The Arena

by Drew Seren

  The inside of the shop had a wide variety of animal hides hung on the wall. There were also a selection of skinning knives and bows alongside them. A gangly Orc sat on a stool, sharpening blades back in one corner with a huge pig at his side. Across from him, in the other back corner of the shop, was a meaner-looking Orc who was missing an eye and had a long scar that ended at a broken tusk on the right side of his face.

  The yellow text above the gangly one read Thunderbow, Orc Ranger, Level XXX.

  “Hello, Thunderbow?” Horc asked, drawing the two Orcs attention to him. “I’m Horc—Caleb Sureshot from Stone Helm City sent me to you. He said I need to learn about my Orc side.”

  Thunderbow set down the knife he’d been sharpening and seemed to study Horc. “Ranger Horc. Yes, I can see you need to learn what it is to be an Orc. Most halflings come to find the balance in their two sides before now. It may take a little while to get you to the point you need to be in your training so that the two sides of your soul are not conflicted.”

  Text flashed in front of Horc’s vision.

  Two Spirits in One Body

  Complete

  Rewards 5,000 XP

  “Now that you’ve found me, I can instruct you on what it takes to be a Half Orc.” Thunderbow waved his hand and a scroll appeared in it. “I have need of some supplies. If you would please get the items off this list for me, I would greatly appreciate it.”

  A quest box appeared.

  Thunderbow’s shopping

  Rewards 4,000 XP

  10 Silver

  Accept-Decline

  “Accept,” Horc said. “Looks like we’re going shopping.”

  He said his goodbyes to Thunderbow and headed out of the small shop, pausing at the Skinning trainer, an Orc name Quicknife.

  “I have the Skinning profession,” Horc said. “I forgot to check before leaving Stone Helm City. I think I may be in need of training.”

  Quicknife seemed to study him for a moment with his one remaining eye. “Yes, it might even be that you have some bad habits to unlearn. Do you have any skins on you that you’ve gotten from your kills, or have you sold them all already?”

  Horc was about to say no, then he remembered the scorpion on the way to Red Wind Terrace. “Yeah, give me a second.” He opened his bag and pulled out the carapace he’d gotten from the scorpion.

  “No.” Quicknife shook his head. “No one can really show their skill on bugs. Go out and bring me back five diamondback skins. They must be intact with no cuts save the one down the middle. Show me what you can do, Horc.”

  Display of skill

  Collect five perfect diamondback skins for Quicknife

  Rewards: Journeyman skinner

  Accept-Decline

  “Accept.” Horc grinned at Quicknife. “Thank you. I’ll be back shortly.” He bowed slightly, then followed Greensleeves out of the shop.

  “Let’s take a look at Thunderbow’s list,” Greensleeves said, taking the scroll from Horc. After a moment he pursed his lips. “Yeah, this is going to take a little while. We’d better get started.”

  It was a different sort of quest from the ones he’d done in Stone Helm City, but Horc was in the mood for a change. “Is all of it here in the city?” He accepted the scroll back from Greensleeves.

  “Looks that way. Let’s go see what we can find. After we get this together, we’ll see about finding you some snakes.”

  There were half a dozen items on the list. Horc glanced at his map. There were yellow dots all over the city. Greensleeves was right—they were going to be at it for a while, but he hoped by the end of it, he’d, at least, have a feeling for how the city was laid out and what was in the different sectors so he wouldn’t have to rely on his map so heavily.

  4

  Horc paused, as he and Greensleeves walked out of the Red Wind Terrace Apothecary, so he could check his map and see where the next closest dot was. Thunderbow’s quest seemed to be taking them to every level of the terrace and along both sides of the canyon.

  “Looks like we need to go up to the next level, but I can’t figure out how we’re supposed to get to one spot that looks like it’s in the middle of the wall back there.” Horc turned and pointed toward a spot on the far wall where there weren’t any cliff-side businesses, just a wall of solid red rock.

  “I’d bet there’s some kind of passage or trail, or something that we haven’t found a way into,” Greensleeves said. “If we haven’t sorted it out by the time we get everything on the list, maybe we can ask one of the guards wandering around.”

  “Okay.” Horc walked toward the lift. They weren’t as scary as they had been the first time he used one, but he still did his best to get as close as he could to the center of the platform each time he rode one. “Is it just me, or are there a lot more guards here in Red Wind Terrace than there were in Stone Helm?”

  Greensleeves shrugged as they stopped to wait for the lift. From the way the chain was rattling, it was still coming up from ground level. “I think they stand out here more than they do there. Here they’re bigger and meaner than most of the players. There, with so many human players running pallies, the guards in plate armor blend in more. But I bet the percentage of them is about the same.”

  The lift rattled to a stop on their level. Since it was going up, they got on.

  “I guess that makes sense,” Horc agreed. “But I still think the human guards are a bit bigger than players can get too.”

  “Probably. Makes them more imposing when Orc players start getting up high enough level to begin doing raids.”

  Horc frowned. “Raids? You mean like a group of opposing players attacking a city?”

  The lift started up with a jerk. Horc resisted the urge to grab the central chain and hold on.

  “Yeah, that’s it,” Greensleeves replied. “From what Rick says, they’ve got it set up already for parties to do raids, but players have to be a lot higher level before they can even think about it. I think he said minimum level for raiding is going to be seventy-five and we can’t even get that high yet.”

  The lift stopped, and they got off.

  “Yeah, we’ve got a ways to go before we reach that,” Horc said. He glanced at his map and headed off in the direction of the dot. “Man, I always hate these quests where you have to go visit almost everyone on a space station before you get what you need.”

  Greensleeves chuckled. “Since Baladara isn’t here, I’ll say it for you… too much sci-fi.”

  “Thanks.” Horc held back his laugh. His friends were always giving him grief about making too many references to sci-fi gaming when they were playing a fantasy game. Having the party who were rapidly becoming friends made it easier to forget the worry of the harrowing situation he was IRL.

  Someone bumped into Horc as they were heading along the terrace to the next quest dot on the map. Horc stumbled toward the edge of the terrace and swayed hard. The blue sky above the canyon flashed in his sight as he spun, then he got a view of the ground floor of the city. He scrambled to keep his footing on the smooth sandstone of the terrace that didn’t have any kind of wall or railing to keep people from falling off and a couple of stories down to the hard-packed walkways below. Something furry zipped by his face as a strong hand grabbed his wrist.

  “I’ve got you,” Greensleeves said. “Grab him.”

  With his heart pounding and trying to get his bearings, he wasn’t sure exactly what Greensleeves was talking about. Horc flailed out in hopes of connecting with something, or someone. His fingers brushed against something soft, then hit leather. He closed his hand, hoping he was in time to avert disaster.

  “Hey!” a man shouted. “Watch what you’re grabbing.”

  Horc’s arm lurched and felt like it was about to come out of its socket, but he held on.

  Seconds later, Greensleeves had them back on the edge of the terrace. “Wow, that was close.”

  “Yeah.” Horc’s chest hurt from his heart pounding. “What happened?” He let go o
f the piece of leather armor he was holding onto and focused on the strange creature staring at him. It looked like some guy in a fur suit. Its face was tan fur with a dark brown marking that looked like a mask around its startling blue eyes. Sharp teeth set in a fierce, extended jaw were just inches from Horc’s arm.

  “We almost fell off the terrace,” the beastman snarled. “I can’t believe you’re so clumsy you almost knocked us to our deaths.” He shrugged. “Well, pseudo-deaths. It’s a game. We all come back.”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” Horc said. He looked at the letters above the beastman’s head. Tufkakes, Procyan, Rogue, Level 19. Horc frowned. “Okay, what’s a Procyan?”

  Tufkakes grinned, or at least Horc thought it was a grin. With a mouth that was more muzzle than mouth, and the rows of sharp teeth, it was hard to tell. “Can’t you tell?” He stepped a little farther from the edge of the terrace and turned in a circle with his arms spread. He was dressed in dark gray leather armor, and had a ringed tail sticking out behind him.

  They were in a fantasy game. Horc wasn’t totally sure, although he had a good idea, but if Tufkakes had been what nearly knocked him to his death, he opted to try a less direct answer. “A rabbit?”

  The grin on Tufkakes’ muzzle turned into a frown. “No. I’m not some dumbass fluffy bunny.”

  “Panda?” Greensleeves joined in.

  Tufkakes paused and a thoughtful line appeared on his forehead. “Okay, maybe, but no.” He fumbled with something in his hands. It was a pale brown leather bag and it jingled slightly at the motion.

  Horc patted his side and didn’t feel his coin purse. He stared at Tufkakes and the coin purse in his hand. “Thief,” Horc forced out in a hiss. “Raccoon. You’re a thieving raccoon.”

  “What this?” Tufkakes held out the coin purse to Horc. “Nah, I didn’t steal it. It flew around when we almost fell off the cliff and I stopped it from falling and spilling all the way down there.” He gestured off the edge of the terrace and a couple of floors down toward the canyon floor.

  “Thank you.” Horc snatched the coin pouch back, and then stuck it in his backpack for extra security. He’d never stopped to think that players might try to steal from one another. It was something that didn’t happen in his regular sci-fi game, Galactic Explorers. The fact that Tufkakes had nearly thrown him off the terrace in his attempt to get the coins in the purse irritated him even more. If he died because of some moron player, he was really going to be pissed off.

  “Hey, no problem.” Tufkakes put his hands behind his back and tilted his head in an obvious attempt to look innocent. “So, wait. Horc… was there a system announcement about you?”

  “Yeah.” Horc did his best to continue to look stern. “I’m the guy nobody’s supposed to PVP with ‘cause if I die, I might not survive IRL, or in game.”

  Tufkakes’ demeanor instantly changed. “Oh, man. I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t stop to check who I was near. I didn’t mean for anything to happen. Honest. Look, you guys aren’t running around with just the two of you, are you? If you’re trying to stay alive, that might not be the best move. Will you let me make it up to you? I can be really helpful.”

  Horc stared at him, trying to understand what was going on. It was like the previous actions had all been a roleplay and they were looking at someone closer to the player’s real-life persona.

  “We’ve got a party,” Greensleeves said. “Most of them can’t come into Red Wind Terrace yet.”

  “Oh, I bet they’re humans and have to get their rep with the Orcs up high enough to enter the city.” From the level of excitement coming off him, Tufkakes was almost bouncing up and down. “Look. I can be a lot of help. Honest. I can. Do you have a Rogue yet? Particularly a Shadow Rogue?”

  “No.” Horc let out a long breath. He wasn’t sure what a Rogue would be good for. If anything, he figured another Tank class would be better for protection. He wished Baladara was there. She was more familiar with fantasy games and would be able to make a better decision. He glanced at the party interface displaying on the right side of his vision. Her avatar and status bars were still grayed out.

  “You’re the right level to fit in with the rest of us,” Greensleeves said. “Rogues can come in handy under the right circumstances.”

  Horc glanced at his friend. “So, you think it might be a good idea to expand the party? Even with someone who tried to steal from me?” He was always leery of trusting people who didn’t start off on the right foot, or as in the cases of the other party members, people who’d needed help when they first met, and quickly proved themselves to be decent folks.

  “Hey,” Tufkakes objected, some of his earlier bravado coming back into his voice and stance as he squared his shoulders and glared. “I apologized for that. We should be past it.”

  “Maybe. But it might take me a while to warm up to you,” Horc replied.

  “Yeah, I think having another neutral party member and a rogue would be good.” Greensleeves rubbed his chin. “He might’ve figured out those locks in the Gnoll King’s Dungeon faster.”

  “You guys have done the Gnoll King’s Dungeon? Wow.” Tufkakes’s eyes grew large. “The wiki says that dungeon is wicked bad. Even kicked out a party of execs from the California office.”

  “Not all of them. One of them is now part of our party,” Greensleeves said.

  “You’re not all execs, are you?” Tufkakes but his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet.

  Horc laughed. “No. We’re all sorts of people, IRL At least in here, we’re all just players.”

  Greensleeves nodded. “And right now, we’re all working toward keeping Horc alive while playing the game instead of him just sitting around in a tavern somewhere drinking until he’s rescued.”

  “Right. Good for you.” Tufkakes pulled his hands out of his pockets and held one out to Horc. “Look I really am sorry for almost pushing you off the ledge while picking your pocket. I’m a Rogue Procyan—it’s sort of our thing. But if you guys take me on, I promise to not hit any of the party.”

  With more than a little trepidation, Horc returned Tufkakes’ handshake. “Okay. I guess we could use another neutral player.” Since Baladara was logged out, Horc was in charge of the party. He quickly sent Tufkakes an invite which the Rogue accepted.

  Greensleeves patted Tufkakes on the shoulder. “Welcome to the party.”

  “Thanks.” Tufkakes grinned, showing lots of sharp teeth. “Now let’s hope we all survive the experience.”

  Inwardly, Horc groaned. Adding a rogue made sense, but he was still nervous about it. He had to remind himself it was just a game. As long as he survived long enough for the rescue team to get his pod out of the rubble of his house, he’d be fine.

  5

  Horc walked back into the small shop where Thunderbow was. He’d finished gathering everything on the Ranger trainer’s shopping list and was ready to see what else the man with the pig companion had for him.

  “Ah, so you’ve returned with my skins already?” Quicknife, the skinning trainer asked as Horc hurried past.

  “What?” Horc stopped. “Ah, man. I totally forgot the skins. Give me a little while and I’ll run out and get them for you.” Tufkakes had shaken him up a bit and he’d totally forgotten about the five rattlesnake skins he was supposed to get.

  “You cannot progress without them,” Quicknife said and went pack to unrolling a huge hide to string onto a drying stand.

  “Sorry we forgot about that,” Greensleeves muttered softly from Horc’s side. “New people can do that sometimes.”

  Horc gave him a quiet nod as he closed the distance to Thunderbow.

  “You’re a fast one, Horc,” Thunderbow said as Horc began unloading the items he’d gathered. “That’s good. There’s a lot for the Rangers to do here in Red Wind Terrace. There is darkness growing in our world, and as of yet, we’ve not been able to determine its source. Some believe it originates in the neutral areas, places that are the most welcoming to your kind
. After you have gathered the hides Quicknife has requested, I need you to journey to Tragiczan. My information tells me there may be a source of darkness there, sitting on our borders. Once there, seek out the darkness in whatever form it takes and make sure it doesn’t bother us any further.”

  Quest: Snuff out the Darkness

  Travel to Tragiczan and find the trail to the source of darkness there.

  Rewards:

  5,000 XP

  Accept - Decline

  “I’ll do it,” Horc said. He loved the fact that the quest was going to take him back to where the rest of his party was. He just hoped Baladara would’ve logged back on, since she’d been with him from the beginning, actually been the person who talked him into playing Halfworld; he felt bad when he was playing and leveling without her.

  Thunderbow grinned. “You’re a good man, Horc, the Half Orc. Continue down this path and you will be renowned amid the Rangers in no time.”

  “That’d be nice.” Horc glanced at Greensleeves and Tufkakes. “You two need anything else in town before we head out?”

  Tufkakes glanced around the shop like he was casing the joint, but he shook his head. “I think I’m good.”

  “I’ve got my supplies,” Greensleeves said.

  “Okay.” Horc walked out of the small shop and headed for the open-air lift for the ride down to ground level and they moved out to collect some snake skins. In the time they’d been in Red Wind Terrace, it seemed like there were more and more players, just like when they’d been in Stone Helm City. “I would’ve figured folks would be going to work at some point,” Horc said as they cleared the gate of the city, nearly getting run down by a huge Orc Warrior.

  “Depends on what office they’re out of,” Tufkakes said. “Most of us in the US have already spent our Monday grinding at the cube farm.”

  Horc stopped and stared at him. “Wait. It’s Monday evening already? But I haven’t been in here that long, have I?”

  Greensleeves nodded. “All weekend and then some. We’re just trying not to remind you about it.”