by Troy Osgood
Hall glanced at Roxhard to see if the Dwarf had leveled. Nothing seemed to show that he had. The Smuggler Chief had been worth a lot of experience compared to other kills, that was probably the difference. It didn’t appear that Leigh had leveled either.
Kelly was quickly flipping through the Ledger, trying to read it in the dark. The high walls of River’s Side completely blocked out the last rays of the setting sun, making the space dark with shadows. The guard couldn’t really see anything.
“Yeah,” she said finally, smiling. “This is it.”
She slipped the Ledger into a small pouch on her belt. She looked up at Hall, waiting.
“Was there anything else there?” she asked after a bit.
“No,” Hall answered with a shrug.
She glanced at the packs they were all carrying, raising an eyebrow in question. Hall just shrugged again.
“Whatever,” Kelly said with a smile. “Helps us out more if the stuff never turns up,” she added with a glance.
Hall nodded, understanding. She was saying to not sell the smuggler’s goods anywhere in Essec. With the loss of that shipment, it meant whatever she and Guard Captain Henry were able to smuggle into Grayhold would be in that much greater demand.
“Yeah, you get it,” Kelly said with a nod.
You have earned +300 Alliance points with Watchman Kelly. She appreciates your silent understanding of the situation. It would be easy to reveal her operation, and she respects you for not doing that.
“Thanks again,” Kelly said. “Henry said I should take a chance on you and looks like he was right. Don’t have any additional work right now, but once you get settled, seek out a merchant in Land’s Edge Port named Marken or one in Auld on Edin named Dyson. I’ll send word to them to keep an eye out for you.”
Hall thanked her, and Kelly walked away back toward the front of the barracks. They turned the other way, back toward the River’s Fall. He didn’t understand what she meant by settled, but having the contacts would come in handy. He wasn’t sure he wanted to get involved in a smuggling operation. Not that deeply, anyway. More options for the future was good, though.
Stepping back onto the streets, they saw the shops closing for the night. Any attempt at selling the loot would have to wait until tomorrow. That was fine with Hall. He was tired and looking forward to a good meal and comfortable bed.
“Long time, no see,” a voice said from behind and to the side. One he recognized.
Turning he saw the Witch, Sabine, walking toward them. She was smiling and dressed differently. The robe she wore was tight, form fitting, but one piece. There were long slits up the sides, exposing upper thighs, and long flared sleeves covered her arms. The neckline was still plunging, a necklace with a large jewel visible, but the material looked thicker and sturdier than what he had last seen her in. Knee-high leather boots finished her new look. She carried a smooth wooden staff topped in a jewel. It was hard to make out colors and details in the dark.
She turned a full circle, arms out.
“Like the new look?” she asked. “Turns out that a Witch’s starting outfit really isn’t that useful for adventuring in the forest.”
Hall laughed. Most of the armor in the game had not been designed with environment or weather in mind. It was designed for aesthetics only, not practicality.
“How have you been?” he asked. “Where have you been?”
“Around. After that first day I went out into the wilds. Got a quest to kill some wolves and found a lot of herbs. Made some skill gains, but more importantly, I was able to get some money. Upgraded my gear and headed out to see what I could discover about our new world. You?”
“The same pretty much,” Hall answered. Even though they had only interacted for a brief conversation, he was glad to see her. “Working on a couple quests. Heading out tomorrow.”
Sabine nodded and glanced at Roxhard and Leigh, who she studied longer. She looked down at Angus with a frown. Hall wished Pike was on his shoulder and not in the trees outside of town. He wanted to show off his Companion, which he found odd. He was not a bragger, but for some reason he wanted to impress Sabine. He immediately thought of Leigh. He wanted to impress her as well, but didn’t feel the need to brag. Hall wondered what was different between the two women.
“Roxhard,” he said, introducing the Dwarf. He saw recognition flash through her eyes. Hall hoped she wouldn’t say anything about Roxhard’s behavior the first day in the Laughing Horse. She didn’t. “And this is Leigh, a Druid of the Tree. We were heading to the Inn for dinner. Want to join us?”
Roxhard nodded, and Hall worried the Dwarf might develop another crush. Or maybe he was happy Sabine was around, which could take Hall’s attention away from Leigh? For her part, Leigh did not look eager to have Sabine join them. But she didn’t protest.
“Sounds good,” Sabine replied, moving to walk next to Hall with Leigh on the other side.
“I sent you a mail,” Hall said after the meal and first round of drinks had appeared. “Never heard back, was wondering how you were.”
“Didn’t get it until I checked the post office here in River’s Side,” Sabine replied. “I was going to write you back before I left tomorrow.” She took a drink of her wine, a red. “Weird that we have to actually physically receive the mail, right?”
Hall shrugged. He hadn’t really thought about it as Sabine was the only one he had sent anything to and couldn’t think of a reason anyone would send a letter to him.
“How else would the post work?” Leigh asked. Sabine ignored her.
“That’s not the only thing,” she said, leaning in closer, excited. “When out adventuring with Roxhard, were you partied up?”
“No,” Hall replied. “Didn’t even think of it.” Which was odd, he thought. That was a normal thing, almost automatic, to do when heading out with someone else.
“I tried the morning after we met when we went looking for the Goblins,” Roxhard said. “But there was no tab or command that I could find. Gave up and it just slipped my mind. Had forgotten all about that until now.”
“But you were able to share the quest?” Sabine asked.
“Yeah,” Roxhard said. “I got the later part when we got to that spot, not the first part that Hall had which started the chain.”
“Hold on,” Hall said, his mug stopping midway as the thought occurred to him. “How did the post even know you’d be here?”
Sabine sat back, surprised.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “That is very strange. It’s like some aspects of the game mechanics are kept and the rest are as if the world was real. Haven’t you noticed how this world feels so,” she paused, thinking of the right word, looking up at the ceiling and then the hearth before returning her gaze to Hall, “more real?”
He thought about it and realized she was right. When playing Sky Realms Online, he had known it was a game, everything computer generated. But now? It had never looked completely real, obviously a computer program. Ever since the glitch, or the patch, or whatever it really was, he had noticed that everything had more life. More definition, like the bloody wounds he had seen and left on monsters and enemies. He thought of the Smuggler Archer’s arm torn to shreds. He thought of the actions of NPCs he had encountered, less confined to parameters set by programming and more free thinking.
“The mail from Electronic Storm said it’s been two years,” Roxhard pointed out. “Better tech.”
“No way,” Sabine said. “Trust me, I work-” She paused. Sadness and confusion passed through her eyes before she started speaking again. “I used to work, I guess, in the industry. There is no way the tech advanced that fast in two years.”
“I agree. It seems real. It seems true,” Hall said. “But if it’s not tech, then what is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Hall thought back to their first, and previously only, conversation. The Duelist, Cuthard, had said they were stuck in the game, nothing really different. Sabine had ask
ed if he agreed, and he had said that he wasn’t sure. Something was telling him that this was real. Even if they were just bits of data saved on a server, it felt and seemed real. It looked and smelled and felt real.
“The Inn looks pretty full,” Sabine said after a while.
They had finished the meal and started in on their second round of drinks. Leigh was still drinking ale where Sabine had started her second glass of wine.
“We managed to get a room earlier,” Roxhard said quickly. “It’s got four beds, and there’s only three of us.”
“Are you inviting me to spend the night with you?” Sabine said with a smile directly toward Roxhard.
The Dwarf coughed and sputtered, spitting out his drink. Both Sabine and Leigh laughed. Roxhard just looked embarrassed.
“You can have the last bed,” Hall told her.
“Thank you.”
The moon shone through the room’s glass filled window. The shutters were pulled to block out most of the light but some still crept in through the cracks in the boards. The beds were comfortable, four of them with two to a side and a small hearth at the far end of the room. There had been no need to stoke the fire, the blankets provided were enough.
Hall stared up at the rough beam ceiling. The two women were silent while Roxhard was snoring. He had his Character Sheet open, looking through his Attributes and Skills. He was doing pretty well, he thought. A strong mix of Skills that gave him some versatility and damage along with the means of making some money. He wasn’t sure about Cartography yet, but had until after they discovered the treasure to decide. Would Sabine be interested in going with them? He allocated his new Attribute point to Willpower. He would need an increase in Energy once he had Leaping Stab trained.
With a thought, he closed the sheet.
He was approaching leveling with a new mindset, he realized. Before it had been all about what skills and stats would best aid him in combat. Now there were other concerns. Even if they were just bits of data, the world was vastly different. It wasn’t about just combat anymore. All the roleplaying skills and abilities would now have a purpose.
It meant a new way of thinking and playing, or more accurately living, the game.
He rolled over on his side. Leigh had the bed next to his. She was on her side, sleeping and facing him. He studied the lines of her face in the moonlight. He realized that he had been wrong before. Leigh’s features were unique, not similar to any other NPCs he had seen. He had thought her pretty but he was discovering she was far more beautiful than he had first thought.
To save server space, the developers had used repeated looks for the non-essential NPCs, the ones that weren’t unique or vital to the various storylines. He had thought some of her appearance to be shared among other NPCs, but that was wrong. She was uniquely Leigh. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he had not seen a single repeated look since arriving in the Portal Room at the Laughing Horse. Just like in reality, here everyone was different.
More evidence that this new world, new version of the game, was different. Was real.
Leigh’s eyes opened, and she looked at him. She smiled.
He smiled back.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Morning came, sunlight replacing the moonlight through the cracks in the shutters.
Hall woke at first light. His movements, not quiet enough, soon woke the two women. Leigh was up first, stretching and yawning. Her curly red hair was a mess, sticking up in all directions. It took her a couple minutes to somewhat smooth it down. Sabine was more graceful, her hair already presentable. Roxhard kept snoring until Hall kicked his bed.
The four made their way down to the common room where breakfast was ordered. Roxhard tried to get an ale but a stern look from Hall had him switching to juice like the others.
“You said you were heading out this morning,” Sabine asked as she finished up her plate and pushed it out of the way. “Where are you going?”
“Have a couple quests,” Hall answered. “After finishing one up in the mountains to the North, we’re heading to Edin to help Leigh.”
Sabine stared down at the table, quiet and not as confident as she normally appeared to be. She sighed and looked up, not focusing on any of them.
“The last few weeks have been rough,” she admitted. “When I first set out from Grayhold I went out with a couple of other Players. I wish I had managed to find you,” she said to Hall. “I feel like I can trust you. Those others I couldn’t. They weren’t…” she paused and shook her head sadly. “They weren’t good people.”
Hall waited for her to say more but she didn’t, lost in her private thoughts. He wondered what exactly had happened. Players of the game ran the full length and breadth of humanity. There were some that lived out fantasies, good and bad, and there were some that were angels while others were more devils. Luckily, that was the smaller percentage of players, but they were the loudest. Hall had discovered that was common on the internet, the loudest people were often the worst.
“Long story short,” Sabine continued, once again focusing on Hall. “If I could, I’d like to tag along with you guys. I really don’t want to be alone out there anymore.”
It didn’t take long for Hall to make his decision. He had liked Sabine from the start, and he didn’t think it was just because of her good-looking avatar. No one judged anyone on looks alone in the Sky Realms game as all Players were near-perfect physical specimens. In a world where everyone, the Players at least, were all handsome and beautiful, it took more to judge a person.
“I’m good with that,” Hall answered. “But not up to just me.”
He had noticed that everyone, now even Sabine, was deferring to his judgement. He had hated being the Raid Leader the couple times he had done it. He was good at it, had received lots of compliments, but being the leader was not something he desired.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Roxhard said quickly. Too quickly. He hadn’t really thought it through, just followed Hall’s lead.
Hall looked at Leigh. She had been watching the conversation, not joining in. Now she was surprised to be included.
“You’re asking me?” she asked, looking at Hall.
“You’re part of the group,” he answered.
He saw the quick look of surprise and confusion that passed across Sabine's face. She knew that Leigh was not a Player, so must have not been expecting Hall to treat her like she was one. He wondered how many NPCs Sabine had interacted with and if she knew how less restricted by programming they were now. Or was there now going to be Player prejudice against NPCs? It would be something he’d have to keep an eye on if Sabine was going to journey with them. As far as he was concerned, Leigh was an equal.
You have earned +500 Alliance points with Leigh. She is surprised to be included as a full member of the group. She knows she is along because you agreed to help her with her quest. By including her as part of the group, she feels closer to you.
That caught him by surprise. So far, there had been no mention or discussion between Player and NPC about their statuses. He had wondered if the NPCs even realized there was a difference. Was there even a difference? They were people, and if he was really trapped in this world with them, he was going to have to start thinking of them that way. He already thought of Leigh as a person, he would have to add all the other NPCs to that thinking as well. He was as computer generated as they were now.
“Yeah,” Leigh said, still shocked. “I’m fine with that. A Witch is always handy to have around.”
“Thank you,” Sabine said smiling, relieved.
Hall wondered what had really happened to her since he had last seen her that first day.
“Have you noticed how few Players there are?” Sabine asked as they exited the gate, following the road toward the west and the main road that led to Land’s Edge Port. “Besides you two, I haven’t seen any others here, and River’s Side used to be busy.”
“Last time I saw any were down in Grayhold a week or mor
e ago,” Hall said as he looked over the people in River’s Side. They were all NPCs, people he amended. Merchants, shop keeps and guards. “And there was only a dozen or so that first day in the Laughing Horse.”
“Doesn’t seem like many,” Sabine added. “Twenty million or so players, right? So, say a couple million playing at a single time. How many were caught in the glitch like we were? I don’t know. A dozen just seems a small amount.”
He hadn’t thought about it but she had a point. There should have been hundreds appearing in the Laughing Horse like they had. The low number didn’t fit with the ratios. There were a lot of people playing. Even something random like that glitch should have affected more, and it didn’t make sense for Electronic Storm to upload just some of them at a time.
“Grayhold isn’t the only starting zone,” Roxhard pointed out.
Which was true. Each of the five races, eight if you included the three Human races, had their own starting zone. But Hall had noticed Dwarves, Elves, Firbolgs, and Bodin in The Laughing Horse, were at level one. They should have been in their own zones. He pointed that out.
“That’s what makes it even weirder,” Sabine said. “Did anyone even appear in those other starting zones, and if so, why did Roxhard appear at Grayhold? I saw a Firbolg, and there was that Elf, Cut-something or other.”
A single wagon pulled by two horses came down the road toward them. They stepped off the road and let the wagon pass. As busy as the sideroad to River’s Side usually was, it was still only one wagon wide. Hall took the time to pull out the treasure map. He compared the landmarks on that map to his own and made some marks on his.
Skill Gain!
Cartography Rank 2 +.2
