Limitless Lands: Book 1

by Dean Henegar

  Quest issued/completed: Rescue the logging team. You have rescued a group of loggers who were under assault from a horde of goblins.

  Reward: 100 experience. *Note, you must complete your starter quest chain to access your character sheet, or to examine another players information other than name and class. Once your starter quest chain has been completed all prior experience will be added and you will be able to level up your character accordingly.

  You have defeated a force of goblins, experience gained: 50

  New quest: Escort the loggers.

  Make sure the surviving loggers make it to Amerville.

  Accept Y/N

  I hit accept for the new quest. Luckily, it looked like the AI took care of splitting not only the experience from a group fight but also divided the loot. I did find it strange that you couldn’t even see your character sheet before finishing the first quest chain…how long was that going to take? Perhaps the AI wanted to limit the information provided so as to not overload a new player with information while they are trying to figure out this new world. Jacoby walked up to me while I was reviewing my log, looking to chat.

  “Hey dude, cool class! I didn’t know there was anything like that available. I only had basic stuff at character creation, but I had heard there were rare and unique classes you could find. I only had fighter, rogue, and wizard available to me, so I chose fighter. My goal is to find a way to unlock a paladin class sometime down the road. That’s what I usually like to play, combo healer/tank. Where do you live, if you don’t mind my asking? I’m from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,” Jacoby said.

  “I’m not sure why the AI gave me this crazy option, but it is a fun class to play. I’m from Tennessee in the United States,” I answered. Jacoby seemed like a good kid, but I didn’t feel comfortable sharing my personal background or information, other than where I’m from. He might get freaked out knowing that he was playing with a 90-year-old, nearly dead man sitting in a life support pod.

  “That was brave of you helping the loggers even though you had to have known you were going to get overrun. Nice work, kid.” I said.

  “Thanks, Raytak. I know that everyone thinks the cool thing right now is playing a dark and brooding character straddling the line of good and evil, but I’ve always wanted to just be the good guy. With these AI generated NPC’s seeming so real I couldn’t just walk by and let them get slaughtered.”

  “I do have to say I was sure glad to see you and that line of soldiers charging out of the trees, though. That was some epic level action there! Mind if I add you to my friends list? Maybe we can do some questing together, or hang in a tavern once we finish our starter zone crap?” Jacoby had his interface send a friend request.

  You have received a friend request from Jacoby Stone. Do you accept? Y/N *Note, your class may restrict content you can do in a party with other players*.

  I hit yes and let Jacoby know that my crazy class may not let me do some content, like dungeons, together, but it would be good to keep each other in the loop if anything interesting was discovered. It felt nice to have met another player in the game and to work together.

  “Did you notice how weird character progression is? I mean what game doesn’t tell you stats, experience points, and stuff until after you finish your starter quest chain?” Jacoby asked.

  “I was thinking the same thing. Not complaining though. It gives us time to enjoy the world before getting engulfed in stats and min/maxing. I guess until you finish your starter quests, you can just look at someone’s gear to guess how powerful they are,” I said

  “That’s for sure. I guess eyeballing someone’s gear might give us an idea of power level. I did get a couple of abilities at start, so I think we can track if those progress, or we get more abilities, to know our own relative strength. This game is going to be a crazy ride. Thanks again, Raytak. It looks like you got roped into one of those lame escort quests guarding these slow wagons. Hope you don’t mind if I bail. I want to get to town before I have to log off for school. I hear you may get the equivalent of rested xp if you log out in a tavern.” Jacoby waved, then began running down the road toward Amerville, soon moving out of sight.

  Chapter 6

  The rest of the trip was uneventful and frankly boring, like just about every other escort quest given since the birth of MMO’s. The main road, while being just a simple dirt road, was well maintained so we made good time. Soon after dawn the next morning, we saw the town of Amerville spread out in front of us. The town was nestled next to a large lake and was surrounded by a wooden palisade interspersed with guard towers. Small fishing vessels could be seen on the lake, while open fields and farms were scattered around outside the town walls. The farmers could be seen getting about their daily tasks, and the large wooden gates of the town were open. A squad of guards was seen checking people coming and going from the town.

  “This is where we’ll be splitting paths Raytak,” Barnaby drawled.

  “Our families live about a mile from the town and I’m going to have to deliver some bad news to the relatives of the deceased. We were going to try our hand logging further from town to avoid the tariffs charged for harvesting lumber within the town’s safe zone, but it didn’t quite work out as planned. Suppose it may be time for my family to move on and look somewhere else for a better opportunity. I hear a new village is starting on the frontier that only charges a small tax on what you buy…no other taxes! It’s getting impossible to make a living without risking life and limb every day. Well look at me, trying to complain about risk while talking to a soldier. I wish you the best Raytak. You’re one of the good ones.” With a wave, Barnaby pulled off the main road and began to head home. I had my soldiers gather our fallen and we headed toward the gate.

  The guards at the gate checked my orders and directed me to the commander’s office inside the military quarter of the city. The guards would see to it that our dead received a proper military burial and that their next of kin would receive their death benefit. My troops were told to rest at the barracks and wait for further orders and as I made my way to see the commander, a quest prompt flashed.

  Quest Complete: Escort the Loggers. You have successfully escorted the loggers back to Amerville without any further casualties.

  Reward: 100 experience.

  You have unlocked a new active ability for your troops.

  Shield Bash: (Active, 60 second cooldown) you can order your troops to slam forward with their shields, damaging and pushing back enemies.

  Walking down the main street, I could see this area was lined with shops and taverns. Players hustled about, completing starter quests or looking for equipment upgrades with their limited funds. I did stop for a bit as I noticed a player trying to pickpocket a guard. The player was a female elf dressed in shabby leather armor. She had a dagger at her side and was trying to lift the purse of a guard who was nodding off while leaning against the tavern wall. I concentrated on the player to see her name and class.

  Darkbladez, Elf Rogue, neutral.

  Darkbladez had her hand on the guard’s purse and with her dagger was about to cut it loose when the guard suddenly sneezed.

  “Ahhhchooo!!! Hey what do you think you’re doing, elf!” The guard grabbed her hand and began to shout for help. “Thief, thief! Guard needs assistance.” I walked off the side of road next to a tavern to see what would happen next.

  Darkbladez quickly reacted to the guard grabbing her hand. She instinctively lashed out with the other hand that held the dagger, slashing it across the guard’s face. The guard made a squawking sound then let go of Darkbladez to raise his hand toward his ruined face. Blood streamed from the wound as he continued to yell for assistance. A notification flashed in red in front of my vision.

  Warning, your class requires you to come to the assistance of any member of the Imperial law enforcement or military that is under attack while performing their duties. Failure to do so may result in disciplinary action from your superiors and a reputation penal
ty. Pvp will be enabled for you if the attacker is a Player.

  I raised my shield, drew my blade, and moved toward Darkbladez as she continued her attack on the guard who was bent over trying to hold the skin of his face together. The player thrust her dagger into the guard’s neck then stepped back finally noticing my approach. She did a double take and then then raised her blade toward me.

  “How did you enable pvp inside a town that’s a safe zone? Guess it doesn’t matter since you’ll be easy xp for me.” Darkbladez activated an ability and disappeared from in front of me. Confused I began to look around when I felt a sharp pain as her blade entered my ribs from behind, she wickedly twisted the blade as she removed it, laughing the whole time. I fell to my knees and turned to see her ready another strike.

  You have been critically hit with the Blade Twist ability and are bleeding for 10 health per second for the next 5 seconds.

  At that moment she shuddered and dropped her blade. Darkbladez opened her mouth to say something but was unable to make a sound. It was then that she shuddered twice more and fell to the street dead. When she fell, I could see three crossbow bolts sticking from her back and a squad of guards hurrying towards me, three of which held now empty, light crossbows.

  The pain in my chest intensified and I began to cough up small gobs of blood with each labored breath. One of the guards made it to me as my vision began to fade. The guard chanted something strange and a white light appeared on his hand. He then slammed his hand onto my wound. The white light soothed and healed the injury. I sat on the ground catching my breath while thanking the guard for healing me.

  “No need to thank us sir. We appreciate that you tried to assist Lew.” The guard gestured to his dead comrade laying where he had been killed by Darkbladez. “Drag this scum to the paupers grave and throw her in. A box is too good for the likes of her,” the guard said, ordering his fellow guardsmen to haul the body of Darkbladez to the cemetery. “Don’t know what’s got into folks today. That’s the third time we’ve had someone blatantly rob or murder in broad daylight. Never seen anything like it.” The guard pulled me to my feet and gave me directions to the headquarters in the military district.

  You have defeated Darkbladez in PVP combat.

  Reward: 50 Experience.

  I had an idea as to why things were so crazy for the guards today. Players are always testing the boundaries of what they can get away with in a game. For every player looking to have a good time and play with friends, there were always those who wanted to gank others, pickpocket, and cause general mayhem with the NPC’s. Despite it being a low level starting area, the guards seemed well equipped and efficient. I think the bad players will get the message pretty quick to not start something in town. I’m sure Darkbladez was figuring that out right now while she did a corpse run back to town to respawn.

  Speaking of that I had come very close to dying myself just now, it did seem my class was woefully underpowered vs what I assumed was someone of similar level. I had to be careful. Without my soldiers I would be easy pickings. What did come as a shock to me was the realism of the pain. Somehow, I knew the pain, despite being bad, was nowhere near the level a real wound would cause. I was glad the realism of the game stopped there.

  The guard’s directions were accurate, and I soon found myself in front of the headquarters building. I gave a copy of my orders to the private manning the front desk and I was ushered quickly into the commander’s office. The commander’s office was a surprisingly small room containing just a simple wooden desk that the commander was seated behind, a few chairs, and some cabinets to store paperwork. I stood at attention after entering the room.

  “Raytak, reporting as ordered, sir!” I announced. The commander was content to let me wait at attention while he scratched away at a parchment with a quill pen. The game system showed that the commander was a Lieutenant Colonel Jacobs. I was surprised the AI had decided to go with a modern United States military rank structure. I expected something different with the overall style of the faction feeling like ancient Rome. It also appeared that the in-game knowledge my character should have was automatically available to me, like knowing the rank structure of the faction I belonged to.

  The Lieutenant Colonel finished writing on the parchment, rolled it up into a scroll shape, and sealed it with wax. He addressed me as he handed over the scroll.

  “Lieutenant Raytak, I know this isn’t the most exciting assignment, but I need someone who can think on their feet for this one. As you know, the Emperor is attempting to reestablish our outposts in the wild lands. Our population is expanding, and we need this territory for us to grow. The village of Hayden’s Knoll was started several months ago and the mayor there has been harping non-stop for more help. Normally I could ignore some petty mayor of a podunk village, but he apparently has some political connections at the capital. I need you to take your unit and reinforce the garrison at Hayden’s Knoll. There has been trouble with the local wildlife, bandits, and rumors of potentially dangerous humanoid tribes. I will see to it that the losses you took on the road are replenished, and I will get a second squad assigned to you. Since you will be so far from the normal command structure, your orders will be for you to act as an independent command. You will have full authority over any military decisions at Hayden’s Knoll. I know I can expect you to work with the mayor as much as you can, but the safety of the settlement is your primary responsibility.

  A caravan to the border is leaving soon, and I have secured you and your men passage on it. Sergeant Brooks here…” (the Lt. Colonel motioned toward a soldier standing slightly behind and to my right that I somehow didn’t notice earlier) “will be going with you as well. A good senior NCO can be worth his weight in gold, as you know. Being out on the arse end of the Imperium, you will need his experience and insight. Here are your written orders and the proper requisition forms for supply. I have allocated 100 gold for you to get started. Any additional equipment you may want will have to come out of those or your own funds, but the pay for your soldiers has been covered for the next 60 days due to the difficulty of the assignment and the large amount of travel involved.”

  Quest Available: Securing Hayden’s Knoll Part 1. You have been assigned to reinforce the village of Hayden’s Knoll. The first step is to make it to the zone the village is in with your forces intact.

  Accept Y/Y

  Note…As a commander of the Imperium some quests are mandatory. Get used to being voluntold soldier!

  “Great, an AI with a sense of humor was just what I needed,” I thought sarcastically at the forced quest. Sergeant Brooks and I saluted the Lt. Colonel and made our way from the headquarters. Sergeant Brooks knew his way around better than I did, so I let him lead the way as I became distracted with my map, trying to see how long a trip I was going to have to take while blindly following the sergeant.

  I concentrated on the menu finding information about the map. I focused on the town Amerville and more information populated my vision.

  Amerville: Small Town, population 2300. This small town is located at the extreme eastern end of the Imperium. It serves as the last civilized place to gather for parties heading into the wilderness, or for groups of settlers to begin their journey. Most basic gear can be acquired, and simple accommodations can be found for reasonable rates. The military garrison is strong, and it patrols the surrounding lands for a radius of 5 miles from the city while maintaining stronger patrols along the main road leading toward the Imperium. Those venturing toward the wildlands will often find peril once leaving the 5-mile patrol zone. Hired guards, or a large well-equipped party are recommended in these areas.

  The map showed very little other than the parts of the town we had already seen. The rest was greyed out for me except the areas outside of town that I had traveled through on my way to Amerville. It looks like I will have to explore areas before they showed on the map. Sergeant Brooks interrupted my thoughts.

  “Sir, would you like to see the quartermaster
to requisition our supplies? We only have a few hours until the caravan leaves.” Taking the Sergeant’s suggestion, I followed him toward the supply depot while fiddling with the map ratios. It looked like it would take nearly 2 weeks to make our way by caravan to the border. Then, who knew how long to make it to Hayden’s Knoll...

  “Oooff! Hey, watch where you’re going, NOOB!” Someone yelled at me. While paying more attention to my map than to where I was going, I had run right into a couple of players exiting a shop. They were apparently not happy about it. Most of the players and NPC’s that were around ignored the altercation in the street, but a few decided to stop and watch what happened.

  “Raytak eh, and what kind of lame noob class is commander,” the largest of the two asked while scanning my information. He appeared to be a half-orc, warrior type, wearing leather armor and with a double-bladed, great-axe over his shoulder. His gear looked to be upgraded from the starter gear I had seen on most players so far. I had to assume he was a bit higher level than myself.

  “You better apologize and thank me for letting you live,” The half-orc said as I scanned his name tag.

  HaxxorSupreme420: Barbarian.

  Great, the game apparently allowed idiots to make stupid names for their characters. Unfortunately for this player, I don’t get intimidated very easily.

  “I actually do apologize for not paying attention and running into you, but I think you should actually thank me for letting you live,” I replied while giving him a cold stare. After my run in with Darkbladez, I wasn’t in the mood for more homicidal players. At least these guys hadn’t attacked a guard, so they really couldn’t do much since the city was not normally a pvp enabled zone from what I had gathered.

  Haxxor’s face began to turn red.

  “Check out Raytak the NOOB! He thinks he could go toe to toe with the Haxxor.” Haxxor flexed his huge half orc arms posturing for the crowd that was gathering while laughing with his weasel-faced friend. I scanned his friends’ information.