I looked at my map and located the nearest town. It looked to be about 15 minutes away by direct route, or 30 if we went for the road first and followed the path. Despite my close call with the lagoon, my interaction with the gorilla from earlier made me feel confident enough to go the direct route through the jungle.
We started at a bit of a jog, but Jeremy’s stamina drained much faster than my own. I thought about offering to pick him up, but his earlier comments dissuaded me from that. Not that I minded close contact with a man in a woman’s body or anything like that. It was more that I couldn’t say with absolute certainty that Jeremy wouldn’t get off on it, and that thought grossed me out.
So we made the trek the slow way, stopping every minute or so for his stamina bar to refill. We actually didn’t have any trouble as we traveled. The mobs showed up on our minimap well outside Jeremy’s aggro range, and we easily skirted around them. The density was manageable, and we never had to divert far.
We stopped just outside the town, and anxiety hit me suddenly. There could be other players here, I realized, and the thought made me distinctly uncomfortable. Jeremy looked at me with a questioning look, but I just forced a deep breath, and trudged on.
The town was relatively small - more an outpost than anything. It was probably about 30 yards across at any point, and was ringed by a wooden palisade extending about 15 feet into the air, blocking most of our view. I knew there were three entrances from the map, and the entrance in front of us was guarded on either side by NPC guards. They were each level 40, so not much of a threat to me. Still, I didn’t know what their abilities were, how many of their buddies were inside the town, if they called for backup in a fight, or anything really. Not that I planned on aggroing them, but if it came to a fight, there were so many unknowns.
As we approached, there seemed to be some invisible demarcation about 30 feet from the town, because a warning popped up in our visions:
Warning: This is a shared faction town. Guards will deal swiftly with those that break the peace.
I stopped at that. I wondered what breaking the peace entailed. If someone attacked me, would the guards wade through us indiscriminately? Jeremy stopped with me, and we both examined the town.
From our position, I didn’t see any players, but the view through the entrance was narrow. I looked to Jeremy. “I’m not sure what to expect. There could be hostile players in there, and I’m not really looking for a fight.”
Jeremy nodded agreement. “Yeah, makes sense. You wanna stay out here? I doubt the other players will attack me. And if they do, the guards should take care of them.”
I thought for a moment. He was probably right, I couldn’t live the rest of my life as a hermit, but I still didn’t feel quite up for a fight - or even the weird stares I had received earlier in Shadow Vale. “Okay, you go ahead. Ping me if you run into any trouble.”
He nodded. “Cool, I’ll be max level in no time,” he said, flashing me a grin. He started to go but then stopped suddenly. “Oh…um, can I borrow some money?”
I laughed. “Sure honey, here’s some cab money.” I reached into my inventory and deposited a thousand gold in his hand. It was only a fraction of what I had pilfered from BigSword’s corpse. “How bout a smooch before you go?” I asked with a wide, shit-eating grin.
He flipped me his middle finger and rolled his eyes. “Smooch on this,” he said, motioning his finger up and down. I laughed even harder at that. I was sad to see him go, but this was the best I’d felt since Al had first taken me into Null Space.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said with a dismissive wave.
He flourished with his still extended finger into a mock salute before turning to go. I watched him stroll past the guards and out of sight. I pulled up the map and watched his icon move towards the flight master. Suddenly, his icon disappeared, and I closed the map, ready to head out. But then I noticed his nameplate in my party interface had flashed to zero, just as I noticed a message from him.
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SnotPuppy: Fuck! Dude, someone ganked me!
RayGun47: WTF!? Shit, okay, where did it send you?
SnotPuppy: graveyard, couple minutes away. My combat log says it was a rogue!
My heart rate jacked up at that. I really didn’t want to get into a fight with a player. I wasn’t familiar enough with the skill sets of the different classes, and I could imagine a rogue toying with me by getting in shots then dashing away to restealth - rinse and repeat until I was dead. The thought filled me with anxiety. But it wasn’t like I could leave Jeremy to be camped for who knows how long.
I looked up from the chat and noticed the guards had turned to rush into the town, but had stopped suddenly, returning to their posts. The rogue must have broken combat somehow.
Shit…
RayGun47: Okay. I’m coming in to watch your back. Tell me when you’re close and I’ll meet you. I’ll stand watch as you res and you get the fuck outta dodge.
SnotPuppy: wat about u?
RayGun47: Whoever this is, they shouldn’t be able to 1-shot me. The guards will intervene by that point if it comes to it.
SnotPuppy: roger, heading back now
I watched the town for the few minutes it took Jeremy to run back to his corpse. No one came or went, which only heightened my anxiety. Had the rogue left, or was he standing watch over Jeremy’s corpse right now? Was he watching me right now? I forced myself off that line of thought - it would just drive me crazy.
SnotPuppy: ok, im ready to res when u r
RayGun47: 2 mins, I’m heading in now.
I broke from the jungle line, heading towards the entrance. My heart was beating in my throat, and I felt sweat on my palms. The realism of those sensations took my mind off the fear I was feeling - if just for a moment.
Calm down, Ray. You’re level 100 for Christ’s sake. They’re gonna take one look at you and scatter. At least, that’s what I told myself. Red skull, Al had said. I tried to look confident as I entered the town, my back straight, head up. I distinctly tried not to look like a fucking damsel character.
As I entered the town, I noticed a couple players in the 40s ranging around - but they couldn’t have been the gankers, they were part of my own faction, and couldn't attack us. I kept my gaze ahead as they noticed me, trying not to swivel my head back and forth like I was concerned. But I didn’t see Jeremy’s gankers, and I was starting to get very concerned. Had they bounced after ganking Jeremy, or were they hiding? Stealth, I guessed.
Jeremy’s body was laying near the flight master, so I went over to it, standing directly next to his corpse.
RayGun47: You see me? You should be good. Go quick
I saw his corpse dissipate, and his life flashed back to green on my UI. Moments later, he was next to the flight master, gone in an instant.
SnotPuppy: im out!
RayGun47: Good shit, man. I’ll see you soon. When Al hits me up for another Null Space run, I’ll make sure you get the invite.
SnotPuppy: u better!
I closed out the chat, doing a quick look around to get my bearings. The flight master was just a regular NPC, no actors necessary for such a simple task. But there were a couple actor-enabled shops in sight. As well as the low level players that were still watching me, confusion evident in their stares. I adopted a nonchalant expression and waved at them. They looked at each other, then back to me, not moving.
I shrugged and walked over to one of the stores. It had an anvil over the entrance, and I guessed it would have armor and weapons. As I approached, the sounds of metal clanging came to me. I went through the doorway, and saw the NPC banging away at a sword on the anvil that dominated the center of the smithery. I noticed the NPC’s eyes glaze for a moment, his hammer stopped mid swing, before they cleared and he looked up at me. I didn’t have any actor experience outside of being a damsel, but my guess was the store had a trigger near the door that would fetch an actor when a player entered. This system was setup so the actor didn’t have to just mindlessly bang away at a sword in mock work for hours on end. Plus, there simply weren’t enough actors to keep every single NPC actor enabled at all hours. Much more efficient to filter the actors in and out when needed.
“Hey,” I said in greeting.
The NPC looked at me with furrowed brow, confusion evident on his face. After a moment, he said, “I-I’ve never seen a-” He cut off suddenly. I imagined he was about to say ‘a damsel’ but realized he’d be breaking character. “Um, are you-” He leaned in, looking around before continued. “-an Isabella companion?”
I realized now why he was so confused. The Isabella companion was just the damsel character that players like BigSword unlocked after a questline. They were normally sent out to shop for their player, but weren’t able to venture outside of the faction capitols. “Oh, yeah,” I replied. “My master is beta testing an addon that lets us Isabella companions leave the major cities. I’m here to buy some gear. Can I take a look at what you have?”
He hesitated for a moment, but went with the safer option, eventually. Better to just take me at my word, rather than risk negative feedback. He did something I couldn’t see on his own interface, and a store inventory populated in my vision.
Time to gear up.