I had barely been in the game more than five minutes on my third day of non-tutorial play when I was tackled from behind by a youthful bundle of sugar rush. It wasn’t quite a hug and it wasn’t quite a give-me-a-piggy-back-ride, but it was somewhere in between.
“Yay! Lexy, you’re here!” Abby let go of me and walked, almost marched, around to in front of me and continued speaking. “And how come you didn’t tell us you were a movie star!?” the young elf demanded.
“Um? Huh?” Whatever I had been expecting as a greeting—and the kinda-tackle, kinda-hug was close—that question hadn’t been anywhere near any list.
“What Gin—, um Abby means is the game’s trailer.” Approaching at a more sedate pace, the young Faetouched “identical twin” to Abby interpreted her sister’s question. “While we were at the hospital, waiting for her appointment, we spent a lot of time on her tablet, looking at the game’s site. She thinks you are the girl in the trailer.” She looked me up and down, “And I think, maybe, you look a lot like her, even if the clothes are different.”
“Well,” I admitted, “it is me. They made that video to help prove I wasn’t cheating and then asked permission to use it for promotional purposes.” The two girls looked at me with shining eyes. “It’s a bit of a long story. I can explain more later, if you like, once Tabitha is here, too.”
“Can you show us your big form!? That was so cool, it was like ‘Boom! Leviathan hiding inside a baby shark,’ or something or ‘You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry!’ ‘Rawr! Lexy smash!’” Abby seemed to have some unreasonable expectations.
“Umm,” I temporized, “they changed the ability a bit after reviewing that fight. It’s got a scaling cooldown, now, so it’s more an emergency ability rather than for casual use. Plus, it drains all mana when it expires…”
“Oh. Well, maybe before we log out, then? When a cooldown and mana regeneration doesn’t matter?” Abby sounded a bit disappointed and both girls’ expressions reflected that.
“Maybe. Or maybe when we’re fighting, an emergency will happen and it will be needed. Hidden Nature doesn’t give me strength, though. I’m not the Hulk. For any Tauros like me, it really boosts defense. It’s not real useful for an archer.” For all that I had basically accepted the character and her … differences, I was still a bit disinclined to showing off. Specifically, showing off that form.
I mean, despite some antics I had got into with Michelle, I really wasn’t one to seek the spotlight. Not even my outgoing, outdoorsy, athletic twin had been especially comfortable being the center of attention after a game or match. This was just … well, ‘movie star’ish—essentially celebrity for celebrity’s sake.
Plus, I was still a little concerned for how my dress and tights would change with the transformation. I probably should have investigated that yesterday when I was doing some solo questing and archery practice, but it had slipped my mind. Given that cloth armor changed much more dramatically than leather and metal, it would be … well, who knows. But finding out in the middle of town was probably not ideal.
Gabby was speaking and her voice drew me back out from my lapse into introspection. “It sounds like we both chose the wrong races,” she shyly added. “It would be harder for Abby and I to be twins, but maybe I should have been a Tauros for defense and you could have been a Tallemaja. I don’t think ‘no metal’ is as bad for an archer as it is for someone with a sword and shield.”
I shrugged. “From a min-max standpoint, you might be right Gabby, but Undine would be better for their Agility than your Charisma, at least for an Archer. But there’s nothing wrong with you being Tallemaja and a tank. It might not be as easy right away as it is for some other races, but you can make it work. Once we get high enough that we’re using fancier weapons and armor, stuff made from more exotic metals or things than just iron and steel, you won’t even notice the difference in gear.”
From there, we digressed into a discussion of skills, equipment and gameplay.
Sooner or later, we’d hit level five and unlock a spot for a new primary skill. Perhaps one of us would also get enough Brilliance to get a secondary skill before or by then, too. I knew Tabitha wanted to take Wand Use next, so she’d have an attack to do other than sending her pet in to fight, and I was debating taking some sort of magic since I already had Spellcasting, Meditation, and two spells of my own. I hadn’t decided yet, but I was leaning toward looking at what Elemental Magic had for Water-based spells.
Gabrielle had already done a little bit of research and was set on taking Enhanced Health, which opened up as an option at character level five. The skill was entirely passive, doing not much more than modifying the formula used to calculate base health, but as it was purely an Endurance-based skill, it would raise her Endurance every time it leveled up, further boosting her health pool. Since her role was our tank (chosen in large part because she wanted to shield Abby from harm), it was a relatively good skill for her. Gabby’s only problem was that she had no primary skill that boosted Brilliance and had no plans to add any points to it anytime soon (favoring Endurance, Defense, and Charisma as she leveled), so she wouldn’t be gaining any secondary skills for the foreseeable future.
As for Abigail, the hyper Ria’Dine (that is, “woodland elf”), she was torn between taking something flashy or something that boosted her mobility even further, like perhaps Athletics or Running. However, her biggest difficulty so far was having insufficient mana to power all her spells and abilities since she had shout-based Inspirations and Elemental Enhancement buffs she could apply as well as a spell from her Elemental Magic and another from her racial trait. She needed Meditation to increase the regeneration rate—or a lot of potions. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be all that great as a primary skill, so to take it, she might have to promote one of her secondary skills to the primary spot once it opened up at level five.
* * *
“Sorry I’m late, sorry!” Coming down the main street toward the plaza where we were standing around in the shade of a building was the fourth member of our little party … and the only one who had a non-childlike avatar. Her outfit was simple, yet would not have been out of place on any red-carpet event. Tabitha had purchased for herself a long, midnight blue dress that hugged her well-proportioned figure in all the right places. With the dress and matching shoes—more slippers really—and her light brown hair falling free to her waist, she didn’t really have the image of an adventurer, someone braving the wilds for fame and fortune.
Well, not that we were after fame, and at only level three, we weren’t really after fortune yet either.
But Tabitha was a healer. Solo, she stood back and let her summoned pet, a minor earth elemental spirit called Tamakotz, keep the monsters’ attention and slowly pound them into submission all while she used Restoration magic to keep Tamakotz alive. In a group, she still stood back from the action, but combat went much faster with others as sources of damage.
Provided my arrows hit the monster and not the elemental, anyway. It would probably be a few more levels of practice until I was good enough to hit where I intended most of the time.
Staying back from the action meant her outfit wasn’t as impractical as it might have seemed. Plus, well, we were in a game, and even in a game with a high degree of realism, sometimes aesthetics occupied a higher spot on the totem pole than practicality.
Tabitha’s character was one of the undead, and to offset some of the advantages that racial archetype had, all undead had reduced movement speed. Her specific subrace was a Ghost (rather than Mummy, Banshee, or Zombie), which granted her reduced threat range and threat gain—very good benefits for a healer who might otherwise accidentally pull aggro away from the tank in critical moments—but those benefits were also countered by reduced movement speed. Consequently, even though she was approaching at a fast enough pace to make her breathing labored, she wasn’t moving with anywhere near the speed that the “twins” or I could make.
So rather than waiting for her to reach us, we went to her. Dashing, Abby led the way and tackled her in a hug much like she had me. “Tabby, Tabby! I knew you wouldn’t forget about us! Welcome back!”
Tabitha was … weak … to the little sister type—in fact, it was part of her character’s backstory even—and she clearly didn’t quite know how to react to the young elf’s effusiveness. Finally, she embraced the younger girl in a quick, awkward hug and then patted her atop the head like a kitten.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Sorry,” she explained, “I did some fetch quests and other town errands yesterday morning and logged out on the other side of town. I thought I was going to come back on in the evening and walk over to this side, but I got distracted reading up on several threads and posts about the game online.” Tabitha then shot me a quick glance, “It seems someone had become a little bit famous since we were last together.”
Before I could answer, Gabrielle spoke up from behind me. “Yes, it looks like Lexy is a movie star. Good morning, Tabitha. It’s nice to see you again.”
“Hi, Gabby. You know, with your sword and shield, you should be leading the way, not hiding behind our archer, movie star, and fashion model.” Tabitha winked to show that she was teasing the shyer of the two twins, then disentangled herself from Abby and came to give me a big hug, catching Gabrielle in it, too.
Not to be left out, Abby circled around behind us and tried to wrap the three of us in a hug, herself. But being shorter than even I, her arms weren’t long enough, so she mostly only hugged her sister. “Lexy’s a fashion model, too? Tell us about it!”
“‘Too’? Are you a fashion model, scamp?” I asked. From there, though, we spent a few minutes discussing part of the deal I had made with Victoria and her team: the promotional video, the modeling armors, and of course the fight that had brought me to the attention of the community and GMs.
Initially, I was a little surprised that they hadn’t heard anything yet from Victoria or other GMs since part of the deal I had made with them was that they could use other excerpts from my gameplay for promotional videos or trailers, but if they included any of my group members (at the time of the deal, I hadn’t had a group yet, but I had expected that I wouldn’t be playing solo), they’d need to make a separate deal with those players. Which meant, if Victoria or anyone wanted to use that fight where Tabitha and I had rescued Abigail and Gabrielle, that the other girls would need to give permission, too. And/or come to an agreement or contract of their own.
But as I was retelling things, I had an idea why they might not have been asked yet. If Victoria had thought I was going to take her up on the offer to redo my game avatar without losing the bonuses I had earned, well … Madelyn Alexis wouldn’t have been available for further promotional videos or modeling, and not being Madelyn Alexis might have meant I wouldn’t have been playing more with Tabitha and the twins, so … why ask for permission for something that might not happen?
“In fact,” I concluded, without revealing to the girls that I could have remade my character and the reasons for that offer, “I wouldn’t be too surprised if you got a message from a GM asking to talk about whether you’ll accept being part of that deal or not. If we’re going to go out adventuring together, I’m sure some more of our encounters might make good videos.”
Abby immediately began bouncing up and down, barely containing her enthusiasm. “Yay, let’s go become famous!” I could see that shy Gabby seemed a little apprehensive about the idea—being in the spotlight might be difficult for her—but when she saw that her sister was really interested, she nodded.
After a little further discussion, where everyone basically agreed with the concept of letting the company make videos of our adventuring, Tabitha asked the question that had been in the back of my mind since before we had got sidetracked on my apparent fame. “Were we going to try that dungeon that Abby found? Tama isn’t on cooldown, so I’m able to help.”
Abigail shook her head, chestnut curls swishing and bouncing as she did so. “No. Well, if you want to, I guess yes, but….” She looked to her sister, then continued speaking with a hint of regret in her tone. “Gabby and I talked about it a lot yesterday while we were waiting for the doctors and the results. She thinks we should focus on getting to level five first, so we have more skills to help us.”
“Um, and so the skills we do have are higher,” Gabby added. “Maybe high enough for a new spell or ability for some of them, and maybe high enough that we’ve earned enough money for better equipment.” She took her wooden sword and shield out of her inventory. “I really do want a better shield so I can keep Abby … and everyone … safe.” She was blushing slightly when she included Tabitha and I in as people she wanted to keep from harm.
“Oh, it would be nice to be able to use my wand, so I could do more than send Tama in and cast healing spells! I didn’t mind when I was soloing slowly through the tutorial, but I felt a bit like a fifth wheel when Little Sis, here, was turning the monsters into pincushions.” She gave me a quick, one-armed side-hug around my shoulders.
“You weren’t even remotely a fifth wheel, Tabitha. I wouldn’t have been able to shoot nearly enough arrows before those Boartles got into melee range if it weren’t for your pet and you keeping him alive. And with those plants, well, some of them we only just barely got by even with your healing. Without you, I would have been pushing up daisies so many times.”
I looked up at the ghost. “Plus, without your help, I wouldn’t have found the dress shop or the bag shop. I might not have even been able to get out of that mess at the square. Thank you.” And feeling a bit daring, I gave her a quick hug and then winked up at her. “You make a good big sister.”
Tabitha blushed more fiercely than shy Gabrielle had ever done, and was flustered for a long moment before managing to stammer out a mix between thanks and a demurral. She was saved, in part, by Abby piping up.
“Two more good screenshots! And what about the dresses and squares?”
“Let’s talk about it on the way, Abby, otherwise we’ll be here all day and not get any closer to leveling. None of us have a Gossipping skill, after all.” I pointed to the west gate, not too far from where we were. “Shall we head out?”
The other girls all nodded and started toward the gate with me. I half-heard Abby whispering to her sister, “Is there a Gossip skill?”
* * *
As we approached the gates, a pair of guards moved to block our way. “It’s too dangerous for children this way,” one said. “Go play in the parks or the farms out the eastern gate,” the other said.
It was T’Dhii and T’Dhum, the guards from the other day, and their warnings sounded suspiciously like the one they had issued when they had tried to stop Tabitha and I from leaving. It was a little bit weird.
Then, I had to wonder why I considered it weird. If it had been a regular game, having the NPCs repeat the same scripted lines would have been par for the course, but nearly every other encounter I had had was with AIs that were virtually indistinguishable from real people. Jasmine, Sunrise Sparkle, the dwarf at Bags and Boxes, the elves at the dress shop—they all had their own motivations and desires and plans.
But these two? Did they even leave the gatehouse? Did they even have an original thought between the two of them? We had fought monsters with more creativity and initiative than them.
But if there were dumb people—and in both high school and college (not to mention at work, when I still had worked), I had seen my share of those below average individuals—then why not less-than-bright NPCs?
Perhaps it was just my prejudices from reading other fantasy worlds, but it didn’t seem right to have a dumb elf. Sure, not every elf was going to be Elrond, not even half of them, but these two had all the intellect and personality of stereotypical movie jocks, which is to say … significantly less than real-life jocks.
But Abby was sweet-talking them, showing that while she may not have the boosted Charisma her Tallemaja sister had, there was more to the game than just numbers.
“... that’s what you said two days ago,” she said, “but look at us. We’re fine and we’re able to take care of ourselves.” She, of course, neglected to mention the encounter with the Gigantic Devouring Rosewhip that Tabitha and I had helped free the two girls from. Pointing back to Tabitha, she continued, “We even have adult supervision, if that’s what you want! It’s nice that you’re concerned, but we’ll be fine. Really!”
T’Dhii and T’Dhum conferred amongst themselves in hushed voices for a few minutes, shooting occasional glances at Tabitha and me. One ducked into the gatehouse and seemed to shuffle around some paper, muttering to himself before coming back out and resuming the hushed conference. Finally, they stepped aside.
“I guess you’ll be fine enough in her company,” the first guard began. “She’s known to be responsible and helpful to the citizens of Echeirn.”
The other guard nodded and continued where the first left off. “You two might be young, but your companions have proven themselves. Don’t go running off without them, though. We’d hate to have to send another rescue party. The patrols have reported an increase in monster activity compared to last season. It could be dangerous.”
I still couldn’t tell which guard was which. I could just Inspect them, sure, but it didn’t really seem important enough to care about. And as a twin who had been mistaken for my sister on more than one occasion when we were younger—even when I hadn’t actually been masquerading as her for one reason or another—I was kind of sensitive about telling apart one twin from another. The two guards might not have actually been related, but it spoke to the low regard I had for them that I just didn’t care which was which.
Be nice, I mentally chided myself, they’re just doing their job. After all, Abby and Gabby had needed rescuing and some of those fights had been a bit tough for Tabitha and I. A group of four, however, should be relatively safe as long as we didn’t stray too into higher-level areas.
We were through the gate and only a little past hearing range when we stopped to let Tabitha summon her earth elemental. As she was doing so, Abby let loose with a gusty, exasperated sigh. “Those guards! Next time, we should just climb the wall to avoid them.
Gabrielle nodded. “I almost agree. Maybe we should have started outside the other side of town, but what are they expecting, level five before we can go out here?”
I shrugged, and got my bow out. “Maybe, or maybe group size. The guys that went out before us the other day had six people, and I can almost guarantee that none of them were above level two or three."
“Sexist jerks!” That was Abby again, “Come on! Let’s go level up and show them that us girls are just as good as any guys!” Abby’s dramatic pose was a little ruined by stumbling when the ground shook for Tamakotz’s arrival.
Tabitha just smiled, “I may be biased, but I think girls are even better. I don’t think the guards were being sexist, though. At least, not consciously. After all, they did let us through, and they accepted me as being good enough ‘adult supervision’ even though I’m obviously not a fighter like you three. It’s probably just a cultural thing. Elves live longer and have fewer children. Even if you were as old as I am, Abby, you’d still be a child to them. With how young you look ….” She shrugged and trailed off, seeing the obstinate look in the young Ria’Dine’s eyes.
“That part was Gabby’s idea! But it wasn’t a bad idea! Let’s go fight things and get stronger!”