by Jackson Gray
“Whose there” I replied as I slipped my robe back on.
“Do you want company?” I heard a rough female voice say.
I opened the door to find a forty something year old woman looking back at me. Although everyone in the game started out with a flawless complexion I could tell this woman was probably a druggie in real life.
“It’ll cost you 20 silver, if you want me to bring a friend the price goes up to fifty” she said as if she was selling a bar of soap or something. In reality I would have sent this woman on her merry way but I was having a horrible day despite my in game character having a decent start. In the end it was only a game and I was robbed of real life. I of course gave her the fifty silver as she brought a friend along. There was no passion but despite their appearance they knew exactly what they were doing, I was pleased to see I performed a little better in game than I did in real life but an hour later they were gone and I slept soundly.
I awoke and could see the sun shining through my window. I headed down stairs where I heard a commotion; the mobsters had returned and had armed themselves again. I could look at their stats and tell they had no stamina, they must have grinded all night in the beginning dungeon to outfit themselves again. The focus of their intent was on the twins who were at level 7 where both of the mobsters were at level 9. I could not see Dylan or Gage but did not worry too much about it. If you killed a character within city limits your character spent a week in jail if you started the fight. This was something the twins must have known .
“Where is that fucking mage at?” Big Sally saidas he grabbed one of the twins by the collar.
“Hey you know if you attack that guy the guards will be here in a second” I said as I came down the stairs.
“Here the little shit is now” Frankie said as he looked my way. “You is lucky we don’t know who you are in real life little man. If you give me back all the shit you stole from us plus 100 gold I am willing to look the other way”.
“Fuck you, I’m an orphan” I said as a sat down at the bar and signaled the barkeep who was silent and worried looking for food and drink.
“I don’t think you understand” Big sally said as he made his way over to me. “Once we get off of this island I am a made man, there will already be big piles of gold and gear waiting for both of us when we get out. I can persuade other characters to make your life hell”.
“Good luck on that” I said and tucked into my bowl of soup. The mobsters gave each other a look then vanished out of the door. I could see the twins sigh in relief as the barkeep came over to me.
“You immortal ones have it made but I would watch those two if I were you” the barkeep said as she wiped her counter.
“What do you mean by immortal ones?” I asked.
“Whenever you die, you get to come back, it’s not the same for us” the woman began as she put down her rag. “Whenever one of my kind dies, we don’t respawn, a copy is made and sent in our place that has a whole different mind. If one of my kind can go three months or so without dying we start becoming aware and able to hold a conversation unlike the new blood which just repeats the same things over and over again. Sometimes the immortal ones just attack my kind for the hell of it, although the penalties are stiff, one week in jail and loss of all levels and skill points. I am a level six now myself since I have been going out at night and fighting them wolf pups along with others in town. Last night though the Darlene who runs the mount shop didn’t make it back. I thought she had died and expected a new Darlene to be created but when I went to her shop she was gone. If only someone would go to the small clearing where we were killing wolves last night and see if she is there.
I accepted the quest as an icon appeared on my map. I minimized it and headed outside. I had been playing for a full day now and had not visited a skill trainer, although I wondered if that was even possible since I was unaware of what my status was in game. In Virtual Earth there were three kinds of recognized players, Premium subscribers, regular subscribers and free subscribers. Premium subscriptions came with the ability to sprint without any stamina being used as well as a free mount, usually a chestnut horse modeled after Secretariat the triple crown winner only available to premium subscribers. Perhaps their biggest perk though is that they are given a stronghold once every year. While the castles they receive are not very big, they come equipped with strong shields that single players no matter how strong could ever break. Only a dedicated raid by top players could hope to bring them down. A guild could capture a stronghold for themselves but normal non premium players find it easy to build one from the ground up and hope no others discover what they are doing before they could get their shields in place. Premium players also have access to the in game bank for free so they do not have to carry all of their money on them at once. Regular subscribers gain the sprint skill but nothing really of note. Free subscribers are hampered, their inventory bag holds a lot less gear maxing out at ten items and they can only have a total of 10 gold at any one time, effectively making it impossible for them to buy any high level items. I already had carried a little more than ten items so at least I was not considered a free player. I decided to forgo the skill trainer and made my way outside the town and crept to the area that was written on my map, happy the mobsters were nowhere around. The hunting area was not far away as a heard a scream followed by a crash. I rushed as fast as a could go, my ability hampered my speed and used up my stamina as I saw a woman laying at the base of a tree on a branch that had obviously been her perch away from the wolf who was attacking her. When I say wolf I don’t mean a pup, this was an actual wolf.
I ran over to where the wolf had a hold of the woman’s leg and brought my staff down hard on its back. The wolf faltered a little but kept shaking the limb as blood started pouring everywhere. I hit the wolf again, this time I had gotten its attention. The wolf turned to me and grabbed ahold of my weapon with its teeth and ripped it out of my hand. I jumped back as the wolf turned back around to fight the woman who was shuffling on the ground to regain her footing. I went after the wolf after grabbing my staff and hit it again as the woman started taking even more damage. She kicked at the wolf with her good leg but I could tell she was getting weak when I had an idea. I clicked on the woman and sent her a party invite which she accepted. I struck the wolf again and could see the woman regain her footing as the wolf now started tearing me apart. The wolf went after my throat and had me down to 8% health as the woman I went to save finally finished it off. A status box pooped in my vision letting me know I had leveled up again and completed the quest.
.
The skill still sucked but at least I could see a bright spot forming, the way I read it, 10% experience would affect the entire team, all I needed to level up was to make sure I was never by myself. I limped a bit as Darlene quit my party then ran a few feet before vanishing. I knew she would already be at the town in her stall when I got there. I scavenged the wolf and received its pelt for my trouble. I had barely made it in town as my two enemies were walking out. If I was a little slower they could have killed me without any repercussions. Frankie started towards me but one of the female guards cleared her throat and looked our way. She like all guards here was a level 20 and more than capable of kill me along with the mobsters and throw us all in prison. The mobsters gave me the throat cutting sign and departed as I limped to a potions shop. I walked inside and was met by a girl of no more than sixteen.
“What can I do for you today, you are bleeding everywhere” she said her blond hair flying all over the place.
“I just need some potions to heal up a bit” I replied as I felt real pain fighting that damn wolf. The girl walked to the wall and grabbed a red vial filled with red liquid and handed it to me. I looked at the price and paid the 20 silver and downed the vial. It only restored 20 hit points so I bought four more which at least gave me back a respectable amount of health.
“You know to save yourself a little money you could always visit a skill trainer
and learn to make your own potions, I just happen to know one that is real cheap” The girl said as a woman walked from behind the curtain behind the counter.
“Daisha leave this man alone, what did I tell you about being out here anyway?” The woman said scolding the girl. The woman was obviously the alchemist who had made the potions I had drank. She leveled me a stare which told me to get the hell out and I did. I walked a little ways and looked at my map, it was glowing where Darlene’s shop would be so I made my way over to her place. The building was off to one side and I could see several broken down looking ponies and mules in the yard. I scanned them and could see the prices were way out of my price range, 10,000 gold for a broken down pony? Darlene must hadn’t sold any animals on the island but that probably was the point. I walked into her shop where I could see her and the barkeep Tavoria laughing at a joke being told by the alchemist who I had just left at her shop. How the woman made it over here so fast though I had no idea, I walked closer as the women noticed me.
“Here is my hero now” Darlene said looking still a bit sluggish but happy nonetheless.
“I can’t thank you enough, here take this” Tavoria said as she handed me some type of cookie. I ate it as a status box popped in my vision.
Finally a skill I could use but I started getting a little wary, players under level 50 could only have access to three skills, those above that level could have six. I already had two I could not get rid of although one was luckily getting ready to be maxed out. Special skills only went up 5 levels, the fifth level you received the biggest jump and I was already at level four in that stupid team player skill. I smiled at the women who nodded back at me, Darlene was the next person to hand me something, a spell book.
“I know you are going to want to leave like the others, but if you ever want to come back you have a place here” Darlene said as she handed over the book. I started reading the book as the pages started flying by as the book disintegrated into dust, a new pop up came into view.
Now this was I spell I could freaking use! I thanked her profusely and left the building. I was not great on my own but in a party I could really find my place in this world. I went back to the inn but the Bolly brothers and Gage had already left, Tabitha though was there, I watched as she pick pocketed some guy who was to enamored with one of the busty patrons to notice. Tabitha took his money bag, took out a gold coin then put the bag back as she signaled to the other girl, who promptly stopped leaning over the table so the guy in question could view her considerable assets. Tabitha made way towards the door and met my eyes and gave me a little wink as her friend followed her outside. The man seemed disappointed but he would be pissed if he knew he had been robbed. I walked outside where I saw Tabitha disappear around a corner after making eye contact. I followed her around it as a pair of strong hands threw me into the wall.
“Alright Fool” Tabitha said as her busty friend was surprisingly the one with the strength. I saw her name was Helga Armstrong, if there was a more fitting name out there I did not know. “I know you saw me take a coin off of that guy, if you squeal ima stick you, to hell with losing levels”.
“Uh I didn’t see nothing” I said as Helga released her grip somewhat. I could see that she was a warrior, but I was too low leveled to see much of anything else. She was a level 10 though, and quick math told me if she poured all of her attribute points on strength like most warrior class newbies, she had to have about 30 strength points, which made her five times stronger than me.
“I heard you were tricking last night with some busted up skanks” Tabitha said as her friend laughed a little bit.
“I don’t ask you about your exploits you don’t ask me about mine. How did you know that by the way?” I asked as Tabitha’s face went from serious to a smirk.
“I was a madam in Vegas before I got busted” Tabitha said as she gripped my manhood beneath the robe, getting my full and undivided attention. “I ran girls to all the big shots, everything went to hell when some asshole scarred Helga’s face and cut off one of her arms at the elbow. I kept tabs on the creep and when Helga got better I had one of my girls who moonlights at Coffee Masters to roofie his coffee and paid him a little visit at his house. We cut things off of him for fucking with us, things that I knew he would miss”. She said the last part as she tightened her grip on me, Helga for her part strengthened her hold. “We got caught because I didn’t notice the damn hidden cameras he had all over his place and we were sent here. Helga was sent here first and we just hooked back up last night when she found me in Mandalo. Now I have a proposition for you”.
“Trust me Tabitha you have my full attention” I said as her pressure increased slightly on my testicles.
“I have enough money to leave this place but not the level or the ability” Tabitha said as she got closer to me her face and mine inches apart. “If we die out in the wild before reaching the boat, then this would be for nothing. I want you to help us get to this boat along with helping me reach level 10. You do this and we will show you what real fun night is supposed to feel like”.
Of course I took her up on her offer as she let me go, much to my relief. Helga thogh held me fast until I accepted their party request.
“That’s why I love this fucking game” Helga said as she turned around. “Men are not the strongest, I could have broke that guy”.
“Hey I am right here” I spoke as the busty woman looked my way and then laughed.
“I hope this guy is worth it boss” Helga said continuing her conversation. “The fighting gets tougher towards the shore, there are many people who sit in wait to rob any trying to leave the island, I have been killed twice that way”.
“Well the three of us can do it” Tabitha said triumphantly. “I just need to get to level 10, let’s go hunting”.
We walked outside of the tiny town which a now knew was named Menstrual, I was amazed the programmers got away with that name but I left it alone. Tabitha was leading us to the only other cave on the small island, when a group of four men blocked our path. They were all rogue types, quick and could strike hard and had little defense. At level 15 these guys were hard to stop since they could then specialize in one of two branches, assassin or smuggler. The assassin could use stealth and always scored a critical if they caught you unawares, the smugglers normally had the best gear from their class quests. Helga readied herself along with Tabitha as I waited in the back. All of these four were level 9 and looked to be well outfitted.
“Ladies, Ladies” a rogue dressed in all black said, his name unimportant to me. “Now this could go one of two ways, if your friend there gives us all of his money and loot and if you two treat us real nice, maybe you can keep your lives after all of us have had a go”.
Tabitha didn’t answer but instead charged and scored a hit. Her opponent was taller than she was and kicked her hard, sending her to the ground. No matter what the stats were these guys were taller and at least one of them looked like he knew how to fight with a blade. Helga stood her ground as two of the rogues started launching throwing knives at her. Tabitha got back to her feet and sprinted through the party intending on getting the knife throwers. I watched as Tabitha weaved through and struck out at the shortest one, from the quickness of her strike I could guess what she did. Even with my boost she was moving fast, I suspected she had put all of her attribute points on speed and it was showing here. She would strike, then retreat while trying to stay away from the others to avoid getting flanked. Helga shoulder charged one rogue which knocked the man down, stunning him a little. I watched as she brought all of her strength down with a sword strike which was a critical hit and a killing blow, erasing 100% of the man’s life points. They all looked towards Helga now as she started picking up speed. She was not quite as fast as the rogues were, but she was definitely close to their speed as they had a hard time getting away from her which led them straight into Tabitha’s grip. I even got a hit on one as two more of their number fell. The last tried to turn and flee but
was too slow to run away from Tabitha who didn’t really hit hard but could attack multiple times with her strikes. We divvied up the loot they had dropped and were surprised at what they had received. The four must have already beat the dungeon we were headed to, as they obviously killed the black witch who I knew was the end boss of the other dungeon as her items were included amongst the loot, there were six different Rings of the Black Witch, they must have killed her multiple times and kept getting the reward or they just killed whoever came out of the cave tired, either way I was excited as one of the rings while similar to the others was not a green drop like the other five but a purple ultra-rare drop which had a significant difference in that this ring recovered mana.
Now we were getting somewhere I thought as I slipped the ring on my finger. Purple drops happened once in every 100,000 tries from a boss character that normally dropped green loot. True there were boss characters that always dropped purple items but they were a different animal entirely. What I did know was there couldn’t be too many of these things around since the Black Witch was Mandalo specific. Tabitha had leveled up during the fight twice, as she was now at level 9. My experience boost must have kicked in big time I thought as I could see Helga pull out a health vial then pause.