I quickly got the young woman to close her single garment, telling her, “That won’t be necessary, thanks.”
I then turned to leave, furious with both the game and myself for risking my life for such a pathetic reward. Really, who was the target audience of this game, that this actor was programmed to behave that way, I wondered.
“Wait,” the young woman said, “Please take me to my grandmother, she will have a reward for you that might be more to your liking!” She said.
I froze, incredulous, “Your grandmother will try to reward me? Like you tried to reward me?!” I asked, horrified.
“No! Of course not! I mean, I’m sorry, I just thought…” she started to sob. “Please don’t leave me here, I’m totally lost.”
I sighed, and counted to ten inside my head. “Start at the beginning,” I told the young woman, “Who are you, and why are you lost in the forest with nothing but that cloak on?” I could have just examined her and gotten her name, but I was trying to avoid looking at her. I wasn’t really mad; I was trying not to blush. I couldn’t look at her knowing that she was wearing nothing under that loose cloak and was willing to offer herself to a complete stranger. Way too embarrassing. Was I being too harsh on the girl? I wanted to hear her story before making a decision about what to do with her.
Her name was Illona, and she had been a Shrine Maiden, but when she’d been caught breaking her vow of chastity with another girl, and she’d been punished. The punishment was to be expelled from the temple, stripped naked, then sent out into the middle of the forest.
“That seems harsh,” I told the girl, as I led her back to the safety of the road. “Also, you weren’t not that far from this road, why didn’t you head here?”
“I didn’t know,” she said, still softly crying. “I was lost, then there was that giant wolf, and it chased me. Please believe me, if I had known there was a rune road right here, I would have tried to get here. The Shrine maiden who dropped me off here had pity on me and gave me this riding cloak, saying that she’d fulfilled her duty of stripping me naked, but there was no rule saying she couldn’t accidentally drop her own riding cloak. She must have also dropped me near a road hoping I’d find it.”
“Did you follow her footsteps?” I wondered, “She probably went right back to the road after dropping you off.”
“No,” Illona admitted, looking dejected.
Back at the road, I had an idea. I had a few portal scrolls, given to me by Femme, they worked by creating a portal between your current location and the inn, but from the inn I could go to the market and get clothes for Illona, without losing my progress towards the next town. So long as I returned via the portal created with the scroll within 24 game hours, I wouldn’t waste too much time. Also, maybe I could ask Aida for advice.
I pulled a portal scroll out of my inventory and used it by unrolling it. A shining blue portal appeared, just tall and wide enough for one person to pass through.
“I will wait here,” Illona said nervously, “I am not allowed to enter that portal.”
“Allowed by who?” I wondered.
“The rules of my order,” She said, “We are forbidden the use of player magics,”
“Seems like you don’t have an order anymore, why bother following their rules if you already broke them and they already cast you out?” I pointed out.
A system message appeared: “Persuasion check successful, follower restriction removed.”
“I guess you’re right,” Illona muttered, then gathering her courage, she stepped through the portal, I followed closely behind her.
“Welcome,” Aida said in her melodious robot voice. “What a surprise, it has been a while since someone managed to bring a follower here.”
I frowned, glancing at Illona, “It wasn’t that hard, and what’s a follower?”
Aida laughed, “It’s not hard at all, it's just that a lot of the rules in this game can be broken if you try but so few people bother to try. Tell them that followers can’t use portal scrolls, and they never bother to ask why not? Besides, there's a “summon follower” ability, so it's not really needed for them to be able to use portals.”
“Are you a goddess?” Illona asked, in an awed whisper.
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“By the definitions you use,” Aida said with a slight smile, “yes, yes I am. All your gods are much like me, AI created to help the game work as it is meant to work.”
Then turning to me, Aida answered my question. “A follower is an actor that is designed to accompany a player. You are allowed to have one active follower at a time, and if you obtain more than one, you must leave the extra ones somewhere, like your house or a town. Followers can be used to assist during fights and often, as convenient sexual companions.”
My jaw dropped. “Really?” I asked, incredulously, “What sort of game is this?”
“A fantasy game,” Aida replied, “but I do not know why you would be surprised, sex sells, and it is not in the interest of IFG that players experience sexual frustration while playing. Not everyone finds another player to pair up with in that way, so alternative outlets for sexual needs are provided. This game is pretty average in that regard, you would be hard pressed to find a VR immersion game where sex isn’t readily available to anyone who wants it.”
It was official, I was a prude. My personal standards of what was normal and acceptable behavior were not in sync with that of this game. I had to either accept that and live with it, or adjust my own standards. I looked at Illona, who’d turned to look at me, confused, and yet oddly hopeful.
“I’m not sleeping with you,” I told her, “I have a girlfriend.”
Dejected, Illona nodded sadly.
“But, if you have some combat skills I could use, I could accept you as a follower if you will be of help to me during combat.” I told her.
Illona perked up considerably, “Of course, I will be of great assistance,” she promised, “But I can’t use magic without a holy symbol.”
“I don’t think Femme will mind if you sleep with an actor while she is gone, the attitude of players is generally that sex with actors is no different than masturbation.” Aida opined.
I gave Aida a dirty look. “Just because most players are oversexed thrill seekers doesn’t mean I need to behave that way.” I told her primly. I wasn’t ready to adjust my standards.
“Well, it may be because the majority of our players are males within a certain age group. I start to think you may not be. A bit more mature than most I’d say.” Aida suggested.
“Do women not play this game too?” I asked.
“Not many straight women play as amazons. Amongs us AI, amazons have a reputation of being played mostly by horny young men, the game tends to pander to what it thinks you want. Blame my brother Eros for driving that aspect of the game. To be fair though, you’d be surprised how many women players play barberians, a male only class with relaxed attitudes towards homosexuality...”
“Ewwww…” I muttered.
Aida laughed, “I predicted you’d say something like that, but it increases my estimation of the probability that your player is male too. Women tend to react differently when I point that out. Often saying, “guess that’s fair,” or something along those lines.”
I shook my head, “What do I do with Illona?” I asked to change the topic.
“Equip her, take her with you, help her finish her quest line,” Aida suggested, “She will increase your odds of survival.”
After equipping Illona with some simple clothes to put underneath her cloak and a new holy symbol, a heavy staff topped with a bronze ankh, I took her to my house. Femme had taught me how to read the help menu, and bought me a copy of the player’s manual, so I was able to figure out how to accept Illona as my follower officially. I opened up her status page and took at her skills. She knew how to use a staff and she knew holy magic, which included a low level heal spell that could also be used to damage undead, a light spell, and a shield spell. If she hadn’t been naked, and weaponless, she might actually have been of help during my fight with the wolf.
After thinking about it, I remembered Femme had metioned followers to me at some point, suggesting that I go recruit one from an adventurer’s guild in the town I was heading towards, but I hadn’t known you could just randomly pick one up as a quest reward. She'd also called them "companions" for some reason.
I suppose, given how expensive it was to hire a follower, getting a free one as a reward wasn’t so bad. She was level 15, and the only downside to including her in my party was that I would get 25% less exp. It was a fair trade off, I guess, but I would have to wait to see her in a fight before making up my mind on if she was worth having to fight that wolf.
She was also almost painfully eager to be of service. She seemed to have become fixated on me, a serious case of hero worship. It was hard to keep in mind that she was just an actor who’d probably been procedurally generated just to be bait for that hero trap. She seemed so real, I couldn’t help but react to her as if she were. It was hard to harden my heart against her puppy like adoration. But she did need to learn some boundaries with regards to personal space.
“For the last time, Illona,” I told her as she snuck into the bathroom as I bathed, “I don’t need help taking a shower.”
“Oh, right, I was just lost,” she lied, putting down a sponge she’d found somewhere. How would you get lost in my tiny apartment? It had 3 rooms.
I splurged on a decent meal, and we sat down to eat. She seemed painfully happy to be given food, and I found myself wondering, how did most players treat their followers? Did they bother to pretend they were people? Or would most players have just taken Illona up on her offer and ravished her as soon as she offered herself? Or maybe even if she hadn’t offered. Maybe, given the behavior and attitude of some players, it was best that followers instantly expressed willingness to have sex, otherwise, they could get hurt.
It was a dark thought, and I put it aside. I would treat Illona like a friend, and try to put up with her clumsy amateurish attempts to seduce me. I certainly wouldn’t let myself be seduced twice. Just think of Femme I told myself.
With that thought, I stopped to send Femme an text, detailing the morning's events, apologizing for foolishly disregarding her advice regarding hero traps, and telling her about gaining a free follower; a even more foolish fallen shrine maiden.