by Charles Dean
“I don’t know how to recruit them . . .” she answered honestly. “My former Herald, Tim, didn’t really have any advice on the subject. Just said I needed to learn how to drink.”
“I can teach you how to drink sometime, but have you thought about posting on the forum for more players? I didn’t even know there was a player-run squad. Now we can just do one quest after the other and not have to wait for the Herald to dole one out.”
“Yeah, I love this EXP. Is it just me or does a three-person party rake in way more than the usual ten-person one?” Mclean asked, landing her dive on one of the Fire-Walkers as she spoke. Valerie was happy Mclean had started her dive before her: the front diver was always targeted first.
“I don’t think it’s just you. The EXP has been great. We may hit 40 before the war starts,” Daniel said, landing his dive cleanly too.
“You may be right about the levels, but let’s not forget we are doing this for the Sun God Empire,” Valerie said, landing her dive with two blades right into one of the heretic Fire-Walkers.
Critical Dive! You have done 236 Damage!
Critical Dive! You have done 236 Damage!
“I mean, can you imagine how great it will be when we have subjugated all the Kingdoms into one Empire? When our glass cities lie in the clouds above forests, lakes, and mountains, can you imagine how beautiful it will be?” Valerie finished, dragging her blades out of her victim and turning to attack the next closest Fire-Walker. It took five hits, but Valerie managed to land each hit without taking the Fire-Walker’s flame swipes in return.
You have done 59 Damage!
You have done 59 Damage!
You have done 59 Damage!
You have done 59 Damage!
You have done 59 Damage!
“Yeah, it would be kind of cool. You really get into the story of this game don’t you?” Daniel asked, finishing off his third Fire-Walker since landing.
“Don’t tease her about drinking the Koolaid. We wouldn’t be enjoying these sweet quests if she didn’t get the position, now would we?” Mclean answered before Valerie could respond.
“No, we wouldn’t, but we do need to figure out how to get her some of those NPCs. We can’t be doing all the clean up by ourselves, can we?” Daniel said while he finished off his fourth Fire-Walker.
“Don’t act like you don’t enjoy doing it all yourself. There wouldn’t be much fun if we had too many NPCs out here doing all of our work,” Mclean answered, still not letting Valerie get a word in.
Valerie, who had only killed two, couldn’t find any Fire-Walkers in range that weren’t being picked off already by Mclean or Daniel. This is going way faster than it was with the squad Tim put together.
“So either of you girls figured out what’s up with the food here? If I eat too much will my character get fat?” Daniel asked. “Or will I just always stay skinny like those kids who shovel pizza in their mouth for four years at college and come out weighing less than a 100 pounds?”
“That . . . oh, God, I don’t wanna be a fat bird! Can you imagine how hard it would be to fly if we could get fat? Just the five to ten pounds worth of leather and weapons makes a big difference on our flight,” Mclean answered, finishing off the final heretic and then poking her stomach.
“Actually. I’ve been thinking about your NPC problem. Valerie, do you only have to recruit White-Wings? Can you recruit some of the Fire-Walkers too?” Daniel asked.
“How would you get them to and from the fights though? Flying makes this place seem really small, but can you imagine if you were one of the players who picked Fire-Walker? This place would be huge. I can’t even imagine how long it would take to get from one side to the other . . . unless I somehow get fat. Then I’ll know exactly how long,” Mclean said, still poking her belly.
“You’re not going to get fat, woman. Besides, you would actually need to eat something in the game to get fat in the game. When was the last time you did anything but kill heretics?” Daniel didn’t seem very happy that there weren’t any more opponents left to kill.
“Shut up! I eat!” Mclean remarked again, obviously enjoying her banter with Daniel. The entire time though, Valerie was caught up in what Daniel had said.
What if you can recruit Fire-Walkers? Sure, the White-Wings have a huge advantage over them in movement speed and the dive, but realistically if the two were even-leveled, then a White-Wing would be very hard pressed to beat a Fire-Walker. After all, their flames, the blessing of the Sun God, were a force to be reckoned with and only grew stronger with levels.
“Where do the Fire-Walkers who actually serve the Sun God live? I mean, we’ve only seen them as heretics so far. Where are the player and NPC ones that we can recruit?
For the first time since Valerie had met him, Daniel looked like he was thinking about something serious. “No one really knows at the city. It’s not even mentioned on the forums. It’s like a close-guarded secret or something, but it shouldn’t be, should it?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen a Sun God-worshipping Fire-Walker outside of the city gates since I started playing, and I’ve been playing since the beta launch.” Mclean’s face had also grown a contemplative look. “I know a few hundred at least are registered as playing Fire-Walkers too. The racial page says our two Races are almost balanced.”
“Mclean, how long do you have until you have to log off?” Daniel said, looking at the two of them.
Mclean paused for a minute before answering. “I have at least five hours.”
“Well, what about you, Valerie?”
Valerie checked to see if she had anymore Herald missions left. She had knocked off all of the required missions for the week over the day and was left only with optional missions. She didn’t have any excuses to say no. First Tim invites me for a beer, now I’m being invited on a mystery quest. “I have all night, but where do we start?”
“Now that’s a question you’ll have to answer: you’re the boss, aren’t you?” Daniel said, sharing a chuckle with Mclean.
“Oh, well. Umm. Let’s try drawing a circle around the main encampment. We can pick off any heretics we see and make a map of the desert in the process.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Mclean said, Daniel nodding in agreement.
“Alright then, let’s go, boss,” Daniel said, pushing off the ground and into the air with Mclean following.
Valerie smiled as she joined the two in flight. These two . . . are they my friends? Valerie asked herself, having forgotten what it was like to have fun and go on adventures with her friends. It had been so long since she had even gone anywhere with anyone other than her parents, much less truly hang out with anyone. This isn’t exactly shopping at the mall . . . but then I couldn’t fly at the mall, now could I?
Robert:
The sound of bacon sizzling as it hit a hot cast iron skillet was one of the best sounds Robert could remember hearing in a long, long time. The unmistakable smells of the delicious breakfast treat soon filled the entire kitchen with its wonderful aroma and began wafting into the other parts of his home. He knew that it wouldn't be long before the appetizing perfume made its way upstairs and caught Kass' attention. He had heard the shower turn on a short while ago and knew that she would be on her way downstairs before too long in search of coffee and something to munch on.
It was rare for Robert to spend time in the kitchen cooking these days--between his chaotic work schedule and erratic sleep schedule, it was a habit that he had fallen out of. Back when his wife had been alive, she had been the true cook, the master-chef. After she died, Robert had actually avoided the task for quite a while, choosing instead to grab a quick meal or microwave something before passing through the door again. The two of them had spent a lot of time together in the kitchen. Cooking was something of a shared interest for them, and it had allowed them to spend time together doing something they both enjoyed. She was wonderful at the task, making the chore seem graceful in the way only a mother could, often flitting a
round the kitchen, mixing, stirring, and chopping. She always seemed to know the perfect way to balance everything: just the right pinch of this, the right amount of that, just how long something needed to cook or simmer before it was done perfectly.
In truth, Robert had only ever enjoyed it as something of a part-time ritual. More often than not, it was just something that had to be done. Like most men, he was more than happy with just the basics--a heaping plate of meat and potatoes or, more often these days, coffee and toast. When he had cooked with his wife, however, it was fun. After her death, it just reminded him of her and something else that he had lost with her death; and that was too hard. Now, it was different. It still brought back memories, but they were happy ones. He was fond of those times they had spent together cooking in the kitchen now; moreover, it gave him an opportunity to spend some time with Kass this morning.
He had just removed the last of the bacon from the pan, setting it aside to drain on a paper towel, and began to crack eggs into the hot meat grease when he heard the shower turn off upstairs. He knew it wouldn't be long now. No one can resist the smell of bacon. Robert topped off his coffee and had just poured a cup for Kass when she came down the stairs wrapped in her fluffy pink bathrobe.
"Cream and sugar, right?" Robert asked, handing the cup to her as she made her way into the kitchen.
"Yep! And a little pumpkin spice if you have it."
Robert raised an eyebrow in response, looking at her quizzically. "No, fresh out of pumpkins, Pumpkin."
"’Pumpkin’, Dad? Seriously? You haven't called me that since I was about five."
"I know, I know. You're way too big and grown up for that now. No more baby names," He laughed, mocking her slightly. Robert had dropped using pet names for her at an early age. She had thrown a full blown foot-stomping, arms-flailing, hissy fit one day in the middle of the mall demanding that she was too old for them. Ever since then it had been a running joke within the family.
Kass rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but laugh with him anyway. "My, my. Aren't you in a good mood this morning. Bacon, eggs, and coffee? You haven't cooked like this in forever."
"Yeah. I guess you could say that. It's amazing what an actual full night's sleep can do for you. I can't believe how worn out I've been over the past few weeks. With all the major deadlines coming up and everything going on at the office, the workload must have finally gotten to me. I know the project has been building up for years, but it's like everything happened all at once."
"You push yourself too hard, Dad. I know you really enjoy your work, but you should take a break and relax sometime. You're gonna burn yourself out if you keep going like you have been."
Robert shrugged and flipped the eggs in the pan. "I know. I was hoping that things would start slowing down now that the AI has been fully implemented but last-minute issues keep cropping up. Really, I thought that unless some major unforeseen disaster had arisen my job would basically be over at this point; but, if the last few days are any indication, it might be a while before I'm totally in the clear."
"That's a shame! You've definitely earned a little R&R with everything you've done. If it weren’t for you, the game wouldn't even be working right now, much less be nearly as awesome as it is." Kass sipped her coffee.
"How's that going, by the way? Every time I've come home you've been playing. How's everything running?"
"Everything's amazing! My character has been leveling up super quick thanks to the help I've been getting. I found a real EXP-mine if you know what I mean. The spells I'm learning are so cool, too! It's incredible how the AI works in the game. You just somehow know what moves to make and then BLAM you cast a spell and everything goes crazy. We spent last night clearing out this ore mine dungeon. The Boss at the end was a polar bear playing poker! You guys must have a real sense of humor at the office, Dad. Who could possibly think up these things?" Kass frowned to herself as she remembered the last part as well--how she had been attacked from behind during the Boss fight. Had she been attacked though? Her character had been put to sleep, but she wasn't sure attacked was the right word.
"Well, I'm glad you're having fun," Robert said as he scooped the eggs out of the frying pan and onto separate plates. "Just don't forget you're supposed to be looking for a job as well. You can't spend all your time playing with random weirdos in a virtual word. You never know about some of those guys. Some of them have no lives and just spend all their time in a fantasy world."
"Yeah . . . I know what you mean, but you don't have to worry, Dad. I'm still looking for work all the time. It's just that every response I get back from the resumes I send in is the same. I'm either too educated and they think they can't afford me, or I don't have enough experience and contacts in the field. How are you supposed to get experience in a field if no one will hire you, anyway? It makes no sense. That actually reminds me, though: I do need to check my email to see if I've gotten anything new this morning. Mind if I use your laptop?" Kass asked as she began pulling Robert's laptop out of his travel case where it hung in its usual spot over an adjacent chair.
Robert handed Kass a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast and sat down at the table across from her to eat his own. "Sure, just don't get anything on it. I can't afford to lose that thing. It's backed up at work, but I hate those computers. They're so slow half the time. I swear, it's like I work with a bunch of IT nerds who have no idea how to clear a browser cache or defend against malware."
"Seriously, Dad. Not five anymore." Kass couldn't help but roll her eyes again. Nothing new in her inbox. Not that it was surprising. The truth was she had been slacking when it came to looking for jobs lately, and she was definitely spending too much time in game. She just didn't want to miss out on the EXP she was leeching off Darwin. It was too good to pass on. She was pretty certain she was still the highest-leveled frost mage on the server and knew that level would be going up quickly if Darwin was on when she logged on later.
Kass pointed her browser over to the online forums and started checking the leader boards. "Hey! Looks like I'm still the highest leveled frost mage after all!" she exclaimed.
"Congrats . . . ?" Robert was obviously not impressed. "Are you still playing with that guy who was dressed up in a bathrobe?"
"Was? Do you mean still is? One of the NPC's actually crafted him a new one so he doesn't ever have to take it off now. I didn't even know such a thing was possible."
Robert looked thoughtful as he took a bite of his bacon and eggs. "I guess it is, although I've never heard of it before now. The AI is pretty incredible. It's basically running everything in the game now. It's controlling thousands of NPCs throughout the entire world and more-or-less has free reign over them. They were programmed to behave with a pretty wide spectrum of human interactions. That's one of the greatest benefits of the system. It's not strictly limited to the basic pre-scripted scenarios that most games are. When it comes to responding to player relations it’s incredibly fluid and dynamic. We gave it all the information it needed to make decisions, and then let it go. Without having to script in millions of quest or NPC dialogues, it saved a ton of time and money. It also means that every player's experience is going to be unique during his time spent in the virtual world."
Kass scowled in return, still focusing on the laptop as she scrolled through the online forums. "Does that also mean that every NPC in a town could up and vanish?"
"Vanish? Not entirely. Not without them being killed outright, but I think it's still too early for the conquest of any major towns. It would take a pretty massive army to siege any of the other races’ towns, and they should only just now be starting to fight along the borders of their starting areas."
"Well, it looks like there are posts on the forums saying that all the NPCs in the town of Valcrest have up and disappeared. Most are saying it's probably the first major bug and will be fixed, but some people are saying a guild came through and raided the town last night."
It was Robert's turn to frown as he mulled
over what Kass was telling him. However unlikely, it wasn't completely out of the question for a guild to have raided a town this early; but to have all the NPCs killed at night and no one see it? The player base for the game was huge. Humans were the least played race, but with so few towns available in the starter areas, the population within each town should still be huge this early in the game. It was too soon for most to begin adventuring out into the world and starting their own camps.
After thinking for a few minutes and finishing off most of his meal, Robert took a sip of coffee and asked, "Is there anything from any of the other races or towns? Or is this unique to Valcrest?"
Kass didn't look up from the forums she was still reading through as she answered, "No. I don't see anything else on here. Just that something happened to Valcrest and everything is gone. Apparently the town may have been attacked and all the NPCs have gone missing. I wonder if it could have been an attack from the White-Horns and Black-Wings again, although I thought Darwin and I killed off their invading armies . . ."
Robert studied his daughter. Here was a piece of information that could be useful. "Darwin . . .?" he queried.
"Yeah. Darwin. My EXP-mine that I was telling you about--the guy in the bathrobe with a spoon. I've been leveling with him for the past few days. He's . . . kinda what you would call a strange guy, but he's a gold mine when it comes to leaching EXP. I haven't seen anyone else in the game kill things like he does. It's like he goes into every fight fighting for his life. It's crazy." There was more Kass could tell her Dad, but she didn't want to make it seem like she was attached to some random guy in a game. She was just playing with him. He wasn't some weirdo like her Dad had mentioned earlier, a no-life creeper. Well, at least she didn't think he was. "He's usually on at the same times I am, so we started partying together. The first night I met him we killed off the invading White-Horn legion. My character's a mage and he's a fighter, so it made sense to group together."
