CHAPTER XXI: NPC
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{19:21 LOCAL TIME 14TH MAY 1ME}
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LONG BEACH
PRIME
Nicole’s red hair turned back to Sugar’s black with blue streaks in them. Her now brown eyes look back at Clyde's just about a foot away from him. Tears start to well up and fall out of her eyes like a flood, as all the emotions that Nicole was suppressing came rushing back, hard. The sobbing followed as she put her head in the bigger man’s chest, before turning her head from the nasty blood stain she had caused.
“It’s all good Sugar, let it out mama,” Clydel said comfortingly.
And she did...for a good twenty minutes, the Colonel’s torn undershirt was covered in snot and tears, it was on its last leg anyway. Sugar looked up at him when she was done and gave him a rueful smile. Clyde smiled back sadly.
“Tell me again please.” She pled.
“You are more than worthy Sugar,” Clyde said right away with no hesitation.
“Yes, I am.” She patted Clyde on the chest before wiping the wetness on her dry sleeves. She resummoned Kuma who snuggled her hooman as soon as she jumped out of the void. Soto looked at the two of them and smiled.
Check your debuffs and collect yourself...” Colonel noticed her eyes unfocused to read her prompts. “Okay a little rude, but I guess that is the game world. Next time a little ‘will do sir, or got it Colonel’ would be nice.” He said under his breath.
Soto pat Colonel on the shoulder pointedly trying to avoid the wet spots. He failed. ”You did a good boss. Right man for the job as always sir.” He wiped off his hand on Colonel’s pant leg with a big smile. “Thanks.”
“We need to log out of this game it is driving me nuts, I am seeing things I never thought I would see again. I’m not sure I want to see it again.” Sugar said absently petting Kuma.
“There still isn’t any logout button,” Soto said. ”More than likely you have to make it back to the convention center to save and log out. That seems to be the type of game this is.”
“Then we should go now! This place is making me loco.” Sugar said looking at her HUD.
“You can log out if you like,” Soto started, “But we won’t be going with you. We came here for fun, and that is what we are going to do. I recommend going over your Character Sheet and making sure you have the powers to make it back on your own if you decide to leave.” Soto said firmly, he was not going to babysit two people, he looked at Colonel.
“If not then level up some more with us, and you can be on your merry way after that,” Clyde interjected. “It’s just a game Sugar, it's really realistic, but it is only a game. We can beat it if we work together, I am sure of that.” He smiled reassuringly at her.
Soto wiped a fake tear. “You just made me really proud battle buddy, like a son I never wanted, making it to the league, or maybe becoming a pro bono lawyer, or even better a dentist.” he mock sobbed.
“Father of the year I see.” Colonel deadpanned. “Wait, why a dentist though?” Colonel asked.
“Hey, I never said I wasn’t going to raise the little crotch destroyer. I simply said I never wanted him. I never wanted flan the first time I had it, until I had it the first time, and now I can’t go without flan in my life.” Soto started to daydream about flan, “and that’s because dentists, dentisti?”
“You know it's not dentisti.”
“Dentists are the noblest of all doctors, the only kind of doctor that tells you what to do to make sure you don’t have to come back too often.” He sighed in satisfaction. “While all other doctors seem to make money out of you coming as often as possible.” He shrugged.
Colonel shook his head ruefully “Fair enough, I still can’t stand flan, but it always looks delicious. Healthcare has gotten much better since we have implemented the Universal programs though. Everyone having access to high-end healthcare has been one of the major upsides of the last few years.”
“Well, we didn’t have a choice with a major pandemic going on, duh. That was the only way to safely protect everyone without us all going into soul-crushing debt.” Soto rolled his eyes at the lack of empathy humans seemed to have for other people’s medical plights.
Colonel stood and turned to Sugar, who still had the unfocused look of someone reading her HUD. He looked at his map. “Enough real talk, let's get back to these exclamation marks on the map.” He nodded to himself and to his teammate.
Soto agreed “Yeah, we are gaming let's not bring politics and the pandemic in here again, okay? Real life is for real life.” He said not wanting to go down some random conspiracy theory rabbit hole. That was something he was trying to avoid. He looked to a confused Sugar.
“What if this is all real?” Sugar said under her breath barely audible.
“Say what now?” Soto asked not quite hearing what she said.
“The game, what if the game is real? My whole team was eaten in front of me... incredibly violently. I saw everything, the ghouls weren’t exactly subtle. They would break bones, and suck out the bone marrow while the player in front of them cried and shit themselves before passing out, or dying if they were lucky. Most weren’t. I couldn’t do anything to stop it, or help, I wasn’t even a good distraction to the ghouls back then. I tried using my one spell to back them up, but the ghouls just shrugged off all of my old attacks.” Her eyes started to glisten softly, and Kuma snuggled her to comfort her.
“It was awful, the feral ghouls ate them alive, they screamed the whole time... I can’t stop thinking about those screams, seeing grown men cry like little babies is not a good look at all. Feces and blood were everywhere, and we weren’t the only ones. I watched two other teams get wiped out just as easily, and that was before I started running. I had to run, what choice did I have, I didn’t want to die like that. I mean who doesn’t like a good ass eating, but come on that is supposed to be hyperbole, not a bloody reality.” She pet Kuma absently calming herself in the process.
“You made the right choice, with the information you had at the time, don’t doubt yourself,” Colonel said encouragingly. “Did you kill any of them?”
“No. I was the only caster class, so they all had to get up close and personal with the ghouls, and the difference in strength, and brutality was apparent immediately when they engaged with one of the zombies...”
“Feral Ghouls.” Soto said cutting her off, a look from Colonel that said ‘Really dude semantics at a time like this? Really!?’
Soto flinched a little. “My bad, big mouth, carry on don’t mind me, I am a grammar nazi idiot in my spare time. Besides I wasn’t there they could have been Lesser ghouls.”
“Not helping Sergeant Major,” Colonel said in his command voice.
“My bad, my bad,” Soto said sheepishly.
Sugar chuckled dryly, but continued. “The feral ghoul’s strength was apparent when they ripped the arm right out of the socket of one of my team leaders. He just ate him while the rest of my team desperately tried to save him in vain.” She closed her eyes and took a breath. “As strong as they are, they were pretty resilient as well. High Strength and Constitution it seemed like, but they were dumb as all hell, but that didn’t matter with the very real pain my teammates were experiencing while they were being devoured. Their screams are going to haunt me for the rest of my life.”
“Clearly they were dumb since they just ate your team leader while hostiles were attacking it,” Soto said before catching himself and motioning for her to continue apologetically. Kuma glared at him as well as Colonel this time.
“That’s when it all went south... hard. While we were busy trying to save our comrade he just expired, either from blood loss or shock... but it was, it was just too real, it was like watching the light leaving someone’s eyes forever, the soul not looking back at you.” She paused.
“Then his loot globe floated out of him, and we were all shocked, and confused until another feral ghoul showed up. Then we were broken.” She wept at the memory.
Colonel gave her an encouraging fatherly smile, and Kuma licked her hand.
She continued after a minute. “The second ghoul broke the neck of another one of our fighter Classers and started to eat him as well with no regard for its own life. The rest of us couldn’t do anything, we were frozen in fear.” She took a shaky breath. “Not that it would have helped, the first ghoul grabbed and broke the leg of our new team leader, A hard-faced mobster, I believe, but he screamed so loud that other feral ghouls started converging on us. They told me to run, and get help.” She shook her head “I didn’t think, I just ran. I was terrified. I didn’t even look back. I just watched their names and HP fall off of my HUD, one by one.” Her shame was palpable. “I didn’t even try.” She finally finished defeated. “I’m a fraud.”
“Hey! You did what you had to do to survive.” Soto said encouragingly. “Staying there would have meant your death for sure. Survivor’s remorse is a real thing, and this game is real enough to trigger those feelings. But it's just that, a game. That doesn’t mean the trauma isn’t real it just means we will get over it faster, and be laughing about it in a few hours.”
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Colonel agreed. “That is true, nothing could be done with your whole team being wiped out. They should respawn...” Clyde said but then realized that something was off.
“I was told when I entered the game that you can only join one team in your life, barring a few caveats, so why was I able to join your team unless my whole other team were all dead... permanently.” They all sat in silence after that revelation, looking are the dull fires.
Colonel slowly reiterated “If they could respawn, you wouldn’t have been able to join our team. That makes sense.” Colonel scanned the area a little more wary. “And you think that makes it the real world? People only have one life in many games, granted not many roleplaying games usually, but in many other types of games.” He said softly.
“But that's about it, right? There is no character sheet, ghouls, and teleportation in real life, right?” Soto added, “I think it is safe to say the trauma of dying in this type of virtual, or augmented world would require some downtime.” He nodded at his hypothesis.
“Most people may be turned off by that kind of violence, but gamers always say they want realism, what is more realistic than only having one life to live? With no resets, just you, your team, and your own power. I can get behind that world.” He smirked at Sugar. “Besides if it is the real world, we are OP as shit. So bring on the real world Sugar.” Soto said as his excitement grew with every word he said. “I’m ready!”
Sugar couldn’t argue with that logic, but the trauma was trauma, and getting over what she saw was slowly dissipating, but it was still far too real for her to completely buy in. She did feel better after talking it out with them. She nodded in acquiescence.
“Let's check out this loot point, and do some quests so we can level up, Soto is so close to specializing, and then we can get you and your puppy home,” Colonel said with a smile and wink towards Kuma.
Kuma barked excitedly, tail wagging frantically. Sugar smiled at her puppy.
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< QUEST COMPLETE >
{QUEST NAME: STOP THE OUTBREAK II
QUEST TYPE: Legacy (Legendary Chain)
DESCRIPTION: Something ominous has been unleashed on your local area, investigate for more updates. You have found Feral ghouls which means there is at least a lesser ghoul making the feral ones. After killing the feral ghouls you notice they are multiplying that can only mean one thing...
Requirements: Find the source of the undead.
Objective 1: Talk to girl 1/1(Complete)
Objective 2: Find and kill 10 lesser ghouls 10/10(Complete)
Objective 3: Kill 100 feral ghouls 100/100(Complete)
Time remaining: 58 seconds (Complete)(That was close)
Rewards: 44000 EXPERIENCE and Legacy boots}
Experience until next level 177400/3000
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They both blanched at the time remaining, before they could even think about it, they got another quest right away. “Chain Quest am I right?” Soto smiled.
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< YOU HAVE OFFERED A QUEST >
{Quest Name: STOP THE OUTBREAK III
Quest Type: Legacy (Legendary Chain)
Description: Something ominous has been unleashed on your local area investigator for more updates. You have found and killed Feral ghouls which means there is at least a lesser ghoul making the feral ones. Now that you have killed a lesser ghoul you are now aware that there must be a Greater ghoul controlling them. Also, the homeless NPCs are under attack from the ghouls. Protect them.
Requirements: Eliminate the source of the undead.
Objective 1: Find and kill 3 Greater ghouls (0/3)
Objective 2: Kill 25 lesser ghouls (0/25)
Objective 3: Save homeless 152/152 remaining
Time limit: None
Rewards: EXPERIENCE, Legacy shirt, and variable based on how many you save.
Failure penalty: Death, zombified}
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“Yes, another quest,” Soto said with wide eyes. He smiled as energy suffused his body.
“Did you guys just level up?” Sugar asked “I am already specialized. I guess once Nicole had so did I. Hmm I think it's okay.”
“Do you mind sharing with us?” Colonel asked softly.
“No problem Colonel.”
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{TITLES: Team wipe survivor
PLAYER NAME: Sugar
LEVEL: 10 EXP to next level 0/11000 Free
EXP:44000
CASTE:Commoner(Classer) CLASS:Void Druid
SPEC 1:Mage+
:RACE:Human(T2)
POOLS:
HP 260/260 regen 64HP per day
MP 139/139 regen 71MP per hour
DR 7/7 regen 1 per minute.
RESISTANCES
Physical: 0% Magical: 0% Willpower: 0%
ATTRIBUTES:
Strength:17 Dexterity:30 Constitution:26 Intelligence:33 Magic:1.39 Charisma:20 Luck:38
Free Attributes:1
Current attribute gain per level:
Class:+3 INT,+2 CHA,+1 LUCK
Title:+2 LUCK,+1 CON,+1 DEX
EFFECTS:
SKILLS LIST:
Spells:
Summon void familiar, Void bolt, Firebolt
Ice shard, Regeneration
Title Skill:
Danger sense
ABILITY LIST:
Specialist Abilities:
Mana sight
ACTIVE QUEST
Quest:
STOP THE OUTBREAK III
End of CS}
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“So you got three new spells, is the last one a heal?” Soto asked before Colonel could.
Sugar smiled and shared her new spells.
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< MAGE SPELLS >
{Fire bolt (Active) A piece of concentrated fire the size of a marble.
Cast Time: instant Cost:20 mana. Damage 25 + I/2 where I is intelligence. Range: 15 meters. Cool down: 5 seconds. Requirements: chant and hand gesture
Ice Shard (Active): A dagger-sized piece of ice.
Cast Time: 2 seconds Cost:15 mana. Damage: 20 + I/2 where I is intelligence and 10% chance of slow. Range: 20 meters. Cool down: N/A Requirements: chant and hand gesture
Regeneration (Active): Accelerate the regeneration of other creatures. Cast time: instant/Channel. Cost: 1 mana per minute. Health Regen over time: increase regen by 10 times. Range: Touch. Cool down: None. Requirements: chant, touch.
< BASE SPELLS LEVEL UP & RANKED UP >
{Class Skill Name: Lesser Void Bolt
A golf ball-sized bolt of concentrated dark and death mana. Targets hit by bolts have their health regen Minutely slowed.
Cast Time: instant. Cost:20 Mana. Damage:50 + I/2 (where I is
intelligence). Range: 50 meters. Cool down: 3 seconds. Requirements: chant}
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“Yes, it looks like it.” She smiled at her growth. Then frowned when she got a quest update prompt.
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< QUEST UPDATE >
{Objective 3: Save homeless 151/152 remaining}
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“That's not good.” Colonel looked over to the homeless man and Analyzed him.
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< ANALYZE >
{NON PROFESSIONAL CHARACTER(NPC)}
{NPC Name: Johnny
HP 58/70
MP 100/100
EFFECTS: Drunk, High, partially deaf, Terrified.}
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“Well, that explains why he is so skittish. He is deaf... drunk, and high.” He turned to his teammates. “Sugar, want to see if you can heal him. We need information ASAP. Soto, do you have enough experience to specialize yet?” Colonel demanded taking control of the situation. His Map populated with yellow dots which indicated more homeless people in the local area.
“Not yet unfortunately having two classes is holding me back. Ugh! I thought it was so cool when I started.” He followed Colonel’s eyes. “Shit! I almost forgot about that guy?” He read the prompt
“He is an NPC.” Clyde doesn’t take his eyes off of him, the man seems oblivious to his plight or brave. He looked at them from next to a dilapidated tent.
“Non-Player Character. You see it is a game Sugar no need to worry at all.” Soto chuckled and smiled back at Sugar.
She rolled her eyes at him but looked at the homeless man as well.
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< QUEST UPDATE >
{Objective 3: Save homeless 150/152 remaining}
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“Non Professional Character actually....” Colonel said seriously. “...and they are not good.”
“No way, that is much cooler than non-player character, a professional, like jobs? That makes sense since it's on your character sheet. What’s the deal with him?”
“There was at least 152 of them, but that number keeps falling and the red dots keep increasing as they fall.” The conclusion was clear to all.
Sugar looked up. “They are making more of themselves! We have to stop that.”
“Indeed, you are right. We have to kill them before they get everyone.” The Legacy confirmed.
“Facts, I need four thousand or so to specialize,” Soto said. “And that is if I want to take the low-end specialization, which I don’t.
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{Experience until next level [18040/20000-100000]/[18040/20000-100000]}
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“Okay, support Sugar as she takes care of him. After that gather up the remaining homeless, if you can herd them, we just became their shepherds. We have civilians to protect people, let's move. We are the good guys, now let's help people.” Colonel turned his back to his teammates. “Sergeant Major, how is your ASL?”
Soto signed at Colonel
“Is that your way of saying yes?” Colonel replied watching him move his fingers.
“Photographic memory remember?”
“That's not an answer, you forgot about a homeless guy who has been standing there for hours.” He used his own words against him.
“Fair enough.” Soto begrudgingly agreed “It's perfect Colonel. I did say almost forget.” He rolled his eyes and said the last part under his breath. “What are you going to be doing Colonel?”
“I got a lot of EXP sitting around I think it's time to level up. I’m going to specialize.” He said with a smirk.