by Sam Ferguson
“Quiet,” the other NPC said. “Lie still and it will leave.”
Brian inspected the NPC and saw his name was Saldair. Probably should have paid more attention to the NPCs before this point. The ground shook several more times. The group had only been able to move about forty yards farther into the cave. It had gone considerably deeper into the ground, but Brian had to wonder if this feeble cave would hold up under the beast’s onslaught.
A roar signaled that the beast had found the rest of Kassim. A few grotesque chomping noises created a brief interlude before the claws resumed digging and pulling apart the mouth of the cave again.
“This is the thing I saw,” Chris whispered.
“Shh!” Barry held a finger to his lips.
The monster opened up about five yards of the cave’s roof and peered in with a big, bloodshot yellow eye that covered the entire opening. The pupil dilated slightly, then contracted into a tight vertical slit. Standing up, the beast roared angrily.
[Think this is still part of the opening sequences?—Kolvurin]
Brian didn’t even respond to Mike’s message. He just stared helplessly as the beast began to claw at the opening again.
Then, over the din of claws ripping through stone and earth, a horn blasted long and sharp. The note was so shrill that Brian turned away from it.
The beast roared, a massive leg stepping down in front of the cave. Brian could just make out that the beast was roaring at something on the water.
The horn sounded again, louder and higher pitched.
The beast shook its head, yelped like a wounded animal, and then turned and ran away. The heavy steps shook the ground as the horn let out two more blasts and the monster’s roar could only faintly be heard in the far distance.
“We’re saved!” Saldair exclaimed. “Wait here. I’ll make sure it’s safe.”
The horn blasted once more.
A few moments later a voice called out to them.
“Hello to the cave!”
Saldair clapped his hands. “My brother!” Saldair ran to the mouth of the cave. “Brother, we’re in here!” He turned back, glanced in the direction the beast had fled to, and then held out his hand to Brian and the rest of the group. “Come, come, it’s quite safe now. The Jathler can’t abide our sound weapons.”
Brian shrugged. “Sounds good to me,” he said. “For what it’s worth, the steggo creatures used sound against it too. It disorients him.”
“But the monster ate two of those you said.”
Brian nodded. “The horn is much, much louder, and it’s a lot worse than what the steggo things were doing, trust me.”
“Come, my brother has arrived.” Saldair turned and ran toward the beach.
Brian and the others emerged. He let his eyes adjust a bit to the full sunlight again and looked down to see a large vessel, reminiscent of a Viking longship, beached nearby. A crew of twelve manned the vessel, four of them standing near some sort of contraption made of massive bone horns that resembled those of a ram, except the ram that grew these would have had to be at least twice the size of an elephant.
“I am Middair,” a tall man said with a flourishing bow. A cutlass hung from his left hip and he wore a long beard braided with brass clips. “When the ship didn’t put in to port last night, we sent many search parties along the coast. When we saw the Jathler, we figured it might have pinned down some survivors.”
“You came just in time,” Saldair said. “Can you carry us back to Fezhik?”
Middair smiled and nodded at Brian and the group. “That’s the idea. Come, the forest is dangerous. Let us transport you across the waters. We’ll be safer on my ship.”
Brian and the others boarded the vessel as Saldair went through a scripted speech about the fire kraken. Middair gave a predictably surprised reaction, stating something about how no kraken had been seen for decades and that a fire kraken was almost unheard of.
It wasn’t really vital information to listen to, so Brian spent his attention on the scenery as the vessel put out across the inlet.
The crystal-clear water housed many creatures in the depths. Schools of brightly colored fish, some familiar and others entirely strange to him, glided along. Starfish clung to rocks below, octopi poked out from their dens. Even a couple of hammerhead sharks swam below, but they made no attempt to attack the vessel.
In the air above there were gulls and sea hawks. Occasionally a hawk would dive down and come up with a fish.
In the distance to the north, Mike spotted a whale jumping and announced it just in time for Brian to see the last half-second of its impressive, albeit less than majestic, acrobatics.
Inspired by the whale’s leap, Mike and Barry were now jumping on the ship.
“I hit level four,” Mike said.
Brian shook his head just as the game cut to a dramatic opening theme song. The camera shifted away from the first person view and the group watched as it soared up from the ship, coursed across the rippling waves and over a pod of cresting dolphins as it flew toward the distant shoreline.
A few towers and a tall wall were the first things to break the horizon, followed shortly by an impressive port with several ships as large as the one they had been thrown from by the fire kraken the night before.
The camera swooped down to travel through the main portcullis as tradesmen and market-goers busied themselves in the streets. It then ascended and panned left to give a sweeping view of the clay-tiled roofs and soaring cathedral on the way to the central keep. A four-towered fortress with an observatory standing atop a hill on the northernmost edge of the city beyond the castle walls overlooked everything below.
The camera circled around to put the top of the city into view as the ship they traveled upon sailed into the frame from the east. The title displayed big and bright as the French horns swelled and a flock of gulls flew across the display.
“Nice opening sequence,” Mike said.
“I’ve seen better,” Barry commented.
Brian sighed. “Of course you have.”
3
Luck at the Market
When the ship docked, the group disembarked and rushed up to the main gates. A tall NPC with a green beret stood and waved at them. A yellow arrow pointed down at him.
“Quest giver,” Barry said.
Rhonda was the first to reach the NPC.
“I am Captain Falx,” the NPC said with a slight flourish of his left hand. As Brian approached, he could see two red and black feathers sticking up from the beret and a gold badge that appeared to be two crossed swords behind a shield along the front of the cap. His tunic was black, as were his trousers and boots, but the cape he wore was a forest green to match the beret. His left epaulette bore a set of red and gold tassels. At his right hip he wore a scimitar. “I wish I could welcome you to Fezhik under better circumstances. You are the first survivors we have found from last night’s unfortunate incident. However, I am hopeful we will locate more.” Falx’s eyes swept over them, and he took in a breath while knitting his brow.
“I am afraid I cannot offer you much rest either. Our outposts are shorthanded, and we have suffered attacks along our once-secure roads. I will need all able bodies ready to take assignments. Follow Middair—he will arrange for quarters and provisions, and then you must move along to find the Scholar of Anorit. The Order of Anorit are a useful, if not slightly annoying, group of historians. We have put up with them being underfoot so long as we can in turn use their vast libraries to aid us in our ongoing quest for knowledge and discovery.” Falx sighed. “Still, as I said, we are short-handed, and I have no others to spare for a favor that the order is requesting. Please see to that before you do anything else, then come and find me afterward for your first set of official Greencap orders.” With that, Captain Falx turned and walked into the gatehouse, disappearing through a doorway.
[QUEST ADDED: FIRST THINGS FIRST]
“This way,” Middair said.
The group followed closely.
“Think we can buy our own houses in this game?” Mike asked.
Brian laughed. “I doubt we’ll be playing long enough to make that kind of thing worth it.” Brian almost expected Barry to comment about how big a house he would buy, but—fortunately—no such comment came.
Middair turned down into the first street on the left. The road was wide but made only of packed dirt. The houses had whitewashed walls with dark shiplap accents. Some had latticework which provided ample training for growths of ivy to creep along the walls.
Rhonda moved to inspect the ivy briefly and plucked a leaf. “Nothing,” she sighed when the leaf didn’t put anything useful into her inventory.
They passed a few houses and shops, and then came to a long, two-story building with large double doors. A sign over the door announced proudly that this was the Drunk Imp Public House. A green-skinned imp sat perched on the last letter holding a tipping mug of ale with a massive grin on its face.
“Don’t mind the sign,” Middair said. “We ran out of appropriate lodging last year. We tried to expand the town, but buildings outside the walls kept getting attacked at night, so we vacated the pub here and use it for extra quarters until new arrivals are sorted out and sent to their official postings.” Middair flashed a smile and then pressed through the large double doors.
Brian walked in and was instantly surprised by the level of authenticity. There was tobacco smoke hanging in a thin cloud along the ceiling as one might expect, but more than that Brian could smell the old smoke, the kind that got into the fibers of furniture, curtains, and walls. The scent of today’s meals permeated the air, but the stale stench of spills and stains still lingered as well.
Several soldiers in plate armor sat and turned to regard the group. One of them had a plumed helmet, an officer of some kind likely.
Another table served as a sort of workstation for a trio of alchemists working a mortar and pestle while arguing over what the right amount of salamander heart string was to achieve an elixir of shrinking.
The one thing all the groups had in common was they all either had a green hat or they wore some sort of green ribbon to show they belonged to the Greencaps.
“I’ll have the quartermaster bring some food up to you,” Middair said.
Brian looked up and realized that the group was several yards away now. He hurried to catch up.
Middair led them up the stairs at the back of the main hall, then down to the last door on the left. Pulling out a set of keys, he worked the lock. The first key didn’t work.
“Always mix these up,” Middair explained with a playful grin. The third key opened the door, and he made a grand gesture as the door swung open. “Voila!”
“Ladies first,” Augustin said.
Rhonda entered the room. “It’s big.”
Brian was the last to enter the quarters. He took note of eight green tapestries hanging along the top of the wall opposite a set of windows that looked out over the street below. The tapestries each held a variety of symbols. It took just a moment for Brian to realize that each player had a tapestry that indicated their race, class, special skills, and had space to spare for indicating achievements that would be earned throughout the course of the game. He liked the idea of being able to display your prowess to other players.
“This should suit you well during your time here,” Middair said. “I’ll have some food brought up to the room. Until then, make yourselves at home.” He started to leave and then caught onto the door frame with his hand and leaned back into the room. “Ah, and um, don’t forget to visit the Anorit scholar. Here, I’ll mark it on your map.”
[ORDER OF ANORIT LIBRARY LOCATION ADDED TO MAP]
“Thanks, Middair,” Barry said.
Middair walked down the hallway.
[QUEST COMPLETED: ARRIVE IN FEZHIK]
[You are now level 3]
Brian made note of the level change and the accompanying skill point blinking at the top of his HUD. He’d open that up in a short while and take a look at what skills he could unlock at this point. Between the experience from this first quest, the fight on the ship, and all the acrobatic skill increases, he had two skill points to use. Mike undoubtedly had already spent every point he had gotten so far. Probably on sneaking or lockpicking.
“Right,” Mike started. “Twelve beds in all. That makes sense. Most Terramyr Online games allow for private game servers of up to twelve people in a party.”
“What if the game was fully online?” Rhonda asked.
“You mean an open server with a dedicated campaign?” Mike shrugged. “The game probably has the capacity to add rooms as necessary. Or, I’d guess it’s first come first served. It works out well enough though, I never really had a problem. The game also probably has bedrolls that individual players can take with them to create camping locations and things like that. The last few did.”
“Save portal,” Barry said.
Brian called up the local real time on his HUD. “Looks like we’ve been playing about an hour and a half. I’m good to keep going if you all are.”
Barry moved to the save portal. It was made to blend in well. A stone pedestal held a statue of a small dragon coiling around a red crystal. Brian knew from the books, and from past games, that the dragon was an Ancient, one that had worked with Icadion to create part of the world and at least some of the races that lived upon it.
The crystal was one of the Crystals of Power, extremely rare artifacts that came into being during the world’s creation and wielded immense magical strength. Each crystal had a specific domain of power. Both in the books and in the games, there were forces of good and evil that fought over those powers in a never-ending struggle.
It was a fitting symbol for the save point.
Barry reached out and touched it. A moment later, a small ribbon with Barry’s player name appeared on the base of the statue. Brian and the others all crowded around the save point.
Brian interfaced with it and updated his save file, his own player ribbon appearing, gently fluttering, next to Barry’s. Each of the others’ ribbons were soon to follow. Brian assumed that if the game had been formally rolled out, any number of people could use the same save point, but only ribbons belonging to members of your party would be visible to you as a single player. It was a nice feature to help keep tabs on your party members.
“Perfect,” Chris called out. “So now if I die, I’ll at least respawn here instead of back at that campfire.”
Rhonda and Mike laughed.
“I’m going to go seek out the assassin’s guild,” Barry said. “I’m eager to see which kind they have in this version.”
Brian understood Barry’s excitement. Each of the games had featured a different assassin guild, some from books and some only found in the games. It was one of Brian’s favorite aspects of the games.
“Well I saw a few nice-looking manors on the way in,” Mike said.
Brian laughed. “I told you all he’s just a thief.”
“A man has to make a living,” Mike replied.
“My guess is that some of those NPCs down in the dining area can be hired as companions,” Barry suggested. “I didn’t look too carefully, but some of the names seemed to have a little marker next to them that looks like a quest companion symbol. Brian, maybe you should check that out before you leave.” The suggestion sounded friendly enough on its face, but Brian knew that Barry would be eager to try and get out ahead of him in experience and have first crack at the job board in the assassin guild.
Mike, Barry, and Chris made for the exit. Rhonda’s avatar pulled out a book off a shelf at the back of the room and started reading it.
“I suppose one of us should see how to get the professor and Meredith from the beach and bring them here,” Augustin said.
“Oof. I am definitely not it,” Brian said as he put a finger to his nose.
Augustin laughed. “Tell you what, you give me some of that gold you earned back on the ship, and I’ll see i
f I can hire a boat or something,” Augustin said.
Shrewd move. Brian grinned. “I’ll give you one hundred gold if that means you go and find Meredith and the professor.”
“Deal,” Augustin replied happily.
Brian brought up his inventory and tossed a bag of coins onto the table. Taking the bag, Augustin gave a quick salute.
“I think I’m going to log off for the day,” Rhonda said after Chris left. “I wanted to take another look at lichen samples I collected this week.”
“Haven’t you studied enough lichen? It grows from every monkey puzzle tree around for miles and miles. How could that be worth your time for weeks now?” Brian asked.
“I haven’t just taken them from the monkey puzzle trees,” Rhonda said. “Some of the samples have come from the caves near each of your sites as well. There are hundreds of variants. If you want me to tell you what spores are buried with every scrap of bone and pottery you dig out of the ground, I need to have a thorough database.”
“They might have something similar on Terramyr,” Brian said with a cheesy grin and an exaggerated thumbs-up gesture.
Rhonda’s avatar put the book away and Brian quickly wiped the grin off his face, realizing how dumb he would have looked if she had noticed him.
“The game is fun, but I am here to study the real world,” Rhonda said.
The comment stung a little. Brian had hoped he could impress Rhonda during the trip, but so far all he’d managed to do was demonstrate how much time he spent on video games. “Well, have fun. I’ll see you around,” Brian said.
“Bye,” Rhonda replied. The avatar interfaced with the save point again and then disappeared.
All alone and I have a sneak peek at the newest Terramyr Online game... what to do? What to do? Brian stood in the room as a pair of porters entered and set platters of food down on the long table made for twelve.