by Dante Doom
“Great! Let’s go get to the town as quickly as possible,” Van said with a friendly smile. She scowled a little at him, but didn’t say anything. She knew it was only a matter of time before his true colors emerged, and then what?
9
Sang quietly followed Van through the town of Hearthborne. The scenery had changed significantly since they’d been in the bright village by the ocean. Now they were at the base of a massive mountain range and it wasn’t particularly pretty outside. The sky was blood red, and the town seemed to be hushed, even muted. NPCs scuttled from house to house, and there were very few people outside at any given time. There was the perpetual smell of charcoal and ash that had made Sang gag initially, though, and with each breath it seemed to just get worse. The smell of smoke was simply ever-present.
“Here’s the place!” Van said as they walked up to the tavern. “Here’s where we can find a party for our first dungeon.”
“I said we were doing this all alone,” Sang protested.
Van spun around and faced her, shaking his head. “The problem is that we can’t get the right questline without the proper amount of people. See, in order to unlock the Mountains of Mortal Peril, we must get an NPC. There’s one quest coming up that can help us get a companion NPC guide, The Thorne in the Sheriff’s Side, but we need people to do that.”
“How many?”
“I think three or four should do it. But three as the minimum.”
Sang crossed her arms. “I don’t like working with people I don’t know. Who’s to say we can trust them?”
“Well, from what I can tell, it seems like you don’t like working with people that you do know either, so deal with it. Come on, let’s go.”
And with that, Van entered into the Staggering Miner Tavern.
Sang grumbled, but followed after him, entering the ornately decorated tavern. The inside was a lot different than she would have expected. The walls were all made out of stone, as were the tables and chairs. Everything seemed to have been crafted expertly. She was even somewhat impressed with the design. It was strange, but as she continued to get deeper and deeper into the game, the more she admired the craftsmanship that went into rendering and designing the world. Sometimes she would even forget, for a very brief moment, that she was inside of a video game. Those moments were strange, but it was hard to deny that they existed.
“Perfect, check out all those players!” Van said, pointing out all of the people who were sitting at the tables and drinking. They were dressed much differently than the NPCs that Sang had encountered previously, and the way they talked indicated that they were indeed real people.
“Who should we pick?” Sang asked as she looked at the groups. Some were very poorly armed and armored, while others seemed pretty scary-looking.
“Let’s do the classic bunch over there,” Van said, pointing to two men and a woman sitting at the table. The woman was wearing white robes of some sort and the men were in plate mail armor.
“Classic?”
“Yeah, check their profiles,” Van said.
Sang pulled up the profile of the woman.
“Cleric?” Sang repeated. “That means she can heal, right? With magic?”
“Yeah, somewhat. Magic’s kinda nerfed in this world, but every bit helps. The real beauty of a cleric is that they can use scrolls and wands of healing—those are pretty common.”
“Okay, so what do we do? How do we convince them to join us?” Sang asked.
“Follow my lead,” Van said as he approached the table. The humorous tone and laughter of the party died down as they all looked to Van.
“Behold! I am Semimodo and this here is my ally, Jane!” Van said. “We are here in this great Dwarven town to find a worthy crew to join us on a daring raid, for there is an evil sheriff who has imprisoned many a man and woman who are innocent! Join us and perhaps together we can free them!”
“Indeed, brave traveler!” said the man, the name Alcius hovering above him. “We, too, have come to find worthy soldiers who can join our cause to free the innocent from the clutches of the sheriff!”
“Hear, hear!” said the rest of the party.
“Great, then shall we unite in a common team? Shall we serve this realm?” Van asked.
“Indeed, we shall!” Alcius said as he stood up and shook Van’s hand. Sang was impressed with how easily Van had talked them into joining their group. She had always assumed that Van would be horrifically awkward in a conversation with strangers, but he seemed to handle it well enough. The rest of the party stood up and introduced themselves. There was Alcius the paladin of justice, Simara the cleric, and Frager the fighter.
“Great!” Van said, shaking hands with all of them. “Then let’s not waste a second. We’ll need to head toward Castle Redscale, and it’s not too far off.”
“We shall meet with you there!” Alcius said, looking back at his party. “We need to grab gear and pack up our camp.”
“Perfect,” Van said, “we’ll meet you there.”
With that, the party quickly left the tavern. Sang frowned. “And so, what, they just join us that easily?” she asked.
“Yeah... well, joining makeshift groups for quests is pretty standard in this world. Sometimes a group does really well together and forms a permanent party and sometimes it’s just for one mission.”
“And you think we can trust them?” Sang asked.
“No reason not to, really,” Van said. “I mean, at the end of the day, a quest is a quest. People need each other to win fights and get loot. So, I mean, they could be total jerks, but that doesn’t mean they won’t help us advance toward our goals.”
“What if they kill us and take our stuff?”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Van said in between gulps of the beer a server had brought to the table. “If you kill another player, you automatically get marked with a skull on your name. That means you’re an outlaw, and anyone has easy access to knowing that about you. There’s usually a gold reward for killing outlaws and most people do it as a public service. And outlaws also have permadeath, so they die for good once they’re killed.”
“That seems like a harsh punishment.”
“Keeps the game interesting since players aren’t easily killed be each other, allowing for trust to be built up, but the option is always there. I doubt these folks want to become outlaws, so we’ll be fine.”
“Great, then let’s get to that castle that you were talking about,” Sang said.
“Sure thing,” Van said as he stood from the table, “but first, you need to get some better arrows. Go to the arrow shop nearby and grab some; I’ll check out the local area for rumors and see if I can get any additional information about this quest.”
Sang opened her mouth to complain about him barking orders, but he was gone before she’d had a chance. She bit her lip, feeling the urge to chew him out, but ultimately knew it wouldn’t do any good. But what was the point of getting better arrows anyway? It would just be an endless cycle of item upgrades. That was one element that she certainly didn’t like about the game. Everything was always about getting stronger gear, items, and weapons. Nothing was ever good enough the way it was—no, she was always being told to get better stuff. Her arrows were fine the way they were, though, so far as she was concerned.
Instead of heading to the arrow shop, she scowled a little and sat at the bar, ordering a virtual whiskey. It wouldn’t do the same thing that real whiskey did, but at least she could pretend it was going to help.
Van fought off nerves as he approached the massive castle. It was huge, and he could see the menacing words Castle Redscale hovering above it. He was nervous not for the mission, at all, but about how Sang was going to interact with this group of adventurers. Alcius seemed like a nice guy and they had been messaging back and forth, but Sang seemed to have nothing but suspicion and contempt for everyone they met. He had tried to play it cool, but knew that if she didn’t behave well, the other party might bail at a moment’s notice.
“There they are,” Sang said as they reached the front of the massive gate. Alcius, Frager, and Simara were all waiting for them.
“Hail!” Alcius said. “We’ve already done the first part of the mission! We’ve gotten the key to the dungeon and found the tunnel.”
“That’s the easiest part,” Van joked as he approached them.
“Well, we left the hard part for you!” Frager said, laughing a deep throaty laugh. He was a tall, stocky man with a tattoo on the right side of his face. The tattoo was in the shape of an eagle.
“As we hoped!” Van replied back. It was nice talking to real people again. His company, Sang, had been such a terrible companion that oftentimes he’d caught himself wondering if she wasn’t just some kind of NPC. But these were his kind of people.
“So, what’s the strategy?” Sang asked.
“It’s simple. The sheriff owns this here castle. He’s a pretty terrible guy—locks all sorts of innocent people up. We’re gonna take this secret tunnel to the dungeon, open the door, kill all the guards, and lead the people to sweet, sweet freedom,” Van replied. “The best part of this plan is that, after we rescue everyone, we all get to pick an NPC to join us as a companion. We’ll get the Dwarf unlocked, and he can guide us through the mountains.”
“Ah, the Dwarf is a fine choice,” Alcius said. “We want the Elven Berserker, as he’ll take us to the Hinterlands!”
“Good spot to go!” Van replied, “I hear they’re nice this time of year, too—full of loot and easily killable monsters!” He heard Sang scoff behind them. “Alright, enough chit-chat, let’s get moving.”
They went over to a collection of barrels and moved them aside. There was a secret hatch underneath one of the barrels, revealing a stairwell going deep under the ground.
“It’s said that this is how the castle guard is able to get supplies in and out in case of a siege!” Simara said as she peered down the stairwell.
“The formation is simple,” Van said. “Sang, you’re in front because you’ve got the bow. We’ll back you up. Your job is to shoot the patrolmen who are down there. If you don’t take them down in one shot, you’re going to be in a world of hurt, so make it count. If a guard doesn’t die immediately, he’s going to sound the alarm.”
“Fine, I’ve got it,” Sang grumbled.
He knew she didn’t particularly like taking orders from him, but she didn’t say anything more, which he appreciated.
“If the alarm goes off, we’ll move forward and just start killing until we’re in the clear, but it’s gonna suck a lot more,” Van continued. “Is everyone ready?”
“Aye!” Frager said, “Let’s do this!”
“Healing spells at the ready!” said the near useless cleric. If she didn’t have any wands, she wouldn’t do any good for any of them.
“Let’s go!” Van said. They all descended deep into the tunnels, going down the stairs and into darkness. No one dared to light a torch for fear of catching the attention of the guards who were patrolling down below.
“Alright, we’re looking good!” Van said as he took a deep breath. The cold, murky air brought forth a putrid smell which he recognized as Orc flesh. Hopefully, Sang would be able to kill them without alerting the rest of the castle’s inhabitants.
They walked through the tunnels quietly—until they reached a part of the tunnels where they opened up into a large complex of even more tunnels.
“Great. Which way do we go?” Sang asked. There was some light due to the torches that were on the wall, and they could see at least 15 entrances.
“Uhhh, I think it’s the door on the left,” said Frager.
“How do you know that?” Van whispered.
“I’m completely guessing, but I have a good feeling about it,” Frager said.
“Leave the guesswork for figuring out who your dad is,” Alcius said, eliciting a chuckle from the group. “It’s on the right, fourth door down. It’s in the map that I bought earlier.”
“Perfect!” Van exclaimed as they all approached the fourth door on the right. As they came up to it, the door opened up and an Orc strolled out. Orc Level 6 was floating atop his head and there was a symbol of a horn next to him, meaning that he was a patrolman.
“Shoot!” Van ordered.
Sang sprang into action by pulling her bow back and letting loose a perfect shot. The arrow sailed like a bird through the air and bounced right off the head of the orc. Insufficient damage hovered above the Orc’s head.
“What the hell?” Alcius gasped. The Orc immediately grabbed its hunting horn and let out a loud balooooo. It echoed throughout the entire tunnel network. The Orc then disappeared back through the door it had come from, and they heard a loud bolting sound, as if the door were being locked.
“Aw, crap, get ready for a fight!” Van said, as he could hear hundreds of feet echoing through the halls.
“Fight? Fight!” Alcius said, gasping in shock. “Insufficient damage? Is your partner using beginner arrows?”
“What? No!” Van said, looking quickly at Sang’s inventory.
Equipped: Beginner’s Arrows (+1 DMG, 0 Armor Penetration)
He grimaced at the sight of her supplies. This wasn’t good at all.
Alcius had apparently done the same thing. “We’re out of here! We can’t fight a full group with just three people!”
“Wait, I have a sword!” Sang shouted.
“A beginner’s sword!” Frager yelled in response as the other group began to run toward the exit.
“Come on, we can… come on!” Van shouted in vain. He turned to face Sang. “You idiot! Why the hell didn’t you get good arrows?”
“I thought I didn’t need them; I thought it was just more gamer jargon that wasn’t actually necessary!”
Van gritted his teeth and grabbed her. “We’ve gotta get out of here!”
They turned and fled after the party, hearing behind them the sound of doors being opened and Orcs running out as they echoed through the tunnels.
“Are you kidding me?” Van shouted as they turned a corner to see that the other party members were all on the ground, their health bars at zero. Standing above their corpses were eight Elite Orcs Level 8. This didn’t look good.
10
“Come on, back the way we came!” Van shouted as he ran backwards, only to find there was another swarm of Orcs heading their way. “Ahhhh, crap! Think! Think!”
“This way! Sang said as she pointed to a ladder that ran up the side of the tunnel they were in. He hadn’t seen it until she pointed it out, and realized that her Spot skill allowed her to see the secret door. They quickly clambered up the ladder, climbing into total darkness as they heard the Orcs loudly shouting at one another, looking for more people to kill.
“You killed those guys back there!” Van said, “I hope you know that! The alarm sounded and they panicked because you messed up!”
“I didn’t mean to—”
“No! You absolutely did mean to!” Van shouted as he climbed up the ladder and over its edge. It seemed that they were in some sort of storage area. The words Secret Found! greeted him as he looked around the storage room. There was some treasure lying around—mostly gold, so that wasn’t a bad deal. The trapdoor leading down the ladder they had been on was easy enough to lock and seal up, but then they had no idea where they were.
“I thought it would be fine if I used my regular arrows,” Sang replied, crossing her arms defensively.
“I told you to get better arrows! This game is just like real life; if an organization panics and breaks their cohesion, or doesn’t have the gear they need, they will be slaughtered very quickly. We’re lucky that you found this hidden area, but frankly, you are the reason those three players are dead, and they’re going to be pissed. We’re going to lose some reputation points for sure as soon as they make it to a town.”
“Look, it was a mistake, okay?”
“No, a mistake is making a poor judgement call,” Van said. “You mad
e a willful choice to screw us over and didn’t bother to consider the consequences.”
“I—”
“We don’t have time for this,” Van interrupted. “Look, I know you might not think I’m a good person or whatever, but you’ve got to listen to me if we’re gonna get out of this alive. No complaints.”
“Van—”
“No. Complaints,” Van interrupted again. He looked at his mini-map. Thanks to his work investigating rumors earlier, he was able to figure out where they were. The secret treasure room was directly adjacent to the weapons storage facility, meaning that they could get some better gear and maybe even a disguise or two. The alarm had already been set off, though, so that meant the only way out was through fighting, or finding some kind of clever way to sneak out. The two of them had no combat efficiency at all, so it was only a matter of time before they died if they couldn’t find some secret exit.
“Fine, whatever,” Sang grumbled.
“Unbelievable,” Van muttered as he slowly opened the door to the main hall and looked around. Much to his surprise, though, the room was completely empty. All of the guards had to have run down to the lower levels. “Perfect!” he said, opening the door up and creeping out. He had a very low Stealth skill, but it still might help. After looking around for a few minutes, he discovered that there truly was no one around.
“Great! Come on, let’s get some gear and get out of here!” Van said as he opened the door that was labeled Armory. There were dozens of heavy weapons and armor. There wasn’t anything that was remotely close to being wearable for his class, however.
“Is there anything that you can equip?” Van asked as Sang glanced around the room.
“Here,” she said as she grabbed hold of an iron bow and some steel arrows. “I can wield these.”
“Perfect, so now you have good arrows,” Van said, ignoring the dirty look that she shot at him. He glanced around and noticed there was a shiny medallion lying on one of the barrels. He picked it up.