I hadn’t walked more than a few hundred meters when I got my first taste of combat in AO.
I was trudging along, on the lookout for anything even remotely suspicious. My head was on a swivel as I looked back and forth, my right hand resting on the pommel of the Assassins blade I wore. The grass I walked through swished around my hips as I went, making a soft shushing sound with each careful step I took. I didn’t see the hole until it was too late.
My foot went forward in anticipation of another step, and instead of solid ground, it found scree and loose dirt. I stumbled forward into a wide, shallow ditch that was dug across the ground, razor straight, about eight feet wide and two feet deep. I tumbled face-first into the thin mud at the bottom, and as I was standing up, two things happened. The first was a notification icon popping into view in the upper left of my vision. Right as I was going to select it, the second thing registered. The second thing was the sound of angry hissing, like that of a snake. If a snake were the size of a bullet train.
Okay, that’s an exaggeration. And it wasn’t a snake. The thing looked something like a komodo dragon mixed with one of those frilled lizards. But it was the size of a dump truck. The ditch was obviously a well-traveled route for the lizard. And I had just stumbled into it.
As I scrambled back to my feet, I drew the assassin blade from its sheath with my left hand and scrabbled for the seer's orb with my right. The second my hand gripped the orb, the lizard’s stats popped into view.
Plains Lizard Matriarch
LVL 30
HP 126/4000
I read the stats quickly, and the numbers confused me, so I took a closer look at the monster-I guess Matriarch-in front of me. The thing was gigantic, but her green and brown hide was cracked and there was blood oozing out of several wounds. Arrows peppered her face, and even though she was hissing, she hadn’t moved to attack. Then my eyes focused on her level again. Level THIRTY? In a starter area? How did that even make sense? This game had some serious bugs if this was the norm. And I thought I was supposed to be super lucky. I guess it was good luck she was almost dead, but really, this is just messed up.
I stood warily holding my sword out in front of me. This was not what I meant by just jumping in.
The Matriarch moved forward a bit, her tongue flicking out near me. I flinched, and by reflex, I swung my sword. The tip of my blade met the tip of her tongue, and a small red number floated up from the contact
-60
As the number floated up, the word froze, and a text box filled my vision
You are entering combat for the first time in Archetype Online. Records show that you have not played the tutorial. This courtesy message is to let you know that during combat your system messages will be held back. These messages include anything other than basic combat statistics. This setting can be changed in the System menu.
No sooner had I read the message than the text disappeared and the monster lizard jumped back into motion, its tongue snapping back into its mouth as it lunged forward to murder me effortlessly. Everything went black, and I felt a wet, smelly weight fall on me.
I was disoriented as I struggled to move, to see, to do anything. Suddenly my vision was filled with a soft, grey light. I couldn’t see anything other than the light. Then another message popped into view.
Would you like to loot LVL 30 Plains Lizard Matriarch?
Loot? It was dead? Did I kill it? Freakin sweet! This was especially good news because that meant that I wouldn’t be slowly suffocated. In most games, after you loot a kill, the body disappears. I mentally affirmed that I would like to loot the Matriarch, and a flood of new messages started coming in.
You struck Plains Lizard Matriarch! Critical Strike! Vulnerable location! Damage x10!
You have learned the skill ‘Short Blades’
Plains Lizard Matriarch misses!
You struck Plains Lizard Matriarch! Critical Strike! Vulnerable location! Power attack! Damage x20!
You have killed LVL 30 Plains Lizard Matriarch. Field Boss killed! Achievement unlocked!
Achievement ‘Who’s The Boss?’ received.
You contributed less than 10% of the damage for this kill. You receive no experience.
You dealt the killing blow to Plains Lizard Matriarch! For killing an enemy more than 10 times your level, you will receive a guaranteed rare drop!
You have looted the Plains Lizard Matriarch
You receive: 10x Plains Lizard hide, 10x Plains Lizard meat, 2x Plains Lizard fang, 1x Idol of The Matriarch
After I looted, I expected the lizard to disappear. It didn’t. Nor did it turn to dust, or rapidly decay into pixelated gore. It just stayed there, on top of me, not quite crushing me to death. But, now that the glow was gone, I could start to make out things as my eyes adjusted. First, my hand still gripped the handle of my sword, which was currently wedged straight through the roof of the Matriarch's mouth. Its fangs were speared into the ground just on either side of my shoulders. If I was even a fraction of an inch wider in the shoulders, I would probably be dead right now. The bottom of the lizard's jaw had unhinged as it struck, and I could stare down the massive gullet of my would-be devourer. But the weight still rested against me, and I could not manage to wiggle or wedge my way out from underneath.
So, I managed to kill a Field Boss-whatever that is-but I was trapped underneath it. And now I was going to starve to death, assuming I still needed to eat and drink in Archetype Online-probably something else included in the tutorial.
In the meantime, I supposed I should check out the loot that I got. The hide and meat were pretty standard crafting components, for leather working and cooking respectively. They stacked in my inventory, which was good because otherwise, they would have taken up almost all of my space. Maybe if I had taken the crafting kit instead of the seer's orb, I could have fashioned some sort of way out of this mess. The fang was cool, and could probably be used as a weapon or magic item component. It had a faint blue glow about it in my inventory, so it was at least a little magical. The last thing that I got must have been the rare drop I got for landing the killing blow.
The Idol of the Matriarch looked like a jade carving of a lizard, nearly identical to the one I had killed. I couldn’t tell from the image of it in my inventory just how big it was, but it took up the same number of slots in my inventory as my armor had two so I didn’t want to risk pulling it out and looking at it. But it glowed an intense violet, which I assumed indicated its rare nature.
Unsure how I was going to get out of this, I opened my menu to read through all the information I could find. The Status option in the menu just listed my character sheet and status. The zero listed under experience was truly depressing to see. I had killed a Boss monster 29 levels higher than me, and all I got was.....a glowing magical Idol. A huge glowing magical idol. That was probably so big that if I pulled it from my inventory it would crush me before I could starve to death. That thought caught me. At least it would be a quicker death, right?
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
With a deep breath, I opened my inventory, selected the idol, and braced myself for a crushing death. But instead of crushing me into the soft dirt, another window opened up.
Do you wish to activate the Idol of the Matriarch? Y/N
Activate? I got no other information. But it was a no-brainer. I had no other options. I selected yes.
There was an earth-shaking hiss, and yet another window popped up.
You have activated the Idol of the Matriarch. You have summoned LVL 1 Matriarch Lizard
You have learned the skill ‘Summoning’
A lizard's head, about the size of a golden retriever's, worked its way into the same cavity as me, and I froze. It really did look just like the giant I had just killed. Its head was now so close I could see its fangs, the nictitating membrane across its eyes, the pebble-like hide on its snout.
The lizard’s tongue flicked out and ran from my chin to my hairline. After it tasted me, it cocked its head to the side, looking at me expectantly.
“Help” I croaked out, desperate to not die within the first hour of the game.
The thing cocked its snout the other way, and then its head snapped forward, its fangs sinking into my shoulder. And I blacked out again.
**********
I hoped waking up groggy and bleary wouldn’t become a habit, because the second time was only slightly better than the first, in that I woke up to sunlight, rather than the inside of a lizard. After I blinked my eyes clear, the first thing I did was check my notifications.
You have been bitten by your summoned monster. Summoned Monsters cannot harm their summoner.
You have taken damage from your environment!
-15hp from ‘Scraping Rocks’
You have learned the skill ‘Heavy Armor’
I sat up and looked myself over. There were some dents in my armor, and my legs were still technically inside the mouth of the giant Komodo dragon, but I was clear of the immediate threat at least. My life bar was blinking in my vision, and I saw that a decent-sized chunk of my HP was missing. That must be the damage I took from being dragged over the rocks. But 15 was that much? How much HP did I have anyway? I decided I needed to take a closer look at my character sheet.
Player: Archon
Level: 0
XP: 0
HP: 85/100
MP: 180/180
SP: 100/100
Archetype: Adaptor
Race: Protean
Class:
Alignment: Chaotic Good[Error]
Stats:
Str: 10
Dex: 11
Con: 10
Int: 13
Cha: 10
Luc: 18
Wil: 18
Skills:
Heavy Armor 1
Short Blades 1
Scan 1 (Item Granted)
Mana Manipulation 1 (Item Granted)
Summoning 1
Synergies:
None
Summoned Creatures:
Matriarch Lizard LVL 1:
HP: 100/100
Okay, there was a lot to unpack there. But first and most importantly, that damage from being dragged was almost a fifth of my total! Even wearing heavy armor, I was still incredibly squishy. And still only level 0. Which still had me salty. I killed-or at least helped kill-a level thirty Boss, and didn’t get even a single experience point? Not cool. Further musings on my character sheet were interrupted by the sound of approaching voices. I couldn’t quite make out what was being said, but there was definitely more than one voice, and they were definitely coming closer.
I tried to pull my legs the rest of the way out from under the dead snake, but one of my heavy boots was wedged pretty tightly between a fang and the dirt. As I was trying to dig myself out, the approaching party finally came into view. Before I could say anything, another text box filled my vision.
You are about to encounter another race! Because of your race selection, your starting disposition with the race (Gnome) is: neutral. Because of this, there will be no positive or negative modifiers to interactions. Note: As a Protean, you are required to maintain secrecy regarding your actual race. Given the current game status, it is recommended that you identify as human.
Okay, so these were gnomes, and I wasn’t supposed to tell them what I was. I could roll with that.
The gnomes were around four feet tall, taller than I was expecting. They also didn’t look like what I was expecting. In my head, when I heard gnomes, I pictured those old lawn ornament things. Little fat guys with pointy hats and big beards. Instead, these were warriors. Proportioned like adults, but smaller, they had some serious muscle definition. They had varying features, with some having lighter or darker hair, and some having slightly paler or darker skin. But all of them had piercing green eyes. They weren’t wearing pointy hats or little vests either. Their clothes were plain but sturdy, made of something between canvas and linen.
As I sat there on the ground staring, they stared right back, looking from me to the dead snake, to my boot wedged in its mouth. Then, almost simultaneously, they all busted out laughing. They laughed for what seemed an inordinately long time but eventually began to calm down. The one that seemed to be in charge put his hand out in a silencing gesture, and the others immediately quieted. Then he spoke.
“Son, that has got to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in all my years. How in all the heavens did you get stuck in there?” His voice was deeper than I would have thought. Not like, Darth Vader deep, but still low. Par for the course with gnomes I guess.
“Well, I tripped into this trench,” I gestured to the loose scree and mud underneath me, “and when I got up, this massive lizard was coming at me. I panicked and when it lunged, I just sort of stuck my sword forward. Its fangs missed me, and my sword stabbed it right through the mouth. Then, I was stuck underneath it, until I managed to get most of the way out, with the help of this one here.”
As I gestured to the newly summoned lizard, the gnomes seemed to see it for the first time.
“Matriarch!”
“Get it!”
They all rushed toward me and my pet, and in response, I brandished my blade once again.
“Stop! That’s my pet!”
“Pet?” The leader spoke again. “That’s no one's pet. It’s a baby Matriarch. Given time, it’ll grow into a monster just as large and deadly as this one-” he lashed out with a foot and connected with the corpse of the giant lizard, “-it needs to be killed now before it can establish a nest.”
I looked between the bristling gnomes and the deadly predator that had saved my life. The Matriarch lizard was already fairly massive, with a head the size of a dog, and a body roughly five feet long. It looked like a crocodile skin sausage to be perfectly honest. Not nearly as scary or deadly as the massive beast that had almost swallowed me whole.
“It’s my pet. I summoned it. I’m fairly certain it won't be establishing much of anything. Will you?” I directed the last part at my new lizard, and it looked at me for a moment with that same look from before, like a dog trying to understand a new command. Then it slowly waved its head side to side, not quite a no-shake, but something. Then it began to butt against my legs, made awkward by the foot still stuck.
“See? Not going to make a nest or, whatever else big momma lizards do.”
“You say you summoned it?”
“That’s right.”
“You don’t look like any summoner I ever met. More like some clumsy boy playing in his father's armor. But if what you say is true, dismiss it. We will not deal with you further if you keep it here.”
“Do I have to? I’m not even sure how. Plus, I’m not sure if I can even summon it back.”
“And why would that be so?”
“Well, I was only able to summon it thanks to this item I got, after looting the body of big momma here.”
“YOU looted the body?” Uh oh. That seemed to make him mad.
“So, you dealt enough damage to be included in the battle?”
“I...guess so? If that’s what it means when you’re allowed to loot something.”
“Damn! That means we didn’t get all the experience.”
“Huh?” I was very articulate. You know, for someone in my position.
“If you were included in the loot drops, that means you got a share of the loot. Which means you also got a share of the experience.”
“Oh no. The system said I didn’t get any XP from the fight because I did less than one percent of the damage.”
“I see.” He said, now glancing from me to the lizard at my feet. “If you truly received an item that lets you summon a Matriarch, then you must be mighty indeed. Such an item would be quite rare, only awarded for landing the killing blow. Meaning you did not simply poke the thing and then let it expire from its wounds.”
“That seems kind of obvious, no? I mean, if that were the case, I wouldn’t be stuck in its damn mouth, would I?” The gnome nodded his head agreeably.
“That is not as true as you might think, but based on your story, and the state of you, I believe it.”
“Great. Now, can you give me a hand here, or do I have to get rid of this great new pet just to move on?”
“Well, if you slew the Matriarch, surely you are high enough level to have a few more tricks up your sleeve. Why should you need our help?”
I could feel my face reddening.
“Actually, I’m not a high level at all. The monster basically impaled itself on my sword. I didn’t do much more than stand there. I’m only level zero.”
There was utter silence from the group. Pure shock sat on the leader's face. And then more laughing.