least two heads taller than me. He bristled as I continued walking forward, stopping in front of the lanes.

Just like the Seven-Tenners, each of them wore a black bowling shirt. Unlike mine, theirs had a red vertical line on its left side and the words “Iron Anchors” stitched in the same red on the right. They began screaming at me as I calmly inspected the lanes. Nodding to myself as I noted they had sustained very little damage, I looked back at the boss.

“Booo! Seven-Tenners suck!”

“Only one survivor left cause the rest couldn’t cut it!”

“Go back from where you came from!”

“I am Anthony ‘Perfect Game’ Franklin, last of the Seven-Tenners,” I announced as I pulled out Boss Steener’s Golden Bowling Ball from my inventory. “Boss Anchor, I’m here to challenge your team.”

"Shut up, you idiots!" Boss Anchor roared as he punched away some of the particularly loud smalls. The Filbins scattered, but they didn't go far.

Normally, players couldn't understand the Filbin language. Speaking with them wasn’t possible unless you decided to show them you could bowl, undertook a quest, and learned their language through a passive. I had done that with the few precious seconds I had with Boss Steener while running from the Writhing Juggernaut, earning me the Adopted Filbin passive.

[[Passive]]

Adopted Filbin

Filbins will recognize you as one of their own so long as you present yourself as an ally or competitor and have not made any hostile maneuvers. You can understand the Filbin language as your native tongue, and Filbins will understand your native language as their own.

“You have a lot of gall to come in here, loser,” Boss Anchor said in a deep voice. He stalked towards me, slowly and deliberately, making sure that I could feel his presence and how much bigger he was when compared to me. A few of his smalls were in the way, and he kicked them aside.

“I’ve come to play, Boss Anchor, will you turn me away?” I leaned, looking at the medium Filbins behind him, before locking eyes with the head honcho. The smalls were starting to taunt me, but the mediums were watching intently. “Would you dare to send off the last survivor of another crew and miss your chance to ascend?”

Boss Anchor stopped, clenching his fists as he grit his teeth. He only had one choice, and we both knew it. If he sent me away, then he would be perceived as weak by the mediums and it was only a matter of time before his reign was challenged. He had not yet solidified himself as the leader in the eyes of most of the crew. Sure, he had some fervent supporters, but there were those who still thought they could do better.

“I would not dare, brother,” Boss Anchor said, changing his tune as he relaxed. “You may be the last survivor of a weak crew, but you are one of our kind. To turn you away would be cruel. What do you wager, Perfect Game?”

“That I live up to my namesake under the standard crew battle rules, and if I do then I get your blessing and your patch,” I said. The smalls became outraged, though the mediums started to grin.

Boss Anchor snorted, looking down his nose at me. “You are not a boss, you have nothing to offer me in return.”

I held up the Golden Bowling Ball and began Spinning it on my finger as if it weren’t a thirty pound globe. He stared at it, his eyes widening as he understood.

“My bowling ball, handed down to me by Boss Steener, boss of the Seven-Tenners, if you win. But you bless it and provide me with an Iron Anchor patch if I manage to score a perfect game.”

The large Filbin crossed his arms and stroked his chin. The deck was stacked heavily in his favor, a fact that wouldn’t go unnoticed. Regardless, he didn’t accept right away. He stared down at me with intelligent blue eyes, weighing the pros and cons of letting me play. In all honesty, the only thing Boss Anchor had to worry about was losing and having to defend his position from any of the many mediums who wanted to become boss.

What he was thinking didn’t matter, though; he would take the bet. A crew claiming another crew’s boss ball was a huge deal. It would cement Boss Anchor as not only the leader of this ragtag bunch, but other Filbins would be more likely to come and join him. It was the ultimate trophy.

When compared to what I was offering, it wasn’t even close. A boss’ blessing was a standard bet between Filbin crews that gave the winner's ball more abilities. In Boss Steener’s case, it gave me some protection in the form of blocking at least one fatal attack and being used as a shield. Boss Anchor was a more aggressive type, and thus would impart a more aggressive ability onto it.

The patch was meant for my Seven-Tenner’s Bowling Shirt. Patches worked a lot like an Enhancement Jewel, but it only worked on specific articles of clothing and imparted not only additional stats, but added skills or passives.

My current shirt gave me the Heavy Strike passive, which was a deliberate choice on Boss Steener’s part because his Golden Bowling Ball was so defensively oriented. This would also act as a record for future Filbin challenges as everyone would want to take down the man known as Anthony “Perfect Game” Franklin.

“You're on,” Boss Anchor finally growled, holding out his hand.

“I’m going to enjoy this,” I said, grinning behind my mask. Reaching out, I shook his hand as best I could; his mitts were massive.

[[Quest: Filbin Crew Battle!]]

You have challenged Boss Anchor to a crew battle between the Iron Anchors and the Seven-Tenners. Filbins take their bowling deadly seriously. It’s become so culturally significant to them that they go out and form teams of like-minded individuals in order to play, improve, and destroy whatever they can get their hands on. Win, and you become a small-time legend in the Filbin community. Lose, and you become a laughing stock.

Objective: Score 300 points in a single round.

Reward: Boss Anchor’s Blessing, Iron Anchor patch, Adopted Filbin Elite passive, +100 points.

Failure: Loss of Boss Steener’s Golden Bowling Ball, Adopted Filbin Failure passive, Seven-Tenners disbanded.

Do you accept this quest?

Yes

No

I left the ball Spinning in midair as I reached over and tapped Yes on the quest screen, accepting it. Boss Anchor looked at the levitating ball and growled at me, his hand nearly crushing mine. “You have tricks-“

“Can’t back out now, already accepted,” I said as I yanked my hand free of his. My sleeve tore, but that was nothing to be worried about.

There was no time to waste. Each of the eight lanes were set up and ready as everyone who had been bowling was paying attention to me. I wasn’t sure what Filbin magic worked to keep the pinsetters operating, but I was glad for them. Ducking under Boss Anchor’s arm, I moved towards the first lane.

I let Boss Steener’s Golden Bowling Ball return to me, Orbiting around Boss Anchor before I caught it and rolled it down the first lane in one smooth motion. When I had taken the time to look the lanes over, I made mental notes of any irregularities. This lane had issues straight down the center, so I threw this first one in a way that would cause it to hook left, missing the damage.

There was no stopping. I had bowled many, many games in my lifetime, and I knew this craft better than any Filbin did. That was going to be a strike. Instead of waiting and watching, I continued until I was in the center of the third and fourth lane.

Lifting two bowling balls at once into both of my hands from the ball return, I tossed them around the machine without moving from my position. While I was a phenomenal bowler, I wouldn’t pretend that I could bowl strikes like that. Quite frankly, it would be absurd to hit two strikes at once with that method using pure skill alone. So, I used what I had.

I Split my focus on both balls and used Orbit, causing them to move into position between me and the pins before Pushing them straight down the lane. Lane three had an issue similar to lane one, and I continued pushing that as I let lane four’s ball fly down the well oiled wood. With my focus back, I looked over at the first ball I threw.

The sound of pins knocking over was music to my ears, but there was no time to celebrate. I reached out towards the Golden Bowling Ball before it could make it to the ball return and Pulled. Once it was free from the pit, I used Orbit at this long distance to swing it over onto lane two, and Dropped it. The rule was that the ball had to touch the lane at some point to count, but it didn’t say where it had to land.

Dropping the 30 pound ball caused the wood underneath it to splinter, but I Pushed it out of the hole and directly into the headpin just as the balls in  lanes three and four hit their target. The sound of thirty pins falling echoed through the bowling alley as I Pulled my bowling ball back to me.

“Stop those pins!” Boss Anchor snarled from somewhere behind me, and a pair of tangled smalls were thrown into the lanes. It took a few seconds before the flabbergasted Filbins mobilized, and by then I was already on lanes five and six. The smalls finally started running down the lanes I had already played.

By then, the Golden Bowling Ball was already back in my hand. Just like lane four, lane five had no blemishes. I suspected these two in the middle were supposed to be for Boss Anchor and left in perfect condition because of it. I sent the ball straight down the middle of five before moving between lanes six and seven, Splitting my focus and Pulling two more balls towards me.

“Get that bowler!” Boss Anchor screeched.

“Well, it’s about time you made this interesting,” I scoffed.