Shit. Shit shit shit. This was a bad plan. A really bad plan. I sprinted for the woods, calling for Raider to follow me. A crossbow bolt whizzed by my head as I ran, and I turned my head to see that the two players were still chasing me. It was just me and my kitty out here, so yeah, like I said – really bad plan. I ran through the trees and dropped down over a short hill behind a log and used Vanish, commanding my Sand Tiger companion to use Fade at the same time. After a moment we began moving west as quickly as possible while maintaining Stealth, hoping to lose them in the forest.

I couldn’t move to quickly, and I could hear the two Player Killers cursing as they lost my trail for the moment. They split up, one going south the other east, and I breathed a sigh of relief and worked to put more distance between up. Hopefully the cart driver was ok – I was worried they’d double back for him. I grimaced as I remembered how I’d gotten into this mess.

“So Bull, what’s up with this mail we got?” Torrie asked as she approached me. I was sitting at our usual table at the Golden Horizon waiting for the rest of the group to log in. Zed was at his usual spot as well, playing a slow, dark rock ballad that I didn’t recognize, while Dagg and Lorelei were due to log in any minute.

“Let’s wait till the others get here. It’ll be easier to discuss this as a group than to rehash everything two or three times.” I waved to one of the waitresses that worked in the inn so she could come get a drink for Torrie.

“Bah.” Torrie grumped, frowning.

“Something wrong? I’ve never seen you in a bad mood before.”

“Bah.” She said again, grimacing. Then she took a deep sigh. “Sorry, just having a bad day. Real life junk. I shouldn’t drag it in here. But seeing this message just added to it, you know?”

“Yeah, I know how it is.” I nodded and took a drink. “If you ever need to vent, I’m a good listener “

“Thanks.” She smiled and relaxed a bit. The waitress came over and took her order, and she sat back and sighed. I also ordered a couple drinks for Dagg and Lori. Aibee was perched on Raiders back as usual, while the tiger was sprawled out next to the table. I reached down and scratched him behind the ears and he rumbled out a purr. We sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to Zed play until they walked in and came over to join us. Zed packed up and came over as well.

“Someone triggered a Public Quest I see.” Lorelei said without preamble, taking a big drink of the large ale I’d ordered. Dagg simply grunted irritably.

“Yeah, happened this morning. Got an announcement window popup and everything.” I replied.

“Great. That’s just terrific.” Torrie sighed. “I’ve heard that Hayver’s Mill is where the Werth’s are supposed to send us. Guessing that’s gonna be all messed up. And I can’t even be on, I got class and I can not afford to miss it.”

“I’m out as well.” Zed replied. “My oldest has a concert at school, so my husband and will be there all day. And yeah, Hayver’s Mill is almost due west of here. No ones made it out and back yet, but the best guess I’ve heard is that it’s somewhere around 40 miles away. Which means it’s gonna take the better part of a day to travel there.”

“And we have to work.” Lorelei replied. “And I’d rather not try calling off. It could cause some problems.”

“Same.” Dagg said with his standard eloquence.

“I have the feeling that a lot of players will be in the same boat.” I said, thinking. “Noon on a weekday is a terrible time to start a big raid. Especially since you said the Beta Wave of players don’t join for a few more days yet, so our playerbase is pretty thin to begin with.”

“From what I’ve been able to tell, we’re above the average level as well. A few players have hit levels 6 or even 7, but I think at least half the players are still around level 3.” Zed added.

“Since the Public Quests can permanently affect the game, what happens if the players lose this?” Torrie asked.

“It depends.” A high pitched voice piped up from the floor next to us. Aibee fluttered up to the table and sat down next to my arm. “I don’t know the details of the quest yet since he hasn’t gone out to Hayver’s Mill yet, but it sounds like its being assaulted by a large enemy force. If the players fail to repel the attack, the town could be taken over and then need to be liberated, or it’s possible it could simply be razed and removed from the game.”

“In my opinion, it gets worse. Aibee, tell them what you told me about NPC deaths.”

“Unique NPCs other than dungeon bosses are deleted when killed in game.” Aibee replied, a note of sadness in her voice.

“So?” Zed asked. “I mean, sucks that we’d possibly lose the town and some quest givers and such, but that’s not that big of a deal. There’s bound to be more, or someone else will take up their quest.”

Torrie shrugged. “While I’d like to save them if I could, I kinda agree with Zed. They’re just, y’know, NPCs?”

“Really?” I frowned. “I mean, look at Aibee. Look at Geira and Malkom and the other NPCs. They’re more than just mindless robots. They think, react, they—“

“They’re programmed that way, Bull.” Lorelei replied. “Apoch’s got some better than average AI for their characters, I admit, but still. They exist to help fill out the game and to provide us with entertainment. They’re not alive. Any emotion, any independent thought they seem to have? It’s all just coded responses.”

“Since you haven’t played any VR games before, you may not have run into any lifelike AI before.” Zed looked at me. “I get it. It’s unexpected and can really suck you in. It’s one of the things that helps makes these games so immersive. But don’t lose track of reality, man.”

I stared down at my hands on the table in front of me, my fists clenched in frustration. Intellectually, I understood what they were saying. But I felt a connection to Aibee, to Raider, to the other NPCs. And despite Aibee telling me otherwise, I was starting to wonder if maybe I wasn’t an NPC of some kind with some weird past-life memories programmed into me. Either way, I couldn’t just accept it and let them be killed.

“I… I can’t accept that.” I muttered to myself. Then I repeated it louder. “I just can’t accept that, guys. Sure, they may not be alive, like you all are. But they exist; they’re a living, breathing part of this world. And I can’t accept just writing them off because they’re a little different than I am.”

“Good.” Dagg said simply. He appeared to be smiling, and I smiled back at him.

“Thanks big man.”

“Ok, yeah. I don’t get off on killing NPCs anyway, so I can roll with that, dude.” Zed replied.

“Agreed. But how does that help us now, Bull. None of us can be on for this fight?”

“It doesn’t Torrie.” I said with a sigh. “But I’m glad you guys are on the same page as me, albeit reluctantly. Sorry. I feel the way I feel, I guess.”

“So what’s the plan then?” Lorelei asked, resigned to the situation, though she looked like she wanted to argue some more.

”We go out and level for a few hours. Maybe run out and hit the Factory one more time. I’d like to see if I can get a few more [Manacite Batteries] for my crossbow. Then tomorrow, I’m heading out to Hayver’s Mill to scope the situation and see what I can find out. So you guys will be on your own.”

“Well, keep in touch. Guess we’ll finally be putting the [Crystal Vox’s] to a real use.” Torrie replied.

Bull> God this is boring.

Torellisin Nimblefingers> I bet. That’s a hell of a walk. We need to find horses for this crap.

Zed Deathsong> Yeah. See how much horses cost in Hayver’s Mill, if they have any for sale.

Bull> I’ll keep an eye out. I’m so glad we can do group chat on these Vox’s. I’ve been walking for over 7 hours now, I gotta be getting close. At least I finally found a road to follow.

Torellisin Nimblefingers> A roads a good sign. Just don’t follow it the wrong way!

Bull> Ha. Ha.

Zed Deathsong> Have you seen anything interesting on the trip, at least?

Bull> I found a pretty good sized lake, at least a few miles wide, and we’re starting to get into some woods. I’ve actually seen some critters that look like deer and a few rabbits. Nothing too dangerous though. I haven’t even had to fight anything in the last couple hours. What are your plans for tonight?

Torellisin Nimblefingers> I think we’re gonna spend some time farming and just running errand quests, since you’re not here.

Bull> Hey, don’t let me stop you. Do whatever you guys want, I’ll be—

Bull> Let me get back to you, there’s something going on up ahead.

I put my little crystal smartphone thing away, and entered Stealth and told Raider to do the same. Up ahead I could hear shouting. I quietly moved through the brush and over the next hill, and could see a short ways ahead of me was a wagon loaded with stone and some tools being pulled by a pair of horses. There were two men dressed in simple clothes, dusty and dirty presumably from mining up the stone in the cart, standing with their arms raised. Two more men, both dressed in simple black leather armor and holding short swords stood menacing the two.

“Come on, you can’t tell me you don’t have any money at all.” One of the leather-clad bandits growled. Focusing on them, I could tell both he and his buddy were players, while the two wagon-drivers were NPCs. The one currently speaking was thin and bald, with a hook nose. The other was taller and muscular with a blond crew-cut.

“N-no. You can search us if you want, but we don’t have anything.” One of the men drivers whimpered.

Crew-cut, whose name when I targeted him was Bonebreaker, punched the taller of the two drivers in the face, knocking him to the ground and shattering his nose. He then kicked him a couple of times. I frowned and began creeping up closer, silently motioning for Raider to creep into attack range.

“Look, you don’t want us to have to make things personal, now do you?” Sneered the hawk-nosed man, whose name was Talon. “Give us any money, and we’ll be taking your horses as well.”

“Look, Bill already told you, we don’t have any money. And those horses are our livelihood.” The second driver, a shorter, thick bodied man with a beard replied in a deep, gruff voice.

“Is that so? Well, guess we’ll have to remedy that.” Talon grinned, then nodded to Bonebreaker. As soon as I saw that, I moved, but I was too slow. Crew-cut’s sword descended, stabbing the man on the ground through the chest.

“Bastards!” I screamed, simultaneously launching a Manashot from my [Manacite Crossbow]. I only got four of those shots per [Manacite Battery], but they dealt a full 200 points of damage each. Couple that with bonus Backstab damage since I was in Stealth when I attacked, and I had a really solid opening punch. My crossbow glowed blue and a bolt of energy blasted forward, striking Bonebreaker and blasting him into the side of the card. A moment later Raider materialized from stealth, clawing and biting at him as well. I must have gotten a couple Critical results as well, as the damage numbers flashed 230, then 276, then 322. Then Raider’s damage flashed as well, 105 damage.

The two bandits looked up stunned. They never expected to get jumped by another player all the way out here, and they took a few seconds to react. Crew-cut was down under 33% of his health, so while their brains sorted out what was happening, I let loose with another Manashot and had Raider attack again. No Critical this time, but my 180 damage plus Raider’s 55 was enough to finish Bonebreaker off. He never even uttered a worth, just evaporated into a shower of red particles.

Talon the hawk-nose finally reacted, charging toward me with his short sword. His swing connected, and a red 76 flashed in my vision. Painful, but not too bad. Raider and I could handle this guy, though it was a shame that my tiger’s new Taunt skill, Challenging Roar, didn’t work against players.

I dashed back to kite him away from the cart, yelling to the remaining driver to hide. I turned and unleashed another Manashot, getting a single Critical this time, dealing 180 damage which then increased to 216. Raider raked his back for another 55. Insight showed that he was at around 65% health, so he was a bit tough than crew-cut was.

Then I heard the distinctive twang of a crossbow coming from my right, and turned in time to see a bolt flying toward me right before it embedded itself in my chest. Another black-clothed figure materialized behind the bolt, and red numbers swam up in front of me, 151, which then grew to 181, then to 212, and then once more to 242. I grimaced, that was a triple-critical and shaved off a lot of my health.

I panicked and fired my last Manashot at Talon, hitting him for 180. Raider attacked and got a crit this time, dealing 67 damage. Then I turned and fled, whistling for Raider to follow. I needed to find some cover, put some distance between us. I had Raider use Fade, and I used Vanish to enter Stealth, then cut to the right, headed toward the trees. I was hoping I could get a moment of respite and get out of their line of sight long enough to pop and healing potion and load a new battery into my crossbow. Besides having a very limited number of shots, the reload time made it tough to use in combat, taking a full 9 seconds to pop the spent [Manacite Battery] out and replace it.

Fortunately, both Talon and the newcomer were heading my direction and weren’t paying any attention to the last wagon driver. I kept moving, but studied the third bandit as I did. She was thin and willowy, but obviously female. She wore similar black armor to Talon and Bonebreaker, but hers looked nice and more ornate. She also had what looked like a ninja hood wrapped around her face. Her name was apparently Stiletto.

I grimaced as I saw Talon quaff a healing potion, and decided to load my crossbow real quick. Manashot was my only chance to handle this two on one, especially since Stiletto’s crossbow had some solid base damage and I guessed she’d boosted her Ranged Weapons skill and Agility pretty high, judging by that crit she pulled off. Stiletto looked down at the ground, then pointed to the left while she started moving to the right.

Ahh crap. They were flanking me. She hadn’t spotted me yet, but I bet she had Tracking. That was a skill I’d been eyeing. That would give her an idea of where I was, and if she got close enough Stealth would break even if her Perception couldn’t see through it. I needed to put some more distance between us.

I commanded Raider to charge at Talon, then popped up and fired a Rapid Shot since I still hadn’t gotten a new battery loaded. The bandit didn’t seem to have great stats, and his defense was low enough that both my shots hit, though neither critted. I got a Backstab off on the first shot, dealing 150, and the second shot did 100. Raider added in another 55 and then we took off running. Talon was hurt badly according to my Insight, but not down, and Stiletto was far too close for comfort.

I ran for the woods, popping a [Small Healing Potion] as I did so. Another bolt slammed into me right after, dealing another 181 damage. I decided that as soon as I had some more XP stored, I was investing in the Dodge skill. I heard Raider help and saw an arrow sticking out of his flank, and looked back to realize that Talon had swapped his sword out for a long bow. Finally I hit the tree line and was able to use Vanish again. The two bandits split up to begin searching for me, and I saw Talon guzzling another healing potion. Dammit, I needed to finish him off. I paused a moment to finally get a new battery loaded, then started creeping the direction Talon went.

A few moments later I found him searching through the underbrush. Insight told me he was almost back to half health, but that was ok. I grinned, aimed, and triggered a Rapid Shot along with my Manashot and Backstab. I sent Raider in to Ambush him as well. It was likely vase overkill and a waste of some [Manacite Battery] charge, but I was pissed and wanted these fuckers dead. My first shot ripped into him with a crit, dealing 276 damage. My second shot hit him at the same time as Raider, and my 180 damage plus Raiders 66 turned him into sparkles.

I didn’t waste any time and rushed over and grabbed his death drops, showing them into my inventory without even looking at them. I then turned and started running back to the wagon as I was worried Stiletto might circle back and kill the last NPC there.

I dropped into stealth again as soon as Ambush was off cooldown and approached the wagon. I could see the remaining wagon driver, an NPC named Gareth Granitecutter. He was hiding under the wagon. Surprisingly, the body of his fellow wagonner was lying on the ground next to him, having been pulled under the wagon by the first man. Maybe he was still alive? A quick scan of the body revealed that no, he wasn’t; he registered as having 0% health. Apparently NPC corpses don’t turn into sparkles like monster and PC corpses.

“Psst.” I whispered as I crept up to the cart. Gareth was started and jerked up, slamming his head on the undercarriage of the wagon. “Sorry, sorry. I’m the guy who tried to help you. I killed one of the others, but the woman’s still out there. Stay still and stay quiet.”

Gareth nodded, and I scanned the area around us, willing my Perception to detect Stiletto. No luck, but after a couple more minutes, a sultry woman’s voice called out.

“Not too bad, Bull. You got two of my men, and I suspect you and your pet tiger might even be a match for me. Well, probably not, but I’d rather not take the chance. I prefer to… dominate.”

“Subtle.” I called back. “What do you want?”

“I don’t let people cross the Soultakers.” She replied. “So you’re now a target. I just thought it fair you knew that in advance. However if you were to join us, that would be a different story.”

“Join you in killing and robbing helpless NPCs?” I asked.

“And hapless players. In fact, they’re usually much more profitable. But there’s so few in the game right now, so we take what slim pickings we can get.”

“Sorry. Not interested. I’m not a fan of PvP, and really don’t like those that grief other players.”

“My, my, such a shame. You looked like you would be fun to play with. But, I guess we’ll play with you in an entirely different way. See you around, Bully boy.”

We sat there for a few minutes waiting, but Stiletto appeared to be gone. I slumped down, mentally exhausted by the encounter. Gareth crawled out from the wagon and picked up the body of Bill, the other driver. He looked sad at the loss of his friend, but looked up at me with gratitude. Now that I was standing next to him I realized just how short he was. Not quite as small as Torrie, but he couldn’t be an inch over five feet tall.

“My thanks, stranger. Did I hear that vile harpy call you Bull? My names Gareth.” He held out his hand and I shook it. It was rough and calloused, a workman’s hand used to seeing labor.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get here a few minutes sooner so I could have helped your friend.” I said softly, looking at the corpse.

“There’s always danger on the roads, it can’t be helped. Though it’s usually wild creatures or the [Primals], and not other humans.”

“People are wild animals most of the time.” I growled. I bent down and picked up the loot bag that Bonebreaker had dropped and put it in my inventory for the time being as well. “People like this just suck.”

“Amen to that.” Gareth responded. “Can you help me get Bill up onto the cart. I should take him back home for burial. Mary’s gonna be all tore up about this.”

“Where you headed?”

“Hayver’s Mill, just a few more miles up the road here. Want a ride?”

We loaded the other driver’s body into the back of the wagon, wrapped in a blanket that Gareth had stowed away. I then climbed up onto the driver’s bench next to him, and with a snap of the reigns we set off up the road.

“So where you from? Ain’t seen you around before?”

“Ravensport, west of here.”

“Oh. From the dome? Seen a couple of your people the last couple days. We always wondered what was under that thing all these years. We always worried it was monsters or something, like an egg full of evil that was waiting to hatch. Least that was what a few conspiracy minded folks thought, anyway.” Gareth laughed a bit at that, then sighed sadly. “Bill was one of them. But we was all glad when it turned out to just be a normal town hiding under there.”

“Yeah, we were trapped under there for a long time. It’s nice to finally be out and free to explore.”

“Ya picked a hell of a time for it. Things have been getting mighty rough in this part of the world the last couple years.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“Well, for one, the entire zones been locked off for the last two years thanks to the [Primals] and their master. Cut off all trade to the outside world. We’re fairly self-sufficient, and there are a couple other towns here to trade with, but with the tunnel closed off, we’re kinda stuck.”

“Can’t you just go around, or head out another way?” I asked, though I knew the answer already. But I wanted to see what they said about it in-game, and this way I could ask other questions.

“You ain’t explored much, have you? No, I guess if that magic dome of yours just came down, you wouldn’t have, would ya?” Gareth sighed and looked off at the horizon, squinting. “You can’t really see it from here yet, but you know that ridge of mountains your dome-town sits up against? And those ones you can see to the south of here? Well, this entire area is ringed with those damn things. Totally impassible, too. There’s only one way in or out of here, and that’s through the Great Tunnel to Port Callen.”

“There’s no other way out? No other tunnels or caves? And no ones tried climbing the mountains?

“Back in my Grandpappy’s days, not long after the Twilight, some folks tried. Only one guy came back, all torn up. Said there were some dragons or some such living at the tops of the mountains. Never seen them come down though, so don’t know for sure. Not much point to it either, since there’s little to no land on the other side of most of the mountains. Taking a ship from Port Callen’s really the only option.”

“So who, or what, are these [Primals]?” I asked.

“You don’t know? Surprised you made it this far without encountering them.” Gareth replied, looking around cautiously as if he expected something to jump out of the woods. “Damn warrior apes of some kind. Smart, fast, strong as hell. And they’re all over the place out here. They’ve taken over the entire western section of the zone. They’ve set their sights on Hayver’s Mill now. That’s actually why I’m lugging this cart full of rocks. Bill and I are… were… stone cutters. We were gathering some more stone to help reinforce the town’s wall.”

“Yeah, I heard they were massing to attack the town. It’s expected to be tomorrow some time, right?”

“Yeah. You’ll be able to see their camps soon. There’s a lot of them.” Gareth fell silent, and we rode quietly for several minutes. I studied him a bit out of the corner of my eye, trying not to stare and make him nervous. He was broad-shouldered, had thick arms, and a wide face with a short brown beard. In fact, he looked an awful lot like…

“My apologies if this is rude or out of place, Gareth.” I spoke up, my curiosity getting the better of me. “But are you a… dwarf?”

“Sure am.” Gareth replied with a smile. “Half-dwarf, actually. Well, technically quarter dwarf, since my Grammal was a dwarf, but they just call any of us with mixed blood halfers. The others I’ve met from Ravensport all asked me the same thing. Are there no dwarves there?”

“Nope. All humans.”

“We don’t have many demi’s in the Mill, but there’s a few. Don and his family of nekos. A kobold couple. And a scaleskin that moved here from outside the zone about twenty years ago.”

“Nekos are cat-people? Kobolds are dog-people? And a scaleskin would be a… lizard or snake?” I asked. I had kept it all human in Ravensport deliberately, but I’d planned to introduce various other races along the way. Never really got around to doing much in that department though. Beast-races were planned to be a big part of it though, and I had a handful of ideas for dwarves and elves to make them a bit different from standard fantasy, so I was curious to see how those turned out.

“Hah! Yeah, got it. Though I recommend not calling a kobold a dog. They’re touchy about the comparison, even if it ain’t wrong. The nekos, on the other hand, don’t mind the cat comparison. As for the scaleskin, he doesn’t say much. He’s kind of a hermit, so don’t know his thoughts on the comparisons. But He’s more lizard than snake, since he’s got two legs and two arms, plus a tail. I’ve heard rumors of a naga race that are legless but have arms, but don’t know much about them or if they’re related.”

I talked with Gareth for a while longer about mostly inconsequential things, telling him about what I’d experienced in the few days since I first woke up here, framed as when the dome came down. It’s hard to believe it’s only been four days, really. Feels like a lifetime. Eventually though we crested a hill, and I could see directly ahead of us a village, ringed with a mostly wooden stockade wall. And to the north of the village was a sight that made me inhale sharply and cuss under my breath.

“Holy shit.” I muttered. “That’s the [Primal] army?”

There were hundreds of tents set up as far as the eye could see, and they reached out into the plans and woods in front of the village. I could see hundreds of tiny figures moving in the distance, including a large number that were doing what looked to be combat drills.

“Yeah. And more arrive every hour.” Gareth said with a worried tone in his voice. “It’s estimated there will be at least a thousand of the hairy monsters by tomorrow.”

“Well then, that just frags up everything, doesn’t it.” I debated straight up PKing the idiot who triggered this Raid when I found him as we rolled into Hayver’s Mill.