Your stats have increased along with your Health and Aether.
“Well at least this one might be something like a more regular quest. Shall we?” Kittish said as she walked into the Lonely Wood Inn. Shaking their heads Terets and Dumadin followed her.
ADVICE
The Lonely Wood Inn filled rapidly with people from the square. People were discussing what just happened outside in the last few minutes. As Terets and Dumadin entered the inn after Kittish they heard a yell from near the hearth.
“There they are,” as the words filled the room the crowd parted, making a clear passage from the door to the hearth. “They are the ones who came to my aid.” Dancing Angel sat by the fire being consoled by a group of female players.
“Well hero, seems like she might want to thank you, hop to, eh,” Dumadin chuckled at his friend and sidestepped into the crowd, heading for the bar where Kittish was talking with Bjorn.
“Thanks asshole,” muttered Terets as he headed to the group near the hearth. “Ladies, is everything okay?”
Dancing Angel jumped up and wrapped Terets into a big hug, showering him with words of thanks. Turning red at being watched by everyone in the inn and being vigorously thanked by the busty elf in front of him, he gently patted her shoulder and waited for her to disengage. The group of females that had been consoling her watched his hands intently, which he kept well away from anything improper.
“Thank you so much for saving me,” Dancing Angel began as she finally let him take a step back. “I didn't know that kind of behavior was going to be allowed. I mean you can't do that in any of the other mmorpgs. I just wanted to dance and flirt not get groped or raped.”
Sighing inwardly, Terets pulled a chair out at a nearby table and motioned her to sit. Grabbing another chair, he pulled it around to face her. “Yeah it was a surprise but considering the in depth character creation,” he motions vaguely at her chest, “I can't say I didn't see physical contact and such not being able to happen. I can give you a few words of advice from a long time gamer, though.”
Dancing Angel sat straighter and listened intently as the rest of the inn went back to their own conversations. Terets glanced back at the group of hovering women and motioned them to pull up chairs as well. He waited a moment for them to do so and settle in.
“Ladies, in real life I am over sixty years old and have gamed for a very long time. I figure that my RL daughter is probably around your age, give or take a few years. So I will give you this advice in the same way I would her. This game is definitely rated to the high end of mature, and that means that some things have the possibility of happening. Firstly things like being randomly groped by other adventures, and possibly even npcs. With that in mind it would then seem like a good idea to rethink some things in the light of this new information. First it might be a good idea to not dance provocatively in a square.”
An angry murmur started up from the group in front of him and Dancing Angel blushed a deep red. Waving down the murmur he continued.
“As I was saying with the game set with certain things apparently possible, it might be best to think of the game as more realistic than others we have played before. Now, I would suggest that maybe a rethink of avatar and names for some might not be a horrible idea. If this is an avatar you're going to be using for any length of time consider the disadvantages of being... overly endowed. First off armor is going to be a real pain for you to find, anything will have to be custom made for you. If you never plan on actually adventuring then that doesn't come into play. However even just regular clothing will have to be tailor made to accommodate your bust.”
This time a thoughtful murmur started up and he let it go a moment before waving them down again. “Secondly, names are always important, no offense Dancing Angel, but some names will always invite trouble. Also those two idiots will be back at some point and besides wanting to try and get me and my friends they will probably be after you as well. You see, people who would molest a woman don't blame themselves for consequences, they blame others. In this case probably you as you yelled and stopped them from enjoying themselves. My advice is to delete this current avatar and make a new one with another name. It will stop these idiots from harassing you specifically as they won't know your new name.”
Dancing Angel nodded her head and the rest of the group started to talk as well, most of them clearly had not considered the downside of having over endowed themselves. Terets stood up and stretched slightly, glad his avatar didn't have the same joint pain as he had RL.
“I wish you all the best moving forward and just be careful,” Terets said as he put his chair back and started moving towards the bar.
BJORN'S REQUEST
Kittish was in discussion with Bjorn when Dumadin eased up next to her and wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Mighty thankful I was for the assistance from you and your friends. Not sure I could have taken ten adventures by myself. I will give you all a 10% discount on all my goods and take this as a thanks.” Bjorn handed Kittish a silver piece and smiled. A meal and bed at an inn like this ran 5 to 10 coppers, so this was a fairly substantial reward.
“Just glad we were able help out, Bjorn,” Kittish said as she patted Dumadin's hand around her waist. “I was curious though if there was anything else we could assist you with?”
Bjorn nodded his head, “Aye there is a matter you could help with. As the inn seems like it will have business for a bit with all you adventures here I am loathe to make my usual trip. If you would be kind enough to take a package to my friend in the north I would be grateful. I am sure he will be more than happy to reward you as well.”
“How far to the north is your friend?”
“It depends on how you want to go, if you follow the road about three weeks, as it heads east then curves north before coming back west and north. If you head straight through the woods probably a week. The only things between here and there is Smee's cabin about four days from here.”
“What kind of package?” Dumadin cut in, curious as to what they would be transporting.
“Oh just some food staples, my friend has made himself a hermit. I usually take him some a few times a year to make sure he doesn't starve. I will gladly pack a little extra to make your travel a bit better as well. Are you interested?” As Bjorn finished his sentence Terets slid up on the other side of Kittish and tried to catch up on what he missed.
Quest: Take food to the Hermit.
Reward: Bjorn's gratitude, Hermit's adventuring equipment, and two thousand experience. Warning: Beware the bear.
Do you accept?
Kittish accepted the quest for the group and nodded at Bjorn, “We would be glad to help, Bjorn.”
Terets and Dumadin softly chuckled at the fact that each of them had now accepted a quest for the entire group without asking the others. They added their own agreement and waited for Bjorn to return with the package.
“Our first real quest that might be somewhat scripted,” Terets said as he looked back over the inn. He noticed the group of ladies he had been talking with earlier had all gone now and nodded.
Bjorn came back and handed them two packs. The bigger one was the supplies for his friend which Dumadin shouldered, and the smaller one had supplies for them, which Kittish shouldered. As they exited Bjorn called out to them, “Oh and mind the bear.”
ON THE WAY
As the door closed behind them they looked at each other for a moment, then Terets spoke up, “Gee, think there might be a bear to the north?”
“Well I hope it doesn't get too grizzly,” Dumadin piped in with a smirk.
“As long as it isn't named Teddy,” Kittish chuckled.
“Are we loaded for Bear?” Terets asked looking at his weapons.
“We are bearly adequate in that area, probably,” came the rejoinder from Dumadin.
“As long as it doesn't turn out to be a kodiak moment we will probably be fine,” Kittish said starting to giggle.
“Aw, that kills the fuzzy wuz
zies for me,” Terets laughed.
“We have each other which covers the bear necessities,” Kittish laughed and shook her head.
They turned the corner of the inn and started to the north, Dumadin to Kittish's left and Terets to her right. A moment later Kittish gasped and fell forward with two massive wounds in her back.
“Give me back my pants you fucking noobs!” Blade Master snarled, pulling his bloody sword back for another swing.
Without pausing or missing a beat Dumadin turned and launched himself at the one who dared hurt his love. His shield connected solidly with Blade Master's chin. Terets turned, placing himself directly over his downed friend drawing both swords as he did, barely managing to deflect an axe that was coming in.
Kittish groaned in pain, it wasn't anything as bad as it should be but it had still felt like getting hit with a large padded bat on her back. Twice. She rolled over to her back and started casting Healing Light on herself and trying to catch up with the action.
Dumadin didn't even try to go for his hammer but just kept battering his shield down into Blade Master's face, raging at him, “Don't you ever fucking hit my love again you ignorant useless fucking waste of space.”
Terets held his ground above Kittish as best he could which limited his dodging ability. He nicked Executioner a few times and tried to keep the axe from carving him up. The axe slid down his forearm as he parried a blow. The pain, while not intense still made him wince. Feeling pain in a game was new.
“Your healer is down dude, you two are so toast now,” taunted Executioner not realizing his friend was being shield bashed into unconsciousness, or the fact that they hadn't quite taken down Kittish.
She decided to let him know his error since her life bar was back above 50%. Yelling at Terets to move she waited a brief moment for him to spring aside then drove her foot into Executioner's groin. “I'm not dead yet, you git.”
As Executioner slowly crumpled Terets stepped behind him and slid the blades over his neck. Terets then turned and helped Kittish up and they looked over at Dumadin who was still bashing away at the unmoving body under him. As they stepped toward him Blade Master's body disappeared along with Executioner's.
Jumping up Dumadin turned to Kittish and saw she was healing herself and Terets back up to full. Glancing around, he realized that fight was over and coughed once. “Yeah sorry about that, got a little carried away.”
Kittish gave him a quick kiss on the top of his head. “Quite alright dear, though it might be time to head out before the half hour respawn timer comes up and lets these idiots try again.”
“Perfectly understandable man, maybe you beat some sense into his head, though I wouldn't count on it,” Terets said, slapping his friend on the back as they turned and started off again.
“How did the chat with the ladies go?” Dumadin inquired.
Shrugging Terets replied, “Hard to say, they all did log off though, so hopefully they are taking it to heart.”
“Well you did your best and tried to help them see what issues could arise for them.”
Striding north the trio talked about what the actual travel time of this quest would be. It was four days to Smee's cabin in the woods and three days more to the cave. If the devs hadn't done anything to cut travel time for players this could get old fast. They started debating if it was better for flat realism or maybe some kind of faster travel for players. Before long they noticed the red blinking clock in the lower left of their UI informing them that it had been six hours in game.
“Let's grab some food and take a break for a few hours. Say be back on at ten and then continue the trip?” Terets asked his friends.
“Yeah, that works for us, see you in a few,” Dumadin replied and watched as Terets popped out of existence.
Grabbing Kittish he hugged her close and realized that unlike RL where his head could rest on top of hers, here his head landed firmly in her bosom. Laughing he snuggled in making Kittish laugh in turn.
“Tables are turned now aren't they dear, I know you're not used to being the short one,” Kittish laughed and hugged him back. “You know, it makes me wonder though, we know that the pain sensory info is turned way down. But what about the pleasure sensory info, hmm?” With that she disengaged his arms and provocatively slid to her knees in front of him.
A few moments later Dumadin moaned, “Pleasure is at full capacity.”
ON THE WAY AGAIN
Shortly before ten the next morning Miriam and David logged back in and waited for Will. Terets popped into existence in front of them and they started moving north again, chatting about breakfast and again debating the travel issue in the game.
Dumadin smirked at a lull in the conversation and derailed the conversation from starting again. “So you are aware ahead of time man, only pain sensors seem to be dulled. Nothing else has diminished effects that we've noticed so far.”
Terets looked at him sideways, “You didn't... of course you did. Surprised she went alo.... who am I kidding, she probably instigated it.” Shaking his head he didn't pursue the topic.
Giggling, Kittish gave Terets a hug and kissed his cheek, “Hey, who knows maybe the ladies from earlier will be grateful to you if you meet up again and might want to thank you. Personally, as it were.”
Terets turned pink at this and grumbled at his friends, “Fricking old teenagers that is all you are.”
Laughing, his two friends didn't dispute his claim. They'd found here in Last Horizon freedom from certain medical issues, which had let them enjoy themselves for longer than they were able to in RL with no issues.
“Well at least,” Dumadin started but cut off as a bright white light coalesced in front of them. “What the bloody hell?” A moment later the light faded to reveal a female elf with gossamer wings arching up behind her.
“Sorry about that, I was against the whole heavenly light bit but the rest of the team overrode me,” the elf began and moved to stand in front of them. “Call me Jazzy please, I am one of the devs and just wanted to ask a few questions.”
Dumadin's brow furrowed, “Jazzy? I would bet you are Jasmine Tiacoma, one of the first three developers, you made your avatar really similar to you.”
“How can we help?” Kittish cut in and nudged Dumadin with her hip.
“Currently you three have completed the most quests, and were engaged with a few spontaneously generated quests. We wanted to check and see how the system felt to you. Did everything seem organic and fluid?”
Terets had been eyeing her the whole time and interjected, “Do you have a sister perhaps that plays?”
Blushing slightly and avoiding Terets's gaze she softly answered, “Yes but she is currently rebuilding her avatar. She encountered issues with her first attempt and said she was going to make a new one that was more realistic.”
Nodding Terets smiled gently, “I hope the Dancing Angel doesn't find herself in trouble within the first hour of logging in again.”
Kittish and Dumadin watched the exchange then understood what was going on and waited quietly.
“I was going to thank you for helping her after talking with you. And, how did you know?”
“The eyes are almost identical and you both have that dimple that shows on your left cheek when you smile. Other than that it was a hunch and guess.” Terets smiled, “As for your earlier questions they seemed very smooth and organic. I would say that no one thought that a player calling for help would spontaneously generate a quest, or the next one with the innkeeper.”
Kittish and Dumadin agreed the quest system was working fine and had no issues with it. “Do you mind if we walk north while talking though?” Dumadin asked, “We have a four day journey to a cabin and three more days to a cave.”
Jazzy fell into step beside them and nodded, “You found the care package quest then from the innkeeper? Taking supplies to his old adventuring friend near the sleeping bear?”
“Yes, and we're going to stop at Smee's cabin though on the way and see
if there is anything there as well. Just, four days of travel is going to eat up the game time.” Terets spoke and eyed Jazzy wondering if she would give any information on travel.
“Yes that is quite the trip, or would be for the npcs. The devs have made a few concessions for the players. If you are on a transport of some kind and log off, then when you log back in you will still be on the transport, and that will have continued to travel in your absence. So getting rides on carts, coaches, boats, etcetera will help some in that regard. Also outside of combat players travel at double the normal speed of npcs. So for you it will be a two day trip to the cabin and then a little over one day to the cave.” Jazzy supplied and smiled at them as they nodded.
“Thanks for the info. We'd been debating that earlier and wondering how you guys had decided to split the realism vs fun factor.” Terets said with a smile.
Last Horizon: Beta Page 4
