Alpha World Book One: Gamer for Life

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “Someone took a contract out on you?”

  “I seem to have upset the House of Gilden. They paid for me to die three times and to be told who had taken the contract out on me.” He stopped behind the person speaking to the receptionist and let out a deep breath. “Sorry for my attitude right now, but I’m a little pissed. This time he used a convulsive poison that was taking 5% of my life per second while causing excruciating pain.”

  “Wow, I’m so going to ask my trainer about that poison next time I see him. So, who is the House of Gilden and how did you piss them off?” Karen asked, smiling at the receptionist who greeted them. “Hi. We need a group portal to the small keep that is near the southern orc area.”

  “Ahh, a change of scenery is always good. The price is one and a half gold each,” Alburet handed the three gold to the receptionist, earning him an arch look from Karen.

  “I owed you from selling the junk from last night,” Alburet said, forestalling Karen’s argument.

  “Right, okay then. Now, who is the House of Gilden?” Karen said as they went to the waiting area and found seats.

  “A minor noble house that I seemed to have pissed off. The only person I’ve upset to such a degree that I know of is a guard called Wilber. He’s supposedly a son of that house.”

  Karen waved her hand in a keep going motion. Alburet sighed and relayed the story of his encounters with Wilber. Just as he was finishing up the portal mage, Rolland, came to get them. “So there it is,” Alburet said, nodding to Rolland, “you know everything I do.” By the time he finished his tale he was also calm again.

  “Okay, the kid kept getting upset over being called Skippy. Weird, but okay.” Karen replied shaking her head, “Probably the weirdest reason I’ve ever heard of to hire an assassin.”

  “Yeah, so I’m going to speak with Captain Ramirez tomorrow. Maybe he can shed some more light on this topic for me.”

  “Here we are,” Rolland said motioning them into the room with a glowing glyph on the floor.

  Karen stepped right on through while Alburet pulled out one of his last few golds, “Thanks again, Rolland.”

  “Our pleasure sir, and our thanks. You have been the only one of late who has tipped us consistently and we appreciate that.” Rolland bowed slightly, “We look forward to your continued patronage.”

  “See you soon, I’m sure,” Alburet replied with a smile before stepping onto the glyph.

  In a blink he was standing in a fort half the size of the one near the goblin area, but with the same number of men stationed there. He glanced out the gate to see grass lands stretching away with small groups of Orcs with really ugly wolves patrolling the area.

  “Orcs and wargs. So cliché, am I right?” Karen asked from beside him. “Shall we get going?”

  Alburet called Tiny and Bob to him then reapplied his Demon Skin. “Okay, I’m ready to kick ass and chew bubble gum.”

  “There is no bubble gum here,” Karen laughed, “so just ass kicking it will be.”

  Tiny grumbled, “Can I just cut them in half instead?”

  Bob laughed, “So simple it hurts.”

  Rolling his eyes, Alburet replied, “It means we are going to kill lots of stuff, Tiny, and yes you can.”

  The group set off with Karen in the lead as she knew the patrol points of the Goblin Messengers from her time in the beta. As they went they dispatched the few groups of roving orcs with wargs that they encountered. During the first combat Alburet learned something interesting when Tiny was tripped to the ground by a warg. Once combat was over Karen shrugged, “Sorry, forgot to tell you. If they land a bite on your leg they’ll try to pull you down so you’re more vulnerable to the Orcs.”

  “Good to know,” Alburet said as Tiny healed up as combat was over. “So, new plan. Kill the wargs first so we don’t have to worry about it as much.”

  “I’ve been meaning to ask,” Karen said as they started moving again, “why do you play with immersion all the way up?”

  “I would love to tell you but I can’t at this time,” Alburet apologized.

  “Hmm, mysterious. I just find it weird that you wanted to have full pain during the sparring matches.”

  “I live dangerously. I’ll find out in a few weeks what I can and can’t discuss. If you’re still around then, maybe you can find out.”

  “Ha, baiting the trap to keep my attention, right?”

  “I thought being able to use me as a training dummy was enough,” Alburet chuckled.

  “Well, that is in your favor. Most guys either want to prove they’re better than me or they just leave. You’re not doing either, which speaks to your favor.” Karen said, then seemed to fade out as she stealthed.

  Alburet blinked then noticed the group of orcs with a single warg coming towards them, “Ah, well spotted.” Turning to Tiny he pointed to the group while applying the normal buffs to his minion, “You’re up, Tiny.”

  It took them a little over an hour of running and fighting to get the spot Karen wanted. When they sat down to rest for a moment Alburet noticed his mail icon blinking at him.

  Message from Gerald:

  Hey Alburet, we would be glad to meet up for whatever you have in mind. Rather than me and Mary both sending you messages I’m sending for both of us. Let me know where and we’ll be there as quickly as we can.

  Alburet glanced at the time stamp which showed as two minutes ago before he sent back his reply with the info attached. “Karen, two will be joining us. A tank and healer pair. I told them where we were, so they should be along in an hour or so.”

  “Sounds good,” Karen replied leaning back slightly as she sat on the grass.

  “Orcs coming,” Tiny rumbled as he waited for his buffs.

  “Thank you, Tiny,” Alburet said, buffing up his meat shield, “off you go.”

  Tiny charged the group as soon as Alburet said he was ready. As a group they focused the warg down first before cleaning up the orcs. Alburet was very unimpressed by the orcs. Sure, they were two levels below him, but he was sure he would have been able to handle the packs of them even without Karen.

  “You’re doing a very good job Tiny, you’re making it so easy,” Alburet said as the group healed up after the fight.

  “Thank you, master,” Tiny rumbled as he looked around for the next group.

  “So I’m what, chopped rat livers?” Bob groused.

  Chuckling, Alburet shook his head, “No, thank you too, Bob. You have to admit though, things are easier with Tiny around to take the brunt of the attacks.”

  “Yeah, but that’s all he’s good for.” Bob said snidely, “All he will ever be good for, in fact. When I improve I get more utility, like a ranged area of effect spell. He gets a group taunt, but so what, it’s not all that useful.”

  Tiny snorted, “The weak always act so big.”

  Bob started to puff out his chest, “Don’t make me teach you a lesson, you overgrown…”

  “Enough!” Alburet snapped. He glared at Bob then at Tiny, “You are both valued minions to me. Each of you performs a role that is vital to my success, so stop this back and forth. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Yes master,” Tiny rumbled.

  “But…” Bob began then shut up as Alburet glared at him, “Yes master.”

  “Wow, just like a couple of kids, am I right?” Karen said with a shake of her head. “I had a pair of brothers in my last Judo class like that. I kicked them both out after the second class because they couldn’t behave.”

  “I don’t deal with kids as a matter of course. The only one I had much contact with was my friend’s daughter, and she never behaved like that.” Alburet replied, his mind wandering back to Kaylee growing up.

  “Something wrong?” Karen asked a touch of concern in her voice.

  Shaking his head, Alburet banished his thoughts, “No just thinking of days gone by that won’t come again.”

  “Next group coming,” Tiny rumbled, interrupting the conversation.

 
Alburet got to his feet, buffing Tiny again with the short term buffs. “I wonder if I get the option to extend the duration of the buffs later?” He wondered aloud as he finished buffing Tiny, “Good to go.”

  Tiny roared and stepped out to meet the orc patrol. As the group died Alburet noted that even with all the bickering, Bob did his job and didn’t try to pull aggro. After they looted the mobs, he turned to Bob. “Bob, I do want to thank you as well. Even with the issue a moment ago you’re still doing everything right and not causing problems by trying to pull them off Tiny.”

  “You would be unhappy if I did, which means I might be sent away for a time. I don’t want that. All I want to do is kill your enemies for you,” Bob said plainly with a shrug. “Thank you for the kindness though, master.”

  Your standing with Bob has improved, you are now Respected by Bob.

  Bob receives a 50% bonus stats and damage due to his happiness.

  Alburet blinked then chuckled, “Bob, you really are awesome.” Karen looked puzzled so Alburet explained his chuckle to her. “Bob is now happy enough with me to view me with respect, which means he gets bonus stats and damage.”

  “Ah, so that’s how minion happiness works,” Karen said. “I wondered about that. I grouped with a Summoner during the beta who was always complaining that his pet wasn’t doing as much as it should. I guess he probably had negative happiness with his minion.”

  “Probably. Minion happiness is influenced by their loyalty. Bob and Tiny are the most loyal minions I could have chosen. The tradeoff was that they were the weakest stat wise. However, they gain happiness faster and lose happiness slower than the others would have. All in all, my minions are the best ones in the world.”

  Your standing with Tiny has improved, you are now Respected by Tiny.

  Tiny receives a 50% bonus to stats and health due to his happiness.

  Alburet laughed, “You’re the best meat shield I could have chosen, Tiny.” Turning to Karen he went on, “Apparently my little speech was enough to bump Tiny up to Respected as well.”

  “You should really put that info up on the forums. Maybe that way people will stop thinking your class is so weak.”

  “Naw, they can figure it out on their own. I always thought the best part of games was figuring things out.” Alburet stopped and considered just how fast Tiny had caught Bob in happiness, after a moment of thought he put it down to how much fighting they had been doing.

  “Any idea how long until we see the action we’re here for?”

  “Nope. That single tree over there should be the rendezvous point. Both Orc and Goblin Messengers are known to stop at it periodically. So, now we just have to wait. Your friends are on the way anyhow, don’t want them to miss out.”

  “Point. We have been waiting a bit so they should be well on their way,” Alburet said, grabbing his Mindstone and tossing Marysue a message to see if she had any idea how much longer they would be. A minute later he got a reply and informed Karen, “They should be here in half an hour or so. They’re crossing the grasslands now, I bet we’ll be able to see them in fifteen minutes or so.”

  “That’s good…” Karen start to reply but got cut off by Tiny’s rumbling voice.

  “Next pack is coming,” Tiny rumbled.

  Alburet chuckled as he buffed Tiny up again, this was the best kind of grinding he enjoyed. The nice easy packs that came to you one at a time with a decent break between, “Back to the grindstone.”

  The pack was put down with minimal difficulties, only Tiny taking any damage as was normal. Karen stretched and sighed, “This is boring. If it wasn’t for this quest I would say let’s jump a bit and try something dangerous.”

  “We can always do that after we’re done here,” Alburet said, looking back the way they had come and seeing a group killing Orcs. “I think those are the two I told you about.”

  Karen looked where he pointed and nodded, “Could be. Well once they get here hopefully it won’t be long until the messengers show up. After that we have a few hours before the rare shows up.”

  Ten minutes later Marysue and Gerald came running up. Gerald spoke up first, “Hey, Alburet. I wondered what quest you were doing and when you told me to meet you here I hoped it was the messenger quest chain.”

  “It is, Gerald,” Alburet said, then made introductions all around. Karen added them to the group as Tiny called out another group of Orcs inbound. “Tiny, take the warg and one orc. Gerald can tank the other two orcs.” He then slapped buffs onto the tanks as the mobs got closer.

  It was over quickly. Gerald looked disappointed, “That was just sad. Why were you holding back, Alburet?”

  Alburet held out his maul, “I pull aggro if I don’t.”

  Gerald blinked after tapping the weapon, “What the fuck? You can’t use that at this level. Hell, I can’t use that at this level.”

  “My gloves have a bit of a cheat to them, I can use any weapon regardless of strength required.” Alburet shrugged, “Just one of them things.”

  “It is good to see you again, Alburet,” Marysue interrupted. “Have you seen Fluffball lately?”

  “Naw, she took a few days off I think.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad. I was hoping to group with her again.”

  “I think she said she’ll be on tomorrow if I got the days right. I was hoping she would make it for the quest as it means good loot.”

  “Master, I see two larger groups moving towards the tree,” Tiny rumbled to them.

  “Good timing, you two,” Karen chuckled. “Those are the groups we’re waiting for. We need to kill them all. After that we’ve got a two hour wait before the rare shows up to investigate.”

  “Okay. Once they meet up Tiny will tank the goblins, Gerald tanks the orcs. DPS burns the orcs first and then the goblins?” Alburet said looking at the two groups, each numbering ten strong.

  “It’s going to be a bit messy, but yeah that would be best,” Gerald said.

  “I have a mana potion so I’ll be able to keep the heals going,” Marysue stated.

  “Alright. That’s the plan,” Alburet said. “We have a bit of a walk to get to them, so once they meet up we’ll run to them and start things off. Once we’re there I’ll buff first since I need to wait to damage them anyway.” In agreement, the group watched the two packs of mobs come together then set off toward them at a run with Tiny and Gerald leading the way.

  They got to within a dozen yards before the mobs seem to realize they were there, so intent were they on talking. Alburet cast his buffs onto Tiny, once those were in place Tiny charged into the ten goblins with fervor. As Gerald engaged the Orcs Alburet slid in behind him and applied the two buffs he could. Once he had buffs in place he targeted the Goblin Shieldbearers and cast Sap Strength on them to make them lose the shields. He did the same to the one orc with a shield, but it didn’t drop it. Shrugging, he hefted his maul and stepped into the fray. As planned, Tiny had the full attention of all the goblins and Gerald all the orcs. Demonic Retribution kept them fixated on Gerald.

  Karen picked out the caster and appeared behind him, her backstab taking away a good chunk of its life. Gerald didn’t have good aggro on it, yet, so it turned to face the Assassin. Alburet, seeing the orc turn, joined in and hit it with the maul to the back of the head. The critical took off over four hundred health and almost killed it. Karen’s next attack dropped it dead.

  “No more caster,” Karen chuckled, joining in one the mob Gerald was attacking.

  Bob spoke up, “Master, Tiny could use a hand with his caster.”

  Alburet dodged over to the goblin group and with three hits killed the caster there before rebuffing Tiny with Demonic Vitality. Then he stepped back over to the orc group and set about damaging them. The fight, while long, wasn’t exactly hard with Marysue there to keep Gerald healed. The only one who came close to dying was Tiny before Gerald was able to AoE taunt the goblins off of him. Once they were all dead, the group looted up and recovered health and mana.
r />   Quest Completed: Stop the Goblins and Orcs meeting in the southern province

  Receive: Twenty gold and increased reputation with all Stormguard Guard factions.

  Return to the Commander to receive the coins.

  “Not hard, just long,” Gerald laughed. “Your minions are way more useful than people give them credit for. Thanks for inviting us. We also got credit for the quest. Oh and ding, I leveled.”

  “Me too,” Marysue chimed in, “level fourteen now.

  “Grats you two on the level. As for my minions, it’s because I have a good relationship with them,” Alburet replied. “Bob and Tiny both view me with Respect which means 50% increases to their stats and main utility, damage for Bob and health for Tiny.”