Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1

by Joshua W. Nelson

  “Thank you Sir Kenyon, and we look forward to being of more help should you need our services,” I replied. Sir Kenyon looked at me with a thoughtfulness like when an old grandfather is assessing his new grandson. I hoped this was the preamble to the next quest.

  “Right you are young lad. I do believe I will have more tasks for you. But first you must be prepared. Come return to me when you believe you are ready to begin again,” Sir Kenyon finished and then looked away, signaling the conversation was over.

  We entered into the main street of Port Town looking for a vendor that sold spells. Our first goal was to get Jason his first level spells and if we had enough left over, to get Wayne a light source. I knew wouldn’t be fighting outside the gates for the foreseeable future and Wayne’s night blindness was going to hamper us. As we walked through the market area I kept my eye out for a telltale sign, something like a parchment, which would indicate that the vendor sold spells. Well, that or books. But I was betting on spells.

  About half way down the road we saw what I thought would be our best bet. I went with Jason into the store while Wayne went off to look at weapons and Dan went to look at Ranger gear.

  The store was small, and there were scrolls all along the walls. One would guess that each scroll was a different spell for a different discipline. I wasn’t terribly interested in all the different spells, just the ones we would need for Jason. Approaching the proprietor of the store, an older gnome, Jason said, “Pardon me kind sir, but would you happen to sell spells for a cleric. I am but a novice, just learning my trade and I wish to learn the most basic of my order’s spells.”

  “Well then lucky you are lad that you came to me. Port Town hasn’t had a Cleric’s Order for many years. Normally that would be the only place to get your spells. But since I am in good standing with the Order, I happen to have one copy of each basic spell that I could sell to you. Please take a look,” and with that the merchant handed Jason three different scrolls.

  “What do you have there Allister?” I asked.

  “Not awesome, but they are low level. Link to group. Link to group. Link to group,” Jason said. And just like that, three windows popped up into my screen. The first one, and most important in my opinion, was Jason’s healing spell. For 170 Mana, Jason could heal for 250 hit points. At this point it would take Jason half his mana to heal Wayne completely. The other two spells were an armor buff, granting 50 Armor, and a 3 second stun. The heal had a 4 second casting time with a 2 second recasting time. The armor buff had a casting time of 10 seconds and a recast time of 10, although this was immaterial to the action sequences of the game. Finally, the stun, which Jason could use to stop a mob and get away from it, beneficial when you are the healer, had a casting time of 1 second, but a recasting time of 10 seconds. Meaning if it didn’t work, Jason would have to wait another 10 seconds to cast again. An eternity when you are getting beat on by a mob.

  “How much for one?” Jason asked.

  “These are set prices my young friend. Each sells for 3 silver. No bargaining,” the merchant said.

  Jason looked crestfallen. “Well I have enough for one, guess I will get the heal.”

  “Dan, Wayne, get your butts over here,” I said to the group. Ten seconds later both arrived at the shop. “I am making a formal request that we take our money and pool it so we can buy Jason his spells. At some point we will all need to come together like this for each other, and this is just the first time. But Jason’s…sorry, Allister’s spells are going to be crucial to us succeeding at these lower levels.”

  There wasn’t even a hint of argument. Damn, I actually did have a good group of guys here.

  “Seriously? You guys are willing to do that for me?” Jason asked.

  “Hell man, I would buy the healing spell myself seeing as it’s my ass you will be healing,” Wayne said with a big laugh.

  With no further questions or arguments, we bought the three spells and were about to leave the shop when the merchant stopped us. “I do love to see young adventurers working together. And you lads are a fine group. I may have some work for you when you are looking for something to do. Just stop by the shop and come see me when you are ready.”

  “NICE! Another quest! Should we take it now?” Dan asked.

  “Up to you guys, but I found it weird that Sir Kenyon didn’t immediately give us our next quest. Now that Jason has his spells, maybe he will?” I asked the group.

  “We can go ask, but I’m betting it is because we aren’t a sufficient level yet. Most of the other groups are level 4 already because they keep fighting the bunnies to get those sacks. Let’s go ask Kenyon and see what he says.” Wayne suggested.

  It was as Wayne guessed and we ended up getting the same message from Sir Kenyon, to come back when we were prepared. I agreed with Wayne’s assessment and figured we needed to level up. Since we were pretty close to leveling at this point I suggested we just get it done. Everyone was in agreement.

  With Jason’s armor buff, and our level three, we got through the rabbits quickly. When we all heard that wonderful “DING!” sound acknowledging our new levels, we hurried back to the wall so we could distribute our skill points without being attacked by rabbits. I decided to spread my skill points out more evenly and put 1 in Strength, Constitution, Agility, Dexterity, and Chance. Wayne put 1 in Strength, Agility, and Dexterity, and 2 into Constitution. Dan decided to increase his Strength and Constitution by 1 point and put the rest on Agility. And I had to coerce Jason into putting some of his points into Strength with promises of more Armor. I did not want Jason getting overloaded and ending up becoming fatigued.

  And as luck would have it, while clearing to level 4, we even found two more sacks. I suggested we sell them at a vendor. But at each vendor we checked, the most we could get was 50 copper pieces. However, the vendors were selling them for 3 silver. Talk about mark up. I had an idea and the group agreed to let me try.

  I approached a group near the wall that was killing rabbits nonstop. I asked them if they were trying to finish the venomous sack quest to which they replied they were, eyeing us warily. It was then I made my offer.

  “We just finished up out here and are taking some down time. We already finished the quest but I have two venomous sacks in my inventory. I’ll sell them to you for a silver a piece.”

  “Forget it man, that’s our whole reward from the first quest!” One of them answered.

  “No, that would be half the reward for the first quest if you guys all chipped in fairly. And I have it on good authority, because I finished it already, that you will get 2 silver each upon completion of this quest. So it is a win/win,” I said.

  They walked away and started discussing it. I already knew what that meant. We would be getting their silver. In most games there is either yes or no. The no is always met with a violent retort so you wouldn’t ask again. It sometimes took longer to get to yes, but if they weren’t yelling at you, you already won. “Ok, we’ll take em.”

  And just like that, the player’s market place was born.

  * * *

  Interlude

  “Sir, Mr. Jolston sir. We just received a bug report from test subject 271 sir,” said a man wearing an AltCon lanyard attached to his identification. He was nondescript in all ways. And he was approaching at a slow and cautious pace. He knew, because he had seen the wrath, that one did not want to anger Mr. Terrence Jolston.

  Standing in front of a console and looking out at the numerous screens running Resurgence simultaneously, Jolston barely acknowledged the man approaching him. “Well, send it to IT so they can document the find and check it off from their list. Why are you bothering me?”

  “It’s just that, well sir, this isn’t a bug we have programmed into the system, and not one we have seen before. It’s a genuine anomaly sir,” the attendant stuttered through.

  “What? An actual bug in the program? That’s impossible, we had all of those taken care of before we set these tests up,” Jolston replied a b
it angrily.

  “Yes sir, I mean I know sir. But this isn’t something we have seen before,” the attendant said again, this time a bit more fearful.

  “Fine, just give it to me,” Jolston said, ripping it out of the attendant’s hand. Jolston read it over and found it to be quite odd indeed. Apparently test subject 271 was not logging in to his log out point, and noted his original spawn point was not at the appropriate location. This was new.

  “Run a diagnostic and put it on the main screen. I want to see what happened when 271 logged in that first time and where. And any subsequent log ins and log outs.”

  The full diagnostic was run per Jolston’s orders and the information started to filter across the screen. Indeed, it seemed that 271 had logged into Resurgence that first time far outside of his designated origination point. His subsequent log out and log in were in different places, although the second instance was much closer to his log out point. “Did anything occur during 271’s initial log in to account for this?” Jolston asked.

  The technician ran a full scan of all of 271’s data entries from the time he closed the RAC on his first download till his last log out. “According to our logs sir, there have been no variations with 271 and everything is running perfectly. There does not seem to be any cause for this anomaly,” the technician droned.

  Jolston stood there for a few moments, scratching his chin. He was at a bit of a loss, but he wouldn’t let his underlings see that. “We will monitor the situation. At this time the log in and log out locations for the subject will not affect the overall test parameters. That will be all.”

  “Um, sir. Sorry sir, but the report also asked if we could make sure his character stats were registering properly sir. Usually we don’t bother with such things, but given the anomaly, I wanted to bring it to your attention,” the attendant said while taking a couple of steps back.

  Jolston turned to the man, giving him the stare that had sent many an employee into a blubbering mess. After a few moments, he took pity on the attendant. It wasn’t the attendants fault after all. “You are right to note that. Bring up his character and tell me if he is still in game.”

  “Character routing to main screen, and yes sir, he is still in game.” Before him on the main screen was the following information.

  “Well this Alex seems to be one of the few characters who put a significant number of starter points into his Chance skill. I’m wondering if he has realized the value of that skill yet. Bring up the item Bloody Rabbit Foot. I want to see the stats,” Jolston said.

  Bloody Rabbit’s Foot

  Rare Item

  Weight: 0.0 Bonus:

  +1 Chance

  Binds on acquisition

  “Ah, well with that item, a rare in the starter area, I bet he is understanding the value of Chance. I don’t see anything wrong with his stats though. Everything is according to initial allocation and subsequent skill points?” Jolston requested.

  Though he didn’t address anyone in particular, the technician answered immediately. “Yes sir, everything is accurate and correct on his character.”

  “Well, we will need to look into the log in problem more, but for now send a message to 271, with the usual language,” Jolston ordered.

  The attendant backed away nodding his head, “Yes sir. I’ll take care of that right now sir.”

  Jolston looked back at the character on the main screen. A rare item in a starter zone. This Alex must be lucky.

  CHAPTER 11

  “And here I thought I was lucky having you as our leader! We’ve finished both quests and you want to stay here? That’s dumber than anything I’ve ever said!” Dan exclaimed.

  “First off, I’m not the leader,” Alex responded. “And second, it isn’t dumb at all if you just hear me out.”

  “I don’t know Alex. I kind of agree with Dan. Not about this being dumber than anything he’s said. That’s not even a competition. But this doesn’t seem all that smart,” Wayne agreed.

  I looked to Jason, but he was “Studying” his spells. Bloody introvert.

  “Listen! Just hear me out!” I exclaimed.

  All three eyed me warily, and it was Jason who came to my rescue. “Guys, Alex hasn’t steered us wrong yet. Let’s see what he has.”

  Dan plopped down on the ground. “Fine. Let’s hear this great idea of yours.”

  “Ok, look. Just now we made two silver by selling these venomous sacks. I am betting with my Chance we are getting way more than anyone else,” I said. I still hadn’t told the guys about the Chance error I was encountering. I was waiting for the response from IT on that one. “And we can see by looking around us that there are still lots of groups out here that haven’t finished. So my plan is to come out here and farm the venomous sacks. Then we sell the excess and make a bunch of cash!” Farming was the method of killing things over and over either to get a rare item, a rare spawn, or just loads of a certain item. In this case the venomous sacks.

  “But what for? We already got Allister his spells!” Dan said.

  “Dan, have you noticed the people who are running out to the forest and then all of a sudden running by us again back to that forest after 30 minutes?” I asked.

  “Of course I noticed. They are obviously going out to the forest to level up. And they are dying. A lot,” Dan responded.

  “Right, and I am betting they are dying, not because of their level, but because they don’t have any gear. They are trying to get single mobs and get some good experience, but they keep getting killed. Now, what would happen if we finished this quest and then ended up out in the forest? Which, as it turns out, I am betting this next quest will take us,” I asked.

  Light bulb just went on!

  “Oh man! I totally feel you right now!” Dan said.

  “Please don’t feel any of us Dan. Not with the realism in this game,” Jason said.

  “You have to call me TheClaw if I have to call you Allister. Only fair,” Dan said.

  “Guys. Focus. And yes Dan, you see what I am saying now, right? We farm the sacks, sell them for a silver, and then get us some gear. We can then go out and level up some and not have to keep running from our spawn point!”

  “I’m in!” Dan said.

  I looked at Dan totally flabbergasted. Two minutes ago he was calling me the dumbest man alive. Now he was all in.

  “What? Dude, I can admit the one time I’m wrong.”

  “So what were you thinking Alex? Because I could definitely go with some upgrades,” Wayne said.

  “We all could brother. I could definitely use a new bow. Although I’ll keep using the Recruit Quiver till it stops working for me at level 6,” Dan said.

  “Well my thoughts were to equip Wayne and Allister mostly. Get Wayne some armor and a new weapon. And get Allister some armor as well since we need him to be able to take a hit,” I replied.

  Once Wayne heard that I wanted to get him a new kit, he too was all in. I think Jason saw the wisdom of my suggestion early on, but didn’t want to go against the other guys if they didn’t follow my plan.

  We stopped getting any experience for the rabbits, because our level was now higher than theirs. But due to our levels, Jason’s buffs and healing, and our team work we were able to take on three rabbits at a time with no danger of slowing down. Over the course of two hours we had collected another 13 sacks. We wanted to get to 20 before we finished our farming.

  We were moving throughout the field, not really pulling the rabbits to us anymore, but going out to them. We still aggro’ed the rabbits, but we weren’t worried about not being able to take them. We had even done four at one time. Although that did put a bit of a drain on Jason’s mana.

  * * *

  It was while we were running around the field, killing the rabbits, that we finally got the opportunity to see two different things. The first was the effect of my Chance skill at having rare spawns. The Chance skill created a bubble that allowed for mobs that respawned within that diameter to possibly spawn a
s rare mobs. And this came to be when the Ravenous Venomous Rabbit spawned right on top of us. At our level 4 this mob’s name was red to all of us. Meaning that it was 5 levels at least above us.

  The second thing we got to see was how dying worked in the game.

  It wasn’t even a challenge. The Ravenous Rabbit tore through us like paper. Wayne looked through his log after the fight and was getting hit for over 100 hit points a shot. And he was hitting Wayne three times each round. None of us lasted more than a few seconds.

  Once we died, we each saw a loading screen that informed us we were dying and would return to our bind point. The bind point is the location, usually within a city, where your character would return, without any of your gear or the things in your inventory. Those were on your body. The bad part is that wherever you died, that is where your body remained. And you would need to go and get your body in order to retrieve all of your items. Our problem is we died right under the rare mob. So getting our bodies was going to be a serious challenge. At higher levels, when I got my invisibility skill, I would be able to surreptitiously drag mine and my teammate’s bodies away from the mob without drawing attention. But I wouldn’t get this skill for some time.

  We all arrived back at our bind point, which in this case was right at the fountain in the square of the city. I had been worried about what would happen when I died since my log in points had been messed up. I was happy to see this didn’t affect my bind point. The second thing I saw upon arriving at my bind point was the following message:

  You have died. You have been resurrected at your bind point. Loss of experience is 25%*

  *Your character will not lose experience until you arrive at level 10.