The Crafting of Chess

by Kit Falbo

  In a voice with a mixture of sadness and scorn Alerin addresses Tyrone, “Why do you have to try to destroy everything you touch?”

  Soon half of Tyrone’s attack force lie dead, and the rest are retreating. Tyrone is escorted back onto the stage, two Duelists at his side, each firmly gripping an arm.

  Eo gets off the stage, his now lone bodyguard trailing him and walks to me. He looks bloody and beaten, yet slightly revived due to the heals. “I want to thank you. I would have died without your support.”

  I didn’t expect him to notice that, me being the first with the others following up. It takes a moment to think up a response. “I couldn’t watch the slaughter. I had to do something. I support Jasper in the election. He is my companion.”

  Eo’s eyes widen in surprise then narrow as he goes through his own thoughts. “My apologies then, for some of the comments I have made about Touched during this endeavor. You have my thanks, Chess.”

  “You are not all wrong about the uncaring nature of Touched. I’m just glad you see that not all of us are as bad as we are made out to be. I’m glad I could help.”

  He gives a little bow of goodbye, and I return it.

  There are several minutes of conversations and regaining composure among everyone in the underground ballroom. Alerin himself darts over to other groups to get a word in while I just stand there admiring the game. Jasper chuckles at some comment one of his bodyguards makes. Alura uses a spell to clean up her appearance, so she looks as good as when she arrived. Tyrone just stands there restrained, fuming.

  The announcer’s voice is back. “Ahem.” His clearing of his throat echoes everywhere. “Now that the statements have been settled, the voting will commence. Voters focus in your mind the name of the candidate you wish to be elected. Be it Eo Trubard, Alura Fairbloom, Jasper Fells, or Tyrone King.” At this point, the announcer is having difficulty keeping disdain out of his voice when he said Tyrone’s name. “Begin.”

  The room glows and sparkles as magic infuses the air. Lights drift up from the voters and swirl toward the candidates on the stage coalescing over the candidates. Two bright balls over Eo and Alura, a dim almost dark sphere over Tyrone. The brightest shines over Jasper, flaring before exploding into fireworks that danced around the room. “The winner is Jasper Fells!” the announcer announces. The crowd gives a round of applause then make their way back to the refreshments table.

  Behind me, I feel a hug that has the strength and size that it can only be from Alerin King. “We did it!” he announces. “This probably counts as the most exciting election in decades!”

  “Did you doubt it?” I ask.

  “I totally expected us to lose, even with Jasper’s hard work and all your money,” he says with cheer in his voice. ”Your save of Eo, hell your save of all of them, really helped tip the scales. You really are smarter than you look. Now we can move on to the more serious stage of making Jasper king.”

  I don’t know if I should feel insulted or proud. I itch at a chance to win. “Just tell me what I need to do next.”

  “Go home, work, rest, celebrate. I’ll contact you after everything here is settled. First, I need to make a prayer to the gods about this.” His voice and manner took a slightly off tone when he mentions the prayer, but then he adjusts and jubilantly helps me out of the underground where we part ways, and I head back to the forge.

  Chapter Twenty-Four - Casey Ellis

  “Now welcoming Chase Ellis, one of the lead designers of Immersion Arts hit game Fair Quest. “

  I try to turn my grimace into a grin as I walk out. It’s Casey, damn it. I wave at the cameraman and technicians as though they are an audience. In response, there is canned applause. The producer had stressed maintaining the illusion. Normally it would be Sun out here doing the interviews, but this is my chance to get my feet wet before committing to the EU job.

  “Well, Chase…”

  “Casey.” I correct him. I can see anger in Jimmy Stovell’s eyes at that. Even in his online review days, before jumping to the mainstream after online monetization went belly up, he was known for his big personality. There are still online reviewers who get more views. They just have no money in it anymore. Since he upgraded from his anime shirts to a nice suit, it is clear that Jimmy likes money.

  “Well Chasey—”

  I don’t correct him this time, and his grin widens ever so slightly.

  “—this latest patch has continued to get mixed reviews from the Fair Quest fan base and vocal cries of outrage from many. They feel ten-minute revival time is too much given the limits on headset usage and the cost of the reactive rooms.”

  “Starting revival times are still five minutes, in fact with the changes, players’ average revival time is down to four minutes. It is even possible to have instant revival, which would have major benefits for guilds and teams who can afford to have that player teleport back into battle. We really wanted to focus on the benefits that could be gained by building a good image and relationships with the NPC of the game.”

  “The players and guilds who now have ten-minute wait times disagree. They feel they are being targeted unfairly for how they want to play the game. Even now, they have high-level NPC hunting them. How do you respond to their concerns?”

  “Actions have consequences in Fair Quest. It’s a selling point of the game. You can’t just destroy a group of NPC and not expect the law to come after you. Long memories and an ever-changing landscape are the result of players’ actions. Players can grab their own destinies. The revival time based on how you are perceived in the game makes sense and will be in place for the future EU and Asia releases. I can assure you, no one is being targeted.”

  Jimmy put his hands up in a sign that he didn’t really believe that. “There you have it; Immersion Arts says its players are not being targeted.” His tone makes it clear that he feels they are. “Now, Chasey, with the startling emergence of Pods allowing for long-term gaming in places like China and Korea, is Immersion Arts ready to support living in Fair Quest?”

  Pods are one of the headaches that we don’t want to deal with as a company. As much as they are a dream of gamers, none of us wants to see them spread everywhere. “Immersion Arts is proud of our relationship with reactive rooms and that players of our games have shown major health improvements with their use. We have no current plans for compatibility with those untested systems. We don’t expect them to become legal in the United States for decades to come.”

  “So, you don’t believe the rumors of Pods being fast-tracked as a medical device in the EU?”

  I hadn’t heard anything about that and find myself giving Jimmy a strained smile, “No Comment.” The work phone in my pocket vibrates. They all know I have an interview scheduled, so I’m surprised anyone would text me.

  Jimmy leans forward, “One more question, Castey.” My temper flares as he continues to not use my real name. There were also only supposed to be two questions, one on the patch and one on Pods. “What is Immersion Arts’ stance on players who have fallen in love with NPC or feel that they are people and deserve rights?”

  Sun’s official thoughts on that were that it’s just a game and they are just characters that can be changed or removed at will. Talk of anything different is strongly discouraged at work. Sally avoids the topic. Frank is well, Frank, and it’s easy to remember his jarring conversation well: “They’re game characters, balls of code that react based on their architecture and experience in sometimes random ways. They have no bodies, no souls.” He then took an overly large bite of his submarine sandwich before continuing. “Of course, souls are not real even for us. We base all our decisions on our genetics and experiences. We just have non-digital bodies. Not too different from us in how we live, except their world is limited to Fair Quest, and we get the whole world.” Just enough of a non-answer to be annoying.

  I look back at Jimmy, “We are very proud of how lifelike our NPC are and that it separates our game from the competition. People hav
e always cared about or fallen in love with characters from books, and games, movies and cartoons. It is a sign we are good at our job. As lifelike as they can appear, they are video game characters and are not alive.”

  Jimmy points at the camera and speaks to his audience. “There you have it losers, grow up and get a real girlfriend.” Canned applause and cheers echo from the sound system again as the interview shuts down. When the camera light shuts off Jimmy turns to me. “They should have told you not to correct me.” His tone makes it clear that he isn’t really talking to me nor is he expecting a response.

  I try to give him a friendly nod while getting up. The unpleasantness is enough to make me doubt a little if I even want Sun’s job for the EU release. I check my phone. It’s Sun.

  Alternate victory is active. Come in ASAP for a meeting.

  All I can think of is how today is going to get even longer. I call my wife and let her know I need to stop by the office after my flight home and to have dinner without me.

  I spend the whole flight back thinking. Alternative victory is our plan for what to do if player development stalls. It would be decided the Kingdom needs a king to move forward and players would have an opportunity to work hard and impress the High Council to be Kingmaker with their companion. There would be a new small cash reward for the main Man of Masks quest, and the game would continue to expand in response. Only a handful of people at the company know about the alternative victory plan: Me, Sun, Sally, Frank. It was a break glass in case of emergency type of scenario.

  When I finally get into the office, I let Sun know I’m back, leave my luggage at my desk and head to the private meeting room. Sun and Sally are waiting for me. “Welcome back Casey. Or should I be calling you Chase or Chasey now?”

  Sally snickers a little at Sun’s comments. I just wave him off. “Yeah, yeah, I bet you knew that was going to happen.”

  “Jimmy is always a dick. If you can put up with him, you can handle the rest of the media in the job. Good answer to the NPC question too.”

  “So, what’s up with the Alternative Victory? Or do we need to wait for Frank to show up first?”

  Sally pipes up. “Sent him home early. When he finds out about this, I’m not expecting a pleasant reaction.”

  “Why? He’s always hated the designed Kingmaker quest and how the NPC are forced to think of it as the solution.”

  Sun grimaces a little, “Chess is the player working for the alternative victory.” Inwardly I groan, Frank has never let the Gioachino incident go. Sun gives me a moment to think before he continues. “I don’t want to believe that a player has some connection inside the company, which you know Frank will claim. But even if there is a small chance and it ends up that it is true, it would put a stain on the company. It might even destroy the company. Of course, it could also be bad if we actively use the game to stop him from winning if he can. “

  I look from Sun to Sally, “So, what should we do? How much time do we have?” I ask.

  Sally speaks up first. “It could be days, but most likely weeks before a petition is put before the High Council. Then we will have one week before they vote if it makes it that far. No way of knowing exactly what they will decide. The scenario was designed for multiple players lobbying for this type of action. Just one player trying will have them decide on the original contest or this one companion. They could even open it up for all players to participate in.”

  I wrack my brain for what I know about how we set up the politics in the game. “Shouldn’t it be hard to even get a petition?”

  “Chess has already gotten his companion on the city council, making the petition pretty much a formality. The NPC who is aware of the Kingmaker goal apparently didn’t believe there was a shot of this working until that happened. He was also cynical about him even winning that victory. We set it up so that an NPC would pray to the gods and contact us only if they truly believe a player will become Kingmaker. Similar to how they contact us if there is a belief of excessive abuse.”

  “Who was the NPC?”

  “Alerin King.” Sun answers. I wince, that is another thing that will set Frank off. He is one of the dozens of high-level NPC architectures that he’s worked on and is proudest of. I even designed his office.

  “One of his spies discover the plot?”

  Sally shook her head, “He’s supporting Chess in his quest. Says he found Jasper, Chess’s companion, poking around about entering politics and decided on his own to support them. Arranged for most of the election support.”

  “Jesus,” I mutter.

  Sun turns to both of us. “Sally will be doing an internal audit checking to see if there was any internal access to the alternate victory plan and if anyone has figured it out on their own. I’m going to have you review the player’s game activity, and I’ve scheduled you for a management seminar in his home city in a couple weeks and want you to do a thorough vetting if you can.”

  I find my stomach clenching worse than it had during the interview with Jimmy. Looking into the life of a teen is not something I want to do. “Is that even legal?”

  Sun didn’t look comfortable himself when he answers. “According to our lawyers, it is covered in the terms and conditions. With Chess being a minor, I won’t say that it is black and white, but there is a clause dealing with suspicion of collusion or cheating that gives us some leeway. We will not tell Frank any of this.”

  I spend the drive home wondering if I should have put my foot down and refused. But if I had, would it have cost me that spot as head of Fair Quest EU?

  Chapter Twenty-Five - Chess

  Gramps is gone when I get up, and his collection of garage sale gems is smaller in size. Not the giant ugly purple and orange monstrosity though. He told me he’d found an outlet for selling some of them. It would be a lie to say I’m not a little afraid he is up to his old tricks. Though he did promise he wasn’t lying to anyone, the man can still stretch the truth farther than you can pull taffy. On the other hand, I know better than to go digging too hard. After all, he hasn’t looked too hard into the fact I used my real info for my bank and gaming accounts.

  With no point waiting for breakfast, I stop by Gamer’s Gate on my way to the immersion center, not to brag but do more research. I only have a few days of work before I become a master smith, I’m also coming up on intermediate level of my artificer profession. All of this means I can start to work my fancy metals, which adds a whole new type of difficulty.

  I could easily run through the supply I have in a week, and with no solid supply line, that might be a big mistake, flood the market and then have nothing. Worse, I don’t even have a sense of how valuable the stuff is, so picking a starting value for the auction house will take time. Plus, with Jasper at his new job, I am running low on good crafting materials.

  It all boils down to less time working, and more time doing quests, so I can get back to working. I’m glad Gramps is no longer asking for money and has even managed to pick up some of the rent and groceries with his sales. I find myself making a to-do list, with a promise to spend half my day trying to complete some of them.

  ◻ Figure out the values of the rare metal I do have.

  ◻ Find a consistent source for one or more of the metals.

  ◻ Figure a way to get more and better crafting materials.

  ◻ See if I can get any new skills from Laslow when I hit intermediate.

  Of course, if I manage my end run at being the Kingmaker all of this can be tackled at my leisure. Sure, I won’t have access to the money for a few years, but knowing it is there would help.

  I’m playing a waiting game now. Alerin told me he would contact me if he needed help and Jasper is busy learning his new job. It’s almost like one of those phone games where you need to wait x hours or days before collecting your reward. Most of the quotes online about pestering NPC involved in your quests tend to either end them early or make it more difficult. The plan has always been a long shot anyway.

  I s
queeze into the reactive room gear and log on. The smell of horses, sweat, and the forge hits me in a wave as I transition into the game. The election has gotten me another level, lucky thirteen, thanks to the experience generated from the event. I now have a new area of effect class spell, Sorcerous Storm, which randomly generates lightning strikes hitting anything in the area underneath it every few seconds. So, for me, basically useless. I wave to Byron and Mort as I enter the work area.

  “Ho, Chess! Come to put in another long day?” Byron asks with a smile.

  I shake my head a little. “I actually have to put in some other work before I can get back to working at full steam.” I give him a slight smile. “I was wondering if I can ask you for some advice?”

  “Sure thing, Chess. I hear stories of how other Touched show up at a smithy and after only a few hours are yelling, demanding ways for them to become a great smith and make good weapons like you do. You’ve always just shown up and put in the work. I’ll be glad to help.”

  “I can tell I’ll be a master smith soon and want to know if there is a way to get better metal to work with consistently? You know, the kind of things I used when making weapons for the heads of the orders. I’d also like to figure out the value of the ingots I do have. Can you help with any of that?”

  “We pretty much just get iron here, maybe some copper and silver ingots for certain projects. Citizens just don’t ask for the fancy stuff for their orders. I can tell you who we order our supplies from in the market district. They might have an idea of where to get that specialty stuff and be able to appraise what you have. I’ll write you a letter of recommendation. If you just show up being a Touched, they’ll probably make you jump through dozens of hoops before they help you. Maybe this way it will only be a few hoops.”