《Vertigo》 Chapter 1 ~ Running Away Putting my TruShift on my head, I laid back in my bed and let the full immersion VR take me, but I wasn¡¯t going back to Yevelia. The beautiful land of magic and fantastic creatures had been amazing, but I just couldn¡¯t face it at the moment. I needed space, time away from the place, and especially the person, that had caused me so much hurt. Jupiter betrayed me again. He had apologized, for a second time for involving me in things that I felt better left alone. For the first time since high school I found myself putting distance between us. I logged out, refused to call him, and put all my calls on silent. I couldn¡¯t face him right then. I needed time to think about all that had happened, time to find my bearings again. To figure out what had been bothering me since we first logged into Yevelia. ¡°You just have to be the hero,¡± I whispered to myself. And it was true. Jupiter felt an unrequited need to be a hero, to matter, even if it was in the virtual world. He wanted to rescue the damsel, and run into the burning building. It was a trait he had since we met as children. When I had been pushed on the playground he got between me and the bully, making sure I wasn¡¯t hurt again. Later when I started having trouble being around people he would run interference for me, helping me deal with the constant press of crowds in modern society. He always knew who he was, and what he wanted. It was no surprised that he was trying to be a hero inside the virtual world, either. It shouldn¡¯t have bothered me. He would always be there for me. Always rescue me. Then why was I so angry? It didn¡¯t bother me that he wanted to rescue me. I had several friends and relatives that did the same, and they made living with my anxieties easier. I had come to terms with my anxiety and agoraphobia long ago. The treatments I tried in the past didn¡¯t seem to work, so I just learned to work around it. If I was so satisfied with my life then why wasn¡¯t I happy? What did I want? Maybe that was why I left Jupiter standing alone on a beach. Being with the hero reminded me that I had no direction in life, no purpose. Jupiter had always been the hero trying to get out of the projects and into a better place. He wanted to effect the world around him, change it, while I avoided it. The TruShift offered me a location grid to choose from. The Hub, the center of everything, Yevelia where I had left Jupiter, or a few smaller worlds that I had visited the first time I entered The Hub. I clicked on the central hub area, still unsure where I wanted to go. The world shimmered into focus and I appeared deep in the heart of The Hub. Right in front of a tower of lights and music. Streams of people made their way into the waiting cacophony. Any other time I would have danced away my sorrows with drinks and loud music. This time something felt wrong. What did I want? Jupiter had always been the hero trying to get out. He wanted to effect the world around him, change it. What about me? What did I want? I felt the tears start to flow and instinctively pressed the back of my hand to my cheek. A couple of blinks and the water works were turned off. I didn¡¯t need sympathy inside of a video game, I had enough of that in the real world. Every well meaning sympathetic ear cut a little bit deeper. I gripped my chest, feeling my heart race and my breathing get shallow as I looked at all the people. That manic display of energy. It had never been a problem inside the virtual world before, why was it suddenly so painful?The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. What did I want? The thought kept twisting inside me like a knife. What was I doing here? What did I want out of it? What would I get? Maybe I didn¡¯t know what I wanted, but I suddenly didn¡¯t want to be anywhere near the dance hall, or around that many people. I turned on my heel and ran down the street. I didn¡¯t know where I was going, or what I was doing, I just had to get away. I kept running, avoiding any crowds of people, or anyone trying to get my attention. I didn¡¯t care if they were people or NPC¡¯s, I just had to get away. TruShift had been a marvel of technology when it first emerged. By connecting two minds together you could enter entire realities created from fiction. Everything from fantasy based role playing games, to cooking simulators, and city planners, all in the comfort of your own home. And everything connected to The Hub. I could go anywhere, do anything, visit any monument, or planet at the touch of a button. But I wasn¡¯t running to anything, I was running away, again. Away from Jupiter, away from Yevelia, away from disappointment. And away from myself. I turned down a side street, then another. Bright lights and portals lined the paths, but there were fewer people down the side streets. It gave me time to breath, to let go of the panic that had been holding my heart hostage. I slowed down, wrapping my arms around myself to try and stop the shivers running through me. It was never cold in The Hub, but my body didn¡¯t seem to care about facts right then. It took me a few minutes to calm down, my breath evening out, my heart no longer trying to escape the confines of my chest. I stopped in the center of the path, closed my eyes, and took several long, deep, breathes. I let the panic from a moment before evaporate away. Once I had myself under control I opened my eyes and looked around. I recognized the street instantly. There were several virtual bars down the road, each with a different card based game. Several were just regular casinos allowing you to play poker and black-jack just like you did in Vegas. Others were built from trading card games. Before the internet became popular people played, and collected, the trading cards in paper form. Around the 2020¡¯s most trading cards had a digital presence. You could buy, sell, and trade the same cards you could in the real world, but their digital counterparts didn¡¯t take up room in your home, get damaged by children and pets, or suddenly go missing when a friend visited. When virtual worlds became a common part of gaming some of the first games to show up in VR were the trading card games. Many just opened up tournament halls and allowed you to compete with your collection in an actual arena. Some brought the cards to life allowing the creatures you summoned to fight it out in front of an audience. A few blended the card game with an RPG element allowing you to fight and capture your cards in a virtual world, then battle with them in arenas. Somehow I had run to this row seeking out my guilty pleasure. I had been playing online card games since I could hold a mouse, and the idea of a virtual game that blended RPG and a card game had peeked my curiosity. I never suggested it to Jupiter since it wasn¡¯t his style of game. But I wasn¡¯t with Jupiter at the moment. I was standing in front of an old style saloon with swing doors. The stucco had an earthy grey cast to it, and the wood grain doors had been well worn by all the hands pushing them open over the years. Or so it appeared. With virtual you didn¡¯t know if it was designed that way, or programmed to react to the people interacting with it. A pink neon sign blinked above the door frame proclaiming it to be Vertigo. In smaller letters it read VR-TCG-O. I couldn¡¯t help but give it a small smile. The devs had been a little on the nose when naming it. The virtual-reality trading card game online. Vertigo was so much easier to say. I could go in, loose myself in a game like I always did. I had been wanting to try some of the virtual trading card games anyway, right? And Jupiter really wasn¡¯t interested in it so it just made sense to go now. So why did I hesitate? As soon as the question entered my mind so did the answer. If I went in there I would be hiding again, running away from people and burying my face in a deck of cards. Agoraphobia, they called it. I called it being a hermit while I was growing up, I just didn¡¯t feel like going outside. Being an introvert, interacting with people just wore me out then it was easy to stay in. I couldn¡¯t remember why I stopped going outside. I don¡¯t think it was a conscious decision, it just happened over time. I took all online classes, started ordering food in, stopped going on dates since they were pointless anyway, and one day I just woke up and realized I hadn¡¯t been outside my home in more than a year. No one questioned it. No one fussed. No one pleaded with me to go outside. No one cared, they just accepted it, if they knew. Like Jupiter most people didn¡¯t even realize it because I was such a home body anyway. It was easy. So why did it hurt so much that I couldn¡¯t risk going on grand adventures with Jupiter? We could still hunt dragons, quest in the dark mountains, or find enchanted forests, but I couldn¡¯t risk my real life home. That¡¯s where the line had to be. Wasn¡¯t it? Before I could do anything someone stumbled out of the saloon. Her arms were wrapped around the neck of another player. They both had augmented bodies, their eyes and fingers looking more mechanical than human, and they were so engrossed in each other that they didn¡¯t even notice as I stepped out of their way. They wandered off down the promenade, and I could hear her giggling at something he said. I shook my head. Here I was having an existential crises and the world went on without me. None of my worries really mattered to anyone else. I made my choice a long time ago and it was pointless to start worrying about it now. I stepped forward, pushing open the swinging doors and stepped inside. Chapter 2 ~ Welcome to Vertigo Soul Deck caught my eye the very first time I stepped into The Hub. What appeared to be a quaint little old fashioned pub from the outside actually contained a separate hub for the Vertigo card game. A world where your only weapon was a deck of cards, and in order to increase your cards you had to defeat bigger, and badder, creatures. It wasn¡¯t something Jupiter would be interested in playing, but I loved card games. Poker on Saturday nights had been a staple for a long time. Then there were the various battle card games that came along, each with their own rules and artistic depictions. In virtual spaces they had even gained some animations, and depth. The battle fields had grown, becoming something tangible. The Soul Deck pub had old wooden shaker tiles on the roof, a swinging door for the entrance, and white stucco walls. Simple, clean lines, and aged paint. If I hadn¡¯t seen the advertisements in the Trading Card Game forums for Vertigo I probably would have overlooked the pub. Even though I expected it, it was a bit surreal to step through the doors. The Soul Deck, like many buildings in The Hub, was bigger on the inside. Physical space was a construct of reality, but in virtual space there was no limit. What appeared to be a two story saloon on the outside opened up to more than ten stories stretching up toward an open sky once inside. I had to crane my neck upward in order to see to the top of the building, and even then I wasn¡¯t sure I could see past the fog of distance. Each floor appeared to have a slightly different design. On the bottom floor there were simple cinder-block columns holding up archways that led to old wooden doors. On the floor above the columns were finished stonework, the doors thick oak with steel barding. Each floor became a bit more ornate until the upper floors that I could see had marble colonnades with fluted sconces, and silver inlaid gates that glowed with faint magic over the archways. The building was a hub within a hub. Each portal took you to a different level of the game, and the bar allowed you to mingle among players without worrying about levels. The Soul Deck was a safe zone, in effect, where players could trade cards, tips, sell items, or find others to duel with in the mini arena. Once inside the gates all bets were off. Player-verses-player was in effect on all levels, so if you weren¡¯t interested in being attacked by fellow players you had to find a different game. There were dozens of people scattered throughout the building. Several were entering and exiting various portals on different floors. Others were gathered around tables on the ground floor drinking and sharing stories. On the far side of the ground floor there was a small arena with two combatants and a small crowd. There were two creatures currently brawling on the floor, but they were only a foot tall so I could not see what they were from the far side of the lobby. From what I understood of Vertigo, the arena inside Soul Deck was a practice arena used for small bets, and . The full size arenas, complete with elements, full size creatures, and major spell slinging, could be found out on the floors. The first arena was the most common since anyone could enter the first floor, but to battle in any of the tournaments in higher levels you had to be able to get there first, though you could buy a pass to be in the audience. I took in Soul Deck and all the unusual people scattered around the room. I wasn¡¯t quite sure where to start with the game. There was no big exclamation point hovering over anyone¡¯s head proclaiming a quest available. But it was a bar, so why not start with the bartender? I made my way through the room, weaving between tables and a few people trading cards. There weren¡¯t a lot of people in the bar, just enough to feel cozy without being overcrowded. The bar itself sat in the center of the room, a wide circular area with stools spaced evenly around the outside. Several people sat in small clusters, or alone, having drinks and looking through more stacks of cards. I slipped in between a tall blond woman with long silver finger nails, and a boy in a pink tutu and purple wings drinking milk. The bartender looked incredibly stereotypical, right down to his handlebar mustache and bald head. He was even wiping a glass with a white cloth as I sat down, even though the glass looked clean. ¡°How can I help you, little miss?¡± he said, still whipping at the glass. ¡°Little miss?¡± I asked. ¡°Don¡¯t mind him,¡± the girl beside me said. ¡°He¡¯s programmed for old-timey language. It¡¯s part of the flavor around here. And he¡¯s equally ridiculous to the men who come in here, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re wondering.¡± I sighed. Just what I needed, a dev who enjoyed making the players uncomfortable. ¡°And no one said anything about it?¡± ¡°Of course they did,¡± she said, twisting in her chair to face me. ¡°Someone said it was sexist, of course, but the dev pointed out the NPC calls the men the same thing and they had to give up on that.¡± ¡°It calls the men little miss, too?¡± ¡°Yep,¡± she said with a wide smile. ¡°You should see the newbies that come in here. They look so confused.¡± I couldn¡¯t help chuckling at the thought. I could imagine Jupiter in his dwarf getup being called little miss. Then again his long red braids might be cute with a couple of bows. ¡°Name¡¯s Vallet,¡± the woman said, holding out her hand. I took it. Her hands were smaller than I thought, and she had long nails painted in a rich red. Hadn¡¯t they been silver a moment ago? ¡°I¡¯m Cassidaya. Cas for short.¡± ¡°Well, Cas, are you looking for your starter deck.¡± ¡°I¡­think so?¡± She laughed, a warm musical laugh that seemed to invite you to join her even if it was at your expense. ¡°Well, you¡¯re new here, and I¡¯m guessing you can¡¯t get through the first portal. You¡¯re going to need your starting deck to do so.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure where to start, honestly. I haven¡¯t even tried the portal. You can¡¯t get through the first portal without one?¡± ¡°There are actually two criteria in order to get though a portal,¡± she said, holding up her fingers with their green nail polish. Color changing nails, why didn¡¯t I think of that before? ¡°You have to have a deck that¡¯s strong enough for the floor your trying to get into, and you have unlocked the floor from the floor below first. There are only a couple instances where it doesn¡¯t apply, like audiences joining an arena stadium.¡± ¡°And I am guessing the higher in the building the higher the level your deck needs to be,¡± I said, craning my head back to look up at the many floors. ¡°Exactly.¡± She took a sip of her drink. ¡°It¡¯s a good way of gate keeping the different zones. Wouldn¡¯t want to let the newbies get decimated in the upper zones before they even have a chance.¡± ¡°No, I guess not. Where can I get a starter deck?¡± Vallet turned back to the barkeep and rapped the bar for attention. He turned to her with another large smile, as if none of the conversations had happened before him. ¡°My friend here would like a starting deck, please.¡± ¡°Right away, little miss,¡± he said, and set the glass he had been cleaning back on the bar.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! He reached under the bar and drew out three decks of cards, then laid them face down in three piles on the counter. All three had the same pattern on the back; a black background with blue lines of henna faintly glowing across the surface. ¡°You may cut each deck once if you like,¡± he explained, ¡°then draw the top card from each pile. This will be your starting deck. One creature, one support, and one spell card. You will have to earn more cards on your own.¡± ¡°Can I lose cards once I get them?¡± ¡°Your starter deck is bound to you. You do not have to use them in your deck, but they will always be yours so that if you lose all of your cards you are not left helpless. New cards that are added to your deck can be lost in battles, and wagers, with other players. You will set the term for that battle before it is played out. In battles against monsters you are less likely to lose a card, but it can happen under specific circumstances.¡± ¡°So it is possible to lose everything in the wrong battle. Good, that just what I wanted. High stakes,¡± I said with a smile. It really wasn¡¯t as interesting if there wasn¡¯t a consequence for bad decisions. Vallet nodded in approval, appearing to approve. I checked the decks laid out on the counter. There was nothing outwardly visible to indicate what each of the decks were, but from the bar keeps explanation I assumed the first was a creature deck, the second would be support, though I wasn¡¯t sure what that meant, and the last held spells. I didn¡¯t know anything about the available creatures or spells in the game so I decided my best bet was to randomize it a bit. I rifled through the first deck and split it in half. The top half instantly shifted to the bottom of the deck and re-stacked itself neatly. Committed, I took the top card and flipped it over.
Mongoose Level 1
HP 20 AC 3
Bite 2 Claw 3
¡°Oh, mongooses are really adorable,¡± Vallet said. ¡°But is it a good card?¡± I asked. ¡°That depends on what you¡¯re looking for. If you want something worth a lot, then no. A mongoose is a relatively common card. If you¡¯re looking for something that will fight well, and keep earning you more cards then a mongoose can be a great first pick. The creatures are pretty cagey, and versatile in the first levels.¡± ¡°The first card should definitely be something that lets you gather more cards,¡± I agreed. ¡°This will do.¡± I drew the second card and flipped it over.
Chain Mail AC 5 Durability 6
¡°What does the durability mean?¡± ¡°You can add the armor to any summoned creature, but if the summon is hit enough the armor will break. The card is returned to your discard pile and won¡¯t be accessible until the next battle.¡± ¡°So it might not be the best idea to keep it on at all times because the durability could go down at the wrong time, and then it won¡¯t be available when I need it.¡± ¡°Exactly. The armor can be equipped during a battle, as well, so you don¡¯t have to worry about that sort of thing. And if your opponent is doing a lot of damage you might use the armor to fortify your summon until you can bring out reinforcements, or prep with the armor before going into battle.¡± ¡°I see there¡¯s a lot of strategy in this,¡± I said, staring down at the two cards. ¡°That is what makes it so fun,¡± she said with a wide smile. ¡°There are so many ways to raise the level of your cards, or capture new ones, or build out your deck. And everyone has the same chance to get the cards so there isn¡¯t the pay-to-win creep that happens in some of the older games.¡± ¡°That¡¯s appreciated. Speaking of paying, is there currency in Vertigo?¡± ¡°Vertigo doesn¡¯t have its own currency, it just runs on Kronos from The Hub. There¡¯s an auction house that you can access from any interface, or you can just sell cards directly to the Soul Deck barkeep. There are usually some players around Soul Deck who are interested in trading and selling most of the time too.¡± ¡°Good to know,¡± I said. ¡°All right,¡± she said, tapping the bar in front of the final deck of cards. ¡°Let¡¯s see the last one.¡± I chuckled. ¡°I was putting it off for a moment. The first two seemed too good, I feel like the next one can¡¯t be that good.¡± She smiled, reassuringly. ¡°It¡¯s okay, there are no bad cards, only bad strategies.¡± From the way they were describing the game I almost believed her. You could get any number of creatures, spells, and support cards. You just had to know how to use them effectively. Finding the synergy between the different creatures would be the hardest part. My curiosity finally won out, so I quickly cut the deck. The cards reordered themselves magically, and settled back down in front of me. Once the deck completed the shuffle I took the top card.
Entangle Instant Holds target creature for five seconds.
Tangle spells could be useful, especially if used with ranged weapons. A mongoose wouldn¡¯t have a ranged weapon, but I there could be other ways to leverage it. The only thing that concerned me was the five second duration. That wasn¡¯t a lot of time, but five seconds could sometimes be crucial. ¡°Perfect,¡± Vallet cooed. ¡°Instants are once per battle, but they have their uses. Eventually you might get a spell card that lets you refresh your spells, or re-summon a mob. But first you have to build your deck.¡± ¡°And how do I do that?¡± I asked, though I had a feeling I didn¡¯t have to ask. Vallet was there to help newcomers, and I was definitely a new comer. ¡°You battle creatures, and win. If you win they become a card and add to your deck. Some of them might have equipment, or spells to add as well, or you can find treasure out there. It¡¯s a pretty open world, you can find all sorts of things, so keep an eye open.¡± ¡°Thank you. I appreciate the help.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± She held out her hand, brandishing a card. ¡°If you¡¯re ever interested in a guild let me know.¡± I took the card.
Business request: Vallet Rizenloft has given you their card. Note: Business contacts give limited access to information, including contact information that you specify, and availability. Visibility parameters can be changed under options. Do you accept?
Now her intentions were clear. Be nice to the newbies and some of them will join your guild. It was a smart tactic, and far more welcome than the usual beggars that spammed chats, and kept throwing requests at people trying to get their attention. She had been helpful, and a fount of information. I was certain she had a lot more information to give, but reserved it for her guild-mates, as she should. Guilds weren¡¯t normally my style, but it didn¡¯t hurt to take the information just in case. I tapped accept and her contact moved to my list of known people. The limited information only showed me her rank of officer in the guild Bannershroud, and online status. There would be more information about guilds, and status updates on specific guild and leaders if I clicked on the specific guild, but even that would be limited information. Unless a joined the guild. Of course I wasn¡¯t going to join just because someone was nice to me. ¡°We hold duels and tournaments every couple of months,¡± she explained. ¡°Several of them are open to the public so you can come watch, or participate. Times and dates are listed in the forums. The next one is in two weeks, and it¡¯s open to new people. Get yourself a few good cards and maybe I¡¯ll see you there.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± I said, giving her a smile. Even if I didn¡¯t join the guild a tournament could be fun and was worth looking into, once I had a more rounded deck. Even just watching battles could give me some great ideas on how to fight, and what to capture. I was pretty sure the tournaments also gave the guilds a chance to see how new players handled their decks, so it wasn¡¯t entirely altruistic. The best players would get the best sign on bonus, just like any other sport. We bid each other safe travels, and I made my way to the first portal. The ground floor portal had a simple entrance with a plain wood door, and torches lighting the entryway. There were no other markers indicating its level, or my ability to pass through it. But I didn¡¯t think they needed anything to announce it since the design of the very building seemed to imply the level progression. I stepped up to the first portal and a chime rang. ¡°Do you wish to be part of the Soul Deck?¡± asked a disembodied voice. I was confused for a moment. The bar was called Soul Deck, and the game was Vertigo. Wasn¡¯t it? Yet the voice seemed to think there was more than just the bar involved. It was possible the Soul Deck encompassed more than I thought, and Vertigo was just the short hand for the game. I suppose it made sense. I was creating a deck from defeated creatures, their souls if a computer program could have a soul. Regardless of names I wasn¡¯t going to back away now. ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°Step through to begin your journey.¡± Chapter 3 ~ Summoning I stepped through the doorway and encountered a glittering dark shimmer that ran through the air. I couldn¡¯t see anything beyond the shimmer. Touching it I felt a slight give, and a ripple of¡­something¡­against my skin. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before. Other portals simply moved you from one place to another, this one wanted you to know that you were passing through. I let the portal have its way and stepped through. The pressure passed over my body. My vision went dark for a brief moment as my face passed through the portal, then the world snapped into focus again. I wasn¡¯t in Soul Deck anymore. This was deep in the heart of a rich, verdant forest. The loamy earth exuded the smell of old fallen leaves, damp earth, and rich growth. The forest wasn¡¯t as dense as the forests of Yevelia had been. The first floor of Vertigo had wide lanes between the trees where I could walk, or fight, beneath the spreading branches. The canopy of tightly woven limbs allowed just enough light to filter down to cut through the gloom. It was a picturesque setting. I pulled out my deck of cards and held up the first one. The mongoose. Summon mongoose? Cost: 3 HP I forgot to ask about summoning costs while talking to Vallet, and now I was getting a crash course. It seemed like it cost hit points, not mana, to summon the mongoose. Taking a look at my UI and character description I didn¡¯t have a mana bar in this world, or gems, or anything else that other games used to summon creatures. I had hit points, and basic armor, that was it. In fact everything about me was bare bones for the game, which made sense since this was about the cards, not my fighting skill. Currently I had one hundred hit points at level one which would allow me to summon a number of creatures, and no armor to speak of. The limited health pool meant summoning large creatures, or a hoard of small creatures, would have to be tempered by my hit points. I had no idea what happened if I fell to zero HP, but I assumed I lost the battle and would be sent back to the Soul Deck. That didn¡¯t necessarily mean my deck, or the creatures I had summoned, went with me. If I could find new cards to increase my HP that might mitigate the damage from summoning, but it appeared a good part of the strategy for Vertigo revolved around the health bar. All of that would be answered in time, but this first summons wouldn¡¯t hurt me much. I mentally checked the yes button, accepting the hit to my points, and the card glowed in my hand. The light pooled into a ball, then shot to the forest floor in front of me. As it dissipated a cute mongoose blinked up at me. I always thought of mongooses as small creatures about the size of a house cat. This creature wouldn¡¯t be curling up in my lap any time soon. The rather large creature stood up on its hind legs looking up at me with bright blue eyes. He came up to my waist, and had a long tail to help balance on his hind legs. His golden fur lined a sleek body, and his sharp teeth and claws looked formidable. ¡°Well, hi there,¡± I said, reaching out to hold my hand up for smelling. That¡¯s what you did with animals, wasn¡¯t it? There were so few pets around outside of game worlds that I wasn¡¯t quite sure, but I remembered my mother saying something like that once when I was little. The mongoose seemed to approve, sniffing my hand, then reached up to nuzzle my finger tips for a moment. His fur was soft and warm, and I couldn¡¯t help myself. I pulled him closer, scooping the mongoose up in a hug and nuzzling my nose in the warm pelt. ¡°You¡¯re so adorable!¡± I practically squealed. ¡°You¡¯re bigger than I thought you¡¯d be.¡± In response the mongoose licked the tip of my nose. I giggled again. ¡°Okay, you need a name. I can¡¯t just keep calling you mongoose. How about Gill?¡± He licked my nose again, then nuzzled my cheek in response. ¡°I hope that¡¯s a yes. I¡¯m so happy to meet you, Gill. Now let¡¯s go see if we can get you some friends.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Gill turned in my arms, and hopped on the ground, ready to go. We moved deeper into the forest, staying near the larger trail. Gill slunk about on all fours, weaving in and out of the tree line. For such a large creature he was surprisingly dexterous. Most games added paths that allowed for safe travel from one area to another. The farther away from the entrance to the zone, and the path, you got the more dangerous it became. I didn¡¯t know if it held true inside Vertigo or not, but it made sense to keep on the trails so that I had an easy way back to the portal as well as the added safety. I didn¡¯t know how battles worked entirely, and I wanted a quick exit if necessary. We walked for about five minutes before we heard something just off the beaten path in a thick growth of bushes. Something was skittering on tiny feet along the loamy earth. Peaking around the tree, I had to stifle a gasp. The creature only stood two feet tall, but I never would have expected to see a beetle large enough to walk on a leash. I stifled a laugh, knowing how ridiculous I was being. It wasn¡¯t my first game, and giant insects and spiders were a common trope. I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised. The insect had a hard carapace in shiny green that blended into the foliage around us. If I hadn¡¯t heard it I never would have seen it. It had two sharp mandibles that it used to cut down a small tree, then slowly started chewing up the trunk. ¡°What do you think, Gill? Do you think you can take it?¡± Gill blinked at me, but did not seem worried. Maybe I was expecting too much of the mongoose, I didn¡¯t know how intelligent the creatures were in Vertigo, but I wanted to believe that he was on my side. ¡°Let¡¯s give you a little extra help,¡± I said, pulling out the other two cards. I selected the armor card and held it up, pointing it at Gill. Chain Armor (ac 10) Cost 2 hp Confirm? It seemed spells and equipment also had a cost. I needed to look into that a bit more before I added too many items to my deck. At least it appeared the cost of the armor was low. I mentally selected yes and the light blazed again. This time it settled around Gill, and when it dissipated my mongoose wore a set of simple chain mail that protected his long slinky body. He spun around, letting me see how it looked, and gave me another little hop. ¡°Okay, Gill, let¡¯s go!¡± I stepped around the tree and activated my last card. The card flared with a sickly green glow, then shot out toward the beetle. From beneath the beetle green vines sprang from the earth and wrapped around its legs. Gill jumped forward smashing into the beetle with quick swipes of his tiny claws. The beetle tried to disengage, spreading its wings to fly. Caught in the ensnaring vines it had no chance, flapping about and snapping a few of the vines, but in no danger of breaking free. It cried out in a loud chitter before lashing out at Gill with his giant mandibles. The thick chitin slammed down on Gill¡¯s front paw. I watched the mongoose¡¯s hit points drop by half as he swung around, biting the beetles front leg and yanking. With a pop the leg came off dropping the beetles health to a thin sliver of red. ¡°One more good hit, Gill!¡± I cried. Gill jumped back before another bite could land, then dodged in and smacked the beetle on the carapace with a resounding crack, his claws digging in deeper. The shell splintered, taking off another sliver of health, but didn¡¯t quite kill it. The beetle returned with another swipe of its massive pincher''s, but Gill managed to wiggle out of the way just in time. The spell was starting to fade, the tangle of leaves and vines turning brown and wilting. ¡°Hurry, Gill! The beetles about to be free!¡± The mongoose seemed to understand because he rushed in, headless of any damage to himself, and bit the beetle behind its head, then shook. The beetle struggled for a brief moment, but it was over. It blazed with light as its hit points dropped to zero, then disappeared. Gill grabbed something off the ground then returned to me, holding a thin piece of paper between his teeth. I took the paper and held it up.
Jeweled Beetle Level 1
HP 15 AC 5
Bite 2
¡°We did it Gill!¡± I cried, grabbing the mongoose up in a hug. Gill trilled in my ear, snuggling up against my jaw. I didn¡¯t even care that the chain mail dug into my arms, I was that happy. ¡°Okay, Gill, we need to get you healed up and on our way again. And you probably don¡¯t want to wear that armor around all the time. Besides, you¡¯re quieter without it.¡± I held up the card with the armor on it, now in shades of grey as though the life were sucked out of it. As soon as I did a prompt appear. Dismiss armor? I selected yes. There was no need to have Gill running around in armor while out in the forest. He might get snagged on something. I also didn¡¯t know if the armor had a durability. Better to use it only when we needed it. A light surrounded Gill, then condensed into a little ball at his chest, taking the armor with it. The ball of light zoomed back to my hand and the grey card where it sunk into the slot. Once the light dissipated I saw the picture lit up again. No mention of durability or damage, but Gill also look like he was moving about faster and more agile so I left the armor off. ¡°Well, Gill, why don¡¯t we see what else is out there?¡± Chapter 4 ~ A Sound in the Wood Gill and I started walking through the forest, keeping an ear out for anything in the brush. The beetle had been a lucky find, and I wanted to find a few more creatures before I retired for the night. After playing trading card games for quite a few years I had a general idea of what made a good deck, and some of the strategies for them. Other games that relied on mana of specific types usually forced you to choose one or two types to play since the more mana types you needed the harder it became to summon your creatures. In other games in which you had one source to summon from you had to find a balance between damage and healing that worked for you. Some went all in with damage, while others had slow burning decks that chipped away at their opponents while keeping their health up. I even used a deck solely comprised of creatures that summoned allies to overwhelm my opponent quickly. While each individual creature wasn¡¯t very powerful the overwhelming amount of creatures was enough to make a lot of them succumb. With single source decks you also had to prepare for anything. You didn¡¯t know if your opponent would have a fire breathing drake, or a siren singing to ensnare you. Magic and items were also a consideration, and sometimes even harder to account for. Vertigo had the single source draw like the later type, but since it was pulling directly from my HP it required a second layer of calculation. My health verses the summoned creatures, armor, and spells that I used. There was also the unknown element of what kind of creatures, spells, and gear were out there. I had only begun to scratch the surface. The first step was obvious. I needed to expand my deck if I was going to even think about competing in a tournament, and with little time I wanted the creatures in it to be as practical as possible. Versatile creatures with abilities that made it easier to fight against overwhelming odds seemed to be my best bet. At the moment I had a mongoose and a beetle. Neither of them could fly or swim which caused some limitations, and they didn¡¯t appear to have a special attack of any kind. Water type creatures might not be as useful in a forest, at least not the kind I would be able to capture on the first floor. Once we leveled a bit, and had a few more companions, we would try for a sprite or spirit type creature with a water spell. That left an air bound creature, like a bird or bat. Even if it wouldn¡¯t be useful for fighting they could be used to scout the area, or watch for traps on a battlefield from above. Catching one wouldn¡¯t be easy with two land bound creatures unless we found a bird nesting on the ground, or a low lying tree branch. Gill was three foot tall and not as stealthy as a real world mongoose as far as I could tell, and the beetle didn¡¯t appear to be built for climbing trees. We¡¯d have to stick with land bound creatures until the right opportunity appeared. Maybe we could find an egg to hatch, though I didn¡¯t know if hatching was possible in Vertigo. If not there was always trading, or the auction house, though I wasn¡¯t keen on that idea for creatures yet. I considered bringing the beetle out to walk with us but I wasn¡¯t sure how quite a creature made of chitin could be. It would also consume more HP to keep a second active creature at all times. Besides, I was still getting used to the area, and one mongoose seemed like enough to keep track of. It wasn¡¯t like I could have an entire menagerie walking with me the entire time. I also needed to decide where to go. We had gotten off the main path, though I still had a general idea of where the portal was. I wasn¡¯t too worried about getting lost because I could always port back to The Hub and walk back to the bar, but I didn¡¯t want to do that unless I had to. Porting back would mean starting fresh from the first portal, and losing all progress. If Vertigo was a persistent world I wouldn¡¯t find new creatures by going over the same area again and again. Yet another thing I would need to find out about. What I really needed was some sort of landmark to travel by. A river, a path, or some sort of rock formation that would guide me in a specific direction. Bonus if I could get above the tree-line and see the area. Thinking of getting above the tree-line, I glanced at the trees nearby, and up their length. The branches were evenly spaced, and about four inches in diameter. They should hold my weight, at least for part of the way up. If nothing else prove worth investigating soon I could attempt to scale a tree and see if there was anything out in the distance. Gill came up and rubbed his head against my thigh as we walked. I scratched him behind the ear and he leaned in a little more. ¡°You know, this would be a lot easier if you could talk and tell me what you know about the area,¡± I said. Gill didn¡¯t reply, only looking up at me with his big black eyes. It was a wild shot that I hadn¡¯t expected to work. Apparently Vertigo was not the kind of simulation where animals could chat with you. Just as well, a talking three foot tall mongoose seemed more than a little strange. ¡°Well, Gill, do you smell something? Maybe that could lead us to something interesting.¡± The mongoose lifted his nose up and started sniffing at the air, as if he were trying to help me. He had to understand me to take directions when battling, didn¡¯t he? That, at least, made things easier. He wandered a few steps in several directions before finally deciding on a way and moving closer to the edge of the clearing. He slowed when he got to the edge, coming up against the underbrush and sniffing around it again. ¡°You smell something out there?¡± For answer Gill just sniffed the air again, then turned and ran a few feet into the forest thicket. He didn¡¯t go far before turning to make sure I was following, then he was off and going again. Wondering if this was a bright idea, I followed. The worst thing that could happen was death, and that was temporary, so I didn¡¯t have that much to worry about out in the forest. Gill, on the other hand, was a little more vulnerable. He was only a summoned creature, but I wasn¡¯t sure if I could re-summon him right away if he died. I would definitely be checking into death effects the next time I was at the Soul Deck. Gill wiggled under some branches, and through to a new area. He paused long enough to be sure that I could squeeze through as well. I had to break a few of the smaller branches, but I made it. There would be no easy retreat from there, but I was hoping I wouldn¡¯t need it. Gill kept going and I started to see marks in the grass under the trees. He led me right up to the edge of a stream with two big footprints planted in the buddy bank. They were deformed because of the wet mud, but I didn¡¯t have to look far for better preserved prints. Beside the stream, long scratches marred up the tree trunk, and there were piles of torn up dirt underneath the spreading limbs. I saw a few piles of excrement, and paw prints to go with it. ¡°Gill¡­¡± I whispered, my steps slowing to a crawl. ¡°I don¡¯t know if we should be here.¡± Gill must have sensed my trepidation because he came over to me and tried to calm me by rubbing against my thigh again. I wove my fingers into his fur, and his warmth made me feel better, but no amount of cuddling a fluffy creature was going to make my nervousness go away. The footprints were large! I might not be able to be permanently killed but death was rarely comfortable in VR, and I didn¡¯t want to see Gill hurt. ¡°We¡¯ll just have to be careful, that¡¯s all,¡± I said, scratching the back of his head. We followed the stream, hopefully in the direction away from whatever had made the paw prints. We didn¡¯t see any more prints, but it was impossible to know for sure.Stolen story; please report. Occasionally I saw fish and small creatures in the water, but they wouldn¡¯t be useful for cards. Gill did take advantage of the stream a few times and caught some fish for himself. I even brought out the jeweled beetle to allow it to wander through the underbrush and eat a few of the smaller insects. It was an ideal location. Almost too ideal. More than once I considered attacking one of the many birds in the area, but it wouldn¡¯t have done us any good. Unless the bird was nesting for the night a mongoose attack wasn¡¯t very useful. I did take some time to check the wiki about Vertigo and answer a few of my questions. The first had been the day and night cycle. Other hub worlds had anywhere from four to eight hour day cycles with a night cycle that was half their day. A few had day cycles that shifted depending on seasons, just like back in the real world. Yevelia was like that, having longer days in summer and shorter in the winter. Vertigo had eight hours of day and night, every day. There were a number of creatures in Vertigo that were only around during certain parts of the day. It made sense, especially in a world populated by fantasy creatures. Some of them, like vampires and certain kinds of fae, only came out in the dark, while the sprites and birds were active in the day. I had been in the game for five hours by then, and the internal clock showed sunset in almost two hours. That gave us a little more time to explore and find a few more things before night fell, then I would have to decide if I wanted to stay for the night cycle, or not. We stumbled into a small clearing in the middle of the forest. The trees were thinner there, allowing us to move a little faster, but it wasn¡¯t a large area. We skipped across to the far side, not watching as closely as we should have been. As we reached the far end of the clearing Gill stopping stock still. I skidded to a halt beside him and took a closer look at our surroundings. The forest had grown quiet, the sound of insects and birds that we had been hearing all day suddenly evaporating. There was almost a feeling of waiting in the air. I turned, slowly, to scan the edge of the clearing, trying to find the thing that scared away the smaller creatures. We heard the creature before we saw it. Whatever it was, it sounded big! I tensed as the snuffling and snorting drew closer. Something smacked wetly, and I could hear the sound of plants ripping. Then whatever it was started moving farther away again. Was it eating the leaves? I wasn¡¯t sure, but as long as it wasn¡¯t eating me I was fine with it moving farther away. I turned my back to the creature to move away, quietly, but I couldn¡¯t help looking over my shoulder. Whatever it was, it was big, but that was all I knew. I stopped walking, considering what it could be. It could have been a pig, or an even bigger insect. Perhaps it would have been something worth adding to my deck. I should have turned away, I reasoned. Instead of a pig it was just as easily some mythical beast that could eat Gill and kill me, but curiosity was getting a hold on me. I crept up to the edge of the clearing with Gill close at my side. Slowly peaking around the side of a large tree, I caught a glimpse of a dark shape snuffling in the underbrush. A large paw ripped into the berry bush in front of it, pulling it free of the surrounding tangle so the creature could get at the sweet red orbs. I knew those jaws all too well. As soon as I got a good glimpse of it the stats popped up.
Black Bear Level 10
HP 70 AC 5
Bite 5 Claw 7 x2
The last time I had seen a bear it had been in Yevelia, diseased ridden and uncontrollable. I also had two daggers in my hands, and had been capable of fighting back. I felt naked depending on summoned creatures. Even with both of my cards, and the spell, I didn¡¯t stand a chance against the bear. Damn, it would have been an amazing addition to my deck. We slowly backed away, trying to be extra quiet with the bear only feet away from us. The soft chuffing and scraping of the berry bushes reassured me that it hadn¡¯t taken notice to us. I still didn¡¯t lower my guard, even after stepping foot back into the clearing. We paused at the edge of the clearing, listening, but we didn¡¯t hear anything else. ¡°Well, that wasn¡¯t something I expected,¡± I whispered, glancing back the way we had come. ¡°But I think we¡¯re safe for the moment.¡± Safe or not, I wasn¡¯t ready to make too much noise yet. We needed to move away from the bear before it got wind of us. The stream seemed like the best option. There was bound to be away across it so that we could put some distance between ourselves. Ultimately we needed to find the portal to the second floor, and I had a feeling it was hidden behind a big walking fur coat. We were going to have to flesh out my deck before facing him down. ¡°We should get back to the stream,¡± I told Gill. ¡°The noise will cover our tracks.¡± I didn¡¯t think Gill understood everything I said, but it still made it easier to work through things by talking to him. ¡°So far everything has been forest, except for the stream. I think it would be good to follow it and see what we can find. I¡¯m betting the bear is blocking the next portal since he¡¯s the highest level thing we¡¯ve seen here, so we need to get strong enough to beat him to get through it.¡± Gill rubbed up against me and I stroked his head, the silky soft fur making me smile. Even if he was virtual he was still adorable. I was pretty sure I was right about the bear. In an open world it made sense to put the stronger creatures near the next zone as a bit of a buffer for newbies. They were less likely to run through the portal and get themselves killed. On the other hand I had been doing well in the first level, captured my first creature, and I felt confident we would be able to capture a few more before attempting the bear. I felt so confident, in fact, that I didn¡¯t notice the chuffing and chewing had stopped behind us. The loud roar sent an icy steel pick of fear through me. I was stunned, my feet refusing to move for a heartbeat as I looked back over my shoulder. The black bear tore its way through the brush, running toward us. My feet finally unglued themselves from the ground and I ran! I didn¡¯t know where I was going, I just had to get away from the bear. Gill hung back from me, on my heels but trying to keep his body between me and the bear. His fragile body wouldn¡¯t do much to stop the giant bear. What we needed was time, or a distraction. I had to slow the bear down. Grabbing my deck of cards, I pulled out the ensnare spell and turned to cast it on the creature. Vines and leaves sprung out of the earth wrapping themselves around the bears legs and pulling it to a stop. Sucking in a deep breath, I started back away again. The ensnare spell wasn¡¯t going to last long. The bear roared, lunging forward and snapping several of the vines in his attempt to get at me. ¡°We have to run!¡± I cried to Gill. The mongoose wasn¡¯t going to disagree. I grabbed my last card and summoned the beetle. The glowing light revealed the beetle at full health. A second later it was dive bombing the bear. The bear wasn¡¯t going to sit back and taking it, though, as it smacked my beetle with a giant clawed paw. My beetles HP dropped by half in one hit, reeling backwards as the bear snapped more vines. The beetle could dodge in and out to distract the bear, but the second the bear got it the beetle would fall. I hoped it was long enough for me to get away as I turned away from the battle. I kept running, not daring to look back again as I heard the whir of wings, and another growl from the bear. I pushed through the underbrush and found what I had been looking for. The stream! It was so close. Even if it didn¡¯t quite matter I had to try. The bear might be able to follow me across the stream, but I wanted to believe it wouldn¡¯t, that the program made it stay on one side of the stream, even if there was no reason to believe anything like that. Either that, or I could get far enough away that it would lose interest in me. A few more steps and I dove into the water. The cold rush sent shivers down my spine as I paddled and slogged through the chest deep stream. I could hear the bear tearing itself free, and the squeal of my beetle as it succumbed to the blows. The green summoning light of my beetle shot back into my deck, but the card stayed grayed out. I wouldn¡¯t be able to summon it again until we were out of battle, which wasn¡¯t going to happen unless the bear gave up. I kept moving, pushing as fast as I could as I listened to the bear sniffing around, and moving ever closer. My hand smacked the far bank just as something else splashed into the water behind me. I turned and saw Gill, just a few strokes behind me as he turned to face the much larger bear that was now swimming toward us. It didn¡¯t matter how large Gill was for a mongoose, he wasn¡¯t big enough to fight a raging bear. I was done for. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry Gill!¡± I cried. I tabbed open the menu and hit the escape key. The world rippled around me, then dimmed to black as I floated in the nothingness. Weight returned to my body laying motionless on my bed. First I felt the rough blankets, then the springs under me as I sunk back into the mattress I was back in reality. Ripping off the TruShift, I lay on my bed panting. I left Gill there! I left him to be eaten by a bear, alone in a stream far from anything. All the games I played, every time I took a hit from another player, or an NPC, and this time I ran screaming. I wanted to believe it was the lack of weaponry. I didn¡¯t have a way of protecting myself, and it was a losing battle. I wanted to believe that if I had been able to defend myself I would have fought back¡­but I couldn¡¯t quite believe it. Ultimately it didn¡¯t matter what the reason was, I left Gill behind, and there was no one else to blame but myself. Chapter 5 ~ Raiding the Auctions I left the TruShift headgear on my bed where I had thrown it, and slowly stood up. My muscles were a bit sore from all the time I had been in VR over the last month. It wasn¡¯t recommended to be fully immersed for more than eight hours a day for a reason, but I found the escape from my solitary life helped. My muscles might protest a bit, but at least they still moved when I told them to. It wasn¡¯t as though there was much in my room to keep me interested in reality. I had my single bed shoved up against one wall with two soft blankets, and five pillows of various shapes and sizes. A small shelf sat above my headboard with my tiny collection of paperback novels. There was a window beside the bed that allowed me a view out onto the streets several stories below. On the far wall there was a screen built into the woodwork, with the keyboard and mouse tucked away in a panel under it if I needed them. Most of the functions through the screen were touch activated, but the mouse and keyboard were still useful for some of my work. The monthly stipend given to every man woman and child wasn¡¯t quite enough to pay for my above ground apartment with a window, but I supplemented it with web design. The creative industry was one of the few left where human contractors were still needed, but I was sure it wouldn¡¯t be long before an advanced AI program would be taking that job as well. Web design didn¡¯t require me to go into an office, or deal with people face to face, something I hadn¡¯t been able to do in years. It also didn¡¯t require that I use a regular keyboard, so I had been doing more of my work in VR as well. I rarely needed to leave VR anymore. My virtual office had shifting murals on every wall with whales flying across the sky, or unicorns grazing in a deep dark forest. They were scenes that I could step into if I wanted to. Why would I care to stay in the real world if I could be in that setting? It was so easy to work, sleep, and play in VR, why would I be outside of it? Because I was a coward. The thought was out before I could stop it, but I couldn¡¯t deny it. It wouldn¡¯t have been the first time I experienced death in a game. I liked to think that I was a decent player, but even decent players made mistakes, or came across mobs that were a bit too hard. Death was unavoidable. So why had I been so afraid of the bear? I thought of the bear running at me, his jaws wider than my head, and a shiver ran down my spine. Giant teeth, and great big paws with sharp claws ready to dig into my flesh, and all I could do was stand there. I had no weapons, no spells, and nothing else to summon. I had been helpless. It was one thing to stand up to a creature when you have a sword in your hand, and at least a chance of surviving. It was entirely different watching your death approaching, knowing there was nothing you could do. It wasn¡¯t as if being a coward was unusual for me. I became a shut in because I gradually became afraid of the outside world. That fear drove me farther and farther into my rooms, until I barely left them. Everyone made excuses, said my feelings were valid, and pointed out all the horrible things happening in the news. It was easy to stay indoors. Maybe the fear was valid, maybe the world outside was just as dangerous as I thought it was. I didn¡¯t even think I was a coward for admitting it was scary out there. No, I thought I was a coward because I couldn¡¯t deal with it. Everyone out there was afraid sometimes, but they still went out there and did what they had to do while I stayed locked behind a door. It was hard looking in a mirror, and seeing the mistakes you made in your life. I tried not to, it was too uncomfortable, but leaving Gill behind like I did wasn¡¯t going to be simply forgotten. I ran, it was what I did. When Freddy tried to be the hero and save the village from a wererat I wanted to run. When the leader of the bandits we just defeated was a player I wanted nothing to do with him. And when a bear was about to put my head between his jaws and bite down I ran. It¡¯s what I did. What I had been doing since junior high. I watched out the window as electric cars silently wove their way through traffic below my window. At least I assumed them to be quiet since the window hadn¡¯t been opened in years. My deliveries came through a secure door. No sound, no fresh air, no avoidable stimulation from beyond my four walls. There was a woman jogging on the side of the road, a leash connecting her to a fluffy black dog. I imagined winding my fingers through the dogs fur, and feeling just how soft he could be. I imagined it wouldn¡¯t be that much different than Gill. A stab of pain shot through me as I remembered Gill running to my defense. The fuzzy mongoose had been willing to die for me, to protect me to the last hit point. And I left him. I didn¡¯t know what would happen to Gill when I exited the game. He could have simply despawned, returning to my deck until I reentered the game. Or he could have been left there all alone, waiting for the bear to bite down on him . I sat down on the edge of my bed, head hung down. For a second I considered logging back in just to help Gill, but there wasn¡¯t any point in that. If he didn¡¯t despawn as soon as I exited the game then surely he was back in the deck by then. I hoped, for his sake, that he just despawned because it wasn''t his fault that I bailed on him. That was one downside of The Hub World; almost everything was persistent. If you left the world or exited the game, it kept going without you. There was no pause button, and certainly no do-over¡¯s. Sighing, I lifted my head, catching sight of the black dog rounding a corner far below. There wasn¡¯t much I could do at that point. Gill wouldn¡¯t have survived the bear attack even if he did stay in the world after I left, that meant there was nothing left for me to go back to at the moment. Better to let the bear move on to a different area before logging back in. Until then I would do whatever I could to make us stronger from outside the game world. I took a few moments to run through my normal evening routine while exploring my options. I ate a bland, if healthy meal, took a shower, then slipped into my night clothes. It was the same routine I had been performing every day for the last decade. Usually it soothed me, setting everything right for the next day as I slipped into bed. Tonight it felt wrong. I kept seeing the bears jaws reaching for me, and instead of the soothing motions of repetition it was grating against my nerves. I finished my routine, my mood still as sour as it had been before, and grabbed my tablet before climbing into bed. I needed something to help me in the next fight. I didn¡¯t want to be ambushed by a bear again, and be stuck with nothing to do except wait for death. I needed a weapon, or a spell, anything that would keep me from feeling helpless in a similar situation. I needed information first, and the best place to get information was the forums. The boards for Vertigo were sectioned off into general chats, tips and tricks, bug reports, and a more advanced section that had password protection on it. I wasn¡¯t sure how to get the password, but I wasn¡¯t looking for anything advanced yet. I also found a guild section listing the various guilds, their officers, and requirements to join. Bannershroud held the number ten spot. I wasn¡¯t surprised when I found that half of their guild forum was also blocked with passwords. They had basic information, events, and guild member data all public, which made me wonder what they kept behind the wall. Their next tournament was in a week. That gave me six days to round out my deck so that I could participate. I had no illusions about winning, but games weren¡¯t won in a single battle. No, there would be a series of smaller battles that lead up to the main boss. Most people had to practice and fail a lot before they could win, and I wouldn¡¯t be exception. Participating in the tournament would give me a better understanding of the fight mechanics, allow me to see what other skills and creatures were out there, and possibly even give me some insight into the guild and if I wanted to join it. In another section of the forums I found several posts labeled as ¡°advanced¡± guides made by users who did not have high participation or wins in their profile. That didn¡¯t necessarily mean they didn¡¯t know what they were talking about, but make it less likely. There were always those who preferred to figure things out but didn¡¯t care to put in the effort to actually implement it, though they were few and far between. I¡¯d have to go through several of them to see if there was anything that might help my situation, but the night was already getting late. I needed something faster. The last thing I checked into were the trades. There were hundreds of posts for trades including creature cards, spells, and equipment. At the moment I had two creatures, a piece of armor and a spell to my name. That wasn¡¯t much to go on. I wouldn¡¯t be able to do a straight trade since I had nothing to give in exchange, but not everyone was looking for card trades. I still had my earnings from Yevelia so it would be possible to transfer some gold to The Hub world currency, Kronos, and use that to purchase a few things. Most of the listings were expensive. I wasn¡¯t surprised, Vertigo didn¡¯t have its own coin system, instead using the universal currency of The Hub. It simplified things, but it also meant that prices fluctuated with the markets. The AI had been designed to regulate the influx of currency and keep inflation down to a minimum, but there was no way to halt it entirely. Supply and demand for specific cards also played a role. If there were a few dozen of the same card up for trade, like a basic forest spider, then the price was much lower than the blue scaled dragon that was going for nearly a million Kronos at the time. I could have bought an entire apartment complex, or a super car for a million Kronos, but someone in Vertigo was selling a dragon for the same price. There were two possibilities. Sometimes a player would post something at a ridiculous price not to sell it, but to show it like some kind of trophy. I have a dragon, you don¡¯t, suck it. The other, more likely, option was simple. Vertigo had a lot of whales, players that didn¡¯t care about the price because they either wanted the most extravagant and expensive creatures to collect, or they just wanted to win at any cost. And they had the money to back it up. Whenever you played the market it was a good idea to watch the collectors and fighters because they drove a lot of the demand. If there were enough collectors you could make a killing off of rare but useless creatures since fewer people would bother to go hunt them down. Fighters, on the other hand, wanted the best creatures and spells they could get, and might sacrifice anything to get it.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. I wasn¡¯t interested in playing the market at the moment, though I had done my fair share of playing auction houses in the past. Vertigo wasn¡¯t about extravagance for me, at least not at the moment. I didn¡¯t need anything flashy, I just wanted to learn the game and be proficient enough to win a few battles. For that I thought a second spell card could be useful to go with my entangle spell. It might even prove the difference between getting eaten, or getting away from another large creature. I already had the two pets, and one set of armor. I felt pretty confident that I could capture at least two more creatures each day for the rest of the week. It was the spell power that was concerning since I still hadn¡¯t figured out how to make a spell card, and nothing in the open forum seemed to explain it outright. So I went to the marketplace. If you couldn¡¯t earn it on your own then maybe you could buy it. There were plenty of traders looking to sell or trade creatures. Some of the smaller creatures, like spiders and rats, were going for a few coins. The larger ones, like a mountain lion, were starting to get expensive. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that there were three hundred rats listed, and only a dozen mountain lions. Someone, it seemed, had been doing quests to clear rats out of a basement somewhere. Then there were the rare creatures, like a centaur or a griffin. Both were far more than I could afford, but I wasn¡¯t surprised. They started at level thirty and higher, and most only had one or two on the board. That meant I probably wouldn¡¯t be running into many magical creatures in the world until I got to the higher floors. While price was a consideration I also wasn¡¯t sure how effective a magical creature would be. Balancing a deck was always a consideration, and without more information I was loath to spend that much on something that might not fit into my future plans. No, I wouldn¡¯t be getting one of the high level creatures any time soon. It wasn¡¯t practical on any level. Looking at the lower end there were hundreds of cards available for a few coins a piece, including rats, cats, and more beetles. For a few coins more there were things like wolves and mountain lions. It seemed pointless to purchase some of the lower ranked cards even if they weren¡¯t expensive. I could catch a rat just as well as the seller could. The mountain lion could have been useful, but it almost felt like cheating. I wanted to experience the game, not buy my way through it. The spells, on the other hand, were different. As far as I could tell there wasn¡¯t a way to get a spell card in the game, at least not on the lower level. I had only come across natural woodland creatures so far, and a wolf wasn¡¯t going to have a fire ball spell. Since there were magical beasts on the server it was likely there were magical spells as well, but I was going to have to get to higher floors to get them. I still didn¡¯t know where the portal to the second floor was, but I had a feeling I would need to defeat the bear to find it. The bear was higher level than any of the other creatures I had come across, and much more aggressive. It was the perfect end of level boss. That meant I would have to defeat it before I could go on. Who needed a mountain lion if you could get a black bear? I would have to collect a few more creatures, of course, but a second spell might give me an advantage against the bear. It certainly wouldn¡¯t hurt. The trade section had been split into four sections, creatures, spells, items, and miscellaneous, and each category had several subcategories. I closed out of the creature section and opened the spell selection. Spells were split into attack, boosts, damage, and utility. The first thing I searched for was health boosts and damage reduction. Taking a look at the prices told me I wouldn¡¯t be getting any healing spells any time soon. There weren¡¯t very many available, and the prices were on par with the magical creatures. Clearly health boosts were an upper floor phenomenon. It made sense when I thought about it. If you were restricted on how many creatures, and the strength of the creatures, you could summon because of your health then you wanted to get a health card. Either increasing your hit points, or healing right after summoning, would be instrumental in getting more creatures on the battle field. That meant anyone who did have one kept it. Some players would even hoard the cards in order to keep their opponents from having them. The few currently for sale were either put up because someone needed money, or they had duplicates and didn¡¯t care about scarcity. Considering how few I saw that meant a health spell would be difficult to get. It was also likely that any stat increase cards would be the same. It would destroy the balance of the game to have too many of any stat boost out there, especially with health at a high premium. I backed out of the utility section and tried a more iconic class; damage spells. At first glance I was more hopefully about my chances among the utility spells. There were thousands of listings, far outnumbering the utility spells, and prices were starting in the tens, not the hundreds, of Kronos. With my earnings from Yevelia, and what I could transfer from my personal bank account, I could afford to purchase three low ranking spells. I just had to find a few that seemed useful. Entangle had been incredibly useful in the fight with the beetle. I was pretty confident it would save us in the future, if not help us capture more creatures. I needed something to compliment or enhance the entangle spell. There were the usual fire, electric, and cold damage spells. Most of the fire spells were on the higher end, possibly because they contained a burn effect that did damage over time. I didn¡¯t see many other DOT spells on the boards. Either they were rare, or limited in scope, but it would be odd to have it limited to the school of fire. While the burn effect would be a nice addition to my deck I was also concerned the fire might damage the vines from entangle and break the enchantment too soon. With how realistic Vertigo was I decided it was a good possibility and vetoed it. I would experiment with flames later when I had a better deck with more options. Right now I needed every card I had to be useful. Some of the cold spells came with slow, or freeze effects. That seemed like a repeat of entangle, and I didn¡¯t know if they stacked, so I discarded a cold spell for now. It would have given me two chances to immobilize a creature, but I wanted something to help bring them down, not just help me run away. I unchecked fire and ice and the list of available spells cut down by a quarter. There were several schools left, each with their own benefits and draw backs. Air did direct damage, but was less useful in enclosed spaces. Water had limited effect depending on what you were fighting. Earth spells looked promising because they could both use rocks to do direct damage, and create traps for indirect damage. Then I noticed electric spells, and their spreading component. While lightning could damage a creature directly once, it could also shoot out to any creatures nearby and damage them as well. That wasn¡¯t very helpful if my creatures were the ones in the line of fire, but if we were attacked by something like a hoard of goblins, or a swarm of spiders like I had been in Yevelia, then the chaining would knock out a large portion of them. Unfortunately lightning, like fire spells, were on the higher price range. Again, I wasn¡¯t surprised. It was effectively an area of effect spell at a lower level. AOEs in water or earth were much higher level spells, and well out of my reach, but I could afford one good lightning spell. I decided to take a chance on lightning and shifted the search for only lightning based spells. Auctions were out, I didn¡¯t want to deal with them, as were trades since I had nothing to trade with, so I unclicked them in the search terms. That left a small selection of trades that I could actually use. I narrowed the options to only spells that could be bought for Kronos, then narrowed the price range down to what I could afford. After putting in the criteria I was left with a handful of choices and the page became far easier to navigate. I checked the first few spells. Two allowed damage to go through only if the target died from the spell. Useful, but limiting as it wasn¡¯t a high level spell, so would only kill very low level creatures. Another had chain lightning effects but only did two to four damage with a hit. That could be useful if we were up against a pack of small creatures, but anything larger than a house cat wouldn¡¯t be effected much. The next few spells were repeats of earlier spells, or similar in scope. About half way down the page I started finding a few differences in the spells. They were a little stronger, or effected more creatures. The price was also a bit higher. It was still within my budget, but it did mean I wouldn¡¯t be able to get a second card like I wanted to. I read through the common names like lightning strike, lightning fist, and thunder wave. A few of them even had extra utilities, like thunder-wave that knocked back enemies. It would have been a useful spell, but couldn¡¯t be used with ensnare. Still, I stored that name for later. If I could earn a bit more than there was nothing wrong with buying another spell down the road. It was a spell at the top of the second page that really caught my eye.
Lightening Strike Instant Deals 2*lvl damage. Stun, 5 seconds Chain x5 within 5 feet
It was the first spell I had found that linked damage output with level. That meant it kept increasing with me and had a longer tail end on the spell card. I was surprised that the spell was even in the list, and especially for the same price as simple straight damage spells. Not only did the damage increase with level, it also had the chain effect which would be useful with crowd control. That made me wonder if the spell could have been miss labeled. I expanded search for the name of the card and found a few dozen cards listed, so it wasn¡¯t incredibly rare, but all the cards except the one I had found had an extra zero tacked onto the price. I bought the card. The system asked me if I wanted to use direct funds, or transfer from another worlds currency. Transferring funds between worlds took time, and I didn¡¯t want this chance to slip through my hands so I quickly tapped on the icon to use my personal funds. A bell rang indicating the sale went through and the card had been added to my deck. Feeling like I had used up every ounce of luck I had left, I closed my interface. I found the perfect spell, and I got it for a few hundred coins less that I should have been able to get it, so I wasn¡¯t about to push my luck. Taking funds out of my bank did leave me a little short for the week, but it wasn¡¯t the first time. I could always transfer funds from Yevelia back into my personal bank account if necessary, but a few nights of soy powder shakes didn¡¯t bother me much. There was one more thing that concerned me. I still didn''t have a weapon of my own. Vertigo was basically a trading card game, or a pet battle sim, in which the pets did all the fighting and I just managed them on the field. But the end goal to win the battle was to kill me, the trainer. I felt naked out there, especially knowing that if something killed my pet it was coming after me to finish the job. The bear didn¡¯t even wait to kill Gill before attacking me directly. I didn''t have immunity in Vertigo like old games. I was the source of my pets existence, and to win I had to go down, too. Since health boosts weren''t possible just yet I looked into weapons. Searching the auction house for character use items I found slim pickings. There were several fishing poles, backpacks, food and water, and sundries. The few pieces of armor appeared to be high level and worth quite a bit. There were no weapons at all. The small knife wouldn¡¯t be good for fighting, but it did come in handy for cutting vines, harvesting ingredients, or other utilitarian needs. I would have to look into what ¡°utilitarian¡± encompassed, but for the moment it seemed pretty straight forward. I hoped the knife could also be used as a last ditch weapon, like a dagger on a mage. Cashing in a few more coins, this time from Yevelia, I added the knife, a satchel, and a globe of light to my cart. The light globe would work similarly to a flashlight if I found a cave. Did that mean Vertigo expected you to fight through your pets and only your pets? Or was this another instance of guilds rigging the auction house? If they kept any boosts only for their members it would be yet another way of squeezing people to conform to guilds. More money for them, and harder to rise for anyone playing alone, like me. I couldn¡¯t be certain that was the case, but the possibility of guilds being just that sleazy and underhanded was really starting to bother me. I needed to figure that out so I could decide to join one. It wasn¡¯t an entirely comfortable feeling to know I had to completely rely on the creatures in my deck to protect me. I didn¡¯t enjoy relying on others. Too often it allowed them to disappoint you, like Jupiter running off in Yevelia and getting us in over our heads. Still, Vertigo intrigued me, and there was no lasting damage to seeing how far I could get. I would just have to do everything I could to fill my deck with strong creatures. I closed out of the trades and opened up the forums again. If I wanted to find out more about the guilds then my best bet would be the tournament. Six days didn¡¯t seem like a lot of time, but it wouldn¡¯t be the first time I was on a deadline. I just hoped that Gill would be waiting for me when I got back into Vertigo, and that the bear had lost interest and wandered away from my exit point. I had a new spell, a new creature, and it looked like I had a good chance of building a decent starting deck, even in the first zone. With that knowledge I climbed into bed and fell asleep. Chapter 6 ~ Fizzy Glaxxy Logging in, I was greeted by the usual prompt screen asking which world I wanted to log into, however the options had been updated. Choose location: The Hub Vertigo: Soul Deck / Last log out point Yevelia New World When you logged into TruShift you had access to every world connected to The Hub. Each time I¡¯d chosen New World I had been overwhelmed at the sheer volume, everything from old arcade games made into virtual hang outs to fully fledged space battles, and hyper realistic fantasy lands. Thankfully the system had pretty robust search options so you could easily narrow down what you were looking for. The Hub was the main city connecting every world together. If you just wanted to browse through the worlds in something more like a shopping mall than a list of words than The Hub was the perfect place to go. They also had all the other trappings of society, from avatar customization, to mounts, and battle arenas ready to engage in. I knew friends who hardly ever left The Hub, preferring the glam and extravagance of every world meeting. The last two were Yevelia, and Vertigo. TruShift gave you options to customize the list, of course. You could delete worlds, or sort them into directories for easy access. In my time exploring The Hub before Jupiter joined me I added and deleted many names from my list, mainly dance clubs and food worlds. Places without challenge that easily lost my interest. I¡¯d been spending a lot of time in Yevelia and Vertigo recently, so that wasn¡¯t unusual. But I found it interesting that Vertigo gave me two choices; the Soul Deck where I could connect with other players, or my last exit point. I had expected Vertigo to be like other worlds and allow me to go back to their designated log in point, usual the same spot a player exited, or a nearby safe zone. It appeared that the bar was acting as a mini hub for the game. It was likely other worlds had a similar feature, but this was the first time I had come across it. That probably meant it was rare. I moved to select my last log out point, but hesitated. I still had questions, and Vallet might be able to answer them. If I went to the Soul Deck I could try to get some information. It might mean losing my quick spawn at the last location I exited, but that location seemed to be very close to a bear. A bear that had been all to happy to eat me. If I went back through the portal I had a better chance of changing my path, finding different creatures, and avoiding the bear until I was confident I could beat it. Vallet had already proven to be a font of information, and if I came to her with the right questions she might even answer them. I was certain there would be a few things the guild wanted to keep to themselves, it only made sense when you were trying to control a worlds economy. But Bannershroud was only tenth in strength on the server, which meant they could be looking for an edge to move up the rankings. Bringing in new blood, or finding something overlooked by others, would give them a good chance of doing that. Information would help me, too, whether I chose to join the guilds or not. Death by a bear seemed like poor alternative. Decided, I mentally clicked on Soul Deck. The darkness of the waiting room shifted around me. A moment later and the interior of Soul Deck faded into view. It looked just as it had before, with several people gathered around the mini ring at one end cheering on a battle, tables filled with people dickering over card trades, and one Vallet sitting at the bar drinking something swirling with purple sparkles. She was wearing a hiking outfit today with ankle boots, skin tight black jeans, and a hip holster with guns and knives. A hat sat on the counter next to her. It looked like she could have been going into a forgotten temple, not a virtual forest. She looked up a second later and smiled when she saw me, then waved me over to join her. ¡°Cas, good to see you again,¡± Vallet said as I approached. I took the stool next to her and the bartender, the same AI run barkeep from before, was standing in front of her, making a drink. I found it interesting that the NPC went through the trouble of actually making the drink, pouring different liquids into a cup and adding ice. In a world where creatures could be summoned out of thin air it seemed a little strange. Maybe the authenticity was important to the atmosphere. One section had to keep the players grounded after all. He set down a purple sparkling drink to match Vallet¡¯s in front of me before wandering away to help someone else. ¡°How is your deck?¡± Vallet asked. ¡°Right to the point?¡± I asked with a smile. She leaned back in her seat to look at me. ¡°There¡¯s no point in beating around the bush here. The first level of Vertigo is pretty straight forward. Most people get through with a couple of small animals, maybe a large insect, and then the large animal guarding the gate to the second gate. You¡¯re stats still say level one though so you haven¡¯t made it to level two.¡± ¡°The black bear is a little too strong for me to take yet. I¡¯m hoping to get through tonight.¡± ¡°A black bear? Well that should come in handy.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it the same for everyone?¡± I asked, a little puzzled. I shouldn¡¯t have been. Things changed in most games, either through updates or algorithms. I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised that it would change in Vertigo as well. Vallet gave me a smile. ¡°You¡¯ll find things are always changing around here. Have you thought about where you¡¯ll go once you get through to the second floor?¡± ¡°Is there more than one place to go? I thought it was all about making it through the portals to get better cards.¡± ¡°Well, it depends on the kind of deck you¡¯re trying to build, of course. Certain levels have different areas, like ocean or mountains, where you can capture different creatures. On the second level there¡¯s a small shire with NPC¡¯s and a few players living there. If you find a shire you should always keep as a frame a reference, there is usually one on every fifth floor.¡± ¡°Every fifth? Then why is it on the second?¡± ¡°In most games it would be on the first but I think the designers of Vertigo decided you needed to work for that first shire. Most players who come here give up before they make it through the first portal. No sense in giving them access to the first city to clog it up with non-players.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± I said, then took a sip of the drink. The purple sparkles seemed to pop in my mouth and cause a subtle fizz as the cool liquid went down. It was sweet, and fruity, but not over powering. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°A Fizzy Glaxxy. It¡¯s something like the Gargle Blaster, but with less lemon to punch you in the face.¡± I chuckled. I had a Gargle Blaster on another world when I first came to The Hub and I knew exactly what she meant. Some things could be recreated in VR that weren¡¯t quite as authentic offline, and while the Gargle Blaster tasted amazing, the trade off was feeling like you got hit by a truck if you drank too fast.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Can you find drinks like this in the shires?¡± I asked. ¡°Sometimes,¡± she said with a chuckle. ¡°They do have bars there, but not nearly as extensive as the Soul Deck. This place is unique.¡± ¡°I¡¯m starting to see that. So what can I find in the shires?¡± ¡°The usual thing. Inns, restaurants, practice rinks, a few quests, and NPC¡¯s to train you. There are usually a dozen players in the first city, too. Or you can just go back into the field and find whatever is spawning nearby.¡± ¡°I am a bit of loaner, but I might check the village out. I¡¯m going for a well rounded deck to make it worth joining in a tournament, after all.¡± She leaned a little closer. ¡°Then you are considering the tournaments?¡± ¡°I am. It seems like the fastest way to learn what¡¯s out there, and about different styles of fighting.¡± ¡°Very true. The next one is in six days, so if you¡¯re ready I would love to enter you in. We do separate the tournament by level so you won¡¯t be overwhelmed, though the grand prize must be an overall win. You don¡¯t have to be part of the guild to join in. Even if you¡¯re not ready to fight I can still send you an invite to come view the battles from the stands.¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather fight than watch, but I¡¯ll keep the invitation in mind.¡± ¡°Good. Now that we¡¯ve discussed the pleasantries why did you come to see me?¡± I blanched. ¡°Is it that obvious?¡± She chuckled and patted my hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, dear. That¡¯s why I hang out in the bar so often. I¡¯m here to help when I can. Sometimes that means encouraging you to join the guild, and sometimes it¡¯s a helpful push in the right direction.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fair,¡± I said. I took another sip of my drink before continuing. ¡°I¡¯ve been reading through the forums and there is a lot of information out there, but there were a few things I couldn¡¯t find information about. I thought it would be easier to ask you then to post a question on the forums.¡± ¡°Possibly. The forums do move quickly, and questions sometimes get lost in the shuffle,¡± she said, her eyes focused on her drink. I smiled at that, confirming what I already suspected. I might get more from her body language than I would from the forums. She didn¡¯t come right out and say the guilds were keeping secrets, but she didn¡¯t need to. ¡°What were you interested in?¡± she asked. I looked down at her outfit, and the guns holstered at her side. ¡°Your weapons, for one thing. I couldn¡¯t find weapons in the auction house. Do players even get weapons to defend themselves?¡± She glanced down as though she forgot what she was wearing, and she probably had. In virtual space weapons had no weight when they were in your inventory. ¡°These are for show,¡± she said, patting the side arm. ¡°Purely cosmetic in this world. Vertigo is all about the pets. There are shields, and a few boosts you can get to help you, as the player, but you aren¡¯t going to fight. Your pets will, and almost all of the gear is made for them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I was afraid of,¡± I said. She must have seen the concern on my face because she reached out and patted my arm. ¡°You don¡¯t have to fight out there, if you don¡¯t want to. There are plenty of people who play Vertigo and never actually go through the levels because of that. Maybe they don¡¯t like the woods, or the fact that they might get eaten by some big monster out there. It doesn¡¯t matter, Vertigo has options. Some people just trade for the cards they want, and bring in money from outside to buy the really big cards.¡± ¡°But wouldn¡¯t that limit you for placing in tournaments that are level locked?¡± ¡°Yes, but a few people found a way around that. There are some higher level players that offer runs through zones for payment. Vertigo has a few tricks up its sleeve to discourage that, but if you¡¯re high enough level that doesn¡¯t matter.¡± I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯ve no interest in having someone else run me through a zone. I doubt I¡¯d learn much about fighting, or my pets, if all I did was buy them.¡± She nodded in agreement. ¡°Very true. The more time out there you spend the better people tend to do in tournaments and arena battles. I¡¯ve only seen a few people who bought their way in actually do any good. But most of the people who buy in are all about the collection, not the battling.¡± ¡°I suppose that¡¯s fair. I think I¡¯ll still be fighting my own battles, though.¡± She gave me a wide smile. ¡°I knew I liked you.¡± I drank the rest of the Fizzy Glaxxy and set the empty cup on the counter. Residual sparkles hovered around the rim of the glass, winking in the overhead lighting. ¡°What about spells and equipment?¡± I finally asked. ¡°I haven¡¯t found anything in the forums about farming it.¡± Farming items would have been the ideal way to get them. Go to a certain place and fight until the item dropped, or multiples of the items so you had extras to sell. In nearly every roll playing game out there it was the way people tracked how to gear up and level up in a game. The lack of farming guides for Vertigo had been one of the more unusual thing. ¡°Ah,¡± Vallet said, lifting her glass up. ¡°That is because you can¡¯t farm in Vertigo.¡± She drained her cup while I looked at her in disbelief. ¡°You¡­you can¡¯t?¡± I stammered. ¡°How is that possible? The items are clearly out there, I saw some in the trading chat, but no one knows where to find them?¡± ¡°Oh, you can get them,¡± she said, gesturing to the bartender to refill our drinks. ¡°You just can¡¯t farm them. You¡¯ll find that the land beyond the portals changes periodically. A few landmarks, like the villages I spoke to you about, stay put, but other features move about the landscape, or disappear entirely. That¡¯s why you will fight a bear to get through the portal, while I fought a mountain lion, and someone else fought a dire boar. There isn¡¯t much that is permanent in Vertigo.¡± ¡°You mean Vertigo is one giant rouge-like?¡± She chuckled. ¡°More like a rouge-lite. The landscape, creatures, and locations change, but it doesn¡¯t do it every time you enter. There¡¯s also no perma-death, and you don¡¯t have to start over from scratch when you die. There are even some instances inside Vertigo, like mini dungeons that come and go. ¡± ¡°I see, so farming guides would be impractical.¡± ¡°Yes, exactly.¡± The bartender finished making our drinks and we both took a sip of the effervescent liquid. ¡°As for equipment and spells,¡± she said, setting her glass down again, ¡°most of them will be inside the mini dungeons, but once they are defeated they usually move. That¡¯s why there aren¡¯t any public guides available.¡± I seized on the word public. She was talking about guild secrets. The forums had been wiped of any talk about spell locations, temples, and a lot of information about dungeons. It was completely possible that any person who got high enough level to dungeon dive had also been contracted to a guild. It would make sense why all the information was behind a password. The fact that she said they usually moved also meant there were some dungeons and temples that didn¡¯t move, like the villages, or didn¡¯t move as often. There was something strange about that. Having guild secrets was one thing, wiping out any mention of a temple, or spell locations, was another. If temples and dungeons moved as much as she implied they did then there would be no need to hide the locations they could be found in since it was chance on who found them. Unless there was a pattern? It was possible that key features within Vertigo moved to specific locations and could be found if you knew the pattern. Some old computer games used tile sets and swapped around tiles to make the player feel like they were in a different zone, but if you learned the tile sets, and patterns, you could get through without a problem. Rouge-likes were notorious for using tile-sets, and if Vertigo was running like a rouge-lite it would make sense that it would have some tile sets as well. Of course modern VR games had massive amounts of data, and a lot of it was arranged, and rearranged, by the AI system, so it might take a lot of runs before you figured out the pattern. That would leave the guilds, who horded the information, in the lead to have access to a temple or dungeon once it appeared. And considering any money made in vertigo, like all hub worlds, could be exchanged for hard cold cash I had a pretty good idea why a guild would fight to keep that information hidden. Likely the moderators on the forum worked for the guilds, and they helped suppress the information. It was an old trick, but a really useful one. It made sense to hold back information like that, but it also annoyed the hell out of me. They already went through the process of capturing their deck, and leveling up. They already knew the secrets. They didn¡¯t have to be greedy bastards and keep all the spells to themselves. I took a sip of my drink, knowing the answer already. ¡°And you would be happy to help me find a dungeon,¡± I said. ¡°If I joined the guild.¡± She smiled, but said nothing. Many people inside The Hub choose a world or two that they spent the majority of their time within. It was a great way to make money if you could find something you could exploit. Some players just wanted to master a specific game world. I had a feeling the guilds of Vertigo had a lot of players that were dedicated to the guild, even more than Vertigo itself. I hoped that was because they loved the game, and nothing else. ¡°Well, I appreciate you letting me know about the temples. I¡¯ll have to keep my eye out for one.¡± ¡°If you find one let me know. I love discovering new spells.¡± ¡°Sure thing,¡± I said, standing up. If there was good reason to. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to give her a little information if I got some in return. She clearly used kindness to get into a new players good graces and get them in the guild, but kindness could work both ways if played right. We said goodbye and I made my way up to the portal, ready to get back to Gill.