by Kit Falbo
Grampa’s chatting away as I enter. The faint unintelligible buzz of words become clearer a few feet into the house. “He’s in real bad trouble, he’s just embarrassed to ask for help and would be ashamed if you bring it up. It’s just a small amount, two hundred dollars to a couple of loan sharks who you’ll need to wire the money too…” I force myself to stop listening. I hate that he’s doing this now.
He’s the one who taught me to work chess in the park once I insisted on helping, he was never as good at the game as I am. He relied too much on extra moves and palming a piece in the chaos. He says it’s his joints making him slow. He messed up bad two town’s back. Picked the wrong mark, got caught, beat up, and his jaw and wrist broke. That ate most of our funds and caused us to move. I had to blend his lunch for him to eat through a straw.
Now it’s less hustle and more con, using a phone to convince people to wire him money, one step away from being a fake Nigerian prince. He finishes his transaction then stops himself from starting another call. He breaks out in a grin. “My boy, I didn’t expect you back so soon. Come here give me a hug.”
I oblige, and he uses his hand to ruffle my hair like he always does. ”You know you don’t need to do that anymore. I make enough to take care of us, and if my new plan works, we won’t have to worry at all.”
He lets out a low growl. “I don’t like that plan. Not sure if it is safe. I remember immersion causing seizures.”
“That was a decade ago. This company is also paranoid about player privacy, so no one will know who I am.” I know he’d throw a fit if he knew I am using my birth name for this. The company’s privacy policy means even he can’t find that out. “It’s paid for already, and if it fails, I’ll move on to the next thing. Not like you haven’t had plans that didn’t work out.”
He squeezes me a little tighter. “I just want you to be safe.”
“It’ll be safer than working the park or this neighborhood.” I wince knowing I shouldn’t have said that. I can feel his shame and a bit of anger. When I was too young to know better, it was fine. Now it is a bone of contention between us. “We have each other,” I say. “It’s okay if this works out or not, I’ll take care of you the way you’ve taken care of me.”
“Yes, we have each other,” Pa agrees. But the look on his face doesn’t change. I shouldn’t have brought up our lifestyle. He’s doing the best he can.
I pull out my take from the park and hand it to him. “Let’s order a pizza for dinner. Maybe two. I think I’m growing.”
The pizzas arrive just as it starts to rain and I’m glad I got home early. Gramps decides to get a few more calls in, and I take my share and hide in my room, grabbing an old paperback copy of The Queen’s Gambit to reread, allowing the door and the rain to muffle the sound of the sweet talking.
The rain is still falling as I fall asleep. Rain always brings bad dreams. It was raining the day Grandpa picked me up from school when I was six, with a hug and a ruffle of my hair before he looked me in the eyes and told me there was an accident and my parents were gone. It was raining a few days later went we to the funeral. We sat in the back, and he let me listen to a documentary on chess to calm me. We left the day after.
In the dream, I’m at the funeral again, and instead of Grandpa holding an umbrella over me, the rain is soaking me. A fight breaks out, and I fall, hurting my ribs. I try to run but keep slipping on the mud as a woman roars at me. I wake up wet like I just left the dream, but it is sweat, not rain. I hate rainy nights.
Chapter Two - Chess
The immersion center is packed. Word is, the place is booked up for months, and the company is trying to get another one set up quickly for backorders. Some of the people waiting are hoping to sneak in on a cancelation. The crowd is mostly men, and older than me. There are a few younger players like me who had somehow gotten permission to play the game. Of course, our experience will be muted for combat and more adult situations. Neither of those aspects appeal to me anyway.
“Reservation for Nate Shoefield.” I know I say it fine, it’s just words, but my real name feels gummy in my mouth. Like I’m channeling Rumpelstiltskin.
The agent looks at the paperwork she has on me. “This being your first time, you’ll need to take a quick calibration test before you start. Don’t worry. It won’t cut into your reserved time.”
They have me change into a full body suit and specialized goggles. True immersion these days is a room that moves with you as the goggles and suit provide sensations. Asia has some pods, but good luck getting them approved here. Closest thing to the pod experience is headsets, but those have heavy restrictions limiting play, so I’ve chosen to go the reactive room route. As it is, the most I can get is eight hours here. I’ll be competing with the over twenty-one crowd who can stay in twelve hours a day, which is even more reason I’d be at a disadvantage for a citadel run.
The reactive rooms are smaller than I thought it would be, maybe seven feet by seven feet. They have me do some running and jumping, the floor moves with me, keeping me centered in the space. It’s amazing. I barely feel it except for the fact my mind is telling me something is off. Last, they have me act randomly trying to touch a wall for about five minutes. I fail, but that’s expected.
“Calibration complete,” the computer announces in a soft, pleasant voice that everyone associates as not quite human. “To begin your registered session, make sure the goggles are secure and say ‘Begin.’”
I take a deep breath. “Begin.”
Trumpets blare, and I nearly jump at the suddenness of the “world” being wiped away, leaving me in a black void. Shapes shoot through the air forming the words FAIR QUEST. It’s all very stylized. The I is a sword, and the R is flaming. I reach toward it. It feels hot, though not uncomfortable.
A rumbling baritone breaks the music as the narration begins and text scrolls across the action scenes that play, like a movie, in the air.
Fair Quest
The kingdom Lusania is in turmoil after the royal family is assassinated. Many bear the blood of the King, from poor farmers to lesser lords, but there is no clear line of succession.
In the far reaches of the East, an ancient evil known as the Man of Masks stirs, awakened by its hunger for power as it senses Lusania’s loss.
Using great magic that ultimately costs him his life, the Royal Wizard calls upon the Gods to send their emissaries, those Touched by Gods, to find the rightful ruler and bring peace unto the land.
The future sovereign could be anyone of royal blood. To prove their worthiness.They may partner with one of the Gods Emissaries, the Touched, and defeat the Man of Masks.
Today the adventure begins. Meet your companion. Defeat the Man of Masks. By presenting the Star gem, proof of the Man of Masks defeat, your companion will prove their worthiness to be king.
Are you, O Touched One, the Kingmaker?
The trumpets start up again, and the words and pictures fade away. New words scroll in front of me.
Welcome new player, state your name to log in.
“Nate Shoefield.”
Select your game name.
A keyboard display appears in front of me. I have given it a lot of thought and hope the name isn’t taken. I type in Chess and hit Accept. It greenlights, and I’m transported to the character creation page.
Select your race.
I know the build I want, but there is still a lot of information about the game that has not yet been released. I scroll through the dozen races listed. I want something charisma-based. All the non-human races that have bonuses also have penalties to strength, (like the halflings) or wisdom (like the fae.) Neither of which I want to have a penalty in. I guess it’s good old human and our two free bonus attribute points and free skill.
Select your class.
There are only ten base classes, but each branches out into dozens of subclasses. You can be a fighter monk, ranger sniper, hundreds of final options, each giving different abilities but also restricting
how you spend your attribute and skill points. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed knowing there is a best option that I will probably miss out on due to not having enough information. I take a breath. I have a plan. I’m sticking to it. I select Sorcerer.
A brief description pops up.
Sorcerers are magic users who use their force of will to control magical forces of the land. Unlike wizards and mages, they do not need items, scrolls or ingredients to help cast spells. They will a thing, and it happens. Consequently, their spells are weak and prone to failure if Will is lacking.
Requirements:
● 15 Charisma
● Secondary focus on Wisdom or Intelligence recommended.
Dozens of subclasses are shown after my selection. I fiddle with how to sort them: alphabetically, by recommendation, or by secondary requirements. I start by looking at dexterity required builds and see sorcerous duelist or monk.
Ultimately, I choose to sort by recommendation to see how they have ordered that list. The top choices all follow an aggressive fighting style, summoning creatures and letting them do the work or getting strength from outside sources to make up for a weaker mana source since high charisma is needed to have your spells not fail. Demonologist and Blood top the list. These either use their charisma to help control summons or use the blood of their kills to restore a lesser mana pool.
The next highest recommended classes are fighters who use sorcerous powers to help boost their combat.
I’m still not seeing the class I want and start to worry my plans won’t work. Then I find it, at the bottom among the least recommended subclasses for sorcerers. Just Above sorcerous healer and below sorcerous nulwark is what I want, sorcerous enchanter.
I click to read the description. Enchanters empower the materials and items of the world, allowing players to fight the battles of the future. Sorcerous enchanters call forth the inner nature of the materials and beings enchanted, where clerics inscribe holy symbols, mages transfer outside powers, and wizards combine special materials for their work. Sorcerers are the least common, and often considered the weakest of the enchanters. I groan a little. The designers are literally calling it a weak selection. Still, it beats having to go out and farm tons of resources for my work, the subclass also has a requirement of seventeen charisma, meaning I’ll have even less stats to pull up my mana.
The two level one spells that go with it are: Strengthen, which says it brings out the best in the materials enchanted improving all aspects of them, and True Nature, which can bring out additional benefits or traits in materials enchanted. Those will be paired up with the level one primary class spell of Sorcerous Bolt which I will never use. I hit Accept on the selection.
Next up is the option of spending a skill point to select a profession instead of a skill. There it is a disclaimer.
All professions can be learned, and there are benefits gained from doing so, though some are so difficult or dangerous that it may be nearly impossible to do so in the game. Be sure to choose wisely.
I select it to see the options. Like the subclass section, there are several ways to search. Maybe because of the warning to choose wisely, one of the options to sort by is ease to acquire.
I look at the easiest ones first. Merchant, sell stuff. Miner, dig for rocks. Jester, tell jokes. I keep a close eye out for the crafting professions as I scan the list. Most have very few skill requirements. You just need to do the work. Some, like sculptor and artist, require charisma. Smithing requires fifteen strength to use the tools.
I switch to look at the most difficult professions to acquire. Top of the list is dragon rider. I think it’s a requirement for the dragon rider subclass, and I’m a little surprised it is even considered a profession. General, you must be cocky to pick that one. Shipwright, because everyone wants to build boats. Alchemist, this one is tempting. Probably has more to do with potions and poisons. Next is artificer. That is probably the one I want. I click to read the description.
An Artificer finds Strength and power in creation and beauty. They can create and improve on many items. Profession requirements are any magic class.
Benefits:
● 3% Crafting quality bonus
● 3% Enchantment Strength bonus
● 5% Artification Strength and quality bonus
● Access to Artificer spells and abilities
Attribute requirements
● 14 Charisma
● 13 Strength
● 12 Intelligence
That’s what I want. Point spent.
A genderless gray character model in a loose-fitting gray robe appears before me. Just to the right of the head, the name Chess hovers in golden letters. To the left are the categories, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma, each showing a base of 10.
Human appears under my name, and the model changes slightly, broadening at the shoulders and gaining a couple inches in height. Attribute points:16 appears and hovers there a moment before the class I selected shows up in the display, Sorcerer. Five glowing balls shoot out from the attribute points reducing the number by five. The balls spin twisting towards charisma adding to the total, which brings me to the base class requirement. Next, the subclass enchanter shows up, and the same effect happens. This is followed by artificer, the profession I selected. In the end, I’m left with the handful of attribute points that I’m able to assign myself: Four points.
I assign one to charisma bringing it to 18, and a warning tells me I have assigned the max starting value to that attribute. Thinking back on the smithing profession requirements, I assign two points to strength and the last one to wisdom. Each point changes the model’s shape slightly in response to the assigning of points.
The game automatically selects my gender as male. I’d heard of some guy gamers selecting female characters to get gifts from other players. I don’t know if Immersion Arts wants to stop that or has other reasons. It is giving me the option to change the features. Some have been known to spend their entire first day doing just that, making it look exactly how they like. I keep the random defaults. I have work to do.
After a series of Accept, Accept, Accept, golden words hover in front of me:
Entering Clarion, capital of Lusania.
The room glows brightly and feels like it is moving. I’m thrown off balance, causing me to stumble forward, and I’m outside. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the change.
The sky is blue. The day is sunny and warm, a clear contrast to the miserable weather outside the immersion center. Behind me is the glowing blue portal I have apparently stepped out from. I’m standing on a stage, in front of a crowd of people looking, well, like they think I’m their savior or something. A slight breeze blows across my body. I look down. Shit, I’m naked. My junk’s pixelated due to age filters. Almost as soon as I notice that, someone is pulling a formless white robe over my head.
“Welcome to the world of Lusania!” cries a man in a blue robe who is now standing beside me. This gets a smattering of applause from the crowd. NPC, I guess. I wonder whether these non-player characters are running on a script or driven by basic artificial intelligence. It would be good to know. If Fair Quest is as good as they say, it might be both.
In the distance, I can see more platforms with portals and players stumbling out. I’m itching to leave because there’s no point in a player sticking around to watch this, then I notice a smirk on someone’s face in the back of the crowd. Maybe they’re not all NPC.
“As one of the Touched by the gods, you will help protect and shape our land. We have assigned a companion of the blood to you. With your guidance they may be the next king,” Blue Robe says as he grabs the hand of the young man standing at his side and shoves him toward me.
The young man stumbles into me. “Hi,” he says a little shyly. “I’m Jasper, your companion.”
Now Blue Robe is shooing us, and when we don’t move quite quickly enough, shoving us, off stage. Together we stumble down th
e stairs. There’s a flash behind me, and I turn to look. A naked young woman stands in the space I just vacated. Well, I assume naked because everything in the important areas is blurred out for me, due to the age filter. We continue walking, and I miss what Jasper is saying as Blue Robe begins to yell welcome again.
I turn to my companion. “What was that again?”
“I said we are supposed to go down to the training fields near the southern wall.”
I snort. ”They’re going to what, equip us, have us hack at dummies, then send us to kill rabbits?”
Jasper shrugs. The response is amazingly lifelike. I almost reach out to pinch his arm but resist, knowing that’s not the best way to get off on a good foot with the AI I’m partnered with. “Pretty much. The priests are having each of us companions escort the Touched there.”
I shake my head. “No time for that. Do you know where the nearest artificer is?”
“What? Laslow? He’s the kingdom’s artificer. Even with the money they’re giving out to you Touched at the training grounds, we wouldn’t be able to afford anything from his shop.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not planning on buying anything,” I say with a smile. “Now, where’s his shop?”
Jasper seems stunned briefly. “It’s on King Street. I’ll show you the way. It’s in the opposite direction from where we should be going.”
Jasper leads. I take it all in. All around me there are throngs of people going about their lives, hanging laundry or sweeping steps. Even some dogs and chickens are running in the street. I would be hard pressed to tell they are NPC except or the fact that no player would do such mundane things in the game. Every time I think my gawking has caused me to lose my companion, I look ahead, and he is there, walking. He’s making sure I keep up by not moving too far ahead of my haphazard pace.