“A Goblin! In town! Free XP!!!” He ran wildly at me, wielding a simple bronze short sword, the kind I wouldn’t even bother picking up as Arladen.
One swing was all it took, I was decapitated and sent for respawn.
***
The final insult from Vatras, the bone dagger I was holding, was apparently the source of the goblins’ agitation, and the reason they hadn’t attacked yet.
The big Goblin moved in until he was standing uncomfortably close to me. He was much taller than me, and I had to look up to meet his eyes. It was a new experience for me, usually goblins were short and puny. But that was from Arladen’s perspective, and I was not Arladen anymore. The leader looked down at me intently. I got the distinct feeling he had just used Analyze on me.
He frowned. “Who are you? You’re not part of the clan. I can’t access your information! What are you doing in the clan’s cemetery?” His voice was surprisingly fluid and intelligent.
I thought quickly, what could explain my presence and prevent them from killing me?
“My clan was butchered by a group of travelers, I fought one of them with this knife,” I raised the bone dagger. “When I killed him with it I was covered in his blood, and I was then killed by his Traveler companions. Then I woke up in this cave. I ask for sanctuary. In exchange, I offer to serve your clan”.
The Goblin leader looked at me, surprised. His ugly features furrowed in thought. I could see he was considering the intimation that I had gained the travelers’ power of resurrection from sacrificing one of them and bathing in the blood.
While he was mulling over my story, I used my new Analyze skill on him:
Bogan, Goblin Chieftain; level ??; HP ??
Hmm, strange I can't see his stats... His level was probably too high for my current skill, and he was named, so I guess that meant he was this lair’s boss.
Bogan finally reached a decision. “Very well, I will accept you into my clan, if you prove useful.”
Your reputation with the Dripper’s clan has improved!
Your reputation is now ‘neutral.’
You received a new quest: Prove Yourself
Bogan, the leader of the Drippers clan wants you to prove your usefulness. Find a way to be of use and earn his trust.
Quest Type: unique
Reward: gaining acceptance to the clan, increased reputation with the clan, 500xp
I smiled. My very first quest as a goblin. It was a refreshing change from the quests I was used to getting as a guild leader. Recently, it was stuff like, “Kill the demon boss that threatens to destroy some stupid city no one really cared about until the demon happened”. That sort of thing.
The goblins’ hostility turned off like a switch, and without a threat to face they became a rabble of chattering away like a bunch of nannies, ignoring me except for an occasional glance. I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding, I was safe for the moment.
I watched as the goblins left the cave I’d spawned in, a grin on my lips. I shook my head, after three years of gaming, I thought I’d seen all that NEO had to offer. Now as a goblin, I was seeing a whole different side of the game, one I didn’t even know existed before now. This game was indeed a masterpiece.
People said everything was connected in the game.
Well those connections had put me here. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of lowly monsters, no equipment, no skills to speak of, and no allies.
And on top of that I’m also stuck playing a useless, weak-ass, level 1 goblin! I gritted my teeth as the reminder of my new character ‘status’ made me relive the events that led to this point. I saw it all again. The arrogant, mocking faces of people I thought were friends as they ridiculed me, beat me, and finally threw me out of my own guild hall like a piece of unwanted trash.
I was angry at myself too, for the failure to see, even a hint of it, before it was too late.
But what made me even angrier was that their motivations for betraying me were sheer idiocy. It was blatantly obvious they were blinded by Vatras’ promises and driven by jealousy and avarice. Fools, they conspired for a crown, but they didn’t realize that what they’d really gotten was a full-time job. They were the ones who had the fun part, I’d been a damn bureaucrat, not by choice, but out of obligation to the organization and people I had brought together.
Well, no more Mr. Nice-guy. I’m going to pay them back in full.
Next time we meet, their heads will roll, and I’ll be the only one standing, in a pool of their blood.
I had a lot of thinking and planning to do, and there was a time and a place for everything.
Time for a break, I thought to myself. Frustrated and tired, I mentally clicked on the log out button.
2 - A Lone Goblin
“All the algorithms, the mechanisms and processes by which NEO operates, were evolved by Guy, the game AI. The formal designation is GAI, short for ‘Game Artificial Intelligence’, but we just called him Guy. Guy was the answer to every ambition and challenge we, as developers, had in bringing about the next level of virtual gaming. Instead of writing a game engine with a set of rules that would inevitably limit the gaming experience, we cheated. The exact details of Guy’s ‘birth’ are still confidential, but I can say we used an advanced, adaptive learning code. There was a long period of nurturing the program, a process to develop its intellect and ‘personality’. Consider it the AI’s ‘childhood.’ One of our goals for the game was responsiveness, so we ‘encouraged’ Guy to enhance the performance of its given purpose, running the game world, by observing, interacting, and adapting to the uncontrolled variables within the world, the players. Guy was given complete authority to interact directly with players, responding to their behaviors, resolving interactions between them, and making all non-autonomic function decisions in-game. This gave him much finer and greater control of the game-world.
There was really only one hardware design that could handle the magnitude, the nearly infinite, and instantaneous calculations, and absurdly high data processing requirements demanded by running a game in that fashion. We negotiated for and were granted special permission to lease and use a quantum server for the game. Everyone has heard how amazing quantum computers are, the pinnacle of information technology. Of the eight existing quantum servers, ours is the only one used for civilian or commercial purposes.
With the combined potential of Guy and the quantum server, the game and the gameplay would have no limits. “
Excerpt from: NEO, The Game That Changed The World.
By: Sergey Kohen, Former NEO developer, True Believer.
***
Leaving NEO was like waking up from a vivid dream. I opened my eyes to the familiar interior of my VR rig, a nest of tubes, wiring, and blinking electronics. I waited impatiently as the multiple contacts peeled away from my body, and retracted back into the pod. Shakily rolling up from the pod’s gel cushions, I stumbled onto the hardwood floor and into the kitchen, opened a large bottle of water and drank deeply.
Now that I was fully back in the familiar surroundings of my home, my thoughts started racing again, replaying the recent game events over in my mind, and my simmering anger flared back into rage.
I went out onto the small balcony and took deep calming breaths of the cool night air.
Idly watching the people in the streets below, my thoughts continued rushing through my head.
What the hell am I going to do now? I was dependent on the game, that was no secret. For me, it was more than a fun way to pass the time; it was my home, my source of income, where all my friends…
Friends! I thought bitterly. My former guild members were not friends, and evidently never were. None of them came through; not a single one protested, or tried to help me when I needed it the most.
Vatras...that conniving asshat and his friends found a way to pull off an effective coup.
The transformation I’d been cursed with had many effects besides physically turning me into a goblin.
I was now a character from an unplayable race. As such, many of the rules that governed players no longer applied to me. Monsters couldn’t be the head of a guild or even members of one, which is why I was automatically kicked out of my own guild. All my hard-earned character levels were reset. I’d lost everything, my items, my gold, and my player contacts. Even my character name was erased.
What hurt the most was losing the use of my skills, and by association, the Prime badges that I had in many of them. Without the Badges, I didn’t have a viable way of earning a living.
According to what I’d heard, the Epic scroll used on me was so rare it was only known to have been used twice before. In each case, the cursed players, upon realizing it was unplayable, deleted the monster character and started a new one. And that was exactly what Vatras expected me to do.
Deleting my character and starting over would mean I would lose everything connected to that character. Starting at level 1 again and having to work back up to a reasonable level would be bad enough.
But it was even worse than that.
Although the curse stripped me of the ability to use Arladen’s skills and spells, the Prime badges still belonged to my character, even transformed into a monster. Until I deleted my character those Prime badges would stay bound to me. If I did delete my character, the Badges would automatically be granted to whoever had next learned the spells after Arladen, who created them.
Which would be that blasted Vatras, and his two best buds, Bigpill and Hirooku. They were my first pupils, knew all my spells, and would probably get at least one or two Prime badges each.
I’ll be a dead man IRL before I give them the satisfaction! I thought furiously.
I was not going to delete my ugly, pathetic little goblin character like they hoped I would. Somehow, I would find a way to play him, and make him powerful. Powerful enough to make those bastards sorry for what they did.
I will make them rue the moment they decided to betray me, and every moment after! I will have my revenge!
Those childish, vindictive and unrealistic thoughts served their purpose, and I finally managed to calm my raging thoughts. I chuckled at the mental image of a goblin, holding a powerful, 300+ level player over his knee and spanking him in public. It was a nearly impossible undertaking, but I’d made up my mind to do it.
I wolfed down an energy bar to refuel my body for another short immersion session, and re-entered the capsule.
I took a long calming breath, using the stress management techniques I had learned in my teens. Then I logged back into the game.
***
I went through the login sequence and entered the game still in the cave I had logged out from. Other than the bones, it was empty. I walked down the tunnel that was the only exit, ready to see where the goblins had all gone off to. After a dozen meters or so, the tunnel opened into a much larger cavern. It was full of goblins. Goblin warriors, goblin workers, ‘generic’ goblins, and running among them, goblin children. A couple of young goblins were brawling and rolling around on the floor a nearby, but no one seemed to care that I was standing there, so I likewise ignored them all and continued scanning the cave.
Wandering around the cavern, I came upon a fat, busty, elderly goblin female stirring a huge cauldron of something that smelled delicious. I moved in to get a peek at what smelled so good. A stew of what looked like meat and potatoes simmering and bubbling away in the cauldron. With a sigh of relief, I breathed in the appetizing aroma. I had half expected to see dead rats and rotten bits of unidentifiable stuff floating in the cauldron. Instead, I’d wager that even a self-respecting foodie elf wouldn’t turn a nose up at it. Especially one as hungry as I suddenly was. Not that there was much chance of any kind of elf being here on a stew-tasting-expedition.
I used Analyze on the female:
Guba, Goblin Cook; level 5; 22 HP
Well, she looked like a relatively high-level goblin, ugly as a bat, but probably had the Cook skill, which would help explain the unexpected quality of the stew. As I approached her, a young goblin moved to stand in my way. I analyzed him as well:
Bek, Goblin acolyte; level 1; 8 HP
“Hey, you!” Bek made shooing motions at me, to emphasize his high-pitched squeaking “Go away, food not for you, only clan to eat Guba’s stew!”
I considered the stupid creature in front of me. On one hand, I didn’t want to cause any trouble with the natives, on the other… goblins were reputed to be pack-like creatures. So I would have to carve a place for myself in their hierarchical structure if I wanted to survive and advance my new character. Which meant… I flipped the bone dagger in my hand, and used the hilt to smash at Bek’s temple. The blow took him completely by surprise. He crumbled to the floor under my feet, unconscious. I carefully looked around me. A few goblins looked my way, but none of them looked upset.
You’ve gained: 10xp, +50 reputation with the Drippers clan
Correction, they seemed to approve of my action. Well, it looked like my assumption was correct. Pure brawn played a significant role in goblin social structure.
Guba was also unperturbed by the little skirmish. She watched me with her beady eyes, peering out at me from her hideously wrinkled face, as she continued stirring the stew. Her movements jiggled her enormous sagging bosoms, which were draped over her ample belly. Everything was wrinkled and veiny. It almost made me wish I could cast a blinding spell on myself. “So, you be the new visitor, eh?” She had a shrill voice, like metal scraping across glass. “A bit scrawny aren’t ya? Care for some stew?” She sounded almost Dwarfish.
“Please” I nodded.
She used her wooden ladle to fill a crude plate made of bark and handed it to me. I cautiously put the plate to my mouth and tilted it to get a taste, my eyes widened in surprise. It was as savory as it smelled. I look at her “this stew is amazing, where did you learn to make it?”
She snorted at a most unladylike volume and tone, but looked flattered all the same. “Been taking care fer the clan’s food nearly 10 years now, been feeding generations of younglings, so I learned a few things along the way.” I was dumbfounded. To my knowledge, a goblin generation was about two years. If what she said was true, she was the equivalent of 120 years old in human terms! No wonder she was so saggy!
“Matter of fact,” she continued “You arrived just in time. I’m almost out of meat. Tika, my huntress, can’t keep up with the clan's demand on her own. You look to be a strappin’ youngling. If you bring back 10 pieces of raw meat fer the pot, I be rewarding you with one of me special concoctions.” I shuddered as she actually winked at me.
You received a new quest! [Bring back the meat I]
Tika, the huntress can't provide all the clan's need on her own. Guba has asked you to bring her 10 pieces of meat.
Current meat in inventory: 0/10
Quest Type: simple, chain
Reward: improved reputation, 100xp, Guba’s special dish
Sweet! First a unique quest from the chieftain, and now a chain quest from the cook! That is a pretty good haul for 10 minutes of game time! I thought in satisfaction. Though I was pissed at my situation, the rapid advancement I was making helped a little.
There were five different ranks of quests: simple, advanced, rare, unique and epic.
Simple quests were, well, simple. Like 'go there, bring that, kill this'. The rewards were generally unimpressive, scaled to the difficulty and character level; some XP, a few gold coins or a piece of equipment at most.
Advanced quests were generally more complex and less defined, requiring more initiative from the character; find a traitor, perform spy duty etc. They offered somewhat better rewards than simple quests.
Rare quests were usually something that could affect a large group of people, and impact the surrounding area to some degree.
Unique quests were quests which were generated directly for, or because of, the player character. Their rewards were far better, and often tailored for the player.
Epic quests involved extremely powerful enemies and bosses. They were the rarest but offered the best rewards in the game.
There were also Secret ranked quests, but as the name implies these were hidden and extremely difficult to acquire.
The ‘Chain’ descriptor could be a modifier for any of the quest types, and meant that the quest had several steps, which had to be completed in order. Chain quests usually offered better rewards overall as well.
So I was looking at two, not overly complex quests, with decent rewards upon completion.
But first I needed to study this character I was stuck with. I took my meal over to a quiet corner, and opened my character sheet by consciously thinking: character sheet.
Name: ##@!
Level: 1 (5%)
Race: Monster Race [Goblin]
Attributes: [1 point available]
- Physical 1
- Mental 0
- Social -1
Skills:
- Murphy’s Bitch 1 (10%) (Prime)
- Analyze 1 (40%)
….
I read each line carefully and frowned. This character sheet was different from what I was used to. The first thing that popped into my mind was the race, usually, a player saw the character main race followed by the sub-race. For example; ‘Elf [High]’ or ‘Dwarf [Deep].’ Each subtype was part of a greater race. My main race was ‘Monster Race’, and ‘Goblin’ was my sub-race. That strongly hinted that the according to game mechanics all monster types were sub-races of one race, the Monster Race.
I shrugged. It made sense that it would be easier for the game engine to manage all the monster NPCs as if they all belonged to one group. For instance, maybe they would all share the same language, or use items with race restrictions more easily? Regardless, I couldn’t see that it really affected me right away, so I continued reading.
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