Jamal's first mission.
That night, Jamal came to a crossroads. He could either forget this whole experience ever happened, or he could choose to return to the jungle and bathe in the blood of his enemies.
It was no contest. The next night, Jamal found himself back inside the military camp, with the open treasure chest exactly as he'd left it. Commuting between worlds with the Jawhari stone, he always respawned near the spot and moment he left. Thus, the smoke of the camp was still rising and the corpses of the slain were still fresh when Jamal logged back in.
He decided to explore the new features Nigel had pointed out to him. As expected, tapping his left pec summoned a cyan menu of his Strengths and Weaknesses. In the plus column for him were Firearms, Stamina, Pain Tolerance and Swinging, while in the negative section there was only Intelligence.
Jamal scoffed. Brains had never been his strong suit anyway, and besides, it was far cooler for him to be a gun-toting bad*ss. Returning to the chest, he wolfed down the Mushroom in a few bites and exchanged his standard rifle for a heavy machine gun. He consulted the Map and found that his next stop was the Zahava Gold Mine, where Van Pelt had enslaved the natives to work. Those words made the boy's blood boil, and he swore he'd make Van Pelt pay for it.
Leaving the deserted camp, Jamal continued trekking through the thick jungle. He slept during the afternoons and moved actively at night, when it was cooler, and the stars were out. In less than three days, he'd crossed the island and arrived at his checkpoint.
Jamal found the mine being manned by black-skinned Jumanjians while Van Pelt's conscripts oversaw the work. Every now and then, a soldier would lash a young boy or girl who fell behind in their labour. Jamal tried to memorise those soldiers' faces so he could be sure to kill them first.
At dusk, he crept stealthily into the mine shafts once all the workers had left. Filling an empty minecart with dynamite, he pushed it down a slope in the general direction of the army barracks.
The explosives detonated as the cart flew off the rails and slammed into the ground at speed. Van Pelt's men came scurrying out of their quarters like rats, their eardrums bleeding for the loudness of the bang.
Jamal wasted no time swinging down from his perch on a hoist chain and pumping his adversaries full of bullets. The sound was music to the young man's ears, and in the ears of the Jumanjian slaves once they realised what was happening. They rushed to the hero's aid and became his allies against Van Pelt's army.
Eventually, the entire mine site was liberated, the moon shining brightly upon the scene of the massacre. With Jamal's help, the Jumanjians packed the abandoned mine with dynamite and blew the whole place up to loud cheers. Dumping their oppressors' corpses in the mine, the freed slaves returned home, satisfied that they'd achieved their revenge.
Meanwhile, Jamal found another chest with rewards inside. There was a replenishment of ammo, a pile of cash to spend and directions to Jumanji's Elephant Sanctuary.
Jamal grinned. He was sure Van Pelt couldn't resist the lure of ivory.
"He's struck again, sir," gasped the exhausted messenger as he stumbled into Van Pelt's office. "It's him. The maniac who slaughtered the Fourth Regiment – he's blown up the Zahava mine with the aid of our conscripts."
"That b*stard," snarled Murray Van Pelt as he slammed his palm onto his mahogany desk. He'd never dreamt that a mysterious foe would declare unofficial war on him and sabotage his efforts to explore the island. No matter: if this fellow wished to play dirty, good ol' Murray would pay him back double.
"Stephenson," said Murray to the messenger, "inform Terrance that the bounty on this man has tripled."
The actor I wrote Murray Van Pelt for: Dan Stevens.