by Dante Doom
“Doubtful,” Sang said. “Draco might be good at running their game in here, but there’s no one who can trace me. We’ll be fine.”
“I just want to say, for the record, that you are endangering this entire mission by your insistence on grabbing that egg.”
“And I just want to say, for the record, that you are endangering this entire mission by having decided to willfully make a bad character,” Sang said.
“Feh, it was just a prank,” Van replied, shaking his head. “Your slip is a freaking cybercrime.”
“Cybercrime or no, what’s next? Do we go back and save the caravan?” Sang asked.
“Nah, look at your quest log,” Van said. Sang brought up the menu and watched as it gave her a list of her quests. There was only one quest, and it read, “Cargo Escort: Failed,” in big red letters. She felt a sharp sting at the word failed. She didn’t like failure. It was a word she tried to keep out of her vocabulary, and she generally did just about everything in her power to avoid it.
“We failed?” She scoffed.
“Yeah, like I said: it happens, and it’s a crap quest anyway. Let’s go find something else to do.”
“We can’t fail a quest, Van,” she protested.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s important that we succeed.”
“The quest literally doesn’t go anywhere; we’re fine. Look, we’ve got to figure out a real quest so we can get moving on whatever it is that you are trying to achieve.”
Sang just frowned in response, thinking about the fact that that whole endeavor might not have mattered. While it was true that she had important things to do, the A+ student within her was yearning to retry the same stupid quest. “Fine, give me a minute.”
She brought up the in-game chat messenger and sent a message to O’Hara. Need instructions. On Mainland.
A message immediately returned to her, reading: Earvine Mountain, Thunderstone Peak, Redscar Valley. High influx of bugs to investigate.
Sang nodded as she read the report. Hopefully, these bugs would be able to lead her to Draco’s hidden servers.
“We need to find bugs,” Sang said as she drew her bow and flexed it a little bit.
“Where?” Van asked with a heavy sigh.
“Earvine Mountain, Thunderstone Peak, Redscar Valley... all of them,” she replied, pulling up the map and marking them on her coordinates system. Her higher skill in maps at least gave her the ability to create waypoints that would lead her right to the areas of interest.
“Those places are high level, girl,” Van said as he shook his head. “We’re gonna get the crap kicked out of us if we go to any of those places right now.”
“So, let’s get some levels then. Improve and go for it. That’s part of your job, to tell me the fastest way to level up.”
“Right, right. Well, this game is a little different from other games,” Van said.
“What, it creates more delusion that you’re actually doing something with your life?” Sang asked.
“You know what? That’s it!” Van said, sharply turning to face her. She could see genuine anger on his face now. “It’s not fair for you to keep ragging on me like that! Okay, I get it. I’m not someone who’s particularly well put together. I understand that you’re better than me because you’re some kind of highly driven wunderkind who’s able to hack stuff and because you’ve got some cushy job at the CIA, but guess what? Not everyone had the same opportunities that you did. I mean, what did I have? Scholarships? Higher education? None of it. I had a dysfunctional high school that didn’t do jack for me.”
She went to respond, but he cut her off before she could.
“No! You don’t get to talk yet! Look, I am here and I’m trying to help you. I’ve been patient enough to listen to you talk crap about me and other gamers over and over again, despite the fact that whatever stupid CIA secret stuff you’re up to is getting done in a video game. I’m tired of you talking about me like that.”
Sang frowned. “Are you done?”
Van stared at her for a moment, but then he shrugged. What more was there to say? “Yeah, I’m done.”
“Good... so look. I’m not saying I’m better than you. I’m mocking you because you’ve chosen to waste your life. I’m not saying that you are a waste of life; I’m saying that you are wasting it. Your literal body is rotting in some kind of tube or crappy little box of an apartment while you play around and simulate accomplishments. I get it, life is tough. But I’m not judging you for who you are—I’m judging you for what you’re doing.”
“You don’t get it, lady; this is who I am. I’m a gamer, through and through.”
“You play video games. You are a human being with the same dignity and needs that I have,” Sang said as she shook her head. “I just wish you could recognize it.” Much as she hated to admit, there was a softness in her words. As much as she didn’t like gaming or gamers, the more she got to know this man, the more she pitied him. Van wasn’t a bad person at all, but he certainly had given up on his entire sense of self in exchange for some digital simulation. It was sad, and maybe she shouldn’t have been so rough on him, but her instinct was to jar him out of the lifestyle he’d dug himself into.
“I’m a gamer. Okay? End of story.”
“Fine, well… for what it’s worth, I’m sorry that I caused contention. I don’t understand any of this gaming stuff, but I stand by what I say and believe.Can we move past this?”
“That’s a weird way to say you’re sorry,” Van said, “but I’m gonna assume it’s a CIA thing, apologizing without taking responsibility. So, sure I’ll forgive you without saying that I do.”
“Fair enough,” Sang said. She could tell that he seemed a little surprised at the fact that she’d apologized at all, and had to wonder if maybe she did have any chance of positively influencing him. She smirked a little at the idea of him being inspired by her fierce determination and no-nonsense attitude. Maybe he’d even realize that he wanted to be like her and quit his gaming habits in order to find a real job. Wouldn’t that be grand?
“Great, glad we cleared that all up,” Van replied, “so let’s talk about leveling up. In a lot of other games, you level up by killing just pretty much everything. You take a job that gives you an endless supply of bears and then you kill all of them. For hours. Maybe even days. I know there are some games where people can’t bring themselves to stop killing bears because of all the experience they’re going to get from it.”
“So, what, we need to kill every bear we see?” Sang asked.
“No, this game is different. We get massive experience points when we complete quests, do group activities, and accomplish actual goals. It’s a pretty detailed system, so we get a lot of power just by working hard. No repetition. That’s why I like this game so much, because it’s not a grind. We can work together to get some real stuff accomplished.”
Sang flinched at the words “real stuff.” There was nothing real about what they were doing, except maybe for the CIA investigation, but even that seemed to have complications. Still, she held her tongue. The last thing she wanted to do was have another fight with him.
“So where do we find quests like what we need?” Sang asked.
“Taverns!” Van answered as he pointed to a small building that wasn’t too far off from the beachhead. “The central hubs of quests, other players, and best of all, booze!”
Sang slowly forced a grin. It was uncomfortable in this situation, and she felt her like she was almost wrestling with herself and her instincts, trying to smile at the asinine suggestion that they go to a bar to find adventures.
“I think you’re glitching pretty bad,” Van said as he pointed at her. “Face emotes are getting all weird.”
“Yeah, that’s the problem,” she muttered. “That’s the problem.”
“Well, let’s get going,” Van said. “Adventure awaits!”
As they departed for the tavern, several red dots appeared on Sang’s map. “Wai
t! I think there are bad guys around here,” she warned. She glanced around, but saw nothing.
“Activate your Sense skill,” Van said.
“Oh, right,” Sang said as she pressed the red Sense skill button that had been flashing. Her eyes immediately narrowed and she could see several red outlines in the bushes that were ahead. The beach had a small incline leading up to a grassy area where there were plenty of obstructed areas for people to use for hiding, and she could see at least four figures up on the plateau of the map.
“There’s some bad guys!” she hissed as she loaded her bow with an arrow.
“Bad guys? Oh no!” Van said, rolling his eyes. She saw him fumbling at his back as if he was grasping for something. He stiffened as he reached into his pocket and drew out some darts.
“Let’s attack!” Sang said as she aimed her bow and used the Indirect Shot skill. It allowed for her to shoot at a target who was behind cover by aiming high into the sky, and letting angle and gravity do the work. She let loose an arrow and felt satisfaction as the screen read Hit! 50 damage! That seemed like a high enough level of damage for whoever was hiding behind there.
“Oy! They spotted us! Gut ‘em! Gut ‘em like dogs!” said a harshly guttural voice. The figures which had shown up as red dots all climbed atop the plateau and charged at the two. They were dressed like ruffians and beggars from an old bygone era. They looked almost like pirates, except in that they had no fine clothing, but rather rough-spun tunics of blue and red. They wielded sharp scimitars in their hands, and the words Level 2 Pirate hung over each of their heads.
“Alright, we can do this!” Van shouted as he threw a few darts, missing them.
“I’ve got this!” Sang cried as she loosed some arrows. She hit the first one, the leader whom she had hit before, and saw him get knocked down with a mere 10 damage. They advanced quickly.
“I’ll try a different strategy!” Van said once he was out of darts. There was a tall skinny pirate charging him, but he managed to dodge out of the way and unhooked his bagpipes. He deftly put the pipes to his mouth and began to bleat.
“Oh, that is horrid!” Sang cried out, unable to cover her ears due to the fact that she was holding a bow in her hands.
“I’m inspiring you!” Van shouted as he dodged another attack. “It’ll increase your damage!”
“How? By making me not fear death?” she cried out as she loosed another arrow, this time aiming at the pirate who was trying to kill Van, although with the noise he was making, she wondered if maybe him being stabbed wasn’t the worst possible thing that could happen. The arrow whooshed right into the side of the pirate. CRITICAL!!!! 100 Damage! popped out above the pirate as he fell to the ground, dead.
“Wow!” she said, pausing to admire her handiwork.
“Behind you!” Van shouted just before he blared into his bagpipes again. The screeching was so intense that it was beginning to make her nauseous. Still, she spun around and managed to dodge the attack. The words YOU ARE INSPIRED flared in front of her and she felt a surge of power rush through her as she dropped her bow and grabbed her longsword. She cut and slashed away, blocking blows from the pirates before effectively killing them both. The last one had run away because of the fear effect that the bagpipes had been creating. At least, she assumed it was a fear effect and not the AI developing self-awareness just in time to spare it from such noise.
“We did it!” Van said. “This is gonna load us up with experience points!”
Sang looked at her experience bar and watched as it rapidly climbed up to the 1,000 range. It reached the 1,000 and suddenly she was surrounded by fireworks and confetti. “LEVEL UP!” cried a voice.
She grinned as she looked at her options and put a few more points into the Map skill. That seemed like a solid choice to her.
She frowned once she finished increasing her skills. “Wait a second,” she said. “I thought our levels increased due to teamwork or questing?”
“Yeah, well, we used some good teamwork there! I used my powerful bard skills and you did all the heavy lifting. But the most important part is that we both got the same level of experience since we’re a team.”
“That hardly seems fair since I killed all of them,” Sang protested.
“Yeah, but I boosted your damage and gave you courage. It’s a team effort in this game. You’ll find that you can’t really make it alone here. You’ve got to have a good team, and this game rewards players who work together. It’s easy stuff, for certain, but teamwork counts for a lot.”
Sang nodded, as she could at least understand the underlying principle. “Well, good job. I hope you were able to sufficiently increase your character’s skills.”
“Oh yeah, I put some points into ventriloquism!” Van said. This elicited a strong laugh from her. “What?” he asked, frowning. “I wasn’t joking.”
Chapter Seven
Sang grimaced as they entered the tavern. The first one had been bad enough, but this one, The Waltzing Clydesdale, was somehow of even worse quality. The smells were atrocious, the entire place reeked of fish, and the patrons were all weird-looking. Most of them were missing various limbs and stared at the pair as they entered. Van didn’t seem to care either way, though, as he boldly stood atop one of the tables.
“Greetings! It is I, Semimodo the Bard! I wish to regale this town with song, dance, and perhaps even a jig!” he shouted. The dark tavern didn’t offer much of a reaction. Everyone sat glumly instead, just watching him. The place was poorly lit, too, and Sang could barely make out anyone’s facial expressions.
“Get down,” Sang hissed. “I don’t think this is the place for liveliness.”
“Silence, wench! Allow me to use my powerful Ballad skill!” Van said. “Ahem...
Tis Fair and Free in this Land
And Music Good and Never Bland
That Love and Freedom fare thee well
And happiness comes from the sound of a bell!”
Sang shrugged. It wasn’t glorious poetry, but wasn’t half bad. She was just about to open her mouth to compliment him when the bleating and blaring sound of a hideous shrieking noise startled her. She instinctively looked around for the fabled Ocean Cult, but realized it was nothing more than Van playing the bagpipes. The crowd laughed and clapped for him, oddly enough. She could barely understand what was going on, but she wasn’t one to question it. Not at this point anyway.
Wanting to blend in, she sat down at table and glanced around. There were Orcs, Elves, and even Dwarves, and they were all rough looking people. There was a bitterness in their eyes and a fierceness in their expressions that showed they weren’t the kinds of people who would handle any kind of goofing off. They seemed to enjoy the bard’s performance, but she wasn’t sure if they were just programmed to respond to a successful skill check or not.
“And now, I shall need a volunteer!” Van announced, holding a dart in his hand. A Dwarf raised his hand. “Good! You, sir, would you be so kind as to put this apple atop your head?” Van requested as he extended a bright red piece of fruit to the Dwarf, who then balanced it on his head precariously.
Sang was genuinely impressed with the level of interaction in this tavern. It seemed that there was far more personality within these NPCs than there’d been at the tavern back in the tutorial area. She watched with a smile... until she slowly began to realize what Van was going to do. He was going to try and throw the dart into the apple.
“Van… er, Semimodo,” Sang said, trying to get his attention.
“For, you see, reflexes are all about the flick of the wrist!” Van shouted as he threw the dart at full speed. It completely missed the Dwarf and sank into the calf of a Minotaur who had been standing at the bar. It turned around and bleated a horrific sound.
“He’s right!” said one of the patrons in response to the creature’s cry. “Let’s teach him a lesson he’ll never forget!” And as if they were coordinated, all of the characters in the bar stood up at once and faintly began to glow r
ed, indicating that they were now enemies.
“Aw, dangit, I guess some people don’t like good old fashioned slapstick!” Van said as he leapt to avoid getting punched by the Dwarf that was closest to him.
“Hey, get away from him!” Sang shouted as she shoved herself in front of the idiot bard and began to punch away at the assailants. She could see the damage popping up above their heads—5 DAMAGE! 5 DAMAGE! 4 DAMAGE! It was pretty low because she was using her fists, but that didn’t stop her from swinging away. She was in such close proximity to all of these ruffians that it was impossible for her to dodge any of the blows herself, though, and she watched as her health bar slowly shrank down. They were all unarmed, hitting her with fists and steel gloves.
“Come on, let’s get out of here!” Van called out as he grabbed her by the back of her leather armor and began to pull.
“Hey, let me go, I can take them!”
“Maybe, but I sure can’t!” Van said as he scampered for the door.
Yet, Sang stood in the midst of the chaos and was absolutely loving it. In the real world, she was just a tiny little woman who had no upper body strength and weighed 120 pounds soaking wet. In here, she was big, strong, and above all, capable of holding her own. It felt gratifying to bust a few Orcs in their jaws with just her bare hands. True, she was getting the crap kicked out of her, but a few other players had arrived on the scene and dived into the scrap, too. She didn’t care anymore about larger goals, even though she could feel the skin on her hands getting raw as she punched as many people in the face as she could reach. She felt strong. She felt almost… whole.
The emotions were strange, if not uncomfortable, and she wasn’t particularly sure why she was feeling them, but the surges of adrenaline and the pleasure of violence kept her in the midst of the fight. Her health bar continued to drop as she felt the sharp sting of fists and legs punching and kicking against her. -10 damage! continued to stream in front of her, warning her that her health was dropping.