by K. T. Hanna
Murmur blinked at the message as it scrolled in front of her eyes. Fantastic. The beings here could read her thoughts too? Taking a deep breath she kept walking, trying desperately to keep her thoughts to herself. Sort of hugging them close. The smell changed subtly, from the fresh mountain air to something sinuous and fetid, like an after tang of mold. Even Jibartik kept close to her. The sustenance countdown finished, and Murmur took a swig of her one hour water, followed by her first taste of spider leg. Not bad, all things considered. It sort of tasted like a chewy chicken.
She could feel pressure against her back, some unseen gaze following her wherever she went. With no idea what she was looking for, she kept her eyes peeled for anything. Three buildings in on the left, there was a vacant lot, with charred timbers littering the buckled stone ground. Taking several steps toward it caused another line to flash across her vision, like a soft whisper in her mind.
Careful. Something happened here. Stone doesn’t burn easily. While nothing appears to stand out, remember not all is as it seems. Stop. Listen. Let the memories surround you.
Welcome to Vague Hints 101.
Casting Minor Shield over herself, she bumped up her hit points and armor class. Every little bit helped. Once that was done, she walked over and stood in the middle of the lot. Ash and dust flew up in small clouds with every step she took, and once she stopped it rose, higher and higher, swirling without touching her in a vortex, leaving her like the eye in the storm. A vision danced around her, but the words were swallowed by the wind. Locus arguing with each other, a third one pushing into the mix, while a fourth she couldn’t define clearly stood in the background, a cruel smile on their face.
Murmur frowned, straining to see the other one, the instigator, the perpetrator of whatever happened here. For a moment, while the others were fighting, using hands and fists, and fire magic and flame, the instigator turned toward Murmur and grinned. Sharp teeth fully visible, they took a step closer, and she blanked out her thoughts as quickly as she could, trying desperately to think of nothing.
Their gaze never left her, and a pounding began at her temples, hitting with a force that threatened to make her head explode. She stumbled slightly, trying to think as quietly as possible. A frustrated scream echoed through her head.
And all of a sudden the swirling vortex was gone.
Murmur blinked, her chest constricting with a wave of fear as her eyes momentarily blurred.
You’ve witnessed an inciting event. If you don’t pursue the denizens of this area and strike them down until you find a clue, this incident will haunt you through thoughts and words, visions and deeds, until you’re stark raving mad.
“Now I’m stuck doing a quest or else my character will go insane?” She looked at Jibartik and could have sworn the incorporeal blob behind the sword and shield shrugged its non-existent shoulders. “Fine, fine. What do we kill?”
At that, Jibartik perked up and floated over to a level two rat.
With rats and spiders crawling from the brush at the back of the lot, she guessed there was at least something to do. Another ninety minutes in-game and it would be dark. Level two and three mobs were just going to have to do. She had a sneaking suspicion they weren’t going to drop what she needed, but she worked her way around the lot and between the houses next to the lot and the wall where brush grew, unkempt and wild. After about an hour of this, with a steadily progressing experience amount, she had plenty of spider legs again, not to mention a couple of silver she didn’t want to question the origin of. Leaning back against one of the still standing houses, she wiped her brow, guzzled down another water, and ate a spider leg.
“What are you looking for here?”
Murmur whirled around at the unfamiliar voice, only to see a locus standing there with a dagger on either hip, arms crossed, staring at her. The hints of color on this one were green, and their eyes resembled a pearlescent sky of stars.
“I’m trying to prevent my own insanity.” She ventured carefully.
Murmur was fairly sure the locus was male, but it could be difficult to tell, depending on how the character was set up. And while this one seemed to be a level or two higher, and she thought they might be an NPC, she still wasn’t completely sure.
They cocked his head to the side and watched her as she ran through all the possibilities in her head.
“Could you hear them?” They finally asked.
Murmur nodded. “Not the individual words, just the yelling.”
They sighed. “Then it won’t leave you alone until you finish it. Be careful, young one.”
NPC! Murmur’s brain shouted before she could quiet it. “I will. What’s your name?”
They hesitated and turned back around, rummaging in their pocket. “Emilarth. Here, take this.”
Emilarth handed her a ring. It was plain and worn, beaten from some simple metal. Upon inspection she saw that the ring’s magic offered a small buff against undead.
“It will come in handy. Trust me. Just be careful, and find me when you’re safe.”
“Thank you.” She called after him as he walked away. He just lifted a hand and waved, heading deeper into the slums.
You have met Emilarth. This shadowy stranger gave you a gift. Be wary of strangers bearing gifts, but be wary of not utilizing them. When you have found what you need to, make sure to call on them.
Slipping the ring on her finger, Murmur shrugged and got back to working her way through all the mobs surrounding them. Finally, when they’d cleared it once more, she stumbled over something in the brush. Her thin beginner shoes tripped against something metal—or at least she thought it was metal from the way it clanged hollowly beneath her.
Separating the brush she frowned at the grate. It seemed to be a sewer entrance. Overhead, the sun was beginning to set, and Murmur felt a sense of dread suddenly sweep over her. She spent too long considering it. The whole load of spiders and rats in the area respawned at once. She blinked at them, her skin crawling despite the fact that she knew they were just digital renderings.
The timer in this area didn’t make sense at all. It wouldn’t have been bad, except she’d been working around in a circular path, which left her facing those repops at once. Sighing, she cast minor suffocation on the first one, and attacked it with Jibartik. Once she could cast the spell again, she did so on all other three mobs, bashing at them with her staff and watching her own health and her pet’s ticking slowly lower. Their low level played in her favor. The only good thing about the fight was the DING at the end of it.
You have gained Level 4!
You have five (5) training points.
You have four (4) stat points.
Quickly, Murmur pulled back to a safe place, between the ruins and the house on its left where she’d yet to see mobs spawn. Acting fast she distributed her stat points one into INT for 19, one into CON for 14, and two into CHA for 26(27). Pulling out the spell scrolls, glancing at them to double check they were what she wanted to memorize.
Mesmerize
Cast: Single Target
Type: Breakable Stun
Duration: 24 seconds
Effect: This spell immobilizes your opponent for as long as they take no damage, or 24 seconds, whichever is shorter. You may cast non-damaging spells on them, and you may renew this casting before the initial one expires. Casting it on your friends probably isn’t a good way to win popularity contests.
Flux
Cast: Area of Effect
Type: Stun
Duration: 4 seconds
Effect: This is a stun that radiates out from the caster for fifteen feet. It will stun anyone who means the caster harm within that radius. Does not produce sparkles.
Gate
Cast: Self only
Type: Travel
Duration: N/A
Effect: This will transfer you to your bind point.
Invisibility
Cast: Self or others
Type: Buff
Duration: 10 minutes or until brok
en/seen through
Effect: Causes generic invisibility. Undead don’t count. Will drop if you cast a spell or take damage.
Fear
Cast: Area of Effect
Type: Brief Loss of Control
Duration: 25% of level in seconds.
Effect: Causes enemies to flee from you in terror. But if you use it too soon, it’ll probably just look like they misplaced something for a second.
Grinning at the humorous tone to the descriptions, she placed them in one hand while overlaying the other, one at a time in order to absorb them. Her runes flared up like a thousand fairy lights beneath her skin, completely mesmerizing in their own way.
Gate took five seconds to cast. If shit hit the fan, she could Flux the mobs around her and hope she got Gate off in time.
“Sounds like a plan.” She muttered. Glancing at Jibartik, she realized he was still level three. It was a pity, since he’d been such a good little not-quite-sentient companion. With a sad sigh, she began casting Minor Animation again and he disappeared with a pop, only to be replaced by an identical Jibartik at level four. She wasn’t about to complain. Down to five tiny swords though.
The sun finally dipped beneath the horizon, bathing the mountain region in a deep red and gold light, heralding the coming of night, and leaving Murmur stuck in a marginally safe corner while the ground around her rumbled.
As if in synch with dusk, Sinister sent messages that flitted across Murmur’s sight before she could read them. Several others flashed across her vision, but she dismissed them, trying to see what the sand and ash spitting ground was going to cough up.
Amidst the small volcano eruptions of sand, finger bones escaped the ground, clutching at the dirt as they dug through. If they’d had flesh left on them, those fingers would be bloody nubs right now. Next came the full hands, and the forearms, digging from the earth, tearing a way through. Skeletons pulled themselves up and out of the ground in a rain of dirt. Seven of them shuffled disjointedly in place. If this was up here, she shuddered to contemplate the sewers.
Their eye sockets gleamed with a dull orangey red, and a faint yellow glow pulsated around them as if they’d been brought forth by magic, but were tenuously held together. Their levels didn’t comfort her either. At level six, they were two entire levels above her. Murmur had naively assumed that her mother’s warnings about mobs at night, meant out in the leveling areas. She eyed the distance between the skeletons, and tsked under her breath. There was no way she was going to be able to pull these one at a time. Damn it, she’d have to Mez one of them in order to pull the other single, and all with her brilliant conjuration skill being at level two, she had to hope they didn’t resist her too much.
Her first attempt at Mesmerize fizzled, but luckily didn’t draw attention to her. It did however raise conjuration by one. Joy for small mercies. Her second attempt hit the skeleton, leaving it swaying as the one close to it turned and spied Murmur just as she cast her suffocation spell. She only managed to get two ticks of the DoT in before it reached her, and that spell had increased in damage too.
While Jibartik smashed feebly for three damage a pop, Murmur kept the Mez counter in mind and smashed the skeleton with her staff, hitting it where its neck should be. When twenty seconds were up, she crossed her fingers and hoped the spell wouldn’t fail again. Luckily her re-mesmerization was successful, and shortly thereafter, the first skeleton fell into a pile of bones at her feet. Her health was down a third, with Jibartik left with only a half when the Mez broke on the second skeleton. DoT-ing it, they began the process again. At the end of it all Jibartik had a sliver of life left, and Murmur was cursing that the game wouldn’t let her heal herself. Still, with a bit more practice, it should get easier. After all, she could have broken the Mez with the suffocation spell and—
She’d almost forgotten to loot.
There was just so much to keep in line when playing the enchanter. But its defensive capabilities seemed like they could be phenomenal.
There was nothing on the skeletons except bones, a couple of silver, a staff, and some well-worn cloth boots that were a definite upgrade from what she was wearing. She glanced at them with distaste but ended up shrugging and pulling them on. Waste not, want not. The blasted skeletons hadn’t dropped whatever she needed for the prompts to vaguely guide her in a new direction. Murmur rubbed her arms and chest. Bruises might not be life threatening, but damned if she didn’t feel beat up for the duration it took her health to tick back to full.
She moved around the empty lot as her health regenerated, and waited a minute before pulling the next two. After another ninety minutes of this, another meal, and only her weird sort of prismatic sight for a guide, Murmur had almost had it. Sure, now she had bracers, pants, a belt, and even a pair of fingerless gloves, but she didn’t have her freaking quest update.
From Sinister: STOP IGNORING ME
“Shit.” Murmur forgot she’d closed the chat earlier. Sorry! So sorry. I got caught up in this weird quest-like thing.
From Sinister: It’s either a quest or it’s not. Anyway. I’m almost at level 5, and I think the others are too. We’ve been at this for hours. Are you like hungry for real food? Because I don’t even care about soda right now.
Murmur paused, thinking hard. No, she wasn’t hungry at all. At least her stomach wasn’t giving her any signs. But it had been at least six real world hours so she was hungry and should eat soon. And pee. And—oh shit, what the fuck was spawning in the middle of the lot? Gotta go, chat shortly, she sent to her friend.
She considered the monster in front of her. It was definitely a skeleton, but much larger than the ones she’d been fighting, and there were no other respawns on the lot. This conned a deep orange, which meant her spells would hit it, if only just. A plan began to form in her mind and she threw caution to the wind, figuring the worst that could happen was character death.
She cast her DoT, which sent Jibartik running out toward the mob. They clashed while the second tick happened, and Murmur moved toward it, staff at the ready. The mob was strong, and took down about twelve percent of Jibartik’s health with every hit. Murmur cast Flux, stunning the skeleton while Jibartik executed two of its attacks. She hit it again with her staff, and it switched its attention to her while her pet wailed feebly on it from behind.
Her arm stung like mad where its sword slashed her, blood trickling to pool realistically on the ground. Jumping back, Murmur checked her spells. Flux hadn’t refreshed yet, but Mez was available. She cast it on the target, causing the monster to pause for only a couple of short seconds before Jibartik and another tick of her DoT hit it, but even that was a good respite. Her pain receptors didn’t seem to realize it was a game, and her body felt like a pin cushion as they continued. Each slash from the skeleton threatened to interrupt her concentration, but she bit her lip and fought through. Juggling between recasting Minor Suffocation, Flux, meleeing the thing with her staff, and Mezing for some brief respite, while her pet feebly bashed on the skeleton’s back, Murmur slowly whittled the skeleton down.
When it finally fell, her hit points sat at twelve. Jibartik was full health, having not drawn aggro back after she pulled it from him. Her mana bar was perilously low. The pain in her body made it difficult to think, and all she wanted to do was fall down with the skeleton.
You have slain a Fallen Guard.
You are the first to slay a Fallen Guard.
You gain experience.
Murmur leaned forward while her health and mana slowly ticked up, and looted the skeleton. On it, she found a pair of earrings that were greyed out to her, a sword, one gold, and a letter.
This letter is written in a script you do not recognize. Only one word on the front of it is legible. It seems another visit to your trainer is in your best interest.
“Fan-fucking-tastic.”
Storm Corp
Storm Technologies Division—Theoretical Neuroscience Arm
Countdown: Two years before Somnia O
nline implementation
One of the most irritating things about Dr. Michael Jeffries’ headgear was its current reliance on a suitable artificial intelligence unit to interpret and extrapolate on the data it received. Appearances meant nothing, and his lacking engineering skills definitely made the headgear rough and rudimentary, but the programing, the tying it to the neural results it pulled—that was his accomplishment. Only the AIs weren’t being intuitive enough.
He grumbled over them, irritated to the extreme. Neuroscience was his main passion. That was where he had his doctorate. Sadly, he needed some programming skills in order to implement his ideas, to prove his theories, and yet after a decade of having it as a side pursuit, he still felt his skills were sorely lacking in that area.
Jeffries had to knuckle down. The AIs and the synchronization with the headgear was tantamount to accessing the information he needed, no, the information he craved. No one else needed to know it, but in order for him to keep it a secret, he also needed to delve further into bringing his artificial intelligence units up to the standard he needed.
Frowning, he tweaked their algorithms further. They needed to be able to extract the data from the headsets. That data in turn had to trip a zillion different ifs and whens, match up with memories and actions, preferences and emotions. And then they could begin what on the surface seemed like a given sorting.
It would further their ability to grasp situations, to evaluate emotions, and to understand some of the intricacies involved in human decision making, including but not limited to that horrible human propensity for hiding their real selves behind a socially acceptable mask. Minds hid so much from the outside world. Michael wanted to be able to reach into those thoughts and pluck them out. The amount of information needed to generate the ideal path for people’s personalities to take was something Michael didn’t think a human brain could fully grasp.
Luckily he wasn’t dealing with the human brain having to interpret the signals. The only real use for the actual human brains was as lab rats.