The Stone Breaker quest was a simple little puzzle based adventure that stared at the mouth of a cave and ended near a secret waterfall. We tied up Asta and Rufus (named after Marcus’s first dog that befell a tragic end too early in life,) and stood at the entrance examining the stone. It was difficult not to be impressed by the detail of the world and, by extension, myself for its creation. Though it was tough to pry my eyes away from the detailed stonework, we eventually entered the cave and proceeded down the dirt path to the first chamber.
Mandrel’s Cave was one of hundreds I had added to the world so it was difficult even for me to remember the details of it but Silas tackled it with a familiarity that would’ve impressed even the most seasoned speed-runner. Within seconds of entering the cave he had solved the stone work puzzle that seals the gateway to the ruins and entered. Inside, the dim flickering of our torch light reflected on the grey stone like fireflies, blinking and moving about in the darkness. Again I found myself caught in the detail of the world while Silas pilfered through a broken chest along the wall. My eyes cast over a stone carving of the dwarf Mandrel and I smiled as an odd feeling of déjà vu washed over me. I turned to Silas, whose attention was still on the ground below him, to point out the carving - just as I saw the skeleton extend an axe over Silas.
“Silas!” I shouted, my voice echoing in the tight chamber, just as he looked up and rolled out of the way of the axe. It struck the stone floor where he had knelt, sending sparks into the air as, from the tight passageway behind it, two more skeletons entered.
“They shouldn’t be here.” Silas said as he drew two short swords from his sides and readied himself. Silas looked nervous and it was clear that he had avoided combat so far in this new world. I pulled out my sword and readied my shield as the three skeletons entered the small stone room.
“I know,” I said, frantically searching my mind, “They’re not until the end of the dungeon, it doesn’t make sense that they’ve come this far towards the entrance.”
As I took a half step towards them I could see the detail on their bones, I could see the texture in the back of their skulls through their eye sockets. The same level of realism given to the walls and trees was granted to the creatures and now, seeing them face to face, was terrifying. Silas took a step forward as the creatures took a step back, they danced back and forth like prizefighters waiting to strike, another line of code that I had never written, and that’s when it hit me. We couldn’t think about this like a game anymore.
Yes, in my game the skeletons would have stayed in the dungeon but that was because they were programmed to. There was no need for them to leave until the player entered. With Dunn now having been converted, with the real world rules applied to a fantasy story; they were their own beings. They were capable of thought, desire, curiosity and violence, no different than the NPCs throughout the world. As the thought washed over me I shrunk back slightly in fear, I had no idea how these things would fight and furthermore, what would happen if they hit. In my game they were strong capable fighters because health bars and healing potions made it easy to recoup health, but was that the case here?
Silas lunged forward striking at the ribs of the skeleton, causing it to howl with pain as small flecks of white dust fell to the ground. It stayed up but the strike must have dealt significant damage because the creature reacted by stepping back behind the other two. I took notes from Silas and stepped forward just as one brought its heavy axe down on my shield. The shield rang out, the metal reverberating on my arm and I felt, for the first time, the strength of Raydor, my character. In real life a hit like that would’ve sent me flying but here I was ready to swing back… and I did.
My hit landed cleanly on its head and with a clatter the skull fell through the body to the floor. I turned to Silas excited to share my victory only to see the unwounded one lunge at him with his axe. The strike swung wide but hit Silas’s side. He yelped in pain, falling against the stone wall.
“Marcus!” I shouted and took a half step towards him, unaware of my surroundings, as the wounded one swung for me. The attack hit my shield but only by accident and despite my strength it managed to throw off my footing, sending me to the floor. Silas slid down the wall to the floor beside me as the two remaining skeletons stood over us. I quickly went to stand up but the first, who had knocked down Silas, kicked me hard in the face. There was a piercing, ringing sound as my head whipped back and I was sent down to the floor again. I could feel the warm blood from my nose running over my chin and down into my breast plate as the wounded skeleton lined up for a killing blow.
I’d like to say that my mind was filled with a life’s worth of memories or something like that. Perhaps it was because something in my mind wasn’t convinced that I would die there or maybe I just didn’t have a good enough life but for whatever reason I didn’t see anything but the killing blow flying towards me.
I did however hear a sound.
Behind me the thrum of a bowstring sounded - almost like a buzz - and as the arrow shot cleanly through the skeletons head and it fell to the floor in a pile of broken bones, I knew a shot that exact could only belong to one person;
“Kap?” I said and turned to see her nocking another arrow. She didn’t look towards me but instead fired a second arrow clean through the last skeleton, causing it to fall with a similar effect. Kappa was undoubtedly the best bow user in the game but as part of her programming I designed her to only be able to train the player character and never be a combat ally. Obviously since the rules of this game didn’t apply the same way, Kappa was able to save us and furthermore would be the best ally to have… if I could apologize appropriately.
She helped Silas up first. When she turned to me I went to speak and she held an outstretched hand to stop me. She took a deep breath and said,
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“I should not have shared my opinion when it was not asked, I’m sorry that I-” That was as far as she got before I hugged her.
After a long hug I stepped back and looked at her through teary eyes and said, “No, you have nothing to be sorry about.” I took a breath and tried my best to look at her, “I was so rude to you in my bedroom when you wanted to go out and see the world. I was selfish and mean and cruel and more importantly I forgot that we were friends. I put my feelings, my personal faults onto you and that was beyond unfair.” I could see her tearing up as I spoke, “…and Jessica? That was worse. I changed her without even considering what that would mean and I want you to know I told her it wasn’t right and she left and…” Kappa had heard enough and she hugged me back in the dim light of the cavern.
She leaned back to look at me and I studied her face; wet with tears and with the signs of some combat herself. As we looked at each other Silas, who had been checking the bodies, stood up between us with an outstretched hand that held gold directly between us,
“They had 14 gold,” he said flatly and ducked back down. Kappa and I both laughed and I turned to survey the damage around us.
“You saved us,” I said without any hesitation. She nodded and smirked as she studied the floor by our feet looking for anything of value. I sheathed my sword and shield and equally tried to help examine the floor.
“Odd that they attacked you here,” she said, and I explained the thoughts I’d had moments earlier to her.
“That would mean that everything is open, the world is running even when you’re not interacting with it,” she added. I nodded in agreement. We shared a knowing look as Silas finished clearing the floor and stood. After a moment he turned to Kappa confused,
“You look like Alyx Vance from Half Life,” he said and she nodded, “I like it.” She smiled, touching her face absentmindedly as she did. I looked between the two for a moment before noticing the blood on Silas’s stomach.
“You’re hurt.” I said panicked and kneeled down to him. He stood there as if to let me check him but grimaced only slightly as I pulled his clothes up and revealed the wound. It was a deep purple bruise that had split; blood leaked from the small cut and had begun to run down his short Goblin leg. Suddenly I felt very sick in the pit of my stomach as Kappa put her hand on my back.
“He’s okay.” She said and turned to Silas, “You’re okay, right?” Silas nodded and, still with the look of concern, I lowered his shirt back down.
We moved deeper into the cave, more aware of the realities of this new world. My jaw was still hurting from the kick I had received and despite Silas not even getting a direct hit; he was still bleeding slightly and favoring his wounded side. On the plus side, the skeletons fell much more easily than I had expected, at least so far as them being beaten. What scared me was how there was no doubt in my mind that the same applied to us and as we moved past the stone corridors and rope bridges I tugged at Kappa’s quiver.
“What do you think happens if we die here?” I asked in a hush tone, nervous for the answer and not ready to scare Silas. Kappa thought for a minute and answered assuredly,
“From what I can tell, Dunn has gained properties, details and rules for lack of a better term from your world. I’d imagine whatever happens to you when you die in your world, happens here.” She said in a tone that only half assumed she was aware of true death,
“That’s what I was afraid of.” I said and she shot me a look which yearned for more information but I shook my head no, letting her know it wasn’t the time. She and I had never discussed the concept of death and as I rolled the thought over in my mind we reached the final room.
“There’s no reason anyone would be inside,” Silas said, about to push on the door. I stopped him.
“Yes, but there is a spell lock remember?” I said, studying the door and the seals that held it shut. “I’m not convinced the skeletons triggered it and…”
“It’s only a freezing spell,” Silas said, “It doesn’t do any damage.”
I looked to Kappa who had her back to us, watching the tunnels for movement, and spoke to Silas loud enough for her to hear,
“I think we need to think of this game as a lot more serious than before Mar… Silas.” I tried to breach the words delicately. “Even the simplest spell may really, really hurt.” As I said the last part he touched his side almost instinctively and after a moment of thinking he said,
“Hardcore Mode?”
“Yes,” I couldn’t help but smile, “but let’s aim for a No-Damage Run entirely.” I said as I turned the spider insignia to the left causing the thrum of the door to cease, signifying the spell being disabled. I turned to Kappa,
“Objects are still how I wrote them,” I said with a relief. “This door didn’t trigger because the PC’s hadn’t reached it yet meaning that line of code is still as it was.”
Kappa stepped forward and entered the room first, looking around at the large stone columns that lined either side of the vast throne room.
“So NPCs are a mind of their own but…” Her words drifted off as she studied the ceiling as I finished her thought,
“Traps, rewards, spells, locks; all still the way they were written. No Player Character passed through that door and so the code didn’t activate the spell. NPC’s didn’t validate the criteria.” It was funny to see her marvel at the world around her, in a way she was the newest here. Both Silas and I had seen this world a thousand times, maybe not in this way but the “real world” and the way it looks is all we’ve ever known. To Kappa however, the world she knew suddenly got a hell of a lot more detail.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” She asked, snapping her attention to me as I strolled into the room, the smile still on my face.
“Both?” I said, shrugging
“What?” she said, smiling back now. “What do you mean what?”
“You’re smiling,” she said, as if she wasn’t in on the joke.
“So are you.”
She made a face of faux offense, sad that the joke wasn’t shared between the two of us and in the moment I spoke without thinking, “It’s just cute to see you marveling at all this.” I saw her face react a bit before I realized what I had said. I called my best friend cute, my best friend of the past year; the middle aged, male NPC I had created. She must’ve seen my face react because she turned around on a dime and began to walk away.
I shook my head and walked forward to the chest on a small set of stairs behind the throne. Silas had already reached it. He threw open the chest and began collecting what was inside. At the bottom, he paused and almost delicately removed the Staff of Antioch which looked really cool in real life; a gnarled wooden branch emblazoned with frost coloured roots and a glowing blue gem on top. He went to hand it to me but I told him to keep it, before we headed towards the exit.