by Kris Schnee
There was much more to Ludo's game, then; it was kind of a front for the favor-trading network that could get him into position with more uploading centers, more computers, more money. Stan said, "Is there something I can do to help?"
"Thanks for asking, but why?"
Stan looked at his hands. "I want to make something, and feel like it wasn't just for the sake of racking up points on my SCS."
"How's your Spanish?"
"Uh... Usable. We have to study it."
[Level 1 quest offered: Play In the Dirt. Help build a playground in Mexicali, sponsored by Thousand Tales. Reward: Transport, Lunch, ?]
Stan said, "A volunteer project?" That town was just across the border in Mexico.
"It's next month. Only if you want to. Ms. Parker is going; I can have her pick you up if you want. As a disclaimer: the work involves a day of sweating in the hot sun, preferably wearing a t-shirt with a Tales logo that I'll provide."
"How does that help with the grand uploading scheme? It costs you money."
The view of Ludo zoomed out to show him leaning back on his chair, folding his arms and grinning. "Now why would I do that? What does it buy me?"
Stan had to think about it. "You're built to help the players have fun, and maybe that doesn't just apply to what they do in-game."
"That's part of it. But a playground isn't just a consolation prize for all those people who aren't rich bastards that can afford uploading. What else am I buying?"
Stan strained to see the world as Ludo did, a worldwide market for his business. There was a great service to sell, but too few people who could afford it yet, and plenty of people resenting him. Setting up a little charity event and making sure everybody knew the AI was behind it was... "Goodwill. If you can't save everybody, then you're at least letting them know you're trying. Seeing their kids on a see-saw you built probably means more to people than reading an article about how uploading will be cheaper someday."
"You got it. Also, the kids get to grow up thinking it's normal to have me around. Just like some differently-minded people got your generation to think SCS and Youth Communities and national service years are normal."
Stan beamed; he'd figured out Ludo's riddle. "I'll do it. Let me know if I can bring anything."
"Bottled water? Don't drink from the taps there."
The "don't drink the water" rule was obvious to everyone around here. He laughed and said, "Yes, Dad."
6. Upwardly Mobile
In Endless Isles he made himself a few more bits of wooden armor and a flag to plant, just another blank palm-frond thing. Although it was a repetitive grind, he still had some fun chopping trees and crafting objects. After browsing the market again he figured out that the fancier boats needed a regular infusion of spare parts, so he was able to craft a couple more of that tackle block he'd first made (now with a better quality rating) and sell those for a profit to NPCs.
He crafted two more junky stone-bladed picks and torches since they cost him nothing but wood. He went alone into the copper mine with his club and wand and the knife he'd traded for. Instead of being an adventure he thought of the trip as a gamble: would he walk out of here with a net gain of resources? Today the mine layout was different again, no longer choked with the rockslide. Stan said nothing, refusing to speculate out loud about tonight's challenge. No ore veins were in sight but there were tunnels winding downward into the dark. Stan lit his torch and looked around, club in hand.
Just ahead, the dusty brown stone (it was grey last time) was slightly piled with a line of dust. Stan crouched and inspected it. [A line in the sand!] said the interface, telling him nothing. Just decorative? He didn't have a specific button for what he wanted to do, so he said, "I brush carefully at it." His character waved one hand and exposed a taut string attached to either wall, where he might have broken it. A trap! He looked up and saw a boulder balanced suspiciously along a twist of the tunnel. Another note said, [It was more visible because you have the Inspect skill, and you gained skill experience by thinking to use it.]
Stan pushed a new button that said "Evade" to step over the tripwire, and made his way carefully around the corner. He reached a ledge overlooking a room full of stalactites and looked around for any that might be scheming to fall on him. He didn't see any, but started to hear something squeaking up there. Faint shapes stirred in the shadows. In response Stan kept silent, moving very slowly down from the ledge and glancing suspiciously up.
Pebbles skittered at his feet. They clattered down the slope and echoed. Stan cursed. Suddenly a swarm of bats rippled out from the ceiling and dived at him! Stan swung his torch and club to fend them off, but several raked their claws against his arms and one was caught in his hair. Stan flailed and managed to hit himself to knock that one loose. [Two minor wounds!] Yellow icons flashed.
Stan jumped down the rest of the ledge to throw the bats off. It was a panicked move and a foolish one. There were a few stone spikes on the floor, too, and he got gashed along one side. A red [Major wound!] icon appeared. That one was his fault. Stan crouched and held up his torch to see if that'd help. Indeed, most of the bats fled but one had clamped onto his club arm. No, Stan wasn't going to burn it off with the button for the torch hand. He hit the button for his other hand instead and faced the nearest spike, saying, "I whack it against that!"
He smacked his arm against the stone spike, managing to impale the bat and not himself. The bat screeched and died, abandoned by its fellows. [Status effect: Minor bleeding. You're about to take a minor wound unless treated.] Well, he couldn't do much about that right now. He stood there and waited for a third yellow icon to pop up. He was in real trouble already, as even a minor wound was probably going to set off a little trauma avalanche and roll the minors over into a second major. Not such a great start.
What now? He inspected the spikes and the walls, but there was still no ore in sight. The passage leading farther in took him down a dull but safe path to a third room, where a waterfall rumbled and spilled across a ledge. In hindsight he probably could've doused the bats with that, but for all he knew there would have been traps to trip over. Now that he thought of it, it was strange to have seen nothing back there. He backtracked and went over the walls again. This time he glimpsed a slit in the wall at waist height, that clicked shut as soon as he laid eyes on it. I'm being watched. So, what was the trick to this waterfall room? Slippery, obviously, and he'd have a tough time keeping his torch lit. Worse, he realized, he hadn't brought fire-starting equipment. Now might be a good time to back out, but damn it, he'd come this far. This cave was made of rocks. He could use rocks. He went all the way back to the bats' room, made sure they weren't already roosting up there again, then took out one of his stone picks and broke loose a relatively wide, flat stone spike. Then, at the waterfall, he equipped it in one hand and the torch in his other, and spoke to make sure the game understood: "I hold this thing up to shield the torch, and scoot carefully along. Crouching, I guess."
He crept under the spray of water, sending the icy flow everywhere except straight onto his only light source. He made it through without falling off the ledge, but got a notice: [Status effect: Shivering]. He looked wet and miserable.
If he had to fight the cave's inhabitants soon, then he needed to escape from that penalty. With just the torch for warmth, he couldn't. He peeked into the next area, an artificial-looking staircase of small steps with a poorly disguised tripwire, and nodded. There was more to do. He held up his trusty club and said, "If I burn this, will that count as a warming fire?"
[Sacrifice your main weapon? Sure! That's worth justifying a 90% success chance.]
"If I use magic to make it grow, will it last longer?"
[Growth by itself isn't a reliable way to make extra resources, but you can press your luck: 50%.]
"Nah."
Stan made sure he still had his knife for backup, then held his club up to the torch. It ignited, burning brightly enough to show him crude drawings along the walls.
Pictures of small lizard creatures fighting humans and dancing, mostly. "Kobolds!" he said as he waited to warm up. What little he'd heard of the critters said they were good with traps. When the Shivering effect went away, he left the ruined club burning on the floor and made sure he was ready to light his second torch from the first. He headed down the tunnel. There was copper ahead, right?
Indeed there was, in a grotto inhabited by a tribe of the little lizardmen. There were rock piles and alcoves all over the uneven floor, tiki torches burned in the depths, and green-scaled tribesmen were gambling and sleeping in small groups. Stan was paying so much attention to the underground village that he almost overlooked the pressure plate on the floor that would've set off something nasty from a hole in the wall.
How should he play this situation? He wasn't well armed, so he'd do better with stealth than charging in. There were obvious veins of greenish ore in the walls now, and even copper jewelry on the kobolds' necklaces and loincloths. These were intelligent creatures; maybe he could talk to them. He took a few steps into a well-lit area and called out, "Hello?"
A trio of lizards scrambled for their copper-tipped spears and bone knives, and ran toward him, but stopped when Stan held out an empty hand. One said, "Hu-mun! You no belong! Go!"
"I don't want to hurt you. I just want to mine."
"Mine? This our mine!" One of the kobolds looked ready to run away but the leader cuffed him. Other tribesmen watched from the shadows, making a gallery of reflective slitted eyes.
"Plenty of ore, right? I only want a little." On this trip, anyway. He'd have had an easier time with the rockslide scenario again.
The talker thumped his tail against the floor and looked him over warily, still clutching his spear. "What you give?"
Stan opened his inventory -- slowly, to give the game a hint about how he wanted his character to act -- and took out one of his stone picks. "This?"
"Junk!"
He tried his copper knife. "Junk!" said the kobolds, taking it up in chorus. He didn't have much else, but gestured to his wooden armor and one of his storage bags and even his torch. "Junk!"
Stan fumed. There had to be some way to trade. He didn't own anything else! He just had himself. "I could work for you."
The lizards laughed at him. "Big strong hu-mun, work for kobold? We see! Come, show!" He beckoned Stan on.
At this point Stan had no good options but to keep going. He walked into the cave village, put out his torch in a little pond to save it, and looked around the dim place. The screen brightened subtly to represent his eyes adjusting, giving him a clearer view of the creatures' home. They had a single large, uneven cavern room for a village, from what he could see. The closest thing they had to a hut was an especially fancy rock pile draped with animal skins and bones. Stan inspected a mural on the wall that showed a mighty battle between kobolds and a wolf. The inspection window said, [Ochre and charcoal pigments in the Neo-Stabby art style.]
A grizzled old lizard stood up as impressively as he could, coming up to Stan's waist. Other villagers gathered around and openly placed bets about him, using shiny rocks and bits of copper for money. The old chief said, "Hu-mun! What you do for us? You help fight big nasty wumpus in deep cave, or sing pretty song, or break rocks for new hut?"
Three choices on how to resolve this problem, besides fighting the whole tribe. Ludo was doing something unusual in the background by showing him this village instead of a standard monster fight. If the creatures could talk but they were randomly generated, then they'd probably popped into existence without their lives meaning anything, so that adventurers could have a tense encounter with them. But if he pushed for details, the AI might roll with what he did. He said, "What do you guys eat?"
There was no sign of a farm down here. The NPCs paused for a moment, looking confused. Then the warrior who'd confronted him said, "Meat! You bring us meat!" One of the more menacing lizards licked his muzzle.
[Quest offered by Ripscale: Meat and Greet. Bring meat to the kobold tribe. Reward: Copper ore.]
Stan considered. "Do you only eat meat? I could bring something else too."
"Not only! You bring feast! Now go."
The offer changed. [Quest offered by Ripscale: Eat and Greet. Bring a suitable feast to the kobold tribe. Reward: Copper ore.]
He was going to have to leave the cave to get this done, though, unless he wanted to get killed hunting bats. "Is this place going to reset on me if I walk out?" he asked.
The kobolds ignored his out-of-character talk, and a message said, [Not while you're actively pursuing this quest.]
He yawned. "Good, because I need a break." He thanked the tribe and cautiously made his way outside, grabbing that dead impaled bat along the way. Waste not, want not.
* * *
The wiki showed him the bigger picture of what he'd been doing in that cave. There were often several versions of the same dungeon area, and Stan had just seen this place's two basic themes: a natural hazard like a cave-in, and a "monstrous humanoid" encounter. He'd just seen this variant for the first time and possibly the only time. By creating semi-randomized adventures, Ludo had also gotten criticism that all the islands were going to be the same. After all, why go to Island East-42 South-999 if it drew from the same pool of situations as East-1? The answer -- and there'd been a ton of debate about whether this was a good idea -- was that each explorer would find the cooler things only once in a given place. Once Stan finished this quest, the East-1 cave would become a more boring, low-risk/low-reward area for him. That was despite the island-reset policy affecting the exterior areas that weren't special ruins or something. He pictured this rule as being like burning the island down when he left it, or crossing it off with an X on his map. What was he supposed to do afterward; keep coming back for the minor reward of the simpler cave he'd already explored with Dominic?
Ah, I get it. Once I finish this version of the dungeon, I'm encouraged to go farther away and visit new places.
Over lunch one day, Stan asked Eddie, "Are you going to keep playing?"
"Didn't I tell you? I signed up for a full account already."
"You don't happen to have a character named Loren, do you?"
"No; I'm Sir Edmund, playing in a private educational zone. Lots of airships and steam boilers that happen to need math-related tasks to repair. Why?"
"Never mind. Airships, huh? That sounds fun."
"You said you're in an island world?"
"A public one, yeah. That's my main character. Want to make a temporary character and tag along while I do some adventure catering?"
"I've got time tonight."
* * *
Stan waved to a generic, totally unequipped newbie who looked vaguely like Eddie. In reality Eddie and Stan were hanging out in Eddie's room, with Stan at the desk. His friend had come to the Isles without any intention of staying, since he didn't have a second permanent character slot yet. Eddie said, "If I unlock that I'll probably try the space zone."
"I played around with a version of that. Looked fun."
Eddie said, "What did you mean about catering?"
"I'll show you. Follow me and try not to get killed; you're my pack mule for the moment."
Stan roamed the nearest two islands, hunting lizards and chopping trees. Once they were loaded up he showed off the workshop and carved a wooden helmet to slightly increase the value of his raw materials. "Mind if I stick around for a few minutes to carve one more item?"
Eddie said, "Sure."
Stan waited through the cooldown while talking about the things he'd made so far. "I'm working my way up. The point of this quest is to get more copper, so I can get non-terrible equipment. Slow process."
Eddie grinned. "It was called the Bronze Age, not the Bronze Couple of Days. Why not play in Midgard, though?" That was a more traditional fantasy world with less ocean and more knights and dragons, where you'd be more likely to see someone wearing the Runic Holy Crystal Armor of Pretentiousness.
"
I think I like starting from the beginning." Stan walked Eddie through the rules as he showed off how to make a new club. He grabbed wood shavings for fire-starting. "Oh! Torches. Can you craft a few while I finish this? Then we need firewood."
At the market they traded away the wood, lizard meat and scales plus some berries and flowers and the wooden helmet. For all that they got some cheap non-lizard meat (certified giant rat), bread and apples, whatever was available, but couldn't afford iron and flint for fires. On the way out, Stan passed a vendor selling pastries. "Do these do anything?"
The seller hesitated, then looked up from reading a book. "Oh! Hey. I've been training up my Cooking skill and seeing what I can do with it. It's harder to make a cake around here than a sword!"
"I haven't mastered swords yet, but I've been doing some crafting too." He inspected an array of baked goods. One said: [Clumsy Muffins: "Try marketing them as 'Berry Overload'?"] Another was: [Cake of Doom: "Many warriors perished to make this."]
"Looks like there's a story to these," Stan said. Probably this guy was a human player.
The chef chuckled. "They're experimental. I wouldn't expect a significant stat bonus."
Stan looked again at the cake and got a second message filling in extra details. [Estimated effect: counts as food, +5% stamina for one hour.] He didn't care about its exact power so long as it wasn't marked as unpleasant.
Stan said, "Would you take some trade items for the doom cake? I'm low on coins."
Eddie asked, "Like what? We've used up the lumber and scales."
The baker said, "I'd take that armor, I guess. I've got zilch for defense so far."
"This is not much better than zilch," Stan said, then stopped himself. Why talk it down? "It may have saved me against some bats though."
"Good enough for my next expedition. Do we have a deal?"
Stan unequipped his crude wooden armor and smiled. "For a fellow craftsman, sure."
* * *
Eddie said, "So you're going into this with a knife and a stick..."