More Than a Game

by Andrey Vasilyev

  “So did they kill it?” I asked without a shadow of a doubt.

  “Yes!” the mayor answered proudly.

  Bravo! It only took the fathers, sons, uncles, and everyone else in the three families to kill one water monster. And who’s to say it wasn’t just a local seal coming ashore to get some sun? Or maybe some exercise?

  “Their glorious achievement complete, the three families finished building their houses and celebrating the founding of a new settlement. We only later became a city. That was when Martin Flanders, Josly’s son, showed everyone a statue of the water monster he’d skillfully carved out of wood. It became the first heirloom in Mettan, and it has been kept and passed down from generation to generation all the way until today. Except now, it’s been stolen.” The mayor hung his head.

  “Who stole it? Do you at least have any clues?”

  “Yes. There are two local good-for-nothings named Bill and Ted Thatcher. They’re both lazy blockheads. The last time they got into trouble, I promised I’d kick them out of the city if it happened again. They told me they’d get me good for that, and so I suspect this is their handiwork. Maybe you could find them and get the statue back?”

  “I can certainly try. But I have two questions,” I said uncertainly.

  “I don’t care if you have ten—we just need to find the statue!”

  “First. I can find them, but I’ll have to take the statue by force if they don’t give it up willingly…”

  “Understood. Nobody will have a problem with that.” The mayor winked.

  “Second. What’s in it for me?”

  “You’re doing a good deed, helping an entire city!” He blinked, obviously perplexed at my poor grasp of the situation.

  “Well, of course. But what else?”

  “The city’s coffers aren’t large…”

  “What’s your relationship with the port master?”

  “He answers to me. Not always well, but he’s supposed to.”

  “What about a discount on ship passage?”

  “Got it.” The mayor realized that he might not have to pay me for my services and was visibly cheered. “I’ll make it happen! So do we have a deal?”

  You have a new quest offer: Symbol of Renown.

  Task: Find and return the statue to the citizens of Mettan, for whom it represents the glory of their forbearers.

  Reward:

  600 experience

  10% to your reputation in Mettan

  Additional reward: Discounted passage on the Firefly

  Accept?

  “Now we’re talking business!”

  “What did you say?” The mayor’s ears perked up again.

  “I’m just saying that’s a good offer. And you have a great city—clean and beautiful.”

  “It really is. You should come in September when we have our pumpkin festival. You can see the city all decked out and enjoy some great pumpkin pie!”

  “I’ll be sure to come. Anyway, I’m off—time is money, after all.”

  I left the town hall and checked the game time. The old dog would be fishing for another hour and a half. I decided to forget him and his abilities for the time being and headed toward the city gate, reminding myself as I went that I needed to find a headstone to link to.

  The forest, in good Fayroll form, began immediately after you left the city limits. I pulled up my map to see where the two thieves were. It turned out, they weren’t that far, and they were also somewhat on the way to the herbalist described by the mayor. I turned left after walking out of the gate. Ten minutes later, I reached the grove he’d mentioned, walked through it, and saw the clearing.

  I paused to figure out where I should go first—right to visit those two social outcasts or straight to start with the herbalist. Dealing with the ruffians was probably simpler, I reasoned, given the fact that I was sure the herbalist would just send me off somewhere else. The two brothers were the end of the line, and the outcome was straightforward: either I’d end them, or they’d end me. I turned right. From the map, it looked like their forest home was just another ten minutes’ walk away.

  I was right on the money. Ten minutes later I found them, though, to be fair, I’d started hearing them much sooner. Apparently, they were drunkards in addition to being ruffians and thieves. Their songs rang through the forest.

  “I can tell a goblin by its ga-a-ait!”

  “He carries, carries arrows to the si-i-ide!”

  “No, no, no, Billy.” Another inebriated voice interrupted the vocalist. “This is better.”

  “The forest, the woods, the wooded plains,

  Orcs in a line marching off to the wars!”

  The two voices then joined in chorus.

  “A-a-a-a-ah!”

  The Alexandrov Sing and Wail Choir, I thought to myself as I walked into a small clearing that featured…I don’t know…I guess you could call it a structure. It was something between a hut and a hovel. Near it, sat two heavily boozed-up and incredibly ragged brothers singing arm in arm. They occasionally passed an enormous bottle filled with an awfully muddy-looking liquid between them.

  I called out a greeting. “Hi, there, outcasts!”

  “And you be well, too.” The one to my left looked at me with bleary eyes that had no idea what was going on.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  “Talk away,” said the second burglar.

  “Did you steal the water monster statue?” I decided to cut right to the chase.

  “And what if we did?”

  “Then you need to give it back. People are worried.”

  “Who cares about people?” The one on the left spat. “Right, Billy?”

  “Right, Teddy. Screw them!”

  “Guys,” I said, trying to get through to their digital brains, “I don’t want to hurt you. Just go ahead and give it to me.”

  Before I could even finish talking, the two blockheads were rolling on the grass laughing.

  “Hurt us?” Billy guffawed, holding his stomach with one hand and pointing a dirty finger at me with the other.

  “O-o-ooh!” Teddy was still rolling on the ground. “I’m dying!”

  “Okay, boys. You have one minute. If you don’t give me the statue, I’m going to start knocking you around.” I pulled out my broadsword.

  The laughter ceased. Both brothers looked at each other before running into the shack behind them. They returned with hefty clubs in their hands.

  “Well, my friend, you brought this on yourself,” said Teddy.

  The two began to circle me from either side.

  “So you aren’t that drunk after all,” I noted, taking three steps backward and holding my shield up to my chest.

  “Nope. It’s just that we’re never sober, so this is how we always are,” Billy said, stalking cat-like around the grass to my left.

  I’d better attack, I realized. Waiting any longer would leave me caught between them.

  I rolled to my right and just had time to see the surprise in Ted’s eyes when I half stood and drove my broadsword into his ample midsection. Then I yanked him to the right, shouting the first of my abilities. “Bloodletting!”

  I slid my sword out of him, moved to my left, and turned. I crouched behind my shield, just in time. While Teddy looked with wonder at the gaping wound in his stomach and the insides pouring out of it (somehow, while there was no blood, it was okay to show intestines), Billy raised his club, bellowed a war cry, and ran at me.

  “A-a-a-ah!”

  I took the blow on my shield, realized how strong he was by how my arm went limp from the force, and let his club slide off my shield to the right. I slashed him across the chest, and he staggered backward, giving me an opening to run his stomach through—brothers should share everything equally—using Sword of Retribution. Billy collapsed to his knees, his health bar sliding into the red zone.

  I looked back at Teddy, who was unsteadily walking toward me, his club in one hand. The other held the contents of his stomach in
place. Before he could get to me, he also fell to his knees with a whisper. “Don’t kill us! Don’t kill us, okay? We’ll give you everything.”

  “I’ll take it myself,” I said, and cut through his neck.

  “Teddy!” hissed Billy, who looked at me. “Curse you! You killed us.”

  “No, you killed yourselves,” I answered, finishing the job.

  Rummaging through the two corpses got me nothing more than a few dozen silver coins. The brothers were anything but wealthy. The statue, however, was nowhere to be found. I realized I’d have to check out their shack, something I did not want to do in the least.

  There in the corner, buried in a pile of trash, was the statue of the water monster. Just as I’d suspected, many years ago, three valiant families had vanquished some unfortunate seal.

  You completed a quest: Symbol of Renown.

  To get your reward, return the status to the mayor of Mettan.

  Reward:

  600 experience

  10% to your reputation in Mettan

  Additional reward: Discounted passage on the Firefly

  As I dug through the garbage, I found an unsurprisingly filthy scrap of paper with something written on it. There was even some kind of map. I held it up to read the writing.

  Teddy, bring the supplies to our new camp. Here’s the map.

  A “new camp”? Where was the old one? And who was “our”?

  You have a new quest offer: Thieves’ Map.

  Task: Show the map to the port master.

  Reward:

  200 experience

  Additional: You can get an additional quest when you complete this one.

  Accept?

  Ah-ha—it was a starter quest. That made sense.

  I accepted the quest and stopped to think about where I should go next. I looked up at the sky. About an hour and a half had passed since my conversation with the instructor.

  I’ll head to the city, I decided. The herbalist isn’t going anywhere.

  One clearing and one grove later, I was back in town. I decided to start with the mayor.

  He drooped when he saw me. “Couldn’t find it?”

  I silently placed the statue on the table.

  “There it is!” he gasped happily. “Exactly!”

  He grabbed it and clasped it to his chest.

  You completed a quest: Symbol of Renown.

  Reward:

  600 experience

  10% to your reputation in Mettan

  Additional reward: Discounted passage on the Firefly (speak with the port master to get your additional reward).

  “Don’t forget to go see Holgerrson,” I reminded the mayor, “to make sure he gives me that discount.”

  “Don’t worry,” he said reassuringly. “You’ll get it. Just come talk to me if you need anything, and don’t be a stranger!”

  “I won’t,” I said and left to go find the instructor.

  ***

  I pushed open the familiar gate and saw a familiar girl named Adele.

  “Hi, again. Has your grandfather come back?”

  “You pr-r-romised me a lollipop. R-r-remember?”

  “Of course. Here it is.” I held out the candy—a rooster on a stick—to the girl.

  “Fanks,” she said, having already stuffed it into her mouth.

  “So where’s your grandfather?”

  “Gra-a-a-andpa!” Her scream was right next to my ear and so loud that I jumped back automatically. “Ther-r-re’s someone her-r-re to see you!”

  “Someone who?” The bearded man peeked out of the house. “Oh, it’s you,” he said, immediately recognizing me. “So what do you need?”

  “Abilities,” I answered truthfully. “You’re the instructor, right?”

  “He gave me a lollipop!” Adele announced to her grandfather. “Pear-r-r!”

  The instructor’s face warmed.

  “Well, come on in. I’m certainly not going to teach you out there.” He swung the door wide and stepped aside.

  “Who else have you talked to?” he asked me.

  “The instructor in Aegan and Serhio in Fladridge.”

  “The old rogue’s still alive.” The instructor’s face creased happily, and I could tell the two were old friends.

  “Sure is. Spends his time making kites. Do you know each other?”

  “We fought together at Krakatuka…but that’s not important. So what would you like?”

  “I’d really like some new abilities,” I said with some surprise. What else could he give me?

  “I can tell you’re a good kid, so I’ll be up front about absolutely everything I can teach you. Then you can decide what you want. Okay?”

  “Perfect.”

  “I have two combat abilities: Wind Power and In Passing. Wind Power is for when you want to knock your opponent back a couple steps and give yourself time to regroup.

  “You knock them back with your shield?”

  “No, you use your shoulder or your torso. The ability for your shield is different; you do damage in addition to knocking them backward. This one just pushes them back. And now, In Passing. Learning it gives you the chance to do serious damage even if you just barely nick your opponent with your blade.”

  “A good chance?”

  “Well…40 percent or so.”

  “Okay, so that’s two. What other pairs do you have?”

  “I also have non-combat abilities. They’re very helpful, though. One is passive, meaning it’s always there for you and doesn’t need to be activated. It’s called Last Chance. When you’re almost dead, it kicks in by itself to get you back to half health over the course of thirty seconds.”

  “That sounds great. And the other one?”

  “Wake Up. You get 400 health when you use it. What do you want?”

  “Can I take a minute to think about it?”

  “Yes, of course. We’re talking abilities here. You can always find another wife, for example, but you can’t just go back and pick a different ability.”

  I stood there, lost in thought. Last Chance was a must-have, that much was certain. Those thirty seconds would save my life many times over. Plus, it was activated automatically. Like a notification. But the second one…

  Wind Power—not bad, not bad. It didn’t do any damage, but it gave you time to re-grip your sword and get your shield situated the way it should be. The few seconds would be priceless.

  In Passing—a 40 percent chance of doing critical damage… Also intriguing…especially when paired with Bloodletting.

  Wake Up—I had 1,700 health at the moment, having started with 150 and gained 50 with each new level. Wake Up’s 400 health would be a big boost.

  So what do I want?

  “Okay, gramps, I’m ready.” I turned to the instructor.

  “Well? What do you want?” He looked back at me inquisitively.

  “Last Chance and In Passing.”

  “Good choice,” he said approvingly. “That’ll be 100 gold.”

  “Oh, wow, you aren’t cheap,” I said with eyes wide open.

  “What did you expect? I’m not just giving you some thing; I’m giving you the chance to live longer. Do you have any idea how many times what I’m teaching you will save your life? Me neither. So… I mean, if you don’t want the abilities, you don’t have to take them.”

  “Of course, I know all that. I’m not arguing with you.”

  I gave him the gold I got from Reineke.

  You learned a new active ability: In Passing, Level 1

  Gives you a 40% chance of doing serious damage to your opponent even with a weak or glancing blow.

  Activation cost: 45 mana

  Note: Using this ability frequently and effectively can give you a better chance of doing damage.

  Recharge time: 50 seconds

  And then the next notification popped up.

  You learned a new passive ability: Last Chance, Level 1

  Activates when you have 5% or less health left and restores 50% of
your health over the course of 30 seconds.

  Activates automatically.

  “Thanks, pops,” I said to the instructor.

  “No problem. Just remember—don’t hurry into battle, but don’t ever freeze either. You’ll miss your chance if you hurry, and you’re dead if you ever stop moving.”

  “Basically, hurry unhurriedly.”

  “Exactly.” He nodded his head in affirmation. “Okay, see you later then. I’m off to feed my granddaughter dinner.”

  With that, he respectfully, if insistently, pushed me out the door. Fayroll hospitality at its finest. He could have fed me dinner, too, or at least have offered…

  I wasn’t getting fed, so I headed off to go see the port master. Buckets and brass tacks! Something like that.

  There was no sense in knocking. Holgerrson couldn’t care less about etiquette and cared even less about me.

  “Oh, it’s you!” the one-legged seaman bellowed. “What do you need? Did you find Gul? Broadsides and bulkheads!”

  “No, not yet. I found something else, though, after I met the Thatchers, brothers from around here.”

  I handed the sea dog the note and map I found in the dead bandits’ den. Holgerrson took it, sniffed, and started to read. It took him more than a minute and a half, which I found fairly odd for a note with less than ten words. He then took even longer to study the map just as thoughtfully. Then he looked at me.

  “Quite the interesting little paper you brought me, brandy and bullfrogs.”

  You completed a quest: Thieves’ Map.

  Reward:

  200 experience

  “What’s so interesting?” I asked. “It’s just a piece of paper, and there’s not much to the text.”

  “No, not much,” he answered. “Still, this is quite the little thing. Sit down already—you won’t find the truth in your legs.”

  He motioned at a chair.

  “There’s no such thing,” I said, sitting down. “I’ve never seen it, at least.”

  “Doesn’t matter.” Holgerrson waved his hand. “No sense arguing over the truth. But this note, on the other hand… We’ve had someone mucking things up on the river the last few months.”

  “Mucking things up?”

  “Someone’s out there pirating ships. They attack, send the crew overboard, and take the cargo. Then they bore holes in the ships and send them to the bottom.”