"Debt is a cup that refills itself faster than one can drink, and soon spills over, staining all who drink from it." — The Tao of Idleness, Book 4, Verse 5
I chased after Lia as fast as I could, catching up with her just as she put her boot through a brightly painted door. The wood gave way under her determined assault, and she slipped inside.
I hesitated for a moment.
There was literally nothing I was going to bring to the party here. If Lia wanted to give the moneylender her dad was in hock to a taste of carnage, that was exactly what she was going to do. It wasn’t like I had any special hold on her . . .
But then, for reasons I did not wholly understand, I apparently decided it was still sensible to follow her in.
The inside of the moneylender's house was an unexpectantly cramped space with plenty of conspicuous wealth on display. As I followed Lia’s path of destruction – a broken door here, a dazed guard there - each corner was crammed with little reminders that this dude was a big deal.
Corridors were lined with literal stacks of coins spilling from wooden chests, while dusty, rolled-up ledgers teetered on shelves that buckled under their weight. Expensive-looking tapestries hung alongside velvet drapes – most of which seemed to depict debtors to House Galtor in various states of dismemberment, torture and various other parlous states.
Then I was at the final room where Lia’s voice, raised in anger, was booming out.
As soon as I passed through that final doorway, though, things got weird. Fast. I barely had time to catch my breath before that same plasticky, ultra-shiny texture that I recognised from before coated the whole room.
Oh, goody. Game Mode is back. How I missed this dose of oddness.
My hands were once again clunky, blocky shapes, like they'd been hacked together by an amateur coder and an empty speech bubble appeared over my head.
> James: "Uh... Lia? You’re seeing this right?"
But Lia didn’t answer.
Her blocky, now pixelated form strode forward, all sharp angles and rigid joints, although she still managed to move with a janky grace. Somehow, her avatar retained a sense of purpose, even with her head bobbing in its fixed position, giving her non-brand plastic yellow face a determined air. Above that, her square-cut hair bounced in perfect synchronicity with each step, and when she was stood in the centre of the room, her little blocky arm raised high and a cartoonishly large sword snapped into existence.
Her booming voice was now gone and she didn’t so much as speak anymore as display a massive speech bubble that popped into the air above her head. Her eyes, though, were laser-focused on the tall, smirking figure across the room.
This was a garishly cartoonish avatar with a shiny blue suit, slicked-back hair, and tiny black eyes grinning her way. He was far more caricature than person, and his name floated over his head in bold letters:
Loan Shark of House Galtor
Beside him – as a bit of an unwelcome surprise – was Jorgen, his own face a blocky mishmash of scrapes and bruises, looking completely at ease in the scene. He even managed a jaunty wave with one of his damaged hands as we walked in, unconcerned by the large hole showing straight through it from his most recent crucifixion.
> Loan Shark: “Well, look who decided to drop by! I must say, all at House Galtor were devastated to hear about your untimely demise. It was such a shame when we had to make good on our threat against your father. Imagine our joy now we know our arrangement can continue. I was just outlining our new terms to your dearest father.
Lia’s mouth turned into a thin, grim line, and I watched as a flash of animated fury twisted her face. She stepped towards the loan shark, who was now rubbing his hands together, gleeful as giant pound signs flickered before his eyes. Then, a series of options suddenly hovered next to Lia in floating text boxes:
> Dialogue Options: How will Lia respond?
> 1. Demand answers from the Loan Shark.
> 2. Plead with Jorgen to leave.
> 3. Threaten the Loan Shark with violence.
A timer started in the top right-hand of my vision – counting down from 5, indicating the time in which she had to response. Without a moment’s hesitation, though, Lia selected Demand Answers.
> Lia: “Why are you letting him borrow from you again? You know he is not able to pay! It’s happened often enough, now. You know what the outcome is going to be!”
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The Loan Shark’s laugh became a visible, swirling sound effect around him, bouncing with a pop, pop, pop in obnoxiously bright colours. Then his own dialogue options materialised:
> Loan Shark: “Lia. Lia. Lia. Debt, my dear, is eternal. It's practically family for you at this point. And your father? He’s my most loyal customer always needing and coming back for more. You should be proud that. At least in this, he has been ever-consistent. House Galtor are always pleased to increase your family’s debts.”
The text box closed, but the options didn’t leave from their place in front of Lia. Her face froze, her avatar pixel-literally vibrating with rage.
Then the text bubble popped back up above her head, the hovering selection waiting to be clicked upon.
> Dialogue Options: How will Lia respond?
> 1. Plead with Jorgen to leave.
> 2. Threaten the Loan Shark with deadly consequences.
> 3. Attack.
I watched as her cursor – a little chibi-style rendition of a small, dark bird, I noticed - lingered over Plead with Jorgen, the option dimming slightly as her mind hesitated over it. Then, with a visible shake of her yellow head, she pulled back, the option fading back to its place.
I was with her on that: I didn’t think it would have worked either. The little I knew about Jorgen was that he was his own worst enemy. In many ways, it probably made a horribly violent outcome less likely that he hadn’t tried to speak to him.
Instead, Lia shifted her focus to Threaten, her body tensing as the game paused, waiting for her to commit. Her avatar took a single, menacing step forward, and even in her plasticity, there was an immense sense of danger in the room.
However, she still, didn’t click that option. The choice faded again, and the silence stretched out.
> Loan Shark: “Hesitating are we, Dark Wren? Just can’t seem to cut the cord can you? And yet I wonder . . . are you ready to watch your dear old father fall back into this arrangement over and over again?”
Dude, what the fuck? It was almost like he was goading her to attack him. He knew how that was likely to work out for him, surely?
As if on cue, Lia’s face twisted, her cursor jerking back over to Attack. It blinked, pulsing a steady, blood-red glow, almost daring her to select it.
> Loan Shark: “The only way you will ever be able to stop us is to take this next step Lia. If you are not willing to strike me down, you will never be free —”
Lia clicked Attack without another second’s pause.
With that single click, Lia's avatar surged forward, her blocky sword swinging through the air with a sense of crushing finality. The Loan Shark’s face twisted into a grin – a grin? - just as her blade cut through his neck with an absurdly chipper pop.
I couldn’t help but think there was ‘strike me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine’ vibe about the whole thing.
The Loan Shark’s head detached in one neat, cheery motion, bouncing and spinning across the floor, a mocking grin still firmly plastered on its face.
> System Notification: Quest Complete—Confront the Loan Shark
> Rewards: 250 XP, 100 Gold, Blackened Ledger of Debt (+3 Constitution)
Coins spilled from the Loan Shark’s body as it crumpled to the floor with a loud cha-ching! That echoed through the room. A disturbing amount of currency flew into the air, spewing like arterial blood to gather in heaps around the guy’s twitching form.
And the absurdity didn’t stop there.
The Loan Shark’s head bobbed along the tiles, leaking coins with each bounce, a jarring jingle accompanying every single little gambol.
Jorgen, seeming completely unfazed by this outcome, looked at the pile of spilling loot the Loan Shark’s decapitation was leaving behind and began gathering them up, scooping handfuls up into his pockets.
Then a jarring alarm blasted out, and a series of new text boxes popped up in quick succession, their urgency impossible to ignore.
> New Quest: Escape Eldhaven
> Timer: 00:09:59
Above both my head and Lia’s, the word Outlaw flashed in a bright red, neon font, ominously pulsing in sync with the blaring sirens.
That didn’t seem ideal.
I opened my mouth to yell, but nothing came out. Then Lia pointed at the exit, “Time to go!” In response, I grabbed Jorgen’s arm, yanking him away from the increasingly huge puddle of glittering coins. I’d barely got hold of him before another set of notifications filled my vision.
> Reputation Notification: Status Updated
> Current Status with Eldhaven: Outlaw
> Warning: Hostile interactions may occur with Eldhaven residents.
The title Outlaw doubled in size above each of our heads, casting an angry red glow across the whole scene. Then another slew of messages began, each of these accompanied by the emblem of the Empire next to them.
> Reputation Notification: Status Updated
> Current Status with the Empire: Belligerent
> Warning: Increased risk of hostility. Bounties may be issued for retrieval or termination.
“Oh, come on!” I yelled, pushing both Lia and Jorgen towards the exit as the noise and flashing warnings made my vision swim.
Behind us, the remaining piles of coins around the Loan Shark’s disintegrating form vanished in puffs of pixelated dust.
The second we cleared the doorway, the plasticky feel of the room evaporated, the air turning cold again, and the weight of Eldhaven’s gloom slamming down on us. It took me a moment to orientate myself to the realness of it all – we appeared to have been dumped outside rather than in the Loan Shark’s house - the damp stone and gritty alley almost a relief after all that unnatural cheer.
Unsurprisingly, that moment of solace was short-lived.
Somewhere down the street, angry shouts sounded, and heavy footsteps began clattering toward us.