CHAPTER 14: MAKING FRIENDS

WC: 1930

In real life I never could have run through sand and up and down a sand hill like that. I mean, I was probably a decent athlete for a kid who quit soccer in 5th grade and ran a 7-minute mile junior year, but I wasn’t what you would call actually athletic. My parents had let me quit sports when my brother moved out because it was inconvenient to take me to stuff, and I didn’t really want to continue anyway. So, I ran down to the cave until I could see the rocky thing and then I crouched to sneak the rest of the way. Stupid birds. I had a racial bonus and they were far enough away that I could duck in before they could get to me.

The sneaking eye didn’t even change from gray.

When I got into the cave my quest marker was super animated and I stood up so I could move around better. It was hard to see in the darkness of the cave, so I went slowly.

QUEST COMPLETE: SEARCH FOR SURVIVORS ON THE BEACH

NEW QUEST: RETURN TO COMMANDER PRABHAT

Okay, the person I was looking for was nearby. I looked around but didn’t see anyone.

Damn it! Why was everything so hard to see, or do, or kill? I was a good gamer, but punching buttons on a controller while you recline on a couch and sip Mountain Dew is completely different than having to actually run around following quest markers and remembering everything that you’re supposed to be keeping track of.

I was level two, my block skill had gone up. I had crap armor, but a little gold. I wish I knew what I should focus on. The quest seemed like the obvious choice, but maybe instead of running away from everything tougher than me I should be running into battles so that my skills went up?

Hmm…there were benefits to both. I’d played games that allowed you to quest for basically all your levels, and others that required you to choose which skills you wanted to master by using them. I wasn’t sure yet what the strategy was.

“Help!” A desperate plea interrupted my thoughts. “I fell down a hole. Can you help me up?”

“Where are you?” I called.

“It’s dark and I can’t see. I think I dropped my torch. Do you see it?” the woman called back.

I noticed a light from deeper in the cave. Oh crud, here it comes, I thought. But when I got there, it was just a torch lying on the ground and some fallen rocks that led to a pit. At the bottom of the pit was a young woman in a green dress.

I picked up the torch and immediately the cave grew brighter. It was so much easier to see. The woman basically walked up out of the pit (I guess people don’t climb in the game?) and she said, “Thank you, friend. My name is Anuradha and I’ve been stuck down there for hours.”

“No problem,” I muttered.

“If you would take me to Majah, I would be very grateful.”

“Sure,” I said. “I guess I’m headed there right now.”

NEW QUEST: RETURN TO MAJAH

Her movement got weird for a moment. Like, she started walking but didn’t move anywhere. I took a few steps backward and she did it again.

I took a few more steps and the same thing happened, and I realized she was following me. Or, my movement pattern. When I moved, she oriented herself off of me.

“Well, okay! Let’s head back to Majah.” I led the way out of the cave and just as we exited, my old buddies came racing for us. Fricking birds!

I pulled my sword and got ready to block with my full-ass stamina bar.

The bird in front was headed straight for me, beak open, ready to get a face full of broken buckler, when all of a sudden, a bolt of lightning crashed to the ground right in front of me. It burned the bird and it fell over in a heap.

I’m not sure what my handsome game face was actually doing, but my Tyler face in my head was dumbstruck and if I could have dropped my stuff and stood there looking very confused, I sure would have. But being an alert warrior, I held me sword at the ready…and turned to see Anuradha say, “Die Arx!” as she pulled down from the sky with her fist and another bolt of lightning fried the other bird. Holy crap!

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“Nice!” I shouted to her and put my hand up for a high five. Which she ignored.

She went back to following my movements and said, “I think Majah is this way.”

I shrugged inwardly, even though my body didn’t match how I was feeling. I looted the dead birds.

80G

HIDEx4

STEEL SHIELD OF HEALTH

Oh, heck yeah!

I clicked into my inventory and equipped my new shield right away.

STEEL SHIELD OF HEALTH LEVEL 2

ARMOR 44

MAXIMUM HEALTH ENCHANTMENT

ADDS 77 MAXIMUM HEALTH

ADDED TRAIT

INCREASES THIS ITEM’S ARMOR VALUE BY 12%

The bump to my health bar felt awesome. I bet with more health I would have survived the bird ambush. Ha! Plus, with my friend following me, I could just stand back and let her blast everything for me.

Hm…that wasn’t a terrible idea.

I looked at Anuradha and said, “Hey, mind a quick detour?”

I turned back toward where the crabs and birds prowled the beach and ran up and down, looking for things to attack. Whenever a crab would pop out of the water, Anuradha would blast it with lightning. I looted and ran for the next moving thing.

Round and round we went until the beach was clear. My light armor and medium armor both increased, and so did my one-hand. It was almost too easy. I went up past the cave and my friend stopped walking. “I think Majah is this way,” she said.

I kept going, wanting to see if we couldn’t find more birds, but she said, “I need to go to Majah. I’ll wait for you to return.” She turned and ran back toward the cave.

I chased after Anuradha and couldn’t interact with her until she reset all the way back where I found her. I had to grab the torch and invite her out of the hole, and then agree to take her to town again. “Okay, enough messing around,” I said. “Let’s go.”

We did find a couple more murder birds (which she kept calling Arx) on the way, and when we stepped up near the gate Anuradha stopped following me and her movements unlinked with my own.

“Thank you, friend,” she said. “Here is a token of my appreciation.”

QUEST COMPLETE: RETURN TO MAJAH

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU REACHED LEVEL 3

LIGHT ARMOR INCREASED TO 3

ONEHAND AND SHIELD INCREASED TO 4

230G

RING OF WILLPOWER

My quest marker was pointing to the east, so I followed it back to the coast, where the commander was waiting. He hadn’t moved, so I ran up to him and the quest completion music played.

QUEST COMPLETE: RETURN TO COMMANDER PRABHAT

193G

RAHINN SKILLS INCREASED TO 2

“Thank you for helping find the refugees. My men returned and told me of your bravery. Here, take this as a reward.”

OFFICER’S RAPIER

ONE-HANDED SWORD LEVEL 3

DAMAGE 190

ABSORB STAMINA ENCHANTMENT

DEALS 88 MAGIC DAMAGE AND RESTORES 15 STAMINA

ADDED TRAIT

INCREASES WEAPON ENCHANTMENT EFFECT BY 15% AND REDUCES ENCHANTMENT RECHARGE RATE BY 50%

A FINE SWORD CARRIED BY A SOLDIER INTO BATTLE

The Commander resumed a set path he walked and there wasn’t another prompt to speak with him, so I turned back toward the town to see what else there was to explore. Maybe I’d go visit Anuradha and see if she wanted to go on another adventure. I bet I could find her.

The town of Majah looked like it was made of tan stone and mud brick. The buildings mostly had open doorways and open window holes when I entered, but as I walked further down the road, the buildings got bigger and fancier. The central plaza had a mosaic fountain and people of all variety sat around on benches or walked by with baskets of goods. A woman sat next to the fountain and played a lap harp while two men in bright purple and gold silk pants and no shirts juggled knives.

A troupe of dancers with fans and drums nearby drew a crowd. I took it all in and could smell the sweet scent of jasmine on the wind from the flowers blooming up a trellis behind the dancers. I kept walking and came to a street hung with bright banners. One had a hammer on it, another had a needle and thread, and another had a potion bottle.

Ooh, potions! I headed for that one first.

When I got inside the building an old man with a bald head and long beard greeted me. “Hello, traveler,” he said. “Welcome to Pradeep’s Potions. We have all you need for your journeys.”

“I’d like to take a look,” I said, squeezing my hand to initiate a conversation.

A menu opened in my field of vision that covered the left half of my vision. I could still see the fellow behind the counter, but the whole world was grayed out. He was still blinking and moving, but the menu was prioritized.

I wasn’t sure how to interact with the menu. I tried to point at something, but my hand just knocked herbs off the counter and onto the floor. Hm…try something else, I thought. I pressed my left bracer but it just brought up my personal menu. I closed it and talked to the shop keep again.

“Welcome to Pradeep’s Potions. We have all you need for your journeys.”

The menu opened again. I tried doing things with my hands and I heard a jingling sound. One of the things off the menu disappeared. I didn’t even see which one. Crap, did I buy something? I looked at my gold and sure enough, I only had 581 gold left, and a moment ago I’d had 666. I remembered because it was a number that made me chuckle when I saw it. Okay, well, I’d spent 85g on something I didn’t know what it was, so hopefully I could figure out how to buy things before I spent the rest of my money. Or, better yet, maybe I could figure out how to sell things and get rid of the junk I didn’t want.

“Hey, Pradeep, how do I buy things?”

“Pradeep has all kinds of ingredients for your alchemy. If you want to make your potions, feel free to use the lab.”

I noticed then a table with a bunch of chemistry equipment on it. Glass bottles and a burner, a mortar and pestle, and one of those swirly stoppers that bubbles. When I got close to it my hand tingled, so I touched the table to see what happened.

A menu opened with a cauldron background.

CARRIER was the first thing presented and I wasn’t sure how to select it. I didn’t even know what that meant.

INGREDIENTS was the second option and it had three spaces but the third was grayed out. It looked like it wanted me to select something called a carrier and then some things to combine with it.

TyBerius TIMER HAS EXPIRED.

When I returned to reality, I waited a moment before turning my controller and headset off. Wow, it felt crazy to be back. Like I’d been gone all day. But the clock had only gone to 11:30. Two hours.

I got up and went to the restroom, and headed for the breakroom.