I coughed.
“Um, let’s go and kill mobs, eh?”
“That’s what I am saying,” Rajahard said, “We are wasting time here.”
As we left the inn, Ladyjane whispered to me.
“Rajahard's a good man, but he’s also super careless. You’d rather look out for yourself.”
I could only nod. But at the same time I was sure that the couple were good players. Rajahard was at level 15 and so was Ladyjane, which was not a bad level to be in since they seemed to have died and respawned only a few days back.
We took one of the horse carts to the river bank. There were many other players in that particular part of the river, getting ready to cross and slay the Raks. I was very excited as I got onto the boat. Yesterday I had barely escaped the Raks. I hoped today I would be able to kill many of them and level up.
“Let me look at the map,” Rajahard said. Apparently after a particular level one could get a personal map of their own of the world of Prithvi.
“Hmm,” he said, “so where do we go? Let’s see, there is a Rak village two kilometres northeast of here.”
Running, it took us about fifteen minutes to reach the village. A quest message came in front of me.
New quest available!
Help the prisoners escape before they are eaten!
The guards of the village came at us. They were of warrior level, much more fearsome than the farmer or worker levels. Rajahard cast a slow motion spell over them and I began to attack them one by one. But barely had I killed the first two that the effect of the spell ended on the remaining three, who came at me before Rajahard could cast his spell again. My sword clanged with those of theirs. It all happened very fast. Suddenly I found myself down on the ground even as they tried to hit me with their swords. My health dropped.
“You’ll get him killed!” I heard Ladyjane cry.
“Sorry!” Rajahard said. He cast another spell and the mobs slowed down once again. This time I acted more quickly than before, and killed them before the spell lost its effect.
Ladyjane and Rajahard came over to me.
“Sit for some time,” Rajahard said, “Regain your health and mana.”
They picked up the loot dropped by the Raks. It mainly consisted of precious stones and gold.
“This is a message stone!” Ladyjane said, picking up a particular stone.
“What is a message stone?” I asked.
“You can send messages with it to other players,” she replied. “Here, have it. The two of us already have one each, though if you have more stones you can message even more players.”
I took the stone offered. A pop up appeared in my vision.
Message Stone
Can be used to send messages to players who are your friends. One message stone can be used to send messages to a maximum of fifteen friends.
I put the stone in my bag, and then we distributed the loot between us.
I had now regained enough health and mana to continue.
“Let’s go free the prisoners,” Rajahard said.
“Don’t do what you did the last time,” Ladyjane said to him.
“Yes, but I can only cast spells so fast,” Rajahard said. “But I wonder why you didn’t try to heal him.”
“He was blocked by the Raks,” Ladyjane said, “If I had tried to heal him, the Raks would have healed instead.”
“It’s okay,” I told them, “as long as I don’t die I am totally fine with it.”
We went deeper into the village. The prisoners were at the centre of the village, tied to trees. There was a big fire, near which was a giant Rak warrior of a higher level than those I had killed previously. He had a big weapon: a really gigantic sword. My own sword looked puny compared to it. He was sharpening the sword, preparing to kill the prisoners.
“How are we going to kill that guy?” I asked Rajahard and Ladyjane. The Rak was level 30 and there was no way I could kill him. We were all hiding behind a big tree, and I kept casting wary glances around to see that no Rak had spotted us. And, if I remembered it right, Chandra had said that NPCs respawned too and they didn’t even require birthstones. So it was likely that the Raks we had killed would respawn too. I put this question forward to the couple.
“Yes, they will respawn in fifteen minutes,” Rajahard said, not seeming very concerned. It however struck fear in me. What if all the Raks attacked us together? We’d be dead. And my birthstone was in my bag. I would just respawn exactly where they kill me. Wonderful.
I made a mental note to hide the birthstone in my room at the Big Moustache inn if I was lucky enough to return.
“Here’s the plan,” Ladyjane said. She had been intently observing the Raks and the prisoners. “Raja, you will cast a paralysis spell only on the big Rak. There are four more Raks, and perhaps more in the huts. Rohan, can you take on the four Raks?” she asked me. “I will keep healing you. And Raja, when the big guy is paralysed you can help Rohan kill the other Raks.”
I thought about it. It would not be easy, but I hoped the investment I had made on the sword would help.
“I’ll try,” I said.
“Good,” Ladyjane said. “I’ll stay here, hidden. You two can go out there and kill the mobs.”
“Wow,” Rajahard said sarcastically. “Keep yourself safe while we risk our lives.”
Ladyjane grimaced. An expression which looked comical on her.
“If I die, who will heal you?”
“Whatever,” Rajahard said dismissively, “anyway, Rohan, come let’s get the job done.”
We approached the Raks. Rajahard cast his spell on the big guy. The other four Raks present came at us. Rajahard pulled out a sword from his bag. It was one of those swords of 50 gold I had seen at the blacksmith’s shop. I focussed my attention on the Raks. They were of farmer class. Two were females and two were males. Even as one of the females lunged at me, I couldn’t help thinking which guy in his right mind, Rak or Human, would want to make love to such an ugly female, her great yellow canines out. Her sword shattered after just two impacts with mine, and I finished her off with an additional two hits. Then I turned my attention to the other two Raks while the third was fighting with Rajahard.
The two Raks came at me together. I acted quickly, and could keep both at bay until their swords shattered and then I finished them off. Rajahard meanwhile was having a hard time with the female Rak. I was about to go help him, when suddenly the spell ended on the warrior Rak. And he came out of the spell with a great roar, one that gave me goose bumps.
“Cast your spell!” I shouted at Rajahard.
“I can’t!”
Too late, the great Rak swung his great weapon at me. I leapt away just in time to see the blade of the sword make a deep cut in the ground upon which I had been standing mere seconds ago. There was no way I could kill the mob alone. He was just too powerful for me. Thankfully he had one drawback due to his large size—he was clumsy. I kept my distance from him, but still kept him engaged. If he turned his attention to Rajahard who was already having a hard time with the female, Rajahard might end up dead.
The great Rak acted as though he was throwing his great sword to chop me into two.
A trap.
The moment I leapt in the other direction, instead of attacking with his sword, he landed a kick on my stomach. I sailed through the air and landed roughly on the ground. Fifty health gone just like that. I winced in pain as I got up, the Rak grinning malevolently as he approached me. Meanwhile, the NPCs who were tied to the trees were yelling at me to be smart and not die.
There was a stone lying not far from me. I decided to use it to my advantage. It was heavy, and was about half the size of a human skull, but I picked it up with one hand and hurled it at the Rak.
Meh.
The Rak simply punched the stone in mid air and it shattered into a million pieces, some of which came and hit me instead, making me lost three points health. Enough. Why was Rajahard taking so long? At that moment I had a fuzz
y feeling about me and I saw my health increasing. I nodded at Ladyjane in the distance, thanking her. I decided that the best move was to help Rajahard so he could help me in return. My body in aches (I cursed the game developers for including pain in the game. Full immersion was only so much enjoyable), I dashed towards Rajahard and the female. I hit the back of the female Rak with my sword and she immediately died, dropping loot. But it wasn’t the time to pick loot.
“Use your spell!” I said to Rajahard. He nodded, panting. He motioned with his hand and muttered something under his breath. The great Rak, who had been approaching the two of us, suddenly froze. I ran to him and unleashed all of my fury on him.
I was hitting the air even after he died and disappeared. He dropped a lot of gold, and I began to pick it up.
“Help us first!” an NPC with a long nose who was tied to a tree shouted.
“Wait,” I told him. Gold came first, especially after the hard work I felt like I deserved it (I was sweating actually. Why did they have to include sweat in the game? They could have definitely ignored some of the undesirable elements of the real world.)
Just as I was picking up the gold, I heard Ladyjane cry,
“Use your spell!”
And the next moment, my back exploded in pain. My health dropped rapidly as four Raks came from nowhere and began attacking me. I tried to attack them back, but I lost grip on my sword and it fell down. I accepted the worst.
Just then, the Raks were paralysed by Rajahard’s spell.
“Finish them quickly. I won’t be able to do another spell for some time. My mana is too low.”
My body felt like it was on fire, but I picked up the sword and began hitting the Raks one by one. I killed the first three easily and I was about to finish the last one, when the spell ended and the Rak came back to life. It took a while to finish him, but once done I fell on my knees, exhausted.
“Where did they come from?” I asked, as Rajahard and Ladyjane came to me.
“They had been hiding in the huts,” Ladyjane said.
She picked up a vial from the loot dropped by the mob I had killed and handed it to me.
“Drink this,” she said.
I took the vial from her.
Health Potion
Increases health by 100
I drank it, and immediately my health increased, though I still felt a bit exhausted.
“Now, get up, we need to free the prisoners. The guards will respawn in a few minutes and so will all the other Raks we killed,” Ladyjane said. I nodded and stood up. We freed the prisoners in the next few minutes. They thanked us, saying they would be able to find their way to their home on their own. A fuzzy feeling took hold of me and a message popped up in my vision.
Quest Completed!
You have successfully freed the prisoners! You have levelled up! You receive 200 gold!
“That felt nice,” I said once the exciting feeling was gone.
“Let’s go back now, eh?” Rajahard said. We picked up all the loot and left the village. We had only come a short way away from it, when I turned my head back and through the branches of the trees I saw the guard Raks respawning. They did not pursue us.
“I think I’ll log out for today,” Ladyjane said, “I have got some work to do in the real world. It was nice playing with you.” She extended a hand to me and I shook it. I could see only the slightest narrowing of eyes by Rajahard. Ladyjane sent me a friend request and I accepted it.
“I’ll log out too,” Rajahard said. He patted me on the back. “Call us when you want to go hunting again.”
Then both of them disappeared. I was about to go towards the river bank, when suddenly a cry pierced the air. Through the vegetation I could see a woman being chased by five Raks. She had no sword, and from the looks of it I didn’t think she even knew a spell. She and the Raks were moving very fast. But once I could focus on her, I saw her details.
Lovebird
Class: Warrior
Race: Human
Sex: Female
Level: 0
Strength: 100
Health: 20/100
Mana: 70
Intelligence: 50
Karma: 0
I decided to go and save her, since she really seemed to need some help. I ran towards her and the Raks. Upon seeing me, two of the Raks came for me, waving their swords. Thankfully, these were mere worker Raks. They lacked the bulk of the warriors and were half the size of the farmers even. I simply evaded them. It wasn’t that hard, since I had gained strength after levelling up, which made me more agile. I went towards the Raks who were chasing the woman. I threw my body weight on top of one, so that he was pinned to the ground. Then I beheaded him with my mighty sword. He died, dropping some gold. Instead of picking up the loot, I met the rest of the Raks as they came towards me, seeing how brutally I had slain their companion.
It took a few minutes, but soon I was the one left standing while the Raks had all disappeared. I had only suffered a minor blow from one of the more determined of the Raks, and it had cost me five health. I could live with that.
“You all right?” I asked Lovebird. She was squatting and panting heavily. I offered a hand. She accepted it and I pulled her up.
“Thanks,” she muttered. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life, game world or real world. She reminded me of roses. I had a fuzzy feeling about me and this time I wasn’t even levelling up. Just looking at her had given me the feeling. She sure was a Love Bird.
“What happened?” I asked. Normally the Raks lived in their villages, and so far she was the first player I had seen being chased.
“I went to hunt alone,” she replied in an embarrassed manner, like she had been stupid and she was well aware of it, “without a sword or any other weapon.”
“That was…” I struggled for the word, “… brave.”
It was a big lie. And perhaps she knew it.
“More like stupid,” she replied with a smile.
She was low on gold, so I pointed at the loot that had been dropped by the Raks.
“Help yourself,” I said.
Her face lit up suddenly.
“Really? You don’t want to keep it?”
“You require it more.”
She muttered a quick “Thanks” and then went about picking the loot.
It was a bit of a daring on my part, but I sent her a friend request. She accepted it right away.
“I think you should get yourself a sword,” I told her.
“Where can we get swords?” she asked. “I am new here. I went to the town, but didn’t know who to ask.”
“Come with me,” I told her.
The two of us made our way to the river bank. I paid from my own gold to get both of us across the river. I had considerable gold now and I felt rich, though I knew that I should spend it carefully.
“Have your kept your birthstone in a safe place?” I asked Lovebird.
“I just buried it at the bottom of that tree.” She pointed at a particular tree growing not far from the bank. It was a strange tree really. The way the branches of the tree were aligned created the illusion of a person’s face.
“Not a bad place,” I said to her. But at the same time I wondered if some animal might dig out the stone, or some other player wanting to harm her. That would prove bad for her. I decided I would rather keep mine in the inn. Now that I thought of the inn, a question came to me.
“You weren’t invited by any of the NPCs when you first began playing to go and live with them since you don’t have a home?”
Lovebird shook her head. “Did they invite you?”
“Yes,” I said, thinking I must have been lucky that I met Chandra. “I live for free in an inn now.”
“That’s cool,” she said. “But I don’t really require an inn to live. Mostly it’s the perma players who take a room on rent or buy a place from what I’ve heard. Do you plan to go perma?”
“Not exactly perma,” I began, struggling to find
what to say since I was playing for free. “It’s… well, it’s a bit complicated really. I don’t plan to go perma, but I’ll be living here for a few days without logging out, that’s why I require a place to live in.”
We took one of the horse carts to town. Then I took her to the blacksmith’s shop. This time the blacksmith was there and not his apprentice. The black smith was a burly man, with a lot of hair on his arms and legs, and he had a shaved head. He had apparently run out of the swords of 90 gold, so Lovebird bought herself a sword of 50 gold. I told her to buy a sword of 90 gold as soon as she could.
“So… where are you from?” I asked Lovebird.
“Like in the real world?” she said, suddenly going pale. Had I asked her a wrong question?
“Er, yes. If you don’t want to say that’s okay.”
“Well… it’s a remote place, really,” Lovebird said. There was so much hesitation in her voice that I decided to change the topic altogether.
“You hungry?” I asked her.
“Um, yes, actually,” she replied, a little taken aback at the sudden change of topic. We went to the Big Moustache Inn. There we had some nice food prepared by the sweet Amira. I tried to pay her, but she refused me outright, saying I could eat with my friends as much as I wanted without paying any money.
“You sure are lucky,” Lovebird told me. “Everything is free for you here.”
Just then I received a notification.
All citizens of Prithvi have been hereby warned to be careful when dealing with hooded people.
Apparently, Lovebird had received the same notification too and she frowned suddenly. Even the other people received the notification and wondered what the message really meant.
“Hmm,” Lovebird said, “I have seen at least twenty hooded people since I first came here. And I only came here a while back. Hoods are popular.”
And so had I. In every corner of the road you could see a person or two in hoods. Even as I was watching, a hooded man walked by the front of the inn. He seemed to have received the notification too and he removed his hood, looking irritated.
We rested for sometime in the inn, allowing our mana and health to regenerate. Then Lovebird told me that she had to go, and she logged out. I went to my room above and spent the rest of the noon there.
Perma-Death Online: A LitRPG adventure: Book 1 Page 4