by Adam Drake
“Up!” I said and grabbed his small body with both hands. Then, with my legs gripping the overhang with effort to not lose my balance, I placed Phlixx onto the rock face above me. “Get to the top as fast as you can!”
Clinging to the rocks with ease, Phlixx gave me a mournful look. “You want me to leave you? Now, in your time of need?”
“Go!” I commanded. “Or I will never speak to you again!”
That did it. Phlixx blinked in recognition of what I said and bolted up the cliff wall. “I shall do as you bid me, but only out of love for you!”
I watched as the little ferret zipped up with a speed I could never attain, no matter how many skill points I put into my climbing ability.
Satisfied, I then twisted my torso around to look at the dragon. And it was as I thought. The dragon's attention was now on the egg in Phlixx's pack. Instead of flying at me, it had altered its course to intercept my love-lorn companion.
Pressing my stomach against the rocks to maintain my balance on the overhang, I extended a hand. A longbow appeared within my grip.
“Okay,” I said. “Only going to have one shot at this.”
The dragon had now flown up to the rock wall and slowed to a stop. Its huge wings flapping rapidly to keep level. The wind it generated buffeted me and Phlixx, who was now in full panic mode.
“Begone, vile lizard! Or I will turn your hide into boots!” Phlixx cried, all the while never altering his climb.
Careful of my precarious balance, I reached behind my shoulder to my quiver which was empty. I uttered a word, “Kezzan,” and a single arrow appeared within the quiver. I pulled it out. It was ebony in color, and shimmered with magical energy. Made from the bone of a greater demon, this arrow had cost me dearly to get. But now I had to use it.
Above me the dragon inhaled, a great and powerful noise as it filled its tremendous lungs. It would blast Phlixx off the wall with fire and probably take me and the entire cliff face with it.
Sensing the end, Phlixx stopped his climbing and was now rapid firing his crossbow at the beast. The bolts bounced harmlessly off its thick hide.
With a steady grip I aimed at the only exposed part of the dragon's body I had a hope of piercing. One of its eyes.
A chat request suddenly flashed at my lower vision. It was from Mudhoof, a fellow player and friend. Annoyed, I dismissed it and focused on the dragon.
At the end of its inhalation, the dragon's eyes widened. This was it. It was going to exhale death upon us all.
I fired.
And in the next moment the dragon shrieked in agony, and reared back, the demon arrow jutting out of its left eye. The beast, confused and in pain, blasted fire upwards toward the sky.
Then the dragon turned away with a roar.
Phlixx cheered and shook a fist at the retreating dragon. “That'll teach you to mess with my love!”
Relieved, I resumed climbing. No sense sitting around in case the dragon came back. When I finally pulled myself over the lip of the cliff edge, I found Phlixx standing on a boulder, hands on his little hips, looking proud.
“Did I do good?” He asked eagerly.
I laughed. “You did superb, Phlixx. Thank you.” I reached down and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Now, the egg please.”
“Of course!” He said, beaming and pulled the egg out of his pack with both hands and handed it to me. “What will we do now? Defeat another dragon?”
I looked at the glittering egg which reflected my avatar's face across its gold surface. “No more dragons. Not for a while. We need to get out of here and back to the safety of the travel gate area.”
We walked in the direction of the base camp, where I had entered this adventure zone to finish the golden egg quest.
I hefted the egg in one hand while keeping an eye on the murky sky above. “Then we'll find out if this thing was worth almost having to re-roll a new character for.”
CHAPTER TWO
Heading back to base camp was another dangerous ordeal entirely.
I picked my way down the sloping side of the volcano, avoiding steaming crevices and vents which belched hot ash. All the while I kept an eye on the cloudy sky.
Only on one occasion did I feel the need to hide behind a huge rock as a loud screeching echoed from every direction. Phlixx shivered dramatically as he clutched at my shoulder. But when a vengeful dragon did not making a fiery appearance, I continued on.
At the furthest edge of the volcano the terrain opened to a series of hills covered with the remnants of a forest. Blackened trees smoldered and what little vegetation existed was buried under mounds of ash.
Now I grew more cautious. The relative open area of the volcano gave me a clear view of anyone approaching. But here in the burned out forest things got to be close quarters. I was in a player versus player area. A PvP zone. Another player could come along and attack me with impunity. If I died, they would have access to all the items in my inventory; weapons, gold, the contents of my backpack and the golden egg. I'd worked hard for the egg and had no intention of giving it up to anyone without a fight.
A path led the way through the blackened trees toward the base camp. As the main artery to the quest area of the volcano, it was from the camp's direction I was likely to run into other players. So I walked to one side, through the trees while keeping the path in view, Phlixx skipping along by my side.
But by the time I reached the base camp I'd encountered no other players heading in either direction. As I passed over the edge of the camp's perimeter a message 'Safe Zone' appeared at the top of my vision, then faded away. Here, no one could hurt or kill me. Even casting helpful spells on someone, like healing, could not be done unless specifically permitted by the receiving player. I relaxed.
The base camp wasn't much to look at. It was in an open area cleared of trees with a large bonfire at its center. To one side hunched an old crone with various wares and goods splayed over a mat on the ground.
I wandered too close, and she keyed in on me. “Hello, weary traveler! Would you like to look at my wares?”
“No, thanks,” I said, mostly out of habit as something I would say to her in the real world. But here, the old crone was a simple construct of the game, one with a single task, to sell me goods.
“Are you certain?” She continued hopefully as I passed by. “Salve for your wounds? Ale for your aching mind?”
I ignored her and walked past, but she caught Phlixx's interest. With the old crone's attention on me the ferret crept behind her and lifted the back of her robe. He peered underneath then shrieked in dismay.
The crone whirled on him, waving her hands. “Begone, rat! Or I'll throw you in a cooking pot!”
Phlixx had pinwheeled away, wide-eyed and aghast. He collapsed to the ground and made a show of retching up air. “I've seen your wares, lady, and they cannot be unseen!” he wailed.
I walked around the bonfire and stood before the clearing's only other feature.
A travel gate.
The gate was a huge circle which stood on its edge, mounted on a base with a short series of stairs leading up to it. Its edge was marked with various ruins of an ancient language my avatar did not understand, and these emitted a soft yellow glow. The middle surface diameter of the circle was silver and shimmered like a pond. My avatar's reflection played across its strange surface.
I'd arrived through this gate to search for the golden egg.
Not yet ready to change areas I turned away and sat on a fallen log next to the bonfire. Phlixx bounded over to sit at my side. “Can I see the pretty egg, again? Please?” He begged.
I glanced around. Other than the old crone who still stared at me expectantly, there was no one else. “Why not?” I said, wanting a better look at it, too.
I fished the egg out of my backpack and cradled it in my hands. Its surface had the bumpy texture of a real egg, emphasizing the power of the game's detail, and glinted with the light of the fire.
“Looks like an e
gg,” I said. “But is it worth anything?” The goal of the special quest was to get the dragon's egg but nothing specified what happened after. Usually the reward was gold and experience points for my avatar.
“Maybe we can cook it?” Phlixx said, drooling with his tongue hanging out.
“Now there's a thought.” Perhaps something was inside? I shook the egg close to my ear but nothing rattled. Holding the egg at an angle I examined it closer with the light of the fire. A thin groove circled around its middle. “Looks as if we don't need to crack it open.” I gripped the egg at both ends and twisted.
The egg unscrewed into two halves. It was hollow within save for a rolled up parchment. A quest scroll.
“Oh, crud,” I said. No gold, or gems, or magical items this time. What I needed was something to sell at the auction house.
“Huh? What is it?” Phlixx said peering at the scroll. “Can we eat it?”
“Nope,” I said, removing the scroll from the egg casing. “Just means we're not done, yet. This silly quest is far from over.”
Phlixx frowned and so did I. I wasn't keen on following an extended chain of quests. But if I wanted a reward completing them would be necessary.
The rolled scroll had no markings on it other than a red wax seal. Pressed into the wax was the symbol of what looked to be a sword, one I could not identify.
“Let's see what we've got,” I said and broke the seal to unfurl the scroll. A simple map was drawn across the parchment's surface. Examining it closer I recognized it as an area somewhere in the Southern Kingdoms. A red 'X' marked a spot at the end of a valley in a mountain range. With the help of my avatar's map reading skill names of landmarks and towns appeared.
I sighed. Nothing else showed what the quest was or what the reward for completing it would be. Typical. As an adventurer you were more or less expected to show up at a quest location and figure things out from there.
“Not sure if this is worth our while,” I said to Phlixx who had already lost interest and cartwheeled around. “I'll save it for another time or trade it.”
I was about to slip the scroll into my inventory when a chat request popped up in my vision. At first I thought it was Mudhoof bugging me again, but dollar signs appended the request label.
Spammer? Couldn't be. My filters were good at keeping unwanted solicitations from gold farmers and other pests from trying to sell me their crap. If it was a spammer, I'd report them to the game's administrators. Let management deal with him.
I initiated the chat and a large view window appeared in front of me. Within the window was the face of a large gray owl. Beneath him was the name Ogden Trite. “Greetings!” said the owl, ruffling his feathers as he spoke. “Thank you for accepting my chat request. I am most eager to speak with you. You are Vivian Valesh, the Shadow quester, yes?”
Waving a hand I said, “Yeah. But I'm not interested in what you're selling, pal. In fact, how the heck did you manage to get may chat identification if you're not on my friends list?” My list of in-game friends was short but distinguished. Or so I kept telling myself. In reality I didn't have many friends, in-game or otherwise. I am a solo player at heart.
The owl's eyes widened to comical proportions. “Oh, I am not selling anything at all. In fact, it is you I wish to buy from, if you are interested.”
That's a switch, I thought. “What could I possibly have that you want?” Currently, I had little up on the auction house for sale. What items I got from questing sold within minutes of my listing them.
Ogden chuckled, and his owl avatar's feathers bristled with the motion. “I'm interested in the quest scroll you recently obtained moments ago. Would you be keen on selling it?”
Shocked, I said, “How did you know I had this?” I looked around the base camp again, but other than the old crone, no one else was nearby. “I haven't even listed it anywhere.”
Ogden said, “I pay an exorbitant monthly fee to a Locators Guild each month for them to tell when a new quest becomes available. And they just now informed me of your quest scroll.”
“There are quest scrolls appearing all the time,” I said. “The Locators Guild must charge you a bundle.” There were billions of quests throughout the game's universe. The vast majority of them carefully logged on various internet sites and wikis. And thousands more were added daily. With billions of players the game needed to generate new content all the time.
“Well, that's true,” said Ogden. “But I don't pay for a daily list of everything. My interests are far more specific. I am only interested in one kind of quest.” He paused.
Making an effort to not roll my eyes at him, and wanting to end this conversation, I took the bait. “And what kind is that?”
“Legendary Quests,” he said.
“Legendary Quests?” I said, surprised. “Do they even make those anymore?” Every quest had a rarity degree assigned to it depending on what the end quest item reward was. From common items that had no real value, to ultra-rare items that fetched huge sums on the auction house.
Then there were the fabled Legendary Quests. So rare that out of the billions of available quests, the Legendaries numbered only a few dozen. And completing these quests gave the player a unique one of a kind item unlike any other in the game. Most other quests could be repeated by players and finishing them gave you the same reward. Not Legendaries. They were a one time quest. Once completed for the first time, the reward item changed to something more mundane.
“Yes,” Ogden said. “But, as you are well aware, not often. Hence their namesake.” He grinned in anticipation at me.
I frowned. If Ogden was after Legendary quests, and he was now talking to me...
My eyes went to the scroll in my hand. I unfurled it and scanned it again. This time I saw it. There, at the bottom of the parchment were the words 'Legendary Quest'.
“Oh, wow,” I said.
Ogden said, “Do you intend on selling the scroll? I'll pay you a handsome sum.”
I blinked several times, gathering my thoughts. “I dunno. This just kinda of hit me. I didn't know what I had until now.” A Legendary Quest. Here in my hands. No one would believe me!
“Well,” Ogden said, “I will buy it from you at top dollar. Did you have an amount in mind?”
Amount? How much could this be worth? Quest scrolls were not sold on the auction house as a game rule. They had to be sold off-market.
“I dunno, I've never been on a Legendary Quest before,” I said. How exciting would that be? A Legendary Quest! But all major quests above uber required groups of four just to activate them. I would need help to do it.
“If you intend to take the quest, then I will pay you three times the market listing cap for the reward item,” Ogden said. When first introduced into the game, Legendary items which appeared on the auction house sold for incredible amounts of money. So much that it negatively effected the game economy. Cap limits on Legendary items were created and you couldn't bid a copper higher for them.
This led to off-market sales at even higher prices than the market listings cap.
“Three times the listing cap?” I asked, not sure I heard him right.
“Yes. Once the item is obtained, the game will generate the cap. I will triple it, paid in full upon transfer of the item to my account.” Ogden arched a brow which looked odd on an owl. “And I know what you're thinking. Why not just hold onto the item for a higher bidder?”
“Yeah, that crossed my mind.”
“Well, to ensure I am the only person in the running I will pay you an upfront deposit immediately upon signing the contract. Five hundred thousand gold. And even if you don't get the item you keep the deposit.”
I nearly fainted and had to adjust my game visor. Five hundred thousand gold pieces! I'd never imagined having that amount before. And I kept it all even if I failed.
How could I lose?
“Interested?” He asked, as he watched me consider my options.
I grinned at my new owl friend. “Mr. Tri
te, you got yourself a deal.”
CHAPTER THREE
Gate travel within the game was equal parts convenience and aggravation. On one hand, you could travel instantly anywhere in the game universe, across oceans to different continents, even to other planets, of which there were tens of thousands. On the other hand, it couldn't be too easy. So most times when you traveled through one gate you had to hoof it the next one, as no single gate went everywhere, you needed to find the one going toward your destination.
I stepped through the gate at the base camp and into a whole other place. The dark ash clouds of the volcano environment changed to perfect white fluffy ones against a pale blue sky. Tall trees and lush greenery momentarily assailed my vision. I had spent too long in the grim volcano zone. This new setting fed my soul.
