More Than a Game

by Andrey Vasilyev

  “Legendary?” Reineke said. “We all got lucky. Seriously. What level is it for?”

  “Forty-five. And I’m not turning it in to the clan storehouse!”

  “Of course not. Turning a fair reward in to the clan storehouse? Who do you take us for?”

  Hugo coughed. We turned back toward him.

  “But that’s not all. Lord Hagen, I would like to officially invite you to join the Tearful Goddess Order.”

  You were invited to join the Tearful Goddess Order

  If you agree, you will become a member of the order and earn the following bonuses:

  +12 to strength

  +6 to wisdom

  +88 to health

  +3% experience earned

  +7% damage done by all weapon types

  +5% chance of finding rare and hidden quests

  Additional:

  You will gain access to the order’s hidden knowledge, and will most likely unlock chains of rare and hidden quests.

  Note:

  Only 75 players have ever been invited to join the Tearful Goddess Order. Of them, only one accepted.

  Limitations: You will join the order on the side of good. Committing evil deeds will cause your reputation within the order to fall, and you will be expelled from the order and declared its enemy if it falls too far.

  Accept?

  “That’s crazy!” Reineke exchanged glances with his friends. “Join a non-player order? I’ve never heard of that…”

  I stood there, lost in thought.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Choices

  I wondered why everyone else had declined. I mean, I knew why I would turn down von Shlippenshtain’s offer, but why did the rest? For the same reasons, I was about to or for different ones? And if they had different reasons, what were they? I was especially intrigued by the one person who had agreed to join. He was probably a veritable fount of information, and he was off walking around somewhere.

  “Thank you, Master Hugo, but I have to decline. I have some pretty good reasons, and there are also some promises I have to keep that don’t really line up with the order’s mission. Two circumstances, in particular, are keeping me from joining your order. For the time being, at least.”

  The knight’s face fell. “I’ll be honest, your answer disappoints me. Our order would gain an excellent warrior and a good person if you joined. Let’s do this: I’ll leave the invitation open. If you decide you can join the order in the future, just come find me and tell me you’re ready. Does that work for you?”

  “Absolutely,” I said. “That would be an honor, but is it a problem that I’m a member of the Thunderbirds?”

  “Of course not.” Hugo was firm on that point. “Your clan is your clan, and your order is your order. Besides, my order and your clan now enjoy a very friendly relationship, am I right?”

  We assured von Shlippenshtain that yes, players and NPCs are friends forever, and we all meant every word.

  Then we had another drink to toast our achievement and took our leave to attend to other matters. What point was there in sitting around? The job was done, everyone had their rewards, and it was time to go.

  Out on the street, life in Fladridge was as ordinary as ever: children were playing, old ladies were carrying water in buckets, and players were rushing every which way. The only thing that stood out was the angry shouting coming from the pub next door.

  “Seriously? Healing NPCs! Let’s…let’s…let’s find some pandas who know kung fu and let them into the game, too. Why not? We’ll give them their own continent! Got to be kidding me…”

  “He’s still at it.” Reineke shook his head.

  “Ah, he’ll stuff his face and fall asleep,” Kro said placidly. “All right, who’s going where? I’m on my way to Hostig.”

  “I’m on my way to Gorrint. Some friends need me,” answered Romuil.

  “I have to go to the hotel first,” Reineke said. “Hagen, want to come with me?”

  “Of course,” I said. “I’m going there, too.”

  “And then where?” asked Kro. “Fladridge doesn’t really have anything else for you at your level.”

  “I’m not sure,” I answered honestly. “Everyone’s pushing me eastward.”

  “Who is ‘everyone’?” asked Reineke.

  “Well, all the NPCs.” I twisted my hand around in the air as if screwing in an imaginary lightbulb. “The instructor, and Gunther, too—just go east.”

  “In that case, you need to go east,” Reineke said as if pronouncing a verdict.

  “Definitely.” Romuil seconded his opinion, and Kro nodded her crazy head in agreement.

  “See, you always choose your own way and make your own decisions in the game.” Reineke smiled humorlessly. “Where you go, how you go there, who you go with, and why. You’re the only one who can decide if you want to be a dark elf or a thieving halfling. Just a minute ago, for example, you made a choice. Thousands and thousands of players would never even dream of joining a non-player order—they’re way better than any clan. And you turned them down, which is your right. Neither the clan nor I will ever ask you why, though having you join would have been incredibly valuable for us: access to information, access to the order’s storehouses, and an army of friendly warriors. But you turned them down, and you are perfectly within your rights to do so. The game is made up of choices like that, both big and small. You decide for yourself and bear the responsibility for your decisions.”

  ‘Why, why?’ Just because. Of course, it would be great, but not with the limitations I had. Anything I did in the “minus” column would have hurt my reputation. That category includes lies, and I was a constant and willing liar. After all, that was my profession. Executioners cut off heads, beekeepers kept bees, florists grew flowers, and I lied. Okay, fine, not all the time, but I never really told the truth. I was a journalist, and journalists never speak the whole truth. It’s always better or worse than it really is because nobody cares about reality. We live there already. And who knows what I’d end up doing in the game? Maybe I’d beat someone up or kill them. My reputation would suffer, seeing as how I wouldn’t be evaluated by a person—they might miss things or not take emotion into account. No, it would have been a machine that simply records what happens. Sooner or later, and almost certainly sooner, my rating would drop below the threshold. I’d be kicked out of the order, declared its enemy, and hounded through all of Fayroll. And they have missions in every city! Anyway, I didn’t need that. The benefits were outweighed by the drawbacks. Besides, I wouldn’t be getting most of the benefits; my clan would.

  “Still, the game reserves the right to give you friendly advice,” Reineke continued. “Once you’ve done everything you need to do in your current location, it uses NPCs to give you hints and push you in the direction that will be best and most interesting for you…from its point of view.”

  “But how does it know what’s best for me?” I was pretty sure I knew the answer to my question.

  “Big brother is always watching!” Kro opened her eyes wide.

  “Basically, yes,” agreed Lis. “It’s true. The game analyzes all of us constantly, checks to see which quests we’d like, looks for adventures we’d find fun—at our level—and then it decides which way is best. But you decide if you want to go that way or not. I’d have to agree that the east is the best place for you right now.”

  “Why?” I was intrigued.

  “Your level, for starters. Most locations there are levels 32 to 45. I mean, sure, they have high-level locations, too, and even a raid boss. But on the way to Selgar—”

  “Selgar?” I asked, putting the emphasis on the second syllable.

  “No, it’s Selgar,” said Krolina helpfully. Romuil nodded. “The biggest city on the eastern side of Rattermark. Well, like Aegan here. Lots of traders, an auction, herds of players, a few major clans, tons of quests. You should go there regardless, but besides that, the only people who don’t want to visit an entire section of the cont
inent like that are ridiculously noobish or lazy. The question is how to get there.”

  “Exactly, that’s what I’m talking about.” Reineke pulled out his map. “Look, there are two ways you can go. The best option is to follow the Crisna River, or, as it’s normally called, the Great River. It flows across half the continent, starting in the Sumak Mountains and ending in the Nameless Sea. All you have to do is follow it, and you won’t get lost. That way is longer, of course, but you go from town to town doing quests along the way. All in all, you should be in Selgar a month or a month and a half from now. There are lots of towns along the way, and it takes a day or less to go from one to the other. You always have something to do.”

  “Just make sure you go around Snakeville.” Krolina poked her finger at a spot on the map. “Right here.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s a bad place,” Romuil said. “There used to be a village there called Snakeville. Then, three years ago, two clans went to war. Someone didn’t do something—someone’s toes got stepped on or whatever… Anyway, they really went at it.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Then,” continued Reineke, “one of the clans started losing. Their mage, apparently an incredibly powerful one, cast Universal Flood. It’s a spell that starts water pouring out of the sky like, I don’t know…like from a bucket. No, more like from a hose—a ton of water for a long time. But he must have missed something because the whole flood swept right through Snakeville.”

  “And?”

  “And washed it into the river. The whole village. With its roofs, well, cows, and NPC villagers. Everyone drowned. All that was left were the chimneys. Well, and picturesque ruins of houses.”

  Kro jumped in. “The admins were furious. They added a rule saying you can’t touch NPCs unless it’s part of the script, and also another rule against large-scale combat in cities, villages, and really anywhere people live. And the penalties they added…damn.”

  “The admins also disbanded those clans, holding them responsible for catastrophic losses and casualties in the game world even though it’s all just a bunch of code,” Romuil said in closing. “And they left Snakeville as a warning. It’s a bad place. They say it’s terrible there at night.”

  “What do you mean?” I still didn’t understand what was bad about it.

  Reineke rejoined the conversation. “You always know you’re playing a game, right? And no matter what you’re going through, it’s never really all that scary, no?”

  “Of course.”

  “Well, when you’re there, you have a hard time distinguishing the game from reality. You think that if you die, it won’t just be the game. At least, that’s what people who have been there say.”

  “But they don’t tell you what’s actually there,” confirmed Kro. “All they say is that it’s ‘terrible.’ I wanted to go check it out, but I haven’t yet.”

  “Long story short, just go around,” said Reineke to sum up.

  “Why are you sending him along the river?” Romuil interrupted and pointed at a different spot on the map Reineke was still holding. “He could go through Foim Plateau.”

  “Right, the plateau, where the yetis live.” Reineke snorted.

  “It’s twice as fast. And Amadze crossed it alone two years ago, and his level wasn’t that high either.”

  “What is Amadze?”

  “A scout.”

  “Exactly. And Hagen is a warrior. The yetis will be all over him, and they respawn every five minutes. Plus, Gruskat Plain is after the plateau. He’d have to deal with hordes of orcs and wolves.”

  “It’s up to him.” Romuil stretched and continued. “Anyway, see you all later. I’m off.”

  “Hold on, let me give you your gold.” Reineke froze for a second.

  Once they’d finished, a portal opened, and Romuil stepped into it. I probably could have added him as a friend, but for some reason, I didn’t want to. Maybe that was one of the choices Reineke was talking about.

  “He has a dark side. And there’s something going on with him and Murat, by the way,” Kro said with a glance at Reineke.

  “We don’t have to have anything to do with him.” Lis gestured my way with his eyes, obviously reminding Kro of my presence.

  I figured it was best not to inquire.

  “Lis, show me the map again. How do I go there, and what’s the final destination?”

  Lis opened his map, and I estimated the distance, pulled up the game map and tried to compare the two. Then I activated the quest for Ogina the East and checked the red circle. It turned out to be about five days’ walk from Selgar, right on the border with the notorious Gruskat Plain, where all the wild orcs were. Hordes of them. Romuil was right: it would be easier for me to cross the Foim Plateau. But the yetis…

  “Look, there’s a crossroads you have to go to either way.” Reineke had obviously realized what I was trying to figure out and pointed to a city on the map. “You need to go here, to Montrig, and that will take two weeks. By then you’ll have made a decision.”

  “Maybe you’ll find someone to go with you!” Kro was trying to be encouraging. “Want me to give you my knight?”

  “Alas, Lady Krolina,” said Gunther as he walked down the steps, “while I would be happy to go with Laird Hagen, I cannot. The master is sending me to the Supreme Chapter at Grondar to tell them about the death of the witcher and other news.”

  “Grondar. That’s somewhere way off in the south.” Krolina scowled. “How long will it take you to ride down there?”

  “A long time. But I don’t have a choice. He gave the order, and that’s final.”

  Krolina looked at the night compassionately. “Let me take you with me. I’m taking a portal to Hostig, and that will save you 1,500 leagues or so.”

  “Are you serious, Lady Krolina?”

  “No, I’m joking. Come on, get your things together.”

  “I’ll be back in three minutes.” Gunther sprinted back up the stairs, his armor clattering as he went.

  “That’s a shame—he’d make things easier for you.” Reineke looked at me. “Good NPCs always come in handy.”

  “Sometimes, the opposite is true.” I smiled. “You’re responsible for whoever’s in your care. Life’s simpler when you’re alone.”

  “Yes, I’m aware. Just don’t miss the moment when the game stops being a game. If you don’t see it coming, it’ll make it harder for you later.”

  “I’ll do my best.” I knew what he was talking about. More and more, I was thinking about the NPCs as real people rather than digital creations. It was unusual, but kind of fun. And not that healthy.

  “Lady Krolina, I’m ready.” Gunther bounced down the stairs and froze in front of Kro. “All I have to do is bring Duke here.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” said Kro grandly. “We’ll go find your little stallion and port from there. Okay, boys, send me a message if anything fun happens. I’ll come save you.”

  “Goodbye, Sir Reineke. Goodbye, Laird Hagen.” Gunther bowed his head in farewell.

  It was odd, but in those two days, I’d grown attached to the young knight and his belief in honesty, friendship, and the eventual triumph of good over evil. That was certainly the least of what I believed in when I was younger…

  “Goodbye, Sir Gunther von Richter. I think we’ll cross paths again,” I said.

  “Of course,” said Gunther with conviction and without a shadow of a doubt. “Did you think we wouldn’t? You’re on your way to the east, and I’ll head that way soon. Just make sure you wait for me there. I’ll find you.”

  “I’ll be sure to wait,” I promised. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”

  “We’re off. Mwah!” Krolina blew us kisses and took the young knight into the stable behind the mission, where a minute later we saw the light of a portal.

  “The valiant von Richter dragged off like a lamb to the slaughter,” I said matter-of-factly.

  Reineke grunted.

  “Well, to the
hotel?”

  “To the hotel.”

  Lubelia was at the hotel looking as beautiful as ever, and she handed us keys. I noticed she didn’t ask who Reineke was, even though she’d never seen him before in her computerized life.

  “Don’t leave without me,” Reineke said. “Let’s meet by the entrance in ten minutes.”

  “Sounds good.”

  I stretched out on the bed without taking off my boots, something I—dirty swine that I am—had always dreamed of doing, and I finally distributed my points.

  There were thirty-five of them. All of five went to wisdom. I added fifteen to strength, another ten to stamina. Intellect got three, agility got two, and I was done.

  Next, I set about sorting through everything I’d gotten. Where was that super earring? And what ear were you supposed to put it in? I definitely remembered that fruits wore them in one specific ear—but which? I decided to just go with the left. Later, I’d look it up online.

  All that was left was the highlight of the evening: the Hounds of Death Friendship Ring. I could feel myself turning into a killing machine…probably. One thing was for sure: I was becoming a prime target for PKers.

  Next, I collected everything I needed to dump in my chest and hoped there’d always be as much. There was extra gold after saving thirty for myself to buy bread and some treats. Then there was the shield. I wasn’t sure I’d use it even after I got to Level 45, as it was too valuable an item to have with me regardless of the bonuses that came with it. Plus…there was still a ways to go before Level 45, and I was far from certain that I’d even get that far. And I wasn’t bothered in the least that my clan didn’t know I had a set item. I certainly wasn’t going to turn it in to the clan storehouse. It was my shield, and that was final.

  So where was I, having turned yet another page in my online life?

  Basic attributes:

  Strength: 128 (80+48)

  Intellect: 13 (8+5)

  Agility: 19 (12+7)

  Stamina: 100 (55+45)

  Wisdom: 15

  Not bad. Sure, I was a little one-sided, but that die was cast. We can’t all be mages.

  And then it was time to go—Reineke was probably waiting for me already.