First Login (The World Book 1)

by Jason Cheek

  “Don’t worry about it. We’re not like that.” I said reassuringly.

  “Yea, we had a run in with those assholes too,” Sarka said darkly.

  “How? It looks like you have all of your gear still.” Unalia asked somewhat perturbed.

  Yun jerked his chin in my direction. “Startum helped us out. Killed the entire group single-handedly and then helped us get our gear and money back.”

  “You’d have had to camp them for like half an hour to get all of your money back.” Tinyr laughed at his own words, then he suddenly stopped upon seeing the hard look on Sarka’s face. “No, you didn’t!”

  “It was more like an hour,” Yun said with a nasty grin.

  “Wish I could have seen that.” Unalia wishfully said, visibly relaxing as we talked.

  “You might get your wish. Those assholes are still looking to get back at us.” I warned them both. “Not that it’s likely to go better any for them. Especially if we’re not outnumbered this time.”

  “You were three against five?” Tinyr asked in shock.

  “One against five.” Sarka corrected.

  “Yep.” I gave him a sly wink.

  Tinyr and Unalia gave each other a wicked grin before looking back at us. “Count us in!” They both said in unison.

  “Jinx,” Unalia said punching Tinyr in the arm.

  All of a sudden the waiting players rushed out into the gap. I was looking around in surprise trying to figure out what had triggered the exodus when Tinyr took off calling out over his shoulder. “Come on, we’ve got to get across before the patrol comes back. Don’t stop and fight or you’ll just be killed.”

  “We just have to pick-up our bodies,” Unalia said urgently before taking off after her man.

  “Keep close and be ready to fight.” I said in a low voice as I took off at a jog behind our two new teammates. “Remember, we can take-on one group no problem.”

  Tinyr single-mindedly raced to his gravestone that was next to a group of dismounted Goblins that were running around attacking the players closest to them as they rushed past, while the Goblin mounts fought on their own against two groups of players that stuck together. I had to give the players a nod of respect.

  Instead of fleeing like the rest and leaving their teammates behind to die, they fought against the high-level mobs with everything they had. A flash of dark hair caught my eye as a female rogue leaped on top of one of the Worg’s back with her daggers flailing. The name Kenzie McMillan momentarily appeared above the Light Elf’s head, before her leather-clad ass disappeared behind the group’s lead fighter as he pulled the beast’s aggro.

  Shaking my head to clear the distraction, I focused back on what was happening around me. In the chaotic mess, another player had run up beside Tinyr to collect his corpse when Unalia arrived a second later behind him. She was reaching out for her gravestone when an elite Worg Rider slaughtered the player it was fighting and turned to face its three newest victims. Before any of us could react, the stranger next to Tinyr kicked Unalia to the ground in front of the Goblin and took off running for the safety of the mine.

  “What an asshole!” I heard Sarka swear next to me as the Elite Worg Rider charged forward kicking Unalia in the face. As she fell roughly onto her back, the Goblin lifted its two-handed, flanged axe high into the air to finish her off when my Ice Lance smashed into its ugly mug. Ice coated the Goblin as it looked up at me in surprise as my second blast hammered into its face again, this time critting.

  You Ice Lance Crit Elite Worg Rider for 240 points of damage.

  You Ice Lance Elite Worg Rider for 120 points of damage.

  Seeing the massive damage show up in the red numbers of my damage meter window, I realized I’d completely missed the ‘Ice Lance damage is doubled against frozen targets’ part of the spell description. With that kind of damage boost, I could probably take out the whole group by myself.

  Grinning like a madman, I blasted the Goblin at point blank range and slammed my Jagged Bonesplittler Axe into its frost-covered face before knocking the mob off its feet with a Shield Bash. Two Frost Blasts from behind me slammed into the stunned Goblin lying on its back from Yun as I jumped on top of the mob flailing with my axe like a berserker with Sarka at my side. We finished the Goblin off as Tinyr hurriedly pulled his wife back to her feet.

  Looking around, I saw the other four Elite Goblins closing in on us as I used my next new spell, Frost Nova. Immediately a rippling wave of magic blasted out from my body freezing the goblins in place. Without hesitation, I began issuing out orders.

  “We are taking this group down now. Everyone keep together in a tight formation so we don’t aggro the other group.” I said pointing to the second group of Worg Riders that were split between attacking the stragglers trying to reach the mine and the other group that had stopped to fight. “Everyone target off of Sarka.”

  “Target off of Sarka?” Unalia asked in confusion.

  “He means you need to attack whatever Sarka is attacking,” Tinyr yelled out as Sarka, Unalia and Yun all nodded in sudden understanding. I tried not to laugh as Tinyr winked at me. In the heat of the battle, I forgot that not everyone was familiar with MMORPG attack terms. “Let’s go!”

  I double blasted the closest frozen Goblin between us and the mine with Ice Lances. The attacks knocked the mob out of the icy trap from the Nova Blast effect, but before the creature could recover, I was plowing into the Goblin with my axe with Sarka beside me as two arrows slammed into the Goblin. As we traded blows, I counted down the timer for the Frost Blast lockdown. At four seconds, I stepped back and blasted the last three goblins with my Ice Lance as I called out.

  “Everyone shift behind me.” I shouted, staggering slightly from a deep slash to my side from a Goblin’s axe. Shrugging off the blow, I continued blasting as Tinyr backstabbed the Goblin in front of me taking it down with the killing blow. The last three Goblins came after me single-mindedly as I fought hard to block their flailing dual-wielding axes. Sarka pulled one of the bastards off me, quickly burning it down with the rest of the team as I struggled to keep the last two Goblins focused on me, while still getting a few hits on the mob attacking Sarka. Whether or not she understood the general group strategy for off-tanking or not, she was doing a kickass job of peeling the mobs off of me like an onion.

  Unfortunately, these last three Goblins took a lot longer to take down, since I’d only tapped them once with an Ice Lance each and my Nova Blast hardly did any damage. We ended up having to take them down the hard way instead. That being the use of brutal melee attacks instead of high damage spells. As each Worg Rider fell, I saw Tinyr quickly loot the bodies as we backed-up closer and closer to the mine. We were finishing off the last Goblin when I heard Tinyr curse of anger.

  “What’s up?” I asked, unable to see what was going on behind me. Tinyr had taken up a position behind the mobs Backstabbing the whole time as I held the Goblins’ focus with Sarka by my side.

  “There’s a group of Syndicate players blocking the entrance.” Tinyr spat in disgust.

  “How?” I growled, feeling my temper beginning to rise as I blocked and parried the Goblin’s attacks.

  “Looks like they’re playing toll trolls at the ramp into the mine,” Yun said, the seething rage clear in his voice.

  “Shit, those are the same assholes that juiced us last time?” Unalia said, nervously looking over her shoulder.

  “Officer Patrol is approaching.” Sarka unconcernedly said as she buried her Rockjaw Chopper into the elite Goblin’s neck dropping the mob like a rock. “We doing this Startum?”

  “Yea, that’s why I didn’t burn these guys down with my spells. It’s always best to keep a little something-something in reserve for shit like this”. I said, giving her a wolfish grin. “Okay everyone follow my lead.”

  Turning around, I began strutting unconcerned towards the waiting Syndicate players blocking the ramp. I’d wondered why there’d been a traffic jam climbing up into the rocky area ar
ound the mine, but now I understood the reason why as the blood began boiling in my veins. Freaking bullies. Behind the group of Syndicate players, I saw the individual players that had been cowed into paying their way through the ramp backing up out of the range of the impending fight.

  Quickly, I glanced at the Hit Point and Mana bars of the waiting thugs, grinning to myself as I saw none of the assholes had bothered to take the P&M exam. If any of them had half a brain, they’d double check who they were up against, but I doubted they’d be that smart. Most bullies relied on intimidation instead of actual strength.

  “Are we going to attack them?” Tinyr nervously asked stepping up beside me.

  “Only if they’re dicks,” I said with the same wolfish grin still plastered on my face.

  “So that’s a yes then. I’ll follow your lead.” Tinyr said, patting me on the shoulder as he backed behind me fading into Stealth.

  “Hold up there.” Onepunch Syndicate pompously demanded, holding up her hand for us to stop as we neared. “Everyone pays a toll to the Syndicate before entering the mines.” Next to her, a warrior looking type named Monzster Syndicate and an obvious rogue named Desolation Syndicate stepped up beside her pumping out their chests and waving around their weapons threatening as the last two players of the group stood up taller trying to look dangerous.

  “How about you give my new friends back there money that you confiscated earlier,” I called out still fifteen yards away making finger quotes the best I could with one hand free, and my axe gripped in my shield hand. “Along with these other fine players’ money and I won’t shove your head up your ass.”

  The Syndicate players goggled in disbelief as what I’d just said sunk into their thick skulls. “Do you know who the fuck we are? Screw paying the fucking toll, we’re going kill your dumb ass and take your money instead. What do you think about them apples?” Onepunch screamed out like a maniac as she stalked forward with her group close on her heels. She kept on trying to form a Frost Blast in her clenched fist, but every time she took a step forward the spell fizzled out. I couldn’t help but think of the opening scene to the movie “Way of the Gun” as my hand shot out.

  The first double blast took their highest level player, the warrior named Monzster, out in the blink of an eye. Well, at least two seconds. The two rogues immediately tried to disappear into stealth, but my Frost Nova stopped everyone in place and interrupted Onepunch’s Frost Blast before she could complete casting the spell. My next double tap took out Desolation. And my third knocked out Onepunch, who never ended up getting even one spell off before she was graveyard dead. My fourth took out Cheezknife, leaving only Gougeous, their priest, still standing.

  I’d never stopped striding forward during the entire fight, so by the time I was done with Cheezknife; I was standing in from of Gougeous as I casually looted the four Syndicate players’ corpses. Finding a dagger off of Desolation, I grinned happily tossing it to Tinyr before addressing Gougeous.

  “You know, I’ve been running into you Syndicate pukes all over the place, and every time I have, it’s been in the process of griefing other players,” I said casually, but loud enough for everyone in the area to clearly hear my words. “So what has been the going rate for entrance into the mine?”

  “A silver per player.” Gougeous replied, gulping nervously.

  “I’m sorry, I could quite hear that. Could you say that once again only louder?”

  “A silver per player,” Gougeous said again, this time loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear her words.

  “Wow, that’s like …” Looking at the hundred and fifty plus crowd standing around, I saw multiple video icons over many of the players’ heads as I shook my head unbelievably. “That’s like some serious freaking highway robbery shit going on.”

  “How about you go ahead and start paying everyone here back one silver. I think that would be a good start.” I said after thinking for a moment.

  “Only Onepunch held the money,” Gougeous said nervously holding up her hands in a surrender gesture.

  “You know they don’t consider you a true Syndicate guildmate,”I said holding her gaze.

  “The choice was to either join them or become another victim. I chose to be a winner.” Gougeous said unhappily.

  “Some winner that turned out to be,” I said with a shake of my head. “Everyone but Onepunch left an average of five silvers. You want to pay up on your own or do you want me to take it from you the hard way. Your choice.” Without a word, Gougeous handed over five silvers.

  “Now, if Onepunch has the money pouch, then let’s see what she has to say about paying back her debts.” Since I’d already recovered my Mana, I stepped back and selected Onepunch’s corpse and started casting my resurrection spell. Twenty seconds later a pissed off Frost Mage stood back up in front of Gougeous.

  “About time you learned to cast resurrection.” Onepunch snapped irritably as soon as she returned to her body. Climbing to her feet, she began cursing up a storm. “Where the fuck is that asshole’s corpse. I’m going to keep on killing him until he decides to respawn at the graveyard and then hunt him down and kill him some more.” Onepunch’s tirade was cut short as Gougeous’ face screwed up in fear as she urgently pointed her finger at me standing behind Onepunch’s back.

  “I guess you weren’t smart enough to actually look at who was resurrecting you before selecting accept.” Onepunch’s shoulders went rigid at the sound of my voice. “Just so we’re clear, I just slaughtered your entire team in less than 10 seconds, while not one of you were able to lay a hand on me,” I said pushing her up the ramp toward the watching crowd.

  “So here’s the deal, Onepunch. Your girl here explained that you’re the one holding all the money that your group has bullied or stolen from these players. You’re going to pay everyone here back two silvers, or I’m going to spawn camp you and your entire group’s asses until I collect everything you owe.”

  “We only demanded one silver from these losers.” Onepunch spat at the silent players standing before her. As I gripped the back of her head by the hair and put my axe blade against her neck, she finally relented. “Okay … okay, I’ll pay.”

  The looks on the sea of angry faces left me feeling justified in my course of action. Even if some of the players looked uncomfortable at my harsh treatment of the raging bitch, no one said anything negative about what I was doing or tried to stop me as one by one they came up and took a portion of their money back.

  That was one of the cool things about computer gaming. Similar to how Samuel Colt made revolvers the ‘great equalizer’ between people in the mid-1800s. I considered ‘computer gaming’ to be the ‘great equalizer’ between men and women in the digital age. The typical dividing lines between the sexes weren’t the same as it was in real life.

  Inside the game world, everyone was equal. Everyone had the same ability to be equally strong and powerful if they had the right level and build. There were no actual differences between the physical attributes of a man or woman within virtual worlds. No one was chastised for taking out another player if they were a male or a female in MMORPG player vs. player fights. No one became angry if you gunned down a female player in a first-person shooter. You each had the same amount of life and the same options to arm yourselves. Male or female, you were there to play and have fun, to kill and be killed. Inside computer games, everyone had the chance to be equal.

  That didn’t mean combat in first person shooters and player vs. player fights in MMORPGs weren’t brutal. In their own way, they could be extremely brutal, opportunistic and savage. Even so, the gaming community had their own rules of acceptable behavior. Repeatedly spawn camping players was considered bad taste but acceptable up to a point. The player community usually determined this point and handed assholes who took this to the extremes by hunting those players down and killing them repeatedly. Killing a much lower level player or double/triple teaming an enemy and killing them was more than acceptable and even expe
cted.

  Bragging about how you killed a much lower level character or an outnumbered opponent was considered bad taste since it lacked skill. The only time game administrators got involved was when a cheat or game-exploit was being used. Otherwise, players took care of their own communities which could change in flavor from server to server and game to game. A point that many new gamers had to learn and accept upon entering the general community of a game. As any PVPer would tell you, no one was making you play the game.

  When the last player in line had collected their money, I turned Onepunch around to face me. “If I ever see you or your friends outside of a town again, I’ll kill you on sight,” I said hanging my hand-axe on my belt. As Onepunch spat in my face, I ended her life with an Ice Lance and looted her corpse once again. Turning around to my group, I returned everyone’s high fives before splitting up the coin I’d looted as Tinyr did the same with what he’d picked up during the fight with the Elite Goblins. I ended up being ten silvers richer too. Not bad, since loot was now being split five different ways. The other good thing was that everyone on our team had made out well. Tinyr got another dagger while Yun and Unalia got hand-axe upgrades. Overall it was a good bonding experience for the group.

  All of us received attaboys and back pats as we made our way through the crowd to the massive stone archway that was the entrance to the mines. It was a nice feeling to get the support from the local player community. Turning around to face the team for a quick strategy session, I asked. “Who isn’t familiar with group roles like puller, main tank, off tank, healer and main damage assist?” Seeing four hands go up into the air, I somehow managed to not run a hand down my face in despair.

  “Okay,” I said dragging out the kay sound out. “The puller is the person that goes out alone and pulls the mobs back to the team. Usually, this is the job of the main tank because it can help the main tank hold aggro, but it can be anyone with a ranged attack and or crowd control abilities.”