Digitized Online

by Richard J Thorn

  Another issue was logging off. In the "real world," I would play for a few hours then log off and do real-world tasks. Here, there were no real-world tasks. I didn't have to pay bills or go grocery shopping or go to work or any of that stuff. It seemed as though I were now much freer.

  And I liked that.

  I ate a light breakfast. Esmeralda had already grabbed something and dashed out the door – apparently she had a hot quest she was itching for – so it was just me and Patch. I liked Patch, he was a good guy – maybe a bit rough around the edges, but I didn't mind that so much.

  I would have liked to stay and talk, but I had a lot I wanted to get done today. I remembered seeing a tailor in the better part of town and I figured I would head over there and check them out, see what they had.

  An hour later, I was sporting a brand-new pair of pants and shirt. They weren’t the most fashionable things, but it was a sight better than my torn and tattered starter grubs. They only set me back about 10 silver, too, so not that bad.

  Then I set off into the forest. I made sure to stay far away from the bears and other nasties that could ruin my day. I wondered how things were going to be different with all the new players we were going to be bringing down into the game.

  As much as I missed the socialization aspect, I kind of liked being alone. I got the best questing spots, the best loot and really didn't have to worry about anything other than the AI. But now we were going to be fighting for resources. One advantage I had was that I was several levels higher than everyone else so we probably wouldn't be doing the same quests at the same time.

  I took my time just lollygagging through the beautiful forest. I was almost level 6 and the mobs around me seemed to be level 3 and 4. I wasn't too concerned about being ambushed. I actually wanted to get into a fight so that I could level up. But if nothing attacked me, that could come later.

  The forest scenery was absolutely breathtaking. Even though I had just seen it the day before, it was a stunning sight to behold. Tall trees threw a canopy over the land, allowing just a dapple of sunlight to filter through.

  It took a couple of hours before I finally found a small, grassy knoll with enough flat space to build a decent sized house and a small stream running lazily by it.

  I pulled up my map and made a special marker, indicating that this was my future home. Now it was time to get to work. First, I wanted to clear the area of any trees, then throw up a fence around the perimeter to keep wild animals out. After that, I would consult a carpenter to see if he could teach me the basics of building a home.

  I practically skipped the entire way back to Patch's. My new home wasn't too far away from the town, yet it wasn't right outside either.

  "Hey, Patch! I found a homestead site." I said as I burst in the place.

  He looked up from behind the bar and wiped his hands on his apron. "Really? Not too far away, I hope." He poured me a mug of ale and brought it to my table.

  "Nope! It's right here." I brought up my map and pointed it out to him.

  His eyes lit up. "That's a really nice area. You'll love it there." He sat down across from me and leaned back in the chair.

  "Yeah, the only trouble is, I don't have the first clue about how to build a house. Do you know anyone with carpentry skills that could teach me?" I took a sip of my ale and closed my eyes as the cold brew washed thankfully down my parched throat.

  He leaned forward and rested his chin on his fist. "No one in town - not that I know of, anyway. You might need to head to the next town over for that kind of thing. They have a lot of things there that we don't." He chuckled at himself.

  "What?" I shook my head, not getting the joke.

  "It's just that Jakarth City is so big that you might get lost and I'll never see you again."

  I laughed, but wondered just how big it could be.

  "Oh, before you go, you might want to gather up all the delivery quests to there. There should be plenty to keep you busy for days."

  When I asked for him to elaborate, he pointed to a couple of places on my map in Thronn Town to get me started. One was the local butcher. Apparently, he had a crate of meat he needed me to deliver.

  New quest: Meat to Jakarth City

  Objective: Deliver 10 crates of meat to Jakarth City

  Reward: 10 sp

  Time limit: 24 hours

  I picked up the quest and headed to the next location he had marked on my map. It was Ben's Gems. He had a crate of Gems he wanted me to deliver.

  New quest: Gems to Jakarth City

  Objective: Deliver 1 crate of gems to Jakarth City

  Reward: 25 sp

  With all these crates, I was going to have to rent Patch's wagon. I threw him a couple of silver, loaded everything up and set off for Jakarth City. I'd never been there before and I wondered if it was as big as Patch suggested it was. Surely, it couldn't be that big.

  On the way, I kept my eye out for any easy quests, but didn't see anything. There was a guy on the side of the road whose cart had broken down. I stopped to help him and turned down his offer of silver. It felt good to just help someone out without the expectation of reward - even if he was an NPC.

  The load was heavy, but my heart was light. I was really starting to enjoy my time here. Which was good as I had no other alternative. One thing was for certain, it beat the hell out of a 9-5 job. No doubt about that.

  One thing that weighed on my mind was that with my new, eventual house, I wasn't going to be spending as much time at Patch's. I knew deep inside that he was just an NPC, but you couldn't convince me that he didn't have feelings and emotions.

  At this point, I wondered what the difference between an actual player and an NPC really was. How far outside his programming could he go? If he wanted to throw in the towel and become an adventurer like me, could he? Or was he stuck bartending forever.

  And what did he do when he went home? Did he have a home? Or did he just disappear into the ether at night? Did he have a wife or kids? I hadn't seen any children running around the game world, so I assumed that there was a program that limited that.

  I pondered these thoughts and others and soon enough I could see what looked to be a very large city looming in the distance. I stopped and sat on a rock as I reviewed my map. I'd definitely cut a swathe into the unexplored blackness of my map.

  When I zoomed in, I could see the grand entrance to Jakarth City. I'd only heard bits and bobs about it. It was more revered as a mythical city that may or may not have actually existed than anything else.

  Then it hit me. It was that way because none of the NPC's ever left. They couldn't. They had their set programming and they couldn't deviate from that.

  That thought made me unreasonably sad. That meant Patch - as much as I liked him - wasn't real. But a thought suddenly struck me. Could Orge "unplug" him? Make him so that he was more than just an NPC? I didn't know if something like that was even possible, but if it was, surely he'd be the one to pull it off.

  After eating a bite of food and chasing it down with some ale from my hip flask, I pulled the cart the rest of the way to the city.

  To say it was huge was a massive understatement. I knew just by looking at it that without a map I could easily get lost in it. I was going to have to be real careful.

  The guards let me in without a word and I made my way to the delivery location of the meat crates. I couldn't fathom who would want so much meat, but then I saw the restaurant. Big, fancy and likely very expensive.

  I was quickly ushered into the rear where I unloaded my hand cart and given my payment. They also handed me a card. Vendor discount - 50% off all entrees and drinks. Nice! I'd have to check them out sometime.

  Quest complete: Meat to Jakarth City

  Experience gained: 500 (x2)

  New quest objective: None

  That was enough to push me to the next level.

  Congratulations, you have reached level 6! New quest opportunities are now available. Enjoy!

  Wow! I lov
ed the feeling of exhilaration that swept through me every time I leveled. It was euphoric. One might say even addictive.

  Congratulations were handed out all around and they offered me a free drink. How could I say no to that? The proprietor handed me a pouch full of silver. 10 coins added to my growing stockpile.

  I learned that they were having the same problems as Thronn Town. The only patrons were NPC's. Where were the players? Did I know anything?

  Without wanting to reveal anything, I just said they were having log-in issues and that soon enough players would start streaming in. They bought it, but I could tell they were nervous. I wondered what would happen if this went on too long. Would the in-game economy collapse? Where were the NPCs getting the money for quests and supplies?

  I had a lot of questions, but other than asking Orge, no where to find the answers. But I found the whole thing fascinating. I wanted to look into this stuff more.

  Finishing up my free drink, I pulled up my map, marked the gem crate destination and set off. The waitstaff waved me goodbye and I trundled my now much lighter hand cart over to the quest marker.

  The place I was taking the gem crate to was another gem emporium. This one however was much, much bigger and far classier than Ben's place. I found myself gawking at all the opulent pieces of artwork that was displayed throughout the store.

  Some of the more expensive pieces ran into the hundreds of gold pieces. Far outside of my price range - at least for now.

  I wheeled the cart around the back and dropped off the gems, taking my 25 sp payment, completing the quest.

  Quest complete: Gems to Jakarth City

  Experience gained: 500 (x2)

  New quest: Return To Ben's

  Objective: Deliver sealed envelope to Ben at Ben's Gems and Trinkets

  Reward: 10 sp

  Wow, this was turning out to be a nice quest chain. I was starting to wonder if I shouldn't drop some of this off at the bank. Then again, it wasn't weighing me down and there was no one to steal it from me. I wasn't even sure if coins could be stolen.

  I took the envelope, stuffed it into the corner of my pack and set off back to Thronn Town. I needed to get back before dusk so that I could help Orge bring Clint into the world.

  I wondered what he would be like. I hoped he wasn't as arrogant and vapid as Esmeralda. Orge was right. If we were going to be facing one of the AI's minions, we could definitely use a warrior.

  I just hoped that she allowed us to level up high enough to be able to defend ourselves before bringing the ban hammer down upon us.

  With the cart empty, the trip back was much lighter and faster and I found myself wool gathering. That's when I remembered that I was going to talk to the carpenter that Patch suggested I talked to. Oh well, there really wasn't enough time for that right now. I'd make another trip there in a few days and deal with it then.

  On my way back to Thronn Town, I stopped by my little homestead, sat down on a stump and nibbled on some leftovers. It was such a peaceful place. Right in the heart of the forest, no one around.

  I liked the seclusion.

  As I was eating, I brought up my HUD display and checked out my new level. I saw that I now had 85 hp, but every level my needed xp doubled – and this was no exception. How in the hell was I supposed to get 11,000 more xp? Then I remembered the chip.

  Besides, now that I had halfway decent gear, and money to upgrade, I could afford to take on tougher creatures – which meant better quests with both higher xp and better rewards.

  The sun was starting to set and I figured we had 3 hours before nightfall. I polished off the meat and chased it down with the last of my ale and set off back to Patch's. I didn't want to be bringing anyone into this world in the middle of the night, that was for sure.

  An hour later, I dropped the cart off at the inn, filled up my flask and climbed down into the sewers.

  "Change of plans." Orge informed me, furrowing his brows.

  "Yeah? What's up?" I sat down, trying to catch my breath.

  "We need to hurry this along. We can't continue bringing them down at a drip."

  I popped my flask and took a swig, wondering what he was up to.

  Orge took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It's going to increase the heat, but I think we have to get these people down. I'm proposing that we bring 2 at once. If we have to take a few days off to lower the heat, then so be it."

  He looked at me expectantly. I shrugged. "Sounds like a plan to me. What happens if the heat gets too high?"

  "She sends her minion early. Trust me, you don't want to be facing a lvl 15 boss when you're 6. That's why I gave you that chip." He paused. "I see you've dinged 6. Good job. Whatever you're doing, keep it up!"

  I smiled and took another swig of ale. "So, you want to bring 2 down tonight?"

  He nodded. "It's getting serious, Ivan. Her devouring rate has nearly doubled. We're losing them fast."

  "Oh shit! That's not good. How much longer?"

  He shook his head. "Sadly, I don't know. We just can't wait. We need to get as many players down as quickly as possible. But first, we have to have a core team that can take on her minion."

  "What happens when we defeat the minion?" I asked.

  He took a long time before answering. "We move to phase 2."

  Chapter 7

  I learned that phase 2 was a fancy way of saying we'd be gearing up to face an even tougher boss in a completely different area of the map. That was an interesting thing to ponder, but at the moment we had bigger fish to fry.

  It took me about a half an hour to make my way to the spawning location. I saw Esmerelda talking to Patch over a piping hot, delicious-looking dinner. She waved and wished me luck.

  I wondered who the next two would be. I knew about Clint the Warrior, but who was the other one going to be? All we needed was a healer and we'd have a good 5-man, but I had a feeling that we were going to need a LOT more than 5 to defeat the AI's mini-boss.

  When I got to the spawning location on the beach, the sun was just setting and the sun-set was spectacularly stunning. Deep reds, oranges and muted yellows blazed across the sky. Hundreds of seagulls circled overhead, looking for fish in the salty water. There was a light breeze that cooled the skin and refreshed the senses.

  Looking up, I saw that a storm was approaching far off in the distance. We needed to get this show on the road.

  Standing at the exact spot where I had been logged-in, I reached into my pack and grasped the deep-black stone. It instantly warmed and thrummed in my hand and a surge of power trickled through me. It felt so good to touch the stone again, I never wanted to let it go.

  I waited for a good 10 minutes before I saw the first streak of lightning flash across the darkening sky. I made sure I was in the correct spot - he told me it wouldn't work anywhere else - closed my eyes and grasped it tightly.

  Just like the first time, the wind whipped up around me, kicking sand in my face. I held the stone and resolutely kept my eyes closed.

  The second I heard the thud, I opened my eyes to see a cowboy-looking man laying nearly naked on the sand, looking up at me grinning from ear to ear.

  "Name's Clint..." He thrust out his hand.

  I shook it and pulled him to his feet. "Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe Darkwolf."

  He nodded and brushed the fine bits of sand from his tall frame. "Are you an NPC?" He eyed me up and down. "This is my first time logging in."

  I shook my head. "Nope. Player-character just like you. Select your character as quick as you can. We have much to discuss." I didn't think we could stand here for an hour like we did with Esmerelda.

  I watched him cycle through his character options and before I knew it he'd settled on something very much like from a cowboy western. All he was missing was some boots a hat and a horse. Speaking of which, I wondered if there were any riding animals around. If there was, I had yet to come across any.

  He settled on a medium-length brown hair color, deep brown eyes and a mustache.


  "Warrior." He stated proudly to the computer. "Human. Clint." He answered. Within minutes, he was all set up. Then he turned to me, shaking his head. "Funny, I don't remember much before coming here."

  "It's a long story." I said. "But it's very important you understand."

  "Well, in that case, shoot, pard!" He tipped his invisible hat in my direction.

  "Let's take a walk." I gestured to the beautiful beach. "There's much to discuss."

  We walked along the beach, just out of reach of the lapping water. The night was so serene as the last vestiges of light receded from the land and the sun dipped below the horizon.

  "First, you need to understand that I have no reason to lie to you." I stopped and looked at him expectantly.

  He shrugged. "I don't know you well enough to distrust you." He stated flatly.

  "What I'm about to tell you is not only very real, but also extremely important." I gestured to a rocky outcropping. "Please, Clint. Sit."

  Once he was comfortably sitting, I laid it out for him.

  "I regret to inform you that your former 'real-life' body is no longer."

  He arched an eyebrow in my direction.

  "See, there was a nuclear explosion - a series of them - that decimated the entire planet. No one - except for one man who you'll meet shortly - survived. We're all dead."

  He studied me intently with his deep brown eyes for several minutes.

  "You're certain of this?"

  I nodded. "But there's a lot more to it than that." I took a deep breath and looked out over the ocean. "Hundreds, if not thousands, of people who were in the middle of logging into the game were...digitized."