Quill

Quill was not having a good day. Well, sort of. But not really. He was very happy for Jane because she’d defeated the bear. He was rather down on himself for doing pretty much nothing to help out. Other than give the bear something soft to land on when it had fallen on him.

He was also covered in blood. Drenched. His clothing soaked. It stunk, it was sticky and gross, and it attracted flies. Worst of all, Jane kept looking at him and giggling. Jane, who had levelled up while he had not.

The three of them, Jane and Saphire and himself, rolled the huge bear head through the forest. They wound their way around trees and did their best to avoid the high-level wolves and spiders crawling about. But a bear head is not perfectly round, nor does it always go where you want it to, and they were constantly fighting to stay on course. It was smelly, disgusting work.

Ah, the other side of being an adventurer. They tell you about the glory and the gold. They don’t tell you about the blood and guts and humiliation of pushing dead monster parts down the road while the entire village comes out to watch and point. Or about how all the other adventurers stopped and stared or laughed at them.

A small stream ran next to the village. Quill left the grizzleclaw head and walked right into the water without saying anything to the others. Tired and sore and feeling filthy like never before, he sat down in the water and let it wash over him. A cloud of red drifted downstream.

Jane stood on the bank, watching him with a smirk on her cute face. “So. That time of the month, huh?” she shouted.

He just groaned in response.

When he’d gotten what he could out of his clothes and hair and most of his skin was clean, he stood up and splashed Jane.

She yelped and dodged. “Missed me.”

He mock glared. “So you want to tease, huh? Heh, I’ll get my revenge on you. Oh yes, I’ll have my revenge. Mark my words…”

Her eyes narrowed. “Hey. Are you trying to steal my lines?”

He snorted and looked over at Saphire.

She stood next to a villager, tapping the middle-aged man on the shoulder. She spoke with a worried voice. “Excuse me. Mr Borony? Mr Borony?”

The villager made no reply. He didn’t acknowledge her presence in any way, just stared at the grizzleclaw head and muttered something to the woman standing next to him, presumably his wife.

This only seemed to stress Saphire out even more. She whimpered and backed away, shaking her head.

Quill nodded in Saphire’s direction and spoke to Jane. “Let’s keep going. It’s not good for her here.”

Jane looked over and saw the scene too. “Yeah. Maybe things will be better in the city?” she asked hopefully.

“Maybe.”

They attracted quite the attention as they rolled through the gates of Stormstadt. Lots of other players pointed and laughed or called out.

“Holy shit! What is that?”

“Hey! You know bags of holding exist, right?”

“You gonna eat that?”

“You’re bearly getting that thing to move but bear with it guys!”

Quill sighed inside, but smiled and waved with good humour to the other players. “Hey,” he called out. “Anyone know where the Adventurer’s Guild is?”

A young woman nodded and pointed helpfully. “Second intersection. Turn left. It’ll be on the right.”

He smiled at her. “Thanks!” He couldn’t wait for this to be over.

The guild was in a very large building made of huge, gray blocks of granite and massive logs, as if a mountain had reshaped itself for habitation. Two waterfalls spilled down from the roof into twin ponds that ran next to the building and under the sidewalk. Humans in full plate metal stood guard with tall halberds at regular intervals.

Jane stared up at the four-story structure. “Wow. How did we miss this?”

“It’s a big city. Guess we still have places to explore.” He stood on the street and stared in awe. The blue and white flags hanging overhead, decorated with sword and dragon. The rows of windows, the ones on the ground floor two stories high. The adventurers flowing in and out the front doors, easy to identify with their armor and weapons, mage robes and bags. A classy, brass plaque with stencilled letters next to the doors that read Adventurer’s Guild. There was something so very exciting about being here in person, something no traditional computer game could replicate. It felt so real. It brought back to mind a thousand stories and tv shows, books and games. He felt a rush of childhood excitement and wonder.

Jane shook her head. “I can’t wait to see what it looks like on the inside.”

“Me too.” Quill gratefully pushed the grizzleclaw head up against a bare section of wall. He could finally relax. It had been a long, exhausting walk. What he needed right now was to sit down. Preferably with a very cold drink and some food. Or maybe he could just slide down and take a nap on the side of the street. Yeah, a nap sounded good.

“Hey,” she waved him over to a spot next to the main double doors. “Look at this. Fliers for bounties.”

He took a deep breath and fought off his tiredness, then strode over. “Is the grizzleclaw up there?”

Jane’s hand roamed over the listings as she read. “Ah. Here it is.” Her eyes widened. “Wow!”

“Ten gold?” His jaw dropped. That was an absurd amount of money at their level. “That can’t be right.”

She beamed at him. “Come on. Let’s turn it in. With this, we can actually sleep in a real bed tonight.”

For a brief moment, he thought she meant sleep in a bed together. Then he realized it was just the wording and shook the image away. “Let’s leave Saphire here to guard it and go inside.”

They opened the doors and walked in.

The Adventurer’s Guild of Stormstadt was vast inside, and beautiful. The foyer was two stories of open space; the second floor was open and they could see inn rooms beyond. A dragon skull hung over their heads. It watched them enter and blew sparkling red fire at them that harmlessly passed over their heads, an illusion. The floor was worn, dark wood and there were planters of greenery in the corners of the room and in front of the tall windows looking out onto the street. Opposite the doors was a long counter with three receptionists smiling and dealing with players. On the right was an item shop, with a variety of weapons, armor, potions, and other gear. On the left was a wide tavern. At the far end of an array of circular tables was a small crowd in front of a large hearth. The people there seemed to be playing some kind of game at the tables.

The place was quite busy. There were lines at each receptionist and many tables had people eating at them. Others wandered around the little shop, browsing goods.

Quill’s brows rose at the sight of some of the other players. “Look at these people. Some of them have armor sets and magical weapons and stuff already. But how?” So he said, but he had an unpleasant suspicion.

Jane shrugged. “Maybe they have higher stats and levelled faster. Or spent the night grinding? Or just got really lucky?”

“Maybe.” Quill wasn’t so sure. A few of the people here looked high level already. Surely they hadn’t been in the game long enough for that. He gestured forward. “Let’s line up. Turn the bounty in.”

They stood in the shortest line, which was the middle one. Five people were in front of them.

Jane, with a friendly attitude, tapped the person in front of them on the shoulder. “Excuse me.”

The guy turned around. Like them, he wore basic clothes and had an axe on his belt. “What’s up?”

Jane gave him her best smile, which seemed to make the guy straighten a little and stand taller. “I was just curious. What’s up with the guys in nice gear already?”

He smiled with self importance. “Ah. You haven’t been in the shops yet? Most of those guys bought that gear.”

Quill was puzzled. “How? Where’d they get enough money so soon in the game?”

The guy snorted and addressed his answer more to Jane than Quill. “It’s cuz they spent real world money. They’re pay-to-win types.”

Quill nodded and gave a sigh of resignation. “Of course.” His suspicion had been correct.

“Seems to be a fair number of them,” Jane commented, scanning the crowd.

“Definitely.” The guy bent forward with a conspiratorial look. “Did you hear?”

Quill and Jane shook their heads.

The guy looked knowingly at them, obviously proud to know something they didn’t. “Rumour has it some really rich guys are in here with us. Saudi prince, some Russian gangster-slash-politician, a couple of Chinese tech billionaires. And lots of Americans with cash to burn, of course. They bought max level ups, all the best starter gear. Like money means nothing to them.”

Jane looked intrigued. “Level ups?” She glanced quickly at Quill, then back to the other guy.

Quill understood the look. With his low Intelligence, levelling up was going to be really tough. But could he buy levels? Not that he supported pay-to-win play at all. But the system was actively holding him back and wasn’t fair at all.

The other guy nodded. “Yep. Max level right now is ten. You can buy your way up instantly.”

“How much?” Quill asked.

“To go to level five? Two thousand US dollars.”

“Oh my gosh,” Jane breathed.

The guy waved her off. “That’s not all. The level boost from five to ten is another ten grand.”

Quill almost choked. “What? That’s insane!”

“I know. What can you do though?” the guy shrugged. “With our lives on the line, they can charge whatever they want and someone will pay it. Like I said, there are plenty of people in the game where even ten thousand dollars is chump change.”

Quill looked away. Fucking wealth inequality. It was definitely not chump change for him. So much for getting a leg up that way.

Jane frowned. “I can’t believe anyone would pay to jump to level five. I’m level three already. What a waste of two thousand dollars.”

The guy laughed. “Some people are lazy. And money means nothing to them.” He grew more serious. “And a lot of people think this really is a race. The one who passes the game first is the only one who’s going to get out of here alive.”

Her frown deepened. “We don’t know that for sure though, right? I mean, we don’t know anything other than what those CEOs told us in the beginning. And they could have lied. Not that they said for sure either way.”

The guy nodded and shrugged. “Yeah. But I think most people fear the worst. Don’t you? I mean, those assholes did trap us in here and all.”

That kind of killed the conversation. They resumed waiting in line. A few minutes later, Quill and Jane approached the receptionist.

She sat on a wooden stool. Her medium length hair was bright orange and she had oversized, circular glasses. Her face was friendly and speckled with freckles. “Hi! Welcome to the Stormstadt Adventurer’s Guild. How can we help you?” She spoke very clearly and professionally.

Jane put the bounty poster down on the counter. “We’d like to claim this.”

The receptionist, a tag on her chest read Elia, nodded. “Very well. Do you have proof of kill?”

Quill pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “The head’s sitting just outside.”

Elia looked behind her and beckoned to a teen boy busy sorting documents at a low desk. A quick word and he ran out into the street, only to reappear seconds later to give Elia a thumbs up from the doorway.

Elia smiled. “Very good. Thank you, adventurers! The reward is ten gold. I’ll just count that out for you now.” She reached under the countertop and came out with a handful of gold coins. She made two stacks of five and slid them over. “Here you are.”

Quill pushed one stack over to Jane and kept the other for himself.

The receptionist smiled at them. “Will there be anything else?”

Jane looked around. “Um, is there, like, a brochure or something that explains how being an adventurer works? Like a guide or something?”

Quill looked at her in surprise. “Good call!”

Elia bowed her head. She pulled out a thin book and placed it on the counter before them, turned to face them. “The Official Adventurer’s Guide. Everything you need to know about gaining skills and levelling up.”

The young woman’s words caught the immediate attention of every player in hearing range. Necks craned as other people looked to see the book. Apparently no one else had ever thought to ask if the guild had something like this.

Elia continued. “The book is ten silver. But I can answer a few quick questions for you as well.”

Quill slid a gold coin over, trying not to wince as he parted with the money so quickly after earning it. “We’ll take it. But maybe you could tell us what we get from levelling up? We both reached level two but didn’t get any skills or attribute points.”

She answered brightly while making giving him his change in silver. “Of course! Levelling up is a simple process. All you need to do is acquire experience points. When you accumulate enough, you’ll automatically rise to the next level. Your current level is multiplied with your attribute scores, so the higher your level, the more health and energy you’ll have. And the more damage you’ll do, of course. For magic users, you’ll also gain access to higher level spells as you level up. The current level limit is ten.”

“Standard stuff,” Jane commented.

Elia smiled. “When an adventurer hits certain milestone levels, that’s when big, exciting things start to happen. For example, at level five, you can choose a class. At level six, you certain classes can choose an elemental magic specialization. At level ten, you qualify to enter the PvP arena. And at other levels, you’ll gain skills and abilities according to your class. The Guide will show you exactly what you can gain.” She opened the book and flipped to a chart. “Please note that the skills and abilities listed here are standard acquisitions. When you level up, there’s a chance of acquiring rare or unique versions of skills as well. You can also find access to special skills while adventuring. These might be added to your current skills or they could replace them. Skills start out at Basic level. You can raise them up with use, reaching Advanced and Expert levels.”

Quill studied the table in the book. “Is there any way to increase our attributes?”

Elia shook her head. “No.” The NPC didn’t seem bothered by that fact, nor did she seem to have any idea of how much that affected players.

His heart fell a little, but he was expecting that answer.

Jane bit her lip as she, too, studied the guidebook. “Is there anything else we should know?”

Elia looked thoughtful and pushed a strand of orange hair behind her ear. “As you are already aware, the Adventurer’s Guild posts a number of bounties and quests on our boards. You can see the bounties outside. Some are ongoing, such as for goblin and gnoll ears, bandit tattoos, as well as a variety of useful monster parts. The quests are posted over there.” She pointed to a large board just inside the tavern. “Also, please visit regularly to be notified of any special events happening. Those will be posted here in the lobby in advance of the events.” She seemed to finish with this last bit of information and a smile.

Jane flashed her own smile and picked the book up. “Ok. Thank you so much.”

They moved away, out of the queue and towards the tavern. They saw receptionists pulling out Guide books for other players now as well.

Quill was pleased. Any source of information could be valuable. For everyone. “Let’s grab some food and drinks and check the book out.”

“Good call. Oh! We forgot Saphire!” She handed him the book and ran outside. A few moments later, she returned, leading Saphire by the arm.

One of the receptionists looked up and waved with a welcoming smile. “Saphire! Good to see you!” It was the perfect thing to say.

Saphire turned to her slowly, then a huge grin broke out. “Alice. Thank you. It’s so good to be seen!” She laughed and waved back. Then she turned back to him and Jane. A change seemed to come over her, a lightening of her burdens. “She saw me!”

Jane grinned. “See? You’re alive. Told you so.”

Saphire hesitated, but nodded and looked relieved. “Sorry. I know I was being weird. I just…um, I can’t explain it. Sorry.”

Jane waved her concern away. “Don’t worry. We’re just glad you’re feeling better. And thank you for all your help with that grizzleclaw.”

“Oh, it was my pleasure! Just another day for a Storm Scout.” She beamed at them and put her hands on her hips. She looked like she was back to normal. “Well, I’d best get back to it. I hope I see you two around later.”

They waved and watched her exit the building.

Jane took a deep breath. “I know it’s silly to be concerned for an NPC, but I’m really glad she’s ok now.”

“Me too,” he agreed, relieved. “Maybe she just needed to change her location to reset her or something. Or maybe the problem is just with the villagers related to the quest we broke.”

“Could be.” She turned to the tavern. “Now. Less talking, more eating.”

They found a table near a front window and ordered. Jane had a cryo-slime bellini and spicy wyvern steak. He had some kind of fruit juice and a cheesy boar melted sandwich. It would be the first real meal they’d had since arriving in this world and both were giddy at the thought of it, though a bit anxious at the cost. While waiting for the food to arrive, they opened the Guide back to the page about levelling up.

Quill pointed out the header. “As she said, looks like we gain stuff in stages. Three are universal: choosing class at level five, elemental magic specialization at level six, and accessing PvP at ten.”

Jane ran her finger down the side of the table with the classes listed. “I’m really, really glad we got this before we chose our classes. There’s a lot more info here than in the plaza.”

“Yeah. Super lucky,” he readily agreed. This became even more true once they saw that some of the classes really were unfinished.

Alchemist Fighter

5 - Extra Attack (1), Enemy Specialization (1)

6 - Elemental Infusion for Weapon

8 - Battle Potion Alchemy (HP regen, Energy regen, +DMG)

10 - Dual Attack

Paladin

5 - Shield of Light, Counter

6 - Light Infusion for Weapon

8 - (placeholder text)

10 - (placeholder text)

Cleric

Clerics may only use defensive spells.

5 - Turn Undead, Heal (single target, minor)

6 - Elemental Specialization for Spells

8 - Heal (AoE target, minor)

10 - Cleanse Poison and Disease (minor)

Tattooed Ranger

5 - Arrow: Climbing Rope, Arrow: Illumination

6 - Arrow: Elemental Rain, Arrow: Elemental Charged Shot

8 - Enemy Specialization (2), Allied Creature (1, minor)

10 - Arrow: Explosive, Arrow: Net

Druid

Forms Dryad and Gold Dragon must be unlocked before being chosen.

5 - Heal over Time (single target, minor), Tangling Roots, Befriend Animal (1, minor, 10min)

6 - Life Infusion for Weapon (staff only), First Form (choose from

8 - Second Form, Tree of Life (Heal over Time, AoE, minor)

10 - Third Form, Moonbeam (Spell, Damage over Time)

Elemental Mage

May only use offensive and utility spells.

5 - Mana Costs -25%

6 - First Elemental Magic Specialization, +25% Damage

8 - Teleport (2 targets)

10 - Second and Third Elemental Magic Specialization

Robinhood Monk

5 - Donation (give gold to access unique quests), Bark Skin

6 - Elemental Infusion for Body

8 - STA Regen +100%

10 - Stealth, Evasion, Steel Skin

Artist

5 - (placeholder text)

6 - (placeholder text)

8 - (placeholder text)

10 - (placeholder text)

Quill scowled. “I really want to be a paladin. But those bastards didn’t finish all the skills.”

Jane bit her lip. “Maybe. Or maybe they just didn’t finish the text here?”

He hesitated and felt a bit of hope. “You think so? I guess.” He leaned forward. “I don’t have much health though and the shield and counter skills make me think it’s a tank class.”

“Which we could address with really good gear, maybe?”

“Maybe. Look at this. There’s nothing at all listed for Artist.”

“I wonder what they do.”

He sighed. “I really have no idea what class to choose. With my attributes, I think I’d suck at all of them. What about you?”

“Hmm. I still like Druid.”

“I think most people are going to choose cleric as the healer class. Being able to heal instantly is generally preferable to healing slowly over time. Especially in life and death situations. And druid looks like the weakest damage class, I’m guessing.”

“Yes. But as a druid I can transform.” Her eyes lit up. “How cool would that be?”

“Pretty cool.” He laughed.

Their food arrived. Both stared at the dishes with wide eyes and practically drooled with anticipation.

Jane downed half her bellini in one, long gulp. “Gah! I needed that,” she burst out, putting the glass down next to her large steak, which was drowning in brown sauce and red flakes of something that looked like it would burn your mouth off. “Actually, that was dumb. I should have ordered water first and taken the time to enjoy this.”

Quill tore into his sandwich and almost died from happiness. “Oh man.” He chewed and spoke with his mouth half full. “I missed real food.” He swallowed. “It’s nice to have money.”

“Yes! Although, this was kind of expensive.”

“We made good money today though,” he countered.

“Of course. Still.” She fanned her mouth. “Bloody hell. This wyvern steak is incredible but so spicy!”

“We have enough to stay in an inn tonight.”

She looked skeptical. “Should we though? Or should we save money? The inn was a lot of copper. And so was this meal. We’re not exactly made of money.”

“You want to stay in the tree again?”

“I’m fine with that. I don’t mind.”

He looked at her like she’d grown horns. “You sure?” he asked. He totally didn’t believe her.

She pretended to be mildly offended. “I’m a girl, but I’m not a princess. I can handle sleeping without a bed for a little while. Let’s save the money and use it for weapons or armor or something. Or bags! We should go check out bags. No more rolling giant heads around.”

He was still doubtful. “Ok. As long as you’re sure.”

She gave him a flat look. “Do I look like the delicate flower type?”

“Yes?” he teased.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“No? Well, not really. You’re still very, um, feminine though,” he relented. He was really only half teasing. In his experience, girls usually preferred fancy hotels and running water and toilets and basically all the luxury you can throw at them. However, his experience was, admittedly not universal. There could be unicorns out there, women who didn’t want to be treated like a princess at all times. He took another bite of the delicious sandwich. “Ok, we’ll keep roughing it. But, uh, maybe we should buy a blanket or a pillow or something if we can though?”

“That is a great idea! I would love to pillow. Er, a pillow.” She blushed and drank more bellini.

A very confident-looking dwarf sauntered over to their table. His head only came to chest height on Jane, a fact that he probably enjoyed. He was burly and heavily bearded and wore a simple green vest over a white shirt and black pants. “Lady! Sir!” he greeted them with a mischievous twinkle in his eye and in a dwarvish brogue. He held up a deck of glowing, obviously magical cards. “Might I interest ye two in a wee game?”

Quill - Level 2

Jane - Level 3