I have to go in a minute, but I’m checking on you later today. Please, will you call Fragged or me or someone if you are really feeling down?
My hands froze when I read that. Talk to him on the phone again? My stomach did a weird shivery butterfly type of thing. I’d been hoping, since our last call—despite the circumstances of it—that he’d try to call me again. You have my word, I replied.
You’re logging on tonight, by the way. You and I will go do something fun. There’s this cool spot in the Forgotten Ridge zone. A hidden cave. I’ll show it to you.
My brow scrunched. Hidden cave? How would he know about something like that? You’re lying…I’ve never heard of that.
It’s top secret. Can’t tell anyone. Can’t blog about it.
I frowned even harder. Why?
Cuz then it wouldn’t be secret anymore!
If it’s so secret, how did you find out about it? And why tell me… a blogger?
I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.
So you *are a serial killer.
I am a serial killer…of pixelated goblins, trolls and vampires. And all that other shit we have to grind on to level up.
I sighed and sat back, surprised that in the past few minutes, I’d almost forgotten to be miserable.
So you’re logging on, right?
Or else what?
Or else I’ll tell Fragged to go over there and bother you.
I’ll log on. Besides, if he comes over here, his BF will have a tantrum. Tonight’s their date night.
Great. It’s just you and me then. And our secret little hideaway.
I almost—almost—typed “It’s a date” before I thought better of it.
***
Fallen did take me on an adventure, as promised. We met near the transport station and climbed aboard a gondola borne inside the claws of a huge silver dragon. It worked much like a blimp, fantasy-style, carrying us across the continent with the persistent flapping of giant, fabled reptilian wings instead of the laws of thermodynamics. In the game, these long journeys were represented by real-time delays.
It was during one of these delays, somewhere between the Ancient City’s Dragon Tower and our unknown destination, high above the Forgotten Ridge Mountains, that Fallen messaged me.
*FallenOne tells you, Click on the trap door. Now!
Trap door? My eyes raced across the screen until they landed on the bottom level of the gondola, where there was, in fact, a small trap door tucked away in the corner. I immediately did as he said. Suddenly, my character was free-falling beside his, a fall that under normal circumstances would lead to certain death. Obviously, there was nothing normal about this place.
We plunged into an isolated mountain lake nestled among the mountaintops. From the bottom of the zone and traveling on foot—or even on a mount—this area, I knew, was inaccessible.
I knew because I’d tried to climb to the tops of these mountains once, and the game had not allowed it. I’d reached the “edge” of what was reachable by players. Somehow, FallenOne had discovered a “hole” in that barrier by dropping through from above…and he was rewarded with this beautiful place.
The sun was just coming up over the jagged ridge, the virtual sky the color of peaches and cream. Our characters were treading water in the lake, the swoosh, swoosh of the water rippling around us. I could have stayed right there forever, but FallenOne directed us toward one particular edge that faced a cliff.
We swam across the lake toward that edge, where a tall, forceful waterfall fell into the lake with big splashes, its powerful ripples moving outward.
*FallenOne tells you, When you swim through the waterfall, dive downward. At the bottom of the lake, you’ll see an entrance—swim into it. You have to do this pretty quickly or you’ll end up running out of breath and drowning. Ready?
A hidden entrance to a cave, behind a waterfall, in a lake that is otherwise inaccessible to players unless they knew about the hole in the flyover zone?
Talk about well hidden!
Too damn bad I couldn’t write about this on my blog…
I followed FallenOne’s instructions, ending up in a tiny underwater tunnel at the bottom of the lake. We were almost out of breath when the tunnel curved upward and we surfaced in a fantasy-type of fairy grotto.
Holy crap! I typed. This is incredible…
Watery light trickled in from an indirect source, and something on the walls of the cave gave off a bright green, bioluminescent glow. There were jewel-colored stalagmites hanging from the ceiling, their matching stalactites reaching up from the ground. The water was crystal clear, the surface reflecting everything, and the distant, melodic sound of water dripped in a steady rhythm. It was stunning.
From where we stood in the shallow water of the cave pool, it appeared as if the cave had rooms that led off into other passageways.
Me: This place is huge. It looks like it goes on and on.
Him: Wanna explore?
Me: Do I? Does a mynock love to chew on power cords?
We found a room that had furniture in it—rustic style, carved from raw timbers and tied with animal skins. Another room had initials carved into the stone in the wall. Sometimes just two initials like A.D. or C.W., and sometimes three, like J.G.F. or W.J.D. It was virtual graffiti. Everyone’s initials were carved in a different style of writing, as if they had been scrawled there by the people themselves.
Who were they? Game developers? Employees of the company that created DE? Family and friends of the developer who had tucked this cave down here?
How incredibly strange…and wonderful.
We continued our exploration. Part of the cave opened out into a hidden meadow behind the mountain. It was full of wildflowers and a crisp, blue sky sparkling with the newly risen sun. Beautiful.
Me: I wish a paradise like this existed in real life.
Him: Feel better now?
Me: Yes! Thank you.
Him: You’re welcome.
Me: Now are you going to tell me how you knew about this place?
Him: Let’s just say I’ve spent some time exploring and looking for loopholes.
Me: Who ARE you? How do you have time to do that?
I might have suspected him of being an employee of the company that designed the game, except that I knew the company was California-based and he most decidedly kept East Coast hours. Maybe he had a friend who worked for the company…
Knowing FallenOne—well, what little I did know—these things would likely remain a mystery for years to come. And I could accept that or try to badger the truth out of him.
I chose to accept it.
***
It took about a week, but eventually I recovered from the great MCAT disaster of the decade. Not that the stinging sense of failure completely went away.
I mostly bounced back due to Heath coming over to physically drag me out to the movies, miniature golf or just wherever. And Kat and FallenOne’s virtual nagging to log on and grind quests with them. We got Kat her complete heal spell and moved on to Fragged’s barbarian quest to learn hidden techniques from the Great Mercenary Hermit—who, ironically, lived in the Forgotten Ridge.
FallenOne never hinted to the others about the hidden cave, and as much as I would have liked to, I kept mum also. Thus it would remain our little secret hidey-hole, an almost unbelievable virtual paradise. But I never went back, either.
One night, a few weeks later, we were working on Heath’s incredibly tedious quest—with much good-natured bitching from both Persephone and me.
“Stop complaining, Eloisa. Your big quest is next. Unless you want me to moan and groan the entire time we work on it,” Heath said. “Payback is a bitch.”
“And so are you,” I replied back to him in a split second.
A skilled mercenary was a bonus to everyone in the group, since he was the one who stood up front, shouting annoying things at the monsters so they’d only attack him. His sole job was to stand there like a meat sh
ield and get beaten on while the rest of us took the mob down. At this level, every fight was a team effort.
“You know,” I said after we’d killed our fifteenth troll. “I’m enjoying this game a lot. There’s something for everyone, and I like the creativity of the quests. I just wish they had something for those of us who want to dig deeper and solve a mystery.” My thoughts kept circling back to that hidden cave and why it was there. I’d wanted to dig deeper.
FallenOne sent a message to the group, What do you mean?
“Well, for example, I’d love it if there was a secret quest.” I straightened in my chair and watched the monitor, hitting the appropriate buttons for my spells as they lit up the screen like a thunderstorm. “Like something hidden in the game beneath the obvious quests. Maybe we’d have to look for clues or speak to NPCs to get hints that lead us on secret quest chains. I love being forced to think outside the box.”
That’s a really interesting idea, FallenOne commented.
“Well, someday there will be a game that will do stuff like that,” I said.
Fragged laughed. “I don’t even think they could do something like that. Not with current programming technology.”
I hit my last nuke spell to finish off the big monster, then indicated that we needed to wait until my mana regenerated before our next fight. “I wish they could. Dragon Epoch is so much more advanced than the MMOs I’ve played up ‘til now. If anyone could do something cool like that, it would be the people who made DE.”
“Maybe,” Fragged replied.
FallenOne chimed in, It wouldn’t be hard to implement. Some creatively constructed nested coding.
Fragged snorted. “Oh, so now you’re an expert at coding, are you?” Not that we had any idea what he was an expert at…except for keeping secrets.
FallenOne said to the group, /shrug It’s just a guess. Maybe it would be too hard. Who knows?
I sighed. “That would be a shame if it is, because it could be a lot of fun. Like, they could drop weekly hints to the players who are interested. I dunno. It was just a thought.”
Hints? That’s weak sauce. Make the players work for it, said Fallen.
“Well, however they wanted to do it,” I replied. “They could get all creative, even have it open a new zone or expansion. It would have a whole story behind it.”
“Anyway,” Persephone interrupted. “Aren’t we supposed to be finding this named boss to finish Fragged’s quest?”
“He hasn’t spawned yet,” said Fragged.
Persephone sighed. “Let’s go do something else for a little while. I’m bored.” A common complaint coming from our energetic Canadian friend.
“You’re bloodthirsty,” Fragged accused.
And they continued a good-natured argument while another conversation started.
*FallenOne tells you, So tell me more about this secret quest idea. I think it’s cool.
I smiled, bit my bottom lip and replied.
*You tell FallenOne, Oh, it’s just an off the cuff idea. I would love it if the game put in hidden surprises like that. Easter eggs, you know? Just fun little secret quests for us to discover when we get bored collecting Giant Lizard tongues for the random local witch or tiger teeth for the shaman in town…
Him: Those quests aren’t *that bad...
Me: No, they’re not bad, but they don’t exactly make you think outside of the box, know what I mean? It just seems to me that DE is such a kickass game, and they’ve shown with their game design that they are awesome. I think it would be a fun idea if they could implement it. Too bad they don’t have a “suggestion box” so that players can submit ideas like that to the designers.
Him: Haha, very funny. Hopefully, you’re actually using the suggestion box instead of being snarktastic. Or maybe they should just read your blog. Someone should tell them about it.
Me: Someone already did, apparently. I’ve been linked on the landing page of their website several times, shockingly enough!
Him: You downplay how good your blog is. You shouldn’t do that.
Me: Well... thanks. I’m glad you like it. If I don’t end up being a doctor, maybe I can figure out how to live off my leet blogging skillz.
“What the hell are you two doing, smoking ganja?” Fragged yelled over the headset. “We’re fighting here!”
That was the end of that. We finished Fragged’s quest that night. And later, I actually submitted the damn secret quest idea to the suggestion box that probably no one ever checked.
If they did, who knew if the idea would take hold or not? But it sure would be cool if it did.
Chapter 8: Truth or Dare
Fall rolled around again, and with it, the start of my senior year—my last semester of coursework with several of the most challenging classes I’d taken in my entire college career. As for the MCAT, I’d spent a good two months re-evaluating what had gone wrong and come up with a plan of attack.
Clearly, there was a whole strategy behind taking the test. I had to learn that strategy. And quick.
Because the longer I delayed retaking it, the more it would delay my med school applications. I risked losing an entire year between finishing college and moving on to medical school.
I sucked it up and joined a study group. So not my thing, and yet annoyingly necessary.
“Maybe we should start with some introductions?” the perky blonde started, shifting on her chair in one of the reserved study rooms in the Chapman University Leatherby Libraries. “I’m Alicia Smiley, majoring in Organic Chem. No jokes about the name, please and thank you. I do smile a lot.” She punctuated that statement with perfect matching dimples on each cheek.
The small group laughed at her little joke. We’d used a university forum to match up, based on the approximate date we’d be taking the MCAT test. Most of them were a year behind me in school, and I planned on keeping mum about my previous failure.
Next to introduce himself was a guy with straggly dark hair plastered to his forehead and an ugly sweater. He quietly introduced himself as Clark. I mentally reframed him as wearing glasses a la Clark Kent. The next image came to my mind was of him ripping off that atrocious sweater to reveal a blue body suit with a giant ‘S’ on his chest. I had to bite my lip to stifle the giggles.
A few others introduced themselves. Then it was my turn. “I’m Mia Strong. Bio major. And, um, yeah, I just want to do really well on this test.” That rock in my stomach twisted again, like it did every time I contemplated my failure and what it might mean if I didn’t get off my ass and pass this damn test.
Lastly, a really young-looking guy with curly blond hair and boy-next-door good looks leaned forward. “I’m Jon. Kinesiology major. I’m a recent transfer from Penn—as in the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania, not Penn State. And I will cut a person who confuses the two. JK of course.”
Nervous laughter all around. Anyone from the west coast had little idea what the difference was between those two schools—besides the fact that one was Ivy League and the other had a famous football team. Nor did we care. Harvard or Stanford, we understood. The Penns? Not so much.
I laughed along with the rest of the group, and when Jon’s gaze landed on me, a cocky smile appeared. I smiled back and something in his eyes changed, intensifying. Like headlights being switched onto high beam, I drew back.
Uh oh. I’d seen that look before, when I’d bothered to look back long enough to notice.
I immediately averted my gaze and made a point to ignore Jon the rest of the study session. Before leaving, we passed around a sheet, sharing phone numbers and email addresses, then set up another meeting. Miss Smiley McDimples—as I was now mentally calling her—would send us an agenda based on the specs of the test within the next few days, and we’d come back to the group, prepared to pair off and quiz each other.
I could do this. I got this. I chanted these phrases to myself as I rushed out of the room the minute we were done. As a protective measure, I pressed my cell phone to my ear, pr
etending to talk on it lest anyone think they could approach me afterward.
I’d learned a lot of tricks like that, and they worked really well. Some would say too well.
“When are you going to start dating, anyway?” Heath had asked me recently.
“The 12th of Never in the year of our Lord, hypothetically speaking.”
Heath sighed and rolled his eyes. “Stubborn girl.”
“Determined girl.” I quirked a brow, folding my arms across my chest. “My life is not going to depend on the whims of some man.”
Heath grinned. “Believe me, the whims of some man can be very pleasurable… when you find the right man.”
“And have you found him, Heath?” When the smile dropped abruptly from his face, I knew I’d said the wrong thing. Oh shit. I was always saying the wrong thing lately. “I mean, as long as he makes you happy, right?”
After an awkward pause, the subject was changed and I made a mental note to handle that topic much more smoothly in the future. Although prickly responses like that served me well because they taught Heath to avoid the subject from then on. And he was a quick learner, fortunately.
Mom, well, she was another story. But usually she didn’t push it. She just looked at me with sad eyes, and I knew she was thinking about what had happened to me in high school. Whenever she brought up the subject, however, I managed to change it. That was that.
***
As this was my last year at the university, the pressure was piling on. My days consisted of classes, homework for aforementioned classes, extra work for the MCAT study group, research at the lab for—and sometimes with—my advising professor. Hours at the hospital, though they were reduced again, now that summer was over. And, when I could fit them in, blogging and gaming. Sleeping and eating were sandwiched somewhere in between. Rinse and repeat.
Sadly, our gaming group only got together one night a week, but I managed a few more hours here and there when I could. And when I did, I frequently ran into FallenOne. I often wondered if that was by accident or by design.
Girl Geek: A Gaming The System Prequel Page 8