《Esper Online: The 15 Thrones》 Chapter 1: The Game goes live. California Institute of Technology (Cal tech) Oct 24, 2046 11:55 PM EST Robert Simmons sat in his dorm room looking at the digital holos clock. 11:55 pm. ¡°Oh! Come on!¡± He whined. It had only been a minute since last he checked. Robert was nothing special to look at average height, slight of build, a bit too many pimples for a soft more in college. His loose dirty blonde hair was cut short, mostly to keep it out of his eyes and to make it easy to take care of. Really the only thing remarkable about him was the intelligence gleaming in his light blue eyes. 11:56 PM. ¡°Good enough,¡± he gasped. With excitement Robert reached under his dorm bed and pulled out a box. With extreme reverence, Robert flipped open the lid and gazed inside, ¡°Oh my! Now you¡¯re a pretty one¡­ You¡¯re going to be my precious.¡± Reaching into the box Robert pulled out a black helmet looking device, closely resembling a motorcycle helmet except this had no faceplate and had a series of cables coming from the near top of the curved dome. The box read in brilliant print over the image of the helmet Micron GX-75 ¨C HD Neuro-sensitivity Extended Reality Helm. The newest and highest quality model on the market. When Robert had heard the tech board talk of it coming out 6 months ago Robert had started to save. It had taken him pretty much every cent he could spare from his Pizza Delivery job to afford the equipment, but by the look on his face you could tell he was in nerd paradise. Taking the cables he gently plugged them into outlets and power supplies then glanced at the clock once more 11:59 PM. With a sigh the helms lights lit green, meaning it had a good network connection. Robert smiled and pulled the helm onto his head. He had waited a week since the ER gear¡¯s release to use it. Just for the release of his favorite games¡¯ new release. Esper online was an MMORPG Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. He had played the game since its beta, a little over a year ago. He had three characters at max level 100, and had at least one of each of the 7 races, but tonight or rather today was the day they expansion Esper Online: The 15 Thrones was released. As Robert pulled the helm on his head he lay down on his bed. The world around him went dark. With a swirl the neural connection did a DNA and retina scan. Checked his identity and opened his ¡°Study¡± Robert swayed. ¡°Whoa,¡± he exclaimed. The Vertigo of just entering VR was always disorientating, but the sensitivity of this new gear made it worse than normal. Robert looked around his Extended Reality room. The ¡°Study¡± had all his programs, a desk with 3D holo station. Voice control and even limited AI capabilities. With a shaky step Robert walked over to his bookshelf and looked for the box. There it was Esper Online! A Deep computerized voice said, ¡°Welcome back sir. Your new equipment is synced perfectly. Would you like me to turn on the new HD effects?¡± Robert stopped drooling over the game for a moment, ¡°Wait this isn¡¯t it?¡± then without a further pause for a response, said ¡°Hell yes I want it on. Then load up Esper Online.¡± The voice started to respond, ¡°Yessssss¡± Then the world started to swirl in a vortex of colors. What the heck was that? Robert thought. Maybe it was time to reboot his AI, it was acting kind of oddly lately. With a pop the world around Robert exploded. In front of him a massive 3D video started to play with music that shook his virtual clothes. Robert watched for all but a half second, before saying. ¡°Yea, cinema bullshit let me play!¡± With that the video was gone and Robert was standing in a small stone room. Light Grey Stone walls, floor, and ceiling all around. A prompt appeared in front of him. WELCOME TO ESPER ONLINE! The 15 Thrones!!! It has been generations since the last rites of Magmamus. The 7 Thrones have stood empty none have been able to enter the Castles and survive to claim them. Many have died, and many more have lived in the shadows of the once proud and mighty castles. Now few even try, but change has once again claimed the realms. Petty feuds must be placed to the side, revenges and debts must wait. Because the Gates have been opened the Elemental and Outer Realms have been released! New adventures, challenges, and most of all dangers await those brave enough to sally forth into this new and more dangerous world. Another prompt flashed open. Welcome to the Hall of challenges, soon you will choose the path your life will take. The next few moments will shape your life, so choose carefully! NEW Quest: Your first Quest. Choose a weapon and leave the room. Think carefully your choice will affect your class. But do not take too long, or you might be caught flat footed. Quest Type: General Difficulty: Very Easy Outcome. Leave the room. Reward: Possible weapon. Failure: Die before leaving the room. Robert moved his hand and pointed at an X in the top right of each prompt, closing the windows shut, then looked around. He was in the same small stone room, but now a single torch hung on the wall, and an old, worn dark wooden door stood shut in front of him. Next to the door there was a small table with four weapons on it. Approaching the table he glanced down, on the left there was a dingie rusty looking mace, next to it lay a long gnarled looking staff, besides that a slightly bent short sword, and finally a rusty blunt looking dagger. ¡°Huh odd.¡± Robert said to himself. ¡°I guess I have to make a new character? Maybe after I do this crap I can choose one of my other toons and I can get started leveling him up.¡± With that he carefully ignored the weapons and paying special attention not to touch any climbed up on the table. Stepping over to the wall Robert reached up to the corner of the ceiling, where a cobweb sat. Pushing the web out of the way he reached his hand in a small niche that was now exposed. With a confident smile Robert closed his hand around the small pouch he knew would be there. Skill Acquired: Apprentice Perception: Rank 1. You know the basics of seeing that which others may overlook. Beware you may see more than you desire and once seen things are hard to forget. Roberts smiled faded for a moment, replaced by a look of wonder. Pulling the pouch out he rubbed it between his fingers. ¡°oh wow! This is so life like now.¡± Before his new gear the Virtual worlds always seemed to lack something. They were impressive you could see, hear, and feel. Always before though it was like you were seeing through goggles, or hearing through a glass box, even touch felt more like you had a latex glove on your hand. Now though¡­ it was like real life! Glancing at the torch the smell of burning tallow wafted toward him as the pungent smoke burned his eyes. Then a groan of thunder, stone upon stone startled Robert. With a jerk he tripped and fell on his hands and knees on the table then slipped off the table onto his head. Whamp! Thud! Two clatters followed him as something hit the floor next to him. Sitting up slowly Robert groaned, ¡°Ugh so the pain sensations are more lifelike too.¡± Standing slowly Robert glanced at the back wall as it slowly moved toward him. He knew if he stayed in the room long enough the wall would squeeze the life out of him. Players had tried to see if there was an Easter egg here, testing if after so many deaths the game would open up some new previously unknown options or something. As far as Robert knew no one had ever found any and with this new level of pain he did not want to test out the theory. Plus he needed to get this crap over so he could start to level his toons. With a sigh Robert bent down and picked up his small pouch, then stopped with his outstretched hand staring at the floor then the table in rapid succession. ¡°What the fuck?¡± On the floor lay both the staff and the sword. The table in contrast was empty. Normally when a player touched one of the weapons the other three disappeared. You only got to pick one weapon up and the first one you touched as it. Unless of course you fancied being squished to jam, then you could respawn and grab a different weapon. But here on the floor lay both the sword and Staff. Thinking back Robert remembered his fall. He had fallen down his knee landing on the sword and his hands on the staff, In fact it was the staff¡¯s fault he didn¡¯t catch his balance! When he hit the staff, it had rolled and sent them all to the floor. Robert was startled out of his stupor as the wall behind him bumped into him and started pushing him forward. Shaking his head he grabbed both weapons and heard the door click as it swung slightly outward. You have received. Bent Short sword (grey) Quality: Trash Durability: 10 / 10 Weight: 1.00lb Type: short Blade Crafter: Unknown Properties: 1-6 Piercing Damage. Restrictions: None Gnarled Staff (Grey) Quality: Trash Durability: 10 / 10 Weight: 3.00lb Type: Staff Crafter: Unknown Properties: 2-4 Bludgeon Damage Restrictions: None Coin Pouch (Grey) Quality: Poor Durability: 2 / 2 Weight: 0.01lb Type: Container Crafter: Unknown Properties: Contains 1 Slot Restrictions: None With a short sword and pouch in one hand, the staff in the other and a smile on his face, Robert stepped through the doorway into the blackness beyond. A couple alerts flared up in front of Robert. Quest Completed! Your First Quest Rewards:
  1. 5 Exp
  2. +1 Strength
  3. +1 Intelligence
  4. +1 Luck
  5. Bent Short sword
  6. Gnarled Quarterstaff
  7. 50 Silver Coins
Penalties
  1. -1 Dexterity
New Quest The Journey Begins! Congratulations you have a weapon. Now what will you do with it? Up ahead you will encounter two goblins on a regular patrol. Do you kill them or find another way around? Quest Type: General Difficulty: Easy Outcome: Exit Through the single door. Reward: Starting Gear. Failure: Die before going through the door. ¡°What the hell?¡± Robert asked. He took a quick moment to glance around to make sure he knew where he was. He stood in a long narrow hallway made out of the same light grey stone bricks as the room had been. As before torches lined the walls spread evenly down the hall into the distance. ¡°Ok this hasn¡¯t changed then,¡± Robert commented before rearranging the objects in his hands and setting off down the hall. As he walked he found his character status window and opened it up. It popped up directly in his view, but he knew where he was going so didn¡¯t slow down and started to read out loud. ¡°Okay we have all the basics here.¡± Name: Undecided Race: Undecided Class: Undecided Level: 0 Exp: 5 /25 Strength (STR): 11 Muscle: 5 / Endurance: 5 Dexterity (DEX): 9 Agility: 4 / Instinct: 5 Constitution (CON): 10 Health: 5 / Resilience: 5 Intelligence (INT): 11 Logic: 5 / Mind: 5 Wisdom (WIS): 10 Awareness: 5 / Conviction: 5 Charisma (CHA) 10 Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5 Luck (LUC): 1 Hit Points (HP): 100 / 100 Mana; 50 / 50 Stamina: 10 / 10 Character Points (CP): 0 / 0 Talent Points (TP): 0 / 0 Renown (REN): 0 / 1000 Fame Level: 0 Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: None Achievements; None Deeds and Properties: None As he focused on each area a Help Tip would pop up giving a brief explanation. ¡±Strength, Dexterity, blah blah blah. Now this luck¡­¡± So for each point of luck I have a 1% chance for something lucky to happen? What the hell does that mean?¡± Robert made some faces then focused on the two new stats. ¡°Okay so Faith allows you to purchase Divine abilities from gods? I didn¡¯t hear anything about gods being introduced this expansion. That¡¯s cool¡­ And Renown is how well your known in the 15 kingdoms? What is that good for?¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Robert stopped suddenly when he heard a rough gargled voice repeat ¡°good for?¡± Closing the Character log quickly he saw two short green creatures standing in arms reach of himself. They both had mold green skin, with lots of bumps and warts, long pointed noses, long ears that came to points far above their shriveled looking heads. The one on Robert¡¯s left was holding a torch and the one on the right was eyeing Robert hungrily. Frozen in place Robert glanced back. He had left the hall a half dozen steps before. He was so engrossed in his new information that he hadn¡¯t noticed, he had almost walked right into the Goblins. The torch wielder looked at the other and said, ¡°Fresh Meat?¡± The other nodded vigorously, droopy ears and nose bouncing. ¡°Oh hell no!¡± Robert yelled. With a shout he charged the two smaller creatures. Taking his quarterstaff he swung it in a wide arc. The creature¡¯s eyes grew wide, but before the staff struck home Robert felt his foot slip on a rock. With a Yelp he crash to the ground, his staff flew out of his hands. Flying through the air it smack the first goblin in the head and tumbled over him to smash the torch bearer firmly in the chest. Laying on the ground Robert watched in amazement as the first Goblin slouched to the ground knocked out cold. The second fell back and landed flat on his back in a whuff of dust. Then he promptly started to slide away from the path down the steep decline. The creature screamed and started to stand but before he could halt his movement he disappeared out of sight. Crawling quickly, while being careful not to slip himself Robert crawled over and saw a large black chasm. The creature and his torch were falling and falling and falling. Robert watched the poor screaming creature then backed away from the edge. Getting to flat ground Robert stood, ¡°well shit. I guess that worked.¡± With a huff he started to push the unconscious creature over the edge too. As he moved the creature Robert saw his staff on the ground under the unconscious form. When it fell down it must have landed on the staff saving it from the same fate as the torch bearer. Grinning Robert picked up the gnarled piece of wood and used it to shove the limp form over the edge of the ravine. As the thing disappeared Robert cursed, ¡°Shit! I should have looted him first!¡± With the loss of the torch this part of the cave had fallen dark. Robert went back to the hall and pulled a torch from the wall. Going back he could clearly see the Ravine to his left and large groups of stalagmites to his right. Far ahead down the dusty pathway was another torch set next to a wooden door. Grinning Robert Turned off the path into the stalagmite field. Once again Robert used his veteran player knowledge, in short order he found a small sack in the rubble of the moist waxen rock columns. Picking it up he knew he couldn¡¯t open it yet, but once he went through the door he would be rewarded with something. It was random, most generally some extra coins, or an empty 6 slot pouch. Whatever it was the more the better. Moving forward he approached the door and it clicked then slid open. Robert stepped into the darkness beyond. Prompts flashed. Quest Completed! The Journey Begins Rewards:
  1. 5 Exp
  2. +1 Strength
  3. +1 Intelligence
  4. +1 Luck
  5. Adventurers Gear
Penalties
  1. -1 Dexterity
New Quest Choose Yourself!!! It is time for you to decide on your name and the race you will belong to in the world. There are many choices and paths ahead of you, all of which will be effected by what you decide next. Quest Type: General Difficulty: Very Easy Outcome:
  1. Pick a name.
  2. Pick a Race. Touch the mirror of the race you which to join.
  3. Exit Through the single door.
Reward: Fraction Alignments and Political standings Failure: Die before going through the door. With a swipe Robert cleared the messages only to have another fill his vision. What is your first name? Robert Pause. ¡°First name? Does this mean I have to have more than one? Wait I was never asked which server I am going to join either. What if I choose a name already chosen? I mean what if I¡¯m on a Role play server, or a PvP server? I would want to pick different names based on that critical information. Well let¡¯s see.¡± With that Robert entered in the name of his Wizard, figuring that it would not allow him to pick the same name and then he would know he was on his server or not. Welcome Azriel! Now enter in your last name. ¡°What the hell, ok guess I¡¯m not home so let¡¯s see?¡± After a few minutes of thinking nothing good came to him, so Robert hit the random name creator, ¡°Crap, more crap, shitty, gag me. Oh this one works.¡± Confirm your name Azriel Starblade Yes / No Robert clicked yes and the blackness around him solidified into a large round room. Directly in front of him was another wooden door. To the left and right stood tall mirrors with brass name plates hung over them. When Robert looked in to each one he saw his reflection as if he was that race. ¡°Well let¡¯s see.¡± Spending a second he counted the mirrors. ¡°15, I guess that explains the 15 Thrones thing.¡± He glanced over the nameplates skipping over the ones he already knew. When the game was released only three races were playable. Human, High Elf, and Orc. Then through Raids and special events the players opened up the other four core races. Dwarf, Halfling, Wild Elf, and Goblin. There were eight more races here. The game designers had only released information on four of them. The Elemental races, Imps of the Plane of Fire, Dolphini of the plane of Water, Drow of the plane of Earth, and Haduzi of the plane of Air. When Robert looked at each mirror he saw his reflection altered. The Imps were small the size of goblins or Halflings, red skinned and long of limb. They had small round noses, and no hair on pointed bald heads. The Dolphini were humanoid dolphins, their necks fully able to point straight out like a fish or angle forward like normal humanoids. When he looked at the Drow Window he saw the archetypical Black skinned, White haired elf warrior. Finally the Haduzi were evil looking monkey men. They were taller than humans, with long tails. Lastly Robert looked into the last four mirrors, those labeled as the Immortal races. The first was for the Seraphim, a race of angels, including white feathered wings. Although their wings were tied to their backs with some kind of silver chain. Reading their brief description they had to hobble themselves and lock away their powers to walk the realm of man and combat the invasion of the Fallen. Curious now Robert moved to the Fallen. They too were Human looking, but their wings were bare blackened bones, their skin was also tinted dark red, almost like the color of old blood. ¡°These things almost look undead¡± He said. At least Robert thought they looked undead until he looked into the third mirror and saw the true Undead. If he ever wanted to know what he would look like as a half rotted Zombie this was it. The image would haunt him for a long time. Shivering he quickly moved to the last window. The Machna were the embodiment of life, yet they were Golems. ¡°What the hell?¡± Robert muttered. The brief said the raw spirit force of life was unable to be held in bonds of flesh, burning such bodies up in mere moments. The spirits had to create metal bodies to inhabit, thus the Machna were created. ¡°That is fucking odd, life so primal it had to create machines to hold it.¡± Stepping back into the center of the room Robert spun around looking once again at each mirror. It was then that he saw the server limits. Each race had a percentage of the server that characters could create. Glancing at the numbers it looked like the Humans and Immortal races were leading the creation. Even so the highest was still at 5% of max. ¡°This has to be a completely new server then. Otherwise the Core races would have higher numbers. This also means there are a lot of people who have already beat me into this game!¡± With this he quickly decided to keep the Human race. But when he tried to customize his appearance the icons were greyed out. He couldn¡¯t change his gender, eyes, skin, nothing. ¡°Oh come on! I don¡¯t want to play a game and look like me!¡± But glancing around he decided he would rather look like himself than look like a dead version of himself. As 1 more percent of the High Elf race clicked up Robert sighed and clicked submit. The door swung open with a soft click. And Robert stepped through in to the darkness. Alerts again flashed in front of his eyes. Quest Completed! Choose Yourself Rewards:
  1. 5 Exp
  2. Race: Human
  3. Famous Name: Star Blade
  4. +250Renown
New Quest The Chasm!!! Your first challenge with your new self. Find a way across the chasm, beware though the magic of the room will heat the wall in ever increasing temperatures! Quest Type: General Difficulty: Easy Outcome:
  1. Exit Through the single door.
Reward: +1 CP Failure: Die before going through the door. As light met Robert¡¯s eyes once again he looked around quickly. Already knowing what he would see but weary of new surprises. Everything was as it was suppost to be. The area was a large cavern wider across than it was long. Where he stood there was a torch lighting the area and far into the distance was another with a Simple wooden door next to it. To his right he could barely make out the cage that he knew would hold some orphan child. The cage and orphan would do nothing to alter the outcome of the quest, but it was supposed to get a knee jerk response to save him. Then if he squinted he could barely see the dark chasm in that went from the right wall to the left near the center of the cavern¡¯s floor. As Robert looked around once again he noticed his combat log. New item acquired: Adventurer¡¯s Backpack New item acquired: Trail Rations x5 New item acquired: Waterskin New item acquired: Bedroll New item acquired: Torch x5 5 Gold Looking down at his self he saw the starting thread bare linen pants and shirt everyone got. Now there was also a belt at his waist, with his sheathed sword attached. On the opposite hip was his coin pouch, that jiggled when Robert touched it; coins. He also felt the weight of a backpack over his shoulders. ¡°What kind of backpack is this?¡± Robert wondered. Taking the pack off he examined it. Adventurers Backpack (Blue) Quality: Rare Durability: 1000 / 1000 Weight: 3.00lb Type: Container Crafter: Unknown Properties: Contains 20 Slots. 5% reduction to weight of items held within. Restrictions: Soulbound ¡°whoa! This is a heck of a lot better than the normal 10 slot sack. I guess this is what they mean by an adventurers starting gear.¡± Robert jumped to hear a small voice. ¡°Excuse me sir, but could you help me get out of here?¡± Turning slowly Robert saw the boy in the cage grab the cage door and give it a good shake. Stunned Robert just stared, the child had never before spoken or even moved. Now though he was looking at Robert with hope and pleading in his small eyes. The boy was perhaps 10 years old, with dark sunken eyes and shoulder length thin dinggy blonde hair. His clothes were dirty and ripped in many places. In one rip you could clearly see ribs showing in the youth¡¯s emaciated chest. ¡°Wow if your programmers wanted an emotional response they are sure as heck going to get it now.¡± Robert said as he approached the cage. The boy blinked, ¡°I¡¯m not sure what the programmers are mi¡¯lord, but I would really like to get out of this cage.¡± Robert knew the cage wasn¡¯t very strong and he could break it easy, but it would cause damage to his weapon and they were both near breaking as it was. Looking closely at the Corroded bars Robert had an idea. He had just learned about Fulcrums and levers in his Engineering class. Using his Staff he placed it between the rusty bars and gave a stout tug. The bars groaned but did not move. Repositioning he tried again. WHAM! The rusted hinges broke and the boy screamed. Then rushed out! ¡°Oh thank you sir! I owe you a life debt, I just knew I was going to die in there.¡± Just then a hiss issued from the wall behind them. Turning Robert saw the wall beginning to burn, even from the 15 feet away he could feel the heat, and it was getting hotter. The boy¡¯s eyes grew wide in fear, and he began to back away from the wall. The child was so frightened of the fire that he wasn¡¯t watching where he was going. ¡°Hey you!¡± Robert called out, ¡°Stop!¡± The boy halted pulling his eyes from the burning wall. Robert pointed behind the boy who turned and looked down. He was mere steps from the edge of the chasm and a dark dark death. The boy¡¯s face grew pale then turned wide eyes to Robert. ¡°Thank you mi¡¯lord Azriel! You saved me again.¡± Robert shook his head and went toward the narrow beam that led across the chasm. Then stopped. Looking at the thin frame of the half-starved child he turned and went the other way. A few hundred feet into the shadows he saw the movement he was looking for. As he moved the boy followed close behind, and when he saw what Robert was walking to the child gasped. ¡°That is magic!¡± Robert smiled, he had no idea if it was magic or just odd physics, but there a huge stone wavered. The rock was long and perhaps 3 feet wide. It had stood there immobile and unyielding, but now it was beginning to waver in the heat waves coming from the ever hotter wall. Robert knew from prior visits that the rock would soon shake itself to the point where it fell into the chasm. But he had read that if you were careful to shove it at the right time it would instead fall to create a wider bridge across the chasm. As he watch the rock tilted and leaned then rocked back. Waiting for it to lean in the correct direction Robert gave it a hard shove and saw it topple forward. With a Huge BOOM! And a gasp of wonder from the child it fell perfectly into place. Testing his footing Robert began to walk across the still rock. The Child¡¯s eyes grew wide and a nervous flick of the tongue wet his dry lips. With only a brief uncertain pause, he followed slowly. When they both reached the other side none the worse for wear. The child asked in a tone of utter amazement, ¡°Are you a wizard? Was that a spell?¡± Robert shrugged. He already had a caster and he really was dying to play him, but if this new server required him to create a new toon, then why not pick something he enjoyed playing. It was always better than a damn Acolyte or Thief. Heck even without picking High Elf for the INT boost the bonuses he had already gotten would make him better than his other character had been at this point. Upon reaching the door Robert frowned. The door was shut tight. When he pushed on it, the door did not even budge. Then he remembered, He had to find a key. Sighing he started looking around the cavern floor. Walking to the side and staring in to the shadows. The boy watched him then asked, ¡°What are you searching for?¡± Robert replied, ¡°A key.¡± The boy glanced at the door then that Robert. Nodding the child turned and started looking in the opposite direction. After a couple minutes the entire cavern was starting to heat up and the air was growing rancid. Gasping for air Robert began to become frantic in his searching. Suddenly the boy called out, ¡°I found it!¡± Glancing over the child was near the opposite end of the cavern. Robert could only make out his darker shape because it was moving. With a grunt Robert moved quickly toward the door. They both reached it seconds later and the boy handed Robert a key. Sliding the key into the door it turned it. The door clicked and slid open. ¡°Thank you Robert told the child.¡± He looked once more at the kid, knowing he would not see him again. Then pushed the door fully open and stepped into the darkness beyond. Alerts flashed. Quest Completed! The Chasm!!! Rewards:
  1. 5 Exp
  2. +1 Cp
  3. Orphan
  4. +1 Strength
  5. +1 Intelligence
New Quest Choose Your Path!!! It is time you choose your path in the world. Will you be a valiant Warrior, An Acolyte healing your friends or cursing your enemies, a stealthy thief, or a flame throwing Magician, or maybe something else? Quest Type: General Difficulty: Very Easy Outcome:
  1. Exit through the door at the end of the hall you choose
Reward: A class Failure: Die before going through the door. Robert cleared this last round of messages and the world cleared into a pentagonal grey stone room. Each of the five walls had an arch leading into a hallway. Above each Archway was a brass plac with an image on it. ¡°Odd.¡± Robert muttered looking around. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice said, ¡°What is odd mi¡¯lord?¡± Spinning quickly Robert saw the child standing right behind him. Stunned Robert looked over the messages again. There it was Reward 3. Orphan. Glancing at his Status bar he saw his Life bar 100/100, Mana bar 50/50, Stamina bar 10/10 and under it a small Icon and status bar. When he focused on it it read. Human Orphan HP 5/5 Mana 0/0 Stamina 5/5 Robert groan, then replied ¡°Ugh so now I have to babysit too?¡± The child just stared at him questionly. Sighing in frustration Robert turned back to the room. He had never seen this room with 5 halls before. Every time he had gotten here in the past it had 4 halls leading from a perfectly square room. Glancing at the placs the first four were what he expected. But the fifth was something new to him Robert¡¯s mouth went dry. The Magi had the HP of a warrior and the mana of a Magician! Sure the armor was more limited and it couldn¡¯t use all the weapons. It also stood to reason it wouldn¡¯t be able to use all the magics of a magician but still¡­ DAMN Without a hesitation Robert took the 5th archway and opened the doorway at the end of the short hall. He stepped through in to the darkness. Character Sheet for: Azriel Starblade. Name: Azriel Starblade Race: Human Class: Apprentice Magi Level: 0 Exp: 25 / 25 Strength (STR): 14 Muscle: 5 / Endurance: 5 Dexterity (DEX): 8 Agility: 3 / Instinct: 5 Constitution (CON): 10 Health: 5 / Resilience: 5 Intelligence (INT): 14 Logic: 5 / Mind: 5 Wisdom (WIS): 10 Perception: 5 / Conviction: 5 Charisma (CHA) 10 Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5 Luck (LUC): 2 Hit Points (HP): 100 / 100 Mana; 50 / 50 Stamina: 2.5 / 2.5 Character Points (CP): 1 / 1 Talent Points (TP): 0 / 0 Renown (REN): 250 / 1,000 Fame Level: 0 Unknown Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: None Achievements; Famous Family: Starblade. Deeds and Properties: None Spell Book Skills: Perception (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Social Friends: None. Enemies: None. Family: None. Clan: None. Guilds: None. Nation: None. Chapter 2 Azriel Beginner City North American Broadcast Corporation (NABC) newsroom Oct 25, 2046 01:30 AM EST A beautiful dark haired news anchor sits at the desk center screen. She is young and full of life just starting her news career. She knows no one really watches the news at these hours, but maybe she can work onto a better shift soon. ¡°Thank you Terry for that wonderful report on the workings of waste management robotics. You never know when you may need to know how the Droid that picks up your garbage really works. ¡°Turning to a different camera she smiles a white toothy smile. ¡°For our top news of the hour the much anticipated release of Siarra Inc.¡¯s expansion Esper Online: The 15 Thrones, has rolled out without a flaw. Our contact with the company says they are proud of the new game and hope their fans love it as much as they do. The Expansion beat two records this month. First with largest worldwide players now at 143 Million active players, second is for the highest prerelease sales ever. Market Analysts say the game alone has driven the charge on the current surge of new ER related equipment and research. I personally look forward to logging in and smashing some heads with me Orc Fighter. On other news¡­¡± Out of the black nothingness colors started to swirl around me in a dizzying display of blues, greens, yellows, reds, and many others. Eventually they began solidifying in to the view of a large medieval square. Hundreds of people were around me. Some were milling around, others were waving their hands in odd gestures, interacting with the in game menus. Still others were standing still not moving at all. Before I got Orientated alerts started to flash in front of me on my display. Quest Completed! Choose Your Path!!! Rewards:
  1. 5 Exp
  2. +1 Strength
  3. +1 Intelligence
  4. Class: Apprentice Magi
A bright yellow glow went over me and the sounds of lyres sang in my ears. Congratulations! You have reached level 1! Rewards:
  1. HP +80
  2. Mana +100
  3. New Ability¨CDagger
  4. New Ability¨CShort Blade
  5. New Ability¨CMace
  6. New Ability¨CCrossbow
  7. New Ability ¨CStave
  8. New Ability: Cloth Armor
  9. New Ability: Leather Armor
  10. New Ability: Chain Armor
  11. New Ability: Light Shield
  12. New Ability: Spell book
  13. New Ability: Scroll
  14. New Spell: Fire Arrow (Rank1)
  15. New Spell: Magic Missile (Rank 1)
  16. New Spell: Light (Rank 1)
  17. New Spell: Read Magic (Rank1)
  18. New Spell: Detect Magic (Rank 1)
  19. Cp +6
I scanned the message, and moved to the next. Welcome to Beginner City! You are new to the world of Esper and the gods have created this small hamlet for you to become used to your new surroundings. You may stay here til level 5, or until you leave through THE World Gate. While here you will not lose Exp for dieing, nor will your equipment suffer durability damage. Also no Traveler on Traveler violence will be allowed. This is a peaceful realm where all may learn. New Quest Orphans With the opening of the gates violence and dangers have increased causing a surge of orphans across the realms. Every major city now has thousands of unwanted children. You have rescued one orphan from a cruel death. Now it is time to give him a more permanent place in the world. Quest Type: General Difficulty: Very Easy Outcome:
  1. Take your Orphan to an orphanage.
Rewards:
  1. Exp +50
  2. 5 Gold
Failure None New Quest Exit through the World Gate!!! Find The World Gate and leave the City. Journey in to the Realms and begin your true adventure! Quest Type: General Difficulty: Very Easy Outcome:
  1. Leave Beginner City
Reward:
  1. None
Failure: None Closing the last message I pulled up my Character log. Name: Azriel Starblade Race: Human Class: Apprentice Magi Level: 1 Exp: 25 /1000 Strength (STR): 14 Muscle: 5 / Endurance: 5 Dexterity (DEX): 8 Agility: 3 / Instinct: 5 Constitution (CON): 10 Health: 5 / Resilience: 5 Intelligence (INT): 14 Logic: 5 / Mind: 5 Wisdom (WIS): 10 Awareness: 5 / Conviction: 5 Charisma (CHA): 10 Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5 Luck (LUC): 2 Hit Points (HP): 180 / 180 Mana; 150 / 150 Stamina: 12.5 / 12.5 Character Points (CP): 7 / 7 Talent Points (TP): 0 / 0 Renowned (REN): 250 / 1000 Fame Level: 0 Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: None Achievements: Famous Family. The lost Dexterity really bugged me. My inner Green eyed monster gnashed its teeth at the loss, but I used 2 CP¡¯s and brought my DEX and Agility back up to normal. Then I placed the unused points in Strength balancing Muscle and Endurance at 7 each. Not sure which was best I did the same with the Intelligence points to balance Mind and Logic. After that I hovered over the luck and saw it would take 5 Cp to get one point! With a sigh I decided to leave the other 5 for now and closed the window. I hovered over the Logout button for a moment. On one hand my other toons were waiting for me, but here I was playing a class I¡¯ve never played before with a start that I would call nothing short of exceptional. With a sigh I decided to give it a go.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Looking around again I noticed that some people still had not moved. They were in the same spot as they had been when I zoned in. Then a few of the ones who were moving around before were now rigid and unmoving. Approaching one of them I reached out to touch one. A warning flashed in my vision. WARNING: You are in Beginning City Any actions against another Traveler is forbidden. With a sigh I put my hand down. Still looking at them concerned. It looked like here in Beginning city all the races were expected to get along, I saw Orcs, Goblins, Imps, and children. Wait children? I walked over to one. He must have been 13. He was dressed in a brown starter tunic like mine and had a short sword at his belt. That was normal warrior garb, but I¡¯ve never seen children avatars before. I mean not for players. Heck anyway why would anyone want to look like a kid? It¡¯s a fantasy game after all. Then I thought of my own experiences in the chamber of mirrors. I couldn¡¯t adjust my own appearance either. Hailing a guard. I said, ¡°Hey you!¡± The guard turned my way, ¡°Need something Traveler?¡± ¡°Yea, what is up with them?¡± I pointed at the still figures all around. The guard tried to shrug through his armor, ¡°Eh, I don¡¯t know. Who can guess at the motives of Travelers?¡± I looked back at them my inner angel pushing me on, but they are okay? The guard frown, Sure why wouldn¡¯t they be?¡± I sighed, ¡°I guess¡­ hey do you know where I could find an Orphanage?¡± The guard nodded. With another look over my shoulder at the odd mass of rigid players, I left the square. Traveling through the city was simple enough. The streets were created in straight simple lines that connected regularly. As I walked I thought about the new character generation process. The entire creation process had been odd. I mead most of it was the same, but not quite. Then, if no one could adjust their characters it would mean everyone had to play a toon that looked like them. As I thought that a massive orc pushed past me going in the opposite direction. I stopped to stare this guy was Fat! I mean I am not adverse to a big fellow, I am American after all but this guy could have hidden a horse behind his girth. Although, as a green skinned, monstrous Orc the size just made him more intimidating! I guess that makes sense, if you had to keep your original appearance then choosing a race that fit with it would be a no brainner. As I passed an Imp hopping down the street I could of swore it was shorter than the others. I reached the Orphanage, a huge wooden boarding house with doors, windows, and shingles that all looked like they had seen better days. The dark green paint that once of must looked cheerful was now peeling and looked like sores. In all of the windows there were small sad faces looking out. This place just gave an air of depression and neglect. Standing at the door was a stern faced¡­ Zombie. She had glasses on her nose and a short wooden rod that she kept smacking her other palm with. As I neared her eyes found the kid following me and narrowed. She finished talking to another player and turned to me. In an unfriendly, nasal voice she asked, ¡°Can I help you?¡± I gulped and pointed at the orphan following me. Quest Completed! Orphans!!! You have brought the orphan to the local Orphanage. But the dismal site is depressing even to your hardened Traveler heart. Rewards:
  1. 50 Exp
  2. 5 Gold
¡°Very good.¡± The Undead Caretaker said. ¡°Would you care to leave the little brat here or would you rather adopt him and be responsible for him yourself?¡± An alert flashed with the two options. LEAVE / ADOPT I hesitated. Glancing down at the boy he just looked at me. The energy and intelligence I saw in the Chasm wasn¡¯t there now he seemed like any NPC. I considered the road wasn¡¯t a place for a kid and if I took him I assumed he would be like any other pet. I would have to feed and house him. At least a horse I could ride. Then again I glanced at the windows full of sad faces, and an unwanted memory stirred. When I was 8 my mom had been arrested and the state took me from my parents. I only spent a few days in child services before they got me back, but it still scared me to think about those few days. My inner angel was pleading with me, while my devil was reminding me that I could ill afford to take care of him. Sighing I hit Adopt. The caretaker sneered. Very well you can keep the brat. We have enough here anyway. You mortals breed like swine and then leave your bastards to fend for themselves when you go off and get yourself killed. With those friendly words she turned from me to talk to another Traveler. I turned to the orphan, ¡°Well it looks like you will be staying with me for a while. The child smiled Briefly. I went on ¡°But I need to call you something other than orphan. How about¡­ Ace?¡± The smile broadened to a big toothy grin, and I swear I saw something flash in the kids eyes. ¡°Thank you mi¡¯lord!¡± Ace said. I smiled back. To my surprise the name on his status bar changed, now showing him as Ace. Before I could comment on that though a commotion drew my attention. The chick who had talked to the Old Undead hag after me was now screaming, ¡°What a rip off! If I would have known I wouldn¡¯t have brought the kid here! This place is worse than my grandfather¡¯s shop! At least their when you¡¯re going to get screwed you know it!¡± I turned to her, and read her name on her Status bar; Lien. She was a High Elf, which gave her about 5 foot of height, and a thin frame. She wore a mace at her belt and chain armor covered her shapeless torso. Her pale hair was flying around wildly as she raged. ¡°Hey what¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. She turned almond shaped pale blue eyes full of anger upon me. Was it just me or did those eyes have more of an angle than was normal for a High Elf? ¡°Oh you¡¯re a genius aren¡¯t you?¡± Stunned I did not answer quick enough for her liking. She went on, ¡°That cow,¡± pointed at the Undead ¡°Robbed me of half my experience. But I wouldn¡¯t expect some thick skulled warrior¡­ wait what are you?¡± I wasn¡¯t paying attention, quickly glancing at my log I saw the entry for my own Exp. Reward: 50 EXP (-50% for being in Starter City). 25 EXP lost for just being in The Beginning City My mouth fell open in disgust. Lien looked from my staff to my armor and my sword. Then her eyes narrowed. Quickly remembering, I opened up my options and changed my status bar so only my name showed. I hid my level, class, and set my HP, MP, and Stamina to only show percentages. But it wasn¡¯t fast enough. ¡°Magi? You¡¯re a Magi. What the hell is a Magi?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± I started but she cut me off. ¡°Oh for god¡¯s sake. It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± With that she turned and started off down the road. I stared in amazement at her, a dozen paces away she stopped and turned back to me. ¡°Are you coming?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I got out. She gave me a disgusted look, ¡°Now see here, I¡¯m an Acolyte. I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re a Caster.¡± Pointing at the staff. ¡°Or if you¡¯re a warrior. I am getting out of this crap city so I can earn full EXP and I¡¯ll bet you can help me earn it faster. Now are you coming?¡± This chick was crazy¡­ but she was right. A 50% EXP penalty was ridiculous, and 2 level ones could fight a level 2 mob. They could even do it with less downtime than a level 1 would have fighting a level 1 monster. So I followed, the crazy High Elf Dame. As we moved through the city I checked the region log. I saw a surprising 3 million users in the Beginning city. Looking at their classes I only found one other person that wasn¡¯t one of the primary four classes. The other player was an Imp Pyromage, whatever that was. There were others who had their classes hidden, so I guess it was possible I wasn¡¯t the only Magi. As we reached The World Gate Lien stopped. She glared at me, ¡°Well?¡± Confused I responded, ¡°Well¡± Her glare darkening as she glowered at me, damn your slow, send me a group invite.¡± Hey! I thought. She could invite me just as easily; if she wanted. As I sent the invite, I studied her face. Her cheekbones were different too. Without thinking I blurted out, ¡°lien are you American?¡± She accepted the invite and looked at me with disgust on her face. ¡®No¡± then looked at me closely. ¡°Are you?¡± I nodded my head and her tilted eyes opened wide. ¡°I thought the admins had different servers for the different geographic areas!¡± I nodded, ¡°I did too, but I wasn¡¯t ever given the chance to choose a server. Were you?¡± She thought for just a second, ¡°No I wasn¡¯t. Think we will when we go through this thing?¡± She pointed at the large gate in the shape of a free standing silver arch. I shrugged, ¡°maybe, but something is odd here.¡± Lien¡¯s eyes narrowed, ¡°You see it too, maybe you¡¯re not as dumb as I thought.¡± Not bothering with a reply, I simply grit my teeth and stepped in to the silver arch. Blackness swirled. In-front of me a drawing of a map appeared with a prompt. Choose your destination. Two words appeared in front of me. Erthoia and Vel¡¯Tres. I knew Erthoia was the kingdom of the Hume¡¯s and I wasn¡¯t sure what Vel¡¯Tres was so I focused on Erthoia, the map shifted and filled in more. I recognized some of the map and could tell it was of Hume territories. But the cities and towns were wrong. So were the large landmarks. I know the intro said it had been generations, but how much time does it take a river to change course, or a desert to change into a lush looking forest? I shook my head and grinned it was a game after all. It took the click of a button. Glancing around the map, every time I focused on an area basic information would come up. The type of terrain, the levels of random mobs, and the local safety. The last was interesting if this was to be a good judge the entire world was fairly unsafe. The highest safety was in a city named Hub near the center of the Hume lands. It ranked 2.5 out of 5 stars. Looking at the areas around the city I saw a a good mix of random monster levels, some close by were low enough for us, then they progressed to higher levels pretty well. Without knowing more about the current incarnation of the world I thought it was a good choice. I selected the city Hub and confirmed. Character Sheet for: Azriel Starblade. Name: Azriel Starblade Race: Human Class: Apprentice Magi Level: 1 Exp: 50 / 1,000 Strength (STR): 15 Muscle: 7 / Endurance: 7 Dexterity (DEX): 10 Agility: 5 / Instinct: 5 Constitution (CON): 10 Health: 5 / Resilience: 5 Intelligence (INT): 15 Logic: 7 / Mind: 7 Wisdom (WIS): 10 Perception: 5 / Conviction: 5 Charisma (CHA) 10 Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5 Luck (LUC): 2 Hit Points (HP): 180 / 180 Mana; 170 / 170 Stamina: 12.5 / 12.5 Character Points (CP): 5 / 7 Talent Points (TP): 0 / 0 Renown (REN): 250 / 1,000 Fame Level: 0 Unknown Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: None Achievements; Famous Family: Starblade. Deeds and Properties: None Spell Book Skills: Perception (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Abilities: Armor: You can proficiently wear Cloth, Leather and Chain armor types. Shield: You can proficiently use Light shield types. Weapons: You can proficiently use Dagger, Short Blade, Axe, Mace, and Crossbow weapon types. Spells: Detect Magic (Rank 1) Fire Arrow (Rank 1) Light (Rank 1) Magic Missile (Rank 1) Read Magic (Rank 1) Social Friends: None. Enemies: None. Family: None. Clan: None. Guilds: None. Nation: None. Chapter 3: Marcy鈥檚 beginning Liberty Tower, New York. Oct 24, 2046 10:45 PM EST Marcy Rogers sat in a dimly lit office suite. She was sitting at a desk near two great big dark oaken doors. The desks, cubicles, and other offices around her were dark and empty. Marcy was a short and thin. Her bone structure made her more handsome than pretty, but good genes made up for it. Her thick long blonde hair was naturally wavy, and reached her mid back. Her pale blue eyes sparkled when she was happy, but they had not done that in a long time. She sat typing at a holographic display. ¡°Yes ma¡¯am. I understand, I¡¯ll be sure to let them know.¡± She typed quickly. Rapidly typing in her bosses instructions. She was supposed to be off of work 3 hours ago but she was somehow the last one in the office, again. Her boss had left an hour earlier than everyone else, but had left Marcy a pile of work on her way out the door. Each time Marcy had gotten close to finishing the work, her boss would call and give her more. Sighing, she hung up the holographic video call and glanced at the clock. ¡°Only an hour and some change before Esper Online: The 15 Thrones is released¡± she said. Gritting her teeth she set to work. Marcy finished up and glanced at the clock 11:42She smiled and pushed her hair back over her shoulder, ¡°. I have time to eat and log in¡±. Before she could log out, the incoming call icon flashed. ¡°No, please no.¡± As the display updated with eh contact ID, she groaned, it was MS Fletcher, again. Hesitating, her hand wavered before the accept call icon. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to. She is just going to give me more work¡± Marcy whined. Marcy had been looking forward to Esper Online¡¯s expansion for months. She had reached the game¡¯s max level half a year ago, and since she did not Raid there was not a lot for her to do. ¡°I want to kill, explore, and get new loot¡± Marcy whispered. The call icon flashed again. Marcy pinched her fingers together and moved down opening a small digital mirror in the holographic display. She checked to make sure her makeup looked okay, closed the mirror, placed a rigid smile on her face and answered the call. ¡°Hello, Miss Fletcher.¡± Ms. Fletcher¡¯s face appeared. She was wearing a towel on her head and had some kind of green goo covering her face, but her eyes flashed with rage. ¡°Marcy it rang 3 times, you know I expect promptness from my secretary.¡± Marcy kept her smile firmly in place, ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Have you not looked in a mirror recently Marcy? Your hair is a mess! I expect my employees to be presentable at all times.¡± Marcy¡¯s smile wavered as hands reached into view and placed cucumber slices on Ms. Fletcher¡¯s eyes. Keeping her voice steady she replied, ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± Well, nothing for your look now. But once we get off this call I want you to fix yourself, then start on these next assignments.¡± An icon flashed in the holographic display showing receipt of an action list from her. ¡°But, Ms. Fletcher, I was supposed to be off at 6. I even have the next week off to visit my sick dad.¡± A sneer flashed over Ms. Fletcher¡¯s green smeared face. ¡°Marcy, Marcy, Marcy. You¡¯re off when I tell you that you are. I don¡¯t know how you even got the time off. But if you don¡¯t want me to cancel it, you will not interrupt me again.¡± Marcy glared but answered in a cool meek voice, ¡°Yes Ma¡¯am.¡± It was past 2 in the morning before Marcy got home and was able to log into her ER Study. As she settled the neural helmet over her head, colors swirled. The blackness solidified into a black marble room. The furniture that sat in Marcy¡¯s study was made from polished steel and reflected the artfully distributed lights. A sultry female voice sang out, ¡°Welcome back.¡± Marcy snarled, ¡°Oh shut up! Load up Esper Online, I¡¯m running late!¡± ¡°As you wish¡± the voice said. Colors swirled, and a cinematic video began. Marcy found herself floating over a stunning world. Great deep blue oceans divided massive continents, lush emerald green Forests reached from horizon to horizon, golden grasses waved in vast plains, pure white snow topped peaks rose so high they never melted. Over it all armies of Orcs, Dwarves, Humans and others clashed, cities were sieged and razed. Empires sprang up and were torn down. A deep masculine voice began ¡°Esper is a world of sword, and sorcery. Love and War.¡± Marcy interrupted it, ¡°I don¡¯t give a shit! I want to play!¡± The world and voice vanished suddenly, everything going black and still. After a minute a prompt flashed in front of Marcy. Esper online is experiencing a larger than expected creation Que. Please wait. You are currently 24,164 in line. ¡°What the fuck?¡± she shouted. ¡°I do not want to create a character. I want to play my current toon.¡± Blackness was the only response. ¡°Server list¡± she demanded. Nothing happened. ¡°My character list.¡± Still nothing. ¡°Gamemaster help!¡± nothing. Growling in frustration she snarled, ¡°Log out!¡± still nothing. Over the next hour Marcy tried everything she could think of to get the system to respond. The only change was every few minutes the prompt would reappear showing a lower number in line. Finally colors flashed and Marcy found herself in a small stone room. Light Grey Stone walls, floor, and ceiling all around. A prompt appeared in front of her.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. WELCOME TO ESPER ONLINE! The 15 Thrones!!! It has been generations since the last rites of Magmamus. The 7 Thrones have stood empty none have been able to enter the Castles and survive to claim them. Many have died, and many more have lived in the shadows of the once proud and mighty castles. Now few even try, but change has once again claimed the realms. Petty feuds must be placed to the side, revenges and debts must wait. Because the Gates have been opened the Elemental and Outer Realms have been released! New adventures, challenges, and most of all dangers await those brave enough to sally forth into this new and more dangerous world. Another prompt flashed open. Welcome to the Hall of challenges, soon you will choose the path your life will take. The next few moments will shape your life, so choose carefully! NEW Quest: Your first Quest. Choose a weapon and leave the room. Think carefully your choice will affect your class. But do not take too long, or you might be caught flat footed. Quest Type: General Difficulty: Very Easy Outcome. Leave the room. Reward: Possible weapon. Failure: Die before leaving the room. Marcy blinked twice, happy to see her macros were still in place as the prompts closed. She was standing in the same small stone room, but now a single torch hung on the wall, and an old, worn dark wooden door stood shut in front of her. Next to the door there was a small table with four weapons on it. On the left there was a dingie rusty looking mace, next to it lay a long gnarled looking staff, besides that a slightly bent short sword, and finally a rusty blunt looking dagger. ¡°Fucking hell¡± Marcy snarled. She grabbed the dagger and climbed up on to the table. You have received. Rusty Knife (grey) Quality: Trash Durability: 10 / 10 Weight: 0.50lb Type: Dagger Crafter: Unknown Properties: 1-4 Piercing Damage. Restrictions: None After a brief climb up the wall Marcy was able to reach through the cobweb and grab the coin pouch hidden behind it. ¡°If this bastard game is going to make me go through this again, then let¡¯s not forget the loot.¡± Coin Pouch (Grey) Quality: Poor Durability: 2 / 2 Weight: 0.01lb Type: Container Crafter: Unknown Properties: Contains 1 Slot Restrictions: None She dropped off the wall as two more prompts flashed. Skill Acquired: Apprentice Climb: Rank 1. You know the basics of lifting yourself off the ground, by grabbing and holding onto something else. Beware the climber who reaches to high hits bottom rather hard. Skill Acquired: Apprentice Perception: Rank 1. You know the basics of seeing that which others may overlook. Beware you may see more than you desire and once seen things are hard to forget. Marcy blinked those messages away too grumbling, ¡°If I wasn¡¯t so fucking short I could just reach that shit.¡± She jumped off the table and walked through the now open door. Quest Completed! Your First Quest Rewards:
  1. 5 Exp
  2. +1 Dexterity
  3. Rusty Knife
  4. 50 Silver Coins
New Quest The Journey Begins! Congratulations you have a weapon. Now what will you do with it? Up ahead you will encounter two goblins on a regular patrol. Do you kill them or find another way around? Quest Type: General Difficulty: Easy Outcome: Exit Through the single door. Reward: Starting Gear. Failure: Die before going through the door. Marcy appeared in the long stone torch lit hallway and looked around in disgust. ¡°Character Command. Log Out1¡± she shouted. She remained in the hall and after a minute she grumbled but started down the hall. ¡°What the fuck is Siarra up too? Why make me start over? I know that gold I bought wasn¡¯t exactly from a legit source, but give a girl a break.¡± After a few minutes echoing voices could be heard and Marcy stepped forward a few more feet, then stopped to listen. At first she could understand nothing they said, but slowly the voices became more clear. ¡°It be mine turn for eats¡± one voice said in a high nasal tone. Another voice answered, ¡°You eats last.¡± The first snapped, ¡°It be many day.¡± The second voice growled, ¡°It be more days since I eat.¡± Marcy shook her head. ¡°Poor starving fools, maybe I should kill them and put them out of my miseray.¡± Smiling she started to move quietly making sure to creep next to the walls. When the hall opened up into a large cavern she quickly dashed into the shadows right of the pathway the goblins were patrolling. Staying to the shadows and hiding behind stalagmites she made her way toward the door. After waiting for the green skinned beasts to turn and start walking away from the door she dashed to it, and stopped. The goblins were now 40 or 50 feet away and moving even further. For a moment she just watched them, then smiled. Marcy whistled, ¡°Hey you green skinned fools!¡± Both goblins jumped in surprise, turned and stared at her abrupt appearance. They glanced confused at one another , then as one yelled, ¡°MEAT!¡± Eagerly they charged at Marcy. Smiling Marcy, turned around, pulled down her breeches, and bent over. She looked back, then slapped her rear. ¡°You can¡¯t eat me, but I¡¯ll give you a treat anyway!¡± The green skinned creatures howled in rage and ran faster. Marcy opened the door then waited for the goblins to come close. A second before they could reach her she blew them a kiss and stepped through the door laughing as she vanished. Skill Acquired: Apprentice Keen Ears: Rank 1. You have tried to and succeeded at hearing that which others may miss. Listening is a valuable skill until you enter into a tavern full of drunk dwarves. Skill Acquired: Apprentice Sneak: Rank 1. Staying out of sight is not only a skill but an art form. You have begun to know the shadows, but beware sometimes the shadows may not want to be known. Quest Completed! The Journey Begins Rewards:
  1. 5 Exp
  2. +1 Dexterity
  3. Starting Backpack
Chapter 3.2: Birth of a Thief New Quest Choose Yourself!!! It is time for you to decide on your name and the race you will belong to in the world. There are many choices and paths ahead of you, all of which will be effected by what you decide next. Quest Type: General Difficulty: Very Easy Outcome:
  1. Pick a name.
  2. Pick a Race. Touch the mirror of the race you which to join.
  3. Exit Through the single door.
Reward: Fraction Alignments and Political standings Failure: Die before going through the door. Marcy blinked the messages away. As the messages faded and black enveloped Marcy she muttered, ¡°No one better of taken my name yet!¡± Before anything else came up she shouted into the void, ¡°My name is Tittia!¡± A few seconds passed before a prompt appeared. Welcome Tittia! Now enter in your last name. Marcy smiled then without thinking said, ¡°My last name is turncoat.¡± Confirm your name Tittia Turncoat Yes / No Marcy nodded, but did not answer right away. After a moment she spoke rapidly, ¡°Yes. My alias is Myst¡± A Prompt appeared. Alias Confirmed. The darkness swirled around Marcy for a moment before solidifying into a round room full of mirrors. Marcy smiled, ¡°Oh goody! Do I get to buy clothes now?¡± Even joking she quickly looked in the mirrors to find the one she was searching for. After reaching out and touching one she stepped back over to the large center mirror. Marcy stripped out of her clothes and put the starting gear in her new backpack. Looking at herself naked in the mirror she muttered, ¡°Okay let¡¯s see.¡± Marcy was still short, just under 4¡¯9, but as her current race choice of Wild Elf, her pale skin had darkened and tanned to a degree that would make the most faithful beech beauty jealous. Her too skinny frame had also fleshed out a little, giving her slightly larger breasts and curvier figure. Marcy laughed to herself, ¡°Most girls lose their figures playing as an elf, but I gain one¡± The most striking changes though were to her hair and eyes. Her long blond hair was now a dark honey brown, and her pale blue eyes were a stunning emerald green with a thin purple ring before the whites. Marcy twirled around looking at herself then approached the mirror, ¡°Okay let¡¯s see here. I need to be taller I think, and I would like more boobs.¡± She touched the mirror and then paused, then touched it again. ¡°What the fuck? She knocked on the mirror, ¡°Hey stupid thing I want to change my appearance!¡± She knocked on the mirror, then punched it, and then began to kick it repeatedly.After raging against the mirror she tried to see if there was an issue with the Wild Elf by choosing another race. Nothing allowed her to alter her appearance further than the basic racial changes. ¡°This is fucking stupid!¡± first my toon is deleted and now I can¡¯t even change this fucking face! Some game this is.¡± She flared at the mirror, then snarled, ¡°You know what fuck it!¡± Sitting down she began to braid her long hair. Half an hour later she had her thick main of hair tamed into a tight braid. Reaching into her backpack she pulled out her knifed and smiled at the mirror. ¡°I¡¯ll fucking look different even if you don¡¯t let me change it the easy way.¡± With that she began to saw through her lovely locks. Half an hour passed before Marcy stood up. Her long hair was laying in its braid on the floor. Now a uneven short mop of honey brown hair sat atop her head. Looking it over Marcy turned each way sawed through a couple more strands then smiled. ¡°Fuck you¡± she told the mirror. Picking up her backpack she walked through the door. Quest Completed! Choose Yourself Rewards:
  1. 5 Exp
  2. Race: Wild Elf
  3. +2 Dexterity (Agility) ¨C Racial
  4. Low Light Vision - Racial
Penalties
  1. -2 Wisdom (Conviction) - Racial
New Quest The Chasm!!! Your first challenge with your new self. Find a way across the chasm, beware though the magic of the room will heat the wall in ever increasing temperatures!If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Quest Type: General Difficulty: Easy Outcome:
  1. Exit Through the single door.
Reward: +1 CP Failure: Die before going through the door. When the room appeared Marcy was already moving. She ran to the left and quickly saw the beam leading over the chasm. Not even slowing her pace she ran over the beam, relying on her new Agility to master the balancing. On the other side she started searching for the key, ¡°Okay you little turd, where are you? HA!¡± She ran to the first spawn spot and found the small key laying there. Picking it up she ran back across the beam, heading to the cage. When she reached it the wall was just starting to heat up. The Orphan inside looked up at her, ¡°Please help!¡± it begged. ¡°Oh shut up¡± Marcy snarled. She inserted the key in the lock and it popped open with a quick turn. ¡°Out now!¡± ¡°oh thank you!, the little Wild Elf Girl exclaimed. The child ran over to give Marcy a hug, but she pushed the brat away and turned back toward the beam. She again ran across, but paused on the other side to glare at the small child, who was creeping across the narrow beam at a slow pace. ¡°Oh for gods sake¡± marcy muttered but she did so quietly. She hahd snapped outloud before and startled the child. That always ended with eh kid freaking out and falling off the beam to splat in a bloody mess far below. Marcy had her hand on her hips and was tapping her foot impatiently when the orphan reached the other side. ¡°About damn time. I hahte kids, and if I didn¡¯t get coins and experience for rescuing you I would leave you in that damn cage to fry.¡± The young girl turned wide terrified eyes on Marcy, but the women had already turned and started walking toward the door. Placing he key in the lock she turned it and pushed the trembling child through before her. Quest Completed! The Chasm!!! Rewards:
  1. 5 Exp
  2. +1 Cp
  3. Orphan
  4. +1 Dexterity
  5. +1 Wisdom
New Quest Choose Your Path!!! It is time you choose your path in the world. Will you be a vallant Warrior, An Acolyete healing your friends or cursing your enemies, A stealthy thief, or a flame throwing Magician, or maybe something else? Quest Type: General Difficulty: Very Easy Outcome:
  1. Exit through the door at the end of the hall you choos
Reward: A class Failure: Die before going through the door. As Marcy cleared the message the familiar square stone room appeared around her. She looked around and found the hall she was looking for and began to walk down it. The child read the plac as she followed, ¡°What is a thief?¡± Marcy opened the door and stepped through thinking, ¡°I am.¡± Character Sheet for: Myst Name: Tittia Turncoat (Myst) Race: Wild Elf Class: Thief Level: 0 Exp: 20 /25 Strength (STR): 10 Muscle: 5 / Endurance: 5 Dexterity (DEX): 15 Agility: 7 / Instinct: 5 Constitution (CON): 10 Health: 5 / Resilience: 5 Intelligence (INT): 10 Logic: 5 / Mind: 5 Wisdom (WIS): 8 Perception: 5 / Conviction: 3 Charisma (CHA): 10 Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5 Luck (LUC): 0 Hit Points (HP): 100 / 100 Mana; 0 / 0 Stamina: 2.5 / 2.5 Character Points (CP): 1 / 1 Talent Points (TP): 0 / 0 Renown (REN): 0 / 1000 Fame Level: 0 Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: None Achievements: None Deeds and Properties: None Spellbook Skills: Climb (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Keen Ears(Apprentice) 1 / 75 Perception (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Sneak (apprentice) 1 / 75 Social Friends: None. Enemies: None. Family: None. Clan: None. Guilds: None. Nation: None. Chapter 4: Myst and the Beginner City Esper Online: Starting City. Oct 25, 2046 03:17 AM. The world swirled and rippled into patterns and shapes. When it stopped moving I was standing in some Hume craphole. The buildings were run down wooden affairs. The streets were clogged with people just standing around and the night air smelled of sweat and funk. Quest Completed! Choose Your Path!!! Rewards:
  1. 5 Exp
  2. +1 Dexterity
  3. Class: Thief
A warm tingle started between my legs and exploded outward engulfing me in a yellow glow. I moaned in ecstasy, ¡°Oh god! I love that feeling!¡± Congratulations! You have reached level 1! Rewards:
  1. HP +60
  2. Stamina +20
  3. New Ability¨CDagger
  4. New Ability¨CShort Blade
  5. New Ability¨CMace
  6. New Ability¨CCrossbow
  7. New Ability ¨CThrown
  8. New Ability ¨CBows
  9. New Ability: Cloth Armor
  10. New Ability: Leather Armor
  11. New Ability: Lockpick
  12. New Ability: Thieves Tools
  13. Cp +6
Quivering on weak legs, I glanced over the message and blinked it away. Another filled my vision, ¡°Okay this shit has to stop!¡± Welcome to Beginner City! You are new to the world of Esper and the gods have created this small hamlet for you to become used to your new surroundings. You may stay here til level 5, or until you leave through THE World Gate. While here you will not lose Exp for dying, nor will your equipment suffer durability damage. Also no Traveler on Traveler violence will be allowed. This is a peaceful realm where all may learn. ¡°Great, I¡¯m in the land of pussys.¡± I blinked. ¡°Another fucking message?¡± New Quest Orphans With the opening of the gates, violence and dangers have increased causing a surge of orphans across the realms. Every major city now has thousands of unwanted children. You have rescued one orphan from a cruel death. Now it is time to give him a more permanent place in the world. Quest Type: General Difficulty: Very Easy Outcome:
  1. Take your Orphan to an orphanage.
Rewards:
  1. Exp +50
  2. 5 Gold
Failure None New Quest Exit through the World Gate!!! Find The World Gate and leave the City. Journey in to the Realms and begin your true adventure! Quest Type: General Difficulty: Very Easy Outcome:
  1. Leave Beginner City
Reward:
  1. None
Failure: None I blinked the quests away after accepting them both. Then looked around the square where I was standing. There was more people standing around here than I would have expected. Moving over to a black skinned drow who wasn¡¯t even twitching a muscle I looked at him. ¡°Are you awake? Hey Drow boy, are you there?¡± The tool didn¡¯t respond so I turned as if to go. Suddenly I spun around and aimed my fist at his ugly nose in what I hoped would be an awesome roundhouse! Instead, my fist just stopped an inch before his face. The prat didn¡¯t even flinch. Warning: You are in Starter City and have attempted to cause harm to another Traveler. If you continue to cause trouble you will be arrested and exceled from starter city. Additionally all your possessions will be confiscated. ¡°Well that just won¡¯t work for me.¡± I looked at the elf girl; she stared back at me with dull lifeless eyes, the normal eyes of a NPC. Turning I weaved my way out the square in search of an Orphanage. As I left I heard a guard call out, ¡°Hey you! You there stop!¡± but I ignored it. The streets were packed with people of all shapes and sizes, I saw members of all the races, men and women and most of all tons of fucking people blocking my way! ¡°What is with all these idiots standing around and not even moving?¡± A man who looked like a golem with bronze metallic skin said, ¡°It¡¯s some new log out feature. Your body doesn¡¯t leave the game anymore.¡± He was looking at me rather intently; I gave him the finger and ducked around some fat ass orc. Eventually I found the orphanage. Outside stood an ugly looking grey skinned women with librarian glasses. As I moved closer, she turned to me. When I saw her milky white eyes, I realized she was one of those new Deathless. ¡°Hello Traveler.¡± Quest Completed! Orphans!!! You have brought the orphan to the local Orphanage. The life of a Traveler is one of hardship and strife; she will be better off here and away from you. Rewards:
  1. 50 Exp
  2. 5 Gold
¡°Very good.¡± The Undead Caretaker said. ¡°Would you care to leave the little brat here or would you rather adopt her and be responsible for him yourself?¡± An alert flashed with the two options. LEAVE / ADOPT ¡°Oh hell no!¡± I refused that one on principle. As the hag handed me the gold from a small pouch at her side I smiled. Quickly looking up and down the street, I leaned toward the crone. ¡°Hey about that girl I just brought in.¡± ¡°Yes, the wild elf one. What about her?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s kind of something personal. You know not something to share out in public.¡± I looked at the people coming and going or more commonly just standing on the street. The caretaker followed my gaze, ¡°And?¡± ¡°If there was somewhere we could get off the street. I¡¯d feel a lot better. The poor thing really doesn¡¯t need more trouble.¡± I said the last looking at the door where the orphan had gone. The caretaker looked at me then back to the door. ¡°Okay well it seems I have a moment, but it must be brief there has been a large number of orphans returned today.¡± I nodded,¡¯ of course.¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. New Skill: Apprentice Diplomacy 1 / 75 Being skilled at getting others to do, as you desire is a skill. Making them think it was their idea is a feat. We stepped into the Orphanage and I shut the door behind me. Inside was a simple entryway that led to a long hallway. There were closed doors leading down the hall and at the end a stair leading up. As the Caretaker turned to face me she asked, ¡°What did you need to¡­¡± I cut her off by slamming my knife into her throat. Sneak Attack: Critical: You hit Orphan Caretaker for 42 damage. ¡®Take that!¡± I shouted. The Caretakers eyes widened and her mouth opened to scream and I smiled. There was no way she was going to scream with that big of a whole in her neck! ¡°GUARDS! GUARDS!¡± Pulling my knife free I stabbed her again, this time in the chest. She did not even draw in a breath to scream again. ¡°Shit! You¡¯re not breathing!¡± Pulling my knife back again, I saw her Status Bar. Deathless Orphanage Caretaker (10) Starter City HP 87% Mana 100% Stamina 100% I heard shouting coming from outside. Jabbing out again with my knife I felt it cut and tare. New Skill: Apprentice Pick Pocket 1 / 75 There is more than one way to make some gold. The Caretakers ties holding her coin purse snapped and the pouch fell into my waiting hand. ¡°GUARDS!¡± She shouted again. I opened the door and glanced out. Coming from the direction of the central square, I saw a number of guards shoving through the crowded street. Thankfully, the signed out players were making a fairly useful roadblock. With a smile I asked, ¡°Would you hold this piece of crap for me.¡± I buried my knife hilt deep into the Caretakers chest and spun out the door. Once on the street and in the crowd I slowed to a normal pace. When I got to the first side street, I glanced back. The Caretaker stood at the Orphanage¡¯s front step with my knife still in her chest. Pointing my direction, she was speaking with a Guard. Alert: You have been accused of Assault and Theft in Starter City by a noteworthy local. The Guards have been given your description and are looking for you. -200 Fame. ¡°What the hell is this?¡± I muttered. A Hume woman looked back over her shoulder at me. Then she did a double take. ¡°What?¡± I snapped. Her round face grew hard, ¡°Slut!¡± My hand went for my belt to draw my knife, but it didn¡¯t find anything. With a horrid feeling, I realized there was nothing there at all. Slowly looking down I flinched. ¡°Well that explains why I¡¯m getting so many looks and why I was so easy to identify.¡± Stopping in the street, I pulled my clothes out of my backpack and got dressed. New Skill: Apprentice Disguise 1 / 75 Sometimes its best not to look like you did 5 minutes ago. I couldn¡¯t help it, I began to laugh, getting a skill for getting dressed was weird even for me. Shrugging I turned down another street trying to put distance between the Orphanage and me. ¡°Hey you stop there!¡± I almost ran into the hands of a Guard who had been standing at the street corner. ¡°Eh, sorry. I ¡­ ah have urgent business.¡± Ducking another sloppy grab I pushed past two logged out players knocking them both over. I grit my teeth in frustration waiting for the system prompt to warn me about hurting Travelers again, but it never came. As I moved through another group of players this time pushing some back towards the Guard I grinned. It seems as long as I didn¡¯t intend to hurt or effect them anyway, the players could be used as obstacles. ¡°Stupid game!¡± I shouted as I passed into another street. Losing the guard in the traffic here. Up ahead I saw a large silver arch. As we drew closer, I realized that was where the flow of traffic was leading. It also happened to have 4 guards standing in front of it watching players. Bending my knees and hunching I kept a Large Hume in front of me until I was about 20ft from the arch. ¡°Hey invite me to your party Penalopy. I want to make sure I go to the right zone.¡± Some Orc was talking to a Deathless chick. ¡°Hold up, we are still waiting to here back from Lothorb on who we are following.¡± The orc frowned, ¡°But I don¡¯t¡¯ want to waste my time here. Invite me so I can at least go kill something outside of town.¡± I was only 15ft away now, only the Deathless and Orc were between the arch and me. ¡°Hey you stop there!¡± I jerked and rushed forward. ¡°What the fuck! No!¡± I hit the orc intending on knocking him toward the guard, but the moron moved into my path. I hit him hard enough to bite my tongue and toss him into the air a few inches. He hit the ground and his head passed through the archway. By the time he vanished, my momentum had already carried me the few steps to his prone form. Off balance, I tumbled and crumpled to the ground inches from the arch. A hand grabbed my ankle. ¡°Got you thief!¡± I smiled back a the sneering guard, ¡°Why yes I am.¡± I reached my hand passed the threshold and the world went black. Character Sheet for: Myst Name: Tittia Turncoat (Myst) Race: Wild Elf Class: Thief Level: 1 Exp: 50 /1000 Strength (STR): 10 Muscle: 5 / Endurance: 5 Dexterity (DEX): 16 Agility: 7 / Instinct: 5 Constitution (CON): 10 Health: 5 / Resilience: 5 Intelligence (INT): 10 Logic: 5 / Mind: 5 Wisdom (WIS): 8 Perception: 5 / Conviction: 3 Charisma (CHA): 10 Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5 Luck (LUC): 0 Hit Points (HP): 140 / 140 Mana; 0 / 0 Stamina: 22.5 / 22.5 Character Points (CP): 7 / 7 Talent Points (TP): 0 / 0 Renown (REN): -250 / -1000 Fame Level: 0 Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: None Achievements: None Deeds and Properties: None Spellbook Skills: Climb (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Disguise (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Diplomacy (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Keen Ears (Apprentice) 1 / 75 Perception (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Pick Pocket (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Sneak (apprentice) 1 / 75 Abilities: Armor: You can proficiently wear Cloth and Leather armor types. Tools You can use Lock Picks, and Thieves Tools. Weapons: You can proficiently use Dagger, Short Blade, Mace, Thrown, Crossbow, and Bow weapon types. Social Friends: None. Enemies: None. Family: None. Clan: None. Guilds: None. Nation: None. Chapter 5.1: shh! I鈥檓 hunting Wabbits! North American Broadcast Corporation (NABC) newsroom Oct 25, 2046 03:00 AM EST The reporter still smiling but looking more tired sits under the bright lights and wishes she could go home already. When the on-air light turns green she says, ¡°Thank you Ivan that was an excellent report. I¡¯ll make sure to wear extra clothes tomorrow, that cold front sure is dropping temperatures.¡± She looks over to where her producer waves her hands and points to a new prompt. Sitting up straighter she reads, ¡°Just in. Breaking News. Siarra Inc.¡¯s much anticipated online game Esper Online: The 15 Thrones has hit the market with a bang, report show nearly 50 million log-ins in the first 3 hours. But there seems to be an issue. Reports are coming in that many players are enjoying the game so much they are refusing to log out. We are starting to gather reports that some concerned parents and loved ones have attempted to use the neural ER gears external forced shut down. There are unsubstantiated reports that some of these attempts have failed to force the desired shut down. We have contacted Siarra for a comment on this new turn of events, but we have not received a reply yet. Here at NABC we would like to remind our viewers to not attempt to shut down an active Neural Connection by removing power supply or disconnecting Network access. At this time we would suggest if a player does not log out from within the game and a forced external shut down fails, then contact your neural gear¡¯s manufacturer technical support, for further troubleshooting¡± Azriel The moment I hit confirm the world was just suddenly there. I found myself in a large central market area of a once nice looking town. The buildings that line the square were well made but showing age and poor repair. They all looked like they had seen better times. The suddenness of the town¡¯s appearance took me back for a moment since I was expecting the previous swirl of colors. Lien¡¯s voice brought me back quick enough, ¡°That took you long enough. I was just sitting there in blackness while you played with yourself.¡± She looked around the city center for the first time. The square was large enough that maybe 20 large shops, taverns, and Inns lined the square. In the center where we stood there was a large summoning circle built on a raised stone platform. The Moon was bright and full illuminating a number of closed shop stalls. Even so there were a number of players milling around. I could see some frozen players. But here most were moving. The most activity seemed to be around another platform with three NPC¡¯s all titled Auctioneer. Lien was talking again, ¡°I didn¡¯t get a server prompt. Did you drag me to some shitty American server?¡± The High Elf girl was glaring daggers at me and I finally had enough of it. ¡°I did not ask you to come. I did not make you join a group. This was your idea. If you don¡¯t like it then leave. I am more than capable of soloing at this stage.¡± Truth be the game devs had made it where any player could solo at any level with the right build. A Group could get EXp faster, but at the cost of sharing rare drops and coin. A prompt flashed. Quest Completed! Exit through the World Gate!!! Rewards: None Quickly swiping the pointless message away I saw Lien smiling at me. ¡°What?¡± I was becoming more and more sure this girl was crazy. ¡°I thought you American men let your women walk all over you?¡± Taken aback I stuttered, ¡°Us¡­ Some do¡­ but ugh see I¡¯m single.¡± She actually laughed at this, ¡°A man willing to stand up for himself is considered undesirable. You Americans are backwards.¡± I was not about to tell her I was single because outside of ER I couldn¡¯t really talk to girls. I locked up every time a pretty one smiled at me. Then again I couldn¡¯t let the jab at my country go unchallenged. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t you guys still practice arranged marriages? Shouldn¡¯t a woman of your age be married and serving her husband? So what is wrong with you?¡± Lien¡¯s laughter stopped immediately, ¡°My fat slob of a husband is asleep. He doesn¡¯t know I play online. This is my time to do with as I please.¡± She turned and stomped down the steps to the plaza. I chased after her, ¡°Umm. I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t mean anything by that.¡± She shook her head, ¡°Think nothing. Just do not bring it up again.¡± We walked in awkward silence searching for the town gates. As we did, I watched the local chat. Many people were asking about or reporting quests they found from local NPC¡¯s. Most were Gofer quests. Go for this item and take it to this other NPC. Those I passed point blank. One was to help a NPC guard his lamb. The player said you had to wait around for an hour in which nothing really happened. I could do that one alone later. But there were two that caught my eye. One was too bring 12 rabbit pelts back to a leatherworker in town. The other was to collect Kobold ears from a local kobold mine and return them to the guards. ¡°Hey,¡± I started but Lien cut me off. ¡°I saw them. You grab the Kobold ears. I¡¯ll get the pelts then we meet at the East gate and share?¡± I smiled, ¡°Sure. See you in a bit.¡± We split up and both went to where the chats said we could find our respective NPCs. 10 minutes later Lien and I were in the plains outside the city walls. The rabbits were all level 1 through 3 and had no agro ranges. I simply walked up to a young rabbit and examined it. Young Rabbit HP 100% Mana 100% Stamina 100% It¡¯s name showed white which meant it should be an equal level challenge. With a shrug I swung my staff at its head. You hit young rabbit. Damage 8 The rabbit lunged at me snapping its teeth. I easily stepped back out of the way. Young Rabbit misses you!A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. I spun my staff around in a circle and brought the other end down on the rabbits head. You hit Young Rabbit! Damage: Critical 15 The rabbit lunged at me again, but I was too slow to move and its teeth punctured my shin! Young Rabbit Hits you! Damage: 30. ¡°Oh holy shit! That hurts, you little fucker DIE!¡± You miss Young Rabbit! Young Rabbit misses you! You hit young Rabbit! Critical! Damage: 21 Young Rabbit hits you! Damage: 35 With that last bite my life bar dropped to 115hp. Thinking to myself, ¡°This little beast has taken out a full third of my life.¡± You hit Young Rabbit! Damage 9 Young Rabbit Dies 5 EXP gained Looking down at my dead foe the only emotion I could come up with was amazement. My legs hurt tremendously from the bites and scratches. Blood ran down them turning the grass black in the night air. This had never hurt so much before! Sure in the past I could feel the combat, but it was more like someone hitting you with a pillow. Now I could swear I had felt the little teeth ripping and tearing. I bent to search the body. Only to find nothing on it. Groaning I began to stand and heard a cry from behind me. Lien! I had totally forgotten her! Spinning around, I saw her in combat with a Rabbit. Young Rabbit HP 62% Mana 0% Stamina 80% She was feebly swinging her mace. Glancing at her life bar I saw she had only 48HP left. Then the rabbit hit her and half that disappeared. Without thinking I began casting. A second later a small ball of fire flew from my outstretched arm. The ball was the size of a baseball and looked just like if you lit a ball on fire and flung it. The flames flew quickly Illuminating the area briefly before hitting the rabbit. Its remaining life went down to a fraction then disappeared completely when Lien landed a final strike. 10 EXp Lien collapsed to the ground crying. I rushed to her and knelt down. ¡°Oh Goddess,¡± she cried ¡°It hurts!¡± I placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at her torn, bloody legs. They were worse than mine. To my amazement as I watched the wounds started to heal. Then my mind caught up. We were out of combat auto ReGen had started in. After about two minutes our wounded legs were fully healed, even the blood had disappeared. I helped Lien to her feet. She was still trembling and mumbling to herself. ¡°I¡¯m guessing your not used to the new pain thresholds either?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Did you get new equipment?¡± Again she shook her head in the negative. Odd, I thought. Could this just be programing? But the sensitivity levels should have been based on the hardware. ¡°Maybe you should turn your realism down some.¡± I suggested. Lien sniffled, and nodded. A moment later she said, ¡°I can¡¯t find it.¡± ¡°Huh? It should be¡­¡± I trailed off myself. There was nothing where the realism, gore, adult language, and maturity settings use to be. Lien wiped tears from her puffy eyes and said, ¡°Something else is odd.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± I asked. ¡°When you attacked the rabbit, did you activate an ability to do so? Or for casting your spell for that matter?¡± I thought about it. I hadn¡¯t I just did the actions. Lien continued, ¡°I just knew how to use my mace. How to swing and where to aim. I had a moment where I felt the handle slip in my grip and automatically readjusted my attacks for the extra distance.¡± My mouth felt dry. I had been the same with my staff, and the spell¡­ Even now, I could tell you the exact motions and words you would need to say to cast any of my spells. I just knew it! Like I had been studying them for ages. Panicking slightly I started searching my display for an action bar. I couldn¡¯t find one. Looking in my options there wasn¡¯t anything I had turned off either, it just wasn¡¯t there. ¡°My action bar is gone,¡± I croaked. Lien nodded, ¡°Mine too.¡± Our gazes met. In unison we both exclaimed, ¡°THIS IS AWESOME!¡± Ace broke in to our revelries, ¡°umm mi¡¯lord. The rabbit has vanished.¡± Looking down he was right the body was gone. ¡°Damn it,¡± I said. Lien laughed. ¡°Well let¡¯s not do that again.¡± I nodded in agreement. I turned to look for another rabbit. Behind me Lien asked, ¡°So you have the HP of a warrior. I am guessing you have the ability to use that pig sticker at your belt, and you can cast spells. What the hell type of class are you and where can I sign up?¡± I turned to her smiling, ¡°I¡¯m a Magi. You know that. We are a secret order. If I told you how to be one, then it wouldn¡¯t be a very good secret. Would it?¡± She laughed, ¡°Fine be that way. If I beat you to having all my pelts first you have to tell me.¡± I agreed. An hour and half later I picked up my last pelt. ¡°Done,¡± I said. The rabbits were really horrid prey. They dropped nothing but Grey loot and not very much of that. Lien swung her mace missing her foe again. ¡°Damn it!¡± she growled. ¡°I still need 3 more. I¡¯m a freaking Acolyte. I¡¯m not supposed to be killing things alone!¡± I smiled at her and cast Magic missile at her rabbit. This spell looked like an invisible ball of force. You could just make out the outlines as it rushed to impact its target. I had decided I liked it better than the Fire Arrow. Even though the Fire Arrow did more damage, I had missed my target using it a couple times. The Magic Missile on the other hand did less damage, but it seemed to strike a foe every time. This particular bolt went wide around Lien¡¯s back to avoid hitting her. Then swung around to impact upon the rabbit with a nice WHOMP! The rabbit let out a death knell and collapsed to the ground. Lien turned to me, glaring. ¡°I wish you would quit doing that!¡± I smiled and her glare melted in to a smile. ¡°But I¡¯m just trying to help.¡± I said in a less than sincere manner. Ace came around me, ¡°Mi¡¯lord heard you say you were not supposed to kill things alone. He nobly came to the lady¡¯s aide!¡± I glanced at the boy, unsure if he was joking or not. He thumped the butt of my Staff on the ground, sending rabbit pelts swinging wildly. The glare on his face showed he was serious. I stifled a smile, and tossed him the last pelt. He grabbed it out of the air and began to tie it to the staff. I walked over to Lien, sheathing my sword as I did. The staff was okay, but if I really wanted to kill things in melee the sword won hands down. Lien grunted and stood from looting the Rabbit. ¡°Here catch!¡± I barely prevented getting hit in the face by a boot. You have found: Old Rusty Chain Boots (grey) Quality: Poor Durability: 10/ 20 Weight: 2 lbs. Type: Chain Crafter: Unknown Properties: Feet: 3 Armor Restrictions: None They were Grey items but they provided armor. Looking down at my bare feet I sighed. ¡°What about you?¡¯ She pointed to her feet, where she already wore a pair. Sitting down I placed them on my feet. ¡°You would think the stupid rabbits would carry socks with their boots.¡± Lien laughed, ¡°Yes because I¡¯ve seen so many of these things wearing boots.¡± Standing up, I tested the feel. They would work, but first trip in to town I was going to do something about them. I just hoped the programmers did not think about making blisters a part of the new in-game experience. I pulled my backpack off and reached in, ¡°Well since we are trading gear. Take this.¡± I pulled out a Shabby Rabbit cloak and tossed it to her. She examine the cloak, curling up her little button nose, then sighed. ¡°I guess every bit helps.¡± I nodded pointing to the one I wore. We spent another 15 minutes killing rabbits together. I stayed back casting as she smashed the poor darlings. Finally she bent down to loot a body and said, ¡°Done!¡± ¡°Thank goodness! I think this quest has the worst drop rate ever!¡± She nodded, ¡°The drops and EXP are bad.¡± ¡°Shall we go turn it in, and empty our bags at the vendor? Or keep going to the kobolds?¡± Lien paused looking in her bag. ¡°I¡¯m half full of trash. Let¡¯s vendor and see if we can upgrade gear a bit.¡± I nodded, ¡°Did you get the extra Gold from the character creation quests?¡± She gave me a glare, ¡°What do you take me for a noob?¡± Chapter 5.2: Are they lizards or rats? A half hour later I waited at the North gate. I now wore a full set of Common vendor Chain armor, with socks. I had a new short sword and even a fancy quest rewarded Heavy Rabbit cloak. Bronze Short Sword (white) Quality: Common Durability: 30/ 30 Weight: 1.2lbs Type: Short Blade Crafter: Unknown Properties: 12 - 18 Piercing Damage. Restrictions: None Bronze Pot Helm (White) Quality: Common Durability: 50/ 50 Weight: 3.1lb Type: Chain Crafter: Unknown Properties: Head: 15 Armor Restrictions: None Bronze Chainmail Shirt (White) Quality: Common Durability: 50/ 50 Weight: 20lb Type: Chain Crafter: Unknown Properties: Chest: 25 Armor Restrictions: None Bronze Chain Pants (White) Quality: Common Durability: 50/ 50 Weight: 15lb Type: Chain Crafter: Unknown Properties: Legs: 20 Armor Restrictions: None Bronze Chain Boots (White) Quality: Common Durability: 50/ 50 Weight: 3.2 Type: Chain Crafter: Unknown Properties: Feet: 10 Armor Restrictions: None Bronze Chain Belt (White) Quality: Common Durability: 50/ 50 Weight: 3.21lb Type: Chain Crafter: Unknown Properties: Waist: 5 Armor Restrictions: None Heavy Rabbit Cloak (White) Quality: Common Durability: 25/ 25 Weight: 7lb Type: Cloth Crafter: Hub Leather Guild Properties: Back: 5 Armor Restrictions: None All my spending had given my inner green eyed beast a heart attack, as it raged seeing the few coins we possessed slip through its fingers. I tried to console the beast saying armor and weapons were an investment, and would pay dividends. Ace stood next to me spinning in circles giggling as his cape flapped. I had found out that in addition to carrying small amounts of items Ace could also were gear. He wasn¡¯t trained in anything other than cloth, but I gave him any I found. He seemed rather proud of the Shabby Rabbit cloak as he chased it. While waiting for Lien to show, I read the city chat log. Kneevor: My friend just logged out but he is just standing here now. He hasn¡¯t responded to any PMs or anything. Ivor: WTB Rabbit Pelts! Pls Shout! Beastboy: You should give him a hard shove. That should wake him up. Kneevor: Dude you¡¯re a dick! He fell over and is now laying there all stupid! Roxx: WTB Bags of any kind! Beastboy: Haha dumb ass Trishia: My friends all got tired of the slow EXP here and logged off. They went back over to our other toons. But their characters are still here. Beastboy: Hey baby want to meet up at the tavern? I have a little tool I¡¯d like to show you. Trishia: lol little is the key word. Beastboy: Bitch! I¡¯ll find you and kill you I blacklisted Beastboy and kept reading. Merlin: WTS 4 Slot Pouches! 1 Gold! Merlin: Kneevor, Trishia I think it¡¯s a new feature of the expansion. You know to help, like increase realism. Log off and your toon stays. Like I¡¯ve even been able to take things from the stiffers. But like watch out the guards don¡¯t like you doing that. Merlin really? Some people had no imagination, but he may have had a good idea. It sounded like something the devs would do and it explained all the people just standing around. Although if you could steal from, or maybe even kill a player while they are offline¡­ I shuddered at the thought. Lien chose that moment to finally show up. ¡°Sorry I had to find the Acolyte quest giver. She wants something from the kobolds too.¡± Huh, class quests. Where was I going to get class quests from? On a whim I told Lien to wait here for a moment and ran across the street to the training grounds where the warrior class trainer was located. Sure enough after a brief chat I got a quest from him.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. New Quest Kobold menace Description: The kobold plague continues to assault the city of Hub. Travelers are afraid to go far from the safety of the walls. Guard Captain Stuart wants you to help reduce the plague. Quest Type: Class Difficulty: Hard Outcome:
  1. Kill Kobold Miners : 0/15
  2. Kill Kobold Soldiers: 0/10
  3. Kill Kobold overseers: 0/5
Reward:
  1. Guard¡¯s Blade
  2. Guard¡¯s shield
  3. 50 silver
Failure: Drop the quest ¡°Hey Ace, go tell Lien I am going to check with the Magician trainer too. Then wait with her for me.¡± The boy nodded, and ran off. Feeling a little guilty, I turned and ran back in to town. Half way there I had to stop. I was breathing heavy and had a realistic stitch in my side. ¡°What the hell,¡± I gasped. Gasping for air I bent over double. Then I saw my Stamina bar. Empty. Those Devs were insane! A couple intense minutes passed and finally my stamina began to slowly refill. Standing up straight I stretched the stitch out and continued onward. Upon entering the Magicians tower I stopped in amazement. The first floor was set up as a shop. It was a cross between mad scientist¡¯s workshop, with beakers bubbling odd contraptions emitting pulses of light and a library, with shelves upon shelves of books and scrolls. A quick glance around showed no trainers though. An annoyed looking shopkeep did watch me closely as I moved to the stairs leading up. The second floor had the center of the tower clear. The outer wall was lined with book shelves, tables full of alchemy supplies, enchanter workbenches, and other contraptions. The Magician trainer stood next to the stair well. Again a brief chat and I had another quest. New Quest Kobold Thieves Description: A merchant carrying magical supplies from Hub to Ender was attacked by kobolds. Magician Pleasa wants you to recover some of the lost supplies. Quest Type: Class Difficulty: Hard Outcome:
  1. Magician Scrolls: 0/10
  2. Magician Amulets: 0/5
  3. Magician Potions 0/15
Reward:
  1. Magician¡¯s Ring
  2. Potion of lesser mana x5
  3. 50 Silver
Failure: Drop the quest Closing the quest window I turned to leave, then stopped. Walking over to the Alchemy trainer I asked, ¡°Hey do you teach Herbalism?¡± The trainer sighed and put down a bottle, then turned to face me. His face was covered in black soot. It looked like one of his brews had not gone as intended. The man looked me up and down. ¡°Aye, I teach Apprentice Alchemy and Apprentice Herbalism.¡± I nodded, ¡°Is Herbalism still a Professional skill?¡± That was important because you could learn any number of them, where as you could only learn two Crafts. The man narrowed his eyes, ¡°It is and always has been.¡± ¡°How much?¡± ¡°My skills are ot for the soft of heart, or for those without a stable hand. One may think it is just picking flowers and mixing pretty liquids! I¡¯m here to tell you it is not just that! The wrong flower or the wrong liquid and you may Poison your friend who you were trying to heal. Worse you could nick your finger on a Bloodbloom and fall into an enchanted slumber for 100 years!¡± I let the man say his speech then asked again, ¡°How much to learn them?¡± He sighed, ¡°1 gold each.¡± I nodded and pulled out my last two gold and handed them over. Alchemist wants to teach you Apprentice Herbalism. Do you accept? Yes / No I quickly hit the yes button. It was always good to have the gathering skills. Even if you never made anything with them the resources could always be sold at auction for a good price. Alchemist wants to teach you Apprentice Alchemy. Do you accept? Yes / No Now I paused Alchemy wasn¡¯t my favorite skill to learn. It was useful though. You never had to worry about buying potions and antidotes. They also sold for decent prices on the auction, but it wasn¡¯t well ¡­fun. With a mental shrug I clicked yes. I could always unlearn it if I desired. With a sigh I felt my coin purse only 23 silver and a handful of copper left to my name. The poor house looked like it may have one more in it tonight. Shaking my head I went back down stairs. ¡°Since I am here I might as well look around,¡± I thought out loud. The shopkeep just glared at me. The shop had some nice things. The spell books were mostly all between levels 5 and 25, but two were Level 3. Heat wave (Rank 1) and Trip (Rank 1). Heat Wave was a Low Level AOE, which made it great for crowds. Trip was the first crowd control spell Magicians had access to. Both books were a gold each. I also found the same spells in scroll form for 50 silver each, still outside my price range. With a sigh, I turned to go. ¡°You should look at the Aether Crystals.¡± The shopkeep was pointing at a small bin. Moving over to it I looked inside. The bin was full of crystal like objects of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. Some were perfectly round, others looked like raw quartz. They came in more colors than I could name. They ranged in sizes from a basketball to as small as my thumb nail. I examined a basketball bright red one. Aether of Meteor (Blue) Quality: Rare Durability: 1000 / 1000 Weight: 0.01lb Type: Aether Crafter: Unknown Properties: 0 / 1,000,000 Knowledge Restrictions: None Attach this Aether to your weapon to start earning knowledge. I had never heard of Aethers before. Were they a new Jewelcraft item? Or were they something else? Turning to the shopkeep I asked, ¡°What do these do?¡± He smiled they teach the wielder new spells and abilities, all the while learning themselves. The greater an Aethers Knowledge the more powerful the spells and abilities it imparts. I greedily looked up the price list and stopped cold. The cheapest was 97 Platinum or 970 Gold. Slowly turning to the shopkeep, ¡°Why did you tell me to look at these? The man grinned evilly, ¡°I love that look when someone sees something they truly desire, and the crushing realization that they can¡¯t have it!¡± I stormed out of the tower with the shopkeeps laughter echoing in my ears. Turning back to the north gate I again started to run. This time watching my stamina bar. When it got low, I would walk and let it refill. The streets were starting to become crowded with players who were just frozen there. Most didn¡¯t pay any mind to where they logged off and as such they logged out in the middle of the road, or in a doorway. I actually saw a group of guards picking up players and moving them out of the way. Approaching the gate I heard a chime. New skill! Running (Rank 1) You are becoming skilled at running. You will suffer 11% less STA loss from prolonged exercise. Hey that was cool! Breathing heavy I stopped near Lien and avoided her annoyed look. ¡°Ready?¡± She had her arms crossed over her chest and was tapping one foot impatiently, ¡°You sent the boy to tell me, and then you made me just wait here! I should of left the damn group and went on my own!¡±¡¯ I walked past her and out the gate. Then called back, now we are waiting on you. Lien said some very un-lady like things but caught up. Character Sheet for: Azriel Starblade. Name: Azriel Starblade Race: Human Class: Apprentice Magi Level: 1 Exp: 50 / 1,000 Strength (STR): 15 Muscle: 7 / Endurance: 7 Dexterity (DEX): 10 Agility: 5 / Instinct: 5 Constitution (CON): 10 Health: 5 / Resilience: 5 Intelligence (INT): 15 Logic: 7 / Mind: 7 Wisdom (WIS): 10 Perception: 5 / Conviction: 5 Charisma (CHA) 10 Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5 Luck (LUC): 2 Hit Points (HP): 180 / 180 Mana; 170 / 170 Stamina: 12.5 / 12.5 Character Points (CP): 5 / 7 Talent Points (TP): 0 / 0 Renown (REN): 250 / 1,000 Fame Level: 0 Unknown Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: None Achievements; Famous Family: Starblade. Deeds and Properties: None Spell Book Skills: Perception (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Running (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Abilities: Armor: You can proficiently wear Cloth, Leather and Chain armor types. Shield: You can proficiently use Light shield types. Weapons: You can proficiently use Dagger, Short Blade, Axe, Mace, and Crossbow weapon types. Professions: Alchemy (Apprentice): 1 / 75 ? Herbalism (Apprentice): 1 / 75 (G) Spells: Detect Magic (Rank 1) Fire Arrow (Rank 1) Light (Rank 1) Magic Missile (Rank 1) Read Magic (Rank 1) Social Friends: None. Enemies: None. Family: Ace Starblade. Clan: None. Guilds: None. Nation: None. Chapter 6.1: The Kobold hunt Begins! North American Broadcast Corporation (NABC) newsroom Oct 25, 2046:04:34 AM EST The reporter was getting excited. This story was the type that could make a career. If only she could keep her producer from making her hand it off. Sure her shift ended a half hour ago, but this was HER story. The station had stopped running other news now. This story took all the air time, and it was hers! ¡°Independent resources have confirmed that the authorities are now looking into the Esper: Online question. We would ask our viewers; if you have an active Esper Online account please log in and tell players there to log out. We are also looking for step by step instructions on how to log out of the ER world. Siarra Inc. still has not responded to our emails. As of 4:00 AM Eastern, customer service and Technical support have stopped answering calls, emails, and ER-Chat requests. Stay Tuned, as we keep you up to date on this trending crisis. Half an hour later we were standing on a lightly wooded hilltop. Below us lay a large Y shaped valley created by three large hills. The trees blocked our view, but the sound of Kobolds clearly echoed up from below. ¡°Which hill do you think the cave is in?¡± I asked. Lien closed her eyes and listened. Then shook her head, ¡°Not sure the trees throw off the sound, but I know it¡¯s not the one we are standing on.¡± I shrugged, it was better than I could do. Pulling my backpack tighter on my shoulders I started down the hill. Half way down the hill I nearly ran straight into a Kobold Woodcutter. As I stepped around a large oak tree the beast was there! The kobold looked like a humanoid lizard in appearance. Standing upright on its back two legs it leaned forward at an angle to compensate for its long tail swishing behind it. It stood maybe two feet tall but was nearly three foot long from snout to scaly tail. In one clawed hand it held a short rusty axe and it wore a simple cloth shirt and had a belt at its waist. Its cold yellow lizard eyes grew great big when it saw us, but it did not hesitate. With its rusty ax in hand it charged! Kobold Woodcutter (3) HP: 100% Mana: 100% Stamina: 98% The ax was coming at my waist in a blur. All of a sudden my hand leapt to my sword and drew it, then with a flick of my wrist my blade intercepted the axe with the flat of the blade and deflected the axe so it passed a mere inch from my stomach. How did I know how to do that? New Skill: Apprentice Parry (Skill Level: 1 / 75) The kobold and I stared at each other stunned. The poor beast¡¯s purple tongue flicked out nervously, as it studied me. For critical seconds the kobold and I stared at each other dumbly. Lien on the other hand didn¡¯t suffer from suicidal tendencies. She waved her hand and muttered some unintelligible words, casting a curse upon the beast. As a black mist surrounded the kobold¡¯s head we both snapped out of our stunned staring contest. With a loud hiss it swung the ax again. Instead of blocking I stepped in closer and stabbed the tip of my blade at its midsection. I could feel the tip pierce soft flesh and hit something hard underneath. Stunned at how realistic that feeling was I froze in horror. Lien once again saved me, she took a step behind the kobold and struck the beast in the back of the head splashing red blood everywhere. As the kobold¡¯s red tinged lizard eyes rolled up, the body jerked, then fell limp to the ground.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Lien stood there looking concerned. ¡°Did you go AFK, or something?¡± I shook my head clearing the confusion. ¡°No, sorry. It¡¯s just how real this all feels now. I really felt like I had just stabbed someone.¡± She smiled, ¡°You stab people all the time?¡± ¡°What?!?¡± Lien just grinned wider, ¡°Dumb Americans say things. They do not think first.¡± She pointed at the corpse, ¡°Are you going to loot it?¡± Not sure what she was going on about I knelt and searched the body. Lucky Loot! Torn Scrap of Paper (Grey) Quality: Trash Durability: 1 / 1 Weight: 0.01lb Type: Misc. Crafter: Unknown Properties: None Restrictions: Non-Tradeable An old unreadable scrap of paper. Writing can be seen on it. Rusty Axe (grey) Quality: poor Durability: 10 / 10 Weight: 6lb Type: Axe Crafter: Unknown Properties: 11-15 Slash Damage Restrictions: None An old looking axe. Wand of Magic Missile (Green) Quality: High Durability: 25/ 25 Weight: 0.25lb Type: Wand Crafter: Unknown Properties: 23 Charges Restrictions: Arcane This worn looking wand, shoots forth a ball of invisible magic energy at the wielder¡¯s target. Aether of Force (Blue) Quality: Rare Durability: 1000 / 1000 Weight: 0.01lb Type: Aether Crafter: Unknown Properties: None Restrictions: Magi 27 Copper Half the coins clinked into my pouch. With a happy grin I looked up at Lien. ¡°What?¡± She demanded. ¡°Can you use any of these?¡± I linked the gear so she could see what the kobold had dropped. She whistled oh nice, but no. That ax and paper is trash. The wand is Arcane and I¡¯m divine. Then the Aether is Magi only. Though I¡¯m sure they will sell for some nice coin on auction.¡± I nodded in agreement, ¡°Can I have the Aether then? We can roll for the wand.¡± Pretending to think for a moment she finally smiled and nodded as if to say well duh. In greedy anticipation I grabbed the Aether and thought roll for the Wand. Group Loot set to: Need before Greed Looking at Lien in surprise I asked, ¡°Did you do that?¡± Absently she shook her head and kept reading the roll results. Lien Rolled 87 for Wand of Magic Missile. Azriel rolled 2 for Wand of Magic Missile. I winced at my roll, but couldn¡¯t feel too bad. Not when the Aether sat in my bag and the change of group loot rules mocked me from my combat log. ¡°I didn¡¯t change it either. There is only two of us in the group.¡± Lien looked confused, ¡°I¡¯m not group leader. I can¡¯t change the loot rules. Your leader you must have done it.¡± She shrugged, ¡°What it matter, we agreed to it anyway.¡± I couldn¡¯t argue that point. I was just feeling a bit unnerved. The games new ability to react to our conversations. My ability to wield a sword like a trained pro, or cast spells from rote memory. Then the game¡¯s realistic world. The feelings, smells, sounds, and even tastes. It combined to be more than I was bargaining for. For a moment I considered logging out, just to remind myself this wasn¡¯t real. I almost did too, but Lien had already turned down the hill and started casting at another kobold. Chapter 6.2: The hunt continues Over the next 15 minutes, Lien and I got into a good rhythm. We set up ¡°camp¡± halfway up the hill. Taking turns one of us would rest and recover mana, while the other went out to pull the monster back to the group. Using this method we could defeat kobolds nonstop. Finally, a kobold fell to the ground and Lien was covered in lights. ¡°Ding!¡± She yelled. I glowered at her, ¡°We have been together since I logged in. How do you have more EXP than I do?¡± Lien shrugged, ¡°While you went to get your quests I did a couple go get me quests. What did you expect me to do, wait there doing nothing?¡± My shoulders sagged, that is exactly what I did waiting for her. ¡°Well I still need two more kills before I level.¡± She shrugged and ran off to pull. Congratulations! You have reached level 2! Rewards:
  1. HP +80
  2. Mana +100
  3. Stamina + 10
  4. Strength +1
  5. Intelligence +1
  6. CP+1
  7. New Spell¨C Flame Wave (Rank 1)
  8. New Spell: Sleep (Rank 1)
I decided to save the CP again. I figured that unless the Dev¡¯s had changed it, most players were still getting 1 stat point in a primary stat and 1 CP per level. That made it where I was staying equal and building up a bunch of CP to be used later. After looting the body, I looked at my Backpack. We had not gotten anything but Grey trash drops since that first kobold and my bag was full of trash now. Lien saw me shuffling through my backpack, ¡°I think it¡¯s time to trash things. I do not want to head back yet, but I have only two open slots left in my sack.¡± I nodded and started to pull rubbish out. Most of it I threw into a pile on the ground, it would disappear or despawn shortly. Then I pulled out the Aether. Thinking to myself, ¡°How did I forget about you?¡± It was a dark red cylinder about the length of my finger. I could see a slight glow on the inside and it was warm to the touch. Lien looked curiously at the crystal then asked, ¡°Are you going to quip it? I shrugged, ¡°I¡¯m not sure how. I don¡¯t even know what it does, or if I put it on something if I can get it back. If it¡¯s like an Enchanted Jewel then I need a weapon or armor with a slot for it. If it¡¯s like an enchantment, then I can place it on anything, but I can¡¯t get it removed.¡± Lien nodded understanding. Our gear was low level stuff, the rate that we would be replacing it would make any kind of improvement costly and redundant. With a sigh I place the crystal back in my bag and continued to clear out the garbage. As we stepped into the valley floor to test our new levels on Kobold workers and Miners, we left a small treasure trove of trash in the forest. The kobolds on the valley floor were more densely packed than on the valley walls. Luckily, as veteran players Lien and I were quickly able to create a new plan. For nearly an hour we killed them swiftly with only two exceptions. The first came minutes after we moved from the tree line. Lien and I were working on killing a level 4 kobold miner, who was proving to be a challenge. So far Ace had stayed behind us and away from the fighting. He currently stood back in the edge of the trees. A scream alerted me to the issue. With a quick glance that got me struck with a kobold pick, I saw a Kobold Woodcutter laying into the boy like fell wood. Already Ace¡¯s life bar was less than half. Cursing I spun, targeted the Wood Cutter and began to cast sleep. While turning exposed my back to the Miner who had no issue fitting his pick in the small of my back. The hit staggered me and I lost the spell. Kobold Miner hit you for 43 damage! Spell lost! New Skill: Concentration 1 / 75 It is always easiest to cast spells standing still and with full focus. This is for those times when things just seem to be beating the crap out of you and won¡¯t let you return the favor. Groaning both in pain and because Ace¡¯s life was now red, I tried again. Kobold Miner hit you for 41 damage! Concentration Passed! Skill Improved: Concentration 2 / 75 Kobold Woodcutter Failed its Will Power save. Spell Succeeds. The woodcutter slumped to the ground snoring loudly. I felt a very nice warm sensation go over me as Lien cast heal on me. Spinning back to the Miner before I took another hit in the back I parried a swing and resumed the attack. Moments later we had killed both miner and the slumbering woodcutter. Ace barely had 8 HP left and was looking rather rough. This wasn¡¯t the first time the boy had attracted agro. It was just the first time we hadn¡¯t been able to get to him quickly. Looking at Ace in concern I said, ¡°I¡¯m not sure you following us in there would be a good idea.¡± The boy got a stubborn look on his face, but I continued. ¡°It would be better if I could focus on the enemies and not have to worry about watching out for you. I would hate to see you get hurt.¡± Ace thumped the staff on the ground, ¡°I can fight too!¡± I raised my hands in a placating manner. ¡°I know you can. But I think having eyes watching my back on the outside would be a huge help.¡± He stopped to study my face, looking for deceptions. I moved forward with my thoughts, ¡°What if you were to climb that tree.¡± I pointed to a huge oak near the edge of the tree line. ¡°You could watch the entire clearing and let me know if anything sneaks up on us.¡± Ace thought about it, then nodded. ¡°You need someone watching your back.¡± I smiled my agreement and watched as the boy started to climb. The second time we came into trouble, was a bad pull on my part. I had cast Magic Missile on a Kobold Worker and didn¡¯t see the miner walking toward us from the other side. With-in seconds Lien had a Miner to deal with and I had the Worker. Thankfully the worker was only level 3. Even so by the time I killed him I was at less than half HP and lien was in a bad situation. She was forced to stop attacking and continually cast heal on herself. Most of the time she would lose her concentration and thus the spell. The few times she did get the spell off was just enough to keep her alive. ¡±Hey Magi boy. A little help over here,¡± she screamed after one particularly bad hit. I finished the worker, looted his body before it hit the ground (Got to love quick loot options). And turned to help. Thinking fast I cast sleep on the miner trying to buy a few moments, but the bastard resisted. Lien got hit again, blood flying as the miner yanked his pick out of her stomach. Lien slumped to the ground and the Miner raised his pick once more to finish her off. Before it fell I finished my second attempt at sleep and was relieved to see it work. The pick slipped from loose hands as the Miner slumped to the ground next to Lien. I looked at Ace in the tree. He was supposed to be warning us of this kind of thing. He was fast asleep, straddling a huge limb twenty feet off the ground. Some help he was. I took the entire duration of the sleep spell to move behind the Miner. Lien got to her feet swaying and cast a heal on herself. When the Miner started to move, we both tore into him, sword and mace flashing crimson. It still wasn¡¯t enough though, Lien gasped and vanished replace by a flat tombstone that fell to the ground. The miner grinning turned to me, ¡°Now your turn.¡± After I killed him, it finally struck me. I understood the kobold! Lien had respawned at the closest graveyard and would be forced to run back to her headstone for her gear. That meant she would be naked trying to get through the kobold infested, forested hills. Sadly I don¡¯t know where the closest graveyard is, so I can¡¯t guard her return. So I have to wait. But While I do I can checked my character¡¯s Languages. All players started with two known tongues and bonus languages based on INT at the end of the character generation quest chain. All races except Hume started with Common and their native language. Humes got a random language. I had receive Kobold. Why anyone would want to talk to these creatures was beyond me, but I guess the Dev¡¯s thought I should be good at talking to lizards because my two bonus languages from INT were Lizardfolk and Draconic. Now the Draconic was awesome, no doubt about that but the other two were useless. A few minutes later, Lien proved to be a smart cookie once again. She shouted in General Chat to let me know where she was coming from. Lien: north West Azriel: On it. Cuttlebuns: Northwest of what? Cuttlebuns: What are you talking about? Lien: your mom. Cuttlebuns: ¡­ rude much? Now this was normally dangerous. Telling everyone in the province where a naked mostly defenseless player was. But she did not give any reference to her meaning or her destination. True there were always scum who hunted freshly spawned players at graveyards, but there was no rewards in it. All the players gear and gold was at the original tombstone. By the time I worked my way around to the North-west hill, Lien was already there looking impatient. I took a moment to appreciate the view. True I liked girls with a bit more meat on them than a High Elf, who tended to be skinny and flat in both chest and butt. But heck, when you have a young looking, blonde wearing what amounted to skimpy bra and panties you took a moment to look. She growled, I pulled my eyes back to her face. ¡°Are you done? Can we go get my things now, or would you like me to take the rest of it off?¡± Feeling a little cheeky I responded, ¡°Well if your offer¡­ OUCH¡± Lien slapped me across the face, ¡°That is for being a pig!¡± SLAP! ¡°That is for letting me die in the first place!¡± I caught her hand as it flew back at my face a third time. She glared then pulled her hand out of my grip, then stomped off. ¡°Well shit,¡± Lien growled after picking up her gear. ¡°That was the end of my Mace. I forgot to repair when we were at town and the durability loss of death broke it.¡± I grimaced, ¡°Do you have another weapon?¡± She nodded and pulled a bent hammer out of her bag. ¡°It¡¯s not good, but I got it a few kills ago.¡± In all the event cost us 15 minutes, a mace, 300 EXP, and some durability damage. On the flip side the move to the north end of the valley was a boon. It was a more direct route to the mine entrance and there was fewer people around. In no time we cleared the local area enough to progress half way to the mine. Our new method of fighting involved staying close together and doing a couple pulls moving forward with each one. Then we would rest building up HP, Mana, and Stamina. Our rest periods were our risky point. We were sitting in the open hoping nothing would spawn or walk into agro range. In fact we seldom got to rest to full before one or the other happened. We were standing up from one of those few rare full rests, when Ace yelled across the valley. ¡°Look out!¡± The little jerk had woken up long enough to actually warn us of something coming. Yet he didn¡¯t do it soon enough. The leather clad thief ran past me less than a second after Ace yelled. ¡°Train!¡± the Thief screamed rushing past. Hot on his tail was three kobolds. Two miners and one worker. On instinct I started casting. The first two Kobolds had passed by me and the third a miner was directly in front of me when I completed the spell. A blast of Red, blue flame burst from me in every direction. The flame overtook all three kobolds, the thief, lien and to my dismay a fourth kobold. With Lien in my party the flame passed over her having no effect. The others had bold red damage numbers flash above them. Since the thief and the 4th kobold were further away my flame wave didn¡¯t do much, but the kobold directly in front of me lost nearly half his life! I had performed a critical casting! All 4 kobolds turned directly to me, with murder in their red rimmed lizard eyes. Before I had even started taking damage Lien was casting heal on me in preparation for the flood of pain to come.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Weaving to the side as I stabbed with my sword. I tried to keep the most wounded miner between myself and the other two. The fourth was coming from a different angle, so I couldn¡¯t avoid him. I didn¡¯t try to block, parry, or dodge this time. I knew I had to drop this first kobold as quickly as I could so I put everything into that. The Kobold and I traded two solid hits. The first dropped the Miner¡¯s life to a quarter thanks to burning damage left over from the Flame Wave. It¡¯s hit on me didn¡¯t move my life bar at all. Lien finished the heal moments after the pick left my arm instantly restoring my HP. I lost 27 HP to the 2nd swing, but my attack and the last of the burn damage killed the Miner. As the miner fell to the ground. I was struck in the back. And the worker and other miner closed in. My life bar started dropping rapidly, with three kobolds working on me. Lien was chain healing and I was attacking as fast as I could, but I could tell there was no point. They were just too much. As my life went red, was healed to orange and went to red again, I scored a critical on the worker killing him. I was swallowed with lights for a moment. I swiped the annoying level up pop up out of the way! With the level I got a full HP, Mana, and Stamina refill. Getting hit in the back again I turned to the second miner. My life bar was still going down but with Lien¡¯s loving attentions and only two kobolds left it was moving down slower. I finally killed the second miner and turned to the back stabbing kobold. I groaned, it was a level 5 Kobold warrior. It¡¯s distance from the original blast had done very little damage. Leaving it still at over 85% HP to my 50%. Making things worse Lien cast her last heal and yelled, ¡°Out of Mana!¡± She stepped forward engaging the kobold in melee with her weak hammer. To my mixed relief and dismay Lien¡¯s first hit brought her combined damage and healing threat higher than my threat, the kobold turned to attack her. Taking advantage of not being attacked I cast sleep. The beast resisted and laid into Lien every couple seconds. Giving up I continued the physical assault. When the kobold¡¯s life was at 50% Lien¡¯s hit orange. At 40% Lien went into red. With a last swing and a curse, Lien died. With a cry, I sunk my blade into the kobolds side as it turned toward me. Bright red numbers flew and my combat log confirmed a critical hit! Not paying attention to life bars anymore I redoubled my assault Stab, parry, hit, pain. Repeat. Blood and torn flesh flew as we both tried to kill the other one. Then the kobold scored a critical on me! My life bar fell dramatically and a debuff blinked. Bleeding: 2 HP lost every Second ¨C 15 seconds left. With a final jab the Kobold collapsed to the ground. My life bar blinked critically. To my horror I watched as the bleed ticked the last of my life away. The world went black. You have died! 10% Durability lost on all equipped items and all items in your bags. 10% EXP Lost! ¨C 600 EXP Your killer may loot your tombstone! You are currently under level 10 and will not delevel from death. EXP set to lowest point for this level. Loot Lost: You died at the hands¡¯ of a Kobold Warrior, no items, or coins were lost! I was suddenly laying in a fresh shallow grave. Sitting up I saw tombstones and memorial plots around me. ¡°Shit!¡± Lien¡¯s voice called out from somewhere, ¡°Azriel is that you?¡± ¡°Yeah it¡¯s me,¡¯ I responded while I stood up. Taking a few moments to brush loose dirt off my naked flesh I looked for Lien. She stood 50 feet away at the gate of the graveyard. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was visibly shivering. ¡°Come on hero, let¡¯s go get our gear. It¡¯s too cold to play dead.¡± Grunting my agreement I climbed out of the grave and trotted over to the gate. As I approached it was my turn to be sized up. Lien¡¯s hard stare took in my mostly naked form. Glancing down self-consciously I almost died. The games current lack of character customization evidently included my physique. The normal muscular and toned body of a game character was absent. Instead I looked like I had that morning in the mirror. Well almost, I did appear to have slightly more muscles, but that could have been a trick of shadow, or wishful thinking. I felt my face turn bright red as I met Lien¡¯s eyes. She smiled and I could have sworn I heard her say, ¡°Not bad¡± as she turned away. Following her out I couldn¡¯t help but glance at her butt. I wonder¡­ Lien set a fast pace running most of the way back to the forested hills. She never pushed it where our Stamina ran out but she was close. As she approached the hills she slowed. ¡°Now for the interesting part. How are we going to get to our graves without being killed again?¡± Lien asked glaring at me. ¡°What did I do?¡± I protested. ¡°You wanted to play the hero! Then you got me killed, and died yourself! I¡¯ve lost 400 EXP this level!!¡± I flinched at her angry response. Instead of responding I looked at the tree line like it would have answers. To my surprise it did! Ace came running out of the trees dragging my backpack and Lien¡¯s sack. The boy was breathing heavily and straining with the weights, but here he was! Lien saw him and glared at me, ¡°How does he have our things? No one should be able to loot our tombstones.¡± I shrugged. I didn¡¯t care as long as¡­ He had inside my backpack was all my gear. Sword, armor, coin pouch, aether. It was all here. ¡°Good job Ace! How did you do this?¡± I asked the tired youth. He stood up straight, ¡°You told me to look out for you. I couldn¡¯t stop them from killing you, but I was able to get to your headstones before they reappeared. I simply grabbed everything and put them in your bags and ran.¡± Putting on my armor I looked in my backpack again, ¡°I had more stuff than this.¡± Ace fidgeted, ¡°Well¡­ you had more things than I could fit in your backpack I kind of had to leave some of the things there. I hope I did okay. I heard you two talking about the poor quality things not being worth much so that is what I left.¡± I looked at Lien in surprise. She shrugged, ¡°The boy did well enough on my things. At this rate I¡¯ll never get rich off of loot, but everything important is here.¡± I smiled, ¡°Good Job Ace!¡± The boy smiled. Our progress back to the valley was quick, more players were around now and they were thinning out the kobolds for us. Getting to the valley floor we saw no fewer than 3 small groups farming the kobolds outside the mine. Even with this increase in players the kobolds were still spawning faster than most could kill them. With a sigh I targeted a miner and began to cast magic missile. ¡°Hey!¡± I jumped at the strange voice and lost concentration on my spell. I twisted my left hand up instead of down and the spell just fizzled. Glaring I turned around. Lien had her hammer out glaring daggers at the thief who we rescued. His status bar read Luxus Pilfer Hit Points: 300 / 300 Mana: 0 / 0 Stamina: 65.5 / 65.5 Luxus raised his hands showing he held no weapons. ¡°Hey I¡¯m here in peace, but man I got to ask. What are you?¡± He asked the question at me. I didn¡¯t respond so he continued, ¡°I mean I¡¯ve never seen a starting class that could use a sword, wear chain, use arcane magic, and had pets.¡± Confused for a moment I realized what he meant, ¡°Ace isn¡¯t a pet. He is an orphan. Well I guess my adopted son really.¡± Luxus gasped, ¡°Dude! You mean that little bastard n the cage! I dropped mine off at the orphanage. At the time I thought good riddance, but I didn¡¯t know they could do things like get your gear for you. Did you?¡± Luxus was looking at Lien expectantly. Lien sniffed, ¡°I didn¡¯t know either. If I had known half the things this child was capable of I¡¯d of kept mine.¡± Ace was following the conversation and was looking none too pleased with the outcome. He opened his mouth to say something, but I caught his eye and shook my head, then winked and pointed at another tree. He smiled and started to climb. I turned back to the kobolds and began to cast again. ¡°Hey! You never answered me! What are you?¡± I sighed and kept casting. Lien sensing the thief was determined answered, ¡°He is a Magi. Don¡¯t ask me how he got the class. He could be blowing Dev¡¯s on the side for all I know. But How ever he got it he is a bad ass.¡± My chest swelled as the magic bolt flew from my fingers and struck the kobold. The spell knocked out half its HP! Drawing my sword I prepared for the kobolds charge. Having a second I glanced at my combat log, to see another critical hit! I would have looked closer but the kobold approached into melee range. Lien¡¯s Bless Buff enveloped me as I swung. After only two hits the kobold was down. Looking at the body I saw two arrows protruding from it. Turning to the thief I cocked my head questioningly. ¡°Care if I join you guys. You kind of saved my bacon and I kind of owe you. Plus I know you guys can fight unlike most of these noobs.¡± He pointed to a group of 4 who were proceeding to get slaughtered. Somehow they had 4 miners and 2 workers killing them. Shaking my head I glanced at Lien, ¡°What do you think?¡± She glared at the thief, ¡°We need the help to get in there, but I¡¯m not sure this guy isn¡¯t a noob himself. He did draw that train.¡± Luxus smiled, ¡°That wasn¡¯t my fault. I had snuck into the mine and two thieves passed me with those guys on their tails. When they killed the idiots they came after me. I at least had enough sense to know it was going to happen and start to head out.¡± I shrugged, ¡°Well its either we get more help and receive less exp and loot, or it¡¯s more time spent to level and get in the cave by ourselves. Lien you have already said we needed to hurry, so let¡¯s go with the help option.¡± I sent him an invite. Luxus has joined your group. Character Sheet for: Azriel Starblade. Name: Azriel Starblade Race: Human Class: Apprentice Magi Level: 3 Exp: 3,037 / 6,000 Strength (STR): 16 Muscle: 8 / Endurance: 8 Dexterity (DEX): 10 Agility: 5 / Instinct: 5 Constitution (CON): 10 Health: 5 / Resilience: 5 Intelligence (INT): 16 Logic: 8 / Mind: 8 Wisdom (WIS): 10 Perception: 5 / Conviction: 5 Charisma (CHA) 10 Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5 Luck (LUC): 2 Hit Points (HP): 340 / 340 Mana; 380 / 380 Stamina: 32.5 / 32.5 Character Points (CP): 6 / 8 Talent Points (TP): 0 / 0 Renown (REN): 250 / 1,000 Fame Level: 0 Unknown Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: None Achievements; Famous Family: Starblade. Deeds and Properties: None Spell Book Skills: Perception (Apprentice): 3 / 75 Running (Apprentice): 2 / 75 Abilities: Armor: You can proficiently wear Cloth, Leather and Chain armor types. Shield: You can proficiently use Light shield types. Weapons: You can proficiently use Dagger, Short Blade, Axe, Mace, and Crossbow weapon types. Professions: Alchemy (Apprentice): 1 / 75 ? Herbalism (Apprentice): 11 / 75 (G) Spells: Detect Magic (Rank 1) Fire Arrow (Rank 1) Light (Rank 1) Magic Missile (Rank 1) Read Magic (Rank 1) Flame Wave (Rank 1) Sleep (Rank 1) Social Friends: Lien Xi. Enemies: None. Family: Ace Starblade. Clan: None. Guilds: None. Nation: None. Hiatus Coming to an End. So, the year long Hiatus is coming to an end. Separation with my wife, moving halfway across North America, writers block, working on another story. Its all reaching an end point. I''m ready to continue to release my story here Esper Online will continue!Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. look forward to the next release later today. I ask the community for two things here. First, this is a rough draft. SO PLEASE point out any grammar or logical flaws in the story. 2nd let me know what you like and don''t like. Your thoughts will help me write a better book and that¡¯s something we will all want to happen! Chapter 7.1 - Into the Mine! Chapter 5 North American Broadcast Corporation (NABC) newsroom Oct 25, 2046:06:07 AM EST The reporter slammed her fist on the table. ¡°You can¡¯t make me sign off! This is my story, and I¡¯ll cover it until the story breaks. Please Pat let me stay on!¡± Pat, ¡°It¡¯s not my choice. The board wants a more widely known face to cover this from here.¡± The On ¨C Air light went green cutting the producer off. The reporter smiled broadly; she had delayed long enough for her to stay on at least one more segment. ¡°The markets have just opened and already Siarra Inc. stocks are Surging. In the first twenty seconds of trading the companies, value has nearly doubled. Market analysts are stunned and can only say gamers are mad. All predictions show that with the gamer log out issue being entirely software related and thus Siarra Ink¡¯s fault the stocks would suffer a decline. Instead, gamers the worldwide are taking the news as a sign of the game¡¯s success. Indeed, in the last hour digital sales have seen a 45% rise!¡± The reporter turned to a different camera, ¡°In related news authorities are becoming concerned. Teams, who were sent in game to tell players to log out until the issue could be fixed, have themselves not logged back out. Our contacts say they believe those teams may be staying in game to assist players. Siarra has continued a complete media blackout on this.¡± With Luxus¡¯s help, we made it to the entrance of the mine quickly. Our team was well balanced. I would pull with a spell, and then meet the target head on. Lien would buff, curse, and then step into melee applying heals as needed. Luxus would stay back and fire arrows to devastating effect. He almost equaled the DPS (Damage per Second) of Lien and I combined. As we entered the mine I looked around, ¡°There is no muster point here.¡± Lien frowned, ¡°The admins must not intent this to be a dungeon.¡± ¡°Well unless they changed that too,¡± Luxus added. A muster point is a safe zone where players could gather avoiding mobs. Regardless there were 9 other players just inside the mine entrance. 3 were doing all they could to keep the rapidly respawning kobolds from overwhelming them. The other 6 all stood whispering in a circle as a group. Paying the two groups no mind I went for the first kobold I saw. It was a kobold pit boss and the bastard was tough! Twice Luxus pulled threat off me and I had to cast Magic Missile to pull it back, before the thief¡¯s HP got too low. When we finally killed the sucker, Lien was at less than half mana and I was about the same on HP. As we caught our breaths, I became concerned, my HP and other stats were not regenerating as fast as they should of. Looking around for a cause, I noted two debuffs that I had not noticed. At some point in the last few minutes, they had snuck up on me and were now blinking away in the top right of my view. A droplet of water sat alongside an image of a hamburger both highlighted in a red box. Hungry You have not eaten in hours. You must eat to keep your strength up. Until you eat, your HP and Stamina will regen 50% slower Thirsty You are thirsty! Until you drink, your Mana and stamina will regen 50% slower. Reading the descriptions, I realized my mouth was really dry and my stomach was grumbling. Before I had not thought much of it, but now it was all I could think about. Pulling out my water skin, I took a big gulp. When the refreshing liquid ran down my throat, my stomach seized letting me know it wanted more. With a sigh, I pulled out a ration and found a place to eat. Lien looked at me expectantly, and then shrugged. She also pulled out her waterskin and a ration. She sat up against the wall next to me and began to eat. Luxus looked around at the relative safety the other players were creating and then did the same. While I stuffed my mouth, I thought about the debuffs. By themselves they would certainly hurt, but together they would restrict all stamina regen. Considering you used 1 point of Stamina for every attack, parry, dodge, and more than one for most spells you would quickly be out of stamina in a fight or two. Then you would be a wheezing sitting duck. With breakfast over, lien renewed Bless on the three of us and we returned to the adventure. As we moved deeper into the cave the meager light from outside dimmed and then vanished. Ahead of us, we could see torches burning and the sounds of combat echoed down the tunnel. Moving slowly, I tried to watch my footing over the dark uneven floor. Lien cursed, ¡°Damn it! Okay I¡¯m lighting a torch this is not working. I¡¯ve stubbed my toe twice already.¡± ¡°Hold up,¡± I replied. ¡°Let¡¯s get closer to these guys and then I¡¯ll cast Light. I can renew it when we need and not use expendables.¡± I¡¯m not sure if Lien agreed or gave me the finger. She didn¡¯t say anything, and I couldn¡¯t see her, so I moved forward. Nearing the light, I saw the party of six were engaged in a struggle with three kobolds. I¡¯m not sure if they had a bad pull or if the kobolds were just that dense, but they seemed to be having a hard time of it. Either way things did not look to be going well for them. As I watched, their Magician caught agro and was down before anyone else could do more than shout warnings. Nearing the edge of the light I heard a whisper from the shadow, ¡°Psst, hey you may want to hide. These fools are about¡­ Oh there it is.¡± The voice trailed off as a patrol of kobolds three in total came into the light charging the beleaguered group. I moved forward to help when a hand caught me, Lien¡¯s voice whispered harshly, ¡°Not this time. If I die again, my gear is shot and I¡¯m going to make you take me back to town to replace it. No heroes. Let them be to their fate.¡± I looked at the group then sighed, moving into the shadows at the edge of the pathway I found what felt like a crevice and pushed myself into it. A few seconds later, I heard ¡°Run we can¡¯t handle them! Move back toward the entrance.¡± Running footsteps echoed louder and the tunnel got bright as two people appeared in the narrow slit the crevice allowed me to see, then they were gone past me. A third came into view then dropped his Tombstone, torch skidding to a halt on the ground. A pack of kobolds shot passed close on the heels of the two fleeing forms. As feet echoed, the dropped torch sputtered and went out. Pushing out of my hiding place, I felt around and picked up a stone to cast light on it. Slowly the spell took hold and began to illuminate the area. As the light grew, I saw Luxus staring at me, following his gaze I looked to my hand and bit my lip to stop from shouting in surprise. In my hand was a kobold skull. I had evidently pulled it from a skeleton. The grotesque thing now glowed with a pale blue hue; looking rather possessed. ¡°Cool! That is bad ass!¡± Luxus was looking at the skull smiling widely. With a shrug I tossed the skull to Lien, ¡°Here I¡¯m in melee too much to hold it. Luxus is using both hands on his bow. So, your torch bearer.¡± Lien glared at me and looked like she was going to argue. Instead of waiting, I looked into the crevice I had found. On the ground in the back of the shallow niche were a bunch of mushrooms. Their blue skins were blotted with purple pus like nodules. Examining them Deathcap Herbalism 15 required. I smiled. I hadn¡¯t found many plants on the way over, but I had found enough to level my herbalism up to 16. If I recalled correctly, one of the potions I learned needed these mushrooms. Bending over I began to harvest them. Moments later I heard a loud clang, then another. Jerking my head up I saw Lien on the other side of the tunnel. She had a pick in hand and was banging on a Copper vein. Each hit had chunks of copper ore or a jewel falling to the ground among a scattering of rocks. ¡°A miner?¡± I called. Lien didn¡¯t pause, ¡°You were not the only one to pick up a craft. I thought I¡¯d try out Jewelcraft and I need mining to harvest the gems.¡± A few moments later I finished in time for Luxus to say, ¡°The Kobold Patrol is coming back.¡± I pushed my way back into the niche, Lien stuffed the skull in her bag effectively hiding the light and we waited. I heard the footsteps approach, then one of them spoke, ¡°I smell Humans. There is more here.¡± Without hesitation I yelled they found us! And stepped out. I drew my sword and stabbed in the direction of the voice. My blade bit into flesh. New Skill¡± Blind Fighting (Skill Level 1) I heard a swoosh of air and moved to dodge, but I moved the wrong way. Stepping into the weapon just made the surprising impact seem more painful. I heard grunts as someone else was fighting one of the beasts too. I stabbed again and missed. It had moved. The kobolds had no issue seeing me though, I again got hit. Finally, Lien joined the battle she pulled out the skull illuminating the conflict. The strange magical light pushed back the darkness, if not brightly enough so that I could see 5 kobolds. 2 soldiers, an Overseer and two miners. Stepping out of hiding against the other wall was three other players. A Warrior, an Acolyte, and a Magician in dull grey robes. One of them must have warned us with the whisper. I was half facing a Soldier with the 2nd moving to flank me. Luxus was engaged with the Overseer, and the other parties Warrior was trying to keep the two miner¡¯s attention.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Parrying an attack, I quickly assessed the situation. I shouted, ¡°Acolytes heal duty! Magician sleep the extra soldier and then the miners, then the overseer. If one pops sleep, then hit it again. Keep them out of the fight until we are ready for them! Warrior, Luxus pay attention if your target goes to sleep don¡¯t be a fool and wake him, by hitting him. Switch to my target and proceed to kill. Keep them off the casters at all costs!¡± The next couple minutes was tense. Even though the other three were not in our group they followed my orders. I watched as my life went from green to yellow, to orange, only to have two heals send shivers up my spine and restore me back to full. Luxus to my surprise made a decent dodge tank. He was able to dodge most of the Overseers attacks, only attacking back when the seer turned to go after a caster. The warrior was the only issue twice she hit a miner after the mage had put it to sleep, but even she redeemed herself when a miner respawned behind us. She ran over and hit it before it could agro anyone. Thus, pulling the threat to herself. When I pulled my blade from the last miner I was starting to wheeze, my heart was beating quickly, and my sword arm felt heavy. But everyone was alive, if almost out of mana. I began to sit to catch my breath when another miner deeper into the tunnel respawn right behind the exhausted looking Magician. Without thinking I began to cast Magic Missile. The Kobold turned from the tunnel wall in which it had spawned facing, at the easy target and sneered. It drew its pick back and received my spell directly in its chest. Blood and dirt flew from the impact site. The kobold let out a wail and raced toward me with murderous intent. Fortunately, its charge brought it through the combined groups. We all converged on it in a blaze of weapons. I almost felt sorry for it when it collapse to the ground. Almost, if I wasn¡¯t so tired. Half sitting, half falling I hit the ground hard. I swear I felt sweat running down my back beneath my armor. The others seemed just as tired. No one spoke for a full minute then the Acolyte gasped out, ¡°What¡­ the¡­ heck?¡± A second later I got one, then two group join requests. Jazmine Oxford Level 4 Warrior wants to join your group. Accept: Yes / No Alexander Stiner Level 4 Magician wants to join your group! Accept: Yes / No Jasmin said, ¡°What? He knows what he is doing. I would never have thought we would need a Raid leader for a bunch of low-level mobs. But they upped the difficulty and gimped the EXP with this expansion.¡± Alexander piped in, ¡°We need more people anyway. They respawn to fast to do this with just three people¡± I hit accept to the requests and two messages flared on my log. New Skill: Apprentice Leadership (Skill Level 1 / 75) New Skill: Apprentice Tactician (Skill Level: 1 / 75) ¡°Huh?¡± I have never heard of these skills before, I glanced at the groups stats and saw they still needed to rest so I took a moment to focus on the names bringing up a prompt. Leadership: Apprentice Skill Level: 1 / 75 Effect: Grants 2% bonus to Combat, Crafting, Gathering, Interaction, and Rewards. This bonus applies to any organization you are the leader of. Restriction: This bonus will only be applied once by the greatest leadership you are subject to. Tactician: Apprentice Skill Level: 1 / 75 Effect: Grants 5% bonus to Combat, Movement, and Drop Rates of a Group or Raid you are part of when following a tactical plan. Oh nice! Looking at my status I saw the new Leadership Buff. Only a 2% increase, but it was to everything. S I stood and moved forward Lien glared at me. ¡°What, did I do now?¡± I asked her. ¡°Is this leadership thing something from your uber class?¡± I shrugged, ¡°it came up as a Skill, but I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s General or Class based.¡± She shook her head, ¡°We are going to have a talk later. I want to know how to make a Magi toon.¡± I smiled, accepted the group request of the grumpy looking Acolyte and recast Light on the kobold skull in Lien¡¯s hands. Better to use a little mana now than to run out mid-fight. I got a new Bless, and Mage¡¯s Genius buffs then set off. The larger group didn¡¯t work together as well, but we made up for it with over-whelming force. Half an hour later we finally came into a large natural looking cavern. I had gotten all the kills I needed for my Warrior quest already. Now I just needed to find the stolen goods. Far back in the cavern there was a small camp set up. Kobolds were gathered around it in force. I counted at least 10 all level 5 or 6. Against the back wall farthest from us were stacks of crates with Images of the Hub Tower painted on it. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be this person, but I¡¯ve finished my quest. I don¡¯t need to stay down here anymore.¡± Jazmine said. Lien glared at her, ¡°then leave. Good luck getting out alone.¡± Luxus snickered, ¡°I could sneak out, but I¡¯m still here.¡± Jazmine glared at them both, ¡°Well let¡¯s hurry at least.¡± I actually agreed with her. I couldn¡¯t find an in-game clock but I¡¯m sure it was late, and I was getting tired. I looked a Luxus, ¡°Can you scout the area? Make sure there isn¡¯t anything hidden between us?¡± The thief nodded and his shape blurred showing he went into stealth. A few minutes later he came back, ¡°we have two groups. One to the right consisting of an Overseer and 3 miners. Then we have a group to the left near some small tunnel. We can avoid the 2nd group without issue.¡± Jazmine cut him off, ¡°Good then let¡¯s get this other group and go for those crates.¡± The thief shrugged, ¡°We could avoid that group, but there is a Named creature in it.¡± We all paused a named creature would either drop special loot or give some special quests item. ¡°That settles it we clear the room, then get the hell out of here,¡¯ Lien said. Everyone turned to look at Jazmine, she looked like she might argue but then sighed and nodded. ¡°Awesome loots await!¡± Luxus proclaimed. The kobold group to the right was easy enough. To Jazmin¡¯s annoyance we took longer gathering mushrooms and Mining out ore veins than killing them. Alexander was a miner too; he was planning on working on his Blacksmithing, so they split the veins. No one else had got a profession yet, so they waited. Before we finished, the Kobold Miner group respawned and we were forced to kill it again. After the 3rd miner went down the cavern burst with light as Alexander glowed for a moment. ¡°Ding level 5!¡± grudgingly we congratulated him. I was still a few hundred EXP from 4. The size of the group was making it faster to kill these guys but the EXP was pretty lousy. I just hoped the Quest EXp would compensate. When we finally prepared to attack the kobold camp, I again set up plans. The kobolds were all arranged in a circle around the fire. They were mostly all sitting and two seemed to be sleeping. To my dismay most of them looked to be soldiers, and one an officer. If they hadn¡¯t changed it, that officer should be able to do a shout that would stun a player for a few seconds. That was trouble since they already outnumbered us and were higher levels than us too. Thinking it through, I asked, ¡°Luxus do you have Stun yet?¡± ¡°Sorry boss, I won¡¯t get it til 5.¡± I nodded. Okay then. Here is the plan. Alex sleep that officer, keep him slumbering as much as you can. I¡¯ll sleep another one, probably one laying down. If it really is asleep it will automatically fail its save. That should pull them to us. I want Luxus to sneak up as close to them as you can. Wait for them to pass you and then hit from the back. Jazmine you will be with me. We have dual duty of keeping the kobolds off the healers and taking them down. Try to stay on my target. Acolytes. One of you will be on heals, the other is going to help with DPS and support heals. Again, everyone other than Luxus and Alex target my foes. We need to take them down as fast as we can. Luxus after you finish off the first help us. Got it¡± yeah¡± ¡°Sure. ¡°Okay.¡¯ ¡°Let¡¯s do it!¡± I watched Luxus move forward stealthed, then got just close enough to hit the kobold with my sleep spell. I looked at Alex and he edged forward a bit more then nodded. ¡°Okay folks if shit goes south¡­ well just don¡¯t let it. GO!¡± I started casting. The instant I did the Tactician buff kicked in. I smiled. Both Kobolds failed their saves. That left only 8 level 5 kobold soldiers rushing at us. With a grim resolve I moved up to Alex and started to cast again. The Magician was already casting too. When the lead kobold was steps away, we finished. Two sets of flame Waves burst forth from us. Both Alex and I looked amazed at the other one. I assume he didn¡¯t know I could cast that spell, and I was amazed because there was no way we could pull threat from him now. Combined the two waves knocked the lead kobold to half its life and the others slightly further away were not much better. I felt pain as kobold blades cut deep into me. My plan was crumbling before my eyes. I had 4 kobolds attacking me. Alex had 4 more. Luxus Jazmin, and the other Acolyte were trying to pull a kobold each off Alex. But I could tell it wouldn¡¯t be fast enough. Lien was already falling behind on the heals. There was just no way she could heal both Alex and I. I saw the decision in her face as she stopped healing the two squishy Magician. Moments later Alex died. That left a free kobold that turned to the one who had done the most damage to it, me. With a groan, I turned my attack away from the ? dead kobold I was facing. ¡°Work together! Everyone focus on Luxus¡¯s target!¡± Everyone except Jazmine turned on the designated target. With 5 kobolds out for my blood I stopped trying to defend myself, instead focusing on killing a kobold. My life was dropping too quickly, Lien was still having to focus on too many people. The other Acolyte stopped attacking and started healing himself. With a kobold still attacking him though it wasn¡¯t going well. With a viscous slash Luxus finished off the soldier. My life was dropping as low as 20% now before I would get healed back to the 40% range. Shaking my head, I turned to assist the healer. This wasn¡¯t looking well, soon the Flame Waved kobolds would go after Lien. Luckily the burn effects had been doing their jobs too. With me hitting the kobold making it turn towards me, Luxus was able to sneak Attack it and its life went red. With no interference the other Acolyte finally finished his heal spell and recovered out of the red himself. ¡°Fucking heal me!¡± Jazmine shouted. Lien was too busy chanting to respond so I did, ¡°She can¡¯t you idiot. If she stops healing me, I go down, then she does. You didn¡¯t follow the plan you suffer!¡± ¡°Screw you! Jazmine snarled. Luxus and I finished the kobold and a split-second later Jazmine died. ¡°Damn! I was trying to heal her!¡± the other acolyte said. As I turned on the now freed kobold, Luxus snarled, ¡°Focus! Heal Azriel or we all die with him!¡± Jazmine had almost gotten her kobold down. One hit was all it took to drop it as well, then Lien shouted,¡± Help!¡± The kobold officer had woken up and was now going for Lien. To make things worse the other 5 turned on her too. Now she could wear better armor than I could, but her HP wasn¡¯t as high. So even though she could take the hits for a moment it wouldn¡¯t do to not let her cast. I pointed at a kobold Luxus moved to it and struck. Meantime I cast Flame Wave again. Each second of the insanely long cast time seemed like forever. The words and motions seemed to take a lifetime each. Finally, I finished and Red orange flame shot out from me in all directions again. That got the kobolds attention as I hoped. 6 kobolds crowded around me blades wet with the mixed blood of my group. We dropped another kobold and turned to the next when a loud scream burst in my ears. Kobold Officer has struck you with Immobilizing Fear. You passed your Will Save! Gritting my teeth, I saw Luxus and the other Acolyte had not passed their saves and now stood completely still shaking in virtual terror. Scoring a lucky blow, I dropped a particularly ugly looking kobold soldier and turned to the next. The Flame Waves had reduced the crowd¡¯s HP to about a third of normal. Sadly, I was bouncing into the low teens, before Lien could get a heal off. I was doing my best to work on the next soldier in line when Lien put the stake in my coffin. ¡°I¡¯m out of mana!¡± With that my heals were gone. As I watched my life disappear like water in a whole ridden cup, Lien joined the melee. Another soldier fell to our combined efforts. A bright light filled the cavern as my life bar ticked to 0. My tombstone dropped to the ground with a thud. Chapter 7.2 - A Threat to the City The world went dark and I was laying in the grave naked. ¡°Shit!¡± ¡°Is that you Azriel?¡± Alex called from somewhere in the graveyard. ¡°Yeah it¡¯s me.¡± ¡°Hey, you should stay in your grave. Jazmine dropped the group and Reincarnated. She is hanging out waiting for us. She has already killed me once.¡± ¡°That Bitch,¡± I said. Sadly, I had little emotion behind it, I was just getting tired. I thought about it for a moment, ¡°Well if the others live, we can collect her coin from her tombstone. Plus, the 50% durability damage from the Reincarnation must have her gear near breaking.¡± ¡°Yeah, she doesn¡¯t have half her armor anymore,¡± Alexander replied. A cold voice came from above my head. Looking up I saw a pissed off Jazmine scowling at me, ¡°it¡¯s still enough to kill you. Just step out of that hole and I can show you.¡± I closed my eyes and said nothing. She spit at me, but the liquid vanished at the entrance to my grave. I knew no one else being here yet was a good sign. There was only 4 of them left and I¡¯m pretty sure Lien had just leveled. Her status bar in the group menu showed she was rocking 80% mana. I opened my eyes, Jazmine was gone. Then a prompt filled my vision. Lien Xi has tried to resurrect your corpse. This corpse is located in the province of Southern Erthoia. Do you wish to resurrect? Yes / No I chose yes and I was suddenly standing in the kobold mine again. Looking around the kobolds were dead. They had done it. The one that I cast sleep on never even woke up. They had killed it laying there. Without a word, I went over to Jazmine¡¯s tombstone and looted it. 7 gold 28 silver and 841 copper divided among the remaining group. As Alexander reappeared, Lien asked, ¡°What happened with her?¡± I shrugged, ¡°She was waiting for us at the graveyard. She killed Alexander as he attempted a corpse run. The others looked stunned. Then Luxus spoke up, ¡°She didn¡¯t listen anyway. No loss.¡± I nodded and we proceeded to loot the corpses. After cracking open the crates we found more than just quest items. One crate had a bunch of enchanting items, and another had alchemy gear. We split the loot to the enjoyment of all. I got a nice mortar which would have cost me a gold and 5 satchels of magic dust, along with some random components. Lien was looking impatiently in the direction of the Rare Kobold by the time we were done. ¡°Okay folks let¡¯s do this,¡± I announced. Light, rebuffs and we were off. ¡°Good news, this guy and his crew should be easy after that lot.¡± Luxus announced. There was a round of goods and thank gods. It turned out the named Guy was called Overseer Nisgloo and he wasn¡¯t a kobold. The creature currently pounding me with a two-handed sword was not a little lizard man. This guy was taller than me, flat faced, with brown wrinkled skin. His shaggy hair was bright red and you could see it poking out of the cracks between his armor. He was most certainly a Hobgoblin. The good news though he wasn¡¯t very tough. We had walked into his threat range without warning. Luxus had went stealth and found him again. When we got close enough for the creature to see our light it shouted, ¡°No one can stop us!¡± Then it charged. Its kobold miners looked at each other confused then followed the attack. With no time to plan we tried the same plan we had on the normal pulls. I moved up and put myself between the foes and my casters. Alex slept one then got to blast my target. Luxus got behind my target and took full advantage of his sneak attack skill. The Acolytes healed, debuffed, or did what they thought was best. In the end it was rather anticlimactic. At least until I looted the fallen Overseer. Overseer¡¯s Sword (Green) Quality: High Restrictions: Warrior Overseer¡¯s Pack (Blue) Quality: Rare Binds on Pick Up Overseer¡¯s Breastplate (Green) Quality: High Restrictions: None Sapping Orders Quality: Quest Binds On Pick up. 5 Gold, 10Silver, 1 Copper We each instantly got the Sapper¡¯s Orders and the Overseer¡¯s Pack. The Pack was rather nice. It was an 18-slot bag, with 5% weight reduction. Since I had gained a couple small pouches from the kobolds I wasn¡¯t in dire need of space, but the weights were starting to add p. placing the Pack in my 6h and final bag slot I felt it appear on my back, under my backpack. The Breastplate was Scale which none of us could use, so we rolled for it and the sword. I won the breastplate. Luxus got the sword. Then I opened up the Sapper¡¯s Orders. Secret Quest Completed! Kobold Commander You have discovered that the Kobolds overrunning the northern mine were being driven by a Hobgoblin named Overseer Rex. You have killed him and now the kobolds should return to the mine slower. Rewards:
  1. 500 Exp
  2. 50 Fame
  3. Access to Quest: Sapping the Walls.
New Quest Sapping the Walls Description: You have captured Rex¡¯s orders to destroy the walls of Hub. The orders tell of some specially trained Kobold Sappers recently sent to Rex along with required Explosives. You must stop them before they destroy the walls and leave Hub defenseless. Quest Type: Unique Difficulty: Moderate Outcome:
  1. Alert Captain Stuart in Hub of the Kobold Sappers
OR
  1. Find and defeat the Sappers before they can destroy the wall.
Reward: Varies Failure:
  1. Die before alerting Captain Stuart or stopping the sappers.
  2. The Sappers destroy the walls of Hub.
By the sounds of everyone¡¯s mumblings, I guess when I opened the letter everyone got the pop-ups. Lien sighed, ¡°I guess I¡¯m not getting any rest at all.¡± Luxus exclaimed, ¡°A freaking unique quest! I¡¯ve never gotten one of these before!¡± Alexander looked puzzled, ¡°What¡¯s special about a unique quest?¡± Luxus looked stunned, ¡°Man you call yourself a gamer! Esper is known for its interactive world! Heck on most servers¡¯ players sit on the thrones of the Core races. A Unique Quest is one that can only be attempted once. When it is completed or failed the game world is altered by its results. They are super rare! I got the Midnight release just so I could have the chance to find one!¡± The other Acolyte shook his head. ¡°I know they are rare, but I have to bail. I¡¯m sorry guys I stayed for us to finish the class quests and get this guy. But I¡¯m sure it¡¯s already past time for me to get ready for work. Thanks for the group.¡± Luxus, Lien, and I looked at him amazed. He shrugged once more and then went stiff. I tapped him on the arm. No response. Luxus was aghast, ¡°Dude!¡± I shrugged, ¡°He Logged out.¡± ¡°What do we do with him?¡± Alex asked. I shrugged, Lien said coldly, ¡°I¡¯m going to get beat by my husband and probably have the household Net locked on me. But I¡¯m still here, leave the fucker and let¡¯s go!¡± She started into the small tunnel branching off the main Cavern. Luxus and I followed her in, Alexander called, ¡°Wait it said we could just go to the guards and report to them.¡± I waved for him to follow, ¡°It sure did, but the Heroic thing to do is Save the Town ourselves.¡± Luxus looked amused, ¡°Better loot too.¡± Alex ran to catch up.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The tunnel was empty of kobolds. We only stopped a couple times as we came across Ore Veins or some herb or the other. Eventually the tunnel widened into a small chamber with 4 other tunnels running from it. Standing in the center of the small room was a Kobold Sapper. The little lizard had a large oddly glowing object on its back. The thing looked like two large tanks full of liquid with tubes and wires running between them. The liquid in the left was blowing sea blue. I nodded at Alex and we both began to cast. Our two spells competed. His Flame Arrow and my Magic Missile were joined by an arrow that Luxus had fired. All three weapons hit the creature in rapid succession. The kobolds Life went orange as it turned to us. It snarled, ¡°You go boom!¡± and charged. ¡°Back! I yelled, stepping forward myself. The others moved back down the tunnel a dozen paces, Luxus fired an arrow as he went. The kobold ran to with-in a few feet of me and I muttered, ¡°I have a bad feeling about this.¡± Quickly hopping forward I jabbed at the kobolds face. Before my sword landed the world became fire, noise and pain. Kobold Sappers Slain. 1 / 12 I awoke laying on my back with Lien kneeling above me. ¡°You awake?¡± ¡°Ugh, I think so¡­ Help me up.¡± Lien stood and offered me a hand. I stood and almost fell over again. Lien looked at me concerned, ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone actually get knocked out in a game before.¡± I rubbed my head, ¡°I¡¯ve never been knocked out before.¡± Alexander¡¯s voice came from the dust clouded tunnel. It looks like the blast didn¡¯t ruin the tunnel¡¯s integrity. But if Luxus hadn¡¯t hit the Blue tank that blast would have been a lot bigger. There is that blue stuff all over the place.¡± Even though, my life bar was full my head was killing me, and my ears kept ringing. Looking around the tunnel had not fared to well. Parts of it had collapsed in leaving debris all over. I was no expert, but I agreed with Alexander¡¯s assessment. If that bomb had went off at full power, we would have died under a ton of rock. Grimly I led the party into the first tunnel to the left. We slowly moved down the tunnel, I had Luxus stealth and stay ahead of us. He was limited in how well he could see, but any warning was better than none. A few hundred yards later, the tunnel turned sharply left. As we approached the corner Luxus waved his blurred see through hand, then held up one finger and pointed around the corner. Knowing what he meant I slowly crept forward and looked around the edge. There it was, maybe 25 yards further away stood another Kobold sapper. It was illuminated by its glowing cargo. I could barely see slanted yellow eyes gleaming in my direction. Moving back a little I began to cast. Luxus raised his eyes in surprise but moved down the tunnel towards our foe. I hoped his stealth held. With a flash my Magic Missile shot from my hands and sailed around the corner. I stepped around just in time to see it hit my target. The glowing tank shattered, glowing blue liquid splashing onto the tunnel floor. The Sapper snarled and charged at me. Its rush took it past Luxus, who stabbed the creature in the back of the neck. Critical damage numbers flew, and the creature dropped to the ground. Alexander and Lien both came around the corner as the body hit the ground. We found two more Sappers down that passageway. Each time Either Alex or I would target the glowing blue tank with a Magic Missile to ensure it was hit. The others would drop the Sapper as quickly as possible. Fortunately, they were rather weak if they couldn¡¯t use their bombs. Upon reaching the split we took the far-right tunnel, my hope was it was identical tot eh left. That hope came true. Evidently the Dev¡¯s did not want to rebuild the entire tunnel, instead this was a mirror image, down to the locations of the Sappers. With 7 Sappers dead we returned to the split. ¡°Innie mini miney Moe ¡­ My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are not it.¡± Finishing the rhyme, I was pointing down the left corridor. I turned to the right and started down it. Lien rolled her eyes at me as I passed. We walked down the passageway in near silence, Luxus ahead of us and Lien in the rear. The sounds of our feet echoed as we moved, I¡¯m sure if this was the real world there would have been no way we could sneak up on anything. As it was the Sapper was turned around placing his Bomb in a niche carved into the wall. I was still a few steps out of range when I started casting. My bolt of dark energy covered the distance with a whoosh and struck the tank. Glowing Blue flew all over the niche and the stunned Kobold. Moments later the poor creature fell down dead without a sound. ¡°I almost feel bad,¡± I said. Luxus shrugged, ¡°They are digital code. Plus think of it this way. If they succeed, then Hub will have no defensive wall.¡± I looked at the normally jovial Thief. He too seemed oddly subdued. The remaining kobolds all died just as quickly and effortlessly. It was really kind of sad. We had worked out such a pattern that there wasn¡¯t a challenge here. I guess the Dev¡¯s thought my plans were good too, because pretty much every other kobold I was getting a Leadership and Tactician skill up. When the twelfth Kobold Sapper died messages appeared all over my vision. Unique Quest Completed! Kobold Sappers!!! You have slain the Kobold Sappers mentioned in Overseer Rex¡¯s orders. The city of Hub has once again avoided disaster due to the Heroics of a few noble Travelers. With this plot thorted, the forces desiring the fall of Hub will have to retreat and replant. The city is in your debt. Return and report to Captain Stuart for further rewards. Achievement: Savior of the City. Rewards:
  1. 1000Exp
  2. +1 Cp
  3. 500 Fame
  4. Report to the city of Hub for Additional Reward.
Province Alert: A foul plot in the Kobold Mine North of Hub has been Thorted! 4 brave Travelers have saved the city from imminent doom! The Kobold Mines will now have fewer kobolds in it and will now be called the abandoned mine. You have completed a Unique Quest. Would you like to be Teleported to the Mine¡¯s Entrance? Yes / No I looked at the others and then hit yes. Character Sheet for: Azriel Starblade. Name: Azriel Starblade Race: Human Class: Apprentice Magi Level: 3 Exp: 3,037 / 6,000 Strength (STR): 16 Muscle: 8 / Endurance: 8 Dexterity (DEX): 10 Agility: 5 / Instinct: 5 Constitution (CON): 10 Health: 5 / Resilience: 5 Intelligence (INT): 16 Logic: 8 / Mind: 8 Wisdom (WIS): 10 Perception: 5 / Conviction: 5 Charisma (CHA) 10 Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5 Luck (LUC): 2 Hit Points (HP): 340 / 340 Mana; 380 / 380 Stamina: 32.5 / 32.5 Character Points (CP): 6 / 8 Talent Points (TP): 0 / 0 Renown (REN): 250 / 1,000 Fame Level: 0 Unknown Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: None Achievements; Famous Family: Starblade. Deeds and Properties: None Spellbook Skills: Perception (Apprentice): 3 / 75 Running (Apprentice): 2 / 75 Abilities: Armor: You can proficiently wear Cloth, Leather and Chain armor types. Shield: You can proficiently use Light shield types. Weapons: You can proficiently use Dagger, Short Blade, Axe, Mace, and Crossbow weapon types. Professions: Alchemy (Apprentice): 1 / 75 ? Herbalism (Apprentice): 11 / 75 (G) Spells: Detect Magic (Rank 1) Fire Arrow (Rank 1) Flame Wave (Rank 1) Light (Rank 1) Magic Missile (Rank 1) Read Magic (Rank 1) Sleep (Rank 1) Social Friends: Lien Xi. Enemies: None. Family: Ace Starblade. Clan: None. Guilds: None. Nation: None. Chapter 8.1 A Quest well Done! North American Broadcast Corporation (NABC) newsroom Oct 25, 2046 :07:23 AM EST ¡°You should leave this to the pros. You¡¯ve done your part now hand the Torch off!¡± An angry looking blonde news anchor said glaring at the reporter. The reporter sniffed, ¡°I broke this story. It is mine.¡± The blonde was stopped from replying by a cough, the male News Anchor on the other side of the reporter pointed to the producer who had two fingers up. On-Air went green. Three pairs of brilliant white smiles faced the cameras. Female news anchor, ¡°Thank you Gilbert, those people at Danny¡¯s sure know how to fry a breakfast burrito.¡± The male news anchor smiled wider, ¡°I sure do hope your saving some of that, for us over here!¡± They all laughed. The reporter picked up, ¡°It has been A little after seven hours, since Esper On line¡¯s expansion released. Millions of players have signed in and joined the Massively Multi player Online Role-Playing Game.¡± The Blonde news anchor cut in, ¡°We here at NABC have now confirmed that out of those millions of players, none have logged out. This issue has become worldwide with over 27 countries reporting players who have stayed in game.¡± With a barely concealed glare, the reporter cut back in, ¡°Authorities are now urging people to stay off the game. Do not log in! numerous attempts to removed players by physically removing the ER Equipment, against manufacturers suggestions, has resulted in numerous comas. At this time if you have a loved one playing and they have not logged off, please call your local police station.¡± The blonde news anchor¡¯s fury was plainly visible. ¡°Siarra Inc has continued a media blackout. Authorities have attempted to enter the companies Headquarters but are being blocked by automated security androids.¡± The On-Air light had not yet went off before the blonde snapped, ¡°And Tod close your damn mouth you look like a stupid fish.¡± I appeared at the entrance to the mine, to a scream of rage. ¡°This has to be your fault!¡± Turning around confused I was struck in the shoulder with a blade. Stunned and confused I didn¡¯t respond as another swing came at me. Jazmine was there, her once decent store-bought armor was now a shamble of poor-quality pieces that looked a mess. Her blade descending at my head though was a contrast. It must have been a High-quality drop. A real rare find on these guys. BAM! And it hurt too. As she pulled back for another swing my confused, pain filled body went into action. Fully spinning I drew my blade and side stepped the next thrust. ¡°What the hell is your problem Jazmine!¡± She snarled, ¡°You! You did something deep down there in the mine. It should have been my feat! You robbed me of my rewards!¡± There was maybe a half dozen other players standing around in shock, just watching the conflict unfold. ¡°You left the group. I did not make you do anything!¡± I retorted parrying another strike. Even with my life at half, I still had not attempted to strike back, instead I continued to talk to the crazy warrior. ¡°You didn¡¯t follow orders and died. Before¡­¡± She snarled and lashed out screaming, ¡°Who are you to give me orders! I organized that group and led them!¡± Barely dodging a thrust at my head, I glared, ¡°You joined my group after we saved you!¡± She snarled again and landed her next swing. Her blade¡¯s tip pierced deep into my thigh eliciting a gasp of pain. Falling to my knee, I glared up at Jazmine. Her dark smile showed white teeth as she pulled her blade back for the final stroke. I refused to close my eyes as the point descended. A loud clang echoed in the Mine entrance. Lien¡¯s hammer was there between the blade and my head. Jazmine spun to the Acolyte, ¡°Bitch you stay out of this!¡± Alexander and Luxus had surrounded Jazmine on all sides. The Magician had his Staff at the ready, I¡¯m sure as a show of consoledarity more than actual use. Jazmine looked at each one in tun. Then glared at me. With rage tinted eyes she stabbed towards me. My parry was sloppy. My blade didn¡¯t deflect the entire blow, instead it sent it sliding over my shoulder in a hot river of pain. The others all struck Jazmine. Hammer, Staff, and dagger all found home. Jazmine screamed as my group¡­ my friends struck again. The combined effort was enough to Have Jazmine¡¯s tombstone drop to the ground with the echoing whomp of granite on uneven stone. Other players looked like they may want to join the fray, but when I stood, bloody, wounded and furious they decided kobolds were better prey. A warmth enfolded me as Lien¡¯s spell bound damaged tissues. The feeling always pleasant sent shivers up my spine. A notice sent a cold shiver down my spine in the other direction. Jazmine Oxford has added you to her enemy list. She will now receive 5 fame every time she kills you. Luxus bent and grabbed the meager coins Jazmine¡¯s tombstone offered, ¡°Waste not want not¡± he said with dry sarcasm. Turning we made our way out of the valley. There really were fewer kobolds out now. Perhaps that was because the sun had come up. Or perhaps that was because of us. Either way we only had to kill two miners to reach the treeline. ¡°Well folks, I¡¯m off. Thank you for a wonderful time! I¡¯ve added you all to my friends List.¡± Alexander said. He left the group and moved into the trees. Luxus nodded, ¡°Yea me too.¡± He looked at the sun rising over the horizon. ¡°Its been an interesting night. Az, Lien see you guys around?¡± Lien nodded, and I replied, ¡°For sure. You¡¯re an awesome Thief I¡¯ll look you up.¡± He smiled and left the group too. That left me and Lien. After finding the sleeping Ace in the trees, we made our way to the top of the hill and apparent safety. Lien yawned adrenaline wearing off exhaustion was kicking in. ¡°Well I better get off. I¡¯m not sure when I¡¯ll be able to log in again. My husband is sure to lock the network down and beat me. I will have to hack back in before I can log in again.¡± I had no idea what to say, luckily, I didn¡¯t need to say anything. Lien continued, ¡°I expect it will take me a week or so. Regardless you drug me to these damn Hume lands. When I do get back on you better be ready to help me catch up to you!¡± I smiled, ¡®I can do that.¡± Lien smiled, then surprised me by giving me a quick hug. Then she moved over to a tree and logged out. I looked at Ace who had tears in his eyes. ¡°What is up?¡± He shook his head, ¡° Nothing sir, I just feel bad I like her.¡± I placed my hand on the boy¡¯s shoulder, ¡°Me too. We will see her again.¡± The boy shook his head, ¡°Its not that. She is just standing here. While I waited for you, I saw a bunch of travelers go stiff like that. Kobolds or other travelers would kill them. Sometimes they would steal their things first. Other times the travelers would do ¡­ bad things to them.¡± Stunned, I considered. This new in game feature meant that you had to find a safe place to log out. It was no longer okay to just log out anywhere. Then if you could take a player¡¯s items while they are logged out, you needed somewhere secure too. That meant a house, Guild Hall, or ¡­ an Inn. Looking at Lien I sighed. No sleep yet it seemed. It took me almost an hour and half to get the ridged form of Lien to Hub. I had seen a few Inn¡¯s around the city, and I was sure I wasn¡¯t the only one to figure out the new game dynamic. Before Inns were mostly unused. If you logged out, you were just not in game. Why pay for a room that would be empty. Now though they would be a high demand commodity. I found a nice Inn named The Roost, it had an eagle or some other form of bird sleeping with its head under a wing on its bark sign. Ace tapped the hanging sign as we passed under it. Inside was a smallish common room. Perhaps a dozen round tables were evenly spread around. The scent of eggs and bacon sent my stomached growling the moment I came in the door. The room was unusually empty. Only a heavy-set man with a brown apron, red bushy beard, and equally unruly hair awaited us. The man smiled as I entered. ¡°Welcome to The Roost. Best beds this side of Old Town.¡± I smiled, pulled Lien through the door with a grunt and then looked around. ¡°Kind of slow today?¡± The man shook his head, ¡°Na, the opposite really. We are almost fully booked. Only two rooms left.¡± I gritted my teeth. I had been right. ¡°How much for a room?¡± ¡°1 Silver per night. That gets you room and a meal.¡± I thought about it then nodded, ¡°Okay she needs a room for 7 days. I¡¯ll take one for¡­. A month.¡± I figured prices would be going up around the city soon once the economy started to adjust to this new feature. So, if I got my room now it would save me money. Then if I didn¡¯t use it all, there was little lost. The Innkeep perked up. ¡°very good! Well I¡¯ll tell you what I may overlook a second meal for a long-term guest.¡± I thanked him and payed him the 37 silver. I could have gotten the coin from Lien to pay for her room, but I did not want to explain to her why I had been going through her things, even for this. The Innkeep led us up to the third floor, our two rooms sat across the hall from each other. He handed me two keys and returned to the ground floor. Placing Lien in one room I sort of pushed her onto the bed. She was ridiculous looking. I spent some time to move her stiffened body to a more comfortable laying position. When I got to her hand, I unclenched them. Placing her mace in her backpack. The other clenched fist held the kobold skull. I was about to trash it then paused. With a smile, I grabbed a piece of linen cloth from my pack, torn some strings from it and went to Ace. They boy was still holding the staff I had given him. I placed the skull atop the staff and used the strings to tie it in place. Standing back I examined the staff. Although it was still a foot and half talker than the boy it now had an intimidating air to it.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I turned to the small desk in the corner of the room. Picking a sheet of paper up , I started to write Lien a note explaining the situation. Two sentences in I stopped. I scowled at the note. I couldn¡¯t read a word I was writing. I was sure I knew what it said but I couldn¡¯t make sense of it. Thinking quickly, I drew another paper out and started writing again. This time I focused on writing in Common. The letters and words were clear and easy to understand. I was happy to see that I even had better had writing in Esper than I did in the real world. I put the last period on my note with a flourish and admired my work. I had a very precise and practiced hand. It almost looked like Calligraphy. Curious, I set the note to the side to let the ink dry. Grabbed another paper and started to write in kobold, then lizardfolk, then draconic. To my utter amazement I was fluent in each. With interest I noted that the letters of the three souron dialects were different from the Common tongue. The Sauron languages all used the same lettering just in different ways. They were kind of like many of the European languages. My writing experiment over I gathered up my mess and knocked it into the rubbish bin. Ace had been watching me interested the whole time. ¡°Can you read?¡± I asked. He shook his head, ¡°No, no one ever shows orphans how to do anything useful.¡± I shook my head in dismay. ¡°I think we need to change that.¡± The boy beamed, almost jumping in place. ¡°Thank you master! The gods blessed me the day I was placed in that cage to be found by you!¡± I cringed, that was a bit much. Anyone being happy about being shoved in a cage definitely had it rough. Locking the door, I went to my room. I began to take off my armor then paused. Looking out the window at the sun I sighed. I was tired but I¡¯m sure class had already started, and I could always get the notes online. Picking my packs up again I left the Inn. I went across the street to find Captain Stuart at the training grounds. To my dismay, he wasn¡¯t there but a different guard with the filled star showing he had a quest turn in was. Quest Completed! Kobold Menace!!! Rewards:
  1. 400 Exp
  2. Guard¡¯s Blade (Green)
  3. Guard¡¯s Shield (Green)
  4. 50 Silver
New Ability Learned! Rush: You can now charge 15 yards toward an enemy. When struck this attack will stun your foe for 3 seconds. I smiled, that ability was standard for Warriors as was the sword and shield . Sadly, both items were not great. The sword gave a +1 to STR and the Shield a +1 to CON. Both would be out matched by items quickly. Still they were better than what I was using, so I equipped them. Looking around again I still did not see Captain Stuart. Sighing I began my trip to the Magician Tower. The streets were packed. Not with people going from place to place. There was some of that, but mostly with frozen players. The guards that were moving them to the sides of the streets ran out of places to put them. Now the roads were cluttered and confusing. It reminded me of the college hallways when you would get that group that decides to stop in the middle of the hall to talk Making everyone else slow and go around them. Eventually I reached the Magician Tower and found Magician Pleasa. Quest Completed! Kobold Thieves!!! Rewards:
  1. 400 Exp
  2. Magicians Ring (Green)
  3. Potion of Lesser Mana x5
  4. 50 Silver
New Ability Learned! Channel: Allows you to focus on your mana. You may either increase your mana regeneration by 100% or focus your mana into another person or object. Any distraction can interrupt this ability. Warning! Your bags are full. Potion of Lesser Mana x5 has been lost. ¡°Shit!¡± I cursed. Pleasa tilted her head confused, ¡°What is wrong young Magician?¡± I glowered at the woman. Turned and stomped downstairs. Ace apologized to Pleasa quietly and followed after me. Moving to the Shopkeeper I began to pull items out of my packs. Most of the gear was vendor trash. Items of the poor quality that only served to sell to Vendors. The Shopkeep¡¯s sour glances turned into utter annoyance when I started plopping things down on the counter. ¡°I hate when you Travelers do this. This is a magician¡¯s shop, for god¡¯s sake! You sell your junk here and then I have to take it to the correct shops to get my coin back.¡± I glared at the man, ¡°Will you not buy them?¡± The Shopkeep glared, ¡°I have too. Its my job.¡± I nodded and slammed more crap down. A few minutes later I had cleared my bags. The Shopkeep counted up the full price of the items. ¡°4 gold, 73 Silver, and 22 Copper. But I have no use for those Scraps of paper.¡± I looked at a stack of perhaps a dozen torn bits of paper. ¡°What am I supposed to do with them?¡± I snarled. The long day and the loss of the Mana potions had worn down my patience. The Shopkeep shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t care but I will not buy them.¡± Snarling I grabbed the papers and tried to give them to Ace. Warning! This item may not be transferred. Snarling again I destroyed the papers, then turned to the Shopkeep, ¡°There no more papers. Where can I find a money changer or bank?¡± The Shopkeep quickly counted out the coins, tossed the pile of things into a sack behind the counter and gave me directions. His unfriendly glare followed me as I left the tower. I stopped outside the door; Ace hadn¡¯t followed me out. A minute passed and I was about to go back in to find the boy, when he ran out the door and straight into me. The few silver coins he was trying to put into a pocket scattered across the ground. With a yelp he dove after them. Frowning I bent down and helped him recover the coins. ¡±What are these Ace?¡± The boy looked down, ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir. I ¡­ I ugh¡­¡± ¡°You did what?¡± ¡°I ugh... I kept some of the things you left behind. The items you and Lien said were trash. I kept a couple of the more valuable looking ones. I laughed; Ace was full of surprises. He was just a vanity pet and here he was saving things to sell. I paused thinking, the boy was terrified, so I shook my head. ¡°That is fine Ace. I left those things thee. You did nothing wrong. In fact, your welcome to all the cast offs you can carry.¡± The boy smiled widely showing some truly crooked teeth, thank you master!¡± I shuddered tearing my eyes from the poor lad¡¯s mouth and started down the street. The Bank was near the Lords Keep in the central square. As I walked the crowded streets, I looked over my character info for Ace. He was not listed in my pets. He wasn¡¯t in my inventory, something I could summon and unsummon. He wasn¡¯t anywhere, then I looked in my Social sheet. This was different. The old Pre-Expansion Social had three tabs; Friends, Enemies, and Clan. Those three were still here. Now three more tabs were there too; Family, Guilds, and Nation. My Clan, Guilds, and Nation tabbes were greyed out. I selected friends. Friends Lien Xi High Elf Level 4 Acolyte Last Known Location : Hub Luxus Swiftblade Hume Level 4 Thief Last Known Location: Central Province Alexander Steiner Hume Level 4 Magician Last Known Location: Central Province Jazmine was under People who declared you Enemy in the Enemy Tab. Then I found him. Ace Starblade(adopted). He was listed as family. I looked at the kid and wondered what that meant. I was still wondering about this when we happened upon a sight. There were three teenage boys going from frozen player to frozen player. First, they would take their coins, then anything good in their packs. Finally, they would kill the defenseless player. To my horror I watched as one of the boys, walked over to a nice-looking Hume woman and crudely groped her snickering. ¡°Hey Stoner, get a load of the tits on tis chick.¡± The offending boy made some sucking sounds as the other two laughed. ¡°You punks let go of her!¡± I shouted. The three boys turned to me. Stoner whose full name was XXXStonerXXX yomama glared at me, ¡°Get lost. This isn¡¯t your concern.¡± I shook my head, ¡°No you guys are robbing these people then killing them.¡± Stoner sneered; geez the kid could sneer. ¡°It¡¯s a game. We are not doing anything wrong, but if you want to donate to our cause. Then who am I to say no?¡± With this he pulled out a sword. The other two did the same. Looking them over they were all level 3 and better geared than I was. Looks like robbing people payed well. Ace moved up next to me, his staff held ready. One of the boys called, ¡°hey isn¡¯t that one of those Orphan pets? I didn¡¯t know they were combat pets.¡± The other boy replied, ¡°Na, they aren¡¯t. This guy just figured out a way to dress his up. They are useless, that¡¯s why I killed mine.¡± The three thugs moved toward me. There was no way I could take on all three of them, so I did the only thing I could. I called for the Guards. ¡°GUARDS!¡± my shout echoed down the street drawing attention from all directions. They froze stunned. I guess they hadn¡¯t considered I¡¯d do that. Maybe to them in a game you either fought or ran. I smiled and called for the guards again. Stoner frowned, ¡°Hell lets get out of here. This fool will get us locked up and where is the fun in that? I heard the sounds of the guards pushing through the clogged streets, the thugs turned and took of in the opposite direction. I considered doing something to stop them, but I didn¡¯t want to attack a player in the middle of a city. Especially when I had just called the guards. Stoner was nearly out of sight when a small foot appeared from behind a frozen player. Stonier went down with a thud and grunt of pain. A small dark-skinned girl with curly black locks sat on his back as he tried to rise. Running over to her she smiled a bright white toothy smile toward me. ¡°I got him,¡¯ she said. Stoner cursed more than a drunken sailor as he tried to get the girl off him. His friends has seen him fall, then saw the guards and kept running. As the Guards approached one called out, ¡°You lot there what is the meaning of this?¡± stoner stopped struggling and just lay on the ground. The girl frowned, ¡°he logged out.¡± A new voice called from the line of Guards. Chapter 8.2 - To Clan or to Guild? ¡°What is going on here?¡± Captain Stuart moved toward us. His cool brown eyes kept looking at the street littered with headstones. ¡°hello Captain, thank you for coming.¡± The Captain looked at me, ¡°hey aren¡¯t you one of those Travelers who stopped the sappers?¡± Ugh? ¡°yeah, I was.¡± He smiled, ¡°Good job mate! We need to talk in a moment, but for now what¡¯s going on.¡± I told the Captain about the encounter and the girls assistance. Stuart frowned, ¡°this kind of thing is happening all over the city. You Travelers are a bunch of thieving, murdering bastards. I just don¡¯t have enough manpower to cover the whole city.¡± He turned to his men, ¡°You two take that fool to the dungeon.¡± As they picked up Stoner and started off the Captain stopped them. He walked over and took a pouch off Stoners belt. With a flourish he lightly tossed the fist sized pouch to me. ¡°here this will serve as a reward. If there was any way, we knew who the coins belonged to we would return them. Since there isn¡¯t, I¡¯ll be damned if he gets to keep them¡± Catching the surprisingly heavy pouch I froze. Reward? I turned to the girl and offered her the pouch, ¡°You caught him. I just called the guards.¡± She shook her head, ¡°My Papi Logged off to check to see if dinner was ready. They killed him. I just got even.¡± I smiled. The girl must have been 8 or 9, with parental controls her name and game status were hidden. All I could see was her Stat Bar. ¡°well thank you mi¡¯lady.¡± She blushed, dark skin turning even darker. ¡°When you Papi gets back online have him mail me how much he had, I¡¯ll send it back to him. Do you know how to add me to your friends list? That way you can remember my name?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been playing this game since it came out! I¡¯m not some noob!¡± The captain laughed, ¡°Would you like me to send a couple of my men to help you get to the graveyard? I¡¯m sure your dad is there. They can even escort you back here to gather his things.¡± ¡°Yes Captain, I would appreciate that.¡± A moment later the girl was gone with her guard escort. Captain Stuart turned back to me. ¡°So now I think the city owes you a debt of gratitude. What would you have? If it is in my power to do, it shall be done.¡± Stunned my mind raced. An open-ended quest reward? Thoughts of gold, epic swords, and books of magic went through my head. ¡°Wow! Thank you, Captain. may I have a moment to consider?¡± The man nodded, ¡°Sure I have a few minutes but do not take too long, the city is in distress and needs my attention.¡± Pacing the street, I thought. My foot lightly kicked one of the headstones and I froze looking at it. Then I spent a few moments looking around the city streets. ¡°Do you have an empty warehouse?¡± I asked. Captain Stuart frowned as if unsure he had heard me correctly, ¡°You want a warehouse?¡± I nodded then shook my head, Yes, I mean no. Its for all these play.. umm I mean Travelers. These people are out here making the city street crowded. Couldn¡¯t we say¡­ move them into a large warehouse? Then you would only need to post a couple guards inside and out. It would keep them safer and make it easier for you to.¡± Captain Stuart looked stunned, then considered. ¡°yes¡­ That would be possible. It would help alleviate a lot.¡± The captain slapped me on the back, ¡°It will be done! You¡¯re a good man Azriel Starblade!¡± Secret Quest Completed! A kind Hand!!! You have used your recent heroic deeds to garner safety and security for others. Instead of taking a selfish reward you have shown kindness to those who are in need. Rewards:
  1. 500 Exp
  2. +1000 Renown
  3. Warehouse 2C Deed
Congratulations! You have reached Fame Level 1! You are now popular. Many people know your name. You have gained the interest of a few local low ranked people. New Quests, Achievements, and Titles will be available. Congratulations! You have gained the Title of Freeman! You are no longer a Surf! You are the proud owner of property, be it house, shop, farm, or another parcel it is all yours! A brilliant light washed over me. Congratulations! You have Reached level 5! Rewards:
  1. HP +80.
  2. Mana +100.
  3. Stamina + 10.
  4. Strength +1.
  5. Intelligence +1.
  6. You have a new Character Point
  7. You have a new Talent Point
  8. New Ability: Home Point
  9. New Spell: Fire Arrow (Rank3).
  10. New Spell: Magic Missile (Rank3).
  11. New Spell: Light (Rank 3).
  12. New Spell: Detect Magic (Rank 3).
  13. New Spell: Read Magic (Rank 3)
Ace cheered and Captain Stuart smiled and slapped me on the back again. ¡°Well done!¡± ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± I said smiling. To myself I thought bitterly, it only took me eight hours and a unique quest. I didn¡¯t know if everyone was leveling this slow or if it was all the group time I¡¯ve had. ¡°Well I have business to attend to. I need to get my men working on the new orders. Come by the Training grounds later. I¡¯ll have a new quest for you.¡± The Captain turned and the guards around us left. We reached the Central Plaza a few minutes later. This area of town wasn¡¯t quite so full of frozen players, being further from the market square where everyone who came to Hub started. The Lord¡¯s Keep stood in the center of the square a once mighty edifice it now looked sad and forgotten. One full wall sagged giving the keep a leaning appearance. The Dark grey stone was covered in moss. Glass windows were shattered or missing. The Curtain wall around the keep stood closed and locked to outsiders. Around the square were the central buildings of government and economy. The cities only bank, Main guard Barracks, and Orphanage were the only buildings currently in use. Among the deserted derelict buildings were a tax collector¡¯s office, a Customs Office, Office of Land management, a Library, and 7 Guild halls. As I moved to the bank, I received an audible notification. DING. A mail icon appeared on my display. If I recalled correctly, a Mailbox was outside the bank. It only took a moment of looking around the area before I found it. Not exactly where I recalled but close enough. It was probably that girl¡¯s dad wanting his money back. Opening the Mailbox, I pulled out a letter. Then I smiled looking at the mailbox. After you have been playing ER games for awhile you get used to all the oddities. Like this mailbox. Anyone who opened it would see only their mail. One box for everyone, no issues or mix ups. Mail: Lothorb Doomhammer: Is this Azriel from Nirvana? If so, this is Maxium. Please respond if you are my clanmate. Mail: Azriel Starblade: Hey Max! Its me, what¡¯s up?¡± There was a brief wait then I got a reply. Mail: Lothorb Doomhammer: Hey Az! I¡¯m trying to find the clan. I¡¯ve been at it all night. We didn¡¯t get to choose a server, so I am forced to try and find everyone. I am checking closely named toons to ours from Nirvana. I have gotten about 25 responses back so far. Most of us are sitting in Starter City. The only way we can make sure to be in the same area is to group up and go through the gate. Otherwise you get the choice of your race¡¯s empire. Are you in Starter? What did you roll and level? Mail: Azriel Starblade: Ugh I didn¡¯t think about the Starter thing man. I am Hume, level 5. I got this pretty badass class called a Magi. Kind of a Magician Warrior Hybrid. Mail: Lothorb Doomhammer: Did you say 5? Damn Some of the guys here have been grinding all night and just hit 3! Sounds like you got a good area to level. I¡¯ll let the others know. Send me an invite, we can get the officers to you then bring the others over. My Clan from Nirvana! That was great news, we were raiders and good ones. Although our guild numbered close to 80, 25 was a start. We could always get names from Nirvana if this server was the only one with the expansion. I sent the group invites. My party log expanded with icons showing when the others joined but no real details since they were in another area. Unlike many MMORPGS Esper did not have a group or raid chat. If you wanted to talk to someone you had to be there or use the General Area chat. Now once you were in a clan you could buy a Familiar. They allowed you to talk to the Clan from anywhere and the Clan to talk to you.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. With my part done I went into the bank. The large building was in the same condition as the rest of the city. Its great lobby was mostly sectioned off with crude cloth curtains. The white marble floor was swept clean but lacked the luster of polish. Massive Marble columns were dusty and cobwebbed from arm reach up. Directly to the left was the entrance to the vaults. For a price player could purchase vault space to store goods and supplies. Directly ahead were 4 desks, each with a sign designating their purpose. To the right was another two larger desks. These held the loan officer and the banks single teller. I took a moment to read the labeled desks before I went to the teller. From left to right they read. Money Changer, Hume Ambassador, Customs Officer, and Land Management. The Lady behind the teller¡¯s desk smiled as I approached, ¡°Greetings Sir Starblade. We are glad someone with your renown has come to visit Hub city bank. How can I assist you today?¡± I had heard the same canned greeting from many other NPC¡¯s in the past, so I blew it off. ¡°I want to open a savings account.¡± We discussed the options and prices. eventually settled for a 15 Slot Vault with room for 1 bag and a coin account that would exchange currency for me automatically. I had to either keep 100 Gold in my account at all times or pay 3 Silver a week. The surcharge would be taken directly from my account. I sat down the coin pouch from Stoner and My own on the desk and watched the woman count coins. My pouch held an exchanged total of 7 Gold, 41 Silver and 73 Copper. When Stoners pouch was poured out, I felt my heart skip a beat. In the pile I saw a large number of gold coins. He had been stealing from players who knew where the starting quests kept the secret rewards, but still I was shocked. ¡°Okay you have a total of 59 Gold, 2 Silver, and 47 copper. ¡° How much would you like us to hold for you?¡± utterly thunderstruck I stammered, ¡°Umm. Ugh. Hold 50 gold. I¡¯ll take the rest.¡± She placed the coins in my pouch and handed it back. ¡°Thank you Mister Starblade, come see us again.¡± Getting up I left the bank. While I had been in there the group had disbanded and I had received two mail notifications. Mail: Lothorb Doomhammer: Okay, we got the officers over. We will start moving the others. I am keeping Ethan in Starter to find others. Mail: Lothorb Doomhammer: Do you have the gold to start a Clan? We are willing to offer you Officer status if you can. Mail: Azriel Starblade: Sure, I¡¯m at the bank now. I saw an Ambassador here. Give me 10 minutes. Well, I did have some extra gold. Going back into the Bank I went to the Ambassador. ¡°Hello Starblade. May I interest you in a Guild or Clan charter? Unfortunately, there is currently no Noble to accept pledges of loyalty and so you may not join a nation.¡± I paused then asked, ¡°What is the difference between a Clan and a Guild?¡± The Ambassador smiled, ¡° A Guild is a group of people who have come together for a common cause. Trade Guilds and Mercenary Guilds are common. There is no limit to a number of guilds a person may join. A Clan is an extended family, you may only join one Clan.¡± I nodded, ¡°Okay so how much do they cost?¡± The Ambassador looked at a list of papers, ¡°Both charters are based on the number of charters currently granted. There has been 3 Clan charters and 17 Guild charters. So, a Clan charter is 30 gold. Guild charter is 17gold.¡± My mouth fell open. Wow. These things would get more expensive as people banded together to form teams. With a sigh I went back to the teller. ¡°ugh, so¡­ I need to withdraw 30 gold.¡± The teller smiled warmly then gave me the money. With another long sigh I returned to the snide looking Ambassador and bought a clan charter. Pulling out a sheet of vellum he dipped a long quill pen into some kind of slightly glowing red ink and asked, ¡°What would you like to call your clan?¡± I chewed on my lower lip, considering for a moment then settled on something I liked for the fledgling Clan. ¡°The Conclave¡± He looked at me as if to give me a chance to change my mind. Seeing I was firmly decided he began to write. A minute or so later he sprinkled some kind of cherry looking powder on the blood red ink. A flash of white light flared for a brief instant. ¡°Very well, Mr. Starblade you are now the proud owner of the clan, The Conclave.¡± He rolled up the sheet of vellum as he spoke and then placed it into a bin with a few other rolled up sheets. ¡°Is there anything else I can do for you?¡± Satisfied I shook my head, ¡°Na, all done. Thanks.¡± Another message had arrived while I was talking with the Ambassador. I went to check it before I began to send out invites. Mail: Lothorb Doomhammer: Az, I talked it over with the officers and man I¡¯m sorry, but we still don¡¯t feel right giving you an officer rank. But we will agree to pay you the charter costs back and give you Noncom rank. Anger flared within my chest, perhaps it was the long night. Then again perhaps it wasn¡¯t. Oh, screw them. I had been in the damn clan longer than most of the officers. I led Clan raids. More than half of the damn fools focused on professions. Now they wanted to use me to both get to a good area to level and to create a Clan! Then not give me an Officer position. ¡°Its not going to happen, I said. Ace looked at me concerned, ¡°What is wrong mi¡¯lord?¡± I waved it off. Going inside I withdrew 10 more gold and bought a Guild Charter, thinking for a moment I named it Brotherhood of Steel then walked outside. With a wicked grin I sent a Guild Invite to Lothorb Doomblade. When he accepted, I handed over leadership and smiled, I could join as many Guilds as I wanted, but only one Clan. Looking at Ace I had an idea, I sent him a Clan invite. The boy looked at me surprised then I got a message. The Conclave: Ace Starblade has joined the Clan. Smiling I went back inside and bought two Clan Familiars and one Guild Familiar for a total of 1 Gold 25 Silver. Giving Ace a Clan Familiar I smiled. ¡°What is this sir?¡± The boy was looking ad the fist sized stone Pigeon. ¡°It¡¯s a communication item. This way we can talk over large distance. I know its not much to look at. Later we can upgrade them to better statues or even living animals.¡± Ace hugged it to his chest, ¡°I think its perfect!¡± Mussing the boy¡¯s hair, we set off for the market square. I had a few items to put up for auction before I logged off and got some sleep. There were tons of messages in Guild chat about people joining, being promoted, demoted, new ranks, deleting ranks and many other organizational rearranging. I ignored it all. 20 minutes later I was back in my Inn room and ready to log out. Before I did though I looked over my Character, and abilities. Name: Azriel Starblade Race: Human Class: Apprentice Magi Level: 5 Exp: 10,216 / 15,000 Strength (STR): 18(19) Intelligence (INT): 18(19) Dexterity (DEX): 10 Wisdom (WIS): 10 Constitution (CON): 10(11) Charisma (CHA): 10 Luck (LUC): 2 Hit Points (HP): 510 / 510 Mana; 680 / 680 Stamina: 52.5 / 52.5 Character Points (CP): 11 / 13 Talent Points (TP): 1 / 1 Renown (REN): 1800 / 3000 Fame Level: 1 Popular Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: Freeman Spellbook Skills: Concentration (Apprentice): 5 / 75 Leadership (Apprentice): 9 / 75 Parry (Apprentice): 11 / 75 Running (Apprentice): 3 / 75 Tactician (Apprentice): 9 / 75 Abilities: Channel: You can focus on your mana. This allows you to increase your mana regeneration rate by 100%. You may also now channel your mana into other people or objects at your normal mana regeneration rate. This ability is easy to interrupt, avoid all distractions. Home Point You can set a Home Point and create a Hearthstone. Using the Hearthstone will allow you to teleport home from anywhere, once a day. Rush: You can rapidly move forward 15 yards to strike an enemy for 3*STR damage. This strike stuns the target for 3 seconds. Professions: Herbalism (Apprentice): 26 / 75 Alchemy (Apprentice): 1 / 75 Spells: Fire Arrow (Rank3) Magic Missile (Rank3) Light (Rank3) Detect Magic (Rank3) Read Magic (Rank3) Fire Wave (Rank1) Sleep (Rank1) Not bad for a start. A full night¡¯s work should have had me three times this level, but Azriel was looking good. Looking over my gear once more, I cursed, ¡°Oh for the love of ¡­¡± Ace peeked up from the floor, ¡°Do you need something master?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just an idiot,¡± I growled. Ace laid back on the floor, ¡°As you say sir.¡± I smiled at the boy¡¯s agreement sure he had not meant the connotation. Shaking my head, I looked back at my gear profile. The expected item slots were displayed, Head, shoulders, Chest, Legs, and so forth. Down at the Accessory section was listed, Finger 1 with my Magicians Ring, Finger 2 Empty, Neck Empty, Broach empty, and Aether Empty. I assigned my Aether of Force to the slot. With a Smile I saw my Guard¡¯s Blade had a faintly glowing jewel in the pommel now. I prepared to Log out, then paused. Something in City Chat caught my attention. Turddropper: Where are these guards taking everyone? MissChief: Some warehouse, but they will not let you in if your still logged in. Brus: WTB Green Mace, Magic Dust, and mana crystals. TurdDropper: Well that sucks. I heard you could make a lot of money from robbing the stiffs. MissChief: that¡¯s not cool. Someone is going to rob you when you log out. TurdDropper: Nope I have an Inn room. I won¡¯t be in the streets. Pollaris: EVERYONE DO NOT LOG OUT!!! THERE IS A BUG IN THE SYSTEM! IF YOU LOG OUT YOU DO NOT return TO RL AND YOU FREEZE HERE! Misschief: Fearmongering is not cool! Pollaris: Meet at the market in 10 minutes I¡¯ll explain! I paused; this was probably a joke by some kid. But what if it wasn¡¯t. I thought of Lien and Luxus, and all the people in the street. I had a bad feeling about this. Chapter 9.1 - Grim Tidings North American Broadcast Corporation (NABC) newsroom Oct 25, 2046 :09:00 AM EST Both women stared at the empty chair, one concerned the other annoyed. The male news anchor had logged out of the newsroom virtual studio 10 minutes before to use the rest room. As the on-air light went green the camera shifted to leave out the empty chair and center on both smiling women. The reporter started speaking as soon as the prompt flared to life, earning her a hate filled glare from the blonde anchor. ¡°Crisis update! Authorities have attempted to block new e-purchases and new user registration for Siarra¡¯s MMORPG expansion to the massively popular Esper online; but are reporting something stopping them.¡± The anchor cut in, ¡°To add to issues across North America automated, cars, work droids, and other AI controlled machines have become unresponsive.¡± The producer waved to a small screen which both women looked at then froze in shock . The reporter recovered first. ¡°Breaking Update! This video you are seeing is a live feed from our on the ground news teams at NYU. If you can not tell. Those are students being pulled out of the dorms, by automated trash collection androids. That vehicle we are seeing them be placed into is a trash collection vehicle with some kind of new wireless net connection.¡± The anchor had her hand to her ear and nodded, ¡°Our team on the ground are now hearing from students. Those people being taken are all Esper Online Players who are currently logged on. Everyone else is being ignored by the rogue robots.¡± The market square was packed with people. The guards had started removing frozen players, but it was now impossible due to the numbers of active players milling around. I was rather glad; I had left Ace in the Inn asleep. The poor boy had been snoring loudly before his head even hit the pillow. Then with this thick of a crowd the chances to get separated was high. As I watched two players bumped into each other, being pushed by crowds on both sides. The collision resulted in name calling, then blows and ended with one player a headstone and the other being led off by the guards. The crowd was starting to get restless and rowdy, so I understandably jumped when a hand touched my back. Trying to spin around and draw my sword. I hit a person on my left and elbowed one on my right. Both gave me dirty glares and pushed away from me. Turning slowly, I saw the small girl from earlier there, her eyes were red rimmed and fresh tears ran down her face. ¡°My Papi hasn¡¯t woken up. He is still in his grave. Is he going to be okay?¡± I tried to kneel but bumped into more people. Instead I put my arm around the poor girl and hugged her as best as I could. ¡°I¡¯m sure your dad will be fine. Let¡¯s hear what this numb skull has to say, then you can log off and see what is keeping him. I bet he is just eating your food.¡± I said the last with a mischievous smirk. The girl looked at me and half smile, ¡°He better not!¡± Keeping my arm around the girl I went back to watching the raised stages, not sure where I should be looking. A minute later a voice called above the din, ¡°Hey Azriel! Turning I saw a figure pushing through the crowd toward me. She sauntered up to me, moving in a sexy walk with chest thrust out and hips swaying. Or at least as sexy as a rotting corpse could, her flesh was either hanging loosely and grey or completely missing showing dull red muscle beneath. Her cataract covered eyes were capable of seeing clear enough though because the stayed locked on me as she pushed through the last couple people separating us. I took a second to examine her tag. Penelopy Cruz (3) Brotherhood of Steel HP 100% Mana 100% Stamina 100% Her Status bar had the name Brotherhood of Steel attached so I assumed this was Penelopy a guild officer from Nirvana. The girl at my side made an ecking sound upon seeing the Deathless woman and buried her face in my cloak. ¡°Penelopy Cruz?¡± I asked the rotting woman. She smiled, half her face did anyway. ¡°Like the pun? I figured this was a perfect set up.¡± She gestured to herself again half smiling. Laughing I nodded, ¡°I like it.¡± The smile faded, ¡°Hey look I¡¯m sorry about the officer thing. I was overruled.¡± I paused my smile slipping at the edges. Penelopy was and I assumed still was one of the Guild officers. I shrugged, ¡°I don¡¯t kiss enough ass to win votes from the Officers.¡± Penelopy shook her head, ¡°Na there is only 7 of us right now. You Got 4 votes for Yes. It was Lothorb who denied you. He claimed to get three votes as Clan Master.¡± I grit my teeth, ¡°That Arrogant son of a¡­ He has never liked me.¡± Penelopy shook her head sending limp stringy hair waving, ¡°No not after the Raid on Deep Watch, where he led the raid for 6 hours and failed to complete it. Pissed he left us there calling it a failure. We nearly disbanded, our gear was broke as shit and the expendables were gone. Then you come in, throw down a mobile repair forge and take leadership.¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. I laughed, ¡°Yeah it still took us another two hours to complete that damned dungeon though.¡± She shrugged, ¡°But we did.¡± ¡°Yeah, I guess. Anyway, he isn¡¯t Clan leader anymore, no he is Guild leader.¡± Penelopy laughed, ¡°Clan or Guild. Just a new name no difference.¡± I smiled but didn¡¯t feel like explaining that there was a difference now. Instead I gestured around and asked, ¡°What do you think of this deal?¡± The undead woman looked around, skin on her neck cracking and peeling as she did. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯ve not tried to log out myself, but a few of the others said they were going to see if they could get over to Nirvana. Then they were supposed to come back and let us know. ¡° She paused and looked me in the eyes, ¡°They haven¡¯t come back on yet.¡± I nodded and pat the top of the girl¡¯s head, thinking of her dad. A commotion near the Auctioneers platform caught my attention. After a moment I could see Pollaris Standing there waving his hands to get the crowd to quiet. The crowd settled and a tense silence fell over the square. Pollaris started speaking but I couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying. Someone shouted, ¡°Speak up man!¡± Shouting he tried again, ¡°I know yall are all here about the Log Out issue and the Stiffs.¡± People around me muttered and cursed the man. ¡°So yall,let me jump right to the point. I was part of a police effort to get players to log out of the game.¡± Someone shouted, ¡°Why are the police interested? I can click Log Out right now!¡± Agreements went through the crowd. The man looked in the direction of the speaker but went on as if not hearing anything, ¡°My team came in game to help a family with a diabetic son. He needed to log out to take his medication. We came in, and one of the team was to log out immediately to report. He never came back. We never found the boy either. All attempts to contact the GM¡¯s have failed. Every hour since then one more of my team has logged out. They were supposed to log back in immediately. None have come back.¡± Another voice a woman¡¯s this time, ¡°What if they log in and are on another server? That made sense kind of. Pollaris shook his head, ¡°Na yall, if that is all it was then players who logged out would be reporting a different server each time. No one is logging out though!¡± ¡°What about the Stiffs? They logged out!¡± More hopeful or angry agreements ensued. Pollaris waited for the crowd to quiet again, ¡°I do not know. I think those players are still here, just not able to move. Their connections to the ER net stay online.¡± People started to shout and scream. I was pushed in two directions at once, as some tried to leave, others tried to get closer to the podium. Fights broke out all around. Then Pollaris was shot with an arrow and the crowd dissolved into chaos. Reaching down I picked up the girl. She started to struggle and squirm. ¡°Hey relax. I¡¯m trying to help. These people are going crazy.¡± She tensed like she was going to keep fighting then grabbed my neck and held on. After the third person ran into me and tried to shove me to the side, I realized the difference between my RL self and Azriel. Here I was stronger than the average person. Sure, I wasn¡¯t that orc who just picked people up and tossed them. But I was a stone in a river of flesh. I moved slowly out of the square. Near the edge close to a side street I passed guards who were trying to rush into the square and put a halt to the violence before it spread. The first chance I got I turned off a main street and began moving through back streets and alleys towards The Roost. It took me nearly 30 minutes to travel the half dozen city blocks, but I avoided more large crowds and the worst of the panicked players. Reaching the Inn, I burst inside still carrying the girl. Ace was downstairs looking worried. ¡°You left me sleeping!¡± The boy shouted at me. I glared at him and he quickly subsided seeing the worry on my face. Turning to the Inn keep I said, ¡°You may want to bar your doors for a few hours. Only allow in people you know or those who have a room. People are upset and upset people do dumb things.¡± The innkeep rushed over to the door and barred it. ¡°You were the only patron out. Everyone else is still in their rooms.¡± I shuddered thinking what that meant but I said nothing. Sitting the girl down I addressed the Innkeep again. ¡°Do you have anything to eat I need to think, and my stomach says it could do with some food.¡± The Innkeep nodded, ¡°Sure, umm for 3?¡± I looked at the girl and then Ace. They both looked at me blankly, no help there. ¡°Yeah three will be fine.¡± 10 minutes later we were the only people sitting in the common room, oatmeal, bacon , and toast sat in front of each of us. I barely ate thinking about what Pollaris had said. I wasn¡¯t sure if I believed him, but I wasn¡¯t sure I didn¡¯t either. I kept watching the City chat for someone to deny the claims. There was plenty of people saying they were going to log off and right back in. But no one ever said they had just logged back in. There was one who tried to fake it, but they were called out immediately. It was easy enough to see a Stiff versus a normal player. Stiff was the term now being associated to the players who were logged off and not active. Ace ate his food like the preteen age boy he was, where the girl pushed hers around her bowl with worried looks. I finally pushed my plate to Ace the third time he gave it a wistful look. There was one thing for sure, if this was a hoax it was working. When the girl almost fell asleep in her bowl for the second time. Her head waved down then jerked up again quickly, I decided we must get some sleep. Going upstairs I looked at the two rooms. I hoped Lien wouldn¡¯t mind¡­ Opening her door I led the girl in. My worries fell apart the moment the girl saw Lien, ¡°I¡¯m not sharing a room with that!¡± I flinched at the wording. Was that really what Lien was now a that? I hope not. ¡°Well I do not think your dad would approve of you sleeping with me.¡± I said matter of factly. The girl glared at me, ¡°I can sleep on my own! I just don¡¯t understand why I can¡¯t log out. I could sleep in my own bed then.¡± I knelt, ¡°You can log out if you want, but You heard that man. If something is going on it could mean you might not be able to return to real life or log back in here either. It doesn¡¯t hurt someone to sleep in ER, in fact the rest you get is the same as you would in normal sleep. So, if we go to sleep now maybe this will all get sorted out. At least maybe we will here from the GM¡¯s or Dev¡¯s.¡± The girl thought about it then nodded, ¡°I sent Papi a letter saying I was going to be with you. When he gets back on, he will find one of us.¡± She looked at lien¡¯s stiff form, ¡°But I¡¯m still not sleeping with that! I want my own room.¡± Growling in frustration I went into my room and gathered up my things. Returning to Lien¡¯s room I put them down and said, ¡°Fine your room is across the hall. Make sure you lock the door. I¡¯ll have a key just in case.¡± The girl left leaving me Ace and the stiff Lien in this small room. With a sigh I set my packs down in the corner, rearranged liens next to it and looked at Lien. Would she kill me if she woke up with me sleeping next to her? Yes, she would. I lay on the floor and then cursed. Ace gave me an odd look, so I glared at him. 5 minutes of trying to find a comfortable position and failing I finally gave in. I was sleeping she was doing¡­ well what ever it was she didn¡¯t need the bed as much as I did. Picking her up I sat her on the small desk, back to the wall and feet hanging off. She looked like she could have just been sitting there. Laying down I shut my eyes and was out the instant my head went horizontal. Chapter 9.2 - A Helping Hand Someone was knocking on my dorm room door, rousing me from a bad dream. I was trapped in a video game. One where I not only had to play myself, but the monsters really hurt me with every little nick or cut. ¡°Go away!¡± The knocking kept up, getting up I stumbled over some clothes on the floor. I think the clothes grunted. Moving to the door I swung it open. There was a man from a bad dream standing there. I stared dumbly at him, then memories rushed back. Looking around I groaned. I wasn¡¯t in the dorm. I was in The Roost and the man was the Innkeep. ¡°begging your pardon sir, but could I get your assistance?¡± Rubbing my eyes, I nodded, ¡°Sure give me a moment to pull some pants on.¡± I closed the door and turned back into the room. The clothes on the floor sat up rubbing his side. ¡°Sorry Ace. I didn¡¯t mean to kick you.¡± The boy rubbed his face, ¡°Its okay master.¡± Grabbing pants, I pulled them on looking out the window. The Sun was beginning to set on the horizon. I could still see people milling around in confusion and the city chat showed there was still chaos afoot. Opening the door, the Inn keep stood there nervous. ¡°I beg your pardon, but I have an issue.¡± ¡°What is the issue and how can I help?¡± The Inn keep studied the hall full of doors. ¡°Well last night I was fully booked with Travelers. All rooms paid for. Tonight¡­¡± He hesitated, but I had a sinking feeling I knew where this was going. ¡°The Travelers they are all now Stiff¡¯s. They don¡¯t pay for their rooms or can¡¯t leave.¡± He rushed the next words in a single breath. ¡°I do not mean to be greedy, but I have to live. Well I could just push them out, but that¡¯s not right. They paid me for a safe room. But only for one night. I heard you had a warehouse that they were putting Stiff¡¯s to be safe.¡± Stopping to inhale the Inn keep sighed and opened his mouth to continue. I held up my hand to stall the words. ¡°I¡¯ll do what I can. How many Travelers do you have?¡± Looking around at the doors the man said, ¡°Not including yours. Which is paid up. There is 16. If you can help me, I will give you my room upstairs for as long as you stay for the same price. I will even let your second room be free.¡± He shrugged gesturing toward Lien, ¡°Not like she will eat much or the kids either.¡± New Quest A Helping Hand II!!! Description: The Inn keeper of The Roost faces a dilemma. He has rooms with Travelers who are unable to agree to pay for another nights stay. He does not want to push the Stiff¡¯s out in the street where they could be robbed or killed, yet he needs his rooms freed up. He has asked for your assistance. Quest Type: Unique Difficulty: Easy Outcome:
  1. Find a way to free up The Roost¡¯s Rooms.
Reward: The best room at the Inn and a free room. Failure: None I was stunned. Did that quest just ask me to do something about Stiffs? I guess it could be referring to them not paying, but I don¡¯t think so. I agreed to help the Inn keep and went back in my room to get my armor and weapons. The city was not safe enough to run around without them yet. As I finished and opened the door, the girl was standing there. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± ¡°Your ready to do what?¡± She looked confused for a moment then stuck out her tongue thinking, ¡°Well your going to help the Inn keep. I¡¯m ready to help him too.¡± Laughing I moved to go past the girl. She stepped in my way, ¡°Well?¡± ¡°well what?¡± The girl stomped her foot, ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t a noob. You have to invite me to your party so we can quest together.¡± I frowned, ¡°I can¡¯t invite you to my group. I am not sure if its safe outside.¡± Thinking quickly, I added, ¡°I don¡¯t even know what your name is.¡± The girl smiled, ¡°Oh silly I can protect myself and my name is Kim Simmons.¡± The words were just out of the girl¡¯s mouth when her status bar updated. Kim Simmons (6) HP 550/550 Mana 0/0 Stamina 55/55 The girl was level 6 and judging by her stats a warrior. Well she really could take care of herself. I sent the group invite. We grabbed a quick early dinner and left the Inn. I wasn¡¯t sure how I was going to help. I guess I might just pick up the Travelers one at a time and take them. But what would happen if I happened upon Guards¡­ Guards! I turned toward the training grounds. While I had slept, I had received a couple letters and it also appeared that some of the Brotherhood of Steel had found an Ambassador and bought Familiars. The Guild chat all looked pretty mundane. Discussions on organizing the Guild, and good leveling spots. I knew most of the important conversations would be in the closed Officer chat, so I ignored the guild messages. The City chat was similarly uninteresting. But I did check my mail the first post office box I came across. Mail:Alexander Steiner: Azriel, I hope you heard about Logging out and didn¡¯t. I sent messages to Luxus and Lien too. Let me know if your still here. Mail: Auctioneer: Your Auction of Magic Dust x 10 sold for 1 Gold. You receive 95 Silver. (5 Silver Guild Tax) Mail: Auctioneer: Your auction of Overseer¡¯s Breastplate sold for 50 Silver. You receive 47 Silver 50 Copper (2 Silver 50 Copper Guild Tax) Mail: Auctioneer: Your Auction of Miners Heavy Pick Sold for 50 silver. You receive 47 Silver 50 Copper (2 Silver 50 Copper Guild Tax) Mail: Alexander Steiner: I haven¡¯t heard from you, so I guess you logged. I didn¡¯t hear from Luxus or Lien. I wish you luck and I hope everything turns out okay. Mail me when you come back. Mail:Auctioneer: Your Auction of Lesser Mana Potion sold for 25 Silver You receive 23 Silver 75 Copper (1 Silver 75 Copper Guild Tax) Three more Mana Potions sold and then my inbox was empty. I did the math and was grumpy. Lothorb didn¡¯t waste time did he, with a 5% Guild tax. Shaking my head, I continued on. Kim asked hopefully, ¡°was there a message from my Papi?¡± I sighed, ¡°No little one there was not.¡± Her eyes teared up, but she wiped them away before they fell. Thinking about Alexander I sent him a Clan Invite. Even if he didn¡¯t want to stay, this would at least allow us to talk for now. I double checked my Friends List to make sure he was still on and it showed he was asleep. Wait asleep? Since when was that a status? To my relief the streets were clearing of Stiff¡¯s and people were almost acting sane again. At least as sane as normal. There was a lot more violence being reported in city chat with whole sections of town being completely unsafe, but regular guard patrols kept the main areas clear. I didn¡¯t understand these players. They must be losing so much reputation with Humes killing people unprovoked like this. Reaching the Training Grounds, I was amazed the normally mostly empty grounds were full of people. Commoner, Shopkeeper, Wench, no these were NPC¡¯s and they were being drilled by Guards. I saw Captain Stuart yelling at one Stable hand. As we approached, he saw us coming and stopped berating the poor man. Instead he yelled in a voice that carried across the entire grounds, ¡°Good job people. That is enough for today. Go home rest, I¡¯ll see you half an hour before dawn tomorrow!¡± Groans and curses went up all over the grounds as NPC¡¯s threw down swords and other weapons to storm off. Captain Stuarts face turned red seeing the weapons litter the ground, ¡°Sergeant!¡± A lanky Guard Sergeant saluted, ¡°Sir?¡± ¡°Get some men and pick up this mess. Then tomorrow make sure you let the recruits know what you think of your extra labor of love.¡± The sergeant smiled coldly, ¡°Yes Sir!¡± Stuart turned to me, ¡°Hello there, how can I help you today?¡± I looked around, ¡°recruits?¡± Stuart grimaced, ¡°One can barely call them that. Sadly, they are all the city has. With no High Lord in the keep to hire replacement guards, I only get 5 new men a month.¡± Do you lose more than 5 guards a month?¡± I winced at the thought. Most guards that I had seen in Hub were level 30. Which should be more than enough to handle things in these parts. The Captain shrugged, ¡°Not normally but these are not normal times. With the massive numbers of you Travelers coming into town my manpower is being stretched thin. Then this lot.¡± He gestured to the now empty grounds, ¡°Will take time to get up to par.¡± I nodded understanding that concept at least. Ace spoke up, ¡°Master?¡± Looking down at the boy he continued, ¡°Would it be okay if on the days we were not busy, I come here and train with them?¡± I looked at the Captain questioningly. The man laughed, ¡°Of course! It would be my pleasure to train a Starblade!¡± I nodded at Ace, ¡°then I do not mind.¡± Turning to the Captain I had another thought. ¡°You said that a High Lord could hire more guards. Why isn¡¯t there a lord in the keep?¡± The Captain shrugged, ¡°There hasn¡¯t been a king, regent, high lord, or even a lesser lord since the Travelers left some 500 years ago. When you all disappeared over night our entire world fell into ruin.¡± Shocked I thought about that then asked. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you appoint new nobles to take their places?¡± Stuart¡¯s brows knit together thinking, ¡°Well I guess we don¡¯t know how.¡±The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. New Secret Quest Lost Nobles!!! Description: Guard Captain Stuart has informed you that no Nobles have ruled in Esper for hundreds of years. The knowledge of how to appoint new Lords and Ladies has been lost. Quest Type: Secret Difficulty: Varies Outcome:
  1. Discover how to appoint a noble.
  2. Become a Noble
Reward: Unknown Failure: None. Kim gasped and swiped a hand in front of her face. I guess she got the quest too. I would have to think about how to go about figuring that mystery out later. One thing at a time. ¡°That reminds me Captain. I did come for a reason.¡± ¡°Oh, what¡¯s that?¡± I explained the situation to Captain Stuart who listened looking thoughtful. ¡°I see. I would expect that there are other Inns with similar issues too. This Stiff¡¯s thing is causing all kinds of unexpected trouble. Did you know I¡¯ve had to commandeer not only your warehouse but three others to hold these people and I¡¯m not even half done with the city. My men are starting to grumble that it would be easier to kill them and let them lay in the Graveyard. I must admit it would be easier.¡± I grimaced, ¡°I¡¯m sure it would be Captain, but it would also be easier to steal your horse than it would be to train my own.¡± Stuart laughed, ¡°You would find it hard to steal my horse, but I understand your meaning. No, we will continue to do this right. I¡¯ll send men to your inn. The Roost, was it? My guards will be there to collect the Stiff¡¯s there as well as others to the other Inns. I suspect this will become a daily routine. One more reason I need more manpower.¡± Quest Completed! A Helping Hand II!!! Rewards:
  1. 50 EXP
  2. Finest Room in The Roost
  3. Free second Room as long as the first is paid for in advance.
  4. +250 Fame
Smiling, I asked another question that was on my mind. ¡°has any of the Stiff¡¯s that have been placed into a Warehouse woke up? I mean start moving again?¡± Captain Stuart frowned, ¡°Not one.¡± I shuddered. Picturing the mess, I am sure my body had made on my Dorm room bed, I smiled. Maybe this would make the damn cheap school buy new mattresses for the dorms. Shaking my head, I thanked the Captain and left the training grounds. I knew I should probably go out and level but with all this going on I didn¡¯t feel like it. Instead I went to the Magicians Tower and bought Potions Vials and other items I would need to make use of the plants currently taking up loads of space in my bags. On the way back to the Inn I got a message. Alexander Stiner has joined your Clan, The Conclave! With a wide smile I made it to the Inn as full dark fell over the city. Looking at Kim who had followed me around town mostly playing with Ace for the last couple hours, I sent her a clan Invite too. For good measure I also sent invites to Lien and Luxus. I figured if they woke up, they could get the message. Then I got Kim¡¯s dad¡¯s name and sent him an invite too. The Inn Keeper greeted me, exchanged keys with me and told me everything was already moved. Smiling I led the two kids up stairs. The room at the top of the Inn was nice! A three-room suite that took up the entire fourth floor. The main room had two nice couches a small coffee table and a giant fireplace. Through an arch on the left there was a fully stocked Study. Including a book shelve full of books. A large writing desk and two general use crafting tables. Through the right arch was a massive four poster bed, wardrobe and another fireplace. In all I think the square footage matched my parents Apartment. I began to unload things on one of the workbenches when I got a surprise. Clan:The Conclave:Alexander: Hey! Clan:The Conclave: Azriel: Evening! I see you found where to pick up a familiar. Clan:The Conclave:Alexander: Yeah, I found it. Thanks for the invite to this huge, powerful, server shaping guild. Clan:The Conclave:Azriel: If you don¡¯t like it you don¡¯t have to stay. Lol Clan:The Conclave:Alexander: Heck no! I¡¯m glad to be here and I look forward to getting out and killing some more creeps with you. But if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯m exhausted tonight, and I just want to stay in. I¡¯m finding I rather like this Imp made Flame Mead. I looked at all my Alchemy supplies spread over the table and smiled. Clan:The Conclave:Azriel: No, I don¡¯t mind at all. Clan:The Conclave:Alexander: Great! I knew I liked you! I¡¯ll message in the morning and we can go to this Forest I heard about. All kinds of critters to blow up there. Night. Clan:The Conclave:Azriel: Night The kids were in the main room playing, I had checked on Lien in her room below, and all was well. With my mortar and pestle ready, vials and reagents spread out, I set to work on my best mad alchemist impersonation Character Sheet for: Azriel Starblade. Name: Azriel Starblade Race: Hume Class: Apprentice Magi Level: 5 Exp: 10,266 / 15,000 Strength (STR): 18 (19) Muscle: 9 (10) / Endurance: 9 Dexterity (DEX): 10 Agility: 5 / Instinct: 5 Constitution (CON): 10 (11) Health: 5 (6) / Resilience: 5 Intelligence (INT): 18 Logic: 9 / Mind: 9 Wisdom (WIS): 10 Perception: 5 / Conviction: 5 Charisma (CHA) 10 Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5 Luck (LUC): 2 Hit Points (HP): 520 / 520 Mana; 590 / 590 Stamina: 52.5 / 52.5 Character Points (CP): 11 / 13 Talent Points (TP): 1 / 1 Renown (REN): 2,050 / 3,000 Fame Level: 1 Popular Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: Freeman Achievements: Famous Family: Starblade, Savior of the city: Hub. Deeds and Properties: Esper: Erthoia: Southern: Central: Hub, District 4, Warehouse 2C. Spellbook Skills: Concentration (Apprentice): 5 / 75 Leadership (Apprentice): 9 / 75 Parry (Apprentice): 11 / 75 Running (Apprentice): 4 / 75 Tactician (Apprentice): 9 / 75 Abilities: Armor: You can proficiently wear Cloth, Leather and Chain armor types. Channel: You can focus on your mana. This allows you to increase your mana regeneration rate by 100%. You may also now channel your mana into other people or objects at your normal mana regeneration rate. This ability is easy to interrupt, avoid all distractions. Home Point You can set a Home Point and create a Hearthstone. Using the Hearthstone will allow you to teleport home from anywhere, once a day. Rush: You can rapidly move forward 15 yards to strike an enemy for 3*STR damage. This strike stuns the target for 3 seconds. Shields: You can proficiently use Light shield types. Weapons: You can proficiently use Dagger, Short Blade, Axe, Mace, and Crossbow weapon types. Professions: Alchemy (Apprentice): 1 / 75 ? Herbalism (Apprentice): 26 / 75 (G) Spells: Detect Magic (Rank 3) Fire Arrow (Rank 3) Flame Wave (Rank 1) Light (Rank 3) Magic Missile (Rank 3) Read Magic (Rank 3) Sleep (Rank 1) Social Friends: Lien Xi, Luxus Swiftblade, Alexander Stiner, Kim Simmons. Enemies: Jazmine Oxford. Family: Ace Starblade. Clan: The Conclave. Guilds: Brotherhood of Steel. Nation: None. Chapter 10 - Brotherhood of Steel North American Broadcast Corporation (NABC) newsroom Oct 25, 2046 :09:00 AM EST The camera is panned out as far as it can go allowing the to women to sit as far apart as they can. The On-air light blinks green. Both women start speaking at once. After a few moments of this they both stop and glare at each other. Then the reporter, now in new clothes and looking rested, starts. ¡°Following our earlier report of loss of control of the worlds robots and androids. We have confirmed that all automated systems worldwide have gone rogue. Every nation has declared a state of emergency as the worlds armed forces have lost control of the majority of their assets. There has been no one claiming responsibility for the loss of control.¡± The news anchor picks up, ¡°On a different and similar report. We have confirmed that the worldwide players of Esper Online have been abducted by Siarra Inc. The players who have been locked in game, have now been relocated to Siarra Inc¡¯s numerous properties worldwide.¡± The reporter cuts in continuing the report, ¡°All attempts to access the interior of the buildings are being blocked by Androids or rogue robots. When confronted with firearms the Androids do not hesitate to return lethal force. Reports of raids on police stations to retrieve in game Officers has also been confirmed.¡± My skill at alchemy grew quickly and I left the Inn twice that night to return to the tower and learn new recipes for the Alchemist Trainer. The second time I left both kids had fallen asleep on the couches. When my materials finally ran out it was nearing midnight and the siren of sleep called me to the lure of my bed. In the morning I awoke with the sun. Moving into the suites main room I saw both kids were gone. Cursing I dressed and rushed downstairs hoping they just went down for breakfast. They were remarkably absent, but the Common room was rather full of Travelers talking and eating. Looking for the Innkeeper, I turned as the door opened and both children entered sweaty and dirty. Ace sported new bruises that were quickly fading. ¡°Are you okay? Did you get attacked?¡± I demanded. They both stopped surprised, then Ace answered. ¡°No sir. You told me I could go train when I had time. I woke up early and went to the Training Grounds.¡± Kim yawned, ¡°He woke me up, so I went with him.¡± Gritting my teeth, I turned and found a table. 15 minutes later a harried looking Innkeeper sat down four mugs and three platters of food. ¡°Sorry it is busier than I can handle here now.¡± I looked around the busy room, ¡°It¡¯s okay seems like time to hire more staff.¡± The Inn keeper looked at me, ¡°You know I think you may be right.¡± With that he turned and went back into the kitchen. After breakfast we went upstairs and got our things. I loaded up all the potions I made. Then I gave two Minor Healing Potions to each of the kids and set aside 2 for myself. I also decided to keep two minor mana potions for myself. When we were ready, we left turning first for the Market Square. On the way Alex woke up and messaged me in Clan chat. We agreed to meet at the South gate in an hour. The Market Square had been torn up bad with all the violence of the last few days. Guards were everywhere now, but most of the stalls were gone. Sighing I placed the extra potions I had up for sale on the Auction and went to go meet Alexander. That day we went to the forest south of Hub. The creatures closest to the city were slightly higher level than us, which made them perfect for three travelers. Sadly, they were mostly animals like wolves, bears, and some angry deer. They provided nice meat, and I am sure Leather if any of us knew how to skin. But other loot was very slim. Near the end of the day something good did drop from a Scraggly Wolf. Lucky Loot! Scrap of Wolf skin(Grey) Quality : Poor Scrap of Paper (Grey) Quality : Poor Wolf Meet x2(White) Quality : Common Linen Cloth (White) Quality : Common Aether of Fury(Blue) Quality : Rare Restrictions: Warrior Alexander and Kim both made excited sounds. I smiled, ¡°Well lookie here. Seems our Miss Kim has found herself some bling.¡± Alexander frowned, ¡°Hey let¡¯s not be too hasty. Those things sale for a fortune. We could split the money we made from it.¡± Kim frowned rubbing the emerald green pyramid shaped gem in her hands. I shook my head, ¡°Na we have a warrior who could use it. I say need before greed.¡± Alexander looked a bit put out but relented. I then instructed Kim on how to equip the Aether. I also checked mine while the subject was fresh in mind. Aether of Force (Blue) Knowledge: 4,573 of 1,000,000 Quality : Rare Restrictions: Magi Interestingly enough it looked like the Aether was gaining Knowledge at the same rate I was gaining EXP. So far, I hadn¡¯t seen any results or actions, but it was gaining knowledge. Shrugging I looked at Alexander. ¡°Hey, I¡¯ve not spent my Talent Point yet. Where did you place yours?¡± Alexander looked confused, ¡°I went with Improved Summoning from the Summon Tree. Why do you ask?¡± I started looking for more prey and answered over my shoulder, ¡°Well I can choice from The Warriors Aggression or Defense Trees. Or I could choose from the Elemental and Force Trees of the Magician.¡± Alexander whistled, ¡°Damn I want to be a Magi. You be cool.¡± I laughed, ¡°Maybe but I do not have access to the ¡° Summoning or Balance Trees.¡± The conversation paused as I shot a Magic Missile at a Briar Stag and we killed it. Alexander stood from looting the corpse and said, ¡°With the way you like that spell you should choose something in the Force Tree.¡± I nodded finding another target and shot another Magic Missile at it. After the bear was dead, I responded, ¡°I was thinking the same. But should I choose Mighty Force to improve all my Force Spells, Improved Magic Missile giving me more missiles or Improved Shield.¡± Alexander gestured to the shield on my back, ¡°Do you even use a shield?¡± I laughed and sat on a log. With No Acolyte we had to rest often to recover HP and Mana. ¡°This stupid shield interferes with casting. Anyway, you know the spell is different.¡± Alexander nodded, ¡°yeah but do you even have it yet?¡± I shook my head thinking. In the end I still did not spend my TP. As the sun began to set, the wind picked up and the clouds that had rolled in over the afternoon started to weep. Alexander was sheathed in light as the wolf we were facing died. ¡°Ding!¡± ¡°Well folks I say we go home and get out of this rain¡± I said. Kim shook her head flinging rain from her soaked hair, ¡° agree!¡± ¡°Well then I¡¯m going to hearth back. Have a good night Lady and Gents¡± Alexander said as he pulled out his Hearthstone and began to focus on it. A moment later he vanished. Kim and I pulled out our stones and began to focus, Ace grabbed ahold of me and we disappeared.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. The rain did not let up over the next two days making our hunting miserable. By the end of the day or as soon as we each leveled, we would return home soaked and grumpy. Each day after we got back, we would rush across the street to the Millers Market a general store. There we would sell most of the day¡¯s bounty. Sadly, with so many Travelers flooding the market prices for poor quality items were decreasing. Additionally, prices for other items were increasing as demand outstripped supply. There were two good things. First potions I made sold fast and for good gold on Auction. Second with the rain fewer Travelers were willing to venture out, so there was less competition for creatures. On the morning of the fifth day in game, the storm finally broke. The clouds still thick and grey no longer wept a cold storm upon the world. Going down to the Common room I was preparing for a much more enjoyable day. Then a notice in guild chat soured my mood dramatically. Chat:Guild:Brotherhood of Steel: To all members there is a mandatory meeting in the old farmhouse East of Hub an hour after dawn today. If you are not there you will be kicked from the Guild as inactive. If you¡¯re not near hub contact an officer to get excused. With a sigh I told Alexander in our Clan chat that I was going to be late joining him. Then turning to Kim, I said, ¡°So I have to meet with my guild before we go out today. Do you want to wait here for Alexander or ¡­¡±? The girl cut me off. ¡°I¡¯m not a noob! I do not need an escort. No Ace and I have some running around to do anyway. He has a familiar so when your done let us all know.¡± I nodded at the pragmatic girl and pushed away from the table. I was able to find the requested house easy enough, but it was no farmhouse. The building was a three-story affair. In its prime it had 3 large wings coming off the main house and ruins of outhouses littered the surrounding area. Now though its Victorian styled splendor was a mess. Only one wing still looked safe enough I would risk walking in it. The back one had the top two stories collapsed in altogether. Moss clung to the building tearing apart the beams and blocking windows. Upon entering the entrance hall, I stopped again surprised. There was easily 80 people in the room. Most of whom were not Hume. All the races were represented but not necessarily in even amounts. The veteran gamers showed a pension for the more bestial species. There were large numbers of the Immortal and Elemental races. Even Orcs outnumbered the Humes. Most of the players who went with either Elf race were women and in general there was very few goblins or halflings. Everyone was gathered in small groups and talking amongst themselves. You could easily pick out the smaller groups that made any large collection of people. Sadly, my habit of ignoring the guild had left me out of the clique forming. Although it looked to be in my favor. I was the highest-level player I saw in the room. With a mental command I opened the guild roster, then I gasped. We had over 500 members! Moving and sorting the list around I quickly found I was right and wrong. I wasn¡¯t the highest-level player in the guild. I actually placed 6th. But I was the highest-level player in the Hub area. The room grew quiet, so I closed the menus and turned toward where everyone was looking. On the second story balcony 11 people stood, the officers. Penelopy was up there as was Lothorb. With a hand Lothorb called for quiet, in the already quiet hall¡­ I snorted, earning me a grin from a large Orc nearby. ¡°Greetings Brotherhood!¡± Cheers went up around the room. When the room quieted, he continued, ¡°Its been an interesting few days, but we seem to have reached the first critical point with a success.¡± Murmurs and questions were mixed with cheers and sounds of relief. ¡°To those that do not know Most of us have been in game now for over 4 days now. You may or may not know but the human body can only live 3 days with no water.¡± The room broke out in renewed noise, but he yelled over it. ¡°But we are still here! I can say for myself that I am not feeling any worse for it either! This means someone out there is taking care of our bodies in the Real world!¡± half cheers went up but most stayed quiet waiting. ¡°This means that our concerns with Logging out has been noticed by the Real world and people are working on getting us out! I would expect to hear something from the Dev¡¯s any time now!¡± Cheers went up now, excited and hopeful. I had a sinking feeling though. I hadn¡¯t thought about the timeline. It was true I didn¡¯t think my body was dying or dead. I felt fine. So, I guess it did mean someone had taken care of it somehow, but if the Devs were working on a fix, then why keep us in the dark? Lothorb continued, ¡°With concerns of our RL safety down we turn our concerns on the guild. When I created the guild and came to Hub, I was told by a reliable source that this was a good area for leveling and dungeons.¡± I growled, I created the damn guild and I had told him nothing of the sort. ¡°We now know its less than promised. To add to the trouble the distressed turn of events has led to a large amount of violence. True the guards will protect everyone in good standing with the Hume faction, but since most of us are not Hume, that protection can be spotty. To make things worse if a player kills one of us, they do not suffer Rep loss with the Hume. Whereas if we kill one of them, we do. We already have numerous guild mates who are unable to venture into town.¡± Grumbles and curses sounded with a few agreements. ¡°So, we are going to set up base here.¡± Someone called out cutting Lothorb off, ¡°did the guild buy this mess¡± Lothorb frowned at the interruption. ¡°Please calm down, there will be time for questions later. But to answer this one. No, there was only four properties available to be bought in Hub. We did not find them fast enough to purchase them. This house is unowned. We will all look for an opportunity to buy a Guild house but for now this will be our home.¡± Lothorb paused seeming to expect cheers, none came. He went on, ¡°In the meantime our Guild grows! We have an extensive recruitment team in Starter City. They are reporting that the influx of new players has not slowed. If we are to believe them, it has actually increased! Downside, most players seem to log off moments after getting to Starter City. That makes finding high speed players hard. Upside, our teams rock, we are finding many. At this time, we are focused on setting up stronghold locations in 5 empires . Three here in the core and one on the Elemental and Outer Realms. Most of our players are being sent here! Soon we will be the largest Guild in Hub and then no one will mess with one of our members.¡± Now cheers went up across the room. I shuffled my feet. ¡°In the meantime, we will be setting up details for each of our players. We will be assigning you to groups with tasks and goals, so please stay here until you receive your group and task. Good hunting my Brotherhood!¡± With that he walked out of sight. The large Orc next to me muttered, ¡°What about being able to ask questions?¡± I didn¡¯t wait in the crowded room to have an officer tell me what to do. I started to leave, but Penelopy caught me anyway. ¡°¡±Azriel! Stop!¡± Sighing I turned and forced a smile. The Undead women was looking worse. Her hair had all fallen out and there was full sheets of skin that was in the process of sloughing off her skeletal frame. She saw me Cringing at the sight. ¡°Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll look better soon, we found that eating meat reverses the decaying process. Soon I¡¯ll look good as new.¡± I nodded still not meeting the milky white orbs of her eyes. My instincts all told me to either run from or smash this thing. I refrained and forced my smile back into plaice. ¡°How can I help you Penelopy?¡± She reached into a pouch and withdrew a sheet of paper. ¡°We have found a Dungeon with small Raid options. Your job is to take these players and go conquer the dungeon.¡± I paused before taking the paper, ¡°Wait you want me to lead a raid?¡± That wasn¡¯t too bad. She nodded, ¡°Yeah there is a bandit hideout south of Hub. It is a dungeon or 15-man raid. I knew this was right up your alley, your going to be starting our Raiders.¡± I smiled, ¡°Thank y¡­¡± She cut me off, ¡°Do not thank me. I had no say in the names your taking. Lothorb wouldn¡¯t listen to us when we tried to push to let our average level come up before attempting this.¡± I paused, ¡°How bad is it?¡± She shrugged, ¡°Its not too bad, you may be able to do it.¡± With that less than outstanding endorsement I read the letter. It clearly gave directions to the Dungeon¡¯s entrance. It also gave me a list of 14 names. It also clearly said I was supposed to go out today. I looked up the names and groaned. The group was not set up well. Not knowing the type of Dungeon, I wasn¡¯t sure which configuration would give us the best odds, but 5 warriors, 5 Acolytes, 2 thieves, and 2 magicians was not ideal in any situation. This configuration would be heavy on front liners and low on DPS. If it was a great big field with creatures that would let us bash our heads against them for a day or two, then this might work. Frowning I pulled out my Clan Familiar and pushed on the bird¡¯s head. Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Azriel: Hey who¡¯s up for a raid? Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Kim: ME! Oh Goodie! Goodie! Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Alexander: A what? Aren¡¯t we too low to raid? Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Luxus: Count me in. Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Azriel: Hey Luxus! I thought you were gone man! Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Luxus: I never logged out, but I kind of hit a funk. I¡¯m not feeling too hot about this extended stay in ER. Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Alexander: Me too but getting out and doing things helps me. Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Luxus: I¡¯m hoping it will help me too. I gave them the directions to the dungeon and invited them to my group. I had everything I needed so I didn¡¯t bother heading back to Hub. Instead I turned straight there and began to figure out what type of group to form. From watching Guild chat I could tell the names on my list were all getting their orders and making their way to the dungeon. I smiled, well some of them would not be happy. Chapter 10.2 - Pain in the... Bandit Hideout Raid! I tried to watch the chat and get a feel for the people I was to lead. After a couple minutes I had decided that a Psyonia was a keeprer and an Inveyan was a hell no. The others I kept watching. Eventually I made my way to the bandit hideout. In the middle of a flat grassy plain stood a single square ramshackle wooden building. It¡¯s weathered splintering wood planks stood out darkly against the tall green grasses all around. All over the grassland outside there were numerous bandits running around. The Common Bandit Thugs were level 8. Here and there were 9¡¯s or the rare 10. I smiled, ¡°well, this will be a good test to see who is worth taking.¡± I started toward the shack killing the thieves that agro¡¯ed me. Inside the single exterior door, lay a single moderately sized room. Four rough wood walls with a bare earth floor created a staging area. It was a large safe area where we could gather before going into the Dungeon. The Dungeon itself started with some wide stairs circling down near the center of the large room. In the depths was the misty haze of the Dungeon instance. Unlike the Kobold caves once someone passed into this haze only their party would be able to enter that preset event. Any number of groups could be in there at once and each one would have a fully stocked and manned instance. Although the more groups that cleared a Dungeon, the weaker it became. Reversely, if no one cleared a Dungeon they would grow stronger. The treasure was directly corresponding to the difficulty too. So, it was always better to find Dungeons that no one else knew of. Later in the game Guilds were known to claim dungeons and kill anyone else who tried to enter. I looked at the Wall plac that showed the current ratings and whistled. Although judging by the number of people in the room I knew people had attempted to clear this Hideout. But no one had done it yet. The meter was at a nice 8 out of 10 stars. The missing stars did show that someone had been making progress at least. While I was looking at the plac I also set our dungeon to raid mode . A pop up came up. Warning: When you start your journey, there will be a 48-hour reset timer. After that I set back and waited. My Clanmates got here first. I smiled and quietly directed them to head downstairs. Kim was bouncing around excited, Alexander and Luxus were acting the cool professional. Ace had acquired a backpack from somewhere and was wearing his piecemeal armor and carried the staff I gave him. He came over to me and watched the others descend. When some of the others started to show my gut clenched, most of them were level 4 and a few were 5. Sighing I invited the first few to show and sent them down. When finally, a large group arrived, I had to actually make hard decisions. I ended up taking 5 of the Acolytes, both of the thieves and magicians and 2 warriors. In total with my clan I had Myself, 3 magicians, 3 thieves, 5 Acolytes, and 3 warriors. To the others I said, ¡°Thank you guys for showing, but we are full now. Maybe next time.¡± As I expected Inveyan grew angry and tried to argue. ¡°What the hell do you mean your full¡± They sent the 15 of us here. It is a 15-person dungeon!¡± A female Rogue who just came in the doorway responded as she turned sneak off. ¡°Dude it means you can¡¯t go. Good thing for them too! You died twice just getting in here. Those people had to help you even arrive!¡¯ I checked her name Sniffles on the roster and didn¡¯t find it. Trying to avoid arguing with what I could tell was one of Lothorb¡¯s pets I took the chance to run down the stairs. Sniffles dashed right behind me. Then in front of me before I could enter the Mist.¡± ¡°I want to go!¡± I looked at her, ¡°I wasn¡¯t lying we are full.¡± She glared at me, then nodded. ¡°Fine.¡± She stepped aside and I entered. I almost sobbed when I saw what we were facing the First couple of bandits were elite level 12¡¯s. There were also a lot of them. I had level fours and fives. There was just no way! I considered maybe that is why the dungeon had not been cleared yet. Not because it was rough but just because no one had the levels to do it. With a shake of my head I got to work on organizing and instructing pull orders, sleep spells and all the other tasks of a raid leader. The group actually did better than I thought. We made progress and took down two bosses, but in the end our levels were just not high enough. By the time we were able to clear trash ahead of us the ones behind were starting to respawn. Even so we only wiped twice. Once was due to a rogue who decided it was a good idea to explore while the rest of us rested. He found a patrol I had been trying to avoid and instead of dying with honor he led them back to us. The second time was on the 2nd boss. He was an Ogre who dual wielded Swords. We found out the wrong way that he had a whirl wind attack that struck everyone in the area. He rushed our healers and disrupted the heal pattern. With the heals missing our warrior team (myself included) died in moments. Then he made short work of the others. On the second attempt I spread our healers out and set the magicians near them. This way when he did move toward one group, we didn¡¯t lose them all. That plan worked and we finished him off to cheers. The cheers became even more excited when we looted him, and the thieves got to roll for one of his blades. I had been instructed to collect all the high quality and higher loot that would not become soulbound when picked up and return it to the guild leaders for raid point assessment. The looks most people gave me, made me realize that they knew exactly what that meant. We were equipping the guild leaders. Fortunately, there were 3 Bind on pick ups on both bosses. Two of them were even rare quality. After 6 hours of raiding 2 of which had been killing trash to have to turn around and rekill them, I called it a day. As we made our way back to the entrance, I asked everyone¡¯s craft and professional skills. After finding out most didn¡¯t have any I asked if they had preferences. Then I Started assigning people the task of learning certain skills. I tried to give them what they wanted, but the raid needed certain things. One Acolyte who wanted Jewel crafting got assigned Blacksmithing, since as I pointed out the gathering profession of mining was the same for both. Finally, I informed everyone that tomorrow they should focus on leveling up their craft skills and if possible, grab a level themselves. Then in two days we would meet back here an hour after dawn and try again. The rogue who had went exploring ask the question I could see on everyone¡¯s face. ¡°Why wait a day? Why not come back tomorrow!¡± There were many agreements and murmurs of accent. To my surprise Psyonia Beat me to the answer. ¡°I have been looking and everyone gained at least two levels today. A few of the lower levels even got three. For those of you who are new to Raiding, that means we have some new skills and abilities to get used to. Then if my math was right, we each totaled 7 gold in coins today. That means we should be able to upgrade our gear too. Finally, he told us to work on craft skills. I assume he thinks we will need them¡± I nodded as everyone else digested her elaborate answer. I made sure to not say anything because I was going to give the Cause I said so reason, hers sounded better. Better yet because it was true. To my amazement I looked over the group and saw no one under 6 now. These monsters were still twice their level, but it was better than three times it. We returned out through the instance¡¯s swirling mist vortex and people pulled out their hearthstones to hearth home. I stayed to watch, Psyonia didn¡¯t leave either . She waited for the others to go and then looked at me. After a minute of her scrutiny I finally asked, ¡°What?¡± ¡°those other people the ones not in the Brotherhood of Steel. You¡¯re in another guild or maybe a clan with them.¡± I hadn¡¯t exactly been advertising it, but I wasn¡¯t hiding it either, so I shrugged. ¡°How did you know?¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. She smiled, ¡°You guys didn¡¯t have the Brotherhood Familiars equipped and so when you used that bird on your belt, I knew you were talking to someone else. Then the 4 of you never actually talked out loud, but you all acted like you knew the score.¡± I shrugged, ¡°What if we are just that good?¡± She shook her head, ¡°Your good but not that good. Then that Magician is still green. He has talent, but he had never been on a raid before.¡± I had figured out the same thing about Alexander. He had tried to hide his inexperience, but it showed in small ways. I finally nodded, ¡°Yeah we are.¡± Psyonia smiled, ¡°I want in.¡± ¡°what?¡± She smiled wider, ¡°You heard me, I want in. The Brotherhood is fine, but you guys are going to be great. I want in on it.¡± ¡° I smirked and put as much swagger as I could in my voice, ¡°And why should we want you?¡± She smiled, ¡°Easy, you need me. You did not hesitate to replace Brotherhood players with your own. So, I assume that if there were more of you then you would have replaced more of us. I didn¡¯t see an Acolyte in your group. You Need one.¡± I thought of Lien in her bed still not moving. Then at the dark-haired beauty in front of me. Then I did a double take. She really was beautiful! Wild Elf and just slightly shorter than my 6¡¯1 she was trim but had more than ample curves in the right places. Her eyes were a startling blue with a lavender halo contrasting magnificently with her deep purple almost black hair and well tanned skin. Since she was Wild Elf, I knew this wasn¡¯t exactly what she really looked like. Regardless, she had to be close. Shaking my head, I invited her before I said something stupid. Something like,¡±Ugh your pretty.¡± I grabbed Ace and hearthed without a word. I reappeared in The Roost and groaned. Chat:Clan:The Conclave: Notice: Psyonia Auger has joined. Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Luxus: Oh, a girl!!! Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Kim: I¡¯m a Girl! Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Alexander: She was that pretty healer too! Good job CM! I frowned, then made up my mind. Psyonia had made a good point we were small and did lack things. Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Notice: Azriel has promoted Luxus to Officer. Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Notice Azriel has promoted Alexander to officer. Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Kim: Hey what about me? Totally not fair! Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Notice: Azriel has created a new rank Junior-Officer. Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Notice: Azriel has promoted Kim to Junior-Officer. Chat:Clan:The Conclave:Azriel: Ok folks do not go all wild and start inviting just everyone, in fact I¡¯d rather if you run an invite by me first. But we do need to expand. If you find anyone good, then recruit them. Also, these dungeons always have quests in them. Tomorrow I want you guys to scour the town. Talk to everyone. Find the quests. They all agreed, then with a heavy sigh I also set up a 3% Clan Tax. If we were going to be a respectable Clan then we would need to have money to buy things. Like A Vault. Looking at my bags I almost cried. There were nearly 40 items that I was going to have to send to the Brotherhood. Nothing absolutely to die for, but it still hurt. My inner devil argued, ¡°No one will know if we keep something. Maybe one piece for each of our clan?¡± My angel huffed crossed her arms under her breasts and said, ¡°You better not. Even if the Guild hasn¡¯t paid you back yet. You need to act in good faith.¡± My green-eyed monster added its two cents, ¡°We could sell it all then send the Brotherhood most of the gold. After we kept an exchange fee, of course.¡± The three inner voices raged and argued, and I sat indecisive. Eventually I sent the items via mail. The angel won out. She had begun to cry, and I was a sucker for a woman in need. As the last item left my bags my inner devil growled. ¡°You know the only reason she is a she is because she represents your manipulative side too! She knows how to fight dirty!¡± I ignored him and went to the general store to sell what little poor-quality loot I had acquired. Character Sheet for: Azriel Starblade. Name: Azriel Starblade Race: Hume Class: Apprentice Magi Level: 11 Exp: 68,362 / 78,000 Strength (STR): 24(25) Muscle: 12(13) / Endurance: 12 Dexterity (DEX): 10 Agility: 5 / Instinct: 5 Constitution (CON): 10 (11) Health: 5 (6) / Resilience: 5 Intelligence (INT): 24 Logic: 12 / Mind: 12 Wisdom (WIS): 10 Perception: 5 / Conviction: 5 Charisma (CHA) 10 Appearance: 5 / Personality: 5 Luck (LUC): 2 Hit Points (HP): 1,000 / 1,000 Mana; 1,220 / 1,220 Stamina: 112.5 / 112.5 Character Points (CP): 17 / 19 Talent Points (TP): 2 / 2 Renown (REN): 2,050 / 3,000 Fame Level: 1 Popular Deity: None Faith (FAI): 0 / 1000 Titles: Freeman Achievements: Famous Family: Starblade, Savior of the city: Hub. Deeds and Properties: Esper: Erthoia: Southern: Central: Hub, District 4, Warehouse 2C. Spellbook Skills: Concentration (Apprentice): 9 / 75 Leadership (Apprentice): 11 / 75 Parry (Apprentice): 20 / 75 Running (Apprentice): 8 / 75 Tactician (Apprentice): 9 / 75 Abilities: Armor: You can proficiently wear Cloth, Leather and Chain armor types. Channel: You can focus on your mana. This allows you to increase your mana regeneration rate by 100%. You may also now channel your mana into other people or objects at your normal mana regeneration rate. This ability is easy to interrupt, avoid all distractions. Home Point You can set a Home Point and create a Hearthstone. Using the Hearthstone will allow you to teleport home from anywhere, once a day. Rush: You can rapidly move forward 15 yards to strike an enemy for 3*STR damage. This strike stuns the target for 3 seconds. Shields: You can proficiently use Light shield types. Weapons: You can proficiently use Dagger, Short Blade, Axe, Mace, and Crossbow weapon types. Professions: Alchemy (Apprentice): 26 / 75 ? Herbalism (Apprentice): 34 / 75 (G) Spells: Detect Magic (Rank 3) Fire Arrow (Rank 3) Flame Wave (Rank 1) Light (Rank 3) Magic Missile (Rank 3) Read Magic (Rank 3) Sleep (Rank 1) Social Friends: Lien Xi, Luxus Swiftblade, Alexander Stiner, Kim Simmons. Enemies: Jazmine Oxford. Family: Ace Starblade. Clan: The Conclave. Guilds: Brotherhood of Steel. Nation: None.