by Jeff Sproul
Aaron shrugged and slowly brought up another scoop of his ice cream. “There’s word that they want to expand PVP in the game.” Aaron spoke about the Player vs Player element within Sigil Online, where players would fight each other, and not the plethora of monsters that existed.
“Tournaments were used as a safe environment for players to fight each other, without risk of losing your character. But when the tournament isn’t going on, a lot more PKing happens,” he added, referring to where a Player would Kill another player.
“Yeah, they were great,” said Riley. “There was also a lot of money to win in them. Sure, there was the entry fee and all...but I usually made out pretty decently, or at least, I used to. I guess even if they had another tournament I shouldn’t get my hopes up, since I have no idea what my powers are going to end up being, if I can even find any.”
Riley went silent for a few moments, then looked back to Aaron. “So this new expansion is going to push some sort of PVP element?” he asked, curious for answers. Any information he could glean, would mean a potential opportunity. Aaron had a penchant for reading everything he could on online forums, which was usually how Riley found out about most things going-on in Sigil Online.
“It’s still a ways off from being released, but that’s what people are saying,” said Aaron. “There’s been no real word on what’ll be involved, but they’re pulling resources away from the other development teams, to push everyone into the expansion project. It’s going to be a pretty drastic change, apparently. But...It’s months away, if not a year. You know how it is.”
“Yeah, you’d think with all the money Sigil Online makes, they could up the time table a bit,” Riley sighed. “But It’s nice to know they’re not just sitting on the money. They’re actually pushing more content for the game.”
“I’m really interested in seeing what happens with the expansion,” said Aaron. “But it’s nothing but speculation at the moment. Too far off to have any good idea.”
Aaron ate another spoonful of ice cream and swallowed it. “You need to be careful though,” he spoke up again. “If you rush around and take risks to find powers, you’re going to end up dead again. You have bills to pay.”
“Don’t remind me,” Riley groaned. “If I can’t earn Sigil Credits, then I can’t convert it into real money. Trust me, I’m fully aware of the crap I’m in now. But don’t you worry about that. I didn’t get to the top by being a scrub. Just watch. In a month, I’ll be making news all over again.”
Aaron smiled back. “I hope you’re right,” he said, as another bite of ice cream disappeared.
By the time Riley left the cafe, the sun had disappeared and only stars filled the night sky. The moon was absent, but Riley doubted he’d be able to see it anyway, with all the tall buildings obscuring the skyline.
He took the same path home, his body almost jittery from the caffeine he’d ingested at the cafe. The ice cream Aaron was eating had looked delicious, but he did his best to watch his sugar intake. Not that he watched how much caffeine he had, but he had to draw the line somewhere.
Even on the short walk home, there were LED-illuminated billboards and advertisements that displayed various paragon personas promoting certain products or services. There was all sorts of Sigil Online related merchandising and paraphernalia, along with news segments, reality shows, and even e-sports channels that had predominantly shifted towards Sigil Online.
Radiance had never garnered the attention of many companies. A few asked to use his likeness when selling various cleaning supplies and refreshments. He’d sold limited rights to his likeness, but now all that was gone. Even if he ‘had’ an ongoing contract for Radiance, the advertising company would surely end it upon learning of his death. There were always clauses in the contracts that allowed them to be terminated on the event of an in-game character’s death. Some players would even gain popularity, just to sell their likeness to companies. Afterwards, they wouldn’t even bother hunting monsters anymore, since it was more profitable to remain an icon, than actually play the game.
At least he’d put some money in the bank for just this type of occasion. Not that he ever envisioned this would happen, but he often converted his in-game currency, Sigil Credits, to real-world currnety to use for rent and groceries. Even though apps had been developed to pay for things like food and bills with ‘SC’ directly. But when a character died, their wallet was deleted. Any SC he had on Radiance was now gone. He easily had a thousand or so real-world dollars worth of currency on Radiance when he was killed. Which didn’t account for the amount of SC that his items were worth. He could’ve lived comfortably for a year if he would’ve sold those off. Now, they were just gone.
Actually, the more he thought about it, he realized that he might’ve dropped an item or two on his death. None of the videos showed it, but when a player died, there was a chance that they could drop some of the items they were wearing. Not all of them, but usually somewhere between one to three. It was all random. Usually that only mattered in a player versus player fight. When players fought in groups, usually their friends would collect any dropped loot and make sure that loot got back to the original owner, even if that person had to restart.
In his case, he’d have to hope that Warcry had snagged anything that dropped, else the other three would’ve just looted it for themselves.
He grit his teeth at the mere thought of his ‘companions.’ It was hard to call them that, when none of them really liked each other. Or at least, that’s the vibe he always got. They put up with each other out of necessity.
The only person he liked, was Warcry. He’d have to try and find out if she was ok. None of the videos showed what happened after he’d died. Someone had to of made it out alive, because someone had to of supplied their first-person perspective video to the news outlets. Based on the angle, It was probably Blue or Shadow. Glasser didn’t have the best angle on him, but he could’ve zoomed-in after the fact when he was processing the video clip.
He sighed and rubbed his head. He got back to his apartment and headed inside. He was glad he’d taken a few hours to decompress. He was also glad that Aaron was at the cafe. He hadn’t seen him in a few days, despite usually messaging him online.
When Riley got back to his room, he made his way over to his computer. He sat down and began pouring through whatever news articles he could find in relation to ‘Radiance.’
There were numerous forums that talked about him as a healer. There were lots of fans. People who looked up to him. But all of those messages seemed to be in the ‘past tense.’
All the messages he was seeing that were dated for today spoke of him in a less than favorable light.
There was a post on a major Sigil Online forum, where it showed the video of his death and people had posted comments beneath.
He began reading the messages listed.
‘Good riddance Radiance.’
‘He was ok, but he never grouped with anyone outside his clique!’
‘He was probably some stuck-up little kid who really didn’t know what he was doing.’
‘Glad he’s gone, maybe some real healers will get more attention now!’
‘Anyone know if he dropped his chain bands? Would pay good money for em.’
‘Did he drop anything when he died?’
‘I didn’t see anything drop, maybe the video didn’t show it?’
‘Hope he uninstalls and does something else. We don’t need people like him in Sigil.’
‘That’s harsh! He just lost his character. Show some respect people.’
‘Who cares? He got sloppy and died. Let’s move on!’
Riley continued to read every message listed. When he’d read them all, he found a new forum to peruse and see what people were saying about him.
He’d never delved so deep into user opinions of Radiance. In fact, he hadn’t really cared before. He just got into the game and played. Sure, people would talk to him all the time and try and group with
him, and sometimes he’d join up with some high-ranking players, but generally he had to deny anyone he didn’t view as competent or at ‘his level.’ But for good reason! He couldn’t just team up with anyone. He had to have ‘some’ standards.
He continued to read.
The night went on, and before he knew it, his eyes were trying to close. He checked the time and realized it was three in the morning. He’d been reading comments for hours.
He brought a hand up and rubbed at his eyes. He was sitting in the dark of his room with only his monitor to illuminate him. He pulled out of his chair and undressed. He stepped over to his bed and placed his headset on his nightstand and then laid down. His head rested on the pillow and his eyes closed.
He could make a new character tomorrow. He just wanted today to be over.
Chapter 3: Zero
The sun had risen, casting its warm glow against the dark brown curtains of Riley’s bedroom. His eyes were open. He’d been awake for ten minutes. The reality of his situation had hit him again as he stared at the ceiling. So it was all real?
During the night and into the morning, he’d had several dreams, or nightmares, depending how you wanted to classify them.
In one, he wasn’t able to save Warcry and both of them were killed by the beam from the worm. In another, he was killed by the green beam only to be resurrected by some unknown force. That had been the last dream. Which made waking up all the more painful when he realized that he hadn’t been resurrected. Radiance was gone, forever.
With a deep breath and an iota of willpower, he rolled out of bed and walked across his room. He set about his morning routine. The use of the bathroom, a shower, a change of clothes, some oatmeal, and a cup of coffee from the container of insta-coffee he had.
As he went through his morning, he seemed to be in a daze of disbelief. He dreaded the idea of recreating his character, but knew that there was no way he’d be able to continue his lifestyle without getting back into the game. He was going to have to start from the beginning as a tier zero civilian in the world of Sigil Online.
Once his morning routine was complete, he went over to his computer. He tapped at the keyboard, but he stopped himself. He remembered all the time he’d spent last night on reading hundreds of comments about his old persona.
He pulled his hand back and shook his head. He got into bed and laid down. He grabbed the headset from his nightstand and pulled it on. He flipped the switch and closed his eyes, waiting to be drawn back into the game. He had a lot of catching-up to do.
After the countdown sequence, the real world faded.
He opened his eyes and found himself back in the ‘login’ area where he was presented with an exit door and a ‘Create a Character’ door.
He walked into the second door and the old room faded to black as a new one lit up around him. He was presented by a full-wall mirror which allowed him to look at himself. Currently, he was a blank canvas. A dummy without features.
First, he was given a name above his head which read ‘civilian.’
Next, he was given the ability to tap various parts of his body. When he did, he was then able to select from a plethora of different features, colors, clothes, and anything that might help him build his character.
Of course, he wasn’t creating a superhero at this phase. He was creating a civilian, which looked like anyone you might meet on the street in the real world. Sure, he could make himself look somewhat fancy with nice clothes, but the clothes Radiance had worn, were augmented with stat increases and special effects. If he wanted, he could look ‘almost’ like Radiance again, but he wouldn’t be Radiance. He wouldn’t have his powers. He’d just be a civilian that looked like a dead Paragon.
He decided to tap a button on the mirror that said ‘random.’ When he pressed this, all of his features were randomized in a realistic way. So he supposed it wasn’t entirely random. Maybe they should’ve called it ‘mix and match’ or something.
He pressed the button several times, looking at his appearance each time. He studied the features. Each persona looked entirely different. Even if he wanted to, it would be hard to get ‘Riley’s’ appearance in-game. He wasn’t able to pull up an image of himself or see his true body in the mirror. He had to go on memory and at the end of the day, did he really want to bother looking like himself? He kinda preferred the anonymity, even if he did have plans to meet up with some of Radiance’s old friends.
Eventually, he found an appearance he liked. He decided on a skin-tone that was just a few shades darker than his own. He selected a pair of black shoes, a pair of grayish-brown denim pants, along with a thin brown hoodie shirt and a brown pseudo-leather jacket. He increased his overall muscle mass, to be just a bit more than what he was in real life, but not substantially. He just didn’t want to appear ‘scrawny.’ Radiance had been a little on the thinner side than this new persona. He wanted to exude strength, perhaps even intimidation.
He wasn’t going to have time to screw around. He needed to work fast and get results.
He finished selecting his features and turned from side to side, staring at his reflection. He could spend hours tweaking his appearance, but this would be fine. There was a button labeled ‘Finish Character’ on the mirror before him. He pressed it.
Two buttons appeared. A ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ with the message ‘Are you sure?’ above. He pressed ‘yes’ and the room faded to black.
In the blink of an eye, he found himself in a small changing room. The kind you’d find at a department store, or anywhere you could buy clothes. He reached out and turned the handle and pushed the door out. There were five other ‘changing rooms’ nearby. He passed by them and walked out into a small shop. There were pants, shirts, glasses, shoes. All sorts of stuff that wasn’t available during his character creation. He passed by the clothes, having no interest in cosmetics at the moment. He had a wallet with zero balance, and he needed to remedy that.
As he came out from between shelves of clothes, he passed by a clerk manning the counter. The clerk was broad-shouldered with a buzz-cut. He appeared rather imposing, but he smiled warmly. “Welcome to Sigil Online,” he said.
“Thanks,” Riley replied as he passed by the clerk and headed out onto the street.
The sun was rising into the sky above the city. He wasn’t sure which city he was in. He’d have to check around.
People in plain clothing passed by him. He looked amongst them, wondering which ones were players, and which were NPCs, which was the term for Non-Player-Characters. Essentially, artificial people.
He took in a slow breath and looked down at his body. He then looked out at the street before him. He turned his head, looking both ways. He stood there for several seconds, then a minute.
“What the hell am I doing,” he whispered.
He shook his head and took several steps to the side, so that he wasn’t still in the doorway for the department store. He sat right down in the middle of the sidewalk and held his chin up with his fist as he stared at the street, watching as people passed by.
Where was he going to find powers? There were plenty of methods. Most of them involved accidents, or almost dying. There was also the prospect of finding artifacts, which would become a permanent part of your character.
When he’d played originally, it had taken him weeks to find a power.
“Quests,” he whispered.
He then stood back up and looked around. He needed to find a billboard somewhere.
“Anyone know where a billboard is?” he called out to anyone nearby that would listen. There were a few people around within earshot.
A woman in a fine black dress was approaching him. She looked over to him and then pointed back the way she’d come. “There’s one at the far end of the street, next to the bar,” she told him, as she kept walking.
“Thanks,” he said as he then started jogging down the street. It was likely that the woman was an NPC. Most were ranked as civilians, which is what he was. Luckil
y, a lot of NPCs were helpful, especially to new players. It was unlikely that the artificial person would’ve known where a monster was, but billboards were where you picked up quests, which helped players get money, items, and even powers.
As he neared the end of the street, he was already feeling winded. His body didn’t want to keep going at the pace he was pushing it. He’d forgotten how weak civilians were. It was hard to run for a long time when you didn’t have any levels or stats.
As he slowed to a walk, he saw a bar across the street. A bright orange LED sign was overtop the door, which read ‘ParaBar.’ Beside the door was a large billboard. It appeared to be made out of wood and there were dozens of papers attached to it. Each paper had a ‘title’ and then a description beneath. He inspected some of the papers.
-
Quest:
Transport Water
Description:
There’s always people in need. Water is a vital component to people’s health. Make sure that civilians in the area have plenty of water, especially if they’re in a dangerous situation and can’t go out to get it themselves.
Transport bottles of water from a supply center to a shelter in an active conflict zone.
Reward:
1 SC per bottle.
-
Riley thought for a moment. All of his stats were currently zero. He didn’t have much strength or stamina. Carrying a case of bottles would be the best method, but how quick would that be? He remembered seeing water cases around, and they held twenty-five bottles. He turned his head and looked at the city-map next to the billboard. All over the map, there were various labels. Some were symbols, others were letters. The map showed him where he was, and that there was an ‘S’ down the street, which meant there was a supply center.
The map showed where shelters were nearby, but it didn’t update to show if any of them were currently in conflict, which meant that there was fighting going on nearby. It didn’t need to be a ‘big’ fight, just a fight that would put that city block in ‘conflict’ status. Even monsters spawning in an area, would make it a conflict zone.
