“Ready for the next pull,” Dan said after I had looted the rabbits and received nothing.
“Hold a second Dan. How many hit points do you have now Wayne?” Jason asked.
“I’ve got 900. Those two took off more than just the one rabbit plus I was poisoned during that fight. I would say I could do this two more times before having to rest for another 5-10 minutes.”
Now that we had started we didn’t want to slow down. And I could tell Wayne really wanted to continue, so I suggested we keep going. The routine was much the same after that. We killed two rabbits at a time and when Wayne’s hit points got to below 500 we rested till he had full health. The loot continued to be copper pieces for the most part. Once we found a venomous sack on one of the rabbits, likely the source of their poison. We didn’t know what it was for so I kept it in my inventory. Perhaps one of us could sell it or make it into an antidote. It wasn’t until the 12th rabbit we faced had died at our feet that something interesting happened.
“Woah. Ok guys, this is weird,” I said.
“What did you find bro?” Dan asked. He stopped his run out to the field to come back and see what was going on. “Is it some major cool loot?”
“Actually, it is,” I responded. When I opened the loot window for the 12th rabbit I received one copper piece and saw a different item in the inventory. When I focused on the item it said “Bloody Rabbit’s Foot.” I blinked on the item and the following display came into view:
I didn’t want to bother trying to figure out how to do this hands free or without vocalization so I simply said, “Link to group.” After a second I asked, “Can you guys see that description?”
“DUDE!! A rare item on our first day! That is totally epic, bro. You are the CHANCE MASTER!” Dan bellowed.
“Keep it down numb nuts,” Wayne said. We had gotten the impression that others hadn’t decided to increase their Chance from the outset like we had, and we didn’t want them knowing about our good fortune. Although the guys didn’t really know that the good fortune appeared to be because of a glitch in my system that was likely going to change the next day when I logged in. Oh well, I didn’t see any reason to look this gift horse in the mouth.
“So can I take it guys? I mean I am the Chance Master after all,” I joked. They all nodded their heads and I looted the item into my inventory through the old focus and blink trick. I then wondered if focus and blink would auto equip the item into the correct slot. I went through the motions and saw the Bloody Rabbit’s Foot was now in my Totem slot for my character. My Chance was now 51.
“Cool. Let’s keep going. Eight more mobs and we should level,” I said.
* * *
We all heard a very satisfying “DING!” when we killed the twentieth rabbit. We were all now at level 2. We took a break to distribute our skill points, of which we got 5. I put three into Dexterity, one into Strength, and one into Constitution. Wayne chose to put three into Strength and two into Constitution, bringing his hit points up to 1500. Dan had learned that his Recruit’s Quiver never ran out of the 1 damage arrows and decided to put four into Agility and one into Constitution. Jason put all five into Wisdom. He figured that once he had spells he was going to want all the mana he could muster.
We continued killing rabbits, easier now that we were a higher level, although their names were still blue. This meant they were level 3 mobs. But now that we were level 2 we were only getting 2.5% per kill on experience. Eight rabbits later we were finished with the quest and had amassed 30 copper pieces and two venomous sacks. We went back to town to reap our well-earned reward. Aside from completing the quest, we were happiest that none of us had died and Dan had only twice pulled more than two mobs that required him to run to the guards. The forty rabbit train on that first pull notwithstanding.
I approached Sir Kenyon, focused on him to select him and said, “Sir Kenyon, we have finished your quest.” I wasn’t sure what proper protocol for completing a quest was, but this turned out to be sufficient.
“Excellent young adventurers! You have indeed completed this task. Please take this small token of our Majesty’s gratitude.” 1 silver was deposited into each of our inventories. We also received 25% experience, bringing all of us up to 45%. Not knowing the prices for items in this game being what it was, we were all still pretty stoked about getting a silver piece since we had only seen copper up to this point.
“Your next task awaits you when you are ready young adventurers. I’m afraid to say we aren’t done with those pesky rabbits quite yet,” Sir Kenyon said.
The arc of this quest was continuing it appeared, and it seemed rabbit was on the menu for slaughter yet again. We had spent a significant amount of time already in the game, what with getting to understand the interface and then grinding through the first forty rabbits. I was inclined to call it day and get some rest. The rabbits would be there tomorrow.’’
“We’ve got two choices guys. We can keep going at this and go slaughter some more of the bunnies. Or we can save this till tomorrow. I know Allister wants to get his level three and have access to his mana,” to which Jason nodded, “but are you ok with waiting till we are back bright eyed and bushy tailed? Pun intended,” I asked.
I figured Jason would be the biggest naysayer, but he indicated he was actually tired as he didn’t sleep much the night before due to his excitement for getting into the game. Wayne and Dan were also fine with my suggestion.
With that we all decided to log off in the city square. We would reconvene the next day at 10 AM, accept the next quest, and continue on our way toward legendary status, or so we hoped.
Why not just get the quest before we logged off you ask? I know I thought about doing so. It was Wayne who brought up the good point, “If the quest has a time limit we could find ourselves having no choice but to stay in the game. The quest will be here tomorrow. Let’s just wait.”
So with that we decided to log off and return to our RACs. Everyone was all grins and happiness. We had succeeded in our first adventures in Resurgence, and we felt untouchable. Oh, how long could that good feeling last?
CHAPTER 10
After fully logging out of the game and exiting my RAC, I took a nice long stretch. The folks at AltCon were right, I didn’t feel dehydrated in the least bit, but I was a bit hungry. We had stayed in game for a total of nine hours, and while we had imaginary food to munch on, we did not have real sustenance. I made my way to my kitchen and removed some food from the refrigerator. As I sat down and began eating, I was also jotting down notes that I would send at the end of the week to AltCon about my experience in the game. On a weekly basis, each Beta tester, as part of their contract, had to send a detailed report of their gaming adventures. They were mostly looking for bugs and glitches, but I liked to add notes on storyline as well.
After eating and cleaning up, finishing my notes, and taking a nice long shower, I found myself very drowsy and ready for some serious shut eye. While I didn’t move in large motions while in the game, all of the movement a character does is predicated by the same basic type of movements in your RAC. The difference here though, the RAC senses muscle twitches so when you begin to make the slightest movement to walk, or swing a sword, the sensors read your intent. So while you aren’t running, your muscles are still constantly going through fast or slow twitch rhythms, and that can wear a body down.
I noted that it was already dark out and late enough that I could sleep without feeling like a total slacker. I set my alarm for 7AM, wanting to get up long before we got into the game to make some final notes on game strategy. I also didn’t want to rush from shower, to breakfast, to game. And deep in the back of my mind was that warning from the assistant all those months ago. And I certainly didn’t want to have to log out and run to the toilet. It was going to happen eventually, this I knew. But I didn’t want to be the first one. I think Dan, Wayne, and I all wanted it to be Jason first. Because if the proper High Elf had to dash to deuce, then we would all get free passes.
* * *
At just before 10AM, I stripped down and got into my RAC. The RAC remained powered on at all times, but did have a sleep mode I needed to disengage before getting back inside. Once the RAC was fully functional, I laid down and engaged the hermetic seal. Once I was assured the system was ready I said, “Enter Resurgence.” A voice said, “Entering Resurgence, initiating download.”
The download bar moved across my field of vision and there was no repeat of the constant error messages I saw the previous day. I was hoping that my Chance bug had been fixed as well as my log-in bug that placed me outside of the city on that first day.
Just before the download finished, I saw one-word flash before my eyes.
ERROR.
And then I was surrounded by the streaming lines and I was whisked away to the world of Tholtos and Resurgence.
* * *
I arrived in the game not at my log-out point. We had purposely all logged out together at Sir Kenyon so we could immediately form a group and get the next quest in the arc. However, I found myself just inside the town, next to the gate. Not nearly as far away from the starting position as last time, but still not at my log-out spot. Seeing as this was a recurring problem, I checked the other bug that had popped up the day before and opened my inventory window. My stats read:
It appeared this was going to be a persistent bug, and I was going to need to write a report on this immediately. I first went over to the square and found Dan, Jason, and Wayne waiting for me.
“End up in the forest again?” Jason asked.
“Not this time. I wasn’t nearly as far away as before, just next to the gate, but inside the town. However, this seems to be a persistent problem. Let’s group up and then before we start the next quest I want to send a report on this,” I said.
We grouped up, this time learning how to do so with only focus and blinking. In order to form a group without vocalization, I needed to focus on the “+” sign and blink, then focus on an individual. Once that person was selected, I refocused on the plus sign still in the group window, and blinked again. This was like saying invite, only the character could do so without making any noise. Perhaps even the whispers in this game would be picked up by mobs we didn’t want to have notice us. We would see.
I then decided to send my report to AltCon. I opened the mail service, utilizing the envelope icon. I did this all with focusing and blinks, which was becoming second nature. I found the tab for “Send a Bug Report” and activated that. Then I sent the following message:
From: Beta Tester Alex, Rogue, Level 2
To: ResurgenceBeta IT
Subject: Problem with log-in/log-out location
I would like to inform you that on the first day of Beta testing I arrived in game in the forest located just outside of Port Town. The other members of my sub-team arrived in the square. At the end of our gaming yesterday, my team all logged out together next to the quest giver, Sir Northampton Kenyon, in the town square. Today, when I logged on, I was just inside the gate of town, not at my original log out point. My team mates all logged back in at their same log out locations.
Additionally, I wanted to make sure my statistics for my character were registering properly.
Thank you,
Alex
For some reason I decided not to say specifically that my Chance was skewed by a factor of 10. I am not the type that usually plays into intuition, but in this case my gut was telling me to say as little as possible, and that is what I did. But I also wanted to be fair, and so I gave them the opportunity to find the error.
“Ok guys, that is all done. Let’s get back to questing!” I exclaimed.
I was still the group leader so I approached Sir Kenyon again. I remembered the lines Sir Kenyon had spoken and I hoped repeating them would trigger the second part of the quest. “Good day Sir Kenyon, I have come to discuss the pesky rabbits.” Dan snarfed. I hate him sometimes.
“Ah good morrow young Half-Elf. Yes, I see that you have completed your first task and are of a mind to help eradicate these vermin. Three of the children in this town have grown deathly ill from the venom those fluffy devils secrete. Alas, our best potion maker has been unable to cure these poor souls and has indicated he needs five venomous sacks from the bodies of these rodents. Obtaining the sacks is not easy and it requires a lucky hand to dispatch the beast in such a way that leaves the sack intact. Bring me the five sacks and I will consider it a testament to your desire to answer the call and will look kindly on your good deeds. Will you help the children of this town?”
“Yes Sir Kenyon, we will help the children of this town,” I answered. Immediately we were encompassed with the shining golden light that informed us we had accepted a quest. When I looked in my quest menu I saw that we already had 2/5 on the required venomous sacks, as I still had them in my inventory.
“Ha! The Chance Master strikes again. I figure by the time we get those other sacks we will all hit level 3!” Dan said.
“Agreed, and boy am I happy I didn’t decide to just go off and see how much copper we could sell these things for!” I replied.
As we headed toward the main gate to begin another round of bunny slaughter, we could hear other groups complaining about their lack of loot. “This is bs man! That is like 50 rabbits we have killed and not a single sack.” I was guessing they had not added any skill points to Chance like we had. And of course they did not have my ridiculous Chance modifier. I wanted as much of an advantage as I could get and wasn’t about to tell them. No one else was going over to tell them either.
“You know; it is their own fault. It’s right there in the quest dialogue. Sir Kenyon said, ‘it requires a lucky hand to dispatch the beast.’ If they don’t get that clue, they have way more problems than not being able to find their sacks.” Dan said.
“And here I thought, for just a moment, you were going to refrain from making any jokes about sacks Dan. But you surprise me, I honestly didn’t believe you would make it to the gate before making a crass remark. Here is your copper piece Alex,” Jason said to me.
“Don’t worry about it Allister, I had that he wouldn’t make it out of the square before making a joke. Alex got my copper piece too.”
“What? You guys were betting on me?” Dan said with mock righteous indignation. “I can’t believe you guys! So why did Alex win?”
“Because I had faith that you would make it out the gate before you made some remark,” I answered.
“But you still bet that I would make a joke?” Dan asked.
“I said faith Dan, I didn’t say pipe-dream.”
* * *
We were 45% into level 2, and by our calculations we would need another 22 mobs to reach level 3. But we also needed three more venomous sacks, so we figured we could be at this for a while more. Once we found our fighting point, Dan ran out and pulled two bunnies back toward us. And so the decimation of the bunny population began anew.
By my count we went through 59 bunnies before we finally got our last venomous sack. We all leveled after the 22nd mob, and took a small break for Jason to investigate if having mana meant he had spells. The answer to that was no. We didn’t think it would. By all accounts, Jason would need to buy his first spells from a vendor in town. We were certain that would be expensive. We also distributed our points accordingly, with myself focusing on dexterity and wisdom.
Based on Jason’s excellent suggestion when we were creating our characters, Wayne and I learned that with my 1 point more of Wisdom than his, my skill levels were going up slightly faster. So I put two more points into Wisdom and Wayne put three points into his and the rest into his Constitution. My additional points went to my Dexterity. Dan did the same and added one point to Wisdom, one point to Constitution, and the rest to Agility. Jason stayed with Wisdom at this point. The only other change was that Jason was now able to see his mana bar and had an accounting of how much Mana he had. From his original 13 Wisdom and 10 additional skill points added to it, Jason no
w had 23 Wisdom, which corresponded to 2300 Mana. Not a shabby number at all.
At this time, we all only had one skill to raise. Dan’s was Archery, Jason’s was Blunt weapons (his mace), Wayne’s was War Hammer, and mine was Dagger. The skill seemed to only raise 5 points per level, and each point gave an additional 1 in attack. It wasn’t substantial, but every bit helped.
I determined that once we hit level 3 the bunnies were only giving us 1.25% per kill. So with our 37 bunnies killed into level 3 we were all at 46.25%. And it was time to return to town, turn in the quest, and find Jason his first spells.
We passed the same group we had seen on our way in and they were still angry over the fact that they had not finished their quest. They had even gotten to the point of blaming each other. “I’m telling you man, the dude said you have to kill it a certain way. So I think we need to have each person try to be the finisher and see how it works. Gordo has a sword, you have a dagger, and I have a staff. We just have to stop attacking so one of us makes sure to get the killing blow!” the man argued.
I didn’t shake my head externally, but internally I was all disappointment. Dan was right, the words were there to decipher, and this group had just chosen to hear the wrong part. I think Dan wanted to help them out, but Wayne grabbed him. Picked him up really, seeing as Dan was just a tiny Wood Elf. And with Dan in tow, we made our way to Sir Kenyon.
I approached the quest giver and said, “Sir Kenyon, my comrades and I have returned with the five venomous sacks.”
“So you have! And in fine shape they are. Thank you for all of your efforts young adventurers! Now the master potion maker should be able to heal those poor children and hopefully have some cure left over for those young souls foolish enough to tussle with this filth. I promised you a reward and you shall have it,” Sir Kenyon said. We all received thirty percent experience, taking us to 76.25%, and two silver each. We were swimming in the money now.
Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1 Page 7