CHAPTER 4 GLITCHING OUT
I was on my way down the rope, the knots spaced about a foot apart made it easy to descend or climb. I am not sure why I looked up, a sudden premonition, a stiff neck or just curiosity about what the roof looked like. Whatever the reason was it was a mistake, I froze as I watched several figures scurry on their hands and feet across the roof, they seemed to be heading towards the main group of Rattacans who were sound asleep. I froze, hanging on the rope about 40 feet above the ground I continued to watch what was about to happen. Suddenly the figures dropped down from the roof a distance of damn near 75 feet.
Once they had landed they went to work and by work, I mean they killed everyone. The cries of the Rattacans woke up both the mage and the leader, who came running out of their tents and instantly died. There were only five of the attackers, but they moved with supernatural speed, far faster than a normal man could move. I have heard that once players make it to the higher levels and start stacking agility it dramatically can increase attack speed. However, this was conjecture, as the game had not been out long enough for the forums to display any real data.
As I hung there I was glad that the color of my cloak and the fact it had a hood was enough to allow me to hide in plain sight. Once all the Rattacans were dead two of the strange men began to walk through the camp, once they reached the tents they both went into the two tents and then came back out right away. The fact that they did not seem to find what they were looking for made me want to have a close look at the scrolls I had taken from the chest. Within minutes all the strange men were congregated near the glowing coals of the fire. As I stared at them I began to make out their race and level. These things would be displayed over npc’s and player’s heads for a few seconds when you first looked at them.
What I read shook me and for the first time, I began to wonder if the game was glitching. Vampire level 12. This was very unexpected for two reasons; one I was supposed to be in a level 5 zone and two I had heard no mention of a Vampire class or race in any of the forums or online announcements. The problem with Vampires was simple but complex, in every game that had Vampires teenage emo girls and guys would flock to play that class. I blame the whole Twilight series of books and movies. They had started a trend that persisted to this day, a forbidden love that sparked the dark passion between the undead Vampire and the Lycanthrope or Werewolf as it is commonly known.
Technically it was a cross between necrophilia and bestiality in my opinion. These Vampires, however, had not looked like they would sparkle and glitter in the sunlight. They had moved like bad ass killers five against a whole camp of at least twenty-five Rattacans. I did not want to encounter these vamps, they would end me in about one second and then not look back as they left. They would be an extremely overpowered class and I really hoped that they game gurus would not open this class to the general public.
I hung out literally for about half an hour after the Vampires had left, I did not want to take any chances on being discovered. I had watched in amazement as the Vampires had literally run up the stalagmites and stalactites to reach the roof. Once on the roof, they had dropped to hands and knees and had scurried off towards the far wall. It was like a scene from a horror movie, one in which I just hoped that I would not end up the victim.
I began to descend again and once on the ground I slowly made my way towards the chief’s tent. I slowly edged around the corner of the tent and walked to the tent flap, opening it up I entered. The tent was laid out identically to the mages tent with a cot on one side and a chest on the other. The chest lid was open, the Vampires had not bothered to close it. I walked over and looked within, there was a medium sized hip bag, it was called the bottomless bag. I quickly grabbed it and fastened it to my belt then reached into the chest and pulled out a purple velvet bag, opening it I saw it was full of gold and silver with a few copper coins.
I dumped it into my main bag and it was sorted and I could see a running tally appear in the upper left corner of my vision. 157g, 78s, 23c, that was a large haul, I was probably the richest level two player in the game. I reached back into the chest again and pulled out a map, once I had looked at it the map turned to dust, but I now had a new icon on my map. Selecting it I was surprised to see a three-dimensional view of the map. My location was highlighted with a golden icon. All around were red icons that were crossed out. The dead Rattacans, can’t say I felt too bad about that as I recalled the player they had barbecued alive for their supper.
As I looked at the map I noted that the mine itself was only three levels deep but the maze of natural tunnels and caves continued on for several levels. This underground warren stretched for many miles in all directions, it would be very easy to get lost down here, clearly, I had been lucky. I also noted that the map showed an enclave many miles distant, and I could see the group of Vampires who had taken out the camp were heading there. It might be their home or perhaps it was where the Rattacans had originated. I did not know or care, I was just glad that they were leaving the area I was located in.
Really the only concern I had was the one lone figure that the map revealed to me, he was hiding on the roof keeping out of sight. I was fucked if it was a Vampire. I had two options I could make a run for it climb the path and head out of the mine as quickly as I could or I could scale my rope and make my way to the lake and then exit the mine. I did not want to leave the scrolls I had discovered without reading them so the choice was made. I took one more look in the chest, seeing it was empty I left it open, then making my way to the back of the tent I slit a small hole in the fabric and slid out. It was pretty much pitch dark, my night vision allowed me to see but I did not know if the Vampire could.
I made my way to the rope and began my ascent to the ledge. I took my time and once I reached it I curled up the rope and put it away. Making my way into the tunnel I kept my eye on my map of the cave and was relieved to see the Vampire had not moved. I grabbed the scrolls and put them into the bottomless bag, they all fit and the bag seemed to have a lot of room left, it really was a bottomless bag. That alone was worth several thousand in gold, once I was at a safe location I would have to inspect the bag and look at its properties, I also wanted to adjust my stats view and set up the heads-up display option. But first I wanted to get the hell away from the cavern with the lone Vampire sitting on the roof.
Making my way down the tunnel I reached the water and then the exit. Glancing at the map I saw that the lake extended for about two miles to the left in a gentle crescent shape. I could see a small island almost right across from where I was and at the far end was another Island and on it was a ruined temple. The map, unfortunately, did not reveal any more details about the temple but it piqued my interest. As I stood in the chest-deep water I realized I had to get to a dry location, once there I could have a look at the scrolls and rest. I had one more day to play, and I wanted to make the most of it if I could explore the temple and make it back to the starting zone to collect my quest reward I would be pumped.
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Having decided to head to the nearby island I began to walk away from the shore exploring the lake bottom with my feet. I did not want to unexpectedly hit the drop off and dunk myself so my speed was slow as I felt out every footstep. The water slowly became deeper but never went past my chin at the deepest point and soon it began to turn shallow. As I approached the island it became apparent that it was no more than a couple of hundred feet across at the widest and that the far end narrowed down to a point.
Once I made it onto the dry land I began to walk the circumference of this little island. It had sandy beaches around most of it with the point of the island being hard rock. I walked out on the point it was about thirty feet long, and the water seemed deep. The thing looked like a dock made out of stone and I looked for evidence of it being artificial. Seeing none I walked back onto the island proper and began to walk into the interior. It was strange but the island had trees on it, they emitted a soft green glow and stood about fifty feet high. I found what might have been the remains of an old path that made walking in the trees easier and it led me right to the center of the island.
It was a clearing about forty feet across and on one side was a small brook bubbling its way into the trees, on the other was a structure, it was about twenty feet by fifteen. It was made of the trees that covered the center of the island, and it looked like a trapper’s cabin from two hundred years ago, it had been deserted for a long time and had an air of abandonment. I circled the cabin and noted that there was what once might have been a garden plot behind the structure. It was puzzling and I wondered who had lived here in this underground place.
Shrugging I entered the cabin, the door swung open easy enough, glancing around I noted that it had what appeared to be a kitchen area located in the middle. Across from that was a living area which had a half wall blocking the rear of the cabin. Going past the wall I saw a bed and shelves built into the wall above the bed. Directly opposite the bed was another wall this one joined the kitchen wall, opening the door I noted that it was a bathroom, with a toilet shaped rock and a basin that had water constantly flowing through it and then going into a pipe that led to the toilet. This caused the toilet to be in a constant state of having water rushing through it. It was clever, and while I did not know where the fecal matter would end up this system was practical and after who knows how long of being abandoned was still working.
As I made my way into the living area I received a message notification, opening the message I read,
Greeting Anon, you have traveled further and explored more than most people. You have seen strange and wonderful sights. This has culminated with your finding the abandoned Hunters Cabin, which has opened up a new story arc, do you wish to claim ownership to the cabin and the lake surrounding it to proceed with the new story arc? If you do know that to maintain ownership you must pay two gold per month in taxation. Do you want to claim this sight?
I would have to be a fool not to claim the cabin and enter into this new story arc. But the description you have seen strange and wonderful sights did not sit well with me. If the Game Ai meant seeing a level one player being roasted alive was wonderful than I think they system needs a reboot. I accepted ownership of the cabin, island, and lake. It now appeared on my map as Anon’s land and I would guess it would be the same on the map of any other player. I sat down on the bench near the wooden table and opened my bag, then pulled out all the scrolls I had taken from the mages chest.
Putting them in no particular order I began to read the first scroll, they were written in Common which was the universal game language, each race had a language but all races could speak and read Common. This meant that two elves could talk about you in elvish and you would not understand but if they spoke Common then everyone would know what they really thought of you.
Examining the scroll showed that it was a magic scroll, it taught fireblast level one. I went and looked at the four remaining scrolls, Iceblast, Health, a spell that would cause a light to appear which would then heal the target for 60 percent of their health. Stun, a spell that would stun a target for up to five seconds and Portal, a spell that would teach the magic of summoning a portal, the portal at level one would direct you to your starting zones capital city. These were spells that mages and warlocks would be taught once the reached level five. I stared at the scrolls and double checked, they had no level or class requirement.
These scrolls could be sold for a huge amount of gold, all classes and races had a mana bar, but not all classes could use magic. The mana would be used in special attacks, which were a form of magic but not the traditional battle magic that spell casters used. However, with these spells any class could double as a battle mage. I would be dishonest if I did not say my greed for gold struggled with my greed for power. This battle went on for several seconds before I finally decided to take charge. I read each spell one by one and felt a change occur within me. Looking at the interface I now saw that I had a row of five buttons on the left side of the screen, each button was one of the spells.
I decided to use this time to also fix my interface so with a little experimentation I added my energy, health, and mana to my interface.
Charisma
55/100
Defense
45 /100
Will-power
55/100
Strength
50/100
Agility
55/100
Wisdom
40/100
Knowledge
45/100
Energy
200/200
Health
200/200
Mana
200/200 + ten ticks/ 3 seconds
I also had a look at my gear stats,
Night vision
100/100
Base stats increased by 10
100/100
All poison damage doubled
100/100
Generates mana ,10 ticks every 3 seconds
100/100
Dagger can hold three enchantments
100/100
Instant cast
100/100
No changes but the extra mana generation was nice. I then worked on having my spells included in the interface, as I leveled I was sure I would be learning more and swapping them around but for now this is what I had.
Fire blast
Does 55 to 75 fire damage
Ice blast
Does 55 to 75 ice damage
Health
Heals up to 60 percent of targets health
Stun
Stuns target for up to 5 seconds
Portal
Creates a portal to the starting zones capital city
It was pretty damn impressive at level two, I would be keeping these abilities hidden, I just wanted to play the game my way and not have people hounding me to join some guild. Once I was done I gathered my stuff and prepared to leave, now that I owned the lake I knew I would be back and that is when I would explore the other island. For now, I wanted to get out and make my way down to that burial mound I had spotted. Once I explored that I would head back to the starter zone and turn in this quest.