by Kyle Vauss
“Better?” he said.
I nodded. He was either an NPC, or a game dev, then. That was the only explanation for the change of clothes. I couldn’t imagine why I’d be summoned into a room with an NPC, unless it was some kind of error. But how would he know my name?
That meant that he could have been a dev. Why was I here, then? Was it to talk about my character-selling business? I knew the devs weren’t over the moon about resellers, but it was 100% legal.
I’d heard whispers of players being summoned to meet with mod teams before. A while back, scammers worked out that there was a bug in the game that allowed you, in the right circumstances, to access another player’s inventory and steal his things. I’d never done anything like that, but I needed to watch what I said while I was here.
I looked around me, but there was nothing in the room except us and the table. Where was I? Was this some kind of loading screen? Or was there a problem with my subscription?
“I’m Bolzar,” he said. He beckoned me over. “Come, come, park your bum.”
Something about the man inspired trust in me, but almost like he was trying too hard. There was something about his grin that I didn’t like. It was as though he knew secrets, but he wanted to hoard them to himself because it made him feel better. Even so, there was something about him that I liked. He had an easy manner, completely comfortable with himself.
I walked forward toward the table. Despite Bolzar’s trustworthy appearance, I had to be careful. For a second, I thought about reaching for my sword. You know, just in case.
“Weapons don’t work in here,” said Bolzar. “Neither do spells, cantrips or abilities. Now stop messing around and have a seat.”
With no obvious exit, I walked over to the table. Truth be told, I was feeling tired, and it would be good to rest my legs. I took hold of the chair, pulled it out and lowered myself into it. As I did, a surge of pleasure ran through me, flowing through my body and then out to my limbs, running through my veins until it flushed to my fingertips. I brought up my character screen and saw that my HP and stamina stats had refreshed.
Bolzar leaned back in his chair. “Can I trust you?” he asked.
“Trust me with what?”
“Yes or no.” He stared at me intently.
What was this? It was a strange way to open a conversation with a stranger. I shrugged. “For what it’s worth.”
“Right answer,” said Bolzar. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pipe. He then sprinkled tobacco into it, tapped it against the table, and put the end in his mouth. He clicked his fingers, and a flame burnt from his thumb. He lit the pipe and took a deep breath of tobacco.
“What am I doing here?” I asked. “And why do you need to know if you can trust me?”
“Because they wouldn’t like me smoking in here,” said Bolzar. “So, it would be great if we could be buddies and not mention it to anyone. Besides, part of the shadow walker class is an element of integrity. I needed to know you’re on the right path. Here, have this for your trouble.”
[Sneak bonus gained – 0.25%]
“What is this place?” I said. “And who are you?”
Bolzar leaned forward and breathed a plume of smoke. He twisted his lips this way and that, to make shapes with the smoke. I could have sworn that one of his smoke-shapes looked like a goblin.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” he said.
I looked at him. Apart from looking like Clive’s evil twin, I couldn’t place him. Even with my limited travels in Infarna, I’d seen countless NPCs and players over the last year. I’d forgotten most of them. The more I looked at him, the more familiar he seemed.
“I was a merchant in Ikiele for a couple of years,” said Bolzar. “Then they reused my face and texture design for this.”
Ah, that was it. I’d probably sold loot to him in the past.
“You’re an NPC?” I asked.
He nodded, the stood up. He opened his arms wide, as if he was speaking to an audience.
“Top marks for Tom Amos,” he said. “Let’s show him what he’s won!”
[Perception increased by 0.01%]
As increases went, this wasn’t high on the scale. Still, it was strange. That was the second stat increase I’d had since I had been in here. Your stats increased as you played the game, but usually you weren’t shown such small changes. Most of the time, they worked in the background.
I’d never heard of an NPC who was aware of game mechanics before. Usually, they were programmed to live in ignorance, since it broke the immersion of the game otherwise. It was weird that someone had made sure Bolzar was aware of how the game worked. There had to be a reason for that; he couldn’t possibly have been that way by accident.
“I’ll cut to the chase,” said Bolzar. “Infarna Corp wants to make the game better for its customers. And to do that, they need to listen to them. If you’ll come here when you level up and answer a few psychological questions, there will be something in it for you down the line.”
“Like what?” I said.
“A skill bonus. Something good.”
I thought about it. There was something a little off about Bolzar, almost as though he was trying too hard to be sarcastic. Sometimes, when he wasn’t looking at me, he had a look on his face that seemed sad. Then it disappeared in an instant.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “You’re wondering why you got stuck with me. The devs requisitioned a few NPCs for the task, and they gave us all a sprinkling of self-awareness. There are a few different personalities being used, but you drew the short straw. In fact, you drew the shortest straw possible. You got me.”
There was something strange about the whole thing. Bolzar and his pipe were part of the act, I knew. He was pretending he shouldn’t be smoking, and then trying to forge a bond between us by having me help him and keep quiet about it. It was some kind of script the devs had made so that I’d like him.
I was basically talking to a customer survey. As long as I treated it that way, there was no problem. If the devs wanted me to answer a few survey questions in exchange for items or skills, maybe it was worth it.
“How often will I come back?” I said.
“Every few levels,” was his answer. “But not all the time. I don’t want to see your mug any more than you do mine.” He leaned in his chair, put his feet on the table, and let out a plume of smoke.
“Fine,” I said. “We’ll do it. I’ll answer your questions, give you feedback on the game and stuff. But you better reward me for it.”
He nodded. “You’ll get some skills that otherwise might not have been available to your class. And later down the line, assuming you cooperate, there will be something good.”
This could be worth it. If I got a rare skill for the shadow walker, I could ask for more GD when I sold it.
“Okay,” I said. “But I need to get back now.”
Bolzar leaned forward. “Are you going back to Ikiele?” he said.
“Maybe later if I find any loot to sell.”
“If you go there, will you…” he looked at me for second, not saying anything. It was as though he knew what he wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come out. “There’s a woman. Lynna. She works in the apothecary. Could you go in there and tell her…”
“Tell her what?”
He pounded the table with his fist, then stood up. “Forget it. See you in a couple of levels, Mr. Charisma.”
With that, the white walls disappeared, and I found myself in the forest again.
Chapter Seven
[Level up to level 2!]
- HP increased
- Stamina increased
- Mana increased
- Permanent damage resistance bonus gained vs spider-snakes
- Damage bonus vs lizard-based forms
The feeling of levelling up was akin to what athletes called a ‘runner’s high’. It sent endorphins crashing through you, making you feel like you could conquer the world. I was at hom
e with a VR headset on and sensation wires strapped to my arms and legs, which dulled the sensation. The feeling wasn’t as great as if I was in a full-immersion capsule.
As such, I didn’t experience as much pain or pleasure as a capsule player would. It was still a great feeling to level up. It was one of the rare things to pierce to the thick shell of nothingness that had hardened around me after Sarah left. In some ways, it made the whole levelling-and-selling business worthwhile.
The creators of Infarna had taken a different route than others when they made their game. Rather than handing players a series of stat points and then asking us to juggle these along with various ability and skill choices, they’d simplified things. Gone were stat lists of strength, agility etc. They were still there, but they worked in the background.
It reminded me of a book I’d once read called the Paradox of Choice. The more options you gave someone, the less able they were to actually choose something. Picking an option became a chore, rather than a blessing. The devs used this theory to make Infarna as intuitive and fun as possible.
When you started out, you got to choose your class. After that, you had a selection of skills or cantrips to pick from. Then, up to level 10, you’d earn a new base skill every couple of levels.
Finally, when you hit double-digits, you got the chance to expand your class. Warriors could add a mage element to their class. A wizard could take stealth skills.
It kept things simple, whilst opening up customization for the player down the line. That was why I always sold my characters at level 10. By that point I’d have done most of the grinding for the buyer and delivered them a quest-ready character, whilst giving them the choice of where to take their class after level 10.
An added perk of levelling up was that the game granted you a randomly generated bonus against whatever creature you had killed to achieve your level. This opened up strategies further down the line. If you knew you’d be taking on a quest later on that had an arachnid boss of some sort, it was worth your while spending some time levelling against lesser spider-like creatures.
“Time to move on,” I said to myself.
If I worked quickly, there was still a chance I’d get to level 4 tonight. It’d probably mean staying up a few hours longer than I’d planned, but the sooner I was rid of the shadow walker, the better. I had a few more orders that I needed to get to.
I stood up. Crawford was across the forest, firing his 4-bolt crossbow at a pack of delvers. As a hunter, Crawford had made it his mission to kill one of everything. In the process, he’d accumulated a bundle of damage and resistance bonuses against lots of different monsters. I didn’t like the man, but I couldn’t fault the way he’d built his character.
I couldn’t see Loria anywhere. The barbarians had left their meditative positions, and were swinging their broadswords at some spider-snakes. Everything in the newbie forest looked as it always did.
But then I saw something. Twenty meters away, north east of my position, I saw a little figure creeping next to a tree. It looked like an imp at first, but then I realized that it was taller. I was too far away to view it in detail, but I could see that it had green, scaly skin, and it walked on two legs.
“What’s this, then?” I said to myself.
It was a goblin. It had to be. It didn’t make much sense, since you never saw goblins in the newbie forest. Most of them lived with their clans many miles away on the map. They sometimes ventured out to hunt, but never this far. Goblins avoided any sort of human contact.
If it was a pack of them, I would have turned and walked away. They were meant for higher-level players to level up on, and a group would have torn my shadow walker apart. Just one of them though, was something I could handle. And the exp would be much more than a lowly spider snake or delver.
Gripping my sword, I walked across the forest. It was important not to alert the goblin to my presence. It would be a while before I levelled up enough for the shadow walker’s Shadow Form skill. My class still gave me some bonuses in agility that would help me get close to the goblin.
I crouched down. Instead of taking a direct route to it, I cut an arc through the forest, going out of my way so that I could draw up behind it. I crept forward, making sure that I avoided any stray leaves or twigs that would crunch under my boots.
Thirty meters later, I was behind the goblin. I stopped for a second and looked at it. Most NPCs wandered the forest on a set route, so that they’d stray into the path of a newbie player. It was only when combat was engaged that their AI would kick in, and they’d form fight tactics.
This creature was different. It wasn’t wandering aimlessly. Instead, it was leaning on the tree and it had something spread out in front of it.
Curiosity tugged at me. I crept forward some more. My boot crunched on a twig, and I stopped. I took a deep breath and waited for the goblin to see me. It was so immersed in whatever was in front of it, that it didn’t turn around.
I looked closer. It was a map - the goblin was studying a map. This was strange. I’d heard of NPCs who carried maps, but they were just props, coded in by the devs to make village and townsfolk seem more real. But never a goblin. They were just mindless beasts, sword fodder for adventurers who needed to level up.
I shrugged. I needed the EXP, and then I needed to log out. This creature, whatever its deal was, was nothing but a walking EXP jar. I moved forward until I was just a few meters away from the goblin. I held my sword ready and took a few more steps. One sneak attack and then a few more slashes for good measure, and it’d be dead.
Just as I reached the goblin and raised my blade, it turned around.
Its eyes widened when it saw me. I expected it to chatter in its goblin language, to snarl at me and then attack. Instead, it raised its hands up in a defensive gesture, and it opened its mouth.
“Easy now, fella,” it said. “Let’s not be hasty.”
I was so surprised I almost dropped my sword.
Chapter Eight
He didn’t look like any goblin I’d ever seen. He was shorter than I’d expected. Rather than wearing the leather greaves most of them sported, this goblin had an over-sized flannel shirt that looked like it had been made for a man. The sleeves dropped down over his hands, and every so often he’d push them back up and try to fold them into place.
His eyes were large and wide, making him look like a puppy with razor sharp teeth. He didn’t have the devious facial expression that most goblins were programmed with. In his hand, he carried a small dagger that looked like it was made for a child. On his back was a bag bulging with the outlines of what looked like books. He had a scar on his face that ran from his eye, over his cheek and to his chin. It ruined a look that I would have reluctantly described as ‘cute’.
His oversized clothes and wide eyes weren’t the strangest things about him. Above his head, his status bar showed his description and level. Instead of just being having the standard goblin tag, this one had a name.
[Gabber – Goblin Level 6]
So, was he a player? No. He couldn’t be. Goblin wasn’t a selectable class. That meant he must have been an NPC, but in all my time in the game, I’d never heard of a goblin who could speak English.
There was something innocent about him. Without even knowing where he’d come from or what he was doing here, I got the sense that there was no harm in him. Even so, I was well aware that it could be an act. I wouldn’t drop my guard just yet.
Gabber slid his dagger back into his belt and then eyed my sword. He looked so terrified that I felt sorry for him.
“Now hold on just a minute,” he said. He backed away a step. He couldn’t take his eyes off my blade. “Lower the piece. There’s no need for this to end badly. Listen, let me tell you a joke.”
I didn’t know what to say. I still had no idea what the hell I was looking at.
“Here’s one for you,” said Gabber. “What did the innkeeper say to the goblin?”
I shrugged.
“G
et out you little vermin!” finished Gabber.
I waited for the punchline, but it didn’t seem to be coming. He sighed.
“Is that a joke?” he asked. “I think it is. I mean, that’s what they said to me the last time I tried to go into a tavern.”
As much as I needed the EXP, I steadied my sword. When my hand dropped, Gabber let out a sigh of relief. I looked at him, unsure what to do next. Was this some kind of quest that devs had programmed?
Before I started my levelling business, I had spent hours researching Infarna. But the game was so rich in detail that I hadn’t had the time nor the patience to study everything. I didn’t really need to know about places or quests, since I wasn’t playing for fun.