I woke up to a beautiful sunrise out over the sea. Took a mourning piss off the side of my ledge paying attention to the wind. A shit came next, thankfully it was all hard so there wasn’t much to clean off with swabs of damp grass. Too much realism was annoying, but I figured most of the weaker players would crumple under the strain. I had some water, jerky, and bread while I contemplated my next move.

Players were appearing all across the land and were either being eaten by monsters or hunted down by the local NPCs. I was probably one of the few, in one of the better spots with swords, food, and a canteen. Unfortunately I was in a state of war with the local city. I let out a small sigh. I needed a base of operations where I could really get into questioning the NPCs.

Getting into the city at the moment was next to impossible. I kept both swords strapped to my waist instead of putting them into the satchel. I climbed back up the cliff.

Climbing-1Up, up, and awayLvL: You understand the basics of climbing

That made me smile, another skill was always welcome. “Skills” I said.

SKILLSBlunt Weapons-1Piercing Weapons-1Cutting Weapons-2Throwing-1Riding-1Light Conditioning-2Climbing-1Stealth-1Basic Biology-2Torture-1Deception-3Meditate -1Observe -1Murderer-50Depraved-5Army of One-2Enemy of the People-3Massacre of Willhelm-1 MAX

A good start, but only two active skills. My MP was barely going up. Based on an eight hour night it looked like it only went up about 1%. Since I had about 100 MP based on my Observe skill that meant I was regening at about 0.1 MP per hour. That was stupid, but it also meant I would need to be careful how much MP I used.

I figured that there were probably higher and better skills beyond Mediation which allowed a person to gather MP much more quickly. It also meant specializing was the way to go. I closed out my screens and gathered up a bunch of pebbles. As I walked I would alternate hands throwing them at targets. I soon earned another skill.

Ambidextrous-1Right is left, left is rightLvL 1: You understand the basics of using both hands

Good news, but unfortunately the first two levels of a skill didn’t seem to have any effect on my stats. I needed to rank them up if I wanted bonuses. As the mourning dragged on I saw the cliff quickly descending and a small fishing village where the cliff turned into a beach.

I quickly laid down in the tall grass and stared at the village. I counted nine buildings. So about forty to fifty people. I also noted soldiers patrolling around the village. I used Meditate while I waited and watched. Multi-tasking and leveling up these soft skills at all times would be useful in the long run. A night attack would probably best. Laying there was boring, but boring was the path to surviving.

I could easily imagine all the other players running around demanding quests and then getting stabbed to death. As I sunk into my daydream I almost missed the person who faded into being off to the side of the village. Unfortunately for them the soldiers saw as well and raced over. I counted eight soldiers, so probably a ten, with the last two resting or patrolling somewhere else.

The player tried to run but a well-placed arrow brought him down. The soldiers bound the poor soul up and carted him off to what looked like a shack of some sort. This could be an opportunity. If they had captured a number of people, I could easily free them to cause chaos. I didn’t want followers or a guild. Well maybe latter on once I was powerful enough on my own.

No other players appeared and soon the fishing boats were returning. As night quickly approached I saw three large wagons surrounded by at least fifty soldiers approaching. The back of the wagons were filled with people. They were heading away from Breckley. I also saw a knight leading them. “Observe”, I whispered.

Sir Davos Roththorn of BreckleyLvL 93

So fifty fishermen, sixty soldiers, and a knight. The soldiers quickly began setting up a small camp on the outskirts of the village while the knight and a couple of the soldiers went into the houses. I had only fought the peasants straight out, but I didn’t harbor any illusions about my chances against a knight or trained soldiers in a straight up fight.

I couldn’t sell any loot I gathered either. The best I could hope for would be various coins. The prisoners in the wagons were well guarded but however many were in the hut had not been moved yet. There were twenty per wagon, so sixty players.

From what I could see at least half were wounded in one way or the other. Even if they were in tip top shape, Sir Davos would cut through them like a hot knife through butter. Even the soldiers would massacre them. I saw two soldiers outside the house Sir Davos was sleeping in. If I got up on the roof I could get in that way. Kill the knight, kill anyone else inside and then escape out the same way while lighting the building on fire. Using the weapons I collected I could arm the prisoners I freed from the hut and then lead an assault on the wagons to free the rest of them.

I waited until the guards switched out again in the middle of the night. I then moved down towards the village and next to the house Sir Davos was in. I looked around the side and saw a wood pile. Using that I made my way up onto the roof. I carefully moved the straw and wood slats out of the way and ducked my head inside.

It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I counted two soldiers asleep on beds along with Sir Davos. Another soldier was sitting on a chair and dozing. Probably was ordered to stand guard inside, but dozed off. I saw the knight’s sword and armor next to his bedside. There was no good place to climb down into the house. The walls were stone and mortar, so once I jumped in I would be trapped.

Sir Davos stirred slightly and let out a snort but didn’t wake. That was far too close. I used my fire striker and started a fire going on the roof. I then wrapped some of the burning straw in a spare shirt I had and tossed it onto a nearby house. I did it again for a second house. Finally I set the roof on fire that I was on. I put the striker away and readied my grip on a single short sword. I then leaped down and directly onto Sir Davos. My aim was off and my sword went through his shoulder. My body landed on his chest causing him to exhale all the air inside of him preventing him from screaming. I quickly leapt off the man and drew my second sword leaving my first pinning his shoulder into the wooden bed.

I stabbed one soldier through the throat and was racing onto the second when Sir Davos started shouting. “Attack, get your asses in here!” The dozing soldier woke up with a start just as I finished stabbing the second soldier through the neck.

The two soldiers from outside burst in. I was already moving behind the freshly made corpse. The roof had really started to go at this point giving a red glow to the room as embers rained down. “Get this stupid sword out of me and grab my armor. Guard the door!” Sir Davos roared. The soldiers leapt to obey. In seconds the knight was escorted out along with his gear and the three surviving soldiers.

I heard shouting from outside as the village became an inferno, now I just needed to get out. I raced to the door as smoke began to fill the single room house. I yanked open the door while staying off to the side. Arrows flew through the doorway and thudded into the far wall. I pushed the door shut.

“Get buckets, don’t let the fire spread. Double the guard on the prisoners. Surround the burning buildings, don’t let him escape.” I heard Sir Davos booming over the shouting outside. Shit, with him organizing things it would next to impossible to get out of alive. I began to pry up the stones that made the floor and found sand underneath. I quickly got to work with a nearby bucket scooping out the sand and dirt and tossing it off to all sides around me so there wasn’t an obvious pile. Embers were raining down all around me and it was getting hard to breath.

I pulled over a table over the hole I just made and then jumped in. With a bit of work I leveraged the large flat stone back over my hole in the ground and waited. It was dark, hot, hard to breath, but there was nothing else to do. I focused on my meditation while I waited.

Eventually the heat died down and it became a bit easier to breath. I just waited. Time stretched on and I lay there hidden in a hole under a stone in a burnt out hut surrounded by enemy soldiers and a pissed off knight.

I heard boot steps above me. “Dammit, my pack is gone.”

“You’re lucky it’s not your hide, Sir Davos is pissed.”

“Yeah, but shit, I had forty copper in there I was saving up.”

“Thank Culk that you weren’t the one killed.”

“Shit, is that Brain’s…”

“Yeah, what’s left of him. Come on, we have to find the corpse of the person crazy enough to do all of this.” I heard them moving about above me.

“You hear about the Willhelm massacre?”

“Who hasn’t, an entire village. These Travelers are going to pay by the eight. I had a cousin in that town.”

“I thought you hated your cousin.”

“That’s not the point. We can’t just have these travelers walking all over us. I say kill them all and ask questions later.”

“Find anything?”

“No, you?”

“No, just Brian and Jacob. No other corpses.”

“Not it.”

“No way, I am not explaining this.”

“Well I am not explaining it either.” There was a long moment of silence.

“Coin flip to let Culk decide. Fish, you go, lord’s face I go.”

“Deal.” I heard a ping as a coin hit the stones.

“Shit, lord’s head. You are way too lucky you know that.”

“Thank you Culk for saving my sorry ass.” I head the soldiers leave. There was more shouting as more people came into the burnt out house.

“Where is that bastard who thought he could stab me? I am going to flay him and then feed him piece by piece to the fishes.” That was clearly a pissed off Sir Davos. “Sargent, your men surrounded this place the whole night?”

“Yes, Sir Davos. Only five people left the burning buildings after we surrounded them. Three soldiers and two peasants. I personally checked them all myself and had the other villagers confirm the identities. We checked the other houses and surrounding area, there is no corpse or anyone suspicious.”

“Well then, what caused the fire, stabbed me, and killed two soldiers!” Sir Davos boomed out.

“They might have escaped before we completed our encirclement.” The Sargent said.

“Well get your men out there and start looking. This is unacceptable. We need to make the mines in a week, but at this rate we won’t get anywhere. Start the wagons going. Search for half a day with thirty men and then catch up at the next town. I except results.” I heard Sir Davos move away by the clank of his armor.

“You heard him, let’s get this piss hole organized. Squads one, two, and three are to move with the wagons and Sir Davos to the next town. Squads four and five along with the one assigned to the village will spread out and search the surrounding area. If you find anything, call in a tracker. Move it ladies!”

I waited quietly under the stone. While I could have used the auto pilot, skills wouldn’t level up when using it. This was the perfect time to work on my stealth and meditation. So I waited in the dark. I heard villagers move through the house picking up what remained of their home. Being a good assassin is mostly about waiting for the right moment and acting as swiftly as possible. Not about dressing in black and throwing ninja stars.

That is what most people don’t realize. It isn’t all about charging into dungeons and killing things. Waiting and planning are far more useful skills. I dozed in and out and waited. Even when my body screamed to move I waited. When I was about to go out of my mind and hadn’t heard anything for quite a while, that was when I acted. I carefully pushed up on the stone. Dust and debris rained down, but I was ready with my eyes and mouth shut.

I waited and then pushed up on the stone again. It was night out with some flickering light that wasn’t nearby based on the low intensity. I carefully moved the stone up and off to the side and was pelted with a cloud of dust and ash. Almost everything had been cleared out of the burnt out shell of a house. I carefully climbed out and then replaced the stone. I made sure to kick dust over it again to hide where I had come from. No need to give these idiots any extra clues.

I went over to a corner dark corner and took a long drink of water and had a piece of jerky. I put my short sword back on my waist, the other one was probably snapped by Sir Davos in rage. I made sure to stretch my cramped muscles and take in the fresh but slightly sooty air. I then made my way out of the burnt out house to the other side of the fishing village from where I had entered. From there I quickly moved along the shore and away from my last battle.

That had been a disaster. I kept moving keeping an eye out for anywhere I could hide out. After about an hour of walking I came upon another fishing village. I quickly went around it and pressed on. I finally found a couple of large boulders. Exhausted, I collapsed in between them. I dived out of the way just in time before a rock smashed into the ground where my head had been. A younger man was looking at me.

He tried to kill me, there could be no mercy. I drew my sword. “Hey now, this doesn’t need to get violent.”

“You started it.”

“You are dressed like one of them, how was I to know. This is my hiding spot.” There was a long stretch of silence. “Um, you are welcome to stay here too.” I threw my sword at the player. It was dark and I was tired.

The blade drew a long gash along the player’s side. “What the hell man. Why are you attacking me?” He shouted. What an idiot. I rushed forward and tackled him. We landed on the ground with me on top. I pushed both of my thumbs through his eyelids and into his eyes. He thrashed and yelled but wasn’t able to break free. I pushed harder and he finally stilled.

I pulled out my thumbs with a squelching sound and then wiped them off on the corpses face. I collapsed and fell asleep next to the cooling body.

I woke up well past dawn. I gathered up my sword and scouted out around my position. A bunch of trees nearby, beach the other direction, some larger rocks, and not much else. I had the last of my water and some bread and jerky. I then stripped out of my clothes and proceeded to wash them in the ocean. The soot smell was impossible to get rid of, but thankfully it became more manageable.

Next I gathered some wood for a fire. I focused on dried out branches of which there were plenty of, to limit the amount of smoke. Next I began searching the corpse. The guy had nothing, literally nothing. He was probably hiding out here and starving to death. What a wuss. I started the fire and began roasting the man’s leg. I hadn’t encountered any wildlife and I wanted something more than stale bread and tough jerky.

While my food was cooking I scouted out the nearby forest for some water. There was a small rocky stream running towards the ocean, which I took some water from. Moving water had a lot less chance of making me ill than stagnant water, at least I hoped. No idea if I could get sick in game. Returning to my camp site I checked my wet clothes I had laid out on the nearby rocks. Still damp unfortunately.

I made sure the leg I was cooking was well done and chucked the rest of the corpse into the ocean. Let the little ocean critters take care of it. Then I decided to go through all the pop-ups I had missed from my last adventure while my food cooked.

Stealth-2

Meditate -2

Murderer-52

Enemy of the People-4

Player Killer-1No mercy+1% Constitution per LvL

Smoke Inhilation-3Smoke is the true killerLvL 1: -10% HP/SPLvL 2: -15% HP/SPLvL 3: -25% HP/SP

Experience+120002+10 LvLYou are level 3

That was not good. Hopefully smoke inhalation would go down over time, since it appeared all the effects were stacking up. I placed my three stat points I gained for my level into dexterity.

Dexterity Focus-1Speed is all relative+25% to Reaction Time per LvL

Reaction time was probably one of those hidden stats, but I wasn’t about to complain. This was exactly what I had been hoping for. If it went up at fifty and not fifty one dexterity, which meant every fifty dexterity I would get a lot faster. So about seventeen to twenty levels to push dexterity up to one hundred depending on how much I dumped into the stat.

I continued to rotate the leg while I stretched out my aching muscles. I had already stretched out after waking up but I wanted to get back to fighting standard as quickly as possible. My mind was also thinking about how killing NPCs increased my Fate while killing players increased my Constitution. That made absolutely no sense.

It was dusk and the leg was thoroughly cooked. I began cutting pieces away and enjoying the freshly cooked meat. It makes a big difference having a warm meal versus a cold one. After a couple of pieces I put back on my clothes and settled in close to the fire while munching on meat.

Cannibal-1What it means to survive+1% Constitution per LvL+1% Fate per LvL

I closed the screen and contemplated what the stat Fate would do. The lady in white said it related to events and I was unable to increase it when I had spare points. There was a sense of foreboding about it. It was already high and would only get higher. Probably better to avoid eating more people, while a percentage didn’t seem to do much, once Fate got over one hundred it would have a bigger impact than a single point would.

I wonder if a god or dragon would come down and bless me. I chuckled to myself, more likely eat me instead. My fire died to coals as it got dark and I lay there next to it staring up at the night sky. My mind was on that one percent share. With a company value of seven something trillion dollars, one percent was seventy billion. Only one person could win, they could not donate, give, or pass on the money to anyone else who ever played FEAR for a period of no less than ten years. No super guilds or massive splits, only one winner.

I wanted to win more than anything else. I would be secure in my future. No more over the top violence to penetrate an already over flowing online video market. The Rain of Blood video was the only reason I was able to afford this new capsule and game. Unfortunately the upkeep and subscription costs were crushing. I logged out setting my auto pilot to sleep while staying alert for anything approaching.

I logged in at dawn. I had spent the night editing and sleeping in my Atrium. My in game body was stiff and sore from sleep on the ground, if only my comfy bed could some with me. While the time dilation was five times, I still needed to sleep to put my mind in a rested state. I packed up all my gear and continued to follow the coast. After half an hour of walking I saw a person in front of me as I came around an outcropping. We both stared at each other.

After a bit of staring we both advanced. It would be nice to actually speak to someone. Female, and also dressed like the locals. I also noticed a short sword on her waist. We stopped twenty feet from each other. She was easily a foot taller than me, but that didn’t mean anything since stats were what mattered. With short black hair and a small bosom it would be easy to mistake her for a man.

“Hello there.” I said, opening up conversation.

“What does NPC stand for?” She asked.

“Nice pulsating chest?” She began to draw her blade. “Non-player character.” She let her sword slide back in its sheathe.

“Was almost tricked once, can’t be too careful. The NPCs around here are going nuts.”

“Indeed, shall we go over to that large boulder to avoid prying eyes?” I gestured towards a large boulder. She looked around and then nodded. We walked over but kept our distance from each other. “I am Kenji a pleasure to meet a fellow survivor.”

“I am Helena, good to meet you as well.” We both stopped behind the boulder near the shore. “So want to trade stories?”

“Very well, I shall tell half of mine, then you tell yours, then I explain the rest.”

“Sounds fair.” I spun a tale of woe, mostly about me running away scared chased by peasants and soldiers. I wasn’t about to let people I ran across that I was probably one of the main reasons they were being hunted in this area.

Helena had a similar tale. I did pick out that she had joined a group but they had betrayed her in order to escape. When one of the NPCs tried to rape her she killed the man and then ran away also. Then an NPC had tried pretending to be a player in order to capture her, hence her question. The second half of my story was truthful except for the part I left out about killing and eating another player. It was a hunch that such a tale would not go down well.

“So tough six days also.” She said.

“Yes indeed. There is nothing up the coast but Breckley and that place is a death trap if I ever saw one.” She gave me a small nod. “Do you want to travel together?” That was a tough question. I didn’t trust her in the slightest. Even if she was a fan of my work, I would trust her even less.

“Perhaps, I plan to rampage my way along the coast killing and gathering information. You?”

“Just trying to find some town I can get my bearings in. Up the coast is another large city, Mendal. Maybe not as bad as Breckley, but soldiers are out everywhere.” I decided to go with her. The pros were quite high, and even if she did betray me I would only loose a bit of progress.

“Let’s head back the way I came. There was a larger fishing village we can take out.” I said.

“That seems…risky.” Changed my mind, she was a wimp. Time to kill her. I was at Smoke Inhilation-1 this morning, so only a minor debuff.

“Then only one of us will leave here alive.” I stood up and drew my sword.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You too, I swear if I die I am going to haunt you from the grave.” She drew her sword as well.

“Remember these words ‘Rain of Blood’.” I gave her a leer.

“What a creep, I didn’t make it all this way to die to an asshole like you.” I began to advance slowly. I noted her stance and saw she had taken sword lessons in VR as well most likely. Her body only presented its side profile and she was resting her sword pommel on her hip as she advanced to conserve her SP. No apparent weaknesses.

We slowly approached until the tips of our blades were touching. We pushed against each other and she quickly began to beat me. She had put more points into Strength. I backed off and she pushed forward with a jab. I deflected her attack off to the side and began to circle to her left, my right. She stepped in and unleashed a swing in my direction. I stepped back just out of range. Once that blade went by I stepped in and jabbed my sword into her gut. Unfortunately I didn’t penetrate too far but at least I had gotten first blood.

She let out a yell and swung wildly at me while I quickly darted to the side of her attacks. A glance at my SP bar showed it down two thirds. She stepped in and jabbed. I deflected the attack and used my left hand to pull my knife out of my shirt.

While not much as a kitchen knife, the surprise value was worth it as she brought her arms up to her face to block my throw. It was over. I slammed my sword into her gut once again, pushing the blade all the way through and then darted away. She collapsed to her knees on the ground her sword falling off to the side as she lost her grip.

“Asshole.” She spat out.

“Well you have three of them now, so that makes you a bigger ass hole.” She collapsed on the ground. I walked over to her pack while I kept an eye on her. I would let her bleed out. I didn’t think her pack was poisoned or trapped but there was no need to rush. It wasn’t a pack so much, but the same type of satchel the soldiers used.

It would sling over the shoulder and hip and have a strap over the chest. I sniffed it, but didn’t smell anything unusual. Nothing weird about the color or texture. I nudged it a couple times just to be sure there wasn’t a creature inside of it. No movement, so I opened it up and dumped everything out on the ground.

Thirty two coppers, which wasn’t much. Whetstone, jerky, bread, canteen, and small wood figure delicately carved. The craftsmanship was very good and I could see why she would have stolen it. I then turned back to her corpse. I kicked her a couple of times making sure she was dead. I then took up her dropped sword and cut off her head for good measure. I lived by my motto, if it has its head it isn’t dead.

Next I gathered up my blade and knife and cleaned off both of them. Then I began searching the headless corpse for anything useful, but there was nothing. I let out a disappointed sigh. Only the extra sword was worth the effort. I strapped the extra blade on my waist and started off again munching on day old meat wrapped in stale bread.

I checked my screens.

Player Killer-2

Experience+122-5 LvL

Well that was disappointing. Only a level twelve. I had honestly expected a bit more. I let out a long sigh.

***

Sliceman23: Sick shit, this guy is depraved

HolyMan: You will all burn in the fires of hell

Ramponator: I hope I meet our lord in game, for the rain of blood will be glorious

Sliceman23: To help or to kill him

UltimataSecret: Aren’t they both the same thing?

PedoBear9000: Best video ever, when they started talking I was like boring. But then he cut her up

HolyMan: You are an abomination and will burn

Lady_Killer: This asshole is the reason NPCs are after everyone

Ramponator: So our lord trolls for the good of all, and he who die are granted salvation

***

Lord Breckley sat on his throne watching his knights assemble before him. On the other side of the room were the clergy from the Church of Eight. Both groups equally useless in quelling this disaster. “I summoned you all before me because of the recent crisis. These travelers continue to appear over our lands and already the mines are filled to bursting. We kill them, more come. We torture them, more come. No matter what we do the endless tied does not stop.” Everyone began muttering to their neighbors.

“My family has ruled this land for over a thousand years, since the founding of the Church of Eight. One thing my father taught me was to always look for a solution outside of the barrel. It is simple, we will use these travelers to hunt down and kill other travelers.” There was a dead silence.

“Their minds think in the same weird way. In exchange for becoming official hunters, a select group of travelers will hunt down and kill every other traveler in our lands. In exchange our merchants, towns, and cities will be open for their use as any other lawful citizen.”

“This is an outrage. We can-“

“SILENCE! Sit down and shut up Sir Davos. You were wounded and the village you were in burned despite having sixty soldiers are your disposal and returned early from your escort duties. That is the reason for this. Neighboring lands may make the same offer and what then. While we fight these travelers who appear in our lands, our enemies will corral them and send them against us! No, we will use them as the tip of our spear. Let them fight amongst themselves as barbarians and heathens do. You will leave them alone and we shall see if they can succeed on their own merits.”

“For our clergy and knights we must prepare. Word has come that Galmore to the south is mobilizing all of their citizens. While they may be fighting against travelers there is also a chance they could march into our lands. Sir Willos, you will take half our clergy and knights and secure the southern border. I will leave the situation in your hands, but we must avoid a full scale war.”

“Sir Davos, you will be my representative to the hunters. This is your…reward and you may not refuse such an honorable task. If they harm a single one of our citizens, execute them all and recruit another group. Your first task is form a group of these travelers and to hunt down and kill one specific traveler who has declared war upon us, Kenji Shadowen.”