Ziiiiieeeet! ...Ziiiieeeet! Edge’s in game communicator rang with the video call sound.
“Viper!” Edge answered. “Where are you?”
“I just got in,” Viper said. “My starting zone is Cracken Island. Where are you?”
“Silver Citadel is my starting zone,” Edge said. He wanted Viper to join him as soon as possible, but how to make that happen without raising too many questions…
“Head for the Crystal Forest so that we can play together.”
Edge waited for Viper to consult his map. “Crystal Forest! That is so far away! How will I even get there? Look at all those high level areas I’d have to pass through!”
“Don’t worry, Viper. I got a few insider tips about the game--trust me on this. Put all your points into agility for the run speed. Also, sell your armor so you have nothing to drop when you die and then run to Crystal Forest. It will take about three hours, including the lockout time, but it will be worth it. I’ll give you new gear and catch you up to my level fast, I promise.”
Viper sighed and shook his head. “You’re crazy, Edge. Crazy!”
Then, like the sunshine emerging from behind the clouds, a big, bright smile burst onto his face. “Actually, that’s what I like best about you! That, and the fact that your crazy always seems to work out somehow. I’ll see you in three hours!”
***
Oakridge Village looked like a small medieval town. There was a public tavern inside the Horsehead Inn, a blacksmith, a street vendor selling bread and water and a small shop that offered poor quality weapons and armor.
Edge walked straight through the town without stopping and turned North on the road. The country road was quaint with a lake visible in the distance and grass and trees lining the dirt path. At a fork in the road, Edge stepped off the path, opting to go into a small forest instead of taking either of the two roads.
One of the unique features of Divine Frontiers that Edge particularly liked was the high volume of secrets. Secret paths, secret places, secret classes, secret abilities… secrets everywhere! The entire game was built on exploration and discovery, which gave a substantial advantage to those with natural curiosity, such as Edge.
At this stage, nobody but Edge had realized that yet. Most people would follow the logical course and talk to NPCs in the various towns to find their quests, believing that the difference between Divine Frontiers and other games was simply that quest givers were unmarked.
They would realize in a week or two that the game completely lacked any sort of forced standard flow. In most games, the player was funneled toward a quest hub, where quest givers were clearly marked, and upon turning one quest in, another quest was generated to bring the player to the next quest area. In Divine Frontiers, there were thousands of ‘story lines’ not just one main campaign story and quests were everywhere, not just in concentrated hubs. No two players had the same experience of the game.
Edge walked slowly through the woods, avoiding wild animals, until he came to the edge of the forest and spied a rocky mound a few yards away. This was his destination--The Cavern of Duress!
A group of four Level 3 trolls were standing around a campfire in front of the mouth of the cave.
Ordinarily, dying was to be avoided as the penalty was the loss of a hard-won level and dropping some of the players gear, however, at Level 1, Edge could not lose a level, which made the fastest leveling strategy relocating to these Caves.
He did not plan to die, but if he died once, it was no loss. If he died more than 3 times, he would be locked out for an hour which would reduce his leveling pace to absolutely unacceptable levels, prevent him from power leveling Viper and leave them both vulnerable to death at the hands of other players who leveled faster.
The caves had Level 1 monsters inside, but to reach them, you had to make it past the group of Level 3 trolls at the entrance.
Edge moved forward with slow, slight movements. His goal was to get only one step into aggro range to make the four trolls chase him. Slowly, step by step, he crept closer, until the Troll Lieutenant spotted him and raised the alarm.
Edge dashed to the right, skirting the edge of the forest, careful to keep himself just at the edge of aggro range. His enhanced run speed would allow him to easily outrun these mobs and get out of aggro range if he wanted, but that was not his plan. Stepping into the forest or getting too far out of range would cause the trolls to return to their campfire.
Edge led the trolls in a broad circle around the large, wide rock mound until he spotted what he was looking for: a group of seven small rocks and one large boulder along the eastern side of the mound. Edge banked sharply toward the rocky outcrop, jumping over one of the rocks directly in his path and hiding behind the large boulder.
As expected, the lead troll staggered over the first rock and fell to the ground. The three trolls behind him were distracted by his fall and failed to note where Edge had gone.
Behind the boulder, Edge began quickly climbing the mound of rock while the trolls were busy helping their fallen Lieutenant up. He had to move fast to clear the top of the boulder so they could see him--if he was still out of their line of site by the time the Lieutenant recovered, they would return to their campfire.
The Lieutenant was just regaining his feet when one of the trolls spotted Edge again, climbing to the top of the mound.
The trolls began firing arrows at him and Edge saw his hit points go from full life to 10% with one hit. He could not sustain another hit but luckily, his ability to dodge saved him from 3 out of the 4 arrows.
Edge reached the top of the mound and rolled until he slipped over the other side, landing at the mouth of the cave. He ran downwards into the cave until he reached a fork in the path and entered an empty cavern to his left.
Satisfied that the trolls were no longer a threat, he opened his inventory and sat down. His inventory contained nothing but the five loaves of bread and five skins of water that every player started the game with. He removed one loaf and began to eat to recover his hit points.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
He looked around at the empty cavern and smiled. At first glance, it looked empty but first glances in Divine Frontiers were very often deceiving!
When Edge had returned his hit points to full life, he went to the far end of the cavern and began to wiggle a loose rock in the wall. After five straight minutes of wriggling, his scraped knuckles were bleeding and throbbing from the effort but he shrugged it off. He was used to the physical sensations of hard work and combat in the game.
Viper will have some surprises in store the first few times he gets hit. Divine Frontiers was not the first game to incorporate realistic sensations, but it was certainly the most vivid and detailed. When you got hurt in the game--it hurt.
Edge pondered how much to tell Viper when they finally met up. He decided he could pull off the ‘insider tips’ story for a while and then move on to ‘found it in the Library’. Speaking of the Library, I have to fit that in before Viper gets to Crystal Forest.
He returned his attention to loosening the rock. He had a lot to do!
Finally, the rock popped free. A secret door opened to reveal an NPC inside another small cavern, about the size of a walk-in closet. It was a short, stout dwarf with a miner’s hat on his head and a pickaxe in his hands.
The dwarf was clearly surprised to see Edge. He started and a strange, furtive look flashed across his face, followed quickly by a bright, hearty smile. “Thank you, adventurer! I have been trapped in here by the swarm of evil creatures in the cave! I can’t wait to get home!”
“I am happy to have helped,” Edge said. The dwarf made no effort to move and Edge said, “I wonder if I may enter this secret room to rest safely for a few moments?”
The dwarf’s dark eyes flashed and his pickaxe raised slightly as he said, “There’s really no room in here for two, adventurer. You should be on your way.”
“Master Dwarf, I mean no disrespect, but aren’t you leaving? I could rest here in a moment when you go if you are so eager to leave as you just said you were.”
The dwarf hesitated, clearly flustered at being caught out. Then he titled his head and said, “What is your name, Adventurer?”
Edge shared his name and stood silently for several minutes as the dwarf stared at him, saying nothing. Edge knew it was essential that he say nothing else. The dwarf may or may not decide to take a chance on him and any more conversation or any movement could tip the scales in the direction of dislike.
A product of the game’s finely sophisticated AI, NPCs not only had individual personalities, they were impacted by their culture (dwarf’s were naturally suspicious) and had a wide variety of ways to deal with players. This was far more than the standard three to five scripted possibilities the earlier games had. The options were unlimited when the AI had direct access to the accumulated memories of so many players as its database of possible responses and behaviors.
Finally the dwarf said, “I get a good feeling about you, adventurer. My name is Naraven, of the clan Picksten. I’m going to let you in on a little secret.” He beckoned Edge inside.
Upon entering the close quarters of the closet-cavern, the hidden door slid shut behind Edge. Gods, I hate small spaces like this. Edge took a deep, calming breath which turned out to be a big mistake.
What the fuck is that smell? Edge scowled. NPCs with poor bathing habits were on his shit list.
Edge tried to hold his breath as he waited for the dwarf to continue. It seemed an eternity before the dwarf resumed speaking.
“You see, it’s like this, adventurer,” the dwarf began, “I came here to find a fabled item called The Mystic’s Razor which has the power to double the amount of ore you get from any mining node. “
The dwarf looked at him as if assessing what to say next.
Edge waited silently, the urge to breathe getting stronger.
The developers are just evil. He pictured some random developer cackling with glee at the thought of trapping a player in such a tiny space with the worst smelling NPC on the continent who takes his sweet time explaining his life story.
“I did find it, adventurer. It was at the very bottom of the cavern. However, the moment I touched it, a swarm of rock creatures came out of the walls and filled the cavern. I killed several, but they just kept coming.”
I wonder how bad it would be if I just breathe through my mouth?
“Finally, as I was short of breath and ready to collapse--”
Edge let his breath out in a whooosh. The dwarf looked nonplussed.
Shit. Edge drew in a shallow breath through his mouth and squeaked “Sorry, continue.”
“Ahem…” the dwarf continued, with a put-upon huff, “I leaned against the wall and this secret passage opened up. Unfortunately, I lost my cloak and my pack as well as the Mystic’s Razor in my flight. I don’t see any way to get them back without your help. If you help me, you can keep one of the three. What do you say?”
The dwarf’s eyes had a crafty gleam to them as he finished speaking. Edge immediately agreed to help and as soon as he did, the system message ding! alert could be heard through his communicator. A panel opened and Edge stumbled through it with relief as a system message appeared in the bottom of his field of vision.
The relief of breathing freely again took his attention for a moment. Fresh Air! Well, cave air, but still better. He breathed deeply and then turned his attention to the system message.
System: Hidden Quest “Razor’s Edge” accepted.
Quest Details: Retrieve Dwarf Nervarn’s cloak, backpack and Mystic Razor. Player level must not exceed level 10. Unique quest with (1) chance(s) to complete. Failure will delete this quest and impose the penalty of death and 15-minute lockout of Divine Frontiers.
[Reward: Player may choose one of Nervam’s retrieved items.]
Edge selected “Yes” to accept the quest. Unexpectedly, a new message appeared.
System: Congratulations! Player Edge is the first player to unlock a Hidden Quest.
[Rewards: Passive Title—Secret Apprentice. Title confers: +5% to accumulation of all reputations with Southern Continent factions, +25% extra ore from all mining nodes, +3 to Agility. This passive title cannot be displayed publicly with the player name.]
Wow, that’s excellent! Edge was stunned at the largess of the reward. Grinding reputation with various factions was a long, slow process but necessary for a variety of important perks later on in the game. And ore! Anything that enhanced resources was a tremendous advantage.
From his past life, Edge knew the quest itself was not only hidden, it was unique--available to only one person. There were many hidden quests in the Divine Frontiers, and they varied in their terms. Some of them, like this one, were available to only one person and pass or fail on the first attempt, that was the end of it. Some of them gave several chances but only to the same player and some could be accepted by others if the original player failed. Fortunately, people liked to brag about the Unique Quests they got on the forums when no one else could do the quest and get any advantage from it.
Edge had never heard of the reward for being the first to unlock a hidden quest, but upon reflection, it made sense that it would be kept quiet. The earliest people to figure out how things worked in Divine Frontiers had probably wanted to avoid having the general population know that being ‘first’ to do something could confer a special reward.
Edge smiled, savoring the feeling that luck was on his side. Now, to complete the quest! I hope I can turn it in without breathing.