The NPC laughed heartily, “Lad, you may be a “rogue” but your speech makes ya sound like a dandy. Ain’t a cutthroat in The Wastes that would be saying, ‘If I am not being too forward.’ That there would be the quickest way to get you gutted out here lad,” he said.
I was worried. I was afraid I may be losing the chance to win favor with this NPC and possibly getting a quest. I tried to think of how to approach this when thankfully he gave me the answer.
“But I’m kind of liking this gentleman rogue angle. No one would expect one of ours to be so uppity. Could get you into places others could not. But no matter what lad, you gonna need some training. You wouldn’t last a day in the real rogue world with what ya got now. But we don’t do that kind of thing here. That only happens in the Underground,” he explained very seriously.
“I would like to go to the Underground,” I say, hoping this will trigger the quest I think is coming.
He laughed again, “I’m sure you would lad! But not just anyone goes through them halls. You got to earn that right. And to earn it, you gots to find it!”
A golden light surrounded me, informing me that I had been given a quest.
I opened up my quest icon through the now routine focus and blink, and saw the quest:
Quest: Secrets of the Rogue
Rogue Only
So you want to be a rogue with the big boys, do ya? Not an easy task, and not for those without the skill to achieve it. In order to learn the secrets of the rogue, you must first make yer way to the Underground. Those with the knowledge of the Underground won’t give it up lightly. But I’m one a dem gracious men, and I will start you off on your journey with a bit of aid. Simon Temple knows of a door. He doesn’t know what the door is for or where it goes. Get the information and travel to that door. This is a solo and secret quest. Informing any other individuals will immediately make the quest null and void.
I didn’t know what to say. A rogue only secret quest that I couldn’t tell the guys. This was going to be rough. But I believed the reward was worth a little subterfuge on my part.
“What do I call you?” I asked
“You get me name the day you walk through that door lad. And ain’t no reason for ya to have anything else to call me, as you won’t be seeing me again until you do,” he replied.
“Well then I guess I will see you on the other side,” I replied.
He laughed again. And as he started walking away, disappearing into the shadows, he said, “Mighty lucky that you ran into me while I was out on this stroll lad, mighty lucky indeed.”
CHAPTER 13
August 11th, 2043
I noted three things as soon as I logged back in to Resurgence:
1. That singular ERROR message continued to pop up in my RAC just before I entered the game.
2. I was still logging in away from my log out point, although the distance between log out and log in point had shrunk again.
3. I still had the Chance error on my character and I guessed this was linked to that error message I kept getting before logging in.
I had already told the company about the problem, and they seemed to think everything was running to spec, so I had no plans of saying different. Yes, it was greedy of me. And I was ok with this.
Once I joined up with my team, I also saw that Dan looked wrecked. If I didn’t know any better, I would say he had a hangover.
“It’s so not cool man. Why would they do this? Why would they intentionally give players a hangover. The best part about VR is that you don’t get stuff like hangovers and STDs!”
“Stop Dan. Please, just stop. I realize your head hurts, but if you give me more ammunition than you already have, I will have no choice but to respond,” Jason said to Dan.
“Whatever, dude. Wasn’t my fault. My mom introduced us. Gotta trust your mom bro.”
“Trying…so hard…not to make a mom joke,” Jason said while looking like he was holding in a storm.
“Hell, I like this Allister. Dan you should get a hangover more often,” Wayne said while slapping Jason on the back. Which made him stumble a bit. Damn, if the game mechanics weren’t awesome.
“Let’s just go see Sir Kenyon and try to get our next quest guys,” I said.
We approached Sir Kenyon, excited to get the next part of our quest. So you can imagine how disappointed we were when he gave us the same line about needing to come back when we were more prepared. We sat down at the side of the fountain and tried to come up with our next steps. I had a number of ideas, but I had been hogging the “leadership” role for too long now. I knew the guys wanted me to just tell them what we were going to do, but I was content to wait them out.
“He’s doing it again,” Dan said while looking at me. “Jerk. Fine, I say I hit the forest and go as deep as I can.”
“That’s what your mom told me to do!” Jason suddenly blurted out. All heads turned to Jason. He had a look of total panic. Wayne and I were trying to hold in our laughter till we saw how Dan reacted.
It was Dan who laughed first though, as Jason looked like he was going to start blubbering out apologies. Dan’s laughter was so genuine, and so loud, that even Jason started to giggle.
“Dude! Seriously, without a doubt, that was the funniest thing you have ever said,” Dan said to Jason. “Would have been a little funnier if my mom wasn’t dead, but still funny.”
“Oh my god! Dan, I’m so sorry, I mean, I didn’t know, and your mom, and…oh my god man, please understand I…” Jason tried to apologize to Dan.
“Just fuckin with ya, she’s still kickin’,” Dan said. “And now we’re even. So what do you guys think of my idea?”
Jason looked at me. And his face said it all. “Please, please just let me kill him. Just once.”
* * *
We talked over our options for a bit, none of us agreeing to Dan’s idea. In the end even Dan didn’t agree to his own idea. Which, as we had come to learn, was pure Dan.
After all was said and done, Wayne came up with the best strategy. We would use the goblin camp as our base of operations. We would continue to farm the camp until all of us had collected one of the “Simple Rings of Might.” There was no class restriction on the ring, and we could all use a Strength, Constitution, and Armor freebie. After that we would venture out looking for other suitable places to set up our camp. After achieving level 6, I would return to the town and engage with Sir Kenyon, trying to get the quest. None of us knew what level we needed to be, but we were excited to do some more exploring of the surrounding area. And I was keeping an eye out for Simon Temple.
We also decided to hold off on buying any more gear until we reached level 6. Before venturing out into the woods we stopped by the same merchant who had sold us Jason’s spells originally, and who had given us the quest that led us to the goblin camp. We wanted to see just how much Jason’s and Dan’s new spells were going to cost us.
Dan was going to get three spells at level 6, and Jason was going to get
five. Dan would get his snare, a self only agility boost, and a self only armor boost. All very good for our puller. Jason was going to get a better heal, a better group armor buff, sense undead, resist poison buff, and resist disease buff. The merchant was hesitant at first to show us these new spells, but after a few moments he said, “Now normally, I don’t show these spells to folks until they can actually use them. But since you boys helped me out, I will show you what you have in store. Again, these prices are non-negotiable,” he said while looking right at me and winking. And the spells were not cheap. Jason’s improved heal and armor buff would cost us 10 Silver for each, as would Dan’s snare. The other five spells would be 5 Silver each. In total we were looking at spending 55 Silver for all of the spells. We were currently 15 silver short.
We decided after the conversation with the merchant that our best option would be to continue farming the boss at the goblin camp even after we all had rings. I figured I could easily sell them for 10 silver each, and after a coup
le of successful sells we would have enough to pay for all the spells with what we already had. The guys weren’t looking forward to farming for items again, but I assured them this time we would only attack the camp when the boss spawned. This was twice a day.
We worried at first that other groups might stumble onto the camp and we would lose our potential cash cow. But it seemed the only people who could access the area were those that had been given the quest. This became clear when we were sitting near the camp and another group ran right past us and the camp. The mobs didn’t aggro them, and they didn’t seem to notice the camp at all. This was an interesting and potentially beneficial aspect of the game. It also would make it impossible to find some places unless we were given the quest to do so.
During all of the time we were out there killing mobs, we only had one catastrophe. While Dan was trying to bring two mobs to our camp site he ended up pulling four. Normally, Dan would just run them around, trying to lose the aggro, or at the worst, die far enough away from the party so only he had to collect his body. However, during this particular event Dan ran all of them right at us and, while blabbering incoherently, logged off.
None of us had any idea what had happened, but we quickly were slaughtered by the mobs. Each of us was ready to kill Dan when he logged back in. But before we could say anything to him when he finally came back on twenty minutes later, Dan was apologizing profusely.
“I am so so sorry guys. I had to log out super quick. I just…had to,” Dan said.
“There is literally no excuse you can give me right now Dan that is going to make me forgive you for what you just did,” Jason said, looking very angry at Dan. There was so much disappointment in his face and his words that I had no idea what Dan thought he could say to make things right with Jason.
“I just spent the last twenty minutes going number 1 out my number 2-hole bro. Never trust a taco truck that isn’t being run by Latinos man!” Dan exclaimed.
Ok, that might have been the one thing we could all understand. Who hadn’t been on the receiving end of some bad carne asada?
It took us three days to level up to 6. We all got our Simple Rings of Might as well as an additional four to sell. With the loot we had collected we had accumulated another 8 Silver, and with the four rings we would be able to get all of our level 6 spells and Wayne and I could buy our first special abilities. Unlike with Dan and Jason who had to pay money to a merchant, Wayne and I would just see our money disappear into the ether. We learned this when Wayne tried to activate his new Bash skill and found that he had to pay 5 silver to activate it. It was 5 silver for each of my skills as well.
The Bash skill would allow Wayne to smack the mob upside the head, really pissing it off. If the Bash was extremely successful, it would also Stun the enemy for one second. Between the natural aggression created by the bitch slap and the stun, Wayne would easily be able to grab aggro off of Dan. As the level of the Bash went up, the chance for Stuns became more likely.
I was looking at getting the bread and butter of all rogues. Conceal and Stealth. With a successful attempt in Conceal, my character would be effectively invisible against almost all players, NPCs, and mobs. This was negated if another had the ability to see through invisibility. But very few mobs had this trait inherently, and certainly none at our low levels. No players had this ability unless they owned a magic item with this trait, or had consumed a special potion that gave them this ability. As our group had progressed faster than any other group I had seen, and we had yet to find any magic items other than the Simple Ring of Might, I was not concerned that any players would be able to see me. But if I moved, I would lose my Conceal.
With a successful Stealth try, I was able to move past mobs, players, and NPCs silently. Of course if they were looking right at me, the whole being Stealthy went right out the window. And this is where the true value of the skills came into play. If a character first hid themselves successfully, and then also became stealthy, they could effectively move without anyone hearing them and totally invisible. The only problem was that at low levels, a player with Conceal and Stealth moved very very slow. In other games where skills like this were present, characters moved at only 25% of their normal speed to start. Given that Resurgence was following the game play of many other games, I figured this would be the case as well. As the skills went up, so would the movement speed.
After applying their skill points for level 6, everyone but myself logged off. I decided to stay on and sell the four rings I had so we could start the next day ready to use all of our skills and spells. I held off on talking to Sir Kenyon until after the guys logged back on.
I made the announcement in the square, “Simple Ring of Might (linked) for sell, 10 Silver. First to message me in a Private Message (PM) with the 10 Silver linked will get priority.”
Immediately my interface was full with incoming messages. Many of them were asking where I got the item. I closed these without responding. Five serious players linked me the 10 silver from their account and said they were interested. All of them were warriors, not surprisingly.
I took all of them in order. The first to offer was the first to get a ring. It continued this way until I got to the fourth. I informed the fifth warrior that he would not get a ring on this occasion, but would get one first, and at the same price, when I had another. He abandoned the private messages and said in front of everyone, “I will give you 15 Silver for that ring.”
The warrior who was fourth in line said, “Well, I’m out then. I only have 13 silver.”
“I am sorry, but I didn’t announce the price was negotiable, and that the first to message would have priority. I will keep to my word, both to the people in this square and the message I sent you previously,” I said.
The fifth Warrior looked angry at first, but then seemed to calm down, “Well I’ll be damn, the first honest merchant I’ve ever met. I like your style Alex. You get another ring and I’ll have your money.” Everyone else around us were nodding their heads. A trustworthy and fair player merchant was rare. Most would jump at the chance to fleece a few more copper out of their customers. But I had spent years building my reputation on other games as a seller, and I was going to use the same model here.
I now had the money for us to buy all of our spells and skills. Starting the next day, we had every intention to start wrecking shit in Resurgence.
* * *
August 12th, 2043
And yet again we were turned down by Sir Kenyon. We were really starting to hate that bloody NPC. With no other plans, we decided to go back to our previous plan of hunting in the forest and killing the boss at the goblin camp when we could. We ended up facing Rabid Wolves, Dire Rats, Angry Boars, and one Black Bear that almost ate all our lunches. Thankfully, Dan only pulled that one bear, because we definitely were out classed.
Dan was a natural with his snare and bow. I definitely had a new found respect for Dan’s ability as a puller. And with Wayne’s Bash, he never lost aggro on a mob. We were moving along quite nicely, going from one mob to the next.
As noted previously, our new skills were progressing as we used them. Wayne’s went up faster than mine since he was constantly using Bash in his fights. I could only practice my Conceal and Stealth between fights. And like I thought, when I did finally get a successful Conceal and Stealth I moved so slow you would have thought I was going backwards. But I was happy to see the mechanics were in place to now allow me to move freely throughout the game, if at only a snail’s pace.
During down time between fights we also learned more about each other. You would think with all the time we spent prior to the Beta’s release we would have learned more about one another, but we spent most of the time answering questions or taking tests for AltCon. The one time I really got insight into each person was when we were building our characters.
It turned out that Wayne was the head of security for a night club that we all knew, but none of us could ever get into. His boss was not happy when he
heard that Wayne would be taking a year off work so he could play a video game. The boss threatened to black list Wayne from ever working in a night club again after that. Apparently, AltCon came through and made a call to Wayne’s manager. Wayne never knew what was said, but his boss told him his job would be waiting for him when he returned.
Dan told us that he was independently wealthy. When Jason asked how he got that way, Dan replied, “It’s called independent bro. So you don’t talk about it, duh!”
“Dan, you are aware, aren’t you, that independent does mean that at all?” Jason asked.
Dan just looked over at Wayne and shook his head sadly. “It’s so heartbreaking when the youth these days just don’t get a proper education.” Even Wayne slapped his forehead at this one.
Turned out that Jason was an interior decorator, and quite successful at it. He had to insist on a larger stipend from AltCon if he was going to play the game full time, and it appeared they capitulated. All of us, except for Dan, who was wealthy, were earning on par exactly what we made the previous year through our work.
“So how difficult is it to work with that RAC in your house Allister?” I asked.
“It’s bloody horrible! It goes with nothing Alex. Nothing! Although I know these things are going to take off because AltCon is a wonderful company, and I’m going to tell everyone to buy one. So I am going to start looking at how to put them into a motif that doesn’t just scream obtrusive like they do now.”
I was a little shocked to hear Jason praising AltCon. None of us have any attachment to the company, but Jason spoke with such adoration, you would think he had been with the company for decades and they had paid for his mother’s hip replacement. Not that I know if Jason’s mother had a hip replacement.
The guys all knew that I was a professional seller online. We broached the topic when I was convincing them to farm the venomous sacks all that time ago. Some people looked down on this type of business, as minors playing the game would steal their parent’s credit cards to purchase items in game. But I always checked to make sure the company that owned the game had done all their verifications before I completed the sell.
Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1 Page 11