Chapter 7

**A New Friend**

Despite the robed man’s comment about the soup being cold, Jason found the mixture of potatoes and lamb tasty, especially considering it was free. He dipped his bread into the food gleefully and by the time he finished off the bowl he felt refreshed.

Most of the other people in the room were already lying down by the time he finished eating, ready for lights out. While he had been eating, Jason noticed a woman who stood out from the rest in the room. She had the gaunt and desperate look shared by everyone there, but she also wore a set of thin leather armor and her clothes were not ripped; she looked poor but not destitute. The woman must have been waiting for Jason to finish his food because when he placed his bowl on the floor she made her way over to him.

Casually, she dropped her blanket on the floor next to Jason and propped herself against the wall. “What happened to you?” she asked.

Jason was taken aback by the abruptness of the interaction, but he began to tell her how he was robbed by the two brothers. He was careful to omit the part about finding the phoenix power gem and when he was at the part about walking back to Exton a grey robe came into the room and smoldered the candles in the center. The woman urged him to continue and Jason proceed but in a hushed tone.

When he finished she commented, “so you’re a player too.”

“What you’re a player!” Jason exclaimed a little too loud. A few mumble went around the room, but no one felt like giving a prolonged protest. “Sorry,” Jason whispered, “you’re the first person I’ve met, not that any of the NPCs aren’t realistic. Heck most of the time I’ve forgotten their not real.”

“That’s because they are real, sort of. I have a family member who works for the game company. He told me in the game’s beta session they would collect data on player interactions and their brain waves to base the full game’s AI on. All the AI are like players, they have stats like you and me. The only difference is their brain in the real world isn’t in a stasis pod, but a server house. It’s a little creepy, but I like it, it makes me think of all of them as real people. I don’t know how deep their emotions are developed but I know they have memory and can interpret it by certain metrics. I think the longer the game runs the more human they will become.”

“Wow,” Jason said. “I wonder how aware they are of their reality.”

“I think they’re aware, and for some like those in here with us, it’s a nightmare. But it’s a form of life so they take it as it is. My name is Vanna by the way,” the woman said reaching out her hand.

Jason took it and introduced himself. “This is my second day in here and I’m already lost,” he remarked.

“It’s rough,” Vanna agreed, “I’ve been in here for about two in-game months. You think just merchants have a tough start, warriors might have it worse. I’m guess you’ve notice the lack of monsters to grind?” Jason nodded his head. “Well there are monster, they are just in certain areas and they are suppose to be very strong. There is a certain class type I’ve been trying to work towards call monster hunter. But to get it you need enough gold to buy the monster hunter license from the king. For a while I was conscripted into a nobles army, but it was tough work for little pay so I left about a week ago when I almost lost my head in a battle. I was able to get some good leveling in though and now I’ve been roaming around trying to find someone to join. This place is huge and they really spread apart the players. I ran into a small party a few days ago passing through town but they didn’t want to lug around a low level player that wasn’t a support role. You’re actually lucky, profession and support classes are valued when you level up enough. Combat classes are only useful so much and are a dime a dozen. That’s another reason why I wanted to get the monster hunter class. I’m sorry I’ve been talking your ear off honey.

“No, no, I’m just happy to be talking to someone else,” Jason said. “I met a nice NPC yesterday but besides that I’ve been pretty lonely. And to be honest, I don’t know what I’m going to do next.”

Even in the darkness Jason could tell Vanna was giving him a look. Her oval shaped head was tilted sideways and her dark green eyes glowered him with utter contempt. “I think it’s obvious.”

“What?” Jason said confused.

Vanna sighed, “we team up and I help you get your stuff back.”

“Well yes I was thinking that,” Jason stammered, “but I didn’t think it was that simple to just ask.”

Vanna sighed again, then let out a light laugh, “Oh my honey, you’re still acting like your on the other side. Start living by Vanna’s rules. Number one, never forget the NPC’s as real as the players. Number two, live like you’ll respawn tomorrow.”

Jason laughed, “Well ok, it looks like we have a plan.”

“Now get some sleep. Looks like we’re going to be having a long day tomorrow,” Vanna said. Then she laid herself down and pulled her blanket over herself. “Good night Jason.”

“Good night Vanna,” Jason responded. He laid down and smiled, happy to have a new friend.

*****

Day 3

Jason woke to the loud echoes of a bell. The sound seemed to bounce off the high walls of the room and Jason realized they must have been in the bell tower of the compound. Six ring rang out and then the sound stopped, but the silent hum persisted. The first ring was enough to wake up Jason and he was sitting upright by the last. Vanna also was up by the last ring and was busy rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Damned monks,” she muttered.

A grey robe came into the room and instructed them to fold their blankets into piles then to follow him. The man led them to the large hall between the entry room and kitchen where a few dozen grey robes were chanting prayers in unison. The ragtag group of beggars was ushered to the back of the hall where most stood silently listening to the monks chanting. A few of the beggars joined in the prayers but not loud enough for Jason to understand what was being said.

When alms were completed the beggars were allowed to queue at the kitchen for porridge. Jason wished he had some honey to put in the gruel but he managed. After breakfast the pair headed toward the town gates.

“So the brothers live in a pasture on the outskirts of town right?” Vanna asked.

“Correct.”

“Then we need to sneak around the town and hide until it gets dark. Hopefully no one is home and we can take your stuff back without any violence, otherwise we ambush them.”

“Right,” Jason said a little less confidently. “One issue though. The only way into Fallows, I think that’s what the guard called the town, is across a bridge. We can’t really sneak around that.”

They had made their way towards the map in Exton and Vanna observed the layout of the countryside. “It looks like the road through Fallows is a major road connecting Exton to that other large city in the east.”

“Laxtar,” Jason said surprised he remembered the name. “That’s the Capitol.”

“Right,” Vanna said. “So there are bound to be enough travelers going through the town that we won’t be remembered. You said it only took you about four hours to walk there yesterday?”

“Yeah.”

“Then we leave now, walk through town, try not to make eye contact with anyone in case they remember you from yesterday. They probably won’t because you’re without your donkey, but just to be safe. Then we walk past the town for about an hour then turn around and walk off road until we get near the brothers’ pasture and stake out there until dark.”

Jason couldn’t find any problems with the idea. “Alright sounds good. Ready to go then?”

“I’ve nothing more than what’s on me now, honey. Let’s go. Oh sugar, I almost forgot. Give me one moment.” Vanna went still then her eyes flickered around as if she were looking at a screen in front of her. Jason guessed this is what he looked like when he was looking at his interface. A few moments past then Jason received a notification.

Player Vanna has sent you a party request

Jason accepted then another notification appeared.

**Note This: Players may join a party with other players or even NPCs. Persons in a party share experience based on their contribution. Party members may elect a party leader, but this is optional. It is recommended the group elect the person with the highest leadership skill as this will give various boosts and abilities to the party based on the leader’s skill level. In addition, electing a leader with a high level will allow more members into the party, the default party limit for a group without a leader is 5 members.**

“I figured we do that, we don’t need to elect a leader yet. I don’t have any leadership skill yet and I’m guessing neither do you,” Vanna guessed. Jason confirmed her guess. She nodded, “alright, let's go then.”