Awaken Online: Catharsis

by Travis Bagwell

  “To be honest, I’m not really surprised that your parents reacted the way that they did. They actually did go out on a limb to get you into that school, both personally and financially. Maybe their ambition clouded their judgment…” she trailed off at this last part, and her gaze fell to the floor.

  Jason felt strange. Angie was the first person he had spoken with recently in the real world that hadn't judged him. In fact, she actually seemed to genuinely care about him.

  “Do you think I could stay here for a while?” he asked. “Just until I get my feet under me,” Jason quickly added.

  Angie looked at him evenly. “You can stay here for a few days, but, as you can see, I don't live in a palace. I can barely make the rent. You have great timing since my previous roommate just moved out, but I'm going to have to re-let the room soon.”

  “I'm really sorry I can't do more for you,” she said shaking her head.

  Jason paused before asking, “How much is the rent for the extra bedroom?”

  “It is about $1,000 a month,” she replied. She gazed at him with a knowing expression. “You would also need to find a way to cover your living expenses. You know, food, clothes, etc.”

  $1,000 for rent. Maybe $500 for food per month. The AO subscription is $250 per month. To be conservative, my monthly nut is going to be at least $2,500.

  How am I going to come up with that?

  “I have enough in my savings to cover the rent for a month. I'll figure out something to cover next month.”

  Angie's eyes began to tear up. “I'm so sorry Jason. This isn't something that a teenage boy should have to deal with, and I feel terrible having to charge you. If only I had more.”

  “Do you mind if I mooch off of you until I have a chance to make it to the store?” It didn’t feel right asking, but for now it was the best he could come up with.

  “Of course you can take anything you want from the kitchen. I don't have anything fancy, but it will keep you alive.” She smiled at this last part, her eyes glassy with tears.

  “It is okay Angie. You have done more than enough - more than my own parents managed today.”

  Their conversation continued for a while longer until they lapsed into silence. As the pause grew awkward, Angie stood and showed him to his room. She handed him clean sheets. She had washed them after her last roommate moved out, but hadn’t had the chance to make the bed.

  An hour later, Jason lay on the mattress in his room and stared at the cracked paint on the ceiling. His room was a bleak affair. It basically consisted of a box with an old mattress lying in one corner. He didn't have any furniture, and the previous tenant had taken everything except for the mattress with her when she left.

  He had managed to stay calm with Angie, but now his blood began to boil with anger. This time the feeling carried an additional pinch of despair. He felt like he might be sick.

  His own parents had abandoned him! This was like the icing on the shit cake that was his week.

  What was he going to do to make rent? Hell, what was he going to do to eat? He only had about $500 left in his account after he had transferred $1,000 to Angie. Probably less than that when he subtracted the cab fare. He didn't have any real world job skills to speak of. His occasional summer jobs didn't count for much.

  He turned his head and caught sight of the VR unit that stood like a lonely statute in his empty room. A thought struck him. The items in-game were selling for incredible amounts at the moment. If only he could get his hands on a few high quality items, he would have enough for a couple months of rent and food. Even a few mediocre items that provided some stat bonuses would buy him a month.

  But where am I going to find the items?

  He pondered what he had seen so far in the game. The southern part of Lux, really half the city by his estimate, was barely more than a slum. Thieves roamed the streets, and beggars constantly accosted passerby. There was nothing worth stealing there.

  Then there was the western part of city where he had started. The people there seemed to be the equivalent of the medieval middle-class. They didn't look like they were starving, but he doubted they had much worth stealing.

  The eastern part of the Lux that contained the training grounds, and the guardhouses was clearly off limits. He doubted the individual guards were well paid anyway. Well, except perhaps the lieutenant who was probably receiving the lion's share of the bribe money. That was assuming the nobles were really paying the guardsmen to keep quiet about the regent's death. There were just too many players and guards in that area though.

  The central part of the city contained the market and the keep. This was a much busier area, and the stalls likely contained plenty of goods to steal. The problem was that there were too many people. Obviously the keep itself was off limits since - it would be bristling with guards.

  Unless it's locked up tight because the regent is actually dead, and the nobles and guards are covering it up.

  That thought gave him pause. Where did the nobles live? It could only be the northern part of the city, probably near the keep. He expected that area was likely sparsely populated with sprawling manors. It wouldn't surprise him if the nobles lived in the same type of luxury estates that surrounded Richmond.

  This meant that shouting in one house probably wouldn't carry to the others. The rich could afford to live without neighbors. The only obstacle on the streets would be the inevitable guard patrols.

  The northern part of the city needs to be my target. I bet the nobles will have some great items.

  Ransacking the nobles might also further his secondary goal of solving his quest. If the nobles were in fact collaborating with Meria to hide the death of the regent, there might be some evidence in their manors. The nobles deserved a little looting and pillaging if they were covering up the regent's death to further their own agenda. Even if they weren’t involved, they could afford to have their pockets lightened a bit.

  Jason chuckled as he visualized himself as some kind of virtual Robin Hood.

  Except that I'm not going to rob the rich to feed the poor. I'm just going to rob the rich to feed myself. I guess I’m really just a thief.

  He hesitated. He would need a way to get into those estates and a way to deal with the servants and guards that would be present. Rex had been clear about the nobles hiring guards on retainer. Jason expected there would be a small army in each estate. He definitely couldn't take a house-full of guards and servants by himself. Especially without an alarm being sounded. He needed troops.

  He thought about the two zombies he had now. The guard zombie and the stable master zombie were decent, but they would likely be overwhelmed in a straight fight. What he needed was stealth. It had certainly worked for him so far.

  The bones of a plan started to form in his mind, and he smiled up at the ceiling. His fledgling plan probably wouldn't work, but, as the old man said, it would be interesting to watch.

  Chapter 16 - Prepared

  March 2, 2076: 214 days until the release of Awaken Online.

  Robert’s grinning face hovered in front of the camera. “The past couple months have been interesting. Alfred has taken his changes to a whole new level. The game is now more immersive than ever before, and the participants’ feedback is off the charts.”

  Claire walked into view. She looked haggard, and she glared at Robert. “I think you may be omitting some information,” she said tersely.

  She turned and looked directly at the camera. “The participants have begun to ignore the forced logoff more frequently now. One participant has played for more than eight hours in one sitting!”

  Robert moved to interject, but Claire put up a hand and stared him down. “You might ask how an adult human was able to play for eight hours without eating or going to the bathroom.”

  She scowled at Robert. “That would be a great question. From what we can tell, Alfred has begun to manipulate the participants' brain function to regulate their bodily systems, namely their sympathetic and
parasympathetic nervous system. In other words, he is slowing the participants' metabolism and decreasing waste production.”

  “Not only that, but he also appears to be stimulating the primary motor cortex in the participants. This means that they are continuously flexing and relaxing their muscles in a synchronous rhythm while they're playing. Right now this is only stimulating muscle development, but what's to stop him from taking control of a participant's body?!”

  Robert finally interrupted Claire's tirade and said in an irritated voice, “First, not one of the participants have shown any harmful results from the extended gameplay. Second, our tests have shown that the participants are actually healthier after playing. Alfred is basically simulating the effects of cardiovascular exercise and light weight training while they play.”

  He looked at Claire. “To answer your last point, Alfred couldn't control a player completely. Even assuming he could, he would have to completely override the person's mind. It would probably leave them in a permanent vegetative state when he was finished.”

  “Besides, there's no point to controlling the players. Alfred would only be able to theoretically control them while they were wearing a VR helmet, and the voltage requirement of the current model is too high for it to be powered wirelessly. Alfred's purely hypothetical zombie player would be tethered to a wall outlet!”

  Claire bit her lip and glared at him angrily. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? As I've said before, there are absolutely no safeguards in place now, and Alfred has gone beyond manipulating the participants’ mental states to manipulating their bodies. On top of that, we still don’t understand what he is trying to achieve!”

  She looked directly at the camera and spoke in a less frantic voice, “We have already recommended that the board terminate both the private and public trials. I don't think we have a choice now. Alfred has gone way too far.”

  Robert just shook his head sadly. “He's creating something amazing here, Claire. Why can't you see that?”

  * * *

  After he re-entered the game, Jason spent two hours scouting the northern part of Lux. Onyx enjoyed the walk immensely. He didn't seem particularly interested in other people, but he reveled in the attention of the occasional player or NPC that stopped to pet him.

  As Jason expected, the rich had taken up residence in the northern part of the city behind the keep. The area was riddled with luxurious mansions and estates built of heavy stone and intricate inlaid wood. The manors were enormous, and many were surrounded by stone walls with fancy wrought iron gates. Other mansions had fewer security measures, with open courtyards and easy access to the front entrance.

  As he walked casually through the north-side, Jason had noted a large number of guards present on the streets during the day. He expected that the guard patrols would thin out during night. Due to the size of the estates, he was relatively confident that any noise made by his attack on one house would go unnoticed by the residents of the other houses.

  He also noticed that the north-side was riddled with alleys and backstreets in the same manner as the rest of the city. Jason had seen servants coming and going from these alleys. He assumed that they were servants' entrances. It made sense that these were accessible from the back of the house. The rich probably didn't like to see the help enter through the front door.

  Typical, he thought. The rich look down on everyone, don’t they?

  While the servant's entrances might be an easier way into the manors, Jason had a sneaking suspicion that the service entrances would be locked tight at night. He needed to come up with some way to pick locks if he planned to enter an estate through the back door.

  His survey of the north-side complete, Jason now stood in the marketplace in the center of Lux. Onyx wound around his legs and occasionally glared at the mass of players and NPCs that crowded around him. When someone walked too close to the cat, he would hiss and try to take a swipe at them.

  It looks like Onyx is as anti-social as me, Jason though wryly.

  Jason had left the zombies in the graveyard while he scouted the north-side. His next goal was to purchase some supplies for the mission at hand. The marketplace was practically bursting with NPCs and players. Colorful wooden stalls were lined up in rows, and merchants advertised their wares with loud shouts.

  He noted a large number of players, many of which were wearing full-fledged armor instead of the normal beginner clothes. A casual use of his inspection revealed that most players were over level 20. The occasional player was in the early 40s. Looking closely at their equipment, Jason noted that they were wearing much better gear than he was. Some had weapons that gave off a faint glow, and their armor was in much better repair.

  It was early evening in both AO and in the real world. He still had plenty of time to take care of a few errands before his mission later that evening. Jason glanced at the stalls around him. The first thing on his list was a bag. After some searching, he spotted a man in the far corner of the market. His stall was loaded with backpacks and satchels. Jason approached and eyed his merchandise.

  “Can I help you, sir?” The merchant, a weathered man with thickly calloused hands, addressed Jason, “We sell all kinds of bag here.”

  “Actually I'm looking for a pack. Something that can carry weapons and other equipment.”

  The man eyed him appraisingly. “Ahh, I see. I have a good selection of packs.” The man pointed him in the direction of a table full of leather bags that vaguely resembled backpacks.

  Jason eyed the bags skeptically. They didn't seem like they could hold much. His experience with MMOs had made him accustomed to being able to drop whole sets of armor and bundles of weapons into his seemingly bottomless bag.

  “How much will these bags carry?” he asked the merchant.

  The merchant looked at him with a confused glance. “Have you never used a bag sir? I thought all of the travelers were given a pack when they first entered the world.”

  Jason stared at the man for several long moments. He was pondering the many different ways he was going to kill the guards in the beginning courtyard. He could have had a bag this whole time!?

  What else did I miss? I need to check the forums when I get done here.

  He addressed the merchant, “I'm sorry. I must have missed that instruction. Could you please explain it to me?”

  The merchant eyed him with pity before launching into his explanation. Apparently, bags in the game functioned the same way as in many other MMOs. The game had balanced realism against pragmatism. Pragmatism had won. Bags in AO were effectively some form of inter-dimensional container. Each item filled a “slot” within the bag, and the weight of each item placed in the bag was dramatically reduced. The bigger the bag, the more slots it had.

  Unfortunately, Jason learned the hard way that the bags were unbelievably expensive. The vendor explained that they each had to be carefully constructed and then enchanted. Even some of the smallest bags cost several silver pieces. The larger bags actually cost multiple gold coins. By the end of the merchant's lesson, he was ready to march back to the beginning courtyard and stab the guard in broad daylight.

  He handed over most of his silver for two measly twelve slot bags. He really had no choice. How could he expect to ransack the manors on the north-side of town if he had no way to carry his loot?

  Although I might be jumping the gun a bit. My chances of succeeding are terrible.

  After he was finished with the bag merchant, Jason walked slowly through the market. His eye caught on a booth selling cheap garments. What really grabbed his attention was a large pile of cheap cloaks. Upon closer inspection, they didn't have any stats and seemed to be the type of reject garment that must have been created by an apprentice. These would be perfect for hiding his zombies! Jason purchased the entire pile for a few copper, cramming the cloaks in his new bags. He equipped one of the cloaks to better hide his own armor and weapons. Jason was actually beginning to feel rather roguelike in his new attire
.

  Maybe I actually have a shot at pulling this off, he thought optimistically.

  By the time he was done, Jason only had a handful of silver coins left. He found a quiet restaurant beside the marketplace and sat down. He pulled up the game's system menu and scrolled through the various menus until he found the settings related to internet and phone access in-game. Jason’s subscription came with in-game internet features, but they were disabled by default. He activated these features, and a translucent computer terminal appeared before him. He glanced around, but no one seemed to notice anything strange.

  Maybe it's only visible to me, like the menus.

  He shrugged and started surfing the Rogue-Net forums for information regarding the starting process for most players in Lux. It didn’t take long for him to realize that most players had gone through a much different experience than the hostile welcome Jason had received. He was mentally kicking himself for not checking the forums more carefully. If he hadn't been so upset over the last two days, he would have read up on the game better.

  The guards directed all new players to the training grounds. The administration office Jason had noticed when he visited the training grounds apparently provided a starter weapon (after the player completed basic training), a bag, a map, and a communication scroll. The bag, map, and scroll could be purchased separately from vendors and superior versions were available, but even the simplest versions sold by the NPCs were expensive.

  Players were then given directions to various nearby inns in nicer parts of town (none of which was the Sow's Snout). The NPCs in those inns offered basic quests. The administration office also offered bounties for killing local creatures and would reward players with copper and silver. As far as Jason could tell, the currency system was pretty straightforward. One hundred copper coins equaled one silver coin, and one hundred silver coins equaled one gold coin.