— CHAPTER THIRTEEN —

A City of Stars - Celestia Grand!

  -Fritz-

 I read the paper out loud as Percy and I rode in the back of an NPC's vegetable-filled wagon trundling down the dusty road toward Faustenburg.

 "Dang, I've gotta get to work on leveling my alchemy." I mused, lounging back against a sack of radishes.

 Percy opened his map and wrote something on the edge, mumbling, "Basilisk meat, gnaeblak, and hydra-breath chili."

 A bell chimed as a notification appeared in the corner of my HUD. "Oh, got a message." I said, sitting up with a grunt. "If it's Eagle, I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear it."

 "Why do I never get messages?" Percy asked. "Whenever someone calls us, they message you."

 "You know how everyone's got a 5-digit ID number after their username that you use for messages and mail and stuff?"

 "Yeah."

 "Well, the ID field in the message window only takes numbers, but your ID on my friends list is 'R-0'."

 He blinked at me. "Really?"

 "Have you never noticed that?" I pulled up my friends list and showed it to him. Running down the side was a nice, neat column of perfectly-aligned ID numbers, then a single offset value next to his name.

 "Huh. I wonder why." he asked flatly.

 "You could try submitting a ticket."

 He sat back down on a crate of apples. "I'm not giving that admin anything!"

 "You're the only one losing out, but alright, man." I swapped over to the messaging window and checked the new one.

 It was from Rose. 'Fritz, are you still with Percival? I still can't message him. In case you haven't seen the paper, Filius, Siegfried, and I have been working with the World Guard to research the first story boss. We're confident enough to start real attempts now. I want you two on the team. I've contacted everyone from the tutorial group. (Other than the Captain, of course.) After how we handled the Black Knight in the town square, I think the lot of us make a good team. If you're unsure, just come by and see what we have prepared.'

 I read the message aloud to Percy. He immediately said, "Let's do it."

 "Really? No hesitation? You don't even need to see the boss first?"

 "Nope. I want to see what this game's got."

 I sighed, leaning back and looking out at the wide open sky stretching across the rolling green plains. The breeze ruffled my hair, carrying with it the scent of earth and growing things. I hadn't gotten tired of it yet, but could go for a change of scenery.

 "Yeah, maybe it's time we stopped bumming around out here and see what people are doing."

---

 A woman's voice crackled over the loudspeaker. "Now arriving at Constellation Station, Celestia Grand. Don't forget your consumables, and enjoy the rest of your day."

 Percy and I stumbled off the train from Faustenburg, our legs wobbly from sitting so long. "Geez," I stretched out my back, "I was not expecting an actual three-hour train ride. Did they expect us to be logged in that whole time?"

 "There was a cabin full of arcade machines." Percy said.

 "What?! Why didn't you tell me?"

 "I thought you saw it."

 "Man, you know I miss the important stuff! Whatever; we've got a lot to see."

 Constellation Station was a massive hexagonal chamber underneath the streets of Celestia Grand. It was a mechanical monstrosity, all hissing steam and grinding gears of polished brass and riveted steel. An oily scent lingered under everything. In the center, a pillar was decorated with displays listing the schedules of all the trains. From the ceiling surrounding it, light spilled down from an elaborate domed skylight that gave a small peek out at the streets above.

 Five of the hexagon's sides were occupied by train platforms - one for each of the three major cities and two starting cities. And other than the people waiting to board them and the guy selling copies of the Celestial Daily, there wasn't much down there for us. So we headed for the sweeping marble staircase that took up the station's northwest side - up into the fresh light of the atrium.

 From the moment we stepped outside, a kaleidoscope of colors and activity overwhelmed my senses. Vibrant bunting adorned the station plaza, fluttering cheerfully in the breeze. The surrounding shops displayed a dazzling array of wares - glittering potions, clockwork devices, and trinkets of every description. The majority of people walking around were players, though it was getting harder to distinguish between them and the NPCs. Most of them had ditched the armor and were wearing fully casual clothes, some in a recognizable modern style and others leaning full into the fantasy vibe.

 The area immediately around us was similar to Faustenburg, architecturally-speaking. It was a denser, more closed-in city with less room for nature, but it still had that heavily magical feel - distinctly Victorian with a lean toward medieval. Gas lampposts with colorful flames, animated gargoyles in soldier uniforms keeping an eye on the markets as they patrolled the rooftops.

 But beyond them, the skyline was a fantastical mishmash of styles and eras. Heavy industrial towers of raw steel pierced the clouds, while turn-of-the-century high-rises of fading brick and thick columns loomed over the streets. And there, in the distance, a cluster of small towers floated untethered around a nest of interconnected spires. In the eastern districts, an enormous, tiered palace dominated. It looked like a city unto itself - gilded domes and fluted minarets rose from the highest levels, while terraced gardens and streets adorned the lower floors.

 But even that paled in comparison to the monolith spanning the northern horizon. Built atop a massive earthen mound was a citadel, its blood-red walls soared hundreds of yards into the air, dwarfing the skyscrapers below. Sinister ramparts and jagged battlements jutted from its surface like the spines of a slumbering dragon. Similarly tall curtain walls stretched down the sides of the motte, reaching downward behind the skyline like they were shepherding the city into the building's shadow.

 "That's it, huh?"

 "The Citadel." Percy nodded. "An open-world raid where the Corrupted King is waiting. That's where the progression will happen."

 But ignoring that for the moment, there was a whole theme park of a city to explore! And just like a theme park, I was hit by the paralyzing question of 'What attraction do we go see first?'

 Luckily, Percy kept on task. He checked his map and scrolled around the meticulous notes he'd collected from the newspaper's gossip column. "The Trade Union offices are off North Boulevard."

 He led the way west from the station, over to South Boulevard. It was a massive brick road wide enough to land a plane on. Colorful cafes lined the sidewalks, their tables spilling out onto the pavement in a riot of parasols and chairs. Stalls crowded the median strip, hawking everything from exotic fruits to sizzling kebabs that filled the air with mouth-watering aromas. I had to hand it to the devs - they'd nailed the greasy street food smells.

 We followed the boulevard up to Syzygy Square - the centerpiece of the entire world. It was a park. Inside the perimeter of streets leading to the four main boulevards of the city, gravel paths meandered between manicured bushes and burbling fountains, shaded by trees that rustled in the breeze. At the center - coordinate 0,0 - was the statue of a winged woman reaching toward the sky, one cheek stained with a streak of tears.

 On the north side, about a block outside the square, a thick stone bridge carried us over a river to North Boulevard. It was a narrower, more subdued street than South hemmed in by taller, more tightly-clustered buildings that gave it a darker, quieter feel. It led straight to the motte and up into that bloody fortress looming over us.

 We turned off about halfway to the motte, entering a little capillary street that passed under the joined balconies of a block of wooden, lodge-looking buildings that enclosed a dark courtyard. The place was packed - dozens of players milled about, most of them part of the guild 'The Trade Union'. They scurried between the buildings and surrounding streets after some business or another, barely sparing us a glance as we pushed our way through the crowd.

 The gaggle of independent players were huddled around a large noticeboard in the center of the courtyard. That would be the Market Board, the means of accessing the player market. There were only four in the whole game - one in each of the major cities. I had yet to encounter an item that bound to my character, so I imagined literally any item in the game could be found on there. For the dedicated merchants, those bulletin boards were like the New York Stock Exchange.

 But that wasn't what we were there for.

 Percy scanned the surrounding buildings. "She said the offices were around here somewhere..."

 I snagged the sleeve of a passing Trade Union member. The man, Jovik Runeblade, had a slightly withered look and his hair was thin in places. It looked like he'd tried to recustomize his character to patch over some bald spots, but it was still a little under a healthy head. The wrinkles around his eyes were smoothed away, but something about him still screamed middle age.

 That reminded me - I'd had this forehead crease for a few years now; maybe I could- not the problem at the moment. Excalibur had told us she had gotten a job with the Union.

 "Excuse me, could you point us to the... what's the name of the place again?" I looked at Percy.

 "The Underground Intelligence Office."

 Jovik looked us up and down, his gaze lingering on Percy. "You wouldn't happen to be looking for a job, would you?"

 "Nope. Just thought we'd congratulate a friend on the new office."

 "Are you sure?" Jovik pressed. "You're awfully young to be risking your life. There are plenty of things you can do other than combat."

 Percy's face went blank, all emotion draining away. "I don't think there are. But thank you for your concern."

 "O-ok." Jovik seemed a bit thrown by the response. He pointed southwest. "The UIO is a few blocks that way. There should be a sign on River Street."

 "Thank you!" Percy turned on his heel and marched toward the southern exit.

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 "If you change your mind, there are plenty of places that would be willing to take you! We always need more hands!"

 I gave him a quick nod. "Thanks, man. We'll keep that in mind."

 There was a river that cut through the Capital - the River Moondrop. Entering from the southeast, it was left exposed and surrounded by grassy pathways for its southern leg, then hugged around Syzygy before disappearing under a block of pavement as the northwest district bridged over it. The result was River Street - a winding avenue that occasionally featured railing-lined openings into the river running underneath. According to the signs, that was the southern border of the space the Trade Union had claimed for its offices, and many of the street signs had been adjusted with new directions pointing to its various departments and offices.

 "Man, they bureaucracied this stuff up fast." I commented, reading down a directory.

 "There it is." Percy pointed to a sign a few blocks along.

 We followed the directions, the din of the market and River Street fading as we entered a network of dim back alleys. The close-set buildings blocked the sunlight, leaving nothing but the scraggliest of flowers to decorate the place. A rusted gate creaked in the breeze in the far end. Not a streetlight in sight. Honestly, I kinda dug it. It's exactly where I'd want to deal in 'underground intelligence'.

 On the dark stoop of a corner building, a sign reading 'Underground Intelligence Office' had been nailed into the brick. I knocked on the splintering wood, and the door swung open at the touch. Stepping inside, I blinked in the sudden light. It wasn't a grimy noir detective office at all; it was someone's house! Over in the kitchen, a woman was humming absently as she chopped vegetables, a pot on the stove beside her hissing and popping. She was seemingly oblivious to the heavy wooden desk that had been plunked in the middle of the front room.

 Behind that desk, leaning back in her chair as she transplanted notes from a manilla folder onto her UI map, was Excalibur. Her long brown hair had been shorn into a short, professional bob, and she'd swapped her armor for a button-up with the sleeves rolled to the elbows and a pair of plain slacks. She reminded me of my nephew, actually.

 "Sup, dil-holes?" She tossed the folder on the desk and straightened in her chair.

 "Heyo, Cali" I waved. "Sorry for dropping in unannounced, but, well, we wanted to see what a 'job' looked like in this wild set-up y'all got going on here. Are all the offices, uh... occupied?" I looked at the housewife.

 "We make what we can with what we've got." Cali shrugged. "The NPC places are basically free real estate, so you get people moving in and using 'em for whatever."

 "I can dig it." I nodded. "Hey, does she make real food?"

 "Nope. She'll stand there chopping lettuce for hours, then just wander off like nothing happened. Nice to have someone to talk to, I guess, and it smells nice."

 "Are you the only one working out of here?"

 "Yep. The brass doesn't know what this department is gonna be yet, so for now they've got me chasing down leads on scammers and grifters."

 Percy asked, "They made an entire office without knowing what it's for?"

 "Do you read the paper?" she asked him.

 "Every day!" I said. "We're big fans of 'Happening Now!'"

 "Then you know the World Guard is itching to set themselves up as the de-facto government, and the Trade Union's hitched onto them. What I'm supposed to be doing is finding people in violation of trade regulations, then turn their names over to the main office and Guard for... cop stuff, I guess. But 'trade regulations' don't exist yet - they don't think they have the clout to start imposing 'laws' - so I'm just looking for scammers. It's a whole... infrastructure pre-setup thing. Working out how things'll work before putting it down on paper."

 "This really is a bureaucratic hellscape." Percy muttered.

 "Anywho," I said, "did Rose message you?"

 She heaved a sigh, tilting her chair back on two legs. "Yeah."

 "I take it you're not signing up for the raid, then?"

 "Oh, hell no! I ain't signing up for whatever half-cocked raid y'all are plotting. I'm still level 1! I'm not risking my neck on this nonsense!"

 Percy said, "Normal mobs aren't a significant threat. Basic grinding is pretty safe."

 "I don't care! I have one policy: I ain't gonna die! I don't take risks like that!"

 "Alright, man; it's your life." I said, "Oh, we weren't sure if you were going to have, like, a cubicle or not, but we brought you something."

 Percy went into his inventory and spawned a small flowerpot with a lush head of cabbage sprouting from it.

 I said, "We got it out in the farmlands - some of the quests give decorations. We thought it could liven things up."

 "Is it edible?" she asked.

 "... Technically yes?"

 Percy set the pot on a clear corner of her desk, and she tore a corner off a leaf with a crisp snap. She popped it in her mouth. The reaction was instant - her eyes bugged out and she toppled backwards out of her chair, hacking and spitting.

 "It's a tad bitter." I chuckled.

 Excalibur's hand rose up from behind the desk, clawing at the surface like a zombie digging out of its grave. She slowly hauled herself into view, murder in her eyes, and hurled a dagger at us. It clattered harmlessly on the floor, missing by a mile. "You bastards! I'm gonna be tasting that all day!"

 Still laughing, I fished a sugar-dusted muffin out of my inventory. "Here. This helped wash it down for me."

 She snatched it out of my hand and took a massive bite, falling back in her chair and glowering.

 "So, one more question before we head out." I said. "Has the Union heard anything about, uh... 'illicit substances' in the game?"

 Cali took a good minute to chew and swallow the muffin. "Some of the guys are talking about a thing called dreamleaf. Won't tell 'a kid' anything about it, but it's out there."

 I nodded. "Alright; I'll let you know if I find out more."

 "Getting 'em started young, huh?" Percy asked.

 "Aw, come on, it's a game - what harm could there be? See you Cali; don't eat the whole cabbage!"

 Next up, we headed across North Boulevard into the northeast district of the city - the Nebula District. It was a quieter place with larger, more spaced out buildings. Primarily residential, at least in the parts that we saw, and a little more high-class than what most players could afford that early on.

 Percy had marked the directions out on his map. Comparing them to the street signs, he said, "This is the place."

 A secluded pocket park enclosed by a ring of towering trees and overgrown bushes on three sides with a quaint little pond where ducks were paddling around. It'd be a nice spot for a date, but at the moment it was empty.

 Across the street, I spotted a bakery. Or 'Boulangerie' as the sign said in curly script. My stomach rumbled at the thought of a fresh, warm bagel. I licked my lips in anticipation.

 As I started across the cobblestones to get a cheeky little snack, Rose called out, "Hey there! Sorry to keep you waiting!" She came jogging up the street toward us.

 Following her was Filius. He was quite a large man, had to be at least a head taller than me and twice as wide. At least some of that was coming from the armor - he was wearing a full suit of thick plate, minus a helm, and clunked with every step as he struggled to keep pace with his wife. Rose herself was also geared up for a fight in a mix of leather and chain - similar to but more professionally-made than the starter gear.

 "No problem; we just got here ourselves." I said, pointing the the bakery, "Do you know if this place is good? I am dying for a good pastry right about now."

 The four of us went inside, the mouthwatering scent of baking bread enveloping us as we got a big ol' basket full of fresh, golden bagels and sat around a table. I grabbed myself a cheese and onion and bit into it, savoring that perfect, chewy texture. There was plenty of fresh food out in the farmlands, but you can't beat the artisanal perfection and variety you get in the city.

 Between mouthfuls, I said to Filius, "I don't think we've met in person before."

 "No, I suppose we haven't. But we've spoken so often it's hard to think of it as a first meeting." Looking at Percival, he added, "But you're the one with the messaging problem, right? I guess this is our first time talking directly. Good to finally put a face to the name!"

 Percy glanced up, mouth full with an overambitious bite of bagel. He swallowed hugely. "Hey." he said before going right back to his systematic demolition job on the baked good.

 I turned back to Rose, who had shed her gloves and was slathering an everything bagel with cream cheese. "So, you're working with these 'World Guard' guys now, eh?"

 "With, not for." she said. "I get why they're doing what they are, but I want to focus on what we're here for - progression."

 "Alright then, what've you got?"

 "It's not a complex fight." she said, licking a smear of cream cheese from her thumb. "More of a damage check. Adds drop an AoE field that shrinks the size of the arena while tanks control positioning to prevent mechanics. Filius and one of the World Guard gentlemen we've been working with will handle the tanking, so we're looking for reliable people to burn the boss down. I know you two have good heads."

 "That's what they called me in college." I nodded. "Sounds like a pretty cut-and-dry intro fight. How deep have you tested it?"

 "Only to the soft enrage at 35%. We're able to get there consistently, but the healers have had mana problems, even with the best potions. Davi has already volunteered to fill in as an extra healer, so we should be fine there." She turned her gaze on Percy. "The other concern we've got is add management, which needs ranged damage. Based on the robe, I'm guessing you're still running Mage?"

 He nodded and kept chewing.

 "I haven't seen many people stick with it; how is the damage in later levels?"

 "Not great." he said. "I mix in sword skills when we need to rely on numbers. But if Fritz can stay on the boss while I'm on adds, I could borrow the crossbow."

 "Oh?" Rose raised an eyebrow at me. "That 'secret weapon' you keep bragging about?"

 I grinned and drew the mini crossbow. "Yeah, check this baby out! It's fallen off a bit now that we're about on par with the intended level for it, but this thing absolutely carried us through the early zones! Pierced through three wolves with a single bolt, killing them all 100-0!"

 Rose picked it up, turning it over in her hands as she checked the stats. "We haven't found any unique items like that in our quests. I wonder if they only appear rarely or if we're just not looking hard enough for optional objectives."

 "I told you we got stuff for capturing a mob and dragging him, like, 20 miles back to town, right? Some of this stuff is real far out of the way."

 "I wonder how this will work with level scaling?" Rose asked. "Normally, when you enter the boss' arena, you and your gear are scaled down to level 10 - the boss' level - but if this doesn't have a requirement, will it change?"

 "Guess we'll find out." I handed the crossbow to Percy. "Take care of her."

 He drew his sword, stuffed it in a belt pouch to unequip it, then took the mini crossbow in his right hand. Leaning back in his chair, he shot through an open window. One of the ducks in the pond across the street exploded in a puff of feathers. Gears whirred as the crossbow began to automatically reload itself. "Yeah, I like this."

 "Can you still use magic?" Rose asked. "I know some weapons interfere with it."

 "You need a wand, staff, or bare hand to cast." Percy reached his left hand to his side, and a little crooked stick with a magical fairy star on the end appeared in his fist. "I don't use it, but I keep this in the slot."

 "So it's effectively a sidearm." Rose said. "That could explain the low damage numbers - it's intended to be supplemental. Anyway, you don't have to commit to anything at this moment. We're holding a meeting tomorrow to go over the mechanics in detail and talk group composition. Come meet the group."

 "Sounds good to me." I said.

 "Tomorrow at Evermoon Gardens - 9 AM."

 "Is that on the map?"

 "It's the capitol building on East Boulevard." Percy said.

 "Right. Then yeah, we'll be there."

 With the social calls done, that left Percy and I with an afternoon to kill.

 Now, as has maybe been apparent, Dawnfall had a class system. You obviously only got the one character, but you could freely swap between unlocked classes. Other than a boost to relevant stats, there was no reason to worry about which class was active - the unlocked skills were usable so long as the proper weapon was equipped.

 That meant two things: One, many classes were not whole - they were pieces of a larger system, especially the magic classes. Second, I was exhausted just looking at the class tree and thinking of how much grinding would be required to unlock them all, let alone level them to get their skills.

 But that was a problem for future-Fritz. Present-Fritz and Percy had been out in the fields levelling their base classes, and now we were ready to unlock some second-tier classes!

 Most of the progressions were pretty straightforward. Lancer split into Soldier, a versatile generalist, and Shieldwall, a dedicated tank. Swordfighter had a branch for heavy blades and another for light. Archer could keep going down the Sniper path for bows, or veer off into Beast Tamer to get an animal companion, or even pick up Rifleman for guns, though we hadn't found one yet. You get the idea - more advanced, specialized versions of the base classes.

 But there were a few oddball combos too, like Cavalry. With both Swordfighter and Lancer, you got a horse, which sounded amazing given how much walking there was between locations. That one was first on my list.

 Then there was Mage. It was offset from the rest of the tree because of how it ballooned outward. The second tier alone had eight different branches, and there was even more after that. Thank the Goddess I was leaving the magery to Percy.

 Anyway, each one of those classes had an associated quest to unlock it, generally following the formula of going to some group of NPCs, helping them out with something, then getting initiated into their order. It was time-consuming and sometimes repetitive, but it made for a fun afternoon. We spent the next few hours traipsing around the city, sticking our noses into everyone's business.

 The Soldier trainer had us running laps in full armor until I thought my lungs would burst. For Beast Tamer, we had to help them rein in a group of escaped zoo animals. The Cavalier wanted us to groom a whole stable full of horses to a mirror shine. Then a particularly wild one they'd been trying to break escaped, and we had to capture it - then they let us keep it! By the end of it, I was bruised and sweaty and smelled like a barn, but you know what? Totally worth it for a free horse! I called mine Caesars Palace, and Percy named his John Munch.

 Taking a break to stop in at the arena to watch a marksmanship tourney, that was our day. It wasn't a bad one. All the while, the Citadel loomed over the city, that big, red, unavoidable reminder of where we had to go.