by Brian Simons
“That’s great,” Coral said, though guilt panged in her stomach. “They didn’t have any local folks down there that wanted those jobs?”
“Well, honey,” her father said, “we convinced them that hiring some native English speakers would be to their benefit since so many rich Americans come down here to vacation. So sure, other folks wanted these jobs, but they weren’t exactly… qualified.”
“I see. Well I’m happy for the both of you.” And she was, happy for them. She just couldn’t fight the feeling that her parents were to Belize what bots were to the Wilkersons’ diner. Her parents had arrived to take jobs away from local folks that may not have had other options. Maybe the people of Belize would move too, and do the same thing to people elsewhere. Maybe that’s how the world worked now. “It’s too bad there aren’t enough jobs there for everyone.”
Changing the subject slightly, her mother asked, “How’s your job hunt, Coral? Have you found anything?”
“It’s hard to tell. I joined Travail as a Seamstress. So far I can’t craft anything salable, but hopefully soon.”
“Good, good. I’m glad you’ve gotten started. If things don’t work out maybe we can get you a job down here,” Coral’s mother said.
“Thanks, Mom. I’ll keep trying to make this work for now. I’m glad you two are doing well in Belize!”
“We should go, doll,” Coral’s father said. “Internet down here is very expensive. We’ll phone you again soon. We love you.”
“I love you both too!” The call ended and Coral sat back down on her bed, which was most definitely not in Belize. She slept in the smaller bedroom of a two-story, two bedroom row home in lower northeast Philadelphia. It was the kind of house that connects to other small row homes on each side, with no front lawn and a tiny patch of concrete for a backyard. But it was a home, and she was grateful for it. It was also the house she grew up in, so it was full of memories. Memories of her father coming home from work late after he stopped at the bakery for a pound cake. Of her mother, getting a weekend job when Coral was a kid just to make ends meet. And all the birthday parties and Christmases in between.
No, she wouldn’t give this up and move to Belize, no matter how beautiful the palm trees were. She’d figure out this Travail stuff and stay right here.
She put a pot of water on the stove to boil for spaghetti and thought about what her next step should be. Even though the XP she got from killing that zombie dragon had bumped her up to Level 18, it didn’t seem to improve her Tailoring skills. She’d have to start crafting to do that.
Coral dropped a box of spaghetti in the boiling water and opened the refrigerator. That’s right, there was nothing in there. No meat, no vegetables. She had a jar of tomato sauce in the cupboard, but that was all. Dinner was going to be pretty boring tonight. Not that she could afford to keep the house stocked with fresh ingredients. Spaghetti may not be luxurious, but it was affordable and adequate.
After a quick meal, she slapped on her visor and logged back in.
She appeared aboveground, near the large stone arch she and the others had walked through earlier. No one else was around. She saw Havenstock not far away and decided to walk through the city’s streets to see if anyone knew how to improve her Tailoring skills.
Havenstock was bustling. A few newbies ran around near the initial landing area, and the battle tutorial was teeming with them, but further off the beaten track there were fewer people in tattered clothing like hers. She walked past a small item shop, past the bank, and then past buildings she hadn’t seen before. A blacksmith, not that she had any use for one of those. A bait and tackle shop, which might appeal to folks that had unlocked the Fishing skill tree. A psychic, but the door was locked. Too bad, that would have been a fun diversion.
Then she spotted a clothier. Coral walked inside the clothier’s shop and was astounded at the variety of wares. Casual clothing for men and women. Formal gowns and suits. Leather outfits for combat. Fur-lined coats and boots. Costumes of all kinds.
A store clerk walked up to Coral with his hands folded in front of him. “May I help you, madam?”
“Yes. I’m a new Seamstress. I’m looking for work.”
“Oh,” the clerk said, dropping his arms to his sides and turning his head toward the back of the shop. “Take that door to the basement. Don’t expect to get paid.”
Coral turned and walked wordlessly toward the basement door. She was grateful for the information, but refused to thank someone so casually dismissive of her.
Coral descended the steps and found a room full of young men and women sitting at long tables with fabric shears, needles, and thread, all in chaotic motion. Someone stood at the front of the room yelling orders. “Cut three squares of blue gingham. Sew them together. Throw them in the bin. Cut three circles of yellow felt. Sew a button on each one. Throw them in the bin…”
None of these instructions were producing anything wearable, but everyone seemed engrossed in completing the tasks. Coral found an open seat and took it.
“Hi,” she said to the person sitting next to her.
“Hi,” the man said in return. “Sorry if I’m not super social right now.” His hands worked furiously on patches of silk. “I have to get these orders made before he moves onto the next one or I don’t get the XP for it.”
“… Cut one rectangle of black chiffon. Sew three sequins on it.” Coral picked up a bolt of black chiffon and cut as quickly as she could with the shears form her sewing kit. There were bins on the table with buttons, sequins, paillettes, and all sorts of other things. She took some sequins and begin sewing them on.
“Cut three triangles of blue polyester and sew lace around the edges.”
Now Coral was sure none of these would be used in actual clothing. She hadn’t finished the last one though, so she chucked her incomplete patch of chiffon into the bin to start on the next instruction.
She started sewing lace onto the polyester and pushed the needle right into her thumb. “Ow!” It wasn’t enough to knock off any HP, but it hurt like heck. She should have been using her thimble to protect against that. Her forehead was already starting to perspire from the rapid pace of the work. Great, she thought. Now I’m stuck working in a virtual reality sweat shop. Is this what they meant by “hard” play? Or is this their idea of “fun” work?
Before long, Coral got the hang of it. The person yelling out instructions in the front of the room eventually repeated himself, which made the task easier. As she cut and stitched, she ignored a few system notifications so she could focus on the task at hand.
Four hours later, she finally couldn’t take it anymore. Her thumb and index finger knuckles throbbed from all that cutting. She pushed back from the table and went upstairs, walking right past the snooty store clerk and out into the street. The cool evening air was refreshing after hours of arduous work. She checked her notifications:
>> Congratulations! You have improved your Tailoring ability to 4. +2% total to Tailoring speed.
The XP she had earned was negligible, so she was nowhere near leveling up again, but the work did make her a better Seamstress. She inspected the Tailoring skill menu to see what she could unlock with the skill points she had earned earlier now that she was at Tailoring 4. The menu presented four options:
Leave it to Weaver. Craft spell pouches, inventory bags, and other useful containers. At higher levels, novelty items such as tapestries become available. (Required skill level: Tailoring 1)
Choosy Couture. Design outfits to wear or sell that create unique aesthetic possibilities, though without combat or attribute bonuses. (Required skill level: Tailoring 2)
Frock Out. Sew long flowing robes for Clerics and Mages to use as armor. (Required skill level: Tailoring 3)
Leather Lockgear. Leatherworkers craft light armor from the hides of many animals. At higher levels, more exotic materials become available. (Required skill level: Tailoring 4)
She was tempted to pick Choosy Couture. She was especially drawn to th
e idea of designing unique outfits and selling them, and then possibly seeing people out in Travail dressed in her designs. But she still felt guilty that Daniel had lost his life — and all his progress — protecting her. Maybe if she had better armor (any armor, really), she would have been able to fend for herself. Coral decided to put her fashion design future on hold for the moment and invest a skill point in unlocking Leathermaking.
>> Congratulations! You have unlocked the Basic Leathermaking skill. You are now at Leathermaking 1.
This opened up another menu to her. She would need to invest another skill point to unlock each type of garment she wanted to craft — boots, leggings, body armor, gauntlets, belts, and helmets. She wanted to craft full sets of armor, so she invested seven more skill points to unlock all of the Leathermaking options. With that, she had everything she needed to craft a full set of “basic” cowhide leather armor.
Now, time to see about some cows. Coral knew it was nighttime because Travail’s sun had set a while ago. She hoped she could collect enough supplies at this hour in-game to make use of her new Seamstress abilities. Hopefully the NPCs that ran the tannery kept it open at night…
12
Travail Server 215 (corrupt) Automated Intelligence Log.
Opening access link to Travail Server 215.
Analyzing game balance variables…
New relic item achieving improved balance.
All players added to target list.
All NPCs added to target list.
Severing connection to Travail Server 215.
13
Daniel walked over to Otto’s shop.
“Hello, Daniel_the_Maniel. Lovely evening,” Otto said.
Daniel couldn’t remember the last time Otto greeted him with anything other than hatred. Maybe starting over erased some of the bad blood between them? Which, of course, had always been Otto’s blood, splattering all over the shop’s floor.
“Hello, Otto. I hear you’ve picked up a new weapon? Something called a Soulkeeper Axe?”
“I don’t know how silly rumors get started, but I have no such thing. Never heard of it. I do have a basic iron axe for sale, if that’s what you’re looking for.”
Daniel knew what he had seen in the global chat about Otto. The system wouldn’t let a player pick the same name as one of the NPCs, so it had to be him. Something didn’t add up here. “Ok, nevermind,” Daniel said. “Listen, Otto, I have this copper buckler. It’s a real prize, but I’d be willing to sell it to you.”
“Hmm. Let me see. I could part with a gold coin to pick this up.”
One gold coin? That was a real world dime. Oh, how the mighty had fallen. Daniel was used to fetching gold coins by the hundreds, if not thousands for loot he brought back here. And without a Haggle skill to activate, he had to take what he was offered or nothing at all. He felt a boiling, seething frustration build up inside him, but he wouldn’t take it out on Otto. Not now that he was an honorable Scout instead of a fearsome Fighter.
“Thanks, Otto. I’ll take it. Any chance you could sell me some new pants?”
“I’m afraid pants are a little out of your league. Do come back when you’re nine coins richer though, or you could try another store.”
No other store would offer a better deal on something as basic as pants. At this rate, he’d be wearing rags for ages. He turned to leave the store when she walked in. The noob who shall not be named.
“I think I can help with that,” she said, laying down a full set of black leather armor on Otto’s countertop.
“Coral_Darning,” Otto exclaimed, “I’d give you 20 gold coins for this whole set!”
“Sorry, Otto. Not for sale. It’s a gift for my friend Daniel here.”
“Friend?” Daniel scoffed. “You got me killed. This hardly makes up for it.”
“Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t know that dragon would char you into oblivion. I was just trying to stop it from killing everyone. But I didn’t make you jump out in front of me. I appreciate the sacrifice that you made, and I’m trying to make it right.”
Sacrifice. Now she sounded like the old lady that sent him down this Scout path. He knew Coral was right. It was irrational to hold a grudge against her when jumping in front of the flames was his choice. It was hard to be rational though, when just looking at her reminded him of all the progress he had lost.
“I spent a long time leveling up and collecting cowhides so I could make this stuff. Please, just take it.”
Daniel inspected her level. She was at Level 18 already? That made him feel even worse, even further behind when he was trying so hard to catch back up. He sighed. “I’m definitely tired of looking like a hobo,” he said. He took the leather gear off the countertop and inspected it.
>> Basic Leather Armor (full set). It’s just so… basic. Constitution +2, Defense +3, Spirit +3. Durability: 40/40.
A Fighter would hardly bother with leather, but as a Scout, the weight and cumbersomeness of plate mail would hold him back. He was hoping there was at least a bonus for wearing the whole set, but no such luck. “Thank you,” he said and equipped it.
“You’re welcome. And now I see what Sal meant before by ‘lumpy.’”
Coral smirked at him. Glancing down, he saw that the leather hugged his body like a glove and left very little to the imagination. “It’s not like I just sit in my room and play Travail all day and all night. I keep fit.”
Coral raised one eyebrow at him. “It’s your avatar I can see, and your avatar most certainly just plays Travail.”
“The nano set me up with this based on my actual physique. I mean, I may have embellished a little bit, but not by much!” Daniel said.
“Well,” Coral said, “putting that to one side, did you want to come on a quest with me?”
“That’s a very nice invitation, but if you don’t mind, I think I ought to go on my own quests. I’m accustomed to having a certain level of… level. And I’d like to get back to it.”
Coral looked deflated. Had it really not occurred to her that Daniel wouldn’t want to tag along on some Seamstress’s quest?
“That’s fine,” she said. “Sybil, Sal, and I were just hoping you’d come along. But I understand. Sorry again.” She turned to leave. Daniel saw that the light brown leather she had on hugged her body just as tightly. Tight around the thighs, form-fitting around her—
“Wait, wait, wait,” Daniel said. “Are you telling me that two of my best friends in all of Travail have decided to just go on some merry journey with you, after meeting you for the first time this morning?”
“Well,” Coral said, “they were a little intrigued.”
“By what?”
“The quest involves doing some task for the Regent of Havenstock.”
“The Regent? In Havenstock Castle? That’s never been open to players.” He pulled up the in-game wiki to double check. Nope. No info, no videos, no photos. No one had ever been inside there.
“We’ll let you know how it goes,” Coral said.
“No, Coral, I’m coming with you. Obviously. This is too interesting to miss. But then I have to find a way to level myself up.”
Daniel and Coral walked out of Otto’s shop. Sybil and Sal were waiting outside.
“Welcome back,” Sybil said. Her smile faded as she narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s a Scout? Why didn’t you come back as a Fighter?”
“The old lady wouldn’t let me,” Daniel said with a shrug.
Sal gave Daniel a hearty clap on the back. “Whatever you are, you’re still the same old Daniel. Now, let’s go see the Regent!”
The four walked together through the city and past various little shops. This area, the western part of Havenstock, housed most of the city’s starting level stores and crafting hotspots. The NPCs that spent their days here hardly had any quests worth doing, unless “collecting ten unicorn horns” was your idea of a good time.
The castle sat atop Havenstock’s highest hill at its northern edge. It looked out ov
er the lands beyond. Daniel had traveled many of them in the last year, but it would be a long time before he dared to go out there alone again. He hadn’t even found a reason to spend his skill points, let alone rebuilt his sword proficiency.
One place Daniel had always wondered about was Havenstock Castle. The iron gates to the surrounding courtyard were locked tight, and the stone wall around it was unscalable. Daniel assumed some massive expansion or update would open it up one day — not some lowbie Seamstress’s quest.
It was nighttime already, and there was a chance the castle would tell them to come back in the morning, but it was worth trying anyway. Daniel was excited by the idea of being among the first players ever to get in there.
They walked into the town square at the center of Havenstock, comprised of a small park with a large fountain. As the fountain came into view, Daniel heard screaming to the east.
