Amelia looked down at the token in her hand, using her [Inspect] Skill on it for the dozenth time.
Greater Guild Insignia
Allows for the creation of a permanent Traveller Guild.
Requires a minimum of five (5) willing participants to activate.
She’d bought it from the Fate Store for a massive twenty Fate Points, just as she’d been told to, a feat only possible thanks to her father’s “donations” to Neurotech granting her family a special Fate Point bonus. Her last ten points had of course gone into purchasing two item Packs, allowing her to start creating her preferred build for these types of games.
“So, you going to keep staring at it, or actually use it?” the annoyingly nasally voice asked from behind her, making Amelia glare over her shoulder at the slender man dressed in a mismatched mix of rough leather armour, playing with his dagger as he spoke, “If you’re scared you could always give it to me.”
“Be quiet,” the towering man standing beside the leather-clad man rumbled, looming over him as Amelia smiled, glad that at least one of their employees had been present where she spawned in, “You still don’t seem to understand who you’re talking to.”
“Whatever,” the skinny man sighed, “We’ve got five decent people, let’s just get this over with so we can go back to farming levels.”
“I agree,” the robed man beside him said, fiddling with the bright blue fringe that covered one of his eyes, “We’ve wasted enough time as it is just getting a fifth person. I want to catch up to that cheater in first place.”
“All of us do,” the fifth and final member of the group said, running a hand through her short, cropped hair as she bounced from foot to foot, “I don’t care how much money that bastard spent, I’m going to punch them so hard they’ll regret ever having started playing this game!”
Amelia scowled slightly at the mention of spending money, knowing full well that each of these people had probably poured tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of credits into Neurotech just for the smallest of benefits. The fact that they all had at least one magical item equipped even at level two was evidence enough for that.
“I’m doing it,” Amelia sighed, squeezing the token slightly as a prompt appeared in her vision, accepting, and naming the Guild.
“Golden Sun, huh?” the blue-haired Mage grunted, “Pretty generic name. The Title we got for being founding members isn’t bad though. Five percent increase in all stats when grouped with members of your own Guild.”
“Right, now that that’s done, let’s go get us some levels,” the short-haired woman huffed, already turning away towards the fields outside the town, immediately leaving the group, as did the other two, “I want to finally start grinding something more impressive than bunnies.”
“You’re welcome,” Amelia muttered under her breath as she watched the three of them leave.
“Is that all you’ll be needing me for, Miss?” the towering man beside her said.
“Thank you, Andrew,” Amelia sighed, disbanding the group, “I’ll go play by myself for a bit. People truly can be exhausting.”
“I understand, Miss,” the man nodded, “You need only call me should you require assistance. I will go about recruiting for the Guild now. I wish you luck.”
“Same to you,” Amelia hummed as she walked off, cracking her neck as she drew her sword and wand.
------
Jake bolted through the forest, legs pumping frantically beneath him as his chest burned, dismissing the notification as soon as it appeared. He dodged around trees, jumping over roots as his feet dug into the soft mulch of the forest floor. And still he ran. Another notification appeared, immediately dismissed as he panted, straining his ears all the while to try and keep track of the wolves, the shadows dancing between the trees having the possibility of turning into one at any moment.
His heart pounded in his chest as he spotted the familiar blue shimmer between the trunks, veering towards it. A howl sounded right behind him, Jake almost losing his footing as a jaw snapped quite literally at his heels. Another howl sounded out, Jake willing his legs to go even faster as he just barely kept ahead of the wolves.
The world suddenly blurred as Jake felt his body grow unnaturally heavy, tripping over his own feet as he crashed into the loamy soil.
Warning!
You have exhausted your Stamina.
Exhausting your stamina gives you the Exhausted debuff for 15 minutes, and the Tired debuff for 30 minutes.
Either drink a Stamina Potion or rest to regain your Stamina.
The notification appeared in front of him, Jake not even having the mental energy to force it away as he reached for the edge of the clearing just a few feet away from him. Pain lanced up his leg, making his scream as he was dragged further from the barrier. He barely had enough time to look behind him before more pain shot up his other leg, watching in horror as two of the wolves tore great chunks out of his calves, blood spraying out to sink into the forest floor.
Adrenaline flooded his system as the pain shook the blurriness from his vision, Jake swinging a punch at one of the wolves as it swallowed its prize hungrily. He barely managed to start the attack when he felt the jaws close over his arm, looking back to see the second largest wolf holding his attempted attack back with no issue. Jake swallowed as he looked at the four wolves surrounding him, the largest stepping forwards with hunger in its eyes.
“P-please,” Jake croaked, his body still heavy, his throat dry and parched, “Please…just leave me alone…”
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His plea was only met with unimpressed silence, before the largest wolf simply pressed a paw to his chest, forcing him to the ground. Jake could only watch helplessly as the wolf lowered its muzzle to his neck, sniffing it a couple of times, before closing its maw around his throat, crushing, and ripping it out in one swift movement.
Jake choked as he sat up, clutching his throat as he looked around the clearing in shock.
How had he gotten here? Hadn’t he just been outside it? Why was everything so blue? Looking down, he blinked as he looked at the shirt on his chest. Or, more accurately, looked straight through his chest. A moment later, a notification appeared.
You have Died!
Death is a normal part of any world, but as a Traveller, you are able to return.
Upon death, your Ghost will appear at the closest safe Spawn Point, City, Graveyard or Camp.
All you need to do is find your corpse before it decays or request a Resurrection at a temple, church, shrine or from another Traveller.
Warning!
Being Resurrected may result in the loss of some of the gear and items on your corpse.
Being Resurrected may result in some Skill Experience loss.
Reclaiming your corpse will result in gaining the Exhausted debuff for 15 minutes.
Reclaiming your corpse will result in gaining the Tired debuff for 30 minutes.
Time until corpse decays: 29 minutes 35 seconds
Jake stared at the notification in confusion. Had he really died? Andy had explained the basics of how death and resurrection worked in games, but it was still a surreal experience for Jake, able to look through his body parts as he slowly stood. Did that mean he was now a ghost? According to the screen in front floating in front of him, he had a little less than half an hour to retrieve his body before it disappeared.
Shaking his head, he started walking towards the edge of the clearing, a strange sensation pulling him in that direction. Pausing at the barrier, he steeled himself as he stepped through, flinching slightly as he looked around. Nothing jumped out at him immediately, making the nervous man sigh in relief, before following the strange sensation further into the forest.
It didn’t take him long to find the corpse.
Jake gagged as he looked down at the shredded body, blank eyes seeming to stare right back at him as he approached. It wasn’t his first time seeing a corpse, even one that had been hunted by wolves. But it was his first time seeing his own corpse, lying in front of him, an expression of agony and fear shown clearly on its face.
Swallowing the bile that was building in the back of his throat, Jake hesitatingly kneeled beside the body, gingerly touching it.
You have retrieved your corpse.
Reclaim your body?
Y/N?
“Yes,” Jake said, gasping as he felt a sudden rush of energy pass through him.
Just as suddenly, he was lying on his back, staring up at the branches of the trees around him. Sitting up, he groaned, his body feeling slow and unresponsive as he saw a pair of icons flashing in the corner of his vision, each with a timer below them. Looking around, he cringed as he realised that he was sitting in the middle of a pool of blood. His own blood most probably.
Getting up slowly, he groaned again as his body protested, his arms and legs feeling like lead as he staggered back towards the Safe Zone.
------
Andy groaned as he lay on his back in the middle of the woods, rubbing his sore shield arm while Sophie scuttled about the area, her eyes on the ground as she looked for herbs. They had had a pretty successful day so far, having found the wolves mentioned on the forums quite quickly. Luckily both of them had the [Observe] Skill, so they didn’t have to talk to know that the mangy looking creatures were a higher level than them. However, they had also spotted that one of the wolves would wander away from the group every now and again, moving just far away enough that it might not aggro the entire group.
And so, they’d fallen into a routine of sorts. First, they’d wait for a Starved Wolf to walk away from the pack, then Andy would make a small noise just loud enough for the mob to hear. It would quickly move to investigate, where in Andy would jump out of hiding and bash it in the face with his shield, before stabbing it with his sword and running away. Now thoroughly enraged, the wolf would charge after him blindly, until it was hit in the head with a bolt of flame, which would almost always bring it down. If the wolf survived, Andy would dart back in to finish it off while it was pawing at its burnt face.
At first, he’d cringed at the smell of singed hair and roasted flesh, but now he was growing somewhat used to it, which was actually a little worrying for him. In fact, they’d killed so many of the wolves, he was surprised that they weren’t level four yet, having jumped to level two after killing their first wolf, and level three after their sixth. They’d probably killed around twenty of the monsters by now, at least judging by the number of paws and fangs Andy had in his inventory.
Maybe it was because they’d found a safe way to deal with them? From everything he’d seen and heard, Andy had figured out that experience seemed to work weirdly in the game. Instead of thinking about it, he sat up, watching Sophie as she scoured the undergrowth for something he couldn’t see. Finally getting bored, he got up and walked over to her, the girl scowling at the floor like it had offended her.
“You almost done?” he asked as she moved a small bush out of the way, “It’ll be night soon, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be in this forest when it’s dark.”
“There’s still hours before sunset,” Sophie muttered, crawling under the bush as she muttered something to herself, “We can stay for a while longer.”
“Not if we want to make it back to the town before it gets dark,” Andy sighed, going to grab her leg and pull her out of the bush, “Come on, you can look for more plants tomorrow.”
“No, I can’t,” the girl snorted as she shuffled out from under the foliage, “I only have until tomorrow morning to find this stupid flower!”
“Why? You playing on an old rig that’ll only give you a few hours of play real time?” Andy asked, the girl just laughing at him.
“Of course not,” she said, “I’m not some poor sap. I have a FD chair, so I’m fine to play for the full twelve hours. No, I’m looking for the flower for a hidden Quest.”
“Hidden Quest?” Andy asked, suddenly interested, the girl nodding, “Well why didn’t you say so? Is it supposed to be in this forest? What’s it for?”
“Yes, it’s supposed to be in this forest. And it’s for a stronger Magic Pill,” Sophie explained, sighing at Andy’s confused expression, “Do you know how magic works in this game?”
“Not really,” Andy shrugged, “I mean, you cast it through your wand, right?”
“Sort of,” the girl replied, “You see, while I have the [Fire Magic] Skill, since I got it after killing a bunny with my wand, I can’t actually use it yet.”
“What do you mean?” Andy asked.
“I was about to get to that,” Sophie huffed, “You see, to awaken your magic, you have to take a Magic Pill, but there are different grades of Magic Pill. The better the pill, the better your magic, but you can only take a set number of pills before they stop working for you. So, I want to take a better pill for my first one so that my magic starts stronger.”
“Makes sense,” Andy nodded, “Wait, then how are you casting magic? You were definitely using magic before.”
“The wand,” Sophie explained, holding the small stick out, “It lets you cast a firebolt spell, but needs thirty seconds to recharge.”
“So that’s why you had me pulling the mobs,” Andy sighed.
“No, I had you pulling mobs because that’s the job of the tank,” Sophie countered, “Anyway, now you know, you can help me look for the flower.”
“Sure,” Andy shrugged, “What does it look like?”