Ben White slowly laid back in his med pod, the add-on needed to use for VR gaming made this hyper-expensive piece of hardware even more extravagant, but it hadn't hurt his bank account. It was the most expensive thing he owned by a factor of ten at least and that included his home and classic car. He was young to be retired, only thirty-eight, but he earned it. He had fought through his younger years foregoing all the trappings of a normal late teen and twenties for nonstop training and getting his head beat in.
This wasn't just a normal night of gaming though. Tonight was the launch of Solutions AI's, the makers of Quester's Realm, newest VRMMO Destiny's Forge. All the media and hype promised it was going to be amazing and Ben was excited when he felt the vibrating of his pod and heard the whir as it came to life. Within moments he was in his virtual waiting area. There were plenty of options in setting yours up and Ben had made a large sitting room with multiple archways that led to programs that he often used. By walking through the archway he was essentially launching the program. The archway that led into Destiny's Forge was closed off by a thick wooden door. It wasn't ready yet.
“Time” Ben said.
A voice assigned to the user interface responded in a British butler accent, “ Eleven fifty-three P.M. Earth Standard Time sir.”
Seven minutes to wait.
“ Call Jake.”
There was a ringing filling in the air as Ben sat down in a comfortable armchair and waited the few seconds it took before he got a response.
“ Benny! Are you all set and ready to go?”
Ben was used to Jake's Boston accent and instantly smiled at hearing the man's voice.
“ I'm in my VR waiting area now. Figured I'd call you to pass the time.” Ben said.
“ Remember we are meeting in Coastwatch.” Jake said.
“ Remind me why we chose Coastwatch.”
“ The majority of the guild players decided to be human, so we looked at the human cities. It happened to be closer to the area where players can claim land, according to what people are saying online anyway, compared to the other human cities, and it's big enough for a teleporter. I guess your first teleport is free and after that, they are super expensive. Hold on, Jane is calling.”
Jake brought her into the conversation.
“ Ben is in the chat too, Jane.”
“ Hi, Jane.”
“ Hey Ben”
“ Did you guys see the character creation video released earlier today?” Jane asked.
They of course had seen it, repeatedly. The game did an odd question and answer thing that decided your starting gear and skills.
“ Are you kidding? Of course, we watched it.” Ben said.
“ How many people from the guild are you expecting to meet us in Coastwatch?” Ben asked Jane, who was far more involved in the politics of the guild than he was.
“ Something like forty members of the guild from Quester's Realm have bought the game and asked if we were starting a guild. I expect twenty or so to show up in Coastwatch today. Moreover the next couple of days.” Jane said.
The archway to Destiny's Forge came to life and Ben said, “ My game is ready, so I'm going to get to in. See you guys on the other side.”
“Yup.” said Jake.
“ Bye.” said Jane distractedly.
One moment Ben was walking over the threshold and the next he was floating in darkness. Spread out before him were portraits of all the different races a person would expect in an RPG and many many more. There was the expected elf, dwarf, gnome, and such, but also a humanoid version of nearly every imaginable animal and some things Jack couldn't explain. There were centaurs, minotaurs, some kind of Abe Sapien like fishman, bird people, undead, and so on.
Excitedly, Ben focused on the portraits and found that when he focused on one of the images, it moved slightly closer or got a little bigger, he noted when he realized that as things were laid out, he wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. The portrait Ben was focusing on also developed writing along the bottom, giving a description and benefits of each of the races. The dwarf and elf had the opposing aspects one would expect; the former was strong and hearty, getting bonuses to strength and fortitude while the elf was agile and intelligent, getting bonuses to dexterity and intelligence. Humans were the ultimate jack-of-all-trades, getting no bonuses but rather all free points to use when they leveled. All the races got the same number of points to spend at each level but most had some portion auto-assigned to particular stats.
There was also a gnome, orc, goblin, kobold, lizardfolk, and more. Ben could now tell that the portraits receded into the distance, and he could will them to cycle through. At the far end, after he cycled through countless different races, a portrait that was just a blacked-out humanoid finished the options. When Ben focused on the blacked-out portrait, the word multi-race appeared, and that voice began again.
"A multi-race character may have any of the attributes of either of their parents."
Ben was fairly sure he wanted to be more martial then magical, so he checked out a few animal humanoids like panther and bear. They were pretty friggin cool but he just wasn't sure. He chose to be human with a sigh.
He decided he was good with this character and the voice returned.
"This decision can not be undone. Are you ready to progress?"
Again things progressed with the thought being the only acknowledgment.
" You will be called," the voice said.
Ben remembered a streamer who got to do some early play saying that the world was so real that normal gamer tags didn't seem right. So he decided to try something different.
Ben Jamains
"Your parents were..." the voice said as the next series of portraits arrived.
The portraits were all of a male and female. The female had a baby in her arms in each portrait, but that is where the similarities ended. They all were dressed differently, and after looking at the first, he began to get the idea. They were all different professions and offered skills based on what they did. There was a warrior, merchant, hunter, mage, noble, herdsmen, and a long list of craftsmen, but something else caught his eyes, slaves. There was a woman in threadbare clothes and a gladiator of sorts. The man had shabby armor and a thick metal and leather collar. Each portrait added a point to a base stat like strength, wisdom, and intelligence, along with giving three skills.
His point went into fortitude. Slaves had to be hardy to survive cold nights near rotten food, cold, and lack of sanitation in their quarters. His earliest memories were the conditions and his mother's abuse. At far too young of an age he had to silently watched as his mother was whipped for spilling soup on a guest. The memories were awful, and he was simply aware of the cruelty of his new world.
The skills were interesting. Unarmed combat plus five. He remembered fighting the other children for whatever scraps made their way to the dark damp cellar where the slaves slept when not performing duties. He learned Dodge from those same altercations, and finally he learned stealth from trying to avoid the gaze of the lord of the manor or his guards.
"As a youth, you were noticed to have an aptitude for..." the voice continued while more portraits appeared.
These were of a dark-haired boy doing different tasks. One looked to be leading a group of other boys. Another was counting on an abacus. In one he was stacking large rocks. There were others, plenty of others, but none were appealing except maybe the last. The last contained a boy feeding a horse that was larger than he was. Ben chose the one feeding the horse and gained a point in Wisdom, five levels in mounted combat, and ten levels in animal handling.
"Young men were expected to be of value and you..." said the voice, still leading him through his creation.
More portraits appeared with the boy having noticeably grown. In one, he was counting goods and serving as the assistant to the quartermaster of the keep. Then he was aiding a blacksmith and followed by nearly every other craftsman imaginable. There were more though herding animals, gathering herbs and roots, and finally helping a construction crew. Nothing really jumped out at him as he scanned the choices. The selections also gave the one point in a base attribute or another, and fifteen skill levels spread out between one to three skills. He finally chose Blacksmithing and got five levels in smelting, and ten in blacksmithing along with a point in fortitude. He again acquired the memories that went with those skills and time spent in the forge.
"As a young man, you found a place..." said the voice.
This time a young man's images were before him childishness wholly gone from his features. There was a head stable hand doing the bulk of the work along with a head forge assistant, and things like that in various trades. It was the gladiatorial trainee that caught his attention though. Ben gained a point in dexterity and five in unarmed combat, spear, and shield.
"Adulthood was reached when you.." the voice continued.
There were a bunch of choices but the only one that Ben was into was winning freedom in the arena. He got two points this time one in strength and one in fortitude. Of course, he got skill points too. Five in performance, spear, and shield.
Then came darkness.
Ben Jamins
Strength 12
Dexterity 11
Fortitude 12
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 11
Charisma 10
Will 10
Luck 10
Skills
Spear 15 Apprentice
Unarmed 10 Apprentice
Dodge 5 Apprentice
Shield 10 Apprentice
Mounted Combat 5 Apprentice
Animal Handling 10 Apprentice
Smelting 5 Apprentice
Blacksmithing 10 Apprentice
Performance 5
He entered the game in a long valley a day south of where the estate he had previously lived in was planted in the lush landscape. There was no place for him there. Ben took a moment to reconcile the new memories that were not his flowing through his mind. They lacked the emotional response real memories held but that was all the difference he could find between those and the real memories he held.
Ben also began to process other information his mind now held. He knew where the nearest village was and even remembered visiting it once or twice. He knew the kingdom he was in, Sorendoor. He knew the beasts that lived in this area. He had a basic idea of the price of goods and services. In fact, his mind seemed to hold a plethora of basic knowledge about the world he was in.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Armed with this new knowledge he began to stroll west through the valley. At the edge of the forest, he was walking towards was a road and if he took it to the left he would be heading towards Coastwatch. Ten hours on foot, and he'd be in the city, this too was knowledge that had just been put in his head.
Ben then began reaching for the memories. The makers said the largest continent was twice the size of Asia and the other three were closer to Australia with an abundance of islands all over the globe. The largest continent contained the human kingdoms, dwarves, gnomes, and a bunch of other less prolific races. Orcs had a continent with trolls, goblins, and a few other races. The elves likewise were on a heavily forested continent where they were the powerhouse. The final continent and a large archipelago held the animal-type humanoids.
Thinking about the knowledge in his head from the game was a bit chilling. If they could put things in what was the chance they could take things out. Could they find his banking information or steal his identity. He didn't worry about those, but he did fear they could corrupt or somehow take away the memories of his wife. They were his most prized possessions. He could lose all his money and take to the ring again and be set. Crap a single fight would pay out more than most people dream of making in their entire life.
Ben took a quick inventory as he walked. He was wearing shabby hand-me-down leather armor, and had a spear, a sword, and a shield with peeling white paint. There was also a backpack on his back and a pouch on his belt. He didn't have to open those things to know what was in them, he remembered packing them. The pouch held a single silver and ten copper coins while the backpack contained dried meat, hardtack, a pan, a torch, inside and, a pickax and hammer were strapped one to each side, along with some rope.
Ben knew where the backpack and gear had come from it was a gift from the lord of the village, given to him before he left. For the first time ever the lord had shaken his hand, “ I hope you bear me no ill will. You are a slave no more. I hope you find or earn a good life for yourself.”
With that, he gave Ben's hand a firm pump once more, let go, and turned away. It was shocking for Ben to realize that he didn't bear the man any ill will. He had been a good master. His men weren't allowed to go around raping slave girls at will, and no one had starved. Even in the lean years everyone ate, sometimes not well, but everyone ate.
Ben was walking and taking in the sights of nature completely unaware when an animal that had gotten far too close sprung at him. The first combat in this new game, or world, went south quickly. With reflexes, he didn't know he possessed Ben got his shield between him and the something that attacked him. He didn't know what it was other than green with vicious yellow eyes and matching teeth.
The collision sent him sprawling and a vicious jackal-like creature with green fur that stuck up like grass was pinning him beneath his shield. The lean well-toned creature latched on to his shield and shook its head violently. Like a dog with a chew toy, the creature ripped back and forth on the shield. Unlike often seen in games and movies the shied was strapped to his forearm, not just held and each jarring motion made Ben think his shoulder was going to be pulled from it's socket.
The hind legs of the beast were thrashing about and eventually tore a long ragged gash in the leather covering his right hip and the skin beneath. Holy fuck... it hurt. This was supposed to be a damn game. Little did he know that in testing the makers had found that pain enhanced the gameplay, and they had even developed a formula as to how much pain they should allow optimizing playability which according to studies required real in-game pain avoidance reactions. Of course, that formula was different based on the person and the situation, so an advanced algorithm was created to respond to players' responses and then adjust accordingly. The pain was always on the verge of what a person could bear regardless of what a person could bear.
Ben took a deep breath and steadied himself. His spear was gone, dropped in the initial attack. His shortish sword reminiscent of a Roman gladius was at his waist. He tried to heave the creature but had little leverage. He summoned all his strength and rolled left. It worked, sort of. The creature lept off the shield when it felt the shift and Ben got to his feet pulling the sword from his waist.
The two faced off against each other. The creature, a plains strider as his new knowledge informed him, was crouched lower at the front half growling low and deep. Drool dripped from its long snout in thin lines. Ben stood in defiance, eyes fixed and shield in front. After an eternity of sizing each other and circling for advantage, the action happened quickly. One moment they were still sizing the other and the situation and the next they both exploded forward.
The beast lunged. Ben stepped forward and swung his shield in a backhanded motion following through with a stab from his sword. It was a perfect block and counter he had practiced a thousand times in his memories. The shield strike turned the creature sideways in the air and the sword slid between two ribs like it was going into butter. The creature kept its forward motion. Ben managed to pivot sideways and although it still hit him on the way past he stayed on his feet. The sword went with the beast but managed to rip open the wound before pulling it from his hand.
They were again facing off, but the situation was far different. The beast was dying and Ben was unarmed. The plains strider made two leaps to get away before collapsing to the ground too wounded to continue. Ben looked around until he found his spear and finished off the creature with a single strike.
You have received 50 experience for Plains Strider. Total experience 50. 50 of 300 to next level.
Ben knew he should skin the beast, but he didn't really know how. He had a basic understanding and gave the bloody work a try. It was a mess that got him some shredded pieces of hide not even worth keeping, his sword had proven the wrong tool for the job by far. That's when he realized the mistake he had made. He was covered in blood and predators would no doubt track the scent and him with it. He cut off the paws and tried to pull the canine teeth before giving up and leaving the mess behind. If he was going to harvest skins and such he would need to buy a skinning knife and maybe pliers for teeth.
He began walking again his hip tender and a little sore but otherwise functioning normally. The fight had been extreme and awesome in an unexplainable way. He felt like a complete badass and that was a nothing mob, a simple low-level beast with decent camouflage. He wanted to level up and kill bigger nastier things preferably with far better loot.
It was mid-day when the road was in sight and there was a surprising amount of traffic on it. Surprising because he had somehow expected just some barely used dirt trail and found a paved road with three groups of travelers passing in the time from when he was close enough to make things out and when he reached the road himself.
When he got to the road he began walking in the direction of Coastwatch and within ten minutes happened to see a patrol of warriors coming in the opposite direction. The leader judging by the fact that he was mounted and in notably better equipment was staring and assessing him as they approached.
“ Citizen, what trouble were you involved in?” the man said eyeing the bloody torn clothes.
“ Plains Strider set upon me not far up the valley.” Ben replied.
“ The roads as of late have been plagued by bandits. Have you proof of this?” the man replied with authority but not aggressively.
“ I do.” Ben said retrieving a paw from his bag.
“ Ah, very good. Bring that to any magistrate in Coastwatch, and they will give you a reward. There is a bounty for aggressive beasts near the road.” he said nothing more as he led his four men on down the road.
Ben was in awe as he walked completely unaware of the grin plastered across his face. He was brought out of this state when a wagon driver coming up the road behind him yelled out.
“ Ye can hop up on the back if ye want te rest yar legs.” came a mumbled yet friendly greeting.
Sam did just that and found that along with hides, dried meats, and bushels of berries three other travelers were perched. Two rough-looking men and an honest to god gnome were already hanging feet off the end of the wagon. One of the men and the gnome made room and the other man held out a hand to help him up. He couldn't take his eyes of the well-manicured gnome and eventually, one of the men spoke up.
“ Look the poor boy must be fresh from the village. He's eyeing Gorven like he's never seen a gnome before.” a gruff man said with a chuckle.
Ben turned red-faced and said,” Sorry sir, I indeed have never seen a gnome before.”
“ No offense my boy. First time to the city I'd reckon. Surprised your parents let you away.” the gnome said.
“ I was a slave and I recently won my freedom in a small backwater arena for local lords.” Ben said honestly.
Tenderly the gnome said, “ Oh that is sad my boy. The world is harsh and cruel when it isn't beautiful and magical. A wise man knows each day could bring either or both.”
“Many great tales start with tragedy.” one of the men said sagely.
The time passed quickly and the smell of sea air rose steadily until it was overwhelming. Ben made fast friends with the other passengers and genuinely liked them all. The men were brothers Fordan and Morgrave of Granderswell proclaimed woodsmen, enjoyers of mead, and woers of many a fine lass. The gnome was, Gorven the inventor, formerly of Gearton, and heading to Coastwatch to set up shop.
The gnome pleasantly explained that as an inventor in Gearton he got no business “ You can't throw a ball without hitting an inventor in Gearton” the gnome explained, “but a gnome inventor in Coastwatch would be in the gold in no time. Everyone in Coastwatch would want to have a gnome work on their project. Gnomes are the greatest inventors and that is a fact.“
The brothers were on a vacation of sorts selling off their hides and leather goods. They would spend weeks to months enjoying the city life until the funds ran dry. This it appeared was how they lived their lives. The brothers would stock up on hides and leather works they created, go to the city and sell, live like kings for a month or so, then slide out of town ahead of angry husbands with hangovers and stories to tell by firelight.
The gnome was far more long-term goal-oriented. He was here to purchase a shop with an attached workshop. He would then have his belongings sent and start to build his client base and reputation in the city. He already had plenty of inventions to wow the people of Coastwatch with and more that he needed capital to explore. According to the inventor, he could make clockwork guard dogs twice as capable as a real dog.
The sun was spreading the colors of dusk across the sky as they reached the city gates. Plenty of people were being stopped and asked questions but the wagon driver, Old Pilday as he was called, was waved right through on account of him making the trip four or more times a year for nigh on thirty years according to him. The guards even waved and the old man reached into a sack behind him and threw them each an orange-colored apple-like fruit.
“ Take car ta be nice ta da gate guarrds by. Day can make yer liv easy or ard.” Old Pilday explained as though he was handing out the secret to life.
Ben said his goodbyes after getting directions to the portal district before the wagon headed toward the harbor in the opposite direction where the goods would be unloaded. The city was amazing and Ben was confident he looked every part the tourist as his head darted in one direction after another. Every one of his senses were so overcome it all blurred together. Vendors hawked their wares, food stalls wafted exotic and tempting scents into the air, and the hundreds of people wore everything from rags to fine robes and impressive armor.
On the way to the portals Ben saw a group of guards on outside an impressive building and approached. Waving to a man as he approached. A tall muscular man who looked like he had been in his share of fights, maybe his and a few other peoples share, appraised him for a moment then asked,” What do you need boy?”
“ I have plains strider paws to turn in.” Ben replied quickly.
“ Go inside.”
There were a few people waiting but the line moved fast and within a few minutes he was four paws lighter and eight coppers richer. It wasn't much but he could see how hunting them in mass could turn a decent profit if he learned how to skin them. Perhaps he would give it a try at some point.
You have gained one relation with Coastwatch. Current relation one: No one cares who you are.
The closer he got to the portals the more players he saw. There wasn't any sort of names over their head or anything obvious like that. It was the wide eyed amazement, cheap clothes, and exaggerated conversations that gave them away. The whole thing had an amusement park feel. When he got within sight range he realized that people were yelling out names looking for friends and clan members. That is when he thought of friends and saw his first interface overlay.
He actually jumped when the translucent box appeared, and he noticed that he had some requests waiting for him. Three to be exact, surprisingly the brothers and Gorvand had sent them. That is when he realized that he had no way to find his friends. He didn't even know if they used the normal gamer tags. He sent invites to them anyway in whatever combination of first and last names he could think of.
Jake The Snake
Jake Snake
Both were user names someone was using but Ben had no idea if either were his friend Jake.
Gore Master was Greg's name in other games, but it came up with nothing and Ben couldn't think of another way to write it. Rather than waste time he decided to log out and check for messages.
Can not log out here unless you leave your character in game? A.I. will take control and will react in a simulated way to you. It will gain experience and you will remember what it did when you log in again. Note the character will still be able to be attacked and killed.
Ben logged out leaving his character in world because he expected to be right back. He was confused for a couple of seconds he thought, but it could have been minutes before he recognized his VR waiting area.
“Check messages in guild folder.” Ben had assigned a message folder just for his guild friends because he hated having to other messages that he didn't care about.
“ You have two messages.”
“ Message one. Jack: we are meeting in a tavern called Bronze Cauldron. I am called Jake Jakeson.”
“ Message two. Jake: again I almost forgot to include this screen shot of Greg and Brian so you can recognize someone.”
“ Would you like to open attachment?” the system asked.
“Yes”
A picture opened, floating in front of him at eye level with a tall robed man and a dwarf with golden hair and the expected thick beard.
“Close picture.”
Ben logged in and remembered sitting down and waiting the few minutes he was logged out. Standing he made his way to a city guard and got directions to the Bronze Cauldron. It was close to the portals and absolutely packed. It took a few minutes to weave through the crowd and find his friends.
When he made his way to the table the people looked up and he just yelled, “Ben”
“ Holy fuck man!”, said the dwarf. “It's me Greg.”
The two men hugged and then introductions were made all around. Brian was an ice mage named Doctor Freeze. Jake was a warrior who intended to become a paladin. Greg, called Stone Member was a special sort of dwarven wizard who carved spells into stone runes. The one woman was Heather or Helsey Leafwalker, who always seemed kinda prissy to Ben, who was a hunter or something based on the bow she had. Corey was called Simon Sayz and he was going for a rouge type judging by the bandolier of knives across his chest.
The five players drank, laughed, and ate. Over the few hours Jane and five other players from the guild showed up. Not all of them had been players Ben gamed with, but they were people he at least knew of through guild chat. It was so prefect Ben felt like he was actually with his virtual friends for the first time. They had done this exact thing in other games a thousand times but tis was the first time it was real.
Then a fight broke out between a fur covered man and a player who decided that a fireball in a crowded tavern was a good idea. It wasn't. The player got bumped as he let as he let the fireball loose, and it hit a bystander who's friends then pulled weapons and madness ensued. The whole thing looked like an old western movie where the saloon is reduced to calamity after the hero gets into a fight with some gruff jerk.
“Let's log for the night.” Greg suggested.