I jolted awake with no fucking clue where I was. My head snapped up and my eyes darted around wildly for a moment. I was surrounded on three sides by stone walls, with the sky visible through the opening in front of me.
Then it hit me: I was in Swords & Sorcery. Stuck here.
For the briefest moment, I had imagined myself waking up in my apartment on my thin futon, the phantom smell of my clogged toilet lingering in my nose.
Reality hit me like a slap in the face, and I felt sad at the loss of my life in the real world. I couldn’t say why. It wasn’t like it had been particularly fulfilling. Just the opposite in fact.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts, and immediately noticed flashing indicators all over my interface.
“Holy shit…”
The first thing I clicked on was my chat windows. My Guild chat was full of Jeremy, Kink, and T reacting to the reception of my video going out. I decided to go through it in detail later, and flipped over to my Private Messages tab.
I had 9,700 separate Private Message requests…
Next, I opened my Guild tab and saw 1,200 invite requests to join Damsels Gone Wild.
It was all way too much to parse through right now, so I went back to the Guild chat and typed a message to the guys.
RayGun47: Umm…I must have fallen asleep. What the fuck…?!
SnotPuppy: Ray! OMFG bro, we thought you fled to Russia!
KinkDaddy: This shit’s crazy, Ray! We’ve been holding off on accepting anyone until you woke up.
TxTxTxTxT: We may have underestimated the response…
RayGun47: No shit lol
KinkDaddy: What do we do?
TxTxTxTxT: Yeah, we need a plan…probably should have done that BEFORE lol!
The plan…Shit, what were we gonna do with 1,200 potential new members? We had nowhere to meet or organize things. That was it, then. We needed a Guildhall.
RayGun47: I think first thing’s first, we need to buy a Guildhall so we can meet all these recruits in person. Trying to do this somewhere public like a tavern will have us in a Yeet situation times a million.
KinkDaddy: Makes sense.
RayGun47: I’ll handle that part. In the meantime, we should create an application process or something. What do you guys think?
TxTxTxTxT: Oh, for sure.
SnotPuppy: Make sure u make real life pics a req.
KinkDaddy: We already fucking talked about this, Jeremy. We’re not only allowing hot chicks.
SnotPuppy: GD Kink! Its my only ask!
TxTxTxTxT: Jer, lock it down ffs. Go jack off or something, we have work to do.
SnotPuppy: fine
RayGun47: Can I leave you guys in charge of crafting the app? I’ll go buy the Guildhall and see what we’re working with.
TxTxTxTxT: Yeah, we got it, Ray.
KinkDaddy: Np
RayGun47: Oh, also - Jer? Were you able to get that gear for me?
SnotPuppy: Fuck ya! We gotchu!
KinkDaddy: It’s mostly craftable or dungeon gear, but it should hold you over until we can do some raids
TxTxTxTxT: Yeah, all the really good stuff is bind on pickup.
RayGun47: Cool, that’ll work. Can you link me what you bought so I can take a look?
SnotPuppy:
[Helmet] Bucket Helmet of the Gorilla [Rare]
(Bind on Equip)
Base:
+80 Physical Defense
+80 Magical Defense
+7 Endurance
+7 Vitality
+7 Strength
Level Requirement: 53
Crafted by TicknBomb4321Boom
[Shoulders] Pauldrons of Strength [Uncommon]
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(Bind on Equip)
Base:
+125 Physical Defense
+45 Magical Defense
+10 Strength
Level Requirement: 54
[Chest] Breastplate of the Hawk [Uncommon]
(Bind on Equip)
Base:
+200 Physical Defense
+10 Dexterity
+5 Intelligence
+5 Mind
Level Requirement: 57
Crafted by TicknBomb4321Boom
[Legs] Leggings of the Scorpion [Uncommon]
(Bind on Equip)
Base:
+45 Physical Defense
+95 Magical Defense
+10 Strength
+10 Endurance
Level Requirement: 58
[Feet] Shoes of Quick Step [Rare]
(Bind on Equip)
Base:
+80 Physical Defense
+80 Magical Defense
+7 Dexterity
+7 Intelligence
Special Effect:
Quick Step
+3% movement speed
Level Requirement: 58
Crafted by BlacksmithAlt4056
RayGun47: Yay!! Good job guys! I’ll finally have some gear!
KinkDaddy: It’s mismatched as hell, but it’s better than nothing. The jewelry and trinkets were way more, so we didn’t get you those yet.
RayGun47: It’s perfect! I’m gonna go find where I can purchase a Guildhall. I’ll let you know when it’s setup and we can meet up there.
TxTxTxTxT: Sounds good.
SnotPuppy: Cool cool
I closed out my chat windows and stood up. Now I just needed to get down from my vantage at the top of this building. There were ledges and balconies every five meters or so, but I wasn’t sure when fall damage would take effect.
I cautiously walked to the edge of the building and looked down. The nearest balcony was only a few meters down, so I crouched down and eased myself off the ledge, my feet dangling below. I dropped the few meters, bending my knees as I landed. The impact was negligible, and I realized that my strength definitely played a part in how high I could drop without taking damage.
I started experimenting as I traveled down the building. First, a couple meters with no fall damage. Then five meters, and still no fall damage. Then ten meters, and I took less than 1% damage. That was way better than I had expected. I slowly built up to a large, 30-meter drop, and took 5% off my health bar from the fall.
It was terrifying jumping down that far, but it really opened up the possibilities of travel. If 30 meters barely did any fall damage, then where was my limit? Was it linear, or did it increase exponentially?
After the last 30-meter drop, I was near the ground. But I wanted to experiment a bit more, so I activated [Bounding Jump] to climb back up the building a bit. I tried a 40-meter drop, and to my surprise, took a full 20% fall damage. So it definitely wasn’t linear. My health was down nearly 30% in total now, and I didn’t want to risk trying past 40 meters.
That was enough experimenting for one day. But it was comforting to know that I had at least 40 meters of wiggle room while traveling with my movement skill.
I opened my map and looked for an icon that would be related to a Guildhall. I assumed it would be somewhere in the player housing district, and sure enough, there was an icon there indicating some sort of vendor. The location was clear across town, so I did a quick Internet search to confirm that was the vendor I was looking for.
After confirming it was, I marked the waypoint, took a few quick breaths, then started charging [Bounding Jump].
When it was about halfway charged, I leapt in the direction of the marker, clearing all the surrounding buildings with ease.
“Holyyyy shitttttt!” I screamed as I traveled nearly an entire football field in seconds. The ground was approaching fast, and I kept the skill activated as my feet hit the roof of a building. The consecutive jump launched me another 50 meters with barely a chance to get my footing before I was off. At first, I nearly stumbled as I focused on trying to land with sure footing. But after the initial jumps, I realized that the skill pretty much balanced you automatically when you landed. The best course of action was to focus on your next jump so the skill would pick up on the intent.
It took me probably ten jumps to start getting the hang of the skill, and another three to get me to the Guildhall vendor. I initially overjumped, as my skill was half charged and was sending me in 50 meter increments, so I had to stop and recalibrate to get myself closer to the shop.
Once I was within sight, I deactivated the skill, and went the rest of the way on foot.
Much like the Avenue district where I had met with the guys, this district was packed with players. Dozens of players were coming and going from the Guildhall building, and there were just as many NPCs assisting them. I hesitated outside the building for a moment, feeling anxious about any in-person interactions with players. They hadn’t gone so great so far.
But after a moment, I psyched myself up, and went through the front door of the Guildhall building.
The interior of the Guildhall building was set up almost like a bank. The lobby was a large, open room, with a counter lining the back wall. There were roughly a dozen NPCs behind the counters, and most of them were engaged in discussions with players. I noticed one of the Guildhall NPCs was free, so I walked up to him.
“Hey there,” I said.
The male NPCs eyes grew wide for the briefest second upon seeing me, but he quickly masked his expression.
“Welcome adventurer. Have you come to explore the purchase or modification of your Guildhall?” the NPC asked.
“I have, indeed,” I replied.
“Well, you’ve come to the right place!” he said jovially. “May I ask whether you prefer Sir or Madam or some other designation?”
“I prefer Ray.”
He nodded knowingly, like he had been expecting that. From his earlier expression, I imagined he had seen the video I had broadcast just a few hours earlier.
“Well then, Ray, do you know what you would like to purchase, or can I run through our available options for a…” His eyes glazed over, like he was accessing a menu, then snapped back into focus. “…a level one Guild.” He must have used his NPC menu to look up that information.
“Yeah, show me what you got.”