by Felix Craft
Figuring I might be walking for a while, I stopped by the front stand to get the tunic, britches, and boots again, then started wandering the village. I didn’t see any other question marks on any signs after a complete circuit. Guess I was in for a little sight-seeing. I seethed at the delay. Any moment now, someone could step into the room where I was lying unconscious while I wandered around this stupid game.
This was what I got for helping old friends.
I returned to the village green to scan through my menus for a map when I saw a familiar face. Leesha stepped out of an unlabeled house, a man shouting and waving his arms in the air after her. Apparently, she had a knack for pissing off everyone she met. I set my jaw and started for her.
She sneered at the shouting man, then turned away, and her eyes fell on me. “You again? What, still stuck?”
“Yes, actually,” I snapped. “I need you to point me to a new mod. This one obviously doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“Oh, really?” She smirked at me. “And I suppose a noob like you knows better?”
“I know he tried resetting my account, but I’m still here!”
Leesha’s eyes narrowed. “Look. I don’t like you following me around. How about I ‘help’ you out of here?” She looked over my head. “Command: Report abuse.”
“Oh, come on!”
But I realized what she was doing might just do the trick. If my account got banned, there was no way I could come back.
“That should do the trick.” Leesha shrugged. “Hope to see you never.” She turned and walked away.
I let her go and waited for the ticket to go through, tapping my foot impatiently. How could this game survive with service like this? If I held any reservations about taking the game down, the employees had cured me of it. These people didn’t deserve to be paid for this kind of service. They made me look like employee-of-the-year.
I went back to the village green and stretched out my legs, staring at my feet. My eyes fell to my bum leg. No scars. I stared at it, then moved it, stretching it out. No pain. I stood up and walked about on it, trying to detect the usual stabbing pins around my kneecap. Nothing. You’d have never know I’d suffered a complete ACL/MCL/meniscus blowout.
Huh. It made sense that the game hadn’t carried over my old injury from real life, but somehow, it still caught me by surprise. I’d been so caught up in trying to get out of here, I hadn’t even noticed the change. I stood up and bounced from foot to foot, feeling a little of my old mojo come back. I jumped, landing on my bad leg. The sensation made me grin, then I did a little juke move past an invisible opponent.
I felt good. Really good. Like I hadn’t in years.
The world started pulling apart again. A message inside a red box with a triangular exclamation icon appeared in my fading vision.
You are being force-logged off by a moderator for abuse. Further incidents may result in a temporary or permanent ban. Please be respectful to all players.
Apparently the ticket processed. As the world peeled away, I couldn’t help but feel a small pang of regret that I’d never get to test out my new knee.
It didn’t last long.
“Welcome to MythRune!”
Great.
So much for moderators. With no other options, I’d have to go up the food chain. I needed to find Danny. Sitting in the grove where I’d spawned, I poured through the menus, finding skill trees, player attributes, an in-game wiki, and more, but I didn’t see anything that helped. Sighing, I rose — briefly appreciating again that my bum knee was gone — then set off for the village again. It was time to see something other than the same strip of grass running along the same trees, and the same NPCs in the same village.
“It’s time to begin your adventure!” the dramatic narrator declared for the umpteenth time.
Even the noob shop NPC was eyeing me strangely, but I ignored her and put on the simple clothes. I looked about for which way to go when a man suddenly staggered down the street, finger pointing at me. “You! Come here!”
It was the drunk lumberjack. What did he want? The mystery was soon solved as he lumbered — no pun intended — toward me.
“Give me back my axe, you scoundrel!”
Oops. Accessing my inventory, I found the axe — how had it remained after all the resets? I stood rooted to the spot.
Then my good leg wanted to run, so I did.
“Thief! Stop him!” I barreled into the woods like a twelve-year-old stealing his first Playboy, but no one tried to apprehend me. I laughed at the joy of running as the dude’s shouts faded away behind me. An instant later, an invisible force struck me like a freight train.
“What the—” I sat up and rubbed my head, feeling like I’d just been hit by a three-hundred pound defensive lineman. As my vision cleared, another prompt materialized.
Notice:
You must complete the quest Tutorial: Basics of MythRune before you leave this area.
Task: Obtain a training weapon from the village quartermaster and learn the basics of combat.
Difficulty: Easy
Reward: 100 xp
Well, shit. It could have told me that before knocking me to the ground! Really hoping the quest wouldn’t involve me going back to the village, reviewed my first objective. “Command: Current quest.”
So much for my luck. The quartermaster was located on the other side of the village, opposite of where I currently was.
Debating which way was safer, I finally decided to go around the perimeter of the village behind the lumberjack’s house, hoping he hadn’t immediately returned home. Creeping through the forest, I noticed the vegetation was different than back home. Vines hung down from tall, drooping trees and ferns and flowers of all kinds coated the ground under my feet. The realness of MythRune struck me again. But I wasn’t out to admire the local scenery.
The lumberjack’s house came into view. With its small, covered windows, I couldn't tell if he was home or not. I decided to risk it and crept forward, the vegetation thinning as trees turned to stumps around his yard — apparently he wasn’t always drinking.
Going farther out was impossible, as the invisible barrier kept me close to the village. I bent low, trying to stay below the level of the stumps where I could. Moving at a crouch like this was something I never could have done on my bum leg. Despite myself, I grinned as I went, enjoying the thrill of evasion.
You have entered Stealth Mode for the first time! The stealth skill is available to all players and allows you to move undetected past other players, characters, and monsters. The stealth skill is integral for thief and rogue classes, but all players can benefit from moving stealthily from time to time.
The unexpected notification startled me so much, I tipped over and fell out of stealth mode. Before I could appreciate the irony in that, however, a familiar voice shouted at me from the porch.
“Hey! You!”
“Shit!” I ran for it as the lumberjack barreled toward me. Fortunately, he wasn't completely sober, so running over uneven ground slowed him considerably, especially when he tripped over a stump and bit it. I didn’t need further encouragement. “Later, loser!” I called over my shoulder and bolted out of there. As I ran, I heard a soft ding, like a phone notification, inside my ear.
Quest Failed!
You scoundrel! Instead of helping him out, you stole the lumberjack’s axe and left him to suffer the consequences of his prolonged inebriation.
Reward: Lumberjack’s Axe.
Penalty: None (nobody really likes the lumberjack of Thistleburg, anyway).
All right!
4
The Great Wyrm Slayer
I jogged the rest of the way to the quartermaster, whose location was marked with a red exclamation mark on my map of Thistleburg. He was set up at a stand among a compound of a few long houses and caught my eye as soon as I entered. He watched as I walked over.
“Well, well, so you're the one who's been making all the fuss around here!” Th
e quartermaster was a round-bellied man with a mustache that would put Mario to shame.
“I hope not too much trouble,” I said, sleazy as a salesman. “I have a quest to fulfill, after all.”
“A quest! My boy, I can help with that! Now, what is it you need?”
I checked the prompt again. “Looks like I need a weapon and some training from the best fighter in the village.”
“From the best fighter, eh?” The quartermaster puffed out his chest. “Now where would he be?”
“I don't know. But I sure would appreciate his help.”
“Oh, it’s me, already!” He turned and pulled something, then the wall next to him collapsed with a bang. I admit, I jumped, but just a bit. The quartermaster gestured grandly. “Now grab something and let's get started! Oh, I feel twenty years younger already! Watch out, impalas and ogres!”
Shaking with amusement, I looked at his selection for me. I didn't have an eye for medieval weapons, but even I could tell they were crudely fashioned. Still, there was a wide enough selection — a short sword, a pair of daggers, a bow and quiver of arrows, a battle-axe, a war-hammer … my eyes began to glaze over. How did I pick one? Though, I supposed it didn't matter. I'd be gone soon, anyway.
I'd always been a big guy. Figured I might as well use my size to my advantage, so I picked up the long-hafted battle-axe. It was lighter than I'd expected, and balanced so that even though the sharp, moon-curved head was heaviest, the butt of it also weighed considerably.
“Ah! I should have known! You do have an affinity for axes from what I've heard.” The quartermaster’s eyes twinkled.
I flushed despite myself. “Yeah, about that—”
“No need, my boy! Yarluf’s a lost cause in any condition! If you hadn't stolen it, he would have lost it, and then guess who has to get him a new one?”
The quartermaster came out from behind his stand, now clutching a staff some eight feet tall. “Now, my boy …” he said, low and sinister. “How will you fair if you're attacked?”
For a such a heavy man, he came at me fast. I barely had time to raise my axe before his staff came whipping down. Wood cracked on wood as I blocked with the handle. I grinned at my success, but almost as soon as the staff struck, the quartermaster was whipping his weapon around and down to crack against the back of my knee.
“Ow!” I fell to one knee and tried to bring my axe around to block another blow. But the merciless man was already spinning it to my other side, and a moment later my ribs burned with pain.
“Stop, dammit!” I rose to my feet and rushed him, holding my axe aloft to chop down on him. I didn't care that it was sharp. The man had brought this on himself.
At the last second before my axe came down on his head, the quartermaster stepped nimbly aside, tripped me, sent me sprawling, then rounded my humiliation off nicely with a whack to the back of my skull.
“First lesson,” the man said pleasantly while I drooled on the ground. “You suck.”
I wiped my mouth and stood, anger coursing through me. I wanted to rush at him and chop him down to size, but I’d played enough sports to know when I was outmatched. “Okay, I suck. What's the second lesson?”
The quartermaster smiled. “A quick learner! The second lesson is never underestimate your opponent. A smaller man may be stronger than you. A heavier man may be faster than you. A woman of any size may be both of these things and more. Never discriminate until you have seen them in action.”
Again, it was a lesson I already knew. “Fine. I know I underestimated you. I… apologize.”
The man laughed heartily. “Don't apologize to me! Apologize to your skull! Now then, the third lesson — how to position your stance for the two-handed battle-axe.”
For the next hour or so, the quartermaster ran me through exercises and drills, much the way my old coaches had done. I fell into the rhythm quickly, learning and even enjoying at a remarkable pace. Here, I didn't tire like I might have in the real world, nor did I as readily repeat mistakes. My person, avatar — whatever in MythRune — helped me become more than who I could be otherwise. It was like taking Adderall and other neurotropics with all the benefits and none of the drawbacks.
If I wasn't in imminent danger of being locked in a cell the rest of my life, I might be inclined to enjoy this.
But I was eager to get a move on, so after the hour was up, I declined any further sessions. Almost immediately, a projection popped up, and I went on the defense, coming fresh off of combat training. When I realized it was just a message, I put my axe down and was glad the quartermaster didn’t seem to know what was going on.
You have gained a new affinity: Battle-axe! Affinities are ongoing skills that advance through use. Further your affinities to gain additional bonuses to you character.
For Battle-axe, bonuses include: +1% battle-axe damage per affinity level. +1% effectiveness to battle-axe traits. +1% chance of success of battle-axe skills.
Battle-axe progression: 10% until level 2.
From what I could tell, Danny had made it so that you should stick to one weapon, or at least a few. The more you used one, the better it got. It wasn’t going to matter much to me, though. I dismissed it with a murmured command.
But in the corner of my vision, another projection popped up. The Current Quest projection, which showed the same prompt for my tutorial as before, had appeared, and I watched with some satisfaction as my objective was crossed out. To my dismay, though, a second one appeared below it:
Current Quest:
Tutorial: Basics of MythRune
- Obtain a training weapon from the village quartermaster and accept his tutelage.
- Complete the quartermaster’s task and claim the bounty.
The quartermaster spoke as it appeared. “If you're sure you're done, then I have a little errand for you to attend to…”
I tried not to groan and affected the most polite tone possible. “Sure.”
“Grand! There's been a wyrmling infestation in one of our farmer’s fields. If you could clear it out for him, I'm sure he'd greatly appreciate it.”
I carved a smile on my face. “That's what I'm here for!”
“I knew I could count on you! Now once you complete it, return here and I might have a little something the farmer passed on for whoever I found for the job.” The quartermaster winked at me. “Might be it starts with Rune and ends in coins!”
Runecoins — I'd heard of those before. It actually made me perk up a bit. Runecoins — Rc for short — had actual dollar value in the real world. I wasn't sure on the conversion rate, but to receive real monetary value from this game was pretty cool. How the hell that worked, I had no idea. After all, how could I get real money for performing an in-game task that had no real value? But I wouldn't question it for now. I had wyrmlings to kill.
Muttering a command to bring up my map projection, I saw the farmer’s field was east of me, directly away from town from where I was. I waved so long to the quartermaster, and after being assured I could use the axe for the job, I set off for the fields. Trees quickly disappeared in place of a sea of waving golden grains. I walked through them. Despite my poor mood, I was enjoying the fine weather and scenery. Taking a stroll for a moment, my axe propped up on my shoulder, wouldn't be so bad...
I heard a hiss behind me, and all pleasant feelings dissipated as I whirled to face my first wyrmling.
It rose halfway up my chest, its body a series of puffs and ridges like rolled-up bubble wrap. Its mouth was a perfect circle with several rows of sharp little teeth going back as far as I could see. I didn't know how it could sense me, as I couldn't see eyes, ears, or a nose, but I had no doubt it knew I was here. And I was its enemy.
As the wyrmling bunched itself up and sprang, I yelled and swung my axe from the shoulder. My curved blade struck its body and rusty ichor spurted from the wound. My blow was enough to knock the mouth aside, but its body continued along and barreled into me, knocking the breath out of me as the momentum bore me
to the ground. Dislodging my axe, I used the shaft to push it off me with a fury fueled by my disgust. I could feel its slime and blood all done my front.
I was back on my feet, but the wyrmling wasn't finished yet. It squirmed and rose to launch itself at me again. Not quick enough.
Teeing up, I swung my axe like it was a baseball bat, and the axe head exploded through the beast.
“Home run!” I shouted, throwing up my arms, gore spraying from my axe. I was getting to like this game.
On my way to talk to the farmer, I killed two more wyrmlings, leaving their bodies to fertilize the crops. The farmer was happy to see me, covered in wyrm goo and all, and thought he’d seen seven more in his field. He pointed out the spots he thought he saw them, and X’s came up on my map. I grinned. They couldn’t have made this easier.
I took out three, simple as cutting cake, only sustaining a few more wounds. However, I noticed walking was getting hard, and my head was growing foggy. With a vague recollection of something from the welcome video, I said, “Command: Status.”
A projection came up with various colored lines.
Status: Worn
Health Points (HP): 52/100
Stamina Points (SP): 31/100
Mana Points (MP): —/100
The green stamina bar wa steadily creeping back toward full, but the red health bar stayed still. I could feel that Worn status of mine. I wondered if it was from my low SP, low HP, or a combination of both.
Nevertheless, I knew I wouldn't get any closer to logging out by waiting around, so I pushed on to the fourth wyrmling location. Once I'd left it for worm food, I dragged my weary feet over to the fifth and swung with sore shoulders to split it in half like the ugliest flower blooming. By the time I went for the next, my SP had pitted to 12 and my HP to 41. Panting, I went onward, ignoring a projection that popped up warning me about the dangers of the Beat status, which I'd now devolved to.