Chapter 3: The Massively Multiplayer Online Part.

Alora shouted “Behind you!” In a flash the knoll, part hyena part human, was on ontop of him. Bashing at his shield with his mace and gnawing on the edge using its strong jaws. With all his might he pushed away the knoll just enough to draw his sword and drive it into the knolls side, sending warm sticky blood running down his arm. “Alora, shoot him now! He should have low hit points!” The ranger notched an arrow in her bow and fire it into the beasts neck. It yowled in pain and disappeared in smoke.

Loot

Cracked Bronze Mace

+2 melee attack bonus.

Bones

Bones. Just that. Bones.

You gained 129xp for killing 1 Gnoll. Congratulations! You have advanced to level 3 Combat. You learn the blinding light ability.

Cool! He thought to himself and clicked on the flashing Skills & Abilities icon.

New Ability

Blinding light

Blind your opponent with a white light, create a distraction or light a dark area for you and your companions.

“Nice. That seems like a good ability!” He told the blond ranger questioningly. “Yes, especially as it is scalable to your level. Let’s push on through the forest, there’s bound to be more and the quests state we need to get the Wolf Cape which was stolen.” Alora and Carter pressed on until they came across an encampment. She held out her arm and signaled to Carter to get down. In front of them, two gnolls were sitting by a fire, one larger than the other with a large sword and the Wolf Cape draped over his shoulder. Alora gave him a bloodthirsty smile. “Let’s go.” She jumped out of the underbrush, stringing an arrow and sending it into the large gnolls chest in one smooth movement. Carter drew his sword and ran after her, aiming to charge at the smaller one. The smaller of the two, had a hand axe and brought it down on his wooden shield and he heard a loud crack.

The shield had split in two and before he could react, the axe was already swung again and he thrusted his sword in front of it barely blocking it inches from his face. The gnolls was now hacking away at his blade and he could feel bronze matter fall onto his face mixed with gnoll goop. In another swift movement, Alora sent an arrow into the side of his face, splattering blood all over Carter. The gnoll disappeared into the now familiar cloud of smoke. They looted the Wolf Cape and went back to Breau. It was busy. Thousands of characters were walking around, catching up, preparing for raids and selling their loot. There was a commotion in the streets and he could hear people shouting, “Make way, make way for the Governor.” Alora grabbed Carter's arm and pulled him to the side. “Quick get out of the way! The Governor is an asshole, he’ll remove you from the job board if you get in his way.” Remove me from the job board? He asked himself. Before he could voice his question he was cut short by a parade of soldiers marching down the road with a heavily armored man sitting atop a giant steed clothed in red and blue cloth. He looked straight ahead as they walked past, while his soldiers pushed crowds aside.

“Who’s the governor?” he asked quietly. “His player name is Jiter738. But he goes by Governor J. He is the ruler of Breau just like all cities have rulers. They are all PCs. Then there are Kingdoms who are ruled by a King, Vizier, or emperor, depending on what the player chooses. But there are rumors he didn’t come into power fairly. He has been the ruler for over 20 years now. Come let me show you the portal room.” They made their way through the crowds towards a tower which could be spotted from a distance, which had its roof tiles painted red. A spiraling staircase twisted all the way to the top to where it ended in a large room with glowing, humming portals. “Here. Here you can teleport to all major cities, Breau is just the beginning. As you level up you can access more of these portals. You will still learn which portals go to the dungeons worth grinding out. I have more to show you, follow me!”

Alora went back into the main street and walked north. They walked past what looked like a stableyard but each stable housed dozens of large eggs. “Here you can buy all kinds of mounts, some are cheap, some can be super expensive! So you’ll have to run a lot of dungeons and raids to be able to afford them!” He gazed in awe at all the options and as he walked up a screen appeared.

Mount name(type)

Description (Movement points)

Price (Reputation points)

Fowlstrich

An ostrich-like bird mount with a powerful kick attack. 20 MP

2 000 gold

Steed (Red cloth)

A large Charger horse, slow movement but powerful trample ability. 20 MP

5 000 gold + 5 RP

Steed (Blue cloth)

A large Charger horse, slow movement but powerful trample ability.20 MP

5 000 gold + 5 Rp

Shoar

A sturdy beast with large tasks with a power charge attack. 20 MP

6 000 gold + 10 RP

Shoar (Armored)

A sturdy beast with iron plates attached to its body with steel tusks. 20 MP

8 000 gold + 15 RP

Current RPs

Breau

0.24

Hovering over reputation points brought up more text.

Reputation points are earned when completing jobs on the job board in a certain region. Jobs created and completed on the Breau job board reward RP in the Breau City and grants access to higher tier mounts, weapons and gear when buying from an NPC. It also reduces tax when selling an item on the market.

Closing the interface, another Character interface opened showing the following:

Attributes

Attribute

Current level

Strength-Your ability to deal higher melee damage and interact with the surround world such as pulling/pushing things, your ability to equip heavier armors and carry more items in your backpack.

10

Agility-Your ability to deal higher damage with ranged attacks. Increases your dodge chance % and interact with the surrounding world, climbing, movement speed and how good you are with staying on top of a mount.

10

Intelligence-Your ability to deal higher damage with Magic. Increases your passive magic defense and hit chance of magic spells.

10

Perception-Determines your ability to perceive information from surroundings and discover plants/animals to hunt or gather.

10

Charisma-Determines your ability to persuade or befriend other NPCs and increases RP gained from jobs and town tasks.

10

Constitution-Determines your hitpoints. The damage that can be dealt to you.

10

Available APs

3

Attribute points are gained on each level up. They can be spent in any attribute as the player wants. Read carefully as this action is not reversible up to level 20.

Carter decided to put all of his available APs into Intelligence and click accept. A tingle could be felt running down his spine and with a ping an interface appeared declaring that the change was successful.

Alora, who was waiting patiently behind him as he read all the information the game threw at him, smiled at him when he looked at her. “Ready? I want to show you something else.” He nodded and followed her as she led the way through winding streets. “Remember this route, you will be using it alot.” They wound up at a large tavern with two orcs guarding the door. Over the entrance hung a sign labeled with “The Shipyard”. She passed each of them a gold piece and they let them through. “Okay so, this is where you gather a party for your jobs, dungeons and raids. Or sometimes they recruit for clans here as well. You will find all social things happening here. But remember, this is the starter town and there are many others in the world where higher level things take place.” There were large groups of people in different corners of the tavern recruiting for different adventures. He pushed through the crowds to where he found people looking for a group (LFG) to do jobs with. His inbox icon flashed and he opened it.

“Remember not to trust anyone. They could always be leading you into an ambush.” - Alora.

Carter made a mental note and kept pushing through the crowds. After some time he found someone who was looking for a low-level group and he sent the recruiter PM(Private message).

“Hello, I am also looking for a group to play with. I am a wizard. Mainly doing damage.”- Rin.

Almost instantaneously an invite appeared on-screen. He accepted it and was pulled into a voice call with them. “Hello Rin, welcome! I am Hrenian.” Feeling shy, to be suddenly pulled into a call with random strangers, all he could muster was, “Uhm, hi! I was looking for a group to do jobs with. I am new to the game so I am still learning.” There was silence on the other end as his character moved to another spot. But soon the response came over the call, “No problem! We will teach you. I am an Elven Cleric. So just stick with me and I’ll make sure you never die.” he laughed. After seeing Carter find a group Alora vanished into the crowd.

“Alright Rin, suit up. I found us a ranger Killbot3032 and a fighter Porelli44. Let's get this party started!” Behind the tavern keeper there was a large job board and Hrenian made his way over to it. A new group icon flashed and he opened the interface.

Large Job: Protect the caravan going from Breau to Shater. If you lose more than 3 crates of goods you will fail the mission. Meet with captain Casey at the southern gate and stay with the caravan as it travels to Shater. Good luck!

Reward: 700xp split between the party and 500 gold split.

The four adventurers walked to captain Casey who was waiting for them at the gate. He instructed them to wait outside the gate and wait for the Caravan to arrive. A large wagon pulled by eight shoars spawned next to them and started to move. “Alright, keep your eyes open, for PvPers and mobs(NPC controlled monsters).” The caravan followed the road south through the farmlands safely. They were excitedly talking about everything they have achieved so far in-game and what their grand plans were. Carter stayed quiet for the most part, absorbing as much of the information as possible. “I want to buy snake-skin leather soon,” the ranger said. “It has nice Poison resistances and ranged bonuses.” Porelli looked at him and asked, “Why don’t you get shoar skin rather? It has more melee defense and most monsters in the lower level areas deal melee damage.” Killbot nodded as he processed this information and Hrenian saw this as his que to question Carter. “So you’re pretty new, huh? First character?” he asked as he was sitting comfortably in his red clothed steed. The horse flared his nostrils, as if to emphasize the question when he didn’t answer fast enough.

“Yes. First character. I’ve been trying to learn as much as possible though.” Eager to get the attention off of him he quickly asked the party, “So how long have you guys been playing?” Killbot, who was walking alongside him, replied first, “2 months. I only recently got my first GlassOS so I am a bit late to the party.” Porelli, replied from the back, “Around a month and half here.” Carter looked to Hrenian expectantly. “And you?” he mumbled a “Four months,” as he was busy looking at his map. For the first time Carter noticed that each character's HL(Hero Level) is displayed next to their names overhead; he focused on them, Killbot3032 (Level 10,4), Porelli44 (Level 11.52) and Hrenian (Level 13.44). He was at level 8.48. The lowest of them all.

They walked on towards Shater without incident until they reached the edge of a small forest. The final plateau between them and the town was the most dangerous part Hrenian explained. Young PvPers and clans use this as a training ground for ambushes as they know low-leveled players use this route to do jobs. So it is easy pickings without many losses to train your troops how to ambush. Killbot stopped in his tracks and silenced them. “Look.” He pointed to a forest far along the southern edge of the plateau. “There is something reflecting in the sun.” The lead NPC halted the caravan as Hrenian commanded it to through his HUD. “Bastards. Well, at least it won’t be a boring trip am I right? We might be lucky and it is just a bird holding a piece of metal. Or we could be slightly lucky and it is just a few goblins or knolls. Or we could be unlucky and it is higher-than-us-leveled PvP bandits.

Think Carter, think. He willed himself to come up with a solution to try and prove himself. “Uh, excuse me Hrenian, I could go and scout along the edge and report on their number. It is highly unlikely they know we are here.” Hrenian laughed and slapped his shoulder. “These clans don’t go out without Scouts. Who are of the Rogue class. They have a skill that can see through anything physical. They’d have known we were coming from miles away. No. I think that reflection was a scout alerting the clan that we are here and them unsheathing their swords.” he laughed again.

The adventurers spent around twenty minutes planning their route, and decided that it would be best to run for the gates and hope it is a small band of goblins. Carter was chosen to go in front, with Killbot and Porelli hiding in the wagon, with Hrenian bring up the rear. “Ready boys?” He asked. “Let’s ride.” He opened his interface and quickly navigated to the caravan tab which had a movement speed slider. He dragged it to the max and the shoars yowled as they were snapped into action by the orc driving them. The party ran across the plain. As the gates were coming closer he looked behind him and saw two shoar riding Elves with bows drawn take aim at the shoars. “Oh no! Hrenian!” He shouted back to him and swung around to shoot a fire bolt at on of the elves. It flew wide and dissipated in the air. Hrenian turned in his saddle and swung his long handled mace towards the closest elf. He ducked but lost his seat and tumbled in the dust as his shoar ran on. The elf on the other side has in the meantime nocked an arrow in and fired at Hrenian hitting him in his back. He cried out in pain. Carter felt his hand heat up as he prepared another fireball and threw it again at the elf, this time hitting him flat on the chest sending him flying of his shoar. “Go! I’ve got this one. He shouted at the three and walked towards the elf who lied stunned on the ground moaning. He picked up his sword.

Loot

Elven Apprentice blade

+4 melee, +1 agility.

The new wizard was so focused on the elf he didn’t see the loot interface minimizing to the bottom. As he was testing the balance of the blade by swinging it back and forth the elf regained consciousness. He looked up from the ground and grasped, “No please, this is a Hardcore character.” The elf had a stunned look on his face. “Please. It has taken me many months to get here.” But Carter spat at his feet. “Let this be a lesson then, never go out with what you can’t afford to lose. He raised his sword and drove it through the elves' chest. He vanished in a black smoke just like the NPCs did. Lost to the electronic abyss.

Congratulations! You have defeated WormMan49 in battle. You gained 700xp and 4 combat levels.

You learned a new skill: Thunderclap.

Skill

Description

Thunderclap

Send a lighting bolt down from the heavens to hit a target. Stuns and dissorientates target creature and deals 9-13 damage.

Skill

Description

Current level/Max

Combat

Your ability to use combat weapons. Melee/ranged/Magic.

9/150

Defense

Your ability to block attacks and equip stronger armors. This skill is trained alongside your other skills and will increase passively.

1/150

Herblore

Your ability to see and find herbs and ingredients which can be used in potions.

1/150

Animal handling

Your ability to calm or use animals to your advantage. IE Calm a horse to ride it. Or upset a herd of buffalo to charge a camp of goblins.

1/150

Brewing

Your ability to make potions.

1/150

Fishing

Your ability to catch different kinds of fish.

1/150

Hunting

Your ability to hunt different kinds of animals and monstrosities.

1/150

Cooking

Your ability to cook your catch.

1/150

Sailing

Your ability to sail larger and faster ships while being able to predict the weather.

1/150

Trade

Your ability to haggle prices when trading with NPCs

1/150

Lockpicking

Your ability to pick locks

1/150

Looting

Your ability to acquire higher tier loot from a kill.

1/150

Hero Level

Your level as seen by other players indicating your total power.

9.44

Attributes

Attribute

Current level

Strength-Your ability to deal higher melee damage and interact with the surround world such as pulling/pushing things, your ability to equip heavier armors and carry more items in your backpack.

10

Agility-Your ability to deal higher damage with ranged attacks. Increases your dodge chance % and interact with the surrounding world, climbing, movement speed and how good you are with staying on top of a mount.

10

Intelligence-Your ability to deal higher damage with Magic. Increases your passive magic defense and hit chance of magic spells.

15

Perception-Determines your ability to perceive information from surroundings and discover plants/animals to hunt or gather.

10

Charisma-Determines your ability to persuade or befriend other NPCs and increases RP gained from jobs and town tasks.

10

Constitution-Determines your hitpoints. The damage that can be dealt to you.

14

Available APs

0

The gnome made his way back to the party who were by now entering the gates.

New location discovered: Shater.

The caravan despawned and Hrenian walked over to him as he walked in. “Well, that last part was a little too much don’t you think?” Carter just looked at him. “Anyways, thanks for your help! I appreciate it. Let’s add each other and we can run some missions again in the future?” As Carter turned around to leave he waved goodbye over his shoulder. “Definitely.”