by Adam Horne
“If we slaughter them here in the street, then we are no better than they are. We will not pick fights with them, but we will defend ourselves or protect anyone we know is being bullied by them. Though they threatened us, they did not attack. For now, let them go.”
Some of the people grumbled, but they put their weapons away. Many left when they saw there would be no fight; about half stayed and lined up to join Kelath’s guild. Itrix stood on the far side of the square, his face red with rage. Eventually, he turned and waved his followers out of the way, disappearing inside the guild hall. By the time Kelath collected all the signatures, there were 42 names on his list. He’d come nowhere close to recruiting the number of people Itrix likely had in his guild, but it was more than he’d expected.
“That went well,” said Througar.
“Yeah, it’s a good thing the guy who was about to sign when Itrix showed up hated him so much.” Kelath looked at the page to read the names written there. “His name is Yorrick. I also liked the dwarven woman who waited in line beside us to turn in the goblin quest. Looks like she’s called Zafira. Do you think they’d make good officers?”
Galahad nodded. “They showed admirable initiative.”
“I think so too.” Kelath jumped off the crate and headed towards the registration office. “Let’s turn this in.”
The woman at the counter smiled as they entered. “Back already?”
“Yeah,” said Kelath, “I have the necessary signatures.”
“That may be a new record.” She looked at the form he handed to her. “And so many prospective members! I’m impressed.”
The clerk signed her own name in a box marked for official use only at the bottom of the page and pressed a stamp to the corner. She pulled a short scroll out from under the counter. On it she wrote the name of the guild then signed, dated, and stamped the form before passing it over to Kelath.
“That is your official guild license. You will need it when conducting business in the name of your guild. For now you can leave it stored in the bank, but if you establish a headquarters, it should be displayed prominently somewhere near the entrance. A tailor in the marketplace can make a tabard with your guild symbol if you desire one. That should be everything you need.”
“Thank you,” said Kelath.
“Have a good day.” The woman took the rest of their paperwork and walked into the room with the filing cabinets.
Galahad looked like he was about to burst with excitement as they left. “Let’s get some tabards made!”
Througar laughed. “I’ve never seen you get this worked up.”
Galahad blushed. “A tabard will look very knightly.”
“Count me out,” said Througar. “After that speech, I don’t want anyone to know I’m a member of Noblesse Oblige.”
“I can’t blame you,” said Kelath. “But we can get ours made, Galahad. It will be good advertising for the guild.”
They searched the stalls in the market for a few minutes, and eventually they came across a vendor with various tabards hanging from wooden racks. Kelath approached and showed him the guild license with the symbol he’d chosen printed on it. The tailor studied it for a moment.
“You expecting to be rich?” asked the tailor.
“Why?” asked Kelath.
“Your colors are silver and gold. I’ll have to use threads with bits of both in them to match it. Your tabard will be more expensive than normal.”
“How much will it cost?”
“If the gold were the background, it would be really expensive. It won’t be as much to do the coin in gold. I’d say ten silver per tabard.”
“That’s quite a lot,” said Througar who was looking through the merchant’s samples. “Most of these are only one silver.”
“I wish the clerk at the guild hall had said something. Nothing I can do about it now.” Kelath checked his wallet and shook his head. He counted out twenty silver and handed them to the tailor. There were only copper coins left when he finished paying. “Go ahead and make two of them, one for me and one for my friend.”
The tailor drew a quick sketch on his notepad and wrote a few notes. “They’ll be ready tomorrow. You can pick them up then.”
As they walked away, Galahad said, “I can’t let you pay for mine.”
“It’s the least I can do for your help earlier. Consider it a thank you.”
Galahad’s eyes grew misty. “Thank you, sir. It was a pleasure to be of service.”
Not wanting to see his friend cry, Kelath said, “If you guys don’t mind, I think I’m going to log out. I’ve been playing all day and need a break.”
They made their goodbyes, and Kelath said he’d be online again tomorrow afternoon. He opened the menu and pressed the button to exit the game.
Chapter 13
The next morning, Kevin decided to check the game forums before he logged into Genesis Online. Other players might post information about things happening in the game he didn’t know about yet. He loaded the browser on his television and navigated to the game’s message boards. The first thing to catch his eye was a message titled, “This is crazy!” that had over two hundred replies.
So I found out yesterday that the guild I joined, Noblesse Oblige, has a clause in their contract that says I have to pay them money out of what I earn fighting monsters. How is that legal? And 200 gold is no small amount. I can’t leave the guild. I’ve tried everything I can think of to torch that contract. I can’t even delete my character and start over. I contacted a gamemaster, but all I got was the runaround. If I hear another one of them mention technical difficulties, I’m going to kill somebody!
The replies were all along the same lines. Players were upset about having to pay money to a guild they wanted to leave. Sadly, Kevin noted that although there were hundreds of replies, a group of about twenty people were writing the majority of the messages. He’d hoped more of the members of Itrix’s guild would be upset about this, but perhaps either the word hadn’t spread or there were more angry people who didn’t read or post on the forums.
He clicked the back button to see what else players were talking about. A few threads talked about the new classes discovered the day before. So far no classes other than alchemist or paladin had been found, but several people claimed they were close to unlocking something new. Their boasts ranged over everything from death knight to bard. None of them could be confirmed.
Curious as to what was already known about his own class, Kevin opened a second browser window and loaded Genepedia. He clicked on the page for classes and found the listing for alchemist. Information was sparse at this point.
The Alchemist class is a cross between a Rogue and a Wizard. To unlock this class, a player must achieve level 5 in all the Alchemist class skills (see table below). The class was discovered by the player named Kelath and is still considered unique.
Kevin beamed when he saw his character listed as the one to discover the class. Beneath this short paragraph was a table listing the class skills. He clicked the link for the bomb skill to see what was there. The page was only a stub with no information about how the skill was learned. That was good because he could possibly make some money selling bombs on the auction house, assuming he could figure out where to find the ingredients. He’d not seen anything that might be icebloom so far while playing, and he hadn’t checked yet to see what he would use to make fire bombs when looking at the recipes.
He went back a couple pages to look at the paladin class, since it was the only other new one that had been unlocked. Its page was nearly as empty as the one for alchemist.
The Paladin class is a cross between a Fighter and a Cleric. To unlock this class, a player must achieve level 5 in all the Paladin class skills (see table below), in addition to performing an altruistic act such as protecting a fellow player from another player of a higher level. The class was discovered by the player named Galahad and is still considered unique.
Kevin was surprised to see there wer
e extra requirements to unlock paladin and wondered if the class might be more powerful because it was harder to obtain. Ultimately he wouldn’t pick a class because it had some slight edge over other classes, but he’d have to ask Galahad if he found it to be easier than cleric. Either way, he’d always preferred to play characters that were morally flexible, and the rigid codes of honor that usually came with paladins didn’t interest him at all.
The sound of footsteps floated in from the hallway, and his mother pushed his door open. She carried a tray, which she set down on the swivel desk and rotated it so he could reach his breakfast.
“Good morning, dear.”
“Hey, Mom.”
“How are you feeling today?” she asked as she gathered up dirty dishes.
“Good.” He checked the tray and saw she’d made pancakes, a Friday tradition.
She followed his gaze and hastily set down the bowl she’d picked up. “I’m sorry, dear. I forgot to cut them up for you.”
“It’s all right,” he said while waving her off. “I can do it myself.”
He picked up the knife in his right hand and the fork in his left and began cutting the pancakes into strips. He turned the plate so he could cut across them again. As he was working, he noticed that he had an easier time grasping the utensil in his left hand. He didn’t want to get too excited, because he had both good days and bad. There were any number of reasons he could be doing better today, and he knew he shouldn’t see any substantial improvements in his condition that came from playing the game for some time. It did put him in such a good mood that his mother commented on his disposition as they went about the morning routine.
When he’d finished eating, she set some extra dishes from the night before on the tray and carried them out with her. Kevin pulled the strap of the VR headset down to his ears and adjusted the visor. He slid his right hand into a glove then contemplated the other. Thinking he had nothing to lose, he pulled the second glove over his left hand and flexed his fingers. He flipped the visor down over his eyes and pressed the button to load Genesis Online.
* * *
The game world faded in to show Kelath standing in the market, close to the stall of the tailor he’d commissioned to make tabards. There were no customers waiting, and the merchant called him over. The tailor searched through articles of clothing hanging on a wooden rack at the back of the stall then brought two tabards forward. Sunlight reflected from the silver background and gold embroidery on the surface of the coin.
“Those are amazing,” said Kelath.
“They are,” the tailor said with no hint of modesty. “No doubt the flashiest tabards I’ve worked on in a while.”
Kelath agreed as he took them from the man’s outstretched hands. He was glad he’d switched from the rogue class, because he wouldn’t be surprised to find out they gave a penalty when trying to move stealthily. He checked their lengths and slid the taller one over his head. It covered his chest and back, cutting off about halfway between the waist and knees. He had to admit the way the light played across it caught his eye. He put the extra tabard he’d bought for Galahad in his bag, thanked the tailor, and left to visit the bank.
On the way there, he received a tell.
“Good morrow!” said Galahad. “How are you this fine day?”
“Hey, I’m good. I wasn’t expecting anyone else to play this early. Don’t you have work or school?”
“I was feeling a bit under the weather today, although that would not stop me from questing.”
Kelath sent a party invite and said, “Meet me at the bank, and we can get into something. Also, I have your guild tabard and can give it to you.”
“I will be there presently.”
The bank was similar to the office where he’d gone to register his guild. The front half was a waiting area, with seating in case they were busy. A counter crossed the middle of the room with iron grates standing vertically across it to keep anyone from climbing into the area where the tellers stood. A vault door stood open in the back, guarded by two dwarves with long polearms that could easily reach between the metal bars and strike a person up to five feet on the other side.
Kelath approached a teller who wasn’t busy and said, “I’d like to make a deposit.”
The teller asked, “How much would you like to leave?”
“All of this.” Kelath emptied all the coins in his pouch on the surface and started to count them out.
“Allow me. It’ll go much quicker.”
“Sure.” He pushed the pile across the desk and through an opening in the grate.
The teller lifted a wooden wand and waved it over the coins. They began to churn, forming up in stacks of ten then lining up in rows. When they stopped moving, the clerk looked them over.
“You have 237 copper coins. That is equivalent to 2 silver and 37 copper. At any time, you can come back and retrieve your money in whatever denominations you wish. Will there be anything else?”
“I had a question. Can I store items here also?”
“Yes, you may. You have a small deposit box in which to store things, although it can fill quickly if the items in question are large. You can also rent boxes of many different sizes if you need more space. Did you want to store something today?”
“Just some papers.” Kelath handed over the documents he’d received for registering his guild. “Thank you.”
Kelath left the lobby and scanned people outside until he spotted Galahad walking towards him. He retrieved the extra guild tabard from his bag and walked forward.
“Hello, Galahad. Good to see you again.”
Galahad bowed his head. “The pleasure is mine, sir.”
“Here’s your tabard.”
A smile lit up Galahad’s face as he took the garment and put it on. “How do I look?”
“Like a true knight.”
He laughed. “I feel like one.”
“So what did you do after I logged out last night?”
“I walked around and explored the city. It’s big! There are lots of shops, taverns, and houses for sale. Only about a third of them are occupied so far.”
“Maybe eventually we will be able to buy one for the guild.”
“Speaking of guilds…” Galahad pointed in the direction of the guild hall. “There is a place to post notices to recruit new members.”
“Show me.”
Galahad cut through the clusters of people loitering in the square and led him to the main entrance of the guild hall. They went inside and found a huge lobby with players milling about. On the far right wall was a tall billboard covered with advertisements. Half of it was marked off for guild recruitment, while the other half was for general announcements. Several small writing desks stocked with paper stood beneath the billboard.
Kelath approached and looked over the bills already posted there. They were all pretty generic, each saying their guild was a fun group of people looking for more members. He didn’t see one for Noblesse Oblige, but he assumed they were still camped out at the beginners’ area, tricking new players into joining them. He was about to start creating his own notice when a woman in a blue robe walked up next to him, leaned over, and nudged him with her shoulder.
“Elora,” he said when he recognized her. “What’re you doing here?”
“I finally made it to the big city! I’ve been wandering around, trying to find all the important buildings. The guild hall is the biggest one I’ve seen so far, and I had to check it out.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty impressive. Were you planning to join a guild?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” She peered at him for a few seconds then smiled. “‘Prosperity for All?’ Did you start your own guild to taunt Itrix?”
“More like Itrix taunted me. He found me when I went to the trainers and threatened me. He’s put bounties on me, Througar, and Galahad for killing his people at the mine. He said he’ll put a bounty on your head too, once he figures out who you are.”
Elora laughed.
“I’ll tell him my name right now! It’ll be fun fighting more of his stooges.”
“In that case, you should probably join my guild.” He explained what had happened the night before when he went out to recruit new members, recounting peoples’ eagerness to fight against Noblesse Oblige. “Chances are good Itrix will come after all of us, so we’re better off sticking together.”
“I’ll join your guild. I’m curious to see what happens.”
Kelath opened the guild interface and sent her an invite, which she promptly accepted. He noticed the title ‘Guildmaster’ next to his name. Everyone else was marked as ‘Member.’ He found a list of the ranks in the guild, of which there were only three: Guildmaster, Officer, and Member. There were options to add more and change their hierarchy, but he decided to leave the ranking system alone for now. He changed both Elora and Galahad to be officers and closed the window.
“Ooh, I only joined a minute ago, and already I’m an officer.” Elora ran her index finger down the side of Kelath’s face and spoke in a sultry voice. “It’s good to have friends in high places.”
He stammered for a second, unable to make a response, and she laughed at his reaction. Galahad was trying, and failing, to suppress a giggle.
“Yes, well…I need people to help me run this thing.” Kelath turned back to the bulletin board. “I also need to make a recruitment poster.”
“I don’t believe many people pay attention to those,” said Galahad.
“Yeah, it’s probably not worth investing much time,” said Elora.
Kelath touched the stack of papers on the desk, and a simple text interface popped up so he could write his message. He could control the size and placement of the words. He bumped the font size up and wrote at the top, “Do you distrust Noblesse Oblige?” Underneath that he wrote in smaller letters, “Join a guild that actually helps people. Contact Kelath, Galahad, or Elora for more info.” At the bottom, he added, “Prosperity for All,” in the same large font as the headline.
“What do you think?” he asked.
