The Curse of Hurlig Ridge_World Tree Online_1st Dive

by M. A. Carlson

Now here we were on logout day, staring at the portal to the World Tree. Our plan was to travel to Root City and log out there. We all had business in Root City but had agreed it would wait until we logged back into the game in a week. Plus, Root City had the logout portals, so you could exit the game whenever you chose, instead of being forced out when your 30-days expired.

  “The good news is, the logout portal is right across the street from the Hurlig Ridge portal,” said Olaf leading us forward.

  “It’s partly why we chose this province,” added Micaela. “The first time we logged back into the game, it put us in Root City instead of the province we were in before. We couldn’t find the portal back to where we were before, so we ended up choosing the closest low-level province we could find.”

  “So, the portals don’t tell you about the province before you enter?” I asked. I hadn’t heard about this.

  “Nope, you have to travel there to see what’s what and then come back and try another until you find what you’re looking for. I’ve heard rumors that on the higher branches, the portals move around too. So, it might lead you one place today, and the same portal will lead you somewhere else tomorrow. It certainly, makes things exciting,” explained Micaela.

  “Anyway, you ready to get your first glimpse of Root City?” asked Olaf, grinning.

  “Noobs first,” said Micaela excitedly.

  “That would be you and me,” said Rose, taking my arm in hand.

  I was still confused about this situation. I had tried to talk to Rose about it a few times, but someone seemed to interrupt every time, whether it was one of our friends or one of the other players asking for advice on the dungeon or some quest or other. It was confounding how often it occurred.

  Anyway, I walked forward with Rose at my side and we stepped through.

  “Hey, watch where you’re walking, noobs,” shouted a man on horseback, tearing past us after almost running us over.

  “Grilled Tolecki lizard, get your grilled meat on a stick!” shouted a vendor to my left. He had a small wooden cart he was pushing along the cobblestone street, barking his food for sale.

  “Figs, sugar dates, and figs, get your figs,” shouted another man. This one had barrels of figs and a simple canopy over his goods and himself.

  I also noticed, it seemed rather dark, but I was sure it was morning when we left. One look at the sky and I understood. Above me, any chance of seeing the sky was overwhelmed by the massive tree and its branches looming over me, over the entirety of Root City. At the tip of each branch, I could see a portal glowing softly, it could just as easily have been fruit or berries I suppose. There was no sign of the sun through those branches as far as I could see. The street was lined with lampposts and oil lamps glowing softly.

  Rose and I turned as one, to look at the portal we just came through, it hovered in the air just above a terminating root of the World Tree.

  “That’s a big tree,” I commented.

  “How big do you think it is?” asked Rose, looking at it in awe, right next to me.

  “It’s been measured,” said Olaf, stepping through the portal following by Micaela and Baby. “Fifty-four kilometers around or a little more than 33 miles for you Yanks. It stands at least ten times as tall. There is a winding staircase in the trunk going up about a mile before it starts opening to various branches. There is a canopy about fifty miles up, but no one has gotten so high yet, or rather no one has unlocked that high yet. People have tried to climb up, but the stairway hasn’t finished growing. It’s a neat game mechanic actually, limiting players from entering provinces they weren’t ready for yet by stating the tree was still growing. Anyway, plenty of time for that later, Mic and I should get going, it’ll be nearly 5:00 pm when we finish the logout process.”

  “It’s been fun,” said Micaela, giving each of us a hug while Olaf exchanged a few hugs and a handshake with me.

  “See you in a week,” Olaf said as his final goodbye and stepped into the multi-color logout portal.

  “I always hate this part,” complained Baby. “It will take me a week to get used to being big again only to get small all over again. Oh well, see you in a week, come on Sis.” The diminutive fairy flew ahead into the portal vanishing.

  “I had fun Jack, see you in a week,” said Rose with a grin. Then she surprised me yet again. She kissed me like truly kissed me and I kissed back lost in the moment. And when it ended, Rose practically sprinted into the logout portal leaving me dazed and then embarrassed, when the citizens and players alike, began catcalling and whistling at me.

  I could only mutter, “I’ll never understand women.”

  I sighed, I know I should just walk through the portal and logout, but I had some quests with the promise of nine rewards begging to be turned in at the temple of Issara and she promised me a conversation.

  So, the first thing I did was look for a guard to point me in the right direction.

  “Excuse me,” I said to the first guard I’d found, a burly, unkempt looking human.

  “What do you want?” the guard asked gruffly.

  “I’m looking for the Temple of the Goddess Issara, can you point me in the right direction?” I asked.

  The guard tilted his head from side to side, his eyes’ studying me closely as if looking for something. “For a price,” he finally said with a grin.

  Did he just ask me for a bribe? I turned and started to walk away before he put one of his hands on my shoulder, his grip clamped down tightly.

  “Now that was rather rude,” the guard said calmly, but I could still hear the venom in his voice. “Here I was, being magnanimous and offering to help you for a fair price and you turn your back to me. That’s a quick way to get a knife in the back sonny.”

  I took a deep calming breath. I had a feeling I knew what it was going to take to deal with this guy, but I certainly didn’t appreciate it. “I suggest you release me now or you will lose your hand.”

  “Oh, threatening a guard of Root City, now are you?” he asked, almost sounding impressed. “And just what is a new adventurer such as yourself going to do against a seasoned veteran such as myself?”

  I jerked my shoulder from his grip and turned to face him, my eyes narrowed. “Did you think to ask why I would be looking for the Temple of the Goddess Issara?”

  “I figured you for an idiot, everyone knows the gods of justice do not get priests or paladins,” he answered.

  “You’re right, they don’t and I’m well aware of this fact. Now, think again. Why? Why would I be going there if I already know the Goddess Issara does not take on priests or paladins?” I asked.

  The guard’s eyes widened slightly before he all but prostrated himself before me. “Begging your pardon my Lord, I did not expect . . . I am truly sorry. Please, beg the Great Goddess Issara to forgive me my rudeness.”

  “If you serve justice as a guard should then there is no forgiveness required. However, extorting coin from adventurers asking for assistance is a grave injustice,” I stated.

  “Please sir, I beg you, it will never happen again,” the guard pleaded.

  I frowned. There was no telling just how many this man had extorted already if he was only pleading now out of fear. “I will speak to her, but actions speak louder than words. I suggest you find a way to prove you serve justice.”

  “I will, I will prove it, I promise,” he said solemnly, he looked truly embarrassed.

  “Now, the way to the temple,” I requested.

  He gave me quick directions it turns out all of the temples to gods and goddesses surround the base of the World Tree itself as a kind of last line of defense. As luck would have it, the Babylonian contingent was directly ahead of me.

  It would have taken several hours to walk so I ended up shelling out the coin to a mage who looked less than reputable for a portal to the temple district. I made sure to note the cross streets, so I would know how to get back here.

  Thankfully, he turned out to be a fairly reputable guy, even if th
e price he charged me was ridiculous, 6-Gold for a one-way trip was exorbitant and worse, I’d probably have to pay the same to get back.

  When I stepped through the portal I was amazed at how different everything was. It was all bright as if the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky except there was no sun or sky to be seen, only the massive branches of the World Tree.

  Focusing on my task, I took in my surroundings, the temples were all small Ziggurats, mostly indistinguishable from one another. If not for a pull, I felt from one of them, it might have taken me a while to find the right temple.

  I entered without trepidation or fear, more excited than anything. The first room was fairly large and very clean but not well ornamented. No giant statues of solid gold or grand sconces carved into the walls. Just a simple square room, two square pools to either side of the entrance absent of fish or water plants. There were no worshipers to be seen, there didn’t even appear to be an altar or offering area.

  “What can I do for you, young man?” asked a voice from behind me and startling me rather effectively.

  I turned to face the source. It was an old man. He had silvery hair on his head though that was mostly dominated by a large bald spot. He wore simple brown robes and was leaning on a broom like it was a cane.

  “Sorry for startling you,” he said. “I am Hami, the caretaker of this temple.”

  “Nice to meet you Hami, I’m Bye-bye,” I introduced myself.

  “Pleasure young man. But I ask again, what can I do for you? I am sorry there is no priest or paladin to greet you but the godly laws being what they are I am afraid none will be coming.”

  “That’s alright,” I replied. “I’m here to speak with the Goddess.”

  “I am sorry Bye-bye, but the Goddess Issara does not accept priests or paladins into her service,” he insisted.

  “I am already in her service,” I replied.

  “Then, by all means, proceed into the inner cloister. Only one in service to the Goddess may enter,” he replied. “But you should know, anyone not in service will be summarily smote.”

  “Thank you,” I said with a small smile. “Please, show me to the entrance to the inner cloister.”

  Hami sighed in resignation. “Are all adventurers so stubborn and foolish?” he grumbled under his breath, but I heard him just the same.

  “Through these doors,” he said, bowing before a set of arched double doors easily ten-feet tall.

  “Thank you,” I said, opening the doors with ease and stepping through. When nothing struck me down I could hear Hami gasping behind me, it made me smile a little. But I paid him no mind, it was a short hallway leading to another set of arched doors. These also opened with ease.

  The next room was the opulence I had expected . . . well, not opulent but considerably more decorative. All around the room were large marble columns from floor to ceiling. The ceiling was stepped and in the center was a large round crystal filling the room with light. The back wall of the room was dominated by a statue of the Goddess Issara, presented much the same as she had been in Trinico’s temple back in Hurligville.

  I don’t know what I expected, but I was not prepared for the giant statue to come to life before my eyes.

  “Took you long enough to get here,” she complained, as she stepped toward me. And with each step she began to shrink until she was standing in front of me, just a few inches shorter than me. “I thought you would be taller.”

  “Eh?” was my eloquent reply.

  “Well, no matter, you are finally here. My one and only servant and I must say, I did a good job choosing you too. To think, my servant, after just one month in this world would have found and saved, not one, but two fallen gods. The others are so jealous of me, I cannot thank you enough for that.”

  I finally got a chance to look at her, really look at her. The Goddess Issara was a teenager, maybe thirteen or fourteen years old, hardly more than a child. But she was also a goddess, I reminded myself. Looks could be deceiving.

  “You should have heard the way Nemesis was whining about having to dismiss her fifth champion already. As if it is my fault she has no taste in adventurers. And oh, you should have seen Tyr, she was so angry it was my champion that freed gods from her pantheon and not her little favorite, though with a name like Freja Lov, I am not sure just how much you could expect,” the goddess gossiped.

  I suppose it didn’t help she was chattering the way I imagined a teenage girl would.

  “Anyway, I know you are short on time, but you would not believe how lonely it gets being a god when you only have other gods to talk to and most of them are so old that they are just boring as can be,” she whined.

  “I thought the Babylonian gods were . . . you know ancient?”

  “Oh, they are. Me, not so much. See, when the laws about Justice were passed, my dear mother refused to accept such a burden, her power represented too many domains. A lack of priests would have real consequences on the entire pantheon. So, she gave birth to me. I say birth, but it was her plucking a strand of hair from her head and breathing life into me. After that, she gave me the domain of Justice. Uncle Shamash also gave his dominion over justice to me, so I am the only goddess of justice now for the Babylonian pantheon,” the Goddess Issara explained.

  “Anyway, I was all on my own fighting a losing battle against the criminal element until you came along. I have to admit, your plea, while a little silly, caught my attention. After I had a little peek inside at what was going on in your head, I took a chance on you and boy did you ever come through for me,” the goddess confessed.

  Does she ever stop talking?

  “Right, time limit. First, your rewards for completing my quests, I believe you have accumulated nine rewards, yes?” she asked but didn’t wait for an answer. In the air, in front of her, there was a slight shimmer before nine identical stone tokens, a little larger than a coin came into being. “These sigils are your reward.”

  “What do they do?” I asked, finally getting the chance to speak again.

  “Lots of things, but it can wait until you return to me in a week. I do not want your mind spinning while you are supposed to be resting. And, in recognition of your service, I hereby promote you Initiate Warrior Priest. Congratulations!” she cheered.

  Class: Initiate Warrior Priest of Issara

  Novice Class Effects: +25% to holy or light bonus spell damage, -20% to bonus spell healing

  That was not what I expected.

  “I have questions-“ I started.

  “Questions that will wait a week. You will need your rest when you return you will be quite busy. I have much for you to learn and even more for you to do. Now go, rest, that is an order from your goddess,” the young goddess ordered.

  I would have sighed in resignation, except I was no longer in the temple. In fact, I was looking at a logout portal again. A quick look around told me it was the logout portal my friends had left through not even an hour prior. All I could do was sigh in exasperation, my Goddess was almost as confusing as Rose . . . almost. With that, I stepped into the portal and the world faded to black.

  “Welcome back, Mr. Jacobs,” said a slightly familiar voice.

  I blinked several times as I adjusted to the new setting. Fully opening my eyes, I saw Maggie sitting across from me in the same armchair she sat in when I first created my character. I looked around confused before I realized I was back in that same room except I was now sitting in a matching armchair though without any armor, just my jeans and shirt.

  “I do hope you enjoyed your time in the World Tree,” she added.

  “Very much so,” I replied. The disoriented feeling was fading pretty quickly.

  “I do wonder, was there a reason you chose to log out a day early? Nothing wrong I hope.”

  “Not at all, I just made some amazing new friends and we all agreed to log out together and back in the same day,” I explained.

  “Wonderful,” replied Maggie. “As this is your first logout, there ar
e a few things to review. Before that, do you have any questions for me?”

  “A few actually. I guess there was a patch, but no in-game message was sent with the details, only a system message when I discovered a change. Why was that?” I asked.

  “The portion of the update that affected you was minor. The full update was rather significant and was not able to go live while you are in the game, and as such will not be applied until your next login. We did not want to distract you with the full details of the patch while you were in the game. That said, it is strongly suggested you review the full patch notes before your next login,” Maggie explained.

  I nodded, that made sense. I still thought they should have sent an in-game mail or something with notification of the portion of the patch that did affect me but what was done was done.

  “I fell into an inescapable acid pit that killed me slowly, it probably should be considered torture and changed. It was an unpleasant experience to die that way even with the muted pain,” I said.

  “This issue has been logged and will be escalated immediately. The company sincerely apologizes for this incident and hopes it will not deter you from playing in the future,” Maggie stated.

  “I guess that is all I have for now,” I said, there wasn’t much else I could think of.

  “Wonderful, now for the final details of your log out,” she started. “First, when you emerge from the Seedpod be aware, you have been contained in a hermetically sealed capsule for nearly 30 days. You have not been washed or bathed nor has your hair been cut. You will probably want to immediately see to your personal hygiene. Second, you have not had solid food in 30 days, your first two days outside of the seedpod you are to restrict yourself to broth only and may add bread to dinner of the second day. Assuming all goes well, you may resume eating regular food though it is recommended you take it easy. Once again you must fast for 24-hours prior to login. Third, be mindful, that though you feel as if you have been moving and exercising the last 30 days, you have not actually been moving. Your skin will be slightly sensitive to pressure and your body may protest moving, too much, too quickly, so take things slowly at first. Remember to stretch three times per day, it is very important to maintaining your health. Do you have any questions about the above instructions and warnings? If you say yes and fail to comply with any of the aforementioned instructions, Seed Inc. will not be liable for any health-related problems that may occur.”