“You and me both,” I said. “If you still had that protection and hadn’t pissed them off then you might be here already and we might be doing something productive!”
The sooner Kris got her Player Killed ass out here to the edge of town, the sooner we could get down to the business of figuring out a way to ruin Horizon’s plans, whatever they were, in this game. I had some half formed ideas, but I didn’t know enough about this game world yet or what Horizon was doing operating so blatantly in the game for a plan to truly come together.
“Damn it!” Kris spat.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Look up,” Kris said.
I looked up, expecting to find one of those airships that buzzed low over Nilbog every half hour or so, but I didn’t see anything.
“I meant look up from your heads up display, idiot,” Kris groused. “Not literally look up in the sky.”
I grimaced and turned to face Kris’s direction, that was something the party interface showed on the minimap that was always in the top corner of my HUD which was useful, and there Kris was just down the street.
I didn’t see what the problem was. Then the two assholes who’d obviously been using some sort of stealth ability to trail Kris stepped out of the shadows and closed in on her.
Clearly she’d been close enough to sense them before I could see them. I shivered as I remembered some of the bone chilling sound effects from older MMOs that let you know a stealth character was about to seriously fuck you up even though you couldn’t see them.
“I take it this means you didn’t lose them?” I asked.
“I’d hoped I’d lost them,” Kris said. “This fucking game should really tell you when there are rules that can accidentally flag you for PVP.”
“And it wouldn’t have mattered because you would’ve gotten so mad that you tried to attack that guy anyway,” I said. “I keep telling you getting mad just lets other people get you. That’s my number one play.”
“Good for you. Now are you going to do something to help me here?” Kris asked.
“You could always go to the keep and see if they’ll let you in,” I said, grinning as I imagined the pissed off look on her face.
“And do you have some advice that might be useful?” she growled.
“What am I supposed to do?” I asked. “You’ve got a couple of higher skill stealth dudes who are about to bend you over and have their way with you. I’m not into the idea of making that a foursome.”
“I think they’re chicks, not dudes,” Kris said.
“Well then,” I said. “That sounds like it’d be right up your alley.”
“Yeah, when I talk about wanting a threesome this isn’t what I had in mind,” Kris growled.
“Gross. The less you talk about threesomes you had the better,” I growled.
I also started towards them despite my grousing. I didn’t have a plan yet, but I was looking at my surroundings as I kept Kris talking. Always be moving, even if you had no idea what the hell you were moving towards or what the fuck you were going to do when you got there.
“Again I’d like to stress that I could really use an assist here,” Kris said.
“And again I’d like to stress that I have no idea what the fuck you want me to do,” I shot back, taking in the distance between her and the stealthers moving in on her.
“Come on,” Kris said. “You’re the one who’s always coming up with the evil plans to screw people over. Come up with something that’s going to screw over these bitches on my ass!”
“Yeah, well I’m not sure about this one,” I said. “If I try to attack then I’m flagged for PVP, and the next thing you know two guys are bending me over too and I’m the one getting screwed.”
“I told you they’re chicks,” Kris said. “And one of them looks like she’s about our level. I’m pretty sure she was in that circle earlier.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that I’m not going to die because of mistakes you made,” I said. “Sorry, but you’re on your own on this one.”
Of course I had no intention of leaving Kris on her own, but I also wanted her to sweat just a little before I swooped in for a dramatic rescue. Assuming I could pull off a dramatic rescue.
“So is this one of those times where you’re saying you’re not going to rescue me but you’re totally just saying that because you need me to react like I think no rescue is coming, or do you seriously not have anything this time?” Kris asked.
“Hey, what can I say?” I asked. “You got yourself into this situation. Why should you expect me to bail you out of it?”
“Because that’s what friends do?” she said.
I was moving through the shadows the entire time. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do, but I was sure that Kris was right. I wasn’t leaving my friend to be ravaged by these motherfuckers.
Even if another ganking was the least Kris deserved for starting a fight she couldn’t win.
“Come on,” Kris said. “You have to have something that…”
“Enough talking,” I said.
“I fucking knew it!” she said, accompanied by a fist pump.
“You know you doing stuff like that to tip off the bad guys that we’re doing something is exactly why I don’t tell you when I’m planning something like this,” I said.
“Sorry,” Kris muttered. “What am I doing?”
“Duck into that alley ahead and to your right,” I said, looking at a dark alley on the minimap that looked just right for my purposes.
“Are you fucking kidding?” Kris asked. “If I go in there it’s only going to give them a good spot where they can do the bending over in private!”
“Yeah, well in a narrow alley like that you’re also going to be able to take them on one at a time,” I said, an idea finally clicking into place. “You’re sure one of them is lower skill level?”
“Oh yeah, let me do a quick pause to inspect her stats and let you know,” Kris said.
I waited. “Well?”
“I wasn’t fucking serious!”
“Fine,” I sighed. “If you’re not going to help me then you’re going to listen to me. Get your ass in that alley.”
“Are you planning something?” Kris asked, sounding uncertain again. I’d never told her I was helping her, after all. She’d just assumed. “Because if you’re planning something this would be a great time for you to tell me all about it. I don’t want this to be one of those times where your plan working relies on me not knowing what the fuck the plan is.”
“Get used to disappointment,” I said.
I was almost on them. I pulled out my starter sword I’d never used and held it over my head, but I was very careful not to actually do anything stupid with said sword. I didn’t want to accidentally hit either of these idiots stalking my buddy, even if I did have the drop on them.
Now that I was close enough I could see Kris was right. They were both ladies. Not that I had any issue with messing with a lady who had it coming.
“Yo, she-bitch,” I said.
They both jumped. They’d been so focused on Kris that they hadn’t noticed me walking up behind them. They both turned to glare at me.
The one on the left looked a lot more impressive than the one on the right. Kris might not want to take the time to do an inspect, but I did just to be sure of what I was dealing with.
Sure enough the one on the left was decked out in that stupid Horizon Syndicate gear. The one on the right wasn’t nearly as impressive. She had some stuff with extra stats, but they were pretty basic and all bore the name “Horizon Initiate pants of what the fuck ever” which made it clear who’d been in early access and who was the noob.
“What do you want noob?” the early access chick asked.
She was tight leather from top to bottom with swords at her sides. The way she fit into that tight leather added a few points on the hotness scale. The only thing missing to complete the sexy ninja look was a mask over a pretty face that was
knocked down a couple of notches on the hotness scale because she had the sort of look that said she couldn’t wait to stick those daggers in me.
“What the fuck are you doing messing with my friend?” I asked. “You think your little lowbie friend there isn’t woman enough to take her out on her own, so you have to make it an unfair fight?”
The better equipped girl’s eyes narrowed. She glanced between me and Kris, then made a little jerking motion with her head. The newer player hesitated, looking between me and Kris, then shrugged and turned on Kris.
The meaning was clear. Maybe the newbie didn’t like the idea of taking someone on one on one, maybe it was her first time, but she was going to do it if that’s what she was ordered to do.
“I know who you are,” the early access chick said. “You’re that little shit from earlier. The one with the mouth? Torian told me all about you. Were you stupid enough to drop your PVP flag to try and take me, little lowbie? You didn’t learn the lesson Gregor taught your friend?”
She said that last bit in a singsong voice. I got the feeling this girl was the worst kind of MMO PVPer. The kind of asshole who took pleasure from ruining other players’ good time. Particularly lower level players who couldn’t fight back. The kind of ganker who never went to an actual PVP arena where they’d have to rely on skill instead of an overwhelming skill point and gear advantage.
Not the kind of person I appreciated, but exactly the kind of person I enjoyed taking out when I got the opportunity. There was nothing more satisfying than ganking a ganker.
“I had to flag myself for PVP if I’m going to save my friend, right?” I asked, licking my lips and trying my best to look very nervous about the fact that this girl was advancing on me. I was going for the sort of look I imagined someone might get after dropping their PVP protection and realizing that might not be the best of ideas.
I was hoping she was so preoccupied with the impending ganking that she didn’t realize I’d just given her one hell of an Aes Sedai answer.
“Yes,” she whispered, her voice almost as quiet as the whisper of her scabbards as she drew her swords.
Glowing red runes ran up and down their length, and when I did an inspect the swords had the Horizon Syndicate name stamped all over them, but they might as well be called Noob Cleaver considering what she was about to do with them.
“Yes I’d say you would have to do something silly like dropping your protection if you want to save your friend,” she said, confirming that it was something a person could voluntarily do by means other than attacking another player. I’d worried I was tipping my hand by claiming to do something that wasn’t even possible.
She held a sword out to point at me as she held the other one up and at the ready. “Want me to introduce you to PVP in Lotus little noobling?”
I had no intention of letting on that what I’d said about my current PVP status and what was going on with my actual PVP status were two very different things. A ganker wouldn’t be able to conceive of a situation where I could save my friend without fighting it out unfair and square with the game’s PVP mechanics.
I wasn’t an idiot, but if she was enough of an idiot that she’d take an enemy at his word then I wasn’t going to do anything to disabuse her of that notion.
I did have to admit that her sword looked impressive. Those red runes glowed and crackled with magical kickassery, and I wondered if there was a way to craft items with magical bonuses like that in the game.
I could worry about that later, though. Right now I was more concerned with information. Well, information and getting this bitch away from Kris so she had a fighting chance against that lower level stealther.
Which meant getting the one in front of me away from her without letting on that I was still totally protected from her attacks. Until the opportune moment.
So I turned and ran.
23
Player Versus Planning
I ran as fast as I could, which apparently wasn’t very fast since I could hear the Horizon bitch catching up to me. Something whooshed through the air behind me and I dove for the ground.
I imagined myself diving for the ground and doing an acrobatic roll that saved my ass while also preventing that ass from getting a sword stuck in it, but the actual result was I slammed against the grimy cobblestones and slid a couple of feet, getting an introduction to how realistic the feeling of slamming into cobblestones was in this game.
I scrambled around to my backside and pulled away from the girl. Meanwhile she did the opposite and advanced on me with her swords out.
“You’re only prolonging this,” she said.
I needed to stall. That’d been close. If her swords hit me she would’ve realized I was still immune to PvP. If she realized I was still immune she’d go back to kill Kris’s non-immune ass.
I settled on her tabard and blurted out the first thing that came to mind when I saw it.
“Why are you wearing the Horizon logo?” I asked.
“Oh, does the little baby not know who really runs this game?” the girl asked. “Well you’re about to find out. Dealing with little pricks like you is why I wear this tabard. Proudly.”
I held my hands up as though that might be enough to ward her off. I wanted to seem like I was a cornered lowbie noob, though the term “lowbie” didn’t feel like it was all that accurate in a game where a person’s ability wasn’t determined by an outright level so much as by the skills they’d leveled up.
Either way I figured the lowbie noob was more of a platonic ideal in this situation, even if it wasn’t something that truly existed in this game. So I did what I figured a lowbie noob in my situation would do when the person attacking them had paused to monologue long enough to let me put some distance between us.
I scrambled to my feet and ran. Again.
The woman cursed and ran after me, her feet slapping against the pavement as she gave up all pretense of stealth.
Why bother with stealth when she had me so thoroughly outmatched?
I rounded a corner and sprinted towards the edge of town. It was a damn good thing the whole PVP immunity thing was something that had to do with time played rather than location. I’d played some games where I would’ve been toast the moment I left a town safe zone.
I needed to draw her somewhere that would give Kris enough time to take care of business on her end. Assuming she could take care of business on her end.
It was entirely possible I was going to all this trouble leading this woman away and Kris was still going to have her ass handed to her. That lower skilled chick could’ve been running a deception or something wearing that lower level gear.
Hell, even with that less impressive gear she might be able to kick Kris’s ass even if she was just as new to the game as we were.
“How are you doing?” I asked in party chat, breathing heavily. The stitch forming in my side was way too realistic.
“A little busy right now,” Kris said, the clang of weapons echoing in the background. “But it looks like this chick is a noob in slightly less than noob clothing.”
“Good to hear,” I said with a grin.
To quote an ancient bit of entertainment: I loved it when a plan came together. Especially when it was something I’d put together on the fly without much hope of it actually working.
“I’m going to get you, you little shit!” my pursuer cried out after me. “And when I get ahold of you I’m going to flay you alive and bring back your skin for Gregor and Torian to make into a new piece of leather armor!”
Great. Not only was she trying to kill me, but she was also an unhinged nutjob.
I figured that was going to create a hell of an ethics debate the first time someone tried to go all creepy serial killer on someone else in this game given the realism. Or the first time someone tried to rape someone or do any of a myriad of things that fucked up people could do in a realistic game like this.
I really didn’t want to be the first subject of someone doing so
mething ethically questionable enough that it created that debate about whether or not torture was something the game would allow. I had to hope my plan would hold together.
“Have to catch me first!” I shouted over my shoulder.
I rounded another corner and dashed down an alley without thinking about what I was doing, and that proved to be a mistake. I quickly found myself at the end of said grimy and disgusting alley where there was literally no escape. I looked up and around to see if there was a way to climb out of the place, but there was nothing obvious.
“I’ve got you now, you little shit,” the woman growled. “Torian is going to be very happy with me.”
I whirled around and eyed the swords this woman was raising at me. She smiled as she brought her swords down on me. I heard a whoosh and felt the air moving ahead of the things as her triumphant expression turned to confusion when her swords didn’t make contact. No, they jerked to the side in a rubbery motion instead of neatly lobbing my head off. As though there was an invisible shield around me.
Which, of course, there totally was. I grinned as the girl looked at me with slowly dawning realization.
“Oops,” I said. “Did you think I’d be stupid enough to flag myself for PVP when I don’t have a chance of taking you in a fair fight?”
“But why would you…”
Her eyes went wide. She’d realized, too late, what I was doing. Her lips moved but no noise reached me as she talked in her own party chat. Not that it mattered. I could tell from the way her expression darkened that she wasn’t learning anything she cared for.
“You little piece of shit,” she said, coming out of her private chat. “I’m going to get you for that.”
“You keep saying that,” I said. “But I’m not afraid of you and whatever threats you want to toss my way. If your bossman and her minions in leather and robes couldn’t scare me then you’re not doing jack shit.”
I turned my attention to Kris. I did look off to the side to make it clear I wasn’t talking to the crazy lady in front of me. I also wondered if there was a setting that allowed my party chat conversation to be broadcast in local chat around me, and a little option glowed at the bottom of my heads up display letting me know the game interface had made it so.
Spellcraft Page 16