“I have traveled a great journey to arrive at the majestic town of Drax, and am searching for this city’s Temple of Myra. I, the realms greatest Paladin, wish to pay homage to the Great One!” the dwarf said while placing both fists on his hips and looking off into the distance. Lorcan had the feeling he was supposed to be impressed, but all it did was make him wonder if the dwarf was crazy. Some of the tavern patrons looked over at the loud spectacle.
“Do you see his name?” Lorcan mumbled to Jacob, who shook his head no. “Where could it be? He must be an NPC to talk like that, let alone be a dwarf.”
“Ha!” The dwarf scoffed as he approached them. “I know not what an ‘In Pee See’ is, but I can assure you I am no such thing! I am called Gilnar Stonecrusher by friends and foes alike.” The dwarf crossed his arms and struck another pose.
A minute or two passed as everyone stared blankly at him. It was out of confusion, although Lorcan had the distinct impression that Gilnar thought it was out of awe.
“The Temple is on the east side of town. When you reach the Ranger School, just take a right and you are there.”
Lorcan and Gilnar looked over towards the bar where the voice came from. A man sat there nursing his beer with his back turned to the them.
“A thousand thanks to you, good sir. Pray tell, are you also an adherent to The Way?” Gilnar asked with hopeful curiosity.
“I don’t have time for fairy tales or chatting it up with RP freaks. Please just leave.”
Gilnar seemed taken aback for a half a second, but then reverted to smiling as if nothing had happened. It didn’t seem like much could affect the dwarf’s happy disposition for more than a moment.
“Very well then. As a thanks for your time, if any of you ever need a blessing from the Great One then feel free to come by the Temple any time and I can assist you. I shall be here for the next few months before continuing on my to the next city’s temple.” And with that Gilnar left.
“What does RP mean?” Lorcan asked Jacob as the tavern went back to how it was before it’s loud interruption.
“I think Role Playing. I’ve heard some people get so into The Game that they begin to talk and act like this world is real. Since The Game has medieval concepts people will talk formally to each other. I was under the impression they mostly did this in designated towns or amongst themselves and not with other people. I’ve never actually met someone doing it.”
“Gilnar seemed nice enough, just strange. I wonder how he became a dwarf?”
A tavern maid came by to pick up their empty mugs.
“Excuse me, have you ever seen a player that has turned into another race?” Lorcan asked.
The tavern maid smiled. “A few. Players that have beaten the dungeon entitled Hodge’s Lair meet with an angel that will alter them into a race of their choosing. You won’t see many of them here in Drax though, as this is more of a starting area. Hodge’s Lair is both a level 20 dungeon and past a PvP area, so you’ve got to be pretty strong or lucky to make it through there. If you run into a player that isn’t a human, you can be sure that they are tough!” She finished gathering up mugs in their vicinity and went back into the kitchen.
“Huh, Gilnar must be pretty strong then?” Lorcan said to Jacob excitedly.
“Looks like it. We’ll be even stronger than him sooner than you know it. If I had choice of a race I don’t think I would pick a dwarf. I wonder what made him choose that over any of the cooler ones…”
“I think now is probably a good time for me to head over to the Mage’s Hall, wanna come with?”
“As comical as that would be, getting to see all of the rejects that picked Mage, unfortunately only a Mage can set foot inside of their training quarters. That’s the same for all the other classes too, so you couldn’t follow me into the Warrior Barracks either.” Jacob raised an eyebrow. “Did you not pay any attention in school the last couple of years?”
“Uh… well… I was focused on learning more about combat and the general distinctions between the classes I was interested in, rather than paying too much attention to the little details… Anyway, what will you do while I go in?”
“Not too far from there is a post office. Apparently, I’ve got a package to pick up.”
“Really? From whom?”
“Do I have the package with me? I have no idea who it’s from, knucklehead. I just got a notification that there is something waiting for me.”
“Any ideas?”
“Not a clue. My mom hates Hyperion’s Keep and refuses to play, and I wasn’t close with any of my classmates from school.” Jacob shrugged.
“That’s kinda strange. Okay, well I’m ready to head out if you are.”
“Sounds good.”
Chapter 6
Lorcan walked into Drax’s Mage Hall and was… disappointed. There was hardly anyone around and all the people that were there were just NPCs. This made the giant hallways seem empty and cold as Lorcan walked down them. All along the walls were pictures of Hyperion’s Keep’s famous early Mages and spell casters important to The Game’s story line. The floor sparkled with emeralds as the floating candles above reflected light down below.
I guess there really is no one choosing Mage these days, Lorcan thought solemnly. What was he going to do? People typically learned from other player’s guides on how best to play their class, but he never came across any Mage guides when he was in the real world. He would still be able to learn spells and other combat techniques from the NPC trainers, but this wouldn’t give him any special advantages that players of the other classes got by copying the top rated players before them. Even worse, he wouldn’t be trained in how best to manage in PvP situations which were much more difficult and movement dependent than PvE fights. He was somewhat concerned about crossing into PvP territory before when he thought he was going to be a Druid, but now he was petrified. The only way to cross over into the mid and late game content was to cross through PvP designated areas, so the day would come when he would have to fight other players.
Lorcan shook his head to clear his thoughts. Those days were far ahead of him; he should just focus on the here and now. No sense in getting worried about something that wouldn’t take place for years, realistically.
After following the signs and asking a few non-helpful NPCs on where the low level Mage trainers were located, Lorcan finally found the room he needed. The door overhead was written in some arcane language but with a clear “Levels 1-10” written underneath. Lorcan proceeded inside, where he was met with an overwhelmingly sweet smell. Strangely shaped glass containers filled the room with bright neon liquid contained within. Several small telescopes were pointing out of windows and one big one through the ceiling. An NPC with the flashing green name “Kaelin Brewer” was reading a book next to a giant bookshelf. Finally, the person Lorcan needed to talk to in order to complete his very first quest!
“Hello Kaelin. I am a new Mage and was sent to come talk to you. My name is Lorcan.”
Kaelin looked up from his book with a smile.
“Welcome Lorcan, thank you for coming. Here is some gold for accomplishing your first quest!” Kaelin walked over and handed Lorcan 10 gold. The flashing of Kaelin’s name slowed to a stop, signaling that the quest had been completed.
“As a brand new Mage and player, allow me to briefly explain some about your role in Hyperion’s Keep. The point of the Mage class is to bring as much magical damage as possible to the table. While you will be a primary damage dealer, be sure to keep an eye on your positioning and health. Mages have lower armor and health compared to most classes, and are unable to heal themselves outside of potions or resting. Party composition will be key for your survival. At a minimum you will want to also travel with a tank, while ideally adding a healer and perhaps addition damage. Four man groups are recommended whenever going into a PvP area or fighting high level enemies within PvE.”
Kaelin paused to make sure Lorcan was following.
>
“Spell casting is the focal point of your class, and will manifest itself in many different ways. This may come through single target burst damage, or area of effect spells. You will also be able to provide crowd control by polymorphing, binding, and confusing enemies. Some of these spells will come through training with me while others can be found in books and scrolls.
“These can be bought from certain vendors across Hyperion’s Keep, picked off of defeated mobs, and even found in hidden spots across the world. The spells you learn from me will initially be at a very low level, although as you continue to get stronger your spell strength will grow with you. Spells you learn from scrolls and books will be stronger initially, and may or may not grow in ability as you level.
“Another way to increase you power is through the use of magical items and equipment. These can found found or purchased just like spell books and scrolls. The items will have certain benefits and occasional drawbacks to being activated, and may expire after one use or require a cool down period. In addition to abilities, many magical items will also modify your character stats, sometimes referred to as attributes. The primary attribute for you will be Intelligence, followed closely by Wisdom and Charisma.”
Lorcan nodded to show he understood.
“Excellent,” continued Kaelin. “I will now teach you your first spell, firebolt. This technique will allow you to cast a low level fire spell with no cost to your mana. This will come in handy later on as you begin to learn mana intense spells. Since this spell doesn’t cost mana, it should come as no surprise that this spell won’t do an impressive amount of damage per hit. The key to using this spell will be to cast it continuously in order to take down your foes. Be sure to not take on higher level monsters on your own, as they may pack a tougher punch than you are prepared for!”
“When will I be able to learn higher level spells that actually use mana?” Lorcan asked.
“Not until you reach level 10,” Kaelin answered with a smile.
“But that could take months!”
“Precisely. This will give you time to get used to Hyperion’s Keep and your new abilities. By the time you reach level 10 you will be more capable of handling the next tier of spells. I look forward to seeing you then!”
With a final smile, Kaelin walked back to the bookshelf and opened up his book to where it was. Lorcan wasn’t looking forward to the coming weeks with just one spell. Hopefully he’d be able to find some magical items to help him and Jacob.
Chapter 7
As Lorcan made it to the northern gate to meet up with Jacob, he found his friend sitting on a bench bent over reading a book.
“Hey Jacob, whatcha reading?”
Jacob sat up straight and shoved the book into a bag.
“I got a new fighting stance book.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s basically the same thing as a spell book for other classes, except it is Warrior specific. This book was the package that I received. It’s odd… this is an extremely rare book that no one at the post office had heard of before, so it must be expensive. There was no name attached with the package though.”
“Is that normal?”
Jacob paused. “I don’t believe so. It’s possible they sent it to the wrong person and I got lucky.”
“Warrior is the most played class. That’s probably what it is. Either way, it’s good for you! Wanna show me what you’ve learned?”
Jacob shook his head. “I can’t. This isn’t like training with an NPC. Learning spells and moves from a book or scroll takes time to read through and perfect. It’ll be several weeks or maybe even a month or two before I’m able to use the ability with any real skill. How about you? Learn any cool spells?”
Lorcan sighed. “Just one, firebolt. It doesn’t use any mana which is nice, but it sounds like it won’t do a lot of damage and is just single-target.”
“That’s no big deal, I hit pretty hard and can tank quite a bit of damage so the two of us should be fine. I’ve already got a plan mapped out on where we should go. There’s a nice hidden ogre spawn point we can farm. They are somewhat tough and level 5, but I could take them on by myself when I was level 2. Let’s start heading that way and I’ll have you fight a weak creature on our way.”
Lorcan and Jacob started out into the forest ahead of them. Several travelers were going to and fro on the main path, which branched off every few hundred feet. Jacob seemed to know where he was going, and after seven or so branches he started down a different path. After a few moments of silently walking, Jacob stopped. Lorcan followed him behind a tree where they were able to see a wild boar. Jacob picked up a small pebble next to the tree they were hiding behind and turned to Lorcan.
“The wild boar on this path are weak and helped me get from level one to two. Why don’t you take on that boar by yourself and we can see what you are made of.”
“Why don’t we work together on this first o-”
Jacob took the pebble and slung it at the boar, hitting it on the back. Immediately as he let go of the rock, he shove Lorcan out into the opening. The boar turned around and locked eyes on Lorcan.
“Now wait a second…” Lorcan said while backing up with his hands up.
The boar took off at a full sprint towards Lorcan, its tusks reflecting the sunlight. There was no other option. Lorcan reached his left hand out and focused all of his power into his palm. A small ball of fire conjured on his command. I feel so powerful! Lorcan thought. Maybe Kaelin was wrong on the strength of this spell! Lorcan arched his arm back and let the firebolt fly. The spell struck the boar right between the eye… which it promptly shrugged off as it barreled into the Mage. Lorcan flew backwards and tripped over a vine, landing with a crash on his back.
35 of 70 HP remaining.
Lorcan quickly gathered fire to both hands and started chucking firebolts as fast as he could at the boar.
40 of 50 HP remaining.
35 of 50 HP remaining.
The boar was nearly upon him and he couldn’t do anything to stop it! One more hit from the boar and it would be over, not just this one by the real one too! Lorcan brought his arms up in front of his face in a last ditch effort.
The boar squealed and…
Nothing.
Lorcan peered over his arms and saw Jacob standing over the boar, pulling his sword out. Jacob looked over and smiled.
“From now on I think I’ll distract while you attack from a distance.”
Chapter 8
Present Day
Jacob walked over to the ogre’s body, wondering what stupid joke Lorcan was making. Jacob had been farming ogres in this spot for the past several months and had not found anything of note, besides decent gold drops.
Lorcan held up a red orb, mist slowly turning inside.
Jacob paused. “What is that?”
“‘Orb of Agner’ is what it says.”
“It looks cool, but what does it do?”
“The description says ‘This is the Orb of Agner, one of the most sought after legendary items in Hyperion’s Keep. Holder beware. When activated, the Orb explodes outward dealing 200 damage to all enemies within a 60 foot radius. The holder’s HP is automatically dropped to 1 HP.’ It also says it is on a 48 hour cooldown and +5 to Intelligence.”
After a moment, Jacob started laughing.
“Classic Hyperion’s Keep, making everything sound so dramatic.”
“Do you think having this will cause me any issues? I know there are bounty hunters and bandits in PvP areas that run scripts to see what items other characters have.”
“No, I’ve never heard of this item before. I doubt you have anything to worry about. Besides, just stay in PvE areas and no one can attack you even if they wanted to.”
Jacob took out his sword from behind him, arched his back, and swung the sword down lightning fast at Lorcan. Lorcan panicked and froze as the sword slammed into his collar bone.
Except… there was
no pain. The sword just laid against neck, no doing any damage whatsoever.
“See,” said Jacob as he sheathed his sword again, “Players can’t hurt each other in PvE areas even if they try to. The government turned that off to help cut back on crime, and placed the PvP areas away from major cities so that new players wouldn’t accidentally get caught out there.”
“Oh.. I didn’t know that.”
“And now you do,” Remarked Jacob as he started to walk away. It had been over a month since they had been back in the real world, and Jacob was day dreaming about all the Credits he could cash in from his gold. “It has been a while since we logged out, how about we start heading back to Drax and take a break? I think it would do some good for the both of us.”
“Sure that works for me. I haven’t exchanged in gold before for Credits, so that would be good to learn how to do.”
The journey back to Drax was a few hours. The ogre spawn camp was pretty out of the way from any trails, and required them to go through the Forest of Hildebrand. The forest was a main exit point north of Drax that allowed adventurers to look for hidden towns, farm various mobs, or continue on to other major cities. The south, east, and west of Drax was a mountain range that could not be passed.
Making their way back to one of the major trails in the Forest of Hildebrand, Jacob was lost in thought. There were no major mobs on their way back, so they had nothing to worry about. He glanced over at Lorcan to make sure he was keeping up. Lorcan was staring intently at the red orb in his hand.
That orb is very powerful, Jacob thought to himself. 200 HP is more than most mobs in The Game, let alone the beginner friendly area of Hildebrand that they had yet to venture out of. Perhaps with this orb they could start farming bigger and more dangerous groups to quickly get experience and even better loot. Obviously there was a major negative of using the Orb of Agner, since it would leave the user with just 1 HP. However, with Jacob there to protect him as they went back to a tavern or inn that shouldn’t be much of an issue. This could be a serious opportunity for the two of them to make it big in this game, and therefore make it big in real life.
The Orb of Agner Page 2