3 FORTITUDE (FORT) = 30 health points
2 POWER (PWR) = +2% damage
ARMOR/ENHANCEMENTS
Chest—black leather vest
Legs—black leather pants
Feet—black leather boots
WEAPONS
+1 AGI/level Dual Wield Heirloom Daggers
SKILLS
Stick’em
Slash
Slippery Fish—You slip out of melee range, or out of any trap or grasp. Makes you impossible to hit for 6 – 10 seconds. 3 minute cooldown.
PROFESSIONS
ACHIEVEMENTS
It was this big!
You’ve arrived!
When I put the character pane away, I see that Ignatius is poring over the scout’s reporting book, shaking his head as he reads.
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
“Oh, no,” Ignatius says. “It’s exactly as I feared. Our Scout Nelson is reporting some severely strange activity in the hedgehog’s main hedge. Looks like we have an unwelcome resident there. I’ll need your help to gather some reagents for a potion.”
Quest offered: Pixies, Water, and Mushrooms, oh my!
Gather the required reagents and deliver to Ignatius Plunderpotts.
3 pixie wings
8 mushroom stools (not from a fairy ring!)
A vial of water from the mystic pond.
Reward: Special
Do you accept?
“Yes, I accept,” I say. Of course I accept. Everyone here is on holiday, it seems like. All these NPCs seem like automatons, which, technically, they are. But it’s bothering me. I want to get on with this. I don’t want the bad guys to catch up to me. I want to find Catriona. So yes, bring this quest on and how about the one following it too while we’re at it?
“Got it?” I ask luvs2heal. She nods.
“Want to split up? We both have to get the water because the vial is attuned to us, but from there we can each gather one of the two remaining reagents. I take pixies, you take mushrooms?”
“Sure,” I say. “I like efficient.”
We find the magic pond by following the map. Simple. We stick to the road, so nothing bothers us. When I am tempted to take a shortcut, I remember my fisherman friend and stay the course. The air is crisp and it feels great to be alive. We are dwarfed by the giant fir trees lining the well-worn dirt road. I can smell the cedar in the air. We are not the only ones on a pilgrimage for the magic water. Other quest goers are on the path both in front of and behind us. VR World’s total immersion is getting popular.
We fill our vials in the crystalline blue waters of the magic well. The stone basin is made from something like alabaster. It glistens with trapped sunlight. They really paid attention to every detail when they designed this. I wonder if there’s a corresponding fountain, the match to this one, in Arcadia proper.
I check the map. “Okay, I’ll head north from here, then meet over at the pixie hunting grounds. Shouldn’t take me to long to get the ’shrooms.”
It didn’t, either. I’ve been playing with gloves and goggles for years, and, though I’ve never played this starting zone before, I know what a quest item looks like. Even here in full immersion, the items I need glow just a little bit more than normal. I locate all of the mushrooms I need before I pick the last one, so they’re easier to track down for luvs2heal when they go dark.
I send her an IM (in-game message): omw.
Her response: Hurry.
I pick up my pace. The pixie grounds aren’t far at all from where I was and I’m there in ten seconds at a dead sprint. luvs2heal is covered with a huge translucent golden shield and shrieking as the pixies nibble at her. They’re all around her, like a cloud of bugs.
“Help! I’m slapping at them but they’re just too fast! I can’t hit any of them.” I do a quick scan and see that her health points are hovering at the midway point of the bar.
I waltz in there in what I like to think of as my roguish saunter and get to work. The creatures aren’t hard to kill, they’re just quick to move. Thanks to my daggers, so am I. Within a minute there are twenty dead pixies littering the ground around us. They’ve taken a bite or two out of me, but haven’t hurt anything more than luvs2heal’s pride, really.
+6
+8
+5
+4
+6
+6 ...
We rifle through the bodies and pluck off what wings we can. Of course, there are only four wings that detach without getting ruined in the process. We have to find another hive or wait for these to respawn. What a shitty drop rate. Oh well, I’ll take the experience. Every once in a while I’ll pull up the experience bar on my character pane and see that it’s growing, satisfactorily.
I can see that luvs2heal could use a breather, so we sit around and wait for this batch to come back to life. They’re much easier to kill this time around, since they pretty much pop back up to life one at a time. Slash. Stick’em. Slash. Stick’em. Honestly, it’s getting a little boring. We get our reagents and hoof it back to town.
Ignatius is right where we left him. I wonder if this is one of the Arcadians playing the game from the other side, if he’s here as some kind of punishment, doomed to say the same things and perform the same actions over and over again.
“We brought the things you wanted,” luvs2heal says.
“Yup, me too,” I add. No need to repeat this speech for me when she’s done. We hand over the reagents we’ve collected.
“Excellent work. I can see you have a bright future in front of you.”
Pixies, Water, and Mushrooms, oh my! Quest Complete!
Congratulations! You have received
Necklace of Precision +1 INT, 60 copper pieces and 200 experience points
Well, that kind of sucks. Worthless necklace, for me that is. At least it’s low level enough that it’s not bound to me. “Hey, luvs2, try this on for size.”
I hand over the necklace on her and she glows a little. “Are you sure? It’ll go well with the ring I just got.”
“Yeah. It’s pretty much useless to me.”
“Oh.” She looks suddenly sad, like maybe ... she wasn’t was she?
“Look, I’ve got a girl back home,” I say. luvs2heal isn’t someone I should be leading on, no matter how cute she is in all her earnestness. I wave the reward screen away and another pops up.
Congratulations! You have reached Level Four!
Warning: You have five minutes to distribute two talent points.
After I distribute my talent points, my character pane looks like this.
LEVEL 4 CHARACTER STATS
NAME Leeroy Jenkinz, CLASS Rogue, RACE Human EXPERIENCE (EXP)—643/600
Next level achieved at 900 experience points.
CORE ATTRIBUTES
4 + 4 (modifiers) AGILITY (AGI) = +8% to dodge and critical hit
1 SPELLPOWER (SP) = 10 spell points
3 FORTITUDE (FORT) = 30 health points
3 POWER (PWR) = +30 damage
ARMOR/ENHANCEMENTS
Chest—black leather vest
Legs—black leather pants
Feet—black leather boots
WEAPONS:
+1 AGI/level Dual Wield Heirloom Daggers
SKILLS
Stick’em
Slash
Slippery Fish
PROFESSIONS
ACHIEVEMENTS
It was this big!
You’ve arrived!
Chapter 8
Ignatius wastes no time. Immediately, this pops up in my vision.
Quest offered: Potion of Doom!
Help Ignatius Plunderpotts craft flasks with the reagents he provides.
Reward: 80 copper pieces and 200 experience points
Do you accept?
“Yes.” Always yes. Man, at this rate I might just be a rich person in five years of playing. At least I’m up over my first silver piece now. And this will take me real close to jumping up another level.
luvs2heal accepts the quest
as well and together we follow Ignatius over to a table at the edge of the village courtyard. It’s set up with beakers and vials and a pot of bubbling water. Ignatius bustles about for a few moments, making sure everything is in place, and then he starts calling out the names of ingredients. We throw in ingredients as he demands them. He’s singing and barking orders at us and we’re throwing mushrooms and pixie wings and laughing. It’s the stupidest thing ever. Thing is, I can’t remember the last time I’ve had this much fun.
You are attempting a mixology recipe. Would you like to take mixology as one of your professions? Warning: you have a maximum of five professions. Yes or no?
Since I have to do this to finish the quest, I guess that’s decided for me. “Yes.”
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill: Mixology.
Potion of Doom Quest Complete!
Congratulations! You have received
80 copper pieces and 200 experience points
It’s all over too soon. Once the flasks are prepared, Ignatius turns to us and offers us another quest.
Quest offered: Hedgehogger!
Find and remove whatever it is that is hogging the hedgehogs’ hedge. Return to Ignatius Plunderpotts with proof that the task is complete.
Reward: Special, 400 experience, and 1 silver piece
Do you accept?
“I accept,” I say. Now we’re talking. I want that experience. luvs2heal takes the quest too.
We go back to the place our original quest was, the hedge where all the hedgehogs are still pouring out, displaced. It is a rather large, bushy green hedge. “You think there’d be plenty of room for everyone in there,” I say.
“What do you think is in there?” luvs2heal bends in close to the shadowy hole in the hedge’s center.
She peers in further and I sneak up behind her and shout, “Boo!”
She jumps and screams.
And I laugh. I don’t care how juvenile it is. That will never not be funny. She turns around and hits me on the arm. “I hate you!”
“You do not.” I pull out my map. It looks like we’re not exactly where we should be for this quest. “Hey, let’s try on the other side of the hedge.”
We circle around, and find a queue for the boss. There are four other players waiting to kill whatever it is. The corpse has already disappeared. They’re just waiting for it to respawn.
The creature respawns. Turns out, it’s a bigass mother of a hedgehog. The thing is nearly as tall as I am, and it’s bristling with badassery. I watch the first guy—another KISA like luvs2heal, but spec’d out as a tank—go up against her. He keeps her at bay for a while, but then she gets angry at a certain point and screams. That’s when all her minions rush out of the hedge and start attacking too. The KISA can’t take it, forgets about his potion, and it’s not long before he’s down for the count.
Real quick, I send invites to the three people remaining in line and to luvs2heal. We can band together and take this thing down. We wait for the mutant hedgehog’s bar to go back to full health, and to red, showing it was available to attack. It wouldn’t do to take her down just to have to take her down again because the stupid EXP and loot went to the dead KISA.
“Okay, who’s gonna be on the potion?” luvs2heal asks.
“I’m tanking, shouldn’t be me,” a warrior named Turtledove says.
“No worries, I’m on it,” I say. “Ready when you are, Turtle.”
I enjoy the fight. It doesn’t last too long, nor is it over right away. I dance in and out of the melee— stick’em, stick’em, slash, slash. My rage points are building up. I just have no way to release them. Stick’em, stick’em, slash, slash.
Motherhog is down to 30% when she unleashes her holy roar. I almost forget, but then I uncork the flask Ignatius made with us and sprinkle it all over the ground. I hope that’s how it works.
It is how it works. The little minion hedgehogs all run out into the fray, but wobble and fall on their little backs and start snoring. Apparently between the tank and the three damage dealers, luvs2heal didn’t have very much to do, because she had the time to exclaim, “Ohmygosh, they’re so cute!”
Groan.
We hack the rest of the life out of Hedgehogger.
+120 Experience
Congratulations! You have unlocked an achievement. They just don’t want to share the hedge.
She drops five quills for us to take as proof back to Ignatius, who greets us with enamored delight when we return to him at the fountain.
“We finished your quest, Ignatius,” I say, handing over my quill.
“My friends! You have solved the village’s greatest problems! Surely all will look kindly upon you now.” My vision goes crazy.
Hedgehogger! Quest Complete!
Congratulations! You have received Ring of Dodge +1 AGI, 1 silver piece, and 400 experience points
Congratulations! You have reached Level Five!
Warning: You have five minutes to distribute two talent points.
Congratulations! You have unlocked an achievement. Phew, level five already?
As always, I jump right on distributing those talent points and now my character pane looks like this.
LEVEL 5 CHARACTER STATS
NAME Leeroy Jenkinz, CLASS Rogue, RACE Human EXPERIENCE (EXP)—1,163/900
Next level achieved at 1,500 experience points.
CORE ATTRIBUTES
5 + 5 (modifiers) AGILITY (AGI) = +10% to dodge and critical hit
1 SPELLPOWER (SP) = 10 spell points
4 FORTITUDE (FORT) = 40 health points
3 POWER (PWR) = +3% damage
ARMOR/enhancements
Chest—black leather vest
Legs—black leather pants
Feet—black leather boots
Rings—+1 AGI Ring of Dodge
WEAPONS
+1 AGI/level Dual Wield Heirloom Daggers
SKILLS
Stick’em
Slash
Slippery Fish
PROFESSIONS
Mixology
ACHIEVEMENTS
Phew, Level Five already?
They just don’t want to share the hedge.
It was this big!
You’ve arrived!
Chapter 9
“What’s next, Ignatius?” I’m ready to go. Already level five and it feels like I’ve only been at it for a few hours.
“Alas, I have nothing further to offer you,” Ignatius says very unhelpfully.
“But I need the next quest.”
“Me too,” luvs2heal pipes in.
“Yes. Alas, I have nothing further to offer you,” Ignatius repeats.
“There’s got to be someone here who can help me.”
“Oh, yes, there is,” Ignatius says. He seems a little livelier now, like he was caught in a software glitch for a second or something. “There might be some more work for you, Leeroy Jenkinz, at the back of the inn. Ask for Billy the Dodger. Tell him I sent you.”
“Okay, thanks,” I say.
“What about me?” luvs2heal asks. I’m almost rude enough to dash off then and there. With a name like Billy the Dodger, it’s obvious we’re being routed to our class trainers.
Ignatius gives different advice to luvs2heal, as I expected.
“I guess we’re going separate ways now,” luvs2heal says.
“I’m sure I’ll see you around,” I say. I’m already scouting for the inn.
“Yeah. Thanks for all your help.”
“Yeah.”
I give up looking, find the inn on my map, and take off. I know, I know. She wants more from me than a brushoff. I just don’t have it to give right now. Besides, I have to get to Catriona. I’m not here to make friends for the long term.
The inn is a quaint little place, partially filled with late afternoon partakers who sit with their frothy mugs and their pipes, telling their tales by the just-started fire in the hearth. It’s exactly as I expected it to be, just like every inn in the gloves
and goggles version, but here I can smell the tinge of piss and stale beer, the campfire-like smell of the hearth. Jolly chatter fills my ears, and the occasional burst of congenial laughter. The place seems decent enough and I make my way back to the bar counter.
“What can I do ye for?” the barkeep says.
“I’m looking for Billy the Dodger,” I say.
“Him, eh? If it’s him you’ll be wantin’, you’ll be findin’ him in the cellar just now.”
I flip the guy a few coppers as a thanks and realize I’m famished. I didn’t think I’d get hungry in a virtual world, but the stew smells really good and my stomach is gurgling. A pint would go down pretty easy about now, too. I order a meal and sit down at a table near the fire. Quick as a wink, the barmaid comes out with a rich beef stew, thick crusty bread, and a pint of the frothy stuff. I dig in.
This might just be the best food I have ever eaten in my life. No wonder cooking is such a serious profession in the full immersion VR rags. And if this is just a plain Jane ordinary stew ...
Congratulations! You have earned a power up. +20% to your health points for the next three hours.
Not just tasty, it’s good for me too.
After my meal, I duck down the stairs behind the bar to get to the cellar. I know where the stairs are because this inn is built like every other inn in the goggles and gloves version of Arcadia. I wonder if it’s like that in the real Arcadia, too. Do they have strict building plans that everyone has always had to adhere to? Doesn’t seem likely.
The cellar is dark, and full of casks of what I presume is either ale or wine. It smells of wet wood and alcohol, and maybe a little piss and vomit too.
In the back corner, three men are sitting at a table, playing cards of some sort. “Is one of you guys Billy the Dodger?”
Arcadia Unlocked: A LitRPG Novel (Arcadia LitRPG Book 1) Page 5