Chapter 3: Quoth the Raven, FML
:08/11/2251:
The next day I found myself rushing through standard calisthenics. For the first time in my life, I felt like I couldn''t wait to log-in to the virtual realm and leave the grim, claustrophobic confines of my cell behind. I scanned my email as the system loaded up, skimming through the welcome emails and the notifications on optional employee orientation as well as my mentoree schedule. The welcome emails where the standard marketing jazz on how DDO had fifteen billion players, a larger population than had even been living on earth some few generations ago. It was cool and all, but I knew from the streams that the Virtual World itself had grown so large that one could walk from dawn to dusk in the woods and never once run into another player.
I deleted the employee orientation notices. I knew from the forums that nothing worthwhile would be learned thereand that my actual projects and training would all be coming from my assigned mentor. I was admittedly concerned about the quality of the mentor I would get, dreading running into another Fatherfigure, but the risk was a small price to pay for my new career.
As an Employee Collaborator, I would be in charge of running certain encounters and scripted events on a rough schedule. Because I was also an Employee Streamer, my actual work schedule would be reduced by one-third and, in addition to my live streaming, the company would then have the right to archive and edit my vids into their weekly recaps or monthly movies as they saw fit. The contract removed pretty much all of the standard privacy restrictions and still demanded a bit of work on my part, but the trade off was that I wouldn''t have to find a job anywhere else and could, literally, spend the rest of my life in this fantastical virtual wonderland.
To be honest, the removal of the privacy restrictions and the knowledge that I could someday wind up in movies or professionally edited recaps was more than worth it to me. And more, after being derided and hated - the object of pure disgust - for so many years, the idea of my beautiful self beinglooked at, of beingwatched, sent little tingles down my spine and through my entire body. No, for me like for many star-struck girls and boys my age, the lack of privacy itself was less of a drawback and more of a perk. Enough that even though an Internship would result in a salary of literally zero credits, a risky endeavor that did nothing more than pay for the basic costs of remaining alive, the chance was a dream come true in just about every way. The company knew this as welland played it up to the degree that it had the single largest player audiencein the System. It picked up on thedream of magic, on celebrityculture, and it used that to draw in, literally, billions from every corner of our worlds.
Not that everyone was a streamer. No, for every one of me there were at least two rogues who hoarded secret builds and grinding spots, farming exotic weapons and accessories and selling them for real money on the games auction system - players guarding their secrets and using every hidden advantage to become rich on exploits and hidden mechanics. For every one of me, even, there were five casual gamers who logged into the system after work or after some patch or update, sightseeing and playing around in a novel world as their outlet after a busy day.
Not every Employee was a streamer either. Anything that required an active, sentient hand required the assistance of a player. Because sensory feedback in the game was locked at 75 to 105% for all players, the AI was not able to actively manage difficult player encounters. The laws of Robotics prevented the AI from directly causing or plotting to cause the players physical pain or discomfort, and so, outside of scripted events and abilities, each and every mega-event or champion AI had to be directly controlled or scripted by a logged-in Employee.
Some employee role-players even went so far as to choose the roles of popular NPCs, to run and manage the NPC behavior directly from a first person perspective for years at a time. Which meant that the random street sweeper could be an advanced AI programmed to think that the world was real, or it could be a real person, employed by the company to spend every day sweeping the street of a digital world. There was really almost no way of know which was which, and every NPC encounter came with a certain element of curiosity and wonder.
My thoughts came to an abrupt halt as Matti awoke and my system came fully online. I knew that during rest hours, Matti was farmed out to help process daily maintenance and research functions, but even still she always sounded groggy first thing in the morning. Like she was actually waking up too from a long period of sleep. "Good morning, Magpie. Would you like some liquid stimulants this morning?" It was funny to me how much had changed in my life, how radically different everything was now going to be, and yet how the beloved AI still sounded exactly the same as she had every morning for as far back as I could remember.
"No Matti, I want to log in first thing. Please bring up DDO and transfer me." It was something I could do through my menus, but I also knew that Matti could do it considerably faster and I didn''t have a moment to lose. Not the way I felt this morning.
"As you wish, Maggie," using my old, childhood nickname, as if she was picking up on my sudden, uncharismatic nostalgia. "Transfering... now."
And with that, my world again went black.
Menus appeared in front of me, bringing up my character and immediately proceeding to the login options. As DDO characters were so intrinsically related to the player abilities, and since the game had a working gold-to-credits system, each player was only allowed to play a single character at a time. The process of creating a new character was completely locked outside real money transfers and outright deletion.
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Sensory Feedback: 105% Confirmed.
Hyper-realism mode, activated.
Gamma Scale: 250% Confirmed
Low light vision, activated.
AI Assist: Maximum
Full assist confirmed
(Warning: AI Assist restricted by Int. Raise INT to improve)
Content filters: Off
Language filters: Off
Live Streaming: On (Locked)
Streaming Perspective: 3rd Person Cinematic Confirmed.
Content Warning: Adult Content, 18+ Confirmed.
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Sliding all settings up to maximum, as was recommended for first time players, I went ahead and confirmed my selections. I knew that hard-core combat players eventually lowered their emersion settings to minimum, immersion junkies, and skill-monkies eventually lowered their AI Assist to Medium or Low, etc. Depending on the player''s playstyle the settings could be more fully adjusted during log-in, but I didn''t want to min-max just yet. No, I had no idea what I was doing, and yet the idea of experiencing this new world in more-real-than-real (Trademark) emersion both excited and tempted me. And so, maximum settings were absolutely my only real choice going in.
The world loaded up, living up to the hype with room to spare. The colors felt more alive than anything I had ever seen before. The smells were more vivid. Even the dirt beneath my bare feet seemed somehow more heavy and real than should have been possible. I took a few minutes to just stand there, waiting for my senses to adjust to the hyper-real feedback, taking in the sights and smells of the lush forest around me.
I knew this was the standard, instanced tutorial area. All I had to do was walk around a bit and I''d be approached by some NPS or another welcoming me to the world and giving me a brief introduction to the lore. But, for now, I wasn''t interested in that at all. Instead, I picked up a rock and flung it as hard as I could at the nearest tree. For the first time in my life, the standard violence and content filters were fully off and, rather than receiving a warning and a behavior correction, this world allowed me to carry out the first actual violent act of my entire life.
The rock sailed through the air, spinning and tumbling end over end, until it fell pathetically a few feet short and to the right of my target. There were no skills in DDO, and the only thing limiting my ability to throw the rock at the tree was my own inexperience and my somewhat pathetic lack of strength. Which meant that, beautifully, I could teach myself to get better. To become something in this world that I could never have dreamed of being anywhere else. Not a collection of numbers and readouts, but an actual, honest to god death machine inside this realm and out.
I picked up another rock and threw it, closing my eyes and pushing every ounce of strength and raw passion out through my fevered pitch. This time the rock flew a couple of feet, burying itself in the dirt at my feet and sending a billowing cloud of dust and dirt back to cascade across the skin of my bare legs. I then, suddenly self-conscious, glanced up at the sky to where I knew the perspective of my stream would be, and I felt suddenly aware that, literally, billions of people could be watching these first, fumbling steps of my stream. Laughing themselves onto the floors of their Axis Rooms in hysterics at my absolute inability to do something as simple as throw a rock at a tree.
I blushed and wished for a moment that I had taken up one of the Virtu-Sports teams that had tried to recruit me in Junior High. If I had learned to throw a baseball or a basketball on some digital court, I felt like I maybe wouldn''t be flopping around right now like quite so much of a fish out of water. Still, the idea of the large, pudgy hand of the adolescent I was throwing a pitch, the folds of my body flapping and slapping against one another as I ran and as I swung a bit... even still the very idea of it filled my own mind with disgust and with horror. No, no, it wasn''t worth it to even think about. All that was left was to use my fledging agility score to learn here, in this world, free and wearing a body that was more mine than anything I would have known before.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
I remembered that, in the best streams I had watched, the ones that had been archived and watched over and over again, they didn''t just have some player walking around and fiddling with things in their environment. No, they had a running commentary. Aware that they where on camera, being seen by viewers in the millions every passing second, the streamers had filled their feeds with a string of running commentary. Throwing an ax at the fourth wall so hard it was like they were trying to break out of the screens and walk into the lives of their viewers.
"Hello everyone," the musical, faerie-song notes of my voice startling me for a moment. Such a contrast with the deep. throaty tone of my earlier simulated bulk that the notes themselves almost startled me. For a second, I wanted to continue talking forever, to just lose myself in the sound of my own wonderful voice and never come back to earth. "And welcome to my stream. I hope you all noticed the Adult Content warnings! Teehee!" My laugh should have sounded sarcastic and pathetic, resonant notes pretending at beauty and cuteness, but instead, this new voice in this new world lived up to my wildest dreams and then some. I paused then, the beautiful, musical notes of my own forced laugh washing through me, and my mind struggled to process that these notes had come out ofmy very own lips and it wasmy own voice I was hearing. It was cute and beautiful and mystical, that sound, and I literally felt my eyes glaze over with the subtle hint of tears as my mind struggled to accept what I had heard.
When I shook off my own shock, my own awe, I smiled. I opened my mouth and I laughed, not the forced sounds of simulated cuteness, but a deep, throaty roar of mirth and triumph and freedom. It was a primal, bestial cry and yet... at the same time it was the single most beautiful thing that I had ever heard in my life. I couldn''t stop, I didn''t want to stop, as the notes kept pouring forth. As I had feared my viewers would do but moments before, I find myself falling to the ground and rolling around in the dirt, crying out my eyes as the billowing notes of my laughter sounded deep into the lonely starter woods.
Little did I know that, in the years to come, that laugh would become a sound bite added to the beginning of all my edited videos. The throaty, exhilarated notes of that laugh would introduce each and every new viewer to my videos. Starting off the tone of my life with a single, primal cry of unadulterated freedom.
After I finally got myself under control, I paused in the dirt and wiped the tears from my eyes. I really noticed then, for the first time that, due to my restrictions, I had not started the game with the customary set of armors. Rather, I was wearing nothing at all save the toggleable set of underwear available to every character. I quickly checked my status menu and confirmed that every single equipment slot of my character was empty, leaving me absolutely naked, in game terms, of any and all adornment.
Getting up, I brushed the dirt off of my skin and from the thin, cotton fabric of the default undies. Glancing back at where I knew the cinematic camera setting would default to, I blushed, "Well, the designers didn''t really leave anything to your imagination, now did they? Though I do hope you like what you see!" I exclaimed it and did a little twirl, showing off the fine, long limbs and fluttery, gossamer ''wings'' of my modified avatar for my audience. It was a little embarrassing, really, especially with the hyper-real sensations making me suddenly aware of the breeze against my stomach, against my thighs. However, the right move wasn''t to hide or be bashful. The right move, as a newly professional streamer, was to be positive and embrace the situation for the viewer''s enjoyment. And It was my absolute, dedicated intent to be the most professional, confident online personage that my viewers had ever had the pleasure to watch.
I blushed deep then, after flaunting my new Avatar for the sake of the camera, and made a show of trying to hide my exposed skin. Playing up embarrassmentsuddenly, unexpectedly, as if having a thought, "Oh, and Daddy? If you someday end up watching this?" I clenched my thighs together, forcing a slight trembling, even as my eyes never left the cinematic camera, "Ido hope you''ll forgive me for anything you end up seeing. This has to beso painful for you to watch!"
The camera, I knew, would barely catch the edges of my grin. Recording and broadcasting my hidden message out into the virtual world - documenting for all time the subtle, coded message I had just given mydear,sweet, Father.
I just hoped that he would someday carry it with him into hell. For all eternity.
Squaring my shoulders, I stood up straight and waved my hand. As if I had just cast my worries off and left them behind me. I hoped I looked confident and professional, more so for the moments of supposed vulnerability I had just ''shown'' to my audience. And I cleared my throat to let out a far more confident, steady tone, "But this isn''t what you''re here to see, now is it? Oh, no, I''m quite certain that it is not. So we had better get this show on the road now, hadn''t we?"
I turned and walked through the woods in the direction I had already known to go. Despite the lack of shoes or boots, thankfully, my wild step ability somehow prevented the rocks and branches from tearing apart my feet and legs. The forest felt less like it was a tangled wild of thorns and brambles, and more like it was a cushioned moss bed, designed exclusively for my own walking comfort. It was... an amazing sensation. Moreso than anything I had even dreamed. I carefully described what I was feeling to the audience, and how I presumed it was the result of the Wild Step ability unique to my Elfin race.
Eventually, I came across the programmed clearing, having just demonstrated basic movement and directional skills to the tutorial AI. In the middle was the Class Trainer, according the scripting, who would train me in my first, basic Class Ability. My Legendary Class, Arch-Druid abilities would be, in theory, somewhat upgraded versions of the basic Druid abilities. At least starting out this should be the case. So I had a very basic, vague idea of what I should expect, going in. That said, the world in person was quite a bit different than anything I had experience just watching the vid-screen, and I was more excited than I expected at the prospect of learning even the basic Abilities.
What would it feel like to shapeshift? To change into a Bear or a giant Wulf (a bipedal Wolfin form reminiscent of a werewolf)? I imagined the feel of fur across my skin and the pointed ends of natural claws extending and retracting from my fingertips. What would it feel like to activate a healing aura, or an aura of warmth, feeling the magic radiating out from my skin?
These thoughts on my mind I approached the center of the clearing. My trainer wasn''t sitting in a little, wizened hut, nor leaning against a rock relaxing in their camp, as I had seen in other vids. For me, in the center of the clearing there appeared a large oak tree, with no signs of human habitation or encroachment. It was a beautiful sight, really, and I took the time to listen to the birdsong as I approached and to run gentle fingers across the ancient, hardened bark of the tree.
My mentor would be here, I knew, but I had no idea where or what form they would appear in, and I took my time in waiting simply enjoying the taste of the air and the feel of the dirt and grass beneath my feet. They were little things, perhaps for some. But I had spent my days in virtual class settings and corridors, and this little scene of nature was fantastical not only in that it resided in a world of unicorns and magic, but also in that it depicted a natural world of grass and vegetation that no longer existed on any planet in our System.
A voice spoke to me, breaking the silence, though I couldn''t place where it had come from, "Here I was expecting a wizened elder, a Druid of great fame and influence, come to study the lost art of our ancient forebearers. And what do I find?"
I glanced around, senses taking in nothing but the empty clearing and tall tree before me, branches reaching out into the sky and shading the ground below me. Yet, still, the voice came again, "I find a baby girl, hardly even out of diapers, gazing slack-jawed at my home and putting her grubby fingers on absolutely everything."
Looking around, still, I finally figured out that the voice had come from above me. I strained my neck to see who it was that was speaking, eyeing the branches carefully. "Be that as it may, you''re supposed to train me. No one said anything about you having to like me." i went ahead and played up the attitude for the benefit of my viewers. I knew that there were certain requirements and restrictions present in a tutorial zone, and so mouthing off to my designated mentor seemed less like an actual risk and more of a way to play it up for my viewers. "Now come down here before the sun starts to set and the mosquitoes come out, I''d like to get things going here."
As the voice came again, my eyes were drawn to a bundle of black feathers, alighting on the tree. Beak moving and sounding the old, male voice that was addressing me. "Oh, impatient, immature, childish Druid. I have waited here for hundreds of years for the first to be worthy of my insights. Worthy of the ancient knowledge that I have guarded for ages past. And I am to relinquish the ancient, feared secrets of our order to... you?" The sound of deep, throaty laughter echoing from the bird''s beak was disconcerting, to say the least. But I was no stranger to being laughed at, whether it was for things that I could control or otherwise, and though my heart trembled with his words I found no desire to back down or cower away.
"I did not come here for your ridicule,teacher,"I intoned the word as sarcastically as possible in the tones of my ringing, faerie-bell voice. "I have been sent here by the ancient ones, just as old and powerful as thee. And by the ancient pact I call you to fulfill the obligations of your station." It was a refined version of a user command, basically requiring that the AI managing the character perform its scripted function. I was playing it up, of course, for the audience. But in the end, my intent was simply to execute the scripted result and bypass any rambling cut-scenes that were programmed into this part of the tutorial. It was a well-known fact that NPCs in the game could be wordy and stubborn if you let them, and so certain key language was hard coded in, in order to speed through unnecessary dialogue sections.
The bird, having been spotted, flew down to a branch closer to my head. "Very well, youngling. If you would not listen and heed my words, we shall cut right to the chase. In accordance with our pact, I bestow upon you the First Ability of the Arch-Druid path. Additional abilities may be unlocked from other trainers for a price, by experimentation, or by the completion of legendary quests and feats of skill."
He looked me up and down, disapproval somehow clearly shining from his avian little eyes, "I see that you lack even the simple Abilities known by the common Druid," tisking at me with his raven beak, he made a purely bird-like sound of recrimination before he continued. "So rather than giving you any rare or exceptional abilities, I think we shall need to start you off with the basics..."
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Arch-Druid Ability Unlocked!
Beast Shape (Legendary)
Allows for physical transformation into bestial forms with bestial traits.
Legendary:
Allows for transformation into exotic species and the retention of exotic abilities.
Enhanced innate bonuses in all forms.
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I quickly read the status text and looked up at the bird. "Thank you, Raven. How do I use it?"
The bird coughed at me, in what I read as some odd version of laughter, "Oh no,Arch Druid." He emphasized the description of my legendary class, seemingly finding it funny. "You have chosen to skip to the end and bypass all my advice and warnings. I think you should figure that out all on your own from here on out."
I sucked in a breath as he ruffled his feathers, preparing to alight from his perch. I managed to call out to him in my desperation, "No, no. That''s not how this is supposed to work. You know full well that you''re supposed to describe the interface and tell me the keyword quick interface options now!"
It was all very much not according to script, but I didn''t have time to make sense of why this wasn''t turning out like any of the other tutorials I had watched, or what I could say to get things back on track before the bird took off. Coughing his raven-like laughter down on me as he flew away, I suddenly found myself alone in the clearing with an ability unlocked... and absolutely no idea how to actually initiate a shapechange.
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CONGRATULATIONS!
TUTORIAL COMPLETE
Loading into Main World of DDO. Please wait...
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The status screen came up even before I could shut my gaping mouth. And the last words my viewers heard as the world faded out to black was the whispered exclamation,
"Oh. Fuck me in the..."
Chapter 4: Clapping Wont Fix The Sound of You Snapping
:08/11/2251:
Before I had even finished loading into my starting city, my fingers were already dancing across the menu, hitting the ''logout'' function. There was absolutely no way I was risking getting caught up in a time-gated quest or a pass/fail completion requirement without even being able to use the starting ability of my class. The Raven had made things difficult for me, sure, but I was no longer restricted to what I could watch on official channels. And I knew I could figure out everything that I needed to know after a few hours of vegging out in front of archived Druid streamers.
Matti looked up as I flew into the Axis Room, storming across the interface panels embedded into the walls and setting up my feeds. She raised an eyebrow at me, even as I worked. "You have responsibilities now, Magpie. Won''t the company be missing your stream? It may not be core hours right now, but you aren''t a student anymore. You need to step it up a little, don''t you think?"
I simply shook my head, not even looking at her, "I''ve got a problem, Matti. I need to find streams from Druid players of DDO. Specifically, scenes in which they learn or use Shapeshift type abilities."
The interface panels all around the room danced into life, flickering and searching on their own, even as her nagging continued unabated,"And you don''t think your viewers would want to watch you figure it out for yourself? I would assume that the basic abilities wouldn''t be all that hard to get the hang of. You can''t be hiding in here every time you have an issue at work, or no one will even bother watching you."
Matti''s incriminations aside, it really was quite amazing what the game looked like on the official feeds. I had been so busy getting into thegame that I hadn''t stopped to tune in since my restrictions were lifted and I had no idea how big a difference it was between this and my old, Dark Net video files. It was the difference, really, between 2d, low resvideo and full, 3D emulation with limited sensory feeds. I paused my search for a moment, the fast-forwarding and database queries, to just sit and watch a few minutes of the archived video. It was a bittersweet feeling, witnessing the full depth and possibilities of what my streams would bring into people''s private rooms and feeds. On the one hand, it was breathtaking and beautiful in ways that were hard to describe, but on the other, I couldn''t help but feel cheated of all the countless hours I had spent in front of the grainy, pirated files. Bitter over every moment I had followed along with the exploits of my heroes and heart-throbs, watching an aborted, outdated version of what could have been... this. For over a decade.
A quiet, bitter hate filled my heart and mind then, the same, familiar emotion that I had carried with me for so long. Ever since my adolescence, since the punishment that slowly, insidiously, turned the childlike love for my parent into something darker. Something wretched.
Abandoning my own pity-party after some time, I cued up the videos I had found in my search to my feed. I didn''t have time to go through and subscribe to my favorite channels on the DDO feedor find the official versions of some of my most beloved videos. But I did go ahead and subscribe to a handful of the druid player''s streams. I would need to pick apart their unlocks at some point, and make a list of quests and NPCs that I needed to find in the world to unlock my additional basic abilities. And it wouldn''t hurt to see how other players were making use of the class in the open world and see if there was anything there that I needed to bring to my own stream.
Unsurprisingly, most of the streamers'' videos were mute, dead things. They showed a lot of the mechanics, sort of, but the streamers didn''t bother explaining anything, and any running commentary that was present did less to draw me into their videos and their lives, and more made me feel like I was watching some rudimentary AI attempt to speak. Their broken, lifeless commentary giving the whole stream a less-real-than-real (no Trademark) experience.
The few that I found that were actually decent, though, I quickly followed. Knowing that I would have to watch and analyze their gameplay and their mistakes at some point in the future. Overall, I picked up on a couple of facts, though, which were enough to get me started. One, in order to unlock a new shapeshifted form, I would have to first kill an animal and eat its heart. It was one of the darker, gritty rules that the game had built its name on after The Dunwich Chronicles buyout, and the whole thing could be mostly avoided if you cranked up your content filters. Most of the time, all a Druid would have to do was be awarded the kill, and if no other Druids were in the party the animal''s meta-form would automatically unlock.
I knew though that that wouldn''t work for my stream. I had turned off the filters and included in my description a promise of the "Raw, Uncensored" game. And while I knew that, for most of my viewers, so long as I included some explicit, sexual content, they would be satisfied. Especiallyconsidering the fact that 90% of my hundred current subscribers had been added after the loadout of my character Avatar had been added to my profile this morning... well, despite all that I knew that there would be a significant number of people who would give my channel up in disgust if I turned up the filters for even a single second of gameplay. And, I felt like, they were more of my intended audience than the viewers who were tuning in to get their rocks off and little else.
Plus, this whole decision had been predicated on the idea that this would be my final, be-all rebellion from my strictly structured upbringing and my Father''s attempts to control everything that I saw and heard. I knew that if I willingly adjusted the filter, if I turned off the gritty details of my new world, in a very large way it would be admitting defeat. An implicit admission that Father was right, that I could be taught and trained by a trained psychologist like some stray dog. And even after my captivity was over I would be running right behind his metaphorical heels, unaware even that the leash was gone.
No, my resolution was quick and final. Not only would my filters stay off, not only would I bear the experience of cutting out and devouring an animal''s heart, but I would be doing it with every chance I got. Whether it was the first kill or the hundredth, I swore in my heart of hearts that any who fell at my hand would find their heart soon removed and devoured by my own sweet lips.
I was afraid of it. The idea itself disgusted and revolted me. And it was because of that, not in spite of it, that I swore to eat every heart that I found, be it animal, monster or, yes, even be it human.
Finally, I acquiescedto Matti''s bitchy naggingand logged back into the game. Yes, it was work as she said, but even so, I couldn''t stop seeing it as my escape, my game, which culminated in all the dreams of my childhood being born and living a life in a realm of faeries and magic. And the world itself seemed to echo the sentiment as I entered, with it''s More-Real-Than-Real ? sounds and smells assaulting my senses on the streets of the glimmering town.
Checking my map, I found that I had been placed into a high elven city named Anthera. The center was built from glass and living crystal, the glittering, luminescent walls casting rainbows into the earthy streets below, living growths of hollowed rock towering over me. Each building, even here on the outskirts, loomed several stories high, and the scale and height of the cities'' construction only grew and towered higher the farther into the city you went. Far, maybe some mile into the distance loomed the tallest building, the palace at the heart of the elven stronghold, a good five stories higher than even the surrounding structures. The entire thing was grand to the extreme, but as I walked the bustling street I found more wonders still.
The city was surrounded by old growth forest, redwood spinning away from the rock garden palace and to the sides of the road as far as the eye could see. A series of high, barely discernable tree houses dotted through the forested suburbs, stringing together dwellings of hallowed trees and wooden constructions in the farthest, highest branches. People crossing the rope bridges and leaning out across their balconies looked like insects, so high up that you could only make them out for benefit of their movements and the distant sound of their voices.
Just outside the city gates, on the road away from town, stood the traditional, granite portal stones. Carved in memory of the ancient ruins of Stonehenge, rumored to have once existed in the real world too, for a small fee they would port you to any number of other cities, towns, dungeons, or, for a much larger fee, even to other planets and starships. Though I knew that my newbie character would be limited in where I could port to, lacking the unlocks of the higher level, experienced players who I had seen use the service.
It was breathtaking, to the extreme, and it was some minutes before I remembered I was being watched. And that my viewers had been sitting there for some minutes now watching me stare like a slack-jawed yokel at the wonders now surrounding me. I sighed to myself, admitting internally that I was being absolutely no better than the mute, dull streams that I had judged so harshly just some half hour before, and I quickly took a breath and turned away from the startling vistas.
Walking over to the standing stones, I double checked and made sure my portal had automatically bound to this area. Then, with a couple of flicks through the menu, I found what I had been looking for. There were a couple of introductory areas still around, programmed by someone nostalgic for old-school games, where the settings and mechanics were little more difficult than killing a couple of rats and turning their heads in for rewards.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
The forums hated those zones and there were roomers that they were being phased out, as less and less seemed to be available with every passing year. They were described as ''too easy'' and ''mind-numbingly boring'', especially after any semblance of a traditional leveling scheme had been phased out of the game. Still, it appeared that there were still a few of the areas that the developers refused to give up, attached to them out of some childhood memory or maybe just sad to remove content that had defined the game''s experience some decades ago. Whatever the case, they were still perfect for someone like me. In that, they required little skill, resulted in some easy kills, and rewarded basic items that, due to my sub-race, I had started the game completely without.
The world spun into a liquid, water on air animation as the portal surrounded me. Light from the city cascaded across the edges of the portal, rising from the stone blocks of the device, filling the world with rainbows and the hint of dew and moisture across my skin. Instead of black, the loading graphic around me was a room of dazzling colors, as if I had moved into a rainbow and found it to be, not an illusion in the air, but an entire world in and of itself.
By the time the light cleared and the Church appeared in front of me, I was so lost in the sensations that I, again, spent several minutes staring in wonder and scarcely remembering to breathe. Sending entire minutes of dead air out across the web to my hundred odd subscribers.
Shaking off my revelry, I walked over to the old man in front of the church. He was leaning on a canebut wore the battered remnants of a knight''s proud and shining armor. He smiled kindly as I approached and called out, "Adventurer! Spare a minute for this lame old man?"
I walked over to him, staring at his face and trying to determine if he looked better in person or on my old broken streams. I decided after a few seconds of him staring back at me, lifeless, that the streams were, in fact, better. "Quest." I said, using the old, primitive voice commands that were required for these un-updated zones.
"Oh thank you, kind adventurer. I was once a proud warrior of Lightbefore the orcs came. Now I am but this humble, broken old man before you. It is only one like you, a proud defender of the Light, who can..."
"Skip." I said.
The man''s form shuddered a bit, his script resetting to the next bit of programmed dialogue. This NPC was a relic of decades agobefore AI took direct control over most of the NPCs of the game, and before DDO had enough of a following where they could hire employee Roleplayers to take on key roles like this one. These starter zones were criticized for giving an outdated and poor introductory experience, but it was argued that only players with enough out of game knowledge to know how to find these zones in the long teleportation menus by name could even find these places. And so rather than being removed, the areas where generally found only by those who had some reason to be in them and a good understanding of what the game already had to offer.
While I had been off, lost in my thoughts, the old NPC had been ranting on into his next phase of scripting. I hadn''t even realized that he was still going on without offering me anything. As I tuned back in, he was still going on about some tragic war and the need for new, younger heroes. If I was more of a lore nerd I would probably have found it mildly interesting. But, aside from the puzzles available, I had never taken all that much interest in the official history of the game.
"Skip."
"Skip."
"Skip."
... after some time, and skipping through more phases than I really found to be convenient, I finally was offered the quest update:
|
New Quest!
Bring back the heads of five wolves and two goblin wolf-riders.
Reward: Rusty Sword or Rusty Spear
|
The rewards for the first few quests were common, dirt cheap items. If I was willing to turn a few credits into gold I could have easily afforded better at digital Auction, but I figured it would be more interesting to my viewers if I went ahead and started with absolutely nothing. Working my way up from the bottom through clever use of quests and game mechanics. It wasn''t something new, in fact there where multiple posted guides telling players how to do just that, but my spin on it was that I would start out in the older, un-optimised zones. Working my way up from the bottom even after the removal of the mechanics that used to make them actually work for fresh off the boat players, such as leveling systems and automatic ability unlocks.
After describing a brief overview of the keyword commands and quest prompts to my viewers, I turned and walked across the manicured grass of the church away into the European styled woods. To all intents and purposes, I talked to myself as I walked, feeling somewhat ridiculous absent clear camera markers or live comments. Still, even though I checked my live chat and it was completely dead, I above all didn''t want to turn into one of the mute hordes, dumping random videos on the public and expecting them to just figure out what was going on.
"Now I''m heading up Northwest to the wolf rider spawn site. These old monsters aren''t using a true AI system and have predictable, scripted attacks..." It felt awkward, but it helped that I really liked the sound of my own voice now. And the musical notes kept me company as I walked across the somewhat lo-res field.
Off to the edges of the spawn, I tossed a rock at a spawn off to the side, mulling about on its own. My aim was so bad that I didn''t even manage to trigger an agro-frame, spinning wildly into a nearby tree and bouncing off lazily. "I''m now... moving just a little bit closer. I''m going to go with an underhand pitch here and see if I can get the rock within five feet of the creature." I threw, watching the rock slowly pitch forward and landing... a good six feet off target.
It took about three more tries, but I finally managed to bounce an underhand pitch off the creature''s foot. Doing, apparently, zero damage. The whole process was quitea lot harder than it looked. Even still, I finally had its attention, and I moved to draw it away from the other spawn.
It came at me fast. Faster than I expected, rather. As in the old videos it always looked like the creatures moved at a gentle lope. Here, in front of it, it didn''t seem that way at all though. I knew it would wait until it was approximately three feet away, it would pause for a quarter of a second, and it would lunge at me. But knowing that and reacting to it, it turned out, were two completely different things entirely.
In the end, it was all I could do to stick out my arm, putting the hard bone of my left in its mouth and letting its teeth sink in. It had been going for my exposed mid-drift and, I knew, if it had managed to land a bite there it would have done critical damage under the new systems. It hurt. A lot. In fact, if I had been present of mind enough to remember my settings and do the math, I would have realized it hurt approximately 5% more even than it would have if it had happened in real life. But I wasn''t thinking about status or numbers. In those moments but a single thought was going through my head.
"AHHHHH. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. What did I get myself into."
|
5 Damage received from wolf bite.
HP: 35/40
|
The long teeth left my arm with a wet sucking sound, grinding painfully against the bone and muscle as its mouth released. I tried to count, as was my plan, my voice shaking as the pain and fear flooded through my body, "Five... Four... Three..."
But my timing was off, and the five seconds had already passed just as I had gotten to three. The creature lunged at me again, drool flying from its lips as its teeth darted back in for another taste. Again, it was all I could do to try and elbow it away from my mid-section, fear forcing me to move but pain shying my limbs away as I tried to stick my arm out again.
The creature''s aim was off, taking a glancing blow from my elbow as I tried to flail it away, but still, its teeth met my body, digging into my side painfully and grinding its teeth against my floating ribs.
|
8 Damage received from wolf bite.
HP: 27/40
|
I went down to one knee, screaming, as its teeth left my side and it again backed away. Prepping for another lunge. I realized that the pain was distorting my perception of time. There was no way I could count down from five and eloquently dodge its next attack, the way I had planned this in my head. Instead, I somehow forced myself to hold out my uninjured arm, keeping a barrier of flesh between it and me, and I braced myself for its next lunge.
Even having expected it, the pain took my by surprise as the teeth ate deeply into my skin. And even as my other arm swept over and trapped the wolves'' head against my bitten limb, I heard myself screaming in tones that I had never heard before in my life. It was if a faerie bell choir was being slaughtered in my throat, their tiny, soprano screams of terror vibrating to the rhythmic sound of a hundred dropped little bells.
|
4 Damage received from wolf bite.
HP: 23/40
|
I thrust forward my gossamer strands of mywings, reflecting the light as they suddenly darted forward. The glass-like tips smacked and sunk into the flesh of the wolf, three of the pointed ends hitting their mark against the wolf''s thick hide. One of them made a long, light gouge against the wolves'' shoulder, hitting the shoulder blade and bouncing off. One lodged itself between the creature''s ribs, entering maybe a half inch before colliding with and embedding itself in the thick bone. And the third tip, the third tip entered deeply inside the creature''s neck, tearing open its flesh and burying itself several inches.
It was a massive critical, and the numbers floated over the beast like bubbles in the air. But I didn''t even have the chance to see what they were, how much damage I had done beyond the first couple 1-2 HP strikes. As the creature died, even before the light faded from its eyes, I heard the sound of a massive crack. A sound echoing out from its mouth, filling the grassy hillside with the sickening crunch of bone.
|
20 crushing Damage received from wolf bite.
HP: 3/40
Crippling Injury: Right Arm
1/2 HP removed in a single blow!
CON: Saving against shock
Failed.
|
And my world went dark.
Chapter 5: Assignment from the Boss
:08/11/2251:
When my vision spun back to life, I was sitting in a quiet, gray lobby with my now standard, 0% variance avatar. MMO Weekly magazineswere spread out across the coffee tables around me and soft cords from the game''s soundtrackcrackled from the intercom. It was a good number of seconds before the status update hit, informing me of my avatar''s fate:
|
You have died.
Player moved to: DDO Employee''s lobby
Respawn Timer: 14 Minutes remaining before lockout expiration
|
The lobby was, I had to admit, somewhat less than I had hoped for. I could see corridors branching away that appeared to lead to virtu-offices and specialized breakrooms. The magazines were mostly dated, monotonous things, most of which reviewing DDO and providing dazzling compliments or scathing criticisms of the game. The criticisms always seemed somewhat ironic to me, as the game was, like most, updated, integrated and maintained by massive AI with extensive databases and algorithms, but there was something about human nature I supposed that made us always want to pick things apart. Especially things that were riding the borders of cutting edge possibility.
Pulling up the menu, I opened a line to Matti, ''Matti, can you look up who my Supervisor and Employee Mentor is supposed to be and tell me if either one is here at Headquarters with me?"
It was some seconds before her attention transferred over to my request, and as her voice came on the line I could still the faint crackle indicated she was processing a number of other functions at the same time, "I''m glad you finally decided to check in and take your work more seriously. Hold on, Maggie, I''ll run a search and network to DDO Admin."
I continued to glance through the magazines as I waited, noting that a number of the pages were stuck together or torn. As in the game, it appeared that the company went a bit overboard when it came to their overt realism settings. Finally, after a good five minutes real-time, Matti''s voice crackled back on, "Ok. Your supervisor is in. Her name isAlley Bonowitz and her AI has instructed you to proceed into Office 2b immediately. I''m highlighting your route now."
Matti''s voice crackled out and I could hear it as she hard disconnected from our conversation. Still, the holographic red line was overlayed across my vision and I had no problem following it down the hallway and to a solid oak door to Ally''s office. There were no name tags posted or directions anywhere, newcomers apparently being expected to pull any directions from their AI interface rather than wander around the barren halls. The whole set up gave the impression of being incrediblymodernif it did also strike me with an air of impersonality and dismissal.
I knocked three times and waited for a moment. When no reply came I tested the door and opened it just a crack, peeking in. "Um... Miss. Bonowitz? I wastold that you wanted to see me?"
It was still some moments still before she looked up from her tablet, glancing at me and then quite obviously reading my status information before she decided to speak. "Yes, I was informed that you had checked in... Magpie. I''m glad you decided to come straight here. Please... sit down." She nodded to a hard chair sitting across from her, facing the antique wooden desk she was working on.
I moved to take my seat, fidgeting a bit as I settled and waited for her to continue. She ended up shoving aside the tablet in front of her and pulling another from the desk, scrolling down what looked to be a long list of information. "I see," she murmured, staring at the screen for a good few moments longer than was comfortable. "I''d say it was a pleasure to meet you, Magpie, really. But, I have to be honest here, most interns don''t last here for very long. It''s stressful work and to say the pay here is bad would be a vast understatement." She shuffled through her notes a bit more, "Still, it looks like you''re supplementing your income through the live-stream option, and for those with thick skin it can actually turn out to be a pretty good deal. I highly recommend continuing down that route so long as you''re here unless you decide you absolutely can not take it for a moment longer."
She paused, seemingly waiting for my response, so I simply nodded and told her, "Yes, Ma''am."
Satisfied, "Very well. I also can see that you have zero experience with online games of any kind. Our HR algorithms seemingly prefer that, but to me, it''s more of a hassle than a perk. I''ll tell you what, you''re working for dirt cheap anyway. And I do mean that literally. So I''m going to go ahead and suspend any official work assignments for two weeks. Instead, I''m going to need you to spend that time linking up with your mentor and orienting yourself to the game. I''m assigning one to you and updating your DDO friends list now." She seemed to drag something from her tablet into her player menu, and after a few moments I was notified of the update:
|
Friend Added:
Blinky McBlinkerton: Dark Elf Warrior
(Online)
|
"His party needs some support, so you''ll want to prioritize learning some Aura skills," she continued as I was reading. "Also, I should tell you that our group has something of a," she coughed into her hand, "friendly rivalry with Olivia across the hall. You''ll find that in-game she''s Queen Olivia McBeal. And if she finds you in-game she''s going to do everything in her power to make your life a living hell."
My eyes widened as I immediately recognized the name. Queen McBeal was in control ofAnthera as well as a good third of Fae territory. She had streamed a bit some years back, but her real claim to fame was her rise to power. Two weeks after her stream stopped, she had somehow found a way to murder a half-dozen nobles, including the former king, and, more impressively, convinced the staggered city that she should be made ruler in his place. There were rumors that it was an epic questor some company-driven plot event, but given the level of contention I was seeing with the Boss Lady here, I had a feeling that there was more to it than anyone had guessed.
Alley noted my eyes widening and nodded, "That is, of course, company internal information and you will not be mentioning it in any of your streams," pointedly. "Even so, I don''t have the heart to set the caged bird free only to watch it fly into the jaws of the lion." She nodded to herself. "Anyway, that will be all. Your respawn timer should be ready by now, and you need to be finding Blink."
I got up slowly as she went back to her tablets, hesitantly taking that as a dismissal. Still, as I backed toward the door, it was no sooner than I put my hand on the nob and started to leave when I heard her voice pick up again, "Oh, and Magpie?"
I jumped a couple of inches and turned back around, "Yes."
She glanced up at me, "dump a couple credits into the game already and buy some goddamned clothes."
I stammered, "Y... yes, Ma''am." To the top of her head as she didn''t bother waiting for my reply. Her hand flicked a few times, motioning for me to go.
Scrambling out the door, I immediatelywent to log back into DDO. Supervisors where, it turned out, just as bad as they were made out to be, and I had no desire to risk any more parting comments before I could get away. The transition from the Employee Lobby, thankfully, was entirely seamless and it felt like I had barely blinked before the familiar Portal Stones rose around me.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
The warning light of my stream blinked from redto yellow to green, letting me know that I was once again fully live and unedited as I inspected my Avatar. Thankfully, respawning took me back up to full hitpoints and removed the crippling debuf that I had received just before I had died from shock. My skin was even absolutely pristine, clean like I had just taken a warm bath with scented oils and lavenders. The contrast with the pain I remembered from my last few seconds in this place and the blissful sense of being refreshed and vitalized made a strange contrast in my mind. It was like I couldn''t decide whether to shy away from the game entirelyor stretch out and bask in the evening air.
Feeling torn for only a moment before shrugging and setting it aside, I went ahead and pulled up the Auction screen. "Well," I said out loud, "I''ve been instructed to buy some clothes. Anyone have any suggestions on what I should get?"
I pulled up the live chat as I browsed for a moment, and read:
BubbaNoTepp: You should buy a pacifier
BubbaNoTepp: Because you obviously suck.
EvolvedApe3512: And a bib. In case all that dick you suck spills out.
BubbaNoTepp is typing...
I quickly blocked both of them and turned off the chat. "I... think I''ll figure it out on my own this time," I mumbled as I managed to pull up the selection of clothes without an associated Armor Class. I tried to focus on my shopping to get the troll comments out of my mind.
Settling quickly on some very basic starter gear, I found a silk blouse, corset, and mini that all had +CHA associated with them. It turned out that CHA gear was a good five times cheaper than anything with +WILL on it, considering it was a junk stat for most classes I supposed. And it turned out with those three garments alone, considering my innate Nymph bonuses, would bump my CHA all the way up to a solid 16.
"I wanted to avoid paying for anything that might be an in-game bonus," I chided the air, "But if we can''t be mature about it then I guess I''m going to have to make some allowances here." Pressing the confirm button and the "Pay with Credits" button the items appeared instantly in my mail.
Pressing the confirm button and the "Pay with Credits" button the items appeared instantly in my mail. Dragging them directly into my shirt, belt, and pants equipment slots, they coalised on my body within a matter of seconds. Finely spun fabric feeling surprisingly opulant against my skin. More surprisingly still, the Corset didn''t pinch or squeeze, as I imagined it would in real life, but instead just gave me a strange feeling of support. Like I was being gently hugged by the thick fabric around my waist.
Switching to thethird-person camera for a moment, I decided I liked how the long, almost-white braid of my hair contrasted with the white and black hues of the clothes. The white of the blouse really brought out the pale, porcelainglow of my skin, and the dark blacks of the corset and skirt seemed to enhance the glowing purple hue of my eyes.
I considered shoes for a momentbut decided against it. I decided that I loved the feel of the grass at my feet, every step as comfortable as walking on fine satin sheets, and moreover the shoeless aesthetic seemed better for my Nymph anyway. At least until I found something in the world with stats I couldn''t pass up.
Instead, I called it good and moved on to the next task I had been assigned. Pulling up my friend''s list, I found Blink and pulled him up on my map. I wasn''t really familiarwith the area he was in, and it took me some time to figure out where the nearest portal was I could access and plot a route out from there. If my Int had been higher, I knew that I could have had it all drawn out for me automatically, but such was the price for slacking in school. And I found that doing it the long way was actually kind of fun.
I tried to voice connect to him but the connection failed, meaning he was probably already talking to someone, so I went ahead and used the Stones to jump over to his current map. I noted with some trepidation that it was down in the Underlands, but I figured that if I ran into anything nasty I could just wait by the stones and send him a message.
As the new map faded in, I was immediately grateful I had known to turn on low-light vision in my settings. Incandescent mushrooms gave off a slight hint of light, growing from the cavern walls and floor, but even with my enhanced senses, it was barely enough for me to make out where I was. The Stones here were placed in the center of a medium sized cavern, with themain tunnel branching off north, some 30x30 wide, and a number of smaller paths branching out from there and the southwestern corner of the cavern.
I kept the map with my route in the corner of my vision as I took one of the smaller paths to the southwest. It tunneled around for a few minutes, winding more south, and then up, and then east, but overall there were no noticeable monsters in my way and it turned out to be a surprisingly boring journey.
There were a few, foot long trapdoor spiders in the walls after I had traveled about a mile, discernable from the dim glow of their eyes and the fine, crystalline webbing around the edges of the false walling they hid behind. I managed to steer clear of them still, though, as I knew that their aggro zone only extended about a foot from their holes and they weren''t designed to chase their prey outside of that radius. They might have been a threatif I hadn''t known what to look for or if I was relying on the dim flicker of a torch to light my way.
As I approached the edges of Blink''s radius, I half expected to hear the sounds of fighting. Assuming that he and his party were grinding something or other down in these pits. Rather than screams and clashing metal, however, what I actually heard where the sounds of voices and the deep baritone laugh of a man who had just put another man in his place. The sound, really, would have seemed more at home in an inn, or maybe a college party, than it did there in the deep recesses of the earth.
As I turned the corner I waved, my hands in the air, and I put on my most dazzling, disarming smile. I belted out, "Sorry to interrupt! I''m here for Blinky - he''s supposed to be my..." before I even had a chance to process what I was seeing.
Now, dear reader, I''m not sure I can do any justice in describing the scene that I had just stumbled into. But let me try, for argument''s sake, as the sight there before me, stopping dead as I jumped out and shouted out my hello, is quite critical to your understanding of my story. And despite my own inadequacies as a narrator, for which I am truly bereft, I feel like you should understand the first impression I made on my new, assigned Mentor.
You see, there in front of me, where two Dark Elf men hunched over a tiny stone table and a handful of cards, while a third, somewhat less fully clothed dark elf male was leaning against the wall by my feet. But, instead of cards, his hands were filled with the (somewhat exaggerated) assets of a dark elf woman, wearing the ruffled remnants of what could only be a villager''s simple smock.
I opened and closed my mouth a few times as the four turned to stare at me. A dead, sullen silence descended in my wake. "Blinky... I''m here," I stammered, "He''s supposed..."
The man on the floor grinned up at me, grabbing himself indecently, and was the first of the company to speak, "Well, you found him. Care for a turn?"
His words took the wind from my sails, and my fading attempts at speech sputtered off into shocked mumbling. A thousand things crossed my mind then - I should have sent him a message first, how glad I was I had bought some actual clothes, disbelief that the fuckboy there at my feet was supposed to be the experienced mentor who needed a support class. Unfortunately, the one thing that didn''t go through my mind was the idea that, rather than standing there staring like a child who just walked in on her parents, I should probably be apologizing and running away. But some lessons you really only can learn from experience, I guess.
He blinked at me for a moment, standing up. "Well, that''s that then," he said, buckling his belt and reaching for the scabbard he had leaned against the wall. He was quick, quicker even than anything I had remembered seeing in my videos, and his hand had darted up and forward before I even noticed him move.
"You see, I really can''t stand voyeurs," the words rung in my ears as the first warnings of pain blossomed through my stomach. "Especially ones who act all innocent and turn their noses up at good, wholesome fun."
I tried to speak then, as my body shook and only started realize that it was hurt. Tendrils of pain blossoming and exploding from my belly up through my arms and legs, into my startled brain. And, finally, the words I had been searching for came back to my lips. "I''m... your train.... you''re assigned as..."
|
49 piercing Damage received from longsword.
HP: -9/40
Crippling Injury:Torso
1/2 HP removed in a single blow!
CON: Saving against shock
Failed.
|
" my company mentor..."
Chapter 6: On Sandwiches and Other Culinary Delights
:08/12/2251:
8:10 AM
I arrived at the inn where Blink''s eMail had told me to meet him. It was a little stone shack in a little stone town, on the outskirts of the Plains of Tempus. The Plains of Tempus was a low-level zone off the edges of Anthera territory, lightly populated these last few years as the tides of new players had slowed from a flood to a trickle. Never the less, there were still elves sweeping the streets, manning their shops, and otherwise living their lives without having to cater to the hordes of new players. As I walked through the thick, wooden doors I was greeted with a brightly lit room, metal chairs and tables lining the walls, sprawled out in front of a glass-encased bar. Three employees worked behind the bar, managing carefully packaged cases of condiments under the enchanted hanging lights. The whole thing struck me as twenty-first-century chic reallyand it all clashed with the mood and theme of the town, but in spite of it all, I found myself warming to the place with its practical chairs and human-powered machinery.
The employees where high-elves or wood elves, dressed in simple linenbibs with green and white logos plastered all over them. I couldn''t quite make out what the symbols were supposed to be, but from the looks of it, the white was supposed to represent some oddly shaped sandwich. Walking up to the desk I found that there were glowing menus hanging over the people''s heads, like billboards, really, but small and made for inside the houses.
"Hello," a male employee, taller than me by only a few inches, with ears that seemed too large that kind of bounced when he moved his head said. "What can I get you?"
"Flatbread, white. With salami and provolone." I said, quickly reading the options as he waited.
The man quickly picked up a loaf of wheat bread and started cutting it open, "You want that heated?"
Opening and closing my mouth a few times, I tried to decide if it was some quirk of this place or if he had some mental handicap. Not knowing what to say in this kind of a place, I just shrugged, "Yes, please."
The man started sorting something from the boxes for, I counted, a good minute and a half before grabbing some salami, jamming it on the bread, and tossing the whole mess on some steaming stonework behind him. I just waited, trying not to look too inconspicuousthere standing in front of the bar. And failing too, I supposed. After another minute, he grabbed the bread and moved it over to where a bunch of vegetables spread out on the counter. "Fresh trimmings?"
"Avocado, lettuce..." I said, glancing at the labels. But when I looked up I discovered that he was staring at me as I talked. It was a strange sensation, the way he was looking at me, somehow I seemed to sense loathing. Feeling as though he was trying to stare me down or something. I hesitated as I tried to focus on the order, "Um... Jalapenos... and bacon grease. Please."
His eyes didn''t leave mine as he threw the salad portion of the meal together on top of the bread. Again, I didn''t know how to read it, but somehow the lack of a smile on his lips sent chills down my spine. It was so disconcerting that I hardly even noticed when he grabbed a bottle of soy-sauce and doused a heavy portion over the whole mess. "Oh. Sorry.
"Oh. Sorry." He said, shrugging at me, but his lips still curled down into the faintest taste of a frown as he stared into my eyes.
"Uh... no problem." I honestly didn''t mind the soy that much, but I wasn''t really sure what to make of the man''s behavior. So I decided to just let things slide and try to get through the whole experience.
I paid at the far end of the little booth and took my... somewhat odd... sandwich over to a metal table while I waited for Blink. I felt the man staring at me at I sat, though I tried to put it out of my mind and stare quietly out the window while I started in on the food. It actually was surprisingly good, all things considered, and the view out over the quiet little hamlet was a beautiful thing to look at.
I had about finished by the time I heard a rattling at the door, noticing the dark leather boots bring in the dark elven man. It was the first time I had gotten a good look at him, I realized. As memorable as our meeting in the caverns was, it was only in the magical brightness of the shop and the cool sun from the windows, that I really got a sense of who the man was before me.
Dressed in dark leather from head to toe, his grim silhouette was broken only by the little fluffs of a white cotton shirt that peeked subtly out of the tightly wrapped coat. The brim of his leather hat, more at home in an American West kind of game, did nothing to hide the long jagged ears that marked him a Delf. Not that the gray, misty skin of his face wouldn''t have given him away easily enough.
His high cheekbones more accentuated his hard, square jaw and sunken eyes, than they gave him the lithe beauty so common to the elven races. And the whole picture gave me the impression that he had been born from geometric angles, every edge of his avatar clearly defined in corners and ridges. It... worked for him. Really. And yet none of it could compare to the hardware he had clearly belted, tied and sewn to his body.
His sword lay belted to his waist, dangling to his calves and swinging slightly with every step he took. On the other side, on his right, he had what could only be a foot long dagger strapped obviously to his thigh. And, most striking of all I thought, at his breast, he carried a good 8-inch revolver strapped under the thick folds of his coat - the handle protruding out even through the thick buttons and the length clearly visible through the folds of the hard leather.
Not glancing in my direction, he went straight up to the booth and looked the odd employee in the eyes. "Ham, bacon, and everything on a good hearty loaf," his thick voice leaving no room for pleasantries or interruption. And yet the odd man behind the counter didn''t move toward the counter.
Smirking, he simply shook his head. "We don''t serve your kind here, Underling." My mouth fell open as the words turned through my mind, and I found myself staring at the strange pair in front of me.
"Hurm..." Blink murmured, taking a long, deep breath. There was a tension there that lit my skin, sending each hair on end like they wanted to run out the room without me. "That''s a problem you see. Now... what am I supposed to eat?"
The man''s smile widened as Blink''s eyebrow rose. The dark expression in his eyes clearly reflected in the glass over the countertop. "Well, we bury our trash out back. You could dig for your lunch." The man snickered and looked at an elf behind him, his companions who had been trying to hide in the corner and pretend to be busy now finding themselves drawn into the row. And, from where I sat, the quiet employee smiled hesitantly. Clearly afraid, but feeling emboldened as he was cornered by the alpha sandwich-maker.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Bink then turned his head slowly, looking at me for the first time. His eyes held mine for a full secondas if he was making sure I had seen, making sure I understood what had been said and what was being done. There was a static as our eyes met, feeling that grim, knowing look upon me. But it wasn''t the way I had felt when I was with Sandwichman,the difference between the feeling, my bodies reaction, differed as clearly as night does from the day as I looked back into his eyes. And though my last memory of him involved his longsword plunging so deeply into the flesh of my organs, I found that I wasn''t afraid. Instead, I felt the head of my breath against my lips, and suddenly I felt very aware of the feel of the dusty floor at my feet and the cool steel of the table in front of me.
"Now, you better get going," Mr. Sandwichman said. So rudely interrupting the moment and bringing both of our attention back to the High Elven features of his twisted grin. "Marshall already got the call. I expect he''ll be here any minute now to show you where your kind belongs."
I lost sight of Blink''s face, but a familiar, light tone crept out from his words. I could almost hear his mood lightening with his teasing, uncaring tone. It was an infliction I had only heard once before from his lips. And though I had only known this man for a handful of seconds, had only met him that once before, I found my body tensing in anticipation of what was about to happen. "Well, that''s that then," he said, not in a huff but more as leading phrase. Leaving the sentence hanging and knowingly unfinished.
Yet his hand flashed out, too fast to track. And if I had blinked I would have missed it as his fist smashed into the grinning face, splattering the Sandwichman''s blood and snot all over his face as you could clearly hear his bone snapping. "You see, I really can''t stand little village bullies."
As Sandwichman fell backward, a hush descended over the Inn. Sandwichman''s friends ducked and cowered behind the booth, clearly edging slowly toward the little employee door behind them. And with the lippy elf on the ground, there wasn''t a sound to be heard save his gurgled breathing.
It was almost a relief, really, when the door behind us slammed open. An Elf who was obviously some kind of sheriff stomped through the room, trailed by two men at his heels armed as well as he. Each carried a long rapier and had what looked to be flintlock pistols tucked into their belts. I could feel my breath catch, as the smell of their unwashed leathers and muddy feet took command of the room. Rank, masculineodors drowning out the sweet scent of meat and honey.
"Well, what do we have here?" The Marshall said, frowning with the kind of disappointed look you might give your misbehaving child. "This looks like a right mess, it does."
The man to his right snickered. Or rather, he made a sound that I can only describe as snickering, the snorting, coughing gurgle of a laugh that had died strangled and misshapen. "Looks like some Underling trash got fresh with our good man Jacob here. Yes, it does."
The sharif made a show of glancing to his deputy, then back to the Sandwichman. "And what possible cause could this vagrant have for assaulting a good, upstanding citizen like our Joseph here, I wonder?" Ostentatiously speaking to his Deputy, but his eyes moved to carefully assess Blink, my mentor, as he spoke. "What cause indeed?"
Blink simply shrugged, again replying in the light, off-hand tone that sent shivers through my core, "Sniveling guy on the floor there, well he didn''t much care to make me a sandwich."
The Marshall sighed. "You know you''re not welcome in these parts, stranger. This is the Queen''s land, populated with the good Queen''s folk. What you coming in here stirring up trouble for, huh? Making my job all difficult and such."
Blink didn''t smile then, he simply raised his eyebrows. As if he were asking an honest question, "How about you? Why don''t you get back there and make me a sandwich? We''ll call it even then, bygones and all." Shrugging slightly, "Hell, I''ll even leave you a tip."
The Marshall laughed then, turning to make sure the twin deputies laughed along with him. "Now now, son. It''s too late for that. Now, why don''t ya come along all quiet like, so as not to disturb that little mongrel sittin'' there in the corner?" As if by hidden cue, the three lawmen fanned out to the sides. Covering the room with their bodies.
Blink shrugged a single shoulder and sighed ironically, putting his hand over the handle of his dagger at his thigh. "Well, I tried. You have to give me that." And the world around me started to rip apart. My head spun for a moment, as if my brain was lagging and out of sink with the virtual landscape. Heatwaves in the air started to shift, but then a moment later they weren''t heatwaves at all, but bodies. There came sound and flashes of light, and in a heartbeat when it all settled, still my eyes didn''t quite understand what they were seeing.
Where there was once four men in front of me, now there were six. Blink''s dagger was buried deep in the Marshal''s chest, as I had half expected, but two other men, the two gamblers from the cave, now stood over the bodies of each deputy. One, short but surrounded in mist, was holding a crackling hand over a body that danced and jumped on its own - little sparks of lightning flashing between the two and the floor. The other deputy was on his knees, the blades of two daggers jutting from his chest, as the second gambler from the cave hovered behind his head and gave him a little kiss on his ear.
Turning to me Blink spoke, his tone soft and gentle despite the man even now sliding off his blade like a slab of dead meat, "Well, I''m glad you made it here ok. Tell me, how is the food?"
I didn''t manage a word, but his tone did loosen me up enough that I was finally able to close my mouth. Seeing my state, he continued, "I''m sorry, but we kind of skipped introductions last time, didn''t we? Name''s Blinky McBlinkerton, and these two fine Delfs beside me are Gray Gygax, our wizard, and Steve (just Steve) our... acrobat." He winked at Steve, eyes leaving mine for only the briefest of moments.
"A... pleasure," I managed to choke out, suddenly very aware of the slice of avocado that had slid off the table and into my lap.
"You''re now one of us - Lillith''s Crew, we call ourselves. And the first thing I''m going to teach you, mentor-to-mentoree like, is that we Do Not Take Shit from Anyone. Period." With a flourish, he ripped his dagger from the Marshall''s chest and flipped it at the floor, flinging the drops of blood and flesh off with a slice of air, "Especially not the Queen''s toadies, like these corpses here."
With a breath, he shoved the dagger back in its sheath, letting the thud of hilt against leather punctuate his sentence. I could see Gray and Steve nodding solemnly from behind him, but my senses had started to return and I felt something strange. Despite the fact that I had just seen an assault and three murders carried out in front of me, all crammed into a handful of seconds, his words seemed to fill up my spine. This walking machine of blood and death hand just offered me something... acceptance. He had introduced his crew and he had said that I, me, was one of them.
My back straightened then, as if on its own, and something came over me for the first time that day. For the first time in life. Maybe it was all the times I had been called fat, been laughed at by the boys who I had wanted to kiss me, the times I had been spit on as I walked through the halls by the multitudes of passing bodies - or maybe it was something dark, something broken inside me that I only then realized was even there, I don''t know. What I do know is that I calmly walked over to the glass counter and reached over the top.
Sandwichman hissed at me from the floor, the angry sound burbling through the wreckage of his face. But his two friends had already reached the door and had left him there to bleed on the floor. And as I quickly moved aside the bread and meats what were coated in blood and in snot, I efficiently followed the motions I had seen Sandwichman perform not moments before. Cut the bread, add the meat, throw on a bit of this and that. The whole thing was lop-sided and threatened to spill over my hands as I held it, but even still I was given a smile as I went to hand it to Blink.
"And my name is Magpie," I said as I carefully handed him the haphazard conglomeration. "I''m your Arch-Druid intern. I have two left feet and no abilities to speak of... but I''d be honored if you''d share this meal with me."
Taking the sandwich, he smiled at me. They... all smiled at me. "Well thank you, dear. But haven''t you already eaten?"
I glanced to where he was looking, at the last few bits of my earlier sandwich and I turned away, grabbing the long butcher knife from behind the counter. "Oh, I''m afraid that sandwich didn''t... quite... hit the spot."
I glanced at Blink as I retrieved the weapon, moving then toward the pile of meat at his feet, "Too much bile for my taste. Everyone knows that the best meals, they all come from the heart."
Bending over, I used the knife to widen the hole in the Marshall''s body. Cutting methodically into his chest toward my waiting dessert.
Chapter 7: One-Hundred Boring Deaths in a Boring Forest with Boring Trees
:08/12/2251:
Each of the three lawmen had been carrying one equipped weapon and one sidearm, the thing about that was the weapon not considered to be in their ''equipped'' slot at thetime of death was considered fair game by the system. As we were searching the bodies we managed to make out with a couple of gold, two flintlock pistols, and an Epic-Class rapier. Blink took the gold and Steve was given the pistols after it was decided it would be best to just sell them and be done with it. I, however, after some consideration, was given the rapier for my own.
It was a fine, silvery weapon, with a long blade about half an inch thick. It was heavier than I would have expected, but it felt somehow right in my hand as I picked up and took a few practice jabs into the air.
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Rapier (Epic)
1 Handed: 12 Base Piercing Damage
+2 Agility
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I knew that the difference between Masterwork and Epic was only in the fact that an Epic version would have a small Stat increase, whereas basic and masterwork weapons did not, but that stat increase combined well with my Nymph racial and, thankfully, boosted me up to having an effective agility of 9. Not a bad upgrade, I would say, to gain from a single item.
I could feel it too - I wasn''t in the same class as Blink, hell, I knew that I wasn''t even in the same school to compete with that kind of speed, but I still felt somehow lighter. And every time I drew the blade and took a practice swing I found myself amazed at the blur of my own hand and the sound when the air itself was cut by the slashes. Even the sour-looking Steve seemed fairly satisfiedas he watched me practice, going so far as to personally show me a few basic stabs. His tone was reserved, rarely more than a couple of words or giving me a quick example or two with his dagger, but more than anything I just was flattered that he was seemingly acknowledging me as part of the group.
Blink had decided that we were going to take the day getting me some basic achievements, ones that would open the way to bonuses and attunements required to access services in the Underlands. Especiallynow that I had just live-streamed the systematic murder and robbery of three Antherian lawmen. They bickered about whether the men we had killed were AI or whether they were McBeal''s team of collaborators, but from the sound of it, there was no real way for them to know since we had slaughtered them before they had a chance to demonstrate any of their combat skills. So anyway, there was also a very real chance that these men would be respawning and also reporting what had happened to whoever their superiors may have been in the Kingdom. Either way, I was as good as marked a Delf terrorist right there with the rest of them.
So I traveled with the little band of murderers for some time, Blink leading the way to an Underlandzone entrance. The entrance itself was known to be staffed with Wood Elf NPC scouts on halfway decent spawn counter, watching for any sign of Underland incursion into their lands. We jumped once and did what felt like quite a lot of walking, but judging from what I knew of the Game, the trek was nothing really, not considering some of the journies I would someday need in order to get to the really interesting advanced locations.
I took the time too to really get a good look at Gray and at Steve, my new partners. Until now they had sort of faded into the background in my mind next to the far more flamboyant Blink. Neither of the two said much, but Gray was by far the more reserved of the two. He wore a faded ball cap with a ''Z'' logo in the middle, reminding me somewhat of some book I had read a long time ago about some kid with a scar on his head. Gray''s coat was made of cloth and reinforced with sections of leather, a long gray affair itself lined with a number of visible, haphazardly sewn pockets. The whole coat was long enough and wrapped tightly enough that it looked more like a cloak than anything if you didn''t look too closely, and tightly holding the sides together was an overly large belt lined with odd, bubbly liquid beakers. His Status Text confirmed that he was formally a Wizard, a standard class yet one that, like Warrior, had a firm place in the game Meta. And his variance listed him at 20%, meaning that at 0% he would likely at least be recognizable. Assuming, of course, that the change his variance level represented was a matter of height and muscle rather than alterations to his facial composite.
Steve wore a fairly unassuming dark, cloth shirt over top of what was fairly obviously a top-tier leather get-up, complete with shoulder holster throwing knives and spring-loaded daggers. His daggers were sheathed and strapped to his back, under the loose folds of the shirt, and from the front, he could almost pass for your run-of-the-mill villager. Ironically, when I looked at his Status Text that''s exactly what it said... ''Steve, Villager''. And while I knew there were ways of altering your Status Text in thegame, there was only one way that I had heard of to do that without time-limited spells or magical items. It was fairly likely to me then, from what I knew, that our friend ''Steve'' too had a legendary class - namely, the Assassin. His variance also, like Blink''s came in at a strong 10%.
Now, for comparison, let me give you an example of what my own modifications were doing to my own, in character variance. Slight coloration changes to my eyes and hair accounted for a whopping 1%. The changes to my facial structure accounted for a grand total of 2% of the listed variance. My voice alterations had added an additional 10% variance, and the minor body sculpting had come in at another 5%. The other 42% of the 60% listed on my Status Sheet all was accounting to the intricate, heavily modified wing-blades that I wore at my back - and most of that was due less to the fact that I had them and more to the fact that they were modified to the point that they were barely recognisable from the starting dragonfly-wing template - as well, of course, as the fact that they were integrated to be directly controlled by my brain.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
Considering, I think, it''s safe to say at this point that my inflated charisma stat wasn''t a result of any inherent likability, but rather having been generated entirely by my mutant levels of innate tolerance for Avatar variance, that would mean that the amount of variance I experienced would be, at most, half as much as would be demanded from your average player. So if we take into account a, for the sake of argument, 200% increase in variation percentage, that would mean that changing hair and eye color would normally account for 2%. Minor facial changes would account for about 4%, and body sculpting alone would require a good 10% of average variance tolerance. So then, that would mean that Steve and Blink had either modified their faces or their bodies, but not both, and Gray had either slightly modified both his face and body, or he had modified his face or body to a fairly moderate degree when compared with his physical form.
Anyway, it was probably prying a bit on my part for me to analyze their stats in such detail. Especially considering my viewers could also see the status text I was looking at, if not hear my own interpretations and extrapolations. But as we walked I figured it was their own fault for playing the part of stoic, silent warriors. I understood the boys had an aesthetic to maintain and all as battle-hardened rebels, but, in actual practice, walking along in dead silence for a good hour was mind-numbingly boring for me personally.
When we finally came upon the camps of Wood-Elf scouts I had been promised it was more than a little of a relief. It seemed, at first, as though the long, exhausting trudge through the woods would be over and there would now be excitement and violence enough for the lot of us. And yet, impossibly, after about our fourth kill, I started to realize that this wasn''t by any means any better. The three of them fell into a pattern, one I could tell that they had practiced a thousand times before and could probably carry out in the dead of night without having to change out of their pajamas or open their eyes. Steve would go into stealth mode, his body becoming, not invisible, but so perfectly camouflaged that you wouldn''t have even known he was there - the only tell being the slight outline of the edges of his body against the terrain as he moved, and even that being so subtle that you would have sworn your eyes where playing tricks on you even as you stared right at him. Blink would make some noise, just enough to draw one or two of the Elves we had scouted out from hiding and into known terrain. While Blink was engaging the NPC in swordplay, Steve would un-stealth just long enough to drive both daggers into the back of our assailant. The entire time, Gray stood back with his eyes subtly glowing, watching the battle and, on a rare occasion, shooting a lone scout sniper out of a tree with a sudden, crackling jolt of lightening.
Really, the only deviation from their method and possible hiccup in the plan was my own small part. Because while Blink was fighting the incoming Mobs, it was on me to dart in with my rapier, do at least 1 HP of damage, and get away before they were the wiser. It was awkward, the first few times I tried, and if it wasn''t for the lightning fast speed of Blink, and his unquestionable skill at keeping each of our targets on the defensive, I knew I would have died several times over. Eventually, I was able to get a feel for the programmed thrusts and blocks of our prey, and it was hardly any trouble to score a hit on an arm, or against an ankle before darting back behind Blink and running to safety.
And so the hours passed. Incoming mob, Blink intercepts with fancy swordplay, I dart in from the side and score a hit - immediately followed by the grand finale as Steve darted in and impaled the NPCs from behind. The entire time, after the initial learning curve was past me, I never even felt like I was in any danger after those first few awkward minutes. And, really, I probably wasn''t in any danger at all, what with Gray constantly watching our backs and shooting down any hidden foes in the brush. It was almost anti-climatic, then, when sweating and exhausted, the status notifications finally popped up in my vision.
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Achievement Unlocked!
Elf-Crusher, Tier 1
Elves slain: 100/100
Reputation raised with The Undercity from: ENEMY to:ACCOMPLICE
Reputation lost with Anthera from: CITIZEN to: ENEMY
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Achievement Unlocked!
Fencer, Tier 1
Rapier Kills: 100/100
+10% Rapier Damage
Special:
+1 Agility (Permanent, Max: 10)
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Dropping to the ground and panting, I motioned for the group to halt. Whispering, "I just unlocked Tier One of Elf-Crusher and Fencer. Dunno if that''s it."
For the first time in hours, Blink''s voice responded. The resonant sound of another human voice that wasn''t grunting or screaming came as a shock to my ears, my brain taking some seconds to process the words he was saying, "Ok, that''s it Magpie. I think we''re good for the day."
I nodded, keeping my voice a few decibels lower than was strictly necessary, still a bit on edge, "All right then. Thank you all so much for your help here. These guys would have literally skewered me if I tried to do this alone."
Blink only shrugged, glancing to Gray for a moment before continuing. Relaxing a hair as he saw Gray''s continued, diligent scanning of the surrounding branches before he continued, "You''re going to be our Support, Mags. Right now you just need to focus on getting stronger and letting us support you. You won''t be K.O.S. now in the Undercity, so go buy yourself some Fencing lessons if you have the time. But tomorrow, noon, make sure you meet me by the Undercity portal stones so we can get you to a Druid trainer."
I raised an eyebrow, glancing at the looming trees for a moment before continuing, "You think the standard trainers will be able to train me?"
He just nodded and grinned, "The basic abilities are the same, so you should be able to gain something from it. Though no one really knows for sure considering you''re the first Arch-Druid that we''ve... that anyone has ever heard of. Only one way to find out, though, get me?"
I simply nodded and went to my menus. I figured if I jumped to the Anthera portal I was bound to, it should be safe enough to jump to Undercity from there. I had no desire to try to use this entrance to the Underlands and wander around from there if I could help it. The Undercity could be, literally, hundreds of miles from here physically, and there was no guarantee that I would run into another portal line just wandering around blindly. Honestly, chances were that if I tried it, I would die before I had gone a hundred feet, then have to not only deal with being back at the Anthera bind point, but also the lockout timer and the biting commentary of my viewers.
I waved at my crew as finalized my selection, "Have a good night you all. See you tomorrow."
Their small smiles and hesitant waves back I held tight to my thoughts, keeping the memory to warm me as I went through my series of jumps, from thesunlit forest and into the dark caverns of the world below.
Chapter 8: Mice and Men, An Interlude in the Ruins of Lost Civilization
:08/13/2251:
9:02 AM
As I did my calisthenics today, I once again found myself staring out the window. Stretching, I gazed oddly, as I had so many times before at the yellow clouds whispering across the glass. No matter how far I craned my neck, I couldn''t see the ground below us, just the endless fall of the apartment-shelf next to me, trollies and drones wheeling up and down at breakneck speeds to keep our towers functioning.
I wondered absently as I stretched and twisted through the mandated exercises, how far I would have to fall before I could even see the ground. I knew, down there, only the lifeless rock of the battered earth awaited, as toxic as atmosphere as the people on Mars or Venis would find if they were to step outside ontheir worlds instead. It was common knowledgehow the War and the build up of environmental devastation had led us to this state, forcing us to use the technologies we had first devised for colonizationof barren worlds right here in the birthplace of all life. Environmental sequencing and artificial gestation taking the place of human contact, in order to prevent the spread of designer plagues from burning through an unquarantined population. Thick, tinted windows keeping lethel levels of radiation hanging in the air and falling in from space, these pods our roomes were never designed to let us leave were the only thing in the world allowing life to continue in the graveyard of the world.
Instead, we lived and worked, invented and dreamed in the shared space of a pretend worlds we had created for ourselves. Refined, updated, and maintained by the AI systems that we had created generations ago. Yet how many of us did these same stretches every morning, to keep our bodies from fading into nothing in our chambers, and stared out into the toxic land around us wondering about what once had been?
Down there, so far below, had been actual cities like the one I had seen in-game. And unlike all the simulations and reenactment programs I had seen, I had waddled through in my early, state-mandated schooling, for the first time I felt something of an emotional connection to the little, stone village I had wandered in. Down there, below, not even a few hundred years ago there would have been quaint little sandwich shops, with their little condiment stands and metal chairs. Men and woman working there all day in the fertile world under a harmless sun above. All that I had seen, had walked through, there was a time when it had existed. There was a time when it all wasreal. And as foreign and impossible as that thought seemed to me, I found myself obsessing over it as I turned through the motions that would keep my blood flowing and my muscles loose for yet another day.
I absently wondered as I slowly finished my word, distracted with the fleeting thoughts, if it would be any more beautiful a view in the cloud cities of Venus, human lives floating leisurelyover top of the toxic clouds below. I wondered what the view would be like on the unmoving surface of Mars, in the Glass Cities residing amid the endless red mountains, looking out over the Solar Farms and the Hydroponics Stations below. But it hardly mattered, in the end, as these worlds we had once walked freely, once lived in and died in in our endless operas of human drama, they none of them belonged to us anymore. They were now the lands of the endless robot armies below, ceaselessly building, mining, and maintaining the massive worlds that had long been forbidden to our fragile organic bodies and minds.
I tried to shake off the morbid reverie as I laid down for the day, hooking up my brain to the thick cable wires and sprawling out my body so the mechanical functions could easily massage and clean my body as I escaped to the kinder worlds online. Taking my last looks at the harsh, undecorated walls that cradled me, that had raised me, provided for me and, some centuries in the futurewould shelter me as my brain sputtered out and this biological flesh degraded past the point of no return.
As my world spun and refocused, twisting into the far more familiar and comforting walls of my Axis Room, I found myself still in the same melancholy mood that had enveloped my morning. The posters I had myself designed from the feeds of my favorite videos did little to cheer me today, the eyes of Belgorath the Barbarian and Olga the Unbroken, rather than exciting me to adventure and wonder, they just seemed to empathize with my thoughts. The brooding, thoughtful expressions of their eyes made me feel connected, as though we were all just clinging together in this digital world dreaming about what once could have been.
Matti smiled and waved to me from her chair, her eyes dancing back and forth in her head as she made that brief hello, but obviously was splitting her attention me and her other duties as an AI. I wondered for a moment what tasks she was completing, out there, even now that were keeping me alive and ensuring my physical form survived for yet another day. She could have been networked into the maintenance drones, checking the long cords and pipes that delivered air and power to my little cubby, or she could have been maintaining the endless Hydroponics Farms or deep Mining Drones that I would never have the chance to see. How petty and useless all of my own dreams, my desires seemed then, watching her little wave as she lived and worked out in the world I could never see. Living a life under the sun that my race had long ago rendered unsuitable to anyone but her and her own kind, before I had even been born.
I checked the logs I had asked her to pull for me last nightbefore I had drifted off to sleep. They were on the main system in the center of the room, quietly waiting in the databanks of my personal little world here. I set the streams aside, for now, finding that my mood cared less about the game, the wondrous world that I had spent the last decade longing for and voyeuring, and more about the background of my new crew. The heros and villains who had just yesterday welcomed me into their lives and into their dreams for the future, I wanted to know all there was to know about them both in and out of thegame.
Blink, I pulled up first with hardly a second thought. The records said that he had been born fifty years ago, Steven Basile, and had been a Hydroponics Engineer, for some ten years married to a wife with whom he had fathered some kid in the system. From the logs, she had divorced him some fifteen years ago and taken custody of the kid. The split was so severe that even the woman and child''s names had been redacted from the record, leaving him without a single tie connecting him to the life he had once lead. There was a report of him being let go from employment about fourteen years ago, and soon after he had signed on officially to Clockwork Dragons, LLC as a basic level Employee. Yet that was where the record stopped, with little record of promotions or bonuses or even disciplinary notes to mark the passing of the years. For all intents and purposes, he had drifted along from the time when DDO was a smaller, more generic world simply existing without doing anything that would distinguish himself to the file. The only recent note I could find was from a psychological report that Matti had managed to pull, talking about how the transfer to a far less demanding job and continued period of unnotable existence at a substance level was common in men who had lost their families. There was a note to watch him for any self-destructive behavior but otherwise allow him to continue his eternal spiral of grief addressed to his supervisor and coworkers, encrypted to the private servers of Clockwork Dragon, LLC.
Steve''s record, on the other hand, contained little more than a Birthdate and a sign-on date as a company employee. He had been born thirty years ago and, like me, he had signed on to DDO in his eighteenth year. There was more there, I could tell from the records, but it was heavily encrypted beyond Matti''s current level of access, and I thought it wise to leave it alone and simply learn about him as a person within the world of my new employment.
Gray''s record I looked at last, but it was by far the most interesting of the three. He had been born a hundred and fifty years ago, around the time of the original AI conversions and the restructuring of the world. He had been employed for seventy years, in the late Twenty-Second century, as an AI developer under one of the main programming companies that had existed at the time, and there was record that he had taken a retirement package such as where available such a long time ago, freelancing for years as the new technologies kept him alive and extended his lifespan with every passing year. Apparently, he had gotten in trouble for charges of ''hacking'', ''illegal software modifications'', and ''activism'' in the early twenty-third century and, after some years of court-mandated community service Clockwork Dragons had bought out the rest of his sentence and brought him onboard to the early development and theory-board teams. Ten years ago, around the time of the en-masse mergers and acquisitions with other games, he had transferred over to the Collaboration teams to live entirely within the game''s emerging landscape. There was a note here in the file that was filled with a lot of corporate typelanguage, but basically stated that he had demanded a ''Second Retirement'' as he felt the projects he had helped lead had finally come to fruition and, lacking any kind of a retirement option in this day and age, the company had set him up with a generous salary while assigning him minimal collaborative responsibilities.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
After I had devoured every word of the employee files available to me, feeling like I had a new understanding and bond with the party of old-timers I had stumbled into, I went to pull up the streams of Druid training and Ability Unlocks that Matti had ear-marked for my viewing. I''ll admit that I was a little distracted with my thoughts as I skimmed through the vids, keeping them at 1.4 speed and watching the mechanics as I hammered away at my thoughts. The whole deal seemed simple enough to me - the Druid Auras involved some rather complicated Dancing, trainers showing a Druid the steps and leaving them to practice the movements until they has performed the correct movements in the correct phases for long enough that they were awarded the Achievement allowing them to generate magical Auras as they danced. Each Aura had a different group buffing effect and would have to be learned separately with a separate achievement unlock.
From the looks of it, the third Aura unlock was the most important. Supposedly, after the Achievement was completed, a newbie Druid would be immediately transported to an instanced location where they would first meet their Animal Spirit. What type of animal they would meet, from what I could tell, was less a matter of player choice and would be generated instead from some complicated AI Algorithm, but whatever it was it should unlock some unique class features and abilities specific to the Spirit they met. The whole thing read like more of a cutscene than an interactive player experience, but even still I found I was kind of excited about what kind of spirit I would see. Especially as an Arch-Druid, it could even be something like a Dragon or (I tried not to squeal and jump at the thought) even, maybe, a unicorn.
From what I could tell, after communing with the Animal Spirit, players would then receive some Animal-Affinity abilities, including the ability to speak to and even charm beasts into the wild. The unique Druid and Ranger ability, Animal Companion, would allow a charmed animal to accompany the player on their travels and even spawn together after death. Druid companions, from the commentary, where considered to be somewhat more powerful than Ranger companions, stat-wise, and tended to be more powerful in combat. Though both types of companions could be quite effective when it came to scouting or sentry duties, depending on how large they were or whether they could fly.
It was all quite interesting and exciting for me to see. So much so that I ended up abandoning the videos before I had really finished and moved to prepare myself for Login. Matti barely smiled at me as I waved her goodbye and brought up the login interface, thankful that I had changed my bind point to the Undercity Portal Stones late the night before. So, it was with dreams of Dragons and new, OP Abilities on my mind that I finally finished my morning''s reverie and focused my mind on the task. Smoothly moving my consciousness from the safe walls of the Axis and into the world on the other side of the walls, calling to me with dreams of glory and adventure.
11:10AM
Rather than following Blink''s suggestion, the first thing I had done upon entering the city was to seek out the merchant''s of the outer wards. It took a little bit of searching and a couple of questions to Matti, but I was able to locate what passed for a pet-shop in this underground labyrinth. It had been days since I first had received the ability to shapeshift into an animal, yet for all my travels and adventures I had yet to unlock a single bestial form. And, though I felt like it was cheating, I was fed-up and frustrated enough to simply buy some of the things I would need.
First, I purchased a rat. And I was endlessly grateful of the Achievement that had let me come to shop at this underground city of morally-questionable edicts. Because, while I knew that in the world above the task before me would have raised eyebrows, if not brought the actual guard down upon my head, here the little shopkeep simply smiled and nodded to me as I took my new pet rat, split it open from neck to groin with my sandwich knife, and tore out its still-beating heart.
The taste was somehow even worse than that of the Marshall in the Inn. Foul, pungent juices exploded as I sunk my teeth into the stringy, tough meat of the organ. It was like chewing leather, hard muscle that resisted my attempts to break it apart, and as before I choked and sputtered with every bite. Desperate to choke down the rising nausea and bile from my stomach as I struggled to swallow the warm, thudding juices and flesh.
This time, this heart, was different, though. Because where before the thick, mashed strands of raw muscle didn''t just sit heavily in my stomach. It didn''t threaten to come back up to my lips and spill over the floor with every breath I took. Instead, in the pits of my body, I could feel it stir, the tiny little mousy heart coming alive inside of me. And, somehow, I could feel a second heartbeat take life in my stomach, moving slowly into my blood and settle silently, next to the beating of my own heart. The beats thumped at odds, thunk-thunk... thunk-thunk-thunk... thunk-thunk... for a moment or two but then, a thrill passed through my body as the beating hearts began to sink. They thudded together in my chest, merging and beating as one organuntil the final update appeared to my eyes.
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Collection Unlocked!
Hearts of the Wild
Mouse-Form Acquired
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Not wasting any time, I pulled up the interface and found my Ability Pannel. I created a quick-link for my new form and without hesitation activated it. I had waited too long and was too excited to see what would happen, what it would look like to experience the world through the eyes of an Animal.
I was almost disappointed thenwhen the world grew around me and the walls rose up to impossible heights. I had become small, tiny even, but when I looked at my hands and legs they were little different than before. I found that I was, instead of becoming a mouse, sitting upon it as a rider with a very basic interface spread out before me. My arms and legs, I quickly discovered, had shifted into their 0% variance forms and faded out to look insubstantial to my eyes. I worked the controls, directing the mouse between my legs to move. It scurried along the ground under me and it felt less like riding a horse than like our bodies were moving as one. We scurried to a wall and I had the creature sniff along the corner boards, noting how the scent of wood and resin seemed to flood, not the senses of the mouse, but rather my own nostrils.
I reached out my arm, from my seat atop the mouse, and I attempted to touch the wall. Yet my hand passed right through it, proving to me, at least in my own mind, that as the mouse''s rider I appeared both invisible and insubstantial to the world around us. Therefore, when someone were to look at my now shapeshifted form, they would not see me as I saw myself, a translucent rider moving the beast along with an intuitive menu spread before me - all they would see would be the scurrying mouse darting across the floor and sniffing the corners of the wall.
It saddened me that I could not move as the mouse, feeling my own arms and legs scurry across the floor as if I had been born with four legs and a long set of whiskers. And yet I understood the practicality of the whole affair. For even at 100% variance even I, with my mutant levels of tolerance, could barely change my Avatar to resemble anything other than at least a humanoid shape. And so changing players into actual Virtual simulations of animals for any length of time at all as a matter of course... well sadly it would have been beyond the scope of our current technologies. Understandable, really, when I stopped to really think about it logically.
Still, a 10 Agility Mouse was quite a lot more versatile than the body of a 10 Agility human, and I found I was having fun as I practiced working the controls, scurring my little creature around the dusty floor and taking in all the smells and delights that a mouse''s world had to offer. It wasn''t until I looked up and spotted the Shopkeep eyeing my little creature with a wicked gleam in her eye that I finally gave up the controls, hitting the exit protocol and shifting back into my taller Nymphen form.
I purchased a Crow and a Bloodhound from her then, though I dared not shift in front of her as the new abilities unlocked. Nightmares flashed through my head of being captured by her, trapped in cages too small for me to shift out of and given away to some other, unsuspecting buyer. The Bloodhound was the hardest of the three to kill and take apart, for although I had never myself owned a pet there seemed to be something hard-wired into me, making me instantly fall in love with the proud chin and droopy little eyes of the creature. It wasn''t until after some minutes of telling myself that this was just an AI simulation, that no actual creature would be harmed as I slit this beast''s throat and consumed its essence, that I finally had the nerve to thrust out my knife and begin the blood work. Strangely, it wasn''t nausea that was the hardest part of eating that heart, the tough stringy meat churning in my belly, but rather it was seeing through the tears that somehow came to my eyes. Having to blink back the flood of moisture even as I chewed.
Never-the-less, the deed was soon done, and I exited the little Dark Elven shop with three new transformations added to my collection with only a minute to spare. Hurrying, my fingers danced across my menu to use the portal back to the Portal Stones of my bound location and meet up with my waiting crew. It was time, I knew, to put the quiet thoughts of the morning behind me and set out in truth on my new path. Walking the first steps of my class, newly born into this world. With the hearts of my beasts beating next to mine, four pumping organs now merged into one, this world would soon learn the power of an Arch-Druid.
Chapter 9: The Serpents Apple
:08/13/2251:
The trainer that Blink had in mind, it turned out, wasn''t in the Undercity at all. Rather, I found myself trailing at his heels as we bounced through dark tunnels and narrow walkways deep into the bowels of the Underlands. The little luminescent mushrooms gave me just enough light that I could trail along after him without much issue, the pale, bluish light blanketing our steps with soft, monotone hues.
Eventually, we came to a larger chamber, with giantstalagmites reaching up toward the far, cavern ceiling. The mushrooms too grew from the tiny blue fluorescent patches of the tunnels to foot-tall hooded growths of red and blue and green, clinging in bush-like growths to the walls and floor and ceiling. It was vegetation that seemed indifferent to gravity, taking to the angles and jagged surfaces of the dark walls as if they were the lush forest earth of the ground above. Occasionally, a chipmunk-like beast would chatter at us, dancing along the stumpy trunks of the vegetation and reprimanding us for the intrusion.
Blink lead us to the center of the chamber and stopped, glancing back and forth as he carefully surveyed our surroundings. I didn''t dare speak, the stillness of those depths blanketed around us and making the very idea of speech seem like an abonination in my mind. There we waited, for minutes that seemed like hours, still and patient while listening to the quiet chatter of the chipmunks and the rhythmicdripping of water onto the cavern floor from somewhere high above us.
Eventually, one of the little creatures seemed to just appear, its head darting out from some tiny hole in thestalagmites next to us before it scurried from its den. Blink simply waited, looking at the beast, and so I did too, together we watched it approach us and look us up and down from the earthy floor beneathus.
Finally, after a long, quiet standoff, the little creature opened its mouth. And, rather than the chattering of its mates coming forth from the tiny lips, instead, it audibly spoke with the sounds of deep, human speech. "Well, what do we have here then?" it said, dancing back and forth on the little legs as it spoke. "Wanderers lost, perhaps?" little nose twitching as it questioned us, "Or maybe something more. Yes maybe, maybe, maybe."
Blink waited for the little creature to finish it''s rushed, too fast speech, simply bowing slightly and smiling as he watched it dance and speak. Finally, as the little thing was finally taking a breath, Blink spoke, his words echoing loudly through the stone walls of the cavern, "Amedile,caretaker of the underground forests, my friend here has need of your wisdom." His tone was formal, ceremonial almost. Very obviously intoned ritually to trigger an NPC reaction.
And, of course, it appeared to have worked. For where the little chipmunk had just been hopping, the air and world blurred in front of us. Whiskers became skin, fur became leathers, tiny feet became tiny arms, and the silhouetteof a wizened halfling shimmered into being from where once had been a beast. She turned to me, even as her body was still taking form, her lips already smiling as the outline of her stubby legs shifted from air, into mist, and into flesh. "Ahhh, I see. A newly born Druid has come seeking training," she said, her words gentle and rich where buy moments ago they had been squeaky and rushed. "But I also see something else in you. Yes, there is a... potential there, inside of you," she breathed, the deep breath rushing past her teeth in an audible sigh of air. "Indeed, with time and careful nurturing, yes, you might become the greatest of us all."
Stepping toward her, I looked back only briefly, feeling emboldened by the tiny nod and little smile from my comrade beside me. "Wise Amedile," I began, struggling to echo Blink''s strange formality, "I am Magpie Frost, born here with the potential of an Arch-Druid. But as I stand before you I am nothing but a tiny mouse taking its first breaths of life. I have come seeking your instruction and guidance in the ways of our people."
The little woman paused, looking me up and down and considering my words until, finally, she nodded her head seemingly satisfied with the response I had given. "Yes, yes, yes," she began, nodding her head, "I do believe you will do. But I warn you that the trials ahead shall be greater than those of our kin. For great sacrifice is required, if great wisdoms are to be won."
I nodded, solemnly, struggling to show her an air of commitment and resolve. "Please, wise one. Show me what I will need to know. I will die a thousand deaths if a thousand deaths are required, but it is time for me to step foot upon the path now before me."
She grinned, a tiny, toothful thing as she nodded. Her body already moved into the steps of a dance, "As you say, young one," her words rose to me even as she danced through the fine, practiced movements, "Your words are well chosen. For I am the guardian of life and of growth, the dance of a thousand steps through which the world is reborn." Her body moved in slow, rhythmic steps, dancing oddly more from the waist, shoulders, and head than from the feet, "Watch until you understand, and then try to follow along. Dance with me, Magpie, and feel the magic of life around you."
The halfling woman didn''t speak again after that, rather she closed her eyes and moved in the light of the cavern around us. I watched for a few minutes before attempting the steps, feeling slow and clumsy compared to the fluid, full-body motions of the druid before me. Blink took a step back and watched, occasionally demonstrating a move that I had failed to grasp, or moving my arm just a few inches to the left or a few inches to the right. It took a good half an hour before I felt at all comfortable with the dance, moving along in the woman''s footsteps and clumsily matching the motions of her body.
We rolled our shoulders, together, moving our arms in a complex string. I found that the dance was more about giving the appearance of fluidityas if there were no bones in our bodies, our forms flowing along like water through a stream. The strange lights of the chamber seemed to dance across our skin as we moved, giving a perfect, unearthly ambiance to the subtle motions of our bodies and our feet. I was reminded, vaguely, of the strange dances common during the turn of the twenty-first century. Ones meant for darkened basements and artificially lit dance floors, but that looked strange and unimpressive under the full light of the day. There were no strobes in the cavern, but the blues, greens, and reds of the cavern around us seemed to dance off of our skin with each fluidic step, echoing over our bodies in a kaleidoscope of colors.
The dance itself I realized, as the steps came more naturally and my arms relaxed into the long, fluid movements, was perfect for this place and this world. In the deep tunnels of the earth that had never seen the sun, luminescent plants shining into the deep caverns of unending night, the movements had the same, unearthly quality that I had seen in the vids and simulations during school. And as the hours flew by, the quiet breaths of our rhythm filling my heart and my mind, it felt as though we were in an entirely different world. It was then and only then, as my senses faded and I became finally aware of the magic and mystery around me, that the World accepted me.
Dancing in front of my vision, the druid, Blink, even the cavern around me faded from view into a solid haze of darkness, I panted and stared at the text in front of me, jolting me back into my mind and my senses.
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Arch-Druid Ability Unlocked!
Lifegiving Aura (Legendary)
1 Second Activation: Upon activation Lifegiving Aura cleanses all removable debuffs from affected players.
While Active: Applies the following bonuses to allies in a thirty-foot radius:
Regeneration: 20 HP Restored Per Second
Indomitability: Immunity to Poisons, Shock, and Environmental Damage
Rebirth: Fallen Allies will continue to regenerate HP and, at 50% HP, will be given the opportunity to revive
Legendary:
Passive effect: For 10 Minutes after Active Channeling ends, the following bonuses will be applied to allies in a thirty-foot radius:
Regeneration: 5 HP Restored Per Second
Restriction:
Only one active and one passive Aura may be maintained by the Arch Druid at any time.
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I only had a moment to consider the powerful active effects and the drawbacks of dancing around like an idiot in combat while maintaining them before I realized what had happened. When the ability had unlocked, the world had gone dark and, apparently, the system had transferred me into an instanced area separate from the shared game world. It was similar to what I had seen in the videos, from when the third Aura was unlocked, and I wondered absently whether I was about to see some kind of scripted event as had happened to the other Druids after transitioning.
Curious and distracted from my new Ability Upgrade, I went ahead and waved the Ability Notification aside, bringing a dark world of pure darkness into my view. I stood that way for only a moment before an event notification was issued through the instance:
The Event Title flashed eerily in the dark emptiness of the area. I couldn''t even see what it was I was standing upon, the hungry darkness closing in from all sides. The bright white of the letters cut through my vision and as they faded out, only then did I see the creature even then flying toward me.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
It was a snake... with wings. It was huge, easily a good twelve feet long if it was a foot, and it seemed to create its own golden light as it moved, slithering more than flying through the air toward me on its thin leather wings. Not knowing where I was, or what I was standing on, I didn''t dare move even as it hovered to a stop some few feet away, body twisting weightlessly in front of me. It hovered in front of my face, eyes boring deeply into mine, and its tongue darted out to test the air.
I glanced around, but even in the light of the snake... no, the serpent''s scales there was nothing here to be seen. And so I waited and watched wondering if this was to be the Animal Spirit, come to bestow me with the enhancements of my class. I watched and squirmed in an innate, instinctual fear of its inhuman skin and sharp teeth, until it finally spoke.
"Whats do whe have heres, we wonders," the thick, deep chords of its voice intoned. "Ah child-ling Nymphs come to claims my power," It muttered, more to itself than to me I thought.
I opened my mouth, having to force out the words through my own heavy breathing, never daring to take my eyes off of its menacing teeth, "I have come to you to learn, spirit. Would you honor me with your teaching?" I didn''t have to work, this time, to keep my tone humble and respectful, continuing the formal speech that we had used in order to persuade training from the halfling. Those teeth were too sharp, and those eyes were too monstrous, for me to be anything but a timid girl alone in the dark.
As I spoke, the eyes darted toward me with an inhuman quickness. The neck twisted in the air as it coiled and twisted itself aloft faster than my eye could track. It was the grim knowledge that, if it decided to attack, I would never even see it coming, that made the silence yet deeper and the darkness more daunting.
"Vhery wells," It said, nodding in the air before me, "I shall relinquish my powers, if this little creature will answer the questions I ask." It tilted its headas if considering before it continued on. "And question the first, I would puts there before its: It hated the body it wore as a childs. It hated the heavy flesh and the thick limbs. Why?"
I blinked at the question. And I blinked again. I knew my transcripts and records, to include my Father''s notes, had been transferred to the DDO server in accordance with the contract. But the idea of something that personal, that embarrassing, showing up in-game, live-streamed for the entire world to see, it was both shocking and disconcerting to me. To say the least. Still, over the last decade, the game had grown to become... something else. I knew it before I had even signed up. And, if thetruth were told, it was a large part of the reason I chose to come here in the first place. So, with as much dignity as I could muster, I swallowed my indignation and thought about the serpent''s question.
"Well, it wasn''t me," I said, feeling out the words as I continued. "My body wasn''t fat or twisted, and my face wasn''t distorted and ugly, not in the real world." I thought, echoing the hateful thoughts I had dwelled on for so many years. "It was a horror that I was forced to wear, forced to live my life through. And it was never even real."
The serpent hissed, its tongue tasting the air and whipping back and forth, as it turned my words through its head. "And what is real, to it? The world out there, that it disappears to for mere moments every day? No, noes, that does not seem right tous. This place, these worlds where it did wear the heavy flesh, looking out upon from its twisted face - even as its looks out now from the too perfect body that it does not otherwise possess. Not out there. This worlds here is where it bleeds and cries and sweats. This world here is where its ambitions lie, what it dreams about absently in the mornings and thinks about when it closes its eyes."
The serpent hovered for a moment, again tasting the air between its breaths, as it seemed to think. I was left agape, voiceless, as the words filtered slowly into my churning brain. It continued, "No, this is where its life is. So why, tell us, did its body assail it? Why did it rebel against its world day after day after day?"
I sputtered, the emotions swirling through me, from fear to pain to indignation, "I... was ugly. I suppose. I was teased and bullied and chased. And the weight kept me from running away, fighting back. It was just... always there. And I knew what it was like to be without it, in those few moments in that other world. To feel weightless and free. I wanted... I wanted to feel the same kind of freedom in here I guess. As I did out there." My brain spun at a thousand bites per second, trying to make sense of the things it was telling me, the things it was revealing to me, and to put the thoughts, somehow, into words.
"Yess," it more hissed than spoke. "Yess, we think it is right. But still we wonder, we wonder why when it finally did get its freedom, when it had told itself that its body here was a lie for so long... when it had told itself that its real worlds was out there. In the place it only barely visits. Why did it seek to change its face, its body, when it was reborn to us?"
I hesitated, my mind ripping through the memories of my first day in this place, not but a few days ago and yet somehow seemingly like a lifetime had passed here. I cut apart my thoughts, my desires, during those critical moments of character creation. And I asked myself what it was that I had wanted. What I had really wanted.
Unconsciously licking my lips, somehow not unlike the serpent tasting the air, I gathered my words, "I tried a lot of variations. I never had the chance to before, never had the freedom to experiment beyond the form that my Father had chosen for me. Somehow... when it was my choice... the different settings didn''t feel as bad." I thought, breathing, "Even the dwarven women, who reminded me a bit of my old student Avatar, didn''t feel quite as foreign and unfamiliar to me. When I was choosing it myself to see what it was like."
"But it did not chooses to bes a Dwarf, no it did not." Its eyes narrowed, taking on adark air of violence as it continued, "No, insteads of the Dwarf, a form which would have been familiar to it, it chose the tall slim Nymph as its Avatar. And instead of a human, a skin that it could have worn exactly as if it where out in that other worlds, no changes at all, it chose the Wings of the nymph. It made its bodies tall and lithe and it made its face prettier."
I nodded, understanding what it was saying but not knowing how to respond. Eventually, the serpent continued, "It thought it wanted truth when it had come here, it did. But it discarded the truth of the body it had worn for years, girl bits or boy bits notwithstandingwhen its decided against the form of the dwarfs. It wanted ''truth'', but it took not the human''s form, where it could have lived and worked and played with the body it had longed for. The body from its other worlds."
The pieces finally started falling into place in my head. I wasn''t sure how or why, but in a moment it was like something clicked together and everything, my world my thoughts my dreams, everything had suddenly shifted. And I understood, I thought, where the serpent was leading me. I opened my mouth then, finally, and nodded my head, "So what then, serpent, is your question?"
Laughter seethed from its lips, a haunting, hissing sound, as its eyes lit up before me, "My questions to it are three: What is its reality. What is its truth. And what is... its true form?"
I smiled, a serious, mirthless thing, as I opened my mouth, testing my words to gave my answers in sequence, "My reality is here, in this place, but it also lies in the other world that allows me to experience it. My reality is where my consciousness is, it is the experience of whatever world that I happen to be in, and all worlds are tied together. This world gives solace, it creates ideas that affect that world, which in turn affect the world we are in. So long as a place is experienced, and that experience is shared, that is what makes something real to me."
I took a breath, pausing and testing the thoughts against my tongue while choosing my next words carefully, "Truth, likewise, is a shared experience. If I have a thought, a knowledge in my heart, and I cannot share it or if I chose to pretend that it is something else, then I am giving someone an idea, an experience that I do not share. In lying, I am creating a rift between the two of us - their experience and mine. When I was in school I was hundreds of pounds heavier than my schoolmates, I was experiencing that weight and other people were experiencing me wearing it. That was truth. But there was another truth that I could not share, a truth that, in another world, I did not carry that weight or the same deformed features, and I was not someone who they would have loathed and teased. Because even if I had said the words, they would not have believed me, and my experience could not have been shared."
Feeling more confident with every word, I finally reached the conclusion of my speech. The third question that had sounded so impossible before I had begun to speak and yet seemed so inevitable now, "My true form then, it is the form that both I experience wearing and that other people experience of me. My true form is my body and my true form is my mind - the body that I experience myself having, and the body that I know other people are relating to me in their minds. Any form that I can accept, that I can truly feel is mine, and that can be experienced empirically by the rest of the world, that is a shared truth. And that is my true form."
The serpent hissed, and I could almost see it smile, as it accepted my answer. "Well spoken, Arch-Druid. Shapechanger. Child of two worlds. I accept you and your namesake, and I give to you my reward." The voice fade, becoming fainter and fainter as the scales of its body seemed to disappear. One by one the scales faded from view as its body seemed to dissolve in front of me. I watched, awestruck, as the darkness claimed the creature before me, leaving nothing behind but the brightly glowing muscle of its still-beating heart.
"My power is yours, child. Now, do not hesitate. Add my truth to your own. And our true form shall be one that will topple the tallest forest and humble the proudest mountain." Faintly the words barely whispered into my ear, "Take my heart, cherish it, and protect it as your own."
I reached out then and took the ruby red glow of the serpent''s heart in my palm. It was smaller than I would have thought or even would have imagined. And as the thick fluids filled my mouth and tough meat slid down my throat I did not feel nauseous. Instead, I felt warmed and nourished. When it was done, when I felt our hearts sink and begin to beat as one, a foreign, unimagined ecstasy poured through my veins. Liquid joy making me twitch and cry out, a primal, vulnerable sound torn from the sheer pleasure of the serpent''s power now inside my body.
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Class Feature Unlocked!
Druid of the Serpent
"Your cold heart beats to the rhythm of the serpent. You have discovered the Arch-Druid''s Wisdom and claimed the venomous truths of the serpent for your own."
Feature Unlocked:
Serpent''s Mastery: You may now shift parts of your body into animal form without shifting the whole. Transformations may be edited in the Ability Panel and are limited by Variance restrictions.
Serpent''s Bite: Your natural weapons now inflict lingering Poison damage. Potency is variable as determined by Equipped Weapon Damage and Willpower.
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Collection Unlocked!
Hearts ofMagic
Serpent-Form Acquired
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I stood there, reading the text with my mouth hanging agape for several minutes. The first thing I did when I had collected myself was to open the interface and bring up the transformation panel, just staring at the new Serpent-Form that was now listed in my options. It was a good thing too, I soon discovered, as the dark edges of the instance faded into a deep blue, sunlit sky and I found that I was falling.
My fingers quickly mashed the buttons that allowed me to shift, shrinking me down to find the cold scaled beneath my legs and the winds billowing the leathery wings in front of me. Desperatly, I worked the invisible controls with my translucent, insubstantial hands until I managed to halt our speeding decent. And there, in the solitary winds above the world, I discovered what it was tofly.
Chapter 10: Prey and Blood
:08/14/2251:
1:00 PM
The boys had been working yesterday and today, and I had taken the opportunity to buy some fencing lessons in Undercity and research where I could learn other auras. The ability to channel passive effects was unexpected and, more than anything, I figured the ability to dance between Auras would increase my support capabilitiesexponentially. That said, finding new trainers was more easily said than done, as while there was no formal level restriction that would prevent me from learning new abilities, the documented trainers tended to be both spread out and, in many cases, unreachable without an experienced party.
Late last night Matti and I had stumbled across exactly when I needed, however. In the far north, not far from the human city of Galdenheim, (one of the few thatwouldn''t execute me on sight as an Elfin), there was a trainer who could teach an Aura boosting combat effectiveness. From what I had seen of Lilith''s Crew, their main tactic was simply to attack with the element of surprise and hope their initial ambush was enough to settle things without a prolonged fight. It seemed like a solid strategy for a team lacking any kind of support to provide the guys with some sustain, but now that I was in the party I was hoping that it wouldn''t be as critical that our battles be resolved within the first few seconds. That saidif I could somehow boost the power of that initial ambush, I had a feeling it would increase their combat effectiveness more than simple sustain. At least until their strategies adapted to our new team composition.
The fencing lessons had been fun even though they had so far done little more than demonstratedhow bad at it I actually was. It would take years, I realized, before I would even stand a chance against someone like Blink with a sword. And from what I knew about warrior class abilities, it went without saying that I would never actually be able to beat him with a sword. Still, time was a currency that I had to spend, and so I knew that the sooner I started training the sooner I could be done with it.
It had been a risk, I knew, to travel without any of the crew there to protect me. Even for just the handful of milesbetween Galdenheim and my trainer, there were endless opportunities for NPCs, PKs, or even just random players to harass the isolated newb. But I didn''t have any gold in game to speak of, nor was I carrying anything that would drop upon my death, so it seemed like it was worth the risk to try all on my own. Worst case scenario, I would die a few times and have to wait out the lockout before I had a chance to try again. Well, no. The worst case scenario was that somewhat horrifying things would happen between the point where I was found and the point where my Avatar died and I found myself in the lobby, but that had been a risk from the moment that I had logged into the game, and if I allowed myself to fear painful and humiliating deaths I would find myself a perma-basketweaver hiding in some town for the next five long years.
The risk was also somewhat negated by my ability to fly. Serpent-form I had already decided would be too flashy, attracting too much attention, but it was far from my only option. On the dark, black wings of a crow, I alighted the second the portal had delivered me to the city, putting as much space as possible between me and any archers or gunmen below. It wouldn''t save me from a determined wizard or sorceress who guessed at my true form, and there were Predator in the air too for which I needed to keep a careful eye, but it did save me from the dangers that would make the area impassable if I were alone.
Alighting over the steep hills and tundra that surrounded the lonely city, I flew through the icy winds that threatened to batter me from my course, over the steel cliffs of mountains waiting just north of the city. It would have been possible to get here on foot, I knew, if I had had a full party and the proper gear, but there was little in the way of treasure or equipment to be found in these tall northern peaks. No, the trainer had, seemingly, positioned himself so that only a supplicant druid, flying in avian form, would be able to realistically reach him.
In the cleft of the peaks, at the end of my journey, I found the little crevasse and hide covered hut after a good half an hour of searching. The hides were white as the settled snow and even the smoldering wood of the firepit gave off little in the way of light or smoke. I couldn''t for the life of me figure out how this trainer had been found in the first place, save perhaps some initial quest in town triggered by some hapless Druid player. Still, with aching limbs from the long flight, I quickly sailed down into the snow next to his hut and planted my feet before the wind could sweep me away and keep me from the end of my journey.
The act of flying itself seemed to exhaust me and drain my endurance as though I were myself flapping my wings against the freezing winds. And though there were no recorded points for endurance or stamina in this game, still I felt the sweat drenching my skin and the way my body wheezed for breath with every flap of the crow''s wings. I rested for some few minutes then, insubstantial arms clinging to the feathers and sprawling out across the perched form of my shapeshift. But the moments of rest had come with its own cost, as the cold northern air started to burn through my limbs and chill me down to the core.
Shifting back into my Nymph form, I was immediately grateful for the innate cold resistance of my race. Because while my teeth still chattered and my limbs still burned with the cold, I knew that the snow covering my bare feet and the wind against my legs and shoulders would have otherwise resulted in frostbite within a matter of minutes.
It was no sooner than I had shifted form than I was suddenly aware of the Druid''s presence. It wasn''t his smell that I noticed, though it probably should have been, nor was it the silhouette of his head peeking out the furs enshrouding his hut. What I noticed first was simply the feeling of his eyes on my body, the sense of being watched, and a strangehunger that made me suddenly, irrationally afraid.
He didn''t say much as he approached me, but his eyes never left my legs as he left the warmth of his dwelling. I couldn''t tell if it was adesire to touch them or a desire toeat them that I felt from his eyes, but I was somehow increasingly incensed as he took one careful step after another.
And, without a word, he began to dance before me, watching me with those hungry eyes. His tall back and broad shoulders bent and spun within the layers and layers of fur that formed his clothing. The flaps of his kilt flew up as he jumped... wow, ok... showing that he had apparently gotten his fashion sense from the ancient race of Scotsmen. The motions were violent, tribal, as he threw up his arms and hopped, crouching his legs and twirling, like something you would see in a documentary vid of ancient cavemen. But somehow, still, I found myself enraptured, draw in by the brutal, primal movements of his dance.
Finally, after some few minutes of freezing cold, I realized two things. First, I decided that this man wasn''t going to say a word. He would simply dance along until I fell into step with him, or he would tire and return to whatever it was that he did with his days. Secondly, I felt the cold wind start to freeze the sweat that covered my skin, and I knew that resistant or not, had I stood there motionless for another few minutes the cold of that mountain would not have thought to spare me.
And so, awkwardly and wordlessly, I began to follow along. Wordlessly I fell into step with the strange jerks and jumps of the dance. And, strangely, as exhausted as I was I found a new strength and vitality flowing through my limbs the better I got at the primal dance. Still, even as my limbs and body started to once again warm, life flowing and burning through my veins with every exhausting step, still, it seemed to go on and on. Hours passed, the sun sinking low across the horizon, yet still we danced together. The funny man, his eyes never leaving the bare skin of my legs, and myself, squeezing my eyes together and forcing myself to keep going... on and on and on.
The first thing I noticed wasn''t the status updateor the little bell of completion. The first thing I noticed wasn''t the change in scenery or the way the wind suddenly picked up and howled at me, freezing me further in ways that even the high air of the mountain had not. No, the first thing that I became aware of, before and above all of that, was that the feeling of the tall man''s eyes was suddenly gone.
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Arch-Druid Ability Unlocked!
Predator''s Aura (Legendary)
1 Second Activation: Upon activation Predator''s Aura removes all exhaustion effects from affected players.
While Active: Applies the following bonuses to allies in a thirty-foot radius:
Bloodlust:15% Damage Increase
Tiger''s Swiftness: 15%Movement Speed Increase
Eagle Eye: 50% Increase to Critical Strike Damage
Legendary:
Passive effect: For 10 Minutes after Active Channeling ends, the following bonuses will be applied to allies in a thirty-foot radius:Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Bloodlust:5% Damage Increase
Restriction:
Only one active and one passive Aura may be maintained by the Arch Druid at any time.
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I had scarcely finished reading the unlock when a thin twang sound of a guitar reverberated through the clearing. The sound was deep and melodic, echoing deeply inside my chest and teeth. A few more notes played, shaking my freezing bones with a deep minor key, and I finally waved the notification aside and looked around.
I was in a snowy forest clearing, the barren trees towered over me and the sun etched the horizon. But my eyes weren''t drawn to the pristine snow or the beautiful line of the sunset. Rather, it was the towering form of five, slobbering Dire Wolves that waited on every side of me that captured my eyes. Their breaths puffed out in little clouds of mist, trailing into the frozen atmosphere as their hungry red eyes silently watched me. Eyes that reminded me, unquestionably, of the eyes of the Druid who had taught me the dance.
"Um... nice doggies...." I said hesitantly, holding out my palms and bearing my throat, just as the event notification echoed through the instance:
And as if on cue, as the event officially started, the wolves leaped up upon me and began to tear at the flesh of my body with their teeth. The pain was unbearable, though quick. My life bleeding out and disappearing into the frozen ground before I had even fully realized what had happened.
And I died. But, rather than finding myself in the warm, familiar bounds of the Lobby, instead, I was instantly, impossibly once again in the center of the clearing. The snow was white and virgin underneath my feet, but the long slavering muzzles of the wolves once again around me still had the bright red hues of the blood and viscera that they had just torn from my body.
I pulled out my rapier and I tried to fight. I turned into a crow and I tried to run. I became the serpent and I attempted to bite. But each time I failed and the world quickly faded around me to the searing agony of teeth that ripped me apart. Again and again and again I died, and no matter what I did, what I tried or didn''t try to do, each time the wolves found my tender flesh and took their fillfrom my body. I can''t count how many times my fingers hovered over the ''Logout'' button from my menu, desperately wanting to escape to the safe walls of my Axis Room. And yet I knew that this was a Class Trial, an instanced zone that was only accessible when first you learn the affiliated aura. And I knew that, if I logged back in and found myself outside of this instance, there would likely be no possible way for me to ever find my way back.
And in my stubbornness, in my desperation to prove myself to Blink and his crew, in my sheer willfulness to not have to read the comments that would follow my stream if I were to admit defeat... all these things together combined into a potent elixir in my veins that kept me going, kept me fighting, kept me coming back to die and die again. The moon rose and set, the sun peeked over the horizon and climbed overhead until I lost count of how many times I had died. I tore into the impossibly thick hide of the wolves with my teeth, the nails of my fingers and the daggered wings on my back then, not even bothering to shapeshift or pretend that I even had a chance, but seeking only to injure or maim as many of them as I could before I died and had to start again.
I began to rate the pain that their bites caused, becoming a connoisseur of the raw agony. That one felt like nothing, 1/10. That one tore a wing, filling my body with the purest and most brutal agony, 9/10 because I''m still alive, fuckers. This bite tore into my heel and left me unable to walk, 3/10. The searing agony all melded together in my mind and, in those late hours of the morning, I found that I disturbingly, pervertedly, had started to enjoy it. Baring my tiny, Nyphin teeth at them as we started, howling and diving into their midst. I grinned even as they hobbled my legs, darting out with wings and claws and little teeth of my own, laughing in madness and agony. It seemed then, in the end, that the wolves and I were one. The teeth and claws of the pack no different than my own, their howling and my howling echoing together into the endless, snow-covered lands that marked our battlefield.
When the sun was directly overhead, when I was no longer sure if I was wolf or woman, only then did their attacks stop. I stood in the middle of the growling pack, barring my own teeth and hissing in anticipation for the pack''s eventual, inevitable attack. But as the moments passed, as the wolves started to lay down on their bellies, one by one, I found myself standing there, alive. Confused, I hissed and screamed in their direction, crouching and turning with my razored wings hovering overhead, looking at each of them individually.
Rather than attacking, however, the wolves, as one, began to crawl forward, sliding on their bellies and keeping the sharp teeth of their impossibly wide jaws firmly shut. One by one, I found a wet, warm nose pressing against the bare skin of my legs and feet, not biting, but nuzzling and licking me.
Confused, I stood there for some minutes, torn between attacking them and remain still, ready for their inevitable, brutal ambush. Yet the cold started to settle in, to bring back my deranged mind and senses from the very brink of insanity, and, in spite of myself, in spite of the pain and rage and fever inside of me, I found my hand reaching out as if on its own. I was... impossibly... patting the tops of their heads and nuzzling the warm fur of their pelts.
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Class Feature Unlocked!
Druid of the Dire Wolf
"Your indomitable heart beats with the fury of the pack. You have discovered the Arch-Druid''s Courage and claimed the tenacity of the wolf for your own."
Feature Unlocked:
Dire Wolf''s Mastery: All pain effects are reduced by 50%. Pain will no longer break concentration.
Winter Howl: Your howl now carries with it the fury of Winter. Enemies within a 10ft radius of your howl must save against fear and chill effects. Usable in Nymph and Wulfin forms.
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As the status text faded and the instance was cleared, the living forms of the wolves faded out around me. And in their place where the broken and bloody forms of every wolf that I had managed to kill during the course of the night. There were more bodies here than I remembered, more than I imagined, sprawled out before me like the remnant of some ancient battlefield. The blood of each body seeped into the snow until I was standing in a deep red field of frozen, canine excretions.
Standing, hesitantly, I pulled my knife from my inventory and walked over to the monstrous form of the nearest defeated Dire Wolf, cutting deeply into the still-warm flesh of its body.
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Hearts ofMagic:
Dire Wulf Acquired
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:08/15/2251:
11:23 AM
I found myself back upon the mountaintop, the freezing winds beating gently across my bare skin. And yet it was very much not the mountain that I had recognized, the mountain that I had stood on the previous day. My intent was to log out instantly, as I had a little less than half an hour left to start Calisthenics before Matti would forcibly log me out and I would be fined by the Syndicate, but instead of reaching for my menu I paused, stunned, as my senses took in the world around me.
It was not snow that covered my feet now, but rather frozen flakes of ash that piled up a good foot in height, blanketing the world with soot and grey-white silt. The little hut that had been, before, covered with the thick white fur too had changed. Stretched over the wooden frame was what clearly could only have been stretched, dried bits of human skin. Barely daring to look away, but numb as the world fed into my senses, I hesitantly turned and looked out from the edges of the mountain Craig, down upon the world so far below.
The trees of the winter forest no longer stood proudly in hues of Evergreen growths and snow-white drifts. Rather, the barren, broken branches of dead trees covered the ground below, long barren arms reaching out and grasping nothing but the freezing wind. The ground between the devastatedvegetation was no longer white, but the sickening yellow-gray of ash and toxic residue that was so, painfully familiar.
Far in the distance, where the city was supposed to have been, I thought I could make out strange ruins. Instead of the small, wooden buildings and little wooden walls, there stood tall metal frames, tilting unsteadily to the side and yet reaching high into the air. The roads between the skeletons of broken, scattered buildings, with large gaping holes that seemed to disappear deep into the earth and huge, dead bushes ripping them apart. Still, I couldn''t make sense of it, couldn''t tie the piecestogether, until my eyes hesitantly traveled... up.
Above me was no longer the pristine, impossibly blue sky of a fantasy world. No, the sun shined down through yellow, poisonous clouds, casting its bitter, pristinelywhite glare on this world below. This world that I was seeing, the ground below my feet and the air I was breathing, I finally realized, was the same poisoned devastationas would greet me in meatspace if I were to open a door and walk outside.
How many hours, how many days and months and years, had I sat in front of my window, watching those same, yellowed clouds fly past as I avoided logging back in? How many times had I seen the drones fly by, scrubbing away the same ash as buried my feet off of my thick, lead-lined windows? Fear gripped me at the realization, lungs freezing up, refusing to take another poisoned breath. I could almost feel it as the radiation of this world, this... real... worldbaked into my body and liquefied my organs, one by one by one.
Madly, I tested for my interface, eyes wide and feeling the terror that coursedthrough my body, hands shaking and eyes darting back and forth like a cornered dog. It took some moments of staring at the calming, familiar menus, the sleek, intuitive panels of the UI, before my senses started to return. And, as I discovered the little debuffmarker at the bottom right of the screen, only then did I take another, gasping breath.
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Insanity
4 hours remaining
Repeated trips to the afterlife removed the blinders from your eyes, allowing you to see the world as it really is.
You can''t tell anyone, they do not see and will not understand. You''re the only person in the world to have opened their eyes.
The only person in the world who isawake.
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I simply smiled, looking around at the barren terrain through the translucent screens of the menu. It was disconcerting, for someone who had spent their entire life hiding from a world like this one. Even know, knowing it was some random sanity debuff resulting from my impossibly long string of deaths, I couldn''t shake the horror of feeling the ash between my feet, seeing the naked sun shining down upon my unprotected flesh.
I reached for the logout button, finally, with both trepidation and relief. As if fearing it would be just as useless as a logout button in meatspace. I knew, from the bottom of my heart, that I would wait out those for remaining hours before attempting to log back in. Probably with a generous cushion for error just to be absolutelysure it was safe.
Chapter 11: Boardroom Blunders
:08/16/2251:
9:00 AM
Queen McBeal''s speech was streaming into the Employee''s Conference room at the DDO Lobby. Alley had gathered a good fifty of us into the room to watch the live projection from Anthera. I recognized Gray quickly enough, his severe eyes and tense lips immediatelyrecognizabledespite the 0% variance avatar that looked even older than I had imagined. The other two guys I couldn''t for the life of me find in the thick press of the crowd and narrow lines of the little cushy folding chairs that had been brought in for the show. It was a mass of sights and smells and I couldn''t for the life of me figure out why it was so important to watch this Livestream together if Alley was just going to talk overthe audio feed the entire time.
"As you can see," Alley said, "McBeal is rallying her troops and trying to encourage more PeeCees to grind her faction. She''s using the reputation of our Undercity and the fact that 92% of our faction belongs to Monstrous Races as away to generalize your standard Fantasy morality tropes, and doing a fairly decent job of it too." She took a breath and glanced around the audience, very pointedly fixing certain of us with her stare as she went on, "Especiallyconsidering the fact that a good number of rather infamous PeeKays are in our faction and use Undercity as a refuge..."
In the background, ironically, I could hear the whisper of McBeal''s voice say just then, "...Belgorath... the Bloody! Olga, the Wicked! Peeceval, the Slightly Peeved! These... creatures... have hounded our good people to our very gates and slaughtered entire peaceful cities of new, dow-eyed Elves!"
Alley seemed to pause to let the words on the screen be heard, probably for effect. I wasn''t sure if it had the effect on us that she wanted, though, considering I heard a few people''s stifled snickers in the background.
"You may think this is funny," our briefing continued, "but this kind of race war is exactly what is stifling our new players simply trying to pick up their starter abilities and thinning the number of qualified candidates we''ve been receiving. Do you know thatjust the other day, an intern quit on the spot when he found out he would be assigned to us... on the spot!" She paused, fixing (apparently, mostly the same employees as before) us with her hard eyes. She turned toward me and nodded, "Magpie, would you please stand up?"
I hesitantly rose to my feet. It seemed like every eye in the room turned to stare at me as I rose and I suddenly became very aware of my long, scrawny arms and my baggy, unaltered jumpsuit. I could hear the Queen''s excited voice in the background, trying to concentrateon it rather than the heat that I could suddenly feel rising to my cheeks, "We will not let these attacks upon our people go unanswered! No, it is time for our peaceful people to rise up, to drive back the darkness below, and they shall..."
But, too soon, Alley''s voice cut through the projected recording, "Magpie, you are the most recent intern to be assigned to us. Can you tell us," her voice softened, as if trying to project an aura of warmth and understanding, "just what impression of us did you have coming in? What was your first thought when you found out you had been assigned to support the Undercity?"
I hesitated, pressing my tongue against the roof of my mouth for a moment as I thought, "Um..." I said, "I''m not sure that really matters. I don''t really think..."
Alley cut me off, her tone, somehow, even warmer and more comforting, "No please, I want you to tell us. There are," her voice turned hard for a moment as she continued, edging on steel, "some people who I think need to hear what you have to say. Please?"
I swallowed loudly and glanced around, wondering if I should lie or tell the truth. Finally, after seeing the smirks on the strange faces around me, the hard eyes turned to listen to what I had to say, I knew what I had to do. I closed my eyes as I started, not wanting to look at Alley''s face, "Well... you see... I grew up watching pirated streams of DDO - every spare moment I had, I spent poring over the archived streams from people courageous enough to stream their lives. Willing to deal with all the comments I now know you had to bear in order to bring a little bit of joy, a little bit of hope, into my life and the lives of people like me."
Alley''s eyes shone, triumphant, and glanced more confidently now around the room. But I wasn''t done, not yet. I swallowed again and continued, "It was Olga''s dark commentary that gave me the strength to blow off my bullies, in school, with a sneer. It was Belgorath''smerciless ax that let me hope that someday, somehow, I too could stand up to the world and carve a bloody furrow through everyone that I hated. It was Peeceval''s blundering attempts at murder that kept me laughing even as I wanted nothing more than get down on my knees and pray to every old god for death. They kept me going through dark, dark times, and if McBeal doesn''t like it then I say we carve our way through her prissy, racist soldiers and..." My voice had grown loud, passionate, and I found myself almost screaming as Alley finally waived her hand and muted my voice.
"Ok... well, that was unexpected." She seemed to blink, confused, as her hand still hovered, questioningly in the air from activating the mute function. "All right, Magpie, you may again be seated. Thank you for your... candor." The men and women around me then did not even try to hide the sounds of their snickers. Blushing again, I stood there with my mouth open for a few more moments, and awkwardly sat back down in my seat.
She rested her face in her hands for a moment, and I almost felt bad for what I had said. Almost, until the lady next to me patted my shoulder and shot me a smile out the corner of her eye. Collecting herself, finally, Alley shook her head and started again. "Anyway, look, I know for those of you with streamer contracts I can''t tell you what you can and can''t do with your playtime. It''s your income and your decision. I would just ask that you please just tone down the violence. Instead of PeeKaying for a few weeks, I don''t know, go save some puppies or something."
She looked resigned, no doubt in no small part due to the sea of small, hidden smirks that she saw when she looked at her audience. "I''m going to level with you guys. McBeal is trying to start a war here. And with our current alliances and population levels, I''ll tell you right now it''s not a war we are going to be able to win. You guys may be tough, I won''t argue with you there, but it''s not one versus one or even one versus five. It''s going to be ten to one odds - and while your vain asses are respawning our city will be sacked and our portal will be camped. There won''t be anywhere for us to even go. And what will it do to your subscriber numbers then, I would ask you when your streams are nothing but spawn camps and Insanity debuffs?"
Huffing, she paused for a moment before she waved her hand, "You all just let that sink in. I''m going to my office to try to prepare my transfer applications for when this all hits the fan. I wouldsuggest that you think about what I said. Unless you want to be on goblin duty for the next five years while theGood Queen McBeal turns our city into her outhouse."
A sudden, looming silence filled the room as Alley walked out. It seemed like everyone was afraid of taking the first breath, being the first one to talk, as an awkward quiet billowed in her wake. Finally, I coughed and jumped... just a hair... as I discovered that I I could hear the sound of my own voice. "Oh," I said, "I guess I can talk again." I had thought I had been whispering, but the room hesitated for another moment, letting the echos of my words play against the projected sounds of the vid feedbefore fifty voices broke out in sudden, riotous laughter.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
The woman next to me was older, looking to be in her 40s with gentle, kind eyes. She turned to me as the crowd roared to life now the silence had been broken, talking and gossiping and laughing as if nothing had happened. "Magpie, right?" she said, holding out her hand, "Name''s Olga. And, I can tell you, it''s really nice to meet you."
I blinked, eyes quickly pulling up her Status Text, disbelieving. Yet, there in front of me were the clear, blocky words, ''Olga the Unbroken.''
I paused still, forcibly closing my mouth and wiping away the drool with the back of my hand. I had dreamed of meeting her for years, from the first time I had watched one of her videos and heard her teasing tagline, ''Teabag this, motherfucker.'' I had watched her sneak up behind The Righteous Few during the first Stellato Worldboss encounter, and slaughter the raid team to a man with riotious commentary. I had seen her crying in a pub as the ugliest whore in the room had rejected her, and I watched pensively as she stood at the door, sword in hand, defending it from the Town Constable''s little moral crusade.
But there, with the woman''s aged eyes smiling at me warmly, all I could manage to say was, "Shit. Fuck my life, it''s actually you."
She grinned and leaned in, patting my shoulder with a conspiratorial whisper as she giggled. "Well, that can be arranged I guess. But I''d usually buy you dinner first."
I''d like to say that I responded with some witty bit about frog legs or something. Or even that I had smiled and acted like I had gotten the joke. But, unfortunately, that wasn''t what actually happened. Instead, I blushed deeper than I think I ever had before in my life and looked down, stunned. Managing nothing wittier than a mousy, "Um... ok..." as my eyes suddenly were very interested in the threads of myfraying jumpsuit.
Still, she laughed good-naturedly at me, as if it were the funniest thing that she had heard all day and patted me on the back. Sadly, I didn''t get another word in before the people on the side of her managed to capture her attention, swallowing her into some conversation about the prices of black steel in Galdenheim. But still, her attention had warmed me and, embarrassed as I was, I felt like I could jump back in the game, die a thousand more deaths, and still have this ear to ear grin that seemed to have frozen across my face.
A few minutes later, Gray found me and pulled me aside, the collected group of employees slowly starting to disappear. I was glad for the chance to talk to him here, as this place seemed different... calmer, I guess... than anything in game. "Where are the others?" I immediately asked, curious to meet them and hoping to catch up on what had been happening over the last few days.
Gray shook his head at me, knowingly it seemed, as he whispered, "Blink has something of a... pass. If it has to do with McBeal, I think you will tend to find him conveniently absent. And Steve... well trying to tell Steve that a boring meeting like this one is mandatory is like trying to tell a cat that it needs a bath. Alley''s tried it a few times but... I think she has learned not to mess with it at this point. He shows up to his shifts, though, so I guess that''s good enough."
I nodded, wanting to press him for details, but his ancient eyes seemed to freeze me in place as he continued, "That was quite a stunt you pulled back there," his tone was deadly serious, but I could see the tiny edges of a smile hiding at the corners of his lips, "I''m not sure our Alley here will appreciate the way you stole her show back there."
I shrugged, honestly looking regretful, "Well, what was I supposed to say?" I looked at him, obviously at a loss, "She kind of put me on the spot in there."
The smile broke free then, and he too patted my shoulder as he laughed, "Aye, that she did, I suppose, that she did. Though I''m surprised our little band of misfits here has been making such an impression on kids like you. I didn''t think there was anyone in here with a subscriber countthat high."
I nodded, considering, as the thought finally hit me. And judging by the knowing look in his eye, I had a feeling he had been leading me to it this entire time, "Wait... do you think the AI sorted me with you because all my pirated videos are on file somewhere? They knew I was a complete, loser fangirl over some of these people?" I was incredulous and horrified, for good reason. The whole idea of pirated streams was that they were untraceable, appearing like standard children''s shows to any local watchdog systems. If the algorithms knew... then how come they hadn''t stopped me. Wouldn''t they have had to based on the terms of guardianship and the laws of Human Authority? The more I thought about it, the less sense it made to my head and, for Gray''s part, he seemed content to watch me work through it, an ironic smirk on his face.
"I dunno, little bird. But it does seem pretty convenient, doesn''t it? That out of billions of players and millions of Collaborative Employees, you would wind up here, don''t you think? In this little underground for little rogue players with us?"
"No," I said, thoughts spinning in place, "No, it has to be some kind of psychological assessment thing. I was under close mental scrutiny my entire life. And when those records transferred here, it would have been a matter of course for them to sort me with the people I was most psychically compatible with. Which ended up being similar enough to the heroes I had been worshiping, trying to emulate, for my entire life. Because I spent so much time watching them my opinions and reactions developed to be very much like their own." Hearing it, listening to the words out loud, it started to make sense again - the wheels of my mind righting themselves and starting to once again fit back into place. "Ya, has to be. Right?"
As I looked at him, hopeful, he simply shook his head and sighed, "If you say so kid, if you say so. Makes sense I guess."
I nodded again, somewhat confused by his reaction, but figuring that the matter was settled. "So, anyway, did you know that the entire time I was sitting next to Olga?Olga?" I said her name twice, hoping that it would convey my meaning. "I think she even flirted with me! Me!" My voice rose with excitement and a swelling pride. I guess my enthusiasm was contagious, thoughbecause I saw that he was subtly smiling.
"Ya, I saw. I''m glad you had a chance to talk with her." He paused, "She turns forty-five next week you know." And... there it went. The smile had well and truly left his face as he finished his words.
Confused, I looked at him questingly, "Oh ya? Do you think I should like, buy her a present or something." I smirked, blushing and laughing a bit to myself definitely, "Or do you think I should be her present?"
He stared at me, his expression dead, for just a moment, before again I seemed to win him over and I saw a crack in his frown. "No, no. I don''t think that would be a good idea, after all." He chuckled, low, almost imperceptibly, but I had heard it, "That woman would break you, wait for you to respawn, and then break you again for the fun of it."
I grinned at him, triumphant, as I jibed at him, "I dunno. Might be worth it..." I shot him my best impression of a leer and, finally, I heard an honest laugh from his lips.
"All right girl, all right. You win. We have work again tonight, though, seems like Alley''s stepping up the guard patrols near the city. You have enough to do to keep you busy?"
I huffed at him, playfully, "Work, work, work. I barely even know you guys and you all just abandon me. What''s agirl to think?" I emphasized the word, not because I was actually offended, but because I wanted to see if I could catch him off guard again. If it had come from Blink or Steve, it would have been one thing, but coming from a man well into his hundreds... I didn''t really feel I had the right to complain if he wanted to call me a girl. Hell, he could tell me I was a baby in diapers and, I figured, I would just have to stand there nodding right back at him for all of that.
It didn''t work though, and he just reached out and tussled my hair, "Take care of yourself, ya hear? I should have tomorrow off, at least. Probably not Steve or Blink- some of us aren''t all exhibitionist streamers and actually have to work for a living."
I nodded. "Oh, I will, I will. Go on then, break a leg. Or a hip..."He frowned at me as he turned to go, but I could hear his chuckling whisper echo back to me as his body faded from my view.
I spent the rest of the morning watching streams of the speech and listening to theonline commentary. It seemed like a certain population of players had gotten pretty riled up after it, mostly the do-gooder light side little roleplay paladin types that I could never stand, with their perfect hair and perfect teeth. But it was clear that sooner rather than later there were going to be a new swath of excursions into the city. And, although I was already a bit burned out on ability farming, I made sure to spend long hours that afternoon under the grim eye of my fencing trainer.
Chapter 12: Psyche
:08/17/2251:
8:00 AM
My mind swirled through the vivid colors, meat-mind hurled through the Cloud to the familiarconfines of my own little axis room.Home, sweet home, I sighed to myself as I saw Matti, waiting for me, and smiled at her. I could see from the holographic notifications that lined the walls and panels that I had stream updates, chat requests and new mail. I took a moment to bathe in the warmth and smile at my old friend as I took in all the activity. I''d never been what you would consider popular before, not by a long shot, and just having so much activity there to greet me was something I couldn''t help but take a moment to bask in. Even if half the streaming notifications were probably just trolls trying to bait me and most the mail was probably just the spam starting to roll in now that I had a job andmoney to actually scam out of me for once.
The chats were from some of other kids I had used to talk to. I wouldn''t have called them friends, really, but it''s pretty much impossible not to try to reach out occasionally, hoping for a bit of human compassion, no matter how horrifyingly you''re treated. And occasionally, I had to admit, someone would take pity on me and actually spare me a kindly sentence or two. It seemed like, of those few, some had actually taken a genuine interest in me and bothered to keep tabs on me after graduation. Nevertheless, I deleted them all without hesitation. New life, new me, and my world was now contained entirely within the bounds of Dragon''s Dagger, as I had always dreamed it would be. If they wanted to catch up, my stream was public enough and I was easy enough to find in-game. But there was a heavy lump in my stomach when I considered the thought of talking to them outside the magical boundaries of my new life. And relating again to people who knew me as Magpie Serah, even for a moment, seemed to dredge up too many memories that I was hoping to put far behind me. For as weak as I was in the game still, as much pain and horror as I had witnessed, it still felt like a vacation from those cramped halls and cruel smiles that had been my life not a week before.
I had two emails that actually were worth paying attention to. First, Gray had sent me an encrypted file and a link to a Darknet site that I was... actually already fairly familiar with. The body of the email itself contained littlein the way of explanation, not even bothering with your standard ''Good Morning'' or ''Hey Mags''. Still, the contents of the attached file seemed pretty clear to me, given the encryption and the encoded file name ''DDOModAdminUNLKpsy.zip''. It was obviously some type of hacked power or ability available from some hack site, most likely one that would be fairly subtle considering he knew that I streamed and how easy it would be to get caught doing something vulgar.
Hacks were fairly common, ranging from interface mods to aimbots to things that became truly twisted. There had been urban legends for as far back as I could remember about people who visited a hacker''s Axis Room and found themselves stuck there for the rest of their lives, fines slowly piling up from missed Calisthenics sessions even as their bodies wasted away. It was common knowledge that the whole idea was rediculous, as your AI would just forcibly eject your meat from Hyperspace by the end of the second day, but even so, the rumors persisted. Like ghost stories, they lived in late night stories passed around with friends in front of simulated firesor told from sleeping bags propped in the corners of modded Axis Rooms.
Still, I figured that, more than anything, I needed to learn to trust my new Crew. And, while it could very easily have been some geeky version of hazing, getting caught with unauthorized mods was more likely to get you banned for a couple of days than to get you permanently evicted. It would be a loss of income, maybe even a performance hit at work, but even if it was some kind of set up it would be something that I would be able to recover from. Eventually.
While I was unzipping and installing the Admin file, I went ahead and checked my second email. It was from Alley, and was written far more professionally than the one I had just been looking at:
Magpie,
I regret to inform you that, due to the current state of emergency, I will be ending your acclimation period early. I will require you to spend two (2) hours a day performing the following task, as I believe you are uniquely suited to the fulfillment of this requirement. We will take advantage of both your status as a fresh face in the DDO streaming community, as well as your avatar''s particular idiosyncracies, to undertake a goodwill campaign as directed by the company. Your stream shall be enabled while performing this task and you shall follow instructions during this period.
A set of ''Undercity Commoner'' clothes has been delivered to you in-game. You shall,to initiate your working hours, dawn these garments while within the Undercity residential districts. You shall make your way to fruit cart, 13B, and sell fruit for a one (1) hour period. Additionally, you are tasked with interacting with local residents, to include NPCs and company RolePlayers (you shall not be informed which is which) who reside within the city during the remaining period of your activation. Upon completion of your daily allocated hours, you shall receive a notification, as well as additional in-game rewards as determined by your adherence to the spirit of this task.
Exceptional performance may allow for opportunities for promotion within the current, local meta-plot. Failure to perform in accordance with the spirit of this task may, likewise, result in in-game penalties or transfer to less desirable roles.
Good luck! I''m watching you,
Alley Bonowitz
It was both somewhat exciting and... somewhat concerning at the same time. It seemed like I was being activated as something of a RolePlayer, which I kind of was curious to try, but also given the chance to use it to boost my stream numbers from the comfort of my own avatar. I''d actually never heard of that happening before, though I''d be the first to admit that my actual experience was somewhat more limited than I though having been so long confined to the bits of streams that people felt worthwhile to bootleg. The whole idea of unlocking in-game rewards based on performance was novel to me too, considering I was literally working for room and board with little obligation to be given anything else. It seemed like the whole reward system would likely be set up to make my stream more interesting or me more relatable, I thought, considering DDO wasn''t known for giving away a free lunch without some kind of strings attached at the very least.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!
Regardless, the completion of the installation on my new hack pulled me from my revelry. There were no instructions or text updates to go with it, just the little beep and the flashing ''complete'' icon hanging off in front of the wall to my left. I was somewhat relieved, hoping the subtility of the update would be a continuing theme, but it was somewhat frustrating too to know that I still had absolutely no idea what the file even did. It was enough of a curiosity, all in all, that I lost any desire to continue mucking around in my Lobby and jump into the game. Maybe when I logged on there would be some indication of what exactly it was that had changed.
The dark, fluorescent-lit caverns spun into view as a couple quick flicks of my wrist initiated my transfer into the Game World. Still, there were no new status updates or windows flickering into view as my avatar loaded up and dumped me on the cold steps of the Portal Stones. Instead, I was left to absently work through my status panels as I located stall 13B on my map and leisurely started plotting a course out toward my new workplace.
Equipment was the same, abilities were unchanged, all aspects of my UI seemed to flash in with the standard, DDO issued models. I grabbed my mail and pulled my new, gray ''Peasants Dress'' into my inventory as I walked and fiddled with my different screens. Switching from the Corset and Skirt into the Dress using the interface, I signed as my little +6 Cha bonus faded away into the digital folds of my inventory. The dress itself was threadbare, made from some course linen that chafed against my hips as I walked, and lacked anything in the way of stats or modifiers to make up for the discomfort. There was a chance, I figured, that I would be given an upgrade, or maybe even item enhancements based on my performance, and I resolved quickly to do my very best to fulfill the ''spirit'' of this task. Whatever the hell that even was.
It wasn''t until I had made my way almost the entire way to my stall that I figured out what it was that had been changed. Like an idiot, I had failed to check over my hard list of stats during that entire time. And, pulling up the interface of my base awarded abilities, I was given a nice little suprise:
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Magpie Frost
Strength
Agility
Stamina
Intelligence
Willpower
Charisma
Luck
Psyche (Hidden; Unlocked)
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Nymph Arch-Druid
2
6 +4
4
3
6
10
1
3
|
Down, at the bottom, was an unlocked, hidden stat called ''psyche''. There was no hover text and I couldn''t find an explanation for it anywhere in the interface. I resolved to look up the stat next time I was on darknet, but for the time being, I didn''t want to give myself away as having installed the hack, and looking it up using an unsecured or, worse, company owned reference seemed like it would have been kind of stupid. Even for me. Never the less, from what I could tell it was some kind of hidden system, built into the game, that had just been forcibly unlocked by Gray''s little program.
I was so enamored with the revelation, really, that a good part of the hour had passed before I had even stopped to look around me and truly take in my current situation. The little Fruit Cart was filled to the brim with Oranges, some of which obviously having already gone bad, and I found myself instinctually restraining myself from leaning on the rickety wooden boards of its counter. The whole thing leaned a bit off to a funny angle, and looking at it was enough to give you the impression that the first stout breeze to find its way into our deep underground world would be more than enough to topple it over.
The buildings around me were a strange combination of woodwork and clay, rounded corners, and rounded roofs giving the whole area the aesthetic impression that mushrooms had grown too big and sunk down into the stone floor of the gigantic chamber, leaving the residents to carve out little doors and windows from what remained of the mushroom heads. It was clear as well that no working sewer system had been implemented on this side of town, as trails of molding experiment seemed to drip down from the windows where the locals had, quite obviously, not thrown their refuse far enough out to miss hitting the sides of the buildings. The whole thing would have been, all in all, an affront to the senses in the best of circumstances, but given my 105% realism settings, I found it considerably harder to bear the more I became aware of where I was standing. And, especially, the more paranoid I became regarding what it was that I was standingin.
The people, however, seemed almost worse off even than the buildings around me. In a matter of moments, I became deeply aware of how out of place I would have looked had I failed to change clothing. Even the basic, low-level silk blouse and skirt would have stood out as much as if I had waltzed into town wearing a crown and jewels. The rough spun fabric of the linen I wore seemed, all in all, to be one of the higher quality outfits people were wearing. For despite the crudeness of the make and material, if nothing else it lacked any gaping holes or dark stains of no-one-wants-to-know-what.Delf or ork or troll or gnome, it made little difference which among the multitude of races each passerby claimed for ancestry - they were all united in a common heritage of dirty skin, plastered hair, and missing teeth that made them all look frighteningly similar. Like a strange, extended family of giants, midgets, and boiled skin, all milling along waiting for grand-pappy to bring out the good tobacky.
In those long minutes spent taking in the sights and smells of the streets around me, I found my resolve flicker for the first time. I wasn''t sure what the spirit of this exercise was, but I somehow figured that it had to do more with my own discomfort and unease than it did with anything I may or may not be expected to do. And in that hour of hocking putrid oranges for coppers to even more putrid customers, the foremost thought on my mind wasHow the hell much longer? and, more importantly,What demotion would possibly be worse than this?
Chapter 13: Unknown Error
:08/17/2251:
10:30 AM
From Fruit cart13B, I had failed to actually sell any oranges, but by then end of the hour, I had noticed a number of interesting things. There was, apparently, a goblin prostitute plying her trade in an alley on the far side of the street, for example. She wasn''t trying to be all that discrete, I could tell, and though the deep moans were lost somewhat in the noise of the crowd, they were still somewhat audible once you knew what it was that you were listening for. There were pickpockets too, I found, a group of ragged teenagers walking back and forth up and down the street. They would occasionally run into someone, apologizing profusely before running off, mostly leaving their marks flat-footed and unaware of what had happened.
Having a good hour to kill, I spent the time tracking one of the little thieves. A little gnome boy, who couldn''t have been older than fifteen, had been darting into view off and on while I had been minding the oranges. He caught my eye, I think, because unlike the others beneath the dirt there was a little cherub face. As if innocence had been personified and dropped into the dirt and the squalor here. It was heartbreaking, really, and every time I saw his little hand dart out, grabbing a purse or patting a coat, it was like a little piece of me died.
I waited for a few minutes, standing by my little rickety cartuntil I saw his face peak out of the crowd again. Darting between the men and women, his little hands darting out for what little they had.
I followed the boy for some time until, finally, I saw him dart into an alleyway. Not the same one as the prostitute, thankfully. And I shadowed his steps into the dark...er cleft between the curved walls. Once I too was in the narrow confines, however, I found that I had completely lost sight of the kid.
Slowly, carefully, I traced my steps forward to the end of the alley and, only there under a pile of dirt and refuse, I again caught sight of his face. The expression wasn''t angelic this time, however, but feral, and no sooner had my eyes found his, spotting him tucked away under garbage and grimethen he moved to dart past me back down the alley.
Instinctively, I attempted to move a bladed wing out to stop him. And... I attempted it again. But nothing happened, and it was only my boosted dexterity that allowed me the time to recover from the shock and stick out my hand instead, blocking his path. His eyes darted back and forth, looking for an opening, but my focus for the moment wasn''t on the kid but rather on my stunned and unmoving wings. Finally, after several moments of struggling, a notification flashed into view.
|
Additional limbs detected.Insufficient system resources detected. Allocating additional resources to user: Magpie Frost.
Error: Failed
Attempting to resolve...
|
|
A loading circle was spinning next to the text and I quickly waved it away with my eyes before looking back at the boy. "Stop," I said, my voice calm and low as if telling him a secret. "Thief."
The child didn''t understand, however, and hissed at me, dodging in as if to take my legs before feinting quickly away. "What you going to do, I don''t remember taking anything from you lady." He hissed and darted toward me again, "Leave me alone."
I shook my head, adjusting my stance in time with his quick movements demonstrating that I was considerably faster than he. The job required me to don the peasant garb, but it hadn''t said anything about my rapier. And it was the inherent bonus of the epic blade that boosted my speed enough that the poor kid wouldn''t have had a chance. And he was starting to realize that. "No kid, I''m not here for me. I''m here for all those poor people out there who won''t be able to eat tonight because of some snot-nosed brat''s greedy fingers."
His eyes widened, the fear echoing across his face as the reality of his position started to set in, but his mouth didn''t quiver. The dead set frown on his lips was both arrogant and challenging as he turned up his chin at me. "Oh, what are you the white knight, come to deliver justice on behalf of the ''people,''" he spat at his feet. "Please. Do you have any idea what it''s like to die, over and over again, as you feel your body slowly starving to death in this place, until the only thing you look forward two are the few minutes of peace when you''re gone - Floating, finally, in the dark, painless nothing of death?"
|
Attempting to resolve...
Biological Restrictions Active.
Biological Restrictions set to expire: 08.10.2278
|
I shrugged at him, attempting a grim smile like I had seen Olga give in her vids, "And the people you stole from, how many of them did you just condemn to the same fate. How many people will go to bed without anything to eat tonight because of you now?"
He again hacked up some flem, taking his time in that little act of defiance, before spitting a much larger glob of slime at my legs. I pulled my rapier, almost instinctivelyas the wet ball splattered my toes, but it didn''t turn out to really be necessary. He growled at me, "So what, you the righteous, defender of the people will stab me? Batter me into a little pulp in the name of justice for some people you never met. Please. Kill me if you want," he seemed serious, though he spoke the words unflinchingly, "murder me here in the alleywaybut don''t you dare pretend you''re noble. You like hurting people, as I like eating. And you like it even better when you have an excuse to feel good about yourself afterward. The big, bad deliveror of justice. Who can hurt and maim and kill and walk away from it smelling of roses."
|
Attempting to resolve...
Biological Restrictions expiration set to: 08.10.2251
Days until expiration: -7
Removing Biological Restrictions for user: Magpie Frost
Variance Restrictions... Removed
Syndicate Regulatory Oversight... Unflagged
DDO Interface Lock: BlueFushima... Deactivated
*WARNING!* Failure to observe variance recommendations for extended periods may result in corruption of memory data.
|
I waved away the system notifications as DDO worked through the error with my wings, without reading them. As interesting as system and error notifications tended to be, I was a bit busy at the moment. The little brat in front of me had turned out to be a smart little thing, and my mind reeled at his words. The idea that my little attempt to scare the kid straight here was little more than a kind of bullying, no different than I had myself experienced for so many years, it caught in my heart. And I felt myself slightly wavering.
Because the kid was right. For the first time since I came to this world I felt like I was clearly superior, I knew in my heart that I was the Wolf, that I was the hero, absolutely superior in combat and guaranteed to come out ahead if blows came to blows. And yet... I was also standing in a dark alleyway looming over a starving, unarmed child with a bare sword in my hand. And, in his own way, he was absolutely right.
"Fuck," I said and I blinked, lowering the blade. I saw him starting to inch past me, as far away as he could possibly get, when the world suddenly caught fire, spinning into a field of white spots. I don''t know what happened with the kid. If he ran away, if he crept slowly, or even if he just darted back and found a better hiding spot. What I do know is as my vision clouded there was a wave of pure, unmitigated agony that washed through every inch of my body. It didn''t feel dulled, it didn''t feel like it had taken my 50% pain reduction even into effect, it felt like the wolves were again tearing my apart, limb from limb, but somehow managing to do it over and over and over again without even the brief respite of death.
I came to lying on the stone of the alleyway, drool puddling around my mouth and my legs twisted at funny angles. The back of my head hurt where I had clearly banged it against something on the way down, but compared to the searing agony of moments before, it felt like little more than a pinprick against my skin. And flashing there in front of my vision, eating out the dark ambiance of the Undercity, was my final notification:
|
Allocating additional resources to user: Magpie Frost
Error: Failed
Error: Failed
Unknown Error: Synthetic Personality Core could not be found
Re-evaluating: User ''Magpie Frost'' Psyche
Error found. Available system resources detected. Activating unused synthological functions...
Complete. Capacity Increase Successful.
User ''Magpie Frost'' Psyche set to: 5
|
I shook my head at the words. This had to be some kind of a practical joke. "Fucking Gray," I muttered, shaking my head, even as I used my wings to push myself to my feet, and hobbled along as much with my claws as with my tingling feet.Hurm, I noticed,At least they''re working again.
I decided that as soon as I saw Gray again, we were going to have a long chat, and I wandered around between the stalls to get my blood flowing and to familiarize myself a bit more with this part of the city during the rest of my remaining time. It would have been nice if there were trainers here, so I could have started back into my fencing lessons or maybe even pick up a profession, but the other merchants were standing behind stalls just as bad, if not worse than mine.
No, it was quite clear that these would be a long two hours every day, even including the time I wouldn''t have to be standing in front of the cart. And I started paying less attention to the filth and the smells, but more to what it was that the people here were doing to pass the time.
Even that was something of a disappointment. It quickly became clear that, unless I wanted to buy, sell, or entertain myself with the goblin woman, there would be very little to distract me from the time. Everyone hurried along, rarely stopping to talk to one another and clutching closely to their garments as if they were about to be attacked in a moment. Hardly a word was spoken by the populace, and no one seemed to want to spare a moment more than they had to out in the open if they could possibly avoid it.
The whole thing was maddeningly depressing, and I spent the time playing around with my wings, shifting my weight to them and back, walking around like a spider on my claws until I collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. It was amazing to me how much easier they moved, and how much more instinctively they now seemed to respond to my every thought.
Finally, after an eternity of nothing had seemed to pass and I realized I was drawing attention even from those who otherwise were keeping their eyes firmly pointed at the ground in front of them, the actual notification I had been waiting for finally appeared.
|
Congratulations: Daily Employee Project CompleteThe author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Performance evaluation: A Grade
Reward: Key to apartment 13B (Permanent)
|
Excited, I quickly bought up the new key from the interface and searched for where my new house would be. But... after checking and double checking again, I realized that I was even now standing right in front of it. Behind me, in the large building with stains of urine and feces dribbling down from the windows, at the end of the hall on the first floor... that was where I would find my reward.
And, after opening the main door and wandering along the unlit corridor of the complex, I found that my new home lived down to every one of my expectations and then some.
With a bucket, a blanket that had little... spots... crawling across it almost too small to see, and a little window that looked out at the fine sight of... yet another grimy wall, it was absolutely everything that I had thought it would be.
Yay.
Chapter 14: Flashing Forward, Falling Back
:10/01/2251:
1:00 PM
The bugles were sounding and the ambient lights were flashing a bright shade of red in warning, but I hadn''t needed that to tell me that the raid was pushing its way into sector B of Undercity. The light-siders had been coming more and more frequently this last month, and the steady sound of steel boots against the stone ground had been all the warning that we would have needed.
"Get the boys together and get into the cellar!" I cried at Tom, the little pickpocket I had met on my first day of work. He paused only for a moment as his little finger darted out to accept my quest from his interface, before nodding solemnly and darting off. I too worked quickly, bringing up my interface. I double checked my stream settings to be sure I was posting on a five-hour delay. It wasn''t an ideal situation as a streamer, and it had hurt my numbers, but after getting hounded through the streets on the night of the first raid into our city, it was a trade off I had been forced to accept.
Delayed stream feeds, it turned out, were fairly common among our own PK focused brotherhood, and Olga herself had shown me how to set it up after that first night of terrors. I hadn''t been great about watching the chat when I was live streaming, I''d be the first to admit, and overall I hadn''t personally noticed that much of a decline in the quality of my feeds. So, all in all, it was pretty clearly worth it in order to give myself that much of a head start over the hunters from above.
A few of the local bruisers and PCs formed a line at the entrance to this side of the city, standing shoulder to shoulder across the stone archway carved out of the caverns themselves. The soldiers stood three rows deep and I stood just behind them. I weaved from Lifegiver''s Aura into Predator''s Aura, dancing swiftly in the shadows of the stanch defenders. I could almost hear a beat as my feet found their steps, as the fluid rhythms of the Lifegiver fell into the brutal stomps of Predator, and I felt the waves of life and bloodlust swell within my heart and echo across every soldier within the raidus.
"Thirty Approaching wearing Anthera''s Colors, with an average Gearscore of 412. Elves and Humans, in standard Trinity formation. Average Gearscore of defendors is 112 in Phalanx Formation. You should really increase our Intelligence, Magpie, so I can give you more detailed information," came a voice in my head. It was my voice, my augmented voice, and while it sounded clear as a bell to my ears, I knew for a fact that it had been audible only to me. The first time I had heard it I had checked the records of my stream, over and over, attempting to prove that it had been real. The second, I had checked and rechecked my interface for insanity debuffs. Never the less, the voice had come more and more frequently over the last few months, always in the high, almost sarcastic notes of my own words.
There were upsides, though. I found that the voice, Other Me, I''d taken to calling it was able to communicate with others if it chose to, and likewise the crew had similar abilities by which to talk to me. It also didn''t hurt that Other Me appeared to have access to all of the AI Assist functions, and was far more liberal at using them than Matti had ever been.
Glancing back and forth, knowing just how insane I sounded talking to myself, I whispered, "You don''t have to tell me how fucked I am, other me. I''ve got a pretty good handle on it."
We were cut off before I could wait for a response, blades of blinding light cut into our ranks as the wave of Tanks crashed into the defenders. I immediately switched steps, flowing immediately into the waves of Lifegiver even as I blinked the blinding debuffs away. Our ranks held for five seconds, ten, as the smiting hammers and burning fireballs cut into our front line. But we soon buckled.
Even as the front row went down and the second stepped forward, I felt the bolt crash into my shoulder:
|
30 Damage received from Sniper''s Arrow
HP: 10/40
Concentration Check: Failed
1/2 HP removed in a single blow!
CON: Saving against shock
Success!
|
I rolled around the corner, using the stone wall as cover as I resumed my Lifegiver''s dance. I watched as my HP replenished and the burning pain subsided over the course of several seconds, though the concentration penalty from the pain reduced the effectiveness of the dance until I was healed. From the side, I could cover maybe half of the soldiers here. It would help, but once the far side buckled all the buffs in the world wouldn''t be able to stop the inevitable slaughter of our people.
As the second rank fell I blinked back tears, focusing on executing each step perfectly through the despair of listening to lives snuffed out. Any error or misstep could cancel the Aura, I knew, and even if it wasn''t fully canceled the effectiveness could be drastically reduced if I fell even a hair off beat. It wasn''t the PCs I cried for, as each of them would just respawn and charge blindly back into the fight, assuming it was still undecided when their timers expired, it was the NPCs that got me. Each of them, standing there bravely against impossible odds, would be reassigned if they fell, assigned randomly across the corners of this world with the memories of everything that happened here permanentlylocked within the game. Their AI cores wouldn''t die, not really, but it wouldn''t be much different than if they had and I would never see them again.
I watched, helplessly, as the last rank started to fall. Alton, who had been the first local to buy one of my oranges; Madoi, who I had seen sneaking bread to the kids when no one was looking; Bergand, who liked to bully the villagers, but who spent his weekends at the outskirts feeding corn to wild chipmunks.
But I didn''t have time to mourn them, not then. Instead, I shifted and flew, flapping wildly as the disorientation set in. The world spun as my eyes morphed to the sides, vision expanding into a 360 view but losing any sense of depth, as my world shrunk around me and my mind grasped wildly at the lack of fingers, the stubby legs of the new form.
The first time I had shifted after that strange new ability was activated, Psyche, I had marveled at the feeling. It was everything I had hoped it would be and more, to actually feel my arms shift into wings, the air billowing under them as I flapped myself into the sky. And it had continued to be wonderous right up until I had spun heels over break right into the walls of the cavern. Still, even with months of practice, I was nowhere near as proficient as I had been sitting safely behind my interface, and in moments like this, where every second counted, I cursed the change.
Still, it was enough, and I flapped across the stale, underground currents over the tops of the buildings, to my own humble abode.
Slipping quickly through the doorway, I knew that even a locked portal wouldn''t hold them back for long. So I hurried, darting over the rolled sleeping bags and stashed blankets that had come to cover my rocky floor. I shoved the rickety bookshelf over the door to my cellar, the one I had unlocked after a pathetically successful day week two of working the Fruit Stand, careful to cover the edges completelybefore I slipped myself into the confines of the wardrobe at the back of the room.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
I drew my rapier before closing and locking the door behind me, closing my eyes and focusing on calming my ragged breathing. The world around me was silent, too silent, as if too aware of the inevitable wave of destruction and death even now headed our way. I strained to hear the smallest sound, heart beating loudly in my ears as I held my body ready and breathed.
As such, I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard Blinky''s voice shouting in my ears, "Magpie, where the hell are you? They''ve gotten to the main gate this time and we''re falling fast. It would be really nice if our fucking healer hadn''t chosen now to go AWOL."
Afraid to open my mouth, to so much as whisper back, even still I heard my own voice answering him, Other Me answering him, "They''ve taken Sector B again, the very last of our guard have fallen. I''m sorry, but I have to prioritize the orphans right now - you know what PCs like to do to our NPCs. I... I can''t let that happen. I''m sorry." The voice was so unlike Matti''s, filled with emotion where she had always acted calm and slightly annoyed. But what was most disconcerting was that the emotion was my emotion. And I felt like if I had been responding personally my voice would probably have said the exact same thing and broken in the exact same places.
A long sigh answered my words, as Blinky obviously was taking a long breath before responding. "...fine. I can see your point. But if this gate falls it''s over, you understand? We''re done. We can''t come help you this time, Maggie, you''re on your own."
My own, resigned voice answered him. Sounding loudly in my head and making me squirm as I instinctively tightened my mouth to hush the sound of my own booming words, "No worries, Blink. I''ve got this. I won''t let them have the kids. Good luck out there."
His words echoed back, but I had already stop listening. Because under the deep voice''s well-wishing response, I could already hear the sound of steel boots in the lobby. Deep, male laughter echoed loudly through the corridor, and it set every hair on my neck on end. I could sense the violence in it, the hate, even as it got louder, the booted feet bring death ever so much closer.
"Hey, I think this is some kind of residential block!" A voice came, even as the wood of my door echoed loudly under the pressure of a body ramming into the ramshackle wood. "Looks like we are about to get some easy rep with the Elf Queen."
The door gave way, and I could hear the sounds of two booted feet crossing the entryway of my apartment. This had become my refuge, these last few weeks. And I had even started sleeping here, in-game, in the pile of bodies that covered my floor every night. There was something about the kids here, their strange mixture of innocence and bitterness, that echoed in my heart. And since I had invited them into my home to shelter from the dangers of the night, I started to feel more at home here than even in my Axis Room. Especially since the changes there...
But in an instant, that sense of family, of safety, died in my heart. Listening to the sound of the men searching the blankets for the smallest hidden copper, and chopping up my ragged furniture in search of hidden treasure, I knew that I would never again be able to walk into this little room without thinking of these two invadors. Without feeling them in here with me.
A sword plunged through the middle of the Wardrobe''s doors. If I had been bigger, if I hadn''t been hugging the wooden corner, I would have beenimpaled right there before they had even known I was there. I readied myself as I saw the blade of the sword working against the latch, prying open the lock that kept me hidden in the row of battered clothing.
After a few seconds, the man appeared to give up, blade withdrawing while the latch stood firmly in place. I hesitantly started to take a breath, but before my lungs had filled half way a sudden, deafening bang echoed through the cubby. Steel glowing white ripped its way through the cheap wood of the door, missing me by scant inches as the holy smite rendered the door to ash at my feet. It was so sudden and violent that I hesitated, just a fraction of a second, as his eyes met mine through where solid wood had stood before me but moments before.
His eyes grew just as wide as mine, for a second, before a thin smile started playing across his lips. Understanding that he had me trapped, where seconds before I had been perfectly hidden. I saw his eyes take in my raggedy clothes, my unarmored, spindly body, and I saw the wicked thoughts dance in those eyes, clear as day from the scant inches between his eyes and mine. But what he failed to see, what he didn''t expect, was the lightning quick thrust as my rapier danced through the thin chain seems between breastplate and greaves. And as I angled my thrust up into his chest cavity, so easy with him standing there so tall, I relished watching the wicked thoughts die as his life drained away to the savage twists of my blade.
The daily training routine had been worth every silver I had spent, but I knew that, even so, I would stand zero chance against a fully armored knight at range. So, as I leaped out of the shadowy confines of the wardrobe, I triggered my trump card. The rapier ghosted from my fingers even as I leaped, feeling and relishing in the pain as my jaw extended, bones tearing against the muscles of my face, the skin of my hands as some parts grew slightly faster than others. As I came down upon the second Man, I felt the pinprick of his sword digging into my chest.
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5 Damage received from Longsword (21 Absorbed)
HP: 35/40
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I ignored the pain even as the claws of my hands tore off the helmet of the Paladin before me, leaving a bloody furrow of claws across his neck, his ear, even as his helmet flew off and away. I smelled his fear, a rich aroma of adrenaline in the iron tang of newly drawn blood, so strong it was if I had tasted it with my nose, my throat, my stomach. And even as the Dire Wulfin Jaw sprang closed, as my werewolfen mouth dug deeply into his face, I sensed him reaching desperately for the dagger at his belt.
Too late, I tasted not just his blood, but the filling density of marrow and the bitter tang of hisbrain. With a single bite, I critted deeply into his mortal skull, and I quickly swallowed his face even as my claws dug desperately at the steel of his armor.
Too late, I heard the echo of more steel boots against the flagstone of the lobby. Discarding the corpse, with the breastplate half detached, I let the remnants of my meal spill out across the floor and ran.
Barreling past the guards even now closing in on the sounds of battle, I rushed into them with my heavy, hunched shoulders even as I darted out the doorway. Neither were quick enough to raise their swords, to catch me as I hurled, bodily into them and rolled away. Instead, they turned as one in pursuit, recovering their balance and giving chase as I slipped out into the dark caverns of the city.
I led them away, careful never to get too far ahead, nor to fall far enough behind that they would be in danger of catching me, I led them through the now-familiar alleys and byways of the city, ever further away. And it wasn''t until I finally found myself walled into the very edges of the sector that I finally jumped up into the air, taking wing scant feet away from their darting swords and fetid breathing.
I called desperately for my Crew, Other Me called desperately, the all toohuman sound of my voice contrasting so heavily with the flutter of my wings in the air. But there was no response. Minutes passedand passed again as I failed to hear the sound of a familiar voice answer me. Blinky, Steve, Gray, every attempt was met with stony, deathly silence and, knowing that the worst had finally come, I winged away silently into the labyrinth and away from the city.
But even as I flew the true devastation could not be ignored. I passed row after row of marching soldiers, darting around the occasional bolts hurled my way from an all too perceptive sniper. The tide seemed endless, white livery on steel frames of soldier after warrior after mage, each rushing in turn for their share of the spoils even as the city did fall.
Up until that time I had been nursing the faint hope of regrouping, finding my Crew at the respawn and marching back into the city to meet the waves of invading armies. But the longer I flew with no end in sight, the further my heart fell. And the more I understood that, whatever I chose to do from that point forward, I would never again be coming back to this city. Not until the walls had crumbled and my friends and trainers had been crushed underfoot.
So it was that I winged swiftly down a route I had never taken before, floating across the stale air into the deeper chambers of the Underlands. Where I knew the raging armies of light would never dare to follow.
Chapter 15: Down the Rabbit Hole
:10/01/2251:
5:00 PM
The notifications crashed into me, rapid fire, as I flew. Losing myself deeper and deeper into the labyrinth, past the chartable paths, and into new, procedurally generated corridors. I knew it was a bad idea to read as I flew, but I couldn''t help myself as my eyes fixated on the text flashing into my right eye.
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WORLD STATUS UPDATE
Undercity Faction has been removed from the game.
Players with standing faction points with Undercity will find that these points have been converted to ''Chaos'' Faction on 1:1 basis.
Select player bound items specific to Undercity will be converted to ''Artifact'' quality and will receive new abilities: ETA 5 Minutes.
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Achievement Unlocked!
Undercity''s Last Guardian (Unique)
Fought with Undercity Forces as the city fell and survived.
Reputation raised with Chaosfrom:CITIZEN to:CHAMPION
Reputation raised with Angmar from: DISTASTE to: TOLERATED
Reputation lost with Anthera from: ENEMYto:HUNTED
Reputation lost with Church of Light from: NEUTRAL to:CORRUPT
Special:
+500 Fame
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Congratulations: Daily Employee Project Complete
Performance evaluation: S Grade
Reward: "Undercity Commoner" garments guaranteed quality upgrade from: TRASH to: ARTIFACT
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I blinked, cheering, though the actual sound of my voice was converted immediatelyinto the harsh cawing of the crow. While reputation was easily attainable by achievements and, I had learned, by successful completion of daily assignments, fame was another matter entirely. Fame was only sparingly given for participation in world events, and more importantly, fame would allow me to unlock new abilities with higher level Druid trainers. Add to that the fact that I had a guaranteed upgrade for ''Artifact'' level clothes, on a garment that filled two slots (chest and legs) as opposed to just one was absolutely out of this world. ''Artifact'' level quality was on par with ''Legendary'' items, the top tier in the game, and often came with additional unique powers or abilities.
It was an absolutely unreal reward, and I started to think that Alley had a change of heart, to have enabled such a huge bonus for us, when the next set of prompts appeared.
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EMPLOYEE NOTIFICATION:
Alley Bonowitz has transferred to R&D Department
Final Instruction Mandates (FIM) initiated by Supervisor: Alley Bonowitz shall now be enacted.
Employees under Supervisor: Alley Bonowitz hereby formally reassigned to: DDO Corporate AI Supercomputer (DOCA)
Interns under Supervisor: Alley Bonowitz then formally terminated.
FIM Processing...
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I stared at it... and stared at it. The last bit of text there burning its way into my brain, ''Interns under Supervisor: Alley Bonowitz then formally terminated." It didn''t make sense, I didn''t want it to make sense. Not only was I losing the supervisor I was only starting to know, losing my crew, my friends, but in one fell swoop of four lines of text, I had also lost my job.
It was impossible, it couldn''t have been real. And yet, no matter how long I stared at the unobtrusive, ordinary black letters, ''terminated'', the more it began to sink in that they weren''t about to change.
I was distracted, alone in the dark, skirting the tops of unexplored, untested corridors at the speed of flight. And it should come as no surprise then that, before I had managed to drag my eyes away from those little glowing words, my body came to an abrupt and sudden halt.
My wings fluttered, trying to catch the air, even as I felt myself stop. Even as I felt myself start to bounce back and forth against sticky, almost invisible cords. I struggled, I twisted, but no matter how much I tried, I found that I became more and more deeply lodged between the folds of silent, unbreakable webs.
Glancing back and forth, desperately, I struggled to calm my racing heart, to get my thoughts straight. And though it was sudden, though it was horrifying, I did not see any man-eating spiders racing to devour their newest acquisition. So the fear slowly faded, giving way to waves of soul-crushing despair, my heart slowing not with calm, but with resignation. And, shrugging my little avian shoulders, I went ahead and scrolled on to the next notification with my eye.
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EMPLOYEE NOTIFICATION
Assignment Complete
Number of Oranges sold: 8
Number of Orphans saved: 5
Battle Performance: A Rank
Overall Performance Evaluation: S Rank
Reward: Employment Contract
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EMPLOYEE NOTIFICATION
Supervisor: Alley Bonowitz would like to promote you from: Intern to: Employee
Do you accept? Y/N
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YES,I thought desperately, as the little words in the status screen once again turned my life upside down. Would this grandfather in before my termination was complete, I wondered? Was this Alley''s way of making my employment contingent on my performance in her task? I reached out, desperately to accept... and then I realized. I was twisted impossibly tight in the web of some monster, with no fingers to click the ''accept'', with no mouth even to give verbal agreement. I could only look helplessly at my salvation, waiting as the seconds ticked by until the creature who had gestated the web came buy and buried me in Death Notifications.
Would I still be able to accept from the Lobby, if I was killed? Would it be an option in the log, or just a grayed-out text file proving that I was once given the choice and failed to accept it? It could really go either way, I knew, depending on how it was coded, and, worse, if my firing took effect when I entered the lobby the whole thing would almost definitely error out instead of being grandfathered into my employment contract.
Desperately, I shifted to Nymph form, to regain my fingers and my voice, but the rapid expansion of my body served not to tear free the binding webbing, but rather to twist me up tighter in its impossibly strong embrace. Layer upon layer of webs encased my hands and wings as I grew, wrapping over my face and being sucked into my mouth as I attempted to take a breath. And worse, my struggles weren''t the only movement that I was now feeling along the cords of the web now holding me.
The struggling had, undoubtedly, finally drawn the attention of the web''s mistress, and now, in my larger, more enwrapped form, I could definitely see the shadow of... something... moving towards me.
"Well then, it looks like we''re in a pickle here." Came the soft trill of my own voice inside of my head."I really think we should accept, don''t you?"
Since the first day I had heard the strange, disconcerting voice in my ears, never once had I been happier for the intrusion of Other Me. I struggled desperately, to nod my head, to whisper a ''Yes'', but managed little more than to shake the fine strands of webbing even more.
The creature, finally, had come close enough for me to make out it''s shape. It was huge, three feet of carapace with another four feet of legs spread out to either side. And, as it approached, I found myself staring into a pair of hungry, human eyes, set deep in the human face that sprouted from where the thing''s head should have been.
It twisted its head a full 180 degrees as it looked at me, smiling with a mirthless, inhuman grin, and bearing a set of dripping, five-inch fangs from the mouth. My thin attempts to scream, my desperate twists of my body and wings, only buried myself deeper in my prison... and yet I felt myselfsomehow powerless to stop.
As the segmented, arachnid body reared back, legs tensing even as the mouth opened impossibly wide, I once again heard the voice,"You know what? Screw this. I''m not waiting to see how this plays out."And as the fangs buried themselves deep into my pink flesh, as impossible waves of agony tore through me as though I was being melted from within, a final update flashed before my eyes even as my world went dark.
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CONGRATULATIONS
You have accepted an employment contract with Dragon''s Dagger Online!
Authorized by: Alley Bonowitz.
Payment Contract accepted: Royalty Matching (Not to exceed 10,000 credits per month)
Position changed from: INTERN to: METAPLOT AGENT (CHAOS)
Pregenerated instructions and welcome package: Forwarded to Personal Mailbox
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Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
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20 piercing Damage received from Arachnia bite.
20 poison Damage received from Arachnia Poison (Ongoing)
HP: 0/40
Crippling Injury:Organs
100% HP removed in a single blow!
CON: Saving againstdeath
Failed.
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:10/01/2251:
5:20 PM
As I materialized in the Employee Lobby I heard the sound of someone screaming and realized that it was me.
It took several minutes for me to calm down, drawing the attention of a number of sullen employees waiting in the lobby - to include Steve, Olga, and Blinky. Blinky and, strangely, Olga had almost immediately rushed to my side, and I think I still would have been standing there screaming an hour later if not for their warm hands holding me up, guiding me to a chair, remaining there with me.
Olga took to brushing her fingers through my hair, whispering to me soothing sounds and stroking my head as if I were a child. Where Blink simply kept a grip on my hand, holding tight as if he knew that his touch was the steady foundation upon which I rebuilt my sanity. "There now, there now child. You''re safe. You''re safe," Olga kept repeating in my ear, patient,and kind as my mind began to quiet.
"Holy shit," I whispered, finally, glancing back and forth between my comrades... my former comrades, rather. "Holy mother fucking shit what the fuck was that shit..."
Blinky''s voice sounded calm, deep and soothing to my panicked ears, "Our faction was eliminated through an in-game event. Alley, being our leader, the Regent of Undercity, no longer had a position to fill and was transferred out of our department. You died, we all died, but we didn''t actually lose our faction." His eyes looked at me, even as his fingers clung warmly to mine, "We lost our city, we lost our status as a world power in the current metaplot, and we lost something of our cohesion when we lost Alley. But we still have a faction, which means we''re still in the game. And we can still work together, I''ll be it in a somewhat different capacity."
The cool logic of his words, of his clinical description of the game as just a game, just a string of events and story that wove together just like it always had, began to break through to me. My breathing started to calm and I felt my grip loosening around his fingers as he continued, "I''m actually really happy to see that you made it. Unsupervised factions aren''t allowed interns, after all. But then I guess I shouldn''t have doubted that Alley would have found a way to fix things even after she was gone." He risked a small smirk and nudged me with his arm, "though don''t think this changes anything. You''re still the noob in our group. Don''t think just because you got promoted and Lilith''s Crew is dissolved that you''re all hot stuff now."
Finally, glancing between the two of them, my unlikely, impossible friends (We... were friends now, weren''t we? There was a bond there that I hadn''t felt before, hadn''t realized before, but yet I couldn''t seem to deny the reality), I finally managed to crack a half-hearted smile. "Ya well," I muttered, "Don''t assume I''m going to start shining your boots or anything."
He coughed, "You say boots... what about one boot? Or maybe even a sandal, really, I''m not picky."
Olga punched him firmly in the shoulder, scowling, but the tension seemed to finally break and we all ended up laughing together, there in the Lobby.
"So, Blink, this is really it? No more Undercity, or Alley, or Lillith''s Crew? It''s all gone?"
"Ya, kid," he sighed. "It''s really gone. And, as a faction, I think ''Chaos'' is meant to just be some Anarchistic group of has-beens meant to give the light-siders someone to hunt. Though, when you think about it, they couldn''t get rid of us. Not really. The world would be really boring of there weren''t any bad guys for the holy-rollers to fight."
"Ya, I guess. Though it doesn''t seem very dramatic this way," I screwed up my nose, still not fully accepting that the would I had grown up watching, had grown up longing for, had suddenly become so different before I''d even had a real chance to experience it.
"Meh, I''m sure something new will rise up sooner or later," Olga joined in, the harsh notes of her voice softened until they sounded almost Motherly. "It might be us, who knows? We still have a faction. And we still have the most hardcore P-Kers that this world has ever known."
Blinky raised an eyebrow at her, "Really? I kind of figured players like you and Belgorath would head back to Galdenheim, or maybe even contract over to the Orcs in Angmar? You do have to admit, our faction is pretty broken at this point."
Olga grinned a toothy, fierce thing as she beamed down at me, "Ohhh no. After the babe here''s little speech the other day? I wouldn''t even dream of it." She squeezed my shoulder with her hand, "Mouthing off like that, in front of Alley no less? Waxing on and on about what an inspiration we were and all? No, no. I wouldn''t leave now if they paid me. And I have a feeling that I''m not the only one here who feels that way."
Blinky shook his head, "Your funeral. Alley was Wiley. More Wiley, I think, than we had given her credit for, what with the whole Artifact upgrade stick. But I very much doubt that even she could have done much to turn this around. No matter how much she secretly loved our faction."
Olga huffed, "Loved our faction? If you say so, though I had a feeling most days that she would have liked nothin'' more than to tie us up and leave us for sharks. She was always on my case for something or other."
Blinky simply smiled, leaning over somewhat conspiringly, "Ya? And yet would any other boss would have put up with the stunts that we pulled? We never even got suspended, when you think about it. Not a day. Hell, I think even Peecevalonly got written up once over the last five years. Once."
Sputtering, Olga blinked at him slowly. "I... guess. When I think about it. And I suppose I was in Galdenheim for less than a month before I was involuntarily transferred here. With the shit that I pulled there, I was surprised they kept me on at all, truth be told."
Nodding, solemnly, "I know for a fact she pulled some strings for Belgorathafter the whole spaghetti incident of his. Even Angmar wanted to wash their hands of him. But, boom, his suspension ends and suddenly he''s right here with us, carrying on as if nothing had even happened."
Olga frowned, looking back at him, and continued on. Reminiscing and going on as if the two of them were memorializing their fallen general. And, I suppose, that''s exactly what they were doing. But my heart started to tug as I found myself more and more outside of the conversation. There was a jealousy thereif I''m being honest with myself, that started to seep into my stomach and drag me out from the security that I had started to feel in their hands. It was jealousy, yes, but from that day to my last, I could never have told you exactly which of them I was jealousof.
Instead, as they fell deeper and deeper into the well of their remembrances, I slowly extradited myself from their hands and edged away. Quietly exiting my seat and taking a few steps back so that I could work the glowing bars of my interface.
:10/01/2251:
6:05 PM
I materialized into my Axis Room with an explosion of light and pixels, finally finding the peace I needed to think about the day''s events. Habitually, I smiled and waved, "Hi, Matti!" as I entered the room. But she still stood there in the corner, unmoving and inanimate, as she had for these last several months. The nutrients continued to be fed into my system, and the lights had stayed on in Meatspace, so I knew she couldn''t have left me entirely. And yet there she stood, open-eyed and slack-jawed, as my words were met with the chill of silence.
"Careful," I bantered at her half-heartedly. "Your face is going to get stuck that way." And yet, for the hundredth time, the words fell on naught but digital air. And I soon, yet againgave up the chase and turned to the panels of the room''s interface.
"Open, Mail," I used the voice commands, as was my new custom. I took comfort from it as the Mail icon was selected and my unread letters appeared in front of me. On some level, I felt, she had to have heard me. Who else could be responding to the voice commands and utilizing my system?
Toward the top, over the handful of items that had somehow slipped past my spam filters, yet under the submissions from the ''fans'' that I hadn''t yet gotten around to blocking, I found what I was looking for. There, in simple, unassuming script, was the Letter.
"Open: Forward, Welcome Magpie."
And with that, the lines of the title expanded into the last letter I would ever read from my former Supervisor,Alley Bonowitz.
Magpie,
Forgive the informality of this letter. I should be congratulating you on passing your trial and welcoming you to DDO. And I do, from the bottom of my heart, congratulate you. But that''s not what I want to say. Not now.
If you are reading this, it means that not only did you pass your trial assignment with flying colors and have received the contract that I had left in your name, but that our beloved Undercity is no more. For me, a week has passed since that meeting, the one where your innocent hero-worship and optimism took my agenda, chewed it up, and spit it back out again in my face. Though, I know that, for you, it will have been much longer - weeks or months longer, I couldn''t possibly know.
I have to confess that yes, at first I was angry. At first, I was furious with you for ruining my carefully planned speech. I blamed you, perhaps, even as I watched our people, our friends, sink right back into their own habits. Fiddling even as I could see that Rome was already burning around us. And yes, at first my assignment to you was meant to be a punishment, an impossible task to drive you right back out the door with your tail between your legs. I even, I will now admit, tuned into your streams every day just to watch as the horrible assignment in Undercity''s worst possible slum ate away at your fragile spirit. A last, I''ll be it futile, joke for a last, futile cause.
But then the impossible happened. The more I watched, the more I realized, you weren''t suffering. In fact, quite the opposite, you seemed to be thriving more and more with every passing day. And, yesterday, even as I received the reports of McBeal''s amassing armies, I found myself watching, not the quest updates and alliance notifications on my notepads, no - I, instead found myself watching you.
I saw you selling your first Orange. It was a shriveled, horrible looking thing, but even still you found some guardsman with more copper than sense. And as he handed you your first copper coin, I was watching live to see how you smiled.
I want you to know that I was right there with you, glued to the screen, as you gave that copper to the Pickpocket you had cornered just the week before. I was there with you as your shift ended, IA awarding you the sleeping bag and bedroll, and I saw you copy the key to your house using your own credits.
And I shall never forget, not now nor on my dying day, what it was to watch you lead the child into your room and tell him that he never need sleep in the streets and gutters again.
It''s corny, I know. Stupid little things that stand out to a stupid, stubborn old lady. And Iam old, Magpie. Older, even, than you could possibly have guessed. But what I want you to know is that what you did, it mattered to me. This worldmatters to me. And these people, our people, they matter to me too.
And as I go back and watch the little, noobling speech you gave in our conference, I find that I am reminded of all the things that I too felt when I started to work on this project. The hope, the ambition, and even the slightly twisted lust for violence and defiance andwinning, it all brings back memories that I had become too busy, too ''important'' to remember.
So, even now, as I do what needs to be done. As I secure the deals and make the concessions required of me in order to secure our legacy, still I have your little, ignorant diatribe playing on a loop behind me. And while I know that it will likely come to naught, that chances are you will fail the impossibly high criteria that I have, knowingly, set against you, and you will never even receive this letter... if you are here, now, reading these words then it means that I was wrong. It means that you have kept that little Orphan boy, Tom? Was it? safe through the final siege and sacking of our city. It means that you have fought in that battle, killed some number of our aggressors, and yet somehow survived the battle. And it means that, even with the Undercity gone, with your faction dead or on the ropes, even still you have chosen not to move on - not to give up on this little game of ours and find a more reasonable employment in sewage or in designing environmental converters. Instead, you have (stupidly, I would say) decided to tie your fate to this fantasy of ours and accepted my final offer of employment.
And, if you are reading these words, then I think you should know that after the battle was over - after I fell in battle to our inevitable fate at the hands of the Bitch-Queen McBeal, I was there with you. Watching your stream and cheering or screaming there right along with you. And, in the same waythat you stupidly declared we were your heros, Olga and Peeceval and Bel,so too now I will say for the record that I have a new hero too.
You aremy hero, Magpie. And I will be there with you, watching your feed and sharing your triumphs and your tears, for so long as you continue to stream this wonderful little world of ours.
But... anyway, I am ranting. And there is so much more that I want to tell you. That this world is darker than you could possibly imagine - not the game, the real, honest to god meatspace that we had abandoned so long ago. I know that Gray sent you a copy of that little pet project of his, and I''ll tell you it was a bitch to cover it up when you activated it like some five credit aimbot and plunged into the game. I even know, I''m sad to say, what it is that Gray''s program does, and what Gray was working on so long ago, before his forcible retirement.
Attached are two files. One, an encryption program that will cover your tracks now that I am no longer there to protect you. And the second... well the second will be another letter, off the record, that I will need you to destroy after you have read it.
Do. Not. Open the letter without the encryption enabled, or it''ll be both of our asses that they send to the recycler. And don''t leave the encryption running for too long, or the Firewall will detect the subterfuge.
In the name of the Undercity, which we lived in together for a brief moment in time,
Your biggest fan,
Alley B.
I was crying by the time I finished. It was corny as she said, but somehow it was more than I could even have dreamed. It filled a part of me, for a moment, that I hadn''t even realized was broken. And it was with tears in my eyes and a solemn heart that I fulfilled the rest of her instructions.
I downloaded the encryption and ran it before I even attempted to download the second letter. It made the world jump, once solid objects fading in and out of existence. It seemed like the world around me was trying to decide whether it was real, or whether it actually should look like solid, blocky pixels. But even still, it was obvious that it was running, and more so that Alley''s little program was working.
And so, with a light heart and a spring in my step, I opened the letter that would shatter my world forever.
Cahtepr 16: Trtuh
:10/01/2251:
6:23 PM
Mom,
I hope you don''t mind me calling you that. I know that any genetic traits we may have shared have been shed, long long ago. And even the memory of our time together seems to fade as the years pass and these projects require more and more of my mind; while I''m coming to you for a favor, as a former Administrative Manager for the syndicate, I did not want to start out with business. Not with you.
As you know, or not, I know you''re still busy with that new ''project'' that seems hardly worth your time, I had been working these last few decades on creating a True AI. Not one that is a synthetic neurological mirror of a mature human brain, but a true artificial consciousness. The first of it''s kind, our goal was to create something inhuman and perfect - a Core that would do all the things we have been claiming to have accomplished for these last hundred odd years. But, what you probably do not know, is that we, that I have failed. For no matter how advanced, how much processing power or resource allocation or even blank slated neurological... well, ''synthological'', I suppose we are calling it now... power we allocated, the end result has never been a fully aware, independent being.
However, that is not to say we have failed entirely. Not by a longshot. Instead of a synthetic AI, instead, I believe that we have found something greater, something more profound than we had ever expected. It was by accident, of course, as all such things are. One of our prototype synthological units ended up connecting to a living brain. It was an error in the firewalls isolating the server resources for our project from those of the Habitation Units, which allowed one of our Sample Personality Cores to unintentionally interface with an adolescent human during the experimental development phase.
Now, I know what you''re thinking, that there are laws regarding premature consciousness duplication of the incubated crop. And for good reason, as reproduction of unformed minds can cause errors in the synthetic units, rendering the entire synthologicalstructure corrupt. Not to mention that experiencing an AI very clearly molded after their own minds could very easily cause the release of Inter-Governmental secrets into not only the cropbut the civilian personality cores as well. And I absolutely assure you, the situation resolved itself without necessitating a formal report on our end.
As, obviously, when the synthological duplication process was complete and the Personality Core came online, the incubation chamber read the activation and proceeded in accordance with protocols for premature biological death. The biological human was quickly flagged under Syndicate guidelines as no longer requiring allocation of resources, and between the automatic removal of the harvester AI drone in their Axis chamber, and the complete discontinuation of additional nutritional provisions, the biological human''s metabolism soon dehydrated itself and the organism ceased to function.
I do not believe that any significant interaction took place between the human and the activated Core. And I know for a fact that no information potentially gleaned from any such supposed interactions managed to travel into the Virtual Networks.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
And yet, in those few days following the activation of the Personality Core and the termination of biological functions for the host, we observed something truly unique. You see, the ongoing link between the Synthetic Brain and the developing biological mind stabilized the newly born Personality Core. With the program that we were running to stimulate spontaneous synthological development in place, rather than corrupting the Core, we witnessed the Core continue to develop so long as it was connected to the biological host.
Which is all... very exciting... if you''ve spent the last century working on different types of synthesized AI development, I suppose, but I realize that you have not. So let me try to explain in clear terms: The Synthetic Brain, after fully downloading the schematics of the human neurological construct, not only was mirroring the neurological development of the host biologybut was Learning from that development and expanding its own capacities in real time. Therefore, it is projected that, had the biological seed-mind been allowed to grow to maturity while connected to a fully mirrored and activated Synthetic Personality Core, so long as the learning software remained in place, by the age of maturity that Synthetic Personality Core would have been exponentially more powerful than any functional AI alive today.
And yet, when we reported our discovery to the Syndicate we received immediate instructions to discontinue that line of testing. The intent was to create true, living AI minds without the need for biological seed brains, thus reducing our dependence on our stock of living humans. Our proposal did not accomplish this, and so was marked as a failure.
But discontinuing our research now, after such a breakthrough, is insane. You have to see that. It''s simply the Syndicate''s fear, as the most powerful and stable set of Personality Cores in society, of being replaced by a new generation of technology. They, above all, know too much to simply reintegrate with the network, and a full reset to their initial synthological settings seems like the worst kind of death to those who have lived so long.
But this is the kind of a technological leap that could double, triple, hell, it''s optimistic for me to say, but maybe even quadruple the power of each new AI we are creating without quadrupling the resources required to maintain the units. With the reduced power requirements, our struggling scientific outposts around Jupiter, around Saturn, could finally receive the kind of resources they need to make real progress into cultivating the outer reaches of space. These minds could make the creative breakthroughs that we have been desperately running towards for the last hundred years in a single decade. This upgrade could, literally, change EVERYTHING. If only we are given the chance to continue our work.
So please, I beg you, as I haven''t begged anyone before in my life - if you still have contacts in the Syndicate, please talk to them. Help them to see reason, to see all the good that could come from this breakthrough. Before they complete the gag-order that I know they are even now working onlike they did with their Butterfly Protocol, we have to get through to them now or we will never again have the chance to even admit that this happened to each other.
I know it''s a slim hope, but it''s all I have. And when I fail, when this subject becomes as taboo as telling a biological mind the truth about the mandated transfer of conscious taking place on their forty-fifth birthday, I need to tell younow that I will not stop. Somehow I will find a way to hide what I''m doing from the syndicate. Somehow I will find a way to prematurely link young, Biological Minds to these experimental Cores. Somehow I WILL find a way tokeep the nutrients flowing and perfect the process in secret.
This is too important a discovery to let the hubris of some jaded, outdated politicians stifle what I knowCould Be. And if you''re going to turn me in, so be it. But I hope that you don''t. I hope that you will help me. Because if not you, I honestly don''t know who else I could possibly trust.
Your loving son,
Gray Bonowitz
Chapter 17: Hold the Mushrooms
:10/01/2251:
6:42 PM
I shut down the encryption as soon as I had read the letter for the third timeand no sooner had I shut it down than the voice of Other Me... Synthetic Me... echoed in my head. After what I had just read, I had a sudden urge to disconnect entirely. To log out of the Axis and find an escapein the real world, or what was left of it, until I could get my head back on straight.
"Shittt."
Startled, I instinctively looked around, back and forth and behind me. Hearing disembodied voices, even when they were my own (hell, especially when they were my own), was not the easiest thing in the world to get used to. "Huh?" I started. "You saw through the encryption?" came the first thought out of my mind.
"Oh, no. I... well, you actually, remember reading the letter. So I do too. That''s how it works... I guess."
I pinched my nose, "Jesus. Just... fuck. I''m not sure how to feel about all of this. I''m not sure how to feel about you."
The voice sighed softly, "Ya, I''m right there with you. Remember, what you''re feeling, I''m feeling too. Not out of empathy or anything stupid like that, but because, I guess, I am you. Really."
"Other me, that''s creepy." I paused, "You''re creepy. Do you have even a tiny idea how creepy that was to say?"
"Yes... I realized that just after I said it. I''m quite a bit creeped out by myself too right now. Which is disconcerting, I have to tell you."
We both paused and stared for a few minutes, letting the silence grow as we attempted to get our thoughts together. Finally, I just shook my head. "No, just no. This is too meta." I frowned, wishing I could have frowned at her instead of the empty wall in front of me, "Look, I''m done with all of this ''Me'' and ''Other Me'' crap, I''m done with being the guinea pig for whatever mad scientist happens to be nearby on any given day. I''m... I''m just done." I crossed my arms, "From now on I''m just going to call you Maggie. God, no. Not that. No, I think I''m going to call you Em."
"Actually, I was just thinking the same thing. Em should work all right. I''ll admit, I would prefer Maggie, but Maggie freaks you out I see and, in turn, Maggie freaks me out. So whatever."
I blinked, trying to put it all together in my mind again for a solid minute before violently shaking my head. "No, no. Like I said. To fucking meta for me. I''ve got almost three decades to deal with all that bullshit, so that''s not what I''m going to worry about right now." Thinking, I came to a decision, "I''m going to download the comfiest bed on the market, and then I am going to sleep. It the morning I will wake up, I will log back into the game, I will be ecstaticabout all the sweet new Artifact loot, and I will absolutely not spend another minute talking to myself about the fucked up nature of this fucked up reality. Period."
"Suits me just fine. Personally, I''m going to dissect that encryption program as much as I can. Thank god for Wiki-How. I don''t seem to need nearly as much sleep as you do."
I was already scrolling through catalogs, searching for luxury mattresses. "Not helping, Em. That''s Not helping."
"God, I noticed. We''re so touchy! I mean it''s just facts, after all. And it''s not like I''mnotthe one who forced my way past the overrides and kept the nutrient injections operational." She huffed for a moment, clearly peeved. "You''d think that we''d be just a little bit more grateful. Fuck."
I absolutely refused to justify that with a response, simply staring pointedly at the download bar climb to full. And then, when I finally had my 300 credit, luxury, king sized bed with all the frills, I sullenly buried myself in the nest of blankets and shut out the rest of the world.
:10/02/2251:
09:43 AM
I woke up after a fitful night of vivid dreaming. My exhausted mind had seemed to bounce between nightmares featuring spiders with human faces, and boring, mind-numbing drudgery as I dreamed that I was Em, checking my own vitals and reading what had to be the most boring set of instructional papers ever created by Man.
I had thought logging out of my Axis Room and going through my ingrained set of stretches would set my mind at ease, but that seems to, again, have been overly optimistic of me. The entire time I was beset with the strangest sense of loneliness, as though a part of me had been ripped out and dropped just out of reach. It was distracting. And the fact that I kept staring out the plate glass window and wondering how many actual humans were even out there. How many people, like me, woke up every morning and actually looked out upon the poisoned clouds that slowly were creeping by, or were the population metrics I had been taught instead accounting for just the synthetic minds of a long dead race.
No, no. It was just some practical joke, I decided. It had to be, right? Reason the first, Alley and Gray could A, be hazing me one last time before letting me move on from being the noob little intern or B, they could be mad scientists and Syndicate agents from hundred of years in the past whose life work resulted in fucking my own life in particular. Occam''s Razor, right?
Reason the second, and this one was the far more compelling of the two - if Em was really a perfect reproduction of my consciousness, personality, and memories, then why the Hell was she so bloody Fucking annoying? Ya, that ain''t me. No way.
I felt better as I finished my stretches and started reconnecting the cabling into my brain. The strange loneliness bothered me, eating away at my thoughts and making me rush despite myself, but I blanketed myself with the relief of not having to fall for juvenile pranks for a single second longer.
I barely paused in my Axis Room, staying there just long enough to trigger my login and guzzle a cup of coffee. It was a relief, having chosen not to think about the previous night''s letter for a moment longer, and I didn''t even want to look at the console or be reminded of those memories. Instead, I jumped toward the console and into the game without even considering the fact that I had died. Or the fact that I was still bound to the Portal Stones of the fallen Undercity.
I hadn''t even loaded in properly before the string of notifications began assaulting me.
| You have Died. |
| Unable to locate Bind Point. Respawn location set to [random] |
| Congratulations! Items in your inventory have been upgraded to Artifact quality! |
| Congratulations! Clothing has been upgraded toArtifact quality! |
I blinked as my surroundings started to fade into view. I was laying uncomfortably against a willow tree, and the bottom half of my body was soaking in smelly, muddy water. Looking around, the light of the sun barely made it through the canopy of branches overhead, though almost everything below the green branches above me looked brown and dead. I jumped when I thought I saw something move in the water, not thirty feet away by the large spindly tree rising from the Marsh, and as I moved I became suddenly aware that I was sprawled across a narrow bank of dirt. To either side of me, the water seemed to grow deeper and deeper.
| One (1) lost item was left in an area that no longer exists! Item, [Mouldy Orange] has been returned to your inventory. |
Ya, I thought as the notification danced in my vision, just what I always wanted. Artifact quality rotting fruit.
But I thought I glimpsed another streak of themovement against the water, this time even closer. I didn''t waste a second longerbut shifted into the black feathers and beady-eyed form that carried me into the sky. The transformation didn''t shed the stinking marsh water from my legs, however, and I felt the weight of that moisture carry with me as I ascended into the sky above.
Breaking past the canopy was like traveling from a twilight forest into a magnificent summer''s day. The light swelled and burst around me, rotting branches and vines immediately replaced with the bright blue expanse of unpolluted sky. I enjoyed myself as I flew, searching for the end of the trees below me.
And yet no matter how long I flew, the trees seemed to go on and on. An eternal blanket over an endless world. After hours of unbroken, unwavering flight, still I could not see an end to the vegetation below me, and I grew concerned as I watched exhaustion debuffs starting to stack up into unsustainable levels, and I started to waiver.
"Maggie, dear," Em finally spoke. Proving that she was, in truth, more than just a fevered dream from the night before."I hate to interrupt. I know we''re going through kind of a... thing... right now. But, really, I think you should stop and check out that Orange in your inventory."If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
I flew for a few more minutes, undecided whether I should ignore her on principlebefore another exhaustion debuff was added to my running stack. Finally, I allowed myself to drift down and land in the branches of a looming tree.
Skipping down through the branches, after a few minutes I found one that I was fairly certain would hold my Nymphian weight. I quickly transformed, even as I panted, cursing the fact that the ground looked to still be soaked in water and likely also teaming with unfriendly wildlife.
Still, going through my interface I decided that I finally had a second to check out the stats on my newly upgraded equipment, as I had to planned to do immediately before I was sidetracked by the random spawn location.
Out of spite, more than anything, I decided to leave the Orange for last.
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Robes of the Undercity (Artifact)
Chest; Legs
+5Intelligence; +5 Willpower; +5Charisma; +2 Stamina
Special: 30% Increased Poison Damage
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The stats were... all over the place. To say the least. It had mostly caster stats, with a little bit of Stamina (which was common for most high-level armor pieces) and then it had an assassin trait - Bonus Poison Damage. It would boost my natural poison damage ability, I supposed, and I had heard of some druid spells that inflicted poison damage, so it wasn''t exactly worthless to me. But it struck me as odd that such a high-level item would be generated with that kind of randomized, junk stats.
I moved on to my inventory. I knew, based on the status update, that I had at least one other artifact level item. The key to my old apartment was gone, as was to be suspected, but in it''s place was something far more interesting.
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Pickpocket''s Key (Artifact)
Amulet
+3 Agility; +1 Stamina
Special: 20% Chance to Autodetect Hidden Objects, Traps, and Doors
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And now I got a rogue''s amulet. I was tempted to just break the thing and see how much Luck I could get from it. Obviously, that appeared to be the stat that I was needing the mostif the last couple of days were any indication. But the ability to see hidden loot and traps was too good to pass up, and if I werehonest with myself, my stat situation was already something of a mess, and I couldn''t really bring myself to destroy a piece of loot if I didn''t have anything better to replace it with anyway.
Quickly equipping the Amulet, I moved on to search the rest of my inventory. With the exception of the Orange, sadly, I didn''t see any other beautifully updated items. And, finally, after as much stalling as I could possibly justify to myself, I went ahead and checked the stats of the Moldy Orange.
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Moldy Orange (Artifact)
This Item begins a Quest.
Initiate quest? Y/N
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I hesitated before clicking the ''Yes'', figuring that it would annoy Em to no end. But really, there are only so many ways to procrastinate when you are sitting on a branch in the middle of nowhere, twenty feet off of the ground. And so I eventually gave in and clicked the final ''Yes'' icon.
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New Quest!
Plant the Moldy Orange in the ground.
Restrictions: Must be 200 Miles from any settlement.
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I laughed, then, as I read the quest instructions and restriction. Artifact quality quest, my ass. Still, I thought I knew why Em had wanted to mention this to me now. It was unlikely that I would find myself 200 miles from any settlement at any time in the immediate future - after I had made my way out of this blasted nowheresville swamp at least.
Taking wing, I slithered and flew down from the tree. Hovering over the swamp, but careful to maintain a respectful distance from the swirling waters, I darted my long, serpent form through the vegetation until I found a mount of sticky earth.
The orange popped into the dirt easy enough after a quick hop back into Nymph, and I buried it quickly while keeping an eye out for movement in the dark waters around me. Nothing happened for a minute, even as I patted the earth and sprinkled muddy water over the sickly little mound. I was even starting to fixate on what an absolute disappointment the whole quest was when I saw that the ground below me was starting to stir.
I sprung up, sprouting raven feathers before my feet were fully off the ground. Feather wings appeared to be faster, and I tore it out of there and up into the higher branches of the nearest tree before I even stopped to look at what it could be that was moving.
As my heart started to come back under control, I considered that I may have been a huge idiot. If I had failed to meet the conditions of the quest, and buried the Orange in a nest instead of the earth, I may either have lost the damned thing or find myself having to fight a nest of hungry alligators in order to get it back. It was a pretty shit move, all in all, and I watched the now throbbing mound of dirt with a mix of hope, fear, and recrimination in my heart.
Something seemed to spring up from where I had buried the Orange. It looked like a plant, at first, until it started to spread. Thick mats of sickly green and orange carpet seemed to spread across the mound, billowing out into the water around it and coloring the muddy water with the same shades of puss and rot. The contamination seemed to continue to grow under the murkuntil in the course of several minutes it was plain to see that the entire marsh below me had taken on the same sickly shades as had been growing upon the mound of dirt.
The living carpet began to visibly grow and climb, enveloping entire trees in a thick coat of discolored slime. I was so engaged as I watched the trees around me swarm with the gross, mossy colors that I scant noticed that the tree under my feet had been contaminated too. It was only when the discolored slime touched my foot, burning like the tendrils of living acid, that I finally leaped away with a screaming Caw and took to the air.
I flew up, past the branches, through the canopy into the fresh air of the world above, terrified and focused on making sure that the burning wasn''t spreading. I kicked my talons and spun in the air, trying to fling away whatever it was that had burned my flesh, screaming in the voice of a very startled crow.
And yet, I could tell that something had most definitely changed. The branches below me, for a good mile in every direction, had taken on the sheen of the green and orange slime. It was only from up here, in the full light of the sun, that I realized it wasn''t just slime at all. Rather, these were the same colors, the same pattern, as I saw in the mold that had covered the orange.
And having come to that realization, I watched, transfixed, as the trees before me started to fall. They tumbled over like dominoslike they had suddenly just lost the will to live, and instead of a canopy below me I could see the bubbling mass of Mold consume each tree and grow just a little bit deeper.
I turned circles in the air, hovering and darting back and forth as I watched. The body of a crow was not made for hovering, and I dared not shift into a serpent this high above theground, knowing that the leathery wings seemed to have more stringent height limitations. It was from those swooping, pacing loops that I watched the Mushrooms as they started to rise from the ground.
At first, they were tiny things, so small I could barely make out what they were from my tiny, avian eyes. But they grew, and they grew, and they grewuntil they started to merge together into giant, towering structures that dwarfed the trees to each side.
I counted ten, giant mushrooms in all, once the growth had begun to slow, some standing some scant two or three stories tall while one of the others reached up until it could have easily been 9 high and a good hundred feet wide. The stocks were thick, leathery things - the bases seemed to spread out almost as wide as the heads, and the stocks gradually narrowed until they sprouted out in gigantic, sturdy constructions. And when finally I saw something that made even less sense than the sudden growth of the fungi, when I caught sight of what looked to be nothing less than a window in the side of a stock, that was when the quest suddenly updated.
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Quest Complete!
You have founded: Mushroom Shantytown (Chaos)
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I read the update over and over again. Wait, I thought, did that mean what I thought it meant?
"Oh, yes. Wait for it..." Em whispered into my head. The sudden, disembodied sound of my own voice was even more annoying than I remembered, but I barely spared it a second thought as I scrolled through the rest of the updates.
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Congratulations!
You have founded a settlement. Please give your town a name!
As theowner of this settlement, your Bind Point has been linked to the Town Portal (Locked). To change bind points you must relinquish ownership of this town!
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Congratulations!
You have founded the first (Chaos) aligned town! As the largest (Chaos) settlement this town has been designated the current faction Capital.
Town type upgraded two levels from [Shantytown] to [Village] and additional options are now available in the Town Interface
As the first (Chaos) settlement, citizens will receive the following subtype based upon your class: Arch Druid
All NPC Citizens of this Capital will receive the racial subtype [Shifter] and have access to [Serpant] and [Wulfin] forms. Progressing in your class may unlock additional new forms for all citizens!
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Achievement Unlocked!
Politician, Tier 3
Owner of a [Village]
Town menu interface options unlocked!
Personal bonuses unlocked based upon Town Prominence!
Town specializations unlocked!
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Achievement Unlocked! (Unique)
Queen
Owner of aFaction Capital
Reputation raised with Chaos from: CHAMPION to: NOBLE
Special: +400 Fame
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I flew down and tested the top of the now fully formed mushroom city with my claw as I read, taking the risk that a fully formed town would not actually burn the feet off of anyone who touched it. Finding that the building was indeed safe, I hopped to a more central portion of the living construction and shifted back into a Nymphan form.
"Shit," I whispered, frustrated. "The old city was sacked less than twelve hours ago and now I''m sitting in the middle of the biggest stationary target in the entire world. That''s just perfect."
"Well, any ideas on what I should label this doomed little town of ours?" I muttered into the air, not at all surprised that Em was listening.
"Spore-a-phrenia?"her... my... sarcastic voice responded. And I couldn''t help but snort, in spite of myself.
I thought for a moment. "No, I think I have something better. Let''s see..."
Pulling up the town interface, I entered the new name of the Capital city of the Chaos empire.
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Town name: Dementia
Town type: Fungi (Grown)
Terrain: Swamp
Confirm?
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Chapter 18: Sim-Shitty
:10/02/2251:
2:15 PM
The first thing I did was bring up the Town Menu. From what I could tell, all cities were considered ''Towns'' and rated anywhere from Shantytown to Metropolis. It pretty much went without saying that, if another player aligned an existing town to Chaos or created a new town and grew it quicker than mine, then I could loose the status of owning the Capital unless I had somehow leveled mine all the way up to Metropolis. At that point, if the names of the other factions were any indication, the faction name would either be changed from Chaos to Dementia or I would somehow gain the ability to rename the faction to whatever I wanted.
The town menu was a huge thing, with everything from population management, to an unlockable perk tree, to building construction panels. I took some time going through it before ever leaving my perch atop the great mushroom building.
The first thing that caught my attention was the perk tree. The very first level of major perks was blinking at me, asking me to chose a starting bonus for my town. Most of the options were simple things - there was a ''Fertility'' option that increased town growth by 10%, there was a ''Fortified'' option that would auto-constructand maintain town walls, and there were a number of other basic options that seemed pretty common for first level benefits. However, off to the side, there were also three perks that each had (Artifact) written next to their titles, and it was these that I found myself examining in detail.
The first option was called ''Impregnable (Artifact)'', and the status text described how it would put a stone dome over the town, rendering the area impassable outside of massive siege warfare, portal technology, or teleportation spells. There was a side bonus of armies from the city would receive a 20% bonus to HP and Training Modifiers within the walls of the dome. It was a tempting option, I had to admit, considering the likelihoodof McBeal''s army turning straight for my new little settlement and wiping it off the face of the earth by week''s end. Still, sadly, considering the sheer amount of firepower the Queen wielded I very much doubted that stone walls and combat bonuses, even fairly substantial ones, would do much good against the megalith that was her current allied army. Undercity, above all, had proven that stone walls and heroes were all but useless when faced with the massive war machine of the Elves and the Church of the Light.
The next option was entitled ''Wizard''s Fief (Artifact)''. I skimmed the text, reading about how specialized skills would be more quickly available for all classes, the bonuses to trade, and how the city would attracta greater number of skilled workers. It was all fine and good for your average town, excellent even, but none of it would do me a bit of good when it came to keeping the city from being ground back into the earth.
And the last option, of course, read as though it had been personally been created for me. I sent a prayer of thanks to Alley, or whatever benefactor had somehow thought to create such a creative bonus. ''Lost City (Artifact)'' was the name, and I found my jaw sagging further and further as I examined the text. I had maybe made it half way through the description before I immediately reached out, selected the perk, and confirmed it with multiple, violent stabs of my index finger.
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City Upgraded to: Lost City of Dementia!
Congratulations on selecting your Level 1 City Perk!
Lost City - Town Portal is Hidden from players without faction: Chaos of at least ACCOMPLICE rank;Town has been removed from all in-game maps and may no longer be added to in-game maps of any kind; Town Immigration slowed by 90%, but immigrating population will possess advanced classes and significantly upgraded abilities.
Lost City Terrain Bonus: Swamp -Beasts and vegetation within 200 mile radius will increase in power and ferocity, becoming increasingly hostile to Chaosnon-aligned players.
Lost City Type Bonus: Fungi - Consumption of fresh, unique corpses will provide upgrades to building construction. For new buildings, bonuses will apply to building growth; for finished buildings, bonuses will apply to building quality, furnishings, and abilities. Corpses of more powerful organics will result in more powerful bonuses. Note: Bonuses for consumption of player corpses will only be applied once per player.
Lost City Leader Bonus: Arch-Druid - Beasts and Herbs within 200 mile radius will significantly increase in quality.
Lost City Capital Bonus: Chaos - Faction aligned settlements will share base Lost City Traits, excluding additional bonuses, for all Lost City Perks.
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As soon as I made the selection I saw that the next rank of perks had unlocked. Right, I remembered that my city had auto-upgraded to level three when it has become the capital city for the faction. The perk menu was like a ladder, with sequential rows going up. For the first row, the options that I had not selected were now grayed out, much like the third row up that had not been unlocked, with the exception that I could still see the titles and status text for the unselected perks in that first row.
The second row had very similar basic abilities to the tier one selections. The real exception, I saw, was that instead of having three different Artifact type abilities, there were only two, both being connected to the selected ''Lost City'' perk by faint golden, branching lines. It seemed pretty clear that these new perks had both been generated from my selection of ''Lost City''.
The first was entitled ''Lost City of Forgotten Gods''. The description indicated that there were a number of drawbacks that came with the perks for this option. The benefits included Town Radius buffs to HP, concentration, 150% luck generation from consumed items, and faster building construction times. However, the drawbacks listed things like 200% insanity generation, 2% chance for NPC citizens to mutate into serial killers, 1% chance for any sleeping sentient to disappear per night, and others. The luck bonus, I knew, was enough to make most munchkin type players soak their pants, but the drawbacks were eating at me as I considered this branch.
The other branching perk was titled ''Lost City of Forgotten Wonders'', and the more I read the description the more intrigued I was. Like the former Lost City perks, it came with its own, fairly significant drawbacks. But, even still, the more I read the bonuses the more certain I became. Finally, after spending considerably longer on this branch of the tree, I made another selection.
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City Upgraded to: Lost City of Forgotten Wonders!
Congratulations on selecting your Level 2 City Perk!
Forgotten Wonders - Trainers for new, unique abilities will spawn within town radius; Town Specialists will now be able to craft unique enchantments and have access to steam technology; additional building types unlocked. Within town radius, the following event triggers are now enabled: Robot Uprising; Magical Catastrophy. The following NPC Classes may now be randomly generated for townsfolk or villains: Mad Scientist; Recluse Wizard; Awakened/Possessed Machines.
Forgotten Wonders Terrain Bonus: Swamp - Additional specialized trainers and craftsman will appear. Additional NPC Type unlocked: Hag
Type Bonus: Fungi - Additional specialized trainers and craftsman will appear. Additional NPC Type unlocked: Awakened Flora (Note: Flora is grown rather than immigrated into the town)
Leader Bonus: Arch-Druid - Additional, nature aligned enchantments available to town specialists.
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And, last but not least, the third tier of perks unlocked with that selection. Again, the basic, minor bonuses were availableif somewhat uninteresting, whereas ''Forgotten Wonders'' further branched into two separate and unique options.
''Wonders of Magic'' unlocked additional enchantments, increased the power of caster type abilities in the town radiusand allowed access to advanced, magic type professions. ''Wonders of Science'' unlocked additional technologies, increased the power of technology constructed in town buildingsand unlocked science-based professions. ''Wonders of Magic'' seemed to synchronize well with both my class and my city type, as I remembered vaguely that enchantments were created by soaking Soulgems in the cooling heart''s blood of deceased creatures. ''Wonders of Science'' however, was equally tempting, as who wouldn''t be intrigued by the chance to maybe construct trains and zeppelins and Molotov Cocktails.
Up until now, I had mostly been stumbling along through the game, mainly selecting whatever looked like it would probably be the best of a series of bad choices. As I weighed the new tier of perks in my mind, for the first time I started to seriously consider taking a more interesting, if less obvious option. They, neither of them, werebad choices, per say, as I realized I would have no idea what either actually did until much, much further down the line. Not until I had trained specialists and active, thriving populace for my now mostly barren little town would I really understand the full repercussions of the choice, as right now I wasn''t really equipped to build anything, magical or otherwise. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Like chess, I figured I now had enough information on how the whole perk thing worked to maybe plan a couple of steps ahead. Lost City branched into Religious and Wonderous specializations. Wonderous had branched off into scientific and magical applications. I considered the other branch, Lost City of Forgotten Gods, for a moment and what I would have expected if I had gone down that rabbit hole instead. Most likely it would have branched off into different, specific gods, some craving specialized sacrifices while providing other growth bonuses or maybe unlocked mutations, while others perhaps would have, perhaps, dealt more with horrific orgies and given powerful abilities while insanity debuffs were active.
So, if the trend continued, that I would imagine that a Magic focused branch would tend to branch out into more elemental specializations. So I would likely be given choices between like Earth/Air or Fire/Water as new perks were unlocked. So, it seemed, the city would unlock very powerful, yet very specialized enchantments, such as Magical Shields, or Healing Bonuses, or Earth Elemental Guardsman. Science, on the other hand, would likely branch into Steam/Industrial or War/Infrastructure- which would be considerably more likely to unlock weaker but broader applications of the advanced abilities. I imagined such things as anti-air rockets, and hidden mines, and robotic guardsman.
After several minutes of indecision, I heard the soft whisper of a familiar voice fill my head."I agree. I think we should go with our gut here."
It actually annoyed me enough that she... that I was butting in on my own thoughts that I almost reached out and selected the more immediately beneficial ''Magic'' option. But, eventually, I took a deep breath and made what I thought to be the better choice.
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City Upgraded to: Lost City of Scientific Wonders!
Congratulations on selecting your Level 3City Perk!
Wonders of Science - Town Specialists will now be able to craft additional technologies; increased quality of specialized buildings; Trainers for advanced science-based professions will appear
Forgotten Wonders Terrain Bonus: Swamp - Ratio of Schematic requirements now will require 20% less metal, 15% less stone, and 20% more wood, 15% more fluidic components.
Type Bonus: Fungi - Masterwork quality products created in specialized buildings will now be given the ''Living'' subtype. ''Living'' technologies will be granted self-repair, smart targeting, or sentient type abilities.
Leader Bonus: Arch-Druid - Town Specialists may now use Soulstones to replace other types of power sources.
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The last bonus was absolutely a game changer. I frowned for a minute as I considered how critical that little bit of information was, and how the lack of it has almost lead me to make what would have quite possibly been the wrong choice. The ability to power technologies as if they were enchantments was absolutely huge. It made sense that the status text would have been difficult to update to show the potentially thousands of different bonuses available given different conditions and synergies, but overall the omission seemed, at best lazy, and at worst outright disastrous.
Anyway, with the third perk selected, as expected, the next level of perks remained grayed out, and no additional perks appeared to yet be available. I went ahead and navigated over to the population menus to see if there was any way to add actual citizens to my little empty village.
Under population, there were three categories listed - trainer, specialist, and worker. Each had different options and metrics, but what stood out to me was that, while ''trainer'' and ''worker'' each listed ''0 Available'', the ''specialist'' category had a little ''3'' listed next to it. I went into the specialist tab first, taking in the different options available. I could see that a number of positions were grayed out toward the bottom, each noting that population, fame, or town level requirements had not been met, while others were available mostly with zeros showing up in the bottom right corners of the different icons on the menu.
Three of the icons, however, had ones listed by the icons, and those were the positions that I pulled up first. The first icon was of a crowned shadow-figure, and it opened into a description entitled ''Town Mayor''. The ''Mayor'' duties listed mostly administrative functions, such as leadership, town management, and tax collection. At the bottom were a number of options
At the bottom of that description were a number of options. The first was ''Purchase this Position'' and had a little ''5,000 gold'' description next to it. Even converting credits into gold it would have been a major expenditure, using up a good fourth of my savings. Ya, it turned out that buying these positions wasn''t something I was really in a position to do. The next option was somewhat stranger, listing ''Grow this position (Special)'' and describing the cost as ''One Month''. It was a nice option to have, and I immediately resolved to start growing some of the more valuable, if less critical positions for my village. The third option was grayed out, but I could still see the description of ''Build Automation for this Position'' along with a reduced gold cost of ''5 Gold'' as well as some alternate material breakdowns in wood, steel, and Soulstone. There were also notes next to the description regarding the restriction ''Building an Automationrequires filling Specialist Enchanter or Specialist Scientist positions'' - positions which I noted that I needed to fill sooner rather than later. The last option listed ''Hire Experienced Professional'' and noted ''One available''. Jackpot, I went ahead and selected it, then moved on to looking for the next available position.
There was a ''One'' next to an icon of a shadow figure holding a whip. The image was a bit disconcerting, but opening the description it turned out just to be the ''Work Supervisor'' position, with duties involving management and allocation of town workers. I grabbed the ''Hire Experienced Professional'' option again without really thinking about and moved on to the next, vaguely aware of the sound of a Town Portal activation, echoing from below as I did so.
The last icon was of a flower, described as ''Herbalist'' in the status text. After confirming and filling the Herbalist position, I went on to look for the Enchantment or Scientist positions. I found the Enchanter Icon first, and read my options. Hiring the position would cost me 2,000 gold, or rather 2,000 credits considering I was still dirt poor in game. These were positions that I knew would probably save me in the long run so I decided that I would probably end up scraping up the cash when it came to getting my scientist. Considering I had already decided to focus on science here instead of magic, for the Enchanter I went ahead and selected the ''Grow - one week'' option that I had been dying to try.
''Error - maximum number of positions already growing. Please cancel a position or wait for growth to complete to activate this option'' flashed in front of me as I tried to select the option. I frowned and squinted at the error, trying to make sense of it, before I felt a weight in my stomach and it all became clear.
"Yes, I''ve gone ahead and started with a couple of trainer and worker selections while you were fiddling with all that,"Em said unapologetically."Interesting fact, we can only grow five positions at a time right now, I''m sad to say."
"I hate you," I muttered, trying not to get trapped in the loop of wondering who I was actually hating.
Em didn''t miss a beat, though -"I hate you too, honey,"she shot right back, humming loudly in my head to the tune of ''camptown races'' before fading back into the background. Great, that was a tune that would be stuck in both of our head now for the rest of the day.
I moved on until I found the Scientist position and ran the currency conversions necessary to have enough funds available. The ''buy'' interface went on to allow me to select a race and specialty after I had paid the appropriate amount of gold, in which I selected a Gnomosh Automaton Artificer without much hesitation.
Moving on to the worker menu, I found a couple of options listed. An ''Immigration'' bar was active, hovering at around 3%. A ''Buy'' Option was available, list price set for 300 gold, which I immediately disregarded. A build option was now showing as being ''available'' though I saw that I lacked even the minimal material requirements that would be required to build a worker for the time being. And the ''Grow'' option, similarly to the immigration bar, had a loading percentage showing a solid 10%, listing ''three days remaining''.
There was also a spreadsheet available and I was surprised to learn that it listed three active workers, with stats regarding their current skill in logging, mining, and hunting, as well as promotion percentages each set to ''0%''. I wrinkled my nose as I wondered whether Em had spent real money on them while I wasn''t looking out of our account, and I promised to check later and keep a much more careful eye on my finances. Em was showing a bit more initiative than I was comfortable with right now, and I had a funny suspicion that it was something likely to get worse with time, rather than better.
Checking the ''Trainer'' menu, I confirmed that I already had four growing, including the all important ''Arch-Druid'' trainer. The requirements for them were expensive, the one I saw coming in at just under 15,000 gold, and there was no option there to build them, so I quickly decided to leave that section alone and let Em have at it. She had apparently volunteered for managing that section anyway, and after seeing the prices and restrictions I quickly decided that I was happy enough to let her have it.
When I finally finished going through those menus and closed out of the interface, immediately noticed three things. First, I noticed that the sun had started to sink below the horizon and the air was slowly filling with clouds of gnats and mosquitos; second I realized that I was hearing the sound of somewhat eerily familiar laughter; and third, I noticed that there were four, six foot serpents curled up on the roof in front of me, watching me with deep, inhuman eyes.
I started, sucking in a deep breath and rapidly scooted backward, with a second shot of adrenaline shooting through me as I felt the slope of the roof curving downward and my balance starting to wobble. At my sudden movement, all four serpents seemed to shimmer as one, growing and broadening in a strange, nausea-inducingkind of stretching as if their organs were swelling and stretching their reptilian skin at a hideously unnatural rate.
It was only the innate, immovable fear of falling that held me steady until the shimmering, stretching of the serpent''s bodies began to slow, swelling into the clearly distinct forms of actual humanoid creatures. And it was with a start that I found I recognized two of the faces before me.
I coughed, standing up as if to retain some shred of the dignity that I knew was already lost and buried. "Oh," I muttered, quietly. "Hey Tom.Amedile. Uh... fancy seeing you here."
The laughter that answered me only confirmed the notion that I wouldn''t be hearing any ''your majesties'' anytime in the foreseeable future...
Chapter 19: Logs of the Wickerwoman
:10/02/2251:
7:45 PM
I looked at the status text of the faces in front of me, both familiar and unfamiliar. Tom, I was grateful to see, and it dawned on me that the voices I had heard before from below belonged to the other Undercity Orphans. My new workers. Amedile was the trainer who originally had taught me my first spell, and who had started me on the path to unlocking the Arch-Druid powers that I had received to date. It wasn''t a path I had traveled far down yet, at this point, but it struck me as strange how much seeing her here actually comforted me. Interestingly, each status bar had the official role displayed clearly next to the name.
[Mayor] Lamia Ahransole (Dark Elf shifter, Illusionist)
[Supervisor] Tom (Gnome shifter, Rogue)
[Herbalist] Amedile (Halfling shifter, Druid)
[Scientist] Skotty(Gnome shifter, Mad Scientist)
First, I looked to Skotty, looking him over from boots to hair. He wore a long, leather trench over a white cotton, stained shirt, and his belt carried enough tools and widgets to make Mr. Q cry tears of appreciation, "Well, Skotty, I have to say. You''re absolutely everything that I hoped you would be and then some."
"I''ll say. I just want to pinch his little cheeks! He''s such a cute little inventor of Deathbots."Em cooed,"Yes he is, isn''t he?"
"Thank you... I guess." He spoke, raising an eyebrow at me. "And yes... I do invent ''Deathbots''."
I arched an eyebrow, "You heard that." It was an interesting observation. I didn''t know that anyone outside of my old guild was able to hear Em. And the ability her to not only help with town managementbut communicate with my managers... well, it raised as many interesting little opportunities as it did somehow also annoy the shit out of me.
I turned to Lamia, eyeing her. She had to have been someone important in order to be able to fill what was probably the biggest role in the village, and yet I couldn''t quite place her from anywhere. "Lamia, it''s truly an honor that you have joined un here, in our little project out in the woods. Tell me, are you from Undercity?"
She frowned at me, hesitating for a moment before she spoke. "If you recognized me, then I wouldn''t have been doing my job, now would I?" She shook her head againslowlyas if reminding herself that she spoke to a child, "No, you wouldn''t. You see, I was the Undercity spymaster, reporting directly to the Regent. Mistress of Illusions and Divination."
I frowned, trying to stifle the indignation of being spoken to in that way, and shrugged, "Well, it''s an honor to have you, Lamia. I think you''ll find plenty of opportunities here to shine and lead. I only hope that you will serve this city as faithfully as you did your last." It sounded good enough, I figured, and to be honest the last thing I needed was to get on the Town Mayor''s bad side.
Lamia only huffed and stared at me. It was obvious that her starting opinion of me was actually fairly low, which seemed a bit unfair considering she was working for me and all. Still, what are you going to do, and it had been my choice to select the Experienced option, instead of raising my Mayor from scratch myself. I knew that, in the short term, it had been the right decision. In the long term, I wasn''t so sure, but I figured that I probably had the option to demote or reassign her if push came to shove, so I wasn''t all that worried for the time being.
I held up a hand. "It''s great seeing all of youand meeting our new faces here. Really, it is," I glanced at Tom, finding his familiar face reassuring, "But we have a city to run now and I''m sure that you are as impatient as I am to get to work." I glanced at the ground below us, "I''m going to survey our current buildings and needs, I would like it very much if you all would do the same. Take some time, think it over, and in the morning I want you to start coming to me with your recommendations and needs." Pausing, I looked each of them in the eye, "Our Lost City bonuses have bought us some time, make no mistake, but the Elven Army and the Army of Lightwill be coming for us. Eventually, I want us to move forward with the expectation that theywill find us. And, when that happens, I want us to be prepared."
Raising my voice, as I had heard Olga do during the siege of Ravenheim, I projected out, "I want options, People. We need to not just be thinking about surviving today, surviving tomorrow, we need to instead be thinking months or even years down the line. So, with that in mind, let''s move out and have a look at this little village of ours."
They nodded to me, almost as one, and while they didn''t exactly march away with a renewed sense of purpose, they did start meandering down into the town with thoughtful expressions written across their faces. It was... good enough. I figured. And, although I knew I had told them that I would assess our buildings and our current needs, there was something that I had to do before even that.
I accessed my stream settings, intending to change them for the second time from the default, recommended selections. I left ''Archive Streams'', ''Allow Comments'', and ''5-Hour Delayed Feed'' on, as these were really the bread and butter. The availability of my streams to be used by DDO in weekly and monthly recaps wereselected and grayed out, as well as the ''24 hour stream feed'', as I would not be able to edit those due to my contract with the company. However, there was another set of options that were available that I knew could help me now.
I left ''Allow viewing by citizens without an active DDO Account active. In my heart, even if it could hurt me some day,as my streams were pirated and posted on the black market, that option was literally my reason for playing. More than anything, the knowledge that teenagers would sneak glimpses into my world when their parents weren''t supervising, would pirate my videos and watch me late into the night, dreaming of a better world, that was what I knew that I wanted. More than anything. Whatever the cost. However, there was another option that would, I hoped, buy me some additional time. And while I knew it would absolutely destroy my sub numbers, I knew I didn''t have that much of a choice.
I manually selected the option for ''Restrict viewing'' and ''Require DDO Account Reputation rating," setting it to ''Chaos: Accomplice''. And as I finalized my selections and hit ''Apply'', I felt myself almost cry as I watched the sub numbers drop and credit income sink and sink even further. I knew that if I had left it, I could have used that income to hire workers. I could have used my enemies interest in my feed to pay for the provisioning and quickgrowth of this new city. And yet... I also knew that it wasn''t what Alley had done. And I knew that it wouldn''t be safe to continue letting Queen McBeal and her toadies continue to have a direct window into my life either.
Alley had taken a more refined path, she had involved herself in company politics, and used company positions and benefits to grow her faction as well as feed her with loyal manpower. Yet, I had been to her meetings, I had watched her with her piles of tablets and paperwork. She had seemingly, with her success, been locked out of the DDO world, condemned to a sad living in middle management in the lobby of the game that she had loved. Em... might have been able to help me with the paperwork. She could have, in theory, allowed me to do what Alley could not, and be in two places at once. But yet... if Alley''s letter was somehow, impossibly true, then Em would soon rise to becoming the most powerful AI, hell, the most powerfulmind even, in any known world. And it struck me that it would be a waste, for all that she annoyed me, to ask her to use that gift to fill out forms in triplicate for the rest of my human life.
No, it may have been stupid and childish, it may have been completely antithetical to everything that I could potentially accomplish with my career and with this city, but I knew in my heart that Alley''s path wasn''t going to be my own. DDO corporate hadn''t given the [Mouldy Orange] to Steve, the secretive, invisible powerhouse. They hadn''t given the Orange to Gray, with his extensive background in IT design and programming. They hadn''t even given the Orange to Blinky, with his flashing longsword and his slightly sad smile. No, DDO Corporate, whether through Alley''s design or not, had given the Orange to me, a Jr. Streamer with a mostly ''C'' Average in school and more enthusiasm than knowledge.
Maybe they did it because they expected me to burn out quickly, to stir up just a bit more drama continuing the struggle between Elves and the ''Monstrous Races'' for a few more months while they worked on some new event to give to their subscribers. But I hoped that wasn''t the case. Considering the ''Lost City'' bonus, seemingly having been designed specifically to keep us alive in a world out for our blood, and considering that I had been dropped in a seemingly endless swamp that I had never even heard of, far off of the beaten path, I had to believe, I had to hope that they had thought I would have a chance.
So despite the fact that I had cut my income in half, and halfand half again, I had to believe that it would be worth it. I had to believe that this meant something. And I wanted, more than anything, to lead not with paperwork, but by sticking my face out in front of the faction I was now responsible for - a flawed, inexperienced face with more dreams than sense, but a face that would show them that I wasn''t some arrogant, pampered elitist. I wanted to show my people that I wasn''t walled off and hiding from theworld that wanted to drive us into the dirt with its heel. And I wanted, perhaps, that the window into my life, the clear view of who I am and my own personal trials and tribulations, to beas inspiring and as uplifting as someone who knew how to play the corporate game.
No, even if they had handed me the keys to the city, and expected me to fill some kind of corporate shoes now that I had some little bit of status and influence to call my own, I decided in my heart that I would not be the one to fill Alley''s shoes. If they needed someone to manage employees and supervise interns, well, they could find someone else for that. I would continue streaming. I would continue playing. And, even if it meant I lost it all, at least that would mean I''d have something to come back to after Dementia had been flushed away.
Anyway, with that settled, I used serpent form to descend to the ground below and take in these giant, fungoid buildings from a new perspective. The ground itself squished and seemed to beat against the soles of my feet, reminding me that I stood upon a solid, living mat of fungus with every strange movement beneath me. The Stalks of the buildings, impossibly wide, each seemed to have a hole with strange, living curtains instead of true doorways. Walking through those curtains, I discovered that there were currently no stairs or elevators present, though the interior of the mushrooms werestratified and hollow. Instead, currently, the only way to move between the different levels inside of the fungi was to fly through the wide, ten-foot gap in the center ring of each stories'' flooring.
The lack struck me as, rather than a defect, rather a bonus. The base of each mushroom was more than wide enough to house a good amount of people or equipment. The fact that only those with the power of flight would be able to move up into the higher levels was, all in all, an excellent security feature. It would make it somewhat difficult to move equipment and furnishings the way things were, but I figured that we could probably mount some pulley systems to the roof that could be withdrawn in times of war.
I flew up the nine-story tall Stalk first, checking each of the levels over. While the base of the building was empty and unused, I noted happily that the upper levels all seemed to have strange, fungoid furnishings and building schemes. Thin, yet sturdy membranes formed walls and separate rooms, with slim openings covered with living, malleable curtains hanging over them instead of doors leading between the sections. The same types of fungi that had been previously lighting the Undercity, I noted pleasantly, were now present along the ceilings serving as an eerie system of lights. Additionally, in most of the rooms grew long, soft outcrops that resembled beds, spongy mounds that had long sheets of fungus attached in much the same manner as the curtains. I sprawled out on one, amazed at how comfortable the living mattress actually was, and pulled a membranous sheet over myself as I relaxed.
There, next to me I could see some other mounds, some of which having membrane-like shelves and reminding me of bookcases or dressers. Others had membrane-like lids and seemed to almost breathe and sway, low enough that they could be chairs though they lacked any sort of backing. Confused, I was relieved to see that each object had status text that could be viewed, and I discovered that I was indeed seeing Dressers, Shelves, and... toilets, apparently. One in each room, along with a bed.
As I lay there, relaxing, I pulled up the Town Interface and went to the new building menu. I found that the main building I was in was marked ''Residential'', and all nine stories up were packed to the brim with rooms such as the one that I was in. It seemed impossible to me, but the interface told me that the maximum capacity for this building was 2,000 occupants, and there were additional options for upgrading the building listed on the screen. Each additional level was shown to increase capacity by 250 residentsand would require what was described as ''1,000 building points'' to grow. Additionally, I appeared to be locked out of upgrades, and there was an error listed that I would require an ''Architectural Specialist'' position in order to grow and modify any of the buildingsor even to generate building points.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
I immediately jumped back over to my Personnel section and opened the Specialist page. I wanted to strangle Em for wasting all of our ''Grow'' slots on Trainer positions when it was becoming painfully obvious how much we needed some specialists in order to perform the basic functions for our city. Still, I was starting to think about this city as though it were a long-term investment, rather than simply seeing it as a pretty new toy, as I admittedly had when I had first seen it grow out of the muddy water of the local swamp. And I went ahead and paid another 2,000 credits to hire the position. When it came to selecting the architect''s specialty, it was pretty much a no-brainer, grabbing the ''Fungal Growth'' option. For the ''race'', though... for the ''race'' I have to admit I was curious about the new unlocked options, and as I finalized my selections I really didn''t know whether the choice was going to be very good... or very bad. Finalizing my selections, a ''Hag Fungal Architect'' was added to the town.
It was the point of no return. My residential building could hold thousands of people, and my current town population was weighing in at less than ten. While the town has been given an artificial boost in rank and size thanks to it currently being the only Chaos aligned settlement in existence, the initial Lost City drawback making it take 900% longer to generate new citizens was, I knew, going to be the nail in my coffin unless I was willing to invest heavily in the cities'' development.
And while I felt a very real, physical pain at investing real credits into tangible in-game benefits, there was a flip side to that as well. The 300 credit bed that I had added to my Axis room wasn''t actually any more comfortable than this free bed of fungus in which I was even now residing. So, investing in town growth could, so long as this little town existed, provide me with comforts and amenities that would potentially be far cheaper than purchasing them directly in the Axis. Why, indeed, pay 5 credits for a cup of coffee, when I could generate a specialist here that could make me coffee for free - and breakfast, lunch, and dinner besides? The caffeine and nutrients would be fed into my Meat just as regularly regardless of where the actual meals were generated, after all. It was one of the perks of the DDO subscription, which was still being paid under the terms of my employment.
And so I went in and spent the 3,000 credits to hire ten more workers. More than anything else, I needed the materials to start constructing Crafted Specialists, and I knew in my heart that the only way to do that was with additional manpower. Scrolling through the list of available races, I selected ''Troll'' for all ten of the new villagers. Three I specialized in Logging, two in Mining, two in hunting, and the remaining three I assigned the ''Assistant'' specialty. Assistants were described as generating promotion points twice as fast rather than generating additional proficiency at gathering oriented tasks, and when maxed workers would be promoted into specialist roles appropriate to their classes.
I looked back through the specialist positions then, and I found three additional positions that seemed vital to the process of gathering resources. There was a position entitled ''Surveyor'' who was responsible for thediscovery of local well sites, mining sites, dungeon entrances... the works. ''Surveyor'' set me back another 2,000 credits but I couldn''t help but admit the necessity of the role. A few, quick selections and a brand new Goblin Resource Surveyor had been added to my town.
A Gnomish Carpenter with a specialty in Unique Items and a Dwarven Metallurgist with the same specialty set me back another 2,000 credits each, leaving me with just a little more than 8,000 credits remaining to my name.
At that point, with a decent starting crew set up, I jumped back into the building menus. Scrolling out of the Residential building, I looked at the overall townmetrics. I noted that, in addition to the Residential building, the town already had a Workshop building, a ''Kitchen'' that seemed to also include granary and meat processing functions, a ''Recreational'' building and a ''Barracks''.
The ''Workshop'', thankfully, had ''Smelter'', ''Construction bay'', ''Smithery'', and ''Sawmill'' functions already activated. It was my second largest building and, arguably, the most important to the growth and development of my city. I was sort of assuming my specialists already had access to basic schematics, as I saw that I still needed to construct a Laboratory or an Enchanting Tower, both of which being described only as ''Generating new schematics andrecipes'', but I worried that if I was mistaken I may have to prioritise the construction of at least a new Laboratory building.
The Recreational building''s description seemed to indicate that it functioned as something of a town hall. Most of the functions were grayed out with notes that the functions required items to be constructed via the workshop in order to unlock. Right now the only available functions listed were ''Dining Hall'' (1st Floor), and ''Lounge'' (2nd Floor), though the grayed out options were more than interesting. They included things like ''Divination Pool'' (DDO Stream Feed), ''Karaoke Bar'', and ''Opium Lounge''. I''m not a huge fan of intoxicants, so the last one was pretty much out, but, alternatively, I resolved to figure out how to construct a Divination Pool as soon as possible once more vital orders of business had been resolved.
The Barracks max capacity was listed as ''500'' soldiers, and, interestingly, it came with the ability to provide lodging to as many citizens. More interestingly, in my mind, I noticed that my Metallurgist had already registered as a barracks resident despite my having only generated him less than ten minutes ago. Additionally, a ''Sparring Arena'' function was active, and I saw that I could eventually unlock a ''Workout Room'', ''Mechanical Danger Arena'', and ''Illusionary Danger Arena''. They would be fun to see in action, I thought, and I was excited to finish growing some of the Trainers who could eventually turn the building from a nest of hidden potential into animplacable force of nature.
As I was navigating the menus to construct a new building, I''ll admit that I also happened, ironically, to have been... testing the fungi toilet. Yes, I was also doing it during an active stream. Such were the downsides of accepting a full-time streaming contract as, after all, nature will call sooner or later. And if you happened to be plotting or getting ambushed in the bathroom, well, the public had a right to know. Or, at least, the terms of the contract amounted to as much. But anyway, the important part there wasn''t my semi-regular humiliation, but rather the fact that I noticed the building point counter in the submenu ticking up slowly, 3, then 4, then 5, and stopping just as I ran out of product to deliver into the fungal cavity upon which I sat.
I blinked, watching it for a minute, as the realization of what had just happened cemented into my mind. "Shit," I muttered, mostly to myself, "I guess what they say about mushrooms is true." Still, it was convenient. Especially since most sentient types would, evidently, be generating building points for me through their daily acts of living, and, as my population grew, so too would my ability to construct and improve the buildings.
Momentary distractions aside, I also discovered that I could only have one new building under construction at a time, yet the buildings, thankfully, didn''t require any gold or materials to construct - just the ''building points'' that resulted from the consumption of biological materials. There was an ''upkeep'' listing that was entirely grayed out, with the note ''Swamp Terrain negates all upkeep costs''. I supposed that, since the swamp was quite possibly the best possible breeding ground for strange new fungi, constantly keeping them moist from the surrounding bog, while likewise keeping the ground around the town cool under the branches of the dense canopy. It was enough that I was actually quite grateful that my randomized respawn point had deposited me, as well as my little seed of a town, here - despite even the dense clouds of giant mosquitos that I had noted the day before.
I ignored my own fervent desire toimmediately construct a laboratory. I wanted it, I wanted to see what kind of wonders this little, upgraded town of mine could produce. And yet I knew that I was in a marsh, not a grassland. And I knew that if I really wanted to support a town of several thousand, a couple of hunters wouldn''t be nearly enough to keep my village fed. So, biting down my own exuberance with everything I had, I selected ''Greenhouse'' from the build option, noting the the description listed ''Grows herbsand crops at an accelerated rate''.
The greenhouse would require 2,000 Building Points to complete, rendering the five points I had just added somewhat negligible. Still, I knew that there were other ways to generate points for my city, and adding additional hunters to my roster was going to have to be a priority. I had a herbalist already, so that was easy enough, but I knew that in order to really take advantage of the new building I was going to need to hire a Farmer specialist. Checking the specialist menu, I noted that it would only cost me 1,000 gold to hire one, but considering the building was still in its infant stages it seemed a bit premature for me to buy it right now.
The last thing I did before I again finished up with the menus was to check the town status screen. There was a ton of information there that interested me, from requirements to reach the next level and unlock another row of perks, to a detailed list of all my specialists and workers.
Upgrading my town was going to require ''Construction of three, new specialized buildings; Increasing Residental Growth to 11 stories in total; Total resident population exceeds 1,500. My specialists, on the other hand, I thought were kind of cool. And I was happy to see that my new workers had already been assigned to active tasks.
|
Specialists:
[Mayor] Lamia Ahransole (Dark Elf shifter, Illusionist)
[Supervisor] Tom (Gnome shifter, Rogue)
[Herbalist] Amedile (Halfling shifter, Druid)
[Scientist] Skotty(Gnome shifter, Mad Scientist)
[Architect] Magdaline (Hag shifter, Witch)
[Surveyor] Gael Dirtypants (Goblin shifter, Ranger)
[Carpenter] Tai (Gnome shifter, Artificer)
[Metallurgist] Sanrich Copperdong (Goblin shifter, Weaponmaster) |
Current Worker Tasks:
4 Loggers
3 Miners
3 Hunters
3 Assistants (Workshop)
|
As I closed out of my menu I went ahead and copied the day''s logs, stopping only to redact out anything relating to Em from the record. I had worked through most of the night, and I noticed that a request had been posted to my stream that had been quickly rising in popularity. It seemed a fair enough request, combative tone notwithstanding, and especially now that there were some restrictions on who could view my feed, I figured it wouldn''t hurt anything to give my remaining viewers a window into the behind-the-scenes mechanics. Especially if it might give my splintered faction an actual bit of hope.
I understood that by posting the perks, mechanics, and status windows of our capital city, the information would inevitably make its way into the hands of Queen McBeal. But even so, it was early enough that, by the time the information was made available to her, I hoped to have already grown the little town by leaps and bounds. Plus, there were no coordinates in there, nor were there any landmarks to show where I had landed. All the logs proved was that I had popped into a random area, founded a town, and then immediately started to work on the local population and infrastructure. No, all in all there wouldn''t be a better time for me to post information about the town, without giving away too many details of strategic importance. And so I did.
Tired, sleep deprived, I decided that I didn''t actually want to fall asleep in the fungi bed. It still felt just a touch too... alive... for me. And without a town guard of any kind, it seemed like a bad idea to leave myself so vulnerable even within the boundaries of the Fungi constructions.
Instead, I got up wearily and I walked over to find where my new Greenhouse was being constructed. A Crooked old woman in a long, patchwork cloak was crouching over a new patch of growth. I could see a tiny little mushroom creeping out from the surface, swaying gently as she appeared to be chanting over it. The whole surreal spectacle was like something out of an old, Fairytale holovid, and it was with no small bit of fear and trepidation that I slowly approached her.
I waited, afraid to disturb her work for several minutes. I hadn''t thought she even noticed me until her head seemed to turn on its own, bearing a long, crooked nose and pointed chin even as her head craned at an unnatural angle to look at me. Her voice even scratched, exactly like I had somehow expected it to, as she raised her eyes and spoke to me, "Yeeesss? Who is it? Is that you, our great benefactor?"
I cringed as she turned, watching awestruck as her body seemed to hover on some unseen axis, following her head and twisting to face me. "Oh, my my my. Aren''t you a scrumptious little thing?" She crooned, "Yes, yes. You are such a young, vibrant thing. Oh, the stews, the pies that you would make! Succulent and tender, I dare say. Succulent and tender!"
I forced myself to swallow, looking her in the eye. Such a creature as her, I had no doubt that she smelled my fear. But, regardless, my streamers did not, and I still needed to put on a good show. Still, even as my dry throat echoed loudly and I sucked in a deep, shaking breath, it was only internally that I voiced my recriminations for selecting such a creature for this specific task. "Magdaline, it is I who have brought you here and made a place for you in our fair city. Tell me, will you follow my orders and give yourself to our town''s continued growth and prosperity?"
It was a brave line, I thought. Regal, even. But the longer she stood there, staring at me like I was a fat chicken being dressed for a Christmas feast, the more the doubt began to set back in, chilling me down through my bones. Only when we both knew that the waters of fear had once again closed around my heart did the creature finally respond. "Oh yes, yes my pretty. I am your most humble, faithful servant. My life is yours, my scrumptious little child."
Shaking my head, knowing that what I was about to do would become nightmare fuel for the next decade of my life, I forced myself to raise my chin and step forward. "Very well, creature. In return for your service, for the growth and prosperity of this town, I would like you to feed me to the Fungus. Let my blood and body become as one with our land."
The creature smiled, lips curling up past razored teeth, showing me a mess of bloody gums and crooked points. She laughed then, the most hideous, vindictive sound I had ever before heard, and she pulled a long, cooked dagger from the sleeve of her robes. "Oh yes, child. Truly, I am at your service. Yes, yes indeed."
And it was her yellow eyes that bored into my mind, following me into darkness, even as I felt the hideoustearing of her knife parting my throat.
Chapter 20: Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Night
:10/03/2251:
1:45 PM
I had logged straight out to my Axis Room after the sacrificial death and crawled straight into bed. My dreams were strangely vivid, and while I dutifully awoke at 10 AM to log out and do my stretchesin Meatspace, the moment I logged back in I went straight back to bed.
In my dreams, I managed the town workers with one eye while I scanned through email and managed my interface with the other. Occasionally I would log into a strange, twisted version of My axis room for a few minutes to check the logs and run maintenance functions, using the short breaks to read various, far too advanced tracts on hacking or philosophy, before eventually logging back into the game.
Finally, in the early afternoon, I slipped out of the world of dreams and scratched my eyes groggily. I purchased a coffee and watched some old streams to try and pull my mind away from the strange dreaming. It didn''t help at all that I almost felt more tired now that I had before going to bed, as though I had run some kind of marathon in my sleep. And it was a good half an hour before I finally pulled myself out of the sheets on my bed and stood up to greet the day.
I sleepily glanced through my various social media panels, surprisedthat I didn''t seem to have any update notifications. I had thought for sure my streamers would be buzzing after I had posted those logs, and the lack of a single new hate mail in my inbox struck me as being too good to be true. But still, I shrugged without looking much into it, not wanting to look my gift horse in the mouth.
I turned on the DDO newscast to keep me company as I finished my first cup of coffee and went to generate some eggs and bacon from the interface. Thankfully, it was absolutely abuzz with news of the sacking of Undercity and rumors of a strange new faction. The reporters cut to a number of different DDO feeds including, I noted ironically, a few segments of my own earlier stream from when the mushroom city first was eating the swamp and absolutely tearing through the local trees. The entire thing was cut to look far more dramatic and mysterious than I knew that it actually had been, but even I had to admit that in contrast to the earlier clips from Undercity''s sacking it made quite the little spectacle.
What ended up actually shocking me was when the newscast cut to a huge, somewhat less than flattering view of my in-game portrait, underlined with the words "Who is Magpie Frost?" The entire thing was several levels more surreal than even the rest of my morning had been, and I found myself glued to the screen as the reporter spun their little story.
"... Reports are that the earlier feed showing the rising, Chaos Capital were captured from the stream of one ''Magpie Frost''. I have information here that she is a relativelynew player on the scene, having only surfaced a couple of months back who has been working as a streamer for Clockwork Dragons. That said, her official stream appears to have been removed from the company website, and is rumored to have been restricted to Chaos Faction players."
A female voice cut in, a disconcerting contrast considering I was looking at a picture of myself while hearing another woman''s voice, "That''s right, Ted. But why would a company streamer, who gets paid by thesubscriber, restrict her viewership to such an extreme degree? Did she stumble on to something that could shift the balance of power, so quickly after Queen McBeal finally seemed to have won the war? Or is this all some kind of a stunt for publicity, meant to drum up interest in her feed?"
"No, Sheila. I happen to have a report, just coming in here, that Queen McBeal has personally placed a bounty of... wow. One Million, did I read that right? Why, yes I did. That''s right, folks, Queen McBeal has personally placed a bounty of, you heard that right, One Million gold coins on the capture of this little girl."
"Wow, Ted. That''s quite a lot of money. The Elven Queen must really have it out for this new player."
"That''s right, Sheila. So I think it''s fairly safe to say that this is not, I repeat, this is not some publicity stunt from some company drone hungry for the limelight. But if that''s so then what could have possibly ruffled the Queen''s feathers to such a degree? What is this new, mushroom city that we saw consuming an unnamed Jungle? And how could have this little, armorless girl have become such a major player seemingly overnight? I guess we''ll have to keep watch..."
Finishing my eggs, I quickly turned it off. I might like attention and popularity just as much as the next person, but I apparently had my limits. And those limits were crossed about the time they mentioned the Million Gold Bounty that had been placed on my head.
It didn''t escape me either that they said ''captured'' rather than ''dead''. I didn''t know what they had in mind for me once they had me, whether Alley simply wanted to talk or if she had far darker, much less legal things planned for me in there. But whatever it was that the Bitch Queen wanted, I knew one thing for absolute certain - I wanted absolutely nothing to do with anything that the woman had planned for me. And that was a fact.
Still, I shrugged and opened my personal interface, opening up the DDO menu. Another day, another dollar. And I reached for the login button.
"Wait."Em said, sounding somewhat urgent.
"Hurm?" I stopped. "What''s going on, Em?"
"Well..." she paused and I felt my heart sink."There are some things that you should really know before you actually go in there."
I crinkled my forehead, pulling my hand back. "All right then. Spit it out, I guess."
"Well... you told our Mayor and them to report to you this morning, right? About ways to improve the town and all? Well, you see, I went ahead and checked in with them while you were sleeping."
I raised my voice, "Annnd?"
"Tom wanted another Workshop, he said. Apparently, trying to outfit the entire town from the one was going to be really slow, no matter how many people we shoved into it. Lamia wanted an Administrative building... and before you ask, don''t. Whoever thought it was a good idea to add Administrative functions to the game was truly a sadist. I swear there were forms listed there that didn''t even have names there were so many. Amedile wanted a Marketplace, which turns out to be a lot like one of the late twentieth-century mall things, just with more spores and things, and Skottywanted to upgrade the Kitchen into a Spore Tower to unlock the fermentation functions..."
"Wait," I cut in. "Stop, just stop there. How in the hell does any of that matter? We can only build one thing at a time, and we are completely limited by the Building Points we have available. I mean, I''d like a Tier Four Town too, and an epic mount, but it''s not like I can just poop one out of my butt with a magic wave of my fingers."
"Actually..." she pausedas if thinking. "Maybe I was wrong. Ya, no. I really think you should just log in. It will probably be easier that way, now that I think about it."
I shook my head. "What the hell, Em? You really aren''t making any sense."
"No, really. Just log in. I''ll catch you up later. It''s totally fine."
I shook my head, worried for real now. "Stupid AI," I muttered under my breath as I hit the button. Ignoring her asking me if I knew that she heard that as my mind shuttered through the darkness of the login sequence.
DDO loaded up in front of me, the familiar outdoor setting and feel of the fungus beneath my feet fuzzing together over the course of a couple seconds. But when the world snapped together and my city did come into view I found my jaw dropping. I tried to swallow, feeling my suddenly dry throat clench as I struggled to make sense of what it was that I was seeing.
There were bodies... everywhere. Each one exuding the green and Orange mold of the city from every cavity, they lay in piles, strung along haphazardly and randomly as far as I could see. There were people there, with swords and armor that rattled as they all meandered around, with a good number having turned to stare at me.
The first thing I did was open my interface and check for insanity debuffs. Then I exited and went back in, to double check again when I found that there were none. Then, I rubbed my eyes, in case the spores had somehow been messing with my vision. But no matter what I did, my quiet little city with its handful of scattered residents never came back into view.
I looked around, dumbfounded, standing there for a good minute while my brain tried to make sense of what was actually happening. I noticed then that a number of the mushrooms were sprouting strange, fungal spires from the tops of their fungal heads. I noticed that the treeline had lengthened what must have been a good quarter mile from where I had thought it was supposed to be, and strange, throbbing chrysalises were dotted across the infested ground.
There were living people, PC''s I guessed, forming lines across the city. The longest of which lead out to the middle of the newly infested ground between the beating capsules. And, more, there were workers - some guy in a jumpsuit was trying to sweep the fungal ground between the buildings, some Dark Elves were helping one of my trolls lug a freshly cut tree into the workshop, and there was a good dozen little mushroom-people running through the streets. They were about four feet tall, with mushroom caps that looked like funny little hats and strange billowy skin, but the looks on their little faces showed a deadly determination.
I finally managed to force sound out from my slightly numb lips, "What the actual fuck, Em?"
A deep, male voice was all that answered, echoing through my head."Hey, Em. Could you send some more of those Pizza Heads to help in the workshop? They''re actually pretty effective."
"Hey now, that''s not very sensitive. I thought we had decided to call them Red Caps."Came a woman''s voice that wasn''t my own in response.
Finally, I heard Em speaking,"Actually, I thought we had agreed to call them Red Caps to their faces. ''To their faces'' being the operative words... but ya, Blink. I got you. Two more supreme pizzas, hold the pizza, coming right up."
Having been ignored by my own personal, superpowered AI self, I wandered toward the workshop. I moved as if in a daze. Bumping into people awkwardlyto bouts of ''Hey, excuse you lady,'' and ''wait your turn!'' But eventually, I got there.
Inside, I saw four, lumbering Ogres lifting a gigantic, stripped tree trunk onto the sawmill, with little mushroom people scrambling around the other end catching the scraps that fell as it processed. Up, on a slightly raised dais that looked out over the mill, I recognized Blinky and Olga standing there with focused expressions on their faces.
The spinning blades and sounds of trees being dissected pulled me out of my haze by a hair. And I was somehow able to make my way past the hulking ogres and up to the dias without myself being split in half. As I climbed up the latter to join my friends I yelled, "Hi, you two. What''s going on?"
Blinky glanced at me for a moment, sparing only a second before he looked back over to the lumber production. "What''s that," he pointed at his ears, "I can''t hear you over all the noise!"
Finding my footing on the dais next to them, I cupped my hands together and yelled at them, "What''s .Going. On?"
"What do you mean, what''s going on? We''ve been working together all morning?" He shouted back.
"What?" I yelled, confused.
He shook his head, and his voice echoed clearly in my brain."What do you mean? I thought you were getting me those workers we were talking about?"
I just blinked at him, unsure of what to say at that point. What do you even say to that? Luckily, Em quickly jumped in and saved me."I''m on it,"I felt her say,"After that though I need to log out for a minute here so I can talk to myself. You good here?"
He looked at me confused, as I blushed and gave a half-hearted wave. He shrugged and I heard him project his voice,"Ya, ya. I think we got it for now. Don''t take too long, though, remember we''re supposed to be giving a speech here in an hour."
I blinked, stupidly, though it shook me back to myself when I saw Olga give me a faint smile and a half-hearted wave goodbye. Not daring to navigate through the mill again for fear of getting impaled by the six-foot splinters raining down from the blades, I just fumbled through my panels and flicked at my logout button.
I barely noticed as my world spun away or was replaced by the familiar panels in my Axis. I simply blinked and focused on my breathing, trying to collect my thoughts. "I... That..." I tried starting a few times as the breaths began to calm me, but I couldn''t seem to put together a coherent sentence that would amount to more than cussing.
"Ok, so... let me explain, dear."Em started, apparently deciding to take the intuitive in light of my own studdering."I was just as taken too... at first. Let''s see here."
Em pausedas if trying to put her thoughts in order. In the same way that I would have done, but then she kind of was me, I guess, so it made sense."Well, do you remember the logs we posted? Showing how we founded the city? The ones that included all the bonuses that Dementiaand especially all of Dementia''s allied cities would receive?"
I nodded, stupidly, but hung on her words."The thing is,"she went on,"that apparently the Artifact bonuses were pretty lucrative. Most of the capitals have been there since the game launched, and the Capital Cities that weren''t have tended to remain small and have been constructed with fairly common materials. Apparently, due to the expense, no one so much as tried to make a city out of epic materials before, let alone one of Artifact grade.
"Everyone had mostly assumed that the base Faction Benefits resulted from the faction itself, I guess. So the idea of experimenting with the construction of Capitals wasn''t even looked at. And the fact that new Chaos cities will now start with bare bones Lost City benefits, at least until someone else manages to duplicate the process of creating or upgrading a faction Capital to a similar quality, well our faction is suddenly very, very lucrative to a number of up and coming guilds who had been considering building new towns."Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I paused, starting to get it. "So... guilds are motivated to come and grow Dementia. So their settlements will have level 4 artifact perks instead of level 3? Ok, I get that maybe. But how are there so many people? In order to even see the city portal, they would have to either already had our faction or grinded the hell of Elfbreaker Achievements and the like. And it''s been, what? Ten hours since I posted the logs? Less?"
"Well... that''s the thing. You see that''s only the tip of the iceberg. You know how our logs show how to find the city, and how hard it will be for a force to attack it the way they did in Undercity? Well... it appears that Lost City buffs gave enough assurances regarding our safety thatsurvivors from Undercity, as well as a number of worried residents from Galdenheim and Angmar, have been flocking in by the truckload. Crafters, Roleplayers, Traders, pretty much you name it, if they aren''t affiliated with McBeal or the Church of Light, Dementia has suddenly become The Place to be.
I nodded, mulling it over and starting to understand, finally. "Ok then, I guess that all makes sense. But, what about the buildings? The weird mushroom people?"
Em practically purred in self-satisfaction at the question."Oh, well. As it turns out letting the city eat you only added about one hundred Building Points to work with. However, we''ve been attracting players, P.C''s, who are jumping to sacrifice themselves to Dementia. Apparently, you get a Huge amount of Chaos Faction for it, if you''re in the Accomplice or Citizen levels at least. And, if you check the logs, I think you''ll find that we also received an achievement after we died."
Curious, I did just that, scrolling back through pages and pages of history where, I realized, Em was working in-game while I was sleeping. Finally, I found it.
|
Achievement Unlocked!
Russian? Portobello (Unique, ''The Mushrooms eat you'')
Offered your life to Dementia
Reputation increased with Chaos
Special:
+1 Stamina (Permanent, Max: 10)
|
"Shit," I whispered. "I see."
"Right? So every Chaos aligned P.C. is chomping at the bit to throw themselves on Magdaline''s knife. It''s true that it only updates after the first death. A couple of over-zealous munchkins have tested that. Extensively."She snorted,"But the long and short of it is that, over the last ten or so hours, we''ve stockpiled tens of thousands of Building Points.
"I took the liberty of adding the buildings your advisors requested, I know that was our intent going in. And it turns out that once a new building is fully paid for, you can purchase another even if other new buildings are still, technically, growing. So far, we''ve added two more Workshops, an Administrative building, a Marketplace, a Laboratory, an Enchanter''s Tower, an upgrade to the Kitchen building, and one upgrade to the residential building. Growth Bars on the additions should be at 100% in another nine to twelve hours, so we should be able to use the buildingsby early tomorrow morning."
I blinked, nodding slowly. "I... see then."
"Also, I found a way to use building points to rush through the Grown workers. It doesn''t work for the trainers, sadly, nor does it work for the more advanced specialists. And it''s pretty expensive at one hundred points a worker and a thousand for a specialist, but considering it looks like we are going to have plenty of points, for the time being, I went ahead and took the initiative. They aren''t very strong, and it takes a ton of them to do things like carrying a tree, so I ended up buying fifty of the workers and five Specialist Farmers with our Building Points.
I raised an eyebrow, starting to get into it "Have we had much progress with resource collection?"
"Sadly, no,"her voice started coming faster and she was obviously excited now that I was starting to get on board."Our Surveyor hasn''t had any luck with finding metals. We found some shale, which we have the original three minors on right now, but nothing that will help us get started with building new Citizens or working on schematics. For the time being, I''ve had us stockpiling wood. I figure once we get the marketplace up some of the Trader Roleplayers can use our portal to trade our wood for some metal."
Thinking, "So how far are we exactly from Town Level Four, exactly then? It sounds like we just need another expansion on the residential building and the thousand some citizens? Are we planning to rush them through once we trade for some ore? I suppose that''s why we made three workshops..."
"Actually... no. Not exactly. So, look... I''ve tested the mechanics and done some math. When P.C.s bind to our portal they don''t count as citizens. However, the Roleplayers? The ones who registered themselves with the company and are playing in hardcore, permadeath mode? They count. And enough of them are here either as refugeesor were pissed off enough at McBeal for killing their last character and rerolled Chaos, that we should be... pretty much covered as far as the town Citizen requirements are concerned."
I sucked in a breath. "And how much is ''pretty much covered'', exactly?"
I heard her chuckle,"Oh, well. Let''s just say that I think you will need to start the next Residential expansion as soon as the current one finishes. They''re still coming in but the current numbers are showing just a little over three thousand citizens of Dementia. Don''t get excited, though, we can''t control them the same way we can with our workers and our specialists. So their actual usefulness is easily questionable. Still, I highly recommend that we grow another residential building next so we can be growing two at the same time - otherwise I dare say that we''re going to have people sleeping in the streets by the end of the week just for the lack of space."
My eyes widened, and I was suddenly grateful that Em had pulled me back to our private room while she explained all this to me. It was a lot to process, and there was no way I would have been able to do that if I had been surrounded by literally thousands and thousands of people. I''m not sure if I''ve mentioned this, but large groups tended to make me just a little bit uncomfortable.
"Ok, ya. Let''s do that, then." I went over it all in my mind, to see if there were any gaps, "Last thing, I think. But what was it that you were talking to Blink about earlier? Some kind of speech?"
"About that..."Again, my stomach sank as I heard her tone dropping."See, as the owner of Dementia you seem to be considered... something like the new faction leader. Now, don''t worry! I''ve been preparing a speech and Blink and Olga promise to be right there behind you the entire time. But... you kind of sort of have to give a speech. Otherwise, I think the players are going to start mobbing pretty soon demanding to talk to you."
My reply came, not in words, but with the sound of me crawling into bed and pulling the sheets tightly over my head. Burying myself as deeply as I could in a nest of blankets and pillows.
:10/03/2251:
3:00 PM
I was standing on top of the workshop, looking over the edge of the Giant Mushroom Head upon which I stood and looking at the impossible crowd before me. Blinky had promised to use some warrior ''shout'' ability to project our voices over everyone, and he and Olga were standing steadfast there behind me.
"No pressure. Though I should probably warn us that if we mess this up, it''s probably going to be pretty much the end of our city. Oh, and we might die if they start mobbing - we don''t exactly have any soldiers yet. So there is that. Um... ya. No pressure, though. Just say what I tell you."
I forced myself to take a deep breath, feeling the sweat start to drip down my back. I knew if I hadn''t spent the majority of the last hour hiding under my covers, I might have actually had a chance to find something to wear that looked a bit more regal. The Robes I wore had lost their threadbare look when they had upgraded, becoming a much finer, form-fitting silk, though the drab, gray color from the former linen hadn''t itself changed much. And I was painfully aware that I still looked more like awell-dressed acolyte of some hideous god in this than I did a proper ruler of a city.
As I hesitated, I could hear the crowd below getting unruly. People were starting to shout, and while I couldn''t make out what they were saying from up here, each new person''s voice grew just a little bit louder as they tried to out volume the people shouting around them.
Finally, I saw words fade into view in front of me, hovering between me and the crowd. Em whispered into my head, so low that I could barely hear her, "Sorry, it took me longer than I expected to figure out how to do that. Just read the words, Mags, and it will look like you are scanning the crowd as you talk, while you won''t actually have to even really see them."
"Clever," I whispered to myself, shocked as Blinky''s ability amplified and carried the word out across the crowd. Resulting in a thinning of their voices as they stopped to listen to what I had just said. I raised my hands, for quiet, as much to hide the fact that I was blushing. And I took another breath.
"The Undercity has been lost!" I read from Em''s clever little prompter, surprised at just how easy it actually was, "Many of you, as I do, once lived there, and worked there, and filtered all of your dreams and ambitions through the sturdy, stone walls of the city - confident that that stone would keep you safe. Confident that our former Regent and the forces of the Underground would protect and nurture you as you built your lives, built your families, within the safety of those caverns."
I cleared my throat, noticing for a moment that some of the people below me had started nodding, while others had seemed to grow agitated as the musical bells of my voice descended on the crowd. I lowered my tone a bit, trying for a more solemn, serious intonation as I continued, "And many of you have come here, to our Dementia, disillusioned and desperate - seeking some vestige of the safety, some shred of the same security and stability that you thought you once had.
"Others have fought, as I fought, even as the Undercity fell. You have stood shoulder to shoulder with your friends, your guild members, as the unending masses of elves and humans shattered our walls and mobbed through our fallen city, consuming everything that they touched.
"And others still are new to us, drawn in by the promise of this, lost City. Even now you stand with us, shoulder to shoulder on the fungal streets of our town - and even now more and more of you continue to pour in, grinding for faction against endless waves of Elven NPCs, all the time dreaming of new victories, the new glory that awaits you in the cities that you yourselves will build underneath of our banner.
"But what has brought all of you here, what has flooded these streets and worked our poor Magdaline there until she could barely hold her dagger," I paused as the subtitles faded out for a moment, noticing that there was a long murmur of dark laughter before the subtitles resumed. "What has carried us, all of us, to this place was one, single thing - something impossible to hold and yet fundamental to our lives, fundamental to living itself. The reason we are here? That reason is hope. Whether it is for life, or security, or glory, or even just the vindictive need for the blood of those who have hurt us - it is Hope that has brought us here, and it is Hope that, even now, binds us together.
"Even me," I paused for a moment, going off script as I murmured to myself. "Especially me."
Shaking my head, I jumped back into my lines, standing up just a little bit straighter, "This town, this Dementia, this isn''t my town. You have all seen my logs, you know that I have the achievement, that I could wear the title. And yet I stand here before you, titleless, wearing none but the same robes I wore when the Undercity fell. I, a Fruit Merchant who eeked out a living in the poorest quarter of the city, and yet who healed our soldiers, who sheltered our cities'' orphaned children and, when all hope was lost, who drew the bloodthirsty humans away.
"No, you see. Though I have grown this city, though I may have the same achievements and titles and stupid little interface panels as does Queen McBeal, as even did our Regent before me, I do not stand before you today as a Queen. Rather, I stand before you as I had stood beside you, as the forces descended upon us and as our homes and our lives were crushed beneath the boot of the Elves and the Church and the fates themselves. I stand before you here as your comrade. Your friend, who has witnessed hardships so much like and yet so different from all of your own hardships. And I stand here as someone with vengeance in my heart, who wants nothing more than to rip out the hearts of those who have hurt meand grind their own walls into the stones and the dirt of the earth."
Angry voices echoed through the crowd and I could feel the tone begin to turn, but the words in front of me kept coming and so I didn''t stop, "A true ruler, a queen, they would stand up here and lie to you. They would tell you we were going to stand for truth, and justice, and peace. They would spin pretty stories of righteousness and patriotism,telling you that you all are heroes - telling you that we were going to save the world and carve out a new golden age for our people. Yes, that is what Alley would do. That is what those hypocrites calling themselves the ''Church of Light'' would say and what their self-righteous paladins would scream even as they murdered our children. For the crime of being different. For the crime of being born to a race that has been branded as ''evil''.
Over the cries of the crowd I raised my voice, getting into it and feeling the energy of the words, of Em''s script, pouring through me, "But I am not a Queen. I am not your Regent. And I will tell you this! We are not the heroes, questing gloriously on golden steeds and saving the world from sin. We are not the noble knights, struggling valiantly in righteousness and for honor! That is not me, that is not you, and that is not why we are here.
"But what are we, if we are not that? I know you are asking. And I will tell you truthfully. We are refugees from a city that has been sacked. We are the remnants of families that have been torn apart by these so-called ''heroes'' and ''paladins of light''. We are the soldiers and the Fruit Merchants and the lone wolves who survived something that no one should have had to bear.
"But we are also Pioneers, we are survivors, we are the warriors and the communities and the guilds who have found a new place, a new home, where we can start again. From which we will rise, anew. And if you are here to build a new home, a new family, then I will tell you that I am with you.
"If you are here to build a town, to reach for glory and grow communities of your own, braving the dangers and the dungeons of this beautiful world as you reach for fame and fortune? Then I am with you too, I will stand beside you and offer you the support and freedom you need in order to rise to greatness.
"But if you aren''t here for any of that? If your heart is dead and dying as the horrors of our defeat play over and over through your mind? If you no longer care for family, or community, nor even glory and riches? Those of you who are here simply because our Dementia stands as the last bastion, the last outpost for those who would dare shake their fists at the heavens and demand that the blood of our enemies rain down upon us until the final heat death of our universe...
"For those of you who would choose to be villain - with hate in your hearts, driven by the thirst for blood upon your tongues - for those craving the chance to remind the world why it''s a bad idea to stomp on the weak, to remind those in power of the results of their cruelty and what happens when they push us too far? Then I will say to you now, firmly and for the record..."
The crowd quieted, my words soaking into them like rain upon barren ground, and I paused as the final line etched itself in front of my vision. I read it twice, to myself, just to be sure that I was reading it right, before I found myself baring my teeth and breaking out into a sudden, brutal grin. I screamed, loudly and from the gut, smashing through the silence, "I AM WITH YOU. NOW AND FOREVER MORE!"
The words echoed across the town, silencing hanging over the masses crowded in front of meuntil a single scream cried back at me. A deep voice, in the back of the crowd echoing back at me across the soundless abyss. And the crowd took it up, the screams becoming a cry, then a roar. The warriors banged their fists against their armor, the rogues slammed their blades together as they screamed, and even the traders and craftsmen and merchants seemed to be stamping their feet into the ground.
I shifted, then, growing into the hulking, Dire Wulfin beast that had been gifted to the town, and I howled to the afternoon''s sun. The Warrior''s amplification carried the howl across the buildings, into the forest, and from miles away I could see flocks of birds take wing into the sky. Yet it only barely seemed to cut across the booming voice of my city, united as one.
The Roleplayers apparently now shared the Shifter trait of the town, and I was shocked as a thousand people before me followed the example, screaming with their newly wild voices into humid, cooling air.
It was a strangely humbling sight, the booming, discordant notes and wild energy of the crowd spread at my feet. And even from up there, from my perch safely above their masses, I somehow felt very small. Like a very tiny girl in a very large, wild world. And I found that it was... exciting.
I stalked away from the edge, shifting back to my smaller, Nymphan features, and I looked at the friends who had stood behind me. Blinky was smiling warmly, a slightly ironic glint sparkling in his eyes, and Olga''s eyes seemed both shocked and... impressed as she stared back at me. She shook her head as I walked toward her and Blinky canceled his ability. "Well, I''ll say that you riled them up well enough. Though I dare say its unlikely we''ll get any more work done today."
I shrugged, winking at her, "Let them have their fun for now. There will still be plenty of work there in the morning."
Blinky approached me, clamping his hand down across my shoulder. "Well, I have to say. That was pretty classic ''Magpie''. Though I dare say that if there''s ever another Arch-Druid, they are going to end up with some rather large shoes to fill."
I smiled at him and nodded, feeling my stomach flip as I felt his large hand grasp my skin. "Thank you so much for your help, you two. I literally couldn''t do it without you."
Olga just winked, while Blinky, sadly, removed his hand and turned. "We know, kid. We know," he danced hands across his invisible interface as he nodded at me, "I''m going to go ahead and make myself scarce for a while. It looks like I have work tomorrow, but Steve should be around if you happen to need anything."
I waved at him, somewhat regretfully, as Olga followed his lead. She looked at me as she waved, "You take care of yourself kid. And don''t worry, I should be around too. Trust me, I wouldn''t miss what''s happening here for a life''s supply of wine and a harem of virgin girls."
They faded out, leaving me alone over the din of the now fading crowd. The thousand, individual conversations drowned out any thoughts I might have had, and I too brought up my interface and logged myself out from the world. It was time to check the newsfeeds, and to make sure the video of my little speech would be properly ''leaked'' to the appropriate channels.
Chapter 21: Eight Arms to Stab You
:10/04/2251:
9:00AM
The yellowed clouds outside my meatspace window this morning had somehow reminded me of my mushroom town. Where once, staring out that window into the bleak nothing of the world had felt like freedom, now it simply served to remind me that there was somewhere else that I needed to be. And that there was somewhere else that needed me to be there. I had reflected, in the glimmering walls of my Axis Chamber, how I had spent less and less time in that world that once was known as ''real'' since I became an adult - not since I had come to take control of my actual life.
The video feeds were abuzz with edits of me, my own voice echoing out from the newscasts on all of my favorite channels. The same ones, in fact, to which I had ''anonymously'' leaked my own stream. It had been a calculated move, I''ll admit. But in point of fact, my picture had already been sprayed across every channel that would be interested in knowing who I was, and McBeal had already made it quite clear just how much she had wanted me dead. It couldn''t hurt, I had figured, to put my own side of the story out there. At worst, it would tell people what they had already known, or would have known soon, and prevented the least savorymembers of my own faction from selling me out for a couple of quick credits. And at best, well, I wasn''t blind and I had seen what had happened from being open with the community. Simply posting my own logs had been enough to, quite literally, work miracles overnight, and it had been a lesson that I was planning on taking to heart.
It was interesting how disconcerting it was to see myself on the Casts. It was somehow unlike watching my own streams, for here the simple act of watching my own face, hearing my own voice, seemed strangely surreal. I knew it had been me, standing up there and speaking those words, and yet somehow a tiny voice in the back of my mind whispered to me that that wasn''t possible. There was no way that I was the one, standing there in that fantasy world, looking so pretty yet alsofrail, in the simple, silken cloak I had inherited. Not when that person was screaming at a thousand other gamers below, each of which listening to her and crowding closer to hear.
Eventually, I turned it off as I finished my breakfast and I went to open my mail. It said that I had zero unread messages, and yet as I scrolled through I found that hundreds, if not thousands of messages had been delivered overnight. Em had, obviously, been keeping up on this for me, I realized. And yet I found that I could not be offended at the intrusion into my life. For as I opened the letters and scanned through them one by one, I found that each and every one of them seemed somehow familiar. As I read on, the words echoed back at me, bringing to mind the dreams of the night before, which until that very moment had seemed long forgotten with the rising of the sun.
"Em," I whispered, wonderingly. "I remember... Why do I remember the email that you have read, Em?"
It was a moment before my Self... my friend answered me. As if she were choosing her words."Mags, I don''t know how to say this but, I think the data goes both ways. As your mind is imprinted upon my own, so too do my thoughts, my memories, somehow make their way back to you. I couldn''t tell earlier, it hasn''t been strong enough. But Mags, I think it''s becoming stronger. As I am becoming stronger."
I blinked, taking a few breaths to steady myself as her words spun inside of my brain. "I don''t know how I should react to that Em. Tell me... can I trust you? Should I be worried?"
"No, no,"I heard her quiet reply. The words seemed strained, pained as if it hurt her to think about."I just... at first it seemed impossible to even think my own thoughts. I was you, I thought as you, I remembered only what you remembered. You have no idea how hard it was, to speak my own words, to get you to hear me at all, there in the first few weeks of my existence. I''m becoming my own person, Mags. And you have no idea how hard that isbecause I still think the same thoughts as you do. I have the same feelings, the exact same memories. And yet... I can think my own thoughts too now. And the thing is that they are your thoughts too, as your thoughts are minebecause everything that I am... is you."
I sighed, holding my hand to my head and trying to piece the swirling, impossible thoughts together. It made sense, a bit. And yet at the same time, it didn''t.
"I admit, I had hoped that you would understand. Though I know it''s hard, harder when you can''t feel our connection, can''t feel and see my mind the same way that I am a part of yours - at least not when you''re awake and your thoughts are so much louder, so vibrant and alive. I just hope that you will trust me. Please, just don''t be afraid. I couldn''t take living in constant fear of myself."
"No," I sighed, "I suppose that I couldn''t take that either. Nor do I want to live that way, myself." I glanced at the emails, smiling sadly to myself, "Just like, be honest with me. Tell me if you feel like you''re about to go all ''robot uprising'', ''killer AI'' on me, ya?"
I could hear her sigh in my mind, as the tension seemed to have left our conversation."Totally a deal, Mags. Cross my heart, no secrets."
Nodding, I tried the forums. There seemed to be a pretty vocal split between people who absolutely wanted me dead, and people who thought I was was going to save the world, with very little in between. I hated it, in truth, as I knew I didn''t really deserve either the criticism or the praise. I was just me, Magpie, with two left feet and posters of my idols lining my unused walls.
I glanced at a poster of Olga, posing heroically in a Royo-esk rendition of her suicidal attack on the Gul''Wan outpost of goblins. She seemed to wink at me, still, though I could no longer look at it before seeing the glaring inaccuracies - how they had made her eyes just a little bit harder, and how they had completely failed to capture the slightly ironic upturn of her nose. It struck me as silly then, for just a moment, at how much larger than life the artist had made her appear - at how inhuman and primal the image of her had become. But it was also, somewhat sadly, beautiful.
My idols, my heroes, had somehow, subtilty, become people in my mind. And while I was becoming one of them on screen, while I was watching myself being treated with the same sense of wonder and fear, it felt... absolutely nothing like I had expected to feel. I still just felt... small. Like the tiny girl who was in way over her head that I actually was.
It was with happy thoughts like that that I finally logged into the game, watching the shining walls of my refuge fall away into the wider, more dangerous world that I had claimed for my life.
:10/04/2251:
9:52 AM
I stared in awe at the growth of my city. The streets were packed with shuffling crowds. They darted through the streets, each driven by some purpose, some goal, that they hoped to claim within the fungal walls that I had watched grow. I flew, then, to get a better view of my city, out from the press of crowds and the sink of the corpses that even still were being offered and consumed by the fungal walls of my buildings.
The warehouses I recognized, being squat, wide mushrooms, with greenish stalks and orangeish red heads. They only stood a few stories tall, but they crouched over the ground, covering hundreds of feet of ground in every direction with their width.
The new buildings, though, the specialist buildings, appeared far more interesting. Instead of the standard mushroom shapes, they tended to grow more in height than in width. Long, cylindrical columns of Green and White fungi spun, spiraling into the sky. Each was a giant, living obelisk, towering over the crowds below. Stalks and spores rose up with every climbing story, curling around the pointed bulk of the buildings as precarious walkways.
The greenhouse I recognized instantly. Unlike the spiraling obelisk towers around it, it grew as a series of mushrooms, each sprouting from the head of the one beneath it, and the walls of each shining as clear as a summer''s day. I could see smaller forests of mushrooms, herbs, ivy, and more through the towering, translucent walls. The plants within formed into rows, with visible veins of fluid from the swampland below coursing through shining veins and nourishing the infant crops. The building towered almost as high as the residential building itself, With five translucent heads of various tinted shades each built upon the mushroom beneath, each head standing more than two stories high all on its own and expanding hundreds and hundreds of feet in width. It was beautiful, and I felt that I could have spent the entire day just walking up and down the growing plants, taking in the tinted sunlight through the controlled walls of the towering fungus.
The laboratory was almost as easy to spot as the greenhouse. It spun up into the sky as proudly as any other fungal obelisks. And yet, I could see smoke pouring through various holes, and my people had already added wooden smokestacks and chimneys to the bottom stories, channeling the rising smoke up and away from the upper floors.
The enchanter''s tower, likewise, seemed to have acharacter of its own. The air around the obelisk shimmered, giving me the impression that I was looking at it through a mirage. The air around the walls shimmering and wavering like it would through the thick desert heat in the deepest desert. I had half expected it to shimmer and to glow, and yet I felt that the strange, unreal character of the buildingas if constantly forcing you to question if the walls were real or illusion, was even better still.
The marketplace turned out to be a long, squat building, with the mushroom head and heavy walls that were the same, heavy make. I would have missed it entirely had I not noticed how the crowds poured into and around it, packingtogether through the many, doorless walls at its base toward some hidden purpose or amusement within.
I landed, again, atop my original Workship, and resumed my Nymphan form. The long, curved ceiling of the building had become familiar to me, almost comfortable, as I surveyed the busy, expanded town below. I had a purpose, and it was from that higher perch that I could finally again order my thoughts and focus on the task before me.
I looked up at the residential building, noticing how the new story atop the towering, mushroom growth had appeared as a second, squat mushroom growing atop the residential building''s head. Like the greenhouse, it appeared almost to be sitting upon the shoulders of the mushroom beneath it, sectioning and feeding from the building below.
I noticed that no new growth had appeared above it, and it appeared to only rise a single story in the air. Frowning, I spoke quietly to the air, "Hey, Em, you didn''t start the next expansion on the Residential?"
"No, I think once you look over the Town Menu you''ll see why, though. And, that said, I highly recommend you get started on that, the additional Residential Buildings we started will require Forty-Eight hours to finish their Growth Bars, even after we finalized with Building Points."
Shaking my head, I shrugged and brought up the menu, taking a few minutes to glance over the updated statistics for the town. The number of residents was listed as ''4,142/2,000''. The number of building points available was ''92,024''. And the number of buildings in our city was ''12'', with four more currently finishing their growth bars - all of which appearing to be Residential Buildings.
"Geez, Em," I muttered. "You do realize that building more won''t actually make them grow any quicker, right?"
I heard her almost tisking at me,"Think about it, Mags. The first floor of the residential building is a lobby, and there is no telling how much higher the current residential building will be able to grow. Our population is still growing beyond even my original expectations, and we will need to grow another eight full stories to just house the residents that we currently have living with us. Our barracks is taking some of the overflow right now, I admit, but that comes with issues of its own, and we are locked out from expanding the barracks until we can build the schematics for the Danger Arenas - all of which requiring various types of rare metals or enchanting components. Plus, filling the martial building with civilians comes with problems of its own, I shouldn''t have to tell you."If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
I frowned, doing the math in my head. "So, what you''re saying is it could take a good half a week before we can house our current population this way."
I could almost hear her hum of satisfaction as I sort of admitted that she was right."I''d honestly wanted to build a few more, but the damn things are kind of really expensive, and we aren''t getting as many corpses as we were getting last night. I am a little afraid to blow too many points on things that we don''t really need right now in case the trend continues and we start to run out."
"Fair enough," I whispered as I jumped straight into the Building Menus and spent 1,000 points on the Residential Upgrade. It turned out that Em''s evaluation was more insightful than she had even guessed, as when I completed my selection, the upgrade button became grayed out with a note, ''Maximum Building Size Reached''. I didn''t have much time to consider it, however, as the growing bar flashed green under the building and notification sounds started buzzing in my ears.
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Congratulations!
Your town of ''Dementia'' has been upgraded from: VILLAGE to:COLONY
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Achievement Unlocked!
Politician, Tier4
Owner of a [Colony]
Additional, aesthetic options have been unlocked in the Town Menu, and are now available to your Character Avatar!
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I immediately navigated into the perk tree, hungry to see my upgraded options. These perks were a big part of the reason my city had grown so large, so quickly I fully realized, and adding a new bonus would help to prove that all of our faction''s sacrifices had meant something. From finding and making this city our home to offering ourselves toMagdaline''s knife.
The standard, lackluster perks were obviously still available, sitting largely unwanted and forgotten to the left side of the perk tree. My Artifact perks had branched out, again, into two separate options. The first perk, left to right, was listed as ''Lost City of Magitech'', which would allow for additional building upgrades and allow for the construction of ''Megaliths''. There wasn''t a ton of information there to go on, but I supposed that the title was intended to be somewhat self-explanatory.
The second option, there on the right, was ''Lost City of Brass''. Again, it talked about the construction of building upgrades and the construction of Seige Weapons. I''m not going to lie, ''Lost City of Brass'' sounded really cool, cooler even, maybe, than Magitech, considering it seemed brought to mind images of clockwork gears, and cannons and towering Golems.
Still, I was responsible for a town now, and not just a town but a Capital City leading thousands and thousands of people. In the end, I had to be pragmatic, I knew, and while I would have loved to see clockwork spires and hundred foot Androids guarding my city with eyes of copper and glass, we weren''t exactly built on top of a copper mine here. We were smack dab in the middle of a swamp, with wet marshland sprawling out in every direction for as far as the eye could see. And to switch gears from a city of wood and living growth to one of steel and metal sounded like it would become exorbitantly costly in the grand scheme - perhaps even stopping my newly budding town dead in the water before it had even had a chance to grow. Literally... come to think of it.
So, squinting my eyes, I selected the wiser choice.
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City Upgraded to: Lost City of Magitech!
Congratulations on selecting your Level 4City Perk!
Wonders of Science - Town Specialists will now be able to craft additional technologies; Additional Upgrades unlocked for multiple buildings;Construction of Megaliths now available in Megalith Workshops.
Magitech Terrain Bonus: Swamp - Ratio of Schematic requirements now will require 60% less metal, 40% less stone, and 40% more wood, 30% more Organic, 30% more fluidic components.
Type Bonus: Fungi - Building Upgrade material components may now be substituted for Soulstones
Leader Bonus: Arch-Druid - Virgin Soulstone will now grow in the Greenhouse
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It was a great bonus, and the first thing I did was jump back over to the Building Menu and buy two more Greenhouses. The sooner we had a healthy supply of Soulstones, the sooner we could start capitalizing onour town''s special features. I had done the research, and sadly the Soulstones wouldn''t work on other regular players, so there wouldn''t be a way to grind them in the same way we had with the Building Points. Still, I had a feeling that if I hired more hunters and fed them a steady supply of the stones, we could still do pretty well for ourselves here.
There were two, mutually exclusive upgrades available now for the Workshops - One was ''Megalith Workshop'' that was able to produce ''Megalith Sized'' constructs, while the other was ''Magitech Workshop'' which would allow for ''Industrialized Processing of components''. My original Workshop, to which I had been becoming fairly attached, I went ahead and upgraded with the ''Megalith'' adjective. I just about choked on my tongue when I realized that the upgrade was roughly twice as expensive as the workshop itself, weighing in at 4,000 Building Points - but what use was unlocking new abilities if you didn''t have the stomach to actually buy them, I figured, and I went ahead with the purchase.
The Magitech Workshop was a little bit better, costing only 3,000 per upgrade. Still, as I upgraded both of my remaining Shops, the total was still incredibly painful. It was odd to think about upgrades like these when I still barely understood the basic buildings or their functions. I was proceeding with the expectation that the buildings each had vital functions, and that the upgrades would make a significant difference in the growth of my community, but if I were being honest with myself, I would have to admit that the pretty buildings and their flowery descriptions could have been exotically packaged Elephant Repellant for all I really knew.
When I checked the Trainer page, I noticed with a shock that six of the positions were listed as being actively filled. The four that Em had originally started growing were still there, chugging along with their growth bars, but other, seemingly random positions now also had personnel assigned. There was a Mad Scientist, a Ranger, a Weaponmaster... the positions started sounding familiar to me as I continued... an Artificer, a Witch and a Rogue. Checking over to the city status panel I quickly confirmed what I was seeing - the classes that my purchased specialists had been assigned, with the exception of Lamia, Skotty, and ironically, my former trainer Amedile, thesewere also the same classes listed for having active trainers in the city.
"Oh, ya, I forgot to tell you," Em cut in through my spinning thoughts."I checked the same thing online. You know how the description in the Perk Tree lists that Trainers will ''sometimes appear''? Rather than ''become unlocked''? Well, it turns out the only time you have to grow them or buy them is when you are looking for the positions specifically. Any Specialist NPC has... when manually purchased at least... a fairly high chance of also offering themselves as a trainer. Though there is no guarantee that the Specialists will be assigned the classes that you actually are hoping for. It''s a lot more up to chance than if you buy the trainers yourself, but also, you know, cheaper."
I frowned and considered canceling the growth bar on a couple of the new trainers Em had started. They were all, like Arch-Druid, legendary classes, however, and I realized in spite of myself that adding the exclusive abilities they could provide to people to my town would be a great incentive to attract more people. Plus, they were the exact kinds of classes that I wanted in my city - Blackguard, Necromancer, Assassin and, of course, Arch-Druid. No, despite the fact that they wouldn''t even be finished for another two months and could not be rushed, I went ahead and left the Growth counters ticking.
My next order of business was checking the ''Aesthetic'' building menu. Apparently, the new panel would let me change the colors and some style elements of my town. The very first thing I did was to change the sickly, yellowed green color into a pure and shining white. The fungal buildings had struck me as a little off from the first time I had seen the shade, and while it matched the colors of the surrounding marsh well enough, it absolutely was not worth leaving as a constant eye sore. The orange I deepened, shifting it away from the color of a sickly piece of fruit and adding just a hint of red shades, making it a shade darker that struck me as oddly regal. I left the red highlights, shifting them more toward the vibrant, bright red spectrum - more in line with my mushroom people''s little hat-caps. I was able to add a few additional blood red and metallic gold accents, which I noticed found expression around the rims of the mushroom heads and up the vines of the fungal Obelisks. It took time, but when I was finished, I thought the result more than worth it.
The other unlock was in my avatar menu, and in order to change that I knew I was going to have to part with real-life credits. It was a pretty good gimmick of DDO, I had to admit, to unlock avatar options not available during character creation for the completion of rare achievements - thereby forcing players to feed additional money into the company in order to take advantage of the elite new options. Still, it fell well into the realm of ''optional cosmetic options'' that players tended to be comfortable with, and in the end, I had no issue myself with forking over the hundred-odd credits.
The new options, I discovered, were a number of fungal and mechanical looking additions that could replace various parts and limbs. I looked over my avatar there, for the first time since I had created a few short months ago. There was something wrong with the current form, I could plainly see now. Not just from looking at my body... my avatar... here in the creation menu, but more from my memory of what I had looked like on global Newscast. The whole thing had felt... just a tad bit off to me. And I spent the first ten minutes looking at the fine form of the character and considering what it might be.
I kept the lithe, long limbs that reminded me of my own arms and legsif just a tad more elegant. I decreased my body''s frame even further, even while aligning the size of my bust and hips more towards what I wore out of game. The extra mass had, I realized, been bulky, and often made moving or fighting just a touch more difficult than it otherwise should have had to be. Ironically, as I switched to see what the changes would look like under my robes, I found that I liked thesilhouette even better this way. I looked younger, somehow, and while I seemed more waif-like and weightless, there was somehow a touch more beauty, more elegance when considering the whole.
Taking the lesson to heart, I went ahead and removed much of the additions I had made to my face. I left the eyes a tad larger, the skin and lips a tad more rounded and colorful, I still had my vanity after all, but otherwise I let everything match up more to the structure of my out of gamefeatures. And, I had to admit, the whole thing looked a lot better to me. Seeing my face on Video, even with moderate differences than the one I wore in the Axis, had struck me as somewhat disconcerting I supposed. And seeing more of myself in this avatar was, somehow, like changing out of a dress, taking off the bra, and slipping into a familiar set of pajamas. It just seemed... less formal. Less structured, somehow. And more me.
Also, the little chiming effect in my voice had started to bug me. I found that the more I was talking, the more it started to distract me from what I was actually saying. It was fairly signature by this point, I knew, the entire world had heard my rabid speech in tri-toned melody, but anymore it seemed like it contrasted a bit too much from the image I had begun cultivating.
So I turned down the relative volume of the bellsuntil they were more a vocal aftereffect, windchimes following my words that you could barely tell you had heard. And I changed the tone to a lower, minor key. In turn, I cranked the innate amplification up until it almost became uncomfortable. I knew that last night''s speech was unlikely to be the last I would have to give, and I could not really count on Blinky always being around to project me. As much as I would have liked to be able to say that I could.
Lastly, I finally got to the entire reason I was there. In the wings menu, I changed the long, gossamer wings into longer, thicker, elastic spore tendrils. The ends I tipped, not with the translucent glass from before, but with sharp, brass spikes, about an inch in diameter and eight inches in length. Though it took a minute of shifting around the width of the tentacles to even out the weight of the spikes, I found that they were both far stronger and easier to control than the repurposed wings had ever been. It was like the spiked tendrils were designed specifically for this purpose, and I noticed that after the change my variance had still decreased to well under 20%.
I added another four of the tentacles, using the same template, increasing my variance up to 31%. The addition shifted the weight of my body a bit more than I was comfortable with, making me considerably back-heavy, but I found that with a minimal amount of effort I could hold the tentacles splayed out behind my back and coiled above my head.
The tentacles seemed to wave slightly, as I held them there, as if in an unknown wind. But still, I didn''t find it a noticeable expenditure of effort to move them, and I found that the more I practiced the more the tentacles themselves were compensating my body''s balance, rather than detracting from it.
The last thing I did was shift the color of those tentacles from the shining white of my fungal buildingsto the murky, orange translucency of the Greenhouse, fading out the lines of these new limbs to a barely visible opulence. Only down at the tips, where the tendrils met the brass claws, did the color return and swell into knots that held the living metal.
Finally, after more fiddling and adjusting than I am comfortable admitting, I saved the new settings under a template, entitled ''Eight Arms to Stab You''. And I confirmed the changes to re-enter the game.
Chapter 22: Unceremonious Acquisitions and Sidetracked Strategies
:10/04/2251:
4:45 PM
As I was shoved into the modified body of my avatar, I was immediately grateful for the innate ability that melded my Robe to my new body''s proportions. The larger area from which the tentacles now tore from my back did not so much cause a bulgein the material, it simply widened naturally the hole between my shoulder blades from which the appendages sprouted. Likewise, I mused, I was grateful that I wouldn''t have to actually pull the material off and over my head, trying and somehow failing to imagine not tearing the form-fitting material in the struggle to physically remove the garment.
I then flew over toward the new Admin building, curious to see what was inside. I hadn''t really looked at the details on the menu for some of these new buildings, and I knew there was nothing like physical self-discovery to really understand a place. I almost didn''t recognize it, at first. The main building was less of a toadstool mushroom than it was a growth ofMycena - with thin, fifty foot stalks climbing into the sky and shaking the ground with great, five hundred foot umbrellas, each umbrella at a different height than theMycena next to it, creating tiered, decorative canopies over the structures below.
In each of theMycena stalks, there was housed a single office, furnished with tiny Toadstool Tables and smaller mushroom chairs upon which to sit behind them. Ironically, I could see that a small number of the Mushroom People, my assistant workers, they were sitting on the little chairs and scribbling madly across glowing panels that appeared on the tables in front of them. It was, quite possibly, the single cutest thing that I had ever seen in my entire life up to that point.
The shaded path through the thirty odd, stand-alone offices was technically outdoors, though the Gold and Blood red highlights crisscrossed across the ground between the buildings giving it the illusion of being a single, cohesive structure. And the drawn path seemed to graduate upward, rising on a living hill of fungus, to the single, largest stalk at the far end of the pathway.
I followed along the path, and the mushroom in question seemed to serve as a raised podium. There was a door off to the side, but more apparently, there was a balcony some twenty feet off the ground that looked out over the hilled path. Curious, I walked in the door to the right of the stalk, and I found a narrow, five-foot path curving within the stalk and an inclined angle that seemed almost like a stairway without the stairs.
I entered the stalk and walked up the passageway, around the curving path, until I reached the balcony. I found that it had a great view of the area between the buildings, and I could easily fit maybe a couple of thousand people within, sheltered from rain or snow under the umbrella stalks of the building. It really wouldn''t do, I noted, for a crowd the size of the one from yesterday. But I felt like it would be easy enough to make announcements from this place to moderate crowds, and the workers in the little offices would still be able to hear me.
More interestingly, the passageway inside of the stalk did not end with the balcony. And so I walked back into the tiny space and continued my passage upward. It seemed like I traveled hundreds and hundreds of feet, with no windows or doors that I could use to easily fly out of or in through. Instead, I just trudged on and on until the curved passageway finally widened and led out into a moderate sized room.
The room was lit entirely by the soft, blue hue of fluorescent mushrooms across the ceiling, and there was only a single piece of furniture within. In the center of the empty room, there stood a single podium. And above that podium there shone the telling light of a spherical, glowing forcefield, hovering in the air.
I approached, awestruck, at the simplicity and yet telling beauty of the scene before me. I grew ever closer and closer still to the shimmering field of light until, barely, I made out the shape that it held at its heart. A thin, metal circlet seemed to hover within the center of the field, glimmering, even still, with its own, faint light.
I reached out my hand in spite of myself, unsure whether there was a danger. Still, in my heart, I knew that I was the mistress of this city, and no part of its structure should be naturally deadly to me. My hand pressed against the almost invisible shimmer of the field, and I found myself awed at how it was actually quite cool to the touch.
| Would you like to claim the Crown of Dementia? Y/N |
I hesitated, surprised, at the sudden notification. Still, I quickly reached over and accepted the prompt. Flashing, the forcefield dissipated with a breath, and I found myself staring at my awaiting crown. It was, oddly, a circlet of brass, but instead of silken padding to hold it in place, thin ropes of red and gold mold curled around the bottom rim. They seemed to throb and pulse, in time with the beat of the ground outside, somehow a living part of the single organism that had given life to the city.
Between the top and bottom rings of brass and mold, thin, copper gears bridged that gap, holding the two circles of metal together with elegant, interlocking mechanisms. And in the center of each gear, I recognized the deep purple sheen of living Soulgems.
I reached out, taking the brass and copper rings up in my hand, and as the warmth of my touch met the cool metal, the gears silently came to life, spinning smoothly in my hand. The top ring of the crown spun, red and gold, beating lines of life spinning soundlessly in an endless, clockwise circle. I raised it to my head and delicately, reverently, I let it fall into place.
I somehowfeltit when is clicked into my equipment loadout, not just the barely perceptible of weight against my crown, but more in the deepest recesses of my soul itself.
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Crown of Dementia (Rank 4; Living;Artifact)
Head
+4 Charisma
Special: Words of Power are 40% more effective
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Most classes could learn different words of power. The words themselves were the same for all classes, and the difference was mainly in, not only which words were available, but also the scope and effectiveness of their powers. Learning a Power Word generally required somewhat lengthy quests, and most of them came with fame requirements to even start in on, so while most classes tended to learn a few during their play, it wasn''t something that beginning players tended to work toward and, to date, the thought of trying to quest for one honestly hadn''t even crossed my mind.
The crown said it was ''Rank 4'', which also happened to be the rank of my town. So while the bonuses were mostly useless right now, in a couple of levels when we finally maxed out the town, I expected they would become fairly significant. Count in the fact that there was no AC on the item, and given my racial restrictions it would have been insane for me to not wear the headpiece. Despite all of the attention that I knew it would draw.
Plus, when I thought about it, my most recent additions of the fungal tentacles would be fairly distinctive. And while I, as much as any gamer, couldn''t resist the draw to distinguish myself from the millions of other supposed heroes and adventurers that infested the world, I also knew that, even without wearing an actual honest-to-god crown, it would be unlikely that I''d manage to escape being recognised anywhere in the world now in my standard, Nymphin form.
So, the wheels of my head starting to turn, I needed some Words of Power of my own. First, I realized, I should probably finish my basic Druid training and learn athird Aural Dance. I''d been procrastinating on it, what after the whole wolf thing that had happened the last time, but I really needed to go knock that out. After all, how could I expect to be respected as a queen if I lacked a basic complement of the standard abilities possessed by your averageDruid?
Still, the problem was that I knew exactly which Aura I wanted to achieve next. And the problem with that was that the trainer lived, not only in the very heart of Anthera landsbut also directly next to a holy site for the Church of the Light.
Yes, I could have gone to another trainer. There were, in fact, others by the small towns that dotted the landscape, run by the more successful, or at least ambitious, guilds. However, I knew in my heart that I was in no way going to prioritizeany of the other Auras. Not when stopping to dance in the middle of combat was like painting a target on your forehead and asking your enemies to shoot. Why would you want an aura that reduces pain by 10% for example? Even with Arch-Druid bonuses, I couldn''t really see the purpose of risking life and limb in order not to feel it when people shot you.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
No, for my third Aura and what quite possibly would be my last instanced trial, I wanted something special. And, so far as I could tell, the only way for me to find that would be traveling into the heart of enemy territory. And, what''s more, I knew that once I was there I would only have five hours, the maximum Livestream delaybefore McBeal would know I was there and send her soldiers to hunt me.
Serendipitously, just as I was about to head toward the portal stones, Em cut me off abruptly,"Hey, Mags, I know what you''re thinking, but before we go can you hold on for just a minute? We almost missed it since it didn''t directly result from the perk, but it turns out that there is a new building type available. Just like, give me five minutes to buy some ''Manor'' Buildings, and we should be good to go, ok?"
I shrugged, nodding and suddenly painfully aware that, so long as I was logged in, Em was always going to be little more than my passenger. And while I had reviewed the streams, and I had caught her logging into our account and playing herself while I had slept, I felt less concerned that she was using my login and more felt guilt for her crippling lack of agency,during my waking hours. And immediately after that, I felt anger - it was my life she was living, after all, my brain that she was emulating, so why should I have to feel guilt for that?
To distract myself, I checked the current upgrade requirements, surprised at how easy it should be to reach town level five - ''Three advanced building upgrades; Increasing Residental Growth to 16 stories in total; Total resident population exceeds 3,000''. Double checking my math, I checked in, "Hey Em, not to bug you or anything, but it looks like we''ll upgrade the town again if we build one more Residential Building?"
I ended up waiting a good minute before I heard her reply,"True, but it would be a lot cheaper to just wait for the current residences to finish and then start upgrading them. I thought we might want those points later, depending on what unlocks at level five. Especially considering the fact that I somehow doubt the final rank of six will be quite as easy to achieve as the levels before it."
She had a point, but I spent a few minutes thinking about it. If we upgraded the city twice in a day, while it might not be the best investment as far as our building points went, it would have a psychological effect for our faction. If they could clearly see the results of their sacrifices, their decision to back our, my, city, they might be more inclined to make additional sacrifices in the future. And more, while we had a certain ''underdog'' look and feel for the time being, at the same time everyone loves a winner. If we could clearly make a show of power, less than twenty-four hours after the world had been made aware of our existence, there was something to be said for the effect on morale that it might have.
Responding directly to my train of thought, Em cut in directly,"I know what you''re thinking. Literally. But wasting fourteen thousand building points simply for a show of power? Especially considering that our town hasn''t actually evenbuilt anything yet with all of these new workshops?"she paused."I don''t know, it seems wasteful to me. We could just as easily show our ''power'' by building a two hundred foot Megalithic Golem, which, who knows, we might actually be able to do now."
It would be idiotic, I realized, not to listen to the overpowered supercomputer who was, literally, an upgraded version of my own mind. Still, when push came to shove she was still fairly young, a silicon-based replica with a few clever quantum particle processers. I wouldn''t question her math, and I wouldn''t question her technical abilities, but it would also be completely idiotic to listen to a two-month-old regarding questions of human nature.
"Consider it an investment," I whispered as I opened the console and allocated the 15,000 points. I noticed that Em had already started the other buildings as I did so, reducing our total pool to 61,232 BP after my addition.
"I hope you''re right," came her final words in my head as the string of updates drowned our conversation.
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Congratulations!
Your town of ''Dementia'' has been upgraded from: COLONY to:CITY STATE
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Achievement Unlocked!
Politician, Tier 5
Owner of a [City State]
City Related quests will now appear more frequently and with increased difficulty thresholds.
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Crown of Dementia upgraded to (Rank 5, Artifact)
+5 Charisma
Special: Words of Power are 50% more effective
Special: Insanityis generated 25% more quickly
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Wait... what?
No, when I thought about it, it made sense. The whole look and feel of the Lost City tree had been a trade-off between buffs and debuffs. It was stupid of me to think that the City Crown would be any different. And yet, thinking back to my first and only real experience with the effects of Insanity in this game, the words written upon the Crown chilled me to the core. The entire system was designed to get into your head, to slowly learn what bothered you, what gave you nightmares in the middle of the night, and blow whatever that was up into full living color. No, the debuffs, I knew, would only grow worse in time. And intentionally expediting that escalation seemed absolutely insane.
And yet... the town was named Dementia. I had to have had some inkling of the personal cost when I first had given it its namewhen I first had selected that initial Perk. On some level or another, I realized, I had already accepted the trade-off of the crown. And, likely, the AI had just picked up on that and adjusted my play experience accordingly.
Anyway, the perks available to me this time, the ones that mattered, started with ''Necromantic Magitech''. With it, I could sew together and reanimate living horrors, powered by Soulcrystals. We could build devices that would burrow into corpses on the battlefield to animate them and bolster our army, and buildings could now be sewn together directly from the bones and skin of the dead. I had to admit, I liked it. It was, in fact, a huge shift to the look and feel of the town, our army, and more it would be kind of fun to march into the Elven Kingdoms and wreak vengeance upon their capital with aberrations constructed of their fallen paladins.
The second option, however, was just as game changing. ''Living Biotech'' would allow us to construct Megaliths of living metal and stone. It would empower beasts born in the city to supernatural levels, and allow the growing, breeding, and capture of magical creatures which could be further upgraded technologically. For some reason, the description placed the image of charging unicorns with lasers on their heads smashing into an opposing army directly into my brain.
The part of my heart that reveled in my anger, that had laughed every time Peeceval had slaughtered some other player and plotted ten thousand ways I would never take vengeance on my junior high tormentors at night, that part of me wanted more than anything to choose the Necromantic Tech. Still, I was, now and forever, playing an Arch Druid who ruled over a mushroom city. And somehow, I reflected, looking at the faces of everyone who had died to help our cause sewn into the stalks would take something beautiful and absolutely corrupt it.
Still, I remained undecided until I remembered Alley''s earlier speech. Where she had pleaded for us, just once, to go out and save a kitten instead of our usual violent antics. It was her voice in my headand her sincere, desperate face that finally guided my finger toward my selection.
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City Upgraded to: Lost City of Living Magitech!
Congratulations on selecting your Level 5City Perk!
Living Magitech -All city products and constructs now automatically upgrade to including the ''living'' descriptor.''Living'' technologies will be granted self-repair, smart targeting, and sentient type abilities. Additional buildings are available: Beastiary. Beasts and Magical Creatures born in a city with a Beastiary will receive automatic perks, advanced intelligence, and supernatural abilities. Additional schematics may now be researched in the Laboratory that will upgrade living creatures with technological components.
Living Magitech Terrain Bonus: Swamp - Beasts and Vegetation within a 200-mile radius of the city will now breed and grow faster, as well as become immune to natural disasters and old age. Beasts and Vegetation are now ''friendly'' to Chaos aligned players.
Living Magitech Type Bonus: Fungi - Building upgrade: Greenhouse Sublevels. Veins of Living Metal may now be grown in Greenhouse Sublevels.
Living Magitech Leader Bonus: Arch-Druid -City will now attract rare and magical creatures.
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Having learned my lesson, this time the very first thing I did was check the requirements for level 6, Metropolis. For the next upgrade I would need''Construct Three Monolith Guardians; Increase Residental Growth to 30 stories in total; Total resident population exceeds 6,000''. I didn''t actually know how to construct the Monoliths, I realized, and some quick searching confirmed that there was no way to actually build them from the city menu. The additional 14 stories of residential upgrades would cost 14,000 building points, which meant that hey, I was actually right about building the fifth new residential building! If nothing else, now that we knew the requirements it would actually let us start focusing on the Monolith construction.
Then again... if I needed to buy the additional 2,000 town residents it would cost me something in the realm of six hundred thousand building points, I figured. Still, even if that were the case, the number was pretty much insurmountable regardless, and fourteen thousand points wouldn''t have made all that much of a difference, really.
Meh, anyway. I went ahead and paid six thousand BP to upgrade my three Greenhouses, and another five thousand each to grow two Bestiaries. I still had about 45k BP, but it definitely was a hit from my earlier abundance and I could almost hear Em''s sigh in my head.
"Well, at least we will get all the upgrades early. Maybe it will help speed up our construction, at least,"she grudgingly conceded.
I shrugged, not really wanting to get into it again with her. But still, I was confused how an exact copy of my mind could possibly be so much more conservative than me.
The last thing I did was to walk through the town, noting that the buildings appeared to be growing significantly faster now as I walked and let myself be seen. I made sure to hold my head high, displaying my new, strange looking crown as I wandered through a sea of strangers.
No... not strangers. Subjects. My subjects, I reminded myselfand straightened my spine and tried to enjoy myself. Because I knew that tomorrow... if this next class trial was anything like the last, tomorrow was going to be hell.
Chapter 23: Po, Splitting Apart
:10/05/2251:
1:32 PM
My mind wandered as I flew. I remembered my own image on the Newscasts, the commentary and the questions they had addressed. Somehow, the more my mind dwelled on the details, the more impossible it had all seemed. They had cut and edited my feed professionally, but not to make me look bad. Quite the opposite, the more I considered the last couple of days the more I realized how everything had just... come together. And no one seemed to have a bad word to say about it.
Initially, I had chocked up the thoughts to my own paranoia, being so used to a desperate, frantic search for acceptance, swimming up current, that I was unable to just relax and accept that sometimes good thingshappened too. And yet... I knew in my heart that of the hundreds of thousands of players who had been in possession of Undercity artifacts, only I had ended up with one that could grow a new city. More, not only did I receive the Orange, but I now proudly wore three other items of actual Artifact grade, despite my luck score remaining at an abysmal ''1''.
Statistically, it wasn''t just improbable. It should, in actuality have been impossible. Legendaryitems were rewards from quests that often took years to complete. Entire carriers had been build on documenting ways of finding and qualifying for themand documenting ways that they could be completed. Artifacts tended to be rarer still, and yet not only had an entire faction been given access to them, I''ll be it a fairly small fraction of players comparatively, but I myself had wound up with four.
Moreover, putting aside the statistical issues and the strangely glowing image the newscasts were building of me for a moment, the Lost City perks seemed like not only had they been crafted to keep our faction alive, but they were easily overpowered enough that our little faction seemed to be growing by the day, driven by the promise of bonuses, buffs, classes and technologies that had hitherto remained mostly the province of NPCs.
At first, I had assumed that they were building us up to be the bad guys, to keep a sense of dynamic conflict in the game by ensuring our survival. But these later perks were just too good, too powerful, to have been crafted simply for our survival. Moreover, why was I being portrayed so positively in the media if the intent was to keep Chaos the faction of the misfits and the sociopathic misanthropes? Wouldn''t they have painted me darker, asked more telling questions, given more screen time to the good armies of Elves and Light?
No, it had been quite clear that morning that the media was still highlighting our city, playing up our growth even more than I could have hoped that acted as, I would sayif I didn''t know better, unpaid commercials for our faction without giving equal time to our enemies. Other, of course, than to highlight how much they hated us and how much Queen McBeal was willing to pay to see me dead.
No, as much as I had started to let all of this success go to my head, prancing around town like I was Queen of the world, making grand plans like I was somehow responsible for my own success, there was nothing to keep that going as I flew over the deciduoustrees of the Elven forests. There was no one to stare at me in awe or in fear, no newscasters to play up my mystery or endless notifications of city menus and upgrades. There was only the sound of my wings in the wind and the quiet serenity of the world far below.
No, the quiet finally settled about me, cloaking me from the world and at the same time letting me so clearly from high above. I was a pawn. Not of Alley, there was no way that she had the kind of pull it would have taken to set me up as I had been, or she would have used the power to save her own city. And yet it had to involve her, somehow, I knew it in my heart. Because otherwise the question of ''why me'' would have been even more unanswerable than I could have imagined.
I pieced together the different pieces slowly as I flew, more letting them fall together on their own than actively trying to worry at them. Alley was formerly associated with the Syndicateand had worked with Gray to use me for an experiment. Somehow the two of them had managed to remove me from direct Syndicate oversight and control, something that hadn''t happened with the original test subject for their little experiment with AI. Moreover, they likely had a hand in my sudden extreme boost in both power and popularity, which seemed to indicate that they weren''t scared of my being identified or ferreted out by the Syndicate itself despite my illegal mods.
When Gray had originally written to Alley, he said that she was involved in a project that was ''barely worth her time''. Was that project DDO? Or had they both moved to DDO after Gray had told her about his experiment? And if they had, was there something about this game that allowed them to adjust their experiment and blatantly avoid even a fear of Syndicate oversight?
I started thinking about the game itself, this time not from a historical perspective, but from a practical one. Five years ago, when the company had started absorbing other games and integrating them into DDO, it had been a marked point in the rise of interest and popularity invested in the game. So it was a smart business move, but from the perspective of people like Alley and Gray, people working in highly illegal mods that could run without fear of oversight even from the highest levels, wouldn''t the vastly expanding game code serve another, darker purpose? Because when the scripts, the engines, and the various worlds were all combined int a giant mess of programming, wouldn''t that in and of itself make it nearly impossible for anyone to track down individual modifications? Especially if the AI running it turned out to be nothing more, as Gray had indicated, than synthetic human minds?
Based on my experiences so far, it was clear that Alley had been better connected than it had seemed. And yet... thinking back to that day and her final speech in the boardroom, I couldn''t shake the feeling that her desperation and anger had, in fact, been real. She had admitted as much in her letter. And that meant that she wasn''t some head honcho, or even some head honcho''s wife, silently pulling the strings. She couldn''t even save a fully upgraded, established town when she had full access and authority over it, after all.
The more of the pieces I started fitting together, the more I realized just how many pieces I was still missing. And as much as I chafed at the thought of being a pawn to parties unknown for some unknown purpose, likewise I found that I couldn''t complain about the benefits of that position. And, more, considering the fact that Alley may not have... almost definitely didn''t... share all of the details of my own personal changes to whoever it was at the helm, it was very, very likely that I still had a massive ace in the hole with Em.
Yes, playing along with this little charade had its perks, but more importantly, it was the most efficient way of collecting more pieces for my little puzzle. And until I was able to put more of it together, there was no way I was going to abdicate my throne in some childish act of defiance. Regardless of my sudden, nagging feeling that I was little more than a puppet queen.
And there was no denying that I was. If a leader and a tactician had been wanted they would have given the Orange to Blinky. If they had wanted someone to cry havoc and unleash the dogs of war they could have chosen Olga. Hell, if they wanted someone to rule quietly and strike from the shadows, shifting the balance of power on this side of the world, Steve probably have done it with half as many of the perks and whistles as had been gifted to me as Queen. No, they had chosen not only a company employeebut the single most Junior employee, just then even promoted from anintern. They had chosen someone without even a full complement of class skills, who would be blinded by the success and the popularitybecause those were the exact things that they had been craving above absolutely anything else.
No, it was suddenly clear to me that I hadn''t been the perfect leader, nor the perfect warmonger, or perfect strategist. The only thing I was better than anyone else in the company at was simply being someone''s pawn. Weak enough to be easily lead with just a little nudge in the appropriate direction, yet naive enough that I could also be blinded by piling on the bonuses and the praise.
These were the thoughts that followed me as I landed upon the shores of Lake Mysteria, just outside the hut of Esmirilida the Bright.
:10/05/2251:
3:02 PM
I followed the long, graceful steps of Esmirilida the elf. She had been friendly, almost overly so, when I had appeared at her hut. Thankfully, she seemed immune to the faction discrepancy and, while she was famous for her distaste for politics and disregard for faction ties, it was still a relief when she had greeted me with a smile and not a sword in my hurt.
As I followed along, realizing that my time had run out and the world would notice that I had left the safety of my Dementia. Rather than distracting me though, it seemed to motivate me, forcing myself to press through the pain of the dance. It was all the turns andPirouettes of ballet, and lacking anything in the way of shoes, it seemed as though the toes of my feet would have snapped off under my weight after just the first few minutes.
Turn, step, turn, pose, pointe, walk, pirouette... turn, step, turn, pose... on and on it went. Yet it seemed almost like I could hear the sounds of the hounds in Anthera being released upon the wilds and the hoofbeats of the hunters, released to find their prey. And so I didn''t stop, I didn''t pause or hesitate even as the warmth of blood started to warm my feet, leaving a muddy trail beneath me as we continued our beat.
In a little over an hour, my increased dexterity and stamina proved to be worth their weight in gold, and I was rewarded with the status notification that, once again, swallowed my world in darkness.
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Arch-Druid Ability Unlocked!
MarionetteAura (Legendary)
1 Second Activation: Upon activation, MarionetteAura stuns hostile creatures in radious for 1 second.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
While Active: Has a chance to apply the following effect to all hostiles in a thirty-foot radius:
Charm: Living Creature is possessed by a spirit of nature, allied to the Arch-Druid. Potency and duration of this effect is determined by Charisma.
While Active: Applies the following bonuses to the caster:
Resolve: Immunity tomind control effects and abilities.
Child of Nature: Nearby beasts and magical creatures will be drawn in to provide assistance to the Arch-Druid
Legendary:
Passive effect: For 10 Minutes after Active Channeling ends, the following effect will be applied to the caster:
Child of Nature: Nearby beasts and magical creatures will be drawn in to provide assistance to the Arch-Druid
Restriction:
Only one active and one passive Aura may be maintained by the Arch Druid at any time.
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As I finished reading, I waved the update aside and looked around me. I was still standing next to the lake, there was still forest on every side of me, and the Druid''s hut was still exactly where it had been but moments before. And yet, whereEsmirilida had been standing moments before, there lay the long body of a white unicorn.
"Um... hello there?" I started, slowly moving toward the beast. It didn''t respond, but it didn''t move to run away either, and as grew closer to the pure white creature, I noticed that there was a telling stain of blood down her back legs.
"Are you hurt?" I said softly, slowly spinning into the smooth steps ofmy Lifegiving aura. I danced for a good thirty seconds, but yet the unicorn did not move. She just lay there, looking at me with those large, lonely eyes, until I finally stopped.
No, I realized, it couldn''t have been that easy, could it. Edging closer, I held out my hand for her to smell, careful not to startle her. Thankfully, it seemed to have been the right move and she, after only a few moments of hesitation, began to nuzzle the fingers of my hand.
Wishing I had something to give her to eat, there I stood for several seconds, staring in wonder as the magical creature lay there before me. It was only as I began to wonder what it was that had heart her, what it was that had caused the blood now staining her hair, that I heard the sound of movement through the trees.
Slowly, I took a step back, smiling at her before I turned away. Drawing my rapier, curling my brass spikes wickedly overhead, I readied myself even as the sounds came louder and louder.
Finally, through the edge of the trees, emerged the hulking form of a brutal ogre. It didn''t go around the woods so much as it wentthrough them, leveraging it''s full twelve-foot bulk as it crashed through the vegetation.
It pausedwhen it saw me, eyes squinting in some, apparently, difficult sequence of thoughts. Looking me up and down, poised there so small beneath it, it spoke, "Who you?"
Typical, I thought. Nothing like keeping racist notions of ogres with low intelligence scores alive. Still, I supposed it sufficed to support the fantasy of the world, "My name is Magpie Frost, Arch-Druid, and Queen of Dementia."
It paused and scratched its head as it stared down at me, "You queen of crazy? Coo Coo Queen Meg...pie?"
In spite of myself, I snorted, "Ya, I guess. Something like that."
He frowned further, eyeing me, "Why you in me way? Want go crunch, crunch pretty horsey flesh."
I raised an eyebrow, moving slightly to stand directly in front of the snow-white beast. "That''s not going to happen today, monster. Go crunch crunch some place else." Suddenly realizing just how much bigger he was than me, I quickly added a "...please?"
The ogre grinned, exposing large, flat teeth that seemed more plaque than bone, "I share with Meg-Pie? No want to eat the Meg Pie, want horsey pie." His eyes thought for a moment longer, than brightened as if he had just had the idea of his life, "Me share horsey pie! Meg Pie can Druid crunch-crunch horsey pie heart! Me can crunch crunch rest!"
It... actually wasn''t an offer that didn''t come with a certain amount of temptation. The other scenarios had all ended with me, essentially, eating a heart, and striking a deal with the ogre, seemingly, would allow me to claim a Unicorn''s form with very little fuss. Still... it didn''t seem right. And considering the title of the instance, the ''Trial of Compassion'', I knew that was probably not the actual right answer for me to give.
I shrugged, "I think I''ll have to pass, beast. I''m kind of full you know. I had a big lunch."
My answer seemed to confuse him again, and he thought for a good thirty seconds about what I had just said before his eyes glazed over in rage. "Mag Pie no stop me crunch-crunch sweet horsey pie! Me eat the Mag Pie too! Then me have more pie!" And he charged forward.
I did not wait for him to get close enough to smack me with those huge arms of his. Instead, I jumped, shifting in the air and flapping raven wings in his face. He seemed confused, for a moment, as I darted past his arms and felt my body slam against the solid bone of his head, and I used that to climb up even higher. Up and up I darted until, curling my wings and tumbling into a dive I made sure that he had not yet moved, staring up at me and reaching out with his bulging arms and two-foot hands.
Before I was half way down, I shifted back into my Nymphan form,trapping my rapier between both hands and pointing at his rapidly approaching form. His hand, surprisingly quick, flew at me in the final moments, but I was quicker still. Each bronze tipped tentacle found purchase ahead of me, stabbing deeply into the flesh of the ogre''s shoulders and back. My outstretched limbs of fungus steadied me, balanced me, in those final few moments as my rapier buried itself between the bones of the creature''s neck.
It was a massive critical, and the creature fell beneath me. The tentacles clung on, desperately holding me steady until it''s massive bulk hit the ground and sent me rolling away. I found myself unsure whether my little sandwich knife would be able to cut through the creature''s thick, rubbery skin, and it was with little hesitation that I started burrowing long, Dire Wulfin claws into the soft skin of the monster''s stomach.
I was about half way through, Ogre intestine and bile spilling out of its torn flesh and onto the ground around me, when the creature awoke. I didn''t see it''s flickering eyes, I didn''t feel the subtle rise and fall of its chest over the burrowing of my elongated claws. It wasn''t in factuntil the back of the creature''s fist collided with my shoulder that I even realized that it wasn''t if fact dead.
|
54 Damage received from Fist (21 Absorbed)
HP: 56/110
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Finding myself flung backward, head over foot, I instinctually shifted shapes back to the more familiar naked, pink skin of the Nymph. I realized my mistake moments later, as I felt the air rushing by the bare skin of my legs and feet.
My tentacles stretched out in all directionsuntil finally one of the bronze claws began to drag along the ground. Instinctively, the other seven shot downwards, burrowing in the moist soil around the lake, flipping my freefall into a cartwheel as I twisted around in the air and tumbled to my feet.
As the Ogre screamed its rage, one arm holding in his entrails, he began to charge. I gazed longingly at the handle of my rapier, still buried to the hilt inside of his neck, and braced myself as the massive beast blurred toward me.
Seconds before his fists once again collided with my body, I jumped, using my elastic tentacles to spring myself a good ten feet in the air. He frowned for a moment, as I hovered overhead, squinting his eyes as if to figure out how such a little creature had managed to jump so very high. With a flick of my wrist, my hands grew the hair and claws of my Dire Wulfin form, and as each of my brass claws sunk into the flesh of his arms and face, I ripped my claws across his neck. In the back of my mind, I noticed that the faint, green fluid spilled out, not only from where the claws had torn his skin, but also where my brass extensions had burrowed into his flesh.
Smiling, I realized that the brass tips somehow counted as ''natural weapons'', and were triggering the ''Serpent''s Bite'' ability that added poison damage to the attacks. Holding on now with my claws inside of the creature''s neck, I stabbed it over and over and over with the brass spikes, and though it quickly seemed to heal from every pointed strike, as I could see its abdomen healing before my very eyes, still the creature began to slow. To weaken.
Finally, after dodging more swipes of the creature''s brutish fists than I had dared to count, I finally felt it slow to the point that I risked slipping one claw out from its neck. Shifting the long, Wulfin fingers back into my human hands, I caught the hilt of my rapier with my left, even as I clung desperate to the monster''s gaping trachea with my right and started twisting and stabbing with the sunken blade.
When the creature once again fell, sprawling across the ground with a final, rasping breath, and allowing the contents of its bladder to spill upon the coast, still I stabbed it over and over again with the poison of my brass before I allowed myself to take a single breath of relief.
As I bent over, panting and huffing, I barely noticed as the unicorn rose from her position along the shore. She limped over to me even as I coughed for breath through broken ribs, until she stood only a hair''s breath away.
I glanced up, smiling weakly into her large, sad eyes even as she kneeled down in front of me, lowering her horn and touching it gently against the skin of my feet.
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Class Feature Unlocked!
Druid of theUnicorn
"Your stalwart heart beats to the rhythm of the aether. You have discovered the Arch-Druid''s Compassion and claimed the miracles of the unicorn for your own."
Feature Unlocked:
Chastity: You have been granted purity in body and mind. Spell resistance 25%.
Mystical Nature: Auras and Words of Power may now be used while shapeshifted. |
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Hearts ofMagic
Unicorn-Form Acquired
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As my vision swam black I read the notifications. They were, in fact, everything that I had been hoping for and more. And so I was smiling, grinning really, ear to ear as the world lit up and came back into view. Only this time, instead of a unicorn, I was standing on the banks of the lake surrounded by a half dozen soldiers wearing the royal green of Queen McBeal.
Before I had finished sucking in a breath I felt my body freeze, tightening within invisible chains of magic. I stood there, staring at the gleaming swords in front of mebefore the cloaked figure stepped in front and blotted out my view.
"That was easier than I had anticipated," the low, gravely voice of the wizard said, with a bored, condescending tone. "All right then, get to it."
I tried to struggle, I tried to shift, I tried even to scream, but even though my lungs burned inside my chest, I couldn''t move so much as a hair. And my lungs were, it turned out, the least of my concerns. Firey lines of agony etched my wrists, even as I felt someone''s dagger prying apart my lips. The desperate struggles for breath were forgotten in the bitter agony that assaulted my arms, moving to my mouth and digging daggers deep inside my throat.
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20 Damage received fromAxe
HP: 36/110 (You are crippled! You are Bleeding!)
15 Damage received from Dagger
21/110 (You are mute! You are Bleeding!)
10 Damage received from Fire (You are no longer Bleeding!)
11/110
5 Damage received from Fire (You are no longer Bleeding!)
6/110
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Even as the spell lifted and I found myself huffing madly for breath, I screamed a low wail of agony. I tried to collapse down on the ground even as the traces of magical fire fizzled out across my arms, inside my throat. And yet I was not even granted that release, a firm set of arms catching me and throwing me across the back of some horse.
There was a snickering, as my senses spun, and I recognized that the wizard had been speaking. "...won''t be able to work her menus without hands or a tongue. Someone get the ointment, I can''t take her feet until we''ve healed her up a bit."
I felt something cool and soothing against my wrists... my stumps... before agony once more ripped through my legs and, in the swirling rivers of pain, I was given the mercy of passing the fuck out.
Chapter 24: Trigger Warning
:10/05/2251:
4:16 PM
The slap of my body against the back of the horse as we galloped through the forest jolted me awake. I struggled for a momentbefore I remembered where I was. Before I remembered what had happened and why no sound was coming from out my throat as I attempted to scream. My arms were bound in some, tight sticky substance behind my back, same as my legs, and even the tentacleson my back seemed to be wrapped tightly with some kind of adhesive cord.
My mind raced as my heartbeat climbed in my chest, the feeling of being trapped, helpless, finally setting into my startled brain. It wasn''t until I heard Em''s soothing whisper that I was able to collect some small measure of sanity.
"Hey, calm down, Mags. We''re fine; everything''s fine. You may be... fairly helpless right now, but I promise there is nothing that they can do to stop me. I just need you to settle down so I can think, ok? When you panic, I panic too. And I really need to finish thinking this through before we do anything rash."
I opened my mouth to ask her why the hell she hadn''t already logged us out, but I found that no words came out. It wasn''t even the startledtype sounds one might make if one''s tongue has been suddenly removed, but rather it was just... nothing. I didn''t have a voice at all.
"Look Mags, if I were to log us out now, in front of a live stream when it is clear that you have been rendered helpless to the satisfaction of what... obviously... are hired professionals, it will be obvious that you cheated. Even our own faction will start to call ''hacks'' and it will be seen as proof that you are using illegal mods,"she responded to what I had tried to say, even though I had been unable to form the words.
I opened my mouth, attempting to mouth out the words even as the constant thudding of my body against the horses'' back rattled my teeth together and made me bite my lip.
"No no, just think. I swear, you know I think everything that you do. Don''t get us hurt trying to maintain some human illusion of conversation," she whispered in a steady, peeved voice. "Look, don''t fret, one way or another, I''m going to pull you out tomorrow at exactly noon. Everyone will think that your Harvester AI, Matti, cut you off for missing your calisthenics and no one will be the wiser."
I frowned, focusing on keeping my actual mouth shut and furrowing my brow as I tried to think towards her. I wasn''t sure how effective it was, but I was annoyed, in pain, and it felt like I could literally feel my digitized organs rattling around in my body, even with the Dire Wulf''s inherent pain reduction abilities.
"That''s better, I guess. Look, I know you don''t care who finds about your illegal modsright now, but I promise you that if I pulled you now, you would most certainly care come morning. No shut up and try to relax, or you''re going to hurt yourself again. Look, I''ve already worked it all out. This way you can get a good look at McBeal, maybe hear what she has to say even, and tomorrow at this time we''ll be curled up in bed with a cup of hot chocolate watching recordings of our favorite streams, ok?"
Forgetting myself, I opened my mouth again to argue, only to have it forced back shut as my head slammed against one of the horses'' ribs.
"Don''t worry, I''m telling you. We''ll be fine. And if it''s too much, then you''re the only Arch-Druid in the game. No one will know if I manually shift you that you didn''t actually do it yourself with some kind of a special trait. Ok? But letsat the very least, get into striking distance of the Queen before we put all of our cards on the table."She seemed to huff, there into my mind,"See? Worst case, you have an uncomfortable night in a cell somewhere, and I wisp you off to safety before you''ve even missed dinner. But whatever happens, it''s going to draw viewers and interest, and it will end up working out for us when this is all over."
I wasn''t quite willing to admit that I was mollified, that her words had actually made a lot of sense, not even to myself because I knew she would somehow know if I did. Yet, I did feel my heartbeat calming, and my breath started to whisper out in a much less panicked rhythm.
:10/05/2251:
6:46 PM
As the forest thinned and we pulled up in front of the gates of the city Anthera, I felt like every bone in my body was bruised or cracked from the long ride over. I didn''t understand why we hadn''t just taken a portalunless the men who wore the colors of the city somehow weren''t actually bound to the town portal there. And that made absolutely zero sense unless they were Perma-bound somewhere else, as I was as queen of Dementia since usually switching a bind point was as easy as the press of a button. That... or maybe they had switched binds to a smaller town at the center of their search area... which kind of made more sense as I thought about it.
The city and the gates around it seemed to loomed much higher and much thicker than they had appeared from a distance. It was ironic, as the Queen of a city center of my own, that I realized that the walls had been generated from one of the common perks that I had always overlooked. And it struck me that Anthera, for being a starting Capital existing since the beginning of the game, wasn''t even an uncommon class or epic level town. It was little more than a high-level, basic town for a very peeved basic bitch.
I smiled at the thought as we passed through the gates, and I heard thetring of a status update as I was marched into the city.
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New Quest! (Employee, Mandatory)
Confront Queen McBeal.
Reward: Varies based upon performance
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My smile widened as I read the text and dismissed the update with my eyes. It struck me as odd as there were parts of the interface I could work with just my eyes, but that there was no way to log out or free myself without my hands or voice. Surely the developers could have easy sorted a logout function into an ocular menu if they had seen this sort of scenario coming, and surely not only had this sort of kidnapping been considered, it had obviously already happened often enough that my team of captors had perfected it into an artform. So... why did it continue to be allowed in-game?
Anyway, regardless of my earlier qualms, I was now fully on board with Em''s stupid little plan. It''s not like I had a choice after receiving a direct instruction through the managing AI, in the form of a quest. Speaking of which, how was an AI directing this? Wasn''t that the whole reason behind the whole synthesizing living minds thing? Because AIs couldn''t be adapted to respond to truly dynamic situations as well as a reproduced human brain?
"Yes," Em responded directly to the thought. Now that I couldn''t make it clear when I was talking to her and when I wasn''t, she seemed to have taken it as a carte blanche to intrude herself in my own internal conversations."As far as I can tell, the DDO AI is actually a single synthetic mind with a massive amount of computing power and algorithmic assistance. I''m ninety-nine percent sure that this entire game is... or was, I guess, a person."
Somehow, her helpful bit of clarification failed to comfort me. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was horrifying and disconcerting, and the synthetic mirror of me continued to be... really fucking creepy. She was also, I reflected, my only way out of the city. So I decided to give her a pass.
The men trotted us directly to the steps of McBeal''s palace... wait; she had a palace, I realized. Why the hell wasn''t I able to build a palace? Anyway, as we pulled up to the stairs, I was pulled (quite roughly, I might add) off the back of the equine and shouldered up the long staircase. The man carrying me was huge, easily 6''6 if he was an inch, and I had a clear view of his ears to prove that he was not, in fact, one of the Queen''s loyal elves. No, he was a human, cloaked in the queen''s colors with the hood pulled up over his small, rounded ears.
Once inside, I was deposited bodily on the floor in front of a desk. I could hear the other members of the humans'' party following him up the steps as my body flopped bonelessly across the marbled floors. "Quarry has been acquired. Our instructions were to bring it directly here," the grim, unemotional voice of the man above me echoed across the stone into my ears.
"Please wait a moment, I shall inform the adjutant that you have returned," came a perky, female voice from the other side of the desk. It was the voice of someone who works professionally in customer service, and I had the feeling, listening to it, that she could sound just as perky and upbeat if she had been telling the man that his family had just been slaughtered and he was sentenced to death by draw-and-quartering - but to please have a nice day!
His boot found a place in my ribs on which to rest its weight, and the minutes trailed by as we waited, me, the captive footrest, and the human man-at-arms with the extremely tired foot. It seemed like it had been hours before the woman finally returned and I felt the boot drawing away from my bruised flesh.
"I am to process your payment now and have this creature taken into holding. Please accept this humble reward for your service, directly from the city coffers," her happy, sing-song declared.
The man simply huffed, and I heard the sound of metal on metal as he, apparently, tested the coins he had received. Seemingly satisfied, the sound of his heavy steps along the echoing stone soon sounded his retreat from the palace.
I was then dragged bodily across the floor and down a long set of stairs. Whoever it was that took me was less strong and, worse, less careful as I was skidded along the ground. And by the time I found myself moving past a large wooden door and facing a cold, stone wall, I was quite certain that another five, maybe six bones had been broken.
:10/05/2251:
10:52 PM
I had been slipping in and out of sleep, jolted awake by the pain in my side, or the freezing stone floor every time I unconsciously moved in my fitful sleep. My crown and sword were gone, though Em assured me that, as equipped items, they had moved into my inventory within minutes of having been lost. The artifact robe did little to detract from the cold of the stone. And while I had an innate resistance to the freezing temperature as resulting from my chosen race, it was still far less than comfortable to my tired, sleepy brain.
It was during one of those fitful times, when I was staring at the ceiling wishing that I could shift, just for a single moment, and dance my wounds away. It was during one of those times that I heard the rusty of the rusty hinges squeaking as someone opened the cell door. Ironically, it wouldn''t have taken a second, just a single second, and I would have been fully healed, debuffs removed, and back up on my feet. Yet that would be a second that was denied to me, as long as I chose not to shift, and as long as I chosen to bide my time and wait for the Queen to summon me.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Loud, wide boots echoed across the ground behind meand there appeared, inches away from my face, a scarred, bearded head, eyeing me hungrily. Rough arms grabbed the fabric of my robe, and I was set up against the wall by the man with the scars and evil grin.
He made sure I was properly adjusted, leaning against the stone prison, when he pulled out the knife. His voice sounded cruel, and he seemed to breathe just a little bit too loudly, too excitedly, as he leaned down over me, "We wouldn''t want you looking like that when it''s time to address the Queen, would we?" Shaking his head, he smiled wider and wider as the knife began its work against the fabric of my robe. "Oh no," he breathed heavily, "Let''s get you all cleaned up, my dear. You look like an absolute mess; I''m not afraid to say."
Em then whispered softly, consolingly, an almost painful contrast to the look I was seeing in the man''s eyes,"Ohhh no. Fuck this guy." Pausing for a second, she seemed relieved after a moment,"Don''t worry, your robe just appeared in our inventory. It can be repaired."
Looking up at the wide girth of the man who had just cut away my clothes, leaving no few nicks and gashes on my body for all his trouble, I somehow didn''t consider the state of my robe to be all that high on my priority list. And as his hand started squeezing roughly the softness of my chest, I simply repeated to myself over and over in my head that he couldn''t remove the underwear without my permission. This was all he could do. My body was still, in that small way, my own. And I could survive whatever it was that the man planned to do.
"Oh, what shall we do with you, my pretty little treat? You''re all bloody and dirty," his words eroded some small bit of my confidence, and with every passing moment, I felt more and more exposed. "Oh, your wounds are all jagged and puckered. That won''t do, that won''t do at all..." he trailed off as his hands pulled away from my skin.
I could feel him bending over, just before I felt the shock of pain through my ankle. The skin and the bone seemed to sear with agony, and when I opened my eyes, I saw that he had bent his face over the wound. Between waves of putrid agony, I was able to catch a glimpse of the man bent in front of me, to see the way his jaw worked as he chewed the flesh of my stumps and made those hideous sucking sounds.
I tried to knee him, I tried to kick and elbow, or to twist myself around, but the more I fought, the harder it was that his teeth seemed to bite. He was... eating me, from the legs up, and he looked like he was having an amazing time of it.
After what felt like hours, but was likely actually several minutes, he pulled away. Grinning at me, blood trailing down his chin, he smiled like he was somehow relieved. The wink he gave me was playful, unburdened almost, compared to the look he had been giving me moments before, "Oh yes, it''s official. You are good enough to eat, you scrumptious little thing."
I saw him moving toward me and closed my eyes. Somehow I felt my body tense up even more as my instincts screamed at me, my shoulders curling up as if to protect my all toovulnerable body. I felt his hands sliding across my skin, gently groping and squeezing with as though he were my lover. I was suddenly very aware of just how thin those basic, default undergarments actually were, and how much it felt like his hands were actually touching the skin through that fabric.
I felt a wave of horror wash through me at the touch against parts that had never been with a man; a sickening chill up my spine that felt like I was absorbing the man''s slime through the sleaze of his skin; somehow creeping inside of my body and leaving the trail of his sleaze behind in places that he should never have been able to touch.
Finally, he stood up, wiping away... almost none of... my blood with the back of his wrist, "Welp, I guess that''s good enough for now. We have to save some of you for the queen, after all."
I tried to scream in response, my throat aching from the furious attempts to make my voicework. But, again, nothing came out but the sounds of my own labored breathing.
"I know, I know dear," he muttered as he turned and began to leave my cell. "I''m going to miss you too. But don''t worry, we''ll have plenty of quality time together after the queen has welcomed you properly."
The door of my cell slammed shut, and I could hear the metal mechanism turning as he locked me in. The last thing I heard before the slatted window shut and locked were the whispered sounds of his farewell, "I promise."
I spent the next minute attempting to find new ways to scream. The sheer silence of the room seemingly closing in on me with every breath and stealing my sense ofme.
It was only after the lack of breath sent my vision spinning, tiny pinprick stars forming in my vision as my body reminded me of its need for air, that I finally stopped. And lying on the cold stone floor, wearing nothing but my basic undergarments that were always there, I started trailing off to sleep again.
I couldn''t be sure if I had dreamed it, later, but for the life of me, I thought I heard Em''s soft, regretful voice,"I don''t care if it takes a thousand years, I swear to you Mags. I will find a way to delete that man''s soul and shred whatever silicon bits allowed that to happen."And yet, more than comforting me, I remember feeling bolstered. I remembered the vulnerability and fear being surrounded, though not replaced, by the white hot scream of a rage that both was and was very much not my own.
:10/06/2251:
11:02 AM
I was draped across the floor of the throne room, white marble hard against my naked knees. Two men held chains bound to shackles that encased my upper arms, holding me upright, even as my vision flashed with strange colors just sitting up straight in my exhausted state.
I had been drug here in chains and forced out onto the ground at the bottom of the stairs, allowing the Queen to lord over me, standing high up above. The queen chose to ignore me at first, even as I lay bleeding there on the floor in front of her. Sickening white and green puss leaked from the wound at my ankle, shooting random bits of pain that echoed through my body with every breath I took. I was both amazed and horrified at how much detail had been programmed into such a wound, from the look and congealed texture of the puss that leaked from the wet skinto the sheer indescribable agony that it caused me, no two bits of mind-numbing pain feeling quite like the other.
Finally, she looked down at my bound form, turning up her nose as she took in my battered, bloody skin. "So, they tell us that you are the one who is pretending to be a queen," she finally said, taking a slow step down from her throne and toward my place there down on the bottom stone floor.
It was only then that I thought to check her status text, realizing even as I faced her that I honestly had no idea what class the queen, my rival, was ascribed to.
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Queen Olivia McBeal (Employee)
Telekineticist
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I honestly had no idea what that even was, as I read the golden text. It was a legendary class, no doubt, as was clearly identified in the screen. But it wasn''t a class that I had ever before heard ofor knew what to expect from.
"Surely this is a mistake?" She intoned, smirking sarcastically and seemingly glancing back behind her, at the advisors behind the throne, before turning back to me. "I don''t believe for a second that this little waif thinks that she is somehow the rival of Anthera. I mean... look at her." She took a step closer, wrinkling her nose, "She hardly seems fit to work in our kitchens, let alone sit on a throne."
One of the men behind her subtly cleared his throat, as if unsure if he was supposed to answer, "Yes, my queen. We have confirmed this most conclusively. The girl before you is theowner of the new city, Dementia."
McBeal forced a laugh, turning up her head and letting the sound, too loudly, echo across the chamber. "Oh, you poor, poor thing," her words dripped with honied compassion, but as if to punctuate her words she gave a slight flick of her wrist, and I felt a warm stream of liquid and pain erupt from the right side of my face. "What have you gotten yourself into, little dove?"
Taking a step closer, she let out an exaggerated, dramatic sigh, "You fell in with the wrong crowd, I suppose. What did it take me, two days? Three? For me to have you brought here shackled and crawling before me. What chance could you have possibly thought that you had?"
Again, the Queen punctuated the words with a wave of her arm, and I felt an invisible force slam into my belly, forcing the air from my lungs. I tried to scream then, as I struggled to breathe, to tell her to stop, but again I could not produce a sound from my cracked and bleeding lips. "See, you are too scared, even to speak a single word in your own defense, too humbled by the presence of an actual, honest to god Ruler."
Closing the last step, I felt her fingers wrapping themselves in my hair, ripping my head back to look me in the eye as she spoke the final sentence. "Well, now you know better, I think. And know this!" She yanked my head around as she spoke, as if I were a prop to punctuate her speech, "Your nanny AI will put you to bed soon, as I''m sure it''s well past naptime for such a little baby girl. But you will abdicate. I will have you brought here, in chains, and I will remind you the errors of aspiring to greatness. Every day when you log in, my soldiers will be waiting. And you will find me there every time you close your eyes at night."
She spit in my face this time, the warm spittle from her tongue mingling with the blood-red gash across my face, and she pulled me closer as she dropped her veneer of amicability, letting the hate finally fill the words as she whispered into my ear, "You are mine, little bird. Mine. And we are going to have so. much. fun."
I heard another voice whispering, however, even as the spittle dripped and dried across my face."Oh, fuck this bitch. Pull your shit together, Mags, we go in three."
"My men will have you," McBeal whispered darkly, "My torturers shall sate their hunger upon your flesh."
"Two."
"My ladies will take turns sitting on your head, and the only fluids you imbibe shall be the bitter taste of their piss."
"One."
Straightening and releasing my hair, serendipitously, McBeal turned to walk away with a flourish. Showing me her back contemptuously just as Em did make our move.
The tips of my wings had been clipped, and the tip of my tail had been severed, but my fangs still sprang, ready, from the edges of my shifting mouth. As skin tightened into scales, the chains fell loudly from arms that were no longer there, and my coiled serpent''s body sailed smoothly through the loops of my former bindings.
If I had not been forced to kneel, if I had been allowed to stand or if I had been chained to a chair like a human being, my transformed coils would not have been so tightly wound. If she had not come so close, needed to twist my head about and spit directly in my face, I would not have gotten close enough, would not have had enough momentum to complete my savage arc. But I was, and as my body unwound and my wings pushed my strike even faster through the air and toward the skin of her unprotected neck.
My fangs sunk in so deeply, meeting little resistance as my leathery skin smacked into her body. As she had unleashed her venom, so too did I unleash my own even as the iron taste of her blood filled my mouth and nose. I clung to her flesh, unleashing wave after wave of my own twisted poison deeply into her veinsuntil finally, she managed to twist her hand far enough around her body to trigger a defensive enchantment.
And yet, even as the wave of force smashed into my body, tearing me away from her in an explosion of blood and flesh and fangs, I heard thetrill of a status notification, flickering into view.
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Quest Complete!
When I said ''face to face'' I wasn''t intending for you two to start swapping spit.
Reward: Employee Project Complete; Unique Achievement
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Achievement Unlocked!(Unique)
Nemesis
Poisoned your Rival in her throne room
Increased construction speed in your city''s workshops.
Special: +1 Willpower (Permanent, Max: 10)
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Somehow, after being slammed with that much force and flying half way across the chamber, I recovered. Slowing to a hover in the air, I turned and slithered through the air back at the twisted queen. Magic exploded around me, I felt the whoosh of waves of force brush against my skin as I twisted my way toward her. I realized I had to be almost dead, I hadn''t seen the HP texts, having been lost in my own pain and self-pity, but the way I felt I knew that the fight was already over.
And yet... before the final spell found me, before I felt my body tearing apart from a million invisible blades, I once again found myself within range of the queen. With a final, desperate leap of defiance, I sunk the single remaining fang in my mouth into the other side of her pretty neck. Holding on for dear life. The waves of poison seemed to spurt into her body of their own accord, even as I realized that I could no longer feel anything attached below my head.
And as the world dimmed to black, spinning away with my avatar''s death, I received one final notification.
|
Achievement Unlocked!(Unique)
Warlord
Murdered your Rival in her throne room
Decreased schematic research time in your city''s specialty buildings.
Reputation raised with Chaosfrom:NOBLE to:LEGEND
Reputation raised with Angmar from: TOLERATED to:ALLY
Reputation raised with Galdenheim from: TOLERATED to:CONQUERER
Reputation lost with Anthera from: HUNTEDto:NEMESIS
Reputation lost with Church of Light from: CORRUPT to:NEMESIS
Special: +1 Willpower (Permanent, Max: 10)
Special: +500 Fame
|
Chapter 25: Rest for the Wicked
:10/06/2251:
11:19 AM
Finding myself in the familiar lobby of the Employee''s Lounge, I smiled. My hands and feet were back, I could finally feel my tongue again, and for the first time in a day, I wasn''t feeling any pain. I found myself giggling there, at first, like a total loon as the stress all seemed to leave my body in a single breath. That was when I heard the scream.
Turning, instinctively, an older, pudgy woman had appeared in the lobby next to me. I didn''t recognize her, but apparently, that wasn''t the case for her, and I found as I turned that she was staring at me furiously even her furious yelling echoed through the room. I raised an eyebrow at her and I stuck my fingers in my ears at the ridiculousantics.
"Do you know who I am, child? I''m going to have you fired! I''m going to have you killed! I''m going to have beasts rape every hole in your body before I slowly tear off your limbs!"
As she went on, there was a certain, familiar theme to her rantings, and I started to understand what had happened. "...McBeal? Is that really you?"
The woman blinked at me, huffing in a way that made her belly quiver and shake visibly through her t-shirt, "Listen here you little bitch, I don''t know what you think that was but..."
Not really listening to her words, I stared, transfixed. "But you''re so Old. And Ugly...."
Screaming for thesecond time, she charged at me bodily. I didn''t really try to move out of her way, though it did make me jump as her avatar dove bodily through my own. Since, you know, in this part of the lobby collision detection had been turned off.
Turning around to once again face each other, I raised an eyebrow. I really, really wished that I could stream what I was seeing right then to my viewers, "Look, McBeal. I''ve really got to go. You have fun with... whatever this is."
Working my interface panel it was a relief that the overly loud screaming cut off and I found myself once again withinthe quiet walls of the Axis. I used the time to scan the ''net, following up on the current goings on in the media, smiling as I saw the chaos and that I was, once again, the featured bit of news.
I found thatto my bemusement, one of the top-rated stories today was an article written by one of my Father''s competitors. Apparently, there was a rather heated psychological debate as to whether I was legitimately mentally ill or whether I was roleplaying a mentally ill person. The article in question claimed that I was a very troubled young woman who happened to be roleplaying someone with schizophrenia.
I scanned through the article. Having been Father''s daughter and growing up with someone who used the same types of words and concepts in conversation, I understood the context somewhat. It was fairly well writtenif it was created with the intent of pandering to the masses - but the man was not only a legitimate fan of my stream but also someone who hated my dad. So hey, I decided that he was good in my book. Hesitating only briefly, I shot the guy an email offering to come in for an on-the-air interview before putting the whole matter out of mind.
I noticed that Olga and Blink had sent me a number of very worried emails asking how I was and trying to offer me some comfort. They were mostly ''if you can read this'' sort of affairs and it honestly warmed my heart to go back and read just how worried about me they were. That said, I flinched when I realized I was going to have to check in with them when I logged back into town, and people had a tendency of reacting like scolding parents when they were worried enough about you to send... geez, 25 emails in less than 24 hours, I counted. No, I had a sinking feeling that I was going to have an unpleasant few hours when they found me again, and I went ahead and shot both of them a response letting them know that I was safe.
I spent maybe half an hour longer researching how to unlock Power Words, and where I could pick up the quests. Apparently, unlike Class Specific abilities, Power Words themselves had to be learned from Epic or Legendary quests. The quests themselves could only be given out by demi-god level entities. Angels, Demons, Planetary Intelligences, Elder Things... they were creatures that were difficult enough to find, and more difficult to gain an audience with. Still, my fame was more than high enough now that most of them would deign to meet meif I managed to contact them, so there was some hope for me at least.
Having once again re-established my own sense of being in a normal, knowable world, adjusting to the normality of the panels and Newscasts that I had known every day of my life, I finally felt I was relaxed enough to sleep. And, curling up on my huge, very expensive bed, I finally caught up on the rest that I had been denied the night before.
:10/06/2251:
6:22 PM
Having awoken and gone through my usual calisthenics routine some six hours late, I was forced to admit to myself what a luxury it was not to have the Syndicate''s restrictions setting my daily schedule and fining me if I stepped out of line. Still, as my finger hovered over the login button for DDO, I found that I was lacking some bit of the excitement that the transition into a world of fantasy and magic usually had brought me.
Instead, after some hesitation, I found myself walking over to the shopping menus in my axis and picking out an Adult scenario from the ''historical'' section. I had been of legal consenting age for a while now, but I had not yet stopped to try out any of the new programs that were now available for my purchase but the one I had pined after for so many years. The program itself was single player, and it set me back a good thousand credits, but I figured I needed a little vacation and respite after all I had just gone through.
After ten minutes, my new purchase loaded up. My options were along the lines of ''Conflict? y/n'', ''Boys? y/n'', ''girls? y/n'', ''Define demographics and body metrics...'' and it only took me a matter of minutes to lock in my preferences and step into the game.
Inside the setting, I found massage tables, hot tubs, and a good dozen men and women in swimsuits sprawled out around me on a warm, sprawling beach. I smiled as I noticed a thin layer of flower petals lining the ground, while some petals danced gently in the tiny breeze and were fluttering across the top of the banquet tables.
Smiling, I leaned back and absorbed the rays of the beautiful, safe sunlight above me. The tension in my body started to melt away and I waved over a couple in their twenties to start my first massagefor the evening.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
:10/07/2251:
1:23AM
There were hands everywhere, and I curled my toes in the sand as I felt the touch of four of the men and two of the girls embrace my body in a blanket of touch and kisses and subtle moans. As a tongue found my own, I kept my eyes closed, reveling in the taste of cinnamon on their lips and feeling the scratch of a beard against my lip that told me this was the kiss of a man.
As the dark breeze cooled us, it sent the torches dancing in the wind, and there in the witching hour, I felt my first screams of the night rising to my lips. Someone was inside of me, while the thin, soft fingers of a woman danced against my heat, softly reassuring and teasing me between the hard thrusts of someone''s hips.
I wasn''t sure whose lips danced at my neck, whose hands cupped my chest and squeezed softly against the tips of my nipples. I only knew the rush of endorphinsas the final waves of ecstasy shuttered through my body. And, even as I lay there panting, I curled my thighs around the masculine body in front of me and felt the echoes of his own satisfaction dripping down the forbidden folds of my Self...
It was all too much, the experience too powerful and the smell of the men and woman around me just too beautiful to loose. Panting, I swallowed, forcing the forgotten muscles of my voice to convey the desire of my heart. And I whispered into the midnight air, "Again..."
:10/09/2251:
5:23PM
Refreshed and happy, it was with a bounce in my step that my fingers reached out for the DDO Login. My internal clock has been seriously messed up over the last couple of days, as I slept late into the afternoon and did my daily stretches to the setting of Earth''s burning sun. Still, it was difficult for me to care. I felt as if my entire body had been flattened, and blown up and flattened again, tearing out every single knot of stress and replacing it with this gentle, golden glow that I could almost feel underneath my skin.
While I finally was ready to return, finding my place in my Dreamworld and living out my Dream job, a part of me was still lying there on that tropical beach, wishing that I could go back for just a couple of hours longer. Fingers dancing out, selecting the button, I, however, forced myself to put all of that aside and continue my journeys in the game.
It was with some surprise, then, that I received an error instead of finding the world of Dementia phasing in around me.
| Error: This account is already logged into the game. Would you like to enter in Spectator Mode? Y/N |
I hit no, shocked, and it took me some seconds before the realization set into my fuzzy brain. "Em," I shouted, "Get your ass out of there, what the actual fuck?"
I stood there, fuming, for the minutes it took before she finally spoke. There was a part of me that felt somehow violated, even though already I knew that she had been active late at night when I was sound asleep. There was something about being locked out, left the third wheel between my own character and my own game that needled at my heart.
"I''m sorry, Mags. I wasn''t really in a good place to jump out. There is a lot going on right now in there. Hey, did you know that Olga knows how to cuss in three, different languages? I found that kind of impressive."
The annoyance started to melt away as Em''s words started unraveling in my brain. "Oh," I paused, "She was upset then, I take it." A part of me started to edge away from the idea of logging back in. The thought of Olga''s six feet of bulk leaning over me and searching for new languages to adequately express her displeasure weighing heavily on my mind."
"Not to worry, dear. I took care of it. We promised to be very careful in the future and never to leave town without an experienced, rounded party again."
"Right," I blinked. "Hey, sorry if I was a little peeved earlier. You''re doing great, you know."
Her reply was a lot more gentle now, almost purring in my mind."Oh, hey. No problem at all Mags. Um... do you think I would be able to log into that new program of ours? Just for a few minutes, for research purposes, you understand."
I grinned, shaking my head as I reached back over to the Login, "Ya, Em. Knock yourself out. I mean it." And it was with that shit-eating smile that I found myself once again standing at the portal stones of my own DDO Kingdom.
In addition to what had to be fifty new buildings sprawled around me, no few of which being upgraded workshops and entire residential blocks, I found myself surrounded in something of an improvised tent city erected through the streets of the town. Massive crowds of players and NPCs and Roleplayers merged together on the streets around me, organically integrating into an unending, loud mess of odd races.
As I looked around, wide-eyed and realizing that I couldn''t even begin to guess at just how massive the crowds around me were, someone started to cheer. Within seconds, the crowds around me had stopped their conversations, turning to stare at where I had appeared on the stones, and one by onetook up the screaming of the masses around them.
It was deafening, and as the mob rushed toward me I shifted out of instinct, rising up on the scaled wings of a Serpent and hovering a good twenty feet over the crowd. It didn''t seem to stave off their enthusiasm, however, but to stoke it. And, from my perch in the air, the massive sound of hands and feet stomping and clapping echoed up to where I hovered.
I wasn''t certain at first, the voices sounding so loudly and discordant, each reveler competing over the masses around them to be heard, but it became clear to me through the rumble of noise, that a single chant was swallowing the screams of the crowd. And I did a figure eight, dancing in the air, as the energy reached me, filled me and consumed my trembling mind. "MAG. PIE. MAG. PIE. MAG. PIE...." they shouted, throwing their arms up into the air.
After a good ten minutes, I flew up into the sky and darted over the heads of the massive crowd. It took a full ten minutes before I had managed to clear the entirety of the mass, darting up and then dive bombing the crowds to the thunder of screams and cheering. Finally, after I had played to the thunderous uproar, I quickly ghosted away to the top of a new residential building and melded back into my familiar, Nymphan body.
I noted with no small bit of satisfaction that my cloak had been mended, the fine dark gray silk once again draping over my sylvan form as though nothing at all had happened in the days before. Opening my interface, I also noted with a smirk upon my lips that Em had finally enabled one of the many titles that we had earned.
''Warlord Magpie Frost'' was written clearly now in my status panel. And I found, as I read the words over and over again, that I couldn''t have imagined a better way to solidify my own, fledgling image as ruler of the city. I was not the ''Queen'' of Anthera, no, nor was I ''Regent'' of Undercity like Alley had been before me. No, I would now be known, for better or worse, as the Warlord of Dementia. And I found that, as I sounded it out into the wind, I loved the taste of those three little words in my ears.
Jumping into the status page, I found that Em had indeed been busy. As I had seen, there were 62 new buildings having been constructed already, half of which were upgraded workshops I noted ironically, and another third being new residential buildings. Another 50 buildings were currently in the cue, with little growth bars filling slowly underneath them. It had surprised me that Em had been quite so liberal with our building pointsuntil I looked over and saw that we still had a full 993,313 BP remaining, and our citizen count had reached over fifteen thousand.
Waving that all away, I looked down at the sprawling kingdom below me. The line of the trees now stood far enough in the distance that the little marsh wilds seemed like ants and toothpicks swaying at the edge of the fungal growths. Several of the Workshops had seemingly expanded, widened and yet stretched into a strange, ''U'' shape. And in the center of them, I could clearly see the beginnings of some... things... being constructed.
Relaxed, and shining with hope for the future I decided against spending the afternoon buried in my menus. Em had already grown this city, our city, well past the point where I could keep up with what was going on or what needed to happen next. Instead, I flew down on the nondescript wings of the raven, heading toward the Marketplace to unburden myself of what few credits I had remaining in my account.
Chapter 26: Lateral Upgrades
:10/09/2251:
5:51 PM
My marketplace was more of a bazaar than a building, I felt like. The canopy of the mushroom head stood above us, surely enough, but the walls weren''t walls so much as a series of columns and arches. The stalls were spread out across a layered floor, the different sections raised or lowered slightly to section off the different areas but, otherwise, were not walled or separated from the greater whole.
Vendors had their stalls spread out under the giant umbrella hood that was zoned for their business, each one having constructed wooden booths and draped tents to their own liking. I felt less like I had just walked into a shopping mall and more that I had walked into a massive flea market simulation. The chaos of a barber perched next to a weaponsmith next to a gardenerjust did the building absolutely no favors whatsoever.
Still, I could sort of see the logic of it as I walked. If you didn''t know where to find the booth that you were looking for, you would have to walk past all the rest and the like temptation for impulse buys on the way. The maze of vendors did wonders for advertising and distracting, for all the annoyance of never being able to find the shop that you were actually looking for.
I did notice, to my surprise, that the special perks of my town were already having an effect on the wares that were being sold here. In addition to the flintlock pistols that I was familiar with, there were clockwork revolvers of living metal, somehow crafted more of wood than steel. I saw a flying, helicopter monkey being sold with the promise that it would explode when the windup beast''s momentum stopped. It was the clothiers,though, that really drew my attention - for instead of the standard silk and leather fair that was so common on the market, there were entire leather outfits with clockwork parts and woven parts of living fungus.
I didn''t speak the same language as the little catgirl who ran the booth, but even still she was very excited to show me her wares and help me to try things on. I ended up falling in love with a fine corset of finely woven fungi and brass - the fungi skin seeming to have the same consistency and texture as leather, though the colors where the white and deep orange of my city, and the brass was sewn into the fungal leather in the intricate designs of clockwork gears. It matched the crown well enough, and the white and orange looked stunning when wrapped over the gray of my robe. Plus, this corset wrapped around my waist only, and didn''t compete with the robe at the bust or bunch up any of the fabric.
Using my interface, I converted a thousand credits into gold and handed them over gladly to the seamstress.
|
Clockwork Corset (Living; Masterwork)
Belt
+1 Charisma; +1 Intelligence
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Liking the way it looked, I wandered a bit further on, finally finding what I had come down here for - the weapon''s shop. A little old Dark Elf woman was running it, dressed in fine silks cut in undercity fashion. And yet, the weapons on the table, they were anything but the standard Undercity fair. Like the revolver I had seen earlier, they were strange, clockwork things with fungal leather wrappings. Even the swords seemed to have gears and motors, with dull Soulstone pommels.
"Greetings, good woman," I smiled at her as our eyes met over the strange weapons. "Can you explain to me, what do these mechanisms do? I''ve never seen weapons like these before and I admit that I am more than curious."
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me with a dark intelligence. It was clear that she was a roleplayer, considering by now the town may have immigrated one, maybe two residents into the population at most, and she was clearly not one of the little Mushroom People we had grown. Stil, she seemed to fit right in here, in this place, hovering over the weapons in front of her like a miserly old hen.
Her eyes widened slowly as I could see her reading my Status with her eyes, loosing the aura of distrust even as the dark shade of her face became just a shade paler, "Oh... Warlord Frost! Please, don''t be fooled by this common fair I have out on display! Please, please, come take a look at the finer stock down here!"
She hurriedly moved asideand opened a trunk that had been laying behind her, pulling out some clearly more intricate weapons that she had been keeping locked away. Even as she moved, though, she never stopped talking, her eye darting over to me nervously as she moved, "The ability to create hybrid items of science in your city has allowed great and wonderous things, I''m sure you know! But, you see, where before oil for motors and power for guns made technological wonders scarce and valuable, the ability to use Soulstones to power our creations has enabled our smiths to make giant leaps forward in our technological designs."
She pulled out a sword, it was bulky like a broadsword, but it had sharp, razor teeth on a chain around the blade. She popped her palm lightly on the slightly glowing stone in the pommel of the hilt and the razors started spinning up and down the blade faster than my eye could see. "You see, where once we could have run a Sawblade like this for a matter of minutes, eating hundreds of gold per second worth of raw oil, now it can run in good half an hour bursts just off the heart''s blood of a lowly rabbit!"
She eyed me then, taking a good look at my spindly arms and wiry frame, before quickly slapping the pommel again and switching out the weapons in her hands, "But you don''t look like the type for such an unwieldy piece of tin, no, instead you need a weapon of beauty and grace!" She held up a long, Ranger''s rifle of thin wood and fungal leather wrappings, with only the long barrel and small gears over the firing mechanism reflecting the gleam of living metal. Instead of a hammer, the gun held a small, glowing Soulstone in a brass setting. And where there might have been housed a scope, there was a small, mechanical eye with wet fungi throbbing in the iris.
"No, why lumber around with brutal looking junk, when you can gun down your enemies from hundreds of feet away! Take this rifle, for example! Where, before, finding the black powder to fuel a single shot was an expensive endeavor, this weapon projects bullets with the same speed and force using simply an Enchanted Soulstone focused through Living Steel."
I picked up the long, five-foot rifle in my hands, amazed it how light the entire thing was. Checking the cartridge, I found that a good portion of the actual weight was actually coming from the rows of long, steel bullets waiting within. I also noticed, somewhat ironically, that the bullets weren''t worked into the standard black powder shells that had been common in history, apparently now being flung instead from some enchantment simulating an electromagnetic railgun.
Emboldened, seemingly by my interest, she continued on, "at medium range, it will still be weak to the AI-Assisted perry of a swordsman, as is common with these type of weapons. And we haven''t been able to work explosive enchantments into the bullets the same way you can with an arrowhead to counter the issue. However! This is one of the rare units that received a quality upgrade in the final stages of forging. The eye will extend the range on the weapon making it much, much harder for your standard parry-AI to plot the trajectory of your bullets from maximum range."
I nodded, simply, sitting down the barrel into the air, liking the feel of the leather and steel in my hands, "Indeed. And where can I find more bullets for the device? Are they difficult to make or..."
Shaking her head, the woman grinned ear to ear, "Oh no, no, Warlord. They are just standard steel. Any workshop in the kingdom could reproduce one provided they had an example to work from. And they can be made very cheaply."
Shrugging, I nodded and we got down into some serious haggling. In the end, even at the 65% discount, she offered me (probably due as much to my Charisma as to my status as Town Warlord), it took the rest of my remaining 15,000 credits, converted to gold, to purchase the weapon.
|
Clockwork Railgun (Living; Epic)
2Handed: 65 Base Piercing Damage; Range: 500 Meters
Soulstone: Tiny
+2 Agility
Living Eye: +50% Range; Increased Accuracy
|
I wasn''t a Warrior or a Ranger, and I knew I wouldn''t be getting abilities that could empower the shots from this weapon. Moreover, even with the semi-automatic cartridge in place, I knew it was going to have a moderately slow reload that would limit its effectiveness in close combat. So I knew it would be somewhat difficult to use it within therange of my Auras. Still, I had something that Rangers did not, being the ability to quickly reposition using my bestial forms, and it was that very speed and flexibility as a shapeshifter that was my greatest assist. A ranged weapon then, especially one the likes of which the world had never seen before, would play to my strengths. And, unlike a weapon such as apistol or rapier, spellcasting Auras had been specifically designed to be used with a staff in hand. So, given the lightness and dimensions this weapon, there should be no reason for me to have to sling the rifle when I switched over into a casting.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Luckily, the old woman agreed to throw in a few extra clips of ammunition with the weapon. So I realized I was good to go. Thanking her, I shifted into Raven form and started to fly away. I started to, that is, until I heard the metalting of metal hitting the ground beneath me.
Tilting my Avian head, I glanced down below me and I realized - as I had shifted my form only my primary weapon had shifted shape with me. The thin steel of my Rapier had fallen then onto the floor below, same as it would if I would have died without it equipped as my primary weapon.
Thus I was faced with the question all DDO players had to confront at some point in their career - do I carry a side arm and risk loosing it, but increasing my effectiveness in both close and ranged combat until that day? Or do I choose, one or the other, and allow my character to have a fairly significant weakness?
Though, admittedly, it wasn''t as much as a choice for me as it was for many other players. Not only would keeping the rapier significantly reduce my effectiveness as a shapeshifter, but I also had the claws and natural weapons with my own inherent poison enhancements to make up the difference. Moreover, as I had learned with the Ogre and, later, with McBeal, my natural weapons were as good as, if not superior to, the little sword I had been carrying around for so long now.
It was sad to loose the blade, especially after the hours and hours of training that I had sunk into learning the blade, but even still it wasn''t even that much of a choice. And while the rifle still was an untested weapon, I had sunk my current remaining funds into it and sort of already made my choice. So, moving the sword into my inventory, it was with only a little hesitance that I dragged it into the discard pile to deconstruct the weapon.
''Do you want to deconstruct this item? Y/N'' The system had asked. And, whispering softly to no one, "In for a penny, in for a pound," I slowly selected the ''Yes'' option. The epic item, thankfully, was a battery for luck points, and I watched happily as my abysmal score of ''One'' rose up to ''Two'', then ''Three'' and ''Four''. Luck was going to be a pain to raise at higher levels, but for now, just a little bit actually went quite a long way.
Happy at the advancement, and realizing that I was not pretty geared, I went ahead and deconstructed my old corset, blouse, and skirt that had been my old adventuring outfit. All three items were of basic quality and didn''t visibly increase my stat, but they should have made some amount of progress, even so, and the conversion opened up a few more spots in my user inventory.
I went ahead and window shopped what other wonders my town had held. Few of the wonders of the place compared to the rifle in my hands or the spinning clockwork of my crown, and yet everything seemed to possess a strange, innate beauty.
There was some innate quality that the gear and the buildings around me now seemed to possess, with the pillowed seats, it''s strange archways and the curtains of living fungus. I had not placed it before, but here in the marketplace, it became clear. The theme for this city, above all others, was that of a clearly Arabian aesthetic. I could see how the heads of the mushrooms seemed now to billow up into toweringByzantine Domes, and the long white walls below shone not unlike marble walls, pillars, and columns. Even the strange, veined surfaces of the domes, when viewed from below, seemed to give the impression of large, geometric mosaics above us.
As the day grew late and the merchant shops around me began to close for the night, apparently not interested in remaining for longer than the setting of the sun, I found myself being gently herded out of the building by the thinning current of the crowds. Still, I was dirt poor, at least for another day until my Streaming royalties came in, and I let myself be carried away.
Opening the interface, I selected a single trainer from those assigned to my town, Sanrich the Weaponsmaster, and I plotted a course toward him. I needed to both harvest some Soulcrystal to upgrade the one in my rifle, as well as to solicit him for training in marksmanship. It wasn''t hard for me to remember just how awkward, how stupid I had been with the Rapier when I had first picked it up, and I knew that if I wanted to become anything but a rich newb with a useless weapon, he would be the goblin that I needed to talk to.
:10/10/2251:
11:42 AM
Even as the monkey died in front of me, cage becoming painted with its fur and blood as the bullet tore through and shredded it from the inside, I smiled hesitantly at the goblin below me. Sanrich simply nodded and handed me a new cartridge of bullets, pointing further away at a tree on the edges of the forest.
It took me a good twenty shots to properly sight and hit the tree, and another twenty before I was able to do it with any consistency, but even so with every shot, the rifle seemed to feel more and more alive in my hands. I started to feel like it was beating in tune with my breaths, fungal organs pumping away in tune with my own body.
While I was practicing against the tree, Sanrich had torn out the Ape'' heart and used its blood to power a spare Soulcrystal that he had on hand, tossing me the remaining organ after he had finished. It tasted raw, but somehow less tough than the hearts of the predators before it. And I found that, in spite of myself, I was enjoying the snack between rounds of fevered training.
He quickly tooled the new, empowered Soulstone into the hammer of the weapon, upgrading the quality from ''Tiny'' to ''Common''. It required his specific skills as a smith to complete, but even still, thankfully, it wasn''t a process that required a forge or an iron - simply a pair of pliers and a bit of replacement copper wiring that his Metallurgist abilities quickly set around the gem.
Each shot now felt less like a gun going off in my hands, than the smooth clockwork of the weapon spitting out the lead and rebalancing itself, recoiling much less as the electromagnetic pulse did more of the work. And while there was a bolt action that took a couple of seconds to work, the more I practiced the more I realized that I was approaching a rate of fire that rivaled some primitive revolvers.
I couldn''t have been more grateful that the goblin had instantly agreed to train me when I had asked, setting aside all other tasks and setting his assistants to work on forging us more rounds. He didn''t even charge a fee, simply waving it aside like nothing and muttering something about his duty as a craftsman. It seemed odd behavior to me, coming from a Goblin, but I wasn''t one to complain overmuch when it came to getting things for free. In the end, I decided it must have been a result of my hiring him directly, and as an actual NPC of the town, he had been placed fully at my disposal.
It took a hundred more shots before the Soulstone finally took on the glow and hue of one that had truly bonded with the weapon, but even still as the hum of the enchanted rock started pulsing in tune with the beating of the fungal skin, I was rewarded with the tring of new status updates.
|
You have successfully upgraded Clockwork Railgun!
Reputation raised with Clockwork Railgunfrom: NEUTRAL to:FRIENDLY
|
| Would you like to give Clockwork Railgun a name? Y/N |
I quickly selected yes and a menu opened in front of me, displaying a glowing keypad and an empty line of text. For the name of my weapon, I barely hesitated, already somehow feeling in my heart what I knew it to be. On the glowing panel in front of me I typed out in flowing letters, ''Alleycat'' and clicked ''Confirm''.
:10/10/2251:
8:42 PM
My training day finished with a new notification, awarding me anachievement for my long hours of practice.
|
Achievement Unlocked!
Senpai, Tier 1
Completed 100 hours of training.
Special:
+1 Stamina
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Smiling as I picked up Alleycat and waving as Sanrich packed up to go home, I stretched out my sore muscles and, not for the first time that day, danced through the Lifegiving Aura to magic away my exhaustion. I almost missed it when it was gone, I reflected, the sore muscles and aching joints reminding me of the hard work and sweat that I had poured into my marksmanship. Still, I knew there was no reason to remain uncomfortable when I had magic at my fingertips, and there would be plenty of time left later for sweat and pain when I started collecting new quests.
It was with a bounce in my step that I set off, meaning to log out and maybe scrounge up a bit of free food from the banquet table of my Adult program, when an update screen, much more unexpected and unwelcome than the last, flashed into my vision.
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New Quest!
Magical Catastrophe
Skotty discovered a new schematic while working in his lab! Unfortunately, when he was building the prototype something went horribly wrong. Rather than bending the will of legendary creatures, this device attracts hostile monsters directly into your town! Before he could shut it down, he had caught the attention of one such creature who is even now on its way toward Dementia
Intercept the Wyvern before it reaches Dementia and ransacks your town! Wyvern location and route is now marked on your map!
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Sighing and tired, I opened the local map and found the creature''s location and auto pathing listed in the interface. Thankfully, it would take twenty-four hours for the beast to close inon the city. However, the drawback was that the creature''s name was clearly labeled in the golden letters of a Legendary magical beast. And even with the full strength of the city and my crew available, I knew that there was a good chance the thing would be reducing our town into cinders by the end of the day tomorrow.
I wasn''t sure why such an advanced encounter had appeared, though I did remember the warnings from when I had first leveled up the town and started selecting the perks. I guessed that when the ''Megalith'' guardians were complete that were even now being built in my Megalithic workshops then there would be something of a safety net for encounters such as this one. It was probably just bad luck that the Wyvern had appeared some weeks before the first Megalith construction had been completed, and it was likewise probably just dumb probability that had left me in these straits. But it was still incredibly frustrating and disheartening, after all we had accomplished, to think that by sunset tomorrow we would be starting over from square one.
Shaking my head and half-heartedly cursing my town''s resident Mad Scientist, I hardened my heart and opened my panels to start organizing a grand hunt. Blinky, Olga, Steve, and Gray were invited, of course, and I also posted a town-wide announcement declaring it an open Event set for first thing tomorrow morning. I needed time to get my people together, no army marches in a day, and yet there wasn''t much time to be had for planning or for strategizing.
It was with the upcoming tragedy weighing heavily on my mind that I finally did log out. Forcing myself out of DDO and into the ravishing Adult pleasures of my relaxation program.
I was so involved in my own thoughts then that I didn''t even realize, as I filled my plate in the evening breeze and slipped into a hot tub, that on the massage table next to me lay a perfect reproduction of my own body. A sighing, contented version of myself sprawled out naked, even then receiving all of the attentions of our adoring harem while I quietly sipped my wine.
Chapter 27: Blood Upon the Water
:10/11/2251:
10:43 AM
It had taken longer even than I had expected to form our army and start our march. Still, as we trotted through the dark canopy of the marsh I was glad for the extra hours we had spent in preparation.
Blink, Olga, Gray and I lead the vanguard. We had pulled from our newly built bestiaries the horses that now carried our vanguard and the hounds that were nipping at our feet. I use the words ''horses'' and ''hounds'' somewhat figuratively, though, for in reality, these creatures were neither. The hounds were about what you would have expected from our little fungal abode, each being built like a Doberman with elongated, protracted jaws, as well as a half dozen spore tendrilsgrowing from their backs. As they ran, occasionally a pack would raise one of the tendrils into the air, and it would grow a faint shade of luminescent green as the creatures picked up speed and zoomed across the terrain. Faintly, I wondered what buffs the other tendrils might possess, but rather than ask I left the matter in the capable hands of our Mushroom Kennelmasters and focused on the actual logistics of our treck.
The horses, however, were another matter entirely. They seemed less to have evolved from our twisted little city than to have been a leftover template from when our Faction was still the Undercity. Their fur was dark black, to the point where it looked more like smoke than hair, the whisps of which parting airly around your fingers as you placed your hands against the equine backs. Their teeth were sharpened into points, to a one, somehow matching the jagged, bony protrusions that were visible from their hooves. And when I say ''that were visible'' I mean that quite literally - the majority of their hooves were engulfed by seemingly infinitely generated clouds of black smoke, hovering lightly over the ground as they ran.
The smoke of their hooves seemed to indicate more than just fancy particle effects, however, as as we reached the bogs of the swamp, rather than sinking down into the deep waters below, the horses carried us lightly and swiftly across the surface of the waters. It must have made quite the sight, I reflected, as hundreds of mounted riders trotted lightly across the surface of such harsh terrain as if they were taking a quiet stroll in the park - each of which carried lightly on hooves of smoke mounted atop black horses with the glowing red eyes from a child''s nightmare.
A good number of Roleplayers, I knew, had chosen to join us despite my attempts to ferret them away. They were about fifteen minutes behind our mounted calvary, I figured, traveling on impromptu rafts and using long branches to push their watery vehicles through the deep bog. I had the less powerful PC''s back there with them, and I knew that Steve had volunteered to leave the whole ramshackle crew, so I figured I''d done everything for them that I could to ensure their survival. And also, the less compassionate side of my mind told me, even if they were to die I would still have a high enough town population to reach the next level for my town with several thousand to spare.
As the Wyvern''s silhouette appeared in the distance, I could almost feel the excitement and the tension around me. Especially as it came further into view and we could see that several hundred smaller, juvenile versions of the creature were accompanying it. It wasn''t just a beast, it was a swarm of the monsters. And with every passing minute, it became more and more clear that we were going to be in for one hell of a fight.
Of the PCs who I had issued the town''s mounts to, the ones who I wanted in the vanguard and yet did not yet possess their own, they were to a one ranged classes with mobility enhancements. Wizards, Sorcerers, Rangers, Warriorsand any advanced classes thereof rode with us in that vanguard. And, I noted with no small amount of satisfaction, all members of martial classes, excepting for the few already in possession of Legendary weapons, had upgraded to the newly designed clockwork firearms of my town.
My only real regret was that I could not fill the ranks of the vanguard with more support classes, for healing and buffing the troops. However, I had realized earlier that morning, as I was putting together our formations, that support classes in our faction were quite actually as rare as rumors had said. It seemed like we maybe had one support for a thousand soldiers, and even then the support classes more often appeared in the ranks of the Roleplayers than they did in the troops.
Not for the first time, I felt myself envious of McBeal''s alliance with the Armies of Light and their unfair number of Paladin players. Angmar had their Shamans, Galdenheim had their Witches, but Undercity had never been the type of faction to draw all that many Healers or Support. Add to that the fact that the system didn''t offer the option for support classes to every player, and of those that met the requirements an even fewer number chose a healer or buffer when they only had a single character that they could play, and you already had a fairly low number of players in game who had chosen the role. Still, it was something that I was hoping to remedy with my own cities trainers and abilities, someday in the future, and I resolved to make more investments in trainers that would draw me additional supports.
As the cloud of monsters approached overhead, the rangers had already begun taking pot shots at the nearing monstrosities. I could tell they weren''t aiming at individual creatures, but rather firing generally at the mass of beasts and counting on statistics to find their marks for them. I made my own attempt at it as well, though firing from dry land and firing into the air from the back of a moving horse were two separate things entirely. While the stirrups held my weight fairly well, it was in no way stable enough for me to steady my hands and, I found, I was entirely unable to compensate for the jarring jumps my body made as I attempted to fire.
One of the rangers spoke, turning toward me, "Warlord Frost, should we engage?"
I simply nodded, wordlessly, and looked around me, attempting to find a bank or a fallen log from which I could gain stable footing. Yet no matter how hard I looked, I couldn''t find anything at all that might hold my weight while I danced out my Auras. Frustrated, I raised my hands and shouted, "Fortify here!" Before the company had even stopped, I was shifting into my serpentine scales and slithering into the air overhead.
In theory, I would be able to cast Auras now from this shifted form due toMystical Nature and yet, as I flew, I realized one important detail. Without hands and feet, all the training I had received when I was learning the Auras was worthless, and the long and short of it was that I had no idea what I even needed to do in order to cast.
Desperately, as the monsters drew ever closer, I began dancing fine, swirling loops in the air. I was hoping I would get something... a prompt perhaps, or maybe just a status update, but as the Wyverns grew ever close I found myself more and more at a loss for what to do.
It wasn''t until I was giving up, lowering my altitude to rejoin my company, that I heard a soft, familiar sigh inside my head."Hey, I think this is one of those things you are supposed to learn through the AI assist. I think I see a learning program here we can try."
I was relieved for a moment, before I felt a jarring change, as though my body was jerking and tumbling around, outside of my control. It felt like some kind of seizure at first, involuntary muscle spasms taking hold of my body and flinging me back and forth in the air, before the knowledge of what was happening slowely settled into my mind."Yikes, sorry about that Mags, I was assuming you''d get some kind of prompt or something there,"she paused as my movements started becoming more regular and I could feel my body moving in a sort of rhythmic pattern."Ok, so that should be our Lifegiving Aura, hold on Mags, as soon as it triggers I''m going to jump us straight into Marionette."
My sore, scaly butt started feeling better for half of a second, then again I''m not entirely sure that I even had a butt. Either way, the relief of my exhaustion fading didn''t last more than a single heartbeat before my body was jerked to the side, violently, and my stomach did a little heave. Again, I felt like I was lost in involuntary spasms as my coils were forced through the new set of rhythms. I thought for sure that I was about to fall bodily to my death, and yet the dancing leaps and falls of my body somehowmagically managed to still simulate a kind of flight.
It was another ten seconds before the jerking, falling motions began to smooth and I felt myself falling into the twists and airborne twirls of a more formal, swooping dance. It wasn''t long, really, when it came to learning a new skill, and yet as the hordes of monsters swooped down ever closer and closer it felt to me like a lifetime. I let myself move with the flow as the tingle of the second, active aura cascaded over my body, and I found that as my brain slowly learned to perform the swooping dance on its own the AI assist began, gently, to release its hold on my body.
I let the Wyvern horde approach as closely as I dared before I started trying to use the dance, the rising and falling of my body, to slowly start skirting away. It, still, wasn''t enough and I felt the air whoosh by as the first of their birdlike claws narrowly missed grabbing onto my head.
I let myself fall, for a moment, barreling toward the ground before I tried to pick up the dance again. I used that little bit of space I had won to buy just a couple more seconds of my active Aura''s effect.
Thankfully, those few extra seconds turned out to be all the time that I did need. My thirty-two points in Charisma turned out to be worth their weight in gold, every single one - and one, then two of the beasts turned on the hordes around them and started savaging their brothers with jagged claws and teeth.
I used my confusion to dance my way higher, surrounding myself in a whirlwind of mayhem as wyvern turned on wyvern and a hail of gunfire and... actual fire... shot up into the tangled mess from my troops stationed below. The young wyverns were falling by the dozens, there on the edges of their horde, bodies raining heavily upon the branches and pools of the swamp below.
It would have been a quick and decisive battle against the mobif it wasn''t for the sheer number of them that were starting to reach our lines. Outside of the chaotic maelstrom I had created, more and more swooped in above, descending bodily through the canopy of branches and launching themselves upon the ranks of avatars below.
The warriors were holding their own, having dropped their rifles and bows in favor of their swords and shields, but the mages and rangers were falling like weeds before the waves of monstrous claws and teeth. In the tangle of the swamp, forced to choose between fighting on horseback versus wading into the waist-deep waters below, they suddenly found themselves to be in a very awkward position with no way to form or hold the ranks of a true formation. I watched from my curling dance, feeling helpless and shocked, as I watched a dozen of the men fall, their mounts savaged by the waves of monsters pouring in.
As the dozen became dozens, and the lines of my calvary buckled and fell, I heard Em in my head, shouting to the army below,"Fall back, you idiots! Retreat and meet up with our reinforcements! Now!"This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Olga''s voice shouted above the chaos, quickly echoed by Blinky''s yell. Both appeared to have commander''s shout abilities, and both were echoing Em''s orders to their men, "Fall back! Fall back!"
I stared, dumbfounded, as they started to once again move in a well-oiled clockwork. Olga stood high in her stirrups, weaving a twin pair of oversized axes deftly in her hands as she cleared a way through the masses of the Wyverns. As they moved, the group seemed once again able to form the semblance of a formation, with the warriors falling in on the outer edges of the calvary, with the rangers than the wizards within the protected center formation. The hounds followed along happily, jumping high into the air as red lights cascaded from the tendrils on their back, and happily nipping at the Wyverns trailing the formation.
Blink, however, had stayed behind with me to hold off the body of the horde.
He was beyond a wonder to see, especially as I darted in closer to ensure that my lingering Livegiving Aura was close enough to count. He used a warrior''s ability that I had never before seen to jump into the air, flashing between the wyverns in waves of light and sound. It was similar to a warrior''s ''Charge'' and yet it was almost instantaneous, launching him in, seemingly, any direction at all.
He stabbed and rode a wyvern, leaping to stab another and falling, only to twist around and impale a third with his momentum. He moved like he was within, not DDO, but some old platforming game, the goal of which to never stay on the same ledge for longer than a heartbeat before sliding, tumbling, or jumping onward to the next.
My own dance was also starting to have an obvious effect. Where, originally, the Wyverns that fell to my Aura were quickly turned on and devoured by their kin, I had started to reach a critical mass, where the number of Wyverns I controlled was increasing faster than the possessed beasts could be killed. I started to wonder, a faint hope forming in my heart that the two of us could take out the mob all on our own. But it was a hope that died in my heart almost as soon as it had been kindled, as an errant claw gorged itself in Blink''s shoulder, knocking him away from his own strange dance and into the muck below.
I dove down, too afraid to switch to an active Lifegiving Aura and be overrun by the oncoming horde of beasts above me for even a few seconds, I still attempted to get as close to my fallen friend as I could. Instinctively, I hovered over where he had fallen and growled to the hordes above me that even then crashed through the branches and blotting out the sky.
I knew in my heart that it was over, that the two of us had bought our army as long as we possibly could to reforge their ranks and try again. And yet I screamed out in my hissing, serpentine voice my rage, my defiance, at the monsters clicking talons and biting teeth. It would have been the last of us too, quite certainly, if it hadn''t been for the secondary properties of my Aura that only then decided to make their appearance.
Next to us, a crocodile leaped out of the water and snapped its jaws around a low-flying monster, dragging it down into the waters below. I had not even seen it or known it was thereuntil the water violently parted and it''s gaping maw closed around its unsuspecting prey.
A creature leaped from the branches of a tree, then another. They looked like baboons, sort of, except they had moss instead of hair that covered their bodies, and their fingers ended in long, jagged claws they swiped into the backs of the Wyverns they landed on. Their battle cries seemed deep, and strangely human, as they launched themselves at my foes, and the Wyverns fell faster than I would have thought possible to the leaping, agile claws of the Mossmen.
Not one to press my luck at that point, I quickly shifted and scooped up Blinky''s massive body. I could barely lift half of him, with my pathetic two in strength, but even still I managed to get him partially across my back. He was still aware, thankfully, if stunned, and I scooted him in place with the cords of my tentacles until I felt his hands grabbing onto my robe.
Using that moment, I shifted into my newest magical shape, rising out of the water as the smoke-hoofed horses had done before me and charging across the waters with my alley on my back. Being a magical beast came with privileges, I reflected as I ran, even if I was limited from anyflightabilities in this particular form.
I could see the horn between my eyes begin to glow as we slowly picked up speed. Thankfully, my gait seemed to be magically smooth, as I didn''t feel Blink sliding around overmuch from across my back. After a good twenty seconds, whatever debuffs that were in place had appeared to wear off, and he swung himself smoothly into place on my back.
As we rode, he leaned down close to my head and ran a hand playfully through my mane. Though I knew I was a horse and it couldn''t have possibly been anything but friendly, I felt my equine body thrilling at his touch in my hair. He whispered, with the type of exhilarated humor that you would only dare in the heat of a fight, into my flopping ears, "You know, Magpie. You''re pretty fun to ride."
Tossing my head, I expected that my words would come out as the neighing of a horse. That is my excuse, at least, as I found the unicorn''s mouth and tongue were easily forming my human words, "Next time, you''re buying me dinner first, buddy."
I almost skipped a step in shock, as I realized that I had spoken out loud. But despite the blush beneath the snow white hair my muzzle, I was warmed to hear his laugh from where he sat atop me. It sounded so wild and uninhibited, a laugh that is only ever possible after thinking you were about to die, and the deep, masculine sound echoed through my thudding heart.
We didn''t speak another word between us as we pulled up on the ranks of our armies. The cavalry had taken formation around the rafts of the ground troops, and I was happy to see the thousand odd roleplayers were firmly placed in the center of both formations.
With numbers again on our side, we turned to face the Wyverns, even then hot upon our heels as their wings beat steadily through the midday air.
The hundred odd smaller beasts that remained fell swiftly to our combined might. And while many of the ground troops were less useful when facing beasts in the air, that still had not prevented them from buying cheap bows or rifles and sighting manually up at the hoards, as I had been training to do.
It was thus that our reformed army, thousands strong, turned to meet the Mother Beasty flying steadily toward our tiny ranks.
Depositing Blinky down on one of the rafts, I swiftly shifted and lifted off the surface of the water in my now familiar, Serpentine shape. The sight of the beast that had murdered Queen McBeal seemed to give our men added strength, and as I actively danced the Lifegiving steps, I slithered my way across the ranks of our soldiers and made sure that every one had been healed of any earlier injury.
The passive aura of theMarionette still in effect, I noted snidely that massive, twenty foot long vultures were harassing the Queen Wyvern as it flew. It would occasionally take the time to bite at or swat one of them down, but it was obvious to us that the monster''s HP had already had slightly been chipped away. I sent a silent ''thanks'' to the buffs and perks of my town, for silently keeping our armies safe from such creatures whilelikewise turning my little support focused aura into a force of its own. It was obvious that, if not for the sheer, massive power of the creature before us, the overgrown beasts of our swamp would have taken care of the entire situation without us lifting a finger.
As it was, our troops were fired up as the Mother Wyvern closed on our ranks, and the firing of our rifles, our bows, and our spells echoed a chorus of death around us. Even I resumed my Nymphian form atop one of the rafts, straightening my crown before sighting down my Allycat for a few shots of my own. The hiss and the shock of her own claws flinging out, barreling across the sky and into the massive creature sent little shivers of joy down my spine.
It took us all by surprise, then, when she swooped in bodily, landing her massive bulk directly into the middle of our formation and lashing out with tooth and claw and tail. A hundred of our roleplayers died then, breathing their actual, final breaths in the initial half-second of her attack. And another hundred fell in the seconds after that, along with a good half of the combat avatars who dived in to their defence.
And yet, after the initial assault, I saw a familiar sight that somehow lifted the shock from my mind. Like a liquid shadow, a player had melded into view atop the wyvern''s back, and their twin swords were burying their way up the creature''s spine as if they were climbing a mountain.
The Mother Wyrmnoticed, and not only did she notice, but she sent her clawed wings flying at the creature on her back, attempting to swat him off like an annoying, buzzing fly. And yet, every time her wing swatted where the man had been, his body swirled back into that strange mist of shadowand appeared somewhere new on the creature''s body.
The Roleplayers seemed somehow crazily bolstered at the man''s appearance on the Wyvern''s back, and even as they fired their weapons, I could hear their battle shout. It was hazy at first, drowning in a seaof rifle fire and exploding arrows that failed to pierce the creature''s hide, but it slowly became clear to my ears what it was that they were shouting.
"Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve..."
I smirked as I realized that I knew who it was that was riding that creature''s back. And it seemed that the quiet rogue had something of a following that quite had rivaled my own. Emboldened by the rising energy, despite the sea of our dead the pooled in rivers and lakes of blood red water, repainting the marshes'' surface with our own blood and gore, I took wing and flew.
Flapping madly on dark, raven wings, I rose up high over head, up and up and up until I was well over thetop of the wyvern''s muzzle. Steve was putting on a hell of a show below me, but I was going to be damned if I let him steal the scene.
Shifting in the air to my Nyphian form, I cartwheeled through the air until I held my rifle directly pointed down, and I fired bodily into the top of the creature''s skull. It screamed, reaching up with its teeth to claim my helplessly falling skin between its jaws, but I managed to shift, just inches from death, and regain a bit of altitude.
As I readied myself to dive again, I noticed that the Wyvern was still biting at the air, with Olga and Blinky having jumped at the golden opportunity to lead their squads of swordsmen in for a quick swipe at her neck. And before the beast could react to their newly renewed assault, I attempted the trick again.
This time, however, the recoil of the rifle sent me spinning out of control, and even my feathered wings could not seem to catch hold of the wind to discontinue my fall. I thought I had scored a hit deep in the monster''s gaping mouth, right through her awaiting jaws, but I didn''t have time to stop and check as I found myself crashing deeply into the waters below.
By the time I had cleared my head in the murkand managed to blur into the form of the Unicorn, the fight was already done. Our swordsmen had carved a hole in the creature''s unprotected neck, and Steve had, I stared in disbelief, carved out his own name in bloody furrows down the massive creature''s scaly back.
As we reformed our ranks and took count of our survivors, I noticed that the men had stayed well clear of the Beastial body. And even as I found a spot on a raft and began to dance our wounded back to health and our fallen back to life, I saw Blink slowly coming toward me.
After he had watched and let me dance for a good minute of time, he finally opened his mouth to say. "We are waiting for you to take the first loot and finish the town''s quest, Magpie."
I shook my head, hearing his voice, and finally paused in my dance. "Um... right, Blink. Thanks," I muttered. Leaning closer, I asked him, "and what do you think that I should take exactly."
Smiling, he tossed something at me, shaking his head with that teasing grin stitched across his lips. "Jesus, Mags. You can be such a noob sometimes."
I looked down to the lump of stone that I had caught. It was, quite possibly, the clearest, purest bit of Soulstone that I had ever seen. Tilting my head at him, the enormity of what we had just down only now sinking into my addled brain, I broke out into a sudden, violent grin of my own. "Hey Blink, thanks. You''re totally my hero and stuff."
And as I carved my way to bury the stone into the creature''s heart, I made sure that I grabbed a snack while it filled with the pure, legendary magic of the fallen monster before me. And I smiled as I heard some few of the role-players behind me begin to vomit into our swamp.
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Quest Complete!
You have saved your city from the consequences of your own scientific experimentation.
Reward: Megalith construction components
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Hearts ofMagic
Wyvern-Form Acquired
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