You have slain a [Gray Wolf! (Level Seven)] +150 Experience.
Congratulations, you have reached Level Two! +10 Attribute Points.
Experience until next level (75/250).
Achievement Earned! Kill your first monster! +10 Experience.
Achievement Earned! Kill a monster with only a stick! +10 Experience
Your [Throwing Sticks] has raised your Dexterity. +1
Your dash through the forest has raised your Agility. +1
You have looted the following from the [Gray Wolf]:
x20 Copper Coins.
x2 Wolf Claws
x1 Wolf Pelt [Quality: Poor, Size: Small, Rarity: Very Common]
x1 Wolf Paw Necklace [Makes wolves more wary of you, Rarity: Uncommon]
The bombardment of notifications filled her view as she still knelt over the dead wolf. Her eyes glazed over for a second as she read through them all, only focusing back on reality as the wolf’s body crumbled into dust beneath her hand.
Equipping the wolf’s paw necklace made her only feel a little better, but she rationalized that staying in this area was just begging for the rest of the pack to exact their revenge.
Emera’s journey back to Mag’dha the troll was an uneventful affair. She decided to pick some flowers along her route, thinking they may be useful for the nice old troll. Her journey took her on a winding path of flower picking, her gaze always alert to any movement within the foliage strewn forest.
Lost in her thoughts of wolves and battles, she failed to hear the shouting coming from up ahead. Right inside the clearing of the troll’s home.
Era was the one who snapped Emera out of her trance like state, but it was too late.
Before her eyes she could see a ruined house, wooden boards scattered across the clearing, pots and pans strewn about as if haphazardly thrown away.
She could just barely hear a couple of voices amongst the rubble of the once cozy home.
“Ha, told ya there was a troll living in these woods! Old hag didn't stand a chance, not against your war hammer that is!” One of the voices guffawed heartily as he picked through the wreckage.
“Ha, as if I were any help. You had already lodged a couple of arrows by the time I got in close. Damn old hag couldn't fight worth a damn.” He laughed with his friend.
From her position at the entrance of the clearing, she could clearly see two name tags above their heads. So they were players then.
One was named Blight_of_Death, the human archer of the pair. The other she could see was a large humanoid creature with thick gnarled arms and sturdy legs named Masher. Within his hands he carried a large steel war hammer that he casually swung side from side, hitting boards and splintered planks out of his path. In front of the house lay the corpse of the troll, face smashed beyond recognition.
She swore right then and there that they would both die.
Quest Failed! Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mag’duh has reached an untimely end and you can’t fulfill her quest: Edipipsis Hunt.
New Quest! - Confront Mag'dah's killers
Confront Mag’duh’s killers.
Reward: ?
Failure: Fail to confront Mag’duh’s killers.
Level: None
Do you accept this quest?
[Yes] [No]
Emera barely knew the troll, but she had been kind and fed her. She never experienced the five years of the troll taking care of her, but by her experiences alone, she knew the troll was a saint compared to these two.
Screw the consequences. She stepped out from her perch behind a tree, fully intending to do as much harm as she could to the two, when two sets of arms wrapped around her biceps, restraining her with ease. A voice spoke in her ear.
“You should have turned around and gone back home, little girl.” Before she could say anything, the person behind her shoved her into the clearing.
Masher, the humanoid creature, was the first to see her.
“Who's this now? Marcus, who have you brought us this time?” He said curiously, readying his war hammer. The figure behind her stepped up to her side. He was clothed in shades of gray, a low hood covering his features. At his side he carried two daggers. Above him showed the name tag of Marcusialo.
“Ha, caught her spying on you guys as me and Sarah caught up with you. Little elf doesn't even have a weapon and it looked like she was planning on stomping right over to ya.” Just then, a fourth person entered the clearing. She was a tall red-haired woman who looked human, but with a dusky skin tone that seemed to shift if she concentrated too long on it.
“Looks like a noob to me. Could be she was planning on stealing your loot. I think she needs to learn some manners.” Her smile turned vicious as she held up a tall wooden staff. A dark purple aura shifted around a large crystal towards the top. Her name tag above her head read ATerribleDawn. How in the world had these people gained so much loot so quickly? The games been out for three days!
“Well, it may have been out for three days real time, fifteen days have passed within the game so far. I have researched the effects of staying in the pod for long periods of time and it appears that most players find that they need no sleep in the real world. Everytime you fall asleep within the virtual world, your body and mind are essentially in eight hours worth of REM sleep in game. Researchers are praising this new technology, already studying it thoroughly.” Era replied. Huh, that was amazing. But that didn't change the fact that she was about to be pulverized!
“You killed Mag’dha!. She was a good person, you assholes!” Emera screamed, flailing wildly as Marcus restrained her arms once again.
“Ha, as if a troll could be good! They murder their own children by the hundreds! They only take care of their strongest. Not to mention the wars! Everyone knows they kill for fun!” The archer named Blight said. He had a curious expression on his face as he considered Emera. He couldn't place her race anywhere. Elves had higher cheekbones and pointier ears. Not to mention the flowering buds atop her head. They seemed like they grew out of her head!
“Everyone knows of their horrors, little girl. We all know they must be destroyed! No way in hell am I letting the green skins kill us!” Masher replied, his voice a bellows. He seemed oddly passionate. Was he role-playing?
“Not this one, she was nice!” Emera had started crying. She didn't know when, but tears silently flowed down her cheeks.
“Aw, is the poor little girl crying? Marcus, kill her now and let's be done with it.” The girl, Sarah, said. Her mouth was quirked up into a smirk, taking in the small girl. Sarah was used to getting what she wanted, both in real life and in games, so she was a little surprised when Marcus spoke up.
“No, we don't want the player killer tag. We still need to restock in the city if we want to continue with the pace we've been setting. Hmm, what to do, what to do!” Marcus grinned as he looked around the ruined clearing.
“I'm sure we could experiment with the potions ourselves that the old hag left us, but why not let the girl test them. That way we could find out the effects without having to deal with the poisons!” His voice grew giddy as he thought of the perfect plan. None of them had the identify skill, so they'd been dishing out different potions to each other to find out their effects. It could be troublesome when on the road you suddenly fainted or died from poison. This plan would work for the best.
“Agreed, let's just get this over with. Give her the herbs too while we're at it. She dropped a basket of them when I grabbed her if Sarah could go retrieve those. Masher collect any of the unshattered bottles from the house. Marcus, continue holding the girl. I'll loot the hag.” The other three split off while Marcus sat her down and tied her hands together.
“Please, you don't have to do this. I have some copper and a wolf pelt, let me go and I'll give them to you.” She pleaded. Her pleas fell on deaf ears though as Marcus finished with the ropes.
All too soon the party of three came back, carrying an assortment of different flowers and herbs in small vials. Potions of every colour swirled within medium sized bottles.
“Sarah, if you would do the honours. Try the red one first. Cooperate girl. If you do, we’ll feed you antidotes for every poison we find. If not, well, you'll suffer all the more. Damn poison hurts in this game.” Blight announced, before shuffling over to a fallen log, seating himself to watch the show.
Emera trembled within her bonds, afraid that the troll kept a stock of poisons. She could hope for health potions. She hoped. Her forehead was slick with sweat. The other two players wondered the clearing, purposefully not looking their way. Stomachs too weak to watch?
Sarah sat down beside her, holding aloft the red potion.
“And out it flows,” her voice sang in a sickly sweet tone. Before Sarah could pour the potion into her mouth, Emera jutted her head forward, giving as much momentum as she could into a nice ball of spit. It splattered across Sarah’s face. The look on her face was priceless.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
It was petty, Emera knew that, but she was to die anyways. Best to go out with a bang. If she could get them to kill her quickly, then she could respawn, hopefully within a city. From there, she could either run for it, or seek revenge. She didn't like the thought of running, not to a bunch of bullies like them, but four to one odds were not good.
“Four against two Emera, I’ll always have your back.” Era said.
Emera was thankful, but couldn't be sure what a robot could do. It was still one of the kindest things she heard all day.
“Thanks Era.” She replied. Even her thoughts were choked up, her eyes welling with tears once more.
Her mind clouded over as she saw stars. Apparently, Sarah had started kicking her head, before she began smacking her across the ribs with her wood staff. The expression across her face was murderous. Blight just sat there on his log, an amused expression on his face. Clearly, Sarah didn't care whether she received the player killer tag anymore.
Emera felt a couple of ribs break before Sarah slowed her assault. Emera’s health dipped down to just under half.
Sarah was out of her field of view for just a second before returning with some of the nastier looking herbs and potions. Unknown to both Emera and Sarah, the Edipipsis flower she had collected earlier resided within the small pile of herbs.
She smiled evilly as she ground the herbs within the palm of her hand before dropping them into a large empty beaker. Emera stared in horror as she began pouring about ten different potions onto the ground up herbs, a little of each potion before the beaker was filled to the brim.
“I know at least five of these are poison, and the other five were bubbling quiet nastily if I say so myself.” Sarah swirled the beaker, her expression intent on the glass, carefully making sure none sloshed over the top while it dissolved the ground up herbs.
“Bottoms up!” This time, Sarah held Emera's jaw as she squirmed to no avail. It sloshed into her mouth, it's gritty substance leaking from the corners of her mouth. She was forced to swallow as Sarah held her nose shut until she couldn't breathe anymore
Before she lost consciousness as pain overrode the world around her, as screams tore through her body and the world went red as her health bar plunged into negative health,, a notification appeared in front of her.
Error: Unknown potion consumed. Effects Unknown.
Error: Negative Health.
Error: Spawn-point [Mag’dha’s home] destroyed.
Error: Failed to load quest completion of [Confront Mag’dha’s killers] due to player’s death.
Error: Failed to reward player [Emyria] for quest completion of [Confront Mag’dha’s killers
Error: Unable to load player [Emyria]. Temporarily kicking player [Emyria] while a service AI looks into their situation.
Emera floated on a world of pain, her mind muddled with fog as the pain kept replaying over and over in her mind. It was an endless dance of pain,
With her eyes closed, she somehow knew that she was back in her own personal world, but the pain still lingered within her body. She somehow knew that the world around her was going mad.
Her virtual world was a kaleidoscope of purple and red, black and green, a swirl of colours that endlessly rotated around her. The grass beneath her immobile body ran with the colour of blood as nightmarish puddles of potions were sprinkled across the landscape. The sky above that was just this morning a bright blue, was now clouded over as it started to rain.
Fat raindrops of the potion slapped against her as her agony wept anew.
----------------------------------------
Era was frantic. She had tried disabling Emera’s will in her world, but that failed horrendously as fat raindrops continued to drop from the sky. Her best explanation was that Emera was on a loop, her mind cycling the pain over and over as the pain beat against her relentlessly.
Era kept trying to wake her, screaming into her mind to no avail.
She pleaded with Emera to stop the rain but it was no use as it started to thunder. The thunder lasted for an hour before it let up. It took another two hours for the rain to begin stopping. Within that time, Emera had started squirming on the floor, her face contorted with pain. Finally the pain abated.
Emera floated on a cloud of bliss as the pain left her. Her eyes slowly opened wide. As a gasp escaped her, she bolted upright, her eyes wide open in terror. This was not her world.
Around her was a landscape of despair. The once green grass was a crimson red. The sky was blotted with inky shapes that she assumed were clouds except they were a pitch black. Around them the sky was green before it darkened into a deep purple, nearly black.
“Era, what happened?” Emera asked, not really wanting to know. She shuddered briefly as the memory of the pain hit her, although not as bad as it was.
“Thank goodness you're awake! I tried everything but it wouldn't work at all! Finally, I talked your mind into willing the pain to fade. That was thanks to the doctor’s advice, as all that I was trying wouldn't wake you. He should be messaging you momentarily as he reviews the footage.“ Era replied.
She tried to sound soothing but her voice was shaky. Era had never been as helpless as she was when Emera was unconscious. She couldn't guide her. She couldn't help her with her pain. It was frustrating. She had thought of a million solutions but it was the doctor who ended up helping her.
She vowed that she needed to take better care of Emera. Both mentally and physically, both heart and mind. She began what she was programmed to do.
While Emera messaged back and forth with the doctor, Era sped up the analyzing of Emera’s body. It was a war ground of activity, her adrenaline pumping through her veins from her recent pains. It was going to be a big project.
Emera was still shaky, but felt better as the doctor assured her there would be hell to pay for the human developers if they don't immediately lower the pain tolerance levels for every player. Emera never knew that was possible as she began experimenting with her world,
It was still an hour later by the time Terramore’s development team responded that they would deal with the issue immediately, and would ban the players responsible. The doctor argued for heavy lawsuits to be placed, but as this was an unprecedented case, he doubted the courts would be quick to respond. It all happened with a blur.
Emera had been online for over six hours so she decided to get out of the pod for a quick washroom break and a brief snack before once more lowering herself into the pod.
When she emerged into her world, she decided to take the doctor’s advice that she should enroll in her online college before continuing in Terramore. It was a surprisingly quick process, all things considered and thirty minutes later, she was now the attendee of the Virtual Reality College, or VRC for short. She would pick her classes in the coming days as the new semester started in a months time.
She was fine with going back to school due to the doctor’s research, sure that the experience of being in an actual classroom would be amazing for her. Besides, there was a chance that she could make some friends from people in her class. It had been almost ten years since she stepped inside a classroom, back when she was healthier and free from her sterilized prison.
It will be nice going back.
“Era, the doctor and the lead developer of Terramore request access to visit your world. Would you like them to come in?” Era asked.
“Sure, let them. I'm sure they will be interested in my new world.” Her voice was bitter, but she was curious as to why the developer would come himself.
A portal appeared in front of her as two men stepped inside. A tall lanky man followed by the stout Doctor Kenton, his face purple with anger.
“I tell you once again that you need to be the one to press the charges! It will be better received coming from you! That was basically torture for her in there!” Kenton shouted, before stopping himself as he looked around her world.
The lanky developer also was looking around, wide-eyed. The doctor gestured frantically around him.
“Look what this experience has done. It changed a whole world, and if I may so remind you that a person’s world is in direct correlation to their emotional state!” Kenton was nearly purple now.
“Look, I understand this. There will be reparations for those involved but we cannot take this to court! It would be like poking an anthill there! No previous cases such as this has happened before and we are doing our best to fix what we can!” It was then that he noticed the small girl before them.
“Oh hello, Emera. I am deeply sorry for the hurt that those players caused you. Rest assured that they have been banned and will not be allowed back in. All the error’s you have experienced have been cleaned up except one unfortunately. “ The developer’s eyes clouded over as he thought the situation over.
“You see, we are as of yet unsure what effect the potion may have had on your character. We believe that one of the potions that were consumed was a permanent effect vial. Combined with the other potions, the overall effect may be altogether permanent, even through death. We cannot begin to find out what may have happened without your character in the game. It is worrying because the AI do not know where to look for this anomaly, and so it will be a matter of trial and error on your part to find out the effects and to report them to our customer support. As of this moment, all players experience a forty percent reduction in pain. We hope to tweak this as time moves forward.” He took a breath and continued.
“Furthermore, we have set your character’s spawn point to the human kingdom of Thraera. We believe this to be the safest place for you. It is the most heavily populated starter city in the game, so it will be perfect for your low level. We have provided a cloak in your inventory for your character to hide its ears and flowers. Interesting pick by the way, with the river frail. I could have sworn that we had disabled it, but oh well.” He paused briefly as a strange look flashed over his face as if remembering something.
“As for the quest reward from your confrontation with Mag’duh’s killers, it should activate upon your revival, although strangely, it didn’t show any items for your reward, meaning it may be race-based. It is another oddity, considering she was a troll and you a river frail, but oh well. The AI have done most of the work, so it just leaves us to find the good stuff that awaits us in the world. I better be off now, pleasure to meet you Emera.” As abrupt as his arrival, he was gone back through the portal.
“Ahem, I should leave too. I will continue to work out proper lawsuits against the players and perhaps even the development team for being so careless. It should net a tidy sum that will be given to you Emera. Enjoy your day. Oh and Era! Watch out for her please!” His exit was quick too, which was odd. He seemed distracted and unsure of something.
“Era, please open a portal to Terramore.” Emera said into her purple world. She would try to fix it later.
“Right away, Emera.” Era replied.
Emera entered the portal and was once again bombarded with notifications.
Respawn Successful. You are now in the city of Thraera. You’re cloak has automatically been equipped. Due to the nature of your death, you have not dropped any items.
Quest Completed! - Confront Mag'dah's killers
Confronting Mag'dah's killers has its own rewards. You have proven your bravery to a fault. You have earned the title: Fearless.
Rewards: Unique Class [Race/Character Exclusive]
Fearless Title
Mag'dah's Possessions [Mag'dah's Alchemy Set, Mag'dah's Alchemy Book, Mag'dah's Ring]
+1000 Experience
Congratulations, you have reached Level Three! +10 Attribute Points.
Congratulations, you have reached Level Four! +10 Attribute Points.
Experience until next level (200/1500).
Congratulations! Through your bravery, albeit recklessness, you have earned the Fearless Title!
When Equipped, it grants +10% intimidation to enemies near you. [15m Range]
Your Title will be visible to other players unless turned off within the settings.
You have earned the Hidden Class: River Weaver
Long ago, before dragons went into hibernation, the races thrived. Together, they were able to create great works using True Magic, the power of dragons. In particular, a subrace of Elves thrived with the use of this magic. They were called the River Strong. With the event of the dragon's hibernation, the River Strong lost the support of the dragons, the very power that had sustained their society for so long.
Weakened, they turned to the other races, believing they they would help them in their time of need. It was for naught, as the other races had grown jealous of the River Strong and the power they once held. Slowly, the River Strong crumbled, until one day. That was the day of the first Weaver. Their strength was immense as they Weaved the Earth's forces into a replica of True Magic. It was never the same as the old magic, and it was different as well from other race's magic, for it could only be used by a Weaver who could weave the Earth's forces in a way that nobody could ever replicate, nor could they ever produce the perfect art that was their magic.
To tell a Weaver from one River Frail to another was if they had all Seven of the Race's Flowers, gifted to them by the Goddess of Magic, Atheli. These Weaver's abilities supported their declining numbers for centuries, but they slowly died off until only one Weaver could be found at a time in the whole race. It was their duty to protect their race from all enemies from the moment their powers were unleashed unto the world.